00:00:02 - Sheri Miter
Welcome back, friends, to the Discovering your Calling podcast. I'm your host, Sheri Miter, and today I am here with a dear, I hate to say old friend because makes this sound old, but a friend that I've known for a very, very long time. We go back, way back in direct sales days. So I'm excited to have this conversation because Nan has had a lot of of her calling and we're going to dive into that conversation today. So welcome, Nan, to the discovering your Calling podcast.

00:00:34 - Nan Patrick
Thank you.

00:00:37 - Sheri Miter
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for being here. And you just have such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to business and calling and fashion and beauty and so many things. So I know this is going to be a very insightful conversation with you.

00:00:54 - Nan Patrick
Hope so.

00:00:59 - Sheri Miter
Share with the listeners a little bit about where you're at today in life. Like, what are you doing that you're passionate about? And you feel like, oh, this is my calling right now in this season. What does that look like today for you?

00:01:13 - Nan Patrick
Well, today for me, it's very interesting because turning 69 was a big deal. It just really made me see that, wow, I am in a different season. There's a lot of gray area when you're in your fifty s and early sixty s and boy, hitting that 69 thing was like, holy moly. One of the things that I struggled with was, am I too old for this? And all that kind of stuff. I just feel that right now, flexibility is really huge. I used to be in the brick and mortar retail business. It's just so great to be able to come and go as I want. Fortunately, I have been really good with money my whole entire professional life, which started at age 23. I'm a big believer in systematic saving. I have enough money, I don't have to worry about where the next meal or anything is. So that makes me very happy and lucky. And that's not really lucky. That was planned. My brick and mortar business morphed into a Mary Kay business, which has morphed into a consulting business. So I took fashion back during the pandemic and started posting about that. And then I just realized, oh my gosh, I really need to have a website. I actually went on a call for Mary Kay with a woman that was about my age. A lot of them are younger, and I'm thinking, I'm not doing that. It just wasn't appealing. But this gal was in her late 50s, she has fibromyalgia, she has a disabled husband, and she did about four times business that I did. And I said, oh, her I'm going to listen to. So I really studied what she did with her new consultants like crazy. I just watched and watched and watched them and it was all like a seven day video situation. I said, well, I'm good at videos. I'm going to do that. And then during the pandemic, when I started to post and people were really responding a lot about fashion, I said, oh, God, I've got to stop using Pinterest as my Lazy Girl blog. And then I called my It guy who is fabulous at putting. I'm not good at construction of websites or any of that stuff, but I'm very good at photographs and the verbiage. So I wrote all the stuff, took all the pictures and he put it all together so it looked pretty. So that was such a labor of love, putting that website. It's called Nan Patrick and it's geared for women over 40. And so as our bodies change and our skin changes and our hair turns gray and all this kind of stuff, there are things that you are going, am I too old? Am I frumpy? Is this whatever? All of that gets addressed at Nan Patrick knows. So it was a great way to be able to take my Mary Kay business and recapture my fashion business and make it mine as a Mary Kay beauty consultant. I'm one of a million beauty consultants in the United States and then there's countries all over the world. So there were a lot of times I felt like I couldn't be 100% me and having the impatrick nose took that beautiful product line and I can interpret it the way I want to interpret it and I can give the recommendations that I want to give and I think I'm much more useful that way.

00:05:31 - Sheri Miter
Yeah. And I love watching you make this change and just really come into your own. It's been so fun to kind of be on the outside and watching this happen because Nan and I were well, Nan is still a sales director and when I was in direct sales in Mary Kay as a sales director, so we've known each other, we grew up in Mary Kay together as consultants and then becoming leaders. And then to see you make this next step change, bringing in your fashion, which I know is your original calling, which we'll go back and talk a little bit about that in a minute and to combine them and to create your own brand. So, like you said, you stand out amongst this crowd of a million to become your unique self. And I have to talk a little bit, too. I want to hone in a little bit on the fact that where you said turning 69 and you've set yourself up, it's not luck. Like you said, you set yourself up purposely. And I again remember you talking about that, Nan, when you were a beauty consultant, putting money away.

