Blue Tree Coaching - Life and Business Coach

Running the Bases today with Sindy Warren, Life and Business Coach from Blue Tree Coaching. Lawyer, Consultant, Yoga Instructor, Author (she wrote a Yoga Theory Book - Radi8, sells on Amazon), Blogger, Podcaster, Life Coach and Business Coach - she’s quite busy!

Today’s guest is a self-described - “Passionate Side Gigger”.  Originally from Connecticut, outside of Hartford.   She made her way to Tufts University and then headed across the country to attend Stanford Law School.  Positions at Big Law Firms, specializing in Employment Law followed.  After putting her toe in the consulting world - She turned her side gig into a very successful HR Consulting Practice. She ran her firm for almost 2 decades  She has been quoted  - Her HR Consulting business - “was an exercise in the unintentional building of a six-figure business”.  

Sindy’s love of side gigs continued. This curiosity and love of learning - has brought her to her current Side Gig Successful Business - As she says - “the side gig” that brings everything together. - Blue Tree Coaching.

A fun show exploring yoga, life pursuits, and how to build a side gig that provides income, balance, and purpose within your life.

To learn more about Sindy and Blue Tree Coaching visit: https://www.bluetree-coaching.com/

Schedule a Complimentary Clarity Call

Additional Resources:

Check out Sindy’s Book - RADI8: Using the Practice of Yoga to Cultivate Your Inner Shine

Sindy’s article in CE World Magazine 

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Transcript

Randy: 0:01

I'm Randy Rohde and I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs and small business owners. Plus I love baby. Every show. I sit down with a small business owner and we discussed their running the basis of entrepreneurship. We throw the ball around on strategy management, execution and innovation, plus a little fun baseball. Hey, thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your cracker jacks and you know what they say, and it's a great day for a ball game. Um, this is Randy Rohde and you've got running the bases with small businesses and today's guest. She is something a self-described passionate side gigger. Air quotes around that., originally from Connecticut outside of Hartford, she made her way to Tufts university and then headed across the country to attend Stanford law school. Very impressive positions at big law firms, , specializing, , in employment. She found herself wanting to pivot. And after putting her toe in the consulting word world, she turned her side gig into a very successful HR consulting, practice, partnering her legal experience and her knowledge of workplace culture. She ran her firm for almost two decades. That's quite some sidekick, I guess., and she has been quoted her HR consulting business was an exercise in the unintentional building of a six-figure business. Her love of side gigs continued and she continued to put her toes into new and exciting waters. And this curiosity and love of learning has brought her to her current side gig and successful business. As she says, the side gig that brings everything together. Please welcome to the show. Today's guest, Stanford law, lawyer consultant, yoga and mindfulness teacher. Author mother, grandmother. I never would have thought that. And founder of the blue tree coaching and side gig school, Cindy Warren, Cindy, who? Yeah. Welcome to the show.

Sindy: 2:22

Thank you, Randy. It is really fun to be here.

Randy: 2:25

Oh my gosh. Okay. First I'm like grandmother. I never would have guessed that., but we're going to tap into first yoga now. I think before we started recording it is people know who listened to the show. Oh, I have a member of our team. She researches everything. And then she and I, usually the day before we do the recording, we sit down, we review the notes and she tells me, it tells me everything that she knows now about our guest, which is actually quite, , impressive. And, uh, she had to tell me, you would not believe Sindy. She likes to stand on her head. There are pictures left and right everywhere, standing on her head. And I think somewhere, you even say that. Standing on your head. Is that like part of yoga? What is what's up with

Sindy: 3:15

that? Yes, Randy, it's called a headstand. It is a literally part of yoga and it's standing upside down. So fine. I'm actually leading an inversion inversion workshop in a couple of weeks. So yeah, I absolutely love to stand on my head

Randy: 3:33

inversion workshop. You know, you don't look like you have a flat head, so, but that is amazing., so yoga going through the research, yoga is a big part of your life, and I know that. Practice yoga., you taught yoga, , for, I'm not exactly sure. I probably have it in my notes here for a lengthy time period. Um, so how did you, oh, you still do? I think, uh, my team member is, I think she was teaching somewhere in the place closed during the pandemic or something. So maybe you're doing something different now than what that's correct. How did you get into yoga? How, how did this become part of Sindy's world?

