IEP004: How to Create Exponential Growth, Personally and Professionally, with Kelley Knight

Intro:  Welcome to the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Brigit Esselmont, intuitive business strategist and mentor. As the founder of Biddy Tarot, I turned my love for tarot into an abundant seven-figure business. The secret to my success? Making intuition and strategy my entrepreneurial superpower, and now I'm inviting you to do the same. In this weekly podcast, I'll be sharing advice, tools, and real-life examples from some of the best intuitive entrepreneurs to show you how you can trust your intuition, align with your purpose, and create a positive impact through your work. Let's make it happen. 

Brigit:  Hello, and welcome back to the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. Today I'm talking with Kelley Knight, who is the founder and CEO of Modern Mystic Shop. Now Kelley and I, we met at a tarot conference in Portland about two years ago, where she really wanted to stock our Biddy Tarot planners in her brand new store. And I remember meeting Kelley, and I just absolutely loved her enthusiastic energy, and I knew from that first meeting this woman was going places. Fast-forward through to 2018, and Kelley invited me to come along to her store in Atlanta to launch my book Everyday Tarot. And it was so much fun to meet Kelley in person and also to see the beautiful, stunning shop that she has created in Atlanta. 

Now the Modern Mystic Shop is a resource for intentionally-made, small batch metaphysical goods in Atlanta, Georgia, and also online. Her mission is to make mystic mainstream by creating a modern and approachable space for people to explore their own intuition. So Modern Mystic Shop's selection of products is focused on items that are almost exclusively created by female-owned business. And in the last two years since opening her store, Kelley has increased sales revenue by five times. It's crazy. And she is now the highest-performing store in the shopping mall in which they're located. And I'll tell you what, the competition is hot in that shopping all. I've been there; it's an amazing place. And I'm so proud of Kelley for what she's achieved. 

Now in today's conversation, we're going to be diving into some juicy topics, such as how Kelley sets big, dreamy goals and hits them without fail, how she motivates and engages her team, and also how she's integrated her Kundalini yoga practice with her business to achieve some massive results. This is creation and manifestation on overdrive. 

All right. So with that, let's get into it. 

Brigit:   All right. So welcome, Kelley. It is such a pleasure to have you here. How are you doing today? 

Kelley:  I am so good. I'm so excited to talk to you about some business. 

Brigit:  I know. I know. We were just saying beforehand how it feels like ... I don't know. I feel like a kid at a party, being able to talk about business and how intuition weaves into our businesses as well. It feels like we often talk about our own specialized topics so much, and now we get to talk about sort of what's been going on behind the scenes. 

Kelley:  Yes, yes. Totally. I can really relate to that tarot history and sort of integrating it into the conversation of who I really am fully, as opposed to these sort of segregated areas of myself. 

Brigit:  Yep. 100%. So tell me, Kelley, what does it mean for you to be an intuitive entrepreneur? 

Kelley:  I guess how I would define that would be to have my intuition sort of lead the way, and use my tarot cards and my psychic abilities and my empathic abilities to lead, but then also to bring on this sort of executive mind, too. So it's really a balance between the two. I have learned, sometimes, we're really powerful creators; especially I find intuitive entrepreneurs tend to be really great creators and manifestors. And so we can manifest all kinds of things, but it's creating and manifesting and then knowing through your intuition and your executive mind which is the highest path or the proper path. Does that make sense? 

Brigit:  Yeah. So, I just heard you say "executive mind." Tell me a little bit more about what that means for you. 

Kelley: So to me, that means sort of the more rational, decision making, sort of quantitative, looking at the numbers and seeing if my intuition and my gut feelings really do line up with a sort of more traditional business case, so that we sort of have both things going on. Because there have been times ... I guess one of the reasons why I was mentioning the creation or the manifestation opportunities ... Sometimes I've manifested opportunities because I thought that's what I wanted, or I thought that was the right direction. But then when I brought my executive mind on board, it's like, "Oh, maybe that's actually not the right opportunity." And I think it is, because it's showing up, but then you realize: I can create any opportunity that I want. So having that sort of checks and balances with the intuition, I think is a pivotal piece, too. 

Brigit:  Yeah. Do you think it flows both ways? So what you explained there was that your intuition might give you an idea, and then your executive mind pops in and says, "No, not sure about that one." 

