Structuring Chaotic Minds

Women in Leadership: Navigating Emotions and Success

• Season 4 • Episode 3

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Season Four of Structuring Chaotic Minds continues with thought-provoking conversations that empower leaders and change-makers. In this episode, host Melissa Franklin leads a powerful discussion on Women in Leadership, featuring an inspiring panel of women who have carved their paths in education, business, and operations.

Melissa is joined by Isabel Ortiz (Educational Leader), Noelle Labrie (Restaurant Leadership Coach & Consultant), LaShawnda Moore (Operations Business Analyst), Natalie Nunez (Business Owner), and Amy Castellanos (Special Programs Assistant Principal) for an engaging conversation on the unique challenges and triumphs of women in leadership roles.

Key Takeaways:

  • The evolving role of women in leadership and overcoming gender-based barriers
  • Strategies for leading with confidence, resilience, and authenticity
  • How mentorship and support networks can propel career growth
  • The intersection of leadership, mental wellness, and sustainable success
  • Practical advice for aspiring women leaders seeking to advance in their fields

Whether you're a seasoned leader or an emerging professional, this episode will equip you with the insights and motivation to take charge of your leadership journey.

Connect with the Panel:

  • Isabel Ortiz – 361-424-0449 (text preferred) or LinkedIn
  • Noelle Labrie – LinkedIn or Linktree or Calendar
  • LaShawnda Moore – makeitworkcareercoaching@gmail.com
  • Natalie Nunez – 210-364-8751 or @thirtygrind
  • Amy Castellanos – 956-562-6438 or accy894@gmail.com

Join us for this empowering conversation celebrating the impact of Women in Leadership and the pathways to success for future female leaders.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Structuring Chaotic Minds, the podcast where we turn the chaos of everyday challenges into structured success. I'm your host, melissa. In each episode, we'll explore innovative strategies, real-life stories and actionable insights to help you navigate the complexities of leadership, business and personal growth. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader or someone striving for personal development, this podcast will give you the tools to create clarity in the chaos. Let's dive in Now. Welcome back everybody. My name is Melissa Franklin. This is another episode of our Balanced Growth Leadership Series here for Structure Innovations. I am so excited to have you guys joining us this month.

Speaker 1:

This month is February and usually around the love and all the emotions. So I thought what better way to deal with emotions than to bring the ladies to the table and actually talk about our emotions, but as well as leadership, from a different frame and be able to have it from different perspectives. So a little bit about myself. I joined into the leadership world in education and then I transferred out of education and then stepped into life coaching and business coaching, and my leadership journey has continued to develop and evolve over the years.

Speaker 1:

As a single mom of two kids, I've also had to see what that world looked like for leadership in women, and it's not always the easy navigation that men get to deal with. But at the same time, our battles, our journey, our complications look a little bit different and sometimes I honestly feel like it's just because a lot of things go unsaid. So for me, I love creating a space where people can come and talk about the topics that normally feel like we're just complaining or just whining, but come up with solutions and strategies as we leave. So I want to go ahead and go through our list of panelists today. I'm going to start around the room and just have you guys introduce yourselves a little bit about leadership, what you know about structure, innovations and what we do with the coaching and why you're excited to join today's panel. So I'm going to go ahead and start from my left and I see Noelle first.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everyone. Thank you so much, melissa, for having me here. I am thrilled to be a part of this panel. I am the founder of Triskill Consulting. I've been in the leadership and learning and development space for more than 20 years and I am passionate about helping young leaders tap into their potential, like really finding the skills and the talents that they have inherently and how can they utilize those things to be successful, in particular, with young women who perhaps have been told all their life they're only ever going to do this or they're only ever going to achieve this thing. I am so happy to be a part of this panel. I'm super excited to have a safe space to talk about truly what it means to be a part of this panel. I'm super excited to have a safe space to talk about truly what it means to be a woman in a leadership position, so I'm thrilled to be here, thank you.

Speaker 1:

I'm excited to have you join us again, Noel. I'm going to move on next to our next person in my screen, and that is Amy Castellanos.

Speaker 3:

Hello everybody. My name is Amy Castellanos and I have the pleasure of knowing Melissa Franklin Back in education. It was such a great privilege to have worked with her and seen her grow through structured innovations and how she's helping others achieve their goals. I am an assistant principal at a school at the moment and I support special programs out of school at the moment and I support special programs, what that means. I support special education, 504, mtss, rti, anything that has to do with special programs, and I'm there to help. You know, students, the teachers, their parents, work with stakeholders and just making sure that compliance sits at its best.

Speaker 1:

We're going to have to introduce you to another meeting, but we'll chat about that in a little bit. Lashonda.

Speaker 5:

LaShonda Moore. I'm actually operations business analyst for a healthcare administrator. My spare time I am advocacy. I advocate for education, mental health and also other opportunities that I have with Doro, and then I actually am a mother of four married mother of four. So we actually have a lot going on here. I'm right now going through a transition as far as different things going on at this point, but I basically met Melissa through Structure Innovations and through her daughter and we had an opportunity to kind of do a little bit of things. I am a coach make it career coaching where I coach individuals between the ages of 35 and 40 and kind of work with them on different avenues as far as transitioning to the next level. So sometimes when you're in that phase you're trying to go to the next level and that's what I do on my spare time.

Speaker 1:

Next is Natalie.

Speaker 6:

Hi, how are you guys? I'm Natalie Nunez, I am the owner of a coffee shop called 30 Grand Coffee and I know Melissa through. She was actually my life coach. What a year or two years ago and three years ago oh my gosh, time has flown. So she was my life coach and we became friends and we we just, you know, clicked and started doing some really cool things together when it came to mindset, motivation and just when I started my business, she really helped me center and get where I needed to go. So I'm excited to join this and meet new people and pick your brains a little bit as well. But yeah, I'm excited. Love it, thank you.

Speaker 1:

And, yeah, I'm excited, love it, thank you. And finally, we have Isabel.

