Hello, and welcome to episode 32 of design, curious podcast.
I'm so glad you're here today. I'm your host and Mentor Rebecca
Ward. Today, we have an interview with
and really, bro, since she is a coach and speaker and a podcast
host, and I'll tell you all about her in a minute.
But first, I want to remind you. We have a download for you.
It's a free download that talks about the three things.
I wish I had known before I started my career in interior.
Our design so you can learn those three things and get on
our mailing list and that you can find in the show notes along
with everything else. We talked about in today's
episode, just more information about my design mentor and
everything else that you love about this show.
So let's learn a little more about Andrea before we hear from
her, besides being a coach speaker and a podcast coach, she
is soon to be published author and is known for helping bold
ambitious, women make We're confident decisions that they
can get exactly what they want every time and not just add to
another thing on their to-do list.
Andrews, clients become. I've got this kind of women by
creating their own custom secret sauce for success, in both life
and business, the sauce has just two ingredients, the right
mindset and solid systems. Andrea shows women how to shift
from believing what they want. Is impossible, complex and
daunting to possible just by simplifying making.
Things doable and fun, even the systems and adding a bit of
confidence. Andrew signature process leads
them to find success on their own terms and ultimately joy and
freedom in life and business after graduating from Dartmouth
College and marrying. The guy that lived down the
hall, Andrea and her husband settled in Indianapolis over the
last few decades and area has started three successful
businesses and ultimately became a certified business and life
coach all while raising two kids.
Now, Now, ages, 21 and 18 and several giant puppies.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Andrea.
I can tell that she is also an amazing coach that I would
likely sign up with if I wasn't already doing some amazing work
with other coaches so she is definitely a contender for you.
If you're looking for a coach she does coach interior
designers as well as other professions for women.
And so let's hear from her today.
You're now listening to design, curious a place where you
creative one are here to learn about what it really is.
Like, to be an interior designer and I'm your host and Mentor
Rebecca, Ward, if you're worried about how to succeed in a
creative career, if you're ready to learn your next steps to
become an Interior Designer. And if you want the satisfaction
of doing something you love every day, you are in the right.
Right. Place grab a coffee, a notebook.
And let's dig into today's episode.
Hi Andrea. Thank you for coming on design
cures podcast today. Thanks for having me.
Rebecca. Yeah.
And I have been looking into all the things that you do which is
a lot, a coach, a speaker podcast host, won't you tell the
audience a little bit about all those things and what you do?
Yeah, all the things. So I think to summarize it what
I love to do and what I do do is I help female entrepreneurs
small business owners, CEOs leaders and we can That we can
talk about what I have. I Define a leader because it
doesn't mean you have to be leading a Fortune 500 company.
L really use their energy and brain power time, and money
efficiently and effectively. So that they create a business
and a life that they really love and aligns with who they want to
be. So I always say we are three
most valuable resources, our time, money and energy, time
money, and brainpower kind of, depending on how we want to
think about that. And how do we We use those to
get what we want. Great so that's what I love
doing. Good good.
So take us back to when you started your first business.
How did you get into that? What we're not selling?
Well, probably like a lot of your listeners.
I had I worked actually way back in the day.
I was an employee of hospital. I'm a speech language
pathologist. And once my son was born, he
decided that I was Stay home me and then I had a daughter and
kind of oh, five years or so into that mom, stay at home, mom
journey. I decided that yes, I love being
at home, but I also loved being out and about and helping
people. So that point I started my first
business, which is kind of just fell into my lap.
It was a part-time kind of gig. I could work from home.
It had very flexible hours. So when I started that business,
the Thing that was prominent in my mind was, how was I going to
integrate this with being a mom like, right?
That was the first and foremost kind of question that I had, you
know? So I really wasn't thinking
about how I was going to grow professionally or personally.
I was just really concerned with, like, I want to work.
I want to do something on a use my brain in some capacity, but
it's got to fit into it, my family.
Hmm. The time I got to starting
business member to, I had learned.
Yes, I And it's possible to integrate working, and owning a
business into a family. And so I kind of like checked
that box. Then.
The next box that I needed to check.
Was you have it that first business really, wasn't
satisfying to me. Like, in a intellectual way.
