[00:00:00] Lindsey: the thing that's so interesting about that is the more successful you get, often the louder that voice gets. And so we think the opposite. We believe, well, I can just earn myself worth, outpace it, or whatever, and that's not true until you're willing to confront it. And then there are ways we can leverage it to our advantage, but you have to do that work to get there.
[00:00:21] Aneta: We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life, but what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breadth depth, and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian Kuzma and join me weekly as I interview guests who made changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.
[00:00:56] Speaker: Welcome back to Live The Width of Your Life podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening every week. It means the world to me. This week's guest is Lindsay Epperly, and she's the CEO of Jet Set World Travel, which she has scaled from a one-person operation into a team of over 80 dedicated members and was recently recognized on the Inc. 5, 000 list of fastest-growing companies.
She's been named to the Forbes Next 1000 list and was most inspired by navigating her industry's greatest crisis while expecting her first child, a season she affectionately refers to as the MBA, I never wanted. Lindsay is dedicated to fighting burnout and imposter syndrome. While, also teaching others how to turn obstacles into opportunities on her podcast, Who Made You The Boss. I was so inspired by Lindsey's story. She is someone who is making a name for herself in the industry but has always thought about how to take the travel industry and make it modern and do it timelessly.
She and I talked about how she scaled her business from one to 80 people. And we talked a little bit about her mission really to fight burnout and teach others how to turn obstacles into opportunities. We talked about how she was able to lead her company and grow her company. Acquire another company during COVID and just how she navigates through crisis, how she was able to turn challenges into a stepping stone for business growth. How she has grown and learned about her self-discovery throughout this process. And she just has a lot of great advice for all of us. I think you're going to enjoy the conversation. Take a listen.
[00:02:43] Aneta: Lindsey, thank you so much for joining me. I'm so happy you're here.
[00:02:47] Lindsey: I'm so excited to be here, Aneta. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:02:49] Aneta: Of course. I just would love for you to share a little bit with the audience about how you started your company Jet Set World Travel.
Because so many people are probably curious to say, how did you start? Start something that you're passionate about and turn it into this beautiful, not only career but business.
[00:03:06] Lindsey: Yeah. It's a good question. And so much of it was accidental, right? Like you just follow the one next right thing. Starting with even finding the travel industry, or as I say, the travel industry found me, I wandered into a travel agency at 19 years old for a brochure and I accidentally walked out with the job.
So ever since that day, I just kind of felt this calling in this kind of forward momentum of, you enjoy this industry. At that point, I was an anomaly for it because. So many people did not consider it a viable career path, and there is a dearth of individuals who were, especially in the millennial generation, no one was entering into it at that point.
And I just started seeing opportunities I think I can build something that will connect with the modern-day traveler and the modern-day travel advisor. And so the more I got into it, the more I was able just to follow that path and do the next right thing. So when the timing was right, which was about 10 years ago, I launched what was then Epperly Travel.
We've now rebranded to Jet Set World Travel. And I always knew in my DNA that I would be an entrepreneur. I just never knew how that would manifest. And it was just the coolest thing because I don't know any other industry or career outside of travel. It found me at such a young age.
[00:04:13] Aneta: I love a couple of things that you said. So yeah, you go in, you grab this brochure. And so how did you get the job? Like, tell me a little bit about that first step.
[00:04:23] Lindsey: It's funny, I think this is to speak to people who are passionate about anything. I'm passionate about travel. I had just gotten back from studying abroad and any college girl that studies abroad, that's all she talks about for the next semester and a half, so I just happened to be talking about it to the owners of that travel agency, unbeknownst to me that they were the owners and I was just talking about how I traveled around through France and Italy and all the things I did and how fun travel is and I remember on the spot, I'm saying, well, would you be interested in selling travel?
And my answer was so ridiculous. I go, well, who sells travel? I'm standing in a travel agency. I have no idea that this is actually what they do for a living. I'm just here for a brochure. And they were like, well, we do. And we think that you could do it as well, especially because you're in college.
You've got friends getting married. Maybe we start you off with honeymoons. And so that was it. I started off selling honeymoons. I would go to bridal shows on the weekends in college.
[00:05:13] Aneta: Well, first of all, where did you study abroad?
[00:05:16] Lindsey: I studied abroad at the Cannes Film Festival in France. I thought that I wanted to go into film.
[00:05:22] Aneta: Wow. That is so fascinating. So I didn't get a chance to study abroad, but I did backpack throughout Europe when I graduated and also had the same experience. When you say like, when you do that, that's all you talk about. It's so true because all I wanted to do was find a way to go back and just do more of that.
So I got the travel bug also like you at such a young age, so you worked, you said, was it for 10 years for the same organization before you started your own or what did that look like?
