Sharri Harmel: You are listening to the Extraordinary Women podcast, a podcast for the woman entrepreneur, where we have candid conversations about the journey of starting a business. You’ll get valuable tips and advice as you launch yourself on your own entrepreneurial journey. I’m your host, Sharri Harmel, the editor of the Extraordinary Women magazine circle. And I embrace my own entrepreneurial journey as a woman of say, “a certain age.” And if I can do it, ladies, so can you. I now divide my time between Paris and Boston, which fulfills my desire to create this life reimagined while building a business I love. I am so happy you are here. So, let’s jump right in.

Sharri Harmel: Well, I wanted to introduce this week’s guest Mindy Miraglia. Mindy started a fascinating business that she calls the Berkshire Camino. And if The Camino sounds familiar, you’re right on target. We all know of, well, most of us do anyways, the Camino de Santiago, which is a 500 mile walk across Northern Spain, but Mindy did that walk two times!

Sharri Harmel: And when she returned, she actually came home to the Berkshires of Massachusetts and started her business, and she calls her business, the Berkshire Camino. Mindy’s business was birthed out of that intersection of what I call her own life experiences, the beautiful surroundings of where she lives and an awareness of what people want in their lives, what people are needing in their lives, what a great place, which gets your business idea.

Sharri Harmel: So, join us. And I bet you are going to also start to imagine if you’re not already there, that sweet spot of you creating and building a business that is the intersection of what you love, your skills and your talents, maybe where you live and what you think people need.

Sharri Harmel: Hi, Mindy, how are you today?

Mindy Miraglia: Hi, Sharri.

Mindy Miraglia: I’m great. I’m so excited to meet you and have this conversation. 

Sharri Harmel: So am I, I just find your business the so interesting, and I know you’re going to tell us all about how it evolved and, and I’m assuming it came out of your very first walk at the time. Right? Am I saying it right? Camino …

Mindy Miraglia: de Santiago. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. So go back to that walk because there’s, everybody has heard of it much in so many different places. And a lot of us like myself say, someday I’ll do that, but I don’t think I’m in good enough shape now, but the idea of it is good, but you take us back to there. 

Mindy Miraglia: Well, so the, the circumstances for that was that my life opened up and I have the time, you know, cause this is something that, I mean, you could do it, you could just a couple of days on the Camino a week, but if you’re, if you’re really going in as, you know, a Pilgrim as I was… you’re, you’re planning to stay for some time. Well, like, um, like a month or more. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So, I’ve actually walked the Camino twice. Yeah. So, yeah, well, yeah, I guess I, yeah, I’m incredible.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, so the circumstances where I guess, like, I’ll really dial it back. Like 10 years ago, I had been living in Arizona. I had been married for a long time. I think you and I both share, you know, a little bit of a backstory and that we were married for, you know, a long time and then, you know, had the courage to step out of something that just wasn’t working anymore.

Mindy Miraglia: And I, um, I didn’t know what to do with myself and to shorten the story, I’ll say ended up at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. And so, I had a, you know, a relationship with that organization for a number of years as a researcher, okay, working for you’ll like this, the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living.

Sharri Harmel: Oh my gosh.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. So, we were looking at how mindfulness and yoga can impact people, but like doing legit research, you know, scientific research published in journals. And so, I had a really steeped relationship with that organization. And, um, it’s when you arrive there, you feel like you’re like brought into this room and I felt very comfortable there and I thought, well, maybe I’ll just stay here for the rest of my career.

Mindy Miraglia: Like, why not? Now I can look back and realize that that would have been so very limiting. I was feeling limited even in the capacity I was in there, but I wasn’t really even admitting it. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: How in touch with your own kind of, I don’t know, sense of self and also what what’s possible for yourself. Right because it’s easy.

Sharri Harmel: Those, those golden handcuffs, how they come in many different forms.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. For me, it was just really being a part of this very loving community where you’d walk down the hall and you know, you not only saw people you knew and said, hello, but everybody was giving one another hugs. You know, who’s just like, oh, I want too always be here.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, corporate America…

Mindy Miraglia: and corporate America. I did. I did. Yeah. So, this was just a whole different way of being, and there was, uh, an issue between leadership and I, and a difference of opinion about a couple of things. And before I knew it in a very short period of time, I realized that I was on the bubble there and I didn’t feel comfortable with what was going on.

Mindy Miraglia: And in the midst of having panic attacks for the first time in my life, I was paying attention to my body. And I was like, I don’t know what the next step is. I haven’t planned this out, but I feel like the store is closing and it’s time to go. And so, I left without a plan. Yeah. But while I was there, I had met some people who had walked the Camino and I remember thinking, oh, that’s such a cool thing, but I could never, in a million years possibly do something like that.

Mindy Miraglia: I don’t have the endurance for it. I’m not conditioned for that. But it just, somehow it just rose up. I don’t know. It was just sort of playing in my mind. And then there was a movie, actually a documentary that was playing in Hartford. So, I had to drive about an hour to go see this film. And it was about two guys who did the Camino.

Mindy Miraglia: One of whom is a paraplegic. And he approached his able-bodied friend, he had, he had grown up with and said, I want to go do the Camino. And his friend said, “I’ll push you.” And that’s the name of their book, their film. I encourage everybody to see it. Um, they have, they lead, they lead towards. For disabled people on the Camino de Santiago.

Mindy Miraglia: So, you can go in a wheelchair, you can go, you know, whatever your disability is. They have volunteers that come along to assess. For able bodied. It’s amazing. And so, I was driving home from that, and I can viscerally remember saying if they can do it, I can do it. Like there’s I just have to try. And so, I told my friends and family, I was going to do it and they thought I was a little bit nuts, but they know I’m also like a very grounded person too.

Mindy Miraglia: And I wasn’t going to get myself into too much trouble. And so, I started researching. Training and getting ready to go. I made that my job for a couple of months while I was getting myself ready to go. And then I went and did it the first time 

Sharri Harmel: I’m getting ready to go. You mean like mentally, physically, even do I have the right shoes?

Sharri Harmel: That’s right. What do you, yeah, what do you bring? 

Mindy Miraglia: There are Facebook groups, very active face groups on this and other organizations that you can be a part of. There’s something called American pilgrims on the Camino. And, uh, you can learn, you know, what actually you need to bring in terms of gear and how to understand the navigation of this all.

Mindy Miraglia: And like, there’s, you know, there’s some planning, a little bit of planning that goes into it. Some people plan more, I’m a little more of research. I’m a researcher. So, I wanted to research it. You know, sort of immersed right into this world of being on the Camino, even though I wasn’t even there yet.

