S E757: Julie Ellis on Leading Bold Teams Through Uncertainty

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Step into the world of success with Your Brand Amplified, the ultimate podcast designed to unravel the intricacies of thriving businesses. I'm your host, Anika Jackson, and I'm on a mission to uncover the stories, strategies, and secrets that have propelled entrepreneurs and business leaders to success. Before I do the intro to Julie Ellis, I first have to say I remember when my daughter started preschool and we had to figure out how to keep her clothes separated from everybody else's and her other items. And Mabel's Labels were who we turned to. And Julie, I'm just fangirling a little bit because I'm so excited to meet a woman who's not just changed my life as a parent, but a lot of people's lives when our schools, when our, you know, schools started appearing in our kids' lives. So, you know, you co-founded Mabel's Labels and a 300 a 1,000-square-foot basement in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 2003, the same year your first daughter was born, just a few years before my daughter was born. With a co-founder and a mission to solve a problem that every parent knows, you grew that basement startup into an internationally recognized 8-figure business, and then you sold it. We love talking about exits here, but we're talking today about the story that comes after. After building, scaling, and winning, Julie found herself at an inflection point. She'd achieved the goal. So what did the next chapter feel like? Was, why was it feeling a little unclear? So that question led to coaching, teaching other entrepreneurs and corporate leaders how to scale through delegation, how to set goals that scare you, and how to create space for the big things while running the business in front of you. Today, Julie invests in women-led businesses, hosts the Eight Figure Podcast for 7 and 8-figure female founders, and is the author of Big Gorgeous Goals. How Bold Women Achieve Great Things, a book built on her own story and the stories of over a dozen women entrepreneurs who've also stepped beyond the comfort zone to build something remarkable. Julie, welcome to Your Brand Amplified.

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

I am so thrilled. I already feel like this great energy. I'm going to be definitely not only fangirling, but following everything you do and hopefully figuring out ways we can do more things together. But let's talk about you being an unexpected founder. You have a degree in dance, you worked in finance for 15 years. Yes. Walk us through this journey. What pulled you towards each of these and when was the first moment that you felt like, oh, there's something else I'm meant to be doing?

Mm-hmm. Well, I think that I followed my passion to university, which was dance, and I put myself through university financially by being a bank teller. And so Coming out of university in the mid-'90s, it was probably, well, they talk about, you know, kids coming out today having a terrible job market. We also were in that position coming out in the mid-'90s. And so, you know, there was an easy door that was open to me to go on a management training program with the bank that I worked at because I had come out of university with a degree. And they weren't, you know, because I worked there already, they weren't as concerned that the degree might not be in finance or, or something more relevant. And so I did. I went on the management training program and started working and eventually became a licensed financial planner with them. And so that was then at the point where I started having my kids and started wanting— like, I wanted more out of my career than just doing that. But the next steps were, you know, leaving the suburbs and getting on commuter train and going to the tall towers in downtown Toronto where I, you know, don't live that close to. And I had little kids and it wasn't really feeling like what I wanted. And so I think that I was ripe to kind of dive in and do something else. And so 3 other friends and I had an idea because we were sending kids to daycare and the daycare was saying, please label everything. And when we would ask how, they would say, well, masking tape and a Sharpie, which we thought wasn't very pretty and it actually doesn't last, you know, about 3 dishwasher cycles and your Sharpie's gone and you're back to doing it again. So we felt like we could do a better job.

Yeah, I mean, I still remember the Sharpie names on the back of things and sometimes they bleed through the other side and it is not pretty. And if you put on a little label that comes in to talk about washing, it doesn't last. So that's just such a different perspective. I think one that only a mom could probably bring to this kind of solution.

Yep.

So talk about, yeah, you and your co-founders, the basement, the first months, and the research that took into figuring out what is the right solution.