I wasn't really learning much from it.
Almost like I was a franchise owner and Isis.
I really wasn't, but a lot of it was kind of cookie cutter issue
in a sense. Okay, and then by the time I got
to business number two. It's like, all right.
I want to kind of do my own thing.
I want to kind of figure out. How I want to make this happen
and it was a lot of growth in terms of professional kind of
growth. And, you know, I like to say
that the beginning of any business, are they even in your
first business? A lot of times, it feels chaotic
based on confusion because you don't know what to do for a
second and third. Now, I kind of got to the next
place and I had a little more sense of what was going on.
Now, the chaos was due to success so this is actually
working, this is going well, hmm.
And what I was doing as I was recruiting and hiring and what
they considered training new business owners actually.
So I was working for a company that that's what they did and
there were parts of it. I loved and their parts of it.
I didn't love. So after being there for 10
years, I left and I started a third business and I took from
that second business, the parts of that I really loved and I
melded them into a third business, which is the business
I'm in now, business and life coaching.
So I Loved the training aspect. Okay, so I loved when women
started a business. They usually very excited.
They're kind of get some butterflies, but they're
excited. Yeah, however, he get going and
you realize, Hmm. This may not be all cracked up
to be. This is kind of making an impact
on my family. Maybe I'm not making as much
money as I thought I would, or want to.
And that's the part I like, Having people through, okay,
because if you could kind of get over the first few humps and put
some tools. I like to say Tools in your
toolbox and the right thinking in your brain, then you're going
to be successful. So in the business I have now
that's really what I love helping women do and I help
women that are in all stages of their business, okay?
So the beginnings kind of the middles and I want to say the
ends, but I like to say the people that are still in that
like, chaos created by confusion.
And I don't know what to do, then the chaos created by
success and then kind of the chaos created by.
Hmm. So I want to sell this thing,
you know, I've got 20 employees now or maybe I have heard.
And what do I do? So all three stages of business.
Okay, so then did you get coaching when you first started
out? Or is that something that you
wish that you had done in hindsight?
So such a good question. So the first business I was in,
I kind of had mentors, okay? Right now, I could definitely
not coaching. And the difference between a
mentor and a coach is a mentor is going to kind of give you
their perspective from what they've experienced and guide
you in that way, right? A coach.
Yes, we'll give you some perspective, but their job is to
ask you hard questions. Okay.
Ask you hard questions and to stand next to you, as your guide
or Sherpa, Along your journey of business ownership and make sure
that you kind of don't turn back.
They so to kind of keep you moving forward because if
they're asking hard questions, there's a lot of doubt that's
going to happen, you're going to feel uncomfortable, you're gonna
have to do a lot of hard things. And if you're human, then you're
going to say I don't know if I want to do this anymore, right?
So though the coach's job is to really keep you moving in the
right direction. So second business, I had more
coaching It's still really wasn't that formal coaching
until the very end when I was actually contemplating like
dissolving and leaving. Okay?
And at that point that coach, what made that so amazing that
but kind of really first coaching experience I had, was
she pointed out to me all the things that we're going?
Well, she pointed out and helped me figure out all the things
that weren't going so well. And then all the things that I
really wanted to do differently. And we kind of from their
crafted, this third business. So now, Now, at this point, I
think everybody should have a coach.
It's not counseling counseling. Kind of helps you navigate the
past, make sense of what's gone on and get you to the present.
But coaching is really from helping you move from the
present into the future and kind of create that future you want.
Mmm, so good. Yeah, I love that.
You provide those definitions. I run a mentorship program
myself and so. Okay.
Love that distinction. That you said that mentorship it
is. It's taking my own personal
experience. Helping others move into the
next step, based on what I think that, you know, my feedback from
my experiences. But I also have been coached by
many coaches. And I understand that experience
of being vulnerable with that coach and having them ask you,
the tough questions that really get you to the next step.
The things that you need to hear that.
You've been avoiding because of whatever personality or yeah
everything that you're doing and that coaches like I'm calling
you on it and you have to face this.
And if you Want to move forward. So I love that distinction, even
with counseling to our, you're looking more in the past and,
you know, dealing with the things that you've dealt with in
the past, but that coaching really helps you Propel you
forward. Yeah.
