Nina Caviggiola  00:00:00  We can do anything. But the thing is, can you challenge yourself enough to believe that you’re worthy, that you can do it? Especially for women? It’s so much deeper that you actually have to do that mental work. It’s in your mind. Dig a little bit deeper, like where actually are you getting stuck?

Katy Ripp 00:00:21  Hey there, fellow rebels, welcome to #ActuallyICan, the podcast where we say a hearty hell yes to designing life on our own terms. I’m Katy Ripp, a lifestyle coach, business mentor, and serial entrepreneur here to guide you through the wild ride, defying what society expects of us and embracing our authenticity. On this show, we dive deep into taboo topics like death, money, spirituality, entrepreneurship, unapologetic self-care, and personal development, all while swearing and laughing along the way. Expect down and dirty conversations, plenty of humor, and a whole lot of exploration, leaving you feeling empowered to be your true self? Whether you’re craving a good laugh, seeking unconventional self-care tips, or simply looking for some camaraderie.

Katy Ripp 00:01:07  You’ve come to the right place. We only get this one short life, so buckle up and let’s design yours on our own terms. Ready to dive in? Let’s go! I’m so excited to have you. 

Nina Caviggiola  00:01:24 I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to chat. I love the topic. 

Katy Ripp 00:01:29  I have so many topics and so many things. Yeah. So I’m going to kind of give you the the floor. Yeah. Obviously the name of the podcast is hashtag. Actually I can so this is more of like a fuck you. Yes, I can do this right. Actually, I can do this, I did it. Watch me. I mean, obviously, I think you’re such an inspiration, but it’s hard to be this person, right? Like, it’s hard to be you. I’m guessing right to hear it from other people. And I’m sure you hear it a lot. But then there’s, like the other side to all of this too. So I’d love to get into, first of all, just your story, like how you got here, because that’s a story in and of itself, right? How you got here.

Katy Ripp 00:02:10  How like, I know you were a nurse, so how that even came to be. And then how did you get to where you are now? Which, by the way, when we met, I think you had like 300,000 followers, which I was like, dang, girl, that is like insane. And then I look today it was like 573,000. I’m like, that’s almost a million people. That’s crazy.

Nina Caviggiola  00:02:33  Yeah, it’s crazy to me. It doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel like I have. I mean, I’ve combined all my socials, I have over a million and it just doesn’t feel like that. My space feels very intimate to me. Yes, it feels very close knit. The conversations I have privately with the people that are following me are just so intimate, so that it doesn’t feel big, you know, it doesn’t feel that big to me. And then when people say hi to me, if they see me out, it feels weird because I don’t feel like I’m anything special.

Nina Caviggiola  00:03:07  I don’t feel I’m anything big and I’m not. I’m just as normal girl that’s willing to be vulnerable and show up as the raw version that I am. And yeah, so it’s crazy to think how that I have this huge community, but it feels so small.

Katy Ripp 00:03:26  So I think we also have no idea how many people a million people is. Right. Like somebody said this to me one time, like, do you know how long it would take you to count to a million and all? There’s 1,000,000 seconds in 12 days. A billion is 33 years. Wow. Right. Like we don’t know the difference between that, right? Like it’s just like we hear, like, billionaire or millionaire and. And you just don’t even know what that means. It’s like we can’t wrap our heads around it. I’m totally fangirling over you. But like not from a space of followers, from a space of I love everything you put out to the world, right? Like the mental health aspect of this is so important to be sharing with people that can relate to you and that it’s okay to be not okay.

Katy Ripp 00:04:18  Is that one of the things that has been like the biggest motivator for you?

Nina Caviggiola  00:04:23  Mental health wasn’t really anything that was even in the forefront of my mind when I first started sharing on social media. So the way it all started for me. So like you said, I am a nurse and that was my dream job. That was my dream profession and I wanted to do everything with it. I wanted to go on and get my nurse practitioner. I wanted to keep like, I love school, I love education, I love learning, I’m kind of like a geek in that sense. I just love learning and turns out. Side note I’m finding out in therapy that that’s also like a part of my like, toxic anxiety because I constantly need to have validation of what? Yeah, you’re raising your hand. You have the same. Yeah. Yeah. So like it’s a good thing I love to learn and I love to be educated, but it also my need for validation masks a lot of my issues with mental health.

Nina Caviggiola  00:05:21  But anyways, so I’m a nurse by trade and I graduated from there. I went straight from high school to nursing school. I, you know, did the traditional college route. I was the first person in my family immediate and extended to ever go to college. And I’m a first generation immigrant.

Katy Ripp 00:05:39  Yeah. I read in your Bible. You came here in 1998. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:05:43  Well, where were.

Katy Ripp 00:05:43  You born or what? How old were you when you got here? How about that?

Nina Caviggiola  00:05:46  Ten I was ten.

Katy Ripp 00:05:48  Wow.

Nina Caviggiola  00:05:49  Yeah, I was ten when I came to the US. If you want to go that far back, we can. So I’m a refugee of war. I was born in Bosnia. And for everyone listening, the war that was happening in Bosnia is very similar to what’s happening in Ukraine right now. Like the people are being displaced. And in Bosnia, it was very it was a very religion and political type war. And my mom was displaced with my brother and I.

Nina Caviggiola  00:06:18  We lived in refugee camps. We were hostages at one point. I don’t remember it. Like I don’t have like actual visual memories of any of this. And my therapist says it’s probably because I, you know, I blocked it out.

Katy Ripp 00:06:33  Your brain is your friend. And it was like, you know, we’re not gonna we’re not going to give that to you.

Nina Caviggiola  00:06:37  Yeah, but, you know, my mom tells me stories. But we fled to Germany, lived in Germany in a refugee camp. And then when the war was over, quote unquote, they were sending everybody back home. And the only way you could stay in Germany is if you had somehow obtained a residency or citizenship. In that meantime. We lived in Germany for like seven ish years, and we had nowhere to go. So my mom applied for American residency. It was like a year long process. You know, we had to go through all these interviews and application process, and we had to go to the doctor. It was like this huge thing.

Nina Caviggiola  00:07:19  You can’t just like, come to America and live in America if you’re going to like, be a resident legally. So we got our residency, we got our green cards.

Katy Ripp 00:07:28  How did you get here?

Nina Caviggiola  00:07:30  We flew. So we flew from Germany with one suitcase. We left everything behind. And there was a program in Chicago, the refugee Relief program. And you had to be sponsored by a family. And the family that sponsored us are my cousins that are there like very distinct once removed, like, yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:07:54  Yeah, but.

Nina Caviggiola  00:07:55  They were only like in their 20s. But him and his wife sponsored us and they helped us get an apartment. So we got a studio. We had like a studio apartment in the South Side of Chicago. My mom and nobody spoke. We didn’t speak English.

Katy Ripp 00:08:10  How old was your brother?

Nina Caviggiola  00:08:11  He was like eight.

Katy Ripp 00:08:13  Oh my goodness.

Nina Caviggiola  00:08:14  Yeah. And my mom had through this program, they find you a job. And so she was like a housekeeper or like she worked for a program.

Nina Caviggiola  00:08:22  And they also require you to learn English. So obviously we would learn it in school. And my mom had to take classes. And so my mom meant the teacher of her English class. After about a year of learning English and getting her driver’s license and all this stuff like rebates alone. Yeah, single mom.

Katy Ripp 00:08:43  This is.

Nina Caviggiola  00:08:44  Insane. I know she’s wild. Some of the stuff that she went through. I mean, I also.

Katy Ripp 00:08:49  Love her, right? Like I’ve watched every single fucking video with her on it. And I love her so much.

Nina Caviggiola  00:08:54  Yeah, she’s like one of the strongest people that I know. She was my age, maybe a couple years younger than I am right now with two kids. No. Yeah. She was about my age, two kids fleeing countries left and right. And then we were sponsored. So we lived in kind of a shitty area of Chicago, and my mom just didn’t want that for us. So we were sponsored by a church in Janesville, Wisconsin, and they sponsored us to move there.

Nina Caviggiola  00:09:21  And they got us an apartment and a car and a job. They put my mom through school. So my mom’s education didn’t count in America. So she like, was this very well educated woman back in Europe. And she got put through school. She became a CNA. Yeah. And she did all that. I went through school. I went to school for CNA at age 16. I got a job as a CNA and then obviously catching you up. I went to nursing school in Madison at Edgewood College, and it was like the coolest, best experience of my life. I loved it, and I love, love being a nurse. I worked at the VA hospital in Madison, and I felt like that was a very like, full circle moment for me because America helped us so much. And I know there’s a lot of there’s a lot of really like a lot of negative things about our country. Right now, we’re in an election year and there’s always something to complain about. But to me, like America saved my life and America gave me a life that I would have never had, it gave me opportunities that I would never have.

Nina Caviggiola  00:10:30  And it continues to do so. So I have this, like completely different perspective of where I live and how I live compared to when we visit our family. Like life is so different over in Eastern Europe. So I felt that working at the VA was a full circle moment, because I got to take care of America’s most vulnerable veterans who like, in a roundabout way, helped save my life, you know? So I just love, love, love, loved working at the VA and worked there for 14 years. 18 years. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:11:03  Why do you must have been so young?

Nina Caviggiola  00:11:05  I was like, I think I was like 19 when I started there. Wow.

Katy Ripp 00:11:10  Well, thank you for your service because I’m going to end up in a VA hospital someday.

Nina Caviggiola  00:11:15  Are you your.

Katy Ripp 00:11:16  Veteran? I am, I didn’t know that. Yes, I.

Nina Caviggiola  00:11:19  Was in.

Katy Ripp 00:11:19  Your service. Yeah. You know, it was a lifetime ago, right? I went in in 2002 and was over in Kuwait, in Iraq in 2003.

Katy Ripp 00:11:29  And then. Yeah. And then came home and, you know, had babies and got out. But, you know, it’s interesting to hear you say that because sometimes I if I have a weird, like, feeling around being a veteran, like people thank me for my service all the time. And it’s a very like sweet. Like people are actually grateful. But there’s also like a lot of opinions about it, right. Like how political it can be. And I was in an aviation unit. So like we flew around VIPs and shit, you know, we weren’t like doing any combat or anything. But to be in a in Kuwait, in Iraq and see kids like living in tents and there’s all these camps and it’s a very different world. And it was like a lifetime ago. But I appreciate you saying that because it’s sometimes hard to be a veteran. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:12:16  Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And I think the general public, before I worked at the VA, I had no idea about anything about veterans and what they went through and what they saw.

Nina Caviggiola  00:12:27  And I saw very, very many different generations of veterans World War Two, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even just like present day, like everyone has their own stuff. And I think that at the end of the day, we’re all just human and we’re all just trying to make it work. And I think veterans are just held to such a standard because of serving our country and whatnot. But I cannot say enough amazing things about that job and the things that I learned and the people that I met. I mean, I could go on and on. But so 2020 came around. So in the midst of working as a nurse, I’ve always been a creative person. I’ve always had a blog, like I had a blog in high school, like when blogs weren’t even really a thing. I had a blog, I love art, I love creativity, I love entertaining people. I love making people like, feel happy and connected. And that’s just always been who I am. And in 2014, I think it was, I started an Instagram account to share.

Nina Caviggiola  00:13:39  My husband and I had just bought our first home. We weren’t even married. We were just dating. I actually bought the house. He just moved it with me, and we bought our home and we were doing all kinds of renovations, and I started sharing on social media about our renovations and the DIY projects, and it just kind of took off, and it was really easy to take off in social media in 2014 because it was new. I’m actually listening.

Katy Ripp 00:14:03  Also, remind the listeners, this is ten fucking years ago.

Nina Caviggiola  00:14:07  Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:14:08  That’s crazy. Ten years. That is such a long time.

Nina Caviggiola  00:14:13  But it feels like yesterday. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:14:15  And this. Well, right. Also it does feel like yesterday. But also we get into this. Well I can just do it tomorrow or I expect to be successful overnight. Right. Like we forget that it’s taken ten years for you to get here, right? Just crazy.

Nina Caviggiola  00:14:30  Yeah. Yeah. It is crazy to think that. And my success didn’t come right away either.

Nina Caviggiola  00:14:36  My success with social media didn’t come right away as far as financial success.

Katy Ripp 00:14:40  So I really the intention behind it.

Nina Caviggiola  00:14:42  Right. No, no, no, my intention was just to like share our projects. And then people were like, you can get some free stuff. And I was like, oh my god, free stuff, I take it. So I, I got some free stuff, you know, like occasional like free Etsy shop things, whatever. And I’m so grateful to those opportunities and then social media. So have you heard of the book The Anxious Generation?

Katy Ripp 00:15:05  No, but now I’m writing it. I’m writing it down.

Nina Caviggiola  00:15:09  I highly recommend everyone listening should listen to that book. It’s about the Gen Z generation and any generations to come who are on social media and have cell phones or tablets or whatnot, and they talk about the rewiring of our children’s childhood started happening in 2010 when the selfie camera came around, because then everything became about you and how you look in your life and what you share.

Nina Caviggiola  00:15:35  So by the time I was on social media. The selfie cam was already out. And then this is where it really took a turn for me in 2015 or 14 or 15 ish is when Instagram Stories came, and that’s when you could really show video like real time.

Katy Ripp 00:15:53  That long ago.

Nina Caviggiola  00:15:55  Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:15:56  Really old right?

Nina Caviggiola  00:15:57  But I remember like I was sharing on social media before stories were a thing. It was literally just pictures. Nobody could hear your voice or see your face ever. Like you just showed pictures.

Katy Ripp 00:16:06  How much you’ve learned. Right.

