Ep 006: Why Not You? – with Wendy Batten

00:04
Welcome to the Shannon Atchison show, Real Business Talk for Real Life. I’m Shannon, creative business coach, digital product lover, and your strategy sidekick. I’ve built a business that fits my life, and now I help other women do the same. No hustle, no fluff, just smart, honest conversations about building a business that works for you. Let’s dive in.
00:30
So I am so excited today to have my friend, Wendy Batten on the show and I’m gonna read her oh so professional bio just by way of introduction before we start talking so that everybody can sort of learn who she is. So Wendy Batten is a business coach, speaker and host of the Creative Shop Talk podcast. Clients call her a possibilitarian, which I totally love. She helps independent shop owners and driven women reimagine what’s possible in business and life.
00:57
With over 25 years of experience as a creative entrepreneur, including running her own successful retail shop, Wendy now supports others, turn their visions into reality, and do life on purpose through coaching, online programs, and retreats. She lives in a crooked little cottage by the sea in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and travels the world to connect with clients. Wendy, thank you so much for joining me on The Shannon Atchison Show. I appreciate having you here, and I love connecting with you.
01:26
It’s a pleasure to be here. So was so flattered to be asked to be here. Thank you so much. love it. like, let’s start with a little throwback. We first met. It’s so funny, isn’t it? Yeah. It is so wild at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia, because we were taking a limo together to Haven Conference. I don’t know if anybody out there remembers that conference. They actually just ended it. think this year, last year was the last year, I feel like. I think so. Yeah. Craziness. Anyways, but like total strangers.
01:55
taking a limo together to the hotel, to this conference. And, you know, when you think back to that season, what were you working on then and what did your business look like then? Well, so first of all, I was petrified, petrified. So, but I think that that might sort of describe everything I’ve done in business. So at that particular time,
02:25
That was 2011, I think. I something like that. It’s been a while. I think so. I had, we were on our way to, Haven was a blog conference. Yep. So going to a blog conference, you would think you were a blogger and you’re very professional. I had no idea what I was doing. I was a wannabe blogger. I had taught myself how to create a blog, how to build a blog. And I had two blog posts up.
02:51
I had no business being in the back of that limo with you. had like, and all the people. I don’t even doing it for a year or two at that point too. I feel like I had no business. It was just so, and the backstory just to back up just a little tiny bit to that was that, my daughter gave me a book and well, she gave me the book in 2011. So Haven must’ve been 2012. And she said I needed a hobby other than her.
03:21
So she was right. She was right. Like, but we had a very successful business. My husband and I were running business. was doing stuff at home. was doing all the backend admin. Beautiful. Like we, you know, we had a beautiful life. mean, we had a great life, but you know, she was 16 at the time and she gave me the happiness project, which I have right here. It’s really funny because this is my original copy. gave me.
03:42
And the happiness project was, she’s like, mom, you’re made for more. She actually said that she actually wrote. I didn’t realize this anyway. She wrote that inside the book and made me cry the other day. anyway, so she’s like, mom, you’re made for more and there’s more to life and you need a hobby other than me. And we were DIYing and renovating homes much like you Shannon, like, you we were always like doing things around our house and updating, you know, renovating, decorating, tearing walls down, know, big little things.
04:11
I remember we predicted on that because we were… Yeah, that’s we thought. Yeah. Right. And so I always say like back then when I look back, when I think of now and I look back then, we were always in a state of improving our life for our family, not in a keeping up with the Joneses way. That’s never been my style, but it’s always been about an improvement and like upgrading our life. Right. So when she said that to me, you know, and I, I started my blog, she’s like, mom,
04:39
share with all the people the things that we’re doing around here. So I started a blog. I taught myself WordPress, taught myself blog, fast forward, built this thing called Front Porch Mercantile because I was selling furniture off the front of my porch because my friends were like coming and asking me and I was meeting people off Marketplace or whatever they called it back then. It wasn’t Marketplace back then. But you know, just random painted things and doing stuff.
05:04
And so I started blogging, two blogs up and went to Haven and met you. So what was going on in my life at that time is I needed a hobby other than my daughter, really. And I felt this need to connect with people. And I felt that I was made for more. I didn’t feel that my daughter felt that she was right. There was something missing. Okay. And I was very happy. This is where I think there’s a disconnect sometimes with especially with women. I just felt like I should be happy enough or I should be fine with everything that was.
05:34
And, but I felt like I had something to give. I didn’t know what that was. So I started blogging about that was my giving. And I went to the, what I call everybody, I tell everybody now, when I went to Haven that time, I felt like I was backstage with the rock stars. Like I had no business being backstage. I was like hanging around with all you cool people. It was so cool. You and I and one other person, I think were the only three Canadians in that entire conference. I think was a big conference. Yeah, I think that year for sure.
06:03
I think I two or three times and that year we were. me too. There was only a few of us. Yeah, me too. There was a map up and like where everybody was from. There was no Canada on the map. And you and I were like, we should put that on. Anyway, yeah. And so also at that time I was petrified. And when I told my family, I’m going to Haven or I’m going go to this blog conference, I literally, can, and maybe other people can relate to this when you make big decisions. I can feel the,
06:32
I can’t believe I just said that out loud to them. And I can picture them all at the kitchen table. My family were weirdos that ate dinner together every night. And I can picture like everybody just stopping like mid spoon, like what? I’m like, yeah. And I hadn’t flown in a decade. I hadn’t been anywhere as I went by myself solo to Atlanta. And I tell people that was one of the biggest.
