EP77 Part 2, Finding your WAE with Bernadette Murphy

BOL 77

Transcript

EPISODE 77

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:12.9] KC: Welcome to the Business of Life Podcast. My name is Keith Callahan, your host and today, we’re going to be continuing our conversation with Bernadette Murphy and WAE. So let’s get you connected up, let’s bring these two things together and continue on. This is where it really starts getting good and juicy in the conversation, so enjoy.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:00:40.0] KC: So back to WAE.

[00:00:43.6] BM: Yes.

[00:00:44.8] KC: So now we have — I feel like the way that talking more about the business and the business structure and the conversation we’d had, you’ve identified what it is that you’re doing, you’ve identified really where the mission of the company is going.

[00:01:07.4] BM: Yes.

[00:01:08.5] KC: I personally have a few questions about the vision of the future and the questions that I have, I’ll guess I’ll just shoot them off. Have you ever thought about bringing in a partner or an investor into the company?

[00:01:27.7] BM: I have because ultimately, we want a shop. That’s what we want. We want a place where people can physically come and certainly purchase WAEbands. We want to add to that. We want to have some cool t-shirts with WAE logos, “Where there’s a will, there’s a WAE” things like that. Sweatpants, workout attire and a place to come to do PiYo live with Katelyn or do mentoring sessions or group. I offer a lot of group sessions too where I talk about vision boards, they’re so huge to me. I have two, I don’t know if you can see them behind me.

[00:02:04.3] KC: I can. Hey just so you know, when we do this the only thing that goes live is the audio.

[00:02:10.8] BM: So they won’t see.

[00:02:11.7] KC: I can see them, nobody else sees them. We’re just hanging out having our own conversation here.

[00:02:16.9] BM: So vision boards are huge, journaling, you know I do different sessions on building a prayer table, what’s the importance of it. I want to have a space where people can come and do that. So yes, I have thought about partnering up or finding an investor. I haven’t done it yet but it’s definitely in my radar going forward.

[00:02:38.4] KC: So if you did that, would you guys still do the production of the WAEbands or would you outsource that?

[00:02:48.0] BM: Eventually, we know we’re going to have to outsource it. I want it to stay in the USA, that’s important. I mean we hand make them right now and then we have a local printer that just puts our logo on the inside of the WAEband and the girls make them because I really stink at it.

[00:03:08.3] KC: So how are they made?

[00:03:10.6] BM: So we get a huge roll, we should do a video in the garage one time but we get huge rolls of fabric from New York and my prices aren’t great because I’m not buying thousands of yards from China. I buy it right from New York and we make it work, we’ve priced it so it works and we just roll it out.

We made a template and it took a long time, so we finally got our template made and we have these specific cutters and we just cut them and then we had to make a grommet for the middle. I call it the elastic hole part of the WAEband and they just lay the templates on the fabric and we hand make them, we hand cut them.

[00:03:54.2] KC: So the template, is it a dye template?

[00:03:57.7] BM: They’re just plastic. We had a company right in Norton that makes them for us. So it’s a big plastic template and we just lay it on the fabric and cut.

[00:04:08.2] KC: Oh so you’re getting the fabric, the fabric already has the design in it and then you’re cutting the WAEbands yourself.

[00:04:19.1] BM: Yes, now we do custom designs too. So if somebody had a business and they wanted their logo splattered all over, we do them for CCLS right now which is an organization that’s very dear to our hearts. So we’ll splatter our logo all over it. They custom print it, it’s called digital imaging and they do that for us in New York and then they send us the roll and we’ll make the WAEbands for businesses too.

[00:04:45.7] KC: That’s cool.

[00:04:46.9] BM: Yeah, it’s pretty cool.

[00:04:47.9] KC: So if you were to grow that piece, let’s say — I’m going to really put you on the spot here.

[00:04:55.9] BM: Go ahead.

[00:04:56.8] KC: Let’s say that somebody came in and said, “Bernie, here’s a million dollars and I want to, like to put towards the business,” what would you do?

[00:05:12.1] BM: I’d say, “Okay, what do you want from me?” That’s the first question I’d ask and we’ve talked about what if a company wanted to buy it, buy the WAEband and the meaning behind it? And every WAEband we name and we put an inspirational meaning, we attach it to each one. So some people purchase them based off the meaning more than the prints.

So I have envisioned that and I’d still want my hands involved in it somewhat, could we still name the bands and put the inspirational meaning to it but we thought about what if somebody wanted to just buy the product and I’d be open to it as long as we could still be attached to it.

