A conversation with Christiane Schroeter, Professor, Speaker, Podcast host and founder of Hello Happy Nest Business & Wellness coaching. Christiane has 20+ years of experience helping women in business improve their health and confidence so they can show up for their lives and businesses differently.
Dr. Christiane Schroeter, PhD, is founder and owner of Hello Happy Nest, providing mastermind, coaching and online wellness support for hundreds of female entrepreneurs in various countries. She is host of the top 1.5% global ranked podcast show Happy Healthy Hustle, and helps female business ownders optimize their health and mindset for peak productivity and confidence!
In this conversation, Christiane shares her early money-saving techniques from her German childhood as well as how she came to study in the U.S. through a Fulbright Scholarship. She talks about her transition from academia to entrepreneurship, and her unique approach to coaching women in achieving financial savviness and overall well-being.
Christiane imparts her personal philosophy, which values networking and authenticity in order to carve out a successful path in any field. Key takeaways of our conversation include the significance of community support, breaking down big goals into manageable practices, and the journey towards finding true success and happiness beyond traditional metrics.
“In my mastermind collective, as the name says, collective, I'm very much focusing on the community, on the connection and on the collaboration, the three Cs. So how can we have others that chime in that are at different points along the journey of reaching their goal, giving each other honest feedback but also sharing their own struggles? That's so important because you connect with others when you put yourself out there and you are showing your vulnerability.” - Dr. Christiane Schroeter
Key takeaways:
- If you’re considering it, go for it! Christiane encourages us to take messy action. Women tend to over prepare before moving forward, but actually only taking authentic, vulnerable, messy action can lead you toward your goals. In her own life, Christiane decided to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship in order to study in the United States, knowing that there were only 7 to 8 applicants from her home country of Germany that were accepted each year, because if you don’t apply you’re definitely not going to be accepted. And she was selected!
- Make yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable; that’s where the change happens. Christiane shared that, when she first arrived in the United States, it was very tiring to listen to a foreign language all day long. Yet she notes that it is at the intersection of comfort and challenge that the learning happens.
- Break down your big goals into small practices. Christiane calls the practice of looking at what you want to achieve and reducing overwhelm by breaking it down into smaller goals petite practices, using the French word for small. It may be hard to do when we first start but, by practicing it becomes a habit that we get better and better at.
- Connect with community. When you share your business ideas with those close to you, you might not necessarily receive honest feedback. Christiane calls it “the mom effect," when your husband tells you that your idea is amazing. Instead, Christiane encourages us to develop a community to both give you honest feedback and share the struggles they are going through, so that you don’t feel alone.
About the guest:
Dr. Christiane Schroeter is a Business & Wellness Coach known for her European flair. She helps women improve their health and confidence so they can show up for their life & business differently. Christiane has a Ph.D. in Health Economics and teaches Marketing, Innovation & Entrepreneurship. She earned multiple national and international teaching and publication awards. Most of her clients find Christiane through her Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, ranked among the TOP 1.5% globally. Christiane creates a community on Instagram and YouTube, sharing how to nurture your health without the overwhelm.
Website: https://hellohappynest.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeschroeter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hello.happy.nest/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelloHappyNest
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZxExmwhF99BhpPuaEtSlDg
Podcast: Happy Healthy Hustle
Free resource: Weekly Planner
Email address: info@hellohappynest.com
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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.
Christiana Schroeder
In my mastermind collective, as the name says, collective, I'm very much focusing on the community, on the connection and on the collaboration, the three C's. So how can we have others that chime in that are at different points along the journey of reaching their goal? Giving each other honest feedback, but also sharing their own struggles.
That's so important because you connect with others when you put yourself out there and you are showing your vulnerability.
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. Certified financial planner, Laura Rotter.
Laura Rotter
I am so excited to have as my guest today, Dr. Christiana Schroeder, a business and wellness coach known for her European flair. She helps women improve their health and confidence so they can show up for their life and business differently.
Christiana has a PhD in health economics and teaches marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship. She enjoys creating community and sharing how to nurture one's health without the overwhelm. So I'm looking forward to hearing a lot about that. Christiana, welcome to the making change with your money podcast.
Christiana Schroeder
Thank you so much for having me, Laura. I'm really excited to be here and what a great way to get this started with this introduction that kind of already gave away a few of the fun facts that I'm going to share here today.
Laura Rotter
Great. So before you start to share your fun facts, I'm going to start with the same question I always do.
Christiana, what about money is important to you? And what was money like in your family growing up?
