When Alignment is Your Assignment

On this episode of The Big Quit W/ Kris, I chat with one of the coolest yogi's around Bri Hamlet of JustBriFree Yoga & Wellness! Bri and I talk about what happens when the plans you had get sped up and you are called to step into alignment sooner than you thought! We discuss everything from work culture and the rejection of hustle culture to what would happen if you told yourself YES. Enjoy! Stay in touch with Bri: Instagram: @justbrifree Website: www.justbrifree.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
All right, hey, y'all, welcome to this episode The Big
Quit with Chris.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
I am here with a super special guest.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
So excited. This is another one of my friends from
San Diego.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Her name is Bree Hamlet and she is the owner
of Just Brief Free Yoga.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hi, Brie, Hi, thank you for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Of course, so excited to chat with you. So to
get started, go ahead and.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Tell the folks you know, your name, where you're from,
what you do, and we'll get into some other fun
facts in a minute, like you're Sodiac side and your
favorite type of music.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Perfect.

Speaker 5 (00:37):
All right, well, yeah, my name is Bree. I am
based in San Diego. I've been here for about five years,
but I'm an East Coast girl born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Shout out to the East Coast.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
Yes, yes, I cannot let that go. I own Just
Before Yoga and Wellness. It is a multi disciplinary yoga
and health and wellbeing company. So I teach yoga classes,
but I also have health and wellness workshops, and I
work with yoga teachers who are starting to expand their
independent brands and businesses.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Come on with the foolishpiel, she said, elevator where I
don't even need it.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
We could do this right here at the table. I
R I love that for you.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Okay, So tell tell the girls zodiac signs sun moon rising,
if you know, of course, and of course what kind
of music.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Are you into right now?

Speaker 5 (01:19):
So sun moon and rising, I'm a Tara's Sun, I
am a Piscey's moon, and I'm a Gemini rising.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
My chart is all chaotic. I do books.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
You get into the weeds. It's like, what's happening here
music right now? What am I into? I am enjoying
a lot of house music. I think everybody's really feeling
the house music vibe right now, enjoying a lot of seventies,
a little bit of funk, and then honestly like the
newer neo soul like funk revival. I feel like we're
going through right now, like who's a good example like

(01:50):
Anderson Pack. It's like definitely a vibe, yes, and feeling
feeling that kind of Katrina is also just like always
come always on.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
K Tree does not get that love.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
And actually I was on a show last night, or
at a show I hosted the show at a at
that I was at, and there was a drag reformer
there Friday shout out to Friday, such a dope drag artist,
and they performed to k Trinata and the now like
want to get to know your remix?

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I was like, hello, come on, can we get a
little diversity here?

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yes, I'm so here for it. Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
And I was telling my wife and I were talking
and I was saying, like, it's funny to me that
K tre is considered like alt right, like an alterior
type of music, and I'm like, yeah, it's just alternate
to the crap like that's out their mainstream, you know. Yeah,
So I love it. And what I heard from you
was taste iver see that.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yes, I love that.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
So excited to talk to you about where you're at now.
I'm trying not to give it all the way up
from because I really not only to like connect with
your story, your journey and getting this really cool like
view of getting to watch.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
You grow over the years.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
When I tell y'all like, bring you super successful, it
has been growth and work and time, honey.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
So beginning to watch you grow and knowing a little bit.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
About like how you got to this point of being
a full time entrepreneur with just brief for yoga at
this point. So let's take it back a little bit.
Tell us about like your professional and corporate career. What
was that, like the role the FEELD give us a
little setting.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Sure.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
Yeah, So I decided back in undergrad and I was
an undergrad, I'm going to work in public health.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
I had just learned.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
About public health and was really committed to changing, you know,
the health education landscape.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Of our country.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
My background is all in health and well being in general,
but I was really passionate about reproductive health. I was
really passionate about just health equity and access. And so
I was like, I'm going to go into the public sector.
I'm going to do some lobbying and work some health
policy work. So I did that for a little bit.
Then I worked for the CDC and I was a

(03:56):
public health associate. A lot of people don't know that. Yeah,
so I was doing outbreak response before.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
You know, so you worked for the CDC, like when
we were still like, oh, we believe this for the record, y'all.
I want to believe the CDC. It's just been real
shaky these last few years.

Speaker 5 (04:13):
We'll get back, But I have feelings and thoughts of
someone who has had both the inside view and the
outside view of like, oh, this is not the best
representation of like what actually typically has happens, But keep
in mind the containers that they were working with them.
It's struggle bussy. But once I left the federal side

(04:35):
of things, I went to State and so I was
working for university. I was teaching health education, and that
was my dream job. I was like, I want to
be a health educator for college students forever. And then
really truly circumstances beyond my control led me to decide
I needed to leave that role, which is really painful
when you're find like the thing you think you want

(04:56):
to do forever and then decide like, oh, under these circumstances,
is just gonna work. Yeah. And that was in the
throes of the pandemic, and so of course it wasn't
like I could just go find another thing on campus
somewhere on another campus.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
So I ended up going to public.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
Health research, which also enjoyed still was pro social, so
I always do things that are involved in some sort
of like social good.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
Loved that.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
That was my first private sector job, and I again thought,
you know, I could do this for a long time.
It's good money, it's consistent. You know, I'm working for
the people. So I thought that that was what I
wanted to do forever, and then started learning more about.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Myself and realizing maybe that's not what I want to
do forever.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
That moment where you're like, wait a minute, that's for everything,
It might not be so right. And it's interesting given
that one of the most permanent concepts that we have
in life is impermanence. Right, things are going to change,
and so when these ideas change of like, oh, I
thought I was going to be doing this forever.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
I really and you enjoyed it, you know, which I'd
love to.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Hear, because I think a lot of folks are like, oh,
you got your I've like hated it, Like no, you know,
like you said earlier, one was circumstances out of your control.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
And then this next piece is.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Like, hmm, I'm learning more about me and this no
longer really aligned with me.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yes, it's so interesting. So what was like the most
recent environment, like at.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Work so interesting?

Speaker 5 (06:19):
So I worked fully remote and I like to say
that over the last couple of years my life has
really set me up for the.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Transition into full time entrepreneurship.

