From “Too Much” To Just Right, With Stickers, Glee, And Zero Guilt | Andrea Mondoux

What if the life you’re building is still running on someone else’s script? We sit with transformation coach and author Andrea Mondu to unpack the quiet weight of shoulds, the autopilot thoughts that steer our choices, and the surprising role of play in serious success. Andrea’s new book, Embody Bliss: Break Free from the Shoulds and Move Into More Joy, blends memoir and practical tools to help you question inherited stories, build self-trust, and choose joy on purpose.

We explore her EMBODY approach to change, starting with awareness: logging the thoughts that loop beneath your day, testing them against evidence, and picking beliefs that match your values. From being called “too much” to shrinking dreams to fit corporate molds, Andrea shows how these labels live in our bodies—and how to release them. She shares why not everyone is meant for entrepreneurship, but those who choose it must grow fast: visibility, resilience, and boundaries stop being nice-to-haves and become oxygen.

This conversation is warm, candid, and full of usable ideas. You’ll learn why ten minutes of laughter can reset your productivity, how adult glee rehearsals revived Andrea’s creativity, and why cutting the grass without headphones can ground a scattered mind. We dig into the book’s structure—thought work, stories, shoulds, self-relationship, boundaries, play, nature—and the bonus audio activations designed to help new beliefs stick through repetition. We close with a grounded definition of being a boss: self-ownership, fewer assumptions, less taking things personally, and always doing your best.

If you’re ready to stop performing productivity and start designing a business that supports your life, this one will meet you where you are. Listen, reflect, and try one small shift today—question a thought, protect a boundary, or choose a joy. If it resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more women can find these tools.

Andrea’s Podcast: Balance + Bliss  

Andrea’s Book! Pre-order here before the official release date of March 11th 2026: Embody Bliss

Connect with Andrea on Instagram! 

Learn more about my done-for-you course creation agency, Curated. 

Connect with me on Instagram!  

Check out my website here.

Transcript

Welcome And Show Framing

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to She's the Boss, the podcast where female wellness entrepreneurs talk ambition, money, and ownership out loud. I'm your host, Lee McSwan, a certified holistic nutritionist, turned wellness business coach. This is where conversations are unfiltered, the rules of entrepreneurship get rewritten, and nothing is off limits. Money, motherhood, friendships, legacy, wealth, power, and what it really takes to build a life and business on your terms. Let's get after it.

Meet Andrea Mondu

SPEAKER_01 0:32

All right, today's guest is Andrea Mondu. She is the founder of Balance and Bliss. She's a transformation coach, speaker, host of the Balance and Bliss podcast, and author helping empower women on their pursuit of wellness and happiness. With a wealth of experience spanning over a decade, Andrea has dedicated her career to coaching and uplifting individuals on their journeys to wellness and happiness. Her expertise lies in assisting people recognize and reframe the narratives they tell themselves regarding their capabilities. Her true calling lies in guiding individuals through transformation one step at a time. Andrea, welcome to She's the Boss.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Oh, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I I love, you probably saw the smiling, I love listening back to my bio because it's just a testament to how much work I've done. And I just feel really excited about the work that I get to do every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yes. And today is January 5th when we're recording this. It is officially New Year's Day for me. It's the first Monday of 2026. The kids are back to school. It feels like an office day. Do you share that same feeling?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Oh, 100%. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, just like so excited to get back into routine. I've really enjoyed the time off with them. And I'm really excited to be back in my own schedule, have the house to myself to do what lights me up and not be interrupted.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, it's kind of nice, isn't it? Yeah, it really

New Year Energy And Words

SPEAKER_01 2:04

has been. So with this being New Year's Day 2026, what is something that is exciting you for this coming year in your business?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Well, this is a really exciting year. I think because so last year was a bit of a like an evolving type of year for me. I did a lot of big things that I had never historically done in my business before. So I hosted an international women's retreat in Punta Cana. Big deal. Finally put the last finishing touches on the book that I have been working on. And so now in 2026, I'm really excited to just continue that expansion and launch this book that I have been writing and just continue to grow the way that I serve and allow women to, or invite women rather, to show up for themselves. It's got me very excited.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yes. And do you have a word for 2026?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah, expansion. That is my word. It just like came to me as I was flipping through a magazine and I was like, this has to be the word. I've done words for the last five or six years and they just serve so well.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yes, amazing. I love that. I always try to focus on a word, but this year it was a phrase that came through for me and it was all in.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Oh right.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

It's everything that I want. I have to be all in. I want to get better at snowboarding with my kids. I have to commit to doing the things I don't want to do. They're going to take me on double black diamonds. I'm all in. I'm going to launch this podcast. I'm all in. So that's kind of my mantra, I guess, for 2026. That's cool. I love that. I love that.

