Fabienne Guichon | Aug 28, 2024

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Thank you once again for joining us today. I know it's late in your time, but so going through your profile and just doing, like, a little mini stocking, what I was really struck with is just, like, your overall career trajectory. I would never inherently think that the beauty world and, like, the self development world had so much in common. So I'm curious, like, what got you into beauty? [00:00:24] Speaker B: Wow. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Okay. [00:00:28] Speaker B: So that's a kind of a story that came through when I was about 14. And when I was 14, I actually had a small summer job at a hair salon, and I was just a shampoo girl. And so I was all, you know, just doing shampoos and being happy with people. I was just making a little bit of summer money. You know, I actually really enjoyed being around the people. And I feel like the team I was working with was very caring and nurturing and kind of provided me all the information I needed in order to be actually good at doing shampoos, because you have to be good at doing shampoos. And so I think that experience was such a great experience. I came out of the summer meeting people which were much older than me and having clients which were really happy about the services I was giving and also doing things that I really enjoyed that really made me feel like maybe this is the field I want to be in. And so I kind of started thinking and told my parents, you know, I really don't think I am made for the major academic aspect of life. I want to work with people. I want to be around people. I want to make people feel good. So that experience kind of gave me a little bit of that trigger. And then it was really funny, because once we decided it was time for me to do this, I wasn't able to find an apprenticeship at a hair salon. But I did find an aesthetic school. And so my parents and I had a long conversation about this. And my parents said, well, if you really set into doing this, we'll do one year, go to aesthetic school, learn skincare and that aspect of beauty. And then after one year, if you still feel really connected with the whole concept, you'll be able to continue. And that's how I got into this. It was more of kind of a. Yeah, like a. Like a chance to take. But I think the chance that the chance that I took really was successful because of the people I worked with. And they're the one who made me love that environment. [00:03:13] Speaker A: That's so awesome. I also just love your parents in the story. I mean, being like, because 1415, like, you don't know what you want to do. Like, you're just starting out. So for them to be as supportive and on your side and encouraging for you to try, I mean, that is, that is awesome. [00:03:30] Speaker B: It was great. It was great. But they did say, if you're not doing well, this is. You cut off. [00:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah, no. Oh, my gosh. But I, and also, I just love, because whenever I go into a salon and do my hair, I. That is also the story that I get told by, like, the hairstyles or even how I feel like they went into this because they want to make people feel good. And I think that's just such a beautiful sentiment. So being in the beauty industry for 30 plus years, how did you then find yourself into learning and development? [00:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really nothing that I had. It just totally happened. I think it was just an evolution of me and what I really wanted to do. So I think it all came down to all these little steps that brought me into. So, yeah, I became an aesthetician and I was a massage therapist for a long time. I was behind the chair servicing clients, and I really loved educating my clients. I was all about telling them about everything. So when I was doing massages, I would always tell them about the issue with their anatomy and the muscle and why they should be doing this and that. And when I was doing skincare, I would always be very focused on how they could do better with taking care of their skin, you know, using the right products and everything. So I found myself loving that education, and I also have been for many, many years. Even when I was a little girl, I love the stage. I love being on stage. [00:05:12] Speaker A: Nice. [00:05:13] Speaker B: I have no problem. Even when I was little, I had no problem standing in front of a group of people and talking about something that was passionate. And so education and training kind of come in play for me. Even though there was a lot of other steps that brought me there at the end, it was all about educating and helping professional to become better at what they do and exchanging knowledge. So for me, learning and development, it's not just me as a trainer going out there and telling all of the great things, I always look at it as a collaboration. We exchange knowledge, we bring together each other, all sorts of information that makes me grow and that makes them grow. And so going along with, you know, taking care of clients and wanting to educate the consumer, and then later on wanting to educate professional and focusing on the learning and development aspect of it brought me to where I am right now, which I always say when I was in training, for the beauty industry, I was mostly about, you know, helping people to take care of themselves from outside in. And now, as a coach, a trainer, an educator, I am all about people taking care of themselves from inside out and kind of connecting with each other and