Yeah, it took us, before we launched in 2003, we spent about a year doing research and testing and figuring out how we were gonna do this kind of printing. And you know, it's so interesting to think about even that journey because we pretty much from the beginning knew we'd need to upgrade the equipment, and then we upgraded the equipment again. And I think it was sort of in our nature to always climb for the next sort of pinnacle, right? So, you know, we had this product in these colors, the original sticky label, and then we wanted different shapes, different colors, different— and eventually we wanted multicolors on the label, and we wanted— and so we just kept going along this path where we introduced more products made combination packs, continued to seek out really durable materials to make our products with. Then moms were telling us that they needed their labels today, and any mail order business can never overcome that barrier. So we decided we should make a label we sold at Walmart and Target. And so we did that. And it was really just a climb for us, the constant quest for serving the customers who were loyal to us.

Did any of you have backgrounds in supply chain, marketing, distribution, any of these areas?

We had someone who worked at a post-secondary institution in printing.

Okay.

A teacher, a financial planner, and a lawyer. And so really smart people, but no, not, no real experience. It was all very much learning as we went. And I think that's kind of entrepreneurship though. Because I think you, if you ever really feel like you know what you're doing, something's going to come at you probably today and you'll be back to the feeling that off-kilter, you know, you need that growth mindset because you're just learning all the time.

Could not agree more. And you might think you're going to move in one direction and then you end up pivoting. So can you talk a little bit about the growth, outgrowing, of course, the basement fairly rapidly? How did you, I'm sure you had the customer base automatically of the other moms you knew. What was that inflection point when all of a sudden you started getting larger and larger and realizing that you really had something on your hands?

Yeah. So we, a really, really, really small little write-up in a magazine, a Canadian magazine called Canadian Living. And like, we're talking like 1.5 by 2.5 inches in the, they had these parenting pages at the back. So it was just this little tiny thing. And that article then led to a woman in Canada shared it with her cousin in California. Cousin read it. The cousin submitted us to something called the Daily Candy, which was a subscriber newsletter. And once a week they did kids and it was sort of the like must-have item. And we got named the candy of the day. We had no idea we had been named it, but all of a sudden like it was like, like the orders were coming in, the email was binging, the phone was ringing, like all of these things. And like in the afternoon that day, the woman called and she's like, so have you had a busy day? And we were like, we don't know what's going on. Yes. And she was like, it's me. I submitted you. And what we didn't really realize then was a couple of, there was a woman who ordered labels for herself and her sister-in-law. And her sister-in-law, her name was Elizabeth Hasselbeck. She was a host on The View.

She was on Survivor, right?

Originally Survivor, I think season, the Australia season, season 2, I think. And she was having a baby. And so she had one baby. That was why the labels got bought for her. When she was having her second baby, they were going to have a baby shower for her. And we came into the office one morning after a holiday Monday in Canada to a message that said, you know, we'd like to feature your product. And she stood on TV and said, "I could not live without these." And we had the biggest 24 hours in the history of the company at that point. And it was just, you know, we could draw a direct line from networking within Canada, getting this tiny article. It went to California. She got labels from that Daily Candy, and then she featured us. And of the 10 products, she stood in that row over, we were the only one that wasn't represented by a publicist.

I mean, I have chills.

Truly, it was crazy. It is crazy.

And even as somebody who's been a publicist, I loved it when I could show my clients the direct line of you were featured here and that's why you're having all this inbound traffic, because that's not always an easy connection to make. Yours is so clear and it's an incredible story.

It is.

It's literally like something that you found that you knew that you needed. And that is what many businesses forget, right? It really was about solving a problem. Yeah.

And we were very much like, we want these to work. We want them to last. If they don't last, we want to hear from you. If you are unhappy, we will refund your money. And it was really simple for us. And that is not common, we found out.

Well, yeah, it isn't common, but You know, you also had a team from the beginning. Can you talk about the importance of community and also making sure you're surrounded by the right type of, of people, the right team?

