Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
091. Lindsey Bomgren: Holy Bananas! A Business Built on FREE Workout Videos
Lindsey Bomgren started Nourish Move Love with a mission: to make quality workouts free and accessible to women around the world. Almost a decade later, not only has she succeeded, but she’s built a 7-figure business too!
Lindsey is a mom of three littles, fitness trainer, and founder of Nourish Move Love, where she shares free at-home workout videos.
In this interview, you’ll hear how she built a business that doesn’t rely on constant content creation, the key turning point in her journey, and how becoming a mom changed her business for the better.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/lindsey-bomgren/
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Sign-Up for Lindsey’s Newsletter (Free Weekly Workout Plans)
Nourish Move Love Youtube Channel
Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast
Lindsey (00:00):
I was like, how do I make this work without just constantly putting out content? And it was SEO. So SEO was a big turning point. Looking at the data was a big turning point, and then everybody else's business took a major hit. When Covid happened, COVID doubled my business. Every year I decided to invest in one thing. So 2017 I started to learn some stuff. 2018, I got really into Pinterest. 2019, I got really into SEO 2020. We were just on the cusp of crushing, starting to figure out our SEO game. And then Covid hit and it was like the marrying of two magic worlds where finally my SEO was working and Covid hit and the search for at-home workouts just skyrocketed and my business just imploded and doubled and tripled.
Lauren (00:40):
Hey friends, Lauren from Team Skidmore here and you're listening to Consider the Wildflowers the podcast, episode 91. Today's guest started her business on a mission to make quality workouts free and accessible to women around the world. Almost a decade later, not only has she succeeded, but she's built a seven figure business too. Lindsay Bren is a mom of three littles fitness trainer and founder of Nourish Move Love a thriving online community built around free at home workout videos. Yap, you heard me right free. Lindsay believes incorporating fitness into her own life has made her a better wife, mother, and friend, and wants to share that joy with others. In this interview, you'll hear how she built a business that doesn't rely on constant content creation, the key turning point in her journey and how becoming a mom changed her business for the better. Let's dive in.
Shanna (01:33):
Hey, it's Janna 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 and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Lindsay, welcome to the show.
Lindsey (02:23):
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Shanna (02:25):
Post workout. Done.
Lindsey (02:28):
Yes. Yeah, we filmed a workout this morning, so workout's done.
Shanna (02:32):
Okay. I'm just so excited to get to hear more of your journey, how you got into this business, but tell everybody quickly just who you are and then we're going to kind of kick it back to life before business.
Lindsey (02:45):
So I'm Lindsay Bren of Nourish Move Love. So I run a health and fitness site called Nourish move love.com. And so basically we just share free at-home workouts for women mostly, but we have lots of men who do our workouts too, free at-home workouts for the busy woman who just wants to make it happen. And it kind of follows my life seasons. I had pregnancy and postpartum workouts as well. I have three little children. I have a 6-year-old, a 4-year-old, and a one-year-old at the current time. And so I've just continued to film workouts throughout that. But the goal is just to make a fitness free, fun and accessible for women all over the world. And yeah, that's nourish Move Love in a nutshell. But I mean, I can tell you, so I named it Nourish Move Love because it's nourish as and nourish your soul with God's word and your body with real food, move your body and create movement in your life and love yourself and others unconditionally. We obviously focus now more specifically just on the move portion, which is workouts. So fitness at home and just making it free and accessible for everybody, providing free workouts and free workout plans.
Shanna (03:46):
What made you want to make it free?
Lindsey (03:49):
I just felt like everybody, so basically everybody in the fitness space either has a paid app or paid eBooks, or when I actually first launched my business, this is going to date me, filmed a workout program that was on DVDs. Oh man. Right,
Shanna (04:06):
The life of DVDs. Yes.
Lindsey (04:07):
Yeah. So you could actually buy these DVDs. So I just really, that's obviously when you start you need to make money and everyone, but my end game was always to make it free. I just love fitness and I think the group fitness space, I love it. I love group fitness. That's my jam. It is so expensive to take a group fitness class nowadays at these studios and boutiques and I just always wanted to make it free and I never wanted to feel like I was selling anything. I truly have a passion and a love for teaching group fitness. And I feel like in some weird way I wrestled with this with God for a long time. Why did you make me good at this? What am I supposed to do with teaching group fitness? How am I supposed to use this? And I feel like honestly it's my calling and my passion and God has given me this platform as my ministry and he has been so faithful and it just continues to grow and I'm so fortunate that I can still provide for my family in the midst of making everything free.
Shanna (04:58):
Okay, so many good things to unpack there. Something I read on your website, Lindsay, was that your goal, and I'm going to botch how you say it so eloquently, but is not to just get people great abs or a good butt, but fitness makes you more equipped to deal with the physically hard, makes you more equipped to deal with maybe life's mentally hard. And I loved that it's not just about health and it is about physical health, but also just showing up in your life stronger.
