098 Discovering Your Purpose and Living It! With Mattie James

Mattie: My favorite thing is telling people like, you're not special.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: You don't get to skip this part.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You're just not. I'm not special, I didn't get to skip this part. You know what I mean? Like the consistency isn't inevitable, it's a given. And I want everybody to go in with anything that they're doing and expect that it's going to take years.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: For you to become the version that you want to be.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And it's worth it because let me tell you something, the other side is magical.

Mattie: Literally. Literally.

You want to make more money? You are in the right place. Welcome to the Hello Seven Podcast, that’s seven as in seven figures. I'm your host, Rachel Rodgers. On this show, it’s all about you and your money. We talk about how to maximize your earning potential, how to make better financial decisions, and how to find your million-dollar idea, that genius business idea that’s going to make you a whole lot more money. I’m here to show you how to expand your income and expand your confidence, power, and joy.

If you are a woman, a person of color, a queer person, if you’re a person living with a disability, or you don’t fit the stereotypical image of what a millionaire is “supposed” to look like, this show is for you. No matter who you are or what you do for a living, you could be earning a lot more than you currently do. Your journey to wealth starts right here.

Rachel: I'm here with this amazing author, Mattie James, author of Everyday Magic: The Joy of Not Being Everything And Still Being More Than Enough. Okay, she's also Miss Liberia, all right? So put some respect on it, okay?

Mattie: Come one.

Rachel: Y'all need to go get this book and we're about to dig into it. Y'all are in for a treat. I am so excited. First of all, I have too much to say, we have too much to talk about.

Mattie: We going to be here for a minute.

Rachel: This is going to be a seven hour episode today.

Mattie: And you're just going to have to watch it all.

Rachel: Yeah, exactly. First of all, so that's my first question actually, is tell me about how you became Miss Liberia because I just need to know that story.

Mattie: First of all, it's so funny because the other day I was like, “Wait, I won Miss Liberia in 2009.” Like I’ve lived a life, you know?

Rachel: You have lived, honey.

Mattie: I have lived a life. So my parents are Liberian, I'm first American generation, me and my sister Maya. And I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to take part in the pageant. I've always wanted to be a beauty queen. That was just, I watched all the pageants growing up.

Rachel: I mean it make sense.

Mattie: None of this surprises you, right?

Rachel: None.

Mattie: I have always been who I’ve been. And so I got the opportunity, I found out just like through the Liberian community in Atlanta where I'm based. We have a pretty large Liberian community and I heard that they were doing the Georgia pageant. And so I just asked around, and this was in 2009. And everybody was just like, “Girl, you're not going to win so you might as well not do it.”

Rachel: Wow.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: Oh, just out here just crushing dreams.

Mattie: Just crushing dreams, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Rude with it.

Mattie: And my parents, who are very encouraging and have always been, even they were pretty doubtful.

Rachel: They were like, “I don’t know, sis.”

Mattie: Yeah, because what they call me was kwi. Like in the Liberian community when you're super American they call you kwi. So they were like, “You're kind of kwi, you’re probably not going to win it.” And stuff like that. So I'm like, my Gemini competitive spirit was like, “Actually, I’m going to go win it now.”

Rachel: You said, “Watch me.”

Mattie: You're playing in my face and I don’t like it. So I was engaged to Chris at the time and he was like, “Babe, go get it.” So I got all the information.

Rachel: Listen, see, Chris was focused.

Mattie: He was focused.

Rachel: That's why he's still around.

Mattie: He's an executor. He was like, “If this is what we're going to do, then let’s go do it.”

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: That’s all he needed. So I found out about it and just got all the information, did the practices, really cultivated some beautiful relationships with the other contestants. And I just went out there and killed it. The girl who won first runner up was like, if you could create a Liberian Barbie, she was it.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: She was stunning. She was the social butterfly in the scene, but baby, I came to win. I didn’t come to do nothing else.

Rachel: She’s like, even your beauty can’t stop me.

Mattie: Even your beauty, you know what I mean? And she was great, but I was like, I just came to win. And I think really what, really what won it for me was I deeply care about my people.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I really do, and you can't really fake that, you know what I mean?

Rachel: No.

Mattie: You can fake being nice, but I really cared about my people. And you had to present a platform.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And one thing about me is if I care about something, I will definitely sell it. I can sell anything to anybody. And I sold it.

Rachel: We have that in common.

Mattie: One of my favorite things about you. And so I won the Georgia pageant and I went to Philly and competed in the national pageant. And again, and really when I sought out to do the state pageant I was like, “I'm only doing the state pageant to win the national pageant.”

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: This was just a step to what the actual goal was, to be honest.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so I went to Philly, I ended up winning the national pageant. It was incredible. It was just probably one of the most magical moments. And it just, I still get goosebumps thinking about it now because it literally was a dream come true.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And my parents were blown away because they're like, “Oh, no, she really went out and did that.” You know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I was like, “Yeah, guys, when I want something, I'm going to go get it.” And so yeah.

Rachel: I love that so much.

Mattie: Thank you.

Rachel: I mean like what a way, because I think sometimes especially as business owners, as entrepreneurs, we're so afraid to put ourselves out there.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: You are putting yourself out there on a whole nother level when you enter a pageant, you know?

Mattie: Yes, there’s swimsuit. Because at this pageant we had traditional wear, so you had to wear something that was traditionally Liberian.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You had to say hello in like the tribe that you were from or your parents were from. And I am very kwi, let me be clear. I'm very American so I was like, “Okay, mom, so how do you say this? What tribe are we from?”

Rachel: You were like, “I'm going to study, I'm going to practice.”

Mattie: I’m going to study. But I got it down, you know what I mean? And I think really what won it for me for the national pageant was the final question, which for most pageants it comes down to. And the question was, if you could change one thing about Liberia, what would you change? Most people said, of course like education, helping women and children, all great answers.

Rachel: Yeah.

Mattie: I was reading a book at the time called Confidence and it was by a Harvard business professor. And I talked about how I would change the confidence of Liberian people because after experiencing a civil war, if you could change the mindset of somebody, you can change everything about the infrastructure, about anything, right?

