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Dream Life Club
From Runaway & Teen Mom to Founder of Multi-Million Dollar Fitness Empire (what it takes)
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- [00:00]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Do you think then as women like we need to overcome that confidence gap?
- [00:04]
Sumi Krishnan
I think it just goes back to not waiting for permission, you know.
- [00:13]
Welcome Everybody to episode 10 of the Dream Life Club podcast. So happy you're here as always. As a reminder, this podcast is for you if you are an entrepreneur or creative ready to scale your business and actually make the impact in the world that you were meant to to make. My name is Sumi Krishnan and if you don't know me, I scaled multiple seven figure businesses and one company in particular to multiple eight figures before exiting and moving to LA to pursue my new dream which is also building a small business of being a pop music recording artist and all the while taking all the lessons I've learned from all those years and offering my business mentorship to a new generation of women entrepreneurs ready to crush it. So in this episode I have a really special guest for you. I interviewed Andrea Isabel Lucas and here's the thing. It was my very first live, live episode, live recording for this podcast and we had such a great juicy conversation for about 25 minutes until unfortunately the recording stopped and I didn't even notice. So instead of shoving it all away and trying to do it all again, what I thought I'd do is I would still share with you guys this.
- [01:20]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
First 25 minutes of our conversation because.
- [01:22]
Sumi Krishnan
There are so many juicy nuggets even from that initial conversation that I want you to listen to and take away as inspiration and guidance for you on your entrepreneurship journ. Because here's the thing, Andrea has the most amazing story and I'm not exaggerating. She started off as a single teen mom, started stripping to make ends meet and make more of herself than figuring that a minimum wage job wouldn't allow her to go anywhere and achieve the goals that she knew she had for herself. So she had that entrepreneurial spirit even as a teen mom where she ended up facing domestic violence and she ended up getting herself out of that situation to building a multi million dollar fitness empire in Massachusetts that's winning all the awards, best of and starting an online virtual membership at that, and really just transforming her life and creating the success.
- [02:17]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
On her own terms.
- [02:18]
Sumi Krishnan
And she shares so many interesting things in this conversation, which many of them were not recorded unfortunately, but we will have around two. But even in this first 25 minutes I want to offer you to really pay attention to the way she talks, the way she frames things about the decisions she made, the way she was able to take complete ownership of her own life and decisions and apply These things, these mindsets, these little things that you're getting from her story to your business and your life right now today, like, is your business facing a challenge and does it feel kind of like insurmountable? Does it feel like you keep running into brick walls? Right. Does it feel like everybody around you is achieving success or is doing what you want to be doing and then you're just not getting the results right? And listen, with that mindset and with that frame of your problems and your challenges and think about, maybe you can reframe some of those things. Maybe you're not in as bad a situation as Andrea was, who was still able to turn her life around and create a multimillion dollar business and now have the freedom to do so many.
- [03:23]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Other things which she's passionate about.
- [03:25]
Sumi Krishnan
How can you also kind of think about, all right, well, what could you do? Right? When you take each challenge as an opportunity to grow, when you take each challenge as an opportunity to see what you're capable of, when you take each challenge as an offering that says, do you really want this? Are you committed to your goal or are you going to quit? It's everything that comes our way is an opportunity. And everything that comes our way is really could be any problem could be framed as a test. It's like, how well are you able to solve your problems is really a great definition of success. A spiritual mentor of mine from India.
- [04:02]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Shared that with me.
- [04:04]
Sumi Krishnan
Success is really the ability to solve our own problems. The ability to solve our problems. And so it's really helped me to reframe all of my challenges in that way. And it always helps me when I get to speak to other badass women entrepreneurs and badass women founders who have overcome so much to get to the life, to create the life so intentionally for themselves that they are living today. Because here's the thing. If we actually could trust ourselves, once we trust ourselves and know that first of all, no one is coming to.
- [04:42]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Save us, which was the big aha.
