CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

Turning Imposter Syndrome Into Your Next Big Win with Lisa Simone Richards | EP 477

• Sheila Botelho

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How do you know when it’s time to pivot—really pivot? And more importantly, how do you navigate the fear and uncertainty that comes with it?


In this episode, I sit down with Lisa Simone Richards, co-founder and CEO of Pearl Spark Pages, a luxury stationery brand designed to help female founders push past imposter syndrome and build self-trust through mindful self-reflection. 


Lisa spent two decades as a top publicist helping women-led startups gain visibility—until she found herself facing the same imposter syndrome her clients battled.


Instead of letting it hold her back, she built something completely new: A journaling framework designed for high-achieving women entrepreneurs who are constantly pushing for more, yet rarely pause to recognize their own brilliance.


We get real about:


 ✨ The moment Lisa realized she couldn’t keep pushing the same boulder uphill

✨ Why even the most seasoned entrepreneurs feel like frauds (and how to break the cycle)

✨ The small daily habit that shifts you from self-doubt to self-leadership


If you’ve ever felt resistance around what’s next in your business, this episode will challenge you to trust yourself in bigger ways.


Get your copy of Lisa’s new journal + free 7-day sample at: www.femalefoundersjournal.com

Follow Lisa: @lisasimonerichards


🔗 Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes 👈

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Lisa:

It's just like being in the middle of a movie. You know you can't just skip and fast forward to the end. I want to. I would love to just hit a hundred, Like I read the book on how to crowdfund, or like try and get your 100% on day one, like didn't happen. So I would love to fast forward to the end, but, like you know, thinking about six months from now, a year from now, like there's a story that I'm going to want to tell.

Sheila:

But the story was I got everything I wanted on day one. Like it's kind of a boring story. Hi, welcome to the connect with Sheila Botello podcast. I'm thrilled to have you today. I have a special guest on and we're talking about reinvention. Her name is Lisa Simone Richards, the co-founder and CEO of Pearl Spark Pages, a luxury stationery brand designed to help female founders push past imposter syndrome, increase self-confidence and build thriving businesses through mindful self-reflection. After two decades as a publicist helping women-led startups gain visibility, lisa found herself grappling with the very challenge she had coached so many founders through imposter syndrome. Even with years of experience, she recognized how deeply our inner dialogue shapes our reality, influencing how we show up in business and in life. Determined to shift that narrative, she developed a journaling framework to help women entrepreneurs cultivate confidence, self-trust and authenticity. This became the foundation of Pearl Spark Pages. Through beautifully designed paper products, lisa's mission is to empower female founders to embrace their true potential, one page at a time. Lisa, welcome to the show.

Lisa:

Thank you so much for having me. Oh, my gosh, that sounded really cool on paper. I love it.

Sheila:

Well, what's really cool is, as I was listening to myself say the introduction, I was recalling my experience as one of your beta testers going through what you've created and we can allude to this a little later on in our conversation.

Sheila:

But what you're doing is really transformative and I'm thrilled to have you share your story.

Sheila:

And just side note everyone we met at a High Vibe Women event last fall and I was immediately drawn to your energy, lisa, your depth of experience and publicity and like the heart-centered way that you approach your work, but how you approach people.

Sheila:

I got to see you interacting with many different people and you drop right in and I love that. And then I learned the second day of this event I learned that you were pivoting. I think I may have learned it right before you went on stage to give a talk, so that was really cool. So I would love for you to share a bit about where you were before this pivot came, because you've had quite a background in the publicity space, helping others get seen, and now here you are amplifying your own voice and seeking out people to help you amplify your voice, which is really beautiful, tell us the story and it's such an honor to be on your show and sharing this transformation at this specific time, because this is my second time doing a podcast interview, not talking about PR, so I'm kind of like a fish out of the water playing with my new conversation.

