Happy Wednesday! I am so thrilled that we get to have brunch with the amazing Heather Crabtree this morning! I have followed her for quite some time and am constantly inspired by her! She is always throwing helpful information and tips your way, and is constantly pouring into the creative community! Let’s have brunch shall we?
Introduce yourself! Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Heather, but I also answer to H, HC, Mommy, Wifey, and my dad used to call me Ralph (as I shake my head.) I am a Business Strategist for Creative Entrepreneurs in my current business, Heather Crabtree LLC (I know…very creative, right 🙂 I create strategies for women entrepreneurs to help them take their company to the next level and I implement systems for them so they can run a more efficient, effective and profitable business.
I have a wonderful husband, Cole, who I have been married to for over 10 years. I have two amazing kids, London and Lane. My journey has been a crazy one, but I believe I am right where I am supposed to be, even if it took me a little longer than I had planned to get here.
I started my professional life in the legal field. Long story short, I wanted to be an attorney most of my life. I received my business management degree from Indiana State University and then I attended law school in Oklahoma. As the third year of law school began, my life quickly changed. My father died suddenly of cardiac arrest and my world turned upside down. My love for law died a little and my life was put into perspective at 23 years old. That same year, I met my husband at law school. With the saddest part of my life also came the happiest 🙂
After working for a law firm for a little over a year, I knew I couldn’t do it for the rest of my life. I gave my two weeks notice and opened my wedding planning company in Arizona. I had no knowledge or experience in the wedding and event industry, but I was motivated to make it happen. I worked my butt off and the business took off right away. Fast forward four years later after I had just had my daughter and I sold half of my planning business and gained a fantastic business partner. Since then, we have added on more planners and we just celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year.
In 2010, my business partner and I started coaching other wedding business owners how to run their company more efficiently and effectively. That part of the business grew rapidly as well and became our main focus while we continued to manage the planning company. A little over two years ago, right before I had my son, I started to think about having something of my own again. I was ready for a change, especially since a new little one was on the way. I took Marie Forleo’s B-school and my world was changed again. I realized how I could take all of the skills and education I had gained over the past ten years and use it to help other businesses in the creative world and www.heathercrabtree.com
What are your favorite brunch foods? Any recipes to share?
I am a pancakes, bacon and eggs kind of gal and we have that almost every weekend with the kids. I also love toast with avocados and an overeasy egg on top with a few drips of sriracha and a vanilla latte on the side. Yum! Unfortunately I don’t have any amazing recipes for this. I like simple and fast 🙂
What does an average day look like for you?
I am a mom to a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 year old, so my day begins around 7 am. My husband and I get up and feed them breakfast and get them ready for the day. He usually takes my daughter to school and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, my son stays home with me. On Tuesday and Thursday, he goes to daycare and I do all of my coaching sessions, webinars, client work, and all of my other business tasks. Since my son is too young for school, I love having him home with me. I usually don’t get much work done during those days, but I work at night after they go to bed. Once he gets older, that will change and I will get back to regular business hours, but since he is my last one, I am soaking up every last drop with my littles before they get to big to not want to hang out with me. I pick my daughter up from school everyday and then come home and help her with homework and get dinner ready (or my husband does.) The kids are in bed by 7:30 pm and then my husband and I usually eat dinner and watch a show or movie and then I go work for a few hours. I also have a office manager, who I call my Director of Happiness, and she helps me manage the day-to-day in the business as well.
What is your favorite part of your job? I love helping female business owners in the creative world start thinking more about the business of their business. We discuss the big vision, short-term and long-term goals, strategies to help their organization, operations, financial, and marketing aspects of their company. I love talking about the big dreams and making them a reality, one action step at a time. Of course, I am a systems geek. I love to see how companies operate internally. I know it sounds nerdy, but I love it!
What are three must-have items for you? In my life…my family and friends. To keep my business and my life organized, my Google calendar and The Day Designer by Whitney English. For my desk…white poppin accessories. Well, and always…my iphone 🙂Any guilty pleasures? I love white chocolate, but don’t really like regular chocolate (but I will eat Skittles any day.) I love murder mystery movies and TV series. And I don’t know if it is a guilty pleasure, but I love podcasts.
What are three must-have items for you? In my life…my family and friends. To keep my business and my life organized, my Google calendar and The Day Designer by Whitney English. For my desk…white poppin accessories. Well, and always…my iphone 🙂Any guilty pleasures? I love white chocolate, but don’t really like regular chocolate (but I will eat Skittles any day.) I love murder mystery movies and TV series. And I don’t know if it is a guilty pleasure, but I love podcasts.
If you could have brunch with anybody who would it be?
My father. I miss him so much and have so many things I wish I could have asked him about business and life before he passed away.
Thank you so much to Heather for joining us! Be sure to check her out!
Great post! I loved learning about Heather’s story and her daily routine.
I’m with her, I’ll take skittles any day of the week. This was a really inspiring post. Thanks for sharing gals. x Kaci