The Journey from Corporate to Creative Agency
with Caroline Hagerty
Today's episode is nothing short of inspiring. We are joined by the remarkable Caroline Hagerty, owner of Lini Victoria, LLC — a creative agency that's pushing the boundaries of branding and design. Caroline shares her riveting transition from corporate designer to becoming an empowered entrepreneur, painting a raw and authentic picture of entrepreneurship.
In this conversation, we'll dive deep into Caroline's strategic vision and how she redefined success on her own terms. We'll tackle the heavy-hitters — cultural expectations, the discomfort around money, and the fear of financial risk. She'll share how education and mentorship fueled her confidence, transforming her limiting beliefs into stepping stones for growth.
So, are you ready to dispel the myths and get real about what it takes to be a flourishing entrepreneur? Buckle up because, with Caroline's wisdom and lived experience, this episode is a goldmine for anyone looking to lead a business with passion, purpose, and an unwavering sense of self.
About Caroline Hagerty
Caroline Hagerty is a proud Brazilian-American, girl mom, and owner of Lini Victoria LLC. LVLLC is a 100% Latina Owned + Operated creative agency specializing in branding, retail design, and packaging design.
Connect with Caroline Hagerty
Website: http://linivictoria.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linivcreative/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lini-victoria-llc/
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a former marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, international award-winning speaker, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, she guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.
Sign Up for a Free Workshop
Each month, Aleya hosts a free 90-minute, hands-on workshop to help you use the power of radically authentic strategic storytelling to improve your personal growth, career, and company.
Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/workshop
Book Aleya to Speak
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why. Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.
If you are a Corporate Event Planner, Employee Experience Professional, Head of Marketing, Learning & Development Professional, Executive Assistant, Speakers Bureau Destination Management Company, or Destination Management Organization who is looking for a top-quality, energetic speaker, you should definitely hop on a call with Aleya.
Connect with Aleya Harris
Speaking & Media: https://www.aleyaharris.com
The Evolution Collective Inc.: https://www.evolutioncollective.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thealeyaharris
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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Aleya Harris [00:00:00]:
You're gonna make $10 million in ten minutes if you just do this one simple action. Call me now. Or on the flip side, oh, my God, it's so hard. I just can't do it. I can't survive day to day. I don't know. I'm gonna make money. I'm just in fear and Mampo.
Aleya Harris [00:00:20]:
Those are usually the two perspectives that people have about becoming an entrepreneur. Worry. Either you're going to make $10 million in ten minutes, or you're going to be poor and destitute. In today's episode, we're going to offer a more balanced perspective. I'm talking with one of my very good friends, Caroline Hagerty, the owner of Lenie Victoria, LLC. All about a more balanced perspective on entrepreneurship. Caroline Hagerty is a proud brazilian born brazilian american girl, mom and owner of Leni Victoria, LLC. LV, LLC is 100% Latina owned and operated creative agency specializing in branding, retail design and packaging design.
Aleya Harris [00:00:59]:
But most importantly, it's a real everyday business, just like probably yours or the one that you want to start. If you are a newbie entrepreneur and you're looking for someone to just give you some real talk about entrepreneurship, or you're a current entrepreneurship entrepreneur and you just want someone to relate to and to feel seen and to feel heard and to feel appreciated, well, then, my friend, this episode is for you. All right, let's go.
Yuliya Patsay [00:01:33]:
Welcome to the flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. If you're looking for actionable ways to stand out from the crowd by standing in your power, you've come to the right place. Each week, we help you and your fellow empire building entrepreneurs become radically authentic and tap into your unique story to attract your ideal clients. Listen in and learn how to use energy alignment techniques and tried and true marketing strategies to transform from a leader to a legend. And now, your host, powerhouse story, brand certified guide, award winning marketer, bioenergetic business coach, and japanese whiskey lover, Aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:02:28]:
Hello, Caroline. Thank you for joining us here Today on the flourishing entrepreneur podcast. How are you doing today?
Caroline Hagerty [00:02:33]:
I'm good. Thank you for having me. Aleya, I'm a big fan of yours. I'm excited to get a chance to chat with you today.
