L3 Leadership Podcast Transcriptions: Christy Wright on How to Make Money Doing What You Love

Doug Smith: 02:16 Thank you, Christy. So much for being willing to do this interview. And why don’t we just start off with you just telling us a little about who you are and what you do?

Christy Wright: 03:01 Yeah. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited about this. I, uh, I’m a certified business coach and Ramsey personality and I lead the business boutique, which is where we are equipping women to make money doing what they love. I just love helping women start side businesses and small businesses and grow their businesses so they can find work that matters to them and really create the income and the flexibility that will help them create a life that they love. So it’s just, it’s been an incredible five years I guess now of building this thing. And that’s really where my heart is, is taking my background in business and helping women when with business.

Doug Smith: 03:35 Sure. So let’s just talk about business boutique right now. So I’m just curious, can you dive a little deeper? I know you read a book and now it’s turned into this whole movement. Can you kind of give scoped and why you created a business boutique and the services that you offer?

Christy Wright: 03:47 Yeah, for sure. So I think it’s really important to look at different seasons of your life and pay attention to what God’s doing and the stage that I’m in right now, I’m starting to see puzzle pieces, if you will, of my life come together in a way I couldn’t have anticipated. So a few years ago when we were looking as a company, Ramsey solutions for the succession and scalability for the future. Ramsey personalities were really the vision behind that. And I was a speaker and we wanted to move me into this space. And so we started to try to find the intersection between my story and my strengths and my skills and the need in the marketplace and the opportunity in the marketplace. And that’s really where business boutique, the early stages. We didn’t have the name at the time, of course, but that’s where the idea and the concept was birthed because my mom started a business when I was six months old as a single mom and she still has that business to this day, by the way.

Christy Wright: 04:38 So I was raised by a single mom, entrepreneurs that shaped me greatly in life. I’ve always loved business. I have a degree in business. And then I became a certified business coach. I’ve done bits of business coaching for years, even before business boutique. So obviously have a heart and skills and experience in business. But then you see in the marketplace, there’s never been a better time to start a business. So you have thousands, millions of people entering the marketplace, uh, in order to take their idea to market or take their hobby and turn it into a business or quit their full-time job that they hate. And do something that they love. There are a variety of motivations, might be moms that want to have more flexibility with our kids, but the holdup is they don’t know business, you know, they don’t have a background in business like I do, they don’t know business.

Christy Wright: 05:21 And so they get excited about their idea, their craft or their product or their service and they get out there and, and it gets hard and they get overwhelmed and they think, well, what about taxes and how do I sell without being pushy and when do I pay myself? And what about business licenses? And it’s at that moment that they want to give up. And they think, well, I was never cut out for business anyway. Well, I don’t have a background in business. I don’t have a business degree. I guess this was always a bad idea. I should have never done it. And, and that’s not true. You know, you need what anyone needs, you just need help. And so I love coming alongside people, men, and women, but specifically we help women in the business boutique, coming alongside them, helping them with the business side of things so that they can do more of what they love and less of what they don’t and they can win in business even if gasp, they are not a business minded or a business background, you just need help with those things and they can, they can still when they just need help and that’s where I come in.

Christy Wright: 06:13 So I just love taking my strengths and backgrounds and, and, and taking that to market and solving that problem for people so they can build businesses also. I love that. So, so talk to the man or woman listening who, who, that idea of starting a business is gone around in their head, but they don’t know where to start. What’s your recommendation to them? Should you know? Uh, I know there’s a lot of network marketing businesses out there that they can join. They may have a passion for something and not know if it’s a good business idea or not. Where, where can people to start with this idea of starting a business, so if they have an idea if they already have an idea, but they’re not sure where to start, I will tell you the most important first step of any business is identifying the problem it solves.

Christy Wright: 06:53 So let’s talk about that for a second. When you have a hobby, it’s very focused on you. It doesn’t need to solve a problem. It’s a creative outlet. You just love it. You do it because it’s fun. If you decide to turn that hobby into a business or if you just decide to start a business that has nothing to do with the hobby, that then becomes others focused. It’s not focused on you and it’s not for you. It’s for others, and that’s why we start businesses, is to help people in some way to solve a problem or fill a need or I’m somehow serving people in some way and so you have to know what problem you solve through your business idea. Once you know that though, that’s why this is the most important first step. Once you know that you have so many other really important pieces of information about your business, this business idea goes from really, really fuzzy to more clear and then you begin to see these pieces tempt come together and begin to see how this could work.

Christy Wright: 07:49 So for example, once you know the problem that you solve, you also know your target market because your target market are people that have that problem. So now you know who you exist to serve and who you’re going to go after in your marketing, who your customer is that you’re going to build products and services for, who to research, who to get to know that kind of thing. The second piece of information you know is you know your value proposition. You know your basis for charging. Why would someone pay you because you solve that problem? So now you’ve got competence in your pricing. You’ve got direction around what your price should be. You’ve got confidence in your value proposition because now it’s no longer a hobby like, well, how would I ever get people to pay me for my painting? Well, when you know the problem, those painting solve, you know, have competence in getting paid for that thing that used to do just for fun.

