With Hart

Ep. 1 | The Foundation of Everything to Come

• Karlee Hart • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In the debut episode of With Hart, host Karlee Hart shares the raw, unfiltered truth about entrepreneurship, personal growth, and the emotional rollercoaster of building a brand from scratch. She takes listeners through her journey—starting a business from her childhood home during college, navigating the uncertainties of launching Beachkrew, and embracing the mindset shifts that come with entrepreneurship. Karlee opens up about imposter syndrome, the mental resilience needed to push forward, and the lessons she’s learned through trial and error. This episode lays the foundation for what’s to come—real conversations about the struggles, wins, and everything in between on the path to building something bigger than yourself.

Karlee Hart

Beachkrew Website

With Hart – Real Talk on Entrepreneurship, Brand Building & Business Ownership

Hosted by Karlee Hart, founder of Beachkrew. With Hart dives into the highs, lows, and lessons of building a brand from the ground up. Whether you're a dreamer, doer, or in the thick of scaling your business, this podcast is your go-to for unfiltered insights, mindset shifts, and actionable advice.

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Hi everybody! So I am so excited to finally be hopping on the mic and in front of the camera, instead of always being behind it and just really talking about my entrepreneurial journey and what it's kind of been like over the past three years, and all the current struggles and challenges and exciting things that I'm facing as a business owner today. I. The journey isn't just about what you're building. It's about who you have to become to make it happen. The mindset, the pressure, the lessons you only can learn by showing up and doing the work. That's what with heart is all about. I'm Cali, founder of Breachkrew, and I built my brand from the ground up with no roadmap, just a vision and the willingness to figure it out time and time again. This podcast is about what it really takes to build a company the growth stages, the risks, the pivots, and the messy middle that no one's talking about. So if you're in the thick of it, building something, navigating what's next? Or just here for the real talk, I'm so glad you're here. You're definitely in the right place. Let's get into it. So I just wanted to kind of give you guys a real intro of what I fully want this podcast to be about, why I want to do it, which is obviously to hopefully inspire or benefit some of you listening and really to just kind of be almost documenting, like going through entrepreneurship, building a business and kind of just learning and growing and seeing almost like the changes within myself over time. I think that's what's so cool about entrepreneurship is you are constantly learning and constantly growing. You have to there's really no other choice. So I just really have felt like my personal mission of Running Breachkrew has really been about kind of that. Again, just resilience and mindset of an entrepreneur. I think I've been kind of pretty addicted to that, like self expansion and self-development my whole life, which I'll get into a ton and that is, for me, kind of really what drives me in my day to day, besides just all the incredible connections that I make through each curve. So I'm so thankful for, you know, all the success that my business has had. And then it's led me to this place to be able to talk to you guys today. I have to be honest, as I have gone through some of the hardest times in business and started, you know, dealing with just a lot of mental, adversity, I'll say of things that I've never felt or kind of gone through internally before. I would listen to podcasts that were out there and I would always tell myself, wow, I really hope that maybe I can be sitting and being interviewed on that show someday. Or maybe I'll start my own podcast someday and really help other people through the things that I'm going through, because I know that maybe they're a little bit niche to entrepreneurship, or to life in your 20s, maybe being a female go getter dream chaser, but at the end of the day, I think that I just have learned so much and really grown as an individual, and I'd love to help somebody out there just be able to kind of, you know, work through the same things. And, we can do it together. And I'm so excited to connect with more of you. I've gotten so many messages, DMs or maybe TikToks that have gone somewhat viral. And your guys comments and questions, I've always really taken them and been like, wow, people, you know, do want to hear my story. And I think that's something that, you know, as a imposter syndrome or being so young, I would tell myself that, you know, I shouldn't do it, but I really feel like, yes, I'm terrified to be sitting on the mic and in front of the camera and, you know, terrified to say the wrong thing. But I have to believe that again, just through like all that I've learned and hopefully all that I can, you know, teach and, just kind of give back almost, in a way, to the girls who are inspiring me so much to who are hopefully listening, is why I'm excited to do this. So, yeah, I would say something that has been really cool for me. So, I'm