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BRX Pro Tip: 2 of the Most Important Skills for New College Graduates

June 4, 2024 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: 2 of the Most Important Skills for New College Graduates

Stone Payton : And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, what in your opinion are the most important skills for new college graduates?

Lee Kantor: Well, it’s that time of year, people are graduating. I think that if you can master these two skills, you will never be lacking for opportunity. The first skill that I think that you should learn about is the ability to sell. If you can learn how to sell, you will never not be employed somewhere. The ability to convince someone to buy something from you is like literally having the ability to print money. If you can sell, you will never have to worry about money, because you can always make more money by selling something to somebody else. So invest in learning how to sell. Super important. And everybody is a salesperson no matter what your job is.

Lee Kantor: The second skill that will help you in life immeasurably is the ability to create. If you can create things of value for other people, and then you can complement that with the ability to sell it, you will always have a way to generate revenue.

Lee Kantor: So those two skills can be adapted to any industry and any interest you might have. So focus in on learning how to sell and focus in on learning how to create value for other people. And you will be set for life.

Zachary Steele with Broadleaf Writers Association

June 3, 2024 by angishields

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FF-Broadleaf-Writers-Association-bannerZachary-Steele-headshotBroadleaf Writers Association Founder & Executive Director Zachary Steele is the author of four novels, including The Weight of Ashes, nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2021, and Perfectly Normal.

He has been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Magazine, Shelf Awareness and City Lights with Lois Reitzes on NPR.

Currently, he is hard at work on The Fallen Hero, the first in a series of fantasy novels.

You can follow his ramblings on writing and life at http://zacharysteele.com/.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Fearless Formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: And welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And today in the studio we have the founder and executive director of Broadleaf Writers Association. He is also the author of four novels, including a novel called The Weight of Ashes, which was nominated for the Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2021. He has been in the AJC, the Publishers Weekly, Writer’s Magazine, Shelf Awareness, Great Name and City Lights with Lois Reitzes, which I listen to, uh, humbly. We’re so happy to have you in the studio. Welcome, Zachary Steele.

Zachary Steele: Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here.

Sharon Cline: Are you Zachary or Zach?

Zachary Steele: Um, it depends on what I’ve done that day. Um, no, I go by Zach most of the time. Professionally, I’ve stuck to Zachary. I think it makes my mom happy.

Sharon Cline: So only when you’re in trouble, you get called Zachary.

Zachary Steele: Only when I’m in trouble. So maybe I’m in trouble all the time. I really don’t know.

Sharon Cline: Today you’re Zach. How about that? So far? Yes.

Zachary Steele: On on most call centers, I’m Zachary. Oh, if that matters much. Interesting. So I don’t know okay.

Sharon Cline: That’s like when Siri calls Bucky’s busses. I don’t know if you’ve ever said not heard. Yeah. It’s like how do you get there. And it’ll just say busses on the left. You’re like, what?

Zachary Steele: Like I’m going somewhere. That is not where I think I’m going.

Sharon Cline: Well, I’m excited to have you here in the studio. You’re obviously an author, published author, successful, and you also really champion other authors, which is so great, which is kind of what I’m excited to talk to you about because it’s a bit of a passion project, like what I do with Fearless Formula. So why don’t we start with what Broadleaf Writers Association is about and how it got started for you?

Zachary Steele: Well, I’ve, um, I’ve been in the writing game for most of my life, and part of being a writer is going to conferences and getting involved in writing programs and things of that nature, and I found a few writing communities outside of the state that I really loved, and I loved the energy. I loved how much they inspired and assisted and supported one another. And I wanted that. And though we have pockets of some writing communities in Atlanta, I didn’t have that kind of defined, supportive, um, unit that, that I wanted so much. So I just started it, you know, I spent a year trying to figure out, okay, what is a nonprofit and how do you run one and and then found some people to help start with a board. And in 2015, we formed the organization and started running an annual conference and started slowly adding programing to it, which is now a podcast called Right Now. W-r-i-t-e W-r-i-t-e. Right now, right now, right now.

Sharon Cline: Um, amazing that you actually took a year to set it up properly and you had a lot to learn. I imagine, like you said, with the four one or what is it, 41C yeah.

Zachary Steele: It’s A50105011I.

Sharon Cline: Can.

Zachary Steele: Remember. It’s okay. It’s got some numbers.

Sharon Cline: Some numbers. Yeah. Nonprofit. So I don’t know anything about starting that. So what were the resources that you went to.

Zachary Steele: There’s um there’s a book by Bill Bryson called A Short History of Nearly Everything. And I love it because in the foreword, he talks about writing his book before that called In a Sunburned Country, and he was flying over the Pacific and seeing how big the ocean was and feeling very small, and suddenly had this desire to write this comprehensive book about everything. And so, in his words, he went around the world asking the smartest people the dumbest questions, and voila, there was a book. And I think that was my approach to starting broadleaf is I found people who run writing organizations who I consider to be the smart people, and went and asked them just pages of dumb questions until I got a grip on what I was doing. And that grip might have been like, you know, a greasy pole kind of grip, but but I had enough to get started. And, um, and we were able to get going. And I think it’s just been a learning process since then.

Sharon Cline: Your goal with broadleaf is to educate writers through seminars, webinars, programing and annual conference peer groups and networking events. So if I were a writer on my own, my little fledgling, whatever story, but I really want the support. That’s your sort of ideal person to be associated with the. Yeah, I mean.

Zachary Steele: I’d like I’d like to think we I mean broadleaf, the name comes from a couple of different things. Broad. We want to have a broad reach, genre, style, age, cultural background. It doesn’t really matter what it is. And the leaf is a page. And Georgia is home to the largest broadleaf forest. So it worked. And, um, and I like to think that we, we take that approach in everything we do. You know, we want to have, um, a large level of diversity. And I don’t just mean that as far as race or ethnic background or anything like that, I mean that in terms of what is written, what, what style, genre, age, it doesn’t really matter where you are in the process, whether you’ve just written your very first word or just want to write a novel, or whether you’ve published several books, we want everybody to be involved in this community and to have it be an inclusive place where you can come and be supported.

Sharon Cline: I saw on your Facebook page you have about 1500 people who follow.

Zachary Steele: Is that true?

Sharon Cline: Yes, that’s a lot. Well, I don’t know. Is that true? Wait, no.

Zachary Steele: No, it’s more of a social media thing where I’ve. I’ve kind of handed some of that off. But I also stopped paying attention to that number because I didn’t know what it meant in the end. Right.

Sharon Cline: I don’t I don’t even know exactly 1300. That’s a.

Zachary Steele: Good number. It means there’s 1500 people are somewhere in the algorithm.

Sharon Cline: That’s right. Which obviously touches that many lives. That’s important. What is the most satisfying part of being the founder and executive director of broadleaf?

Zachary Steele: Um, I don’t even know if it has anything to do with being the founder or executive director, other than I have a lot of communication with people, but my favorite time is when it’s the conference time and I’m there with a room full, or rooms full of writers who are pursuing this dream, this passion, and seeing the happiness as they as they connect. You know, for those who have never been to a conference and for me, when I went to my first conference, walking into that building is an eye opening experience. And instantly you are in a group of people who are you? They’re your people. They they share your joys. They share your failures. You know, they share the struggle of just trying to put words together, not to mention get published. And so being able to see them connect and then to have conversations with people who talk about how much it means to them to to be there with, with these people and to have learned what they learned and how inspired they are and ready to get back to write. And then the emails that I get throughout the year from people who are, um, anywhere on their journey and just looking for guidance, assistance, support, whatever it happens to be. Um, I love that part of it. And I don’t know if that’s because I’m the founder and executive director, or if it’s just because that’s what a writing community is.

Sharon Cline: What it sounds like you’re saying to me is, is the fact that there are that that feeling that you’re not alone because writing obviously seems to be such a singular, um, um, activity, but to have groups of people who only they, if they are in that same state of writing, can really understand and connect. That feeling of not being alone is powerful.