Embody Bliss Book Overview

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So you are an author. You have you are about to release your first solo book, Embody Bliss, that is coming out on March 11th. There will be a link for pre-orders if you're listening to this episode before March 11th. Can you talk a little bit about what this book is about and who it's written for?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

This episode is sponsored by Ignite, my immersive mastermind for female wellness entrepreneurs who are ready to stop playing small and start leading their six, seven, and eight-figure businesses with intention. Ignite is where we shift how you think, decide, and build so that your business supports your life, not the other way around. It's linked in the show notes if you want to explore more. Okay, let's jump back into the episode.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah. So if you are a woman listening to this episode, and honestly, not even a woman, a man as well. The concepts in this book are really applicable to anybody. So that's who I think it's for. But the the premise of this book, so it's called Embody Bliss, Break Free from the Shoulds and Move Into More Joy. And I feel like every single one of us on this earth are living out a lot of other people's stories. And it's unconscious. We don't realize it. We don't know it. And until somebody says to us, hey, does that thought actually feel good for you? Is that your thought? Is that someone else's? Is that story yours? Or is that story someone else's? Until we somebody tells us that as we live on autopilot and we get to the end and we're like, why have I never been happy? Or why have I am I always chasing happiness? And so I wrote this book. It's a memoir style book. So there's a lot of storytelling in it, but it is rooted in practical self-help strategies that help you to break free from all the things you should be doing, the people you should be having relationships with, the jobs you should have, the way you should show up in your days, and instead allow you to really move into a place where you are living solely for yourself and investing in relationships and boundaries and time and nature and inner dialogue exploration, all of that just for you. And that is really what allows for people to have that simple happiness that I think a lot of us are craving. I started writing this book because I feel like we are trying desperately to be at home

The Weight Of “Shoulds”

SPEAKER_00 6:15

with ourselves in a world that sells us all the reasons why we shouldn't be. And so it's when we we stop listening on the outside and we start listening in here, that's where the real magic starts to happen. And so I've I've kind of learned that for myself. And I'm like, I gotta impart this knowledge onto other people as well, as much as I can.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yes, absolutely. And and you're a successful transformation coach. So what are some of the things that you see women saying to themselves or maybe even saying out loud that are the shoulds? I should have done X. What's the most common one?

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Well, there's a lot that is said out loud, but actually even more that is said internally. So a lot of limiting beliefs about, oh, well, I grew up, you know, seeing this in the media, or I grew up seeing this in my family, or I grew up being told, you know, X, Y, and Z. The biggest one, and I think that this one rings true for me as well, is it's you grow up, you find the career that you're gonna have, and then you go to school for that career, and then you get a job, and then you work nine to five, and then you create a family and all of that sort of stuff. And it's like you pour and you give into your family, and then that's supposed to be the things that are fulfilling. And in reality, you can you can take that path if that feels right for you. You can also take that path and then decide to take a different path if that no longer feels good for you. Just because you started something doesn't mean you should continue it, or just because somebody told you that you should do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should. So that is a really, really big one. And I said, we don't always say these outwardly. These things often happen on repeat in our brains, right? If I'm sure you probably know this, but you know, there is such a large part of our thoughts that are on autopilot. We have conscious thoughts, but then we have an insane amount of unconscious thought and so many hardwired neural pathways in our brain that it's just these thoughts happen without even thinking about it. And so, you know, it's so easy to go through our lives and just be, oh, yep, you know, you don't meet a deadline, oh, I suck at that, or you something feels hard the first time and it's oh, I suck at that. I I can't do that, I shouldn't be doing that. And we believe that, but we can choose to believe a different thought if we want to. We just have to be given that knowledge to like, how do you even start to do that?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah. And I guess that would be my question is once we kind of bring those subconscious thoughts that are running on autopilot into the conscious thought, what do we do with them?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah, that is a loaded question. And I actually get that a lot from clients. You know, they'll be like, okay, I like this isn't working for you, but I just don't even know where to start. And so the book is called Embody Bliss. And and that word embody

