[00:00:00] Austin: The only thing standing between you and outrageous success is continuous progress. So it says the, uh, I'm tempted to say seafood, the master business strategist that is Dan Walsh. And as I'm thinking about this quote, another quote comes to mind to orient this conversation today with Coleen is from James clear.
[00:00:27] If you master continuous improvement and get 1% better each day over the course of a year, you will have. Rather you'll end up 37 times better by the time you're done. And today's guest Coleen can miss you. I've seen that, correct? I can. This you,
[00:00:50] is that Italian? Yes, it's hot. Okay. I got to go back to my favorite Thai restaurant, COMESA COMESA. Okay. Today's guest [00:01:00] Coleen represents what is possible. If you condense your focus and the hyper-focus, you take a leap of faith, you step outside of your comfort zone and you commit to continually progress.
[00:01:15] It's been five months and listeners, you will not believe what she's been able to achieve in those five months. And to me, as I see these quotes, I can think of no one better to represent and embody the two quotes that we left here with. So with that Coleen, thanks for being on today.
[00:01:33] Colleen: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:34] I'm great. And I almost forgot, happy almost birthday to you.
[00:01:38] Austin: Yeah, I'm turning 18 tomorrow. Just kidding. Right? 34 years of age. Yes. It's uh, it's wild time flies when you're having fun and I've been having a lot of fun. So, um, another year, another year around the sun, or however that works out, whatever that is anyway, back to you.
[00:01:57] Thank you by the way. So [00:02:00] one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on is you are. Again, like I was alluding to in the beginning testaments and what can happen if you take extreme action and commit to an aim. So I want to start with your story and how you came to be. Cause it's quite the, uh, archetypal American entrepreneur story.
[00:02:24] So take us back to the beginning. You were a teacher for 16 years. What happened on the day? You decided to change your tune.
[00:02:34] Colleen: Oh, gosh. Well, I don't think about it like that. It's a journey for sure. Um, it's crazy because this is, if I had thought about any sort of journey or where my path was going, it definitely wouldn't be here, which I always think about every day when I'm starting something or thinking about something new or a new adventure, I'm always like, you know what?
[00:02:59] This might be, what I have in my. [00:03:00] But who the heck knows where you're going to end up when you just get on the path and keep going. So, yes, I was a teacher for 16 years. I had no intentions of doing anything other than being a teacher. Um, I, I was forced a little bit forced out of my comfort zone, uh, about seven and a half years ago.
[00:03:20] We just, um, I, like I said, been teaching for 16 years. My husband had a great job. We had just had our, um, You had had a third baby and, you know, everything was, we really felt like we had the American, all American dream. You know, we had three kids, the girls and boys, and we just were on the path of amazingness or contentment and being very happy.
[00:03:44] And that year that I ended up having my, my third, um, with the same time we built a brand new house and. Right after I had her, his company pulled out of Syracuse. So I was on maternity leave for an entire year and [00:04:00] we lost a six figure income overnight. So our hello, happy world, this amazing path we were on or what we thought we were living this year.
[00:04:09] Came crashing down around us. And it was several years of just struggling to even make ends meet because we now had this new house. We now had a third kid to pay for, and it was that constant, constant struggle. And even when we're both back to work, we just couldn't pull out of that enormous amount of debt, you know, and I still remember the feeling when I talk to people now, That situation.
[00:04:33] I remember waking up at nights, just you start sweating and you're like, oh my gosh, how am I going to pay these bills? How am I going to, which 1:00 AM I going to pay this month? Which 1:00 AM I not? And it's, it's a really stressful way to live, but we didn't have any other option. What else was I going to do?
[00:04:49] And, you know, we just couldn't get out of that. So I ended up being, um, shared someone, shared an opportunity with me. Way out of my comfort zone. [00:05:00] And it was an incredible skincare anti-aging line, which I thought who is going to buy this from me? I have three little kids. I barely wash my face. I fall into bed at night and this, that story.
[00:05:14] So I really didn't know how it was going to make that. But I figured if it worked as well as everyone said it did, maybe I could make some grocery money. Maybe it would just help a little bit. And I'm not a sales person. I didn't know how to sell anything. I just thought if it works, I'll share it. Great.
[00:05:35] Well, it works and it ended up just taking off, um, I was floored because again, I didn't feel like I was selling anything. I was just was sharing something that was amazing and people loved it. So I earned that, you know, I was able to make grocery money and then I started to able to pay for some, a daycare.
[00:05:53] And then I started to dig us out of debt and really within probably four to five months, [00:06:00] I had all by myself hold our entire family out of that hole of debt and that stressful situation that we were in. So. That was a huge moment for me, because I was like, wow, I did this. I did something I never thought or even dreamt I would do.
[00:06:19] So I think that really shifted my entire mindset around my life and my future and what I was capable of. And from there, it just continued to grow. I ended up surpassing my teaching salary. So needless to say, um, a year after that I stopped teaching and I was home doing that business from home. And it just was amazing to me how I could shift and do that.
[00:06:46] Because if you had told me that a year ago, I would be like, no way I can't do that. I'm never doing that. Like I'm just teaching that's it. So that was really the start of my. Crazy path, um, to where I am [00:07:00] today.
[00:07:02] Austin: So that's the first part of the story. And as I hear you talking, I can't help, but think there was a, there was a moment that was the fork in the road and a fork in the road was you heard something like a knock on the door and.
[00:07:23] Instead of rejecting it and closing it, you affected, we opened it. And it reminds me of this quote from Neval Robbie Collins, which is, I think has lasted drawing content. Um, that inspiration is perishable act on it immediately, which sitting at a different way, I guess we can think of and tell me, this is your experience when you have the inkling, oh, here's an opportunity.