Have you seen it happen the other way as well, where your executive mind goes, "Oh, this looks very good on paper," and then intuition says, "Uh-uh (negative), no thanks"? 

Kelley:  I would say it more often happens the second way that you said, where it's like: okay, we've got this opportunity or this partnership or this real estate opportunity; and on paper it looks really great, but then there is that sixth sense that's saying, "Not that," or sometimes it's just, "Not now." It's maybe not a "no" forever. 

So I would say more often it's probably the second case for me, but I feel like we have to develop a strength in both areas to be a really proficient entrepreneur. 

Brigit:  Yeah, absolutely. And I think if the pendulum swings one way or the other too far, it can really unravel things in the business. 

I'm curious, have you got an example of when you had an opportunity come up that looked great on paper, but your gut said no, and how did all of that play out for you? 

Kelley:  I'm actually up against that opportunity right now, where we're looking to expand into other locations and other markets, and there's this opportunity that came up for me that would be pretty seamless. I know the developer from Atlanta, and it feels like it would be a no-brainer to go to this other market, but there's something intuitively inside of me that's saying, "That's not store number two. Maybe it's store number three or four." How I'm reconciling that is, I'm going to go take the trip. So I'm going to go scout ... I'm going to get into the energy of the actual space. I'm going to give it a go. But if I still have that feelings that's like, "Not now, or not this," then I'm going to have to let it go. 

But it's hard because I spent a lot of years thinking, "Oh, if it shows up, then it must be for me. It must be a yes," until I started getting on this roll the past few years where everything's showing up. And I learned: oh okay, this is just the magic of life and being a manifestor. Let's bring on my discernment to actually see what I really need to take advantage of. 

Brigit:  I think this is great because I see that sometimes it can be the entrepreneurial shiny object syndrome, where you're getting lots of ideas and inspiration. You feel the energy around them. They feel awesome at that time. And if you can give it some time, eventually that energy will fade away from the majority of those ideas, and then there'll be just a few that energy stays with them. But then you know that's the one to really follow through on. Whereas I think if you were purely in the intuitive space of: oh, this idea has come to me; this is it, it's a sign, I've got to do it ... I think that's where you could get awfully distracted. 

Kelley: Yeah, I would agree. 

Brigit:  Have you ever chased an idea like that and then realized: oh, no; not for me at all? 

Kelley:  I'm trying to think about something like that. I've been really focused just on the one unit and the one store, and so we have been pretty on point with our single-pointed focus. I feel like I'm getting on these tangents a little more now, that the store is finally to the point where it's pretty much operating without me on a daily basis, and I have the luxury and the opportunity to think about: okay, what does year five and year 10 look like? 

And so now I'm trying to sort of manage my shiny ball syndrome. So I haven't been chasing too many balls. I bet, though, if you were to ask someone on my team, they could rattle off 10 things. I mean, maybe it's just a blind spot for me. 

Brigit: Yes. Yeah, I'd like to dig into this a little bit around: when you've got your business to a point where you've pretty much fired yourself form the daily operations ... Because I think that's an ultimate goal; it certainly has been for me, and that's what I've worked over the last few years to do, and I'm in a very similar position where I'm not now needed as much in my business and it can run beautifully without me, thanks to my team. But I've found I was able to stay in a place of relaxation and doing nothing and just chilling out for a short period of time, and then I decided: no, I am a creator, I need to create. This is part of my energy and my magic. 

And that's really where this podcast and the whole intuitive entrepreneur concept started rumbling out of. I couldn't really sit still and do nothing. So I'm curious, for you, how do you manage that creative energy and still stay in the space of enjoying the fruits of your labor, I guess? 

Kelley: Yeah. I had the exact same experience where I learned very, very fully that I'm a creator, and when I'm not creating I actually fall into a depression, I get really in a rut. And so the first step for me was just acknowledging and embracing: okay, part of my magic, like you said, is to create. And what was also interesting is I was getting a little stagnant in the shop because I was doing more curating of our product lines, et cetera, than creating. And so now that the operations are really masterfully handled by my husband, who's the director of operations, we've got an amazing staff and team, I've put that creative energy to two things so far this year. 