So I do think that, you know, especially in those early days, having co-founders was great because we could divide up the work. And I mean, we're talking pre-social media days. So we sold labels by talking to other moms at gymnastics, on the playground, at the daycare pickup. And that's how word about the product started to spread. And so when social media came along, we really took the conversations about what kind of winter boots are you buying? Mine wore out last year. I wasn't happy with the brand. You know, like those kinds of conversations that moms have about products and, and how they manage their household and all of those pieces. We just took those conversations off the playground and we started putting them online on social media. And we weren't really trying to sell a product. We, we had a product to sell and we weren't, we weren't hiding that, but we wanted to have conversations with moms about the things we were all struggling with. Yeah.

Yeah. The important things. And you did grow the business to 8 figures. In your experience and the research you've done through your podcast and you're speaking to other founders, what do you think is the biggest gap between founders who plateau and founders who are able to scale?

A lot of it comes down to delegation and decision-making, like being willing. I think it's really hard because I don't think any entrepreneur has a vision of 100 people, managing 100 people, when they turn on the lights in a basement and start making labels or doing anything else, right? And so the journey to that is difficult, and it's also difficult for the idea that, like, as you find product-market fit, you're like, well, let's try this. No, let's try that. Oh, I have a new idea. I have a new And then the business gets big enough and it gets to a point where you can't pull the ship in every direction that you want to go in. The company can't survive if you can't find some discipline and put some process and systems around how you're running the business and what you're doing. And then that comes with people and people can be challenging, right? I mean, we're challenging as humans. And so, I think that like we get caught up in our own success to some degree, but I really think that it's the like We've all had that, like, I should have just done it myself, right? Everybody has that. And I mean, even still sometimes you feel that, but that's a delegation problem right there. And that is holding you back from actually getting to the next level when things like that start happening, or when decisions start to feel hard because you're counting how many people are on the payroll and how many families are relying on you making the right decision. So, you just don't make it. Yeah, I think those kinds of things are where we get into tricky spots with being able to grow businesses.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're going to talk a lot more about that. But before we do, I want to get to the acquisition. You sold Mabel's to Avery Products. What, what was the decision behind that? And how did you know it was the right decision for you in that moment?

I think that after we'd been almost 13 years at building it, and I think, you know, Like everybody starts out with their arms linked together, but then life comes in and you learn things about yourself. You learn you don't want 100 people reporting to you. You liked it better when it was 20, or you want a different lifestyle than getting on airplanes to go and do things for the business. Like, like there are sacrifices to be made in any choice you make, whether it's keeping your business smaller, making it grow bigger, like all of those choices come with different outcomes and different sacrifices. And I think, you know, slowly as life goes on, the little things you want that are different become a little bit bigger. I think we also realized we had always really run it as 4 CEOs together, and we knew that coming into— we had gone past the 8-figure mark and we were growing still, and we knew the next leg of the journey was going to need some different things. And so I think we were at this like crossroads of what are those things, what's our role going to be in it, how are we going to do it. And then we got literally a phone call, and so it seemed like the right time to have a conversation. In fact, we would always have a conversation if somebody wanted to buy the business. We'd be like, all right, let's hear it. Like, because why wouldn't you hear it? And you know, you sort of have that like Sure, it could be worth more in 5 more years, but what if it's worth less? You know, what if what you try doesn't work? So you kind of have to, we always had this attitude of like, let's hear what's coming at us. And I think there were a lot of things that made sense. It made sense to take some money off the table at the time and kind of like, you go through years that are really lean when you're in a startup. So the idea you could take some money off the table, the idea of keeping our team together, keeping our premises. Like, there were a lot of things that we really— that checked a lot of boxes for us. Yeah. From taco night in Tulum to sushi in Tokyo, every bite is rewarding and post-worthy with Amex Gold's 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants worldwide. Wherever you dine, points are piling up. So bring your friends along for your next course. Because it's not all about the posts. It's about the company and the memories. How can Gold from Amex sweeten your next food moment? Learn more at americanexpress.com/explore-gold. Terms and points cap apply.

