How to Build a Successful & Healthy Team

AMY: Welcome to the Peaceful Entrepreneur podcast. We're together, we're learning how to have peace in the process of everyday business ownership by improving one step at a time, how we think and what we do. I'm your host, Amy Stout.

So you've decided it's time to hire your first team member. First of all, congratulations. So exciting and such a giant step to take in business. But let's face it, deciding to do that and actually doing that are two different things and I know that it can be super intimidating to figure out how the heck to hire someone, to vet someone, to figure out what role they should even have. I mean, there's just so much that goes into it.

And so thankfully I have an incredible friend named Sharon who started building her business three years ago and has now built a team of six people who alongside her help her run her successful business. And even cooler is she lives not only in a different country but on a different continent than the rest of her team and everything runs seamlessly. Like how cool is that? And what a testament to the strength and the culture of the team that she's built.

So Sharon is here today to give us her wisdom on how to go about even starting to think about hiring your first team member and every step that it would take from there to where she is now. So let's jump into the episode.

Well, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today, Sharon. I'm so excited to have you and to have this conversation.

SHARON: Me too. Thank you so much for having me. And excited to dig deep into everything that I want to talk about.

AMY: Yes. I read your formal intro already, but in our intro to the podcast. But I'd love to just hear from you. Just tell people who you are, where you're coming from, what your business is all about, what you've built so that we can kind of have some background for the perspective that you're coming from.

SHARON: For sure. I'm a citizen of the world. That's how I like to start.

AMY: I love that.

SHARON: No, I'm messing around. So my name is Sharon. I was born in Paris and grew up in Canada, in Montreal. And all my life I've been a creative, I've always loved drawing, photography, journalism, meeting people, interviewing. It's funny because when I look back at how I was as a child and how my parents even, you know, filmed me and recorded me, be like on camera, I really understand now, okay, it makes sense. What I'm doing today, this makes sense.

So yeah, I grew up in a very creative environment. My mom is an artist and with my parents really encouraged me to always, you know, follow my dreams and do what I love mostly. So that was really nice.

And I did my studies in studio arts. So that was a lot of journalism, communication, kind of overviewing a lot of arts. Yeah, everything in the art department. And then at 19, I left to Tel Aviv to study communications and marketing. So that was a really big move. I guess looking back at it, it does sound so crazy to go move outside across the world at 19 years old.

But back then, it really felt like normal to me. So I followed my gut, and that's what I always like to go for. So it led me to where I am today, which I'm really happy with. And I stayed three years there. I had a travel blog. The travel blog got a lot of attraction, a lot of engagement, really made me network and meet a lot of really, really cool people here. And then after three years, I did a master's in fashion in New York. So I went back to other side of the world again, and I ended up finishing the master's in Paris. So I went back to where I was born.

And in Paris, I mean, you know, it was so lovely to be back a bit with my family also, and just to live in Paris as a young adult, it was really interesting. And COVID hit, so as all of you know, you know, we're stuck at home and all that. So I went back to Montreal and I launched my business.

So I launched BMG in May, 2020. It was peak COVID. There's some cool stories that I'm gonna share also later about how I started and just the fun little stories around it. And it's been three years now. We are a team of six women, incredible, incredible women. And we have clients all around the world. So that's also very exciting because I've traveled a lot, so I love discovering new places and traveling around still. And now we get to work with people from different cultures and backgrounds, which is really, really nice.

And right now, as of now, I am back in Tel Aviv because I've always wanted to come back here. So I finally relocated in September and I've been here, I mean, it's going to be a year soon. It's pretty crazy. It's a lot of work, but I'm so happy. And yeah, work life, personal life, personal life. I'm where I'm supposed to be. That was a big intro, but I hope it's not overwhelming.

AMY: I just love your story. Like we could probably sit and I could ask you questions for an hour about each thing that you just hit on. So that is just so cool.

And I'm sure that you have just gained so much knowledge and wisdom at your young age because you have had so many experiences. And you just went for it. That's something that I gave advice on an earlier podcast episode in this season, like just go for it. Like don't hold yourself back. Like get the idea, think through it.