Sharri Harmel: When you got there, did you take a period of time and then start walking? Or did you jump right in?

Mindy Miraglia: I, I, well, I took an overnight flight from Boston to Madrid and got to the start of my first Camino. And I then spent a night there. Sort of acclimating. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So, I have the jet lag the flight at night and then one night, and then the next day, you know, I left and, you know, I was all by myself and which is not uncommon.

Mindy Miraglia: You know, a lot of people do this. Women are, are doing this as a solo journey. That’s yeah. And I just, I just started walking and I remember thinking, oh, it was sort of early in there. Weren’t a lot of places open to get breakfast. And I thought, well, there will be a place, you know, down the way. I’m not going to worry about it.

Mindy Miraglia: And I started walking with another guy who had a backpack mean, you know, you can, you can sort of suss one another out, like, oh, you’re one in the community. So, I said something about, oh yeah, I’m going to get breakfast a little bit down the way. And he said, I’m going to teach you your very first communal lesson.

Mindy Miraglia: You never do that. Don’t wait for something better to come. Take what’s in front of you right here. You should’ve had breakfast at the first place that you saw and that would have served you well, and he was right. Cause I didn’t get breakfast that day. And I had to walk several hours until I got to a place where I could have like a proper meal, so many life lessons all along the way and separated them, not only into how I walk in the world, but how I have created and how I manage this business.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. So, so you walked on the Y. First of all. Did you ever think of quitting? 

Mindy Miraglia: There were really, there were really hard days and I never thought of quitting, but you know, I longed for when the pain and the suffering and, and the fatigue would be done, you know, cause it, it pushed me way out of my comfort zone, but I tell people that’s what you’ve got to do.

Mindy Miraglia: Like sometimes in life, we need some things that happen that push us out of the comfort zone. Like, you know, I’ve heard a few of your podcasts and you talked about, you know, going to Paris, like that takes you out of your comfort zone. It’s, that’s how we know who we are. You know, that’s how we can really see our strength, our gifts, the areas where we’re weak.

Mindy Miraglia: Like we really know who we are and when we’re going about our normal daily life, we just, we’re not pushing the boundaries. Nope. And it’s very difficult to embrace.

Sharri Harmel: You know, at the very beginning we talked about you incredible and extraordinary. It’s really hard to embrace that when we, when we don’t push ourselves out of the comfort and, and when we do it, and I’m sure you felt that way at the end, you’re like I did it.

Mindy Miraglia: I did it. I mean, I, you know, I, I walked from the grown yet to where everyone is walking as a city in Northwestern, Spain called Santiago de Compostela. And there’s a, a cathedral there that’s the end point. Some would argue that it actually continues onto the coast to Finisterra, which is Land’s End. And some people also continue that, but most people at, at very, at the very least are aiming for the cathedral.

Mindy Miraglia: And there’s this big Plaza. And I happened to meet a man named Rod. Um, who was from Belgium? I had walked on and off with him, you know, I saw him here and there, you know, while I was walking my Camino and that morning magically or not, because Camino magic happens all along the way. We saw one another at the beginning of the walk, and we thought, well, how delightful, maybe we’ll walk into the Plaza together.

Mindy Miraglia: But he was a much faster walker. He was a cigarette smoker, Coca-Cola drinker. And he would take off, he’d be way out ahead of me. And I would keep catching up to him. He would wait for me at a cafe and then he’d let me get a little ahead. And we kept going like this the whole day. And I got to a point where I was so exhausted and so hot because it was late June, and my phone was almost out of power.

Mindy Miraglia: And I didn’t want to walk into the Plaza and not be able to take a picture, you know, or some photo of my doing that. Right. And so, I stayed behind just a little bit at a church along the way, charge my phone rehydrated a little bit, and then walked in and I was so depleted. I never found him again. It was so sad.

Mindy Miraglia: I’ve never found, well, we had never exchanged information, but I walked into the Plaza. And as you’re coming down, you come down some stairs and through a little tunnel, and there’s often a bagpiper there and you hear, you hear the bagpiper as you’re approaching and people who’ve done some research on this know when you hear the bagpipes, you’re there.

Mindy Miraglia: You know? So, it’s like, there’s, there’s the soundtrack behind you as you come into this emotional moment. And I came around the corner and I was holding up the phone. I was, I took a video of myself and, you know, I just said, I think I said, I made it or something like that. And I just burst into tears. Like, I didn’t know what was going to happen, you know?

Mindy Miraglia: Wow. It was just so incredible. 

Sharri Harmel: So, on that walk though, did you get answers to, you know, what what’s next for me? Sounds like that’s what drew me to this many miles. Is it? 

Mindy Miraglia: Well, so I walked 250 miles on that one. Um, yeah, if you walk the entire, so there’s different Caminos, there’s different routes. Some of them are in Spain.

Mindy Miraglia: Some of them are in Portugal. Some of them start all the way in France and other countries, the most known. Which has the most infrastructure on it, meaning hostels and cafes and support for pilgrims is as they’re called, is called Camino Frances, which starts in the Pyrenees in a tiny little town called the son, John pier deport.

Mindy Miraglia: Probably not saying that very well. And I, that’s not where I started. I started about 10 days in from that. And then I hopscotched a little bit because I only had so much time until I had to get back and I wanted to walk into Santiago. And if you want the last 100 kilometers, a hundred kilometers, which is about 62 miles, then you get a certificate that says that you walk the Camino.

Mindy Miraglia: It doesn’t matter that if you walked 500 miles prior to. It’s just, if you walk that, that last section. And so, I wanted to achieve that, but I gave up the expectation of that along the way on that walk, I had let it go. I was like, you know what? I don’t have to get the silly certificate. It doesn’t matter.

Mindy Miraglia: Like, you know, but then I, I just, I started walking and I thought, you know, I’m just gonna see how far I get. And then I’ll just take a taxi into Santiago if that’s what I have to do. But as I was getting closer, it was like, there was this big thing. You know, pulling me and I, I just pushed way beyond what I ever thought I could do.

Mindy Miraglia: And I dug in, and I did it. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: It’s just incredible. But those of you that are listening, there’s one of the lessons I think Mindy is sharing with us here is, is just do it, you know, that old Nike phrase, you know, or a tagline or whatever, just do it. We only make things happen by taking action. You don’t make things happen by sitting back in Boston, Massachusetts, I’m talking to myself, thinking, walking the Camino, it’s actually doing it.