Lindsey (05:34):
I mean obviously I love health and fitness, but it's become so much more than that to me specifically. And I think for so many women and moms we're the emotional head of the household and we go through so many seasons of motherhood and postpartum and there's just a lot that comes with that. And overall, I just wanted to stand out in the fitness space that can be so crowded with sweaty selfie, six packs, you know what I mean? And just really, it doesn't have to be I am marketing to other women. No one wants to see my sweaty selfie, six pack in a bikini. I wanted to just come out with clean fitness content where I was wearing modest clothing where we keep everything clean, our verbiage is clean, the way we talk about things. It's not about doing this so you can have better buns or better arms or whatever. It's about doing this so you can be physically strong so you can put your baby in and out of the crib so you can lift a car seat and groceries. And ultimately at the end of the day, fitness makes me a better wife, a better mom, a better friend, just a better daughter. It makes me a better person, a better community member, church member, all those things. And ultimately that's my goal is to make women better, stronger, more confident versions of their self in life and motherhood.
Shanna (06:41):
And I love that. It's funny when this comes out, I will have a tiny newborn, but at the time we're recording this, I'm very, very pregnant and even more than ever you sense it when I have a toddler and it's like I want to be strong for myself and for my people. And just in this season of being very pregnant, you realize physical strength allows you to be the person and show up in life the way you want to. And just right now, not being able to pick up my little girl as much as I want to or I can't lift her all the way into her bed, those kinds of things, it makes you think about what you're doing is so good and so powerful, Lindsay, and just strengthening more than just your physical body. So I'm so excited that I got introduced to you.
Lindsey (07:39):
Well, I'm so glad we get a chat. And like you said, for me too, it's like after I crush a really good workout, I feel like I'm am more well equipped physically, mentally to handle my toddler throwing their breakfast all across the kitchen floor. And I'm like, alright, take a breath. We got this. You know what I mean? Just like those little things.
Shanna (07:57):
Yeah. So right now we're figuring out the napping that has to be a choice right now with our toddler. She has to choose it and otherwise it's going to be a hard day. So what's your background? How did you get into this? Were you doing fitness before in a different capacity and I want to learn just like you started your business, what, 2015? Is that right?
Lindsey (08:20):
Correct.
Shanna (08:21):
Okay, so
Lindsey (08:22):
What
Shanna (08:22):
Were you doing before? What made you want to start this business? Tell me about that.
Lindsey (08:27):
Yeah, so I always knew kind of in the back of my head, I wanted to do my own thing at some point in my life, but I went to school for communications and marketing. I played college volleyball, played sports throughout college, graduated college, got the desk job and didn't love it, didn't love sitting at a desk for eight hours and didn't really have my own disciplines and rhythms and started putting on my own weight and just knew I've always been a goal-oriented person. So I decided to run marathons, got really into that, got stress fractures. Then I decided to get into fitness competitions and strength training and did that. And while I was doing that on the side of having my desk job, I was also getting my personal training certifications on the side and group fitness, teaching group fitness classes. And that's when I found my love for everything in that group fitness studio.
(09:12):
I just loved teaching classes and I loved my job. I was doing sales actually at the time I did medical sales, which is awesome. It was a great job, a great career. I was traveling a ton. I knew that wasn't what I wanted when I wanted to have a family, but it was a really great job. But what I always learned about myself or what I always knew is I am just a hard worker. I just work hard by nature and I always struggled to know that no matter how hard I worked, I was going to make the same as the person next to me, which is why I loved sales. So I loved getting into medical sales. The harder I worked, the more money I could make. I was always been kind of money driven as well, but I just loved seeing my hard work rewarded.
(09:48):
And so I knew it. I always wanted to do my own thing, but I just didn't know how, because you can only teach so many group fitness classes in a day or a week and it's not lucrative. I couldn't support a family doing that. And so continued down the sales route, but knew I always wanted to start my own business. And so I decided to actually live off my base salary and set aside my commission for two years and then knowing that I wanted to start my own business and in sharing workout content and making group fitness accessible to more people on the internet, I saw food bloggers doing this thing. And actually, have you ever read the book or heard of the book Blue Ocean Strategy?
Shanna (10:22):
I have, yes.
Lindsey (10:24):
Okay. So I read that book in the midst of my sales. I've always been a self-help junkie, love self-help books, red Blue Ocean strategy. And it talked about looking at different industries basically and applying that to an industry that doesn't really make sense in. So I saw all these food bloggers making money by just sharing free recipes, and I was like, how are they doing that? I want to do that for fitness. And so I basically created a blue ocean for myself because most fitness people have an app or they're on YouTube or they're an ebook. And we were very blog first. So I decided to film workouts and create blog posts out of them, like recipe people were doing with the intent to put ads on my site when I got enough views and monetize off the ads and give all the content away for free. So I knew what I was doing. It's not like I fell into this. This was very strategic. I set out on this journey to do this.
Shanna (11:11):
And because of your marketing background, is that how you knew about ads and blog? I mean, is that how you knew about paid advertising on a blog?
Lindsey (11:20):
So I kind of just got to know the food bloggers in the space. I started showing up to their local events, I started following them. Food Blogger Pro is amazing. Their local Pinch of Yum is their food blog, but they started Food Blogger Pro, it's Lindsay and Bjork and they're from Minnesota. And they started sharing, they just have Food Blogger Pro and they shared everything they were making every month, and I could see how they were monetizing their free content. And I got into all these blogging groups and communities online and following them on social media and figuring out how they were all monetizing and started making friends with some of them and having them share their books with me. And that's just really how I found out.
Shanna (11:52):
Okay. How did you start growing your traffic to your website? Because ads is all about traffic, so how did you start getting people there? And at this point you had quit full-time sales living on your commission. Is that right? And you're just going for it?
