Episode 31: "Embracing Every Season"

Life—and business—aren't meant to stay the same. Every season has something to teach us.

In this week's episode, we're catching up on everything that's been happening lately—from Ava's final weeks before maternity leave, preparing for baby, and all things pregnancy, labor, and motherhood, to Katie's latest life updates, concerts, leadership, and everything in between.

We also share one of the most emotionally exhausting weeks we've experienced at the studios and what happened behind the scenes that reminded us how important difficult leadership decisions can be.

Then we dive into our main conversation: embracing the season you're currently in. Whether you're building, growing, healing, waiting, pivoting, or simply trying to keep your head above water, this episode is a reminder that every season has purpose. We talk about navigating change in business, redefining success, giving yourself grace, and learning when to push forward versus when it's okay to pause.

We wrap things up with nostalgic early 2000s movie favorites, sports talk, what we're currently watching, and our Work Wife Wisdom for anyone navigating change.

✨ If you've ever felt behind, overwhelmed, or uncertain about what's next, this episode is for you.

⏱️ Episode Chapters

0:00:00 – 0:00:31 | Intro

0:00:31 – 0:44:00 | Life Lately
Katie & Ava catch up on all things life, pregnancy, motherhood, labor and delivery stories, the Hilary Duff concert, and everything happening behind the scenes.

0:44:00 – 1:04:10 | A Dramatic Week (Brought to You by Naps)
We unpack one of our most chaotic weeks yet, what led to making the difficult decision to let go of an employee, and everything that unfolded afterward.

1:04:10 – 1:35:00 | Embracing Every Season
Our main conversation on navigating life's changing seasons, growing through challenges, business highs and lows, resilience, leadership, and learning to embrace where you are instead of rushing to what's next.

1:35:00 – End | Closing Thoughts
Early 90s & 2000s movie nostalgia, sports, what we're currently watching, and our final Work Wife Wisdom.

🎧 Don't Forget to...

⭐ Follow the podcast so you never miss an episode.
⭐ Rate & review if you're enjoying the show.
⭐ Share this episode with a friend, coworker, or fellow entrepreneur who needs the reminder that every season has value.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Work Wives and Real Lives Podcast. I'm Katie. And I'm Ava. We're two best friends and coworkers spilling the tea on business, boundaries, and all the beautiful chaos in between. From workday wins to real life messes, we're talking through it all. Unfiltered, unpolished, and always putting friendship first. Think of it as your weekly catch up with your favorite coworker, Turn Soul Sister. So grab your coffee pour your wine. And let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Stunning.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Stunning.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

What's up, work my fam? It's your favorite wives. Back. We're back, baby. I feel like we said that after our last hiatus, and we filmed like one episode, and then we're like, and then we had another hiatus. There's a lot going on in life.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

We we needed a summer break. We needed, yeah, that's exactly what it is. A summer break. We got one episode in in June. I think we got zero in in July. I think the last time you heard from us, I had just moved into our new home. The men were coming after me on social media. But you know what? It kept up our engagement for the last month.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

You know, we got some engagement. Thank you, men. Um, it's been so goddamn hot and muggy. If you live in Southern California, you would think you lived in the East Coast Coast. It's terrible here. I didn't I don't pay for this weather, okay? I pay a premium for nice weather out here.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Truly. It's so funny because I saw an Instagram video like a day ago, and it's this guy just being very serious saying, Yeah, check in on your Southern California friends. We're not doing okay. We're really not. It's 90 degree weather and it's humid. We don't we didn't sign up for this.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I signed up for dry heat if I'm gonna have heat or rain, or but like cold rain, like wintertime rain, or like 72 with a light cloud in the sky. Okay. Those are the three weathering patterns we sign up for in Southern California. We don't subscribe to humidity. It there, I literally I'm not gonna lie, July was insane of a month. I was so busy traveling a ton, but I also like did not work out because I work out at noon every day when I'm at work. Yeah, I go to Pilates. And the thought of literally when I was in the office or like in town, the thought of walking out of my office to my car to go change and put workout clothes on, then change back my work clothes and walk back to my car. I just didn't want to do it. I late canceled without requesting a late cancel fee waiver, I will say. Um, like four classes in a row because I just I just did not want to walk outside. It's so goddamn hot here. And again, the heat isn't like the terrible part. It's the stickiness, the wetness.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah, it just literally it slaps you in the face the second you walk out the door. That's how I feel living out here. Yeah, and it's terrible. God, I'm done teaching. I'm on official maternity leave for teaching. Um, but the heat and the humidity and being pregnant and trying to put on a workout outfit to go teach a workout class while you can barely I can't even see my toes. So it's yeah, it's a lot. The humidity is no joke. So I I'm so sorry for our Southern California friends. We're thinking of you, thoughts and prayers going out to a lot of we need a.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I feel like I did this on one of our earlier episodes, like the first one maybe, or something right after. I'm gonna start sponsoring, not sponsoring, but like highlighting the wine I'm drinking because we need to get back. I know Ava can't drink, so I feel like I've been like a little bit more gentle with it. But this is one of my favorite wines ever, and so we need to spotlight it. Let's see. So today I have Khaleza. It's a small winery out in Pascarobles, Central Coast, California. It's their concrete Grenache. Order it by the case. Don't ask questions, don't like Pasco and ask for $20 or whatever it is. Like, just buy it. It has this beautiful red wax topper situation happening.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Stunning.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

It's a light red. This is the what it looks like in the glass. It looks darker than it really is. Um, and it's stunning. So, and if everyone check them out, yes, they actually buy our cab or my parents' cab grapes for their cab, but this is their Grenache. It is, it's top tier.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

I am not a Grenache fan at all, but that is the only Grenache that I've had and tasted, and I've fully enjoyed and had multiple glasses of. So shut up.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Speaking of drinking, where are we in our pregnancy? Where when is my child coming? Do you want to share an update with the people? I mean, I know these things, but I think the people need an update.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Uh, update is I'm measuring ahead of schedule. I have now hit the 80th percentile. Um, so pretty soon this child will be entering the world. Uh we're recording this on August 3rd. I'm due September 4th. And I predict I will not make it to September 4. Just based upon I hope not. All for your sake. Yeah, everything I'm feeling and experiencing like today was the craziest day of Braxton Hicks. I've been getting them on and off throughout the nighttime, like every other day. But today was like wham bam thinking bam, right after another, all within an hour. Um, I thought for sure I was like in active labor. I'm like on the floor, like trying to breathe and like write things for work.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Like you're like on all fours sending emails.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Literally, I was on the ground, like in child's pose, but had my laptop still on the desk, and I was like typing things in my head. I'm men could never, they could never, they could never. No, no, no, no, no. So yeah, I'm not well, but you know, we're here. We're I'm walking and talking. I'm not sleeping because this child is literally like a MA fire, just hitting me in all cylinders in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

I do believe it's the the universe's way of preparing you for actual like when the baby's here because you're not gonna sleep for a long time anyway. Or you could be getting your like punishment now, and maybe he's gonna be an amazing sleeper. So I honestly don't remember if I slept much in my pregnancy. I I think towards the end, I did not, like, I just it was so uncomfortable. I kind of blocked it all out. But then both of my kids well, Wyatt was a really good sleeper, Everett was a terrible sleeper, so I don't know that there's any correlation.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

But Well, I'm looking forward to the day where just the little bit of sleep that I do get when he is in out of my womb and into this world of just like laying pain free. Yeah. Just being able to roll onto my stomach or just roll over in general without feeling like freaking Shrek.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

That was my thing, because I'm a side sleeper. There goes pepper. Um the neighborhood know that she's on duty. Um, so I'm a side sleeper, and so when I would sleep on one hip, it would get so sore, so I'd have to move, but I'd have to like pick up my belly and like rotate. Yeah. And I so then I finally like the only way I could get comfortable is sleeping on my back like semi upright. And that's how I slept. Yeah. A wild time.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Feel as though I need to start doing semi-upright because the sides are just not doing it. I would recommend this upright.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

It's it was helpful.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

It's a lot. So yeah, we're not sleeping and during the day, just doing the best that I can, you know. Um, but yeah, that's pretty much where we're at. Everything's looking good, everything's looking healthy. I'm freaking the fuck out though, because everything's just full speed ahead and uh nursery's not prepared, uh everything's still in boxes.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

When does your husband start his paternity leave? Like when he's uh you know, here September 1st.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

But um he'll be kind of uh put into he'll be in the area local. Yeah, he'll be localized starting next week. So good. I just have to get through this week and just you know chill the fuck out.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

He's got a lot of work to do and he gets he does a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, he has a lot of work ahead of him.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

But you know what? We're gonna have fun with it. I can't believe I'm gonna be someone's mom.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I know, it's so wild. You're like a grown-up.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I know. I feel like so wise and so old.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

You are very wise, you're not old, but it's like the best because it just it's so weird. Maybe it's not like this for everyone, but when they come out, you just kind of like know what to do and figure it out. It's so strange.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