from South Jersey. I grew up in a really small town, and I would say that from day one as almost as far back as I can remember, I think I had that entrepreneurial spirit from a very young age. I had some entrepreneurs in my family, my grandfather, my dad ended up leaving his big corporate job to open up his own firm. So I got to see kind of firsthand a little bit of that experience, even though I was still pretty young when he did, and just, you know, kind of I saw a lot before me. But I think I've always had that in me as well. When I was eight years old, I actually started like a water flower watering business. I'll call it. I printed out fliers and my mom, I guess, helped me figure out how to do that. I print out fliers and drop them off at my neighbors houses, and ended up being able to water some of their plants and got like, attacked by mosquitoes. That was not fun, but I there's a picture of me, and I feel like it's just something that like, stays kind of with me as I go through all this journey. There's a picture of me just standing in the backyard, and I think I was eight years old or however old, and you could just see how proud I was of myself that I was watering plants and was like kind of doing something, maybe that I felt, you know, was a little bit, kind of self-made, you know, as a young girl or whatever. So as I went along throughout the rest of my life, I remember being in college even or being in high school, and just started doing things a little bit differently, or starting looking for avenues to maybe make money on my own, or to come up with something super creative. I can remember in, high school for a lacrosse team, I actually put together a whole order of like, these jackets that we all were for warm ups, and they still have them today, which is really cool. I'll like drive by the turf field and still see the girls wearing them, which is just really like fun for me that I know that I like, put all that together. So that might have kind of sparked my like, apparel passion. But besides that, I know, like in high school, I just kind of always felt like I was searching for more and I always was just so competitive that I took things so seriously too. So I think there was always just this dynamic within me that was like, I want more out of my life. I don't want to live in a small mindset. So I was just kind of like, how could I do something that would kind of give me the passion to do so? So again, growing up within, you know, just extracurricular sports, all of it, I definitely was kind of putting that passion towards something with sports. I would say I played basketball and lacrosse and soccer. And just to give you a little kind of inside of my mindset and who I've always been, even as a young girl, I'll never forget, I was like talking, sitting at the end of my parents bed. And I'm pretty sure I looked at my parents and I was like, I'm going to be the next Mia Hamm. Or like, I want to be the next Mia Hamm. And I remember they kind of always have had the same reaction, the end that they still have now with some different things. And it's like, okay, like if you think you can do that, let's figure out how to get you there. So I did a lot of, like club, you know, sports and kind of put in those extra hours throughout my whole life. And I think just seeing that I would get better with those extra reps and that extra time has kind of built my mindset as an entrepreneur as well. So I think that a lot of us probably washed up athletes out here. I think, you know, we kind of were maybe always still looking for something to kind of fill that, like purpose and that void of wearing a chase, something wanting to be super competitive. Well, I just to throw our whole selves into something. I think once you start playing sports and you get in college or whatever, you're kind of like, oh my gosh, what I do with myself, because it really is just so much fun. You're connecting with so many people and making so many great friends. You're traveling probably like it's just such a lifestyle. So that's kind of exactly what happened to me. I was so all in with sports in high school. I was like, doing all these crazy things to try to, you know, make the varsity team our team freshman year was insane. We ended up going, I think, to the state finals that year I was eighth, man. So I didn't get like as much time as I wanted. But my dad that summer before the. So kind of just give you a tidbit into kind of my life and how I always was trying to chase a dream, but and my dad really being like a dream launchpad for me a lot of the time. But back in, the summer going into my freshman year, he had saw, like a video or something, and I forget what he watched. He got like, super into this one guy and his motivational or his basketball tips or whatever. And he was like, all right, Corey's like, I saw this thing and it's, we ought to shoot. You got to shoot 10,000 shots this summer. And that will kind of get the reps in and you know, you'll be good enough and I'll be able to make it. And you really need to grow. Like maybe your left hand or get stronger with your left hand or whatever it was. So I'll help you set this up. Like, do you want to do it? And I remember just through our talks and conversation, I was like, absolutely. Like I'm shooting 10,000 shots in