She Built Success

She Built Success

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She Built Success episodes

  • 41: The Man Behind The Lens: Family Focus and Winning Federal Contracts Part 1 | Jason Lapointe

    You've seen his work throughout She Built Success. You just haven't seen much of him.

    In this two-part conversation, I'm bringing my videographer Jason Lapointe from behind the camera and putting him in front of it.
    And Part 1 took us somewhere I wasn't expecting.
    Jason shares how photography and videography became part of his life, but the story goes much deeper than learning how to use a camera.
    After losing his mother as a child, there was a point when the family photos largely stopped. Years later, when his first son was born, Jason knew he didn't want his child to ever wonder what he looked like at a certain age or not have the photograph someone was asking for.
    So he bought a camera.
    What began as documenting his own family eventually became photographing someone else's wedding, then dozens of weddings, videography, corporate work and small-business content.
    Jason also shares another experience that shaped the way he approaches his work: despite having a large wedding with multiple photographers, he and his wife ended up with only a few professional images after life got busy and the photography company eventually closed.
    Those experiences changed what documenting someone else's memories meant to him.
    We also talk about relationships, how former wedding clients led him into corporate work, why the everyday parts of your business can actually make good content and what he's learned helping people get comfortable showing up on camera.
    Then we begin the story of how Jason added an entirely different line of business: government contracting.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Meet the man behind the She Built Success camera
    01:00 How Jason got started in photography and videography
    03:00 The creativity that was there from childhood
    05:00 Why becoming a father changed the meaning of photography
    07:00 Jason's first paid wedding
    08:30 The deeper reason he documents everything
    09:00 What happened to Jason's own wedding photos
    13:00 Weddings, corporate work and small-business content
    15:30 How Jason and I met
    16:30 His introduction to government contracting
    19:30 Which part of the business he enjoys most
    22:00 Why the everyday parts of your business can become content
    24:00 Getting more comfortable in front of the camera
    Join the conversation: Is there something you do differently in your work today because of something you experienced personally?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    29 min
  • 40: You Can't Give Everything 100% at the Same Time

    You can't give everything in your life 100% at the same time.

    And I've stopped expecting myself to.
    In this episode, I'm talking about why I don't believe in work-life balance and what I think is actually happening instead: there's always a give and a take.
    There have been seasons when work needed more of me. Seasons when my daughters and their schedules took priority. Times when I had to pull back from my nonprofit. Times when exercise slipped further down the list. And times when I deliberately put one part of the business down so I could strengthen another.
    None of that means those things stopped mattering.
    It meant I had to be clear about what mattered most right then.
    We also get into multitasking, asking for help, making time to think and giving yourself some grace when you simply cannot show up at full capacity everywhere.
    Because sometimes work wins.
    Sometimes family wins.
    Sometimes you need to close the door, get some rest and let somebody else handle what's usually yours.
    The goal isn't to perfectly divide yourself across every responsibility. It's to know what you're prioritizing in this season, what you're intentionally giving less attention to and why.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Why I don't believe in work-life balance
    01:00 The give and take of different seasons
    03:30 Deciding what gets your attention right now
    05:30 Why I question multitasking
    06:30 Why I sometimes choose silence
    07:30 When exercise falls down my priority list
    09:00 Putting one part of the business down to strengthen another
    11:00 Where do you need to pull back or give more?
    12:00 Giving yourself grace when you can't do everything
    14:00 Why sometimes work wins
    16:00 Choosing fewer priorities and actually finishing them
    Join the conversation: What's getting more of you in this season, and what have you intentionally decided can get less?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    19 min
  • 39: Why Making More Money Doesn't Mean Your Business Is Healthy | Kendra James Anderson

    Your business can make more money than it ever has before and still leave you wondering:

