Ditch the Plan. Trust Your Gut.

Speaker 1: Those three C's have really been surfacing in my mind. You have to be curious enough to have the courage to take on a challenge and confident enough to like then put that whether it was a piece of art or whatever that thing that you made, then put that out into the world. I'm Melanie Bar. Welcome back to the Sheba Tip podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leaps, a senior level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It Community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care.

Speaker 1: Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So, turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go. Welcome to the Shivilta podcast. Thank you for joining us. Amanda, what's one moment in your creative career that felt like a plot twist in the best way? Oh, wow. Thank you for having me, Melanie. The biggest plot twist was when I dropped out of physician assistant school to become an intern for Jesse and Sarah Blakeley. That was the biggest plot twist of realizing that my creativity that I did in my free time when I was going into physician assistant school. I would do research on social media, make videos for myself, paint, make art, and that is eventually what got me on the radar of two entrepreneurs I really loved and opened up this whole plot twist timeline for myself of going from physician assistant to creative director. I had a feeling that would be your plot twist. And do you think physician assistant wasn't what you were supposed to be doing because you were doing all of these additional creative things outside of it? Yeah, I really felt passionate about that at the time. I love learning. I loved going to school and it was the universe that brought me into the direction where I could really live out my full potential. And I'm so glad that I listened to that. And in hindsight, I'm really grateful I didn't become a physician assistant. I realized how much I flourish in my creativity and even just the idea of wearing the same thing to work every day. It's like, wo, I'm so glad I don't have to do that. They're such inspiring people. I saw your post on Instagram today. If you could share a little bit about that. One of the things that I remember from Sarah is I think it was her dad at dinner that would say, "Have you failed today?" or "How many times have you failed today?" to make failure normal. because it happens to all of us every day and we can't quit trying. Yeah. My post on Instagram today was just about a newsletter that I launched called Live Life Extraordinary and it's on Substack and it's all about my early experiences interning and working for Jesse and Sarah and then how that opened up my perspective and I applied the mindsets I learned to all the rest of my life and I've pitched other companies and how I continue to put myself out there. So, the story that I had written about today was about how I had moved in with them at first and because Jesse and Sarah are both very unconventional, throw themselves into everything. And I think Jesse especially loves to invite guests over and then tell Sarah about it afterwards. And Jesse's like, "Why don't you like come intern for me and my family?" And then three of us got on FaceTime. And it was my first week where I really had to flex my not being afraid of embarrassment skills when I had a knock at my door and it was 6:30 in the morning and I'm like, "Okay." And I hear Sarah's voice on the other side and she's, "Hello, Amanda. Are you awake?" I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm one week into my job." I was blocking her car and so I just envisioned her getting ready for Spanx and she's going to go save the world.

Speaker 1: And I went and got my keys and she's no worries, just park on the other side.

Speaker 1: But I had like bed head in my pajamas, retainers in. And it's like moments like that where I'm like taking advice of somebody like Sarah who's you got to get good at being embarrassed, putting yourself out there, brush yourself off, keep going. And that's just the mentality I try to apply to everything and every Instagram post and just okay, just going to keep going, put myself out there and just laugh through all of it. Yeah. And that shows her leadership too of showing that people are human. We're all human. No one's going to be perfect.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And like in that moment, she totally treated me like that, too. Her leadership and being like, "Hey, okay, this was effective. I'm going to go change this. Have a great day. See you later. Don't worry about it. This is what we'll do next time." And I was like, "Oh, thank you." So, it was a good memory to look back on now. So, what a dream to be able to be in their lives. And for entrepreneurs, I have an idea a minute. I think and to have someone around you who can bring those ideas to life had to be incredible. And then you learning so much along the way as far as that taught you, you having someone to give you the motivation and the inspiration and then paying you to learn how to do these things where you can then go on and do them for yourself later. Had to be such a wonderful experience.

