Gratitude, Habits and Positive Intentions: My Interview With Nikki Bowman

Today is an interview blog with a special guest and she is incredible. I don't know if you know all about this fabulous mama, but I know you are going to love her as much as I do.

Me: Nikki, can you tell my lovely listeners who you are and what you are known for?

Nikki: Well, my name is Nikki. It’s funny, I am a mum of two and my kids are 15 months apart. So those days when we first met were crazy, but we've come a long way. But I think what I'm most known for is building connections and helping moms develop healthy, sustainable habits. For your mind, body, and soul, and I love that.

Me: You are incredible at building connections. I see all your stuff on social media, and you create groups really quickly and organically and without being pushy, which is always super important and lovely. Now I need to share with all of you Nikki wrote a book.

When did you write this book?

Nikki: Kind of funny. It was published on March 7 of 2020. So right before sundown, right before the mad craziness. I created a gratitude Journal. I created this because it's something that I practice all the time, andI wasn't finding the right formula for what I like to do every day, so I decided to make my own. I don't know if you know this, but I always wanted to publish and write books and do things, but I'm someone that procrastinates. Then all of a sudden, this opportunity came to me when someone said they're making subscription box for self-care. The asked if I had something and right away was like,” oh, I do”. But I didn't.So, I decided to just make one and for me, having a deadline to get something done just forced me to do it. It was awesome and it really comes back to the things that I like to practice every day. It's gratitude and affirmations and counting your daily wins. That is what sort of what forced me to get it together and get it done.

Me: How long did it take you to actually create it, once deadline was set? Like how long did it take to get from beginning to end?

Nikki: I would actually say only about 10 hours, which is kind of crazy. Most of it honestly, I had in my head what I wanted to do. I think because it was my first project, I figured like many of us, we can go back and kind of pick at things or do something differently. I have other projects that I'm working on, and that was the hardest part of the whole process. I self-published it on Amazon.

Me: How did you even start? I feel like I'd be like, “google how to self-publish.”

Nikki: I joined Facebook groups and that's what got me into it. I love Facebook for that because there's 100% community that you can reach out to, and. I kind of went through that process and some trial and error and got it together.

Me: That is what I love about Facebook groups. They are not trying to sell you anything. They share their honest opinion and honest experience. Then you can take it or leave it. I want to go into a little bit deeper. Can you share me the title of your book?

Nikki: It's called My Book of Positive intentions.

Me: Love this. I know you said you hopped onto it and decided it was something you volunteered yourself to do, so you had to do it. But why? Was it something you felt like you had to do for you? Was it something that was working for on and you thought, “I think I need to share this” or kind of what made you have that motivation?

Nikki: I think it was a combination of things, these were habits that I was doing every day anyways. I was just buying dollar store books, which were fine and that's cool, too, but I think a lot of people don't know how to start these habits. I decided if I could put it in a way that it's easy to access and people can use it and it's pretty. I like colors, I like visuals, so it's very pretty. wanted to give a resource because it's one of the things that I talk a lot about in different groups and settings. But then obviously I had a desire to publish, and there's other writing projects that I have. The whole experience was like dipping my toe in and learning the process as well.

Me: I know you mentioned part of your publishing process was discovered on a Facebook group, but what were some of the most important steps when you were publishing?

Nikki: The process, obviously, the creative side was coming up with whatever I wanted to put in there. It has a brief intro, but it's really just mostly journaling space. From there, it was the fiddly stuff. I did it all through Amazon. You go on to Amazon KDP. There is the size and all of that kind of detail, and then you have to design a cover and create your pages. The hardest part was getting things to line up. I'm not a techy person

Me: What has the feedback been?

Nikki: Like I said, I launched on March and four days later, the world shut down. Considering all of that the feedback was actually good. That’s something I'll say that I did make money off of, and I still continue to make sales. I think it's important to talk about the reality of some of these products and things that we do. The feedback I got from people was great and I think that's what I really wanted was that it was meaningful workand that they actually found a difference in their day.

Me: When you were actually writing the book, how do you know it was done and it needed to be shared with the world?

Nikki: I think I'm like a fairly compulsive person. So, I sat on this idea for a long time, and then when I suddenly have this opportunity, it forced me to get it done. I'll get in the zone that I'll sit down; I'll do it, I'll go over it, and it's done and then I won't look back. I only look at what could I have done differently for next time? Okay. I don't think I spend a lot of time picking myself apart or hesitating. I feel like it's content that I was comfortable with.

Me: With your book, what is your hope that your readers will take away from it? Like, what was the main goal going into it?

Nikki: think I spend a lot of time talking to moms. So I love just giving, like, another resource that is quick and easy. It literally should take less than five minutes a day to fill it out.

Me: That's the thing. If you can give something that is manageable for us busy Mamas to do, we can carve that time. I spoke about it all last week of carving time for the things you want to do. But, y when it's a big commitment, it's hard to even figure out where that time could possibly come from.

Nikki: Right. And I've used so many different planners and journals and things. I know that I'm not always good at sticking to it if it's complicated or long or you have to do it at morning or night or whatever. This was something that I feel like most moms could pick up and they could do. I was getting good feedback from people, and it's really simple. But even those small, little, simple steps that people were taking were positively impacting their life, that was my goal.

Me: Another thing I absolutely love about Nikki is how you show up on social media. I don't know if any of you are following Nikki, but you should. Nikki has created not only these incredible community groups, but she also just shows up. You show up on social media just so naturally organically. I love seeing what you're up to. Do you have any tips for moms, especially moms who may be trying to start a new business, how to kind of show up on social media in an honest way?

