Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
117. Going Out on a Limb: How Moving to Spain Gave This Working Mom the Balance She Craved
Imagine swapping your daily grind for an international adventure! Stephanie May Wilson has turned her dream life into reality under the sunny skies of Granada, Spain. Stephanie dives into how this bold move wasn’t just about chasing sunsets but strategically reshaping her family’s future, slashing living costs, and aligning her work with her deepest passions.
She gets real about the nitty-gritty of life adjustments, from cultural shifts to juggling business hours across continents- and it’s not always glamorous. So, if you’re pondering a leap towards your own slice of freedom or just need a little nudge to make a big life change, this chat is just the ticket.
Tune in and get inspired to sketch your own map to wherever ‘better’ is for you.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/stephanie-may-wilson
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Stephanie’s Courses on Relationships
Shanna Guest on Stephanie’s Podcast: Relationships & Money
I recently was reading a book to my kids, and heard a Chinese proverb that I'd never heard before. Not that I'm, like, super well versed on Chinese Proverbs, but it was a Chinese proverb I heard it for the first time, and it said, The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Things grow over time. They compound over time, to use a financial word, and something that you're starting today is going to be very small today, but 10 years from now, it's going to be big, and you can rest your life on it in a way that you can't today. And so I feel like my advice for myself and everybody else is like, get those seeds in the ground ASAP and start taking care of them. Don't wait. You
Shanna Skidmore:music you're listening to, consider the wildflowers the podcast episode 117 today we're jetting off to Granada, Spain with the fearless and fabulous Stephanie may Wilson. Stephanie isn't just an entrepreneur. She's a guiding light for women navigating what she dubs the everything era, from best selling books to her chart topping podcast girls night, Stephanie has helped over a million women navigate the messy, beautiful balance of career, marriage and motherhood. Today, we're pulling back the curtain on Stephanie's boldest move yet, uprooting her life and moving to Spain in search of the elusive work life balance we're all chasing. She's here to give us the honest truth about how this big move has reshaped her business, her family life, and her approach to those ever blurring lines between personal and professional worlds, whether you're contemplating your own big leap or just looking for inspiration to take your business to the next level. This episode is the perfect dose of motivation and real talk. Let's dive in. Hey, it's Shanna, and this is consider the wildflowers the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear 1000s of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the real behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout and those of utter victory. Or, as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering But not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them, and the journey to building the brands they have today, stories that will inspire and reignite, encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome mom, flower. I'm so glad you're here. Good morning. Stephanie, well, I guess it's not morning for you. Hi. Welcome to the show.
Stephanie May Wilson:Hi, thank you. It is one o'clock pm in Spain, where I am right now. We had our daylight savings time yesterday, and it's gonna take me weeks to catch up. Like, what
Shanna Skidmore:in the world? Okay, so we're in fall back. Wait, I'm like, when do we fall back all the time, like, time zones, time changes, all the things. It's a whole like, have you seen those time converters on the internet where you're just like, I do that all the time. Oh, yeah, I have,
Stephanie May Wilson:I have to do that. I literally just looked up right before we hopped on. What time is it in eastern time right now?
Shanna Skidmore:Most of your business right is still in the States. Yeah, yeah. So you're, it's so funny. I had a team member who is just in Central time, I'm in Eastern Time, and that one hour, like, threw me off. I'm like, wait, because all my dubsado calendar stuff was scheduled in Central Time. And I was just like, I'm so thrown off right now. So it was like, duplicate on my Google Calendar, and it would say my time, and then I would say, and then the time in Central time, because it was scheduled in Central time, you know? And so I'm just like, this is hard. Time Zones are hard, so they're so hard, but we made it. We're here. Okay, tell um, tell everybody, like, about Spain and who you are, and then, just like, you live in Spain now. So before we kick off your business journey and all the things, this is a huge shift for you, and I'm, I love it. So tell everybody why you moved to Spain.
Stephanie May Wilson:So I'm Stephanie. I am married to a great guy named Carl. We've been married for just over 10 years. I am mom two identical twin girls, Annie and Quinn, who are about to turn four. And I've been doing my business, you know, teaching courses, doing a podcast, writing books, since it depends on, kind of when you start, either 2012 or 2014 kind of depending on, on where we where we call the beginning. And we moved to Spain for so many reasons. We moved about three months ago over the summer, and this has been I studied abroad in Spain in college, and it was just an enormous like awakening season for me, like I just grew and changed and had so much fun in in that semester that I was studying abroad. And I love Spanish so much, and I just, I feel like Spain is this home for me, that like, like I have Spanish blood, but I don't actually have any Spanish blood. Blood, like zero Spanish blood, but my heart is Spanish, so I love it. I always, I just always wanted to move back and it, like a whole bunch of things, just kind of came together at the exact right time in the exact right way. We're actually here with my very best friend and her family, which is so fun and I mean, part of it was, was wanting just a break from Life is hard in the US right now, I feel and so we just needed, like, a mental health break, to just get away for a little while. And then also, you know, part of the thing that makes life hard is how hard it is to be a parent, a working parent, and the cost of childcare in particular. And so that was one thing that took our conversation from like, Wouldn't it be fun to move to Spain someday, to know, actually, what if we did this soon? Because we are able to send our girls to school now, like they're old enough for school here, whereas we would have a little bit more time before we could do that for free in the US. So we're saving, like, an unbelievable amount of money by moving to Spain. So we're here for a year. Dot, dot, dot. Maybe two. Who? Who knows, but, yeah, we live in Granada, in the southern part of Spain, and it is wonderful.
Shanna Skidmore:Okay, what does your husband do? What's his job so that he could also move to Spain.
Stephanie May Wilson:That's I forget to, I forget to, like, talk about this like people are like, so do you work like, what is what? How do you do this? So we made a lot of decisions in the last 10 years of our life, almost with this in mind. Like, we both knew that we really loved to travel and that we wanted to have flexibility, and so we both turned down and walked away from, like, much more traditional paths at a bunch of different venture like, a bunch of different turning points and even moments where we're like, being a business owner stinks, like, I don't want to do this anymore, but we would be like, No, but let's hold on, because we want that freedom and flexibility to be able to do what we want, kind of having this in the back of our head. So Carl has two business partners, and they own a marketing and branding firm. And so they help mostly small businesses and startups or companies who are sort of doing a big shift like tell the story of who they are through their messaging, their website, their branding. They are fantastic at it. It is so it is amazing to watch them, but they're able. His business partners are incredibly supportive, and they just were like, do it. And he does a lot of he works like kind of crazy hours at this point, but so he has a lot of clients that he has to see or, like, you know, chat with. So he's, he works late, but he's also a total night owl, so it doesn't bother him, like, at all. Yeah,
Shanna Skidmore:okay. So yeah, so many questions. Stephanie, we're so off script, but I was like, so many questions. So how so you're both working from home, then, yeah, and you have your twin girls. So are you just like, during school hours for you? How are you? Like, yeah, doing this.
