Episode 9 transcript: Leaving the 9 to 5 grind and embracing entrepreneurship with Brandy Hughes

 Episode 9: Leaving the 9 to 5 grind and embracing entrepreneurship with Brandy Hughes

Podcast Introduction

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 breath, 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. Join me weekly as I interview guests who make 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.

Guest Bio

Aneta: Today's guest is Brandy Hughes. Brandy's a business assistant and bookkeeper, and she's the founder and operator at Cornerstone Organizational Partners. After 22 years of working in accounting, office management, and executive administrative roles for various organizations and large corporations. Brandy launched her own original concept. Fusing her diverse office experience. She provides administrative and special project assistance, process improvement techniques, and bookkeeping services to local business owners. This partnership allows leaders to transition valuable focus time towards growth within their organization, and she is a critical part of my own business. Welcome today, Brandy.

[00:00:00]

Aneta: Brandy, thank you so much for joining me today. How are you?

Brandy: I'm great! I'm so honored that you asked me to come on and share a little bit of my story and where I've been. Where am I? Where am I going? Kind of thing. I'm excited about this.

Aneta: I'm so excited to have you on because for those that may know you and I go back several years. We used to work together at the same organization when I started my own business. I was actually referred back to you because I didn't know what you'd been doing by our friend Annette and we have been working together since then. I'm so excited to have you. Share a little bit of your story with the audience just for people to get a really good sense of what is possible. So, do you mind just kind of sharing a little bit about your background and maybe what you do today, but also how you got to where you are?

[00:01:00]

Brandy: Sure! So, I guess I would say that I never thought I would own my own business. It's not something I had ever grown up saying. I'm going to own my own business. I'm going to do this or that. It's just not something our family really did or talked about. It's kind of weird. It was probably the jumping-off point for me on my trajectory, even though I didn't realize it at the time, I found myself a single mom at the age of 18.

[00:02:00]

Brandy: Two weeks later I turned 19. I have a daughter that I need to take care of. So, what do I do? What should I do? I don't have a college degree. I ended up working, little known fact, maybe at UPS loading trucks from two in the morning till eight in the morning. I did that for a little bit and then I realized that's not what I wanted to do long-term, obviously. So then, I transitioned from not just working UPS, but changing clothes when my shift was done and going to school to get an associate in accounting. So, after two and a half years of that schedule, I graduated with my associates and got hired into my first internship in accounting with a general contractor in the area. From there, I just kind of kept moving along in a corporate America-type career. I'd say that in 2006 when I landed, in the organization that we were in together. It really kind of put me on my path to where I'm at now because it made me grow a lot and most of the experience that I had before that I attribute to growing towards my own business. Then, I was very lucky to have some challenging bosses I guess, and situations in that 10-year span or 11-year span that brought me around to know that I really love helping people. I really enjoy jumping in and helping fix problems or filling a gap and finding a solution to things in the role that I was in. I just wanted to be able to do that for more people. I felt like I was kind of pinned in by doing it for one particular organization in corporate America. So, when the time came and we were kind of in a financial situation where we could take a step away and I could go out and do this big risky thing that I wanted to do. My husband and I talked it over and we made the decision that that was the time.

[00:03:00]

Aneta: Well, first of all, amazing that you were able to do what you did at such a young age. Raising your daughter by yourself, working through the night, going to school. Looking back at that, are you still in awe or amazed at what you were able to do? Or was it just pure adrenaline for several years?

[00:04:00]

Brandy: I guess, I would have to say, I'm lucky that I was young, healthy, and strong as I was because obviously as you get older, something like that is a much bigger challenge. So, it definitely gave me the fortitude that I needed. I guess it gave me the experience that even if something doesn't work out the way that you think it will. You can make it and I know I was at an event yesterday, a networking event, and the question was " if you could meet your 18-year-old self and you could tell that person three words, what would they be? Yeah. And mine is a conjunction, so it's a little bit of a cheat on three words, but" it'll be okay". Yeah! So, that's kind of what I tell myself. During the rough spots. I had a magnet on my mirror and it said, Get up! Survive! And go to bed. That was the effect of the day.