Thought Work And Awareness

SPEAKER_00 9:10

really resonates with me and my clients that I work with because it it kind of like an acronym for a framework or like a concept that I often work through with my clients and is is rooted in this book as well. But the E from embody stands for elevate your awareness. So when we're thinking about wanting to create some sort of change or noticing the thoughts, so you notice it, that's the first step. Is it's like, okay, I want things to be different. Let's like take some time to eavesdrop on our thoughts. So it's let's think about the things and maybe you make a log. I've I've done this before where you'll make a log for a week of what are the things that I'm consistently saying to myself over and over again. For me, I always said I'm not a morning person. And so I never was a morning person. I never was a morning person because I always said that I wasn't a morning person. So when you notice that thought, you can be like, hmm, okay, exploring it a little bit. And all of this work typically happens either in your mind or on a piece of paper. But once you are aware of the thought, then you can be like, Do I like this thought? Does it make me feel good? Does it get me closer to where I want to be, farther from where I want to be? Where could this thought have potentially come from? You know, I ran an event and multiple events actually, a couple of years ago. There were four of us that were co-hosts. And one of the women, when she was talking a lot about her transformation, she talked about how when she was growing up, people always told her that she was too much. People always told her that she was too much and that she was too loud that and that she needed to be quiet. And so for a long time, she did those things. She felt like she was too much. She apologized for her be big and beautiful personality because people made her feel like she should apologize for that. She didn't know any different until she was like, I don't have to apologize for who I am. So yeah, just getting some awareness into it really is the first step.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

I I think this is so relatable for so many women. I know this to be true for myself. I know this to be true for many of the women that are in my life. I even have one friend who is is taller and she was always surrounded by shorter friends. So she developed yeah, yeah, that's that's you. She developed postural issues because she was shrinking herself down. And I think that this is something that affects women in so many different ways. We're told, you know, don't ruffle feathers, don't be overly confident, don't be one that I heard was I'm bossy. And that was a big one. And I'm an Aries, so I have very strong natural leadership, but it really played in the background of my mind through so many interactions. When I would be trying to execute something, I would be, oh my gosh, I'm I'm being too much, right? And scaling that side of me back. And I think as we get older, it gets a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

It does, except if we have never been taught that too, right? It's I okay. So I'm gonna tell you a story that lands literally perfectly

Stories We Inherit And Shrinking

SPEAKER_00 12:20

to the situation right now. So I have a 10-year-old and she is just starting to kind of get into that well, preteen kind of frame of mind with friendships and all of these sorts of pieces. And so, I mean, I feel really blessed that I get to give her all of these tools, so much younger than I had them. But there was a situation over the Christmas break where she was supposed to be having a play date with a friend, and then she's in this like group of like there's three of them that are really close. And um, and so she was had plans with one of them, and then the three of them were having like a group like phone call, and then the play date got mentioned. So then the other girl got invited as well. And so then there was gonna be three of them. And so that morning she was like, I don't want to go to the play date anymore. And I was like, why not? And she's like, Well, whenever we hang out, the three of us, I always get, I always feel left out and I feel like they don't like me and they just want to be together, the two of them, and then I'm on the outside. And I was like, okay, I was like, tell me a little bit more about that. So she did, and I didn't let her not go. I still made her go to the play day, and I was like, you know what? We're going, you're getting dressed, because that's just not true. These two friends still care very much about you. But when we were driving to the play day, I said, girlfriend, I'm gonna tell you why I made you go. Because sometimes we have thoughts that we literally think they're true, and we can spin ourselves so much into thinking that other people don't like us because we've created this story that actually doesn't exist. I said, But when you stop and you take a look at the other evidence, or mom on the outside can look and say, these two girls actually really care about you. They were reaching out to you so much over the Christmas break. They're so excited to see you. What the story that you have inside is just not true. And so then it was like, I we kind of had that little bit of a conversation, and it was like, okay, now she has that awareness to maybe sometime when we're not together, she'll have a thought and she'll be like, oh, is this a true thought? Or like, is this somebody else's thought, or is this not a true thought? It's such a powerful concept to have at your disposal as long as you know about it.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah, and I think it's such a beautiful gift that you've been able to give that to your daughter because I think that that is going to prevent her from years, decades of self-doubt and questioning, right? Okay, so I have a question for you about entrepreneurship. And that is what belief did you have about success that you had to completely unlearn in order to get to the point that you are at today? What was your belief? Uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Well, I I don't necessarily think that it was it was my belief, but it was instilled from the world around me that in order to be successful and to be