Speaker 1: It was a wild experience like being in that energy around Jesse and Sarah who are both such strong ideas people take action immediately. The enthusiasm and the way that they open their doors to everyone around them. So their whole circle no matter who the person is, they ignite them with all this feeling of potential. And Jesse who has 17 ideas a minute and like acts on them immediately. And then Sarah, who has so many ideas a minute, and she's a refiner, and Jesse's like a I'm launching it before it's ready. And I was eventually went to become full-time with Jesse and his team. I can't speak immediately to Sarah's whole process, but I do know Jesse's end. You could see it on Instagram and we would all laugh at it when I was working with him. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Things get launched and then the team is like, "What? I found out through an Instagram story." It's great. It creates a lot of momentum. Yeah. One of my favorite quotes is feel the fear and do it anyway. You launch it and then you figure it out after that. So often we stop ourselves from doing anything because we're too worried about how it might go.

Speaker 1: So true. That's such a good mentality to have. I'm sure it's a little challenging sometimes with teams that then have to figure out all the pieces of the puzzle, but I love that forward movement and the positive energy. I moved to LA. I didn't know a single person when I moved to Los Angeles and I had to wrap myself in such positivity in order to keep going. I just think it's such a great energy to try to live by. Yeah. When I moved to Atlanta to intern with them, I'd never visited that city before. I had no friends. I had no family. I was totally taking a chance on myself and taking a chance on that job. And it took me a couple years to really feel, oh, I've made my friends and I'm like a deep person. And so I'd had some surface level friends, but my career was good.

Speaker 1: But there's been a lot that has to go into the personal side as well of work and life balance and staying strong within yourself to stick in it long enough for those things to happen and attract those things. If your life had a soundtrack during the positive vibes intern chapter, what song would be playing? That's such a good question. I can't think of a song title, but I know what it would sound like. And it would be fast-paced. It would be bubbly and energetic. A little bit of you're trying to keep up with it, but then when you just let go and surrender to it, it's the best song ever. And as I think about it, how do you put that out? You put it out on your LinkedIn. I need a positive vibes intern. So many entrepreneurs would love to have someone in that role.

Speaker 1: That's so true. Yeah, it was a madeup role for me. I had taken Jesse's build your life resume course and I was the youngest one and super active and just ambitious and doing my thing cuz I was pursuing an app at the time as my side project. And when I showed up to his book signing, he was like, "Oh, I recognize you from my course. You're the youngest one. You ask good questions. Maybe do you want an internship or something?" And so it just then happened. And that takes me into my next question. Um, I follow Jesse on Instagram, too. He puts out so much good business and motivation knowledge. I love reading everything that he puts out. Tell us about All Day Running Co.

Speaker 1: and how do you hope it inspires people and what makes you excited about it?

All Day Running Co.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm one of the co-founders of All Day Running Co. and it started because Jesse's an ultramarathon runner, 100 mile races, marathons. I was a the non-runner of the co-founders of the group. I had always been intimidated by the fitness community. I don't really know where to go when I go to the gym and I don't really want to run. And I knew that it would benefit me, but I needed to feel like I was part of a team in order to take on this challenge in my head about fitness and running. So Jesse, who is so inclusive, be like, "All right, we'll just go on a run." and I joined him and his friends and half of my job was running because I was his social media person. So if he was going on a run and that meant I was going on a run. So with all day running co Jesse's like I wear all other people's clothes when I go on these races like we should make our own line. And I was like huh I think I'd feel more motivated if I wore colorful clothing and I felt like I was part of this team. Let's do it. And so we created All Day Running Co. which is this like funky, fun, colorful brand that then built into an events company. And now Running Man is a big festival that has happened through All Day Running Co. coming to life. I love it.

