Brittany Prince on Evolving as an Entrepreneur and Prioritizing Self-Care

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everyone. My name is Wendy Manganero and I am the host of the Wellness and Wealth podcast. I'm so happy to have you find us and if you could take a moment and hit that subscribe button, I'd really appreciate it. This is the podcast where we believe when you show up better for yourself as a woman business owner, you show up better for your business. So sit back, relax and learn from the practical to the woo-woo. How did best take care of you? Have a great day, stay blessed and leave a review when you're done listening to the show. Thanks so much. Hi everyone. Our topic today is how to manage stress as a female entrepreneur, and our special guest is Brittany Prince. I'm going to read her bio and then we're going to get right into it. Brittany Prince is the owner of Fresh and Fit Nutrition, a holistic nutritionist, a certified nutritional therapist, using a functional lab testing to get to the root of her clients issues. She understands that true health requires a holistic approach focusing on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Her mission is to lead people with methodologies on how to heal and become the healthiest versions of themselves, by using food as medicine, creating healthy habits and harnessing their energy to prevent disease in the body. So welcome Brittany. Thanks for being with us today.

Speaker 2: 1:18

Thank you so much, Wendy. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here and talk to you about such an important topic.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Yeah, it is an important topic because female entrepreneurs can be a little stressed depending on what's going on with their business, and then add in personal family life and it could be a perfect storm. So I'm glad that you're on and I always start with this question. Then we'll talk a little bit more as to what does stress and overwhelm mean to you.

Speaker 2: 1:41

I think it's just when we get to a point we have so much on our plates and we tend to freeze. You have this mile long to-do list, not only in your business, but you have kid responsibilities, family responsibilities, all of these other things, and you don't even know where to start. You're so overwhelmed that you get into that fight or flight response and you freeze. And you feel overwhelmed and anxious and your mind is constantly running with oh I have to do this and I have to respond to that email and I have to do all these things and we really need to learn how to take a step back and just breathe.

Speaker 1: 2:15

So it is so interesting. I was talking to somebody I'm like sometimes when I get an overwhelming, it is the freeze, and a simple decision of what to do next seems really overwhelming. That's what I may need to pray a minute to write about now, because I don't think that people realize that decision overwhelm comes through that, where it's you go from oh, I can handle all of this to Wait, my brain is incapable of making one more decision. Morgan's decision was a snow blower and I was like, okay, this is way out of my realm. I was like there's too many out there to decide on.

Speaker 2: 2:47

I'd love to hear from your experience of what happens in that overwhelm of decision fatigue or what other ways that freeze comes out, I think, not even knowing what to do next like you mentioned, making those decisions when you've got a to-do list a mile long and you're just looking at it and you're like I don't even know where to go. That can also come out when you do start doing one thing that you know that you have to do and then you start thinking about all of the other things and then you get easily distracted and then all of a sudden you're multitasking, which was supposed to be seen as this great thing and really it's not, because it's proven that we can't focus on multiple things at once. But the other way you can easily get stressed and overwhelmed is that distraction and not being able to focus on the one thing that you need to get done to move the needle forward. And that's where taking that step back and realizing take a breath, like you mentioned. Okay, maybe I need to go pray, maybe I need to go meditate, maybe I just take a few minutes, calm down, breathe, understand that it will get done. Have that faith in yourself, but then also knowing too when you need to bring somebody on. Do you need to get a VA? Are you overwhelmed with all of these tasks that you shouldn't be spending time in your business in. Do you need to hire outside help? What are some things that you can do to take some of the responsibilities and these tasks and obligations off of your plate? If you can hire someone to clean your house, if you can hire a meal prep service, these little things can really help us as female entrepreneurs, help manage the stress and overwhelm that we experience in our everyday lives.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I love that. You say that I'm all for that, and so, as you're talking about this, I'm just curious on your ideas behind this, because if you say this to some of them, they go. I can't afford that. My business isn't making up money, my business and then they go from. I'm overwhelmed, I need the help to straight into lack, and they can't do it.

