A conversation with Leslie Kuster, a Business Lifestyle Mentor, Entrepreneur, Author, Inspirational Speaker. Leslie is a guide for women entrepreneurs over 50, helping them find success and freedom.
Leslie Kuster is a multiple seven figure ecommerce brand owner whose business Back From Bali offers women bohemian chic clothing ethically made in Bali. The success of Back from Bali affords Leslie the life of her dreams, and she is passionate about igniting and inspiring other women entrepreneurs to rise while they create the financial and personal freedom they crave. Leslie empowers women to live their true freedom by teaching them how to create a business that aligns with their deeper core values enabling women to work in a way that brings ease and flow into their daily lives so they can live truly fulfilled.
Leslie discusses her journey from being a silent observer of gendered financial roles to becoming a beacon of success and autonomy. As Leslie shares how she challenged the beliefs she created in childhood and significantly scaled her Bali clothing business from five figures to multiple millions in revenue, she emphasizes the importance of mindset shifts, focused effort, and the power of seeking mentorship.
Leslie now believes that it's never too late to redefine financial success, and shares strategies for prioritizing and taking action in business. The conversation underlines that financial freedom and success are deeply connected to one's beliefs and actions, encouraging listeners to challenge their money stories and pursue their financial goals fearlessly.
“I believed that having more money and focusing on money would make me a superficial person who wasn't spiritual. These were my beliefs and I started to go okay, so why do you think having more success is going to take away your freedom? And I started to write down in my journal things like: "More success, well, I won't have freedom." And then I changed it to: "I have more success and I have a lot of freedom; I have a lot of money and I'm a very giving, spiritual person." I started to change the mindset and this was what changed everything. And that was it. I was going in a whole new direction.” - Leslie Kuster
Key takeaways:
-You will never be alone. Leslie shared her decision to take some insurance money she had received, quit her job and travel alone to Bali. Though she was scared, her cousin Jennifer assured her that she would never be alone. When you travel with a girlfriend, when you travel with another partner, you're not as apt to meet other people. But when you're traveling alone, people come up to you, and you go up to others.
This is true for the entrepreneurial journey in general. Once you take the leap, you will be introduced to people and situations that you wouldn’t encounter otherwise.
-The knowledge of what you DON’T want to do can fuel your journey, in the absence of a vision of where you’re going. Leslie returned from her trip and decided to launch her business, importing children’s clothing from Indonesia to sell at street fairs. She acknowledges that she was brave, but to her the idea of going into a company again was worse than the fear of trying to make something new work.
-Once you have an idea, take action! So many of us think: I’ll do that eventually, after I put my website together, after I do this or that. Leslie attributes her success to her ability to see the big vision, break it down into the action steps needed and then make them happen. She also was very clear that she did not want to take on debt to fund her business. So she intentionally started small and grew the business over time.
-Recognize your money story and the impact it is having on your life. Leslie had a belief that more business success would take away her freedom, and that having more money would make her a superficial person who wasn't spiritual. She changed her mindset to: I have more success and I have a lot of freedom. I have a lot of money and I'm a very giving spiritual person. For Leslie, this change in mindset changed her business and her life.
About the Guest:
Leslie Kuster is the money and freedom guide for women entrepreneurs over 50 who also want to fall in love with life again.
Leslie's message is that "It's never too late" to create success, financial wealth, and a life of freedom. Leslie Kuster’s well-earned knowledge is born from experience. In her mid 50’s, she was able to ricochet her Back from Bali clothing business from 5 figures to multiple millions. She is now helping other women entrepreneurs of all ages realize their dreams and grow their businesses.
Leslie is the best-selling author of 7 Keys to 7 Figures: The Women Entrepreneurs' Guide to Money and Freedom.It provides women entrepreneurs seven master keys to unlock a successful, money-making business.
Website: www.lesliekuster.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lesliekuster
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lesliekusterofficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093979500773
Resources: Million Dollar Mindset Resources
Book: 7 Keys to 7 Figures: The Women Entrpreneur's Guide to Money and Freedom
Stay connected:
Connect with Laura on LinkedIn
@Rotters5 on Twitter
Connect with Laura on Facebook
Subscribe to my YouTube channel
Subscribe to my newsletter
Get your free copy of Unlock Your Money Blocks Workbook: Your step-by-step guide to unlocking your blocks to financial freedom.
Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Leslie Kuster I believed that having more money and focusing on money would make me a, you know, a superficial person who wasn't spiritual. These were my beliefs. And I started to go, okay, so why do you think Having more success is going to, you know, take away your freedom. And I started to write down in my journal, things like that.
