April 25, 2024 • 17 mins
Welcome back to The Conscious Home Podcast! This episode is all about igniting the fire of soulful entrepreneurship in each one of us. It's a deep dive into the fusion of doing business with heart, prioritizing passion and purpose. Join us as Blanche shares her wisdom on how to integrate your passions with your profession and live a life that is true to who you are.
- (00:01:30) Discovering Soulpreneurship: Join us as we explore the world of soulpreneurship, where business meets passion and purpose. Blanche talks about creating a life’s work that not only feeds your soul but also serves the greater good—it’s about making a career that feels right at heart.
- (00:08:45) The Art of Conscious Choices: Blanche explores the power of intention in our decisions—turning down what doesn't fit and embracing what feels right. She shares her personal practices for operating a business that's both successful and soul-satisfying.
- (00:13:14) The Divine Feminine in Business: Blanche discusses how the divine feminine can reshape our approach to business, advocating for compassion and authenticity in professional endeavors.
- (00:16:00) Aligning Your Business with Your Soul's Purpose: Blanche delivers an empowering message on leading with your soul in the world of entrepreneurship, creating a path that’s both rewarding and impactful. She offers practical advice for soulpreneurs striving to create a workplace that resonates with their inner values and brings joy to their team.
Let's keep the dialogue going! Connect with us on social media at @conscioushomebgd, where we continue to revel in enlightenment, disseminate inspiration, and build a community of kindred spirits from diverse pathways of life.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Welcome home, everybody.
That is to the Conscious Home podcast.
My name is BlancheGarcia and I'm your host.
So, what does it mean to be a soulpreneur?
some of you may be I hear this word.
all the time, and haveno idea what that means.
And we all know what it meansto be an entrepreneur, right?
it's really interesting, say that a lot,but it is interesting, because I feel
(00:31):
like You're hearing that word much more
often,
people are really followingwork that sets their soul
on fire.
And Lightworkers, and I sayLightworkers because it's really
those of us on the planet, Iconsider myself one of them, that
is working, whether
it's in business just
by how they lead their life inalignment with Not only the benefit
(00:53):
of their own soul path, but to benefitthe planet and the people around
them
in their own way.
And this could be anybody whojust wants to make people happy.
They just want to leave itbetter than how they got here.
So they may walk around saying,Hope you have a nice day.
It could be that guy on the cornerthat passes by you and just smiles
where most people aren't evenpaying attention or have awareness.
(01:16):
He could be a light
worker because just by him
smiling makes you smile and guess what?
That exchange of energyjust makes it brighter.
It changes the energy in thatspace and it's one of those
things that just procreates.
It just keeps going and going.
that could be a lightworker and then also
it could be literally like Gandhithat's like I want to change the
planet or someone for sustainabilityor someone who's an actor who loves
(01:38):
make people laugh or teachers, Itcould literally be an artist that just
through their art, they are just sohappy and love what they do that the
pieces that they create transform people.
it's really like just anybody that's
working in vibration inalignment with what they want
to do, what brings them joy.
And then that is actually helpingother people because believe
(01:58):
it or not, your energy inspires
or activates other
people all the time.
I come across it in what I do.
I'm an interior designer.
I also do conscious home.
So yes, that does help the
planet and people in a lot of ways.
so there's a lot ofdifferent things that I do.
But to be honest with you, thebiggest way that I see myself as a
lightworker is that I stay reallytrue to who I am and I follow my soul
(02:22):
path, regardless of what that means.
By living that way out loud, by living
with that purpose, I feel like thatactivates other people to want to
also live their purpose, towant to also be inspired, to
like be their best selves, more so than mebeing a green designer or, conscious home.
Those are just
of things that I love to create
and it helps people,but in different ways.
(02:43):
I think that since
2020, a lot of people have really been
saying I don't want todo this type of work.
I'm no longer doingwhat I don't want to do.
I'm going to figure outwhat I want to do and go
in that direction.
So soulpreneur has been thrownaround a lot and it's really somebody
who embodies their business butinstead of like saying like I am the
(03:04):
business, male energywarrior and I make decisions
I'm cutthroat and I I want to make themost money I can and forget about you.
It's me first instead of that mentality.
kind of the opposite of it.
It's kind of like the divinefeminine in a lot of ways.
And I say that in a way that's not topit male and female against each other.