00:06:39 - Nan Patrick
Right, my $100,000 story. Yeah.

00:06:42 - Sheri Miter
And that always made an impact. Unfortunately, I did not follow that. I should have followed your advice. I wish I did. But how much joy is it now to have this freedom that you can do what you want because it's not income focused and I always say when you can look at impact over income right. That's where the joy really comes from, because the income is going to come. It'll come. But if you have to focus on income, that's where it just feels icky. You feel forced to do something maybe you don't really want to do, you don't feel authentic and all those things. So I think the fact that you have got yourself to this place, that you can really just show up and do what you love and attract the right people, that's such a beautiful thing that you've been able to create for yourself.

00:07:34 - Nan Patrick
Thank you. Yeah, it really does feel good.

00:07:37 - Sheri Miter
Yeah.

00:07:38 - Nan Patrick
And it feels wonderful to be authentic. I'm enjoying my Mary Kay business so much more. Like, just for an instance. You're going to laugh at this one. Sheri for the listeners, mary Kay has career apparel. And when you hit a certain level, you wear a certain thing and it denotes where you are in your business. And I have to say, when I became a brand new sales director, I was very proud and happy to wear the suit, but wearing it for 20 years and it was not my color, it was not my style this year. And I said, I'm not buying that thing. And so I went to a Mary Kay big meeting, like 300 people, and I didn't have my director suit, so I didn't wear it. And I wore something that was flattering, and it was just really an interesting it really felt good to just go as 100% me. If somebody wanted to think I'm a beauty consultant, well, that's fine.

00:08:41 - Sheri Miter
You knew who inside. And I love to get that you are in that place of that pure confidence. It's such, again, a freeing place to be when you can truly show up as your authentic self that you're not worried about what other people because I think in our 30s or forty s, at least for me, it was like, worried so much about what other people thought, always.

00:09:04 - Nan Patrick
And then one of the things that really struck me a couple of years ago, and there were so many years, particularly in my Mary Kay years, where it really bothered me if somebody didn't like me. One of the criticisms I've gotten as a woman from the store and in my Mary Kay business is, you're too pushy and you're too strong and too blah, blah, blah. And I just thought, you know, what, would you trade places with that woman that doesn't like you? And it's never been a yes. Never. So if you don't want to train places with somebody that you're trying to please get off of that train, it's not worth it.

00:09:51 - Sheri Miter
Yeah, and I have to pause on that one because for someone listening right now, maybe you're in that spot that you're trying to figure out, like, what is my next what is my calling? And like, Nan said, you're never too old for to figure that out. So no matter what age you are listening to this, you are going to have people who are going to question what you are doing, who are going to criticize what you're doing, who are going to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't be making that change. And take Nan's advice. Would you trade places with that person? And if the answer is no, why are you letting them decide your future? Why so such great advice. Let's go back though, Nan. Let's go back to the beginning of your first calling. We will call it of when you opened up your own brick and mortar store. What prompted you to even do that and when was it?

00:10:51 - Nan Patrick
I was 23 years old, so I don't think I can really say it was my calling. Although I do come from a family of fashion. You're going to love this story. My great grandfather bought a sweepstakes ticket in 1900, and it was $0.25. He and his two brothers each put in twenty five cents. And in those days, that was a lot of money. And he was a really poor peddler in the cat skills in New York State, and he won $15,000. In 1900, he took his $5,000 and became a retailer in Tannersville, New York. And that store, during the Depression, was moved to Albany. It was hunting's bombs. And that store lasted for 102 years. And from that store I had a cousin that has 50 stores based in the Albany area that's Miter Harris there was Priceless Kids, another cousin that had 30 stores. I had a cousin that started Dress for Success. There was a regional department store, Demby's, in the Troy area that was a relative. And then I had the specialty store. I know.