    Where did all the money go?
    In this episode, I'm sitting down with Kendra James Anderson, founder of The Finance Femme and my CFO, for a conversation about what business owners need to understand beyond revenue.
    Kendra started her company after working in corporate finance and seeing something interesting.
    Inside larger companies, CEOs weren't making major decisions without understanding the financial picture. Meanwhile, she knew entrepreneurs generating substantial revenue who were still struggling to understand why they didn't have cash available or whether they could afford their next hire.
    That's where this conversation starts.
    We talk about revenue, spending, profit and cash flow, but we also get into something I think matters just as much: your numbers have to support what you're actually trying to build.
    There isn't one financial strategy that fits every entrepreneur.
    Your goals matter.
    Your family matters.
    Your plans for the business matter.
    And as those things change, the financial conversations around them should change too.
    Kendra and I also talk about our own relationship. Years before I hired her, I had already identified her as the CFO I wanted on my future team. When the business reached the point where that relationship made sense, I came back.
    We get into why having people around you who understand more than the numbers matters, how to know whether your business is actually moving you toward the life you want and why sometimes pivoting is the healthier decision.
    And toward the end, we talk about another piece of building a company: operations.
    Because eventually the question isn't simply, "How much money are we making?"
    It's also, "How does this business work without me doing everything?"
    In this episode:
    00:00 Meet Kendra James Anderson
    01:30 How The Finance Femme started
    02:30 Why high revenue doesn't always mean financial health
    04:00 Looking beyond revenue to spending, profit and cash flow
    05:30 How Kendra became my CFO
    07:00 Getting comfortable talking honestly about your numbers
    10:00 Business, family and defining success for yourself
    13:00 Why your definition of success can change
    14:00 Motherhood, entrepreneurship and the value of time
    16:30 Knowing when entrepreneurship may no longer fit
    18:00 Connecting your financial decisions to your actual goals
    20:00 Why you need trusted people around your business
    21:30 The first operational role Kendra recommends
    23:30 Taking action instead of waiting for the perfect plan
    Join the conversation: Beyond revenue, what number or part of your financial picture do you need to understand better in your business?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.
    Financial disclaimer: This episode shares general educational information and personal experiences. It is not individualized financial, accounting, tax or investment advice.

    26 min
  • 38: When Life Doesn't Follow the Schedule

    This episode was not supposed to be recorded in the car.

    But schedules changed, sports mom duty called and instead of waiting for everything to line up perfectly, I decided we'd roll with it.
    Literally.
    I'm taking you with me through DMV traffic on the way to cheer practice for a conversation about motherhood, flexibility and giving yourself grace when the calendar doesn't cooperate.
    I'm someone who likes structure. I like things organized. Our family calendar is basically command central because between school, volleyball, competitive cheer, work and everybody needing to be somewhere, there's a lot happening.
    But no amount of planning prevents life from changing the plan.
    I talk about what I've learned raising my daughters, giving them enough independence to make their own decisions and mistakes and supporting interests I never expected would turn me into a full-fledged sports mom.
    I also talk about the harder part.
    Sometimes two things happen at once and I can't be at both.
    I've had to miss volleyball games because another daughter had cheer. Even when I knew she was supported and understood why I couldn't be there, I still had to work through my own feeling that I should have been there.
    That's where grace comes in.
    Motherhood, work, family, relationships and everything else aren't always going to fit neatly into separate boxes.
    Sometimes there's a conflict.
    Sometimes you pivot.
    And sometimes you record the podcast from the car.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Recording She Built Success from the road
    01:00 When the schedule changes unexpectedly
    02:00 How we manage a very full family calendar
    04:30 What being a mom means to me
    06:30 Giving my daughters room to make decisions and mistakes
    08:00 Celebrating their wins
    09:00 Reflecting on our family's journey
    10:30 How I unexpectedly became a sports mom
    13:00 The flexibility that allows me to show up
    14:00 Giving myself grace when I can't be everywhere
    16:00 Supporting my daughters through wins and disappointments
    17:00 The possible return of Carline Chronicles
    18:00 Mom life, work life and all the slashes
    19:00 Knowing when to pivot
    Join the conversation: When life disrupts the schedule you carefully planned, are you good at pivoting or does it take you a minute to adjust?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    18 min
  • 37: I Didn't Take the Vacation I Said I Needed. Here's What I Learned

    I believe in making time for yourself.