Christy Wright: 08:35 You also know your marketing language because all you’re going to talk about all day, every day on your website, in your brochures, in your social media is how you solve that problem. So when you uncover the most important piece of information about your business, which is the problem you solve, you begin to see with more clarity all these other aspects of your business. You also know that is a viable business idea because if you solve a problem, then you can make money. You can charge for it and it can make money. Now, I will tell you as a side note, people ask me all the time, how do I know if my idea can make money? You know, if your idea can make money, if it solves a problem, that’s what you charge for a canning money. What I really think they’re asking though is will it, will it make money?

Christy Wright: 09:19 And the only way to know if your idea will make money is to try it. You’ve got to put it out there and it’s a conversation we have with the marketplace and they respond and you iterate and tweak things and turn up the dial and turn down this dial as you learn and get your feet wet and business. But, uh, I think people are asking can it make money when what they’re really asking is will it make money and the only way to know if it will is by actually trying it, but, but identifying the problem you solve through your business, the best first step for any person, man or woman in any industry, you’ve got to know the problem. You solve a little bit about charging. So I am curious, do you have any advice or thoughts on how to actually figure out what to charge?

Christy Wright: 09:56 I’m really interested in the psychology of this, right? So you probably have people that are thinking, I’m not worth anything, so I’m going to charge as low as possible. And then you have people on the other end of the spectrum of charging high. How can people figure out what to charge for their service or product? Yeah. The way that I teach people and coach people are to look at multiple variables and you come up with a price range and within that price range you test. So, um, it’s not a perfect formula where you plug in all these numbers and you come up with an exact number and that’s the price you stay up forever. It doesn’t work like that. And you know, the biggest corporations in the world do price testing and they’re trying to figure it out like we are there in boardrooms, going, well, so do we start here here, you know, uh, so we’d like to believe it’s black and white, but it’s not, it’s actually a really great area topic.

Christy Wright: 10:40 But I will tell you a couple different variables to look at. Let’s talk about specifically product-based businesses. Product based businesses want to look at several variables. You obviously want to look at your cost of goods and materials. So what goes into creating that product? You have to look at your other expenses. So overhead of running your business, lighting and phone bills and delivery and shipping, packaging and stamps and that type of thing. You want to look at your location, so if you are a retail storefront, for example, I’m in downtown Nashville, you’re going to be able to charge more than someone that’s in small town, Alabama, so your location can dictate the price, especially if it’s an in-person product or service for that matter. Um, depending on the the geographic location, you want to think about the quality, you know, how high quality is it?

Christy Wright: 11:27 Is it really high-quality leather and your wallets or is it Kinda the cheapo plastic and your wallets that’s going to dictate the price, which obviously would affect the cost of goods as well. You wanna think about your competition. You don’t want to price based on your competition, but you need to know what they’re charging. You also want to understand what the market will bear. So for products specifically, there is a more, a narrow range of what the market will bear for, for products. So for example, a pie usually costs between 10 and $40. If you’ve got a $200 pie, like this pie better make me lose weight, not gaining weight, right? Like there must be something very special about your Pi if it’s $200 because the market won’t bear a $200 pie. It’s probably between 10 and $40. Now here’s what’s interesting and I want to speak to your listeners that have service-based businesses.

Christy Wright: 12:14 While the range is very tight on product-based businesses  because it’s typically a markup from your cost of goods. There are no cost of goods and services, right? It’s just your time, your skills, your talent. If you’re a photographer, if you’re an attorney if you’re a business coach or a personal organizer, fitness coach, that type of thing. So in a service based business, the range of what the market will bear, the range for competition, the range that you can charge is so much wider which can make it more difficult to charge. So you have photographers that will shoot your wedding for free because they want to build their portfolio and you have photographers that are $50,000 to shoot your wedding. You have public speakers that will speak at your high school reunion for free and you have those that are $250,000 for a one hour keynote, so there’s an incredibly huge range in the service based business because it’s a little bit more of a gray area.

Christy Wright: 13:09 There’s no cost of goods you’re marking up and it has more to do with your skills, your talent, the value you bring. Now, now let’s camp here with the service-based business, and I’m super tactical on this one just because I think this will give people things to hold onto and take home and apply. If you’re in the service space business, there are certain times that you need to raise your prices, so if you’re just starting out, you’re a newbie photographer and you want to have quote-unquote introductory rates as the Newbie to get experienced. Fine. That’s totally fine. Don’t stay there though. So here are some different scenarios in which you would want to raise your prices. Each year. Prices go up every year. Inflation cost of living every year. You should raise your prices probably in both businesses, product and service space, but definitely in service space and you notify your customers by 2019 rates for cutting your hair are I get this letter every year.