And of course, then you started having competitors, none of them as good as the original. Oh my gosh.

I know. Well, and it's so interesting because I think that's where ultimately our strategy was really to build a brand. And to listen to our customers and to figure out what the next move was. Like, we— product development was always, always relentless. Like, we were always developing something, some of which came to market, some of which didn't, like those kinds of pieces. And so I think that was really more about serving the customers that we had and also about, like, building that community. And I think those things really made us a recognizable brand. And we did some, we had a lot of celebrity love. We had PR eventually that helped with some of that. And so we, you know, we put ourselves out there to be found as well. But it really did come down to brand, I think. And I think we thought we had cute designs. I know others had cute designs too, but ultimately it came down to sort of just staying ahead of others. And yeah, I mean, I've got a slide in one of the decks for a workshop that I do, and it's like, in 2003, here was the labeling landscape, and it's Mabel. And here's, you know, 2020, and the labeling landscape has like at least 20 big players. It has Etsy. It has like, there are hundreds, hundreds of players.

And I know we didn't cover this, the name Mabel.

Yes.

Where did it come from?

We liked the idea that it rhymed, and we also liked the idea that there could be a mascot. You know, Mabel could go to kindergarten or go to summer camp or do some of the things that there was. And we did actually have a mascot costume that somebody would wear and go to trade shows in. And but that was really of the all the names we brainstormed and the, and the finalist list. That was really the reason why we liked, we liked it.

So I, I do wanna ask about that moment when you, the sale went through, right? You're at the pinnacle, you've hit the goal of creating this worldwide brand. A lot of entrepreneurs say that can be anticlimactic because you've, you've been building, building, building, and now what's next? So can you talk a little bit about your experience with that and What was that inflection point? Where did you find yourself then?

Yeah, I think I knew it was coming because I very deliberately put my head down and took on a lot of work during the, like, due diligence phase of the acquisition and didn't really want to think about it. And then when I had to think about it, because I was the one who— one of my co-founders always used to joke, I was gonna go to the office every day for the rest of my life, even if it— I was drinking coffee and reading the paper. Or telling stories about the old days, taking up a space in a boardroom and being disruptive. That was gonna be me. But instead what happened was after 6 months, I decided to leave. And it was a really hard time. And I think that you achieve, air quotes, the entrepreneurial dream, right? Which is to sell your business. But it is incredibly difficult because on day 1 of, new owner, it is no longer ever going to be the same as it was. And so there's a grieving period that comes with that, and yet you're also incredibly grateful for the exit and the ability to take your money off the table and all of the things that go with that. And I would say I got very tangled up between those two things because I didn't know really how to express that I needed a grieving period without feeling like people would be like, you got the money, what are you complaining about, right? Like that feeling of— and it really locked me up. My coach told me when I left I wasn't allowed to do anything for 90 days, like take a new job, make big decisions, that sort of thing. And I listened to her, and it was summer, right? I left at the end of June. Like, we had time at the lake, we took a couple of great little road trips, spent time with family, friends. But then when September came and everybody was kind back to work and kids were back to school, and I got really stuck, and I wasn't sure what I was really qualified to do or what I wanted to do next. And I think it's one of the funny things about being an entrepreneur. Like, I led the finance function, I led the IT function, I also led the retail business, and then I had a seat at the table for strategy, and, and I often ran our annual planning sessions and You know, those kinds of things. So all of a sudden I was like, okay, not an accountant, never written a line of code, have a dance degree, and don't really have enough depth of knowledge in retail to like go out and consult for people or like, and so I got really locked up about like not having the right sort of qualifications, but I had so much experience and I was really, really downplaying and diminishing that.

