My name is: Annie Jackson.
I’m known as: Co-founder + COO, Credo.
My expertise is in: I have been a merchant longer than I care to say. I love finding brands, understanding their vision for growth and collaborating with them to grow.
I stay physically healthy with: I go to power yoga at least three times a week. Now that the weather is better, I try to get outside—it was a really long winter and I still feel housebound. I live in Marin County and the hiking and outdoor space is incredibly beautiful. We are spoiled with so many epic trails. I usually will go on a long hike with my daughter at least once a weekend.
I keep my emotions balanced with: Yoga helps a lot. But, at Credo, we recently engaged with a career coach and just talking through ways to balance the emotion and daily stress of growing a business that you are attached to like a child and day-to-day business decisions has been incredible. Recognizing when stress and emotion are creeping in and how to take a pause—it may sound simple, but it is actually pretty challenging, and it helps a lot.
I’m intellectually stimulated by: Traveling. We have added more resources in terms of people at our Credo HQ, so I have been able to travel more and talk to other brand founders and likeminded business owners, visit other retail concepts and plot out real estate growth. I find outside experiences incredibly motivating and inspiring in terms of sparking ideas.
I was recently transformed by: My family and I traveled to Hana, HI and stayed at the Travaasa. We are total AirB&B people, so this was a big departure for us. It is totally remote and eerily silent—and we had no wifi. I was nervous about that, though I felt ridiculous for not feeling like I could disconnect for three days. It was utterly relaxing. All we did was swim, hike, sleep and bask in the sun in near silence every day. It was transformative. It has been so long since I have felt that good that I am not sure I ever have.
In the last six months, the ritual that has become so important for me is: I come home and don’t open my laptop again until morning. I got into a bad habit of starting work again the second I got home. I don’t do that anymore, and that makes the week far more relaxing.
Here’s how you can do it too: I realized I was giving more time to my work than my family, and it suddenly dawned on me that my kids would be in college in the blink of an eye. I was sacrificing this time with them! I knew I needed to cherish this time and allow myself to let go of work.
I’m never successful in making a change unless I really want it. And then I am relentless. I really have to be all in. I realized that anything happening could wait 12 hours and be okay. The trick is to recognize what you need and truly want to change it. Then just do it.
It helps me live my process because: Everyone needs balance. If you give too much in any one direction, it is not healthy. I did that for a long time. While I still let guilt creep in when I am not working (why, I have no idea), I do feel like I have emotional health back in my corner. Now, if anyone has any tips to get me to sleep all night long, I am all ears!
Take a “Moment” to learn more about Annie Jackson’s journey here.