The Importance of Mental Health in the Business of an Entrepreneur

This podcast was transcribed using Descript. Please forgive any typos or errors.

Brittany: Hi friends. Welcome to Life with Loverly. I'm your host, Brittany Sjogren. I'm excited to share my heart with you beyond the 15 seconds we get on Instagram, grab an ice coffee and let's do life together.

Hi friends. How are you? Welcome back to Life with Loverly hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday I'm really excited about this episode and just being back in the studio recording.

I know we mentioned that last week when we did our intro to season three, but I'm so happy to be back, and I think I'm still coming off of the podcast interview I did with Allie Reeves on her podcast and feedback that I am getting from people who listened to that episode that maybe didn't know as much about the business side of Loverly Grey.

I realize I haven't really shared that part of blogging and just like running a business, regardless that I'm an influencer blogger or whatever the title is, it's still a business at the end of the day. I feel like there's so many nuggets of information that I haven't really shared here. I guess I just didn't really think about until somebody was probing me with questions about the business side of things.

Nichelle: You go day by day just doing the work, doing the job, but when you start to break apart, every part of the business. There is so much that goes into this, the way that I know that you and I talk about it sometimes it's like, when you think about a corporate business, there are so many people that are in these executive positions.

You have somebody who's over talent. You have somebody that's over operations over this, that the other financial, there's so many people running so many things to run a business. You got to do the same thing you are that person at the beginning. 

Brittany: I think back to even really the first three years that the business that I had this business and everything that I was doing, and now that I have people and processes in place to make it easier and to streamline certain things. It just shows growth, which is so exciting. I feel like there was a time a few weeks ago where Nichelle and I were just going over some things and talking about the future of Loverly Grey and where it was going and what big things we have coming up.

 I was so pumped up and I got all my stories and I was like, you guys, if you have ever been thinking about, starting your own business or going after your dreams, like this is your sign, do it. It's going to be hard. It's going to be like crazy, but it's so worth it. And I think there's so much that happens in between the time of, I have a dream, I want to do this.

And five years later, when you are successfully running a business that people don't necessarily talk about. And some of those are like low lows and some of those are high highs. So I wanted to just talk about all of the in-between and a few more like business-related things that I feel like has helped me become successful and things I've implemented within my personal life that has helped my CEO hat be worn in a better way for my team.

So that's what I think today's episode will be about. And even if you don't run your own business, if you're not a blogger, but you are a mom, the CEO of your family, there's going to be nuggets of information in here that I think apply to everybody. But this is just how it applies to me and my business.

I think it's something that, a lot of people can take away from, and even things that like Nichelle and I are doing in our personal lives that it's wow, this is helping us be better for our work-life too.

Nichelle: One of the things that I think we came to terms with was like, you have to build on a foundation.

And one of the things that was so important for Loverly Grey is like defining the values, like your values, what are Brittany's values and how do they correlate with Loverly Grey values. And I think there are a lot in the same because you are Loverly Grey. So I know that's where we started, and I think when building a business, it's the one thing that you need to ask yourself if you're working for yourself. You still need to have values. What do you fall back on when things are tough? When you have issues that come up, when you question yourself, how do you go back and what do you fall on?

And not to give away the farm but two of your main pillars and values is like a positive outlook and kindness. I think that's been huge in getting where you are today. That's one of the things I think we all have trained ourselves now at this point to look back and say, we're having a rough time where somebody says something that's really mean, or we do something wrong and we're really upset with ourselves.

Okay. At the end of the day, what do we stand for? Because we are Loverly Grey. We are here with you. We choose kindness. We choose to have a positive outlook.

Brittany: And it makes such a big difference. I couldn't imagine being in like a super negative environment or somewhere where we hadn't defined that. Every time that we have a new job position open up, or we hire somebody new we go over what are our values, what are our pillars? And it's like a reminder for everybody. This is what we stand for here. And it's made known before you even walk through the door, but even I know people who just have families and they have defined family values for their intimate family.

