Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
090. Christy Wright: From Dave Ramsey to Solopreneur - The Power of Saying Yes Before You’re Ready
How did Christy Wright go from a 25-year-old with no experience to sharing the stage with A-List speakers around the country? It all started by saying yes to an opportunity she didn’t feel ready for…
In this episode, you’ll hear Christy’s story of working for Dave Ramsey, why she left to start her own business, and the surprising lessons she’s learned along the way.
Christy is the #1 bestselling author of Business Boutique, Take Back Your Time, and Living True. She’s a certified business coach, speaker, and personal development expert, as well as the host of two top-rated podcasts where she helps entrepreneurs grow in their faith and their business.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/christy-wright/
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Goal Getters Club Coaching Group
Christy (00:00):
Right before I signed with an agent, literally right before Dave Ramsey came to me, he actually, it's a funny story. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but out of nowhere, which is very Dave to do, he pulls me into an office, into our leader's office at the time, and he goes, Hey, this is him. He goes, Hey, so I know the board members have been talking to you about becoming a personality, and he starts to keep talking. I go, no, they haven't. And he goes, what? I go, no, they haven't. And he goes, oh, really? I was like, really? He goes, oh, huh. So he goes on. He is like, well, we've been talking about you as a personality. He goes, we just need to figure out what your message is. You can't be a backup to Rachel. You can't be like Rachel's villain when Rachel's not available.
(00:39):
We need to figure out a message. I go, once again, correction. I go, I'm not Rachel's backup. I've never been Rachel's backup. I go, I have my own message in my own markets and I have this entire time I'm not. Rachel's fill in. And he goes, oh, really? He goes, what is it? And I said, life balance. He was like, oh. And he said, well, then this is too Enneagram of eights going toe to toe, okay? Which the fact that I had the audacity to even have anything to say in this room with the CEO of our organization is really appalling. I look back and I'm like, what were you thinking, child? What were you thinking? But it's kind of funny. In hindsight, these are two Enneagram eights going back and forth. Okay, so he says, we need to figure out message. I'm like, I know my message.
(01:14):
It's like balance, or he's like, fine, what is it? I'm like, it's life balance. He's like, okay, well then if it's life balance, you need to speak at entree leadership next month on life balance. I go, fine. I want you to be there. And he goes, what? I said, I want you to be there for my talk. If you're going to bring me on as a Ramsey personality, I want you to know what you're getting, so I want you to be in the audience. And he goes, okay. That man rearranged his schedule to be at my first talk on life balance.
Lauren (01:35):
You're listening to Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast episode 90. How did Christie Wright go from a 25-year-old with no experience to sharing the stage with a-list speakers around the country? It all started by saying yes to an opportunity she didn't feel ready for. In this episode, you'll hear Christie's story of working for Dave Ramsey, why she left to start her own business, and the surprising lessons she's picked up along the way. Christie is a number one bestselling author of Business Boutique, take Back Your Time In Living True. She's a certified business coach, speaker and personal development expert, as well as the host of two top rated podcasts where she helps entrepreneurs grow in their faith and their business. Whether she's running on stage in heels or running after her kids, coaching leaders are cleaning up goldfish crumbs. Christie makes the most out of life and loves to encourage others to do the same. Let's dive in.
Shanna (02:30):
Hey, it's Shanna, and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the real behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life in business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hey, Christie, welcome to the show.
Christy (03:19):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited about this.
Shanna (03:21):
Okay. I've been a follower of yours for many, many, many years back in your Business Boutique Days because I think that we launched our programs for small business owners and finance. I launched mine, the Blueprint model in 2016, so I think that was a very similar timeframe to when you were launching yours. And so I just feel like we've been kind of in the internet worlds and kindred spirits. And so for the first time, I feel like I get to meet you, and I'm just so excited you're here. So thanks for coming on the show. Yeah,
Christy (03:55):
I love that. I think you're exactly right. I started Business Boutique in fall of 2015, and then the book came out in 2017, so it would've been parallel tracks right there. That's awesome.
Shanna (04:03):
I know. I love it. Okay, so we have so much to talk about. I just want to go background, hear more of your story. I know your mom was an entrepreneur and that was a big influence on you. So let's just go back to, well first tell everybody who you are and what you're doing right now in your work life.
Christy (04:22):
Yeah, sure. So I am a certified business coach, a keynote speaker, a bestselling author, and mom of three Littles, which that last one is the one that's the most time consuming for sure. But if anyone has followed me for any amount of time or the book Business Boutique Rings a bell or anything, I worked for 12 years as a Ramsey personality on Dave Ramsey's platform as a part of that organization and on their speaking team and so on. And then in the fall of 2021, God called me to leave everything and told me that season was up. That was a really scary time for me because I didn't see that coming. Everything was good. That was where all my security and work and products and everything was. But then about three months later, he gave me the idea to train speakers. Five months later, I started my business training speakers.
(05:09):
A year and a half later, I'm now back into business coaching with my coaching group and so on. I'm working on my next book. And so I feel like God has brought everything full circle where the things that I did before, I had to leave behind for a season, and he's brought them back in almost the new season of them. So I'm a different business coach because I know more now, and so I'm still doing what I love, but I've evolved and my audience has evolved with me and so on. And so, yeah, business coaching is my heart, but I think the Lord has also grown me a lot in my faith and in speaking, preaching prophecy, if that word doesn't scare people, but just speaking what you feel like God has put on your heart, that always ends up being for people. And so what I really feel like the Lord is showing me right now is my sweet spot in my calling on this earth from a work standpoint is to help people grow their faith and grow their business. And so do that several different ways. I have a Faith-based podcast called Get Your Hopes Up, but I also have a business podcast,
Shanna (06:01):
Which I love. Yeah,
Christy (06:02):
Thank you. So I also have a business podcast called Business Bootcamp, and then I have a coaching group called the Goal Getters Club. And then I have courses and speaking, and then I have stuff in the faith space. And so I think all of it falls into the umbrella of growing your faith and growing your business. And it's cool to see how God is working all things together, all things together for good as we know he does. But what I felt like he asked me to leave behind, I thought was going to be leaving behind forever, and he brought it back around and I'm really excited about
Shanna (06:26):
That. I'm really excited, Christie, to talk about, and I don't know how much you can share, but your season as a Ramsey personality and then now being fully entrepreneurial, doing it yourself, coming up with the names of your products, the pricing of your products. I'm sure there's a lot of, I don't know if you did all of that before, so I'm pumped to talk more about that. Also, I have to tell you, I'm not really on social media. I think our Instagram is live, but I did get on there before our call and I saw this pinned reel. This could have been from years ago, or it could have been from yesterday. I have no idea. But it said it was talking about your kids and when they're in the kitchen and you're just so irritated because you're like, I know what you like, I'm not done yet.