Rachel: Literally everything else.

Mattie: And I think that just-

Rachel: That is a winning answer, okay?

Mattie: That was it. When it came out of my mouth I was like, “Girl, y’all might as well give me the crown now.”

Rachel: Just go ahead and crown me right now.

Mattie: Go ahead and crown me. I’ll wait, I’ll let everybody else go, but I’m ready.

Rachel: Listen, show up, know you came to win.

Mattie: Listen, winners win, baby.

Rachel: That's right, I love it so much. Okay, so tell me like how did you become an influencer? Tell us that story.

Mattie: Oh, I love this story so much. So I left home, I went to school until I was about a junior in college. And then I left because I thought I was going to New York to become a pop star.

Rachel: Listen, you’ve got to have goals.

Mattie: The way my West African daddy was like, “Oh, you grown? You're not going to school no more? You're cut off financially.”

Rachel: Oh, so he's just like me?

Mattie: Yes. Yes, cut me off.

Rachel: That sounds like something I would do.

Mattie: Cut me off. And it’s the best thing he's done for me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Truly it really, really was because I learned how to hustle. I had lived in a bubble all my life and I learned how to hustle in New York. But in New York is where I discovered blogs. And I remember going to work, I was temping for, funny enough it was Random House. I was actually temping for an editor there.

Rachel: Whoa.

Mattie: Yeah, funny enough. And I was on the computer one day and I saw my coworker I was like, “What are you reading?” It was like news, there was like celebrities. I was like, “But what are you reading?” And she was like, “It's a blog.” And I was like, “What's that?” So she introduced me to that. A year later, I moved to Atlanta and I started my own blog. It was very trash. It was not good.

Rachel: Wait, so what year is this?

Mattie: So I lived in New York 2005, 2006. I got to Atlanta in 2007. I'd spent some of my childhood in Atlanta, but decided to go back. And I started a blog, I called it the Minority Report. I talked about Black pop culture and stuff like that.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But here's the thing about celebrity news, it is very, very time sensitive and I wasn't keeping up with the times, really. I just wasn't keeping up with the times.

Rachel: You’ve got to be around the clock journalist.

Mattie: When the PR release comes out, baby, you got to, when that press release come out you’ve got to put it out. And I just was not keeping it up.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So I was like, well, I like blogging, but I actually want to talk about something that's not so time sensitive. So I started talking about style and beauty.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I really enjoyed that. And when I won Miss Liberia in 2009 I got a lot more followers.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I was like, “You know what, let me get serious about this.” In 2010 I started my first blog which was, well, my first like real serious blog, which was mattieology.com. And that’s how I got into it.

Rachel: That was my start year too, 2010.

Mattie: 2010 was just big, I think, for us.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Especially women of color, Black women online, really it was huge for us. And especially just there wasn't many of us. So I really started really to hopefully encourage women who look like us to start their thing, start showing up online because we're here.

Rachel: Yes. Wait, and so are you working a job while you were building this blog?

Mattie: So I had an internship during Miss Liberia. During that process me and Chris were engaged and stuff like that. I did the internship until the end of 2010. I thought I was going to just all of a sudden blow up as a blogger. My very, very generous husband was like, “Yeah, you're fine, babe. Don't worry about working.” We didn't have kids at the time. Baby was brokety-broke-broke.

Chris thought is he quit his job and joined me, we could make money. That also wasn't the answer.

Rachel: That didn't work out?

Mattie: That didn’t work out.

Rachel: Nobody working?

Mattie: Wasn’t great. Wasn’t great, so we went ahead and got our shit together in 2011 and he got a new job and I got a full-time job. Coincidentally when I started making money at the job, I got better at blogging.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Because I could finance that side hustle, right?

Rachel: Yes, exactly.

Mattie: Because it takes money to make money.

Rachel: That’s right.

Mattie: But when you're in your 20s, usually you don't immediately get that.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So I started getting paid, I think I got paid $250 my very first brand partnership.

Rachel: Oh, I love it.

Mattie: Yes, it was for an American Express prepaid debit card.

Rachel: Okay, American Express.

Mattie: And they gave us tickets to the Earth Wind and Fire concert.

Rachel: Okay.

Mattie: Baby, I was out there. I was like, “I am VIP. American Express sent me, ask about me, okay? We are out here.” But I was so, even the story now excites me because I genuinely love what I do and that was my starting point. Like if I didn't get that, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Rachel: And how did you get that? Did they reach out to you?

Mattie: So they reached out to me. It was a gentleman who worked for a PR company based in Dallas, Texas.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And he reached out to me. And that slowly but surely, because I didn't really know about pitching, yet.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I just was like putting myself out there and hoping for the best.

Rachel: Yep.

Mattie: And I did that pretty consistently for about a year to about 18 months. And then I got my first big offer, which was five figures. And it was amazing. I just didn't even understand that you could make that much money from blogging.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And again, especially somebody that looked like me, because the big bloggers –

Rachel: They were all white guys.

Mattie: They were all white guys or they were white women who looked like models going to New York Fashion Week. So it was very, very few people who look like us who were doing it. And most of the bloggers at the time who were Black who were doing it were entertainment bloggers and they were in New York or LA.

Rachel: Right.

Mattie: So I was just like, I was happy. I was like, “You wanted to pay me $10,000 to do what? All right then, I'll be there.”

Rachel: I will do any number of things for $10,000.

Mattie: Exactly.

Rachel: All of them together.

Mattie: All of them together. You need that when? Excellent, I'll have that.

Rachel: The negotiate skills came later.

Mattie: Yeah they came later. They came later.

Rachel: They were not up front.

Mattie: Just happy for the five figures.

Rachel: Yeah, that was me as a new lawyer. I'm like, “Family law case, no problem. I'm not a family lawyer but I will take that. I will handle that divorce for you.”

Mattie: Absolutely. A case? You want me on a case? Got it.

Rachel: Exactly, I'll take it. That case, five years later I was still stuck with that case. I was like, “Why did I take this? I've lost money, actually.”