It's just that We are now energeticallyand astrologically in a space that
(03:27):
it really is the rise of the divinefeminine, and we're seeing it a
lot with women and this is notjust for women, but we're seeing
the rise of the woman entrepreneur.
We're seeing the
divine energy of the feminine Rising
in situations and leading in business
a lot of ways, it's kind oflike that intuitive energy.
for instance, how does that manifestin how I run my business and how
(03:50):
does that manifest with a lot
of
solepreneurs?
when you use your and your heartas your guide to make decisions,
it's not like you're making these
decisions in absence ofwhat you, your brain or
what you know to be truephysically or what makes sense.
You're just in alignment
that
I make
decisions based on what feels right first.
(04:11):
I check in with myself, my intuition.
I make
sure that The decision that I'm makingis in alignment with where I want
my life to go, where I feel like is
my sole
purpose.
It's bigger picture, right?
It's not just what's goingto make me the most money.
Now with that, don't get it twistedbecause we all want abundance.
We can actually have the lives we
(04:31):
want And still make a lot of money.
There's enough money enough abundanceto get paid what we deserve.
because there's so much out
there and remember that, you can dowhat you love and still get paid for it.
And the rule of being a soulpreneur, oneof the things that is what I do every day
is that when I'm making a decision or I'm
(04:51):
making an agreement, I want to makesure that the relationship that I'm
having, the agreement thatI'm making is not just good
for myself, it's good for the
other party because when
both people are benefiting, everybody
involved in
that is benefiting from the arrangement,from the agreement, from the relationship.
Everybody wins,
the people that work under me,
my staff, I want to make sure thatthe culture I create, the energy I
(05:13):
create, that They're happy as much
I'm happy.
Now, I still have be the
one charge.
I still have to leadbecause it's my business.
It's
my
name on the door.
So it's not like I'm some flowerchild running around me like,
Everybody, whatever choice you want
and I'm just going to goalong and love and light.
It's not that.
It's that I'm grounded.
I'm centered.
I know who I am.
(05:34):
and within that I just
ensure that along with me andmy happiness, I like to check in
and make sure that everybody'sgetting what they need out
of this arrangement, right?
And I also make sure is thatI'm checking my energy as much
as possible at the door.
So I have bad days just
like anybody
else.
I am.
Human right?
We're all
human and there are days thatlike literally life gets to me
(05:55):
but when that happens insteadof acting out and reacting I
really try to go internal and go,okay, why am I feeling this way?
Let me try to explain to theteam, I'm having a crappy day
so they don't think that this is
about them.
If I do have a problem, Ido bring it up with them or
even my clients.
So if something's botheringme, I don't let it fester.
And that's one of the things
(06:16):
I activate
soul base.
I make sure I'm coming from my heart.
if there's something that's not.
in alignment something's notright, I'm going to have a
conversation about it and find outfrom both sides where we can go
from here or explain myself, right?
So again, I'm leading with heartand this comes along with boundaries
too.
I have clients that I like to make surethat I love the people that I work with,
(06:37):
that I love the projects that I work on.
It's not like
a hundred percent we are
Human we have businesses and
sometimes you have to take projectsand situations that are okay.
Like you like the
person but you're not going to make aton of money or you're going to make a
little bit more money and they're niceenough but it's not going to be, it's
going to be like a short project, Andsometimes that happens but I really do
(06:57):
try to work with people And on projectsthat feel good to me, that immediately my
energy's like, yeah, I want to do this,
It doesn't always make sensebut yeah, let's do this.
I like
this, right.
when you're in that energy
of running a business, for me
where that
shows up and this doesn't always
make sense for a lot of
other people and I've actuallygotten a lot of feedback through
(07:18):
my career even before I startedConscious Home when I was just
doing interior design.
One of the things that everybody
has always told me that
I run my business
very differently than a lot of otherpeople and what that means is that
there are a lot of times that I'll haveprojects that come to me that I've met
with the client and I looked at
(07:38):
the potential project.
I either had a bad feeling or the
client
was not someone I reallyfelt like I wanted to with.
It didn't feel right.
and I've actually walkedaway from the project.
I've said no to more projectsthan actually I've said yes
sometimes.
and there been times that working underme, contractors, architects, you name it.
They've been like, whatare you talking about?
bookkeeper, bankers, they're like Blanche.
(08:00):
And
sometimes it's based solely onfaith, meaning that I know that
you're looking at this video right.
now and you're saying, but Blanche,you must have so much money in The
bank when you say no to these projects.