Zachary Steele: Yeah. And that’s one of the things that I say a lot is even though, um, making a book is not a solitary thing because you have a group of people who are helping you, when you sit down to write, you’re by yourself. It’s you and the people in your head. And that’s it. The friends that you have created and you exist by yourself, doing something, by yourself and going through a lot of the process by yourself. And it makes it all the more important to then get around other people who also do this by themselves, so that you can share and connect and make friends and mentors and find critique groups and beta readers and everything like that. I mean, you can’t do that in your room, you know? And so it’s it’s it’s a great part of it.

Sharon Cline: How exciting to see the lives that you affect and the potential legacy that gets left because of, um, being inspired as you were and you weren’t afraid to, to do it.

Zachary Steele: Um, I was terrified to do it. Okay. If you’re talking to me. Yes.

Sharon Cline: You felt the fear and you did it anyway.

Zachary Steele: Exactly. I felt the fear and did it anyway. I did it, um, because of the fear. I did it in spite of the fear, whatever it happens to be. But I feel like that’s that’s a lot of life is is. It’s okay to be afraid. That’s why I learned it took me a long time to learn that. But, um. But, yeah, I mean, I, I think my mom always put a. This way. We are like the bumblebee. She. She has done a lot of this in her life too. Just like. Well, I don’t have that. I’m going to just do it. We don’t know. We’re not supposed to fly. You know, physically, we’re not supposed to be able to do this. But. So we just do it. And and I feel like that’s kind of the approach that I took. And then somewhere along the way, I was kind of like, oh, wow, this is this is a lot. And and I certainly never do it because I want to have a legacy or so that I can be recognized. Right? I do love that. You know, I just just had an experience where I was at a Starbucks and somebody stopped random in the middle of nowhere, and somebody stopped. And they knew me from Broad Leaf and wanted to talk writing. And that was a cool thing. And that wouldn’t have happened without it. And for me, it wasn’t the recognition. It was being able to talk about writing with somebody that that knows that I’m a safe person to talk writing about. Um, and more. So, I mean, I just want it to live on beyond me. I want it to be something that isn’t about me. Never was about me. It was about the writing community. And then now the writing community is doing the work. You know, the board of directors that I have for Broad Leaf, they’re doing the work. And and that makes me smile. That’s another thing that makes me smile. And that is because of being in the position I’m in.

Sharon Cline: But I think the same way about this show because I don’t like it to be about me. I actually want to ask you a lot of questions. What’s it like to be you? What’s it like to be in your world? It’s exhausting. Yeah.

Zachary Steele: That’s what it’s like to be me.

Sharon Cline: Well, let’s go back to why it’s exhausting. Let’s go back a little bit. You’ve been okay. You’re from Florida, but you also did your high school years here in Georgia, um, in Forsyth County. Um, during that time when you’re in your formative years, did you always know you wanted to be an author? Did you always have stories in your head?

Zachary Steele: Yeah, I, I remember vividly, you know, when I started writing, I was 12. And, um, though I was probably a little young to be reading Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Allan Poe stories, really, and loving them. I loved the short story, and I started writing a lot of short stories at that time, and just I loved the creative side of it. I loved being able to tap into what is a very busy mind even then, and to pull things from it and create stories from it. So I, I always knew that that’s what I wanted to do. Um, like every writer, I’ve had many professions along the way. Um, but nothing that drove me as much as the the writing side of it. Hence, broadly, for I do freelance editing. I write, you know, I mean, it’s just like it’s an all encompassing thing that brings me joy. And it has since I was 12.

Sharon Cline: What other avenues like you were saying. You you do editing. And so what other ways are you in the writing world?

Zachary Steele: I mean, it’s all connected. It is. Right?

Sharon Cline: It’s huge. Right?

Zachary Steele: I mean, you know it. I whether I’m having just conversations with people about their work and trying to be a sounding board and offering feedback, or doing the freelance work, or doing the broad leaf side of it, or sitting down and writing my own stories, or going to conferences or festivals and having conversations about writing about the publishing industry. I’ve done several talks at local colleges for students that are in the writing programs about the publishing industry, or about writing. It’s kind of incredible how much there is attached to just the love of writing that has become part of my life.

Sharon Cline: You do a lot of interviews.

Zachary Steele: I do, I do. We have the podcast. Um, I’ve done, uh, writing programs in person, virtual. We have the conference. I was in the bookstore world for a long time and did author programs. I love being on your side of things for the same reason. It’s not about me. I just loved being able to get into why people are the way they are, why they do what they do.

Sharon Cline: That must be an interesting aspect of character development as well, because I’m so interested in people, other people, not so much myself. Let me just let me just clarify. Yeah, but in in having a love of, of human, you know, that must be part partly informs your way of making characters too, because I’m so interested in why people do what they do and with no judgment behind it, because everybody’s got their own way to live. And that’s great. Yeah.

Zachary Steele: You like, like me seem to enjoy channeling your inner five year old and and y y.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Zachary Steele: Y y. You know, you just keep asking because there’s always an answer to it. And when you’re talking about creating characters, I love the the frailty and and flaws of humanity as much as I love the good sides of it, you know, the great sides of personality and stuff like that and being able to take. What is from me, a living person in my head and build out what their history was, where they came from, and none of it ends up in the book. None of it ever sees light of day. But I understand them better. You know, it’s no different than sitting down as we did, you know, and just saying hello and then getting to know one another. Um, it’s my favorite part of creating stories is being able to create characters. And I guess I do okay with it, because I hear a lot from readers that talk about how the characters felt alive to them.

Sharon Cline: Have you ever met a person that sort of embodied the basic archetypes of some of the characters that you’ve made?

Zachary Steele: I think all of my characters have some element of many people that I’ve met. They’re never based off of one person, right? But they’re more of an amalgamation of of the many people that I have met, I though I’m much better about it now. I was never a talkative person as a child or even as an early adult. Um, I even still will sit quietly at a Starbucks or in a room and just watch people or listen. Um, not in a creepy kind of way, but in a I don’t really want to talk kind of way. So I’m just going to listen. And, and it’s interesting how much you can learn about not just the person, but about the human being that they are, that that we are.

Sharon Cline: Have you had to, through broadleaf, um, become more of an extrovert because of that? Or is it just as you’ve gotten older because I’m equal parts, I’m equal parts introvert, introvert and extrovert? I’m both. I’m 50%. So I do this. But then I shut down for a little while.

Zachary Steele: Yeah, I am, I am entirely an introvert and this will exhaust me to no end. Oh no kidding. Yes. And, um, I’ve I’ve said this so many times to people who have probably gotten tired of hearing this, but when I was a kid in school, if you were sitting next to me and you sneezed, I would blush because I knew everybody was about to turn around and look at me. I would not raise my hand in class because then I would have to actually use my voice. Um, I was just quiet, I was shy, I was awkward, I was all the things that a person who stands in front of 2 or 300 people and gives a speech is not. And I think that person, that kid, would have been terrified to know that this is what we’re going to be doing. And, um, and yet, as I’ve done it, as I’ve grown into it, um, I find that I love it, I love this, I mean, I do it’s and it’s not because I enjoy talking about myself. I’m like you. It’s like, I really don’t want to talk about myself, but I do want to talk about broadleaf, and I do want to talk about the characters I create and the stories that they live as if I not really the one that wrote it. I just want to talk about them, you know? Um, and, and I have found that I really thrive when I get that opportunity. I love it. Um, and then I go quietly, sit in a chair and, and try to recoup.

Sharon Cline: Some of the other authors that I’ve had on the show have talked about how much their characters start off one way in their mind, but as the story has developed, they they take on a life of their own. Have you found the same?

Zachary Steele: Um, the. Okay, so here’s another great advantage of being a writer going to a writer’s conference. This is a room full of people that are guaranteed to not look at you. Strange when you talk about characters like they’re real people. Yeah. And, um, and so when I say things like, well, I thought the story was going this way, but my character just refused to go. And so we ended up going this way. Or when I say I got stuck. So I stopped and I did a stream of consciousness interview with one of these characters, and she said something I’d never thought of before. The word never came to mind before, and it ended up being the answer. And so to answer your question, yes, because, um, and it’s part of a fantasy series that I’m working on is I very much believe that as writers, we are creating real world somewhere with real people in them. And, um, that doesn’t have to be true for me to love that and to to to live by it. So I the story and the characters will always guide where it’s supposed to end, even if I think I know where it’s supposed to go.

