We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lael Warr. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lael below.

Alright, Lael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It all started during quarantine, I think we all can agree that this was a significant time of self discovery. Not many outside influences or distractions, well for me at least. I always been a purpose driven person, but I had a moment when I asked myself , am I truly living out my purpose and or making strides to becoming more and greater then who I am now. Fortunately I was able to work remotely but I still had enough time to focus in on thoughts that was crowding the back of my mind and put them in the forefront. What is my life beyond my 9-5?, what do I want to achieve that I have not yet?, am I truly fulfilled and satisfied with where I am now?, what can I do to impact others lives beyond my workplace?, and the list goes on. I found solace in writing, writing how I felt, writing my future plans, organizing my days/weeks, and setting intentional goals for myself. As I continued to dedicate more time with this, as cliche as it sounds, the lightbulb in my head went off and almost burst. A planner! The one piece that was a part of a puzzle that brought me exactly where I needed to be, can be uniquely created to do the same in the lives of others. Once the idea came to me, I stuck with it, I began to start from scratch and create what I thought would be a planner fitting for most with intentions to benefit all. A tool that will help take them exactly where they wanted to go and what they want to accomplish. With creativity, proper research, and a bunch of dedication, I was able to create a planner that helps you organize your life, motivate your spirit, and move you one step closer to your purpose. The planner became the very first product under Inspired Essentials. A brand that is meant to uplift, inspire and motivate others to live out their greatest potential.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always had a passion for building, and I don’t mean, the bob the builder kind. Building yourself into the person you want to be, living out your passions, goals, talents etc. It took me a while to discover it in myself but once I did, I knew everyone deserves to have this feeling. It started with me working with youth for years and grew to where I am now, Assistant Director of a program that helps serve youth and adults in under privileged communities. Having a hand in creating a program that allows students to drive into known or undiscovered passions, and giving adults the space and opportunity to grow in their career helped me create my own brand that serves to do the same. Inspired Essentials is meant to help motivate others no matter where they are in life. Whether you are already established in your career, or trying to figure out what you want to do with your life, it is intended to help you along side your journey. As I am just getting started, my hopes are for all who hear my story, to be inspired in their own life, as we take this journey of self discovery to its highest potential together. Plan it, Claim, It Live is the title of my planner and is what I hope we all aspire to do in every aspect of our lives.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn, was mistakes=failure. I always felt mistakes were the end of the world. Mistakes made me doubt my capabilities, made me feel as though I created a setback that I would not be able to recover from. In some of us there is an inner need to do it on our own and to do it right, and it we didn’t do it right the first time then clearly we did something wrong, something that we were not capable of doing, something that we were not smart enough to do the first time. We all have various reasons for why we may be hard on ourselves, and why mistakes can lead to self doubt. I struggled with doubting myself and being unsure, mistakes almost confirmed those negative thoughts. During this journey I found the beauty in mistakes. Mistakes, brought me insight, it brought me knowledge, it brought me clarity and most importantly grace. I learned to give myself grace through mistakes, and in almost every outcome I attained information that helped me even further in this journey.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a point in time where I thought I was closing in on the finishing of my product. At this moment I already went through trial after trial, test after test to put together what I thought was the right Planner. We were going back to working in person so I knew I wasn’t going to have the same time dedicated to this as I did during quarantine. I felt as though I was getting closer to the brand/product release date and all I needed was a sample of the product to put the stamp of approval on it. The sample finally arrives and utter disappointment. Everything that I worked so hard for was not what I expected it to be, I wanted to be wow’d, I wanted the “yes, this it it” feeling. I was frozen, all I could think of was all the improvements that needed to be made, all the more time it would take, and not to mention MONEY. I was very discouraged and did not work on this project for a while, but the more I put it off the more I thought about it. No way did I come this far to just stop, more work -get over it, reveal date delayed – oh well. Things had to get pushed back but I knew there was no way I could not continue, I spent months altering, reviewing feedback, and finding the right source for production. I kept pushing until I was pleased with the outcome, and through this I received so much strength, tenacity and resilience.

Contact Info:

• Website: inspiredessentials.com
• Instagram: inspiredessentails.bylae