Nina Caviggiola  00:16:09  So that’s when things really took off for me because I was able to show my like personality and things behind the scenes. And they really took off for me. And then I was getting married and I got pregnant. And when I got pregnant and started sharing that side of life and motherhood and my content shifted, and then it shifted again because I developed postpartum depression and anxiety. And it was then that I really started sharing mental health stuff. And again, I was never really sharing any of this for like profit.

Nina Caviggiola  00:16:44  You know, I wasn’t like, I’m going to make money, so I’m going to share this. It was just generally like, is anyone else feeling this? And it just became this huge thing about motherhood and mental health and parenting and yeah, so that’s that. And then in 2019, I was like, maybe. So in that time between 2015 and 2019, I had like very few paid opportunities. And they were like low paid opportunities. But to me, like extra money is extra money. 2019 I was like male nursing, right? Yes. Yep. Still working full time as a nurse. And so there’s two ways to make money or there’s multiple ways to make money on social media now. But back then it was through brand partnerships and affiliate linking and brand partnerships back then weren’t that big because brands didn’t really yet see the value in influencers. But affiliate linking was basically you share an affiliate link and you can make a commission off that link. So my affiliate link income was like a few thousand a month, and I was like, this is crazy.

Nina Caviggiola  00:17:52  Like, if I could replace my nursing income, like I can do both and then we can like live our dream, like we can make money to like pay off. My biggest goal was to pay off student loans. And then I really wanted to help my mom financially, and I wanted to help my husband pay off a student loan. You know, like I had all these dreams of just getting out of debt. And so 2019 came around and I was like, I’m going to start taking this more serious. So I did, and I started posting more consistently. I got a brand manager. So a brand manager basically helps me get brand deals. And then they take a 20% cut from that deal.

Katy Ripp 00:18:29  Is that like an agent? Kind of yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:18:31  Yeah, it’s like an agent. Is that an.

Katy Ripp 00:18:33  Employee of yours or somebody, like out in the world.

Nina Caviggiola  00:18:36  So it’s a contractor. So I have a contract with them. It’s an agency. I have a contract with them. How do you.

Katy Ripp 00:18:43  Even know to do that, Nina?

Nina Caviggiola  00:18:45  It just kind of felt like. I think all of us just kind of talk amongst each other in the space, okay? And I was living it as it was evolving, so it wasn’t like something that was already there. And I sort it out. It was kind of like, hey, you know, it happened. I got an email once from an agency that was like, we have a partnership opportunity, we can represent you. And I was like, okay, like, yeah, let’s do it right. And since then I’ve had a couple different agents and they technically work for me technically. Like I can say, like, I don’t like, you know, but the one I currently have is very like they do everything for me, like legal contracts, everything. And we text every day, all day. It’s a very like intimate relationship because if I make money, they make money? Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:19:33  Of course.

Nina Caviggiola  00:19:34  So as they should. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:19:35  So that happened in 2019. And then 2020 came around and it was awful. Nursing was awful. I would go I would be driving into work like having a panic attack because you just didn’t know what you were going to see. You didn’t know how many people were going to die that day, like, you didn’t know you were gonna die. Like we didn’t know anything about what Covid could do to you yet. So, like, I mean, it was awful. And in that time, right, as Covid started, so it started March was when we shut down and in April I had a miscarriage. So I had a miscarriage. And I had like working through it in our unit, in our emergency room. And it was just really, really hard mentally. A lot of people struggled mentally at the morale. Staff morale went down and this was like nationwide, you know, this was just general and nursing because you’re just like as a nurse, you just feel like you’re kind of dumped on.

Nina Caviggiola  00:20:35  And then there’s people like out there saying Covid is fake as you’re watching people die. So that was really hard for me mentally. And I decided to at that point, I already had matched my nursing income with social media, and I actually more so, like I was making more than my nursing income and I was just holding on to nursing because I just love nursing. Yeah. And after my miscarriage and after just the morale and how Covid kind of ruined things for me, I decided that I was going to cut back on nursing. So I cut back like very little bit. I went from full time to point eight, so I was like, yeah, basically still full time, same. And I cut back. And then in 20 2020, between 2021 and 2022, I quadrupled my nursing income. It was like insane on social media. I mean, more people were spending time online, more people were stuck at home and business and social media was just blooming. And then I ended up cutting down even more like I was working one day a week as a nurse.

Nina Caviggiola  00:21:42  And finally, after taking on way too much work on social media and then working as a nurse, I honestly would still work as a nurse if I could, but I think the demand for my current job in social media is just so high that it was really hard for me to balance it, and my husband made a good point. He was like, it’s not really worth your mental health and like, you can always go back and whatnot. So as of February 2024, I stopped working as a nurse at the oh, you.

Katy Ripp 00:22:14  Were still working a day a week until February of this year.

Nina Caviggiola  00:22:18  Yeah, I have issues. I have like attachment issues and like, this is the thing.

Katy Ripp 00:22:24  Like Nina it’s fine.

Nina Caviggiola  00:22:25  Yeah, I know the whole point of this is like, I know I can, I can do it. But the thing is, it’s not that my issue is and I think I’m speaking for a lot of women here. It’s not that like, you can’t do the thing. It’s training yourself to believe that you can like mentally, right? It’s not like, I know I could do it, I know I could work, I know I could make this work, but it’s convincing myself that I’m worthy and it’s convincing myself that I have value.

Nina Caviggiola  00:22:55  Yeah. And to be fair, to be fully honest here, I’m still not 100% convinced. Like, I still every day I’m like, did I make the right decision? And it’s not that I regret leaving nursing. I don’t regret leaving nursing. I miss it, of course, but the freedom I have with this job is just right now with me having little kids and honestly, the financial freedom and just everything. Like it’s a no brainer, right? But it’s the fact that I just worry that I made the right decision as far as do I bring enough value into people’s lives as I did when I was a nurse?

Katy Ripp 00:23:33  That’s so fascinating.

Nina Caviggiola  00:23:35  Logically, like I know that I do like of course my logical brain says, yes, you do. You’re changing lives, you’re doing amazing things. But like emotionally, I’m unable to like, give myself that. I’m able to say it out loud, but I’m unable to feel it. I’m unable to feel that I’m still worthy and valuable in this space as a business owner versus someone that was nursing.

Nina Caviggiola  00:24:01  It’s such a like such a tricky thing to navigate.

Katy Ripp 00:24:04  I have so much respect for you even saying that out loud, because I would imagine that most people that see you from a 30,000 foot view is like, what does she have to worry about? Right? Like, or that there’s no such thing as imposter syndrome when you get to a certain level. But like you said before, like those are just numbers. You can’t really wrap your head around it, but the worthiness and the value piece of that, or feeling that the bottom is going to fucking fall out, right? Like, I mean, I’m sure that you have like, you know, residual income or whatever, but like if you weren’t raised like that or you have money stories or you have trauma in your past, those limiting beliefs don’t just fucking go away. I’m sure that can feel very vulnerable and very like insecure. And to feel like you’re like a value piece and like, not worthy. I think every I mean, I feel like it all the time.

Katy Ripp 00:24:59  Like, what the fuck am I doing out here? What business do I have doing this? Right? And I wasn’t a nurse or a teacher or. But there’s lots of people out there leaving really amazing, you know, give back jobs to do something. And yes, like you said, you’re still giving back in a totally different way but doesn’t match. And when you feel like it’s mismatched, it just feels different. So thank you for saying that out loud. I feel like you’re so honest, and you have probably said that a number of times, but to say it here, where people are, you know, of course it’s like hashtag actually I can well, yes, from a far away place, you can do anything you want until you get into it. And then all of a sudden you’re like, oh my God, I’m going to actually quit this job. Like I’m tethered to this job and it feels safe and it feels secure. I did it for years at my gym job.

Katy Ripp 00:25:48  I was still running three other businesses and still had a full time job at A and an athletic club, and I just felt like, oh my God, I can’t leave this. This is my secure, like nice little paycheck. Even though I was making triple that. Right. Like it just it’s a real party win.

Nina Caviggiola  00:26:02  Yeah I think that you hit it on the head with the money. There’s a lot of money trauma and a lot of money scarcity mindset that I have because of how I grew up and because of not having any money. So for me, no matter how much money I have, I could have $1 million right in front of my face and I still would be afraid that that wasn’t good enough, and it would be taken away from me at any given moment, because all my life, that’s what it was. My home was taken away from me all the time. My family was taken away from me and we didn’t have money, food. We didn’t have food. So like that scarcity mindset is so hard.

Nina Caviggiola  00:26:41  But I also want to add that as women, I think that we are taught to be comfortable with what we have, and we are taught and told that we shouldn’t want more. So for me to believe that I’m only worthy as a nurse because that is what I should do. And I love being a nurse. I love taking care of people and saving lives. I love that, but I’m still stuck in that mindset of like, but am I still worthy to be doing business in a business that I never had business in? That’s the thought that I’m constantly battling. Because if it was a man, if it was a man that was like, I’m going to go become an entrepreneur, Sure I’m going to leave this bedside nursing job and become an entrepreneur. He would get a pat on the back. Whereas a woman we are taught to believe like, am I still worthy? Am I doing enough? Am I still valuable as the woman that I am in a more powerful role?

Katy Ripp 00:27:40  Yeah, and I think we get in trouble then, right? Because then we’re like, well, I’m going to do all of the fucking things because I have to be productive and I have to be worthy if I’m going to do all this stuff.

Katy Ripp 00:27:50  One of the things I like to tell my clients right now is like the things that you can do with money, right? Like the good that you can do with money when we are like responsible and good caretaking, creative, resourceful, whole people, the things that we can do with the money that we make is priceless, right? Like you can turn around like you. You think you make a difference at a bedside. You could buy a fucking hospital, right? Like. Or you could pay for everybody’s treatment if that’s what you wanted to do. But in order to do that, you have to make a lot of money, right? So it’s okay to make money. I just I have my own fucking money stories. Let’s be real, right?

Nina Caviggiola  00:28:34  I have, we all do. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:28:36  Of money stories. I was at a workshop this past week with seven very highly ambitious women, and the workshop was about a money mindset. And my first question to them was, what’s your first money memory? And they all wrote down their first money memory, and all of them cried, right? Like all of them had some sort of memory about money, that the emotion was so close to the top that it just poured out, like, why do we have these things? And so and it takes a lot of work to get there.

Katy Ripp 00:29:08  It takes a lot of work and like peeling back all the layers of this to leave a nursing job or leave a teaching job or leave a any kind of job to pursue something that isn’t necessarily the norm. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:29:24  I do think that I love the hashtag. I can because we can write, we can do anything. But the thing is, can you challenge yourself enough to believe that you’re worthy, that you can do it? I think it’s so much deeper, especially for women. It’s so much deeper that you actually have to do that mental work. Like, why are you stuck? What is making you feel stuck? It’s not that you can’t. Like you told me at the beginning about your friend. It’s not that you can’t make a real. It’s not that you don’t know how to work a camera. It’s not that you don’t know how to get a brand deal. It’s not any of that. Because that you can watch a million YouTube videos and learn it in a second, right? It’s in your mind.

Nina Caviggiola  00:30:09  Dig a little bit deeper. Like where actually are you getting stuck? Because for me, this is something I’m working on in therapy. For me, I’m getting stuck because I believe that everyone is worthy. I believe that everyone is deserving of grace, but I have yet to allow myself to have grace and feel that worthiness and like I fight for it every day. But it’s something that I constantly have to work on. So my thought is like, I can work for that, I can work for those emotional needs, or I can work for those emotional changes so that I can do the things right.

Katy Ripp 00:30:54  Yeah, it’s just so much deeper than like, yes, I can do that. Well, of course we can all do it, right. Like there’s that saying out there. I think, like if knowledge was all we needed, we’d all be rich and thin, right? Like, knowledge isn’t enough, right? We have to go through, like, why aren’t we doing it? Why aren’t we taking the next step to do that thing? because we can all do anything right.

Katy Ripp 00:31:18  There’s examples of it all over the world of people doing it before you, or maybe not, but doing something with a significant courage level. But what’s holding us back? And I do totally agree. I think for most women it’s a worthiness or a like, do I feel valuable in this space? Am I giving enough? Again, the answer logically, is yes, but every other like that’s not enough. That part is not enough. Yes, I can do it is not enough.

Nina Caviggiola  00:31:49  Yeah, I literally have in my phone I literally have a photo album that’s called Nice Messages, and I screenshot those messages that are like, you’ve changed my life, you’ve changed my perspective, you’ve made me a better mom. You’ve helped me seek therapy. You’ve like, I have all these like messages that are so deep and intimate that I literally put in that folder, because I have to remind myself, like I’m not. Just because there is such a surface level to the job that I do. Like there’s affiliate links in the brands and like the money that I make.

Nina Caviggiola  00:32:26  But to me, what’s more important is the connections that I make. And what’s more important to me is that I’m able to help somebody feel more confident in themselves, in any aspect in their life, their relationship, their parenting, their motherhood, their body, whatever it is, I want people to feel more confident. And I always I’m there’s this constant battle because in my job, success for brands and affiliates is measured by numbers. and July and August are very slow months. Right. So like, I’ve been really feeling down, my numbers are down. I mean, across the board for everybody they are. But when you have brands that are like, well, why is the ROI down this month? And then I beat myself up for it. And then I feel like I have to push more sales. So it’s a constant balancing act for me too, because I there are definitely I’ve met people in this business, in this industry that are like strictly like, this is my job. I only share links, I only do business deals.

Nina Caviggiola  00:33:34  But that’s not my intention at all. That’s like, well, I think so.