Stephanie May Wilson:So yes. So school hours for the girls here are nine to 230 and so we get them up in the morning, we walk them to school together, and then we Carl and I just, like, start our day. I like to work out kind of in the city, but sometimes I'll work at home. And he either works at home, like, actually in our apartment, or he got a co working space here, and so we work like he doesn't. He's not as deep into work during the school day. He'll do like, errands also, or, you know, kind of like life, you know, figuring out visa stuff, or just like, whatever our to do list is. He'll do some of that during the day, but I'm like, working hard from nine to 230 ish, then we walk to go get the girls together and then bring them back home, and then I'm usually on with them until about seven, and he he will be doing calls most of that time, and then he'll get off at seven. We'll do bedtime together, and then we'll either hang out for the rest of the night or he'll hop back on calls. And he really is, like a night owl. So he works. He works a lot right now, but they're just in a really big season of growth and doing really well at, you know, in their in their company, and so it's like, he's like, I can't, I can't work this many hours in a day, forever. But right now, this is good, and it's broken up by I mean, we are more social here than we have been in, like, years, and we spend so much time out and doing fun things. And so I feel like we have a lot of life balance, considering the fact that he works as much as he does. And then I, you know, my girls are starting to get a little bit older, so I'm able to do some work once they get home from school, while they're, you know, watching Daniel Tiger or something like that, I'm able to, like, finish up a couple things. So yeah, and
Shanna Skidmore:tell me how you convinced your best friends to move with you Spain. Oh my gosh. So
Stephanie May Wilson:it helps that my best friend and I studied abroad it together. So she also loves Spain. She also speaks Spanish. She also has always wanted to come back, but it was her husband. Her husband doesn't speak Spanish. He didn't study abroad, but he they watched a ton of travel videos during COVID about families moving abroad and doing different things. And he was like, I think I want to do that. Like, what if we did this? He, yeah, his he's a realtor, but also does real estate investing. And so right now, the market is kind of weird for selling, buying and selling houses. And so it's like, not really that bad of a time for him to be gone and he can manage rental properties and stuff like that from here. But yeah, it just, I mean, it was like the perfect, wonderful storm that managed to get all of us, we have four kids, a dog, like two husbands, two wives, all of us to Spain. Yeah,
Shanna Skidmore:this is what entrepreneurship, I mean. So many of us started businesses to do something we enjoy, yes, and also for the freedom it provides. And you're like, doing it. You're doing it. You identified that travel matters to you, and you're doing it.
Stephanie May Wilson:We said, we said that, like, over and over and over again. We're like, we turn we have to do this at this point, because there were years where we would have made more money if we would have worked for somebody else, or where we would have, like, had worked less if we worked for somebody, you know, we just, we've done this for the freedom. It's time to cash it in, you know, oh, my
Shanna Skidmore:goodness, I love that you said that, and I love that you've held that. Do you know, there's a statistic, I wish I knew the number about, like, how many people do not use their vacation time in the States? Like, it is big. It's like a big number of people who don't use their vacation time. And I feel like we in the same with entrepreneurs. Like, how many of us started for the reason we want to travel, or we want to live in Spain for a year? We want to do this and that, and it's so easy. I mean, I know I'm guilty of this. I don't want to blame you know, all of you listening you maybe you're great at it, but I know sometimes you can lose sight of like, We're doing this for these reasons. Let's actually cash it in, like, I love how you said that, and that's probably what's kept you motivated in seasons when entrepreneurship was hard. Oh yeah,
Stephanie May Wilson:yeah, that, I'm glad you said that, because that, like, tripped something in my head. I totally wouldn't have remembered to talk about, but I knew I wanted to live in Spain at some point. I knew, like, free, locational freedom, was so important to me, and always has been. And so, yeah, I think that there were times, and there were times like, my husband's a little bit more like, on the responsible, realistic side of the spectrum, like we both dream, we both take risks, blah, blah, blah, but he's like, a little bit more on the, you know, making sure that we have a roof over our head, um, side of things. And so there were times where I was like, what if he What if it is unrealistic to travel. What if it is unrealistic to move somewhere? And I'm like, well, it's not unrealistic if we have the money to do it. And so, like, I'm going to put my head down and I'm going to hustle so that we can do the fun things we want to do. But also, you know, have some money for retirement as well that. I mean, that's kept me motivated for a decade.
Shanna Skidmore:Yeah, okay. Oh, I want to back up, but before we do, I just have to ask one last question, how has work been different? Like, culturally, you said, like life in the States feels hard right now, and we can unpack that a little bit more, but culturally, just with work. How have you seen your own work shift, like being in Spain now? Do you feel like, like you said you're doing more social things. Is there kind of a difference in the way work looks in Spain? Does that make sense? Like, culturally? Yeah,
Stephanie May Wilson:I think it's, you know, I hate to paint with a broad brush, because I know that. Like, obviously, this is not describing everybody, but it does feel like work is less important here, that people work to live instead of live to work and and that doesn't like touch us necessarily, because we don't have co workers here or whatever. But like, that's, that's kind of the general sense. One thing that's been really surprising to me, as someone who does love to work from like coffee shops or whatever, is like Spanish people, at least in Granada, do not do that. Like coffee shops do not want you to have your laptop out there. Like, sometimes signs that say, like, laptop X through it, and it's because they like you look around like Luke diner. It is like Luke's diner. Yes, people want like, they'll have their phones out sometimes, but it's like people are there to eat and drink and talk with their friends. And so I've, like, really, truly, the only place that I can, like, have my laptop out and just park it for the day is Starbucks. So I and there's one in town, so I, like, go to Starbucks and just park it there. So that's, like, just kind of a crazy difference, because Nashville, it's like, everywhere people are just laptops out, like, so that's one thing. But then I think, for me, personally, one thing that's been challenging, which we'll talk about this I know soon, is in moving here. This was the first time that we had a traditional kid summer, meaning, like, like, one. Never navigated the fact that most schools don't go through the summer. So you just have to, like, do your job and take care of your kids somehow at the same time, all over the whole summer. And I'm like, this is there is a design flaw here, but so, I mean, I didn't mean to take off months when we moved here, and really, like, I didn't want to, and it wasn't financially or, like, work wise, good idea, but someone had to take care of our kids, and it made more sense for it to be me, and so, like, I didn't get a lot of work done for a long time when we first got here. So in that way, I feel like it hasn't the transition was hard on my work. But something that's really cool is, you know, I'll wake up in the morning and I'll be groggy and tired and want to get back in bed, but we walk the girls to school. And within like, 30 seconds of being out in the city and like, smelling Spain and feeling the air and hearing the sounds, it just wakes up my senses in like, and I don't want to get back in bed like I'm excited, it just is so inspiring to me every single day and energizing. And I just, I just didn't, I don't know. I just didn't know to expect that. I
Shanna Skidmore:love it. I You're just so inspiring. I just think, for me, just listening to to you, like, live out your dream. I mean, it's inspiring. Stephanie, good for you. Like, it tears me up a little bit, because I think it is so easy to be. Like, I started my own business for freedom, and yet I'm not free, or I'm not living my version of freedom, or I'm not pursuing that, or let that you know what I'm saying, and so you chose it. And like, I'm sure it wasn't easy. I'm sure it wasn't easy to take the summer off. I'm sure it wasn't easy to, like, move your whole business to a new country, yellow time zones alone, as we have mentioned, is hard, but you're doing it. Okay? Stephanie, this is exciting. Okay, let's back up a little bit. Just tell me about your background and how your business got started. Like, what was the initial you said? Kind of 2012 kind of 2014 like, taught me through that. Like, how did it start? What did you think you were going to do? And just walk me through the beginning stages?