More success will, I won't have freedom. And then I changed it to, I have more success and I have a lot of freedom. I have a lot of money and I'm a very giving spiritual person. I started to change the mindset. And this was what changed. Everything. And that was it. I was in a new, going in a whole new direction.
Narrator
Welcome to making change with your money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves. Now, here's your host.
Laura Rotter
So I am so excited to have as my guest today, Leslie Kuster. Leslie is the money and freedom guide for women entrepreneurs over 50, who also want to fall in love with life again. Her message is that it's never too late to create success, financial wealth, and a future. and a life of freedom. Leslie's well earned knowledge is born from experience.
In her mid fifties, she was able to ricochet her back from Bali clothing business from five figures to multiple millions, and she's now helping other women entrepreneurs of all ages realize their dreams and grow their businesses. So welcome, Leslie, to the Making Change With Your Money podcast.
Leslie Kuster
Oh, I love it.
I love this. Thanks so much, Laura. I really appreciate being on your show.
Laura Rotter
I'm excited to see where our conversation takes us. And I'll start us off with the question I always start with, which is, Leslie, what was money like in your family growing up?
Leslie Kuster
Yeah, I love that question because that's where it all begins, doesn't it?
So my dad, they never spoke about money and you know, and I've, I've done a lot of money reflection in these last years and I realized I, they never really talked about it. They never really taught me about money. They never, I never know how much money my, my dad made, but what became clear to me was that the men in the family are supposed to be the ones making money.
And the women in the family that they're not the ones that's supposed to be really making money or focusing on money. And as I started to think about this more and more, I realized that the value of a man in my family was definitely someone who made wealth and made money. And a value of a woman would have been someone who found a man to marry, right, or connect with, and that was then their value.
And that was pretty much what I grew up with, which is, which I guess is kind of traditional, you know.
Laura Rotter
Thank you for sharing that.
And what I would reflect back at you is certainly the first part you said that Many of us don't have any idea about money. We're not taught about money. Our parents often don't talk directly about it, but do give us messages about it from the way they act and carry themselves.
I'm curious when you talked about the second part, which is the roles. And I would say that I've had a mix of comments specifically to gender roles People I've interviewed, and some of it is tied to whether or not you, for example, had brothers. Were you, did you have siblings? And were you treated differently if you had brothers?
Leslie Kuster
Yes, I had two, I'm the oldest, I had two younger brothers, and It was just assumed for sure that they are going to make money, that that's what they're supposed to do. And I really was never challenged is really how I felt. I never had conversations in my family of like, you know, study or get a good job.
Or, you know, my dad was super creative, real, real creative entrepreneur. So. He would often have like games in the car where he, where if we were driving for a long time, he would say, okay, let's create a commercial. Like what would, you know, the copy be for a commercial if we were going to sell toothpaste, for example.
And so he would like play these games in the car for us to think about how we would promote something or market something. But I was never really directly told. That it's really important that you make money, that you don't depend on anybody else. I was never told that. And my brothers just assumed, being a guy, that of course that's what they need to do.
Laura Rotter
And should I assume that your mom was a stay at home mom? And so, did reflect those values?
Leslie Kuster
My mom was a stay at home mom, but when I was 15, so maybe she was, I don't know, in her late 30s or 40 or something like that, she started a business and she started a party planning business, which I would work at after school when I was like 15 years old.
And so she did start getting into being an entrepreneur and that whole world, but it really. Wasn't for making money at all and and i've talked to her about it recently and she said i never thought about making money i it was like i never even wanted to make money it was like off her radar that this was something that she should do or wanted to do or hope to do or anything she wanted to create the business she loved parties she loved beautiful things she loved you know that whole world she was really good at it.
But it wasn't for the purpose at all of standing on her own feet or because she had to.
Laura Rotter
So interesting. It's also interesting for me to hear that both your parents, it sounds like, were creative entrepreneurs, as you put it. So that they did model for you of not necessarily working for someone else, but if you are going to earn money or do something just for intellectual stimulation that you would work for yourself education treated in your family? Was that taken for granted?
Leslie Kuster
You know, again, I was not really directed like, you know, study well and get good grades, and it's really important for you to, you to excel as a person, or I was kind of just left to Live my life. I was living in New Jersey. You know, I grew up in West Orange, New Jersey.
My dad was a stockbroker early on before he started his own business. And my mom was pretty much at home. And, you know, I went to school and I had friends and there was just nothing instilled in me, honestly, to, to strive in the level of striving that I chose to do much later on in life. And so In fact, I, I was much more interested in my grades.
I think even then my parents were, I mean, I would get my report card and you know, my dad was interested, my mom was interested, but I actually remember kind of punishing myself, not my parents, but me punishing myself if I got a C. Like, oh, now I shouldn't watch TV tonight. So I obviously cared about my own grades and they cared, but it wasn't, really wasn't, I was not raised to be incredibly ambitious.