 It's such a great thing for your kids to also understand and know that I am a Sjogren and this is how we act, and so those are things like I plan to integrate. My girls once they get to an age to understand. So that's why I say like a lot of this can be cross-reference between like your work life and your personal life and your home life and just make things like smoother across the board.

Nichelle: Yeah. The biggest thing is you have to have these values as foundation to build something even stronger in the future. And when you bring on new talent, You want to make sure that the future of this company is the strongest that it can be. And so if you don't have these things in place and you don't stand for anything, you will be nothing at the end of the day.

So I think that's such a, an important key for people to remember. Seeing how important it is on the backend. Being in corporations for so many years, they have this culture in place. They have all of these values. That's usually what you learn during, onboarding. Remember, like they would go through all the key, the mission statements and the key values and what we stand for.

And even if you are one person. You need to have those. 

Brittany: One thing I think too, about being an entrepreneur and starting a business is it is a huge risk. Like you, I remember being like, I don't know if this is a good idea, but I'm going to give it a shot. And with that comes like so much. Mental hard ships that I experienced over, the first few years.

And then as I got to a place where I was like, okay, this feels like it's going right. There's all these things that change. And for me, my job is on social media. It is on a platform that I have no control over. So if they change something and then I have to fluctuate and change and maybe, there's things that I wasn't prepared for.

That's such a mental thing for me. Oh yeah. And so I had to put safeguards in place to protect myself, to protect my team. Like we just said, it's such a cool place that it can be like also a crazy place. Yeah. And we needed to have things in place that we'll get into and talk about like how I protect my team, but like even protecting my own.

Nichelle: Mindset. Oh, yes. It's a mental game. Yes, it is literally. And it's a long, it's the long game.

Brittany: And I'm so bad about, I'll get an idea and I'm like, yes, I want to do that when I go for it now. But then it's okay, I have all these processes in place or have things that have to get done. I can't just stop doing all that skip ahead.

But it's like how. How much do you put into it? Cause what you put into something is what you're going to get out of. Some things I don't want to hop over something and just like quickly look past it. I wanted everything to be done. Like professionally, thought out. But sometimes you have to slow down to be able to speed up.

And I think that's one thing that I have learned is so difficult, especially in a place where everybody is doing something different and it's is what they're doing better is what they're doing, working better. And maybe it is for them. Which is great. So you really have to put your blinders on in this space.

And I think that's probably true for any entrepreneur any business?

Nichelle: I think about Even when I was leading a store in another store was over, would over exceed our numbers. And I was like, what am I doing wrong? Look, am I not doing something? Okay, they're doing it like this.

Should I do it like that? But we don't have the same customer. There's just so many different aspects of it that you have to take into consideration. There's the constant struggle with Am I not as good as this person and this imposter syndrome that comes into it. That is so natural in life in what you do.

But it is again, back to your systems that you've put into place. If we go back again, slow down for a second. Okay. What do we stand for? This is what we stand for. We don't stand for looking around and worrying about what everybody else is doing. You've gotten where you are. You're like, okay, no, this is the way right.

Is what I stand for. You've you niche down. 

Brittany: And it's what I felt was a good fit for me and what I truly desire to do at the end of the day. And that's why I think there's a people in before starting a business, you need to sit down and write out. What are you wanting to get out of this? What are you wanting to do?

What are you wanting to share with other people? If your business is on social media, what is, where is the gap that you want to fill? How are you going to do it different? That's going to make it worth following you, right? What do you have to bring to the table? What is your product going to be that somebody else hasn't already done?

And if you are so passionate about that thing, you won't care. What others are doing because at the end of the day, your goals, and what you want to do is going to make you stand apart. And I, and that's really where the blinders have to be on and have to stay on. And that's where you have to be a leader.

Nichelle: Exactly. That word leader. I think it gets thrown around under law a lot, but it's such an important thing to remember when you are an entrepreneur, like from the very beginning, working for yourself. To having a team, you have to have that different mindset from the very beginning and be the leader that you're going to need to be later down the road.

So not worrying about what's going on around you, you focus on your goals, your hopes, your dreams, your team, and what you're trying to protect at the end of the day. 