Lindsey (12:09):
Yeah, I thought I was going to replace, honestly. So I mean, I had a really great medical sales job. I thought I was going to replace my six figure sales income in a year, was my goal by starting my own company. That definitely did not happen, but I found a bunch of odd jobs to keep me going. So while I was in the midst of starting this and putting up blog posts and not having any idea what I was doing with SEO or creating URLs or creating content, I was just putting content out there that I thought people would like workouts that I liked. I was just putting them on the website, filming one minute tutorial videos, not filming the full thing at the time, just filming one minute tutorial, here's how to do these seven exercises, here's the workout, here's how you can do it. And I was filming this on my iPhone. I was editing it all, but then I was meal prepping for people on the side. I was personal training people on the side. I was a fit model for Target, the perfect size medium right here.
Shanna (12:57):
There you go, Lindsay.
Lindsey (12:58):
Right? I was modeling cat bracelets on Shop HQ at 3:00 AM in the morning,
Shanna (13:05):
Literally,
Lindsey (13:06):
You
Shanna (13:06):
Name it, living the Dream. Yeah,
Lindsey (13:08):
I was freelance writing for people, actually still competing. I was freelance writing for Women's Health Magazine and other articles as a personal trainer. I still am competing against myself in some of those articles. It's kind of funny. So I was doing anything and everything. Yes. So I was doing anything and everything to make ends meet on my end. Food bloggers, everybody eats food and all they had to do was take a picture and post the recipe. At the time, videos weren't really a thing, and so they were able to monetize a lot quicker than I was because not everybody works out. And it required, I had to add a video of the exercises to every post, which is more time, more energy, more resources. So was it the smartest business model? Absolutely not. Nope. Am I glad that I saw it through? Yes.
Shanna (13:50):
Yeah. Yeah. When did you start seeing traction? Were there any major turning points that you saw, any big breaks that you had? Or when did you start really seeing the traction pickup and how long did it take you to start getting ads?
Lindsey (14:08):
So I started in 2015 with my site, and I would say before I had my son in 2017, I was kind of at a breaking point, am I really going to make this work because I'm about to have a baby? And that's when I started, I was like, I got to buckle down and really start making this work. And that's when I started to learn more about SEO. And that was a big turning point. I wish I would've looked at the data, the analytics and all that stuff sooner, but it was just like,
Shanna (14:34):
I'm just trying to make central. Yes.
Lindsey (14:37):
For me, it was always, I did actually, I hired, I had Rachel, she's still with me today as an intern working for me because I needed help and I knew I was about to have a baby and I needed help. And so Rachel was working for me as an intern. I was working odd jobs, personal training and whatever to pay her, but I was just like, okay, as long as I can pay the people, it doesn't matter. I didn't look at the financials and all that before that. I wish I would've known my data before. Where's the revenue coming from is where I should be spending the most time and energy. So once I got really smart about that, and that's kind of when my baby was coming in 2017, I was like, I need to figure this out. And so I started to look at the data more, the analytics, more.
(15:11):
I started taking SEO courses and got really serious about SEO started taking Pinterest seriously. I saw that that was driving a ton of traffic to our site. So once I started looking at the data in 2017, 2018 is when I was like, okay, we can make this a business. So that was kind a turning point for me, was taking it more seriously and having a baby kind of pushed me to do that. But then I figured my blog actually got some of the most traction to my site when I had my baby. And I was trying to figure this out. It was like, how can, and I was like, this is possible to make a business that I don't have to work all the time. I could step back and have a maternity leave, which honestly, I never did with any of my babies because I'm an entrepreneur.
(15:53):
But I was like, how do I make this work without just constantly putting out content? And it was SEO. So SEO is a big turning point. Looking at the data was a big turning point. And then everybody else's business took a major hit. When Covid happened, COVID doubled my business. So we had just by the time, so 2017 to two every year I decided to invest in one thing. So 2017 I started to learn some stuff. 2018, I got really into Pinterest. 2019, I got really into SEO 2020. We were just on the cusp of crushing, starting to figure out our SEO game. And then Covid hit and it was the marrying of two magic worlds where finally my SEO was working and Covid hit and the search for at-home workouts just skyrocketed. And my business just imploded and doubled and tripled. And so Covid was the world's greatest blessing to me.
Shanna (16:39):
And so when you say, oh, so many things I want to talk about right now. Well, okay, I'm going to write down my questions before I forget. But first, how did you start learning about these things? Did you just do internet searches and find courses? Because SEO and Pinterest game changer, how did you feel like you learned about these things?
Lindsey (17:01):
Yes. So in the beginning, I'm the queen of finding all things free. I built my website by myself in the beginning. I didn't have resources, so I was YouTubing every video listening to a ton of free content. So Food Blogger Pro, again, their podcast, Jenna Cher's podcast, she has the Gold Digger podcast talking about SEO and how to run a business as not small entrepreneur online, and Amy Porterfield, you name it. I was listening to all of their podcasts all the time. I was scouring the internet for any free tutorials. And then finally I decided to invest in this hashtag Jeff SEO course that was specific to bloggers, and it was like $25 a month. So I got into hashtag Jeff. I got into the small ad network. I was on, I Mediavine, I got on Media Vine. Then I switched to AdThrive, which is now riv.