No, there are
times.
When literally there is like barelyanything in the bank, but I refuse
To fill my energy and my days
with something that's
going
to make me unhappy because thatvibration going to bring more of the same
(08:24):
type of project, the same type of energy.
And that's when you're following your ownguidance, you're following your intuition.
I take projects that.
Like really, I feel strongly this is a no.
It doesn't leave space for theones are a yes, because there's
already something in that space.
That's rule.
The rule is two things cannot occupy the
same space.
So you have a choice.
(08:45):
You either want to fill itwith crap or things you love.
That's your choice.
And in business, I'mreally hyper aware of that.
So I say no to a lot more thingsthan I say yes to The second part
of this is that I've had projects
I'm
literally In the middle of,
you know, there's a lot going on
and then all of a sudden
it's wrong.
It doesn't feel right.
Everything's going wrong.
The client's completely unhappy.
(09:05):
I've had conversations.
There's nothing I do to make them.
happy.
It's just, we're not jiving at that point.
I have
chosen to walk away.
And that
is very interesting
a lot of people.
But when you're in business and you're anentrepreneur and you know, what feels off
when you ignore that, it's like a slow
death.
it
kind of eats away
you every day.
You're
like, Oh, the phone rings.
(09:26):
You're like, Oh, Youwake up in the morning,
You're like another day.
That's how people start hating their jobs.
or even hating their lives.
They don't want a deal.
And they end up
saying yes
to these things because
they're like, it's
gonna make them it's going to
get
them.
PR.
It's going to get
them in magazines.
It's going to get them XYZ.
And what they're doing is when they areallowing this to stay in their life,
(09:46):
in their business, they're saying, I
want more of that.
Please send me more
of that.
Please That's what happens.
and What I've also seen inbusinesses is that you have to be
really hyper aware of
the type of energy
clients,
what you say yes to allow intoyour because it doesn't only
affect you, it affects the people who work
under you.
So remember that like you're allsymbiotic, you're all part of one team.
(10:08):
like, how horrible would it beIf I took on clients that I knew
were horrible or projects that I knewwere going be like completely horrible,
but I was like, Oh, but I don't have
to deal with them.
I'll just
let my team deal with them.
So now they hate their life.
How long do you thinkbefore they're not going to
be around or they're going tonot put in the work or they're
not going to put in their
passion?
having a business, being an andgoing in the direction of not
(10:32):
only following your heart and yourintuition and your passion is,
just treating
others and like you would wantto be treated, accepting things
that bring you joy and learning
to cut things off and put boundariesup when is out of alignment,
having the tough conversations,being completely transparent.
for instance, my contractsare very transparent.
My clients know exactly What they'regetting, how they're getting it.
(10:56):
I spell it all out.
We talk about everything up front.
There is no shadows.
There's no questioning later on.
I do this because I don't wantthe stress in my life of having
to hide or figure it out later.
That's when it becomes an issue.
communication up frontworking with integrity.
So if you're going to work with integrity,you want be open and communicative and
(11:19):
make sure everything's out on the table.
Have the tough conversations early
on.
It's when you get married, youdon't wait till you're married and
already in it before you discuss
having children or whereyou're going to live.
you do that before You get marriedand all those things, even though
some people don't, you know, that'sa whole different conversation.
So make sure everything'sreally, really clear.
I would rather
you know where I stand sothat I know what I will
(11:41):
and will not do.
You know what expect from me.
It's really important.
I set up my
business that there isthese ahead of time.
Another thing that I do, I realized, and
I went really deep as an entrepreneur,and say this to anybody running their
business, what are the biggest stressors
in my business And how do I get rid
of those So one of the big
stressors in my business as aninterior designer, I remember this,
(12:04):
Is, obviously chasing money, right?
So how do I not chase money?
and also, every day have
be in the books?
Cause I hate dealing with numbers.
I'm much more happier and I'm in myhappy space when I'm creating and that's
most creative people.
So how do I do more of thatand less of the other, right?
and so for
instance, in my
industry, I'll give you an example.
commissions.
like, to buy furniture
(12:25):
through a designer.
Usually it's very commission based.
And if you buy a piece of furniturethrough them, you have to pay
part
of the
commission.