Brittany: It's interesting too, because I feel like recently my. Like therapist and life coach who you guys have heard on the podcast before Jen buoy, she sent me a, a photo or a meme or something the other day that said, that suggested that CEOs, all CEOs should be in some type of therapy or something like it.

And it hit home with me because. I am in therapy. I talk with her weekly and that's made such a huge difference in my personal life, but also in my business life, because I am able to lead my team with a different mindset because I'm working on myself, 

Nichelle: you process things differently. 

Brittany: Yes. And there's so many things that I.

Thinking about and making sure is possible and I'm a female, so there's a lot of emotion. There's a lot of like just female related things that are happening. And so I need to be able to have a clear head and that's one thing that's made such a big difference for me. And I feel like I truly have noticed like the growth and the freedom and the ability to have a certain mindset in the business where I'm at really started after I started caring for my mental health and thinking about it and like how I can serve my family and my team of people that are supporting me day in and day out.

I think it's relatable to moms too. I know we have this whole discussion on mom guilt, but if you're not in a good space and you just need a moment to clear your mind, like that few minutes that you take and clear your mind, or take a few deep breaths or do something for yourself is going to benefit you and your family in the long run.

Nichelle: One of the things that you showed me that list the other day, but it was saying that the seat, every CEO should have a therapist, but it was giving like the reasons why I think the first one was communication and we like both. Yes, that's actually one of the things that we were going to talk about today.

Brittany: Yeah. It says I can communicate with my team. Like I would somebody I love, I aim to make them feel seen and heard because it's like you feel seen and heard. And so now you're able to give that back. A few of the other reasons which are very specific. This person suggesting why CEOs needed to speak with therapists or something like it, vulnerability setting boundaries and having radical responsibility.

Those are all things that. It's tough to do. And if you don't have any training, I wasn't a CEO before I started Loverly Grey I was an employee of somebody else's business. And I think that's one thing with entrepreneurs, necessarily like some people I feel like see their family or parents were entrepreneurs, so then they were, but some people just are like, I think I can do something cool that no one else is doing, but you don't know necessarily how, I didn't know how and there's all these tools and things that I've been able to utilize since starting a business, but that's where I think it's, there's so much more to loverly gray than.

Just being a blogger or an influencer or going to target and getting a Starbucks. There is like an actual business. Like people's, full-time jobs are here to support levelly gray and make everything that we do possible and amazing, and really cool for you guys. But we all have to be in the right Headspace and my team has to be protected and aligned with what our values and what my goals are so that we can all be successful together.

Nichelle: Yes, absolutely. I thought that you had some really great bullet points. There's so many. Different like facets to building a business. And it's, there's going to be so much more than what we even cover today. But I think just based on Loverly Grey's core values and pillars, these were three, like really important pieces of the puzzle that I think make us work so well.

And that we're still strengthening every day because it's something that, we're not experts at everything, but we are learning and we're really trying to be. And I think that as long as we have that mindset where we have this like open communication and like we're constantly like fostering, like growth and develop.

These things are going to be even stronger. And if it shows in the work that you do.

Brittany: Totally. So we've got three things that we're going to talk about three different ways what Nichelle just spoke about and the first one being communication and how key that is. So some things that we do here is every Monday morning we have a.

Monday morning, sit down, meeting all of the team sits down and we go over numbers reports. So there is some metrics that are brought to the table here and we discuss, we plan out what's going on for the upcoming week. But this is also a time for each person on the team to, bring what they're doing to the table.

Almost like present, but it's a great time that we're able to communicate with each other. Hold ourselves to a certain standard for the week. This is what we're trying to accomplish. I know why corporate offices have these like standing meetings to go over things.

It's because being on the same page and communicating throughout the day, Is so important, but this is a great way that we set our bar really high for the week. And then we follow that up later in the week with something we like to call the think tank, which is just another opportunity for us to come back together and throw ideas around.

And it's amazing what you can do. When you get a group of people together who are brainstorming and bringing ideas of ways that we can make the business better. 