Lisa:

But both you and the other show that I won were people who attended the same event and it's so funny that you're somebody who met me like the day of transformation. It's like how I met my husband literally the day before I went for a leadership training. So I was like you've literally never even knew who I was before. Like it's so crazy. So it's so funny to have this conversation at this specific time because absolutely that weekend was very transformational for me. So a little bit of background.

Lisa:

I have been a publicist for 20 years. When I was 18 and I was in first year university at Western, I had just joined a sorority somebody in fourth year. She was about to graduate. She and I went for lunch you know first year, we're looking up to fourth year and she shared with me that she was going to Humber College for PR. Back in 2002, sex and the City was in its heyday, samantha Jones did PR and she was always at these cool parties and had access to these exclusive things and I was like that is it, I'm going to do that. So, from 18 years old, my identity was PR. I volunteered in various organizations. I took on a VP role in different groups and then I interned, worked in an agency, eventually had my own agency. So that was such a key core part of my identity.

Lisa:

2021, I remember you know I was doing online coaching. I was having such a great time teaching clients how to do the things that I had learned over the last 20 years. I remember one of my like superstar clients. She had never been featured in the media before. Remember one of my like superstar clients. She had never been featured in the media before and by the end of like one, two I can't remember if it was two or three years with me, she had gotten featured in over 60 segments on one specific news station and they told her you know, we've just had your face on for like this much amount of time. We need to bring in a new expert. So she moved on to other platforms, but she did that all by herself, without me ever pitching for her. So it was really, really powerful and very, very rewarding.

Lisa:

However, I can also acknowledge the 2021 moving onward. I wasn't having as much fun anymore. I wasn't getting the results that I was typically used to getting for my clients and that didn't feel good for me. That didn't feel great for my clients. I noticed the industry was shifting, you know. Obviously influencer marketing was on the rise. Traditional media, like I mean, I don't own. I have a cable subscription. I don't buy magazines at the grocery store anymore, like it's just a reality of transition in time, and some publicists have absolutely ridden that wave and I just wasn't having that same experience. So I had been spending the last three years pivoting, like maybe I want to do an agency, maybe I want to shift markets and move from fitness to lifestyle. Okay, maybe I want to work in doctors. So I was trying on a few different hats to really find where I would fit into the world of PR, you know, post 2020. And so when we met at that conference, I had, I was okay. So this conference happened in October.

Lisa:

Back in September, my husband and I were at our local Indigo chapters so for the Americans listening, that's our Barnes and Noble and we were looking in the journal section. I have been a journal planning girly since I was like a kid. I can go into my mom's basement, find my high school agendas, my pin coach agenda from my 20s. I remember my first diary from when I was about seven years old. It was purple, it had a lock and two gray kittens on it because I always knew I wanted cats. I have two cats now. They are orange.

Lisa:

Back to the main topic. We were looking at journals in Indigo and I was looking for something around entrepreneurship. Maybe some of you may gather from listening so far I'm super type A, I'm driven, I'm fast paced. So when I was looking at journals, I found a lot of stuff that was like what's your vision, what's your mission, what are the strategies, what are the analytics, and I totally vibe with that stuff. But it was a little more aggressive than I wanted to go. On the other hand of the spectrum, I saw a lot of like how would you like to feel lean into your feminine, and that's all good too I love me a good crystal but like I needed something a little more tangible than that. So I was starting to think okay, I think there's an opportunity here, based on what I've seen from working with women entrepreneurs and what I'm personally looking for.

Lisa:

My husband was looking for a journal. I got. Every time I say I have to get this part of the story right. It was either for recipes, it was for travel or something for the books he was reading. But he was looking for a guided journal too, and we were both like you know, maybe there's an opportunity here, cause, like, journals used to be like a small section in the store. Now they're an entire wall with its own title card. So that was where the idea started brewing Facebook, Facebook and I started getting ads for like do this free, create your journal planner challenge, and I was like okay, let's do that. The person who ran that challenge happened to post the name of her manufacturer. It only flashed for a second. I'm sure she didn't need to do that, but I ran onto LinkedIn, found this person. Before you knew it, I had my manufacturer, I started creating the content, finding the right influencers that I could learn from. So this was kind of starting to play in my mind.

