In this episode, I chat with Faith Burtamekh, the founder and owner of Faith Marie & Co. about her journey from being a teacher and principal to becoming a successful business coach.
Faith is a firm believer in the power of self-leadership and its role in fostering personal and business growth. Together, we dive deep into the significance of mindset and the role it plays in her approach to coaching, leading and living.
She also shares tips on managing a busy schedule, reflecting on experiences for insight and prioritizing what truly matters in life. By the end of this conversation, you'll be equipped with the tools you need to overcome your fears, find balance and achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey.
Learn more about Faith and Faith Marie & Co.
Instagram - @faithmarieco
Website - www.faithmarieco.com
SHAUNA GREY
www.simplifiedsavvy.com/
Instagram: @simplifiedsavvy & @thesavvyscooppod
YouTube: Simplified Savvy - The Savvy Scoop Podcast
In this episode, I chat with Faith Burtamekh, the founder and owner of Faith Marie & Co. about her journey from being a teacher and principal to becoming a successful business coach.
Faith is a firm believer in the power of self-leadership and its role in fostering personal and business growth. Together, we dive deep into the significance of mindset and the role it plays in her approach to coaching, leading and living.
She also shares tips on managing a busy schedule, reflecting on experiences for insight and prioritizing what truly matters in life. By the end of this conversation, you'll be equipped with the tools you need to overcome your fears, find balance and achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey.
Learn more about Faith and Faith Marie & Co.
Instagram - @faithmarieco
Website - www.faithmarieco.com
SHAUNA GREY
www.simplifiedsavvy.com/
Instagram: @simplifiedsavvy & @thesavvyscooppod
YouTube: Simplified Savvy - The Savvy Scoop Podcast
Welcome back to the Savvy Scoop podcast, where we give you the full scoop on all things living your best life. So if that's your jam, you are in the right place. New episodes drop every Wednesday for you to enjoy, as always. I am your host, shauna Gray. I'm a social media marketing and business mentor for service-based small business owners. If you are a fan of the show which I hope by now you are I would so appreciate you rating and giving it a review wherever you listen and you can also watch it on YouTube Maybe you are and you can subscribe there too, so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 1:Okay, on today's episode we have the lovely Faith Birdameck. She is the founder and owner of Faith Marie Co. Her friends and clients like to refer to her as a former teacher and principal turned a serial entrepreneur. Many businesses happening for misfaith.
Speaker 1:She is an experienced professional business coach for women who want to build and grow a thriving business without losing themselves in the process. She is no self-taught coach here, friends. She has spent decades developing her skills and building her expertise as a school leader, leadership coach and business owner. This unique experience equips her to effectively guide ambitious women to uncover and overcome the very real obstacles I mean hello Holding them back from the revenue, growth, business and life they truly desire. If something is standing in between you and what you want, faith is absolutely going to help you figure out what that is and how to move past it. And I can tell you that is true because Faith was my business coach and she's now a dear friend. So Faith lives in Phoenix, arizona, also known as the Valley of the Sun, with her husband and daughter and their dog, mooney. Did I say that right? Mooney did.
Speaker 1:She loves coffee, vintage shopping with her mom and spending time catching glimpses of the gorgeous sunsets in Arizona, which I cannot wait to see when I come to the Bloomer Tweet next year. But anyways, that's a conversation for later, but I will be in AZ at some point in the next, like in the next year. It's happening. We're manifesting. Okay. Faith loves nothing more than providing goal-oriented coaching for ambitious, heart-first women who want to turn their spark of an idea into a fulfilling, thriving business. So, faith, welcome. Thank you so much for being on the show. I mean, you were one of the first people I thought of, of course, when I was doing this, because I mean I love you, but you've also had such a profound impact on my life, so I want to share, I want you to share your goodness with the people. So tell us the full scoop about Faith what led you to start your business, your whole entrepreneurial journey. You have many, many businesses, so let's talk about them all. We'll go with the full scoop here on the podcast, so I'll leave it to you now.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much, Shana, for having me. It's such an honor and such a fun full-circle journey to be here today, so thank you. April 2019 was the official launch date of Faith Marine Co. I wanted to have a website, so that's when we launched it, and I got my first client three weeks later.