Aleya Harris [00:02:39]:
Well, the feeling is mutual because for those that don't know, the backstory of Caroline and I is that we met when we were in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small businesses program together. And we sat at the same table with the other beloved Goldman girls on day one. And it was a love connection ever since.
Caroline Hagerty [00:03:03]:
Really?
Aleya Harris [00:03:03]:
Ever since then. So you are actually getting to, dear listener, listen to an interview with one of my dear friends. So it's going to be probably a little different because I actually know her. Know her. She wasn't just pitched to me by a podcast agency. Excited.
Caroline Hagerty [00:03:25]:
I think it makes for nicer for the audience to listen when the guest and the host kind of have that connection.
Aleya Harris [00:03:32]:
Absolutely. I think so. Caroline, we've already told the people about you, but how did you get to be where you are? Can you tell us, maybe like one to two minutes, your journey of becoming this illustrious designer?
Caroline Hagerty [00:03:47]:
Sure. I think I always had this entrepreneurial spirit ever since I was a little girl. I used to make these little model magic figurines and sell them for $5 to my family members. But I also always thought that being a creative professionally was like a quick ticket to the starving artist lifestyle, which I was not down for at all. So my thought process was, okay, how do I monetize this skill set? And the only path that I saw for that was getting a degree and becoming a designer on a corporate level, which I did for many years. I did that for probably just under ten years. And I think the whole time I was doing that, I kept seeking out a creative leader that could kind of serve as a mentor and teach me improve my skills, not only as a designer, but just holistically across in my professional career. And I didn't find that.
Caroline Hagerty [00:04:38]:
I don't want to speak negatively, but I don't feel like I ever had a boss that was great and really felt like a leader to me. So as I got more experience, I worked for so many different brands. My experience is primarily in beauty and fashion. I was like, I think I can just do this because I would see the brands I was working for. We were hiring creative agencies, and I take a lot of pride in my technical skill set as a designer. So I could see that the work they were delivering was oftentimes not amazing and also quite expensive. And I'm definitely not perfect. So I'm not trying to speak disparagingly on the other agencies, but I definitely got to a point that I was like, I think I could just do this.
Caroline Hagerty [00:05:19]:
I could also be an agency. Even when I was working full time, I developed kind of a really good reputation with a lot of our third party partners, and people were reaching out to me anyway to do projects on the side. So I previously had a business partner. I bought her out, and she was someone I worked with at two different brands that I worked for. So when the pandemic happened, I was like, hey, do you want to. Let's just try it. Let's make an LLC. What do we have to lose? Everything was so unstable at that time.
Caroline Hagerty [00:05:49]:
I think it's still kind of unstable. So I really just wanted to build my own path. And also, as I got older, I got to know myself better, and I don't like nine to five, I don't think that creativity is meant to be done at a set time and set office hours. So I just wanted to create my own path. And I really like managing people, and I wanted to kind of give a chance for creatives to be managed by somebody that I kind of understood creatives and was a good leader and sort of be that person that I don't feel like I had in my career. So I hope my team is happy. I often ask them if they're happy.
Aleya Harris [00:06:28]:
But, yeah, I'm sure that they're very happy.
Caroline Hagerty [00:06:32]:
You're far too kind. So that's kind of the story of my business and sort of my background and why I'm doing it.
Aleya Harris [00:06:40]:
Well, I think that that story is bold and also very relatable. A lot of people are wanting to. If they haven't already struck out on their own, they're wanting to. And you're a great, glowing example of a success story of someone who believed in themselves, believed in their skills, and just went for it. And entrepreneurship is not. I would say it's not for the faint of heart.
Caroline Hagerty [00:07:03]:
No.
Aleya Harris [00:07:04]:
You and I have been having lots of conversations about how do I survive? It's like, literally one moment, oh, my God, I did this big thing. Ten minutes later, oh, my God, I just want to crawl under a rock and die. People talk about the roller coaster of entrepreneurship and its ups and downs, and they're thinking, like, well, from maybe month to month and year to year, but it really is from, like, minute to minute.
