Full Transcript for Turning Life’s Challenges into Powerful Moments of Growth with Christine Bullock

for yourself within motherhood and then also beyond? Christine Bullock [00:05:44]: For me, it's like prayer and meditation. And I will say I don't have as much time for it. And I was maybe in the toilet this morning when I prayed. I'm not kidding. So I was like. And half out of the shower and everything. So it was just like, you know, I take the moments. It's not like I can sit in the sunshine on my little meditation chair and have that time right now. Christine Bullock [00:06:06]: Could I make that for myself? I'm sure I could, but I am barely surviving each day. I never sit down. And so it's on the go. Or we pray on the way to school. I think it's great for my kids to have that as well, or at the breakfast table when we can. And I remember, but I forget a lot. But I think it's just for me, I will run so fast and so hard for anything and get caught up that you are not leaning into being right. And by embracing that as much as possible and at least starting your day with a little bit of that, or forget it in the morning, then just taking just a moment to prayer, meditate. Christine Bullock [00:06:52]: It could be breathing for a second, you know, a few deep breaths. It's not like a meditation app for me. It's just finding that present moment of where I'm at. And I've always been one of, like, really good faith and just like, okay, everything, you know, always works out. I have a great husband, too, and I think whatever I'm lacking in faith, he's always like, no big deal. We'll figure it out. And where my parents were, like, highly stressed. Like, you know, we didn't have much money and so get a nick in the car. Christine Bullock [00:07:21]: You stress out this and you pick up those habits and we don't have to do that. So it's just leaning into being is being present. Having faith everything will work out. Seeing the now and seeing where you need to be. Amri Kibbler [00:07:38]: That is resonating so much with me. Because lately I've been combining my daily affirmations, prayers slash, with cooking dinner and washing my face and all kinds of other things. I'm like, well, these are activities that don't involve my brain and my spirit. So let me roll these things all together. And I've been kind of thinking, gosh, am I cheating myself out of that? So I love hearing that other people are doing the same thing as we're multitasking. And that leads me to ask you, as you had mentioned, that you're so, so busy, do you have any little short wellness practices that you do? We like to talk a little bit about, like micro dosing on wellness, like five minute practices that moms can do to help with their health and wellness. Christine Bullock [00:08:24]: I live in Los Angeles now, so we're at the hub of newness and health and wellness. And having been in it for 25 years now too, obviously, like working out, you got to work out. I barely have any time. I used to work out every day, teach all day, barely have any time anymore. But I found the workouts that work for me, maybe some days it's no days a week, some days it's two days a week. And some days it's like five days a week. And usually I'm pretty sore after that, and that's too much for me. But for me, I love dance for my mind and it just turns everything off. Christine Bullock [00:08:56]: So I do dancing. I love electromagnetic stimulation. It's ems. It's a little more advanced, but I have somebody that comes to the house and they put the full suit on because you can go to like a derm, and I'm sure you see it where it contracts your belly, but they do the full thing. Our muscles are turned on from our brain neurologically, but that slows as we age. So what's great is this improves that neurological connection. So when you work out normally, it improves it that much more because I like being efficient with my things too, right? So that's super efficient. I try and do heavy weights one day a week for my posture. Christine Bullock [00:09:29]: I have a bad back and it really helps just with me feeling good. And also women need muscle mass, so I want to make sure I keep all that on. The dancing is great for my bones. Sleep is very important for me. And I used to wake up at 4am all the time for my first client or super early before my oldest daughter would wake up and work out and now I'm the gal that I'm like, give me as much sleep as possible. I will skip a workout. I will skip anything. And I'm, like, super happy. Christine Bullock [00:09:58]: I just want sleep. Because we just need it, especially as our hormones for our hormones as women, as our hormones as we age and all the things that we're dealing with. I do intermittent fasting. It's right for my body, especially with a pcos. I feel so much better. I'm not hungry in the morning anyway. You get used to it. But I feel so much more energy on that. Christine Bullock [00:10:19]: It allows your cells to cleanse. It's not like a diet. It is your cells fully