Speaker 5 (06:28):
So like I was on campus when I was working
at the university, and then when I left that position,
I went into my full time remote role. So I
was working with a very small team there where I
was the fourth staff member hired onto that.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Oh oh wow.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
So it was super tiny and that came with perks
and challenges, right, So being new to an already tight knit,
smaller team, also being the youngest person on the team
created some interesting dynamics. And then having not met any
of my colleagues in person, I got really used to
working alone, which was helpful for again going into the business,

(07:06):
but at the time was kind of drawing, going from
being on a campus where I was seeing literally hundreds
of people, maybe thousands of people on a daily basis,
to then only seeing my coworkers on zoom to then
now seeing these people I've never seen in person only
on zoom.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
But at the same time, it let me you know,
tap into my creativity a bit more, and I was
also able to control my schedule a little bit more,
in which I liked, so my day didn't necessarily have
to start at eight a m. I could kind of
you know, finagle within that, so I loved that aspect
of it. I also got to see just a small
company what their processes were like, and so it was

(07:41):
helpful to see like how do they you know, secure
new new partners or new clients, and how do they
go about marketing their offerings and so it was helpful
to see that on a larger scale than what I'm
you know, I'm currently at.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
It was and it was inspiring for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, it's really neat and I love that you say,
like it it This path has really taken you to
where you essentially need to be.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, uh, to where you want to be, to where
you need.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
To be, And I think it's really interesting in terms of, like,
you know, not everything is all bad. Was work right,
like pulling out things that I admire and things that
I could use to you know, scale my own business,
and that's really really night.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
Yeah, yeah, it was definitely not all bad. There were
some things that ultimately led to this decision that were.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Not not ideal. You know.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
Part of the thing about being with the small team
is that a lot of folks are used to wearing
multiple hats, and when you're the last person invited to
the party, your hat is the smallest you have least
I want to say, and I in some ways, you
though I felt, you know, like I had space to
be very creative outside of my day job.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
Inside of my job.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
I still was pretty much under kind of like the
thumb of like the the owners, the company owners.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Control creatively and really didn't.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
I learned later that there wasn't as much transparency as
I thought I was getting. You know, it's hard to
have such a small team and then also not really
keep the team up to speed on what's going on
and decisions that are being made. So I learned a
lot about when you're picking a company or a team,
when you're creating a team, like having an opinion or

(09:24):
thinking about personalities and work styles and whether or not
these people would even work together, Like yeah, the person
can do the job, but like do they vibe with
the rest of the team. And I felt like at
times being far away, being the youngest one, that led
to some issues with just not feeling like I was connecting.
But I also realized now that I also was just
not really an alignment and maybe that's why I wasn't connecting.

Speaker 4 (09:48):
So yeah, let's stick with.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
The alignment piece because we were chatting a little bit
before we started recording about the thing with alignment and
realizing that you're out of it is that you actually
have to go through something that makes you realize that
to then reflect and say like, mm, I wasn't in
alignment there, so in that and I as you made
this transition, was it the was it being out of

(10:12):
alignment that propelled you to say.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Like, you know what, this isn't for me? What was
the transition?

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Like?

Speaker 4 (10:19):
So funny enough, the transition came for me.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
It literally snatched me out of the air and was
like you were out of alignment, We're going in the
opposite direction.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
Oh wait, no, I thought it was supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
So yeah, I got laid off from that position, and
there were so many feelings that came with this, right
Like I left a state job that was pretty much
never going to go away to take a private job
that was grant funded, and inevitably when funding got.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
Cut, my role went with that cut.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Wow, And so I had already planned, in full transparency,
I had already planned to leave that role within six
months to a year.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
MM. And I am a planner.

Speaker 5 (10:59):
I like to nonmaitarist, We like stability, we like predictability,
so I was like, okay, I'm cool with planning for
this exit. And then the exit was like right here.
It's like if you're on the highway and you're driving
and you're like, oh, my exit is two miles away,
and the next thing you know, your exit's like.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Right there, and I'm like, oh, I'm oh, we're right now.
Are you sure?

Speaker 5 (11:20):
That re route was intense, But I also knew that
I was being pulled deeper into alignment because I remember
the day I got the news. I also got the
news in kind of a strange way. I think, just
because small team I got. It's fine and I'm mind
sharing this. I get a text from my boss at
noon on that day like, hey, do you have time

(11:41):
for a meeting later this afternoon or no, I'm sorry,
I'm meaning a call. So I'm thinking and because we're
fully remote, we talked on the phone a lot, so
I'm expecting a call like we normally would have.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
I'm like, yeah, I'm free between like three and five.
You know.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
He's like, great, let's chat it three cool. So a
couple hours, maybe an hour two go by. I took
my email and I have a full like zoom in
write with my supervisor and the co owner of the company,
and I'm like, literally my thought was I am either
getting a promotion or I'm about to lose my job,
And that truly was like it's one of these two things,
because there's no reason why I would be having a
call a zoom call with both of these people, right

(12:17):
And sure enough, I hop on the call and it's like,
you know, we were going to inform you that we
lost funding for your role. Your last day is this.
We're gonna give you this. You know, We're really sorry.
Do you have any questions?

Speaker 4 (12:27):
It was like a ten.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Minutes sorry, do you have any questions?

Speaker 5 (12:30):
And I think I was in shock at first, and
I was like, I don't have any questions because I
am trying to digest what you just said, but I
will let you know, and got off the call, cried
a little bit, and then was like, Okay, well, this
is what you kind of wanted. It's not the way
you wanted it to happen at all. But I didn't
feel that panicky, like what do I need to do feeling.

(12:53):
It was more like this is happening for me, not
to me, And that's an affirmation. I've been really speaking
over myself for for months now, since way before this
news came, and so realizing like, Okay, this is happening
for you.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Now what are you gonna do?

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Wow with that?

Speaker 4 (13:07):
And yeah, who it is?

Speaker 1 (13:11):
I mean that is that is amazing, Like one, the
way that you process that, you were like okay, okay,
you know, and just to keep to keep going and
being like, okay, didn't happen to me, It's happening for me.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
The way though, can we just back up a.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Second, because I'm sorry they text you about a meeting?

Speaker 3 (13:31):
YEA, can send an email?

Speaker 5 (13:32):
I'm saying, and this again talking about lessons learned from
watching a larger company as as far as income goes,
but small company m I would never ever randomly text
someone on a Thursday, not even like a friend, not
a Monday light, not a day in my mind where
like this makes sense to get this kind of a
news or to give this kind of news.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Yeah it to me. I have so many questions.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
About yes, the the rationale and was their rationale was
that I'd like split second decision of like we're losing
this money, we can't keep her this much longer.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
We have to make a c we have to call
it now. To me, it felt like.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
I don't think they were trying to be hurtful, but
it felt like it lacked a lot of compassion as
far as like could go on for the rest of
your work day. I'm like, well, I'm taking leave tomorrow
because I need to pray. It was like Thursday, so
I had Friday that I was supposed to be at work,
and interestingly enough, I actually still worked for another.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
Month after that, so they gave me the notice. Very interesting.

