Closing the Chapter: The Messy, Liberating Truth About Pivoting Your Business

Welcome back to Found-Her! In this episode, I sit down with Lisa Simone Richards, a Canadian female founder who made a bold pivot from a 20-year career in PR into building Pearl Spark Pages, a product-based business designed to help women build self-confidence and push past limiting beliefs. We talk about imposter syndrome and how even the most accomplished women still battle the voice that says “I’m not ready yet.”

We also get into the realities of starting over, from learning an entirely new business model and navigating inconsistent cash flow, to building something from idea to retail shelves in just over a year. Lisa shares what it looked like to let go of a long-held identity and stay grounded in the belief that she’s “three feet from gold.” If you’ve been questioning your next move or waiting to feel ready, let this conversation be your reminder that growth doesn’t come from certainty, it comes from trusting yourself. Please leave a like on this episode and come chat with me and Lisa over on our socials! 

Connect with Lisa:

Website
Follow Lisa on Instagram
Follow Pearl Spark Pages on Instagram

Links:
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Website: https://found-her.ca
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberleyhiebert
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Found Her, the podcast for women who build empires, break barriers, and blaze trails all while fighting themselves. These are bestie level conversations from behind the scenes. The real work, the messy middle, and the winds that last. I'm Kimberly Hebert, founder, franchise builder, wife, mom, and Grammy, and a woman who has done the inner work while building the outer winds. Here we talk business, identity, relationships, and the kind of growth that cracks you open, then puts you back together. Stronger, better. This is your space to rise as a founder and as your truest self. Let's dive in. Welcome back, besties. Today is a guest day. Today's guest is Lisa Simone Richards, a visionary who is redefining what success and self-belief look like for women entrepreneurs. After more than two decades in public relations and media, Lisa noticed something that resonated deeply. Even veteran business women, those with million-dollar clients and impressive visibility, still struggled with the inner voice of imposter syndrome. That observation sparked something bigger. Now she is the CEO and co-founder of Pearl Spark Pages, with the mission of creating beautiful and deeply purposeful stationary and tools that help female founders see their progress, celebrate their wins, and step into their power. The standout piece of her work is the guided journal with the intention, the female founders journal, built for women in business who want to merge entrepreneurship with mindfulness. Lisa created it after realizing that changing your story inside your head changes how you show up in the world. Lisa's journey is one of stepping into new territory, from PR pro to founder creator, from managing visibility to creating inner belief. It's a story of forging alignment and inviting others to do the same. Lisa, I'm so excited to have you here. Welcome to the Founder Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

It's always fun to be on a show that I listen to on my own. And just given the conversation we had before actually getting to turning the mic on, I know this will be great. So excited to let other people in.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah, Lisa, we've um did you is there anything you wanted to add to uh kind of let people know a little bit more about you? You're Canadian female entrepreneur. I like that even better. Woo woo!

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, no, I think that encapsulated it all really well. I remember when I was just about to graduate university, I was at Western, and they sent out their Alum magazine, and there was a female founder on the cover. She had a company called Cake Beauty. Her name's Heather Ryer, and I sent her an email. I was gonna be like, I'm gonna be your PR intern. She's like, we're not hiring. I'm like, you are now. Um, and then I worked with her for a year. Um so I love, love, love working with female founders my entire life. So it's such a joy to be able to come full circle being a founder myself and now supporting them with the work that I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Oh, this is exciting. So we're gonna dive in a little bit about uh today, like the like I had said offline is that the story of my my podcast really is about giving witness and testimony to the experience of being a founder and what it takes and kind of how we discover ourselves or rediscover ourselves along the way, regardless of what it is. And Lisa, you've had a lot of experience. Um, I'm curious just right off the get-go, going from like PR work, you were there for like 15, 20 years, 20 years? 20 years, yeah. From PR work to product-based founder. How what what what was the biggest learning curve? I don't know if you can sum that up. Because those are two different business plans, if you will. Oh, completely.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