Speaker 4:

Hi everybody. I'm Isabel Ortiz. I'm currently also an assistant principal, and I've been in education for a few years with a focus in culturally responsive teaching. Currently, I'm also the EB coordinator, so I am really invested in making sure that our English language learners are getting a quality education on our campus and as well throughout our district. I have aspirations to keep moving up through the leadership ladder, and so every day is a new chance to prove myself. Being that I'm new to this role as an assistant principal. I have other leadership background in museums, and so I used to manage an education department at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, and so I have my how do they say? I'm a jack of many trades, right? So, regardless of the content, I'm used to being able to jump in and just be completely adaptable, as our current sociopolitical climate kind of forces us to be.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Okay, so well, these are these beautiful ladies and tonight's panelists. I will go through back again in case you're just joining us a little bit later. So we do have Isabel Ortiz. She's an educational leader jack of all trades, that is literally what she will call herself, but she is an educational coach now for SI Education. She started in our very first cohort as a struggling teacher and wanting to learn more about cooperative learning. That girl dove in, took it by the hand, eventually became a regional teacher of the year Super freaking proud of her. Lashonda Moore when I met her yes, like I said, we met as parents and then met through Structure Innovations and evolved through that. But she did enter into our balanced career pathways. And then I will end up stating that I kept pushing her into actually applying for things that she was required to push herself for and, oh my gosh, she got a promotion. I'm so proud of her.

Speaker 1:

Then we move over to Noelle Labrie. Noelle actually joined us last month. I love Noelle from SCN and she is on East Street. I still can't get over the over a thousand days of running a mile every single day. But if you want accountability and someone who's really going to hold you accountable in that B2B world. Definitely turn to looking into Noelle and seeking her out on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1:

Natalie, as she mentioned, business owner, she does own 30 Grind. It is a very successful coffee shop here in La Cantera. I love the vibe, I love the environment and it's just super exciting to see her thrive. And then Amy Castellanos I loved seeing her in the classroom and what she did with the kids, but there's just a special thing that it takes when a person finds those people that normally fall through the cracks and pay extra attention to them, and then, just like Isabel, she dove straight in. She did everything she needed to and she also became a regional teacher of the year and now she's still an assistant principal, but she's an assistant principal for special programs now. So I am just ridiculously excited about these ladies being in the same room, because this space isn't just education, it's about all of it. But I always come back to if we can't educate the public about the realities of things, then they can't make those educated decisions.

Speaker 1:

So we're going to go ahead and get into tonight's discussion as discussing leadership and women. We really want to make sure that leadership is about vision, influence and impact, but at the same time that it's the vision of everybody, not just a few, and it's actually the vision of all involved, and women have sometimes had to stand in the corner. We have different ways that we influence, but we bring unique perspectives to those leadership roles, and we're in a very turmoil trying time now, so it's really important for us to keep going and keep showing up. So there's a poll question that I'm going to go ahead and ask the audience at this point. I'm going to pull it for you right now. The first question is going to say what leadership quality do you think is most critical for success, and I'm going to share that now. I'm seeing resilience and adaptability being the most. What are your thoughts at this point? Would anybody like to kick in and actually give some thoughts on that from our panelists?

Speaker 6:

I can say on my end, resilience is really important, you know, just because setbacks when you start a new business, they're inevitable, I mean. So that's something that I've had to deal with a lot starting a new business from scratch, especially being a woman in an industry that's heavily ran by men and that's something that I've definitely had to overcome as well as just stepping into a new space that I wasn't unfamiliar with. I just have had leadership roles in the past and getting into this, I'm kind of like, okay, I know I'm a good leader, I know I can run a business, but, you know, having that confidence and being able to like really build something that I had no idea, I knew I was going to make mistakes and I just had to be able to to roll with it, and so resilience has been good for me.

Speaker 1:

I've been really driving that, actually, I said that last year was a year of resilience for me. I have to piggyback and bug you on this question because I feel like you are. You're like a little unicorn, you're one of those who like keeps going. But most people, after what would be considered like it didn't work, it failed or whatever, it didn't go the way that they thought would have quit. And I'm sharing this because what I will say is that when Natalie came to me, I was coaching her on a different business and I was coaching her in a different coach. Um, and it just wasn't the route that, as we went further, that she realized was for her. What would you tell someone who believes like maybe business isn't for me and they're starting to struggle and they want to give up because I know you were there like a million times but you pushed through? What would you tell them?

Speaker 6:

I think you know you learn. I always tell people you learn through your failures. You know those are the biggest lessons for me. That has always been. The biggest lesson for me is just taking. You know, rejection is a redirection is always something that I read and I preach and you know, um and so for me it's always like letting those things kind of guide you and away from what's not meant for you, or and then also taking those failures and things that that you know that you may be, maybe you did wrong and using them as pillars to change course or and adapt. So adapting is really big. But yeah, I mean I would say that I did.

Speaker 4:

I was actually between resilience and adaptability. It was kind of hard for me to choose, but I want to say that that's one of the qualities that I always try to highlight of myself, especially when I'm going up for a new job or something. Because I mean, if any of us who have been in education or what heck in any career path know that things aren't always perfect right, and we have to work with what we have, and sometimes those resources just aren't there, they're not provided for whatever reason. So we have to be able to work with what we have, and if we stay stuck in our own ways, then we're never going to grow, and so, for me, adaptability is one of the key, key factors that has brought me to where I am in my career.

Speaker 2:

And see, I have to jump in here because I find it really interesting. My take there on the poll was empathy. What I find really interesting is that empathy and confidence were the two lowest on the polls. I was like what do y'all? Right, I know we're going to get into imposter syndrome at some point in this conversation, because it's inevitable that we will. So confidence will come up in just a second. What I find I mean all four of those things.

Speaker 2:

I easily could have picked any of the four and I absolutely agree, Isabella and Natalie, with what you've said about adaptability and resilience. It's so important to have both of those things. You got to be flexible, you got to be able to go with the flow and you have to be able to bounce back when something doesn't go your way, because inevitably something won't go your way. The reason that I selected empathy as important to me as a leader partially is because what I see in our world right now is that is so much what I want to deliver to others, to help them to be successful. Not only that, I also have to be compassionate to myself in order for me to be successful. So that level of understanding, the kindness, the self-talk what can I do, what can I provide to be empathetic to the people that I'm working with, to those that I'm leading, to encourage, support, motivate, inspire them to be their best selves, and then mindfully back here somewhere? How am I doing that for myself?

Speaker 1:

And that gets us into our next piece, because I feel like, as a leader, the biggest challenge a lot of us have sometimes is sending ourselves grace, because we feel like everybody's depending on us. What are we going to do? And I know me, that's literally where I got to. I was in charge at home, I was in charge at work, I was in charge everywhere I went and I was like can somebody else just make a decision for me? So empathy goes a really long way. However, sometimes empathy is not the one thing you can focus on. So I'm curious, as ladies you all ladies what are some of the biggest challenges you ladies have faced and how did you actually overcome them?