- [04:44]
Sumi Krishnan
Moment that Andrea had where she took full ownership and control of her own life. And we trust ourselves in that. We know what decisions are best for us. We're not constantly outsourcing our own decision making to other people. Whether it's for their approval or we think they're need, we need their permission, or we somehow wait to do things or do always ask other people for what they think we should do, when really, what does that matter? Yes, we can get input from other people. We can get people's advice when it comes to A business decision. But ultimately, at the end of the day, when it comes to creating our future and making the decisions that are best for us, only we know. Only we know. Sometimes I like to play this little exercise with myself where I like, I'm like, okay, if I were my own coach, what would I tell myself? If I were my own coach, what would I tell myself now, right? Or if I say, like, I don't know, I don't know, then I ask myself, if I did know, if I did know, what would the answer be? If I did know, what would the answer be?
- [05:47]
Right?
- [05:47]
And really trying to access our own inner wisdom. Access our own inner wisdom. And you can hear how Andrea delves into that in her own story, in her own journey. And the other thing that I want to call out is right where we, the recording turns off and right where.
- [06:03]
We end up dropping off on like.
- [06:04]
The most juiciest part of our conversation was unfortunately, when we were talking about how we as women find it hard to actually be proud of our own successes and share them and why we need to start doing that more, right? Like, and especially because it's such like a push and pull on social media. You don't want to make other people feel bad with like you putting bragging about your accomplishments, quote, unquote bragging, or, you know, put posting pictures of your wonderful situation or luxurious life. Like, it's always like, we don't, we're taught, like, we don't want to be a show off, right? And I talk about this when I.
- [06:42]
Talk about me deleting a post from.
- [06:45]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
When we got onto the Inc. 500 list.
- [06:47]
Sumi Krishnan
And Andrea asks me such an interesting question about it, which I need you guys to hear. So listen in for that. And I, I, I think that we need to, as women, create a new culture where, as she says, going after your goals and sharing your accomplishments and being proud of yourself and being able to receive compliments and actually moving forward and being an inspiration for other women and leading the way in paths that aren't so well trodden. Like, again, I will come back to the fact that only 2% of women owned companies ever cross seven figures or beyond. Why? Why do only 2% of us get there when at least 10% of us are trying to build bigger sized companies and make a real impact in the world? So why? What's stopping us? Right? And a lot of what's stopping us is one, not having the right community, not surrounding ourselves with the right people, not helping each out and offering connections like the old Boys Club does, right? And so that's what we're creating here at the Dream Life Club. So I want you guys to listen into this really sweet episode with Andrea.
- [07:50]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
She.
- [07:50]
Sumi Krishnan
You can find her online. Andrea Isabel Lucas. Her suite of bar studios is called Bar and Soul. And in this episode, we. She. I start off with saying you shared the stage with Michelle Obama. Like, and then you get to hear, you know, her real story and how she thought about all of our challenges and overcame them. I hope this episode can inspire you. I hope this episode can put your problems into size. Like, not everything is the end of the world, right? Like, if you, whatever you're facing right now, I bet that you can find a way to get beyond it, to work through it, to overcome this challenge, right? Even if it's. Sometimes it feels like these are insurmountable things, right? But with the right people around you, with the right mindsets, we can at least feel a lot better about our circumstances and keep on working toward the life that we want and the businesses that we deserve and the impact that we are required to make. And I say that because the world needs us as women. The world needs our voices, the world needs our leadership. The world needs our perspective. And, you know, if there were any time on the planet that I think that is most necessary, I think now is one of the most critical times because we're on the verge of some really scary political options here in the US and if we don't take up space and if we don't make our voices heard, and if we, if we don't get over the self sabotage and the playing small, then, you know, a lot of our rights might not be here for us for very much longer as women. And a lot of our freedoms could very well be erased in the United States of all places. And so I, I want, I want this episode to serve as, as a little, like, jolt to speak up, take up more space. Rep. Be proud of your accomplishments. Keep going. Don't shrink, be loud. Don't be afraid of other people's opinions. Don't be looking for other people's validations. Do you? Right? Do you? And build the life you deserve and the business that the world needs. Because we need your work, we need your art, we need your impact. And with that, I will let you listen in to this conversation between Andrea and I. Enjoy.