I think it's, I had a client or a prospective client called this
morning. And she said to me, she's like,
I'm just not, you know, gaining enough traction and my business,
I'm not really happy with where I'm at.
Kind of giving all the things that weren't going so well.
So I told her I said, listen, these are the four things that
we're going to work on. Number one is clarity.
Getting clear on what you do really want to is confidence and
this is where that vulnerable piece came in.
So when we talk about coaching and confidence, really, what
coaching is doing is helping you kind of quiet.
I call it the Frenemy that lives, the fact that you had
like, that little voice that says to you, you sure you want
to do that. I mean, I don't know.
I've never done that before. Last time you did.
It didn't go so well. But quieting down the front of
me saying, hey, thanks so much for the advice.
Try to keep me safe but what I'm really going to do is this it's
that kind of confidence and helping you be vulnerable enough
to realize that sometimes things are going to work.
And sometimes they're not but you need to actually do hard
things, quiet, the voice and do the hard thing, and moving
forward. So that just actually came.
I said to her, I hadn't really good and and saying what I'm
really thinking and I kind of get timid.
I are gonna work on that. Yeah, are you gonna?
Yeah, I can always grow and improve does things and And that
brings up a good point. I think, also that that in order
to change careers, which is what like this podcast is exploring
or start a business. You really have to be in a
position where you're willing to be vulnerable and put yourself
out there and if you're just one of those people that can't do
that then maybe it's not, you know, in the cards for you, two
to go for it. Or you might need a little extra
work, but it really is a requirement I think to, to make
that shift in your Stan's it's in your life 100%.
I think the successful people are the vulnerable ones.
Hmm. Are the ones that you know, are
brain wants to keep us safe. It wants to keep things easy and
efficient. I like to say brain is still
from like the caveman era, so the cavemen didn't want to leave
the cave because they might get eaten by the Bears.
So we don't live in caveman ear anymore.
It's worry about that. We can actually jump out of our
cave and that there's an element And of vulnerability there,
there's also an element of I like to say, how do you manage
your time is a reflection of how you're managing your mind?
No inter. So for listeners, who are like
transitioning from that 9 to 5 or start a business?
This is huge. And this happens a lot of my
clients. I don't know if I'm gonna have
enough time to kind of in the transition to truly transition.
Yeah. Am I going to make enough money?
Should I leave the wind? Should I leave?
The 925 that kind of thing. Hmm.
But really what that comes down to is mind management.
Like not managing your mind so that you can better manage your
time. That's another key.
That's just like Clarity and confidence.
Managing your mind seeing major time is another thing.
Okay? See.
So the person who is going to transition from that 925 to the
new career or business. What can they expect to look for
to that they're going to run into like there is going to be
more hours that they have to put in for a while, right?
Because they have to financially make it viable for them.
What else would they be facing? So I think they have to be okay
with being self-directed. Usually people are used to
following orders from above my having a plan handed to them or
even like they could have created their own plan for their
department or whatever, but there's always someone to kind
of like, check in with ya. And when you're a business
owner, there's No one to check in with, which is, I think, why
coaching? For example is super important,
you don't have that check in, so you have to be okay with not
getting in. Okay, mmm, right.
And it's sometimes, so like, say a designer is working for
another designer but then they decide they want to go on their
own. So, part of the appeal of going
on your own, is that your your have the autonomy now to do your
own design, my own work, but And with it, comes the
responsibility of being. There's no one else to pass that
back to liking. Can't blame it.
On anyone else you have to take full responsibility and I
suppose there is coaching that needs to happen around that as
well. It's what I call turning
obstacles into opportunities. Hmm.
Okay. So you could say, if you're the
designer working under someone else and now you decide to go
out on your own. Okay, there's a little bit of an
obstacle there because you're not quite sure what to do, how
to price things, how you're going to find clients.
And ultimately, you're responsible for everything.
So you could say that's kind of an obstacle or a roadblock or
there's lots of stop signs but I want you to kind of shift your
thinking and think of it as an opportunity.
Aren't I lucky that I get to decide exactly how much I want
to charge for when I want to work or I don't have to follow
their template anymore, create my own.