One is creating our own line of products. So I'm like: okay, what do I think that we can do at the Modern Mystic Shop brand that we can get better margins on, because we'd be making them or private labeling them, or however that goes? It reinforces our brand and it gives me a creative outlet. And then I've also learned ... I don't know why I'm surprised about this, but we have a fan base for our brand, so our customers are coming in wanting the Modern Mystic branded thing. So that's one way I've been channeling my creativity this year, is to sort of expand our line of products. 

The second way is optimizing, and maybe some people might call it nitpicking. But it's really diving into the numbers more and seeing: where can we enhance our profit margins? Where can we trim a little of the budget? Where can we do this amazing thing at a higher level of efficiency? Because we're out of survival mode. For a couple of years, it was just like running as fast as we can just to get stuff on the shelves and sell it to people. And now I'm sort of going back to see how can we do this even better and create better systems? And that's another form of creativity for me is the creative problem solving. It doesn't always have to be an output of a product or something that's transacted. Sometimes solving problems within my own business has a similar role for me. 

Brigit: Yeah. And it's interesting how as your business matures, your role as the leader of that business really starts to change and it's, as you say, less about sort of catching up with ... Fighting the latest fires or doing the stuff that keeps the store open day-by-day. It's getting into that 20% that delivers the 80% of the results, right? 

Kelley:  Yeah. 

Brigit: So you're in a very different place. And do you feel like your intuition is coming into play there? So knowing what areas to tweak? Are you feeling internally guided or more so externally guided through data and analytics? 

Kelley:  I think that intuition comes in, that sort of turns my head to the area to dive deep. It's like: okay, it feels like this would be the best route to enhance our profit margins. 

Or actually, it just comes up intuitively, like: okay, looking at our profit margins of every item feels like it would be a useful thing. 

And then I start to go into the data, and then it confirms; as I tweak these numbers, what does that do? What can we do with that extra money or ... I don't know. So I think there's a little bit of both. And then definitely with the product creation, I feel like that's intuitively driven, where I'll just get an idea of: oh, this is the thing we need to make. And oftentimes, I just sort of see it as a complete product, and so then it's sort of deconstructing how to get to the finished product. 

And so it's sort of like the intuitive hit and the vision, and then it goes back into the more executive mind of: okay, what are the steps to actually take this from idea to someone's shopping bag? 

Brigit: And I find that once you've really connected it in with the vision, all of the how to get it done is so secondary. You're just like: I don't care, because I know exactly what it's going to look like and I trust all the steps will come into place. 

Kelley:  100%. It's really quite magical that way. When I'm lucky enough to get it to click in from the get-go, it's really an effortless process, for the most part. 

Brigit: Yeah. And so, Kelley, has there ever been a time when you didn't listen to your intuition or your gut, and what happened? 

Kelley: Yeah. I will say, I try not to live in a world of regret. I'm trying not to regret too many things. But I will say, when I got the idea for the store, and I had a magical happening where someone offered me the money to get it going very quickly, and in my gut it was like: this isn't the exact right partner, but here's this money that I can take now and get this going next week, and not have to wait. 

I didn't know where the money was going to come from. And it was someone that was a client of mine and that I have helped sort of along the way and done a lot of readings and healing work with, and I was like: it's kind of a fit, but I don't know. 

And then I wound up moving forward with that partnership. And I have to say I can't regret it, because we got up and running and here we are today with a seven-figure business in a very short amount of time. And it was, in retrospect, a very small amount of money. But I negotiated it poorly, it was not a good fit energetically, and I paid dearly financially and emotionally to sort of unravel and work my way out of that partnership. And it was such a point of physical stress for me, in my body. I was getting so triggered by this dynamic. And I probably have learned lessons. I hope that I don't have so much PTSD that I would not consider another partner ever, but right now I own 100% of my business and I feel really good about that for a while. That was a really hard, hard lesson. That was really hard, Brigit. 

Brigit:  Why do you think you said yes to it when your gut was saying no? Why did you say yes? 