Sharri Harmel: And you don’t know where you’re going to end up or how far, how successful, right? 

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. You don’t and you know, you can let fear stop you. You know, fear stops us from doing all sorts of. And I guess I had already taken that first big leap of walking, you know, out of the relationship I had been in and the very comfortable job and home, I, you know, I lived in Arizona.

Mindy Miraglia: I had a very nice house. They sold the house when I moved to Kapalo, I lived in a, in a dorm bed, you know, it’s like, that had already sort of set me up for, oh, you know what? You can take big leaps and do things that you never thought were like who you are. And so that really set me up to be able to take that leap.

Mindy Miraglia: I didn’t want my Camino to end that’s part of why I went back. 

Sharri Harmel:You did the first one in 2017. Did your 18, 18, when did you do the second one?

Mindy Miraglia: I went back 14 months later. And I wanted to start in sunshine. I wanted to go the whole way, quote-unquote. And so. Now at this point I already was, was thinking about the business.

Mindy Miraglia: Like it was, yeah, I was already like working on this concept, but at that time, what I thought it was going to be was creating a network of hostels in the Berkshires so that there would be economical places for people who were doing through hikes through the Berkshires to be able to see. Okay. And we’ll come back to that.

Mindy Miraglia: We’ll put that on the parking lot for now and come back. So, I wanted to go back and research the, the hostels a little bit more understand that model, but I also just longed to be back on the Camino. And I always felt like, wow, what if I had started in sunshine? Like I wonder, like, you know, I saw those pilgrims that went the whole way through and I, you know, I wanted to see, well, maybe I could do the 500 miles.

Mindy Miraglia: So, I went back. And I started in sunshine and my commitment was to not take transport, to shorten the distance, just to keep going again. I made it 250 miles and that that’s just what my body has in it. I mean, that was a big part of the last session. And I have all sorts of physical challenges. I have flat feet that causes all sorts of problems.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. Technically I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, which, you know, I, I do better at and sadder over time and you know, I’m in a much better place now, but I’ve had times when I was really overwhelmed by. Hence the reason why my friends and family thought, wow, that’s a lot for you to take on, you know?

Mindy Miraglia: So, I want everybody listening to know, it’s not like, oh, well, she’s, you know, she’s just one of those super athletic people and I’ve got extra pounds on me and, you know, yeah. But I did it. Yeah. I was injured, you know, the second night. I mean, I hurt myself the first time, but I really injured myself, my Achilles tendon among other things the second time.

Mindy Miraglia: Well, I mean the Achilles, a bit the first time, but I, I was able to walk with a taped up, but by the second time, you know, it’s just, that’s, my Achilles’ heel is my Achilles tendon and yeah, and I, I had had a really rough night the night before I stayed in a hostel that I thought was going to be lovely.Mindy Miraglia: But as it turned out, it was infested with mice and that that’s really the rarity. So, I don’t want people to think, oh my God, like, I’m not going to go now. And then it can happen. Yeah, there were mice that had gotten into my backpack. It just freaked me out. I just, I woke up and really out of sorts that morning, but I was really in pain, and I was really pushing it.

Mindy Miraglia: I got to a point where I just sat on a bench. I just, I was like, I have to surrender here. I don’t know what the answer is, but I know I can’t keep walking to that next town. And it was early on a Sunday morning. And I just said, I can’t imagine that a taxi is going to come by here, but I’m just asking for Camino magic.

Mindy Miraglia: Like I need the taxi to come and within minutes a taxi came and pulled up and stopped. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Well, and it was Camino messaging too, that this is. You know you, 

Mindy Miraglia: but I was done. Yeah. The university. Yes. She really means it. Like she really does need really does need the ride. Bang. Yeah. I mean, I had been getting therapy, physical therapy along the way.

Mindy Miraglia: I’d taken some time off. Like I was, I was, you know, I had pushed it way beyond, but I know exactly where that benches to go back. I think in 2024, when I turned 60 and I want to start right there. Yeah, yeah. And go 

Sharri Harmel: the direction 

Mindy Miraglia: 150 miles. That’s right. That’s right. 

Sharri Harmel: Go back though, because you mentioned about the business and how, first of all, share with everyone with the businesses today, and then we’ll go back to what evolved into becoming.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. Yeah. So, Berkshire Camino curates and leads a single day, a multi-day walking and hiking excursions in the Berkshire’s on the Berkshires is in Western, Massachusetts. And on our walks, we lift up the story, the narrative of about the Berkshires. We share a little bit about the history, culture. Of course, you’re immersed in the, the nature.

Sharri Harmel: This is a beautiful place because a lot of people in other parts of the country don’t 

Mindy Miraglia: know if Massachusetts. Yeah. I mean, we, we border New York state. So, we’re as far west, as you can get in Massachusetts. And we’re about equal distance from New York city and Boston. And its a, it’s like a playground for people from those cities to come.

Mindy Miraglia: And, you know, people are drawn to the, the natural beauty. It’s very forested. A couple of hundred years ago, they took down much of the, the forest because it was being used to create cold and furniture and paper and all the stuff that you needed the trees for. And, you know, over time now that’s come back and there are some organizations in the Berkshire’s that are dedicated to conserving the land.

Mindy Miraglia: So, they buy the land and put it into conservation so that it can never be developed. And it can only be used for whatever purposes they determine often for recreational purposes. And one of those organizations is called Berkshire natural resources council, and they had announced a project called the high road, which they themselves.

Mindy Miraglia: Promoted as being like the Camino de Santiago. So here I’m aware of the Camino and I’m thinking about walking it, and I hear that they want to build this thing in the Berkshire’s on my ears, perked up. You know, I, what I’ve learned is it’s a very slow process for them to actually piece together this whole network that.

Mindy Miraglia: Endeavoring to have here in the Berkshire’s, but the first section has opened, it’s called the hybrid high road. You’ll can Ridge and Berkshire, Camino leads a walk on that, on that segment. And we’re very much in communication. So, you know, we, we keep each other informed about, Hey, you know, you could navigate this way or that way, you know, our intentions are a little different, you know, they’re, they’re trying to create a trail system and I’m not, I’m trying to create an experience using trail systems, but sometimes a trail system doesn’t exist where I want one.

