Ep 076: Success is Balance with Rosie Harris

You ever wonder what success actually means? How do you get it? And how do you keep it?

We all want it yet sometimes it feels only some of us get to have it.

Can you put it in a box?

How can you get it?

Can people take it away? Or are you the one with the power?

Does it mean the same to all of us? Or are we the ones that create it?

From PGA golf pros to doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and spiritual mentors, we get together to meet with successful people from around the globe to dissect success for vibrant conversations and interviews. Make sure you click the subscribe button on the App Store. Because each week we will drop a new episode to bust through the myths around success and dissect its true meaning.

Hello, Rosie, oh my gosh, I'm so excited to talk to you. Actually, we both are. I've gotten to know you a probably over the last year. I love that you're a fellow lover of mountains and trees and jewelry. And I am so excited to dive in. Okay, so tell me tell us, what does success mean to you?

Ah, so I've been thinking about this one over and over, especially knowing you are gonna ask me that. And it is so many things. And really what I think of come down to is it's about a balance of all those things. So there's health, there's wealth, time, freedom, and just being able to find that balance. So you know, you're not always working. Or you don't have ultimate free time, but no money, you know, to support yourself. So yeah, to me, success is really finding balance. You know, time for me, that means time for self care, time in nature, time with my family, time to do my work. And then having, you know, the funds and the money to support myself to do the things I enjoyed put back into my business to invest in myself and my business and my family. So yeah, for me, I think it's all about finding the right balance is for me what success is.

I love that. That's so important balance. We should maybe dive into that, like what is balance for you? Because, you know, we use that word like is it a buzzword? I think it's a really important thing that we must all have. But for you

what is balance? Well, I guess before I made the big step and leap to starting my own business and doing it full time, I was working in the corporate world. And I felt like my life was very lopsided, there was no balance. Everything was work. Everything was short on time. I left the house early, I came home late, I barely saw my kids. Because of daycare openings and closures. I had already used one of my coffee breaks by the time I got to work. So I didn't really have time to take a proper break. But I was at work. And yeah, I felt so yeah, balanced me now I have more time. So definitely time is a huge component of that. And I feel like it's time or money, you know, while I gave up the regular consistent paycheck. But now I'm not stressed out if I'm not screaming at my kids that we're going to be laid every single day like I can stop and give them those extra snuggles and play with them for a few more minutes in the morning. Because I have that freedom to do so. Yeah, being able to get exercise on my lunch break. And take breaks regularly. Don't get me wrong. There's still some days where I probably work through trying to make a better point of that. But yeah, just Yeah, finding a little pockets of time for everything that we need in life. Not neglecting my health just for wealth. not neglecting my family just for a job and finding that balance and everything of making it all work together. Does that make sense?

Yes, absolutely. And one thing that I really love that you kept saying, and I feel like you've repeated a sweat a couple of times, you sort of brought it back to this piece around feeling this freedom to be able to really choose what your day is going to look like, versus, you know, being in this, this idea of what success is and working a corporate job and, and being stretched with your time and, and having this demand off, when you need to do what in order to, you know, fit into the ideal that we're all like living and so I love this this piece on like freedom and I just this question that sort of came through for me is like, what has this change? And you know, shifting and crew now being a creative and being an entrepreneur and having this freedom and this balance, like how has that impacted your life?

Um, well, the pretty big loaded question, I think I'm happier in Washington, I think I know I am. I'm a happier person. In general, I've got you know, I ride my daughter on we ride bikes to school every morning and walk. Whereas before, I used to be that mom standing outside the daycare center waiting for the doors to open at 7:30am on the.so. I could run into my car and commute and be that free driver always feeling rushed. And now it's, you know, today was a tough morning. So I took a longer bike ride home, just decompress a little bit, I have that freedom to do that kind of stuff. I can pick my kids up a bit earlier on certain days. So you know, Fridays, I usually try to pick them up a little bit earlier so we can have more time together. I used to work a day job and then do my business in the evening, so probably wasn't very good. It wasn't really around much. So yeah, just having time and not feeling as distracted all the time. Like I can actually put my phone down and give my children my undivided attention. Give my spouse my undivided attention. I just feel don't get me wrong. I'm still stretched them. I'm still busy, but just feel like I have a bit more control over it. And yeah, it's it's wonderful.

So what I'm hearing is that you have removed the rush from your life.