[00:07:48] You can either ruminate upon it in the sleep and take no action. Which we know that one of the markers of success is reducing the latency between actions or steps, intelligence substitute your [00:08:00] destination. Was that your experience where you, you heard an opportunity knock on the door and he just swiftly executed on it and acted.
[00:08:10] And then you were surprised by the butterfly effect is as far as what came next.
[00:08:15] Colleen: So I'll be completely honest with you. It was, um, and you said be candid. So as crazy as this sounds, this is literally how it went down. You know, I got a phone call about this business and I literally was like, Rolling my eyes in the back of my head, as I'm hearing, I'm like, there's no way I can do this.
[00:08:35] This is so not me, no way. And I hung up the phone and I honestly was going downstairs, going to joke with my husband. Like, can you believe what somebody thought I would be able to do? And as I was heading down the stairs, I swear it was like someone hit me in the head. It was like, God was like, You've been praying for something to come along for months.
[00:08:58] Here it is. And [00:09:00] it literally, it stopped me in my tracks and I was like, oh, maybe I shouldn't judge those. Maybe I shouldn't roll my eyes. Maybe I should be like, okay, maybe I need to look into this so that there was that specific moment. It may sound insane to people, but that was truly how it happened for me.
[00:09:17] It was. What are you doing? You're asking for something, you know, getting it, open your eyes. And that was, I was like, okay, let's do it
[00:09:28] Austin: well. So that was your first taste of success and listeners. Um, this she's being modest here with her success in her first three months, she made the Lexus car bonus in her first six months.
[00:09:42] She was doing, if I can share. Yeah, you can tell me now. Okay. She was six figures in six months with this new opportunity, and this was really the gateway to what became inspired beauty. Her now spa that she's running, which what gets you here in a minute, which I mentioned she's been running for five [00:10:00] months, six months now.
[00:10:01] Like basically no time at all and has already. Blowing the doors off of expectations, probably her own. And those that looked at her and thought, wait a minute, call me. And you're just a little teacher of 16 years teaching social sciences to third graders or whatever you taught high schoolers or what a good guess.
[00:10:22] So what, what did that success do to your, or how did that affect your mindset? Because it was certainly. It must have blown the doors of what, of, off of what you thought you could do. How did that affect your actions? They're following that. And then how did that influence your creating a spa that is inspired beauty?
[00:10:45] Colleen: Uh, well, first of all, it's scared the crap out of me. I was like, oh my gosh. When is someone going to pick up and take this away from me? Because. That's just, you know, that's what happened? You can't sustain that or why do I don't deserve this? Why is this happening to me? Um, so I had [00:11:00] all of those thoughts for a very long time.
[00:11:03] I still get them. I still think who the heck am I to think I can do this? And you know, I, I still have those thoughts, but I worked so much on mindset and I've gotten actually a positive psychology degrees. Or certification. So, you know, I, I work through that all the time and that's a consistent thing. One of the biggest things in that, what leads to the reason I named the spot and start your duty was one of the biggest things with my other business that I found now, I have a very large team.
[00:11:33] So I'm working with people all the time, women who want to change their lives, men who want to change their financial futures. The biggest thing I find is 95% of people will stay in. They're very uncomfortable, unhappy life because it's comfortable. I know they're financially struggling, but to them that's comfortable.
[00:11:59] It's [00:12:00] comfortable to be stressed out. It's comfortable to worry all the time to think about taking a step outside of that. Scares the heck out of people, even though it could change everything. And even if you failed, you're no worse off, you're still in the same position, but there people aren't willing to do that because they are so afraid.
[00:12:19] If I put myself out there, I might fail. And so they'd rather stay where they are, even if they're not happy, even if they're stressed out, simply because that's their comfort zone. And it's sad to me because. You only get one chance. You only got one shot at this. So take every chance you get
[00:12:44] Austin: reminds you of a quotes what's worse to try and fail or to never live, to tell the tale.
[00:12:54] And that has to be thinking deeply about the butterfly facts, which is actually a great segue [00:13:00] into the next part of your story here, which was the, the story of the hour and a half drive to try different products. Talk us through that moment. Was there a bird in your ear? Was there something saying, Hey, go do this.
[00:13:18] And then that was the butterfly fact that we'll get into in a minute, but talk us through that.
[00:13:25] Colleen: Yeah. So with having being successful at the other business, I really was like, what, what else can I build? What other businesses can I build, um, to help our future, my family's future, and just go out there and inspire more people.
[00:13:40] As I was saying with the other business, you know, when you, when you do help people step out of their comfort zone and you start to watch them grow, you are inspiring people. So that's really how we translated to the, to the business name. So when I was thinking about, okay, what other things can I do? I now do love skincare.
[00:13:58] I am getting older. [00:14:00] So I do want to know how to take care of myself. And I, I honestly think I just saw. Someone else's post or something about this body contouring treatment. And I was like, whoa, what is that? And most people, I am not an aesthetician. Um, I don't have cosmetology degree. So a lot of those things that I was interested or loved, I didn't think I could do because I didn't have.
[00:14:27] Some of those other background, um, licenses or certifications. So I was looking, I saw this treatment and I just thought, oh, that looks awesome. And I was wanted it for myself. So I started searching my area, like where can I go get this body contouring treatment done? And they didn't have anything. So I ended up, I don't even know how in my story, I must have really wanted this treatment.
[00:14:49] Cause I ended up finding, um, a different product. It wasn't crisis. Um, it was T shack and it was about an hour and a half away. [00:15:00] So I was like, well, I'm going to give it, I'm going to go see what this is in the back of my mind. I'm like, Hmm, I want a treatment done. No one around here. Does. That's a huge opportunity right there.