But with that, there's a deep
discount designer gets and,they pass along some that
discount, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So either way, you're
paying the designer for the useof their discount, but you're
also the designer, the managing of
that product because they are going tobe the ones dealing with the ordering,
(12:45):
making sure everything gets to where itneeds to be and then having it delivered
and everything should be great, In aperfect world, there's nothing broken,
blah, blah, blah.
So the designer
carries that headache a lot ofdesigners out there in my career when
I started out, they hada range of commissions.
They're like, Oh, well, if it'sthis, it's going to be that.
If
this it's gonna be that.
There was like a lot of paperwork alot of ups and downs of commissions.
(13:05):
you were
constantly trying tofollow well, do I do this?
And the client would upset if theyfound out this and bop, bop, bop, bop.
It
was like a lot of that stuff.
And I said early on, I'm not doing that.
It's one
number One commission Andif they don't want to buy it
me, I'm okay with that becauseit's extremely tedious.
So I'm going to be completely open andupfront with them about what I make.
I'm going to be upfront withthem about this is one set
(13:26):
commission, take it or leave it.
They don't have to buy it through me.
I'm okay with that.
And I'm going to structure my pricingaccordingly so that I can get paid for
What I love to do which is a creativeand if they don't buy a product through
me I don't really care because I've madethe money on what I love to do so I'm
not chasing and putting my mind and myenergy something that I already hate
(13:47):
doing now
that's.
Very controversial, but I did that
for my peace mind, becausemy peace mind made more
sense
than making as much money as I couldsqueeze out of every piece of furniture
and every client.
I care less that.
But oddly
enough what happens is, is thatwhen I'm working with a client and
I give them that option and I'mvery upfront with them about it, the
majority of the time they usuallybuy 90 percent of the items through
(14:11):
me.
And I don't care.
I mean, it's great.
It's like
that cherry on top, but I allow my
peace of mind.
That's the guiding light.
I want to be creative.
I want my peace of mind.
I want my team to be happy.
I want to come
to work and be happy.
I don't have to make themost money out there.
Those are the
things that matter to me.
but if I do all of those things right,
then everything else follows.
(14:31):
And I'm a really big believer in that.
So when we
talk about being asoulpreneur, when we talk
about, running
our business with integrity and justfollowing our purpose and having the heart
in it, those are some of the things that,in my opinion, sets those types companies,
my company apart from, the average AndI feel like that's more prevalent today.
Maybe some of these things resonateyou and there are small steps
(14:53):
that you can take in running yourbusiness that you're like, Hey, I
want to be a little bit happier.
I want to resonate more withthe type of work I'm doing.
I would like my staff to be happy as well.
I know it's crazy, right?
And then it kind of likeall kind of goes together.
One hand washes the other.
I will say since I've been doing
this, it's the only way Iknow how to run my business.
And sometimes the decisions that I make,
(15:13):
are not the mainstreamwhat everybody would do.
So these are just some of the
things that I have implemented thatthey've always resonated with me I always
felt like this is the right way to dothings what's funny is is that in that
in 2020 a big thing that came out ofthe pandemic or people working from home
I actually
always had a hybrid typework calendar or schedule
(15:34):
I always have like a hybridwork schedule with my team.
And as we have grown and we have scaled,I still have a hybrid work schedule.
And that is because it always made mehappy and there's like a flow to the week.
Like some days you need collaborationand we love getting together.
And then there are some daysthat I want to work alone.
I don't want to be aroundanybody and I feel like, well,
(15:55):
they probably feel that way.
So because of that.
With my own personal company and mystaff, we have a hybrid work week
where some people work from home, somepeople come in, it's pretty flexible.
There are days thatare like, these are the
days we're in office it's more of a teamcollaboration and we love that and we kind
of have our own little thing going on.
And I always make sure the culture
(16:16):
too.
You know, as a small businessowner, I'm not some big conglomerate
and I can't offer all the
perks that a huge company can offer.
But what I do offer is that I makesure that I check in with everybody.
They love the work that they're doing.
I like to make
sure that, if they needsomething, to the best of my
ability, I always try to do that.
And I always try to make sure that
we have a little flexibility.
fun.
Like the other day, we had a visionboard session, and we were drinking wine.
(16:40):
Some of us like health smoothies,listening to music and we were really
goal setting and vision boardingbecause I feel like together that
creates a collective energy that reallysets us up So I thought that vision
boarding, that's actually not a word.
We had a discussion about that.
It's creating vision boards.