the summer. So if that tells you anything, maybe about my dad and his dynamic or just my will to want to get better. And again, just being so addicted to that expansion of self and really dreaming big, we indeed shot I shot 10,000 shots that summer. I definitely need to go find the notebook that I used. I would like kind of lay out the drills that I was going to do. I would go to the local high school and just be doing like different reps to get 10,000 shots in. So yes, I can definitely say that that probably got me better or probably got me some minutes on varsity. But that's kind of just giving you an insight into, I think, the mindset that I've always had, which was just kind of doing things a little bit of a different way sometimes. Yeah, can be extra. Sometimes it feels a little bit, maybe crazy to some, but honestly, I think it was just fun like it for me. It was just fun to dive all in on the things that I really cared about, and I've never known any differently. So you'll definitely understand that as I talk more about my story, and I'm sure that so many of you listening probably can relate to that of like, it's not just a game, it's not just a sport. You're all into it. I know for a fact that sports definitely kind of gave me that dynamic. I also am the youngest of three. I have two older siblings who are a little bit, older than me. And I think my whole life I just wanted to keep up with them. I wanted to be able to do things at the same age or, you know, way younger that they were doing things that were maybe a little bit more mature. I have a sister and a brother, so I think there's definitely a dynamic with that as well. But my family is just super, super supportive. I'm really blessed that they all still to this day, are incredibly supportive and just want to know how they can help and lend a hand, and it's really cool because and my siblings own professions, like they'll be able to give me a lot of tips and tidbits or actually help me fully set something up. Such as like marketing. Shout out my brother that I've had no idea how to do when I started. So I think that definitely a big part of my journey for sure, is just having that super competitive nature, and then definitely having my dad always show me how to do things in a way where I probably could really excel at something if I put my mind to it. And then also just, you know, kind of that dynamic, I think, of being the baby and not wanting to be wanting to be always, you know, growing and and learning and kind of catching up with them faster than maybe the average person my age at that time would have wanted to. But yeah. So then I got into college, I really wanted to go to like a Big Ten school. My brother and my dad both went to big colleges, and they had such great experiences and made so many good friends, and I was really just looking for a different dynamic. I had a super small graduating class, a really small hometown, and, so, you know, thankful for the people and the memories. And it's really cool to see, you know, people I grew up with also supporting and wrapping Breachkrew now and like really hyping me up. It truly means the world. And one of the girls, who is my first ever full time employee is also from my hometown, so I have so much love for it. But naturally I just again wanted more. I wanted to see more of the world and do something different. So I was applying all these big Ten schools I thought I wanted to do maybe like something at sports medicine and or just be super involved in like an athlete's life that I, you know, no longer was an athlete, but I ended up not going too far. I only went to school an hour away, which was the University of Delaware. So while I was at school, I again was just kind of like, oh, I'm not playing sports anymore. I didn't end up trying out for any of the club like lacrosse or basketball teams. And I think I just kind of got to that point of being like, okay, I can live my normal college life, which I definitely, you know, did in most ways. But I also was like secretly just so unfulfilled, kind of just really lost of. Okay. Yeah, I guess I'll join the sorority or I guess I'll do this thing, but totally not feeling like that was a fit for me at all. And I think something that, you know, you're really going to hear me talk about in this podcast a lot. And the main reason why I want to be able to talk to you guys is like, as an entrepreneur or somebody who wants to build their dream brand, their dream life, to put themselves out there, to start posting on social media, you are going to feel so misunderstood at times. You're going to be criticized. At times you're going to feel really lonely and going through really every stage of my life. But I'm sure it was in college is when I really started listening to podcasts. This is kind of the other dynamic of the podcast that I really want to get into. I want to go through a lot of my story, mindset, resilience, really business, you know, based topics. But I also really want to get into like just this side of things, of the real, of kind of chasing your dreams and why, you know, to continue or maybe why not to like the things that I've learned, the lessons that I have had to face and really just the amount of adversity I think is very daunting. So we'll go over a very wide range of topics. I