Aneta: How did you know to do that for yourself? Right? So one, as you said, absolutely you were young. You were healthy, but how did you know or what was it that propelled you to believe you will be okay? Get up, just put another foot forward and work towards the goals that you have in mind for yourself.

[00:05:00]

Brandy: It would have to be just a sense of overwhelming responsibility. It wasn't just me anymore. Sometimes when it's just you and you don't have any other person, a little person that you're providing for or that is looking up to you. You can slough some things off and be a little more laid back and relaxed and maybe not feel as motivated to get things done. Now, you could also change that around to say, it doesn't have to be a little person. It doesn't have to be your child that's looking up to you or that you're providing for. It could be a team if you're a leader in an organization now, or if you're the head of the family, your spouse, any, your siblings, anything like that where you feel that sense of strong responsibility of everyone's kind of watching to see what I do here and which path do I want to take and ultimately which path will I be able to look back and say, Yeah, I busted my butt and I'm not going to coast now. Don't coast now. Push it for as long as you can, but listen to your body. I've got a couple of ladies in my life, you included, and my other, my business coach, it's always reminding me. Listen to your body. If you're on a long stretch of some hard days and you need to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. Yes, as a business owner, you're allowed to do that. That's one of the beautiful things about owning your own business and setting your own schedule. There are a lot of pros and cons to it. But at this point, I wouldn't change a thing. I just am so happy to be able to work with people like you and all of the other clients that I have right now. They're constantly reaching out with new challenges and new things, and it's exciting. I love seeing where you and I started and your trajectory, and where you're going. So, it's like all great things. It's impressive. Looking up to you.

[00:06:00]

Aneta: Well, and so I want to talk about our relationship, but I want you to share a little bit more. So your path here. So you worked in the corporate world and I remember just how you took care of everything. You were so responsible. You worked in supporting leaders, very significant leaders in the organization and their teams. Tell me, how long after you were working in the corporate world did you decide that you were ready to make a change? And then, how did you know that your business was going to look like, what it looks like today?

[00:07:00]

Brandy: That's great! Those are great prompting questions. So, in the back of my mind, I always knew that what I did was essential for more than just the people I was working for. I would always talk to folks outside of work because, at the time, corporate America was everyone that you networked with and then as I got a little older, I started having other social groups where you would hear other business owners and kind of the problems that they have. I found myself always trying to solve everyone's problems. Yeah, but I was so limited. I was in this box because I didn't have the freedom, I guess, to do that because it was Monday through Friday, eight to five.

[00:08:00]

Brandy: So, as I hear these people saying things. It started building more and more in my head if I had the skills to help these people. How can I help them? I guess, probably by the time I was in my mid-thirties, I knew that eventually, I would own my own business. I would work for myself. Then, it just kind of, was a wait to see how this, where the path goes. How does it take me? And by the time I got up to supporting some C-suite executives and some high-level leaders within the organization. I really started to feel a sense of ability, I guess it would say up to that point, you're not sure if you have the skill set to deal with people on that level until someone takes a chance on you and identifies, challenges you on it and makes you grow in it. You had mentioned Annette. Annette was just absolutely my rockstar when it came to pushing me outta my comfort zone. Making me think differently, challenging me to do more, not being happy with the status quo, and always thinking ahead. Always come to the table with solutions, not just problems. The big concept is there to grasp and the earlier you can grasp that the better and then also things are going to happen and better just own up to it. Yeah, that was me. That was my mess up. How do I fix it? What can we do?

[00:09:00]