Sindy: 4:15

It started boy about 20 years ago, actually, as I kept hearing yoga was a great workout and I love to work out. So that is literally how it started. I was like, yeah. Okay. It's a stretch. People keep saying it's a good workout. And soon I felt. Pretty deeply in love with a physical practice, which of course there are so many different kinds of yoga. I was drawn to a pretty powerful athletically based kind of yoga. It is a great workout. And I soon discovered it was so much more. It brought me a presence of mind that I had really never experienced before. But think I was always looking for. And it's funny that you mentioned standing on my head because when I'm upside down, I actually, you're not thinking about other things like what spurred in or no, I wouldn't be thinking

Randy: 5:12

how the hell am I going to stay on my head,

Sindy: 5:17

concentrate your present. So I really fell in love with the mindfulness aspect of yoga. And then I got very curious about the philosophical underpinnings of it and. Just sort of taking a deep dive into yoga philosophy for a pretty long time. And that culminated, , in me published in a book a few

Randy: 5:34

years ago.. I am going to, we're going to get into that here in just a second as well. Um, I will have to tell you, in a former life, , I was running, , a number of,, stores, , that were across the country. We were having a. National, , meeting with everybody. And we always brought in all kinds of different guests to do different, fun stuff. I actually did a class with Rodney. Yeah. Do you know, Rodney, Rodney, I mean, Rodney me and like 12 other people doing I'm like, I was not a yoga guy. I certainly was impressed. Like I know this guy is , babe, Ruth of yoga or something like that. Yeah. He

Sindy: 6:19

is old school international. Yeah, I hate the term cult figure, but he kind of

Randy: 6:25

is. Yeah. He's he's the guy. So anyway, I thought, I thought maybe I might impress you with my yoga.

Sindy: 6:32

I'm

Randy: 6:33

impressed. So tell us about the book, the Radi-8. Yoga philosophy and why we care or should care. So tell us about this. This is kind of fun. Can I go buy this thing? Actually, I do have to tell you, my researcher even told me yesterday. She goes, you know what? I went and I went and put myself, I'm checking it out. Out of the library. It's over in the library in the, uh, in the Cleveland library system or kayak. Yes. Yeah. So she's going to give me a 4, 1, 1 on the, uh, on the radiate buck as well. So

Sindy: 7:07

that is hilarious. It is on Amazon. Yeah, it really was like, I mean, I think of it as sort of like, um, yoga philosophy for dummies or for the yoga curious. And I found that so many of my students came to the practice. The same way I did, which is I'm here for the workout. And what my foray into yoga showed me was that is just the tip of the iceberg. And there's a whole principle of living well and living with meaning and finding contentment. That is the philosophy. And I wanted to share that. I felt like so many people have no idea about this and yoga philosophy can sound really intimidating and big and heady, but. Is Anne can certainly be, uh, a beautiful simplicity to it that I wanted to share. So that was sort of like

Randy: 7:57

what the book was nice. Is it, , now it sounds to me as you're describing it, it sounds like it's more philosophical rather than how.

Sindy: 8:08

Oh, it's it's, there's no how to, you will not learn how to stand on your head if you buy this book.

Randy: 8:14

All right. I like philosophical books, so that's good. I might have to tap into that thing as well. So let's move forward here. Now, today you are the founder of blue tree coaching, , and that is quite a. That you've taken to get to today's, , enterprise, but tell us a little bit about blue tree coaching., what is it, what do you do?, what's your specialty,.. Sindy: Yeah. So I've been coaching for a few years now, and as you said, I did pivot. I keep pivoting. I do think actually this is my final pivot though. Law to consulting yoga was in there and now to coaching and coaching is really working with people to. Create new results in their lives in one way or another. If I had to boil it down to the simplest definition or description of coaching. So I work with clients in a couple of ways. I work with a lot of one-on-one clients who are looking to advance professional or entrepreneurial, or even just personal goals. And I also have a program that you sort of referred to. Is called side gig school and it helps aspiring and actual side hustlers get to the next level, whether it's launching a site gig, growing a side gig, turning it into something more like a full-time gig, which is what I apparently keep doing. So those are, those are my two things. I work with people one-on-one and I work with them in this group coaching program that I created. I love it. So one of the things I think we found, , on your. You talk about finding purpose, helping clients find their why? Yeah. Dig into that because I think I'm still trying to find my WHY, but what, what do you mean by that? How do you guide people through that process?