Christiana Schroeder
I think that's a great question because especially for females, and I am an entrepreneur and I am, am a professor. I think there's just so much that we feel that we are not educated enough about, right? And we tend to be very shy in talking about it.
It nearly seems to be an off topic where we Either we don't want to admit what we are earning, or we don't want to admit how little we actually know about money. And I always say, you rather take messy action and say, all right, I'm here to learn, I want to educate myself. But at the same time, that messy action will actually then also lead to reaching your goals, which might be making more money.
And it sometimes comes from a place of being authentic and being vulnerable. There's so many areas in our life where this really applies. Visibility is one of those areas I see a lot in my coaching. Money certainly directly ties into that by kind of throwing the blanket on not knowing things. Sometimes.
We actually deserve ourself so much that it only makes things worse. Because if you think about it, like maybe you're struggling for money and you put a blanket over it, and then all of a sudden you realize another place where you maybe should know more about how to manage money and you. Throw a blanket over that too.
And all of a sudden your whole life is becoming patched up with these little areas. It will only really set you up for failure. And you feel like you're this mouse in this little wheel right there. So I would say growing up the money mindset that I really have, and this is actually my first fun fact about you.
I grew up in Germany. I actually had these pigs where you put money into it, like these piggy banks.
Laura Rotter
Oh, like a…
Christiana Schroeder
yeah, piggy banks and actually have three different ones. Um, I had a ceramic one that was quite large. It was hand painted. I had a red one. I think it was more like a plastic one. And then I had a small one and I dedicated these pigs to different Goals with regard to money.
So the big one for me was this is going to be my big savings goal right there. And then the middle one, the plastic one was the one that I opened all the time. And then this little one was like, maybe like little surprises that I buy myself every so often, but they're not a big spending goal, so to speak.
And so that's kind of how I grew up and had these pigs sitting there. So I looked at them all the time. I was very aware of my. My pigs were there and they were basically looking at me. If you think about this now, it's totally like, sounds like not safe. Like she had her money sitting in her room and he could have just stole the child's piggy banks.
But what I'm trying to make to you is If you feel you're not really tuned in with how your money reaches your goals, you need to make it very visible for you and write down your goals, and then really break it into different chunks. And maybe those chunks mean, as I say, that you start creating like little pathways that are, Lead to reaching those goals for you.
So I hope that already gave you a little fun fact about what this amazing conversation is going to be like here today.
Laura Rotter
Christiana, where were you getting the money to put in your little pigs? And how old were you when you already had a system in place for savings?
Christiana Schroeder
So I'm a very much a system thinker.
Probably, I have a little bit of like a photographic memory, so I need to see things, and then I remember them, but at the same time, it probably, that's what that European flair is. It probably comes from the fact that I am German. I like routines, I like structure, and I also like to make it fun. So the piggyback thing, when I describe them to you, I hope you can all see in front of your eyes like this big ceramic pig that's like hand painted with like these cute little flowers and then this red sturdy looking plastic pig and then this little pig, right?
They actually have a piggy bank on my desk right now too, I can pull you up.
Laura Rotter
Ah, I'm, Christiana is showing me a little blue plastic pig. So the theme in use.
Christiana Schroeder
So I like to collect quarters and coins in this pig because our area downtown where I live in California has a parking system. And whenever I get there, I don't want to get out my credit card and pay for the parking.
I actually like to use the coins because I don't like carrying coins with me. So every so often I have a little pouch, a little gift card pouch in my car. I refill my gift card pouch with the coins and so I get rid of the coins that otherwise would be lying around in my house. They're all collected in here and it pays for the parking then.
So I have a very good system, speaking of system, in using coins.
Laura Rotter
Coins are my piggy bank. This is my parking piggy bank. So were you five when you had the system? Were you ten? I'm just trying to situate how young you were when you had an awareness of the importance of saving and the importance of having a system for your money.
Christiana Schroeder
That's a good question. How old was I? You know, actually, Laura, I think I even have pictures where I'm sitting with my piggy bank, and now that I'm thinking about how old these pictures are, probably, I would probably say, like, seven, eight years old. You were quite young. I was definitely, you know, I was able to read.
Because I wrote little signs that I put in front of the piggy banks. I labeled them. Of course, I like labeled things, and oh, it makes me so excited to label machines that print out little, oh. Anyway, so I remember that. And the piggy banks had a very dedicated purpose and the purpose was on the label. And that's something that I made very visible in my bedroom.
I remember when I went to sleep, I saw the piggies when I woke up, I saw the piggies and I sometimes took them out around the house just to make my family aware, which is kind of like, you know, if you think about money goals, you have to actually share them with others. Feed that you can just keep them in your head because it's not going to happen.