Kelley:  I think there was a part of me that thought ... So, here's what happened: because I wasn't creating, I was very stuck, and I was very depressed for several weeks leading up to this encounter. And I did this ritual, a road opening ritual, which we actually created now road opening kits, where people can buy and do this exact same ritual that I did. But I did this road opening ritual on the full moon with every ounce of my desperation, and then literally I feel like within a couple of days of that ritual, this money came through and just was offered. I didn't even ask for it. She just came up to me and said, "I heard you talking about this thing. I just inherited a bunch of money. I'd love to help you." 

And so I think there was a part of me that was like, "This is a sign. The ritual worked." Which it did, and I'm still not sure that it was the wrong thing to do. But I think because it happened sort of in a seemingly synchronistic way, I was like: okay, it's a go. 

Even though there was this little part of me that's like: she's not the right partner; you're going to pay for this. 

And I think I had to work through my own sense of lack and unconscious blocks, that have really clear since I've had this business around money, and whether anyone would invest in me. And I think it felt a little bit flattering to be trusted, especially with someone ... I felt like she really knew me, because I had worked ... Well, she didn't really know me personally, I guess, so much, but because I had worked with her for so long, I felt like we did have this rapport and she understood what I was about. So I think it has a lot of levels, and there's probably some karmic stuff going on there because how it affected me physically and in my nervous system was more than just a weird business partnership. It felt kind of old. So for all I know, this was a massive healing, because I did have a big healing around it, to free me up to not have to live this instance when I have a $20 million company. 

Brigit:  Yeah. I know, sometimes it's actually good to make these big mistakes when you're in a growth stage so that you are ready when you're in that massive growth stage, not to repeat them. I also think there's an interesting thing here around the external validation, because I have also made mistakes, too, when there's a component of external validation and where you think: oh well, this other person is believing in me; this must be the right opportunity. Or: I've met a certain criteria to be part of something; this must be the right opportunity. 

And it can either be our ego wanting to get boosted, or maybe our ego is perhaps in a place where it needs external validation. And it's not always in alignment with what's going on within, if that makes sense. 

Kelley: Yeah. It does make sense. And I think for me, too, it was a sense of worth, because I felt like she was doing me a favor, when actually, it turns out that I gave her a very awesome opportunity. She made her money back and then some very quickly. So I think as I were to move forward, I've had that shift internally to where this is a mutually beneficial arrangement that we would be making, as opposed to: she's doing me a favor by giving me this money. 

And then I can see how, if I made that contract with that frequency, it's no wonder that it went south, right? Because I'm sitting on this side of the table feeling inferior to this person just because they have more money than me. They didn't have the brilliance or the creativity or any of the things that I used to create this, but in my sort of psyche, the money outweighed all of my gifts, which I've now learned are priceless and unique to me. And so I feel like if I was in a negotiating position, I'd be coming from a different place now. 

Brigit:  Yeah, beautiful. So in the last year you've been working with Guru Jagat, who is a Kundalini yoga teacher and entrepreneur in her own right as well. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about how you've been able to integrate the Kundalini yoga practice into your business practice. 

Kelley: Yeah, so I've been working with her in a small group for the past year, and then I've been working with her sort of as part of a larger group before that for about a year and a half. So I've been practicing Kundalini yoga pretty diligently for two-and-a-half years. And I have to say that the very first time ... I found her sort of synchronistically, too. And I traveled to California to do this camp a couple years ago, and I didn't know a single person. I was just like: I'm going to go into the wilderness with these white-turban wearing people, and something miraculous is going to happen. 

I had no idea. And when I came back from that trip, that was when I got asked to move from ... We were in a tiny flea market, to basically, you've been there, one of the biggest shopping centers and coolest malls in the southeast. And so, that had me sold. I'm like: okay, I can see ... I did this incredible work on myself energetically and spiritually, and then as soon as I came back there was this shift. In Kundalini, they talk about your aura and your magnetism and your radiance. And so I put that in sort of my memory bank, like: okay, maybe this is a good tool. 

Kelley:  And then I started doing this one meditation regularly called Sobagh Kriya, which is known to be one for prosperity. And I was doing it diligently, and our sales were going up. We were starting to attract better team members, and we started to just sort of ... I could just see the more I practiced yoga and meditation in this way, the more I was elevating myself, the more our business was elevating, the more the people around me were just having crazy business opportunities or big wins. 