Speaker 5:

I'd have to say I recently just finished a project with my company with a lot of people. We started out with 12 people and it's basically one where we were supposed to end up with six originally and, ironically, we ended up with six. So it was one of the things where, you know, the HR lady's like, okay, we're going to start with 12. We're good to go. You know we're good. And I'm like, okay, good.

Speaker 5:

Mind you, during this time, my mother was dying from cancer. I am the facilitator. I was supposed to be the co-facilitator, not the facilitator. The facilitator backed out. I had many, many people that were like, okay, yeah. And I was like, no, it's your turn. They're like, oh, no, no. And so I had to learn about resilience. I had to learn about empathy and have an empathy for everybody else, not realizing that I was probably the one who needed the most empathy out of everybody, but it was my choice to do the position and be the facilitator, so that was my job.

Speaker 5:

So, even as my mother was dying, she was telling me. She said you know what, you got to finish this. And I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah, mom, I got to help you out. No, you have to finish this. She says I may not be here when you finish it, but you better finish it. And then I talked to a great on who's a nurse for like 30 something years.

Speaker 5:

I was telling about the project and said man, I'm having a hard time with this. She goes no, ma'am, you're a McGriff, you don't quit. And I was like well, what does that mean? I'm like what's that supposed to mean? She goes we start something, we finish it and so she goes. You may take a little, you still have to keep going and finish what you started. It may not be as quick as you want it to. You have that resilience. You have to keep going. She says it's just one of those things that's going to make you stronger in the end. You know you may not end up where you want to be at, but at the same time you end up where you need to be at.

Speaker 1:

I feel like that only happens when we get thrust into leadership, rather than we chose to be there. So let's put this one out there then. What does the audience as well then feel was their biggest personal leadership challenge? Because I know what we've all think. I feel like I'm inside all their heads. I already know what my panelists think. I want to know what everybody else thinks, and it's that balance, isn't it? That's why everybody will say it's ironic to call this a balanced growth leadership series.

Speaker 1:

Guys, when I say balance, I need you to accept there's only so much you can balance. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Something's got to give. You're not going to be the perfect mom every day. You gotta give. You're not going to be the perfect mom every day. You're not going to be that perfect wife every day. You're not going to be that perfect daughter every day, but you can still be that perfect version of what you told yourself you were going to show up for, rather than what everybody else expected. So I feel like, as ladies, that's one of the biggest challenges we really have is balancing work and personal life and what everybody else thinks it's supposed to look like. I'm curious to think you guys, what are your thoughts?

Speaker 3:

I'm going to jump on this one. I definitely agree for the work-life balance. I know things have to be done right and it's hard sometimes to stick to the calendar and say no, which I feel like. That's why, in relation to the last question, like the empathy sometimes can become a challenge, because for me it's hard to say no. So by saying yes, it's like you're adding more into your plate. I mean, at the moment I'm blessed with my husband. It helps that we don't have kids, but eventually it's something that I need to work on and and also trust in others that you know the work can get done and finding that system and that, yeah, support system at work and at home, to make sure that they understand where you're coming from.

Speaker 1:

I want to pick that up.

Speaker 4:

Also, it's something that I'm finding struggles with. You know, I've only been in this role since November as a school administrator, done leadership in a lot of different capacities, but the workload is that much more now, right, and I see the people that I work with and they all go home and they cook and they clean and they have their children, and so kudos to all of you who do everything that I do plus raise kids at home and you do it looking so good. Right, and that's what it takes to be a woman in this world is that we have that much less grace in our appearance and the way that we portray ourselves, and you know it's. We could be having the worst cramps of our life and we still have to sit through that meeting, right? Or you know, you guys are getting calls from your kids to their schools and you have to handle what's happening in your careers and your businesses, and so I have found that, because of that, I'm offering to stay more after school because I'm like I don't have kids to get home to, because I want people to get home to that.

Speaker 4:

But is that fair to me as a person? I don't know, right, Because at the end of the day, even though I have chosen to live a child's free life at home, it doesn't mean that I don't deserve my own personal time. So I'm still struggling to find that balance, as I'm staying on campus until 6pm most days, I'm waking up at 4am most days, and so people make jokes at work. I don't think you know how to sit down. I know how, but if I sit down then I lose track of myself and what my goals are and what I'm doing, and I feel like I'm not doing enough and I'm not helping enough. So it's like this little voice in the back of my head telling me that I can do more and knowing that at some point there's going to be a breaking point, right, and so I need to work on that greatly.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, isabel, you are so speaking to my heart right now with the enough, because that's something that I struggle. I have like 15 different conversations that are going on in my head right now of things that I want to respond to, but I struggle with that so much. Am I doing enough? Am I providing enough? Am I giving enough? Am I whether and I live a child free life too? I'm not married. I don't have any kids. I have in fact, my cats might show up in my video at some point because I am the crazy cat lady, the crazy cat lady.

Speaker 2:

But you know, it's that's something that I think, especially as women, that what I found with other women in my life that's something that we question about ourselves is am I providing enough for my mom and dad? I help with my sisters. One of them is married. She has nephew, she has kids. So my nephews, I do a lot for them. I have another sister who has some struggles. I do a lot for her. I own my own business. The question is always am I doing enough? The answer is yes.

Speaker 1:

I want to challenge that question. Are we really asking are we doing enough? Or are we asking am I enough and do they think I'm enough?

Speaker 5:

And is that why?

Speaker 1:

we're doing more, yep.

Speaker 5:

It's funny that you said that I'm looking at a book that I read and I don't know if we're allowed to do this or not, but it's not like a promotion for a book by Shirley Archambault called Unapologetically Ambitious, and she talks about the work-life balance of being like a head person of a financial company and having her child and having to figure out whether or not her husband should work or whether or not she should work and, you know, being away from her kids and from her child and everything else. Wow, this is like and she said something that I thought that resonated with me is called work integration, not work life balance, and I was like integration.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, where's the bottom you fit in?

Speaker 5:

So she was talking about different ways, that she was doing stuff Like she's walking and she's at a meeting. You know, I got to get my walk in. Most people are like I can't do that Cause I'm sitting in a meeting. She's like, no, I'm walking, Can we talk for a few minutes? You know what? Let's go. Let's go. I'm going to have a meeting with you 10, 15 minutes. You got time. Let's go. Let's take a walk. And I was going. Well, she just got a walk in and she finished her meeting.

