Episode 95- Iris Serbanescu, wmnsWORK

Travel

Sep. 21

The world is awakening to what women can bring and being a successful woman in business means taking on this mantle and sharing it to encourage others, and using your position as a role model to those looking to be successful.

After all, each woman gets to determine what success means to her, what she believes makes her life satisfying and fulfilling.

This is an important point because our years of experience working with women worldwide has taught us that women define success by what matters to them as individuals, not by what their organizations presume will matter the most to people.

Women define success, especially success in business, by the rules that others set. Sometimes women are stuck with a single goal and define their lives around that one goal, when there are actually several stages to success over the course of a lifetime. Keep in mind that you will have different definitions of success at different times of your life.

The process of defining success can be a rich journey, or it can be one fraught with hesitation and uncertainty. Before Christine’s guest shares her own definition of success, Christine believe it is important to point out that each person has their own ideas about what success means, and that is how it should be.

Christine guest today is a change maker, personal development enthusiast, yogi and is passionate about creating spaces for women to fully express themselves in business and in life.

Iris Serbanescu is an adventure travel enthusiast and champion for gender equity in the tourism industry, as proud founder of wmnsWORK, the tourism industry’s first 12-week business accelerator for early-stage women/non-binary entrepreneurs. She is also founder of B2B sales agency By Iris, established to help experiential tour operators and hotels develop meaningful industry partnerships. By Iris’ portfolio of clients include companies in Asia, Central America, Mexico, and Canada.

Early in her career, Iris led the Trade Development department at a Toronto-based boutique marketing agency, then established and headed up tech company TourRadar’s Partnerships department. She has over a decade of experience in the industry, specifically in supporting owner-operated businesses. Close to Iris’s heart is a desire to support local entrepreneurs who are curating community-led, incredible experiences that open travelers’ hearts and minds to the positive impact they can have by traveling in a thoughtful way.

Iris was emcee of global International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association Conference in Toronto in 2018 and was nominated for PAX News’ Personality of the Year Award in 2019. She was also a founding board member of Young Travel Professionals Toronto (now called PropelTO). She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Wilfrid Laurier University. She has been to over 45 countries and lived in both Paris and Prague. Her next big goal is to learn Spanish fluently!

In our conversation, Iris and Christine talk about the importance of community, especially as women in business and how these communities are reshaping the ways we think about doing business. They break down what it means to be successful, and share the importance of defining our own measure of success.

Christine and Iris are both so passionate about creating spaces for women to fully express themselves in business and in life. And they were able to sprinkle that throughout their conversation.

Join me now for my soulful conversation with Iris Serbanescu.

In this episode, Chrisitine and Iris discuss:

The importance of community, especially as women in business
How these communities are reshaping the ways we think about doing business
What it means to be successful and why success looks different for everyone
Why we should define our own measure of success
The change Iris is trying to create in the world and how wmnsWORK allows for that change
Understanding leadership and stepping into who you are

Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode

The goal of wmnsWORK is to flatten the learning curve when it comes to knowledge of the industry + entrepreneurship. With small groups of maximum 12 per cohort, we are able to tailor the curriculum of each cohort to the needs and business stages of the participants throughout the 12-week program. The program is focused on tourism suppliers (hotels, tour operators) but is open to other tourism business owners who see value in its curriculum. We strive to have half of our spots sponsored by corporations so that folks who identify as racialized, disabled, LGBTQ++ can take part at a reduced rate -- all in the name of levelling the playing field in terms of opportunities.

Since launching in Jan 2022, wmnsWORK has been featured in several industry publications including Phocuswire, AdventureTravelNews, PAX News, and Open Jaw (How a Travel Business Incubator is Challenging the Status Quo) and has garnered 5 sponsor partners including WeTravel, World Nomads, ATTA, Sherpa, and Exodus Travels.

The next cohort starts September 19, 2022 and the waitlist is now open for Winter 2023. Learn more here!

Follow Iris and wmnsWORK on Instagram @byirisdaniela and @wmnsworkaccelerator and LinkedIn

Join me for my Women’s Wilderness and Yoga Retreat in Alaska in March 2023!

We’ll be traveling 63 miles north of the Arctic Circle to stay at Arctic Hive, owned by my friend Mollie Busby and her husband Sean. This boutique property nestled in the Brooks Range is way off the beaten path and also off grid. We’ll stay in beautiful cabins built by hand by our hosts, practice yoga in their yoga dome lovingly referred to as The Hive, with gorgeous views of the surrounding nature.

We’ll explore the wilderness by snowshoe and dog sled, connect with members of the local community to learn about living in this remote environment, enjoy daily yoga practice and vegan meals all while keeping our eye out for the beautiful northern lights that like to show off their magic this time of year.