Teaching Kids To Question Stories

SPEAKER_00 15:15

seen as professional and successful, I had to have a corporate with benefits, salaried, well-paying job to like be responsible. And I remember when I was on maternity leave with my first daughter, I was really, really dreading going back to work. I had just had a one-year taste of what it's like to make your own schedule, to have flexibility, to be at home, to be able to like fold a load of laundry during the day at home if I want to, so that I don't have to fold it all on the weekends and in the evenings. I just had that flexibility. And in my heart, I knew that I was actually yearning for that. I think it was something that I didn't realize I was looking for. And so thinking about going back to work, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna have to go back to that busyness of what corporate world looks like. And so I decided to pursue coaching. That was kind of when the idea was first born. So I took my certification. I was trying to figure out what having your own business would look like. And I remember reaching out or talking to a close family member about that. About, I was like, I want to start my own business. And I was excited to share that. And her response was, oh, but you you have a kid now and you have a house, and you can't give up your income and your benefits to follow this dream. That's not quote unquote a real job. They she didn't say that, but that's kind of what I was getting. And so I believed that too. I stayed again, like stayed like another year or two beyond that, scared to jump into entrepreneurship and the uncertainty that comes with it. And now, of course, I I'm kind of a rebel myself. I don't like to let these things hold me back. It did take me a little bit longer for sure, but now here I am, 2026. I registered my business in 2018 and really went full into it in the last couple of years. I had been doing it kind of part-time then. While I also built up my own belief that I could make this happen, you know? Um, and

Unlearning Corporate Success Myths

SPEAKER_00 17:21

so now it's like anybody who is thinking about diving into entrepreneurship, it is it's not necessarily easy all the time, but it is so, it is so worth it. And you can really get through anything. And to me, that is what success is, is it's you get to success now is I get to make my own rules, make my own schedule, take on the work that I want to, all of these sorts of things that it's like I am actually the creator of my own life now, and somebody else doesn't have that power. And that to me is like pretty freaking awesome. That's the freedom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Did you share your ambitions to become an entrepreneur with anybody else other than that friend? Uh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

At the time, let me think back to the timing of this. Yes, at the time, my husband had his own business as well. And so I shared it with him. And so he was a bit more open about it. But that same fear of this, the instability of entrepreneurship also came up, which truthfully is part of the reason why I still stayed in corporate for a while, was because one of us needed to have some sort of stable income. But I was not giving up on my dream. And he he knew that. And even, you know, when it came down to like me leaving corporate and going full-time into my own business, it was it was a conversation about numbers and what that could look like and that sort of thing. But he still really held that belief that let's try it and let's make it happen. Honestly, our fallback plan is always anyone, anyone in the entire world who wants to start a business, you can always go get a job.

unknown 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

If it doesn't work out, you can always go get a job. But you might be like it, but if you don't do it, at the end of your life, you're gonna be like, I really wish that I took that chance on myself. I really wish that I started that business or whatever it is. I you just always have to try. My belief.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah, I I should have started the business. I should have done the thing that lit me up. Absolutely. Do you think that everybody is designed for entrepreneurship? Oh, I don't.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

And I I say that because I didn't realize the large element of self-growth that you have to do to be in business for yourself. It's not a mandatory piece. I think that there's a lot of people who are in business for themselves who haven't really done a lot of deep work. But being in business for yourself requires you to constantly push yourself outside of what feels uncomfortable. You have to constantly, you have to get over your fear of being seen. Because if you're not seen, no one's gonna buy shit from you. Exactly. So it's all of those, all of those voices that we have inside of us get a

Is Entrepreneurship For Everyone

SPEAKER_00 20:05

lot louder when you're trying to be in business for yourself. Who cares what you have to say? Nobody's gonna want to buy what you have. This isn't good enough. Somebody else is doing it better. Comparison, all of those things shine quite bright when you are trying to make your passion flourish. And so I think there's an element of really deep growth that has to happen in order for that longevity and to really be able to stay true to yourself and not burn out.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I agree with you. I don't think that everybody is cut out for entrepreneurship. And I don't mean that in any sort of discrediting way, because I actually think that we still find our joy in one department or the other, whether you're working for somebody else or working for yourself. There's a lot of joy that comes with both elements. I think that a mirror is held up to us, especially as women, when we step into entrepreneurship. And I would actually say that I think you're you're kind of forced to deal with a lot of your limiting beliefs and a lot of for women specifically, it's usually around fear of judgment or shame or something like that. And so when you've had those beliefs come up for you along your journey, was there ever a point in time where you thought, you know what, maybe I will go back to the corporate job? Or were you so hellbent and determined, being the fiery person that you are, to make it work that it just wasn't even an option on the table for you?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah, option B. I I really say this all the time. I can't imagine being back in a life where I have to get up and get dressed and get my kids out the door and go work for someone else and spend eight hours of my time there and then come home, pick up my kids, come home. I actually wrote about this in my book about that, that life. And and as I was writing it, I was like, oh my gosh, I really don't ever want to be back here. Because it's like you, you, as I was saying, you get up, you go to work, you come home, you do dinner, you put the kids to bed, you try and do housework, you rinse and repeat for five days,

No Plan B And Ongoing Growth

SPEAKER_00 22:15

and then you have two days on the weekend to catch up on everything. I I will never go back to that. I will, I will figure out a way to make it work. And so I just, there was really no other option for me than to like deal with my shit so that I could make this successful. And I'm not claiming that that was necessarily easy work. And and truthfully, I'm still learning and growing and investing in myself in ways that allow for me to be a better business owner. And and all of those things just trickle out into helping me be a better human and mother and partner and person and friend. But yeah, there's there's no other way for me, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah, I'm with you. I can't, I can't do it. And so speaking of investments with business, what is the best investment you've ever made in your your business?