Nichelle: This is where I think all of us having our own individual talents really shines because we all bring something different to the table.

Brittany: Exactly. And this meeting is with people in the communications team with people on the social media team, we're hitting a lot of different ways that we can grow Loverly Grey and make it better and bigger and more exciting, and other ways for you guys to be able to shop or do things that we are doing.

And it's been really cool to see. I love seeing like the sparkle in somebody's eye when they have an idea they're super passionate about, or they're like, there's this training class I really want to take that I think could help this or Pinterest. 

Nichelle: I had a dream about this lesson. I think that we need to make it happen.

Brittany: That's so cool. And that's the one thing I think like about being a business owner is we can do that. When you get the right people with you who are passionate about the things that you're passionate about, that fosters growth. 

Nichelle: Absolutely.

Brittany: So allowing yourself to Be in that position is really cool. Yeah. It's it takes a little bit of time. I feel like to get there because for a little while it was just me and then I had an assistant and it's okay, like now I'm sharing this kind of with somebody or now I'm like expecting something, but is anybody going to love as much as I do?

Like it's possible for somebody to love it and want to support me in a specific way, but. Passing the torch around a little has been interesting, but it's been so fun to see my team like love and support. And especially when we come into that think tank, cause it's we're bringing ideas to the table and like it might get used or here's how we can spawn off of it.

So I think that's really fun. 

Nichelle: One of the things that I even forgot when we talked about this the other day is that. It's such an important piece to the Monday meetings. The think tank communication is calendar planning. O M G. That is something of course. Brittany will tell you. I'm very passionate about 

Brittany: yes, but it's been great because.

 If it's not on the calendar. It's not happening that day. And I think for this industry specifically, we really try to plan out what is getting posted. There's definitely days where it's oh, this all of a sudden random thing popped up. That's more important.

It's going to take precedent. So let's like change or post about this. But regardless of what your job is, there's so many ways you can. But the calendar to use and benefit you that we've seen. And it's things that I was we don't need to do that. And she's yes, we do. I do.

Nichelle: But our Monday meetings wouldn't happen at 8:30, every single Monday. If we didn't put it on the calendar, it's a standing thing that does not waiver unless we have some random one-off. And one thing that we've actually been doing lately is having structure to that meeting. Because how easy is it to go into a meeting with a bunch of people who love.

We're all like creatives, in our own way. So we tend to just oh, and this, and what about this? And then we gotta get this done, and it's so easy to get off topic that if you have something that kind of guides you and says, okay, this person has this much time on the floor.

This person has as much time on the floor and so on and so forth. It just keeps you in a place of just staying, again, blinders on. We're here for the mission. This is what we're here to do. We have open discussion at the end and we give ourselves time. But again, like your time is valuable.

All of our time's valuable. Let's make it happen in X amount of time and let's move on to the next thing. 

Brittany: Yeah. That I feel like we needed to implement that when we did, because we would come in and be like, oh my gosh, the weekends. Oh yeah, let's do this. Or our think tank started to get intertwined with our Monday morning meeting and all of a sudden it's 11 o'clock and we're like, we've got so much to do today.

Nichelle: So even if you don't have a very strict, like in, in the influencer blogging world, like she's saying, it's not always gonna work out beautifully and perfectly and fall into place, but you have something to stand on. So you have an idea of when something's going to happen. So if you have. You have a plan for everything else and it doesn't catch you off guard if you didn't.

Brittany: I think one other thing with the calendar planning that has been helpful for me too, is like planning time off. So Wednesdays, I have started taking like a half day in the morning and I do a workout. I have a little wednesday morning is like my morning to myself, but that was something that I was very hesitant to do at first, because I feel like I was like, I can't take a day.

I can't take that time off, even though I know that I could, but once we put it on the calendar and planned around that and just made Wednesday afternoons, if there's something that needs to get posted, this is when it gets posted. Now to me, I'm like, this is just part of my Wednesday. But what's like the weekends or when I started.

Nichelle: And it's okay, if we don't schedule it on the weekend, you can't do it on the weekend. 