So
you just let me know because I feel likevision boarding is like waterboarding,
which is not what we're talking about.
We're talking about vision boards anyway.
(17:01):
That is a great
team building exercise that I can getbehind because it was literally girl
fest and I'm not gonna lie to you.
Like my team is like my family.
So when you think like that, You try todo what you would want done for yourself.
and I think that a lot of peoplethat lead their business with their
heart, with a sole purpose are reallychanging the way the office atmosphere,
(17:22):
the business atmosphere is led.
And there's a lot more of usout there than there used to be.
Then you find each other andyou want to work together.
Cause you're like, Hey,you're working with.
Authenticity and integrity.
I want to work with you and you makeme feel good and it's just creating
that even exchange of energy Sothat's the world I want to live in.
I don't know about you.
Welcome home, everybody.
That is to the Conscious Home podcast.
My name is BlancheGarcia and I'm your host.
So, what does it mean to be a soulpreneur?
some of you may be I hear this word.
all the time, and haveno idea what that means.
And we all know what it meansto be an entrepreneur, right?
it's really interesting, say that a lot,but it is interesting, because I feel
(00:31):
like You're hearing that word much more
often,
people are really followingwork that sets their soul
on fire.
And Lightworkers, and I sayLightworkers because it's really
those of us on the planet, Iconsider myself one of them, that
is working, whether
it's in business just
by how they lead their life inalignment with Not only the benefit
(00:53):
of their own soul path, but to benefitthe planet and the people around
them
in their own way.
And this could be anybody whojust wants to make people happy.
They just want to leave itbetter than how they got here.
So they may walk around saying,Hope you have a nice day.
It could be that guy on the cornerthat passes by you and just smiles
where most people aren't evenpaying attention or have awareness.
(01:16):
He could be a light
worker because just by him
smiling makes you smile and guess what?
That exchange of energyjust makes it brighter.
It changes the energy in thatspace and it's one of those
things that just procreates.
It just keeps going and going.
that could be a lightworker and then also
it could be literally like Gandhithat's like I want to change the
planet or someone for sustainabilityor someone who's an actor who loves
(01:38):
make people laugh or teachers, Itcould literally be an artist that just
through their art, they are just sohappy and love what they do that the
pieces that they create transform people.
it's really like just anybody that's
working in vibration inalignment with what they want
to do, what brings them joy.
And then that is actually helpingother people because believe
(01:58):
it or not, your energy inspires
or activates other
people all the time.
I come across it in what I do.
I'm an interior designer.
I also do conscious home.
So yes, that does help the
planet and people in a lot of ways.
so there's a lot ofdifferent things that I do.
But to be honest with you, thebiggest way that I see myself as a
lightworker is that I stay reallytrue to who I am and I follow my soul
(02:22):
path, regardless of what that means.
By living that way out loud, by living
with that purpose, I feel like thatactivates other people to want to
also live their purpose, towant to also be inspired, to
like be their best selves, more so than mebeing a green designer or, conscious home.
Those are just
of things that I love to create
and it helps people,but in different ways.
(02:43):
I think that since
2020, a lot of people have really been
saying I don't want todo this type of work.
I'm no longer doingwhat I don't want to do.
I'm going to figure outwhat I want to do and go
in that direction.
So soulpreneur has been thrownaround a lot and it's really somebody
who embodies their business butinstead of like saying like I am the
(03:04):
business, male energywarrior and I make decisions
I'm cutthroat and I I want to make themost money I can and forget about you.
It's me first instead of that mentality.
kind of the opposite of it.
It's kind of like the divinefeminine in a lot of ways.
And I say that in a way that's not topit male and female against each other.
It's just that We are now energeticallyand astrologically in a space that
(03:27):
it really is the rise of the divinefeminine, and we're seeing it a
lot with women and this is notjust for women, but we're seeing
the rise of the woman entrepreneur.
We're seeing the
divine energy of the feminine Rising
in situations and leading in business
a lot of ways, it's kind oflike that intuitive energy.
for instance, how does that manifestin how I run my business and how
(03:50):
does that manifest with a lot
of
solepreneurs?
when you use your and your heartas your guide to make decisions,
it's not like you're making these
decisions in absence ofwhat you, your brain or
what you know to be truephysically or what makes sense.
You're just in alignment
that
I make
decisions based on what feels right first.
(04:11):
I check in with myself, my intuition.