06:58
pin drops or mic drop moments of my life or pivot moments of my life. speaking of pivots, that decision to buy that ticket to go to Haven and get that ticket and get on that plane, which I almost didn’t. Oh my gosh. And get in that limo and then we were lost. We couldn’t find the term. All those challenges and all those things and the stories in my head that were telling me I didn’t belong in that room and in those places. Big moments there. Yeah. And you did it anyways. it anyways. Did it scared.
07:27
Yeah. Okay. So what led you to open your shop in the first place? Like what, and what did you most love about running it? Cause you didn’t have the shop then? No, no, I didn’t want to be a shopkeeper. That wasn’t part of the plan. So many things, I know we’re always told, and I actually teach this and I coach and I, and I work with hundreds of women and well, women and men right now, but, um,
07:55
You know, we should plan ahead and envision our life for, you know, three to five years out and whatever. And I think that’s great if you have a business plan. So for business, yes. For life, I think we need to decide more like what is it we want to embrace and how do we want to feel three to five years? Like, you know, what’s, so not so much the specifics. So at that time, I just knew I wanted to follow what was unfolding. I say that all the time. I’m probably going to say it a million times here, but it, it,
08:25
When I went to the conference, I met all the paint people, all the paint brands were there. And then they were the ones I used and none of them were available in my, in all of Atlantic Canada. Montreal was the last place you could buy like Annie Sloan or Miss Mustard Sea Melt Paint or, you know, and there was no Fusion and all these other paint companies, they did not exist. I actually ended up helping and being part of the Fusion development team, which is bananas when I think about it, but.
08:53
I met all the paint companies, met all the brands as this shy little whatever blogger. mean, I’m shy, but not shy. Like I had conversations. And honestly, Miss Mustard Seed said the milk paint, she had a milk paint brand at the time. And she said, who I idolized, by the way, I couldn’t believe I was having lunch at the same table as Marion Parsons from this mustard seed.
09:19
She said like, oh, you should sell mill paint. And I was like, I don’t have a store. I know. I’m not going to sell this to her. So my store originally started as my teaching people to paint. And I was in this old little workshop in my friend’s backyard next to her yoga studio in her garage. Like that’s where my studio and shop was. It had, I had no business plan. had no other than I’m going to open a little studio. Um, I called it front porch mercantile.
09:48
We moved it off the porch. I actually wrote like the whole business, not the business idea, but like what that could look like and how it would fit into our life sitting at the barn where my daughter used to ride. Like I can, like I still have the notebooks where I was like, well, what could that look like? And what would my logo? Honestly, I was more like, wow, what could the logo be? How could I take this blog? How can I make this blog be live and teach people to paint furniture and sell this paint that Marion said I should paint? So I.
10:17
ended up selling milk paint and I was going to sell the Andy Sloan paint. They also wanted me to do it. But at the exact same time, I made my decision to open this little studio. Somebody else did as well in my town. So she took Andy Sloan. I took Miss Mustard Milk We had a wonderful relationship. And I started teaching people to paint kind of on the fly and just selling paint. DIYing in a studio, really. It was a great joy. Yeah. And blogging. was still blogging.
10:47
I love how you just of just went with what sort of came to you and felt like it was the next right step rather than, I mean, like you said, a big business plan is awesome, especially if you need financing or whatever, but the next right step for where you are at, I love that because I feel like I fully agree with that and think that that’s the best way to go, especially as a creative person, because sometimes you don’t know.
11:14
you know, three, five years down the road, what’s going to be the best thing for where you’re at. I love that. closing the shop then was a big shift. can you sort of walk us through that decision? What made you realize then that it was time to change that? And you didn’t close it, you sold it, yes? Yeah. So there was quite a few years between then and there. So the evolution of the shop ended up that we ended up becoming a full fledged shop.
11:40
And I will say if a client comes to me now and says, I’m just gonna like open this little shop and start selling paint and do a studio, I would tell it, say you’re absolutely bananas. You gotta have a bit of a plan. I was not fully in. However, I did not, I had a number that I decided to invest. We owned another business. I wasn’t new to business. And I also had owned a coffee shop for years prior to that. So I had a business.
12:08
bit of business plan, but not in retail. So that was like a whole different game. So we expanded the retail business. I was super busy. The studio did really well, the painting workshops, then we expanded the inventory and it just grew and grew and grew and grew. had a staff, I had great success with my retail business. But only after I started investing in learning about retail. And not without, and not without,
12:36
I want to say a breakdown. During that period of time, my daughter moved to New Zealand at 19. She was very young, so she moved to New Zealand. And that was probably another, when I say like when I went to Haven, it was a big pivot. When she went to New Zealand and I realized my store was so busy that I couldn’t get off the treadmill enough to go and spend three weeks with her before she left, which it was a very short window. She went on vacation and then…
13:05
when she came back, she said, I got a job where I’m gonna go and I met a boy. we were really close. All of that to say that the store was really busy and I didn’t have much together. Sorry, I shouldn’t say, I didn’t have it all together. I was burning myself out. And when I realized that I couldn’t step off the treadmill to stop, to spend time with her. I did, I ended up just like.