That's what throws me off is because I'm freaking out about labor, and everyone I've spoken to just says, Your body will know what to do. Like, will it? Does it? That sounds just like so crazy to me that your body just knows how to push another human being out of its vagina.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah, I have really beautiful labor and delivery experience stories, and so it's very triggering for people that do not. But I will say all about triggering people on this show. So go ahead. Say it. My they're very short stories because it was very short experiences. My first birth of my daughter, I was set on having no drugs. I wanted to do it, you know, cave woman style. And my mom had no drugs, and my brother was like 11 pounds or something insane. And I was like nine something. And so I was like, I can do it. Demi did it. Um, no. So I'm in the hospital and I'm like, I'm not doing drugs, I'm not doing drugs. And my nurse was such a bitch, and she was just looks at me and she's like, You're not gonna make it. Like dead face. And I was like, excuse me, like, excuse me, they were dying. And she's like, You're fighting your everything your body's trying to do, it's trying to open and you're tensing up so hard that you're closing it and you're fighting it and it's making it worse. And I'm like, it fucking hurts. Like, what yeah, what do you want from me? And she's like, Well, if you don't take it, she didn't, I don't think she said it like this way, because I'm sure they can't like blackmail you like this. But essentially, like, if you don't take drugs or figure out a way to calm the fuck down, we are going to send you home because you're not progressing. Like you're only some centimeters dilated. And at that point, I'm like, I'm not having a baby in a car. Like, I'm not leaving. You're gonna have to drag me out of this hospital. Like, I have a bed, I'm staying in it, like, I'm not leaving. So then Garrett finally looks at her and he goes, She wants the drugs. And so they wheeled me in. I was most afraid of getting an epidural because I had read stories of people that had spinal headaches from them. Yeah. And that was just like the most traumatic thing I could think of happening to me. And I'm not like, even when I get my blood drawn, I don't have tattoos, but even when I get tattoos, I don't look at it. Like, I don't like looking at the needles. Right. Um, anyway, you can't see it. It's behind you, obviously. Um, and but then as soon as the needle came out, she was like the ultimate mother goose, just like rubbing my face, calming me down. And she was like literally the most amazing nurse. So shout out to LD nurses. She disappeared because she was off her shift or something. And I'm like, where are you going? Like, I haven't had my baby. You can't leave. You cannot leave it. But then I got another one and she was great. But she so after I got my drugs, I was in euphoria. I put on frozen. No, frozen wasn't out yet. Was it? I think it was out. Who knows? Whatever. I put on some Disney movie. My parents, in all their wisdom, bring my husband Chipotle. I can't eat anything, and I'm starving. That's so I asked for a popsicle, and they're like, we really don't recommend it. Like, whatever comes in comes out. And I'm like, I don't, I need something. Like these ice chips, get them out of my face. Okay. Yeah. Suck down a popsicle. And then I feel something happening down there. This really evolved into an episode we weren't planning to have today. And this is for the ladies. This is for the This is for the ladies or for the men who need to prepare what they're gonna see. Because my husband had very specific instructions that he was to stay north and he was not to come past my shoulders. Man doesn't listen, as we know. So um, I feel something happening down there. And so I called the nurse and I was like, hi, I feel like a lot of pressure. And I wanted to feel some stuff. Like I wanted to know when it was time to push. I didn't want to be like completely like spinal blocked. Um, and she flips me on my back because it was on my side, and she's like, Okay, we're gonna do a practice push. And so I start pushing and she's like, okay, stop. And she's like, Okay, so I have to call in the doctor because oh, of course, my doctor was on vacation, typical knocked up like moment. Yeah. And the doctor that was in the hospital was in a C-section, and so they had to call someone else to come in, and it was like just before midnight. And they're like, She's 30 minutes away, so we just need you to like hold tight. And I'm like, I don't know what that means. So some kegels. I held tight, and then I uh with Wyatt, I ended up pushing five times. I've already warned Ava of this. This doctor insisted on doing. She started like massaging down there, which is really them spreading the opening to make it wider. And it was the most intense pain I've ever felt in my entire life. It was worse than actually pushing the baby out. Yeah. And allegedly it's supposed to help you not tear, you still tear, whatever. Right. So I, Courtney Kardashian, my baby. I it was in my birth plan. So I reached down, grabbed under the shoulders, and pulled her out. Beautiful experience. Um, don't know what happened after that. Oh, you have to put up, push out the uh placenta. Placenta. That's not, that's not it's not pleasant because they start pushing on your stomach, but then like you have the baby, so you're kind of distracted. It's fine. Did you do anything with your placenta? I did. So I had it made into pills with both of my kids. I took them with Wyatt. I am not convinced it actually did anything. I never actually, I don't think I actually ever took them with Everett, but I had them made. They're in a trash landfill somewhere. Um typing. You should make yours into like a lasagna.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Um I want to see it and I want them to unravel it, and I want to see how long it truly is.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Garrett looked at it. I refused to look at anything besides the child. I was like, Yeah, I don't want to this never happen. Whatever's happening down there is not happening. I don't know. Yeah. Disassociate. Disassociated. So that was that. And then my next one was during COVID. And so it was like the height of COVID. You had to get tested before you went in, and it was like a whole thing. I wanted it to be scheduled because I went 10 days late with Wyatt. Um, and then so with Everett, he was measuring really big, and I was like, I want to make sure my doctor wasn't going on vacation and that I it, you know, I just wanted my drugs. I want to check in, get my drugs, you know, get my bed and just call it a day. So we checked in uh just after midnight, got my drugs, did a full face and makeup. Like I was so prepped for this one. And then it's about just before 8 30, my doctor shows up and my epidural had started wearing off. And of course, this hospital in C-sections, I cannot. They're like, okay, well, the anesthesiologist is in a C-section right now, so you gotta wait a little bit. And I'm like, uh, but it hurts. Yeah. He came in seconds before I was pushing and just like shot a bunch more in. But that by that point, it was like it kind of didn't have enough time. So I basically felt everything with Everett. But the good news is, is she looks at me and she goes, Okay, so on your next push, you're gonna push your baby out, or on your next contraction, you're gonna push your baby out. And I was like, Oh, great, one and ten. Right before that happens, this group of people come into the room and they were trainees from the new Hogue Irvine maternity ward that was opening, and they ask if they can observe. And Garrett, in all his wisdom, goes, Yeah, sure, come on in. Like, I'm sorry. Are you splayed out on the table right now? Like, no, no, okay. Are you spread eagle right now? I don't think so. No. So yikes, cornea Kardashian, that went out too. And then the drugs finally hit me, and I was sh oh, flip him over onto they flip him over. I'm just you're just kind of like holding it something and peas right in my eyeball. Ugh. Of course. But you're just like, like you just they just kind of just start pouting you and you just move on with life. And then all the drugs like hit me at once because he had like tried to like get it in, and I my whole body started shaking and I got ice cold. Yeah. So that wasn't enjoyable, but I was set on going home the same day because like I had known someone else that had done it. I hated being so some people love being in the hospital. They're like, you get tons of help. It's like, you know, the nurse is prayer, it's great. Me.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

All you want to do is like sleep or be comfortable at least and not be in that hospital bed.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah, I hated being in the hospital. I um they check your blood pressure like every 30 minutes. And I'm like, if I'm not coding, leave me alone. You have a beeper on me, you'll know if I'm dying. Yeah. Like, as soon as I would fall asleep, they come check your blood pressure. If you live in the Orange County area, you've probably heard stories about the Hoague, Newport, which is where I delivered like first meal after your baby. So I fell into that trap for Wyatt. It's fine. It's literally hospital food. It's like a little bit fancier. Yeah. So second time, wasn't falling into that trap again. So they send me the menu before I delivered to like pick out what I wanted, and all I sent back was the sparkling cider and the cheesecake. The cheesecake actually was pretty good. And so the the kitchen calls me and they're like, hey, you didn't fill out your entree. And I was like, Oh no, I'm door-dashing sushi. Like, we're not playing this game again. Love it. Door-dash sushi to the hospital. It was fantastic. Anyways, those were my birth experiences overall. 10 out of 10. I loved giving birth. The after for me is when it got hard. So I'm hoping because you're not having like the best experience right now, that it's gonna be easier for you after.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

That's the hope. That's the dream. All that is the goal. I yeah. We shall see. We did a um so a little recap of I feel like I should just do a recap of July. Probably. Quick rapid fire recap. Yeah. Um I was in California pretty much the entire time. Majority of the time. Um but right before that I was I just found out I was in the 75th percentile, so I knew I had I could feel I had a large baby.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

But traveled to California, worked, did a bunch of things, filmed a bunch of prenatal classes.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Don't know how I did that at all. Like, truly, I look I look at those videos and then I'm like, that girl and me are not the same person. I have no idea who that bitch is.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Like, I could never, I could never do that. I mean, I couldn't do those classes not pregnant. Like, I I'm I can't do the whole class with you. Like, I'm not one of those infant we're not, you know, uh that's just a lot of talking with my little baby lens trying to work out at the same time and keep me alive. Like, there's just no way. So, how you do that pregnant? No idea. But you did get some really lovely feedback from the viewers, and I think that that has to feel really good.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

It felt really good because I had I mean, I knew what I was doing, but afterwards I just doubt myself. Like, is anyone gonna relate to this? Is it too difficult? Um yeah, all the things because not only am I trying to do the class, say the class at 30, 31 weeks pregnant, I have to be mindful that someone who's maybe in their first trimester, second trimester is taking this and it might be a little bit easier for them per se. So I'm trying to think of ways to add extra like modifications or extra things to level up and just like going in and out, back and forth. That was a lot. So truly, I don't know how that girl filming and I are the same person. But it happened. It happened. We did it. Um we went to Hillary Duff. That was like a dream come true. I feel like I wasn't there. I was there. It was really Sofa! Katie was there. Um we had so much fun. It was honestly like a childhood dream come true. And she it's just goals. She, I wanted to be her when I was 12, and I still want to be her as a 33-year-old. So yeah. She was incredible. She incredible.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

I just love her outfits were like a mix of low-key and concert. It was more it felt more just like she was singing to you in her house. Like, I don't know. She did a very good job of like making it feel down-to-earth and like relatable. And like she's a mom, she's our age. She doesn't have time to do the whole thing, which there's nothing wrong with that. Um, but it was very like off it felt very like authentically her, which I really liked.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

So authentically her. I appreciate all the throwbacks, just every single aspect of it. Um, and yeah, we were on the floor. It got real hot real quick in the beginning. I thought I had her fan. I had one.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Or kicked someone else's drink on you.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Next to Jamie and I. And so it was just like, I swear it was just pure tequila in that drink that spilled because the smell of it just like slapped me in the face. And then the lights went out, and then it got hot, and the people were all like rushing to their seats type thing. And I just internally freaked out for a second. And I looked at Jamie and I said, I don't know if I can be real. She's like, What do what do we need to do? I'm like, let me just get my fan out, and like I'm not missing Hillary. But like shortly after, I think it was like the second song, I like chilled out a little bit. But yeah, oh my god, that smell of just straight tequila. I wanted to vomit everywhere. Terrible. But luckily, I had my fan. I used it as a microphone as well. It was a beautiful time. And we we did make a very fun getting ready reel. We did. Not only are we Instagram famous. Famous. Hilary Duff is our best friend. She really is. She loves us.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

She quite literally, yeah, she liked the video. I'm she hearted it, so I'm gonna take that as a love. We have 136,000 views.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, like people see us. You know, it's so funny. I showed my husband the video maybe like a week ago. Cause I uh I don't think I ever told him about the concert. And so I was showing him videos and then I showed him our Instagram one, and he was so embarrassed. He's like, no, no one be you did not do that. He's like, get it away. My eyes, they're burning. I'm like, why because your belly was out with glitter on it? I don't know. I think it was just our like walking towards the camera.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

