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What I Expected
Real conversations so you know what to expect. What I Expected is a podcast for women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s about what to really expect—before you experience it.
So much about life has changed since your grandmother's day, and the advice she passed down doesn't always fit the world you're actually living in. Think of this as that same wisdom, updated for modern life: your toolkit for the purchases, the changes, and the moments you wish someone had prepped you for. What to ask and what to plan for before you spend your money, your time, or your peace of mind.
Host Holly Bohn Pittman, a former CMO and CEO who knows marketing spin when she hears it, talks with experts and women who've been there. It's not a lecture. It's the advice you'd get from your closest girlfriends, minus 47 unread messages: honest, no-nonsense answers and zero pressure to keep up.
New episodes every Tuesday, from buying guides and first-time experiences to perimenopause, menopause, and the harder moments no one prepares you for. For women who'd rather hear it straight from a friend than find out the hard way.
What I Expected
Why I Started What I Expected, Part 2: How I Rate Brands & Products
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In Part 1, Kristie and I talked about how I went from starting See Jane Work to nearly losing everything during the financial crisis, moving into corporate America, becoming a CMO and CEO, and eventually deciding at 52 to take another leap of faith.
In Part 2, we get into why I started What I Expected.
After decades spent developing products and brands, working with major retailers, sitting inside marketing organizations, and watching people make buying decisions, I see shopping very differently than I did when I started.
And maybe more importantly, I think differently about expectations.
In this episode, we talk about:
- what marketing should actually do—and why I don’t believe its job is to convince you to buy something you don’t need
- the disconnect that can happen between product, marketing and sales teams
- explicit expectations versus the expectations created by price, positioning, environment and brand reputation
- why an expensive product isn’t automatically a better one
- why customer service and what happens after something goes wrong are part of the product experience
- how MISS / MEET / EXCEED evolved, and why a MISS doesn’t necessarily mean something is a bad product
- why I created the Goldilocks Guides for categories where there isn’t one universal “best”
- why I care so much about quality over quantity, and have since long before I had the budget to support the preference
- what happens when a brand you trust gets acquired or starts changing
- why I continue to follow products and brands even after I review them
- what it actually takes to earn an EXCEED from me
- and why reducing decision fatigue has become such a big goal for me at What I Expected
We also talk about something bigger than shopping.
By your 50s, you’ve lived long enough to know that life rarely turns out exactly the way you expected. You’ve also learned that there is a lot you cannot control.
But you can be more intentional about some things—particularly how you spend your time and how you spend your money.
That’s really what What I Expected is about.
I’m not here to tell you what you should buy or convince you that you need more stuff. I want to help you understand what you’re getting, what questions to ask, what the brand actually promised, and whether the reality lives up to it.
Hopefully that means fewer bad purchases, a little less decision fatigue, and more confidence walking into everything from a skincare aisle to a jewelry store to a Rolex boutique.
Because you have more important things to do.
What I Expected is about knowing what to expect before you buy it, try it, book it, or live through it. Some conversations are about the things we choose. Others are about the things we never expected to face.
More reviews, guides & recommendations: WhatIExpected.co
Shopping Links: Shop My or Amazon.
Have a topic you want me to unpack? Send it my way.
Intro: Why I'm answering the questions this time
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Welcome to What I Expected, the show that sets expectations before you buy. My website and social channels compare real-life experience to marketing promises. But think of this podcast as your decision-making toolkit. What to ask before you spend your money, or your time, which is your most precious profession. Think of it like advice from a close circle of girlfriends, minus the 47 unread messages. At what I expected, you'll find friendly standards, sensible expectations, and feel zero pressure to keep up. If you haven't listened to part one of this conversation, you absolutely can start here. But in part one, my friend Kristie and I talked, that's petite and powerful, you know her husband. She and I talked about how I went from the kid who read Encyclopedias for fun to starting See Jane Work, nearly losing everything during the financial crisis, moving into corporate America, becoming a CMO and CEO, and then deciding at 52 to take another leap of faith. Today we're getting into why all of that eventually became what I expected, because after decades spent developing products and brands, working with retailers, sitting inside marketing organizations, and watching people make buying decisions, I see shopping very differently than I did when I started. Kristie, how do you want to
What Good Marketing Should Actually Do
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)start?
