Podcast appearances and mentions of anne marie faiola

Anne-Marie Faiola has created a soapmaking empire with Bramble Berry, a company she founded in 1999 in a 400 square foot space. Today she is CEO, the company has more than 100 employees   With over 60,000 customers, Bramble Berry is THE place to shop online for supplies and kits as well as being a vast educational resource for people getting into the craft of soapmaking or starting their own businesses.    And one of those resources is the Bramble Berry YouTube channel where Anne-Marie posted her first video in 2009 and continues to teach viewers how to make soap, candles, skin care products and more.    Anne-Marie is the author of several soap making books and has been awarded Small Business Person of the Year from the Washington State Small Business Association, Business Woman of the Year by the Washington State Women's Business Owners Association, and a Best Boss in America by Fortune Small Business. This is such a success story and inspiration for anyone just starting out with a small space and a dream to start a business.   Today, talented soapers from all over the world are making absolutely stunning works of art out of lye and oil, largely inspired by Anne-Marie and Bramble Berry.    Bramble Berry on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/soapqueentv  Bramble Berrry website: https://www.brambleberry.com/ 

Nurture Your Soul With Creativity is the topic of today’s show. Think back to the happiest times of your life. Does there seem to be any connection for you between your most creative times and your happiest times? For me, as a musician, I’ve had some of the happiest times of my life creating music, or teaching music to others and helping them learn to be creative. I personally think that meditation can help you become more creative. I recently interviewed Tom Cronin – he’s passionate about reducing stress and chaos in people’s lives. We didn’t talk specifically about creativity, but I know Tom is high on the creative scale. Tom Cronin is the founder of The Stillness Project, a global movement to inspire one billion people to sit in stillness, daily. Tom has written a number of books, including his recent publication, The Portal: How Meditation Can Save The World. Saving the world requires us as humans to be more creative than we’ve been in the past. I published Tom's episode a few days ago and you can hear it at www.mindfulnessmode.com/653. It’s called, “How Meditation Can Save The World”. Listen & Subscribe on: iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify I’ve done some research on this topic of creativity and I’ve come up with five conclusions I’d like to talk about today. I’m curious to hear what you think about creativity. Send me an email at bruce@mindfulnessmode.com Here are five ways creativity can improve our lives: 1/ Creativity Helps You Solve Problems Creativity is a skill that can be learned. You don't need to be an artist or musician to be creative, you can use your creativity in everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning, gardening, or organizing. Use Osborn’s Creative Problem Solving technique with brainstorming in between the steps as follows: Clarify and identify the problem – Pretend that the problem is not that important Research the problem Formulate creative challenges Generate ideas Combine and evaluate the ideas Draw up an action plan Do it! (implement the ideas) Complex problem solving requires some step-by-step action. You have to think about it and use your knowledge and experience to come up with solutions. Your work experience can help you a lot and the knowledge you have gained in your education. From there, bring your emotion into play by allowing your mind to go to a story or incident that happened in your life where your emotions were triggered. Allow yourself to use empathy and imagination as you relax and let your mind go wherever it chooses. A formula you might want to use would be: imagination + creativity + empathy + innovation = Problem Solving 2/ Creative People Are More Successful Look around you. Think of the people you know. Do the more creative people seem to be more successful in your circles? Well, in my opinion, creative peioke tend to be more passionate about their work and I think that leads to more discoveries, more advancement, and more great relationships at work. Creative ppl tend to ask the question ‘What if” frequently, allowing their mind to explore possibilities. From what I’ve read about Elon Musk, I think he used his ‘what if’ mentality to ask himself what would happen if he created a company that would make commercial space flight possible? His companies are built around what could happen if creativity was the key factor. Creativity reminds me of a quote by Pablo Picasso. He’s known for saying, “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up”. It’s important for adults to continue to massage their creativity so we don’t become too left brain dependent and forget about the thrill we get from life when we allow our creativity to play an active role. 3/ Creative People Have Better Relationships Creative people have better relationships for several reasons. For one, they are often more motivated compared to less creative people. Creative people tend to be more relaxed and easy-going and that quality means they are drawn to people looking for a comfortable, relaxed, non-threatening relationship  Optimists tend to be creative. Being positive and up-beat is something that you'll frequently see in creative men and women. This up-beat nature, especially at it's most comfortable state, is another reason that you'll see these creatives with lots of friends and casual relationships.  Noticing emotions and being able to express those emotions is another quality common in creative people. People with this quality will be more sensitive to your feelings and needs than a person who is not considered to be creative.  Those specifically seeking out people to develop relationships with are often looking for some of the above traits.  