Running and community

Speaker 1: Running is it's so good for your mind. For me, it's always been a bit of meditation. I ran my first full marathon at 29. I had never run before and someone said, "I think you should run a marathon." I thought, "I don't know if I can do that." But then you it teaches you that you can do hard things and I looked at all your clothes and I want one of the hats now. Yeah, it worked for me. I became a runner through all the events. It really made me feel empowered to start running and sign up for the race before I even know what's going on and then start a training plan and then for other races it's just show up day of and then you're just in the energy of the people and the community and there's something special about that that you don't really get that energy anywhere else. You only really know what it feels once you've done it. You have to be on the inside of it. I ran my first marathon in January in Clearwater, Florida. All Day Running Co-sponsors a Clearwater marathon there. So, I thought it would be really special if that was my first marathon and it was a big accomplishment. Congratulations. Thank you. I remember hitting mile I don't know 17 or 18 and I think I started to cry because I I actually did this. It's such an endorphin release. It's amazing when you finish it. You you remember that you can do hard things. Yeah, I definitely cried at the end. It was such a release. even at mile 24 and then 25 and you're so close but it feels so far away and then that finish line is insight and that was one of the best moments ever. I would do it again. Yeah. I ran two halves last year and I haven't done any this year and honestly in prepping and thinking about our conversation I was like I really need to sign up for another half. I got to do one this year. You should come to Running Man in September. It would be so fun. So, it is two hours outside of Atlanta in a big field. It's a three-day event. There's glamping tents and all people in wellness and entrepreneurship, yoga, speakers, breath work. A big musician comes and there's a race on Saturday and you can do 5K, 10K, half full. The weekend of like-minded people, no phones, everyone is so present. I've gone the two years that it's happened. We're doing it for the third year this year. Favorite weekend of the year. So fun. I would love to do that. And it seems like it's really about taking care of yourself. Definitely. That's a big part of what I've learned, too. So, I worked with Jesse and Sarah for 5 years and then went out on my own. I have my own creative studio now and work with different brands. And something I realized was the working out and sauna cold plunge culture that was a part of my job with Jesse when I left and then moved to New York. I was like, "Ooh, that's actually a big part of my life. I have to find that here." And so I joined a gym with a sauna and I do the cold plunges at different places. So, it's really amazing how it's really fulfilling individually and then that keeps me energized to give and put that energy back out. Yeah, the sauna. I love the cold plunge. I haven't You're inspiring me. I'm going to have to try it. It's never pleasurable and upon going in, it always feels amazing coming out.

Creative courage

Speaker 1: Okay, I'll have to try it. What does the phrase creative courage mean to you and when have you had to really lean into it? I've been thinking about this in the past couple years. Courage, confidence, and curiosity. Those three C's have really been surfacing in my mind. And you have to be curious enough to have the courage to take on a challenge and confident enough to like then put that whether it was a piece of art or whatever that thing that you made, then put that out into the world. And so that is related to my art. I'm also an artist and some of the art that I make is very personal, but it's just my way of navigating life and creativity and sharing a message and connecting with people. And so creativity is courage to share your own vision to understand yourself and find way to put something visual or putting something tangible to the intangible is a simpler way to put it. That's such a good answer. And we do have to have the confidence. So often the first two C's come easier, but it's the confidence to actually put it out there. And did you do the painting behind you? I have to ask. There is a painting behind me. My mom actually had painted that. She still Yeah, she has always been creative and like growing up it would be 1:00 a.m. and I'd wake up and see her like spray painting like pieces of wood that then were panels in our house. She was always creative. So with Mother's Day coming up this weekend, I'm visiting my family. So she had made the piece behind me. Yeah. Nice. I love it. What's a project that you created that taught you more about yourself than you expected?

A creative side project

Speaker 1: So when I was working with Jesse and before we had started All Day Running Co. This was like 2020 and it was during co so I had gone back to New York and I was living with my family and I was really inspired by this other brand called Yes Theory. They're these YouTubers. They have a couple million subscribers and they're all about saying yes to adventures, saying yes to challenges, making friends, meeting strangers. And I had an idea to just pitch them. how I got my job with Jesse and just applying myself and hoping it'll align with his message. I did the same thing with Yes Theory where in my free time I put together a whole pitch and collaboration. They have a clothing brand called Seek Discomfort and I wanted to collaborate with them with my own A to Z vision and put together a clothing line called Lifeful of Color. And it was the first time that I took something from like start to finish and did the branding, the clothing design, getting the clothing printed, making a magazine. My friends and siblings were my models. I took something from start to finish as a fun side project, and then it showed me how much more I actually have within me to apply to my work. And because it was something I could do in my free time, it was like a little less pressure than applying it to the job. And since that technically wasn't in the scope of work for my work yet, it was when I was Jesse's social media coordinator. So I did this whole project on the side, pitched it to that company, they loved it. Did a whole collaboration with them, launched it to their millions of subscribers, and the clothing collection sold out. And it was one of the proudest moments that I've had in my early 20s. And that's when Jesse was like, "Oh, wait. If you can do that, I want you to do that with me."