Brandy: Where we go? Again, those two things paired together, The faster I learned that the more I grew in my confidence in what I'm doing. So, I stepped away from corporate America and I remember the day I walked into my boss's office, and Brad and I, my husband and I have been talking about it and it was a Monday afternoon and I said, "I'm going to step away" and he looked at me and he said, Where are you going? How long are you going to be gone? And I said this is my two weeks. I'm turning in two weeks. I'm going to try and make a run of it. Doing my own thing and seeing how that works out. There were a couple of months of struggle that I actually encouraged, and I think you and I even talked about this. When you're transitioning from something like working for someone else for so long to going to your own thing, I called it a detox. That's what I called it. I took some time and I did some things that I had wanted to do. I didn't do anything too crazy. I didn't get to travel or anything like that, but things around the house that I wanted to get done. I kind of got my space organized and at the same time, I got my head organized around, okay, now I get to do it. I get to build this the way that I want to build it. So, that's kind of where I came in and it was risky business. My business coach to this day reminds me of some of the first conversations we had. She said, " you're going to be okay". And I'm like, I don't even know if I can make this work. I don't know if people are going to want to use me. I don't know if I have something to offer to people, but I want to try. Now, she reminds me of saying that in the beginning, that was a little over five years ago.

[00:11:00]

Brandy: I'm to the point now where I'm scaling, where I'm in the process of talking to folks about bringing on some contractors underneath of me to help me with the workload. I'm turning people away and I don't want to have to do that. So, I am right now.

[00:12:00]

Aneta: It's so amazing to see just your trajectory and see how far you've come for those that just want to share a little bit. How did we start working together? So our friend Annette, and I were meeting for lunch and I was talking to her about my business and also how after about a year or so I was growing and there were just definitely things that I wanted to start to outsource. So, I could continue to scale myself and she said, Well, do you know Brandy is working now and she's supporting small businesses? She's supporting them with their bookkeeping, administrative tasks, and also project work I remember reaching out to you and I was so excited. One, because we were reconnecting. Two, because it was so amazing to hear about your experiences and what you've been doing, and then I always felt such a sense of passion from you about, like you said, helping people, helping them solve their problems. And I remember the first time I was like, delegated things to you, turned over all the bookkeeping, which I'm so grateful for and I think I've referred, I don't know how many people to you already. You just have to do this. You're never going to regret having someone that you can trust take care of this for you, and also a lot of other projects, and you were so quick to understand my business and be able to offer support. So what would you tell small business owners who are still holding on so tightly to try to do everything by themselves?

[00:13:00]

Brandy: Yeah. I know that feeling. I call you the CEOs. You are the chief Everything officer. I get it. Yeah, I understand. It's your baby. It's kind of it no matter if you're in your first year, if you're in your tenure, you've built. It's the product of your own hands. But what I like to tell a lot of the business owners I meet with is you get to a point where you're doing what you want to do. You have you're why, and if it's H V A C. If it's carpentry, if it's coaching, whatever it is. You don't want to do some of the things that are essential in your business. They're the bookkeeping, the reconciliations, all these kinds of things, little everyday tasks. It's such a mental drain and a time drain for you if it's not something that you really enjoy doing and something that you're an expert at. So, it would make much more sense if you step back and look at it from 10,000 feet to give that piece of it to somebody else that can do it in no time and give yourself that hour, two hours that you would spend lamenting over numbers. You're not a numbers person. Yeah. And really focus on the things in your business that you would like to grow, areas that you don't get time to, to do things, even if it's time with your family. A lot of business owners. They have a spouse doing their books, and their finances, and that causes stress in the relationship. You just need that downtime. You need some time away from it sometimes. So that's where I like to come in and have a conversation with an owner that is just overwhelmed. They've got a full plate and there's an opportunity for me. Just take a little bit off here and there. Turn the edges and hopefully, that allows you to backfill it or leave it empty. Whatever you want to do. It's just to have more balance. We keep talking about work-life balance. I think we've been talking about that forever. 20 years, but forever, right? Yeah. So, I read a great book recently. The concept of it, basically in the book, lets you know that you should stop striving for balance because there's no balance.

[00:14:00]

Brandy: Whatever you're doing that day, what’s most important is the balance. She equates it to an Olympic athlete who is training, training, training, training, training. They don't have much of a social life. They don't have a lot of other time for things that you would think would create that balance. But at the moment when you're preparing for that. That is what you need to be doing. I just want to help. Put minds at ease. I always like to ask my clients, you know, after we have a conversation. Do you feel good about where we're at? Is there anything else that you're worried about that we need to talk about real quick so that we can, you know, work through a solution and find a process that would help? Is there anything else that if you walk away from this call or this meeting is going to totally stress you out? Let's get it on the table. Let's figure out if it's something that we can work through. So, I want my owners to walk away feeling like I'm in a good place. Now, I can go focus on this or that or take a break if I need to.