- [10:29]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Hi, welcome to the podcast. Today we have a really special guest, my first live podcast guest, actually. And I'm so honored that we get to kick it off with you, Andrea. So to introduce you so everybody kind of gets the picture of what you've done and how impressive your story of not only success, but transformation has been. I'm just going to read your short bio. So Andrea Isabel Lucas is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, author, feminist and and life and business coach who's devoted to helping women stand up for themselves and take radical responsibility for their own happiness. Andrea became a single mom as a teen and rebuilt her life after surviving domestic violence to found the Multi Million Dollar Bar and Soul Studios, a collection of boutique bar and yoga studios, and the Bar and Soul Academy instructor training program. As a speaker, she has addressed audiences across the United States states and shared stages with Michelle Obama and Billie Jean King. She's the author of the book Own it all and has been featured by the BBC, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Women's Health, and the Huffington Post, Boston Magazine, among many others. So welcome, Andrea, to the Dream Life Club pod. We are really honored to have you here with us.
- [11:51]
Sumi Krishnan
Thank you.
- [11:52]
I'm so thrilled to be here with you.
- [11:54]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Awesome. So, yeah, I just want to dive into, you know, people listening are entrepreneurs, you know, want to start a business or growing their businesses to seven figures and beyond. And you currently have a very successful business and have done so much to get there. So what about, could you start telling us a little bit about, like, what your journey looked like to be where you are today?
- [12:22]
Sumi Krishnan
Absolutely. Okay. It is a long story and I'll try to make it brief, but yes, I was a teen mom and I supported myself and my child working at strip clubs, just doing whatever I had to do. So I would say that my entrepreneurial journey started then because I knew I was never going to have the kind of successful life I wanted working at a minimum wage job somewhere. So I was always trying to figure out what was my most strategic next move that would advance me as much as I could. And so I found myself at a point in my life where I thought that things were on track and they actually went completely upside down and I ended up having to flee domestic violence. So at that point I called home to tell my parents about what had happened. And I had this life changing conversation with my dad actually, and I told him about what had happened and his response was with such heavy sadness. His response was, what are you going to do? You can't leave.
- [13:27]
And so you can't leave the relationship. Wow.
- [13:31]
Yeah.
- [13:31]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
After you told him about the violence.
- [13:33]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes. And that was literally me calling from the emergency room. That was the response. And you know, I have a lot of compassion for how hard and sad my Dad's life was that at the time, that was really the best he thought was available for his child. And even then I knew that's bullshit. Like, absolutely no. So it just made me realize, thank.
- [14:00]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
God you had the strength to know that for yourself back then.
- [14:02]
Sumi Krishnan
Thank God. And I just realized, oh, God, my parents are not going to get me out of this. And if my parents aren't going to give me permission to leave, I might have to give myself permission. And that was the biggest breakthrough I ever could have had in my life. And it's the one that I want everyone to have and not have to get to rock bottom to have it. So. And that's why I wrote my book and that's why I do share my story, is because it really took things getting really dark for me to make that realization that anything that you want in your life, that you're waiting to be invited or you're waiting for someone else to give you permission, that's really not how it works. Like, you have to give yourself permission, you have to invite yourself, and you have to just start moving toward what it is that you want. So you asked how I ended up creating a multimillion dollar business. It really was almost by accident. I didn't set out knowing that that was what I was going to do. I just kind of followed the trail of breadcrumbs and I kept taking baby steps. At that point in my life, it was just to get out of that bad situation. And I started taking and teaching these fitness classes because it was just helping me cope with what I was going through. And then it wasn't until later that I was actually left.
- [15:17]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
You started doing. You started teaching fitness.
- [15:19]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes.
- [15:20]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Okay.
- [15:20]
Sumi Krishnan
That became my escape.
- [15:21]
Yeah.
- [15:22]
From the hell that I was going through.
- [15:24]
Yeah.
- [15:24]
And I also decided to finish because I had been a teen mom, so I decided to finish my bachelor's degree and I studied women's studies. And I was so passionate about helping to, you know, just help women undo some of this negative programming, that it's a blind spot for us. We don't even see the ways that we are held back by our conditioning and just all the patriarchal bullshit that we believe about what's possible for us or that we need someone's permission. So I just had kind of an epiphany one day when I was taking class. I had wanted to be a college professor of women's studies, and I really wanted to, like, write books and have a big impact on women and be able to share an empowering message. And I Realized one day when I was taking class. Wait. This is an amazing platform for all of that, because if you think about it, it's, like, better than church, because exercise, we have to do it more than once a week, forever, basically. So if you want to embed a message, what better place to do it than in a fitness class where someone's going to come to you multiple times a week over a long period of time? And this could really be a platform where I could spread this message that I was so passionate about.