Mm-hmm. It's so fascinating to hear you say that because even as a successful founder, you diminished yourself.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. You entered the new, you know, you leave the playing field, you know, and you get onto a new playing field and suddenly you're like, wait, maybe I'm not as good. Maybe that was just lucky. Maybe it was, I don't know, what was that? And so I did struggle. And I also heard somebody else say, someone I interviewed on my podcast said she was told once You have to add before you subtract. And that kind of resonated with me because I felt like I did probably the biggest subtract you could do, right? Sold the business, left the business, and I didn't add anything. And then I didn't know how to add. I wasn't sure what to add. I was afraid of looking like a failure in whatever I tried. So I didn't feel free to try things. And it was, it took me longer than I wanted it to, to figure out where to go next. But I got a great opportunity to go and run a business for someone else. And there they, I had like 135 people that were reporting to me. We had bricks and mortar retail stores still in children's products. So it still felt like fun because children's products people are fun people. And it was a really good experience, great team. And at the 18, you know, as the one year kind of passed and I was headed towards 18 months, I was like. I think I need to do something for myself. I think I see, you know, I see why I wanted to leave Mabel's, and I see now what I think I want to do. And so I did make that choice to leave. It was a fabulous experience with great people, but it was just, you know, I was craving something of my own.

But it was a nice soft place to land, perhaps, where you could use the skills you already had. You didn't have to have that imposter syndrome of if I start my own thing, are people still going to think that I have that value? That will I be able to succeed? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So basically, 3 years, just about 3 years after we sold the business, I was gone from that role, and I decided to do a coaching certification. And it wasn't because I felt like becoming a certified coach was maybe going to change how I would proceed, but it kind of gave me the ad I was looking for, right? It gave me some structure something to sort of say, here's my stake in the ground, here's what I'm gonna do next. And I started coaching almost right away. I also was doing some speaking and workshops, and that kind of led into like the pandemic's arrival. And I immediately was basically coaching on a full-time basis. And I very quickly realized that wasn't really my best. I'm great at coaching, but doing it on a full-time basis, I need variety. I need to get energy so I have energy to give. And so it was interesting because the speaking kind of dried up. I was doing some workshops and I had had this book rolling around idea for a while, and the pandemic really gave me the opportunity to write it.

Yeah. So how did you make that space? Because kids are at home, right?

Everybody was at home.

Yeah, everybody's at home. Maybe not speaking as much, but you're still coaching. Your coaching clients want you full-time now, but you You have this book percolating, Big Gorgeous Goals, which that name is fantastic because it speaks to the business side and the feminine side, which I think is so important for women founders.

Yes. So I was talking about big goals and I was talking about why some people are chasing the big things and others are sort of left in the dust of their to-do lists. And I had felt like I'd been on both sides of it. And getting back to the chasing big things had taken me, you know, I took a little blip from that path. And so I started talking to other entrepreneurs and people who'd done really big things about how, what were the secret ingredients? Because I think there are some people who come with the big, big idea people who we all know them, right? Like big, we're gonna block it all out, we're gonna dominate, we're gonna, I just see it. Big and huge. And then there's other people, and I'm more like this, who's like, "I see how to put the blocks together to get to the big thing." But inevitably, whatever side people kind of fell onto in that equation, it was systems, processes, and people that brought the rigor to being able to do the big things. And so, that was a really interesting kind of theme as I wrote the book. And then what happened was, I'd had an outline and I'd had like a little bit of writing, but I wasn't kind of getting where I needed to be. And in the fall of 2020, I joined a writing group and we met every morning at 9 o'clock and I wrote for an hour every day. And I had a giant wall of Post-it notes beside my desk. And every day I'd take a Post-it note and write whatever was there, whether it was a story, whether it was a teaching point, like all the different and just the book started to then come together. And so I signed a contract for publishing and I ended up submitting it in May of 2021 and it came out in June of '22.

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Well, I think we are often taught when we want to chase big goals that there's a lot of grinding and sweat and sacrifice involved. And I felt like why can't we just dance towards the big goals that we want? There's a rhythm in dance of you're moving forward, you're moving back, you're moving forward. And that's kind of what real life is like. And we can choose for that to feel grindingly difficult, or we can choose to smile and enjoy it as we get towards these big things. And I think it's also about Another word for gorgeous is magnificent. And I think it's about stepping into our own magnificence. Like we all deserve that in our lives. And so I think it's just really important for us to stake that claim and move towards it. Yeah.

