Sarah Vedeler (00:00:00) - You're giving a little part of yourself. Any time that you create, you're giving a part of yourself. You. I don't think you can create something beautiful without it having part of your heart in it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:00:22) - Welcome to the Crown Yourself podcast, where together we build your empire and transform your subconscious stories about what's possible for your business, body and life. I'm your host, Kimberly Spencer, founder of Crown Yourself. Com and I'm a master mindset coach, bestselling author, TEDx speaker known to my clients as a game changer. Each week you get the conscious leadership strategies you need to help you reign with courage, clarity, and confidence so that you too, can make the income and impact you deserve. Imagine this podcast as your royal invitation to step into your full potential and reign in your divine purpose. Your sovereignty starts here and your reign is now. Your mission has changed.
Kimberly Spencer (00:01:06) - And evolved as we've known each other since 2018. And where are you now? Like at first there was a vision for for your business back then and now.
Kimberly Spencer (00:01:17) - Now there's a different vision for for where you're going. And it seems like everything has just dropped into your heart.
Sarah Vedeler (00:01:24) - Everything that I've been listening to. Now you're going to make me cry. So last year was. Somewhat of a disaster. It's the first time ever in the history of my business, which I've been in since 2009. So 14 years that I have had a loss in my business. You know, my business had very steady, increased revenues, increased revenues, increased revenues. 22 had a little dip in the revenue in 2013 was like, oh, shit. Part of it, I think, is the state of the world. Part of it was my mindset. I was like, I don't actually know what I'm here to do anymore. I don't want to make quilts anymore. I don't want to design quilts anymore. I haven't actually been the person in front of my embroidery machine in such a long time making a complete quilt. Sure, I've been doing the little bits and pieces to make the videos, but it's one of those interesting things I had staff.
Sarah Vedeler (00:02:31) - Whose purpose was to do the stitching, which meant that I was spending all day sitting in front of the computer, doing the designing and writing the instructions. And it was driving me crazy, because there is definitely a need for me as a highly creative person to have my hands on some fabric and some thread and some actual colors. Not just a color card, right? Not just what I see on the computer screen and actually be the person who is standing looking at the design, stitching out, being completely mesmerized by it because it's a highly mesmerizing, meditative experience to watch your design come into life on the machine. And it wasn't until the middle of last year when I figured, you know what? I am going to design and create a new design collection from beginning to end. Nobody else is even going to know about you. I didn't tell my team what I was doing, they just knew it was the seed for a project. That's actually the end of it, which is the 3D collection. And I had so much fun.
Sarah Vedeler (00:03:39) - I was like, I don't want to just do flat flowers. I want flowers that jump off the quill. you can't actually see it. And if you're listening, you can't see it at all. But there are petals on the flowers, so if you didn't put the petal in the additional petals on, you've got a beautiful design as a regular appliqué. But I wanted to put more elements in there. So they are actually petals that come out of the quilt. That literally is 3D effect on their. And so I did the entire thing and I realized, you know, I'm standing there ironing the fabric. I'm like, well, you know, I have not stood an iron fabric in years. And there is something special about standing in front of a piece of fabric and pressing it until it is pristine and flat and wrinkle free. There's always been this pressure and this oh my gosh, I have to get this release. And I imagine that you can remember this whole thing. It's like nothing would ever happened fast enough.
Sarah Vedeler (00:04:50) - We couldn't get stuff done fast enough. And this constant pressure last year was very different. I had a lot of mindset work to do. Needs to, raise my vibration if you like. And when I started working on this 3D collection, I actually started listening to a whole different kind of wisdom. And it's really fascinating, you know, YouTube what the algorithms do. Because having listened to one thing. They put something else in front of you that is of a similar vibe. I was like, why no. And I came across some new people. Lee Harris had a huge impact on me. You know, all of a sudden he's right there and all over the place. I'd never, ever heard of him before. He's an amazing intuitive who channels disease. And he's English as well. And I was listening to him. I was like, wow, this really is giving me a different outlook on life. Which made such a big difference. Sarah Landon was another person that I started listening to the council.
Sarah Vedeler (00:06:08) - And just all kinds of different, mainly channeled in, you know, information and wisdom and what have you. And then the whole concept of the transformation that's happening in the world where I get highly woowoo here. yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:06:28) - Let's get well.
Sarah Vedeler (00:06:31) - But it's been fascinating. So I've been working with master astrologer for the last year and looking at the planets and the effects, and there's big stuff happening with Pluto, and I do not understand it. I just know that, you know, Pluto is moving through the sky, and there's interactions between all of the different planets. And we're currently in a space where nobody is actually had the planets in this particular configuration for quite some time, and it's causing all kinds of upset and stuff going on in the world. And then you listen to the other people who are channeling all kinds of information, and they're basically saying the same thing, but just coming at it from a different point of view.
Kimberly Spencer (00:07:19) - All are well. It's all that. We're all in a relationship with everything.
Sarah Vedeler (00:07:22) - Right?
Kimberly Spencer (00:07:24) - And and the power is, is like in the next 20 years, especially with Pluto, where it's, like that is a disrupter of systems. In the last time it was in the place that that that was the American Revolution. And I think what we're going to be seeing in the next 20 years is a significant, systematic disruption of financial revolution in the way of and I'm getting truth, as I'm saying, in the way of people finding their sovereignty with, with money, with business, with community that is not in the in the systems that we currently have and have been used to over the past, you know, however long, 100 years, 100 years. So. There is such a power in being able to. Listen to your intuition. Isn't it interesting how the the algorithm just kind of follows that? Is it the algorithm or is it the quantum realm in the fact that we are we are channeling what we're creating in our reality. And so thus is it the just the algorithm or are we also inviting that into our space?
Sarah Vedeler (00:08:30) - Well, everything that has been surrounding me and everything that I've been listening to has been pulling me more and more into love.
Sarah Vedeler (00:08:39) - Is the answer to just about everything. Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:08:42) - Yeah. Pretty much. It's very simple. It's not that. It's like it's a really simple answer is simple.