Sharon Cline: I’ve written songs before where I’ve had like, I have the melody already, and then I’m writing the song and I think I know what the theme of the song is, and it becomes something completely different. And it’s almost like why? You know who’s in charge here. Yeah, it’s a very interesting, uh, experience. Yeah. You know.

Zachary Steele: The, um, The Wizard of Oz is is a is largely it’s a book about grief. And, um, I didn’t realize until about halfway through it, and actually I had to stop for about 2 or 3 months, but I didn’t realize that I was processing grief from my childhood and having a best friend that committed suicide, and I just had never addressed it. And I started writing this book, and this all started pouring out, and I was like, oh my gosh, I didn’t even know I was carrying this with me. Um, what.

Sharon Cline: That must feel like. Yeah.

Zachary Steele: And so. So it’s very interesting to to then begin to dive into where stories come from and how we get the themes and the emotion into them, like, what are we drawing from?

Sharon Cline: So your book Weight of Ashes was nominated for the Georgia Author of the year in 2021. How did that happen?

Zachary Steele: Um, interestingly enough, um, that particular award used to be an open submission for writers, but then switched to publishers have to submit. And so my publisher submitted The Weight of Ashes for consideration, and it made it to the final ten. Wow. Um, in literary fiction in that particular category. And, um, I don’t know where it ended up in the voting. It wasn’t number one that I know.

Sharon Cline: How did that feel?

Zachary Steele: You know, just to be recognized. It felt fantastic. Um. I. Much like every writer, I still struggle with imposter syndrome. There’s still those moments where I feel like, ah, I don’t know if I’m supposed to do this or, you know, if I’m any good at this. I feel like I’m good at it. But having that level of validation always makes a difference. With my new book coming out perfectly normal, I have this list of authors that are like really big names, you know, that have given me these fantastic blurbs and sent me messages otherwise talking about how much they love this book. And I think that felt better than having, you know, the validation of being part of an award process or.

Sharon Cline: Do you feel like authors in general have to have or. Excuse me. Um. Maybe have a natural disposition of appreciating. The human experience. And loving the human experience, in other words. Connecting to different characters and making them so many themes unite us, you know, and are pervasive across the board of being a human. Do you believe that to be true? The thing.

Zachary Steele: That I. The thing that I believe most about writing and it may be it may not be universally true with every writer. But the thing that I believe the most about writing is that it it forces us to have a sense of empathy that we maybe didn’t have before. Because if you’re going to write a viable, believable, memorable character, it it has to have, um, it has to come from that character’s point of view. So everything, even if it’s polar opposite of the way I might think it has to come from that character. And so I begin to understand, even flawed, I begin to understand why people like in my characters sense anyway, why they make the decisions that they make, what led them to this situation. And, and I, I think personally have found that it’s created more patience with people than maybe I had when I was younger. And I don’t know if that’s a product of age of the writing, but maybe both. Yeah, but it for me, it’s a sense of empathy that it has generated and that I see that and hear that in conversations with writers more than I don’t.

Sharon Cline: Interesting. Because I was thinking, you’re sort of have a natural disposition, predisposition to have empathy, and that’s why you write, but you’re actually saying the opposite.

Zachary Steele: It may be that it existed before. And like I said, I don’t know if age has something to do with it. You know, just I’m maybe I just don’t have that knee jerk reaction that I might have when I thought everything meant the world was ending, um, more.

Sharon Cline: More fully realized empathy, maybe.

Zachary Steele: But I definitely in the last two books that I’ve written and the one that I’m working on now, I definitely feel like it has opened me up to people more than than I was before.

Sharon Cline: It’s really beautiful.

Zachary Steele: Oh, well. Good. I’ll write it down, so I’ll remember to say it again.

Sharon Cline: Do you have characters that you miss?

Zachary Steele: Um, yeah. And the fun part is, what I’m doing right now is the this third book that I’m working on with the publisher I’m with now, the Story Plant. Um, all of them take place in a fictional Georgia town called Hogan, and which is loosely based on my life in Georgia, but also in my life in Florida. So it’s a little bit of both. Um, and though I don’t have continuous stories with the same characters over and over, every story loops back with somebody else, or there’s some throwaway line about a character, or there’s something where you get a little bit more about what happened to the characters before. Um, and it’s allowed me to not necessarily have to let go of characters. Um, it’s it’s not. I think there are some where I’m fine. Um, this one coming up perfectly normal. My main character’s name is Nate, and I think I’m fine if that’s the last story I tell with him. I love him dearly, and he’s one of my favorite characters, but, um. But I don’t feel like I could miss him because he’s just always present. They don’t leave my head. They just don’t end up on the page again.

Sharon Cline: Do you? Feel like I’m trying to imagine if I were writing a character that I didn’t really love. Do you feel like you could embody those characters if you wanted to, because they’re so real to you in your mind?

Zachary Steele: You’re talking about the bad characters? Yeah. I’ve met some truly horrible people in my life. And, um, I think putting those kind of people on the page, it makes it easy to, for me as a writer to dislike them. I’ll never go as far as hate, because I feel like if I hate a character, I’m not going to want to write them truth. Um, and I think that’s where kind of digging in a little bit as to why is this character this way, and is there a path to redemption or are they hopeless kind of thing. But, um. I feel like the horrible people in my life helped define the bad people in my books. Mhm.

Sharon Cline: Well, living any, any place, any time. You’ve got some dark people that come in and out of your life. So state of the world. Yes it is. Yes. What do you think people generally don’t know about what it’s like to be a writer? The average person who isn’t a writer, what do you think they would really appreciate knowing.

Zachary Steele: That it that it’s harder than living itself? You know, I feel like I can I feel like I can do life a lot easier sometimes than I can accept the challenge of actually creating a story. Um, not to say that it’s so challenging that I can’t do it, obviously, but it is a hard, hard process. And you don’t just create a story and then, you know, if you have a publisher, if you’re fortunate enough to and then it’s in a book, even as somebody who has published work, I create a book and I might I might have my editor come back and say, no, this doesn’t work. Wow. Or you need to go rewrite this part of it, or we need more on this part of it, or this character doesn’t make sense right now. And so you have to go back through. And if you’re if you’re a reader and you’ve gone to author talks before and you’ve, you’ve countlessly, I’m sure heard an author say, I’m just tired of reading my book. And it’s true because you write it and then you go edit it, who knows how many times, and you have to read it through every single time. Then if you’re fortunate enough to get an agent or an editor to get it published, you have to go through three levels of edits with the publisher. The first is a story, the second is, you know, going through, um, the characters and all that kind of stuff. And then the last one is the dreaded grammar and punctuation, which, sorry to say, I am not a great, great person, but, um, but you read it. You read it so many times that you know it. It’s one of those things you’re just ready to move on. So it’s not it’s not just you sit down and create it and then it’s a book. There’s so there’s so much involved. And that doesn’t even speak to everything that’s involved in between that.

Sharon Cline: So if I were an author who didn’t have a publisher, if I was a self published. Person. Can you tell me the positives and negatives? I get the financial aspect of being a published author and having the backing. I understand that part, but I’m imagining me feeling like I’ve written a really good book and I’m happy to publish it on my own. And then an editor telling me all the things I need to to change. I’d be so mad. Yeah, that would be hurt, probably.

Zachary Steele: And that’s, you know, they talk about thick skin and all that, but you have to get used to it. You have to get used to the feedback. And one of my go tos is always you have to get past the hurt and hear the words, because nobody wants to write something and then have somebody tell you, no, there’s something in there. It doesn’t work because in your head you’re like, yeah, no it’s great.

Speaker3: Yeah. Right. No, you know I love this, you know.

Zachary Steele: And so and it doesn’t really matter how many times you’ve been published, you still have those moments where an editor or an agent comes back with, like, this doesn’t work. And in those moments, it’s a gut punch and it’s not something you ever get used to. Um, you just have to learn to, to take some time to process it and to see that, you know, their ambition is the same as yours, to create the best book possible. And it doesn’t mean that all of their opinions are correct, but it is part of the process for you to hear it and see if there is something that you need to do.