And so it just really feels like to me that this practice and this dedication is sort of my business meeting with myself every day, and it's just the maintenance that I need to grow and maintain my auric field or my energy field so I can contain and hold the success. Because it's amazing how many people we can see out in the media where they have this huge success and they crash and burn, or you have friends that you know that have this big win financially, and then the next thing, they're broke. It's because our auric field has to be grounded and strong enough to maintain everything that we hold in it, which is our businesses, and that's part of our aura. And so practicing more has caused my business to grow and then given me the energetic stamina to maintain it and hold it. 

Brigit:  And I think you've hit the nail on the head with being able to contain and hold success because, as you say, I've seen so many examples of where maybe people didn't feel deserving of it, or they just didn't have that capacity to hold it, and it disappears. And yet if you're able to keep bringing it into your vortex and your auric field, it just keeps making more and more of it, right? It just keeps amplifying. 

Kelley: Yeah, they have little success babies. It's like: whoo-hoo! 

It just keeps growing. It's so incredible, and I wouldn't probably even believe it if I hadn't lived it myself, but I just see the correlation with the bubble of people and opportunities, and success we have in our business is related to my practice. And whenever something wonky is going on with my business, it's 100% related to something wonky going on with me, and usually that means I've fallen off my practice. 

Brigit:  Oh, that's very interesting. Yes, I'm just starting up meditation again, and this has given me good motivation to keep going. 

Kelley:  Yeah, people have many cycles of it, and they fall off. Well, and that's also why I'm part of this group, because it helps me be accountable. It helps me to have a teacher that can make recommendations on: okay, for the next 40 days, you and me and 12 other women, we're going to be doing this meditation every day. 

And also, I would say, before even Kundalini yoga, I do really well with group work when it comes to spiritual work, because there's something about being in the current of the collective where you just all sort of elevate together that really helps me. So sometimes I can stock a little bit, and I feel like I'm still swept up in the positivity and the hard work of some of the other women that I'm connected to. 

Brigit: Yeah, beautiful. And I mean, I always love talking to you because I always get this little injection of radiance and excitement from you. 

Kelley: Oh, thank you. 

Brigit:  Just, you're such a joy to chat with. 

Kelley:  Thank you. 

Brigit:   And I can really see how particularly this Kundalini practice has flowed through your life in so many good and positive ways. I'm curious, too; you've achieved exponential growth with your business and the Modern Mystic Store. Tell me a little bit more about how you set goals and how you channel through all of this success. I mean, we've talked a little bit about that. But yeah, let's talk about goals and vision. 

Kelley: So goals for me are always sales-driven. I don't know, that's just how I function, and that's just sort of the business in which I'm in is very transaction at the end of the day. And it's not that I'm necessarily strictly just motivated by the money, but it's a very easy metric of success in my line of work, right? So for me, I am very, very eerily good at sales projections. And so this year, our calendar year goes from April to March, so we're finishing out this calendar year for us, and I think that we're going to exceed our goal by about $60,000. But in a seven-figure business, that's a very good margin. I was right on target. And some months I was a little high, or some months I was a little low, but most of the time I'm right on there. So I have to think that that's an intuitive thing. And I have a really good feeling of what we're going to do this next year. And I'm probably going to be right on. 

My only hesitation is that I'm wondering if I'm underestimating, because I feel like that's an intuitive thing for me. So I break down our monthly sales goals by month and then by day of the week, and how our sales should look every day of the week. On average, usually, Saturday and the Saturday are comparable. And then I'd share that with our team. And they thought I was crazy when I was talking about some of the goals for Christmas, but we hit them. So that's sort of how I make my bigger-picture goals. 

Then a goal for me personally that I'm always checking in with is: how does the work that I'm doing align with my values, and how to I feel about the impact I'm making? That's something that as I create and design my days, that's very important to me as a goal to feel that the work that I'm doing is aligned and purposeful and I'm making the impact I want to make with my team, in my marriage, with our customers. So that's always a barometer for me, and if something is sort of feeling off in that arena, it's usually because I've strayed from either a core value or I'm a little bit off with my aim, with my impact, and then I've got to figure out how to sort of line that back up. 