(07:14):
Please stop giving me direction. And I just needed to tell you I needed that so much. I sent it on to a friend of mine because LY was having this conversation with a friend, and they looked at me and they said, God isn't done yet that the story isn't done yet. I'm like, huh, that's the first time I'd ever heard somebody say that and then literally, see you're real. And I was like, okay, I get the message. I got it. But I was laughing so hard because we have a toddler, she's almost three. And I'm like, yes, I feel this so much. And then I was like, that's exactly how God probably feels about us. He is like, he sees so much, just like with my little girl, it's like, I know what you don't see. I know there's more here, but anyways, it was so good.
Christy (07:58):
No, thank you. Yeah, yeah, it's so fun.
Shanna (08:01):
Okay, so take us back to life before being a Ramsey personality, what were you doing? Where did your heart for business come from? Just kind of walk me back a little bit of that journey and then I want to hear about moving into the Ramsey space.
Christy (08:18):
Well, I think it's interesting. If you look at my story, there are definitely patterns, and I think a lot of times we can find out what we're supposed to do next by looking backwards and going, okay, what are the patterns? What are the things I've always loved? What are the things that have always been there? And you can get a lot of clarity from that. It's not a formula where that's always true. Sometimes God will call you to do something completely new, but I would say that's the exception, not the rule. Often we find out what's next, not by discovering this whole brand new thing, but by reflecting and looking backwards at what has always been there. I think it was Cheryl Sandberg in her book, lean In, she wrote, most career trajectories are not a staircase or a ladder that you climb, but it's more like a jungle gym that you jump around.
(09:03):
And that's definitely been my story because you can see there's patterns of business. So both of my parents are entrepreneurs. I was raised in my mom's business. I went to college for business. I had my own side businesses along the way to help me pay my rent in my twenties. I became a certified business coach in my mid twenties, and that started to send me on the path of being a business coach and loving business, and I very much have a business mind. So even if I didn't have one single class, I can look at something and I look at it through the lens of how to solve. I'm a problem solver, how to look at this creatively or differently or profitably or whatever. You combine all that and you go, okay, well, there's a real pattern there, but how I got there is just the wildest story.
(09:44):
I graduated college with a degree in advertising. I worked for the YMCA of Middle Tennessee for three years, and I thought, if you want to do work that matters, you've got to work in nonprofit. That's somehow holy work. And so I did that and made $30,000 a year and worked a hundred hours a week. It was just, it was in your early twenties. That was my season. And so when I was feeling really burned out with the Y, I remember praying on my deck one day and I said, Lord, I just don't think I'm going to ever find a company I believe in as much as the YMCA. I love that. We change lives and we do work that matters. And I heard the sentence in my mind, you're going to work for Dave Ramsey. And I was like, wait, who is Dave Ramsey? I had no idea who. Okay,
Shanna (10:27):
So you were in Middle Tennessee, so you were in what, Memphis,
Christy (10:30):
Nashville. You
Shanna (10:31):
Were always in Nashville. I'm from Nashville. Okay. Yeah, from Nashville. I'm from Knoxville, by the way.
Christy (10:35):
Good. So yeah, so I walk up, my laptops open on my deck on a table. I walk over to my table and I Google Dave Ramsey. It says, based in Nashville, Tennessee. I was like, fantastic. I don't have to move. This guy's based here. I don't even know who this is or what he does. And so I applied for a job for an event planner, and I got an auto response that said they've already filled a position. Well, then I knew of someone through Young Life that worked there, got connected with him. He ends up sending me an internal posting only for a youth project manager, and I apply for it and I get the job, and everybody was like, where did she come from? It was only posted internally, and I was obviously not currently working there. And so I get that job. I was doing that job for about six months, to be honest, board out of my mind, totally bored because there wasn't a lot of work for that job at the time.
(11:24):
I was really bored, but also it wasn't in my sweet spot. It's a lot of details and spreadsheets and details, details, details, which I didn't know at the time, but were not my thing. So in the spring of 2010, catching you up here in the spring of 2010, someone in my department, in the publishing department at the company at the time, which was about 250 people at the time, it was much, much smaller. No personalities, no anything like that. Someone in my department works at a deal with a conference that summer that Dave Ramsey's daughter, Rachel Cruz is going to speak at their events, and there's 20 different events all over the country, a thousand students each. So it was going to be great practice for Rachel to go get in front of audiences because she was going to come after she graduated, come work for our company and be the face of the youth and teen products.
(12:11):
That was the goal. It was the succession plan from Dave to Rachel and so on. Got it. And so about sometime in the spring, this whole arrangement and partnership gets handed off to me, which I had no part of it. They're like, you're the youth project coordinator, you deal with it. Good luck. So yeah, I'm going back and forth and two weeks before she's supposed to go on the road, we get the travel schedule from the conference, and they had booked the cheapest flights imaginable with two and three connections. You're going to New York, to California to get to Texas. You're in an airport 18 hours a day. You then land, get on a church van, drive two hours to a small town, go speak at this event, stay in a dorm that night, get back on a church van, go back and do the whole thing the next day, every day for 20 different dates. So it was like six or eight weeks or something like this spread out over the summer. So I had to take this travel schedule and take it to our CEO, Dave Ramsey, who keep in mind I have 25 years old, have been at the company six months, but because I have to go to the CEO o get this travel schedule approved for his daughter
(13:15):
Who has not even yet graduated college, she's literally still in Knoxville. So I go to Dave, he's like, yeah, no, she's not doing this. This is way more than we agreed to. She can do 10 of the dates. This travel schedule is stupid. No one should do this, but she can do 10. They can pick which 10. So I have to go back to the conference, be the bearer of bad news that half of their events they now no longer have a speaker for, and I'm going to kind of fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. So I'm like, I don't know. We'll see how it goes. So I get on the phone, the man's name was Chase, and I delivered the bad news. I said, Hey, I'm so sorry, yada, yada, yada. I said, she can't do all 20, but she can do 10 and you can pick which 10. You're welcome. And I'll never forget what he said. He said, Christie, I don't have her booked for 10 keynote presentations. I have her booked for 20, what am I for the other 10? And I said, I'll do 'em. And he said, can you speak? I think so. I've never spoken in my life.
