Creating Community: The Inspiring Story Behind The Vine Club!

The Vine Club: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs with Kelli

In this episode of the Samantha Parker Show, Samantha sits down with Kelli, the mentor and leader of the Vine Club. They discuss the origins and purpose of the Vine Club, a mastermind group aimed at helping women entrepreneurs grow their online presence and businesses. Kelli shares her journey from Texas to starting the Vine Club in St. George, her struggles with balancing two businesses, and the importance of creating meaningful connections and educational opportunities for women in business. The conversation touches on the impact of community support, the challenges of business pivots, and the balance between work and progress. They also enjoy a light-hearted chat about their favorite meals, workout routines, and the unique vibe of St. George.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:49 What is the Vine Club?

02:21 The First Year of Vine Club

03:43 Mastermind and Networking

05:28 Personal Stories and Connections

07:44 Hyper Fixation Meals and Daily Routines

16:39 Early Morning Routines and Local Life

19:05 Starting the Vine Club in St. George

19:56 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

20:07 Building Confidence and Conviction

22:03 Networking and Community Building

22:54 Balancing Optimism and Realism

23:47 Pivoting and Finding the Right Path

25:40 Creating Meaningful Connections

31:35 Balancing Multiple Ventures

33:20 Crafting a Lasting Brand

38:54 The Vine Club Vision

41:28 Conclusion and Call to Action

The Vine Club (AKA Kelli): https://www.instagram.com/the_vineclub?igsh=ODFnZmc0cXdtYzY=

The Vine Club Website: https://www.inthevineclub.com/membership/

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Transcript

 Hey guys. Welcome back to the Samantha Parker show. Today I'm sitting down with my friend and I'm gonna call you a bit of a mentor and the leader of the Vine Club. Kelly, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, so first off, what's the Vine Club? I've been talking about it a lot to friends

i'm like, oh, I joined this Mastermind. It's the Vine Club. My husband wasn't aware I was in a mastermind until I was like, Hey, I'm spending the weekend with my mastermind. He's wait, what? Sometimes I forget all the things I'm doing. Yeah you're doing all the things. It's so fun. I really love it.

I actually was thinking I should be paying you as a member, like an actual employee of the wine club, because I feel like you're such a great resource to our group. Everybody's now Samantha, what are you doing? Can you help us on this? You just know all the things. I just happen to know a lot about online businesses and the way things work.

I'm actually glad that I can share some of that, if that makes sense. For sure. I've done it, I've seen it. I've worked for so many different types of businesses that usually I'm like, oh, here's the systems that we're using. And then you don't have to go dig around. So it's great to have that kind of.

So someone you can ask. Yes. And I do feel like a lot of the women in our group are coming with different businesses that they're wanting to use an online presence to grow, and they just don't have as much experience in that online presence that you do. Which is great, but there's gonna be so many other things that I don't know what I want to do.

And sometimes just having the space to think and talk. Because, a lot of times we end up in our houses and we're just talking to the walls. I'm like, Hey, what do you think about this idea? And it doesn't really care. There's nobody in my house that really cares about what I'm doing.

They love that I'm doing things right. But if I was to ask them to explain what your mom is doing or what your wife is doing? It's a little tricky. I think my husband's got it down now. He's I love that she creates content and then there's some businesses in town that I work for that he can be like, she does that for them.

Because they know that business. Yes. For sure. So that's helpful. So you're like, I have these people that I'm working with, so you can see that's what I do what is the Vine Club? Yes. So it's, I've had it for about a year and it is, wait, you've had it for a year?

It was my very first. Gathering event was last October. It wasn't even on my radar until I saw that you did an event here at Kiln. I did my first event last October, an evening event that I held at the Astor. That was how I was able to connect with those women that went, women that own that.

And then I did a fun. February Gallant Times's Ball. That was really about connecting and bringing in sponsors from the community so that women can enjoy the swag in the evening. And then, I started my luncheons over the summer, because I wanted to get more grounded in things that I felt mattered more.

I feel like I've used this first year to figure out a whole bunch of things that was fun, but that's not what I want to use my energy to create anymore. Oh, we were talking about that in the hot tub the other night. That's a really weird segue, right?

In the hot tub. But that's sometimes what business is. Sometimes it is so deliberate and you have that vision from the beginning. I have felt like this year, I've changed my vision quite a bit. It's not because I didn't enjoy creating those things, but they take so much energy on one end of the experience,

I wanted something that felt more lasting. I wanted to connect with people more than just a quick experience that night and a very schmoozey. Hi everybody. Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. I needed something more. So you started doing the luncheons that were more geared towards it felt like business.

Is what I noticed. Yeah. That's when I think you came on my radar. Yes. And then from there you were like, Hey, I'm gonna turn it into this Mastermind. I actually had a little mini mastermind with a couple of the girls that are in my mastermind right now. It was with Chelsea and Ashley.

They're both in my neighborhood and have amazing businesses. I just thought what can I create? That I would want to be a part of. That's where I wanted to start. As I was looking for what type of offer I would want, I learned to harness all of the amazing women in the area.

And connect with them and work with them and partner with them on things. I had so many women that I would approach about sponsoring or coming to teach that were just so generous I thought, man, I'm getting really good at asking the hard questions, putting myself out there and connecting with these amazing business owners.

What if I bring them in? To a smaller setting and allow them to really teach what they are amazing at. I feel like we, as business owners, we get skills that we can put into practice in our own businesses, but outside of that, we don't really have a platform to teach other people about all of these amazing things that we've learned, all the trial and error we've been through in our own businesses.

And so I would eventually love this to become something where people can use it as an educational platform outside of their business to share. All of their learning and be able to, monetize that. But I thought fresh first start let's just give them a place to teach a small group.