That I mean, that was the whole learning curve. How do you and I remember at one point I was like, I'm going from retainers of like four and five figures to like a$40 product. How's that gonna work? Because now we're very volume-based. It's not just gonna be having a handful of clients anymore. Um, but the biggest learning curve honestly was everything product-based. How do you find a manufacturer that you can trust, especially because we're working with a manufacturer who's overseas? Like that can go south for a lot of people in the multiple tens of thousands of dollars category. Um, I think one thing I'm still learning is how to communicate with my audience from a product-based perspective versus a service-based perspective. You know, I still think about like my newsletters are a little coachy, meanwhile. I'm like, you get to be a little more like ritual AG1. So, like, that's a transition I'm learning in how to communicate, but I still want to have my personality in there. So um, shipping stuff, never had that before. What used to be a gorgeous bookcase is now a shipping center full of envelopes and products.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

So is there less pressure building this evening? No, I know you're in the kind of first couple of years of this journey because the first three years of any business journey is always a nail biter.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

But I think there honestly is a little less pressure with product base so far. And one of the reasons I wasn't loving service as much anymore was because I was responsible for the results. So the media landscape has changed so much, and that was really what inspired a lot of my transition. And so I know a lot of the time in the beginning I used to do PR for my clients. I would do the booking, I would get them their results. Then I transition transitioned into coaching and consulting. So I shared what I knew and it was on them to do the implementation. Um, but there's like a not a heaviness, but like, you know, there's a way to, you know, a service-based business where you have to provide a result for clients. Um, and with product-based, um, I don't have that on me. So yeah, you know, I I mean we have a good product, it's got to do well, or else people are gonna send it back to us. Don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, there's still there's still a delivery of excellence and an outcome that you're looking for with your uh consumer the user experience. But I uh we were just having this conversation with our social media lady, lady, it's my daughter, girl, woman, provider. That's the word I'm looking for. And uh she said that's you know, same thing, number one thing when she brings on new clients, like they're like, you know, how how long until I get a client, a customer from social media? And she's like, that's if that's what you're looking for, I'm not your gal because you're just gonna get frustrated because you're gonna want this deliverable in three months or three weeks or whatever, right? It really people are and I I think you're right. I think the changing landscape, even I mean, you've been out of it that for a while now, year, two, two years?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

About a year. I still have some consulting on this side, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

But I think you're right, the landscape has shifted dramatically.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Oh my gosh, there's so many things you can just ask Perplexity and Chat GPT to figure out for you. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Um, okay, you've spoken about uh that moment on stage when a spotlight felt like a mirror uh for your own doubts. What did that experience really teach you about your relationship to visibility?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Yeah, you know, it's really funny. So one of the things I joke about all the time is how I have only child syndrome. So I love attention. Throw me on the show. I have heard you say that. For sure. Like everybody put down your phones and let's pay attention to the Lisa show. I love it. Um, but I I didn't recognize that when I've been speaking on stages for well over 10 years. It's nothing that's new to me. I have the only child syndrome, but there was still that doubt in my head like, who are you to be doing this? You're not doing that great right now. Should you be on stage talking to people about this and having those moments of imposter syndrome come up? And one thing I noticed with all of my clients, regardless of whether they were just getting started or they'd been at it for a long time, um, I would always joke that if I gave them Oprah's email address, they'd have a little bit of pause and hesitation with actually using it. Now I don't actually have Oprah's email address, but what I was noticing came up for all of them was that I'm not ready yet. I need something, I need one more thing. Like I'm not home yet. There was always that little hesitation that came up for whatever end of the spectrum you were on. Um, and so that's when I realized, okay, well, I'm not alone in this, and there's gotta be a better way. Like I remember doing some research as I was thinking about going into the stationery industry and creating this journal. Um, there was a study in 2020 from KPMG that noted that more than 75% of women leaders experience imposter syndrome at some point in their careers. And I was like, okay, so it's not just me. Because people look at me on the outside and be like, you did such a great job. Congratulations, good work. And I'm like, you have no idea what I'm saying to myself in my head.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So I think that the it's it's that same, that's that same reason why I started this podcast. It's that same thing. It's like people on the and it's that like I I need, I I feel like I'm an average human being doing above average things. Don't think, don't get me wrong. I'm not, but I'm just saying, like, I'm normal. I'm like like you, like we have similar thoughts, right? When you're doing something big and you have these moments, but that's the kind of thing I was like, I need to normalize some of the process of building an epic fucking business and some of the sh struggles and the messiness and the reality of gala, like you're you're on stage talking, and then in the back of your head, you're like, who the hell am I to say this? Uh, you know, maybe my business isn't the best right now. Maybe it's it's feeling a little and understanding that that is the cycle of business. We're not always unlike, unlike the famous song Golden, we're not always up, up, up, right? I don't know if you heard the the K-pop demon hunter song Golden. In a grocery store.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