Speaker 5 (14:37):
Typically when people get laid off, you find out that
day and that day is your last day.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
I was at HR. This is an absolut effect.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
So I got laid off, but then I got thirty
days notice that I was getting laid off. Now, granted,
I got a severance package, which I'm deeply appreciative of,
and the notice gave me. Basically, that was their attempt
to give me space and time to look for another opportunity. However,
I realized in hindsight that it was really more because

(15:05):
they needed me. They needed me, but they couldn't afford
me anymore, and so this was the time for me
to do all of the things that they wanted me
to do if I left, which was really interesting because
I had to say multiple times, I'm gonna need a
little compassion considering the circumstances.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
To you for saying that, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
Like these new new deliverables.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
I'm gonna need a lot of compassion.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
I wasn't creating anything new. I primarily because of the
population I served. And this is I honestly and truly
the reason why I continued to do some work over
those they're trying last couple of weeks is because I
was serving teen parents and juvenile justice youth. I was
not about to just like leave them hanging because somebody
left me hanging.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
So I was a wonderful human.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Oh you know, I work.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
I lead with with my heart first in most things,
and so I knew if I didn't do the best
that I could considering how I was feeling and keeping
that at the forefront, it was gonna be letting some
some young folks who didn't deserve it down. And so
I pushed through. And you know, I did have some
vacation left, so I took those days absolutely like listen,

(16:16):
I'm gonna take so my last day's actually not gonna
be this day. It is gonna be this day, and
it the perk of all this is because I worked
from home.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
I really.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
I wouldn't neither confirm or deny how much actual work
happened over those weeks that had to do with them,
But yeah, it was strange and honestly, like, emotionally it
was hard to even lean into what I knew I
wanted to do, which is like, Okay, I'm going to
work on the business full time. But I still had
this lingering like you still got to show up for
work and clock in and do these things for these

(16:49):
other people when I'm like, I'm not even I gotta
go take care of me.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
Like, it was very challenging, and.

Speaker 5 (16:55):
I would not recommend to any company who's thinking like, oh,
we're doing the compassionate thing. Layoffs are never great, but
it is not compassionate to tell someone they're losing their
job and then expect them to show up and do
your work for another month and think, well, I'm paying you.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
So you should just like be happy to still be here.
It's a very that's ugly.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
It's yeah, that's really ugly.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yeah, would not recommend, do.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
You not zero out of ten? Very good, do not
do it? Okay?

Speaker 1 (17:24):
So Edbury, I love that like you shared the fact that, like, hey,
emotionally this was trying, you know, especially the idea of
continuing to show up.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Maybe I would have had that camera off. I would
be late to every meeting.

Speaker 5 (17:36):
I was, and was and declined some meetings that I
just didn't need to be yet, and they're like, oh,
we're meeting with a new stakeholder. I don't need to
be This person doesn't need to see my face. I'm
not going to.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Be here yeah in a month.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So yeah, it has nothing to do with you, right,
But speaking of things that did have to do with you,
right and knowing okay, I want to.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
Work on the business.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
What was the process like after Okay, you complete your
thirty days because you're a wonderful human any other but
anybody else I just want to put out there we
would have been going like we.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Wouldn't have made it the full thirty.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
But in this like you finish your thirty days with him,
you honor the commitment, right, and now you say, okay,
I want to work on my business.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
How long? And what did that process look like?

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Like?

Speaker 3 (18:21):
How long and take? What did it look like to say,
all right, I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Did you take any time like between at like between
that job and then jumping full.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
Time in and j just briefly?

Speaker 4 (18:32):
Did I take any time? Really?

Speaker 5 (18:34):
No? I think this is the thing that I struggle with,
and I'm sure other entrepreneurs struggle with this too, right of, Like,
is there ever really a day.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
Off when you run your own business?

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Ye?

Speaker 5 (18:44):
No, right right, no days off? And I don't even
say that cause I don't. I no longer subscribe to
hustle culture. I am leaning into a soft existence as
a black woman, as a person like I am not
with the ripping and running. But I will say it,
it was almost too stressful to try, and it still
and I had to actively tell myself, you just a rest.

(19:04):
You still have money coming in, you don't have to
go like pound the pavement right now.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
In fact, that's not.

Speaker 5 (19:08):
Even what you were doing to get where you are,
or you know the opportunities you've had. So I would say,
like that first day, I took that Friday off after
I got the news, and I took that following Monday
off as well, and I took the whole weekend. It
was Pride weekend here too, and I was so like,
I was mostly mad because they fucked up my I

(19:31):
was like, I can't even go out and just vibe
right now because my mind is like, what are you
gonna do to feed yourself?

Speaker 4 (19:38):
How are you gonna pay this check? You know?

Speaker 5 (19:40):
And I'm so pay rent And I was very annoyed
about that. It was like, y'all could have told me
either a week before or the week after. I told
y'all Pride was coming.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
You knew it was one a year and we are.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
I just want to put this out there for folks
that are in San Diego. Ours is a full month
after everybody else's. So it's like it's a thing, right
you have the weekend, our one little cute weekend, right mart,
and it's a vibe you want to be out.

Speaker 5 (20:04):
I feel that, Yeah, it that I've disrupted, for sure.
But I will say I got off of the call
with them. I sat with them for about thirty minutes.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
I called my mom.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
I'm very fortunate I have a very healthy relationship with
my parents and so called mom and was like, I
just got this news, and she's like, funny enough, I'm
very intuitive, deeply intuitive person, and so she's like, we
kind of knew something was up right, and I was like,
we did you know? And because I shared with my
mom a couple months ago, I'm wondering, I'm getting a
feeling and I could I couldn't put my finger on

(20:36):
the feeling. And this is what I was alluding to
earlier with the transparency thing of like I'm feeling like
money is getting shuffled around because they'd hired a lot
of people. They hired a couple more people after me,
but it felt like it was almost too fast considering
the the economy we're in. And I was like, they
didn't hire my equivalent for the the opposite team. There's

(20:57):
basically there are two teams separate projects. And then I
didn't hire an equivalent for my role for that team,
and I thought that was interesting.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Anyways, my mom was like, well, what do you what
do you want to do?

Speaker 5 (21:08):
And I was like, I want to work on the business,
but I also need to think about what other opportunities
are out there. So I kind of hopped off of
the call with her, and she's like, you know, if
you want any support, I can send you jobs blah
blah blah blah. You know, I'm here for you, and
I sat with it and I meditated on it. I
meditate daily and talked to to spirit, the designing God, universe,
all of that for me every day. And it was

(21:31):
just like, you don't want to work for somebody else,
and not because I am not capable, and not because
I don't technically already I work for some yoga studios,
but this giving forty hours a week of my time
to one person or one company is just no longer
appealing to me.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
No.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
No, I couldn't even looking at the jobs that I
could have technically applied for. I said, I don't even
want to do this. I'm only applying because I feel
like I'm in need. And going back to the whole
alignment thing, I don't feel like the jobs that I've
had and left.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
I were totally for me.

Speaker 5 (22:09):
I feel like I was doing the thing that I
felt like I had to do was just like achieve
a tain and then I would attach myself to the
idea and I would attach myself to and so when
those opportunities kept kind of dissolving, meaning like I had
to leave this job because it was the environment was
just so toxic. I had to leave this other role
because it was a termally limited position. It's like, why
do I keep having the rug pulled from underneath me?