Sindy: 10:06

Well, when it comes to business and entrepreneurship, it's much easier. So let me take it first in that context, right. I bet if I pressed you on Randy, what is the why behind 38 digital, you're going to be able to tell me and what I find as an entrepreneur, myself, and when I'm working with other entrepreneurs, like really tethering into. Why are you doing this in the first place? There are so many professional paths open to us. What were you thinking and wanting and desiring at a deep level when you started it and using that almost as like an anchoring point when things get challenging, which, you know, I know probably every one of your listeners knows this, like the entrepreneurial journey can be very challenging. So understanding like, why is this, why does this matter to me? And being able to refer back to that, I think is a really grounding practice. I think that comes up when I'm working with people in a one-on-one capacity that does not involve entrepreneurial issues as well. Like if someone comes to me and they want to deepen their relationship with someone important in their life, or they want to make more time for health and wellness goals. Y we start with, why, why does it matter? Why would you hire a coach? Why do you care? And then we'll be sort of refer back to that when the going gets tough.

Randy: 11:32

Got it. So you can really, that's why I was wondering from the business side, I could see that. And that's why I was wondering when I read that. And I'm like, is that more on when you're doing the life coaching aspect in working with a particular client, but I really do like the drive back to answering. Why, why do you want to do that? Why is. Purpose, as you say, kind of finding that purpose, it's gotta be really helpful because sometimes I think people do things and they're not exactly sure. What is the, and you may find this and this is just my own spouting wisdom here, or an wisdom, whatever. I think people, sometimes I will say I do this. Sometimes I do things. May state what I think is the intentional purpose, but often there's also some underlying, , purpose that I may not have either touched on and, or given a voice to. Do you find that as well with I'm not crazy.

Sindy: 12:31

It's totally not crazy. And I think have it can be helpful. Explore that with yourself in for yourself, but it can also really be helpful having someone just sort of ask you open-ended questions that get you thinking about that. And we're not, um, we don't necessarily all have like one guiding principle, like you say, like health and well and health and wellness school, for example, might be, to feel good in my body. To look good in my jeans to stay attractive to my spouse, to whatever it is, be a good role model for my kids. Like there can be so many wise. Yeah.

Randy: 13:06

Yeah., I'm I I'm so fascinated. So this podcast we're talking about entrepreneurialship and growing your business and the path that people take down that I find you exceptionally fascinating because. Clearly you were successful. You're obviously a bright, intelligent person because what you've been able to achieve through Stanford law, working for large firms, you are a successful attorney through that process. You, , galvanized a specialty of working in employment, law, employment culture. And then you pivoted and so you were I'm sure. And I have no doubt. I mean, I don't know what numbers or whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm sure that you are successful in that avenue. And then you pivoted and started a whole nother, like, eh, I'm not going to be an attorney working for this big law firm anymore. I'm going to go start my own thing, doing HR consulting. Obviously you were successful at that because. Nearly two decades that you were doing that. And, um, and then you go down , I don't want to say maybe necessarily a completely different path, but certainly a nice tangent off of the HR consulting., and I find that fascinating on what and why you did that. Can you answer the why?

Sindy: 14:34

Absolutely. And I think for each of the different sort of points in my career where I have pivoted their different lives, I would say leaving the law firm practice to start my consulting gig, um, was the function of me being a new mom and having a baby and not really seeing how to make that work in a way that feel good. Now this was almost 20 years ago. In the traditional law firm culture that I was in, I also happen to have a very dear friend and mentor who had an HR consulting business who was in my ear saying, Cindy, you can do this. Like, this is a great business model. And I'll be honest with you, Randy. I don't know that I would have. Conceptualize the model on my own, but I had someone, a few steps ahead of me that was sort of like further along on the path that I could look to for inspiration and guidance. So I thought, well, I'll be home with my daughter and I'll do this on the side. And, you know, as you mentioned, she grew the business grew and it really became a full-time thing. Um, But I think my why was what I was doing before the traditional practice of law. It just, wasn't working for my life in a way that felt good.

Randy: 15:49

That's interesting that you bring up and I'm, and I'm glad you did. kind of this, I think you used the term mentor as well. And so I'll refer them. But the person who is already in the HR consulting business and had some success there already, and they were giving you kind of words of encouragement and some guidance on what you could do. And I we've had, have had that brought up by so many other guests as well, and the importance of that, and as well, Encouraging people to seek out those mentors., because so often as an entrepreneur, as a solo preneur, sometimes, you know, you may feel like you're just isolated and you're navigating these seeds and you don't know if you're taking the right direction. Should I go this way? Should I go this way? And sometimes it can be paralyzing, but if you have some. Now in your, , experience, it was somebody who actually was doing that role and could really help you with some very specific kinds of things. but absolutely, and I think this is, and get me if I'm wrong, but I think in some of this, , uh, the aspects that you provide as a coach, you can become kind of that broad. Sounding board and a mentor. If we want to use that word to help guide folks as well through this.