[00:15:12] So I went, I had the treatment done. I was like, this is really great. And I immediately got into researching. It ended up finding cryo skin, really happy with the company and the way that they relayed all the information and communicated. So I was like, okay, doing it. And that was jumped right in because who's not going to want body contouring.
[00:15:37] Austin: Everybody wants it. I'm the fit guy and I still get treatments and I contribute. So, I mean, have any acne, it's very bizarre.
[00:15:44] Colleen: Preventative.
[00:15:45] You're
[00:15:45] Austin: preventing. Yeah. Preventative. Well, yeah, that's the whole topic. Everybody wants to be beautiful. We can see that with, uh, with certainty. So, this is the part of the story where I want to share your [00:16:00] numbers, but these are your numbers.
[00:16:01] So maybe I shouldn't, unless you want me to, and then we can unpack how the hell did you do that? Because you've been in this space for five minutes, five months, and you're already obliterating what is the. Did you blow your own expectations? Let's say, why don't we start there over the last five months?
[00:16:23] I'm looking at your number, sir. It's insane. So if you're willing to share, and then more importantly, how you've done that I would be delighted.
[00:16:33] Colleen: Um, yeah, absolutely. So I ended up after all of them, all of my stuff and training and all that I needed to do, I ended up opening. Cryo skin. And we already had permanent makeup and some other services in our spa.
[00:16:49] So I started with the cryo skin November 1st. So what is it? Five months. And I had no idea, you know, I, I knew it would be a popular treatment. I [00:17:00] knew it would build to something great. Um, but I didn't know just how quickly it would grow. So I think our first month, um, I, I don't have my numbers right in front of me, but I believe our first month was about $12,000 and we had an, you know, we had a little open house there and we did a discount for people that came that night.
[00:17:21] So we. I told a lot of packages right then and there. And I was like, well, this is great. And figured because we had the open house and sharing, it was, the numbers were definitely inflated because we went a little bit. We're not going to do that every month. So the next month being the holiday and everything else.
[00:17:39] It's slow down and we did 10,000 that month. So I was like, okay. I feel pretty good about that. We did 10,000 on a slow, typical, slow month for all businesses. So I felt good about that and felt we can grow a little bit in January. Um, in January we went to, I think it was 30,000. 36,000 or 30,000. I gave you the number [00:18:00] of
[00:18:03] 36,000 in January. And I was like, oh my God. And again, you got to understand, this is also where that self-talk comes in because it doesn't matter how good you are at mindset and all that. You still have it. It's just knowing what to do with it. Honestly, that scared me to death. I was like, oh my God, because now I've hit this 36,000.
[00:18:24] What if I go backwards next month would be totally normal because 36,000 is a huge number, I think, in a month. And so I start to do that head game, you know, like, okay, I hit this now, what if I go back then, is that mean business is crumbling. All those thoughts we have. Um, and so next month February came and I think we had 41,000 to in February.
[00:18:48] So yeah, I'm happy with.
[00:18:52] Austin: Five months into the game and you have generated [00:19:00] 70, the 70,000. Okay. Mathematics.
[00:19:02] Colleen: Um, so 41 and 36 would be 79,000.
[00:19:10] Austin: $99,000 and that's so call it a hundred thousand in five months, and I'm sure March numbers are healthy as well. So you are on track. Assuming the growth rate is about the same.
[00:19:23] You are probably on track to then do over a quarter of a million dollars in revenue your first year starting.
[00:19:32] Colleen: It's crazy. Wow. That's great.
[00:19:36] Austin: Why do you think it is that some people don't do well? Cause certainly that's your, you're not, I don't know if you're the outlier as much as you are. Well, maybe frankly, you're the norm and we just don't hear the stories of these types of successes, but why do you think it is that for those that do not succeed, they don't.
[00:19:53] Colleen: Um, I think it's probably some of that. Self-talk I think it's probably a little bit of [00:20:00] fear because if you, when I do something, I'm going to do it. I, I totally have zero fear of failing anymore. I really don't. Yes. Do I sometimes question things, do I sometimes, but when it comes down to it, I am not afraid to try anything and fail.
[00:20:16] And I think because I've proven to myself that even if I do fail, I'll just figure it out and try something else. I'll just try another strategy. I'll do something. Different. I know I'll just keep doing it until I make it work. And I, I think a lot of people hold themselves back. Um, you know, I heard someone recently say, well, nobody's going to pay that to do that.
[00:20:40] And I was like, you're telling yourself a story that no one's going to pay that. But the reality is people will pay for these treatments and. I just, when I set my mind to doing something, I will go all in and do everything I have to do to make it work. [00:21:00] I think that's, I think that's a lot of the difference.
[00:21:04] Austin: The self-talk. So there's three things I'm hearing. One is the self-talk piece, which is I'm assuming related to the positive psychology stuff that you, you mentioned that you're certified in the second is this overcoming of fear and the third or implication of that is, well, how the hell do we do that?
[00:21:22] So w I don't know where you want to start there between those three things. And they're probably all interwoven because the overcoming the fear is really the byproducts of the exercise, which produces the fearlessness, um, which is the product of the activity of the exercise that you're doing. So help me unpack that.
[00:21:41] What does that look like for you? What can the listeners learn about how to ingrain this in their own psyche?
[00:21:49] Colleen: I think the biggest thing. So, yeah, the positive psychology is huge when it comes to all of this, because at the end of the day, we're all worried about how we're going to look. We're all worried about [00:22:00] how, and I don't mean physically, like how we're going to look to other people.
[00:22:03] What are people going to say about us? I mean, I'm still hearing people say, I still can't believe she left teaching seven years later and I'm doing what I'm doing. And people still say that. So. I think we're constantly concerned with what people are gonna think, which is normal, right? We all want to be liked.