(22:30):
It's like, because you're not supposed to be doing that
thing or that thing or that thing. But the one
thing that has been very consistent for you for the
last three and a half years is this brand that
you've been very passively building. What happened if you gave
it all of your time and asking myself like, what
is the absolute No, I wouldn't even say, what's the
worst thing that happened? I said, what would happened if
you told yourself yes for once? Because I have a

(22:54):
saying where I don't let I won't tell myself no.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
But I realized I wasn't actively telling myself yes either.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
It's a two parter, y'all. It's a two parter.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
I love that, And I feel like this is a
good spot for us to one laugh with Spirit, who
loves to joke right, loves.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
To say like, oh you were enjoying that, Haha, I'm
just gonna go ahead and pull out rugg come under.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yet to get you to move into the ways that
are aligned for you. And so one, let's laugh with
Spirit ah And two let's take a break here and
when we come back, we'll talk more about what is
an alignment for you and what this transition has been like.
All right, welcome back. We still have our special guests
free here and we are talking about alignment.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
So to start, let's talk about.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Like the littered path of broken dreams that.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
Actually leads to alignment.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
And I'll share a little bit too, so say so
very similar to you, I was going through these positions
right making good money. I was in HR for about
ten years and just kept kind of thinking like maybe
it's this job, right, like, maybe it's this particular company.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
I'll switch fields. I'll do this because HR is pretty fluid.
I can, you know, be anywhere.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
And right as the pandemic was happening, like literally, I'm
sitting at work and I was.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Working at one of the organizations at Buboa.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Park and I'm sitting there and we were talking about
COVID plans and I'm thinking to myself, I don't want
to be here.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
I didn't want to be here at all. And this
was kind of like my last like m you know
what I mean. I'm thinking to myself like, oh, this
is gonna be cool.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
It's an artsy type of vibe and very creative people,
and I hated it.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
We would sit in like leadership meetings and they would
start by saying, like, tell us how you're feeling today,
I'm sagittarious.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
We don't do that.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
I don't even know what that means, Like why are
we doing this in a meeting setting?

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Right, And just to I'm sharing that to say, A
lot of time was wasted on things like that, and
it was very obviously not a good fit, to the
point that at as the pandemics starting in March, we're
having combos about how to stay open or to reopen
in two weeks, right, because is what we all thought.
And I actually had a conversation with the CFO about

(25:12):
buying me out, like give me a.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Seven so I don't want to be here anymore.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
And it starting to get to the point like I
know y'all don't want to hear anymore eight there.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
So had all that.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Go on, the pandemic hits, I get laid off and
I'm sitting there going through the self reflection period that
I feel like ninety nine point nine percent of us
went through, and I have this thing like I'm not
in alignment with human resources, and yet and still I.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Received a recruiting email and I took it, and I
took the job right. It was my dream job from
years ago.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
It was six figures, it was everything I wanted write
a chance to move to La Cool. Absolutely hated it,
absolutely hated it, and it got to the point where
I just I quit without the plan, right I had
to go.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
I end up taking an.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Emergency leave of absence and didn't go back, never returned.
And in that when I finally left, what you mentioned
earlier about like the being so uncomfortable just sitting. It
took weeks to be able to relax, to enjoy myself, right,
But it took very little time to realize I was
out of alignment the entire time, and not just at

(26:19):
that last role, not just at the spot in the park.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
It had been for years, right.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And it's not because oh I wasn't trying, or it
wasn't each company. It was that being someone who wants
to help people at the core, very similar to you.
I was never gonna be able to do it in
those roles yet and still knowing all that, like I said,
I took the bait when that last job came up,
and I wanted to ask, like I said, the litter
path of dreams to alignment. My spirit also loves to

(26:47):
give us tests, right, like, hey, here's that six figure
job you thought you were dreaming.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Of your whole life? Are you going to do it?
And I can tell you too.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
As soon as I quit, or right before I quit,
I received an offer of about extra to stay.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
When I left.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
The next week, I got a recruiting email from completely
unrelated for an offer of like.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Sixteen in californ is not cheap, y'all.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Like these things would make a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Better, right and yeah, And so I was like instood
in my resolve of I don't want to do that. Yeah,
did you go through any tests of you know, hey,
here's this carrot?

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Do you do you want to come back?

Speaker 4 (27:26):
Listen?

Speaker 5 (27:27):
Yes, absolutely, the test The tests have been rolling in
for a minute. I'll say that the tests were rolling
in before I got laid off. The tests have rolled in,
you know since I right before, no, right after I
got laid off, there was an opportunity that was posted
at the university I used to work for that two

(27:49):
three years ago. I would have been like absolutely, like
I want to do this right now, And it caught
me for a second of like it would be so
easy to go back because I left on good terms,
Like I wasn't good standing. You know, I know the
people who are hiring for this department, like I know
them well, And I thought about it as you do
not want to have to be on a campus every day.
You don't want to have to commute every day. You

(28:10):
don't want to do that, And like really had to
be like are you being are you making a good design?

Speaker 4 (28:17):
Like I really had to have a conversation with.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
Myself and you know, even with the roles that I've seen,
and I'll be transernent and say, of course, when I
see an opportunity that seems interesting, I'm like maybe I
should apply and thinking about it, but just realizing the
thought of giving again so much of my time because
like we say forty hours on paper, but we know
it's more than that.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
It's like it's more than that.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
It's an unspoken understood you right, that we're talking ten
to twelve hours a day and a lot of these roles.

Speaker 5 (28:44):
Yes, yes, because we wake up thinking about them, Like
even if you're not necessarily making money, you're like I
know I have this meeting at this time, so that's
to me, that's work time. My brain is that I'm
not being president and taking care of Bree. I'm right,
you know, I'm giving that time away. I'm sitting in
my car for forty five minutes to get there and
then try and find parking, and then like all of
that goes to this job. And I'm just so tired

(29:07):
of feeling like that. So we have the test.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
I've rolled in. I've definitely had to.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
Pull myself back from going further out of alignment, and
for what it's worth. When I do focus my energy
and intention on what I know I want to do,
the opportunities are they are like wood, they.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
Are they are.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
They were falling in before this even happened. And so
I just talk that girl. So I keep trying to
remind myself, you didn't make it this far with a
scarcy mindset. Don't start adopting a scarcy mindset right now?

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yes, yes, that part and so okay you knowing that, Hey,
to be what I feel is most in alignment is
to focus full time on just brief reing and resisting
this urge to go back to what's comfortable and what's
known in aka city salary where you see the direct
deposit pending and your heart flutters a little bit like ooh, hey,

(30:01):
so knowing that right, okay, just briefree, is what's in
alignment for you. We are black women that are very
we have very similar backgrounds in the sense of, like,
you go to college, you get a good job, and
you know you do that and it part of that
is tied up in family. M knowing that focusing full
time on your business was what your heart was calling
you to with spirit was not so gently guiding you too.

(30:24):
What was that like interacting with your families? I know,
like you mentioned, you or your mom have a great relationship,
y'all are close. Did you share with her like, hey,
I know you mentioned like on the call, I'm thinking
of doing this, But how did she factor in your
process of deciding like nope, full time, this is it
I'm doing me.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
Oh, it was tough.

Speaker 5 (30:44):
My my gut, of course is you know I don't.
I know they've my parents will support me no matter what.
And I also know that they are of the generation
of many generations before us, which, like you said, you've
got to college, you get the good job, you stay
at that good job for forty years, and then you
get your coaching, you know. So I do come from

(31:04):
those parents, and so my mom's first thought was, you can.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Go back to the government, you can go back to
the state. And she's sending me the jobs.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
Even though you know I was I casually mentioned I
think I want to do the business, she still was
sending me the jobs. And finally I did have to say,
in a one off conversation with my mom, like, hey.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
I don't want to do this.

