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Living Life at a Ten

Kristen Gale · ontario

Kristen Gale

Episode

Kristen Gale is the spirited force and founder behind THE TEN SPOT®️ beauty bars’ rise from a singular Toronto...

Key takeaways

  • Naivety and optimism can be powerful assets in entrepreneurship because knowing all the challenges ahead might prevent you from taking action, while passion and excitement fuel you through the hard work.
  • Everything that happens, good or bad, is either a win or a learning opportunity that prepares you for future success, so maintaining this perspective keeps you out of victim mentality and in control.
  • You can only control your own thoughts, feelings, and actions—everything else is influenced but not controlled—so focus your energy on what you can actually change.
  • Building confidence in others through your business creates a ripple effect where confident people go on to do great things with their lives.
  • Being the CEO of your life means taking ultimate ownership and accountability for your existence by creating purpose, core values, and strategic plans just like you would for a successful business.

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_02: Hi, this is Celine Williams hosting for Montereo for Canada's podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_02: My guest today is Kristen Gale, the spirited force CEO and founder behind the 10 spot,
[00:15] SPEAKER_02: Beauty Bars, and internationally acclaimed franchise chain with 45 and growing, bustling bars
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: across Canada and the US, which she started when she was just 24 years old, which, you
[00:27] SPEAKER_02: know, from a look that Kristen was about three years ago.
[00:29] SPEAKER_02: So congratulations.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
[00:32] SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
[00:32] SPEAKER_02: No, it was a mile ago.
[00:34] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[00:34] SPEAKER_00: I went on 20 years.
[00:37] SPEAKER_02: Well, welcome to the show.
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:40] SPEAKER_00: I'm delighted to be here.
[00:42] SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to chat with you.
[00:43] SPEAKER_02: I love when I get to speak to women who have founded something that is that has grown
[00:51] SPEAKER_02: that much because we don't get to highlight that many women who are doing that despite
[00:56] SPEAKER_02: them being out there in the world.
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're not good about promoting ourselves.
[01:00] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, with that in mind, I'm going to ask how you, what was your journey to getting
[01:06] SPEAKER_02: to and, you know, recognizing that you started this when you were 24, but what was the
[01:11] SPEAKER_02: journey to getting to the point or the decision to getting to the point where you were like,
[01:14] SPEAKER_02: think I'm going to start this beauty brand.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this, yeah.
[01:20] SPEAKER_00: So it's actually because I had been fired for the second time.
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: So only being 24 and I think I had maybe like three or four jobs.
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: So two out of a three, one of the firings was actually an unpaid internship.
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: So I knew that at that point, I was like, this, I am not meant for the corporate world.
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: And I, to be, to be very honest, I, my dad was an entrepreneur.
[01:48] SPEAKER_00: And so growing up, he had always said, you need to be an entrepreneur.
[01:52] SPEAKER_00: It's the, it's the best way to sort of have that autonomy over your life and sort of
[01:58] SPEAKER_00: that untapped earning potential.
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: And, and so like whatever you do in life, like find something that you love and then turn
[02:06] SPEAKER_00: it into a business.
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: And so I didn't, you know, I, I sort of knew in my mind that I would always have, have
[02:12] SPEAKER_00: a company, but I didn't know what to do when I was, you know, flailing around in my
[02:16] SPEAKER_00: 20s, you know, going from internships to, to different jobs.
[02:21] SPEAKER_00: And so when that happened, I kind of realized I can either go and try to find another job.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: And then I'm probably not going to like, you know, having, having all that control over,
[02:34] SPEAKER_00: you know, when you're going to eat your lunch, when you're going to, you know, be at work,
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: those sort of things that happened during, you know, the work day where it's like, oh,
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: you should, even though you finished all your work, you should, you know, stay later,
[02:44] SPEAKER_00: because that's the, you know, the culture at the time is to, you know, go home at seven.
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: I was like, I can't do this.
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: I'm not into it.
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, well, I can either go do that or I can try to figure out what my
[02:59] SPEAKER_00: great business idea would be.
[03:01] SPEAKER_00: Try that.