4/ Creative People are Healthier and Live Longer Does it make sense to you that creative people live longer? I think creative people are happier, and I believe it makes sense that happier people live longer. I know in my case, I’m a lot happier when I’m doing creative activities compared to when I’m spending my time on what I would consider non-creative activities. The topic of creativity has come up a lot in my interviews on Mindfulness Mode, and just as an observation, I’ve noticed that health and creativity seem to be aligned. There are studies about this topic and a study from 2012 researched veteran men. The researchers, Turiano, Spiro and Mroczek, followed 1,349 veterans for over 10 years . They looked at their intellect and creativity. They rated their creativity based on these five words: creative, imaginative, artistic, innovative, and uncreative. The researchers identified creativity with the following phrase; “a facet of openness”. They concluded that creativity was related to a reduced risk of mortality. Specifically, each standard deviation increase in creativity was associated with a 12 percent decrease in mortality risk over the 18-year follow-up period. The study’s authors concluded, “creativity predicted mortality risk above and beyond other details like age, education, smoking, and health status.” (p.666) Turiano, one of the researchers, concluded that, creativity may reduce the risk of dying because it would enable the veterans to, “better confront the problems associated with increasing age and declining health and may have important effects on slowing cognitive aging.” (p. 666). Turiano also suggested in his conclusion, “that promoting creativity throughout the life course, and especially at older ages, may delay the cognitive and physical health declines associated with normative aging.” (p. 669). Turiano wanted to warn readers to be cautious in how you draw your conclusions from the study. He explained that the results only suggest that self-ratings on select adjectives predict mortality risk. That means that the people in the study rated themselves based on the creative words from the study. I found the study interesting. Maybe you’ve read some books or read some studies on this topic. If you have, I’d love to hear from you. I realize that more studies would need to be done for the science to absolutely conclude that more creative people live longer. Turiano, N. A., Spiro III, A., & Mroczek, D. K. (2012). Openness to experience and mortality in men:    Analysis of traits and facets. Journal of Aging and Health, 25, 654-672 5/ Creativity Will Boost Your Happiness Factor As a kid, I would spend hours with my accordion strapped to my chest, playing songs, some of which I made up myself. When I thought the song was ready for a performance, I’d play it for my father, who was always eager to hear me play. He was crazy about the accordion. Although he was a man of few words, I could tell by the proud look on his face that he was impressed and amazed at the songs I made up. He would smile, look over at my mom, and say, “Bruce has always been the creative one”. The definition of creativity varies, but most experts agree it has to do with the ability to come up with new ideas, new connections between ideas, and novel solutions to problems, with or without hours of experimental accordion playing. Here’s the thing, forget the image of a moody Beethoven, sitting alone in an apartment in Vienna. Research suggests that creative people are actually happier than everyone else. So you might be thinking, I’m not a musician, a dancer, a poet – no problem. Experts say creativity lives within all of us, it’s just a matter of allowing it to come forward. In the book called, “The Creativity Cure”, author Dr. Carrie Barron says, “It really has to do with open-mindedness.” She says creativity applies to everything from making a meal to generating a business plan. But whether creativity means coming up with your version of a delicious stuffed chicken breast, or a tasty crepe of some kind, or maybe singing operatic choruses for your friends, experts say there’s a strong connection between how much you exercise your creativity and your overall wellbeing. In other words, creativity is good for you. I interviewed the CEO of BrambleBerry.com. Her company offers soap making supplies and a lot more. Her name is Anne-Marie Faiola, and one of the things she said was, “Joy for me is creativity, because creativity is essential.” In our discussion on her episode, www.MindfulnessMode.com/243, Anne-Marie makes it clear how vital her creative side is in both her professional and personal life. Another person who talks about creativity is Dr. Shelley Carson. She has researched creativity and she talks about using creativity to solve problems. Dr. Carson says that, “increases in positive mood broaden attention and allow us to see more possible solutions to creative problems.” Dr. Carson wrote a book on creativity called, “Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life” I want to share with you one of the most meaningful books related to creativity that I’ve read in a long time. The book is called, Squircle – that word came from combining the word Circle, which represents creativity or right brain thinking, and the word Square, which represents left brain thinking. The author of this book is Francis Cholle, and I interviewed him in February of this year. I highly recommend his book and the interview as well. It’s called, A New Way To Think For A New World, by Francis Cholle . It’s episode 639, so go to www.Mindfulness Mode.com/639. Here are some things Francis recommends in his book to help develop your creative side. He says, change your routine in the morning, explore new foods for breakfast or other meals. Search for a new route to travel to work or school. Listen to different radio shows, podcasts, or audio books. He also suggests you talk to other creative friends and ask them what they do to spark and express their creativity. In short, invite change and new ideas into your life. One of the things I’ve concluded from what I’ve read and the people I’ve interviewed is that people who have creative personalities tend to have a lot of perseverance and they actually look for things in their life that will create interest and make their lives more fun. Individuals with these traits are more satisfied with their lives than less creative people. It’s important to note that people are the most creative when they’re in a good mood, possibly because they don’t fixate on individual pieces of information and they are able to think more broadly and more positively. Suggested Resources Book: The Creativity Cure: How To Build Happiness With Your Own Two Hands by Carrie Barron Book: Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life by Dr. Shelley Carson App: Insight Timer Related Episodes 243 Creativity Is Essential to Brambleberry CEO, Anne-Marie Faiola How Meditation Can Save The World; Tom Cronin 188 Be Happy, Healthy and Whole With Dr. Phil Carson Use hypnosis to help others stop struggling with their deep rooted issues like weight loss, smoking, painful experiences. Are you a coach or a healer who would love to have new skills to help your clients? Hypnosis can help people reach goals faster and easier than you thought possible. Become a hypnotherapist. The Cascade Hypnosis Center offers world-class training. www.CascadeHypnosisCenter.com Special Offer Have you been trying to break through a mind block? Are you discouraged? It’s not hopeless. YOU CAN DO IT. I coach people just like you. I’m Bruce Langford, a practicing hypnotist, and you will get results with my help! Feel good about your life and accomplishments. Regain confidence. Book a Free Consultation to get you on the road to being grounded and centered. Email me: bruce@mindfulnessmode.com with ‘I Believe In Me' in the subject line.

