Shownotes
Whether you're an entrepreneur juggling business and personal life or simply seeking actionable strategies to bring more ease and joy to your journey, this episode is packed with wisdom, real-life examples, and plenty of "aha!" moments.
We are thrilled to welcome back returning guest Kelli Risse—a dynamic coach, speaker, and now accomplished author. Since her last appearance over two years ago, Kelli has been busy transforming not only her business but also the lives of countless high achievers seeking to redefine their paths to success.
Kelli shares her journey of writing her solo book, "Mindset Mastery: 25 Principles to Outsmart Burnout and Redefine Success," which quickly became an Amazon bestseller. She opens up about the creative process, her strategies for avoiding burnout even while tackling big projects, and the powerful difference between being a high achiever versus a peak performer.
Kelli also gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming book series, touches on the importance of energy management, harmony, and boundaries, and offers practical steps to help entrepreneurs shift from overwhelm to sustainability.
Get ready to take your mindset—and your business—to a whole new level!
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Here are three key takeaways you can use immediately:
Ease is the Foundation, Not the Opposite, of Success: Kelli reminds us that building our lives and businesses on a foundation of ease leads to more sustainable results than grinding ourselves into burnout. Productivity isn’t about constant busyness; it’s about aligning work with true priorities.
Shift from High Achiever to Peak Performer: High achievers often operate in a constant state of urgency and exhaustion, while peak performers focus on sustainable energy, alignment, and letting go of perfectionism. Want to make lasting change? It starts with mindset—choose alignment over approval!
Harmony Over Balance: Trying to “balance” work and life perfectly usually leaves us more stressed. Kelli encourages leaders to seek harmony and alignment in all areas: mind, body, and spirit. Set boundaries, say no when needed, and schedule “me time”—your well-being is non-negotiable.
Moments
00:00 "Practical Coaching Principles Book"
04:36 "Coaching Principles and Tips Book"
06:41 "Peak Performance: Sustained Success Differently"
09:36 Rethinking Tomorrow's Plans
15:10 Align Mind, Body, Spirit?
19:05 Energy Over Time Management
19:51 "Boost Well-being for Entrepreneurs"
24:20 Prioritize "Me Time" for Balance
28:56 Evaluating the Value of 6am Calls
31:57 Evaluate Priorities in Decision-Making
35:01 Coaching: Growth, Accountability, Tough Love
38:42 Continuous Growth and Challenges
40:31 Coaching as Therapy Insight
45:19 "Improving Life Beyond Hard Work"
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Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year.
An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.
Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast.
Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.
Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper
Transcripts
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.
Julie Smith [:Julie Smith.
Glenn Harper [:What's going on, Ju?
Julie Smith [:You know, this is take two for us.
Glenn Harper [:Take two. Well, you know, sometimes technical difficulties happen.
Julie Smith [:Yeah, well, it'll be exciting.
Glenn Harper [:Well, we have a real pleasant surprise. We're bringing back one of our probably first 25 guests.
Julie Smith [:One of the first ones way back that up. Now that we're over 100, it's greater.
Glenn Harper [:Than two years because when I pulled up the email to find my notes, it didn't show up. And I got a two year case archive on it, so I knew it's been at least two years. So, Kelli, welcome back. How are you?
Kelli Risse [:You been great. Thank you. It is so great to be back. I so enjoy your show. The energy you two bring, and I appreciate being asked back again.
Julie Smith [:Must have meant you had some good knowledge for us.
Kelli Risse [:Yes, yes, I have had some exciting things happen too, that I'm ready to share.
Julie Smith [:Well, share, share. What's the big exciting thing that's happened?
Kelli Risse [:So the big exciting thing that happened in my business is that I became, and I was an author before in anthologies, but now I have my very own book and it was an Amazon seller. It's called mindset mastery. 25 principles to outsmart Burnout and Redefine Success.
Glenn Harper [:How great is that?
Kelli Risse [:Oh, it's so wonderful. And you know, when I, when I decided to write a book, I wanted to do it for my clients or people that like, wanted a coach but maybe couldn't have a coach. And so it's very. There's 25 principles and each principle, here's the, you know, theory behind it. Here's your take action, here's your mindset shifts. And then on every page I even have a keep it real. I am very direct into the point and it's like one sentence, bam. And so it's so easy to read and digest.
Kelli Risse [:And I have three more coming out.
Glenn Harper [:Three more books.
Kelli Risse [:Series. Yes, it'll be a series.
Julie Smith [:Well, so tell us what's after Burnout?
Kelli Risse [:Yeah, so the first one's Mindset Mastery. The next one is focus mastery and really talking about how to focus yourself so that you can be sustainable. Right. Because that's the biggest problem is burnout. The next one is well being and that gets into all the different areas of wellbeing. And then the last one is connection because we have to build relationships, we have to have trust, we have to be able to communicate. And so that's in the fourth book.
Glenn Harper [:Well, here's a Crazy question. So when you're doing a book, from what I understand, it's in a pretty intense endeavor. Were you able to use your principles to not get burned out while you're doing that thing? Because I know it's stressful.
Kelli Risse [:And focus.
Glenn Harper [:And focus. Because I know it's really hard, right? You got to just.
Kelli Risse [:That's a great question. So. So it's really interesting. I went away on a. Like, a little workshop with someone who is a writer. She's a Harlequin. She's written, like, 72 Harlequin books or something. Anyway, she was asking what type of writer you are.