Lisa:

In September, october, october. We're at the event. I'm on stage and I'm about to go up and do a talk about how to get visibility for your business Similar talk I've been doing for the last like seven, 10 years of entrepreneurship. However, in that specific moment, I was just feeling like, honestly, absolute trash because I hadn't been collecting results for clients who might be getting on stage here now to talk to these 150 founders about how to get visibility. I just felt like such an absolute fraud in that moment, knowing what was going on in the back end and I believe I had 10 minutes on stage to speak and I'm pretty confident I didn't even last five minutes Just because I had so much of like, so much cringe going on in the back of my head. Like who am I to be talking about this? Like I used to be really great at it but it doesn't seem like I am anymore. Like, and I just had all the stories Like I'm sure you know what I'm talking about Everybody's had them run through their heads at one point.

Lisa:

So what was cool is it was a really great audience that I had the opportunity to start connecting with some of them the night before and I could feel the vibe of this crowd and I allowed myself to ditch perfectionism. I didn't do the hand talk that I was planning on doing. I got on stage. I shared something a little more authentic and transparent, and then I didn't.

Lisa:

And then I and then the funniest part that I like really ground into is, you know, as I was on stage, people were capturing photos and videos and they sent me DMs so I could share it on stories, which I did and one of my girlfriends from undergrad commented oh my God, you're so cool. And I was like no, I'm not, I'm such a fraud. And I responded to her. In that moment I didn't even need to think about it, subconscious came right through the keyboard. About it Subconscious came right through the keyboard. And that was kind of the moment that I was like, okay, like I mean can't keep pushing this boulder up a hill for another three years. I think we need to listen to it, like. And somebody else said to me you know what, if it doesn't work, you can always come back. And that was as much permission as I needed to play. So that that was where things got started from.

Sheila:

Oh, my goodness and see, I knew nothing about this.

Sheila:

Obviously, while you were on stage, I didn't know enough about your story at that point, and you, I will say you shone on stage, so you may have been feeling that inside of yourself, but it wasn't being reflected.

Sheila:

And what this tells me is let's look around us and see all of the people doing their thing, doing their work, growing their businesses, and how many of them may be feeling that same way, but we would never know unless they actually shared it. And so I really applaud your vulnerability in sharing that story and also how that story is like a catalyst for this new business that you've created, and how now more of us can maybe be more authentic about where we're at and also understand, like that is just part of the deal, that imposter syndrome is going to come up. It's like really, at the end of the day, it's we've always said it's like fear, with like a mint coat and pearls on right, like a fear of facing something new, perhaps something that we really want to be doing in our lives. And so, yeah, I just love that story and I would love to know what happened next, like when you went home and you had that conversation with your husband. What was that?

Lisa:

like no-transcript. Five years old and my parents were shopping for bathroom tiles or something equally boring to a five-year-old, and I was just like wandering around doing my thing and he gave me a little like you know, you be in attendance, be proper, like, be present, be a part of what's going on, engage, so like. That was a moment when I learned like to bring it together and I've gotten that compliment throughout my entire life. You can be intimidating, you look so confident, you have it together and like Sheila, you will never see me in an intersection looking lost. I will confidently walk in the wrong direction before I stand there being like I'm not sure where to go. Like I just don't do that.

Lisa:

And in 2019, I was sitting with a business and leadership coach over dinner or not dinner. We were sitting at a fireplace outdoors having a glass of wine and she looked at me and I was like kind of waiting for a compliment. The way she looked at me, I'm like go on, tell me what a great job I did today. And she was like she was like you know what, lisa, if you stop trying to look so perfect all the time, you would make so much more money and like I've never forgotten that and it's been an interesting experiment in the last few years to like slowly drop the veil a little bit more, let people in, create a little more connection and actually truly connect with people, and there's just such a difference between that like projected confidence and the real story going on inside your head and the thing what you're really feeling. And part of me creating this journal has been to create that authentic inner confidence, not the stuff like you put on on the outside so that everyone else believes it.