Mindy Miraglia: And so, I just created it. So, we’re going to walk through this town and we’re going to cut through the woods here and we’re going to take this country road. So, I’ve created a way to do this walk 

Sharri Harmel: or people on them 

Mindy Miraglia: own. It’s all guided there’s no, there are no signposts. So, for comparison, when you walk the Camino in Spain, not only are there guidebooks and apps, but there are also at the very least spray-painted yellow arrows everywhere.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, there are medallions on the streets in the cities. There are signs like it’s very well marked and there are hundreds of thousands of people walking. So, you just sort of join the flow. Right. But here, if you showed up to do a Berkshire Camino walk, you wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to go.

Mindy Miraglia: There’s no, there are no signs. There’s no guidebook. There’s no app. I mean, maybe one day we’ll have that, right? Yeah. So, we guide it, but it’s not only about navigation. It’s about creating this really safe container that, uh, welcomes people and sets a mindful intention for the experience. So, there is a curriculum there’s a little, you know, a facilitated experience.

Mindy Miraglia: It’s, it’s a little bit like a retreat on. Okay, but we don’t push, push the mindfulness too much. It’s really, you know, setting an intention, walking with curiosity. I like to say we walk at the speed of curiosity, which means when we see something that interests us, we stop. We look, we talk about it. You know, the, the guides that work with me are all trained to not engage too much in conversation about someone’s situation.

Mindy Miraglia: Like. Yeah. Do you have kids? Like I always say to people, don’t ask them, are they married? Do they have kids? And they have a partner? What do they do? Let them, let them have a little break from that. Right? Let them just be present. Let’s be interested in looking at this body of water. Let’s, you know, let some common interests that we have that seems to bubble up in conversation.

Mindy Miraglia: Be what we talk about, not to say that no one ever offers anything personal, but we just try to make it not about that. The reason behind that really is when I walked the Camino in Spain, you didn’t know who you were talking to. Like someone’s, someone’s stats didn’t matter. And you would get right down to the heart of things.

Mindy Miraglia: Like, why are you walking? Oh, I’m walking because I’m in this moment in life. I mean, you’d meet people who are in transition. Whether it’s career transition, empty nesting job change. They’ve lost someone, so many things. And so, people would jump right into that. And you, you know, you knew full well that you might only walk with this person for a few minutes or a few hours, or maybe you would, you know, stick with them for a couple of days or weeks.

Mindy Miraglia: You got right to it. Let me ask you 

Sharri Harmel: this. And maybe the, the environment of nature and being present allows you to get to that level of intimacy. If I dare call it that. And there’s also a safeness and knowing, I might never see that person again with not talking about what brought me. 

Mindy Miraglia: You might tell people that you’re walking with at least on the Camino de Santiago, and I’ve seen it happen on Berkshire Camino walk as well.

Mindy Miraglia: You might divulge things that you don’t talk about with your best friends and family. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: It’s interesting that we as humans, we can do that when it’s. Space and part of the safeness is, is that they don’t know anything about you, and you don’t know anything about them. You can just talk about how you feel in the moment, which is pretty bad.

Sharri Harmel: So, the groups that, that your guides take people through the, the Berkshire 

Mindy Miraglia: Camino. So, they’re there for the day hikes. It’s usually either seven people or 10 people. And then for our multi-day journeys, which are debuting this year, we’re going to have one in May, one in June and potentially September and October.

Mindy Miraglia: Oh my gosh. Those are 11 people. 

Sharri Harmel: And by multi-day what are 

Mindy Miraglia: they? Yeah. So, it’s going to, it’s really gonna approximate that feeling of what it’s like to, to be in Spain and, and go on this multi-day Trek. There will be ins that were staying out along the way. So, you’ll check into an end. We’ll have a, a welcome reception to get to know one another.

Mindy Miraglia: We’ll walk each day; we’ll have lunch together. You know, usually we’ll have a picnic somewhere or a box lunch, or maybe we’ll eat somewhere in one of the towns that we pass through for passing through a town. And then in the evening, guests will often have a little bit of free time, maybe time to have dinner on their own, or with people that they have met.

Mindy Miraglia: I’m potentially creating some spaciousness so that the introverts in particular feel like they’ve got a little bit of time when they don’t have to be with the group the whole time. I know what that feels like as an introvert myself. Yeah. So, we’ll be walking for, for three straight days. And so, you’ll have your arrival night.

Mindy Miraglia: So, there be four nights of lodging, but over time, we’re going to grow that. Five days, seven days, you know, we’re, we’re just getting started. 

Sharri Harmel: The Berkshire’s is very forested. Uh, is it also hilly? 

Mindy Miraglia: It is it’s hilly. Yeah. It’s a pretty wild. Yeah. And some of our, some of our routes are flatter than others. Part of what I, I, I, I’ve learned so much along the way since I launched the business in the summer of 2020, I’ve learned that sometimes people don’t want a longer walk.

Mindy Miraglia: You know, first of all, it might be just too much physically for them, or they don’t want to spend their entire day doing just a Berkshire Camino experience. They want to do that in the morning. And then in the, they want to have lunch somewhere and then they want to do something else in the afternoon. So, we, we have walks that range from about two, two and a half hours up to five hours.

Mindy Miraglia: So, you want something that’s just a shorter segment on, you can do that. And so, we’ve, we’ve identified the favorite parts of some of the walks and turn those into the shorter version. So, yeah. So, like you could walk from Edith Wharton’s home, the Mount, which is a gilded age home, Edith Wharton was a female writer, actually the first to ever win the Pulitzer Prize.

Mindy Miraglia: First woman. Yeah. So, we, we, we start on the grounds of the mountain. We walk through the gardens, and we lift up the story about the gilded age, which now more and more people are knowing about because of Downton Abbey and the gilded age show on HBO. And so, we walk through the grounds there, and then there’s a Woodland part of, of the mount’s property that most people don’t even know is there.

Mindy Miraglia: They think the property ends at the end of the gardens, but it doesn’t, there are trails all through the woods. So, we cut through the woods. It’s beautiful. And then we, we come out at the edge of a little lake Laura Lake, which is in Lee. So, at this point you’ve actually crossed the border and to Lea you walk up a country road and we go to high lawn farm, which is a hundred-year-old dairy farm.

Mindy Miraglia: Again, there’s a gilded age home on that property. And it’s, it’s lovely and they’re very welcoming and open to the public. They want you to come. And so, we go and visit the cows and the milking barn. We go and visit the calves and the nursery. We actually have a sponsored cow there. Her name was Camino.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah, she’s a big girl. Now. She actually had her birthday two days ago and we’re going to have another, another cow this year. But last year I named the cow and this year I’m going to let our guests help. So, when we, when we get to the farm, we, we go look for, you know, Berkshire, Camino sponsored cow, 

Sharri Harmel: where that baby calf they’re so cute.