- [16:37]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Yeah, right. Interesting. I've never heard anyone put it just like that. Because people want to actually get change in fitness. You have to show up every single day. And if you could use that platform to also help them with what? Like the. The mental side of things, emotional side of things.
- [16:54]
Sumi Krishnan
Mindset. Yeah, just culture. Like creating a culture where it's normal to go after your goals, where it's normal to believe that you could do anything. You know, I think that's huge. And I mean, let's face it, working out is hard to stick to. Most of us find it kind of boring or tedious or a pain. So if you can make the environment feel so good that you look forward to going back every time, you know, that's what inspired me to make it my career. It was a long road between that and, of course, building the business that I have. But it really started with me just picking up opportunity after opportunity from overcoming my fear of speaking in front of a group, to teaching that first class, to offering up my class at somebody else's studio. And I was. I created my brand, Bar and Soul, to kind of combine the great workout you get from Bar with that Soul piece. Yeah. That I was so passionate about. And I never thought that I would be able to even have my own studio because I didn't come from money. And I didn't understand, like, what happens if you don't make rent. Like, where, you know, you've, like, signed your life away. Like, it just didn't. I thought you had to come from privilege. I thought you had to have a rich family or a trust fund or something. And so it. I thought I would partner with other people's studios and just deliver the product or the service. And the second studio I partnered with, she was moving. She offered to sell me the studio and to finance it to me, and it kind of just fell in my lap. And within a year, I had opened my second one, and then. Oh, my God. Within three years.
- [18:23]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
So people clearly loved the experience.
- [18:25]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes. Yeah.
- [18:27]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Oh, my gosh. So that was how long ago?
- [18:30]
Sumi Krishnan
That was in 2013. And Bar was really blowing up at the time. And I had been trained by the absolute most amazing mentors in the business and I had the know how and I saw a lot of people doing it not very well and who didn't have the training. And so it was kind of, it felt like now or never. I knew if I didn't make a move, someone would get there first and I'd be so mad that I hadn't done it.
- [18:54]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
I love that you had that competitive spirit in you. Okay. And you felt confident in like your skill set and what you were able to give to the students in your class.
- [19:04]
Sumi Krishnan
I definitely did. I felt confident in my skill set. I did not feel confident in the financial piece as I mentioned, or even just in having knowing enough about business. And there was actually a really life changing conversation I had in just a local boutique that I was in where someone was asking me about my business and they asked if I had my own studio. And I said, oh no, you know, I just deliver the class, but I don't know anything about taxes or payroll or.
- [19:28]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Isn't it funny you get bogged down thinking that that's going to prevent you from being a business owner.
- [19:33]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes. And she like just laughed at me and she's like, oh God, no one knows how to do that. She's like, yeah, that's why you have an accountant and a lawyer. I was like, oh, that's it? That's that simple?
- [19:44]
Yeah.
- [19:45]
Right.
- [19:45]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Literally. Right. So, okay, so then what happened? So then you, your studio was blowing up and what made you decide to open a second one? Like, how did you get to that point?
- [19:55]
Sumi Krishnan
You know what? I had had a full time job for a wonderful employer where they had me teaching 15 classes a week over, you know, a five day work.
- [20:04]
You mean previously?
- [20:05]
Yeah. Okay, so I had left a lovely management job where I taught at one studio full time and it was not for me. I got really bored always seeing the same people. I got bored with myself. I was like, oh, I feel like, you know, they must be sick of my playlist by now or whatever. Like I just enjoyed more the variety of going around to different studios. So I, I didn't see myself having like one little mom and pop where I go to work every day and come home every day. I really wanted to have novelty and to be able to have different communities that I get to bounce around to and be a part of. So when I started, I knew that's what I wanted it to look like, okay, interesting.
- [20:44]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
And now speaking of, like, the financials, did you get someone to help you figure out, like, if you could afford to start that second location or what you would have to invest to get that going? Or how did you do all of that calculation?
