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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.