Nikki: I think the main piece is just being yourself, and I think that has taken me some time. But the more authentic that I show up, I feel like the more that people actually want to engage with you, and that is the whole point of social media, to actually have that back-and-forth conversation and build relationships that way. I would say be of service. Like, if you're looking at it from a business standpoint, try and post content that is somehow serving your audience.

Me: How do you manage being a busy entrepreneur and a busy Mama?

Nikki: I don't think there's, like a secret way of doing it. We were kind of chatting about that before. I think I know what I want to create in my business. The clearer I've gotten about that, the easier it is to know the things I need to do in my day and not get distracted by all the other things. I like habit, something I've talked about all the time, and habit trackers. Every month I go through and think, what are the things that are going to actually move my business forward? What's really important? Then I track those things, and then what else is important? I know it’s my family, it's my business and then there's those close personal relationships and my health. Those are the main things and that's kind of my process. If it doesn't fit in those, then it's off the table.

Me: All right, I'm going to switch gears a little bit here. I'm currently working on a project that has to do with challenges, and I noticed you have a ten-day challenge that you share a lot on your social media. What inspired you to start this?

Nikki: Yeah, the ten-day challenge is something that I started because it comes back to habits. I feel like I talk about this all the time, but I feel like it's the little things that you do every day that really start to add up, and that's where you start to see change. I started doing it. We have a 30-day group that we do in my business, but for a lot of people that's like too much to take on. find that doing the ten days helps people get in and kind of get the ball rolling in the way of making little shifts and changes that have long term benefits.

Me: What do you think people get from being a part of this challenge, or what's your hope that they get from it?

Nikki: I started doing them every month this year, and I think my hope was that they would feel happier. I think at the end of the day, if I can be the person that helps someone feel better in some aspect of their life, then I feel like I've done a good job. The feedback I've gotten has been super cool. People just finding that little bit more self-love, self-acceptance, maybe showing up, being more patient for their kids because they're taking the time for themselves and balancing that a little bit more. Then the health part as well, eating better and drinking more water and moving your body and doing all those things.

Me: What do you think has been one of your biggest life lessons that you would like to share with everybody?

Nikki: There’s so many I think a big one would be don't take things personally in business and life. I think if you can start to see the world through a lens of people react and behave from what's going inside their heads and not what you're specifically doing, not to say that you don't take responsibility for your actions and things, but when you learn to pause and kind of think that might be what's going on in their world, then you're more likely to respond instead of react, which I think if we did that a little bit more, it would be a little calmer.

Me: I want your secrets. I want your best tips and tricks or tools that you think every entrepreneur needs to know about.

Nikki: I'm going to go back to knowing what you want and having a system in place for that. I think your environment is the most important thing. So having an environment that sets you up for success to whatever those things are. If you know that healthy habits are important to you then putting water bottles throughout your house can help. Also being organized, which is so funny because I'm not an organized person. But finding tools that work for you. I couldn't live without my Google calendar. That is my life. If it's not on that calendar, it doesn't exist.

Me: If my watch or phone doesn't remind me to do something, it's probably not getting done. What do you think is your favorite part about being an entrepreneur?

Nikki: The flexibility. It's not easy, and I think a lot of it is in between your ears and how you think. But I wouldn't trade the time that I've had with my kids, even though we've all had a lot of time with our kids. I still just wouldn't trade that. I love just having the flexibility to choose what fits in and what doesn't, and that is the best thing to me.

Me: Is there anyone right now who is really inspiring you?

Nikki: I make it a habit to read or listen to podcasts or audio books every day. I'm currently listening to Atomic Habits, which is nice. But one of my favorite people, I would say, is Mel Robbins and I think I always come back to female entrepreneurs. There are more men, obviously, but they don't have the same challenges and the issues that women have. I like Mel Robbins because she's very straightforward.

Me: Do you have, like, a must-read book right now that you're in the middle of, or you're just starting or you're just finishing?

Nikki: I've read a lot, really. I think if you're struggling with feeling stuck in life or not feeling great about yourself, I would read The High Five Habit and commit to it because the first few chapters, I pushed myself through and it was an awesome book. The Four Agreements. It’s older, but it's such a good book for seeing things from a different perspective. I think anyone can benefit from reading that one.

Me: Can you to share one routine or habit that you want to share with everyone that you think maybe they could try out and see if it's something they like to do?

Nikki: If I could only say one right now, because I think it's universal, celebrating wins. I think if you can do, like, High Five in the mirror in the morning, but if you can do a midday check in, because usually we start fairly motivated in the morning and excited and then sometimes the day, most of the time I feel like the day unravels. Maybe not how you thought it would be for sure. If midday you could count five wins and they can be like small. For example: you made your bed or you didn't yell at your kids in the morning, literally whatever it is, but I think when you learn to make it a habit to count those wins you speak to yourself differently and you show up differently.

Me: I did a really fun challenge the end of last year where it's like you reframe your day. At the end of the day just before going to bed I thought of the things I got to do for example, “today I got to read to my eight-year-old, today I got to make a healthy meal for my family. “ Of course while I was doing those things throughout the day I was so busy doing I couldn’t appreciate them. It was like reframing it and it made me so happy just before sleep time. I love your concept of halfway through the day because I agree you start off with this energy and you’re right, then halfway through the day the slump started to get tired like you need another coffee so yeah, kind of stopping and celebrating those wins are pretty awesome.

Okay, well, friends, that was my first interview with somebody. It was so exciting. Thank you so much, Nikki for being here today.

Listen to the podcast episode here