Brigit: Yeah. I think that's so important, because sometimes ... Let's say if you've set a really aggressive sales goal, but then maybe one of your values is freedom, and you're finding that you're in the store more than you want to be, do you then adjust your sales goal, in this hypothetical example? Do you adjust goals to fit your values? 

Kelley: No, because luckily one of my values is wealth. You've got to let them sales goals usually maintain themselves, but we are pretty flexible with altering or adjusting my role at any given time of year, and also some of the members of our team that are less ... Not necessarily the hourly employees who are customer-facing; that job's pretty set. But we really do make adjustments to make sure that everyone feels in line. I kind of have the 80/20 rule, which is I want to be loving and enjoying 80% of the work I do and have that feel really good, and same for my team, and then there's the 20% where you just got to get that shit done. So, that's how I do it. 

But usually ... So one of my values ... And I learned it through the Being Boss Executive Day Kit really helped me hone in on my values. But one of my values is awe. And it wasn't on the list, but it's something that I really value, is a sense of awe. Which is why I love tarot readings. Every time it came out, I was always like, "Can you believe that the cards are right?" 

And it's like, of course, but there's still that sense of awe. Whereas, still, when someone buys a candle we made or we hit a sales goal, I'm just like, "Ah! This is so ... I can't believe it!" 

And so usually when I'm feeling out of alignment, it's because there's not enough of that awe present. And so I've got to slow down. And that's what you were saying. Previously you were asking about reaping the rewards. It's like: oh, I need to slow down and remember what we have achieved in the past year. So we grew our sales by almost five times year over year. 

Brigit:  That is amazing. 

Kelley: And I'm in awe of that. And I'm going to brag a little bit. We're the top-selling store in our shopping center based on sales per square foot, and that includes national brands. And our landlords that track our sales and stuff; no one gets it. We're doing the kind of sales numbers per square foot that you do at a Tiffany's store. And I'm in awe of that. It doesn't actually make sense. So every day I feel like, when we've hit our sales goals, I still have that sense, for the most part, of: I can't believe it, they liked us! 

Brigit: And I hope that that never goes away, in terms of the awe and the excitement that happens. Yeah, it's fabulous. And when you're in that place, you just pinch yourself every day: I'm creating this, and it's all happening. And I also think that that is such a testament to the way that you are running your business, particularly through your energy alignment, the radiance, and that Kundalini energy that you're bringing in, too, the positivity and the envisioning. 

I'm curious, a little bit ... This is probably cycling back a bit to the goal piece with your team. So as an entrepreneur, I think it's easy for us to hold a really big, grand vision, or big numbers. We can see the potential that we can reach into. But sometimes for our team, they may not be able to see or feel into as much potential. They might think: oh yeah, we can absolutely grow, but gosh, that seems like a really big number; are you sure, Brigit? Or are you sure, Kelley? Is this the right way to go? 

How do you manage that? Do you experience that with your team, and how do you help bring them along on the journey? 

Kelley:  I think, luckily for us, because we're a business and we're taking transactions literally 363 days a year, we're able to chunk it down to hourly goals or daily goals, to where ... I don't even know if our team knows fully, like some of our hourly employees, that we are a seven-figure company, because they're just seeing we did this many thousand today, or our goal is to sell this much this hour. And so I think sort of chunking it down helps. But I have to say, it's so funny; I'm so blessed. Usually when I tell them our sales goals, they want to go higher. They're like, "Okay, that's great, but maybe we can do a little more." 

And I think that's great, and I hope that they're right in those times. And especially our general manager. She's worked in retail in the same market in other companies, and she's been in retail her whole life, which I haven't, so it feels really good when she's like, "Hey, I think let's push it up 5%," or, "Maybe we can try to get it to this number this week." So I luckily have a team that isn't very intimidated by those sorts of goals. 

Brigit:  Yeah, that is good. 

Kelley:  I wish I had a better example of something where it's a challenge, but for now ... And also, we're a much younger company, right? We've been two full years. So we're two-and-a-half years in, and we still have that start-up vibe. We're still scrappy. Even though we're not, we still feel like the underdog. 

Brigit: Even though you are the best selling store in the whole mall. It's crazy. But while we're on the topic of- 

Kelley:  I know it's crazy I still feel like the underdog. 