Sheila:

Oh, my goodness. And you know, paired with that, okay. So now actually the question is I'm remembering now, cause my short term memory can be interesting. Also is what was your husband's response? Like, well, first of all, when you came home from that event, like, did you? Were you kind of thinking about, okay, how, how am I going to share this with my husband? Um, or is he maybe already kind of seeing? He's seen the journey you've been on already, so you probably know something's coming. What was your thought process? And then what was his response to whatever you had to say when you got home?

Lisa:

You know what the interesting thing is. So my husband is my co-founder in Pearl Spark Pages and it wasn't even his reaction that was any sort of worry. It was my mom. So here I am, at my age as a grown adult, being like I'm scared to tell my mom. So, in terms of telling my husband, like we had this idea brewing, so it was already there, he's behind the scenes with me, he knows what the last three years have looked like and so he wasn't surprised by it. And the thing that I appreciate the most is, as I was playing with this idea, he was like no, I see an opportunity in it, I'll be your first investor. And I was like, oh, okay, you're going to eat those words, babe. And he had been the first investor in the business and I'm so, so grateful for his confidence in it. So he was pretty much on board from the get-go. There was no convincing or enrolling to be done at all, like we'd already started playing with the idea. It was more my mom I was concerned about telling, because she's 100% my best friend. She's always been my biggest cheerleader Totally. She's 100% my best friend. She's always been my biggest cheerleader Totally. Acknowledge she's put me through school and I'm so grateful for that All those unpaid internships I did for the first year or so when I was living at home and I think there's something maybe about like millennials and Gen Z and everyone else after that. That's a little more fluid, but my parents are from the boomer generation where, like, you get a job and you stay in your job and you work with the same company, like my dad was with the same company from start to finish. My mom's always been with the government, maybe different branches. So, like already, this entrepreneurship thing is a little bit kind of weird. Nevermind, hey, guess what? I'm switching industries altogether.

Lisa:

So coming home from that event, coming off of that stage feeling like not the best, shall we say, I remember going to my mom's house and I brought the program for that event that showed me as a gold sponsor and like all the athletes that had me feeling like a complete fraud, and I also brought a copy of the five minute journal with her because I knew I needed to bring a little bit of proof that this isn't like boo-boo stuff. Take a look at the price of this thing, mom. So I remember going to her house and sitting on the couch and I was like this is the event that I was just at. Take a look at the brochure. And she's like look at you, you're a gold sponsor, you're on stage. That's fantastic. And I was like, yeah, they asked they brought me in to do PR and I didn't get them a single hit of coverage.

Lisa:

Like I did my best, I came up with all these different angles. They were on board with it. I pitched my little heart out and do you know what it was like for me to stand on stage when I had created absolutely nothing for the event hosts? And she was like, okay, yeah. And I was like I, I, this can't keep going on. This has to be a shift. This has been the last three years of my life. So I showed her the five minute journal, I told her a little bit about the history, I told her a little bit about how much the company makes, and she was totally on board from the jump.

Lisa:

That was the one I was afraid of. She was like you know what, lisa, whatever you put your mind to, I know you'll be successful with and if this isn't it, you'll try something else. And I was like that was not what I was expecting. I was waiting for the. Are you sure about this? Like maybe you should go back to school, maybe you should just get a job again. Like that was not the response I expected. So when I got that, it was almost like a permission. Like it was like, oh, my mom's not going to be disappointed in me. So it was almost like, okay, now I can full fledged go ahead with it. I'm a grown up.