Mindy Miraglia: They’re so cute. And they all, they all have names. You know, like really sweet names. And then we go up to the little shop. They have the farmstead Creamery store where there, you know, the cheeses and milk and ice cream that are made right there at the farm are available to sample or purchase. And we have, you know, an arrangement both with the Mount that we can park our cars there, that we can walk through the property that when we get to the farm, they welcome us there.

Mindy Miraglia: They offer a discount to our guests. So, I make arrangements with all of these various venues whose grounds we walked through so that, you know, they’re, they’re all, you know, part of it. Has your guests 

Sharri Harmel:come from all over? Yeah. I mean, most people. 

Sharri Harmel: The beginning. No, let’s see. Where are yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mindy Miraglia: And we’ll talk about why that happened then and why it’s tour company. Cause remember I left something in the parking lot for us to come back to, which was, I was going to open hostels. I came back from my second Camino committed to this idea that I think maybe I want to open a hostel or maybe a couple of hostels 

Sharri Harmel: and hostels.

Mindy Miraglia: Cause some sort of hostels hostels is usually very small occupancy, lodging places. Some are very large, but it, you know, on the community to Santiago, they’re small often very communal think bunk beds, you know, shared rooms, communal space, very much about being a part of a community. So, whereas if you would go into a hotel, you might walk through the lobby, but you know, you’re going to your room and you’re shutting the door well in a hostel it’s, it’s all about being a part of committees.

Mindy Miraglia: Okay. And in fact, when you walk the Camino in Spain, the community experience for me happened more when I was in the hostels then walking, because I was often walking alone because I had walked so slow. I was meeting more people in the evening actually. Right. And so, I, I wanted to, you know, work on this idea.

Mindy Miraglia: I had already done an entrepreneurship program through an organization in the Berkshire’s called one Berkshire through their economic development program called Berkshire starts. And I, I had a little bit of a sense that this might have some legs, but I didn’t really know. How to move forward. And I, and I knew I didn’t have the financial wherewithal myself to do it.

Mindy Miraglia: And mind you this whole time. I mean, I had a couple of part-time jobs along the way, but I’ve been living off of my early distribution from my IRA this whole time. Right. So, um, I thought, well, I need to really, like, I need to do something. I need to launch a bit. And get it going, or I need to go find like a real job but couldn’t go back.

Mindy Miraglia: It’s like I had gone so far down this path that I just didn’t see going back into the corporate kind of path again. So, I happened to learn about an organization called entrepreneurship for all the short for that is and they have chapters in several states, mostly in Massachusetts, but they are expanding, uh, nationally.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, they have, you know, Arkansas, Colorado, New York, they have chapters, and they provide education and mentorship for budding entrepreneurs. And so, I, I applied for the program I got in with the hostel 

Mindy Miraglia: hostels. Yeah. Yeah. I started working on that. So, the program started in January of 2020. And we were getting ready to do our pitches and, and you can compete for grant money.

Mindy Miraglia: I had already gotten to a point where I was having my reckoning with the fact that, you know, this is going to take hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, to acquire a property, renovate it properly, build the brand like, and so I knew I really, but it just didn’t feel like I could take that step.

Mindy Miraglia: And there was, you know, long range. We, we, when I say we, I mean, my mentors and I had talked about the possibility of having guided tours as part of it, but that was going to be like, you know, several years down the road. As we were getting ready to do our final pitches. And it’s interesting. Cause I remember the night, it was the last night that we met in person as a cohort, and I wasn’t feeling well.

Mindy Miraglia: And within a couple of days, I was sick and I’m pretty sure I had COVID, but at that time we could only get tested if you had been to China. So, I suffered through. And, you know, it took me a couple months to like really to pull through it. And so, I did my pitch and I said, you know, I don’t know what I’m, what I’m doing.

Mindy Miraglia: I guess I’ll; I’ll tell you what I’ve been working on with the hostels, but I think I’m, I’m probably gonna have to do something else. And so, I walked away from that and thought, well, I could try the tour business. And I had been hesitant to do that. I felt resistant because as a Pilgrim who walked solo on the Camino de Santiago without a tour company and felt like I didn’t need a tour company that was resistant like, well, why do I want to start a tour company?

Mindy Miraglia: It’s a different scenario here in terms of what I have already laid out. And so, I came up with two routes. You know, I did a proof-of-concept test and I, you know, put a website up. I had never done that before. I mean,  I’ve learned all sorts of Mindy Miraglia: That first year I gave a lot of the walks away and was grateful for the people who did show up. I was so delighted by the people who showed up, who just magically heard about this. They did a search on the internet, thought it was cool, paid their way and came. It was like, wow, like people are coming. This is great.

Mindy Miraglia: This is great. And they were really loving it. So then in 2021, we expanded to, I don’t know, I think we had seven or eight routes. Last year and started also offering private opportunities. So, if the day and the time or the distance or where we’re walking, doesn’t serve you, or because of COVID in particular, you want to just come with your friends or your family.

Mindy Miraglia: We can do that. And so, we started offering privates, oh, this is perfect. 

Sharri Harmel: This was a perfect set up. You’re outside of a small group is as you’d need or want. 

Mindy Miraglia: Right. I mean, we can socially distance on the trail and, you know, in the van we wear masks and any, even this year, we’ll continue to wear masks in the van, but we have the windows open we’re ventilating, but you know, just out of a predominance of safety, absolutely we’ll do that.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, but yeah, it’s a pretty COVID friendly business. And of course, people, I can’t get over. How many times people showed up and said, this is the first thing that I’m doing with other people, you know? And it felt safe enough because we’re outside, but they were really excited to be a part of a group and meet some new people.

Sharri Harmel: So, talk about the joy thought of, I hear this so often, and maybe it’s not joy for you, but I hear this from so many women who have something of their own versus working in a corporate environment. What’s different. How, yeah. What, what’s the feeling yet from having your own business and you can bring in the challenges if you want to.

Sharri Harmel: Everyone, there are huge differences, huge to share, but talk first about. What does it feel like to have something of your own? 

Mindy Miraglia: It’s amazing to allow my vision to actually mean something. Wow. And to not have to defend it, to not have to pitch it to other people, to get their approval, to not have to modify it based on what they think is right.

