Heart Blaze: Transformative Wisdom For Entrepreneurs With Mary Gervais

How do you harness your inner voice and transform it into a force for entrepreneurial success? On this episode of Beyond Common Business Secrets, we welcome Mary Gervais, a powerhouse serial entrepreneur and master connector, who shares her fascinating journey from running a bakery cafe in Washington, DC, to leading the Women's Business Center in Rhode Island. Mary reveals her passion for baking and how it evolved into a mission to empower women entrepreneurs. She also discusses her latest book, "Heart Blaze: Igniting the Flame of Unconditional Love and Transformative Wisdom," and the profound impact it has had on her life and the lives of others.

You'll learn about the role of intuition, spiritual insight, and holistic wellness in achieving business growth and innovation. Mary provides actionable insights on aligning with one's journey, recognizing challenges as lessons, and the importance of self-love. Don't miss this episode filled with wisdom, heartfelt connections, and practical tips for both aspiring and established entrepreneurs looking to unlock their full potential.
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HeartBlaze:Igniting the Flame of Unconditional Love and Transformative Wisdom

Are you ready to say goodbye to fear, frustration, and overwhelm when it comes to growing and scaling your business? You’re in the right place. Welcome to  Beyond Common Business Secrets Podcast I’m your host, Tracey Watts Cirino

Chapters

• 1:10 Entrepreneurial Wisdom and Heartfelt Connection
• 16:21 Inner Wisdom and Collaboration for Growth

Transcript

Tracey Watts Cirino: 1:10

Hello and welcome to Beyond Common Business Secrets. I'm your host, T racey Watts Ci Serino, and I am so excited you are here. You are in for such a special treat. Today, my dear friend and fellow co-author, Mary Gervais, is here to share her beautiful, beautiful serial entrepreneurial experience. Mary's a true innovator. She has helped thousands and thousands of women fulfill their dreams of starting, building and growing their own companies, and one of the things I love about Mary is she's such a connector. She's one of those people that says, hey, I see you, let me pull you in and share your brilliance with other people. So, Mary, I love that about you and I am so grateful that I have this loving opportunity to gift back to you, sharing your brilliance with our audience here on Beyond Common Business Secrets. So welcome, my friend. I am so, so happy that you're here.

Mary Gervais: 2:14

Oh, Tracey, it's such like, such an honor, such a pleasure. I just love when we can get together and, you know, share our energy and our love with the world. And yes, it's all about connecting. That's what it is. In this world, we have to share our community.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 2:32

Yeah, you have such a brilliant way of just knowing oh, this person needs to know you and like connecting people and I'm in awe of people like that. I've been blessed through my life to surround myself with many friends that are like that, but that is not my natural way. That but that is not my natural way. So I'm always in awe and very blessed that God in the universe provided amazing friends like that for me. My first experience with that was my dear friend, Marcus, who I talk about all the time, because he was like the first one. I really observed like, wow, how do you do that? How do you do that? And so I'm just in awe of it and I want to share your brilliance with the world because tell us, what is this amazing new project that you just completed recently?

Mary Gervais: 3:24

Well, I am so excited About two weeks ago actually, two weeks ago tomorrow was the launch of my first solo book, because we have been in collaborative books together heart blaze congratulations.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 3:41

I love you. This book is so beautiful. I love the cover so much. Thank you, it's so beautiful.

Mary Gervais: 3:48

It's um heart blaze igniting the flame of unconditional love and in transformative wisdom. I love that.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 3:56

So, M mary, for our audience, will you tell us, like, what is it that you do in your business?

Mary Gervais: 4:04

Sure, so I am in. I have been an entrepreneur for over 20 years and I mean I have done everything from. My first business was I had my own bakery cafe when we lived in the Washington DC area for seven years and I mean that was so much fun we. I left corporate America because I found my passion. I was like you know, I really want to do my own thing and be able to create more, and I um my pet. One of my passions is baking and I used to bake with my grandma, and so just the fact that I could take that and enjoy it every day and we did, you know, new York style bagels from scratch, artists and breads catering I learned to become a women-owned business and through this whole process, you know, of learning where I was going, doing the business plan and connecting with entrepreneurs in my community, I realized, wow, this is fun. And I had women coming in and they would say to me how did you do this? And I'm like one step at a time. So I kind of started just helping women and then I created a little women's circle and it was real casual but we would meet like every two months and they would come in actually to the business and we'd have coffee or tea and we kind of just chat about where they were actually to the business and we'd have coffee or tea and we kind of just chat about where they were. And so I guess that has all built upon where I've been, because then I, my husband's job, took us out of that area and we moved to Florida, then Massachusetts, and I did consulting work and I started when I started collaborating with two women in one of my stops in one did social media and one did financials.