But like at some point you just gotta do it. You just gotta take the jump. And you are a great example of doing that. So I love to hear that.

So okay, so your business, I love your social media, all your girls, your team, like you guys seem so, like you have a great company culture And I would love to hear about how you've built that.

But let's kind of start with how the business came about, whatever you want to share from that and how you decided to go the route of hiring more people onto your team rather than just staying by yourself and like hiking up your prices or scaling in a different way. Like why did you decide to scale by creating a team?

SHARON: Yeah, totally. So everything comes back to what you just said, it's going for it and actually doing it when you feel it. And that's how I felt since the very beginning. I do not like to work alone. I love working in team. I've always been like this. I'm also very structured and I'm a very organized person. And I like to manage. I channel a lot of my energy into managing and I'm a bit of a control freak.

So, you know, I'd rather do this with work then do this with my personal life sometimes. So it's actually, you know, it ends up being a nice balance of it all. But the way that I started working with someone with VMG, it was a total coincidence. Even though I knew that eventually I would work with girls by my side and with a team of women by my side, I had an internship that was prepared for me and I was enrolled in to start in July, 2020. So I started my business in May, And then I had the internship in July. And the internship was in Paris and I was in Montreal at the time because of COVID, but I was traveling back to Paris. And I had said yes.

So when I say yes to something and I commit, I really hate going backwards and saying no. So I didn't know what to do because I already had three clients and I didn't wanna leave those behind. And with a time difference, it would have been impossible for me to do Paris internship all day and then come back at night and work at night for the Canadian clients.

So I posted on Instagram that I was looking for help, but at the time, the way I did it was not like how I'm doing it now, for example. It was in a real hiring job offer. It was me posting a picture of myself with a cute little dress 'cause I love to post fashion pictures also. And in that caption, I wrote that I was looking for someone.

So I love to tell this story, and I think it's just such a cute little story, but the first person who ever worked with me And without her, BMG wouldn't be where it is today. So I love to mention it. Her name is Jasmine. We worked together for a year in Paris. And she's actually from Montreal, but the way we connected was through this Instagram post.

And same thing here. When I first got on the phone with her, it was the most informal job interviews that you could possibly imagine. 'Cause I didn't know what it was like, you know? So I asked her a couple of questions, everything flowed. She tells me she's moving to Paris. And I asked her, "Oh, where are you moving to in Paris?" because Paris is pretty big. And she tells me my street name. So we were neighbors. So I told her before hanging up with her, I said, "Can you start this Friday?" And she was like, "Yes, I can." So we started at the end of the week together and it was the start of a really, really cool partnership. And I feel like for the rest, it was kind of like a snowball effect.

So as we got more clients, I realized that we needed help in this sector and this sector and this sector. So I was hiring like this and again, I'm a doer. I'm not a thinker. So I will really do and then look at it and analyze it. So it's not always good, but it works out fine. And so that's how I've been doing it.

I kind of see where we're going and whenever I feel like we need to hire then I'm gonna plan it out and do it like this. And then also think of course of new clients coming in and all that. Like right now we are at a stage where hiring wise and new client wise, we need to take a pause and the next growth expansion will be in probably September, October. So it's way more structured today than what it was three years ago.

AMY: Wow, I feel like I need to get on a separate call with you and ask your advice because one, this happened when we got on our first phone call together. Our brains are the same. Like we, everything that you're saying about like, when I commit to something, I do it.

And like I do it first and I think about it later, like same way, same way. And I'm trying to get better about thinking first. I'm like practicing that, but I think still at my core, I'll always just be a do it first. But I think that's a big indicator of why we're seeing success in our business too, because we don't hold ourselves back, we just do it.

But I love that story. And I love that there's an evolution over time of like, okay, we do things, we experience it, and then we make it a little bit better the next time and make it a little bit better the next time. And now you're saying three years later, you've got like this system in place.

SHARON: Yeah, so that's the thing. I feel like for entrepreneurs, it's so hard to see it in perspective sometimes because you're so into it and it's your business. So you also feel like you're doing something wrong or this is not going the right way or you would want to change or fix something.

