The Power of Mastermind Groups: Lessons from Six Years of Collaboration

In this episode of 'Seasoned Women, Serious Business,' host Isabel connects with her long-time mastermind partners, Lee Woodward and Jackie Ulmer, to discuss their journey over the past six years of meeting almost every Monday.

They explore personal and professional growth, vulnerability, habit formation, and the value of a supportive mastermind group. Each woman shares their unique experiences and pivots in their careers, illustrating the importance of intentionality and commitment.

The episode highlights the evolution of their mastermind dynamic and how it has profoundly impacted their lives. Listeners are encouraged to engage by sending questions, revealing the inclusive nature of their journey.

00:00 Introduction to Seasoned Women, Serious Business

00:36 Meet the Mastermind Mavens

02:47 The Power of Vulnerability

04:17 The Origin of Our Mastermind

09:53 Overcoming Personal Challenges

12:03 The Importance of Storytelling

14:03 Creating a Successful Mastermind

19:54 Gratitude and Commitment

27:09 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Connect With Our Guests Today!

Lee Woodward

https://www.simplifyadulting.com/resources 

https://www.youtube.com/@SimplifyAdulting

Email Lee@SimplifyAdulting.com

Lee Woodward co-founded Simplify Adulting with her twenty-something kids, creating a movement dedicated to helping people in their twenties navigate the complexities of modern adulting. Drawing from personal experience and insights gained from her kids, she understands the challenges first-time adults face today. 

Simplify Adulting's mission is to guide people toward joy, confidence, and resilience by focusing on essential life skills like money management and career development. 

Simplify Adulting answers the question, "Why didn't anyone teach me this?" and empowers people to go from adulting stress to adulting success.

Jackie Ulmer

Website - https://PeakPerformanceHabits.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lowertoxiclife 

Podcast:  https://open.spotify.com/show/41NqVnaWUlBfmX6EQZ4joS?si=ldntcRIHS9Sej51Wn8V-fQ

Jackie Ulmer is a Functional Intuitive Health coach, assisting others to shift and build habits to support them on their journey back to health, wholeness and nature based living.  It is possible to achieve the body, weight, vitality and health one truly desires through simple habit changes in food, sleep, movement, stress reduction and mindset awareness.

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.

Founder:

The Encore Catalyst Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheEncoreCatalyst )

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

 

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Crossroads Clarity Solution

Who Am I Now Book

Isabel: 00:00:00

Welcome everyone to Seasoned Women, Serious Business.

Isabel: 00:00:03

Today I have a very special treat for you and for me.

Isabel: 00:00:08

Normally on Mondays, I do meet with the two women that you see here on the screen.

Isabel: 00:00:13

It is our weekly mastermind meeting.

Isabel: 00:00:17

But today we have a special meeting in your honor, because we're recording

Isabel: 00:00:22

an episode for the podcast all about masterminds and what we have learned

Isabel: 00:00:29

over the case of, six years of meeting almost every Monday around the calendar.

Isabel: 00:00:36

Let me begin by having my guests, my mastermind mavens,

Isabel: 00:00:41

introduce themselves to you.

Isabel: 00:00:44

Let's start with you, Lee.

Lee Woodward: 00:00:47

Hello, I'm Lee Woodward, and like Isabel said, been in the mastermind

Lee Woodward: 00:00:52

for six years, and Isabel and Jackie have seen me go through changes both

Lee Woodward: 00:00:57

personally and in my professional life.

Lee Woodward: 00:01:00

And kind of Isabel, as we were talking about kind of the opposite of who you

Lee Woodward: 00:01:04

work with seasoned women, I've switched my focus to helping 20 somethings

Lee Woodward: 00:01:09

in the areas of their career, their money, and just adulting stress.

Lee Woodward: 00:01:13

It's one of the things that is lighting me up and I enjoy it so much.

Lee Woodward: 00:01:18

Isabel and I met four businesses ago after a big corporate career.

Lee Woodward: 00:01:22

So they've seen me through so many changes.

Lee Woodward: 00:01:25

So I'll leave it at.

Isabel: 00:01:26

That.

Isabel: 00:01:27

All right.