Speaker 5:

Oh, I've tried so many times, even without the twins, with the twins, with the four kids, and I'm going. It's not going to balance out. I just have to figure out a way to make. Some things are just not going to get done. They may have to wait till a little bit later and I need to be okay with the fact that they're not going to get done. If I'm okay with the fact that they're not going to get done, I'm okay, I'm fine, but I'm going to do the best I can to get it done later. So that's just me.

Speaker 1:

That's like decision making and being transparent about it. So then that's a strategy. So then that moves us over to our next strategy. My thing or question for you guys would be what strategies have you all focused on that helped you grow the most as a leader? I know for me? Stop worrying. What about everybody else was expecting and just that I checked off my goals and it just stored from there.

Speaker 5:

What about you Just being me? I've learned to just be me because we're having meetings and stuff and people are like oh my gosh, I like when you do this meeting because you like crack jokes.

Speaker 5:

And I was like yeah, because I'm a person just like you are, I'm going to sit up here and I was like, oh my gosh, I screwed that up and they're looking at me like Shauna, did you really just say that in the meeting? Yes, I did when to be professional and I know when to not do that. So if I'm with the client or something to that nature, I know I can't crack that joke. I know for a fact I have to be serious throughout the whole thing. But if I know we're coworkers and we're sitting at work all day looking at a computer, staring at a computer, we're so serious and I go around trying to make people laugh because at some point you want to laugh at work, especially if you're there 40 hours a week with the person. I'm sorry.

Speaker 5:

You can't be there right now that you need to have laugh and you need to have fun. You know and that's one of the things that I heard from you're going to hear little segues every now and then Jack Welch would say you're going to have fun. You know, and I thought about. I was like this man make a lot of money, you still have fun. You're supposed to have fun at work. And he like, why not? So? And I thought about that and it makes you think about you're so serious at work. You're doing your job. You do what you need to do every now and then you need to. You need to laugh. You got to laugh.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm going to second that. Just be yourself. I know when I first started in this role, it was like a little bit of I was concerned or didn't know how to share my ideas. But, as you know, you work through the year and get to know people, the students. I feel more confident and it was like wow, if I could have like just been myself in the beginning, like so much of a difference or an impact that I would have made. But, yeah, like be yourself and reach out. Don't be afraid to share your ideas. Somebody will, it's going to listen and it's, you know, going back to previous questions, you learned through your mistakes and that resilience questions. You learn through your mistakes and that resilience definitely something that I know. Somebody said it was your year of resilience. I mean, I feel it too. You know we learn from it and that's just the way we're going to get better at what we do.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

I want to do that. All of that too. I think, all the way back to 2020, you, 2020, it was a really hard year for most of us. For most of us, that year I was going through a breakup. I was going through a job transition. I potentially almost lost my scholarship to my master's program because the school that I was working for was so under-enrolled that they cut my program for my residency.

Speaker 4:

It was a really hard time and I got this opportunity to move up to San Antonio and I came up here with nothing but my clothes and a twin mattress and my little truck and I was so scared of being the new kid again, right, and I didn't talk to anybody at work for like six months and I would try. I would try a little bit, okay, and I know myself I'm not a little bit Okay and I know myself I'm not an introvert, okay, but I was still taking everything in, I was learning, I was adjusting and I spent six months basically by myself. Snow vid happened and I didn't speak to anybody another human for eight straight days, okay, and I was going kind of crazy, okay. I was like drawing little smiley faces on my pickles, on my burgers and like making little voices Stephanie Keys, who's on as one of the audience members right now. I would hear her laughing in the hallway.

Speaker 4:

I would try to come out and talk but you know I was awkward so nobody wanted to be around me. But that's not who I was. And as as I finally settled into this role of being a teacher and being a good teacher and feeling that confidence within myself, my personality started coming out more and I'll never forget. My principal was talking to people and they were like you guys don't know, isabel she's really funny hiding that version of myself because I was afraid that I was going to get judged for my silliness and that was in turn, blocking me from opportunities. Because the only reason that I am where I am because I've had that ability to make those connections and build that community and at the end of the day, it's not what you know, it's who you know, and I was holding myself back from that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, funny words, all right. Well then, let's go ahead and put that out there, because the reality is the strategies will change and one of the networking things that I believe is building your network, it's who you know. It's really getting your foot in that door.

Speaker 1:

Because if they, don't know who the heck you are. I'm sorry, but I can say that if you ask who Melissa Franklin is when it comes into the math world in Texas, you'll know who I am Like my name's going to come out. But if you don't know the name and you don't have those connections, why do they need to take my advice? Why do they even need to hear from me? It's word of mouth, it's spreading, it's that network. So that's my strategy.

Speaker 1:

I'm curious to see everybody else's in. What would be the strategy for actual leadership, but what I can say is the strategy for keeping your sanity, in my opinion, would be delegation, but that's a whole other story. I'm so curious to see you guys, for the majority, to build a network and then public speaking, but then we got a tie between delegating effectively and branding. So it's almost like the same thing that it was earlier with being empathetic towards people and I feel like all of these matter, but, being realistic, we all feel like one matters a little bit more. So he's just saying honestly, I want to focus more on networking and personal branding. Okay, cool. What do you guys think?

Speaker 6:

I would say, for me, delegating effectively is really important because, you know, in my case, I think, when I've been in other situations where I've been, you know, a leader, but I've had partners and I've had a team and I've had a sounding board, you know, you always think, when I have my own business or when I'm in my own space, I'm going to do this and I'm going to. It's going to be sunshine and rainbows. And then you get into this space because you think you have all the control and you think you're going to be great, you know. But then you get into this space and you have nothing but yourself, you know, doubting yourself, and you're filling your mind with like, am I doing this right? I have all of these people's livelihood on the line, you know.

Speaker 6:

And I think that it starts to become really overwhelming and I, you know, you start to really question if you're making the right decisions all the time. So for me, I had to start delegating and trusting in who I was hiring and hiring the right people, and letting go of the reins a little bit so that way I can run my business in different areas. Not, you know, trying to have my hands in everything. So not, you know, trying to have my hands in everything. So that has definitely helped me just to like delegate a little bit, and you know, for my sanity, for sure.

Speaker 1:

I want to point that out because I feel like all of us in leadership who work for other people chose networking. You work for yourself, how cool, but it's effectively working. But when you were still in that other space, be real, because it was networking at first. That's how we met. We met at a networking event.

Speaker 6:

Absolutely. I think that comes second. You know, like, right now my thing is just just being able to delegate, because there's so many things. You know, I'm HR, I'm, you know everything, and I think that that's something that I didn't think about in the beginning and it's such a great learning experience for me, because I was in different aspects of leadership, you know, in my past, you know. So now I'm 38.