Sheila:

Yeah, exactly. Well, and it's interesting because I think a lot of us do. We all carry things from our childhood patterning that, frankly, I don't think our parents intentionally may have, you know, intended upon for us. They, they have certain thoughts and feelings and they certain ways to express themselves that sometimes come across one way to us. Meanwhile it was meant a different way perhaps, but you actually alluded. Meanwhile it was meant a different way perhaps, but you actually alluded, I don't know how long ago in recent months on Instagram, about an experience when you realized why perfectionism was something that was so close to your heart and had to do with you telling your mom about a test score. And maybe you want to allude to that because I think this could perhaps unlock something for our listeners, because we all have a story from our past. Usually we're quite young and it could still be controlling us to this day and we don't even realize it.

Lisa:

So I can't wait to listen to this podcast again six months from now, because I'm reliving that moment exactly in this moment, right now. So the story is I'm somebody, I'm a high achiever, I'm always looking to. You know, I don't know, I don. It was out of 147 marks. I studied my little heart out and when she passed it back, I got 143 out of 147. And I was so proud of myself and I remember going home and handing the test to my mom and being like guess what I got? And she was like 147. No 146. No 145. I'm getting more deflated. We only have a few more numbers to go, but I'm already like the message is you didn't do perfect, not good enough. So since then, I have always it's not good enough that I got 143 out of 147. It's what are the four things that I got wrong? Because that was the first question she asked me.

Lisa:

So fast forward now, like however many 30 years later it is, I'm in the midst of doing a crowdfunding campaign and, of course, in the book that I'm reading about crowdfunding, they're like try and hit 100% funding on day one. I'm not so lofty as to think it's necessarily going to be day one, but I was hoping to hit it faster. So on day one she's like, how'd you do? I'm like we hit 34% in day one she's like, oh, and I could feel the not at a hundred yet. But like she knows she, I've told her this story about grade school and she's like I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to put that on you so I can.

Lisa:

I know she's working on not repeating it, but I can still. I can still even feel so today we have one week to go in the campaign and we're 78% funded and she checks in every day. She wants to know how it's going. She's my biggest cheerleader, such a supporter. But I do feel the disappointment at being like we haven't hit a hundred yet. We haven't hit a hundred yet. So, hey, same seven-year-old story still running a 41 years old. I'm working on like doing the work around it, but I have the awareness at least.

Sheila:

Well, I love that you have the awareness and that you also shared that story with her.

Sheila:

So she has the awareness now and she's working on it now and it's like isn't it interesting how much of a healing catalyst entrepreneurship can be, right Like we can go to therapy for years and years, or we can start a business and all of our stuff will get brought up and we'll be forced to face it, because burying it will just bring us down and we'll never achieve our goals.

Sheila:

This is what I've found in my own personal journey and so many founders that I speak to, and one of the things you allude to in this particular story is that it really speaks to how so many founders get stuck in perfectionism before they launch something new. And here you like, literally, you thought about it in September, you already had things going, and then you were on a stage the very next month and then, moving through, here you are like, not even six months later you were getting your beta testers. So it's like really beautiful. How did you navigate the tension between wanting this journal to be perfect and knowing that at some point you just had to get it out in the world because timing you didn't want it to be another three years.

Lisa:

I don't think I really felt that. To be honest with you, like I'm so grateful that my husband comes from a background as a journalist, so he's the professional editor in all of this. I have friends in the space that I asked them to take a look through it at first. I have a designer I've been working with since 2017. So you know, we did our prototype and we had the first copy come in and another one of his buddies third party removed. I think we maybe found like seven to 10 mistakes in a 200 page book Like that's not bad for, and now that we're going into mass production, we fixed them. So there really hasn't been a ton of like hesitation or mistakes or perfectionism, like perfectionism kind of one, but in a really fast timeline. So I'm good with that.

Sheila:

Oh, I love that and you know, on that note, like, just as you've been sharing, as I've been following the journey and you're emailing and you're on stories and you're you're doing your thing, you've been incredibly transparent about this process, sharing the wins, sharing the hurdles, sharing the behind the scenes moments, which are super fun and I feel like they're really endearing. How has that openness impacted your launch? Like, has anything surprised you about how people have responded?