But when you look back at it after months and after years of consistency and not stopping, then you can really pat yourself on the shoulder and be like, okay, wow, this is what I created and this is what I built and you see the growth. So all this now, I'm proud to say it's because I never, I never stopped once and I haven't taken, this I'm not proud to say because it's embarrassing, I need to take a day off or a week off, but I haven't stopped. Like I've been every morning at eight, I start to work.

And if I need to finish at midnight, I will. And it's been three years that it's like that. So all the hard work, it's coming back. Like I see the results of it for sure. And it's so nice to see. And at the same time, yeah, it's kind of nice to take a step back and detach yourself from the business. and look at everything you did, even if it's just a month that you started your business, you know, you started, that's already the biggest, the biggest start, I guess.

AMY: Yeah. That is definitely a huge way to like find more peace in your business. Take some time to step back and think about it and distance yourself. So that is super, super important. Back to hiring your team because you had that first person and she, I'm sure, brought you a ton of peace because you were like, "Okay, I can't do this by myself. Now I have someone that I can trust. Now I can do this." So tell me about how you felt once you had her and you knew it was going to be a good partnership and you had someone on your side. What did that feel like?

SHARON: Yeah. So the first year was really growing the business and even seeing actually if there is a business to scale and to, you know, that's sustainable. So I was doing everything with her. So I was still doing a lot of social media work myself and, you know, client calls, invoicing, all of that. I was doing more of the business side, but also a lot of social media still.

And I feel like as it evolved, the feeling that it brought to me, of course, a team is that honestly, one of the things is that I can count on people. And that's really nice to know that I can trust the girls that I work with and that they, you know, have everything under control. When I took my first day off in three years last Friday, I was, okay, I didn't work, but I was checking a bit of, you know, what's happening on Slack and on just the WhatsApp chats with my clients and they're killing it.

They're killing it. I I have no other words or no other ways to say it. And it's such a nice feeling because I trained them and other past employees trained them. And so you can see that it's the tunnel of, you know, everything that the people before them learned. And it's really passed on in a really beautiful way and passionate way. And you really feel the love within the team also.

So we have so much fun at work, even though we're like on Slack and on Zoom, because I'm not physically in Montreal. We're always laughing, we're always joking around, and at the same time, working really, really hard. And I wouldn't wanna have it any other way, because yes, I can trust them, and professionally speaking, they are so professional, and so here for it, but at the same time, I wanna have this friendship vibe in the company, because I don't want them to just go to work, and tell themselves, oh, I'm going, you know, it's, it's work.

And then after work, I'm going to start living my life again. I want them to go to work and have fun and enjoy and, you know, feel the good vibes that the company can bring out in them.

AMY: Yeah. I feel the same way. I love that so much.

So tell me about how you have built that because I know that that's been. Maybe subconscious at the beginning, because that's just like something that you care about, but it has maybe become intentional or maybe it was intentional from the beginning. But how did you build that culture? Because that's very impressive. That's not easy. It's not common. So I'm sure you have a lot of like wisdom on that.

SHARON: I actually learned a lot from working with clients who had a big team because I was working with clients who had a really, really good company culture. And I felt very close to everyone within that company. So it's funny because it was, they were clients and it wasn't like I worked in a corporate job and found that it was really well-working at the MG myself.

So for example, every Wednesday we have weekly team meetings and in that team meetings, it's not just, you know what we are working on or what we're doing at work. We also talk about how we're feeling this week.

So we really just express like actual feelings. And then we also put a little mood with a little, little cartoon characters that we feel best represents us. So I feel like the playfulness is really here and that's what I always want to integrate in the company.

Again, in the same area of like playfulness on Slack, we have a channel called Random. And in that Random channel, we send each other the funniest things that are happening throughout the day. It's not, you know, just memes that we find on Pinterest. So I want to accentuate on that because sometimes we get so hooked on the work that we need to do, that we forget to literally just breathe and remember that it could be light also.

And so I feel like that's also who I am as a person. You know, I'm like this with my friends. I'm like this when I speak on social, on my stories, when I meet new people, I'm very outgoing and I really always want to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable and yeah, I guess safe and comfortable are like the words. So I naturally included that with my team members also.