Mattie: Literally, same thing like licensing deals. And I didn't even know about licensing, so I was just like letting people have a perpetual license to things I created.

Rachel: Yeah.

Mattie: And I look back now and I'm like, “Are you having a stroke? What’s happening?”

Rachel: I'm very anti-lifetime access to anything. No.

Mattie: To anything.

Rachel: Anything in any way.

Mattie: No.

Rachel: No, you don't get access to anything I've ever done for a lifetime, no.

Mattie: No, it just doesn’t work.

Rachel: Not for any one flat fee, sorry.

Mattie: No. For a flat fee? No, you can have this for 90 days, and then if you want it for longer, you can give me more money.

Rachel: Yeah, you can pay me again, exactly. That's how that works now.

Mattie: But, baby, I was just out here happy. I didn't know what perpetual meant for a long time. And then like finally was able to afford an attorney and I was like, “You know what, we probably shouldn't do that, should we?’

Rachel: Yeah, we going to scratch out that word, perpetual.

Mattie: And at least don't do perpetual for free.

Rachel: Listen, we've all played ourselves in various ways. Listen, it's part of the journey. And so one of the questions I want to ask you is about consistency, okay?

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: Which is part of the magic formula, which we'll talk about in a minute. But talk to me about consistency. Like how consistent were you with your blogging? How often were you blogging? And how long were you doing it, like before you got that Amex deal?

Because I think people think like, “Oh, I showed up and I started blogging and I did it once every month for like six months and no one's throwing money at me.” And it’s like, correct, that’s what's supposed to happen. Nothing should be happening with that little bit of effort you putting in.

Mattie: Correct, with a capital cursive C. Correct. Yeah, because you really do have to show up for a while when no one is looking.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: That's really when you have to show up so people can start looking, right?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And people think that they'll show up when people start looking. And it's like, no, no, we have to start from the inside out, not from the outside in.

Rachel: That's right.

Mattie: And so yeah, I was showing up maybe at least three to four times a week probably for about, gosh, that was easily a year before Amex even. And then it was another 18 months before somebody even presented me with money where I could pay my mortgage.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And finally bought my first MacBook and my first serious camera.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So yeah, so about two and a half full years before I made money, money, for sure.

Rachel: Yes. Yes, I love it. And I think that's so important to speak to the consistency piece because it was the same for me. When I started my law practice, I made little piddly money. And like it was year or two that, boom, suddenly I was making $300,000, right?

Mattie: Yep.

Rachel: And I was making, I was barely getting by before and living off of my husband's savings and like piecing it together, right? And taking side jobs and do whatever we had to do. And then suddenly, boom, we're making more money than all my peers who graduated in the same class as me.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And it's that consistency.

Mattie: You’ve got to show up.

Rachel: And people want to skip that, and there is no skipping it.

Mattie: The way there's just not, and it’s interesting-

Rachel: Because if there was a way to skip it, we literally would bottle it up and sell it to you and make a lot more money that we make now.

Mattie: Yes, exactly. We would be trillionaires.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: Here's the skip consistency serum, you can get it now for $5,000.

Rachel: That’s right. 

Mattie: But yeah, you cannot skip it. And it's interesting to me, I do think there's this idea that because you create content to promote your business online, there's something about the internet that people associate that it should be easier, because you don't associate it being easy with television.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: You don't associate it being easy for the music industry.

Rachel: Right.

Mattie: So I’m like, why do you think that you can scroll all day for 3.99 and that it should just come easily to you?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so I always tell people, you are not entitled to it being easy for you. You have to show up just like anybody else.

Rachel: Yeah.

Mattie: And all of our hards are different, you know what I mean? Because we all come from different walks of life. But everybody's got to show up.

Rachel: That's right.

Mattie: Everybody does.

Rachel: Everybody has to put in work and you don't get to skip that part. And honestly, I don't feel sorry for you, right?

Mattie: I just don’t.

Rachel: So when you're like, “Oh, it didn’t work in five minutes.” It's like, “So?”

Mattie: My favorite is telling people like, you're not special.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: You don't get to skip this part.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You're just not. I'm not special, I didn't get to skip this part. You know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Like the consistency isn't inevitable, it's a given. And I want everybody to go in with anything that they're doing and expect that it's going to take years.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: For you to become the version that you want to be.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And it's worth it because let me tell you something, the other side is magical.

Mattie: Literally. Literally. 

Rachel: Listen, I'm so grateful for those early years that I was willing to put in and I was willing to be broke for a little while. I was willing to drive a jalopy, gave up my nice car, gave up my house. Like I rented it out, lived in the basement.

Mattie: I love it. I love it.

Rachel: Lived in a basement apartment.

Mattie: Because everything costs something.

Rachel: Yes, exactly. Exactly. And you are not entitled to success. And if there's one thing people get out of this podcast, I hope it's that.

Mattie: Me too.

Rachel: Because listen, don't come at us with that nonsense.

Mattie: Please don't.

Rachel: Don't even bother.

Mattie: Because I’m like, If Rachel had to start in 2010, if Mattie had to start in 2010, like if everybody had to start from square one, why would you get to start at square four because it was hard?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: It's literally hard when you get on the other side too. So the reason why you, to me it's even harder to sustain it.

Rachel: Yes. Oh yes, absolutely. That's part of the hard as well.

Mattie: It really is.

Rachel: And the thing is, is like as you grow this thing you have to realize that you have to grow personally.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And you have to be willing to be up for the next challenge. So like the first challenge is maybe getting the audience and then maybe learning how to negotiate deals or whatever, or get those clients in, right?

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And once you figure that out, okay, great, now you got a new hard. Okay, there's too much work.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: So now I’ve got to hire people, right? Now I’ve got to learn how to be a manager and a leader.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: Right? Like now I got new problems.

Mattie: New problems. I think it was mommy who said it to me, she was like, “It's hard being broke and it's hard having money. You’ve just got to pick your hard.” 

Rachel: Yes, choose your hard. And you know what? I've been both, and I'm going to go with the money one.

Mattie: It’s going to be hard with money over here.