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Well, I'd love you spent years in your career selling. In that, did you did any of that make you skeptical of marketing and how marketing works kind of behind the scenes of products?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I think it's like anything else. There's people with good intentions and bad intentions. I mean, I've certainly made mistakes. We're all human, right? So I've put not enough information on packaging or, you know, chosen material that didn't hold up very well. And so I think it's important the level set that there isn't, there aren't these deep underlying meetings going on where people are overtly choosing to put misinformation out there. I think in general, most people want to put the right information out there. So I think that's important to know is is that aspect of it. I also think it's important to know that marketing isn't to convince someone. Well, my perspective on marketing is it shouldn't be to convince someone to buy something they don't need. I don't like waste. So whether it's my own time and money or someone else's, I don't like it. I think that we have a throwaway society, and I don't love that. So good marketing identifies a problem, offers a solution, and accurately communicates what that solution or product or service, whatever it is, can and cannot do. So one of the biggest areas that I saw where there is a disconnect, it would be between the product and marketing teams. Marketing may package something they didn't fully understand because product the product teams developed it. And then you even have sales where they may sell a promise that they they don't fully understand, right? So the disconnect is when when teams are united around specific tasks rather than a purpose. So if everybody says we're solving this problem, because then that's gonna have marketing saying, okay, well, how is this product solving this problem? Or it's gonna have, you know, they're they're gonna be invested in the solution and not just their task. I need to sell, I need to create packaging and check this off my list. So I think the misinformation or overpromising, yes, there's some people that intentionally do it. You know, they just want to make a quick buck.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yeah. Do you think do you think that connection, because when I think about the packaging and sales and and marketing, it almost feels like for more mature companies because they can be very compartmentalized versus necessarily a small startup company where where to your point is they know the one mission, their one mission is to get this one product or one product line out successfully. Do you see a difference between kind of big corporate marketing versus niche, like smaller startup marketing?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I think you nailed it on the head. I mean, that is probably what a lot of big organizations deal with, and probably why there's a lot of turnover within marketing, because the expectations they have of what marketers can do, if you don't have people uniting these teams, cross-functional teams, you're gonna see that miss. I should be more understanding of it. If I see a big brand, I think, oh, you have all these resources and still you got it wrong. But I know it's actually sometimes harder when you're when you're in that role. But I think marketing, you have to think about it as not trying to close a deal or sales, you know, not trying to close a deal. You have to think about it as setting correct expectations.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yes, and connecting to the customer. And so a lot of times you see marketing ads, and you know, whether they explicitly say it or don't, like you get a certain expectation out of it. And there's certain industries like healthcare where there's lots of regulations and they do the five minutes of like, you know, disclaimers at the end of every marketing ad or commercial that they have. But in many products, most of products, you don't have that type of oversight. And so it's really easy to kind of sway the audience in a certain certain way on what they should expect. And like you said, sometimes that's a hit or miss. Um, so what do you think about how marketing does their explicit versus implicit expectations?
Explicit vs. Implicit Expectations
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Let me unpack that a little bit because there's a couple really important points that I think need to be made. Is first, in what I expected, I do try to give some backstory or details about why I'm writing something, because I do recognize that some terms are subjective. Clean beauty, for example. Or, you know, a shampoo. This is gonna make your hair shiny. What's shiny? You know, and and shiny to one person is is oily to another. Right, right. So it's there are some things that are hard just because they're subjective. But then explicit expectations is what the packaging tells you. If the packaging tells you, uh, you know, your your Apple Watch, for example, we all know one of the promises it's gonna track your steps. So you expect it to track your steps. Some of the other things haven't been played up as much, so you might not expect those. I think an implicit expectation, and this is because I'm looking at your Apple Watch right now, and I so it came to my mind, would be the positioning based on the price point. So for example, if I spend a lot of money on something, I'm gonna expect better quality, regardless of whether that brand told me to expect it. And I've had situations like a, you know, a luxury handbag, a Prada handbag that sort of fell apart and they were unwilling to do anything about it. And that had to hurt. Yeah, it was frustrating because you just assume if I spend, you know, a couple thousand dollars on a bag, it's gonna last. And that is not always the case. So I think the implicit is things like the environment or one other um explanation that I like to give is I tell people, okay, if you're on a road trip, you're starving, and you see a McDonald's, you may never eat McDonald's French fries at any other time in your life, but you pull over, you get McDonald's fries, and you're like, these are delicious. It's the best thing I've ever had.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)You gotta love McDonald's French fries every once in a while.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Yes, that's true, actually. But if you go to Capitol Grill and they serve you McDonald's French fries, you're not gonna be happy.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)True. You want truffle fries there.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)That's right. But nothing changed. So the actual fries didn't change. It's what you was implied by the surroundings, the experience, the price point, all of that. So I think price itself is a promise, and and that's why I try to differentiate between the two. You know, what am I expecting? Because the packaging told me to expect it, and what am I expecting because simply because of who the brand is. You see a celebrity brand and how much you think you're thinking, okay, well, if they make a hair product, my hair is gonna look like theirs. You know, you're just you just expect that. They didn't say it.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)You just forget they have all those beauty like assistants and agents and hairdressers and and everybody else doing their hair every day. Exactly. That's true. You're just like, oh, she's got beautiful hair, so I'll have it too.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)When
What MISS, MEET & EXCEED really mean
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I give something a miss, so a miss means that it it didn't meet the expectations. A meet, it meets the expectations, and then an exceed kind of wowed me. It did more than I expected. And a miss doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad product. It just might mean, I mean, like my Prada purse is super cute, very stylish. It's the style is still, it's like timeless. I think I've had it for 15 years. It doesn't mean I would buy another one and I still was disappointed in their service. And that may have changed, you know, this is this has been years, so I don't want to um unfairly judge them. But what I'm saying is at this price, I expected more.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)And so, you know, just before we move on from that, one of the things I find interesting is when companies today give like lifetime warranties or you know, guarantees or so forth on that kind of service aspect. And there's a few brands out there that are, you know, pretty well known for it. What do you think when you see things like that from a marketing perspective?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)There's two ways that I look at it. I first of all think every brand should stand behind their promises. Um, so I have been disappointed when I've purchased an expensive pair of jeans and the tab immediately broke off after one wear. And then I contacted the company and I had to go through this elaborate process of printing out a label and finding packaging and returning it to them, and then they repaired it and then sent it back to me. And so I think it's good that that company stood behind their product, that they were willing to repair it versus like that other experience I said where you didn't. I've had a to me suitcase and it's broken, and you you take it in and and they will they will repair it. Where I think we get into trouble is if it becomes a lot of trouble, my I'm at a stage in my life where my time is maybe more valuable than I'm gonna do.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yeah, it's just not worth the effort.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)It's not. So then you get to the point you think, okay, well, then why am I not just buying something off Amazon and I'll just throw it away when it breaks and then I'll get another one. So I think that those are all questions that we're asking ourselves is like when does it matter? So I think it's a fine line of somebody standing behind their product and the product predominantly not having issues. And also, if it does have an issue, how easy they make it to correct.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yeah. So let's shift a little bit. If you didn't hear part one, we talked a lot about Holly's background of starting a company and then moving into the corporate space. And last December, she made an intentional decision to kind of step away from her work and to focus on some health and some passion projects, as I would say. Um, so how did how did your break from corporate now lead you into an entirely new business?