[00:16:00]

Aneta: Yeah, I agree with you and I always say just because you can do something, I tell my clients, just because you're good at it or you can do something doesn't mean that you should. What I found, so my definition of balance is I always have my clients go through an exercise to identify what their core values are and what's most important in their life. What are the guidelines that really drive who they are? Where do they want to go? And I find that when our daily choices do not align with those values. That's when the struggle comes in. That's when we start to feel out of balance because we're not making choices and decisions that align. So like you said, yeah, if someone's values start to spend as much time as possible with their family and they're trying to. Figure out their bookkeeping, which is a struggle, and that's something that's maybe a natural gift. It won't feel very good. They might be able to do it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that that's the right thing to do. So thank goodness that I would never take it back. The things that I've given to you, I'm so grateful for and I trust you implicitly. So, I'm like, I don't want it back. We have a really great collaborative relationship. So, I feel very in tuned and aligned with the work that you're doing for me. But, It's not something I feel that I need to do hands-on. Now, you've evolved from just smaller business owners like me, a coach who manages different lines of businesses, but also to larger businesses. So, I don’t know what you're able to share. You don't have to name names, but I know that you're working with some pretty large organizations as well. So how did that happen? The evolution?

[00:17:00]

Brandy: Every client that I have, I think you had just mentioned, is a referral. Which totally floors me. Yeah. So, I got into this and I had a couple of clients that I had known pitched the idea to them. They were kind of friends, acquaintances, and like, I could really use something like that. Ironically, my first large corporation-type client was connected through the church. So, I went to church with a local Chick-fil-A owner.

[00:18:00]

Brandy: So, we started talking about things that the owners do in that kind of scenario and he's like, Yeah, there's a lot of things that I do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. That I don't necessarily need to be doing. I've been doing it long enough to know what it takes. He can pop in and take a look at numbers throughout the month and whatnot, and know if something seems off now because he had done it for probably a year and a half or two years on his. And then he realizes that just turning that over to me would allow him to be more involved with the other areas that he needed help lead and grow. So then, from there, I went into a fast sign owner. So that's another kind of big name in the world and now I have a second Chick-fil-A owner. So, I'm doing two restaurants. Then, then everyone else is, you know, kind of a mix of retail. I have one that's doing full-construction home builds now. It's kind of interesting now that you're making me talk about this. I'm not tied into one specific industry either.

Brandy: The really cool thing about doing this for myself is I've learned so much about the different types of businesses and the needs that they have. Most recently I was asked to come in on a temporary basis to help with a union payroll to help process on a weekly basis for a large company here in the area. So that has been a complete learning curve as well, and I think I go back to that honesty piece of it, you know? Cause when you're sitting at the table and someone asks you, Well, have you done this? Don't be afraid to say, No, I haven't, but I can learn it.

Brandy: I've adapted and shifted so much to be able to help the people in need. Nothing really scares me as far as learning it and the people that I'm blessed to work with. Understand As we're going into it, I'm not your final tax advisor. I'm not your CPA.

Brandy: But I do want to work in collaboration with your CPA so that you know what I'm doing on a regular basis. They review on a quarterly or a semi-annual, and if they see something in a routine or a pattern that needs to be changed. We can fix it before we're doing taxes. So these are the kinds of collaborations that I like to have with my business owners, you know, and their team. Obviously with the Chick-fil-A. The owners have a whole team of leaders in the restaurant underneath them. So I work with them, you know, a lot more, than the actual owners themselves. So, yeah, it's, it's pretty cool!

Aneta: I love what you just said about not being scared about something you don't know. Now, did you always have that kind of courage or that strength, or is that something that you feel like you woke up one of your days and you go I've changed during the process of entrepreneurship? Like, is that just an evolution also?