He was like, oh, the cringe. I was a little cringe, but in the best way. It's like the way that millennial girls are cringe now that plans. And you know what? You play weird video games, okay? So just go sit in your corner and play your video games and be quiet. Not you, your husband. Go in the corner. Sorry. Go in the corner where you belong.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

So yeah, Hillary.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Hey girl, what's up?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Hey girl. Thanks for liking. Thanks for liking the video. If you want to invite us back to a concert, we'd love to be there.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

We'd love to be there. We'd love to come on stage. I always prepared.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

It was a missed opportunity for you. I didn't, I mean, I we should have assumed that they have pre-picked out these people that like do the VIP meet and greets, which we did not have. But truly sad. Or you should have posted a video in advance and had it go viral because I feel like she was also picking people that did it on social media that like she knew could do the dance. Very true. So next round. You'll get them next time.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

In the next 20 years when she does another revival tour.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

I did appreciate that like two-thirds of the songs were her older songs. Like I do like um her I do like her new album, but I just the older songs really childhood.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah. I specifically went to the restroom during the newer stuff. Yeah. Except for mature and there's something else. But that was my opportunity to get extra snacks and use the restroom.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah. I tried to go get a drink during one of the final newer songs, but the bar was closed, which is just like rude.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Rude. How dare you? Rude. But yeah, we did that. You threw the most beautiful baby shower for me. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Um Rhonda and Val and Sophia and Joe. Well, Joe Bodeau was there in spirit. Joe Buddhist came by for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

But yes, my sister's sister, sister, sister, Sophia and Val and my mom.

unknown 27:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

I was very quickly put on balloon arts duty though when I showed up. And I was not prepared. And it was just like my punish. Okay. So it was our studio's anniversary. And every year, even the same weekend. The same weekend. We were just wham bam, thank you, ma'am, all one weekend.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

If you haven't noticed or learned anything about us, that's how we roll. Like, yeah. Anything and everything, let's throw it into one weekend. One weekend.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

So this is how my brain works. So I am every year she makes a balloon arch and uh rips her skin off her fingers. And so I'm like, she's pregnant, you know, we're gonna invest in a professional balloon arch. So I order one on the key. Thank you because that aspect helped a ton. Yeah. So they're delivering it the day before. And they're delivering, they said that they were they were coming from like Long Beach or something, and they're like, we're just gonna deliver both to Tust and we're not driving RSM. I'm like, oh, that's fine. We can just throw it in a car and bring it to RSM. Not a big deal. So they call me when they're there, and then Emerson is like also messaging me or something, or maybe you were, I don't know. But they call me and they're like, I'm at work, and they're like, hey, do you know how to put this up? And like, oh yeah, we just like tape it to the wall, like whatever. This is what we do every year. We're professionals. And they're like, okay, well, we're gonna leave some extra supplies here. And we're like, I'm like, okay. So they it's not hangable. They're massive, first of all.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Truly professionally made.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I guess to me, it was like, yeah, 10 feet sounds like a good number. I ordered two of them, and then I also didn't think about she has like a rental little compact SUV thing. I'm like, you can fit a 10-foot balloon, aren't you? Like fine. But Ava and I had our most recent work fight because she doesn't listen. And so I can tell she's freaking out. And then also, like two weeks before that, I threw in let's do a tuck and glow too, which wasn't my fault because they released a new Tuck and Glow playlist. I'm like, might as well just do an anniversary weekend.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah. And it's so funny because when she messaged me that, I think I went silent and I tried to like find the right response for an hour. So you probably saw me typing and stop, type, and stop, type and stop. And what I landed on was, I think sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Yeah, and then she said something about it, about all the things she has to do. It's like, why it was gonna throw out some glow lights and put the that's what it were on the door.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Yeah, I was just saying, like, okay, well, we're also doing this and this and this. Um, I don't know if we'll have the time to like properly set this up. Like, I I don't think I have the bandwidth to do so. And your response was, well, all you have to do is like plug in the lights and get glow sticks. And that's when it took me like maybe an hour to respond. I was like, it sounds like that's all you have to do. And truly, that's all you have to do. It's truly all you have to do.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

For some reason, it takes five hours to do. So she's like freaking out. She has been working all day. She has to go bring this balloon arch, but they ended up cutting them up, right? To like make them more manageable. I don't know what she did. Yeah. They get this one to hang on the wallet test, and she takes off to RSM. I'm teaching at five, and then Kelsey was with me, and Jamie was taking my class. I was like, we can just finish whatever's left. We didn't have enough extension. I don't know. We had all the same equipment there that we've used in the years prior. I don't know how it worked because there was not enough extension cords. There was not enough black lights. It was way too dark in there. And so I'm like, I think we were there till like 8:30 at night, and we couldn't finish it because we I needed Jamie went to Staples, bought all the extension cords they had, but we needed another glow light. And so Kelsey found someone that or found one on Amazon that we could same day deliver by like midnight and it would be there in the morning. So it's like perfect. We did that. Meanwhile, I was in my genius at RSM. I was like, I know there's no outlets in that studio. We're not doing the extension cord thing. I found rechargeable ones on Amazon. So I had, which if we ever do this again, we're doing that for Test and too. Yeah. I ordered four of them because that's how many we had at Testin, and I was like, that's a good amount. No one, they weren't shipped to me, but no one like actually tried to test them in advance before Friday night to see if they there were enough. No, they were like half the size of our Teston lights and the studios a lot bigger. So our studio at Testin's very like rectangular and narrow. This one is like a very large square. So Ava's like freaking out, and she's like, it's not gonna work. Like, I have to figure it out. I need to get some food. And so I finally call her because she's just not listening. I was like, it's fine, I got it. Like her baby showers the next day, she's been working all day. Like, I want her to just relax. She won't listen to me. Okay. Yeah, that's one cute fun thing about me. I don't listen. You and my husband. So I get kind of mad and I kind of yell at her. Yeah. And I said, I'm not your friend anymore. I'm your boss. You're done for the night. Go home. Like, and she was staying with her sister and brother, her sister-in-law and brother. And so she starts crying. I'm like, oh fuck, I made a pregnant lady cry on the phone.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

It was just a long day because by the time I got to RSM, I that was just the week from Hill. And we'll talk about it because so much happened leading up to that weekend that my body and mind just could not function anymore. I was climbing on a ladder when I should not have, trying to put up a balloon arch by myself.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

And as I Which I told her to leave the balloon arch at RSM and I would go the next morning because I had to go that direction anyway to reshower. I was like, I'll go early and hang in in the morning with Kelsey. Like, it's not a big deal. Yeah. Doesn't listen. Doesn't it? She's up a ladder. I'm up a ladder by myself.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Oh, you had one of the sales associates come meet you there, right? And I quickly was like WTF Ava, what are you doing? So I messaged our RSM team just saying, hey, if anyone's in the area, I will buy you Starbucks. I will do whatever, but I'm doing things I should not be doing. And one of the cute little sales associates came, helped me. We got it up. It seemed secure. And then I went inside the studio, started trying to put up the black lights. That's when I quickly realized there were not enough black lights, and it was not a glow-in-the-dark situation going on. Nothing was glowing. Nothing was glowing, and nothing was truly that dark. And so I quickly looked online. I could not find anything same day, but I don't know if it was because of the area. Excuse me, that was in. And so I'm like going on Staples online, going on Walmart. Like, okay, there's one at Staples. And then I get to that Staples. Well, before I got to Staples, I walk out of the studio room and into the lobby. And the second close the door to the lobby, the balloon arch falls. And the amount of curse words I said, I think I like hit the ladder or like slapped the wall. I got aggressive for a second. I was like, this went crazy for a moment. I was like, I just need to step away. I need to go get dinner and step away for a second. But on my way to dinner, I'll go to Walmart and Staples and see if they have black lights.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Why would Staples have black lights? I was telling Jamie, I was like, is there a spirit Halloween open? Yeah, they'll have black lights. And she's like, it's July. I don't think they're open yet. I'm like, those things are open year-round, basically.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Staples and RSM. For some reason, they did like a collab with um what's that old party place? Party City. Party City. Yeah. So half of this store is Party City. But they did not have the lights when I got there. I was like, cool. Cool. Went through Walmart, quickly got very overwhelmed. Something about the Walmart floors and walls, they're so white. And the smell, it just no. I cannot tell you the last time I've been in a Walmart. No, no, no. And so I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna just meet my brother and sister and nephew for dinner, give myself a little break, and then I'll get back to it. And then when I was on the car back on the way to the studio, that's when you yelled at me and I cried.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I texted Val and she didn't respond to me. This was the concerning part. So I texted Val after I yelled at you. I think before I yelled at you. And I said, do not because I knew you were going to dinner with her. And I said, do not let her go back to the studio. She's not listening to me. She's done for the night. And then Val didn't respond till like nine something. And so then she's like, Oh, she came back. Like, so I took that as you just got back, and I was like, where the fuck has she been for like the last three hours? Roaming around.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

I was like, she's no, no, I went straight back to their house and showered my day off. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Yeah. Well, it worked out. It worked beautiful. I woke up at 5 a.m. and hit both studios before 7, finished the setup. People loved it.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

They better have loved it.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

It's the last one they're getting for quite some time. We are going to, if we ever do well, then so the the Tuck and Glow playlist. Uh later that day, I think it was at your shower. I was like, you know what we should have done? We should have just used Tuck and Glow as like candlelit classes and used her little battery-powered tea light candles and just put those out and have like why is this the way my brain works. Get some twinkly lights around the bars. I don't know. Hi ma'am, I know. You have your crocodile.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

So um and then she was put on balloon arch for my baby shower.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

I well, so that when I was doing your baby shower one, so we have these old freestanding sock display racks that are kind of tall and rectangular. And as I'm doing the balloon arch at her party, which was tying balloons to this rectangular backdrop thing, I was like, oh my God, I should have just tied the balloons to this thing. Duh. And then like a few days later, um Allison at uh in the Florida studios, she was having, I think, an anniversary or party or something, and she just had balloon trees. And so they were just like freestanding little balloon things. And I'm like, fucking genius, because I had to repaint the RSM wall yesterday because all of the paint that was taken off not the whole wall, but like a good area of it. Right. Because all the paint that was taken off the wall by the tape trying to hold up this balloon arch. And I was like, you know what? If we do balloons again, we're going with trees.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Balloon trees. Yep. Fuck the arches.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