AMY: Yeah. I love that. That is so valuable. And I know that the girls who are working for you just appreciate it so much. And I'm sure that it like incentivizes people who are working with you to stay because it's such a good environment.

SHARON: So it's like this good cycle of like feedback into each other. So it's even in the language that I use, for example, so I never say that people work for me. I say they work with me. Even when I share it on social media and it's not even to put it in like a humble way of, "Oh, I don't want to call myself a CEO or a boss," and all that. It's because, first of all, I don't feel like a boss. I feel more like a leader and that's also two different terms that are so important. And I'm not just bossing people around, I feel like I'm leading my team, which is so important.

And then even when we, let's say write messages to our clients or even between us, I never say, I never want them to use like I, I want them to use we. So it's like, we're really working together and you can tell, you can feel the difference actually. You feel like it's like us and the clients and it's not just one person from the company and the client.

AMY: Yeah. That's so good. That is such good advice. How did you decide? So you hired your first person, just like help, I need help in general. But after you started, like you mentioned, okay, I need help in this area, in this area, like how did you determine where you needed help? Because I am really, my contractors are specialized in their services, but you have kind of built something different that you have hired people for a role within your business. So how did you go about figuring that out?

SHARON: Right. So the priority are always the clients, at least, you know, as in like social media agencies. So first I needed to look at number of clients and number of people, you know, contractors working for the clients. But I was looking for social media managers to kind of oversee everything client wise. And then the, I guess the only role that is very different.

And that is mostly for BMG and not for the clients, uh, is Alana, who's our growth manager. So I really wanted to have someone that works on finding press opportunities for us, like this is how we got on this podcast in the first place. So very grateful for that. Thank you, Alana, if you're listening. And, um, you know, she's thinking of lives of the blog on her website.

Now we launched also a podcast, so we're working on the podcast. And I guess this was a hire that was different because I could, I had the privilege to, and the opportunity financially to have someone covering BMG's PR and that's not, you know, I don't need it. It's really a plus.

AMY: Yeah.

SHARON: Because I could totally put this budget in client work and have someone that would work with clients even more. But I think this, I mean, it's important and I wanted to have it this way. also to grow ourselves. And we've been working together for a year and a half, and it's going so well.

And I mean, I guess I don't really sit down and ask myself, who do I need? But it's as time goes by, I can see what are the specific needs that that I that would be required? Yeah, as time goes by, like right now our next hire would for sure be a project manager. Because right now we are all dealing with all the project deadlines and asking clients to review and make sure that it's confirmed and all that.

So yeah, but this only happened because we have now a certain amount of clients and a certain amount of posts for each client. It wasn't that much of a need before when we needed to confirm, you know, X amount of posts compared to now. So I think it's as things unfold, you can really, you can really see it for yourself. What helps though is going on Google and Googling the job descriptions because you really want to make sure that it is exactly what you're looking for before you post or publish anything.

AMY: That's good. I really like that distinction because I think I just made our first hire just for us, which is a bookkeeper. I've been doing like our basic finances for the last three years, but we just switched to become S corporation.

And so now we need all of this other stuff that I'm like, okay, that's over my head. This is where I draw the line. We're hiring somebody. And I think that our next hire would be kind of like a project manager as well. And I don't know if that person would also do marketing, but that would be cool. Cause I'm kind of doing both like marketing and project management.

SHARON: Congratulations, that's exciting.

AMY: Thank you. But yeah, I have to wait till we get to the point of like financially, it making sense to do so because it is like a different mindset financially. Because when you're hiring someone to do client work, it's like, okay, this makes sense. I get this much from the client, I pay this much to the contractor.

But it's kind of a different mindset when you're hiring for the business itself.

SHARON: For sure. And I think that, you know, it's for sure, it's always a worry in the back of my mind, because if let's say tomorrow there's three clients that stop working with us, I wouldn't have financially. I mean, I would because there is a treasury today, but it would be crazy to pay contractors and I don't want to just let go of my team.

So they keep me on my feet also to be on the lookout always for new clients because I don't want to let anyone down. And thankfully it hasn't happened. You know, we've been good and that's because I also plan an event.