[00:05:51] Lindsey: No. So I worked for a little while without organization and I just started seeing, actually, unfortunately, that one had quite a few unethical business practices that I was seeing happening. And honestly, I think that was the school of hard knocks. I learned what not to do and I learned what type of leader not to be so that I could then go out on my own and create something that I was proud of and that others could look to.
As a sense of direction and a sense of ethics in the travel industry. So what was important to me was to create something that added value to others, both the people who work with us and for us, and also was very transparent in how we operated and made sure everyone felt honored and valued. And that was such a helpful lesson. Despite those first five years.
[00:06:31] Aneta: Wow. And you said that when you started your business, you wanted to create something that appealed to modern-day travelers. So tell me more about that. Like what did you see was missing and how were you able to create that in your own business?
[00:06:44] Lindsey: Yeah, so the first company I worked for was a brick-and-mortar. So everyone would come in and sit down and transact. And it just felt so old school. It's what you would imagine of a travel agency. You would imagine going in and saying, I need a ticket here and they would type it up and you would get your ticket.
And what I was seeing, evolve in the travel industry is relationship-based business. And so relationships can be built very easily for a modern individual over the phone, email, or Zoom, which at the time, no one knew about, I should have probably invested stock then, but we were a virtual company before it became the norm to be a virtual company.
It was all about how we use these tools and this technology to our advantage to build relationships with clients all around the globe so that we can get to know them and serve them well. So, the entire basis of it was relationship service, relationship service, and that was how things differed from a very traditional travel agency model.
[00:07:41] Aneta: And so when you started, I know that you scaled from a very small organization to now you have 80 people. Is that correct?
[00:07:49] Lindsey: That's correct. Yeah.
[00:07:50] Aneta: How did you do it and over what period?
[00:07:53] Lindsey: Yeah. So we, this year celebrate 10 years in business. And I think that the most impactful years have been these last five. And I say that because everyone knows what we went through in 2020. Every individual went through in 2020 and everyone has their journeys that happened. For the travel industry, it was a very difficult time.
We are not planning trips when planes are grounded. So there was just this incredible path that I had to take because we had all the eggs in one basket. My husband is my business partner. He had just recently become my business partner, whenever that happened, we had a baby on the way, we had a home under contract, and we had to make a really difficult decision do we keep the home or do we keep the business?
We decided this business could be something for everyone who is working for us and will one day work for us, that we can create a mission during this dark time. And our mission was to be a beacon. So we followed this again, it was kind of always following the next right thing.
We followed this to say, we believe we can come out of here stronger, than what we're entering into it. And when we entered into the pandemic, we were a team of 10. And now, as you mentioned, we're a team of over 80. So we use that adversity to really uplevel and to build something even better than we ever could have without the adversity. So. There were so many learning lessons throughout that though.
And that's scaling from the business side. Yes. But from a personal side, I think anyone who is a founder, or maybe just anyone who's a high achiever can relate that we so often tie our success to our self-worth. And so during those times of trial where you feel like I'm no longer successful in the traditional sense, I feel like I'm failing.
It is a very important reckoning to come to terms with, does, “I'm failing me and I am a failure.” And what does that look like from a self-worth perspective? And that part of the journey for me was the most important.
[00:09:46] Aneta: You know I'm reading a book by Jamie Kern Lima right now all about, the worthiness. Yes, it's so good. And so when you were talking about that, I'm like, wow, that she talks so much about that. Like the difference between self-confidence and self-worth and really one is constant regardless of what is happening externally. So it sounds like that was the lesson that you'd learned as well.
[00:10:08] Lindsey: It is. I love that you mentioned that book. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I've got it on my waitlist at the library because I heard her on an interview the other day and thought, that's it. That's exactly what I've been feeling. And she put it so well. We think that when we are on the successful track, as long as we are faking it, so we make it as long as we show up with confidence, then that's what we need.
But I mean, I just think unknowingly, we tie our value to, what we're producing and what we're creating. And that's just not the way we as humans were designed.
[00:10:37] Aneta: Right. How were you able to grow during the pandemic? Because it seems like travel would be hard. It would be difficult. People were definitely in a place of fear. So tell me a little bit more about that.
[00:10:49] Lindsey: Yeah. So, the savings that we were going to be using toward that home, we were in the process of purchasing that we decided we've got to walk away from that to keep this business alive. First and foremost, it went to keeping the business afloat, but when the opportunity came about in early 2021, we were able to acquire another travel agency, so that was incredible, of course, buying during that really worked in our favor, but it also was.