I only have 6 spaces for this unique adventure and a few are already taken. Hop over to the Lotus Sojourns website to book yours today.

Please share this experience with anyone you know would love this restorative adventure.

Want to learn more, you can listen to my Soul of Travel conversation, episode 67 with Mollie Busby

Visit www.lotussojourns.com/journeys to join this unique travel experience today.

To watch this interview on YouTube HERE.

Learn more about Lotus Sojourns

Looking for ways to be a part of the community, learn more here.

Find Lotus Sojourns on Facebook, or join the Lotus Sojourns Collective, our FB community for like-hearted women.

LOVE these conversations...support the production of this podcast by making a donation here!

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WE WON A BESSIE AWARD! The Bessie Awards recognize the achievements of women and gender-diverse people making an impact in the travel industry. To view the complete list of this year’s winners, visit bessieawards.org.

About the Soul Of Travel Podcast

Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of women who are industry professionals and seasoned travelers and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart-centered change makers.

The guests work in all sectors of the tourism industry. You'll hear from adventure-based community organizations, social impact businesses, travel photographers and videographers, tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, and transformational travel experts. They all honor the idea that travel is more than a vacation and focus on sustainable travel, eco-travel, community-based tourism, and intentional travel.

These conversations are meant to educate, inspire and create community. They are directed to new travelers and seasoned travelers, as well as industry professionals and those who are curious about a career in travel.

If you want to learn about new destinations, types of travel, or how to be more intentional or live life on purpose, join Christine Winebrenner Irick for soulful conversations with her community of fellow travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe. These conversations highlight what tourism really means for the world.

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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor.) Iris Serbanescu (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing and production by Rayna Booth.

Transcript

KEYWORDS

business, work, travel, women, people, success, talk, industry, community, feel, support, world, strengths, conversation, version, meant, create, cohort, podcast, successful

Christine Winebrenner Irick 00:08

Thank you for joining me for soulful conversations with my community of fellow travelers, exploring the heart, the mind and the globe. These conversations highlight what travel really means for the world. Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. Each week, I'll be speaking to women who are tourism professionals, world travelers and leaders in their communities will explore how travel has changed them and how that has rippled out and inspired them to change the world. These conversations are as much about travel as they are about passion, and living life with purpose, chasing dreams, building businesses, and having the desire to make the world a better place. This is a community of people who no travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart centered change makers I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick. And this is the Soul of Travel.

I am so excited for this conversation today, we'll be speaking with Iris Serbanescu, who is an adventure travel enthusiast and champion for gender equity in the tourism industry. She's also the proud founder of women's work, the tourism industry's first 12 week business accelerator for early stage women and non binary entrepreneurs. She is also the founder of b2b sales agency Iris established to help experiential tour operators and hotels develop meaningful industry partnerships.

She has over a decade of experience in the industry specifically in supporting owner operated businesses close to Iris' heart is a desire to support local entrepreneurs who are curating community led incredible experiences that open travelers hearts and minds to the positive impact they can have by traveling in a more thoughtful way.

In our conversation, Iris and I talk about the importance of community, especially as women in business and how these communities are reshaping the ways we think about doing business. We also break down what it means to be successful, and share the importance of defining our own measure of success.

We are both so passionate about creating spaces for women to fully express themselves in business and in life. And we were able to sprinkle this throughout our conversation in our time together. Join me now for my soulful conversation with Iris Serbanescu.

Welcome to Soul of Travel, I am so excited that we are kicking off season four today. And we get to kick off season four with a friend, colleague mentor, all the things of mine. So it feels like the perfect way to start. But first, we're gonna just start with a mini celebration that we're just about to record at the 100th episode of the podcast.

And today just hit the milestone of 10,000 lifetime downloads. Yay, I'm so excited to bring that energy into this show. This season. In the podcast, I have decided I really want to explore not only the influence that travel has had on the lives of each of my guests, but also how women are setting out to do business differently. And I think these two things really go hand in hand with the inspiration that we see when we travel and how that influences how we want to show up in the world. There's just this beautiful flow of the way that shows up and in the community I spend time in I see this over and over. And I've noticed in the podcast.

These conversations are not really just about the Soul of Travel anymore, but they've really kind of become about the soul of women. And leaning into that we're going to talk a lot about the value of community and mentorship and personal growth and how each of the guests are working from our hearts and living our passions and how this leads to a different way of being in business in life. That said, I'm so excited to welcome our next guest, the season opener for season four, because I think these are so important in your life as well.

So welcome Iris Serbanescu is joining us and she is the founder of women's work which is the tourism industry's first business success. The writer focused on early stage women and non binary entrepreneurs. And I am so blessed to have been a part of the first cohort of that program. It was amazing. So welcome, Iris.

