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Tanya: Great and all right. Welcome. Rebecca Higgs, welcome to the momentum podcast I'm so excited to have you on today

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rebekahhiggs: It's great to be here with you, Tanya. Thanks for having me

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Tanya: Oh, thank you so much for coming, and in the introduction I introduced you and read your bio and everything, so the listeners should know a little bit about you. So we're just going to jump right in

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Tanya: and talk about how you got to be where you are today. And you started out. You went from chasing a music career in Toronto, waitressing and then struggling financially to now thriving with 94,000 followers on Instagram, and then 5 seasons of Diy, Mom

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rebekahhiggs: Yep.

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Tanya: And features. An Hgtv. In Forbes. So can you take us back to that transition like, what was that turning point

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Tanya: when you decided to pivot to what you're doing now. And how did you make that happen?

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rebekahhiggs: Sure. Well, I can credit most of it to my daughter, because I think without the birth of her I wouldn't have had that motivation to do something else and change paths and change course in my life. But up to that point I was living quite a self-centered life. I was a musician, touring, partying a lot, socializing, and late nights, and sleeping in all day. So it was a very different lifestyle than when you

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rebekahhiggs: find yourself pregnant, and all of a sudden you're not the fun one anymore. And and then you have a baby, and everything changes, and you have to change your schedule and your whole life revolves around this little baby that needs you so much. So my priorities really shifted at that point, and through a course of

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rebekahhiggs: events, you know many painful events in those 2 years of being pregnant, and then having my daughter, I finally the light came at the end of the tunnel. When I was able to move back home to Halifax, so I was able to get back to be with my family, and at that point I really had to start fresh and do something else with my life

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rebekahhiggs: and the road to Diy. Mom took a couple of years, but in the meantime, during that course of time, I started working in film and television. I was an associate producer at a commercial film production house. And then I started doing hair makeup wardrobe art department on film shoots. So I was getting a lot of this experience behind the camera.

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rebekahhiggs: behind the scenes of what it takes to make a show and make good commercials, and that just got my curiosity sparked, and I started asking questions about this and that, and talking to the agents and talking to the clients. And one of the things I was curious about was, Okay, what's the next big trend in marketing going to be? And at that point they were talking about branded content. And this is all. Before we had influencer marketing.

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rebekahhiggs: And so, with that thought of branded content that got me thinking about what would my brand be if I was going to start my own personal brand? And what would that look like if I was going to teach myself how to

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rebekahhiggs: shoot my own content and edit my own content. And if I was going to be on camera, and what would my brand be? And that's when I came up with the idea of Diy Mom, I just loved

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rebekahhiggs: the sort of the symmetry between Diy and Mom. I was a single mom doing it myself. I was doing little renovations, little diy projects, and because of my background in music we were very much like Diy, was a phrase that we used in in terminology, in like the music circles, because we were silk screening our own posters, and, you know, making our own merch. And

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rebekahhiggs: so everything was very diy back in the early 2 thousands. And so I just kind of grabbed that and ran with it, made my own logo, built a website, and then started pitching the concept to brands to see if they wanted to partner with me, and then that eventually led to the TV show, which I did for 5 seasons. So while I was doing the TV show, I was also building up my social media and

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rebekahhiggs: posting content on my social media at the same time, and just kind of using both to leverage whatever I could to build this brand. And I guess that's a condensed version of how I started. Diy, Mom

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Tanya: It's just so like I'm just so fascinated by it. It's just so funny how like just one little thing led to the next

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Tanya: And then, like what I have learned from the life coach, school, and what I teach is our thoughts create our feelings.

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Tanya: and then our feelings drive all of our actions, which then gives us our results in our life. So continuing on like this one question like, if you were to go back

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Tanya: to that transition when you like, when you decided to build this brand like, what do you think was the feeling

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Tanya: that was driving that decision

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rebekahhiggs: Well, I've always wanted to be an artist, and I've always been very passionate about my art. So even if, when I was a musician, or when I was in theater school, or whatever. I was very driven to be an artist, and I think I understood at an early age that the

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rebekahhiggs: chances of somebody coming and finding you and plucking you out of a crowd and saying, You're a star. I'm going to make you a star, were very slim to none. So I felt this obligation that if I wanted to be an artist I needed to do it and be an artist if I wanted. If I if I cared about something, if I had a dream, nobody else cares about it. The way that I care about it. Nobody cares about my art the way I care about my art. So therefore, if I want to be an artist, I have to go and make it happen

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rebekahhiggs: and make it happen was a family mantra of ours growing up. My dad used to drop us off at school and say, Make it happen. And that was the idea. It's like almost that entrepreneurial brain that I was brought up with.

