The Magic of Getting Started with Ruth Chou Simons Episode 319

The Magic of Getting Started

Today, our fourth annual Smart Girl Summer begins! This is where I bring on some of my smartest and most successful friends to find out the behind-the-scenes of their business, their ministry, and all the things that they are known for. I want the behind-the-scenes, I want the real deal, and I want the stories they don’t get to tell.

I’m thrilled to start Smart Girl Summer 2024 with Ruth Chou Simons. You know her as GraceLaced, and I know her as one of the smartest businesswomen around. We’re going to dive into the stories you haven’t heard and hear about her new project.

Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books and Bible studies. She is an artist, entrepreneur, podcaster, and speaker, using these platforms to sow the Word of God into people’s hearts. 

In her new book, Now and Not Yet: Pressing In When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More, Ruth encourages readers to see their current circumstances the way God does, align their perspective with his, and choose to press in instead of looking for a way out.

Let’s dive in. 

Getting Started With GraceLaced

Right from the jump, I asked Ruth to tell us how her business, GaceLaced, started. Ruth says it started as a blog about sixteen years ago while she was trying to find grace in the everyday life. At that time, she was raising a bunch of babies, she was a pastor’s wife, and thinking to herself, if the gospel matters in the ministry life that I long for, it has to matter in my everyday life. 

So, she started blogging and saw that her paintings and words she was sharing were turning into something that people wanted to buy. Ruth took $300 that she had saved and learned how to scan things. Her first prints were done at Kinko’s and it was her and her husband wrapping packages on their kitchen island. After a year, she realized she had something because it was starting to grow, but she says it was a slow start, nothing overnight. 

Ruth’s Advice for Artists

For those artists who may want to build what Ruth has built, I asked her to provide some advice, and Ruth says first to remember that everyone started not knowing what to do. There are many ways to learn, like courses and cohorts, but the best thing to do is to reach out to someone you admire who is doing what you want to do and ask if you can learn from them. Whether that is through coaching or mentorship. But you have to be brave enough to be vulnerable to say I don’t want to learn this on my own, share your desires and struggles with someone. Don’t go at it alone. 

Mental Hurdles Ruth Overcame While Getting Started

Ruth shares that when she was getting started she didn’t see a lot of people doing what she was doing. And she had to think outside the box and ask herself if there really was a market for hand-painted, reproduced scripture. She had to pave her own lane and make sure she wasn’t looking like someone else. 

She had to ask herself, what was the story she was trying to tell? And the story was that she’s a mom of six boys, a part-time homeschooling mom, and a pastor’s wife. So during that season, she had thirty minutes between nap times to paint watercolor because it dries fast, although what she really wanted to do was a big oil painting; she says you have to start with what you have. 

Ruth says to start small learn from others, but don’t emulate, and what she can do now wasn’t what she could do ten years ago. So, in her mind, she had to repeat to herself, “Don’t worry about someone else’s story. Press into the story that God is writing in your life, right in this season.” 

How beautiful was that, right? I told you she’s one of the smartest business woman around. Alright, let’s jump into coaching for this week. 

Coaching This Week: Two Simple Filters for Saying Yes or No

Let’s talk about when to say yes and when to say no. The truth is, saying no can be really tough. Maybe you want to please people or you feel like you have to do everything right, which makes it hard to say no. Maybe you say yes because you like being in control. So I want to make it a little bit easier to know when to say yes or no. 

First filter

I want you to think about what are your top three values in your current season of life. Not life in general because those are always God, family, etc. but what are your values for current season. Write them down. For example, my values right now are calm, kindness, and fun! Use these values as a guide you on when to say yes to extra things and when to say no. 

Second Filter

Second filter is what are your goals? Goals are super specific and goals are short term. When a new opportunity comes up, I want you to ask yourself, does this help me meet any of my goals? If it does, and it doesn’t mess with any other goals, I want you to say yes to it. But if it doesn’t help, or even if it gets in the way of your goals, it’s probably a no. Even if, for instance, sometimes saying yes to an opportunity could mean more income, more earning. However, if that also means you’re going to take a bunch of time away from family and family events. That may be more important to you. 

So these filters based on your values, based on your goals will guide you through choices that you have to make in your life. Saying no means making room for what truly excites you. And it means you’re making room for what’s going to move you forward to whatever calling that God has for you. I want you to let your values and goals lead the way and not just the whims of other people or the mood you’re in that day. I want you to say yes to the things that truly light up your life.

Listen or Watch now:

iTunes.

Spotify.

YouTube.

Favorite Quotes: 

“Don’t worry about somebody else’s story just press into the story that God is writing in your life right in this season.”

(9:26 Audio) 

“Do the next right thing for you in your business story.”

(11:04 Audio)

“Press into what might be difficult but what makes your story one of a kind.”

(18:07 Audio)

“God is using the very seasons that we think are wasted and the seasons that we think are not amounting to anything.”

(22:00 Audio)

“We sometimes think that we have to be on the other side of our limitations, difficulties, or not-enoughness to tackle the very things that God has laid before us, but it honors the Lord when we just start where we are with what we already have.”

(23:33 Audio)

Links to Great Things We Discussed:

• Ruth Chou Simons Website
• Ruth Chou Simons Instagram
• Now and Not Yet: Pressing In When You’re Waiting, Wanting and Restless for More
• The Intern
• I Set My Hope – Keith and Kristyn Getty
• Unsung Hero
• Primally Pure Plumping Serum
• EOS Shea Better Body Cream
• Old Navy Leggings
• Apply for Alli’s Free Coaching
• Create a Course
• Alli on YouTube
• Remaining You While Raising Them

Order your copy of Remaining You While Raising Them here.

Hope you loved this episode!  Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! 🙂

xo,

Alli