From Maternity Boutique to Ironman: Navigating Entrepreneurship with Ciara Stockeland | RR257

Janice Porter: 00:00:01

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's

Janice Porter: 00:00:03

episode of relationships rule. My guest this week, Ciara

Janice Porter: 00:00:08

Stockland, is an author, speaker and four times iron woman, Iron

Janice Porter: 00:00:13

Man, Iron woman. She has owned and operated businesses since

Janice Porter: 00:00:17

her early teens. Definitely a serial entrepreneur and her

Janice Porter: 00:00:21

business mindset and tenacity led her to open her first shop

Janice Porter: 00:00:24

in 2006, which she then franchised. She has had vast

Janice Porter: 00:00:28

experience in retail and wholesale industries, and was

Janice Porter: 00:00:33

the first to launch first to market wholesale subscription

Janice Porter: 00:00:36

box for boutique retailers, which I'm going to have to ask

Janice Porter: 00:00:40

you about. And she built and sold it within 18 months,

Janice Porter: 00:00:42

definitely a serial entrepreneur as, as I mentioned, and lots to

Janice Porter: 00:00:47

bring to the table. So welcome, Sierra to the podcast. Oh,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:00:50

hi. I'm excited to chat with you.

Janice Porter: 00:00:53

Thank you so much. I know you're a very busy

Janice Porter: 00:00:55

woman, and whether it's you're out running or you're helping

Janice Porter: 00:00:58

clients or you're driving or you're you're going to clients

Janice Porter: 00:01:01

that are in a different state and helping them with their

Janice Porter: 00:01:04

businesses. You're very busy. So I want to go back though first

Janice Porter: 00:01:08

and say so what was your first shop that you opened in? 2006?

Janice Porter: 00:01:13

Yeah, it

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:13

was a maternity baby store. So just a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:16

high end maternity boutique. We were in Fargo, North Dakota, and

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:19

there weren't a lot of options. I knew I wanted to open a retail

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:22

store but knew I needed to do something a little bit

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:24

different. Have my own niche. And so maternity baby is where I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:27

started. Were you pregnant at the time? Or were you just done?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:31

Yeah. So I had a one and three year old. Yeah. Okay. Perfect.

Janice Porter: 00:01:34

And, and so you, you found a niche that worked

Janice Porter: 00:01:38

for that time in your life as well, which is great. Now, that

Janice Porter: 00:01:43

was retail, and then you you've gotten into wholesale as well.

Janice Porter: 00:01:47

So how did that come about? Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:49

so we opened that in 2006. Six months later,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:52

I opened a second retail concept right next door. So I had two

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:55

stores at the same time. And that second store was a designer

Ciara Stockeland: 00:01:58

outlet store. So we would buy overstock off price liquidated

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:02

goods similar to like TJ Maxx Nordstrom Rack. Yeah. And we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:05

would sell them to customers. And then I started buying excess

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:09

inventory and selling it to other retail stores or helping

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:13

particular designers offload their product. So we got into

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:17

the wholesale broker department of retail and inventory. So I've

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:21

really touched inventory on all sides of it.

Janice Porter: 00:02:24

So Was that intentional? Like, did you come

Janice Porter: 00:02:28

from a background around that? Or because? No, okay. Okay.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:32

It just happened very much. Like if I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:34

see an opportunity, yeah, I like to solve a problem. And so we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:38

had the opportunity to sell overstock. And I thought, well,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:41

I could figure this out. So he figured it out. And then I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:43

thought, well, there's lots of people that have overstock that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:46

need help getting rid of it, I can figure that out. So it just

Ciara Stockeland: 00:02:49

grew from one thing to the next

Janice Porter: 00:02:51

true entrepreneur. And I say that

Janice Porter: 00:02:53

more than once, because we use that word too lightly these

Janice Porter: 00:02:56

days. You know, you that visionary? That is a true

Janice Porter: 00:03:00

entrepreneur. I'll figure it out later. But I can see that then.

Janice Porter: 00:03:03

Yes, that's

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:04

it. I'll figure out all the details

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:06

later. Yeah, I'm all about

Janice Porter: 00:03:08

the details. And that doesn't make me a true

Janice Porter: 00:03:10

entrepreneur. I get it. It's interesting. So you also became

Janice Porter: 00:03:15

a Profit First certified coach, and I'm guessing that fits into

Janice Porter: 00:03:20

one of the tools that you teach your clients or work with, with

Janice Porter: 00:03:23

your clients as well, correct?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:25

Yeah. So had the retail franchise ended up

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:28

selling the franchise brand to one of my franchisees, then my

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:31

next venture was the subscription box through that I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:34

started meeting lots of retailers. Okay, that's where I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:37

was hearing a lot of the same questions, how much inventory

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:40

should I buy? How do I read a financial Where's all my money

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:43

going? And I was able to answer these questions because I had

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:46

built and sold and built and grew multiple businesses. And so

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:50

started doing some coaching consulting had a group

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:53

membership. And through that, then, you know, that just

Ciara Stockeland: 00:03:57

catapulted had people started asking me about, you know, do

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:00

you know anything about Profit First, can you help us with

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:02

Profit First, and so got my certification in the Profit

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:05

First method? Okay.

Janice Porter: 00:04:07

So the, the subscription box is interesting

Janice Porter: 00:04:10

to me, because it's kind of the thing now, when I watch Shark

Janice Porter: 00:04:14

Tank, every week, everybody's doing a subscription box.

Janice Porter: 00:04:16

Everybody's launching their businesses that way, what was

Janice Porter: 00:04:19

yours?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:20

So it was a subscription box for retailers.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:23

So I would bring together a wholesaler and a retailer. So

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:26

wholesalers, creators, makers could put samples in the box,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:30

which directly to the doorstep of a retailer. It's almost like

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:33

it was like market in a box. So market came directly to them,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:36

they could purchase what they want, connect with those

Ciara Stockeland: 00:04:39

wholesalers. So it was an easy way to connect

Janice Porter: 00:04:41

people. Now it's all influencers doing it right.

Janice Porter: 00:04:45

Yeah. So many. Yeah. So like I just watched a clip on

Janice Porter: 00:04:50

Instagram. Before this call. I was having lunch and I was

Janice Porter: 00:04:54

flipping through and there's a girl that lives here in my area.

Janice Porter: 00:04:59

She lives up in Cologne Want to BC but she's from Vancouver area

Janice Porter: 00:05:02

not very far. She was the Bachelorette, like the third one

Janice Porter: 00:05:06

or something, something like that. And she made she did. She

Janice Porter: 00:05:10

is probably one of the most successful people that came out

Janice Porter: 00:05:14

of that franchise in that she created herself as a business

Janice Porter: 00:05:17

very well. And she had and she's always She's always got new

Janice Porter: 00:05:23

products. I swear that the photographer's the videographers

Janice Porter: 00:05:27

live in her house because she's got new videos all the time.

Janice Porter: 00:05:29

Right. But and this one was something about partnered with,

Janice Porter: 00:05:33

right this luggage company, whatever it is constant. And

Janice Porter: 00:05:37

that seems to be the way so many things get sold. And she's she's

Janice Porter: 00:05:41

a smart cookie. So I'm always curious to watch how she does.

Janice Porter: 00:05:46

So I'm also curious about what makes the retailer the person

Janice Porter: 00:05:57

who has inventory, that you work with these types of businesses

Janice Porter: 00:06:02

that have a lot of inventory? What What's the like two or

Janice Porter: 00:06:05

three key things that are really an issue for them that you

Janice Porter: 00:06:10

usually find and have to solve? Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:14

I think when most businesses or all

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:16

businesses come to me for help they come with one or two,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:19

either one or both of these questions. First one, Where's

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:23

all my money going? I have a lot of sales, there's lots of money

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:26

coming in, I don't know where it's at. I don't have my p&l

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:29

says I made money. But I don't have that money. So where's it

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:31

going? Well, the second question is I have a lot of debt, how do

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:35

I get out of it? How did I get here? What do I do with the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:37

debt. And both of those things, we really have to dial down to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:40

the root of the problem and build a strong foundation. So

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:43

most entrepreneurs are very artsy. They're, you know, art

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:48

focus versus science, scientific focus. So meaning like they're

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:51

creators, they're great at products, they're great at

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:54

display, great customer service, not so great at operations, the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:06:58

numbers, the financials, and they can be quite intimidating,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:02

you know, so they look at numbers and think I don't know

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:04

how to do that. I have no idea what my p&l says what it even

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:07

means it seems foreign. So I help them break that down and

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:10

figure out where's the money going? Looking at the root? So

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:13

how do we figure out what your margins are, what you're

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:16

charging for product, what it's costing to operate your

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:18

business. And from that, then we set profit goals, instead of top

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:22

line revenue goals. So okay, that's great if you want to be a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:26

million dollar business, but if you don't take a paycheck, who

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:28

cares? So that's where we start.

Janice Porter: 00:07:31

So explain that again, top level versus

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:34

Yeah, so profit goals, setting net profit

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:37

goals versus top line revenue goals.

Janice Porter: 00:07:41

So not how much you're not how much you want the

Janice Porter: 00:07:43

business to make, but how much you want to keep to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:46

keep? Yes, yes. And then we work backwards

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:50

from there. So you know, the thinking like, you hear this all

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:53

the time, I'm a seven figure business, I'm a six figure

Ciara Stockeland: 00:07:56

entrepreneur. That means nothing if you don't understand where

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:00

the money is going, and how the money is working. And so I want

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:04

you to be a six figure salary entrepreneur, I want you to take

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:07

a salary and pay yourself and pay off your debt. And so we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:11

build the profit goal. And then from there we work on what does

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:15

that look like in top line revenue? And

Janice Porter: 00:08:19

just profit? I'm not I've heard of profit first.

Janice Porter: 00:08:22

And the fellow that that wrote it is what's his name? Mike.

Janice Porter: 00:08:26

McCalla wits? Like, yeah, and does it necessarily mean pay

Janice Porter: 00:08:30

yourself first? Is that what it basically means? Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:33

so profit versus a cash management system,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:36

it just tells you or it helps you understand how to tell your

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:39

money where to go. So instead of just saying I have $10,000, in

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:43

my bank account, so I'll buy a little this, I can afford rent,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:46

I can do this. You look at what the sales are, what the cost of

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:51

those sales are. And then the difference of that is what you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:54

get to divide up between your paycheck operation of the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:08:58

business. It's just a way it's an envelope system, essentially,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:09:01

for entrepreneurs. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Janice Porter: 00:09:03

I like it. I like it. Yeah, I remember one time

Janice Porter: 00:09:07

going to Millionaire Mind. T Harv. Eker. I don't know if

Janice Porter: 00:09:12

you've ever heard of T Harv Eker. He, he was a he was around

Janice Porter: 00:09:16

for a long time. With you know, thought leader, Tony Robbins

Janice Porter: 00:09:24

type, that kind of thing. So, Damn, he wrote a book called The

Janice Porter: 00:09:28

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. And he used to have these huge,

Janice Porter: 00:09:32

you know, sessions for people free. Then they come and then

Janice Porter: 00:09:35

they sign up for all his expensive courses. And he lived

Janice Porter: 00:09:39

here for a while. And I remember I went to his free webinar or no

Janice Porter: 00:09:44

seminar, three day thing or whatever it was. And now I've

Janice Porter: 00:09:48

forgotten the point of motors. Oh, yeah. So in his book, The

Janice Porter: 00:09:51

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind he talks about having In fact,

Janice Porter: 00:09:55

it's funny. I've got one of these jars here right now.

Janice Porter: 00:09:58

Because I was doing a draw I'm presenting and I had their names

Janice Porter: 00:10:01

in the drawer, but he made you get these, these jars and

Janice Porter: 00:10:05

labeled them for all the different things that you would

Janice Porter: 00:10:07

put your, you know, divide your money into, and it was similar

Janice Porter: 00:10:09

kind of thing to what you're Yeah, yes. So needless to say,

Janice Porter: 00:10:13

I'm not doing that anymore. But But anyway. So I would think

Janice Porter: 00:10:20

that because you do have the work that you do you work with a

Janice Porter: 00:10:23

client for a long, long enough period of time that they must

Janice Porter: 00:10:28

become like your babies like, yeah, does it you have a long

Janice Porter: 00:10:32

Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:32

I mean, it's typically at least a year, like

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:35

I asked for a year commitment, because when we have

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:38

foundational cracks in our business, we cannot fix those

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:41

overnight, if you have a lot of debt, if you had a lot, if you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:45

have a lot of financial issues, it just takes time to course

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:48

correct to change habits. And so we work together for at least a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:53

year, but a lot of clients will stay for two to three years, you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:55

know, get a really good foundation, we turn the ship

Ciara Stockeland: 00:10:58

around, and I get to know them, you know, I very relationship

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:02

focused, as you know, and so I get to know them, I understand

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:06

their hopes, their fears, I get to know about their family. So I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:09

just this this last week graduated out three ladies that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:12

have been with me for three years each. They all know each

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:15

other, I know them and we're off, you know, I was on the call

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:19

with one of them. And she said don't want to hang up. But I'm

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:24

like, I've heard

Janice Porter: 00:11:25

her that decided that it was time or was it you,

Janice Porter: 00:11:28

I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:29

would say both of us, probably more me. I've

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:32

had a couple of gals, I'm like, I've helped you as much as I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:35

can. Your business is in order, you know how to do the work. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:39

so you need to you need to go on, you know, and find other

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:43

areas that you want to improve in your business and find

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:45

coaches and consultants that can help you there.

Janice Porter: 00:11:48

Yeah. But definitely I can see where the

Janice Porter: 00:11:51

relationships become very strong. Have you ever had and

Janice Porter: 00:11:54

you're

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:54

talking about money a lot. I mean, that's a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:56

really intimate conversation. I know everything about their

Ciara Stockeland: 00:11:59

finances, sometimes things that their husbands or their business

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:03

partners, they haven't told them because they're so ashamed. Or,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:06

you know, and so I just know a lot, I see a lot of tears, you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:10

know, and we're able to fix so many things. And then you grow

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:12

close to someone who's with you through those storms. Yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:12:16

of course, that's very, very satisfying. Yeah, I

Janice Porter: 00:12:21

would think Yeah. Have you ever gone into a business and realize

Janice Porter: 00:12:27

that, if there's no fix that they better cut their losses

Janice Porter: 00:12:31

and, and just Yeah, it's

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:34

more, if the mindset of the entrepreneur

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:38

isn't there, and they're not meaning they're not ready or

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:41

willing to do all of the work, you can't do 90% of the hard

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:45

work and expect the results. And so I've had a couple of clients

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:49

where I said, you know, I just don't think I'm the right fit

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:51

for you. What you're looking for isn't something like I don't

Ciara Stockeland: 00:12:54

offer a quick fix, I offer a complete change in habits in

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:00

giving you the confidence and giving you the skill set that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:02

you need, but you have to be willing to do the work. And so

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:06

if someone isn't willing to do all of the hard things, it

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:10

doesn't work. Sometimes I've worked with business owners, and

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:13

often I'll give business owners the permission to close their

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:17

doors or to change course, it's really hard if you're an

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:20

entrepreneur, because you're you feel like your person is tied up

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:25

and your reputation is tied up in your business. And so a lot

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:28

of times they'll say, Well, if I close people think I'm a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:30

failure, or if I close that store, I'm working with a client

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:34

right now. And we're looking at closing one of the locations,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:38

that's just, it's not beneficial to the business as a whole. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:42

she Why is she said, Why is this so hard? You know, because we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:45

get emotionally attached. And so a lot of times I give my clients

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:48

permission, show them the black and white and the numbers of you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:52

know, what's really happening in the business. And that can give

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:54

them just like, Oh, that feels good. Someone finally told me

Ciara Stockeland: 00:13:59

it's okay. To keep going as I am.

Janice Porter: 00:14:02

Yeah. Yeah. And you have a book, the inventory

Janice Porter: 00:14:05

genius book. Is that what it's called? Yes, yes, yes. And

Janice Porter: 00:14:08

that's your method of how you help people in in with the

Janice Porter: 00:14:12

coaching that you do so people can get a sense of you from that

Janice Porter: 00:14:16

book of

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:18

Yes, I have my stories woven in my clients

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:20

stories are woven in, which makes it easier to read about

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:24

numbers. We have some anecdotes, so yeah, yeah. And it's a simple

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:28

easy to read about two hour read. And is it

Janice Porter: 00:14:32

is it for the do it yourselfer? Or is it just to

Janice Porter: 00:14:36

get a sense of who you are, and before they decide whether

Janice Porter: 00:14:38

they're going to work with you? I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:40

think both. It really depends. So there's a lot

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:43

of people that have read the book can take the method and

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:45

it's like that made so much sense that gave me clarity. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:49

then I do have a lot of people that will read the book and then

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:51

they listened to my podcast inventory genius, and then

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:54

they'll take a free course you know, every person's path is

Ciara Stockeland: 00:14:58

different. Some will read the book I have one client Right now

Ciara Stockeland: 00:15:00

she read the book and came right to me like, I want to skip to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:15:02

the front of the line, I want you to tell me what to do. Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:15:05

it really it really depends. Yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:15:07

it's true, isn't it and doing these podcasts and,

Janice Porter: 00:15:10

and speaking to groups of people, somebody will just

Janice Porter: 00:15:14

resonate right away. I did a webinar the other day. And I

Janice Porter: 00:15:21

think before I finished the webinar, this girl had signed up

Janice Porter: 00:15:25

on connected with me on LinkedIn and booked a time to talk to me.

Janice Porter: 00:15:29

And she said, like, I haven't done social media, I've avoided

Janice Porter: 00:15:34

it for so long. Now's the time I want to do it. Right. And so

Janice Porter: 00:15:37

obviously, she saw something in me that I could help her. So

Janice Porter: 00:15:40

it's just it's very cool when that happens, right? So what you

Janice Porter: 00:15:44

said about Yes, you can't do 90% of the work, you have to go all

Janice Porter: 00:15:48

the way and do it. I imagine that's the same with your Iron

Janice Porter: 00:15:50

Man training because you are a master Iron Man person. Not I

Janice Porter: 00:15:55

don't mean master in terms of age, I mean that you are a

Janice Porter: 00:16:00

master at it. So tell us a little bit about that journey.

Janice Porter: 00:16:03

Because I find it I'm fascinated, and I'm impressed.

Janice Porter: 00:16:05

Totally. Oh, thank

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:06

you. Yeah. So I never did sports in high

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:09

school or college. I started running after the kids were

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:13

born. They were toddlers and I had a friend that said, let's

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:16

run you know, let's and he encouraged me to run. I remember

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:19

I couldn't run a block. The first time I went, I thought oh

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:22

my god, I can't breathe was going on. But I would do 5k

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:26

races, some sprint triathlons, just shorter distance had zero

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:29

interest in anything long at all. But my husband immensely

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:34

you're

Janice Porter: 00:16:34

a competitive person, because you had to find

Janice Porter: 00:16:36

something to push you. Okay.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:38

I did. Yeah. I wouldn't be someone that would

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:39

just go to the gym if I didn't have a reason. Yeah. Yeah. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:44

my husband did his first Ironman in 2021. And while he was

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:48

training, I thought there's an I would never like I literally had

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:51

zero interest said no, no, thank you. No way. When I saw him

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:55

compete, the wheels started turning. And then I thought,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:16:58

what if I did this as a learning teaching lesson for my coaching

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:03

clients, that you really can do what you want to do if you set

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:07

your mind to it. And so that was a big part of why I signed up

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:10

for my first Ironman, but I was 43. And I was training for 5k at

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:15

the time. So I went from 5k race training to full Ironman

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:18

distance triathlon training. And yeah, and have been doing that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:22

for the last four years. Had

Janice Porter: 00:17:24

you been a swimmer? Or a cyclist?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:27

recreationally only? Yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:17:29

that's a huge difference, too.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:31

Yeah, for sure. Swim 2.4 miles and an

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:34

Ironman. So it's a little different than having fun at the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:37

pool. Yeah, exactly. And

Janice Porter: 00:17:38

how long is the bike ride? 112

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:41

miles, and then a full marathon at the end?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:44

Yeah.

Janice Porter: 00:17:45

Unbelievable. And now you've done one with your

Janice Porter: 00:17:47

daughter. Yes.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:48

So you can compete an Ironman when you're

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:51

18. So when she turned 18, she did her first full Ironman last

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:55

summer. I think in that one she placed third. She did really

Ciara Stockeland: 00:17:59

really well and qualified for World Championships. And I had

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:02

also qualified for World Championships. So we were able

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:05

to be a mother daughter duo. We got to train together last

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:09

summer. And then we went to World Championships in Kona,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:11

which is the icon like Ironman Kona race, it was the first all

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:15

female World Championships they've ever done. So that was

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:18

really unique. So we were able to do that in October.

Janice Porter: 00:18:22

I didn't see any pictures of that on your website

Janice Porter: 00:18:24

or their pictures there. So

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:26

that I have an Instagram page, you'll have to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:28

take a look at Jen's try to TW o g n s t ri. So like two

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:35

generations try and we post and share our journey there. Because

Ciara Stockeland: 00:18:40

we're still training together for something else. Yes.

Janice Porter: 00:18:43

That's so cool. Very, very cool. And this might

Janice Porter: 00:18:47

be irrelevant to anything but I am curious what Why did you move

Janice Porter: 00:18:52

or how what was the reason to move from? Fargo, North Dakota

Janice Porter: 00:18:56

to Nashville, Tennessee. Weather. Oh, rather

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:01

tired of freezing cold. nine month

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:03

winters in North Dakota.

Janice Porter: 00:19:05

Yeah. Okay. Yes. And so you're in. Are you in

Janice Porter: 00:19:10

Nashville? You're in? Yeah.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:11

In a suburb of Nashville. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:13

Okay. Yeah.

Janice Porter: 00:19:15

So that's really interesting, too. Okay, so I

Janice Porter: 00:19:19

like to ask my guests sometimes a little off the side questions

Janice Porter: 00:19:22

and one of the ones that fascinates me sometimes is okay,

Janice Porter: 00:19:27

with how much information is thrown at us at such a rate a

Janice Porter: 00:19:33

raving pace these days? How do you how do you take it do you

Janice Porter: 00:19:41

like to read books still like the old fashioned way? Do you

Janice Porter: 00:19:44

read on a Kindle d rather listen to books. Do you watch videos?

Janice Porter: 00:19:48

Do you listen to podcasts? What do you do for your?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:51

Yeah, hi, I kind of do everything. I love a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:56

book. So I always have two or three books going at the same

Ciara Stockeland: 00:19:58

like a physical book. Yes. See a lot behind me. Because I like to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:02

underline I like to, you know, bend the pages. I like to share

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:06

books. I don't really read on the Kindle often I have one but

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:10

usually don't do that. I do love audiobooks, though too, because

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:13

I drive quite a bit. And so then I can listen to and some things

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:17

are just easier to listen to then to read. So I like to

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:20

listen, I love watching TV. I like movies. So I do that a lot

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:24

in the evenings. I love sitting outside and reading a book. We

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:27

have a beautiful back porch. It's just so nice here in

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:30

Tennessee. We can sit out almost year round really?

Janice Porter: 00:20:34

Yeah, so I love doing that. So yeah, cumin there

Janice Porter: 00:20:36

isn't quite human in this. Yeah, not like

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:39

Florida, but it is a more human than like

Ciara Stockeland: 00:20:42

North Dakota would be

Janice Porter: 00:20:43

for sure. Yeah. So what you just said about

Janice Porter: 00:20:46

reading books and marking them up and so forth. I love to do

Janice Porter: 00:20:49

that too. And I interviewed a gentleman yesterday or the day

Janice Porter: 00:20:53

before, for my podcast who I asked him a similar question.

Janice Porter: 00:20:57

And he said a similar answer. But then he said, what he said,

Janice Porter: 00:21:02

sometimes what I do is, and I thought it was strange, but I

Janice Porter: 00:21:07

think he's gonna send me one. So I'll see what it's like. But he

Janice Porter: 00:21:10

said he'll be you know, he'll mark up a book that he loves.

Janice Porter: 00:21:14

That is probably a business book or a self help book or something

Janice Porter: 00:21:17

like that. Yeah. And then he'll get somebody like an assistant

Janice Porter: 00:21:20

to buy a new copy of it. And he'll mark that one up to

Janice Porter: 00:21:25

highlight this exactly the same as his book and then send it to

Janice Porter: 00:21:29

somebody. Oh, interesting. I know. Because I said, I don't

Janice Porter: 00:21:34

know. I said, if you send me a book, and you've already marked

Janice Porter: 00:21:37

it up, I'm not sure I would highlight the same pages. It

Janice Porter: 00:21:40

might distract me, he said. So I thought that was really

Janice Porter: 00:21:45

interesting. You know,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:21:47

I button a couple books. Actually, I see

Ciara Stockeland: 00:21:49

one behind me. I saw there. Yeah. Off and like used, you

Ciara Stockeland: 00:21:53

know, off Amazon. And it'll have sometimes they'll have someone

Ciara Stockeland: 00:21:56

else's markings in them. And I don't know if I don't know if

Ciara Stockeland: 00:21:59

it's distracted me. But I don't think it had the same emphasis

Ciara Stockeland: 00:22:03

for me, you know, because our brains what we need and how we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:22:06

process is different. So it's interesting. Yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:22:09

I thought that was really interesting, too. And

Janice Porter: 00:22:11

about buying it used on Amazon. I that I don't even like to get

Janice Porter: 00:22:15

books out of the library anymore. Yeah, see, like a new

Janice Porter: 00:22:18

brand new book. Yeah. Terrible, really. But I mean, I did go the

Janice Porter: 00:22:21

library with my granddaughter, we'd get books for her. But I

Janice Porter: 00:22:24

don't know. Anyway. It's that I think it's that COVID residue

Janice Porter: 00:22:29

that stay or something, whatever. But anyway. And then

Janice Porter: 00:22:32

the other thing I like to ask, and by the way, I'm so glad you

Janice Porter: 00:22:35

said you love movies and TV, because I do too. And the Oscars

Janice Porter: 00:22:39

are coming up. And I just wrote a little bit about that.

Janice Porter: 00:22:43

Actually, yesterday that, you know, it's not the same as it

Janice Porter: 00:22:46

used to be. I used to definitely go to make sure I saw all the

Janice Porter: 00:22:50

movies. So I could have my ballot, and oh, who was going to

Janice Porter: 00:22:54

you know, and have a thing, but now, I just watched them on TV.

Janice Porter: 00:22:58

Yeah, I did see Oppenheimer in the theater. But that's the only

Janice Porter: 00:23:02

one I saw in the theater. And I haven't seen them all. And it's

Janice Porter: 00:23:05

not killing me the way it would have in the past. Yeah.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:09

Yeah, I would way rather stay home than the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:12

theater. Yeah, cuz then I have, you know, wear my comfy clothes.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:15

Make my own popcorn sit on my own couch. I take a break when I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:19

want. Yeah, we

Janice Porter: 00:23:20

have big screens now. Right. Yeah. Go

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:23

and you can? I don't know. It's just nice. You

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:24

can watch with your own people. And yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:23:27

I agree. So will you watch the Academy Awards?

Janice Porter: 00:23:30

I'll

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:31

probably just pop in just to see the dresses.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:33

That's what I care about. Yeah, I just want to see what they're

Ciara Stockeland: 00:23:35

wearing. Yes,

Janice Porter: 00:23:36

yes. Oh, okay. All right, because I do too. So

Janice Porter: 00:23:40

my, my question is my last question before the last

Janice Porter: 00:23:45

question is. My favorite word is curiosity. And I curious to know

Janice Porter: 00:23:53

whether you think curiosity is innate, or learned. And second

Janice Porter: 00:23:59

part is what are you most curious about these days? Yeah.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:03

Oh, that's a wonderful question. Interesting,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:06

you should ask because I tell my clients quite often, to stay

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:10

curious about their business. I literally say that because a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:14

good entrepreneur is constantly curious about why why did that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:19

work? Why didn't that work? How could I do this better? Why did

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:22

the people think that way? Why did they come in that side of

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:24

the store, go to that side of the store? Curiosity is what

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:27

creates change, like good change. As to whether or not

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:32

you're born? I think you're born with it. But I don't think you I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:37

think you can learn it. You can teach yourself to be curious.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:41

But I don't think everyone is naturally curious. I'm a very

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:44

curious person. So I like to ask, How can I do that better?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:48

Why is that not working? How could I fix that? Yeah, and I'm

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:53

constantly just interested in understanding and understanding

Ciara Stockeland: 00:24:57

why people think the way they do and why they process Some

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:00

information the way they do and yeah, lots of questions always I

Janice Porter: 00:25:03

can see your mind is probably never turns off,

Janice Porter: 00:25:05

you're always thinking of different things. Yes.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:08

And I've had to train that a bit because that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:10

can also be an Achilles, right? Like, to not be able to just

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:15

rest. So talking about reading, I used to I read all the time,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:19

but I felt like I can only read books that will teach me

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:22

something that I thought, You know what? I watch TV, which

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:26

teaches me nothing. So why do I not enjoy books? You know, so or

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:30

I start a book, if I don't like it, I don't have to finish it.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:34

Like I used to be so regimented. So I think we have to also work

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:38

on not being constantly on because that's, we need to learn

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:41

how to relax. Yeah. And slow down as well. Yeah, for sure.

Janice Porter: 00:25:45

So when you're training for your, the marathon

Janice Porter: 00:25:48

part of your Ironman, are you listening to stuff when you're

Janice Porter: 00:25:51

running? So that's interesting.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:53

I don't actually I rarely listen. So my

Ciara Stockeland: 00:25:56

daughter always has music. Yeah, I run in the quiet most of the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:00

time, sometimes I'll take a podcast, but I've never listened

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:03

to music. Part of that is because I'm not very technology

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:07

savvy. And so to just figure out how to make a play, I know that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:09

sounds silly, but figure out how to playlists and all the things

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:12

I'm like, I just have never had an interest. So sometimes I'll

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:15

listen to podcasts. But most of the time, even on a really long

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:17

run. I just think. So I just run and I think,

Janice Porter: 00:26:21

yeah, that's good. That's really good. I love

Janice Porter: 00:26:24

listening to podcasts when I'm out. Makes the time if I'm out

Janice Porter: 00:26:27

walking or something, it makes the the drudgery of it go. You

Janice Porter: 00:26:31

know better. But sometimes I hear what you're saying. And the

Janice Porter: 00:26:35

the nature of walk is just fine. Yeah, yeah. So last question I

Janice Porter: 00:26:42

would just like to ask you is, what's your best advice for the

Janice Porter: 00:26:49

entrepreneurs listening, the business owners listening, that

Janice Porter: 00:26:52

you give your clients? Yeah,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:26:56

I think, um, to always look at a perceived

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:03

failure as a learning lesson. So and I say perceived failure,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:09

because we define things that didn't work out the way we had

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:12

planned and expectation that didn't come to fruition as a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:15

failure. And we put that on ourselves. But if we can think

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:19

about it as a learning lesson, John Maxwell has a great book.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:22

Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn, not use, but learn. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:27

that's, that's the mindset, you know, great. You have a lot of

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:30

debt. That's okay. Let's figure out why. And let's change that.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:34

Right. Yeah, that makes sense that you opened a store that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:38

isn't doing well at all, okay, we'll figure it out, close the

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:41

store, change the ownership, add input, like, there's always a

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:44

solution to a problem, if we come at it from the idea that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:47

we're going to learn from what didn't work the way we had

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:50

planned.

Janice Porter: 00:27:52

I remember seeing that about my first marriage. It

Janice Porter: 00:27:54

wasn't a failure with reading experience.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:57

Yeah, you learned, you know, and you do,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:27:58

it's when we don't learn from those perceived failures, that

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:03

it's a waste. Otherwise, there's no waste in it, right? We become

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:06

a better more seasoned person, more seasoned entrepreneur, we

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:09

can help and teach other people help them avoid the same

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:12

mistake. So and it just people that you meet, like that are

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:16

much richer, not wealth rich, but like their mindset and their

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:23

appreciation for life. I mean, you I'm sure you've met people,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:26

you're like, Oh, my goodness, if I could just sit with this

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:28

person for three hours, I'd love to just listen to them. And

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:31

that's because they've learned from mistakes, they get up when

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:34

they perceive you know, fail. They try again, they're always

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:38

looking for those around us. They're remaining curious about

Ciara Stockeland: 00:28:40

life. And that's the person that I want to be as well.

Janice Porter: 00:28:45

Well, it just sounds to me as though you are a

Janice Porter: 00:28:47

calming effect on whoever you work with. And you're so

Janice Porter: 00:28:50

positive that I can just see that. It would be a joy to work

Janice Porter: 00:28:55

with you. And I you know, just it's just you got these good

Janice Porter: 00:29:00

vibes around you. And it's amazing. You're very welcome.

Janice Porter: 00:29:03

Now, I cheated. I think I have to ask another question now,

Janice Porter: 00:29:07

because hey, I'm curious. I'm curious to know whether you have

Janice Porter: 00:29:12

sights on a new business still, well, when are you looking ahead

Janice Porter: 00:29:16

at something else that you want to do?

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:18

You know, that's one of the things I told

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:20

you a couple of, you know, a few minutes ago to learn to tame

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:23

your mind. There's a lot of things I can do. And I tell my

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:27

entrepreneurs, this too, there's so many things you are capable

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:30

of. It does not mean you need to do them. So I've gotten very

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:34

good at editing opportunities. I love where I'm at in life. I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:38

have two grown children, I want to be available to them. I want

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:42

to be able to my husband travels a lot for work. I love to be

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:45

able to go with him if I can training depending on what I'm

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:48

doing can take up to 20 hours a week of training for Ironman. I

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:52

want that freedom. And so with that I have learned to really

Ciara Stockeland: 00:29:56

say no to most things. I love what I do with my clients now

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:00

And right now in this season, I'm trying to get really,

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:03

really, really good at delivering really fast results

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:06

for them. And so I'd rather perfect that than at other

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:08

things. Well, you're,

Janice Porter: 00:30:10

you're a thinker. Definitely I'm, you know, you

Janice Porter: 00:30:13

know what you want. And I love that, that you can do that. This

Janice Porter: 00:30:16

has been a delight. Thank you so much for being a podcast. It's

Janice Porter: 00:30:20

been a pleasure. And just getting to know you a little bit

Janice Porter: 00:30:23

more. Each time I talked to you is is amazing. So thank you

Janice Porter: 00:30:27

again for being here. Thank you to my audience for being here. I

Janice Porter: 00:30:30

love that you. Listen and appreciate you and remember that

Janice Porter: 00:30:35

we'd love to hear from you. If you like what you heard, let me

Janice Porter: 00:30:38

know. And do check out Sierra's website which is inventory.

Janice Porter: 00:30:44

genealogist

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:45

My name actually Sarah stock that.com.

Ciara Stockeland: 00:30:47

Yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:30:48

there you go. And all of her information will be

Janice Porter: 00:30:50

in the show notes. And again, remember to stay connected and

Janice Porter: 00:30:54

be remembered