Q & A with Abagail & Emylee: Personal and Business
Episode 080: Show Notes
We are coming in with a little light episode today. Actually, it might not be so light with the questions that have been coming in right now. We get a crap ton of questions from you guys all the time, both personal and business related, and usually we have already recorded or written something about it. But sometimes we just get this kind of hodgepodge of questions from you guys that just don’t quite fit into any particular topic.
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So today we decided to tackle them in a Q&A format. This isn’t fancy, it isn’t organized, but it is going to answer those burning questions that y’all have for us! We are just going to go down the list and answer your questions, one by one. We are giving the people what they want. As simple as that!
What Lipstick Do You Wear?
Emylee has four go-to colors, depending on her mood, where she is at and which one is around her. But she only likes two brands of lipstick; Sephora and Bobbi Brown. Her absolute favorite is Bobbi Brown, simply because it is so moisturizing. The three colors from Bobbi Brown that she loves are Atomic Orange, Brown, and Persian Red. Abagail wears Smashbox matte lip stain, primarily in two colors. Bawse is the bright freaking red and the other one is Shopaholic, and that’s bright freaking pink!
How Did the Adoption Process Work for Emylee?
For some of you who might not know, Emylee adopted a little baby in January. Penelope is turning six months old tomorrow, actually, by the time this goes out. The adoption process was long, and they decided to go through a private agency. They had to do a home study and fingerprints and get all this paperwork done and that took about six or seven months to complete. Then they paid the application fee and basically just waited for a call. In the months and months of waiting, they got calls about a couple of “maybe babies”. These babies had either been born very recently or were due very soon and they placed Emylee and her husband on standby just in case something fell through on the other end. However, none of those worked out. They finally got the call for Penelope in July of 2016, before she was born, and they got to meet the birth mother and be there when she was born. Once you have your baby, you get temporary guardianship for six months and then go back to court and do the finalization of the adoption. The baby then inherits your last name and they get a new birth certificate and a new social security card.
How Is Abbie Doing After Her Accident Last Fall?
For those of you who don’t know, Abagail was in a rear end collision and was hit hard enough that she hit three cars in front of her! There were five cars involved in the accident and, to make a long story short, she didn’t know at the time but she had a concussion, which was actually an MTBI, which is a mild traumatic brain injury. She also had some soft tissue damage to her knees, her shoulders and her back. She has been doing a lot of therapy, a lot of PT, and a bunch of speech therapy, which sounds kind of strange but that was actually to help her get back some of her short term memory, which she lost post-accident, and she’s doing a lot better. Her headaches have gone down dramatically since having a migraine every day for eight months. She doesn’t know when they will end, but she did have a treatment for them. The treatment is essentially botox. They did 30 shots to the head and she is now able to function at pretty much full capacity at work, which has been great! She is still trying to find out what’s next, as she might need to have jaw surgery. Her jaw was dislocated in the car accident, so she will know in the next month or two if that is something that has to happen, but hopefully not.
How is Penelope Doing?
According to Emylee, Penelope is so, so good. She is so easy, and so incredible. She has slept through the night since she was seven weeks old, she eats well, she gains weight well, she’s hilarious, she’s independent, entertains herself and can very clearly tell them, “Give me some freaking space!” She fits right in, is loved more than literally anything in the world, and she’s about to start solids! She has been on donor breast milk up until this point, which is also another incredible journey that they have been going on, and she is just a little rock star. She hasn’t been sick, and she has hair that’s eight inches long already, which is insane. So overall, she is awesome!
Social Responsibility and How it Makes Us Show Up Differently
As for Abagail’s perspective, she has been really conscious of what is going on in the world and tries to be mindful of the things people are going through. Never in her life has she been so aware of her social responsibility. She always tries to be mindful and respectful, but she also tries to stay relatively neutral because she wants to be the kind of person that anyone feels like they can come to. Emylee sees social responsibility as making sure that the business we create, the education that we provide, the community that we foster 100% lets women know that they are included, they’re invited, that they fit in, and that they can actually make incredible things happen in their businesses. That is one of the frontiers where women are often attacked for their opinions and literally threatened for speaking up and doing big shit on the internet and we won’t stand for that!