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: And if I fail, the worst case scenario is I'm going to have to go get a job.
[03:10] SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, why would I, why would I choose my like worst case scenario right now and just go look for another job
[03:17] SPEAKER_00: versus going for my plan A, seeing if I can, you know, think of a great idea and pull it together and make it work.
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I did.
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: I got fired on the Friday.
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: And so I asked my buddy Craig if he would go brainstorm super awesome business ideas with me on the weekend.
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: So that Sunday we met for a slice of pie and a coffee and a little brainstorm sash in the evening.
[03:45] SPEAKER_00: And he had suggested that we go to this place called tequila book room and it was on Queen Street West.
[03:50] SPEAKER_00: I remember it.
[03:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[03:51] SPEAKER_00: Remember this terrible cafe.
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: So I was new to Toronto.
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: I'm from Winnipeg originally and had bounced around a bunch of different places.
[04:00] SPEAKER_00: Finally ended up in Toronto.
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: And I had never really gone down Queen Street before.
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: And I ended up going down there.
[04:08] SPEAKER_00: And as I was like riding my bike down the street, I realized that this was the most adorable little street I'd ever seen.
[04:14] SPEAKER_00: It was now like, you know, 19 years ago.
[04:18] SPEAKER_00: And so it wasn't what it became or what it is today.
[04:21] SPEAKER_00: So there was sort of like, it was like, it was up and coming and you could tell, but there were these little businesses, not even little businesses.
[04:29] SPEAKER_00: Like there were businesses on the street that were cool.
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: And so like the jury could just open on one end.
[04:37] SPEAKER_00: Then there was tequila book room, which was this adorable little cafe on the other.
[04:40] SPEAKER_00: There was a Japanese paper place.
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: There was Chahofsky's this cute little bar.
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: And you could see that there was promise to the to the neighborhood.
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: And it seemed like it was, you know, that it was very up and coming.
[04:51] SPEAKER_00: So I walked in to the cafe and I was like, Craig, I know what I'm going to do for my business.
[04:57] SPEAKER_00: Idea, I'm going to have a little shop on Queen Street.
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't know what I'm going to put in it.
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: So that's what we can use our time tonight to bring to brainstorm.
[05:08] SPEAKER_00: And so that was for me, I just, I realized that in terms of, you know, the world of business, I would like to focus on having a little storefront.
[05:15] SPEAKER_00: I was like, what am I going to put in my little adorable store on Queen Street?
[05:20] SPEAKER_00: And during the time in between Winnipeg and Toronto, I had lived in New York City for about a year.
[05:27] SPEAKER_00: And when I was there, I lived above a nail bar.
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: And because I lived above it, I saw it in the morning and it was busy.
[05:34] SPEAKER_00: And then the afternoon, it was busy.
[05:35] SPEAKER_00: And then the evening it was busy.
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what if I did that?
[05:39] SPEAKER_00: But just not disgusting.
[05:42] SPEAKER_00: Because the one that I lived above was like really gross.
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: I think it even had carpeting on the floor.
[05:48] SPEAKER_00: Carpening and calisheaving and toenail clippings is nasty.
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: So I thought, what if I did it really adorable in my adorable little store?
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: And I made it more of this social spa experience.
[05:59] SPEAKER_00: So having like long tables where you could sit with your gal pal
[06:03] SPEAKER_00: or you know, a pedicure bank hat,
[06:04] SPEAKER_00: where instead of on your individual chairs or individual rooms,
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: you actually sort of sat on this bank hat style seating.
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: And it's also I think because I was 24 at the time,
[06:14] SPEAKER_00: I was looking for other things to do with girlfriends.
[06:18] SPEAKER_00: At the time, it was sort of like you could go for brunch, you could go out to the bar,
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: you could go shopping.
[06:24] SPEAKER_00: And that was sort of the limit of what there was.
[06:28] SPEAKER_00: Now it's pickleball and there's, you know, you can do a whole bunch of other activities and things.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: But like back in the day, you know, almost 20 years ago,
[06:35] SPEAKER_00: those I felt like those were my options.