Isabel: 00:01:28

That was a great teaser intro, Lee!

Isabel: 00:01:30

Thank you, Jackie.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:34

Yes, thank you.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:35

Good to see you both ladies and good to see the audience too.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:38

I'm Jackie Ulmer and I've gone through a number of pivots too.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:42

When we met and started our mastermind, I was highly focused on business and

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:47

social media coaching, primarily in the direct sales, network marketing

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:51

and real estate end of things.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:53

And while I still do that over the course of the last few years, as we

Jacki Ulmer: 00:01:58

watched a lot of things change, I really.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:01

sat around thinking, what do I want to do with the rest of my life?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:04

How do I really want to make impact and make a difference?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:07

And one of the things that has always really stuck out for

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:09

me is we don't get our goals.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:11

We get our habits.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:13

So I really like to focus on habits.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:15

And I've since pivoted.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:16

into health and wellness coaching.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:19

We live in a toxic soup.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:20

We hear that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:20

And what I really like to do is help people clean up the major areas of

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:25

their life in a very simple way from diet nutrition to the environmental

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:29

toxins around us, our personal care products and home cleaning.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:32

And it's just been fun to make that pivot with both of you and that power

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:38

of the mastermind to help collaborate and help steer in the right direction.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:02:42

So thrilled to be here sharing with you all.

Isabel: 00:02:46

Oh, thank you.

Isabel: 00:02:47

And as I was thinking about this episode this morning, I realized that the three

Isabel: 00:02:52

of us, as much as we are so incredibly different, we have so much sameness in

Isabel: 00:02:58

terms of our desire to constantly excavate what doesn't work for us anymore in

Isabel: 00:03:06

our lives, and to continue to grow and become the best version of ourselves.

Isabel: 00:03:12

And so for the audience, I come from the entrepreneur side of the world.

Isabel: 00:03:18

all of my life.

Isabel: 00:03:19

I've either run other people's businesses or built my own and sold those.

Isabel: 00:03:24

It's quite fun to realize that bringing the three of us together, we have

Isabel: 00:03:30

this three sided balance where Lee came from the fortune 50 world, right?

Isabel: 00:03:36

Major corporation background.

Isabel: 00:03:39

Incredible!

Isabel: 00:03:40

Jackie bootstrapped a very successful business before the internet was known

Isabel: 00:03:45

to most of us, she was already actively building in that area and developed

Isabel: 00:03:51

an expertise in marketing, which she then shared with other people.

Isabel: 00:03:56

I came in from left field and from a different country, Canada to Arizona,

Isabel: 00:04:02

coming with my experience as a woman business owner on a fairly global stage,

Isabel: 00:04:09

but also loving the fact that I could work with other women entrepreneurs

Isabel: 00:04:14

on a very personal and local basis.

Isabel: 00:04:17

So to set the stage we also did our homework for you and looked back.

Isabel: 00:04:23

It was June of 2018 when the three of us came together.

Isabel: 00:04:28

came together in another group.

Isabel: 00:04:31

That was the first time I'd met Jackie, but Lee and I knew each other

Isabel: 00:04:35

previously and we came together in a group that the best outcome of

Isabel: 00:04:41

it for me was deciding we wanted to continue to meet on a regular basis.

Isabel: 00:04:48

In the beginning, I remember we talked about it as being accountability partners.

Isabel: 00:04:53

And of course, over time, what we've all learned is that accountability is

Isabel: 00:04:59

an inside job, and if we don't do it ourselves, nobody else can do it for us.

Isabel: 00:05:04

But Lee, what do you recall from the origin of our story?

Lee Woodward: 00:05:12

Yeah, like you said, we met in that entrepreneurial space.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:16

I was new.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:16

You were leading a kind of a mastermind and advisory board.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:20

I remember meeting the group, Jackie, where I met you and I was intimidated

Lee Woodward: 00:05:25

because you had so much stuff together and I was like, Oh my gosh, you're

Lee Woodward: 00:05:29

like, she's really knows her stuff.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:32

But when we decided to keep it going, I remember we were willing

Lee Woodward: 00:05:38

to be vulnerable with each other and really get to know each other.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:43

I think one of the things that just quickly came for me in our group was just

Lee Woodward: 00:05:48

saying " Oh My God, a place to breathe!