[00:22:25] We all want people to approve of what we're doing, but that's who biggest thing I learned was you don't know what people are thinking. So don't create a story for what you think is going through other people's heads. And we are in complete control over everything we do. Every situation really we're in control over and how it ends up.
[00:22:51] One of the biggest things was I'll never forget. I hope you don't mind me going off on a tangent, a little story here, but this was this [00:23:00] proved to me how powerful our own mind is around things. So it was one, it was years, years, probably 10 years ago I was driving. Had little kids. I was rushing out the door, like a crazy person in the morning driving just to my teaching job.
[00:23:15] And I remember this person cut me off and just very aggressively. And it like enraged me. I was like, oh my gosh, I was livid. You know, your blood pressure goes up, you start sweating. You're so mad. And I was like, who this person is. And I carried it with me all day. I was like, You know, furious my assistant at the end of the day, I'm still complaining about it.
[00:23:38] She's like, are you seriously still thinking about what happened on the way to school today? And I was like, yeah, it ruined my whole day. And in that moment, I was like, I get to decide what that situation was all about. And I switched my whole thought process and thought maybe he was rushing to the hospital.
[00:23:56] Cause somebody loves an accident. And immediately [00:24:00] my whole demeanor went. Like I was totally calm and could have cared less about the whole thing. Not that that relates to spa business or anything like that, but that showed me how powerful, how we think about situations that we control the power. So whenever I go to do something like, oh my gosh, who do I think I am?
[00:24:18] Or what are people going to say? What I'm opening a spot, what it does. I get to control what I think. Because the reality is I have no idea and it doesn't matter. I don't know what their thoughts are. I don't know if they're thinking she's amazing or she's insane. It doesn't matter at the end of the day.
[00:24:37] Cause I don't know. And I get to create the story around it. Does that make sense?
[00:24:44] Austin: This, the story is bringing to mind by the way. Completely relate to small life. Of course it does absolutely does. But it's bringing to mind a quote from Epictetus who is one of the [00:25:00] figureheads of Langston philosophy of stoicism.
[00:25:03] And he has a quote that is, if any external thing causes you distress, it is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your own judgements about it or stating it differently. What upsets people is not the things themselves. Or circumstances or situations, but rather their judgments about these things.
[00:25:24] So there's something about narrative architecture and choosing your own interpretation or judgment of the thing. Like in the example here, Hey, maybe this guy was racing to the hospital because his wife was. And I've seen my mother drive a lifted Yukon XL after getting the call that my dad was hit by a car on his bicycle at 52 miles an hour and nearly died.
[00:25:49] And you would never have seen a more Jeff Gordon, like a race car driver in a battle tag, barely up to Mount bachelor to save my dad. That was [00:26:00] so, you know, there's other interpretations. And what's interesting about. Sorry, I'm taking the talking teacher for just a moment, because this is something that I think if people can ingrain this in their head, it will change the course of their lives.
[00:26:11] So something that's interesting about the human psychological land. And listeners, you might think this doesn't relate to business, but bear with us. Cause there's some thing here. Uh, I think of potency, but there's something in inside of the psychological landscape of the human mind. That for some reason, when any event happens, we automatically by default assign the worst possible explanation as to why the thing.
[00:26:37] The example of someone cutting you off in traffic or someone being rude to you or not talking to you in the elevator, whatever my be of escaping customer who's, you know, maybe their mom just died of cancer and you have no idea and we make the worst possible judgment as to why that action happened instead of just noticing it and then letting it go.
[00:26:58] And so there's some elements of like [00:27:00] practicing meditation here as well to detach the couple from the feeling that arises physiologic. But if we can ingrain the stoic view and our decision-making in particular, we won't fire people on our staff, Willy nilly, because we're upset. We won't make poor decisions.
[00:27:17] And ultimately we can rearchitect the narrative that is our life and reframe everything as a positive. What else would you add to that? Because I think we're onto something. People overlook this, or they're just blind to it because the days are filled with so many calendar events that we're just distracted.
[00:27:36] So is there some, I guess here's the question. Is there some practical exercise that you have. Deployed or habits or, uh, I guess it would be practice that you have yourself deployed so that you can effectively fight the entropy. That is your own proclivity to return to that state pre the events where he cut you off in traffic, or you had that.
[00:27:59] Aha. [00:28:00] Is there some practice that you deploy there?
[00:28:03] Colleen: Yeah, so I think the biggest thing, like you just said is being aware of it because we're so busy in our lives. We just go. And so something happens. We have a reaction to it and a feeling around it. And that's, that's just our reality. You have to become aware, like you just have to start practicing and becoming aware when you get into a situation where you're scared or you're mad or whatever something happened, you had that feeling and now you're having a reaction.
[00:28:31] You have to like backtrack. To what happened and what is my thought around it? Because you have a thought that happens in the middle of there that we don't even recognize. We just go from action to feeling and reacting instead of backing up and being like, what is the thought that's making me react this way because we it's completely within us.
[00:28:51] So that's the part you can change. That's the part where you can say. Okay. Maybe this had nothing to do with me. Maybe whatever, whatever [00:29:00] your thought is, you can shift it there, but you have to recognize it to be able to go back and do that. It's almost, it's almost impossible in the moment something happens.
[00:29:09] You have your reaction to it instead of stopping and going back and thinking about why you're reacting that way.
[00:29:17] Austin: Do you think there's some practical? This is a bit of a trick question because the answer is substances. Yes, obviously. I'm wondering if you would agree that part of the reason why we're so, um, so incapable of.