A larger company that had been in business longer. I had long since respected the founder of that company. That was called Jet Set World Travel is what we're now known as today, but. That sent such an interesting message to our industry that a boutique, female-founded entrepreneurial venture could still succeed, especially amid all that adversity.
Any other acquisitions that happened during the time were all about consolidation and we're all about the big guys gobbling up the little guys. And so what did it look like for two respected boutique brands to come together and create again, like sending ripple effects out for a positive mission into the industry?
So that also then allowed us to grow organically. So both acquisition as well as organic growth, are what led to tremendous momentum within Jet Set.
[00:12:01] Aneta: Well, congratulations, first of all, because I can only imagine that there were a lot of competing emotions, perhaps, as you were making some of these decisions. How were you able to work through any limiting doubts, fears, and worries during that time to say, we're going in and we're doing this?
[00:12:20] Lindsey: Yeah. So many of those harder decisions had to be made early on in the process before we knew how everything would turn out as life has.
And so I think it's really important to hold on to hope despite the outcome. And that was what my husband and I just kept doing. And it was so helpful to have a partner during that time, both in business and in life who when I was at 10%, he was at 90 percent or vice versa.
We could help encourage each other when we both felt those moments of tension, is this the right path? And one of the tips that I use during that time, is that I would encourage listeners just to write this down, especially if you're going through a time of adversity. It was given to me by my preacher actually, who said during times of adversity if we can focus on the question, what story do you want to tell?
And so for us, that question was what we kept going back to. Do we want to tell the story of folding the business to purchase a house? No. Do we want to tell the story of, well, this was a good run and now it's time to go back to a traditional lifestyle?
He needs to go back to finance. I'll stay home with the baby that's on the way. We'll close shop. No, those were not the stories we wanted to tell. And so to be able to now be on the other side, the answer to that question was we want to tell a story of holding on to hope despite the outcome of being a beacon and of believing in something that we were creating together that we knew could put good into the world, good into our industry, into our teammates.
And so holding on to that mission. And being able to tell that story was what got us through.
[00:13:47] Aneta: Tell me about your team. So as you built this culture and you're working on this being a beacon and hope, what did that do in terms of the people who maybe stayed and those that even joined your team as a result of that culture that you're building?
[00:14:03] Lindsey: Yeah. It was such an interesting time to be a leader. And I think this was the time that refined me and made me realize you are a leader of people. And that means you've got to pour into yourself so that you can pour into others. And this was just such an ultimate test of learning how to do that.
The team during the time, of course, was difficult. Everyone was having these emotions and as travel advisors, most of what they had to do was cancel trips or postpone trips, and on top of it being such a difficult time for every human, they're having to undo the work that they take such amazing pride in.
And they're having to sort of. Sit with their clients and empathize with clients who have these dream trip books that they're now having to postpone and that they may never be able to take. So there was a lot of emotional struggle during that time. We just had to show up to be a place to listen to safety so that we could all come together and have these conversations and then also give the team that mission.
That our mission during this time at Jet Set is to be a beacon. We created a program called Nourish, which was a short-term community where we opened our doors and said to anyone else in this industry, who needs camaraderie, who needs leadership, who needs something during this time that you may not be getting elsewhere, our doors are open.
There is no obligation for anything. Just come sit in on our meetings, come be part of it if you want. We have an open door policy for that period so that people could find community over competition, which is what we're about. And so I think creating those missions for everyone gave us something larger to believe in.
And that's how the team stayed together. That's how the team grew. That was really what allowed us as individuals to thrive.
[00:15:36] Aneta: I love that idea. Like community over competition. Did a lot of people take you up on that offer?
[00:15:43] Lindsey: Yes. Yeah. And
[00:15:44] Aneta: that's great.
[00:15:45] Lindsey: That's what eventually led to our acquisition opportunity is individuals that were part of that program, it became evident what companies may not be interested in continuing after the pandemic or may not have the operation side, which we had locked down. We had been working hard on our operations and how to power the back end of a travel agency.
And that's my husband's lane. Thank God for his very left brain, as I am as creative as they come. And so we started noticing, well, there might be an opportunity here. So let's start exploring that. So that was kind of what alerted us.
[00:16:15] Aneta: That's amazing. And also I know you have a mission to fight burnout and teach others how to turn obstacles into opportunities. Tell me when you decided on that mission and how you're able to do that. Yeah.
[00:16:28] Lindsey: Yeah. So for me personally is again, as I started learning all of these tips and tricks during the pandemic, when I thought I was at my lowest, I am failing to just the greatest degree I ever thought that I could fail. And then learned the journey of, I need to overcome this imposter syndrome, reinstalling my self-worth, and separate that from my success.
