We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsey Bonadonna a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lindsey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

I believe that the most innovative thing I’ve done in my career has been to prioritize slowing down, getting curious, caring for myself, and letting my intuition lead.

Lindsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

This story does not have to do with be., but I can now look at this previous experience as pivotal in how I have chosen to build be. as well as how I now choose to define failure in entrepreneurship.

In what feels like a different lifetime, I was involved in my now-ex-husband’s business which was experiencing some challenges after a large expansion. In 2017, I had given birth to my second daughter, was experiencing some health issues and had also lost my aunt in December, it was a time filled with a ton of change and encouragement for reflection (which I definitely was not doing enough of). In early 2018, my ex had asked me if I wanted to step into the role of CEO of the company, he needed to move back into production, and I remember needing to think about this. My gut definitely said “no”, but eventually, my ego of “WOW, CEO, you can totally turn this around and show everyone how great you are”, ultimately won out.

I walked into a situation that was more dire than I had thought, so I put on my red lipstick and wore a “Hustle & Heart” t-shirt, playing the part, but looking back, I was growing more ill, more disconnected from myself, stressed beyond all belief, and not doing well. No one would’ve guessed, but my gosh, it was a lot.

Through this experience, I walked through all the entrepreneurial fires, from pitching to investors, having to lay off an incredible team, trying to create an environment where the humans that did not get laid off would still want to stay, figuring out how to do projections, trying to do more with less, cutting ties with a business partnership that was not mutually beneficial, severed ties with a bad wholesale relationship to move to self-distribution (this was landmark, because wholesale agreements are for life in this particular industry), not having money for payroll the day before it was due, negotiating new terms for loan payments, I mean, ALOT was going on and there was a lot of hope too, which is what kept us going!

As our marriage, business, and my health continued to suffer, I remember asking God more than once, “Is this so hard because we’re being tested to see how much we want this, or are we holding on to something we’re no longer supposed to have?”

For a couple years, I believed it was the first; that we were being tested, and the harder we pushed, the closer we would get to relief. Later in 2018, I got really really sick, and that is the moment where I realized I needed to start to consider myself more in my life, and take time to heal and learn more about what it is that makes me tick. During this time, I started doing yoga 1x a week, I started working with a Health Coach to heal and learn more about my body and its unique needs, and ultimately, I started getting more curious and wanting more for my life.

In Fall of 2019, my ex and I separated, and that ended my time at his company as well. I remember not wanting to let go of my position, I wanted to still help, but truly, the clean, immediate break he proposed in regards to the business was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. As I struggled with not being able to tie up loose ends, I started deepening my knowledge of health and wellness, and sharing my passion of helping others see what is possible in their lives.

4 years later, I am able to open be. with confidence and knowing because of what I experienced previously. What I learned did not work was pushing, hustling without clear direction, letting my ego lead, letting my personal worth be defined by what was going on in the business, and defining failure as losing the business. All of that just landed me sick, stressed and unable to be fully present for my life and my loved ones.

As be. started to come to be., I made a very conscious decision to slow down, follow my intuition, recognize that I have nothing to prove, and I am loved regardless. As I think about what failure looks like with be., it has nothing to do with closing, failure at be. looks like holding on to something longer than I’m supposed to, and pushing for the outcome my ego wants, instead of the outcome the God/Universe/my Highest Self wants. I’ve also chosen to do my best to make myself and people my priority over tasks that need to be done, it is NOT easy (and I definitely have days where I don’t do this as well as i’d like), but what I’ve learned so far, is that everything still gets done AND that when we prioritize being more present with ourselves and the humans around us, life feels more aligned, at ease, and connected than ever!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I am right in the midst of unlearning this in my EMDR therapy, so I am excited to share! Throughout my life, I have learned that the higher I perform, the higher standard I hold myself to, the less emotionally “messy” I am, the more “perfect” I am, the more I strive, etc. the LESS likely it is that I will be unloved or left.

While be. is not my first entrepreneurial journey (I launched my health & life coaching business, Kale & Cake Wellness in 2020 and have previous experience in my ex-husband’s business), it was the first time that I felt like I really put myself out there. be. is truly my whole heart, soul, and what I believe is my life’s purpose, being brought to life publically in the form of a beautiful historic brick-and-mortar building. That being said, I’ve really had to do some hard self-work to realize that I do not have to hold myself to these incredibly high standards of perfection, that I can be vulnerable and imperfect, that I do not have to strive 24/7, that I truly can just be, and that in itself is enough! I am STILL loved, I am STILL valued, I am STILL safe, and everything will be ok regardless.

In fact, I’ve also noticed that the more I am me, the more vulnerable I am, the more I step back and let things unfold, the more I prioritize my wellbeing, the less I push, the more I listen to myself, the more I lean into the unlearning of the beliefs that once kept me safe, the more that others feel empowered and inspired to slow down, and get curious about what beliefs may no longer be serving them too. the same. It is hard to human, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have created a space where we are able to learn and human together!

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