So that was the first half of July.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

First half to July. And then yeah, after that, just been trying to get ready.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

Get ready. Which I have not been doing.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

We had some fun business ownership. So what we're gonna talk about today is like what is the official title? It's something about navigating seasons.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Or experiencing seasons, embracing seasons. Yeah, embracing every season.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Or the reality of changing seasons.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah. So we're not gonna read before we get into that. Part of what this was also craziness is we had a lot of staffing unexpected changes that came that same two-week span of this craziness. But oh wait, should I talk about all of my things? If you want to.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

My personal signups for life. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Because you Ava doesn't even know all this. So No, you were like just telling me before this. I'm like, what the fuck are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 40:04

You do not have time. No, this is what happens. You go on a Girl Scout camping trip and you get bamboozled into doing all the things. So I left there, having signed Wyatt up for soccer. So now she's in horseback riding Thursdays, soccer and football practice Mondays and Wednesdays, both, and football games Friday nights, soccer games Saturdays. And of course, like Rocky and Vanessa love them, who bamboozled us into the soccer thing. They're like, oh, it's rack, it's super chill. Like, show up or don't show up. No, this coach is intense. He's already practicing twice a week. Is Rocky the coach? No. The coach is really nice. Which we they just got in trouble because they're not supposed to be. This was like the drama right before I hopped on tonight. Apparently, they're not supposed to be practicing yet. So that was the whole thing. So um, anywho. So I'm like, and he's like, yeah, Wyatt wants to be, I think, you know, Wyatt's gonna be goalie, so I'm gonna have side practices with her. And I was like, I I I don't have time. I'm team mom for the football team. They're looking for a team mom for the soccer team. I'm not responding to that because I can't even go to the team mom meeting on September 2nd because I'm out of town. And then I am now the new Coupe Coup troop co-leader for Girl Scouts again, which I started that troop as co-leader, quit after a semester because I didn't have time for this. But my fall just got so busy. Everett's doing football and basketball. So who knows when his practice? I think at his age, he'll only practice once a week per team. And then he has football games also Friday nights, and then basketball Sunday. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we're booked. Practices at this point, at least Monday, Wednesday, horseback riding, Thursdays. I think we might pull horseback riding for the summer. Oh, why it has golf lessons still every Sunday at 10? Which I kind of like those because I get to go to brunch after. So this is why I like golf as a sport. Um yeah. But this is my life, and this is what I do to myself. Do you follow the lazy millionaire on Instagram?

SPEAKER_04 42:09

No.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Okay, so she's this uh influencer. She runs like online courses that I've been following for some time. And she's doing this, like she started a Substack less than a year ago, and I think she already makes like $330,000 a year in annual revenue on Substack, just writing articles, and she writes like two to four times a month. And I have a Substack that I started a year ago, and I haven't been writing on it consistently. No one pays for it yet, so I have no income, which is fine. But she did this like she's doing this 30-day Substack challenge. So I signed up for that, had my first call on that today. There's homework every week, so I'm just like, you know, we're just overextending ourselves, we're booked and busy. The podcast it needs to happen because you're gonna be out for a while. Who knows when you're gonna be able to film once you have the baby? But baby right here. Yeah, he'll sleep through it. He's used to hearing us chat.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

He's he's used to hearing it. He's going crazy right now, but you truly do not have time because I'm gonna be out as well.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

I was looking at my August teaching schedule this morning, and there's one week I'm teaching like 10 classes, which I know some instructors teach that regularly, but for me with all of these things in my nine to five, like it I'm already crying. Tomorrow I have to do a double, so I'm doing 6 and 7 a.m. going to work all day, going back to the same studio doing two classes in the evening, like three different formats that day. I'm just like already crying inside. So be nice to your fitness instructors, okay? They're doing the best they can.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Be, yeah, and it's so funny because majority of them don't know that we have lives outside of doing all this. And so, yeah, it becomes a shock to them that you have a Full-time job or that you have children or other life better things. Yeah. Because all they see is us as that, you know? Yeah. But wow. Wow, wow, wow. Um, thoughts and prayers.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

I need a nap, and you know who also needs naps? This is a great segue. Gen Z. They all take naps, they love naps, and we're gonna talk about all the people that take naps. So, right around our craziness, and this instructor is a really good instructor, and we wish her well. But we had this instructor call no call, no show, seven classes in a week, and then call out of two others. So nine classes total in the span of a week, which at that point we just we can't run a business this way. No, so it's the Tuesday, I think, after anniversary, when you were at the desk. It was or no, it was Tuesday. It was Tuesday before. Yeah. Yeah. Because then we had to end up canceling the Friday night class that night. So no calls, no shows. Ava happens to be at the desk, which is why as a fitness studio, like I don't love when managers also teach because if they get taken advantage of. Yes. They're like, oh, you're already there, you can teach. Like, no, they're there to do a job that is not teaching. They have like actual work to do.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Like, little do you know, there's so much shit we have to do, and that I had planned to do that night. And yeah, I felt taken advantage of in the worst way.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

I'm in Yellowstone with barely any service, camping. Yeah. And she messages that this person had not shown up yet, and it was like a minute before the class was supposed to start. It was a different format, which Ava's not currently teaching because it's doesn't work well with her body and her life stage she's currently in.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Yeah, medically, I could not teach that class and I was not in the right proper clothes. Luckily, I had socks with me. I mean, I could have bought socks too. But I was like chatting with one of the members beforehand. I looked down at the clock. I'm like, oh, class starts in a minute. Oh, she's still not here. Oh, I should probably start putting my belt on and start getting the microphone ready because I'm gonna have to teach this class.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

But you were like, I don't know any define choreo. And I was like, You're not teaching to find, teach classic. If people want to leave, they can leave. No one's gonna leave, they're fine.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

No.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

And then she's texting me during class and she's like, I cannot physically teach two more classes. I'm like, and I in the meantime, I'd already been trying to find coverage, no one could cover last minute. So I canceled, texted everyone, we moved on. And then a couple days later, well, she messaged later that day, that evening.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Conveniently, a few minutes after what would have been her third class would have started. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

And she said that she laid down for a nap and her alarm must have gone not have gone off, or it went off and she turned it off and went back to sleep. She was napping and it was 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the evening. I would love to be able to take a nap. I'm any kind of day.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

I loved to have taken a nap. The day prior, I taught three X Plus classes. So I was filming, I was dead exhausted, my body was just broken, and you know, you still have to work. And so I had done a double that, that's what it was. I've done a double that day because I was at the Tustin studio in the morning working the desk, and then I went to R Sim to finish off the night working that desk.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

Yeah. And also, I just feel like if it was me, I would have come. I I even if I truly was napping, like I guess I'd say plus for honesty, I would have come up with a better excuse.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Like better excuse and have a few.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

There would have been a remorseful bullet point story about why I wasn't there. The more elaborate it becomes, the more they get distracted about you're not there. Like, I just I don't know that I would have said sorry, I took a nap. Like, no. Again, thank you for the honesty. But like also, yeah, I I just I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

I should have responded right in that moment, but I was so furious. Any type of response that she would have gotten, she probably would have quit right there, which would have been better than leading up to everything else.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

Yeah, I did not respond at all. I was so mad for Ava's sake mostly. And so then she had a couple more classes scheduled for that week, and she showed up to like the next day. But then it was Friday. No, I think Jules ended up taking her classes the next day. She's like, you're not teaching like as a kind of like you're losing your classes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

And then she showed up to Thursday.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

She showed up to Thursday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We took her classes from her Wednesday. Thursday, she showed up, and it was always like, is she gonna show? Is she not gonna show? And then Friday morning, she was supposed to teach the noon and the 5 p.m. And she like messaged that she needed to get them covered. Someone was able to cover, we couldn't find anyone. We're like, if you don't, and we had sent, we were planning to send her her write-up that morning, which Ava did. And we're like, Well, you're now on probation. If you don't show up to these classes and you can't get them covered, like you are going to be terminated. Um, and someone ended up able being able to teach the noon class, and then the 5 p.m. I just like called in. I was like, you know what, let's just cancel it. I don't want her there anyway. And then I just I'm not even convinced she's gonna show up, so I'd rather just cancel it in advance and like have clients be prepared versus like showing up to no teacher. Yeah. Um, and I was teaching a test in that night, so I couldn't do it. And then we the next week, and she and unfortunately, and I was telling Ava, I was like, she was so mad, and I was like, I get it, I feel it, but like I'm gone basically all this month and like lots of days in August. I just need to get us to September when my schedule normalizes, where if we need to make a call on her, like I'll have more availability. And spoke too soon. The day prior had just published the September to December schedule. So we publish in like seasonal schedules. So we publish at least internally for like scheduling purposes. People commit to January through May, June through August, and then September through December, because that's generally when people seem to have schedule changes with the summertime and holidays. And I think it literally was the day prior posted in our channels. Hey everyone, thanks for your help with the schedule for the fall. This is the schedule. The next morning, I wake up and it's 6:38-ish a.m. She was scheduled for 6, 7, 8:30, 9:30 in the morning. I happen to log in, or no, I pull up the emails. This is the first thing I do, I always go to my email app. I see a couple of emails about, hey, we're here for the 6 a.m. There's no one here. And then I go in our texting service, a bunch of texts will come in. Hey, we're not, we're here, there's no teacher here. I think you were teaching at the time. Yeah. I am like group chatting, her and you and Jules, and I'm like, hey, are you so you're not showing up today? Like, this is where we're at. No response. Uh can't reach her for hours. End up having to cancel, obviously six because no one showed up. Seven, we had to cancel. Um, we ended up getting 8:30, 9:30 covered. I think we you finally so she texts just you, I think. I don't, I never got a text from her and was just like, hi, I'm sorry. Like hours later. Oh, we had to look up her sister in our system because she didn't have an emergency contact on file. And we knew her sister had come in for like a class as she was in our system. And so someone called her.