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Growing, honestly, growing myself. Now, I I it's funny, I was just talking to my husband about this this weekend because I am very heavily in personal growth all the time, but that's because that is the niche that I work in. And so I even more understand the value of making these types of investments and how beneficial investing in yourself can be. But I will say that like growing your skills and learning more about yourself is always the best money spent because there's always something that you can glean from investing. Now you have to invest and you also have to show up. So there's that part of it as well is that like you can invest in things. And it's it's funny because I started my career in social work.

Best Investment: Self First

SPEAKER_00 24:01

So I went to social work or to social services, uh, got a diploma when I was 18, finished, graduated when I was 20, and worked in frontline mental health. I worked with seniors with who are at risk of homelessness and addiction and just really like emotionally heavy, laborous work for a lot, a lot of years. And oftentimes those clients that I worked with, they didn't really want to work with me, right? They were put in positions where they had to get the support to maintain their housing or whatever it was. They really didn't show up in the way that you have to show up if you're making an investment in yourself. So to bring it back full circle, I think that that's why I love coaching so much is because I'm still doing similar work to what I used to do. But people who are hiring me and choosing to work with me, for the most part, if they're putting their money on the table, they're invested and they're showing up to do the work, whether it's in big ways or in small ways. And I just love to see that transformation and growth for people because it's really cool when people push beyond what's possible, what they think is possible for them and instead have a totally different reality than they ever thought could be possible for them, just because they've started to do some of this work that I do with them. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

And it's so true, right? Do you believe that every coach needs needs a coach?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

And what are some what are some of the benefits that you've seen with your clients from where they were before they started working with you to where you're able to get them?

SPEAKER_00 25:38

I think the the biggest transformation I often see for women that I work with is just like a really deeply rooted belief in themselves and their worth and what they're deserving of. And when you are very deeply rooted in what you feel you deserve and are not willing to take anything less than that, and

Coaching Outcomes And Self-Trust

SPEAKER_00 26:03

are willing to speak up for yourself, or are you feel confident enough to speak up for yourself? You have built an insane amount of self-trust. There's nothing that you can't do. And there is nothing that you will accept that is less than what you know that you deserve. And that is power, and that is just life-changing work.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah, absolutely. It's you're allowing them to get out of their own way. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that is the most liberating thing that we can do as coaches, as people that hold the containers and whatnot. So I really admire admire that in you. Let's turn back to the book here. From an author's standpoint, what is the hardest point part of writing a book?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

I think so. My first book, I wrote it in five months. My friend planted the idea for me, the seed. He was like, you know, you love to help people and you can only talk with sit down with so many people, but what if your book could have massive impact that you can't even see? And I was like, oh shoot, all right, fine. I'm writing a book. So that one I wrote in five months. It felt, I don't know, it just felt really

Writing The Book And Structure

SPEAKER_00 27:20

easy for me to write and get out. This second one, I've actually been writing it since August 2023. Wow. And and at the time, I now mind you, I only had one child then, and and then I had two when I was writing this one. So that could be a piece of it as well. But I just I I knew what I wanted it. I knew the title right away. It was a title that came to me right away. I knew exactly what I wanted each chapter to be about, what I wanted the premise of the book to be. But I think part of what took me so long was because I really wanted it to be something that people can pick up and read through and finish and feel so seen that they can't imagine not having read that book. And so I really wanted to make sure that I included it. Was like, if I could say, if I could have these people's attention one time, what would I want to say to them? And so I just spent a lot of time really um allowing for all of that to come. The the roadmap of the book is is this. So it starts off with talking about the importance of thought work. There's a little bit of an introduction piece in there, who I am, what I'm doing, why you should read this book. But there's there's there's the introduction of the thought work and how important it is. Then it kind of goes into stories and and how are you carrying your stories or someone else's? Then it moves into the shoulds. And the title of the chapter came from a therapy appointment, actually. My therapist said something like, Oh, the shoulds are really heavy, aren't they? And I was like, the shoulds are heavy as shit. And that's where that chapter came from. And then it moves into the relationship with yourself and the relationship with others, which are topics that are not talked about often, about especially the relationship with yourself. And then it moves into boundaries, it moves into the importance of laughter and play and how that is such a missing piece of our society, I think, is being childlike again and playing and doing things just for fun or just because not tied to productivity or all of those sorts of pieces. And then it moves into the importance of nature and getting outside, and then it kind of just like brings it all back together of what are the actual things that I have found to be so valuable in my growth journey that I think everyone should know. And if I could only sit down with them one time, this is what I'm gonna tell them.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Oh my gosh, it's like your your literary TED talk.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

I I love the framework and I especially love the piece about getting back into child's play because I really don't see anybody talking about that. So, what are some of the ways

Play, Professionalism, And Joy

SPEAKER_01 30:12

that you get back into your childhood and being playful in your everyday life, but also in your business?