Speaker 1:Damn girl. That's impressive Three weeks later.
Speaker 2:I kind of celebrate my business anniversary in May, that first week of May, because that's when I first got my client.
Speaker 1:May of 2020?
Speaker 2:2019. 2019. Okay, sorry, keep going. After a launch, well before I opened my successful coaching practice, I realized that I was really unhappy with myself inside and out. You know, I was missing out on special family moments because I was chasing down like my never ending to-do list. I implemented successful systems in my job, but neglected to put any systems in place for my personal life, and so I found myself with no morning routine, no personal development practice and literally no energy to tackle big change that I knew I needed to make. So I also knew that I couldn't serve other women, which was always such a passion of mine, until I learned to serve myself, and so hence that's when I began my own self-help journey and I started doing the hard work of really acknowledging what I deeply craved for myself.
Speaker 2:I began by taking really small steps, small action, steps towards the life that I had always dreamed of. I poured into myself, fueling my body with things that brought me joy and choosing to find the positives in situations that sometimes felt hopeless. I learned to implement subsystems like a kick-ass morning routine. That was one of the very first systems that I adopted, that I implemented, and I implemented it just with fidelity and integrity and was really true to myself. In the process that really gave me the structure that helped me to streamline my energy, I built a confident, joyful, fulfilling life for myself, one step at a time.
Speaker 2:I really found my faith me my faith. Knowing what a journey it was, full of peaks and valleys, knowing that there's so many women out there who were in my place that really desired so much more from themselves, their lives, their work and their communities that I had to share that with other women who may not have the confidence or the courage or the know-how to be able to go after that life that they so desire. And so I knew it was sort of my calling to now share the impact with other people that wanted the same things but just didn't know how to get started on it. So that's why I started my biz.
Speaker 1:I love it. You know it's funny. I've known you for like a few years now and I didn't know any of that. Actually, and I'm laughing because to know you now is like what? Like you, you had no routine. That's crazy to me, with how productive and like you have your systems and they are like rock solid and you just, and your routines, like everything you do is so intentional that to think of you floundering out there just like with no routine is so strange to me.
Speaker 2:So that's so and I think part of what I was. You know, I had little things routines here and habits here but nothing really seemed to align. And I think that's where because I do naturally tend to lean towards organization systems, routines but they didn't. They weren't intentional I think that's the word that you just shared that it wasn't intentional. It wasn't about like a bigger picture, a greater thing that I was working towards, and so I think that's what really made the difference is, what do I want? And now, how do I align all those habits and routines to help me get there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean our stories are so similar. I mean you know mine and I. It's funny because my you know today that we're record. The day we're recording this podcast is the two year anniversary of the day I started really on my health and wellness journey and putting the same kind of thing, the systems and routines in place to live my best life. And when you said I was missing out, I mean that's literally what I said to my health coach, lisa, on our first call. Lisa, you know as well. And I said I have a beautiful life and I'm missing it. I'm missing it because I'm not happy with myself and I need like to get these intentional routines going. So it's just so. Again, I just don't know how I didn't know this about you. Our paths, I mean, are just so similar, so funny. Maybe that's why we connected so well, maybe that's why we're just destined to be together.
Speaker 1:Anyways, you are. I mean, you were already doing a lot of this coaching right With teachers and principals, and then it was just a matter of doing some things in your own life and now sharing that, but not with the teachers and principals, sharing it as a business coach for other women to help them.
Speaker 1:So you know what I'm gonna say. There are a billion cojillion business coaches out there and unfortunately it's starting to get a bit of a bad rap. A bad rap, and I guess there are so many. There are so many coaches out there and I can know from experience that you are not one of those. You know coaches that's going to be getting a bad rap Absolutely not because you are trained and you have experience. But I would love you to tell everybody else what sets you apart from all these other people claiming to be coaches.