Why I Created What I Expected
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I was not afraid to fail. So I had no idea if this would work. Like I said, it was it was another one of those situations where some of the data supports the concept that people do analyze what they're buying. I mean, we wouldn't have reviews if they didn't. And I don't think every decision is emotional. So it certainly seemed like something I could do more than adding more product to America, which we we just have so much of. I'm always gonna do something, right? Um, but I wasn't willing to keep killing myself. I mean, it was just really overworking, immense amount of hours, and I'd been doing that since I started CJ and work, and I felt like I'd missed so much of my kids' lives. And you just get to a point and you think it's just it's not worth it.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So well, you've never really had a break. You went from an entrepreneur, founder, owner of a company to then being a CMO of a humongous company, and then being a CEO of a very large company. So you haven't had small jobs, um, you know, ones that let you sit back and put your feet up. I mean, you've really gone out and been successful in so many areas and been a true leader in the industry. So now that you've taken this moment to kind of breathe, I think for the first time, maybe in 20, 30 years. Yes. Um I see your passion really coming out for products. So I guess as a consumer of so many products that's out there, and I love reading user reviews, but even today, I don't trust many of them. So even if you go on Amazon, you see a zillion reviews, and you can read through half of them, and you realize there's some AI bot that like wrote it, and now they have a verified purchaser, but then they're probably just an influencer pushing it. So you you still can't read through the noise to get to what actually matters. And so I really think the space you're you're entering into of like what I expected is really filling a marketing gap out there for consumers. I know I find it extremely valuable. Um, so tell me a little bit of how do you you have such a an amazing eye for quality and fashion and products and ingredients. I mean, you've at one point had, you know, a company that was helping with, you know, female hormones. You've like done it all. Um so tell me about how you kind of learned that throughout your journey. Like who was around you? Where did you live? Like what influenced you to really fine-tune those skills to really be able to help us today?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Well, we do joke in my family that I'm the mailman's daughter because I my taste is much higher than our budget was. And are you saying you're a little bougie? I'm a little bougie, but for no good reason. There were three daughters, right? So you can imagine a trip to the mall for school clothes would get out of control very quickly. Expensive. It very expensive.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)I have two, and they're very expensive.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So my parents just gave us a flat amount of cash and then took us there and we could do what we wanted. And I would come back with three nice things that were sort of timeless and, you know, really well-made, well-known brands. And my sisters would come back with, they'd go to the thrift stores and they'd, you know, find things on sale and they'd comb through the sale racks. And so they would have tons of things. So I've always been a quality over quantity type person. And that I I couldn't say that that came from that I was taught that, or it just is just who you are. It's just who I am. I would say also, as I started spending more time in Europe, you know, as I in my career and spent a lot of time there, noticing how other people live. Well, and I I guess even when I was younger and seeing doing some missionary work and seeing people without, you know, you just start to realize how much we have here and how little disregard we have for it. I mean, we just, it's so much throwaway, it's so much trash. So even when I was creating product, I really wanted to create products that had a purpose. So I would always think, is it functional and is it stylish? Like I didn't want one or the other. And I think, you know, I'm always looking at that when I'm evaluating products. So does it actually do something? Um, if it's closed, is it stylish and comfortable? And I'm always wanting that and that and that. And it's also why I'm doing what I expected versus creating more products because I didn't see a clear gap in the market. There, there are some product lines I'm thinking about, but uh nothing concrete at this time. I just wanted less decision fatigue.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yes. Which we all like with our our foggy brains in this era of our life, like we all need that. Is that why? Like, I feel maybe I'm just selfish because I'm in this bracket, but I do feel like your target audience is like that 30, 40, 50s and beyond kind of audience, not the younger kind of trendy, like, you know, reviews, but for people that want good quality, good value for their money and so forth, I feel like you're targeting that audience. Is that correct?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Yes, that's very correct. And I think it's because also at 50, like you know who you are. I know that this is who I am. And I I am have more of a classic style. I mean, I have a a twist to it. I have my, I like to show my personality and have a good laugh. And so there's certainly like I'll spend any amount of money on a practical joke as you.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Oh my gosh, she is the best on practical jokes. She has made me laugh so hard, I cannot even tell you. Like, it's incredible.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So there are some things I will spend money on that are not like glorious.