Shanna (14:06):
That is awesome.
Christy (14:08):
Yeah. Did not ask permission, did not interview, did not audition, had no right whatsoever to do this. Okay.
Shanna (14:18):
I mean, Christie, what in that moment were you just like, I mean, I can do it. What was the subject matter on
Christy (14:26):
Money? It was money.
Shanna (14:27):
Okay. You're just like, I'm doing it. You were just like, I can do
Christy (14:30):
This. I was like, I can do it. I can figure it out. So they're like, okay, somehow this gets approved. Still to this day, don't know how this gets approved. That project manager that's been here six months, it's 25 is now going on the road. So I went on the road that summer. I went to every single event. So I did that travel schedule, and I would go to my events and I would speak, and then I would go to the next city and meet and run AV and carry her props for her. And then I'll go to the next city and I would do the event, and then I would go to the next city and carry her props. So it was the wildest, I just
Shanna (14:59):
Want to know how you packed for this trip. You're carrying the bags on one and then you're speaking on the other. I mean, it
Christy (15:07):
Was a disaster. Rachel and I are forever bonded and best friends from this summer of horror. It was the work
Shanna (15:12):
Trauma bonded.
Christy (15:13):
We lost suitcases, we lost sleep. The stories we have to tell you, there was one specific moment where we walk up and we are beyond exhausted because we've what, been in airport 18 hours a day, and then we speak and then we make it. We finally make it to the dorm room from the bumpy van church van ride. We make it to the dorm room and we walk up to the dorm, and I kid you not, our sheets are folded in Saran wrap on the floor outside the room. And the towels are like those dish towels that have a green stripe down the middle that are in industrial commercial dish towels. Those were our bath towels. And I'm not bougie. Okay, I'm not bougie, I'm not difficult to please, but OMG, we were just like, this is the worst. So anyway, that was,
Shanna (16:01):
There is nothing like building a friendship in those kinds of moments.
Christy (16:05):
For sure. That's exactly right. So we end that summer. We survived that summer somehow, and we get to the end of the summer, and our company at the time identified a need for more speakers where Dave Ramsey was turning down 3000 requests a year for speaking events. And so they created something at the time called the Speakers Group, and it was five men and two women, me and Rachel Cruz. And they just slid me in this group, no audition, no application, no interviews. She was like, ah, you did a good job. You can do it. And so I'm in this group. So for four years I was a project manager by day and a speaker by night where on the nights and the weekends I would travel and speak, but I was still doing my project management job for four years. And what's so interesting looking back is all the other speakers had a niche and a message.
(16:50):
So Andreas was Spanish speaking finance for Spanish speaking people. So for the Hispanic market, he delivered Dave's content. John Acuff was like young entrepreneurs, young adults. Rachel Cruz was teens. So everybody had a message in a market except me. What's so interesting about that is I became the catchall. So any speaking event requests that came in that didn't fit in one of these lanes that all the other speakers were in came to me and they would just pitch me for everything. It was like, do you have a speaker on life balance? Sure do. Christie Wright, do you have a speaker on corporate bullying? Sure do. Christie Wright. Can we have someone at Verizon? Bayer? I was sent all over the country to speak on every different topic you can imagine to every different audience. So what's so amazing when I look back and see this training ground for me as the speaker is I learned how to research content, how to craft content, how to connect with audiences from eight years old to 85 years old, I've spoken at family reunions, I spoken at high school cafeterias, I've spoken at colleges.
(17:51):
It was very unglamorous work. But now as a professional keynote speaker that's shared the stage with some of the greatest names in the speaking world, in the faith space, I can hold my own with these alist speakers because of the training I was literally thrown in the deep end. And so I know how to craft content and deliver it with confidence. So it's just cool to see how now full circle, I'm training speakers and business coaching and I'm going, yeah, that makes sense. Because the first thing I did when I started at Dave Ramsey was write a talk for Rachel Cruz. And the last thing I did before I left was train people and speaking. And you just see that thread was always there.
Shanna (18:27):
That's so amazing. Okay, so I have a question off scripting it, Christie. No, have it. You were thrown into this space for four years, you spoke, and now I know you have walked a lot with entrepreneurs and business owners and especially probably female owned businesses, just like I have you seen, I look back on my journey in finance and I'm like, I was in all these different areas I had to learn by doing. And now I feel like sometimes we want to start businesses and know it right off the bat. And it's like, I don't know if that's the social media message or if that's, I don't know where that messaging comes from, but I see this pressure that small business owners put on themselves to know how to do something really well from the beginning. It's like you, for four years practiced speaking, you can probably look back and be like that. That event was horrible. That speech was really bad. Yes. But you had the practice ground. I don't know. I would just love maybe your thoughts on the practice ground and just getting in the trenches. I
Christy (19:32):
Think it's, to me, here's how I would describe it and tell me if this is what you're talking about, because I didn't actually ever have practice. I never had a single practice. My very first time speaking ever was in front of my audience of a thousand. So it is real. There's real money on the line. There's a real audience, there's real pressure. But exactly what you said has been so true for me. But I think it's true for all entrepreneurs and leaders, you learn the most by doing, let's use parenting as an example. You can read all the parenting books in the world. Please by all means, go ahead. Nothing prepares you for that tiny person. Nothing prepares you. It's just theory at that point. You learn while on the job. And that is true in business. That's true in speaking, that's true in anything. And so I think where I really get frustrated is that so many women and research shows this, so many women will not do something until they know they can do it. But you never know you can do it until you do it. So then you just never do it because sitting around waiting for permission or proof. And the reality is the entire trajectory of my entire life changed because I said yes before I knew how I said yes before I knew how I learned how on a stage I learned how while I was doing
Shanna (20:44):
It in front of a thousand people. Yes.
Christy (20:46):
And was I at first? Absolutely. So are you willing to humble yourself to be a beginner, to put out a crappy blog, to put out a crappy product, to put out a crappy podcast and it's not perfect and you're not as proud of it as you wish you and you don't look like that other influencer that's so polished? Are you willing to humble yourself and be a beginner because everyone starts somewhere and you will too, but you cannot bypass this step. And so I think there's research I've read where women will not apply for jobs unless they have a hundred percent of the qualifications where men apply for the same job. If they have only 60% of the qualifications, you learn the other 40% while on the job. That's how life works. And so I learned how to speak while on a stage. I'll give you a real time example.
