Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The podcast focuses on fiercely empowering women in business, as entrepreneurs and women in male-dominated industries, featuring guests who embody strength, resilience, competence, and a touch of sass as they navigate business and life.
Looking for guests who are willing to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge but also possess the strength, resilience, and sass that align with the tone of my podcast.
I want their stories and insights to provide immense value to my audience, helping me to establish a powerful podcast as a must-listen for women looking to empower themselves in business. The goal is to build competence and discover how brave women can be in business.
Welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast where powerful women rise, lead, and own the room. I'm Kimberley Borgans, your host, fellow trailblazer, and unapologetic advocate for women in the world of business. With over thirty years of experience building success in a male dominant industry, I'm here to empower you to do the same. Each week, you'll hear bold conversations with inspiring guests who embody strength, resilience, a little dash of sass, and a little bit of grace. Together, we'll challenge the status quo, break through barriers, unlock your confidence, and unleash your inner superhero.
Kimberley Borgens:You ready? Let's go.
Kimberley Borgens:Hello, and welcome to Superheroes in Heels, the podcast that fiercely empowers women to step into command presence, own their role, and lead like strong capable women that they are. I'm your host, Kimberley Borgans. And today, I'm joined by a woman who's bringing great value into the realm of, retirement and your health needs. Right? Like, I don't think you realize how important this topic is today.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. She's not afraid to share the real talk about what it takes to be successful as a woman in business. And, you know, if you've ever felt like you've had to prove yourself twice as hard to get half as far, like, this is a great episode for you because our superhero guest today is Hollywood's Gray. And let me tell you, this woman is a powerhouse. She is a not only a powerhouse entrepreneur, she is a mother, she's a wife, she's a friend, she's a visionary leader, you know, redefining what it means to build wealth with purpose.
Kimberley Borgens:I don't know about you, but I try to build wealth with purpose. And, you know, why she's a superhero in heels for us today is, look, she's got grit. Okay? And, look, not many women bring forth that grit in themselves, but Holly does. And she does it with her faith backing it.
Kimberley Borgens:She's a fierce competitor in her industry, but not only that, she has fierce commitment to helping other people rise up as well. So let me tell you, this is just a true gift to my heart to have Holly on this session with us, and and we're excited to talk to her about, you know, leading with intention today. Like, really leading with the the intention to be successful. So please welcome my guest today, Holly Woods Gray. Holly, I'm so glad to have you here on our episode.
Hawley Woods Gray:Thank you, Kimberley. I'm excited to be here.
Kimberley Borgens:Yay. So, you know, I wanted to I want the audience to walk away with some powerful key pieces today. And so let's let's talk about some of the things that they could do, like confidence. You talked, I know you you really, help women step into confidence, you know, and the importance behind that. And you're gonna talk to them about, you know, setting some clear goals.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? I know. Look. Everybody can be goal setters. Everybody talks about goal setting, but it's different to talk about women who are, you know, six, seven, eight figure women around goal setting.
Kimberley Borgens:It's a different mindset. Would you agree?
Hawley Woods Gray:Absolutely. And the thing about it, Kimberley, I think it's more about setting goals and achieving them rather than, like, goal achieving than goal setting.
Kimberley Borgens:Because with you.
Hawley Woods Gray:Goal setting doesn't really build your confidence, but goal achieving does.
Kimberley Borgens:Absolutely. Absolutely. And then setting the boundaries around that as well so that you can achieve those goals and why time management is important. So we're gonna talk about all of those fun pieces today. So, Holly, tell us a little bit about your journey.
Kimberley Borgens:Tell us a little bit about how it is that you got to where you are today. And please tell, you know, tell people who you are and what is your business.
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. Absolutely. So my business is Women of Wealth and Appreciation Financial. So I started in the financial services many, many years ago back in 2022 twenty o two. I started in the real estate industry.
Hawley Woods Gray:I was a mortgage broker. And I I did that for a while. I was successful. I worked for a broker. I did that so I could do what I was passionate about, which was coaching volleyball.
Hawley Woods Gray:Right? So coaching volleyball to me and playing volleyball has always been something that has been basically, I fell in love with volleyball when I was 14, and I haven't given up that love affair even though I'm married. So, you know, talk about grit and being building confidence. I think my athletic journey all the way up to starting a volleyball club when the recession hit back in o seven, which was not the best time to start a nonprofit, I'll just say, really showed me a lot about how to have that confidence and grit. And I've always been the kind of person that can talk to the custodian or the CEO.