Lee Woodward: 00:05:50

How I am is how I am, and that's how I can show up.

Lee Woodward: 00:05:54

And I don't think I'd ever truly experienced so wholly before.

Isabel: 00:06:00

I wish I knew how we could package that for other women.

Isabel: 00:06:05

What's kept us together over these six years, the glue, is our ability to be

Isabel: 00:06:12

completely vulnerable with each other.

Isabel: 00:06:16

And to be able to appear on video without makeup, which I've learned to

Isabel: 00:06:23

do on Marco Polo, thanks to you guys.

Isabel: 00:06:25

Or clothes.

Isabel: 00:06:26

Yeah.

Isabel: 00:06:27

All right.

Isabel: 00:06:28

Stay tuned.

Isabel: 00:06:29

We'll tell you all a little more about that later, but thank you, Jackie.

Isabel: 00:06:33

In other organizations or other groups that I've been in, it's been too

Isabel: 00:06:37

superficial to build that trust that we have developed with each other.

Isabel: 00:06:42

So Jackie, from the beginning, how much do you think we've changed or

Isabel: 00:06:46

what have we retained over the years?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:06:50

I know for me, and Lee, I'm glad you led that off with

Jacki Ulmer: 00:06:53

the vulnerability piece, because honestly, that was the very first

Jacki Ulmer: 00:06:56

thing that resonated with me about you.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:06:59

That first retreat that we did where you shared so vulnerably about your childhood

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:04

and some of your stories and experiences.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:07

And I am that type A achiever performer personality type and one

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:13

of the things that I remember even from being young was the kind of

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:17

the never let 'Em see you sweat.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:19

Vulnerability for me has and still is sometimes a very challenging

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:25

piece of things, but, what our coming together really taught me is

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:30

that I am only going to grow so far until I'm really willing to do that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:36

And it really, and I've been a pretty good storyteller most of my

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:39

life in terms of certain aspects, the hero's journey, a lot of that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:44

But I realized there are certain parts of my story that I shared in a different way.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:49

And so I thank you both for,

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:53

It's okay.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:54

That's okay.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:54

It's accepted.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:07:55

And how much I have grown from that piece alone has been amazing.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:00

It's that whole Shrek thing, like the onion.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:02

It's allowed me to peel back a lot of different layers of

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:06

things, where I can see now, wow, that was part of my struggle.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:11

That's why this happened this way.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:13

I look back six years and I think, wow.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:16

For me personally, the growth just in that area has been tremendous because it's

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:22

allowed me to see all different things in a whole different light from a more maybe

Jacki Ulmer: 00:08:29

realistic and honest and authentic way.

Isabel: 00:08:33

You brought up something I've been in other mastermind groups and

Isabel: 00:08:37

Lee, as you said, I've facilitated a woman's advisory board group for five,

Isabel: 00:08:43

six years, but I've never been in a group where, I could be 100 percent present

Isabel: 00:08:51

as the recipient and as the giver.

Isabel: 00:08:54

I realized something that's another unique part of our recipe is that

Isabel: 00:08:59

we take turns being the facilitator.

Isabel: 00:09:03

We take turns being the expert in our respective fields.

Isabel: 00:09:08

We take turns being the student and that's what keeps this so fresh

Isabel: 00:09:15

because they say in the movies, "It's like a box of chocolates every week."

Isabel: 00:09:21

Who knows, right?

Isabel: 00:09:23

So Lee, you came, into this from the corporate background, recovering,

Isabel: 00:09:29

fascinating story for anybody.

Isabel: 00:09:32

You'll have to follow Lee and find out about that more, but you came in, which

Isabel: 00:09:36

was interesting for me, always observing that you felt a little unprepared or

Isabel: 00:09:42

a little insecure in terms of your entrepreneurial experience and skill

Isabel: 00:09:47

sets, yet you were light years ahead of anything I had ever experienced.

Isabel: 00:09:53

But over time, what have you observed from that?

Lee Woodward: 00:09:57

Yeah.