I don't have kids, but I I've had that come in my head. I'm like, go away, you don't need to be there.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

It is actually the greatest hype song. It is literally as much as I hate to say it, but you know, the entrepreneurial ship journey is not always up, up, up, right? It just it isn't. So, and then, but I do think that the word imposter syndrome is really like it's a buzzword. It it can cover uh uh a whole bridge of experiences. So I but I really feel that because right now I'll tell you, I was just at another networking event, and in them the group, somebody asked me who would be if you could pick who you wanted as your investor, because we're gonna start investor around, um, who would it be? And how can you get in front of that person? And uh and I know the person, and my fractional COO actually is personal friends with that person. And I have not asked for an introduction yet because what you said, I'm not ready yet. Is literally what I said on the instance, somebody they challenged me. Well, why haven't you? I was like, I don't, I don't know, I'm not ready yet. I what a weird response. Like anyway, so that really resonated. Thanks for sharing that because that really kind of called, like again, it's those inner thoughts that I think we all have, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

And I have a feeling I don't know, it's not a comparative thing. I want to be clear on that, but I think we're also speaking for myself and for you, because we're always in these rooms and we're connecting with other women doing awesome things. There's a level of, oh, she just did a book, she's doing this in her business. Like, there's always it's again, it's not comparative, but there's always it's just kind of like a normalization for some of the things that we do. Like if we were talking about this with our general friend group, it'd be like, oh my God, you run a business and you do all you have a podcast and a book, but like in our circles, like everyone has a podcast and wrote a book, and so we're always moving at that next level of elevating like what our version of normal is.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Right. Okay, so that's exactly it. Yeah, you're right. You yeah, in our our circle, yeah. Cause we uh because we hang out with women doing epic shit. Oh my god, I love this conversation, right? Um, so you've been in the PR communications industry uh since for 20 years that we talked about. How did your career with people uh prepare you and push you to evolve in ways you didn't expect? How did it evolve you in ways? And I think this might go a little bit back to the imposter syndrome, but I'm I'm guessing your communications uh skills so did you get let me reframe this. Did you get is it I'm gonna just be really bold. Did you get tired of working directly with people?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

No, actually, it wasn't that I was directly tired of working with people. I I will it was more like just the how the industry has shifted, and like just to be super frank, there are a lot of publicists who've transitioned with the rise of social media and influencers and the decline of advertising, and now everything needs to have an affiliate link. There are some publicists who have done an awesome job riding that wave and they've been successful and they're continuing on. That just hasn't been me. I just like the results that I was used to getting were not the results I was getting anymore. And I just had that moment of like, you know what? I think it's time to shift something. I think we're on to the next chapter. Like we had a great run and we're doing okay, but we're not doing as well as we used to. And I think there's an opportunity to pivot. So that's like the really frank like some people are doing great at it, but I'm not as much anymore. So, huh? What else can we do? Because this isn't gonna work for another 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