13:31
burning, like spending time with her, but I was on the floor crying at some points because it was bad. And I say that because everybody romanticizes business and all the Evan flows, but it was a hard time. So after she left, I realized I needed to make some changes here. So I invested in coaching, I invested in learning. I mean, I’d always been a learner, obviously, started, you know, I did all these things, but I really honed down into
13:57
why was my shop so busy and I wasn’t making a ton of money, but it was taking, and it was taking all my time. So fat story, thin. I learned all of those things. I invested a lot into education and coaching and piecing together all these things. And then everybody started asking me, my friends, my, my, my painy friends, all the people running paint stores, all my people that I kind of knew through, I’m very big community minded person.
14:25
started asking me how. Miss Mustard Seed started asking me if I would be, so I started working for her while I was running my shop. was the community, I don’t know, I helped her, I was her second, her number two, if you will. So I was the link between the brand and all the paint retailers. Loved that so much, and so I was doing weekly trainings for the Milk Paint brands. I started working for the other company called Fusion.
14:54
doing that for them as well too. I worked for another paint company. I ended up working for all these brands like the Fat Paint Company, which was a chalk paint company. I was their lead educator. They used to fly me out to Vancouver. Wonderful cool things were happening. Cool things are happening. I had a staff running my store. So I sold the store because I had to move the…
15:18
location wasn’t holding up, was falling down. Literally it was an old barn. So I had to make a move and at the time my best friend said, surprisingly she lived in Ontario and I lived in New Brunswick at the time and I had no idea and she said, Wendy, I would love to take over your shop and move back home because her mom lived in New Brunswick. And I was like, what? So she took over and I was doing too much
15:48
I love the coaching side, but I love my score. And all this to say that was a huge pivot, but everything happens, like, you know, for a reason, as you said, and I stepped away. I franchised the business. She took over. She moved it into the city and, you know, from the country where it was. And I actually opened a secondary workshop in my little town where I live now, where I had my cottage. I live in a little town called Linenburg, New Brunswick. It’s a historic.
16:17
UNESCO Historic World Heritage Site. I opened a studio here, sort of like the second location, so she ran the big one. I opened a little studio here so I could do my studio stuff here and coach from here. So we actually physically made a huge move. We yeah. It’s the forever big family home and moved into the cottage. we did. We made a huge pivot. Yeah.
16:46
related to all the business stuff? That was it all it all happened. Again, my husband and I both running separate businesses in Moncton. And here’s my advice to entrepreneurs like just because we can doesn’t mean we should. And I do all the things I am an idea generator and I was really and I’m really good at a lot of things. And I took it. hard for me to say that but I am I can see it. Yeah, so
17:14
I was like coaching, I was working for these brands, I was running my retail business, I was running my studio in two locations. then, so then when Lisa took over one, and it’s still running by the way, we’ve rebranded, we’ve sort of kept, I kept my own brand at some like, we have a beautiful friendship now and relationship. has rebranded under a different name, but it’s still sort of the same premise of what we built at the beginning. My husband,
17:42
My husband and I both live with our shoulders up to our ears. So that’s true. We used to live like, I don’t know if you’re sharing this video or not, but like my shoulders were up to my ears. So many balls in the air. And that lifestyle that I said, you you’re describing what you want in three to five years or what you want. We were living in a beautiful home. We were running beautiful businesses. We had lots of cool people around us. had a lot on paper. Everything was awesome.
18:10
On paper, everything was awesome. But internally, my husband and I were both like, what are we doing? Is this the life we want to build? So every time we would come down to this little cottage, which we live in now, it’s a tiny little crazy little cottage. It’s imperfect in every way, but it overlooks the ocean. And we used to Airbnb it. And every time we would come down here, our shoulders would go down for a minute. And we were like, oh, if we could just stay here.
18:38
Oh my gosh, that’s crazy, right? That’s a crazy dream. That’s a crazy thing. And I would come down, I would teach and I would paint while I was down here and we’d do workshops and all the, you know, I was still working here. So we made a decision, a crazy decision. And I say to my clients and I say to myself, this comes from my husband and I do this all the time. We started doing what we call like epic life planning, vision storming our life. And like, what could that look like?
19:06
That’s the question we like. What could that look like if we got all bold and crazy and right. And what could that well, what if we sold everything and walked away and lived in this little crazy cottage? We can’t do that. You know, so we ended up selling, running his business from here. We sold everything we own. I literally sold pictures off the walls on my house. So Lisa had taken over the Moncton location. I was coaching full time at the time and running down here. I’m like, well, I can do that.
19:35
from here, I’m doing it right now. I’m on the computer right now, I’m coaching from here. So pivots are hard and they’re scary and I’m again making it sound like we just made a decision and did it. And we left family, we left friends and we left the house we loved. I mean, I loved my house. I still love my house, I still miss it. That’s a tough one. It’s true, we’re so hardwired to love that. We were like, what is it that we’re like, what is the lifestyle we’re trying to build? What is the life we want?
20:04
and we wanted our shoulders down. I was honestly afraid my husband, his business was very busy. We were in a commercial cleaning business, which is not an easy gig. Yeah, I not. Yeah. And we were like, so now I’m laughing because my husband currently spends his days like he’s my number two. So I used to work, I used to be his number two for a while with his business and now he’s my number two. He does all the backend stuff of our business, but he’s out kayaking right now.