Caroline Hagerty [00:07:27]:
Sometimes I think within the same day, my emotions can vacillate so crazily. Like, in the morning, I can be like, yeah, we're doing the thing. And then by the afternoon, I'm kind of ready to dissolve my llc. And why did I even do this? And then it goes back and around.
Aleya Harris [00:07:44]:
Pretty much, yeah, I'm right there with you. When you're not in the depressive, sad, anxious state and you're at least some sort of normal, you know that the whole reason why you end up there is because of some type of limiting belief. Right. So what would you say are your limiting beliefs? And tell us a story. Of how they've held or currently hold you back and how you tell them to go sit down and shut up and overcome them.
Caroline Hagerty [00:08:14]:
Absolutely. I think as a creative, I often thought that I wasn't capable of doing the operational side of the business. I felt like I had to lean on people, that I wasn't good at the finances. I kind of assumed that business people, I didn't go to business school, and what do I know? I'm just the artsy type. And I think that held me back a lot. I think that was also a huge reason why I didn't think I could do it on my own. I wanted to have a business partner because I wanted to kind of excel in my strengths and strengthen my strengths and didn't believe that I could figure out bookkeeping or how to talk to an accountant or where do I go to pay this fee to the state of California? Like, things that kind of sound small individually, but I just constantly had this, like, oh, I couldn't possibly do that. It's so many parts and pieces.
Caroline Hagerty [00:09:04]:
Know I'm the talent. I'm not going to do all that. But I think especially in doing Goldman Sachs, education is really a strong tool, I think, to eliminate limiting beliefs that we all have. Because I think all of us, I don't think you can do everything, but I think you can do anything that you put your mind, you know, just getting informed and educated around the areas of my business. So even, like, I'm not going to become an accountant, but I know that I can sort of have a baseline understanding, and I can outsource that, and I don't have to have another owner in my business. And I can develop an understanding of 101 stuff that I struggle with to the point that at least I feel empowered and not so afraid to make decisions. I think I would be afraid to make very small, everyday decisions. The information is just overwhelming.
Caroline Hagerty [00:09:52]:
And I think you ask different people, oh, should I become an escort? Or, how do I make passive income in my business? And people will give you 100 different answers. And I had to become confident in my own answers and my own point of view and stop seeing that being a creative person was a weakness in business.
Aleya Harris [00:10:12]:
So when you're overcoming these limiting beliefs with education, which I really love, I think that's a great answer, because I watched it happen to you in Goldman Sachs. I watched as you got more educated, you got more confident, but what were you afraid was going to happen? So let's say your quickbooks weren't right, or let's say that you chose s corp, and you're supposed to be an LLC or the other way around. What was that fear that you thought was going to happen?
Caroline Hagerty [00:10:45]:
I think I have a debilitating fear of debt and financial loss. My dad was poor Irish Catholic from Philly, and my mom immigrated here from Brazil. And they both definitely instilled in me that every penny counts, and you have to be super careful, and you never want to. Don't do the risky thing. So I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was like, oh, if I'm paying for quickbooks and I'm not doing Quickbooks correctly, and I spent $100 this month on Quickbooks, that was a waste of $100. Or, I can only go after things that are certain, and I want to make sure that every expense that I'm incurring for my business is actually showing a return. And that's not it. That's not really the way to think about things.
Caroline Hagerty [00:11:29]:
And I think I naturally, despite the way that I was raised, I have a high risk tolerance. So kind of just struggling with the duality of, like, I think that I should do this, and I think this is a risk worth taking. But then those voices in the back of my head saying, are you sure that you could lose money doing that? You should be saving your money. And also time. I think my time is super precious. Like, I have a kid, I work, I have pets, I live in LA. It's busy. Your life is busy.
Caroline Hagerty [00:11:59]:
So I would get so angry if I felt like, oh, I just spent a couple of hours doing this thing, and it was a waste. It was a waste of time. It was a waste of money instead of seeing those things as investments for a long term payoff. But I think the ability to think long term is an entrepreneurial perspective, that it's like something you kind of have to develop.