Sindy: 17:18

That's exactly right. And I view myself, I think coaching is a bit of a mentorship. And I think when I think back to all phases of my career, whether it was. Being a lawyer, being a consultant, being a yoga teacher, um, even being an author being now a coach, I've always had mentors. Sometimes they are friends. As I mentioned, a few steps ahead of me and sometimes they're coaches that I've hired, but I think that's a really important thing is to have someone, um, whether it's one person or a community of people, because as you said, and especially for the solo preneurs out there, it can be lonely.

Randy: 17:57

As you look back at the pivots that you had, , and that you've successfully navigated any regrets on any of those paths?

Sindy: 18:07

No, I think, look, I can look back and say, I have lessons I've learned where I could have done particular things on each path differently or more skillfully or more. Efficiently, certainly. Um, but I don't have any regrets for the windingness of my path and I think it's everything I've done up to this point has led me to. Literary coaching, which I feel like is the culmination of all my passions and interests and

Randy: 18:35

skills. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm a big believer in that anyway as well. I think, Hey, where I am today was because of all of the things that led me down this path over the number of years. So, uh, yeah, I think that's good. Let's talk a little bit more about today as well, because you do. Life and business coaching, but you also do this thing, which I think is so clever side gig school, side gig theory. And I think you're very intentional, intentional about not calling it a side hustle. So why do you call it side gig school?

Sindy: 19:12

The program I created is a combination of teaching and coaching. So that's why I liked the word school. And you're absolutely right. Randy. I have, am not sort of adopting the moniker hustle wholeheartedly, even though. If you were just going to go Google. The thing about which I'm talking, it's more, most commonly called a side hustle. I like to teach it in a way that doesn't feel hustley. I don't want to buy into the glorification of overworking and stress and burnout. And I do think there's a way to build a sustainable business without. The over hustle, not to say it's not a lot of work. I work hard. I like working hard and my clients work hard, but I also really believe in having balance and staying connected to my purpose and spending time with my family and my friends and all those other things. So the term hustle, I just found it to be a little bit of like, yeah, that's not exactly what I teach. I don't want to teach people how to hustle on the teach people how to create.

Randy: 20:19

I think that's perfect. And especially, I think in today's world, especially there is a lot of that that, uh, Gary V uh, I'll just use him. I've mentioned him before. I like Gary V I think. Okay. It's like, I love his energy and his, his, I think he really brings it home for a lot of people, but he is like, Hey, go, go, go, go. And sometimes. You have to do that at times, but at other times I think it's much more effective to kind of pull back and, and be, uh, and be intentional and be focused on what it is that you're trying to achieve and the gig, well, when you call it a hustle, then it seems like it's just going to become and dominate every other aspect of your life that, that, um, I guess that you don't surrender to it. Um, but when you kind of couch it as a gig, it seems like it's another component of my life, but I've have some control or set some, uh, intentional boundaries maybe around.

Sindy: 21:18

Yeah, that's definitely the way I like to think about it, teach it and coach on it. And when I think of like the most amazing byproduct of having a side gig and like, why would, why should anyone even care about it? I think there's also this idea of freedom to create something from nothing. Even if you're following a well-established business model, which I have always done something that's yours, something that's an expression of you and what you care about and what your skill set is. And I also really like to teach. And help people feel freedom of time in their life. And probably I'm drawn to that concept so much because it's something I have struggled with for decades. And so still sometimes do, I mean, it's not that I've never been the burned out over a hustler I have, which is why I think I'm drawn to teaching another way of doing it.

Randy: 22:12

Right., so I'm going to go down this just. As an extension of a conversation that you and I have had, , I don't know, last week or the week before I think, , One of the things that I'm, that, that I really like about the way that you approach this side gig is coming through the pandemic. We saw so many women that were displaced because of the pandemic and because you know, the roles that they play as mom, you mentioned, you know, you were a new mom and you wanted to do something maybe different in your life at that time from being a. Not that people have to, so don't people don't read more into it than what I'm trying to explain, I guess. but I do, I do appreciate though that you give, I would say opportunities, um, of thought and application for folks. If. They do find that they want, I love the word freedom. Sometimes I always try to teach my kids about, Hey, going out and having a job and getting, creating money is good because it gives you independence and freedom. It's not because it can go by you this or that or whatever that thing is over there, but it, because it gives you freedom. And, uh, and I think in today's world, I think. Really appreciate that independence and freedom much more so than probably five years ago. Maybe then what they did. And this is why I think I especially love what you're doing in your approach because you're teaching and you're giving people that opportunity to create that gig and maintain freedom without it just being totally consuming. Like the concept of hustle may do. I don't know. Maybe I'm being a little too. Yeah. Philosophical about it, but I, I love it because I think it's, it really is going to provide people a great opportunity to create more freedom in their life, which everybody, well, I don't think you're

Sindy: 24:06

overthinking it. I think that's exactly the point. And I work with a lot of moms who want to have something that's for them. They're obviously devoted to family life., and it is a really nice creative. Financial empowering professional outlet for them. Um, and that's not to say I don't work with nine to fibers and men, and, you know, I have all types coming through psychic school, but I think you hit on something really important that is related to just sort of where we are, time and place in the world right now, coming out of the pandemic more and more people are looking for that independent source of income, the traditional. Model of work, just doesn't work, so to speak. And I liked sort of shaking it up and turning it on its head.