clean. It's great for your mitochondrion and the energy and the full health, you know, of your body. So I feel like those are a couple of the things. I mean, I have all my supplements and stuff, too, but I just do little things like that my first food that I eat is always, like, protein, major protein. And then adding, like, the simple carbs and stuff like that to it. But my first bite is 99% of the time protein as well. Christine Bullock [00:10:53]: And also for any meal, I do that same thing. But, you know, I eat French fries and pasta all day. Erika Hanafin [00:11:00]: Avery and I split French fries all the time when we're together. Christine Bullock [00:11:03]: Yeah. Amri Kibbler [00:11:04]: Way rather have French fries than dessert. Christine Bullock [00:11:06]: Me, I'm pasta girl. Yeah, me too. Erika Hanafin [00:11:09]: Totally. You know, I've always been so inspired by you both, like, as a friend and professionally. You've built a phenomenal career, as you mentioned, 25 years in health and wellness. And you're just always so

warm and inspirational, and you just are so authentic. What inspired you to or drew you to this path in wellness that blends fitness and beauty and mental health? What was that catalyst for you? Christine Bullock [00:11:40]: I've always seen it as a much bigger picture, and it does make me sad about the health community a little bit, because, honestly, it should be our mental health first. Right? Fitness is this side thing that we're lacking in our day and age because we're not moving around as much. So, yes, it's important to keep it, but it's not like fitness makes mental health. Right. It's a little side part of it. So I think spirituality, whatever that may be to you, creates that. So it's those meditation moments. It's how we think throughout our day, having faith in just positive things happening, the energy that we're putting out. Christine Bullock [00:12:19]: And then I think nutrition is even a bigger player than fitness in that, because we really are what we eat. And I'VE gone from everything from eating Twix and a Mountain Dew to really being vegan, being a pescatarian. My mom raised me on blood type diet and then she went pescatarian and I had a Thanksgiving that was all fish one time. And like, I have tried it all. And you definitely feel better the healthier that you eat. And so I was always inspired, inspired by the full picture. And I really am inspired by truly helping people make changes and just live their best life. You know, I always call it grassroots. Christine Bullock [00:12:56]: Like, I don't have to be a trainer that has a million followers. I literally care about maybe the five followers that I have because guess what? They're gonna affect five people. And they're gonna affect five people. It's about a bigger lasting change too, because, you know, we can get on these bad habits of bandwagon of like two hour a day fitness. Who's going to keep up with that? Especially when you become a mother. Get out of here. Right. Erika Hanafin [00:13:23]: What are you seeing as a trend now or fad? What is one of those fads that you're like, oh, gosh, like in health and wellness. In health and wellness. Christine Bullock [00:13:31]: I feel like it's actually mixed up a lot. There's so many things that are out there nowadays there. I haven't seen like, one that's major. I mean, the Brazilian massage, I think is getting big and we see that before all the time. But honestly, that's really good for you. Let's think about it. Not just like shedding water weight, but it's lymphatics, man. We need good lymphatics. Christine Bullock [00:13:57]: We need to kick those toxins out on a daily basis. So I actually think it's really good for you to do once a month, even until you have these really improved lymphatics going on. And it's just the extremeness of things like the cold plunging or the saunas, like, that can be super drying for you. Right. And damaging the lung. The cold plunge is great for hormonal changes, maybe not great for muscular imbalances and tightness and all of that. So it's just finding a balance in between all that you like to do. And if it hurts, don't do it. Christine Bullock [00:14:32]: If you don't feel good after, don't do it. You know, other than like soreness, typical stuff like that. Erika Hanafin [00:14:38]: Hi, it's Erika and Amri from Leaning Into Being. And we know growing a tiny human is no small feat, which is why. Amri Kibbler [00:14:45]: We'ee partnered with our friends at Motherhood Maternity. Because every mama deserves to feel held, seen and yes, comfy. Erika Hanafin [00:14:53]: From belly to baby and beyond. Their pieces move with you so you can focus on what matters most. Being present. Amri Kibbler [00:15:00]: You can shop their latest looks at Kohl's, Kohlstock, Amazon Babies R Us Canada and motherhood.com. Be you, be present. Erika Hanafin [00:15:09]: Just be Erika. Amri Kibbler [00:15:12]: How hard is it to create content while running a company? Erika Hanafin [00:15:14]: Let's be real, Amri. It's really hard. You've got the ideas, but turning them into consistent, strategic content, that's a whole other job. Amri Kibbler [00:15:22]: Enter the content catalyst from Share Your Genius. In just one 90 minute session, they help you turn your ideas into three months of high impact content. Videos, articles, social posts and more. Erika Hanafin [00:15:32]: We use them, we love them. And this is your sign to finally get your content off the vision board. Reach out and tell them we sent you. Amri Kibbler [00:15:41]: Let's talk about the entrepreneurial side of your career. What has been your biggest learning moment in creating and scaling a business in the wellness space? Christine Bullock [00:15:51]: This is a great question. You know, I grew Kayo. I think we launched it 2014, we dreamed it up. 2016, we finally launched it and I just shut it down last year after having my third kid that was colic and I started another business that we hadn't launched yet. So that was a precipice of it as well. But we were the first to do high performance body care, which you now see. So we started a global trend and I feel like I could have grown it so much bigger, but I had no experience. So now I take all that and I'm so proud. Christine Bullock [00:16:26]: So I think one thing is remember that when you're starting out, I think there's always stepping stones and I do feel like that was my stepping stone for something bigger. And even though it closed down, it's like timing too. Like remember fertility? I knew, right? I knew that that was okay for me and where I needed to be at that moment too. And to get to the next stage, close one door to open another. But I think that the biggest thing that I learned and why we didn't grow KO and why other companies had kind of like stolen our trademarks, done tons of marketing, was two things. One, you need funding. As a female, we need funding. Okay? And so a lot of times females will have this

brilliant idea and they hold onto it so tight because they're afraid to give a percentage away. Christine Bullock [00:17:15]: And they grow it to like eight years in and still nervous about that funding, where men have like an idea and they just go get funding right away to grow it. And so unfortunately money and Funding is important. We never had. We were always chasing it. We grew so fast we had to keep filling products. We never had the funding to really blow up marketing. So marketing is super important. You know, other companies had stolen our trademarks doing all this kind of stuff, and they marketed the heck out of it, so it looked like theirs. Christine Bullock [00:17:45]: And then the other thing was like, you need great staff. I had three kids in the time that I launched ko and you can't always be in there. I had a kid that was college for six months, non stop crying. You know, you need a staff that's capable of running each and every part. So you really need to have great staff and be a great management of them as well. And later, an example. Erika Hanafin [00:18:12]: It's so true. And I think you touched on some really important aspects that we see within hello Mamas and Hey Mama, which is access and access to funding, access to the marketing, understanding how to operationalize your team. Like it's so monumentally important, especially for women and even more so for moms. We have so much data. One in four businesses owned by a mom, all of the things. And yet we lack the confidence in many of those aspects because we're either too afraid or we're worried that we're not doing it right or it has to be perfect. And then also there's this other aspect of lacking those resources and that support. And so speaking about support, your partner is extremely supportive of you. Erika Hanafin [00:19:00]: You both have demanding roles. What is it like for both of you being CEOs and lawyer and prioritizing family life? Christine Bullock [00:19:09]: Yeah, and that was one of the reasons why I had closed when we launched both of our businesses. Mine was, you know, fitness and retail. You know, I was always doing DVDs. Like I had that before too. So it's kind of like retail in that sense. And his was law. And then he created a couple other companies. Like he's in the tech business, tech world, all for lawyers. Christine Bullock [00:19:29]: We have real estate for lawyers and all that kind of stuff too. So two different types to see. Okay, like, where's our money gonna be coming from? And then his started growing, especially this year with the tech. So so much. Or last year I was like, I need you to go. Like you have a limited time for you. You know, you have this year and I need you to push. I mean, we just got home 1am on a Sunday from a little trip. Christine Bullock [00:19:54]: It was actually a work trip. We took our kids though. And he luckily had yesterday off. But he got back on a red eye and flew and he went Straight into work. So five hours of sleep, straight into work. And then we'll fly