Christy Wright: 14:01 Still pay those rates. You expect it to go ahead and plan for that if you get any awards like in your industry. So our wedding photographer, um, this was in 2012, shot our wedding that fall. He was awarded, uh, the Nashville scene best photographer of the year in Nashville. So when my friend got a quote from him in the spring of the next year, his prices had gone up significantly and that was absolutely appropriate. He was the best photographer in Nashville is prices should reflect that if you have, if your portfolio grows, you have some really big name clients, you know, if you have big name clients that you’ve worked with that justifies the price increase that is indicative of your quality or should be, for example, as a speaker, once I had spoken to multiple fortune 500 companies like Bayer or Verizon, my speaking fee went up. So. So they’re in a service based business.

Christy Wright: 14:53 It can help you know when to raise your prices, not just over time, but as you may be hit some of these milestones to help you know how and when to raise them, but the other thing you want to keep in mind, and this is for product and service space businesses to two main things that I would drive home, do not be the cheapest, that I can’t stress that enough. Being the cheapest is a bad pricing plan. You have something to offer if your only unique advantage is the fact that you’re the cheapest. If the only value you can bring or the thing that you can stand on, it’s the fact that you’re the cheapest. You got a bigger problem in your business. Being the cheapest is a race to the bottom where whoever wins loses. This is not a good pricing plan, so do not be the cheapest.

Christy Wright: 15:34 If you look at competitions like, oh great, I’ll be the cheapest so people will offer me. That is a bad strategy. Do you need to have something else? Or You bring value to people and guess what? They’re happy to pay it, not just willing to happy too because you solved their problems and bring value to their life, so being the cheapest is a bad plan. That’s one thing I really want people to keep in mind whenever their pricing for their business, product or service, it doesn’t matter the product or service. The other thing that I would keep in mind is this is something that you’re always testing. You’re always testing and iterating. You’ll try a price and then maybe next to the price goes up. You’ll kind of work within a range. You could do split testing, so it’s not something that it’s set it and forget it and you definitely have one less thing.

Christy Wright: 16:14 I will add about that as you need to know your market because if there’s a group of people that you want to help, you need to know what they will pay. Now you can start with your price and attract. People will pay that or you can start with your market and say, I want to help this group of people. What are they willing to pay? And, and you can start with either, but your price needs to match your market because your target market is the group of people that want what you have to offer and they’re willing to pay the price you charge. You don’t want to try to help a group of people that have an average household income, for example, of $50,000 and you’ve got, you know, your lowest price course is five grand. There’s a disconnect there. So you want to make sure that whatever price you come up with matches the market that you’re trying to serve so that you can actually serve them.

Christy Wright: 16:57 This is so good and so practical, which I love, I love just actually something we can take home and do. Um, so you mentioned earlier that that oftentimes people, all people need his help. And so you’ve created this whole community business boutique to help people in this exact situation. So I’m just curious. I know you have a conference coming up. I know you have an entire membership site that people can join. Can you tell people that are listening and saying, wow, that last five minutes was unbelievably helpful? I want more how can people connect with you and what you’re doing and get involved so they can have a community helping them with some of these issues. Well, thank you for asking. I appreciate that. Well, everything is@businessboutique.com. So what you’ll find there is the book. I have a book that is the step by step plan to start your business or grow your business.

Christy Wright: 17:37 We have action items at the end of each chapter. It’s kind of like a workbook where you’re filling out your business plan as you go, so that would be a great starting level resource for people. We have the business boutique podcasts which is obviously totally free and it’s available on wherever you listen to iTunes and I have interview guests and teach there. The Business Beauty Academy is actually my coaching group and that is only enrollment is not open right now but it will be opened the last week of September, so I’m not sure when this airs, but that’s the only week that it’s open, but people can find out about that at businessboutique.com. And then I have a couple of courses like if you’re listening and you’re thinking, I want to start a business, but I don’t know what my idea is, I don’t know what my business should be. A have a course called business idea boot camp, and that’s where I walk you through a framework of how to brainstorm all of the best business ideas from the most important areas of your life, like your story and your strengths and so on, and then narrow that down and put it through a series of tests to find your best business idea so that you know which idea you should run with.