Katy Ripp 00:33:38  Why so many people relate to you is basically because you’re like a community builder with a side of affiliate. Yeah, right. Like you have built up this amazing community that you happen to do the other stuff for it. That’s how I feel. You put yourself out like I’m here to build community, and the rest of it is just like the cherry on top. Yeah. Instead of the other way around. Right. Like that’s why I’m speaking. I can’t speak for your other followers, but I can speak for myself that like, I watch every single one. But it’s because I think you’re talking to me and you actually care. And then, like, sometimes I buy your bra. Right. Maybe we shouldn’t tell your brand affiliates but like mostly right. Like I. And then there’s, I’m sure that there’s a ton of other people that go to your socials or your other sites specifically because you, they like what you offer.

Katy Ripp 00:34:37  Right. Like they like the products that you offer. I mean, there’s you have so many like demographics, right, revenue streams and all of these things. But to me it never feels like you’re pushing product. It feels like you’re building community first and then it just like, this is the cool side piece.

Nina Caviggiola  00:34:58  Yeah. No, that’s thank you for saying that. That’s my goal and that’s my intention. But again, it’s like a fine balancing act because there are days where I’m just like exhausted and I don’t feel like talking to anybody. Yeah. You know, I don’t feel like talking to anybody. And there are days where those days where I don’t feel like talking to anybody. I maybe have an ad that I has to go live that day, because it is at the end of the day, the way that my business is, it is a business, right? Like, at first of all, it wasn’t a business to begin with. It was me just trying to build a communication community.

Nina Caviggiola  00:35:39  And I still want that and I still strive for that. But at the end of the day, like I do have contracts, I have brand partners and it gets really sticky. Sometimes. I only take the brand deals in partnerships that I feel truly resonate and align with me as a person in my brand, but like some days I’m like, I don’t feel like I’m not in a peppy mood. I’m not in the mood to. I’m in a shitty place. But I have to post this ad because yeah, that’s my contract.

Katy Ripp 00:36:09  Because that’s my fucking job. All right.

Nina Caviggiola  00:36:11  Yeah. And we all have that, like, in all jobs, like, I know you, you are in the business of empowering women and helping women and, like, building confidence just like I am. I mean, maybe you can vouch for this. Like, I’m sure you have days where you’re like, feel like shit about yourself and don’t feel confident, but you have to go tell someone else to be confident.

Katy Ripp 00:36:28  Yes, of course, like I try to practice what I preach, but otherwise, like I also look to other people to inspire me, right? Because like, we’re just not out here, like, with no problems and right things. Just fucking amazing all the time. This brings up a question I had for you. I specifically like me. I know how much work this takes, right? Like this isn’t just fucking posting reels and hoping for like throwing enough shit at the wall and seeing what sticks, right? There’s strategy behind this, and there’s money that you pay out for people and there’s like, it is a job B and the bigger it gets, the more legitimate it gets, right? Like, I would imagine that. And correct me if I’m wrong and we can totally cut this. If this is not actually the truth, I would imagine, as you’ve grown, that somebody along the way was like, is that a fucking job? Like, is that even a job? Or like, yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:37:27  So there have been people that have like mocked my job or asked what it is. And even to this day, I like when someone asks me what I do, I just say I’m self-employed. I work in social media marketing. I just say I work in marketing because.

Katy Ripp 00:37:41  Do you call yourself an influencer?

Nina Caviggiola  00:37:43  I don’t know, like yes and no. I do feel that we all this is so cheesy, but I genuinely believe that we all have influence on people in one way or another.

Katy Ripp 00:37:54  Social media would not exist if it was not true. We all have influence, right?

Nina Caviggiola  00:38:00  And I think that.

Katy Ripp 00:38:01  You’re just a professional one.

Nina Caviggiola  00:38:03  I just get paid. I just feel that it is. It’s gotten a bad rap, and I don’t know why. I mean, some people say content creator. Influencer? Yeah. I just usually if someone asks me in like a professional setting, I just say social media marketing because that is what I do. I do marketing, but I do believe that my influence on people’s lives is beyond marketing.

Nina Caviggiola  00:38:28  I do believe that I have an influence on people to want to be better. I mean, I have literal I have a whole fucking album in my phone of pictures, like people telling me, right, so.

Katy Ripp 00:38:41  Like I do.

Nina Caviggiola  00:38:42  So this is where the like, need for validation. Like I have data that proves that my job is valuable to people. But yeah, people have like not directly to me, but I’ve seen like people say like, how is this a job? This is dumb. And you know, I do really good. Like I stay off of any of the gossip sites. I know there’s Reddit. I stay off of all that and I just don’t. I don’t even look, I don’t Google myself. I have a very head forward mindset, like I’m doing the best that I can. For me, I’m doing the best that I can for my family and my employees, and I will fuck up. I will say the wrong thing. I will make mistakes. I will change my mind.

Nina Caviggiola  00:39:26  I tell my kids this all the time, it’s okay to change your mind. It is okay to change your mind if you feel that you made the wrong decision. Because my son was like, well, you used to let me have the tablet every day and now it’s only on the weekends and I don’t like that. And I said, I know you don’t like it. And mommy made a choice to change her mind because I learned some new things about tablets. And, you know, so, like, I believe that people will always have something shady to say. And this always brings me back to like a woman in this business is always going to get hated on a man in this business is not going to get hated on there either. Like smart there comedian. They’re valuable there. This they’re that. But as women it’s really hard for some people. And I do think that a lot of like the people that do hate on influencers, I do think a lot of that that stems from like their own inner shame or embarrassment or jealousy or like they’re just not able to be happy with for somebody else.

Nina Caviggiola  00:40:27  Like when you played that message for me that your friend sent, like, that is the kindest thing ever. Like to know that people are talking about me in a positive light behind my back is like protecting my name when I’m not there. Like, that is the biggest and best gift anyone can give me, and that’s who I hope to be as a person, you know, because you can always find something shitty. You can always like people will say, oh.

Katy Ripp 00:40:51  But you can also as equally or more find something good. Well, all the time. The influencer part of that, the where you said a lot of people call themselves content creators or whatever. Is that kind of the among the I’m going to call you guys influencers, but among the industry because like, I’m technically a life coach, right? Like I’m technically a coach, but somewhere along the line, life coach got a bad rap like the pit bulls of the 90s, right? Like for whatever reason, we just life coaches never been a great term.

Katy Ripp 00:41:25  And in my coaching circles, people are like, oh, I would never call myself a life coach, which, I mean, I get it. But I also like, for some reason, find it a like personal crusade to correct it. I don’t know why it’s not my job to do that, but I’m curious if like, everybody feels that way because it got a bad rap. So we don’t call ourselves that. We just like all call ourselves whatever it feels like. Good to call us at the time if that’s a like yeah, pretty common.

Nina Caviggiola  00:41:55  Yeah. It’s a common discussion amongst people in the space. Some people will say influencer, some people will say content creator. I think that generally most people don’t call themselves influencers. I don’t know. I don’t care if people call me an influencer and I can call myself that. Again, like I said before, I do think that we all have influence, and if we can be a positive influence, then why is that a negative thing? Yeah, I think that you as a life coach, you can technically be called an influencer too.

Nina Caviggiola  00:42:26  You’re influencing people to find the best versions of themselves. I just yeah. So I don’t know. That’s just. Yeah, people are always gonna be negative. And again, like, influencing is such a new I mean and there’s so many different types of influencing. There’s literally people who are like, there’s people like me who have taken this role and made it a business. This is a business. Now I have seven employees. I you know, I.

Katy Ripp 00:42:51  Really.

Nina Caviggiola  00:42:52  Yeah, I have a whole team. I have, you know, it’s a whole business. Like it’s crazy to think. And then there’s people who are maybe in the infancy stages and are just like sharing funny dances and videos. Like, I think that’s why the term influencers get such a bad rap, because like, you have the ones that are kind of like mocking the influencers, and then you have the ones that are just doing it for fun and like maybe sharing fun, cute videos. And that’s oftentimes how it starts. And then you have the ones who are like, who were on a TV show like The Bachelor and now they’re influencer.

Nina Caviggiola  00:43:23  You know, there’s such a wide range of influencers. And yeah, I think that it’s going to always have a bad rap because it is essentially at the end of the day, it’s like a entertainment business. Yeah. At the end of the day.

Katy Ripp 00:43:37  Tell me about the business side of it. Like when did you say to yourself, like, fuck, I can’t do this by myself and started looking for help because I’m guessing you tried to do all things still? Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right. I that’s the other thing about female entrepreneurs, right? Like we all think that, oh, we have to be the bookkeeper and the janitor and the accountant and the videographer and the photographer and the copywriter and the website designer in the. You know, I mean, I could go on and on and on.

Nina Caviggiola  00:44:09  I mean, just like moms, right? Like, we think we have to do it all, and it’s not okay to it’s God forbid you have a housekeeper, God forbid, like a soul keeper.

Katy Ripp 00:44:18  And somebody that does my laundry.

Nina Caviggiola  00:44:20  Good. Send them my.

Katy Ripp 00:44:22  Way. Her name is Yolanda. She’s amazing. I’m happy to send her your way. My house cleaner was actually like, hey, I have somebody that does laundry. Do you think maybe you should have somebody? I was.

Nina Caviggiola  00:44:33  Like, yeah, like.

Katy Ripp 00:44:34  Yes, I do.

Nina Caviggiola  00:44:35  And there’s this, like, urge, this urge that we have to be like, oh.

Katy Ripp 00:44:41  Oh, do you know how many people are like, you have somebody do your fucking laundry? I’m like, yes. Isn’t it amazing? Like, I.

Nina Caviggiola  00:44:47  Even have to rewire my own brain to like, not judge. Because how much more can you do when you have help? So just to answer your question and it’ll lead up to this. So I probably needed help years ago. My husband is a more like logical thinking, and he’s a man like he’s not expected to do it all. So he’s the more logical thinking. And he thought I needed help a long time ago.

Nina Caviggiola  00:45:10  So I hired part time, very part time, like 5 to 10 hours a week. Help. And the only reason I even hired help this was in 2019 or 18, was because she was, like, persistent in my email. It was someone that was a follower. She was persistent in email and I was like, girl, I don’t need help right now. She’s like, well, let me know when you do. I’m here. Like, here’s my resume, blah blah, blah. So then in January of that year, I was like, fine, like, let’s try it out now. She’s now my full time CEO. She like runs the whole she’s like the brains behind the business, but.

Katy Ripp 00:45:45  Good for her. Yeah. That’s Cassidy. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:45:49  So I hired Cassidy very part time, and it was never an intention to hire anyone full time. Like like I said, this business that I’m running, I come from zero business knowledge. I come from zero. Like I’m a nurse.

Katy Ripp 00:46:05  Like nurses don’t know shit about money in business.

Nina Caviggiola  00:46:07  Like if you ask any accountant or any like financial advisor, they’ll tell you like doctors and nurses are some of the worst money people because they don’t know anything.

Katy Ripp 00:46:16  All they care about is helping people. It’s not their wheelhouse, right? Like I’m caring for people. You figure the rest out. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:46:23  So I just have never had a business mindset. I have a business personality. I always say, like, I could sell a pencil, you know, that’s just who I am, is I’m just a passionate. Anyways, so I hired Cassidy, and once she came on full time. Well, actually, once she came on part time every year after hiring her, my business doubled in income in revenue like doubled every year. And it’s like insane how much my business has grown because of Cassidy. She has taken so much off my plate. And since her, we’ve hired two more assistants. And then I have an editor and then I have a manager.

Nina Caviggiola  00:47:04  So. And then Tom, I employ my husband too. He could probably do more, but he. And this is where it gets really tricky. Like, he does so much for our family that people wouldn’t think like, how is that a job? But like, he takes care of a lot of things, like he cooks. I don’t like how he cleans. So I still clean, but he like, does the cooking. He takes care of the kids like he organizes like the sports and all that. So he does a lot of the things that traditionally women are expected to do. And then he also does all of my business bookkeeping, and he pays my employees accounting stuff. So, like he does all that one time he forgot to pay our nanny and I was so pissed at him. So like, it is still a small business. We’re still figuring it out, But yeah, and people used to tell me this all the time, and I’m sure you’ve heard this and I’m sure you’ve said this to people once you hire help, even if you don’t feel that you want to pay someone for it, your business blooms.

Nina Caviggiola  00:48:04  It grows like you get so much freedom. I think people go into having their own business and you know this. You’ve owned a lot of businesses. You’re going to having your own business and you think like, this is going to be amazing. I’m going to have all this freedom. I know it’s the opposite. You literally invest your entire self and time and being into this business, and then once you’re able to get help, then you’re supposed to back off a little bit, right? You’re supposed to. I just told my mom the other day, she owns a business, by the way, speaking of my mom, earlier, she opened up her own home health business, and she takes care of people in their homes. And she’s got 12 employees, and it’s amazing. I know I love it. She’s like a true, like, amazing American dream story. But she has 12 employees and she pays them. But then she also works herself and she, her sister is coming from Europe to visit.

Nina Caviggiola  00:48:53  And I was like, did you take time off? She’s like, yeah, I did a little bit, but I’m not going to have any pay. I was like, mom, why are you not paying yourself? Well, I’m not working. Yes you are. You write the schedule, you do the bookkeeping, you run a business like she’s still in that mindset. Like I have to be physically doing the work to be making money. And like I said, like, those are all things that you don’t think about.

Katy Ripp 00:49:16  Like on that subject, I tell people all the time, like, if you’re not careful, all you do is buy yourself a job. Yeah, and really expensive fucking job, right? Like I bought a wine bar and then ended up bartending all the time, and I was like, I just bought a super expensive bartending job. I’m done. I’m no longer event coordinating. I’m not bartending. And so I started spending some of the money to hire employees, which there’s a whole for me, the value piece in hiring local, amazing staff is like it’s part of it that fills my cup, right? Like that part of it I love.