And talk about the process of finding a publisher, because so many times nowadays people don't think that they can get a traditional publisher and go towards a self-publishing route.

Right. So I actually published with a hybrid publisher, which is in between. And my publisher, Page Two, is based in Vancouver in Canada, and they distribute through Macmillan. So there's a lot of things like timelines are like traditional publishing. So you're looking at a couple of years to get your book to market, but also they really work with you. You own all the content of your book and those kinds of things. And then when I created the workbook that goes with the book, the companion workbook, I actually self-published that. So just looking at like different pathways to publishing, and I certainly am not a publishing expert. I know enough to probably be dangerous at this point, having been through the process twice and very differently because, you know, when you do a hybrid, like I paid to have it edited properly and a cover design and like all of the power that they had. Whereas when I published the workbook, I found my own designer and she designed the interiors. We made a cover. I mean, the COVID looks very much like the book, but I had the flexibility to do that. Yeah, it's fascinating.

And in the book, and when you're talking about goals, you talk a lot about creating white space on the calendar. That is not as easy to do as it sounds.

So not comfortable either, necessarily, right? This is true. Very uncomfortable for me. Like, I am a person who really values my work output. You know, the clean inbox, the crossed-off to-do list, the desk that's tidy. Like, I really value myself on that sort of structure. And so for me to take off, you know, for a couple of hours during the day was very counterintuitive. But it is this place where, like, you know, we get our best ideas in the shower, flying on a plane, walking on the beach. Like we don't get our best ideas when we're sitting in front of our computer at the desk we sit at every day. So we have to find a way of creating that space, right? And I didn't value it for a long time, but I found that as I started to do this work, I needed that space. And also things like, I don't know, you work all day, you meet with clients, record maybe a podcast, you go to an event in the evening, like you can't just keep stuffing more things in there. You've gotta find some space to actually allow yourself to have an idea and to think.

What is the first step towards creating white space for ourselves?

I think it's really looking at saying no to things because we are all so busy and yet we do have time to scroll and I'm certainly I am no angel on that front, but you know, you set, you can set time limits on things. So you're like, oh, I've had my 30 minutes today. I should put my phone down. And yes, you're a grown-up, so you can avoid, you know, you can send the notice away or you can actually put your phone down, right? We all have time to binge a show that we really want to watch. Like, we do find time to do things we want to do. So I think saying no to some degree is making this something you really want to do and making it really important because otherwise it's so easy. And I mean, I even went through a phase where, you know, I would book off time in my calendar and then I would check my email through it. And so like eventually I was like, this has to be a like, and like, I got to close it all down and get out of here because all I'm going to do is work in a way that makes me feel more comfortable.

And you interviewed 16 women entrepreneurs for your book.

I did. Those were the stories that made it into the book. I have some more stories as well. And it was really fascinating to just learn more about them and what they do. Like, one of the things I've learned about myself is that I am endlessly fascinated by the, the needs people see in the world and what makes them start businesses. Fascinating.

So I'm sure that was part of the process of narrowing down to those 16 women that you put in the book. Did you see certain patterns in their stories? Is there something they did or refused to do to achieve their big goals?

I think there's a lot of like mavericks in the crowd there for sure. People who either, you know, were raised to think differently or innately think differently or survived in highly male-dominated fields and brought a different perspective. Active to that work. Like, they were all running on the— in the shadows a little bit, to some degree, in terms of what kind of path they went down.

Yeah, we know about the confidence gap. Men apply for roles whether they're qualified or not, at 60% qualification.

Women wait for like more than 80%.

Yeah. So talk about what you see in that with entrepreneurship funding and how that helped you make the decision to invest in and coach women-led businesses specifically.