00:12:12 - Sheri Miter
I never knew that. I did not. I've never heard that story. I didn't know you were related to the Miter Harris Denby's. I remember my mother in law talks about Denby's all the time. She shopped at Denby's in Troy. I'm so glad you shared that story.

00:12:27 - Nan Patrick
Yeah. My great uncle had a madman office. I used to go in there, go, oh, my God. He had a bar and a bathroom in his office. It was like just crazy. And I loved it. He had an escalator in the store.

00:12:43 - Sheri Miter
You've made it when you have the escalator.

00:12:45 - Nan Patrick
Oh, wow. That was big time, going to Troy and riding an escalator. Oh, my God. Anyway, so retailing was very much part of and my father was a businessman. And I have to say, when you come from a Jewish heritage, there are a lot of people that own their own business. Jews couldn't get jobs in insurance and banking and all these traditional things. So many of them opened up their own business. So it was my culture. It wasn't a calling so much. It was like something that just was like my father said, it started as chitchat one day, like, dad, I'm going to go and make you a rich man. Because he had bought this dumpy old building in Gluns Falls, New York, renovated it, and there was this beautiful craft store in Glens Falls. And I was joking one day, and I said, hey, dad. And I was working at the store. I just graduated from college. So I was just there because what else do you do when you graduate from college, right? And so I was saying, oh, I'm going to make you a rich woman. I'll open another Monument Square somewhere. And so he said, Where would you do it? And I wanted to live in Burlington, Vermont. And I said, Burlington. Burlington, Vermont has never had a downtown that ever died. It has always been vibrant. And they were smart enough in the make their main street, which is Church Street, a walking street. So I moved up here and opened a little store in 1977. I was 23 years old, and my father thought this was like no big deal. My uncle was appalled. He said, Are you kidding me? She has no experience. And he says, in he's talking my father was talking to the uncle that was the father of the guy who owns Miter Harris, who has 50 stores. And he said, how much did it cost you to send Miter to get his masters in business? He went to Dartmouth and he says, Was it $10,000? Now, this is back in 1977. So my uncle said, yeah, probably. He says, well, if she loses $10,000 in her first year, that's her first year of graduate school. But I made $3,000 above my huge salary of $125 a week. That was my illustrious start in the retail business. So it wasn't a calling. It was more like, yeah, this will be fun when you're 23, you're too dumb to be afraid. The really cool thing about starting that young is I thought $125 was a lot of money. And I had gotten a car. My father had bought me a car and made that part of the business. The business owned it. And so everything I did was I could write off to the business, and I paid myself that huge salary, salary of 100. I think I paid myself $125 for my first three years in business. I lived in apartments. I was still a kid mentally, so I didn't have a lot of expenses. And so that was an advantage of opening. And then the second year I was in business, my father, he had very wisely made it me a division of his company. So I got shipped open account. That is huge in the retail business. So the year after I open, I bought him out. I started to buy him out. Took me years to pay him off, but I did it because he was way scarier than a bank.

00:16:35 - Sheri Miter
I love this. So to see that you had that unique advantage. So many people that want to start their business today come from traditional backgrounds of their family. Had the nine to five job. You go to college, you get a job that provides you security and benefits. So how fun for you that you came from this family that no, go start your own business. And allowed me that freedom to do that and supported it.

00:17:05 - Nan Patrick
Right? It wasn't like scary. It didn't seem like, oh my God, because my father was so comfortable with it that it made me comfortable with it. And the only thing I had to do was show up and work. And I worked hard. I was there six days a week, and I was always there. And I was a very hands on business owner. And after I was in business, it was funny. I was kind of like the manager of my own store. It was a very great way for a 23 year old to start in business. And then after being there for a year, he said, go, because Burlington is a college town. And he said, go take an accounting class because you've got to know how to understand your money. And so I took an accounting class at a local college, champlain College, and my daughter now works there. Isn't that fun? And I took my accounting class and now I know how to read a fiNancial statement. And basically that was what it really was for me. That's what I walked away with it. I remember when he said, you're going to buy me out. The first year that I was not a division of my father's company, I was Nan Patrick Inc. That was the name of my store. Then it was Christmas time and I needed money. And my father said, that's what you have a line of credit for. Go borrow money. I'm like, But dad, he goes, that's what business is for. That's how you make money in business. It's not scary. Just go to the bank and borrow the money. And so I did that, and I did realize, oh, yeah, I do pay this back. And it was the beginning of building a very good relationship with a bank.