[00:21:00]

Brandy: So, the biggest thing that I did when I started my organization. I started learning because I only ever knew what people told me in a corporate setting. I never knew what I didn't know. What I didn't know, right? So, I started learning and I got involved with Ramsey Solutions. They had a women’s business. Kind of a section of their foundation, I guess you could call it. I quickly learned so much about the business and then from there, I jumped into the local area. Kind of learning opportunities last year. I'm in Southern Ohio, Northern Ohio. I had the opportunity to do a leadership course. That's put on in our county and that was a huge, huge learning curve for me. Just so much that I did not have the exposure to corporate America that I feel really blessed now to be in the seat that I'm in to invest in myself. I guess that's ultimately what that whole umbrella looks like.

[00:22:00]

Brandy: Investing back into yourself, you know, And some of this stuff is pricey. You know, some of these conferences, sure. But guaranteed the things that you're going to take away from it are going to be worth it. It's going to push you in some way. It's going to give you an "aha" moment somewhere. The ones that are pricey are going to be the ones that you're going to take things away from. So, if you really want to grow as a person and you really want to grow as a business owner. 100%, invest back in yourself in your learning for sure.

Aneta: I love that! I say all the time to people that it's so important to invest in ourselves. You talked about the learnings, the conferences. I know that you work with the business coach and of course as a coach myself. I strongly believe that that is really helpful.

[00:23:00]

Brandy: Again, the best decision I made was to have someone to hold you accountable and to coach you through all of it and sometimes I bring up things with my business coach and I'm thinking. Why am I telling her this? We talk through it. Yeah. And she's like, I'm so glad you mentioned that to me because I want to help you with that. It's funny, I'm sure that a lot of your clients probably consider you to be a close friend now. It's interesting how you work when you talk with someone on a weekly or a monthly or how often you're meeting.

Aneta: Yeah.

Brandy: You're really digging into it. The pros and cons of your everyday business life. What's next don't be happy where you are. Keep going, keep pushing. What can we do? You know, and it really is a close friend now. You know when things happen, it's one of those people you want to call right away or you want to send a text or an email and say, You're not going to believe this. Yeah. You're not going to believe something that happened to me, or you're not going to believe this crummy thing that just happened to me. Like, what do I do? How do I handle this? So yeah, it's good.

[00:24:00]

Aneta: Yeah. The coaching relationship is such a close one because it's built on this foundation of trust right? And working towards the goals of the coachee. It is such an intimate relationship because you're sharing, and we do often talk about all the things that are going on. It's amazing and of course, I have a coach. Coaches use coaches as well. How long have you and your coach been working together?

Brandy: I started with my coach probably three or four months into the business. The funny thing is, for the first, probably two and a half years, Maybe a little longer. She always pressed me about, What are you going to do when you have too much for you to handle? And I'm like, We're not going to go there. We're not going to get there. I'm only going to grow this thing as big as I can handle it. That's all I want to do right now. Then, I saw her eyes light up the day that I admitted to her. I want to help more people, but I can't do any more on my own. So, I'm probably going to have to consider bringing someone else. She just smiled. She's like, she saw it. She saw the path and she saw, and I think a lot of times other people can see the potential in your business before you can.

[00:25:00]

Aneta: You know and I talked about this, I told you, I said, Well, I hired a full-time assistant and I still want to, and I'm still working with youth. Have you considered it? And you were like, Yeah, I know. So, I'm so encouraged and excited.

Brandy: It's hard to let go of those little pieces and I think especially with what I'm doing with the bookkeeping. It could be a little more challenging because you're talking about finances, right?

Brandy: It has to be someone you know, like, and trust. Especially when it's your money. So, I always want to talk to people and make sure that they understand. Look, I come from a background of highly confidential work. It's not something I share with folks. Your business is your business, and at the same time, I'm not going to judge you for how you're running your business. Do you know? whatever you decide. The decisions that you make, they're yours. You tell me that's the way you want to do it. That's, that's what it is? It's your individual business.

[00:26:00]

Aneta: Yeah. So, I want to go back to this idea that you said of investing in yourself. Because one of the other things that you and I talk a lot about is the importance of taking care of our wellness, mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Were you always focused on your health and wellness, or is this something that you feel like you have more time to do now that you're working for yourself?