If you can take me back to that time, was there a point? Because sometimes we have a hard time recognizing when it's time to let go, pivot is the word, but really sometimes we have a hard time recognizing when a chapter is closing. Did where was there an emotional uh process for you to go through? Was there like you're no? I'm for those. For those that are listening, she's just shaking her head. No.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

I am such a black and white thinker. Like, I need to learn that there are shades of gray. Like there is for me, there's A or B, black or white. And um in September, I had the idea. I'm like, when I was thinking, I need to do something other than PR. What could that be? And that's when I started having the idea of looking through guided journals and what could I do next. Then I had a moment on stage in October where I was like, no, this isn't it. We're done. This is it. I can't keep doing this anymore. We are not gonna keep pushing this any further. We're gonna line in the sand, or we're gonna do something else. So I had that very distinct moment where I was like, we are done. And I remember later on as I was in the planning and development process, we were just waiting for our first prototype and sample to come from overseas. I wrote down on my plan in my planner, it was I have to see what day it was, like January the 13th or some arbitrary date in January that was like, that was the announcement. That's the day I'm gonna change the LinkedIn, the social media profiles, we're gonna tell everybody. You're just gonna miss that.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

You're gonna claim the identity of what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Because it was like wild for me, because for 20 years, this is who I am, this is what I've done, this is the box that I've been in, this is people what who people know me as, this is how I've been defined. And now I'm gonna go and do this other thing. So, like I had three months of kind of prep in my head, of like shifting things. Then I remember like feeling horribly uncomfortable that day in January, where I did the LinkedIn post and I put up the video that's still pinned on my Pearl Spark pages uh page on Instagram saying, or it's my personal profile, either way, where I said, Hey guys, guess what? No more PR. Um, yeah, we have to prep for that moment. And then after January, when I had the date like that I'd set it, then for like February, March, when I talked to people, they're like, Oh, what do you do? What do you what's your career? Like there was so much stumbling. So, well, I used it and now I kind of, and you know, and then I think by March we had it dialed in. But there was definitely like that transition.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

I like that you brought that up. Let me ask you, did your community go with you?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah, this is a really good question. So I remember I'm part of a community, and we had a guest coach come in for um office hours. Um, and I I didn't say who the name was. It was Jessica Zweig. She wrote a book called B. Um, she had a branding agency. I look up to her so much, fantastic woman. And I was sharing with her, like, I'm gonna go through this transition and pivot. And I remember when she walked away from doing marketing and moving into more spiritual stuff that she does now. Like her thing was like she wore yellow. That was her power cover or power color. And when she said something new was coming, she just threw off the yellow blazer. And I was like, what's happening here? And then she shifted into her new brand. So as she's coaching me on this call, she's like, you know, you can do it one of two ways. You can bring your community with you, or you can do the like the shift, the switch, the it's over. And given that I said like five minutes ago that I'm very A or B, black and white, there's no in between, somebody else actually gave me feedback. They were like, bring your audience with you, like let them see it, let them get invested in what you're doing. So I ended up deciding to give that a try. And that worked really well to bring community with me. So I'd be like, these are the colors that I'm looking at, these are the logos that we're playing with. What do you think of this? And people actually got invested and it became a little more fun and engaging. And I think that actually really helped us have a successful launch because people had some level of investment in the brand because they were participating in what we were putting together.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

That's what I was wondering. Like, did that end up helping with? I know you had said uh when you and I talked a while ago, you did a Kickstarter crowdfunding.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

So we did a Kickstarter campaign for it.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

That there's a whole lot of learning in behind that wall, right? That was a real Yeah, you told me you had spoken. Maybe you want to share a little bit. It's a little bit off track, but um, I think that for people with uh products like uh CPG, that's a real everyone's like, oh, I'll just do a Kickstarter. It's not really quite as golden goose as they might think.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