(17:45):
Now I'm actually back on Media Vine. But in their Facebook groups, they're constantly sharing resources. I joined every free webinar anyone ever offered, did all the things to figure out SEO on my own kind of. But then once I finally started getting some resources and having some traction, what I found to be the sweet spot in my business, and we did this with Pinterest, we did this with SEO is with, there's something we want to focus on and we feel like we're not equipped to tackle it. We try and learn it on our own. We did the hashtag Jeff course, we learned it. We learned what we could, but we still feel like we weren't experts in it. We hired out to an agency. So I hired Pinterest out to an agency for three to six months and then feel like, okay, let's learn from them. We learned from them, we got our audits, we took it back. So hire it out. If you have those resources for three to six months, learn from them. Be super vested in the process. Make them create loom videos for you. How are they doing things? How are they handling things? And then we take it back. So that's kind of my sweet spot is we hire something out for three to six months and then we take it back.
Shanna (18:43):
So obsessed that you said the queen of everything free. So true. I mean, there's a point where it's like, okay, and we talk about this, I teach finance courses, and for small business owners, it's like you can use your time to scour the internet and it's free of charge, but expensive in time. Or there's a point where it's like, okay, invest in the course or the education. It's going to be quicker for your time, but you're sending out money. But like you said, so often, especially in the beginning, you don't have money to spend. This is hard to make an investment. And so the queen of Everything free, that was so good. How did you learn about charging for ads? Literally, your business generates revenue through ad content, and I'm assuming now maybe affiliate content.
Lindsey (19:37):
So our main monetization streams are the ads that you see on our website. So it's all about SEO for us, getting people to our site. And the more eyeballs we get on our site, the more money we can make through the ads that are on our site. And then YouTube is our second largest revenue stream. So I got into YouTube. I wish I would've done it a lot sooner, but I really got into YouTube. Once Covid hit, people were requesting those full length videos on YouTube for free. And so we really started getting into a really good YouTube strategy in 20 20, 20 21. And so we make our second largest revenue stream is the ads that play on our YouTube videos. And then our third is brand partnerships and affiliates. So we have some pretty big brand partnerships that are awesome that we worked really hard for, and they're just really natural and organic partnerships that just work for us. And then we have some affiliate stuff that we're learning, actually affiliate's, one of our revenue streams we're still constantly learning about.
Shanna (20:28):
Right. Yeah. Lindsay, those are our main, I love all of this so much. I'm eating it up. I want to talk about you've had three babies since starting this. How have you seen business shift change? How have you had to modify your schedule? Just talk about growing a business at the same time as growing a family.
Lindsey (20:53):
Yeah, it is definitely not for the faint of heart. And I think when I first sought out, I saw all these mom bloggers in essence doing this where it's like I stay home with my kids and I run this blog and I'm making great money and I have a family that I can spend all this time with. And in my mind, that's what I thought was going to happen for me. And so I tried having my first son and keeping him home with me and just a lot of personal and life stuff happened. My mom went into cardiac arrest 12 days after my baby was born. I did CPR. It was traumatic. She survived. Praise Jesus. But like that. And my husband travels a lot. He actually plays professional beach volleyball on the side of his full-time job. And so I had a baby Stop. What?
Shanna (21:30):
Pause. This is like a Tom Cruise moment. He's playing beach volleyball. That's everything.
Lindsey (21:38):
Yes. So he has a full-time career, but plays beach volleyball on the side. Wait, are
Shanna (21:42):
Y'all in Minnesota?
Lindsey (21:44):
We are, yes. The only professional beach volleyball player to live in Minnesota outside of his brother who he played with for a little bit.
Shanna (21:50):
That's hilarious.
Lindsey (21:51):
I love it. But life was just crazy and that was not me. I couldn't keep my baby home and still run this business that I was trying to grow. And so I went crazy basically and realized that I needed space to work if I'm going to try and grow this business. And I had to put my son in daycare, and it was just really, it's been a rollercoaster ever since. I mean, I think every month, I don't know, maybe you don't. I'm on an island here, but I feel like every month we're on the
Shanna (22:18):
Rollercoaster together. Let's keep going. Yes, right.
Lindsey (22:20):
Still questions. Am I doing the right thing? I could drop my daughter off at daycare today and she cries and I'm like, am I doing the right thing? Should I just be home with them? I feel like God put this on my heart and I have this business and it's just like this rollercoaster of emotions. And I feel like every time I go through that, it's just amazing. Someone lands in my inbox and tells me how my workouts have changed their life and I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I'm still navigating this whole managing, having three little humans and growing a business and also having three full-time, wonderful women that are on my team that I'm also trying to support and grow. And so it's a whirlwind and I have not been great at managing it all. I have seasons of feeling like I'm an awesome mom and seasons of feeling like I'm a terrible mom and a great business.
(23:06):
You know how it goes. It has not been linear. I have not done it flawlessly or effortlessly or beautifully. It has been very ugly, honestly. But I'm very grateful that I get to do this and call this my job. And I think what maybe separates me a little bit from most fitness people out there is that I have done this while growing a family, and it makes me more relatable. In the beginning when I had my first son, I thought, oh, I have to show back up and I have to have the six pack abs and I have to film these hard workouts again and no one wants to see my postpartum journey and no one wants to see me doing pregnant workouts. They just want the intense hard workouts. And it was so the opposite. My audience really is the woman who got pregnant and was like love to go to group fitness classes, but then was like, well, I kind of maybe need to start modifying. Then they have a baby and they realize how much of a luxury it is to leave the home and go to group fitness classes and they start working out at home and they love seeing, just like me showing up, filming a workout, talking about Daniel Tiger or how my three-year-old wet the bed last night, or these relatable moments that make me human and a real mom who's just in the thick of motherhood with them. And I think that that's what makes my business somewhat different.