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)I'm picturing your your one piece bathing suit that looks like a hairy man body.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)But there's just so much information coming at us right now. And I wanted one place that women like-minded could go. The other thing I think about and is I don't know, I mean, this certainly isn't the first time, but I think this is women have have a lot of buying power right now. They are choosing to not get married necessarily, and they're they're doing things, they're buying things for themselves that traditionally they may not have bought. So a diamond, for example. You know, I had a success and I went and bought myself a ring, or a woman might want to buy herself a fancy watch, or she's gonna buy her own purse. They're not relying on somebody else to give them it. They have the buying power to make those choices themselves. So I think some of those things, you're you're kind of saying, okay, I didn't have a lot growing up. I don't, nobody taught me about diamonds. You know, I don't have a jeweler. Like I, you know, my my first husband, his family had a had a jeweler. So when he was gonna buy my ring, well, you just go and talk to our jeweler that has worked with our family for years. Well, that wasn't a thing in my growing up years. So when I wanted to buy jewelry, it was a whole education thing. What am I buying? What stones are good for what? And there was a lot of information there, and I thought, surely I can't be the only one.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yes, it is difficult when you want to actually invest in a piece. You want to get what you expected. And I think, you know, your reviews help guide us in that right direction. So I guess one of the things that I think, you know, as as women, we do get torn in a lot of directions. We have so much information coming at us from our kids to our work to, you know, everything online. And so cutting through that noise is really, really hard. And you started your ratings as Miss Meets Exceeds, which I think is a great way to look at it. So tell me a little bit about how you created your Goldilocks method and um and kind of how you how you feel about doing those reviews.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I wanted to simplify the buying process, right? So Miss Meet and Exceed, very simple. But as I got into it, I realized that there was some of that subjective. There's a gray area. There is a gray area, unfortunately. And so I wanted to keep it. I thought, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna live and die by this. But also then I came up with the Goldilocks guides because I thought at different times in my life, what would have been a miss at one time would be a meet and a day. So, or or it might maybe they're all meats. They all do what they say they're gonna do. But, you know, a somebody with curly hair is gonna have very different needs than somebody with straight hair. So I think that's how that has evolved, where in some categories where I think it's less clear-cut, is it is it doing what it says it's gonna do, then we have the Goldilocks guides.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yeah, so for those that might not be aware, so within her her posts and so forth, she'll do the the miss, meets, and exceeds. But then Holly also creates these Goldilocks guides. So why don't we tell the audience a little bit about the Goldilocks guide? Because they might not have seen it yet. And they're really fabulous.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I think about Goldilocks, like this is too much, this is too little, oh, this is just right. But just right for Goldilocks wasn't necessarily, you know, it was it might have been different for the three bears. So I think that's kind of where that comes from. And it's just giving people enough information to say, all of these are brands that I. Trust. Really, that's what it comes down to, right? That's the whole thing of why you buy from brands because you're you think, I don't know how to trust who to trust. How do I edit this down? So if you know the brand, you know you can trust them. And even if you just think about it like certain stores you go to, you have certain expectations of Amazon, very different expectations of Nordstrom. So brands are important. They serve a purpose, they help us uh consolidate information. They help us make make some of that buying easier. I hate giving misses because I'm thinking about the person that created the products. And if you know, I know that I I didn't like if I had products that that weren't successful or that had some failure. And it's gonna happen. I mean, I created hundreds and hundreds of products, so of course there's gonna be some errors in there. Um, even recently, like I did the the goop shampoo, the shine bath, and I gave it a miss because of the price point. And I felt bad, like as if Gwyneth Paltro is gonna lose one second of sleep over what I say. She may. I don't think she cares. But my responsibility is to the audience. So I want it to be simple. I want it to be this miss meet exceed. But then I did end up adding in these Goldilocks guides because I think there is some subjectivity with some of these terms and where you're at in your life and what your own unique needs are. So there might be a lot of shampoos that are meets, but then and then then I pull in friends too, right? Because it might be somebody that has different hair than me and or different at a different life stage. So this might be fine for you at 30, but it not fine for you at 50.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So and I can attest to that. On our girls' trip, she was putting hair product in all of our different hair to see how it worked on the beach. And so she does do her due diligence, I will say.