Mary Gervais: 6:03

And then I my real love is strategy, I love doing business strategy and then my husband's work ended up taking us to Rhode Island and it was interesting because when we were moving I was just about to start working on my MBA, because I knew that I might possibly want to teach in a university, like a course here or there, and it required an MBA. So I said to him okay, part of this move is I'm going to work one year full time on my MBA and just knock it out. So I did, and while I was there I started doing what you say I love to do is connecting, and I did informational interviews in the community. Do is connecting and I did informational interviews in the community, so people I wanted to meet and people in the industry. I just would connect with one and I'd say, hey, do you know one or two people who I might meet, because I'm new to the area? And it just kept blossoming and blossoming.

Mary Gervais: 7:09

So funny, after I finished my school I said to one of my friends, hey, I'm going to start looking for a position, and at that time I was doing some online teaching for my university and she said, mary, the Women's Business Center for the State of Rhode Island needs a new director and you'd be perfect. And I said so. I applied and little did I know you needed a master's degree. So that check box. And they also were looking for someone who spoke Spanish, and I had been a foreign exchange student in high school, so I spoke Spanish. Which?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 7:49

It is the perfect thing ever. I love that. It just makes you even more sexy than you already were, and I love that.

Mary Gervais: 7:56

So that's kind of where I like really, T racey. I mean, we know, helping entrepreneurs start, build and grow businesses was like such a fun, beautiful thing in that role and I still work in that area, but in a little different way. So what I do now. Then I left there and actually one of my clients had come to me. She had been an editor with Better Homes and Garden and she was starting an online company and garden and she was starting an online company and she asked me if I would do it with her.

Mary Gervais: 8:37

So that was an adventure and we ended up getting, um, we went for angel investing and we got funding and I mean that was a great learning curve for me. And from there, um, I was with that company until about the first year into COVID. Then I, then I left, we had moved to Ohio and, um, I started back doing consulting work and what one of the things I always noticed was entrepreneurs would come in and we'd sit and talk about everything and where you are and they'd say, but I'm just not sure and I'm like, are you listening to your inner self, to your heart? I said you know the answer, what feels good for you? Yeah, and that is where I focus on now.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 9:35

So I mean, I know you can relate to this because you and I are so similar about what we teach and that's like I know. That's why, if you, if, you could see, Mary and I, you guys are tuning in just by audio you can't see this, but if you're watching on YouTube, you can see that we're like hanging on everywhere. You guys, we just talked to each other all day we had so, like, this is where, um, I completely geek out like talking about what stirs your inner spirit, your passion for purpose, um, and I love your take on it, right, like I love your take on how you activate the heart of your business.

Mary Gervais: 10:17

Yeah, because you know, I always say to people like, we have these unique gifts. Every single person has a divine blueprint in them that we were born with and you know what that means for you that things flow easily. It's that passion for you. That things flow easily. It's that passion, like when I had my bakery cafe. I had two bakers but I used to bake one day a week. But if someone called out sick guess who? Got a phone call at 4 am and you know what? It didn't bother me because once I got in and got going, I was in the flow because you know what I was doing, my passion, work. So we have these unique gifts and it's because this is what we're supposed to be doing in life. So I always say to people, especially entrepreneurs, but it can be for anyone. If it doesn't feel in flow and it doesn't feel like the right energy, sit back for a minute and see why. Because something isn't flowing correctly.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 11:20

Yeah, I just wrote an email newsletter. So anyone who is not on our email newsletter list, I strongly urge you, because this is so in sync with everything, that you sign up. So I just wrote the email that went out this morning about the number one secret to really like being on the fountain of youth, and it was. I went to the Rolling Stones concert on Saturday night.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 11:53

Oh my gosh, and in the true testament to somebody that can stand on stage and absolutely command an audience and like receive the love of the crowd from a place of being in their prime and like receive the love of the crowd from a place of being in their prime, is Mick Jagger. Like, he loves what he's doing and that, to me, is the magic, right. His heart is so aligned with what he's doing. That's why he's over 80 and still like, hey, I'm like this, just the way he walks with such swagger. It's like, oh yeah, he thinks still that he is the sexiest man alive and it is adorable. So I'm like, if we can only encapture some of that energy, it's do what you love, right, like do what you love.

Mary Gervais: 12:43

And you know what, Tracey, I couldn't agree more. And I have to come back to the Rolling Stones, because you live in the Cleveland area and I'm in Cincinnati. So we had some friends who drove up to the concert and I actually Googled this weekend. I said to my husband how old is Mick Jagger? You know, and I think it was, he's 82 or 83.