- [20:57]
Sumi Krishnan
The angel who made the comment to me about how you don't need to know how to do all the things, I thought she had sent me a very, very basic pro forma for a studio.
- [21:07]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Can you explain what a pro forma is?
- [21:09]
Sumi Krishnan
It's like, it's like a profit and loss statement that you do to project how you think a business will go in terms of what. What's going to come in, what's your expenses going to be and what's going to be left over and how many people have to come to how many classes, like, how many visits a month would you need at what price to be profitable? Okay, you know what I mean? Like, or if I only got 2 people per class, I might be negative 4000amonth, but if I were able to get 8 people per class, then I might be positive 2000amonth or whatever. So it's just allows you to really do. It's almost just like napkin math, really. But it's a spreadsheet that lets you mess around with the different variables so you can figure out what it's going to take to be profitable or how long it's going to take you to make back an investment if you're starting out with an initial investment.
- [21:58]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
So she sent you this template.
- [22:00]
Sumi Krishnan
Yep. Just a really nice basic one, but it was enough for me to see. Well, and the beautiful thing was, tell you the truth, the. Now that I think about it, the studio that I bought was the second one that was offered to me. There was a previous opportunity before I took that management job to buy the studio that I had been trained at. And it did not make sense on paper. And I just. It was way too risky. There was no guaranteed paycheck, and it was not the appropriate risk for me at the time.
- [22:30]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
How did you know it was way too risky?
- [22:32]
Sumi Krishnan
Because I could see from the financials that they sent me that, like, if all went well, I might be able to pay myself, like $30,000. So it was like, I was not in a position to forego making anything. So. And, you know, maybe. Maybe a seasoned studio owner would take that studio on to be like, that's okay, I am confident I could grow it. But for me, I was like, no, I need a guaranteed paycheck. So I took the job, learned so Much gained so much confidence. And that's why I think it's important to take the biggest risk you can stomach for right now and for today.
- [23:05]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
That's one of the things you always say, right? Take the biggest risk you can stomach for right now and for today.
- [23:10]
Sumi Krishnan
What does that mean?
- [23:11]
It just means that even though I knew I could picture and visualize myself as a studio owner, I knew I wasn't ready and I knew that risk was too big. I. I needed to know I was going to get paid. So, you know, as it happened, I really got my feet under me as a manager was very valuable to find out I didn't love working in just one location full time. And then when the next studio was offered to me, her financials were beautiful and I knew that I was going to be able. I didn't know. You never know. But I believed.
- [23:40]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
And that was based on their current clientele. Okay, and so you bought an existing studio and rebranded it?
- [23:47]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes.
- [23:47]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Okay. This is like good for people to know because it's like you didn't necessarily.
- [23:51]
Sumi Krishnan
Have to just start from scratch.
- [23:52]
No, I didn't.
- [23:53]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Like, you bought an existing studio and did you finance it, like over a long period of time through income from that studio?
- [24:00]
Sumi Krishnan
That was the plan. And then the plan kind of went sideways because she was going to finance it to me. We had an agreement about a price. And what ended up happening is the landlord wouldn't lease the space to me because the next door neighbor was their future daughter or son in law and they wanted to expand into that space. Right. So we got served with an eviction notice while this woman, like her moving truck was already coming the next day.
- [24:27]
You had bought.
- [24:28]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Signed the sale agreement of sale?
- [24:30]
Sumi Krishnan
Actually, no, it was still. We were still negotiating and it was at the 11th hour, but I had to go back to her and be like, I'm sorry, but it's not worth what it. I thought it was because I have to relocate it. There weren't. I was so naive then that, like, if you were to ask me today if you could relocate a studio without having looked for spaces in 60 days, I'd be like, no, that's not enough time. But I was like, okay, I'll take it, but I'll move it and I'll find a space. And I thought I could do that in 60 days. And miraculously, I did it in like 61 days, which is absolutely nuts. Okay. Yeah. But so I ended up getting the studio for much cheaper because really at that point I was just getting a client list and then I was having to move her out and get rid of all the stuff from the old space and, like, you know, basically start a new studio.
- [25:18]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
New people are. I mean, how many of the same people are going to come over?