Right. Right.
Laura Rotter
Ah, yes. Intentionality. So were you the oldest of your family? No, the youngest. Really? Cause you have this sense of responsibility about you and perhaps because you were the youngest, it gave you a maturity that you might not have otherwise had. So we know you to have been born in Germany, Christiana, and now you're sitting in California.
Can you sort of walk us through succinctly what that journey was? How did you come to leave Germany?
Christiana Schroeder
Yeah, and actually I'm going to tie it in with money again, right? So I was always passionate about languages. I knew though, speaking about money, that I didn't want to work in a job where I'm translating all day.
I didn't really see that those job opportunities would be like the path that I want to take that have opportunities that get me to the very top. And I mean, that sounds funny, but I saw myself with language as being very limited in a box with being a translator. I didn't want to do that for all of my life.
At the same time, I was really passionate about food and health and wellness. But also marketing. So I thought, Hmm, I should study something that ties in the food, the health, the wellness, the marketing, the economics, and then maybe I work for a company or a university or anything like that. And I felt that going abroad would be really broadening my horizon.
Super expensive to go abroad. So studying anywhere at European universities, sometimes people think, Oh, it's free. If you really study at some of the top notch universities in England or in Paris at the Sorbonne, it's a lot of money. Really? Yeah, it's, it's quite Because they're private. Yeah, no, it's private.
The public university system, of course, is free. I had big goals and I, I was speaking about the piggy bank thing. I knew that those big goals would be big money. So I started applying for scholarships and the one scholarship that I knew would pay for my abroad trip, as well as the health insurance, which is very expensive, of course, if you think about that, you're going abroad is my gosh, you know, your German health insurance, not going to pay for that was the Fulbright scholarship.
And the Fulbright Scholarship is essentially a one to one exchange program which treats A visitor in the United States as really exposing them to all the unique experiences. You're basically a guest in the United States and then going back to your home country and enriching your home country with all the knowledge that you gained, right?
And at the same time, there will be a person from the United States that travels to your home country, very, very selective. So out of the 85, 90 million people in Germany. There are only, I think, seven to eight applications that they would accept every year, right? So a crazy selective process, but that's just basically my philosophy in life.
I just go for it, right? Because if you don't apply, well, you're not going to get selected, right? So I did apply for it. And I was selected and I'm, I'm really proud of course, that's how I financed very expensive college education in the United States with it. So I studied at Purdue and I sometimes thought, Hmm, every year of studies here, I could probably buy a fancy European car, it's so expensive to study abroad as a student.
An international student paying the health insurance, housing, the food, right? So it's super expensive. And so from the get go, I knew if I go abroad, it's not going to be, I'm going to take out a loan and I will go abroad. It's going to be, I'm going abroad. And in fact, actually ended up getting paid. While I was there, so I ended up making money because I also supported various professors with regard to getting ready for their classes, I helped them with regard to managing their students, and they loved working with me because I was like, let's get this done, you know, I'm like an action taker.
And so I brought this very organized, we know efficient. Yeah, they were like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. I want to work with you. And then of course I have these different research ideas too, where I might've seen something in Europe that could be really applied here and vice versa. I have this kind of right and left brain connection.
It was amazing. Yeah. I studied at Purdue and my PhD there.
Laura Rotter
How was your English? I'm sorry to interrupt. How was your English? It got better over time. Did you arrive with a strong? Oh, that's
Christiana Schroeder
a great question. In fact, when I was in Europe or in Germany, I wanted to actually really, really study in France.
That was my ultimate goal. And then I also went to evening school and learned Spanish. And thought of maybe going to a Spanish speaking country, evening school is inexpensive speaking about saving money. So if you want to learn a language and you want to learn it in school, evening or adult school, it's called, that's what I did, right?
Very inexpensive. So when I came to the United States, I actually sometimes wish that people would have like a little button that you could just, like a translate button, like, because you get tired, especially in the evening, you listen to the foreign language all day. And sometimes it's like, you know what?
And I just like, listen to a little bit of German now, but I would say, so speaking of what I coach and I'm a very strategic, I'm like a business strategist. That's when the learning happens. When you are at that intersection between comfortable and challenge, right? So you need to make yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable.
And that's when the change happens. So speaking of my English learning. That's, I think, really what gradually became less and less this feeling of, can I just switch it back to German? All of a sudden you start dreaming in English. All of a sudden you start counting in English. And all of a sudden you're like, all right, whatever, I'm just going to do this.