Mary Gervais: 13:04

And I was like can you believe this man? I mean. But like you say, it's that energy, it's that passion, it just drives him because it's almost like an IV of new energy for him every time that he gets out there, right.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 13:32

So when I was in high school okay, when I was in high school, I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert. It was like a two-day event. I remember I was sitting in the second row and I remember the Rolling Stones got on stage and I was thinking, oh, these guys are old, they're so old, this is my, because this is like more like what my parents, like I. So, leading up to when my friend said, hey, we're taking you guys to the Rolling Stones, we just thought it would be really fun. This, you know, this weekend, we're like, okay, I started thinking how is this possible? I am so you know, this is many.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 14:06

It's more than 20 years later. Like, right, that I am. Like, how old could they be? Like I almost pictured people in canes, like in rockers. And here I am sitting at the concert going, wow, it's so perspective, right, cause I was 17 then my perspective of young versus old is very limited, right, we think that anyone over 20 is old 17. And now that so it's like when you add what you love, it's like has almost made him turn back the hands of time. Yeah, it's endless Somewhere in this timeframe, and I I'm like not a huge Rolling Stones fan, I mean.

Mary Gervais: 14:49

I know all the songs they're catchy.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 14:51

They're very simple catchy songs, which is like when we keep it simple in business and you align with your heart, it tracey ties together. So I just was in awe of how this is literally such a hard truth that you and I have been talking about for years and years to business owners. When you do what you love, it makes the hard days okay. Well, it also gives you this infusion of youthfulness and agelessness.

Mary Gervais: 15:23

So it's like it's another lesson learned that we can learn from Mick Jagger in the rolling you know, and it's true, tracy, and I want to hit on one thing you said there it's like what brings you joy, because that joy, joy, is an essence and we have it inside of our heart.

Mary Gervais: 15:41

And, yes, life has its challenges and we go up and down and up and down, and we all go through different times up and down and up and down, and we all go through different times. But you know what, when you have that joy in what you're doing, no matter what you just it keeps you at that level the balance.

Mary Gervais: 16:17

Yeah, I love that so much. So, Mary, can you share with us why you wanted to write this beautiful book Heart Blaze Now, yeah, so I really one of my. The core, the core message, is this we talk about this, the importance of listening to our inner voice, because once we do that, we can unlock the possibilities for growth, for co-creation and innovation. And I'm going to put this this another way so we, we love ourselves, we have this divine love, and it's that unconditional love to ourselves. And once we know that we have this unconditional love is when our wisdom comes in. And the wisdom I say comes from our intuition. It's just that knowing, because you have learned to trust yourself, because you have found that love inside of you. And once we have that and we have the wisdom, it's like this little ball and it keeps growing and growing, and then we can take this energy and put it out into the world. And that is when the possibilities for growth come in, the innovation and we get to collaborate with others and imagine that we're collaborating with others and we're creating new things. And so I really wanted to share with people.

Mary Gervais: 17:40

First, I talk about the enlightenment of our body, mind and spirit. So, so important. And you know, we always talk about our and it's holistic wellness. We talk about our, our body being in in you know state in our minds and our clarity. But the other thing that I really feel that we needed to talk about was spiritual insight and spiritual care. So what are we doing?

Mary Gervais: 18:11

And when I talk about spirit here, I'm talking about that energy, because you know, we're all from different religions, Some of us are atheists, it does not matter. But everyone, whether you term it God, universe source, there is that energy that we all feel as human beings. So I wanted to talk about that, and you know I'm very vulnerable. In the book I talk about things that have happened to me and how this energy has happened, and I just want people to go through and say, hey, yeah, we're going to start here if we need to work a little bit on the inside, love within, and then how do we tap into our intuition and then how do we bring that out into the universe?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 19:02

I love that that is so beautiful. What would you say is the number one takeaway that you want the female you know, the women entrepreneurs that you've been helping for all these years. What's the number one thing you want them to take away from reading Heartblaze?

Mary Gervais: 19:23

You are perfectly aligned. Where you are right now, like love every moment of where you are because you're supposed to be there and if you've got a challenge going on, it's probably because you're in. You're learning a lesson, which is great, because we all need to take that, and then look at that inner wisdom and that intuition and use them as your essential guides through life.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 19:52

Oh, I love that. So beautiful. We're going to have to highlight that. Use them as your essential guides to wisdom. That is so brilliant, mary. Oh, I love that. I just got all the tingles, thank you. One of the things I ask everyone that comes on Beyond Common Business Secrets is what is one secret that you believe, because you are such an expert. So I'm really, really excited to hear what your secret is to how to be truly successful in business.