[00:29:33] Flexing the muscle of awareness that I have, the physio I'm having rather a physiological response to some trigger event. A staff member gets snippy with me or a skating review from a customer, blah, blah, blah, making a decision. Do I work with this vendor or not? Blah, blah, blah. Do you think a part of that is, is the result of too much, um, [00:30:00] Dopamine overload or something from screen time, social media, like there's, there's gotta be something contributing to the toxin.
[00:30:08] That is the distracted state that we're living in that precludes us from having that awareness. So would you agree that again, the film, so even asking this question, because the answer's obviously yes. Here's the question. Will you comment on that? There's something about over consumption of. What's the term doper dopa genetic.
[00:30:29] No, that's the wrong term activities that, that just can continually blast or dopamine receptors like Tik TOK, YouTube, Bloomberg articles, articles on the internet from apps, but whatever your bag is, is there something about that? Cause I'm wondering if that's polluted. Or Headspace making us more distracted and consequently making us less capable of being aware when these triggers create these responses that we have any comments or thoughts on that.
[00:30:56] Colleen: I mean, I would say I'm sure there is. I mean, I know myself [00:31:00] with my other business, I was doing an, with this one, I live by my phone and I'm constantly like, oh, who's messaging who wants an appointment? Who, I mean, if I just have my phone out for five seconds, I'm looking it up just to see if something's there, you know, it's, it's terrible.
[00:31:13] But, and so I, I do think unless you. Uber aware of how to work with your thoughts and have that consciousness. Then it's not even a thought in your brain. You're just constantly going throughout your day. Things are happening, you're reacting and it's just, you just keep going. There's no backtracking.
[00:31:32] There's no stopping. There's no thinking.
[00:31:35] Austin: So this, this reminds me of. Uh, practice that a friend of mine shared with me who has been a meditator his whole life, like 30 years. Well, since, you know, it makes sense. Like he didn't start at two, but he probably started at like 15, so he's 20 years or so deep in the game.
[00:31:51] And he has a practice that he shared with me from, I think, kitsch, not hon, um, who is a, now a [00:32:00] deceased figure in, uh, Meditation circle forever. And the idea is something like, and I'm, I hope I'm not misquoting him here, but, um, or attributing this idea to him, but it's this idea of LLL is the acronym. So if we think about exercises and I want to hear from you on what you've done, but one exercise that comes to mind or practice that comes to mind to combat the.
[00:32:24] The visceral reactive state that we find ourselves in when triggering events like getting cut off in traffic on your way to the spa, maybe where you're supposed to be in a zen-like state, when you welcome people in and you have those, uh, those, uh, you know, soft, uh, to quote our CEO, dulcet, sonars tones in your voice, as you're talking to customers that call you whatever.
[00:32:45] But instead you come in and you're irate because Johnny make speeds decided to cut you off at 90 on the. So the, the practice is this it's LLL, which is listen label and let [00:33:00] go. So the listening piece is the awareness, but that you're speaking to, or you're just, you're noticing I'm feeling XYZ. The labeling is, oh, wow.
[00:33:10] I am feeling. Instead of the emotion angry and didn't let him go, which is the thing that we all struggle with, which is okay. I've noticed it. I've packaged it up with a nice bundle of a, of a label rather. And now I can let it just dissipate in, run away, like water through a river or something like that.
[00:33:29] So that's maybe how I would suggest that listener. Instantiate this practice of becoming capable of decoupling from the negative talk, the self-talk and all the derivatives of that and meditation obviously. But what have you done, if anything, else to maybe stay on top of your psychology so that you can continue to have a winner's mindset.
[00:33:53] Are there any other practices that you've used yourself?
[00:33:58] Colleen: Uh, really it's, it's kind [00:34:00] of like what you said. I didn't call it LLL, but I mean, that's basically what you're doing. And the interesting thing is like, you still get to choose, like, there are things that happen and you can have a thought on, like, why am I, why am I this making me angry?
[00:34:14] And guess you can still choose to be angry about it. You can still choose to be mad and. You know, like then move it on. Okay. You maybe, maybe you did create this own thought on your own, and it's not really what the person meant, but you still choose to be upset about it and that's okay. And then let it go.
[00:34:32] So I, I, you know, I do meditate not as often as I like anymore. Cause I just, I'm great, crazy busy and I needed to take some time to do that, but I think it is just having that quiet moment or I'm more in the moment, like when it happens. And I feel myself getting riled up and I stay in that space, then I'm like, okay.
[00:34:52] I force myself to think about what actually is happening, what my thought is around it. And like I said, sometimes I choose to stay there for a little bit and [00:35:00] then be mad. And, but sometimes I'm like, this is crazy. I'm totally making this up on my own. And I have no idea what that person actually meant and just let it go.
[00:35:07] But you have control. So, and I think once you start practicing and doing it, it's very, very powerful. It's almost like you realize you have this ownership and power over everything that happens to you throughout your day. So it's just that constant awareness and just practicing.
[00:35:28] Austin: Yeah. In other idea, that listeners might, or I guess viewers, if, uh, for those of you that are watching this on YouTube and what have you, another idea people might play with, um, is everyday.
[00:35:42] On the hour capture the very thought, the first thought that comes to mind, catch that in a Google doc or Evernote or whatever. And over the course of a month, notice the. Sentiments of your thoughts. And that's a way in which you might be able to objectively [00:36:00] quantify. If you're improving with your positive, psychological, say managements of your interstate, et cetera.
[00:36:08] And it might also expose, oh wow. I have a lot of negative neurotic, et cetera, type thinking. And in my urge, you then to. Take these practices more seriously of meditation or, you know, the LLL or some of the other ideas that communist shared. Because I think the more I do this show in particular, as I talked to people that are absolutely blowing the doors off of what even they thought initially was possible.