00:19:02 - Sheri Miter
So again, just to see that you had somebody in your corner mentoring you really on how to do this. Happened to be your dad, but you had that mentor that was ahead of you, showing you the way, giving you that confidence, making it seem it's just the next thing, you just go to the bank, you get an account. Such a blessing there.

00:19:31 - Nan Patrick
It was such a blessing. And it was so nice that my father believed in his daughter. However, along the way, I had other mentors that were not my relatives. And so maybe because well, one of the things that we did before I opened my store is my father and I drove all over a radius of within 2 hours of Blondes Falls and we stopped at every store that would talk to us and give us advice. And so when I think about it now, that was a really good exercise. And we did it over like a six month period before I started to look for a location. Mentoring was already modeled for me. I'm like, I knew that I needed to ask a lot of questions. There was a man, this uncle that thought it was a bad idea for me to go into the business. I called my father, said, Call him and get advice. And he was such a jerk. He was like, you don't have the guts and you need to have a consultant. I'm all freaked out. I call my father. I'm like, do you believe what he said? And so anyway, the next day, this man comes into my store. He was the same age as my father, maybe a little bit older than my father. He had just retired, and his son was a lawyer in Burlington. He used to come up and spend all of his summers in Vermont. So he started asking me questions and we started to chitchat. He came into my store. That's how I met him. And I said, my uncle just said this. He goes, oh, no, I can help you. And so it turned out he was a member of Score. Do you know what that is? It's an organization of retired people. And Score stands for something, which I can't remember. And it's retired people that give free mentoring to people in their field. And so we made an appointment. There was a restaurant in Burlington called Sweetwater. It was a new hot place. We planned to have lunch there the next day and called him up. I'm like, even ask you how much this is going to cost me? No, this is part of scorning. Explain the whole thing. And so here I am, 23, taking this, going out with a 65 year old man. And when the bill came, I grabbed the check because men in that generation, boy, and he just was so floored that this young girl took him out. And we had a really for the rest of his life, we were friends. We would see each other all the time. When he came up to Burlington in the summer and he lived in Florida in the winter, and I would call him up. And so he was a non relative mentor. So there are mentors everywhere. And successful people love to help.

00:22:34 - Sheri Miter
They do. Most do occasionally. Like your uncle.

00:22:38 - Nan Patrick
You do get move next.

00:22:41 - Sheri Miter
Just go find that next mentor for you. And such a vital it's so important to have that in our lives, especially if we are doing something new outside of the box. That's different for us. You need to have somebody in your corner that says you can do this. And I love that your dad drove you around to these other stores. And it's interesting because in my discovery in your Calling program, that's actually a similar step, not quite as detailed. But I suggest that if people have an idea of something they might want to do is go shadow somebody, go volunteer somewhere, go test it out, go have conversations. You'll never know if it's the thing you want to do unless you kind of stick your big toe in it right. And just see, is this what I want to do?

00:23:31 - Nan Patrick
That's right. Absolutely. It is so helpful to be able to and then the more people you talk to some people were negative, and if you only talk to one and you just get one negative, that's, like, ridiculous. But you talk to a million, you go, oh, that person was too they had limited thinking. I even knew that at 22 when I was running around and doing all this stuff.

00:24:00 - Sheri Miter
Right. And I'm guessing, did you kind of go into stores and think, oh, I love that. That's a great idea, or like, oh, I don't want to do that, or, I don't want to be like that. Did it help you also kind of figure out how you wanted to run things or set things up as you were going in all these places?