Laura Rotter
That concept that it's really when you start bumping up against the discomfort, which is so hard for all of us to do. We think we're supposed to be comfortable all the time, but that's when the change happens. That's when the growth happens. So true, Christiana. So when you say you were helping professors, what discipline was that in?
Christiana Schroeder
Mostly in applied economics. So they were teaching large marketing classes. And some of those best instructors that I helped, and I am kind of like a sponge, so I watch people, and I listen to them, and I write down notes, and I really, at that point, assimilated what makes a good teacher. I basically learn from the best, and I think that sometimes in life we have so many different resources and opportunities around us.
So I would say, you know, that as a student, I always looked at it. This is an opportunity and I need to take advantage of it. This is a privilege to be a student here at Purdue. And I'm really feeling that every day I need to wake up with a smile on my face and say, thank you for giving me this amazing chance to learn from the best and interact with the best.
And that's basically how they. Felt I was treating everything they always felt professors that when I was grading marketing assignments that I was always giving my best and if I didn't know how to do it that I would ask questions. So actually this is a fun little story was grading assignments and at the beginning I didn't know that students despite being called William which is called themselves on assignments bill.
I went back to the professor and I said, I don't even know the student is enrolled. Bill. And he's like, of course he's enrolled. He's right, like right there on the roster. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is brilliant. People take on different names in the United States. That's not even like their given name.
I didn't know that. In Germany, you are, you're like Christiana, you are Christiana. But here, wow, like sometimes they would like these names that would pop up. It would be like their second or third middle name. And I learned so much. And so I would ask, you, you have to ask questions. You have to admit, I don't know.
When I'm not familiar with this, I asked, and I never felt this would make me look dumb or stupid. I always felt you have to come from a place of being humble and being authentic. And at that point, you are actually really connecting with others because you're like, Alright, now I'm Not familiar. I didn't know.
Huh. William and Bill didn't know that, right?
Laura Rotter
I love that story. And it reminds me of years ago when I worked on Wall Street, that there was a young woman, a new analyst. She was from Princeton and very similar to you, Christiana, had such self confidence that she would raise her hand during meetings and ask What I thought were very basic questions and I was impressed at that that confidence enabled her to ask questions.
She didn't feel like it would lead someone to question her intellect if she made herself vulnerable in that way. I'm also hearing you talk about gratitude, that you were grateful every day that you had the opportunity that you had to be at Purdue. And then finally, what's come through from the beginning of our conversation.
a strategic mind of identifying what was important to follow up, what was important to pay attention to. So thanks again for this particular story. I love it. So after you graduated, what was your path?
Christiana Schroeder
Yeah. So actually, and that's what I just wanted to mention. So being strategic also means you have these goals in mind.
But at the same time, you know, the path to get there, right? So it kind of like think you're looking at the moon and you're thinking about landing on the moon, but you don't just keep staring at it. You actually think, all right, so how am I going to get there? Can't really land on the moon with just keeping on staring at it, right?
It's just not going to happen. You actually need to make a plan. How am I going to get there, right? And so I would really compare that moon landing to landing a job in the United States. Very, very challenging. If you are an international coming from an academic institution, they are not opening up their arms and say, Oh, come on here, you could work here, you could work there, because you're competing with the best of the best from other universities that are U.
S. citizens. And so you always In a completely different pool. And to this day, I seriously remember getting letters back from amazing institutions saying, we would love to hire you, but yet you're not an American citizen, so we can't. Right. And that probably has changed, but it felt like they love me, but they don't want me because I'm from Germany.
And that's really harsh, you know? And if you think about that as a female, they could probably, you know, speak similar stories about. gender discrimination. I'm sure that's probably not happening anymore. Yet though, the hiring in the academic institution is still very cumbersome if you do not have a work permit, right?
It's, that has not changed because we're going through it right now at my institution here in California with a different faculty member. It is definitely a challenge if you think of yourself In a pool of applicants where you already know you're at a disadvantage. And sometimes, you know, I'm actually like fired up, like, all right.
So I'm already knowing that I'm like behind all these others in terms of making myself competitive. And that sometimes fires me up even more. I'm like, all right. I'm like, bring it on. Right. I'm like, okay, so can't change the fact that I don't have a citizenship. So I'm not going to work for the government.
Okay. Well, at least not like the government institutions that immediately say must be a US citizen because I don't have it. Right. So what could I apply for? Why could it apply for institutions where maybe that particular knowledge, speaking of knowledge again, that I have really stands out. And now I'm going to share like another little tidbit here with you.
