Episode 30: Bras and business: the connection

Finding the Perfect Fit: The Connection Between Bras and Business Strategies

A good bra is comfortable, flattering, and makes you feel good.

How you run your business should also be comfortable, flattering, and feel good.

Yet, many of us are doing things that are the opposite.

Resources:

Bra-La-La (they ship 😊)

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Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade: [00:00:01]

Hello, and welcome to Collab With Kiva. I'm your host, Kiva Slade. From the marbled halls of the US Congress to my racing-themed office chair, I've learned that there is no perfect path to the life of your dreams. My journey over the past 20 years has included being a Legislative Director for a member of Congress, Policy Director for a nonprofit, stay-at-home mom, homeschooling mom, jewelry, business owner, and now the owner of a service-based business. Whether your journey has been a straight line or full of zigs and zags, join me and my guest as we share insights, hope, and lessons learned from our female entrepreneurship journeys. May the collaborative sharing of our stories be the tide that lifts your boat. Let's dive in.

[00:00:54]

Hello, and welcome to the 30th episode of Collab With Kiva. I am so excited that we are at this 30th episode. And yes, I'm going to celebrate 30. It may not be 50, but it means that we're on our way to 50. And so today's episode, I actually want to talk about something that you might not think is related, but I'm going to talk about bras. Yes, women, our undergarments, and business. Because I feel like the two things are very related. So, stay with me here. Over the weekend, my daughter and I went bra shopping. We went to a store that was recommended by a girlfriend of mine. And I really went in my mom role. I was there to get my daughter some bras. I was the money. That's what my role was going to be, and I was fine with that.

[00:02:03]

And I said, "You know what? While I'm here, let me get myself sized and see what size I am." For those that know I am a 50-year-old woman, I have been wearing bras for many of years. And I was hit with an epiphany. I guess we'll call it. I was measured, and I have been wearing the wrong size bra for all of those years that I've been wearing a bra. I was dumbfounded. I'm literally standing there in the dressing room after the lady measured me and I was like, "Are you serious?" And if you know anything about bras, I'm not just talking the size of the bra in terms of 30, 32, 34, 36, 38. That was wrong. The cup size was also wrong.

[00:03:07]

And it got me to thinking how often in our businesses are we doing things that we think are the right things, but they actually don't fit us or our business. They're uncomfortable. They're not flattering. It's because they weren't designed for you. And there's a key importance of not being beholden to sizes, labels, and allowing ourselves to have freedom to do more of what actually fits or feels good for us. And as your business grows and your body changes, we may need to recheck our size. You might need to have a tune-up in your business, a rechecking of the things that are taking place.

[00:04:03]

So, let's just back this up a little bit, because I know for some of you, you're like, "We're talking about our bras," yes, we are. But in your business, how many times are you doing things? And I don't mean uncomfortable in the way that stretching is uncomfortable, like we are about to embark upon something bigger than what we've done in our business and that feels uncomfortable. No, I am talking about you being in something or doing something in your business that literally does not feel right because it is so uncomfortable because in most cases you are taking something from someone else and you're trying it on in your own business. You are not that same person. You don't have the same body type. You're not the same size as they are. But you feel that because they said this will work in your business, that you're going to go ahead and do it and it just doesn't feel comfortable at all. But you keep doing it.

[00:05:06]

We keep wearing the bra that does not feel comfortable. We keep buying more of the bras that do not feel comfortable because we think that's our size. That's just the size that I was or I am or I think I am. When you're younger, maybe your mom has given you a bra and you're like, "Okay, mom said, I was this, this is what I am," and you never take the time to be like, "Hmm ... Maybe that's not what size I am. Maybe, just maybe, this is not meant for me." And I want you to get to that point in your business also, really evaluate the things that you were doing. Are they the things that are aligned with you and your business for where you and your business are right now?

[00:06:01]

And if they're not, if they're feeling uncomfortable to you, I want you to ask yourself why. And that might be a hard question. I understand it really might be. Because the answers that are on the other side of that question are the answers that sometimes we don't want to have to deal with. Let's be honest, it's easier and cheaper to just maybe pop into Marshalls and grab a bra off the rack and say, "Hey, got my bra, I'm heading on out the door." It was easy. It was not as expensive. Still not as comfortable. But we've been doing it for so long that it feels comfortable. So, those answers on the other side of that question might have you do some things, make some changes that aren't exactly the things that you want to do at this point, but they are things that you need to do at this point.

[00:07:15]

Sometimes you're wearing a bra, but let's face it, it's not flattering. You have children, you age, your body repositions itself, let's just be honest. And things that used to probably be in a certain spot or used to sit at a certain level, they may not do that anymore. But you haven't adjusted your bra. You haven't gotten one. That's a better fit. You've kept the same ones. And when you look at yourself in the mirror, you're like, "It's just not giving me that kind of feeling," because it's not flattering on you. It doesn't do anything to enhance you.