Lisa:

no-transcript multiple journals. Somebody on a call the other day with 60 attendees or so, piped up on my behalf and was like hey guys, lisa's stuck at 70% and she has like 10 days to go. Everyone here's the link go buy one. And if you're not going to buy one, drop your coffee today and do a pledge on her. And I literally saw a bunch of backers come in like after that call was over. So it has been so cool to see like, especially people who are like reposting what I'm posting on LinkedIn and Instagram like that. It's not the intention with what I'm posting it, but to see how many people really want to see this succeed is incredibly overwhelming, especially as somebody who's a complete lone wolf.

Sheila:

Well I was just going to speak to I'm glad you spoke to this isolation piece. That can really be a big part of entrepreneurship because when we look at historically and of course, I think millennials and Gen Z are like really busting through the, the former way of doing things in terms of, you know, collaboration over competition and celebrating each other's wins. And I'm a I'm a Gen Xer and you know my husband's like just like one year, like into Gen X, out of boomer land, and so I come from an era where definitely competition and getting a leg up on your competition was so important and so focused on it. So you want to keep your stories and just keep things close to you. You don't want to show your hand, and so I'm glad that you expressed that because it can be so isolating. Really, turning to community can be well, really it is life-giving and I love that. You're seeing that yourself and you have examples of that.

Sheila:

And so many of our listeners are scaling businesses. They're at various stages. Some are like mid six figures, some seven, some beyond, and so I would love to know, from the journaling perspective, what advice would you give a founder who's deep in the weeds of growth and may not feel like they have time to add reflection and journaling to their routine. They feel like, hey man, I'm already habit stacking Like what. How do I do this?

Lisa:

Yeah. So part of that's me too. Like I mean, I wake up and I want to work out. I want a fresh breakfast, I want a green juice. I got to clean my house After I've taken a shower and done my hair and makeup. Do you know what time it is I have to get to work. I don't have time for one more thing.

Lisa:

So what's really helped for me is bookending my day. So this journal, the Female Founders Journal, is designed as a guided journal with a morning prompt and an evening prompt. So the way I set it up, I leave it on my laptop. So before I can open the laptop lid, I have to open my journal and I just take two seconds to work on a prompt. That's really a morning prompt. That's going to help affirm who I am, something that might allow me to recognize my past successes, something that might allow me to hone in on my North Star and my vision. So I don't just rush into the day responding to emails, but it really allows me to ground myself. Remember okay, you can do hard things. Remember that thing you overcame once. Like it just allows me to start my day with my back a little straighter and my shoulders a little taller, whatever the saying is, and then I end my day with a journal. So you know, as I'm shutting my laptop lid down and getting ready to head downstairs and figure out what the dinner situation is like, there's so many things I rush through every day that I'm not taking a second to be like. You did a good job there.

Lisa:

Um, I was even thinking about like let's, I'm totally surfing on confidence and not cockiness, and I'm projecting this Kickstarter campaign is going to go fantastically, but we're I don't know that yet I still got seven days to go. God forbid that this doesn't isn't successful because, for those who don't know, it's a 100% all or nothing platform. If I hit 99% funding, it is not categorized as a win. I don't get to unlock the funds. So, as we're riding into that, I'm like God forbid, this is a fail. Like was this project a fail? And I'm like well, it's not, because you learned a ton of things that you didn't know before. You can do it again. Like there's so much richness that came from the experience. Don't get me wrong. I want this to be a home run. I don't want any other ending, and I also recognize that there were a lot of other good things that I have learned that wouldn't have otherwise happened through this process.

Sheila:

Absolutely, it's all a learning and I have complete confidence that you are going to reach your goal. And I believe this because, well, to be this far along in such a short time is pretty incredible, and what I have found with like, doing events and launches and things, a lot of momentum happens like right before the deadline, right before the end, and so I mean, ask anyone who's done any promo or events at like LA, right, they're like, oh my goodness, it's like hours before. Will anyone come? And so, knowing that you have this momentum going, you have the support, regardless of where you're at.