Randy: 24:54

Uh, speaking of turning it on its head, I'm going to kind of flip this a little bit. in may of 20. You published a story in CE world magazine. So this is just after the pandemic. and it was about mindfulness in leadership and it was to practice high level mindfulness at work leaders must start with practice, seen mindfulness in their own lives. That is a great study. Talk to us about mindfulness, mindfulness, and leadership. Just begin to tell your story, I guess, about mindfulness.

Sindy: 25:32

Sure. And boy, I forgot about that article and CEO world. That was some

Randy: 25:38

kinds of stuff.

Sindy: 25:39

That's hilarious. So mindfulness is something I have studied and practiced and taught a lot as an outgrowth. Um, and an offshoot of my yoga practice and really all mindfulness means is paying attention to what's arising in the moment as it's arising, just simply noticing what's happening, whether it's around you or within you or in your head or in your body or whatever, it's simple. I sell it. People think it's so complicated and it became, has become a buzzword, which speaks of. Speaks to the sense that people get it's something important. So that's great. But I think for leaders, it's important to stay present to what is happening. Moment to moment in some way that is the best thing you can do to. To optimize your skill of being reflective and responsive rather than reactive. And most leaders have lots of things coming at them from all different directions, especially those who manage big teams. And I've worked with a lot of those people in all areas, you know, from the law firm days, onward being able to stay present and grounded, , And less of a multitasking kind of mind and more of a single tasking kind of mind helps you relate to people to be present for people to help them feel seen and heard to stay. Connected to the values and the mission that you spout as a leader, whether you're the business owner or just a leader of a unit or, or whatever. And so bringing mindfulness into the workplace. And there are lot of, lot of studies showing the efficacy of mindfulness and workplaces start at the top, encourage others to take that time well as well. And it's really sort of. It can be acquainted with just mental and physical wellbeing, mindfulness practice. So one of the things that I got trained to do many years ago was to teach mindfulness meditation. And all it means is, you know, people will think, oh, I can't meditate because my mind is always racing. I can't clear the thoughts. So that means I can't meditate. Right. And that is actually a complete misunderstanding of what meditation is. It is simply breathe in, know you're breathing. Bring it out. Know you're breathing out mind wanders to do list, um, you know, worrying about the past resident about the future. It's all. Okay. You've just noticed that too. And you'll come back to the breath, breathing, breathing out. I mean, it's so simple. So teaching that, um, and connecting it to leadership, I think has so many wonderful strategic. Uh, benefits that leaders wouldn't even think about, like how they show up when they're less stressed and more presence. If they're not burnt out, they can encourage their employees to live and work the same way. And all of that stuff, of course, trickles down to the bottom line. Sure.

Randy: 28:40

That is great insight. And I'm glad you kind of walked through the simple mindfulness meditation, even as what that is. Uh, that's a great little skill to, uh, to practice on a daily basis., okay, Cindy, we're going to move forward here a little bit. Do you like baseball?.

Sindy: 28:57

A little bit,

Randy: 28:58

a little bit

Sindy: 29:01

red Sox games when I was a kid with my dad or some great memories.

Randy: 29:07

I'm sure. All right. Well it's that time? all right, Cindy. So here we are. We're at the seventh inning stretch. This is where I get to ask you a, uh, ah, I don't know, some kind of a baseball question, at least maybe a little bit, uh, in your, uh, ballpark, we'll say, uh, in the, in your niche. did you know that there's yoga in the MLB.

Sindy: 29:41

I did not specifically know that, but that doesn't surprise me.

Randy: 29:44

Yes. So, um, major league baseball has been incorporating yoga into players' workouts for years. Uh, stretching the mind, body connection, all of that, but something new that started, I don't know, in 2018, 2019, somewhere around in there. Teams began hosting yoga days to create a unique experience. They bring fans out onto the field with their mats, have instructors and they go through, I'm not sure what you call it. Practice or a process of yoga, , being led through. And you're right out there in the stadium on the field. Imagine you're out there and, uh, centerfield and you're looking at everything and doing yoga. Would you be, would that be mindfulness, do you think?