Katy Ripp 00:49:56  So when I started and what I call it is buying my time back. So like, I buy my freedom back every single time I hire an employee, I buy more freedom for myself to not be there. And I was doing it all because I can doesn’t mean I should write like I was bookkeeping. I was doing all the website. I was doing all my social media management. I’ll never forget I hired Maria to do my social media management. She also reached out to me on Instagram and was like, do you need help? And I was like, sort of offended, sorry, Mariah. It was sort of offended that I was like, what’s wrong with my social media? Like, I’m doing it myself. It’s totally fine, right? Like, no, I don’t need any fucking help. And then all of a sudden I looked at myself and I was, I’m such an impulsive poster, right? Like I can post something, but I have to be there and like, that’s just how I work.

Katy Ripp 00:50:45  I can’t like, plan stuff out and schedule. I’ve got 42 courses to show me how to do that, that I can’t, I just can’t. And finally I was like, you know what? I think I’m just gonna hire? How much does it how much does it cost to hire her? I can still do all the impulsive stuff, but like, there’s a strategy behind this. And when I hired her, all of a sudden it was like, oh, my God, I have never have to worry about social media. I only do like the fun stuff. Yeah. And my husband was like, don’t you do that for a living? Like for other people, like social media manage. And I was like, yeah, but I’m not doing it anymore for us. Yeah, but I bought some of that time back and I needed it. And so when you’re talking about my bottom line goes up every time I buy an employee, I mean, I buy my time back. I mean, that sounds horrible, but I also pay them well and I’m happy to pay them well.

Katy Ripp 00:51:32  I’m happy to like, give them my money so I can be at home with my alpacas. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:51:37  One thing that I feel guilty this is something that I’m working on currently is I feel guilty when I have time, like I’m like, all my other employees are working. Why shouldn’t I be working? So, like, on days where I have, like slower days, I feel like I need to fill that time with stuff because, I mean, when you’re on your own business, you can always find work. Yeah, it’s never like in nursing. I would clock in and out and that was it. Especially in the emergency room, you see the patient and then they’re gone. Like it’s never like a continuous thing. Whereas with this business it’s a continuous thing. You’re constantly thinking, you’re constantly like rising for real.

Katy Ripp 00:52:15  Oh it’s done.

Nina Caviggiola  00:52:17  Oh my God, I need. So does your lady actually put your laundry away too?

Katy Ripp 00:52:21  Oh yeah. She and she. And once every two weeks she organizes all the closets and drawers.

Katy Ripp 00:52:25  Oh, my God, that’s it is the best $20 an hour I spend. It’s amazing. And I felt super guilty about it for a really long time. Right. I was like, isn’t this my job? Like, shouldn’t I be doing this? But I also run for other businesses right now.

Nina Caviggiola  00:52:42  What is that? What is that guilt. And I think over that.

Katy Ripp 00:52:46  Plus, I have the same exact feeling you do that if I’m home sitting with my alpacas and my businesses are still open, I feel guilty. I still feel guilty. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over it. I feel like I should be down there making lattes. That is not my zone of genius, by the way. I can make a mean latte, but it is not my zone of genius. It’s not where I make the money, right? Like I make $7 an hour doing that after I have to pay myself the fucking Social Security and Medicare. Right? So, like, it doesn’t make sense for me to do that.

Katy Ripp 00:53:19  Yet I still feel guilty. I still feel guilty when Yolanda comes. And what ends up happening is, like everybody, when they have a cleaning lady, they cleaned before the cleaning lady. Right? I refuse to do like Yolanda does that for me. So my cleaning lady comes every other week and Yolanda just picks up and does all of the stuff to get ready for the cleaning lady. All the things that I. But it’s like the only it’s really the only thing I give myself. And I don’t even give it to myself. Right. Like my everybody else in the family also benefits. It’s not like I’m going to get, you know, I have, like, a personal masseuse coming in here every third day. It’s like she’s just doing laundry. But I still feel guilty about it.

Nina Caviggiola  00:54:03  Yeah. Growing up, we had nothing like my mom was. All the things. I was all the things. So, like, now you just almost feel like, well, if my mom did it, why can’t I do it?

Katy Ripp 00:54:13  Yeah, well, because you’re always working.

Katy Ripp 00:54:15  So. I mean, your mom is working too, but, like, also, we can. It’s just. Are we worthy of it? Yeah. Right. Like, are we actually worthy of, like, why shouldn’t I be doing 42,000 different things? Because somehow we got to a place where it’s like a badge of honor to be overwhelmed and burned out, like, yeah, no, I’m not. I’m done with that.

Nina Caviggiola  00:54:38  Yeah, but, you know, the growth that I’ve personally had in delegating and hiring and asking for help in the last year and a half has been significant, like even to the point, like business aside, like I will email my husband. So like, we want our kids to be in swim lessons and I’m like, oh, I don’t have time. Like I can’t deal with. I literally sent the email to my husband, said, please handle this period by like please handle like I. It feels so weird, but also empowering to just be like, pass it on, pass it on to your husband.

Nina Caviggiola  00:55:13  And like, my husband is very receptive to that stuff. Like he’ll do anything. And I used to be so annoyed that I had to ask, like I wanted him just to think of it himself. But I’m like, you know what? If it’s it, I’m just going to send it to him and he can handle it and we can have a discussion about it if we need to. But it has been very freeing to be able to delegate, and it’s something that I’ve really gotten good at. And I again.

Katy Ripp 00:55:37  It’s kind of addictive.

Nina Caviggiola  00:55:39  It is. And like when.

Katy Ripp 00:55:40  We get more people in here.

Nina Caviggiola  00:55:42  Yeah, like.

Katy Ripp 00:55:44  Can I hire someone to dust to my house?

Nina Caviggiola  00:55:46  Like what? But no, it really is. I think even when you think of it in a very simple manner, you don’t have to be hiring seven employees, you know, however many employees you have, however many I have. Like if you’re just starting out, like just delegate, ask for help. And it doesn’t have to be a full time employee.

Nina Caviggiola  00:56:03  Like there’s also for people listening who are like, I really want to get more help and I can’t financially cut it. Like there are interns everywhere. Like I right now, our nanny, she’s in college and her friends are looking literally for free internships to do stuff, so why not like, why not ask? My nanny is like half time nanny. Half time assistant. Why not like find word of mouth, ask people. And that’s kind of how I did it.

Katy Ripp 00:56:29  One of the things that I’ve started saying to myself also for helping people. So anybody listening out here that’s like, well, I can’t afford help change it and say, how can I afford help? How can I afford it? Right? Like there are ways to afford help. There are ways like you can give up some stuff, or you can go out and make more money to afford help. And a lot of that help helps you afford it. So I mean it’s a little bit backwards but yeah I don’t want to like I know we’re on a sort of a time crunch and I don’t want to disrupt your schedule.

Katy Ripp 00:57:02  So I have a couple of questions. One is I definitely want you to talk about your event in October, and I’m just going to give you the reins on that because I can’t wait to hear, like, all the things. What’s next for you? What’s the future look like for Nina?

Nina Caviggiola  00:57:15  like, I hate this question because you.

Katy Ripp 00:57:17  Don’t have to answer.

Nina Caviggiola  00:57:18  I love like I like. It’s a great question. I love the question, but like, I hate it at the same time because it makes me uncomfortable. Because I wish I knew, like, yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:57:26  How far do you look ahead? Do you think like, do you feel like you look ahead to tomorrow or. Yeah, we we look older or.

Nina Caviggiola  00:57:35  it depends like in personal life. We look ahead by like 2 to 5 years and personal life like, I don’t know, my dream is just to like, give my kids the childhood to travel. Like travel, lots of traveling. We have a buy land and build a house in the next 5 to 10 years, probably closer to ten because we love our neighborhood.

Nina Caviggiola  00:57:56  Yeah. So personally, that’s what’s next for me there. Nothing really super exciting. But I also, I saw this quote the other day and I can’t quote it exactly. It was like, you’re not going to be as successful looking ahead and dreaming ahead until you’re happy with the version of yourself you are now. And I think that’s where I am right now. Like, I’m trying to be happy with the version of myself. Now I might look like this super successful, put together person on the outside and like, I’m running this awesome business and I’m so proud of it. But like, I have a lot of work to do as far as giving myself grace and as far as like giving value to who I am and what I do, I’m still like. Those are things I’m still working on as far as business where I’m going. This year was kind of a busy year for me. We started a nonprofit organization called Nurture a Foundation, and that was a dream of mine for years. I wanted to help families who are low income or who are in need.

Nina Caviggiola  00:58:53  And so this year was kind of taken up by that. And we haven’t really thought too much ahead, but we’re hopefully going to be doing more confidence and empowerment events for women. Some speaking, I would love to do more speaking events. I know you were there when I did my first speaking event and I would, I think I.

Katy Ripp 00:59:12  Went like you if it makes you feel any better.

Nina Caviggiola  00:59:13  So like I talked for.

Katy Ripp 00:59:15  Like 45 minutes, they gave us.

Nina Caviggiola  00:59:17  Like 15 minutes and oh my god. So yeah, I got to get better at that. And business wise, I’m stuck in that sense because I don’t like naturally in this influencer space, people will like start a brand. Like that’s kind of the next step.

Katy Ripp 00:59:32  Interesting. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  00:59:33  Okay. I don’t know how passionate I feel about that because that’s a whole. Then you have to run a whole nother business. Yeah, right. My husband and I did start a business last year for real estate. So we have a real estate business and we own a few properties.

Nina Caviggiola  00:59:51  So that’s kind of like in the infancy stages. We’re trying to, like, grow our money in other places and not grown on what I do. Yeah. So yeah, that’s kind of we’re hopefully growing that hopefully growing the confidence space. And I don’t know yet what’s next. I think currently I’m just going to focus on myself and building my own confidence up.

Katy Ripp 01:00:12  Right. Well I’ll be there with you if that makes you feel any better.

Nina Caviggiola  01:00:15  Yeah.

Katy Ripp 01:00:16  What about your event?

Nina Caviggiola  01:00:18  My event? So we’re having our first confidence in her event. So it’s an event for women? A lot of it is catered to moms, but any woman is welcome to help build confidence in yourself. It’s going to be October 17th in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. It sold out in seven minutes when I posted about it, so it’s already sold out. I’m sorry for anyone listening that wants to come, but it is a non-profit fundraising event so you’ll get a lot of like confidence stuff there. We’re going to have tons of vendors like pampering, self care type stuff.

Nina Caviggiola  01:00:53  I have basically every brand that I’ve ever worked with has donated for goodie bags, they’ve donated for raffles. We have like an entire like luxury Mexico trip being given away. We have hundreds and hundreds of dollars being given away for spending on shopping. We have Botox, we have tattoos. I mean, it’s going to be like a whole this is going to be big. And I’m excited. We only charge $25 for entry fee, and I’m hoping that this will help women feel like there’s a community out there. And we’re going to have a panel of speakers talking about confidence. We’re going to have a keynote speaker talking about mental health and women and motherhood. And then I’m going to speak. Hopefully I won’t go over my time. But yeah, there’s going to be a DJ. There’s going to be, oh my God, we’re going to offer professional headshot like it’s I’m hoping that women just feel leave feeling just empowered and worthy of who they are in their life.

Katy Ripp 01:01:52  You think you’ll do it every year?

Nina Caviggiola  01:01:54  Honestly, it was really a lot of work.

Katy Ripp 01:01:57  Yeah, it’s so much.

Nina Caviggiola  01:01:58  Work this entire basically since January, we’ve been working on this and it’s now August and Cassidy has done everything. Cassidy and my manager well.

Katy Ripp 01:02:09  So those things from the outside look like, oh my God, this is so cool. And it is amazing. But like the amount of work that goes into shit like that is next level.

Nina Caviggiola  01:02:19  Yeah. And I think that people have written to me and say they want this every year, and I think that we don’t have enough of these things. Maybe you and I can do one together.

Katy Ripp 01:02:26  I.

Nina Caviggiola  01:02:27  I feel like when you do it with other people, it’s like easier.

Katy Ripp 01:02:30  But yeah, I spread it out a little bit.

Nina Caviggiola  01:02:32  I had like major imposter syndrome. I was like, no one’s going to come, no one’s going to buy a ticket. And like, it sold out in seven minutes. And then we opened more spots up and that sold out in two minutes. So it’s just.

Katy Ripp 01:02:46  Such a testament to how hungry people are for connection.

Nina Caviggiola  01:02:51  Yes, yes. Especially women and moms.

Katy Ripp 01:02:53  People are like kind of done with the virtual space. That’s what I’ve discovered. Like I’ve done a bunch of virtual stuff and all my in-person stuff is way more attended. It’s just that was actually one of the questions is, do you ever feel lonely? Like isolated?

Nina Caviggiola  01:03:10  Yeah, all the time I do. I have Cassidy here a lot now, and that really helps me because in nursing you are in a nurse’s station with a bunch of people, and you’re always talking, constantly socializing. And it’s just amazing to get away. Like in that job. It’s amazing to get away from your house. It’s amazing to get away from your kids and your husband, and you’re in this space of like, mutuals, like everybody feels that way. Like, oh, my kids were driving me nuts. Or like I, you know, whereas now I’m in my house where I have this constant need and desire and guilt if I’m not cleaning or if I’m not organizing or and then I don’t leave my house very often.

Nina Caviggiola  01:03:57  That’s another thing I need to work on, is I’ve become such a homebody. I don’t like leaving my house, ever. I barely go anywhere. So yes, it gets very lonely, but I’m kind of at peace with it. I don’t know, I used to be such a social person. I had to have plans all the time, and now I’m like, I kind of love this. But yeah, it is lonely.