Aleya Harris [00:12:20]:
Absolutely. Especially right in the beginning when you start, most likely you're bootstrapping your business. That's how most people, especially most women, start their business. And you're like, I can't think long term because this money that I have about to run out next month. So what are we going to do? I feel that. But you're such an interesting little kitten because you're like one side of your mouth. Oh, I have a hard time with risk. The other side, well, I less risk averse.
Aleya Harris [00:12:51]:
And then you became an entrepreneur, which is one of the riskiest things that you can do. For me, entrepreneurship is, like, akin to running around with. Playing with scissors in a cobblestone street. Like, you're probably going to trip and you're probably going to stab yourself, but you did it anyway. Someone who is raised with this mindset of not being too risky. So what was the thing that really you're like, no, I am doing it. What pushed you over the edge into planting your flag as an entrepreneur? Because I think what you're saying a lot of people resonate with. They're like, oh my God, that seems scary.
Aleya Harris [00:13:38]:
And I'm probably sorry, dear listener, probably not helping with my running around in the streets scissors and cobblestone analogy. I'm just telling you how I feel. I'm just telling you my real feelings.
Caroline Hagerty [00:13:47]:
That was valid anyway. Very valid.
Aleya Harris [00:13:53]:
Probably not helping, but a lot of people, I'm sure that sounds like something I don't want to do, but I do still want the purported financial freedom that comes with it. So what was it that made you go, I'm going to ignore those scared voices and the things telling me this is too risky and do it anyways.
Caroline Hagerty [00:14:11]:
Sure, I'm not a religious person, but I'm a pretty spiritual person. And I think that your path and your destiny is sort of inevitable and you can sort of slow yourself down on the way to get there or you can just give into it. And I think for me, you kind of have to pick your discomfort, right? I think a lot of nine to five people will agree that it sort of sucks, but to them it sucks less than pursuing your own path. And this is pretty common with designers. I think you work somewhere for a year or two and then you're like, I hate it here. I want to go somewhere else. So I kept popping around and I was never happy. And I hated that my financial liberty and just my life was in the hands of other people.
Caroline Hagerty [00:14:53]:
I was let go the day after I told my boss I was pregnant. I also, at another company, they said they were cutting staff, and coincidentally, they let go. Of all the moms, there were like three of us. So I didn't really feel like that was a coincidence. So I sort of felt like the universe was like, okay, you're either going to learn this karmic lesson today or you're going to learn it in ten years, but it's going to keep escalating until you start listening. So I feel like my hand was forced a little bit. And my destiny, I just decided to give into my destiny sooner rather than later. I think none of us are getting any younger and I want to enjoy my life.
Caroline Hagerty [00:15:29]:
And I think La, especially living in LA, the first year I moved here, I really hated it. I'm originally from Florida. I almost moved back because it was just so expensive and it was so hard. And I never did anything fun in LA because again, I was like, my time has to be generating income. And people would tell me like, well, you're never going to like it here if you don't actually experience the city. So I really like to be an entrepreneur, too. To experience the city, I want to go to a museum with my daughter or go on a day trip to the beach, whatever. And I think being an entrepreneur allows me to be my true, indulgent Libra self that just wants to do things on my own time and enjoy my life and soak up all the beauty of SoCal and not really answer to anybody.
Caroline Hagerty [00:16:11]:
I mean, I answer to my clients, but at the end of the day, I want to be able to answer to myself.
Aleya Harris [00:16:17]:
Yeah, amen to that. So tell me then, now that you dove in, you're doing it, you're successful at it. You've got more education to be more confident as you're being more successful on your journey, and you're probably able to look further than next month, hopefully. How do you set that strategic vision or plan? What are the elements that you include and what's the process that you take to do that now that you're an actual entrepreneur? I feel like in the beginning, when you're an entrepreneur, everybody, we're like entrepreneurs, hobbyists, right? We're kind of entrepreneurs. But you're like several years in, like, you're an actual, like, you're a big girl entrepreneur. So how do you look further ahead making this commitment to this entrepreneurial lifestyle?