Speaker 2: 4:44

Yeah, but you're never going to be successful in your business if you don't make those investments and you don't release some of that stuff. You know you can get a VA in the Philippines for $5 an hour to help you do some posting, to do some outreach, do some office tasks, and how many hours is that going to take you and how much should you be getting paid an hour? Making that small investment into having that little bit of help freeze you up to do the things that are actually going to drive revenue in your business?

Speaker 1: 5:09

I love that you said that. So one of the things that I've done with my clients before because I will hear them say that they can't afford this, and I'm always like, what do you want to pay yourself? Okay, and so do you really want to pay yourself that to post on your social media? And it's such a logical thought. But yet it escapes us where, if you're working with a client just per se and you're making 100 dollars an hour I'm just using an example, because I'm trying to keep the math easy and you pay your VA anywhere from and depending on where, like 15 to $25 an hour, you're still making $75 an hour, whereas you would pay yourself $100 an hour or not pay yourself $100 an hour, really, because you're insistent on doing some of these tasks that could be handed over to somebody else. It always amazes me and any other thing and I'm curious, as if you've heard this too one of the times the stress is that this time verse money thing, and I always find that this is what they say they go, I don't have enough clients to hire somebody, but I can't take on any more clients where I'm at and I'm like, okay, but you got to do the math. There's only 24 hours a day and the math doesn't work when you can't budge on either side.

Speaker 2: 6:20

We really have to determine and focus on the things that are actually driving revenue in our business, and everything else needs to get hired out. If you are charging, keeping the math simple, about $100 an hour, and you free up five hours that you would have normally been spending in Canva on making graphics and then posting to your social media, pay that VA even $10 an hour. That's 50 bucks. Hey, you made $50.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Otherwise you wouldn't have made anything because you didn't have the time to take on that client, because you're so busy in Canva spending five hours doing that and back to what you do is like holistically for your body to not have the stress to try to do it all is really that's what you're saving yourself, and I don't know if there's a money value that you can put on that.

Speaker 2: 7:08

I don't think there is, and I did it the hard way and I learned just the hard way and now I do have some help about 20 hours a week and it has freed me up to be able to book more consultations, to be able to onboard more clients, and it's really a small expense. But I was in that same mindset for a long time of I'm not making enough to be able to hire somebody. I can't afford a VA. What am I going to do? I'm barely bringing in clients. But then I realized, okay, I'm spending all this time creating this content, doing these like menial tasks that are taking up hours of my time. I'm never going to make the money that I want If I don't get some help. I'm just going to continue to spin on this hamster wheel.

Speaker 1: 7:50

Yeah, I can't agree with you more. This is the freedom you get from going. I don't have to do it all is amazing. And it's amazing to your stress level. It's amazing to your physical stress, your mental stress, your spiritual stress. Like it just releases all that, because you're like, oh, this is easier, and because you're working in more of the joy of what you want to do, not what you weren't called to do. And I always tell people that, too, I'm like people get frustrated, especially in social media. I don't understand this, I don't know how to do it and I've got to be this like PR person suddenly. And I'm like, because you weren't trained to do that. That's not what brings you joy, that's what brings me joy. But that's the difference. Right, do what brings you joy. The more you do what brings you joy, the more you're going to attract what you want in your world, exactly so I'd love for you, as you were just talking about, delving into a little bit why is living a healthy lifestyle important to you?

Speaker 2: 8:39

I was actually a single mom and I decided to go back to college when my daughter was about five years old. I was waiting tables and bartending and I did not want to do that. I was tired of missing so much time with her, and so I was going back to school for radiology at the time, and those first two years, because I was a single mom, I was still working. Fast food was pretty much an everyday thing for us. It was what do you want for dinner? Wendy's, taco Bell, mcdonald's? And that freshman 15 turned real quick into a sophomore 25. And so I decided to just take a nutrition elective. I was like I don't want to go on some crazy diet. I took this nutrition elective and I fell in love with nutrition. I started feeling my body properly, making time to meal prep, going to the gym, and it literally changed my life. I got off my anti-anxiety meds, my depression meds. I felt better. My skin started clearing up. I was so amazed at the change that this diet and lifestyle changes had done for me. I was like why isn't everybody doing this? This is how we should all feel. We're like constantly all walking around in a state of inflammation. Our brains are messed up and our bodies feel horrible, and so I made a crazy decision. Halfway through my radiology program I was like you know what. This doesn't light me up. This isn't something that I think that I can really help people with. I want to help people preventively improve their health, and I just know that the difference that it's made for me and that's been a journey going on almost 10 years now. Now I'm more in the holistic space instead of just fitness and exercise and diet. I realize the importance of the emotional health, the mental health, the spiritual health and that's really the place that I come from. Now is helping my clients realize their full potential and really truly heal and become the healthiest versions of themselves. Because we were designed to feel amazing. We were not designed to be sick and unhealthy all the time, so from nutrition to going into more of a holistic way what was the switch there. I think just my own personal journey, especially starting my business I had a lot of childhood trauma. I had a lot of trauma from my daughter's father that I had to really work on healing so that I could show up as the best version of myself to enable other people to change their lives, and so it's really been a whole personal growth journey for me, and I've always had faith and belief in God. But going through all of this has really brought me to a much more spiritual place and just knowing who I am and who I was created to be, and that we all have a purpose in this world and we can all make a change. Whether you're a stay-at-home mom with your kids or you're a top level CEO, we all have a purpose in life and an ability to change other people's lives. But we have to heal ourselves first.

Speaker 1: 11:30

And I love that you say that, because there's the idea of this journey right and I'm a big believer and I say this often is that like life has learned backwards and I think it's really an important for us to realize that because it is a journey. I was asking you about the switchovers because at one point in time, I think everybody expected our lives to be on straight lines and then get into adulthood and you're like there is nothing straight about this. What were they talking about when we were kids? Like go to school, get because I did that too. I was going to school for criminal justice. I got the degree in criminal justice and then never went into it. I talk about not a straight line. Like two weeks before graduation I was like I don't want to be a cop. What was I?

Speaker 2: 12:09

thinking On the interviews going.

Speaker 1: 12:11

This is not for me. I'm going to stay in nonprofits at the time, and so I think that's that journey of as you incrementally learn who you are, not what other people say that you are bowler when you learn who you are we actually have a lot of similarity because I worked my first two years in college, so I remember those days too. And then I went into retail management, which was just long hours, and I left school for one semester and I overdid it so badly, working so many hours, that I literally couldn't walk, and my mother was thrilled. I can't tell you how happy my mom was when that happened to me, because she was like maybe you'll go back to school, and I was like, huh, maybe she's right, I'm back to school, I went. I think that's the process, is like learning our own journeys and then being able to be there for somebody else because we're like, yeah, we know what that feels like.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Exactly, and you never know how much your story is going to impact someone else's life. And I've been pretty open and honest about a lot of things in my journey and I've had multiple people reach out to me and just be like thank you for being so open and honest and transparent. And that was a growth experience for me as well, just being able to share my story. I was going through the healing and but I was like I didn't want anybody to know, I didn't want people to think less of me for having an addict father or for being in an abusive relationship or people have pity on me or anything like that. And then through my healing, I realized that no, everything I went through happened for a reason and it brought me exactly to where I am today and me sharing that story, me empowering people, especially women, to be able to change their lives and just know that you don't have to be stuck in that and your past doesn't identify you and you can still do amazing things with your life. And every hard thing now I have nothing but gratitude for, because it made me who I am and it brought me exactly where I am today and now I have the ability to serve so many other people and help them change their lives as well, starting with their physical health, but then really working on that other stuff too, because I call it the four legs of the chair that physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. And when you have one leg that's broken, you're all off balance, you're all wobbly, you can't set firmly and ground yourself. That's why I do what I do now and I'm so open and honest about sharing with others, because there's definitely hope we can all change our lives. Our past doesn't have to define us.

Speaker 1: 14:40

Yeah, and I completely agree and really we have a lot of similarity and that's the thing is that there is power, and that's one of the reasons why I even started. The show is like to just normalize these conversations, because so many people are sitting behind the fear of what if somebody else finds out or what if you've really knew, and I think what happens in that is that it one, it continues the trauma, but two, that I think that what it really does is it continues to isolate you from being human and like we're all just having a human experience, doing the best we can being human at the time with what we've been given and we are. But I'm different because it's probably what we've been told is not in. I'm different in a good way, but I'm different than I can't share with you what's going on, and I think that over the last few years, more so than any other time, because when I went into the business world the first time and it was very you don't bring home into business and you don't bring business into home. You just don't mix those two because and you would literally feel like you were being split into, especially if you were a female you were definitely split into because you know you were afraid of being split. You were afraid to say there was issues with the kids, because then you'd lose your job and all of this stuff. And I feel like we're finally getting into the realm of let's have these conversations, let's not separate work and home life, because we're whole people. We're whole people who bring our whole history with us Good, bad and indifferent and I think that's that there's a certain level of kindness that happens when we can do this.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Absolutely, and normalizing these things is so important. Having these conversations, having a network of other female entrepreneurs, has been really beneficial to me so we can talk, we can complain, we can lift each other up. We can do all of these things because we really have to have people that understand that we can be open and honest with. We can't keep bottling it up and letting it just eat us alive. I did that with my emotions for years. It did not serve me. It contributed to my health issues. It contributed to my mental health issues. We really have to be open and honest. Hey, I'm struggling. Hey, I'm overwhelmed, I'm burnt out. To have somebody to listen to you or have someone who can offer you solutions. Hey, what do you need help with? Do you have a friend around that maybe can help? You guys can trade off making dinners for each other's families. They can watch your kids. What can we do with the community of strong women together to help each other, lift each other up and help each other collectively heal.

Speaker 1: 17:15

Yeah, I love that and that does wrap around the next questions, because I always have a tendency to believe that sometimes we are in the fire and then realize we're in the fire, but we don't realize when we're heading into a fire or born out or like you're like suddenly sitting there going. How did I?

Speaker 2: 17:31

get here? I didn't know.

Speaker 1: 17:32

I was heading there because I think I always say this we are so good at not seeing the warning signs sometimes and we don't know why we're tired, we don't know why we're angry, we don't know why we're acting out, whatever it is, because we don't see the warning sign. So I'd love to talk about what the warning signs of you're heading into burnout and you don't even know it?

Speaker 2: 17:50

Yeah, absolutely. I think. One fatigue if you're not sleeping well, if you're just tired all the time, if you are waking up in the morning and you are just literally so unmotivated and you just want to crawl through the fire. You're just so unmotivated and you just want to crawl back in bed. That's a warning sign. Getting snappy with your kids, with your husband, with your family, with your friends anybody having that irritability factor, that's a definite sign. That feeling of overwhelm, of dread, of oh God, there's so much on my plate. What am I going to do today? I don't even know where to begin. I'm just scattered, like having lists of things to do everywhere and not being organized, not understanding what step do I need to take next? I think those are definitely some good signs of that Not eating, not having an appetite, not wanting to take care of yourself, sitting too much at your desk all day, not getting outside and join the sunlight these are just awesome little things. If you're not caring for yourself and you're not showing yourself love and grace, you might be reaching some burnout.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Yeah, and the only other thing, as you were talking about all the stuff, is saying yes. I think that's one of the biggest things of burnout is yes, you're like, why did I just say yes? And it's almost like when you're on a burnout level, you take on more and more to try to prove to yourself that you're not really burning out.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Yeah, boundaries are super important, and if it's not a heck yes, then it should be a no. I'm stopped trying to do everything. I think, especially us women, especially moms, we're like oh, I got this, I can handle it. And we just keep saying yes to everybody and keep doing all these things for other people and we neglect ourselves. And then we reach that point where we are burnout.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Yeah, I could not agree more. So I have one last question for you. So if you realize that you're at this burnout stage, what do you think is the first step to start to pour into yourself and not continue the cycle?

Speaker 2: 19:48

I think, for one, taking a step back for a moment, whether that's five minutes, whether that's a day, whether that's a weekend, collecting yourself, taking care of yourself, do some deep breathing, do some meditation, do some affirmation, some journaling, whatever that prayer, whatever that is, is going to help refuel you, regenerate you. For me, one of the things I love doing is going hiking and being by myself out in nature, getting some fresh air and just collecting my thoughts. And then, I think, create a plan. When we're organized and we know what the next step is, that can prevent a lot of overwhelms. What steps are going to drive you forward into reaching whatever goal that you have. Create that plan and follow it, because when you're like, oh, I've got all these things to do, and then, oh, this person wants me to do this, okay, yes. And then, oh, now I have to create this for that. Create a plan, stick to it. Anything that is not in alignment with that plan, that's not going to help you reach your goal. Have that boundary. Say no If that's. Oh, my girlfriends want to go out this weekend for a ladies night. Maybe you need that, but maybe that's going to push you further away from your goals. So you have to decide. Am I going to go out with the ladies, have a good time? Maybe we have too many drinks. Then I don't feel great the next day, then I'm not going to be as productive. So you really have to make these decisions. See what is going to drive you forward. Maybe it's hey, I would love to. I'm sorry, not this time. Maybe next time we'll go out. Next time. I really have this and this to accomplish and stick to your goals, because that's how you're going to reach them. You can't keep spreading yourself so thin that you're never going to accomplish anything. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:32

And then you feel guilty, because that's the other cycle and you know what you're talking about is and I like that you're saying align yourself, because that's so important, because you could have goals too and not have any of them aligned because, again, they're other peoples or what other people think. So it was really making sure they're aligned with who you are and what you want to do, because the more you stick to that and to that point, there's time. I know that sounds like I'm really into self care, obviously, but and I actually mine as the beach I go to the beach like there's nothing that calms me quicker than standing at the ocean and thankfully it's only like 40 minutes away from me. And that's the type of realignment I need to make sure that I can go back and stick to my goals. It's not usually something so big and boisterous that it's now I feel bad that I did that, and I think that's the difference is like, even when you need those time out, looking what that time out really is and whether it's the type that you need at the moment to stay in line to what you're doing Exactly.

Speaker 2: 22:25

There's a big difference between letting loose and going and having a weekend out or whatever because you're overwhelmed and stressed, but then, yeah, if you didn't really accomplish anything, if that didn't mentally break you enough to push you forward and know your next steps, that wasn't a good break, right. So maybe, instead of going out with your girlfriends, you should have just had a gone to hot yoga or gone to the beach or gone on a hike or something, because that would have given you the same break, that same needed time that you needed away. But it helps you clarify some things in your own head and could push you forward to the next level, always keeping in mind your goals, what you want to do with your life and, yes, we all need time to rest. We all need to be taking care of ourselves. I have a very extensive morning and night routine to make sure that I am always filling my cup before I fill anyone else's. But we have to make sure that these needed breaks, when we take them, that they are still in alignment with our goals and what we want and where we want to go.

Speaker 1: 23:29

Yeah, absolutely. This has been a pleasure talking to you. I really enjoyed this conversation, so I know you have an offer for our guests, so I'd love to hear it now.

Speaker 2: 23:38

Oh, absolutely. Thank you so much, wendy. This has been really great. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I have an ebook Seven Ways to Manage Stress Some of my favorite tips, some of the things that I use on a daily basis to help manage my stress, because I'm a single mom, I run a business, I'm a busy person and if I don't keep myself in check and if I don't take care of myself, I can easily hit that overwhelm. So these are just some of my favorite little tools and there's lots more out there but these are some of the things that I really love to do that have really helped me in my journey and helped me manage my stress.

Speaker 1: 24:12

That is great, and you'll be able to find that link to the ebook in the show notes, so make sure that you take a look there and sign up for that. This has been a great show, brittany. Thank you so much again. Thank you, wendy, to my listeners if you love the show, please leave us a review. If you want to have more self-care tips, subscribe so that you do not miss them. Have a great week.