Sharon Cline: What an ego check that would be for me.

Zachary Steele: Oh, it’s difficult for people who can’t check their ego, I will tell you that.

Sharon Cline: Do you have to develop the skill of being able to put yourself aside? Because it’s a it’s a it’s a part of your soul.

Speaker3: It is, you know.

Sharon Cline: So it’s so precious.

Zachary Steele: Yeah, exactly. I mean, it is um, I equate it to losing somebody in your life, you know, taking something out of you and putting it out into the world. It’s obviously a very different thing, but it is part of you that no longer exists anymore. You know, in that working state, it is something that is beyond you. Maybe it’s better to equate it to a child growing up. I don’t know, but you know, it is part of you that exists in the world that you no longer have any control over. So yeah, child is better than. Yeah. And less morbid.

Speaker3: Um, but.

Zachary Steele: But yeah, it, um, it’s one of those things you have to, you have to be able to, to distance yourself from it at that point.

Sharon Cline: I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the independent booksellers and as opposed to the big booksellers. I saw that you had posted that an article from ABC news about independent booksellers continued to expand in 2023, with more than 200 new store openings. That’s so exciting to hear.

Zachary Steele: I think you know. It’s interesting that the independent book community was thriving. Late 90s early 2000. Barnes and Noble borders, you know, sort of aid into that. And then independent bookstores started to die off. And, um, while the rest of the world is going the opposite way, where big corporate stores are the dominant ones over local like Amazon. Yes, over locally owned things, bookstores have started to grow. And that’s a fantastic thing, because it tells you there are still enough readers to support that. But but also it means that people are relying more on their community for, for that that entertainment for the books. Um, and, and I love that. I love seeing the independent bookstores growing again, because, I mean, I came from the independent bookstore world. I owned one for a brief time, and I saw that.

Speaker3: Yeah.

Zachary Steele: And and I still am very much indebted to them, not just personally, but professionally as well. And I want to support them and see them do well. So those stories make me very happy. Wordsmiths, wordsmiths.

Speaker3: Books, books.

Sharon Cline: How did you own wordsmiths books? Um, was 2000.

Speaker3: It was.

Sharon Cline: 7 to.

Speaker3: 2009. We opened.

Zachary Steele: In 2007, which was a wonderful time to open, because in the fall of 2008, the economy.

Speaker3: No right.

Zachary Steele: And so much like people who opened a business a year before Covid, there’s not much you can do when an entire economy collapses and there’s not people shopping, especially as a bookstore, because you run on razor thin margins. It’s not, you know, you don’t make a lot of money in a bookstore, right? And so when you when you have something disappear that large and yet you still have to pay people and you still have to pay rent, and you still have to pay utilities and pay for the books that come in. It can you can get underneath really quick. And we.

Speaker3: Did. Did you always.

Sharon Cline: Want to own a bookstore then?

Zachary Steele: I it was always a dream of mine. And I love that we, we had enough of an impact that I still, um, 15 years later and it’s been 15 years since it closed. Um, I still have people who will talk to me about that bookstore, and we we were there for a very short period of time, but I loved what we did because we were we were a bookstore, but we were also a music venue. And we would bring in, we would bring in I had this one, this great person, Russ Marszalek, who did all my programing, and he would bring in great authors, but also bring in these bands and, and we would have little intimate, you know, little.

Speaker3: Mini 40.

Zachary Steele: 50 person concerts. And some of these people actually went on to something. And so it was really it’s really cool.

Sharon Cline: Did you find that the pandemic really impacted authorship?

Zachary Steele: I can answer that from two sides. The Weight of Ashes came out during the pandemic. So yes, um, that publication was delayed twice because of paper shortages. And then when it came out. It was right in between the first phase of Covid and the Delta phase of Covid. There was about four weeks when that book came out that I could do. I did like 3 or 4 events and then I couldn’t do anything else. And so, um, that was unfortunate because again, it’s something I’m proud of and I want to be able to share with people. And I had people interested in doing events and stuff, but who was going to do them in person when you had Covid, you know. So, um, and then from a, from a broadleaf standpoint, um, yeah, absolutely. Because we could only do virtual programing and virtual programing is great because you can sit and watch an author talk or a conference or anything in your PJs, you know, whatever it is that makes you happy at home, popcorn dog, whatever. You know, you’ve got everything you need to feel comfortable and entertained. But the one thing you’re not going to do is buy a book because you don’t have them in front of you. And so if we had a book event or if an author was going to a bookstore that was doing a virtual programing where they might have sold ten, 15 books, they were selling 1 or 2.

Speaker3: Wow.

Zachary Steele: And and that’s just the people that were willing to actually then contact the store and say, hey, can you ship this to me? So it became very difficult on authors and therefore on bookstores and everybody in the industry because, um, the books themselves, the physical books weren’t selling. Now, that said, audiobooks and ebooks spiked and and that was good. Those weren’t because of programs necessarily, but because people were at home and they needed to absorb that, that that.

Speaker3: Passion.

Sharon Cline: Because broadleaf started in 2015. So you had five years of normalcy and then an immediate change. So you were able to compare and contrast what what the pandemic did.

Zachary Steele: Um, we were prepping for our fifth conference at that time and had to pivot. And, um, we like other because I stay connected with other executive directors and like other writing organizations, with the virtual conferences, we had one third the attendance of what we did in person. And then when we got back in person, we’ve had to build like this past year. We were getting to 2019 levels of attendance, and I think we’ll finally get there again this year. So it’s basically a five year period of of I don’t stalling and then having to push yourself downhill, you know, to get going again. And so um, we’re still and bookstores are no different with program. We’re still feeling the impact of it.

Sharon Cline: What does that say about physical presence?

Zachary Steele: Um, it says a lot, you know, I mean, it says one, that there is a very large portion of people who are very, very happy not leaving their home, especially think about, like, the Atlanta area, I mean, ten miles away. May as well be two days. You know, you’re not going you’re not going to go halfway across town for something when you can just sit at home and enjoy it. Um, and that speaks to our culture of the way we absorb things now. Um, but also, you know, seeing the attendance start to grow again. And I think, you know, we’ll get back to our levels and exceed it, that there’s still that hunger to have that personal connection, that personal contact. And, and I think that will never go away, even if like with our conference, we’re now doing a hybrid approach, the virtual side will still continue to grow. While the in-person part is is getting back to levels and then growing above it.

Sharon Cline: Will you tell me a little bit about the story plant? I see that you are. That’s your publishing company, correct? That is. Yeah. I read a little bit about it was founded in 2008. Um, and it’s been dedicated to publishing quality fiction and developing authors. How did you get associated with them?

Zachary Steele: Um, broadleaf, actually.

Speaker3: Um, interesting.

Zachary Steele: Yeah. Because through connections, I’m always looking for publisher representatives, editors, agents to whatever to bring into the conference. And, um, through a mutual friend, I was connected with Lou Aronica, who is the the main dude at the Story Plant. And honestly, as a man who knows more about storytelling than anybody I’ve ever met and has a tremendous history in the publishing industry dating back into the 80s and being personally responsible for starting a line of books, uh, that have to do with Star Wars novelizations when that didn’t exist. And so, um, you know, I have complete trust and faith in him. And when he said he was interested in the weight of ashes, I was like, I don’t want to talk to anybody else, you know, because I wanted it in his hands. And it became a much better book, much as perfectly normal did. It became a much better book dealing with him and his editing staff.

Sharon Cline: Will you tell me a little bit about how you said there’s a bit of a love story involved with the pandemic?

Speaker3: Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: So I’m such a romantic. I’m really excited.

Speaker3: To hear about this. It’s it’s.