Speaker 5 (31:22):
But I only talked to my mom, and I did eventually,
you know, talk to my dad about my parents are together.
I just talked to them so really about it. I
was like, hey, I don't want to do another full
time job like this. And her next response, well intended, beautiful,
coming from a place of love, was okay, well you
can move.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Home and then.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
And then I can you know, we can support you
and make sure And I was like, I also don't want.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
To move home.

Speaker 5 (31:49):
Yeah, and then so much right, and really like knowing
how incredibly bust him to have that, but also knowing
that was absolutely not going to be in alignment. I
feel very convicted in that and yeah, listen, love Baltimore,
not living in Baltimore, and honestly, for my industry, for
my business, it wouldn't have helped. And so having to

(32:10):
be clear about that, and then that's when I could
sense a bit of her fear and anxiety of like,
oh wait, so you're going to figure out how to
still pay this expensive San Diego rent and stay there
and do like I'm talking like I'm talking big money.
I'm talking about, like doing this and still having close to,
if not more than, what I was making annually, you know,
up to now. And that was tough. So I did

(32:32):
let Mom in on that, you know, once I came
you know, certain of that. I think that was about
a week after that I got the news, and then
I didn't tell anybody else ouside of my immediate like
you know, Babbo, my my parents and my siblings. So
my family very well, beautiful, well intended thing. My sister
in law organized a blessings call for me with my
extended family, so like my grandparents, my aunts and cousins,

(32:53):
anybody who's like watched me grow and they organize this
call is very sweet. I highly recommend him. You have
someone in your life who's going into entrepreneurship, Pour into them,
build them up. Do not do that scary thing where
you're like projecting all your fears onto them.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
So still project they, I mean, because the entrepreneurs are
already dealing with so many and it doesn't even have
to be fears but questions. You know, there are more
questions and answers one and eighty percent of the time.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (33:19):
Yeah, And so we got on the call and everybody's
pouring into me. At this point, most of my family
does not know I got laid off. Most of my
family thinks this is a strategic decision that I've saved enough,
or I've done all the other things that I wanted.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
To do first.

Speaker 5 (33:31):
And it wasn't until towards the end of the call
that I finally was like, this laid off was a blessing,
and no one said it.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
On the call. Actually, let me back up.

Speaker 5 (33:41):
I remember I said it because my grandma was like,
well intended love her to the end of the world.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Was like, you know, you didn't lose your job because
you're not capable, like she like threw it out.

Speaker 5 (33:53):
They're not realizing and I was like, okay, well we're
having this conversation that's like, you know, the lay off
was a blessing, blah blah blah. So after the fact,
a couple of mounties you know, reached out to my
mom and we're like, you didn't tell us that she
got laid off.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
And she sat listen.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
When my mama knows now, and I love and I
appreciate it now, like when I say, hey, it's this
is me, you and that the other core people, I
mean that. She she means it now, and but she
was like it wasn't relevant, It wasn't relevant to what
she's trying to do. And if it's coloring the way
that you're perceiving the shift for her now, then that
that speaks more to you know, how much you actually

(34:27):
believe in her, Because if you believed in her at
the beginning of this call wholeheartedly.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
That's it. That's it. That's all that matters, you know.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
And that's part of the reason why I didn't as
soon as I get the news hop on the GRAM
and be like, hey, I got laid off, come to
support my business, like no, that was not that's not
even me. But also like that was not going to
color my story. This is a part of my story.
It is not these stories. Yeah, that's why I'm finally
talking about it now, because I've processed, I've figured it out,
and I don't see it as something that I did

(34:56):
wrong or happened to me.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
Like I said, it happened for me.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Mm hmm. And you've been moving in alignment. What type
of gifts and.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Pins and opportunity the doors have been open for you, y'all.
I don't know if y'all can see bre on this
camera yet, but she has this big grin on her
Facebook asking because it's blessed.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
I listen.

Speaker 5 (35:16):
I my karma. I tried to keep my karma as
clean as possible because what I put out there I
get back tenfold. And I mean that wholeheartedly. So before
all of this stuff even happened in I want to
say late April, early Many, I don't remember exactly, I
was applying for grants for the business.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Just in general.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
I'm always kind of looking for new opportunities, and I
saw that Blavity dot Org. So most I'm sure some
of y'all familiar with Glavity Inc. They have a philanthropic
piece called Blavity dot Org, but they support entrepreneurs they
were doing their next coport of Growth Fellows for their
Growth Fellowship program, and saw that the application was opened
in my email. I applied probably within twenty minutes. I

(35:57):
don't remember what I put on this application. I truly
I need to hit them up a spoiler alert. I
got in, but I need to hit them up and
figure out what I even said. But I moved with spirit.
It was one of those moments of like, let me
apply for this. I'm the candidate for this, is there?

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (36:13):
And they were looking for wellness entrepreneurs specifically, so I
was like, oh, yeah, this is very much me. I
get an interview, you know, a week later, and I
was supposed to be in Bali, Indonesia when I got
found out whether or not I would get in, and
I had like forty eight hours to respond if I
was going to do it. I did not get to

(36:34):
go to Bali, which was devastating right Like, I was like,
I wanted to go Powers of B again. When I
when I tell you, Spirit has been literally like tossing
me around. I'm like I want to do this. No,
well what about this? No, I'm just like what am
I supposed to do?

Speaker 4 (36:49):
So I was.

Speaker 5 (36:51):
I was in the States when I got the news,
and I had just gone out to dinner with the
homegirl and she was like, just check your email and
see and I was like, now I can't handle like
more disapointment right now, Like I'm so like note. So
I waited until I got back to my Airbnb and
checked my email, and low and behold, it was like
midnight as like, you know, congratulations you got in.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
And I out cried. I found out it was like
the more day before my birthday. I was like crying.

Speaker 5 (37:16):
It was just like, okay, so maybe this is why
you're not in Indonesia because you need to be here
to like get this email and respond to this email
or whatever. And so that fellowship came with six months
of guidance from the Blavity team and their network of experts.
So we've met with people from LinkedIn and you know,
just all of our industry experts when it comes to

(37:37):
building a brand. And then it also came with a
ten thousand dollars grant that we have full control over.
We can use it for whatever we need to use
it for. And so again, like this happened beforehand. So
when I think back on like the nuggets of things
that have happened to lead up to this moment. I
feel like, you know, spirit knew. I knew that I

(37:57):
couldn't really be fully present and digest and receive all
the things that I'm getting through the fellowship if my
brain was split between that and the job, which was
really what was happening is like I'm getting these notes,
I'm like, Yeah, that's cool, that's cool.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
That's cool. I need to implement it.