So that's my management to because you could say to
yourself, oh my gosh, that's a lot of work to create my own.
Template or I don't know how many hours I want to work by.
Right. Yeah it's easier.
Just to work for someone else. Not really it's an opportunity
for you to get exactly what you want.
Hmm. Right.
But you have to kind of look at it as that.
Yeah. And be willing to be
uncomfortable with it a while. Yeah, yes, 100%.
Yeah, percent. Okay.
So you have several clients that you coach who are designers can
you tell me, is there something different about designers from
the other women that you coach Ouch.
Yes. All right so I want to tell you,
I think there's a difference in the successful designers and
about so successful this time. Okay.
Yeah, let's talk about that kind of goes for every every
industry. And yeah.
Yeah. Okay designers though, like to
fall back on that. I'm creative.
Didn't, I realize? Okay, so they like to, like use
that as their kind of crush, okay, which is totally true, but
I will tell you something interesting.
I Designer, and I never considered myself very
design-oriented, arts and crafts.
None of it wasn't even fun for me.
But I recently took a, like one of those online assessments and
I actually now have the link to it on my website.
Under favorite tools, it's called the Via character
strengths assessment, okay? And it's a free assessment and
one of my top character strengths is creativity, okay?
I was like, what does that mean? Because I don't think I'm afraid
of at all, what it really means is, I'm a creative thinker like
I could think strategically so the designers that are
successful can parlay their literal creativity into some
creative thinking and think outside the box and not let
their I would call limiting beliefs, keep them back, right?
So we all have Beliefs. Yeah, so many beliefs but those
that are successful are willing to put their creative thinking
hat on, not just their Creative Design hat on.
Okay? Okay, so I have one interior
design client, who is super, super successful like, she's
doubled her profits in 18 months since we've started working
together. She's grown a team.
I mean, she's like, she's really doing well.
She's like, loving, what she's doing, and what she I had to do
is to start to think like a business owner, Mike in dollars
and cents, like SE NS e. Like what makes sense?
Yeah, she had to start looking at numbers, not her favorite
night and she knows it's not her favorite, which is why then she
seeks help on it. So she got really smart and what
she was good at it, but she wasn't good at to MMM.
She started to create. I like to say like Hoosier board
of directors, who is on your board of directors.
Like, do you have someone that you go to doubt the finances?
Do you have the legal advisor? Do you have Coach, do you have a
all that kind of stuff? So she started to realize that
and then I think that the next best step she took and what
really kind of kicked her up and not was that she created a
business plan. How creative people don't like
business plans because they don't know.
I'm being silent very stereotypical, but you don't
know what's what, what's going to happen next or I'm not sure.
Yeah. Also in this business you don't
necessarily know where the next paycheck is coming from, right,
right? Right.
So how could I say I'm gonna do something when I don't even know
if I'm gonna have the resources to do it, right?
All these questions? Yeah, she created or together,
we created a business plan, I helped her do it and it is kind
of become our working document that we go back to all the time
and it helps her take those next actionable steps.
So I see that type of person and she came from corporate, she
actually like total corporate for kids husband travels.
She is a super profitable and successful designer but I have
to give her credit because she, she recognized that there was
this strategic creative thinking, peace.
Yeah. That had to go along with the
creativity peace. Yeah.
So you have to kind of repackage it for does that to really
accept that like no. You can apply creativity to not
like be creative with numbers but like to the Strategic
thinking of your business and then the other part of it is
that That I love that. You said that the business plan
that you came up with was a working document and I think,
even for myself, sometimes I get paralyzed by like this has to be
the one document that the financial advisor is going to
look at it would be perfect. It's got to be like set in stone
but understanding that no, this is just a tool and it's a
working document that you you know, change and update as you
go along again. I think that is less confining
and much much easier for it. Diner to accept because it is
little more fluidity they get there has to be some Freedom
built into the business plan. So I have to park where there's
nine Parts but in two big Parts, your vision and then the
traction piece, like, what are you going to do next, when you
get to that traction peace. Yes, there are one year at a, to
call them on your priorities, because goal, seems very scary.
And then I say, what do you put your quarterly Focus.
So we kind of create 327 Focus areas more than quarter.