(21:31):
Okay. This never ends by the way. This never ends. It's not like, oh, Christie did that when she got started. She doesn't still do. Oh no, I still do it. I was on a call the other day. This is a great example. This is very real life. I was on a call. I had a request come in for one-on-one coaching. So I do one-on-one speaker coaching and business coaching where I will work with people, get in their business. It's very expensive for very few people. So I'm on this discovery call and the discovery call is really to learn about the potential client, their goals, explain my packages, how I work with people and find the package that's the best fit for them. As I'm on this call, it becomes very apparent to me that what this client needs, in addition to speaking coaching for his organization is he needs content strategy for his business.
(22:13):
And so I can't help myself but go into business coach mode and I'm like, well, you need this and you need this and you need this. Through this whole conversation, he said, well, could you just put together a proposal for me of what that would be for me to do that for you? I said, absolutely. I said, absolutely. I'm doing this every day. I've never done this before. I've never done this before. I put together a proposal that was the biggest proposal I've ever sent out, and he signed. And then after you do that, which already that takes them courage to go, I don't know. I think I can do this. But afterwards you're like, oh crap, the check comes in. I better deliver. You have that moment of insecurity of can I really do it? I showed up to those first few calls and what I am saying to them, to him, his team and so on, is blowing their mind.
(22:57):
But to me, it's so obvious. I'm like, oh, well, you need to organize it this way and put this here. It's so valuable. Again, that's a great example of I've been in business for a couple years. I've been a business coach for almost 15 years. I still have moments where, hey, here's an opportunity, an opportunity to help someone make money and push myself. I could shrink back and be scared. I don't have proof. I've never done it before. I've never done it before. Okay, I'm going to do it right now. I've never done it yet. I'm about to do it today. You've got to be willing to say yes before you know how or say yes before you have proof, because if not, you will miss out on ever growing, pushing yourself or taking advantage of more than half of the opportunities you have in front of you. We cannot wait until we have proof to do it. You're going to learn the most on the job, so get on the job and learn how to do the thing.
Shanna (23:43):
Yeah, Chrissy, I love it. That's what I just think. We see the polished, we all see the polished, and of course everybody wants to put their best foot forward and show the polished. And that's why I think so many people starting their businesses now or in the last five years, they don't see the trenches. They don't see the learning on the job. And so I just think that gave permission to so many people, let's get in. Let's get started. I'm the same. I mean even writing, I still today I am like, I'm just such a terrible writer, and it's like, well just go write. Just write more and you'll get better. Because I know with so many clients I've watched grow, like writing content creation just like you talked about is still so important. I think even more important now after Covid and social media is changing so much so I love it. Okay, so tell me about the transition from speaking in the Ramsay organization to Ramsey personality, starting the business boutique. Was that kind of your brainchild? How did you go from speaking to then? My niche is female owned. I think Christie, correct me if I'm wrong, female owned small businesses. I'm going to teach them about how running, how to run a business.
Christy (24:58):
Yes. So one of the things, I love to pull out lessons throughout my story. So one of the things that most people don't know is in 2012, our entire company, Ramsey Solutions, went through a reorganization. They created a board from a leadership standpoint, but they also created at that time what was called the Ramsey personalities. They still have those today. The vision behind Ramsey personalities was to have more message bearers, more speakers and authors in multiple messages, multiple markets to scale beyond Dave and carry on beyond Dave, past Dave. And so when this was created, every single speaker in the speakers group became a Ramsey personality except me. You say Christie, why? I don't know why. I've got some ideas about why, but it doesn't really matter. So for two years, there were the Ramsey personalities that were full-time, Ramsey personalities, and I was the only one that was a speaker and still doing the day job.
(25:51):
That was a very humbling slash humiliating time for me because people would ask me, well, why are you not a Ramsey personality? Why didn't they pick you? And there is a time, if you are a person of faith, the Lord will take you through some humbling times and how you handle those I think is very telling of your character and your heart and your work ethic of whether or not you can handle the good times and so on. And so for two years, I did both. In 2014, by this point, I'm like, I think I'm supposed to do this. I think I'm supposed to be a full-time author and speaker, and so if they don't want me, I'm going to go do this on my own. I was talking to a book agent, I had a proposal. I was like, they don't want me. That's cool, but I'm going to go do this.
(26:36):
I know that I'm gifted to create content and coach and lead and so on. And so right before I signed with an agent, literally right before Dave Ramsey came to me, he actually, it's a funny story. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but out of nowhere, which is very Dave to do, he pulls me into an office, into our leader's office at the time and he goes, Hey, this is him. He goes, Hey, so I know the board members have been talking to you about becoming a personality, and he starts to keep talking. I go, no, they haven't. And he goes, what? I go, no, they haven't. And he goes, oh, really? I was like, really? He goes, oh, huh. So he goes on. He is like, well, we've been talking about you as a personality. He goes, we just need to figure out what your message is.
(27:15):
You can't be a backup to Rachel. You can't be like, Rachel's fill when Rachel's not available. We need to figure out a message. I go, once again, correction. I go, I'm not Rachel's backup. I've never been Rachel's backup. I go, I have my own message in my own markets and I have this entire time I'm not. Rachel's fill in. And he goes, oh, really? He goes, what is it? And I said, life balance. He was like, oh. And he said, well then this is two Enneagram eight going toe to toe, okay. Which the fact that I had the audacity to even have anything to say in this room with the CEO of our organization is really appalling. I look back and I'm like, what were you thinking child? What were you thinking? But it's kind of funny in hindsight, these are two Enneagram eights going back and forth, so he says, we need to figure out message.
(27:55):
I'm like, I know my message. It's life balance. Or he's like, fine, what is it? I'm like, it's life balance. He's like, okay, well then if it's life balance, you need to speak at entree leadership next month on life balance. I go, fine, I want you to be there. And he goes, what? I said, I want you to be there for my talk. If you're going to bring me on as a Ramsey personality, I want you to know what you're getting, so I want you to be in the audience. And he goes, okay. That man rearranged his schedule to be at my first talk on life balance.
Shanna (28:16):
I feel like I need to mic drop this right now. Christie, that is as a probably Enneagram nine. I have no idea thinking, are you terrified right now? I'm like, good job. I mean, I'm just
Christy (28:28):
Speechless. I dunno. I'm terrified.