fulfilling that aspect of making the world a better place. You know, I have said that all my life. I want to make the world a better place one person at a time. And I know it's super cheesy, but as I said in my last keynote speaking in the UK, I said, you know what? It's cheesy, but I like it and I stick with it because that's me. [00:07:16] Speaker A: I love that. The cheesier the better. I feel like some of the best quotes are cheesy. And it's like, yes, it's cheesy because it works. You know, like, why else is it still around? [00:07:26] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. So, and I love the concept of exchanging knowledge, like being able. It's such a service based mindset. Like, you're not just there for them, they're also there for you. And because of that, you guys can build. I'm curious, so from the clients that you've been able to discuss with, what's one thing that you've been able to learn from one of them? [00:07:51] Speaker B: So from consumers, you know, I learned a lot of, I think I learned a lot of empathy and compassion when I was working with consumers because I had to deal with people that had, you know, situations and health situation, whether it was their body or their skin, working with a lot of people that have major acne and how it affects them and how you deal with people in that case. And for me, it was a great learning concept of having compassion. And yes, there are tools out there that we can use, but at the end is really listening. And that's also another aspect for me. It was really understanding and listening to what they were saying because it's easy. And I think a lot of estheticians and beauty therapists, we want to provide the solution. So we forget about listening, but learning how to listen, learning how to understand and learning how to let it actually go through the process. So having empathy and compassion, for me, that was a great learning component of being patient about what people were saying and not always wanting to give that solution right away and being there for them. So that was kind of the concept with consumers. And I learned now, when I worked with professional and when I worked with massage therapists, estheticians, beauty professional experts, what I learned from them is their challenges of putting business together or challenges of going beyond fears, learning about going beyond objections, that kind of things. And that is really a big learning session because you can be there as a trainer, say, oh, it's easy. You do this, you do this, and you do that. But at the end, if someone is being held back because of major fear of objections, then you have to understand a little bit more about what their needs are and how you can fulfill a little bit of their, you know, their needs that in order to go beyond that. [00:10:31] Speaker A: That, yeah, that is so interesting because, I mean, so much of that is, as you were saying, like, really utilizing the listening and the empathy to even get to having them understand what you're already seeing in them. And it was actually a question that I wanted to ask you, like, as I was, like, looking things up. It's so interesting. Self development versus, like, for like, a professional brand versus like, a business development for like, a business. How do you bridge those worlds? Or like, how different are they? Or how have you seen them be bridged in your, like, when you're working with your clients? [00:11:09] Speaker B: So when I work with clients, I think they're all connected. They're all connected because personal development bleeds into professional development as well as how you deal with business, how you deal with what you're doing. It's all connected. And I always go back to what I talk about in my book of unapologically bold is the belief box that we have. We have all of these belief box that we fulfilled with so many beliefs throughout our life, and they are like fire, and we go back to them every time we need something. And so sometimes you have to unlearn. To relearn. And that's the most difficult part, is unlearning what you know is not going to serve you anymore and learning things that are going to serve you now. And maybe those things served you when you were 1520, but they don't serve you when you're 30, 40 and beyond. So it's finding that, and I have found that these belief box or these belief we have created along the way are connected to how we deal with our personal development, but also our professional development and how we deal about things in business. So going back to the fear of rejection, you know, that we may have in business, of someone telling us no for some reason, I don't want that. That makes us feel go back into our shell or feeling like we have a we are. Failure is often connected to some kind of professional development that may have happened in school, professional school, or even in training. Somewhere. Or it may be about something that happens when we were younger that has actually triggered this component. To me. When I do leadership development, coaching or anything like this or training or any, I always want to kind of see what's happened in the past to really understand how we go beyond that. And of course, in one on one coaching session it's much easier because we can get in the depth of things. Once we are in a group, it's a little bit different, not as intimate, but there's always something that comes from a file that's in our little brain right here that we've been using for a long time. [00:14:04] Speaker A: That is so true. But how? So it makes sense. But like when you're going through life and you don't