[00:05:55.5] KC: Yeah, I think that the value that you have is, let me take one step back, so this is always how my brain works and so I’m always thinking about how you can reach and touch the most of our people and it’s like, “Okay,” and I think the value of the WAEband, I think it’s a cool concept. I love the band itself but when you add in the element that you and Kate and Taren bring, like the love and vision and all of that, that’s where the brand really comes in.

[00:06:44.7] BM: Absolutely.

[00:06:46.2] KC: Yeah but I do feel like there is a market for it and having the right partner if you’re listening, the right partner, you’re out there and listening, that yeah if you guys partnered with the right person, I could see hundreds of thousands of these being sold a month.

[00:07:10.1] BM: Absolutely, even if you put us in a yoga event, oh my God, they absolutely love it and I think too because they’re very spiritual so they love the fact that there is a meaning attached to it. Even our packaging right now, we hand roll them and put them in a little bag and then we put in inspirational cards.

[00:07:29.8] KC: Oh those are cute. I should have taken screenshots of these pieces that you’re hanging up so maybe you could send me a few photos.

[00:07:38.9] BM: I certainly can, but realistically, this isn’t our vision. Our vision is to have this WAEband on some sort of cardboard with images of how to tie it.

[00:07:50.7] KC: Oh yeah.

[00:07:52.7] BM: You know? But this right now is cost effective for us and we just want to get them out there so this is the way that works. But going forward, we definitely see something grander than this, for sure.

[00:08:05.1] KC: I love it.

[00:08:06.1] BM: For sure, for sure.

[00:08:08.9] KC: I don’t think I’ve ever done this on a podcast before, so I have to share this with you.

[00:08:16.6] BM: Yeah.

[00:08:17.6] KC: Prior to us jumping on, the way that I prepare is I do a few different things before recording a podcast but you and I know each other, I know your brand but I always want to spend an hour going through your site and your Facebook page if there’s anything that’s going to pop up or anything that’s going to standout to me.

[00:08:39.8] BM: Yep.

[00:08:40.1] KC: And I always have this quirky little thing where if I’m not prepared 15 minutes before, I’m not going to be prepared. So I do something mindless. I’ll play solitaire or something before I record. So anyways today when I was doing it, I kept thinking. I was like, “I wonder if like” — so Amy and I were looking for opportunities to invest. So I kept coming around to that so as we’re sitting here recording, not lying in front, this will be going live. “I wonder if there might be an opportunity for us to work together?” Yeah, I was thinking about that.

[00:09:22.9] BM: I would love it. I’m going to tell you something, you can ask Taren. It was probably two months ago, we were in the car. It was me Taren and Katie and I looked over and I said, “I’m going to be on a podcast with Keith.”

[00:09:34.2] KC: Really?

[00:09:35.8] BM: Ask Taren and she’s said, “What?” I said, “I’m going to be on a podcast. Watch, I’m going to be on a podcast.” Now, the crazy thing is before I do anything, meet with a client, do a workshop, this, I meditate. I just sit with myself and clear my head. So before I went on I said there is a grander reason why we’re connecting. So now, you’re just freaking me out like totally with this. And perhaps, there’s a reason why you met me when you were eight years old, right? It all just comes full circle in life, doesn’t it?

[00:10:12.8] KC: Yeah, it really does. So a few months ago, we had our money and our retirement accounts and stock market and there’s two things that I don’t like about that. The first thing is, I don’t think it’s going anywhere for a long time and the second thing is the amount of money that gets eaten up in fees is just outrageous.

So yeah, we’ve been looking or I should say, I’ve been, within our family that’s a piece that I really focus on and we’ve been looking at other things and alternative ways and then all of sudden, literary yesterday a friend of mine who owns a bunch of yoga studios, like really popular yoga studios, she had reached out and mentioned that there were some studios that we’re going to be available for sale.

Right away, my initial reaction was, “Yeah, we’re definitely not interested in something like that,” and I guess I’m putting this out there with us talking and also to the podcast. For me, like I know myself and I know the type of — like what I like doing and I know what I’m really not good at and I’ve learned that I’m really, really good at building something but I’m the worst at managing it. Like so, so bad at managing stuff.

So yeah, we’re looking for investment opportunities where not that we’re going to have control but it’s something that it’s an opportunity where we can put our money into something that we believe in and obviously from a business standpoint that it’s going to be — nothing’s ever set in stone but we believe there is opportunity there. So yeah, it’s interesting to be here talking about all of these.