    I also had a "me vacation" on my calendar that I kept moving until eventually...I didn't take it.
    Family commitments came up. Sports schedules changed. Work still needed to happen. And the five days I originally planned for myself became something I kept trying to squeeze somewhere else on the calendar.
    So this episode isn't me telling you that prioritizing yourself is as simple as booking the trip.
    I'm talking about what happens when you know you need the time and life still doesn't cooperate.
    I share what a me vacation looks like for me, why you'll probably find me in the mountains instead of on a beach and why solitude doesn't mean I'm sitting somewhere completely disconnected from the world.
    But the deeper conversation is about recognizing what I actually need.
    Sometimes that's a few days away.
    Sometimes it's quiet.
    Sometimes it's journaling.
    And sometimes it's slowing down enough during my devotional time to sit with a question instead of rushing to finish what I started.
    I share how a seven-week devotional took me two quarters to complete because I stopped treating finishing as the goal and gave myself time to reflect. Even without the vacation, I realized that time had become another form of making space for myself.
    Because I've learned to recognize what happens when I haven't taken that time. I'm not necessarily burned out. I'm just tired, less focused and sometimes a little shorter than usual.
    That's usually a sign that something needs my attention.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Why I wanted to talk about downtime
    01:00 The vacation I planned but didn't take
    03:00 Why I can't just drop everything and go
    05:00 What my ideal "me vacation" actually looks like
    07:00 The difference between getting away and getting work done
    08:00 Faith, devotionals and creating room to reflect
    10:00 When slowing down changed the way I approached my devotional
    13:00 How my reading changed over the years
    15:00 How I know when I haven't had enough time for myself
    17:00 Putting your own time on the calendar
    18:00 Paying attention to how you're showing up
    22:00 Motherhood, reflection and giving my daughters room to grow
    27:00 Finding your own way to pause and process
    Join the conversation: What does real time for yourself look like when you're not trying to make it productive?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    29 min
  • 36: What My Daughters Taught Me About Success

    What does success look like through the eyes of your kids?

    For this episode, I handed some of the conversation over to two people who know me very differently than you do. My daughters.
    We talk about school, sports, their future plans, what they're interested in and their definitions of success. And because they're teenagers, the conversation goes in several directions I absolutely did not plan for.
    One of my favorite moments comes when I ask what it means to show up as your best self.
    The answer was simple: be yourself.
    Because when you're comfortable being who you actually are, you give yourself the opportunity to build relationships with people who know the real you.
    We also talk about their evolving interests, what they're learning through volleyball and competitive cheer and what they imagine their futures might look like.
    Then the tables turn.
    They start asking me questions.
    Including what I actually do with my free time, whether I finally have hobbies and, naturally, what I'm saving from my closet if there's a fire.
    This episode is less structured than most She Built Success conversations, and that's exactly what makes it special.
    It's a look at success from inside my family, through the voices of the two people I'm also trying to give enough room to become themselves.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Meet my daughters
    01:00 What they're enjoying right now
    03:00 School, growing up and what's next
    06:00 Volleyball, cheer and learning through sports
    10:30 How my daughters define success
    12:00 What it means to be yourself
    13:30 Our very different music tastes
    15:30 What we actually do in our free time
    18:00 How their personal styles are evolving
    22:00 What they think they want to do when they grow up
    25:00 Independence, adulthood and calling Mom anyway
    26:00 The important questions. Clothes, purses and what we're saving from a fire
    29:00 A little more of our family dynamic
    Join the conversation: If you asked your kids, parents or the people closest to you to define success, how different do you think their answer would be from yours?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    31 min
  • 35: How to Start Building Relationships in Government Contracting

    Finding a government contract opportunity is one thing.