Stephanie May Wilson:Yeah. So in college, I went to school for broadcast journalism, and I loved it. Like, could not wait to graduate, could not wait to get a job. Just loved it. But, like, while I was studying abroad towards the end of college, I met Jesus in the Sistine Chapel in Rome again while I was studying abroad, like a whole thing. But obviously that changed my life a ton. And shortly after that, I had the opportunity to do like a humanitarian trip for the first time, and and I just it was so crazy because that, that, you know, falling in love with God and His people and His work in the world was so profound for me that it immediately eclipsed completely my passion for journalism. And it was like, it wasn't like, I couldn't deny it, I couldn't get around it. I couldn't fix it. Like, I just my heart for journalism was gone, and it sucked, like that. I was not happy that that happened, especially, like, not right before graduation, which is really when, which is really when it happens. When you want to know what you're gonna do with your life, oh yeah, 100% and you're like, Oh, cool. Like, I'm about to get this diploma that everyone's paid a lot of money for, and I'm not going to use it. So I, you know, was feeling really lost towards the end of college. Have I had, you know, most of a journalism degree and then all of a journalism degree under my belt? And, you know, I was a, I was a baby Christian, and I was trying to figure out, like, who I was and what that meant, and I got involved in a college ministry, like, really, my last year of college, and the pastor was so wonderful that he saw something in me, and he offered me a part time unpaid internship, which sounds like not very much. I mean, it paid absolutely zero, literally, but it was so profound to me to be recognized that maybe there was something in me, like for, you know, leadership or ministry, that like he saw something in me. And so he said, you know, stick around your college town for another year. Do this? Do this internship, work in this ministry, and just kind of see, like, what God does. And so that year, my position in the ministry was leading a Greek ministry. I had been in the Greek system all the way through college, and I was the only person in the ministry that spoke fluent sorority girl, and everyone else, I think, was like intimidated, like kind of scared. And so I led a small group of 27 sorority girls, and every Sunday we would get together and we would talk about life and God and and the decisions we're trying to make, and the relationships in our lives, and and then all week, I would go to coffee with each of the girls, and I loved it so much. I just I loved it like I'd never loved anything. And I knew I was like, This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And then God had another curve. Of ball for me. And I was at dinner, and a friend of mine mentioned, she said, Hey, have you heard of this trip? It's a mission trip, and you go to 11 countries in 11 months. It's called the world race. And I just, I'm looking into it. And I was like, okay, and I left the coffee date or the dinner or whatever, and immediately googled the trip. And I was like, I cannot unhear something like that, because, like, if you choose, if you make me choose what I love more women's ministry or travel. Like, please don't make me choose. Because I just don't, I don't know if I can. And so I ended up applying, just kind of on a whim, to do this trip. And I, you know, got accepted. And so instead of I, you know, looking into going to seminary, I wanted to do ministry full time forever, but I was like, okay, maybe I can take a year, like, before I get into all that and do this trip. And it was while I was on that trip, the organization that puts on the trip gives you a blog and says, like, hey, just keep this blog. It's great for fundraising. Is great for marketing, like all the things. And I was like, okay, like, I'll write as I go. And it was so cool, because as I'm doing this one, my journalism skills are being suddenly used again. The things that I'm writing about were personal. And you know what I'm learning and where God is, and all of it. It was women's ministry. So it's this perfect combination of the two. I realized that I love to write. I didn't know that and that I actually was, like, decently good at it. And it just was this total combination of like, oh my gosh, this is my thing. And so when I came back from that trip, I started my own blog, and I couldn't wait to, like design it myself, and have it feel and look like me. And so I started my own blog, and that, I mean, I've been doing that in, you know, evolving forms ever since. So that was in 2012 but then in 2014 so when I got back from the trip, I'm doing my blog, but I was also hired by the organization to come on and do, like marketing with them. And so I moved down to Georgia. I'm from Colorado. I had never been anywhere in the south, and I moved to, like, a small town in Georgia. Like, where am I
Unknown:good here? Wait, where
Stephanie May Wilson:was it? Gainesville, Georgia. Okay, yeah, so it's like an hour north of Atlanta, so I get there and I'm thinking, Okay, I'll be here for like six months. I'm working on my blog. I'm doing some work here. And then the first day, I met a guy named Carl Wilson who ended up being my person and so, so, I mean, at that point, you know, we're both working in marketing, we're thinking, like, this is great. We have a great community. I'm growing my blog on the side, but then three months before our wedding, we both got laid off from our job. Stop it on the side. It was great and but great. I mean, not great. They
Shanna Skidmore:just, did you see that coming? No,
Stephanie May Wilson:it was like absolutely out of nowhere. And it's just, business is hard. Ministries are hard. And it's especially hard when, like, the world of ministry, of, like, nonprofits, is hard, because in sometimes you're a family and sometimes you're a business, and everyone's not always on the same page, about, like, when you're each and so I think, I think this is totally a side note, but like, since then, I'm, that's what birthed, I think, my passion for business, because I like that. The proposition is clear. It's it's like, you know, if an idea is good, because people buy it, and then if it's not good enough, people won't buy it. And then you fix it, you make it better, and you hire enough people to work with you to do the thing. Like, I just it, yeah, I just, I started to really love business after that experience. So we are getting married in three months. We're trying to figure out what we're doing with our lives. We I'm still blogging, but I'm like, this is not, this was not supposed to be my full time job yet. I'm not ready for that. Was this? Like, What year was this? 2014 2014 Yeah. Okay, so right before our wedding, we got together with this couple who were basically both ahead of us in the careers that we wanted to have. And we're talking to them, we're like, what would you guys do? And they said, What if you what if you moved to Nashville and Stephanie, you can be a writing assistant for her, and then Carl, you and I can put together like a marketing company. And so we're like, Okay, so that's what we did. So all of a sudden, we moved to Nashville, right after our wedding, with a, really a half a job between us, like I, they were paying me to do some writing. Carl was sort of doing this kind of startup thing with her husband, and so we did that for about six months, and still on this item, growing my blog, I'm growing my blog. And then about six months later, right before, it was a couple months before our first anniversary, they we went to lunch, and they said, You know what, we it's not you, it's us, but we, yeah, we need to you. To part ways. And I think there was some like, we don't want to hold you back. And we're like, no, please hold us back. Because, like, we have no idea what we're doing. We just need to make some money somewhere. Yeah, and so we lost our second set of jobs before our first anniversary. Together at the same time, together at the same time. Yes, here we go. Oh my gosh. So we, we come home and that, that was the day that I was like, Yeah, I want to do this by myself. I don't want to rely on someone else. I don't want to partner with someone else. Like, I'm fine partnering, but like, I need, I need clear lines. I need a fence around my property. To be like, This is mine. I need to make some rules. I need to, I just, I don't want to live on rented land anymore, and so we so both Carl and I just started pursuing our own thing, and we're like, I mean, there's no better time to do this. We had two house plants, no dogs, no cats, no pets, no kids, no anything. We just started kind of trying to figure out what we wanted to build, and started building it and that. So that started, really at the very beginning of 2015,