Speaker 6:

And I I'm completely starting over, and so it's just like, oh okay, I thought I wanted to be this type of leader, but now I realize that I want to be this type of leader and I do want to delegate more and I do want to, you know, hear what they have to say. Especially before I wasn't like that. I was just kind of more like locked in on what I, you know, thought was best and and I never considered, you know, people that were under me maybe like I don't know, I just was a different type of leader and I've learned from myself recently, like I don't know everything and I don't, and I love learning from people that have a different perspective and something new to offer, and it's just been really it's okay, that's okay to do that I think about that when you said that, cause I always hear y'all.

Speaker 5:

I haven't seen the quotes, I don't know why, but I don't know who said this one, but the one where you can't be the smartest one in the room. You shouldn't be the smartest one in the room, and it's like you want people who are smarter smarter than you around you to help go along with you so that you can keep going.

Speaker 5:

Cause, think about it If you're the smartest one in the room who's helping, who's going to help you go to the next level if you're the smartest one in the room? So I think about that all the time. And when you said that I'm just going, wow, you know delegating, I can do it, you know, when I'm at another company.

Speaker 3:

Helping somebody else I can delegate.

Speaker 5:

hey, you do this, you do this, you do that. Are they going to do it the way you're going to do it? Right? The trust, that's what I'm thinking about. Trust.

Speaker 6:

Exactly, that's the part.

Speaker 1:

If we've actually made the job for them and thought it all the way through and really pushed it all, and then hand it over, then it works. But have we thought it all the way through? Have we done all the work or are we skipping steps? So that's going to take me to my next piece. One of the greatest mentors I ever had told me straight up Franklin, I hired you to make my job easier, so my wife wouldn't divorce me.

Speaker 1:

I was like whoa, are you serious? He's like that's why I don't need to come into work every day. Thank you so much. You make my job easier. And I swear I was running a school all by myself because he was working on his master's degree and he was transparent. The other assistant principal was on maternity leave. I'm running a school by myself and, on top of it, the academy has no principal. Guess who gets to go help. It was a lot. It was a lot of things, but I had to learn the same thing he told me. He was like you already know how to be amazing. Now start delegating to everybody else and build capacity. We sometimes don't even know the amazing things that we do, so we don't know how to coach and develop those because we don't have enough of a system yet. We're scrambling and trying to figure that out. So my question to you guys instead wouldn't be about systems and strategies what mentorship impacted your leadership journey and what made you think a little bit different?

Speaker 2:

Because that definitely impacted me.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, I can share a story if you'll allow me to. I feel very, very fortunate that I've had some very positive female leaders and mentors in my life, and several years ago I was hired into an organization by a woman that I had worked with previously in another career. I was making a pretty major shift and we ended up reconnecting and she said I have this position, it's going to be really hard, our team is an absolute mess, but I know your background in training and development and this is what we need. So about a year in to working with her, I was really struggling, like I was really having a tough time in my role. I was having a tough time with my team. It was not the best time in my life and we had a one-to-one in her office and I'm sitting there, you know, across the desk from her, and I said I'm really having a tough time with this. And she looked at me very kindly and she said, noelle, I hired you to be a leader for this team and you are not leading. And I was like holy cow. I mean, it struck me so hard her honesty in that because I knew. I knew in my heart of hearts that I was not doing the best and providing the best that I could for my team. I was getting by day to day. I was surviving, I was just barely existing, but I wasn't my best self and I wasn't providing the best that I could for my team. I didn't know how to get out of it without her being honest, kindly, but without her being honest to me to say you're not doing the job that I hired you to do. I need you to lead this team. And I will tell you.

Speaker 2:

From that second, my entire perspective shifted. I was able to adopt a completely different mindset, and it was because, as a leader, she was transparent with me. She was straightforward, she had a very honest conversation with me, provided me amazing feedback. The conversation went on for another 45 minutes past that, but it was that defining moment that helped me to shift my mindset about my role and about my leadership in that role, and she completely changed the trajectory of my career in that one moment. And I think yeah, so, melissa, radical candor, that's what exactly? That's what it was, and I'm so grateful to her for that, because had that conversation not happened, I don't know that I would be where I am now, and I think it's. We have to learn how to be that honest with ourselves and and with the people that we're working with, again in a compassionate manner.

Speaker 1:

Ooh, I love that Kind of going back to my mentor, sort of sharing. I worked with Amy back in the Valley and the principal who made the suggestion to the next principal that I was going to, kind of said like she has a personality that not everybody can digest, so I don't know if she can lead the building. I'm just going to be transparent with you. I don't even know what that means and he's like I don't know either, but we'll find out what time. And then he sat me down one time. He's like I know what it is.

Speaker 1:

I was like great, he's like you come off as a bitch. And I was like whoa, why? He's jewel for just work. You look like you don't give a shit about people, like you don't even give a shit about your own kids. What is wrong with you? And I was like but I'm collecting the money to pay for my kids, all these. It was still perspective and I didn't take the time to look at how it was coming off to other people and I finally realized, oh my God, you mean, instead of doing all the work for other people, I can just assign it and I can be nicer, interesting. That's a little strange. I feel lazy assigning it. But it was a different perspective because the moment that I finally challenged people to assign it, I didn't have anything to do.

Speaker 1:

I felt like what am I doing? Like I'm just checking in on people and like managing this is weird. But I didn't have to step into the building and my team was fine. The other teams were drowning. My team was still cool because they were like nope, we already did our spread calls, we already did our IEPs, we already did our 504. We did everything we were supposed to do. Oh yeah, the fight that broke out last week. We're good with that too, and they're on it like a tracker and everything's good.

Speaker 1:

Franklin, we're moving on that weren't coached and taught how to do all those other things really felt it when I wasn't in the building. So it was a different perspective, instead of looking at like, oh my God, I'm failing as a leader because I'm not doing anything, I was doing too much and not realizing how bitchy I was coming off. So for you guys, this is going to take me to my poll question. The next one will come back in leadership or in mentorship. Do any of you guys actually have a support system? Natalie, can you say how I signed up to be your mentor?