Yeah, there's yeah, there's still rush this week's been extraordinarily busy. But I enjoy it. I think that's the huge difference is it's a lot more when it is rushed. It's I've created the rush, and it's still something that fulfills me and fills my cup. So, like the rush gives you the rush. I'm not feeling depleted after the rush. It's like okay, got that done. Now I've got some more time to relax, focus on me until the next rush. Whereas before the rush never really stopped. And I had no control over it. It was kind of designated to me so

I love this idea of choosing the rush. Yeah, using the rush like I was like I chose I didn't even I wasn't really rush I was just being creative and you make gorgeous jewelry. And I would love to for you to dive in in a moment. Like how you came to make jewelry from all things you know, so many ways we can start businesses but I think that's so cool that you that you make jewelry and we've not spoken with anyone on this podcast who actually makes jewelry, which is really cool. So I love that but this choosing the rush like all I could think of was like when we get these buffs off wanting to create one we're like ready to just to just move like I had that like I woke up at 2am and I was telling myself that I should be resting and I should be sleeping and I should be real a little like all that bullshit story and then I made it till 4am So I was like in my bed for two hours sort of in and out fighting with this idea of getting up and then at 4am I was like fuck it, I am going to create and I had like the Mattis downloads coming through me and I was writing and all that and I was just letting myself be in the rush of creation. And so I love that you said that you're choosing the rush that you're choosing to move because you're ignited by something and so so tell me like how has that passion and this this wanting to rush choosing the rush to do with how you create and how you built your beautiful jewelry business?

Um, wow. Yeah, I just I wanted the one thing that just came to mind as I have now started keeping a notebook beside my bed, because sometimes I get my best ideas what I'm Lying in bed. And sometimes my memory doesn't serve me as well in the morning and I'm like, Oh, I know I had that best idea. So now I actually just keep a notepad and pen next to my bed. Also, I find sometimes my mind has hard time slowing down. So if I can bring up it, write it down, then I don't have to feel like I keep juggling in my brain anymore. Yeah, back to jewelry. So as you know, I have what designs is my company, it's kind of coastal inspired lifestyle jewelry. The names y means joy. In French, really, all my jewelry is inspired by for me life symbols, joys, which means a lot of time in nature. My mum pointed out to me not too long ago that I have always been doing this in my art, she actually went into her drawer and kept some of my old art from when I was eight years old. And there's a story was written in French because I was in French immersion. But it was about me telling the story about this magical forest and spending time in the forest. And so really, I've always had this kind of biophilic tendency where I'm feeling the need to recreate my Happy Places through art. And yeah, I guess that is what I'm doing. As far as the rush goes, yeah, it's self imposed. The creativity I find is less force now that I have a bit more time whereas before, it was like, Okay, I need to do a Spring release a fall release. And, you know, sometimes I wasn't feeling like the inspiration would hit because I was burnt out. And really, my most inspired times are sometimes when I go through walks through the woods, sometimes I'm not on a bike ride. And these little moments have me so I'm just trying to take more time and spend more of those moments. Listening to myself, taking care of myself. But yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say. With like my rush this week, it was all self imposed, like it was for growth that I sought after. So it was rewarding. You know, I'm moving into a new store today. Actually, I'll be delivered. It's not a new store opening in Victoria on Monday to Monday, Sunday. I had Yeah, a couple big things that came up this week. But they were all goals that I had set for myself. So it was my own rush that I created. And yeah, that makes me happy.

Fall. Okay, goals. That's a good one. You know, because I know we when we you know, we've done some work together and I have learned about your goals. What are your goals now? Um, tell us tell us some of your like B hags like what are your like big, hairy, audacious goals? What are some goals that you've, you know, that are, like, a bit closer to achieving than, like, you know, the big hairy.

So, I mean, there's also, you know, there's financial goals, business goals, personal goals, health goals. Yeah, I guess let's start with business goals, because that's kind of what we're on here. I would like to, I actually was rereading Mike Wallace last night, for exactly that I wanted to get into 30 new stores this year was my goal I set for myself in the first quarter. I'm a little slow on that. But I got into seven new stores. So I am now carried in 23 stores. And, yeah, so I've got a little ways to go on that. I guess there's always monthly sales targets. And then there's also customer satisfaction goals. That's a huge one. I had a customer send me a thank you card in the mail for customer service. And I was down dancing on cloud nine for a week after that one because I was like, that was one of like, my core values. My goals I set for myself was, you know, I don't want to just sell people stuff. Like I want to create a memorable service. I want to wow, people I want to I want to be one of those businesses that people talk about the service how great it was, which isn't easy to do. And so that made me feel fantastic. I never really wrote that goal down on how I was going to measure that. So maybe it wasn't the smartest school but when I got that thank you part of the mail. I was like, wow, that's a great measure of success. Okay, so or if people leave me good reviews or react right, thank you. I don't think there's a better measure of success for those goals. What else do I have for goals? Yeah, creating new designs. I've got a few bestsellers. I would like to create another best seller. That again is, you know, not the easiest task. And I'm not sure how I'd measure. Well, I know how I'd measure it. But yeah, it's not just something that yeah, happens overnight, usually, but so yeah, goals would be growth. And then time, making sure I'm not spending all my time to reach those growth goals.