00:24:18 - Nan Patrick
Probably, but I don't think I concentrated on that that much. It's funny. I know that's not true. There was a store in Vermont that we went into that it was very welcoming. They had coffee and stuff like that, but it wasn't a food place, and that kind of thing was and I was always doing that, thinking, oh, that's a good thing to add to the store, or, this would be really a cool display. Yeah.

00:24:48 - Sheri Miter
Good. So let's transition. So you opened the store, and how long did you have the store for?

00:24:54 - Nan Patrick
27 years.

00:24:55 - Sheri Miter
Wow.

00:24:57 - Nan Patrick
Yeah.

00:24:58 - Sheri Miter
How did you know it was time to make that next shift, to make a change? Because you were very successful. Your store did quite well, right?

00:25:09 - Nan Patrick
Yes.

00:25:09 - Sheri Miter
And what made you decide to move into that next season of your life?

00:25:14 - Nan Patrick
Well, it was interesting because I was 23 when I opened the store, and as I got into my 40s, it wasn't as much fun. So when you think of the type of person who goes to work in a retail store part time, they're not the highest Richter of quality people on the Richter scale. So it's like if I had to listen to one more person say that they were breaking up with their boyfriend or whatever, it got boring, you know what I mean? Shopping habits were changing as the Internet started to come in. More and more lunch hours went from an hour to be able to shop or go out for lunch or whatever, to a half an hour at their desk. People were getting crazy that way, and so I didn't get as much daytime foot traffic as I used to. It wasn't as fun I had a manager who I had two major managers over the years. One was there for ten years and another one for seven years, and some other really cool ones in between. But those were my two biggest ones. The last big one broke her leg so badly skiing that she couldn't walk for two years. So obviously she couldn't work retail anymore. And I never got that fabulous next manager. And you are spending a lot of time with this person. So fun is really I mean, if you're going to spend a lot of the days, not that everything in your business is fun. I went to work for 27 years, six days a week, so that's a lot. But if you're going to do that, you better be enjoying what you're doing while you're there. So that sort of started to happen. And one day this was so weird, six months before I did close the store, or seven months, whatever, my brother said, you know what? I had become a Mary Kay beauty consultant as a side hustle because I was a color consultant, and I wanted makeup for my color consults. So I became a beauty consultant along the way with Mary Kay. And my brother said, you should take your Mary Kay business seriously, so it's going to be a really good retirement business for you. And I'm like, I'll take it under advisement. Meanwhile, during my time that I was a beauty consultant, the only thing I ever did was see one person at a time. I never did parties. I thought that follow up facials were stupid because what do they need me for? Again, it's like, God, I was missing the point of building a relationship. Duh. And so anyway, I thought, well, if I'm going to do that, I better start, as you said, dip my toe in. I said, I better start to do the marketing plan the way Mary Kay teaches it, because I'm going to have to teach it to others. And wow. My sales went from $300 a week to $1,000 a week. And that's 20 years ago. And my team started to grow, and I'm like, oh. So I thought I had three more years on my lease at the store, and I thought I was going to just run the lease out and then become a sales director. But the business was growing so fast, and six months down the road this is weird. I still went to the store, still making my calls, still doing everything that I always did all those years. But the sales in October, I decided this in May or June and October, I was doing $300 a week when we were supposed to, not a week a day instead of $1,500 a day. And I'm like, what the heck is going on here? It's like the business just dried up. I had $1,000 in my checking account. I called my brother and I said, $1,000 in my checking account, and I've got my bills to pay next week, which were like, $27,000 a month. I said, I don't feel like borrowing the money this time. And Josh said, well, go out of business. You should have gone out of business five years ago. And call Miter, because Miter's the one that has the 50 stores. He'll tell you what to do. So I did. I called my cousin. He told me what to do. I did everything he told me to do, except for one thing. I had a woman that had been working with me for 22 years in my back room, and I gave her a year's severance. Miter said that was nuts. And I'm like, no, I don't care what you say about this. It's the right thing to do. And my father said, you will never miss that money and it will make all the difference in the world to her. And it's a thing to date that I am the very most proud of in my business world.