Speaker 6:

I was actually going to say yes, you know just a little bit of both. I share something really small from the last question and then I answer a question really small from the last question and then I will do a question. But I, when I was a teenager, I had, I was in retail and then I ended up being a retail manager for like 14 years and then so I'm a little different than you guys. I feel a little different. I'm not in the education space, but but from a mentor standpoint, this girl you know this young girl, she just came to me and she was like look, I know you're not going to be here forever, so I want to help you with whatever you want to do in life. And I was like you know, I was organizing clothes, I mean that. So it was just for me. I was like I didn't think I was going to get an experience like that out of working at a retail space. So it was really cool that she was wanting to take me under her wing and say whatever you're going to learn in the future, what are you? And say whatever you're going to learn in the future, what are you, what do you want to do? And I'm like well, I want to be this, I want to be a fashion designer or whatever. She's like okay, this is what I'm going to help you do so later on. I carried that with me throughout my career and I had nurses, I mean, I had people who were going to be engineers.

Speaker 6:

Right now that baristas that work for me, that are they want to be architect and I have, you know, all these different career fields and I do the same thing and I sit them down and I'm like what do you want to do? What do you want to get out of this experience with me? And I try to cater their role to whatever they want to do, you know. So one of them is like I really love the aspect of you growing your business. Later on, I want to have my own business in this space. So then, every you know, every time we work together, we sit down and I and I cater her barista job, which usually if she worked at Starbucks, you know, it wouldn't be the case, she wouldn't have all of these extra roles and all these intricate things.

Speaker 6:

But so for me that when I was a teenager, that impacted me so much that I still do it to this day, and I have so many great people that reach out to me still, that used to work for me, that are in their careers, and it makes me so proud because I feel like I had something to do with that and I think that's what drives me. So I'm going to continue to kind of go in that, that space and always be that mentor to people. But for you, yes, you were my mentor and you were the one that drove me to be very straight up and you kind of just I don't know, you just like took me out of my shell, and I think that even things like this make me so uncomfortable, and so I would never do this if it wasn't for you. So I appreciate that, but, yeah, I just wanted to share that because I thought, you know, it's a little bit different from where you guys are at right now.

Speaker 1:

I always think it's funny, because when I first met you as a client, I was like so you're already killing it and you just don't realize it yet. But it's fine, Anybody else?

Speaker 5:

of companies and they kind of get it and like, okay, I'm stuck. And they're like, well, you're going to have to figure out a way to get unstuck. I can't tell you exactly how to do that, but here's, you know, here's what I can help you with. And I'm going oh man, I thought they were going to give me an answer. He's like no, I'm not going to give you an answer, you're going to have to figure it to meet Zoom calls even after you graduate. So you still get an opportunity to meet those people and they will mentor you. You just need to reach out. That's one thing about mentorship. I'm used to mentoring other people. You know, even you know the coaching space of it. I'm so used to mentoring others. But I forget that I have people that I can reach out to as a mentor as well, and some of them and heard before, sometimes you don't have to call the mentors because then it makes it like it's really like structured thing that you have to do something, but they technically just reaching out to them and saying, hey, I need a little bit of help. Can you help me out with this? And I have to say my current boss that I had, or leader that I had. She was the one when I first started and she's like oh my gosh, you're going to rock this. I was going to another department. She goes, I don't want you to leave. And I'm like she goes, you'll be back, sure enough. Two years later I was back, but she was.

Speaker 5:

I have to say. She's very ambitious. She's one of those people. She's very straightforward, she's candid, she doesn't sugarcoat, and that's what I like about it. Don't sugarcoat with me. Tell me what you. You're ready.

Speaker 5:

I was like I'm not ready. I was like I'm not ready, you know. But I then. But I understood and I took the criticism as a part of okay, I need to grow a little bit more. Where I'm like where do I need to grow and what aspect do you need to see me in so that you can see that I can do the position? She goes. No, I know you can do the position, but you're just not ready. And I'm like what do you mean by not ready? She goes.

Speaker 5:

And then another leader asked me. She said what's your mindset right now? And I was like I'm doing pretty good. She goes, are you sure? And I'm like well, why is she asking me that? I don't see she goes.

Speaker 5:

But it made me realize, okay, somewhere in my end I'm showing something a little bit different, like you said, the facial expression, the attitude, those kinds of things and what they're looking for. I may have not been showing that to them, so I had to have an opportunity to step back, be humble and humble myself and go okay, if she's telling me this, that means everybody else is seeing it and she doesn't see me that often. So she doesn't see me that often and I'm giving off that perspective. That means I'm not showing a level of what they call what I consider executive presence, meaning that you're not, you're not being at that level that you need to be at. So they're not going to technically not necessarily not trust you to be at that position, but they're going to think about it twice, like, can you do this? So and that's what I like about my mentor that they are very candid and they, you know, they tell the truth and that's very candid and they you know they, they tell the truth, that's what I like about it.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I can say, somebody I technically mentored when I was a great team leader and then took over my job as a great team leader literally told me when I left the position he was like I never understood why you made us do all this crap, but now I get it now and it was just like a back and forth and he was like please come back. And I was like I'm not going back, but it was really a shift in a transition change, because a lot of the things like I still didn't, they just kind of did what I said and I was like guys, really nobody's gonna and they're like no, because we can't find another way that works. And then later he literally told me he was like I didn't like a lot of the stuff that we did. It was a lot of hours, it was a lot of extra. But that takes me back to Isabel.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes there's some jobs that we also have to accept. There's too much work that's being assigned. It's still a job and it's still a role you're also going to have to accept. They're a little cycle on what they gave you and anything more than five direct reports is ridiculous. I'll say that out loud Anything more than five direct reports means your organization has not prepared you for success. But whatever, that's a whole nother thing. That's why we get stressed out. We can't coach everybody and keep up with everybody's problems. We can only do so many.

Speaker 1:

Send yourselves the grace, ladies, where it's deserved, but also accept the realities of what you gotta work with each year. I get that part. I'm not telling you like after five. Tell them no, Like no, we still got to do the job that we signed up for. But give ourselves grace. So we're going to go back to that last question. I'm giving myself grace. You know that question that I put first. We're going to try that again. I'm going to clear the results and try again. What is the biggest takeaway you guys have from today's discussion so far? And then, if you guys have any questions, here's your chance Throw them in the polls, Ask our panelists what you got to say about them and we'll call them out. What do you think of that, ladies?

Speaker 5:

We all have a different perspective.

Speaker 1:

We're all in different places. The only thing we all have in common is that we're ladies. But I like how Natalie pointed out that you guys are in education. No, natalie, they're not in education. No, natalie, they're not in education. Noel is actually in the restaurant industry. Lashonda is in program management for the most part operations and medical.