I felt passionate about putting the stories out there in written form and speaking form. And so I launched a podcast called Who Made You the Boss. And the idea behind that title is especially for high achievers and entrepreneurs. When we look at ourselves in the mirror, there is that little nagging imposter syndrome that asks us that question, especially on the days when we feel that self-worth at its lowest.
When we're going. Oh my God, who made me the boss? And then the answer, of course, is I did. And how we come to terms with that and what that means. So I'm having conversations now with just incredible people, everyone from Amy Porterfield to Bob Goff and people who are opening up about, yeah, I've had that question too, in my head.
And here's how I overcame it. And. I think too, Aneta, the thing that's so interesting about that is the more successful you get, oftentimes the louder that voice gets. And so we think the opposite. We think, well, I can just out-earn my self-worth, outpace it, or whatever, and that's not true until you're willing to confront it. And then there are ways we can leverage it to our advantage, but you have to do that work to get there.
[00:17:53] Aneta: It's so true. I love Bob Goff. That is so funny. Like, I've read a hell of his books. I even have the devotional here. Is he like you think he would be?
[00:18:04] Lindsey: Okay. I love that you asked about Bob in particular because he's become a really good friend. I attended his writing retreat. He has a retreat center in Southern California called the Oaks. Attended his writing retreat would love him and his head coach, Kim Stewart, who is a writer herself.
And I spent a year and a half studying him. Studying with them and coaching them to write. So I can say from a firsthand perspective, he is a great guy and he has everything that he puts out there in his work. He is exactly that as a human. I could send him a text right now and he would drop what he's doing to help.
He is just the most, and I don't mean that just because of my relationship. He's like that with everyone. He comes into the community with, he is just a very genuine human.
[00:18:42] Aneta: It's so funny because I think in Love Does, he had his phone number like in the back of the book. Like, yeah, give me a call. I never did because I was like, that would be so weird, but he seems like
[00:18:52] Lindsey: Yeah. Oh, Yeah, He will answer still to this day. That is who he is. Yeah.
[00:18:57] Aneta: Amazing. So, are you publishing?
[00:19:01] Lindsey: So I'm on that journey right now. I recently signed with a literary agent and we just started putting my proposal out to a publisher. So fingers crossed. I mean, it might be next year. It might be 10 years from now. I'm kind of studying what it looks like to enter into that thought leader space as a writer, and a podcaster.
And so much of this was influenced by that journey of adversity. So I'm learning along the way, but it is something I feel called to do. And especially for you to mention Bob Goff in particular, that he's someone that's influenced you from a faith perspective, I feel like that is so important to me because I do operate from a Christian background.
And I do believe that we each have callings in our lives. And I think you can believe that whether you come from a faith background or not. And so for me, I just know that, that became clear throughout that pandemic season, where I'm realizing, wait a minute, I can also let go of control in the way that I've been forced to let go of control.
And the company can thrive because of the incredible humans we have working there. And that then enables me to pursue the next chapter in my life and what is my life's calling, which is putting this work into the world. So that was such a great revelation through it all.
[00:20:09] Aneta: I see, and I feel like there are so many maybe spiritual entrepreneurs, whatever you want to call it of different faiths, but who talk about that being such a strong foundation of who they are and how they show up and not creating the separation between who you are, what you believe and the company that you're building and how you treat people.
So I love that you brought that up because I do think that more and more people are comfortable talking about it and more and more people I see are starting to use the word God again, whatever that means to them, which I think is a good thing. It opens up these kinds of conversations.
[00:20:45] Lindsey: Yes. I agree. I think what's so beautiful and what I hope we're getting right at Jet Set, and I feel like we are because we keep attracting a wonderful diverse range of individuals is that we can each put our beliefs out into the world and we can respect one another's for how they differ.
And I love surrounding myself with different viewpoints. Most of the people on our leadership team came from totally different industries. Not the travel industry. So it's not just an echo chamber in there. We're getting to hear different understandings, and they all have different walks of life and beliefs.
And I think that's a cool thing when you can lead from that place within the company, exactly what you're saying because it is driven by that God-given purpose.
[00:21:22] Aneta: Yeah. What else did you discover about yourself during these last 10 years? I know it's like a big open-ended question, but we talked a little bit about self-worth and also wanting to continue to use your faith as a foundation. But tell me what else you've discovered about yourself that maybe you didn't know, you didn't recognize.
[00:21:43] Lindsey: I talked a little bit about how we can leverage some of this adversity Because I do believe there are learning lessons and there's something beautiful in every single thing that happens for us, not to us. One of the big reasons that I created Who Made You The Boss and that I'm obsessed with imposter syndrome is because I think I learned how to use that to an advantage.
And how to sit with this for a while, because I had an instance where I wound up on an entrepreneurial retreat of my dreams on this private Island. And I did a podcast episode about this recently, the Island shut down because of COVID amid everything.