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rebekahhiggs: I was very focused on, even as an artist. So I was like, Okay, I'm going to have an entrepreneurial mind when it comes to making my art. Nobody cares about my art like I do. I'm going to get it in front of people. I'm going to push this thing. I'm going to write the grant so that I can make the music. And it was the same thing when it came to Diy Mom, even when I pitched it to other production companies and thinking that maybe they'd like to take the stage Hgtv. Or to chorus, or

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rebekahhiggs: to whatever they would always say. We don't think it's an original idea. It's not an original idea. It's not a big enough concept, you know. People are looking for like really high stakes. This is not high stakes, and I really felt like I could see the pendulum switching like I could see that the Youtube tutorials like where people just go to Youtube to watch something to learn something was where

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rebekahhiggs: things were headed. And so if Hgtv. Or that style of before and after, with all the drama in the middle, didn't change to kind of amalgamate with that Youtube

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rebekahhiggs: style that they would become dinosaurs and extinct. So I had this new concept, which would be an amalgamation of Youtube tutorials and the beautiful before and afters that you see on Hgtv. And that was what I was pitching as Diy Mom, and

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rebekahhiggs: they just didn't see it as a viable concept like they just wanted to remake the same type of shows that were already successful, and that idea of making something fresh was not a risk that other production companies are willing to take. So in order to take that risk. I had to really take the risk myself and put myself on the line to do it.

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Tanya: I love that. I think it's so smart, and my follow up question was going to be because, you know, thoughts create feelings. But you. I didn't even have to ask you like it just came out like your thought was, just make it happen

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Tanya: And you did. You made it happen? I love that. And you're self made as a single mom, which is so inspiring.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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rebekahhiggs: Everything has been Diy, like, even from the idea of like being my own producer. And, you know.

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rebekahhiggs: putting together a film crew and then doing the renovations, and then the post-production, like in all aspects. I've just felt like I've had to do it myself, and you know, not to mention that I've had to do the parenting thing alone, too. So I just really felt like the Diy mom

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rebekahhiggs: encapsulated all of me and all the things that I was doing

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Tanya: Yeah, it sounds like it. And you've built this incredible business while raising your daughter. So how do you balance it all?

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I think that there's been lots of times where I did feel overwhelmed, and I would I would be overcome with anxiety. But as I grew, and as I had more streams of income and more brand partnerships, I started to delegate in little ways. So early on when Lennon was

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rebekahhiggs: a toddler. I remember having a babysitter that came over, and she was just like a 16 year old girl in the neighborhood. But she just had a great work ethic. And when I would come home she'd be watching Youtube videos about

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rebekahhiggs: organizing a home and folding my laundry and stuff, and I was like Melissa. Do you like organizing and folding laundry and doing stuff like that? And she was like, yes.

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rebekahhiggs: and I said, Well, why don't you come when Lennon's at school and do some stuff around my house, you know, because I needed the help. I felt like things were falling apart. And I think when you're a creative type, or you're you know, maybe you have a little touch of Adhd, or whatever a disorganized house can be a really easy distraction as to why I might not be able to get things done or or achieve things during a day. So just just even like offloading that

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rebekahhiggs: allowed me to be more creative and have more bandwidth to like design. The logo make the website reach out to brands and focus on the things that only I could do, and that I was really good at. And so over time, I just started to delegate more and more things like that off to other people things, tasks, and jobs that somebody else could do just as well as me.

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rebekahhiggs: you know. I remember mowing the lawn with my baby on my back in the little baby carrier and mowing the lawn, and it was a hilly lawn. It was a lot of work, and just being so exhausted afterwards, and my body was starting to break down, and

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rebekahhiggs: and then I would have to spend all this money to go to chiropractors and osteopaths to get like myself back to normal, and I kind of a light bulb went off in my head. I was like, I'm spending a hundred dollars every time I mow the lawn on like physiotherapy versus paying a kid 30 bucks to mow for me. So just

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Tanya: Yeah.