Speaker 5:

Operations side healthcare yeah.

Speaker 1:

Healthcare, billing and that sort. That's more where I'll put her in that category and Isabel and Amy. They're both in the education space but at different districts and they've come through different backgrounds to go through that. So that was kind of the cool thing. Can I bring people together in different industries that have all dealt with different backgrounds and still had to either get thrusted into leadership or chose to step up to leadership?

Speaker 1:

But it looks so different, in my opinion, for us than it does for males. That doesn't mean that they don't go through their own stuff. It really doesn't. It just means that our challenges look a little bit different, and the reason I point that out is because I feel like that's what gives us our imposter syndrome.

Speaker 1:

We feel like, well, they're not saying that, so why am I going to complain about? Well, they're not doing that, so how can I complain? Well, at the same time, too, they're not doing that. So how can I complain? Well, at the same time, too, they're not getting crap for not being home by a certain time, and you as a mom are. Or they're not getting crap for not having kids at a certain age, but you as a woman are, and those are things that we have to deal with as ladies that our gentlemen might not have to deal with. So it's just important, not necessarily to sacrifice them for it, but necessarily hey, can everybody be aware of it so we understand how we can improve and get better together? Curious to hear what you guys have to say about all this.

Speaker 4:

I actually think that it was destined that you put that question first, because we've got a glimpse of it, because I am happy to say that I'm not the smartest person in this room right now. I've learned a lot from this conversation and my perspective has changed, because I would have answered differently in the beginning than I have now. The conversations over leadership and mentorship really made me think of this quote people don't quit bad jobs, they quit bad managers, and so I've had a lot of different type of jobs over the years. I was a waitress, I was a bartender, I managed restaurants, I managed bars, and in each of those the only reason that I was able to become a manager was because of mentorship.

Speaker 4:

And then, you know, there was those jobs that I lasted a month at and left and I could have helped turn that business around, because you know, I've proven that in every job that I've been in, I've added to their being more lucrative, right and so, and having record sales. And I mean I've been a sales girl at a beach shop before and I had the top sales, right. So leadership is within us and we take it wherever we go and it just takes that special person to see that spark in us and to grow that within us. And then there's those that take that shine from us because they don't know how to navigate or share that stage. And you know, melissa, we're at what campus I came from and what leadership I experienced there, versus getting to know someone like you and be able to network and being able to connect with you and your team, and it really has just thrust me miles forward than I could have ever imagined that I was ever be appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

Well, what I will state is at the same time, you've done the work, you've gone through the awkward spaces, you've gone through those pieces and yeah, no, well, you're not wrong. Y'all need to talk. I seriously believe that this girl belongs in law school, not as an assistant principal, but eventually I want her running our organization. So I'm being selfish. That's a whole other thing.

Speaker 6:

I could listen to her talk, for hours.

Speaker 1:

I can really say it takes a lot just kind of the way you all would say it to trust someone else to do it like you, when I can honestly say, amy, I would have trusted her to do it like me if I was gone and I was absent.

Speaker 1:

I need you to because she was there enough times to know how it was going to get done. And it was the same thing when it comes to Isabel and I've been helping Isabel at one of her campuses recently and when she steps in for cooperative learning, they say the same thing. It's different when you learn to teach in a different way. So it changes the mindset as well, as a leader, as an entrepreneur, as a business, as just a woman in general. Like, wow, there's good things that I'm good at, but I'm not great at everything. So that's okay and we expect that as adults. Then we can expect that from the kids. But I really believe it starts from the top down and if the kids are crappy in the building, most likely it's the leadership. I'm sorry, it's just, it is what it is.

Speaker 5:

They normally look at most companies, though, melissa. They look at the leadership first. When things go wrong in any organization, they look at your team and they say they're usually the strongest link.

Speaker 5:

You know there's a book called Five Dysfunctions of a Team the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and that's one of those where you have to look and see who's doing what and what part of the team is your weakest link and how to make that weakest link stronger. Your job is not to make the weakest link and kick them out If you don't have to. The job is to try to keep them there as much as possible, because you still need that link. So individuals need to understand that whether you're in business, whether you're education, whatever it is, you still have a team that has to work together and as a team you're going to become greater. And people don't even realize that sometimes you may have that person that you got to grade them and go OK, how can I help them come to my level? What do you do to get them to come to that level? Because if you can't get them to come to the level, then somewhere there's a disconnect.

Speaker 5:

Where's a disconnect? Are they in the right place? Maybe they're not in the right place, like I think. Once somebody said that they weren't in the right place. So you have to remember where can, where can you put them to where one. You have to remember where can you put them to where one? They're going to be the best person that they can be, because they can't duplicate you. You can't duplicate yourself. It's very hard to duplicate yourself because everybody's unique. So you want to make sure that they can do the job the best that they can, but at the same time, you have to remember they are different too and they may do things a different way, but they get the same result.

Speaker 1:

I usually like to ask people instead of do it this way. Here's the goal and this is what I actually want, and then if my process sucked, then let me know, because I chose you for a reason. I don't know if Esther's in here, but she'd probably be the best example of that. Annalisa, yes, she does our digital innovation and our graphics and such, so that way, as our clients come on, they get that user experience that actually makes it an online experience. Clients come on, they get that user experience that actually makes it an online experience and she has no problem telling me everything, but it's not what I'm good at and that is okay.

Speaker 1:

That's why she's part of this team. Isabel will be like hey, franklin, so you know how we're supposed to be friends and partners with this other one. I need you to just kind of back it down and tone it down a little bit and I'm like got it, I know what I got to do. I know what I got to do. What I can say is there's a lot of business to business networking with myself and Noel. So it's wrapping up for me right now.

Speaker 1:

Everybody, if you look at the chat, there's three little dots on there and you can save the chat. Why is this important? Because I'm going to ask everybody to put their contact information in here right now on how other people can reach out to you. So if people are here and you would like to hear from Noelle, from LaShonda, from Isabel, from Amy or from Natalie, they're just going to put their information on there. How to find you. Natalie, she's probably just going to say come visit her coffee shop, amy. I don't know what's important If it's like she's got something coming up or whatever, but I do know, as the business individuals, there might be something you want to share.

Speaker 1:

There might be something you want to highlight, put it out there and if you guys want to reach out to them and learn more or connect with them, please. But be sure that save the chat, because once we close this it won't save. But if you save the chat it's going to download to your computer as soon as this is over and you'll have everybody's information and we can share it with you guys later I have share my phone number.