Brittany: Yeah. Very true time with your family. But it's I just think that goes with anything. If you have a calendar and you're planning something out, it's like plan something for yourself. Be selfish on there.

If you are the one who is okay, Owning the business. Like you get to make your own rules. Like obviously if you're planning like a massage facial and pedicure, every single week, I don't know what your business is, there's gotta be a little bit of structure to that. But when you get to a point to where you can do that, it helps to put it on the calendar and then that becomes a priority for you.

And that's another way that you can protect your mental health. Just having a clear head space as the owner of your company and needing that time to just refresh and relax and reset.

Nichelle: You need it to be creative. You can get burned out as a creative very easily. If you just.

Brittany: One other thing with communication that we have here is an open door policy.

And this is something that I learned from my corporate job. For those of you who are new to the podcast, I was in sales for an it staffing firm for four years before I left to do Loverly Grey full time. And one thing I loved that they implemented very early on when insight global started was an open door policy.

So if there are somebody had a problem with somebody, it was like, Hey, let's talk this out. Let's come to a solution. Let's figure out why there's an issue and let's move on. There's none of this I don't know. I don't want to hurt feelings. I'm just going to hold it in. I'm just going to like, be mad about it.

It's Hey, when you said this, that upset me next time. Could you present it to me this way? Whatever the issue may be, but being very at front, like we, we worked in a, in a space where there's like a lot of things going on. There's no time for. Us to be like frustrated or upset or unsure of the, like, why are they acting like that? Did I do something? 

Nichelle: When we walk into the door earlier, I was like, okay, what's going on? 

Brittany: So like it just, that's something that has worked and I would highly recommend implementing that because it has helped us. Clear the air, if the air needs to be cleared and then move past. 

Nichelle: Yeah. One of the things with an open door policy is just making sure that you're fostering that environment, where if somebody does come to you and express concern, or, is just, I don't know, not happy, whatever the situation may be.

Don't retaliate, make sure that you protect that person and they feel that safe environment. They will come forward more. You'll have more open dialogue if that's the case. 

Brittany: Yep. And then one last thing for communication is giving honest feedback. And sometimes this is hard, especially if you're not wanting to hurt somebody's feelings or in my job.

Other people are helping me create things and I'm giving the stamp of approval. Or sometimes it's me being like, Hey, here's all this information, put it together like this, and it's done incorrectly. So I have to give honest feedback and use that as a teaching opportunity to correct it. Or when I say this in the future, this is what I mean.

But there's also going to be conversations that are had that it may be it's in, More in front of people, or maybe it's behind closed doors, but being honest and like giving feedback that is constructive, but also use it, like taking it back to what your values are with kindness, giving it a positive spin is like what we choose to do.

And that's another way to foster like healthy communication and provide a safe guard for. My employees. 

Nichelle: It's one of those things, guys, it's not easy. It's not easy. And if somebody tells you, oh, it's so easy. It's because they've probably had practice or they've become callous to it. It's never comfortable to give feedback, especially when it's negative.

The other really important thing is always remember to give positive feedback too, because if you're constantly just giving negative feedback, and this is just from like me being a leader in the past, like learning these things the hard way, like you need to remember that if you're going to give negative feedback, you have to have given positive feedback in the past to really reinforce behaviors.

And when you do stuff like that, The harder conversations become easier because you're having those it's an intimate conversation. Like I appreciate the work that you're doing. You're working so hard. I can't thank you enough. And then when you go back and say, Hey, I really felt like the.

Blah-blah-blah could have been done a little bit more, in the Loverly Grey voice. Like how could we have done that different just using your words and being very smart about it.

Brittany: I totally agree with you. Another safeguard that we have in place is creating an amazing. Culture so important.

And I feel like this is a really fun one because as we have hired new employees this year, as we're in the hiring process right now, that's something that I want people to be excited to come to work and we have fun. 

Nichelle: Absolutely.