[06:37] SPEAKER_00: And I thought, what if I could make this experience something that was like an and thing?
[06:42] SPEAKER_00: Like something you could do with your gal pal as something social and fun that's not just,
[06:47] SPEAKER_00: you know, eating and drinking or shopping.
[06:51] SPEAKER_00: So I got super hopped up like I tend to do and get and rode my little bike home.
[06:59] SPEAKER_00: And I was like, started to write a business plan.
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: This is not the first business plan I had, I had written, I had kind of had like ideas
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: because knowing, you know, eventually I'll be an entrepreneur one day,
[07:08] SPEAKER_00: sort of had all these ideas.
[07:10] SPEAKER_00: But this one I got serious, so I downloaded the template,
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: business plan template from a banking website and then build it out.
[07:20] SPEAKER_00: And realized that I needed money.
[07:22] SPEAKER_00: So that was the point of writing at the business plan.
[07:24] SPEAKER_00: And so then the next wrote it to like six in the morning was just like super excited.
[07:29] SPEAKER_00: By this time I had also been a graphic designer.
[07:31] SPEAKER_00: So that's what I was working in and I had gotten.
[07:34] SPEAKER_00: I went to university, but then I also went to the international Academy of Design and Technology.
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: If you remember that back in the day and did a degree in graphic design.
[07:42] SPEAKER_00: So I was very excited to be doing my branding and like I,
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: so that night in addition to writing at the business plan, I did the service menu mockups
[07:52] SPEAKER_00: and I registered my URL and made a logo and actually the logo that we used for a long time
[07:59] SPEAKER_00: was the logo that I made up that one night.
[08:02] SPEAKER_00: Finally crashed, went to bed.
[08:04] SPEAKER_00: Next day, you know, took my, took my thing to the bank.
[08:07] SPEAKER_00: I think even, that was a Monday, I think it was even the Tuesday that I like to get to bank.
[08:11] SPEAKER_00: Remember banks were closed on Mondays for a while.
[08:15] SPEAKER_00: And so then took it to the bank and then
[08:19] SPEAKER_00: went walking down Green Street.
[08:21] SPEAKER_00: And so I walked the first day, I kind of walked up and down and was like,
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: what should be my cute storefront?
[08:27] SPEAKER_00: And I would go in and out of all the stores and just I didn't realize you needed a real estate agent.
[08:32] SPEAKER_00: That was not, didn't understand that that's something that real estate agents did.
[08:36] SPEAKER_00: I just thought you'd see a, you know, for sale, you know, one of those home depot for, for lease signs in the window.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: And so I just went up and down the street and going into all the different businesses and being like,
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: I got this great idea for this nail bar and I'm super excited.
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: Like do you know of, you know, any locations that are up for lease?
[08:54] SPEAKER_00: Are you maybe going out of business and like I could take over your lease?
[08:59] SPEAKER_00: And got a lot of notes, got a lot of, you know, sassy snapbacks.
[09:04] SPEAKER_00: So like, I'm not going out of business and like, who are you?
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: But eventually I did run into a woman that said that she knew of a place that was, you know,
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: moving and that her landlords were the same.
[09:15] SPEAKER_00: So anyway, ended up finding, finding that place.
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: So by the Wednesday, I had signed a lease for five year lease.
[09:25] SPEAKER_00: Realize now how bad of an idea that maybe could have gone because I hadn't gotten the financing
[09:33] SPEAKER_00: yet from the bank.
[09:34] SPEAKER_00: And so I signed this five year lease with no money to really back it up yet.
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: I ended up getting the, getting the loan.
[09:42] SPEAKER_00: It all worked out well.
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: I use the Canadian business loan.
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: I forget what it's called, but it's the one that's set up for bricks and mortar entrepreneurship.
[09:52] SPEAKER_00: And then a couple of months later we were open.
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: And so it was a very, you know, everything just led to the next thing.
[09:59] SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how to open a business, but in my mind, I think very linearly.
[10:04] SPEAKER_00: So it's like, well, first I need money.
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: Okay, how do I get money?
[10:09] SPEAKER_00: I write a business plan.