20:30
It’s a Wednesday morning at 11 o’clock and he’s kayaking and his shoulders are down and my shoulders are down. So we’re both doing things we love now, but it doesn’t come without price and trade-offs. There’s trade-offs in all these pivots, but that’s how I ended up. that’s how we sold the store. So it’s not linear. And I know people like to think, okay, you had the store and then you sold it then it’s not like… It overlapped a lot. Entrepreneurship overlaps mostly.
20:57
everything you’ve done in your business overlaps, it all overlaps. And there’s also still building one business maybe while you’re trying to start another one. Like, you know, there’s all these like, still, know, because we still need the balls need to keep rolling, right? So, yeah. So the retail store was running while I was doing coaching, but now, and even now it’s still evolving, right? Things still evolve. so we sold the store, but a franchise first sold it, eventually sold it. now my studio during
21:27
I didn’t really, I am coaching mostly full time and at my studio space that I had here in Lunenberg, I ended up mostly using it for coaching, like conferences and retreats. That’s where I ended up. Like I realized I wasn’t doing as much painting and stuff as I was doing like coaching. So now I just ran the space. gave up my space right before COVID, thank goodness. Oh goodness. Yes. Excellent providence there. of twists and turns, right? So. Yeah. So you’re
21:56
It obviously looks very different now, your business, than it did. So I think we kind of sort of answered this, but like the transition from shop owner to educator mentor, did you plan it or it sort of seemed to unfold more naturally, did it not? It did, yeah. Yeah. I would say, again, as I said, people started asking me. Yeah. And I think, you know, advice to people listening, when people are asking you,
22:26
And it’s like, to me, was not so simple. It wasn’t simple getting help and putting all the pieces together, but it came naturally, maybe that’s the word. So the identity I was giving myself was a shop owner. And then that side thing that was no big deal was helping people untangle their business bits, if you will. you know, once I figured it out and I saw how it all worked and I was like, ah, I get it now.
22:56
And I still see it. When I go back and I look through, I think I’m meant to be a leader. that, again, took a long time for me to say that out loud. a coach actually said that to me. like, well, why do you’ve been doing in leadership roles your whole life? And that’s true. And I’ve also been around business my whole life and local business. My parents were involved with retail. so I guess all the pieces did come naturally. I just had never really seen the cover of the
23:26
the puzzle cover, you know what I mean? I had all the pieces and I was like, oh, that’s what it’s supposed to look like, right? So it didn’t, you know, so when everybody was asking me for help and then, I just like, literally the first coaching thing I ever did other than with the brands, cause I was just showing up on Facebook in all the brands groups all the time. But my first paid coaching gig, if you will, was charging like $99 to come to a holiday bootcamp. Like I called it a holiday bootcamp.
23:55
It was 2017 and I had all these coaching and I felt guilty asking people. But I was like, okay, well got to take, you know, I got to make income from this. And I had 25 retailers join me on zoom and we did like six or seven weeks of like talking about holiday bootcamp. I don’t even remember how I did it six or seven parts. And then when it was over, they were all like, okay, now what?
24:20
Now what? And I was like, I don’t know. Like, what do mean now what? And they’re like, well, we want to keep going. So I started a membership. And that membership still goes. At first, it was just for painters. Then it was for shopkeepers, small shopkeepers. I had creatives from all over the world asking to join. And then, and now I have a mastermind group in there. And it just sort of evolves. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You grew from what people asked for in that niche. And what, and what
24:46
felt easy. again, it’s not easy. There’s still tension and all the mind stuff. we’ve talked about this, but it’s not like, I’m just going to do this. And it happens. It was like, can I? Should I? What could that look like? And do I have it in me? what if nobody comes? What if they think I’m stupid? What if I can’t do it? mean, that. I mean, oh my gosh, that like that person sits on my shoulder every day.
25:16
So it’s hard and it’s not without, but if something feels easy and light to you, and you have a gift to share, like you have, like you have such a gift to share with people.
25:29
And I’ve actually needed people like my coaches, I’ve need coaches behind me saying like, well, why wouldn’t you? And I was like, I don’t know. I think sometimes we just don’t see the roles we’re in or the strengths that we have, right? We just do because it’s there. And so we don’t consciously identify that and we need coaches and other people to say, you’re really good at this. You should do this. Now, sometimes that’s wrong, but.
25:56
most of the time you’re just not seeing it and you need someone else to kind of not pull it out of you even, cause you’re already doing it or whatever being it, but you need someone to help identify that in you. So you consciously go, yes, I’m good at that. I can do that. Right? Like I think that’s why coaches and things like that are so important. Yeah. And I think we have to be, I have, like, I would not be where I am without coaching for sure.
26:24
Which was also scary. was another scary thing. Hiring my first coach and investing in coaching was like, who am I to be like, and then when I go back and I look at my first coaching thing, like, you know, it taking it out of like our family income. I, you know, basically I laugh when people say, well, you can write it off. And I’m like, well, anything that doesn’t go to the business is like grocery money, right? It’s like, so I’m taking it out of our vacation or grocery money or whatever.