So now I'm going going to really check in with the clients to see if they want to stay after three months. And if not, then look out for new people and always be on the lookout for new clients basically.

AMY: Yes. I was going to ask, so now that you've got your contract or you have people who are doing your client work, now you've got your person doing your PR. So what has that kind of made your role? What are you focused on in this stage?

SHARON: So if you would have told me five years ago that I would have launched a social media agency, but that today I'm doing everything but social media content, I would have laughed and said, what are you talking about? I always want to create stories.

So yeah, I am doing all the business sides of things now, which is really funny because my brother was in business management at McGill. And when he saw the sheets that I was working on in Montreal, he said, Sean, you know, this is exactly what I'm doing and what I'm learning in school.

And I never learned this. I just, I was figuring out all those sheets as of like, you know, for, I mean, it just felt natural. And it was an instinct. But it was just natural for me to do it this way.

So yeah, I feel like now I'm working on all the hiring, the managing, I'm reviewing all the content, I'm confirming, I'm doing all the client calls, the sales calls, all the accounting accountability. So, invoices, proposals, contracts, it's a lot of work.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to just creating stories, but I still create them sometimes occasionally, but it's mostly my vision that goes into like the team's creation. So, you know, I feel like I'm always there in a way, but they mostly do all of the work.

AMY: Yeah. I mean, you are still the foundation and still what the motor that is keeping everything running, but you're not doing as much of the execution.

SHARON: Exactly. So it's kind of nice to see, you know, to be able to take a step back for social media itself and just being able to confirm and edit and not creating it from scratch.

It was nice because I learned how to delegate and I learned that even if I'm not in control, then everything is still running very smoothly. And you should have seen me the first week when I realized that I didn't have time to create stories and I fully passed it on. I was unwell. I was like, what am I doing with my life? Like I need to create content.

And then slowly but surely it just was normal for me not to do it. So I'm very proud of myself for letting it go in a very, yeah, in a very nice way.

AMY: Yeah. You, that is, that is something to be proud of because you have to be able to delegate and let go if you're going to grow. And that's just like part of it. And like as you grow too, it's like the stuff that you have to deal with gets bigger. Like the more people you have on the team, the more could go wrong of like someone gets sick or someone has to quit or so, you know, like there's just more for you to deal with. So your time just gets filled right back up, but in a different way.

SHARON: Yeah, and even so hiring, when I was hiring, it took every hour of the day that I had for a whole two weeks. I couldn't do meetings, I couldn't do anything. I was focused on hiring and it's so much work. So if anyone is looking to hire GME, I have some advice for you.

AMY: I love it. This is, yeah, you, we're also in the same place that I'm like doing all of those same things as well. And so I love that we're just like, we're just running right beside each other.

Well, and I know that you kind of said like, you didn't really think you would ever stop doing the content creation, but you kind of feel like you're where you're supposed to be now. And I feel the same way that I'm like, no, I love to manage people. This is my spot. This is where I feel like I'm supposed to be at much rather just delegate, kindly delegate, not bossing people around, but just, I love how you just said leading, you know, just being the one to kind of make sure everything's running how it needs to be, which that's so special.

So tell me about, let's switch, let's take a hard left here because I know that something that you're also really passionate about is like faith and business. And that is something that I am also very passionate about. And being the leader of a business that also really affects, like if your faith is a big part of who you are, then it's obviously going to be part of your business as well. So tell me about what that has looked like for you and why that is so important to you.

SHARON: Yeah. And I'm so happy you were speaking about this. the first time I'm speaking about it on a podcast also. Um, and kind of publicly too, because I had things that I mostly keep to myself. So I'm really, really happy to touch base about that. So I, uh, I am Jewish and I didn't grow up so religious, but I was very, and I have always been very spiritual. So totally believe in God. I, I prayed and talked to God many times also. And I feel like as the years went by, I kind of just lend myself flow and let it in God's hand. So maybe it's a bit hard for people who are not, you know, believers to understand, but basically that there is a higher power out there that is taking care of what your life is supposed to look like.