And it's interesting for me to speak to you about this now.
Laura Rotter
It's interesting to hear you reflect upon it. I always appreciated, though I don't know if this is about being raised for ambition or not, there was a way in which my parents really trusted me and my drive and my judgment, whether or not they should have, and that I remember other kids Being anxious about bringing their report cards home, I felt like if I ever didn't have a good grade, my parents would automatically assume that the teacher was not a good teacher was not able to engage me.
There was. I always felt sort of unconditionally accepted, and if not, you know, admired by my parents, which I appreciated because I was in a very competitive academic environment, and some kids who got much better grades than me were like terrified to bring their report cards home. So it's interesting, just the way we, We interpret reality the way we have our stories and yeah, that it really struck you that there wasn't an expectation and, and, and that certainly reflecting back as an adult is sort of, you know, bothers you at this point, Leslie, though, I, I can look at it and say, that's great.
They didn't put too much pressure on you.
Leslie Kuster
No, they, they, they didn't. They didn't put so much pressure on me, but I think it, it, it came from inside of me and the. Change in my business and what I did, you know, in my mid fifties really didn't come from any outer situation because, you know, just to tell your listeners, I had my business back from Bali.
It's a women's clothing business, and I manufacture clothing in Bali, Indonesia, and import it into the US and sell it. 100 percent online. And I had the business for a long time and it did okay. But there, there came a point where I felt frustrated inside myself that I knew I could be doing so much better.
And so it really came from me, not really from anything from the outside. So I, I obviously like growing up had like a little bud or something, like a seed of, You know of wanting to be more self empowered, but it wasn't so much created from my parents. But as you said, they are both entrepreneurs. They both really stepped into entrepreneurship in a really big way as as I grew up and became an adult more and more.
So, you know, Even though you know getting a good job was not that important getting a phenomenal education going to you know harvard you know harvard or something was not that important what was important in my family that i was taught was entrepreneurship and to and to work for yourself and that that is a value that if you want to be a plumber great be a plumber but own ten plumbing shops you know that that was important The value that they, that that's what they really taught me.
They didn't see having, becoming a CEO of IBM of. Anything to be impressed about. So that was sort of the messages I was getting.
Laura Rotter
So just to complete the educational journey, did you go on to college? Was that paid for by your parents?
Leslie Kuster
I went on to college. I went to the, I grew up in New Jersey. As I said, I went to the university of Colorado.
I'm a skier. My family, I know, I know you go to Colorado too. I remember telling you that. So University of Colorado sort of was a fit for that reason. And, um, ended up, you know, I don't know what I did in college to tell you the truth, I ended up having a theater degree, but it was much more, the theater degree interest was much more out of a psychology of theater and the psychology of acting and, you know, you know, digging deep inside oneself in order to bring something else forth rather than.
Another way of looking at theater, to me, it was a psychological journey. So I was interested in it for that. I was interested in literature and writing and reading. I graduated. And then little later in life, when I was 40, I went back to school and got my, actually, I started one masters. I mean, if you're asking all this, I started a masters at NYU in nutrition, which.
I didn't finish and then I went back to school when I was 40 at Hunter in New York City to get my master's in clinical social work, which I did complete. So I did. I have my what's called the MSW.
Laura Rotter
So that's a long way from starting your own business. Importing clothing. So what was that journey like for you?
And I guess before that, just quickly, did you work as a social worker?
Leslie Kuster
I did, but then, you know, this was a little older. I was 40 when I got, when I actually got the degree and I had already started my business almost 10 years earlier. I was around in my early thirties when I started. back from Bali. And so, and then when I was 40, so a few years later is when I went back to school and got the social work degree.
Laura Rotter
So how did back from Bali start? What was the impetus?
Leslie Kuster
It started out of the topic that I know you like to focus on in your own self and life, and that is about freedom. So I wanted freedom is I had been, you know, I graduated university. I came back to New York. I was Doing, you know, a few jobs. I worked in public relations for corporate, different corporate accounts.
And then in my very early thirties, I had a robbery in my apartment, which gave me insurance money. And with that insurance money, I decided to do something I always wanted to do, which was to go traveling. To the islands of Indonesia, I had, I saw them on the map Java, Bali, Sumatra. And I just, I don't know why, but I was so drawn to going there.
And I got the insurance money and I just went on a trip and I went on a seven month trip and I loved it. And I loved the food. Freedom of it. You know, I wasn't working in the company anymore. I had quit and you know, every day was exciting and beautiful and traveling and the culture and and the fabrics that they made this this handmade batik with beautiful colors and all kinds of shapes on it.
