May 16, 20234 min read

Denise Ester: Organizing Her Own Happiness By Ending Her Business

I met Denise around late 2019. She came to a BOSSY hour and talked about the planner that she was designing, expecting it to release for 2020. She was determined and driven- I could tell from the moment we met. Interviewing her in 2022, she still had the same drive and the same desire to create tools to help people solve their problems.

When she spoke about stopping her successful business to start a new business- not a pivot, but a purposeful change to allow her business and her life to coincide. And for her to find happiness in what she was creating again. Isn’t that why we all started? Here is an excerpt from that interview:

A lot of times people ask me “what made you do that after seven years?” Like, you're in it, right? You're being successful at it and most people don't make it to seven years.

I think that we stay in things that we aren't happy with, and how successful would it really have been if I just wasn't happy with it anymore?

I remember when I started the process of meeting with this company to kind of rebrand and really have the conversation of like, “can I keep the same name?” Can I, you know? To my friends, I was like “so I'm redoing Muse and I don't know that it's going to be Muse anymore. I'm OK with just even scrapping the name.” And everyone was like” what?”

It's a great name. It really is.

So, I really had to come to terms with myself to say you have to be OK with bettering yourself, bettering your business, bettering your situation. And starting brand new. You have to be all in on your transition. And I think sometimes we don't do that because we're afraid of what's going to be on the other side. But for me it was “I'm already not happy. I'm already doing this just to be doing it.” And I just knew there was another way to serve them. And I'm like, listen, I was all in- I was ready to just have a whole new name and just start fresh.

But Muse was very important to me because of how it came about, how the name came to me.

OK, let's talk more about that. So where did Muse come from?

Muse came to me in a dream.

I remember at the time- I thought it was going to be a boutique because I kept seeing gowns and accessories. And I'm thinking, like, oh, this is going to be a boutique of some sort. I woke up and, you know, I wrote it down in my journal ‘cause I write everything down.

You're so organized.

Because you know what happens? We dream, then we wake up. And we're like what the hell did I just dream about, or you think about it a couple days later. And you're like, hey, I know I really had a million-dollar idea in there somewhere that was so good and I it's gone, right? So, I just started writing, and I have a notebook next to my bed. I carry it in my purse so that if something come to to my head while I'm out and about, I just write it down.

And I wrote it all down and went about my day.

That next night, the dream picked up right where it left off. I promise you. I’m thinking this is so weird, I've really got to open this boutique, you know. I woke up the next morning, wrote everything down from that dream. Third day, dream picks up where it left off and that day that in that part of the dream where I locked the door and I see the name on the door.

Oh my God. On the door.

And that's how Muse came.

When I started thinking about the planner, Inspire 360, Muse was, is, to inspire or be inspired by, and so that kind of tied them together. So even though people thought they were different, in my mind it was still very much Muse, right? You're inspiring people and years before I realized, like, oh, it's not a boutique. It's an event planning- planning, weddings and doing those types of events.

I mean when you tell all of these stories it makes complete sense.

So that's why when I said to my friends, I'm thinking Muse is about to be out, like, no, there is no way. No one has that type of experience with their business. I knew that it would be evolutionary. I knew it was going to keep changing. And I knew that it was going to be different. I just didn't know where I was going to land with it.

What is the legacy I am leaving?

I also have two boys and I also kept thinking this isn't something they're going to want after I'm gone. I couldn't see them really saying like, yeah, this is a business we're going to take over. And I just started thinking about what is the legacy that I want to leave for my boys? They are very disciplined, and they do global planning and setting and things like that and. I could see them, this being something that they're proud of and that they would want to carry on. So that was also important for me. That's why I was just willing to go all in.

My husband is, really, you know, he's a PITA like all husbands. But he is my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter. Whatever you put your hands to, it's going to be successful, so I'm going to back that up. And I'm going to do that.

Dreams and your sons and now your husband.

I believe there is nothing to stop her from achieving what she puts her mind to. Listen to the whole interview at realbossypod.podbean.com. Find your peace.