How I Actually Evaluate a Product
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I'm I'm really looking at did the brand set the correct expectations? Did it deliver? And then obviously looking at the value of what you paid for it.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So would you say you're pretty hard to impress, though? I feel like you have a very high standard.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I do when it comes to product because I I think don't put junk out there. We don't need more junk. Yes. So yes, people can't agree more. I can find the good in just about anyone, but and and I don't know. It could be also because when you're making products for people, you're trying so hard to make something valuable. At least I was that you are you have to think critically of yourself and try to poke holes in it. So I was like that even with my own products. You know, something would come from a factory, or if I had repeated issues with one factory, and I'd say I'm not I'm not dealing with them anymore because you can't stand behind your product if it's right. So I I do think I understand mistakes happen, and I always give brands the benefit of the doubt. And sometimes how somebody handles a mistake speaks volumes about the brand. But yes, I I do expect a lot. I have been known to get annoyed with a brand, like I'm done with you, I am not buying anything from you, I have spent hundreds of dollars on you, and this is how you treat me. I'm taking my business elsewhere.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So
What Happens When Brands Change After Acquisition
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)this might derail a little bit, but I'm very curious in today's era, there's lots of really good brands, clean brands, healthy brands, that are selling off to big corporate companies. So, given your expertise, like how are you tracking the trend of are their ingredients changing? Is there effectiveness? Like, what advice would you have for the audience? Because I think this is a huge one that's impacting our world today. And I don't know if many people are aware, because you know, they keep the same brand, they keep the same marketing, but they could end up being almost a completely different product in the end.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Yeah, and and that is one of the reasons why I do go back, even if I've done a review, I do continue to follow it. And I see it kind of as my job to be aware of these and report on them. And I actually have an uncomfortable one to mention because I've always been a huge fan of laundress, but they sold to Unilever, and I had started to notice that my bottles were coming through, the scents were different, the packaging was a little bit different, it seemed like lesser quality, and I could compare a bottle I had before and then a bottle after. I was like, this is so much thinner. So you'll see little signs like that. And then you do the digging and you realize, oh, okay. And I think if we start holding these big companies more accountable, if if we do see that the the sales drop off, that they because really they're just continuing to sell based on a promise that they're not keeping anymore. Yes. It's very, very frustrating because you buy that brand because you trust it. Trust it. So I am always looking at that, and I I will come back and call it out if something changes.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Oh, that's fantastic. I think we all need someone keeping an eye on those things for us because they're happening very uh discreetly behind the scenes, and it's it's really hard to keep your finger on that pulse. So now that you've started what I expected, has it changed the way you personally shop and look at things?