Caroline Hagerty [00:17:18]:
Sure. And I don't know if it's taboo to say this. I don't know that I consider myself a super successful entrepreneur, but I guess it's just comparing yourself to other entrepreneurs where I see, what does successful mean?
Aleya Harris [00:17:29]:
I guess that's a better place to start first. What is the numbers attached to it?
Caroline Hagerty [00:17:33]:
Like, I want to make certain monthly sales goals. I would love to do remodeling projects on my house. I'd like to be able to go see my grandma in Brazil for a month and take a month off. And that's doesn't, I think, at this stage of business. And the reality is I don't know if you can ever fully take a whole month off, like, anybody. And it's nice because we have so much technology now to be able to balance that according to the folks on Instagram, you can.
Aleya Harris [00:18:02]:
Don't, you know, Instagram is life.
Caroline Hagerty [00:18:04]:
Come on, Lainey, it's all smoke and mirrors. Everything is smoke. And really, it's really crazy. And I'm so sorry. I think I lost track of your actual question because I love.
Aleya Harris [00:18:16]:
That's okay, because I've interrupted you like, three or four times, so it's actually more my fault than your fault. So my bad. But my original question was about your strategic planning and how you do planning. But then you said, well, I don't think I'm a successful entrepreneur yet who's in this strategic planning phase. And I was like, okay, well, what does that even mean? So feel free to take it either route you would want talking more about what success means or because I do believe you are successful, what your strategic plan is, or your strategic plan to become more successful than you are now.
Caroline Hagerty [00:18:51]:
Sure. And I guess I'll backpedal a little bit and say that I think in other metrics, I feel successful. I think my health has improved a lot being an entrepreneur. My stress levels when I was somebody's employee were substantially higher. And I could see that the stress, it was breaking me down, which was scary. I think my anxiety got so severe that I have to change. This is not a survivable, sustainable way of living. I think my long term strategy is to continue doing what I'm doing.
Caroline Hagerty [00:19:24]:
I consider myself an extremely curious person. So continuing to invest in my education, continuing to invest in relationships, I think something that I'm really good at is making friends. So I like to make friends and then have people that you can kind of tap into that can give you their two cent and give you their advice.
Aleya Harris [00:19:42]:
I would also like to co sign that you're really good at making friends.
Caroline Hagerty [00:19:45]:
Thank you so much. Just playing to my strengths. And you and I, we did a session, a bioenergetic session. And one of the things you had told me was to sort of be more in my feminine energy and go with the flow and let go of being in this hyper vigilant state. An example I can give is I had started using a bookkeeping service. I think I've been paying for it for the last three months, but I wasn't actually using it because I don't think I even gave the bookkeeper the information that they needed. And I did that because it was like the cheaper, strategic thing to do. And then they were going to do the bookkeeping and they're going to do the taxes and they're going to do whatever.
Caroline Hagerty [00:20:25]:
And then a couple of days ago, I was like, I hate this. I really hate it. I liked when I had an accountant better and I did my easy peasy quickbooks. Why am I doing this? So I think being willing to try different things and also knowing yourself and continuing to reinvest in getting to know yourself. And for me, that's things like therapy or like, I hang out with myself. I go to the movies by myself, I go for a walk by myself. I like my own company, so I think it's good to get those experts and outside opinions so you can educate yourself. But also, at the end of the day, you're the only person who knows yourself.
Caroline Hagerty [00:21:01]:
And I think creating sustainable systems as an entrepreneur is the only way to be successful, regardless of how you define that. So you could give me a roadmap to success and a strategy, but if it's not intrinsically aligned with who I am as a person, that's not going to be successful for me. I kind of have to do my own thing. I think that was another limiting belief. I felt like, because I was a little bit like loosey goosey and hippie dippy and be like, does it pass the vibe check? And you talk to business people and they're using, like, fancy words. And I didn't think a real business person would ever be like, the vibe is off. But that's how I talk about things. That's how things work for me, and that's kind of how my intuition guides me.
Caroline Hagerty [00:21:44]:
I don't know if it's a scientific or business friendly method of being strategic, but just checking in with myself, well.
Aleya Harris [00:21:54]:
Scientific is only scientific because someone's applied the scientific method to understanding the process. I bet that if you did that, and we had a full spectrum of understanding of how your decision making works, I'm sure we could find some regular science behind it, maybe. And truthfully, even if not, it's okay because it's working for you. I think a lot of the times people want to conform to the quote unquote right way of doing it without realizing that the right way to do it was created by someone who did it for the first time, one time, and another human and another human. No one has this secret answer, right? They were given that you weren't. So I really appreciate that. And I really loved how you said, I like to keep my own company. That's huge, because a lot of people don't know how to do that.
Aleya Harris [00:22:53]:
And because they go so extreme of not knowing how to keep their own company, they look to everybody else for advice. So since you hang out with one of the best people I know you often. What is some of the best advice you've ever given yourself?
Caroline Hagerty [00:23:18]:
I think just be yourself to free yourself. I do have a very basic side of my personality where I go absolutely feral when it's like pumpkin spice season at Starbucks. And I think I used to feel, like, apologetic about that or like, it's not cool. But now I'm like, who cares who effing like? It brings me joy. I think when you fill your own cup, then you can pour into other people. And I kind of had to ask myself everything I do. I'm like, who is this serving? Like, diet culture? Who is diet culture serving? Is it really serving me or is it serving this huge industry? Is it really serving me to feel like I have to force myself to mold into a corporate friendly personality and follow certain systems and structures to make other people more comfortable or for me to be successful on their terms? It's me, myself, and I, at the end of the day, when I die, I could die. Obviously, I hope I don't.
Caroline Hagerty [00:24:21]:
But if I died tomorrow, I would die in peace. Because I feel like I just get to be myself. Like, I get to do the things that I want to do. Not every day and every minute of the day. I don't like to even say things like this sometimes because I think for any aspiring entrepreneurs, I don't want to give the impression that it's like I go to Disneyland every day and it's just like ten minutes of working a day. It is extremely hard. But I can say that I wouldn't go back. I would not go back to a nine to five.
Caroline Hagerty [00:24:49]:
I wouldn't go back to forcing myself to be somebody that I wasn't. And I wouldn't go back to the definitions of what a successful professional is or kind of tamper myself down as a creative. There's definitely still moments like today when I love wearing stripes. And before we did this podcast, I was like, I should probably put on a button up because Aleya always wears pearls and she's a very fancy, classy lady.
Aleya Harris [00:25:15]:
For the record, I'm not wearing pearls. Makeup, nothing today.
Caroline Hagerty [00:25:21]:
I love that. And then I was like, why? This is dumb.
Aleya Harris [00:25:27]:
I'm so grateful.
Caroline Hagerty [00:25:30]:
And I think part of that is also, like, I think a lot of my background is in the beauty industry because I'm always like, I should do a blowout in my hair and I have to look perfect. It's definitely not healthy, but, yeah, I think even in the way that I dress and how I like to show up, I just like to be myself, and I think it helped me. It was easier for me to get there once I had a kid, because I'm sort of now motivated by setting a good example for her and breaking these generational systems and keeping the cultural practices that I think serve us and serve us as a family and then getting rid of the ones that are bad. Like, my family is brazilian american, and I think that it's a very superficial culture. There's a lot of things I love about it, but we are very superficial, and I don't think that's helping anybody. I still like to take pride in the way that things look, and I think I'm a very creative person, and I like the aesthetic matters to me, but just creating my own definition of.
Aleya Harris [00:26:24]:
What that looks like, I really liked what you said. Who is this serving? And for people that are listening that are saying, I don't really know how to keep my own company, asking yourself that question, I think, is a good place to start understanding what is something that you actually want versus what is something that you've done because of the influence of others or society. And then if it's something that you want, then you can dive more deeply into that decision or that moment by asking, who is this serving? By you not eating or eating that thing? Well, who is this serving? Or wearing or not wearing a thing? Who is this serving? And leaning more into the things. Like, if the answer is me, well, what more of that can you do that gives you joy, that fills you up, that replenishes more of who you are, whether it's PSL, glitter, and crocs.
Caroline Hagerty [00:27:21]:
Which basically is, I love all those things.
Aleya Harris [00:27:28]:
Or I don't know whether it's diamonds and a whole bunch of other stuff. You have to know who you are, but you need a pathway to do that and to be able to ask yourself, who is this? Serving? Is a great way, I think, to start. So thank you so much for that question.
Caroline Hagerty [00:27:44]:
Absolutely.
Aleya Harris [00:27:46]:
If you could ask the universe for something right now and be 100% sure it would manifest, what would that be?
Caroline Hagerty [00:27:55]:
Oh, my gosh. Only one thing I think I would ask for infinite money, and that might be, like, a cop out answer.
Aleya Harris [00:28:11]:
No, there's no cop out answers. I like that answer. Hey, universe, is this thing on? If you give that to Caroline, can I just also have, like. It's like, a two for one? Okay, just checking.
Caroline Hagerty [00:28:29]:
I think a lot of people, especially women, have, like, weirdness around money where we don't want to ask for it or we think we don't deserve it or. A lot of the things that I think many of us are naturally really skilled at are not compensated. So we don't have access to the money. And I think sometimes people think money is dirty or bad, but my thing is, the money is the money. It's on earth. And I think I would use it for better things than Jeff Bezos. So give it to me. So I think just being, are you confident that what you would be using the money for is positive and contributing to the world and contributing to your community in a positive.
Caroline Hagerty [00:29:14]:
I work hard. I want money.
Aleya Harris [00:29:16]:
Yeah, work hard. I want money. Absolutely. So, Caroline, there's lots of reasons why I would choose to work with you as a designer. Have you as a friend. You're a wonderful advice giver, encourager, incredibly talented. I love when you send pictures of the stuff that you've done for brands and it's featured inside of Sephora and things like that. I mean, it's impressive.
Aleya Harris [00:29:40]:
Like, I'm like, oh, my God, I know her. But if you had to tell the people in your own words why they should choose you over your competition, what would that be?
Caroline Hagerty [00:29:51]:
I'm a very technically sound designer, so I think about things as they will exist in reality. I think that, like design with many other things, people have different strengths and different weaknesses. But for me, I do both two D and three D design. I do print design. So a lot of skill sets that are less common. A lot of designers do a lot of digital work nowadays, and I am very thoughtful and holistic in my design. So the aesthetic matters, but also thinking about what's the goal of this design? What's the goal of this project? Who is interacting with this design? Where are they interacting with it? What do you want them to do? Should they purchase something? Should they be educated on a product? Do we want them to take a picture of it? So all of those are factors and kind of distilling different pieces of information and having this intuitive understanding of how to prioritize the things in terms of design hierarchy, I think is what sets me apart. And I really just, I don't know if we're allowed to curse, but I give a shit.
Caroline Hagerty [00:30:57]:
I really, really do. I want the work to look good. I want the work to be successful. A lot of the work I do, obviously, is very commercial, but I want to bring art into it. And I think, I like to think that if what I'm doing is adding beauty into the world in one way or another, I think that's good karma. So choose me.
Aleya Harris [00:31:20]:
Pick me pick me, choose me, love me. I think that that is all really great reasons why someone should choose you. I wish I had, like, a physical product because I would choose maybe one day. Maybe one day, my gosh. Spark a new adequacy by Aleya Harris.
Caroline Hagerty [00:31:43]:
I want to have a product based business at one point. I'm a service based business, obviously, and I would love.
Aleya Harris [00:31:50]:
What would you?
Caroline Hagerty [00:31:54]:
Well, first of all, every, like, two days, I'm like, I could do this. But I think the idea that I come back to a lot that I'm extremely fascinated by is, like, mommy and me stuff. It's one of the only segments in fashion that's showing growth, because, and I'm sure you know this, if you are a mom and you want to have a cute moment with your kid, you would be willing to spend a little bit more than, say, like, you might not get, like, a Burberry sweatshirt, but you'd be willing to spend a little bit more than, like, a target sweatshirt for something that was maybe, like, hand dyed or hand embroidered and matched with your kid. There's this brand I'm obsessed with. They're called posh peanut, and they make pajamas, and there's, like, the matching pajamas. And I'm always blown away by how successful that brand is. And I can do why I'm going to do that, too.
Aleya Harris [00:32:45]:
I would totally do that. Me and Ruby co. Would be rocking the Leanie Victoria mommy and me line.
Caroline Hagerty [00:32:52]:
I think it kind of goes to me for product stuff. I go back to being afraid of debt sometimes.
Aleya Harris [00:32:58]:
I'm like, you should carry inventory.
Caroline Hagerty [00:33:01]:
Yeah. I think becoming a service based business, there's no right or wrong answer. But for me, it felt like in terms of financial risk, like, low risk, like, if you're a product based business and you have to clear inventory or you have to pay for storage for your inventory, and you have to front money for production, those are all scary things to me. As a service provider, I was able to start my business with very little money, and I can run my business with, I obviously have expenses, but I don't have to pay rent on, like, a warehouse, which would be, like, a very high expense.
Aleya Harris [00:33:36]:
Right. Well, you overcame the fear of taking the risk of being a service based entrepreneur. Something tells me if you really want to be a product based entrepreneur, it's only a matter of time.
Caroline Hagerty [00:33:49]:
I think about it all the time. Maybe I just turned 35, so maybe I'll come back for a five year anniversary, 40th birthday episode. And there we go.
Aleya Harris [00:33:57]:
There we go. We'll be talking all about your new line of something fabulous.
Caroline Hagerty [00:34:03]:
My background was in fashion. I went to school for fashion design. So I say fashion is my first love. And I switched into beauty because it was sort of the same stuff, but the pay was better.
Aleya Harris [00:34:15]:
Yeah, I feel that. Well, my dear, dear friend, we are wrapping up our interview, but please let the people know where can they get in contact with you?
Caroline Hagerty [00:34:26]:
Sure. Online. Lenievictoria.com on Instagram. I'm at Leniev Lini. Oh, my God. L-I-N-I-B. Creative LinkedIn. You can also email me, caroline@lenievictoria.com.
Caroline Hagerty [00:34:41]:
And I would love to hear from everybody. Don't have to be a client, not trying to sell anybody on anything. I think it's just great to connect with other entrepreneurs and any way that I can be a resource for anyone, I'm here and let's connect.
Aleya Harris [00:34:55]:
That's awesome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a resource, for sharing your story and in general for making entrepreneurship feel grounded. It was just a very grounding conversation. It wasn't about, oh, make a million dollars in five minutes. And it also wasn't like, don't quit your day job. It's terrifying and you can't be successful. It was a very grounded and balanced perspective and I appreciate that.
Caroline Hagerty [00:35:17]:
Thank you.
Aleya Harris [00:35:17]:
Aleya, I don't know about you, but I needed that Caroline Hagerty breath of fresh air in my life today. That woman was just lovely because it was so nice to hear some real experiences about entrepreneurship from an authentic perspective. She talked about her struggles with taking risk and doing it anyways and how she did that and how to really ground yourself in yourself, to make decisions for yourself that serve your own highest good. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to like and subscribe. It helps other people experience some of this goodness, too. And also, I encourage you to come back and listen. Or scroll back, scroll down, go back to the player where you're listening to this and pick some other episodes to listen to because our guests and even in my solo episode, we offer lots of great value. This is not a fluff podcast as I hope that you can tell from what you heard today.
Aleya Harris [00:36:18]:
All right, until next time, my name is Aleya Harris. This is the flourishing entrepreneur podcast and I'm wishing you lots of love, light and abundance. Bye for now.
Yuliya Patsay [00:36:30]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. Vibing with what you hear. Leave a five star review to spread the love and be sure to click subscribe. We wish you love light and abundance. See you next time.
