🪞Starting a Business in Maine: Boss Energy Shift

📋 A DownEast Diaries check-in from the edge of a growth spurt.

It’s been a minute.

And if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been — I’ve been busy building something real.

I’ve been building a woman-owned, family-run cleaning business in Lewiston, Maine called Pine & Shine.

Not just a business.

A legacy.

With my daughter.

With my hands.

With my name on the door — whether I was ready for it or not.

🧼 Pine & Shine isn’t just a cleaning business. It’s a shift.

Izzy and I started Pine & Shine because we needed income — that’s the practical truth.

But what it’s turning into? Something bigger, something deeper.

It’s not just a job. It’s a turning point.

A stake in the ground that says:

I’m not just here to help anymore. I’m here to lead.

Now, if you’ve ever worked in retail or food service, you’ll get this — I’ve always made the best damn assistant manager.

I can run a store, keep the peace, handle the chaos, and make sure the person in charge shines.

I was raised to stay useful, not visible.

But now?

Now I’m the one building the systems.

The one signing the checks.

The one whose name is on the invoice and the line-up sheet.

But guess what?

Now I am the person in charge.

And that visibility thing? It’s hitting different.

And I’d be lying if I said it was easy.

😬 Truth is — being seen still scares the hell out of me.

Not the work. I’m not afraid of scrubbing floors or handling hard clients.

I’m afraid of being seen.

Like, really seen.

What if I mess up?

What if someone calls me out?

What if I am too much — or not enough — just like I’ve always feared?

Then I read a post from Sadie Smiley, Step Into Your Leadership with This Advanced ChatGPT Prompt, that hit home, right in the gut, in the best way.

It reminded me that leadership isn’t about looking the part.

It’s about owning the parts of you that were told to stay quiet. Think of it as shadow work for entreprenures.

That cracked something open.

And next thing you know, I’m working through a leadership prompt that asks you to look your inner fears in the face and tell them they don’t run the show anymore.

I put that prompt through the DownEast filter.

Because I don’t do fluffy personal development.

I do real life growth with dirt under my nails.

🏡 Meanwhile — life had other plans too.

We had all these big ideas for the summer.

Finish the backyard. Expand the native garden. Finally tackle the bathroom downstairs.

But then the yard needed more dirt.

The upstairs apartment got the remodel instead.

And mine? Well, let’s just say I’m still out here praying over that tile and hoping the plumbing gods are in my corner.

So I pivoted.

Life redirected me — and instead of fighting it, I followed it.

I poured that energy into Pine & Shine.

Started building something with my daughter that doesn’t just make money — it makes meaning.

Turns out the leadership shift I needed didn’t start with a calendar or a checklist.

It started with a mirror.

Sometimes the business grows before the garden does. And sometimes building a cleaning company teaches you more about leadership than any course ever could.

🌿 The prompt that changed everything

I didn’t just read the prompt — I worked through it.

Line by line. With my DownEast values layered in.

No fluff. No fake-it-til-you-make-it energy. Just grit, grace, and the kind of truth that makes your stomach drop in the best way.

It helped me see exactly how I’d been structuring my business to avoid being seen.

And what might become possible if I stopped hiding.

➡️ I decided to share the whole process — not just the polished result.

You can read the full conversation here:

Behind the Boss Energy → My Full Leadership Prompt + Response]

(Yes, I used ChatGPT. And no, it wasn’t basic.)

🔥 So here’s what’s next.

I’m doing something this month that would’ve made me freeze up a year ago:

I’m recording and posting my first Pine & Shine “Meet the Owner” video.

It’s not gonna be fancy.

But it’s gonna be me.

Showing up. Taking the lead. Owning the damn business I built

And if you’ve ever been told to “stay quiet,”

If you’ve ever been the one who made everything run smoothly from the shadows —

Let this be your nudge.

Because I’m not hiding anymore.

And maybe… you don’t have to either.

✨ This post is part of a bigger story — a 4-part series on visibility, voice, and boss energy told through Pine & Shine, DownEast Diaries, and SheMarkets AI.

👉 Explore the full Leadership Integration Series →

You’ll find:

• The Pine & Shine leadership post

• This DownEast Diaries reflection

• An AI coaching prompt adapted for women in business

• And the full behind-the-scenes session that cracked it all open

If you’re in the Lewiston/Auburn, Maine area and want to work with cleaners who care as much about legacy as they do about spotless windows — keep an eye out. Pine & Shine is just getting started — keep watching this space.

— Brandy

#BossEnergy #LeadershipPrompt #WomenInBusiness #AuthenticLeadership #MaineBusinessOwner #FamilyRunBusiness #ShadowWork #CleaningBusinessJourney #AILeadershipCoaching

→ Back to DownEast Diaries

→ Visit Pine & Shine

→ Explore SheMarkets AI

Written by Brandy, founder of Pine & Shine Co. — a family-run cleaning business serving Lewiston, Auburn & coastal Maine.