want to be so real in every topic that I do go through, because I know that that's the only way that, you know, we can actually connect and that hopefully I can give you, you know, tidbits to take in your life. I obviously don't want to fluff anything. So I'm excited to, again, just be super authentic and raw about what it's like to be building a brand at age 25 now. But anyways, so back into college. So I think that's when I started to really listen to podcasts and just try to plug myself in in areas where I knew it kind of was, I guess my escape in a way of like getting that fulfillment of, okay, like, I know I have a dream, I know I want to start a business someday. I've I've always known that as I feel like, you know, my my actions and my personality definitely showed, but it kind of was like, what, how, where, when, why, obviously all those things. And I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about today. So something about the podcast for me is I truly feel like I built my business off of YouTube and podcasts. I'll always joke about that, but there are a couple of podcast hosts. Like I said earlier, I would literally picture myself like, I want to be on their show someday. I want to be able to talk about my journey and really connect with people and an audience, and know that I'm hopefully making a really positive impact on people. Like that was something that got me through, even, I think, before I started a business, just hoping that someday I could. And then as I have been in business and as I have faced some really hard things, that was another thing. So I just felt like there was no greater time than now to start this. I have definitely grown a lot and really just the past. Like 3 to 4 months I've been working with a coach and really just kind of figuring out, my, my mind and the way that I think and operate a little bit more too, which has been like just so great for a guy, my expansion and my growth and the way that I'm, you know, going to live my life and and run my team and whatnot. But yeah, in the podcast, I think that's something that I would always listen to that would keep me going, as funny and cliche as it sounded, was like a couple things I would realize. Okay, I'm not crazy because most of my ideas felt crazy. Or maybe once I said them out loud to maybe the people who weren't right to receive them. And honestly, you're going to kind of have to be your biggest cheerleader. Let's be real. People are going to support you. You'll be surprised the amount of people who will show up. I've been so thankful for that. But not everyone can understand you, and that's not a reason to quit your day dream or kind of let a setback again, a criticism like any of that really get in your way. So we'll definitely get into that a lot. But something in the podcast that I, you know, really benefited from again, was just like, I'm not crazy. Everything they're saying are things that I feel like I've kind of thought about. Or maybe I'm listening to an apparel brand specifically in a way that an entrepreneur was able to kind of go through all of those phases of the startup, the financials, the hiring process. And I was like, okay, like I got this. Like it was almost super validating to hear what they went through and maybe their biggest struggles that I was currently facing to. And, you know, again, just that validation and motivation of, okay, like, I know that I was called to do this to be an entrepreneur. I truly feel that I've seen, you know, God moving in ways that I can definitely feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. So I'll always trust that naturally, besides just my own gifts and abilities. But I think that overall, that's kind of something that I felt so thankful that at least as, again, as funny as it sounds like I had friends or mentors via some of the podcasts that I would listen to and some of the hosts or the, people they would interview on there. And, you know, you don't always agree with everything. You might not always agree with everything that I'll have to say, but it's always just a little bit, you know, more to kind of add to your, your folders and your brain and the knowledge that you're collecting and your expansion, what you're going to do with it. So something that I kind of felt like, though, with this podcast is, yeah, you're kind of relating to these people, but a lot of the people who are on podcasts today are maybe the ones that I listen to specifically, are people who have kind of made it, people who have, you know, eight, nine figure businesses and who maybe had a huge following on social media before, or maybe they had some big transformation that really, you know, kind of grew their their audience that way. So then they started a business on top of it. And my journey is super different in that way, where I started it out of college, absolutely no experience, absolutely no following. Really, not even a full business plan. Let's be real at the time. So I think that I really want this podcast to be all about like, let's grow together. Hopefully I'm able to be there, maybe with somebody who's also in a similar stage of their business, and we can talk about the level of things that we're doing now. But I also the knowledge of the past year, the past two years, three years of growing this business