Kelli Risse [:I am the type of writer, Glenn and Julie, that goes away. I need to go away so I can just crank it out, be in the zone and get it done. Then I can come back to my home in real life and do the editing and all the little things that go on, but just to get it out. Whereas some people will. Right. Like, a little bit every day. Like, every day they have. That is not me.
Kelli Risse [:So I went away for a month.
Glenn Harper [:Or a year or two years and.
Julie Smith [:Wait, where did you go? The beach, the mountains. Where?
Kelli Risse [:Where.
Julie Smith [:Where did you go?
Kelli Risse [:The story is so not exciting.
Glenn Harper [:It's far, far away.
Kelli Risse [:I did end up looking at a beach, and it was in Mississippi because my husband had to work, but he was working, and so I knew he'd be gone all day long. I. Our hotel was right in front of the beach. I opened the blinds, looked out the weather. It was not beach weather, but it was still. The water was right there. And that's. And that's where I.
Kelli Risse [:And that's where I did most of it.
Glenn Harper [:Did you feel like when you had to just jump right in like, that you have, like, writer's block. Like, here I am. The setting's perfect. I'm by myself. I'm ready to go.
Kelli Risse [:What do I do? Because. And I'll tell you why. Because if you. Well, this might have been in take one. When I said I had, like, this had been in me for a while, stewing around, which is what happens most of the time for me. Like, it's all in here. And then it's just a matter of now I need to sit down and make it come out. I had done quite a lot of brainstorming, putting ideas down on paper.
Kelli Risse [:Canva has a really cool. You can use, like, sticky notes on. In Canva and, like, move stuff around. So I had. I had. I did a lot of prep work.
Glenn Harper [:How about that? So it was ready to come out.
Kelli Risse [:Ready it was ready to come out.
Glenn Harper [:It's like the Yellowstone cauldron. Gotcha.
Julie Smith [:So did you write all of them in one away trip or.
Kelli Risse [:Okay, no, no. But I did get a lot. I mean, you know, if you think about it, it's 25 principles. Right. And the next one is 25 tips. And these are things that, when I coach on, we talk about it all the time. It was literally just going, what are the things that I repeat over and over and over and over that I'm telling my clients? And let's get that in a book. And then for those people that can do it on their own, here it is.
Kelli Risse [:You know what I mean? Some people need a little bit more accountability and support, and that's great also.
Julie Smith [:Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine sitting down and. Yeah, I'm amazed.
Glenn Harper [:Well, if it's all up there rattling around.
Julie Smith [:I know, but maybe. Maybe I just need to go to Mississippi and sit and look at the ocean, and it'll come out.
Kelli Risse [:You know, there might be other places to go, but that's just where we ended up.
Glenn Harper [:You had the view without the weather, which is nice. You weren't tempted to go out there.
Kelli Risse [:Correct.
Glenn Harper [:That's it.
Kelli Risse [:Correct.
Glenn Harper [:So what's the main. You know, as we talk with entrepreneurs all the time, you know, it's just such a hard thing to do because you're just hit at all times. You're always on, you're never off. You. You got to be this person. You got to take all the pressure, the stresses and everything. How did you. How do you coach somebody to just say, hey, look, you need a break? You got to structure life better? What.
Glenn Harper [:How do you make your life easier? And when I say easy, how do.
Julie Smith [:You avoid burnout, essentially?
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. So I think. So I think. What, what, what? It has taken me a while to come to. The first time I was on the show, I really wasn't coaching in this capacity. Like, I changed my business name. Like, I did all kinds of things based on what I had gone through. And I think one of the biggest realizations for me was understanding the difference between a high achiever and a peak performer.
Kelli Risse [:And. And high achievers burn themselves out. It's constant urgency. It's, you know, decision fatigue all the time. It's. It's, you know, you always feel like you're falling behind, and there's kind of this.
Julie Smith [:I feel like you just described me.
Glenn Harper [:I'm not pointing any fingers, but, you know, like, I was like, wow, how did you. Somebody to my left.
Kelli Risse [:And, you know, Peak performers, they just do things differently and they can literally sustain it so it's not the crash and burn, you know, and then you're like, oh, I just need a weekend to, you know, do nothing. You know, you literally can sustain what you're doing for a long time. And peak performers lead from energy, not from effort. And that's a difference. They choose alignment, like, over the approval and saying yes and people pleasing and doing all the things. And sometimes it's, you know, we're saying yes to ourselves when we need to say no to some things. And then also they refine, like, productivity and, and get rid of the perfectionism.
Julie Smith [:So if someone like me is listening and saying, oh, my gosh, well, I think I fall over here, but I hear you, and how do I bridge the gap to get over here?
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. So a lot of that is mindset because there's a fear around it. Well, like, well, what if I stop being like this? Like, what will happen? Right?
Julie Smith [:Like, yeah, what happens if you're not productive?
Glenn Harper [:You got to get a lobotomy. Yeah.
Kelli Risse [:But here's what, but here's what I say. So my whole. When I, When I speak, when I coach, my, my, My book series is called Succeed with Ease. And I think that one of the biggest things we have to get in our mind is that ease is not the opposite of success. It's the foundation. And when we.
Glenn Harper [:That's powerful.
Julie Smith [:We had a mic drop moment.
Kelli Risse [:We.
Julie Smith [:We would do that right now.
Glenn Harper [:Say that again. Ease is the what?
Kelli Risse [:Ease isn't the opposite of success. It's the foundation.