Speaker 1:Maybe some of them are. Some of them are just claiming. So what sets you apart from these people?
Speaker 2:I love this question and the answer is something that I'm really proud of. So, yes, I have a background in education that's given me a unique perspective. I know how to teach. I know how to teach diverse learners. I'm really well versed in adult learning theory, inside and out. It's it's not just my education.
Speaker 2:I also, like you said, have the training and cognitive coaching years of training on how to actually coach, how to do how to help people change their behavior. And then I also have my life coaching certification, so I bring a comprehensive skill set to the table that allows me to connect with my clients on multiple levels. But I also have experience as a principal, leading a team over a hundred people, and from beginning to end. So that's from firing to hiring, you know, or hiring to firing. I've never been in between, you know of a high performing school with a demanding community who, you know, really, you know wanted nothing but excellence at our school.
Speaker 2:And so this experience, this real world leadership experience, that I can draw on all of those things and bring it to my coaching with my one on one clients. But honestly, I feel like the real game game changer in what truly sets me apart is that I've taken all of these aspects my education, my coaching expertise, my leadership experience and really crafted my own signature coaching approach. I call it leading yourself, leading your business and leading others. It's a three pillar system that allows me to have structure with my clients, but also flexibility within that framework to meet them exactly where they're at and address the needs that they have, which are so diverse for every single client. So I'll touch on those three pillars if that's helpful.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's what I was going to be. My next question Can you give us a little bit, you know, a little snippet of each of those pillars?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Leading yourself is all about nurturing your inner foundation, right Exactly what you and I just talked about. In our own personal journeys, we dive into mindset, habits, routines, self-care and your overall wellness, and it's crucial because personal growth is really at the root of all business success. And so we're not leading ourselves and showing up and doing the inner work, then nothing else matters, right? There's always going to be that piece that's missing. So I help my clients to learn how to lead themselves.
Speaker 2:And the second part of the pillar system to my coaching approach is leading your business. So this is the focus on your external aspects, such as your strategy, your systems, creating an exceptional client experience. It's all about building a well-structured business for growth and effectiveness, and I help them build a foundation so that their business can grow, you know, for five years and beyond. So we're not just building the system for now, but we're building that foundation leading your business, for the business that you want five years from now.
Speaker 2:And then the last one is leading others and this is about team leadership. It's about being a thought leader in your industry and it's about the impact that you make in your community. It's about becoming a leader not just in your business but also in a broader sense. So even if you don't have a team, how do you show up and be a leader for the community that you serve? So that's a little snippet of the three-pronged approach that I take to coaching with my one-on-one clients and really it's how I approach my business in general. You know it's always about mindset, it's in yourself, it's always about doing so. It's your business, or whatever it is that you're focused on, and then how you show up for others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean from working with you, I know that and I know this, that you know we come in to working with you with a very specific idea of what we want you to help us with. It's usually one like thing, and that is never where, and not that we don't get there, but that we don't just go okay and you don't just dive in and be like let's map out this offer. No, no, no, it really is like. Again, I can say from experience all of these other pieces that have to be there, and you're so good at knowing which one is missing at what time, because I remember coming on a call and being like, okay, we're supposed to be working on this offer and clearly I had done none of the homework and you were like, okay, shot us. So the plan for today was this, but I have a feeling there's something else going on and we got into it and it was a part of I can't remember, I know it was, but it was some some leading myself and some mindset and also some business things not not going well, and you, but you were so good at just knowing, when I showed up on the call, that it was just it wasn't. It wasn't it for today. So, like, you're just really good at picking up on those things with your clients and I I have.
Speaker 1:This three prong approach is just so amazing. It really does set you apart, because I think so many business coaches are just like, okay, how are we going to get you from, you know, 5k to 10k a month, and that's all they're focused on. But there's so much more to it, and being a happy business owner, I think, is so, so undervalued. Like, yeah, we're growing to whatever. Okay, you've grown to 20, 30 k months.