05:13

Thank you, Christine, thank you so much for having me. I've been listening to your podcast religiously. So it's kind of wild that I'm actually a guest on it now, really excited to be here. Thank you,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 05:24

Thank you so much for listening. And I know that community and the stories of women are really important to both of us. So I think that this is going to be such a great way for us to dive into those topics. As we get started. Obviously, I know who you are. But let's let the guests get to know you a little bit better if you could just share a little bit about your background and who you are in the space of travel right

05:49

now. Absolutely. I've been in the travel industry for about a decade and it feels crazy saying that out loud. But I joined the travel industry in 2012. And it was a very deliberative decision, it was completely my passion. It was something that I always looked at as a hobby, and not really as something that I could turn into a career. But I was working at a corporate insurance brokerage in Toronto on Bay Street at the time, which is like the Canadian version of Wall Street.

And I really just felt so disconnected from what I was doing, and from myself as a person and as somebody in their early 20s. And I made the conscious decision that I didn't really want to live that way, I wanted to live in a way that was very much aligned with my, with my passion and with my hobbies and with my soul, and that my job and my career had to be a part of that. I deliberately marched into my boss's office at the time after a year and a half of working as a risk analyst at this corporate insurance brokerage. And I just told him, Listen, I'm really grateful for the time that I had here.

But I'm, I need to follow my dreams. And I'm going to go work in the travel industry, I'm going to have to quit this job, I'm going to move back in with my parents. So I'm going to go back to school and get my Tourism Management diploma and then figure everything out from there. That was a really big realization for me that I was following my dreams and taking risks and kind of almost going back to the beginning a little bit in order to do that. And so I got full support from him. And it was wonderful. And I ended up getting into the travel industry with my first job a couple of years later. And this whole time that I've been in the industry for about 10 years I've really been working with in a partnerships, capacity business to business tourism consulting capacity, working with small owner operated businesses all over the world, working in sustainability, and in community based tourism and all of those niches, and over during the pandemic, I guess that would have been year eight of my time in the travel industry, I came to realize that there was a really big gender gap in tourism and something that I had always kind of noticed through my work in my previous roles.

And something that I just took it at face value, like I was like, yeah, it's all men in leadership if, for the most part in the travel industry, I noticed that when I worked at a marketing consulting agency for five years in my career, and notice that most of our clients were men, I'd say out of out of the portfolio, we had 95% were male owned businesses. And I just kind of, I had internalized that, like, it was like that was just the way things are. But during the pandemic, I've had a little bit of time to kind of sit with what I wanted to do with the rest of my career and what the travel industry needed. And what I could do to sort of close this gap that I had noticed. And so anyways, I started doing a little bit of research on women and travel and women in leadership and found that 60% of the industry is made up of women.

But less than 8% of board positions in the industry are held by women. And that was like such a staggering stat to me. It was insane. It was like how is this? How is no one really doing anything about this? But I gave it some thought figured out where my strengths were and what I could do to help be the change as they say and build that better, because that's a term you've heard a lot in the travel industry and decided to start this business that empowered women and non binary folks to start their own businesses and get support in the early stages like arguably the most fraught with self doubt those early stages like you just you don't know what you're doing.

You don't know, maybe you don't know the industry at all. And you often like let that hold you back like you often let those things just stop you from taking any action. And so I didn't really have any model to look to because nothing like this existed. But I was like, I bet that there's a need for this. Like, I bet there are people out there that want to start their own businesses that need that support and that container and that expert guidance and education and all of that I came up with this idea to start women's were to start a community that would support women in travel, and women outside of the industry who wanted to get into the industry and start their own businesses.

Because it's something that I needed at the time, I was like, Well, I want to start my own business, it would be nice if something like this existed, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it. And so I quit my job at the time, I was working as a director at a travel tech company. And I quit my job and started working away on women's work and launched the first cohort in January, which you were a part of. I'm so grateful that it was such a special experience to have you as part of the beta cohort and help us iron out all the kinks. But that's sort of where I got how I got to where I'm at now as the founder. And it's been a beautiful journey. Thank you.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 11:07

I think that something that really we both connected on is probably that same moment of awareness in our careers when we were looking for women to be mentors, and who we were looking up to in the industry. And I had a very similar kind of thought as I was at different parts of my career and thinking like, Oh, here's this woman and this woman that I really inspired to be like in my career.

And I'm like, Wait, why are there only like two or three women that I'm inspiring to be like, and then because everywhere else in my life, I've surrounded myself by communities of women, mothers, entrepreneurs, like all these different process, but in the tourism industry, I felt like I didn't have that same community. And I realized that these one or two or three women are the few women I've ever seen on a stage at an event whose story I've gotten to know or whose business I got to know. And I was like, Wait a second, this cannot be true. I know other women in this industry.