Sheila:

I know this journal is going out into the world, like it's happening. I can't wait to get my copies because, like I have people waiting, I'm like, okay, I have something for you. I'm not telling you what it is. It's a surprise, because I know that they would not maybe potentially have that vision for themselves, and I want to be able to give them something that then they can go on and share with their communities as well. And one question I had, actually, is about the Kickstarter campaign itself. Crowdfunding is not for the faint of heart, so what made you choose this path instead of a traditional launch like getting just VC funding, angel investing, et cetera, and what have you learned about yourself in the process?

Lisa:

Great question. I very likely will never explore outside funding because only child syndrome I don't want to share. I don't want someone telling me what to do with my company Absolutely not. So that's so not it for me. We can grow and do community in some ways, but in other ways, I am who I am.

Lisa:

One of the things you talked about earlier was collaboration over competition. So I am so lucky that back in September or early October, I hopped on a call with a woman named Cheryl Sutherland. She's the CEO and founder of a company called Please Notes Goods and they make affirmation journals and planners and stationary and sticky notes. She does the exact same thing as me. I'm making the journal and I want to launch a planner and sticky notes and all of that stuff. Granted, hers is affirmation focused, mine is female founder focused. She's my mentor now. Like she is a person who was coaching me through this business, giving me the names of other manufacturers, looking through my numbers, being like we would tweak that.

Lisa:

So, anyways, where did the idea for a Kickstarter campaign come from? From her? We had a call in September, october, and she was like you should consider doing a Kickstarter and I was like ask people for money to fund this. Are you kidding me? Like? That sounds kind of tacky, just quite frankly. And then I thought about it a little more and more and I'm like, well, why would I blow through a ton of money to order a bunch of inventory that I'm not sure that anybody wants? And people have the option to vote with their dollars and say yes, I'm into this or no, I'm not, and then I can use that money to fund the project. So I definitely was a hard no at first. I think I'm like that with a lot of things, like I just need a little time to marinate on something. So the more and more I thought about it, I was like this is a good idea.

Sheila:

It really was. And I remember when I saw how you were launching it because of course, I had heard you're like, oh, something's coming. And then the way you were launching I'm like, oh interesting. I've not personally witnessed a Kickstarter campaign before. I've heard of them. I've heard all the different things GoFundMe, crowdsourcing, all those kinds of things and I have to say I never really considered it for myself because I don't have a CPG product, so it's not yet. You're inspiring me, girl. However, I never would have thought either was good or bad.

Sheila:

But I know some people have kind of ideas about things, Because the one thing I've noticed in the membership communities I've been in and led and with my group, coaching programs, crowdsourcing, ideas, crowdsourcing, network, crowdsourcing everything is the way. I mean, when I was expecting my kiddos and when I was wanting to have a home birth and when I was wanting to do all these things, what did I do? I asked around for people who had been where I wanted to be and I got great ideas. I didn't just try to like completely go it alone, and that's been the case in most areas of my life other than the ones that I've tried to like lone wolf it along the way, and then you know silently failing in the background, right, it's like no one knows, but I didn't get any traction either and I'm like, oh so, so brilliant. And then, of course, seeing how beautifully put together your crowdsourcing experience has been shows me it actually like I feel like it adds a layer of professionalism to a startup that some startups I've even worked for did not have, like everyone.

Sheila:

You're going to see the link in the show notes, so I'm going to tell you right now you can go check it out. It's beautiful just to go through the process of being able to decide which area of funding you want to start at. Like one journal, five journals, 10, like what do you want, what do you want to do, and so I invite you to go check that out in the show notes. You will see them there and this has been so. I've loved this. I feel like we're going to have another conversation. We need to have a post-launch conversation, like at some point down the line, like I think this is just going to happen, and before we wrap up on this note, please let everyone know where the best place for people to support you right now is.