Rachel: Exactly. It's hard with money for me. I'm telling you, listen, I would much rather have that version of hard.

Mattie: I’m telling you.

Rachel: Because the challenges, what I don't worry about is eating.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: What I don't worry about is a roof over my head.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And there were times in my life where I was absolutely worried about that, it consumed everything.

Mattie: Absolutely.

Rachel: And so having freedom from that is, you can't put a price tag on it. So to me, I will take these new challenges any day of the week.

Mattie: Absolutely. You need me to be a leader? All right.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: You need a decision? All right. We going to figure it out.

Rachel: I’ve got to get up on stage and I don't know what I'm going to say? I'll do it.

Mattie: Exactly. Whatever it takes.

Rachel: Exactly. So tell me about, so now the Mattie James Company is a seven figure business. So tell us a little bit about that. How do you make money now? Is it the same way? And like tell us just a little bit about what your company looks like now.

Mattie: So we have the Mattie James Company and we also have Bossfluence.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So the Mattie James company is where I do influencer marketing. So I create content for these brands, definitely at a higher scale.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: because it was important to me, you know, there was one point in time where it was like every single week I was doing a paid brand partnership because I needed to put food on the table.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I lost my nine to five in 2015 so I went full-time. And it was the best thing that happened to me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Losing my job was the best thing that happened to me.

Rachel: I lost a job too that forced me to become an entrepreneur.

Mattie: Baby, real quick. Real quick.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I had the fast track.

Rachel: Exactly, because we need the check.

Mattie: Exactly.

Rachel: Okay, we need to pay these bills.

Mattie: I had just had my first baby, Maizah wasn't even one yet.

Rachel: Wow.

Mattie: So I was like, okay. So I was like, I have a baby.

Rachel: Nothing like a baby to motivate you, listen.

Mattie: Baby, it’s real life out here. It’s real life out here

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: And so I'm really fortunate now, we can definitely do like once a month and have scaled it much higher. And then also, I think too, what a lot of people don't talk about and I want to start this conversation more, it's just repeat business and actually having a partnership with these brands.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Versus looking at it as transactional. It's about building that relationship. So we've been really fortunate with that. And then on the other side, Bossfluence, I have courses and programs where I teach influencers how to start, grow, and profit by pitching brands and leveraging their content.

Rachel: Yes, it's called diversified.

Mattie: Yes. It's getting diversified. I’m like, look like after here I'm trying to get a ranch, I’m trying to get into real estate. You know, all of the things.

Rachel: We got jets to buy.

Mattie: We got jets to buy. I want matching jets. That's another episode.

Rachel: Okay, yeah, we'll talk about that later. It's so true. I love that, that's beautiful. You've learned how to do this for yourself. I've seen the content that you create in your brand partnerships is absolutely stunning.

Mattie: Thank you, Rachel.

Rachel: I'm like, “Is there a studio behind this company?”

Mattie: Well we do have a little studio. We took our basement, we completely just like renovated it. We moved into our home about three years ago and the basement was unfinished. And we were like, “Let's make this like a studio.”

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So that's where my husband, who is the COO of the company but he currently handles most of the production, so he'll edit. And so we're really fortunate, like we can live out of our house, we can work out of our house.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I find that really, I just am so grateful. I'm not jaded by that at all.

Rachel: Yeah, I love that too. And we have that in common. We both have three little kids.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: We both have husbands who we work with.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: So lots of things.

Mattie: Lots of things in common.

Rachel: We both work from home.

Mattie: Yes. We even have matching jets.

Rachel: Yes, exactly. We even have matching jets, exactly. And we're both authors.

Mattie: Yes, authors. Give it up for authors. I love it.

Rachel: So tell me, what has the experience been like publishing this book and seeing the response to it and just having people have it in their hands?

Mattie: It's a literal dream come true. It's a dream realized. It's easily the hardest thing, for me, I can say writing a book was the hardest thing I've ever done professionally.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: It was the equivalent of giving birth.

Rachel: Yeah, it's challenging.

Mattie: I don’t think I really understood how intense or just how difficult clearly articulating an idea in an entire book was until I had to do it.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I just had so much respect for every book that I've ever read in my life.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Really. And it was really great because I was really excited too because I was like, I also had the freedom to write what I wanted to write.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So it was really cool to pitch this publisher and say, this is the kind of book I want to write and them be like, “All right, you can do that.”

Rachel: Exactly. And to me, I think it should not be any other way.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: Like if you are not passionate and excited about that book, don't even bother writing it.

Mattie: Don't even bother writing it.

Rachel: Because it won't even, I feel like it won't land the way that it needs to land if the heart's not in it.

Mattie: Absolutely.

Rachel: You know what I mean?

Mattie: Absolutely. And I was so genuinely excited.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I was more excited about writing the book than it was hard for me. So even though it was hard, it was still more important for this book to get out there.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I really just wanted to, I really wanted the book to be a big permission slip.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I wanted to encourage others. That was my biggest thing, I didn't want to write a self-help book that told you that this is what you have to do to get this one result.

Rachel: Yes, here’s your to-do list.

Mattie: Here’s your to-do list, check it off.

Rachel: Right?

Mattie: It really is a framework, right?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Everyday Magic is about making every day meaningful, aesthetically pleasing, goal oriented, intentional, and consistent. That's different for all of us.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You know what I mean, in different seasons of our lives. But to me, magic always matters. And so I just wanted to let you know that your magic matters, even if it's completely different than mine, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes, exactly.

Mattie: So that's been really great. And really, I wanted the book to be a resource. I wanted you to be able to go back to it. That's been one of my favorite things. My dad, he's so cute, he was like, well my mom was like, “Your dad literally has been in the room all day reading the book.” And he read it in two days flat.

Rachel: He's studying.

Mattie: He’s studying. He's was like, “I'm so proud of you, you wrote an excellent book.” Because he's like, “This just proves to me that Everyday Magic is for everyone. It's not just for women. It's not just for moms. It’s for everyone.”

Rachel: That’s right.