SPEAKER_01 52:26

I emailed her. I called the sister from the studio phone. And I emailed her. Yeah. The studio phone was blocked on her phone. And so I was like, you know what? Let me just try my personal. So I tried my personal. She answered right away. And I was like, hi, I'm Ava. I'm the manager at Pur Bar Rancho Santa Margarita. Uh, we've been trying to get a hold of person for hours, and she has not been responsive. We just want to make sure she's okay, like everything's like good. And she's like, Yeah, I was talking to her last night. Everything seems fine. Let me try to text her and call her and see if she responds. Lesson like five minutes after I hung up, I get a message from said teacher and just saying, Keep in mind, this is like probably after 11 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

our time. Yeah. So like five hours after she was supposed to show up for her first class.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

Yeah. Like and all we got was a hi, sorry. That was it. I was like, are you fucking kidding me?

SPEAKER_00 53:36

So let me. I was so like I was mad, but I was also concerned. I was I was texting like you, and I was like, Do I call the police? Like, I don't know who else to call.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

And at that point, I had no remorse. I was like, she's fine. She's okay. She's taking a nap. She, yeah. We don't know if she was taking a nap. She never gave us an excuse. Yeah. There's no full excuse. Where I got frustrated was one that one night where I was scheduled at the desk and then I had to end up teaching. Um, and then fast forward to that Friday when she was trying to get things covered because she was going through some personal things. Like, we all have personal things going on, but conveniently, I was scheduled at the desk that morning at RSM. And so I'm seeing a pattern here of Ava's on the schedule. I can call out. Ava's on the schedule there, I can't.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

And you were scheduled at the desk that night at RSM because you were going to set up for Tuck and Glow.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

Yes. I'm like, does Ava look like she's fucking available right now? No. Like, Ava can't even get to the motherfucking ground.

SPEAKER_00 54:44

Like, I'm literally fine. This same instructor, again, I think it's just a maturity thing. There was this week in February. Everyone had the motherfucking flu. Okay. Everyone was sick. They had some sort of ailment. No one can teach. I think we canceled like almost 10 classes in a week between the two studios.

unknown 55:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

And I guess it came through. The bubonic plague. But the texts that we would get are like, this one person was also sick. And she just kept saying she felt feverish. And I'm like, you either have a fever or you don't. Like, what does feverish mean? Like you feel a little flushed. Like, that happens to me too when I get a little flustered. Like, I just, what is feverish? That's not a diagnosis. And so I let it go for a couple days. She tries to call out for a fifth day straight. And I said, At this point, you need a doctor's know. I can't get your classes covered. You know? And then I don't follow her on Instagram, but the studio accounts did. And lo and behold, the night before, she was posting a story at what appears to be some sort of house party, Modello Cans Flowin'. And I was like, oh, so someone sent it to me. And I was like, oh, I didn't realize Medello was the cure for feeling feverish. Who knew? Sure is. So go Modello. Um, and so this is also a testament as if you're going to do stuff like that, make sure that your bosses or your company does not follow you on social media. Oh, yeah. And it's the Gen Zers do not yet have a lesson in social media. And the impacts that that could have on their future career, they need to not even a Gen Zer. What I don't she's my age. Really? Yeah. Oh, I thought she was on like her 20s. So yeah. So don't post things on social media if you're trying to say that you're feverish. Honestly.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

And so the day that she did not show up at all beforehand, the 6 a.m., I looked at the roster. There was a new person in class. And so I sent her, Katie, a text message, like I usually do with our team, just letting them know, like, hey, you have a new person. Hey, you have this milestone at the 6 a.m. Heads up. Left my phone, went to teach, look at my phone like halfway through class to see what time it was. And I have like all the miss text messages, all the Slack messages. And uh I knew right away. I didn't even see any of the messages. I just knew in that moment. I was like, nope, she did not show. Oh, she's fired. Yeah, she's fired. And so I got done teaching and I had maybe like 30, 15, 30 minutes before I was about to do an interview because we also have a bubonic plague going through the sales associates of everyone leaving and just seasons changing, which we'll talk about further in detail. But I had just gone home, hadn't eaten because during my break in between classes, we're doing trying to figure out staffing things and all that jazz. And get home, and that's when I was trying to call the sister or try to get a hold of her because you're like, I need to run payroll before like X time and need this done like now. I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna pass away. And I'm like, okay, let me eat. Let me call the sister while I try to eat, and then uh try to do payroll really quick for her teacher hours so that you can like we can send the like notice, be done, hands wiped, we're good. Yeah. Meanwhile, I had like two minutes before I was about to do an interview. I'm sending this girl her final notice, you're done. And then I was like, okay, getting on to the interview, log on. I have everything pulled up, I have her resume pulled up because I forgot who this person was. And I'm sitting there on camera, and she's there but doesn't have her camera on, she's muted. And I have, I'm like, okay, maybe she's waiting for me to turn on my camera. So I turn on my camera, come off mute, and usually that's when they do the same. Nothing happened. And I go, hello, hello. Can you hear me? And then nothing. And so I go off mute. And so I like debate in my head how long do I wait for someone to pop up? And then I get a message in the like Zoom little chat of this person who I'm trying to interview saying, I'm so embarrassed. I just woke up from a nap and I don't want to turn on my camera, but I can't if you want me to. I just hung up.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

I left. I did not say anything. I hung up at that point. I'm like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

And this is probably two o'clock in the afternoon for California. Like, who is napping in the middle of the day like this? I mean, unless you're like a nurse or like someone that works night shifts. Like, what you're interviewing for a minimum wage job that runs during the normal daylight hours.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

It was 2.30 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Eastern time.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

I do remember that because I got home. It was 11:30. 2 p.m. Yeah. I got home at like 2 2 between 2 and 2 10. I was like, I have this interview at 2.30. Like, I'll do my best to get everything done. And then the girl doesn't even turn on her camera because she fell asleep and was embarrassed.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:46

In their right mind, says on an inter Like, I would have said, Oh, sorry, my camera's not working. Like, I can't, you know, all my computer's broke. Like, figure it out. Like for some other excuse other than sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

And say something.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

Just say like anything. Like, not even show up for the job interview. If your first thing is like, I can't turn my camera on, or I don't want to turn my camera on because I look terrible because I just woke up. It was at 11:30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

I was behind laughing. It was so comical.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:17

Because then, like, later that afternoon, I was in a meeting and I see a Slack message from a sales associate that she had like wasn't feeling well and couldn't come in, or something. And I at that point it's like, you can't write this day. Like, this day is pure comedy at this point. Because she had a migraine or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

And I'm like, at this point, I have I have no like sympathy for anyone at all right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

I knew you weren't gonna respond in anything that was semi-positive. So I just took it and I immediately responded. I was like, Yeah, no problem. Feel better. You know, we'll find we'll figure it out. I mean, and sales associates are the one thing you can you can run a cla uh classes without a sales associate. It's not ideal, but you you teachers are like a whole different like you physically can't have a class without teachers. Yeah. But I've just like it, I literally screenshot it and sent it to like a million people, and I was like, it's pure comedy at this point. Like, I can I can't write this. Like this day comedy. We have someone that's showing four classes. I don't know why I'm gonna chalk it up to a nap. Another person shows up for a job interview, can't turn on a camera because of a nap, and then another person called out sick. Like, I'm just like, you know, and what did we do?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

I think I had just gotten back from California and so is still adjusting to like being back and getting into like a rhythm and swing and things, and it was just like chaos. And that night I thought I was for sure going into early labor because I had never experienced Braxton Hicks, and in the middle of the night, I just woke up in just severe pain. I'm like, oh my god, had that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:03

This is so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

My body will just like pick and choose. It's usually at nighttime when I'm like coming down from the day and it's finally relaxed, and then it just goes. I know when it's about to happen because I feel it in my back first. It's the worst period cramp in your back. And then just like seconds later, your whole like belly tightens up. Yeah. So sorry. It's part of the part of the course, but yeah. Notes to everyone, stop taking naps. If you do, uh don't do it in the middle of your work day or right before you're about to be at a job or before a job interview. Um, be responsible. Please and thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:56

And I would love to take a nap in the middle of my workday right now. But alas, here we are. Here we are. Here we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:06

1053 for you, and we're just, you know, we haven't even gotten the main topic today.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:11

No, but this is a good segue into the main topic of just how businesses have seasons too, because it seems as though these people taking naps are going through a season in life, and which we all do. But we have to learn how to adapt within these seasons as people, as humans, as those in the workplace. And so we're gonna talk about how business is constantly evolving, whether it's growth season, slow season, staffing changes, new ideas and pivots, sales highs and lows. We're literally going through all the above. Uh all the above. So let's start with some good stuff, some personal stories. When was there a time you felt business felt effortless, or there was a season, everything seemed like it was good. Um, when was the last time we felt that?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

June 2025. That was such a good we were on a high. We were on a good month. We hit our all-time member highs that month, and then July 2025 hit, and it's been a year of just rebuild and struggle. Struggle. I don't think, but I think that that's something that like we've talked about, these cycles happen when they have happened for us in the past during my ownership period. It's been very like a couple months at a time, but then we rebound. This one's been tough because it's been like basically 12 straight months of just a down cycle. I don't, I know we're not unique. Like I talk to other owners, I see what's happening in the industry. You see, like soul cycles close. Closing, Orange Theory's closing, like Boutique Fitness is taking a big hit, and that it's not specific to our studios or our brand. But I it is tough. Like when you have to stomach it as an owner, as a manager who has to process everything, who has goals she's trying to meet. Um it is really tough. And if I think back to like Ross Geller and his pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot, we have to find a way to pivot. And we've been trying to feel like away from we've been trying to find a way, and we are like fresh out of ideas. And so at this point, it's like, I just don't know what else, you know. I I don't, I it's not giving up, but I think it's ex accepting what you cannot change. And we can't change whatever cycle we're in with the economy, with trends, with demographically people moving around, like whatever is happening right now. We have we get on calls with like our, you know, sales contacts at corporate, with other owners, with other managers. And they're like, well, you're doing everything we would recommend you do. And we're like, we know, like we've tried everything. And so it's one of those things where you kind of just have to like kind of bear down and just push through it. And that is obviously extremely challenging, especially if you're a small business owner, when like it's your money on the line, it's you know, you're just trying to keep the doors open. And um, I remember I was talking to one of our teachers, and you know, there was a conversation around the struggle of like the early morning classes and how they're back to back, and like it's tough not having a sales associate there to help. And I was like, well, first of all, if you can find someone who wants to wake up that early to work the desk, go for it. Like it. Also, I'm like, I'm just trying to keep classes on the schedule and like keep the doors open. Like, I, you know, we have to make cuts in some places. And unfortunately, that's a time that just doesn't warrant a sales associate because they're gonna be so limited in what they do. They're not calling people at 5 30 in the morning. And so they're really there to check people in and do and monitor the lobby, and then they're just kind of sitting there, like they can't clean in the studio because there's a class happening. They're not gonna clean in the lobby because it we just opened. Like there's so limited amount of things for them to do that financially, it does not make it's a convenience factor for sure, but financially it doesn't make sense. I'm also benefited with the fact that Ava's on the East Coast and that she is up at those hours and we have a phone system that calls into her phone. So if someone does have a call, like I'm running late to class or X prospect calls in, who's calling that early in the morning again, but she's there to do that remotely. And so it's all just like finding those decisions and triggers you can pull as a business to like save money where you can stay efficient, but also like keep the business going and keep doors open for the clients that are coming in because you need to serve them as well. And finding a way to like balance that in a way that like kind of makes sense and works out in a way doesn't always when I look at the numbers, seem to still make sense, but you gotta keep doing something, right? Cause like what's your alternative? Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