Lisa:

So the Kickstarter campaign has a week to go. It ends on March the 28th. So for the time being, you know, if it happens just to come up before then, head over to wwwpearlsparkpagescom that's our company URL that SEO strategists are very mad at me for just porting around to whatever I happen to be doing at the time. So once Kickstarter campaign wraps I'll start a Shopify store. I will stop moving it, but PearlSparkPagescom will likely be pointing to the place you can buy the journal. And for anybody who's curious at getting a sneak peek at it, we do have a seven day free sample of the journal. That's always going to be available at wwwfemalefoundersjournalcom.

Sheila:

I love that. So everybody go check it out. It'll be in the show notes and, before we wrap up, I would love to know and, of course, our listeners, who are here because they're wanting to create a life of success and meaning and like a big, beautiful life where they're chasing after their dreams and they want to feel good in the process. They don't want to burn out, right. So I would love to know what self-care is lighting you up right now, what's helping you feel grounded during this very pivotal season in your life?

Lisa:

So the interesting part about your question is what's lighting you up right now? And I'm such a consistent person Like this has been my routine for at least I've lived with my husband for three years, so three years. My morning routine is so important to me. I've noticed when I've gone to a few breakfasts and events downtown in the last few days and you know, I just have to wake up and hop on the go train to go downtown Like even if I get home at 10, 30 AM, I'm just off kilter for the day. So waking up, going downstairs to do a workout with my husband um, having like a fresh breakfast and a green juice like those are just mandatory like making the bed in the morning, vacuuming the floor I know it's a little extreme for some people, but I feel super grounded when I've gotten my workout in a good, healthy breakfast not like a coffee and coffee and a or something and I've cleaned up my surroundings and I'm like, okay, now we can begin.

Sheila:

I love that, and you know I love a good clean workspace. I love a good clean house, and so, fortunately, I have other people here. My sons like to clean up after themselves, so it's like, great I can. If I don't have time, I I'm often delegating to them. Um, and it's wonderful to have a partner like that as well, who loves things clean and your mind, like it, carries so much right. It carries so much through the day, and if you can release whatever it is that would normally take up too much real estate in your brain, you can actually soar through the day and get the things done that are most important. And what I love is you had mentioned before we started recording like that's your morning. You're not taking meetings before noon and then you have a hard stop at a certain time, and so it's not like you're grinding it out for 12 hours a day and it's probably far more effective because you're like super grounded in who you are while you're doing high-level activities. Am I right?

Lisa:

Yes, and here's the funny thing that I forgot to mention, in terms of self-care, that if my husband heard me right now, he'd be like you forgot to mention one thing, okay, yes, I also forgot to mention that every day, I probably take a nap for at least an hour, like in the middle of the day. I just clock out, I'm going to have me a nice night. I get a full night's sleep every night, but I just, if I have the time, I'm going to take a nap and when I get up, I'm going to keep grinding a little bit more. But yeah, no apologies for that.

Sheila:

Never, never apologize because, honestly, like, rest is a revolution, and I'm so here for it. Lisa, it has been so inspiring to witness this journey of yours, to meet you around the time this idea was forming and now to see you bringing it into the world with so much clarity and heart, and I love how transparent you've been about the highs and the challenges, because launching something new, especially where you don't know the final outcome, it takes so much courage, and I want you to know that this is inspiring me to really push my growth edges, and I know so many of our listeners feel the same. So thank you so much for being here. I can't wait to get my hand on my, on my, the journal that is waiting with my name on it.

Lisa:

It's been a joy to share. Thank you so much for inviting me to come and share this with your audience, so everyone who's been listening.

Sheila:

please go, follow along, support this incredible project and get your own journal at the link in the show notes. And now, lisa, and I would love to hear from you what part of this conversation resonated the most. Tag us on social media, send us a message, let us know and thank you for listening. Have a beautiful rest of your day. Big blessings, thank you.