Glenn Harper [:Gotcha.
Kelli Risse [:And let me, let me tell you, my husband and I were just in London, another work trip for him that I tagged along with. And, you know, let me, let me tell you what happened. Okay? So we, we were not staying in London. We're staying in Cambridge. We had to take a train into London. He only had to work five hours while we were there the whole week. That's done. We get now our time, so we take a train.
Kelli Risse [:Well, that morning, the train was jam packed. Standing room only like this. Okay. And it's an hour train ride. So right then, our plan was to have two lovely days in London. We were spreading everything out. It was going to be delightful. On that train ride of being like this for an hour, I was like, oh, we may not do this again tomorrow.
Kelli Risse [:Like, this might be a one and done. So immediately I flipped into high achiever mode of we're going to get everything done today. We probably walked 25,000 steps. We were Exhausted, yes, we saw it all, but we didn't enjoy it all because we were like, do, do, do. What's next? So we get back to the. We get back on the train. We did get to sit down on the way home, thank goodness. But we got back to Cambridge and then we had another 15 minute walk and I was like, oh, ye.
Kelli Risse [:So we get back to the hotel room and I'm like, do we really want to do this again tomorrow? Now, y', all, this is how we go through life often. This is. You know what I mean? This is it. It's the expectation. So we're like, okay, do we really want to do this tomorrow? And I'm like, well, we're only in London once, but we have to do it differently. We picked three things to do and that was all. And we had the most relaxing, lovely sight saw. We went into Westminster Abbey, took in all the things.
Kelli Risse [:We were probably in there for two hours, went and had a lunch that was out in middle of their theater district, sat in the middle of the street. People watched, just enjoyed it, like, truly the London experience. And I, that was eye opening to me. I was like, this is the difference between high achiever and peak performer right here in my vacation.
Glenn Harper [:Two total opposites.
Julie Smith [:I would have definitely had the fomo. Like, well, we could have done more, but I get it, I get it. That's me.
Kelli Risse [:Yeah, yeah. And it does, like, that's the whole thing of the mindset, that it takes more mindset than it does tips and tricks, if that makes sense.
Glenn Harper [:Did you. And again, this would be the kicker. So when you completed day one, you were like, this was a horrible experience and you did it all. And to complete day two and you only did a couple things, you're like, this was awesome.
Julie Smith [:But did you pick your top three from day one or were they three new things?
Kelli Risse [:So it was really more in depth. We didn't make it to the theater district. The first. Okay. We did, like fly by Westminster Abbey. Here's pictures from the outside because I wanted to make sure we got everything in well, then the next time we truly went inside, we enjoyed it. We took our time with everything. And so one thing was new, the other two were not.
Kelli Risse [:Like, we did them on a surface level just to say we did them, you know what I mean? But then the next day we went in and really did them and enjoyed them.
Glenn Harper [:So that's on a vacation. So how do we put that into perspective? Like, in real life, you got work and you got your life, which is home and Family time. How do you balance the two? Is the book discuss both of those or is it just a technique to do each one?
Kelli Risse [:Well, I think when we're talking about mindset for this one, it's for your mindset, which is. But your mind goes with you everywhere. So it's definitely both work and life. And, you know, and, and what was your question? How do you really do that for both in. In, let's say, work and life?
Glenn Harper [:Right.
Kelli Risse [:So I think there has to be something that we look at the harmony and are we living in harmony? Are we living in alignment? And if there is this overwhelm, if there is this exhaustion, if there is this, like, I'm on the. I. I have a. When I do my speaking presentations, I show the efficiency, bell curve, and there's stretch, which is green. That's where we want to be. Stretch. There's strain and there's burnout. Okay.
Kelli Risse [:And we are often living in the strain because we are afraid. Fomo. We're afraid of, I'm not going to get it all done. We're afraid all the things. Instead of thinking we have this whole lifetime to do everything does it. What really has to get done today? What can I delegate? What isn't important right now? And I think a lot of times we feel like everything is important and urgent and all at once. And it really takes some. Some strategic thinking in life and work to make it happen.
Kelli Risse [:So you're not in burnout because if you go, go, go, go, go, go, go, you will end up in burnout. You just will.
Julie Smith [:Your body tells you what age, I'm curious.
Glenn Harper [:84, any age.
Kelli Risse [:And I'll tell you, I think that what happens is that our body starts giving us signals and we ignore them because we're like, I don't have time to deal with that. I'm not dealing with that. And it's really our body telling us, but it's going back and getting in tune with yourself and truly being in alignment. And I say no to more things and just miss out and it's okay.
Julie Smith [:So how do you deal with those, you know, missed opportunities, saying no, well.
Kelli Risse [:Maybe there's a better opportunity of what I said yes to. Does that make sense? So I said no to this. To choose to be at home, do something with my family, take more time to work on something in my business. So I'm out, out and about, running around everywhere, whatever that is. Maybe the better opportunity is there and not what I'm missing out on.
Julie Smith [:So how do you get to that mindset?
Glenn Harper [:You got to get the book.
Kelli Risse [:So most. I'll tell you honestly, and I have done this myself, most of my clients start with a one day breakthrough because we have to go in and we literally have to rewire some synapses that, that you've been carrying or people have been carrying around that make them this way. And it's really going in and getting better alignment and values. We do a lot of values work also around it because sometimes our initial values of what we think they are really what we want is something different and then they clash, which then leaves us overwhelmed, overworked and running around with our heads cut off.
