Finding Your Next Midlife Move with Cindy Carrillo

Jennifer Norman:
Hello beautiful humans. Welcome to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast, your source for hope, healing, happiness and humanity. My name is Jennifer Norman. I'm the founder of The Human Beauty Movement and your host. This podcast is here to guide you on your journey of self love, empowerment, soul alignment and joy. With each episode, I invite beautiful humans from all corners of the globe to join me for open conversations about their life lessons and the important work that they are doing to help heal humankind. Take a moment now to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. I'm so glad you're here, joining me for today's show.

Jennifer Norman:
Have you ever found yourself at a crossroad in life, uncertain of your next steps or where your true passions lie? If so, you are not alone. Today we have the pleasure of diving into the world of personal and professional transformation with an extraordinary individual who has dedicated her life to helping others navigate these pivotal moments. Cindy Carrillo is a seasoned business coach and guide whose career spans over 40 years of entrepreneurial endeavors, leadership roles and impactful initiatives. As the former founder and CEO of Work Options Group, Cindy revolutionized the workplace by providing essential work life services to employees of Fortune 500 companies. After the sale of that company in 2008, Cindy started two new ventures, next business coaching and CC Blue Ranch. Her inspirational and engaging book, finding your next, tells the story of her transformation from CEO to rancher, highlighting both her experiences and and the lessons she's learned along the way. By listening to today's episode, you'll hear Cindy share vital insights, stories and tactics to inspire and empower you on your own path of self discovery and fulfillment. So get ready to unlock your potential and discover you're next with Cindy Carillo.

Jennifer Norman:
Welcome to the show, Cindy.

Cindy Carrillo:
Thank you so much for having me. This is very exciting.

Jennifer Norman:
It is wonderful to have you. Now you are in the beautiful state of Colorado where you live on a spring, sprawling 35 acre ranch. It is absolutely gorgeous. So now, Cindy, you've had quite a few nexts over the course of your life, and so I would love for you to tell everybody about your experience from your teens all the way through what you're doing now.

Cindy Carrillo:
Thank you. I think we all have a ton of nexts. We just don't even think about them in the same way that I think I frame them as the stages or phases of our lives. So I'm kind of no different than most people. I graduated from high school, moved away, went to college, graduated from college. I think the uniqueness was for me. At the age of 19 years old, my parents sat me down at the kitchen table and said, hey, let's do a business together. I don't think a lot of 19 year olds get that.

Cindy Carrillo:
And we decided to open up a retail plan plant shop, because back in the seventies, seventies, that was kind of a new fad and to have houseplants. And so we opened up a plant shop, which put me through the remainder of my college years. My dad changed careers and went to law school from there. So it was a very special time and a time where I discovered that. I discovered that I had a little bit of entrepreneurial skills and passion in me. I put that on hold for a while, and I went to work in politics, which was a big next. I mean, who changes from retail and goes into politics and worked for Senator Gary Hart, who was decided to run for president at the point where I remember he ended up not doing that. But that was a very exciting time in my late twenties, and got married during that time, had a couple of babies during that time.

Cindy Carrillo:
Big next. And ended up going back to grad school to get my masters in social work, went to work for a nonprofit. So I was really searching for where the right fit for me was and just kept stepping into each next chapter. And then from there, that's when I really stepped into being that entrepreneur. And that was probably one of the bigger next my career. And I started my own business because I recognized that there was an issue with so many women entering the workforce in the 1980s, and corporations were really having to deal with childcare and how to be a great place to work. And so I came up with a benefit that I could sell to corporations that would back their employees up when they had breakdowns in caregiving. And back then, we started with childcare because that was the issue of the day.

Cindy Carrillo:
But then we realized that it was less about who you cared for, the age of the person that you cared for. And it became less of a woman's issue, less of a childcare issue. And it became an employee, really became a business issue that employers really needed to think in terms of helping any of their employees balance or blend out their work and their family lives. So we expanded it to adult care, to elder care. We even added a pet care program at one point, because, let's face it, our fur babies are just as important to us sometimes as, well, the rest of our family members. Yes. So grew that company and actually took the company through a number of next phases because we had to keep pivoting to stay current, and we had to keep moving the company forward and I tell you, with a master's in social work, I learned more business skills and I learned more people skills, and I mentored and I coached all through those years and then reached a point where it was time, it was time to move on from the company. The company had gotten to a point where it needed to move into its next, and I was no longer the person to take it there, and the company was no longer really serving my needs.