Shanna (24:12):
Yeah, I love that. Thank you for sharing just the real of you're growing a family now you have three team members. Will you just talk about what you feel like has gone well in this journey? What do you feel like Lindsay is rocking this, showing up, doing this so well, and then what are the things that you feel like, man, this didn't come easily, but I'm working to figure it out.
Lindsey (24:40):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just so grateful. We continue to grow at such an awesome rate, and I'm just so proud and I'm so grateful that I decided to hire a team. I think every time any small business owner hires people and adss to our team, you think, oh my goodness, how am I going to pay this salary? How am I going to pay this person? And then as soon as you hire them, you're like, how did we operate before you? Literally, every team member I've hired has paid for themselves like tenfold, and I'm so grateful. I have such an amazing team of women who it's just so nice to have a team and they're awesome and I'm so grateful for them and the work that they put into our brand and building this community. So I'm so glad I hired. I feel like what we do really well is we are constantly, every year we add a new revenue stream, and that's the beauty of this online space is there's so many things we can pursue, but we have kept the main thing, the main thing.
(25:29):
We film awesome workout videos and I could get distracted and start, I teaching bloggers how to blog because that really is passionate for me too. I love this as a business. I could get distracted and start creating recipes. We could get distracted and start filming some mom content. There's so much stuff we could be doing, but we've kept the main thing, the main thing, we film, film awesome workouts. We put out great workout content. We just keep figuring out how to do it better. We drive really great direct traffic. Once our audience finds us, they usually stick with us. They get on our email list. We have a loyal community and we give them really good content, and I'm really proud of that. And every year we add one new revenue stream and continue to grow and expand, and that's just awesome. So that's been the stuff. That's awesome. I'm so proud of my team for continuing to think ahead and evolve how we can continue to grow in this online space. The challenging or the other hard part is every day I have a plan of where the business is going to be and it just have to be somewhat reactive. Google changes their core updates and they update things. Instagram changes, Pinterest change. Everything is changing at such a rapid rate. It is so hard to continue to wrap your arms around. Every day I get up and I'm like, what's new today?
Shanna (26:36):
Yes, please just stay the same.
Lindsey (26:39):
So nothing is staying the same, so constantly adapting. I'm not good at change. I'm a late adopter usually, so I'm just constantly having to replan and I'm somewhat of a rigid thinker. I like to have a plan, go get it, tackle it. So just learning how to be more fluid in business. I feel like I've gotten better at it. We've randomly sent spammed or email list on accident when we switched to ConvertKit and spammed our audience. Then normally the old Lindsay would've panicked and died and I was just like, oh, you know what? We're not curing cancer. Everyone just got a hundred emails from us. They'll survive.
Shanna (27:12):
Oops,
Lindsey (27:14):
You got to roll with the punches.
Shanna (27:16):
Anytime I see a big brand, send out an oops email, there's a little bit of joy inside that's just like we're all human and we're just small business owners over here trying to do it with just us or three or four people. I
Lindsey (27:37):
Think something I've learned is that as my capacity for growth increases, my tolerance for error also has to increase As we want to grow more, I have to increase my tolerance for error and things to go wrong
Shanna (27:50):
And letting other people maybe do things in a way that when I perspective when I first hired, yeah, I felt like a lot of people were talking about, they're not going to do it. You would do it, or they're not going to do it as good as you. And I would say, yeah, there were some times for sure things went out that maybe didn't look the way I wanted or suddenly like that. But what's funny now, like you said, you get to the place where it's like, I just couldn't do it without this person. Literally, I wouldn't want to. I would not want to. And yeah, so I was going to say that comment about they're not going to do it like you, but now I'm like, gosh, they do it better. Thank, thank goodness they're here.
Lindsey (28:33):
Right?
Shanna (28:34):
Otherwise it wouldn't get done.
Lindsey (28:36):
It wouldn't get done. And the coolest part has been bringing my team in. Initially it was like, okay, here's your tasks, but now it's like, no, you own this. And we all show up to a team meeting and we have our data forcing my team to get in the data. And the analytics too has helped them to become more strategic thinkers, look at what is performing, how do we replicate that and make it super simple, what's not performing and why? And as a team, we work on solutions of how we can help each other, but at the end of the day, you're responsible for these metrics. And so owning those metrics has just been, makes everybody a more strategic thinker and player on your team. Yeah.
Shanna (29:08):
Yeah. Okay. We could talk about team for so long. Hey, let's talk about money for a second. Yes. What would you say your relationship with money in your life has been maybe before having your business? I love how you said you wanted to make money. You're driven by money. I'm so intrigued
Lindsey (29:27):
By this. Yeah. I'm a competitive person in nature. I grew up playing sports. I feel like I've always strived to do whatever I do and do it the best. And I also know that I had this idea and vision in my head of the lifestyle I wanted for my family, and it requires resources, but also something that from the beginning of this business is I knew I wanted to use it for good. I feel like God gave me these gifts and talents and how do I use them for good? And something else that is super motivating for me, and it's been since the inception of my business, I started doing these events for charity and things is the more money I make, the more money I can give. And I've always had really big giving goals since I started this business, and I've always just wanted to give as much as I could.