Lee Woodward: 00:09:58

. It's such a different world.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:00

When you're in the corporate world, as an executive, sure, I had strategic direction

Lee Woodward: 00:10:05

and sure I led teams and I had to say, Hey, we're going to spend money this way.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:09

But it was still somebody else's agenda, right?

Lee Woodward: 00:10:13

So there was a story that always followed me and it followed me into

Lee Woodward: 00:10:16

entrepreneurship and I think I'm almost through it, I'm not quite there

Lee Woodward: 00:10:20

yet, but I had convinced myself that.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:24

I was always meant to be in the background.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:26

So in my corporate world, I really loved, and I'm very good at it:

Lee Woodward: 00:10:31

you give me a great leader, and I will make them even better!

Lee Woodward: 00:10:34

And I can be a great leader in that, but I've always considered

Lee Woodward: 00:10:37

myself behind the scenes.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:39

Even in high school, I remember when we did a play for like our senior

Lee Woodward: 00:10:43

year, I didn't want to be on the stage.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:46

I wanted to be "okay, we should have the light shine here, there."

Lee Woodward: 00:10:49

I don't want to be seen.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:51

I don't want to be the one in the center.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:53

And I think coming into being an entrepreneur, especially a solopreneur.

Lee Woodward: 00:10:57

Geez, that doesn't work so great because you're that is,

Lee Woodward: 00:11:00

that's like the business is me.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:02

So I think that was probably my biggest, I'll say challenge.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:07

And it wasn't about skills.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:09

It wasn't about experience.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:10

It was about story and this belief set I had about myself.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:15

And by the way, there was a lot that I liked about that.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:18

I guess all of our stories, if we stick with them, they serve us somehow, right?

Lee Woodward: 00:11:22

So I think that's been the biggest challenge for me and opportunity

Lee Woodward: 00:11:29

for me, and I'm getting there and in that journey and I think being able

Lee Woodward: 00:11:33

to be with you guys and I don't know if you guys saw that struggling.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:39

I think you have.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:40

I don't think that any of this is a surprise to you, right?

Lee Woodward: 00:11:43

How do I step out there and be that person?

Lee Woodward: 00:11:46

Whatever the story is whatever's holding us back, you guys have

Lee Woodward: 00:11:50

helped me work through that because that's a belief system and to undo a

Lee Woodward: 00:11:55

belief system is big fricking work.

Lee Woodward: 00:11:57

And so working through that belief system, I don't think I'd be

Lee Woodward: 00:12:02

where I'm at without you guys.

Isabel: 00:12:04

Jackie, I'm hearing your voice in my head and to the effect of,

Isabel: 00:12:10

there's the story we tell ourselves.

Isabel: 00:12:13

would you share that with our audience?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:16

Yeah, I think I know what you mean by that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:18

It's funny.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:19

You brought up the belief systems and I've, there's three

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:21

ways to describe BS, right?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:24

The term BS, there's obviously bull shiznit.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:27

There's belief systems, and then there's blind spots.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:30

And we have all three of those and that's the power of the mastermind.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:35

There's the story that we tell ourselves.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:37

And We get stuck in that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:39

It's like habits, right?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:40

The whole thing with how many, like 60 to 80, 000 thoughts we have every day,

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:45

90 percent of those are repetitive and like 90 percent of those are negative.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:49

Our brain defaults to telling us the same story over and over.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:54

We get up, it's raining, we make up a story, we have a story about

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:58

what that means for our day.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:12:59

We wake up, we feel tired.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:01

We already have a story about what that means for our day.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:04

A lot of that kind of stuff.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:05

Whereas if you can stop and say, yeah, I'm tired, but I can still walk half

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:11

a mile or I can still record a short podcast or whatever it is, so just

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:16

different things like that where we really have to go to work on managing our

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:21

mind, our brain, and taking it back away from the toddler that likes to run the

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:27

brain, and saying, I'm the adult here.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:29

That may be a story from the past but the past is over.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:34

It's gone.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:34

It doesn't exist anymore, except in my mind.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:37

And I get to control what's in my mind.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:39

So I am going to rewrite that story.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:42

And I do that just by being aware.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:44

Every morning.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:45

I do a thought download.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:45

I put everything down there: frustrated with this person in my family and

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:49

frustrated with this in my business.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:50

And oh, grateful for whatever.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:52

And then, really looking at that and saying, how is that thought

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:55

building a story that's going to affect my day either positively or

Jacki Ulmer: 00:13:59

negatively and how can I shift that?