are still really fresh in my mind. So I want to be able to share that with you guys and kind of go into, again, just that, like resilience, but also the failures, the challenges, the successes that have happened. Because let's be real, that's kind of the stuff, again, that you're going to learn from more so than, oh, you know, it just started growing and then we kind of figure it out from there. And trust me, I sometimes find myself saying that and small talk conversations, but that's not going to help you get anywhere. I have always been so fired up about, like other people living their dream lives and other people kind of getting out of the status quo. And maybe it is that you start your, you know, your side hustle and then some day you're quitting your job. Or maybe you're somebody who loves your job, you love the 9 to 5 life and you're really passionate about fitness or you really want to start, you know, your own brand on social media and you want to be posting. You want to connect with brands and be able to you know, expand in that way because you're amazing at taking content like there are so many paths in life to take. That's why I do want some episodes to be very specific about entrepreneurial things. I'm facing or lessons that I've learned. But I also, again, kind of want to just really like, let's bring in all the dreamers that go getters, the people who can't stand small mindedness, the people who do dream big and want to grow. And let's just hang out, grab your coffee. Like things like that. I'm so excited. Like you know, your walks in the morning. Hopefully I can get you fired up for the day. I would love to do that. But yeah, again, I'm just so excited. So I know that my story of the past three years, how I've built Breachkrew, you know, that is I probably could sit here for like 1,000,000 hours talking about everything. So I definitely want to figure out how to separate each episode into maybe a specific topic. Please, definitely feel free to, like ask me questions on social media or DM me email me anything because I would love to answer those specific ones, but I think that I just want this to kind of set the stage for the rest of the podcast. So I do want to say that building a business and building a brand, there's a couple things that I'll say off the jump. So maybe let's talk about somebody who wants to start a business, or has maybe just created the Instagram account and isn't sure how to start to get it out there. I'm going to give you some very, very granular tactical tips to grow that following, or to expand in the direction that you want to and some different episodes. But what I'll say right now is, again, just to hopefully encourage you like a little bit more back into my story. I was at the University of Delaware again. I wasn't in extracurriculars. I wasn't like loving my sorority or just the lifestyle of that. I didn't feel like I really necessarily fit in, and I think I kind of had to accept that. That just wasn't for me. And by the way, if something's not the right fit, that is okay and has nothing to do with necessarily whoever it's involved with or yourself. Like you have to just sometimes know what's the feeling and what's going to bring you blessed and what's not. And everybody is so different. So like, some people might love something and some people might not. And again, maybe you're someone who they love college and they love sorority again. Maybe you do love your 9 to 5 and you're listening for some type of other direction that I can help you with. So again, this isn't all about just like growing a business and how to scale as quick as possible and all those things I really want to plug in to what I was about to say, which is business owners alike and anyone chasing a dream. It's not about the business that's being built sometimes, as much of it is like the person that you have to become to build that business, or to build that lifestyle to build that routine that's going to allow you to show up as the person you want to. That has been the biggest lesson for me, as I've been slapped in the face sometimes with some pretty tough reality checks of like, oh gosh, like, I have to change that, you know, habit that I have or the way that I approach situations. I've done things totally wrong and obviously, you know, other things right. And thankfully I, I know I'm a great person with good intentions, so I'm always going to hope that I do things in a way that show that. But yeah, I'm not perfect. You know, I'm just human. And I think being able to tell myself that lately, and hopefully you can sit here and tell yourself the same thing, like we are all just human and again, like to become the the business owner that you want to become or to become the athlete that you want to become the brother, the dad, mom, whatever. Like that truly is a mindset, a perspective. It is the self expansion of, again, just your own self. It's not like, oh, if I do this thing really great, then I'm going to become, you know, the business owner that I've always wanted to like. I've had it go through some wild adversity, wild mental toughness checks and do the little things that no one sees at 530 in the morning or maybe at 930 at night, where I'm developing as a person, and I'm becoming more and more resilient because at the end of the