Katy Ripp 01:04:20  Yeah, I know for me, like, the healthier I got and the more I healed my own, like inner child and my myself. I liked being with myself a lot more. And so I didn’t need other people to fill that in as much. And so now I’m like this homebody that I’m like, oh, I if I never have to leave here at all, ever. It would be amazing.

Nina Caviggiola  01:04:42  That’s such it like, I know.

Katy Ripp 01:04:44  But like, I just, I thought I was an extrovert all these years because it would just like, masked all the other stuff.

Katy Ripp 01:04:51  And for me, all of a sudden I was like, well, I didn’t like my own company. And now that I like my own company, I kind of like to be introverted and be home. And like, I still love the social part, and I like to be on social media and do all of the things and be at events and stuff. But I still get some energy being alone too, and I think that’s for me, it was like such a healing. It was a testament to like actually doing the work and healing some stuff.

Nina Caviggiola  01:05:14  So yeah, that’s a really good way to put it. Like when you finally get comfortable with being with yourself, because I think we are often uncomfortable being with ourselves in the chaos because there’s a constant chaos going on. There’s. There are such high expectations of mothers and women, and once it quiets down, you don’t know what to do with yourself. Like, what are my hobbies? Like, I don’t even know what my hobbies are.

Katy Ripp 01:05:39  I should be doing all this shit like, well, and also the chaos is, like, kind of comfortable, right? Like it feels like, oh, I can fix this problem.

Katy Ripp 01:05:47  So I’m useful and I’m valuable and I’m worthy and all of the things I could talk for about that for fucking.

Nina Caviggiola  01:05:53  Weeks, that’s like a whole nother EP.

Katy Ripp 01:05:54  Oh, that was you do not have an office.

Nina Caviggiola  01:05:57  I mean, you have an office.

Katy Ripp 01:05:58  In your house, but like, you leave to go to an office.

Nina Caviggiola  01:06:01  No.

Katy Ripp 01:06:02  Has that ever been a thought?

Nina Caviggiola  01:06:03  My husband thinks it would be a good idea, but, like, I would have to then drag all my clothes. Like, I do a lot of stuff with clothes and like a lot of my. I want my content to feel like natural, and I want it to feel like I’m just in my house showing you, you know? So I don’t want that. Yeah, maybe one day, depending on where the business. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 01:06:22  You might end up with like a really super cute Airbnb that you just go to for a retreat. Yeah, like that’s a good idea. I’m going to the office. Yeah, yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  01:06:31  That would be nice. We I mean, we have a commercial property I could go over to, but I don’t know, I like being in my house and.

Katy Ripp 01:06:39  Yeah, me too, I love it. I also love my office. My office is pretty badass, but right now it’s covered in a bunch of shit from the ice cream shop. Oh my God, I have so many questions that I should have asked you that I just never got to. But maybe I can have you back on.

Nina Caviggiola  01:06:53  Yeah, I’d love to. I’d love to come back. It feels like such a easy, natural conversation.

Katy Ripp 01:06:59  Oh, I just love you. I mean, I just.

Nina Caviggiola  01:07:01  Like, I.

Katy Ripp 01:07:02  Watch everything, and I, like, seek you out. I just I’m so glad we met. I’m so glad my path crossed with yours. I just feel like sometimes people I will not. Sometimes all the time. People cross each other’s path for a reason. And I just like I’m always rooting for you.

Katy Ripp 01:07:19  I know you don’t probably need it, but. Or maybe after this conversation you do. But I just I’m always rooting for you. I just feel like you are just such a bright, shining light in so many ways. And so keep doing what you’re doing. And I just at least two of us love you, me and my friend Jana.

Nina Caviggiola  01:07:35  Keller, I said hi, I.

Katy Ripp 01:07:37  Sure will, she will be fangirling all over that. I just feel like there were so many important things in there. Like, of course not everybody feels great. Like we just, you know, do it. Sometimes you have to do it scared, sometimes you have to do it bloated. Sometimes you have to do it, you know. Yeah. All the ways. And sometimes you just say no, right?

Nina Caviggiola  01:07:57  Yeah. I think that the biggest takeaway for yes I can is that you can do it if you’re willing to believe in yourself and you can say no and you can ask for help. Yeah.

Nina Caviggiola  01:08:10  Those are the things that I think we miss a lot is saying no and asking for help. And you can do it because I’ve built an entire multi-million dollar business doing those two things, even though it took me a long time. To believe that I can do it. You don’t have to wait as long as me, I promise. Asking for help is, oh.

Katy Ripp 01:08:31  It’s so good.

Nina Caviggiola  01:08:32  Game changer.

Katy Ripp 01:08:33  Yeah, it’s so good. I’m not going to leave Yolanda’s name for the laundry, because I’m scared that if I give her name out too much, she’ll leave me. So Yolanda has a special place here. But yes, you can have somebody else do your laundry. Yeah, my mother hates it, but whatever.

Nina Caviggiola  01:08:51  Well, she’s also, like, probably in that mindset, you know, women back when our moms were raising kids, they didn’t have to do all the things that we have to do now.

Katy Ripp 01:09:00  No, they.

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:01  Weren’t expected to have a business and be a boss, babe, but also be a cook and a cleaner and raise children and do crafts with their children and make sure their kids are in sports and make sure you’re traveling, but also make sure your marriage is healthy.

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:15  Like they didn’t have to do all that. They literally just had to be married. And, you know, I’m not downplaying, but like the expectation in our society is so different. Like, I’m sure they had it hard, but they had to cook, clean and be there for their husbands. Now we have to do a million more things plus that.

Katy Ripp 01:09:33  Yeah. And also work full time and be multimillionaires.

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:37  Yes.

Katy Ripp 01:09:37  And not feel bad about any of it?

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:40  No. Yeah. Be a man. Be a man.

Katy Ripp 01:09:43  Be a man. We’re also birth children.

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:46  Yes. And cook and clean.

Katy Ripp 01:09:48  Cook and clean and do all the things. Oh, Nina, thank you so much. I appreciate this so much. I’m so excited to have talked to you. I would talk to you every day if I could.

Nina Caviggiola  01:09:59  Thank you so much for having me, Katy. This was seriously so amazing. I would love to be back.

Katy Ripp 01:10:04  Yes. Thank you so much. And that’s a wrap on today’s episode.

Katy Ripp 01:10:11  I hope you enjoyed diving deep into the world of living authentically with me. Before you go, don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram. Shoot me a message at Katy Ripp. I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and connect with you further. And remember, if you want more details on today’s episode, or just want to explore more about designing your life unapologetically, head on over to my website at Katy Ripp dot com. There you’ll find all the juicy details and resources you need to keep the inspiration flowing. Lastly, if you’d like to join me on the show, whether it’s to tell about your experience of designing your own life, to share your expertise, or if you’d like to participate in lifestyle coaching live on air, don’t hesitate to reach out. Your story could inspire countless others on their own path to living authentically. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep living boldly designing your life. And remember #ActuallyICan.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:00:00  You can do whatever you want to do. You have one life. Don’t waste your time like you just don’t know how long you have. Don’t waste your time doing something that you’re miserable doing.

Katy Ripp 00:00:15  Hey there, fellow rebels, welcome to hashtag. Actually I can the podcast where we say a hearty hell yes to designing life on our own terms. I’m Katy Ripp, a lifestyle coach, business mentor, and serial entrepreneur here to guide you through the wild ride, defining what society expects of us and embracing our authenticity. On this show, we dive deep into taboo topics like death, money, spirituality, entrepreneurship, unapologetic self-care, and personal development, all while swearing and laughing along the way. Expect down and dirty conversations, plenty of humor, and a whole lot of exploration, leaving you feeling empowered to be your truest self. Whether you’re craving a good laugh, seeking unconventional self-care tips, or simply looking for some camaraderie. You’ve come to the right place. We only get this one short life, so buckle up and let’s design yours on our own terms.

Katy Ripp 00:01:08  Ready to dive in? Let’s go. Okay, well, I read your story over the weekend, and I’m fascinated by it, partly because, well, first of all, I literally just had a teacher reach out to me, and she just listened to EMS, you know, she left her teaching job for some reason. I’m surrounded by teachers leaving, teaching jobs to do shit. I don’t know why, and nurses, teachers and nurses. So I just had an interview with Nina Caviggalio. I think that’s how you say her last name. She left her nursing job and now she’s a crazy, huge influencer. And then, like, I know other people that were nurses and have left their job to go and be a creative and a bunch of teachers. So like my general manager at Crossroads and Creekside was a special education teacher and was basically getting hit at work every day. And I was like, well, I can’t promise you a ton of money, but I won’t hit you. And then like a number of other people.

Katy Ripp 00:02:12  And so one of my friends is like a professional organizer, and she started her own business a couple years ago, but she left her teaching job. So, like, there’s this exodus of amazing teachers out there, which. Ding ding ding. We should really be, like paying attention to all of these teachers leaving to go and pursue something that either is going to double their income or is like the environment is so toxic and so bad, they’re willing to take a huge risk to leave. I think there’s some like major lessons in here. And then your comment, the other teachers feeling stuck, right? Like how many teachers do you know that are just like, don’t have an entrepreneurial mind, what else are they going to do? Right. Like it’s kind of like those. Well, I think they call them golden handcuffs in the corporate world. I think they they’re just handcuffs in the education world. Yeah, I like the handcuffs. Oh, yeah. Like your 401 K and your benefits and all of these, your summers off and all of these things.

Katy Ripp 00:03:15  So I’m fascinated by your story, and I’d love to hear the way you wrote it out was amazing, but I’d love for you to, like, just start. Plus, you got married at, like, 21 and 20. That’s crazy.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:03:26  Yeah. I mean, yes, you hit the nail right on the head with like, the mass exodus. I think I was like part of that big wave. And I think it’s still happening with teachers. It was post-pandemic, like, I think the environment and a lot of schools, from what I hear, just nationwide, got significantly worse, to the point where teachers were like, I’m at my breaking point. I need to do something different, right? So yeah, I was part of that wave.

Katy Ripp 00:03:51  Yeah. Thank God that people decided to do something else productive rather than like I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do and take a mental health checkout, right? Permanent solution to a temporary problem kind of thing. Because I’m guessing there’s some of that.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:04:08  Yeah. And I mean, I think of like my graduating class of college and I think half or more than half have left teaching already, and it’s only been several years, you know, so it’s oh yeah, it’s crazy. Yeah. So jumping right in I guess my background. So yeah, my husband and I got married so young. So I was it was a week after my 20th birthday and he was 21. So yeah, we were just babies. And looking back I’m like, who let us get married that early? But it’s kind of the norm here in Utah. So yeah, we were both raised Mormon. So we got married super young and then ended up leaving the church a few years later. So that was a whole big story. Interesting.

Katy Ripp 00:04:51  Yeah. Both of you left the church, I think. Oh wow. That’s a story. So that number itself I’m guessing.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:04:58  Totally. Oh yeah. And I’m totally open to talking about it now. But while we were kind of going through it was pretty tricky.

Katy Ripp 00:05:04  But yeah I mean we’re in Wisconsin. So this is like Catholic capital of the world, right? Which, you know, has its own flair to it, I guess. So, yeah, that’s fascinating to me because I know I and I don’t know much about the Mormon church, to be honest. I know enough, you know, about what I’ve read and what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen, I guess. And I know that’s not all true, right? Like we can take or leave a lot of that, but leaving any religion or having questions about religion is I especially, you know, grew up in a family with that kind of belief system. Could not have been easy. How old were you when you left?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:05:41  I think I was 22, so.

Katy Ripp 00:05:44  Oh, okay. So shortly after you got married?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:05:46  Yeah. Being like, born and raised in Utah is kind of a unique bubble where the majority of people, or it feels like the majority of people you interact with are also of the same belief system.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:05:58  So it’s kind of like this little bubble of everyone believes the same way and things like that, and then it influences cultural norms, like I was saying. So a lot of people get married early or encouraged to start a family right away if you can. So yeah, and I think I mentioned the whole faith transition because I think it kind of influenced my decision to then open my mind about other possibilities with career stuff, because, I mean, my paradigm was shifted with that whole transition and I’m like, oh, there’s a new way I could be thinking about things, which just kind of blew open the door for me to think about other possibilities and different areas of life.

Katy Ripp 00:06:36  So wait, is podcasting because of that?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:06:40  Yeah, because of a whole different range of shifts and beliefs that kind of, throughout my story, have tied back into what I’ve heard and listened to on podcasts. So yeah, it’s all kind of you love it and interconnected for me.

Katy Ripp 00:06:54  So yeah. Tell me about the shift from Mormon to do you have another faith based religion or I.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:07:04  Wouldn’t say like an organized religion now, but I would say I like to believe that there’s a higher power of some kind, but I’m open to anything now that I like. I was so set on one way of thinking my whole life now I’m like, well, oh, it could be this, or I’m open to something else. Just open to it all. Oh, how fascinating.

Katy Ripp 00:07:23  And your husband was on board. Like, that’s always, you know, like it’s one thing to do something for yourself, right? But like a whole nother shift when you’re bringing somebody along or they’re taking you along or you’re going together. Yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:07:38  Yeah. I think what I’ve seen in friends and just other people, it’s such a common thing for couples to separate because of that difference in belief and yeah. During that time, I was really grateful that we kind of were able to explore things together. And it was hard, even like we were both open to exploring things together. But there’s just that unraveling of belief that your belief can be different on certain things than the other person at different times.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:08:05  Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:08:05  So yeah, that’s a lot. I mean, that is fascinating, but it must have played into so many other things in your life so far. It is so important, right? Like when you change your belief system into something that like I mean, I would imagine some people like change your belief system, which closes their mind, right? As they get older, they, you know, their minds closed further and further and become a little bit more tunneled. But like, it’s almost like yours opened up, right?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:08:33  Yeah. I’m grateful to have had that experience in like expanding to now I’m like, oh, I don’t want to ever, like definitively say, this is my belief because I just am now open to everything, which I think has been such a blessing in the long run, because now I’m. I want to hear everyone’s perspective because I might not know what they know. So yeah. So it’s been awesome to have. Yeah, it really has been a gift to experience, especially early in my life, to where I’m now like, oh, I want to learn more, and I want to hear more about all different types of perspectives.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:09:06  So which you yeah, actually.