Sarah Vedeler (00:08:49) - I had, I heard, on one podcast that I listened to, if everyone would love themselves and the only the person in front of them, the entire world would be transformed. So from a creative point of view. Create for yourself and your family. I kind of. Embrace, you know, your close family and friends, they're kind of a part of your unit, right? So I think creatively, when your people love to create for other people, right? So you create for the people that are in your world who are in your environment. So keep doing that. And create one more. In this case, hearts. I'm thinking we have a new Awakened Heart collection. Create one more and gift it to somebody who's outside of your current sphere of influence. And see what the how the world transforms. Because I think that the act of creating something for somebody who is outside of your sphere of influence, who you probably will never meet, you probably will never, ever know their name.
Sarah Vedeler (00:10:07) - You don't know where they live. You don't know where they come from. You know absolutely nothing about them. But your heart. Literally your heart going into the creation of whatever being passed on to this other person. It's a method for connecting hearts. And it's completely invisible.
Kimberly Spencer (00:10:32) - It's the invisible, as there's a great book called Improving Your Invisible Boundaries on the Invisible Matrix of our hearts that actually connect to us and that. The the ability to reach. And I love what you said about using your your family. Is your creative team like Nevermore? Was that more manifest than last year when my husband, my mom and I all sat down, we got very clear on what we wanted in our dream home because we're going to move her with us to Texas. And we sat down and we practiced the skill set of like, you know, you get clear on what you want and you're very focused on what you want. I know you've heard me say that a million times, and we wrote it down and just let it go.
Kimberly Spencer (00:11:17) - And we have the list framed because we got everything we wanted on that list. And it really. Show us the power of when two or more are gathered, like there is power in that creative focus and unity in moving forward. So I think it's really interesting how you found that unity within your family and and then you let some employees go and downsize your companies for employee wise. So what did you find was the disunity that made you want to get smaller, to go bigger?
Sarah Vedeler (00:11:54) - Basically revenue. You know, it got to the point where I am so done with struggling. And cutting costs is absolutely necessary right now. So on the one hand, there's a contraction happening. But on the other hand, there is such freedom. Because now I can breathe. You know, it releases the pressure. And. There's like an energetic shift that's happened as well. Yeah. You know, working out to my home. And having energy in my home and saying, you know what, I don't like the energy in my home anymore.
Sarah Vedeler (00:12:43) - I need to release it and let it go. It's kind of opened up something amazing, and we're really right at the beginning of it, and I love that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:56) - I love that we're just at that. Like, because there's the beginning of the idea and then there's the beginning of it's almost like that newborn and being, you know, there's the idea, then there's the phase of, you know, gestation and, you know, the the pregnancy of the idea and the now it's birth, it's tactile, it's real, it's in your hands. And now you're moving forward in. After that contraction. And I think that contractions are the way that we actually like. So often we view contractions or dips in revenue, like I can tell, like your 2022 and 2023 mirrored mine.
Sarah Vedeler (00:13:28) - But I just so many people have that same thing. It's like this being a yeah, some giant contraction happening. But I think that certainly for me 2024 energy is radically different. Yes, yes.
Kimberly Spencer (00:13:47) - Contractions I love like I know this is necessary, and I'm really grateful for the 2024 energy because I feel like this big.
Kimberly Spencer (00:13:57) - There's a big expansiveness, but it's coming from the, the, the lessons that had to happen in 2023 to be embodied and to like land in order to then shift who you are, to then be the one who's going to be able to receive the expansiveness.
Sarah Vedeler (00:14:15) - Yes. So you know something. So talking to contraction and. It brings to mind Jasmine, who literally just turned 18 last week. And so I've been looking at her baby pictures. I mean, she's a grown up now.
Kimberly Spencer (00:14:32) - That's so amazing.
Sarah Vedeler (00:14:33) - Than I can handle now. But what is so remarkable is looking at the baby picture, literally Jasmine right outside of the womb. One of my friends at the time was a photographer and she was allowed. Jasmine was born by scheduled caesarean was very orderly, unlike her sister. but we were able to have the entire thing photograph. And so I literally have a picture of Jasmine fresh out. And I just been looking at these pictures in this last week, and I haven't looked at them for quite some time, but.
Sarah Vedeler (00:15:13) - You know, when you birth something, whether it's human or an idea, and it's this tiny little thing and somewhat, you know, dirty and. What have you. You know, it's barely there. You know, especially in the idea around. And then when you fast forward 18 years and you see, wow, she is beautiful. She's amazing. She's. In the top 10% of her class. It has got state.
Kimberly Spencer (00:15:49) - Goals and big ambitions and like what she wants to create and as clarity and I, I love the fact because I know that you started your business as a single mother. Like raising two girls. And you know, it wasn't easy because also your for oldest daughter had a stroke. There we are. Like so this you have been this example of entrepreneurship and creativity and sovereignty, of being able to create your own reality. What do you think that has? How do you think that's guided your daughters?
Sarah Vedeler (00:16:25) - On the one hand, it's kind of interesting because I don't Jasmine, especially in the little one.
Sarah Vedeler (00:16:32) - I don't think she actually recognizes what happens here when she's a school. I had a really interesting conversation with her when she was, quite a bit younger. I think she was still in elementary school, and I'd gone to pick her up or something, and she the conversation went along the lines of, well, what are you going to do today? And I was like, well, I've got work to do. And she didn't have a concept of when she was at school, I was busy working because I was at home. She just thought I was at home sewing. so that's been kind of interesting. Well, especially.
Kimberly Spencer (00:17:13) - Because the, the I mean, your girl just turned 18 and it's this there's so many things that I look back on. And even just as a mom for the past six years where I'm like, especially with Colton because of the the time when he was four, I saw a baby picture and I was like, oh my gosh, like just two years ago, he was this little itty bitty thing.