Christy Wright: 18:31 So if anyone’s listening and they don’t have a business but they’re thinking, I’d like one or I’d like to know if my business ideas good colloquy we’re talking about. That course would be a great starting point because it helps you know what your business should be and then you can read the book and fill out the plan. But it’s not really helpful to have a plan if you don’t know what your idea. So there’s a lot of variety. I don’t really care where or how people get help, I just want them to get help. And uh, certainly uh, here in Nashville, November first through the third will be having a really fun event. It’s close to selling out. So I don’t know when this Arif, there’ll be tickets still available, but that’s always a good time. We have a great lineup of speakers, but yeah, my heart is just for helping people chase their dreams. And so even if they just listen to the podcast and they never buy anything, that’s okay because I want people to get the help they need and we have a variety, kind of like we were talking about a variety of products and services. So whatever fits your budget and your dream, there’s something for you. So that’s really my goal.

Doug Smith: 19:21 I love that. And just a side note, if you’re listening to this, we did work out a deal with Ramsey solutions that if you want to attend a business boutique conference in November and use the code L3Leadership, you get 10 percent off your tickets and I highly encourage you to go check them out. You, that’s awesome. Yeah, and I am curious as far as building a movement or a tribe or community, what have you learned that’s working? Obviously, this has blown up and Business Boutique is everywhere. What’s been extremely helpful and if someone is just starting from scratch, building their community, what would you encourage them to spend their time doing? Oh, that’s a great question. I think there are a lot of things that, that lead to, um, you know, people connecting with the person or people connecting with the brand.  

Christy Wright: 20:02 I think first and foremost, foremost being authentic and being real, not being plastic, you know, uh, being a very relatable real person. Part of the reason I think that I connect with moms is because I’m a mom or I connect with women trying to balance it all. It’s because I’m trying to balance it all and they see pictures of me trying to wrangle my crazy kids or talking about laundry mountain that never goes away to my house. Like it’s real life. And, and I showed that side, uh, not to, not to, you know, almost like a manipulation technique, but to say, I’m like you and this is, this is hard and we’re in this together and that’s not marketing. That’s real, that’s true. And so I think being authentic give some, gives your tribe’s something authentic to connect with. They will sniff out a fake plastic all day, any day and nobody wants that.

Christy Wright: 20:44 They want a real person to connect with. And so being real and honest I think is really, really important. And then I would say the second thing in terms of building a tribe is, and this is probably the most important thing you can do in business, in social media building, in speaking and writing and podcasting, you should always focus on what you can give, not what you can get. And there is this, speaking of movements, there is this movement happening right now in social media where it’s the selfie generation, it’s how many likes can I get? How many followers can I get? How many views can I get? How much engagement can I get? How many comments can I get? How many sales can I get? How many reviews can I get? It’s not about what you can get. Business is not about what you can get.

Christy Wright: 21:27 It’s not about the money you can get the fans you can get. It’s about what you can give and people can tell the difference. And so I’ll give you a practical example. You know, I’ll have people come up to me sometimes at business boutique events and they’ll stand in line to shake my hand or I’ll have me sign their book or whatever and they’ll say, you know, I want to do what you do. I want to be a speaker. I want to be a speaker. I want to be on that stage right there. And I think that’s awesome. I actually really love coaching speakers, like I love helping them learn the craft and that type of thing. But here’s what I always say, Doug. I say, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to say? And there’s a difference that happens at that moment because the people that answer me instantly, they know what they want to say.

Christy Wright: 22:09 They know that burning message in your heart that they have to share the people that have to help, the hope they want to spread. Those are the people that are focused on what that can give. The people that are silent are the ones that I began to question if they’re in it for the spotlight or in it because it looks cool, they’re in it because I want to be on stage if I’m not on stage because I cause I care about a spotlight. I never had a dream in my life to be an author or speaker. Doug, like God opened these doors. I was like, people are like, oh, were you so happy? Have a dream fulfilled of writing a book. It’s like that little 16-year-old girl in high school never had that dream. I couldn’t dream that big. That’s, you know, it’s like the Bible says more than you could ask or imagine and it’s about what you can give.

Christy Wright: 22:44 So when you’re, if you have people that are listening, that are podcasts, when you’re crafting an episode, everything about that podcast episode should be what you can give. Not Can. I get people to join my email list. Can I get, can I get kind of what can I give a? When you go onstage, what value can I give? Not Can I get a standing ovation? Can I get applause? What can I give? How can I help people in business? What can you give? So, so what that does is it changes your whole heart and how you approach your customers and people gravitate towards that because not only are you are authentic, but you’re giving to them. You’re giving them value. You are insanely generous, but what will happen is they will give right back. They will give you those reviews. They will give you their money.

Christy Wright: 23:26 They will pay you. You will aren’t a profit. You will be successful and have fans and followers, but it’s not because you set out to get it. It’s because you focused on giving and the response people responded to that generosity. That’s the way the business works. When you focus on what you can give, and by the way, it’s also just a great relationship. Tactics like in your marriage, focus on what you can give. Focus on how you can give your spouse compliments, not get them how you can give extra help around the house, not get it, and when you focus on what you can give, watch how they respond. It’s a brilliant strategy in all aspects of life. If you just focus on what you can give.