00:30:23 - Sheri Miter
That just gave me shivers. Nan, I love that so much. And it's so true that sometimes, again, it's impact over income, as I can worry. It's like taking care of people in our lives.

00:30:39 - Nan Patrick
Yeah. For a long time. And she was efficient, man. She was great at what she did. We used to have a little sign that said, Donna's Cave. Enter at your own risk. She was like a mama lion with me. She was very protective. So it was very good.

00:31:06 - Sheri Miter
Yeah. What a great thing. She probably still talks about that to her friends and family, too, how she.

00:31:12 - Nan Patrick
Did pass away years ago, but it really was we remade friends after the store closed and good. Yeah. Yeah.

00:31:23 - Sheri Miter
That was a great business decision. And as I was listening to you share that about the kind of the metamorphosis, I guess we call it, the things that made you realize it's time for a change, which is true for so many other for people, it's like you're just not happy anymore. And that's my whole thing. It's like, why go to work and spend 20, 30, 40 years of your life doing something that doesn't make you happy?

00:31:57 - Nan Patrick
Exactly.

00:31:58 - Sheri Miter
We are not promised tomorrow, so you can't wait. I hear that all the time. Well, I just got to get this job. And again, it comes from that old mentality of, doesn't matter if you like your job, it pays the bills, you got the benefits, and then when you retire, you can go off and enjoy life. And we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. So you've got to make sure you love what you do today. And when it stops giving you joy, then, yes, it's time to look what else is out there.

00:32:26 - Nan Patrick
I know it was a perfect fit until it wasn't a perfect fit.

00:32:32 - Sheri Miter
Yes. I love that.

00:32:36 - Nan Patrick
When I started my Mary Kay business in earnest, I couldn't believe that. I could. You know, one of the first things that I did when the weather got good, I closed my store in January. But I used to go I used to look at women on Church Street, the main street in Burlington, drinking wine and having these luxurious lunches on Saturday. And one day in the summer, I came back to the store. I said, I am never leaving the store again, ever, on Saturday. It's making me too sad. The first thing I did as soon as this beautiful restaurant called Lunigs opened their outdoor cafe, I went with a girlfriend and we had a glass of wine and had a beautiful lunch. Yes. I just couldn't get over the fact and I've been closed for almost 20 years, and I still can't believe that I have Saturdays off. It's really funny that I just don't get over that. And I'm a huge, huge skier. And to be able to not have to pay somebody to work for me and make half of what I would be making in the store to go skiing and it was so much fun to go skiing and then have a facial when I got home or do a training or whatever. I was doing business. It was so great.

00:33:58 - Sheri Miter
Yeah. And you could ski in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week when nobody else was there.

00:34:03 - Nan Patrick
Right.

00:34:05 - Sheri Miter
You didn't even have to wait till Saturday to enjoy life with that flexibility. The other thing you said about where you knew it was time to make a change was that the challenge was gone.

00:34:17 - Nan Patrick
Yeah.

00:34:18 - Sheri Miter
And it wasn't feeding your I don't know if it wasn't feeding your brain or feeding your we need to have that. For most of us to feel alive, there has to be that little bit of a challenge, that little bit I talk about hard goals, and he talks about it being difficult, that we need to be living a little bit outside of our comfort zone. That's where it's exciting, thrilling. That's what keeps us going. And when we don't have that in our lives, that's when it's just dull and boring and there's no reason to do it. So it sounded like you weren't able because in the beginning, you're starting this business, you're 23, you've got a lot of challenges.