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: All right, so I did that and then I took it to bank.
[10:12] SPEAKER_00: Great.
[10:13] SPEAKER_00: And I need a space.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: Let's go try to find a space.
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: Great.
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: Secured that done.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: Now I need to build up the space.
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: Okay, need to find a contractor.
[10:20] SPEAKER_00: Who do I call?
[10:22] SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, it just, it happened very, very quickly.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: And then we opened and it got super popular very fast.
[10:32] SPEAKER_00: I think it was a combination of being at the right place, right time.
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: So that, you know, Queen Street was super cool.
[10:40] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, people wanted to be down there.
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: And there was other stuff that pulled people in there.
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: And then we did a lot of things.
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: It was a different concept.
[10:47] SPEAKER_00: So it was this, you know, high-end meat slow end in the middle niche kind of thing of being
[10:53] SPEAKER_00: more of a beauty bar and being more of an anti-spot social experience.
[10:57] SPEAKER_00: We played like loud music and played movies.
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: And for a while, we offered free alcohol, which I didn't know you weren't allowed to do.
[11:05] SPEAKER_00: So they did a sting operation on me and like, eventually.
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: And just got a lot of popularity.
[11:12] SPEAKER_00: And so we became this very destination spot for people.
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: In the city that wanted to have their monthly maintenance services done in a cute
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: vib place with their girlfriends.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, that was how that first location got started.
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: Join our thriving community of like-minded individuals who share a passion for success and innovation.
[11:34] SPEAKER_01: Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[11:38] SPEAKER_02: I love that. And there's so much passion and just making it happen right at the beginning.
[11:47] SPEAKER_02: Right. Yeah.
[11:48] SPEAKER_02: So I think that's very cool.
[11:50] SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious if so you mentioned, you know, that looking back on signing a lease before you
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: had fun. Like there's things that maybe were not the best if you look back on it.
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
[12:02] SPEAKER_02: But it did it. It did work out.
[12:04] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a wonderful thing.
[12:05] SPEAKER_02: And I'm also curious when you look back on and not only that, but also because you
[12:11] SPEAKER_02: have expanded so much, right?
[12:13] SPEAKER_02: Like you have so many locations now.
[12:16] SPEAKER_02: What would you not do?
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: Like what would you do differently?
[12:21] SPEAKER_02: And what would you do the same?
[12:22] SPEAKER_02: And I asked that because so many entrepreneurs listened to this.
[12:25] SPEAKER_02: It's an easy way for them to think about it in their own context.
[12:30] SPEAKER_02: Right.
[12:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's obvious things like I, you know, it is dangerous to sign a lease without having
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: money and you can get into hot, you can get into hot water.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Certainly, especially at one point I even bought a business, like a bought a building and
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: I didn't understand exactly how it works and like that ended up not going well.
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: So there's things like that that I think anything that has real consequences is something that I
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: wish that I had more knowledge on in the beginning.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: But I actually am so glad that I was so naive and that I'm still so naive when I go into things.
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: Because I think that if I actually knew all that I know at the end of an experience,
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't do it.
[13:18] SPEAKER_00: I just like it would be to know how much energy and effort and blood, sweat, and tears,
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: everything that I've ever done has been.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: I probably would have just been like, no, let's save that.
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: Let's let's not let's not go through that.
[13:35] SPEAKER_00: But when you go into something just being excited and I can do this and I'm going to figure it out
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: and it'll work out, it does. But you don't notice how much hard work it is because you are fueled
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: by that passion and by that excitement.
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: And so I'm actually thankful that I tend to look at things as like this is easy.
[13:56] SPEAKER_00: How hard could this be?
[13:58] SPEAKER_00: Let's just like, you know, rent a space and get a thing and do this or, you know,
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: let's expand into the states.
[14:02] SPEAKER_00: Easy, you know, how hard could that be?
[14:04] SPEAKER_00: We already have like a franchise system and, you know, now you just get a legal document made
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: for the US and like, yeah, we're good.
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, it's not that at all.
[14:13] SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, there's so much more that goes into every sort of level of growth and expansion
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: that we've done. But I'm just, I am thankful that I think everything's going to be easier than it is.