Mindy Miraglia: I do modify it as I learn from my crew. And as we learn from guests, I always say, this is a beta test. Like it’s always going to be a beta test. It has to be a good businessperson is like that. You know, you have to keep listening and show. I get to take this crazy vision that I have and let it come to life.

Mindy Miraglia: And it, it allows me to create a way of working that really suits me well, rather than being at work at 8:00 AM and taking lunch at noon, you know, needing to sit there for the solid eight hours. I’m able to, I, if it’s not working, if I’m sitting here and I’m trying to do something, like, I know I can allow myself to go do something else, maybe it is going out and scouting around and having that agency means so much, so much.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: It’s incredible. So where are you going with this? Tell, tell us all when 

Mindy Miraglia: yeah, the big, the big vision features the multi-day journey. Potentially a hostel will, will come as part of that. We’ve got quite an infrastructure lodging places in the Berkshire’s that ranges from, you know, your basic economy, corporate kind of franchise place to unique ins, some of which are more luxurious than others.

Mindy Miraglia: And it just so happens that over COVID a number of those ins have been changing cans and new people are coming in and infusing a lot of money and bringing them to a whole new level, which is exciting. And yet making it even more financially out of reach for a lot of people. Um, and then there are some very high-end resorts that are here, destination resorts.

Mindy Miraglia: And, um, so I see a real niche for these hostels because it’s much more economical and. It’s this different mindset. Like I was saying before, you’re you you’re in this place, but you’re, you’re feeling like your part of a community while you’re there. And it’s really well suited to people who are doing a long-distance hike.

Mindy Miraglia: And I’ll also note that I don’t know if you’re aware of this or certainly for the people that are listening, the Appalachian trail runs through the Berkshire’s. So that’s yeah. It’s about a 2200-mile Trek. There are also people who are coming through hikers and section hikers. So, section hikers are people that aren’t trying to walk from Maine to, from Georgia to Maine, but they may be walking just the Massachusetts section.

Mindy Miraglia: I know that’s, that’s a popular thing to do, and I think we can support people. That aim to do that. But walking the 80 is very different from what we’re doing in that that’s more of a backpacking experience and people are camping out there. They’re creating a fire; they’re cooking over fire. They’re carrying their food with Berkshire Camino.

Mindy Miraglia: We’re staying in ends. We’re eating in restaurant. Right. You know, we’re, we’re staying in, in the town. We stay in the towns at night, even though during the day we might walk, you know, through Woodland areas, all ages. My target audience is women aged 50 plus, and we do get people of all ages, but typically the people who show up are women 50 plus, um, sometimes, sometimes with a partner who’s a man or a woman, but just like in Spain, that’s, you know, that’s quite common.

Mindy Miraglia: You tend to see younger people in their twenties who are maybe in a gap year, or they’re just trying to figure out what they want to do in life. And then you find the people who are in their third chapter of life, and they’re trying to figure out what they want to do with their life. You know? So, it’s sort of this common denominator.

Mindy Miraglia: So, I find when we get to this age where, you know, we want to be really intentional, like on a new level, like, hey, you know, time is, time is running. Yeah. Do you F do 

Sharri Harmel: you feel that Mindy, that and all the people that you interact with, which are part of the Berkshire Camino family, really? That there is something, something happens at least to some women or most women.

Sharri Harmel: And we need to listen to it. Like you said, time, time is short. Time is running out, or you have that sense. You might have 30, 40 more years who knows, but you start to think about, well, what am I doing here? 

Mindy Miraglia: Is that, would you agree? I would agree. And also, as you were speaking, Sharri at the thought came to mind to say what to do with the precious time.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, no. So, it’s not only a matter of, and, and I guess I’ll say this as I’m thinking it through now, it’s my time. Right. You know, maybe we’ve, we’ve, you know, gone down a certain path because that’s what made sense. And it often involves family and children and commitments that we’ve made to a career, but you can, you know, step away from.

Mindy Miraglia: No. I’m not saying that everyone should go step away from all of it. Like I did, right? 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. To a great extent. Um, but there’s, there’s something about that, that this is, is even giving yourself permission to say, what is it you want? Right. You know, that feels, some women talk about, it feels a little selfish and yet it’s yearning there at a certain age.

Sharri Harmel: It’s like, okay, I’ve done all that. I’ve taken care of everyone. And hopefully you’re not in a position where you have to take care of parents or something of that sort. What about it? Yeah. 

Mindy Miraglia: It’s yeah. It’s like, it’s me time. Right? It’s often me as women define us by how we care for others. And not that that is.

Mindy Miraglia: Very important, very important, but how, how have we shown up for ourselves and creating space for ourselves? I look forward to the women who come alone who have never done it before, but don’t know if they can do it. And who say, I’m just going to give it a try. And I feel like this is a safe place where I can maybe like, not be who people think I am.

Mindy Miraglia: I can, that’s the joy of traveling alone. Right? Because you can, you can play around with who you are, what your persona is. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: And, and yeah, I think in many ways who you really are rises to the surface because you have, you have no role to play. You have way you have no one to take care of. You don’t have to be brave if you’re scared out of the woods.

Sharri Harmel: I mean, we can do this. You can say, no, I’m not doing that. You know, here’s me, or I don’t want to do that. Or I do want to do that. I that’s something I absolutely want you and Michigan; the state of Michigan has some of the best travel language from an advertising standpoint. And they had one where they, this must’ve been, I don’t know, three, four years.

Sharri Harmel: And it just touched me. And it was sort of that when you go someplace where no one knows you, you become who you really are. So how many from a percentage standpoint, 50 plus women typically, but what percentage would you say are coming alone? I 

Mindy Miraglia: say probably about half a coming alone. Um, but people are, you know, we have a lot of people coming with a partner or friend.

Mindy Miraglia: Mother and daughter. 

Sharri Harmel: So, but what’s really beautiful about that is that sometimes we think we have to get somebody, 

Mindy Miraglia: somebody to go, or I don’t want to be the only single person that’s here or solo person, you know, just because you come alone doesn’t mean that you’re single in terms of relationship status.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. Make it feel really welcoming. Like, again, this is all like part of my intention that, that I’m drawing, not only for my walks in the Camino, but also my time at Kripalu and seeing how masterfully they create a safe space. So, I train our crew on something that we call the big warm hug, and it starts virtually on the website.

Mindy Miraglia: Hopefully, it’s communicating that this is a place where you’re going to feel welcomed and safe. When people are walking toward us, you know, at the meeting place where we’re going to start the walk, as soon as they arrive, we acknowledge them and greet them and say hello and introduce them to the other people like that discomfort that you feel, especially if you’re coming alone and you’re an introvert.