Sindy: 30:33

I think that would be a blast. I can't believe I haven't heard about that. As much of a mindfulness practice, because it would be so unusual and exciting and your brain would probably be zinging around with all the energy. But that sounds like a blast. Yeah.

Randy: 30:54

I would be that I would, my mind would be spinning, but yeah. So several, I dunno if it's happened here in Cleveland, you. But San Francisco Jones, the white Sox, Detroit tigers, they all have had and, and have scheduled for this coming season. Yoga days. Very cool.

Sindy: 31:13

I would

Randy: 31:14

agree. I would agree. So here's your question though. So now we've introduced what very famous baseball players said. Baseball is 90% mental. And the other half is physical.

Sindy: 31:37

Sounds like something my Nana would upset, but she was not a baseball player. I'm going to guess, babe Ruth,

Randy: 31:44

uh, close, close. Yeah, this guy actually. And I love that quote because he's kind of noted for like these quotes that are like, huh. A Yogi Berra. And that

Sindy: 31:55

Bob's going to be my second guest. Yeah, I love it.

Randy: 32:01

Pardon the pun on Yogi, right. But yeah, Yogi Paris. It was great. It was a good connector right there for us. So you did nice. You did very well. No, you did great. It was out of the park. All right, let's get back into it. So, uh, one of the other things. I know that you've done, probably both in your HR practice and maybe even in today's world as well, talking about culture coaching. and I'm sure probably in your, purchased it in different methods or, depending upon whether you are doing your HR consulting firm or even in today's world where you're coaching CEOs. How do you create a culture? How do you manage the culture? How do you kind of keep your thumb on the pulse of the culture? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Sindy: 32:54

Yeah, absolutely. And I see a lot of business owners, um, you know, just sort of like, oh yeah, we have a culture. It's a mission statement. It's on paper and no one ever looks at it or reflects on whether they're walking the walk of what stated or not. So I think of a culture and you're right, Randy, this does bring in. Employment law, my HR and my coaching work. I think of a culture as like a set of guiding principles that you, as the leader of create for your workplace, solopreneurs can have a culture also, which is just something self-created self-imposed that is really just tied to their mission and values. But I think about culture as almost like a high level operating statement of this is who we are. This is what we do. This is how we do it. And this is why we do. And I think identifying somewhere between three to five, not too many more than that core values is really important to almost be used as a metric. So if integrity is a core value of a company, what does that mean? How do we know if we're acting with integrity or not? So I think it requires some fleshing out. And then the piece that I see a lot of businesses. Missing or leapfrogging is okay, now you have to tell everyone about it. So you actually have to do some workplace training, which is, Hey, this is who we are and what we do and why. And this is what is important to us, and this is how we implement it. So in actual policies and procedures, that sort of becomes the living, breathing, um, reflection of the culture and the values, and many people have. Uh, handbooks in place that maybe check the legal boxes and do nothing to. Advance workplace culture, which I think of as something being really important to employee engagement, which I can't even probably count as high as the number of studies that have been done that show how important employee engagement is to. Having a well-functioning business, both financially and otherwise. So I think of culture is like this big thing that should be tailor made. It's not just like you can buy a culture kit and be like, now we have a workplace culture. I think it depends on the personality. Of the leader or the leadership team. Um, I think it's something that requires a commitment to convey it to the workforce, to have an open avenue for employees and other stakeholders to share input, to even lodge complaints. So even just taking a buzzword, like integrity that might translate as, you know, an open door policy that we don't just stay. We have, we do lot of places. We'll see. Yeah, you can come talk to us about anything, but then the secret messages don't say anything, you know, that disagrees with management or somehow you'll find yourself on the outs. And so I think having someone in there who can assess where a company is and where they want to go is just such a good use of. Time and other resources to really solidify co I think of it as like the foundation of the company.

Randy: 36:13

I think as well, it's so critical. And our last, uh, I think our, one of our current shows that's out right now, , a, uh, founder of a very large FinTech company and he was so focused and so committed on culture and really about listening to. And being very intentional on listening to the employees or the team members in the company, , because he put place such a high, high value on their role and their function in the company., and I was so impressed with that because it, as a founder, as a leader in the company really was breathing and speaking about the culture that they've established and they've gone over into, uh, I'm trying to think. It's 15 years, I think, but they've gone from zero to over $3 billion valuation. Very intentional, right. Culture has got to be incredibly important in order to be able to move like that. I think you're right on with your insights on culture I would absolutely recommend maybe you could do a book on culture as well as yoga stuff. So let's move a little bit. So as you've moved through, Your pivots will say. and you've started these successful enterprises thinking back now, whether it's either with blue tree coaching or with your HR practice, what were some of the biggest challenges that you've faced in ultimately overcame?

