Let’s Make Gratitude Fashionable: Guadalupe Goler

Bunny: 0:01

Hi, this is Bunny Terry with the lifesaving gratitude podcast. We talk a lot on this podcast about how stories save us and how knowing your story can save you. My great friend Guadalupe Goler recently wrote a book called just for kicks. It’s a compilation of the stories that she has written down and saved over the years. And it’s also a tale of how she came to the United States. She grew up in Mexico. She came to the states, started a business here on a lot of faith and a shoestring , and now runs one of the most successful businesses in Santa Fe. One of my favorite things about Guadalupe is her total candor and her ability to make me laugh every time I see her. But the better thing about her is that she really takes care of her community. Her staff she’s generous to a fault, and she knows everything there is to know about teaching your staff, to treat your customers with gratitude. I could talk about her forever because I’m so grateful to know her, but I think it’s better if you hear her story on your own. So here she is one of my favorite people and someone you’re going to love as well. Gudalupe Goler. Well, we’re here with my good friend. Guadalupe Goler, and she recently wrote a book, bu in addition to writing the book, she’s she and I became , we’ve become acquainted over the years. She is a fellow Santa Fean now. And , um, one of the reasons that I wanted to talk to you, Guadalupe is also, in addition to hearing your story, you’re really a master at making sure that your customers and your clients who come in the store, which has been around for a long time and Santa Fe feel like they know the minute that they come in the door, that you’re really grateful for them to be there. And Toby and I talk about it all the time about how you and Paula are both really masters at making people feel like a million bucks when they come through the door. And I know part of that is because you’re grateful for having them. But the other piece is that you’re just a master at what you do. But before we talk about the business part at the lifesaving gratitude podcast , we really believe that stories save us and you have a really fascinating story. So I’d like for you to tell us a little bit, I didn’t know very much until I read your book, which I have right here, it’s called Just 4 Kicks. And it’s a collection of your blog posts and your musings, as I understand it, but why don’t you start, just tell us a little bit about your journey about growing up in Mexico, what it was like as a young child, and then we’ll sort of transition into how you ended up in Santa Fe.

Guadalupe: 3:21

Okay. Well, actually I come from , a very normal family, Mexico, you know, middle class family. I went to a Catholic school. The country is very Catholic. My house quality was , you know, my father was very Catholic too. So , um, the home was very normal, you know, with a mother and father , I would come home from school and my mother was always there, always there. And we were seven children, so my mother would be home , just taking care of the home with , we were fortunate to have , um, a couple of maids and actually we made were very important part of my life. They, those are the people who give you a lot of love because my parents are so busy doing so many things. So my mother was so busy doing the rest of the house. So I remember them they were very important in my life, both of them. But you know, my childhood was very much like that. I must say that it , one of those , things that you cannot make sense of , because I was not exposed to a lot of literature or television back then, it was not, we have only two channels, but I used to be very , um, fashion forward. I used to like to see these magazines with Oscar de la Renta all, what was happening in Europe with the Royal family. And I used to be pretty critical of (I hope my family doesn’t hear about this) about the church. I was totally against didn’t understand why the p riest had to be celebrated, but in general, you know, I was, it was a very normal h ouse house. Very strict. My father was very strict, but at the same time, very loving. He made sure to let us know that we were that he was the authority. You know, Mexican, men are very macho man. So, you know, that, that part I didn’t enjoy. I was pretty much against that, but h e w as a pretty much normal, a normal family. My grandfather owned the shoe factory. So we w ould go t o the shoe store, to the shoe store with my aunt and the shoe factory with my grandfather. And we loved wandering around in the s hoe factory, which is, t here w ere a couple of floors and just interacting with the workers. And I d unno, it was, it was really wonderful, background, but t here was, you know, pretty normal. We went to church, I went to school when my mother was at home, so that was pretty much my background in Mexico.

Bunny: 6:35

Where, where was the shoe factory? What city?

Guadalupe: 6:40

In Guadalajara. Guadalajara used to be very important in the shoe business. Now it has moved to Leon when I don’t know Leon is more, it has become more important than Guadalajara but Guadalajara back then was pretty much it in the shoe industry, as a matter of fact, my grandfather was , um, he was the founder with three other , shoe people , owners of shoe factories. They founded the show commerce association. So they got together to be able to negotiate with the government about deals and exporting shoes and things like that. So he was president of that for four terms. So we grew up across the street, my grandparents live. so I grew up hearing , and feeling this respect , and admiration for my grandfather. So anyway, that was very, that was very important in our lives. Not just only me, all of us. So that was my childhood.