Brandy: For sure. I can remember specifically, it wasn't the organization that I was in last, but in my growth, probably the early thirties. I was with an organization for about a year and a half, and by the time I left that organization. I had some serious health issues and that helped prompt me to walk away and talk about risks. That was the first and only job that I'd ever walked away from and I didn't have something else lined up.

[00:27:00]

Brandy: Yeah and it just got to a point with my own mental and physical health. It was affecting my relationship with my daughter, you know? And I just said, this just isn't worth it. It's not worth it. I'm going to walk away from this and it wasn't easy. I think I had four side hustles just to make rent and make ends meet at that time and I did what I had to do until that right before I landed. Where I was for the longest period of my corporate America stint.

Brandy: Yeah. And then when I left corporate. I felt like they had encouraged us to be healthy, but at the same time, there just wasn't time flexibility. Definitely not in the role that I was in. There were a lot of late nights at the office. There were a lot of events and things that would consume a lot of time in your day. When I stepped away from that detox, I think that was the first real opportunity that I had to kind of get back to myself.

Brandy: Quite honestly, it took me about four years to figure out something new that I really loved and I was just sharing with you that I am going into a new adventure where I have some time during the week, early mornings where I'm going to be teaching a class now in the latest kind of Exercise routine that I've gotten into. So, I'm excited about that. I'm not a yoga instructor yet.

[00:28:00]

Aneta: Well, so tell us about what you're going to be doing. What will you be teaching?

[00:29:00]

Brandy: So, there is great, kind of news. I've seen a lot of it out there on the news and kind of in social media. It's a rebound class. The rebound boots and it's 40 minutes of pretty much a jump circuit and it works your core. It works for everything. So, I know here in our local area, there are a few different places that offer it. So, the great thing is that I have a back injury and I was afraid of trying this because I thought jumping for 40 minutes would crush my back. But the way that these boots are designed. Actually, you have no impact on your knees, hips, or your back. It's amazing, amazing that you can do that. So, that's what I'm heading into next month. I guess, we also talked about giving back. I guess it is another huge part of owning your own business. Yeah. So, giving back my time and that capacity and helping other others feel better as much as they can and coupled with that. I'm going to be shaving my head for St. Baldrick's again.

Aneta: Yes. Tell us about that because you have such a giving heart, Brandy. So, tell us what you'll be doing and why, and, and how, who, what organizations will benefit.

[00:30:00]

Brandy: It's a beautiful thing because it's enabling me to give back to two organizations at once. So, I'm doing St. Baldrick's, which is head shaving. You go completely bald and all the funds that we raise for that are going to childhood cancer research, it's in a great organization. I have a Facebook fundraising event going on. If we get tagged and you'd like to make a donation. I would greatly appreciate it. And then at the same time, the actual hair that we're taking off is going to go to a local organization called WIGS for Kids. They go through and they take all of the hair and they use that to make natural hair wigs for kids that are going through cancer treatments and that have the need for a wig. So, that's kind of the combo that we're doing to benefit.

Aneta: Well, thank you for doing that. Yeah, for helping so many, and I will definitely be sure to include the link in the show notes and wigs for kids. My girls did that. They had really, really long hair when they were younger and a member. My oldest said, I want to, I don't know where they are, she heard about it. I think she actually had a classmate. Who had cancer and, or actually it was, maybe it was my youngest daughter, but they decided to do this and so we did that. Even at a very young age. I think they maybe were like eight and six. They were so happy to be able to do it. They didn't shave their head, but they had it cut really short and, and turned into wigs. So, is this an organization that you've been involved with for some time? Or how did you find out about it?

[00:31:00]

Brandy: I have. Actually, while I was still in corporate America. We were encouraged to go out and help the community on days when we could. In one or two of the years that I was involved with them, I actually went to the office and did data entry for them because it was okay. It's easy for me. I can tell pretty fast and 10 key's easy for me. So yeah, so I had actually gone and helped with some of the data entry pieces at the organization. It's kind of personal for me. I enjoy it.