So for the people who aren't familiar with it, uh it's so it's a crowd Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform. So you can essentially say, hey, this is the product that I'm creating, pre-purchase it at this lowest price you're ever going to get it. And then people will fund that and back it. They know this is an Amazon, you're not getting it for another three or four months or so, but people would fund the project. I like Kickstarter because again, black or white, um, it's 100% or nothing. Uh if you don't get 100% of your target goal, like it's all wash. No one pays anything, the money's gone. Um, other crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo or I fund women, like if you get to 80%, they'll release that 80% of the funds. But Kickstarter, like if you hit 99%, that's cute, you're done.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So do the people get their money back? So it doesn't charge you until the campaign is over. Over. Oh, okay. I've never really been involved in a Kickstarter.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

So yeah, no, neither have I until last year. I love the great experiences.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

So would you do another one?

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, I would consider doing pre-orders on our site now that we have one, but there is something to be said for having that kickstart. Like Kickstarter obviously takes a cut in a fee of what you fundraise there, but you're also getting in front of audiences that are people who like the people come to Kickstarter to shop and see what's new. So I did intentionally choose that platform because I was like, let's get in front of somebody. Exactly. So I wouldn't absolutely consider doing another one for our next, not the next project, but the product after that.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Oh, nice. I love, I love this. I can't wait. Let's talk about the real messy middle moment. Can you share a time when things got hard where you felt like quitting? Other, I mean, you already talked a little bit about the shift, you know, moving away from PR, but really that the maybe your experience so far, I know it's a little bit young in your product uh development, but it's gotta have to have had some misfires already or some. Yeah, for sure. All those learning curves in business.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Oh, okay. I can think of one specific one for sure. Um, there's been no moments where I want to quit at all. I'm having so much fun. I'm oh, not at all. I'm having the best time. We've just had the journal out for about four months now, and it's a 90-day or a three-month journal. So people have just gone through their first round of it, and the feedback we're getting is incredible. I didn't even look at myself this way. The way I see myself is so different now. I feel so much more confident in who I am. Like, I love the reviews we're getting. I will do this all day, every day. Um, but it is a new bootstrap business, so I do miss getting paid. That would be lovely.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Um, so let's just talk about that's that's one of the hard parts in the first few years of uh probably even in your PR business, the first you know, three years, it's definitely a tough road in terms of yeah, the dividend or the not the ROI even, but just like even a what you said at the beginning, consistent cash flow. Consistent, what's that? I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

But we're working towards it. I'm starting to see it come through. So like we're getting there. We've only had a website since uh June, I believe. So we're starting to get there. So I keep saying we, and some people are like, who, me, myself and I, who is she? So we means my husband and I. He is my co-founder, he still has a full-time job. Bless that. And then I'm 100% full-time in the business.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yeah. Um, and so that's that's like us, like as a franchise or um, like we're building a 100 million to a billion dollar brand. We've had to validate it in the industry, all that kind of stuff sounds spectacular, but I'll tell you this it we are our our actual business plan is only 8% of what our franchise partners bill. So when you think of that, we're in the volume business too, right? You're selling a$40 journal, we're taking 8%. So we need the volume in order for to break even and then become profitable. And so when you're working in a so I feel like there's a lot of similarity. When you're working in a a business that re requires volume, there's a lot of heavy lifting. We call it the hockey stick growth. You know, it's like flatline, flatline, and all that hard work. And then, and then what will happen is people will all of a sudden see you and be like, oh, you just everything you do turns to gold. And you're like, dude, you weren't sitting in my room with me crying, saying, Oh, I only made$40 this month or whatever it was. Oh my gosh. It's too real. Yeah, it is, right? I think is that the hardest part of your journey right now is just like adjusting to that. And then what it needs to be.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah, everything needed to happen yesterday for sure. Like when I think about how far we've come in a year, like we're running at lightning speed. Like to be from an idea in a bookstore to actually being in the bookstore a year later, like we are. I don't want to sound cocky, but we're kind of crushing life. We're going straight. Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Share that timeline again. Let's you talked about it before we recorded, and I know I've seen it in an email because I'm gonna tell you this. Here's a little props to you. Um, although you deserve more than a little props, but I saw that email and I was I love, I love a visual timeline. It just really helps kind of like conquer. And so I did that with our brand.