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Ooh, so I because I think because I came from the social work world, you had to be very strong with your like professional boundaries in that space, right? It's like you are the social service worker, you are the worker, and this is your client. And those lines have to be very like hard drawn. And then I moved from social work into a professor position. So I actually taught for four years at a second career college. I taught social services, and again, it was like professor and student, and there was that big distinction and separation between the two. And so when I moved into coaching, which is kind of just like a bestie space, it was hard for me to figure out where my level of professionalism, I'm using air quotes for anybody who can't see me because what is professional? And actually, I would argue that there's too many stuffy people that exist in the world and not enough human people. But I mean, there's lots of human people, but a lot of humanity is gone from humans. So I in my business, I find myself just being really, I don't know, I guess unprofessional. Not in the sense of like I'm crossing boundaries, but more is just like more playful, more fun, more jokey. I like to swear and I don't hide that. It's just like I'm just a real person in the work that I do and it's it's not stuffy. And in my personal life, oh my gosh. So last year, my word for the year was heal. I think I said it was evolved, but that was totally a lie. That was the year before. My word for the year last year was heal because our family went through some really horrible stuff with my husband losing his business because his business partner had a gambling addiction. And so it was a really hard year and a half. 2020 or 2024 was awful, and it kind of bled into 2025 as well. And so I'm like, oh my God, I gotta heal this year. This year has been heavy. I felt like there's been no joy, no anything. And so I joined an adult glee group. And so I, like I was saying to you before, I have a show. This is amazing. And so we meet every week and we learn choreography, we learn vocals, we sing and dance for an hour every week. And then at the end of the term, we put on a giant show and it's four days long, and we host it at a theater, and it's sold out every time, every night. And it was so fun. I did everybody in that room, there's 150 adults, and every single person in that room is there just for joy and fun. Oh, there to sing and dance outside of all of their expectations and roles and responsibilities.

Micro-Moments Of Fun As Strategy

SPEAKER_00 33:05

They still show up and sing and dance. And there is a lot of talent that people have that they quiet down because they are grown up now. We don't do that anymore. Yes. I art journal all the time. I like scrapbook and I have gotten back. Like I bought vinyl stickers because I'm a grown-up and I have money and I can buy so many stickers. So I have stickers and sticker books and I make bracelets and all of these things that just are for fun and for me. And I watch stupid videos for 15 minutes on end and bust a gut. And I feel so good after doing that. It's not productive, but it's productive for my soul. And those sorts of soul activities are are missing that I think we a lot of us need to do more of.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Oh my gosh, that is so fun, first of all. I I love that you have so much money to buy all the stickers and no one's saying that's too many or don't stick those on the wall. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that is so fun. And how how would you recommend somebody find that balance in their day, especially when they're first starting off in their entrepreneurial journey, even though somebody may not have the time to go out and, you know, do something once a week, how can they find those little moments throughout the day to bring that fun back into their lives?

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Well, one of the things, like I said, is I sometimes I've curated, I feel like my algorithm knows me. I've curated my algorithm that it's sometimes in the morning before my daughter or after my daughter leaves for school and before I start my workday, I might spend 10 minutes just sitting on the couch watching these videos and laughing. And it just like I am literally crying, laughing. And then I'm like, okay, time to get into work now. But it sets the mood for my day. And it literally only took me 10 minutes, you know. I always say to people who come to my workshops, especially the business focused ones, because I work a lot, I've shifted and I work a lot more with ambitious and entrepreneurial women. And I always say, your business, sorry, hold on, let me backtrack to my own quote. I don't your biggest asset in your business is you. And so if you are not taking care of you, your business is not going to thrive in the way that you want it to. And so the same way that you would invest in a marketing strategy, or that you would invest in like a system, or that you would invest in Flowdesk