Shanna Skidmore:okay, okay. And then tell me So Carl went branding, starting an agency, doing his thing. And then tell me, like, how did you figure out what you're going to sell and what you're going to offer? How, I mean, was it monetizing the blog, you know, talk me through the next steps, yeah. What did you offer? How did you price it? How did you figure all that out? Yeah.
Stephanie May Wilson:So I one of the coolest things about my blog had always been that people would write me emails and they would tell me, like, this is how this impacted me, or like, this is what I learned, or this is what I'm going through. What would you do? And I just loved it. I loved it. And so one of the things that I was getting asked about the most was singleness and dating. And I knew how I knew how hard that was, because I had just been through it, and that really has been my guiding, my like my mission statement for for my whole life, really, but absolutely for my business, is Be who you needed when you were younger. And I think about that all the time. And so at the time, who I needed when I was younger was someone to walk me through singleness and dating, and particularly at the time, like what that looks like in a church context. Because I find, and I still maintain, that the Church gives awful dating advice, like so bad, terrible, terrible dating advice. And I was talking to so many women who are like, Well, I haven't, like, talked to a guy in like, seven years, but I keep waiting for God to, like, drop my husband on my doorstep. And I'm like, okay, and like, Am I not a good Christian enough? Because he hasn't done that yet? And I'm like, Okay, there's like, 15 things wrong here. Let's back this all up and talk through this. And because there's a different path through let me walk you. And so that was one of the things that I was doing so much in these emails. And so I thought, what if I at the time, also I was starting to be exposed to some with some women who were in this space, who were teaching about business online. And I thought, Okay, well, like, really, what I wish I could do is have a small group with everybody who reads my blog, but, like, locationally, that's not possible. So what can I do instead? Well, I guess, like, you know, someone does a course, so maybe I do some, like, videos and a worksheet or something. And so the very first thing that I did was my course called Love, your single life, and I opened it up for like three days. I taught it live on Facebook, live, and I made all the PDFs on like Word, and then exported them. And I had, like, 1415, I had 48 girls sign up. It's amazing. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so awesome. And so, so that was my first that was $50 so that was my very first course. And I did take a little bit of a detour after that, because I thought, I don't know that I want singleness and dating to be like. My only thing that's something that's been, that's been hard for me throughout the years, is trying to like I trying to explain or identify or even understand myself, what my exact thing is because it's kind of broad, and so I instead put like, six months into this giant course about identity that I was so excited about that I charged a lot more for, I can't remember, it was like in the 300 somewhere, and I took 40 women through it. But because I hadn't beta tested it, I realized that I had gotten women into like, some too deep territory for what a course, like, they were getting, like, discouraged and kind of quitting halfway through. And so, like, I was like, This is not okay. I should have tried this out a couple times before I set it in stone and recorded it with as much like permanence as I did. But so, so then after that, I was like, Okay, well, let's get back to this love, your single life stuff. Because I really, really know that, and I know that my system, like really works. And so at this point, I've taught the course for eight years. We've had more than 7000 women go through it, and the stories of what God has done through it are just like so beyond me, like the marriages the baby. Babies, the adoptions, the leave it all and move across the world, the jobs, the best friends. I mean, it is so cool. And so that's just been one facet of my business. But along the way, the other thing that's been happening is, and really my first product. It was, while we were working with that couple, I started thinking about, like, you know, I want to write a book someday, and I had this story of how I met Jesus in Sistine Chapel. And, like, it's a it's a story. And I thought that that would be like my book that I wrote one day in the future when I was, like, 40, like, I thought that's when I would be old enough and wise enough to maybe write a book. And they were like, okay, so no, that's not your final book, that this is your first book, and really you should write it and give it away as an opt in gift. It should be a freebie. And so I was like, okay, so I wrote it in 2014 and I released it at the end of 2014 and it's a little long for an ebook, but it's like a little short for actually, I have a copy of it. It's a little short for a traditional book. It's like 130 pages, so it's like, not super thick, but it fits great in stockings. And so I had people reach out to me. It's called the lipstick gospel so, and it's the it's, this is exactly we have not changed it one bit, which is so crazy. So we had people reach out to us immediately and go, like, Hey, I would love to give this as a Christmas gift. And I mean, it was like, eight people. I didn't have very many people on my email list at the time, like 3000 maybe. And so I was like, Carl, do you know how to make this into a book? And he was like, Yeah, I think so. So we stayed up all night and designed it and made it into a book, and we printed it on demand. And so then that's like, I created this little like E commerce shop to sell it. And that was the beginning of this whole world on, you know, aside from courses, since then, I have written and self published, like eight other books, journals, like really beautiful journals. We've done a couple of those, and it's been this. I knew at some point I wanted to write books, but I also knew again, that I wanted to build on my own land, and I didn't want to be, like, hustling for someone else to approve of me, or, like, let me in the let me in the door. I watched so many friends and, you know, peers like, go through so much trying to get a publishing deal and just like, Get Paid peanuts and have a terrible experience, and, like, nobody wanted their work, and they felt so discouraged by that. And I was like, I just don't want to go through that. We sort of accidentally figured out this self publishing thing at the beginning. Let's just keep doing that. And so we did that for years. And it actually wasn't until this last spring that I, like, actually traditionally published a book, which I have the other one here too. So this is my one that came out in April. The life you love, yeah, and it's fun because my husband did the cover of this one too. I
Shanna Skidmore:love it. Will you read the subtext? What's the subtitle? Yeah,
Stephanie May Wilson:it says, How to quiet outside voices you can finally hear your own.