[00:08:01]

What in your business is not flattering on you? What is that enhancing you in your business? Again, those are hard questions because it means that we have to sit with ourselves and ask ourselves these hard questions. We may not like the answers. And in most cases, we already know the answers. It just now means that we have to verbalize them. We have to write it down. We actually have to acknowledge what we've already known and felt. Sometimes we know that we're not in the right bra. We may have some extra coming out the front end, the sides, it just depends. And we know that and we feel like, "Oh, you know, it's going to be okay." No, it's not flattering. And we have to stop subjecting ourselves to the less flattering, the uncomfortable in order to be our best selves, in order to show up as our best selves, in order to look and feel our best selves.

[00:09:14]

Because what's happening in our businesses actually impacts how we look and feel about ourselves. I'm sorry. Not sorry to share that, but it's so true. That's what happens. So, you have some questions there. Because in many cases, what you're wearing, what you're doing in your business is not designed for you. There is a lot of noise out in the space. A lot of noise. No matter what your business is, no matter where you see yourself showing up, there is a lot of noise. There are gurus upon gurus. There are books upon books. There are e-books. There are all kinds of blog posts and podcasts and all the things.

[00:10:11]

And yes, I'm just going to even talk about myself. There are so many inputs that we have. That can in some cases actually provide some enlightenment for us, but in some cases it just provides additional things for us to focus on that keeps us distracted from what we need to focus on. Because some of those things are not designed for us. If your business is at $200,000 of revenue, why do you want to take someone's marketing plan and their business is $3 million? Why do we do that?

[00:10:59]

Why do we think that that is going to fit us perfectly? That it's going to be comfortable, that it's going to be flattering, and that it's designed just for us. It may be designed for our future self of where we're heading in our business, but it's not designed for us right now. It really isn't. But we want to take that and we want to put it on, and we want to wear it, and we want to know why we're like, ugh, we're repositioning and moving things around. It's not designed for you. It just isn't. And it might mean, just might, that you might have to maybe ask a friend who shares a resource with you, like, "Hey, there's this really great bra store here that you can go to and they will work with you for where you are right now."

[00:12:08]

Yeah, we can't take all of the bits and pieces that everyone else is doing when they're not designed for us. We have to take the time to figure out what is designed for us. Where are we in our business? Where are we trying to go in our business? What is going to be the path to get us there? And if we find ourselves on the wrong path in the wrong bra, guess what? We need to come out of it. We need to change. We need to figure out which of these options that have been brought into the dressing room are actually the best one for us. And that ties into the next part, which is stop being rigid in what label size you think you are.

[00:13:04]

Know as a $200,000 business, you don't need to adopt the exact strategy of the $3 million business. But are there parts of that strategy that you actually can possibly implement on a scale for where you are right now in your business? Is there a scaled-back, scaled-down portion of that plan that actually would fit for where you are? Because you might go to the bra shop and she says you're 32F, but she also might bring you in a 32G. Do you say Oh, I can only try on Fs? No, you might try on the G. And because this woman is much more experienced, obviously in this, she knows that this particular brand, this particular model, for lack of a better word, (I'm thinking of cars) this particular style might actually work for you, even though it's a size up, but it still might actually work for you based on what she has observed, what you've shared about you, your breast and what feels good and looks good. And sometimes that's what we don't allow ourselves to do. We don't allow ourselves to do more of what fits, more of what feels good. Some of you are stressing yourselves out, making reels on Instagram because the algorithm says you need to make reels and you really don't like making reels. Why are you making reels on Instagram when you don't like making reels on Instagram? It might be that we back up again. Is Instagram, even where your people are?

[00:15:05]

Because if Instagram isn't even where your people are, you are spending all this time being uncomfortable, not feeling flattered, doing something that's not designed for you, all because the noises told you, "Hey, Siren, call Instagram, go make lots of money. Find your ideal clients." If your people aren't there, you don't need to be there trying to kill yourself making reels. You just don't. And with that being the case, it's once again, you're kind of, "I have to go to Instagram. That's the label I have to. That's the size that I need to wear right now." It may not be. What actually fits for you and where you are in your business?

[00:16:03]

Maybe it's not Instagram. Maybe it's LinkedIn. Maybe it's not a social media platform at all. Newsflash, I know that was earth-shattering, but maybe it isn't. Maybe it's businesses in your local community and a high referral network. Maybe it's a combination of some things. But whatever it is, it needs to be that thing that fits for you, not the thing that fits for everybody else. And this again, ties back into data. Data is designed to enhance your decision-making. It keeps you better informed, according to Neil Patel. But let's be honest, 50 years old, and I'm now finding out what the correct size brought I need to be in.

[00:16:57]

That was some data that enhanced my decision-making as to what I needed to purchase, and it has definitely better informed me about, "Hey lady, you've been in the wrong sized bra for like ever, let's go ahead and rectify that." And yes, my intuition the whole entire time could have been telling me, "These are the right bras. This is not the thing." No. Even in business, choosing your choosing data, facts, information, and your intuition, they're not an either-or. The two things work together. They work together. If we strip everything else back, I firmly believe that you are keenly aware of what you need to do in your business next. You might need accountability. You might need someone to hold your hand. You might need somebody to push you and give you some motivation.