Shanna (28:29):
I'm speechless,
Christy (28:30):
But it's so funny. Here's the thing. Dave and I are wired so much alike, and I think that's honestly why he's always loved me. That man, I love him and he loves in the most normal way, but he has always been so kind to me. He's been so generous and I truly think he has liked me from the get go because I'll say the thing, I'll speak up in a room of a bunch of leaders that won't say a thing. I'll go, here's why that won't work, or Here's what you need to consider. I'll fight for things. I think he likes the fight in me. But anyway, and I know it drives him crazy too. It's that endearing quality. So I go to the entree leadership event. Of course, I did an amazing job on life balance, and so that message was always in me, but after we had a strategic planning meeting a couple months later to talk about me as a personality, what's my brand and so on, we're really spending some time looking at my past, and that's where the patterns came to the surface of business.
(29:17):
Small businesses, that's when side businesses were becoming really popular. Etsy generation, Shopify, all that was rising up back then. And so we just saw a real opportunity for me to teach women business owners. So from that point forward where it was going to be women in business, he really let me run. And I would say that that is really unique to me in that organization where he gave me this sandbox where I to feel like an entrepreneur that built a brand made all the decision. I mean, not made all the decisions alone by any means. I had a team and I had lots of brilliant minds helping me. I definitely had approvals I had to go through though still part of an organization, and the team definitely helped, but I think I got to put my fingerprint on all of that way more than maybe someone else would because number one, it didn't exist yet.
(30:04):
So someone coming in to take over entree leadership, well, that's already existing. I was creating something new. Number two, he trusted me a lot and I was very grateful for that trust and tried to prove worthy of that trust. But then number three, he also knew this is not my market. So when he and I would argue over something like the planner or whatever, and he's just like, this is never going to work. I'm like, it's not your audience. It's not you. I know you don't use planners. These women do. I would just fight for things because I knew my audience. And so it was this beautiful combination where for 12 years I had this support of this incredible organization. I had this platform, I had this team. I was literally, I look back at my story and I go, God, you placed me in one of the most concentrated sources of business expertise, financial expertise, entrepreneurship expertise, leadership expertise, media expertise put me there, and I was trained by the best of the best of the best. And so now I look and I go, God, in your goodness that you would put me around such amazing people. So for 12 years I learned from the best and got to build a brand and business, and I grew up there. I mean, I grew up there, really. Yeah.
Shanna (31:09):
Okay. I could ask so many questions about that season, but I want to talk about the season of that ending and then starting your own business now, but you had three kids while you were there, right?
Christy (31:26):
Yeah. In the middle of all that,
Shanna (31:28):
In the middle of all that, you have three kids, and I would just love to hear Christie and you I'm sure interacted with so many female entrepreneurs, just how are you feeling, and maybe even especially towards the end. Was it the work-life balance? Was it the feeling, the need to talk about a different message? Do you really remember that gut or like you said, maybe you just didn't know it was just God calling you and you didn't know what was next, but I would just love to hear that transition season of leaving the Ramsey organization and what you felt like that was all for.
Christy (32:09):
It's interesting because, so I let them know in November of 21, I really wrapped up by the end of the year around Christmas, and then in January we announced it publicly. And what I didn't know at the time was that God was calling me into one of the most difficult seasons I have ever faced. And so my middle son was diagnosed with autism in March, and he didn't get into his brother's school, which is what sent us down the evaluation process of something's going on in October. He's diagnosed with a DHD in December, my older son is diagnosed with a DHD, and then catching up to most recently, literally two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a DHD. And so I look back on that time and I think of all the paperwork and all the doctor's appointments and all the evaluations and all the tears and all the prayers and all the household feeling, literally just chaotic.
(33:05):
We had to let our nanny go and obviously we gave her plenty of time. We gave her months. I was like, I'll pay you as long as until you find the perfect job. But she was a part of our family for five years. She still is. We text all the time. She still sees the kids weekly. We just love her. But she was a part of our family and I knew I needed to save money. I left my income, so I lose my help. I now don't have this job that is not only time consuming, but also a sense of my identity and my gifts and my talents. I've left behind all my actual work, so all the business boutique, everything stayed with Ramsey was theirs. They own it. And so I've left behind all my work. I've lost my nanny. My children are diagnosed with these different neurological challenges, and I don't even know what it means.
(33:47):
I'm trying to get my son in this school that's crazy expensive. I think I look back on that year and I think I was just surviving and I think I was depressed and I think I was scared, and I think I was really, really, really overwhelmed. I think back on that and think I could have never gone through what I went through with my kids. If I was still trying to work a full-time job, I would not want our nanny to be at those appointments. I would not want our nanny. I want to be the one. I want to be the one there talking to the doctors and learning what's going on and what he needs and so on. And so I just am so grateful for the freedom. But an interesting thing happened, so my mom ran her business the whole time I was growing up and she worked all the time.
(34:27):
She would say this too, she worked all the time. And so I was alone a lot after school. I would be home alone or where I would be at a friend's or daycare or something. She worked a lot. And so in my mind I'm like, I want to be at the stuff for my kids now. Thankfully when I worked at Ramsey, they have a lot of flexibility. They have flex schedule, and they were very generous with me with maternity leave and all that. So that was great. When I was there, the travel was hard, but it was still, I feel like I was able to be at some stuff. Well, when I left, I think the combination of my mom, I'd always wanted to be at stuff for my kids because my mom wasn't able to be at some stuff for me. And the fact that I left my full-time job made me had this internal pressure.
(35:08):
I had this internal pressure that if I could be with my kids anytime, I should be with them all the time. It was almost like making up the lost time. It was like, well, because for 12 years you couldn't be at everything. Now you can be at everything, so you should want to. And so I felt this pressure, especially in that first year, to be at every single thing to be with them 24 hours a day and that my work and my business should revolve around only the hours when they are all in school, which are real when you've got preschoolers and you've got sick days and president's days and all the days. And so it took me a while where I felt like I can't run my business. I resented the fact that I couldn't run my business, grow my business, had no time for myself, and I kept feeling this tension, and I finally realized, I was like, I don't have to be at every single thing.
(35:56):
I can have time apart from my kids, and that's okay. It doesn't mean I love them less, but it's almost like leaving Ramsey where I worked in corporate America, full-time, job, whatever. I felt like, well, now I should just want to be with them 24 7 and have to be with them 24 7, and I couldn't figure out how to run my business and be with them 24 7. And so I had to have this moment of going, it's okay to not be with them sometimes. And so what are my work hours and what are my time with them? And just create a real clear schedule that gave me a sense of structure and control, but also let me see, okay, I do have time with them. It's just these hours to these hours. It's not all the hours, and that's okay. And that was a weird having to come to terms with what's right for me. And I know all women feel strongly different ways and different things are different for different people, but for me, I had to realize that versus feeling like the pressure to want something I didn't want or do something I didn't want to do. I had to experience that to realize that, if that makes sense.