Brigit:  While we're on the topic of team, you recently shared that your mission at Modern Mystic is to reinvent retail as a workplace that invests in the spirit and depth of their team members. Tell me more about how you're going about this. 

Kelley: We're really, really trying to understand who our team members are, and it goes back again, I sound like a broken record, but understanding their values, understanding what impact they want to make not just within our company, but in their lives. So we spend a lot of time meeting with them and understanding how their goals and their skills and their desires align with what we need to grow. And we're pretty flexible, like I mentioned, in sort of tweaking different projects or moving things around, as long as it's still in the highest good of the company, to ensure that people are really satisfied with their jobs. 

And we also do ongoing training. So we've taken some of our team members to the Aquarian Business Academy, which is the Kundalini business bootcamp. So we do ongoing training. Many of our team members have side hustles, so they're entrepreneurs themselves, which is probably why they like that environment. So I set up office hours to meet with them one-on-one and give them coaching and advice on their business or their products. But I think it's really looking at people from a holistic perspective. And I mean, our number one goal with our team right now is to retain every single person because they're so exceptional. Being flexible, being agile, being accommodating, not to our detriment as a company, but the best we can so that we can really align. 

And I have to say, every time we've had to make a shift because someone's feeling a little bit stuck or they want to grow or they're not loving this role anymore, every single time we've made that accommodation, it's been better, it's increased sales, increased productivity. So I think it's being not a dictator leader and being a little bit more collaborative. And then there are some pain points like that because, like I said before, sometimes you've just got to get the work done, and sometimes we can't accommodate it, but we'll work towards it every day, making sure that people have a lot of job satisfaction. Mainly because I just want to keep every one of them and they're so gifted and talented and I feel so lucky they spend their time with us. So I'm like: they could go work anywhere, so we've got to make this a real place for growth. 

And then also, this is sort of a side bar, I'm trying to figure out ... So everyone that's been promoted in our team, except for our general manager, is a hourly employee. So they're just interested. They're like, "Hey, I want to hang out with you guys and work a little bit." And we really quickly moved them into other roles where some of them are doing their hourly work and then helping with social media or helping us with events. And I'm trying to build, as we expand, our company in a profit-sharing model, where people that are part of our "corporation" will have equity in the business, and then as we grow into other locations, we're looking at sort of an operating partner profit sharing model, because I'm not really interested at this point in franchises, but it's a way where people can really have skin in the game and we can teach them how they can own and operate the entire business. 

My dream would be that we can funnel people through this store and then sort of promote them to another location where they are a partial owner in that location. And to me, that feels like a way to help everyone benefit from our success financially. 

Brigit:  Yeah, I really like that idea of sort of moving people through from the ground up, so that they can have that full experience. And then it's neat because you do, you start to see where are their gifts, where's their zone of genius, and then how as a business can you leverage that and make it work for both parties? It's really smart. 

Kelley: Yeah. Thanks. It's fun, to me. 

Brigit: So I was going to ask, how do you find these team members who are in full alignment with your business? 

Kelley:  Prayer. 

Brigit:  All right. Done. Good strategy. 

Kelley:  Totally. We were in an all-team meeting a couple months ago, and I meant it, I was like, "You guys are an answer to a million prayers," because this was the hardest part. The first year to year-and-a-half, we were really struggling, and my husband and I were having to do a lot of the maintenance and the day-to-day work, and we couldn't really focus on the growth and we were having turnover. So I think a few things that we did really right was prayer. I really will keep that. And then the Kundalini yoga and having this magnetic sort of ... The people were drawn to us. People applied to work for us that had full-time jobs, and they didn't even need the money, and they just wanted to be in our space. So I think creating just this sort of magical environment to begin with. 

I think our hiring manager is awesome. Our general manager is a woman of color, and she's a queer woman of color, and we were definitely, before she came on our team, lacking diversity in our team. And there's something about giving her the authority to be our hiring manager that's created such a beautifully diverse team culturally and just with different ideas and different levels of education and experience. So I think diversity in all areas helps keep and grow a team, because there's always stimulating ideas and challenges and conversations. 

And then I also would say giving people more and more responsibility when they ask for it. I'm so blessed. My team is happiest when they have more stuff to be in charge of. It's so great. 