00:35:02 - Nan Patrick
Yeah, it was very exciting. Everything was new. And then I moved my location after three years, and then after I was in that new location, I doubled my space and then the building got sold. And so then I worked a deal with my landlord where I got smaller again. So I had a feel I had to regroup and make the store was that probably was the prettiest store that I ever had. When the new landlord bought the building, it was gorgeous. But then there was not anything that was going to come down. I knew there wasn't anything coming down the pike that was going to excite me and I didn't like sitting there. There was one gal I had, I loved her, that worked part time. I used to schedule myself so we could be on the floor at the same time because she was an interesting woman to talk to. And so I just knew that those days were coming to an end. That was great. Yeah, right.

00:36:01 - Sheri Miter
And that was the other thing I heard you say, too, is that you kind of saw the climate was changing, that it's time to step away now before you get further because things are changing so much.

00:36:15 - Nan Patrick
Right?

00:36:16 - Sheri Miter
Yeah.

00:36:17 - Nan Patrick
And that going out of business sale, man, that was clean and easy. I didn't have to work for a buyer and people come out of the woodwork when you put going out of business sale in your window. So it was just my cousin was very right and very smart in showing me the way on how to go out of business. That was really great. And then Mary Kay was rolling along and it was really exciting, wanted to grow. You're right. When there's growth in the future, it's exciting. But there got to be a point where I just didn't want to grow. I didn't want to have offspring, sales directors, I didn't want to be searching for that new beauty consultant, I didn't want to be searching for the next party. Not that I'm going to say no to a new beauty consultant and not that I have stopped offering, but I'm not working as hard in that business and it's taking more of a I feel more like I'm taking a consultant role rather than what's the next event I'm going to be putting on. Those things weren't bringing me joy anymore, so I used to do a lot of stuff where I was doing fundraisers for the Mary Kay Foundation and those were fun, but when it felt like repetition, it wasn't fun anymore.

00:37:43 - Sheri Miter
I think that's so cool with what you've done, Nan, is that you really do pay attention to that joy in your life, the happiness. And as soon as that starts to wane a little bit and yes, I mean, there's always going to be ebbs and flows of that, but when you see it as a constant like, this is just definitely not giving me joy anymore. It's time to change a little bit and tweak a little bit and how can I combine things? Which, again, leads us back to how we started. What you're doing today, where you took that love of fashion that you had when you had the boutique store, the Mary Kay, and the part of that with the color and all those things that you love and combine it into Nan Patrick nose and you're sharing all these things that you really love. Any regrets or surprises along the way?

00:38:43 - Nan Patrick
I don't really have that many regrets. And the surprise was that change does happen. I was surprised when I went, I don't want to have this store anymore. I don't want to schlep anything out of my office. Everybody comes to me, so there's no more outside stuff for me with my Mary Kay business. And I'm one of these people who thinks that something's going to happen forever. And it doesn't. It's like it's so funny. I had that store for 27 years and I thought that was a lifetime. And now I look back on it, it was almost 20 years ago that next year will be 20 years that I closed the store. And I now realize it was a phase in my life. It wasn't my life. I think that's my surprise that change does happen. I love this joke. A guy is he's in a flood, right, and he's got some of the top of his roof and he prays to God to save him. And then somebody comes by in a rowboat, says, Come on, hop off. He goes, no, God's going to save me. And then the next guy comes in a kayak, same thing. Somebody comes with a helicopter and throws him a rope. Same thing. He dies, drowns, goes to heaven. And the guy goes, God, what was the story here? I was praying to you to save me, goes, I sent you a boat, a kayak and a helicopter.

00:40:17 - Sheri Miter
I love that story, too.

00:40:22 - Nan Patrick
I think that you got to know the signs when they're we all are wearing the ruby slippers. We just have to click them together.

00:40:32 - Sheri Miter
Yes. And be willing to listen. I always say you got to be sometimes just get quiet enough to listen to what you're really thinking inside. We have the answers inside of us. We need those mentors and people to call when we need to talk things through. But usually your gut knows when it's time to make a decision, right. But we get so busy, we don't listen to what our gut is really saying.