- [25:21]
Sumi Krishnan
Right.
- [25:21]
So true. And there's definitely a lot of. A lot of people that will embrace change, but a lot of people will not. And there were, you know, a lot of ruffled feathers of change. And then me moving to this. The space I ended up finding was, like, really kind of too tiny for a studio, but it was the only thing I could do in the time allotted, and it was very affordable. So I thought I would just do it for one year in that space. But that studio actually thrived there, I want to say, for like, seven or more.
- [25:50]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Oh, my God.
- [25:51]
Sumi Krishnan
People liked being close together.
- [25:52]
Just it worked out.
- [25:53]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
We met. Yeah, we met at a yoga retreat in Ibiza.
- [25:56]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes.
- [25:56]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
We were like, Sardi.
- [25:58]
Sumi Krishnan
Yeah. Those mats were, what, two inches apart?
- [26:02]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Okay, that's so interesting. And thank you for sharing, like, all those, like, you know, little details about, like, how you thought about whether you could make this investment or then what happened. Because I think it's so important for, you know, people listening to know that there's so many ways to, like, be a business owner, first of all. Right. Like, the fact that you could actually buy a studio without all of the upfront cash.
- [26:23]
Sumi Krishnan
Yeah, Right.
- [26:23]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Like, I think a lot of people don't even realize that, like, you can actually buy it based on the income that's going to be coming in over the next however many months or years.
- [26:33]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes. Yep. Yeah. She was willing to do seller financing for me. I ended up not doing that. When the price was reduced, I borrowed a little bit of money from a family member, but it was really a very small purchase price at that point, and I was able.
- [26:46]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
So then came the hard work. You had to grow your studios, you had to make them profitable. You had to get the buzz going, which now what? You're, like, best of everywhere in Boston and, like, of course, like, how many studios do you have now?
- [26:58]
Sumi Krishnan
I have four now. I have one in New Hampshire, two in Massachusetts, and one in Rhode Island.
- [27:03]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Okay. Okay. Amazing. So. And you're expanding nationally, too, is the plan is loosely.
- [27:10]
Sumi Krishnan
The plan. We're also very open to, you know, what the universe kind of reveals, because every time I think I know what the plan is, something interesting always seems to land in my lap. So right now, I'm also loving, like, as a byproduct of, you know, the pandemic years I'm really loving the digital studio. I'm loving being able to live stream our classes virtually that are happening live in the studios. And I love that we can reach people nationally in that way too.
- [27:35]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Right.
- [27:36]
Sumi Krishnan
In a way that doesn't require us hiring dozens and dozens more staff. So yeah, I'm exploring that.
- [27:42]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Okay. Okay. But you have a virtual membership who.
- [27:45]
Sumi Krishnan
Absolutely.
- [27:46]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
About what, that.
- [27:47]
Sumi Krishnan
Yeah.
- [27:47]
So, gosh, we have probably anywhere from five to ten classes a day streaming from our four locations. As well as an on demand library, we offer our signature bar class, the Bar and Soul Method. We have Matt Pilates. We have something called Faux Former, which I'm very excited about, which is using sliders and resistance bands to create what you would get on a reformer or like, you know, a mega former type of movement without having to have this huge clunky equipment. So that allows us to still offer a variety of classes.
- [28:22]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Oh, that's so cool. Okay, so you had said something earlier about you had the confidence in your ability, but you didn't have the confidence in your business skills.
- [28:34]
Sumi Krishnan
That's. That's true.
- [28:35]
What? And I know in your, in your.
- [28:37]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Book and in your talks you talk about like the confidence gap between men and women. Yep. So what, what is that? Like, have you. Can you tell us about that?
- [28:47]
Sumi Krishnan
Basically, women are less likely to put themselves forth for something unless they think they are 100 qualified, whereas men only need to think they're about 60 qualified in order to make a go.
- [29:01]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
And that's like, that's like research.
- [29:04]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes. And I was just chatting with someone the other day who's an HR expert and they were saying how. And it was a woman and she was saying how when she responds to job postings, she'll do that thing where it's like, oh, well, it says you need to have this degree and whatever. And I'm like, come on, how many job descriptions have you written where you're like, yeah, sure, bachelor's, whatever. But really, if the right candidates in front of you, you're not necessarily looking for each and every one of those single bullet points. You just want, you just have to get something down on paper to get the job posting up and running, you.