Cindy Carrillo:
So I sold it. And that led to probably the biggest next of everything. Was really trying to figure out my mid fifties. What the heck am I going to do next?

Jennifer Norman:
What an amazing life you have had. And I want to point out the fact that you started with such a compelling need and insight with your business, which is something that I think that not enough people do. A lot of people go into business because they're like, well, how am I going to make a living? How am I going to make money rather than how am I going to serve? And I see an opportunity here. And this is really something that the world needs right now. And lo and behold, it turns out that the more that you care for people in a company, the more the people care for the company and the more the company thrives. And so it's a win win for economy when you take care of the people. And so, yes, social work is such a wonderful way to understand the idea of human needs and what those real issues are that we are facing that prevent us from being our whole selves at work and enabling people to have that. I won't call it comfort because it's never comfortable when you're caring for somebody, but it's more like when you feel that something is being taken care of, then you can focus a little bit more on the job at hand and do a better job at it.

Jennifer Norman:
So I commend you. That was your first entrepreneurial endeavor, and it was a success. Holy cow!

Cindy Carrillo:
It was, I mean, I think the plant store was my first. But, you know, I kind of cut my teeth a little bit on that one. But yeah, I think that if you can solve a problem with a business, you're ahead of the game. Now, let's talk about now. With remote work, people can be home, let their dogs out. They can take care of a sick child. Let's say, who is that?

Jennifer Norman:
But back then, you were a slave to the office.

Cindy Carrillo:
That's right.

Jennifer Norman:
No, you had to show face.

Cindy Carrillo:
Exactly. So I think the real challenge for us was the culture shift that needed to happen in the workplace, where employers needed to recognize that their biggest asset were their people. And that if you invest in your people and the needs of your people to make their ability to focus on work, to be productive, to find the kind of satisfaction of the blend of their entire lives. Like, we don't leave our lives at home when we go to work, even if we work remotely now, we come as total humans. And that was not really thought of. When you think back into the workplace, it was like you're an employee, you're a worker. Well, I'm also a mom. I'm also a partner or a spouse.

Cindy Carrillo:
I'm also a daughter or a son of aging parents. I'm also the parent, potentially of a fur baby. So we come with responsibilities outside of work. So it was a real shift in the culture of the workplace to recognize the totality or the wholeness of the person who worked there.

Jennifer Norman:
And all the while, you are also growing and learning and discovering new things about yourself. I would love to talk about your growth from being an entrepreneur, planting that seed, starting this...I say 'plant a seed' because of the Plantastics company that you had before, I suppose, very well. Those seeds were planted literally and figuratively. And you became an entrepreneur and discovered that you could combine all of the things that you've learned in social work from your master's degree, as well as perhaps a little blend of public policy, and start this business that could be a benefit for people and the companies that they're working for. And then it starts to grow. You start to develop some new aspects and some new services that you're providing.

Jennifer Norman:
How was that growth experience for you over the course of 20 years, from zero to when you sold?

Cindy Carrillo:
It was phenomenal. You know, the growth for me as a woman, as a leader, as someone who was building something beyond myself, I find that in now, in coaching people, that one of the biggest challenges for business leaders, especially founders, entrepreneurs who start their own companies, is sort of that switch that happens from, I'm starting something that is based on me, who I am, what I believe in, this idea that I've had, and let go of so much of the me, and then grow something that is an organization that is outside of me, that requires other people, that you get to surround yourself with amazing people who complement who you are, so that this organization that you're growing, this company, this business, can become bigger than you, more important than you, outside of you. And I think when entrepreneur founders recognize that they're growing something organizationally that's outside of them, then it has a chance to grow. Then it has a chance to flourish and become so much bigger and so much more impactful in the world. Because now we're letting go of the me and then we need, and I think we all need to step in as leaders and especially as women. I call my company the mother of all companies. I mean, I raised that company and I raised my children and my family at the same time. So it was probably not so crazy an idea to think that when the company became 2021 years old, it was time for it to launch. Man, beyond me, because I raised it and now go out to the world just as my children were doing that.