26:53
But like it’s and I and I say this with like all do clarity now, which I never always didn’t always have. Everything’s a trade off. So where we spend our time, where we spend our money shows me my values. So you’re very like, we’re very aware now and intentional and I, and I, I tell people that’s what I teach now. I teach people intentionality and life on purpose, life aligned and life on purpose because everything we do has to be on purpose. So
27:22
investing in coaching, not spending is how I look at it now. It’s like, I’m investing in something that’s going to make me better. And so I can go out and pour into the world. And I’ve never like not like I’ve never not had a coach like I actually like getting just thinking about it. Like, I’ve never not had somebody else to lean in because they lean into me. And then I lean into my people. And then they lean into their, to their clients to their families to their communities. Like, it’s
27:50
It’s not a solo gig, right? So, yeah. That’s true. So true. Such good insight. So, um, I think we already talked about this, the hardest part about the pivot seasons was letting go of the old model of figuring out the next step, sort of rebuilding your audience. So when you sort of pivoted, what did you find? You said it was easy, but also it was not. So what did you find sort of the hardest part in those messy middle sort of seasons? Just because I think.
28:20
I think we get this idea that even if we’re meant to do something, it’ll come super easy and it will be neat and tidy and clean and all wrapped up in a bow. But it’s messy sometimes. Yeah. I liken it to when I’m renovating a house, because we’ve done that so many times. We’ve had like seven houses renovated. I like that. And you think it’s like you have this idea in your head maybe. And sometimes I have to let go of those visions, either that’s not for me or I really want that.
28:49
brick wall you have behind you, like I can’t put a brick wall on this cottage. I mean, you should, there’s like, anyway, it’s just like, there’s like wood holding up things so that they don’t all fall over here. Like it’s really funny, but I think it’s when you’re thinking of a pivot or when you’re thinking of a new direction. And I, I will tell you, I don’t actually have, except for getting on a plane and going to Haven, I don’t have a lot of moments that are like,
29:17
Like, and moving here, guess those two ones when we moved here, like literally the day we, because we already own this, everything’s always been messy. It’s always been messy. Like everything’s sort of been happening at the same time. Like there’s been like bits and pieces. Um, and I don’t actually know of a period in my time, my life and my business life, even with my husband’s business, when I had my coffee shop, like before, when I had a coffee shop, I don’t.
29:42
I I’ve ever had a period where I could say this is all neat and tidy. Like it’s, you know, and it’s all exactly what I want to do and everything’s going perfectly. Like I just don’t and that’s entrepreneurial life. I mean, you know that, right? So it’s just sort of always, and I always talk about dodgeballs and dodgeballs are always coming out.
30:02
you know, it’s easier than saying dips and bad things, right? Like dodgeball, you know, like there’s, you know, there’s COVID and there’s, know, whatever else happens and there’s economic stress and mindset. And then there’s also things happening in your family, right? Like a lot of people don’t talk about this, but what’s happening in our lives, like health and parents and, and literally, I feel like
30:27
I’m 57 and I feel like I’m in this like messy middle of life. then I realized every season has a messy, like every season of like, like when I was a busy mom, there was like that messy, I’ll go, well, when my kids are gone, well, when my kid was gone, it was like, oh, then there was this emptiness messiness. And then there was like, now I’ve been an empty nester for a long time and I’m an entrepreneur and we’ve moved and we’re in this, and now we’re still in this messy thing of life where I have parents that are older and unwell.
30:57
adult children and grandchildren now. And I’m, you know, I’m not worried about that. I don’t mean it that way, but like you’re still interested in, you know, so there’s this like tension all the time. And I’ve realized that, you know, there is no clean, perfect time. And there’s not these like lines usually where there’s like, oh, okay, we’re going to do this now. It’s like it all kind of, it’s all kind of coming at you, which maybe sounds like for those that are thinking of pivots or those thinking of change.
31:27
Um, it’s just embrace it. Like you have to just embrace it. know, it’s the reality of it, right? Like it’s, you know, I’m saying pivot, but at the same time, I know it all overlaps still, right? There’s still overlap. There’s still, you said, family concerns. My kids are grown, but they all live at home still. Like, so there’s, there are, and my parents, yeah, one of them is not well, like there are things in life and there’s no clean, this is what we’re doing now. Let’s, let’s go. Right. So.
31:56
pivot, yes, but yeah, it’s still always overlaps with other things. Yeah, for sure. And I think it’s also really important to remember. And I know you’ve done this and I know I’ve done this. And I think it’s how we are showing up for whatever’s next or whatever, like, you know, whatever we’re in do whatever, whatever we’re doing, nothing good happens without enthusiasm and energy. Yeah. So loving ourself enough.
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to have enthusiasm and energy even in the stupid stuff, like in the messy stuff, right? Like our new attitude is almost expecting it. And I don’t mean this from a place of lack or, oh, here we go again. You can’t come with that energy. You have to be like, what’s possible for me? And that’s why I love to think in possibilities. I’m like, okay, well, what’s possible through this crappy part? And how are we gonna show up?
32:51
How are we going to show up through this? We’re going to either like go down the road of pity party or and not make decisions. And that’s where a lot of
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dreams die. I think we’re just like, oh, it would never work or the all the, you all that negative stuff. So if you have it pivoted mind or a change or something that you’re just wanting to do, I mean, you have to think about all the opportunities and possibilities, right? And again, like I said, I love to call myself a possibilitarian. So I actually, I don’t, my clients, I’ve heard, I’ve had clients tell me that and I was like, what in the world? Like that is the weirdest word. However,
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I do say think impossibilities all the time. Like what’s possible through this on the other side of this thing? Really good stuff. there’s like even through hard things, there’s really good stuff on the other end, right? yeah. Possibilities, yeah. It’s a long answer. I give really long hard No, that’s okay. It’s great. There’s gold in these answers. I love it. No, it’s so good. It’s true though, because there are all the things that could go wrong or could be bad, but there’s all the possibilities, like you said.