In this episode of Enlightened Entrepreneur Podcast, “Soap Queen” and owner of BrambleBerry, shares her amazing journey of building her own business from scratch and finally getting it to where it is today. Anne-Marie started her soap-making business when she was twenty years old and about eighteen years later, she is now enjoying great success and recognition not only in her products and crafts but also in how she continues to manage her own business despite the challenges she faced earlier on.   Key Questions Asked: How did Anne-Marie decide to move from being an employee to starting her own business? What’s the danger of quickly launching a business without planning? What sort of other roadblocks did Anne-Marie face and how did she overcome them? How did she overcome the challenge of hiring the right people and managing them? What role did mentorship play in her success as an entrepreneur? How did you go about financing your business and managing your cash flow in the early days? What are the common mistakes that business owners commit today? How can they go back on the right track? What tools do Anne-Marie use to track her time? How does she deal with stress? What was the single most important thing that she implements in her business that has produced returns month after month or year after year? How does Anne-Marie do delegation in a practical level? What specific steps did she take to move past the fear of starting her business? What is Anne-Marie’s greatest achievement in all 18 years of running her business?   Highlights of Lessons Learned: Struggles and Solutions Brambleberry started with Anne-Marie’s desire to help people, coupled with her crafty nature and seeing a need in the marketplace. When you do a small planning budget, it really helps you get realistic about whether or not you can actually build that business and figure out what resources do you need. When you plan, that means you have a goal and you can tell if you’re meeting your goal. Just as most start-up entrepreneurs, Anne-Marie struggled with finances in the beginning. Another struggle she’d had was hiring and firing as well as managing people and at the same time, running a company with integrity.   Mistakes to Avoid How you do anything is how you do everything so past performance really does show you what the future behavior is. You don’t need to actually have just a single mentor. All business gurus have books, have business channels, doing a podcast, etc so you can immerse yourself in the best minds for literally less. One mistake business owners usually commit during the beginning was going too wide and too deep and too broad. Starting out really targeted and really focused helps you with your inventory and helps you with your planning. The one thing that has produced the most results month after month has been appropriate delegation.

Anne-Marie Faiola is the founder and CEO of Bramble Berry Handcraft Provisions (www.brambleberry.com), a company that sells soapmaking and DIY supplies. From founding the business in her kitchen with funding on a credit card to employing over 100 people in Whatcom County, she’s an in-the-trenches entrepreneur with many lessons learned along the way.Anne-Marie is the author of Live Your Best Day Ever: Thirty-Five Strategies for Daily Success, where she shows that habit-based living is the key to hitting your goals, and three soapmaking books Pure Soapmaking, Soap Crafting, and Milk Soaps. She also stars in the popular YouTube channel SoapQueen.TV with over 32 million views and over 100 DIY videos.Anne-Marie was named one of the top 50 entrepreneurs in America by President Obama’s Small Business Administration, won Businesswoman of the Year (Washington State) from the Women’s Business Owners of Washington, was honored as the Best Businessperson in Whatcom County and Best Small Business for Whatcom County. Forbes Small Businesses and Winning Workplaces named Anne-Marie one of the Best Bosses in America. She has her Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Heriot-Watt Business School, her Entrepreneurial Masters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Nutritional Therapy Degree from South Puget Sound College (Nutritional Therapy Association) and recently attended Chicago Booth School of Business for post-MBA work in finance, mergers & acquisition.She currently serves on the Whatcom Community College Foundation board, serves as the Learning Chair for the Professional Investor Network (part of the Young President’s Organization) and is on the steering committee for the Chicago Booth School of Executive Education program for YPO. This mother of two active kids loves to talk business, non-traditional investments, time management, creativity, and fitness. In her spare time, she loves to read, run, collect wine, hike, scuba dive, ski, make cheese, brew kombucha, bake bread, cook and raise odd animals like prehistoric horseshoe crabs.

Your ‘A’ game, your best self, your peak performance is all about reaching that optimal state of consciousness when you feel like you’re kicking butt and taking names. It’s about getting in the zone, feeling the flow and delivering 100 percent.  SHOW NOTES This episode of Crina and Kirsten Get to Work is about bringing your A-game.  From a good bra to preparation and performance, Crina and Kirsten have some ideas about how to show up as your best self. Peak performance is about being in the flow, and is described as an optimal state of consciousness - a lack of self- absorption, where the self vanishes, time flies, and optimal performance is achieved.   “It’s an efficiency exchange,” says American University in Beirut neuroscientist Arne Dietrich, who helped discover this phenomena. “We’re trading energy usually used for higher cognitive functions for heightened attention and awareness.” This is one of the main reasons flow feels flowy—because any brain structure that would hamper rapid-fire decision-making is literally shut off - and performance, well, just works. When do we need to bring our A-game?  An interview, public speaking, a presentation, saying no, asking for a raise, pitching a new client, interviewing Cheryl Strayed on your next episode of Crina and Kirsten Get to Work. What does peak performance look like?  It looks like Anne-Marie Faiola, founder of Brambleberry, Soap Queen, Author of Best Day Ever and all around amazing human.  Anne Marie brings these key elements to show up as her best self:Over prepare, the big and small thingsEvaluate your work - she says for the first few years she cried every time she watched episodes of Soap Queen because she wished she had done better.ReFrame your negative emotions - butterflies mean you care Anne Marie says some people do not want to try hard because they are afraid of being nerdy - or of failing.  But if you do not do your best, you do not know what you are capable of. Peak performance also looks like being your mental, emotional and physical best - and here are some other ideas. Mental VisualizeLearn to control your thoughts According to research, peak performance is achievable when you have A clear goalOngoing feedback so you know how you’re doing: remember Anne Marie watching her Soap Queen videos?A challenging taskFind your “pre-game ritual.” Create your own pre-game ritual – something that helps pump you up and makes you feel positive before walking into a big meeting. Emotional Positive emotions are much more likely to drive high performance.  And if you do not have positive emotions, well, Fake it til you make it.  PhysicalRemember the power poseLots of waterGood night’s sleepKnow the players. Much stress comes from not knowing, and the more knowledge you walk in with, the better you’ll feel. Pre performance routine Eliminate distractions and energy vampiresNever drink alcohol, be careful about what they eatTake care of yourself!And this trying thing is really important.  Really try hard at something - bring your best self - and see what magic you can create. And good reads . . . How to bring your A Game The Making of a Corporate AthleteThe Science of Peak Human Performance

Female Leader | The Journey of Bramble Berry Handcraft Supplies As the founder and CEO of Bramble Berry Handcraft Supplies, Anne-Marie Faiola is an exemplary female leader who believes that creativity should be infused into every successful business strategy. She is a successful entrepreneur composed of a dynamic mix of resilience, tenacity, unshakeable motivation, and an unwavering passion for her craft. Bramble Berry Handcraft Supplies is the culmination of therapeutic hobby Anne-Marie picked up when she was just fourteen years old, and they specialize in selling soapmaking and DIY supplies to the masses. In the latest episode of the Intentional Greatness podcast, Anne-Marie joins us to share her story and explain how her role has evolved as the digital landscape changes and her company grows. A Changing Digital Landscape Anne-Marie quit her job as a correctional officer to sell soap on the weekends and teach people her craft during the week; the rest is history. Her business took off as she learned how to turn a profit on the internet and she used Bramble Berry's explosive digital presence to start generating content and build a thought leadership position. Today, Anne-Marie is one of the top female leaders in her niche with over one hundred thousand blog readers per month and over twenty-three million views across all of her YouTube channel content. Any time a new digital tool comes around, Anne-Marie maintains an open mind and gives it a shot. Learning how to navigate the flux digital landscape has enabled her to breach the twenty million dollar mark in gross revenue. Same Decisions, More Zeroes It is hard to believe Anne-Marie started the business in her kitchen with funding on a credit, because ten years in, she employs over one hundred people in Whatcom County and is grossing over twenty million in revenue. But Anne-Marie is still the same passionate entrepreneur she was when she started Bramble Berry. She is the same skilled female leader that built her company into an icon of the DIY crafts industry, making the same difficult leadership decisions with more zeroes. Whether it's regulations, web development, wages, or anything else, Anne-Marie is constantly overcoming new challenges as her business grows. To learn more about her story and what the future holds for Bramble Berry, listen to the latest episode of the Intentional Greatness podcast. About Anne-Marie Faiola Anne-Marie Faiola is the founder and CEO of Bramble Berry Handcraft Supplies (www.brambleberry.com), a company that sells soapmaking and DIY supplies. From founding the business in her kitchen with funding on a credit card to employing over 100 people in Whatcom County, shes an in-the-trenches entrepreneur with many lessons learned along the way. She believes that creativity should be infused into every successful business strategy & that successful entrepreneurs possess a dynamic mix of resilience, tenacity and unshakeable motivation. She is the author of Live Your Best Day Ever: Thirty-Five Strategies for Daily Success, where she shows that habit-based living is the key to hitting your goals, and three soapmaking books Pure Soapmaking, Soap Crafting, and Milk Soaps. This mother of two active kids loves to offer advice on all things business, time management, creativity, and fitness to help provide inspiration to business owners while sharing her unconventional wisdom that has grown Bramble Berry. What You Will Learn: How Anne-Marie got started in DIY crafts The challenges and opportunities Anne-Marie encountered as the digital landscape evolved How Anne-Marie took Bramble Berry past twenty million in revenue How Anne-Marie has transformed as a female leader as her company continues to grow Best practices that help and sustain Anne-Marie at the helm of Bramble Berry How Anne-Marie has coped with imposter syndrome throughout her journey Resources: Book: Live Your Best Day Ever: Thirty-Five Strategies for Daily Success Website: https://www.brambleberry.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemariefaiola Twitter: @comemakewithme Instagram: @comemakewithme

An interview with Anne-Marie Faiola, Founder and CEO of Bramble Berry For more information, visit livebellinghamnow.com/blog Credits: Hosted by Leo Cohen Produced by David Pender Lofgren Recorded, Mixed, and Edited by Andy Rick Social Media Jedi: Cooper Hansley Digital Media Producer: Tiffany Holden Logo by Sam Vogt Theme music by Aaron Guest Recorded at Binary Studios

    In this episode of Enlightened Entrepreneur Podcast, “Soap Queen” and owner of BrambleBerry, shares her amazing journey of building her own business from scratch and finally getting it to where it is today. Anne-Marie started her soap-making business when she was twenty years old and about eighteen years later, she is now enjoying great success and recognition not only in her products and crafts but also in how she continues to manage her own business despite the challenges she faced earlier on.   Key Questions Asked: How did Anne-Marie decide to move from being an employee to starting her own business? What’s the danger of quickly launching a business without planning? What sort of other roadblocks did Anne-Marie face and how did she overcome them? How did she overcome the challenge of hiring the right people and managing them? What role did mentorship play in her success as an entrepreneur? How did you go about financing your business and managing your cash flow in the early days? What are the common mistakes that business owners commit today? How can they go back on the right track? What tools do Anne-Marie use to track her time? How does she deal with stress? What was the single most important thing that she implements in her business that has produced returns month after month or year after year? How does Anne-Marie do delegation in a practical level? What specific steps did she take to move past the fear of starting her business? What is Anne-Marie’s greatest achievement in all 18 years of running her business?   Highlights of Lessons Learned: Struggles and Solutions Brambleberry started with Anne-Marie’s desire to help people, coupled with her crafty nature and seeing a need in the marketplace. When you do a small planning budget, it really helps you get realistic about whether or not you can actually build that business and figure out what resources do you need. When you plan, that means you have a goal and you can tell if you’re meeting your goal. Just as most start-up entrepreneurs, Anne-Marie struggled with finances in the beginning. Another struggle she’d had was hiring and firing as well as managing people and at the same time, running a company with integrity.   Mistakes to Avoid How you do anything is how you do everything so past performance really does show you what the future behavior is. You don’t need to actually have just a single mentor. All business gurus have books, have business channels, doing a podcast, etc so you can immerse yourself in the best minds for literally less. One mistake business owners usually commit during the beginning was going too wide and too deep and too broad. Starting out really targeted and really focused helps you with your inventory and helps you with your planning. The one thing that has produced the most results month after month has been appropriate delegation.

Ramon Ray with Small Business Trends speaks with Anne Marie Faiola on her career transformation and more.

On this episode Anne-Marie Faiola, founder of BrambleBerry.com and SoapQueen.com, and author of "The Best Day Ever" shares her incredible story with us... She told me that her overnight success took more than 7 years in the making! She started selling soaps every weekend for many years, to pay the bills while her husband went to school to get a better job. Anne-Marie is an incredible person and I feel honored to have the ability to share her story.

Anne-Marie is a bubbly, fun-loving, mindful CEO - and she calls herself the Soap Queen. She’s been making soap for over twenty years and loves teaching her followers on SoapQueenTV.com  Her business is called BrambleBerry.com. Anne-Marie lives in the moment, and many of those moments have been spent with essential oils and beautiful colorants in her highly sought-after recipes. Anne-Marie thrives on the truly pleasurable experience of helping others discover their own world of soaps, candles and even cosmetics. She’s written a book called ‘Live Your Best Day Ever’ - Thirty-Five Strategies For Daily Success where she reveals the SECRET everyone wants - the SECRET OF SUCCESS. Contact Info Company: Brambleberry.com Website: BestDayEver.com (Sign up for a fitness challenge) Social Media: Twitter and Instagram @Brambleberry Personal Social Media: @AnneMarieCreates Youtube: SoapQueenTV Book: Live Your Best Day Ever: Thirty-Five Strategies For Daily Success by Anne-Marie Faiola   Most Influential Person Oprah Winfrey Effect on Emotions I try to meditate every day; usually twice a day, morning and night. If I miss it, say I'm traveling, and it just doesn't happen I notice that I am more quick to negative emotions, more quick to judgment, I'm quick to feeling persecuted, I'm quick to feeling the victim, I'm quick to flashing with anger, I'm quick to telling myself a story that is not true about the situation. On the days and weeks when I am consistent about meditating, I think it helps to give me the pause between the situtation and my emotion and the story I'm telling myself.  When I do that, it takes the sting away, whatever negative situation I'm in. Thoughts on Breathing When I breathe, I'm able to calm my heart rate; I'm able to focus myself. It's almost impossible to be stressed if your parasympathetic nervous system is not having a wildly beating heartrate. So breathing in and out and in and out is something I often come back to, especially in times of anxiety or when I'm feeling stress about something, expecially on planes. Especially when I'm dealing with a four-year-old who won't go to bed, for example. I would say that I am deeply aware, when I'm stressed out I'm more inclined to take shallow breaths that are quick, versus when I'm fully present, deep belly breathing in and out and in and out Suggested Resources Book: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle Book: Live Your Best Day Ever: Thirty-Five Strategies For Daily Success by Anne-Marie Faiola App: Calm ($70.00 a month and worth every penny) Bullying Story Bullied is a strong word. What I would say is, I was never the popular kid. Kids used to call me thunder-thighs in middle school and then in high school I was not a popular kid. I remember running for student body, I think it was treasurer or secretary and the popular girls tore down my signs from the wall. I felt lonely and I didn't have close girl friends. I didn't have a close tribe in high school or even middle school. I think that's one of the reasons that I have really, as an adult, I can control my environment and my surroundings much more. In high school and middle school you are in the pond and you are stuck in the pond no matter what. I think that's why, as an adult, I have really surrounded myself with a group, a tribe of strong business people; strong women of integrity, strong men of value to spend the bulk of my time with.

Anne-Marie Faiola can tell you how to make soap. In fact, she explains it so well that her books and SoapQueen TV show are startling hits. And if you listen to her talk with host Bart Jackson, you can also hear Anne-Marie detail how this skill, when blended with a lifelong-cultivated entrepreneurial ability can blossom forth into the multi-million-dollar Bramble Berry Handcraft Provisions firm with over 2,500 high sellers in its product line. For most of us, the fulfilled life and business remains a blend of fate and mystery. In her latest book, “Live Your Best Day Ever – 35 Strategies for Daily Success,” Anne-Marie demystifies the story of her own success.

Anne-Marie Faiola can tell you how to make soap.  In fact, she explains it so well that her books and SoapQueen TV show are startling hits.  And if you listen to her talk with host Bart Jackson, you can also hear Anne-Marie detail how this skill, when blended with a lifelong-cultivated entrepreneurial ability can blossom forth into the multi-million-dollar Bramble Berry Handcraft Provisions firm with over 2,500 high sellers in its product line.  For most of us, the fulfilled life and business remains a blend of fate and mystery.  In her latest book, “Live Your Best Day Ever – 35 Strategies for Daily Success,” Anne-Marie demystifies the story of her own success, and most importantly, breaks it down into several bite-size habits that you may adopt to your best advantage.  Tune in and learn how to make the most of what already lies within you.

In this episode we chat with Anne-Marie Faiola about the importance of creativity in our industry. 

Success is not built over-night. Success is the baby steps you take each and every day which, when compounded, appear as success. Anne-Marie, aka the Soap Queen, tells us about her “delusional optimism in myself and the possibilities” that pushed her to achieve what is now a successful soap making business.  Whether you are looking for support, waiting for the right time, or trapped by your own fears- this episode will give you the breakdown on where to start in both crafting and achieving those goals.

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 7 of the Indie Business Podcast! In this seventh episode of our Women, Wealth and Wow! series, I introduce you to my guest Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry in Bellingham, Washington … and boy, are you in for a treat. Anne-Marie is one of the most evolved entrepreneurs I know. She has […] The post Season 2, Episode 7: “Women, Wealth and Wow” with Anne-Marie Faiola [Podcast] appeared first on Indie Business Network.

Long live the Soap Queen! Today, Mike interviews a wanna-be FBI agent turned entrepreneur. Anne-Marie Faiola turned her passion for art, stationary, and people into a retail store and website portfolio worth millions. She shares her story and tips for small business owners. Shownotes Come on the Show

If inspiration to take your handmade business to the next level is what you seek, tune in for my conversation with Anne-Marie Faiola, CEO and founder of Bramble Berry, the Bellingham, Washington-based online soap-making supply company and creator of the new Handmade Beauty Box, a monthly DIY project subscription service.