Glenn Harper [:Could you allow. When you say alignment, what is. What is that aligning what to what?
Kelli Risse [:To me, it's mind, body, spirit, is it all aligned? Are you doing the purposeful work that you're meant to do without feeling the overwork, the pressure that I have to do more like, you know, all the fear of missing out on everything or, or are you aligned and your mind, body and spirit is truly okay with what you're doing right now? Knowing that there's a lot of time that in people would rather. You can tell when people show up in a burned out or frustrated, you know, you know, their energy, right. They're like exhausted and they're like, oh, I'm here, right? And that energy just. Whereas when you slow down and you let go of some things and you, you realize your true priorities, you show up in a higher vibration that helps the entire world because we know it's a ripple effect. So I think it's that and that's hard to define and put. You just, you just feel it, right?
Glenn Harper [:Do you think that technology and access to instant expectations, so many choices, so many options. Most people again may have the money and the means to do a lot of things. Do you think, is that something that's a new phenomenon or has that always been there? I think we're still trying to catch up to the fact that you can talk to anybody on the planet anytime. And is that expectation I always have to be on 24 7, right?
Kelli Risse [:Yes, yes. Yeah. And you know, in my. I have a work life balance talk that I did and this was for travel agents. And you know what? They are on call all the time because if they have someone like when I was in London, I'm seven hours ahead, six hours, you know, whatever. So they are always on. And I said what has happened is that we be. When.
Kelli Risse [:When Walmart went 24 7, McDonald's, 24 7, whatever. We just feel like we should also be on 247 when Amazon gets us something in two days. Have you ever ordered something from a company that's like, it'll take a week and you're like, a week?
Glenn Harper [:I can't wait.
Julie Smith [:Well, Amazon's like two hours now.
Kelli Risse [:Sometimes it is. You're right, you're right, you're right. Amazon has caught up and now it's like same day, whatever. But I feel like we as people feel like we are caught up in that also, and that we need to respond to every single email, like, the minute it comes in and every text, like, right away. Instead of us realizing we are humans and we can take a little bit longer, I'm going to respond and I'm going to respond in the time where my calendar says email and it's blocked for that, not the minute it comes in.
Glenn Harper [:So how does one start the process of the detoxing, the deprogramming, the. You know, start from zero and forget everything you know. How does one go back to that? What's the first step one has to do?
Kelli Risse [:Yeah, so I look at, you know, that's great because I look at. We don't need to try to change 12 different habits, right? Like, it's too much for us. So when I look at the.
Glenn Harper [:But wait a minute. The high achievers want to try to solve it all at once. We know this, right? So how do we deprogram that deprogramming one?
Kelli Risse [:We have to let them realize they are a high achiever and they want to be a peak performer instead. That's Mindset Shift one. Like, I know High Achiever, it's gotten you well. You did well in school. You did all the things, like, everything. People think you're amazing and if you're on the verge of burnout, this way of life is not helping you. Like, it's time to go, I don't want to live this way anymore. I want to be sustainable.
Kelli Risse [:So that's. That's number one, is just making the shift in the decision of, I'm going to figure out how to do this and I might need help because it's so ingrained in me. But my framework I look at, I have four pillars. Mindset, Focus, well, being and connection. And I. Ironically, you have four books. Exactly one for each. And it's really looking at what's one mindset shift that I can make that will make a difference for me.
Kelli Risse [:And I can't tell you what that is for any. You know, that's why there's 25 of them. Pick the one that, that works for you first and then go from there. But again, I will say it's recognizing are you the high achiever that needs to become the peak performer so you can work and live sustainably? But looking at each area, what's one area? When I think of focus, I think of more energy. I think we're so into time management instead of energy management. It's not, do I have more space on my calendar to say yes to this? It's do I have the energy to give my 100% to, okay, 80% to this and think about it. Energy instead of time wise. That's a lot of focus.
Kelli Risse [:And then when it comes to well being, you know, start with, start with the little things. Are you drinking enough water? Like, what can literally help you get through the day? Are you taking a lunch break? If you're fasting, figure that out. But you know, are you eating lunch? Are you sustaining your body in the best way possible? Especially as entrepreneurs when we are not, well, we can't sell. And we always have to remember that. That's a saying that I learned from one of my coaches and I stuck with me. And then connection. How are your connections when you're burnt out and you are overwhelmed and overworked, Are you making the best connections possible? Probably not. And so thinking about, well, how can I do that? And as I said, the rest of my books will come out in the fall.
Kelli Risse [:Start with mindset, because that's the biggest one.
Glenn Harper [:So let me ask you this. So you know, when most people, again, we get to see entrepreneurs all day long, we live this, we know people that do this thing. The kicker is trying to navigate the home, family and business. How do you know? How does one decide, well, who's the sacrificial lamb and who's not? How do you prioritize? What is your best advice for somebody that trying to figure out, well, which one is more important. I mean, you can't do one without the other, but you can't do one without the other, but you really can't because then you feel a different way and you really should do the other one. Like, how does it do that?
Kelli Risse [:So to me, that goes back to, that goes back to values. What are your values? Where do they lie and how heavy is each one? And two, it goes back to harmony. Because when we're trying to do the balancing act, we're like a scale, a balance scale. And if you're at like, oh, I want to be 50% home and 50% work, but if I'm 49, 51. I'm not balanced well, that doesn't work. Right. So it's really looking at the harmony for you. How much time do I, for me personally, want to spend with my family, my kids that I am really giving quality time and feel good about? And what is that looking like over at work? And I know for myself it is an ebb and flow.