Isabel: 00:14:03

Yeah it's another benefit of this mastermind.

Isabel: 00:14:08

We have been able to try out some practices, thought downloads,

Isabel: 00:14:14

journaling, morning pages lots of other things as we're, because

Isabel: 00:14:19

we're all compulsive learners and some of us are compulsive library.

Isabel: 00:14:25

Check routers but this is the other advantage is that with the three

Isabel: 00:14:30

of us looking at these different, modalities or methodologies.

Isabel: 00:14:36

It's been very interesting to see how we each take away a different aspect of it,

Isabel: 00:14:43

sometimes implementing the practice and sticking with it, and other times not.

Isabel: 00:14:49

But let me just say, between the two of you, I think you've saved me a

Isabel: 00:14:54

thousand years of research, so thank you.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:14:58

Thousands of dollars in therapy for all of us.

Isabel: 00:15:01

And books.

Isabel: 00:15:02

Thousands of books.

Isabel: 00:15:03

Yes.

Isabel: 00:15:03

We started out because we were in another group and we decided to spin off.

Isabel: 00:15:09

And then somewhere in that when we recognized the incredible value

Isabel: 00:15:15

of this three way exchange and education and experience, we said

Isabel: 00:15:20

we were going to have a radio show.

Isabel: 00:15:23

And we were all excited about that.

Isabel: 00:15:25

And in fact that was just before the pandemic and as a result, we

Isabel: 00:15:30

weren't able to go live in studio.

Isabel: 00:15:32

So we did start YouTube channel and we were recording for a while.

Isabel: 00:15:37

Transformation Decoded.

Isabel: 00:15:39

When I go back and look at those, I think, man, we were

Isabel: 00:15:42

flippin brilliant, I gotta say.

Isabel: 00:15:45

And in particular, one came to mind which I think you were

Isabel: 00:15:48

alluding to earlier, Jackie.

Isabel: 00:15:51

It was Lee's birthday.

Isabel: 00:15:53

And at that time in history, I was in my 60s, Jackie was in her 50s, and Lee

Isabel: 00:15:59

was approaching the end of her 40s.

Isabel: 00:16:02

And we had the most wonderful episode.

Isabel: 00:16:05

So I'll share the link to that as well here.

Isabel: 00:16:08

I bring that up because it's so interesting.

Isabel: 00:16:10

At the time that we began our Mastermind and our Transformation

Isabel: 00:16:16

Decoded videos, I had never thought of having a podcast and now I've had two.

Isabel: 00:16:21

And I'm just thinking about what I might not have had the courage

Isabel: 00:16:26

to try had I not had this group.

Isabel: 00:16:30

And as of last week's episode, My Trampoline; you are my trampoline because

Isabel: 00:16:36

I'm rebounding every time I stumble or I am being bounced up by something

Isabel: 00:16:42

you've tried and I get to observe it.

Isabel: 00:16:47

What would be something that maybe you wouldn't have done, Lee had it

Isabel: 00:16:51

not been for being in this group?

Lee Woodward: 00:16:54

I can think of several things.

Lee Woodward: 00:16:56

Just in general, like you said, trying different different practices and things

Lee Woodward: 00:17:01

like that, that you guys just opened my eyes to especially you, Jackie,

Lee Woodward: 00:17:05

you're the master of like practices and trying trying different things.

Lee Woodward: 00:17:09

But I think probably the one that sticks out the most was my decision to shut

Lee Woodward: 00:17:16

down my business during the pandemic.

Lee Woodward: 00:17:19

And I had already made a lot of, changes in it and thank goodness I made some,

Lee Woodward: 00:17:26

just by serendipity, had gotten out of a lease and was starting to go online

Lee Woodward: 00:17:31

and there was a lot of challenges and, and at the end of the day, I think

Lee Woodward: 00:17:36

without you guys, just the ability to work through, what does it mean to quit?