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rebekahhiggs: Those changes in my brain to realize not every like thing that you do yourself is valuable

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Tanya: Yeah, you don't have to do it all yourself. Yeah, it's like that fine line, like, I can do it all myself. Versus. No, actually, I don't have to do it all myself, and like recognizing when it's actually serving you versus when it's not

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, for sure, like I can mow my own lawn. I can do my own gardening. I can do my own laundry. I can go do my own grocery shopping. I can clean my house, but it doesn't mean that I will have any time left over to do anything else. So maybe it's just not a smart use of my time.

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rebekahhiggs: And I think that if you've got like that creative, artistic brain, and you've got an idea and something passionate that you want to follow. It might be time to offload some of those menial tasks that somebody else can do

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Tanya: I love that for myself and for the listeners who needed to hear that

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rebekahhiggs: Yes.

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Tanya: So what has been the most challenging part of being a single mom and entrepreneur? And how have you navigated the tough moments

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rebekahhiggs: I think, like the toughest part about it was, I could easily be addicted to work. I really loved working, and and then I kind of felt like

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rebekahhiggs: when, even though I've I love children, and I always babysat growing up, and I was an infant

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rebekahhiggs: caregiver when I was in my twenties and all those things love babies. But it's like, as soon as I had my own baby, and it was my job to like be responsible for how this child was

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rebekahhiggs: shaped and grew up it. It was almost like

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rebekahhiggs: a struggle to be interested in that, or to like keep my focus on her development. So I think I was stretched in a lot of different ways, and sometimes I feel like I should have been more careful in some of those developmental stages to really give her the focus attention she needed.

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rebekahhiggs: And when I look back at her early childhood from the time she was born till maybe, like the time she went to school.

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rebekahhiggs: I was in like a very fight or flight state state in my own life. And so some of the

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rebekahhiggs: the things that maybe kept me from attaching or bonding in the way that I should have were just like life, circumstance, and trauma that I had had been through, and then just being in survival mode. So I think, like reflecting back on it. That would have been the hardest thing for me, and and I would love to go back with my experience now, and what I know about early childhood development and and redo those things. But you can't. So at this point you just have to keep trying to

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rebekahhiggs: help them at the next stages. And now that I have more time, more economic stability, more stability in my relationship and in my house. I'm just a more stable parent, and I can give her like that stable love and connectedness that she needs

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Tanya: Yeah, and you wouldn't have gotten here if you didn't go through

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Tanya: that then. And you know, like you built, you put all that time and effort towards building a business, and now you have, like the breathing room, to be able to provide that for her

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rebekahhiggs: It's so funny how the combination of being

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rebekahhiggs: you know a a little bit of Adhd and some, and and a child childhood trauma make the perfect combination for an entrepreneur, but not necessarily the perfect combination for a loving mother

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Tanya: Oh no!

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rebekahhiggs: Stage

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Tanya: Oh, no! You are the perfect mother for her. I truly believe, with all of my being, that everything happens for a reason, and that I mean, I don't know what your beliefs are, but I believe that we choose our parents. So you're the perfect

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Tanya: mother for her, and you're showing her like. It's such a value that you're showing her how to like. Do it yourself, and like what you're able to create on your own, and that she doesn't need to depend on anybody else.

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Tanya: Yeah.

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, that was a big message that I really wanted to share in those early days, because I remember feeling so discouraged that I just could not find, like a stable partner and a good man to be in a relationship with, and and the way that I had been raised to really like.

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rebekahhiggs: Who was your husband going to be, and like praying for your husband, and like really longing to have, like a good husband and my mom talking about. Oh, I've always prayed for your husband, and then just kind of getting to that age where I didn't have a husband, and and my life was, I wasn't going to wait for my life to move on or go forward. I wasn't going to like. Just keep myself, I guess, stagnant and waiting for this husband to appear so just changing my thought process and being like.

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rebekahhiggs: well, you know what I'm going to buy a house without a man. I'm going to do these things without a man, and eventually.

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rebekahhiggs: you know, the ideal person. A great partner will come along, but they'll have to match my my speed, and the way that I'm going through life instead of me having to change myself in order to fit into this.