So there's a bigger picture going on here. Yes, for sure. That was actually what drew me to it you're awesome. So let's just put that on the top of the list. Oh, you're sweet. Let's put Kelly on the top. It's like a photo over. I hope it's like Disney Earth or something too. No, I'm totally a Disney character.

Yeah, that's a life for sure. But I was like, oh, that's cool. She has someone else coming in every month. And there was a couple of people that I recognize and I was like, I actually do wanna get into Lexi Bowler circle. That was a big one for me. I'm a big fan of proximity. You'll never.

Stop learning, but I'm kind of at the point where I'm like, what kind of network and what kind of people? Because I learned the most just from people that I know. I learned so much from one of my friends and he's willing to share and tell me anything. That was a big shift for me this year.

I was like, oh, you'll just help me with that, and it's two minutes, and I'm like, oh my gosh, if we just all helped each other a little more. Totally. But yeah, I saw you had Lexi Buller coming in and I'm like, okay. I know Lexi. I've watched her grow over the years. I just think it'd be great to hear more from her.

So that was a big one for me. I applied for the Vine Club. I was in LA and we were in the back of an Uber going to the Hollywood sign. And I kept making Jess. Jess is, , our content manager here for those Math Parker. But I kept making Jess look at it. She gets so carsick.

Oh. So she remembers this too. She's like, why are you showing me this? Yeah. She was like, I'm gonna puke. And I'm like, look at this. And then we got. Like a chuckle because it's kind of funny, who's the person that her photos with? The Chick-fil-A Cup? The Diet Coke. Oh, it's Caly.

She's teaching next. Yes. It's like part of her branding. She's got little kids and she's I go, I take my kids to Chick-fil-A and I get some work time. I sit down and they play and yeah. I used to do that when my kids were little. All the time. But we got a good laugh out of it because I'm like, oh, Chick-fil-A diet Coke.

That's like crispy. But I'm like, why would she put that in her brand photos? We had a whole discussion about it. I'm like, I bet you it's just part of her personality. Like she loves Chick-fil-A Diet Coke. It's almost like a content pillar for her, like i'm gonna this is something I posted about throughout my day I made my weekly trip, this wasn't on purpose, but I actually have a chick look right here.

We'll put it up here so we can advertise. People need to know, I just need some free gift cards. I'll do a lot of stuff for free food. Oh, totally. A hundred percent. But no, I just got my hair colored, so it's a little fluffy right now. I was like, I need to eat before I go to this podcast.

And so it was like Chick-fil-A. I get that ke crunched salad, which is, it put chicken nuggets on it with buffalo sauce. I've seen people be doing these things with the Chick-fil-A food, but I'm so trashy that I just want to eat the french fries and the chicken nuggets when I go, yeah, I didn't get the french fries.

I don't know why. This is not okay. This is my trade off. Because if not, I'll feel kind yucky. I'm like, oh, I'm gonna get the breaded chicken nuggets. Not the naked nuggets. But then I won't get french fries. So it still feels like a treat. Still feels like fancier or fun.

And if I want a French choice, I would've just got 'em. But that's what I was feeling. But it's really good. And then you put it on, I like the Kell Crunch salad. My daughter teaches me these things. I think she finds 'em on TikTok. And then if you put buffalo sauce on it.

Yum. So flipping good. Can I tell you my hyper fixation meal right now? Yeah. Sourdough bread. Two pieces toasted. The smaller ones, not the massive ones. Like the rounds. I didn't have goat cheese at the time, so I'm just using cow cheese, like one wedge of cow cheese split in half.

Cow cheese, some sriracha. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Funny. That's what we call it. It looks like branded as cow cheese at our house. Regular cheese? No, not like cows. Like the cow. The little cow wedges. Oh, laughing cows. Like the yes. Laughing cow. Yeah. Okay.

So laughing cow cheese. Split the wedge in half and then put that on the bread, a little sriracha sauce, and then you do Turkey and some crispy apple slices. And then some like spring mixed lettuce. That sounds phenomenal. It's so good. You get the spice. It's still missing an element of bitter, like it might need some pickled maybe.

But it has the crunch and the texture and then you're getting all the protein you need from the Yeah. You can load up as much Turkey. You had me when you said Turkey slices. Yes. I was like, I could do that. Yeah. It's really good. So I've eaten every day this week. Oh my God. I just went to Trader Joe's recently, as because I brought 50 things from Trader Joe's to our little mastermind sleepover. Which I feel like that's like sharing a part of your soul. That's like a big sacrifice. But I've been just.

Doing like their bag salads. They had a whole bunch of 'em. So I just grabbed one of everything and putting chicken in it. That's been my hyper fixation this week. I will not want it next week. Don't come near me with that. I can eat something for weeks. I can just eat it all the time.

I have the same breakfast almost every day except for today. We went to orange pill. But I do the same breakfast. I have two hard boiled eggs. I have my little egg slicers that they need to be sliced. In a particular way. I have a whole wheat English muffin and four Turkey sausages. But I cook five 'cause I share one with my dogs. That's literally what I eat almost every morning. Oh, I love it. Yeah. So anyways, moving on.

You created this mastermind. You're a month into it. Yes. And I think it's going really well. Thank you. I definitely am wanting to get as much feedback from the women as I can as we move forward. This is my first time and you guys are kinda like my Guinea pigs and you're being really sweet about it.

I'm really enjoying it so far. As far as the first month, we wanted to talk about CEO mindset and the overall vision of our businesses, I also felt a lot of pressure to make sure everybody like was gelling well and just wanting them to have time to connect.

