019: Be Yourself and Don't Let Anyone Stop You with Cary Williams of Too Pretty Brand

Raise your hand if you've ever been told you can't do something because you're a girl? *hands raise over here - hello*

Well, this week's guest was sent that message year after year as a boxer, being told she was “too pretty” for the sport (surprise, surprise for them after she would take her first swing).

Now, years into the sport and owner of The Stables boxing studio in Santa Monica, Cary Williams is on a mission to counter that message and spread the good gospel that you are never “too pretty” to do anything you want.

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Tune in this week as Cary shares…

  • How the Too Pretty Brand came about years of facing people telling her she was “too pretty” to be a boxer, and after noticing young girls she was coaching trying to dress less like a girl in order to be taken seriously.
  • The evolution of the Brand over the past five years from an idea to a clothing brand to a movement
  • The doubts she had in the beginning of her business, and how she stays true to her vision for the brand regardless of what others say
  • Why she started a Kickstarter campaign, and how you can support the Movement
  • How she supports herself financially and how she balances her time between the Too Pretty Brand and her boxing studio
  • Final nuggets of inspiration and advice to others on taking a leap in their life and career

Cary's advice for big dreamers:

  • Take the time to learn more about yourself.  Before she could really go full 100% into building the Too Pretty Brand, Cary had to really ask herself “Who am I, what do I want to do, what's my mission, what's my life goal, and what do you want to be known for?”  For anyone looking to make a leap Cary recommends asking yourself these same questions.
  • As a business owner, don't change who you are and what you create in order to please others.  You have an idea, you have a mission, you have a goal, you have a passion, don't change that direction because a majority of the population doesn't believe in it.  There's a lot to be said about having a niche, there's a lot of people that probably feel the same way you do, it just might not be the mass population, which is probably a good thing.
  • Find the thing that can help you feel better when you get stressed and face doubts.  When feeling stressed or facing doubts Cary finds the best remedy is going outside, connecting with nature, looking up at the bright blue sky and smelling the flowers in order to remember everything's going to be okay.  For you that may be nature, a cup of coffee, a talk with a close friend (or all three!), but find something that helps you get out of your funk and into a fresh perspective.
  • Don't be afraid to reach out to others or promote the work you are doing.  From her years running boxing studios in Northern California, Cary learned how to continuously spread word about her studio out through sending out hundreds of press releases. As a mindset exercise she recommends realizing that you might have to hear a gazillion no's before you get a yes, but that the next person you reach out to (that you might be scared to reach out to) could be your big life changing “Yes.”
  • Really ask yourself, “What's the worst that could happen?”  When personal situations forced Cary to pack up everything she owned, leave her boxing studios behind, and move to Southern California where she knew nobody within 30-day, she made it happen.  What was her worst case scenario?  Packing it all up again, moving to South America, teaching boxing on the beach and learning to live off of $600 a month.  Looking at your worst case scenario can be one of the most freeing exercises to realize that failure won't be that bad as you might think ;)

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