Speaker 1:Have you done it? Completely burning yourself out? Are you happy? Are you? You know, have you had to sacrifice some of your integrity? I don't know, maybe you haven't, but, like, a lot of people grow their businesses in a massive way and are completely burned out and then leave them behind because it's just not sustainable. So I love that the foundation is leading yourself, Okay. So I because I just talked about myself and you know, and our work together I know that this is something that I'm not the only one that has come to you with this, but for all the business owners like me who have all the ideas, I mean, they're bursting. We are bursting with the amount of ideas we have, pages and pages and documents and whiteboards and post-its of notes and offers and things we are ready to do no ability to take action on any of them. So what is your best advice for my fellow idea generators?
Speaker 2:without the action, I love this question always as well. When you've got a head full of ideas but struggle to take action, my best advice is to start by figuring out why you're stalling, so it goes back to the inner work, right. Most often than not, it's fear that's holding you back, and once you've identified why you're afraid, it becomes the first step in conquering, you know, taking action on all of those ideas. The second piece of advice is finding a system for getting those brilliant ideas out of your head, because a lot of times we keep them here and and and. It creates open loops in our brain, so it's constantly nagging at us, and so I always tell my clients and those that I work with that, remember, your brain is the generator of ideas, it's not a storage unit. So I highly recommend that.
Speaker 2:One tool effective tool for getting ideas out of your head that I use is mind mapping. It's a simple yet incredibly effective tool to transfer your ideas onto paper, and what's fascinating about it is that the structure of a mind map actually mirrors how your brain processes information, and so it's a game changer compared to a traditional list, and it's hard for people who are very linear thinkers and thrive on lists and bullet points, which that's me in a nutshell. But this allows you to open up the creative side of your brain, and so that's why I encourage and help my clients to use this as a tool. At least try it once. You know, it's never about the tool, it's about the process. Always for me, but that's what I recommend. If you've got them in your head and you don't have a system for getting them out, I recommend mind mapping.
Speaker 2:And then the last thing that I would say is find your people. Seek out a group of fellow business owners whom you trust. These are the people that you can comfortably share ideas and receive valuable feedback from. So you know the. They become your trusted you know advisors, friends, business colleagues. They help you move past those moments of inaction and give you practical ways to you know, take the action or help you with whatever is keeping you stuck. So finding your people is so critical. It's these three things identifying and tackling fear, using effective tools like mind mapping and having a trusted community. Those are the keys to overcoming procrastination, overthinking self doubt and, ultimately, the fear that often like lurks behind it all. You don't have to do it alone. There's a supportive community out there ready to help you turn your ideas into action.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like the fear I think really is it for most people, call it whatever you want imposter syndrome, self sabotage, whatever. It all comes from this fear of like, of success, almost like what if I actually do start to succeed, what will happen? People might ask me questions, and what if I don't know the answer? I think that's it. It's like or calling yourself an expert, but then you see this other person who really is the expert in your mind. You're like well, I'm not as good as them, so you know, and it's just so. Yeah, the fear I've just noticed is has been a huge thing for me and is what I see in so many people.
Speaker 1:The MyMap I love as a creative because it lets me do my thing, and the community, obviously I mean we don't have, like you know, as you know, entrepreneurs, small business owners with no, you know, working from home, with no colleagues. I mean there's nobody to have the chit-chats or the water cooler with, you know. So having that community, your Thrive Collective, is my. That's where my people are, and I have a lot of friends also on Instagram. People think that Instagram is like the nastiest place I have made. Well, you, I met you on Instagram, you know I've met some of the greatest people in my life on Instagram. So finding that community is so important and really making a PD and not just getting on there and being like why is nobody buying my stuff? Like create, talk to people, just it'll all happen.