Speaker 1: And that's what he promoted me to be his creative director. And then we built all day running co within a year later. That showed me the potential in my creative expression and how okay your job role might be one thing, but if you actually just let yourself test and try things in your own time and in my own time and see how big I can expand with the vision, see how far it goes and just test and have the confidence and the courage and the curiosity to try and make it work. And so often you're doing different elements of the project. I love how you didn't put that pressure on yourself. It's a very artistic thing to do to say, "I'm just going to start and we'll see how this goes." But you also learned you could do it and gave yourself the confidence that that you could on your own time, which not everyone does. Yeah, that totally transformed my career, has shown me the path to what I do now and applied to clients currently. It is really amazing. A Toz is about full expression. If you were a letter between A and Z, what letter would you be right now? And then tell us about A to Z. Um, I would be L because it's like somewhere near the middle. It's just straight, but it's got its little curve. It's not too complicated, but it's on the way. Like forward movement. There's some forward movement going on with it. Yes. Yeah. A Toz is my creative studio that I started and I work with brands and individuals to tell extraordinary stories and find their full expression through film. So it's directing different campaigns for them through art. I'll make big art pieces with photography and mixed media and help people turn their vision boards into big art pieces that live on their wall. and then through brand design and discovery and help people who are like, "Oo, I have this idea now. How do we bring it to life?" I love that. Share with us a couple ways you're working with clients.

Client brand development

Speaker 1: For one is this woman came to me and she was like, "I want to start a social club based on my Italian traditions and it's all around Sundays and we'll get together and we'll have a dining experience on Sunday or it'll be making pasta together." And so I take all of her ideas and then create mood boards and do the brand discovery and do the color font and logo design and it's myself. I'll work with some friends and outsource some talented friends to work alongside me. But that's one example kind of like how with All Day Running Co. starting from like idea to bringing it to life. Oh, that's so fun. And you can bring in your artistic expression in that too. Definitely. One of my favorite parts is just creating the brandex to send to clients. Yeah. What's one piece of advice that you ignored at first but later realized it was exactly what you needed? It's the cliche one that everything takes time yet being somebody who's forwardinking and ambitious and I make my goal list and it's like set your goals at the top of the year. I recently re-watched a video of myself from early 2020. And in this video, I always record myself talking to myself just so I can see the progress over the years or see the patterns in the mindset. And I was like, I'm going to run a marathon. I'm going to collaborate with Yes Theory.

Speaker 1: I'm going to make a documentary for Jesse. I'm going to work with Spanx. I listed all these things. I'm going to make my website. And I look back 5 years from now and I'm like, "Oh, it took me 5 years to do those things." And in that video, I said, "I'm going to do it all by January 1st, 2021." I remember at the time being frustrated with myself where I was like, "Oh, 2021 is here now. I didn't do all these things. I did do the collaboration with Yes Theory. I am making content for Jesse, but it's not necessarily a documentary." I had all these woes with myself. And now when I look back, I'm like, whoa, younger me was crushing it. I wish I saw it at the time. And just things take time and the website will happen. And a lot of the time, if they don't happen immediately, it's cuz they weren't ready yet. And it's those ideas that keep resurfacing and that motivation that keeps coming through years on end that remind me that I'm like, "Okay, time to prioritize that. There's space that opened up." So yeah, everything takes time. Be patient. I'm like, "Oh, I don't want to be." But now I have a different perspective of it and appreciation for that. I'm the same way. It's so hard to be patient sometimes. But that's such good advice and it's like a vision board and setting the goals when you look back and go, "Wow, all those things happened." Yeah, I love that because I'm like, is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Did it happen cuz I put it on the board or was it going to happen anyway? But I totally believe in all of that because by putting it on the vision board, it keeps it as a central focus in my mind. Puts it out into the universe visually. So it's not just an idea. It's real. It can become a conversation point. So suddenly people are like, "Oh, I love that. What is that?" And I get to talk about my goals and my dreams more. And so I really am a strong proponent of the vision boards. Yeah. And it's important to dream. We have to be bored to let those dreams and ideas come in at times.