Creativity, Hobbies, And Burnout

SPEAKER_00 35:30

or Calendly or whatever that thing is, you actually need to carve out time to invest in yourself in that way just the same. And that is going to actually create this the success that you're looking for, even if it's in small ways and it doesn't have to be every day, it doesn't have to be a big thing, but even in 15-minute increments every other day, I don't know, whatever. But it just it's so vital to everything.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Yeah, we almost have to start looking at it as a business strategy. Yes. And you sound like a very creative person. So I think that this probably comes with a bit of natural flow for you. I'm trying to think back to some of the things that I used to do in childhood. And they're actually always the things that I table every new year is that I want to start again as hobbies. For me, that's a lot of like, you know, picking up things I don't know how to do. Like I've wanted to play the piano and get back into horseback riding and show jumping and all this. So you've really inspired me to make that a priority for me because of the personal benefits, but also the very obvious business benefits that it offers us.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Totally. It's so much harder to show up in your business when you are burnt out and depleted. And you can pour back into yourself in small ways by shutting off your brain and doing things that are based in creativity. I did a, I used to do a lot more workshops for corporate companies. And there is a local college that I used to go back to this one team. Every three months I would go and check in with their team, and we would do some sort of team building and workshop and stuff. And I was taking them through this one tool that I have. It's called the Wheel of Balance, and it's looking at all the different parts that make up who you are and which ones we should be, which ones that we are lacking in and can stand to pour into more. And there was a woman who shared that she was, I want to paint more. So I used to love painting. And just since having kids and all that stuff, I never do it. And there's this little corner in my basement that I have carved out for me to paint, and I never go and paint. And so after that workshop, then we set a goal. And I was like, okay, next time we get together, I want to know how your painting goes. And so she came back and she shared with us that she started painting again. And she was, it was, I thought that it was going to be this big heavy thing that I was making time for. And it kind of did feel bad at first, she said, as she was rewiring that belief

Everyday Bliss And Simple Pleasures

SPEAKER_00 38:05

about it and those pathways to make it easier. But then all of a sudden she found that she was like looking forward to it and that she was less stressed and she was kind of using it to decompress and all of these really cool things that happen when we take time for ourselves and get quiet with ourselves and do something just for creativity's sake. But yeah, it's just there's even if you're listening to this and you're like, well, I'm not creative. I can draw stick people and blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. It doesn't have to be pretty or fancy, or you could literally scribble or doodle on a page, or maybe it's gardening, or maybe it's arranging flowers, or maybe it's cutting the grass. I don't know. There's so many things that you can do. It's just you got to do what feels good for you.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Yeah, that's such good advice, even if it's something that is so unconventional to other people. Cutting the grass. I used to cut the grass and I actually really loved it. I would put headphones on, I would listen to an audiobook or a podcast, and nobody bothered me for like a good chunk of the day. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Yeah, I actually love it's very snowy here right now. Where are you? Are you are you out west? Calgary. Yeah, Calgary. Yeah. So it's also equally probably as snowy. Actually, maybe we have more snow than you and Ontario. I think you guys do. You guys got dumped on. We have so much snow right now. But I I also love the snow for other things. But in the summer, I our backyard is my sanctuary. And I am the one that does the gardens. I am the one that cuts the grass, and I love doing that stuff. It just makes me feel so grounded. And I just love looking at the grass after and it being fresh and cut. And just I often actually don't put headphones on, and I'm just out there with the birds. And I'm like the weird garden lady. You're finding your bliss. It's your bliss. Honestly, it is my bliss. And I think that so many of us ignore the things that bring us joy and bring us happiness. And it's, oh, if I can go on the big beach

Audio Activations And Repetition

SPEAKER_00 40:05

vacation and if I can buy the thing, that's going to be the thing that makes me happy and brings me bliss. And maybe it is, but it may actually also just be pausing and smelling your coffee before you drink it and taking that first sip and being like, oh my gosh, this is so good. Or crawling into bed. My husband always laughs at me because I have a heated blanket and underneath our fitted sheet and I preheat the bed before I get into it. And when I crawl into bed at night, I'm like giggling. I'm like, oh my God, this is so nice. And I'm just laughing. And I, you can just enjoy the simple things. And those can be the things that bring you bliss and maybe bring you the happiness that you're looking for in the big grandiose someday things.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Oh my gosh. That is a mic drop moment because that is so true. We have to harness the small little things that we have access to anytime, any place, and we're not constantly waiting for that next big thing to feel that gratification and get that dopamine hit. I 1000% agree with what you say. I am definitely going to be heeding a lot of your advice because it is absolute freaking gold. I love that you curse because I love a good F bomb myself. It's just refreshing. And I love how you're you're basically redefining that professionalism for yourself. Yeah. Probably for the industry as a whole. Embody Bliss comes out March 11th. Pre-order your copy. I literally cannot wait to read this book, honestly. I'm not just saying that because you're on my podcast and we're in a mastermind together. But I I genuinely cannot wait to read this book. It sounds so practical. And yeah, I'm just excited for that literary TED Talk.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