even know that you have the file, like, how do you even bridge that? Or how have you helped other clients bridge finding the box to then open and then, you know, get the files out? [00:14:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So the coaching is great for that because you can ask very powerful question that people actually get into their own introspection and so they are the one finding it. Even though I may see it and I may notice it. But if I say it, most of the time people will disregard it. But within coaching session by asking questions, that brings them to find out that file and search into that file and say, oh my God, I've been using this for so long and it's really not serving me anymore, then it's much better. That's the difference between coaching and mentoring. And I like to do both. When I do leadership, for example, and training, I like to do coaching and mentoring. So mentoring is more me about sharing experience and solutions and providing components that people can use, giving my opinions and so on. But coaching, I'm not sharing anything in coaching. I'm just asking questions. So then my client can introspect and find the situation, but it can take a really long time until the file is discovered and we all have them. I have them, you have them, everyone have them, and even me. Sometimes I have to go back and say, okay, what file am I using here? [00:16:02] Speaker A: Oh man. So from like all of that work, is there a client that just sticks out in your head like that you've helped them find the file or they couldn't find the file? Like, is there one client story that for some reason just is really stuck with you? [00:16:19] Speaker B: You know, that is actually, I, that's what I love coaching so much. And I discovered coaching not very long ago. It's only about two years now. My progression into this whole coaching concept has been really interesting, and I found that you have. Every single client has aha moment in every single session. Every single session, you see that light bulb going off, or even they tell you, oh, my God, I'm having this aha moment. And I have seen that with every. Almost every single client in, you know, maybe not the first session, but usually third or fourth. That's where things starting to pop up and start coming on the surface. So, yeah, it's usually happened with every session. [00:17:15] Speaker A: That's so cool. I'm also that I did not know you were coaching for only two years. That is incredible, because the way in which, like, the sophistication that you talk about it, like, you have such an intimate understanding of it, I just assumed you've been doing this for so long. Oh, my gosh. [00:17:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I think officially is two years, because I got my training two years ago, but I think I was doing that way beyond. I was doing coaching without knowing I was doing coaching. [00:17:47] Speaker A: Yeah, probably. Oh, my gosh. Like, what a cool skill. Which, I guess, interesting segue. So, your book, unapologetically bold. How did you find yourself writing that? Because when that. When did that come out? That was. [00:18:06] Speaker B: Last year in September. [00:18:08] Speaker A: So you hadn't even been coaching officially for that long. You were still able to just produce something so rich. So how did you find yourself to be inspired to write it? What was the story behind that? [00:18:21] Speaker B: This book has been in my head for years, and so it's been. You know, people always say, you know, I've got a book in my head. [00:18:28] Speaker A: You know. [00:18:31] Speaker B: I've been thinking about writing this book, but I never found the right time to do it, and I never felt ready for it, and I never felt like I had a structure to explain everything. But I've had so many people when I was in the US, because I lived in the US for a really long time, and people I worked with and people I was around always said to me, Fabian, you need to write a book on how you got there, because, yeah, of course, I'm a self made woman, so I have no university degrees. I'm an aesthetician and massage therapist, and I'm really proud of it. And I went from being an aesthetician massage therapist all the way into being a global executive learning and development director. And a lot of people said, you need to write of how you got there. And for many years, I was like, I don't even know how I got there. [00:19:28] Speaker A: No idea. [00:19:29] Speaker B: And then it finally dawned on me, which was about two years ago, where I was, like, I think I got it. I think I know how I did this. And it was based on the consummation cycle. Regroup, relive, remotion. And so all of this kind of came into play for me to put it into this structure and being able to tell the story of the little esthetician from a small town in St. Claude le Jo, France, to become this executive director on the global level. So I think I was ready then, and it was. It was. It took a while to get there. [00:20:16] Speaker A: Hmm. That is such a cool, because, you know, I have personally, in my life, have a lot of friends who, I mean, I'm in my twenties, so I feel like we're all in this weird stage of life where we're. We see an end goal or we see a dream, and it's all about, like, trying to find the way to get there. And so, I mean, for, it's really. It's really cool to hear stories like yours where you're in the similar place and, like, conventional knowledge would be like, how does an esthetician get all the way up there? I mean, do you have any advice for people who are like you in the beginning stages, or, like, were like you, and how you were able to. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Get up there at the foundation of all is working on self confidence, really, that's the foundation of all. If you work on your self confidence and self esteem and you build that, and then you can start putting your dreams together, you know, as, okay, what do I really want to do? What do I want to be known for? You know? And that's the question I always ask people, is, what do you want to leave behind you? What's your legacy? What do you want to be known for? And once you write down what you want to be known for, you need to find the self confidence, the self esteem, the purpose of that goes behind this. And once you have that, there's plenty of other steps. But the foundation, for me, I believe that self confidence is the pillar of anything we want to do. And if we don't have that self confidence, it's bound to fail, unfortunately, because we will self sabotage ourself. And so it's really eliminating these learned behaviors we may have about being not so kind to ourselves and sabotaging ourselves because we sabotage ourselves all the time. I think women are the worst at it. Men do it, but not as bad as women. And when we can eliminate the self sabotaging and we can build up the self confidence and the self esteem, it's the first step. [00:22:32] Speaker A: So is that, like, how do you go about, like, if I was, oh, sorry, I hit the mic, but if I was a client and I was coming to you and that was, like a pillar that I really wanted to work on, like, self confidence or self esteem, is that where you go back into the past and look at that belief box? How does one do that on their own? Like, how do they, like, how does one cultivate that, you know, on a regular Tuesday? [00:22:57] Speaker B: So I think the first thing is really going on, the positive aspect. And so it's really figuring, what am I good for? What am I good at? Okay, so you can ask yourself that question. You can write it down, what am I good at? What am I proud of? What can I celebrate every day? What am I confident to do on a daily basis where it makes me feel happy inside, where I feel that butterfly. So I always start with all the positive. Let's put together all the positive compounds or contents that exist, and then we go back and say, okay, so if you don't feel good about doing this, what made you believe you not good enough to do this? And so by asking that question, what made you believe you're not good enough to do this, then we can unwind the past in finding out what is it that happened that made you feel that you're not good enough to be able to do this? And then we can do that with every single component that exists. So you can do it on your own. It's a little bit more challenging when you do it alone because, you know, you don't necessarily have someone in front of you that challenge you. And that is asking you the difficult questions because, of course, if you ask yourself the questions, you're going to go into more I protecting myself. So I'm not going to ask those so difficult session questions, but you will ask more questions that are easy to answer versus if you have a coach in front of you, that coach is going to challenge you, that coach is going to bring things that you're not really thinking of, and it's going to make you think deeper, deeper and deeper. So that's why a coach often gets to the depth of things versus you on your own. You're gonna scratch the surface. [00:25:16] Speaker A: That makes sense. [00:25:16] Speaker B: It's a good start, though. It's a good start. [00:25:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But that makes a lot of sense. So now I'm really curious. In your career, as you've been hitting all of these pillars and rungs and just building such a, like a. Just a beautiful life for yourself has, or do you remember a time where your self confidence was challenged. And if so, how did you get past it? [00:25:39] Speaker B: Oh, my God. My self confidence gets challenged every day, even now. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Really? Yeah, really. [00:25:46] Speaker B: Self confidence is not something that is acquired ever. And we tend, you know, we always think that we get there, and once we there, we there. Not, we not. It's not like it's a continuous learning journey. So, I mean, I've had so many time when I have change my career from one place to the other, you know, one thing, one time. One of the worst part is learning German and trying to speak German. Oh, my goodness. [00:26:17] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. [00:26:18] Speaker B: That. That totally shattered my self confidence because I was not good enough to do it, and I was certainly. No one could understand. Uh huh. [00:26:31] Speaker A: No. Oh, my gosh. [00:26:36] Speaker B: That was a really difficult aspect because I learned English so easily and quickly in the Us, and I don't know why it was so easy for me, but when I moved back to Europe and I had to learn German and Dutch, I totally lost it. And I just. I could see myself kind of retrieving into a hole like a little mouse every time I had to say something at work with my peers, and I just kind of let it go and dropped it. So I actually never learned German properly because my self confidence was so low into learning it. [00:27:21] Speaker A: Whoa. Thank you for sharing that. German is hard. I'm really shocked, though, that you found English so easy because English is, like, historically not as simple. That's. Wow, that's really cool. But thank you for sharing that. So that's one