[14:25] SPEAKER_00: I think it's going to be less time than it is.
[14:27] SPEAKER_00: I think it's going to take less money than it does.
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: But that actually, I think, helps me to just to actually do it and to action things.
[14:36] SPEAKER_00: And not get stuck in that phase of, of,
[14:42] SPEAKER_00: immobility and not doing something or stuck in the phase of just, you know,
[14:45] SPEAKER_00: doing things too slowly where you, where you miss the mark.
[14:49] SPEAKER_02: Well, that overthinking time is real, right?
[14:53] SPEAKER_02: A lot of people get stuck in that.
[14:54] SPEAKER_02: And I think it's, it's a testament to the importance of optimism.
[14:59] SPEAKER_02: Right? Which is,
[15:02] SPEAKER_02: having that hope and whether it comes from naivete or whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
[15:08] SPEAKER_02: Having the hope that things are going to work out and taking the steps forward and
[15:12] SPEAKER_02: possibly being grounded in enough reality that you're not caught completely unaware.
[15:20] SPEAKER_02: And there's always moments where that's going to happen.
[15:22] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's really the benefit, the upside of optimism, right?
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: Exactly. And I think it's like the optimism and the perspective where you can,
[15:32] SPEAKER_00: you can just choose what perspective you want to take. Things that happened that were,
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: that didn't work out because there's a whole world of, of stuff you don't know, you don't know.
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no way I could have been prepared. There's ways I could have been prepared for some
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: things. But there's also some things that have happened where like, there's no way that unless I
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: walk through that door that I would have known that this is what's on the other side of it.
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: But then to see those things as actually, like, those learning lessons, like in my mind,
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: you are either winning and things are going great or you're learning. And in that case,
[16:07] SPEAKER_00: it's also a win because it just prepares you for something else down the road. It makes you
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: smarter. It makes you fat better. It makes you, you know, whatever, whatever the learning lesson is.
[16:17] SPEAKER_00: If you can see it that way. And again, it's just perspective. Is this a bad thing that's going to
[16:25] SPEAKER_00: help me in the future to be better, to be smarter, to do things differently?
[16:32] SPEAKER_02: It's such an important mindset and shift for people to be able to do is, is that,
[16:39] SPEAKER_02: and I'm with you, like, you know, the work that I do not podcasting is very much about.
[16:44] SPEAKER_02: There's a big aspect of it that is mindset and shifting perspectives. And so a lot of times,
[16:48] SPEAKER_02: it is like, what is the lesson here and what are we learning and how do you not get stuck in the
[16:53] SPEAKER_02: thing going wrong? Because we are, like, our brains are wired to get stuck in it. So to be able to
[16:59] SPEAKER_02: vary kind of naturally go, this is, this is the lesson. I am in the lesson. What can I do with it?
[17:08] SPEAKER_02: I think that's a gift. And yes, it also shows, you know, the truth is that like, you are successful
[17:15] SPEAKER_02: because you are able to do that. And it's a wonderful testament to it. Yeah. Yeah. By the way,
[17:21] SPEAKER_02: that's not the only reason you're successful. That's not my, but that's a piece of it.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: I do think that it, that is the base of it, is to be able to program your brain into thinking,
[17:34] SPEAKER_00: and this is my, my, my, bull on thing. And it's like, everything happens for reason. And not
[17:40] SPEAKER_00: from the perspective of like, oh, the universe in wooie, like, I'm not as well. But if I think it's
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: very logical, because if you think that everything is happening for beneficial reason, you will then
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: ses out. Why did this happen? Like, what can I take from this experience that didn't go the way
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: that I thought it was going to go or that I wanted it to go, but believe that it happened for
[18:03] SPEAKER_00: reasons so that I can find out like, for oh, through, and be like, what was the lesson that I can
[18:08] SPEAKER_00: take and learn that makes it beneficial for me. And then in addition to, to being able to have that
[18:14] SPEAKER_00: perspective of like, this happened for reason, so figure out the reason. And it's also the opposite
[18:21] SPEAKER_00: is your, it leaves you in that victim mentality. So like, instead of believing that like, this
[18:26] SPEAKER_00: happened for a reason, and I just need to find out why, or, and it'll be revealed later, who, like,
[18:31] SPEAKER_00: who knows, who knows when I'll figure out why this happened. But I will find out later, because
[18:36] SPEAKER_00: I know that it, that it is for a reason. If you don't take that perspective, then, then it's just
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: like this happening, and it's awful, and it leaves you in this victim mentality. And that is the
[18:47] SPEAKER_00: worst mentality, because it leaves you absolutely powerless. It leaves you like stripped of, of your,
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: you know, power and, and in this like zone of like, things happen to me, and this is awful,
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: and I have no control. To me, it's about the, that control piece is actually what gives you
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: confidence, and the control of, I'm going to find the reason why this happened, and figure out
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: why it's beneficial. Just know that it is. I feel more powerful. I feel like I have more control
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: over this situation, because at least I can do the digging and figure out what, what, I'm in this
[19:21] SPEAKER_00: moment right now. What do I have to figure out? Like, how do I, how do I make this beneficial for me?