Brittany: We all of us together. Yes, we're coming to work, but we're all passionate about what we do here, and it's a fun place to be. And that's something that we've really wanted to make sure that we were cultivating a few things that I feel like we've started doing and we'll continue to do is mindset work. We've got Jen coming in a few weeks to work with our team.

And maybe you don't have somebody who's coming to do this for your team, but maybe it's some way that you can be supportive or, buy your team lunch one day, just show your appreciation to the people that are supporting you as an entrepreneur. That is so important .

Nichelle: And I think even deeper, work on yourself too, before you start even bringing it in. Mindset work can be done together. It can be done individually. Maybe encourage, Hey, 15 minutes every morning, before you come into work. I'd love for us all to just really put our heads down and. Work on yourself, right? Quiet time, reading a self development book. Maybe you all are in it together. I think that's so important because if you're all on the same page, you're all going to get to that goal and that vision faster.

Brittany: I love that we've fostered this environment to where we can have those discussions on Hey, this is what's going on with me. And it's because the other. Are like-minded individuals. We can offer advice to each other, or we can be like, this is what I did. Or as you guys see me doing my therapy every week, here's something that I learned that I think could be applicable.

And it's vulnerability. But it's also helping the greater good and helping your team grow and foster them to, help you reach those goals and bigger picture items. But you have to be willing to be vulnerable in some of those ways. For some of these things to happen. One thing that we're starting to do is a little book club.

Nichelle: Yeah, we all need to just lean on it to purchase it and start it. But we just started talking about this the other day. I was like literally called to this book as I'm walking through target. It was on the new, the best sellers shelf and Lain and I were walking through target and I was like, huh, sounds interesting, I think I need that.

Brittany: And then she read the first part and came to our Monday morning meeting and was like, okay, we all need to read this and we're going to do a book club with it, but we're all like, okay. Like exciting like ways for us to stay connected that isn't necessarily okay, this is all about Loverly Grey it's something that yes, we will all benefit from it in a working place. It's also bettering our personal life too. And that's really important to be able to foster that environment. That's what is desired, that's I think employees will you spend your life, your days working with.

These people that aren't your family necessarily. To me, I think it's really important to be able to better yourself in your job, that you then go home and are a better person because of something you learned at your job 1000%. I know that's not everybody's option, but if you are a business owner and entrepreneur, like you can offer that to your employees.

If you want, you get to make those decisions or you get to. Go work for somebody that treats you like that.

Nichelle: Yup. Coaching is another one that I think you're going to agree because you go through this right now is something that as a CEO or entrepreneur need to invest in you. If you do not have the experience, especially of building a business or working on your own, anyone who is in a leadership role honestly, could benefit from coaching.

Coach a business coach, a mindset coach, somebody who's going to keep guiding you in the right direction mentally. To lead others.

Brittany: It's funny. I was telling Chris yesterday, he recently hired a running coach to help him create a plan and do everything he's doing for his marathon training. And. I was telling him, I was like, it's funny because I feel like everybody knows how to run.

 You did your research on the internet. You found some plans that kind of looked like it could be good for you. That's what you had been doing. And then you started working with this coach who is doing something specific for you and is tailoring your workouts. And not only is he helping you create different runs that are working on very specific things, he's giving you other ways to build other muscles that are going to help your runs be more consistent or give you more longevity or whatever it is.

But you wouldn't have known that unless you started working with him. Same thing here with me. I can do some research online. I can figure out what direction I'm going to be going in. But until I start taking some actual leadership coaching or taking classes that are going to foster some questions that I have, and really get my mind working in how to be the best CEO.

I'm not going to live up to my potential because I don't have a full grasp on even what it fully is. It's not something I'm being coached on all the time or that I really even knew a ton about until I got in this position. And once I made that connection, he was like, wow, that makes so much sense.

I think that's a great idea to start coaching and take a class on leadership. And that for me, I think is going to. Flow down to my team and then down to the people underneath them. And I don't know, it's something I wish I would have been started earlier. So if you are an entrepreneur, consider that earlier, six years in where I am, but I think I have really good leadership qualities.

But, that's something I'm excited to get to do a little bit more.