Shanna Skidmore:I love it. Stephanie, that's so that's
Stephanie May Wilson:that process of writing that book was really cool too, because, like I said, it's been hard to figure out what the overarching thing is. And that was it like, let's help people quiet outside voices so they can finally figure out what they actually want to do with their lives. Because there are so many people telling us so many different things, and ultimately, like we're the ones who have to live with the consequences of the decisions we make. So we might as well start making some intentional decisions so we can start living a life that looks like us.
Shanna Skidmore:So now you have it started with the blog you were growing your newsletter. Is that how you kind of like, okay, so you got your audience with the newsletter. It was, it sounds like Christian women or kind of from your faith background. But how did it, how did it grow like? How did you start meeting people? Was it social media? Was it word of mouth? Were you like? How did you build your own marketing in this? I mean, because 2015 if you had 3000 people on your email, I mean, that was, that wasn't tiny. I mean, you know, maybe compared to what you have now. But like starting out, people in 2015 weren't talking as much about newsletter. So I know, how did you grow your audience?
Stephanie May Wilson:Um, a lot of it has been word of mouth in in 27 so I blogged for a long time, and that was something that people kind of passed around to friends like, Well, okay, I learned something here. You should read this too. In 2017 though, I decided to start a podcast, and that has been just this cornerstone of our community. It's called Girls Night, and at it, we talk about everything you talk about at a girls night. So like all of life and what that looks like for us as women, how to make decisions and weather transitions. So a lot of people would find out about me from the podcast. You know, passing it on, a lot of it has been word of mouth, but really the one of the main engines behind my growth has been paid ads. And it was when I started I sort of stumbled into the funnel thing, like, I'm not exactly. Sure how I don't remember someone like, explicitly teaching it to me. I think I watched, I think I, like, went through a couple other people's email funnels, and was like, oh, okay, I think I could do this. So I put together an email funnel specifically for my course, love your single life. And in the six weeks leading up to it, I would run, I would, like, run ads. And it started out, I mean, this is in 2015 it started out with boosted posts, and then I started to get a little fancier with it, and started, like, targeting, like, you know, doing some targeting. And I did it myself for a long time. And it was, like, the glory days where you could get, yeah, like, I mean, everything was, like, leads were cheap, and it was, it was great. So a lot of my, like, I think a lot of my women now would say, if you're like, how did you find out about Stephanie? It would either be a friend or, like, years ago, I came across one of her, like, one of her ads. And so that was really doing that. I did it twice a year, and I would do a giant push before this launch. And so that was, like, you know, I would really grow my audience by a big chunk a couple times a year. And that was really, I mean, really big. And that's, that's how that was, like, our main revenue generator for for most of the last 10 years, which is also stressful, like, it's stressful to have your whole income come from two weeks a year. And so that's, yeah, it like, yeah, it's, it's a lot. It's interesting that we're talking and we can, we can keep going backwards. But as I was thinking about this conversation today, I was like, gosh, it's so interesting that we're talking right now. Because, I mean, I think everyone prefers to talk from the mountain top, you know, but right now, I'm totally in and starting to climb my way out of a valley that's been brought on by a whole bunch of different things, but, like, the last handful of years in business have honestly been really hard for me. And I think it's, I think part of it is that, you know, I became a mom four years ago of twins during a pandemic, and a lot of my extra everything, like, is no longer mine, yeah. And so
Shanna Skidmore:like, energy, money, yes,
Stephanie May Wilson:focus, like, just all of it. And then also our life got exponentially more expensive, like overnight, as we fully grasped what childcare was gonna cost to have it. And it was like, either we have childcare or either me or Carl quits our jobs. But even the math doesn't work on that, because, like, we need because we would make more by working than we would by staying home. So it's like the math just didn't really work out. So our life got like, I don't know
Shanna Skidmore:if you're unpacking this whole like, yeah, what type of Mom, how present do I want to be? Like, yeah, yeah, right there. Oh yeah, yes.
Stephanie May Wilson:So all of that's going on all at the same time, and then, because I was feeling like tighter financially, I stopped all my ads, and I turned off all of my automation. I did that actually in 2020 because I didn't want any emails going out on a bad day. And it felt like we just had so many bad days. And I just, like, I yeah, I just, I couldn't, I couldn't stand the idea that someone could be losing a family member, or, like, you know, something crazy happens in the world, like, again, you know, and someone gets, like, some fluffy marketing email. I'm like, I just can't take it, so I just, I turned them off and and then the last handful of years, as I've started to kind of come out of a little bit of the the motherhood fog, a lot of my effort has been going to some things that are really awesome and really worthwhile, like my book, like traditionally publishing. This year I got to a TED talk. I got to do, you know, a bunch of, like, different TV appearances and different like PR things. This last year, I got to join a great podcast network, like all of these things that, from the outside look really, really great, and are like credibility builders, I guess. But in the process of working on all of that and then having kind of the rest of my life and trying to, like, stay above water financially, and, you know, taking care of my family, I feel like my like revenue machine has, like, a really grind, grinded ground, grinded ground. I'm a writer. I promise to a halt
Shanna Skidmore:like I got nothing for you. I'm a math, I don't know. So
Stephanie May Wilson:it's crazy that, like, you know, this year has been arguably one of the most successful, outwardly, years of my life, but I'm having to relearn all over again. Like, wait, how does business work? And like, what do I want to be selling? And, like, the whole like, if you build it, they will come thing i I've always known that's not that's not true, but it's really, really, really not true. And so, like, kind of where I am at the moment is like, just doing a lot of reflecting and trying to figure out, like, Okay, so I've been doing this for a long time. Do, like, Am I still on the right track? And I think the answer is yes. Do I still love this? Yes. Is there anything any different, like, focus? No. But I think. Like, just because something looks shiny on the outside doesn't mean that it actually is, like, sustainable on the inside. And I think that that's really what the last couple years have been, is working really, really hard on things that, like, Don't the
Shanna Skidmore:business looks shiny. Yeah, okay, if I look at you, I'm like, wow, these are your best couple years in business. You're like, actually, a lot of great things have happened. But no, like, on the the business side, no, like, revenues down, and, yeah, no, it's not sustainable, right?