Kelli Risse [:When I am traveling to speak at a conference, well, then I'm gone. Right. But then I know that I'm going to schedule time in my calendar to make sure that then I can be home and spend some time with my husband. Quality time. I am a little bit luckier because right now my kids are grown, so I'm in a little bit of a different phase, not better, because it just means I have more time that I could work. So I have to have a boundary. I have to be like, nope, I am done for today.
Julie Smith [:I was waiting for that B word to come out.
Kelli Risse [:Yep. And I. And I. And I learned, you know, I really learned and watched my husband. Because my husband, he only works in the office, and that is it. Because of his job, he just has to be in the office and at his time, his ending time, he walks out and he's done. And then whatever he didn't get done, he will go back in and pick up the next day. Whereas when am I going into high achiever mode, going, I have to finish this now.
Kelli Risse [:Right. And I'm going to stay up till midnight to get it done. When he would have cut off and he would have gone back in the next day and finished it.
Glenn Harper [:I've got two questions on that specific thing. So the first thing is, you know, it's business and family. Where's the me time? How does one allocate the me time? Is the first question. And maybe you can do that as a high achiever.
Julie Smith [:That doesn't exist.
Glenn Harper [:It has to exist. It has to exist. But, like, let's. If you can answer that, then I'll hit you with the second question.
Kelli Risse [:Okay, so the me time again, if. Okay, let's go back and let's speak to high achievers specifically. All right, so high achievers, you probably live off your calendar. Then in your calendar, you have to have me time. And it is. It is just like making a doctor appointment. You wouldn't cancel your doctor appointment. You're going to show up for yourself.
Kelli Risse [:And if you can't show up for yourself, like, then again, that is what take. That's what this break. That's what my breakthroughs are for. If you're not showing up for yourself, then you're probably not showing up for others. Well, because we have to. I don't like to look at it anymore as the oxygen mask. I think that's so overused. So yesterday I was speaking to some HR professionals and we talked about the power strip.
Kelli Risse [:If you are a power strip and you have all these other plugs plugged into you, you're going to fry. You have to take care of yourself. Are you even in the power strip as a plug? And I think that's something that we. So to me, me time is, it's scheduled, it's a priority, it's a boundary. And you will feel better when you have your me time to do better in work with your family and out with the community.
Glenn Harper [:Right. Then second question is, you know, it's really, it seems like the action or the mindset of going, oh, I gotta have these four calls today. I'm gonna schedule a lunch for myself to relax. I'm gonna do my workout at 4 o'. Clock. I got kids activities here, I got supper here. I got. It's easy to put like tasks on your calendar that have to be done.
Kelli Risse [:Yes.
Glenn Harper [:But when it comes to like scheduling time like for your relationship, does it. It seems like it diminishes it. If you're gonna schedule, oh, significant other time, I'll block off a window of 20 minutes and see what happens. Like, it seems like that's the calendar.
Julie Smith [:Invite for them to accept it.
Glenn Harper [:What are you doing at 1:30 in the morning? How does one navigate that? Because you don't want to diminish it. You want to make it a priority. But how do you navigate the optics of that?
Kelli Risse [:So again, I think it's, you know, I think everybody is different. For me, family dinners were really important. And so I was always, unless I, unless I truly had something else that I had to do. Be away. Whatever. Family dinners were where we spent our time together and we talked and we talked about our day. And so that was a priority to make sure that I am carving out family dinner. Right.
Kelli Risse [:And so is it on my calendar like dinner? I mean, no, because I just know we're eating dinner every night, never miss a meal. When. Right. When my kids were younger, I wanted to put them to bed. That was my quality time with each of them, of us, me reading them stories when they were younger, us talking about their day. Like that was super important to me. And so that was a boundary that I didn't do things in the evening because I wanted to put my kids home. Now, it doesn't mean I didn't do it every now and then, but it wasn't something where I was gone every night of the week because that was important to me.
Kelli Risse [:If I had to do that, then it would be. My weekends are blocked off and I'm going to spend every hour with them over the weekend. Right. It's. It just. You have to make it work into your schedule and how much time you want and what's important to you as far as relationships. I mean, I look at how am I going to keep up with my friends, I'm going to call and we're going to schedule a time for us to all go out which does end up on my calendar. And I don't feel like that's forced or I make.
Kelli Risse [:You know what I mean? Like, it's just kind of how it has to happen for us to get together.
Glenn Harper [:I'm talking more on my significant other. Like, how do you.
Kelli Risse [:And you know, we spend time in that. Like, we just know, here's the amount of time we have in the mornings. We were going to talk in the mornings before we both go to work. We're gonna, you know, have a quick phone call during the day. We're gonna definitely have dinner in the evening together. And then who knows what we're doing between then and the time we go to bed, like, but let's reconnect then. And it's just knowing that here's our times, we're not giving up and there's a boundary around that. And we say no to other things to make sure we have time for ourselves.
Glenn Harper [:I think that's important because it seems like I know just for myself, my day starts earlier and earlier and earlier. And that cuts into my personal time because, well, I've got calls overseas. Like I gotta be in the office at 6am where normally I'd be hanging out doing whatever until 8. Well, now my day got shorter. Well then I gotta push something else off. Well now I might get home later. Well, that, now I'm tired. I can't operate in that efficiency.