Lee Woodward: 00:17:42

What does it mean to fail?

Lee Woodward: 00:17:44

Does that make me a quitter?

Lee Woodward: 00:17:46

Does that make me a failure?

Lee Woodward: 00:17:49

There was a lot of ego wrapped up in that.

Lee Woodward: 00:17:53

A lot of, sadness because I had a lot of dreams with that.

Lee Woodward: 00:17:58

I probably, would have just figured out how to hunker through

Lee Woodward: 00:18:02

it instead of stepping back and saying, okay what do I want to do?

Lee Woodward: 00:18:07

And that's just good enough.

Lee Woodward: 00:18:08

Like just what I want to do is good enough.

Lee Woodward: 00:18:11

Peeling away irrelevance that can weigh so heavy and just saying, no,

Lee Woodward: 00:18:17

this is what I'm going to do and own it, and did it, and shut her down.

Isabel: 00:18:24

Jackie, any thoughts on that?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:27

On Leigh's or my own?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:30

All of the above.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:32

Yeah.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:32

Lots of thoughts.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:33

It was what are even the words?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:35

It was Not humbling.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:36

It was an honor, in a sense, to go through that with you, Leigh, because it's like

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:41

anything, and we share this all the time.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:43

It is funny.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:43

I'm going to guess mostly women are listening to this, but this

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:46

came up the other day, how when you are menstruating, women typically

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:50

tend to get on the same cycle as those they hang out with the most.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:53

That's not uncommon.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:54

And we feel so much like we've done that with a lot of the ebbs and

Jacki Ulmer: 00:18:58

flows of our lives, experiences that we're going through, whether

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:01

it's business or kids or whatever.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:03

Just, so many different things.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:05

Friend groups.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:05

It just goes on and on.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:07

And so it's, it has been an honor to watch both of you go through anything

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:13

that you've gone through, because it's been such a learning time for me to

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:19

watch, listen, offer what I can and then also just sit back and allow that

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:26

process to happen for both of you and observe that and how at the end of

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:31

the day it's all going to be okay.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:33

Like things are meant to be a certain way or whatever and they right themselves.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:37

So that's been especially gratifying.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:40

if that makes sense.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:41

It sounds like not the right word to say I'm grateful that you went

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:46

through that, but I am because it helped, it's helped me explore other

Jacki Ulmer: 00:19:50

possibilities for myself, for sure.

Isabel: 00:19:54

I think gratitude is a really good word.

Isabel: 00:19:56

That's what I was feeling as well.

Isabel: 00:19:59

First of all, I have deep gratitude for having co-created this with the two of

Isabel: 00:20:05

you, that we can feel safe enough to talk about anything Even if we aren't quite

Isabel: 00:20:16

ready to talk about it with ourselves, which has been a big fucking part of

Isabel: 00:20:21

my journey and to be able to stand just in witness with each other without any

Isabel: 00:20:29

judgment or need to rush in and rescue or say things, stupid things, like I

Isabel: 00:20:36

want to punch people when they say, "yeah but", "at least" -because we've

Isabel: 00:20:42

allowed ourselves to grieve and to celebrate and to grow and be truthful.

Isabel: 00:20:50

Let me just tell you, audience, some days it ain't pretty.

Isabel: 00:20:54

Some days there's snot running and tears running and bad words flowing

Isabel: 00:20:58

and other days we are laughing so hard that we might pee a little.

Isabel: 00:21:03

We are really remarkable!

Isabel: 00:21:04

On top of that,

Isabel: 00:21:06

we are doing this virtually, so there's no damn excuse for anybody

Isabel: 00:21:13

not to create these trampolines.

Isabel: 00:21:17

No matter where you are in the world or what time zone, because I was thinking

Isabel: 00:21:21

about that this morning too, you guys have supported me through a tremendous

Isabel: 00:21:25

change in the last couple of years.

Isabel: 00:21:28

Hair color, Last name, country of residence, businesses, etc., Many things.

Isabel: 00:21:35

And, but we've never faltered on our commitment to show up

Isabel: 00:21:39

for each other whatever part of the world one of us was in.