Kimberly Spencer (00:17:32) - And now he's this toddler with opinions and. Really strong willed opinions, which is great for leadership. That's challenging as a parent. And the beautiful thing though is like, see, seeing that and then also having that. When you're present in the moment there. So often there are sometimes that is just it's just survival. They're like, let's be honest. Like sometimes as a parent. And I can only imagine as a single mom, like I'm everyday grateful for a spike because I have no idea how I'd be able to deal without him. But the the the beauty of. That resiliency that's cultivated. So how did your ability to be present with both your business and with your kids, and with all the challenges and all the struggles and all of the shifts in the world going on, how how did you navigate that with that presence?
Sarah Vedeler (00:18:28) - Right at the. The whole reason that I started my business. So I came out of the corporate world after being in the academic world. You know, I got my bachelor's degree.
Sarah Vedeler (00:18:40) - I went on to get a PhD in theoretical computer science. I spent actually only two and a half years and corporate England, as it were, came over here spent. No more than three years in corporate America. And got married, got pregnant, had a baby. When I got I, and because my immigration status at the time, I couldn't look. we we wound up moving just after I got pregnant and I wasn't able to work, which I thought was brilliant because my brain had completely reorganized itself. And like, the whole analytical thing was like, bye bye. God bless you later. And, and so I was extremely fortunate to be able to spend the first six years whilst I was married, with first with my older daughter, and then Jasmine came along as a stay at home parent, and I was doing a little bit of teaching on the side, but it was by no means a full time job. It was, you know, maybe three hours a week here, three hours a week there.
Sarah Vedeler (00:19:59) - so when I got divorced. It was a case of, okay, I actually need to figure out how to earn a living so that I can support my family, my two girls who were, six and two when I got divorced, and the thought of going back into corporate America. Made me think. You might as well just shoot me now. That is such a horrible thought. I don't want to put my girls in daycare. I don't want somebody else to be seeing their moments as they're growing up. I want to be there with them. And so my two criteria for how am I going to earn a living are. Number one, I need to be able to be there for my girls. They are the most important thing in my life, so being there for them whenever they need me is number one. And number two is I need to do something that actually nurtures my soul. Being in corporate America did not do that. The thought of sitting in a cubicle for eight plus hours every day was like not having, And having made that decision, like, the entire universe conspired to put me in front of people who were the exact right person to get me to the next point, or to introduce me to the person that I really needed to me.
Sarah Vedeler (00:21:24) - And all kinds of serendipity happened, and my business started and my business grew and. Heather. My older daughter had a stroke when she was 14, the week before spring break of her eighth grade year. How women, especially who have jobs outside of the home. How they manage when a child has a medical emergency. I have no idea. And. But when. Heather, you know, I've never been so grateful for my business. Because when Heather had her stroke. There was no question about the fact that I don't have any time for my business right now. I need to be in the hospital with Heather and for quite a long time. The most important thing was Heather has a doctor's appointment. And no matter what, that's what is. you know, that's the highest priority. The thing with the neurosurgeons, they're kind of interesting people. They're very godlike. Yeah. Highly skilled. Save the life, you know? but you don't call. You don't call them and make an appointment to go see them on your timeline.
Sarah Vedeler (00:22:42) - You mean you wait for them to call you and, you know, the receptionist or whatever they will call you and say, doctor Nakajima will see you at this time on this day. There's no. Negotiating on that island. They really, you know, so knowing what the priority is and the priority has been the girls. There's a volleyball game on. And so I will be there sitting at the volleyball game watching the kid play volleyball. So it's, you know, what's actually been really interesting. And I think part of my mindset last year, it was knowing that Jasmine is going to graduate from high school this year. Heather is going to graduate from college this year. But Heather has a plan. She has since she had her stroke. She is on course for medical school. There's been a few bumps in the road, but she is on course for medical school. Jasmine, on the other hand, has not had a plan until relatively recently. but my original intention for creating my business is to be available for my girls when my girls don't actually need me anymore.
Sarah Vedeler (00:24:00) - In the same way, right? That I am going to be an empty, empty nester very soon. And. Why am I in business now? I had to kind of re-identify or reinvent why I'm actually in business now. Because the original intention no longer valid.
Kimberly Spencer (00:24:23) - Yeah, I think that that's such a beautiful. Awareness because there are so many variable factors that go into, you know, seeing where your business is and how it's going to navigate. Like, what season is it in? Is it in its infancy where you're going to have to be a lot more present with it? You're going to be hands on, you're going to be doing the things you're going to be making the, you know, the sales pages and all the things. And then, you know, it grows into a teenager, grows into an adult hood. But then there's also where you where's the world at? Where where's your team at? What what struggles are they dealing with with struggle, personal struggles are you dealing with.
Kimberly Spencer (00:24:59) - So being able to look at this whole wheel of multiple different types of issues or prospective challenges that always cause for these little micro realignments and making sure that. You're realigning as much as as the business is in alignment with what it is that you want to create in this world. And I love the fact that you brought it back to to touching and being present and tactile with the creativity and the fabric and the movement of and the building from start to finish and versus like, well, I'm just going to build and scale this even bigger. And really finding what it is that you, you love. Like one of my dear friends who I had came on the podcast, she scaled her business from 0 to 30 million. and then Covid hit. She had five locations in Los Angeles, and those were open. And Teresa Shriver, she was on the podcast and she she shared how like. When in the transition, she realized. And then, now that she started the Venusian School of Business, how, you know, you can have a housekeeper, you can have support, like there's there's a whole methodology of like when people started businesses like your first you need to get your Vas and you need to build your team and you need to scale.