I just admired the whole experience, but I had to return back to New York City and get a job again at, you know, to continue with my life and I did not want to get a job. I tasted freedom. I tasted the experience of living. And I just was like, I don't want one. And I just thought, I wonder if I jumped on the airplane and I went back to Indonesia and back to Bali in particular.
I wonder if I could bring back those clothes back to the U. S. and do like markets and street fairs and whatever and would it sell? And my, my yearning was so strong inside to never get a job again because that was really my focus. No more working for other people, no more control over my time, no more, you know, being told what to do, no, no more any of those that I was willing to go for it and do it.
And I did, I literally jumped back on the airplane. Flew 24 hours. It's really far from New York, Indonesia. I took a big duffel bag with me back then. You could, you could bring in more than 50 pounds. You know, you could bring in a bag that's 200 pounds and I bought stuff. I signed up for street fair in New York city and I was.
Attacked by the women wanting to buy everything. I mean, overwhelmed with women because it was children's clothes that I brought back and they went wild over what I had there. And the end of that day, I had like 800 in my pocket. I was like, Oh wow, this is really cool. I did another few fairs. I was sold out and I went back and that's how I started my business.
Laura Rotter
So, first of all, I just want to acknowledge how brave it was to do what you did to take the insurance money and take seven months off to travel back before Airbnbs and Zoom. And now the world feels a lot smaller and a lot more accessible. Communication networks are different. Even then, It scared the shit out of most people to do something like that.
But to do that, clearly, there was, did you have a sense that there was something beyond yourself that you somehow were called to do something different?
Leslie Kuster
I mean, I was scared. I was going by myself. And I remember my cousin, Jennifer, I had dinner with her shortly before I was leaving. And she said to me, you will never be alone.
And her words to me really. Gave me a lot of comfort. And, you know, as a single woman traveling alone, you know, anyone listening to this, you will never be alone. You know, when you travel with a girlfriend, when you travel with another partner, whatever, you're not as apt to meet other people, but when you're traveling alone, people come up to you and you go up to others.
And the truth was I really was never alone. So it, it, it, it's really true, but I was scared to leave and I was scared still when I got on the plane. But I think by the time I even got off the plane, I felt like, wow, this is, this is really great.
Laura Rotter
So Leslie, you shared that your parents were entrepreneurial.
And so you, you were able to watch, perhaps learn from them. What other skills did you bring? To starting this particular business?
Leslie Kuster
I think also from both of my parents, there are definitely people that teach you to just do it. Like you don't need a website first. You don't need this. You don't need this, you know, you don't need any of these things.
You just need to start and just do it. So that I think I very much have that from them. And that is one of my skills. And that is very much still now something that has. Is one of the reasons for my own success is because I just I take action and I make things happen and I don't just think, Oh, I'll do that.
Eventually. Like, I'll actually do it. So that's something I. I'm very happy I have inside myself.
Laura Rotter
And to explore that further, you, that you just like make up your mind to do it, you figure the pieces will fall into place afterwards.
Leslie Kuster
Over the, the years of this, you know, I've, I've now had this business. I mean, it's going on 30 years.
It's not the same business. The business that I started was children's clothing. The business I have now that I really have built is maybe about 13 years old and that's women's clothing. So, You know, as an entrepreneur, you evolve. But what I, I think about one of my skills is, is I have a lot of clarity.
And then I figure out the action steps. Needed to make things happen and I've really learned and I and I probably learned this from other coaches. I've learned it from the podcast. I've learned it from books. I've learned it from just studying how to do better and you know, my process very much is is to have like a big vision.
You know what I want to achieve for this year in a big way. And then I break it down into Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4. Q5. Q21. Q25. And then I write in the action steps, like literally what I have to do. And I have a whole process, which I can talk about or so of how I go and do all this, but I think the clarity of it and writing down the action steps, what I have to do, and then which ones of those that need to be done, like, why is, for example, having this meeting with.
My assistant more important to me than this action, which is whatever, sending money to Bali today. Like you need to make those decisions all the time because there's always so much to do, right? But how do you decide which one to do? And, and, and I think. Problems that a lot of entrepreneurs get into, including myself, I've been there.
That's why I know all this is this overwhelmed feeling because there's so many things to do, especially if you're a solopreneur, which most of us are. So how do you know which one of all of those things do you need to do? And I. And I've gotten pretty good on choosing it and how to choose it.
Laura Rotter
That's interesting.
Cause as a solopreneur myself, I guess sometimes it's not clear exactly what does need to be prioritized. What is clear is that just take the next step. And just take the next step and also similarly from reading and, um, the idea that when you have the to do list, break it down to as discreet a step as possible, not like design next month's offerings, but.