Doug Smith: 24:02 I love that. Speaking of being authentic, so I love that. And you’ve talked about being a mom and just a side note, again, I don’t want you all of your Instagram stories but I love when you just go y’all again on the south, but I just love that. I wish I could pull that off but I can’t. But you talked to moms that are listening to this. So my wife and I also have two, two kids and my wife just went back to work after our second one, after maternity leave. What are you learning about being a mom and working at the same time? It could be helpful to those listening. So

Christy Wright: 24:30 many things, so many things. I’m learning. A couple things I have noticed and this is I think probably some of your listeners will identify with this. I think this is a men’s and women’s issue, it just evidences itself differently, but I think that where the guilt in my life comes from comes from focusing on the wrong thing. So I’ll give you an example. Women tend to, and I can only speak on behalf of women since I am one, but women tend to always focus on where we are, not what we are not doing, where we are falling short, where we have failed in some way. So if I’m on this episode, this podcast episode with you, I could be thinking about my kids. Are they okay? Are they sick, did I get dinner ready? Do they have what they need? And then I’m not present with you and I feel guilty for not being with them, but then I go home and I’m physically present with them, but I’m thinking that I didn’t finish that email and I never wrote that script and I didn’t respond to that phone call.

Christy Wright: 25:26 And I’m behind at work and even though my body’s with them, I feel guilty because I’m focused on work because I’m always focused on where I’m not. We look at our to-do list and we don’t focus on what we did, do we focus on what we didn’t get to and we live our lives perpetually full of guilt. And so the shift for me happened when I realized I’m not going to focus on where I’m not. I’m going to focus on where I am and that helps me shake the guilt. So the analogy I use is a car and it’s the difference of living your life perpetually looking in the rear view mirror of what you’re leaving behind and instead of flipping and saying, I’m going to look through the front windshield of where I am and what I’m driving too. So right now, Doug, I’m hanging out with you and I’m not thinking about my kids.

Christy Wright: 26:07 You know what? They’re fine. They’re totally fine. And so I get to be with you and talk about leadership and talk about business and talk about helping women and men chase their dreams. And I am in it. I’m totally here with you, but when I go home I’m going to be with my kids and I’m not going to be thinking about you or your listeners or anything. I’m going to be playing on the playground with my kids and it’s about being present where you are and I think we miss our life when we focus on where we’re not and that’s where that guilt comes from. Of course we feel guilty if all we ever think about is what we didn’t do and where we didn’t go and what we didn’t get to, and of course, you don’t get to everything and of course not everywhere.

Christy Wright: 26:44 You can’t be everywhere and do everything but in place of all those things you didn’t get to. There’s a shining list of things. She did things she did well, places that you were successful and things you did check off and so I think it’s just so easy to focus on what we didn’t get to. I think this really hit me, Doug, actually, when I came back from maternity leave with my first son, Carter and I didn’t do a lot of things on maternity leave that I thought I would. I didn’t take my son to a pumpkin patch. I didn’t fill out a book like I thought for sure I would because all the good moms for sure do that on the train. Like I didn’t do a lot of things, but here’s what I did do and I could focus on that. Oh, I failed.

Christy Wright: 27:25 I didn’t go to the pumpkin patch. We didn’t get the annual pumpkin patch pictures. Well now we have to have a baby to put in the pumpkin patch, but you know, it sounds silly, but it’s so real. It wears on your soul and your spirit and your competence. But here’s what I did do. I worked really hard on maternity leave to work out and get back in shape, which made me feel good about myself. I could wear my clothes. I went back to work and I could be on stage and have energy. I traveled some and I actually brought my son with me, so no, he wasn’t in a pumpkin patch land, but he got to see his mom on stage and travel with me and be in a different city. He’d been like seven states in his first year of life. Like there were a lot of things I did do.

Christy Wright: 28:00 And so in any, in any season of life, in any day, you can focus on what you didn’t do or you can focus on what you did do. And I just encourage men and women to be proud of what you did do. Um, because when I, when I do that, when I looked through the front windshield, it helps me shake the guilt and life balance is not about this 50/50 split of work at home. That’s not realistic. It’s about being 100 percent present. Wherever you are, be there, be where your feet are and then you won’t miss the moment you’re actually in.

Doug Smith: 28:30 That is so good. We have a few minutes left and I have to ask this, but you’ve been a part of Ramsey solutions now for years and I get to work for one of the best leaders, I’m sure in the world. Dave Ramsey. What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in leadership and business just as a result of being on Stafford Ramsey solutions?  