Speaker 5 (38:07):
No time to implement it, no energy to implement it,
because I've then hopping off of my fellowship call and
working on something else for somebody else. So they were
actually getting my old job is getting the juice and
like the gems that I was learning, and I think
that was like we need to nope, she can't juggle
about these balls. We're gonna have to snatch that one way.
So that happened, and then since then, I mean, just

(38:30):
opportunities to teach in a way that it feels grounded
and balanced. I have a new opportunity I'll be starting
very soon where I'll be teaching for an online teaching platform,
an online yoga platform, which is really cool, and the
nice thing about their payment structure is it's royalty based,
not basically by the video, and so for a lot
of us, when we sell videos, it's by the video,

(38:52):
and when we lose the rights to that where it's
like I maintain my creative rights to it. If I
want them to take it down, they can take it down.
I just basically wouldn't get the royalties through them hosting
it anymore. But like that worked out perfectly. I did
an Advanced Yoga Teacher training earlier this year, so I'm
a five hundred hour teacher, which yeah, for folks who
don't know, it's a big deal to go from a

(39:12):
two hundred hour teacher, which is basically like standard two
of five hundred hours another three hundred hours of study
learning you know, the in depth details about yoga, and
so in order to be on that platform, I had
to be at least a five hundred hour teacher. So
it was like the dominoes have just been stacking up
on the side while I was looking in the opposite direction.
So that's going to be starting soon, and then I

(39:35):
just have opportunities to do some of the things that
I haven't had time to do, like retreats and working
with other brands you know that just needed me to
be available during the day, and so honestly, like, there's
no shortage of work for me there, and now that
my schedule is more free, I can do more.

Speaker 4 (39:51):
So I'm just excited. I just woo, I got tills
and I just had a dayevy moment.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
So I love that here yahout. Yes, I'm just so
excited and grateful. I have the check framed because I'm like,
I want more of this. Yes, i want more, you know,
five and six good in the mail.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Yes, and may that be the first of many and
probably the lowest amount, like congratulations on everything like that
is beyond powerful what you just shared and the idea
that like, hey, it's okay to pour fully into you
and recognize that, like you said, your old job was

(40:38):
getting the gems from something that really was for you,
and by that being for you, it was also for
those that you're reaching.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
Yes, you know, but it was.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Trickling down to the wrong side. Yeah, he was like, Okay,
we're gonna redirect you know. That's so powerful. One of
the things I heard you mentioned too, was that some
of these brands that you work with.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Require you to be available during the day and I
know that you mentioned, like.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Hey, when the last thirty days, I was already kind
of shifting my schedule as I.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Wanted it to be. But what does your routine look
like now? Do you have one?

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Is it day by day, especially like as you're essentially
a solo entrepreneur.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
Yes, yes, I am a solo entrepreneur. It's just me
right now. I'm not gonna lie. That first week where
I was no longer working for my old job was
rough because I truly time in space wise, I was
used to external checks and balances keeping me in check,
and I didn't realize that I also, in January was
diagnosed with ADHD, which makes a lot of sense when

(41:36):
I think about my life and my brain, and so
part of the I thrive in other people's structure, I
thrive in somebody else does is me where I need
to be. But the problem with that is I'm inherently
very creative, and I need to be able to move
at a pace that feels good. And so that first
week I thought I would just keep getting up at
the same time. Naturally, if I know I don't have to,

(41:56):
then I'm like I'm asleep. And so I was trying
to force myself to I'll do this this old way
of being it wasn't working, and I'm getting frustrated. I'm
giving myself hard time. So that first week, I will
say honestly, was just like a hot mess. I was
like waking up at a different time every day. I
was working out at a different time every day. So
the second week, I was like, all right, how are
we gonna do this differently? And so I have a

(42:17):
wonderful business advisor. I've been working with her for three
years now through there's a really dope resource here in
Scene called the Stanego Women's Business Center and they work
with women and business small business owners, women and folks
on the gender spectrum. And so she I meet with
her monthly and she's like, you need to just you

(42:38):
need to create.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Systems for yourself.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
What needs to happen every day, what needs to happen
every week, and one needs to happen every month. And
so I actually spent time and just created a like
mock schedule, knowing that I will honor my energy level
that day and the needs that arise. But now I
know for me, like a non negotiable is I have
to move my body in the morning.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
I have to work out in the morning.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
I am a morning moved girl.

Speaker 4 (43:00):
Yes, it's got to start my day with that.

Speaker 5 (43:02):
And then the other non negotiable for me is what
I call the my like sort of meditation saying, where
I sit down and I pull my cards and I'm
big into the cards. I pull my cards, I meditated
on them, and then I ran my affirmations and my
intentions for that day, and I let that guide me.
If I don't do those things, I don't feel grounded
at all, and so the rest of the day will
just be like throwing darts. It's chaotic. I don't know

(43:24):
why I needed to get done. And also, like I said,
because I have a short hoss attention. If I don't
write it down or put it in a notebook somewhere,
it does not exist at all. Who I don't I
wish I could remember who just said it this way,
because it was beautifully sad. But in essence, I when
I forget a thought, you know, when you minimize a

(43:45):
tab and you're like, I'll come it too that tab later,
I just it doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
It's gone. Tab is gone.

Speaker 5 (43:51):
Wow, I closed it and deleted. There's no history until
somebody else says.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Breed remember that.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Then I'm like, oh, shoot, that tab was so I
now use this app that you know there. It's cool.

Speaker 5 (44:03):
I don't mind chatting it out because it's actually very helpful.
It's called structured. It's intended with people who are neurodiverse
in mind to help us just throw all our tasks
on it to do list, and then from there it'll
help you put it into your schedule. You have thirty
minutes here, why don't you add this task here that
you said will only take you thirty minutes?

Speaker 4 (44:20):
And so that thing saved me.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
It's literally like this is long, this podcast recording is
on there, block this time off. You know that you
have to be in this place, and then when I'm
gone to get to check it off, which is so satisfying.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
Ooh yeah, check off.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
So but as far as what I've determined for my weeks,
like Monday for me is actually the like what most
people's Sunday would be. That's when I do my groceries,
drop off my laundry. I started doing fluff and fold
because I don't have a washer and dry in my
place and I don't have time to sit up the laundromat,
and I received that I'm going to continue to do that,
so absolutely fluff and full groceries. And then my like

(44:57):
CEO task is what I've been told to call it.
So what needs to happen that week? What's what are
the deliverables that are do? Who am I am meeting with?
Just giving myself like a pulse check for the week.
Tuesday is when I sit down and I fire off
some of those like emails. I also carved out time
for consultations with again yoga teachers, with brands who want
to work with me. Wednesday is my content day, so

(45:18):
that's the day where I'm batch creating my videos, whether
it's reels you know, TikTok et, cetera, or video I
have to create for that platform we be working for.
Thursday is another one of those consult days. And then
Friday is my day off, which I'm still trying to
Does that mean because I typically work on Saturdays and Sundays,
either teaching group classes or workshops, That's when a lot

(45:38):
of yoga yoga teachers work on the weekends.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Yeah, yeah, wow.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
I love the journey too, and very very similar in
the sense of like wow, who.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Am I with that my Tuesday meeting at nine a m.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I don't actually know, right, like a yes, But then
like these these moments of being able to move my
body in the morning and not have that pressure in
the back of my mind, like, Okay, I have to
get this done in a certain amount of time so that.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
I can hop on that call.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Oh that's so beautiful. I love it.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
And I love the very like beautiful structured routine that
you've created and the acknowledgement that I am going to
honor my energy level that day because some days maybe
you just don't have it to get It's so real.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
That is so so real. Love that.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Okay, So, given the structure that you just shared, I
actually think this is a good time for us to
take a structure break. So we're gonna take a pause
here and then we'll be back to wrap up this
episode with Bree.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Awesome, all right, welcome back.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
I am loving this conversation in this episode with Breath.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Thus far, we just.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Left off talking about structure, right, and that it took
some time to develop the structure that you have now,
the routine and all of that outside of that or
maybe if it's still in relation to that, what's been
the biggest adjustment for you going from working full time
and doing just briefree really like.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
As a part time role, y'all. Like, I can't stress enough.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
She has been building on this on this bad boy
for a few years, but moving to doing.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
That full time, what's been the biggest adjustment for you?