Bunny: 7:58

That’s , that’s so interesting. You know, one of the things I loved hearing was the one that I liked reading was the story, how you used to go to Mexico city to stay , to stay with your, your Tia . I don’t remember her first name.

Guadalupe: 8:11

Mi Tia Carmen and her husband Clemente. Yes. Yeah . That was because one one thing was my father’s family, and another thing was my mother’s family and they were very colorful families. Yeah. Yes.

Bunny: 8:38

I was, you know, we talk a lot about gratitude, but I think if you were going to think about that, that background , what, what’s the thing you’re most grateful for about that life as a child? What what’s sort of sticks out immediately when you think about…

Guadalupe: 8:58

What I think I’m grateful . oh for the sense of family I’m grateful that , you know, Mexico has very , you were, there sometimes can be very poor or , very, very rich. And I’m just grateful that I had a good home. You know, we were not one or the other and I’m grateful that I have my parents. Yes. My mother was a woman that had a very difficult childhood, as you read in some of my stories, but in her life, she had couple of angels in her life, you know, her , her sister and her brothers, she was the youngest of all these families of these children. So they always look after her. so constantly, constantly, as soon as I was talking to my sister this morning and we were changing my brain, how much our mother talk about gratitude to , to her family. I mean, it was, I think it stands that , in her personality , right. And she also had a lot of compassion for people who, for the native people. So when I think about my mother , I think those memories come to me , how much gratitude she had it for all those people who help us , who helped her through her life. And also my mother comes from a very small town close to Guadalajara. I mean, in Guadalajara we have to put these into context I’m talking about the seventies and the sixties and in my mother case in the forties , you know, she wasn’t that exposed to fashion or magazines. They were not that, but she had a lot of us , a great sense of fashion, natural, because he was not exposed to any of that. As you also, one of my , um, in my writings, I talk about when Jane Fonda came into the shoe store and she confused my mother with June Crawford. But you know, there , she was completely coming from very humble, simple background, and she had a lot of style, but gratitude, my God. She was at when it comes to that, if she taught me something, it was that.

Bunny: 11:48

That’s so cool. That’s so cool. What , so, so you met a very dashing , Argentinian and fell in love. You were young, right?

Guadalupe: 12:01

Oh my God. I was very young. But you things happens for a reason you happen in the right time. My father, who I was telling you, he was very strict, you know, he , we had curfews and , he happened to be out of town when I met Raul. And my mother being a woman she was much more lenient to let us date and go out. So when I met Raul, oh my God, it was , it almost sounds like a love story in a soap opera, I totally lost it. I was studying public relations. I had work. I had a job in an , art gallery in an antique store gallery. And , when I met Raul that’s where I met him because he was an antique dealer. I totally, you know , lost my mind. You know there a psychologist said that being in love is almost close to being schizophrenic. Oh my God.

Bunny: 13:19

That is so true. I didn’t know that.

Guadalupe: 13:24

So, you know, Raul just… You can imagine, I was very young, 17, he was 27 , handsome, still different from Mexican men. And I mean, mainly I was so young and I just totally left my common sense. I rebelled against my, my family, my father, I lost fear of my father. I was so adamant that I wanted to be with Raul. So it wasn’t necessarily a shot-gun wedding, I think, how do you call those when people leave and get married? Well, not my father make us get married in Guadalajara. He told Raul you either marry her or you won’t see her ever again because we went to Puerto Vallarta for a weekend. Oh my God, the scandal. I told you, I used to think like, this thing about virginity is so , outdated. I mean, what is the saying about virginity? What makes a person better or worse because of virginity or not. I mean, so when my father, I mean really , and these , rights of men to being able to have relations and not a woman . So anyway, when my father find out he was out of town, my mother called him, my mother literally demanded I come back from where I went back from Puerto Vallarta. Then she was in bed. Like we can like, with her hand like this you know, on her forehead. He didn’t know what to do with me. And I was totally confident that I was not doing anything wrong. And that’s what it through , my father, my father actually he came one afternoon and go all my sisters to leave the house on the west , hunting my mother and him in the house. And my mother was in the other bedroom and he called me to his bedroom. So he said to me, you’re going to tell me where he is, because you see these hands, I’m going to kill him with these hands. So I said – I don’t know where I got that courage – And I said, you’re not going to kill him and you know why? Because I love him. That totally disarm my dad. I mean, I don’t know where that came from for me to say that truly, because my father was, my father was not atypical. Neither of my parents were physically , the typical , certain t ype o f Mexican people, like when you think my father was pretty tall and probably six feet very well built he did a lot of sports and very, you know, strong in his, you know, his personality was very strong. My mother was very l ight-skinned blue eyes. and I ‘m not as tall, but pretty much about my height. But anyway, my father was somebody that you, she didn’t have to, say things twice to us. You know, we knew. So when he called me and I was a t h ome, we came in the bedroom saying that I’m g oing t o kill him. And I said, no, because I l ove him. I mean, that’s like a soap opera. So anyway, then they made Raul and we anyway, we got married in a week. So by the following week, I was in the United States, in Santa Fe, happy, happy, happy, you know, leaving home. So that was, that was o ur love story. Really?

Bunny: 17:32

You told me that , yeah . Go ahead Johanna.

Johanna: 17:35

Yeah that’s a very romantic story. It does sound like a movie or something. It’s like Romeo and Juliet .

Bunny: 17:42

I heard that story when I was in the store. One time I asked how she got to the states and she told me that. AndI was like, that’s so romantic and came here and you, and you knew you didn’t know anybody. Right. Besides Raul.

Guadalupe: 17:58

No, no. As I said, we, that was in 73. And Santa Fe was very different than what it is right now. They were not downtown was very small. It was very different. I didn’t speak any English. And Raul’s family who were living here. They were all from Argentina and if they have friends, they were , they have some anglo friends, but a lot of people from South America. So for several years I just stayed in that circle of people speaking Spanish, you know, and my Spanish got really interesting , but was Southern American accent. So when I went back to Mexico, I really had to work hard not to do have the accent Argentinian accent , in Mexico. But yes, we, we didn’t know. We didn’t know people downtown. He was, I think, because I didn’t speak English. I didn’t adventure to go downtown. Where are you going to go? I mean, no, you know, it was a very small town like this.

Bunny: 19:09

And downtown was different than it was like, that was where Sears was, and that’s where everybody went to do their school shopping. It was such a different , it was a really different atmosphere as far as I understand, you know, Toby, my husband grew up here. We’ll drive around and he’ll say, that’s where I used to go buy my, you know, my pants, my Levi’s for school. And that’s where we did all of our shoe shopping. There was nothing fancy about downtown Santa Fe.

Guadalupe: 19:36

Yes . First I am, I started getting really restless being home , because the kids, the kids I going to do school , and to day care? You know, I have…

Bunny: 19:54

Hey, hang on just a second. Let’s back up. Was it, when did you, how, how long were you in Santa Fe before you had your kids?

Guadalupe: 20:05

Not , not too long. It was, it’s a time of my life , where I got pregnant of Chico in Santa Fe and then Raul and his family decided to go to Guadalajara. So we went to Guadalajara and we tried to live in Guadalajara and things didn’t work out for them. So we, we came back to the states, but instead of coming to Santa Fe, we went to Scottsdale then at that time in Guadalajara, Chico was born. No, no, but you know, my life is starting to get complicated because we went to Nantucket, Raul had lived in Nantucket. And he really wanted to go to Nantucket. So from Nantucket , we went out and I, we went to Guadalajara. I had Chico was born in Guadalajara. And then when I was six months pregnant, I think it was three months but my sister reminded me now, no, sweetie, you were six months pregnant. We came back to the states , but I was pregnant on Paula and Paula was born in Scottsdale. So and then from Scottsdale when she was seven months. We moved to Santa Fe. So the store, it didn’t happen 13 years after that, you know, when the kids were , what, no, not , not 13, nine years, nine years after that’d be good. Chico and Paula were still little. They were my first employees.

Bunny: 21:55

And I mean, you have this amazing fashion sense. So did you just decide, Hey, I know shoes, I know fashion. I’m just, I’m just going to do it. Cause it seems like a huge step.

Guadalupe: 22:06

Yeah. It was , as I said, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to open a shoe store now, that you need a business plan. You need, I never had been a person who reads about fashion. I like to look at it, but not necessarily read about it. I find it a little boring. I was working in a clothing store because you know, when the kids are still going to school, I got bored. Although I didn’t speak English. So I said, I have to do something. I’m going to have money. Okay . It was of course the man, but Raul being Argentinian, if he was Mexican, you have to ask permission to your husband to let you work. But Raul was like, sure , you want to work . Go fine. So I adventure one afternoon with my mother-in-law to look around and I never had to fill out an application. I just asked these stores if they need help. So I started working in a clothing store. It was one of the few clothing stores. I don’t know if you were here when that happened. Now it’s Nambe and it’s right next to Starbucks . So I started working there and she was really wonderful. Marcy Rod. She opened really her heart and you know, the doors of her store for me to start working there. And I loved it. She let me do you, these were quiet sometimes in the store. And I look , I like visuals. So that’s we had this French girl who would come and do the displays. And as soon as she did it, you know, how they pull the clothes with pins , something will sail . So I would go like, I’m lazy and I can put it back and I will start playing with that. And that’s how she started getting his sprains about doing this place . But out of default, no, no studied . I’ve never studied to do that. Just have that, that sense.

Bunny: 24:25

But you just , you have a sense of what looks good. I mean, it seems to me that that’s

Guadalupe: 24:30

Absolutely, I mean, totally is my, if I have a talent, I have the said my talent is to have a sense of aesthetic , a sense of color. And the major thing is I love people. I mean, I , like you said, you know, we have been about making you feel customers comfortable because we truly generally we, we love people. I mean, I’m speaking for myself, but I know Paula does too. And we do train the girls at the shoe store that when somebody’s coming to the store, we want them to give ’em . They should have an experience, regardless if they buy a pair of socks or they don’t buy anything, we have to make them feel comfortable besides we are there for eight hours. What am I ? Well , I have make great, great friends. I have made you. Yes . I had great conversations with people or not. You know, you have to have , psychology to read when the customer is willing to want it to be, to be open to you. I mean, in this store I have here people telling me the story of their life. We have cried, we have laughed. I mean, we, I have to be careful with politics. Particularly in this last years, we are much more we just like everybody’s opinion on which is don’t go there. But besides that, you know, wonderful, wonderful people we have met . So I, I promise you, I started to do that for me , me getting up and wanting to go to work is not a problem. And I don’t do the hardest part. Well , it’s hard for me, the boring part of the numbers, you know, my brother loves numbers and I love statistics already done. You know, we have so , but I love them really, but for me to do it, no . And Alfonso does that.

Bunny: 26:54

Well, and I, where we’re so similar you, I’m the same way. I love, I love people. I love talking about business. I love talking to people about growing their business, but I hate the numbers. I’m like that’s the boring part. It, you said a really funny thing. In your, you , you said , um , that you , you think you might have attention deficit disorder in the book because it’s hard to focus because the world is so full of possibilities. And I feel the same way. You said a funny thing where you said, I used to feel bad for what appeared to be a lack of focus, but it’s really because my life , my mind is like El pupil . Am I saying that right? And what does that mean when you say that,

Guadalupe: 27:44

You know , uh , octopus, they have different hands and differing , what do they call the parts of the octopus, but yeah . Yes . That’s what it is important. You, you asked me, oh , before that, how I write, if it’s difficult for me to write in English, right ? I don’t write in English. I’m a storyteller. So what I do, but I have to go back. My uncle Clemente in Mexico city, my mother used to send us , on vacations, summer vacations at their house my aunt is my mother’s sister, my aunt Carmen. I’m really grateful that she , embraced us. My two other sisters and myself in this small apartment , in Mexico city, which is like being in New York City, it was comfortable for them, but you have three little girls. So my mother always said to us, you know, you better behave well, or they will not take you back. You know, they will not invite you back. I mean, are you kidding? We were well, behaved girls anyway. But being in Mexico city, going to the museum going to this zoo, we didn’t have in Guadalajara. So we, you know, we behaved pretty well, but my uncle Clemente, he was a writer and he , we have to write every day a chapter for the radio. So because it was, you know, that’s how he will, they would air it . It wasn’t, it was popular back then these programs in the radio. So he had to finish the chapter. I don’t know , probably by afternoon. And we will, they will have to be delivered to the radio station, but in the middle we will be in the apartment, in the apartment. And he will be the pace from the dining room to a hallway that he went to the bedrooms . It was not too long, but he would be pacing and smoking like a chain, a chain smoke. His fingers were yellow from smoking. And he was not really smoking. He was blowing smoke , classical music. And opera was like full blast. And my sisters and I, we were just, you know, well-behaved, well-behaved we didn’t complain. That’s how it was in the house. I know I that’s how I do it. That’s how I write my “Just 4 Kicks.” First of all, it starts with somebody telling me a phrase or something that , targets my imagination. To give you an idea yesterday, I’ve been going to the acupuncture because I have tendonitis. And when I was laying there and he asked me what I been doing to take care of myself. So I told him, and then he said to me, that’s really good that you are trying to get well, because not everybody wants to get well, that things like that target my imagination. I’m going to like, wow. It has been me sometimes. Then I want him to get well. And I know all the people who came with getting well , but they don’t get well. So anyway, that’s how I start my Just 4 Kicks with some conversation is like, when your daughter probably don’t know this, but when we used it do wear hose, but the hose/stockings, if you got a little run, if you to start going, going, going, and you cannot stop it, that’s how my imagination is . Once I get something to target my imagination, then you started going. So I get to the store and it’s one of the girls, or it has been different girls in the store. We go to the main store and we started , I start dictating here, with Just 4 kicks. So we start, and then I pace . I go in the front , I say, hello to somebody. I go back on. She is like my uncle , the rest of the world disappears . And me doesn’t disappear. I, I read that actually movement is good for your brain for, I think it’s part of your left brain. I don’t know . But that’s how it works for me. I cannot just sit down and think about it. Movement has to be in both for me the same with my, I used to do a lot more creative ads and, you know, put newspaper or some of the catalog. And in order for me to come out with an idea we have to go on a drive and with the music and being some kind of a movement or work out . And that’s how I come up with that . So I do that. When you just for kicks and then we read it several times and I asked her to read it out loud to me. And then when I think I’m fine, I ask Paula to review it. She’s really funny. She’s doing this less and less, but she tells me like, what do you want us to say about this? I mean, you are all over.

Bunny: 33:40

I know that do the same thing. That’s so funny. Yeah .

Guadalupe: 33:46

Or not sometimes . Cause you know, she knows me so well and she knows my story. So whether sometimes she adds something, your daughter probably knows you so well, I always joke that when I die, she can totally tell everybody how I’m feeling over there on the other side. Yeah. She is amazing. Oh, sometimes she doesn’t take things out or, or she just , I feel like I’m like a Pinata when they bring the Pinata and the candies and everything comes down, you know, I don’t know if you have seen those. Yeah. That’s how she is. Like, she makes me feel. You are just , you have too many ideas here. I mean, let’s see where you want to sit or, not. Yes . I have done about 250 Just 4 Kicks. So obviously I have got much more experience to be focused on not to be so much all over. One thing that I, she definitely didn’t want me to write. It was about and my friends see their , black lives matter. I’d really wanted to write something about that. And she felt that it was too… Some people might not approve that, but something in my mind said , but I do believe on that. Like , you know, I do believe in, right . So I do believe, I actually believe not to black life matter, but everybody’s lives matter how I make it in a way that is. So anyway, that’s the only Just 4 Kicks that I haven’t been it has been, hasn’t been published yet, but I will, I don’t want to offend anybody. I just, I I’ve been exposed to , who hasn’t been exposed to some kind of rejection. I mean, we all have maybe when you are too pretty, maybe do what, maybe you are too black to do Hispanic too . I mean, we all in some way or,

Bunny: 36:09

Or a woman as opposed to A male or are in A relationship that people don’t understand, like everybody , um , everybody experiences that in some way. So I think it is important to write about, especially if it’s, if you have a story to tell about how you feel okay . Topic, don’t you think?

Guadalupe: 36:31

Oh yes, absolutely. But anyway, that’s how it is. So then I write Paula , um , go somewhere, then I have a friend. She , she makes sure that, you know, when everything is correct, and then it goes to my son, Chico, he’s the one who sends it. And , then I have to have a battle with him about the title then why I’m going to change it . So anyway, it’s , you know, that little bit, that way that I do think a lot of time.

Bunny: 37:15

Uh , but , but you know, I’ve been reading those. I don’t know how long I’ve been shopping… Well, I know how long I’ve been shopping with you. I used to go in , to the store before Toby and I were together and I would look at shoes and I would dream. And then I would think, well, someday, and then Toby and I got married and it’s he’s , he is, he loves shoes. And he, that was the first place he took. That’s the first pair of shoes I bought in Santa Fe. So never seen

Johanna: 37:44

My mom have as nice issues as she does since she got married. And since she’s shopping at your store, I’m pretty jealous.

Bunny: 37:54

You talk about that piece too. I mean, you’ve been doing this for how many years, how long can scholars . She has been open 36 years and it’s even, even through the, I mean, I have to tell you, what would it be when I, when the pandemic hit ? I thought, please, please, please just let all those Santa Fe downtown businesses survive because it’s so important. And of course, of course I set up a lot of prayers about yours , but you guys survived very well. You’re , you’re very successful. I mean, how, what do you , what do you attribute that to?

Guadalupe: 38:30

Well, I had to do what could I, not in Mexico, I have, I have been exposed to. I said , tell you what is really being , um, poor coming , seeing people who are needy , um, or Latin America. I mean , in Guatemala, I mean , in , in Salvador, I mean, even in United States, I have not really been as exposed to that because I know there are places where he’s allowed to have meat in the United States, but the reason why I didn’t feel devastated, it was, it was not a good place shoes who wasn’t doing well, the whole world we were not doing well, the whole world was shut down. So it was like, we were all in the same dance, you know, we’re all in the same product and the help that the governor gave , you know, the federal government help that we received . It was fantastic. We would not be able to have made it if we didn’t have those PPP loans and all those grants they were, I’m so grateful about that. So grateful. I mean, we , we would not be sitting here. We would not be able to do survive if we didn’t have that. But we had also a lot of customers who will , shop online and we will deliver their shoes to their houses. So that gave me, we would go every day to the store Alfonso and myself, and it gave us a sense of , we were doing our best. We were still trying , then just staying home and letting things, no , I will go , Paula too , we will spend a whole afternoon delivering shoes. I mean, we would see these houses that people live in . And I went like this lady doesn’t need any shoes. I’m sure she has, you know, two rooms full of shoes. She just, they just want us to stay in business. Totally my appreciation and gratitude for that. So as you probably read in my book , if you, if you, if we read about other pandemics this is not a bad one. I mean, it’s bad or the people who have done, but it has been some audit, terrible ones , um, where they didn’t know where the disease came. They didn’t have all the technology that we have now. They didn’t have internet, they have Facebook, they have nothing to amuse themselves. So I thought like, you know, it’s , it’s bad. It could be worse.

Bunny: 41:26

And we know, well, And I, what you just said is really important. Um, think about the fear, if you, in a small village during one of those other pandemics, and you didn’t know that he didn’t know, you know, well, if we all shared this universal story last year, and you said, you said this really beautiful thing, you said we were all in the same dance, but the cool thing is that we knew it. And we knew that we were all in the same dance. It wasn’t that we were in a remote village thinking, what, why, why is everybody around me sick? I don’t get it.

Johanna: 42:01

And you can still communicate like with zoom, like we’re even doing now, or, you know, being able to call people or FaceTime and

Guadalupe: 42:13

Oh, I can not go out, but I can, I have all these other things. Yes, absolutely. So the difference was like, it was not go , their shoes is not doing well. We all in the same dance. So we are coming out. We have to be careful still. I think, I don’t think we is completely over. And we were in our way out , but not, not yet I think. So anyway for me, I really appreciate that. People, like you said that they come to the store when , where these things were open, they came back, they start shopping more with us telling us how grateful they were that we are open. Also you, you asked me , in these questions that how I teach my girls , um, do have to do we, did we tell them we showed them? I tried to say to my customers , thank you , thank you for shopping with us. Definitely. It comes because of my mother. You know, I learned that from my mother and it comes totally natural , um, from us. Do think people for shopping on what it absolutely.

Bunny: 43:41

I gotta tell you , um, I, when I come in there , and I, and I hear it, I hear this with other people as well, but when I come in there , um, and we’ve talked about it at home, a lot, your employees are so well-trained because I feel like they were waiting all day for me to show up. They act , they’re like, oh, and they remember my name and they’re always so gracious. And then they do this thing that’s magical. And , um, and I don’t know, I have a, sort of a stepdaughter who owns chocolate and cashmere and she talks time, Haleigh. She talks all the time about how she wants people to feel beautiful when they’re in the store. And, and you do the same thing, you do it at this amazing level where you just make us all feel like we deserve the absolute best because we already are the absolute best. I think that’s a real talent.

Guadalupe: 44:42

Oh, thank you very much. But it comes totally from the bottom of our hearts that we really appreciate. We have , regular meetings with my brother and Paula and we talk, we talk about that, how much we appreciate it. And we tell tickers , we have to appreciate it. I make an analogy to the girls. It has been times, I mean, this store , you can imagine. I have gone [through divorce]. I have different times in Santa Fe. The economy’s not good. Economy’s good. So I said, sometimes I have been like, like I’m drowning, you know, just holding on from my nails. Just barely there are times we are on a yacht, you know, with our sunglasses and our martinis. So we should never take it for taking in, uh… I’m not being thankful about that. You know, we really, even when a person comes and buys a pair of sox, for me, it’s very important. That person is very special. That person is very important. And I really appreciate that completely.

Bunny: 46:06

So, so let’s talk a little bit, I think it’s really cool that you’ve re you know, you said in the beginning that you were creative , you were really grateful for this. You grew up in this really strong family atmosphere. You know, your view . You have , you have a very tight family unit in Mexico, but you’ve recreated that here. I mean, you work with your daughter, Alfonzo is your brother. I know Chico’s close by your , there was some point in time where when your grandson was coming in to work you family is, I mean, when we’re talking about gratitude, I feel the same way. Obviously, my daughter is my producer here, but you’ve really recreated that strong, strong family here in Santa Fe with your kids, right?

Guadalupe: 46:55

Yes. Yes. Well, you know, my daughter is in the store. My , my brother, my son does the graphics. My sister in the world does our books also. Gabriela, she’s very important. Also my grandsons come whenever they are around , um, Nikki in school, they will come and help because that’s how, that’s how I was brought up. You know, we, the differences, like I’m able to give them salaries when I was growing up. And we went to my aunt shoe store. We didn’t get paid because you were part of the family. So, but anyway, that’s a little different, but they still, they still , um, you know, I’m going to have that book signing Saturday and he has become a little bigger than we expected. So first my friend leader, who’s offering her house. She said, oh, don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. And then my son said, no, I won’t . I’m going to, I’m going to be there and help you. And then Paula said, no, I think he needs gonna , we’re gonna need more help. So Camilo who is in Albuquerque and going to a UNM, doing some program, he’s going to come and help. I mean, that’s what you do. You just have to reach for your family. So it’s absolutely grateful about that. Yes, I really, I’m very much then for the fight .

Bunny: 48:24

I know we want to talk about the things that you do for yourself, but first I want to tell you, I, I love the, the, the chapter in your book about you listed 30 things that you were grateful for. And, and one of the things on the list was myself. And I thought that’s that’s. So I love, I love that you said that, and, and I think it’s really important for us to remember how grateful, I mean, you did, you, did you acknowledge how amazing you are without any kind of arrogance? It seems like you’ve really, you’ve learned how to be grateful for your own uniqueness and your own power. I think tell people about that.

Guadalupe: 49:09

Well, you know, I don’t know it has something to do with being a Leo, but when I think back all the situations that I have lived in my life, you know, we opened the shoe store with , very minimal with no , credentials in business marketing. Any, any of that? I think I choose being there day after day with enjoying customers, enjoying people, having that sense of fashion. As I said, I rarely read what’s the reason that just for kicks began , it was in one of the meetings that we have for how to improve things in the shoe store, they told me, what did you write a blog about fashion? So I did the, oh, okay, I’m going to do that. I pay attention when they tell me something that I can do in the store, but then I went like, how much I’m going to talk? Okay. Spring is coming and the colors are going to be red, blue, and black, and a little bit of silver where, I mean, how, how boring it is that, but maybe my imagination is start going through my, the shoe factory, my grandfather these stories about that, or my memory about that. But I think I given , um, uh, asking , uh, answering your question, given even ourselves a little partying to show there , uh, it’s a good thing. You know, we are really hard on ourselves. We’re made hard physically how we are. We have to fight with chickens, you know, more wrinkles, but , you know, w we also do very well. I mean, you have done amazing. I enjoyed your book so much. I read your book in, I think in a trip, I don’t know where I was going. I think to New York, just back and forth, it was so enjoyable. I could not put it down. Do you deserve a big, a big applause of what you have done, but we all do. I mean, you , you really,

Bunny: 51:24

I think it’s really important, you know, you and I are. I think we’re very close to the same age and I didn’t learn. I didn’t learn probably until the last decade that it was okay for me to be really proud of what I had accomplished. You know, we spend so much time thinking we need to be better. We need to work harder. We need to take better care of other people. And, and I would like to teach younger generations, like our daughters, that it’s okay from the, you know, from the moment you’re born to be proud of who you are and you do that really well.

Guadalupe: 52:01

Yes. I have to mention that to be proud of yourself. You also need to be humble in order to , to be proud of, you said you have to being humble is important too. And not , not to be arrogant. It’s a very fine line to say . I’m great, but I’m not better than you think. I’m good. I have so many things in my live. I have overcome so many things in my life. Yes, my is important. Yes.

Bunny: 52:41

So, so you and I could talk to each other all day about this stuff. We do have, we , at some point we have to stop because you know, our listeners don’t have three hours to listen, but you w what, what would you tell your li my listeners, our listeners, about the very best way to learn, to love their life, because you seem to really love your life.

Guadalupe: 53:11

You know, it’s so it’s so personal . I think if we just look around and it is , so life is so beautiful. The describing for where we live. We have food in our table. We have our roof as much the, we have issues with president and all that we live in pretty wonderful country. e do hWave some freedom. I always had appreciate that about living in the United States. You know, Raul was from Buenos Aires is they used to have so many issues , with freedom. Um, it just look , look around. It sounds so basic. I wish I had something more brilliant to tell you, but it is very simple. Don’t look at the glass half empty, half full, and , that’s, that would be my very basic recommendation , just you know, in the morning I am , so I don’t have a big house or anything like that. I just have a how has that you suit me? And then I like it. So I’m so grateful of my house of my roof. And at night, the same, you know, of the love of the people. I have, my friends, the people have come in the store up , God, you know, life is being good. It says song from that is my favorite song is your mom is Gracias . The singer is Mercedes. She’s an Argentinian and the seventies things Thanks to God has given me so much.

Bunny: 55:00

I love that. I love that. So can , we’ll, we’ll post links to where people can find the store where they can find your blog. Well, what , well, we’ll let them know how to, to find just for kicks. But I’m going to ask if you’ll come back sometime, and we can talk about this more because I really, I think that you have a lot that you could convey to other business owners about how to be successful in the same way that you’ve been.

Guadalupe: 55:32

Let me tell you, I’m very flattered that you say that about us, about me. And I’d be very happy to come back anytime, but, you know, I’m so grateful that you see me like that. I, I don’t see myself. So like I’m very successful. I have to remind myself every day that I’m not successful. That every day I have to be better every day we have to do something really good that notches to sit down and say, oh, now I’m a successful. I think that will be a mistake in our part, if we just don’t keep, you know, pushing and coming with new ideas and doing things like that. But thank you very much , and is not , my success is the success with power without a phone . So with every other, with Chico , with our partners, you know, they , you know, they have to achieve it . They have to, we have long hours at the store. So they are a big part of , these successes is our group is a village and people like yourself, thank you very much for supporting, supporting us to all these years.

Bunny: 56:52

You’re very welcome. And I just, I want to leave everybody with this amazingly wise thing you said, which is we’re all in the same dance dancing.

Guadalupe: 57:02

Yes. We’re all dancing. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Bunny: 57:10

We’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, yes , yes, yes . Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for joining us today on lifesaving gratitude. Please support us by subscribing wherever you’re listening now, by giving us a five star rating and a review, and please share life-saving gratitude with all your friends. We’re here to share our stories and hopefully help others. You can find life-saving gratitude on instagram at lifesavinggratitudepod and at bunnyterry . com/podcast. Thanks again, everybody.