That speed even to some of those goals, you don't have to tackle
every goal or priority every quarter, but there is fluidity
there so that what you're working on maybe this quarter
does not necessarily what you have to work on next quarter and
it's literally like a working document that helps guide next
steps. That that's the key to success.
I'll tell you, I've another design client didn't last very
long, but here's why, so she was so adamant.
That there didn't need to be a strategy or as soon as she
created a strategy. Be with fell back.
On every client is different. Mmm.
And I can't even figure out what I'm going to do this quarter
because I don't know what's going to happen, Okay?
So that's a little bit of mine management.
Like we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
Like I don't know. Do you know know we've?
Yeah. Okay.
However that doesn't mean that you can't have a plan or put
something in your You're right? Or is every client different?
Yes, every client is different because we're dealing with
humans but they are human okay? That still doesn't mean that you
can't have systems and processes, right?
So she resisted like adamantly with a big Capital, it like this
one of a capital are having any type of plan strategy process
and did she like to wing it when Would look at their client.
Like, yeah, she likes her wing it.
She like to kind of recreate the wheel every time and she wasn't
getting traction. Hmm.
So it became very frustrating to her and obviously, pointed these
things out. You know, she needed that kind
of push now, 99% of the time, people come around and they see
that and they welcome the help because that's why they came in
the first place. Yeah, that's while I don't.
But I think if you're listening and you are someone who's tell
yourself, every client is different.
So I just, I don't know for I'm not sure what's going to happen
tomorrow. So why would I ever have a plan
or if I create a list of goals and priorities, half of them
will never happen. So maybe that's not a good idea.
Anyway, am I wasting my time? Like you're not setting yourself
up for Success. Yeah.
Um, you do everything possible to.
I mean, your goal is to be a successful business owner,
ultimately, right? So if I need to put some things
in place to help, Make that happen.
There has to be a bam. Yeah. 100 Pence absent.
Yeah and it's hard I think when you're coming from a
nine-to-five kind of job where your day kind of is planned.
Yeah, in a sense or it's got more of a plan than if you're
owning your own business. It's hard to shift your thinking
but it's possible. Right?
So it's totally possible. Yeah, then for the designers
that are Starting out, do you have any recommendations for
just like some basic mindset traps that they might fall into
some things that they might overcome just to help them kind
of get over that first hurdle of really going out on their own.
Mmm. Okay, couple things come to
mind. Number one is all you really
need to know is the next best step.
Hmm. Okay.
So you do have to have a vision or else your kind of it's like
think about your GPS. Okay, so your Yes, when you turn
it on, number one, asks you where you're going, mmm?
So you could put in a city name or you can put in a specific
address, it doesn't matter, it's still like it, it just needs to
know where you're going. It's know where you're going.
A lot of times when people start out it's like I like to say
they're standing at the bottom of the mountain and they're
looking up and they can't see the peak.
It's kind of covered in the clouds but they know what's up
there. I think they need to know your
destination. You also the next thing the This
is going to ask you is what your do, we start at your current
location, like, where do we start, right, so you have to
kind of assess like, where you're at, okay, where are you
in terms of time, money and brain power?
Like, how much of each of those resources do you have available
to put into the new Endeavor? Okay, so that's like knowing
where your current location is. Then you have to kind of decide
which parking You're leaving from.
So I like to call these parking. Lots are kind of the parking.
Lots of, am I doing this business?
Because I'm movement wanting to move away from something like
I'm moving away from the Horrible Boss, okay?
And I just want to be my own boss, all right?
Are you moving away from something, or are you in a
parking lot, where you're at, you're wanting to move towards
something. What's your mindset here you
are? I just I'm moving towards being
in charge of my own income and that's exciting to me.
All right. That's another parking lot.
And the third parking lot is, you know what?
This might be someone that's actually already started a
little bit but nothing's really wrong.
It's all actually everything's kind of okay.
But I know it could be better. Mmm, Yeah.
Okay. So you've got to kind of assess
where you're at and you're thinking and here's why, because
when the going gets rough, F and you start to question things,
you have to kind of go back to what's my why, like, why am I
doing this? You've got to keep reminding
yourself because it's very easy to go down the slippery slope.