Speaker 5 (47:11):
Oh, I would say the biggest adjustment besides the actual
day to day routine, has been looking at the money
that's coming into the business as money to live off of.
I've been very fortunate in that because I've done I
started the business in April twenty nineteen, so I've been
running it for a while, and I will say I've
made money every year. So the business pace has paid

(47:31):
for itself a long long time ago. It's paid for
my other trainings, It's paid for a lot of things.
So I never thought about that money really intentionally of
like how would I take this money and live off
of it? And so even thinking about like how much
do I need to earn in a month to you know,
maintain where I'm at right now, and how do I

(47:51):
keep my expenses low? And then what costs in the
business can I either eliminate outsource, et cetera. That has
been kind of a shift, and I will say I'm
really fortunate that my mindset around money is very abundant.
One of the things I teach in my yoga business
Basics course is about properly pricing your offerings because traditionally,

(48:12):
unfortunately in our industry, people are super underpaid. You know,
we typically might see between thirty and forty dollars an hour,
which sounds nice when you're working forty hours a week,
but we don't work forty hours a week. We don't
teach forty hours worth of classes. You know, most people,
if you want to be a full time teacher in
that sense, you're teaching maybe twenty hours of classes. That's exhausting.
That's no, I'm not doing that. I don't know a

(48:34):
lot of people who want to do that. And so
thinking about my other offerings that I'm giving my energy
and my time, how do I effectively price what I'm doing?
And like I said, I'm fortunate in that my prices
are what I feel are good and reasonable considering you know,
what I'm offering and to whom I'm offering them. But
that also means I'm contingent on gigs coming in, and like,

(48:56):
how do I manage the feelings around it not being predictable?
That is the for me, Like the income is not
as predictable, So how can I put some things in
and and align myself for opportunities that would generate some
more predictable income.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
Mmmm.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
That is definitely an adjustment in and of itself, you know,
looking at changing your view on.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
The finances of something that you know was it that
wasn't what it was used for before?

Speaker 4 (49:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Awesome?

Speaker 1 (49:21):
So in thinking about that adjustment too, right, I wanna
ask what was your biggest fear or concern uh around
making this transition and has it come to pass?

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Oh my gosh, what is my biggest here I'm around
this transition?

Speaker 5 (49:37):
I funny enough, I I I'm like not thinking anything,
not because I don't have fears, but I think for me,
I I try my best to keep the word fear
mm away. I would say, like, what my hesitation is
the thing that makes me feel like W I don't
know about? This is more so again the lack of predictability,
but also having to having to sell myself in a

(50:02):
way that I didn't have to before. I've been very
fortunate in that the business when I've promoted it. I
started in an environment where it was kind of like,
if this works out, cool, If it doesn't work out,
I'm still good. I still got this job over here.
So I didn't really take myself seriously in the sense that,
like I, I didn't do it very intent intentionally. I

(50:25):
guess I was very passive in my marketing and I
had my events, but I was also still working full time,
and I was like, you know, my brain is kind
of not go all the way in this. So now
the hesitancy is how do I get comfortable sharing and
pushing more of the like monetize or opportunities the things
that I have, whether it's working with a brand, whether
it's a class or a workshop, I'm going to be

(50:45):
leading and getting.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
Comfortable with that.

Speaker 5 (50:47):
I think that is where my discomfort and my growth
edge is right now, of being like it's okay to
tell people you're doing this thing and that the price
tag is this versus waiting for the opportunity to uppear
in your inbox, because nine times out of ten before
it was like someone's looking for a private yoga instructor
for this or this brand is looking for someone who
creates content like this versus being like pitching myself. That

(51:08):
is a different way of being. But I'm ready for it.
I'm ready to grow in that way.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yes, Oh that's so beautiful. I love that. I love that.
I also love that you said, like, I don't do fear.
That's I don't know.

Speaker 5 (51:20):
At the first thing when you said it, my mom's
voice in my head, MoMA Ham used to say, fear
is false evidence.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
Of being real, like so.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Acrid.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
Literally when I hear it, it's like, does not compute
because my mom was so like, we don't do fear,
And so.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
Yeah, now I'm like, Okay, what's the other word.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
What's the word that resonates with being like hesitancy, like
you know, an uncertainty.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Yeah? Yes, oh, I love that. I love that. I
love that.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
And in this right again, we've talked about the fact
that really living in that abundant mindset, and not just
money wise, but in opportunities everything, connections are part of
abundance too, Right, what has been your biggest win thus far?

Speaker 5 (52:02):
Oh my gosh, how does one quantify the biggest win?
I think it would be easy to say the fellowship,
but I'm not even gonna say that because what I think,
truly my biggest win is is the fact that I
am still here in business three and a half years
after I decided to start this thing.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
I don't take that lightly at all.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
I know entrepreneurs struggle every day to keep their dreams alive.
And so the fact that not only I'm still in business,
I've made more money every single year I've been in
business than the year before that I have continued to
grow as a teacher, as a human being, and that
I have really like a global audience.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Is so like, what a gift.

Speaker 5 (52:44):
What a gift that I get to do the thing
that is most authentic and aligned to me and.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
Get paid for it and get paid well for it.

Speaker 5 (52:50):
Yes, So to me, it's like that's when I think about,
like just to have something that's mine and also the
gift of being able to be my authentic self. Like
when I first started the business, some people were, you know,
speaking from I guess a good place of are you
sure you want to tell people that you're queer because
it's going.

Speaker 4 (53:08):
To get in the way of opportunities?

Speaker 5 (53:09):
And my whole thing was like, I don't want to
work with anybody who doesn't vibe with queer people.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
Who doesn't like queer people.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
I am not the right fit for you, because you're
gonna find out, but then we're gonna be uncomfortable. So like, no,
I don't want to, you know, hide that. And I've
never lost money because of it. And if I lost
money because of it, I don't know about it.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Who knows.

Speaker 5 (53:33):
So yeah, it's the fact that I get to just
be me, like the life that I live, the things
that I post and share, those are real ass snippets
of my data, tame if nothing is curated for the Graham.
It's like I do go to the gym. I do,
but I also benj out on the couch, and I
also you know, go out for drinks, you know, and
and I also teach you and I also take yo guys.