Isabel: 00:21:43

And that technology has really been a boon for us.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:21:48

Think how rich that makes the fabric of everybody's life though

Jacki Ulmer: 00:21:52

when you have people who have different experiences and you watch them do that and

Jacki Ulmer: 00:21:57

you experience it with them and, it's like watching a good Netflix series probably

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:02

to some extent where you are part of it, but you're even more part of it than a TV

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:07

show or something where you can, really feel like you're in that experience.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:11

For instance, Isabel, when you were in Bali and we were doing

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:14

Zoom calls, doing our mastermind, we could hear the wild birds, off

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:19

the veranda and stuff like that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:20

And I felt like I was there, like that was just uplifting.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:23

I used to live in Ventura by the ocean, literally three blocks off the ocean.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:26

It was amazing.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:27

And I took full advantage of it and walked the strand almost every

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:30

single day, sometimes multiple times.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:32

And then I moved back to Scottsdale and right before I moved, I bought a little

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:36

book called How to Live at the Beach.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:38

And it was from my favorite little beach store, which I have a lot of

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:41

beach things from, but I bought that book and that book is just really

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:45

reminded me that I can go back to the beach in my mind anytime I want.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:49

And it is powerful.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:50

If you really stop and meditate and just get to the beach,

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:53

you can smell the saltwater.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:56

You can hear the seagulls.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:22:59

You can fight with them over the french fries if you want.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:01

There's so many things about it and that's the experience that I felt like I had with

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:06

a lot of your journeys too is, I wasn't in Dubai with you when you were there.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:10

I wasn't in Bali with you when you were there, but I felt like I was, I felt

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:13

like I was such a part of the experience.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:15

And then even though I couldn't be there at that time, I can feel very

Jacki Ulmer: 00:23:19

uplifted by almost being there.

Isabel: 00:23:23

Thank you so much.

Isabel: 00:23:25

You just reminded me there's a bird thing theme for us, right?

Isabel: 00:23:28

Because it's, if I'm listening to Lee on Marco Polo early in the morning

Isabel: 00:23:33

when she's out by her pond the birds are all chirping and singing, and at

Isabel: 00:23:38

one time they were chickens too, and Jackie you're place with the owls.

Isabel: 00:23:43

Yes.

Isabel: 00:23:43

We are birds of a feather in many ways, right?

Isabel: 00:23:47

Yes.

Isabel: 00:23:49

All right.

Isabel: 00:23:50

What I am feeling, and not to put you all on the spot, but I think that there

Isabel: 00:23:56

is so many more aspects of creating a successful mastermind that I'd like to

Isabel: 00:24:02

ask you both to come back and we can discuss this further because It isn't

Isabel: 00:24:09

just kumbaya, it is like we got a lot of serious shit done over the years, both

Isabel: 00:24:15

business wise and personal growth as well.

Isabel: 00:24:18

So A, would you do that?

Isabel: 00:24:20

Yes.

Isabel: 00:24:21

You can't say no.

Isabel: 00:24:24

B I'd like to ask, everyone who's listening to us to write in at hello at

Isabel: 00:24:32

the Encore Catalyst dot com and give us the questions, like what do you want to

Isabel: 00:24:38

know about how to build a good mastermind?

Isabel: 00:24:41

What are the questions that you have that, maybe we've piqued some curiosity

Isabel: 00:24:46

today because I can tell you one thing we are a very generous group wanting

Isabel: 00:24:53

to share what we have learned as women entrepreneurs, as citizens of the world.

Isabel: 00:25:00

And although the podcast Lift As You Climb was my podcast, the reason that

Isabel: 00:25:06

I'm so bonded to these two sisters of mine is that we share those values.

Isabel: 00:25:12

We share the values of wanting to continue to grow and become the best version of

Isabel: 00:25:17

ourselves, but at the same time, by our experience helping others do the same.

Isabel: 00:25:23

Okay.

Isabel: 00:25:24

Any last pearls of wisdom that you would like to share?