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rebekahhiggs: you know box of what a good wife and partner looks like. So yeah, so very much part of my messaging as Diy, mom was that you know you don't have to wait for a man to do it. You can pick up a tool and do it yourself, and you can learn as you go, and don't be afraid to fail, because all of our failures and all of the things that we make mistakes on are tomorrow's lessons, and tomorrow

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rebekahhiggs: way that you do it better, and you do it correct. And so all those little accidents that happened along the way, I just don't make those silly mistakes anymore. You have to do them once. It's part of your education

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rebekahhiggs: as part of your development.

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Tanya: Absolutely. I love that beautiful message, and so empowering

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rebekahhiggs: Thank you.

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Tanya: Yes, so building something from the ground, up comes with its fair share of struggles and self-doubt.

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rebekahhiggs: So.

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Tanya: Have you ever faced moments where you questioned whether you could keep going? And then how did you push past your doubts and keep building

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, I think that there were a lot of times early on where, when it was, I was told that it was a bad idea that I kind of thought really should keep doing this, or should I not do it? You know, I had boyfriends that said, just like, you know.

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rebekahhiggs: get a stable job like, why do you have to, you know, pursue these dreams and all, and you know, work for yourself. But it just

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rebekahhiggs: it just. I was just never a good fit to be somebody else's employee. I just always worked harder and better when I was my own boss, and then, if had I listened to these naysayers or the folks that said that Diy wasn't going to amount to my Diy, mom wasn't going to amount to anything. I wouldn't be sitting where I am now, in this house, in this beautiful neighborhood, in the best school district in Halifax, with my daughter going to the best

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rebekahhiggs: public school that we could possibly get her into. So

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rebekahhiggs: I think just like getting past the doubts in the early, in the early phases, and then just pushing through it and doing it myself.

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rebekahhiggs: you know, challenges of coming up against other men that maybe were either working for me on a job site that were quite

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rebekahhiggs: maybe dismissive of me, dismissive of me being their boss, or being like the the contractor, and then also the challenges of dealing with difficult neighbors over the years, as I've done my renovations that maybe tried to put up roadblocks or stop me from succeeding. And so there's always been these little barriers that come up to to reaching the next thing, and and I somehow managed to push through it and and just get it done. And

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rebekahhiggs: And you know, I guess there's not not without some consequences in terms of relationships that get get damaged. But for the most part,

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rebekahhiggs: I yeah, like, I was able to push through those challenging times and and get to where I am today.

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Tanya: And I'm so glad you didn't listen to them like, how did you have? You always just had like, you must have just had a really strong belief in yourself and in your mission.

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rebekahhiggs: My dad said when I was a baby he saw me crawl across all the other babies in the in the nursery room to get a cheerio that was in the corner

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Tanya: Bye, bye.

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rebekahhiggs: Knew that I

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Tanya: He remembers that that is, he was like she was

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rebekahhiggs: Just so determined. And I think, like, when you think about what you're driven by, you know, everybody's driven by different things, you know the 4 typical ones are are money, acceptance, power and goals. And I've just always been goal driven. I didn't care about the money. I didn't care about the power I just like would set a goal, and I would need to get it done or want to do it. So that was truly my motivation. Through my whole childhood, and I guess it resonates with me still today, as an adult

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Tanya: Oh, my gosh! That's so funny!

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Tanya: Oh, and I agree with you with the being goal focused because

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rebekahhiggs: It keeps

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Tanya: Your focus on that one thing. And so that when distractions come in, when people want to doubt you or just

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Tanya: negative things happen, it's just like it keeps your focus so that you're not distracted even when you have Adhd.

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Tanya: right? Okay, well, there's something about being able to create or fix things yourselves that gives someone confidence and independence. So how did you 1st learn how to like? Do everything yourself? And

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Tanya: you give to moms who want to start, but feel intimidated.

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rebekahhiggs: Okay. Well, the way I started was just with parents that were kind of modeling that for my for me, my mom was always very creative like she would sew curtains, and so our dresses and toll paint all of the furniture and stencil the walls, like she was always doing something very creative around the house. So you know, that's a little bit in my DNA. And then my dad was more of like a problem solver and a like as needed. I will figure out how to do this, you know. Set up staging.