And this is kind of how the soul of travel evolved as I first started talking to people that were just really in the same space of transformational, impactful travel, and wanting to tell their stories, as you mentioned, as we were thinking about how we were going to build back better. And really in the moment, it was just how are we going to survive. And when we do, this is where I want travelers to land. I think it was before building back was even an idea. But then, like in the very first conversation, I was talking with a mutual colleague, friend of ours, Gabby Stool, and right away, we were talking about what it was like to be a woman in this industry. And I was just like, Oh, what am I doing, like everywhere else I'm advocating for the voices of women, and with this podcast hadn't really landed on me to create that space. After that first season.

I was like, Okay, this is the direction we're heading. I want all of these women to be able to have a moment to share their story for other people to hear from them and be inspired by them and try to create a community for women in the space of travel. So I think it's definitely why when you and I met, we immediately were like, Aha, yes, we must do things together.

13:29

Exactly like instant connection. It was like, we're so aligned. It's just and the more of us there are the better like, and I feel like we just gravitate towards each other. It's really beautiful. We can just sense that in people's energy.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 13:44

Yeah. And like you said, yeah, the gravitational force of that is awesome, because I think people have been looking for it. And so everybody kind of has like half an antenna of hoping that this is going to come by them. And as soon as they hear it there they're in. And that is one thing that I really loved about being in the program is the way that women showed up. And we'll talk about this as we learn more about it, but the way other women showed up to mentor the women in this program, and how much they shared of themselves and what that meant and how different that is from a typical business setting. Like it just is a very different energy in a different space.

And it's so valuable. What I would love to start with, kind of to explore and unpack this is my book group that I have the Lotus books sojourn has been reading the awaken woman by Dr. Ferrari, Trent. And in it she asked like what is your great unquenchable hunger? Like what is the thing you're setting out to do? And I think I would love to kind of think of this in the sense of this, but what is the change that you're trying to create in the world and how does women's work allow for you to create that change? Oh, goosebumps.

14:59

I loved it so, okay, such a good question. In my career as a woman, I always internalized these, without knowing subconsciously, always internalized these versions of success in my mind of what success looks like, and what somebody who was successful looked like and the qualities that they had, and all of that. And I, it was a combination of people that were my mentors or bosses, combination of like, what I was seeing out there in the world, and who I was interacting with, and who I was seeing in positions of power and all this stuff. And what I came to realize, and and really become aware of is that these people that I was looking up to, were really male archetype focused.

So very, could be just like, how do I describe it like, dominant, kind of very, very sure of themselves, like, there's no room for any sort of uncertainty or lack of confidence, like there was no, it was like, you had to be sure of yourself, you had to show up 100%, knowing exactly what you were going to be doing, saying talking about, it had to be perfect. The way that you it was almost like there was this unattainable version of what success looked like, in my mind, that was always gonna leave me falling short, because I didn't match those male archetype qualities. And I don't mean male, necessarily in terms of gender, but maybe more like masculine qualities. And what I've been doing over the past few years is sort of like unlearning, that definition of success so that I could create it for myself, and create it for others as well.

Because when I show up fully as who I am, and as a woman, who is a leader, and a founder and everything like that, I break the mold of what what male leadership looks like, and allow people around me to kind of breathe a sigh of relief, maybe that like, yeah, like she's not perfect, and she's still successful, and she's still showing up. And she's bringing her full self to the table. And I love the way that this is embodied through women's work, because, like, you know, you've been in all of our events, and all of our workshops, and like, we get pretty deep, like, it doesn't just talk, we don't just talk about business, we actually when we get together, we talk about, we talk about life, we talk about our insecurities, and we talk about things that aren't normally found in a boardroom.

And I think that that's the missing link in this world of entrepreneurship, and life, especially for women, is that we tend to hold ourselves back in order to present an image that's acceptable by the world as somebody who's successful or somebody who has it all together. And like, definitely room for talking about kids, or I think we even had on one of our calls, one of the women was breastfeeding. And it was just like, yes, like, this is the kind of world I want to live in, where we can bring our whole selves to the table. And just realize that that's not mutually exclusive with being successful, that you can run your business the way you want to run it, the way your intuition is telling you to step into, and not uphold this unattainable version of success that we all have internalized through years and years of conditioning. So that's really my mission, it's that it's bringing our whole selves to the table and making that the norm and normalizing everything, everything to do with whatever it is outside of business, to talk about to be to be heard and to just Yeah, to make that a normal part of how we run our businesses as women. Mm hmm. I love that

Christine Winebrenner Irick 18:51

there's a couple of things in there that really reminded me of one conversation that I had with a past guest we were talking about how in the context of work in the way that it's shaped right now is that employees come to work and humans don't come to work in that year, this completely other entity in the workspace. So that means you don't show up as a mother, you don't show up as a wife, you don't show up as a sister and a daughter, and should anything unravel in any of those areas of your life.