extreme. But thinking back, what is one success that you think has been really pivotal for you in your life. [00:27:49] Speaker B: Actually moving to the States? [00:27:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Even though it was really difficult at the beginning and I had, of course, challenges, like, everyone, because I had left my whole life behind me. But that was so successful for me once I changed my mindset and I said to myself, you have to go with the flow. You know, you have to make it happen. You're here to discover you here to learn. You need you here to kind of find everything. That's going to be great. It was a really good, successful story for me. I lived in the US for, I think, almost 30 years. [00:28:35] Speaker A: Whoa. [00:28:36] Speaker B: And I loved it. It was incredible. I had so many great, you know, opportunity professionally, but personally, it totally changed me. It brought me a complete new experience, and it made me a different person. [00:28:54] Speaker A: That's so cool. Where did you live in the States? [00:28:58] Speaker B: I was in Chicago. [00:28:59] Speaker A: Oh, Chicago. Oh, yeah. That's. That city's got a personality. That's so fun. Oh, man. [00:29:07] Speaker B: A little bit of my accent. I get a little Chicago accent. [00:29:10] Speaker A: I hear it. I hear it. That's so awesome. Oh, my gosh. What made you move then? Like, what made you leave after 30 years? Wow. [00:29:20] Speaker B: You know, I felt like it was time for me to reconnect with my roots. Well, my parents are in Europe, my brother, my family's here. And I had been away so long from my parents that it was time for me to be a little closer to them, even though I'm not in France, but I'm closer. And it was better for me to really be with them and spending some more time with them because I haven't in the last 2025 years. [00:29:56] Speaker A: That's really cool. How do you feel? Because, I mean, you talked about in the beginning, your family's really shaped you and been so supportive. I mean, leaving everything that, you know, how has that familial support driven you throughout your life? [00:30:14] Speaker B: You know, I think my parents have always been there, but then they never been in to the depth of things, so. Which has helped because I feel it's better to not have too much detail. And so having them supporting me in a more superficial way was certainly a really good aspect along my life and allowing me actually to be who I am and what I want to be. So I think the move to the US was really scary for them when I left, and they thought I was nuts and crazy, but then they saw what I was able to do, and I think it gave them that trust that I could make things happen and I could be responsible, I could be happy. And I think they trust me on the decisions that I'm making, and they've always trust me on that. So it's kind of nice to know that your family trusts you and the decision that you're making, even though they might not be fully involved with that decision. Decision? [00:31:30] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like having, like, a little cheerleader in the background. Like, you don't have to know how the game is played, but you're there. You know, you're there rooting for you. So just for a second to quickly go back to something that you kind of touched on before. When it comes to developing the personal and professional and business development that having curiosity and purpose, how does one. Or how have you found to cultivate that? [00:31:59] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Curiosity is the best thing ever. Curiosity. You have to be curious. If you're not curious, you're stagnating. You're on a standstill. You're not going anywhere. You're on a treadmill. Curiosity is the most, not the most, because there's many other things that are really important, but it's one of the most important aspect to development, because if you don't ask questions, how would you know the answer and how would you know what to do? So curiosity is one of the best thing. And it's fun. It's actually super fun. You know, if you're not curious, you're having a boring life. I'm sorry. It's sometimes a little nerve wracking to be curious. And yes, sometimes it's a little bit too much. But I believe that curiosity, you can foster it every day by just asking regular question. You know, I found that sometimes people don't even ask questions to their neighbor. You know, ask question to your neighborhood. What do you do? Why are you doing that? Where do you go? Where do you go shopping? Where do you do? You know, you work out, you know, where do you meet friends? What is your best restaurant? Ask questions, you know, I know we have a lot of knowledge, and we have a lot of information on our fingertips. I think we have too much right now, and it's really hard for all of us to kind of go through all this information. And sometimes just asking questions to people is the most important thing. And I love curious people. I absolutely love it. A few years back, when I was a director of global learning and development for skincare line, I was interviewing a trainer, and I was looking for international trainer, and I, this girl asked so many questions. I was like, oh, my God, I love her. I love her because she's curious. She wants to know. She wants to have the information. She wants to make the right decisions. She wants to connect with what we are and who we are. And I thought it was beautiful that this person was asking so many questions. So I love curious people. And I really tell everyone, be curious. Go out there, ask questions, and