Nichelle: Personal values. This is something that I heard this somewhere recently is making sure that everyone feels like they can share their own personal values in the building. And every single one of us being aware of like where we stand, like what, what our hopes are and like how we value ourselves, how we like to be spoken to all of those things.

 Making sure that you're fostering that environment where everybody feels that openness to be able to share those things, because. In turn, you're going to feel more confident in your role. There is going to be again, back to communication, much, much better communication as well. 

Brittany: One book that I have heard about that we are actually going to read here I think is so helpful for leaders and peers and people in the workplace to understand who you're working with all the time. But it is called the five languages of appreciation in the workplace. So if we know that Lain loves words of affirmation and she does something, or even if we just need to lift her up, we know that's going to make her feel appreciated by being here. So I think that would be really cool for all of us to read and figure out what those acts of appreciation are and that way we will.

 You don't know what you don't know about somebody? I remember when I worked at inside global, I had a few peers who I felt like, I can't quite connect with them, but I feel like it's because. They are needing something that, we, as a team here aren't giving to them and I always wanted to try to figure it out.

 So I remember being like, gosh, I just wish everybody would read this book and then tell us what do you like, how do you feel appreciated it's to do with the love languages? Exactly. 

Nichelle: It's it took that book for my husband to realize, oh, she likes. Like things like flowers, birds and something, 

Brittany: and there's nothing wrong with that. You don't know until you don't know if you're going to be working with somebody all the time. It's nice to be able to express appreciation in a way that they feel valued and that they feel. Okay. That I really felt like they genuinely,

Nichelle: I think that would teach their reader so much too about the things that people do need, because if you don't know anything about it, that's a great place to start.

Brittany: That's so true. And then the last safeguard that we have in place here at Loverly Grey, just to give you guys some ideas, if you're an entrepreneur and want to take any of what we're saying and put it into practice for yourself, but hiring the right people. 

Nichelle: Ooh, that's such a good one. 

Brittany: And it is hard to find the right people who want to be part of your vision and who you feel comfortable handing something off to, especially as an entrepreneur.

It's your baby as an influencer. It's literally like my face of the business and it's my life. So it's hard. It's very hard to. Give something over to somebody else or ask for help in certain areas. Because to me, I want it to still be very authentic to me and what I would showcase. And so we've coined the term, like the Loverly Grey way, in doing anything that we're doing here and sending an email in responding to somebody in a message, is this done with kindness?

With positivity, inserting some of our other values is this done in the Loverly Grey way. And you have to have that version of your way to teach to the people around you, but they also have to come into it wanting your way, we really look for winner's mindset. Like we're very goal oriented, 

Nichelle: something that was so important whenever you and I sat down and we were like, okay, how do we get some people that are just like us?

Brittany: I know. And it's so hard. Hiring is such an interesting thing. It's funny. I was in the staffing industry for so long and knew hired and fired and did all sorts of very specific industry technical I T staffing is what I do, so it was so different than hiring people who wanted.

Support my business. 

Nichelle: Yeah. That was the same for me working in retail. It was like, there were already these black and white, guiding points of what the skills needed to be for that. But I think that it was helpful that you and I both had some of the basic knowledge of being able to interview being able to read people and then really understanding what skillsets are.

I don't want to dumb it down, but at the same time, like there are some people probably out there starting off very early in their career and they've not had a corporate job. They might not even know what skill sets they need. I definitely would recommend, there are so many free courses out there that kind of help with the hiring process or talent, the talent parts of the business.

And we won't get into that, but I think. If you're going to start off on the right foot, you have to hire the right people. They don't have to be you, but they definitely want to, you want them to have the same end goal,

Brittany: right and finding people that want to support your business. I think for me, for so long, I was always worried about hiring somebody who just wanted to either learn what I was doing and then go do it themselves or somebody who was just going to come in here because they, didn't fully understand how my business worked. And then they were going to go back and tell people what was going on behind the scenes here, because it's very personal for you.