Glenn Harper [:And I still got these emails coming in. I can't. It's hard for me to shut it off, right? And just say, that's it, no more work. Click off the phone. Like, how do you get people. Again, we can say we want to do it and we know it's an important value and it's important limit, but how do we enforce that? What's our default? Do we get like shocked by our phone or something. If we cross a boundary, like what's the. Oh, no, I don't want to do that.
Glenn Harper [:Right. Like a shock collar. What do we do for that?
Kelli Risse [:Or no, they might come up with that.
Glenn Harper [:It's a matter of time. I think it's a million dollar idea.
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. I think they're at one point they invented some kind of a lock for the refrigerator. Right. So the people that just would graze like, you can't get to the refrigerator. It's not time yet.
Glenn Harper [:Oh, that'd make it worse. Yeah, that make it worse?
Kelli Risse [:You know. Well, I would have a lot of questions for you, Glenn, around this of you know what? Like, are you doing the 6am calls every day or is there one day a week you're doing them? Right. Like if that is something that you're like, oh, my days keep getting shorter and shorter, then is this an opportunity that is truly bringing you an roi or is it taking away from other areas? Right. They're like, we would just have to seriously talk it out for me to go, well, don't take any more 6am overseas calls because it may not be an option for you. Right. But then how can we move some other things around? And what has to come if this is added to your plate, what has to come off your plate, I will never forget. So I used to be in education and every year they would give us new things, new things, new things. We got another new binder, blah, blah, blah.
Kelli Risse [:When are you taking away the other binders? Like when are you taking stuff away? So what has to be delegated, what has to be dumped in order for you now to do these new 6am Overseas calls? Right. And I think we have to remember the 4Ds do delay, delegate and dump so that we can work in the amount of time that we have and keep our priorities and our values in line with what we want to do.
Glenn Harper [:It sounds like the most important thing we can say is no, the boundary and just say that's not happening in this timeframe, no matter what. I mean, on occasion I can tell.
Kelli Risse [:You, and I'll be straight up honest, I think we said it. This did interfere with, with the time that I work out on Thursdays. I work out at all different times, but on Thursdays this interfered and I thought about it and I really weighed my pros and cons. Is there another, you know, here's how many, here's how many workouts I want a week. Can I move a different day to get this in? Which I can. So it worked out well, but I thought about it and I thought about what. What's the give and take of this? And is this important enough for me to say yes, or should I just say no?
Glenn Harper [:It's funny, it seems like it's really easy to say no to the people who are closest to you, but it's easier to say yes to all the other people because you kind of want to be like, oh, I can check it off the list. I get that done. I'm the hero. And it's just weird how, again, we see it all day long with everybody that's an entrepreneur. They will literally push everything else down the line to go do this other thing. Because it's just. That's an easy one. I can check off the list.
Kelli Risse [:Yes.
Glenn Harper [:And that's just.
Kelli Risse [:And I think that sometimes, like, when I talk about that, I align values with people. Like, sometimes that's what happens in. Especially for entrepreneurs in business. Their family is not there anywhere. It has to be. You know what I mean? That has to be in there somewhere. Because if not, you're not spending enough time with your significant other, your family, whatever, you might end up divorced. And that's going to cost you a whole lot more than.
Kelli Risse [:Julie, I'll go back to you if not seeing your family or saying yes to all the other things besides yourself, because let me tell you something. There was a time where my husband probably wanted to kick me to the curve because I was so overwhelmed and stressed and whatever he's probably like, I could probably find somebody else who's a whole lot calmer than you, and what that is going to cost me way more than whatever opportunity I'm looking for over there. And so it's really. It's really getting deep about that and thinking about that. On every decision, if I say yes, what or who am I saying no to? And that's powerful. You gotta pause for a second and think about that. On every decision, how does one.
Julie Smith [:I just assume the yes is gonna all work out and I'm gonna say yes to it. All right?
Kelli Risse [:Mm.
Julie Smith [:Mm.
Kelli Risse [:Yep. Yes. High achiever.
Glenn Harper [:We'll play your little game. So one of the. I think one of the things is. So let's say somebody gets your book. It could be a client, just somebody randomly. I read your book and go, okay. I lay it all out. I spend.
Glenn Harper [:What is it going to take somebody an hour to make up their lists and their priorities and do all the things? How long does that usually take somebody if they read your book?
Kelli Risse [:Oh, I would recommend. I mean, yes, you Know, just guessing.
Glenn Harper [:Yeah.
Kelli Risse [:If you read the whole book and then wanted to really look at everything, I mean, I think it's going to take two to three hours. This is strategic planning for your life.
Glenn Harper [:So you got to block off a.
Kelli Risse [:Saturday morning, block off some time to really get strategic. Just like as entrepreneurs, we have a very strategic business plan, right. Where do we want to be in a year, five years, you know, thinking about that with your life. And so it's going to take a little bit, it's going to take a half day or so.
Glenn Harper [:All right, so now we do that, we lay it all out and then we are like anybody else. We go out there and we take our first step and we get smacked right in the face with the two by four, right? The rake hits us. Who is you as a coach? Are you the person that helps hold that person accountable if they can't hold themselves accountable? How does one say get back on track, get in your lane? Like, how does, what do you recommend for somebody to. What's the.
Julie Smith [:She puts the shock collar on you.
Glenn Harper [:That's, there you go. I mean, what is, what do you, what do you recommend people to do? Is it a significant other? Is it a business partner, is it a staff person, Is it a coach? How do they say, like, look, you're way out of whack here. Pull, get it back in line.