[19:27] SPEAKER_00: How can I get out of this? What information do I need? What more can I learn? That to me is sort of
[19:33] SPEAKER_00: exactly to your point. I think that that is why I have been successful, because I can, I can see
[19:39] SPEAKER_00: things as I don't know why this happened. I don't like it. But I know that it's for a reason, and I'll
[19:47] SPEAKER_00: find out later what it is. And now all I can do is whatever I can do to gain back some control in
[19:53] SPEAKER_02: this situation. Well, and knowing what you can and can't control is such a big piece of that,
[19:58] SPEAKER_02: right? Like so often. Yeah. We're trying to control the things that are out of our control.
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah. And you're so focused on that. Yes. Yes. Yes. PS, you can control nothing except for you.
[20:09] SPEAKER_00: What you think, what you feel in your actions, everything else is is random chaos.
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: That is absolutely out of your control. And you can influence things for sure with your thinking,
[20:21] SPEAKER_00: with your, with your feelings, with your actions. But the ultimate outcome is like totally not up to you,
[20:27] SPEAKER_00: which I actually also enjoy. I love that. Because it just means to me that, well, I have no idea why
[20:34] SPEAKER_00: this happened, but I know it's for a beneficial reason. And it's kind of out of my hands. I can only do
[20:39] SPEAKER_00: what I can do. But I, but I trust that it's going to be for a beneficial reason for me. Yeah.
[20:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Mine, mine games and mine programming, but like in the best way. Yeah.
[20:51] SPEAKER_01: Stay ahead of the game with our expert tips and strategies that will help your business thrive
[20:55] SPEAKER_01: in a digital era. Canada's podcast.com subscribe now. I'm curious. What's, you know, beyond
[21:06] SPEAKER_00: expanding further, right? Yeah. The growing part of this. What? Yes. Like taking over the world.
[21:11] SPEAKER_00: The beauty world, not in a, not in a weird way, just like in a great beauty way. Yeah.
[21:15] SPEAKER_02: That's a wonderful thing. What else are like, what's next for you otherwise? Or what's next for
[21:22] SPEAKER_02: the 10 spot? Like what else do you have coming up? So, yeah. So my whole thing, like every single
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: thing that I do in life is to just love my life. I think that the fact that I got the lotto ticket
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: to be on planet earth and get to experience this, you know, life is like my job is to actually just
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: like live the best version of the life that I've been given and the, you know, who I am to just
[21:53] SPEAKER_00: enjoy my time here. And I don't know how long I get to be here for. I, you know, I don't know what's
[21:59] SPEAKER_00: going to happen in the future. But like to me, that, um, seizing the, the opportunity that is to be here.