So you know, so I love all that and echo all that. Um I too feel like the last good month was June 2025. It's a great day. Great month, great month.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:34

We were on a high. Yes. Oh my god. She is such a creep. You need to get rid of her. She talks to you all the time. It's so weird. Echo. Off. That is so creepy. You need to get rid of that thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:58

She's listening to me. What happened in June 2025? I mean, did you say her name?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

No. Oh, you know what I said? I said I'm not even gonna say it. E C.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:10

I echo what you see. Oh my god. Are you allowed to rename her so that sh like that's a totally random word that you wouldn't say normally?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:23

I don't know if you can. Maybe. Banana. Someone sound off in the comments. Can you hot dog? Hot dog. Hot dog. Right? Um, but yeah, June 2025 and then July 2025. Um actually no, I think it because a decision was made, a hard decision was made in July 2025, where we you had to make a pivot somewhere, and that somewhere was letting go of a role and position at one of the studios. It was like the end, I was in town. I do remember that. Oh, yeah. We so it was right. I remember anniversary.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:05

Yes, you're correct. I remember I was in Utah for my annual July trip at the beginning of July, and I was running the numbers, and it was like we were at our all-time member high, but like our one studio still wasn't making any money, and still doesn't. We lose a lot money less than we were, but um see, it's all about perspective. But yes, you're correct. I do remember that that I was like doing the numbers and I was messaging you, and I was like, uh, this isn't gonna work. Like, I can't keep sustaining this.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:35

No, and so a big decision was made of letting go of a manager, and which ended up being a very hard decision, I'm sure, but became the best decision overall. But I and you were cleaning up after that for months. And it I feel like maybe towards November, maybe like October, November, things started to feel like okay. They were like settling, everything had settled, everyone that signed three-month contracts had like gone through their three-month contract, and yeah, um, things were handled, and then we did a big pivot again in getting rid of an intro class and offering a paid intro offer instead, which almost killed me, but became the best decision during those like months to come. Um, and now we're in another big pivot that luckily did not almost kill me. I just am working with what feels like half a brain because this child is stealing every ounce of like knowledge and every like I don't even know, like quality of mine, where I just feel like stupid every single day. Like so dumb. Um yeah, so things are taking me a little bit longer to do. But yeah, we're pivoting again, trying something new.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:20

But I think that's all you can do, right? And then, like, I will say on the intro offer thing, it still pisses me off to this day when we get um people that reach out and we're like, okay, well, we do a paid trial offer. You get right now, we're doing three classes for $30. $10 a class for boutique fitness is so ridiculously cheap. So cheap. Basically free. Basically, oh, I just wanted the free class. Like, stop expecting businesses to give you stuff for free. This is my biggest pet peeve. Yes, especially small businesses. Like, first of all, this is not industry standard. We are one of the only boutique fitness brands that offer first class free. If you look at solid orange theory still does, but look at Orange Theory's right. They're closing. They're closing. Yeah. And there's very few. If you look at Find Me a Pilates Studio, since Pilates is all the rage right now, find me a Pilates studio that does first class free. I did two three for some dollar amount offers, paid offers at two different Pilates studios I wanted to test out. One of them I never even went to because I went to the other one first and I loved it. And it was just more convenient for my work and where my home and my commute and all that stuff. Never went to the other one. And I never, first of all, never reached out and asked for a refund because I never used my classes. That was my fault. I never used them. But two, I didn't bat an eye. And I understand I'm in a different financial place and like everyone has their own situation. But if you aren't gonna pay three, $30 for three classes and you just expect a free class, like you're not stop wasting the people their time because you're not gonna buy anything. I'm sorry, you're just not. If you're not gonna pay $30 for three classes to try it out, you're not gonna pay $200 a month for membership. Like, and if you are serious, then you will pay the $30. And so this is my whole point. And we've run our own numbers of like we track now who buys our intro offer and we track their conversions, but we also strip out separately people that are out of town because we would get a lot of people from out of town that were just visiting the area that would take our free class offer and then bamboozle us and say, oh, we're just visiting out of town. So now that person got a free class. Instead, I can sell them a three for 30 or a bOGO, which we were selling them before. There's they're still from out of town, but at least I'm getting some money for them. And now I can track those people and strip them out of our numbers and say, okay, this is our actual conversion rate. Our conversions are higher with a paid offer than they are with free. I will say our lead volume is lower because you have that barrier to entry, but we're filtering out people that weren't really interested to begin with. And so I do think it's an adjustment. I do think it's a grind to get through, but I also think it's part of the season we're in of just like lead volume is lower. Like I can just look at the numbers. I not even first visits. First visits are going to be down with a paid offer, but our lead volume, which has is not indicative of a paid offer or a freed offer or anything because it just says, you know, claim your free class or whatever, you still might think it's free. Those numbers are down. So I it's not just getting people to show up. It's getting people to like submit the offer or submit the lead form in the first place. Like those numbers are lower. So our our our totals, like our actual humans signing up for memberships, is statistically going to be lower. So that was my rant on free trial offers. I think that we need to sunset them. I don't think if I think you should be supporting businesses that you want to support and not supporting businesses you don't want to support. And if you don't want to invest money in paying someone for a service they're providing you, then I, you know, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:04

We can take that elsewhere. Yeah. And forgot what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:13

But uh yeah. There's not right now there's not much where you can just take for free unless you're going to the Y or going to freaking.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:28

But there are so there are those places, right? There are places where you can get free, you know, free visits, free whatever. But there's also a value behind what you pay for that. Fitness. Right. Like there is a value for what you pay for that. And I firmly believe in the value of our technique, of our teachers, of our time. And if you don't see that same value, that's fine. You can take your you can go somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:52

We are quality. I think so. You cannot get this anywhere else, which is true. You cannot. You there's so many like bar places, but nothing is pure bar. And if you've taken it, you know. If you've done another bar class and have come to Pure Bar, like you hear that all the time. Yeah. Um, I don't need to take another bar studio to know that. I know what we got, right? What we've got's the right sauce. But it's now uh evolving. We're in a whole new era, a whole new uh season of fitness industries, and it's we're needing to keep up with the times. We're needing to uh refresh, pivot, add all the things, redefine all the stuff. Um but a key point the hardest seasons usually teach you the skills you'll need in your next successful one. So that's what we just have to keep telling ourselves is we're just building so much things in our toolbox. So later in life, we are prepared, which I will say every hard season has gotten a little bit easier to navigate and get through because uh we've done it, we've experienced it, and we're gonna push through. But like you said, the last few of uh the last year has been hard because we knew what those seasons were. I knew that come April and May would be our lowest seasons because that's when people have just done their taxes, they just looked at all their finances. Sadly, fitness is the first thing that gets taken out of their finances. And so I knew like going into April, May would be our lowest. Going into June would be like somewhat of the uphill. July, we always did well because it's our anniversary month. August is just like we're skating through. September, we got another surge, and then you hit November, December, and then we come back up in January.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:06

However, it's just been we're we've landed the plane. We're not quite flying, we're not flying high quite yet again.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:19

But one thing I wanted to touch on on this topic was also just for people that in like the corporate space or that don't own their own businesses. Um, one thing that I've talked a lot about is my career pivot, which isn't really a career pivot. Like I still work in the same industry. Um, but for my nine to five day job, like leaving the company I was at previously for 13 years, like that was a huge decision. And it was a pivot because I was doing a related but different job than I was doing most recently at my last company. There was definitely a level of imposter imposter syndrome going in. Like, can I do this job? Like I had used to do this job at my old company. Then I went to a different department and now I'm going back to it. They do things different. And so one thing that I was really like had put on myself at my last company was this need of like getting this like vice president title and like being the person, like being so needed. And so I overworked myself. I overcommitted myself, like I'm doing in my personal life currently. But you know, we're just redirecting energy elsewhere. Um, but that's good. It's for my kids. So it's more important than overcommitting and work. And I I was just taking on so many things. I had a huge team. I was trying to help them and grow them and fix them and manage them, but also protect them. So I was doing their work for them because that reflected well on me. And like I was so set, I think when I reflect back on like having like getting this position, this title, that meant something. But then when I left and I was making more money, having less responsibility because I like honestly, people managing is the hardest thing in the world. And I went into this new job and they were basically like, Hey, you are basically an individual contributor. You're not gonna be a team lead anymore. Like, are you okay with that? And I was like, in my inside, I was dying because like my ego was like, I am the person, like, I need to be the person I need to be, like, you know, whatever. But now, like being there just over a year, I had dinner the other night with my um former manager at my last company. She was in town, and so we grabbed dinner and she was asking how things were going. I was like, they're going great. I really love it there. Um, you know, I'm just so much more like relaxed and calm and comfortable. And like I just feel like I can be like it, I'm treating it the way a job should be treated, and like I'm behaving in a way that's healthy for me. Where at my last job I wasn't. And I think truly a lot of that was pressure I put on myself and just wanting to be the best. And so it's telling her I was like, Yeah, I just kind of like I show up, I do my job. I was nominated for uh senior director of the year across the whole division, and like I was like, yeah, it was really cool. I was like, I, you know, I just but it's you know, I focus on my work and I just kind of go home and it's it's it's like really nice. And I, you know, I guess I'm doing a good job, which is I'm happy I'm doing a good job. She's like, that must be like so refreshing, is just to like, you don't have to deal with the people and like the politics and like the people managing. And I was like, I on some level I miss like having people come to me and like look to me for advice and leadership and stuff like that. But I get that in other ways from other departments. It's not like they're they don't report to me and I I'm not responsible for them, but I can still like show leadership and show influence in a different way. And that's been a really nice like seasonal shift for me is being comfortable with that and being like, I you can call me whatever you want. Like you can give me whatever title you want, like as well as I as long as I'm compensated well and I am like mentally fulfilled and like I can physically be more present for my family and mentally be more present for my family, like I'm kind of good. And so I think that was a really nice, like kind of shift and adjustment I made that you don't have to like kill yourself to find fulfillment in your work. You're probably if you are, you're probably in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing. And I'm I'm glad that we're at that place now. So happy for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:38