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rebekahhiggs: paint the exterior of the house, fix the mortar and the chimney. Things like that. My dad was sort of, even though I wouldn't consider my dad to be super handy. He certainly coordinated and just was driven to just figure it out. So I think a combination of, you know, being fairly creative, artistic, and good with my hands, and then starting at an early age

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rebekahhiggs: doing jobs for my dad, menial labor like painting and pressure washing and and cleaning up the exteriors of buildings and things like that. And then

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rebekahhiggs: When I started to use power tools. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I guess I was delusional or confident enough to give it a try. And then, when I would have different carpenters around working with me on the bigger renovations, they would show me little tricks, and I would just be curious and interested, and ask them what they were doing. And I learned the names of the tools, and you know the various cuts and the things that they were doing so that I could

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rebekahhiggs: like I would could vocalize what I want to express what I needed them to do in in a more competent way, because that's like one of the things about being a contractor is that you need to know how to communicate all the terminology

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Tanya: In, yeah.

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rebekahhiggs: Right. So it's just a matter of learning over over the years and just putting it to use. But you know, I just remember little things when people would show me how to use a screwdriver, and they would say, You know, if you put the

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rebekahhiggs: the the screwdriver or the electric driver into reverse while you're pushing on the wood, and then you turn it to forward. It's almost like does a little pre-drill for you. So you're less likely to split the wood so little tricks like that that they would show me, and I would just remember that. So when I did it I could. I could do it. And then things like wallpapering and

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rebekahhiggs: and staircase runners that was very much like a I just learned as needed kind of figured it out, maybe watched a couple tutorials, or gave it a try, and made some mistakes, pulled it up the rugs, and did them again, and and so now I can bang out a staircase runner pretty quickly

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Tanya: Oh, my gosh! Good for you! I know we really are. We're so blessed nowadays to have Youtube and these tutorials like so readily and like like yours, on your channel, where things are just like so readily available, like you really can teach yourself in in Google, like, teach yourself to do

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Tanya: so much. It's just like not being like you're saying, not being afraid to

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Tanya: fail, and just know, like, if you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world, and you're just going to learn from it, and you'll do better next time

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. Totally.

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Tanya: So for moms who are busy, but want to dip their toes into Diy. What are

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rebekahhiggs: No.

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Tanya: One to 3 simple yet super useful projects you'd recommend. They start with like, actually real, real, quick, for example. So do you have you ever. I'm sure you have like reupholstered chairs

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Tanya: Okay, that's a project that I want to do. Our dining room

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rebekahhiggs: Oh, yeah.

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Tanya: Our dining room chairs. They're white now. I bought them before we had kids. So you can imagine, like

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rebekahhiggs: They're all healthy

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Tanya: They're gross. I'm like Chris, I want to reupholster these, but I just like like I don't even know where to start. I haven't like looked on Youtube or anything. But do you have any

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rebekahhiggs: So I think advice.

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. The best way to Reupholster a chair

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rebekahhiggs: is when you get a good staple remover and remove the fabric.

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rebekahhiggs: but leave all the padding and all the things that are on the chair, like all the stuffing and stuff, so that you can reuse that. Just take off the top layer, which is your fabric or your upholstery material, and use that as a template to cut your new fabric, so don't throw that fabric out, save it

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Tanya: Yay!

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rebekahhiggs: Cut it exactly the way that they cut it, or with a little bit extra space

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Tanya: Okay.

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rebekahhiggs: Attention when you take it apart, like, if you have like a back piece that's on it, you might, if you, if you have to pull off that back piece. That's maybe a thinner material. You might have to replace that, too. But then, usually, typically if it's like a full full, I don't know. Is it just the seat that's upholstered, or is it the whole back and everything

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Tanya: It's just the seat, just the seat part

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rebekahhiggs: Oh, perfect! Then that's the easiest one to do. So you're just gonna like, remove the staples, take off that piece of fabric, pick out your new fabric that you want to use. Make sure it's like a good quality upholstery, or like a high rub rate, because you're gonna be using them, scrubbing them, washing them, you know. So when you go to the fabric store, look for something that's specifically for that.

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rebekahhiggs: and then use that as your as your fabric template and cut out the the template, and then you're gonna wrap it around and staple it on on the bottom. And yeah, it's really that simple. Just keep all the interiors of it there and

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rebekahhiggs: and do one at a time, just so that you're not destroying all of your furniture. Okay? And then, like getting just disappointed, like, just do one take the 1st chair apart.