Kimberly Spencer (00:26:15) - You need to grow. But. There is a presence that comes from like, I'm choosing to care for my own home. Like, I kind of like, I'm going to delegate this and delegate this and delegate this and tell you this, which is fine. And what is that simplicity? What is that touch that you need inside your home on your business? And like for me, one of the things that I had to realize was I, I deeply missed a deep care with my customers, with my clients, with being really fully just in it with them because of like I delegated myself out of so many roles and that, which was fine. But I realized how deeply I missed that part. And cancer's in my 11th house of relationships and and long term relationships. And I'm like, I love my clients. Like, I love the fact that, you know, five years, 4 or 5 years later after we met or I think that's six. Yeah. Different baths in public. But they were able to still connect and just, like, be able to see each other's dreams come to life and, you know, just celebrate each other and be in that space.
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:30) - And that's what I love about about business and being able to deeply, deeply care. And when I brought that back, I was like, oh, that was the missing piece that I had that had made me successful in the past, and I didn't know how to delegate myself into that role without delegating myself out of some of the tactile doings of my business. And it was navigating that, that now I'm like, oh, rocket fuel. Rocket fuel is happening in 2024.
Sarah Vedeler (00:27:58) - Yeah. The whole. Scaling a business. When you realize that the reason that you're in business. Somebody else is now doing it for you. So you have to stop and think about. Is that really how I want to do this? Because I've just given somebody else the best aspect of my job and my business. I've just given it away. I can design all day long sitting in front of my computer, but I miss out on the best part. Yeah. Which is the actual making of it, you know? I actually think that the end result is really not.
Sarah Vedeler (00:28:47) - The joy. The joy is not found in the end result. The joy is found in all of the itty bitty little pieces of fabric, and finding that exact right thread color and seeing all of the stitches come together. It's like the journey is so much more important than the end result. Sometimes I don't actually like the end result. But the journey of getting there is the satisfaction.
Kimberly Spencer (00:29:18) - Did you have to? Did you find that it was, Because I know joy has been a common theme with you. And with the joy of your girls leaving the home, baking. And like the joy, like there's a there's a success, but there's also a grieving. Of you know what, what was and, and that space and how, how did you navigate between the two. Because I know for me it was the grief of certain things in my past that I've been so used to having in a home as far as, like. That would be considered negative, like chaos. We're no longer present.
Sarah Vedeler (00:30:04) - I can't remember.
Sarah Vedeler (00:30:05) - I don't know if you know that I actually sold my house and moved. I guess you did.
Kimberly Spencer (00:30:09) - Yeah.
Sarah Vedeler (00:30:10) - Yes. Which was kind of. Unexpected and happened very suddenly. So I guess that would have been the summer of 22. Yeah, we were working together then.
Kimberly Spencer (00:30:23) - Then I remember that that it just happened like that.
Sarah Vedeler (00:30:26) - Yeah. I literally went on vacation to Sweden to visit my family, sat on a rock and was like, I need to sell my house. And Heather had been, Heather had been gone for two years at that point. So it was just me and Jasmine and were rattling around in this gigantic house, which, yes, it had my dream studio in there. But when Jasmine was with her dad, it was like, this is way too big. And so we kind of started the contraction then. we were originally planning on moving to Colorado, and that just was an idea that came and eventually, I figured was not the right idea. but interestingly enough, when I was looking for a place to rent, knowing that I wanted to be somewhere temporarily whilst Jasmine finished high school.
Sarah Vedeler (00:31:21) - It boiled down to this one house that we're actually in. This is the only house that I went to look at. And Jasmine and I came over on a Saturday morning and we're like, yep, this is one. and it was kind of a very easy transition. It's actually less than a mile away from the house that I the very first house that I bought when I came to the United States, which is where I'm the house I was in when I met Christopher. and Heather decided to come into the world. But having it's almost like, you know, when the universe is guiding you. I have met so many extraordinary people by living in this house. It's that I would not have met. Otherwise. And there's, there's actually a gym that I go to it so point four miles in that direction, I can walk there. And that place has changed my life, you know. Working from home. Is. And in a business where I have customers all over the world. But I very rarely actually, get to meet them.
Sarah Vedeler (00:32:44) - Up until Covid I didn't really know any of them. Covid in some respects was, a gem for my business because we recognized very early on that a lot. A lot of our customers are retired and they were homebound. Their families couldn't get to them. They couldn't get to their families. Nearly all my customers are women. A lot of them were looking after, husbands, who didn't necessarily have the greatest health. And so we decided, you know, we're going to get together every Friday on Zoom. You're welcome to come along and we'll talk about machine embroidery and quilting. If you just want to come and sit in the room where the smiling people having a conversation come along. If you want to participate in the conversation, then you're welcome to do that too. but working at home, I typically could get through an entire week without stepping outside of my front door. and seeing other people and this gym that I go to fit society is a place I go, at least three times, sometimes four times every now and then, five times a week.
Sarah Vedeler (00:33:58) - And not only am I in the best shape ever. Bill and muscle losing weight. Body body fat percentage is getting fabulous. Fairly good, but I've met such good friends there. Yeah. And it's just been this really fascinating. just a really fascinating because there was a part of me that was like, why am I moving? Why don't I just sell my house? Yeah, but the world opened up and it also opened up in that there I can step out to my front door and walk for up to five miles through neighborhood parks. Which I live in a big city, right? Yeah. And just being able to get out and see trees and the green of the grass and be in the sunshine. Me moving my body is what gets my. Creativity really juiced up. so being able to get out on a daily basis into a beautiful. Little environment has done wonders and be able to listen to inspiring wisdom whilst I'm out there as well at the same time.
Kimberly Spencer (00:35:25) - Yeah. And I think. It sets, creating this space and looking at how to live in harmony in the dance of life.
Kimberly Spencer (00:35:36) - Because. I can like. I know for me, if I'm on my zoom. All day and haven't stepped outside to say hi to my donkeys, I, I just, I was like, what is life like miss being able to to walk outside and it's, it's so crazy that I can hike in my backyard now like it's this space of, you know, this this in technology is great and it serves a beautiful purpose for connection. And it also can leave people feeling so depleted. And what I've seen, especially last year, doing a ton of speaking gigs, was that people are just desperately starving for real in life, in person, heartfelt connection. And I think as we enter into this new age, we're going to be feeling other people's hearts as best like, and we're going to be leaning into that, into the heart space rather than into like, this is the box that I'm supposed to be in. This is my tiny little zoom box, and I'm now. But versus the expansiveness that is all around.