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or the hope in what could be something really great. And I think that’s the only thing sort of that, I mean, I’ve been online doing stuff for 15 years. Like, I think that’s the only thing through all the different things that keeps me going and building and growing and adding, like, it’s the hope and the possibility in things, for sure. Always, right? And and I think the definition of
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I don’t have this written down, so I’m sure somebody will correct me. that’s like a and they snub the joke. But I recently read that the definition of like procrastination on your dreams or on taking that next step or whatever it is, is that you’re trying to have it all figured out. And like you want to know exactly what it the perfect outcome is, maybe that sort of back. But you’re never going to know that, especially if you’re self-employed. Like, and for me,
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I always say like there’s really cool magical things that I couldn’t have imagined when I went to Haven and we were in the back of that limo my hope and dream my biggest my biggest hope for that conference was that I was going to learn how to be a better blogger that was like I’m going to learn how to be better blogger. What actually happened when I go back to that and I look at that as I met
35:19
all of you wonderful people, relationships are rocket fuel. and you know, and I started talking to Marion and Marion said, oh, you should get pain and like conversations, like following like this thread, right? And then I had a store. So like, we can’t even envision, like I didn’t go there saying like, I hope I meet somebody who can help me make a store. And then I’m gonna get really good at that. And then I’m gonna become a coach. And someday, you know, I’m gonna live, I’m gonna coach with people all over the world.
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Like I had a conference here in my little tiny town of Lunarburg, Nova Scotia last year and I had people fly in my clients flew in from Like Scotland all over North America and for England Yeah, what in the actual heck is that like how like how does your brains? Imagine I still can’t still like they did what like why did they do that for me? You can you cannot you cannot dream big enough
36:18
Like you can’t even imagine. So you have to just keep moving forward, like making forward momentums towards your dreams. It’s so true. That’s so true. very excited. No, that’s awesome. That’s so good. So you’re still creating obviously, but so what do you love about the work that you do now? And you know, what parts of your personality or creativity are you like leaning into now more so than you did before? Maybe I think I’m getting braver. I think I’ve always been like,
36:47
Hesitant like I just said, I mean everybody came here last year for all and I’m still like what the heck but I think I’m trying to like lean into a little bit more of my I’m trying to own it I don’t know. hate saying that what I’m trying to like, yeah, I’m like, okay, like let’s just and I think that’s an age thing because Time is collapsing and if I wanted like you so I have like now I do have like these kind of really cool big dreams and You know, I’m 57. I have zero desire to slow down or stop
37:17
So I love watching and what I’ve realized I’ve been doing a lot of work on this lately. I’ve been, I love watching the ripple effect of what happens when I am able to help like something that’s super easy for me to see about my clients. So I work with retailers. I work with a lot of, and I work with cool retailers doing cool things in cool towns. And I love.
37:42
So I have made myself available to be like, we’ve been hosting our mastermind groups in their towns and I’ve been traveling more. I was in New Zealand meeting some of my clients in New Zealand this winter and going into their town and then seeing how their businesses affect like the whole town. It’s not just like, we’re not living in silos, right? We’re not just living in our own little world. And I think the world needs more like…
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joy and more community and more gathering and more in-person anything, right? So in-person shopping, in-person. So I love that. Like I see that ripple and I see how their businesses are thriving and how I’m able to help do that. Like, so I’m owning that and I love it. And I love seeing that. So that lights me up. And then the other side of my business right now is we are reviving our blog, which is really funny. I say that’s really funny, but it’s.
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It’s come from people saying like my blog still gets tons of hits but like I’m still like I haven’t done anything on it years My husband’s a photographer. We live in a very beautiful spot We’ve had people ask us if we could just share more about How how do we do this trade-off thing? How do we run our lives? How do how do people in their 50s? I always say 50s my husband’s in his 60s, but how do people in this next chapter? Live an extraordinary life, right?
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And I do live an extraordinarily life, but I’m not like fancy or we don’t live rich or I don’t, guess we live rich if, depending on your terms of rich, right? So again, we’re traveling and so we’re going to share a little bit more on that. And so I work with a lot of, I have coaching on that side of my life as well too. So I’ve been working with a lot of, and it started off just friends and women that I know, but now I have a program on my lifestyle side that is helping.
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women step into that, whatever’s next. I think I something about that. So yeah. like, so yeah, I’ve been running it for a few months now and we’re just launching again, but it’s just fun for me. And why that lights me up is because I see the potential in so many people. And like I said to you, you know, just love what you’re doing here and how you’re sharing your, your experiences and your joy and you’re able to lift people up and do that too. So yeah. Oh, that’s awesome.
40:04
Um, okay. So are there things that you tried in the last few years? So you talked about like everything, you know, the store just grew and the coaching grew. there things that you tried that didn’t work that flopped? And if there was, what did you learn sort of from that? I feel like I should get like a rollout, like a paper here and make a list. Always behind the scenes, right? There’s always stuff that didn’t work. All kinds of things don’t work. So, um, I think.
40:32
trying to think of specific things, but I’ve had launches that have like completely crickets and by and by launches for those who aren’t familiar with launches, that just means like I’m putting myself out there to share a little bit more about my thing. and generally what I learned about launches or what I’ve learned about my failures, because I always do a debrief. Some people call them like postmortems. And I’m like, Oh, I don’t like that at all. So we call it a debrief.