Brigit: Yeah. And I think that's probably coming down to things like hiring based on attitude. So you're hiring people who have that growth mindset and who are willing to do more than just what's been assigned to them, necessarily. Because it would be easy just to stand behind the counter and wait for customers to come up to the counter, but I think those high achievers are the folks who are like, "All right, what do I do in between waiting for a customer to come?" 

Kelley:  Yeah, for sure. And our GM has such great floor presence. That's her area of genius. I am not that way. She wants to be on the floor 40 hours a week engaging with customers. And for me, that drains me. Not because that's what she's really gifted at, she's such a good powerful example for everyone else, because she's going to out-work all of you. So it's a good leadership position. I think it's really empowering people to lead in those zone of geniuses. 

Brigit:  Yeah. Awesome. And so, Kelley, thinking about the next sort of 12 months, maybe even the next two or three years, what are some of your big visions and dreams? 

Kelley:  Yay. So, I would love to have more locations, specifically in the southeast. And so we're looking at a few other markets. One of my big dreams would be to have a store in New York, because I used to live there and my family's up there and I feel really at home. So we're working to figure out how we can sort of grow and expand this business into other markets. I really would love to have a book. We've got a book and a product idea that we've been pitching around, so hopefully someone grabs it and lets that become a reality and helps us create something where we can have a product that it educates people. And in this sort of witch-y space, there's not a Modern Mystic Shop in every corner, so to have products that we can send out, which there will be maybe one day ... But to have these products to go out where people can have a book and all the contents that they need so that they don't have to figure out where to buy candles or oils is a big goal. 

And just to grow, I guess, personally in my leadership, because this is the first time I've been a founder or a CEO, and I really want to show up for these people. They're always challenging me to grow in ways that I didn't know I was capable of, so I guess to continue to grow personally. 

Brigit:  Yeah. And I guess in that line, what new aspect of yourself are you expressing this year? 

Kelley:  I think that creator. This is probably the first year where I made that distinction between a curator and a creator. And so I'm really trying to focus on expressions of creation in our business, but then also being more open to what I can create that ... I don't know. When you're an entrepreneur and you love working so much, it's easy to make everything into a product or a program, but try to figure out what I can create just for me as well. 

Brigit: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. And is there anything that you want to share that you haven't been able to share just yet, before we wrap things up? 

Kelley: I would just ... I don't know. I would just like to inspire people to really follow their dreams. I know that sounds so cheesy, but follow those inspirations, but don't leave behind your sense. Do you know what I mean? Like we were talking about, that executive mind and that intuition. And if you can find a good balance with that, I feel like you will go a lot further. So both in equal measure. 

And I just want to see more women out there, personally, making their dreams come true, and making businesses and products and being job creators and influencers. I feel really strongly that big, big social change comes through economies. It always has in history. It's money; you follow the money. And so I would love for all of our spiritual community and like-minded women to be growing in their wealth, growing in their businesses, so that we can impact the world in a way that the world is used to being impacted, which is a lot of the time through currency. 

Brigit:  Yeah, I'm with you. I love it. Love it. So Kelley, where can people find out more about you? 

Kelley:  Yes. You can find out website, which is modernmysticshop.com. On Instagram, we're @modernmystic_shop. On Facebook we're Modern Mystic. But those are probably the best places. 

Brigit:   Awesome. We'll also post those links in the show notes. 

Kelley: Thank you. 

Brigit:  Oh, Kelley, it's been so much fun chatting with you again. 

Kelley: Thank you. 

Brigit: I've just been filled up with all or your energy. Thank you. Yay. 

Kelley: You're welcome. 

Brigit:  Awesome. 

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of the Intuitive Entrepreneur podcast. If you loved this episode, please leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. It helps to get the word out, and of course I read every single comment. And if you want to discover how to plan your next big launch using the cycles of the moon, make sure that you download my free guide, Lunar Launches. You'll find it over at brigit.me/lunar-launches. That's B-R-I-G-I-T.me/lunar-launches. And these are the exact strategies I've used in my business to create six-figure launches time after time, and now you can use them, too. You'll find it all inside of my free guide, Lunar Launches, over at brigit.me/lunar-launches. 

All right, that is it for now. I cannot wait to see you next time. Bye for now.