Kelli Risse [:So, and I think that depends how, how difficult this is, right? And if this is like, oh man, this is really difficult, like, this is really different and, and it is good. I know it's going to require some effort from me. I think you probably do need a coach. Okay. I think all entrepreneurs, business owners personally need some type of a coach to help them move forward. And I think, you know, when I think about trainers, I think of, of personal trainers in a couple ways. One, they are accountability. Like you're going to show up, you're paying for it, you're going to do it.
Kelli Risse [:And two, sometimes it's because I just don't know, like I know the basic moves, but I'm ready to up level and I need a trainer to help me be able to up level because I don't know all the different ways to do a deadlift and you know what I mean, like that. And I think coaches do the same thing. So they are that accountability person that really offers support. They're going to meet you where they are. If you have a good coach, they're going to have some compassion. But at the same time they're also going to give you some Tough love and some reality of, of helping you understand why you do it like this. Like what's the purpose of you doing it like this? Because it's not working. So we got to figure out the purpose that it's driving for you.
Kelli Risse [:For example, I had a client yesterday and really when she realized her purpose she's like oh my God, that's awful. Like the purpose, the reason I'm doing this is all self righteous but she didn't realize that until. Coaches will ask you questions that dig deeper and so that's the important to me of having a coach. I think some people can, will be able to do it themselves and other people need a little bit more support and I think that's great.
Julie Smith [:Kelly, you're going to have to come stay here for three months to get me on. I hate to break.
Glenn Harper [:I was going to say what are you doing at midnight three days a week?
Kelli Risse [:I guess I'm going to be coaching Julie at midnight 3.
Glenn Harper [:Yes.
Julie Smith [:I like the 4am spot actually.
Glenn Harper [:Yes. We're up anyway. Right.
Kelli Risse [:I have a boundary, Julie. That boundary is I don't coach at 4am would have to be a different time but you know what I'm saying like that. But I think that we have to stop and realize I need more support right now. Like I can't keep running at this level. I need some more support. Whether that be to get me back to, you know, harmony, whether that be to help me up level so I can, so I can do more things better. Right. Sometimes it's, sometimes it's not doing more, sometimes it's just doing better.
Kelli Risse [:Like it just depends. Everybody's different.
Glenn Harper [:Say somebody reads the book and this is great, they list it down and the first day they're like ah, this sucks, I can't do it, I'm failed. If they engage you as a coach, is that a daily weekly? What does that look like and for how long is it like a standard, like bell curve? Like oh, it's going to be a.
Julie Smith [:She moves in with you, right. She follows you around.
Glenn Harper [:How long does that take for somebody say no? Because it seems like there's a, there's a thing of identifying the things first which is probably one of the hardest things for people to self look back and figure that out and then it's what is the plan? And then are we following the plan? It seems like that's going to take I don't know how long that is. Is that a month, two months?
Kelli Risse [:So typically when I, when I have a client and you know my Clients are business owners, they are executive leaders. And usually it's at least six months. Six months. I also have here moving in with.
Julie Smith [:Me for six months.
Glenn Harper [:Is that weekly or is that twice a week?
Kelli Risse [:Usually I do twice a month because I understand that my people are busy. They are busy professionals. And so we need to talk about, you know, we need to get to the bottom of things. We need to figure out what do you, you know, what are your action steps. And then you need a little bit of time to. To. To do them and. And see where you're rubbing up against.
Julie Smith [:You're a high achiever. I'll get those tomorrow. I'm just kidding.
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. You know, and. And then you get it done tomorrow and then we see what happens the other 13 days and see what else comes up. There's always something that comes up next. If you get it done and you're like, check, habit, done. Already did it. You know, whatever. Like, I am solid in this.
Kelli Risse [:Something else always comes up. I have never had a client, even when I work with someone for a year, that has been like, I have nothing to talk about this time because we're always growing and evolving and we're always seeing scaling, whether it be ourselves personally or whether it be our business. There's always something to address. I have a current client right now. She started with a breakthrough. We work every other week together. Then I went in and we realized that her team, there were some communication issues going on. So then I went in and helped do strategic planning at her retreat for her leaders.
Kelli Risse [:Then I went in and now I'm coaching her leadership because she doesn't have time anymore to do that. So now I'm coaching them and they are trickling down into the staff below them. We did a disc assessment, we did a driving forces assessment to get everyone on the same page. That's just in one small business right there. Of all the things that I'm doing to help her directly, because it all goes up to her.
Glenn Harper [:She totally did the D of delegate. She got that totally out of her bucket. That's fantastic.
Kelli Risse [:Exactly, exactly. And trust me, as that business owner, she's like, I know I can do things faster. I. You know what I mean? Like, I know I can do it faster. I can get it done right. But when you become a leader, leaders are. Leaders are delegating. They have different things on their plate.
Kelli Risse [:More. They need to be doing strategic thinking, strategic planning, not doing all the do, do, do, do do.
Glenn Harper [:So the bank questions you got, you have any bandwidth over there for some Coaching. Okay, good. I mean, I might be in on that, too. And again, it's funny too. You talk about entrepreneurs. It's such a lonely place. They have nobody to talk to. You can't talk to a spouse.
Glenn Harper [:You can't talk to your kids, can't talk to your friends. Nobody has any idea. Can't talk to your competitors.
Kelli Risse [:So when you find, I think you're crazy.