[00:12:26.6] BM: Yeah, it is. Loving it. It’s good stuff Keith, that’s good stuff. So yeah, that is our ultimate vision, it’s to have a space where people can come and quiet their mind, getting courage, feel empowered and find their own inner light because really, that’s what WAE is. We want to help people. We want to be a beacon of light so they can find their light in life for sure.

[00:12:56.3] KC: I love it, I love it.

[00:12:58.3] BM: Yeah.

[00:12:59.6] KC: So totally going off the cuff here and I was just thinking about this cool thing. All of a sudden, I got this idea, if we were having this conversation not on a podcast what would be the next things that we’re talking about? If you’re open to it like hell, let’s just do it right now, right?

[00:13:25.9] BM: Do it. I already have a space in mind too in Norton. I don’t want to say it because it’s owned by somebody but I’m thinking it may be for sale soon and it’s just like nestled in the woods and it would need a lot of work because I am seeing water, coy ponds and a big gazebo where Katie can do her PiYo and we could do meditations.

Just really cool things and people are hungry for that even if they don’t know it. This world is evolving and people want to reconnect to themselves again and we’re programmed. It’s not our faults. I always say it starts when you go to school and you begin to color outside of the lines and you’re told that your creation isn’t beautiful because you need to stay inside the lines.

Then that containment just overcomes us and we just exist, right? For some of us, we’re lucky enough to say, “No that creation was beautiful and I’m going to create more the way I feel inside of me not the way others are telling me or people are judging me. What is it that I want to create?” And that’s really what we want to do is help people get back to who it is that you are.

Not attached to anything else or anyone else’s judgments because that’s where you flourish in life and dammit, that’s what we’re here to do but everyone gets so stuck in it. “Well, she’s lost her marbles,” or, “this one’s this.” Just let that stuff go and this is it. This is it, it’s right now. So just live life fully and you can’t do that when you’re contained and worrying about being judged. It doesn’t work. All doors close when that happens.

[00:15:21.8] KC: Do you know Erica, I don’t want to botch her last name but it’s like Nunally or Nunally?

[00:15:28.9] BM: I’ve heard of her.

[00:15:30.4] KC: So she just opened this place called the Bija Institute and it’s in like, somewhere in Northern Rhode Island and she has a crazy story. So her four or five year old daughter had cancer and wound up, she was in the Children’s for literally like a year, came through it, lived through it and she created this place called the Bija Institute where they offer yoga.

It’s like a retreat place and it’s — I forgot like how many people. I think 50 people can go and they actually live there. So they live there and they have the institute part, they’ve opened up, there’s like this big gazebo that they have that they host the yoga classes.

[00:16:30.8] BM: Is it like Cropaulo, is it similar to that?

[00:16:33.8] KC: Way smaller, yeah.

[00:16:35.7] BM: How nice is that though.

[00:16:36.5] KC: Yeah, it’s much, much smaller and her vision for it is that they take 10% of the profits of the Bija Institute and they donate it to the Bija Foundation and the Bija Foundation is created for parents of children who are going through chemo to be able to basically grieve. To go and cry and scream and do whatever you need to do.

[00:17:06.2] BM: Oh my God, I love her.

[00:17:08.3] KC: Yeah.

[00:17:09.0] BM: How beautiful. You know, the last time we were in Children’s, it was a bender day but we met a lot of mothers and fathers that their children were in chemo or in surgery so they came down to walk around in the bender area and wow, if you really want to be humbled in your life, go spend five minutes in that hospital.

These amazing parents, we just hugged them. Taren and I really — Katie couldn’t come with us but Taren and I could not even look at each other throughout the day. We’ll just lose it so we just kept focusing on the energy in front of us yet they’re amazing people. It’s like, they’re fighting for the life of their child so God bless Erica.

Some of these mothers that I spoke with, one in particular, she was from Texas I believe and they’ll house the parents for a very small window. I didn’t know that at the Ronald McDonald’s or something. But then when that time passes, she didn’t know where she was going to stay or how long her daughter, her little two year old daughter, was going to be in the hospital. So these are beautiful things. I am going to reach out to whoever this Erica is and I’m humbled by her.

[00:18:33.1] KC: Yeah, it would be a cool connection. You know what else she did? Are you guys for profit or non-profit?

[00:18:40.0] BM: We’re for profit. Find Your WAE is for profit.

[00:18:42.7] KC: Yeah, she set up the whole thing as non-profit and at first I thought about it because she was doing it as a business and then she was really like, “If I do it non-profit the biggest benefit, we can donate but others can donate to us like for the cause,” and so she basically pulls a salary out of it.

[00:19:09.7] BM: Yes and non-profits are awesome.