Yeah. So I do still have some male clients, but mostly I put my focus onto the female side because yes, you know, 2.9% of venture capital goes to women entrepreneurs. About 25% of angel money does, which is a little bit better, but still we're not close to— we're not close to parity. In the next decade, trillions of dollars of wealth are gonna come into the hands of women. Women are gonna control 50% or more of the wealth for the first time ever. And I, I feel like it's like the time for women to think about this stuff. It's time to think about how can we invest in other women who are starting companies? How can we start our own companies? And I think the other stat that always stuns me is like only 2% of businesses started by women ever reach $1 million in revenue. So how do we also encourage women to build bigger businesses and, you know, become— I built an 8-figure business, but like I want to see more women unicorn businesses like that, you know, and that's a billion, right? So like, let's go. Because I just think, and I think part of it is like, all of us supporting, because I also think that like in the investment space, for sure, what has been valued are not necessarily the things that women see the need for in the world. So there's a whole different paradigm, I think, that we look— and, you know, the stats are great for women. Like, we get farther with less money, we manage people well, we manage funds well, we manage businesses well. Like, the, the studies have shown this. And so I think, you know, we've really gotta, we've really gotta come together and keep supporting each other with mentoring, money, all the different networks and connections, all of the different places that people need help.

Yeah. And in this process, you've created the Pocket Coach.

Wow.

So talk a little bit about the Pocket Coach. What does that mean to you? And is this something that's one side of your business. And then of course we have the podcast, which we want to talk about, and then you have your other coaching clients.

Yeah. So I've been doing sort of traditional coaching packages where, you know, every, every couple of weeks, twice a month, probably you're having a 1-hour session. And, you know, and I'd always told my clients in between, if something's coming up, you drop me a note, send me a text, and like, I'm here to help you. But people don't. I mean, sometimes they do, but not that often. And I met someone who was doing asynchronous coaching. And so that means really, you're leaving me a voicemail, I'm replying to you with a voicemail, you're leaving me one, and we're going back and forth like that. And it really is that place of we all know the answer, or we know what we think we should do, but we get frozen in the moment of action. We're like, ah, I don't know. Should I go? Should I not? I'm not sure. Ha, I'm seeing my coach in 10 days. I'll put it on the list. And that, that just slows momentum. And so the idea that you could just be like, pick up your phone and be like, leaving me a voice note saying, hey Julie, here's the today's decision. I'm not sure. I'm, I'm hesitating. I don't know why. I think I should go in this direction, but I'm worried about X, Y, and Z. And so how do we then just push you forward, right, and let you keep the momentum that you had? Or, hey, I'm having this little problem with one of my staff, or, hey, I'm having this problem, I delegated something and it didn't go well, I didn't get back what I wanted. Like all the little things of, you know, where you get stuck during your day, and often you know what the answer is, but you need to keep moving. And just having that person on call for you helps you to do that.

Yeah, fantastic. And then the podcast, where in the mix and where did you find time to start a podcast?

I think it was an extension of— I really loved interviewing the women for my book. And also in the vein of all the stats I kind of went over a couple of minutes ago, like, if you can see it, you can be it. So let's tell the stories. So it started with telling the stories of women who built 7 and 8 figure and even a 9-figure business is in there. And then now I'm kind of on this path of— we actually renamed the podcast to the Big Gorgeous Goals Podcast because I think it makes more sense to keep everything kind of together. It really is all the same work. And right now I'm in the process of releasing a series on people going into retail and what you actually need to know and what are the, you know, what are the pros and cons of doing it because I think we all think it'll be easy and it's of course not. And so I'm looking right now for sort of series work that I can add value with experts from my network and really tackle some topics that are going to be relevant for women as they're building businesses. So I'm open to suggestions right now for those topics.