Sarah Vedeler (00:36:46) - The thing. Connecting online is still going to be really important. Yes, because. You're in Texas. I'm in Arizona. Getting in a room so that we could be face to face has some challenges attached to it. You know, we have quite a few customers in Australia. One day I hope that I'll be able to go and see them. But for right now. We can connect on zoom, but one of the things that I am hoping to do is create more opportunities for in-person. Let's just get together and stitch. Not necessarily a class, although there's probably going to be some element of that included, but let's just come together and do some stitching. Let's create something beautiful that we can offer up to somebody who's outside of our immediate community and our immediate sphere of influence, who may be having a hard time. A mom whose kid is in the hospital. I have personal experience that that can be a super traumatic life event. Let's just offer up a piece of our lore and embed it in a physical.
Sarah Vedeler (00:38:10) - Thing that we have created and pass that physical thing on to the next person who can also. Somehow. Don't actually know how it works, but the gifting is not just, you know, you can see the physical thing, but the gift also includes the essence. Yeah. Of your heart that's going with it, which I think is an infinite capacity. So you could make 6 million of these little Hot Pockets, and every single one of them would have that essence going with it. Does that make sense?
Kimberly Spencer (00:38:52) - It makes total sense. And I love the fact that it's it's a devotion. Like it's it's a devotion to humanity. It's a devotion to having it be. Made by someone who just cares enough to make one more to go. That one extra step to just show and demonstrate that they care. And that's really been this world that's been coming up. Of, of of care and also. What do you see? Like because somebody could say, oh, I love this design. I love this concept.
Kimberly Spencer (00:39:28) - Let's commercialize it. Let's, you know, produce 6 million of these. Sir. You know, given all the all the moms who have kids in the hospitals. Is that ever a route that you feel like you would go?
Sarah Vedeler (00:39:42) - There is an idea. And it looks something along the lines of. And there's two different possibilities here, and maybe the possibilities co-exist together. So I know there are people out in the world who do beautiful work, who are done with making the big things, because they already have a quilt on every bed. They've already given a quilt to every single person that they know, but they still want to be able to create, right? It's the joy of creating. That is life giving. Not so much the actual finished thing. So what if. These people were given an opportunity to create. I'm going to go with these hearts because this is what we have right now. But what if these people are given an opportunity to create? Hearts that have been paid for. So somebody comes along and says, I'd like one of these.
Sarah Vedeler (00:40:45) - I'd like it in these colors. I like this particular design and I'd like it to be sent to whoever. And so, Priscilla, I actually have a specific person in mind when I say Priscilla, but Priscilla is, on the list of people that says, I'm willing to make these. So Priscilla gets that order. She puts a little heart into it. She gets, her embroidery machine out. She has the right colors in this, that and the other. She makes it, she sends it all. And that same person who said, I'd like this to be sent to a specific person. We also make a copy of it and send and put that towards the gifted hearts in the hearts that will be gifted to, whichever organization, you know, whichever woman. So there's that. As people in their homes being part of an organization that is and is a commercial enterprise. And it's feeding the souls of the people who are doing the stitching right. On the other hand, there's another idea that says, what if we can get a room full of multi needle embroidery machines? And what if we can train up single moms who are trying to get on their feet? Train them up in utilizing these machines.
Sarah Vedeler (00:42:14) - Give them a place where they can come and work on a part time basis. We would provide childcare for them if that was needed. but they know that they can come. To work at this place on a part time basis. Maybe we have some kind of coaching in place where we help them get back on their feet financially. We help them get back on their feet, you know, and their living accommodations. And maybe we help them set up an inn in a business or we help get a job. But they know that they got this guaranteed time where they come and, you know, do the part time work that fits into their schedule and. So we've got, you know, there's still a customisable commercial end product, which is somebody buys it. We send it to a very specific person, and we make one gift and we're helping these women, young women to get their lives back in order.
Kimberly Spencer (00:43:15) - It reminds me of Tom's the shoes.
Sarah Vedeler (00:43:19) - When I just read late Michael Skinner's book Start Something That Matters.
Sarah Vedeler (00:43:24) - Yes. And the the whole idea behind for Every Shoe that we Sell will gift a pair of shoes to somebody who needs them. Yeah. Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:43:39) - I think that there's, there's such a way that we can bring the joy and the fun of giving into our business without it crossing our boundaries, because what I see is a lot of good hearted entrepreneurs is such a good heart. And they want to give and they want to give, but then they give by hiring people in positions who are in need of a job and desperate or in a in a struggle, and not necessarily are those people going to be the best fit for actually growing the company, just like kind of like you wouldn't hire somebody who is like down on their luck to be like, oh, babysit my baby. Like, I know you need some. I don't even need some extra money. Here's my child, like, my most precious thing in the world. So. It's understanding, like where is the boundary between charity and being able and service so that you can serve people who are in need and provide them the space and have those boundaries as well.
Kimberly Spencer (00:44:37) - In your business, how have you navigated that?
Sarah Vedeler (00:44:39) - We're still to some extent figuring that out because we are definitely a for profit business. I have, you know, rent to pay. I have two kids in college and. I think that there are so many people out in the world who can benefit by the act of creating something. And gifting what they've made to somebody who just needs to hear the words I love you ain't never met you before, but I just want to let you know that I'm here and I care. And this is just a little token of that. I think we still have a fair amount to learn about how to bring this all together. Especially as a growing organization. There's definitely places to learn what I, you know. I think that Tom's even figured out that the whole shoe donating thing had some challenges, and I don't know that they actually do it anymore. I think they've kind of transformed the way that they do that. But my experience so far, we've had two Christmas stocking projects for the last couple of years and.