I make
sure that The decision that I'm makingis in alignment with where I want
my life to go, where I feel like is
my sole
purpose.
It's bigger picture, right?
It's not just what's goingto make me the most money.
Now with that, don't get it twistedbecause we all want abundance.
We can actually have the lives we
(04:31):
want And still make a lot of money.
There's enough money enough abundanceto get paid what we deserve.
because there's so much out
there and remember that, you can dowhat you love and still get paid for it.
And the rule of being a soulpreneur, oneof the things that is what I do every day
is that when I'm making a decision or I'm
(04:51):
making an agreement, I want to makesure that the relationship that I'm
having, the agreement thatI'm making is not just good
for myself, it's good for the
other party because when
both people are benefiting, everybody
involved in
that is benefiting from the arrangement,from the agreement, from the relationship.
Everybody wins,
the people that work under me,
my staff, I want to make sure thatthe culture I create, the energy I
(05:13):
create, that They're happy as much
I'm happy.
Now, I still have be the
one charge.
I still have to leadbecause it's my business.
It's
my
name on the door.
So it's not like I'm some flowerchild running around me like,
Everybody, whatever choice you want
and I'm just going to goalong and love and light.
It's not that.
It's that I'm grounded.
I'm centered.
I know who I am.
(05:34):
and within that I just
ensure that along with me andmy happiness, I like to check in
and make sure that everybody'sgetting what they need out
of this arrangement, right?
And I also make sure is thatI'm checking my energy as much
as possible at the door.
So I have bad days just
like anybody
else.
I am.
Human right?
We're all
human and there are days thatlike literally life gets to me
(05:55):
but when that happens insteadof acting out and reacting I
really try to go internal and go,okay, why am I feeling this way?
Let me try to explain to theteam, I'm having a crappy day
so they don't think that this is
about them.
If I do have a problem, Ido bring it up with them or
even my clients.
So if something's botheringme, I don't let it fester.
And that's one of the things
(06:16):
I activate
soul base.
I make sure I'm coming from my heart.
if there's something that's not.
in alignment something's notright, I'm going to have a
conversation about it and find outfrom both sides where we can go
from here or explain myself, right?
So again, I'm leading with heartand this comes along with boundaries
too.
I have clients that I like to make surethat I love the people that I work with,
(06:37):
that I love the projects that I work on.
It's not like
a hundred percent we are
Human we have businesses and
sometimes you have to take projectsand situations that are okay.
Like you like the
person but you're not going to make aton of money or you're going to make a
little bit more money and they're niceenough but it's not going to be, it's
going to be like a short project, Andsometimes that happens but I really do
(06:57):
try to work with people And on projectsthat feel good to me, that immediately my
energy's like, yeah, I want to do this,
It doesn't always make sensebut yeah, let's do this.
I like
this, right.
when you're in that energy
of running a business, for me
where that
shows up and this doesn't always
make sense for a lot of
other people and I've actuallygotten a lot of feedback through
(07:18):
my career even before I startedConscious Home when I was just
doing interior design.
One of the things that everybody
has always told me that
I run my business
very differently than a lot of otherpeople and what that means is that
there are a lot of times that I'll haveprojects that come to me that I've met
with the client and I looked at
(07:38):
the potential project.
I either had a bad feeling or the
client
was not someone I reallyfelt like I wanted to with.
It didn't feel right.
and I've actually walkedaway from the project.
I've said no to more projectsthan actually I've said yes
sometimes.
and there been times that working underme, contractors, architects, you name it.
They've been like, whatare you talking about?
bookkeeper, bankers, they're like Blanche.
(08:00):
And
sometimes it's based solely onfaith, meaning that I know that
you're looking at this video right.
now and you're saying, but Blanche,you must have so much money in The
bank when you say no to these projects.
No, there are
times.
When literally there is like barelyanything in the bank, but I refuse
To fill my energy and my days
with something that's
going
to make me unhappy because thatvibration going to bring more of the same
(08:24):
type of project, the same type of energy.
And that's when you're following your ownguidance, you're following your intuition.
I take projects that.
Like really, I feel strongly this is a no.
It doesn't leave space for theones are a yes, because there's
already something in that space.
That's rule.
The rule is two things cannot occupy the
same space.
So you have a choice.
(08:45):
You either want to fill itwith crap or things you love.
That's your choice.
And in business, I'mreally hyper aware of that.