And what you said the other day as we were leaving, when you were like, Hey, we're not gonna see each other till next week. That's such a long time. For the group, we all like hanging out. What's going on? That made me so happy because we just really, enjoy spending time together.

It's awesome. No, it was fun. And I liked that you did that overnight thing because we were just hanging out, so it kind of took down a barrier. And you still had stuff planned. I loved the presentation. You did. Oh, you're sweet. Thank you. It was really well done. About the mindset stuff and why me, why now?

And you know what's so funny is a couple days ago. I was going over the end of the quarter, like where did we end up at third quarter. We did an insane turnaround it's been wild to watch. But then it was actually CAR me Baker. She was like, where are we going? Fourth quarter?

She was asking me and she's some questions to ask yourself are why me and why now? And I was like, let me pull out my notes. It was the notes from the mastermind and I was like, oh, I already did this. Then I showed her the whole chat GPT thing I'd come up with.

And she was like, of course you have. Yeah, I love it. But she's like, why you, why now? And I'm like, oh, I already got this. Done. So it was very on point. That's all I'm saying. But it was nice. And also too, I like it. 'cause you were like, we had talked about it on Friday night. It was like, where, what numbers do you wanna be at?

And I was like, oh, I need to do that. So it kind of holds me accountable to do some things. Sure. That weren't maybe in my awareness I just have to bracket myself. I'm one of those people like, you can count on me. I am a very accountable person. I can feel that. I don't need, I don Gym buddy.

 I have one, but I don't need one. Don't let him hear that though. He'll ditch me. Cody. I was gonna say, is it Cody? Don't even know Cody, but I do know Cody. I hear his name all the time. Did you not meet him the other morning? I saw him really fast, but I feel like that was only for six.

You should go to lunch. Actually he's doing an event tomorrow night. This is a side note for you guys, podcasters. He's doing an event tomorrow night here at Kiln, and I'm speaking at it briefly. Oh, cool. Yeah, it's kinda cool at 6:00 PM there's tacos, I got a bunch of my family coming and I was like, there's gonna be tacos.

Love it. The food Coco loves gonna be here too. Oh really? And that's a brand you have on your dream list, right? Technically Cody, he's the CIO for them. Oh, I love him. Yeah. And I do have a lot of meetings and stuff with them and they do happen to have a pitch deck.

We've had some meetings floating. I love it. Good vibe. It's there. We'll see what happens. If not, you guys are dead to me. No, I'm just kidding. I actually have a couple cases of Coco love in my office though. We should swing. I'll go down and I'll give you some. Here we go. I've never tried it, so this would be fun.

Yeah, it's just a really awesome coconut water. We had 'em on the podcast and then we had to pull that podcast because we talked about a brand deal they have. Coming up and we weren't supposed to talk about it. Oh, dang it. I know. And I'm still like such a good podcast, but I could talk about it in the spring.

Oh, for sure. Put it back up. It's in the parking lot over here. Ooh. It's a big chain That's exciting. From everywhere. Everywhere. Okay. Get your lattes there. Yes. Just saying. Okay. That's exciting. Yeah. I'm all suey. The word was never spoken the name, so it's fine.

But yeah, they're gonna be there. Be really cool. I've just been big lately on connecting and I can tell that's actually doing so much for me. It fills my heart too. And I am already seeing ripples of just even within our mastermind group that women are loving what you're doing and wanting to be a part of that too.

Yeah. I love what they're doing too. So it's cool 'cause you kind of get an in depth look of what people are creating. And even, Ashley, she does hair. And she's obviously really great at educating. But I didn't know she had cancer and I didn't know all these things about her.

And sometimes I think we forget that we're all people just doing our best. She really needs to share more of her story because she's the main breadwinner of her family and just dug her.

He dug her feet in and made things happen for her family. And then she's also got this, side of her that's like. My family depends on me, but she also has this really cool, ambitious dreamer side that's really fun to talk about. I'm just excited to see her be able to invest time into that now.

To see what she can make it be. I think in her particular industry so often hours. Like it is this many hours spent behind my chairs. This is how much, this is how much I can provide for my family. And so to be able to open up a whole different window of income for her family is gonna give her so much more freedom.

And just a really cool way to come full circle with what. She's learned behind the chair. I'm excited. Yeah, it's cool. So I like what you're doing. Thanks. And I also have to give people kudos 'cause it's not comfortable to put yourself out like that and be like, I'm doing these luncheons. Now sign up for my mastermind.

It is hard. And a people pleaser. I'm really always very aware of. The climate in the room, always trying to read the room. That can be to my detriment, but it has, helped me grow a bit, to push past that I've had to say it doesn't matter how many people are coming to these things I've been able to see the momentum, I've had to find value in so many other parts of the experience, than what I thought I would on the front end.

Yeah, what I anticipated. And you learn a lot about yourself too, when you put yourself out in that way and you're gonna learn that people are gonna have things to say. And you're like, that's really interesting, yes, for sure. What I thought was. Interesting is the very first luncheon we came to Shana spoke at and she was talking about the eye of the hurricane and it was really phenomenal.

And I sent her this and I said, Hey, buy your ticket for this. We're going, because we don't know any of these people. Oh yeah. They're gonna meet all new people and I think we should be there. Which we knew Shana, but yeah. And it was interesting 'cause you kept saying oh, I thought more people would be here, more people would be here.

And I was like, what are you talking about, girl? I know. And I do remember that specific moment when I was, 'cause I felt like without, I don't know if I told you this, I had followed you before you bought the ticket, and so I knew who you were. And you're doing all the things and just like making things happen.