Speaker 1:Just get with some other people and absolutely meeting. You need to bounce your ideas off of somebody, and it's just not always the people in your life who will understand. So I love all of that. Okay, one question that I got from somebody on Instagram for you was what's your best advice for work-life balance as an entrepreneur? And I feel like this question is so good for you, since you're balancing a nine to five, a coaching business, and you have another business that you haven't even talked about. So I mean, you have three businesses and you also, you know, are a mom and a wife and a, you know, a daughter, and all the things.
Speaker 1:So, what's that work-life balance advice for all of us?
Speaker 2:You know I always say that you can have it all, but you have to define what all means for you. So that's about finding what is truly important and those things become your non-negotiables and, before anything else, you make time and space for those things. You create boundaries around protecting those priorities and if you're a multi-passionate like me, you have to understand that. You know that your priorities are never in conflict. So some things will take precedence over others, depending on what your goals are at the time.
Speaker 2:One example is I just hosted my very first retreat and during that time the last 10 months I was planning that retreat I didn't spend a lot of time promoting my coaching business, because you also have to think about and one thing I've learned is that the universe will never give you what you over. Give you things that you don't have the energetic capacity for. So, even though I craved working for with one-on-one clients during that time, how was it even gonna be possible when all of my energy was focused on the bloom retreat and showing up for my nine to five? Really well, so it's about knowing what's important, defining what you're all is and then holding true to time and space for those things.
Speaker 1:I love that and that's what I said when I started on my you know health and wellness journey. I was like, okay, this is it. I can't add anything else into my business at this time. I just have to stick with the current stuff that I'm doing because I need to make more time and space for this. This has got to be my focus now.
Speaker 1:And I did set up very clear boundaries and I think that's a really hard thing to do, but once you do it, it's incredible. When you really like, put that stuff in your calendar as like an appointment with yourself. You know some people it'll be, you know, taking care of, like you know, doing a workout, and then time with their family, and then work fits in the rest of the time. To eat yeah, right, so I think that's going to be a perfect balance.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But it's a work in progress and if I think, if most days you can say, hey, I did like 75% of like what I wanted to do, today I think you're good. I mean I think we're really good, because like 100% balance is just like. I think it's a myth.
Speaker 2:I don't think you can. On a daily basis. You have the big picture of what those most important things are, those big priorities, but when you look at your schedule and you look at what's realistic, you can say you know of these three priorities, today I can make time for this and I know for you. That is your exercise that impacts so many other things in your life. So, yeah, it's just really again about knowing what's important and then understanding and giving yourself grace when you can't do it all. But being super clear on what it is that's important to you is so powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I heard a great analogy once that was like you can't, if you have three rocks to put in a jar, put the rock, like you can't put the sand in, and then fit those three big rocks in. But if you put the three rocks in first, then you pour the sand in and it fills the gaps. So it's like that with your schedule like put in your major priorities and then fit everything else in and your business can be a priority, but it fits into the block of time that is set for work.
Speaker 1:I'm still working on that because I have my workouts and I have my child time and then I try really hard to keep the work in the work time.
Speaker 1:Because I love it and so many of us do. But we didn't start these businesses for it to completely take over our lives, right? We did it for some more freedom. So, yeah, and one thing that I one tip that you gave have given me that I love, is the never ending to-do list. Putting the things into, not just having the list of all the things you wanna get done in a day, putting it actually into your calendar when you're gonna get it done, and not just leaving the giant to-do list in front of you every day.
Speaker 1:That was like one of the best tips. I mean again, just like these light bulbs go off and I'm like it's so simple, but like hello, it makes total sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's the simplest things that make the biggest difference. We know it's the tiniest things, the tiny steps, the tiny habits that lead to big transformational change. And so I've learned that a big, massive to-do list is great for getting those ideas out of your head, but it can be very overwhelming when you literally have an hour and a half designated for work that day. You know, there's sometimes when I show up and my calendar is like zoom after zoom after zoom, and I have a million and one things on my to-do list. But I have to go into the day knowing I've got 30 minutes here and 45 there. What can I realistically get done? Put those things in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and leave the rest of it somewhere else and actually just take I think you've said before, and I agree with this like three Maximum three to-dos, but also put the block, them into your calendar. Anyways, I just thought that was a great tip for me. So I want to share that you have shared and I want to share it with everybody because I always just you, just have so much wisdom in that beautiful brain. I just want everyone to be able to benefit from it. So, on that note, a few quick answer questions that I like to ask each guest, and then I want you to tell everybody how they can work with you so that they can experience your brain. But first so you've kind of said this, but what's one thing you do every day, or most days, that helps you live your best life?