My personal philosophy in life is always. Hire for character and train for skill. So I always felt that whenever, whenever I was at Purdue and I also earned a master's degree from Kansas state university, I never, ever wanted to become that top elite, A plus student. And while that sounds not surprising to you, it's like, oh, she wasn't going for amazing grades.
No, I still got good grades, but I always wanted to figure out what will set me apart from the others. Because there were lots of other people that earned amazing grades, but what character can I. Figure out that will make me stand out that somebody will feel when they receive my application without even seeing me.
And so I signed up myself for working with professors because I knew those professors could talk about me positive and letters. And I also at conferences made sure to network and I interviewed for jobs that I had. Really the feeling, there's no way I'm going to land it, but I still was invited on their campus and I still networked with people, even though they sometimes didn't offer me the job, I made connections because people talk, right?
They're like, she did a really good interview and I think she would be a great fit for your institution. So there is that whole like, you know, exchange of information. So after. I would say about halfway through my PhD, I started becoming very strategic that I want to work as a professor at university.
And I started actually filling out applications and now you're like, after two years, no, it's not like I was done, but quite honestly, and that's what my major professor recommended me to after you defend. what's called, um, your pre proposal of your dissertation. You have a pretty good idea of what you're actually going to write in your dissertation, and ideally that dissertation is basically answering the questions you set up in your proposal.
It's kind of like being engaged and getting married. Right. I mean, some people break up their engagement, but most like the time, I hope that people actually get married. So it's kind of like this, you have a pretty good feeling you're going to do this, and so I basically applied for jobs and I was open with them.
I said, I'm gonna graduate in two years. Many institution invited me and I would say that because of that game plan, when I graduated, I had a job in my hands. Because from the get go, I wasn't starting to apply for jobs when I was close to graduation, I applied like way early, I made all these contacts and I was basically just looking at the job market as something I've been playing in for a long time.
So it was familiar. I had it all set up. I was like, I am basically doing what I've been doing. And that worked.
Laura Rotter
And what about academics was attractive to you? What about teaching and being in an academic environment and, and when you answer, please address the skills that you bring to that role.
Christiana Schroeder
So I think the main attraction with regard to academia for me is really, you have to be very driven.
They set up things, what's called the tenure track, and they have these stakes along the way to be, you start as an assistant professor on the tenure track to be promoted to associate. You have to reach da da to be promoted to full. You have to reach da, da, da. Then of course, if you want to stay on the institution tenure, you know, usually applying like after eight years or so, you have to reach dah, dah, dah.
So I'm very good in looking at these big goals. And then breaking them down, it's like, all right, so to be promoted to associate professor after, let's say, four or five years, how can I reach those goals from day one when I started, and I basically do this reverse engineering with all my clients to it's like, all right, you want to reach that, and you're overwhelmed and you're struggling to get there, let's break it down.
Um, and I call this actually petite practices. Petite meaning small in French and practices as something that essentially the word says, we might not be amazing at this immediately, but we keep practicing and eventually it becomes a habit because we get better and better at better at it. It's just like at the university, you expect that you publish, you present.
I can't tell you honestly, my first publications. You know, maybe not amazing and that's all right, but you know what? I still got publications out. I wasn't like, well, let me think about this for two years. I basically was like, let's get this, let's get this going. Let's let's start writing. Let's push our publications.
And you know what? You have to be okay with rejections too, because there are many of them, especially if you apply to like high tier journals. or presentations, you apply to high tier conferences, and they're going to reject you. It's not you. And it's sometimes like a total political thing. You have to be okay with that as well.
So in academia, in academia, there is this Competitiveness, but in a certain way, it's very self driven. It's truly like being an entrepreneur where you just have to keep going and you have to keep squirreling away the little nuts and you have to keep collecting. Things. And I think that's what really attracted me because it lines up with who I am.
Laura Rotter
That's a great answer.
And so I also know you, you've brought up entrepreneurship. It's part of what you teach. How did you then start dipping your toe in entrepreneurship?
Christiana Schroeder
Yeah, that's a fantastic question. It really happened when I became a mom. I think that You know, like when you're pregnant, there are these other families and they look at you like, oh, your life will change.
Get lots of sleep. I remember getting cards like, get lots of sleep. People only write that in a card. What? Like sleep while you can. Yeah, sleep while you can. Or blah, blah, blah. And I was like, and, and, It's really funny that we are that way, but we're like, yeah, right. I'm already so busy right now. How busy can I be with children?