Mattie: He's like, “I got so much from this.” But he's like, “The biggest thing is that this is a book that you could come to over and over again in different seasons of your life.”

Rachel: In different seasons of your life.

Mattie: And I was really encouraged by that.

Rachel: Yes, I love it. I found it like cathartic.

Mattie: Oh, thank you.

Rachel: Getting the stories and like you immediately, I mean, permission slip is exactly how I would describe it. Because I think right at the beginning you're saying like, you don't have to be perfect, but you do have to put some work in, right? And that's the thing, is like let's be able to hold a dichotomy and think about balance. I think sometimes we go to such extremes.

Mattie: Absolutely, Rachel.

Rachel: You know what I mean?

Mattie: We are eye to eye on that because I think that a lot of times, and I say this in the book, you know, some people are just like, “Oh my gosh, you're Superwoman, you do this and that and stuff like that.” And it’s like, baby, not super at all.

Rachel: I loved that part.

Mattie: A regular woman working her tail off, okay?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I want you to know that it takes quite the effort for me, just like it does for you. You know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But I understand what my magic is, I named what my magic is. And that's why I have the bandwidth to show up.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Because I have a clear understanding of why I'm showing up. And I think once you understand your why, you just move different.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: That's why the first chapter is discovering your why, the magic of discovering your why. Because when you understand why everyday even matters to you the hard doesn't matter no more, right? It's like I'm going to do the work anyway because you’ve got to make this magic.

Rachel: Exactly, and you start moving with purpose instead of responding to everything that's coming at you, you know what I mean? And being like, okay, how can I hit these things? How can I make this day magical? Even if I have to go do something that's really challenging, even if I'm feeling super tired today, how can I make it a magical day?

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And I love that because you know what? We're not going to live forever.

Mattie: We're just not.

Rachel: Yes, unfortunately. So why don't we just really make the most of every single day? Not just the big highlight moments, but literally just the regular old day.

Mattie: The regular old days. Because I think, again, social media can be a really great place. But then you just start seeing like people taking trips to Dubai, you see people's birthdays, you see anniversaries, when they buy a home. These are all really great moments, but these are also special occasions. These are not things that happen every day.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But does every day need to be a spectacle for it to matter to you?

Rachel: Yep.

Mattie: And a lot of times I'm like, do we actually, like is our life good because of how we live it or because of how it looks online?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And that's what I wanted to start peeling the layers back on.

Rachel: I love that, especially as an influencer, right?Because I think people get very confused.

Mattie: Yes they do.

Rachel: Being an influencer and even just experiencing influencers on social media every day, right? Like you start to do everything for the gram.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And then you have to ask yourself like, well, am I doing this because I want to do it or am I doing this so that I can photograph it and put it on?

Mattie: So important.

Rachel: You know what I mean? And it's like, okay, if it's work and this is a workday, that's fine.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: But you don't want to have a 24/7 news cycle of your life.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: You know what I mean?

Mattie: It’s so important, you know what I mean? And I share a lot. But really, in hindsight, I'm sharing about 20% of my life.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: If my babies don't feel like being in front of the camera, they're very photogenic, they're very, very happy to be in front of the camera. But on the days they are not, I'm not going to stick a camera in their face for the sake of getting likes, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Or getting laughs from my audience. Same thing, like it's really important to me to make sure I honor my husband and his personal space versus, again, trying to get likes because we look like the happy Black couple doing it up and stuff like that. And it's like, girl, we are happy, but I don't even need to prove it to you.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: If you happen to see it, great. And I used to have it backwards, and I talk about it briefly in the book. In 2016 I had put my life on the back burner trying to look like I was living good instead of actually living good. And now I live so good that I don't even have to share it all the time, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Exactly. It’s so true. And I find that it's like those moments where you're chilling on the couch laughing where you're just like, “Wow, this is the best.”

Mattie: The best.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I genuinely, I don't have the perfect life and I tell people all the time my husband still gets on my nerves because he's a husband.

Rachel: Listen, they all do.

Mattie: My kids still get on my nerves because they’re my kids, you know what I mean? At work we’re trifling some days. I’m like, “All right, let me get on this phone because they trying me today.” You know what I mean? However, I really enjoy my life because I just am really grateful. Like I understand, I've been broke before, I've not had a job before, I've reached out to brands and they not respond to me before.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So I understand what it took to get here. But everybody has a version of that.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: If you think about, anybody, even if you're not where you want to be now, if you think about where you were five years ago you can sit in something that you are really grateful for right now.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And that's really what I wanted to, again, give permission for. You can be grateful, you can be joyful, and there's something in all of us, I think every single one of us, just because we're humans, we have experienced some kind of trauma, whether it's minor or extreme, that makes us believe that we're not enough, right?

And the way we compensate with that often is by trying to be everything to everyone. And my whole purpose of this book really was to be like, you don't have to be everything to everyone because you are already complete as you are.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You lack nothing.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You lack nothing. Even if you're not where you're at, you lack nothing. You came with all the pieces you were supposed to. You ain't lacking a thing, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Now, you might be in a certain phase that might not be the end result that you want. But allow yourself to go through that process and you can still be joyful in every day. You're more than enough.

Rachel: Exactly, yes.

Mattie: So yeah, that's really what it was about because that's really my journey. I used to just like try to overcompensate. When I got married and I thought marriage looked like this. I had such an outdated just like concept of marriage and what I thought it should be. And like Chris would look at me like, “I didn't ask you to do any of this.”

Rachel: Yeah, I don’t care about none of that.

Mattie: “I just want to be clear that you're doing this.”

Rachel: Yeah, exactly. This was not on my request list.

Mattie: This was not on my request list at all. And so I had to like free myself, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And therapy definitely helped. And just like watching the women in my life that I really love and respect and seeing how they navigate, whether they were married or single. Just being like, “Oh, you know what? I really like how she does that.” And that gives me permission too.

And I think that's what it is, I think when we are unapologetic about shining our light and really deliberate about how we live day to day, it's incredibly permissive.