Stephanie May Wilson:And I think, I think that there's an idea that, you know, like a rising tide raises all ships. I totally believe that. And I, and I, you know people, I know a lot of people, and there have been some people that, like, notably, have really, like, bet the farm on books lately. Like, okay, well, if I have this book come out, it's gonna do so well, but you know, it's gonna be the best lead magnet I've ever had. And so many people will come in and buy my things, and if I do a TED talk, surely it'll go viral. And then, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's just like, I knew better than to think that those things were true. But I just wasn't spreading out my invest like, my investment of time, quite well enough to be like, Okay, I'm making sure that we're still making money over here while also working on these things. I love how
Shanna Skidmore:you just said, bet the farm. Like, I literally had to write that down because yes, and also, I want to encourage you, Stephanie, because I've been right there with you. I don't know if it's like you didn't I mean, hopefully you're not beating yourself up that you didn't have time. You, Yes, you bet the farm. But also like you had time to probably invest in one thing, or two things well, or your book, it's like you didn't have this is also interesting. I do want to circle back to so many things, so many things you could talk about, but 2020, I love that you followed your heart and did what you felt right about doing. I did the same thing. I don't know if you know, I took the year off. And ironically, I think for most digital course creators, that was one of their biggest years in business. I know you've probably heard this.
Stephanie May Wilson:Well, no, the thing that's crazy is it def I still, I still. I did launch a couple times during 2020, and, yeah, absolutely, it was my best year hands down, because everyone was stuck at home. But I did. There were some things that I like pulled down in the process that I never put back up. And that was like, yeah,
Shanna Skidmore:and building just building audience. That's what I've learned these last few four years. Just the difference of like, you have to have such a bigger audience, because there's, I mean, there's probably a ton of reasons why, but I think primarily, there's a lot more in the market now. And so to do what we used to do in 2014 2015 2016 all the way up until 2020. Takes like three to four times the amount of audience. And you said you stopped running ads. You stopped, you know, when revenue was down, you pulled back on ads like so it's almost like the thing that we needed, I'm in the set, you know, have been in a similar situation like you, to build that audience, build it bigger. We stopped doing so I'm right there with you. I'm, yeah, I'm also so interested just about, okay, we have to go into a quick fire. But before we do, I just here's all the things I'm still thinking about and why we need a 2.0 with Stephanie, the course like love your single life versus the bigger one you built that you said wasn't beta tested, I'd love, would you just say, and I'm gonna try to wrap it up in like a bow, would you say, the love your single life saw results for your audience, and that's why you feel like it Where's where you put your efforts, whereas the other one, it's too complex. People didn't get through it. Like, is that kind of like your if you had to give one takeaway for any course creators out there, I
Stephanie May Wilson:would say, beta test it. Beta Test it like. So, so my husband and I teach a course we it's, today is the first day of actually, it's called just married, and it's for newlyweds. And it's like, why do we just let people get married and go off into the sunset and never check in on them, about, like, how it's going. You're just so important. And so this is, this is doing that. It's sort of like premarital counseling, but for like, after your wedding, when you actually know what you need help with, but we still haven't. This is, this will be our third time teaching it. We are re recording it every time we teach it. Um, either doing it live, or this time it's not live, because time zones again, because we want to make sure that we really have it exactly the way that we want it before we, like, set up a real camera, or, like, bring anyone in to film and edit and do multiple shots, whatever, things like that. So forever, I'm going to be teaching things live, or, like, week to week, like, a handful of times before, yeah, before I record it. Okay? Because you just, you just don't know how it's gonna land, and you just get so much better at it each time that, like, by the time you really can it, you want to have it be the best it can be. And know what people this is so helpful.
Shanna Skidmore:That's what you mean by beta testing, right? Exactly like, get the results before you invest. Like developing the whole thing. Okay, last kind of question, even though I have a million more 10 years in business, and the last couple years have been great and hard, ish, what would you say? How are you regrouping? Like, did you sit down and, like you said, okay, am I still teaching lovers single? Is that the audience, is that where my audience is, yes or no? Like, is that where my heart is? Like, how are you regrouping after this kind of decade in business moving forward? Like, are you teaching different courses? Are these just questions you're asking? And how did you personally regroup? If you saw, like, does the business need to change? You know, I think these are questions we don't talk about a lot, but they happen. They happen at some point in business, like, so tell me just kind of, what are one or two ways that you found yourself figuring out your next steps and how you regrouped?