[00:19:13.4] KC: Yeah.

[00:19:13.7] BM: You know I’ll mention CCALS again, they’re a non-profit and they have a whole team that are on payroll. CCALS is compassionate care ALS and we became very attached to that. I am going in another direction now so you can really back in.

[00:19:30.6] KC: That was with your dad right?

[00:19:32.5] BM: My dad was diagnosed with ALS and throughout his life, he struggled with alcoholism. I come from a family of nine children and man, we love hard and sometimes, we can fight just as hard too. I am the second oldest. I have an older brother and I adore all of them and as dad became sick, he really got clear in his life and it was so humbling to see how strong of a man he was internally as his body just shrivelled.

He was a big dude, when he said, “Bernadette,” I ran. And to see him just become paralyzed and just shrink externally, I got to see how large my dad really was inside and that he was clean and sober. Up until the end of his life, he held meetings in his home when he couldn’t go out and attend them, he held AA meetings.

[00:20:34.1] KC: How old was he when he got sober?

[00:20:36.7] BM: He’d go off and on throughout his life and the last five years of his life, in his 70’s, he stayed clean. He stayed committed and clean with no setbacks and started running meetings and when he couldn’t get to them, the people would come to him.

[00:20:54.7] KC: So AA meetings?

[00:20:57.4] BM: AA meetings, yeah.

[00:20:58.5] KC: So are you familiar with AA?

[00:21:00.4] BM: I’m very familiar with AA.

[00:21:02.4] KC: Yeah, I actually think that I’ve had this vision, that I think that the principles of AA are — I think that we have, in our society, our consciousness is focused on the wrong things and we’re addicted to negative, unhealthy thoughts and I believe that everybody, I personally keep getting this calling to go to AA not because of alcohol because I think that the program is so powerful for thoughts.

[00:21:46.1] BM: Oh my God, yes.

[00:21:47.9] KC: Like just transforming the way that we think about the world and that we think about situations and yeah.

[00:21:54.3] BM: It’s spiritually based and here’s the thing, again it doesn’t matter what your god, it’s spiritually, it just touches your inner most being. And now, I’m freaking out again because you’ve been thinking about it. Do you know that I started writing that I’ve been thinking about just going to speak to them? Just going to AA and then you said it. I’m like, “Oh my God.”

I’ve been thinking the same thing. I know it’s confidential but they welcome speakers to come in and uplift them and give them some sense of empowerment. We would go every year, my dad got a chip. So every year you’re clean, you get a chip and he’d want us there and it wasn’t to say, “Look at my family.” It was to say, “If you stay clean, your family will stay with you”.

I realized that that was his message and it’s just a very humbling space to be in. They just want to be the best that they can be and they join together because your energy, that vibration increases when you’re around like-minded souls so go for it. See if there’s any organizations. You’d be amazing there. They would sit in awe, I assure you.

[00:23:13.3] KC: I think there is also — there’s a course that I did, I’ll just throw it out there for anybody listening too, it’s called “The 4 T’s”. It’s Tithing of Time, Talent and Treasure.

[00:23:25.7] BM: Oh, I like that.

[00:23:26.7] KC: It’s an awesome course. Just to warn you, it’s going to push some serious buttons.

[00:23:33.5] BM: Those are my favorite.

[00:23:34.7] KC: And yeah, it’s a 12 week course based off of the 12 steps. It’s a pastor who did it, who is a recovering alcoholic and yeah, it’s a powerful course about — so the four T’s again are Tithing of Time, Talent and Treasure. The hard part is you actually tithe money in it but the thing that really, and again, it wasn’t until I went through the whole 12 weeks, the 90 days or so that I got the understanding of tithing.

It wasn’t about giving money. It was about the consciousness of always knowing that there’s more coming in and getting in that flow and we did it. My wife and I did it when we didn’t have money to give. It was not a good time.

[00:24:36.5] BM: Yep, yep, yep. Been there. Yep and you know I can remember saying, “There’s more than enough. Life is meant to be abundant, there’s more than enough.” Sometimes I can remember thinking that money is just a piece of paper. It’s like a leaf on the tree but we make it so fearful right? Then we horde it because what if there’s not enough? And then we live in that space of never having enough.

It’s so simple yet so difficult at the same time. A great book I’m going to throw this out, I don’t know how much time we have left because I love to yap, but I great book that I read and I get the energy and the vibration and what we think about what we put out there. I so get it, yet still when I read Pam Grout’s book, E-Squared, it still blew my mind.

[00:25:28.3] KC: E-Squared?