unknown 21:59

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Love that. Yeah. It's just, it's just in a document for me and we will produce it. But I needed that too. Because tell me, tell me a little bit about what that meant when you did that for yourself. Tell us about that. Because it's not that long of a journey.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah, it's funny because so the whole purpose of the journal is to help women entrepreneurs feel as confident as they seem to everybody else, but also to celebrate their wins big and small. I created the thing that I need because I'm still like, we need to go faster. And when I saw this visual timeline, so you know, you can picture a horizontal timeline with 12 bubbles on it, 13 bubbles actually representing from September 24 through October 25, every single month in the various milestones. Really briefly, cutting a few months out, the idea for the journal came to me in September of 2024. I was writing it in November and December. We got our first prototype by January, photo shoot in February, Kickstarter in February, funded by March, shipping products by July, got into our first retail in August, and then got into the same bookstore where we had the idea for the journal in October of 2025. So that was 13 months end-to-end. Wow. It was good. I was happy with that. But still, I'm like, okay, well, now we need to do this and we need to do that. And the next thing as well.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yeah, and so that okay, so when you put your now I'm now I'm switching into business mode, though I'm curious because when you because many times uh maybe I don't see men doing this, but for sure women, we labor too long in creating something that's absolutely pristine and perfect. And I know you have very high expectations. Um did you did you find yourself in a having to work through kind of an MVP to get it going, or did were you able to bring it to your imagined expectation and standards on the first round?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Second round. First prototype we got, I was like, okay, we need to change the foiling. Um, we needed to adjust some pages, but like the first one was at like 90%.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

And so the one that we shipped out to everybody, there are like three pages I would switch in there. So it's funny because when people are like, Yeah, your first one should be messy. If it's too perfect, you waited too long. And I just kind of sit back and hang out. I'm like, no, I didn't. I printed out an almost perfect product, the first go-around that I'm super happy with. Like that's awesome. We're only making like maybe two tweaks to it. And my husband is a former journalist. Like, we are the kind of people who go to restaurants and notice typos and we're like, oh, can we eat here? Like, I mean, we will, but we notice it and have our little snobby joke with each other. So, like, he would have fallen over if there was a single typo in there, and like, nope, we did great. I'm gonna pat ourselves on the back.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

That sounds like my brand director. She is like, she has a standard that is like so incredible and an eye for detail. So now we would just she used to be my assistant, but she is like, she's like the brand director, like anything, like she can anything, nothing slides by her, and she will like call everything out, even within the team. It'd be frustrating to be like, but that's her role. Her role is to catch that so that you have this like consistency, especially we're going national, right? You just want everything, uh whether it be internally, externally, whatever, right? So, anyway, yeah, I I can approach that.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

And that builds trust. Yes, the same messaging, something spelled correctly. So I'm very grateful to have his keen eye on everything.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

That's awesome. So if we were to fast forward five years, uh, what does success look for you, look like for you personally and professionally in this phase that you're at now building?