Thank you. No, and I tell you this every single time you bring it up is like you are such a different person from when you were at that previous job and people managing and doing all the things and working 24-7 and traveling every single week.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:59

It's yeah, you're lighter, you're present, you're you're happy.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:08

You're happy. Not that you weren't happy before, but it's just like a weight lifted off your shoulders and it you could see it and feel it the second you left, which is good. So that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:22

I do want to say though, something that came up that when we were on break from filming, yeah, um, I was going to lunch with two new business partners. Um, they're in another department, they sit in another office, but we are gonna be like they're working on projects in the region I oversee. And so they offered, they wanted to take me out to lunch, get to know me, and it's like, love it, great. They are fantastic. Um, really great people. It was really lovely lunch. But like one of them started off by saying that he like he was like, Yeah, I I like listen, I listened to your pod, like I went on your social media, like, you know, just see get to see who you are and like get to know you before meeting you. And then immediately he said he listens to the pod, and I'm like, oh my god. No. I'm like, obviously it's a risk that people I work with are gonna I'm so embarrassing. Um, and I'm like, yeah, I'm sorry. I think I just said I'm sorry. Sorry for whatever I said or didn't whatever I said, and like this is why I intentionally not just because I'm doing it because I don't want to get in trouble, but I genuinely do love where I work, so I have nothing bad to say about it. But I'm very like respectful and protective of like where I work because I still have a job and I love my job and I want to keep my job. Um, but I do enjoy doing the podcast where we talk about work. But the story that he resonated most with, which I just needed, I totally forgot about this, is Ava's story about her dog, Mr. Hans, and his butt issues. I was like, if that's what you chucked from the pod, I can appreciate that. I can get on board with that. You know, we're just such versatile women.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:59

We talk about it all. We talk about it all, we put it all out there. There's nothing that we hide. I mean, there's some things that we keep close to ourselves, but you know, I'm gonna tell you about my dog's leaky asshole, and I'm gonna Katie's gonna share about her pulling her child out of her own vagina.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:23

And you're gonna we're gonna talk about sports too. Let's do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:30

Um I don't know if there's anything going on in the sports world, but before we do, um, let's just close out on this pivoting life, business seasons. Um but things that we can do is just letting go of perfection. I too used to try to strive for that. I feel like dance completely ruined me because you no one's perfect. Perfect, but in that world, you are. And you have to be. And so that's kind of how no, he went mute. Are you okay?

SPEAKER_00 1:28:10

Oh, the kids are just yelling. So I just want to, I'm listening. And I just want to do that. Something happened. Cut out extra audio. No, I'm listening. Oh, perfect. Can you close the door, please, baby? I'll be all right. I'll be done in like 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:23

Um, but letting go of perfection and um I feel like I've slowly started to let go of that, especially in the season of where I'm at in pregnancy. I I care, but I care less, which is nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:39

Yeah. And if you have another, you're gonna care a smidge of what you care right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:43

You're like, eh, perfect. Can't wait. Um redefining what success looks like. And so, like we spoke about the pivots that um have had to be made within business and within personal lives, and finding the success in those pivots, um, and giving yourself grace to. And yes, we can compare constantly to where we were a year ago, two years ago, but that's not gonna get us anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:15

So um success could look like different things. Success could be the fact that your doors are still open, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:21

Like doors are still open 11 years later.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:24

And that's really hard. Like every day I look at the numbers and I want to cry. And so I that's a number, like this is I can pray, it's temporary. Our doors are still open and a lot of people's aren't, and like that's sad. But then also for me, like reflecting back on my story at my corporate job, like my success was tied to like my title and like recognition and promotion and all this stuff. And now it's like personal fulfillment in my work, but also personal fulfillment, like in my life. And so those are two different factors or measures of success. And one's not better than the other, but it's meeting kind of your resetting your expectations for where you're at and the environment you're in.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:03

Absolutely. And then knowing when to push and knowing when to pause. Yeah. I think we're gonna pause now, but we're like, whatever. We've we've pushed, we've tried. We're pushing, but I'm about to take a big pause. And so this month is gonna be like a big push for me. Um, it's just me getting things set up in place so everyone feels like they're they're good for a few months.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:34

Oh, two months. Take as much time as you need, girl. Okay. See you next year. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:46

See ya. Um yeah. Any lesson you're learning currently right now, anything you're trying to let go of that you want to just share with the class and what yeah, to tie it all up.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:05

I think just what season you're looking forward to.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:09

I'm looking forward to a better one than we're in for the our studios now. I'm trying to appreciate the little wins when we find them, the good reviews that come in, the keep it coming, people. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:21

Yeah. We want to feel something.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:23

Give us a good fulfillment. Um, the reviews that come in, the classes that are full. Um finding those little moments that you know we can find validation and joy in, and trying to focus less on like I've this is a huge problem I have. I need to stop. But just like every day looking up every day's numbers and being like, okay, where are we at today? Where are we at today? Like, how are we tracking for the month? And like that's budgeting's important, knowing how to spend money and where to spend money and when to cut back is important. I don't know that I necessarily need to be doing it every single day. And so I think like cutting back on some of that might mentally help me. Um and yeah, just you know, same thing. Like my work comes in cycle. So today I was we're on a big deadline at work this week. Not really this week, the whole month, but I just I'm looking at my month ahead and it's a little bit crazy towards the end of the month. And I know I have some stuff I need to get done. And so today it was just like, you know what? I'm from like one to I was at work till almost 5:30 today, which was like unheard of. Um, I was like, I'm just sitting down and that's why I thumbs up you. I didn't have time to look at your message. And I was like, I'm just gonna pump out this stuff. And I got done what I wanted to get done, and I felt very accomplished. And now I can know that going in tomorrow, like what my priorities are, so I can stay on schedule for the deadlines we have this month. And there's months where it's really slow and you have more flexibility and you have more space, and you know, um, learning to w ride those waves and those seasons without letting like a single moment or day overwhelm you is really gonna be like such a game changer.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:07

Uh yeah. Good. Well said. Um, one lesson I'm learning right now is I guess having to slow down.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:26

Having and learning to slow down, um, letting go of needing to do it all. And then what I'm looking forward to in this next season is uh having more purpose. Um not only doing something because it's helping me financially or fulfilling me personally, it's also helping provide to another life, it's helping me grow as an individual to be something and be something better for another person outside of myself, outside of my husband, outside of my dogs, but something that's a little bit more meaningful, you know? So I feel like this is gonna be the best season of my life is motherhood. I'm gonna have more push and more drive to maybe let go of things that I don't need to be doing. It's not serving me financially, it's not serving me um just like time-wise, my quality time.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:33

Um and things that are going, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:37

I've I don't know. I do know I'm pretty good at what I do as far as as far as teaching goes, I do know that that I have a talent. I talent.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:50

I have a lot of you're very good at your other job too.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:54

Thank you. But I do have a specific skill set with teaching, and I want to see myself do more with that, and um, I don't know, see what else I can do. Bodies by Bidot. I don't know. Um, it's just a whole new chapter and season of life where I'm not just gonna do things to do them, they're gonna have more purpose, more meaning. Um, and yeah, it's for my family, but also for me at the same time. So I don't know. I have this vision of I'm in this role at X Plus for a reason. I love X Plus, I love production, I love everything there. But I I don't know. I'm made for the limelight, you know? She's meant to be famous.

unknown 1:35:46

That's gonna be a star.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:47

She's meant to be a star. She's a star. Honestly, I don't know what that looks like. I see, I need to be better. I say this all the time. I need to be better at social media, I need to be better at promoting myself. I don't know. But sometimes I feel silly doing it. But that's how you gotta do things these days. But I see videos and clips of other online instructors at other companies and other like really big uh fitness industries, and I think and see that and I go, man, I could do this, or like I sound so much better than this, or not saying that they're bad, but yeah, you know, there's something I've got something. So you do, you have a talent. I do, I do. Who would have thought this little speech impediment gal from the amount of times you put on lip gloss today? Girl, my lips, my mouth are drier than the motherfucking Sahara right now. I wake up in the middle of the night just like dying of thirst. Like I'm in the freaking movie holes and I'm stuck in a hole for I hate that movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:08

I hate it. I hated the book, I hate the movie, it's creepy.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:12

I don't like it. Fun factoid. One of my RAs when I um did one of the summer intensives in New York one year was in holes. Gosh, what was his name? His real name is Max, but his um In Holes, he was hold on, holes cast.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:31

I always could not tell you because I that movie is traumatizing. The book's traumatizing. I don't like it. Max Cash. What if Max?

SPEAKER_01 1:37:41

I don't know if you remember me.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:43

Um he was who did he play? Oh my gosh, I just had it. Um, he played Ricky. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:55

I don't know if I blocked that movie out of my brain. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:59

No idea who he had like crazy hair in the show. Yeah, yeah. This is really crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:09

Maybe this movie is why Shia LaBeouf went off the deep end. Like this was a triggering movie as a child.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:15

Um, anywho, yeah, the it was a triggering something about a lizard. Do you remember the lizards?