(30:13):
And so I just feel like I'm motivated by money because I have an idea of a lifestyle I want for my family, and I want to live comfortably. And I believe that my hard work should pay off. And also because I have really big giving goals, my family, me and my husband, we have big giving goals. And so I am very financially motivated. Like I said, I would say a numbers person in the beginning of my business. I've become a numbers person now because I'm so motivated by seeing input equal output. So I'm very, money has become, it's something that's always I think motivated me in some way. I did sales. I mean I did medical sales. I was always somewhat money motivated or achieved. I would say I'm an Enneagram three, so maybe not even money motivated as much as achievement and success motivated, but money kind of comes with that, I guess. So I've always known, and I appreciate now that owning my own business, the harder I work, the more money I'm putting in my pocket and not someone. Did you
Shanna (31:10):
Ever feel like you needed to apologize for that? The want to make money?
Lindsey (31:16):
Yeah. I feel like it's a weird thing, and I feel like it was, when I first started my business, I was like, man, if I could just make $10,000 a month, we will have done it. And then it was like, you make that and then you're like, okay, if I could just make 20, if I could just make 30, if I could just make 50, the goal just keeps growing. And I felt a lot once I hit the initial 10,000 month, I was like, okay, we're good. I should be happy. And of course I wasn't, and you want more, but I feel like there was always shame around the wanting more or my goal, one of my goals was since I set out was to make my company a million dollar company. There's only 4.2% of female owned companies are million dollar companies. And I wanted to be part of that 4.2%. That was just a goal I had, and I'll be honest, last year, 2023, we hit our goal. I became a million dollar company.
Shanna (32:04):
Go Lindsay Snaps.
Lindsey (32:07):
But I have a lot of shame I think around sharing that. I haven't even told my team that. I just haven't told my team that we are a million dollar company. I don't feel like, I don't know. I feel not shame around it. Uncomfortable really uncomfortable about it. And there's not a lot of people who know that. And now I'm sharing it on a podcast, so here we go. But here we go
Shanna (32:26):
Public, you're all in
Lindsey (32:30):
In now. But I don't know, I just feel like it's something I have only felt really, I don't know. I've only shared with my close inner business circle of women that I meet with every month and that own businesses. I know that they get it, but that I feel like people don't understand, oh, you're a million. It's like, well, no, how many expenses come with running a business as well? Do you know what I paid in taxes?
Shanna (32:51):
Yeah,
Lindsey (32:52):
All that stuff. But yeah, I guess a little bit of shame or just uncomfortableness.
Shanna (32:57):
Thank you for sharing that because I love when you said you're motivated by money and what you said it's really achievement, but money can be a metric in that and you don't hear a lot of, especially female owned business owners. I know a lot of achievement motivated people, but not a lot of people are like, yeah, money. But I think a lot of us would say that we want to hit these bigger numbers and not at the cost of our family or the life we want or those kind of things, but I just love it. But you're so right. What is it that makes us be like, I just don't know if I want to share this. I had a friend of mine, another friend who works in finance, this was a while back, and he mentioned when you start making money, it can be a little bit isolating if other people don't get it or they look at a million dollars and think you could go buy a jet or something. It's just so unfathomable. Does that make sense? And so it can be kind of isolating.
Lindsey (34:10):
Yeah. I feel like it's more so just a, I didn't want it to define me. I never wanted to change my actions or change the true values of why I started this or make people look at me differently or I pray that I stay true to my values and why I started this business and it genuinely never was. It was about having a comfortable lifestyle for my family and doing something I love every day. But as someone I think who is a little bit more on the workaholic side myself, I tend to lean towards that tendency of overworking, and now it's a question of I'm starting to question my motives and my values. What is it that I'm striving for and what is enough? If it's money, it's never going to be enough. I'm always going to be chasing. So now it's really forcing me to just reflect at my own values and be like, what is my motivation right now? What is it? And honestly, I'm starting to realize I'm in a season of life where I'm like, if we could just replicate last year and do it again, I would be really happy. I love growth. I love growth, and trust me, we're still pursuing new revenue streams and we're still pushing, but I also want to go and be with my kids more because I feel like I've worked hard enough to deserve that. Yeah.
Shanna (35:22):
Oh, this is also good. I always love to ask, what would you say is the best thing that you have learned about money?
Lindsey (35:32):
I think it's just to hold it all loosely. Ultimately, I think these resources can come in and they can go out just as fast, and none of it defines me, and I feel like I've learned the more my husband and I set these giving goals and that we have chosen to give to organizations that we believe in specifically. We love supporting missionaries. God has just taken whatever we've give and blessed it and created more of it. And so I'm just like, I'm so inspired by that and so inspired by the giving portion of it. Good people that make good money can do really great things in this world.
Shanna (36:09):
Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Okay, circling back for a second to defining enough, that's one of my mottoes in business. I teach it all the time. What is enough for you and specifically finding harmony in your work and your life? So when you started, you weren't making any money, you were doing all the things on the side just to pay your team. Last year, you hit a huge milestone in business, honestly, and that pendulum swing from not having enough to feeling like, wow, this is a huge goal achieved. How are you seeking to at this moment find harmony and say, okay, you know what? I want to work less. What's that look like? How can we make money without more time? How are you seeking to find the harmony in work and life?