SPEAKER_01 25:30

But it's the best question that you could ask, especially because of the conversation we were having before we turned the mic on, talking about like future vision, um, where we want to go, be invested by, acquired by, all of that kind of stuff. So I've had a few books and podcasts and court coaches this week bringing up the like, what's the big dream? What's the big vision? So I've really been challenging myself because I'm thinking into like, I'm not even thinking about 2026. Like, I just got to get through like holiday season, Black Friday. Um, but this week I really started to play. And then I started to think about, okay, this is I've had businesses for 10 years and I never really thought, oh, you can sell those. They just died. So, okay, we're not doing that this time. Absolutely aiming for an acquisition. This business is my retirement plan. Um, so just this week I nailed down. I'm like, okay, this is exactly who I would want to be able to bias because they're not PE, they're not gonna run it into the ground. Like they know how to take this from like, you know, we can probably get it to B or C and they can take it all the way through Z. So I'm crystal clear now on who I want to buy. I'm playing that shortening game now. I'm like, okay, now that I know who that person is, what do I need to do to get in their orbit the next five years? So that what systems do we need to put into place? How do we need to manage the finances so that this is the easiest thing? Like, I'm reading books like um Carrie Corpin's The Exit Whisperer, I think is the name of her book. Like how to have an exit. So like I'm already mentally prepared for that. But what I would love, so I know who I want to sell for. I have a vague idea of my number. I asked my husband to play that game too. I gave him the book last week at the last night, sorry. I gave him a book with a bookmark. I'm like, read this chapter and tell me what your vision is because like I'm going this way, but we should be there together. Um, so he's gonna.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I need to, you're like, I need to know you're on the path somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Well, like, I mean, I'm just such a forceful dominating person. Like, I know that about me, a type A aggressive kind of like we are doing this. What's your vision? Let's have the same one that we're working towards.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

You must be a manifesting manifestor generator in human design.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

I've heard manifesting generator. I'm not human design, but I've been told I'm a manifesting generator. So I think he nailed it. But what's what I think is really cool thinking about who I want to buy is how much I want to be acquired for, is I actually still want to be having so much fun that like I can have that conversation and be like, eh, I don't need to sell. I'm gonna keep doing this. Because I think a lot of people get into a position where they kind of hate their business and they're ready to let go of it. And then the sale can just like they'll take what they get and like, I want to be in a position where I'm like, I'm having a great time. I could take this paycheck and chill, that'd be dope. But I could keep going too. So that's where I'd like to be.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Oh, nice. I love that answer. I think of um Emma Guard. Guard, is that how you do it? Emma Greed. Greed.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

My new obsession.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Mine too.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Right? Like, did you find her on the Mel Robbins podcast?

SPEAKER_00 28:13

No, I knew she was on. I'm I was introduced to her. I actually am not a fan of Mel Robbins. Uh I say that quietly.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Um it's okay, neither am I, but that's where the conduit was. So it's all good there.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. I uh I was introduced to her um from Shark Tank many years ago because I watched Shark Tank and Dragon's Den religiously, like it's like it's my uh reality show. Well, it is, and so years ago, and then I was like, oh American girl jeans, whatever, American jeans, whatever they are, and skims. I kind of rolled my eyes to them, not gonna lie, but over the last year, as I've really, really stepped into being a female founder of something like really epic and trailblazing, I started to follow along on her socials, and then I love her podcast, and I just love how so I love some of her philosophies. I was just listening to a clip uh the other day about how she still goes through her own customer journey.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

So this is a founder that still loves the process, right? She goes through her own customer journey and she goes, I'll go shopping to see what the experience is like, to buy the products, I'll go online, I'll receive the product, I'll open it up, like all those kinds of things to still be really. I just thought she just gives such great epic advice. I would love a seat at her table.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Oh my gosh. You know, last month on Instagram where people were doing the pictures on the planes, like who would you sit next to with all the different CEO female founders?

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

There was a row with Emma Greed, and I don't even know who the person was. But I'm like, I'm sure everyone knows who she is. I don't, but I'm gonna sit there so I can talk with Emma. And if she has something to say, that's cool too. But like I'm there for Emma. Yeah, we do. Maybe I do not want to be in Kim's row. Love her, but like, no, I want to talk to Emma.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Right? Yeah. So maybe you and I will find ourselves at the table having dinner with her and her women entrepreneurial group. That would be lovely. Right. Why wouldn't it happen? Exactly. Why wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Seriously.

unknown 30:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

We're uh we're in the atmosphere. Um, excuse me. Bold question. What scares what scares you right now? Why do you think it's worth leaning into?