Katy Ripp 00:09:09  Like physically do hear more of everybody’s yes perspectives. That’s literally what you do.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:09:15  Yeah. That’s why I, I just I have the coolest job because I get to hear people’s stories all day. So yeah that’s awesome.

Katy Ripp 00:09:22  That’s really cool. So yeah about the teaching.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:09:25  So yes, in my early 20s, a little before I got married, I had to decide like what I wanted to go into in school. So I had always loved school. Growing up, I was like the textbook teacher’s pet. Like school always came really easy. It was such a fun place. So I had always kind of maybe been interested in teaching. And so of course, like when you’re deciding what you want to do, you choose something that’s like within your realm of possibility. And at that time, when I was early in school, I didn’t know anyone that was like an entrepreneur, let alone in the online space. Like, that was like, I didn’t even know people did that for a living or how to do that or anything like that.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:10:08  So, right.

Katy Ripp 00:10:08  Like I, I think we kind of think of that as like a out there or possibility or for somebody else.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:10:15  Right. Like I had heard of people doing things like social media management or something and thought, oh, that’s cool that they can kind of do their own thing, work from home, have flexibility, things like that. But yeah, it was for someone else. And yeah, so yeah, I chose something that was within my realm of possibility, which teaching is obviously a pretty common profession. So I’ll sounded interesting. So chose that. And I honestly loved my time in the education program. I learned so much, made some awesome friends and like I don’t regret it at all. I like I got to have some awesome experiences just getting to learn about child development and how to teach. And my husband and I got to go to China to teach English and wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t like pursuing teaching. So a lot of really great things came out of going into teaching.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:11:02  So definitely don’t regret that. But I finished my student teaching kind of right in the middle of Covid times. And then after pandemic started, my first year of teaching.

Katy Ripp 00:11:14  Oh, interesting. Okay. Which is hard to believe. It’s going to be freaking five years, right? Coming up, I know what it feels like week.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:11:24  Oh, I know, so I was super excited to get my first teaching job. I ended up working at the same school I soon taught at, and I soon taught in second grade. And I got a job teaching third grade. So I got to move up with some of the same kids that I had taught that year before. So, so excited about that. And like the summer before going into teaching, I like spent so many hours in my classroom prepping and doing all the things, and in my mind, I was the type of person that I’m like, I will be a teacher forever. Like, I was setting up my classroom in a way that like, I’m going to be here for 30 years.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:12:02  I need all the supplies I need. I have like this awesome classroom library. I had purchased books and had books donated and things like that, gathering all the things. And yeah, I was pretty convinced I was going to be to win it a lifer. Yeah. So school started in August, so I was teaching at a title one school, which means there was a higher percentage of lower income families that we were serving. So a lot of the students in my class had just like really challenging home lives. And of course, you hear about a lot of it. The kids will tell you. And so you kind of know what’s going on. And for a title one school, I had a pretty large class. I had about 30 kids in my class.

Katy Ripp 00:12:43  Which 33rd graders?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:12:46  Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:12:47  Oh my God, yeah. This is why people are leaving and teaching.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:12:53  Yeah, I think it would have been a little bit more manageable with ten less even.

Katy Ripp 00:12:58  But yeah, 30 kids had a pretty 30 kids of gifted kids a lot.

Katy Ripp 00:13:03  Right. But they throw in like troubled home life or whatever. Keep going.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:13:09  So I had about 30 kids and like I said there, they had just really a lot of them sad situations at home. And then I mean kids are kids right. They behave a certain way because they need something. They’re not getting a need met. Of course I believe kids don’t do anything like maliciously. They’re not trying to be crazy or make things hard for you, but they would bring a lot of that just trauma and not getting their needs met and things to school. And so I had just so many crazy Behaviors. And I mean, I had, like you mentioned, with your friend, that was a special ed teacher. Like I would, yeah, get hit like chairs thrown, like just all sorts of crazy, crazy things happening to the point where it was like by October I was burnt out. I’d only been like a few months. And I remember, like, taking the first fall break, I think it was in October.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:14:02  So and I’m like, oh my gosh, I have how many months left of the school year? Like I don’t, how am I going to make it? I mean, I got to the point where I had always been through school and just previous jobs had always been like, I never called in sick, like, you know, just push through if I was feeling under the weather, whatnot. But I got to the point where I was like, it was hard to get out of bed in the morning because I would wake up knowing the chaos that the day would bring, which was kind of my first red flag of like, oh, something’s not right here. Like, this doesn’t feel good to me to not be able to wage a.

Katy Ripp 00:14:38  Place to be right, because it just like it can circle, like in this kind of vicious cycle of like feeling bad that you don’t like, you’re not getting up. And you should be able to do this because other people are doing it and your coworkers are doing it and, you know, whatever.

Katy Ripp 00:14:55  And then it gets into this, like cycle of feeling bad and possibly doing other things to, like, make yourself feel better, which people can go in lots of directions that way. So yeah, that’s a dangerous place to be.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:15:09  Yeah, totally. I would get home from school and like, I have always been like an active person. I love to run and and things. And I would get home at 4 or 5, six and just want to go straight to bed, like, so overstimulated from the day. And I think that’s pretty common if you have a great class or yeah, a challenging class with teachers. But yeah, so I just did not feel like myself. And your first year of teaching. They usually say it’s hard no matter what. So I’m like, okay, it’s probably just my first year anyway, so made it through the fall and then January. I’m still just feeling so burnt out. So I started to kind of ask other teachers that were in my building or from around the area or online, just kind of their experience with teaching and teachers at different stages of their careers, right? New teachers, veteran teachers.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:16:04  And the more I talk to other teachers, realize that there was like a pattern of they would say something along the lines of the system isn’t built to support teachers. And from what I was seeing, it wasn’t really built to support students either. Like, I would just.

Katy Ripp 00:16:20  Teach you this in college, but yeah, seeing you to go to.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:16:24  Right. Yeah. Like I would just fill this poll, like I said, with all my students who had just challenging situations like they needed so much more than to be taught math and reading, like they needed some social skill development, and they needed so much. More than one teacher can give 30 students at a time, and so just needed more support. And I like had this realization of like, the system is not supporting teachers and it’s not supporting students. And from what I hear, like teachers kind of went one of two ways. They either just accepted that the system is broken and just try to make do. So they would either sacrifice their own personal boundaries, like staying long hours to get all their stuff done, or spend their own money, or they either didn’t meet all the expectations.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:17:16  And me, as a classic Type-A personality, I’m like, well, I don’t want to not meet expectations. So yeah, I was burnt out. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:17:26  I mean, you think to yourself too, like when you were saying that, you know, they’re sacrificing their boundaries, but also, don’t you see so often they’re sacrificing their health, right? Like so many teachers are putting all of their well, I mean, literally lives on the line. And then also like giving so much for very little return or a very like I’m sure it’s rewarding at some points, but I’m sure that the rewards are fewer and farther apart than they used to be. And just like then, they’re never putting themselves first, right? Like they’re putting their family first and then they’re putting their students first, and then maybe they get to go next. And yeah, it’s just it’s so hard to watch. Yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:18:09  I became kind of almost like when I started to notice the pattern, I became like almost bitter about it.

Katy Ripp 00:18:16  Like, yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:18:17  The teachers that were awesome and work on top of things and doing well, they would get more work and get delegated more responsibility, like they become a team lead or over the PTA or whatever it was like, because they were awesome. And I also noticed. I mean, there’s a reason why most teachers are women. Like women will put up with like not being appreciated and compensated, I think a lot more than men would. And there’s a reason why teachers are still underpaid and overworked, because they do it for the love of the students, right?

Katy Ripp 00:18:53  Yeah. And it’s hard not to realize that that’s not enough. And you get punished for saying it’s not enough, right? Right. Like, all of a sudden teachers are also persecuted because they’re like, well, shouldn’t it just be rewarding enough to teach the students, excuse me? Like, since when do we have to feel like we are like the only ones that can do that or give up our entire lives for it?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:19:20  Right.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:19:21  And then I started to look at like, there’d be like, funny memes, like just comparing teachers to other jobs of like, okay, this is your job, okay? But now you need to provide all the resources to do your job and work extra hours to be able to do all of the things. And it’s just crazy, right? So it was early spring, like January ish. I started to listen to podcasts of teachers who were leaving, teaching and exploring other career opportunities. And I should have mentioned earlier, but just throughout before this time period, I loved podcasts, started to just listen to podcasts throughout like my faith transition early. Oh, interesting. I had listened to podcasts to help me through different seasons of life and like I said, just opened my eyes to different possibilities and different perspectives and so started to do the same within teaching and hearing stories of other teachers who had left teaching. And there was a podcast that was a teacher career coach that would talk to teachers and interview them about different things that they did with their education, about teaching.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:20:28  So. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:20:29  So you, when do you like to listen to podcasts?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:20:33  Obviously, all day at work. I listen to my client’s podcast.

Katy Ripp 00:20:36  But, yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:20:37  I’ll listen on a walk, so I go, I take my dog on a walk every morning. So definitely then sometimes while I run doing housework, I mean, I am a podcast junkie. I still even like listening to them all day for work. I still listen before and after work like I love them. So okay, driving.

Katy Ripp 00:20:55  I’m always like wonder. I always wonder what where people listen to them because like, I listen to them when I walk or in the car. Yeah, I’m not really gotten in, like listening to them when I’m at home, you know, like with headphones on or whatever, like, well, let’s be real, I don’t do housework, so I don’t need to do that for you. I know. Right. But like occasionally if I’m mowing the lawn or something like that, I will listen.

Katy Ripp 00:21:18  But I’m just always curious, like, where are people listening? Like, are they running or are they, you know, like, what are they doing when they’re listening? And it’s such an interactive active sport pastime. I don’t know exactly what it’s called, but like, it’s such an interactive thing. Like you can do a bunch of things. It’s not like you have to just sit here or like reading a book. You don’t just have to like, sit and read. I’m always find it fascinating to hear and especially like a podcast producer, like, why would you ever listen to another podcast? Because you’re listening all the time, but you’re a true junkie, I love it.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:21:51  Yeah, I totally am. That’s why I’m like, I am in the perfect career for myself, I think because I love them before and still love them. So yeah. So like I said, just started listening to the podcasts, hearing different teachers stories. I came across this podcast about a course creator that helped people get into freelancing.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:22:12  So my eyes were open to like the world of online business and freelancing. And like I mentioned earlier, I had no idea that this world even existed or like that. Someone could get into it, not having a background in business. I never knew it was a possibility for myself and just started to hear different stories. And some of them were even teachers who transition from teaching into freelancing and doing all kinds of different things. So sort of just to learn about that. And it was March of that same school year that I was having such crazy anxiety, like, could hardly get out of bed. And I never in previous jobs or anything had never been the type to like, call in sick. But this one day I’m like, I’m staying home today. So I called in sick and I remember just in the morning I had just so overstimulated as a teacher, I like walk into my living room and sit down on the couch and was just like staring at the wall. And it was like an epiphany that I realized I can either stay in the system and try to fight it and make it work for me, or try to fight and change it, or I can leave.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:23:20  And it was like an epiphany. In one moment I’m like, I’m gonna leave. I’m not gonna go back next year. And at that point, I didn’t know what exactly I was going to do the next year, not returning to teaching. But I just knew, like my health was not the same. I think I was sick that year, like with a cold from like October to April. Like I was a type to never get sick before. And I’m like, this is not feeling right. So yeah, just one day I like made the decision. I am not going back next year. And so that March, I started my business. I enrolled in a course from that podcast host that I listened to and started learning about freelancing and made the goal that if I could replace my teaching income, that I would not go back the next year, you know? So I started working like early mornings before going to school, would start work at like five and then go to school at 830 or whatever time, and then work after school to, to build my business.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:24:22  and I ended up getting some awesome clients. Like, I think it was like that, just deciding, like, this is the direction I’m going to go that like opened the door for like, yeah, things to come in.

Katy Ripp 00:24:33  When you start to make room, it just like all of a sudden, I know. I love that so much.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:24:39  I didn’t know what was going to come, but I knew, like, this is the direction I’m going in and it’s going to work if I just keep taking steps in this direction. So it was totally perfect. The clients that I was able to connect with initially because like I said, I had no experience in the online space, but the people I ended up working with were just some really awesome women in business that were able to, like, mentor me and just let me have so many different experiences doing all different parts of their business, just learning about different things. I was doing admin work and customer service and virtual assistant type work, and then also some creative elements like writing blog posts and and then eventually doing back end of podcast production.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:25:25  So I ended up getting to learn how to do some of the back end of podcast production. And all of a sudden it clicked for me. I’m like, oh my gosh. First of all, I loved listening to podcasts and have been so connected with some of the podcast hosts that I have listened to and have been so transformative for me. And then I’ve ended up hiring some of these people that I’ve listened to because of the relationship that I’ve developed with these podcast hosts, and then working in the back end of some of my clients podcasts, got to see how their podcast was such an asset for their business and client attraction and visibility and content creation and all the things. So it just clicked and I’m like, this is the direction I want to go in. But that took several months of just trying a bunch of different things and not really being totally clear on where I was going, which was scary because I had made the decision to leave teaching and had to tell, like my admin, that I wasn’t coming back.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:26:26  And people would ask like, what are you going to do?