So that's one of those areas in your life where you truly actually cannot describe it very well, how your life changes. And there are some areas in our life where you can describe and you describe and you describe, and it still doesn't work, right? It's like sometimes with, with colors, it's like, well, it's kind of like that shade of your life that will change.
But then there are like a million other trades that will change as well. So after I became a mom and I am already very strategic person, all of a sudden I realized that even the best strategy is not. Leading me to be the most efficient person. I like to have my house, like, oh, like nicely organized and looking all cute and neat, and all of a sudden it wasn't like that anymore.
And I was being really hard on myself. It was like, what did I even do today? And then there was like tasks, like cleaning dishes or doing laundry that just felt like. You know, I just did that. I can't even check it off my to do list because it's already on there again. I mean, how frustrating is that? Even you work at academia, you're checking something off, like submitted an article for publication because you won't hear back from that editor for like three months.
And so it's really gone. At home, you switch on the laundry machine and after three hours, you already have enough to fill another one. It just seemed like. I just did that. This is so terrible. And so I had to completely change my mindset. And I felt all of a sudden that I'm not the only one that's struggling with that.
So everything that I figured out how to make my life more efficient, I felt I needed to share. So I'm coming from this place because I am a professor. I'm coming from this place. I was a student. And then I became a teacher and I created a coaching program where I basically help other female entrepreneurs, moms, Other business owners to become much more efficient in their life so that when they struggle with overwhelm or not reaching their goals, we have systems in place that will get you there without feeling you're sacrificing your personal care or your.
You know, your leisure in Germany, like, you know, we have this amazing set of tools that we use and I use them in my coaching as well. So I always want to make sure is when we create systems, it's going to make your life better. It's going to make it more efficient. And you have to think a little bit of implementing something that will create effectiveness in your life.
And it will actually streamline what you're doing right now.
Laura Rotter
Can you share maybe one of the petite practices or something that helped you and that you now share with other women facing overwhelm?
Christiana Schroeder
Yeah, that's
amazing. So for instance, one way is that we frequently think about amazing ideas. And we have these amazing business goals, et cetera, but it's just all in our head.
And then even when we share it with our family and with our friends, it, this thing that happens, it's called the mom effect, right? The mom effect. So you share it, let's say with your husband and you're like, Oh, yeah, I was thinking about this business and what I'm going to do is in fact, I'm going to create templates.
And I'm going to sell these templates in little packages of 49 and they're going to be these little manuals to make me start saving more efficiently because I know how to do this. And so these templates will help other women as well. And this is my, my business idea right here. So your husband is going to be like, Oh my gosh, honey, that's just sounds like the best thing ever.
And I love that you're going to do this. Keep doing that. I love it. This is called the mom effect. You're basically telling somebody else that's very near and dear to you, your business idea. And then that person, what are they going to say? They're going to be like, it sounds like horrible. They're not going to do that.
They're going to basically give you a pat on the shoulder and say, yeah, I love that. It's just like when your children come home from work, uh, from school and they show you a little painting, you're not going to be like, what is that? Oh my gosh, I love it. Look at these colors. Oh, it's so beautiful. I'm going to hang it up right here on my refrigerator.
So in my petite practices, we are breaking down the goal. All right, you want to create templates to help other women become more financially savvy? Love it. And we're going to break it down. Let's figure out when are we going to do it? How are we going to do it? And what is really the underlying motive behind this?
What is your why? Because that's so important. We need to have that passion because otherwise this is just an idea that keeps floating around your mind, but without the why and the passion, the purpose is really nothingness, right? This is the reaching your goal with a GPS in mind. So you will need to talk to other people that.
Might actually give you feedback that will propel your idea from being just floating around your head and sharing it with your family and friends or your neighbors to something that becomes viable and visible. And that's really what I teach in my petite practices. I really figure out, okay, every day we're going to chip away at that idea.
And within, I would say, three months, you're going to have something solid right there. And that's going to be at the end of your journey. Are we ready to do this? And it feels good because you're not just like, all right, so within three months I have to do this. How am I going to get there? But it's really a plan that we are creating, very much personalized on what your idea and your outcome is.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. So I'm hearing two things. First, I'm hearing. Again, the metaphor you used earlier, you want to get to the moon. That's all nice and good, but what's the first step? And then break it down into small action steps so that you actually move forward. The other thing I heard, Christiana, was the idea of community.
Because as you said, you might have this idea of the templates. But is there actually a market? Are there other people that are interested in it? So I'm curious what the role of community plays as you help other entrepreneurs and perhaps what the role of community has played in your own journey. Amazing.