Mindy Miraglia: And then now there’s this group of people. I don’t like that feeling at all myself. So, we try to include people. Bring them right into the fold from the start you book online for all of, for all of our day hikes. And there are over a hundred of them right now on our calendar. Yeah. Always on weekends. And then often we’ve got weekday hikes as well during the Berkshire’s peak season, which starts in late June through August for the multi-day journeys.

Mindy Miraglia: I’m asking everyone to call me instead. I’ve, I’ve set it up that way so that you can’t book online for two reasons. One, I want us to start having a conversation, the guest and I right from the start so that I’m getting to know who they are, what they need, you know, they get to know me, and Berkshire Camino and they can ask their questions.

Mindy Miraglia: I just don’t like that sterile kind of, you’ve just made this committed. To do this multi-day experience that you’ve paid, you know, some more significant money for, and you didn’t even talk to anybody about it. So, we’re, we’re doing it that way. It also saves our guests a little bit of money. Cause there’s a booking fee from the, the website.

Mindy Miraglia: We use an interface that does our booking. If you’ve ever booked a tour, a concert, things like that. It’s not unusual to have that, but the booking fee becomes a little expensive. So, keep it can call us. Um, yeah, but for the most part, this is all done. Yeah. You know, you answer a couple simple questions and pay by credit card and.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. And then you, you know, you get reminders, you get email confirmations and reminders, and you just show up. I can plan 

Sharri Harmel: so that it’s not just a weekend. You, you might be doing the walks on the weekends. Maybe you have blocks on one weekend, walks on the next weekend, and then you have things that you want 

Mindy Miraglia: to do with.

Mindy Miraglia: Oh, I mean, if people, yeah, I mean, you know, thinking about people who are coming to the Berkshire’s, you know, this is one of many things you can do, but this is a really great, you know, recreational activity. Um, this is the summer home of the Boston symphony orchestra. So, they’re, you know, based at Tanglewood, they, you know, their programming runs from the beginning of July through August.

Mindy Miraglia: And then we’ve got Jacob’s pillow, dance festival and in nearby Beckett, which brings dance companies from all over the world. Like anyone who’s a dancer in the, in the dance world, either aspires to dance at Jacob’s pillow or has, I was fortunate to have worked there for a summer. Prepping for my Caminos.

Mindy Miraglia: It was great to be able to be in that environment, learn from that organization to see a lot of shows as an employee, but I worked in the evenings for the most part. And so, I was able to train for my Camino, my second Camino during the day, I’d get up in the morning and I would do, my hike, my training hike.

Mindy Miraglia: And then I would go to work at night, but we’ve got theater companies here. World-class museums, the Norman Rockwell Museum, mass MOCA in North Adams, the Clark and Williamstown. So, there’s a lot to see and do here year-round, but in particular in the summer. And it gets really crowded and it sells out all indications are that this is going to be a huge summer here.

Mindy Miraglia: People are starting to come back out. I have a comfort 

Sharri Harmel: level with Europe that maybe someone else doesn’t have. And so, most of my children and, you know, I have grandchildren and they’re all thinking. Summer, you know, they’re going to stay in the United States. So, it’s really an opportunity. I think all of us are sick of, uh, our backyards.

Sharri Harmel: At least that’s what I hear my children say, well, have a go someplace and they want to get a plane maybe in those some place. Right. But the Berkshire’s is such a beautiful place to go to because it really has something for everyone, whatever your interests are, if you’re into the arts or you’re into history or you’re into hiking, the outdoor, or you’re a foodie it’s rate area, restaurants, cable, I mean, they were doing farm to table before they even called it farm farming

Mindy Miraglia: That’s right. That’s right. I’m so excited that you know that, and you know, you say that that’s very true, very true, wonderful area. And on our Berkshire Camino walks, we’re going to sample a lot of that local beer and wine and cheese and, 

Sharri Harmel: uh, hardship track, like, you know, I think of, you know, blisters on my feet and bad shoes and a backpack.

Mindy Miraglia: And this is very supportive. This is very supported. I mean, you don’t have to wear a heavy backpack and carry all your stuff. I mean, if somebody chooses to, they’re welcome to do that, but you know, they’ll probably have a day pack with snacks and a sweater, you know, um, you know, range. You know, you know, we’ll, we’ll transport there, their baggage to the next and for them, and we’ll even pick people up along the way.

Mindy Miraglia:If it’s too much, we have one day where we’re going to go from Stockbridge to Lee, have lunch in Lee and then walk from Lee to Lennox. And that whole walk that day is about 10 miles. And that’s, that’s the third day of the main walk, the town-to-town walk. And I think that’s a great way for people to like really task.

Mindy Miraglia: Like what would it feel like? Because very few of us have ever walked 10 miles in a day, but because it’s very van assessable, if people feel like, you know what, I’ve really truly reached my limit, we’re happy to pick you up. We will, we will pick them up and take them to the end. So, but I bet, I bet, even though it’s going to be available, people are going to want to push through and see what they can do.

Mindy Miraglia: Why not? 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. One is your, you know, your feet hold up and your bag holds up and depending upon whatever other issues you might have. Of what a, what an experience are you going to have certificates at the end? 

Mindy Miraglia: I, you know, I haven’t gotten the either. I’ll be honest. There are still details that I’m working on, but yeah.

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah, sure. I think that would be fun. Yeah. No, no, no, but I love it. I love it. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: So, enclosure, what would you say? And there might be several characteristics that, that a woman specifically, uh, ne. To kind of go from, in your case, you went from corporate to entrepreneur, but think even of a, maybe a stay-at-home mother that said now it’s my time.

Sharri Harmel: What are those characteristics that somebody needs to tap into within themselves to create a business, rather than just say, oh, someday, I’ll do that. Or I’m going to write about that. Maybe I’ll write that book someday or I’ll, I don’t know, create something someday, but they don’t ever get to it. So, what, what was it about you that had you, you walked out of the past to some extent and gave yourself this gap time, figure out what you wanted and then create it and move forward.

Mindy Miraglia: Um, you know, it comes from wanting to make every day count in the process. What if the someday doesn’t come or life has changed and that someday looks really different. Yeah. 

Sharri Harmel: We’re strengths. What 

Mindy Miraglia: about, yeah, I think, I think, uh, I am getting more comfortable with doing it scared. 