Cindy Carrillo:
And then it was time for me to move on to something else. And I still look at that company and it's still thriving. And the backup care program that I started is out in the world and impacting lives. That's just like, ah, it's amazing to be able to do so. I think the growth curve for me and the learning was really almost astronomical. It was to go through the lifespan from founding something, creating an idea and launching it, to then seeing it thrive and flourish and stand on its own and be recognized as having value by somebody else and being able to move on from there. That's an extraordinary experience to have.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, my gosh, it's probably up there with most experiences that are really quite, quite life changing. Did you ever doubt yourself? Did you ever say, oh, I'm a woman, or, oh, I don't have enough skills, I'm not smart enough? You know, all these other people know what they're doing. Did you ever doubt yourself?

Cindy Carrillo:
Oh, yes. I mean, I certainly suffered at different points throughout the development of the company, but throughout my life have suffered from imposter syndrome like most of us do. I think where I finally learned by meeting other people in business and other women who started their own companies, grew their companies, was that we really, how do I put this? We are enough. We are more than enough. And it's not how we stack up to another business. We always think every other business has their act together. We, everybody else.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, true. Until you actually start working with them we're looking inside, and you're like, wow, they're just as screwed up as we are!

Cindy Carrillo:
And, you know, everybody's afraid of pulling back the curtain, and nobody's got their act together the way we think that they do. And we all have questions and we all have to go through the developmental phases of our lives each next and of our businesses. And you don't get to jump over 16 of those stages. You have to go through them and you have to learn, and it's all a bit messy. And when we recognize that it's just a little messy, then we can relax in the mess a little bit. And I'm a very tidy and organized person, so that was uncomfortable for me to go through and learn, but I did. I learned, and now I can help other people see that we are more than enough. Enough.

Jennifer Norman:
Yes. Yes. Always a great reminder. Sometimes entrepreneurs will come in and will find that their ability to grow gets to a certain place. Maybe it's a couple of years, maybe it's five years, maybe it's ten years. Very seldom is it 20. And it's remarkable if it is even longer than that. What do you attribute and attest to the fact that you were able to evolve with the changing needs of your company up until you made that overt decision that it was time I was ready to go on to something different?

Cindy Carrillo:
That's a great question. I don't know if I consciously, as I was going through it, thought, boy, I'm going to grow a 20 year old. You know, I'm going to do this for 20 years. I think the thing that kept me interested was that we kept evolving. I think that we're humans and we get bored. And I think as entrepreneurs, we get especially bored because we like to make shit up. And I am a make shit up girl. So if I wasn't always looking for the next level for the company and trying to figure out how to get there, I would have figured out a way out earlier because it really needed to be interesting.

Cindy Carrillo:
And so there were different service delivery programs that we had at different times that we tried that didn't work, that we learned from, we needed to massage our systems, we needed to create new systems and keep ourselves ahead. And so as long as those things were happening, and believe me, this did not all come from me. And once I started bringing other people who were much smarter than me into the fray, man, we just had a ball because we would play off of each other, and it was a great team. And so that was part of the evolution, too, was getting to play in the company and really getting to tap into the skills that I had and some of the strengths that other people had. Kept it interesting. The point that I reached after 20 years was that we had done enough of the accomplishments that I had set out for myself. The company still had ways to go. The company could explode.

Cindy Carrillo:
The company could always get bigger. But for me, it was doing more selling. Okay, so I kind of figured out how to sell. We had Microsoft we had Comcast, we had Princeton University, we had the Mayo Clinic. We had great clients. And to get in with those clients and learn how to sell to those clients and then service those clients, man, big learning curve. Figured it out. Then it's doing more of that and more of the same, and then it starts to lose interest for someone like me because it was less about making up what was going to be next.

Cindy Carrillo:
And I sort of figured out that I had checked off a lot of the boxes for leadership, for entrepreneurship, for me as a professional woman. And I had reached a point where I was looking for a really big life change.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow. Wow.