Speaker 1: Otherwise, we're just busy and they don't flow in like they should or could.

Speaker 1: I had a big project this past week where I was hired to work on a campaign for a major company that is looking to reinvent some new energy into their brand. And I can't say too much more than that, but I was so focused on this project that I was like, I'm not going on Instagram. I need full focus. I need no distraction. And I was reminded of how much space freed up and how I had that time. I was so focused on that project, but in the moments where I'd put my phone down for a second to breathe, I had space. And I had that time to think and dream. And I need more of that boredom time in my life and not picking up my phone lately. That was a good reminder. Yeah, I think a lot of us do. And running. Running was always my time for that. I always had the best ideas when I was running. Oh yeah, that and driving. I like need an excuse to drive more as well. That's really good thinking time. Yeah. You're like, I'm going to take a different direction home. I'm not going to go home the same way I usually do. Give myself extra time to think. If you had to explain your creative philosophy using only a color, a texture, and a sound, what would they be? It would be this mix between an orange and a red. And the texture would be cards, stock paper, something that's got weight, but it's got grit to it. And the sound will be like the iPhone when you send a message sound where it's like whoop. And I have to ask why did you pick that sound? It feels good to me.

Speaker 1: It's It feels like okay this something's going through. It's positive. It sounds quick. It's not too harsh. It just sounds good. I love that. Yeah, cuz when you get that message, it usually means some kind of forward movement or something's going to happen. How do you stay grounded while building bold, expressive work that asks others to stretch, too? I'd say waking up naturally. Over the past few years, I've really prioritized trying to wake up with the sun. I found in the past couple years, I wake up earlier with no alarm than a couple years where I needed an alarm to wake up at 8:45. and getting my circadian rhythm in check to wake up with the sun, take a minute to appreciate that in the morning. I live in Brooklyn and so I'll go up to the rooftop and it could be 5:30, 6, 7, depending on the time of year. But like recognizing that moment for myself and my body in connection with nature, take a moment, journal.

Speaker 1: Those mornings are really important to me. spend some gratitude, ground myself, and then take on the day feeling good in myself to hopefully give to others.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good advice. And the mornings are so quiet. It's that time when you can really have those moments to yourself. And it's really smart that you go outside, too, because it just brings in the light and the energy.

Finding joy

Speaker 1: Yeah, I need that. Magic happens when we focus on the part of our business and oursel that brings us joy. We've talked a lot about work. What is one thing that you do to make sure that you're finding and living your joy? Hosting friends is huge for me. I love bringing people together. I'm so lucky to have amazing friends. I enjoy inviting them over even if they've never met each other. So, I'll host. One time I had a picnic that was an anyone can come picnic and it was everyone from every part of my life. I invited I then put it on Instagram. I was like, "Let's put it out to the whole world." So fun. I find every time we're all sitting together, friends and strangers, and most people are like, "Whoa, I didn't even know this guy before, and now we're all talking about some deep, important, inspiring conversations." And I love breaking that barrier of new friendships aren't supposed to be deep right away, or maybe you're not supposed to go there. Creating that environment that is just fulfilling. It's fun. It's silly. You can be playful with friends and intentional. That keeps me just so full of joy. And then I recruit all my friends for my creative projects, too. If I have to shoot a campaign concept or if I'm shooting anything personal, I call all my immediate go-tos. I'm like, "Okay, I got a new idea." And that's really fun. And that energy speaks to you, too, and the energy that you put out in the world. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining us today, Amanda. I knew I was going to love and our listeners will love our conversation and telling us all about All Day running co and a Toz. Share with us how and where we can find

Speaker 1: Extraordinary. Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hello@sh shebiltit.com on our shebuilt website or at shebuiltit on social. Thank you to my editor rich draffalino who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave.