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Hi there. You're listening to the Leading Lady podcast. I'm your host, AliceAnne Loftus, and I'm a certified professional coach specializing in leadership and work-life balance. I work with clients to shift their limiting beliefs, insecurities, and self-doubt. This podcast will be filled with tools and strategies to help high-achieving women like you feel connected, empowered, and in the lead of your life, both personally and professionally. Let's transform your life, starting now. Lead yourself. The rest will follow.

Hi there, leading ladies, and welcome back to the Leading Lady Podcast. We are continuing our series of talking to the Leading Lady Ambassadors for 2025. I'm super excited to just jump right into this conversation with the ladies today. I'm joined by Heidi Schmidt, Jen Howitt, Tara de Leon, and Gayla McCray. Ladies, thank you so much for being here with me today.

Heidi: Thanks for having us here.

Jen: Thanks for having us.

AliceAnne: Okay. So we're just gonna jump right in. If I could just have each of you introduce yourselves, and then we're gonna really talk about how the ambassador program is just rich with resources and how each of you have really stepped into being experts of your niche. So, Heidi, can we start with you?

Heidi: Sure. I'm Heidi. I own Heidi Schmidt Creative. I'm a social media and content marketing manager slash strategist, and I help remove the overwhelm of social media for business owners. I've been in marketing for a really long time, and I've seen the evolution of marketing, and I've seen how business owners just hate social media. I understand the value, but they just hate social media. It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming for me too. So yeah, that's me.

AliceAnne: Oh, thanks. And for those that don't know, Heidi actually runs the Leading Lady social media. She does a fantastic job. So I love working with you, Heidi.

Jen.

Jen: Hi, I'm Jen Howitt, and I'm a strategist and a Kajabi specialist. And I help business owners grow and scale without the overwhelm by helping you take what you teach and convert it into an online course or membership.

AliceAnne: Yes. And Jen, you are a very special guest because everything that we've been talking about for these last couple episodes has been kind of hyping up this hub, and Jen is actually the creator of it, so thank you. Any questions? I'm going to direct everyone to you for that.

Jen: Perfect.

AliceAnne: Tara.

Tara: Hey, so I'm Tara de Leon. I'm the owner of Tara de Leon Fitness. I am a personal trainer, and I help people feel badass and confident by teaching them to lift weights, take up space, and stop apologizing for their bodies. The thing that makes me different from most other trainers is that I'm weight neutral, which means I help you create healthy habits, but I don't really care what your body looks like, your shape, size, weight, any of that.

AliceAnne: Yeah, that's what makes you so incredible is that you really meet people where they are. And I love that.

Tara: I try.

AliceAnne: Yeah, I miss today's workout. I've got a bum ankle. And I think that's what's upset me the most about the ankle is that I miss the workout with you today.

Tara: We'll make it up, don't worry. You gotta listen to your body.

AliceAnne: Yeah.

And last but not least, Gayla.

Gayla: Hi there. I'm Gayla McCray, founder of Two Arrows. Two Arrows is basically where peace of mind meets financial clarity. I help established professionals build confidence, comfort, and consistency in their numbers so they can lead with strategy and skill with ease.

AliceAnne: That is so true, and I've been working with Gayla now. I don't even know, maybe a couple years. I love bookkeeping, and it can still be overwhelming. And so, Gayla, thanks for keeping me straight and helping keep my finances in order, and also helping with the ambassadors of really pulling us together to have those conversations around our finances and all those nuances of entrepreneurship. I know that those are tough conversations, and you are the perfect person to lead us through that because you are so compassionate and you take your time to help us really understand.

Gayla: Thanks. I love to do it.

AliceAnne: Yeah.

So looking at the four of you on the screen, we really are very diverse in the different niches of industries that we work in. We've got everything from social media to course creation to fitness to finances. And that's what I love about the ambassador program. I created the Strategic Wheel, and if you haven't seen it, I'll drop it in the show notes here for our listeners.

But the Strategic Wheel really looks at who we are as whole people running our businesses, and that it takes more than just looking at business strategies and, you know, the finances and the operations and everything, but it also pulls in how we can care for ourselves as whole people through our health and our wellness, our relationships, our personal and professional development. And each ambassador fills the expert role in one or more areas of the wheel.

And that's also why I worked with Jen to create the hub. I wanted a one-stop shop where high-achieving women, regardless of where they are in their business, could go and have access to powerful resources, trusted resources. I work with every single ambassador, you ladies. I know the quality of your work and I can confidently share you with the larger Leading Lady community and trust that they're going to get expert support and guidance. So thank you for being part of that.

Let's start with Heidi. So Heidi, you are obviously in that visibility piece of the wheel. Share with us how you hope to support or how you strive to support the larger Leading Lady community and your clients.

Heidi: So I have spoken with so many business owners and the Leading Lady community that are either, A, overwhelmed with social media, B, they don't have the confidence to show up. Like even when you and I started working together, you hated video. You hated it, right? Do you still? You know, anyone can hire a social media manager. But really, it's a partnership. And I kind of say that to any business owner who's thinking about outsourcing any part of their marketing.

It's not just like, hey, you're just taking my social media and you're doing it. No, no, no, we want to show up authentically. There is a difference between just posting on social media and showing up authentically. And that's where it really becomes a partnership.

And the resource that I hope that I give is, one, the confidence to show up authentically and the impact that that has on your business's reputation and your visibility and the connections that you build from social media. When you get a little vulnerable and tell your story, that's where the magic happens on social media. And so many people think that it's just like, let me just post on social media.

Well, yes, you can do that, but you're not gonna get much out of it. So more so than like, hey, this is how you show up. These are the tactics. Here are some hooks that you can use through the hub. I really want to instill that level of confidence in telling your story, telling who you are to build better connections through social media.

That's the one thing that I've always loved about social media, even from before businesses were even allowed on social media, is that it allows you to connect with people that you weren't connected with before. I mean, you've built this incredible community on Facebook. The Leading Lady community and the connections that I've found there have really, really helped grow my business. And that's the magic of social media.

So that's really where I hope that members of the hub and among the Leading Lady community as a whole, really good for me is the confidence to just show up sometimes. Show up messy, do it messy. That's my whole, that's my whole spiel this year. You guys know, but also like, tell your story and don't be afraid to tell your story.

Quality Connections Over Vanity Metrics

AliceAnne: Something I really appreciate about you, Heidi, is I remember when I first started working with you, I was like, oh, my goal is to have like 10,000 followers and go viral and all these crazy things, right? And you were like, do you want 10,000 followers or do you want quality customers? Followers are not customers and likes aren't dollars in the bank.

And I still fall into that trap. These ladies heard me completely crash out yesterday and the week before about social media and all the hype around it. And Heidi, what I love, love, love about you, and you said it. Social media is really about quality connections and you've always prioritized that. You've always brought me down to earth and said followers aren't customers. And so let's make sure we're putting quality content out there. So you're attracting the right people and converting them into the community as customers, as part of the Leading Lady programs. So that's what I love.

Heidi: Oh yeah. I mean, it's very true. Like we all tend to focus on the vanity things in our business. And this is what I love about the Leading Lady ambassador community and the Leading Lady community is sometimes like when we get so focused on those things that don't matter. It can either make or break our confidence.

When we're looking at like the likes on a social media post, if you spend an hour putting a post together or a reel together and then like it just falls flat, that can be really damaging to our confidence as a business owner.

AliceAnne: I've felt that. Yeah. I'm like, what did I do wrong? Or maybe I'm not cool enough or why didn't that land?

Heidi: But we also know that social media is a rented space. And anyone, you know, I think about this all the time. And this is one of the things that I've learned so much from the ambassador community and the hub, and just the Leading Lady community as a whole, is one, stay in your lane.

Like when we fall into that comparison trap and, oh my goodness, like social media managers are a dime a dozen, my friends. But it's reminding myself that one, I work with good people. I work with clients that trust me who, you know, like that post that we put out for you a couple of weeks ago that you were like, that was a post that generated me lots of money. Didn't have the most leads, but it converted customers. It actually converted people. That's the testament of my work.

And I see other social media managers who have like tens of thousands of followers, and I do not because I invest all of my time into my clients. So it's really like being that trusted resource is one. Like we all have the receipts, every single ambassador here and every single member of the hub who is looking to learn from us. We have receipts, we have amazing clients that we've worked with, and those testimonials speak so much louder than the number of followers that someone has, because you can buy a thousand followers for like $10.

AliceAnne: Um, I didn't know that. Like, how naive am I? I didn't know you could buy followers.

Heidi: Oh my God, it was a thing like 4 or 5 years ago. It was a big thing. You can tell when people buy followers because they have low engagement. If you have 10,000 followers, you should have 100, 200 likes per post.

Tara: Yeah.

Heidi: If you have a thousand followers, like maybe it's going to be 10, 20 likes, maybe you'll get 60 on a post, you know? But knowing those industry standards and those industry baselines, that's where I kind of bring my clients back down to earth.

AliceAnne: Yeah. And if you show us what's real, I want to open it up to the other ladies that are on the call. Like, how have you worked with Heidi? How have you seen her show up as an ambassador? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Tara: I love how, when Heidi's teaching, she really goes deep into the different aspects and she doesn't keep it rosy. She shows us like what's really going on in social media and how we can get involved, even if it's just making a quick video and turning it into content. She teaches us and gives us applicable information that helps us apply it immediately.

Jen: Yeah. So true.

Tara: What I really like about Heidi is, you know, everybody on social media is all about the likes and comments and shares, right? And it really should be about building that deeper community and connection with your followers. And that's what her focus is.

So even though I've never used Heidi for her services, just like absorbing her knowledge, you know, through osmosis has been really helpful to me where I try to like make those connections and grow my community on social media rather than stress about like, why didn't this get shared? And how many likes does this have? You know, that's almost like an afterthought at this point.

AliceAnne: Yeah. Great reminder, Tara.

Tara: And I would have never done that without her.

AliceAnne: Oh, well, I'm—

Gayla: Due to the Leading Lady Ambassador program, and I don't live in the Annapolis area, so I don't get to rub shoulders with all these magical women on a regular basis. But I will say this about Heidi. I feel like I've known you, Heidi, for a long time, even though it's only been a handful of months.

And what I love about you is just as you were talking about having your clients be authentic and real, that's exactly who you are. I never hear you or look at you. I mean, I've watched replays of your recent webinar. I listened to your podcast at the beginning of each week when I'm working out, your stories and what you share and how you are just real.

And so that's the kind of person that I want in my corner. And I know that even though we haven't had a chance to work together as ambassadors, we have been talking. Will you ask how you can support me? And I just love the fact that you are in it, and you can just tell by the type of person that you are.

Heidi: I mean, the great thing about being an ambassador is how we all work together. You know, you've done such great work bringing the hub to life. And because of my role with social media and email, I get to be a part of that. So like, I get to work with you kind of tangentially, and it's getting to be a part of this community.

And it is kind of validating because when we all kind of get in our heads about whatever kind of is trying to shut us down or, you know, mess with our confidence, we have this incredible community to like, lift us up. It's incredibly validating to be an ambassador and to be included in this community as a trusted expert, you know, because like I said, social media managers are a dime a dozen.

But another one of my unique things that really kind of fits into the hub is I'm not just a social media expert. I was a marketing generalist for about ten years. So I understand how not just social media fits into your marketing strategy, but how all the pieces play together because your social media is not your marketing strategy. It is not. It is a piece of the puzzle.

If you are just marketing on social media, you're marketing on rented space. Like TikTok is going to shut down again. Chances are like by the time this goes live, it might be old news, but like if they take away a whole platform, what do you do? And I love being able to remind clients like, hey, this is just one piece. We can be awesome at this one piece, but what other things are you doing?

AliceAnne: That's a great reminder, Heidi. And that leads us right into Jen. So Jen, you also fit the visibility piece, but you also fit kind of the customer experience and the products, you know, and just like Heidi said, all of the ambassadors who are in that marketing role, you've all been working together to get this hub like out there into the world.

How did you get started in this digital product world? And to be a Kajabi expert, because that is very niche.

Jen's Journey Into Digital Products and Kajabi

Jen: Yeah. Considering that I didn't have any experience in that area for most of my life. I actually was a pastor, and after I left the local church, I started coaching women in ministry and leadership who were struggling with healthy rhythms and boundaries.

And in order to do that, I was starting to go and speak at conferences and meet people one on one. And it was exhausting because I was having to travel all of the time. I was having to, you know, make time in my schedule for one-on-one work. And while that is life-giving, it's not scalable because we only have 24 hours in a day.

And so I got to a standstill. And then we had 2020 happen and everybody had to go online. But I actually had someone recommend to me back in 2019 to take what I was doing, and they recommended Kajabi.

And I have a lot of gifts, but not online. I know how to tell stories. I can create connections, but I didn't understand tech. I do have a creative flair to my brain and so I could put things together, but I needed a platform that was going to be intuitive, super easy, and I was not going to need to take a bunch of things and try to make them talk to each other.

And so that's how I started. And so I had my own coaching business through a membership. It was called the Margin Maker Collective, and I did that for 3 or 4 years. So I was in it in Kajabi and then also scaling my own business.

And then I had people asking me how to do things because I was in a group that had other coaches and service providers. And as that started to grow, I really felt like that was the area that I wanted to go into. And so it took a while. It was a bit of a journey, but finally I let go and went all in and I've loved it.

AliceAnne: Yeah, I think it's really interesting how it almost feels like each of us work with a past version of ourselves, right? And I love that when I was specifically looking for somebody who could help me in Kajabi because Kajabi, well, it is intuitive and it does have so many things. It's actually a really wonderful platform.

Jen: You kind of have to know what you're doing in there.

AliceAnne: And there isn't a lot of margin for many business owners to spend that time to learn it. And so I really felt like I hit the lottery when I found someone who was an actual expert of Kajabi. And you were able to take what I was thinking and create it in there.

And we've been working on the hub for, I guess, a little over a year now. You know, it looks much different than what it did when I originally thought that I was going to be creating something. And I think that if I didn't have you in my corner to help me navigate that, I don't think that it would have come to fruition.

And we see a lot of coaches and people in our space that have memberships and online courses and lead magnets and all of the things, you know, and a bad one can hurt your business.

Jen: Right? Can actually hurt your business. If it's not done well, it shows that it's not done well and it actually hurts your credibility and hurts the whole user experience, customer experience, and you want to put good products out there.

AliceAnne: And so I just really appreciate that and the patience that you had to be able. I think another really important thing is to be able to teach people how to do something or teach people how to use something. You have to have the ability to go back to a learner's mindset or a beginner's mindset to teach that. And you really do that beautifully.

Jen: Thank you.

AliceAnne: Yeah.

Jen: And I find that a lot of business owners, they have it inside of them. You have tons of experience and you're also really, really good at what you do. And so it's a matter of just being able to help pull those things out and sort them in a way that doesn't compete with the rest of your business, but helps expand it and scale it.

And it's wonderful to see people who feel like, well, I don't know, this isn't going to work. And then just watching it take off and just seeing them because what it does, it just elevates, it elevates your visibility. It gets you in places more than just with one person at a time or one experience at a time and you don't know what you don't know.

But the thing is, is that there's so many women business owners who are doing remarkable work, who just need someone to help pull out the pieces that's already there and put it together in a way that works for them in their business.

AliceAnne: 100%. All right. I want to open it up, ladies. You've all experienced the hub, so you've experienced Jen's work, but how else have you seen her really step into the ambassador program?

Tara: So Jen has this resource of her podcast that I am loving because I am making a course with Jen. It should come out like late this year. Maybe we're still like in the very, very, very beginning stages of it. And I'm really excited because I view it as a way for me to expand my reach and expand my visibility, right, and be able to help more people with less time for me.

AliceAnne: Because—

Tara: We're time poor, we are time poor.

AliceAnne: I am time poor. Absolutely.

Tara: So I'm very excited about it. And anytime I feel like any inkling of, oh my gosh, what if it doesn't work? Or what if I, like, build this whole course and spend this money and take up all of her time and then like, nobody buys it, then she puts out a podcast episode, even though I haven't said it to her at all, it's like she's a mind-reading business coach of sorts, because anytime I'm like, oh, of course, sounds a little scary, like her first episode is like, oh, do you want to make a course? But you're a little scared, you know, here's an episode for you.

AliceAnne: So you didn't—

Tara: Know that she lives in your Amazon Echo and she's like—

AliceAnne: Right, like listening to my inner thoughts, you know, sorry for being dark, Jen, but it's really helpful. The podcast has really been helpful for me. And the hub, you know, has been like an amazing tool for all of us to look at and to use. So I am super stoked that you're on the ambassador team this year.

Jen: Thank you.

AliceAnne: How do you do that, Jen? How do you know that all the things that we're worried about?

Heidi: I love that you give business owners the confidence to expand their services because yeah, like, time poor. If you want to grow your business. For me as a social media manager, I can take on more clients, but I gotta hire more people. And this year my goal is like, I need to diversify.

And between you and the information that Gayla talks about with revenue sources, like I'm doing a little messy. Um, I'm just, you know, but your podcast has been such a great resource.

And I think we as business owners, when we're in that growth mindset, sometimes we hold ourselves back. But what you offer gives business owners the opportunity to grow. And that confidence and like understanding, whether they work with you or whether they listen to your podcast, that's us taking our power. Like, let's grow our businesses and you literally help businesses do that. And that's pretty flippin' awesome.

Jen: Thank you.

Gayla: You know, one of the things that I told AliceAnne was that it's so amazing that she has built her child development centers where you're watching children develop. And she also works with women who are developing businesses because, wow, two different ends of the spectrum. But you're working on the same kind of thing, the development.

And like, even when you're watching a toddler take its first steps and do all the things that are new for them, like in the back of your mind, you know that they feel comfortable doing it because you're there watching them and you've made them feel safe.

And what we're building in the hub is a safe space for everyone to experience, like those messy first steps and doing it in a safe, contained area with all the experts there to guide us. And that is phenomenal. And it's something that everybody doesn't think they have, but it's available for us. And I love that.

AliceAnne: It was definitely something I wish was there 20 years ago when I was taking my toddler business steps. You know, I knew that nothing else really was out there that offered that. And so when I went to Jen and said, this is what I'm envisioning, how does it go? You know, she didn't even stutter. She's like, yeah.

And then when I said, I don't have anything that's going to draw people in, she like blinked at me and said, I'm going to give you a minute to think about that. And then, of course, I had already had the Strategic Wheel. I'd been using it for like over a year, not even thinking that that would be the whole thing that pulls the hub together.

And Jen, you have this amazing talent of like, you said, you see that we already have what we need. You just help us pull it out and put it out there into the world.

Jen: Thank you.

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Tara on Health, Wellness, and Being Weight Neutral

AliceAnne: All right, Tara, we're moving to you because you are our resident badass.

Tara: That's my alter ego. So I fit into the health and wellness part of the Strategic Wheel. Of course. And I love that because health and wellness is just full of so much conflicting advice and opinions. And we have so many influencers on the internet that are trying to convince us to drink our own pee or, you know, just so many things that are so not science-based.

AliceAnne: Tell me that's not a real thing that's being recommended.

Tara: Girl, it's a real thing. There's a guy who's, oh, I only eat raw organ meat. And like, somehow he hasn't died yet. But he's convinced. It's like the way to immortality. And the other guy is like, oh, I drink my own pee. It's so hydrating. Whatever. Also, water is hydrating, so I feel like I'm the guy that you come to for, hey, I heard this crazy thing. Is this real or is this crazy? And I can be the one to be like, yes, that's not evidence-based at all. Or actually, yeah, there are some gray shades in there. So let's talk about how we can make this improve your life by incorporating this into it.

AliceAnne: You also have the podcast Wellness Rebranded with Elizabeth Harris and Maria Winters, two of our other ambassadors. And I think the three of you really challenge the narrative around health and wellness.

Tara: Totally.

AliceAnne: It's that hard.

Tara: Yeah. You know, it shouldn't be when there's people like the raw meat guy and the drink-your-own-pee guy out there, like me saying, be healthy, you know, create healthy habits and don't worry how much you weigh shouldn't be that controversial.

AliceAnne: It is.

Tara: Pretty controversial.

AliceAnne: It is extremely controversial in the personal training space to be like, yeah, create healthy habits and don't worry about what your body looks like. That is, you want to get a group of trainers riled up, say that on a stage and people will absolutely come for you.

So to Heidi's point, it's a little scary sometimes for me to put myself out on social media, in videos and such, because inevitably there is someone there going, well, why would I listen to you? Look at your larger body that you're in.

And I feel like that's kind of the point, right? We don't hire people because they have abs. We hire them because they have knowledge and compassion and expertise and guidance. You know, if we just hired people who had abs, we would go to our local high school and look around, you know?

So I just feel like it is super controversial. I have done a ton of work on my own body image healing over the years that I don't mind being like the lightning rod for that. And every time something controversial comes up like that, I'll get hundreds of hate mail-type messages. But I also get messages from other trainers who look kind of like I do, thanking me for putting myself out there, and for encouraging them to take a stand and to believe in themselves and that they can do it too.

So even though it's a little sticky sometimes, I actually secretly love it. I'm helping the underdogs have a voice.

AliceAnne: Can we talk about the award that you won, or are you kind of like over that?

Tara: No.

Tara's Personal Trainer of the Year Award

Tara: Yeah, we can, we can talk about it. What's the point of winning an award if you can't talk about it? Right.

So the award that I won is for Personal Trainer of the Year, which this sounds so like braggy when I talk about it, but it is literally the top award that personal trainers can win and essentially means you're like the best personal trainer in the whole world for that year.

It's given by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, who is one of the top certifying bodies of personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches. And every year they open up nominations. And someone nominated me. I don't know who they are, but thank you.

And then I had to fill out like 30 pages of paperwork to document my education, my certifications, how many clients I train on a weekly basis, how I give back to the fitness community. Am I mentoring people?

AliceAnne: It wasn't a popularity contest. You won. Like, you really had to submit.

Tara: Okay, yes, this is exactly the point. It's not a popularity contest. Nobody voted for me. This is a merit-based thing.

So I won this award, and the NSCA put out a post on Instagram that was like, congratulations. And it wasn't just me. They had like educator of the year, strength and conditioning coach of the year. There were 5 or 6 different categories, but the world lost its mind that someone in a larger body could win Personal Trainer of the Year.

And so that kind of like sealed the deal for me, where like, I've always been a weight-neutral personal trainer, at least in the last decade. But at that point, that's when I knew I need to speak about this.

And that's why I like putting content out on Wellness Rebranded so that if you're out there and you don't feel like you fit in, or maybe your body doesn't look the way you want it to, that you have a voice in your corner saying, hey, your body may not look the way you want it to, but does it allow you to live the life you want to live? Do you get to hug your kids every night? Do you get to hold hands with your partner? Have you been able to provide for your life with your body? Let's remember that.

AliceAnne: Yeah. Powerful, ladies. I see lots of heads nodding. I know our viewers can't see you, but like, they're emphatically fist-pumping, nodding their heads here. Do you want to share anything?

Gayla: I am so thankful for you, Tara, to have the bravery to speak into this, because it is an area that needs to be talked about and I love. First of all, you are hilarious. You are full of energy. I just cannot wait to get next to you in real life and just rub up against you and have a little bit of that on me. I love that, I love that, but it is so important because I know that's something I've struggled with a lot in my life.

And you don't hear many voices that tell you that, yeah, you may do really healthy things and you may not lose 30 pounds in the process. You may actually gain weight. Um, and it's always been like identity is the number on the scale.

And so you give freedom, you just give freedom, but you also do it with compassion, but you're also fun. I can't imagine what it would be like to train with you. It would be absolutely amazing. And so thank you for being brave and being willing to step into a space that I'm sure at times is really challenging.

Tara: Thank you for your kind words.

Gayla: That's so nice to hear.

AliceAnne: The market can be saturated in so many of our industries, right? But the opportunity to show up and be the example for not only your fellow ambassadors, but all the women and leaders who you encounter as you do. So it's empowering and it's great to know that you're doing it in your own way. And I can do it in my own way. And that's okay, because there's somebody for all of us when it comes to the people who need our help.

Tara: Yes, I'm a huge believer in an abundance mindset. Heidi said that social media is like a dime a dozen. Personal trainers are like everywhere. You know, I feel like everyone I've talked to has been a personal trainer at some point in their life. It's totally saturated, but it's really easy to almost show up as your own authentic self and just kind of do your thing.

And there's plenty of clients for everyone, and there's plenty of ways that we can help others without even being our clients. You know, just setting that example of like confidence and self-esteem is life-changing for people. We need more people drowning out diet culture by just being happy with themselves.

I also think I just want to point out this is Leading Lady podcast, so it's relevant. I don't think this is really about me being in a larger body. I think this is a lot about control and wanting to put women down. And if I wasn't in a larger body, it would be something else. It would be, oh, she dressed too slutty in her photo that they used for this thing, or oh, she's so muscly. Oh, she looks like a man. It would always be something.

It's just that I'm being picked on for being in a larger body, but if it was somebody else, it would have been something else.

Gayla: Yeah. And unfortunately, we see that in every industry.

AliceAnne: Yes. I've heard of so many women in different industries. Well, have you met her? Oh, she's a lot. Oh, she's a character. Oh, she does this. She's a little too much here. She's a little too little here. It's always something.

And I think the takeaway from that is people are going to criticize you no matter what. So just be you. Just show up.

Tara: Haters gonna hate.

AliceAnne: Yeah.

Building Confidence Through Health and Wellness

AliceAnne: I love your attitude and your mindset. And your energy is just like an aura in the room. Like when you spoke at the collective meetings, I felt badass because you are badass. But like sometimes when you're not feeling like a badass, you just need someone who is. And like that energy is just contagious. And that confidence.

Whoever is listening to this, if you're wondering how health and wellness bleeds into our businesses, I think you hit it on the head. Like when you feel good about yourself, when you feel strong, you feel like you can tackle the world.

Tara: Yeah.

AliceAnne: And I love that. That's, that's your energy. You remind us, no matter who you are, what you look like, what size you are, like, you're badass at all sizes. Everyone's a badass.

And your track record. And like, when I learned that you had trained all these collegiate athletes, I was like, that's so amazing. Your record is just so impressive and incredible. And the naysayers of all of us. I love that you remind us to just tune it out because for every negative person, you are impacting five people who are probably needed to hear your message. And I think that's a solid reminder for all of us. There is someone for everyone. That abundance mindset. And there is someone out there who needs to hear all of our messages.

I'm a big member of the Tara de Leon Fan Club, and I am itching to clear my Friday so that I can work out with you.

Tara: Yes, please.

AliceAnne: No one planned anything on Friday.

Tara: Tell you the workouts.

AliceAnne: The workouts are hard. Okay, so Tara offers these workouts. They're 30 minutes. They're under 30 minutes. And I used to be the type of person that thought, if I don't work out for at least 90 minutes to where I can't even breathe anymore, then did I really work out?

And let me tell you, these workouts, 30 minutes or less, will kick your butt. Kick your butt in the most badass ways. We finished that first workout, and Aubrey and I went back to our desks and we both were like, I feel so strong. I'm so proud of myself. And Tara, you, you helped us with that. It's amazing. It's incredible.

So if you're local girls, you got to come to this class. And Jen, you're gonna be in Annapolis next week. You're coming to this class.

Jen: Yes.

AliceAnne: Join us.

Jen: Too.

I cleared my Friday morning for next week. It's my birthday weekend. And, like, Friday morning, that's gonna be my me time. So I'll be there next Friday.

Tara: I love it. I just, like, believe so strongly that you should leave your workout feeling better than when you arrived. And like the days of us killing ourselves for 90 minutes or 2 hours. If you don't enjoy that, we don't have time for that. We can get really good results with much shorter time periods.

So I just feel like, let's get in, let's get it done, get out and move on with our life. Because most of us don't want to spend our whole day in the gym. And that's kind of what I try to do.

Gayla on Financial Clarity and Business Strategy

AliceAnne: All right, Gayla, close us out. There's a reason why the wheel is a circle and not a line, because it's all connected. Everything that Heidi and Jen and Tara have said impacts our finances. It impacts our finances.

And so, Gayla, obviously you fit as a bookkeeper, you fit into the financial wheel, but you fit into so much more as well. How are you showing up for the Leading Lady community and what are the resources you offer?

Gayla: I am really on fire for the Leading Lady community right now, and for whatever reason, April has been my month. I was able to attend the Lunch Collective virtually and share, and I'll be attending the Breakfast Collective and sharing and also putting on an awesome workshop that's going to bring it all together.

And I can't wait to put these resources inside the hub. So what we're talking about right now is pricing as a CEO. And during the workshop, we're going to talk about all of the different KPIs and the formulas that go along with them so that as you are pricing, and the people who are in the same boat as Heidi, who are looking at ways to diversify, you can go out and diversify with all sorts of confidence, because you'll be able to go back and work the formulas that go with those numbers and put yourself out there in the ways that you want to, and the ways that feel most comfortable for you and where your business is.

And those are the kind of things that I'm super excited about. Having bookkeeping as something that is a foundation of your business opened so many doors, whether it's for the visibility or the way that you're operating.

Someone just recently said automation before delegation. And as you're able to automate things, and then you decide whether you want to take the more expensive step of delegating and bringing on someone to do it, but taking the time to know how you could automate using the tech stack that you already have and you're already paying for and just using it to its full ability before hiring someone.

Like all of those things and being able to eliminate some of those areas of spending or the areas that you have intentions on exploring throughout the year or future goals. Those are the kind of things that I like to use bookkeeping as a source to direct people.

AliceAnne: I think as you've shown up the last two years as an ambassador, and it's been a huge push for us to have more conversations around our finances and our bookkeeping, because it does impact every aspect of our business and our lives.

Financial hygiene, I think, is such an underrated thing. People aren't talking about financial hygiene unless they're directly related to finance, fields or industries. As many women as I've coached, I'm often surprised when they come in and they don't know their numbers and they don't know how to price things or how much they brought in the year before, or how much they need to set aside for taxes.

I don't look at them in judgment. I just look at them and think, we can't make any decisions in our business if we don't know those things. If we aren't feeling confident in our numbers, we don't have to be the person managing our numbers, but we have to know our numbers.

And when I see women finally make that decision to either work with you or work with another bookkeeper, or get into her books herself and really empower herself with that knowledge, her confidence just goes through the roof, through the roof. She feels, you know, when you know better, you do better.

And when you know your finances, you can make informed decisions in your business and your life. And so what I appreciate is these Financial Fridays, we just had one today. Darla walked us through our CEO rate and the conversations were so deep, powerful questions. People were asking about how to set themselves up for that. One woman even said, that's it. I'm raising my rate. And she did it with such conviction. Like she just had no question about it that she needed to raise her rate. That's empowering, Gayla.

Gayla: It is. And, you know, one of the things that you said earlier was like, when we're coaching, we're talking to the past version of ourselves, even if it's last week's version of ourselves or just taking the opportunity to empower and encourage those around us, just from the things that we see and encounter with even other clients.

Having the hub is a place that we can encourage and work with so many people, and the skill that's there and the opportunity to see, well, I'm struggling here, so maybe I need to look into this next area. All of that being in one place and being able to just type a quick question. It's so powerful.

AliceAnne: I'll open it up to the other ladies on the call. I know a couple of you have attended Financial Fridays. Obviously, Jen, you see all the resources and things that are coming in for Gayla. But go ahead, share your thoughts.

Heidi: The first time that I experienced you, Gayla, was last year, your financial budgeting workshop, and it lit a fire under my butt.

I think AliceAnne said it best, you give such great information in such a non-judgmental way, because so many of us have, like, money insecurity. I'm gonna be frank. I am not the best with money. And there is a lot of self-judgment around that.

But I love that you just instill in us this learner's mindset. Just try to do better. Like even baby steps into just being better at our finances because it can be overwhelming. And the conversations that I've had with you have just like, okay, okay, I got this, I got this.

You're such a wealth of resource, no pun intended there, for this community, because there are so many people out there that are in the financial industry that are just so judgmental. And I know we've seen some of those comments in the Leading Lady community, like, hey, does anyone have a bookkeeper or an accountant who, you know, I really just need to get my act in order. And I've seen you referred so many times because you are so non-judgmental.

And that's so important because in the early stages of business, like I got no words for the mess that I have created, but also I love your—was it in the—it was like last fall that I went to that event with the ambassadors and you and I were chatting and you just gave me so much insight into how I could diversify my revenue.

What you teach and how you help your clients is just—you're a master at what you do.

AliceAnne: I want to jump in there. Gayla is not just a bookkeeper. She is a financial strategist for small business. I really need to highlight that. That's what makes her different from other bookkeepers. She gets in there with you. She asks you what your goals are. She helps you look at different opportunities for revenue diversity.

Since I've worked with Gayla, my business has grown 100%, 100%. I mean, to have a safe space where you can say, okay, well, here's my revenue goal or here's my profitability goal. Gayla, what ways do you see me able to hit that? Boom. Where else are we having those conversations?

And that's what I love about the hub too, because for people that don't have the opportunity, Gayla, to be with you in person, there is that space to ask the questions, to send you a message for that interaction.

And I agree with Heidi, for me, you know, finances are an emotional thing. You know, there's a lot of emotion connected to it, and that has to do with a variety of things.

However, I have heard you share, and what a lot that I'm seeing and hearing from you is how the data, though, is powerful. So it's not that we have to be afraid of it. It's knowledge. And that knowledge empowers us to make the best decision to position our businesses and our families.

And I love the fact that with something that can be very scary, it's scary to me to talk about numbers, but your—I mean, just listen everyone, as you hear Gayla's voice, did you just sit and listen to her talk? I want to, I want to have her talk to me once a day because it's so calming.

And I just love that about you. And I'm so excited for women to be able to come into the hub, to know it's a safe space to connect with you and to connect with all the ambassadors and know that they can get their questions answered. And it's by people who have been in the trenches, not just themselves, but are willing to link arms with everyone else and have these conversations.

So I really appreciate that about you, Gayla.

Gayla: Thank you.

Tara: To me, Gayla is a whole vibe, and I just feel like if there was ever an emergency, like a tornado was coming or an earthquake or something, like I want Gayla there because she is gonna know what to do and keep us all calm.

AliceAnne: That's the snaps to that.

Tara: That is the vibe that I get from Gayla. And Gayla and I don't live in the same place, so I don't know her super well other than how we've interacted as ambassadors, but just that like quiet confidence and wisdom. She doesn't talk often, but when she does, it's always a mic drop.

So for me, it's just, yeah, who do I want handling my money? Um, yes. Someone who knows what they're doing and is gonna tell me confidently how I need to fix my life. Duh. Also, I need to set up an appointment with you because I need your help.

Gayla: Let's do it.

Tara: And oh.

Why the Hub Brings It All Together

AliceAnne: So, so, so good. You know, these conversations today, again, it just exemplifies what the hub is about, what the ambassador program is about.

Like I said, I have personally worked with every single woman in the ambassador program. I dare say we've even become very close friends through all of this, going through things so intimate and personal as running your business, you can't help but feel deeply connected with the women that you're working with.

And I just appreciate you all. I appreciate the different perspectives that you bring, how we are kind of each in our own part of the wheel, but it's all connected as well. And we have overlaps of different areas and it is very collaborative. It's very collaborative.

And so to be able to have a community and a space where women, regardless of where they are in their entrepreneurial journey, have access to you, is just a dream come true to me.

And I will also say that I get so much out of it. You know, I'm 20-plus years into business and I'm still learning. And I think leaders are learners. And every time we're together in our own mastermind, I feel myself upleveling.

And so that is just affirmation to me that business is never stagnant. We're always learning, improving, doing better. And I really appreciate your contribution to that. Thank you.

AliceAnne: Yeah. So as we close out, any parting words for our listeners today?

Heidi: This community is like the hype community full of resources that y'all didn't know that you needed. I, for one, like I joined Leading Ladies back in like 2021 when I was very new in business and the amount of support and resources that the Leading Ladies community has is like bar none. There's nothing that compares.

I feel like a lot of times women in business or women in general feel like we don't want to impose on other people and that like somehow reaching out for a text or a phone call would be like an imposition on the other person.

And I just want to tell you, like, if you're listening to this, impose on us. It's not an imposition and we want to hear from you. We want to help you uplevel your life. That's what we're here for. Like, don't hesitate to reach out.

AliceAnne: So true, so true.

Gayla: Yes. Come. Link arms with us. We are so excited to be able to serve women in this capacity. Because I know, AliceAnne, you say all the time, being an entrepreneur and a woman entrepreneur can be very lonely, but it doesn't have to be that way.

And this hub is the resource and the place where you don't have to do it alone. The whole point is we do it together. So come join us.

Tara: Yeah, we are stronger together.

AliceAnne: Yes.

AliceAnne: Yeah. All right. Close us out. Gayla.

Gayla: I just love that when you set intention and you put it out there, you find the people that can help hold you accountable, help guide you along the way.

And I'm so excited for this hub because it is just that. It's not like I think I'm doing business right now. No, it's I'm intentionally showing up to grow and make my business sustainable.

And this is a place that touches all the areas: finance, operations, visibility, customer experience, health, professional and personal development, and relationships. Wow.

AliceAnne: So good. Well, ladies, thank you for your time today. Thank you for showing up for each other and for yourselves and for our community. And I just appreciate you beyond words. And for our listeners, until next time, take the lead.

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Leading Lady podcast. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at w w w dot dash dot com. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow the show so you don't miss any future episodes. And while you're there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. This will allow me to be able to help other high-achieving women find inspiration, connection, and develop strategies to live and lead with purpose and intention. See you here next week.

Podcast

328: Uplevel Your Life and Business Alongside a Leading Lady Ambassador with Heidi Schmidt, Jen Howat, Tara De Leon, and Gala McCray: Fan Favorite Replay

327: Behind the Scenes of Strategic Marketing with Jennifer Osterhouse: Fan Favorite Replay

326: How to Embrace Your Faith and Trust God’s Plan as a Woman in Business with Erin Harrigan: Fan Favorite Replay

325: What 4-Year-Olds Teach Us About Inclusion: Fan Favorite Replay

324: Financial Stewardship Is Leadership with Gala McCray

323: Inside the Leading Ladies Internship with Paige Burgess and Dylan Ulehla

322: Why High-Achieving Women Struggle with Self-Care with Elizabeth Harris

321: Ten Tips for Successful Collaborations: Fan Favorite Replay

320: 6 Benefits of Networking Groups for Leading Ladies: Fan Favorite Replay

319: Can Perfectionism Be Positive?

318: Realigning Your Vision and Values in Your Business: Fan Favorite Replay

317: What to Do with a Negative Review: Fan Favorite Replay

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