just learn. Learn from simple things around you every day. [00:34:53] Speaker A: That is so. It's so funny because it's so fundamental. Like, kids ask questions all the time. They're always like, you know, and it's like, I feel like to your point about, like, the fear of rejection, it's like you get older, and it just gets scarier to ask because you could be rejected, and it's like, you get less and less curious. But that's so fun. Just, like, go out and just. Just ask what could possibly happen, you know? Oh, that's really cool. [00:35:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Ask someone in the bus. You see that they have a great purse or beautiful shoes. They great shoes. Where did you get those? You know? [00:35:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Ah, that's so lovely. I love that. Thanks for that. That was nice. So just. So then another thing to that same effort, like purpose. I mean, you have to be curious and ask yourself those hard questions to get to that route. But when do you even know you're there? I feel like purpose is this big thing, or some people make it this really big, heavy thing. And it's like if you don't know it, then you're lost forever. And it's like, I'm trying to ask myself the questions and get there, but I don't even know where to start. [00:36:02] Speaker B: You know, I don't think we can ever get to the purpose. I think we have an understanding of what our purpose is. But I was thinking the other day, I want to write another book. [00:36:18] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:19] Speaker B: This other book will be, I'm going to swear. I'm sorry, but I'm going to swear you're good. And the other book is, you know, following your dream or following your purpose is. And the subtitle is, it's fucking hard to get there. [00:36:39] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, that's in the cart. Buying it immediately. Perfect. All I need. [00:36:47] Speaker B: You know, purpose is a big thing. It's true. And it's this philosophy. It's like this big objective that's there. Do we ever get there for sure? I'm not sure about that. But what's important is the journey to get there. And the journey is super difficult. The journey is hard and it's up and down and it's a roller coaster and we have great days and we feel amazing and we have shitty days where we feel like, oh, my God, why am I doing this already? Don't know why. So it's like this up and down journey, but I think it's more about the journey than the destination. And I really believe we don't get to that destination ever because there's always something that is kind of humming into it and like, oh, yeah, that would be nice to add that. And so there's always that component which is the learning component. You know, as human being, we are actually programmed to grow and to learn. So we are in a constant learning process and if we are not learning, then we actually die. So it is really important to go. So I think it is more about the journey of getting to the concept of a purpose and being able to find solution to get there. It's one of those kind of things that's really difficult. It's a path that is full of obstacle and these obstacles allow you to go beyond and think differently and to find a solution so you can move forward a little bit, and then you have another obstacle and you have to do something about it. So I think setting a purpose, like, my purpose has always been, like I said, making the world a better place and one person at a time. So that's always been the big thing. But how I get there is different every day. [00:39:03] Speaker A: That is very cool. Cause it's like when you take it and really distill it down to that, like, making the world a better place, what it could be literally anything. So I can totally see that impulse just, like, of ebbing and flowing and going through life. That is very cool. Sorry. I love these kind of conversations, so I'm genuinely having my own aha moments. So thank you for that. [00:39:29] Speaker B: I'm glad you are. I'm having a lot of fun speaking with you. [00:39:33] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Good. Thank you. So mmmdh I wonder, so if you were to go back to the beginning of your story, at the beginning of your journey, finding your purpose, what would you have told yourself? [00:39:52] Speaker B: What would I tell myself? That little 19 year old girl kind of walking the journey and trust the process. Trust the process. Trust yourself. Follow your instinct. Don't let other tell you what you think is right for you. Be unapologetically bold. [00:40:26] Speaker A: Hey. Yeah. I love that. Oh, man. And that is so hard to, like, keep you in the forefront and be bold. Oh, that's scary. That's scary stuff. So then how did you or how have you been able to conquer that fear of, you know, like, as you're going through that journey? [00:40:55] Speaker B: Being bold is not easy, and I'm not bold every day. You know, there's days I'm done. Even now. There's days where I feel like I'm not bold. I feel like I'm not myself. I feel like I've given up my power, other people have taken my power, and it's my fault because I gave it up. You know, I believe that we have a choice. We either give it up or we just keep our power. And that's actually one thing I learned, you know, when I was working with the harpoon studio and I was working with Oprah Winfrey, and that was one thing that, you know, she said, always is about being nurturing and caring but not being nice. And that always sticks with me. It's like, you know, I kind of like that, you know? And so there's days I am