Hawley Woods Gray:However, it's different when you're doing it because you feel like you belong in the room rather than you just are kinda dabbling on the outskirts of the room. And for me, I think every chance I took with my volleyball club, I was in a partnership with some professional athletes down in San Diego. We had a sports academy called the Gonzales Sports Academy, and we had our volleyball club in there. All the way to now being in a room with, you know, multimillion, even billion dollar insurance carriers that are the CEOs that they created these products. And really knowing that I belong in those rooms has really taken some time because, you know, when you first start out, for me anyway, I had a little bit of that impostor syndrome.
Hawley Woods Gray:I just showed up. I believed I believed, you know, fake it till you make it. I don't believe that anymore, but I do believe that it did get me in the door. And Mhmm. Now my business is really I'm really in the business of helping women create wealth, whether that's through the choices that they make in their planning, their wealth planning, or they wanna switch careers and they wanna get into the wealth planning business, and they want somebody like me to be their mentor and the person who teaches them how to do that.
Kimberley Borgens:I love that. I love that. And, you know, in my previous podcast guest also talked about that impostor syndrome. Right? That little sneaky bugger just pops in sometimes.
Kimberley Borgens:It doesn't matter how successful you are or, you know, as you're still in that journey, it's gonna show up every now and again. And how do we just say, like, hey. I've got this. Right? Like and keep moving forward.
Kimberley Borgens:So I think, you know, that is great because I know a lot of people are that, you know, they're going through that right now. So thank you for for sharing that as well. So tell me about a little bit, you also work with your spouse. Right? So like myself, you work with your spouse.
Kimberley Borgens:What kind of support is your husband, in this journey of business with you? Because you're you're not just, you know, go getting up and going to work all by yourself and coming home and then seeing your spouse at the end of the day. You two work together. You live and breathe everything. You know, what I say is, you know, we live together, work together, play together.
Kimberley Borgens:Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Absolutely. Like, how is that? Well, the good news about the business that we're in is we don't actually work day to day together. Like, we're not in the we're not going out and meeting with clients together. Very rarely that happens.
Hawley Woods Gray:Every now and then, there'll be a husband wife couple, and they wanna meet with both of us, but that's very rare. Mostly what happens is we have our leadership team. You know, what happened was, like I mentioned, I started a volleyball club back when the recession hit in in o in o seven. And so in 02/2011, when I decided to close the volleyball club and shift into something else, my husband owned a successful construction company, although there was a recession that he was still coming out of. And, you know, he just told me, babe, if you could just make a thousand dollars a month, that would take the edge off.
Hawley Woods Gray:You know, that would make me not have to stress out so much. Well, done. I mean, that happened, like, overnight, basically. I mean, you know, our niche market that we've been helping at Appreciation Financial is educators. So we go in.
Hawley Woods Gray:We show the educators how their pension works, then we have products to help them fill their income gap. Well, who did I work with at the volleyball club? Coaches, athletic directors. I ran all the programs for three different three different districts for four years, and I've been coaching in those districts for a long time. So then it got to I you know, about six months in, I had a really big month.
Hawley Woods Gray:I made, like, $17,000. My husband's like, let's take a look at this comp plan. And so what was one of the best moments of my career happened in 02/2014. We had sat down, and we had really planned out how to get my husband out of construction and into something else because we're older parents. I was 43 when I had my son.
Hawley Woods Gray:He was 41, and he wants to be able to throw the football with him and all that kind of stuff. And in construction, that's hard labor. He was doing labor. He was bending over every day to make to fix and do motors on gates that open and close. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:So my my proudest moment is I retired him from that business, and he came on full time with appreciation in 02/2015. And yeah. And it and since then, you know, we have our income has grown. Our our business has grown. Our relationship has grown.
Hawley Woods Gray:But the number one way that I think he supports me is he just listens without telling me what to do. He knows that I'm smart. He knows that I have it figured out. He knows that I don't really I don't really need him to do that. But the the the reason why it works for us is I let him do that.
Hawley Woods Gray:I let him tell me what he thinks. Not that I need him to, but you know? And you and I talked about this a little bit. One of the things that I learned early on, because I didn't get married until I was later later in life, is that if I wanna be a badass in the, you know, in the the room, in the boardroom, or in any room that I'm in, that's fine. But as soon as I walk through that door, I'm Bobby's wife, and I need to act that way.