Aneta: So, Brandy, what is next? You've started this business. You're taking care of yourself. You've raised your daughter. I know that you and your husband love to go to a lot of concerts, so there are things that you guys are always doing. Anything else personally or professionally that's sort of been on your list that you're willing to share?

[00:32:00]

Brandy: It comes to a point where you start thinking about how you walk away from something. And you can't do that in a snap of some fingers. It's in place. So, I really feel like I'd like to work on the legacy piece of Cornerstone organizational partners next. That all starts with bringing someone else in any kind of building this and figuring it out. What part of it is sustainable without me actually being in it and doing the work I feel like that's probably a five to 10-year plan.

Brandy: But I want it to be something that will continue to help other people even when I'm not sitting at the desk doing the actual work anymore. So, and that, that whole concept just blows my mind to think that I could actually put that together and do that and have it sustainably helping future businesses. The people that might be listening haven't actually started their own business yet, but it's, it's coming along. It's forming itself.

Aneta: So, I love that you're looking forward to it. And earlier you talked about how you had to come up with three words, and I won't make you stick to three to tell your 18-year-old self, but what about even the version of you five years ago, right before you started your business when you were thinking about maybe leaving. Something that was steady. That is what you were used to and starting your own business, what would you tell that version of yourself?

[00:33:00]

Brandy: Breath for sure. I think I alluded to it. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to tell people that No, this isn't something that I've done, but I really want to help. I really want to figure out a way to take the stress off of you. To make it easier for you. Go with your heart and go with your gut. I've heard a couple of times I've heard people talk about it as you grow a business. How to do things and when it comes to hiring employees, I've heard someone say, Hire slow, fire fast. Quite honestly, I would tell myself, don't hang on to clients and relationships that are toxic for too long because it kind of seeps into the other relationships you have. So, once that's been a challenge for me, identifying certain clients that we've grown apart from. It's time for me to have them put someone permanently in place because they've grown that big and I can't sustain it. So let me train somebody and bring them in. Get someone in that seat permanently and step away, you know? Just not, not being afraid of a business model, not being afraid of having a mission statement. All those things. I think someone stepping away from an organization where they are fed that so that you understand it and you believe their mission and their purpose and their vision. Take some time and figure out what your core values are. As you mentioned. Your core values. What's important to you? What do you want to accomplish with this business? Set those pillars in place and things are going to change. Don't be so stuck where you are. Yeah. Things are going to shift, just be willing to try.

[00:34:00]

Aneta: Absolutely. I love it! So one of the questions I ask all the guests is about the title of the show, which is Live The Width of Your Life, which is a quote by Diane Akerman, and what it means to you to live the width of your own life.

[00:35:00]

Brandy: To touch as many people as I can now with my story with some of my experience to encourage people that may be stuck in a spot where they can't see the direction just to take the next right step and to trust in somebody to come alongside them and help them. Whether it's for a short period of time, it's a conversation, or long term. Friendship, relationship situation. So, living the width right now is definitely touching as many people as I can and encouraging them, and just helping them. I guess I will be able to go out and do a little more of what they enjoy and love.

[00:36:00]

Aneta: Thank you for being you, Brandy. Thank you for being what you are to me. So, so grateful and I want to make it known how we can help you. So, if a couple of things that you mentioned. How can we best support you? Where can folks find you? If they're interested in your services. If they want to support the causes that are near and dear to your heart?

Brandy: Sure. Absolutely. We're going to have a brand new Spanky shiny Webpage coming up here soon, I'll be sure to get that information to you so we can put that in the notes for future reference. Okay. It's not quite there yet. You can reach me on LinkedIn. I'm also on Facebook. Simple enough, Cornerstone has organizational partners on each of those. The biggest need that I have right now is if there are any listeners out there who maybe have retired and they're thinking they want to try something but they're not quite ready to start their own business. If this is something that you're interested in, reach out to me and let me know. Maybe we can partner and I can give you some encouragement and maybe give you a little insight into what it would take to start.

Aneta: I love it! I love it! Always opening yourself up to helping others. Thank you so much for joining us today, Brandy, and continued success to you.

[00:37:00]

Brandy: Thank you. Thank you so much. I love it. Thanks.