Red Eye home like in a day as well, you know. And so he's pushing hard so I need to be there for the family. So we kind of balance in that sense of our businesses of like, who can step away and be home a little bit more. Christine Bullock [00:20:23]: He loves to be with the family too. You know, it's not like, okay, I'm a dad, that works and that's it. He wants to pick up and drop off as much as possible and half the time I had to tell him just go to work. But I'm launching another business soon, so I don't know what that's going to be like for me too. But it's been great to have this year and be like, you go get it to where you need to be. And we take like date nights too, I think, you know, in order to balance it, we go on date nights. We usually talk business or kids. We're usually around people or like, you know, a little bored when it's just us. Christine Bullock [00:20:54]: But we just love being around the kids too. And then we're just non stop them in the evenings and on the weekends and we love that and we fight and we bicker and you know, he doesn't like the way I discipline and I don't like the way he disciplines and he leaves the room a mess and I'm just like, can you keep it clean? And you know what I mean? It's like that stuff. But that's like typical. Amri Kibbler [00:21:14]: It's the push and the pull and with so much going on. How do you two handle stress when stress arises? Do you have any like special practices that you do? Christine Bullock [00:21:25]: It's the same thing too. It's like we're very good at being balanced with it. I think like when I'm stressed, he knows to just scoop the kids. I know to walk away and he knows to scoop the kids or whatever he needs to do in the moment and be supportive. Does he always have the right words? Absolutely not. But like he'll take the weight of it right somehow or help me out. Like, okay, let me get on a call with a business guy. If it has to do with business, like, let me help you in that sense. Christine Bullock [00:21:55]: For him too. It's like the same thing. I just scoop the kids. I'm more of the mental health. So I'm like, go, go do what you need to do. Go take a walk, go deal with the stress. Lock yourself in a room and figure it out, right? And Then I pour you a whiskey. And then there are the moments where we both just freak out on each other. Christine Bullock [00:22:14]: Like, if he's stressed too long in a row. And it's like taking out of me. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't take it out of me. Don't try and pin it on me at all. Erika Hanafin [00:22:23]: Which is actually a perfect segue into. We were just talking about girl mom versus boy mom and what has reads and girls taught you about yourself and how has it shaped your perspective on your role as a mother? Christine Bullock [00:22:37]: So I was an only child. My dad left. You know, he was either working all the time or, you know, then he moved out

and they divorced. So I feel like I was around women a lot. And then I went to an all girls college. I worked at Sephora. Right away I'd been in fitness. So I've always been around women and gay men. Christine Bullock [00:22:55]: And it's fun for me. Like, I feel like I was kind of meant to be a girl mom. I would have loved to have a boy too, but sometimes I see the little boys running around like, thank God. I don't know how to deal with that. But my girls are crazy too, you know, like, my oldest loves collecting bugs, and she just brought me, you know, a huge crab and a starfish. She's brought home cockroaches and loves science and engineering and coding and, you know, you get the best of both worlds a little bit. But I will say I am definitely harder on them than he is because I know what girls turn into, even in their teenage years and the discipline that it requires and just teaching them, you know, more life lessons that I feel that they'll need as young women soon enough. And not letting them get away with things like he, you know, he's their daddy, so he just lets them get away with everything, which I love. Christine Bullock [00:23:49]: And I'm glad. Amri Kibbler [00:23:51]: Oh, my gosh. And as a girl mom myself, it's like there's just so many things that come up for girls. How do you navigate some of the pressures and stereotypes around raising daughters and the things that girls are facing today? Christine Bullock [00:24:05]: We have strong girls. My husband is so supportive of them. He teaches. He teaches them lessons, too, in being strong women. And it's a lot for us because that's how strong they are. It's a lot right now. They're very independent. They're very strong willed. Christine Bullock [00:24:21]: Especially my oldest, she was just born that way, and it's almost like honing her in a little bit so she doesn't think too much. She's superwoman. She's aware of some of the scary things in the world that she thinks she can just kind of get through, which I love. But you can't run in front of a car and then just jump over it, like that kind of stuff. But as she gets bigger, there'll be other things. But it's just teaching them that they're the same in the world. And, you know, I luckily have a husband that teaches. Teaches them the same thing in his actions towards me as well. Christine Bullock [00:24:56]: And I love that because I never really saw anything like that. And I feel like I always really lucked out in my relationship. I just saw a lot of not great relationships, and they now have that as an example, which is huge. Erika Hanafin [00:25:12]: I got goosebumps when you were talking about that, because I'm one of four girls, and I was fortunate enough to have a father that was very, like, motivational. He was certainly not the disciplinarian in the house. And, you know, definitely, like, definitely not. We joke about this. We were joking about it last night. His best thing was like, there is nothing a man can do that

a woman can't. And he was always very aware of the societal pressures between girls and boys. And now as I raise boys, as a fully boy mom, you know, I'm seeing how important that was as well, and also for boys. Erika Hanafin [00:25:47]: But certainly it helped me in my career and my family and my upbringing. So it's really beautiful to hear that your girls are so fortunate to have that support system. And, you know, especially in today's world on that, like, resilience is more important than ever. What are some strategies that you use to stay resilient for you personally and also with your family as you're embracing some challenges? Maybe. Christine Bullock [00:26:15]: Yeah. I mean, the last two years, I feel like, were some of the most challenging I've ever had. It was the colic, baby. Four hours of sleep every night. I thought something was, like, medically horribly wrong with her. You know, it was scary. I tore my chest muscle. I had two surgeries stitched up to my collarbone, you know, was like, out of commission. Christine Bullock [00:26:33]: I went. Turned my hair gray by the second one. I lost all my hair because of all of that. And then I ended up having to close the business because the people in charge, you know, just didn't handle it. Again, I take blame for that too, of, like, being fully absent. And it was hard, but I think resilience, again, it comes back to faith in what God has planned for your life or whoever you want to believe. What the universe has planned for your life. Like, I heard somewhere too, that through our biggest challenges, really where our life grows. Christine Bullock [00:27:08]: I mean, everybody knows that, but I heard it in a different way. And I have to find it again because I keep meaning to do it. The girl who said it was like, I'm now wishing for challenges because I want those better things in my life. So you have to remember when these challenges, like when you see this challenge, it's that much better, right? Like when I had the challenge of not having a baby, I always knew I was gonna have a baby biologically, even when we had so many failed. And there's moments of crying and tears and it's so hard right then when we adopted, I was like, as she grew, I only wanted to adopt babies. I didn't want any biological babies to make her different. So I think that we have these feelings in us. Those are our dreams. Christine Bullock [00:27:50]: I think they're implanted when we're born, and they can be the scariest things. That's a sign that that's where you need to be going. If it's scary, but it's this intuition, it's a dream. That's where you need to be. And so when hard times come, just know that God put that in you to happen. So it's going to happen, right? And sometimes it's not when it. When you want it to happen too. And that's okay because it's at a better time. Christine Bullock [00:28:22]: But you can focus on all the other wins and some other things that you will want to accomplish in those times too. You know, it's same thing, but you've got to get back out there. Don't wallow in this. There's no time for that. You know, start making changes. Start getting out there in the things that you want to see. Get political, get out there and help and make your money, unfortunately, and put your money, you know, where it is. So I just think getting out there, no matter what it is that you're dreaming towards and just keep going. Christine Bullock [00:28:53]: Just keep going. Don't give up and don't wallow in it. The more you wallow, the more your brain sits in it, the more bad energy you put out there, the more bad energy you bring towards yourself. Erika Hanafin [00:29:03]: So true. Amri Kibbler [00:29:04]: So, Christine, speaking of keeping going, what is next for you? Christine Bullock [00:29:09]: Yeah, I'm excited. I mean, just tons of volunteering at my school, at my kids schools, you know, being room mom for one and all this kind of stuff. So I have lots of that. But I have another product launching in the wellness industry. That I'm super excited about. Target had originally asked us to create it for them, and we have a bunch of other retailers that has signed on, trying to sign up a big celebrity face for it too. So remember how I said marketing? I'm like, I'm not going into this without that. Number one, I have two men as my business partners, which I love because they have contacts in another way, they run another business, and they scooped a couple million in funding. Christine Bullock [00:29:53]: Already we're talking about that. And so I knew I needed people to fit in places, and I told them when I came in as CEO, this is what I'm good at this time. And I can't manage all of this, which I did with my former business. Erika Hanafin [00:30:08]: Right. Christine Bullock [00:30:08]: I'm not good at this. So we need to do this. I said, we need this much funding. I want a celebrity face if we're really going to blow this out of the water fast. So fingers crossed. We're working with a great team, two, four, that are experts in their field and in design and all of that, but will launch pretty close into 2025. We have a lot of the parts that we needed. Erika Hanafin [00:30:32]: That sounds amazing. I'm super excited to hear more about the wall. Christine Bullock [00:30:36]: It'll help moms. It'll help tired moms, I'll say that. Erika Hanafin [00:30:38]: Yes. Okay. Well, definitely people are so excited because these bags are only getting bigger. I know all the things. But before we go, we like to ask and end our conversations with this one question. What is one moment that you can't believe you survived or you still laugh about today? Christine Bullock [00:30:59]: The two biggest things that, you know, those moments, like at Ugro, that fertility thing, that was huge for me. There were so many down moments. That was the most I've ever been. I think it was, like, actively depressed after waiting for the adoption because I was

afraid that the mom, you know, would pull out and that would literally be it for me. And stepping out of that and taking a look back and realizing that it was all meant to be. I should have listened to myself sooner. Right. But it was such a great lesson in that. Christine Bullock [00:31:30]: And the same thing with, like, my baby that had colic. That was a really hard time for me, too. And my business of what was going on at the same time. And it was like, how to manage my life and that my children are always gonna take top priority for me and finding their health and happiness. And those were just two big moments. And how scary it was for me to take a step away from my business to be a mom, too, you know, Because I've always been raised to be working as hard as I can and that I just. I loved it. I loved having this moment so far where I could just dedicate it mostly to them. Erika Hanafin [00:32:08]: I love that. Well, you are definitely radiating, and I'm sure it's giving you some of that creative space, too, for this new. This new endeavor of yours. Christine Bullock [00:32:17]: Kind of. Kind of. I realize I miss that a lot. That's the one thing I miss. I always wanted to go into the arts, and I love your artwork back there. Erika Hanafin [00:32:24]: Thank you. Christine Bullock [00:32:24]: And I was like, maybe I'll just go back into art and paint and stuff. And then I realized, like, I have a little healer, too. And she was like, you know, if you miss that creativity for me. But I was like, painting isn't doing it for me anymore. I'm like, you know what? I'm creative every day. Every day, I have to figure out how to cut my kids sandwiches and a cute little thing. I had to help them do this art, come up with these concepts. How's their hair going to look today? What's their fashion going to be? I'm like, I am so creative. Christine Bullock [00:32:51]: I can't be more creative. So, you know, for the moms out there that are missing some of that kind of stuff, remember that, too, I think. I love that. Erika Hanafin [00:32:59]: It's a great perspective. Yeah. Amri Kibbler [00:33:01]: And especially definitely with girls. They're like, all the things, like the horrible hairdos that I have to do in the morning and, like, all of. Christine Bullock [00:33:08]: Their crazy gemstones I have to like, you know. Amri Kibbler [00:33:10]: Yeah, yeah. And the crazy crafts that they want to get into and do all of the things. Well, Christine, this has been so fun. Thank you so much. Christine Bullock [00:33:19]: Thank you for having me. Amri Kibbler [00:33:20]: I loved having you on. It was such a pleasure. Christine Bullock [00:33:23]: It's so great seeing you guys. And honestly, it's so inspiring seeing how you continue to build your business, too. And it's so nice to see women entrepreneurs again, because I've been around kids for a while, so you're inspiring me, too. I'm glad to be back. Erika Hanafin [00:33:37]: Mama. You are doing enough. You are enough. Amri Kibbler [00:33:41]: So take a breath, lean in, and just be. Erika Hanafin [00:33:44]: Be you. Amri Kibbler [00:33:45]: Be present. Erika Hanafin [00:33:46]: Just be.