Make the phone call, reach out to this person, spend an hour doing, you know, because if it's too broad again, like you said, you'll just freeze and won't take any movement. But if, you know, not only make that phone call, but put on the to do list what the phone number is, so when I'm ready to make the phone call, I then don't procrastinate to look up.
I do have a question before we go on to explore your methodology, which is you mentioned having the proceeds when you first started from the insurance settlement. I mean, part of what you need for a business like yours is capital. And so how did you work that out?
Leslie Kuster
I started with 500. The, the insurance money covered the seven months of traveling, but that it had nothing to do with my actual business.
So I literally had 500 to invest. That's it at the time. This is again, 1990, early 1990s, there were couriers. Like you can't even imagine this exists now anymore, but there you can be a courier, meaning you can deliver an envelope from New York City to Jakarta in Indonesia, and you get a free airfare for doing that.
So that's how I got back on the plane was by being a courier. So I had a free trip back to Indonesia. Clothing there is really cheap. And I brought that big duffel bag and I Bought all kinds of stuff. And so that's how much it cost. And then I made the 500 back very fast. I made 800 in one day. And then I kept plowing that money.
And it wasn't a lot of money back in it. So, I have never wanted to be in debt. I never like that was always my goal with the business. I remember had someone else who also I met in Bali and they're starting a business. They borrowed 20, 000 from their parents. They bought inventory. They. Who knows what they did.
That is in my opinion, not a way to start a business at all. I think you should start really small. This is what I did without any debt whatsoever and just grow slowly. Now you grow really slowly that way. I grew very, very slowly for 20 years. And that's part of my story is that, and it's not necessarily the right thing for any, for everybody, but it was for me at the time.
this idea that you don't really need, you know, capital, you don't really need to go into such debts to start a business.
Laura Rotter
So I'm hearing that you do from the beginning when you said you've always had drive and you knew you've always wanted to do good things for yourself. You also knew about debt, which is interesting.
Both of us said you grow up without any information about money, but somehow you knew that debt was not something you didn't want that pressure. And how did you support yourself, though, while you were building this business slowly, you know?
Leslie Kuster
I, well, this, the business was being built, yeah, the street fairs, that's how I did it.
Oh my God, I, I almost forgot about it. How about 18 years doing street fairs and holiday markets in New York City? I mean, I literally worked. On the streets. So I would the street, you know, the street fairs start in New York City's April. I think they go usually to October and I must have seen you for sure.
18 years doing it. You definitely saw me. And this is what I did. So I didn't want the job. So I did this. So I would go back to Bali. I would buy stuff. I would bring it back. I would sign up for street fairs for And I would do every single weekend, every Saturday and Sunday, I had, uh, had this crazy guy with a van, this big, huge van.
He would pick me up. I had a walk up apartment. So we had to carry all the stuff, the tent poles, the tables. The boxes of the goods, we had to carry it down the stairs and my, in my walk up on first Avenue and 11th street in New York city and get into his van. His van had a big hole in the bottom. You can literally see the street as we were driving and we would set up the market and I would make money.
I would make, I really made money that way. And that's how I supported myself. I was at that time, I think then a few years later, I started going back to school. To getting my MSW that I mentioned before my master's in social work, but I did that and did the street for us at the same time because the fairs were weekends.
And then for 18 years, literally, I did union squares holiday market in New York city. You work 5 straight weeks outside. We had a little heater. My story, my, my Dale, who used to work with me is still a really good friend. We used to cover ourselves in like garbage bags. Cause he would keep the heat in with a tiny little heater, you know, blowing up, you know, and, and work and make sales and everything.
And that is how I supported myself. And that was my business for a very, very long time. We're talking 18 years of this. And. Then the internet started to happen. Now, now it's the, you know, starting the nineties were growing. The internet was growing 97. Still, there was no real online. This is all very new.
And the internet started and I started to go on the internet and that's how things began to change.
Laura Rotter
So you see a very long stretch, not taking on debt, you know, just having your freedom, which is such a, I know, uh, As I've spoken to so many other entrepreneurs. That is key. That's almost more important than the actual amount of money you're earning, but then something shifted.
Please tell us more.
Leslie Kuster
You know, I, I had freedom. I could do what I want whenever I wanted. I can meet friends for lunch. I can go to yoga classes. I could go to a spiritual retreat. I can go back to Bali and buy things and whatever. But in my early fifties, so I had 20 years. In my early 50s, I started to feel that I was not living up to my potential.
I had the freedom, but I didn't have really the freedom of money, okay? And I was married, am married, still am married. My husband worked. We did okay there were things i wanted more of i wanted a new apartment and i you know i still love to travel but there was restrictions financially and i started to question why aren't i making more money.