They have to be outside of those doors, which is such an unrealistic expectation, especially for women because we're usually the ones managing all these other things. And it's just impossible to not let that influence who we are. And then I think what that also does is it doesn't allow us like you said to bring our full self into the space of work and whether that's working for someone else or as an entrepreneur. You're cutting off half of who you are, and why would you want that from him? One that is your employee, it might mean that occasionally your employee has to leave early for a soccer match or ballet recital. But that also means that they're, like not stifling any part of themselves.

And so their creativity and what they're able to give you is actually much more of a full version of themselves. And I think this is that shift energetically that you're talking about, like, in the past are the people we're looking up to, with that definition of success are those people that work 80 hours a week, and they have won all the awards, and they sit in the boardroom, and they are commanding of the space. And so we're all working toward that. And in order to do that, we do have to like exercising this part of ourselves, whether you're a man or a woman, you're like, denying all these other parts.

And so what I loved so much about the conversations we did have, and women's work was was hearing that was like, not just seeing the finished, sparkly, final version of success, but like witnessing this, like, I stepped into this role, I had no idea what I was doing, I hashed it out, and, like made this mistake, learn this thing connected with this person backpedaled. And did this go over here. And then we got to this, like, pseudo shiny version of success, which was really amazing, also showcased in like, not shiny, there was this ability to see these women as leaders as successful without having to be perfect. Like, this is what I would love to talk about a little bit more in our conversation is one, how do we break that down? Because I will. I know all this, I think all about it. And in every interview I have the end of the day, I'm always like,

21:53

wow, look at they are also

Christine Winebrenner Irick 21:57

human and didn't just magically become successful, and listening to the women in your group every time like it's so ingrained in us. So how do we get that out? And how do we make it more possible to become the women that we look up to in business?

22:14

Oh, I love that question. I think it's such a journey. It's really a journey of awareness of what our internalized versions of success are understanding like, what do we view as strengths in leadership? What do we view as weaknesses in leadership? Where do we see ourselves fitting into that? Where did those ideologies come from? And how can we sort of, like take stock of ourselves and who we are, and redefine that definition for ourselves. So like, to give you an example, with my experience, it was funny, I'm gonna get a little like a hippie here. But we were on an entrepreneur retreat.

And one of the things was tarot card reading. And we had a woman come in and read our Tarot. And you had to ask a question. And my question was like, and this is like, this is pretty vulnerable, actually. But I'm happy to share, I had launched the first cohort of women's work, and I was like, Okay, I am successful, like, I'm making money with my venture and supporting other people, I'm creating the type of impact that I want to have. And so, you know, for all intensive purposes, I'm successful.

However, I feel this dissonance between this like, how do I describe it just sort of like, I was like, is this it? Like, is this what success is supposed to feel like? Like, I sort of feel like, I'm just not like it? Was this supposed to bring me happiness? Was I supposed to like to achieve my way to happiness? Like, what exactly am I looking for here? And like, how am I going to reach what I want in a way that feels good to me and feels sustainable? So my question to her was, like, Am I on the right path, because I'm not really feeling fulfilled enough in what I'm doing.

And I'm just not sure if this is, this is the right way to do it. And a cart, the card that she pulled was the romance part. And it was about falling in love with your way of doing things and falling in love with your version of success, and falling in love with their career. For what it is like not for who you think you're supposed to be like, I realized that I still had this version of me that was, I'm supposed to be up here. I'm supposed to have these qualities, but I actually don't think I do. And I'm already setting myself up for failure because I'm not self honoring what I truly want. And I started like picking that apart and being like, well, what does that look like? And what does that mean for me?

And I came to realize, like, I want to show myself fully as a man and as a leader in this capacity, and not hold myself back, because I don't think that I have all of the qualities that a mentor or a leader should have. And I started sort of like writing this all down and looking at, okay, what's my picture of success? And then where do I think I fit in? And how can I unlearn this picture of success so that I can fully step into who I am and like, fully capitalize on the fact that, yes, I love talking about energy, and I'm kind of a hippie.