How to Deal With Family and Friends That Just Don’t Get It
Emylee realized that when she treated her business as a hobby, everyone else did too. So it was really in her control to shift the conversation, especially when she got tired of getting those texts from friends and family who just did not take it seriously. The bottom line is, there are people who literally don’t understand how the internet works, and Abagail realized that in the beginning. When we had a client-based business, people understood it much better. They understood it because even though it was online, it was relatable. However, since we have made the transition, and now that what we are doing is so different from anything they are used to, the majority of Abagail’s family just doesn’t understand what she does for a living. She has learned to accept it and move on. The biggest piece of advice we can give you, especially if you have someone in your life that just doesn’t get it, is that you simply need to have a conversation with them and be accepting of where they are in their understanding of what the online world is.
Advice to Someone Who Has Hit a Wall and Needs Their Fire Back
First of all, dance it out. Literally, just put on some damn tunes and dance your freaking heart out. Or, depending on your personality, maybe get in the car and scream as loud as you can. The reason why we say those particular things is that if you have a certain type of vibration and energy, you have to release it. Maybe that’s going for a run, maybe that’s yelling, maybe that’s hitting a pillow. It’s not listening to a podcast, it’s not reading a book, and we can tell you, it’s not taking a bath. You need to push that negative energy out of your body. You need to get rid of it first and then you can address the problem afterwards. Recognize it for the shit season that it is but know that you can create a plant to pivot that and change it. Trust us, if you get that negative energy out and then give yourself some space, then you can come back to it with a fresh mind and see what it uncovers for you further down the road.
Books We Have Read and Podcasts We Have Listened To
Abagail hasn’t done much of either lately because she hasn’t had the time. She has been binging on Facebook Lives. She watched Todd Herman’s series leading up to his 90 Day Year launch. She watched Jessica Stansberry, and listened to All Up In Your Lady Business and Janet Kutcher’s Gold Digger Podcast. Emylee doesn’t listen to any business podcasts anymore. She used to listen to Smart Passive Income and Being Boss on the regular. She now listens to Criminal Podcast — it’s her new favorite, and it is amazing! My Favorite Murder is another favorite of hers. As for books, Emylee just finished reading The Energy Bus and The Positive Dog last month, which were super helpful. Abagail has read a lot more articles related to energy and auras and really woo-woo stuff. We did this whole exercise in our team the other day when we were asked everybody what their personality type was, both their Myers-Briggs and the Enneagram.
Embracing Diversity Within Our Community
When it comes to growing our community and raising awareness, there is always room for improvement, no matter what you are talking about. For us, we take deliberate action steps to make sure that we are extending the invitation to join our community to as many people as possible. Along with that is making sure that our Instagram feed includes diversity, that our guests on the podcast have diverse backgrounds, and, ultimately, that everything we do represents and reflects the diverse community and team that we are working to build. We really do go out of our way, but the biggest thing is that we are never trying to fill a number or a quota. Ever! So moving forward, that will always stay the center of attention. We’re going to find the best person for the job, and hire those who speak up and make an impact on our business. That is going to be the priority.
Quote This
Your idea of what’s working and what your threshold of success is, is constantly going to change.
ighlights
What lipstick do we wear? [0:02:32.2]
How did the adoption process work for Emylee? [0:03:55.4]
How is Abbie doing after her accident last fall? [0:06:28.8]
How is Penelope doing? [0:08:51.3]
What role does social responsibility play for you as a business owner and how does that make you show up differently? [0:10:57.6]
Did you ever have to deal with family or friends not getting what you’re trying to build at the beginning, not believing you’d be successful and, if yes, how did you deal with it? [0:14:50.8]
What advice would you give someone who has hit a funk or a wall in their business and struggling to get the fire back? [0:21:11.5]
Hear more about the books we’ve read and podcasts we’ve listened to recently. [0:27:57.8]
Find out more about how we embrace diversity within our community. [0:44:52.6]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Lipstick we wear, The adoption process, Abbie’s recovery after her accident, How Penelope is doing, Social responsibility and how it makes us different, Dealing with family and friends that just don’t get it, Advice to get your fire back, Books and podcasts we recommend, Embracing diversity