So when I saw your name come across, I thought, ah, she's coming to one of my events. I felt pressure. So when I saw you, I thought, I hope she feels like this is worth her time and investment. That was a me, like people pleasing issue on you.

I wish there would've been more people here. So you could have seen a better turnout and you were like, we're not wasting a second on that energy. I was like, oh, great reminder, Kelly, get it together. I was like, we're here.

I came and I brought my friend. Oh my gosh. Anyway, so that was a great reminder to me. Like those metrics are not always the most important thing. What type of experience am I providing for those women in that room. Yeah. So it's been a great thing to circle back to.

And you can actually take that mentality and put it into all the online content you do as well. Because I tell people all the time, I'm like, I know this is not a viral video. This is not virality, but we're gonna post it because it's gonna move the needle in your business. And so I think people too, we're starting to come back to these are humans in the seats.

You had at least 12 to 15, if not more, maybe 20. Real humans sitting in that room. Yeah, totally. And that was amazing to me. Yeah, so good job. That's such a good reminder. Thank you. Yeah. You're the best. What? You're from Texas, right? I grew up in Idaho. Okay. I lived there most of my life.

Moved to Texas when I was 30, I think. Then we spent five years there before coming here. Oh, okay. I just assumed you were from Texas. Yeah. I keep saying she's from Texas, so she's really cool. Yeah, I lived there. I think once you live there a little bit, you can start saying y'all. You can kind of claim Texas, like I'm claiming a part of that,

oh, absolutely. So we lived near Dallas and I loved it. It's such a great place. Oh, I love Dallas. The first time I went to Dallas, I went to that crazy spin place. It was nuts. Oh, SoulCycle? I've never been to a SoulCycle. I went to a SoulCycle class and man, they do get your soul. Oh, do they?

I was like, this is insane. Yeah. And I'm used to rhythm based writing in person. Yeah. And I was like trying to catch the beat and I was like, nope. I've never done that. I did Peloton for years. Tomorrow At 5:15 AM Yeah, I don't know. Are you going to bike the hike?

I am tomorrow morning. Maybe I should try it. It's a slow and sweaty class, so it'll be a little bit easier. Okay. It's a heavy sweaty is what they call it. I used to ride a Peloton a ton. I still have my bike. Oh, I have my Peloton. I ride it all the time and I really love it. But anytime that they would try to bring the rhythm in, I don't know if it's 'cause I'm a chesty girl

I got the trusty and I'm like kind of shorter, there's so many things that I was like, I'm even a dancer, and it just didn't click for me. I felt it was a bit too burdensome. This is rhythm based, but it's. Slow, heavy sweaty, those ones are more fun to me than the like pedal fear life.

Yes. And then also the frantic energy. I'm gonna dislocate my shoulder. Oh my gosh. Are you guys having a seizure? But anyways, I'm on bike 10. Cody's on nine. And I know Ashley's riding with us tomorrow 11. And my girl Jess, is teaching. Oh, that's so fun. So you sign up for an actual bike within the room?

Yeah. And reserving seat in the theater. And the first thing would be free. So if you wanna get up at four 30. Gosh, that's a really great question. I skipped my morning walk this morning. 'cause I went to bed at eight o'clock last night. Oh, that's lovely.

So I usually am up walking at six and I told my neighborhood girls, I'm like, you guys, I need a night. So maybe I'll have enough stored in the tank to make that happen tomorrow. Let's get her phone. Where's her phone? Set the alarm right now. So you're there at five 15 or it starts at five 30?

It is, yeah. It's, no, it's a five 15 class, so you wanna be there at five 10. Okay. Okay. Okay. And do they provide the shoes for you? Yeah. That's good to know. Just show up. They even have towels and afterwards they give you an ice cold lavender towel. That's fun.

And are we wiping with it or are you just after? Yeah, just to cool off. It's like a nice refresher. That's so fun. It's an experience. I'm like, ugh. It's so early. But then I get home and it's six 30 and a lot of times I can be, now when I get home it's six.

I can be showered and ready to go and it's seven and I'm like, what am I doing today? I love it. My neighbor lady today, she's oh, you're already ready for the day. And I was like I just have learned to love an early morning.

Get so much done. Especially this time of year. It's so moody. It's so beautiful. Tuesday morning we just came over to this Dutch bros here, and then you can walk from Dutch Bros to the park down there and back. It's two of my favorite things, walking with my dog.

Yapping. I love yapping. Love it. And then an ice latte. So fun. I guess that was three things, but yeah. Are they doing anything in that parking lot while we're on the topic? I keep hearing about like that getting built out. Like they're gonna connect to I 15 over there right across the road.

Oh. So can actually see it like right out the window here. Is where the road is supposed to keep going. But the problem is it goes through all those park systems, and through that big nature area. I think it's needed, but I don't really see them doing it. I look at that a lot. I love looking at everything that's happening. So it's been fun here in St. George. Yeah. So much happening. All right. So you came here from Texas and you were like, I'm gonna start this group. Yeah. Basically that it's crazy. To think about, and I mentioned this to Andrea and maybe I mentioned it to you too, when I first came up with Andrea, she used to be the owner of the Astor.

She's in our mastermind, which was a wedding venue for context for you guys. And she just sold it, which is really cool. Her and her sister, started it and they had just barely. Started taking weddings, I think in September. So I had gone in maybe August. They, I don't even think they'd had their first wedding yet.

And I just told them, I said, this is what I want to create. I am going to do a really cool event. That one was geared towards business owners. I said, I'm gonna bring in some sponsors. We're gonna fill this room with amazing women have some great messages from local business owners, and I would love to host it here at your venue.

And to say those words out loud. Now it feels very natural because I know I've done those things. I've brought in sponsors and had great success with it. But at that time it felt like the biggest imposter syndrome ever. Who am I to do any of those things? And they were like, great.