[00:25:29.0] BM: E-Squared and what I love about this book is its action. So she talks a little bit and then she gives you an assignment to do so that you literary see with your own eyes what your thoughts produce. She’s amazing, Pam Grout, I just hope to meet her someday. Oh, that’s another one for you Keith.

[00:25:50.1] KC: All right.

[00:25:50.2] BM: She’s amazing.

[00:25:52.2] KC: I have this really bad — what’s her last name, Grout?

[00:25:55.7] BM: Grout.

[00:25:58.9] KC: So I have this really bad — I put Amazon Prime on my phone app. So literary while we’re talking I’m like, “Amazon Prime, E-Squared, one click purchase,” and now it’s on its way here.

[00:26:15.0] BM: Amazon is my friend too and I think she’s got an E-Squared II, get the first one, they’re all good but the first one was my favorite, E-Squared.

[00:26:23.6] KC: The first is always the best.

[00:26:25.5] BM: Yeah and it’s just an amazing read for anybody out there that gets it or that doesn’t quite grasp the energy and the vibration, read that book and do the action steps and you’re going to have wows of moments for sure.

[00:26:43.7] KC: So just so I’m clear, the vision for WAE is, it’s more than — so in my mind and you’re probably yell at me for saying this. In my mind it’s a cool headband company.

[00:27:04.5] BM: Yep and that’s what I think majority thinks and in fact, we’re a holistic brand and we’re all about being that beacon of light to help other people ignite their own light within. So the WAEband is a part of that yet it’s so much more. So much more than that. We’re a brand for sure. It’s not just the WAEband. We’re like WAEband, workshops, workouts, kind of the three W’s.

[00:27:34.1] KC: All right, so I can internalize it one more time. I think this would be a cool way to end. So everybody’s got an idea, we know what WAEbands are, we know how to find you, its FindyourWAE.com right?

[00:27:51.7] BM: Yep. WAE.

[00:27:52.8] KC: WAE, do you also own WAY?

[00:27:57.6] BM: No, I bought all the Find You WAE, wae.net, wae.org, wae.com.

[00:28:03.2] KC: You should buy WAY too and just forward that.

[00:28:07.1] BM: I’m going to look again, now that you’ve mentioned that, but I think somebody has it but I’m going to look at it.

[00:28:12.3] KC: Right, don’t go to WAY. It’s WAE.

[00:28:16.3] BM: Yeah, WAE. Don’t go there.

[00:28:19.5] KC: If you could give a vision for WAE, I don’t ever like to say in its finished state but the next, and as far as you can envision WAE is in its finished state, what does it look like? What does it do, like on a day to day basis? How is it running?

[00:28:45.2] BM: Sure. So we have our shop and we definitely have lots of people coming to see us one on one, to physically see us and we have reached the masses. So we are inspiring the masses, that’s our biggest goal. So we’re touching and inspiring people in their lives. That is what our vision is.

[00:29:11.0] KC: I love it.

[00:29:12.7] BM: So Find Your WAE baby.

[00:29:15.5] KC: Well, thank you so much for taking the time out. I know you’re super busy with building your brand, helping so many people and I know you are very active in the kid’s lives and the grandkids lives.

[00:29:28.7] BM: I love it and I am humbled. I’m humbled to share this space with you and I send you much love.

[00:29:34.8] KC: Thank you so much and yeah, for everybody out there, I hope you enjoyed and we’ll see you next time.

[SPONSOR MESSAGE]

[00:29:43.7] KC: Today’s episode is brought to you by our sister podcast, All About Beachbody Coaching. So All About Beachbody Coaching really allows us to do this podcast without having all those annoying commercials in the beginning for you. So All About Beachbody Coaching, the Beachbody business that Amy and I run, actually funds this podcast.

So yes, it does cost money to run this podcast, we do not charge you anything, we don’t throw in commercials or anything like that, it really is, it’s funded by our business and by our other podcast, All About Beachbody Coaching. And for me, I’m just eternally grateful for this opportunity because it’s allowed me to really create the life that I love to live.

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Alright, much love guys. Again, that is the All About Beachbody Coaching Podcast, our sister podcast.

[FINAL MESSAGE]

[00:32:10.4] KC: Hey, Keith here, and today I have a free gift for you. Listen this free gift is a list of the 12 most influential books that I’ve ever read. These are the books that have helped me to create the mindset, learn the philosophies, learn the skills to really create this big, beautiful, life that we’re living now.

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[00:34:13.8] ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to the Business of Life Podcast. Apply what you learned today and you’ll be one step closer to creating the life you love to live.

[END]

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