I gotta tell you, speaking of TED Talks, one thing that I also did with this book, because like I said earlier, it's I want people to take so much from this and be able to carry it forward forever. And I think about myself

Slowing Down To Receive Ideas

SPEAKER_00 42:05

when I read a book, it's oh, this book is so good. And then I close it and then it's like, oh, okay, it's done. What did I read again? I often find myself doing that. And so with this book, there's actually audio integrations that are gonna come along with it as well. So in the book, there's gonna be a QR code that takes you to a web page that has basically audio activations that you can listen to for each chapter. So it's whatever you've learned in the chapter, it's three to five minutes. You put it in your earbuds and you do whatever you do, and you can further repetition is the one thing that's gonna really change those neural pathways, right? And so it's like you can listen to them over and over and pick your favorite one and go back to it and just keep taking all of the nuggets of wisdom from this book so that you can actually create that change that you're looking for and get it in all of the different ways that serve us well in our busy lives.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Oh my gosh, that's so smart. And this just speaks to your creativity as well, too, because that is I I don't know. I read a lot of books, but I don't know of any book that's done that.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah. You know what? And it's funny, I just have to tell this story because it just speaks to like the power of slowing down. That idea came to me when I was literally sitting in, so this summer I took my own advice and invested in working with Sarah and also doing a resonance breath work course. So a friend of mine teaches breath work, but it's not like the intense breath work where you're like having these out of body experiences. That stuff scares me personally. But I but hers is very gentle and it's just the rhythmic breathing. And so I was doing one of these breath sessions at a cottage that I was at for the summer during the middle of the week because I can. I was there with my laptop, I was with My brother, and I was doing this morning breathing. And then I was just like had the idea of, oh, I should do these audio integrations in this book. That would be the perfect companion. And so it's when you slow down, when you give yourself space to allow ideas to come, to be with yourself and your creativity, that's when really cool stuff can flow. But I think that a lot of people are so stuck in the busy that they don't know how to be quiet with themselves. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

I want to feel in itself. 1000%. When before we started recording and I was talking about this podcast coming to life, it was literally on a walk and I wasn't listening to anything. I had my dogs and it was early morning and everything just dropped in so easily, so quickly. And I guarantee if I had been doing something on my laptop, I would have missed it.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Yeah.

Being A Boss: Self-Ownership

SPEAKER_01 44:55

We need those moments of silence. And I had a yoga teacher tell me something one time that stuck with me so much. And I feel like she was speaking directly to me in that class. She said, You're doing so much when you do nothing at all. Yes. And I was like, I literally opened my eyes. It was restorative yoga, and I popped my head up and I was like, everyone else had their eyes closed. And I was like, she's speaking to me. I got the message. Yes. Okay, one final question before we sign off. Andrea, what does it mean to be a boss to you?

SPEAKER_00 45:30

I think that to me, being a boss is not about telling other people what to do. It actually has nothing to do with anyone else and everything to do with you. I think being a boss to me is being so self-assured, so in your belief in yourself and what you deserve, that you don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. And that you don't take anything that happens outside and take it personally and make it about you. When I was in college, I'm just gonna end with this because I think this is such a good book. When I was in college, we had to read my the first personal growth book that I ever read, which was The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, I believe Ruiz, that's how we pronounce his name in my mind. And one of the, one of the, there's four agreements that you have to like adopt in order to live well. And one of them was don't make assumptions, don't take anything personally, always do your best. And I always forget the fourth one. But those things to me encompass what being a boss is, like really embodying that, not making assumptions just because somebody doesn't text you back within the amount of time that you think they should text you back doesn't mean they're mad at you, doesn't mean that they hate you. Maybe they're just busy, right? Maybe they got something else going on, they still love you. You know, just because somebody is really grumpy at you, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's about you. Don't take that personally. That's probably about them. Yes. And if you always show up doing your best, then you can you can sleep at night, and that's the most important thing. Um, and then yeah, whatever the fourth one is, probably impactful as well, but I can't remember it.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

I can never remember them. It's such a short, small little book, too. You'd think it would all stay in, but no, it doesn't. It'll come to me in the shower later, probably. Yeah, or it's 3 a.m. Yeah. You'll get jolted

Closing Reflection And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 47:30

to awake and you'll be like, that's the fourth agreement. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

So anyway, that's what that's what it means to me. And that feels good for me. It's not about anybody else, it's just about me.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Total ownership of self and role and responsibility. I love that. Thank you so much for being here. It was an absolute pleasure. Thanks for having me. I had a great time.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Thank you for spending a part of your day with me. I want to remind you to take a moment and notice what this conversation has stirred up inside of you. You get to decide what you want to do with that. I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, continue to build boldly and own it fully.