Christy Wright: 28:47 This is going to sound so simple, and it may have been some of your listeners might say, oh, that’s cheesy. That’s fine, but it’s true. This is an easy answer for me because it affects everything we do here, live your life and run your business by the golden rule. It’s that simple. Treat other people how you’d want to be treated. When do you have a team member that needs time off because they have a sick baby? How would you want to be treated when you have a customer that’s frustrated because they’re packaged, came and the dog chewed it up and the male band basically kicked it to their front door. How would you want to be treated like in every scenario if you treat people how you’d want to be treated, what will happen is you will be so insanely generous and you know why? Because that’s what you would want people to do with you.

Christy Wright: 29:30 You know Doug, this has even affected. We have a nanny. I had someone tell me one time, by the way, that I shouldn’t say that publicly because people will think is too Bougie. I don’t even care dog. Here’s the thing. I need help. Okay. My name helps. I’m not even upstairs. My nanny has changed my life, so I haven’t. Annie and I are proud of it. That’s fine. Anyway, so our nanny in the spring, she’s amazing. She is a part of our family. I adore her. I adore her so much. She’s not a quote-unquote employee. She’s a part of our family now. We have expectations of hours and pay and we have a professional relationship, but she’s family and she came to me in February and said, my dad’s dying. He has cancer. And I said, do you need to go home and you need to stay for a long time?

Christy Wright: 30:14 And she went home and spent the whole last month of his life by side and we figured it out and we paid for everything and I don’t regret that one minute because why? Because you treat people how you’d want to be treated. Because if it was my dad, I’d want to be by aside. And it’s amazing how that one principal can change how you run your business and how you live your life. Live your life by the golden rule. Treat people how you would want to be treated. It’s simple. I love that. A few minutes left, just want to ask you a bunch of fun questions. What I call the lightning round questions just got choked up. So let’s, let’s pick it up to. So what is one belief or behavior that’s changed your life? It’s all God’s. It’s all God’s. I can’t be arrogant about anything because everything’s got even my work ethic.

Christy Wright: 31:01 Doug has God’s like, I can’t even really proud of the fact that I worked my butt off because the fact that I work really hard, that work ethic is God-given, so if you just realize that God owns it all, it really does help you have the right heart of being a steward of what you have, your money, your place, your things, your kids. You’re not. They’re not my kids. It’s not my business, it’s not my brand. It’s gods and I need to steward it and that has a game changer for me. Love it. If you could put a quote on a billboard for everyone to read, what would it say? You got this! That’s, that’s, that’s it. That’s what I write in all my books and I sign it and that’s where the title of the last chapter of my book. I think it’s just like just speaking that life over people in that confidence over people.

Christy Wright: 31:40 You got this, you can do it. Stick with it. You got this. What’s the best purchase you’ve made in the last year for $100 or less? Are you ready for this? This is a, I’m not a sponsor of this company. Let me start by this $22. I believe it so much it is, and it’s this bumble and bumble and bumble hair powder. That means that it makes me not have to wash my hair every day. Not Doug. That may not sound like a big deal to you, but for a girl that gets ready. That has saved me the equivalent of like five hours a week. Do you know what I can do in five hours a week? Like, change the world, Doug, like this hair powder. Twenty-two bucks. Twenty-two bucks got me five hours a week. That’s some good Roi. Bumble and bumble. This. It’s so fantastic.

Christy Wright: 32:22 I don’t have to wash my hair, but every few days it’s so great. It’s awesome. Best Book you’ve read in the last year outside of Ramsey solution books. I’m reading right now. I’m still in the middle of it. I’ve been reading it for a while because I kind of took a break, a grit by Angela Duckworth. Fantastic book about passion and perseverance. I’m just like so into it right now. Favorite podcast outside of Ramsey solution podcasts, which are. I’ve got a few. I love Amy Porterfield, Andy Stanley, Pat Flynn, which is smart passive income, fantastic. One and a gold digger with Jenna Kutcher. Those all go with Amy Porterfield. Pat Flynn are probably my top two. They’re both excellent. Um, we’re running out of time. I know you have. Melissa, are you sure? Yeah, I’m good. Okay. Um, where were we? What do you wish you knew about? What do you wish people knew about your journey that they may not know?

Christy Wright: 33:13 I gotta think about that for a second. Um, okay. I think that, um, you may know this, I guess because I just got choked up, but I feel like most people don’t know that I’m actually insanely sensitive. Like I’ve Kinda got this like hard driving, fast pay, super aggressive go-getter thing going on, which is true. I mean, I am like, I’m super ambitious. Dave. Dave has referred me true story publicly by the way, onstage on the radio show and a staff meeting as a bulldozer, a steamroller based and a force of nature. So first of all, good thing I’m confident because none of the feminine words, but if anybody’s familiar with the disc assessment, I’m very high. I’m like 99 percent. I am very high d, like 85, but I’m a pretty high ess which is sensitive. And so I’m, I’m sensitive to others with empathy like I can’t watch a story without getting teared up or a movie or you know, but I’m also sensitive myself.