Well, first of all, it was because I didn't think I wanted any, you know, that was the first thing, but I started to really ask myself, why aren't you making more money? Do you even want to make more money? Why do you think it's not your job to make money? Cause these are the thoughts again, this is what I grew up with.
My husband should make the money. My father should give me this. This is. It wasn't really my job to do any of this. And even though on this side of it, I'm like, wow, I, sorry, I had those thoughts, but at the time they felt very real and they felt very true. There was, there was no questioning it. This, these were how things were.
And this is what I believed. I thought, and I started to question my thoughts and the things I thought were true. And I began to realize in a very short time that I had been lying to myself and that I actually wanted more than I had told myself I wanted, because I believed that success would take away my freedom.
I believed that having more money and focusing on money would make me a, you know, a superficial person who wasn't spiritual. These were my beliefs. And I started to go, okay, so why do you think having more success is going to, is going You know, take away your freedom. And I started to write down in my journal, things like that.
More success will, I won't have freedom. And then I changed it to, I have more success and I have a lot of freedom. I have a lot of money and I'm a very giving spiritual person. I started to change the mindset and this was what changed. Everything. And that was it. I was in a new, going in a whole new direction.
Laura Rotter
I'm curious as you share this, Leslie, and I do think that our mindset is so powerful. What was there a specific catalyst or you just woke up one day and said, I should be making more money. What's getting in my way?
Leslie Kuster
I wish I had that story. I know what is, I believe me, the story should go if we were in Hollywood and then my husband left me and I was penniless or someone stole all our money and I was forced to do any of this.
Laura Rotter
Or you went away for a spiritual weekend and there was a teacher that had you journal or some something.
Leslie Kuster
Something like that, that would just absolutely change it but it, it didn't come from the outside. It came, it probably was. Possibly a few grumbling years of, Oh, I wish we could buy that apartment, or I wish this, or I wish that, or feeling envious of my brothers who had more than I had, or envious of other friends who married wealthy men and, you know, had like this easy life or, you know, there was a, there was an, I remember there was an envy growing in me, kind of like a jealousy, which is a very ugly feeling.
Because at the time, between my two businesses, which I didn't mention, I had two of them at the time, one back from Bali, my current business and girl power, which really came out of the, you had asked me before, did I work in social work? I created a empowerment program for young girls. So I had two businesses.
So between the two businesses, I was not generating more than six figures, 100, 000 a year in revenue. So I said, this is no longer happening. By my next birthday, I will. And that was what got me going. And that, that was it. That was my turning point.
Laura Rotter
So you have shared with us, Leslie, that you are a process person.
So what was the process to move to a higher revenue generating business?
Leslie Kuster
The first step as I was sitting in that desk is I realized my mistake was I had two businesses and that Both of them were not thriving because when you focus on one business, that business starts to grow. And what happens always is the other one because your attention is no longer on it.
The other goes down and then you go, oh, my God, I have to focus on that one and you run to that one. Right. And, you know, I would, I would get girls groups. I would have school groups. Schools call me, I would, you know, that would start to build and back from Bali, sales would start going down because I was going online at that time and you would run over to the other.
So you're a seesaw up and down and up and down. So when I was sitting in that chair, I realized if I wanted the success, if I wanted the money, I had to give up one of the businesses and I needed to focus 100 percent on it. And that was what I did. And then that was the hard part. Which one do you focus on?
Cause both had a lot of potential. I could have really built up girl power. There was a lot of interest in it. And then came the head in the heart or rather the gut in the head going, you know, the head was going, you know, of course, you should do girl power. It's spiritual and it's helpful. And, you know, it's positive.
And of course, you shouldn't do back from Bali. It's materialistic and all of that. But my gut kept saying do back from Bali. And yeah. In that moment, I just said, that's it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to choose the gut reaction. And luckily it was very strong in me. There wasn't really like, I'm really not sure which one to do when I really got honest and I felt it inside my body, which one was the right one to do?
Not the one I thought was the right one to do. Once I decided, And I felt like, you know, the energy in the room shifted. Honestly, I felt like little tingles up my spine. I felt like if there are angels in the room, they would have been like, how long? And that was, in fact, my first feeling. Leslie, what took you so long to make this decision?
Like, why did you take this long? And but once I did, I did. So that was the, that was absolutely the first. Actually, it's the second. That's key number two in my book, Focus.
Laura Rotter
Leslie, what practices do you use to help you be in touch with what you refer to as the gut, I might say intuition, to hear that voice that ultimately said what took you so long, because culturally we're taught not to pay any attention to that voice.
And so did you have specific practices that helped?
Leslie Kuster
Yes, yes, absolutely. Yes. So when I turned about 30 just when I just when I went traveling in my business actually that around about that time I started I went to a spiritual retreat and I learned their meditation and I dancing and expression and following your intuition and and meditations breath work all of that.