So I say no to a lot more thingsthan I say yes to The second part
of this is that I've had projects
I'm
literally In the middle of,
you know, there's a lot going on
and then all of a sudden
it's wrong.
It doesn't feel right.
Everything's going wrong.
The client's completely unhappy.
(09:05):
I've had conversations.
There's nothing I do to make them.
happy.
It's just, we're not jiving at that point.
I have
chosen to walk away.
And that
is very interesting
a lot of people.
But when you're in business and you're anentrepreneur and you know, what feels off
when you ignore that, it's like a slow
death.
it
kind of eats away
you every day.
You're
like, Oh, the phone rings.
(09:26):
You're like, Oh, Youwake up in the morning,
You're like another day.
That's how people start hating their jobs.
or even hating their lives.
They don't want a deal.
And they end up
saying yes
to these things because
they're like, it's
gonna make them it's going to
get
them.
PR.
It's going to get
them in magazines.
It's going to get them XYZ.
And what they're doing is when they areallowing this to stay in their life,
(09:46):
in their business, they're saying, I
want more of that.
Please send me more
of that.
Please That's what happens.
and What I've also seen inbusinesses is that you have to be
really hyper aware of
the type of energy
clients,
what you say yes to allow intoyour because it doesn't only
affect you, it affects the people who work
under you.
So remember that like you're allsymbiotic, you're all part of one team.
(10:08):
like, how horrible would it beIf I took on clients that I knew
were horrible or projects that I knewwere going be like completely horrible,
but I was like, Oh, but I don't have
to deal with them.
I'll just
let my team deal with them.
So now they hate their life.
How long do you thinkbefore they're not going to
be around or they're going tonot put in the work or they're
not going to put in their
passion?
having a business, being an andgoing in the direction of not
(10:32):
only following your heart and yourintuition and your passion is,
just treating
others and like you would wantto be treated, accepting things
that bring you joy and learning
to cut things off and put boundariesup when is out of alignment,
having the tough conversations,being completely transparent.
for instance, my contractsare very transparent.
My clients know exactly What they'regetting, how they're getting it.
(10:56):
I spell it all out.
We talk about everything up front.
There is no shadows.
There's no questioning later on.
I do this because I don't wantthe stress in my life of having
to hide or figure it out later.
That's when it becomes an issue.
communication up frontworking with integrity.
So if you're going to work with integrity,you want be open and communicative and
(11:19):
make sure everything's out on the table.
Have the tough conversations early
on.
It's when you get married, youdon't wait till you're married and
already in it before you discuss
having children or whereyou're going to live.
you do that before You get marriedand all those things, even though
some people don't, you know, that'sa whole different conversation.
So make sure everything'sreally, really clear.
I would rather
you know where I stand sothat I know what I will
(11:41):
and will not do.
You know what expect from me.
It's really important.
I set up my
business that there isthese ahead of time.
Another thing that I do, I realized, and
I went really deep as an entrepreneur,and say this to anybody running their
business, what are the biggest stressors
in my business And how do I get rid
of those So one of the big
stressors in my business as aninterior designer, I remember this,
(12:04):
Is, obviously chasing money, right?
So how do I not chase money?
and also, every day have
be in the books?
Cause I hate dealing with numbers.
I'm much more happier and I'm in myhappy space when I'm creating and that's
most creative people.
So how do I do more of thatand less of the other, right?
and so for
instance, in my
industry, I'll give you an example.
commissions.
like, to buy furniture
(12:25):
through a designer.
Usually it's very commission based.
And if you buy a piece of furniturethrough them, you have to pay
part
of the
commission.
But with that, there's a deep
discount designer gets and,they pass along some that
discount, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So either way, you're
paying the designer for the useof their discount, but you're
also the designer, the managing of
that product because they are going tobe the ones dealing with the ordering,
(12:45):
making sure everything gets to where itneeds to be and then having it delivered
and everything should be great, In aperfect world, there's nothing broken,
blah, blah, blah.
So the designer
carries that headache a lot ofdesigners out there in my career when
I started out, they hada range of commissions.
They're like, Oh, well, if it'sthis, it's going to be that.
If
this it's gonna be that.
There was like a lot of paperwork alot of ups and downs of commissions.
(13:05):
you were
constantly trying tofollow well, do I do this?
And the client would upset if theyfound out this and bop, bop, bop, bop.
It
was like a lot of that stuff.
And I said early on, I'm not doing that.