Speaker 3:

I think that's the easiest way to nobody stop amy mine is.

Speaker 5:

mine is email, because I'm the the I really will answer sometimes, so the email is easier for me.

Speaker 3:

But I know, based on what we're talking about, we all had someone that believed in us and I just love paying it forward and I love helping others, you know, reach their goals and I am happy always to help and motivate others and support and share resources. So if you all ever need anything, feel free to reach out.

Speaker 1:

Well, before we wrap up, I still want to also say if any of you ladies have anything new that's coming up. So I know, myself and Alyssa, we're campaigning a lot up here for different organizations. We're not voting for anybody as far as like pushing anybody. What we're doing is actually trying to champion the public, to learn how, to learn how to ask the questions on who to vote, instead of like, oh that person has a sparkly campaign, but what has that person done in the past and who are their main contributors and donors? And what does that say about their actual morals and beliefs? And do they really line up with yours? Because if they don't, well then don't vote for them. So we're really pushing that more on that aspect and that's a big project for us.

Speaker 1:

I believe it's supposed to be March 19th, so I will be sharing that with my Structure Innovations clients. I'll be putting it on social media. Does anybody else have anything they want to highlight? Isabel, you have a podcast that's coming out with SI Education on teachers and balancing. You want to chat about that a little bit?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, absolutely. Actually, one of our audience members here, stephanie Keys, is also going to be co-hosting that with me. We're going to start our own webinars and podcasts based on educators and basically how we're trying to maintain ourselves throughout these trying times. There's a lot of us living through it and I think that you know, building that support network is the only way that we can get through it. You know, there's that light at the end of the tunnel and it's us. I love that.

Speaker 1:

So, if you guys enjoy this piece for structuring chaotic minds and the balance growth leadership series, that's for business, that's for the world of like business to business and professionals, what Isabel and Stephanie will be doing with is with SI education. So that's structure, innovations, education and that's literally going to be a spinoff and they're turning it into their own podcast that women are. So I'm really excited to see them making up with that and any of our educators who are excited about that. Please reach out so that we can go ahead and get more information about that. Lashonda, do you have any announcements? You do have an announcement information about that, LaShonda.

Speaker 5:

do you have any?

Speaker 1:

announcements. You do have an announcement, not right?

Speaker 5:

now.

Speaker 5:

I'm actually just kind of working on my business slowly as Melissa keeps pushing me. She's like, hey, come on, get moving. And I also do. You know, I do the insurance piece as well as far as building wealth for women and anyone building wealth. So if you're looking into trying to build wealth within your yourself and you are trying to figure out ways to do that and not have to do the second income if you don't have to, it's another way, another avenue to do that. So if you want to do that as well, you can contact me through email and we can connect. But those are the things that projects that I'm working on right now and I'm working with Melissa as well. So it's a lot of things going on right now. So, but yes, I'm still. I still maximize my time.

Speaker 1:

See anybody else eager to announce anything, so I don't feel like I'm skipping over anybody. Ladies, thank you so much for joining me on a Monday night at 7pm. I know that is not an easy thing at the end of the first day. It's like it's a Monday really. Also, just thank you so much for showing up. Next month. Every month, fourth month or fourth Monday of the month, guys, it's 7 pm Central Time. We will be continuing our Balanced Growth Leadership Series. Next month we are going to be doing innovation and leadership. So we will be having Alyssa, which is my daughter, come on, and Dominic Gallegos, who is one of my former seventh grade students, who has now started a nonprofit with Alyssa to launch a school here in San Antonio. So they're going to be talking about their leadership and how innovation requires that next generation to actually take up that step instead of us waiting for the adults to tell us what to do. So I'm super excited to hear them come on next week. And then, yes, natalie, at 30 Grant guys, you got to go try her drinks and such I was going to say thank you so much I appreciate

Speaker 3:

it.

Speaker 6:

What I was going to say is that I am. If any of you want to do any events or any after hours things, you want to. I have different people doing different things and I'm always opening my coffee shop after hours to people who want to do literally anything, whether it's a book club or they want to have private meetings or they want to do they want to. I have like a college. I mean there are students come in and doing some. They just give them some education on you know this stuff like that. I don't know, I have a brain fog. I was telling Melissa earlier that I have serious brain fog and I was like this is the wrong day to do this. But but yes, anything that you would like to do you want to collaborate, let me know. I'm all about it. I would love to have you guys, um, and my space is your space.

Speaker 1:

So, dominic, so you're off of lock and tear.

Speaker 5:

She's off of lock and tear right because it's 1604 yeah, 1604 in the elan shopping center I think I know really I'm not too far from there working so during lunch or something well, piatis and the elan and all of that.

Speaker 6:

It's right there called 30 grind.

Speaker 1:

It's named after my 30s because it sounds so weird, but even the bathroom is like it is just beautiful in there. I love the vibe, I love the space. Natalie always glams, everything makes it look beautiful, but I don't know she does a really good vibe with it and you can tell her staff feels like they're there, like that's home, and they enjoy being there too. So the vibe and the experience when you get there it's not your typical coffee shop. I'm like what do you want? Get out Like it's.

Speaker 6:

I always call them Chick-fil-A service. I'm like Chick-fil-A service.

Speaker 1:

You don't see Natalie there, cause she's running in and out.

Speaker 6:

I think that's one thing I learned this year was like I need to be there every single day to kind of. You know there's hands off owners and I'm like hands on, I need to be in everything but which. I'm learning that balance, so you shouldn't be really proud of me for that.

Speaker 1:

I'm proud of you. Well, Dominic says when he comes down from Oklahoma, because he's actually my student from the Valley. But when he comes down from Oklahoma to visit, he will stop.

Speaker 6:

I love that. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

All righty, guys. Well, we will see you next month. I'll be turning 40. So please don't miss next month. That's going to be I'm turning 40, guys. I'm turning 40 on the 27th, so that will be that Monday and we can talk about that more, but I look forward to seeing you guys. This episode will also come out on Structuring Chaotic Minds on the third Thursday of the month. Really excited, and thank you so much, ladies again, for sharing your time with me. Have a wonderful evening and stay structured and smiling. Guys, thank you for tuning in to Structuring Chaotic Minds. If today's episode resonated with you, don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review. Remember If today's episode resonated with you, don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review. Remember the key to success is not avoiding chaos, but learning how to structure it. Stay inspired, keep growing and join me next time as we continue to transform challenges into opportunities. Until then, take care and keep structuring your chaotic mind.

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