Zachary Steele: Uh. You know, I, um, the pandemic will always be what it is, and there’s a lot to look back at that and go, oh, that was such a terrible time. Uh, my love life was not one of them, and I’m so. It was so random. I connect with people through broadleaf that are associated with other writing organizations. And at that time, actually, on this day, according to Facebook, five years ago, I connected serendipity. I connected with Jess, who was who was actually, um, overseeing Georgia writers through Kennesaw State University. And, um, we never communicated. I just, I sent a friendship. She took it. And then two years passed. Yeah, two years or so passed. And no, it’s like the way the algorithms work, this should not have happened. But she posted something about The Queen’s Gambit, and I saw it and commented on it. And then the next thing I know, we’re talking in messenger and then we’re meeting up and, um, and she’s like my other half. I mean, she’s just the most wonderful, supportive person that I could have ever asked for. And I love her and and her daughter. You know, as if we’ve always been together. And so. So for me, the pandemic pandemic forced me more on social media, which led to this random thing that turned into a relationship that has essentially redefined what my life is. And I don’t know, I mean, I guess I owe Facebook.

Speaker3: So people can say what you say.

Zachary Steele: About Mark Zuckerberg, but, you know, I owe him. I owe him my relationship.

Sharon Cline: You couldn’t have made that happen, though. Do you know what I mean? Like there’s no way to contrive that, um, it’s just, uh, serendipity.

Zachary Steele: Yeah, I think so. I think it was. I mean, we we talk about it all the time. It’s like it’s something that was supposed to happen, and it was beyond our control.

Speaker3: There’s something other than.

Zachary Steele: Other than to, you know, be able to talk to one another afterwards.

Sharon Cline: There’s something nice about that. Like a surrender in a little bit to me in that, like there are forces beyond our control that have, you know, ideas about what our lives are going to be like. There’s only so much we can control. Yeah, it’s kind of nice.

Speaker3: Yeah, I like it.

Zachary Steele: I like I like the idea of thing of the world and of life being bigger than we see it.

Sharon Cline: I’m glad I it’s not always the best to see it.

Speaker3: No. If it if.

Zachary Steele: It was all up to me, my, my world and the world itself would be in a total.

Speaker3: Mess.

Sharon Cline: My world would be have anxiety, like, riddled through it. Um, where would you like to see yourself? Like, what are your like five years from now? Ten years from now? What would you like your life to look like?

Zachary Steele: That’s tough because that’s a different question than it was 20 years ago. Just, you know, because I was thinking more about the professional side of my life. And though I am not where I want to be, you know, success as a, as a, as an author, it’s a personal definition. Um, I could say I’m successful in that. I’m working on my third book with the same publisher, and, you know, that’s success. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are. Um, where I would like to be is in 5 to 10 years, I would like to personally be able to sustain me and my family on my writing world, whether that’s, um, just the writing or writing and editing, whatever it happens to be. Um, I would like that to be. I’ve been kind of like, you know, a hoarder of things. I will carry a bunch at one time, um, and stay very busy. But I would like to simplify at this point and just focus entirely upon the thing that brings me the most joy professionally, obviously, personally as well.

Sharon Cline: Do you ever want your books to become a movie? Because in my mind, I’m picturing the story that I would write is like a movie in my mind, right? Yeah.

Zachary Steele: I mean, we are we’re a we consume visually, most of it, you know, I mean, you have podcasts, you have radio programs, things like this that, that are very auditory. But everything else is visual. Reels, TikTok, YouTube, everything that we consume is visual. And so when I write, I try to write visually. And so there’s a cinematic sense to the approach that I take. And I would love if they were handled correctly. I would like to say that that is a qualifier. I would love to see them as films or a series or whatever it happens to be that allows a story to get out there. So yes.

Speaker3: Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: So exciting. Because the fact that you already write cinematically, it’s like a step ahead, you know, where it wouldn’t be that difficult to then.

Zachary Steele: And I go back to to Lou Aronica as well, because he, he very much preaches detail and sensory detail and, and when you start to put a lot of sensory detail into a story, you start to evoke a visual. You start to evoke this sense of of being in that place while it’s happening. And, and I’ve very much taken that and run with it. And, and so I don’t there’s not a lot of rambling narrative in my work. There’s, there’s a lot of dialog, there’s a lot of action. There’s a lot of movement in, in not short chapters, but but short enough that, you know, you see the quick scene and then we move on kind of thing or carrying you to the next one. So I, I like writing that way.

Sharon Cline: Usually I look this up before the show, but I didn’t this time. Um, shame on you.

Speaker3: I don’t even know what we’re talking about.

Sharon Cline: Audiobook wise, do you have an audiobook for your books.

Zachary Steele: For Perfectly Normal? I do, and that was the first one, and it was such a surreal experience to we. I was able to listen to the final four candidates do a sample chapter. They all did the same chapter and and hearing four different interpretations of the same one. And I was out there with Jess, and we listened to him and listened to him and listened to him. And we finally chose Tyler Pirrung, who did his pirrung who did the narration or did the audiobook for Perfectly Normal and did a fantastic, fantastic job. But being able to listen to something like, I talk about not wanting to read my book again, but dang it, I listened to that thing. I downloaded it from audible and I was like, hmm.

Speaker3: This is great.

Zachary Steele: Um, so it’s a really surreal experience and I hope, I hope all of my books get that going forward.

Sharon Cline: I imagine when you’re hearing another voice, not your own, in your head, read your words. It’s like hearing it for the first time. I know I’ve done some books for some authors for their very first time. Hearing their story come from someone else’s voice. Yeah, how interesting that is and how legitimate it sounds as well. Like it’s this is a real story, right.

Zachary Steele: And and as somebody who does this, you know, and has done this, you know, before, um, you get to you get feedback, obviously the author gives you information about the characters and everything, but you still get to interpret it in some sense your way. And when Tyler did perfectly normal, there was one character in there that he interpreted in a way I had never envisioned.

Speaker3: Wow.

Zachary Steele: Just completely like he turned this character who’s like this YouTube, you know, wannabe viral person, a very high energy sort of thing. And he turned him into a lack of better phrasing, a New York Jew that, that and I listened to it, and at first I was like, what is that? And I started listening to it more and I was like, no, that’s that’s right. That’s what he is. And it was great because I hadn’t he’s, you know, a secondary character that appears in a few scenes. So it wasn’t central to my story, and I’d never really given it much thought. But being able. To hear somebody interpret a character and then the other characters as well. But this character in particular, in a way that I had never imagined it and will never be able to unimagine it now was it was really fun, I enjoyed it.

Sharon Cline: People ask me when I’m reading a book, doing the audio book narration, if I’m, like, really absorbing the story as I’m reading it. And it’s interesting. I don’t know if everybody does this because I don’t talk to anybody else that does these books. I probably should, but in my little booth, I’m reading the sentence, and it’s the energy behind the sentence that is most important to me. The words are obviously the way you get the energy out, you know, but they’re the vehicle for it. But like, is this sarcastic moment? Is this an angry moment? Is this a reticent moment? All of those different emotions are what is most important to me as I’m reading like a sentence or the paragraph, what is the point of this paragraph? You know, it’s to move the story forward. Well, what’s the, you know, the overall theme of it? And so it’s interesting to me because these characters, um, they’re very real to me as well, because they are different aspects of me I get to tap into. And it’s um, and I do know the story, but it’s more the emotion behind it. Like, I can tell you about the emotions, what drives this person as opposed to this person. The details of the story don’t seem as, at least as far as my narrating, aren’t like the most important thing. It’s more like I want the audience to feel what this whole sentence is all about. And yeah.

Speaker3: And I think.

Zachary Steele: That’s that’s a vital part of that particular job. Um, and I think it’s no different than looking at it from a movie standpoint or a television show, whatever series is that, you know, the, the actors portraying them. I don’t know why I said.

Speaker3: Actors as I turn into.

Zachary Steele: David Cross from Arrested Development. Um, anyway, the actors, the actors are putting that emotion into the characters, and they’re drawing everything out of who that character is for that moment. And I appreciate that you say that because, um, that’s such a vital component to that art.

Sharon Cline: Well, my goal always is for the author to feel like I’ve reflected what they wanted, you know, like, again, it’s sacred work in my mind because this is a part of your your mind and your soul and your energy and time. And I just like I know that, of course, the audience is who you’re ultimately wanting to please. But my goal is, are you happy? Is this what you imagined? Do you want anything different? Because I’ll do it. You know, I’m just such a pleaser regarding that. But it works for this.

Speaker3: So what you’re saying.

Zachary Steele: Is you turn into a party host.