So awesome. I love all these goals. And I love the clarity you have. And one thing that I just want to highlight to everybody who's listening, is the impact of the thank you cards, the impact of when you purchase something from from entrepreneurs who are putting in the fucking work, who are showing up who are living the rush, we're creating these incredible businesses that are really led by by their passion and their purpose, and by what they really want to do. And like for you to be like, this is like a goal, right? And then to get this validation through a thank you cards. And that goes such a long way. And we often forget how long of a way that actually goes. So I love, love, love, love, love, love so much that you you mentioned this, because, you know, even if it's on social media, even if somebody sends a DM that just says thank you, right, like this was amazing. And I know I mean, I sent some of my clients some of your jewelry for Christmas, and they loved it. Love, love, love, love loved it. And that's so cool. And like, you know, there's just something that that is so special when we we work with or or purchase from entrepreneurs that are building businesses that are small businesses and realizing you are in this position where you have the ability to speak to the person who's the creator behind the product that you're buying, like that is so cool to a be able to do that. But then also just know, like for everyone listening, how far that goes, like the ripple that leaves and the impact that leaves and we talk about money and results and goals. But VT and it's like these moments, and how we feel in those moments in between that we don't forget, like you will not forget getting that thank you cars that will be in your memory forever. Right? Like the first thank you car. It's like holy shit. Right, like, and that is the stuff. Those are the results. Those are the things that I feel like make entrepreneurship meaningful?

Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I've written dozens of thank you cards, you know, put little enclosures and no, it's in packages I've sent. I've never even considered that I might get one in returns. But it also just goes to, you know, it's a perfect reminder of just how far simple acts of kindness can go. And that, you know, it really, like I think of that person who took the time, who probably has a stack of thank you cards, who writes them to people like what a wonderful human like there's someone who goes out of her way on a regular basis to thank people and to pass on those little acts of kindness and I think it's like if she did that to me how many other people is that person done that? Has she had that ripple effect with so I think it's a great reminder that you know, kindness really always does when and yeah, yeah, I guess when it could be anything because

like, I feel like you just wanted to I was just

gonna say I think that's really great. Like the whole they think like a lot of people forget about the kindness aspect and what you just said is perfect. Like, just always be kind. It goes with like, thank you cards are amazing, but like if you're like, oh, like I can't I don't have the capacity, like commenting on social media on someone's post and giving them compliments and not expecting anything in return. Like just be nice. It's not that hard. And I love that. You know, because you've given me thank you cards. The universe is sending you cards and it's awesome.

Oh, thank you. So fun. I love this. Rosie. I would love to know like you spoke about some some Big pieces that a lot of entrepreneurs really struggle with like balance. Right and not success for you is about balance and having this freedom and you know, really adjusting your like building your life like your your business around your lifestyle and instead of your lifestyle around your business, which is what a lot of people do. And I would love to know from you like what is a piece of advice that you would give somebody on their path to success as an entrepreneur? To help them create that.

I'm also tough on because I feel like I'm still working on achieving that balance myself. I'm not a guru or an expert by any means. But I would say you know, we talked about freedom, which we have, but you still need a schedule. You still need to carve out that time to get everything done so that you can have that balance and you're someone like me who's a bit AD D and content to multitask. And I really need to like I set a timer I put in headphones I listen to like brain FM put on a timer. It was like one task at a time and scheduling tasks. But you know, sometimes a walk outside of the sunshine is on the schedule. Yes, I have some flexibility. Yes, I can move things around. But I don't just don't just you know, not just free balling it every day and winging it be like Okay, what's next Wednesday? It's, you know, every day I have a plan. Yes, those plans get changed. Yes, there's room for improvement and wiggle room of things come out of left field. But yeah, have a plan. And make sure you schedule that time for yourself and that plan as well.

Amazing. That's awesome. All right, Rosie, how can people get in touch with you? Besides like, obviously, you're putting all your deeds in the show notes. But what's a good way to like see what you're up to purchase your jewelry help you make another best seller?

I guess Instagram Facebook website, in person shows I'll be in an IMO this weekend. I've got all those markets listed on my website and Instagram. I'm very excited to be seen doing in person sales again. I love the connection with people. So happy to have that back. Yeah, come see me and say hi, if you can, and you're nearby. And if not Instagrams always a great way to find me and you said you'll put all the connections in the details. So spell them out here.

I love it, Rosie and we will make sure that we put your contact information in the show notes as well and people can find you a joy design on Instagram and that's the same email. So just dropping that here too. And again, we'll have those links in the show notes. Rosie This was amazing. Thank you so much for coming on and, and sharing about you and what you do and how you build your business and your values and, and your vision and goals and like I feel like we've touched on so many things and I just love when when entrepreneurs go for it. I just love when when people choose to turn their passions and their dreams into reality and, and it may be hard some days and it may be tough some days but I think you're living breathing example of what's possible and being okay with being a work in progress. And you know, claiming the freedom but have a bit of a schedule. Like all that ties back to what you say. It's it's a balancing act. So for everyone listening, thank you so much for tuning in. Rosie, this was so fun to have you love No, I love that we could support you.

Online. Both you women are amazing. I'm so grateful that I have crossed paths with you both. And I imagined that will be much more about the future. So thank you kindly for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you for giving me the chance to connect

with you. You are so so welcome. And with that being said, it's a wrap for another episode of dissecting success.

Thank you so much.

That's a wrap for another episode of dissecting success. enjoyed this episode. Make sure to subscribe to Blair Kaplan Venables and Teresa Lambert's podcast dissecting success on the App Store.