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rebekahhiggs: put the fabric on, and then, if it goes well and goes easily. Then

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rebekahhiggs: the next time you know, it will go faster, and maybe you just do one a day like when the babies are sleeping, or whatever that's definitely a quick and easy one to do.

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rebekahhiggs: and I think that most people can do it. You just need a good staple gun, and I like the I have a battery operated one by Ryobi, which is great, like just over a hundred bucks, or you can get the pneumatic staple guns that go into an air compressor. So if your husband, or if you happen to have an air compressor around the house, then you just

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Tanya: Thank God!

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. And the pneumatic one's pretty great, because usually they're pretty small. So you can get into the difficult areas of the chair with that pneumatic staple gun and make sure you get the right length of staples, and that they're for upholstery, and that they're not too short or not too long like you really want to make sure that you're not going to shoot a

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rebekahhiggs: a staple through the wood of the chair. You want it to just grab the wood

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Tanya: And it's deep enough to get through the fabric and to connect with the wood.

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Tanya: Okay? So maybe I should save the staples, too, that are currently

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rebekahhiggs: You could

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Tanya: Marriage.

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rebekahhiggs: Definitely take one and then take it to the store and ask for a similar depth. Yeah.

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Tanya: Okay.

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah,

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Tanya: And do they sell those at the like

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah or no. So

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Tanya: Hardware.

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rebekahhiggs: Fabric at the fabric store, and then you're going to get your staples and your tool at the hardware store

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Tanya: Okay.

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rebekahhiggs: And, like a little chisel, will also help to get the material around the around like, but you could also use a butter knife like you could stick a butter knife in the fabric and just get it around the wood of the chair. I don't know exactly what the chair looks looks like, but there's every once in a while there's a place where you kind of need to fold the fabric and chuck it around, and then, before you can get it around the other side. But as you take it apart, just pay attention

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rebekahhiggs: to how how it goes, and maybe if you need to film it as you take it apart, so you can kind of remember how it goes back together.

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Tanya: Good that's over your brain.

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rebekahhiggs: Is like.

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Tanya: Good.

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Tanya: Okay, I'm I'm like making notes here.

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rebekahhiggs: Any other questions.

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Tanya: Any other home.

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rebekahhiggs: Projects that you're looking to do

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Tanya: Oh, my gosh! Probably so many. But that was like the main one that I was gonna do, because my my husband's actually very handy, but I'm like I want to learn. It is. It's so empowering, and it feels so good when you can do things yourself.

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rebekahhiggs: Hmm.

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Tanya: So these are really great tips. I love that idea to film it as I'm taking it apart. So I remember

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Tanya: that could be a struggle in your own reverse.

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Tanya: Remember? Yeah, remembering awesome. That's so good. And I'm gonna try this. And I'm gonna I'm gonna

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Tanya: report back.

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Tanya: Oh, yes, I will report back awesome.

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rebekahhiggs: You take

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Tanya: Thank you.

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rebekahhiggs: Post it on Instagram. You'd be like my 1st share

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Tanya: I will. You'll be so proud. Hopefully, I don't know. We'll see how it goes.

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Tanya: Okay, awesome. So many moms want to create a beautiful home, but feel limited by finances. So what are your top tips for designing and renovating on a budget?

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rebekahhiggs: Well, there are things that you can do that are going to cost you no money, which is declutter, and get rid of half the things in your house that's like. Another thing that I'm trying to do right now is just to get rid of a lot of things, and then, when you are getting rid of things. If there's certain things that are sentimental, or

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rebekahhiggs: or part of your heritage, or antiques, or things that are meaningful to you. Then you pull those things out of the boxes and you put them on display for me. I just feel like there's no point in holding on to a lot of extra things if they're not going to be out in the open, or if you can't enjoy them. So that's a good time to also decide like, what should I get rid of, and what should I keep

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rebekahhiggs: and then use those? So now, if you've decluttered your house, and you've got some shelf space. Now, now you have some space to actually display those heirlooms and those pieces that mean something to you, and even things like your kids, artwork and your things that you've collected and saved over the years.

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rebekahhiggs: If you're gonna keep them, then frame them and put them on a wall. One of my very 1st diy projects I did was a gallery wall, because I had moved so many times over the years, and I had show posters and newspaper clippings, and

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rebekahhiggs: you know, Art, that friend had made me, and

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rebekahhiggs: and I had all these things that I was saving, and I was thinking, Well, if I'm not

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rebekahhiggs: if they're not in the out in the open.