And so here we are, and our company is currently failing at the time because of what's going on in the world. So here we are. Shut down on an Island. I'm expecting everyone to find out like, you're the only people who don't belong here because your company's failing. You just like write failure on my forehead, giant Sharpie.
And that was like the height of my imposter syndrome. And I struggled with it for a year later. I was going, why was I so not myself? Why was I such a shell during that time? And then this opportunity just escaped and I was able to start drawing the dots. Well, I thought everyone was looking at me.
I thought everyone could see my failure. Like it was just out there for the world to know. Then I realized that was just the voice in my head. That was just the inner critic that I think it's really important to name and to confront. And so how do we go about doing that? So I actually, I even put together a workbook that I have on my website to go from imposter syndrome to inspiration, because I think that it's possible to connect those dots, but it is some deep work that you have to do.
So I learned that about myself, that that's something that helps in separating that self-worth from success is to start challenging the imposter syndrome and even sometimes working alongside it to say, all right, so that's here. And that's probably a good thing cause that means I'm putting myself out there in a new way. So how do leverage this?
[00:23:35] Aneta: Yeah. I love that. I talk about imposter syndrome with my clients all the time, and I do believe that the majority of people feel they're an imposter at some point or that there's an inner critic. There are loud voices that are not so kind and tell us why we're going to be a failure or not great.
And I agree with you that we should examine them because when we ask ourselves, is this true? And let's just really start spending some time going through it all. We can probably go, yeah, that's not probably true. Or I can minimize this risk this way, or I have this experience I can pull on.
And so just spending a little bit of time instead of allowing the voices to impact us to a point where we either are frozen or maybe we're scared to take action or we dim our light. It's just important to continue to try to take the tiniest steps forward. But do you agree that you think most people have some version of imposter syndrome or these inner critic voices?
And do you think it's healthy? Like do you think it's just a reflection of, wait a second, it means I'm doing something different or it means that maybe I'm not a master at this yet. And that's okay. Because as kids we did everything. We learned everything. We didn't know how to do anything when we were small and think about all the things that we did to learn, to walk, to talk, ride a bike, like all this stuff. I don't know when we got so scared.
[00:25:01] Lindsey: Yeah. Everything you said resonates. And I noticed as you were beginning to talk about it and how you coach your clients, you use the word healthy, that this is a healthy experience. And I think the misconception is that it's not and that we have to believe the voice that if someone is saying we're a fraud and that someone is us, especially, we have to believe them.
And that could not be further from the truth. I have struggled with anxiety all of my life. It's the same thing, it's kind of like beginning to observe that like a scientist, right? And poke around at it and see, well, why does that come during this exact particular moment in my life?
And is there a way that maybe it's trying to tell me something like maybe that imposter syndrome voice is trying to tell me something and that's not to stop, that's actually to say, Hey, I'm new at this and I have two littles? It's a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old, and so I feel that and I see that every day.
My little girl drew this incredible picture of a tiger. I posted this the other day on my Instagram account because I just thought it was the coolest thing. It was her interpretation of a tiger. It's just this big orange bubble with stripes on it, and it was still, as a mom of course, I'm like, this is the best tiger I've ever seen.
But I also thought about the fact that she's not afraid to put that out there and say, this is my version of a tiger and I want to show you and it belongs on the fridge, right? Like there is always that beginner's mindset, but at some point or another, I think it's a lot of societal conditioning.
We start believing. We're not supposed to do that. Or if people see us starting, well, I think it's got to do with vulnerability. It's such a vulnerable position to be in. And so maybe it'd be better just to become an expert at one thing and never try something new. And that way I can live in that comfort zone.
So I do think imposter syndrome is our body's way of saying like, this is new, this is scary, but that's okay.
[00:26:42] Aneta: Yeah. Or it's exciting. Physiologically, there's no difference between anxiety and excitement. It is the same thing. So it's what we tell ourselves about the situation. Getting excited to maybe go on a roller coaster could also feel like anxiety, speaking on stages or whatever it is.
But I'm glad that we're talking about it. Because I think that more people that are coming out who are very successful presidents, authors, politicians, like all kinds of people, actors, singers, they still show up, even though they have massive anxiety or fear, or don't think that they're any good, thank goodness, right. ? Mean, if everybody just sat down on the sidelines and said, I'm not going to do it because I'm scared. How many things wouldn't get created?
[00:27:25] Lindsey: Right. And I think it's important to speak that out loud during the stage of creation too. To be able to say, because a lot of times we can say it on the other side when we've achieved what people feel is a success. Now we can come out and talk about it. Or I think something in the business world that I saw a lot of is entrepreneurs would be willing to talk about the journey after they had sold their company.