Stephanie May Wilson:So it's, it's been messy, and it's been, like, it's been a while, it's been a lot of the work that I've been doing since getting to Spain. Like, I had a lot of time to think, but not like when I was with my girls all summer, but like, not time to do anything. So that was tricky, but so it's been slow. It's been a slow asking myself questions, finding the answers. I've had a lot of conversations with people who really love me, who aren't even, like business experts always, but who just ask good questions, and they've given me the space to think and process. So it's just been a lot of that, a lot of like, kind of pulling and tugging and just sitting with it for a while and writing down anytime something comes to me that I'm like, That's true or like, I still really do like that. There's a book that I've been reading that has been fantastic. I haven't finished it yet, but it's called Grit. It's several years old. It's by Angela Duckworth. It's amazing, but it's about like, why people are successful. And I had a hunch this was true. I started thinking this about a year ago, that like, what if the people who are the most successful aren't the most talented or the most connected or whatever, but they're just the people who didn't give up, and that's, that's what she talks about. And so in some ways, I I've been trying to decide, like, what are the areas where I'm just not going to give up? And then also, how do I be wise about areas where I'm, like, I haven't liked this for a long time, or, like, this hasn't been working for me for a long time. So simultaneously, I feel like I'm in my dig my heels in, and like I'm not quitting on this. I'm going to iterate until I get it back, or I get it right, or I fix it, or I make something new, whatever. I'm digging my heels in in some places, and then in other places, I a little bit feel like I'm sort of in my in my Taylor Swift era, in the fact that I'm, like, doubling, coming all the way back around to I want to build on my own land. I don't want to do something that someone can change the algorithm and all of a sudden it shuts down, or I don't want to. I don't want to put my all my eggs in the Instagram basket and then have my account get deleted or hacked or something like I want to, I'm going to do this my way, because that's worked so far. So that's, that's kind of my simultaneous the things I'm sort of weighing and carrying right now. Okay,
Shanna Skidmore:and then last question with that in the last quick fire. Because Whoa, so good. Stephanie, this has been fun. I love hanging out with you, and we're such a very similar ish season of life. So so many things. What has kept you motivated? Like, why have you not been like, Ah, I think I'm just done. What do you come back to? Is it impact? Is it you love to travel and you want to make money do that building on your own land. I love that. Like, you want to work for yourself and you know you need to make money. Like, what has made you put in the grit? Like, to have to figure it out and not just be like, I think I want to be done. I think
Stephanie May Wilson:it's that we work so many hours every day, and I just don't want to do something I hate and that like, I just that's kind of been something that I just it's all of the reasons you said. It's impact. It's wanting freedom, it's wanting to be able to travel, it's wanting to be able to provide for my family. It's the fact that this is what I feel like, in my bones, I am meant to do like, this is part of my DNA. I just can't shake it. But I think, like at the very, very end of the day, the last stop on the train of why I can't give up is because I'm like, I do not want to hate my days. It's just life is too short to hate your days. And I I love my work. I love working. It genuinely is, like, the line between hobby and business is so like, non existent for me. I just enjoy it so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that's like, you just can't keep a
Shanna Skidmore:money question. Did you all sit down and, like, say, 70 you have to make this much in your I mean, you moved to Spain like, you had to create a budget. I'm sure. Like, did you sit down and, like, say, you have to bring in X amount of dollars? Like, do you have a goal? Does that give you kind of peace of mind, freedom? Do you know that sort
Stephanie May Wilson:of so in being in Spain, my my like, take home every month has been I significantly lessened. It like, maybe a year ago, and we were like, we are, like, barely, barely. For a while we were not scraping by, and then for a while we were barely scraping by. And we had made a bunch of different like lifestyle shifts. We rented out our house and moved out of the city for a while to be closer to grandparents because we knew we were coming to Spain. It's a whole thing. Anyway, we in being here, we are living significantly below our means, because our cost of living is lower, and so we're able to use that extra to, like, sort of right the ship and, like, get our stuff together that we just kind of couldn't like, we just life was life was absolutely too much for us for like, at least a year. So that's part of us being here. Yeah, yeah. I love it.
Shanna Skidmore:Stephanie, thanks for sharing that. And I know I've I literally didn't ask you. I don't think any question directly off of the questions I sent you. So sorry. It's just your story is so Stephanie, you're just so real. Thank you for sharing, and thank you for sharing your heart and like, you're living in Spain, like, this is your dream, you have a family, like you're doing the thing like, and I just love like, a that's so encouraging, because I don't think, I think so many of us get in and it's like, Wait, why was I doing this? And yes, I love my work, but it gets hard and and then I also love that you're like, we had to figure out, I think when you're in a shift or a pivot or a season of life that changes, or your business changes, or and you're financially strapped or stressed, you can't think creatively. It's really hard when you're like, I have to do this thing to make this paycheck. But the but the ironic slash, really terrible thing is, like, if your heart's not in it, or if you don't know if your heart's in it, or if you just don't even have time to put your heart into anything except for, like, sleep training, it's hard to sell it, you know, and so, like, that's why I wanted to ask that budget question. Because, you know, everybody knows who listens to the podcast. Like, for me, it is freeing to be like, this is the number I have to make. But if that number isn't coming in, it's hard, it's hard. It's hard, especially if you're like, I don't even know if this is still the space I'm supposed to be in that way, because I gotta make a paycheck. Yeah, right.
Stephanie May Wilson:It's and it's such a downward spiral because you're like, I'm so stressed I have to, like, do something to make money, okay? But like, then I do it, and it doesn't sell that well, because my heart's not in it, because I'm exhausted. Yeah, it just it spirals down. And that's where I've been for the last like, couple, like, two years, I would say, which, again, is so crazy, because also during that time, I've made some things that I'm so wildly proud of, but it just, it's like, where, where the accolades go, like, money doesn't always follow. And that's, that's been the case. I'm Rich in accolades at this moment. I'm in, like, little trophies, you know, but it's, I'm just really, yeah, this is an interesting this. I knew it. I was like, this is gonna this is an interesting time to have this conversation.
Shanna Skidmore:Well, we didn't even like go the path, but we needed because I think there's somebody, and probably a lot of people listening, they're going to say, okay, but yeah, I'm there, and what do I do? And I think that we could unpack that in another one, because we ain't got the time, but I will say, Stephanie, you moved to Spain. You decreased your cost of living. You went after a dream, like you did so many big things all at one time that other people would probably really scare you were probably scared to do, but you did it. And I think if anyone listening, I mean not to be like, I don't know, not to give advice, but I'm like, if the money isn't coming in, I just don't think we can force it. I just don't think we can just push and push and push and push and push. We need a break. You need a mental break to figure out, yeah, and so I just love Stephanie. You're doing it, and I know you're it sounds like you're in the messy middle still, but thanks for you know, volunteering as tribute and sharing your story. Let's quick fire.
Stephanie May Wilson:I love volunteering. I'm like, that is I'm telling you, it's in my it's in my soul that I can't. I literally cannot live in a different way anyway. If I can do anything to make someone else not feel alone, I just, I
Shanna Skidmore:just hope it's been helpful to know, like a no, like it's not wrapping up in a pretty bow, and that's hard for me, you know, and but it's like you're in it, and you're you decrease your cost of living. You're following a dream. You're asking the hard questions. You're a decade in this happens. People Welcome to a decade in business. Like shifts are going to happen, and it's really cool that you gave yourself the space, financially and time wise, like to ask the hard questions. So good for you. Stephanie, let's let's quick fire. Okay, one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew
Stephanie May Wilson:that I really seriously thought I was going to either poop my pants or like, crash and burn while doing my TED talk, it was the closest I've been to very seriously publicly blowing it on something it's memorizing. 15 minute talk is super. Hard. It was the memorization. It's not that I was that nervous, but the memorization. I was very seriously sure that I was gonna get up on stage and go but and that was gonna be it, and I was just gonna have to walk off. It was it almost happened. I'm
Shanna Skidmore:gonna look at the TED Talk and I'm gonna walk it, watch it. I'm so excited, I did not realize and now I've heard from other friends who have done TED Talks? Yeah, like, you have to basically submit your talk, review your talk, go over it with the TED Talk. People like so, because I do a lot of speaking, and I love speaking, but a lot of it, it's not winging it, by any means, but it is not memorized, like I'm telling a joke, and I didn't realize that joke was coming. I could not do a TED talk, because, you know, I mean, you gotta read the crowd.