Rachel: Exactly, exactly. And when you expose yourself to other people, then you can kind of collect, “Oh, I like that. That's not for me. But this part, that's how I want to show up. This is what kind of mother I want to be, this is what kind of wife I want to be. This is what kind of boss I want to be, what kind of businesswoman I want to be.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And I think that's beautiful. I feel like this book is really great for anybody on the journey to where they're trying to go. Which I guess we all are, but if you feel like, “Oh, I'm trying to build my first million dollar business,” or whatever it is that you're trying to do, I love this book because I feel like it's teaching you how to have joy in the process.

Because I think sometimes, and I used to be guilty of this, we're so futuristic and we're so like, “Well, in five years I'll be happy when I accomplish X goal.” And it's like, what if you don't make it?

Mattie: Come on. You're not entitled to tomorrow.

Rachel: Yeah.

Mattie: You’re just not.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So you’ve got to be joyful today, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And there is joy in the work.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: There is joy in the work. Like my favorite days, truly, are when I have just had it with everyone, right? When you’ve just had it with everyone, right? And so I'm wrangling my two year old and getting him in the tub and he just says or does something that just makes me laugh from my core.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Where it's like, girl, your life is so great that in your most annoying moment, that you can find this moment of joy. And so it's really important. Also just keep things in perspective.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: That's why operating in purpose is so huge, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Because it's easy to get distracted by what you don't have, what it looks like somebody may have. Because that's really what it is, we don't really know what other people have.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: We know what it might look like, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Exactly. We know like, oh, that's the end result. But we don't think about all the work, and all the late nights, and all the effort that went into that. Like having that great marriage takes a lot of work and going through some dark moments sometimes.

Mattie: Dark moments, therapy.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You don’t know. You don’t know.

Rachel: Listen, several rounds of therapy.

Mattie: As someone who has reconciled her marriage, baby, that was a process.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But I wouldn't trade it for the world. That was work well worth it for myself and for my family.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so it's important for you to be able to say, “You know what? This is hard as hell, but it's worth it for what is my magic, what season I'm in, and where I'm trying to go.”

Rachel: Yeah. So I want to ask you, like how did you come up with the magic formula? What made you choose those things? And one of the things that really stood out to me was aesthetically pleasing. Because that's not what people, like people don't usually include that in like a self-help, it's almost like they you're sort of shunned to not care about that.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And I think that your environment matters.

Mattie: Absolutely.

Rachel: And what you're experiencing, what you're taking in. So I was like really struck by that. So tell me like, what made you come up with this particular formula and that piece as well?

Mattie: So when I, we reconciled our marriage in 2016. I really had to kind of step back and look at myself, even before I looked at my marriage. And I was like, “Okay, honey, what actually matters to you?”

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And we're so fortunate, we both come from close knit families. And so I knew that family really mattered to us and things that were meaningful, like tradition.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So meaningful was huge for me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But as somebody who created lifestyle content, my mom has literally worked for a cosmetics company since the day I was born. Like they literally came to this country and she went to cosmetology school. She sold Avon, she sold Mary Kay, she worked for Clinique for 20 years.

So seeing things be put together beautifully has just always been, my mom's an incredible homemaker. That is absolutely where I get it from. And so what I realized is that really contributed to my joy.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And not in this shallow way, because I never put things over people, you know what I mean?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I talk about this in the book. I’m a materialistic person, but I think in a really-

Rachel: I love it.

Mattie: Because I was like, “let me be honest, y’all.”

Rachel: Listen, I'm not here to be a minimalist, okay?

Mattie: Now, if that's your ministry, by all means work it out.

Rachel: It takes all kinds.

Mattie: I'm just saying, you know what I mean? You're a minimalist, I'm a maximalist, so I’m just saying. But things are not more important than my family or how I treat others.

Rachel: Things can contribute to joy, though.

Mattie: 1,000%.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And it's different for all of us. And that's why it was important to me to name it as aesthetically pleasing, because when it comes to aesthetics, when you look up the actual definition it's literally something that you deem beautiful. So it's for you to name, not for me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So it wasn't for me to be like, oh, pretty, or gorgeous, or presentable. It's your aesthetic.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I can't name Rachel's aesthetic because I'm not Rachel.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You know what I mean? I can only name Mattie’s aesthetic. What I realized is even when I had a little bit, when we were engaged and living in an apartment, making our space look nice was really great.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: To me it really did contribute to my self-care. I love what you said on your podcast episode with your husband where you were like, your home being in order contributes to your self-care.

Rachel: That’s right.

Mattie: It’s huge. And I say this in the book, when things are out of order, like literally, like when something doesn't work in a public bathroom, the sign says out of order. Because when things are out of order, they don't work.

Rachel: You don't want to go in there.

Mattie: Who wants to go in the out of order stall? And I don't want to be in an out of order life.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So we want to keep things together, that's all I'm saying. So it's important to me. And I think organization, order, that contributes to aesthetics. Whether you are really into sneakers or you're really into dresses, or whatever it is. But aesthetics was really important because aesthetics is also not limited to visual.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: This is what you listen to, like since the kids were little we've always listened to waves or sounds of water to put them to sleep.

Rachel: I love that.

Mattie: I do, and I shared this in the book, I buy this like $8 lavender spray, girl, anything to get these kids to sleep. Let's get them to sleep.

Rachel: You spray them down.

Mattie: Spray them down.

Rachel: Go to be honey. 

Mattie: I spray in the bathroom when they’re not looking, I spray their little pillows. “All right, love you.” “Mom, I'm sleepy.” “I know.”

Rachel: Mommy knows.

Mattie: As long as it's healthy, it's like so, anything. But like that lavender scent is also just like a cue.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: It really, it conditions you. It’s just a cue to say, “You know what? I’m relaxing.” Low lights, that's another aesthetically pleasing, but another way to say hey, it's time to chill out.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: On Saturday mornings, and we started this before we had kids, we always listen to either Afro Cuban music or New Orleans funk music on our Pandora.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so that's another way, so Saturday morning when-

Rachel: So basically you’ve made your kids cool.