We love it. We support. And they've been my biggest cheerleaders through it, that's awesome. It's cool how just having a couple people that see the vision and get, it gives you that much more courage to not. Some of it too is your conviction. So I'm assuming you went in there with some conviction?

Yes, I did. I was like, this is what I'm putting together. I would love to host it here. You'd hit a diet Coke in the car. And you're like just get wired. Fall pre-game. Yeah, let's do it. Went back and breathed into a paper sack afterward. Sometimes I'll get that stress, sweat and it's kind of, smelly, no worries. Have you ever come out of a meeting and usually I'll worn a blazer to this type of meeting too. A cute blazer, of course. But you got layers. And I come out and I'm like, oh my God. And I'm like, my take a shower sweaty. I got that sweat stress and I'm like, that never happened.

Oh my gosh. That's too funny. Sometimes we just do the things anyways. Totally. Yeah. I've had people ask her how are you so confident? I'm like, what in the world are you talking about? No, you really are though. I'm just doing it. Does that make sense? For sure. I definitely have to hype myself up in the car sometimes even doing this podcast I was like, am I prepared enough?

And I've recorded hundreds and hundreds of things, but it's oh, maybe I could just sit in my car and not do it. It's always that way. I even, so I, a photographer and I've shot for over a decade and I remember the feeling I would get when I. First started that same imposter syndrome where you're like, I'm taking this family out and I'm promising them, I'm gonna do this great session.

And I'm still very new to the process of taking somebody through a full set of pictures I feel much more equipped and don't stress about it, but I still get in that parking lot and go, okay, crap. What poses do I like again? Have I ever done this before?

And I used to teach too. I used to be an English teacher and I would every single summer. Get ready for the school. You're thinking like. Have I? What am I even doing? I don't even know how to do this. I'm a teacher. Like how like I, the kids are gonna show up on the first day and I still have nightmares about it a little bit that I show up and I'm prepared.

Thought of like how much prep probably goes into like them being there. You just were like, I'm here. Totally. You feed me. Is it lunch? Educate me. Entertain me. I think if they feed the kids more, they'd really last longer. I'm like, why can't we have snacks? Totally. Yeah. Okay.

But moving from Texas, coming here, what kind of roadblocks have you felt like you've ran into? I came in not knowing anybody. Like I didn't have any network at all. And so anybody I was reaching out to initially, they were all just like cold calls. And Lexi Bowler was one of the first ones, and I just said, Hey, I want to, did you cold call her?

Yeah I think It was a dm. I just said Hey, I want to create this community for women and I wanna hold events where we get to educate one another get to know one another and network. And she was like, yes. I would love to do that.

She came in as a sponsor and did really cool swag for the whole group and Oh, cool. And then I reached out to make Carlisle at Platform Hair and she put together beautiful swag for all the girls and contributed as a sponsor as well. They didn't know me at all and they just had such encouragement and positivity

gave me so much more excitement about it and yeah. You seem very chill about things too. You're like, it's okay. Whatever happens. I'm trying to get better at that too, because I am very optimistic. My husband and I are very different that way, he is very realistic.

Not even what's the worst thing that could happen, but what's the most likely scenario here? Let's not get too excited and I'm always like, perfect. I am already. 10 steps ahead of this, and I already see it working out perfectly. I'm so excited about it. Our conversations are always really funny because I can tell he.

He's always supporting this big fancy thing that I have going on in my brain. He's very encouraging, but also I can tell that he's also we'll count the chickens after they're hatched, that's the thing about being a business owner I do know I need to wait until that's signed and the money is hit my account to celebrate it.

But then you also, it's hard have to go into everything with faith. Yeah. How do you find that balance between. I really think this is gonna work out and I'm gonna make it work out in my brain. And also like I don't wanna get. Completely, kicked over when it doesn't. But failure's a huge part of it.

Back to our hot tub conversation. You had an Airbnb that had a hot tub. Yes. So we were sitting in the hot tub. But you were talking about how you kind of saw yourself going one way and then you were like, no, I'm gonna pivot this way. How did that feel?

Yeah. So the last few weeks I've been trying to put some metrics down, what do I really want to accomplish that I could actually track over the next six months. And so I feel like the obvious choice was I should make a middle of the road offer that gets people signed in. So they're locked in every month and provides a really great opportunity for them to have access to things in the community and connections that they wouldn't if they weren't a part of that group.

It's something that they would love to be a part of, events that would already be planned for them. It wouldn't always be a question of, oh, I forgot. I didn't see that one was advertised. So it's just something for my women that are. Interested that like the luncheons, but just want some more.

And as I was planning and mapping that all out, it was feeling really heavy. I was thinking, man, this might put me into an event planner type position where I just am like running this hamster bill of trying to keep them busy and feeling excited about what's coming up. And just drain me like it was freaking me out.

I was telling Chad let's talk numbers. What would this have to look like? What could I be offering? And then I even typed in this is feeling like a lot. I don't know that I'm gonna love that. I got that confirmation from you ladies when I was talking through I've thought about this offer and it's feeling like it might be too much and not the type of thing that I really want.

And yeah, it was so good to hear everybody like, yes. Yeah, that's probably exactly your problem. I've made a lot of those mistakes where I'm like, on paper, this makes sense. And then you'll even have business people tell you it makes sense. But inside you're like, I don't wanna do that.

But you kind of push through and you do it anyways. Yes. Yeah. And that's when i've really had to push. And I might make some money from it, but eventually you'll watch 'cause it's an energy thing. You're like, this isn't where I'm supposed to be. And sometimes it's a calling thing too.