Well, and also when it comes to retail, I was just going over statistic with the grad students I teach yesterday that says by 2040, 95% of retail will be online. So that's— there's this whole push-pull between digital and in-person and what kind of experiences we want to have that are human-centered versus digital and AI. So are you seeing any of those trends in your own experiences? I mean, obviously Able's Labels was very digital. I mean, early day adopter, right?

Yes. Yeah. And we had a whole set of different problems than I think brands have today entering the market when you need people who have expertise, right? And even, I mean, the advent of AI and AI-powered search and how that's going to change Google Ads, it's going to change how things are searched and found. It's changing SEO, like, as we speak. And so it is technical and digital, and you have to be able to stay on top of that, you know, not you necessarily, but you, you're like, the business has to be able to find people to help navigate that because I don't think that the pace is slowing. Yeah, yeah.

And are you seeing that, or is it still kind of a mix with some of the people that you're talking to or thinking about for retail?

Definitely, yes, definitely. And I mean, the thing with almost anything is that ultimately you still have to sell the product, right? Like getting it into retail is only half your battle. The other half is getting people to buy it off the shelf. Because if it doesn't move off the shelf, then you're not going to be successful there either. And, you know, as small brands, you don't have the kind of budgets and big money that big brands do to make sure that that happens. So it is really picking your spots, I think, and, and figuring out how to build your brand and get your product to market.

Yeah. And are there specific types of people that you like to work with as your coaching clients, going back to that?

Typically they are people who are just in the low 7 figures of revenue, and they are reaching the limits of the systems and the processes they put in to get to where they are, and they want to get to 5 or $10 million a year, and they know that what got them here isn't getting them to those thresholds. And it's usually a combo between a leadership journey and an operational journey, among other things. But those, I think, are two big components about evolving yourself as a leader and getting really good at doing things the same over and over and over again so that you have the ability to scale. Yeah.

So you have Big Gorgeous Goals, the book, the workbook, the podcast. Yes. You have your coaching clients. You have the Pocket Coach part of that. Do you have another big gorgeous goal that you're building towards?

I have been working on— I just launched a new keynote and a new workshop around, like, leading— how to build and lead bold teams with big gorgeous goals and how to really lead with your big gorgeous goals through times of uncertainty. Because I think we are in big times of change and uncertainty right now. And you never— it's so easy to, to hesitate when you're uncertain and to pause. But, you know, if I look back at my experiences, the best and biggest things that happened to me were the ones that were born out of the most uncertainty.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next, and You know, you've really built a life of business and other businesses on the principle that we need to dream bigger. We need to think about things and dream more beautifully, and that is worth the risk. You scaled your business from being in a basement to 8 figures to coaching women entrepreneurs. You've lived all these inflection points that many of us are going through or are going to be going through, and you've turned it into a framework to help people. Reach it and be reasonable in their approach, right? Have the dreams, but also create the space for those dreams. So, Julie, just really appreciate you being here. I'm so happy we got to have this conversation. I'm looking forward to diving in as I think about, are my goals big enough? Do I have big, gorgeous goals, or do I just have big goals myself? And I know everybody else who's listening is thinking the same thing. Do you have a favorite quote, mantra, verse, poem, family motto, words that continue to inspire you?

I have a quote that I use when I speak actually. And so it's by a gentleman called Rabindranath Tagore, and he was a poet, essayist, and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first non-European to win it, and he lived in the 1800s. But the quote that I like is, "Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep." for every dream precedes the goal. And so if we want to chase big things, then we need to have big dreams and we need to take the time to dream so that we can set our big gorgeous goals and chase them.

Beautiful. I should say gorgeous. And of course, we're going to have all your links in the show notes for people to find you, the book, listen to the podcast. And thank you again for being here. And thank you to everybody who's listening to this episode. It means a lot. To me, to the guests. Let us know what you like, what you wanna hear more of, and what you found most impactful about this episode. And I'll see you again very soon. Thanks for listening or watching to this episode of Your Brand Amplified. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast listening platform. And if you want to learn more, check us out at yourbrandamplified.com.