    Building the relationships that can eventually help position your business for those opportunities is another.
    In this episode, I'm continuing the government contracting conversation by walking through some of the foundational pieces small businesses should understand when exploring the federal market.
    I talk about NAICS codes, SAM.gov, solicitations and ways businesses can begin identifying opportunities.
    But the bigger conversation is about relationships.
    That includes relationships with other businesses that may become teaming partners, relationships within the small-business contracting community and relationships with the agencies you're interested in serving.
    Instead of looking at every other company pursuing an opportunity as competition, I talk about what I called "co-opetition."
    Some of those companies could become collaborators or partners.
    And when you're attending industry events, the goal isn't to collect as many business cards as possible.
    It's to understand who you're trying to meet, why the conversation matters and what you can contribute.
    I also talk about capability statements and why simply listing everything your company does isn't necessarily the most memorable way to introduce yourself.
    Sometimes the better starting point is demonstrating that you've paid attention to the organization you're speaking with and understand something about the problems they're trying to solve.
    And before adding government contracting as another line of business, I raise another question that's still worth considering:
    How stable is the business you already have?
    At the time of recording, I cautioned that if the existing business was already struggling, adding another complex line of business might not be the right immediate move.
    In this episode:
    00:00 Government contracting starts with relationships
    01:00 Common misconceptions about getting started
    02:00 Understanding NAICS codes
    03:00 Using SAM.gov to explore opportunities
    05:00 Searching for opportunities strategically
    06:00 Teaming partners and joint ventures
    07:00 Finding businesses interested in the same opportunities
    09:00 Building relationships with government agencies
    11:00 Understanding the role of agency small-business offices
    13:00 How to approach government networking events
    15:00 Capability statements and introducing your company
    17:00 Leading with the problem instead of your résumé
    19:00 Getting clear on the agencies you want to serve
    21:00 Being cautious about GovCon misinformation
    22:00 Is your existing business ready for another market?
    23:00 Where to begin your research
    Join the conversation: If you're exploring government contracting, which feels harder right now: understanding the process or building the right relationships?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.
    This episode reflects my experience and the government contracting environment at the time it was recorded. Government contracting rules, programs, certifications, terminology and requirements can change. Verify current information through official government sources before making business decisions.

    24 min
  • 34: Building A Brand on Faith and Friendship | Dorian & Morgan of The Rooted Life Podcast

    What happens when you build a business with one of your closest friends and the friendship itself starts struggling?

    In this episode, I sit down with Dorian and Morgan of The Rooted Life Podcast for a conversation about faith, friendship, creativity, business and everything that happens beneath the surface when you're building something together.
    The Rooted Life started because they couldn't find the kind of faith-centered conversations they wanted to hear from women who reflected their own experiences.
    So they created them.
    What started as conversations between friends eventually became a podcast, community and brand.
    But building something together changed the friendship too.
    At one point, business conversations were bleeding into their personal conversations. They were spending time together primarily to work. They even stopped speaking for a few days after an argument over an Instagram caption.
    Their eventual realization?
    They needed systems and boundaries.
    They created separate communication for The Rooted Life, intentionally made time to be friends without discussing the business and started recognizing which responsibilities aligned with each person's strengths.
    Then the conversation goes deeper.
    Dorian and Morgan talk about a period when The Rooted Life stopped feeling like an authentic overflow of their friendship and faith. Instead of continuing to push through, they eventually had to address what was happening underneath the brand.
    We talk about pausing, accountability, apologizing, self-reflection and what happens when the work you're doing internally starts changing how you show up everywhere else.
    And toward the end, we talk about success.
    For Morgan, it includes being able to go to bed at peace with how she showed up that day.
    For Dorian, it's about impact and building something that can continue beyond her.
    The conversation ultimately comes back to being present enough to recognize the joy that's available now instead of always waiting for whatever comes next.
    In this episode:
    00:00 What happens beneath the surface
    01:00 Meet Dorian and Morgan of The Rooted Life
    02:00 How The Rooted Life started
    04:00 Creating the representation they wanted to see
    05:30 Turning a creative project into a business
    07:00 Monetizing creativity without losing the mission
    08:00 The Instagram caption argument that exposed a bigger problem
    09:00 Learning to work within their individual strengths
    10:00 When friendship problems started affecting the brand
    13:00 Why the messy part of the journey matters
    15:00 Accountability and learning to own your part
    17:00 How growth in one relationship changes other areas of life
    18:00 What's next for The Rooted Life
    23:00 How Morgan and Dorian define success
    26:00 Faith, waiting and learning to be present
    30:00 Finding joy where you are now
    Join the conversation: What relationship, project or season of your life might need more attention beneath the surface?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    32 min
  • 33: Your Client Experience Should Match What You're Charging

    If someone is paying you five or six figures, what does it actually feel like to be your client?