Yeah. You're like, this was the wrong road. I had a different message I'm supposed to share. Totally. I think I'm going to kinda lay that down for a bit. Not saying I never would, but without having built a team of people that can make stuff happen for me, it just doesn't feel like the right time for it.

I value a more intimate group where I really am connecting with the people and they're connecting with one another we can continue to do big things in a deep way instead of just surface level meet and greets all the time.

Do big things in a deep way. That's a phenomenal tagline, by the way. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And I'm just about doing big things in a deep way. Not lots of things in a surface way.

Oh look, you still have your phone charms? I do. Mine are on the road somewhere. Do big things. I to tell you. I like Billy laughed over that. You saw, oh, it's so good. You were there. We all ate the retreat overnight thing. We all made it's retreat.

I kept calling an overnight sleepover, a retreat. The mastermind retreat. We made phone charms, which was so fun. But we're walking down the road, just going for a walk the next morning and I had mine in my pocket. Like I wasn't holding onto it.

 All of a sudden you just hear it was, and even weight bearing, it was serving no purpose and beads are flying all over down the road. And I literally could not stop laughing. It was, so funny. I'm like, let's get together and do this craft. And then it was like, I was so into the craft kindergarten.

Style just didn't even work out. I took it home. In a little paper cup. Or a paper bowl it's sitting on my desk. Oh my gosh. I love it. I was like, I'm gonna do something with these, repurpose them, which I probably won't in six months. I'll be like, I should throw this away.

Yeah, I get that way too. I wasn't leaving it behind. I was taking it home. It was so fun though. I loved it. I had a great time and as I'm an alcoholic and we talk about that a lot on this podcast. And sometimes it's really refreshing to go to things too, where it's I don't feel like I'm having to push through the night.

Yes, totally. I come home and I felt great. I came home the next day, I remember I took a shower, then it was Jameson's birthday, which is my 4-year-old nephew. The whole rest of the day was him. But what was great was my energy was still so high. And that's one thing I started to recognize too, is oh, I'm around these amazing people.

Or I didn't have to push through the night. Totally. We were talking about things that felt really good. I loved it. The next morning I felt fulfilled nourished and happy. Like in more ways than one. You had great food too. Oh, thank you. But then it was like I went home and the rest of the day still felt so good.

I love it. You've created a good space. Thank you. When you feel like that's so fun. Oh, totally. Yeah. And I do feel like I walk away from every, even when we're just co-working, it just feels so good to be a part of something bigger than myself. As a solopreneur, I don't have a lot of that, and I'm a very social person and I really do get energized from being around people.

Yeah. It's like I have more power when I'm around people. And my husband's the exact opposite. Would love a membership here. I totally love you would love an office here. I wanna chat with all the people and make friends. I wanna slow walk past and nod.

At everybody and already on. I have a couple people, they're like a person basis. Yeah. So good to see you i'm like, I don't know them, yeah. I would love it. One of the things that was like a downfall for me when I worked in public education was I would be so dead from teaching that I just wanted to walk around to all the teachers, all my like, oh my gosh, what did we call it?

Like the people in my hall. It's the people that teach in the same curriculum as me. I can't remember what it was called. But yeah, just all of my fellow teachers in the English, department. There we go. Oh, there you go. Yeah. And the English I was what word coming. And just chat with them about how their day went.

'cause I just couldn't do any grading or anything, so then I'd have to take half of it home. I just, I'm a yapper. I love to talk. I know my son's always like mom's yapping. I love it though. Professional. I remember we used to go places with my grandma and everyone knew my grandma.

I love that. And I'd be like, oh my gosh. And then we'd sit in the car and wait and just oh my gosh. And now that's me. My kids are like, great, I know. And my husband even, he's I put in my time. I'm outta here. So they can usually just yap with him. 'cause I like to linger, but I feel like I can't even go to dinner without finding people

i'm like, I gotta yap with my friends. I love it. It's fun though. Where do you kind of see this going? So I know you're doing six months. And then what's next? Are you gonna keep up the luncheons? How are you feeling? Yes. I still would love to fit in one more luncheon before the end of the year if I can just get it worked out.

Just to start, I just need to get something on the calendar. So I'm thinking I'll do one more. Maybe the beginning of November before all of the holiday stuff really hit. And then jump back into luncheons in January because Christmas, I feel like everybody's got so much going on. Also you have to look at how do you wanna feel doing it too?

Do you wanna put on a luncheon at Christmas time? Yeah. We could be Holly and Jo I already have so many things going on in December and October was weirdly crazy for me. Right now I've noticing how many things I have going on the weekends.

Is this your first fall here? No. You were here last year. I've been here. This was our fourth year in June. This is our coming out season. It's so great. It's different than most places. We spent the summer being chill and indoors. I love it. Because it's so flipping hot.

And now we're all coming out, we're going everywhere. And it feels great. I'm about to put my egg slippers on for six months straight. I can't wait. I tried it this morning and it's still just too hot. My feet were getting sweaty. I had to do my run this morning on the treadmill at the gym, which is not my favorite, but I haven't been comfortable running in the pitch black lately.

It's so dark. So I just start myself in the window reflection, 'cause it's dark outside on the treadmill and I'm like, why am I here? But I went to the gym and I like to run in my running short. They're just more comfy and, but then I had a big hoodie on and I was like, oh God, this feels nice. Right now I feel like you can do one long thing, either the long top. Or the long pant, right? Yeah. Or you for the next couple weeks jacket and you take it off. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Cindy over here, yesterday we went to film for a client. We win and it's like a big office building.