How Reviewing Products Changed the Way I Shop
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I like to buy something once. This is just something simple like an ironing board, like even uh cleaning supplies, right? I don't I want less plastic. I want nice things that are just gonna last. So I'm buying it once and then I don't have to think about it again. But I will say my house is full of product right now because that doesn't really work for what I'm doing right now. I have to be testing all kinds of different brands.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)I do kind of love it because I get to test them too.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I'm you too. So I'm always going over to you, okay, what do you guys think of this? Do you think this, you know, did this work for you or did it work for me? So um so that there is some irony there, you know, that it it has changed it a little bit. It also has made me very careful about reading packaging and being very aware of the explicit expectations versus implicit. Like, did I did some did an influencer tell me that it would do something, or did the packaging tell me? Where did I get that information from? Because I can't really hold a brand accountable if if it wasn't if they weren't the ones that told me it would do that.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Good point.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I am very, very careful about that.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yes, and so I think, you know, I've I've seen the way you've operated, I see how you've tested products. Do you find it difficult to be wowed by products in today's day and age? And if so, like
What it Takes to Earn an EXCEED
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)if if you found a product recently that's wowed you, what is it and and why why did it exceed your expectations?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I think in general, right now it is hard because we have so many influencers and it's more interesting to watch somebody that has excitement behind them, right? So, of course, you're gonna watch someone that's excited and this is great, and this is the best thing I've ever had. And so you watch that and you think, okay, you know, and so it is really hard to be wowed right now. Uh, but I I was recently wowed, and I think it it is a celebrity brand. It's it's wise beauty. And I'm just a fan of Molly Sims in general. And what, but I was wowed by their extremely quenched. And I think then I made you try it even before it was on the market.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Well, I was like, what is on your skin? Your skin's glowing, you look amazing.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Yeah, so that was one where they gifted it to me. I didn't even buy it. I don't even know if I would have bought it. It wasn't like the packaging said it was gonna do all of these crazy things. And I put it on, and everybody's saying, What the heck is on your face? And I was so that one was a a wow for me. And I I couldn't tell you. I mean, it's been so long, but but that extremely quenched moisturizer has been a wow and quite unlike anything that to me that's in the market. So the it gave me this plump, glowy appearance. It it works with or without makeup. It it's you're just gonna have to like peel it out of my cold jet hands someday.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Well, I've already bought it, so I don't have to. But you know, it is interesting when you find a product that really wows you because you do have high expectations. Um, and so when I see you write in exceeds, I'm like, I should pay attention to this because this is probably something that's that's going to add value in my life if it's a product I need. So please keep doing those because, especially at my age and my busy lifestyle, I don't have the time to do it. So having someone I can trust really provide those great recommendations is it's just priceless. So I love it. I hope the audience goes out and checks it out if they haven't done so. Um but I do want to shift gears a little bit. So you're in your 50s now, and so your life has taken so many different paths, and part of me is so jealous of like the life you've lived because it's been so interesting and and you've learned so much, and you've had these really incredible life experiences, not all great, but a lot of them have been pretty remarkable. So, what
How Your Perspective Changes in Your 50s
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)you know, your life isn't exactly probably what you thought out it was gonna be in your 20s. So, what do you think of life today in your 50s? And and what do you love about it and and what has it really taught you through this amazing journey you've had?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)So I think it's a good time for what I'm doing because there's a couple different things. I've actually lived through it and seen not only is it gonna work for a month, but I know the effects of not using sunscreen. I experienced those firsthand. Callie girl. Right. But some of the things, you know, you see, like, okay, it wasn't just a question, like I literally tried that for 10 years, so I can really tell you honestly if it worked or not. But I think before your 50s, a lot of who you are comes external, right? You label yourself. I'm a mother, I'm a sister, I'm a wife, I'm an executive. And I think it shifts in your 50s. It's you're it's not really a role anymore. You see yourself differently. You see yourself as this unique individual that God created for a purpose. And and the whole point is stepping into that purpose. So I think you're less concerned with external definitions, titles. Um, I'm still figuring it out, but but I think that at this stage in my life, I can offer better advice to somebody in their 30s, 40s, or 50s than I could when I was actually in that stage.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So all of us kind of go through our difficult periods. We'll have some kind of you know, difficult situation we're in that we didn't expect or we didn't plan for. And you've been through a few of those. Um, but it seems like you've used all of those lessons to really advance who you are and how you live today. So are you grateful for those experiences?