Lindsey (37:01):
Yeah, that's a good question. I always say I feel like this year I chose, we choose a word. I do this with my women's business circle that I'm a part of. We meet once a month. It's like a little women's mastermind, and the word I chose was stabilize. I just want to find stability because I feel like I'm the type of person in just every faucet of my life, motherhood, everything hosted, all the things I just say, I pack it on, I pack it on, I pack it on, I pack it on until I break, and I do that with everything. I do that with my business. I do that with life. I just, yep, yep, I can do it. I can do it. I can handle it. I can handle it. I can handle it. I can't handle it. I snap and I break, and I just want to stop reaching that point, and I want to find stability in life and in motherhood and be able to say no and set boundaries when I need to set boundaries so I don't have that breaking point.
(37:45):
And so I'm finally at a place where I'm like, I value sleep. I value my health. In order for me to keep doing this, I need to be a healthy individual. And while I'm here preaching health and fitness to motherhood, I'm the one who's burning the midnight oil, staying up till 1:00 AM working, getting up and filming an intense workout the next day. It's just, it's not matching up. And I'm just really at a point where I feel like I have worked so hard to build this company to the point where it can run, and I have an amazing team in place, and that was the goal, that I don't want to be the linchpin in my business anymore, that if I want to take a week off, I can truly do that and my business can operate without me, and that's a beautiful place to be.
(38:24):
And so I would love to take a week sabbatical. I know it sounds crazy, but just one week where I literally don't log on or check anything. Every time I do go on vacation or do step away, I'm still constantly touching things and checking things. So I would love to just unplug for a week maybe, or my really goal right now, and I did this last summer for the first time was to go part-time and be home with my kids two days during the summer, and I would love to get to a place of part-time all the time. I just really want to be with my kids more. They're so precious and they're just at such an awesome stage, and they still love me and want to be with me all the time, and so I want to capitalize on that. I want to work less.
(39:00):
I want to pick them up from school more and not send them to afterschool programming as much. And so just trying to find that balance is still really tricky in running a business. I've always been someone who leads by example, and so I don't want to feel like if I'm stepping out early on a Tuesday to pick up my kids or whatever, that my team, I don't know. You know what I mean? How do I continue to motivate my team while also scaling back a little bit? And so that's something I've always struggled with personally and professionally, and so I don't really know how to manage that. I always lead by example, and so I'm trying to figure out how to continue to lead, but be able to say like, Nope, I'm being part-time with my kids more.
Shanna (39:36):
Yeah. Oh, I'm excited, Lindsay, to watch your journey, that's your 2024
Lindsey (39:42):
Is
Shanna (39:42):
Finding that stability. It's
Lindsey (39:43):
Always stability.
Shanna (39:45):
Yes. I love it.
Lindsey (39:47):
I say that and then I'm looking at my calendar and I'm like, oh my gosh, we're launching merch. We're doing new revenue stream. We're still, I'm like, yeah, about that. Slowing down instability.
Shanna (39:58):
You know what? It's really interesting, Lindsay, that I've heard this so much, even with habit forming for someone who enjoys work and you love what you do, but you also know you have these values at home that you want to pursue more. It's like slowing down at work is hard, hard. It's like you're accustomed to a certain pace, and so often people will be slow down, take time off. And it's like what I've learned is you can't just slow down. You have to replace that with other activity. And I'm sure you've seen this when you're home with your kids during the summer. It's like you can't just sit at home. You're not wired for that. But it's like, okay, well now let's replace it with something else. And that's what I've always found if is helpful for me.
Lindsey (40:47):
Shift yes. Shifts. It's so hard to slow down when you're accustomed to growing.
Shanna (40:51):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's like a habit. It's a habit. And if you want to retrain a habit, I mean, hello. With fitness, it's like can't. It's not about quitting something, it's about replacing it and
Lindsey (41:03):
Well, and what's hard from a business mindset, and you talk about being money motivated is I now know how to make money. I see other revenue streams out there, and so by not pursuing them or not working towards them, I feel like I'm either leaving money on the table or I'm cutting my business or myself or my team short by not pursuing this thing that I know we could pursue, but it's going to require more of my time, more of my energy. And so it's just trying to navigate that.
Shanna (41:28):
And you know what? I want to be encouraging and say you can do it all. But that's what I have found in my own personal business that there are seasons where it's like we are limiting our growth for right now in order for me to pursue these other things that matter in this season of life, or you hire a team member or something. So I'm interested in seeing how you navigate this. I'm excited. Me
Lindsey (41:52):
Too.
Shanna (41:53):
Keep us posted. Lindsay, it's been so cool to hear about your journey and your energy is, you're so vibrant, but also just so real about growing company is hard managing members of your team, what a joy they are, but it's hard. It's a full time. You're growing kids and it's a lot, and just thanks for being real about it and the mindset and the stuff you're thinking through and working on just about restructuring your days. It's a lot. It's a big thing for a lot of us business owners, and I just appreciate your realness and what's going well and the things you're working on. Thanks for sharing.
Lindsey (42:34):
Yeah, I mean, it's so fun just to connect with other entrepreneurs and just to, I mean, I'm always so intrigued how other people build their businesses, and I'm always asking people, how many hours are you working? Are you still working all the time? It's just so intriguing.