Christy Wright: 34:11 So you’d think like, well, because she’s so tough, you know, negative feedback doesn’t even phase her and it does like, I mean I get know my feelings get hurt, you know, like anybody else’s. I think people, people I think are always kind of surprised by that. Because I’m just always out there on the frontlines of yeah, let’s do, just kind of go get our steamroller apparently. But I’m definitely very sensitive as well. What’s your greatest challenge right now? Organization. An organization that kids, kids and piles and puppies and paperwork, like help a sister out. Like if I do, it’s just, it’s a struggle. What are you dreaming about now? Um, we’re, we’re in a weird transition with business boutique in a good way, in a really good way, but I think we’re about to turn the whole business model on its head and I’m dreaming with the business leaders of what this could look like and I think it’s the future going to look very different from what we thought when we started, which is what business is like.

Christy Wright: 35:02 You’re always iterating, you’re always changing and responding. I think there’s some low hanging fruit and that we’re missing out on some opportunities and some really dreaming about the future of business boutique and what the next year to two years could be that I think we’ll see incredible growth and impact just because we’re opening our mind to opportunities we didn’t think about when we started. We started with what we knew and now we’re going, oh, there’s some other stuff that we didn’t know and now we’re learning it. That I think is helping us change the model. Some business boutique end of that sounds vague, but, but changing the business model of Business Boutique. Great. You have, so you now have an additional five hours a week. Thanks to the bumble and bumble. I’m just curious, what is. What is the greatest investment outside of your family, which is obvious of your time and money right now that you’re seeing a return on?

Christy Wright: 35:53 My first response would obviously be just my kids, just that quality time with kids and I want to point that out. Quality time, not screen time, quality time. Like where your phone is down and you’re looking them in the eyes and playing. I guess if, if it’s, if I can’t say, family, which is my natural, I would say myself and what I mean by that is things that make me like myself and women are very prone to pushing that to the background. Like, oh, I don’t need to take care of me. They always put themselves last. But what happens is if they never filled themselves up and they have nothing to give, and so when I go for a run for myself or when I go get a massage or when I read a good book or I’d, you know, have a night alone if that ever happened, if I, if I do something for me, I’m happier and I’m better for my family and I’m a better mom and I’m a better wife and I’m a better leader because I took some time to take care of me.

Christy Wright: 36:47 I took some time to do things that make me like myself. And, and a lot of women, unfortunately, have this mother Theresa Syndrome where they just, uh, you know, want to be the hero to everybody all day. But they lived their lives rushed and running ragged and they’re grumpy and busy and burnout. And I don’t think anybody wants that. Like I want my kids to see a happy mom. I think the best thing I can do for my kids and not be a helicopter mom providing for, you know, staring at their eyes all day,  , giving them everything they want. But just take some time for me and, and be a happy person to be around. And so I think that that is one of those things that men and women, by the way, uh, we’re so goal oriented and productivity driven that we dismissed that because we don’t see immediate Roi, but there’s an unbelievable return on your investment when you take some time for you for those things that make you come alive and fill you back up so that you can give to other people. But if you, if you’re running on empty, you don’t have anything to give. So I think, you know, just in terms of time, man, those times that I’ve taken us to go for a run myself always, I’m always pays off for everybody by the way, not just for me, for everybody. Go, run. Please come back, please go run.

Christy Wright: 37:57 Do you have one or two questions that you go to when you get to spend time with high-quality leaders? Obviously, you guys have, we just coming in there all the time. That good to spend time with where your favorite questions ask them. Uh, I like to ask about, I like to ask about problems, so like a, not to focus on the negative, but I’m like, what, what’s a blind spot you see young people have, or what’s a blind spot you see an up and coming leaders have what’s a, what’s a big mistake, a common mistake you see? Because it helps me avoid those things. Like I know a lot of right things. I’m around a lot, right teaching, I have great mentors and I read books and um, you know, um, I, I get a lot of the right stuff, but what are the wrong things that may be trip people up that I didn’t see a landmine that I, that I wouldn’t see coming that I could get caught up in.

Christy Wright: 38:42 Um, and so, uh, for example, I have a leader that pours into me here and he’s on the board and he’s just brilliant leader. And he said, Chris, because we’re wired the exact same. So he really gets me. And he said, Christy said you get places really quickly and when you cut, like mentally, you’re like, you’ve already jumped to fifth, 15 steps ahead of everybody else like you get there really quickly. And he said, it’s not that that’s not the right place to go, but when you go there so fast and other people don’t go with you, they feel bulldoze. Imagine that you were seeing a theme. He said if you would start by asking questions, even if you already know the answer, even if you already know where you’re going, it will make people feel like a participant. There’s incredible wisdom there because it’s not that we’re, I got was wrong or we’re not going to get there, but that’s a blind spot that I might come across in a way that I didn’t mean to. So I like asking leaders and mentors about what are mistakes, what our blind spots, what are hurdles and holdups and things that trap people that can be dangerous, you know, um, and, and that Kinda shows you what to avoid and maybe what to reflect on yourself. Like, do I have that in me? And what can I change in me that maybe there’s some of that there? So that’s kind of, I kind of focused on that side of things.