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)100%. And I and I, if I heard somebody else saying that, I would think it sounded fake, but I am absolutely uh appreciate everything I've been through. And one of the ways you can think about it is just even when we're looking at our kids, think about our toddlers and how much stuff they fight. They fight getting their seatbelt on, they fight, you know, getting their shoes on, but we know that it's better for them. So some stuff we go through makes us better people or protects us from something we thought we wanted, but we really weren't supposed to have. Uh you know, God's plan is different from our plan. And and when I was younger, I thought that I could control everything. And now I realize there's so much I can't control. And I think again, that ties back into what I expected is that what I can control, like how I spend my time and how I spend my money, I I want to do it wisely.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Oh, I love that. So if somebody's, you know, going to what I expected or reading the Goldilocks guides, which I just love, what do you hope that they walk away with?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Realistic expectations. I hope that I made their life easier so that I took a lot of information out there and kind of said, here's a couple areas you can look at. Here's sort of the things I thought about when I was trying to make these buying decisions. And and I think also just being really honest. You know, you're looking at someone's face. Do they have Botox? Do they not have Botox? Do they, you know, and and this is a place where I want us to have those honest conversations. And yes, I have had Botox. I started getting Botox probably in my early 40s. And, you know, but I want to be honest about that. I just happen to have really oily skin, so I didn't need it. Um, but life doesn't turn out how we expect it. So, you know, having that control over how we spend our time. And it I also want women to feel empowered. You know, if you're at a point where you've made it in your career and you want to go buy the fancy watch, you shouldn't feel intimidated walking into that Rolex store.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yes, which sometimes, if you haven't done it in the past, you do feel like I don't belong here. Like this isn't my place. Right.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Or there's just all this mystery around the Birkins and how are you gonna get a Birkin, and which we'll cover in another one. But um, ultimately, I just want women to feel confident in making decisions and to take away some of that decision fatigue that we're faced with really on a daily basis. You have more important things to worry about. I'm not solving the problems of the world. I'm not telling you how to deal with teenagers because Lord knows I haven't figured that out. I didn't figure that out.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Yeah, if you figure that out, I need a Goldilocks guide.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)Um but I'm reading the labels, I'm, you know, following the brands, and so I'm kind of I am telling you, you know, these are people that that I trust, and and this is how I think about it as a woman, you know, in my 30s, 40s, or 50s.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)So this might be slightly off topic, but I do know that you have been extremely diligent, particularly around food and what you put into your body, not just what we put on our body through all of you know the skincare and so forth. And so I know
What is Next for What I Expected
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)you've started to look at some of like the protein coffees and collagen things, but like you have shown me better ways of eating and what I should look for and and products and so forth. So in the future, do you ever think you'll go into reviewing kind of, you know, what pasta should we eat, like the pasta from Italy or you know, other places? I'm I guess I'm trying to nudge you down that path to help me more.
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I think I will. I think I'll also get more into you know hotels and travel and just when we go on our girls' trips. And it's like we don't want to waste our time. It's not even just money, it's time. So I think anything kind of eliminating that decision fatigue and kind of um a place where you can go as like a trusted advisor. You know, like my my dad turns to consumer reports if he's gonna buy a car and he's looking at that. And and I, you know, I kind of think of it, but kind of different types of decisions, but I want it to be a place on social where you can trust.
Petite & Powerful (Kristie)Well, I will encourage you to go, especially into travel, because then I can go with you and we can I can be a an a guinea pig in the process, which would make me really happy. Um, and you know, anything from this very complex food network that we're living in today. But where you're at right now is really helping, you know, the the audience cut through the noise, see where to go, and really have a trusted guide. Because I do know you put a lot of effort into really evaluating and assessing if a brand's really worth the value. Um, so I encourage you to keep doing that. And I guess what do you have to say to your audience and and what do you hope, what do you want to hear from them? And uh what do you want them to hear from you?
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I want to hear more from people and their different experiences because it's impossible for me to test everything. So I do like having that information. It's not too much. I've also had people reach out and say, Hey, you know, somebody specifically said, can you find me a retinal body lotion? And so I did that. And that the engaging with people is really half the fun. So if you message me, I will message you back.
Closing
Holly Bohn Pittman (Host)I want to say a huge thank you, Kristie, for turning the tables and asking me the questions this time. You have a really interesting history. So one of these times we gotta get you in here and I get to ask you a lot of questions. A huge thank you to that.