Sarah Vedeler (00:45:59) - From the people who have participated and made the stockings the first year in 2022, we gifted them to NASA now, which is a foster organization here in Arizona. So we gifted, the stockings to the children last year. And in 2023, we gifted them to Phoenix Children's Hospital. The children who were actually in the hospital for Christmas. The people who make the stockings have sent letters and cards saying, thank you for allowing me to participate in this project. It means the world to me. On one level, it's not so much the recipient of the gift that is receiving the benefit. I think the person who is creating the gift in the in the first place is getting a whole lot of benefit. It's almost selfish. You know, it's almost a selfish act to make the Christmas stocking all the heart or whatever it is. Yeah. It just happens to have a really nice end result that it reminds somebody else.
Kimberly Spencer (00:47:14) - Yeah, it reminds me of I love what you said about it being selfish, because I do think there's there's that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:47:19) - The paradigm that the gift of doing something kind and act of compassionate benefits. Not like there's been studies shown that if it's not only the person who receives it, it benefits the person who has, done the act than the kind service or act. It also benefits those who witness it like they're an elevation of a vibration of just love and generosity that happens from that space. And I read this amazing book, last year called Seed Money. And any, any time there's a gift, whether it's for me, it's whether it's a gift of just a connection or a referral or money or whatever type of gift. I always say, like, I always plant that seed money, and I just picture it growing and fostering this beautiful garden of. Karmic reward coming back. And also, it reminds me of that, that scene in France where Phoebe was like, giving is not, you know, I'm giving. I'm being so it's unselfish. And then she's trying to find any sort of way that giving is not selfish, but they're like, no, it benefits you to, oh, you're feeling good about it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:48:26) - Oh no, I don't like it. Like she's like, no, I shouldn't feel good about this though. To be the ability to like giving is an act of selfishness. But is selfishness ultimately bad? Like the word selfishness just describes? Like it literally just means characteristics of the self. Well, if giving is a characteristic of myself, that's something I want to have. So yes, I'm happy to have that as selfish because that is a characteristic that I aspire to have in my reality.
Sarah Vedeler (00:48:55) - That's a really interesting perspective on it. Yes, I actually love that. You're giving a little part of yourself. Any time that you create, you're giving a part of yourself. You. I don't think you can create something beautiful without it having part of your heart in it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:49:16) - Absolutely. I mean, it's like, it hasn't been scientifically studied at the level of creativity and giving, but there is studies as far as like pregnancy and women. Is that your children? Their DNA is when you choose to to birth in and give life and like create a life inside of you.
Kimberly Spencer (00:49:34) - It stays with you as a woman for at least a decade, if not longer, like they haven't met any amount of time. But your children's DNA is literally a part of you for. Pretty much. They're assuming life. The hypothesis is life. They've studied up to ten years. The fact that those that there's a ripple effect of creation, and I don't think it's just in the in the act of actually having a child, I think it can be. And the energy of that creative energy of the birthing of any idea through you.
Sarah Vedeler (00:50:07) - I know for my girls, they're 18 and 22 right now. I still feel like they are a part of me. They're a huge part of me. We are one, you know, if there's ever an experience of oneness, I would say we are definitely one. We're one unit. We might be three individual human beings, but I certainly think of us as one unit. Jasmine, I would imagine, probably has something to say about that because she was so desperate to leave the nest and was thinking.
Kimberly Spencer (00:50:43) - Well, I understand that being an 18 year old girl. So having been one myself, it's like there's that calling for independence. But there also, I have to say, having my mother back with us is like game changing and also being able to see her in her next phase, creating and creating her art again and and being able to do that and be that example for my boys, had a flag that you can renew your life in any at any point in your life. No one, you are not beholden to the identity even of who you were five minutes ago. So the question is, who do you want to be? And so who are you becoming as you grow this this heart led mission?
Sarah Vedeler (00:51:24) - Oh my goodness. I am becoming an awake human being, connected to my higher power, connected to my higher cell. And I have to say that in the last year I've been like, what the heck is that? But becoming awake human being as in connected to my heart, connected to the vast consciousness that is all around us.
Sarah Vedeler (00:51:51) - That is striving for humanity, surviving and rising up to the next level together.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:01) - How would you like to see the world that you're you're creating for your girls?
Sarah Vedeler (00:52:04) - So Lee Harris, he has a thing called rebirth. And one of his questions at the end of that is, what do you most want to create in and for the world? And it doesn't have to be something that's actually feasibly possible. But what is on my heart is I want to create an inflow of the world, loving the hearts of all people. Because back to this concept that I mentioned earlier, if you can love yourself and love just the person, just the one person in front of you, then we could transform the whole world. If I can. Love myself. And offer a part of my heart to people with my creations. Then that has the possibility of transforming the whole world.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:54) - I love that. I think the, sometimes, especially as a parent, it's really easy to. What others first. Put your kids first and really love on them.
Kimberly Spencer (00:53:04) - But finding that self-love? How did you find that within yourself, especially through the challenge of financial dips?
Sarah Vedeler (00:53:13) - Realizing that going out for a walk is an amazingly abundant thing. Being able to bask in the sunshine is an amazingly abundant thing. You know, I have everything that I need to live a very happy life, a very happy and comfortable life. The very simple things, you know, the things that make a difference, I think.
Kimberly Spencer (00:53:36) - One of my favorite questions is how many ways am I abundant right now? How many ways are you abundant right now? Currently it's with eggs, surplus of eggs, nine chickens, nine eggs a day. We have too many. I'm giving them away. I'm like, please come take organic eggs. So currently eggs are eggs are in some abundance. But being able to recognize just how many ways is is abundance present right now? How many ways are we safe and supported? And I think because our brains are so wired, especially after challenges and struggles and traumas and, and shock traumas like children being in hospitals and like this fear and this need for Maslow's beginning of it's hierarchy of safety and having that foundation.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:22) - What do you put your trust in to ensure that that that first level is taken care of, that you are safe, that no matter what financial highs, lows, what are you putting your trust in and how did you discover your own trust?