Shanna (42:47):
Yeah. I do want to do a little quick fire just with some fun questions. Let's do it. Quick fire. Okay. What is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?
Lindsey (42:56):
Embarrassed? Oh, embarrassed. There's probably so many traits that I would be embarrassed of if people knew, oh, that's a tough question. Pass. I got to come back. Pass.
Shanna (43:10):
Embarrassed. Okay. Some people don't get embarrassed easily. That's okay.
Lindsey (43:14):
I know. I'm also like, yeah, I kind of put everything out there. I mean, I share most of my life on the internet.
Shanna (43:20):
Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Lindsey (43:23):
Oh, so many. I mean, I wish I could redo how I grew this business. I wish I would've known SEO sooner, how to monetize differently, sooner. But I think at the end of the day, you can only know what you know and you have to go through the muck to learn it. So probably no, no. You got to go through the muck to learn it. Yeah.
Shanna (43:40):
Okay. Big win or pinch me moment.
Lindsey (43:44):
I think even just sitting here right now, I'm like, man, I get to talk about my business and I have a team of three people. I never thought I'd have a team of three people in my life. Oh, I would say, okay, so pitch me moment this January. We went to the studio and shot merch people. I'm launching merch, nourish, move Love, and Holy Bananas apparel. That's what I say. It's holy bananas in a workout when it gets tough. People actually want to wear clothing that says, holy bananas are nourish, move love on it, and we're going to sell it. What I never would've thought when I started this business, that would even be a thing. Lindsay,
Shanna (44:12):
When's your march coming out? I want to know about this drop.
Lindsey (44:16):
Yeah, it's going to be limited. We're going to just test it and be like five day drops, but it's happening in March is what we're going to do. Our first drop in March, then again in April. Then I don't know what the plan is yet.
Shanna (44:24):
Okay. I'm pumped about it. Holy bananas. Alright. Holy bananas. Best advice or just really good advice that you've received
Lindsey (44:33):
In business? Start an email list as soon as I started my business. That was really great advice. I'm glad I did that in life. Hold it all loosely. I think I'm one that just always held tight to everything and think I have to control it all. Hold it all loosely. I'm not in control.
Shanna (44:49):
That's a hard one for us. Love to be in control people.
Lindsey (44:53):
Yes.
Shanna (44:54):
Yeah. Okay. Last quick fire and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Lindsey (45:02):
Yeah, I mean, I'm currently setting up our merch site that's about to go live in a couple of weeks. So Merch is going to go live and writing our new summer program. We do these big signature programs. We did Metcon 100, which was super fun for the new year, and now we're going to do a new summer program. So we're always working on something over here, that's for sure. But I am in workout writing mode and writing a new workout program, which I always love and I love filming. That's the favorite part of my job,
Shanna (45:26):
Isn't it? Cool? We get to do stuff that we are passionate about, enjoy doing and make money doing it. I just think entrepreneurship is what a gift. I mean, hard work.
Lindsey (45:40):
Yes, it is. It's a beautiful thing. I feel so grateful to all filming workouts, my job, and there's a lot more that goes with it, but if you ever read Big Magic, that book, it's like sometimes you just have to eat the crummy sandwiches that come along with the really good stuff. Right. Nothing in life is always good.
Shanna (45:58):
Yeah. Yeah. So good. Okay, let's send it off, Lindsay. Let's do it. I think we should go back to day one of quitting your sales job, living on your commissions, doing all the things to make money. What would you tell yourself now, looking back to 2015?
Lindsey (46:17):
Oh my goodness. You worked way too hard. I know that's a crazy thing to say to someone probably, but I feel like I just always worked way too hard at everything. I always did. I always worked way too hard and probably didn't rest enough. Enjoy the little things in life enough and something I'm trying to get better at. My husband's so good at slowing me down and helping me just stop and enjoy. I'm so quick to celebrate, not celebrate the wins, and just always charge for the next thing. But I worked way too hard in life up to this point in those moments just to be smarter, enjoy, rest more,
Shanna (46:55):
And I think what you nailed it just then celebrating the wins. That's something for me that's been, I'm not an Enneagram three, but I test as an achiever all the time and just slowing down enough to be like, Hey, what was a win today? Because I see all the things that I could have done or should have done or want to do better, and just being like, Hey, what was the wind today? This slows me down. So I love that you're sharing that,
Lindsey (47:23):
Trying to just sit on the floor and play magnet tiles with my kids more and not be constantly stewing on 27 business ideas that are running through my head at the same time.
Shanna (47:33):
Easier said than done. Right. Lindsay, thanks for coming on the show. You're providing such an amazing service for moms and people who want to do health in a more holistic way, and it's just fun to hear your business journey. So thanks for sharing.
Lindsey (47:53):
Thanks for having me. It was super fun to chat and share and yeah, thanks. I'm excited to follow along with the podcast.
Lauren (47:59):
Hey, wildflower, 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 Lindsay. Okay. Before you go, can I be honest with you about something? I am the worst at remembering to rate, subscribe, and review podcast. It wasn't until I started working on this podcast that I understood how powerful those things are. So if you have a moment to stop unloading the dishwasher or pause your batch work, it would mean the absolute world to our team. If you left a review or sent this episode to a friend. Your support helps to keep this podcast going and growing. And of course, before we leave, one final thought for today from Richard Branson. A business is simply an idea to make other people's lives better. As always, thank you for listening. See you next time.