day, that is what a business is. I think that it's hard for me when, you know, it's such a blessing for me. I'll rephrase it when I see that, you know, friends or family members, people in my community want to start a business whenever they do. I'm just kind of like, oh boy, good luck a little bit, you know, because it is massively challenging. And that's what I want to be able to open up about more and help you guys work through those challenges so that you can chase your dreams and can, you know, chase those successes in life or whatever it is that you want again, by becoming the person that you need to become. But at the same time, I think that entrepreneurship kind of has this fluff around it of, oh, I can work whenever I want, and I can go take this vacation and do all these things. But it is a brutal lifestyle that is very all consuming. I think that if you've been an athlete and you were in those, you know, moments of maybe it's the beginning of the season and every game counts, every win that you have counts towards, if you're going to make it to the finals or not. Like nothing kind of jumps to one point I really don't believe fully in like overnight successes. I think that there's a million steps that go into an overnight success. There's a million really dark hours that go into that, and then you see that, so I'm excited to kind of talk about some of the things that I did to see some of those, you know, viral videos or store openings and things like that, that definitely look like that kind of overnight success, maybe from the outside. But let me kind of go back into I sorry, I kind of keep jumping in and out. That's definitely going to be part of us. Just kind of again, an overall brainstorm with you guys and love your feedback and just kind of, you know, what directions you do want me to go in, but I'm not really writing a script here. I want this to be very genuine and again, authentic. But let's jump back into college. So again, I'm like listening to podcasts. I'm getting fired up for almost no reason. Like I have nothing that I'm really chasing after. No sports, no, you know, business at that time or whatever. I entered a, you know, sorority freshman year and then sophomore year, Covid hit. So I'm a sophomore, a second semester, sophomore year. And all of a sudden, I'll never forget. I'm sure, you know, none of us will ever forget that kind of message that started going out the emails, classes canceled, this is going on, blah, blah, blah. I think a lot of us probably block that time of our lives out a little bit. It's kind of, you know, super traumatic. I know to most people. So I totally feel for, you know, anybody who went through a really hard time with Covid, I know we all have things that we pulled from it, but I think for me, specific, I ended up being home a lot more than I probably would have expected. I think I kind of chose to use it as an excuse to be home. If I had to be honest, I think I wasn't totally loving college life again. I wasn't feeling very fulfilled. I also want to say like, if you're at college and it's not feeling like the best four years of your life, that is okay. Again, it's kind of about finding the right fit for you. And I think that's why, you know, we're all human, we all make mistakes and we have different stories. So I will kind of work on and you know, how I want to relay my story to you guys. But something that I just wanted to say is a lot of people ask me knowing that I dropped out, which I'll get to like, how do you feel about college? And honestly, I feel so privileged and blessed that I was able to go to college. I made awesome connections. I mean, you know, good friends. And again, just had really awesome memories. But at the end of the day, I wasn't really doing well in my classes. I was dreaming of the businesses that I would start. I didn't really feel understood, maybe by some of the friends that I did have at the time and was kind of just trying to fit in. And I think that's what I'm here to say. Like, don't, you don't have to fit in. You're able to do the things that you want to do. It's just, again, like to become the person that you want to become. It's hard work. It's not going to be easy. It's just me. I feel for anybody who's maybe in that position where maybe they want to change the friend group, or they do want to change the major. Maybe they have no idea what they want to do. It's like, that is okay to be at the place that you're at. And hopefully, if you're listening to this, you do have those big dreams and goals for your life. You do know there is a talent or a niche or something that you're super passionate about. That you do want to pursue. So I'm excited to be able to hopefully encourage you in that direction. You know, for me, I was in entrepreneurship classes. I was an accounting major. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I loved my entrepreneurship classes. At one point, I thought about being an entrepreneurship major, but I just didn't know, you know, what impact that would make. And I kind of figured starting a business from somebody like myself who doesn't have a degree, maybe I didn't need to worry about that so much. So again, there's no perfect way to do anything. This is just my story, and I'm excited to talk about it. So yeah, it was Covid year, you know, my sophomore year in college. And then going into, okay, so sorry, I was at home and then can't leave the house. There's not much to do. All of a sudden, all of our classes turned into online and thankfully by the end of the semester. So this is like May of 2021, almost four years ago now, which is so crazy. If I'm doing my math right, I was at home, I had started some other businesses I got really big into, like Poshmark and different things like that, just to keep myself busy. And it probably was a good thing just to be like, clearing out my closet a little bit. But basically, I would never forget I was sitting at my kitchen counter. I was supposed to be studying for my finals and instead I was looking at how to iron on a patch onto a trucker hat. I started seeing this trend kind of going on where girls were wearing these like super cute trucker hats and any color with any patch on it. And I was like, oh, I probably could do that. Like, let me just try. I had no idea that apparel, fashion, all of that was the angle that my business or the approach that I would go in. But this was obviously the start to that. So I was like, all right, I'm going to call it Hats by Karlee and I'm going to figure out how to do this. I would love to go into so many details about that process of starting Hats by Karlee, because to me, it's hysterical thinking about the way that I ended up using my mom's iron, a bowl from my kitchen, and a pillowcase to configure how to get the patch on there. That's what I guess I learned on YouTube at the time. Then I went and figured out how to start a website. Which I still am the full creator of our website today. I just honestly, as even a financial reason of not wanting to hire somebody right now to make it better. So I appreciate your guys's love and support there for understanding those things. And yeah, I feel like that should be honestly a whole other episode about, you know, the ins and outs of how I really started Breachkrew. But again, something that I, I do just want to be able to leave you guys with, with this first episode of kind of what I'm going to go into again is real time, real issues, real topics of growing my business the way that I have, being able to exponentially grow it. Stores opening up year to year and just onboarded full time employees, which has been super exciting having grown the business with only one to 2 to 3 people for the past couple of years. Warehousing, inventory like product management. And then again, just a lot of little tidbits about the resilience and the mindset of being an entrepreneur or chasing your dreams. I will tell you like it is not easy at all. I think that the best things in life come from the hardest situations. I have to believe that if you are a friend of mine or family member, you know that if you come to me with a problem, I'm gonna try to help you fix that. And honestly, I would love for this to kind of go that way as well, where I'll tell you the problems that I faced. I probably would guess that you might be facing as well. Like, let's talk about what it's like to hire and onboard employees. I feel like I don't hear or see a lot of podcasts that are granular about that, or what it's like to be 21 and end up dropping out of college, and you have to move out of your house that you're living in with five other girls at the time or, you know, all of a sudden, popped up in a smoothie shop at the shore town that I'm in and kind of explaining, you know, my business to people. Let's talk about branding and marketing and how to, again, just kind of grow your platform in a very organic way. I know that beach curves specifically for me. I think what's really cool is I've kind of hid behind the scenes because I know that it's my morals, my values, my passions that are like shining through it. And I've felt like I wanted to keep that separate. But something again, that's so fun and exciting, even though I'm nervous to be launching a podcast is, I always tell myself, guys like if fear of my own judgment of other people's judgment of failing, of things, not going the way I hope is the only thing that's holding me back, then that's not an excuse. I mean, when I open my stores, I show up every morning to a grand opening, being like, all right, nobody might show up today. And then I'm just so overjoyed and emotional when I see people flooding in, like, we are always going to be our biggest critics. We're always going to be our biggest enemy at times. I am very, very, very hard on myself. That's probably a reason why I've pushed my points or myself to the point that I have. But I think at the same time, I'm learning how to be my own best friend and my biggest cheerleader. And again, just kind of feeling very lonely in this journey. It's like, I know you're feeling the same way. I know you're going through a lot of the same things, and that probably means that you're on the right path. Let me also make that very, very, very clear. Like the times that I've been the lonely, loneliest or maybe being judged, which, by the way, I feel very blessed that I do feel very supportive, but I don't hear all the conversations that are going on behind the scenes. Obviously. So I do want to thank whoever's listening for if you have supported me, like, thank you so much. It truly means everything and it's