Katy Ripp 00:26:29  What are you going to do? What can you possibly do?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:26:34  Yeah, and like my friends and family, they were obviously supportive, but I’m sure they were like, well, you just went to school for four years for teaching and now you’re going to do what, like. So that was kind of scary. I mean, I didn’t like announce it to the world for a while after because I’m like, it does sound kind of crazy. Like, I told everyone I was going to be a teacher and now I’m not anymore. So yeah, it was definitely scary. But like I said, like, I decided I was going in this direction and didn’t really know where it was going to go and have been like just so pleasantly surprised on what has come my way. Like, I’ve just been able to connect with so many awesome people that I would never have been able to meet, like you and my other clients, who I just get to learn so much from.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:27:21  I would have never been exposed to these different perspectives and possibilities if I hadn’t decided to do something different.

Katy Ripp 00:27:29  So yeah. Do you think that that day in March when you called in sick, do you think that that was really like the precipice, like, this is it?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:27:37  I’m going I think so like it was just I think for so long I had been so busy just doing, doing, doing like, I mean, through school, I had several jobs, like I would just work and go to school and all the things. And then during teaching, you’re obviously so busy with all the expectations that you can’t keep up with it. I had never, like, truly taken a second to sit down and think, like, is this a direction I really want to go and really ask myself and give myself the space to feel what direction was right for me. And I think leaving the church several years before was also kind of, like I mentioned, opened my eyes to, oh, I can think differently.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:28:21  I can change my mind about things. So yeah, but I think it was I’ve.

Katy Ripp 00:28:24  Had the experience of doing it once already, like, and the world did not. You know, the floor did not fall out from underneath you. I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable, but like nobody died because you made a decision for yourself. And, you know, we get into our heads about like all this fear of, like what might happen if I like, what is the admin going to think of me if I don’t come back to school? I’m so lucky to have this job, right? Like we’ve been told that all of our lives, like you’re kind of stuck and sort of like the question, well, what’s the worst that can happen? Right? Like, what is the worst that can happen after this? Well, what’s the best that could happen? So tell me about that. Tell me about like, your day in the life, like compared to your days in teaching, what are your days look like now?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:29:13  I love that question because I vividly remember during teaching, anyone that’s a teacher knows, like your days as a teacher.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:29:21  You’re so overstimulated, like you have a million kids. Like I would hear Mrs. Leavitt, Mrs. Leavitt, like all day. Like you’re so, so overstimulated. I remember telling one of my teachers on my team, like, I am just dreaming about having a job where I can work at home and not talk to anyone unless I want to, and work when I want, and be able to go to the bathroom when I want to. So I remember, like before I started building my business while I was teaching, like having this vision of doing exactly what I’m doing now and what I’ve been thinking like, oh, it makes me emotional because I remember envisioning what I’m doing now and not even knowing what I was going to be doing. Like I said, didn’t know anything about online business, but just took a step in this direction and have now created what was only a vision before. And now I’m like, I get to do this every day. Like I seriously have to pinch myself. Like I mean, teaching my days were like, you wake up, you’re at school by 8:00 or so, and then school starts at nine, and then you have a full day of teaching, and then school gets over at like 330.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:30:34  And then I would usually say to prep until like 6 or 7, you know, just until you can get all our stuff done.

Katy Ripp 00:30:40  Oh my god. Yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:30:42  So it was just a long, long day and Monday through Friday. Right. And then so it ended up being like, I mean, 40 to sometimes 50 hours a week if you were staying late or hours. And now I like have just been so appreciative this summer of like, I’m finally at a place with my business that I’m, I just have the most amazing clients, and I get to wake up and take my dog on a walk. And if I sleep in a little bit, that’s okay. And I get to be at home and have so much more work life balance than when I was gone all day, and not being able to take care of things at home, or run to the doctor when I need to, or whatever it may.

Katy Ripp 00:31:23  Go to the bathroom.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:31:25  Yeah, or go to the bathroom. Yeah, when you need to.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:31:28  But yeah. So get to do client episodes. It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I just get to hear these awesome stories and get to connect with people and learn all sorts of different perspectives.

Katy Ripp 00:31:40  So you get to be the first. You get to be the first to hear, like all the raw, you know, nitty gritty, the back end stuff. I would always be so nosy if I were you. You know, you’ve been in a and I’m quite a bit older than you, but so, you know, of course I went to 12 years of school and then I worked in a college and I worked in the school again. And so it took me until I was like 25 to be out of the school, like day, you know, the 7:30 a.m. m to 4:00 pm. That’s what your day looks like. And so as I got older and, you know, into jobs that were a little bit more flexible or whatever, I always like struggled with that. It feels like the day starts at 730 and it feels like it should be over at four.

Katy Ripp 00:32:28  But what I realized is that I really can’t do anything after noon, right? Like I’m just my creative juices are gone. I really just don’t have the bandwidth from 12 to 3. But I would always feel so guilty because I’d have that 12 to 3. Like, I don’t have energy to do something, but I feel like I should be doing something because I still have my day until 3 or 330. And now I have children, right? Like I’ve had kids in school for ten years. So I’m back in this like school rotation. So when I went out on my own, I struggled with the schedule. Has that been hard for you to like? I mean, at first it was probably like, well, this is really romantic. I can take my dog for a walk whenever I want, I can do whatever I want, but like I also realize there’s a lot of hours to fill in a day when you’re not wasting half of it. And I don’t mean to say that like teachers are wasting time.

Katy Ripp 00:33:22  That’s not what I mean. But there’s like a lot of chit chat and a lot of like, you know, transitioning from room to room or, you know, just like that weird kind of different time than you have when you’re self-employed, right? Like there’s just a lot eight hours is a lot of hours in a day to work straight through if you’re at home. Right. Have you been able to, like, break that up? Do you need the break? Have you been creative with your schedule or do you what’s that look like for you?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:33:49  Yeah, I will say like it’s a whole different type of problem. Like you said, when you’re working at a normal 9 to 5 or something like that, like you’re there from this time to this time. So there’s no like, should I work this time or should I work this time? Like, you’re just there. So it’s been like a different type of problem, which it’s the best kind of problem to have.

Katy Ripp 00:34:12  But I always say, like people say, well, that’s a good problem to have.

Katy Ripp 00:34:16  I’m like, well, good problems need solutions too. They all need all problems need solutions. It doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad. So yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:34:24  So like my problem was I can either tend to work too much and like not set the boundary of like I need to start this time and end this time. I can just work into the night if I like, get going, you know, or the other end of like of course client work will always get done, but then it’s like, if I need to work on this for my business, it can get done whenever, right? So I don’t feel like doing it today. So I live and die by my Google calendar. So I like to set things up in my calendar of like, this is when I’m going to work, and this is when I’m not going to work, because I think both has been challenging, especially when you work from home and you can work whenever you want to, you can work whenever you want to, and you can not work whenever you want to.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:35:07  So it’s like.

Katy Ripp 00:35:08  That. Freedom is tricky because if you’re not a self-starter, which you diagnosed yourself as type A earlier. But I am not a Type-A personality, so like I have a really hard time. If you give me a deadline, I’m getting it done right before the deadline, right? Like there’s really the fact that I am three episodes ahead right now is fascinating. I mean, like, there’s just like, I don’t understand how I’m here. Like, this is not me. I would be like, oh, Sunday night, you need my next one by the next day. Like, this is huge for me. This is called growth. That’s maturity. But yeah, there’s something to be said about like setting your schedule or having, you know, you get into that zone. And then I think that’s a really good thing. But it can get overwhelming. And when it’s your own business, it’s kind of this, like if you don’t live in an abundance mindset, you’re terrified you’re never going to get another job.

Katy Ripp 00:36:09  And so you can’t, you know, like you have to continue to do more and more and more. One of the points you said before was like, you don’t work on your business, you’re working in your business. And this is like one of the things that I run into, client into, with clients all the time is I have all these things that I need to do for my business or on my business, but I’m working in it all the time that I don’t have time to do that. Right. Like the social media, you know, the marketing, the selling for yourself, the admin work, the bookkeeping, all of the things that like a it can wait until April 14th right before you have to have your taxes done. How much of that has been an issue for you?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:36:53  I would say I will, definitely, especially the summer. Like you mentioned, there are certain things like social media or different things that it’s easy to not do them if they don’t have to be done right away.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:37:05  So like, social media has one of those things where this summer I’m like, I want to spend less time working on my business. And so that’s one of the things that I haven’t done a ton with lately. So I will say it’s like been kind of tricky for me to find the balance of like, oh, I could be doing all of these things. And if I did all the things that were in my brain, I would be working all the time. So it’s definitely finding the balance and like appreciating the time spent not working and counting that as also good and productive. Because if I could like if I let myself, I would work myself to hell. I was burnt out and then hate it. So I’ve had to like, embrace both sides of like it’s okay to maybe be able to do this thing, but choose not to for a time in order to. Like the summer. Social media has been on the back burner so I could yeah, do summer activities which have also been healthy for me in the long run.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:38:05  So definitely it’s a balancing act and it’s still something I’m learning.

Katy Ripp 00:38:09  So I think it’s like laundry. It’ll never, ever be done. I think you’re just like are always struggling with and I don’t know if I’d call it a struggle, but like it’s just always a challenge to be like, well, I could be producing more, right? Like the production part of our lives as women sometimes is just so like, if you’re not producing, then why aren’t you cleaning? Why aren’t you doing laundry? Or why aren’t you gardening? Or why aren’t you making a Pinterest craft? Or right, like, we try to fill our times with all this stuff because we feel like we should be producing something all the time. And one of the things you said before about like being so busy you don’t even know what’s hurting kind of. I was literally, I just had a podcast interview, which you’re going to love right before this, and we were literally talking about giving ourselves enough space. And when you have the space, then you’re all of a sudden you’re like, oh shit.

Katy Ripp 00:39:09  Like looking around like, oh shit. Like, I didn’t even know this was going on. And sometimes, like using being busy or do like filling all your time is just like a coping mechanism so you don’t feel what it feels like to like, oh, like you staring at the wall and being like, nope, this is not for me. Like you didn’t even give yourself. I mean, you didn’t have the chance to even ask yourself that until March. That’s crazy. And some people go their whole lives doing that, right? Like they keep themselves so busy and their kids so busy. It’s like the new find, right? Like, how are you? Busy, but fine. So it’s like this constant sort of coping mechanism of as long as we keep ourselves busy, we don’t have time to listen to the, you know, like intuitive things that come into our brain all the time. That’s right.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:40:01  And I still live like five minutes from the school that I taught at. And I think it’s crazy that I will still drive by once in a while and still see some of the same teachers that I worked with, cars parked there, and they’re the same people that I would talk to that would be just as burnt out and just as sad and all the things that I was, and they’re in that same situation of like they are doing, doing, doing.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:40:28  And they haven’t taken a second to like think of if they could do something different. But I know because I’ve talked to them, I know they’re just as miserable as I was. And like, it’s just crazy to me like to think about where I was and thinking of like doing another year of the same thing. I was like, no, I’m not doing it. And to think of like, maybe I could still be in that same situation and like, yeah, it’s crazy to me, and I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity to look and decide and have the space to do something different.

Katy Ripp 00:41:03  I mean, yes, you had the opportunity, but you gave it to yourself. I mean, nobody said you can leave. Nobody said you can’t. You don’t have to work anymore. Nobody said. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t sound like anybody said anything to give you the opportunity. You just said, I’m not doing this anymore. It’s not what I want, so I’m doing something else.

Katy Ripp 00:41:26  I mean, talk about living authentically. And just like this is what I’m doing, I. I’m, like, taking care of myself first. You didn’t owe anybody anything. I think we also get into that as teachers or caregivers or nurses or, you know, those sort of nurturing jobs. The no other job is worthy, right? Like you don’t bring as much value like you did with that job, right? Like you were teaching the youth of America, like, am I going to be able to provide value in podcast production, which, by the way, you are.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:42:01  Thank you.

Katy Ripp 00:42:03  Like do you think that there’s some of that like we’re how people like kind of stay stuck there. Maybe they call them rainbow handcuffs then or like fuzzy handcuffs.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:42:13  Yeah. Oh, totally. I remember like when I was in school to be a teacher and talking to other teachers. And they warned me they’re like, don’t go into teaching like some teachers that were like, real about it. And before I started teaching, I’m like, well, they’re cynical, like they must just not like teaching.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:42:32  And then going into it, I realized, oh, like, they have a point in, like, you have a job to support your life. And if it’s not supporting your life, like find something different, like you don’t just work to work. And I mean, I remember thinking when those teachers told me like, don’t go into teaching. I remember thinking, well, that’s the most worthwhile thing I could be doing with my time. Like teaching kids. Like, I can’t think of a better way to spend my life. Here’s your.

Katy Ripp 00:43:03  Fuzzy handcuffs.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:43:04  Yeah, a job is a job. Like you have a job to make money. So, yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:43:09  I am in the business of trying to get people to do what actually aligns with their values, right? Like whether that means, you know, doing something as a hobby or changing careers or starting a business or whatever that is. That’s what I kind of think my mission is. But I don’t look at it like a job, right? Like it’s how I make a living.

Katy Ripp 00:43:31  Like I also own other businesses, and that’s how I make a living. But I basically have bought myself a life that I get to do whatever I want with, because that’s how I want to live. I just don’t like nobody’s can cuffing you to a job. They are just jobs. It’s when you get into jobs like ours where we get to inspire somebody else or like send a message to somebody else that they can do it and that it might not be exactly what you think it is, but it’s way better than, like, dreaming about it your whole life. And then sometimes you get into a job, like teaching, where you’ve been dreaming about it your whole life, and then you’re like, oh shit, this is not what I thought it was going to be. And I’ve talked to other entrepreneurs. They get into a business and they’re like, I thought I was just going to like, talk to people in a store. I didn’t know that I was going to have to do all this other stuff.