So the reflection of the sun was hitting and she had on like sweater and Doc Martins, that's what they were. Oh yeah. And I'm like, she's gotta be dripping. Oh man. I feel like maybe it's because I'm a little bit like stockier.

I feel like I'm built to survive an Irish potato famine. Oh. Put me in whatever bad weather I'm built to, milk cows, and bear children. It's like where did you come to this conclusion? Pregnancies were very easy.

For me. Deliveries were great. I loved having kids and I've always just felt like I can lift as much as the guys I can work just as hard as anybody. So you could be a rosy, a Roy Riveter in, today. In this outfit? Yeah. Actually, yeah. The whole outfit.

You just took the bandana. I almost did a bandana on my neck because I'm trying to, but it didn't work out. You know what I do in the morning? Sometimes I did not this morning, but I will get on Pinterest and look at outfits and I'll go in my closet and be like. Put it together. For some reason it feels a lot easier.

Yeah. That's smart than just standing there and staring at things. Yeah. I need to try that. I know I need someone to come over and help me. But yeah. Is there anything where you're like, oh, I had to kind of just work through this? Or are you all in on the event club?

I feel like something that's probably my biggest struggle right now is finding the balance of my two businesses and knowing if it's something where I'll always straddle the fence a bit I feel a bit tied to all of the time and expertise that. I've grown with the photography that I've built.

That brand, that company. I've wondered, do I hold onto it because I feel an allegiance to this person and everything that she's done and everything she's built and all the money she, and time she's invested in or is it because it's still something I really do want to continue to build. I feel like I'm straddling a bit trying to figure out do I maintain this and or does having that like diluted effort make it so both things can't move beyond being stagnant. I'm a little nervous and undecided,

again, that goes back to just having faith that you're like, Hey, I'm just walking this path. And whatever happens. It's kind of a cool place to be, honestly. It has potential to go. Many different ways and what I think will end up happening, I'm not a fortune teller, but you'll probably take a lot of those skills.

Like you'll take that photography and you'll watch how they're kind of. Melding over here. Like real life skills, totally. For sure. Yeah. It'll be fun. And it is giving me the capacity, I think, or I'm able to see how much joy I get from being around women and business women and people that are doing things and wanting to be a part of that in some way, a part of their journey.

I think I'll continue to want to just build that side of my photography business, if anything, because. It's such a natural fit to be able to provide, you're gathering all these women and then you're like, oh, by the way, I could do all your brand new photographer. You here, let me scratch your back.

Yeah. And let's take care of your pictures too. So I need everyone to come over to the Samantha Parker with photos. I'm like, please bring good contact. Yes. Easy stuff to grab and pull into all of your posts it helps to get us started.

It just helps if you've got some substance to work with. But we build people from the ground up too. When you grab somebody, because you do such a great job of creating a really cool feeling within their branding, like what you're posting, are they coming to you with here's the basic logo design and the way I want my brand to feel?

Typically they don't. We do just a little bit of that. The very first thing when people come in with us part of their onboarding process. Is they do have a pretty lengthy questionnaire then I get on a call with them and I'm like, will you just show me some things that you like?

They usually have a girl crush going on some account. Where they're like, I just love this aesthetic. It might not even be related, like maybe they sell plants. But it could be all about shoes. I'm just pulling random things from my head.

I used to talk about pens and markers all the time, and I'm like, I gotta leave the pens and markers behind, but it doesn't really matter. I'm like, show me some things that you like. And then we create post concepts. So basically, you've seen a typical brand come to you

and it's these are my colors and fonts. Like I don't really care about that. But what we do is we put together basically the same thing, but it's here's what your posts, could look like. And doing that before we start actually creating content helps a ton. That's cool.

So then people, we try and create an ecosystem. I really think of every person as like creating their own ecosystem. How do you want people to feel? How do you want people to come in, what's the look of it? What are you gonna say? And I notice things too. Oh, what does she wear? It's just stuff that I've learned from doing it for so long.

And it's my brain power. Totally. But I also have learned that certain people aren't gonna do certain things. So if I'm like, Hey you need to do X, Y, and Z, and they're like, I would rather crawl in a hole and die. I'm like, that's okay. Let's figure out some sort of way. And they're like, oh my God, I thought you were gonna make me do like the lip-syncing trends gotcha. Yes. And some people, they're not great at sitting down and talking face to camera either. And I'm like that's okay. We can still grow you. Let's figure out what works for you.

And that's something that's really important to me how are you gonna create that ecosystem? And then what kind of impact does your ecosystem have on people that come into you? So impact is a really big thing for me as well. That's really awesome that you're selling plants, but what are you doing in the world?

Why do you care about these? And I think that's what makes a lasting brand too. 'cause you see a lot of money, stuff come and go. What was it for a hot minute? It was like the faceless accounts. Oh, for sure. And then they were just selling a course about the course. And I think that's gone.

That definitely had to, the FTC I hope picked up on that eventually. Totally. It's just, yeah, that was a scam. You have to have something that actually means something in the world. I don't wanna work with brands and businesses and, women are men in general that they're just there for a cash grab.

Because you're putting something that people consume out into the world. And I think it's important, just like the people you surround yourself with. If you've got a total asshole, horrible person in your life it's gonna drag you down, everyone says you're like the people you spend your time with because it's true.

Totally. So I'm like, I wanna make sure that the content we put out is actually doing something that means something in the world. That's cool. So that's a big focus we have. And even businesses that you wouldn't think, I'm like, let's get, let's start you a podcast, let's get you guys talking. Why do you care so much?

And it's really cool to watch people blossom in that space and humanizes them on the other side of the screen. Because so often, my perfectionist side gets really bogged down with the aesthetics a lot, like the.