Yeah. It's, that's, it's the strangest industry, it is my life. That has been turned into a business. I think one thing with whoever you hire your trust factor has to be so high. And of course there's all sorts of documents in place, but at the end of the day, like you have to go with your gut.

And if you feel like, regardless of any of that, you have to make sure you can trust whoever this person is or whoever you're adding on to your team. But I think it's really important to write out. What you really want and figure out what are your pain points? What can somebody else help you do?

Where can you delegate some tasks so that you can continue thriving in growing your business? And then even in the last year we have grown, we've hired a three times. Each time we've been like maybe what if we like separated that person's job and made it into another job.

And then they could be really good at focusing on just this role. And so you have to be willing to figure that out, but writing it all out and making it make sense like that, I feel has been so important. And that's a step that I feel like we've had to slow down in order to speed up.

And the hiring process can be so tedious and interesting, but it can also be so rewarding and worth it. When you find the person who's like a great fit. Absolutely. So that's been, I've been super fortunate with the people who are part of my team and who, come to work here every day. I'm so glad that we have.

We have this team that we're building, we're growing, it's exciting. There's so much potential and growth that we are going through right now. Also, if you feel like you'd be a good fit, you never know. It's crazy. I feel like sometimes the way that people find jobs is just by putting it out there that, Hey, I'm interested.

Here's my skillset. I don't know if you need this, but this is who I am like a friend of mine who I never thought would be interested in working with me. Who I was like, oh, she's in her career. Like she's thriving the other day. She was like, Hey, listen, if you ever need this or this please come to me first.

Really. Okay. Like good to know, but I wouldn't have known that if she wouldn't have put herself out there. So I guess for those of you who are listening and you're not an entrepreneur, or you have a friend who has a business and you're like, I would love to support him or her in this way, tell them, put that out there and you just never know.

Opportunities could come from that, make sure that you are following along with Loverly Grey. I share some stuff on my Instagram stories about positions that we're hiring for and also our email list. We always send out if we do have an open position, what it is, so make sure that you are subscribed.

To our email list. We will leave that in the show notes, just so you don't miss any of the open opportunities that we have, but I'm excited for where this team is going. And I think everything that we're talking about today is allowing us to grow the way that we have. We have these safeguards in place.

We have pillars in place. We have defined values. We are doing things, Grow in this industry and to grow as an entrepreneur. And I think that's important for anybody in the entrepreneur space. You have to do some of these things to build your business and be able to build it up. 

Nichelle: I hope this was so helpful for so many people. This is the stuff that I get excited about the behind the scenes. 

Brittany: Yes. And Nichelle is like the queen of the behind the scenes. And it's been so great because it allows me to be super creative and come up with these ideas that you guys are seeing. And. I that's what I love to do, but it's I can't do that if I don't have systems in place or somebody helping me create a system.

And so I feel like over the last like year and a half, I've learned so much about the business side of things and how we can continue this growth, but it has taken like learning and like stopping and. Do this and yeah. And you ha you need those days sometimes and it's paying off. So I'm excited for what the future of Loverly Grey looks like.

Nichelle: Yeah. And just remember patience is a virtue. My mother used to say that, and of course I'm like, but it really is true in this game. Patience and being very comfortable with pivoting. You guys got this.

Brittany: It's funny. It's I feel like people used to, of course my mom would always just be like, patience is a virtue and I would always be like one that I do not have, but now I feel like there's definitely times where I feel like I'm forced to be patient in like a pivoting situation.

It's almost like my brain is like being tricked. It doesn't realize I'm being patient. It just thinks I'm like pivoting. So I think that's interesting. I hadn't thought about it until you just said that, but it's probably what is happening. Exactly. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.

I feel like it was. Such a good episode. And I feel like we even can expand on this a little bit further, especially once we bring Jen back on and we've got a few things coming for you guys. This season that I think we'll be able to continue sharing more of the business side of Loverly Grey. If that's something that you guys are interested in hearing.

But we are just so thankful that you have decided to tune in with us and we will talk to you next time. 

Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review on the platform you listen on. It truly means the world to me. And don't forget to follow along on Instagram at Life with Loverly. Until next time.