And I don't think that that is a bad thing. And I can bring that into how I lead and how I manage. But like, prior to that, probably, you know, I've kind of held back that part of myself, because I was like, it's just not like, people aren't going to take me seriously. Like, I don't think people are going to respect me, like, we hold ourselves back. When really like, what people respect is somebody who fully steps into who they are, and owns it, because it allows everyone around them, as I said before, to, like, breathe a sigh of relief and be like, yes, like, so my like, my, my answer to this question is kind of, to sit with yourself and look at where you hold yourself back, because you think you're not enough, and lean into those so much more. And be surprised at what happens. Oh,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 26:18

That is so good. Thank you for sharing that with us. I appreciate it. And I also appreciate the magic and the hippie and the whoo and all. So I'm here for it, always bring it and you were talking about how those qualities that are so like, you could check off a box because they have value and then the things that feel like they don't. And I think that's such a huge, amazing thing to examine and look at and see what you do, how you do feel about those things. And I had this kind of awareness. I did a I think it was StrengthsFinder, or one of those assessments.

Tensile I love Strengths Finder. Yeah. And it was like, here's your top five strengths, or whatever or here's, I can't remember exactly what it was. But mine were like, all of them have to do with learning. Every single one of my top five strengths had to do with processing information, sharing information, learning information, and like learning for the sake of learning. And I was just like, well, this is definitely me. You can see my bookshelf behind me. And like, I mean, I will read everything I have taken classes in the history of rock and roll. I have taken classes in genetic engineering, I have taken interior design class, I cannot stop learning, I love it. It awakens something in me.

And I love watching other people learn like I am obsessed with knowledge. And I thought these were things that took away from actual strengths. Like this is what absorbs my time and my mental capacity and doesn't allow me to be XYZ. And when I saw that on a list as my strengths, I was like, wait, I get to be those. Like, I don't have to hide those things. I could actually shape my world around these strengths instead of, like, needing to be organized and able to communicate my thoughts clearly . Whatever lists that we have of these qualities of success that we like very much, what you were saying, like their total? Yes. So like they are nobody's strengths. And in fact, like, I remember my interviews back in the day of interviewing, and they're like, Well, what's your number one strength and I'm like, Well, I'm a perfectionist, but I'm really trying to I'm like, Oh my gosh. Like, I've been a perfectionist, but it was from the wrong places like because I'm really like, I need to meet everybody's expectations.

And I am not like I'm overcompensating for this, this and this and so my perfectionism is actually like a disaster waiting to happen, but it felt like the thing everybody wanted to hear from me that I can multitask and I am a self starter and but those were like, the worst manifestations of any of my strengths, but they felt like they were the ones that went on the list of agreeable skills and assets. And so I love this idea of being like what how do we see success?

How is that even alignment with who we truly are and if we could be the most successful version of ourselves, what would we be doing? And I feel like they're always on the complete opposite page from one another and they can be in the same area but I think again, it goes back to like showing up. As to who you are , as soon as you like, you said if you just acknowledged this is important to me, this is how I would express it. This is how it shows up in work, then this is when the next thing

29:56

like happens in a way that feels

Christine Winebrenner Irick 30:00

So much better. And now you're doing something in alignment with who you are, then it's like becoming more powerful and more impactful, because I'm doing the thing only I can do. Because I'm the only person that sees it the way I see it and moves through

30:13

it the way I move through it. And then you become magnetic. People want that people are dying for authenticity. They want somebody that does things differently. And just like lights, like what you're doing, like, it lights me up so much, it's I never listened to podcasts in the travel industry that wasn't about, like, business tactics like and you're creating, you've created this space where people can come and be their whole selves and like, share how they're not perfect. And like their nonlinear journeys, that got them to where they are today in a position of, of success and power and whatnot.

But like, how that journey wasn't, wasn't easy, and wasn't straightforward. And as you're talking, this came to me, and I don't know, I'm just gonna say it a lot. And I don't even know if it makes sense in the context we're talking about. But my mindset coach has this phrase about, it's not who we are, that holds us back. It's who we think we're not. And to me, that means when we look at those versions of success that we think we should be, and we think we're not those, that's what stops us. It's not the lack of embracing of who we are, it's that we're like, oh, like, I'm not these things, therefore, I can't do this thing. I can't start this business, I can't do XYZ. So if we can shift that narrative to like, Yeah, I'm not those things. And it's my superpower.

Because these are my things. These are what my strengths are. And this is why the world is thirsty for people like this, like that are stepping outside of that ideal definition of success. So it's like, that's what I noticed, when I started, the women's work was that I got, I think I filled the first cohort in two weeks, like, I had no idea that anybody wanted something like this. And I was just like, you know, what traditional business accelerators are just constantly talking about, like KPIs and ROI, focused on growth, and all of this stuff. And I need to do something different. Where we don't talk about we talked about that. But like, it's not the main crux of the program, we actually talked about a lot of other stuff, and how integral that is to our business success.