And so the fear was, well, if I talk about it while I've still got the company, it's going to decrease the value. And I think that that is ludicrous. I think it's so important, like the team and I operate from a very transparent perspective. And we are whole people and we have to look at ourselves as whole people.
And there are times when things are scary and we can work through that together. And it's not to be like the business is your therapist. It's just to say, this is normal. And you don't have to wait until you achieve, perceived success to acknowledge it.
[00:28:15] Aneta: Absolutely. So good. So are you in season two of your podcast now?
[00:28:19] Lindsey: Season two comes out in May. I just started it in January, which has been a really fun ride.
[00:28:24] Aneta: Fantastic. Yeah. Tell me what you've learned. Because I think it's amazing to, be able to have conversations with people and get to know them. But what have been some of the biggest takeaways for you hosting the podcast?
[00:28:36] Lindsey: Yeah. I think that it's a really big honor and I am sure you probably feel something similar as a podcast host to steward important conversations. And you did such a beautiful job of this. You put together this great document ahead of time to share with me, like, this is kind of the flow that we go through, and here are some ideas of the questions, but then you keep it very conversational.
And so to do that work on individuals that I otherwise would not be talking to, like I should not be in conversation with Amy Porterfield and suddenly like because of hard work and hustle, we're having this conversation and I get to ask her really important questions. Like that's a big honor.
And you don't mince words at that point like you try to get to the core of what your listeners need to know. And so I think it's similar to running a business, like if I'm building this to steward for our clients and our team, the same thing for the podcast. I'm building this to steward for my listeners and our guests. So how do we go about doing that?
[00:29:31] Aneta: That's amazing. How did you get Amy Porterfield? Did you just ask? Yeah.
[00:29:35] Lindsey: I had a friend of a friend. I will tell you, and especially for season one, I was leveraging every conversation that I could with. Calling in all the favors of friends of friends of, hey, is there someone that might be interesting to interview? Because I wanted to get bigger names that would be willing to be vulnerable and Amy's so real. She's such a cool individual. And so she's willing to show up and be herself and have a real honest conversation about it. And I knew that she would. So happy. She said, yes.
[00:30:03] Aneta: That's amazing. So good. So what's next for you in terms of business? You talked a little bit about the book. You've scaled your business. You've got this podcast. What are some of the other things that you're willing or comfortable sharing in terms of what's on your vision?
[00:30:18] Lindsey: Yeah, so something I'm excited about is this summer, we are spending all of June and July in Europe. So we are taking the kids, and we are staying in Spain and Portugal for the summer. And I think it's why that's exciting is it's certainly not a whim, you don't just uproot your life for a couple of months on a whim.
It's a larger vision that my husband and I have for our family that we can let travel transform them and that we can stay in a place long enough to understand the culture and have encounters and go deep and feel like we're living there. And so that's something we want to do for their entire lives with us.
As long as we've got them under our care and we have summers together, we get to decide that's important to remember what it looks like to have rest and recreation and kind of play again, versus the ins and outs of business every single day. So I think that'll be a really important reset for us.
[00:31:16] Aneta: I love it. I'm doing a retreat in Portugal this September. So beautiful. So how did you decide on Spain and Portugal and are you going to be moving to different areas or are you going to stay kind of central? Do you rent an Airbnb? Whatever details you're comfortable sharing.
[00:31:30] Lindsey: Yeah. We're going to have a couple of home bases each month, depending on the country. And I will tell you as a traveler before I had kids, especially, I was gone once if not twice a month internationally to go test out the products as a travel advisor. So I'd get to go to incredible places and tour hotels left and right.
And I definitely, it's hard work, but it's a beautiful setting to have the hard work in. And one of the places that I fell in love with was Portugal. And I've always said I would love to go back there. Ironically, there was one specific city that I felt like, this is just kind of magical.
I feel a tug here. And I said to my friend when I was traveling there, I feel like I could come back here and write a book. And so it just so happens that this timing aligns that that city was available for the program that we're going to be doing. And, that I'm actually at a season of life where I'm working on writing a book.
I feel like, I don't know if this is a self-fulfilling prophecy or just the right time in the right place. As a traveler and someone who runs a travel agency, I feel that setting is so important that travel has the power to transform and to pull out our bigger visions. So I'm excited to see and experience that again.
I think this early motherhood stage of life is when it just becomes monotonous and it feels like every day is a new sickness. This will be a helpful reset, perhaps just sickness in another destination. But at least it's another destination.