    I'm not just talking about the quality of the final deliverable.
    I'm talking about everything that happens around it.
    In this episode, I'm breaking down how I think about client experience, communication and the systems behind delivering higher-value services.
    Because a client shouldn't have to chase you to figure out what's happening with the work they paid you to do.
    I share an example from a data-conversion project where we discovered that the client's data was much messier than we could have known during the initial scope. That meant the original timeline needed to change.
    The client wasn't going to love hearing that.
    But because we already had regular communication built into the project, we could explain what we'd found, where things stood and what needed to happen next instead of waiting until the original due date to tell them their project wasn't finished.
    That's part of client experience too.
    Not perfection. Communication.
    I also talk about workflows, automation, deliverables and why your backend operations have to support the experience you're promising on the front end.
    Then I take the conversation outside of consulting because great experiences aren't limited to service businesses.
    I share examples of restaurants that created such memorable experiences that I voluntarily talked about them, posted about them and left reviews afterward.
    That's what a strong experience can do.
    It gives people something worth remembering.
    In this episode:
    What client experience actually includes
    Why communication matters as much as the deliverable
    Setting expectations before the work begins
    What to do when a project timeline changes
    Being proactive instead of reactive
    Building systems behind higher-value services
    Creating smoother workflows for your clients and team
    What restaurants taught me about memorable experiences
    Why people naturally talk about experiences that make them feel something
    Chapters:
    00:00 The experience should match the price
    01:00 What client experience actually means
    03:00 What happens after someone becomes a client
    05:00 Communication throughout the project
    07:00 Setting expectations around deliverables
    09:00 The project where we discovered a bigger problem
    11:00 Being proactive when something changes
    12:00 Building systems behind higher-value services
    14:00 Creating an experience people remember
    18:00 Why a great experience gets people talking
    21:00 Looking at your business from the client's perspective
    Join the conversation: If you experienced your business as the client today, what part would feel great and what part might need more attention?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.

    25 min
  • 32: How to Think About Wealth Beyond Just Making More Money | Phillip Washington Jr.

    Building wealth isn't only about making more money.

    It's also about understanding what you're building for.
    In this episode, I sit down with Phillip Washington Jr. for a wide-ranging conversation about money, investing, ownership, work, family and how our ideas about wealth can change as we get older.
    Phillip shares how he thinks about investing and why curiosity plays such a big role in how he spots potential opportunities. We talk about paying attention to cultural shifts, looking beyond what's already obvious and being willing to learn about spaces you may not immediately understand.
    But this isn't a conversation about chasing the next investment.
    It's about how you think.
    We also get into the relationship between money and time, what younger generations may be teaching us about work and why building wealth can mean thinking beyond your own lifetime.
    Some of Phillip's investment examples reflect the market and emerging technologies at the time this episode was recorded. Rather than treating those examples as recommendations today, I think the more interesting question is the one underneath them:
    Are you paying attention to where the world is changing?
    In this episode:
    How Phillip thinks about wealth
    Investing with curiosity
    Recognizing cultural and generational shifts
    Thinking about ownership differently
    Money, work and the value of your time
    Learning to trust your instincts while continuing to learn
    Family and generational wealth
    Why younger generations may approach success differently
    Building something that extends beyond you
    Join the conversation: When you think about building wealth now, what matters to you beyond simply making more money?
    Subscribe to She Built Success for more conversations beyond the highlight reel.
    She Built Success goes beyond the highlight reel to explore the stories behind what we build. Through conversations about business, leadership and personal growth, we talk about the decisions, challenges and experiences that shape success along the way.
    This conversation is for general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Investment markets, products and technologies discussed in this archived episode may have changed substantially since it was recorded.

    35 min

About She Built Success

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She Built Success is a podcast & video platform for entrepreneurs who are building in real time , not just celebrating wins, but navigating the work behind them.