(53:53):
So I just share my life and I love that
I get to do that and make money.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Why not all of the things, right, Like, I've taken
care of myself and I'm taking care of this rant, yes, okay,
tak care of the bay. I love that I love
it so much and in this right and this getting
to the point of like I love being me, like
I love getting paid to be me right in a
certain sense.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Were there any major points that you look back and say.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Like this area of growth or like this experience really
got me to this point, Like.

Speaker 4 (54:26):
Hmm mm hmmm. Yes.

Speaker 5 (54:29):
So when I started my business, I was I was
in the beginning of it what ended up being a
long term relationship. And I started the business while my
former partner was out of the country for work, and
so I, funny enough, started it at a time where
I had nothing but time to focus on myself. And

(54:50):
I wonder sometimes like, wow, had I not had that
time when I have gotten when I've done this, when
I've even gone to this point, you know, But to
have six months where you're like, it's just me and
you know, while albuman do this thing, I have to
do something to keep me occupied. I'm gonna build this brand.
I realized not how much growth was in that. And honestly,

(55:11):
when I talk about being out of alignment, one of
the things in the last several years I changed was
that relationship ending, and it gave me an opportunity to
have to look at the business again my fresh eyed
and it also made men realized how much how little
balance I had between other aspects of my life and
the business. It was like, how do I do this
without having no other things around me? Like, I can't

(55:33):
only thrive in the business when I'm like by myself
and you know, like stressed out so much just put
all my energy into this. And so it's challenged me
to grow in a way of like how can you
build build the thing you love and still have balance
and still enjoy other aspects of life, which goes back
to the thing of like I had a really unhealthy
relationship with rest, still have a very unhealthy relationship with Rest.
I'll be transparent in that and that I don't find

(55:56):
a lot of comfort in sitting still, but I know
it's because I've been conditioned to believe if I'm not
being pretty, I'm falling behind. So you know, it's been
it's been interesting to watch things fall away and then
again allowing and inventing the new things, n really detaching
myself from the outcome. I think that's also probabus one

(56:17):
of the businesses still going is because I was never
attached to an outcome.

Speaker 4 (56:20):
I'm gonna do this as.

Speaker 5 (56:21):
Long as it's writing for me, I'm reading for it,
and so yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Oh that's so awesome. That is so awesome. And sometimes
it's those periods of like.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Space and time and you're like, oh, maybe this is
something I really want to pursue. Like it's really beautiful
to have that time, and we so often don't. Yeah, right,
Like you said, the idea of if I'm not moving,
I'm falling behind and really you're fine, it's okay. I've
gotten to a space and at this point in my
life where like, even when I'm not moving, things still

(56:55):
are yes for me.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Right.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Uh, the connections that I've met, maybe some is out
and they're like, oh, hey, I just.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Rain in the breed, like oh we're connecting radio.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
You know, it's beautiful new opportunities in my inbox and
I'm taking a nap. Yeah, that's cool, right, Like an
email is not a phone call or a text. It
doesn't need to be responded to with such urgency, and
removing that sense of urgency from life and allowing it
to flow really create such an abundant and an opportunistic setting,
you know, for things to happen for you.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
So I love that you're sharing that and being honest too.
Like that rec.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Piece, it's twenty plus years conditioning on that and going
nowhere in two weeks, two months, you know, it might
not even be two years, but to continue to work
at it and say like, no, I deserve that just
as much as I deserve the success.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
Honestly, the success comes as part of the rest.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Yeah, you know, like if you're real rested, you can
go out and do whatever it is you want to
the full, like to the max.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
So I love that you shared that.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
As we are wrapping up, of course, we have to
tell the people, like what's going on, what's coming up next?

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Where can I catch you all of that?

Speaker 4 (58:02):
Good jess for sure?

Speaker 5 (58:04):
Yeah, So what's coming up immediately? I'm gonna be planning
a uh series of workshops for yoga teachers who wanna
expand their brand. They're gonna be all webinar based, They're
gonna be online that there's gonna be a live component,
but if you wanna catch the recording, you can also
do that.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
And that's called my Yoga Vision We Love we Love
options right here.

Speaker 5 (58:23):
So that's my Yoga Business Basics series, and it's basically
taking you from the beginning of like how do I
legally operate this business MM to how do I expand
and become evergreen, and so I'm starting with the first one,
which is basically breaking down the difference between Lys's and
sole proprietorships, how to get your ducks row so that
you are operating as a an actual legal entity, and

(58:45):
then figuring out your brand vision and so that one
will be on the.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
September seventh.

Speaker 5 (58:51):
I believe that is uh the date I've set, but again,
the easiest way to verify that is through my website,
which is juh just briefree dot com.

Speaker 4 (58:59):
That's ju T b R I f R e e
dot com.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
And then I'm on all social media platforms at just
Brae Free. Instagram is where you'll see me most regularly.
I'm a very avid grammar I love to post on
my stories and share things. And then yeah, beyond that,
I teach classes in San Diego Local League group classes.
You can always drop into my schedules on my website
as well, and I am available for private classes. I

(59:26):
teach a lot of corporate classes and a lot of
one off groups, and teach a lot for community.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
So I love working with black and brown folks.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
I love working with greer folks, but I will work
with whoever is vibing with me and writing for my peopil.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Yes, I will come off vibe and right baby, vibe
and ride. And I just want to also give a
shout out to Brief for being one of the most
accessible and welcoming yoga instructors that you will find.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
She is not the type of instructor to come and
say like, oh, okay, you got to push this down harder.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Nice. I really love your approach to to say like, hey,
your body is your body.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Do what works for you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Be comfortable in this because the point is not to
be in here and be super stressed. It's to relax
and to really connect with your body. So thank you
so much for having that approach as an instructor.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
I've been left enough to take a classroom Brie, and
she was not judging me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
As I was making these awkward ass posts to visums,
so I loved it. Cannot recommend her enough. Also, excellent
follow on the gram. Just want to put it out there, like,
especially if you're into astrology too, like we be in
each other's dms, like girl, my cancer Rising is be
my asses away? Yes, yes, so excellent follow on any platform.

(01:00:37):
Make sure you check briout and bring last parting shot here.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
What is your message or model that you want to
leave with the people.

Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Oh, my goodness, my message or I leave with the people?
I would say always, always bet on yourself. Don't be
the person to tell yourself no. I I'd like I
said earlier, I don't tell myself no ever. You know,
I'm gonna let somebody else tell me if the opportunity

(01:01:06):
is not for me or whatever. But don't be that person.
If you have an idea and a vision and it's
on your heart, it's probably your dartma, it's probably your
purpose and it's for you, and just get curious, get
curious about it. So don't tell yourself no, and get
curious about what the thing might be.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Yes, love that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Stay curious, folks, Stay curious, Brie.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
Thank you so much for this excellent conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
HB.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
I don't know how you're going to edit this. I
don't know what we don't do, but this is excellent girl.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Thank you so much for your time and space and
beautiful energy. Make sure we share that too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
So that has been our episode of the Big Quit
with Chris. Just remember, even if.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
You get laid off right, you feel like you're losing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
You're still winning, all right. We'll talk to y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
SU