- [29:35]
Know, they're the right candidate.
- [29:37]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
It literally does not matter.
- [29:38]
Sumi Krishnan
Exactly.
- [29:39]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Their experience or education is exactly.
- [29:41]
Sumi Krishnan
If they are a complete, you know, fan of the brand and they are a go getter and they're dying to learn from you. Like that to me goes a lot farther than a degree.
- [29:53]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
And so what do you, like what, how do you think then as Women, like, we need to overcome that confidence gap.
- [30:00]
Sumi Krishnan
I think it just goes back to not waiting for permission. You know, there's a lot of. I don't know, there's just a lot of examples. And I know for you, like, you know, you have huge dreams and you're hugely talented, and people don't just. Oprah's limo is not gonna, like, pull up in front of your house and be like, hey, we heard that there's a pop star living here.
- [30:22]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
It doesn't usually go that way, actually, when I would. So I was like, you know, I had told you have just moved into a new place here in la. And when I was looking for places, there was this small little, like. Like, cottage in Venice that was. Well, yeah, I can. I can say it because I'm not giving a street name, but supposedly right next door to Jay Z and Beyonce's studio.
- [30:43]
Sumi Krishnan
Oh, my goodness, like, one of their studios.
- [30:45]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
So I was like, well, all I gotta do is move there and then, like, sing really loudly in the front.
- [30:49]
Sumi Krishnan
Yard at all times. I mean, that. That's exactly the kind of plan that you kind of need to come up with, right? It's like, how do I get myself out there? How do I get myself in front of these opportunities that I want to have instead of waiting for someone to come and invite me or to know that that's what I want? You know, even just speaking out loud that you have a goal or that you want something, it's so vulnerable. And, you know, it's like, I think for women too, we're conditioned to be like, oh, you know, it's that, like, who does she think she is? You know?
- [31:24]
And like, yeah, who does she think.
- [31:27]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
She is for either owning your successes, for being proud of your accomplishments? Like, I remember when I was first growing my business, it was like I was so scared to talk about the success. Like, we had made, you know, the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. And I remember this moment where I saw it. It popped up as a notification on my phone or an email or whatever that, like, we had made the list. And I shared it to social media when I was leaving my office. And then by the time I got to my car in the garage, I had so much panic around having shared that.
- [32:00]
Sumi Krishnan
Yes, that I deleted the post.
- [32:01]
No, you didn't.
- [32:03]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
And now, granted, this was like a long. This was like 10 years ago. So I feel like, you know, I have changed so much since then. Like, knowing that we need to celebrate our own successes and share them and be role models for other women. And if we're going and doing things that, you know, not a lot of other women are doing, like, that's even more reason for us to, like, own it. Own it it and talk about it and share it. So we can lift everybody up and be, you know, leading the way in what's possible. Or just basically sharing the message that we don't need to hide. We don't need to play small to fit in. Right. Like, we don't need to ever feel like we need to shrink to be accepted.
- [32:45]
Sumi Krishnan
I'm so curious. What was it that you think. How do you actually take that post down? Like, what. What was the fear or what was the voice in your head saying, you're.
- [32:53]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
Putting me on the spot.
- [32:54]
Sumi Krishnan
Good.
- [32:57]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
I think the fear, the voice in my head was, yeah. Like, it's.
- [33:02]
Sumi Krishnan
It's.
- [33:04]
Andrea Isabel Lucas
It's embarrassing. It felt embarrassing at the time. It felt like people were going to judge me for sharing it. Like I was showing off, I guess it felt like, you know, it still was that old, like, don't show off kind of programming. Yeah. And then that people then therefore would, you know, not like me.
- [33:23]
Sumi Krishnan
Yep. Yeah. I think it's good to name that because I think people can really relate to that.
- [33:28]
All right, everybody, I really hope you enjoyed that first half of our conversation.
- [33:32]
Stay tuned for a part two with.
- [33:33]
Andrea in the near future. But until then, we will see you next week on the Dream Life Club podcast. Have an amazing week, and I'll talk to you soon.