Stephanie May Wilson:I Right. I know it was, if I could have had even my notes next to me, like, just some like, oh crap, like, life vest, I would have been fine. But it's just that I was like, I'm getting it lost. Because I was, I was editing it was too long, and so I was editing it down until the very last day. And I'm like, my book was coming out two weeks later. It was a time to be alive. You did it, yeah, I did it. I did it. Resources,
Shanna Skidmore:let's watch it. Okay. I'm excited. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments. I
Stephanie May Wilson:was pretty sad about the about that, course, not doing I mean, it sold fine, but I felt like I let those people down, and that bothered me for a long time, just in the fact that they didn't finish it. I was like, wait, what? And I didn't know that was common. That is common, that people take a course and don't finish it, but yeah, I really felt like I let them down. And I didn't I, you know, I made a great course. I just, it just wasn't necessarily the format for that conversation. So yeah, that's, I think I like beta testing things now. And yeah, I had some regrets about that for a while.
Shanna Skidmore:Yeah, yeah, hey, I learned. I have learned a lot just from me sharing that story. Yes, because, course, creation, yeah, it's a whole thing any, okay, big win or pinch me moment
Stephanie May Wilson:I got to do a book signing, like book reading and book signing at the tattered cover in Denver, which, anyone who's Denver person, it's like the oldest, most historic, most like well known, beloved local bookstore in Colorado. And I got to do it in front of there were tons of people there, my aunt, my uncle, my my little girls were there. Like, I mean, like, my whole family, my parents, all my best friends. It was so cool to get to do that. And it was cool because my girls could not be contained while I was up front speaking. And my husband's like, dude, no, no, come back. Come back. And they just both ran up there. And so there are some really cool photos of me, like, speaking with one baby on my hip and the other one holding onto my leg. And I'm like, I mean, it was chaos. It was not my, not my best speaking, to be clear, but like, I'm like, That is a that's a really, really cool moment that I'll remember forever.
Shanna Skidmore:Yeah, Stephanie, I love it, okay. Best advice, or just really good advice that you've
Stephanie May Wilson:received. Someone told me, like, you know, 12 years ago or something, that you can't lead anyone through something you haven't gone through yourself. And so he challenged me to be brave in the moment, like in my life journey, knowing that if I, like, am brave and pay attention, that I can help people behind me. And so I've really tried to do that. Like, I know that when I'm going through infertility, or if I'm going through, you know, being a mom of new twins and the pandemic, and I mean that I do not want to go through again. No one go through that again. But like, you know, as all the things that we're going through, it's like, if you pay attention and if you're brave through it, then you can walk other people through it. And like I said, like, that's my that's my heartbeat. So I loved that advice. Yeah, girl,
Shanna Skidmore:I cannot wait to see what you do next. Like, I'm for one very pumped, because you do, you ask good questions, you listen, you journal, you something good's coming. Okay, last quick fire, and then let's send it off. What are you working on now, or one resource that you would like to share,
Stephanie May Wilson:what am I working on now? All kinds of things. I will say my mind is really focused on. This. Just Married, course, and so, if anyone has been, you know, we're really loose in our term newlyweds. Like, if you I think I felt like a newlywed until, like, last year, maybe so. But we just, we've really noticed that married couples are just really under resourced. Like, there's just not a safe place where you can go to be like, some of this isn't going so well. There's, there's no safe space for that, because everyone thinks you're either, like, on the brink of divorce or gonna hate your spouse if you tell them the truth. Of like, what happened last night when you were fighting about something and he's so annoying or like you, there's just not, there's not say, Who are you going to talk to about, like, your sex life, like it doesn't feel honoring to be like and then this feels weird or like it's just there's not a space for it. And Carl and I had some really great people show up for us to be really safe. Have spaces where we could be honest along the way and to help us through. And so, you know, we've been married for 10 years. We've been through so much in those 10 years, and we've really, really paid attention, and we've learned so much. And so we're really happy to get to be that safe place and then also share some like, very important tools to have in your tool belt or toolbox that just make the whole thing easier. So we're teaching it right now, so registration is not open, but we will be teaching it next year, and there's a waiting list. So we just don't be married alone. It's don't do anything alone, but don't be married alone. And, no, you don't have to talk to your mom about sex or the fight you guys had yesterday or whatever. Like you can, you can find a more neutral party. Yeah,
Shanna Skidmore:I love it. Just me, of course. Stephanie, thanks for coming on the show. This has been such a wonderful morning for me, afternoon for you, hopefully. Let's kick it back to 2012 2014 whichever one you choose, releasing your first course. What would you tell yourself on day one,
Stephanie May Wilson:I recently was reading a book to my kids, and heard a Chinese proverb that I'd never heard before. Not that I'm, like, super well versed on Chinese Proverbs, but it was a Chinese proverb I heard it for the first time, and it said the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. And I just things grow over time. They compound over time. To use a financial word, they do want to grow. They grow. And something that you're starting today is going to be very small today, but 10 years from now, it's going to be big, and you can rest your life on it in a way that you can't today. And so I feel like my advice for myself and everybody else is like, get those seeds in the ground ASAP and start taking care of them. Yeah, just don't. Don't wait. Don't
Shanna Skidmore:wait. I love it. Stephanie, thank you so much for your time. I feel like I could have talked to you for another hour. So thanks for hanging out with me extra long today. And I'm just, I'm excited for you. Thank you for letting us in, in this moment, in your business of like regrouping, relearning, finding your passion again, just like asking the the good questions that don't always feel easy. Um, and I just appreciate you sharing your story.
Stephanie May Wilson:Thank you for having me and I, everyone just needs to know that I have been I've loved your work for so long. It is like, it truly is such an honor to be here. You are doing incredible things for women, for business owners, for moms, and I just, I'm so glad everyone here already knows you, because I would want to be like, hey, you need to hear about my friends. So I'm glad that you guys already know each other.
Shanna Skidmore:Thanks. Stephanie. Hey, Wildflower. You just finished another episode of consider the wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com. For show notes, resource links and to learn how you can connect with Stephanie. One final thought for today from Will Rogers, you've got to go out on a limb sometimes, because that's where the fruit is, as always. Thank you for listening. I'll see you next time consider the wildflowers. Podcast is produced and edited in partnership with the team at Palm Tree podco. Special thanks to our producers, Anthony Palmer, our audio mixologist of palm tree podco, and Lauren from Team Skidmore, without whom this podcast would never reach your earbuds each week.