Sharri Harmel: Interesting. Interesting comment.

Sharri Harmel: Doing it scared. Yeah. 

Mindy Miraglia: Well, you know, when I, when I decided to walk the Camino, that’s a scary thing to do, but, and, and, you know, when I was walking, you’ll often see these maps up on the wall, like huge murals of, you know, where are you are and where Santiago de Compostela isn’t, it’s very overwhelming. I, I just, I, I didn’t want to even look at those maps because you could really only take it, like literally the steps sometimes the step, the next step that you’re taking.

Mindy Miraglia: Not even the next town that you’re trying to get to. And I apply that to my life now, by knowing there’s big things, you know, ahead of me, there’s lots I need to do even to get ready for these multi-day journeys, but I can only take it a step at a time. And when you break it down to those little pieces, you can do that.

Mindy Miraglia: You can take that next step and then the next step, and the more I am mastering that methodology for how to live my life and run my business. The more I feel like I can say yes to, but 

Sharri Harmel: it’s so interesting to me that this Camino de Santiago map is kind of a metaphor. Um, Of, I can’t look at the big, huge picture, cause actually that’s daunting going to do what I can do every single day.

Sharri Harmel: And then I will 

Mindy Miraglia: never, it is right. And of course, like we know we’re walking to quote unquote Camino de Santiago de Compostela. We know there’s an end point. There is a goal. We know we’ve done research; we’ve prepared. It’s not like we’re doing this without any thought, but not becoming overwhelmed by the enormity of ideas that we come up with.

Mindy Miraglia: And everyone’s definition of what their enormity is different. Right. For some people it’s, it’s walking out of the house, you know, For something 

Sharri Harmel: a half day, it’s the two and a half hour Berkshire Camino walk. And for other people, it’s the three-day sample. And the same, if you apply that to a business, you know, is however you’re comfortable putting in whatever the resources are that you have to begin with.

Sharri Harmel: And the idea and recognize that. I want to say that sometimes we don’t end up where we think we’re going to end up, you know, so totally Hey with that, I may not get to that chair. But today I’m walking. Yeah. 

Mindy Miraglia: Sometimes, sometimes you find that bench that you say, you know what? I did my best and now I’m ready to surrender and see what comes next and to embrace that pivot when that happens, like to not beat we up over it and to say, you know, because I could have easily said I only made it halfway Boohoo.

Mindy Miraglia: I failed. No, I was, you know, I was disappointed. I really, I really like wanted to see if I could do that 500, but I just like, I, I, I knew then, but I really know now that was just really, it was really overreaching for what my body. I was able to do and maybe is ever going to be able to do, but that doesn’t discount what I did.

Sharri Harmel: No it doesn’t. And maybe in the big scheme of things, you really don’t want to do 500. Your body says, you know, honey, you’re not doing 500. 

Mindy Miraglia: Yeah. And I didn’t need it. Like I had been out for a month on this journey like that. Yeah, that was enough. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s important also when we think of businesses, because at least in America, we always want to get things so big.

Sharri Harmel: Everything’s gotta be big, you know? And so, the idea of starting a business is like, oh my God, it’s going to be so big. And it might, it might never be huge. It might be something that’s perfect for you. When that is that you want to do, um, you’ll, you’ll find your joy somewhere in whatever it is that you end up choosing to pursue.

Sharri Harmel: Thank you. Yes. I’m going to have all kinds of information in the show notes so that people know how to get in touch with you. And so, I included and, uh, so thank you. Thank you so much. 

Mindy Miraglia: This has been so fun. I hope when you’re, when you’re back in Boston, you will come out, come for a walk. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. This is on my, I have bucket lists now that are short-term bucket lists and my summer bucket list is to get out to the Berkshire’s.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. So, we’re going to do that. Awesome. I look forward to that. It can be on the three days, but I might be on one of those shorter ones. I have to start somewhere, right? 

Mindy Miraglia:: Yes. Sounds good. Thank you, Mindy. 

Sharri Harmel:Thank you everyone for joining me today. And if you liked our conversation, please give me a review because reviews matter in the podcast world and do come back for more.

Sharri Harmel: Now, let me ask you, how is your year going? Are you ready to do it different this year? Well, the Extraordinary Women magazine circle is just what you need. If you are committed to making this the year you get started on your dream business, the Extraordinary Women’s circle, which includes this podcast, but also the must have Extraordinary Women, digital magazine for women who are looking for inspiration for tips, support to create that fabulous business and take their dreams from, you know, up there in dreamland to reality.

Sharri Harmel: The Extraordinary Women’s circle, like I said, is here to support women to imagine, to plan and then do the business in the Extraordinary Women’s circle, which includes the magazine. In this podcast, you will hear inspiring stories of women who are not celebrities, but real women like you, who have chosen to not just dream about starting a business, but to actually do it.

Sharri Harmel: Now, the Extraordinary Women magazine has much more than interviews in it. It’s really focused on what I call your business blueprint. You’ll get coaching tips. You’ll get ideas as well as the inspiration you need to get started. And if you already have a business, those ideas, and insights that others share might just give you a new idea, a new revenue stream, or a business that you want to start plus.

Sharri Harmel: And this is so important. There are included in the magazine tips and tricks to help you with the dreaded imposter syndrome. That honestly always seems to creep into your mindset no matter where you are on your business journey. The bottom line is the Extraordinary Women. Magazine is all about helping you to create and grow your own super successful business.

Sharri Harmel: Now, if you are a woman ready to get moving on that big audacious dream business that you have go to Extraordinary Women magazine.com and sign up it’s only 29 99. And as a subscriber, you will receive four quarterly issues of the magazine. Plus, you will get special videos, you’ll get tip sheets and all kinds of communication to help you and support you to move forward and be highly successful with your business.

Sharri Harmel: Now I want to thank you for your precious time today. Your time is your most important resource in creating your dream life. So, thank you for spending a few of your minutes today with me now, I’m currently in Paris, so I’ll say and to everyone back in the states, see you soon.

Sharri Harmel: Thank you for listening today. If you want to hear more, just tune in every Monday for a new episode, and if you felt this podcast was helpful, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out on any conversations and that you also get notified when we have special gatherings. If you liked this episode, please share it with another extraordinary woman.

Sharri Harmel: And if you have a moment, I very much appreciate you leaving. Now, if you want to hear more about the Extraordinary Women magazine, which includes much more than just the magazine, reach out to me via social media or join us@Sharrihormel.com. I look forward to our next conversation and I hope you do too.

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