40:58
So I have a small team. I have a few people that work for me and that part I love as well too. And I’m learning. I’m learning. And that’s actually probably one of the failures I’ve had over the years. Not so much the launch. mean, launches have failed and other things have failed. But where I have failed a lot is in letting things go. even though I teach that, which is really funny.
41:27
do as I say not as I do very well. Sometimes the teachers are good at that. I had a really good time. My husband works with me and he said to me one day, he’s like, why won’t you let me do that? Do you think I’m stupid? I was like, and he’s like, I know, right? And he said, you’re probably making our other team members feel, I’m going to cry when I think about it because I’m like, well, no, I just don’t. Anyway, so that has been a big.
41:55
not failure, but that has been something that I’ve worked really hard on. Um, and it’s much better. But the other thing is these failures, these debriefs that we do when we really dig into the honesty, like, um, okay, why didn’t retailers join my group last week or last month when we did a thing? So when I pulled that apart, it’s easy to say, well, they just don’t want it. And I’m to move on to something else. But when I really dig down into it, um, and I’m, I’m a big,
42:25
I never used to be a data girl, but that’s what drives business. And so you have to tell yourself, you have to know the math and the data and the financials. I teach that a lot now and I hate teaching it because nobody wants to learn it, but that’s you have to know. And when I look at it, I realize, well, what didn’t I do or like, you know, how did I contribute to the failure of this? And people don’t like to admit that, but it’s like, oh, you know what? I didn’t go online enough or I didn’t show up or people didn’t get, it wasn’t in front of enough people.
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There’s always a reason it’s not right. And sometimes it’s just like, you know what? I never really asked anybody if they wanted that thing. Yeah. And they don’t want it. So yeah, lots of failures and failures are inevitable. And I take them personally. I’m to be honest. I again, a good coach would say you just have to like learn from them and move on and we don’t fail. We learn and you know, that is all true, but it’s still hits for a minute. So I always tell everybody take a take a pity party moment. Like it’s okay.
43:24
It’s okay. We have to honor our feelings and we can be disappointed. We can be sad. And then we have to regroup and then move on. So that’s literally how I do it now. I process it all. I have my pity party. I feel sorry for myself for a little bit. like that. As a feely emotional person or sensitive person, the advice to just let it go, it’s like, no, but then…
43:50
did feel awful for that time. So I love that you acknowledge that and then move on from there for sure. So we talked a little bit about success and what your definition of that sort of looks like for how you live your life, but has your definition of success changed from when you started to now, or has it always sort of been the shoulders down? Absolutely has changed. Again, so we redo our
44:21
We call it our vision. We vision storm our life every year. So John and I do it every year. This year we actually did it in December. We do it every December. So I actually literally have a program that I run. Like I run through John and I, like my husband thinks I’m bananas. He’s not into this until I make him be into it. Until I tell him he’s into it. No, he likes it now. So we actually used to go away. Used to go away for a couple of days. I don’t know, backtrack. In 2020.
44:50
during COVID at Christmas when we couldn’t go anywhere. It was really hard and sad for me, for a lot of us, right? We actually went to a local resort and I’m like, let’s just like vision storm what we want. And I came up with some questions. I came up with a program. We love to look at life pillars, the wheel of life. Like, where do we want to be financially? Like, how much is enough? Or how much is too? Like, what are we doing with our money? Like, why? What are we doing? What do we want to do, and have an experience? That’s what we come down to every year.
45:17
So we do that every November, December now, and we both love it, and we both do it separately, and then we come together and do it. It’s a really big part of our life now. And like I taught my, like my kids do it, my adult children do it now, my sister does it, like my friends and my clients do it. So I have a little program that I give to them, and now I’ve got it like a little package thing. It’s just literally like some questions and me explaining it, that’s it.
45:46
We don’t do fancy here, but that is so I have a lot of clients that go away for weekends and do it. have with their spouse, their family. I have people that have done it with their kids. And I’m very proud of that because it helps us make decisions. So yes, ours has changed. We did one in December this year and sort of mapped out 2025. And then we always kind of map out into 2026 and map out. I mean, like big rocks like.
46:14
What do we want to do be have experience? Like there’s literally only so much money in a pot and I don’t care who you are. I don’t care. I don’t care who you are. We all only have so much money. And what do we value if we want to go in debt to do some things? Cool. Let’s just acknowledge that and we’re going to do it or we don’t want to be in debt. So we’re to have to not do things. That’s the choices usually. Right. You’ve got the choices. are the yeah, like there’s nobody has an unlimited amount of time and nobody has an unlimited amount of money. So
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2025 we had all mapped out and then we went to New Zealand for six weeks, which was a unbelievable blessing to us. Like my daughter lives in New Zealand. That’s where she still is. She’s 28 now and she lives there and we got to spend six weeks together traveling New Zealand. It was a trip of a lifetime, except we want to do it again. So we’re going to do it again next year. So our sort of mindset shifts, right? So when you ask me like,
47:10
you know, do you have the same goals, values and whatever? And it’s like, no, because our experiences shift. Our experience shifted, our mindset shifted, our view of the world shifted. The things that are happening in this world right now, like helps, like, you know, does change things. Yeah. Yeah. You’re like, Hmm. Yeah. We had some big plans for travel into certain areas, certain places that we won’t travel to now, or we’re hesitant about.
