Meghan Garlich Guffey
📍 Dallas, TX | Entrepreneur & Consultant to Female Founders in Tech and Fashion
📝 Editors Note
One of my worst habits is multi-tasking.
This is no doubt a product of “who I am” but I’d argue made worse by technology. A majority of my day is spent working remote on Zoom. I can get away with being on a call while also working on an email or responding to a slack message.
Unfortunately, this translates into non-work time to. In the middle of family dinner I find myself thinking through what I need to do to close out my work day or an idea for something fun to do over the weekend.
Patrick M, shared a Tim Ferris podcast with Arthur Brooks (Happiness Guru) where they discuss the concept of doing the dishes and, get this, focusing on doing the dishes. Focusing on anything else means you are either living in the past or future, but not the present.
Below is a transcript from their conversation:
Tim Ferriss: He said, “If you’re thinking about the peach while you’re washing the dishes, when you’re eating the peach, you’ll probably be thinking of something else as well.”
Arthur Brooks: Exactly right. And then what you’re doing is while you’re doing this, you’re planning for a future existence that’s better than now. And when you reach it, it will be a phantasm as well. It will be nothing more than a mythical past while you’re thinking about a new future that doesn’t quite exist and you’ve missed your whole life.
Without further ado….
Why Meghan?
Meghan and her husband Peter are good friends from my time living in New York. I’m impressed with how Meghan has grown her following on social media as well as the business she recently launched, Bea Collette.
Follow Meghan on instagram @meghanguffey & @shopbeacolette
Self-Description
A passionate, loving and fiercely loyal person who often takes on too much at once, but thrives on being busy. A true girl's girl, I am a cheerleader and hype woman who finds great joy in lifting others up! I am also a francophile and believe I have to have some French roots somewhere despite my family tree saying otherwise.
Meghan’s Recommendations
Written in her own words…
Content
I absolutely love following Julia who runs the account -- it doesn't matter who you are, what industry or life stage you're in, Julia scours the internet, podcasts, shows, you name it and shares extremely insightful recommendations and evaluations on all the content and news out there.
She also dumbs down more complex subject matters. She's a breath of fresh air amongst all the more fashion or travel-oriented content that appears in my feed, and quite literally will make you smarter in a sec.
Watch
I watched Drops of God on Apple TV (actually, a rec from @Smarterinasec) over the summer and really enjoyed it -- it starts out slow, but after the first couple of episodes, it really picks up. The plot is a bit farfetched, but still very well executed and really strong character development. If you are into wine, culture, and a complex plot, I highly recommend!
Product
These days I am all about seeking out and shopping from smaller, independent brands that aren't pimped out across every major online retailer. That approach is both seen in the brands I carry on my children's website (beacolette.com) as well as how I shop for myself in the women's ready-to-wear category. I recently discovered Rouri, a female-founded made-to-order resort style brand headquartered in Barcelona.
All of their fabrics and pieces are sourced and created locally (and sustainably!) and are so beautiful. Their collections are inspired by specific locations, i.e., Puglia and Mallorca. One look at their Instagram or Website, and you immediately feel transported to those destinations.
Wellness
Direct Sunlight in the Morning
I'm probably the worst person to answer this question because I typically spread myself so thin and deprioritize my mental and physical health, BUT I am a big fan of getting direct sunlight first thing in the morning.
The days I make sure to get outside within the first hour of my day, and go for a quick walk (no sunglasses is key - DIRECT sun) even just for 20 minutes, I see a tremendous improvement in my overall mood and productivity. This is supported by Andrew Huberman of Huberman Lab (a favorite podcast, highly recommend).
Professional
Weekly Coffee Chats with Peers / Mentors
I'm not sure if this is the type of answer you're looking for, but something I do and have always done throughout my career that has helped me in so many ways (and is not an original thought by any means) is always make time to meet other professionals for coffee at least once a week.
Talking to a mentor or peer or someone in a totally different industry who has a unique perspective face to face, tends to be the most valuable hour of my week. No matter what, I always walk away re-energized, motivated, and have learned something new. No matter how much studying and research you do, there is no better learning than from just talking to other people -- find out what systems or tools their company uses, how much they pay certain hires, what market standards are for certain hires, what mistakes they've made in business to avoid.
An hour of face-to-face time with someone in the business world you respect creates 10x the value than doing a bunch of google research on your own. I can't stress this enough - take time out of your week to do at least one "power coffee". And do it with people that you may not be close with or may seem like a stretch. That 1-1 time goes so far and will always put a pep in your step.
Travel
Hotel Duc de Saint Simon (Paris)
I got married in Paris and try to visit once a year -- it is my special place (I know, I'm not alone). Over the years, I've tried dozens of hotels and after all this time, I always go back to my favorite hidden gem that is Hotel Duc de Saint Simon in the 7th Arrondissement -- it is a charming 18th century townhouse located on a quaint, quiet street in the Saint-Germain district.
Each room is uniquely designed and they have the most delicious, beautiful breakfast nook. The location couldn't be better and I always recommend this boutique hotel to friends and family because it's historic, a great jumping off point to both banks, and is actually affordable.
If you can swing it, I do recommend booking room 25 which has a gorgeous private garden-like terrace (still very affordable compared to the more touristy, ritzy hotels!). It is true understated luxury and a quintessential Parisian experience.
Plug
In September, I launched Bea Colette, an online shopping destination that offers European-inspired clothing and accessories for children. Inspired by my own little ones, my passion for fashion, my travels and love for a refined European aesthetic, I worked tirelessly for the past year to bring a highly curated assortment of childrenswear to the market via an easy-to-navigate, intuitive and elevated shopping experience.
At Bea Colette, you will find a mix of institutional traditional and emerging European brands -- many of which did not distribute to the US, until now! My ongoing focus will be sourcing and focusing on hidden gem, family-run brands from Europe that excel in high quality craftsmanship and unique styles that cannot be found you simply cannot find in the US.
I truly believe word of mouth is the strongest marketing tactic out there, so I'd appreciate the Rambull community taking a peek and spreading the word, if you love it!
Want to get in touch with Meghan? Her email is meghan@beacolette.com
P.S. my new parenting hack is to go to Facebook events and search for “local” and “this weekend”. I’ve found several good options including a “touch-a-truck” event we went to last weekend.