Speaker3: So basically, is everybody happy? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Are you good? Do you like that? Because I can do it different.

Speaker3: Do it differently.

Sharon Cline: I can do it better. I could do it better. I always feel like I can do it. I’m not stressed.

Speaker3: No no no no no.

Zachary Steele: You’re not an anxious person at all I don’t relate.

Sharon Cline: Well, Zachary Steele, I can’t thank you enough for coming to the studio and sharing what it’s like to be on your side in your world, and I admire so much that you have such a love of writing that it’s not about the popularity of yourself or the money. It’s more about encouraging other people to appreciate writing as much as you do. And that’s that’s such a beautiful mission. And like, I know that you’re like, it’s not about you, but it’s so exciting to imagine where all of this will end. Some, you know, someone’s life can be so impacted by a book that was encouraged to be written because you said a couple words that you would have never known. It’s it’s one of those things where it lands, where it’s supposed to, but it’s so exciting to imagine where it lands. Yeah. Because you have such good intentions behind it.

Speaker3: Yeah, I.

Zachary Steele: Try I don’t know what else to.

Speaker3: Say.

Zachary Steele: I try talking about me again.

Speaker3: I don’t know.

Zachary Steele: Um, no, but I look, I enjoyed this this has been a fantastic conversation and I’m, I’m glad to have had the opportunity. And any time I can talk about Broad Leaf and talk about myself a little bit.

Speaker3: Throw yourself in there a little. Just a little bit. Um, then.

Zachary Steele: You know, it’s it’s it’s a joy. And so and if we can do anything and I will always say we if we as an organization can do anything to help people find their way on their dreams, and even if that writing and that education that they gain helps them personally or professionally otherwise, then then we’ve done a good thing. And based on what we hear, I feel like we’re we’re on our way.

Sharon Cline: Well, if anyone wanted to get in touch with you, what would be the best way?

Speaker3: Go out of.

Zachary Steele: Your door and just scream my name, I’ll come running. Um. I’m always.

Speaker3: Listening. Superman hearing?

Zachary Steele: No. Um. Uh, broadly, Reuters.com is where you’re going to find Broad Leaf. Um, I’m. I’m easy to find. There’s contact points on there. Um, Zachary steel.com is where you can find information about me again. There’s there’s contact points on there. I’m also on social media and easy to find because I don’t have privacy settings. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Sharon Cline: No, I’m the same way.

Zachary Steele: I think professionally I feel like I have to leave the doors open, you know, for people to come in.

Speaker3: It’s unnatural.

Sharon Cline: Isn’t it, though? I don’t like.

Speaker3: It.

Sharon Cline: It’s I do the same. And I’m just like, who’s looking at this?

Speaker3: Like I’m also.

Zachary Steele: That person at home is like, are the neighbors?

Speaker3: Coming over.

Zachary Steele: I don’t know if I want that.

Speaker3: Um.

Zachary Steele: But, um. But. Yeah. So, no, I mean, I’m very easy to find, and the weight of ashes is already out. Perfectly normal is coming out later this summer. Um, I hope people will experience Nate’s journey.

Sharon Cline: Well, I would love to have you back some time if you were ever interested. And and talk about more of the things that you’ve learned along the way. Um, I just really appreciate your being so candid with me, and thank you for taking the time to come to the studio.

Speaker3: Sure.

Zachary Steele: Thank you for inviting me.

Sharon Cline: Sure. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day!

 

Tagged With: Broadleaf Writers Association

WBE Feature – Women’s Health Awareness: Empowering Nurses to Navigate the Legal Field

June 3, 2024 by angishields

WIM-Silvia-Aninye-Feature
Women in Motion
WBE Feature - Women's Health Awareness: Empowering Nurses to Navigate the Legal Field
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor talks with Silvia Aninye from Weber Legal Nursing Consulting. They discuss the company’s role in providing legal nurse consulting to various attorneys, advocating for clients during defense medical exams, and offering case management and training. Silvia, who has written a book on the subject, shares her journey from a certified nursing assistant to starting her own business in 2014. She emphasizes the need for legal nurse consultants to be detail-oriented, assertive, and unafraid to confront aggressive doctors.

Silvia-AninyeSilvia Aninye RN, AS, CDP, CDSGF, CADDCT, CLNC

Silvia’s skill-set and industry expertise are comprehensive and up-to-date. She makes it her top priority to see that all jobs are done well and efficiently.

Her career has also seen its share of achievements; while working as a Legal Nurse Consultant at Weber Legal Nurse Consulting Inc., she’s helped a lot of attorneys find testifying experts for different specialties to help support their individual cases.

Silvia has learned and accomplished a great deal in her 8 years of Legal Nursing Consultant. One of her proudest moments to date occurred while she was an RN at LAC-USC. In this capacity, she was responsible for making sure that the language on Vaccination protocol was legally correct and comprehensive.

On one occasion, Sylvia helped educate the patients on the legal language on vaccination protocol, which led to a positive outcome because the patient was allergic to eggs and as such could not take the flu vaccine.

Sylvia is motivated, task-oriented, and efficient, and her knowledge of the Personal Injury and Worker’s Compensation industry is comprehensive and current. While working as Medical Case Manager at Crawford and Company she was responsible for field case management duties.

She’s been able to use her expertise to help the company remain within the guidelines of most laws and protocols and helped prevent legal issues with clients during her time there, The company has saved a lot of money in costs being able to have a Registered Nurse who is also qualified to work as a Legal Nurse Consultant.

Sylvia is an executive Advisory Cloud Network advisor.

Connect with Silvia on LinkedIn and follow Weber Legal Nurse Consulting on Facebook and X.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Silvia Aninye with Weber Legal Nurse Consulting. Welcome.

Silvia Aninye: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Weber Legal Nursing, how are you serving folks?

Silvia Aninye: We’re serving folks on a variety of fronts. The first and foremost service that we provide, I am a legal nurse consulting company that has a lot of female nurses that work for me. And what we do is we actually work with personal injury attorney, med malpractice attorneys, and tort attorneys. We attend defense medical exams to advocate for the clients to make sure that during the exam the doctor does not ask questions that he’s not supposed to ask. And, you know, to protect the clients from making the defense medical exam another deposition. We usually audio record this exam and we provide reports to the attorneys and we also provide audio links.

Silvia Aninye: On the other hand, we also provide case management in workers’ compensation. And we also provide training for nurses on how to do defense medical exams. And, also, we provide continuing education as well. And I also have written a book recently, in February, Defense Medical Exams Made Easy: A Painless Guide For LNCs, for people to learn how to do defense medical exams, mainly nurses. And that is kind of a available on Amazon. And that’s kind of in a nutshell of what we do. If you want more information, our website is www.weberlegalnurse.com.

Lee Kantor: Now, is being a legal nurse consultant, is that something a nurse can do while working as their job as a nurse? Or is it something that after they leave nursing, then they get into this side of the business?

Silvia Aninye: No. They can do this while they’re working because, generally, most of the subcontractors I have work part-time. First of all, the subcontractors are not fulltime employees. They are 1099 employees. We give them cases on a case-by-case basis, so kind of like it’s more or less unless you actually have your own attorneys, do your own marketing and have your own attorneys. It’s just, you know, like a supplemental income for them that they can do in between what they do at the hospitals during the week. And a lot of nurses I have do that. And currently, we have 60 nurses nationwide.

Lee Kantor: Now, what are the qualities of a good legal nurse consultant?

Silvia Aninye: A good legal nurse consultant has to be detail oriented, has to be meticulous, has to be assertive. Because when you work with the doctors, the doctors are kind of aggressive in these exams and try to get information from the clients that they’re not supposed to get. Because usually when the lawsuits are filed, they are provided with all the medical records and everything they need. But most of the time they try to get everything from the client itself, which is not appropriate. And that’s what we’re there for, to stop that, to stop the attorney from – not the attorney, sorry, the doctor from asking questions that he’s not supposed to ask.

Silvia Aninye: So, in other words, to be a good legal nurse consultant that does defense medical exams, you have to be one that does not shy away from confrontation, passive-aggressive confrontation. If you’re one of those people that is easily intimidated by whatever goes on, you probably wouldn’t be a good legal nurse consultant or a defense medical exam observer. So, the first and foremost is the fact that you are the type of person that’s not easily intimidated.