not at all bold, and, you know, it takes me a few hours or it would take me a few days to get back into. I need to trust myself. I need to trust what I'm doing. I need to trust my instinct. I am not here, and I've not started all of this to back off. If we can't say, you know. So it takes a lot of talking to yourself, I guess it takes a lot to doing affirmations. For me, affirmations work tremendously of being able to tell myself that I am brilliant, then I am good at what I do, then I have solutions, then I'm transforming and so on and so forth. But it's not easy. Every day I have days where I'm down, where I'm crying like everyone else. You know, I think we all have to stop thinking that people that are following their purpose have it all easy every day. It is not true. Following your dream is one of the hardest thing you'll ever do, and it's being able to have resilience to go beyond these moments of doubt, these moment of feeling down and of feeling like you're not going to get there. [00:43:18] Speaker A: That is so true because I feel like, especially in our social media society, like, it's a constant influx of just, like, people following their dreams and being fantastic and never having a bad day. And it's like this overload of not positivity, but there's just no other side. It's like you're succeeding or you failed. And it. The gambit, oh, man, it's pretty. It's pretty extreme nowadays. [00:43:44] Speaker B: Totally. It totally irritates me. All of these, when I see some of these stuff on Instagram and all of the social media channel about you either a failure or success. No, you're in the middle. You know, if you're gonna go towards what you really want to achieve, you're gonna be in the gray zone for a long time. And that gray zone means up and down and the roller coaster. [00:44:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, man. So. And then one other piece that I did want to touch on self care and wellness for you. I mean, because I feel like in this journey, if you aren't taking care of yourself, like, emotionally, like, just making sure that you are sound enough to go through it, and you can burn out and crash so, so quickly. So how have you been able to care and instill that culture of self care people you talk to? [00:44:43] Speaker B: Well, I think coming from where I come from, you know, beauty wellness and massage therapists. So I think being a massage therapist, I've always learned to take care of myself and understanding that's really important. So I have my own little rituals and I do, and I try to find and put it on a daily basis. I mean, one of the big thing is running. For me, it's, I'm a big runner and I ran several marathon in the last ten years, and that allows me to be really happy. So I try to run as much as I can. Biking is also another thing, kind of a tight paper. So for me, self care always comes with sport, or often a sport. So I like biking and I bike. I don't even have a car, so I'm just biking around every day with my little bicycle. And I find that every time I get on the bicycle, I feel like a little girl again. So it just feels really good and freeing. I like, you know, walking and hiking, that's another thing. And mountains, it just makes me feel really good. And I try to do that as much as I can. So it's really programming time in your life, whether it's music, I like cooking. Also cooking. For me, it's a way to let everything behind me and close the day. So it's finding these small little components that you can plug into your daily life. So you do something that's good for you, not for anyone else, just you. Who cares if it's good for the others, if it is wonderful, if it's not, we don't care. It's all about. And that's what self care is, is doing something that is going to fulfill and fill you cup and make you feel whole again. And so it can be something super small, it can just be reading two page of a book, it can be walking around the block, it can be petting your cat. I don't know, there could be some. We don't have to make it complicated. People always say self care, that's the big complicated thing. You gotta take care of yourself. [00:47:04] Speaker A: Yep. [00:47:04] Speaker B: But just do something every day that makes you happy. [00:47:10] Speaker A: That's so refreshing. It's because you're right. It's gotten so complicated. And it's like, if you're not doing this and this, then are you even caring about yourself? And it's like, yes, I don't like that. You know, oh, man, I'm looking at the time. So I guess one final question and then we'll have to let you go. What is one piece of advice that you feel, especially in the professional and personal development space, that people don't get enough of? [00:47:43] Speaker B: There's so many, and they all have to be adapted to the person, you know, I think I go back, be you, you know? Be selfish. You know, that kind of what I think about what you want. That's probably the thing I would say, you know, sometimes it's good to be selfish. I mean, there are people that are extremely selfish. I'm not saying to go that route. Okay. I'm saying more about be you find what you want and go for what you want to learn. And I think that's it, because there's so many other components, but those are so specific to the person. But I think the first thing is, what do you want to learn? And search for that so you can find your fulfilling aspect of what you want to be and what you want to learn. [00:48:56] Speaker A: Nice. Thank you for that. Thank you for this. It's been lovely talking with you. [00:49:05] Speaker B: It was wonderful speaking with you. I loved it.