Mary Gervais: 20:27

Yeah, like I've said this some way in this when we've been talking, but when you listen to your voice, the possibilities are endless, endless, endless, because when you feel, feel and listen, you open your heart to the expansion, and that is when you discover new networks, new relationships and new H

Tracey Watts Cirino: 21:01

Mary, I love in the book how you have ways of helping people tap into this, so I strongly urge you to go out and get the book, because Mary walks you through some tangible ways to tap into this that I think that our listeners will find very, very useful and very exciting. Do you have, like, how can people get in touch with you? Stay in touch with you Because, yeah, everyone that looks at this is going to need more Mary in their life.

Mary Gervais: 21:33

Yeah, Everyone that looks at this is going to need more Mary in their life. I love you, friend, so you can go to MaryHelenGervaiscom and I have my. The book is available there. There's a free meditation. You know. It's called the joy visualization in a body scan and one of the reasons I put that there is I want people to go back and if you just need a pickup someday, it's great to do a whole body scan and, just like you know, level up for the day and they can get me there. I am on LinkedIn, I am on Facebook and I am on Instagram. I love that.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 22:12

So what are you? So what are you working on now? Because I know you and you are an entrepreneur, so can you give us the behind the scenes secret to what you're working on now?

Mary Gervais: 22:25

I am. So I just finished my meditation series, which is which is on my website, but I also am. I am working on a program that is going to be rolled out in corporations and universities and it's a lot about listening to our inner guidance and then how we can innovate and co-create. So that'll be out probably in I don't know four to eight weeks. And the other thing that I'm doing is I am partnering. So I'm doing I'm all about collaboration and I am doing book signings.

Mary Gervais: 23:15

But I am currently working with a local partner here, my friend Jules, and she comes in and does a somatic heart session and we are looking to partner with individuals who any kind of business with individuals who any kind of business. It can be a salon, it can be a yoga studio, any place that would like to do a event with us, and I will come in and talk about, you know, inner innovation, intuition, you know all of this guiding your business or your life. Jules will do the heart and then, whoever, whatever their business is, we will showcase whatever their message is and how it relates to us. So I'm super excited for that.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 24:06

That sounds amazing. Yeah, that sounds so amazing. So currently you guys are doing those throughout Cincinnati.

Mary Gervais: 24:15

We're doing them through Cincinnati but we really want to do them in you know we're going to have to wait to get you guys to Cleveland, come up to Cleveland, columbus, and then, yeah, we would love to do like a U S like tour of it. I just think that that would be so much fun because I love to connect.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 24:36

We have listeners all over the globe, so do you hear that I would.

Mary Gervais: 24:39

I would get on an airplane.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 24:42

We even have people in Australia that are loyal listeners, so, hey, you can be going everywhere, mary, I love this.

Mary Gervais: 24:49

I am open. I mean, we would love to do this, because for me it's just so important. I want to read you just the back cover of the book, if I may.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 25:03

Absolutely.

Mary Gervais: 25:04

This is what I want to share with the world. It is your time, it is your path. Heartways invites you on a profound journey of self-discovery and inner transformation. The narrative engages your senses and immerses you in a world where mind, body and spirit unite harmoniously in the soothing warmth of love. Inside these pages, find a roadmap to a new way of living, filled with innovation, collaboration, co-creation and wisdom that helps you find and achieve your inner serenity. Embrace, change gracefully and find joy in mastering balance, seizing every authentic opportunity. That's half of the back, but you get an idea.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 25:57

I love it. I got all the tingles. I love, tracey, love it. I am so excited for your beautiful book to just fly all over the world and help so many people. I'm sure everybody else felt the tingles right Like it's just such amazing work that you're doing so so I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited Congratulations to the world that they are getting to experience some of Mary's brilliance. And, yeah, I'm just so excited for you.

Mary Gervais: 26:25

Thank you. Thank you and I will. One last thing, tracy the. The book is not to be read in one sitting. It has channeled writings in it, channeled poems, and they need to integrate into your energy. So it'll take you at least a week and some people. If you want to wait longer between the sections, that is perfectly fine. You will know, you will feel what to do with it, absolutely.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 26:56

Tracey, Mary, I just want to thank you so much for being here. We will share all of the ways to get in touch with Mary in the show notes and, as always, I hope that you are having the most beyond amazing day. Thank you so much, Mary. Thank you.

Mary Gervais: 27:13

Tracy and thank you everyone.