[00:36:37] There's one chronic, chronic is probably the wrong term here, consistent theme, which is that it's literally seemingly all rooted in mind. So it just the same way that a lot of human action is downstream of economics, you might be able to argue, or you might argue, I think a lot of successes down sort of mindset, and it makes sense, but the trouble with it is that it seems like it's just the same material, [00:37:00] formless, fluffery that doesn't have feet to it.
[00:37:05] But that's maybe the point and that's why it's so advantageous because you can control it. If you can begin to influence your own thinking by choosing what you place your spotlight of attention and focus on thought wise. And then, you know, again, you augment the positive thoughts. You listen label and let go of the negative thoughts.
[00:37:22] And as we see with Coleen $99,000, it's called a hundred thousand dollar. In five months, not having ever run a spa in her life, which is insane in the membrane. So hashtag shout out, hashtag hashtag shout tag, whatever nineties song I'm citing by mistake here. Anyway. So that's incredible. So I think for the remaining part of the show, maybe we can get tactical on.
[00:37:57] What you actually did, [00:38:00] you know, you wake up, you, you run through exercise to stay in your positive psychological states, and now you get to your desk, the spa and it's day one into thinking, okay, well, I feel great. I'm positive. I'm visualizing my success a hundred thousand six months, 250,000, 300,000 in a year, whatever it is.
[00:38:21] What are the actions or what are the tactical day-to-day things that you've done that you believe have contributed to these numbers? Getting pinned on the board? Like they have,
[00:38:32] Colleen: I think you have to go all in. Like I think part of it is like the person who said, no, one's going to pay that. You know, I think people are like, well, I'm going to try this, you know, or I'm going to put this on my website and.
[00:38:43] See what happens. And then when it doesn't explode, they're like, oh, okay, well, it just, wasn't gonna work out. You know, you have something good, you know, every person, like you said, you're fit. Whether you're fit, not fit. Everybody wants to still look [00:39:00] better. This treatment is a no brainer. So you have to be like, I'm going to go all in.
[00:39:06] I'm going to do everything I have to do to get it out there. And you have. You have to work your butt off, you have to put in the hours and the time. So like I said, we started, I'm like, okay, we'll do an open house. And you know, we do run a Facebook ad. I don't pay a ton for it, but I run. If we run a Facebook ad that gets people in the door and then when you get them in the door, the packages are absolutely easy to sell.
[00:39:34] They're easy if you. Believe what you're doing and you believe it works. And let's be honest. This is an incredible treatment with the cryo skin. When I first saw it, I was like, Hmm, really? You know, and until we started doing ourselves, um, my staff and I were like, oh my God. And then every client we were having come in is having results.
[00:39:57] It's like, you know, [00:40:00] shout it from the roof. So our Facebook ad gets people in the door. We regularly do, um, events. So we're doing another event April 2nd, cause we just moved to a larger location. So we're calling it our open house. We would have done one. We've been there for five years or brand new. You just come up with a name for it and do an event and get creative.
[00:40:21] I am going to be going around to all the local businesses, asking them to partner and promote me. And so what I'm actually doing is I have. Little business cards and we're doing huge raffles. So if the business is going to have local businesses, I go to, and they're going to put their name on the. And any clients they have, or people that come into their place, they can take a card, they put their name on it and they come to our open house, the business, and the guests gets to win like a $250 gift card.
[00:40:52] So it's getting the businesses to know about us. It's getting them to promote us because they're going to win something too. You have to be able to, you [00:41:00] have to be willing to do those things and you have to go all in. So. That's really been what we've done. You know, we, we do, um, we take all of our clients and we send texts regularly.
[00:41:13] Um, we send emails, keeping the word out there, putting it on our own personal pages. We all take our staff and I tag each other and we all share the posts and the results. You have to be doing all of that stuff or no, one's going to see it. But I mean, that's really the gist of how we're getting the word out there.
[00:41:33] Austin: When you say go all in, what do you mean in particular? And I know that seems like an obvious question, but unpack that
[00:41:42] Colleen: again, it comes back to mindset. You have to be able to see where you want to go. And I am envisioning having many locations that are literally jam packed. And I'm like, I don't know how the heck I'm gonna make that happen, [00:42:00] but I know what's going to happen.
[00:42:02] So by having that belief and knowing that you just start doing the things to create action, to get you to that place, you have to be able to hear it, go back to all this. There's like Aldi mindset. You have to be able to see it. If you can't see it, you're not going to work towards it. But if you can see it as scary as that.
[00:42:24] 'cause sometimes it's really scary to dream big because we don't actually believe it's going to happen. So we hold back. But if you can be like, this is terrifying and I can't imagine this success ever happening, I can see it. I can see my life at that point. You will get there. You will do the things to get there.
[00:42:45] If you're that person who's like, well, I'm gonna try and see what happens then you're not envisioning anything big. And that's what you're gonna do. You're going to try and see what happens, but if you can really put your, [00:43:00] put it, put it, you know, in your brain and see it as big as you possibly can and you'll get there.
[00:43:07] It really is. As simple as that,
[00:43:13] Austin: I have to wonder if success is. Is that simple, it's hard. It's hard. You've had exactly, you've had real struggle, which is the price of admission that you pay for success. But we, I think we're, we're just constantly looking for this elixir tincture. What's the secret formula to be successful in the. It's basic.
[00:43:43] It's like, there's, it's almost like, there's nothing interesting to say because it is that simple. It's extraordinarily difficult, but it is that simple. So maybe I can share something here, um, for the listeners that are maybe skeptical about the power of what I believe you're advocating for, [00:44:00] which is essentially visualizing.