Lee Kantor: Now, is that part of the training that Weber provides, is preparing a nurse to have, you know, those kind of conversations and confrontations?

Silvia Aninye: Yes. We train the nurses to do this during the training. And our training compromises of, you know, brochures, training manuals, books, testing. And we also offer mentoring as part of the training to where I mentor them while they’re on their journey until they get comfortable during their exams. And we also offer a physical exam component where the nurses actually get to shadow me. They go to an exam with me, and I do the exam, and they get to observe and shadow me and see everything that happens.

Silvia Aninye: And when the exam finishes, we have a little 15, 20 minute meeting where they get to ask any questions that they need to ask in terms of what they saw, how to proceed. And they also have access to me during the exams. When they’re in their exams, I am connected to them via SMS messaging. So, if they have questions, even if they’re actually in the exam with the doctor, if they get stuck on something, they can easily text me. And usually I respond because the SMS I gave them is a cell phone where I can reply very fast.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your back story and your journey into this line of work? It seems this isn’t the traditional path for most nurses.

Silvia Aninye: Yes. My line of work when I originally started was, I would call it, one of perseverance, determination. I started as a certified nursing assistant. I did that for 19 years and then I went to nursing school. And when I went to nursing school, I worked at LAC USC Medical Center for nine years, six years as a nursing assistant and then three years as an RN.

Silvia Aninye: And after that, I did not feel comfortable in the hospital setting, and I decided to branch out and create my own company. Because, initially, before I even became an RN, I always was interested in the legal field and was looking for ways where I could combine my nursing skills with the legal field and be able to serve the community that way. And hence, because of this, working at it and doing a lot of marketing, being a subcontractor myself also for two years to raise funds to do my marketing, Weber Legal Nurse Consulting came into being. And we have been here since 2014 and have some of the biggest law firms. So far as clients, we have Brian Ryder, the Wilshire Law Firm, Jacob Emrani is one of our clients, and a host of others. They have been with us over the years.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you remember that first time you were in a room with a doctor that was kind of scrutinizing or saying stuff to you that required you to be confrontational?

Silvia Aninye: Yes, sir. I have. I’ll just give one main example, because in my book, there are tons of examples. But I’ll give one main example. I had a confrontation with a doctor. This was a neurologist. I will not mention any names or offices.

Lee Kantor: Right. Don’t mention any names.

Silvia Aninye: Yes. I’ll just, you know, share the story of what happened. This was an older neurologist, and it was at the beginning of my career, like within the first two years. And this doctor, I came there with the client and we started the exam. First of all, the exam was not supposed to take more than two hours. This doctor decided to lengthen the exam even though he knew by law he wasn’t allowed to do so.

Silvia Aninye: Now, during the exam, he asked a lot of questions about the personal history of the client, employment history, workers’ compensation history, prior injuries, prior surgeries. And I had to interject and let him know that he wasn’t allowed to ask those questions and that we were deferring those questions to the medical records and deposition of the client. And at this point, the doctor got extremely upset, called me names that I won’t repeat on the podcast, and told me I was obstructing his exam.

Silvia Aninye: And towards the end of the exam, he actually threw a chart at me. And when he threw the chart at me, I had to indicate that this was more or less assault by him taking that action. And when we eventually finished the exam, I had to call the attorney that hired me and inform him of what was going on. And the attorney – because we’re allowed in California to audio record the exam – asked if I would advance the audio recording to him, and I did that evening.

Silvia Aninye: And the next morning, he called me and he told me that he was going to file a motion to have that doctor disqualified from doing these type of exams and actually disqualify that particular defense medical exam. But I was able to stand my ground and handle myself professionally, even though the doctor did not.

Lee Kantor: And that’s the advantage of working with a firm like yours, right? Because if the patient is in there, the patient doesn’t know what they don’t know, and they could easily be manipulated or bullied by an aggressive doctor.

Silvia Aninye: Exactly. And that was what my role was there. And when I came out with my client, the client was so grateful, “Oh, my God. I’m so glad you were here with me. I could never have handled this doctor on my own.” And I explained to them, don’t worry about it. This is what your attorney is paying me for, to make sure that these type of incidents don’t happen. And I was able to save the defense medical exam. But because of the doctor’s actions in terms of physically throwing charts at the nurses, the DME got disqualified and he got removed from the list of IME doctors by his medical board.

Lee Kantor: This must be such rewarding work for you.

Silvia Aninye: It is because when I was working at LAC USC Medical Center, I was working as a nurse, but I extremely enjoyed the role of an advocate. I had also advocated for a lot of patients in the hospital as well on an ethics committee and other committees that we had there. I was always one of those people that the hospital sent when patients had issues with the hospital. So, more or less kind of like an arbitrator or a mediator type of job where you were helping settle conflicts or settle situations.

Silvia Aninye: So, before I started this job, I was pretty much very much conversant with conflict in general, because I’m also trained as an arbitrator and a mediator in the State of California – no. I’m trained as an arbitrator on the federal level for Athena, and on the mediation, I’m certified in the State of California as a mediator.

Lee Kantor: Now, can your clients come from all over the country or are they primarily in California?

Silvia Aninye: They come from all over the country, but a lot of our clients, because there are a lot of cases in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, New York, these are the states where there are a lot of lawsuits, they primarily come from most of these states. But every now and then we do get cases from other states on the East Coast, hence we have 60 nurses nationwide. But half of those nurses are mainly in California and New York and Nevada, because we get a lot of cases from those states.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for your company to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Silvia Aninye: I decided to join the WBEC-West community because I’m a woman-owned business, I’m 100 percent women-owned business, and I felt like if I joined WBEC, I might have opportunities to be able to network more and meet more people that I can work with and I can network with, or get clients from, or provide other services for other companies that other women owners might need. So, mainly, I did it because I wanted to do a lot more networking.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more nurses around the country? Do you need more attorneys? What do you need?

Silvia Aninye: We need mainly more nurses and, of course, more attorneys, yes.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, where should they go? What’s the website?

Silvia Aninye: The website is www.weberlegalnurse.com.

Lee Kantor: And that’s weber, W-E-B-E-R, legalnurse.com?

Silvia Aninye: Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: Well, Silvia, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Silvia Aninye: Thank you very much, sir.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Women In Motion.

 

Tagged With: Weber Legal Nursing Consulting

BRX Pro Tip: Keep Suiting Up and Showing Up

June 3, 2024 by angishields

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Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you this morning, Lee, a piece of counsel that you and I have reminded each other of, keep suiting up and showing up.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. There’s a reason that that’s important and it works is because people connect frequency with trust. And so, it’s important to keep consistently showing up and serving the people who matter most to you just over and over relentlessly, tenaciously. And how you do this is extremely important. So, are you running expensive ads that your potential clients are going to see? That’s some people’s strategy. You know, they have the billboards and they’re running expensive ads so they see the brand over and over. And they’re hoping that when it’s time for those people to make a decision, they choose that person who’s investing in a lot of expensive advertising.

Lee Kantor: At Business RadioX, our studio partners become the voice of business in the markets they serve, and they help their clients become the voice of business to the people that matter most to them. And we do that by interviewing all the people in that niche, whatever the niche is. We keep showing up at events where those people are. We’re showing up at conferences, trade shows. We’re showing up at, even, chamber events.

Lee Kantor: So, that’s what we do to keep being visible, and consistently there, and consistently telling the stories of business in the markets that we serve. And that’s why what we do is so effective when it comes to business development, because we’re always there. Our content is being shared on social media. Our brand is getting out there on a daily basis. And we are consistently showing up to the people that matter most.

3 Signs to Quit What You Are Doing

June 3, 2024 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: What is Your Time Worth?

May 31, 2024 by angishields

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Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, of all the questions we should be asking ourselves, I think one of the most important is, what is your time worth?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I believe that your time is your most valuable resource and you have to kind of really guard it and protect it and invest it wisely. And you have to ask yourself, am I doing the most important things that move the needle in my business? Is this something I should be doing? Is this something I should be delegating? Am I kind of squeezing the most value out of my superpower? And am I doing only the things that I should be doing and handing off any of the other things?