[00:18:03]

But I am a firm believer that you actually know what that next step is. I believe that. I don't think that you've gotten to where you are because you weren't able to figure things out. And you know what that next step is. Trust that intuition. Support it with data or “day-tuh”, whatever one you prefer is your pronunciation. Support it with that. But I do believe that you know what that next step is. You may not be willing to take it. You may not think that you can afford it. You may think it is too expensive. And let me tell you, girls, a good bra is expensive. But I believe that you can do this.

[00:19:04]

Because again, you wouldn't be where you are if you haven't been able to do these things. But as you and your business continue to grow, it's important to go back and get rechecked. What worked in your business six months ago may not be the thing that works now in your business. What bra fits you six months ago may not be the bra that fits you right now. It's okay, though, to go back and get resized. It's okay to go back and try on some new ones, some new options that have come in. And the same goes for your business. It's okay. Try on some things. There needs to be a level of creativity in your business. There needs to be a level of you taking a chance on you. Because guess what? If it doesn't feel right, if it's not comfortable and if it's not flattering, you don't have to keep wearing it.

[00:20:11]

You can make a pivot. You can change course. You can change direction. You can do, in many cases, whatever you want. So, I want to definitely encourage each of us in this, because as I've said before, like without any sort of data, we're guessing in our businesses. The same goes for life. Without knowing my proper size, I have just been grabbing bras and wearing the ones that I've been wearing. You know. And quite honestly so has my daughter, because we're like, "Oh, we think you're this here, let's go do this." And I had her get sized when she was at school.

[00:21:03]

I think she went to Nordstrom or something ... No, Soma. And they told her size and I was like, "What? Okay, so you've definitely been in the wrong bra." At that point, though, I still do not have that epiphany that girlfriend you might be still in the wrong bra yourself. It's that information informed us. It helped us make better decisions, and it allows us to be more comfortable and feel more flattered in what we are doing. Because why? We're now wearing stuff that's actually designed for us. The same goes for you and your business. Wear the things that are designed for you. And yes, it might be that you kind of hodgepodge a few things together, maybe from a few different sources.

[00:22:00]

That's okay because that's the recipe that works for you. Once again, I've already given my age ... So, Food Network used to have a show called ... I think it was called The Market Basket. I can't remember at this point. Anyhow, It was back when Sara Moulton was on Food Network, so let's just go ahead and date ourselves with that one. But they would have 3 to 4 chefs and everyone got a market basket. And they would have the same exact ingredients. It's very similar to their other show now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The one that they have the different cooks. At any rate, the point being, even with everybody having the same ingredients, no one cooked the same meal.

[00:22:55]

So, even with that, even with the recipes that you come up with for your business, your pinch is going to be different than someone else's pinch. Your little tad bit of this, a tad bit of that, it's going to be different. And as a result, everything else that you bring to who you are and where you are now in your business is going to influence what you create. And since no one else is you, but you, you're always going to be able to differentiate yourself, separate yourself because of who you are. And so, doing what fits, doing what comes together for you, doing what feels good to you, doing what's comfortable, what's flattering, what's designed for you, let's do that.

[00:24:05]

Let's do more of that and less of putting on all the things that everyone else says that we should be wearing and doing. Because you got to this point, your former self, she might have made some missteps, she might not have taken the shortest path, but all of that that she's done has still gotten her to this point. Trust her. Trust that intuition that you still have. Support it with data. And let's get bras and businesses that fit us, that are comfortable for us, that are flattering for us, and are designed for us. And realize that, again, we're not stuck in a certain size or a certain label.

[00:25:07]

Don't let others define you and say this is where you have to stay. Because you don't. So what do I want you to take away from this episode? Go to a nice bra shop and get yourself checked. See if you're wearing the right size. It will make a world of difference. Carve out some time in your business in order to also check if you are wearing the right size. Are you doing what actually feels good for you, and showing up in a way that feels good for you? I don't want your underwire pinching you. So, with that being the case, get those two things together. I think it's going to make a world of difference for you, your business, and those that you serve.

[00:26:06]

So thanks for tuning in to this episode of Collab With Kiva. I look forward to hearing all about your new purchases and all the amazing things that are happening in your business. Again, woohoo, confetti, happy 30th episode to me. And thank you for your support. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I appreciate you and each and every one of them. Talk soon. Bye.

[00:26:36]

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Collab With Kiva. You know my heart, and it wants you to know that you are uniquely made and that your business path is unique to you. I hope that now you have some clear takeaways from this episode that have left you inspired and motivated to keep pressing forward on your unique path. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And of course, your reviews on Apple are greatly appreciated. If you are a small business owner and you are ready to build out your business playbook and you're ready to document and delegate what takes place in your business so it can grow beyond you, make sure you visit me on my website, the516collaborative.com, and let's schedule a time to talk. I'll see everyone next time. Bye.

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.