00:41:03 - Nan Patrick
Well, and also, I think that all that stuff that they talk about neuropaths in your brain, that those are the path well worn, is much more comforting than walking down that brambled path, that you're going to probably get your legs scratched and all that. But that really when you walk down that path, that path is the one that has oh, my God, this beautiful view of the lake and the mountains, and you come into this beautiful beach, whereas the well worn path has garbage on it. People walked on it. It's not as pretty, right? But it's easier to walk on.

00:41:44 - Sheri Miter
Oh, 100%. You gave some valuable advice to this whole conversation. But if there's somebody listening right now and maybe they're at that place that like, maybe it is time for me to make a change because I'm not having fun anymore. What I'm doing. I kind of see the writing on the wall like you did, that this is going to change. And the challenge is gone, what advice would you give them?

00:42:15 - Nan Patrick
Well, I think that you got to look at what you have to have your mind open to things that could be possibilities. Because, like, if I had sat there in the last five years of my store and said, well, my brother said, why don't you take your Mariquet business seriously? I had already started a maricade business because I gave one too many referrals away. So that's why I started it. And it just seemed logical. What if Josh had never said that? I don't know. And then when I was transitioning, it's still America sales director. But what if the pandemic never happened and I didn't post a couple of things about fashion that day? I love to take clothes, like, I take ballet lessons, and you have to go in stuff that's stretchy and that you can sweat it and whatever. And then two minutes later, I may need to be meeting somebody for a coffee for my Mary Kay business or.

00:43:27 - Sheri Miter
Whatever, or going for lunch and having wine sitting outside in the patio right.

00:43:34 - Nan Patrick
For a business meeting, for whatever reason. It's a matter of just changing. So what I started to just post is just change the shoes and add a pair of earrings and maybe put a deeper color lipstick on, whatever. And people are, like, going like, are you influencer now? After three posts and I started laughing, I'm like, yes, I've been an influencer since 1977.

00:44:02 - Sheri Miter
Yeah, I love that. Well, Nan and definitely follow Nan on social media. And your website is. Patrick knows. Right.

00:44:16 - Nan Patrick
Correct. And feel free to subscribe.

00:44:19 - Sheri Miter
Yeah, and it's well worth it because she does have fun posts. I love following you, and I love when you do the which would you wear? Kind of thing. And Nan's also great on just helping you figure out your colors. Like, if you want a color consultation, you've been valuable for me, too. And even in the transition, now that we're going a little more gray, like, making those things. Because just like our seasons change at our work, our appearances change, like it or not. So we always need that revamp all around. So definitely follow Nan. Anything else, Nan, that you want to close with before we wrap this conversation up?

00:45:03 - Nan Patrick
Well, I just think that you have to look at the signs. They don't usually happen in the form that you imagine them to happen. And so flexibility in your approach is probably a good idea.

00:45:26 - Sheri Miter
Great advice. Great advice. Because I've yet to see a neon sign telling me which way to go.

00:45:34 - Nan Patrick
Wouldn't that be nice?

00:45:35 - Sheri Miter
Yes, I wish for it. I haven't seen it yet. Or a billboard. Well, Nan, I knew this conversation would be fun. I love the stories of your family and how you got into retail and your grandfather winning the lottery to start. So fun. So fun. And that you share that story. So the tradition goes on and keep that memory alive.

00:46:06 - Nan Patrick
Yeah.

00:46:07 - Sheri Miter
Thank you so much for being a guest on the show. Definitely listeners, follow Nan if you want to connect with Nan. Actually, Nan, what is the best place to connect with you if somebody really wants to learn more about your services?

00:46:20 - Nan Patrick
Patricknows.com. And every page has book a time with me so it's very easy to find my calendar.

00:46:30 - Sheri Miter
Perfect. All right. And we will have that in the show notes.

00:46:35 - Nan Patrick
Super. Thank you.

00:46:37 - Sheri Miter
Thank.

00:46:40 - Nan Patrick
You.