Shanna (36:49):
A hundred percent. Yeah, I can relate to that so much because I had our daughter so much later in life. I've already had an established business. And then, yeah, it's this weird, your business needs you to grow, but you have this tiny person that needs you to, it's a very, Christie. Would you say though, like you mentioned now you have such a different maybe perspective on work-life balance and coach business owners differently because of that experience?
Christy (37:22):
Well, it's interesting because my thesis of my book Take Back Your Time, which is all, it's the guilt-free guide to life balance. It's all about life balance. I love this subject clearly since I argued with Dave over back in the day. So it's always been in me even before kids. And that's funny because it started because I got a speaking request to speak on life balance even before I had kids. And so that's how all this thread goes way back to me not having a niche as a early speaker, but what I teach, what I taught back then is still what I teach today and it's still what I believe, which is life balance is not doing everything for an equal amount of time. It's about doing the right things at the right time. And when you do the right things at the right time, you will feel that sense of balance and it takes practice in learning how to do that.
(38:01):
But you ask yourself a very simple question, right? Right now, so right now my daughter's with my mom, my boys are getting picked up by our nanny and house assistant, and I'm on this call with you, and this is right now. Then when we get off this call, my interview right after this canceled, so I'm actually going to go for a run, do something for me. Then this evening I'm taking the kids to the playground and we're going to walk our dog and have a great evening. My husband's out of town, so it'll be me and the kids just us tonight. So it's not about doing everything all the time, it's about doing the right things at the right time. But if you're going to do that, you have to know what is right, right now.
Shanna (38:33):
Right? Exactly.
Christy (38:34):
And most people don't know what's right. They don't know what the priority is in any given moment, and they're always, always focused on what they're not doing. So if I'm here with you, I'm worried about my daughter, is she okay? Are the boys okay? But then when I'm with the kids, I'm worried about my computer pulling up my computer. I'm late on emails. Did I check that? We're always focused on what we're not doing or where we're not. We're looking to the rear view mirror feeling guilty. Well, no wonder you're always focused on what you're not doing. So if you can flip your focus and say, okay, this is right, right now, and then I'm going to give myself permission to focus on what's right now, you can be present for what's right right now, but then you shake the guilt for all the things that are not right right now because my kids, they're not right now. This interview is, and that sounds so simple, but it is a very powerful practice to train yourself, where then you feel the sense of balance and you shake the guilt because you're not trying to do everything and you're not focused on what you're not doing. You're focused on the right thing and you're actually present for it, and that makes a big difference.
Shanna (39:27):
Okay. Christy, did you write this book after you went through this season with your
Christy (39:32):
Kiddos? I launched the book in September of 21 and then left Ramsey in November of 21.
Shanna (39:38):
Okay. How have I not read this book? Ordering. Ordering now. I'm so excited. Yeah. I think a lot about, and I've used this analogy before, people, I tell people I was a gymnast for a lot of my life, and clearly when you think of a gymnast, you think about balance on a balance beam. And I'm like, balance isn't about being perfectly still. It's about constant movement, but it's about knowing your priorities and your intentions so that you always feel and balance though. Oh, I'm so excited about this book. Okay, so many things I could ask you, but I want to go into a quick fire before we do. I would love to hear Christie, as you have launched your own business, so going from corporate America now to having your own business in the last two to three years, what do you feel like because of your past experience, you feel like you did really well and what would you say was still clunky? You still had to figure it out for yourself, whether it was naming your products or pricing your services or figuring out a marketing plan, like what went well and then what was still clunky?
Christy (40:49):
That's so good. Well, I'll tell you, it's not was still clunky. I'd say present tense is still clunky. It's a real challenge. So things that I did well, everything that I created to start my business, I had done before Ramsay. So writing, landing page copy, writing, marketing emails, creating launches, creating lead magnets. I knew how to do all that because I did it at Ramsey. And again, that was really unique to me and my brand. There was teams that helped me bring it to life, but for the first year of creating everything that became business boutique from the event to the downloads, lead, magnets, everything, landing page, we didn't have a team. So I created every word of copy and so incredible practice. So when it came time to do that on my own, I just felt like it was riding a bike. I knew how to do it.
(41:32):
Here we go. Such confidence. The thing that I think is clunky, and I was just talking to my husband about this the other day, and that's why I laugh and say it's present tense, it's still clunky, is when you work for a large organization, there's tons of red tape, there's tons of approvals. It's got to go through 75 approvals to ever make it to market. And sometimes those ideas don't make it because they don't make it through the approvals. When you're a small business owner, you can act on every idea you have, every one of them, all of them. You could spend money on designers and you could just, Hey, you know what we should do, we should do this. And you go spend money to do the thing and it just wasn't a good idea or you shouldn't have done it or it was just not a focus.
(42:11):
It's a distraction from your main idea. And I think my challenge has been focus. I mean, I joke, but I was diagnosed with A DHD. I now see the creative brilliance in my brain, but also the challenges where the structure at Ramsey, man, I thrived in that structure. I thrived. My life was planned to the minute I had entire teams that did social media, scheduling, zoom links, calendar. They did everything for me and I was able to do only what I'm brilliant at, which is creating content, being the speaker, being the coach, and so on. So I leave and now I'm going to do everything and I'm sending the wrong zoom links that I don't know why my freaking computer won't work. I don't have an IT department. I am the IT department. I'm Googling stuff. And so I think the actual operations of things I'm not good at was clunky, but also just the compulsion and the freedom to act on all your ideas, which I have lost money on some of those things that did not work.
(43:06):
That's a safety net you have when you're in a big organization that you've got more eyes, more people to bounce ideas off of. And granted, they may squash some ideas that were good that never made it to market, but they also may protect you from a lot of mistakes you would've made if you just acted on everything you thought of. So I think for me, learning to discern my ideas and bounce them off of people and give it a little bit more space to breathe before I act on it is something I need to work on. But that's really hard because it's so tempting. It's like, oh, this is brilliant. It's totally going to work. And you're like, you find out later. No, no.
Shanna (43:36):
And also, Christie, I love what you said, something that my husband and I have been talking a lot about in the last six months to a year is really truly living in your brilliance. And that is so hard as a small business owner because a lot of times we are our team for many, many years and you're doing all the things and it's like, I'm a web designer today and tomorrow I'm going to be a copywriter and the next day I'm going to, well, thank goodness I don't create reels. I would not even have any idea how to do that, but we're kind of all the things. So would you say building a team has been a priority after you have identified that in yourself?