It's one
number One commission Andif they don't want to buy it
me, I'm okay with that becauseit's extremely tedious.
So I'm going to be completely open andupfront with them about what I make.
I'm going to be upfront withthem about this is one set
(13:26):
commission, take it or leave it.
They don't have to buy it through me.
I'm okay with that.
And I'm going to structure my pricingaccordingly so that I can get paid for
What I love to do which is a creativeand if they don't buy a product through
me I don't really care because I've madethe money on what I love to do so I'm
not chasing and putting my mind and myenergy something that I already hate
(13:47):
doing now
that's.
Very controversial, but I did that
for my peace mind, becausemy peace mind made more
sense
than making as much money as I couldsqueeze out of every piece of furniture
and every client.
I care less that.
But oddly
enough what happens is, is thatwhen I'm working with a client and
I give them that option and I'mvery upfront with them about it, the
majority of the time they usuallybuy 90 percent of the items through
(14:11):
me.
And I don't care.
I mean, it's great.
It's like
that cherry on top, but I allow my
peace of mind.
That's the guiding light.
I want to be creative.
I want my peace of mind.
I want my team to be happy.
I want to come
to work and be happy.
I don't have to make themost money out there.
Those are the
things that matter to me.
but if I do all of those things right,
then everything else follows.
(14:31):
And I'm a really big believer in that.
So when we
talk about being asoulpreneur, when we talk
about, running
our business with integrity and justfollowing our purpose and having the heart
in it, those are some of the things that,in my opinion, sets those types companies,
my company apart from, the average AndI feel like that's more prevalent today.
Maybe some of these things resonateyou and there are small steps
(14:53):
that you can take in running yourbusiness that you're like, Hey, I
want to be a little bit happier.
I want to resonate more withthe type of work I'm doing.
I would like my staff to be happy as well.
I know it's crazy, right?
And then it kind of likeall kind of goes together.
One hand washes the other.
I will say since I've been doing
this, it's the only way Iknow how to run my business.
And sometimes the decisions that I make,
(15:13):
are not the mainstreamwhat everybody would do.
So these are just some of the
things that I have implemented thatthey've always resonated with me I always
felt like this is the right way to dothings what's funny is is that in that
in 2020 a big thing that came out ofthe pandemic or people working from home
I actually
always had a hybrid typework calendar or schedule
(15:34):
I always have like a hybridwork schedule with my team.
And as we have grown and we have scaled,I still have a hybrid work schedule.
And that is because it always made mehappy and there's like a flow to the week.
Like some days you need collaborationand we love getting together.
And then there are some daysthat I want to work alone.
I don't want to be aroundanybody and I feel like, well,
(15:55):
they probably feel that way.
So because of that.
With my own personal company and mystaff, we have a hybrid work week
where some people work from home, somepeople come in, it's pretty flexible.
There are days thatare like, these are the
days we're in office it's more of a teamcollaboration and we love that and we kind
of have our own little thing going on.
And I always make sure the culture
(16:16):
too.
You know, as a small businessowner, I'm not some big conglomerate
and I can't offer all the
perks that a huge company can offer.
But what I do offer is that I makesure that I check in with everybody.
They love the work that they're doing.
I like to make
sure that, if they needsomething, to the best of my
ability, I always try to do that.
And I always try to make sure that
we have a little flexibility.
fun.
Like the other day, we had a visionboard session, and we were drinking wine.
(16:40):
Some of us like health smoothies,listening to music and we were really
goal setting and vision boardingbecause I feel like together that
creates a collective energy that reallysets us up So I thought that vision
boarding, that's actually not a word.
We had a discussion about that.
It's creating vision boards.
So
you just let me know because I feel likevision boarding is like waterboarding,
which is not what we're talking about.
We're talking about vision boards anyway.
(17:01):
That is a great
team building exercise that I can getbehind because it was literally girl
fest and I'm not gonna lie to you.
Like my team is like my family.
So when you think like that, You try todo what you would want done for yourself.
and I think that a lot of peoplethat lead their business with their
heart, with a sole purpose are reallychanging the way the office atmosphere,
(17:22):
the business atmosphere is led.
And there's a lot more of usout there than there used to be.
Then you find each other andyou want to work together.
Cause you're like, Hey,you're working with.
Authenticity and integrity.
I want to work with you and you makeme feel good and it's just creating
that even exchange of energy Sothat's the world I want to live in.
I don't know about you.
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