I feel like the second that you put this out there and you just, you actually just let go and you don't force things, things happen and things come your way, the way that it's supposed to be. And you just, you have no expectations, you're not controlling, you are completely surrendering and that helps so much.

So of course it helps for my business because there's many times where I was so stressed out about losing clients or not getting enough clients or just something happening within the team. I'll tell you this crazy story actually that happened and honestly it was in God's hands And if it wasn't, I mean, things would indeed what it is today, once again. So I'm right there with you.

Like once we realize that we're not in control, everything, like it's scary, but it's also, even brings you more peace because you're like, okay, I don't have to like be the one handling everything. Like the weight of the world does not fall on my shoulders. God already has that. and he's going to be way better at it than I am anyways. So it's going to be way better to trust him with it.

AMY: And I'm right there with you. And I have to practice every day because I'll get worried.

Like a contractor gets sick during like a really heavy deadline or our biggest client broke up with us with no notice. Our biggest client dropped us with no notice. And at that time they were our biggest client. And so it's easy to get into this spiral in your head of worry, right? But I have to practice, and the more I practice, the quicker I get at refaming it and being like, God already knew this was gonna happen.

He has a plan for this, and I just need to trust him and trust that it's going to work out and it's going to be okay, and he's gonna lead me to do what I need to do in this situation.

SHARON: Yeah, that's exactly it. And I feel like the, even on a personal level, coming back right now to Tel Aviv, so I always felt in my heart that I needed to be here. And I, you know, it took five years 'cause I left everywhere.

And I had no moment where it felt right to come here. So it only happened last summer when I came for my cousin's wedding. And that's when I told myself, Okay, you need to take the leap of faith and do it and go for it.

So I bought a one-way ticket and I found a one month sublet, which ended up, you know, uh, just continuing. And now I have this apartment and it's mine. So I feel like if you just trust, also trust yourself on what you're thinking, because it's one thing to also trust the universe, but then if you don't trust yourself with what the universe is giving you and is telling you when you should take that leap of faith, then you're not actually taking action upon it, which is, it's kind of like, you know, putting it on the side and not dealing with it.

So I feel like, yeah, trusting yourself is a big thing, believing in yourself. Also. I feel like right now I'm doing what I love. And if I needed to stop tomorrow, I mean, I would be really sad and I wouldn't want to at the same time, if ever, I don't know, if in five years it doesn't feel right anymore, then I will stop it.

Like God has a plan for me and all good. You know, I think about that too. I'm like, what if all my clients just left me overnight and I like had to stop my business? Like that's so scary, but I'm like, I would figure something out. Like, yeah, it would be okay.

We can start something about, I don't know, just being an organized business owners. We can start something here.

AMY: We'll be fine. But yeah, absolutely. like trusting yourself is part of trusting God because you have to trust that he is equipping you and giving you exactly what you need to do. And you're right, like you gotta kind of trust it like, and have confidence in a humble way, I think, is like a good way to think about it. 'Cause it's like, no, I have confidence that like God is leaving me and he's gonna do what he wants to do.

And if I just follow where he leads, I'll be good and things will be fine. And it's kind of, it's if you're not in a good head space, it's hard to get there. But that is honestly like the best thing that you can do for yourself is like trusting God that he has the ultimate control and best plan. And he knows more than we ever will.

So even the things that like don't seem like the right thing to happen are because he knows the bigger picture of things. And so, yeah, the best thing we can do is trust that he knows what's best and that he is telling us what is best and like trust that and act it. Because like you said, like it's our responsibility to act and to do it and to follow that leading.

SHARON: Yeah, and then even thinking of the day-to-day, you know, we are so intensively working because of course it's social media and marketing. But if you take a step back just during the day and you close your eyes and you tell yourself, okay, whatever is supposed to happen today, you know, will happen and will like unfold and at the end, everything will be okay. But you know, even if there's things that are unexpected, like it's out of my control. This feels already so much better. It's like a weight of your shoulder.

AMY: Yes.

SHARON: So I mean, it's hard to remember it every day. It takes a lot of practice, but I have post-its on my computer and in my notebooks and in my walls about this. So I feel like for anyone that needs to have a reminder of it, if you put down post-its a bit of everywhere where you're usually looking, you know, while you're working, it sticks in your brain afterwards and it's kind of like an automaticism in your mind.

AMY: Yes, absolutely. And I think that this advice can go for anybody in life, but especially if you're a business owner, I say this kind of, this comes up a lot, but I just, I say like your mind and your mental space and where you are personally at has such a big impact on your business. So if you were to focus on one thing, it's this like focus on getting in the right head space and reminding yourself of the right things on a regular basis, because that's going to directly determine how well you lead your business.

SHARON: I totally agree with you.

AMY: Yeah. This has been so good. Like, oh, so many good nuggets. I think people who are listening, who are wanting to build a business or in the process like we are of building a business can just draw so much wisdom from what you've had to say.

So thank you for being on today, Sharon.

SHARON: Yeah, thank you.

AMY: And I feel like we never stop growing and learning. And I feel like the key point also is just to have fun with it because if not then, then yeah, what's the point of it?

SHARON: I know.

AMY: Yeah, you want to enjoy, like you said, like enjoy what you're doing day to day. Like my contractors probably like, they kind of tease me. They're like, you always are checking in on how I'm doing and like where my capacity is. But I'm like, Hey, I just want to make sure you're happy. Like I just want to make sure you're good. And yeah, like what are we doing if we're not enjoying our day to day.

SHARON: I'm right there with you. It's so important. Like enjoying life really to the fullest.

AMY: So my last question to all of my podcast guests is what is bringing you peace right now? And I think that we've already probably talked about five things, 10 things that are bringing you peace right now, but in this moment, you can share personal life or something within your business.

What is bringing you peace?

SHARON: So I feel like there's two things, but they kind of go hand in hand. So I feel like what's bringing peace is that I am fully always trusting myself. So I really go for what I feel like right away. I don't even know, I don't wait. I don't second guess. If I feel it in my gut, I act upon it. And it goes hand in hand with, it's a bit more of a personal story, but I recently ended a relationship because it just didn't feel right and you know, it was hard, but I just followed my gut and I feel so much better now and so much happier.

And I can see the impact that it has also on my business. So it's exactly what you said. When it's in one part of your life, it goes hand in hand and then it impacts other things of your life too. I feel like the biggest, biggest, biggest like take away from feeling at peace for me is just trusting myself and following my instinct.

And I've always been super good at that. I have a lot of friends actually who are always messaging me when things like this happen and they're like, "You're so good at just acting upon what you're thinking and feelings. I like to really inspire me." And it's such a nice compliment. And at the same time, I don't know if it's too impulsive of me, but it's been working for me this week.

It's like, "It has worked so far." I will keep it this way.

AMY: Yeah. I'm right there with you. I totally get that. And I'd be really interested to pool a bunch of business owners and see how many of them operate off of their gut. Because I feel like I'm with you. Like yes, I think about it in my head, but I'm more going to listen to my gut than anything else. Well, I wonder if there's business owners that actually go without their guts.

SHARON: Yeah, there has to be. I'm so curious to know how the mind would work. Because how can you, for me it seems impossible, but you're right, it probably does exist to do things and you're still not feeling it.

AMY: I'm sure they just operate very differently than we would, but I'm sure it works as well. So I mean, if you're listening to this and you're a more logical, strategic, not gut centered business owner, let us know because we're curious. Less emotional. That wouldn't help actually.

But I mean, I think everything has its pros and cons.

Well, thank you. This has been such a wonderful conversation and I cannot wait to hear what people pull out of it. I know everyone will have a different little thing that meant the most to them, but thank you all for listening today.

Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple podcasts and on Spotify and subscribe to our YouTube because we are now on YouTube. And if you didn't know that and you've been listening this whole time, you can go pop over and watch us if you want.

But Sharon, thank you again and I will talk to you soon.

SHARON: Thank you so much, Amy.

AMY: Alright, bye everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. Don't forget to connect with us on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook and we would love it if you would leave a review wherever you're listening. We'll see you next week for more tips for how to become a peaceful entrepreneur.