Like as you're driving down the street, you know, if you're
going to get groceries, you know that there's going to be a stop
sign along the way, because you've traveled this road
millions of times. But just because there's a stop,
sign, does not mean that you turn around and go home, right?
Right. Like You're going to keep going.
So there's going to because you want to get to the grocery
store. 250, it's like, what's your?
Where are you going? You moving away from something.
You try to move towards something or you just trying to
make things better. Yeah, that's going to get you
through the stop sign. Right?
So that the stop signs, hopefully they'll turn into just
roundabout someday. All right?
Because my brand of us God bless accident or more absence but
less depth or whatever. Just kind of like slow.
Yeah okay this is slow things down.
I happen to Live in the city in the US with the most roundabouts
actually world but that's why roundabouts are in my in my
head, somebody to call them rotaries.
So just assess where you're going this the general
direction. Even if she's a city named your
current location which parking lot you started from, and what
are you going to do when you get to that stop sign?
Like, are you willing to work on this for as long as it takes,
are you? Or are you going to throw the
towel in before you You get to where you want to go because it
might be tough to. Yeah, that's really good advice.
Yea, so if someone listening might want to reach out and work
with you, how would they find you?
So, I am on social media, my Instagram and Facebook, but
here's the thing that I think that might be most helpful to
your listeners. So depending on what stage of
your business you're in, you might be asking yourself why am
I not getting done or my my not creating the traction?
I want to create like so I call You're stuck in this.
I just need to be more productive or I just need to
focus kind of mode. So if you go to Andrea's with an
S links with an S Andrea's links.com, the very top you're
going to see a link to take the quiz.
I've developed a quiz that helps you figure out like what your
productivity archetype is. What how are you most
productive? Let's getting in your way of
productivity. There's also in that same Link
another quiz. So let's say you're like okay
I've got my act together but now I'm ready to scale my business
to another level, there's another quiz called the business
Freedom finder quiz. So you may have gotten to the
place where, oh my gosh, this is so successful, but I feel like
I'm so involved in this business.
I need to like, I needed money to hire someone.
You hire more people doing to raise my rates, that's for
someone, whose business is just a little bit more developed to
kind of give you a sense of where you need to focus.
So I think if you Had to Andrea's links.com and find
those quizzes. That's probably the best way to
start to hear me and listen to some of this thinking.
And I also have my own podcast which you can also follow called
time to level up, time to level up and I think I just recorded
episode 120, so great, the whole Library there.
Good good. Yeah, great.
And so in that podcast, you address more mature, businesses
or businesses starting out or just Level up in life in general
or it's really leveling up yourself personally and
professionally. Yeah, so it's for anyone who
actually even you don't even have to own a business, but it's
geared towards women who own businesses and whether or not
they or in charge of making their own money.
So a lot of times. So my clients are commission
based for example. So they may not be the business
owner but they kind of are in a sense they need to run their own
show, right? So I I'd say there's two
elements to ingredients to the secret sauce, their systems, and
then there's mindset. And I spend time on both of
those in the podcast. Okay, great.
We'll put links to all of those things in our show notes so that
everybody can find it and I always love a good quiz to so I
might go check that out. I'll go check it out here check
it out. Yeah and if I mean it'll give
you some direction and you could always there's a link there to
that to connect with me, if you want to do a complimentary
strategy. Recall, I'm always up for that
perfect. So thank you so much, Andrea,
really appreciate you coming on podcast this week.
You are welcome. Thanks Rebecca.
Yeah, we'll talk to you later. Okay.
So as you can see, and it has a lot of great advice.
I love all its she says about mindset and just hearing about
how she built three businesses and that at just think that's so
impressive. And I know that she herself had
to overcome some mindset obstacles to build three, large
and successful businesses as well.
So lots to be learned from her. You can find her contact
information In the show notes, go ahead and reach out to her
and learn more from her as well. So stay tuned next week, we'll
have another great episode for you to discover.
If interior design is the career for you and until next time,
stay creative. Thanks for listening.
If you loved this episode, please leave a rating and a
review. This helps me reach other
curious creatives. Like you, if you have a topic
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email me at podcast at our war design.com.