SPEAKER_01 30:16

I think, yeah, the really honest answer is just having enough runway. Like we get to move some units. Like, I I feel like I'm so close to like my one of my business coaches says three feet to gold. Maybe that's a saying, a story. I don't know. But I feel like I'm three feet to gold. And I'm like, okay, we just need to get there. We're so close, we're so close. So just getting through the next few months, like that's my big thing.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

And really once like we have those sales consistently, then we'll be golden.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So everybody buy a journal at blah blah blah.com.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Exactly. We'll just we will, of course, drop all that. I might actually, I well, we'll talk offline. Um, because I did want to do uh a bit of a collaboration with you. Um yeah. So okay, we're gonna uh jump into a lightning round. This has been a great conversation, Lisa. I think we could, of course, have a part two. I'm not gonna lie, say that to most of my guests, but I think this because I I love talking about it. You bring them on for a reason. Yeah, yeah. I exactly. Um okay, so a quick lightning round, morning person or night owl? Morning, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Yeah, that's so funny actually, because this morning, God helped me getting out of bed around 7:30. But like I'm also like, it's 9 30, I'm going to sleep by.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Yeah, I was just gonna say, do you have a bedtime?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

10 o'clock. Like as soon as I I feel like 9 45 is too early, but as soon as it shifts to 10 01, I'm like, I'm out by.

unknown 31:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

I'm now 9 o'clock. 9 p.m. is my bedtime. I'm okay. This summer I struggled. I wanted to go to bed at 9 p.m. And it was where we live, it's light until 11 in the summer, 11, 11:30. And uh I struggled going to bed that early because I was like, I'm missing part of the day. But then I was like, wait, no, I'm not. So anyway, uh, what's your go-to celebration ritual when you've hit a milestone, when you achieved your Kickstarter campaign, when you look at your 12-month timeline? How have you celebrated?

SPEAKER_01 32:03

My gosh, I wish it wasn't shopping, but it is. Um yeah. I love it. I'm a material girl, what can I say? Um, I remember because the company is called Pearl Spark Pages, I remember um being in the store and seeing this beautiful gold ring with a pearl on it. And I was like, it wasn't that much at all, but I was like, when we hit the Kickstarter campaign goal, then I will get that ring as a representation of like what I can accomplish. And I did, and I love it. So yeah, I'm probably gonna buy myself something every time I celebrate. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

I'm gonna, I don't know what mine is. I'm gonna have to leave. Um uh what's the one song that always puts you if you had to in go mode, if you had to give your life, let's say, a uh soundtrack, what would one song be on it?

SPEAKER_01 32:51

So I'm not gonna say that this represents my life by any means, but the song that I've just been like putting on the loop for the last two years, like if I'm going for a run and it comes on, I'm like, okay, we can go a little bit faster. Um, I've been obsessed with uh the track like that with uh Kendrick, Future, and I can't remember who Metro beats the three of them.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

From the Drake battle.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Um, and what's the one hidden talent or guilty pleasure we might be surprised by?

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Hidden talent, I can pick things up with my toes. I don't know if that's special. I could do that too. But yeah, if I drop a pen, I'm like, I'm not bending down there. I can get it with my toe. I love that. I love that there we go. Let's go with that.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Okay, I love it. Lisa, thank you so much for showing us that building a business isn't just about revenue and reach, it's about really rewriting the story we tell ourselves, reclaiming our confidence, and stepping into the full expression of who we are. Your work with the female founders journal reminds us that when we honor our inner voice, the external grows in alignment. And you're proof of that. You're you're walking and doing what the journal really is facilitating. For everyone listening, if there's one takeaway from our time together, let it be this: your story matters, your growth matters, and this journey is yours to author. Uh, thank you, and until next time. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Found Her podcast. If you've enjoyed it, please, please, please leave me a review, subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes, and more importantly, please share with your business bestie. You can join our newsletter, find me on Instagram, all the places. I would love to hear your feedback and connect with you during your journey of building your legacy.