gotten me where I am, just having those connections and that positive feedback. Truly thank you. But yeah, like if you're going through all this adversity and these hard times, congratulations. Because that means you're on the path that you need to be on. You're going in the right direction. You're going to reap the reward. You have to decide and see it that way. I've had to learn that. I've had a lot of, you know, tough nights of maybe panic attacks or letting it out emotionally, or maybe just needing to go run sprints on the treadmill to just, like, get all that built up energy out. I've, you know, failed many of times and have seen a lot of things work out really well. So it's like, again, these are all the real honest things of chasing your dreams. I'm never going to sit here and be like, just go do one more wrap or just go do something, you know, a little bit better, a little bit harder, a little bit stronger. It's like, yes, definitely go do one more. Remind yourself one more. You know, take in every lesson that you learn from people who have gone before you. But the biggest thing is like, you know, deep down in your heart that thing that is absolutely yelling at you, your intuition is like, you need to move here, you need to jump that person. You need to start going to, you know, this workout class or text that person who inspires you. It's like, I'm just here to tell you how to go do it, how to believe in yourself and why you should. Obviously, it's so rewarding, not only personally, but I'm not doing what I'm doing really. For me, at the end of the day, I'm doing what I'm doing to hopefully inspire you guys. And trust me, you guys inspire me. So I think that's why I really want this to feel it's going to be a lot of me talking. I eventually might, like, start bringing some guests of some entrepreneurs who are either fresh, you know, starting their business, or they're a couple of years. And I think that there's so many different perspectives that are really cool and those different stages of business. But I hope that, again, this can kind of just set the stage for if you're feeling misunderstood, I got you. I'm here for you. If you want to chase the dream, let's do it. If you aren't so sure that you know your current lifestyle or your mindset is what's going to be, the thing that you really need to move forward, like, let's focus on that self expansion. Let's learn the lessons together. I, I'm trying to make this like, very broad in a way, because I'm going to get very granular in each episode. But at the same time, I want you guys to just know that I have been so influenced by the podcast and the mentors that have come into my life. I've been so positively inspired by the questions that you guys ask, the feedback that you give the encouragement, and I would not be fulfilling. I feel like my own purpose if I wasn't sharing more about the journey, because again, I'm so fired up about Breachkrew. I am wildly excited about the places that we're at, the year we're about to have, the product that I'm having manufactured, the team that I'm onboarding currently. And then there's also this side of me. Who knows? There's people out there who are in the exact phases that I was in, or feeling the exact same way as I was feeling. And I got through those times to hopefully sit here again and just walk you through it hand in hand. And I hope that I can kind of, you know, maybe if anybody wants to talk with me one on one as well, I would love to. I do not have all the answers. I've never done this perfect, but I've definitely learned so much along the way and grown so much. And I think that's why Breachkrew has had, you know, what looks like success is because we just are resilient as a company. I'll, I'll make my that there's the values of our company is like synergy and doing things together and having that you know, collaborative feedback. It's not one person doing everything. Of course it was for a long time, but there's been a lot of people who have helped me along the way. So that's going to be a big part of this. And then also core value just like authenticity and integrity, showing up and actually caring about what you do. We'll get into all of that, I'm sure as well, more that's so important to showing up for yourself and building that confidence no matter what you do or where you do it. And yeah, I'm thinking of missing a million things, I'm sure. But I just want to thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening and being here. I hope that you're excited for the rest of this journey together. And I'll say it one more time, I would really love your guys's feedback of what topics specifically you want me to cover and what you want me to dive into, but thanks so much for being here. I hope you got something out of this episode, and let's chase after our dreams together. That's it for today's episode of With Heart. But I don't want this conversation to end here. Tell me, what stuck with you? What hit home? What do you want to hear more about or what you're working through right now? Send me a message. Share this with someone who needs it, or let me know what I should talk about next. We're all figuring this out as we go, and I'm right here with you. Can't wait to chat again next time. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm.