Tap Into Your Strengths: Empowering Women to Build, Coach

Chelsea Giedd, owner of Chelsea's Boutique in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and podcaster, was our guest on a recent Called to Coach. Chelsea is passionate about empowering women who own a business (including a coaching business) to use their CliftonStrengths to take control of that business instead of letting the business control them. In the process, they will find they can do more of what they want to do, pay themselves what they're worth, and have more time for friends and family; and can increase their own happiness as a result.

Below is a full transcript of the conversation, including time stamps. Full audio and video are posted above.

Jim Collison 0:00

I am Jim Collison and live from the Gallup campus here in Omaha, Nebraska, this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on November 22, 2019.

Jim Collison 0:20

Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you are listening live, love to have you join us in our chat room and on the live page. There's a link right above the video window take you to YouTube, sign in there and join us in chat. Let us know where you're listening from as well. If you're listening after the fact and you have any questions, you can send us an email as well: coaching@gallup.com. Chelsea Giedd is our guest today. Chelsea is the owner of Chelsea's Boutique in downtown Sioux Falls (South Dakota, U.S.A.), a women's clothing and shoe boutique that focuses on the empowerment of women, which we'll dive into a little bit. I find that very interesting. With over 10 years of experience of owning and operating this business, Chelsea decided to launch a new venture in 2019. We'll talk a little bit about that. She is also a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. Chelsea, welcome to Called to Coach!

Chelsea Giedd 1:14

Thank you so much, Jim, for having me on. I am just so so excited!

Jim Collison 1:18

Yeah, we're glad to have you here. We want to get to know you a little bit more. Let's start with, tell us a little bit more about yourself than I could read in a boring bio. And then give us your Top 5 as well.

Chelsea Giedd 1:28

Awesome. OK, so you had mentioned that I own a women's boutique. And I've been doing that now for 10 1/2 years, which has now been a third of my life, which seems really crazy when I think about it, but it has been. And like you mentioned, we really focus on the empowerment of women. And so it really is just my passion to empower women. I think as women, typically we grow up and we have insecurities, and it's hard for us to talk about them and I really just wanted a space where women could come and talk about that and have an open space and be able to be open and vulnerable and look in the mirror and still find themselves beautiful, no matter what was going on in their life. And I just wanted that space.

Chelsea Giedd 2:08

And so I like to say that Yes, we are a clothing store, but we don't sell clothes; what we sell is confidence. So you come to us and we're here for you, whatever walk of life that you're going through at the moment. So that is the boutique. And I'm sure we'll get into the story of how I launched the new business that I'm also doing now in 2019, Underneath the Clothes, which is a business-and-life-coaching company that is working to empower women entrepreneurs and help them get to taking control of their business instead of the business controlling them. Because we often get into business for all these things, and then we often find ourselves not actually having any of those things because the business is running our life. So that is what "Underneath the Clothes" is all about. And then my Top 5, No. 1 is Empathy. So I'm sure you'll hear a lot of more heartfelt type things are coming from me because that is just my No. 1 strength. Then I have Relator, Developer, Includer and Activator -- and Activator is one of my favorites.

Jim Collison 3:10

You know, you touched on a topic there I find very interesting and that -- especially in the entrepreneurial world; in the builder world is kind of what we say here Gallup. That, you know, we do some of these things for independence or we do some of these things -- we have this idea we want to, in your case you want to empower and help people. And oftentimes we find that we do it for ourselves in, but then we find -- you just said this -- the business kind of takes over and the thing we're trying to help people with, we ourselves need the help with. You know, "Physician, heal thyself!" right? And in that case, how do you -- let -- before we dig in on your strengths journey, how do you balance that, or how are you currently balancing this idea of running a boutique, helping women, coaching without being completely overwhelmed yourself?

Chelsea Giedd 3:55

Yes. OK. I love this question because I have people ask me this often like, Chelsea, how do you do it all? You own a business, and you do coaching, and you have a weekly podcast and you run 2 masterminds groups. And like, how do you do all these things? And I, like, tell them, I don't do it all! I hire people who balance my strengths and who work well within my strengths and my business. And that's how I do it all. I don't, but I bring in the right people that help me, and I live within my strengths and I do the things that I love doing. And I let other people do all the other things that I don't like doing but they love doing.

Jim Collison 4:30

So you hire it. That's -- that's -- do you find that for the folks that you're coaching and that you're working with, especially in the in the builder space and the entrepreneur space, do you find that's hard for some for some people to give away that power or whatever, I mean?

Chelsea Giedd 4:47

It totally is. Yeah. I think it's because, you know, we work so hard to build up this business. And I like to refer to it as "my baby." It's this baby I've been growing for 10 1/2 years, and it's so hard to give up that control and let someone come in. Because no matter how hard someone tries, chances are they aren't going to do things the exact same way that you would do that. And that's hard for us, because just as humans, we assume the way we do it is the best way to do it and the right way to do it. And so working with entrepreneurs and showing them that, Hey, you just need to live within your strengths, bring in the other people to take care of all the other stuff, has really helped them see like -- not only see that it's possible, but actually help them be more happy in the things that they are doing.

Jim Collison 5:30

Yeah, yeah. It's it's a journey. It's why you're helping people by coaching, right. We'll talk a little bit about your coaching here in a little bit. We want to get to know you and your strengths journey just a bit. So tell us, how did you come to this? Like, how did CliftonStrengths become a part of what you're doing? At what point did that enter in and, and then give us a little bit of, like, how has that changed you in what you're doing?

Chelsea Giedd 5:50

Yes. OK, so I love telling the story. So I was about 9 years into business, and I had gotten accepted into this women's leadership program. And a part of the process was to take the StrengthsFinder assessment. So I did. And I remember the day that we kind of went over our strengths as the team. They brought in a coach, a certified coach, to walk us through things. And I got my 5 results. And I was like, really mad. I was really mad at them. I like had a full-on meltdown. And I had to like call her and I was like, Haley, I need you to do some strengths coaching sessions because I'm like, spiraling like, I'm really mad about these.

Chelsea Giedd 6:32

And the reason was because I'm supposed to be this like super powerful like woman entrepreneur, and I can like, I'm strategic. I can do all these things. And my Top 4 out of 5 were Relationship Building, and I'm like, What the heck? And I was so upset about that. And so she -- bless her heart, she's amazing -- she like talked me down and she's like, Chelsea, you don't understand. The fact that you have so much Relationship Building in your Top 5 is why you are successful, is why you have this incredible culture. It's why people beg to come work with you is because you show up and you lead with your heart and not your head. And that she actually works with CEOs and other big companies. And she's like, that's exactly what all these corporations, that's what they want. That's what they want their CEOs to have.

Chelsea Giedd 7:16

And so she helped us like change my mindset around my strengths, which was so lovely. And from there, I just kind of fell in love with them. And then fast forward about 6 months later. And I'm to the point where I know all entrepreneurs get to and I am burnt out, I'm working like 80+ hours a week. I'm tired. I'm not paying myself. If I would have added it up was probably like, less than $5 an hour. I'm not seeing my friends and family. Like all of this is happening. Yes, the business is booming and things are going amazing. But I'm exhausted.

Chelsea Giedd 7:49

And so it's like July and I said, All right, Chels, you have 6 months and if you can't get it to the point where you are working less than 40 hours a week, you're seeing your friends and family and you're actually paying yourself your value, like you have to sell your store. And so I like a challenge. So of course I went in and I faced it head-on. And by the end of that year, I got to a point where that was the case. And what really helped me get there was StrengthsFinder -- remembering like, Hey, you know, we talked about these strengths. You need to go back to them, you need to, you need to really dive into them again. And so what I did was an exercise that I think Haley had had talked to me about or maybe it's one I made up in my head, I can't remember. But what I did was ...

Jim Collison 8:32

Go ahead and take credit for it.

Chelsea Giedd 8:33

It was definitely all me. I do coach all my clients to do this. So I will take some credit for it. But I wrote down all the tasks that I did, and then beside them, I went, I went and wrote all the strengths that I used to complete them -- and some of them I didn't use any strengths to complete these tasks. And then I went back and I circled all the things I really really enjoyed and loved doing. And by looking at that, it was like, Oh, the things that are aligned with my strengths are the things I love doing! Like, no wonder why.

Chelsea Giedd 9:02

But most of it were the things that I wasn't spending much time doing. Like I was behind the computer all day, doing newsletters and doing our social media and like, Yes, I'm good at that and I can do it. But it wasn't setting my soul on fire, and instead it was draining me of my energy. So even though I knew it needed to be done to move the business forward, it just wasn't it wasn't lighting my soul on fire. And so I was like, all right, you're not doing any of that anymore. You're going to hire the people to do the things you don't like doing, and you're going to just do the things you love doing and see where that gets you. And it was awesome!

Jim Collison 9:35

Yeah, no, a great -- I think a great strategy is. And harder for some and you, in the coaching you probably see this, harder for some to turn over some -- even though people don't like them, they still hold on to for whatever reasons, for control. As you think about that experience, that journey -- by the way your, the process you went through is very similar to one we have an individual development plan spreadsheet or or worksheet that folks can work through and it's kind of the Name it, Claim it and Aim it that we think about.

Jim Collison 10:04

And you, you really did that -- you said, Here's what I'm doing and what here's what I'm using and circling the best thing. That's such a great exercise. I think sometimes people do that just once in their life. And I think maybe once a day, we should be thinking about like, What did I -- what did I really use the best today? I'm a Maximizer. So I ask myself that question all the time. Like, what was the best of today? When you think about your these 5 names, these 5 themes that you have, and you think about that journey getting there. And if you were to just to walk me through that process a little bit of what I used, when, could could those words pop out just right now in thinking about like, Hey, I used my whatever when I was doing this? Could you could you do maybe do one or two of those for me?

Chelsea Giedd 10:49

Definitely. So I like -- do you mean as far as like my tasks go or just in everyday life?

Jim Collison 10:54

So I'm thinking about this journey to get here -- it can be anywhere you want, really what you're doing right now. But I'm just thinking, as we think about these talent themes that pop out, can you just pop out a few? And tell me how you're using them right now?

Chelsea Giedd 11:06

Definitely. So Empathy is the one that stands out the most to me. And when I'm coaching with people, I always tell them this is like, We don't -- when we start with strengths, we don't really realize that they're a strength. We just assume that the way we are is just the way everyone else is, right? And that's why it's like we're frustrated when people don't show up the way that we do. Because we're like, Well, why wouldn't you do it this way, you know? So that's, that's the part that was really interesting to me was having this Empathy as No. 1, I have this thing about me where I can literally walk into a grocery store and I'll have a stranger come up to me and start telling me their whole life story. And I'm like, this is so cool, like, and I had no idea that that's not normal, like, people don't normally do that.

Chelsea Giedd 11:47

And so being able to see these strengths and really see them as like, OK, these are valuable and they are unique to me and they -- and how can I utilize them? It helps me to see that, you know, having Empathy as my No. 1, which means I can really connect with people and understand how they're feeling. And then Developer, where I love seeing people reach their goals and go after more and chase their dreams, like, oh, I love that so much! So being able to include those two things -- and my Includer, of course in there as well -- turn turning those into coaching other people and understanding that I'm great at doing that, because I can get to their level and immediately they feel instantly safe and like they can be vulnerable around me. And so we just get through so much, so much faster, because there's none of that like time or we have to wait a couple of sessions working together before they start breaking down the walls and letting me in.

Chelsea Giedd 12:37

So I think having those strengths and then of course, my Activator just means I get things done. So if I say I'm going to do something, you better believe it's probably gonna be done yesterday. It's like I get things done instantly. And I think that's a part of why the business has been so successful as well, as we, I do not like complacency. I'm always wanting to do something new and inventive. And so the business is always growing and we're having like exciting new things starting and activating on them.

Jim Collison 13:05

That's such a great concept. So you talked about Empathy and Developer and you spend a lot of time thinking about people, right? That's those are both very people-centric. And some people would say, OK, but you could get -- you could get too bogged down thinking about people. And then you mentioned Activator, right, which keeps you moving forward. Do you find you -- how in running the running the boutique, is that a day -- are you leaning on that daily, both understanding what the employees and what they need? You got to keep people around, right? I mean, hiring help and keeping them is a hard thing to do, right?

Chelsea Giedd 13:37

Yep.

Jim Collison 13:37

And yet business still needs to get done. Is that a daily exercise for you?

Chelsea Giedd 13:42

Yeah, it really is. And I think because we really use strengths within the business as well -- I coach all my management team on their strengths monthly; we get together and we really talk about their strengths and how they're utilizing them. We all understand each other's strengths too. So they know that I will come to the, you know, the table with lots and lots of ideas, and I'll get them started. But because my Activator doesn't always want to finish things, then I will then go and hand them off to someone who has some high Executing, and they love finishing things. So we just work so well in that way.

Chelsea Giedd 14:12

But then, like you mentioned the Relationship Building part. We have this culture that women beg to be a part of, like, we have people applying for the jobs daily -- you know, things that aren't even available, people are like, We just want to come work for you! And they know us because we have this culture where we care, we care about you as a person. And when you walk in the store, it doesn't matter if you're a part-timer, or if you're a client that we see every single week, we treat you the same and we just want to love on you and show you how much we appreciate you.

Jim Collison 14:39

You know, with that kind of success, have you thought about expanding the business beyond the local area that you're in? Is that is that a thought? Or maybe you don't want to disclose that, and that's OK that you don't.

Chelsea Giedd 14:52

No, I will totally answer that. So I am not interested in that. I think, you know, even with -- with the boutique economy now, it's all about online right? It's now, like, Amazon-driven kind of a world where people want things instantly and they want at the touch of their fingers. And that is where we see more and more clothing stores going towards. Us at Chelsea, that's not what we care about. We don't care about the online store, because to us, it's about creating that one-on-one human connection that, yeah, people want things online, but then that's what they're missing out on is that interaction.

Chelsea Giedd 15:27

And so we put all of our time and energy, instead of growing an online website, which we have, but we don't put, you know, a ton of time and energy into it. Instead, we talk about how can we make this in-store experience so incredible, that when women walk in, they feel amazing, and then they go and tell their friends and then their sisters and their family and the next time they come back, they have 20 girls with them. Like, how can we do that? And that's really, I think, what's something that's so cool about our store is by next year, we should hit a million dollars and we spend $0 on advertising, like $0. And it's because we have that experience that it's really hard to get other places. I think that's because of, of the relationship, you know, part of my strengths being so heavy. That is what I care so so much about.

Chelsea Giedd 15:28

Well, you don't spend $0. You spend some because you build it into the relationships, right, and those relationships do the advertising for you.

Chelsea Giedd 16:19

Exactly.

Jim Collison 16:19

And so you've chosen to do relationship- kind of based advertising from that. Think you probably learning in your podcast, that's also very relationship-based, driven, right, as folks are listening to you. It's a little inspiring as I, as I hear that because, you know, I used to get a haircut at a place that was cut-rate, cheapest, but I was, like, you know, I just, I sat down and then it was kind of whoever. And it just wasn't a great experience. Now it was cheap, but it was not the greatest experience. And I I went to the other end of the equation, where now I go to a, you know, I go to salon and the girls take great care of me and they make me feel like I'm a king when I'm in there -- you know, one of the few guys but they think -- they make it real or not, make it like it's a big deal. And I'm paying triple -- maybe easy, right? And because the experience you're talking about.

Jim Collison 17:11

When we think about that in relation to your coaching business as well, or some of the stuff that you're doing around coaching, can you talk about, have you taken that same philosophy, the same boutique philosophy? And have you applied it to your coaching and maybe talk a little bit about what you're trying to do with coaching.

Chelsea Giedd 17:27

Definitely. So, you know, I think when people think of business coaches, too, they just think, OK, let's talk about numbers. Let's talk about, what's your ROI? Well, you know, all that stuff, and it's like to me, yes, that's a piece of it. But that's not even where we start. I want to know how you as a person are taking care of yourself because you can't take care of others or a business if you're not taking care of yourself. So even with that, it's like, how are you? What's your self-care look like? What's your morning routine? Like that's where we start even though, Yes, it's business coaching, it's life coaching.

Chelsea Giedd 17:57

Like there is no business and there's no work-life balance. It's just life. So let's get down to the life part of it and that will go out into all aspects of it. But I want to know too when when they talk to me, How is your experience? Walk me through what it looks like when someone walks in your door? How are they greeted? What -- how do they feel? How do you want them to feel? How do you get feedback from them? So we definitely integrate that into when I work with women one-on-one and I'm coaching them within their business.

Jim Collison 18:24

You had talked, and we kind of previewed it in the first part of the show about some new things going for for 2020. And you started some new stuff in 2019. When you look at 2020 -- and somebody might be listening to this in 2025, which is the crazy thing, right, about YouTube -- but for you, when you think about 2020, what -- what's exciting you about that, and what are you hoping for that may be different from the last couple years?

Chelsea Giedd 18:48

Oh, so a couple things that I'm -- because I also have Futuristic in my Top 10, so I'm already always you know, out there thinking about all the things. So for the boutique side of things, we started doing something called a personal styling session. So women can book it online; they fill out a questionnaire; and then based on that, we pull clothes for them based on their body shape, their color palette, what things they like, what things they don't like, what are they doing for a job? All of this stuff, and then they show up. And we have this beautiful styling lounge that's private to them. There's a snack bar in there, there's a beverage bar, there's a jewelry bar, all the amenities, and you show up and you have a stylist for 2 hours just there for you. Clothes already handpicked for you.

Chelsea Giedd 19:29

And so it's this whole experience of, like, I don't know what to wear, or I just had a baby, and now I don't know how to dress this body of mine. So being able to give them that experience. So we started that about a year ago. I can see it growing even more, now that we have this lounge. And then on top of that, doing something where, you know, women get busy. And especially if they're working women or they have kids -- kiddos at home, like, they don't want to drag a bunch of kids into the store with them. So how can we take the boutique to them and the same kind of experience? So how can we once a month send them handpicked clothes perfectly for them based on their body shape and all that stuff and send it to their door for them?

Chelsea Giedd 20:05

So that's kind of where I see you know, some ways where we can keep doing that experience without people actually having to be in our in our store, coming in 2020. And then for "Underneath the Clothes" side of it, because I truly am trying to help women get to a point where the business is not running them, and they can be running the business and still doing the things they love and live within their strengths and all of that. But I'm only one person. And so I can't reach everyone that I want to be able to reach because I only have so many hours in my day, right? And so my goal -- and what we started working on -- is digital courses. So how can I teach all the things I'm teaching now and one-on-one with women, turn them into digital courses and now reach such a larger, broader audience. They can take it on their own time; they're not having to pay me as much as you know if they would if we're working one-on-one. So those are some of the things for 2020 that I'm just like super, super excited about to start getting into more.

Jim Collison 20:59

This brings up a very tactical question. In the coaching community, we get this -- asked this all the time, and you've been doing this a while. How do you figure out how to price this? Like, when you're when you're going into these -- and you don't have to do specific amounts, but what's your secret sauce? You know, you mentioned, OK, do the online courses; they're a little more scalable so I may charge a little bit less for them. But you may not have to, just to be honest. But when you're thinking about the pricing of some of those things, how do you both -- not so much on the clothing side, but on the coaching side -- how are you determining what the what the price is?

Chelsea Giedd 21:33

That's a really great question. And because I just started this year, you know, when I first started, my prices then -- you know, with my first client -- to where I am now are drastically different. And that's really just the confidence I had in myself of like, I've never really done this before. I mean, I've coached people but I've never charged for it. Where do I go? And so I think it's really just digging down into yourself and saying, What do I feel comfortable and confident about charging because if you tell someone a price, but you're like, it's going to be $299 and, you know, you don't you don't feel confident about it, they're like, I'm not paying you that. You don't ...

Jim Collison 22:04

I know. They kind of sense it, don't they? When you're not ...

Chelsea Giedd 22:07

Yes, absolutely. So it's like you have to really feel what do you feel good about inside charging. And I know like, as you get that confidence built up from working with people, you can you can charge more because you're like, I know because I've seen it happen, I can change people's lives. And I know that I'm worth this much. And I just have, I mean, I also have Self-Assurance high, so that helps for me too. But I just know that if you work with me, I will change your life. I will change your business. I will help you. And so when you can be confident in that, people honestly are willing to pay whatever because they just want what you have.

Jim Collison 22:42

Yeah, yeah, we -- I always, I've heard some experts say, Take a price that's ridiculously low you wouldn't work for, and then think of a price that's so ridiculously high you you would be embarrassed to say it, and then pick something in the middle. And then, and then move it around kind of based on how busy you are. Right? You're finding, OK, I'm super busy. I kind of need to raise my prices if I'm right and the market will eventually start telling you. I'm not busy enough, I probably need to lower, or if it's too busy, I need to raise. Right. That's pretty, pretty basic supply and demand. I always am surprised at how people are uncomfortable with that. I think everybody is. Let me ask you an oddball question. I'm a guy. What about boutiques for guys? Like how would -- have you thought about the, because like, we don't know how to dress! Right? I mean, that sounds like a pretty great experience. Could this work for gentlemen?

Chelsea Giedd 23:38

Definitely. And it's funny that you asked me that, because men often come into the store and are like, please open a men's boutique so that we can have the same kind of experience and I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm just not passionate about empowering men, just women. So I will not be doing that anytime soon. But I do agree that it's a market that's there. And I know, you know, people are trying it with the boxes that come to your home, like we talked about, but yeah, having that in person exp -- but I don't know, at the same time, like, are you as a guy, do you do most of your clothing shopping? Or does your wife do it for you?

Jim Collison 24:14

Yeah, I don't, I don't -- she does. But -- but, as I've gotten older, I've actually realized, to your point, is you were talking about your experience. I was like, and now with getting, you know, changing the way I get my haircut, that's just a small little thing, right? I kind of thinking, you know, I could I'd like the more kind of consultative approach to that. There are some businesses like Men's Wearhouse that kind of do some of that, but, but that could just be in areas we're just thinking about men and women on that. Man, that'd be a good, maybe a good market for somebody thinking about that. When you think about your coaching and your coaching practices, and when you're coaching people, what are some tools -- what do you find you're using the most or what has been the most helpful to you in the way you coach, so mechanically, how you do the coaching. What have you found? What's a rhythm for you, or a process or whatever that you're just finding like you're hitting it every time?

Chelsea Giedd 25:09

So because 9 times out of 10, I'm working with actual women entrepreneurs, the, the kind of tasks that I mentioned for -- and what did you call it? The -- ? Did you have a name for it, when I said, I wrote out all my tasks and circled it?

Jim Collison 25:22

Oh, yeah, we call that the Individual Development Plan.

Chelsea Giedd 25:25

OK, so the Individual Development Plan -- that is typically where I start with entrepreneurs as far as strengths go, because I want to know, first, I want to know what your strengths are. And then I want to know how you're utilizing them. Because if you're unhappy in what you're doing, which, you know, sadly, women don't usually come to me because they're happy in what they're doing; they come to me because they're like, I can't do this anymore. Something has to change. And so if that's the case, let's let's look at that and figure out well, why is that? Why, why are you unhappy in what's going on, whatever that looks like.

Chelsea Giedd 25:55

So that is where I always have them start. I have them write out what all of their strengths are, to -- or, excuse me write out what all their tasks are; put their strengths next to it and then circle the things they love doing. And then from there, we dive into what their, what those strengths are. And so they start really taking, like you said the Name it, Claim it, Aim it approach of like, OK, let's Name it so you understand it; then let's Claim it, like I want you to be like, Yeah! I have Empathy as No. 1 and that's awesome! Like that's my goal, that you walk away and you're excited about these strengths.

Chelsea Giedd 26:24

And it's really cool when you see women who have, like -- I've worked with women before where they're like, This strength is always the thing that I always got made fun of for or was always a negative in my life. And then we can turn it and they see it as a positive like "That -- that's my Developer in me is like, Oh, I love that!" I get so excited when they can start seeing it as a positive. So going through that approach, and then from there, how do we figure out who who are the people that you need to bring in to your team to start taking over these tasks off your plate, and what what kind of personality do they need to have and you know, kind of going deeper into that, and then all the other stuff, the culture and all of that. But I would say that's definitely where I start, as far as strengths go, when I'm coaching with other people.

Jim Collison 27:08

Yeah. I think it's a good plan to go down that path. By the way, I think the secret is everybody needs this, by the way, you know, everybody needs to, I think we're all struggling inside at times. Some are better at letting that out than others. And some are better at identifying it than others. But I think everybody genuinely needs that. When you were young, you made the statement a minute ago about the things -- the talents that you had that people made fun of, because they were so strong. What was that for you?

Chelsea Giedd 27:37

It was probably definitely my Empathy, I think. Like even now, I can't -- people find this weird, but I don't watch the news. I literally don't ever know what's going on in the world because it can really drain me and like, I have gone into like deep depressions in the past because there's something so depressing on the news that I just soak it in and I'm like, "Oh, I can't breathe! I can't function!" And so I don't watch the news. Like, thank God, I have a husband that knows what's going on because he lets me know like what's going on in the world. Otherwise, I would not know.

Chelsea Giedd 28:08

I don't watch the news. I don't watch scary movies. Like, they're just things that I have to kind of put up boundaries with in my life so that that Empathy doesn't take over, and because I feel like there's been times in the past where it's taken over my life, and I can't function anymore. So that's what's cool about understanding your strengths, too. It's like, Why -- why am I the way I am? And when you can understand them, then then you know, OK, this is the reason I'm showing up this way. And now this is the way that I can kind of protect myself in this fashion or what I need to do to make sure I don't interact in this way.

Jim Collison 28:40

Yeah, it's, it's interesting because a lot of people respond when they first take CliftonStrengths and they get that No. 1. And they they can tend to respond very negatively to it, because it was a talent that was so bright when they were younger. To your point, they were -- one, it, it could have caused deep anguish like for you, not really understanding how to deal with that Empathy could have caused deep anguish. For me, high Woo -- very, very high Woo. And so people would say, Do you ever stop talking? You know, my Woo and Communication. And yet that has been, now that I've learned how to kind of harness that and put myself in roles where that's honored.

Jim Collison 29:17

And so I think you're probably finding as you're identifying, and by the way, coaches, I think this is a great first question: What -- when you were younger, what were you identified as? Might be painful to work on those things, but I think it's the kind of those key talent indicators, right, that help us say, What could I really make? And I think once we learn how to harness it, which you have, right, you've learned to harness that Empathy, and when people are coming in, man, I just -- as you were talking about those ladies and knowing where they're at, whether it's body shape, or it's I've never been, I've never felt comfortable in these clothes. You're probably sensing that before they even say it themselves, right? Do you find that happening for you?

Chelsea Giedd 30:00

Yes, very, very often. I've had a lot of, like, someone walks in and you know, how are you, how are you doing today? And they're like, Oh, I'm good. And I can tell instantly No, you're not. I can tell you're not good. So it's like, what's going on? Like, I can tell something's off. What's going on? And then it's a whole, you know, crying on my shoulder type of thing. So yeah, definitely being able to tell right away when something's not quite clicking with someone.

Jim Collison 30:24

You also made a statement earlier about executive leadership and them sometimes, you know, oftentimes we think, if I'm going to be in a leadership role, I have to have a lot of Strategic or I have to have a lot of Futuristic or I have to have a lot of, you know, those -- these, these, these kinds of themes. You kind of broke the mold a little bit on that by saying, No, I think, like, Relationship themes are important as well. There's no one set of themes that do it. But don't you feel like your Relationship themes and leadership really help you be that kind of leader?

Chelsea Giedd 30:56

Yes, I will toot my own horn here, but I think I'm an incredible leader. Like, I literally have a business where people are leaving their jobs that they have now. They're getting paid less to come work for us, because they just want to be a part of this community and this culture that we have. So yeah, I think it's incredible and being able to say, OK, it's, it's because of my strengths that this is the reason why this is, instead of being upset that Why don't I have Strategic as No. 1? I don't need it! I can strategically put the right people in place so that things still get done.

Jim Collison 31:26

Well, I can't tell -- you know, I manage this big gigantic Facebook group for us, and I can't -- I can tell -- I wish I had $1 for every time I've heard someone say, Well, I'm in a leadership role and I don't have Strategic. And I'm like, You don't -- you don't need it! I'm going to actually, when that comes up from now, I'm going to put this conversation in the chat. Just go listen to Chelsea. She's got these -- this thing taken care of. Kacie -- am I pronouncing that right, is this Kacie Olson?

Jim Collison 31:51

As you pronounce it? Kacie says, Working for Chelsea and having her help me Name, Aim and Claim my strings absolutely changed my life. Love this lady!! That's -- that is some nice feedback. Allison jumps in as well, says, Yay for relationship strengths! I so appreciate Chelsea's insight on how her strengths play off one another; how they affect or strengthen one another too You're rockin' it -- keep it up! So it's kind of nice to get that kind of real-time feedback, isn't it?

Chelsea Giedd 31:51

Yeah.

Chelsea Giedd 32:17

That is so sweet. Thanks, ladies.

Jim Collison 32:20

Speaking of real-time feedback, you're also a podcaster. Because you don't have enough things to do, right? Why did you start a podcast? And what do you talk about? And what's the name of it, so people can find it?

Chelsea Giedd 32:30

The name of it is Underneath the Clothes. And my goal is that is like, for 10 1/2 years of my life, I was known as the lady who owns the women's boutique. But I felt like I had so much more to share. And what I had to share was underneath the clothes; it wasn't about the clothes, it was what I've learned and what's deep inside. And so that's where Underneath the Clothes came from. And it's really geared towards women entrepreneurs, although I have lots of men that listen as well.

Jim Collison 32:53

And they should. And they should.

Chelsea Giedd 32:53

Folks who aren't even in entrepreneurship and maybe they're a leader or even if you're a mom, I mean that's a leadership role there too. So talking about all kinds of things, and really about how to get to that point, though, where you can run your business instead of your business running you.

Jim Collison 33:10

Yeah, one of the things we've found around entrepreneurialism -- builder, you know, is what we call it -- is that it's just as important inside organizations, small, large, medium organizations, doesn't always have to mean a startup. Do you find you're getting feedback from some of your listeners? Hopefully, you're getting good feedback from your listeners. Do you find some of them are buried deep inside large organizations? And can you help them be intra or intrapreneurial in their own organizations? Are you finding that to happen at all?

Chelsea Giedd 33:41

You know, I don't know if I've had as many people reach out about that. And maybe it's just because I tend to say I'm geared towards women entrepreneurs. Not that they're not listening, but you know how it is -- for every one person that reaches out to you, probably had 200 people listening that haven't told you that they're there. But I would I would really think that the stuff that we cover, you don't have to be an entrepreneur. Like I said, if you're in any kind of a leadership role it would attain to you.

Jim Collison 34:08

What have you learned about yourself from podcasting?

Chelsea Giedd 34:11

Oh, that's a good one. So I when I started the podcast, and this is my Activator coming in, I'm like, I'm going to do all the things. I'm going to do a podcast every other week, and I'm going to, you know, and then about 3 weeks, 3 months into it, I'm like, the store is booming like crazy. We're hiring a bunch of new people. I don't have time to do a podcast anymore, like, so it kind of went on the back burner for about 3 months. And then I got to a point where I was like, Chelsea, go back to your strength. Your strength is not in communication. Like, why are you spending -- it would take me 4 to 5 hours to write one podcast episode. And so I'm like, all right, I did the whole task thing again, and then realized, all right, why don't you just hire someone, a content person who will write your podcast for you, and then you just speak them and then you're done. And it's so much faster to do it that way.

Chelsea Giedd 34:56

And so being able to just remember, like, to stick with your strengths, it reminded me that again. Because I felt like I had done that so well in the boutique. But then I kind of forgot about it when I went and opened up another business and started on that journey. So just kind of bringing me back to, OK, do what you're preaching; do what you know: Hire someone to take over the things you don't love.

Jim Collison 35:20

That's good. I think it's good advice. Isn't it funny, though, how we have to keep -- like, you think you'd learn it? And then you do something new. And you get a couple months, a year into it, or whatever. And you're like, Oh, did -- am I really relearning kind of this again? And yeah, it's just, it's just about what we do. Well, what kind of advice would you give? So someone's listening to this, and you know, we'll have, we'll have hundreds to thousands listening to this. And they say, Yeah, I'm stuck. Like, I'm kind of stuck right now. What kind of advice would you give to them that, knowing you're not going to maybe even be able to have a relationship with them, but what kind of -- to get them off center, what would you tell them?

Chelsea Giedd 36:03

What I would say is, Figure out why. Like, there's probably one area of your life that's feeling really unbalanced right now. So when, when I work with women, and I have just some people who are like, I don't have a business, but I really want to work with you. And so we just work on life coaching. And no matter if you come to me for business or life coaching, or both, we start with, Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 in each of these areas. So how are you in your finances? How are you with relationships? How are you with your physical body, your mental health? All of these areas, because typically, it's not all -- it's not like they're all 1s. There's probably a lot that are 3s, 4s, even 5s, but then there's that one area, and it's a 1 or it's a negative, or whatever it looks like.

Chelsea Giedd 36:52

And so we sometimes think that our entire world is like chaotic and nothing feels right and everything's off, when really that's probably not true. There's probably just one little area that you really need to focus in on. And so being able to figure out what that is. And I would bring it back to strengths, because honestly, if you're not feeling right or like something's off, probably aren't doing things that align with your strengths. And so really understanding what your strengths are and being able to line that up with what you're doing can probably make a big difference in the way that you're feeling.

Jim Collison 37:22

In what you do, how important is the element of wellbeing, in other words, how people are eating or exercising or sleeping? How important is that in in the work that you're doing?

Chelsea Giedd 37:34

It is No. 1 priority that when you meet with me, that the first session, we don't really even talk about business at all. We talk about you, because I truly believe if you want to grow your business, you have to grow yourself right along with it. It's not going to grow if you're still the person that's getting up at 10 a.m. instead of getting up early and starting your routine right and eating well and all of that stuff. You're not going to show up and be a great leader in your business. So it's No. 1 priority for me.

Jim Collison 38:00

Yeah, that's good. How do you help people? So somebody comes in and an area is out of whack? How do you, how do you help them? How do you help rein that in and start fixing it?

Chelsea Giedd 38:10

Well, I tap into my Empathy. And we go deep as to why, like, what's really going on here? When did this start? What are the stories you're making up in your head? Because typically, the things that are running us are feelings and emotions from our past; it's not even things that are going on right now. Or it's things that we're making up in our mind of what will happen in the future. So let's just get real about this. Like, is it really something that's affecting you right now? Or is it still something from your past or something you're worried about for the future?

Jim Collison 38:37

Yeah. Sometimes in coaching, we don't think of this -- we don't think a lot about this, but how do you measure ROI? How do you know the effort you're putting in with people is getting a return? Do you have any, any methodology on that? Do you have any method to knowing like, yeah, it's making a difference?

Chelsea Giedd 38:54

Mm-hmm. So the thing that I like to do, and I mentioned this earlier, when I have them rate on a scale of 1 to 10 on how they're doing in those areas. So I have them do that at the beginning. And then I have them do that in the end. And being able to see that ticker move, like from being at a 1 to now being to a 7, like, Oh, I love that! I love being able to see people move in that area. And it's funny because we as humans, we don't tend to see our progress like other people see it for us. Right?

Chelsea Giedd 39:20

So it's like, we're in it and we don't see ourselves growing, but when I give someone this assessment again and they take it and I show them their before results, they're like, What?! Like I can't believe I can't believe I've grown that much but because we're just in it and we're in it every day, we don't see that growth. So being able to have something like that -- if you are coaching people, have a point where they can start because if you ask them like at the end of it, How do you think this past 3 or 6 months went, they'll probably say, "Yeah, it was great and I learned this." But if you can't show them like proof, like, You got from here to here. This is not me telling you this, this is your own answers. Then it's like, Oh my gosh, this this coaching was so worth it. I so appreciated all of the help that you gave me.

Jim Collison 39:59

How often or how would -- typically, how long do you work with somebody in a coaching relationship?

Chelsea Giedd 40:04

So typically, it's about 3 months. So we meet every other week for 2 hours at a time. And I tend to find that because I'm an Activator, we do not move slow. Like every time we meet, you better believe you're going to have 10 to 20 homework assignments that need to be completed, completed before the next time we meet. So there is like a lot of talking and like getting deeper and things. But then it's also like, All right, it's time to take action, because things aren't going to move if we're not taking action towards them.

Jim Collison 40:33

That's so great. It satisfying? Are you finding you're getting to the end of those? Do you want them to end? Do they end? Do they go into a maintenance mode? What do you -- when you get to the end of these, what does it look like?

Chelsea Giedd 40:46

Yeah, so there is an option to continue with me. But my goal as your coach is to get you to the point where you don't need me. Like, I don't want to have to hold your hand through this and through your entire life and building your business. Like my goal is to empower you to feel confident in yourself to be able to handle your business and everything that goes along with it without me. I don't want to be there with you the whole step of the way. And you don't want that either. So let's get you to the point where you don't need me.

Jim Collison 41:10

That's great. That's great. Chelsea, anything -- you're going to have a bunch of coaches listening to this. And if you were to give any advice, anything that I missed, what what would you say to this global group of coaches around the world that we have, as we think about some, just some final thoughts?

Chelsea Giedd 41:27

I would say that if you are a coach, or you're considering being a coach, don't think you have to do things like everyone else does them. Tap into your own strengths and who you are as a person and show up in that way. You know, knowing that I have Empathy as my top -- I know that I can connect really deep with people. But maybe you have Strategic in your top, and that's great too. And you can help people strategically get to the next point in their life. So just realize that there's no good or bad, and if you have this strength or if you don't have it, it doesn't mean you can or you can't be a coach. I think everyone can be a coach, and that you just really have to utilize what your strengths are, to the best of your ability.

Jim Collison 42:06

I think it's great. That's great advice. I think what I've -- what I've heard from you too is, you know, as a coach, don't be someone else's coach, use your themes to be your coach, right?

Chelsea Giedd 42:16

Yes!

Jim Collison 42:17

To be you! Take advantage of the things you're best at; put yourself in a place to, to really then maximize people and making them most effective in what they're doing. OK. A couple super hard-hitting questions before we wrap this up. One: Are you running for president 2020? I just want to know -- you could announce it here. That would be a breaking, that'd be a breaking story. Here too, Becky says, Can you tell us what topics are on your your list for pre- and post-growth? You said like financial, relationship, body image. Were there other topics that you kind of cover?

Chelsea Giedd 42:50

Oh, yes. So like self-care, finances, relationships, marriage -- if they're married or in like a relationship. Because I see relationship as being like friends and family and then and then like a marriage being like with your spouse or significant other. A work career-life balance. There's 10 of them. That's 6. Sorry, I can't remember the last 4!

Jim Collison 43:16

You'll have to be coached by Chelsea if you're going to get the whole list. I'm sorry. You'l have to ...

Chelsea Giedd 43:21

Sorry.

Jim Collison 43:22

No, no, no, no worries. Becky says, This has been great! I have different strengths, but -- which is great, by the way; if we were all the same, it'd be awful -- but I'm thinking about how to use them to improve my business. So thank you. Yeah. Leslie says, Activator: I don't want to hold your hand the whole way. That's probably for you too, right? I mean, that's, that is definitely like, Let's get this in. Let's get it done. I want to -- let's, let's, let's move you on. It's probably -- do you also, with Empathy high, do you also sense how they feel differently coming in and going out?

Chelsea Giedd 43:56

Yes! And I love it because they usually were like a little bit more shy, and like even in their body posture, it's like this. And by the end of it, they're like this, and I'm like, Oh, I can just feel it, and I get so excited for them and you know, yeah, definitely. And my Developer just kicks in and I'm just so giddy and excited to see them in the growth that they've they've had!

Jim Collison 44:15

Yeah, well listen, I you can sense the the passion and the enthusiasm and your kindness in working with people. No surprise that people are doing or quitting their jobs to come over, kind of and work with you. How many, how many do you employ in the boutique?

Chelsea Giedd 44:33

At the boutique, including like a couple contractors, we're probably at about 18 employees.

Jim Collison 44:39

OK, so pretty good size. That's, that's still a lot to manage. Do you -- are you responsible for all their day-to-day management.

Chelsea Giedd 44:45

No!

Jim Collison 44:45

Do you have folks that help you as well?

Chelsea Giedd 44:47

Yes. I have two managers underneath me that just take care of everything. Like they're so incredible. I'm so blessed to have them.

Jim Collison 44:53

So great. Yeah, yeah, they're they're worth their weight in gold.

Chelsea Giedd 44:56

Yes, absolutely.

Jim Collison 44:58

To have a great leadership. Chelsea, anything else before we wrap it? Are we, are we good? Did we cover everything? Is this everything you were hoping for to be on Called to Coach?

Chelsea Giedd 45:05

And so much more, Jim! Thank you so much! I, like I said, from the first time I took strengths to now, I have just fallen so deeply in love with StrengthsFinder. I think it's one of the first things I say to people when I meet them, like, have you taken the StrengthsFinder? What are your Top 5? I need to know more about you! It just helps me connect with people automatically. And I get so excited being able to understand them on a deeper level just because of what their strengths are. So I just want to thank you for your time and allowing me to be on here. It's a lot of fun.

Jim Collison 45:34

Been, been a great story -- you remind me a little bit of my daughter. She has taken -- and we never forced strengths on our kids. We just talked about it and she took it. And now her friends -- you can't be her friend without have taken it. And she wants to know what they are, and they're in a spreadsheet, and she wants to talk about them all the time. And it's it's given her kind of that framework, right? I think this is -- you're finding this too, and we say this all the time. It kind of speeds up the the conversation and what's finding out -- or about discovering what's best with people.

Chelsea Giedd 46:04

Yeah.

Jim Collison 46:05

And so as soon as you can get to that, the sooner you can get to that, the better. We're naturally inclined to go find the negative; that's what happens -- that's what made us very good as a species is being able to identify things that hurt us. But what really makes us productive is when we find those things that are best in people, and then allow them to do that work in a way that's very, very powerful. And I think you're doing that every single day.

Chelsea Giedd 46:27

Well, thank you very much.

Jim Collison 46:28

You're very welcome. Hang tight for me one second. For those listening live, we'll remind everyone to take full advantages of all the resources we have available now on Gallup Access. You can get to that through gallup.com/cliftonstrengths. That's the brand new site that you might want to go out to and check out. Lots of resources available there. If you have questions after the fact, maybe you listen to the recorded -- and even in 2025, like I mentioned earlier, you can send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget, you can catch the recorded audio and video of this program as well as all the past ones. We call those podcasts. Some people watch them on YouTube. Chelsea, is your, is your podcast available as a YouTube as well?

Chelsea Giedd 47:05

It is not. No. Nope.

Jim Collison 47:07

It is not. Let me coach you a little bit -- thanks to YouTube as well. We have a YouTube channel, if you go to youtube.com, just search "CliftonStrengths." If you, on any podcast player, you can find it by Gallup Webcasts. Chelsea, tell us again, how do they find your podcast? What would they search for?

Chelsea Giedd 47:23

Underneath the Clothes. You can also find me on Instagram at UnderneathTheClothes [now business.on.purpose] as well.

Jim Collison 47:27

Oh that funny Instagram thing! That's pretty -- that's pretty awesome. Maika is out there as well. Don't forget, if you want to get a list of courses -- Chelsea has some courses, but we have some as well -- you can get access to them when and where and what parts of the world. They're available to you: courses.gallup.com. If you want to follow us for these live webcasts, because this has been kind of fun, right? I mean, I think I saw some new names out there. I expect you guys back anytime we do a Called to Coach now. You want to follow us on Eventbrite, just go to Eventbrite. Go to gallup.eventbrite.com and follow us there. And then of course, the conversation continues in Facebook. So go to facebook.com -- that makes me sound really old, right? I should -- it should only be Instagram, but facebook.com/groups/calledtocoach. We do want to thank you for joining us today. I appreciate you guys coming out, especially those who came out live, or if you're listening to the recorded version. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Chelsea Giedd's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Empathy, Relator, Developer, Includer and Activator.