[22:05] SPEAKER_00: And so this is my fundamental belief that like I should be, you know, striving to live my best
[22:12] SPEAKER_00: life ever. I think everybody should strive to live their best life ever. And in a very branded,
[22:17] SPEAKER_00: cutesy, tense body, Chris 10 kind of way is to live my life in a 10. And that's sort of, you know,
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: it's that striving for it. It's not a 10 like all, you know, in a lot of ways that it's not, you know,
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: it doesn't feel like a 10, um, you know, every day, but it's that striving to look on the bright side,
[22:34] SPEAKER_00: to pick the right perspective, um, and to sort, you know, influence and control myself and my,
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: my thinking, my feeling, my behavior. Um, I think that, uh, so that, that to me is sort of the basis
[22:47] SPEAKER_00: of everything. When we started the, the tens pop, and when we really got into like, why is this?
[22:53] SPEAKER_00: Why did this concept take off so well? And why, why is it so popular? Um, not only just from like
[23:00] SPEAKER_00: the perspective of having our guests come and, you know, we've like, see thousands of guests for the,
[23:04] SPEAKER_00: you know, making them feel put together and polished. But just like, why is this so successful in
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: terms of, of attracting other women to want to open up their own 10 spots? And I think it comes
[23:14] SPEAKER_00: down to that people wanting to live their life in a 10. And the way that I've been able through
[23:19] SPEAKER_00: the beauty bars specifically to influence that is when you feel like a 10, like when you feel put
[23:26] SPEAKER_00: together and polished and not like look like a 10, but just like feel inside that, you know, you're
[23:30] SPEAKER_00: like, you feel more confident, you know, when you're, you know, more, you know, when my nails are done,
[23:35] SPEAKER_00: I like, I feel like it's, you know, so cute in it. And it looks so nice. Um, then you, it's really
[23:40] SPEAKER_00: about building confidence and just confident people do great things with their life. And, and for
[23:46] SPEAKER_00: me, that sort of been that driving driving mission. And I think the thing that really makes our franchise
[23:51] SPEAKER_00: partners and our, our, our, our institutions thrive as well because that's, it's not just painting
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: nails and it's not just, you know, scrubbing calluses and waxing VJJ. Like it's, it's making somebody
[24:05] SPEAKER_00: feel more confident about themselves and confident people, you know, kick ass and take names and they,
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: and they do awesome stuff. Um, when we got into the franchising, it, it was also about like, I
[24:17] SPEAKER_00: think that, you know, having that freedom and control over your life and, and your earning potential.
[24:23] SPEAKER_00: And then it's really about if you build something and you treat your guests amazing and you treat
[24:29] SPEAKER_00: your staff amazing, like that is, that makes you feel awesome. You are living an awesome life. And
[24:34] SPEAKER_00: I think entrepreneurship is, is one of the best ways to, to live your life at a 10 and live your
[24:38] SPEAKER_00: best life ever. Um, and so that's sort of, you know, one of one of those pieces. So that's really
[24:44] SPEAKER_00: been the last 20 years is, you know, making people feel like a 10 so that they can live their
[24:49] SPEAKER_00: life at a 10 and through, through the beauty bars and through the entrepreneurship stuff.
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: What I realized after going through a period myself where I was like living life at a minus
[25:03] SPEAKER_00: nine 10 like, like not good, um, is that, um, I, I sort of had this period in my, in my life where I had
[25:13] SPEAKER_00: everything that you would like on paper, or want, or was like, I had the kid, I had the husband,
[25:18] SPEAKER_00: I had the like the house, um, I had this thriving business. And yet I was really not happy. And I
[25:23] SPEAKER_00: was miserable and I was making others in my life miserable. And, um, I was like, well, what could I do
[25:31] SPEAKER_00: to get out of this? Like it's on me to get out of this. It's nobody else's life except for mine.
[25:36] SPEAKER_00: And so I realized that there was a bunch of things that I was doing in my business to make it
[25:42] SPEAKER_00: successful. And that I could actually just apply those same things to my personal life. And sort of
[25:49] SPEAKER_00: that I realized that I have to take ultimate ownership and accountability for my existence.
