On today’s episode, we get together with Veneé McGee to talk about her non-profit, Ebb and Flow Collective, a safe social wellness community whose mission focuses on inclusivity and accessibility for women and non-binary folks searching for spiritual empowerment.

Veneé is a true visionary thought leader in the areas of spirituality, holistic wellness, and mindset. 

Veneé shares her difficult upbringing in the foster care system, and how being introduced to ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne gave her a sense of empowerment and agency over her life and decisions that she had never felt before. 

We discuss how she grew Ebb and Flow from the ground up, starting with wellness retreats, after identifying a need for more inclusive wellness spaces based on her own experiences of being excluded. Veneé explains how they became a non-profit during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the move was successfully facilitated by ifundwomen. We also dive into how her company is structured; from workshops, meditations, and personal sessions to a thriving, curated marketplace of various practitioners, all to help her clients find and embrace their individual power from within. 

We are exceptionally excited about what Veneé has created with Ebb and Flow Collective. We hope you’ll join us for an expansive conversation on the joy of diversity and the power of community!

Here’s a peek at what else we discuss:

• An introduction to Veneé McGee, founder of the non-profit Ebb and Flow Collective.
• Veneé describes Ebb and Flow’s mission as a sacred and inclusive community that is accessible to all!
• Veneé shares the painful challenges of growing up in the foster care system.
• The story of Veneé losing her mom and becoming a seeking spirit.
• Veneé talks about her Christian upbringing and the revelatory experience of being introduced to The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
• How Veneé started her spiritual journey and the spaces and teachers she found along the way.
• Why Veneé felt a need for a more inclusive and welcoming space for people like herself.
• How Veneé grew a new community organically through wellness retreats.
• How Ebb and Flow serves as a curated marketplace to find trusted practitioners who also remain autonomous.
• How Veneé utilizes meditation to keep her grounded during the curation process.
• The importance of having more diverse tarot readers due to the interpretive nature of the job.
• Veneé talks about the structure of Ebb and Flow, how it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the transition to a non-profit organization.
• How becoming a non-profit affected their business structure and how ifundwomen was successfully able to assist in facilitating that transition.
• Veneé shares how their memberships work and what is included when you sign up. 
• The biggest hurdles that Veneé currently faces as an entrepreneur.
• Veneé shares what is giving her joy and helping her hustle!

Resources

• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
• ifundwomen: Ebb and Flow Collective
• Ebb and Flow Collective
• Ebb and Flow on Instagram
• Jennifer Barcelos on LinkedIn
• Sandy Connery on LinkedIn
• Marvelous
• Marvelous on Instagram

This week’s Joy: 

Veneé’s joy is exercising her privilege to have a choice. She thinks we really take choice for granted and believes she has been given choice. Whether it’s to fight for a black lives matter issue or not, she gets to have a choice on where she can get to spend her energy, which is super empowering to her. And this brings her joy because she has been on the other side of not knowing that she had a choice. 

This week’s Hustle: 

A hustle or tool that Veneé would like to share with everyone who’s listening is to get a mentor. She believes mentorship is so important, especially when you’re either just starting off or when you’re fixing your business. A mentor, hands down, is so powerful. Veneé has several mentors who give her advice on so many different things which is so helpful. Having mentors has been especially helpful during the times when she wanted to walk away and give up on Ebb and Flow. Because there were those times that, as much as she loves it, she is just human. She was able to call that mentor and share thoughts and things and not feel judged, and feel safe to share that with another human who can just listen and hold that pain for her and ask her what's next and keep her on that path. A good mentor is not just going to let you give up and walk away.

Know Your Numbers

In our business, we're big fans of financial literacy and accountability. Knowing your numbers is an essential aspect of building a successful business and inherent responsibility for any entrepreneur. 

What you focus on grows, so pay attention to your money. We use Bench for our bookkeeping. It's simple, elegant, and saves us so many hours that would otherwise be spent neck-deep in receipts on the other side of a spreadsheet. 

Each month our transactions are automatically imported into Bench and we get on-demand financial reports. We even enjoy opening up our profit and loss statement to review each month. When tax time comes around, we are up to date and ready to go. And this is what Financial Empowerment feels like.

Use this link to save 20% off your Bench Accounting plan for the first six months!

This podcast is brought to you by the Marvelous online teaching platform.

Marvelous is an easy-to-use platform that helps you build and sell your own courses memberships and live-streamed programs. Go from idea to open for business in just minutes. Unlike other startups, Marvelous was created by women for women. If you're looking for a simple, streamlined way to build and grow an online business. You can learn more at Marvelous.