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rebekahhiggs: should I be keeping these things? And so that's why I made my gallery wall, and I put everything in frames and put it up the wall. So yeah, so I just think that's a great easy way to start

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rebekahhiggs: and then other other ways to freshen up your home. That don't cost a lot of money are painting.

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rebekahhiggs: maybe refreshing your spaces so like if the colors feel dated, you can simplify things by painting the walls white, and then adding your color in your furniture or in your decor, or, if you, you know, really want to add some color to a room picking a nice color paint, and you know a way to elevate it is also to do the trim and the doors all in the same color. It makes it feel like very designery. Yeah. And then, like.

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rebekahhiggs: I've had a lot of fun with wallpaper over the years adding wallpaper, you can find inexpensive wallpapers, and you can easily learn how to hang your own wallpaper as well. It's time consuming, and it can be frustrating. But I find that the paste the wall type, and then you cut the paper

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rebekahhiggs: and you put it on the wall. I found that the most

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rebekahhiggs: consistent and easy to maneuver, and and and the least messy almost as well

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Tanya: Okay, awesome and real quick. So that gallery wall, I want to say it's on season one episode, one that

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. It's the very 1st episode

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Tanya: Yeah. So if you guys want to see her tips and tricks on how to do a gallery wall, just go to go to Youtube. Diy, mom season, one episode, one

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, I think that 1st episode. I do. A gallery wall and a staircase runners

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Tanya: Yeah, I think, yeah, remember.

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rebekahhiggs: See those 2 tutorials

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Tanya: Yes, so check that out all right. And then what I think you kind of already went over design tips that you have for people. We just discussed that. But how does someone figure out like what their style is

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, I think that you can figure out your style based on what you're typically drawn to. You know the things that kind of show up in your feed when it comes to design and decor. Usually you're shown the stuff that you tend to heart or like. I also think a great way to know about colors, or what kind of colors you want in your home is like. What kind of colors do I wear? What colors look good on me, because typically the colors that you wear are also the colors that you want to put in your home. And then I think, just editing like.

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rebekahhiggs: and to hone in on your style. So, for instance, I had a client last summer who loved really bold colors and bright things, and and very unique and and antique and just vintage and a mixture of everything, and she wanted things to be just loud, and I kind of was able to figure out exactly what she wanted was more of this granny chic style, like she was like, I want Granny Chic, and then tapering that

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rebekahhiggs: and editing it, and she would send me things that you know she was drawn to, and she kind of liked that. I felt maybe were a little bit over over the top or or tacky, or would date themselves, and then I would try to find

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rebekahhiggs: I would try to find a more classic version of that, or a way to do it in a way that felt like it was an amalgamation of of my taste and my expertise, and my style, really meeting what she wanted in her own personal home.

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Tanya: Okay, yes.

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Tanya: I love that. So, paying attention to the colors that you're drawn to what you wear, and I love the tip to to like. Look at your feed and see how everything like everything that you're liking. So

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah, because maybe you like traditional style cabinets, and you tend to be drawn to a traditional kitchen. Or maybe you like really minimalist Scandinavian style stuff, and that tends to be what you like. So I think if you're drawn to that sort of straight lines minimalist thing, then

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rebekahhiggs: then

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rebekahhiggs: you know you'll know it versus people that are very attracted to traditional or folksy or or you know, maximal maximalized style instead of minimalist. Yeah.

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Tanya: Okay, okay?

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Tanya: And beyond flipping houses, you're also deeply involved in your community. You advocate for women fleeing abuse and empower single moms. So can you share more about why this work is so important to you, and how women listening can support these causes

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rebekahhiggs: Oh, thank you. Yeah. I think if I had not experienced intimate partner violence, and in my own life, then I probably would have a very dismissive attitude about a lot of women that are maybe find themselves in the situations that they are today. But I'm grateful that in a way, I did experience that kind of trauma in my life, because

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rebekahhiggs: it has made me so much more empathetic to those women who need to find shelters, and that don't have family support in my situation. I ended up having a family that I could go to and turn to, and I remember when I was fleeing the situation, driving to the top of the road, not knowing where I was going. If I was turning right, I was going to a shelter. If I was turning left I was going to my family and having to make that split.