Isabel: 00:25:28

And I'll start with you this time, Jackie.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:32

I would say as you're listening and you're formulating any

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:35

questions think about in what ways you believe a mastermind might serve you.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:41

Also, what in your mind is the definition of a mastermind even and how that

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:46

might be in alignment or pivot or give you some different thoughts once

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:51

we come back and share some of that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:53

And then I'm looking forward to sharing like some of the structure

Jacki Ulmer: 00:25:56

and the loose structure that we've had because being a habits person.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:26:00

I like to have my little structure in place and all that.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:26:02

So I think it'll be fabulous.

Isabel: 00:26:06

Yeah, I like that.

Isabel: 00:26:07

Thank you very much.

Isabel: 00:26:08

We will share the how to the recipe so that you can create your own.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:14

Lee?

Lee Woodward: 00:26:15

Yeah, I guess I would say you have to choose it and you have to prioritize it.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:20

When something gets good, it's easy to take it for granted and let the

Lee Woodward: 00:26:25

intentionality slip a little bit.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:27

And I'm just reminded of this because I was actually, I was, someone reached

Lee Woodward: 00:26:31

out to me, which I was very honored to have them reach out and think of me.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:34

They wanted to introduce me to somebody to do some networking.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:37

And I had to decline because I don't have the energy or the time

Lee Woodward: 00:26:42

right now to do that it would be just on surface level only.

Lee Woodward: 00:26:47

And part of that decision making is no, I can't do anything that

Lee Woodward: 00:26:51

doesn't allow me to show up for you guys and for our mastermind

Lee Woodward: 00:26:55

This is a top priority for me to be able to have the energy to show up.

Lee Woodward: 00:27:00

So I think it's really about that intentionality and maintaining

Lee Woodward: 00:27:05

that over time and that commitment.

Isabel: 00:27:08

Wow.

Isabel: 00:27:09

If I wasn't already part of this group, I'd really be begging you to let me join

Isabel: 00:27:14

you because it's true and I'm so happy that you agreed to come on my podcast

Isabel: 00:27:21

today so that I could hear what it is that I value so much and be reminded by it.

Isabel: 00:27:30

And for that, thank you.

Isabel: 00:27:33

And for everybody listening, do not underestimate the two women on this

Isabel: 00:27:37

screen because they are incredible examples of how to show up in life and

Isabel: 00:27:46

keep on going and doing and creating and changing and reinventing and all of

Isabel: 00:27:52

the fabulous stuff that they both are.

Isabel: 00:27:55

And I'm so grateful to have both of them in my life.

Isabel: 00:28:00

Jackie, you have a podcast.

Isabel: 00:28:02

In fact, you've got two, right?

Isabel: 00:28:03

Would you let everybody know what they are?

Jacki Ulmer: 00:28:06

I actually have three!

Jacki Ulmer: 00:28:07

Peak Performance Habits is one.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:28:09

Lower Toxic Life is my passion project right now.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:28:13

And then I have the Pilot Wife podcast too.

Isabel: 00:28:16

Lee, you're on the verge of launching something

Isabel: 00:28:19

so valuable please share that.

Lee Woodward: 00:28:23

Yeah, as much as I listen to podcasts, I do not have a podcast

Lee Woodward: 00:28:26

but I do have a YouTube channel at Simplify Adulting, and SimplifyAdulting.

Lee Woodward: 00:28:33

com.

Lee Woodward: 00:28:33

The focus is on supporting 20 somethings with this crazy complex thing called

Lee Woodward: 00:28:38

adulting do a lot of great tools, resources, and Yeah, I love it.

Isabel: 00:28:43

And I love it too because, I'm a queen- ager myself at, I'll be 70

Isabel: 00:28:48

very soon, another birthday episode for Transformation Decoded on the books.

Isabel: 00:28:54

But in hearing you talk about the research, the social validation,

Isabel: 00:29:00

and your plans for the program, I'm learning valuable things for myself.

Isabel: 00:29:05

So thank you.

Isabel: 00:29:07

All right, until our mastermind, I'll see you and I'll be sharing

Isabel: 00:29:11

this episode with everyone and picking a date for us to meet again.

Isabel: 00:29:20

Say bye bye.

Jacki Ulmer: 00:29:21

Bye.