Doug Smith: 39:49 Yeah. So you talked about the 16-year-old Christy who didn’t have the ability to dream as big as what you’re doing today, which I love. But if you can go back, whether you’re 16 or 20 or 25 and have coffee with yourself, what would you tell that Christie?

Christy Wright: 40:04 Right now today, Doug, literally you want the literal answer, please, please wear sunscreen. Like your skin is not going to be so elastic and just flourishing and you’re going to have crow’s feet around your eyes. Please wear sunscreen sister. I know you think it’s cute. And Panama City to put on your tan oil now. I mean I really think I would just, I would tell her the, you know, immature her to just, you know, all the things, save money, learn Spanish, wear sunscreen, all the things I wish I had now had done earlier in life.

Doug Smith: 40:40 And, and so on the opposite end of your life, what do you hope that your family would say about you at the end of your life and what do you want your legacy to be, at least at this point in your life?

Christy Wright: 40:49 You know, a real theme I’m noticing and I kind of pay attention to what I get fired up about and what I like to talk about and the theme that I keep seeing, at least in this stage in my life, is freedom. Freedom from guilt. Like we talked about, freedom from society’s expectations of you. Oh well, my mother in law thinks I should be a stay at home mom. So I guess it’s selfish to pursue this dream or I’ve had this idea in my heart, but you know, I don’t think I’m good enough. I think somebody is already doing it better. So just setting women free to pursue their God-given gifts, to give them confidence in who God created them to be freedom and that the freedom to go after those dreams, the freedom to be who they were created to be the the the word.

Christy Wright: 41:32 Over and over. I just keep feeling is freedom, freedom from guilt, freedom from Pinterest, perfect standards, freedom from competition from each other, freedom from mommy shaming and mommy wars. Just freedom from that and speaking truth in life over that. That doesn’t just say that on a fluff level but gives them tactics like we did with pricing. That gives them tactics of how to manage the guilt, manage their time, manage the competition, manage main mom’s being beamed. When I, when I give them tools in their tool belt that they can move forward and freedom. For me, that’d be an incredible legacy because let’s be honest, Doug, like no one’s gonna remember me for being the sweetest. Like it’s like no one sees. Like, Oh, you right. She says, sweet. Like I’m fun. I’m energetic, I’m smart, I’m enthusiastic, but it’s like I don’t have the gift to just be in like sweet, but I do think I’m empowering and I want, you know, I care about people deeply.

Christy Wright: 42:24 Like I said, I’m sensitive, but I think there’s an empowerment that is stronger for me of the helping people feel free and who and who God made them to be. Above that and last question. We’ll just leave this open-ended. Anything else you want to leave readers with today? Yeah, I would just say, and I’m sure they know this, but just as another voice, what you’re doing matters. You know the the the responsibility that you have of influence, and by the way anywhere that you lead it to any group of people, I don’t care if you have two followers or 2 million followers or a team. That smaller team is big. The group that you lead is an incredible responsibility and incredible gift that you get to speak life into them. You get to love them. You get to encourage them and teach them and mature them and pour into them what an unbelievable gift that what you do matters.

Christy Wright: 43:12 Even if you don’t see the fruits of your labor right now, it matters. You know, a great example that I’d love to, to wrap up with Doug, is when I was in high school, I was a lost, crazy immature girl. I have wounds from my dad that I was just lost. I came in as a freshman, didn’t know God, became a Christian my sophomore year of high school through young life, and I had a young life leader that walked with me all through high school. Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior year. I became a Christian my sophomore year and I would love to say that I had this magical turnaround, but I didn’t. Doug. I left just a little less crazy than I did when I came in as a freshman. I’m sure my young life leader, Jasmine, saw me leave and saw no fruits of the hour she spent on the sidelines of my soccer games or at my pageants or hanging out with me over coffee telling me, you know, that God loves me.

Christy Wright: 44:04 She probably didn’t feel like there was any point to any of that, and who I am today is a direct product of how she invested in loved me. That’s what a leader does, even if you don’t see the fruits, you are planting seeds that God will water, um, and seasons that you may never get to experience it. I hope you do. I hope they come back to you like I’ve gone back to Jasmine and told her how much she means to me, but even if you don’t what you’re doing matters greatly in the Kingdom of God and in the world. And so, um, I just want to thank your listeners. I want to thank the leaders listening for what you do and the people you shepherd.

Doug Smith: 44:32 Oh, thank you so much, Christie. This was fantastic and, uh, look forward to listening to it again. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.