Speaker 2:For me it's checking in with my mindset. So, whether that is just five minutes of quiet time when I wake up in the morning to just check in, how am I feeling, what are my goals, what do I need today? Or sometimes it's a little bit more lengthy, where I do a meditation or I do some journaling to get my mind in check, because nothing else matters to me, nothing else goes well if my mindset's not in check. So if I don't do that check in, I make poor decisions about my health, my relationships, my work and my priorities. So for me it's is my mindset in chat. Do I have my eye on the prize? Do I know what I'm focused on today and that helps me every single day to be as successful as I possibly can? It's not perfect, but that's what works for me.
Speaker 1:Well, and you are very successful every day that I see you. So best advice you've ever been given, or advice you would give to your younger self.
Speaker 2:So I think the thing that I would tell my younger self is to trust yourself. You have everything inside you to achieve what you want and to live the life that you desire. So just trust. And I think that is what I would tell my younger self so she could learn it way back then, so that I would not have to keep revisiting that as an adult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel that I think we all could use that advice. Okay, and lastly, your favorite quote.
Speaker 2:Because you know I'm a learner. One of my favorite quotes is by John Maxwell of reflection turns our experience into insight. So I'm a very reflective person just on my own. But I also value the feedback from those that I serve, because I think it's how I learn and grow. It's how I get better at showing up for myself and showing up for others. So reflection turns your experience into insight.
Speaker 1:I love that. So I mean I'm a very reflective too, but I think a lot of people are getting better at it, but some people really aren't and you're like, have you, have you ever thought about how, how you come on? Let's do some reflection, Because, yeah, I mean the ends and some people just don't want to hear. You know the few. It's hard, it's hard to hear you know, anything negative, even if it is just trying to be helpful feedback, but that's a great one.
Speaker 1:I've never heard that one, so I love that. That's a new one. Okay, tell the people how they can find you, how they can work with you. Give us all the goods.
Speaker 2:Well, you can find me on Instagram at faith Marie co.
Speaker 2:My website is faith Marie cocom, and three offers or three ways that you can work with me right now is my one on one coaching, which I've got space and time, now that the bloom retreat is over, for the next several months.
Speaker 2:One on one coaching is a flexible, goal oriented approach, so it's really designed to help you uncover what's holding you back from whatever you desire. So we create a custom plan to overcome any obstacles on your past so that you can have that joyful, thriving life and business you mentioned earlier. Thrive collective is my membership, so it's an empowering community for ambitious, heart led women who want accountability, support and the tools to help them stay on track with their biggest goals and enjoy limitless growth. Right. And then one another favorite of everybody's if one on one coaching isn't a good fit or the it's not the right time, you can always borrow my brain, which is a 90 minute deep dive session to help you focus on one key issue or area of growth or focus for you to take action in your business. So we develop a strategy to help you move forward on whatever that goal is, with confidence and joy.
Speaker 1:And I can say I've done all of these. I have had coaching with you, I'm currently in the thrive collective and I've also followed up after coaching with a borrow your brain that was fantastic, so I can say all of these services are top notch, friends.
Speaker 1:Okay, so get in there, sign up. Faith has got space, so then you can have more access to her incredible brain. She has just so much goodness to share. I know that you will love it as much as I have. That is a wrap for today. Thank you so much for listening faith. Thank you so much for being here. That was so helpful, and I appreciate you so much for taking the time to speak with me so that everyone can benefit from you. I will see you next Wednesday, everybody. Thanks again, bye, bye.