[00:44:03] Visualization. Is that a fair assessment? That that's more or less what you're advocating for? Do you picture it? Because if you don't, then you're going to just say, I'm going to try this rather than I'm going to go all in and I'm going to find a way to move heaven and earth to make this happen. So that's a fair assessment.
[00:44:20] Yep. Okay. Okay. I would implore the listeners to pick up a copy of a book called into the magic show. And in it, it's a book written by a neurosurgeon who went from living a life. Where he had to fight off his father as a child to protect his mother, to then becoming a neurosurgeon against all the odds, to eventually generating $75 million worth of net worth for himself to then losing it all to then having a back again, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:44:54] And his story's incredible, but he talks it up to what he learned inside of this [00:45:00] magic shop as a kid. So the, the title of the book's a little goofy sounding initially. And one of the things that he advocates for and speaks to as being Testament, two of the four things that he, he pins as being the contributors, uh, his success, one of them is visualization and sitting down for a couple of times a day for 10 to 30 minutes and literally feeling what it is.
[00:45:25] Do you have accomplished the thing that you're in pursuit of, even if you don't know what the steps are to get there, because you'll, you'll start to figure that out as you're, you're experiencing the emotionality, et cetera, of the visualized visualization practice, and it will materialize in the real world.
[00:45:42] It's almost as if our mental state. Is the terminal, which if you're not a software developer listeners, which I'm not, but I went through a bootcamp and dropped out out way through it because it was too hard for me. I was, I good at it, but it's almost as if you're in sublime or the terminal instead of a computer.
[00:45:57] And you're writing, you're rewriting the code for your own [00:46:00] life. Do the practice of visualization, where you end up in your trajectory, which is baffling. So I would challenge the listeners to pick up a copy of that book because it was very, very enlightening. And again, it's into the magic shop. Great book.
[00:46:14] So, were there any things calling that you did that surprised you in that they did not help contribute to your attain, the number that you hit or have hit the numbers of defense?
[00:46:25] Colleen: What do you mean? Like things that didn't
[00:46:27] Austin: work. Yeah, sure. So let me state it a bit less $5 ish where Tish, because I think my sentence structure was horrific there.
[00:46:36] So what is my question? What are some things that you've done that did not help you get your number? Um,
[00:46:44] Colleen: well, this is going to sound corny, but I don't think anything didn't help because if we tried something and it didn't work, you just try another avenue. So it's all figuring it out, you know? And when you talk about like the visualization [00:47:00] and stuff, it's not like, you know, you jump in and your legs skyrocket up, you know?
[00:47:07] Moments. We're like, oh my gosh, this business is not going to work. You know, you have all of those things. It's just, you don't, you keep going, you just keep doing it. Um, you know, we had, after our great open house in November, we did another one in December. We had like 40 people RSVP and I think two people showed up.
[00:47:27] So you're like, oh, well maybe. Good ride for a month and does really isn't going to be anything, but it's like, no, you just keep, you just keep switching gears because if you believe in yourself, which is probably the hardest thing, but if you can visualize, like we're saying, and you can attach a feeling to that, that's an also an important part.
[00:47:53] Being able to visualize. Creates that feeling that it's happening. And that is what drives you to get [00:48:00] past the hard parts to get past the times when, oh my gosh, someone else is doing it in town. And now my business is going to crash or I've got these competitors. Or I said, someone said that to me before, actually, when we were looking, um, we also just we're opening one in April about an hour from me, um, which is another crazy story.
[00:48:20] But someone was like, well, what if there's other ones in that area? I go, I'm not afraid of competition. Number one, it gets the word out that this stuff is good. Number two, I'll just work harder and do it better. Then that's has to be your mentality. And if it is, even if you, like you said, you have no idea how.
[00:48:42] I have no idea how I'm going to do any of this stuff that I've done. You just believe you can, and you will figure it out as you go with the whole, what? The one or opening an hour for me, I literally went one day with a girlfriend. We looked at a couple places. I signed the lease. I came home. My husband's like, oh God, you signed the lease.[00:49:00]
[00:49:00] Didn't you? I was like, yeah, he goes, how are you going to find a little work? There I go. I don't know. But it well, and he was like, well, how about this? And how about that? And someone said to me, they're like, you know, you don't think. And go well, here's the reality. I know there's going to be bumps in the road.
[00:49:16] I know that I'm gonna be like, oh, made a bad idea, made a bad choice with that one. Or oops, never even thought about this thing that could come up. I know those things are gonna happen. So why am I going to sit down and talk myself out of something? I know I can make successful. I know those things are gonna happen.
[00:49:32] They happen to me every day, but I also know that whatever comes you'll just figure out and get past. That doesn't mean doing things irresponsibly that you can't afford or stuff like that. But if you believe you can make something work, go make it work.
[00:49:48] Austin: I don't think listeners coppice, maybe they did, but what's funny about even your response.
[00:49:53] There is that it's a metal lesson in this. Allowing yourself to speak [00:50:00] in the negative. So here I am framing up the question, Hey, what did not work? And you're like, eh, it all worked. What are you talking about? You reframe everything as a positive, which is so, so it just a, yeah, it's a metal lesson in no matter what is handed to you, you can always reframe it as a positive failure.
[00:50:20] What does failure? That's just another, um, chip off the block. The attainment of inevitable success or something like that. Right. Wild. Hmm. Well, what haven't we talked about on this journey that you think is worth sharing with the listeners and viewers? Anything come to mind?
[00:50:46] Colleen: Um, I guess I think one of the other things that has probably made us.