Christy (44:17):
Yes, and it's really been this year that I've built my team and I'm so great. It's changed the game completely. Just in the last few months. It has absolutely changed my year, my operations, and even my brain. It is so nice to not have to think about this whole set of things because I have people to hand it to. But the other thing I would say is sometimes people listening to this, they think, oh, I don't have the money for a team. I'm not talking about you hiring 10 full-time employees. I'm not even talking about you hiring 10 part-time employees write out. I literally did this exercise in November. I said, these are the most urgent needs I have. Most urgent, I absolutely need an assistant. I absolutely need an email marketer. I absolutely need a video editor and a podcast editor. And I started to build this out in it for real computer.
(45:00):
And so I wrote out maybe five, maybe six roles, I think six maybe, and I've hired all of them and they're all contract based. They're all very affordable for my budget. I don't need a ton in that area, but what I need is specialized. And so it's taken all that off my brain. Then I go over here and I go, okay, I'm going to go create a coaching group that is $97 a month that's going to help a ton of people. It's very similar to my old business boutique academy. So I know I have this audience of people that want this. I know they'll come back. I'm building that out. I'm then generating revenue, doing what I'm great at, which is coaching business knowledge and strategy. And then that revenue is then able to fund these people doing what they're great at, so the quality goes up because everyone's doing what they're good at. When I was doing the editing or the admin stuff, it was like things were falling apart and it was just so taxing on my brain. So I would just say, go make money doing the thing you're brilliant at, and then hire and don't be scared to hire someone. I mean, we're talking like you could get a lot of help for 500 bucks a month, a thousand bucks a month, and you will go make so much more than that if you can get that thing off your plate.
Shanna (46:07):
Yeah, I think that is such a hard mindset to wrap our minds around, but it's so true, and something I have really been challenged with the last year just to be like, I miss doing my job, job coaching people about money. I like my job. I don't actually want to write an email newsletter today. So let me get some help with that. That's right. Okay. I like to ask everyone that I have on the show, and I know we've bounced around. I haven't really followed our script at all, and it's just been wonderful to hang out with you. But I do want to know, what is the best thing that you have learned about money? And you can take that any direction you want. The best thing you have learned about money, especially working, let's see now what, 16 plus years in a finance ish environment. Yeah.
Christy (47:01):
So I don't know if this is more of a business answer than it is a financial answer, but I think it'll be valuable to your audience either way. Value is subjective. Value is subjective. And so when you think about your business owners that are trying to price for their products and services, what's happening most likely is they are valuing what they offer based on how they value it, and they don't value it very high because it's very obvious and easy to them. So how could it be valuable? They know how to do it, but someone else who doesn't know how to do that values it very high because they don't know how to do that thing. And so you have a disconnect in the subjectivity of value for a product or for a service. And so for example, this organization I'm working with on content strategy, what is the value to them of me mapping out the content strategy of their entire curriculum for multiple demographics all over the country, all over the world?
(48:02):
It's very high. How long does it take me to do it? Not that long. Not that long. I can look at that and I can see patterns in content like that. So I think business owners have to get out of the dollar per hour treadmill mindset. If I'm going to make this much money, it must require this much of my time. Or if I'm going to create an offer, I've got to offer this much of my time. How much of me can I give you for this? No, no, no. It's about the results. It's about the value. In fact, my coaching clients, my one-on-one coaching clients, they pay more than any other offering I have. Okay, it starts at $3,000 a month for one call with me. And you look at that and you go, oh my gosh. Lemme tell you something. The clients that are high-end clients that have very specific needs that you're trying to solve, they don't want to talk to you every week.
(48:49):
If you can deliver the same results in less time, they're making, that's time. So when we think, oh, well, I'm going to charge $3,000, so I must talk to 'em three times a week, get out of the dollar per hour treadmill mindset and think in terms of value, what is the value that I'm providing to this person, my ideal customer, my ideal client for this thing, not how you value it. You probably don't value it very high. I don't value content strategy that high because I'm like, well, it's, I mean, it's so obvious to me. Isn't it obvious to y'all? It's not. It's not. So what you offer is very easy to undervalue because it's easy and obvious to you. It's in your skillset, it's in your expertise, it's in your brilliance. But to the rest of the world, it's incredibly valuable and you need to start valuing it. Not how you value it, but how they value it. Because how they value it is how they're going to pay you.
Shanna (49:35):
Yeah. Oh, Christy, I love it. It reminds me quick story. One of my very first clients, this was back in 2012 when I'd gone out on my own left corporate and she sent me a money order to pay for whatever offer. I don't even remember at this time what I was doing. And I was like, I don't actually know what to do with a money order. Where do I go to cash this? And she said, she was like, Shannon, I'm so afraid that by the time if I read a check that by the time the person cashed it, the money wouldn't be there. And I said, well, why don't you do this thing called Bill pay at your bank where it takes the money out of your account, but it sends them a check and they can just go to the bank and deposit it. And I remember her looking at me and she said, that is genius. And I was like, it was just a really amazing eyeopening moment for me to be something that to me is so obvious. Right?
Christy (50:33):
That's
Shanna (50:33):
Exactly right. And simple. Yeah. This isn't genius, but to her. That's right. Yeah, it was.
Christy (50:39):
And if I asked you if, I was like, do you feel genius at what you do? You would say no. If you asked that to me, I would say no. And I had a coaching call just this morning where I mapped out entire business plan for one of my one-on-one coaching clients for what she's doing in real estate. And she said, the exact same works to me. She goes, this is genius. And I thought, that feels like overkill, but okay, we have to
Shanna (51:00):
See. It's so easy to you. Yeah.
Christy (51:02):
We have to see the value, how they see it, because it really is that value. And I think we can put ourselves in their shoes and go, what is the value to me of someone that provides me knowledge or a service that I don't have? I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so happy to pay that money because it's something I don't know how to do or don't want to do. Thank you. Please let me send you a check, please, because I don't want to deal with it. And so we have to get out of that and as business owners, otherwise we're going to undervalue ourselves, undercharge and not make nearly the money that we should be making.
Shanna (51:31):
Yeah. Chrissy, love it. Oh my goodness. Okay. We could talk for so much longer. Let's go into a quick fire round. These are just fun. Okay. One thing you would be embarrassed if other people knew.