And this has been a huge part of my life. I've been doing this for more than now, 30 years. And also, as I said before, I was always interested in psychology. I was always, you know, social work degrees, you know, theater psychology. So I was always interested in self discovery. I've been a jerk journaling since I was 17 years old, always writing my feelings, my experiences, going to therapy, doing, um, All kinds of different things to know who I was, who I am, but definitely the spiritual practice that I started 30 years ago was huge.
It's the feeling of empowerment I have because I, I know what I created and what I can continue to create. So it's the strength that it's given me. That's what the money's given me. And that's really, and so unless you understand really what you're. What you're going for and what I call it is yearning. I speak about this a lot that yearning is really in my opinion, the deeper reason behind wanting, so I wanted money, but what I yearned for, for was, was independence and for self self empowerment, that was what I was yearning for.
So you need to know why you're, why you're doing this.
Laura Rotter
That is so, so beautifully said. And I so agree. I, I once heard someone say, and I think I put it on my website. You're not the sum of your earnings. You are the sum of your yearnings. And as I know, I've shared with you, when I start to work with new clients, The first thing we do is talk about their values and identify their top four values, because I think when people come to financial advisors, it's like, help me grow my assets.
And the question is, why? Who do you, who do you want to be? What are your goals? Is it to spend more time with family? Is it to travel more? Is to, is it to give back? What, what do you want the money for? And I think for myself, as you know, I, I did have a, a high earning period in my life on Wall Street. And it's interesting to look at how both my sister and I separately were the primary breadwinners of our families.
And so what was the money story? I often ask myself, and I don't a hundred percent know the answer, but clearly there was a money story of scarcity that we both grew up with it. Like we're not depending on anyone else to take care of us. We didn't. I think feel financially secure growing up. And so without consciously knowing it, we chose to be in control of our earnings power.
And then, you know, belatedly at some point I woke up and I said, this is very nice. I have financial security. I'm miserable. And. And then, you know, so what is the why and what do I want my money to do for me? Thank you for sharing the importance of that. I know that you have a book that you've published that I'm going to put in the show notes.
I just want to know, Leslie, is there anything in particular that you want to be sure to share to women who might be listening to this and feeling like, I am so inspired by Leslie's story, where do I start?
Leslie Kuster
You know, really, my message is it's never too late. I did this when I was about five. 52, 53 years old.
And I brought my business from five figures to multiple seven figures at that age with, by the way, no business experience, you know, at all, I never went to business school. I manufacture and sell women's clothing. I don't know how to sew, how to, how to make a pattern. So all of these things, it's my, that's my message is if you really want it and, and you need to know what you want or what you yearn for.
And if that's what you really want, then it's all possible. And there's, there's age won't stop you. Money doesn't have to stop you. Nothing has to stop you. So that's really is. The, the, the message that I want to tell everybody there's systems to do, there's, you know, ways to do things you need to learn and, and, and understand how to, how to make things happen, how to do your to do list that day.
You know, I will say that the, the huge turning point for me in particular, once I focused and all of that is that I hired a consultant to guide me through this. Who, by the way, I still work with to this day, 13 years later, I still work with Lisa Satora and I, I would never be where I am right now without her because I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.
How do you, you don't know what you're supposed to do? How would you know when you don't know anything? So I would say anyone listening to this, who's sort of starting out. I know there's a lot of coaches out there and there's a lot of, you know, guides out there. Pick someone, I always say, hire someone who is who, where you want to be and was where you are now.
So for example, if you are building like me in the e commerce business, you don't hire a life coach, for example, you hire a business coach. So, but when you find and hire the correct You know, or your case, you know, you, you know, you, you're in financial planning. This is who you hire. But when you find that person, that coach, consultant, whatever mentor, then you're on your way.
And then basically you follow directions.
Laura Rotter
You be humble. I have to thank you so much for saying that because so many of us feel like, again, we need to reinvent the wheel. We need to do it on our own. And again, women. are often the least likely to reach out and pay and pay for help. Help costs money and help takes you to the next step.
And I really think it's so important that you share that. I, uh, yeah, I'm often independent of telling, you know, people, of course, to get help organizing and clarifying their financial lives. I have clients that I say, hire a coach. Yes. Find the right appropriate coach. Hire. A coach. You can't do it on your own.
And people hem and haw and have a laugh.
Leslie Kuster
They do. And just to let everyone know, so did I. You know, I hemmed and hawed at first. I, I, I found her after that decision I made. I went to a conference. She was one of the speakers and I got her card and I came back from the conference and I did what most people do, which is nothing.