Sarah Vedeler (00:54:36) - Recognizing that there is.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:39) - A.
Sarah Vedeler (00:54:39) - Whole horde of invisible support all around me, all the time, I have a mantra. Every time I get in the car, I have a little angel prayer that goes along the lines of, angels and guys. I ask that you escort me safely, guide me, and protect me today and every day, especially whilst I'm out and about. And. I recently took. Both of the girls had incidents in their vehicles. Both of them stayed safe. But you know, they are scary things. And so I said, you know what? Just repeat that when whenever you get in the car, just ask for that support from the unseen realm. And who knows if it's actually there or if it's just a figment of my imagination.
Sarah Vedeler (00:55:28) - I choose to believe that there is great support there for me.
Kimberly Spencer (00:55:34) - So, so much more support than we have the ability to even fathom.
Sarah Vedeler (00:55:41) - And it's really fascinating once you ask for what you need, how fast it can actually materialize in the physical world.
Kimberly Spencer (00:55:51) - There's a great book called, aphorisms of the, of yoga. And one of the things that, I recently read because I did a podcast on it, was, that success happens rapidly. unless there's, like, past karma, but. Success happens rapidly when when massive action is applied and it's like, well, what? What specifically is that massive action? Because so many people are like, I'm busy. I'm doing all the things. I think massive action is when you really are dialed in to what is it that I need claiming that what I, I need claiming what you want and what you desire and then choosing that next courageous step in every single one like you. Moving, moving homes. Just after a moment in, in Sweden, sitting on a rock to saying, I need to move, I need to sell my house like these, these moments of just choosing that next right best step and seeing how fast things are just manifesting into your reality with speed for demanding for for claiming and saying this is this is what I need for that next step to have that that speed come to me.
Kimberly Spencer (00:57:00) - And I think so many people spin their wheels with busyness of. All the pressure that busyness allows for people to have versus surrendering the pressure and focus on only those few things that just truly. Are the ones that that move the needle.
Sarah Vedeler (00:57:19) - You know, I think it all boils down to actually deciding about what it is that you want, that you really want. And once you have got that clear decision made in your mind and kind of stated it out loud for the universe, whether that's just standing in your living room saying it to nobody that's visible and just making that decision. Is the big new needle maker. Needle mover.
Kimberly Spencer (00:57:49) - Megan. And then the recommitment of that decision. I mean, you all heard it today here first Sarah said, make a decision. And that's like what my TedTalk was on was like how most leaders we we actually suck as humans. Like we're not trained to make decisions. We are told from childhood, oh, that's wrong or oh, that you know, oh, you don't really want that or just like, oh, that's, you know, deep winning.
Kimberly Spencer (00:58:13) - Especially when a toddler is like, I'm here's my decision, I want this. And we're like, that's really not the best thing for you. Well, because you're trying to keep them safe as a parent and as a guide. But what that does as they grow older is like, that's a creates a questioning of decision making. And so there's making the decision. But then there's also the the commitment every day to backing that decision, no matter what your circumstances are that are showing up in your present reality. And so how did you come to to have a level of decisiveness where you trust, lean in, decide and and then just make the next best decision. And right after that.
Sarah Vedeler (00:58:56) - You know, for the longest time as a young child, the thing that I can remember my mother telling me is, oh, you don't want that. Whenever I made a decision that I wanted something, whether it was a cookie or a bag of chips or, you know, something seemingly insignificant, and you say, oh, you don't really want that.
Sarah Vedeler (00:59:19) - And my decision making capability kind of took a very large hit, for me. You know, literally for decades. To some extent. When life is on the line. It's a lot easier to make a decision. Sometimes you just have to do it. Get grounded into your body and say, okay, what exactly is this? What? What is my best decision? What am I going to decide? And literally just make a decision whether it's the right one or not? Who knows? But, sometimes I think I definitely spend so much time waffling. About? Do I really want to do that? Do I not want to do that? Is there better option out there? And sometimes you just have to say, this is what I'm going to do. I made the decision to sell my house. Everybody that I needed kind of appeared the same one. I decided to go into business. Everybody that I needed appeared in front of me. What I thought was really interesting, having sold the house, the realtors assistant and I were chatting on the phone once.
Sarah Vedeler (01:00:31) - We tied up all of the paperwork and she said, you know, Sarah, of all of the houses that we've had on our books, yours is the only one that's actually sold because I decided I'm selling my house. And these are the steps that I need to do to actually go about that process. And I actually announced it in a very public way.
Kimberly Spencer (01:00:55) - Yeah. And, there's a great book, by Steven Pressfield called The Warrior Ethos. That is, it basically says, like the public shame of, like, going back on your word. And Sparta was just like, that was that was worse than death. so people like the warrior, that internal warrior that we have, like, when we put that out there, if you have that commitment to like the decision and decision literally means to decide is really badass because it is. It means to kill or cut off other options. And so when you kill or cut off other options suddenly and you post it on social media and then your integrity is on the line for like, am I sticking with this decision? Or like I better because the public shame would just be unbearable.
Kimberly Spencer (01:01:41) - So being able like it's a it's a warrior mindset, but with an open, loving heart that I see you growing this business and serving with such power and such devotion. It's been such an honor to have coached you through the years and to see this, this dream of yours. And I just know it's going to impact so many people to see that like. Opened the heart of so many mothers who are struggling. That touches my heart. And I'm not just. I just get to witness it. And it's such an honor. So I would love to switch into a little bit of rapid fire to wrap this up. Okay. Even though I could talk to you, like, all day. Who is your favorite female character in a book or a movie and? And why? And I know exactly what you're going to say.
Sarah Vedeler (01:02:29) - Elizabeth Bennet in pride.
Kimberly Spencer (01:02:36) - Now I know why, why? Why is she your favorite?
Sarah Vedeler (01:02:40) - I just love that love story of Darcy and Elizabeth. I actually resonate a whole lot with with Elizabeth.
Sarah Vedeler (01:02:49) - She's a little bit of a rebellious, outspoken, has deeply for the people that she loves. And I just love the romantic. Mr. Darcy has finally figured out which way is really upright. I can't tell you how many Pride and Prejudice variations I have read over the years. I kind of get stuck in them. I can seriously read like four of them in a weekend.
Kimberly Spencer (01:03:17) - Okay, what woman would you want to trade places with to be in her body? To live her life just for a day, alive now or alive in her time?
Sarah Vedeler (01:03:27) - I actually would love to experience life through your eyes with your boys and your husband, on your in your new home and all of your sparkling. I think that just wouldn't be so much fun.
Kimberly Spencer (01:03:39) - I am so honored. So wow. Out of all the people. What is your morning routine to set you up for success?
Sarah Vedeler (01:03:50) - I wake up and I'm on my winter hours, so it's 530 somewhere out at 510 somewhere. I kind of switch things around a little bit because if I if I'm going to get out of the house, I have to do it by 6:00.
Sarah Vedeler (01:04:03) - Otherwise it's too hot. so I wake up, take the dog out. I actually climbed back into bed and do some reading or listening to some kind of a spiritual podcast or. You know, book something that's thoughtful. And I write in my journal. It's typically affirmations. I find I need daily reminders and just really sitting with that, sometimes I will call my angels and do an angel reading winter months. Then I eat and I usually read whilst I'm eating breakfast and and then I go on a walk. Some months I go out on a walk first and eat second and then home shower. Get all dressed up for the day and get to work. But I typically spend about an hour, 45 minutes to an hour with my journal, with my reading, with my listening. and I'm currently walking about three and a half miles a day. And it's not just the physical outdoors. It's, That's my time when I listen to something inspirational, motivational, educational. So, yeah, that's my morning routine, I say.
Sarah Vedeler (01:05:31) - So probably the best part of two hours, if not longer, is mine. I actually really do not like to be interrupted at any point during that.
Kimberly Spencer (01:05:42) - Yeah, it's it's beautiful. I, I there's a rule in my house that there is no there is no talking to mommy until she has had properly had her teeth at least.
Sarah Vedeler (01:05:54) - Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (01:05:54) - You know, it used to be coffee now with tea. But what is your evening routine to set you up for success?
Sarah Vedeler (01:06:01) - I endeavor to actually be in bed by 9:00. It depends kind of what's been happening. A lot of the time I will take baths, sit in the bathtub, for 30 minutes, read a book and just soak them. A lot of the time, you know, Epsom salts, bubble baths, just kind of letting the muscle aches out. Generally. Just quiet, clean my teeth, get into bed, read some more. I've recently been using the fluffy, focused lifeforce energy. I've been doing a ten day or 15 day trial and they have a boost.
Sarah Vedeler (01:06:43) - So I've been using that boost for the last ten minutes. And then the light goes off and I've been sleeping. And I've recently also been listening to Deep sleep music and various different frequencies for cleansing the aura and the chakras and. All kinds of different, you know, different energies. Seeing which ones actually will help. And I've been sleeping a lot better. Since listening to the music and have it focus. Lifeforce. Energy.
Kimberly Spencer (01:07:20) - What do you define to be your queendom? Take it however you want it.
Sarah Vedeler (01:07:26) - I think my community of stitches that are willing to go on these creative journeys with me and challenge themselves by learning how to create something new. We are not about bog standard ordinary machine embroidery and quilting in the hoop. We are about how can we do something different that's not been done before. You know the 3D flowers? I don't think anybody has done those before on a quilt. Quilting a queen size quilt in the hoop on your embroidery machine as a single piece. I don't think anybody had ever done that before.
Sarah Vedeler (01:08:06) - And so I think me in my queendom is with my community of people who are willing to come along for the what sometimes seemed like a totally crazy ride whilst we try out doing something different. Sarah, how do we find you?
Kimberly Spencer (01:08:22) - How do we work with you? How do we take part and serve and support this amazing heart led mission that you're bringing into the world?
Sarah Vedeler (01:08:30) - Meaning of Life designs.com. We'll get you to my website and search for Meaning of Life designs on Facebook or Instagram. You will find me. We are launching the Awakened Heart Project and so we will have that in big lenses on the home page at Meaning of Life Designs. And there's opportunities to join us in our stitching efforts. And I actually, another thing that I'm really wanting to do is invite the people who aren't quilters, who don't own an embroidery machine, who just want to see what's it like to actually come and say, you know, you can go to places like as you wish and paint upon. Yeah. I think somewhere in the mix of things there's a meaning of life design stitch out place where somebody could walk in off the street and say, I just want to make a heart today.
Sarah Vedeler (01:09:31) - I've never seen an embroidery machine before. That's one of the things that I love about machine embroidery, is that I can teach just about anybody how to do it, as long as there is a desire to learn. And I think it would be really cool for groups of people who don't necessarily want to make quilts or things like that, you know, on a regular basis, but with, say, you know what, I want to spend an afternoon being creative today.
Kimberly Spencer (01:10:00) - There are I love your mission. I love the crown on your head. I just I love you so much, and it has been such an honor knowing you and seeing you evolve. And, I have one last question for you. Because I know that you have coached with me. You've coached with others. How has coaching served you in your evolution?
Sarah Vedeler (01:10:23) - Having somebody else who can see through my bullshit and call me on it is just priceless.
Kimberly Spencer (01:10:31) - As always, my fellow sovereign's on your throne. Mind your business because your reign is now.
Kimberly Spencer (01:10:38) - Thank you so much for tuning in today. If what you heard resonated with you, be sure to subscribe and start creating a bigger impact now by sharing this with a friend. Just by doing that one simple act of kindness, you are creating a royal ripple to support more people in their sovereignty. And if you're not already following on social media, connect with me everywhere at Crown Yourself Now for more inspiration. I am so excited to connect with you in the next episode, and in the meantime, go out there and create a body, business and life that rules because today you crown yourself.