Sindy: 37:53

It took me a very long time with my HR consulting practice, to be able to have a clear sense of exactly who I was for and who I helped and how I think for the first few years of the business. And this was also probably a function of it being at a time in my life when I was also devoting a lot of time to embalming and such. It was a little fly by the seat of my pants. You have an HR problem. Sure. I mean a girl and some projects I was well suited for and others, I wasn't. And I ended up probably, I don't know, around your seven or your eight getting really crystal clear on, I do workplace investigations. I come in and I do workplace trainings on these topics and in the sort of the catch-all of consulting, I do these three things really. And outsourcing the other stuff. Once I got really clear on what are my actual skillsets, what do I want? Develop my expertise in the business just started to naturally grow. I think I also, you know, I, you mentioned like your, um, your employees did a research on me and said, I mentioned labeled that as being an unintentional business, unintentional grilling up six figure business. And it really was. I, you know, the idea I started out with with my mentor and then I was just sort of like fly by the seat of my pants and. I became more intentional over time. And by the end of that business, I decided to drop it in 2020 as my coaching business was really taking off. Um, it was like a well-oiled machine. It just took me a while to get there, but take the topic of workplace investigations. If an employee complained internally about something unfair or possibly illegal or arrestment or discrimination or something along those lines. Most of the Cleveland employment lawyers in town knew that they could pick up the phone and call me. So that was just a repeatable source of business. So I think the obstacle was not being super clear on who I was helping and how for too long and eventually time kind of self that bore me. And I just sort of matured as a business owner and as a. With the coaching business. I think my trajectory has been so much quicker because I have been intentional, but it is sort of the same struggle of like HR consultant can mean 500 different things. So can life and business coach. So who am I for? How do I help them? It's taken some time and even a little bit of trial and error. Uh, maybe not a little bit, a lot of trial and error and missteps and fails to now be at a point where I'm pretty clear on like, yeah, this is 2, 1 4, and this is how I help on both the one-on-one side and the group coaching sidekick schools.

Randy: 40:55

so as you're walking us through this, what I find, if I go back to the, some of my early note pages on here is that you actually kind of put into practice what it is that you work with folks on finding purpose, helping clients find their why. Right. And so you, you you've essentially kind of walked through the practical real. This is what we do and you can help people do it faster now, because I think you've realized this is really as critical and really important.

Sindy: 41:28

And I think for people thinking, what could my side gig be? If you think of yourself as your first and best client, you know, I would want you to ask yourself, well, what have I done? What problem did I solve? How there's your sidekick right there. Right.

Randy: 41:43

So in thinking about side gigs or with you, you've started these different enterprises. One of the things I think, and especially in a services focused enterprise, like what you did with the consulting, HR consulting, and now with the life and business coaching, how did you start attracting your first client?

Sindy: 42:07

It was people who knew me. And if I think of my first year as a coach, almost all of my clients were current or former yoga students. And if I think to the beginning of my HR practice, I started networking with lawyers on you. So it was people who knew me and I think that's a most businesses start with your own personal

Randy: 42:31

network. Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's good. That's good advice. Because a lot of times people are bashful. Maybe not. We're reticent about asking friends. Would you try my services and, or would you tell people about my services? Yeah.

Sindy: 42:48

Yeah. I see people can find all sorts of mental resistance to doing that. And I think that is the thing to do. It's sort of like. A safe place to test, run things, and people have stories of, oh, that's I could sell it to a stranger, but not to a friend, you know, that kind of mental drama. And I think I use my mindset works to really help them work through it. Um, but you cannot be an entrepreneur and not risk rejection. It's just impossible. So that's something, every entrepreneur, whether it's on a really, really baby basis, like a side gig or a full blown entrepreneurship. You've just got to say. Yeah. That's part of the process, right? Okay. Yeah. No, it's not a problem. Failing is an inevitable part of the journey, right?

Randy: 43:36

Uh, yes. You have to have a bit of a thick skin at times and, you know, and understand, Hey, no is just not at this time and move on. Right. So here we are blue tree coaching. What's on the horizon for blue tree. So you've have had really some great success. The last couple of years, you're looking forward to this year. I know we're starting to do work together, which is great. but where do you see your practice in your industry? Maybe three years down the road. I don't know.