[00:50:51] I would hope that most businesses would reflect and see just kind of like a self-check. I think one of the biggest things [00:51:00] is what is the culture you have at your honor for the spa or a corporate business or anything? Culture, I think is the biggest thing. That's going to create your success because if you have a culture where you believe in other people, they're going to believe in you and you're fostering that.
[00:51:19] You know, inspiring people to be the best they can be. Um, and having them feel comfortable when they come in, not to knock other places, but I have gone to lots of spas and things like that, or even new hairdressers or whatever. And you just, you walk in, you're kind of like, Hmm, I don't belong here. You just kind of get that sense, have a place where everyone feels like they belong.
[00:51:43] They're welcome there. They're part of the family when they walk in, no one is judging anybody and we're all in the same boat. You know, we all feel the same about our bodies and how we look and just, just being that warm place that people like to go. Cause it makes them feel good. Not [00:52:00] because it's. Uppity spa.
[00:52:03] That's really fancy. And you walk in and you'd be like, you don't have a lock. So I think that's, that is one of the biggest things we try to put out. Um, and that's one of the biggest things with the staff, you know, just being that welcoming place for people
[00:52:22] Austin: own your culture, own the preservation of your own positive psychology. Visualize reframe everything in the positive and you very well may end up like calling in your first five minutes of owning a spa. We, her grand, which is insane again. And, uh, wow. Well, is there any other. Tips or actionable insights, maybe decisions that you've made typically, [00:53:00] you know, historically this part of the show has been, uh, levers and landmines.
[00:53:03] So what are some of the things that you have done that have led to your extreme growth? I think we've covered a lot of that. The other section is the landmines decisions that have been made that were not positive and ended up backfiring. But the problem of that question is we learned today is that there is a such thing as a landmine because everything is a positive, it's just sometimes disguised as pain or the like, so I guess the last question for you would be, is there anything else that you want or would want to share with the audience that they should know about what you've learned?
[00:53:42] Colleen: I guess not super, you know, I'm not positive, Polly. Everything is always wonderful and happy. I think I just, you know, there's lots of things that I have done that haven't worked or I wouldn't do again. But whenever I think about [00:54:00] them, you know, or like something I've spent a lot of money on that, I was like, oh, I wish I hadn't spent money on that.
[00:54:05] But most of that. You know, it's something you did that was just part of your path and your journey that got you to, okay. This, I spent a lot of money on this. I mean, I spent thousands and thousands of thousands of dollars on marketing that was useless at times, you know? So it's like, okay, what if I hadn't done that?
[00:54:27] Then I wouldn't have tried this, that got me to where I'm supposed to be. So, yeah, there's the. I get angry about, or I'm like, gosh, I wish I hadn't done that. But in the end, it's getting you to where you're supposed to be. So I guess I am a believer that things are supposed to happen in a certain way. And even the bad things are supposed to teach you something about where you're supposed to end up.
[00:54:50] So, you know, lots of landmines, but I don't in the moment they're negative. But then for some, some reason they get you to where [00:55:00] the path you're supposed to be. Yeah, and it's not a straight one. It's not a, I'm starting here and I want my business to be here. And so you just go, it's definitely not a straight one.
[00:55:10] It's all sorts of curves and roundabouts, and may take you longer than you think it's going to.
[00:55:18] Austin: The struggle is the price of admission you pay for success at the new Testament to that. Well, the closing two questions for me, the first one. Well, that might open an entirely new can of worms, but I can't resist today.
[00:55:34] Why did you choose cryo skin over the other devices in the landscape?
[00:55:40] Colleen: I really just, like I said, I don't, I don't think too deeply. Like I didn't weigh them all out and pros and cons the. Um, I researched a couple of them was in touch with a few of them. I just got a really great feeling from pro skin. I liked the way they communicated.
[00:55:54] I liked their subscription because to me, I was like, well, that's, [00:56:00] um, takes all the fear out of trying it. Like let's, let's see what it does. Um, and I just, it just had a great feel like the people were really good to work with and the results that we're seeing were great. Um, So that's really why I didn't dive too, too two deepens.
[00:56:19] I was like, I feel good about this one.
[00:56:22] Austin: Trust your guy trust you guys. Yeah. Yeah. There's something about that. There's well, again, that's another whole can of worms, but there's a lot of, uh, from what I recall, there's a lot of. Rationale for why it is that you ought to trust your gut? I believe it was Colonel Powell when he was a general in the army.
[00:56:40] Was it? Um, I remember reading a piece on him on decision-making and he was a staunch advocate of making decisions once and only once he had attained some 30% of all possible. Info on a thing. In other words, he didn't go scouring for every piece of [00:57:00] data ever. He just said, okay, I've got enough data to make a decision trusted his gut and the overwhelming percentage of the time he was right.
[00:57:10] So there's something about trusting your intuition, I guess. Well, very cool. Well, I want to be mindful of time and you have another $200,000 to go make to get you back out there to do what you do best. How can the listeners connect with you if they want to get in touch?
[00:57:26] Colleen: Uh, you can connect Instagram. It's at inspired beauty.boutique.
[00:57:32] Um, you can. Texts me, my number is (315) 569-5318. Or call me that's. One of the biggest things too, is I love entrepreneurs who are willing to share and help each other. Cause I truly believe the more we do that. The more we all grow. So I found some amazing support throughout this journey. Cause I'm also the one who's not afraid to reach out and be like, [00:58:00] oh, Hey, I see you to do this service.
[00:58:01] How did the work for you? What are your clients think? Is it profitable? I ask everybody in anybody and a lot don't respond, but the ones who do you build that relationship? And I think that is huge for entrepreneurs.
[00:58:15] Austin: Awesome. Well, call me that. I've enjoyed the hell out of my time today with you. And, uh, thanks again for doing this.
[00:58:23] Awesome. All right. You take care.