Visual aesthetics. I'm always rebranding myself and want the logo and the backup logo and then how often is that actually being used or translated into what I'm posting anyway. Instead I really love the words you used, like that impact, how you want the people to feel.

Yeah. As they're interacting with your content. That's so much more important and less. Fussy. I do get nervous and worried about stuff I'm putting out there, and that's why, like Cindy, she's been posting some of my content on certain platforms because I'm nervous about it.

So I'm removing that barrier. I love that blockage barrier, I would assume that you constantly recreating your brand as somehow a subconscious sabotage. Oh, instead of just putting yourself out there. Yes. And it's if I give myself work Yeah, you're busy, then I'm busy.

Air quotes busy. Yeah. And I'm doing, it's like we talked about when I presented on Friday night, the idea that, sometimes we put work. Ahead of progress and we think they're connected, but they're not always connected. Like staying busy and getting work done is not always creating progress.

I love the work. I love to line up the pencils and make everything perfect. I love generating. And so if I'm not actually doing anything with it, I get hung up there often. It's just okay, I'm gonna do that, but first I gotta hurry and do these other things really fast.

A lot of people do that or they'll get really obsessed with things I've seen. This is, I use example a lot 'cause I watch this girl sabotage her content so much. It would be like, this isn't bold, or you guys use a bold font and I don't want that in my brand, and it's gonna confuse people. And I'm like, but that's the font.

We just made it thicker. So you could read it on a small social graphic. And she was like, deleting everything. And I'm like, are you okay? So you'll find different things like that, and that's probably a mask for something bigger. Yes. That nitpicky detail that they're hyper fixating on Uhhuh is probably just a mask for something bigger.

Yeah. I've noticed. Apparently, I'm a therapist with social media, but I've watched people because they're putting themselves out there. So you'll watch the craziest things come out where I'm like, what? I have to ask myself what's going on there? And then so I've also start to notice when people keep repeating like something like, oh, I'm just the type of person who did this, or, oh, I'm too old to do that.

I also start to notice people doing that. And I'm like, oh, I see what's going on here. They've already written their script for what type of person they're, and what they can do. Yeah. So based on their own views of how they see the world has nothing to do with anybody else's perception of them.

Exactly. And so I try and stay super self-aware with myself too. Am I being like, oh, I don't wanna do that. Is it a block or is this reality? Is it me not wanting to do something? Or am I just constantly staying in victimhood? Or is this something I genuinely shouldn't do? So you have to be very aware of the things you do.

Totally. As a business owner. I love that. Next thing you know, you'll be down a rabbit hole of either doing work you hate and you're kind of going back to square one. Or, ready to burn your business down. Or you'll have just made a super fun art project. Totally. That doesn't get you anywhere.

So you're online, the Vine Club. Yes. The Vine Club and, I've got my mastermind. I guess I didn't really allude to what I wanted to work on next too. Okay. I kinda said what I don't want to do, I do not want to create something like a huge middle of the road offer that's gonna take my entire life.

But I do want to continue. To make this mastermind spectacular, to be a place that women want to continue. They'll be able to stay in another round. And we'll have, information and education that we'll just build on what we're working on with new women brought in to teach and new experts to chat with.

And then. Bring in new members, that want to join. So yeah, I think that's where I'm putting most of my energy right now just what the next six months look like for everyone. Thank you for creating the space. Or we can use the word eco. Thank you for creating the ecosystem.

That I can come bop around in. 'cause I really enjoyed it. It's been so great. I've loved having you, and like I said, I really do feel like I need to bring you on as an employee. 'cause we're always just no. What does Samantha say? Let's ask Samantha. Samantha, do you have an answer for this?

Samantha? Will you do a training on Trello? 'cause all of us are old ladies and we do not know how to use this yet. Samantha, will you? It's so great. Just, yeah, stay tuned. We'll bring it back full circle. And sometimes just holding space, is such a big thing.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And you're creating that space just to be in, that's huge too. Yeah, that's a good reminder. Yeah. Okay, guys, go check out Kelly, the Vine Club. Is that your website too? Yeah, I think it's in the Vine Club because there's too many like wineries that have Vine clubs all over, so I didn't think about that.

Yeah, I didn't think about that either. But why did you name it the Vine Club? That's a great question. I loved the concept of one vine being able to feed so many different things. Oh. So the concept that I could create, whether that's a physical space, if I ever do start my studio, where so many women can come in and create and bring other revenue streams into their brand, whether they're hosting workshops or events or just the events themselves being something where you can have women of so many different, industries that  can come together and all feed off the same nutrients. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Like mushrooms. Isn't that like a fungus though? Yeah, but they're all interconnected through the earth.

Oh, are they? Yeah. There's like a huge network. It almost looks like a nervous system where everyone is connected. Trees are like that too. And then, the, quake aspens we have here in Utah? Do you know they're all one giant organism. Oh really? Uhhuh. That's cool. It's kind of freaky actually.

Yeah, that's probably the same thing. If they mobilized. Yeah. My parents had one AEM in their yard and it was like impossible. 'cause they just sprout everywhere. Yeah. It was like they couldn't contain them. They're one, they're all connected like the whole state of Utah. Wow. That's cool. And I think they've dated 'em back.

Thousands or maybe even millions of years. I don't wanna say it without a good fact check, but they've dated back. Yeah. Can we run that? Can we run that back? I dunno if she can get it fast enough. They've dated it back like an insane That's so cool. I love it.

Thank you for being on the podcast today. You guys can check Kelly out. She's linked in the show notes and make sure you guys hit subscribe. This is something I always forget to ask for, but if you could give it a five star rating. We're supposed to do those things,

thanks for being on the Samantha Parker show. Thanks for having me.