Christiana Schroeder
And it's a great question because the community aspect is actually really when we lose the mom effect that I just introduced earlier. Because now you're talking to people that you probably never met in person, you might actually never ever meet them before, just like we are talking right now, we may or we may not ever meet in person, but yet we are kind of like forming a little network on our own right now here by having this amazing conversation and I can totally see that we would hang out and have coffee together sometime in the future.
We are connecting. So in my mastermind collective, as the name says, collective, I'm very much focusing on the community, on the connection, and on the collaboration, the three C's. So how can we have others? That chime in that are at different points along the journey of reaching their goal, giving each other honest feedback, but also sharing their own struggles.
That's so important because you connect with others when you put yourself out there and you are showing your vulnerability. You can show up and say, yeah, so I'm going to create these templates. And I've been like a graphic designer in my previous life. And this is just going to be amazing. It's like, all right, well, it sounds like you got it all lined up.
So what do you even need us for? That's maybe on Monday. And then on Tuesday you wake up and you're like, Oh, I've been a graphic designer and I don't even know what to do because it's been a long time ago and everything has changed and now I'm opening things and there's an update on my computer and Oh, I don't even know.
And what colors should I choose? And then on Wednesday, you're like, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't do this. So this is like how we all go. If you think about your week, we have these ups and we have these downs and then we have these self doubts. In a community, if you put yourself out there, you are essentially taking off the edge of those highs and lows because you're going to share that and all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, everybody has that.
They have these great ideas. They're putting themselves out there, they have these lows, the peaks and the valleys. And the most amazing thing is, these people could actually look at it and really give me my little snack or my little fuel to reach the next high. Because they're going to be like, oh my gosh, I would love these templates.
And it's actually honest because it's not just like my husband saying this is the best idea ever, but it's somebody that would actually be my ideal client avatar or ICA or my target market. So in a community, all of a sudden you're becoming an element of something. Much bigger. And if you think about like, you know, going to the moon, you're not just like, okay, let's just get a rocket ship.
This is going there. I mean, this is a strategic operation and there is a team of people that does that. And the team actually will then lead to that effort right there. So you have to connect, you have to be part of a community, and then you really feel with collaboration, you're going to reach your goals.
It's really hard by yourself. And I actually always say goals are just goals, but if you don't have the system to reach them, they're always going to stay goals. That's just the fact, you know,
Laura Rotter
Yes, and it's so important as you said to do it in community and especially for women. I've always loved communities of women and their willingness to be as you said at the beginning of our conversation, authentic and vulnerable.
And I just want to share a story that came up for me, having worked on Wall Street for many years with a bunch of dudes, you know, you just went ahead and have to speak to a large group of people. I'm just going to do it. I then did a yoga teacher training. I still remember. And the women, we all had to teach individually at the end in order to graduate and teach the teacher.
And suddenly I was in a group of women where everybody was sharing, you know, their vulnerability that they were afraid that it made them nervous, you know, to do this. And it was so refreshing that I could also share whatever fears I had. I had never felt safe enough in a space to be able to do that. And I, you know, you can hear how that has stuck with me and how I enjoy, again, being in a group and really bond with people who are willing to open up and share how they may be feeling vulnerable.
So as we're getting to the end of our conversation, Christiana, I always like to explore with my guests how your definition of success has shifted over the years. And if your definition of financial success has shifted as well.
Christiana Schroeder
Yes, it has definitely shifted. And I would say that probably having children really changes what you think of success, because all of a sudden career goals or degrees or titles or awards that you win are important because they create safety.
At the same time, though, they don't really create happiness. So I can't emphasize enough about success, not just being something that you can hang on a wall, but rather something that you put in your heart. Success actually might be that, you know, especially if you're a new mom, that maybe you went outside for a walk.
And maybe that you made your child laugh, so that's all success. And do we necessarily need pictures for that? Do we need to necessarily have proof of that? No, it's just in your heart, right? There are all these experiences. So my success definition has really shifted from being a very physical or being a very status, maybe especially in academia, right?
There are ranks and it's like very clear what those ranks are and you hang diplomas on your wall and all this. So, having that orientation to move into academia and now I'm much more focused. I'm at this crossroad and I know there is this other path right here that is absolutely not safe. Because I already, you know, know, I could just be in academia and I could stay in academia, but I'm going to take this other path because it's going for my dreams.
And that's really what I want to do. So my success will come when I have the courage to go after my dreams and to take that first step and keep going down that path. And that's essentially really what happened.
Laura Rotter
So you're speaking about your own path that you As you took and veered away from academia, is that correct?
And is that relatively recent?
Christiana Schroeder
Well, I would say, so my, my oldest daughter is 16 now, and then my business hello, happiness was probably born maybe when she was about three. So it's 13 years, you know, more than a decade now. And a year ago I added the podcast to it. It's called happy, healthy hustle. So you can see I'm adding things to my plate.
To my happiness, so to speak, speaking about the name of my company, that I feel as something that I'm part of creating community and reaching out and sharing what helped me to empower others that I know need help and need support. And that's really the place where I'm at right now. So my definition of success is I want to make my message.
The medium that empowers and helps others.
Laura Rotter
Yes, it's, it's so enlivening to be mission driven, isn't it? And when you discover something in your own life, as both of us did, then we want to share that freedom that we experience. And as you said, it wasn't easy freedom. It doesn't, it, it never gets easy. But it's interesting and it pushes you against your limits.
And once you feel that you want to share that with others. I love the name of your business and your podcast, Christiana. And for women who are listening to this and feel like I need to talk to her, is there a message that you want to share as we come to close and the best way to get in touch with you?
Christiana Schroeder
Yeah, so my message would be join the club. Become a Nestea. I call them Nesteas, right? Happy Nesteas. I have people that reach out to me and they're like, you know, I, when I listen to you or when I talk to you, I already felt, or I started smiling and I started feeling that is something that I need in my life.
Because last week I Googled how to be happy. I had somebody just told me that last week. I'm very successful, but I had to Google how can I be happy? So if you are feeling. I am doing great things, but yet I don't think that all these great things are really my goals and eventually I will do these goals.
I can help you get to the goals I can break it down and I can take off some of the stress and the ease and the overwhelm and actually make you feel much more, you know, I would say agile or, you know, as I say in my, my French words, you know, feeling some more chic or putting yourself out there to where you're really feeling confident.
Yes, we can do this together with the community and the mastermind collective.
Laura Rotter
And the best way for people to get in touch with you, I will certainly put both your podcast, as well as your website and other channels, other social media channels on in the show notes. Any other way that you encourage people to get in touch with you?
Christiana Schroeder
I also have a planner that I'm going to share. It's called a petite practice planner, and it might help you get a feeling for my coaching because it breaks down some of the amazing things that we talked about today during this podcast episode. It breaks down your. Intentions, it breaks down weekly and daily planning, but it also has place for you to maybe create a mantra that will tune in more with who you are, your superpower.
And then, of course, it also has. a place for you to maybe admit like some failures and some successes. I call them my to do and my to do list, right? You have to write down things on your to do list, but you have to also celebrate like little successes. And that planner will be in the show notes, and it will be something that might help you a little bit for finding your first path on your journey.
Laura Rotter
Perfect. Thank you so much for taking the time to be my guest, Christiana. I really enjoyed this conversation.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Christiana Schroeder, professor and speaker. Some of my takeaways, if you're considering going for it, go for it. Christiana urges us to take messy action. Women tend to over prepare before moving forward. But actually, only taking authentic, vulnerable, messy action can lead you toward your goals.
In her own life, Christiana decided to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship in order to study in the U. S., knowing that there were only seven to eight applicants from home country of Germany that were accepted each year. Because, she thought to herself, if you don't apply, you're definitely not going to be accepted.
And she was selected. Make yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable is my second takeaway. That's where the change happened. Christiana shared that when she first arrived in the United States, it was very tiring to listen to a foreign language all day long, yet she noted that it is at the intersection of comfort and challenge.
That the learning happens. My third takeaway, break down your big goals into small practices. Christiana calls the practice of looking at what you want to achieve and reducing overwhelm by breaking it down into smaller goals. Petite practices, using the French word for small. It may be hard to do when we first start, but by practicing, it becomes a habit that we get better and better at.
Final takeaway, connect with community. When you share your business ideas with those close to you, you might not necessarily receive honest feedback. Christiana calls it the mom effect. When your husband tells you that your idea is amazing, Instead, Christiana encourages us to develop a community to both give you honest feedback and share the struggles they're going through so that you don't feel alone.
If this has struck a chord with you, please don't hesitate to reach out and schedule a call so we together can come up with a plan. For you to use your money to live your life on purpose. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss the next episode, which will be the first week of June.
If you love the show, I'd really appreciate a rating and a review, and it will help others just like you to find it. Thank you so much.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to making change with your money. Certified financial planner, Laura Rotter specializes in helping people just like you organized, clarify, and invest their money in order to support a life of purpose and meaning. Go to www. trueabundanceadvisors.com/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.