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rebekahhiggs: split decision about am I,

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rebekahhiggs: you know, going to keep this private and personal, and go to a shelter? Or am I going to bring my family into it? And having to make that decision in the end, I ended up going to my family, and I think it was the right decision for me, because

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rebekahhiggs: but then, as I understood, intimate partner violence more and coercive control, more and narcissistic abuse techniques. Further, I realized, like, this is why it's so hard for women to get out of these situations. Many of them are also trapped because of financial

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rebekahhiggs: coercion and ways that their money is withheld from them, to make them feel trapped in those situations. And then also, as I studied and learned more about the shelters available to us in Nova Scotia, that how full they are and how there's just no space for people.

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rebekahhiggs: And this really became a problem that was escalated and brought more awareness to during Covid, because we saw the rise of intimate partner violence just with the with the mandates to stay home. It was just like an abuser's dream come true. And so, through all of that, that just sort of

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rebekahhiggs: pushed me further towards helping women in these situations and doing whatever I could to help. So I've done fundraisers over the years from yard sales that would go to ads and for women and children to my Diy, you grow girl boxes which were gardening kits that I sold where you build your own greenhouse, and then it comes with all the seeds and the tools that you need to start your garden.

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rebekahhiggs: And so that is a project that I did a couple years ago, and I'm bringing those boxes back again this spring, so that we can raise hopefully $5,000 again to give, to add some for women and children

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Tanya: Oh, awesome! And then how where do they go to get those boxes? Your website

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. So I am working on the method of to which I am going to get those boxes to people. Because I'm I want to do it as a donation, so they don't. I don't have a set price for the boxes. You decide how much you want to pay for them

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rebekahhiggs: and so I'm working out the details right now as to how that will work, and then how we will ship them to people. But stay tuned. I will make an announcement on my social media. When those are ready to go, and hopefully before the end of April, we will. We will see those up and ready to ship

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Tanya: Awesome, and I can include the like. When everything is ready

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Tanya: I'll be on the lookout, and if you can remember to let me know, too, I can include that link

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Tanya: like the ordering link on the show notes for for this episode.

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Tanya: Perfectly.

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Tanya: That would help. Yeah, of course. So you've accomplished so much already, and I just like to know what's next for you. Do you have any big projects or dreams that you're working on and can share with us

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rebekahhiggs: Well, right now I am working on a new home build. So this is the 1st time I've actually built a house from scratch. So I found

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rebekahhiggs: neighborhood that was on a great street on the sunny side of the road, and I thought, Oh, this is a really great block and a great street, but the house needed so much work, and it was in an awkward position on the lot, so I decided to

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rebekahhiggs: tear the house completely down and start new. So I've never done anything like anything like that. I've been sharing it on my social media as I go. We started the excavation for the foundations and the footings yesterday. So I shared that on my social media last night, and as we start to build, and as it comes together I'll be sharing lots of that over the next year, and this house is another big stepping stone towards me, being completely

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rebekahhiggs: free and mortgage free and debt free. So I'm very excited about that, too.

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Tanya: Good for you. Oh, my gosh, amazing! I can't wait to watch that and see the beginning to end. I love the transformations. Well, thank you so much, Rebecca, again, for coming on sharing your story and your wisdom and your design tips. Can you, before you sign off, just share how people can find you

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rebekahhiggs: Yes, they can find me at Diymomca. That's also my website, Diymomca on Instagram. I'm Diymomca on Facebook. I'm Diymomca

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rebekahhiggs: perfect. And then if you

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rebekahhiggs: want to watch the whole season. Just go to my website and you can go find my Youtube from there.

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rebekahhiggs: And if you want to see the show on binge TV. They have all 5 seasons now, and that's try Bingetv, and I think you get a 7 day free trial there, so you can watch all set all 5 seasons of my show on binge

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Tanya: Okay, awesome, great. Well, thank you so much. And I can't wait for people to learn more about you and hear this episode. I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks

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rebekahhiggs: Yeah. And if you are finding me for the 1st time because of this, podcast please reach out and say, Hi to me on

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Tanya: Social, media.

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rebekahhiggs: Love, to connect with you.

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Tanya: All right. Thank you, Rebecca. Bye.

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rebekahhiggs: Thanks so much, Tanya. Bye.