Right. And I, and I remember it was like maybe four or six months later. And my husband Heinz, he said, Oh, remember that lady you met at the conference? Why don't you give her a call? I was like, Oh, Oh, right. I forgot about that because that's what we do. We just forget about it. And I called her. It always makes it to me.
It always makes me laugh because the first thing she said to me was, I would love to help you build your brand. And I said, What brand? I didn't perceive that I actually had a brand. So yes, hire, help. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. So as we come to the end of our conversation, Lesley, I always like to ask. How has your definition of success shifted?
Perhaps, how is your definition of financial success shifted?
Leslie Kuster
Freedom is still my number one value. And this is the thing I have to keep working on over and over again, because I, I still run my business. And so I have to always be tweaking things, right? So I can keep getting back to that feeling of, Freedom and that experience of freedom.
So I would say it hasn't changed, but you're always going off track. You know, you're always like getting off, right? Getting off the freedom track. Like I said, I was only going to work 15 hours a week or 20 hours a week or five hours a week. And all of a sudden you're on 30 or 40 hours a week. So, You always have to be recalibrating back to what you want.
And for me, it's always been focused. Financial freedom is extremely important to me still. And I'm still I'm 66 and I'm still working. I'm working because. I like money and, you know, to me, it's, uh, it just keeps the quality of my life. I don't, I, you know, I don't want to really go into retirement or anything.
So I still think it's extremely important and very important to my life. So I'm always building my business in mind with freedom and having freedom and feeling good about myself and good about my life, but also protecting my My asset, which is my business, which helps me have more freedom.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. And I love that you said we're always recalibrating because again, as a solopreneur myself, I feel sometimes I beat up on myself that.
I've created this life that pinched myself if I would have, you know, known that I could have the kind of time freedom, potentially, you know, as opposed to having to be at a trading desk at a certain time for a certain amount of hours, and yet to keep that sense of wonder and excitement and freedom alive.
is another constant practice. We can get stuck in our to do lists. I do agree that as someone who's, you know, my top values are family and giving back to community. That takes money. It takes money because you want to travel with your family. You want to rent a house big enough for everyone to come ski together.
And it takes money and to enjoy and embrace What financial resources enable us to accomplish is so important. So I love to hear you say that.
Leslie Kuster
Yeah, no, it's really important. And that is one of my messages that I think, you know, in order, in order to, in order to enjoy money and have money, I think we should also love money and, and, and, and challenge our beliefs of whether when I say that you think that's Good or bad.
You know, it's just it's just a bunch of words and money is just something we can really use. And we we restrict ourselves and our opportunities by our attitudes towards money and talking about money and all of that. So I one of my messages for sure to women in particular is to learn to love money. and learn to say you love money and that you actually want money and not to feel bad or that you're a bad person because you want that.
Leslie Kuster
Thank you so much. I'm so happy that you agreed to be my guest, Leslie. Great conversation.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Leslie Kuster, mentor, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. And some takeaways are you will never be alone. Leslie shared her decision to take some insurance money she had received, quit her job, and travel alone to Bali. Though she was scared, her cousin Jennifer assured her that she would never be alone.
When you travel with a girlfriend, when you travel with another partner, you're not as apt to meet other people. But when you're traveling alone, people come up to you and you go up to And this is true for the entrepreneurial journey in general. Once you take the leap, You will be introduced to people and situations that you wouldn't encounter otherwise.
My second takeaway, the knowledge of what you don't want to do can fuel your journey in the absence of a vision of where you're going. Leslie returned from her trip to Bali and decided to launch her business, importing children's clothing from Indonesia to sell at street fairs. She acknowledges that she was brave, but to her, the idea of going into a company again was worse than the fear of trying to make something new work.
Third takeaway, once you have an idea, take action. So many of us think I'll do that eventually. After I put my website together, after I do this, after I do that, Leslie attributes her success to her ability to see the big vision, break it down into action steps needed, and then make them happen. She also was very clear that she did not want to take on debt to fund her business.
So she intentionally started small. And grew the business over time. And finally recognize your money story and the impact it is having on your life. Leslie had a belief that more business success would take her away her freedom and that having more money would make her a superficial person. Who wasn't spiritual, she changed her mindset to, I have more success and I have a lot of freedom.
I have a lot of money and I'm a very giving spiritual person. For Leslie, this change in mindset changed her business. and her life. If this has struck a chord with you, please don't hesitate to set up a call with me. I'd love to put together a plan for you to move forward to live your life with purpose.
Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss next week's episode. If you love the show, a rating and a review would be greatly appreciated. And maybe you can share it with a friend who might not have heard of it before. Thank you so much.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to Making Change With Your Money. Certified Financial Planner, Laura Roder, specializes in helping people just like you. Organized, clarify, and change. and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www. trueabundanceadvisors. com forward slash workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.