And I'm gonna make it just for women, and blah, blah, blah, you know how that turned out. Like it's it, people were thinking about starting this, because like, this didn't exist before. And if I had just ascribed myself to the typical versions of success, I would have started an accelerator that was for tech companies, for women, not for tour operators or for hotels or service providers, like I would have done just the traditional route. And it's continued to exclude people that didn't see, didn't want that kind of success, but wanted success on their own terms. And so that's how I see humans work, really bringing those people together is like, let's all create success on her own term, that could be having a business that doesn't grow 100% year over year, but that keeps us and makes us so happy, and allows us to live life in alignment with who we are. So that's kind of my mission.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 33:15

Yeah, I love it. And I think the thing that is so amazing, and we can kind of talk about the role of community and our lives. But when you find a place like this to land, where you can start to really be honest with yourself, and then start to be honest with others. It's kind of amazing. And to have a space where you feel like I've been in business, like you've said, other business accelerators or other groups, and they're like, go ahead, write that number down. How much do you want to make per month and people are like, 50,000. And I was like, God, that's terrifying.

Like, can we start with five I am, but you can't write that down. And so then you're writing down some other thing, just so that you don't feel shame and guilt for the way everybody else is talking in that space. And I just loved that I could have written down right now, like $500 a month, like nobody would have even said, nobody would have said anything, they would have just been like, great. How are you going to do that? Why does that number feel good to you? And like, that's it like, there, there just was this ability to be who you are. And then like, when one person does it, then the next person's like, Okay, this is what we're doing here. Great. And then like they do it, and then we can all really show up for each other and support each other because we really know what one another likes, it's just so much more attainable. And then we also can start reflecting possibilities back upon each other because I think like you said, if we're if we really think we're supposed to be this version, and that's the one we're reaching toward, we're failing things.

But when someone says, This is who I see you, and this is what I really think is possible for you, and then you start reshaping that, like your, you start reaching for higher things when you're reaching in a different direction. I guess like, it's just it really changes

35:18

how you're pushing forward. Oh, yes, I love that that's such a good way to put it, you have these folks in your corner who see the highest version of you. And when you can't really see it yourself, and they keep you not accountable, but keep you honest to that version of you. Like, that's the biggest thing with how I do everything in business, not just supplements work. But I always feel that everybody has the answers inside of them.

And I am not the person to come in and tell you how there's no blueprint for how to run your business. It truly is so individual, and what you mentioned before about, like, let's make $50,000 this month, like blah, blah, there are risks and things that maybe feel unsafe to people about making that much money. And maybe that's not what they want. So why is it that we always have to be ignoring our inner knowing in order to become successful? Well, and you don't always have to be, but that's kind of the narrative that we're fed. So what you were talking about with honesty, like and vulnerability, and that breeding the place for true connection to other people and to ourselves and our, our passion and our businesses is so bang on. I love it. Yeah, and I think to

Christine Winebrenner Irick 36:37

what I was thinking in terms of how we're achieving this better version of ourselves, like it also allows us to grow through these points. And when you're supported, it's easier to kind of grow through them, like maybe you have to write that 501st. And then you can like, grow right through it and get to 1000. But if you're trying to like to go for this far reaching thing that's not in alignment with you, you're gonna get stuck at 500, whether you're meant to be there or not.

And so if that is helpful, and then also the way that we start to support one another. And it's like you said, it's not really accountability, but it's just like this deep belief in what one another is doing. And the way we share each other's work or the way we come back to them and reflect someone's spark about their business. And like when they're starting to dwindle and be like, I'm not sure this is working this week was really hard, this thing fell apart. And then you're like, remember when you were said, this was so amazing, and I can't stop thinking about that. And I know that's true for you.

And again, this goes against everything we've ever been taught about business and being colleagues or coworkers or whatever it is, it tears it apart. Because we honestly want each other's success as much or more than we want our own success. And I really think this is actually true of people. But this is one of those things we've had to kill in ourselves to be, quote unquote, successful. And again, like this kind of community. And I think many of the communities that I've landed in

38:14

over the course of the pandemic, have gotten real honest about this. And like, everyone's like, Oh, well,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 38:21

When one of us rises, we rise together. And it's become like something that's overused, but I think people want it to be true, more people than we will admit, want it to be true. And so I don't know, I would love to kind of talk about the importance of community and, and how we do like to succeed better together.

38:44

Yeah, this is so key. I remember talking about this on the very first women's work kickoff call about how we're going to do things differently together, and how we're conditioned, especially as women, to compete with each other instead of collaborate. And that's just not the way anymore. Like that is absolutely the opposite of what we should be doing and what feels natural to us. Because you're right, like the innate human desire, I think it is for community, like we grew up in packs, and so like to survive, like we all need each other. We all need to help each other out. And we've sort of stifled that in the pursuit of capitalism and competition and businesses.