Mattie: I've made my kids cool. I think every household, whether you have five kids or you are single and with your pet, I think everybody should have a soundtrack in their house. The soundtrack of our house is Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So when my kids hear Stevie Wonder, even 30 years from now, they'll think of home.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: I want them to feel safe when they just hear certain sounds or see certain things. And it's really about just creating cues of magic, you know? And so aesthetics isn't just about one sense, it’s about all the senses. And I think a lot of times we underestimate that.

Rachel: I totally agree. The soundtrack in my house is the vibes and culture playlist that I put together.

Mattie: Oh, I like it.

Rachel: Which is all like old school reggae.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: And my children, I will hear them humming it and singing Barrington Levy. And I'm like, “You better go ahead.” Mommy’s proud.

Mattie: Yes, I love it. It's important. I love that even though my oldest is eight years old, like when you say Anita to her, she’s going to say Baker. When you say Stevie she’s going to say Wonder.

Rachel: Listen, you better know about it.

Mattie: We’re setting standards here, okay? Aesthetically pleasing standards. 

Rachel: I love it.

Mattie: But that’s important and it really is comforting. You know, I think when we put on certain sounds the kids either know like we're about to have Saturday morning pancakes or it’s time to go to bed, you know?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And that's been really, really huge. I know for my husband, especially since he doesn't go into an office anymore, sneakers have become his aesthetically pleasing thing.

Rachel: Yes, mine too.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: We’ve got a whole walk-in closet. Every day I’m like, “What is this? Is this another pair?”

Mattie: Is this new?

Rachel: I’m like, “When did these come?” “Oh, I’ve had those.” You lying.

Mattie: You’re lying, I ain’t never seen this green pair before.

Rachel: I love it. And I love the lavender spray and the music. It’s just examples of how, exactly how you can create everyday magic, right? Little moments of joy. It doesn't have to cost you anything and it just adds a little something. It creates a meaningful moment, right? And it's a way to connect and it's beautiful.

This actually reminds me of my bestie Robert Hartwell, who's hilarious and he always got his prosperity spray. I was like, “Get out of here with your prosperity spray.” He’d be like, “Huh-uh, I’m going to spray you down.”

Mattie: Yes, come on prosperity.

Rachel: He’s like, “Oh, I’m not feeling that energy, let me hit you with this prosperity spray.” I'd be like, “If you don't, I'm going to toss that prosperity out this window.”

Mattie: Oh my gosh, so funny.

Rachel: He was like, listen, I’ll be on Zoom with him or on FaceTime and he'll be like spraying the camera.

Mattie: That is hilarious. So funny. Well it’s like my best friend, with her she's so into hats. She’s so into hats and every time I see her I'm like, “Okay, wait, you got a new hat, what's going on with that?”

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: But it's like that, also it's a way to create confidence for yourself and safety.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: My really good friend Tracy G. said this the other day to me and I was kind of blown away. She's like, “Aesthetics make you feel safe.”

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I was like, whoa. Man, that was really deep.

Rachel: That’s so interesting.

Mattie: Yeah, when you wear something that makes you feel confident, you walk into a room feeling safe, not just confident.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: Wow. 

Mattie: Yeah, aesthetics is about safety.

Rachel: That's so important, and it's not talked about enough. I'm so glad, that really perked my interest when I saw that was part of the formula because I was just like, I don't think we think about this enough. Even just like this environment, right? Like part of the reason why I chose white furniture and everything being like off-white was to create calm and make it peaceful.

Mattie: Literally. That is literally why all the tones in our bedroom are literally, like this is In my bedroom, like all of the tones, it's like a super, super soft sage cream. Like when you walk into the room it just feels like calm.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: You know what I mean? We don't have a television in our bedroom.

Rachel: We’re the same.

Mattie: I’m like when I walk in here I want it to be a sanctuary, that’s what I wanted. Because I was like, pretty much the rest of the house is either for work or the kids.

Rachel: Yeah.

Mattie: So when I walk in here I need to feel calm. 

Rachel: This is the only place.

Mattie: I want to walk in somewhere I can feel calm, feel like myself, and just relax.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And I think that's important. And I get it, where it can definitely lean on the side of being overly materialistic. But if we start, again, understanding why we have something aesthetically pleasing in our lives, then you can really unlayer the power of how it makes you feel safe.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: How it makes you feel safe, how you exclusively feel like you, make your family feel like them, and I think that's important.

Rachel: I agree. And you're buying things not because somebody else is buying them and you think you're supposed to and you're trying to show off to somebody. But you're buying them because they're meaningful to you.

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: There's intention behind it.

Mattie: Absolutely.

Rachel: And I think, to me, that's the sense that I get, that you just are very intentional about how you live your life, right?

Mattie: Thank you.

Rachel: Every aspect of it, right? Like even from charcuterie boards.

Mattie: Yes. You know I like me a charcuterie. Here's what I like though, because it's like kind of charcuterie. I call it Mattie-cuterie because it’s really like an everyday board. Because at first I started doing the cheeses and the different meats and stuff like that. But then I was like, what happened was we do movie night every Saturday.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And now that all the kids are of age, everybody has a preference, everybody likes different snacks. So I was like, well, what if we made a board with a variety of snacks that everybody likes? They can grab, you know?

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so what it really did was created accessibility to people's preferences.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so now to me, it's like, you know, it's on a board but it can be an after school snack board. It could be a cheese and meat board for you and your bestie when she comes over. But I feel like boards just kind of, I do it for my kids because kids get told what to do pretty much almost 90% of their day, you know what I mean?.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: And the after school board or the movie night board is a way where it's like, “Hey, you get to pick, you get to decide. You have jurisdiction on that.”

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: Yeah, and so that's why I really like it. And then now it's just kind of become a thing. I shared it on Instagram one day thinking I'm like, “yeah, ain’t nobody going look at this.”

Rachel: And everybody is obsessed.

Mattie: And now it’s become a thing.

Rachel: We’re like, “Show us more. What else are you creating?”

Mattie: Like if I don't show it on a Saturday, people are like, “So did you make a movie night board or what's going on? Are you guys having movie night?” It’s like yeah, I might have not shown it.

Rachel: What you doing this weekend? Oh, y’all all in my business.

Mattie: What movie are y'all watching? All right. All right, we're watching Paw Patrol, sorry.

Rachel: Exactly. They're like, “Give us the tips. Give us this tips.” Okay, so tell me what are some of the pressures that you face as a lifestyle influencer?

Mattie: Well, I definitely think there's this pressure to like keep up with the trends, for sure, right.

Rachel: Totally. Just like you were saying, right, where you started with the celebrity blogging?

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And feeling like, “Oh, I’ve got to keep up with the news cycle.”

Mattie: Absolutely.

Rachel: It's almost like there's a different news cycle now.

Mattie: Literally, and it’s like the sales.

Rachel: It’s like, “This is trending, you better go do the dance.”

Mattie: Yes, it's like it's Prime Day, it's this day, it's that sale.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: It’s everything, it’s Black Friday. So there's a lot. And then I think sometimes brand partners can try to impose it on you. And I think I try to live my life in a way so I can run my business in a way that is genuinely authentic.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And also, I have no problem selling anything to anybody, but if that becomes the only reason why I'm doing a thing, then it starts to feel gross.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: Not only for me, but then for my audience.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so for me, I had to get out of even like how I dress. I feel like I feel safest and most like myself when what I wear reads classic and feminine. It just makes me feel most like me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And so instead of keeping up with all the trends and buying all this denim and this and that, it’s just kind of like well, girl, 80% of the time I'm going to be in a dress. So if you don't like dresses, then my style isn't for you. You can stay, you can follow.

Rachel: Yes, come hang out. Stay for the charcuterie boards.

Mattie: Stay for the charcuterie boards. But here it's going to be like classics, it’s going to read preppy and classic or it's going to read noticeably feminine. And what I noticed is that even my affiliate marketing numbers started going up just because it was like I was genuinely me.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: And you start to attract people who really rock with that.

Rachel: Exactly.

Mattie: Because there's a level of consistency there. And yeah, so for me, it was really about kind of detaching because things can become so transactional online.

Rachel: Yes, I agree.

Mattie: And I was like, it's just not a match for me. It’s like, okay guys, this is what I share, this is what I do. And just starting to be honest with myself. And also being like are you okay with being yourself online at the expense of losing followers?

Rachel: Yes, what a great question.

Mattie: Yeah.

Rachel: And that's great for every entrepreneur to hear, are you okay with losing clients, are you okay with losing people in your audience being your authentic self?

Mattie: Yes.

Rachel: Like that's how you create everyday magic, right? That's what I got from it.

Mattie: That’s the requirement, that's the prerequisite.

Rachel: Yes, exactly. And so like, and I don't care who likes it or don't like it. I just have to let go and not try to create what everybody else wants to create, which is exactly the point, right?

Mattie: Well you say it all the time, it's like child, everybody out there is not going to like you.

Rachel: They ain't going to like you.

Mattie: So you might as well do what you want to do.

Rachel: They ain’t going to like you, even when you jump through all the hoops, they still ain’t going to like you.

Mattie: They’re going to find a reason to not like it.

Rachel: Yes.

Mattie: So it's like you've got to show up for you. You’ve got to show up for the people who matter to your village, your crew. Whether it's your real life, your crew, like your family in real life, or even the followers and clients that really rock with you.

Rachel: I agree.

Mattie: And what I have found is, you know, I have people who are like, “Oh my gosh, I love this. I've been wanting to wear more dresses and you’ve really encouraged me to do that.” And that's fine, even if you don't. But it's always great to encourage somebody when I'm being myself. That's the best feeling.

Rachel: And I think you attract more people when you're being yourself as well.

Mattie: Absolutely, absolutely.

Rachel: Exactly. So tell us what's next for you. What's a project that you're working on right now or something that you want to make happen in the near future?

Mattie: Okay, so I'll tell you guys here, I haven't really said it out loud.

Rachel: Okay, give us the exclusive.

Mattie: So anybody who follows me knows how seriously I take meal planning and just writing in my planner, because there's a lot going on. When you have three kids you need to write things down because you're not going to remember it all.

And so one thing that I would love to do is come out with a planner and a meal planning pad.

Rachel: Oh, I love this plan.

Mattie: Yeah, because I really want to get into physical products. And I was like, I feel like this is going to be a really great way to connect with my audience in an authentic way that's really, really true to who I am and what I actually talk about, you know? I didn't want like a random product where it's like, “Girl, you don't even talk about this. So why are you selling it to us?” So I think planners is definitely going to be the next step, you know?

Rachel: Yes, that makes perfect sense. I think we are ready for that planner.

Mattie: Look, stay tuned for an everyday magic planner.

Rachel: We ready for it. We ready for it. Okay, so tell us, give us parting words or any parting wisdom that you want to share with the audience about how they can create everyday magic in their lives?

Mattie: You know, everyday magic really isn't this place that you're going to arrive. It is your everyday journey. You don't have to pretend to be able to be everything to everyone, you lack nothing. And I think sometimes we think that we're not enough. Like there's some kind of just little like, there's a little doubt monster on each of our shoulders and tries to convince us like, “Oh, well, that wasn't nice enough.” Or, “You didn't really push hard enough.”

Rachel: Yes, I’d give that a C.

Mattie: Yeah, I’d give that a C, you know? And what I want to encourage people is that I want you to practice this for the rest of the year, no matter when you're listening to this, whether it's January, whether it's October. For the rest of the year, I want you to promise yourself that anytime you have a negative thought about yourself, I want you to say the opposite out loud.

So if you think like, “I look ugly in this outfit.” Like say, “I'm beautiful and I'm comfortable in my skin.” I want you to get in the habit of actively affirming yourself. Because when you believe that you are a good thing, you go out and you create good things. When you truly believe that you are magic, you go out and you create it. And you are, you know what I mean?

And if you need to fake it till you make it, I want you to tell yourself good things until you believe that you're a good thing. And that really everyday magic is when you realize that being your true authentic self every day in the best way possible that you can is really the true magic.

Rachel: I love it.

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