[25:55] SPEAKER_00: And, um, I need to be the CEO of my life. And so that is what I did. I had to make some hard
[26:01] SPEAKER_00: CEO calls, um, in terms of what I wanted and who I wanted to be. And then I actually created
[26:07] SPEAKER_00: a purpose and core values, the same thing that we did in our company. Um, and then just got very
[26:13] SPEAKER_00: strategic about the way that I was living my life. And then ended up, you know, turning things around
[26:18] SPEAKER_00: on it, honest to God, I do feel like I live an absolute life at a 10. It's not a brigade. It's not
[26:22] SPEAKER_00: all the time, but like in terms of my existence. You're human. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
[26:26] SPEAKER_00: fluctuations. Yeah. And so then I realized, um, that like, hey, this could be something that I can
[26:31] SPEAKER_00: help others with as well. And so my latest, um, project and it does still fit in with with, um,
[26:38] SPEAKER_00: you know, my main mission of helping people live their lives at a 10 is just this very practical,
[26:42] SPEAKER_00: like how to CEO the, um, S H word, uh, out of your life. And so I teach a, uh, I teach a course
[26:51] SPEAKER_00: now on exactly how to do that and how to live this life at a 10 that is filled with purpose and
[26:56] SPEAKER_00: connection and fun and the feeling of winning and, um, and a lot of actually what I teach is that
[27:02] SPEAKER_00: mindset stuff and is the very, so there's like mindset stuff and involved in the course, but then
[27:07] SPEAKER_00: also the very practical, um, practical things that you need because it's, you know, in order to live
[27:13] SPEAKER_00: a very profound life, you have to have very practical stuff that happens. Um, and, uh, and so that's
[27:19] SPEAKER_00: what, yeah, that's what I'm doing. So it's still full, uh, full steam ahead in terms of just
[27:25] SPEAKER_00: growing at the rest of Canada and, and having those entrepreneurship opportunities for women to
[27:30] SPEAKER_00: own their own 10 spots, own their own BD bars and be the, um, you know, that, that person in the
[27:36] SPEAKER_00: community that's really making an impact for their guests and for their staff. And then on the
[27:41] SPEAKER_00: personal side, just, um, having launched this, uh, this program, um, where I help help women just,
[27:47] SPEAKER_00: you know, that, that women that, that want these full, busy robust lives to go from feeling overwhelmed
[27:53] SPEAKER_00: to, to really optimize. Um, I love that. That's very exciting. Mm-hmm. That's, oh my god, I'm like,
[28:00] SPEAKER_00: so hopped. I love it so much. Yeah. And it's also fun because starting a new thing, I'm like,
[28:06] SPEAKER_00: ooh, get to do graphic signwork again and like building a website and oh yeah, it's been,
[28:12] SPEAKER_02: it's been so fun. Yeah, I love that you're excited about that because I want to, like, the things
[28:16] SPEAKER_02: that I hate doing the most is that I'm like, oh, I don't, so it's so, I love when people are so
[28:21] SPEAKER_02: excited about the things that for so many of us are like, oh god, that's the thing I don't want to do.
[28:25] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I know, I know. Well, there's so many things I don't like doing and then I tend to not do
[28:31] SPEAKER_00: them or avoid them, you know, hire other people to do them for me, but we're all human, right? We all
[28:36] SPEAKER_02: have the things. I know. Um, well, I love your story. Thank you for sharing so much of it. And for
[28:42] SPEAKER_02: anyone who's listening, you can check out Kristen's website, which has information about the program
[28:48] SPEAKER_00: she's talking about and her learn more about her. Yeah. And if interested in the 10 spot to
[28:53] SPEAKER_02: franchising, there's a link on there too. Yep. So exchristin.com, you can start there and find
[28:58] SPEAKER_02: everything out that will be in the show notes, of course. Um, yeah, awesome. Thank you so much for
[29:03] SPEAKER_02: taking the time to chat with me today. Oh my gosh. Thank you. I love talking about nothing more
[29:09] SPEAKER_00: than everything that we just talked about. So this has been a real pleasure of my day. Thank you.
[29:13] SPEAKER_02: Perfect. Absolutely. And thank you for listening to Kans podcast, like, comment, and subscribe
[29:17] SPEAKER_02: to all our channels to get the latest podcasts from entrepreneurs across Canada.