Glenn Harper [:Right. Well, they know you're crazy. Right. But they can't relate at any level. So when you do find somebody, which is, again, as my career as a business advisor, I get a lot of. I'm more of a therapist than anything, but I would imagine as a coach, you're getting it in a whole different way. It's almost like you almost are a therapist. Like you're going to hear all kinds of stuff and they're probably going to open up a little bit more and talk about things they didn't know they needed to talk about, which is kind of cool when you think about it.
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. And there's. There's two things. One, my client yesterday, one of my clients yesterday actually said this. She goes, you are sometimes the only person I have to talk to about this. And I'm like, yes. You know what I mean? Because you can't go to your employees, your other leaders of things you're, as the owner, are trying to do. And two, oh, what was my second thing that you said that I wanted to address? Oh.
Julie Smith [:Was it me?
Glenn Harper [:It's going to be profound. I know it's going to be profound.
Julie Smith [:I was like, at least I have awareness. That's step one.
Glenn Harper [:I have good, stimulating questions. I know.
Kelli Risse [:Oh, my gosh. Well, I don't know. It went out of me right now. It might come back all good.
Glenn Harper [:Well, so I think one of the, you know, this has been extremely helpful. And again, probably the hardest thing for our listeners is to look in the mirror on this one and go, oh, my God, which one am I? And do I not only identify it and then go, shoot, now what do I do? And then take the action steps. So to get your book and all that, do you have a, like a plug on how do we do that on Amazon?
Kelli Risse [:I do. And I figured out what I was going to say. Go ahead. So let me say that real quick. One of the questions that I asked, so I, you know, every before a coaching session, I have my clients fill out like five simple questions just so I know what we're going to, you know, work on kind of where we're coming from. And One of the questions that I ask is, what are you not willing to bring up?
Glenn Harper [:Ooh.
Kelli Risse [:Because that is usually the thing that needs to be addressed. It doesn't mean we don't always start with it, but that's really the thing. Like, what are you not willing to bring up? And I love my clients because they're honest. They're like this. I'm not willing to bring up this. And they tell me. And that's where the deep work. That's where the transformation can truly start happening.
Kelli Risse [:If it's always the surface level, little things, I mean, that's. That's fine, and that's going to get someone somewhere. But it's that part, like, what are you really not willing to bring up? You know what I mean? And sometimes for business owners, it's like, I want to quit. Like, I want to sell my business tomorrow. Right. And that's the initial. And then we talk it through and.
Glenn Harper [:Then it's down the ledge.
Julie Smith [:I think I say some of those things daily. Yeah.
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. I mean, I haven't had anybody sell their business yet, but you know what I mean? But that's like the. God, I'm willing. I'm really not willing to. To. To say that, but that's how I'm feeling right now. So anyway, it did come back to me. And when I come back in my menopause brain, when things come back to me, I get really excited.
Glenn Harper [:As long as it's showing up still. That's the key, Right?
Kelli Risse [:Okay. So you had asked me how can.
Glenn Harper [:People get the book?
Kelli Risse [:Get the book, yes. So the book is on Amazon. It is also on my website and it's Kelly with an I K E L L I R I S S E dot com. The book is on Amazon as well. You can get it there. I am going to do an. I don't have an audio version yet, but I am going to do an audio version that will be. It's soon.
Kelli Risse [:At some point. I don't have a date. You know what? That's the other thing. Always give yourself a deadline.
Glenn Harper [:Is that David Attenborough gonna narrate it?
Kelli Risse [:Yes. Where should I go to do this? I need to be thinking about it.
Glenn Harper [:Yeah. That's a big deal, right?
Kelli Risse [:Yeah. I also have on my website, I do have a free takeaway of five strategies to help stop burnout. Like, that's on there as well. So there's some good stuff.
Julie Smith [:We'll link everything in the show. Notes too, for everybody.
Glenn Harper [:I got one other question, and this is funny because it's probably going to happen. It's going to happen that we're probably going to engage you. Do you do it separate? Like, can you do the same people that are doing the business? Can you do at the same time? Or are you like, no, I got to do one and somebody else has got to do the other.
Julie Smith [:She does a risk assessment for who's worse, and then she starts there.
Glenn Harper [:Start from the bottom.
Kelli Risse [:Oh, I think it's. I think it's. It. That's. That is truly up to the people. If you're like, yep, I am willing to talk about it all, be open about it all. Like, I feel like it's okay if all of these things are said together, then together it is. And, you know, I do.
Kelli Risse [:I do group coaching, so. Partner coaching. Yep. And it works. It works.
Julie Smith [:You send the invite, we accept it kind of thing.
Glenn Harper [:Yes, we're waiting for that invite. So if you don't mind, we'd love to have that speak for yourself. You know, you want to do it. Everybody wants to do it. It's perfect. Well, Kel, I really appreciate. I'm sorry you missed your workout today. I hope you get to make it up.
Glenn Harper [:But we really appreciate you being on the show today. Again, I think this is incredibly helpful for people. Again, even if they took the time to listen to this and have a little self reflection, I think that's one more step they can move toward improving themselves, which is all we're really trying to do for all our listeners is just, yeah, we're working hard, but are we really having a better life or are we just working hard?
Kelli Risse [:Yes. You know, the first step of EQ is self awareness, and that it is literally like the biggest thing is self awareness. And so I think that's great.
Glenn Harper [:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. This is Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper and Julie Smith.