SPEAKER_00 1:38:23

They just build holes.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:25

They don't holes.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:27

I think they were in prison. It was like reform camp for kids. Yeah.

unknown 1:38:31

I think they were in prison.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:35

Uh one to escape. It's oh, it's terrible. One movie that slaps, best movie of all time. They could never remake it. Heavyweights. Oh, I hate that movie, Garrett. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:48

Why do you hate that movie? I don't know. That, um, The Sandlot, like any of those movies with a bunch of little boys. I swear I'm lesbian. I just don't like don't like them.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:01

Any movie that has little boys in it, we're not we're not about it. Well, that was all of the 90s because every single movie was about little boys. Um, there's one don't like them. Gosh, it's I see the cover in my head. They're playing soccer, and there's a goat. Um, there's a curly red-headed child.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:23

Already lost me.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:26

Someone is watching this. My brother's probably watching this and is screaming the movie at me because I think I brought it up the last time I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:34

A soccer, a goat, and a curly red-headed child. Yep. Those are your clues. The goat was the goalie.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:41

This is animated. No, it's a real life.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:45

Real life thing. But the curly the red-head curly kid was also in C and Law. I'm pretty sure that was the same guy.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:54

Soccer, goat, redhead, 90s. It was a Disney movie, I'm pretty sure. The Big Green. Yes!

SPEAKER_01 1:40:03

The Big Green. What a what a movie. I haven't seen it in years, but I do. Don't give me a misfit kid sport movie, okay? They're not my jam. That's not about it. I'm all about heavyweights though, Fat Camp. Sick.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:16

I mean, I like to go to Fat Camp now, and that would be fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:19

Tension campers. Lunch has been canceled due to the lack of hustle. Deal with that. Garrett says that all the time. I love it. The blob. Uh Lars. No, no, no, no, no. Terrible. It was the best movie of all time. We watched it all the time as kids growing up. It was still iconic.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:42

I was like Troop Beverly Hills, The Parent Trap. Like, these are my vibes. Yeah, same. I'm You're more versatile than I am apparently.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:51

Yeah, I'm not like other girls. No. And um, a quick sports recap. Whatever we were talking about last time with basketball in the Clippers, and they have the draft. I predicted right. Can't tell you who I predicted. The draft is over. They're a few weeks ago. These children were playing in Las Vegas on a summer league, um, getting their toes wet for the major leagues. But I predicted right in who the Clippers were going to choose, and they chose this person. I can't tell you who it was, what their name was. I know it starts with maybe a W in there. Wilson. Sure. No, it's some something crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:44

Something crazy. But LeBron. LeBron James. I do know he's no longer. Did he go to the Cleveland or the Miami?

SPEAKER_02 1:41:55

Philadelphia. Philadelphia. 76ers.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:59

That's right. Sounds about right. He was on Cleveland and Miami, and then he went to LA and now he's on Philadelphia. That's what it is. He's like just traveling about the U.S. He's just bopping around, beep bopping around. So he's no longer on the Lakers. My husband's a big Lakers fan, so I don't know how he feels about this, but I don't really care.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:24

Yeah. Um, that's all I know of what's going on in the sports world. There was a golf tournament.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:33

I forgot to I forgot to. Yeah, how did your team do? Well, the one I did the last time we filmed, I did not get last place, but I did not get first place. So at that point, I'm just a loser because you either want your money back or you want to win all the money. And then like a couple weeks later, there was another golf tournament. I don't know which one. But I forgot, I was too busy and I forgot to put in my picks. So Workwives and Real Lives did not participate.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:01

Darn.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:02

I think it was in Scotland or somewhere in the UK. And it was weirdly, the course was very brown. Of course, I had to watch it because I live with a man. And I just remember being like, this isn't Scotland. It's like so brown out. I don't the course was brown. Maybe they're having a heat wave. Maybe they're having Southern California weather. Who knows? Um, so no golf. I don't think. I mean, we watched Formula One. I don't remember who won the last race. This is really going well for a sports recap.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:37

Um, well, sports related. Um, some football news. One, they're going back into training.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:47

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:48

So I've seen some video clips of Mr. Travis Kelsey throwing around a ball. I've seen Mahomes try to throw a ball and hit someone in the head. Go Chiefs. Go, Chiefs. It's gonna be your ear. It's gonna be our ear. And other fun, exciting football news, Tony Romo was. I think he was a was he arrested?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:11

I don't know. He was. He got a DUI and he said something about how he was impressed with himself that he's lived this long, and this is his first DUI because he drives drunk all the time.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:21

So Tony Romo, fun factoid, not confirmed, but I think he's a long-lost cousin of ours. So my my mom's maiden name is Romo. And from Rhonda Romo?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:36

No, you are killing me right now. She went from Rhonda Romo to Rhonda Rosenfeld. Yeah. Like, what a queen. Queen. Yeah. She was made for this life.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:49

She truly was. And so um we're convinced because I'm pretty sure the town in Mexico that Tony Romo's family is from is the same town. He's Mexican? Yeah, it's a Mexican last name. Did you know I was Mexican? Well, I knew you were. I didn't know. It's a little Argentina. Um, yes. And if you put a photo, weirdly, he kind of looks like he can be one of my cousins. Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:20

Maybe because he's married to I just Google Tony Tomo. Tony Romo. Tony Tomo. Love his work. What is his is that his name? Tony Romo.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:30

Tony Romo.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:31

I mean, he's getting very I mean, I don't want to sound I want to get canceled, but he's getting very white.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:37

He's also married to Candace Crawford, and she's we have similar qualities. Um yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:53

That's weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:54

Just a fun fact that's not confirmed, but he's not fully Hispanic though.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:01

The last name Romo is Hispanic.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:04

I mean Romo heritage.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:06

We're gonna Google this. But yeah, the video of him um getting pulled over.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:13

Okay, so his dad is Mexican. Yes. And his mom is Polish German.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:20

And his grandfather emigrated from Musquis. And his mother's family traces back to Polish and German immigrants who settled in Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:39

Oh, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:41

His father is named Ramiro Romo Jr. Oh does Rhonda know a Ramiro?

SPEAKER_01 1:46:47

We'll have to check in with her.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:49

She should do 23andMe.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:51

Yes. I did 23andMe, and I'm waiting for a long-lost family member, relative.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:02

I don't want to know. I'm not gonna do it. I don't wanna know. At this point, there's no surprises. What if it came up and told you like your husband was like your second cousin?

SPEAKER_01 1:47:14

Going on a die.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:17

It's what would you do? Didn't that happen on Rhode Island, Housewives? Probably. Isn't Liz and her husband distantly cousins? But they didn't know until they were married for no idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:32

I'm pretty sure. That's wild. No. Mm-mm. Um well we would never have children again, and we'd just be playing genetic Russian roulette. See what happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:49

Yeah.

unknown 1:47:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:50

I think you're fine. Yeah, no, we're totally fine. We're not. You guys don't look alike at all. No, but you know, sometimes when couples start like weirdly looking like each other, some I think it's just our brown hair and but I really don't think you guys know what I think you're safe. The genetics and heritage I carry are completely opposite of the ones he carries, so yeah, no, you're fine. He's he's a wapble.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:25

I've I've met uh Margaret and no relation to Rhonda.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:31

No, no, or Robert. No. I haven't met his dad though, so maybe. My husband's dad? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:42

They are becoming one and the same. It's do they look alike? They do resemble each other. He's a good mix of both of them, but their mannerisms now are very similar and it's spooky. He's like turning into an old man.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:59

Yes. He does look a lot like his mom. He does meeting her. Yeah. She's a she's a fun one. I loved her. She's a cutie. Shout out, Marg. Shout out to Marg. Well. Alright. Let's wrap this sucker up because there's no reality TV of note on right now, and I can hear my friends screaming.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:22

I've been watching TV, House of Stasi.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:26

I'm I I don't like the formatting, but it's giving they're trying too hard to make like I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:39

I like that they are taking down the fourth wall and they talk about the show as they're filming the show, which is interesting. But I think they're trying to build plots and storylines, but it's not working out, and the biggest plot and storyline is stock. CMBO's marriage, which is just sad to see.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:03

So yeah, I uh it's interesting because I was so excited for that show to come out. I love Stasi. She's like one my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:13

I forever had never, I don't know what it was, but something about this show and watching it, I'm like, oh my gosh, what's Katie on the screen? You two could be like identical.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:26

Yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:28

Um obviously like two stunning human beings. But but no, just how we are, yeah. No, just like your physical features. I was like, literally, this is Katie.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:40

Okay. Well, thank you for the compliment because she's beautiful. No, she's stunning, and you're stunning. Thank you. Um, apparently I'm only a six, according to the guy on TikTok. But anyway, I was very excited for the show to come out because I love her. I'm a huge Dossie fan. For whatever reason, every time I go to put it on, I put on Law in Order SVU instead. So I still have not watched an episode, but I get in these things where I have to re-watch Law in Order SVU because it just fills my soul. And so I'm almost done with season two right now. I've rewatched all 20-something seasons like 5,000 times. Don't even ask me. It's embarrassing. But I just I need to I don't know. I don't know when I'm gonna get to it. It's just not I'm not in the mood for it at this current moment. So well, I love Stasi and I love her friend Taylor Strucker. But yeah, you and Kelst didn't give it like rave reviews either, so I think that's made me even more hesitant to put it on because I'm just like, I know what I'm getting out of SVU. I know I love it. And we're just gonna watch, you know, people get raped and murdered. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:46

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:47

We're gonna solve those crimes.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:48

Yeah, same with the five-star weekend. It was cute, it was good. I had it on in the background, and then it was a slow burn. I also watched the legally blonde L. I won't do it. That was so cute, highly recommended. Really?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:03

Because I tried to watch the Sex in the City like prequel show, and it was terrible. And so, like when she's in high school and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:12

And I just feel like no one can compete with Reese Witherspoon.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:15

So no one can, but this was really cute and well done, and there's nothing else on, so there's really nothing else on right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:23

It's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:24

So that's that. Anywho, that's a quick recap of items on TV.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:30

Well, there's our episode for you all today. We have a schedule in place at least until Eva gives birth. So we're hoping to get you guys a few more episodes. And yeah, like, comment, subscribe, tell a friend, tell a friend, we're here. We're here, baby. Serving up all your work wife goodness.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:48

Hell yeah. Coming at you with all the things, all the versatile things.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:54

And I will say our sweatshirts were not planned tonight. We both sat down in front of the camera and realized we were wearing the same one.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:00

So we're just so simpatico.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:03

Oh, we have one brain. Brian uh at corporate interchanges our names. So, you know, he doesn't know who he's talking to. We don't know who we're talking to. Ava Katie will answer to either.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:14

We'll answer it either. Yeah, here we are. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:19

Tootaloo.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:20

Tootaloo, everyone. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:22

Bye.