[00:32:53] Aneta: Exactly. I also have always seen myself renting places all over the world and writing books. Like it's part of my vision. It's been in my vision too. And I love to travel. There's something about pulling yourself out of your comfort zones in so many ways, immersing yourself somewhere else, because I think it does teach us to be more present and so you're more attentive to everything around you and the people, but also then reflective in a way that just is so I've never been able to experience it anywhere else, like when I do traveling.
So I'm so happy for you. I think that that's going to be so beautiful and amazing. And I just want to celebrate the fact that you're like, yeah, we have young children and it might be a little bit. challenging at times, but we're going to figure it out. We're going to do it anyway.
Because this is so important because I do think people wait too long and then they miss out on some of those opportunities.
[00:33:45] Lindsey: Yes. And I don't want to sugarcoat this at all for anyone listening that also has young children and they're like, I cannot even imagine driving them an hour down the street, much less getting on an overnight flight and living abroad. And I am extremely intimidated by this. And I've been a traveler most of my adult life, my entire adult life.
So to know that there's also a level of imposter syndrome that comes with motherhood, of course, and with the decisions we make around that. And it's okay. You got to do it scared. That's the point at which we're making this decision.
[00:34:15] Aneta: Yeah That's right. And so my family's originally from Serbia and we've taken my kids back from the time they were two years old. So I traveled when one was two and the other was four for the first time overseas with them, and it was not easy to get to, like, you're going to have a much easier time to get to Spain and Portugal, I'll tell you.
And you just make it work. You just do you're lugging all the stuff around. But now I think it's just so much easier to travel. A lot of places have the things that you'll need there. And kids are so resilient. Like we think we're resilient. I think they're so much more resilient and they pick up on the energy of the parents. So I have no idea. I do not doubt that you guys are gonna just have a great time.
[00:34:57] Lindsey: Yeah, thank you. Well, I think it's so important too, to determine, I mean, is travel one of those things that energizes or depletes you? And so that's something to keep in mind when making these decisions. And for my husband and I, obviously own a travel agency. I've been in the travel industry for 15 years.
Travel is something that restores me. And so to know that, all right, it's worth the sacrifice of how hard it will be for the moments of restoration that we will experience while there. And there will be moments. It will not be the entire journey. It won't be some whole beautiful, eat, pray, love.
But, I know that there will be moments of frustration because travel restores us. So to be able to pour into ourselves from a place where we know it works. I had to learn that in kind of a miniature example of that this week, I was telling you before we started recording, but it's just been sickness after sickness as so happens with a family of littles.
And yesterday morning I was able to thank God. My husband watched our sick little one for an hour while I went to yoga. And I, cannot stop talking about going to yoga because it was restorative in a way that I had forgotten to be restoring and to pour into myself. I'm able to now serve my family from a fuller cup because of taking just that hour away.
And not everyone has that luxury. I get that. That was a huge privilege that I was able to have a partner to step in during that time. But to take what we can get to pour back into ourselves so that we can show up as better mothers and leaders and partners and what that looks like for us.
[00:36:20] Aneta: Yeah. I'm so glad you mentioned that because it is so important. And as entrepreneurs, we pour so much of ourselves into the businesses. It's so important to make sure that you're making time to do that and to restore and be preventative too, with your self-care and not just wait till you're burned out.
So you've mentioned your husband a couple of times and what's it like having a partner who is your partner in business and your personal life and how have you guys made it work?
[00:36:45] Lindsey: Yeah, so we decided, I don't know how wise this was according to any marriage counselors out there, but we decided we would start working together the week that we got married. I had an opening at my company. He was unfulfilled by his job and we were like, while we're young and dumb and we don't know any different than marriage.
Let's build it from the ground up together, both of these things. So early on, we made that decision. He worked for me before he became my business partner. He is incredible in his humility, but I will tell you that venture into his offering to be a partner and what this could look like in this painting, a picture of the future and my fierce independence, those things did not match well, to begin with.
I was on a solo journey, I've built this thing myself. If it's going to get done, I'm going to do it. I had a lot of pride and ego that I had to confront. And then also the work version of yourself is so different than the home version of yourself. And that goes for both of us. So learning to fall in professional respect, I won't say we even fell in professional love, right?
That was a weird situation. We were in love at home and work, we had to learn what is like to play in our lanes and to respect one another for our gifts and our values. That was a hard journey, but I think now we are on the other side of that and we operate beautifully, but it took a lot to get here.
[00:38:02] Aneta: Yeah. Well, thanks for your honesty with that. Because I think that some people who may be considering it going, I wonder how that works. So I appreciate you sharing it. And it's interesting as you talk because you've got a lot of strong masculine energy. I can tell by someone who's a driver, who gets things done. And how have you found a balance with your feminine energy as well?
[00:38:23] Lindsey: That is such a great question because you're probably the fourth person who has brought this up to me in the past week and a half, which means like maybe I need to tuck it away for a future therapy session or do some coaching with you or something because I had never really paid a lot of attention to it.
I just simply, am who I am, and you're right in that I do tend to bring a very strong masculine energy when it comes to, I'm going to get the job done. I am going to power through and one thing I've learned I'd say in the past couple of years was that I had a lot of wonderful male mentors.
And there would be moments in business where I would feel myself becoming very emotionally depleted. And I would feel like, this client thing happened again. And I'm just so sad about it. I'm so burned out about it. I'm so whatever. And almost always consistently across the board, the male mentor response was, you just got to get thicker skin kid.
You got to get thicker skin. Like I can go buy it at an office supply store. And I believed that for a long time because I operated in that masculine energy. And I will tell you what I did was I kept trying to be callous myself. That was the only way to get thicker skin to put yourself in the line of fire again and again and again.
And I found that I was just getting even more depleted. And so the feminine energy that I bring now is, wait a minute, that thin skin, according to the world, was my intuition. That was my body saying, you got to get out of that line of fire. Look, there's someone else who can do that particular activity without getting burned out, but for you, it's burning you out.
And so from that entire thing, and I talk about this a lot on my podcast and my social media, I now look at burnout as a sign versus a symptom. This is our body's way of saying. You've got to evolve. It is time. It's time to move on. And so that's one big learning lesson for me and bringing that feminine energy and listening to our intuition, because that is something that we as females are wired very uniquely with.
[00:40:15] Aneta: Absolutely. And sometimes many people, many of us don't live in our bodies. We don't know what it's like to be embodied. And so we try to shove it up like, wait, what's this? This is a distraction. Let me ignore it. Let me push through, get thicker skin, whatever it is. But there's so much beauty and wisdom in listening to the intuition and going, wait a second, what is this telling me?
What is this a sign of what change am I supposed to be making? What am I supposed to learn from this situation? So yeah, I asked just because I think for many of us women living in very male-dominated fields or with that experience as a background, we tend to operate from a very healthy masculine perspective, and it gets things done.
But also bringing the feminine in allows sustainability longevity and being able to have alignment and some other things that are quite important and beautiful, especially in entrepreneurship. Because you're not quitting this.
This isn't like, you're just going to close up shop. It's your build a business that is so amazing and has so many employees. You need to be able to take care of those things for yourself, but also for your clients and all of your employees.
[00:41:27] Lindsey: Yes. Even just pure active entrepreneurship is an act of creation and that is a very feminine energy that you're bringing to the table of creating or birthing something. And I will tell you just a nod to everything you just said and how important it is for our entire teams to see that of the individual that's leading the company, is I in launching this podcast felt the art of creation again, kind of like that energy in my bones and that excited hustle that I got to go back out there and create something.
And that's now allowing me to become a better leader because I'm leading by example of, all right. I put on this earth to create. I created this company, and I got a little drug down into the systems and processes, but that was necessary to build it and to scale it. But now I get to create again and I get to create something that can level us all up and help amplify the company as well.
That's such a win that act alone. I never knew to draw a parallel the reason that I enjoyed being an entrepreneur is actually because I enjoy creating.
[00:42:24] Aneta: Oh, yeah. It's so beautiful. I love that point. Lindsay, I'm sure people are like, I want to work with this woman. How can they find you? How can they start working with you? What's the best place to start that?
[00:42:36] Lindsey: Yes. Honestly, go to my website, lindsayepperly.com which has everything you need to know from links to the podcast, which is who made you the Boss, I mentioned earlier, that I have a workbook resource about turning imposter syndrome into inspiration. That's there under resources and then following me on Instagram, all the fun stuff, but it's all on the website. You can easily connect with me that way.
[00:42:55] Aneta: I love it. I'm so excited. And I'm just so grateful that you came on the show today. I love your adventure. I love what you're doing. And I love that you're focusing on not just leading this company from an entrepreneurship perspective, but also talking about things like resilience, talking about overcoming adversity. How do you scale from that place and prevent burnout or at least adjust it once you get there? So important things.
[00:43:20] Lindsey: Thank you so much. Thanks for stewarding this conversation. You did a beautiful job with it and I appreciate
[00:43:26] Aneta: thank you, of course. Thanks, Lindsay. Continued success to you.
[00:43:30] Lindsey: Thanks, Aneta.
[00:43:31] Aneta: Thank you for listening to today's episode. If today's conversation inspired you to dream again, break out of your comfort zones, or reflect on what it means to you to live more fully, then please follow this podcast because every week you'll hear more stories from people just like you who took imperfect action towards their goals, created more joy and are living the life that they always dreamt of living.