Hi Kate, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Hey there, my name is Kate and I’m a 26-year old girl running The Lamare. The Lamare is an online store for planners, journals and more.
What led you to create The Lamare?
I’ve been a huge fan of planning my whole life. Everything from daily tasks to setting goals and journaling. I’ve had a ton of different planners and journals throughout my life and I always had some creative ideas as to what I would do if I was the one to create the journal. Finally, it was time to pursue this dream.
What is the meaning behind your brand name?
The Lamare carries no special meaning. I was trying to come up with a name that would sound good and unique, something that would stick to your ears. After a long while, this was the one I stuck with.
Do you have a personal story that you can share with our readers about your struggles or successes along your journey of self-understanding and self-love? Was there ever a tipping point that triggered a change regarding your feelings of self-acceptance?
My biggest struggle in life has been living a life that is “not mine”. In other words, following goals and dreams that other people would approve of rather than following my own path. Arts and creativity have always been a part of my life and it was alluring to follow a creative career. However, I didn’t think I could make money in the field, be successful, be good enough or deliver something meaningful to others. After a while of pursuing a career that drained my soul, it was time to face my true self. I think the concept of self-understanding and self-love can mean so many different things that we could speak about it for hours. But for me personally, the main idea behind these would be to live your life through your heart, through your calling, through what sets your soul on fire. Follow that wholeheartedly and forget about what others would say.
Our blog at Gusto and Co is called Routine and Reason—we’re believers in developing routines and creating rhythms that flow with your ‘why’. In what ways do you think people can inspire themselves to create routines and rituals that allow them to live a well-balanced and grounded life?
My advice would be to start with small things and build on to that. Pick things and rituals that inspire you. Always remind yourself of why you are doing this and listen to what calls to you instead of what others are doing. If celery juice is not your thing (I personally despise it), then forget about it. Also, change up the routine once in a while so life doesn’t become too stale.
What are some routines that you implement to maintain your connection with and love for yourself, that our readers might learn from?
I do have a small morning routine that helps me start my day right. After waking up, I try to go outside and walk. There is no destination most of the time and it could be as short as 10 minutes. Then I like to do a 10-minute stretch and have a breakfast. All this time, I try not to touch my phone and clear my head instead. I also do yoga in the evenings which always helps me to re-center, focus on my body and clear my mind.
Does your brand give back? How?
Our last contribution was made to Koalas In Care Inc during the fires in Australia. It is a non-profit organization involved in preservation of wild koala population. However, I’m currently looking for organizations that we can contribute to on a regular basis that would align with our values.
What motivates you to grow your brand?
Seeing people give positive feedback on our brand’s products is a big motivator. Listening to what customers seek, the new products people are interested in and delivering that.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources for self-growth, intimacy, or relationships?
Here are some books that I love on the subject:
Self growth: “Ikigai” by H Garcia, “Big Magic” by E. Gilbert, “The Life changing magic of tidying up” By M Kondo
Relationships: “The mastery of love” by Don M Ruiz, “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus” by J Gray.
What do you love about each one and how does it resonate with you?
Ikigai talks about the joy of doing your work, finding that joyful flow state even in the simplest routine tasks you do on a daily basis. I think it’s one of those simple things we all need to learn to appreciate instead of trying to escape any type of work thinking that happiness involves relaxing and doing the “fun things”.
Big Magic shares a lot of different things around creativity, ideas and self-expression. It’s also just a fun read with a lot of good insights.
The life changing magic of tidying up would be an intro course to minimalism and surrounding yourself only with the things that bring joy or purpose. For me it led to mindful spending habits, as well as diving deeper into what truly makes me happy from the things I spend money on.
The mastery of love is a very mindful approach to your relationships and understanding other human beings.
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus was a book I was hesitant to read for a while because of its’ title. However, I grew to like it after nodding to a lot of things that the author was mentioning. I think anyone can reveal something new for themselves on how to communicate with the opposite sex from this book.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you hope that they might help people along their path to self-understanding or a better sense of wellbeing in their relationships?
There are currently a few different journal ideas in the works. They are mostly in their infancy state and are too early to talk about in detail. However, the focus is on self-discovery through journaling.
What’s next for The Lamare?
There are so many things yet to improve and expand on. In the nearest future, I’m planning to work on better product packaging, find an organization to contribute to and expand our product line. A lot of exciting new things coming. Thank you for asking some interesting questions and thank you to the readers for taking the time to learn about The Lamare!