Katy Ripp 00:44:29  And then they realized, nope, I’m better suited to work for somebody else. That’s fine. Just like own you are. Yeah, yeah.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:44:38  What I’ve loved about the guests that you’ve interviewed and just your message and what you do is like, it’s right up my alley of, like, you can do whatever you want to do. You have one life. Don’t waste your time like you don’t know your episode with Lynn. That was so touching to me because it was like, you just don’t know how long you have and don’t waste your time doing something that you’re miserable doing.

Katy Ripp 00:45:04  Yeah, and it’s not serving anybody. Right. Like if it’s misaligned with your values, a you’re going to be unhealthy, like physically or mentally. You’re going to break down at some point because it’s just not aligned. And then on top of that, like, who are you serving by doing, like doing something that you don’t want to do forever, like you’re not doing anybody any favors. And if we’ve ever seen anything like everybody’s replaceable.

Katy Ripp 00:45:32  I mean, I don’t love to say that out loud, but like, at your job, if you left, somebody will come in and take your place. They might not do it as great as you did, or they might do it better, or they might stay for two months and be like, fuck this, this is horrible, like you did or whatever, but staying at a job because it’s a job like doesn’t make any sense. And I know that sounds very entitled of me. Like, well, I have to make money. I have to pay bills. Well, so do I. And so do you write like most of the time, when we’re in jobs that actually align with our values, we make quadruple the money of what we were in. Tell me about the money. Like are you making more money than you were teaching?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:46:15  I was able to make more than I was teaching by the summer time. Like by the end of when I was leaving my teaching job, which is like, it’s crazy.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:46:22  And it’s sad because teachers are going to school and have so much education and are doing such good work, and they’re just not making any money. And it’s sad because a lot of the teachers I worked with wouldn’t have been able to support themselves. They had to have their partners income to like they wouldn’t have been able to support themselves. And you don’t have time to get another job if you’re teaching all day like it’s. So yeah, I was able to replace my teaching income, which is how I felt like confident and comfortable and like, I don’t know exactly what this is gonna look like long term still, but I am at least like replacing my income.

Katy Ripp 00:46:57  So wait, from like the time you decided in January ish to, like, take the course until the end of the year, you had already replaced your income.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:47:05  So yeah, like March was when I started. And then you get paid as a teacher through the end of summer. So it was like to August, probably March to August.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:47:13  So yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:47:15  So you worked half the time for the same amount of money. I mean.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:47:19  I was able to monthly income get to that point where I was able to have the same coming in month to month.

Katy Ripp 00:47:25  Yeah, yeah. And now like going forward still like more and more and more.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:47:33  Yeah. I mean, I still work less than I did as a teacher. Like like I said, I would work full days 8 to 6, seven sometimes like so 40, 50 hours a week And then and now I’m working probably 30 to 40 depending on or if I want to do more a week, but totally flexible and like and I get to make more and I’m like, I just can’t imagine still doing the same hours that I was as a teacher, right? And barely scraping by. It just makes me sad because then I know a lot of teachers do spend a lot of their own money on their classrooms.

Katy Ripp 00:48:08  But the cool thing about, like almost everybody I’ve interviewed that’s in their own business and a lot of my clients, we all have hangups about money, right? Like it’s one of the things that going forward, you’re probably going to hear a whole lot of money talk because I’m like obsessed with women and money right now.

Katy Ripp 00:48:26  But as capable, whole, resourceful, smart women, we have to make money. It’s our responsibility to make money so we can support other people, right? Like we can support other women. And the more money we make, the more we can do that. Like, I’m a giver. I’m super generous with my money. I’m super generous with my time. I can also like, give back in other ways, but like, I want to make money so I can do what I want with it, right? Like. And if that means for me buying ten teachers a classroom full of library books, that’s what I get to do with it. But I can’t do that if I don’t make a good amount of money. Right? Like I get to choose what I want to do with that money. So while you may not be teaching children because the system is broken and you’re better off doing this, you could go out and make a buttload of money and then go and buy a classroom full of books or yeah, donate $50,000.

Katy Ripp 00:49:28  A teacher can take a sabbatical. Or I mean, like, you can do anything. And so I think that there’s like a misconception about money and women. And we just have like all these money stories and all this like old baggage and limiting beliefs that were like, well, I don’t need to make that much money. Well, yes you do. Actually. It’s your responsibility if you have the ability to make that money to go out and make it so you can give it. Oh, I.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:49:51  Love that perspective. That’s awesome.

Katy Ripp 00:49:53  It’s our responsibility.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:49:55  Yeah, that’s not mine.

Katy Ripp 00:49:56  I don’t remember where I read it, but I’d love to take it, but I can’t. I just want to ask you about like podcasting. I get a lot of people that are like, oh, I’d love to start a podcast. What does that look like and what do you do? But I also have people here that are like, I want to leave my teaching job, but I want to start a podcast, right? Like, can I make money at that? I think that’s probably one of the most googled podcast question is like, how do you make money on a podcast? And I think I’ve told you this, or maybe you told me this, I can’t remember.

Katy Ripp 00:50:29  But like I use my podcast as a business expense for my coaching, right? Like this is a way for me to market my business. So people, if they like what I have to say, will come and buy coaching sessions for me or buy a program or, you know, whatever. It’s also just because I like to hear myself talk, like answer the some of those like, frequently asked podcast questions.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:50:52  Yeah. So your first one, I remember talking to you about this the first time we talked is can I make money from my podcast? And what I always say is like, there’s two arms of podcast monetization. So there’s either your podcast can be used to get more clients and make more money in your business, or get more course purchases, or however you make money in your business to funnel more clients or customers that way. Or you can monetize it from sponsorships. So you can do definitely do both. But what I always suggest and what we’ve talked about is using your podcast to help market your business and become a visibility tool for yourself and your business.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:51:31  So what I commonly work with most clients on is creating a podcast that attracts your ideal clients to listen. So I just finished creating a guide called the Purposeful Podcast Playbook, which helps you create a podcast that is not just what everyone else is doing, but it’s uniquely you. So you can really attract people that relate and resonate with you and want to work with you and want to hear more about what you have to say. So definitely, I would say I’d recommend starting a podcast with the goal of using it to support your business first, and then focusing on getting sponsors down the road if you’d like, because often it takes a while to build that listenership, which you can monetize for a larger amount of money. So the monetization will take a minute to grow. So you can do that in addition to using a podcast to support your business, but you can start supporting your business with a podcast from episode one.

Katy Ripp 00:52:27  Yeah, it’s shocking to me how many like I go out and look at the analytics all the time.

Katy Ripp 00:52:31  They mean nothing to me. By the way. I don’t really know except that I’m like, oh, this seems like a good number. But yeah, the amount of people that are like, oh, I listened to your podcast yesterday are just like, you know, people I run into, like around around. Right. That’s a, you know, conversation for another day, probably if somebody wanted to get started, like, what does it cost to get a podcast started?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:52:51  Yeah. So I customize all my packages. So if you only want certain parts of support with starting a podcast, I’m totally happy to customize and work with as little or as much support as you need. But my packages for launch start at around 1500 and then can go up depending on what kind of assets you want. And if you’re wanting support, managing guests and things like that for your podcast. So it definitely ranges on like if you want to be pretty hands off with your podcast, and I have some clients who just want to show up and record once a quarter, and they don’t want to deal with the back and forth of managing guests and editing and creating assets and scheduling and all the things like that.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:53:34  And then I have some that want to be more hands on and want to reach out to their own guests and do their own assets and things like that. So like I said, it’s definitely a range on how much support you want, but it’s definitely I would say I’ve seen more success on people with creating successful podcasts long term when they have just some support because it’s, oh, like, you know, even sitting down to record can be a part time job, right? Just making sure you’re prepared for the interviews and then having to turn around and.

Katy Ripp 00:54:04  Having to learn, you know, you’d have to learn a whole new program and then it’s got to be good. It’s we need to pay people to do the things that we’re not good at, period. Like, and then.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:54:16  It frees up, it frees up your brain and time to be able to have your conversations and be as awesome as you are as a host without having to worry about all the backend stuff. So.

Katy Ripp 00:54:26  Right, like, how long is this going to take me? Now I have to listen to this whole thing and I have to edit.

Katy Ripp 00:54:30  And I mean, what you give me is like complete peace of mind. I just like record like this. I send you a link and then all of a sudden, magically, I’ve got carousels and reels and video. I mean, just like you have no idea. It’s the only reason that this has been. I just sent my email out today and I put like the number ten above my podcast episode, and I’m like, how did I even get to ten episodes? This is crazy. So it’s very exciting and I never thought I’d really be here either. Right. Like I thought, oh, it might be fun to do a podcast, but I just know myself that, like, I’m not detail oriented enough to, like, do the actual production of it, but I love to have the conversations. So are money well spent? Charlie.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:55:13  Thank you. Well, I have loved working with you. Oh, seriously been so great.

Katy Ripp 00:55:18  I just like, I don’t know, I love your story, I really do.

Katy Ripp 00:55:22  I think that you are. I mean, I’m how do you find like I found you through Instagram. Is that how people are finding you? Instagram.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:55:31  I mean a lot of them have come through referrals. So like I said, it’s just been really cool to see the clients that contact me because I’m like, I’m so interested in what you have to say. Can I listen to your podcast anyways? Like, yes. So yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:55:45  Yeah. The the greatest thing about having faith in the universe or faith in anything, I think, is I just assume that I’m going to get the most amazing clients and I do. Right. Like, I think I’ve paid my dues in the other ways in my life that, like, I don’t have to worry about getting shitty clients like the ones that I would say no to just don’t even show up for me. And I’m like, cool. I don’t have to say no. It’s probably the same thing that’s happening for you, right? Like you just gave yourself enough space to allow the universe to drop in exactly what you were looking for.

Katy Ripp 00:56:19  I call it like flipping my magnet right where two magnets are, like they repel each other, and then all of a sudden you just flip one over and you’re like, oh, all I had to do was flip this over. Weird. Hahahahaha.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:56:31  Yes, exactly.

Katy Ripp 00:56:33  Yeah, it seems easy. Not so much all the time.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:56:36  Day to day. It’s definitely a practice.

Katy Ripp 00:56:38  Yeah. I want you to give everybody a platform. So, like, where can we find you? All the good things.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:56:45  You can find me on paradigm podcasting.com or Paradigm Podcasting on Insta, LinkedIn or Facebook. I think they’re all the same paradigm. Podcasting.

Katy Ripp 00:56:56  Yeah. What kind of podcasts do you love to do the most? I mean, I’m sure you’re open to a lot, but what are your favorite? Like, do you specialize in health and wellness or specialize in anything?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:57:07  I have been kind of deciding, like throughout my building my business, deciding if I want to niche down. And I’m just honestly loving doing a range of things.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:57:16  Like I said, I just happen to be connected with clients who are their expert, of course, in their field. And I learned so much so from like dietitians to life and business coaches to dog trainers. Oh yeah. Just everything. So I’m open to working with anyone and everyone who has a message that they would like to share.

Katy Ripp 00:57:36  How about your favorite podcasts?

Chanlie Leavitt 00:57:40  I love Armchair Expert is one of my favorites.

Katy Ripp 00:57:44  Yeah, we always have the.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:57:45  Funniest stories on that. Oh, there’s too many. I’ve been listening to some good podcasts by Wondery lately. They have, like, documentary type podcasts. There was an interesting one that I just finished called hysterical. there’s too many that I could tell you about, I love podcasts.

Katy Ripp 00:58:01  I love it, I love it. Awesome. What was amazing meeting with you, I just like I love all of our conversations. So thank you for doing such an amazing job on my podcast and also for being here. This will probably not be the last time we have you on.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:58:16  Well thank you. Yeah, it’s weird to be on this side of the microphone because I learned so much about you. And like my other clients, it’s like a parasocial relationship. I know your life story.

Katy Ripp 00:58:27  But you don’t know me, No, I know, and I think that’s the coolest thing about this platform in particular, is it just allows people to, like, tell their story. So I just think that that’s the coolest thing about this. And of course, people are like, well, there’s a podcast for everything these days. Yeah there is. There’s also 8 billion people in the world. I think we’re fine.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:58:47  Well, and what I say is like, no one’s you write like your story in the way you are going to tell it, and the questions you are going to ask to the guests are going to be different than what they would share on someone else’s podcast.

Katy Ripp 00:59:00  You can listen to more than one. Yeah, like there’s plenty for everybody. It’s fine. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Charlie.

Katy Ripp 00:59:07  I really appreciate it.

Chanlie Leavitt 00:59:09  I appreciate you, you are just a joy to work with. And I’m getting just to chat with you today. Thank you so much.

Katy Ripp 00:59:17  And that’s a wrap on today’s episode. I hope you enjoyed diving deep into the world of living authentically with me. Before you go, don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram. Shoot me a message at Katy Ripp. I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and connect with you further. And remember, if you want more details on today’s episode, or just want to explore more about designing your life unapologetically, head on over to my website at KatyRipp.com. There you’ll find all the juicy details and resources you need to keep the inspiration flowing. Lastly, if you’d like to join me on the show, whether it’s to tell about your experience of designing your own life, to share your expertise, or if you’d like to participate in lifestyle coaching live on air, don’t hesitate to reach out. Your story could inspire countless others on their own path to living authentically.

Katy Ripp 01:00:03  Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep living boldly designing your life. And remember #ActuallyICan.