Hawley Woods Gray:I can't be the same person when I'm, you know, on the stage or talking about, you you know, life insurance or whatever the case might be that I am whenever I walk through that door. So we have what's called veto power. He has what's called veto power. He's only used it a couple times. And, honestly Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He he's only used it a couple times, but he's also the spiritual leader of our of our home. And, you know, the Bible says to submit to your husbands, and it's not exactly what most women think.
Hawley Woods Gray:It me it really means allow him to lead you. You know? Allow him Power.
Kimberley Borgens:It just is that what you're doing is choosing to allow your spouse to lead.
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. Exactly.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And you know what else I I really love is I know that, you know, moving into your you know, jumping into another program and, you're telling your husband about it, and he I remember our conversation where you were saying, like, when he said, okay. That's fine, but here's what I need from you.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. Right? And I hear so often women in business say that my spouse doesn't support me. Well, a lot of times what happens is it's because spouses don't support what they don't know. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:If you're not willing to communicate and share and be honest about why this this thing that you wanna do is important and this thing that you wanna do, yeah, it's gonna cost money, but I'm paying for speed and, you know, this it is. But a lot of times, women are just go they bounce from one thing to another thing to another thing to another thing, and their spouse doesn't even know what to believe anymore. So it's not they don't believe in you as the spouse. They just don't believe in the choices that you're making because of so much bouncing around. But your husband, you you guys communicate in business, and you're talking to each other and you're like, this is what I wanna do.
Kimberley Borgens:What do you need from me in order to be able to make this happen? Because a lot of times powerful woman is like, just get out of my way. I'm going. Mhmm. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:But when you're working with your spouse, sometimes you have to go, okay. What does he need in this process?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. And that was exactly the question that I asked. What do you need so I can take can can continue to do this program? These are the things that this program does for me. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:It gives me a group of women where I don't feel like I'm the strongest woman in the room. You know? I mean, there's not a lot of places where, you know, CEO female CEOs go where they don't feel like they're the most powerful woman in the room or that they can learn something from the people that they're surrounding themselves with. They always talk about, you know, the five people you surround yourself with. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:However, it is it really the five, or is it really for women? That number could be 15. That number you know, I mean, we have we're so great at building relationships that once we find those strong women that lift us up and don't try to compete against us or whatever, I wanna be around them as much as possible.
Kimberley Borgens:Absolutely. So much so that we travel together. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:And pretty great too. Yeah.
Kimberley Borgens:Still and still have fun and still work and still like, look. Holly and I will we'll be honest here. Like, we went on a trip together that we just, this year that, we went on an African safari. And we were in the same Jeep, our husbands, with, other couple and, another gal. And and here's what I noticed is no matter where we went, we were always talking business, but in a familiar relationship way.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, we're out having fun on a safari in a jeep, and you're talking about structures in a business with somebody. Right? Like Yeah. Because that's just who we are at a core for as many years as we've been doing business.
Hawley Woods Gray:Well, and the other thing I love about that too, Kimberley, is, like, I know your little bee thing. Right? So I'm in the I'm in the airport, and I see, like, a a little bee. It's like I think it's a keychain. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Was it a keychain? Key chain, and I'm like, oh, this is all Kimberley. Right? It's like just little things like that. Just I mean, not that not that I'm out looking for it, but when I see it, I know that this is something that Kimberley wouldn't would would like.
Hawley Woods Gray:I know this would put a smile on her face. I bet there's not too many people besides her husband or her family that get her little gifts or trinkets that just make her remember that she's a a woman, you know, a powerful woman who does have bee attitudes. You know what I mean?
Kimberley Borgens:Sometimes it feels like leaves a sting, but really creates honey for people. Exactly.
Hawley Woods Gray:Well, I love that. There's a new country song. I think it's by Kane Brown, and he's talking about his little girl in the back seat. And part of it is why did God put stingers on a honeybee? You know, she asked him all these questions, and I I I wondered about that too.
Hawley Woods Gray:Why does God put stingers on a honeybee? It's zero
Kimberley Borgens:protection, I guess. Yes. Absolutely. Well, you know, that that you know, I just wanna say that, you know, you do have grit and you are a powerhouse, and you're constantly moving forward and you're bringing your your spouse and your family with you in the process of moving forward. But let's go back to the people that you're serving.