If I have more of the pie, that means you can have more of the pie. Like, that's just not the case. And I don't even know what it is about celebrating each other that makes us more successful. But I think it's that idea that success is not built in a silo. And if you look at everybody in your life that has contributed to your success, you will see how interconnected and how interdependent we are on each other. And that alone is motivation to continue doing that, continuing bucking the trend of competing instead of collaborating, because you can see how much people have impacted you, you can see how much you've impacted other people.

And this is actually a fun exercise to do, like, write down everybody that has helped you to get to where you are, that has contributed or even just had an impact on your mental state and has helped support you like, think about all of that. I did this myself with this exercise a few weeks ago, and it was just like, Oh, my God, like, if it wasn't for people that signed up for the program, and helped me kind of build it for the first 12 weeks that I ever did it. If it wasn't for my mentor who reflected things back at me in a certain way that helps me step up higher if it wasn't for this person who put my name forth to speak at a conference. And I was able to reach a big goal of mine to speak as a presenter at a conference like all of these things, you're like, never in a million years, could I have done that alone, you actually just can't like it's just a fact.

We all need each other, we all succeed together, then you start to think like, Okay, how good does it feel to help somebody else succeed? Like, how good would it feel to be part of their story? And that motivator kind of firm, in my experience takes you through those moments where you're like, is this person in competition with me? Should I really be helping them like, like, it reminds you like why we're all here that it's not about that. It's not the short sighted way of doing business where you don't like to give any of your trade secrets away. It's actually like, when, when we do this together, where we all benefit.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 41:54

Yeah, and then start to shape a better space anyway, which then again, is better for everybody. But I have had this conversation a lot too, with people that saying, like, well, how can you supporting this person, their business is very similar to yours and this person, and there's this so similar and,

42:12

like, actually, I mean,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 42:15

similar, I guess, however, you want to take that word, but I can guarantee that like if this business and this person and this business, and this person and myself were like, given all the resources to create a trip to the exact same destination that not one of us would create the same experience, and not one of us would create it for the same person. So like, competition is so relative, like it really, even if you were like, Let's use the same guide, it's still going to be different. Like, there's just no way that we are in competition. And I think it takes a long time to get to that place to trust that what you are doing is different enough that you can lean into that.

And I think that that takes a lot of this inner work that you're saying you bring into women's work, because you do kind of have to get to that point of being like, what I have got these, like, all these pieces that are my formula are exactly what someone else needs. And they're exactly what these people need. And they are not at all, but these people are needed. And it's okay, like because you only need these people like that's who you're meant to serve. And again, like that goes against capitalism.

And every other business mindset is like, Well, I must create something that serves the masses. But first, I have to do it after really narrowing who my ideal client is. So that it's like one person and yet like I have to be in competition with everybody. And then you'd be like me sitting in a space of business. And I'm like, does anyone else notice that none of this really actually makes sense. And start dying when you're trying to create your business. And so I just think it's, it's, it's so crazy when you start really like really looking at these things and breaking them down and seeing why they feel uncomfortable. And yeah, I don't know. That was some kind of random babbling, but I love it. No, you nailed it. This

44:09

is exactly. This is exactly it. Like there is actually no such thing as competition. Wow, you're really reframing my paradigm here at this moment? Yeah. Like there is no such thing as competition because we all attract who we're meant to attract to our businesses like they will do business. How did that happen? How does it explain that they're like poaching is the most saturated industry in the world. Yet, there are 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of coaches who make millions of dollars because they're attracting the kinds of people that are right for them. It's the same with the type of business that you built. It's there, people are attracted to your unique brand.

And like a mantra that I like to say is I'm looking for the people that are looking for me, and you can substitute clients for people or whatever the case may be, but it's like, you want the people that are aligned With you, you're not trying to compete with the people that are aligned with someone else who's doing the same thing as you, you're bringing in the right people and that exactly what you said makes sense. Like, it does take a lot of trust in yourself, and building up your confidence through whatever you need to do to start to believe that. So yeah, I love that. Yeah.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 45:21

And I think to in business, if you're really talking about linking into who you are and what you want to create, why would you want the people that were not meant to be on your trip, or in your experience, or part of your program that aren't meant to be there anyway, because they're going to be resisting it the whole time. And then you're just trying to like, adjust and pivot to make it work for them, when you should have just said no, in the first place, or suddenly this isn't the right thing for you.

But But again, it's like when the goal is this dollar, then you have to say yes, but if the goal is this other outcome, that if your success is defined by, like a feeling or an outcome or, or an idea shift, then your success can be different, like it just creates a different space. And I think you can still have financial success, but you just are creating something that doesn't have that as the only measure of success. I don't know, I just and then everybody's like, again, like spinning in their zone of expertise, and creating and dealing with their own brand of magic. And then just give it to the next person who's meant to be with them. And they're going to all have a better experience I don't know.