Cindy Carrillo:
So it was okay to let it go. And a lot of people were like, oh, my goodness, how do you let your baby go? You raise it and look at it, and I'm like, it's time. It's okay. Change is good. Change keeps you interested.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. I think that there's certain pride in being able to develop something as you had and then knowing when it's right for you to continue and when it's right for you to let it go. And that is a hard decision for a lot of people. I think that there's a lot of identity and a lot of just. It's almost a part of them, and the idea or the concept of handing it over to somebody else to run is a loss of control.

Cindy Carrillo:
Sure.

Jennifer Norman:
And it's perhaps leaves them feeling a little bit like there's an existential crisis happening because it had defined them so much.

Cindy Carrillo:
Exactly. And I think that is a place where, when your identity is so wrapped up and it's still got so much me in it, and at that point, there is a need to separate. There's a healthy need to separate sometimes. And oftentimes, I think the thing that's so scary to move on from something like that is the question of what's next. Like, who am I going to be? What will this be for the next phase of my life? And it feels so unknown, and we've known this thing that we've had, it's so comfy cozy, which sort of wraps us up and keeps us warm, and we know what's happening. And when you look to step outside of that into the next phase of your life, it can be really scary to step out into that unknown. That was a little exhilarating for me. As scary as it was, it was exciting, and it was like I didn't really know what the answer was going to be, but I knew that I was ready for a change and that I was open to the possibilities.

Cindy Carrillo:
And I had reached a point in my life where it was up to me to design for myself what that next was going to look like. And that's a pretty extraordinary phase to get to in your life. When you do that, you are such.

Jennifer Norman:
A person that has so much life experience that is such a great example for other people, because I think that even the aspect of knowing how to higher up and to be able to be humble enough to know that they're going to have more answers than you, and to be able to manage and lead people who are extremely intelligent and not be intimidated by it and be able to allow a company to grow to the next level without feeling that you have to know it all and be there and micromanage. That is one piece of this that we're not going to have so much time to spend on today. But I just want to recognize you for being able to grow a company through all of these phases and by pivoting and adapting as needed, and knowing that so long as it was keeping your interest and that you were enthusiastic about the work and it excited you until it was ready, until you were ready, until you made the conscious choice to be able to let it go. And I'm sure that it takes deliberation. I think of Tom Brady all the time, because it's like, how many times are you going to come out of retirement, go back out? It's like he's frightened to not have football in his life. And there is that. There is definitely a lot of emotion and a lot of yourself that is wrapped up into a career that something that you've built for 20 plus years. I would love to know what were your emotions once you did sell.

Jennifer Norman:
Like, what was that like actually saying, okay, signing on the dotted line? And there you go.

Cindy Carrillo:
There's a lot there. It was very full. I think what you just recognized is, I think you just said there was a lot of deliberation moving up to it. By the time that I made the decision to sell, I had gone through a long process of, what does this mean? Why am I feeling the way that I'm feeling? What is going on? There's a concept in the book that I wrote that is that making major decisions requires us to get alignment between our heads, our hearts and our gut, that we can know something in our heads logically, rationally, like, boy, it seems like this is a good time where the business is doing great. We're on an upward trajectory. That's probably when you want to sell. We've got a great name clients, a book of business. Our systems are amazing.

Cindy Carrillo:
I think we can position the company that's all rational from a business perspective. It made sense from my heart. It was like, is this going to be hard to let this go? Yes, of course. The people. The people, everybody who worked for me, oh, my gosh, I was going to miss these people. And what about their lives? And what was this going to mean for them? My clients. Letting go of my clients, the service delivery. I mean, it was so emotional to work through that.

Cindy Carrillo:
And so I needed to come up with sort of a list of criteria of who would I sell it to that would take care of the employees, that would take care of the clients, that was aligned with us in terms of our values. That was going to be the closest fit. Like the responsibility of making a good choice, of doing that in a way that took all of that into account. And then my gut, man, that's the timing thing. That's the. Am I right? It's less about, like, the head and the heart. And it's more like, what are the red flags? And when your gut is upset with a potential decision, you need to pay attention. It's like red flags are slapping you in the face.

Cindy Carrillo:
When our heads so into it and our hearts so into it, we want to ignore our gut, and that's when we get in trouble. So I was looking to my gut to like, where are the red flags? And my gut was calm. My gut, once I work through the heart stuff on, I'm going to choose who buys us. I'm going to set this up so that it's the best it could be. As difficult as transitions are, I got to pay attention. And once I got through the logic and the rational, the business case, and then my heart was like, what's really important about this? Not just for me, but for everyone else who's going to be affected by this? Then my gut was calm up until those two things were aligned. My gut was like, what about, what about, what about? And there was more information. There was more questions to answer.

Cindy Carrillo:
Once I was able to answer the questions, then I was kind of like, everything got caught. And I sort of, like, thought to myself, I got this, this is right, this is the time. And then the decision was made, and then the rest was just about making it happen. But I needed to be in that place and secure in that decision and aligned in that decision. Then I could move forward for everybody else. Then I needed to take care of the communication and really make sure that it was done as well as it could be done, but I need to start with me.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for sharing that. All of that wisdom in terms of alignment, understanding how to get to a place of clarity so that once you make that decision, you don't look back with dissonance or regret or questioning yourself about anything, because that will just seep into your path forward. You really need to be able to shut that door and feel thankful for what it was and know that you're grateful for what is ahead of you.

Cindy Carrillo:
Yeah. And then you can move forward. Then you start to act.

Jennifer Norman:
Yes. Yes. So let's talk about the next after that, because this is so exciting. You became a rancher.

Cindy Carrillo:
Tell us about crazy thing. I had this whole dream I did when I moved to Colorado. So I moved to Colorado when I was, like, 19. And I followed my parents here, and my best friend came out with me, Nancy. And we bought, like, a. I bought a 1965 Volvo. And we got in the car and we drove down the highway and we just went exploring. And we came down to this beautiful part of southwest Colorado, where, I swear, this little town is called the little Switzerland of America.

Cindy Carrillo:
And I fell in love, and I just. I felt like I had never seen anything so beautiful. And went back to Denver. After this road trip, Nancy went back to where we had grown up in Michigan, and she went back to school there. And I found myself back in life and kind of that area of the country. When I was down here with Nancy and I was. We were driving around, I thought to myself, one day, man, one day I will be here. This will be where I will.

Cindy Carrillo:
I will live here one day. And then when I got back and life, life happened and I grew up, and it was a six hour drive down here. And I came down here a few other times, and every time it was like, ah, this is an amazing place. But I was raising my family and raising the company and growing up and living life. And it wasn't until after I sold the company where I sat back down and I thought, man, if I could design a life, what would I do? And I remembered this place, and I...

Jennifer Norman:
Remembered, oh, yeah, I can design a life.

Cindy Carrillo:
And if I'm gonna design a life, I think I want that kind of beauty, and I want to look at the mountains and I want to be there, and I want these amazing views. And at that point, after selling the company, because of my age, I was in my early fifties. I was sort of at a point where people were like, you have two choices that they put on me, by the way. These were not my two choices. The assumptions were, you could either start another company because that's kind of who you are. You like to make stuff out or you're going to retire. So I kind of, like, did, I don't know, did not want to start another company. And I thought, all right, I'm going to retire.

Cindy Carrillo:
So every time I'd say it, I put air quotes around it because I really didn't know what it meant. I knew. I knew what retirement meant. I was too young to retire, and it wasn't done. And I didn't. I didn't know how to embrace that. But it was a good catch all. And then I thought, ooh, that dream of maybe moving down to this part of the beautiful part of the state.

Cindy Carrillo:
Maybe what I could do is sort of get some land, maybe, I don't know, with a really nice view and sit on a porch and a nice chair, a big hat, like live. And that was the extent of what I thought. That was it. But it was enough. It was enough to start the search and start the design process. And that sort of led to finding this piece of property, which was in 2009. So the economy back in 2009, especially the real estate market, was in a bit of turmoil. It was in the toilet.

Cindy Carrillo:
Let's just. And so it was very fortuitous timing to have sold the company, have some resources, and come down and start looking for whatever was going to end up checking those boxes. And that was part of the process, too. What are the boxes? What am I looking for? What is this? There was a process I started to identify of stepping into a next. And the book is titled Finding Your Next, with next being NXT.

Jennifer Norman:
Would you like to show it for those viewers who are actually watching? There it is. That's what the book looks like. For those who can't see it, Finding Your Next. And NXT is how Cindy spells next.

Cindy Carrillo:
And I did that intentionally because this was a big next. And, you know, it had a sense of drama and energy and almost an urgency to it that we dropped the e as opposed to, I'm going to do this next. And ext when you make a life change. And I was looking to make a transformative life change, and I still didn't know what it was. It's a big one. It was an NXT. And so I started to go through a process of gaining that kind of clarity that you recognized I needed to get to for selling the company and move moving on from one career to whatever was going to be next. Well, there's a process for making the decision of stepping into what you're going to do next.

Cindy Carrillo:
And not everybody makes such a life transforming next like I did. But the process is the same for making a decision about what's next. And when you change jobs or you move into, move from one state to another or you change your relationship, those are life changing. Those are. Cutting your hair can be life changing. That could be the big next. But for some of us, it can be bigger than moving on. But anytime you're making a major change in your life, that's an annex take.

Cindy Carrillo:
And this was a major next. So I need a big next. So, you know, moving from being a CEO of a company, living in basically suburban kind of lifestyle, city life, more of an urban life, to now looking at rural America and looking at a piece of land, and I found a piece of land that's 35 acres that had absolutely nothing on it other than pasture and a stream and some of the most magnificent views you've ever seen. And to decide that that was the beginning and trying to figure out how to design that next, that was a big move. That was a big move, but it was the right move.

Jennifer Norman:
That's beautiful. I think that it's a different kind of challenge. It's almost like you conquered the business world. Conquer, I say, is, you know, it's not really a conquering of sorts, but it's, you've had that success, you've had that experience, and this is something completely new and something that you can just create whatever, you can just be a complete creator.

Cindy Carrillo:
Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
And so tell us, yeah, tell us what you've created, because you've called it CC Blue Ranch, which I assume stands for Cindy Carrillo.

Cindy Carrillo:
It is the naming of the ranch. So it was kind of a thing. People name land. I didn't know that. When you live, like an urban areas, you don't name your house, right? But when you move to rural America and you've got land and you've got a ranch, people name it.

Jennifer Norman:
So name their ranch.

Cindy Carrillo:
And so we were coming up with really stupid names, you know, Heavenly Acres and, oh, it was, you know.

Jennifer Norman:
Somebody who owns 'Heavenly Acres' is going to take offense!

Cindy Carrillo:
No offense to that. But it wasn't, it wasn't us. So Matthew, my boyfriend at the time, was with me and is still with me, and his phone popped up and he had, on his phone, it had CC Blue. And I got a little offended. I was like, who's that? And he looked at me and he said, that's you, silly. And he always used to call me Blue because my eyes were blue and he just had me and his phone, CC Blue. And we were in a conversation about naming the ranch at the time, and he just looked at me and he went, why not CC Blue? And I thought, well, that's a little selfish and arrogant. You know, it is my initial and color of my eyes, but I did kind of swoon at that moment when he told me that was me. It just, we played with it for a little bit and it just turned out that that really was, it was just destined to be.

Cindy Carrillo:
So the ranch is called CC Blue. And I am a bit of a branding fiend. I love to brand things, love to branding my company and everything. So we just started referring to the places CC Blue and family, friends. Just as it evolved, people come to CC Blue. And again, I think it gets to that building, something that's beyond who we are and to have 35 acres that people relate to. I mean, obviously Matthew and I are here as well, and this is why people come. And for the services that we provide here and the lifestyle that we live here.

Cindy Carrillo:
But again, it was land. How do we create? How do we be stewards of? How do we build? How do we create something bigger than us? And that's what CC Blue has become. It's bigger than us. It's a different kind of legacy. It's very special.

Jennifer Norman:
So you started out buying the land, I suppose, cultivating it, nourishing it, figuring out how you wanted to partition it, and then you decided to actually run an immersion program on it, which is a coaching program that helps people find their next, can you tell us about what to expect? What is the immersion program and what can people expect?

Cindy Carrillo:
Sure. So once we built the main house, we also built a guest house at the same time. And we did that because we are 6 hours from the Denver metro area, so we knew nobody was going to be stopping by for dinner. They were going to be coming by and spending a little bit of time. And that's kind of what I saw on the land. I could see a future of the land where people would come here. So it was the classic, if we build it, they would come.

Jennifer Norman:
They would come.

Cindy Carrillo:
And so I started coaching as really the big professional next in my life with my masters in social work, with all of the mentoring and the building of the company and the coaching of people. It was a very natural fit for me. Growing the business and going through the life cycle of a business, being able to navigate coach people in business as well as in life, more of a holistic approach to coaching was a natural fit for me. So I was doing that for years on the ranch and always looking for ways to incorporate the ranch and the lifestyle that Matthew and I have built here. So we have created a very sustainable life. So we have a large garden, we grow our own hay. We have an extensive solar and backup system. Sustainability is a big deal.

Cindy Carrillo:
And then we got animals. So we started with cows and chickens, and then we built a barn because I like small animals and I like cute animals. And so one of the criteria for me about how we do things is cuteness is a big fact. So we get goats because there's nothing cuter than baby goats. And, you know, we got miniature horses and miniature donkeys and we got really cute pigs. I don't know as pigs. They're pretty cute. And we have a goose named Debbie who pretty well runs the place.

Cindy Carrillo:
And so we created kind of like a lifestyle and a way of entertaining and incorporating the work that I do through coaching with the. The life that we live. And if you're going to coach somebody into their next, being able to bring them to the ranch to experience the life that we've created, not that I want anybody else to duplicate what we've done, but to expose anyone to the possibilities of what could be next and how to design a. And go through the process of designing what you want your life, what you want that next life to look like, if I could bring them here to the ranch to experience that with these big open skies and these views and doing chores in the morning and being able to cook with them for them, with the food that we raise on the ranch, and have them feel what we feel in living the life that we live while coaching them through one on one, how to find their next. If I could do that, that would be a pretty amazing program to be able to offer people. So that's what we set out to do. And so we created a program called the immersion to find your next. And it's unique in that I only coach individuals, couples or business partners.

Cindy Carrillo:
I don't do groups. So people come here by themselves, which is a pretty brave thing to do, by the way, to come and know that it's going to be all about you. And they come and we pamper them and we put them up in the guest house, and they come and they work with me one on one, and we feed them and we talk and we walk and we see the animals and we talk and we go through a process of really figuring out what's important to them to help them find the clarity to make the decisions that they want to make, to step into the next phase of their lives. So it's super special, super personal, and there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it out there.

Jennifer Norman:
It sounds incredibly transformational. It sounds incredibly healing. Yeah, and I. Yeah. And it sounds like an opportunity for people to benefit from the nature, from everything that is different from their lifestyles that they're having. Because sometimes we get into that rut.

Cindy Carrillo:
Yep.

Jennifer Norman:
And this is an opportunity for neuroplasticity to occur, to get yourself out of your comfort zone, do something that you've never done before, experience new things, all the while having somebody there to coach and to shine. Clarity to create those reflection moments for you and help you to see a better way forward that is aligned with your head, your heart and your gut.

Cindy Carrillo:
It's true. Thank you. Thank you. That was a wonderful description. And I do think it's crucial. It's important and it is successful time and time and time again with people who come here that they get out of their current reality and they have time just for themselves with a personal guide. And that's what I think coaching is, is it's. It's helping people figure out really what that clarity is for them and to get out of the noise, to get out of the distractions and be able to be in a very safe space where they can really identify in a guided way where to go next.

Cindy Carrillo:
What is that path? What are the possibilities? And sometimes people come here with ideas and we flush them out and then we clarify them and off they go. Sometimes people come and they have no idea they're totally stuck or they're just blank. We oftentimes think that we're stuck when we're really just paralyzed because there's so many options and so many directions that we could go in that we don't know how to focus and narrow down. We don't know how to really identify what criteria are important for us in order to make decisions. For some people, they refer to themselves as stuck. To others, they're paralyzed. To others, they just. They're blank.

Cindy Carrillo:
They like, have no idea. And the pressure to know, oh my goodness, it's enormous. It's enormous. And that unto itself can be quite paralyzing for folks. So by getting out of that noise and that pressure and all of those distractions that are constantly beating down on you and getting to an open place, that's an amazing investment to really give yourself, to be able to move forward.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow. So for people who are listening and they're like, wow, this sounds intriguing. This sounds like me. I am either stuck or I'm paralyzed or I have anxiety of too many choices. I don't know which way to go. I don't know what to do. I feel like a fish out of water. If any of that feels like you, what can people do to get in touch with you? What can they expect once they get there? And like how long is the program and then what happens afterwards?

Cindy Carrillo:
So if anybody is interested, then my website is findingyournxt.com, and NXT for next, and on there you can contact me through the website, but it also gives a really good description about the immersion. Gives you some more background on me, a little bit more about CC blue. But the program is typically where people arrive on an afternoon. I like Wednesdays through Fridays and I like Wednesdays through Fridays because I want people to get out of their week, and I also want them on the back end to have a weekend before they go back into their current reality, to be able to kind of ruminate in the sauce because there's some sauce when you leave and yeah, a lot of information, got a lot of feelings and it's good. And everyone leaves here on a high note. That is really important. This is an optimistic, opportunistic kind of thing. This is not therapy, but this is therapeutic.

Cindy Carrillo:
I will say that. So somebody will arrive usually midday on a Wednesday and have some time with me. Then we'll have, we'll sort of set up for the real work that happens on the next day. And I've got some exercises and some thought provoking questions that depending on where somebody is, and this is all very personalized, they will then have some time on that Wednesday evening to really think it through. Matthew is our chef. So Matthew makes amazing meals for us. And then we work all day, the next day and into the evening. And then we wrap up on Friday morning and somebody either flies out, we have a local airport, so many people can fly here from around the country and or drive in Colorado or Texas, in Arizona, people drive here all the time.

Cindy Carrillo:
And during that time, there's going to be some deep questioning, some really good questioning that we get to have discussions about that. When I say this is a safe place, I mean, this is a safe place where we get to really talk about and peel back a few of the layers to really get to a place that most people can't get to on their own. I mean, who gets to, who gets to do this on their own? Nobody does this on their own. So we work together and it's amazing how far we can get in that period of time to get the kind of clarity that somebody needs when they leave, but also the action steps. I want people to be able to know where they're going, why they're going there, and how they're going to get there, because then when they leave here and they get back to their reality, they can step in and step up and step forward. So they know what they're worth toward and they know the steps that they need to take to move forward. That's the process. I can't give you a play by play because I'm working with where people are individually when they come, when couples come, it's the same thing.

Cindy Carrillo:
I'm just, I'll probably add a little bit more time for a couple, but we're talking about where they want their relationship to go. We're talking about where their careers fit in, the, where their family fits in. Oftentimes people come here because they are looking for retirement and they need to get alignment. You don't retire alone. Usually you retire with someone. They're affected by that. So I get couples who come for retirement, business partners. What's the next phase of the business? What are they working toward? Are they aligned? What's important? Where are they moving their business next? So these conversations are rich and deep and clarifying.

Cindy Carrillo:
And in order to get there, after someone calls me and they contact me, we have a few conversations and we meet and we talk like this. And so by the time they come, they know me. It's not, I mean, it's brave still to come by yourself or with your partner. But you know me enough and you know it's going to be safe and you're excited about what's coming. And I have enough background that when somebody pulls up at the ranch, it's all about moving forward. It's all about what's next.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. For people who are looking for their next, I can only hope that you could find the kind of passion and enthusiasm that Cindy has for where she is in life right now and what she's doing and knowing that she's really living in alignment and living out her purpose as being able to give back all of these wonderful gifts that she's been able to receive over the course of a career, of life lessons. And so I encourage you to go and take a look at the book finding your next. Take a look at Cindy's website, and I'll put all of the information in the show notes that you can discover this for yourself because it could be just the answer that you're looking for at this point of your life to find your next Cindy, I want to thank you so much for being my guest today. This was a wonderful conversation. You are truly a beautiful human. Thank you for being on the show today.

Cindy Carrillo:
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This was a joy.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for listening to The Human Beauty Movement Podcast. Be sure to follow, follow rate and review us wherever you stream podcasts The Human Beauty Movement is a community based platform that cultivates the beauty of humankind. Check out our workshops, find us on social media, and share our inspiration with all the beautiful humans in your life. Learn more at thehumanbeautymovement.com. thank you so much for being a beautiful human.