Kimberley Borgens:It's like, really, what are some of the biggest challenges that they're facing?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. So what I find most is most women who run businesses and also individual women that are looking ahead at their future, most of them don't really understand what they have. We've kind of put our head in the sand. A lot of women have put their head in their sand around their finances. And so many people think that the the life insurance that they have through their work will be enough for them, and that's usually not the case.
Hawley Woods Gray:You know, we we look at we look at a lot of different factors when we're coming up with the amount that you need for life insurance. And, I mean, I live this. When I was 21, I was at Arkansas State. My dad passed away, and they didn't have any life insurance in place. And my mom had two and a half weeks to get out of the house she was living in, you know, because they were renting a place and she had to move.
Hawley Woods Gray:And, you know, that's what life insurance does for families. It never brings back the person, but it does give you options and it gives you choices to make that can be, not knee jerk, not reactive, but, know, you can really have some some thoughtful conversations with your spouse around it. And the other thing is I don't think women understand how retirement works. Most women, whether that's business owners or, you know, someone who's working for someone. You know, my number one tip for people who are in a nine to five, a w two employee, is if your company doesn't match, match it up to the match, and then maybe do something else other than that.
Hawley Woods Gray:But that is free money that they're giving you every single month just for contributing to their to their retirement account, their four zero one k. So match that every single time because that's free money for you for your retirement.
Kimberley Borgens:Exactly. I you know, we have employees on our four zero one k as well, and I'm like, very few of them are willing to even max that out. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and I and I hear what you say.
Kimberley Borgens:I once had a life insurance agent said that life insurance is the love letter that he's giving to his family after he leaves. Exactly. It's taking care of them when when they're gone. And so I think it's huge. Life insurance is just one piece of retirement.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, I know we just went through my mom. My mom, god bless her, my mom didn't have anything. K? She lived off of Social Security, which wasn't a lot. Luckily, you know, she sold a house that she got good money for and was able to purchase a smaller house.
Kimberley Borgens:And so she was set for the house thing. And so she bought this life insurance policy thinking to herself that if I at least when I die, my daughters will get something from me. That was her mindset. Right? And so she paid into this term life insurance, right, for for years and years and years.
Kimberley Borgens:And in her final stages of life, like, ended up we had to, on Medicare. She went into a care home, and they wouldn't let her keep her life insurance policy. Right? Yeah. And, so the life insurance policy had to be, you know, cashed out, which was just enough for her funeral services.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? That that is not the way to live. You know? And I know because, you know, I watched my mom go through this, and I know what I'm not gonna do. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:And I think that people misunderstand the value of the right life insurance policy.
Hawley Woods Gray:Oh, it is multiple.
Kimberley Borgens:What those needs really are in the future. Like, are you taking into account, like, you know
Hawley Woods Gray:Long term care.
Kimberley Borgens:Living goes up, taxes go up, all these other things go up, and you have to keep reevaluating that. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Every year I mean, I I recommend people get with their their financial people, all of them. And you should in my opinion, you shouldn't just have one. We have multiple. Even though my husband's a financial adviser, we have another financial adviser who's on our team for our personal business because sometimes when you're in the middle of it, you can't see the trees from the forest. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:You gotta understand life insurance too. There's life insurance with living benefits. It's called I mean, one of the slogans is you don't have to die to use it. Great. But it's not long term care.
Hawley Woods Gray:It's not for a care a facility. So, you know, there's cancer policies, but you have to make sure that that covers everything that you might want to do with you know? These are things as we get older, we have to start thinking about. And we have baby boomers turning, you know, 65 every day for the next fifteen, twenty years. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:It's like, these are the things that we need to make sure that we have talked about with our family. Because I've gone the other route where we didn't talk about it, and it's not very fun to make decisions for people. I mean, my dad ended up in a casket. There is no way in, in this world that he would have actually purchased that for himself. You know?
Hawley Woods Gray:My uncle made the decision on it. Fine. But there's no way he would have purchased that for himself. I just know.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. Yeah. And and isn't it true that most people will come to you when it's too late?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yes. Like That does happen. I mean, you can't call me from the hospital and tell me you want life insurance now right before you get away and go in and have heart surgery. That has happened. I've had it happen and so has my husband.
Hawley Woods Gray:You know, if you're young and healthy, that's the best time to plan. You need to understand that there's a reason for term policy. Term policy is like car insurance. You pay for it. You have it.
Hawley Woods Gray:Permanent insurance, usually, you can get that at any time, but that's gonna be something that is either whole life or universal. And that is gonna be something that depending on the strategy that you set up, you can have that until you die. Most people outlive their term policy. Only about a half a percent of term policies ever pay out.
Kimberley Borgens:Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. That's good to know. Good to know.
Kimberley Borgens:Look. As women entrepreneurs, quite often, business, women in business working as w two employees, it doesn't matter across the board. We don't usually think about it because we're too busy thinking about other people and taking care of other people. And we're not taking care of ourselves for our future in this. And this is why, you know, reaching out to Holly, she has this great website.
Kimberley Borgens:Wow. Her on YouTube, you can go to women of wealth. She gives you hints, tips, and ideas. Just think, wow. Women of wealth.
Kimberley Borgens:Wow. I need to talk to her. Women of wealth. But, you know, go at she, you know, she has, she's on Facebook, Instagram. She's on LinkedIn.
Kimberley Borgens:And, I know that she's also offering a complimentary review of, you know, your things for preventative health care and retirement strategies so you can take advantage of that as well if you reach out with Holly. You know, Holly, I wanna I'm grateful that you came on. I would say for you, give me an idea for women. You know, where at at what age should they start? I know young, but what at what age you're a businesswoman.
Kimberley Borgens:You have you're an entrepreneur woman. Your your kids are growing up, and you finally decided that, oh my gosh. Like, I haven't planned for my future. Mhmm. What are a couple of things that they could do now moving forward to to at least get started on the journey?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. Start. If you can only start with a hundred dollars a month, start with a hundred dollars a month. But a good rule of thumb is if you're in your twenties, you're saving $200 a month. Thirties, three hundred, forties, four hundred.
Hawley Woods Gray:Now if you start in your thirties, you gotta catch up for your twenties, so then you wanna save 200 for your twenties, three hundred for your thirties, and so on. If you start when you're 45, you have to figure that into the equation. Yes. It's a big chunk of change, but what I always say is start with what you what you can. I mean, a lot of these, especially if you have a four zero one k at work or you have if you're if you're self employed or a business owner, you can do a self employment plan.
Hawley Woods Gray:It's called a SEP IRA. You can do a simple IRA if you have a few employees. So the biggest thing is to contact somebody. What the feedback that I get from women usually is the reason why they don't do it is because somebody comes and meets with them, and they just feel like they're buying things they don't understand. And my goal is to really make sure you understand what you have.
Hawley Woods Gray:And even if you don't remember it the first time around, the next year, we'll meet again, and we'll go over it until you really do understand it. Because that's what women of wealth is really about, is understanding what you have and how it's making you money and how it's gonna protect you in the future. So that's my biggest thing is to make sure you understand what you have and make sure you have multiple people that are are on your team.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. And, you know, look. There's a max out cap every year for your four zero one k, but that doesn't mean you need to stop saving money and, you know, just, you know, saying, okay. I've reached my cap. Like, there's other things that you can do.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? One of the things that you also work with is, you know, you've talked about it several times in here is women with confidence. Right? Yeah. And and why having confidence is important.
Kimberley Borgens:Can you share a little bit on that?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yeah. So I think there's I think the biggest, factor in whether a female entrepreneur is gonna be successful or not is based on what they believe about themselves, their confidence level. Right? I mean, Kimberley and I were talking about this before we started record is, you know, a lot of people have that mindset, fake it till you make it. I had it too.
Hawley Woods Gray:And I'm just I'm just telling you that there's no room that you shouldn't be in. If you don't have the confidence to be in there, it's because you haven't been doing the things that create that confidence. So I want people to set goals, but I want them to be goal achievers, not goal setters. That's when you really get to building your confidence. I don't care if it's for the next seven days, I'm gonna wake up at 6AM, and I'm gonna do, you know, a hundred sit ups and 10 push ups.
Hawley Woods Gray:I don't know I don't know what it is for you, but whatever it is, keep the keep your word to yourself for seven days, and then for fourteen, and then for twenty one. And then after you've done that for ninety days, you'll have a new habit in place, and then you can add in something different. Or maybe now you're like, okay. I'm only gonna eat you know? I'm gonna have I'm gonna have x y z for food for today.
Hawley Woods Gray:Keep a record of it, and and hold yourself accountable. That's how you get more confidence. In my opinion, confidence is the number one key. This is what I'm mentoring my new agents about all the time is the level of confidence that they have.
Kimberley Borgens:I love that. I love that. And with that confidence, you learn how to set boundaries, create time management strategies, you know, find those benchmarks for those goals on what you you know, I'm gonna get there, but what are the key pieces along the way that know that I'm getting there? So I I love that. That's one of the things I do love about you is that no matter where I've seen you or who I've seen you talking with is that you're you're helping them raise their confidence.
Kimberley Borgens:And and that's not just in them personally, but in your financial strategies, in your retirement strategies, in all the things. So I would you know, anybody who's listening, I would say take advantage of Holly's complimentary review because what an opportunity to be in that space where somebody's gonna lift you up even when they're telling you you made a mistake. Well, I mean But you're not gonna say it that way.
Hawley Woods Gray:If you're say if you're saving money, you're not making a mistake. I'm gonna say that right now. If you are actually making that habit of saving money every month, good for you. Now what you what you may not have thought about is how much you actually need. So you may have just signed up for something, and that is totally fine.
Hawley Woods Gray:I never I never tell people that they're wrong about anything. I just show them how they can be possibly more beneficial for them, what could be more beneficial for them. Because if you're saving and you have that habit of saving, good for you. If you don't have the habit for saving, that's another thing you could do to build confidence. Start saving.
Hawley Woods Gray:Even if that's even if that's $50, a hundred dollars a month, just start somewhere because then your then your flag is planted, and now you can figure out, okay. Now I need to get to 300 or $400 a month. What could I cut? Could I only go to Starbucks once a week? Maybe that's a treat for me every Friday that I've kept my word to myself.
Hawley Woods Gray:Or maybe I just cut it out all all completely and just make coffee at home. Mean, if you make coffee at home for a month instead of buying a 7 I think they're $7 apiece now or more, then you're probably gonna save yourself enough money to put into your retirement account, hundred dollars that month.
Kimberley Borgens:Absolutely. And, you know, the other one that I I've shared with some people in the past is you don't have to look, rich. Okay? True. Right?
Kimberley Borgens:You don't have to look rich. All you have to do is look like you're a person building a business. Right? Somebody who's working. You don't have to buy the fancy handbag.
Kimberley Borgens:You don't have to buy the fancy shoes. Okay. Sometimes I do. But do.
Hawley Woods Gray:I do always treat though as Yeah. Instead of like, okay. I hit this goal. I deserve to go and, you know, splurge on something. I hit this goal.
Hawley Woods Gray:Absolutely. Actually am usually very much about, like, buying new dresses for our conventions and whatnot. What did I do this year? I borrowed. People borrow dresses from me all the time.
Hawley Woods Gray:I borrowed the the dress that I wore to our awards night for our convention in February. I've gotten the most compliments on, and I didn't spend a penny for it.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. So these strategies that we don't have to we can look, you know Like a
Hawley Woods Gray:million bucks?
Kimberley Borgens:Like a million bucks without having to spend a million dollars to look like it. Exactly. So if you can't afford the purse, then don't get the purse. Okay? Put the money in savings.
Kimberley Borgens:That's the better strategy, and that's how you outdo your competition. I'm just saying.
Hawley Woods Gray:I agree.
Kimberley Borgens:Let's go with some rapid fire questions. Okay? Heels or sneakers?
Hawley Woods Gray:Depends on the situation. I'll go with sneakers.
Kimberley Borgens:Sneakers because of the athlete of you, but heels for femininity part. Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Yes. Exactly.
Kimberley Borgens:Got it. Favorite day of the week and why?
Hawley Woods Gray:Oh, I love Thursdays because I know the weekend's coming, but we still I still have a little bit of work to get done.
Kimberley Borgens:Got it. You can wrap up those final things. Yes. Okay. How about favorite power move before a big meeting?
Hawley Woods Gray:Oh, well, really have incorporated standing with my, you know, in my superwoman pose with my hands on my hips.
Kimberley Borgens:Nice. Yeah. Get that superwoman pose. On your hip power pose. Got it.
Kimberley Borgens:Okay. And then what advice would you give to women today who might want to break into your industry and thrive?
Hawley Woods Gray:Well, I would say that it is such a great time for women to break into the insurance and financial services industry. People are looking for you. It's gotten to a place where women really wanna work with women. And so especially younger women. I'm I'm on a I'm on a quest to bring in younger women into this business.
Hawley Woods Gray:You know, I would say the 25 to 40 year old age group, I wanna teach and train them because there really is something to be said about women helping women. And this generation that's coming up, the millennials and then the Gen Z they all really have a lot of questions, and they really wanna work with women.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. I think that's huge to to notice because you are in a male dominant space. Very. Yeah. It's a very male dominant space.
Kimberley Borgens:And to have more women coming in because the majority of your buyers I know that my husband didn't care about life insurance until I said we need it. Right? And so as women who are the buyers, I think that's a huge thing is that we do wanna talk to women. Yeah. Women understand each other.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Right. So I think that is great.
Hawley Woods Gray:I think it's the relationship part too, Kimberley. I don't think you wanna give your money to somebody that's just gonna sell your product. You wanna understand what you're buying. You wanna build that relationship. And I may talk to people three or four times before I even give them a solution.
Kimberley Borgens:Yeah. That's good. That's good. I love that because I agree. It's the relationship you're building with the people, and that builds the trust factor which creates the sales.
Kimberley Borgens:Exactly. So so that's great. Look. I just wanna thank Hollywood's Gray for joining us today. Look.
Kimberley Borgens:She's given you some great tools get you know, to get you started. We could go on probably for hours talking about all of the things, but, we wanna keep this short for you and, and get you started. Make sure you take advantage of that. Go find her women of wealth. Don't have a wow moment with her.
Kimberley Borgens:Right?
Hawley Woods Gray:Absolutely.
Kimberley Borgens:And just know, like, some of the key takeaways she talked about is, look. You have to, you know, build your confidence up no matter what that is. Right? And and knowing your role, that that plays that key place in building up that confidence. Keeping your word when you say you're gonna do something, keep that word with yourself.
Kimberley Borgens:Like, that is huge and powerful because women have a tendency of breaking their own word so that they can help other people. And you have to help yourself first too. You know, they tell you that on the airplane. You gotta put on your your oxygen mask before you help somebody else. So, so just know that, you know, it really is important for you to keep your word with yourself.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? And set clear clear goals so that you can actually achieve them. Find what those benchmarks are so that you can actually achieve them because it's not necessarily we can all set goals till our faces turn blue. But it's when we actually achieve the goal that we build that confidence up, and we become stronger as businesswomen in our industry. So I really appreciated that from you today, Holly.
Kimberley Borgens:And, you know, if you have the opportunity to connect with Holly, like I said, on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, connect with her because she's an amazing woman. So Hawley, h a w l e y, just so that we're clear on that, Woods Gray. And look, make sure that you share this with your friends. If this is a podcast, you know somebody who hasn't got their Fraters in order, just share the podcast. Let us do the talking.
Kimberley Borgens:Right? Invite, you know, people to, to join us. Make sure that you subscribe to the podcast. Write a review. Be happy, to share about that or maybe even talk about it in a future episode and, you know, share it with your friends.
Kimberley Borgens:And and our next, episode, I'm gonna be sharing on, some key pieces for women, and, you won't wanna miss it. We're gonna be talking about, you know, fear detoxing. Right? It goes right along with that confidence is, you know, what keeps you from playing small? What what are those things that pop up for you in fear?
Kimberley Borgens:And we're gonna talk about how can we detox that fear out of your life so that you can get more confidence. So I look forward to seeing you on our hearing about, your thoughts on our next podcast. Thank you for joining us today with superheroes in heels.
Hawley Woods Gray:Thank you, Kimberley.
Outro:Thanks for tuning in to superheroes in heels with Kimberley Borgans. If you're walking away feeling a little braver, a little bolder, and a whole lot more powerful, mission accomplished. Be sure to subscribe to the show and leave a review. It helps us to reach more women who are ready to unleash their power and lead with confidence. And if you do leave a review, you might just hear your name in an upcoming episode.
Outro:If today's conversation lit a fire in you, share it with your network and join us inside the hive society at KimberleyBorgans.com, where powerful women gather to break barriers and rise together. Until next time, keep showing up, standing strong, and heels or not, keep embracing your inner superhero.