Sindy: 44:12

It's hard to know for sure, because blue tree has already, like, if this is the beginning of my third year in business, it's already so different than it was three years ago. So I can imagine that there's a lot, I can't yet imagine, but from this moment in time, I love working with individuals to help them achieve professional and financial and entrepreneurial and personal results. I always want that to be a part of the business and I think. One of the things I'm really passionate about is helping people lean into possibility and create parts of their lives that they're almost like afraid to dream of and show them how and how it's actually not that hard. So I'm also really equally passionate about growing my reach with helping people. Start side gigs and especially the moms who think they don't have time or they've been out of the workforce too long, or it's too hard or it's too scary. Um, I really want to show people that's not true. Yeah. I'm also starting to dream a little bit about a next level coaching program. That might be something like from sidekick to six-figures because that's something I. I

Randy: 45:30

love how you stated that too. Um, I'm beginning to dream a little bit, and I think, you know, it's a great whimsical kind of phrase, but I, I do think that, entrepreneurs or, or, uh, and sometimes we get so boxed in to the day-to-day, this is what we're doing, and we've got this and we're humming along, , that they, , and I throw myself into this sometimes kind of failed to. Look beyond and dream. Right? I love, I, you stated that. And beginning to dream, , we had a guest and he's actually, he's been on the show a couple of times and they do something in his firm. They call it a whiteboard Wednesday and every Wednesday for a period of time or something, they gather around and maybe have brownies or something. I don't know. But then they. Kind of spitball and ideas and throwing stuff out on a board and no idea is dumb. And then they just explore stuff and kind of do an intentional dreaming session if you would. But, um, uh, I've always, when he told me that I was so impressed with and like, yes, that is so important. I think to kind of dream a little bit on what. Could we be doing next? And what is that next opportunity? So I think

Sindy: 46:48

giving ourselves the space to contemplate questions like that is where innovation comes from. Like innovation doesn't come from, just sit at your desk and crank it out. Same way every day.

Randy: 47:00

Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right with that. That's really neat., okay, Sindy, here we are. We're at the bottom of the ninth and it goes so fast. Right? You've done. Great. Uh, what advice do you have for rookies in the game? So all of these people starting out in business are those who already have their business and are looking for some guidance. Maybe do you have some tips, some pointers, how to get up there up to bat and.

Sindy: 47:29

I definitely do. And interestingly, I think we've covered them a little bit, but I think knowing your why is probably the most important foundation for every business owner, whatever the level, and that can be the kind of thing that evolves and changes. So my why, when I dip my toes into yoga back in whatever year, it was 2002 ish. It's not my why of why I keep I teach today. So I like revisiting it and I think that's something really important to do. And if it, to the extent it can be hard to do alone in your head, have a conversation with someone close to you in your life where you can just sort of like, like play catch with, you know, back and forth. So coming back, knowing your why, like, why am I even doing this? And I think that's the key to making sure you don't just slip into automatic. And wake up 20 years from now being like, why did I stay in that job? Or what was I, why would I even have that business to begin with like check in with your wife? The second thing where you going to say

Randy: 48:35

no, I think you're right. Okay,

Sindy: 48:37

great. The second thing I was going to say. Was seek support, you know, as we sort of said, the entrepreneurial journey can be and seem lonely. And I think having a community of people, whether it's friends who are entrepreneurs or networking groups or a mentor, like I've always sought out or a coach, um, I think that's critical to growing and doing it in a way that is sustainable and also feels good. And lets you live a life.

Randy: 49:09

great advice. Yeah. We probably have touched on all of those things already, but just so great and concisely put together. Listen, Sindy, thank you so much for being on the show. Uh, it's been great chatting with you and understanding and really exploring the great service and, uh, coaching and clarity that you provide, I think, to your clients. And I use that word in particular because I do want to mention to folks, if you go to a blue tree coaching website, . Blue tree dash coaching. Is that. Okay. I knew that the dash, I was trying to remember where the dash was, blue tree-coaching.com. And, , you can sign up for a complimentary clarity call with Sindy and, uh, you can schedule it right there. And so that would be great. Uh, we'll have the link in the show notes so people can go there directly as well., and it would highly encourage folks to, uh, to take the time. Uh, connect with her. She's great., but again, thanks for being on the show. It's been a lot of fun.

Sindy: 50:15

It was so fun and I'm glad I didn't flunk that baseball question. Thank you, Randy.

Randy: 50:21

Oh, you're a great, all right folks. That's the ballgame at, Hey, thanks for joining us today. And if you like. Please tell your friends, subscribe and review, and we'll see around the ballpark. Running the Bases with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital market, a digital marketing agency, committed to client. With lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today 38digitalmarket.com.