Lee Kantor: I think one of the biggest investments you can make as soon as you can afford it is to delegate kind of the non-moneymaking tasks to other people. The more time you can spend leveraging your superpower and doing the activities that move the needle in your business, the sooner you will be on your path to making more money and your business will become a success.

Lee Kantor: So, do some sort of audit. Make sure that you’re investing your time in the right places and make sure that you’re not just doing things just because you used to do them or no one else can do them. Invest in other people, delegate as much as you can, and just focus on the things that are going to move the needle in your business. That’s time well invested.

WBE Feature – Women’s Health Awareness: Postal Petals

May 30, 2024 by angishields

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On today’s episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor is joined by Talia Boone, founder of Postal Petals, a company that delivers fresh cut flowers for DIY arranging as a form of wellness and self-care. Talia explains the concept’s origin, its therapeutic benefits, and the challenges of educating consumers. Postal Petals offers national shipping and various subscription options. Talia also discusses her involvement with WBEC West and the advantages of being a certified women-owned business. She advises entrepreneurs on collaboration and using earned media for brand building.

Talia-BoonePostal Petals® Founder & CEO, Talia R. Boone, enters the floral industry after a groundbreaking career in sports, entertainment and social impact. She brings with her over 15 years of experience in brand strategy, communications, marketing, public relations, promotions, sales and strategic partnerships.

In addition to Postal Petals®, she is the Managing Director of INTER:SECT, a tactical solutions agency that serves as a catalyst for pioneering ideas, collaboration and creative opportunities that exist at the intersection of sports & entertainment, business, technology, consciousness, culture and the arts to promote socially and culturally relevant conversations leading to collective action resulting in measurable social impact.

Talia’s passion to help drive efforts to achieve long-standing, systematic social justice spills over into anything she does and that includes Postal Petals®, where messages encouraging consumers to register to vote and highlighting the frequent injustices against underrepresented communities can be found throughout the brand’s site and its social media platforms.

A native of a Los Angeles suburb, Talia is a graduate of San Diego State University where she earned a degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations. Talia is an advocate of civic engagement and collective social change as well as a lover of facts, experiences, art, culture and of course flowers. Postal-Petals-logo

Follow Postal Petals® on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here with Women in Motion. We have a great show today, but before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor. WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Talia Boone with Postal Petals. Welcome.

Talia Boone: [00:00:46] Thank you so much, Lee and I appreciate you for having me. Super excited to talk to you today.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Postal Petals.

Talia Boone: [00:00:56] Yeah. So Postal Petals is an immersive wellness and self-care company that uses fresh cut flowers and do it yourself flower arranging as a tool for creative expression, mindfulness, and therapeutic exercise. And so what we do is we partner with domestic flower farms to ship boxes of fresh cut flowers to our customers all across the country for them to create their own arrangements. Then we also do virtual and in-person floral design workshops. We’ve got some corporate offerings, a few other kind of key audiences that that we solve with our wellness solution.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:34] So let me get this right. Like it’s a subscription box that like, you know, some people do snacks or, you know, skincare, but this is flowers.

Talia Boone: [00:01:44] Yeah. So the best way that I can describe it is I think about like a mail delivery service where they send you all of the ingredients and then it’s left to you to make the meal with the ingredients that they ship you. That’s ultimately what we do. And you’re able to we offer it in three box sizes and you can purchase on demand, meaning you can do one time purchases. But we’re primarily a subscription model where people can subscribe to have rather than, say, subscribe to have flowers delivered to you once a week, every other week, or once a month. We we say, you know, subscribe to have your, um, your, your wellness experience, um, scheduled. So again, it’s a three subscription option, either weekly, bi weekly or monthly.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:26] And then the flowers come kind of loose. And then the individual just kind of uses them, maybe in multiple vases or however they want to arrange it.

Talia Boone: [00:02:35] However they want to arrange it. And typically that that’s the number one most consistent feedback that we get from our customers is that you get a lot of flowers when that box shows up. So you’re typically making multiple arrangements. And we have some people that, you know, have really big vases and are able to make a single arrangement with all of the flowers in the box. But typically what we find is that people make multiple placements to go around their homes or offices.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:01] Now, what was the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Talia Boone: [00:03:05] Uh, you know what? This was one of those ideas that came out of, um, a hobby turned, um, profession, but really came out of necessity. So many years ago, I started arranging flowers. Really. My first entry point to it was as a friend activity. Just something to do. Kind of different with a friend that, you know, was different from, you know, coffee or dinner or lunch or something. And I found it immediately just really relaxing. It just resonated with me. And I started to, you know, whenever I would feel stressed or anxious in any way, I would go down to the LA flower market kind of mill around, never knew the names of flowers, just would mill around and, um, just kind of pick whichever flower spoke to me which the colors of that that made me feel good for that day, the shapes, what I thought would look good together. And then I would go home, put on, you know, some, you know, kind of like soft music, pour cup of tea and just kind of lose myself in the process of arranging flowers. And it just really became kind of my go to form of self-care whenever I’d feel stressed or anxious, have, you know, a lot of kind of emotional weight on me. I would just arrange flowers and I could just instantly feel that pressure just start to relieve itself from me in the process of prepping them and arranging them stem by stem.

Talia Boone: [00:04:20] It just was always very therapeutic for me. And then fast forward to the very early days of the pandemic. You know, here in LA, we’re based in LA. Um, you know, we went on lockdown about the second or third week of March, and it was, remember, only meant to be for two weeks, and that two weeks turned to four weeks, turned to six weeks, turned to, you know, a year and a half. But by the sixth week, it was becoming really clear that this was not a temporary situation like immediately temporary situation. And, you know, I just, like everyone else, started getting really nervous and anxious around the uncertainty of it all. What does that mean for me, for my family, for my livelihood, all of these things. And I was stressing. The walls were starting to close in on me. And, um, you know, I was, you know, meeting with my therapist twice, sometimes three times a week at that point. And she was the one who actually suggested she was like, you know, Talia, I haven’t heard you talk about arranging flowers in a few months. Why don’t you try that and see if that helps you to calm down? Because I’ve been really successful using that as a tool previously, and I thought, oh, that’s a great idea.

Talia Boone: [00:05:25] Um, the main. Problem was that the LA flower market was closed because of the pandemic lockdowns. And so I figured, uh, you know, I’m sure everybody’s you can ship everything at this point. Anything can be delivered. I’m sure I can find a company that could ship me fresh cut flowers that I could arrange myself. But as I looked, I really I couldn’t find it. People were shipping finished arrangement, which is traditionally what what people are used to, um, when engaging with flowers. But I just could not find a company that would just ship me, you know, a bundle of roses, a bundle of dahlias, a bundle of sunflowers that I would then, you know, break apart and create my own arrangement. And so, um, long story short, it was really that journey that led me to recognizing that there was a hole in the marketplace and that based on my background and, you know, marketing, PR, branding, brand strategy, I knew that that I had the expertise, um, to, to fill that gap. And so that’s how the Postal Petals was birthed back in, um, early May of 2020 is when I came up with the idea. We launched in beta by July, uh, of 2020. And we’ve been we’ve been, um, going and growing ever since.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:34] Now, is it something that, um, you have to invest a lot of energy and time in kind of educating the consumer of this is even a thing to do to create these wellness outcomes that people desire. Like, because I wouldn’t think that this is top of mind. Like you said, it was difficult for you to find kind of a mixture of cut flowers just sent to you.

Talia Boone: [00:06:55] Yeah, yeah. Lee. And that’s a really great question because that’s exactly one, probably one of our biggest challenges, right. Like I always say, just again, going back to my experience in in branding, I always say, you know, there are two major obstacles that any new brand typically comes up against when they’re coming into market. First and foremost, is brand recognition, right, making sure that people know that you exist. Um, the second thing is help, um, you know, kind of making people understand why they would prefer you over the alternative. Right? And this is typically apples to apples, like, why I would choose Pepsi over Coke or, you know, something like that, like a kind of even comparison for us. We had a third obstacle, which to your point, