Engineer turned Organic Gardening CEO: Embracing Sustainable Living with Hélène Hébert | Ep #169

Ready to turn your passion into a thriving business as you start a second act career? Join Shannon Russell on the Second Act Success Career Podcast as she interviews Hélène Hébert, a former nuclear engineer who left a high-powered career to be with her family, while she discovered a love of sustainable living and organic gardening. Hélène's inspiring journey took her from inspecting nuclear reactors to teaching people how to grow their own food year-round in Canada’s challenging climate. Learn how Hélène built her gardening business from the ground up, discovered her life purpose, and found a new path aligned with her values. If you’re thinking about quitting your 9-to-5 and starting your own business, tune in for invaluable insights on embracing change, balancing family, and building a purpose-driven career on Episode #169 of the podcast.

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https://helenehebert.co

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - Engineer turned Organic Gardening CEO: Embracing Sustainable Living with Helene Hebert | Ep #169
Episode - #169
Host: Shannon Russell
Guest: Hélène Hébert
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] Speaker 5: Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second act success career podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. I am a former television producer turned business owner, career transition coach, and boy mom. My mission is to help you produce your best life.

This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up. Let's get started.

Hello, and welcome back to the Second Act Success Career Podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. 

Today, I'm having a conversation with Helene Hebert. She began her career as a professional engineer in the nuclear industry however, she left it all behind for love and family, which opened up doors to the most unexpected new beginnings. 

Her journey led her to Northern Saskatchewan, where she discovered her love of [00:01:00] growing food all year long. She discovered her deep passion for growing organic food and teaching both indoor and outdoor gardening techniques to others. Now as a CEO of her own business, she empowers both new and experienced gardeners to embrace sustainable living by growing their own organic food all year long. Let me introduce you to my friend, Helene.

Yeah.

[00:01:23] Shannon: Helene, thank you for being on the second act success career podcast. I'm so happy to have you here. 

[00:01:29] Helene: Thank you so much, Shannon. I've been looking forward to meeting you on your podcast for a while now. way your podcast is evolving is super interesting to me.

And you've got top notch guests, because I know I've binged listened to all of them. 

[00:01:45] Speaker: They're awesome. , yeah, hopefully it's inspiring people to make that leap and to try something new. That's my goal. But we know each other from a mastermind that we're in together, which has been wonderful. So we know each other's businesses.

Your story [00:02:00] is just so incredible. Let's get back to the beginning. Tell me where your career began. Okay. So 

[00:02:07] Speaker 2: I have a bit of an exotic path, I have to say. And first of all, if you had ever predicted or told me that I was going to have this career path and completely change to teach gardening, I would have said you're a liar.

No way. Basically, I'm a, I used to be a professional engineer and I worked in the nuclear industry for about a decade and I was inventing me. Devices to inspect nuclear reactors because that gives you a bit of an idea. I was traveling across the world occasionally to inspect nuclear reactors in different countries and it was a job that I loved.

It had everything that I wanted in a job. It was challenging, but so fulfilling. My boss was [00:03:00] wonderful. And my, the business I was working for, it was the biggest research lab in Canada. And they gave me every opportunity. I would have ever dreamt of. It's like I, I checked my bucket list for work that I had for the next 15 years.

I checked all the boxes within the first five. That's how much they give to me, you know, and they invested in me. But then I fell in love with the Mountie. So for those of you who don't know what a Mountie is, is the police. He's a police officer, for the Canadian, police forces and they don't choose where they go to work.

Especially when they start their career. So, for a while, I was still working for the same company, but I was traveling back and forth between two different provinces because he got posted at the other end of the country, pretty much, in Saskatchewan, [00:04:00] but I lived and worked in Ontario. So, I was commuting, my commute was I two to three air flights, okay, I had one car in one province, another car in another province, one house in one province, and I was staying in someone's house in a bedroom, you know, for the rest of the year, so I was just going back and forth every three to five years, but we wanted to have kids.

We got married and it just, I couldn't make it work. I was never in the right province at the right time, you know, so. This job that I loved so much, I started hating it and dreading going to work away from home. And so eventually I decided to quit my job. Literally. I thought I'm going to call this my sabbatical so that we can have a chance to have kids.

Right. Yeah. And this [00:05:00] is where the crazy adventure happened. 

[00:05:03] Speaker: You brought up something so interesting to me about how you can love a job and then all of a sudden you start resenting it. And that's because something in your life changed, your life circumstances changed. And I hear that not put in the way that you just said it, but so often, and I can think back to my story and loving my career so much, but having kids and all of a sudden I hated it.

Because I wanted to be with them and the commute was too much. And it sounds so similar to your story I think so many listeners can probably relate to that because you start off and you're single and you're in this career and you're building your future and then love happens or kids happen or life circumstance happens and then it all changes.

Yes, because it's 

[00:05:51] Speaker 2: misaligned. Yeah. It doesn't align with your biggest priorities anymore. That doesn't work. [00:06:00] So this is the reason why I changed career. I basically decided to pay myself a sabbatical, not knowing at all what was coming next. I had no clue, zero. And then I ended up getting pregnant right away, which was wonderful.

And I was sitting in front of this white canvas of my life and there was nothing painted on it, but I knew this was happening for a reason. I was hopeful and I knew I could manage somehow to find something that would fuel me. But what was it going to be? I had no idea. And then my husband approached me and he said, I think we should move up north to a First Nation reserve for a few years.

in the hope of coming back closer to my family later. And I said, yes. And this is where everything started. So I, I was one of the [00:07:00] few, , Caucasian people in a first nation reserve. And when I say remote, I mean, this is close to where the road ends in Northern Canada. If you want to go further up north, You have to fly.

There are fly in communities. You know, so, it was, it was difficult, but it was so enriching, and I started, I started, it's like I fell into a magic potion. Literally. Because this is where I started growing my food indoors. 

[00:07:32] Speaker 3: , to 

[00:07:32] Speaker 2: not have problems with food securities

It was in the middle of the woods. You had to drive, I don't know, maybe five, seven hours in the woods to get there.

No cell phone service for a while, unpaved roads. No sidewalks. two nurses for 600 people. So a small community, but full of people that are super resilient. [00:08:00] So cold, in the winter you had from 10 30 a. m. to 3 30 p. m. to have the sun exposure. So you can just imagine how hard it would be to grow in these situations. And it's minus 50 degrees Celsius for a good three solid weeks without the windshield in the winter.

[00:08:20] Speaker: So you're there, your husband's there for work, and you've got one child now at this point? Yes. And I had a second one while I was there. 

[00:08:29] Speaker 2: I ended up meeting one of my neighbors who wanted to create a community food center and I helped her out.

She invited me in and I was, I basically created the company. That was my first business, a nonprofit organization called the Turner Lake and Birch Narrows Community Food Center. And our role was to. To basically help the elders pass on traditional food knowledge to the younger [00:09:00] generations who have lost it because of residential schools, for example. 

[00:09:06] Speaker: So you really were Getting involved with the nonprofit, growing that business and trying to paint your blank canvas, if you will, at this point. 

[00:09:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, I knew that my stay there was temporary and my work for them was volunteering.

I loved the challenge because I needed a lot of drive. Yeah, I guess a lot of aspirations. I needed to build something. And I continued when I moved Out of the community, but what I noticed is that at some point I gave, gardening workshops in the little kindergarten. Even before kindergarten act, actually, let's say six months old to four years old.

Wow. So, you know, even younger than that, a daycare, that was a daycare actually. And I had, I've experienced something that was. [00:10:00] like I've never experienced before. I came out of there feeling like I was on drugs. I was so high with joy and like life juice. I have never experienced anything like this. in my decade of working as an engineer.

So much passion in there and that's what kept me going. But I also thought there's no coming back. I can't go back to work as a, as an engineer in the nuclear industry. I am never experiencing this with anything else that I do. What is this? And this is when I knew it was going to be related to food.

My second act, I had my my act and a half where I created that non profit, but my second act was really when I created my business in and about company when I moved here in my current location in Quebec. It was the energy that I felt it was [00:11:00] unmatched and hard to describe with words. So I thought, imagine if I could do something related to that and tap into that energy regularly, how life would be different.

It's not the same game anymore. Like you're not going to work for the paycheck. Although the paycheck is really great. There's so much more that keeps you diving in wanting to get better. Give back, invest yourself, like pouring your heart into your business. And, and also this is what's keeping me focused when things get hard, right?

Because I know there is something there that I needed to discover and I still do. It's not over, you know, the flame is burning so hot. You have to tap into that. You have to use [00:12:00] this and, and figure out where it's going to lead you. 

[00:12:04] Speaker: So, so where did it lead you? You're out there, you're in the middle of the woods, you've got your nonprofit and then you move to Quebec. Is that when you began really putting the pieces together to build your current business? 

[00:12:16] Speaker 2: yes. So basically when I moved here, I started growing food in the winter under the snow, which was quite unique.

Not a lot of people in Canada were doing that and still there aren't that many that are doing this. A neighbor from another street walked by and she said, what the heck are you doing? Because there was so close to a foot of snow everywhere around my garden, yet my broccoli plants, they were a foot high already, you know?

So the food was growing quickly. And the garden would look just majestic. It's really, it feels like you're doing magic when you're doing winter gardening. So people [00:13:00] were seeing this in my garden and they were saying, you'll have to come to my place, you'll have to teach me. I want to know what, you know, I want to do this.

So then I decided to create my business and start doing a little bit of one on one consulting. I was hired by a nonprofit organization to put together an online training on indoor gardening. And that was during COVID. , so then I ended up thinking I should turn this into a digital course, which I did.

And eventually I did another one on outdoor gardening all year round. So one on indoor, one on outdoor gardening and always all year round and it's organic. So that's where I've been going and I can't see myself going back to being employed by someone else. How are they going to manage giving me something that gives me so much joy?

You know [00:14:00] what I mean? Yeah. 

[00:14:01] Speaker 3: Yeah. 

[00:14:01] Speaker 2: When you find your thing and you feel very aligned, it feels like for years I didn't know where I was going because I didn't have you, Shannon. I didn't have a Shannon. Yeah. I didn't have a business coach. No one was teaching me how to create a business. At first, when I was up North.

[00:14:19] Speaker 3: Yeah, in 

[00:14:19] Speaker 2: Saskatchewan. I felt very isolated. I was the one showing them how to do things business wise. But I didn't have a clue on how to do it myself. You can just imagine the loss of time and the doubts and the just the feeling of not being supported because everyone thinks you're going to fail.

Everybody. thought we would never succeed. Now I'm not there anymore. They run without me and they're very successful, extremely successful. But I wish I had you Shannon when I started. Yes. Cause you need that [00:15:00] support. You need someone to tell you these are the ropes. This is how you do your transition instead of spending so many years trying to see the signs and figuring out the details.

And it was very hard, especially being so isolated over there. 

[00:15:21] Speaker: Right. What a change for you. Going from this job that you really enjoyed where you were in charge, traveling the world to being with the man you love, creating this family, but in a very isolated area. And you, I think, used your engineering, your scientific brain.

to figure out what this town needed and to create that nonprofit. So you might have had to learn the hard way how to build this business, but you knew it could be done. That was your engineering side of your brain, I guess. But then to just feel that joy, I'm curious, is that joy something because [00:16:00] you love organic?

food and you love growing something with your hands, or was it seeing how it was impacting the community or the children in that, that daycare? Where did that joy come from and how did you know that this was your calling? 

[00:16:15] Speaker 2: I don't know if you're going to believe me, but I never purchased organic food before I started growing my own food.

Okay. So I was not a foodie. Well I loved eating well, but I don't know, I couldn't quite figure out why people were so focused on buying organic when it was cheaper to buy non organic. But when you don't have access to a lot of fruits and veggies. And this is just the reality of where you live.

You find ways, right? 

[00:16:45] Speaker 3: And 

[00:16:46] Speaker 2: then what I noticed is I thought I didn't have a green thumb, but that here I am designing my own indoor garden and making it bigger and bigger and everything I'm planting is [00:17:00] growing majestically. So now I'm having fun exploring old seeds and different varieties of food and in its walls in my basement.

It's even under my, my husband's TV. I replaced his TV stand by an indoor garden. There was food growing everywhere and the lights, you know, when it was so dark in the winter, this light that I could feel on my skin and having my two year old harvesting little produce with her, her little scissors just before the meals, it was just such a nice healing.

experience. But this energy that I felt when I started teaching, I can only explain it by, I think it's my life purpose. It's aligned with my life purpose. There's no other way to describe it. I don't know why otherwise it's [00:18:00] bringing me such a level of joy. It's off the chart. 

[00:18:04] Speaker 3: It's 

[00:18:04] Speaker 2: simply off the chart. So feel that when you're experiencing something like this, it's very difficult to ignore it.

It changes your entire life. And if you don't change your life to discover what it is you're meant to do, you become very unhappy in life. You're unhappy with work. Your loved ones pay the price because you're in a terrible mood, you know? but the challenge with this is that when you find something that's aligned with your life purpose.

You don't mind giving away your time. this is where you have to be smart and study and read and inform yourself and surround yourself by the right people and get the right coach so that you can [00:19:00] make a living out of it. you have to make a living so that you can give more. This is the only way.

Otherwise you can give very little to a few people. The more money you make. the more you have the power to impact communities in a major way, right? It's not by being poor, doing something you love. It's not a hobby. 

[00:19:25] Speaker: That's something that I don't think a lot of my guests talk about. Oh, I found what I want to do and I'm going to make it work.

But you're so right. There's that little elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss, which is okay. You have this talent, you have this drive and this passion, but now you have to figure out the business aspect of it and how you're going to grow. And. You and I knowing each other's businesses for the last year or so, we know and we've talked about the challenges of finding those leads and figuring out your niche and, and there's all those aspects that you need other people to help you with [00:20:00] and have that accountability and I think your drive pushes you there as well, don't you think, to really figure it out because you don't want to go back to where you were and it's that that will drive you just as much as having that passion.

[00:20:14] Speaker 2: Yes, oh for sure. There's another thing, you know, I wanted to discuss and it's the fact that when you start, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You just don't know, you know, nobody teaches you business or the real business world in school. Especially me who studied engineering, I was so far remote from the business world, even though my dad was an entrepreneur, but he was not making money, not much.

this is very different than what I want to do. Right. I would love to be very profitable so I can put money aside for my family to reach financial vitality and also to be able to give back to my [00:21:00] community and, and foster new gardening projects, you know? When I was an engineer, yes, I was, I'm just studying and improving myself, but not to the rate that I am doing now.

[00:21:15] Speaker 3: Now 

[00:21:15] Speaker 2: it's on overdrive. And you need that if you want to survive as a business. There are many reasons why businesses. Shut down within five years, the first five years, you need to develop that thick skin, you need to change your mindset that's regularly figure out what are the problems within you and do whatever it takes to make it work.

And I'm guessing a lot of your audience are female entrepreneurs, are they? 

[00:21:46] Speaker: Or want to be entrepreneurs. Yes. Or wanting to leave that nine to five and start a business or just start that second act. So yeah. And, That's another layer to it, We're creating this new life, this second act, this [00:22:00] business, but we, most of us, or some of us might also have kids and have all of these other things that we're balancing and we're juggling.

So it's trying to build this business and figure out this life balance that works for us in this stage of our lives. We have businesses where we can work from home. We can be present with the kids. But it's also that extra pressure of like, keep this up, keep juggling because you don't want to have to go back to the nine to five.

So we've got to make this work. Let's step back and just talk about how did you know how to grow these fruits and vegetables? Where did you start learning? I think, again, that's your engineering brain, figuring it out, learning. You are definitely, Helene, a, a lifelong learner.

How did you know that you could do this? 

[00:22:48] Speaker 2: It started with a Christmas gift that I asked my husband.

It was a book about market gardening and he gave it to me for Christmas and I hopped in a warm bath and I just read the [00:23:00] whole thing from beginning to end in one go. And then I came out of the bathtub and that's the day I said, you don't know what you just did, honey. I can't go back. This is when, that was the beginning, yes.

I can't go back to engineering. I have to find something else. I don't know if I'm going to be a market gardener, or whatever it's going to be, but it will be related to food. I was growing a lot of my food, but then I started experimenting like an engineer. 

[00:23:32] Speaker 3: Like a 

[00:23:32] Speaker 2: research scientist, which I was, and, you know, I, I faced some problems, you know, bug infestation, name them, you know, all kinds of problems.

But then I kept on researching to figure out how to solve these problems, which was perfect for my future digital course. Right. I was, I was binge watching YouTube videos, reading books while breastfeeding in the middle [00:24:00] of the night. 

[00:24:01] Speaker 3: Wow. 

[00:24:01] Speaker 2: That tells you how much I loved it. I was washing dishes and I was learning, learning about how to grow, you know, different varieties of food at the same time.

I couldn't stop. So when you do that every day over three years, you learn a lot of things. 

[00:24:20] Speaker 3: Yeah. 

[00:24:20] Speaker: And then you jot it down and you're like, this, I want to share with someone else because I just put in all this work to figure out how to grow broccoli in the snow, whatever it is. And now you can build a business around teaching other people.

How cool is it that you now have two courses? I want to hear all about them because if we have listeners who are, You know, a they're seeing how you grew this business through trial and error, but also if they are wanting to grow their own food indoors or outdoors, tell us about your courses and what you offer.

[00:24:54] Speaker 2: Okay. So the first one is the Indoor Gardening Academy. And this is where I'm teaching you [00:25:00] everything you need to know to grow food successfully indoors. So you could be harvesting it any month of the year. And it's all organic. 

By by taking this course, you learn how to design and build your own indoor garden, and it's saving you probably close to 1, 000 just by knowing what materials to purchase and where and how to build it. And then we build your, uh, all year round planting calendars so you know exactly what to plant and where based on where you live and if you want to grow food outdoors as well in the winter or like four seasons or three seasons.

[00:25:42] Speaker 3: Wow. 

[00:25:43] Speaker 2: You'll be growing your own microgreens and starting your fresher bar and a salad bar indoors and harvesting tomatoes in January and 

[00:25:51] Speaker: indoors.

Amazing. And your courses are also in French too. That's something that you're also challenging yourself to [00:26:00] do is doubling up the work, but that you can offer it in two languages. 

[00:26:05] Speaker 2: Yes. Oh yeah. You know what? One thing that's good as a business owner is when you start from the get go and do things in both languages, it's almost like you, if you launch things once, it's almost like you've launched it twice.

Everything has been reviewed twice because you're doing it in two languages. 

[00:26:25] Speaker 3: Yeah. 

[00:26:25] Speaker 2: It's definitely a challenge. I'm not gonna lie here. Yeah. But it's accelerating the pace of getting a good course together. 

[00:26:36] Speaker: You're helping people and you're bringing in money to your family while you've got your young kids too at home with you think back to when you were traveling the world. Testing out these nuclear systems and how different is your life now than it was All those years ago. 

[00:26:56] Speaker 2: You know, back then we did talk about [00:27:00] my husband putting his career kind of not on the side, but aiming low so that I can continue rising high.

And it just felt so wrong because he was starting his career and I already had a decade with so many achievements. and awards behind my belt, you know, it, it felt like you needed to have your chance to honey, you know, not just me. But the travel and the traveling was a killer because in my line of work, when you left for a country, you didn't know when you were coming back 

this is not conducive to having a family. And with a husband who's a police officer, they have crazy shifts. I needed the flexibility.

You know, but when we talk about, let's talk about the financial aspect really quick, you know, because really my husband is still the main breadwinner of our family, but how we're working things out now is [00:28:00] to learn to live off one salary and my salary will be gravy. And this is what we're going to use to build that nest of investments that will allow us to pay off our bills even while we're not working.

So he can leave his job whenever he's ready and I can work. for the pleasure of it. 

[00:28:24] Speaker: That is a great goal. That's ideally what, ideally, what everyone would like to be able to do is to live off of one salary and have everything else be that cushion.

The fact that you're making it work is, is excHelenet and so great. 

[00:28:40] Speaker 3: I have 

[00:28:40] Speaker 2: two good courses. They're excHelenet, you know. So I know this is great. Now it's just working on the marketing.

But as you see, there's always something to learn. You're never done. When you think you're done, you're never done. Watch out, something's going to happen, it's going to flip your plate and you will have to [00:29:00] adapt. I find that being in business is like the best exercise of adaptation and resilience. ever.

[00:29:09] Speaker: You're right. And I think that's for anyone listening who's thinking about leaving their stable corporate job and starting a business that you, it's not going to be a flip the switch type of scenario. You're going to Find your passion, want to build it, but you're going to continue to build it year after year.

And then see what works with your life at that time and be able to pivot. That's what we do as entrepreneurs. You're constantly pivoting and building what you need for your life at, at, at that time. But now you have built this business that's continuing to grow where you can be that present mom. And if your husband has to move again, you can pick up and take your business with you.

And there's something so comfortable and consoling about that to know that you can take this anywhere. [00:30:00] 

[00:30:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I don't want to move though. No, definitely want to stay. But yes, it's adaptable. I decide I'm the boss, right? I feel like I'm on this big adventure and it's a quest and it's aligned with my life purpose and I've got big dreams and things are getting clearer now, you know, now after four years, 

[00:30:26] Speaker 3: I 

[00:30:26] Speaker 2: swear there are things that I've known for a long time.

I'm talking about 10 years. I've known that they were in my future, but I couldn't see the road. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. You know, I could see it was there and it was very scary because everything I knew and the job I was in before it was stable and I was making good money and they loved me and I loved them and you know, everything was working out.

So why [00:31:00] leave that? Right? It's. When you're rising to the summit, right, but there was, there are these themes that are there in my life and slowly I'm starting to see my path and this is the best feeling ever that alignment, that feeling of being aligned with what you're supposed to do. You're at the right place.

It doesn't mean it's easy, it's really hard, but you're at the right place, so that's what keeps you going. You can't stop until you've done your job, until you feel completion. I don't know when I'm going to feel it or if I ever will, you know, but I hear people around me, you know, and they say, Oh, only five years to retirement, only seven years to retirement. They're counting the months. Yeah. And it's sad, I find it so sad, they're [00:32:00] sad. A lot of the time that causes depression in people. 

[00:32:04] Speaker: Oh yeah. Right?

Absolutely. And then you retire and it's not what you thought. And you're depressed because now you don't know what to do when you're not fulfilled. So it's, yeah, it's sad. 

[00:32:18] Speaker 2: I think it's the lack of self actualization. You can't even start working on it when you're doing something that's not lined up.

It's not aligned with where you're supposed to be. You feel out of place. It's like you want to crawl out of your skin. To be able to work on a career that I'm building, and I have only myself to blame, if it's not going the way I want, I'm the responsible person here.

Yes. Right? I can't blame it on anybody else. So, if it's not exactly what I want, wake up early in the morning and figure it out. Just start working at it. Find [00:33:00] out what you need to do to get to the place where you want to be and make changes in your life constantly to make it possible. so when you start contemplating making that big career shift.

You don't need to know exactly 100 percent what it's going to look like yet. You know, you need to take the first step. It's good to prepare. If you want to put money aside to give you that freedom to explore and figure it out. It's a great thing to do. I think everyone should do that. 

[00:33:39] Speaker: I agree. 

[00:33:40] Speaker 2: Just having the freedom to do it without.

Being afraid that your kids are gonna starve. 

[00:33:47] Speaker: Mm-Hmm. , 

[00:33:48] Speaker 2: that's important. 

[00:33:48] Speaker: And I think it's, I don't wanna say pressure all the time, but I think it's more of a spark under you to know that you need to continue and you need to figure it [00:34:00] out. And it comes back to that self, self-actualization. Like you were saying, that self-awareness of knowing that you're just not happy that there's something else out there.

So many people. We'll feel that and they'll shove it down and they'll turn it off and they won't listen to that voice inside their heads and I really work with my clients to talk to themselves shut out everything else and turn in words and ask yourself what is working, what is not working, and you get one life and this is your life that you're living.

So if you are not happy and you're counting those days until retirement, then do that soul searching now so that you can change course and move forward and feel like you check that box, like you were able to do what you want to do. And I'm proud of you for doing that. I'm proud of myself for doing that.

It's not easy. It's much easier. To be in that job where someone else tells you what to do and you do it and you go home and you turn it off. [00:35:00] We're thinking about our businesses 24 7. But they're ours, like you said, you know, the only people who are going to move it forward is us. And, but that's that spark.

That's that spark that is driving us and our reasons why, which are the kids and our lifestyle and what we want for the future. So I hope that whoever's listening can hear your story. I hope whoever's listening can hear your story and see that it's possible. 

[00:35:27] Speaker 2: You know, I am not planning my retirement. I'm planning to have money aside to be able to work because I want to, but really I can picture myself working on this business until I'm 92 years old. 

I'm 46. I started a business a little later in life and I had my kids late in life, you know, that's really my second act late bloomer, but it's not that late really.

You can start a business at 65 and be super [00:36:00] successful. We see life in short. That's when we waste it. 

[00:36:05] Speaker 3: But if 

[00:36:05] Speaker 2: you're biting into every day and taking it as a crazy good opportunity to develop and create something meaningful, why would you not continue later on in life? Just work two hours a day if you want to, right?

But make it last a long time so you can have that joy keeps you alive and healthy. 

All right, it's time for our five fast Qs of the week. Here we go. 

[00:36:36] Speaker: Name one thing that these different chapters in your life have taught you. 

[00:36:41] Speaker 2: The first one is carefully pick your inner circle.

So your inner circle are not the people you just chat with or hang out with. They are the people you will confide in. You will ask advice. You will [00:37:00] share your struggles, share your wins with and share your big projects. These are not your current friends and your family. In business, you need to be surrounded by people who will understand what you're going through.

Only entrepreneur will understand another entrepreneur. So you need to find that small tight group of people who will challenge you to become the better version of yourself every single day and you interact with them more and more and you let go slowly. of all the time you're spending with people that are not going to be fueling that better version of yourself.

[00:37:43] Speaker 2: And this inner circle will change. So when you start your business, it could be two key people, three key people. But as you grow, you will need to start hanging out with other people, new ones. So [00:38:00] you leave that table and you join a new table. 

[00:38:03] Speaker: Would you recommend taking a leap into a big life change to your best friend?

[00:38:08] Speaker 2: Yes, we talked about it, eh? If you stay in your job and it's not aligned with your values, what you want to do with your life and you're really unhappy, this is going to poison your life. It sucks the life out of your soul, really. It's important to take things seriously when that happens and look at maybe the fact that you're not doing enough of what gives you energy in life.

Enjoy. Leave that door open to be able to see what is your second act and be aware that it's not going to be logical. Probably it's not always a logical choice. Like, for example, growing food was not a logical choice for someone in engineering. Physics made no [00:39:00] sense, right? So just be open that don't shut shut off that door, even though it seems very weird and strange that this might be on your path.

[00:39:12] Speaker: I love that. Be open. what is one piece of advice that you would give to someone who is trying to start a second act? 

[00:39:19] Speaker 2: So whatever it takes. For you to reach your goals, do it. That means making sacrifices. It's always difficult when you have goals to reach them. Let's face it, you know, if it, if it requires you waking up at 5 a.

m. to be able to do your self care because you're so busy with the kids when they wake up until they go to bed, do it. You know, if you need to put your self care in early in the morning and read to be able to. Grow, get the knowledge and fast track your learning curve, do it. [00:40:00] You have to pick your heart. I hear people say that often, pick your heart.

You know, if you're sitting on the couch, scrolling on YouTube or on Facebook and Instagram, you know, because you're tired, you're going to have a hard life later on. You know, with health problems, with regrets, wishing you had not wasted all that time. Or you could find it hard to set up your alarm clock and wake up early just to get the work done.

But the difference is your sense of personal achievements you're going to be two different persons. If you project yourself in the future, in 30 years from now, we're not talking about the same league here. You're going to grow as a different person. So pick your heart. Pick your heart.

I love 

[00:40:49] Speaker: it. Okay. What does the next act look like for you, Helene? 

my goal is really to make my business profitable enough so [00:41:00] that I can invest enough money. in the right place and educate myself to do so, so that we can have our bills paid even if I'm not working. But in addition to that, I want to have a fund put in place to finance gardening initiatives in my community.

[00:41:22] Speaker 2: So being able to start a community garden or, you know, just support different gardening communities. People want to grow organic food locally. That's what I'd love to do. 

, I feel like I might become a bit like you eventually, you know, you had two businesses congrats on selling your business, by the way.

Thank you. Thank you. I felt for a while that eventually once I cracked the code with this current business. I would love to own more businesses, but there's a learning curve there. I'm not there yet, but I, I've been feeling for a [00:42:00] few years that it might be on my path. 

[00:42:02] Speaker: I can see that for you. You are such a ball of energy and have so much talk about being a creative talk about being a scientist engineer, but also having such a creative brain at the same time.

So I can see you doing all of the things. All right, so where can our audience connect with you? Where are all the places? 

[00:42:22] Speaker 2: So I'm on Facebook and Instagram. They can find me @HélèneHébert.co And they could check out my website also. So it's HélèneHébert.co as well. 

[00:42:33] Speaker: Wonderful.

And I'm going to spell it out, link to it in the show notes. So grateful that we're friends and that you have shared so much of your business knowledge with me and your advice. You just have built such an incredible business in life for yourself and for your family that I just thank you so much for sharing it with my listeners here on the show.

Thank you so much, Shannon. 

[00:42:56] Speaker 2: And I just wanted to say, you know, to your audience, [00:43:00] please. Give her a good five star rating and write her a good review. I've listened to all of your podcast episodes lately, and the quality of some of the advices that I've heard from your guests and from you are just off the chart.

Your past three guests was blown away by them, even as a business owner who's been in business for a few years, I got so many golden nuggets from them. I would re listen to these podcasts and write it down. Really great life lessons. And uh, anyone who's starting a business. They should not do it alone.

It's really hard to do it without having the right coach and having you on their side is the best investment they could ever make to clarify things and fast track their whole experience. It's priceless. [00:44:00] I'm really grateful you invited me. 

[00:44:03] Speaker: Thank you so 

[00:44:03] Speaker 2: much, Shannon. 

[00:44:04] Speaker: Thank you.

[00:44:05] Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to 2nd Act success. To view show notes from this episode, visit 2ndActSuccess. co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell and this is 2nd Act Success.