47:38
Right. So when we came back from New Zealand, so in March, we did it again. And we did a whole new like we did it again. So we did our vision storming exercise again. And so yeah, it has changed our, I don’t think your core values change, but your worldview changes. you want to do be have our experience changes. I think like, you know, overall, yes, we want to be, you know, healthy, happy and whatever, but what does that look like? Right.
48:07
So what does that look like for each of you and then you guys together like that? I imagine that changes over time. Yeah, for sure. It has a hundred percent change. You know, death of family, John’s parents passed away over the last couple years. Age, you know, my husband’s 62 and when he turned 60, he was like, Oh, no. Like, yeah, that was weird for him. Right. We’re both a lot healthier now than we were a couple of years ago. So our values on
48:36
I don’t want say our values on things, our lifestyle, we’re much more, he’s always been active, but I am a much more active lifestyle person now. I want to go to New Zealand next year and I haven’t said this out loud to anybody, but I’m hoping to retreat in New Zealand next year with women. And I want it to be an active lifestyle, either biking or hiking in New Zealand and business. We’ll do hiking, biking and business.
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in a nice place because I like nice things to do. But that’s not something that maybe we would have had in our, I would not have had that in my business planning or life planning a couple of years ago. Okay. That’s really cool. So what is bringing you joy in this season? So any new projects, offers, creative sparks, whatever that you’re excited about? Yeah, more in-person retreats. I realize the value of being with people. I love that. as I just mentioned, I’m hoping to do something in New Zealand.
49:33
or I’m planning to do something in New Zealand, I’m hoping to do some more here in Lunenberg, and I have been fearful to do that and put it out to the world. And I’m going to be, so my retail coaching is really great and I love it, I get to travel, I get to speak on big stages, and I get to do lots of cool things with that. But I’d love to build the other side, this lifestyle plan with women and help women, women dreamers is what I love to say, like those who are meant for more.
49:59
And I call it my lighthouse collective and I’m growing that as well too. So that’s, I’m putting that out into the world a little bit more this summer. And it’s giving me such joy to see these women. Like I work with a lot of, I don’t know, artists and creatives and dreamers, people who just, they’re not really sure. And now they’re like coming out of their shells and I love that so much. Yeah. That’s so awesome. It is, it’s really fun. Yeah. That’s so awesome. Okay. So what’s one thing…
50:26
you would do way sooner if you were starting over? Probably believe in myself more and believe it’s possible for me. I see, yeah, that’s probably my number one answer is believing in myself more. And I always feel like that’s a cop out answer because people are like, believe in yourself. But really, like,
50:51
Why not you? Why not me? Why not you? Why not? Just do it. Maybe play a little bit bigger. Play a little bit, stand a little taller, play a little bit bigger. Yeah, that would be my answer. Okay. What is your favorite way to unwind after a big lunch or a busy week? Okay. This is always embarrassing. When somebody asked me that just the other day as well too, I actually really love … I don’t
51:19
One of my lifestyle changes is I don’t drink much. used to have to drink wine every night and I don’t believe in to the more either. Yeah. Wow. Like I don’t believe I have like, I’m kind of on this like, oh my gosh, I’m 57. But I love a cocktail, a really good cocktail. have one of my clients from New Zealand makes incredible gin and has gifted me gin and we brought gin back. And I love a delicious gin martini and I have a rooftop deck that overlooks the ocean. And so in summer I love that is like.
51:47
and I don’t have one until four o’clock, but four o’clock Friday afternoon, my husband hears me kind of say like, you’re having a martini. So I love that. So that is my way to celebrate. And it’s, know, maybe you’re a little, or a little glass of Prosecco. So I love that too. Bubbles. Oh my gosh. I love that. So what would be your, so this is just a silly question, coffee order or comfort snack of choice? So I am a cappuccino girl. I love a really good cappuccino and
52:14
that when I go, yeah, that’s my comfort, my joy. And I mentioned I used to have a coffee shop. I’m also a coffee snob. So I love a really good cappuccino. I love coffee shop life. Like if you can go and sit in a coffee shop for a little bit, just to people, I’m a people watcher too. love watching. Yeah. We have people that we know who own a coffee shop in Bowmanville, which is the next town, Pasayas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a place.
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So where can people go to find you and find your offerings and stuff like that? So front porch lifestyle.com is where our lifestyle blog is going to is, is it’s yet it’s, it’s growing. You get what you get. I always say done is better than perfect. So we’re still over there. Um, and for my retail coaching, I’m at wendybatten.com and you can find me on Instagram. Uh, I have two accounts on Instagram, one for the retail business.
53:11
at wendybatten.biz and one for Front Porch, Front Porch Lifestyle, where I share, overshare. Everybody tells me I’m an overshare. I just share my life here at the cottage. I share my cottage living life here and my travels is what I share over there as well too. So. That sounds awesome. So I will make sure I put that in the show notes so everyone can find that. But thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate that you wanted to have this chat and you were good with that. I love it.
53:40
What a privilege and a pleasure to be here. I am excited about your podcast and I want to thank you. I’m honored to be here. So thank you. Thank you so much. That’s it for today on The Shannon Acheson Show. If you found this helpful, follow the show and share it with a friend. And hey, if you’re not sure what kind of business actually fits your life, take the free quiz at shannonacheson.com. It’ll point you in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Talk again soon.
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you