Christy (51:41):
Oh, how messy my house is. I try so hard to stay on top of it, but those three kids, man, they're just faster than me. They're faster at messing up than me and my house assistant, Kaylee and I have house cleaners come once a week. They're just, I dunno if it's a DHD or what, but it's like I try to pick a room or two a day, but man, it is rough.
Shanna (52:01):
Do you feel like that you're fine with it or are you like,
Christy (52:05):
Oh, this is hard? No, it makes me in insane. No, it makes me crazy. I'm a clean person. I never stop cleaning. I never stop cleaning, and my house is never clean. I don't know how that's possible. I never stop. And they just are that much faster at messing up than I'm at cleaning.
Shanna (52:16):
And then one day house and there's
Christy (52:17):
Of
Shanna (52:18):
Them, when our houses are clean and put together, we're going to be like, please come back home.
Christy (52:22):
I know, I know it. I try to remember that.
Shanna (52:25):
I know. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Christy (52:29):
Oh yeah. I mean, yeah, tons. For me, the regrets that I have are the mean words that I've said. I'm an Enneagram eight, so my is my Achilles heel, and when I'm tired or when I am scared, I can get mean. And I've tried to, as I've matured, get quicker to catch myself before I say mean things. But gosh, I mean, yeah, the enemy will just bring back all your faults and so things said, or ways I've hurt people. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely take that back.
Shanna (52:56):
Take those to the Lord, take captive every thought. Okay. Big win or pinch me moment.
Christy (53:02):
Oh, just anytime.
Shanna (53:03):
Yeah.
Christy (53:05):
I'll share a more recent one just because that's fun versus a Ramsey one. I feel like it feels significant now that I'm doing things on my own. I don't know. This year has been really cool. I feel like I was in a wilderness for two years, which correlated with my two years of separation from Ramsey. And now I just feel like the Lord had told me all last year, just hang on, the harvest is coming. And this year my business is just doing really well. I'm very focused on what I'm supposed to do. I'm very confident in what I'm not supposed to do, and the business is steady. I've got a team, I've got steady revenue. I feel very competent in my coaching calls and in my podcast, I feel competent. I'm really adding value. And so I know that sounds like it's not like a, okay, I've been on the Today Show. I have been on the Today Show, but I think that that's even more significant because it's mine, because I built it. No one else put me there. I put myself there and it feels like I've made it. It feels like I've made it through the wilderness, and that feels cool. Praise the Lord feels really good.
Shanna (53:58):
Yeah. I love it. And it is different when it's like, you did this. That's right. All you, not all you the Lord, but yes, best advice or just really good advice that you have received.
Christy (54:11):
Don't make a permanent decision based on a temporary problem. That's a,
Shanna (54:16):
I'm going to let that sit.
Christy (54:17):
We do that a lot. Oh, I, I've got two little kids and I'm exhausted and they're crazy, so I'm not going to have any more kids, but I really want three kids. That's a permanent decision based on a temporary season of little kids. And that's honestly one of the things that set me down the path of exploring and praying about having a third baby. And I'm so glad that I did because that was right for us. That's obviously not something you could totally control. So that's a weird example, but even a business will do that. We'll go temporary problem. I don't have the help for this thing, so I guess I'm just not going to do it. Or I guess don't make a permanent decision based on a temporary problem. Fix the temporary problem or whatever it is. Make the right decision long term.
Shanna (54:57):
Oh, I love it. That's so good. I feel like that's one that I'm going to come back to. Yeah. Yeah,
Christy (55:02):
Yeah.
Shanna (55:03):
Okay. Christie, last quick fire before we send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Christy (55:12):
Oh, thank you so much. Well, if you go to christie wright.com/free, all of my resources are there. So that would just pick and choose. It's a menu. You can have my Persona template to find your ideal customer. My goal setting guide. Just set goals for your fall season. You can get my Speaking Business Starter kit, which are all the templates to become a speaker if you want to Content Clarity starter kit to clarify your content for your brand and messaging. So all that is@christiewright.com slash free. But the thing that I'm working on right now that I'm really excited about is I'm just going into the fall season with my coaching group, and I only open it twice a year, and so it's opening very soon. And if you want to learn more about that, you can go to christie wright.com. But that is my goal Getters Club. And what's so cool about this version of my coaching group versus my last one is this is more business owners, but we're also talking about all aspects of life. It's not just how to grow your business, it's also growing your fitness, growing in your faith, growing in your family. It is this community of motivation and support and accountability so that you can be who you want to be because we're all just tired of trying to do it ourselves. So community really helps.
Shanna (56:15):
I'm being awesome about all the things. Do you do that once or twice a year? You run it twice a year?
Christy (56:20):
Yeah, so I opened it in January and kept it for a couple months and then closed it in March, and then I am opening it this fall coming up very soon, so it's only open twice a year because I found that being in the constant launch mode of every single month, I'm more focused on marketing than serving my members. So I just opened twice and then I can serve my members the rest of the time.
Shanna (56:41):
I love it. And I think, again, just my whole motto is business built for life and we are business owners and we are doing work that we love and enjoy and we want to impact, but we're also living this life and we want to be great moms, great friends, great wives, great sisters, great. Have a life, Steve. Yeah, have a life mostly. Okay, let's send it off. And I think I want to send it off. Lemme see. I want to take it back. Maybe I'm going to let you choose either to, when you let the team know at Ramsey solutions that you were leaving, what would you tell yourself on that day or if you want to take it back further, what would you tell yourself? Maybe when you started with the Ramsey organization? Either one, you can choose, but what would you tell yourself in those moments?
Christy (57:36):
Okay. I think I'll do the sendoff one. It could apply to either though because I think it's really good for your listeners. I know you're scared, but you'll be so glad you did. You can apply that to anything. I know you're scared, but you'll be so glad you did it.
Shanna (57:53):
Christie, thank you so much for sharing your story, for just coming on. It's been a joy to spend time with you and to get to know you a little bit, and I just think you are such a light and an encouragement, and I love the strength and the messaging that you share, and so just keep doing what you're doing and I'm excited to see how your business grows.
Christy (58:14):
You are so kind. Thank you for having me.
Lauren (58:16):
Hey, wildflower, Lauren from Team Skidmore here and you just finished another episode of Consider the Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Christie. One final thought for today from none other than today's guest, Christie Wright. Once we realize that fear is normal, then we don't have to wait until we aren't scared to do the thing we want to do. We just do it scared. As always, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time.
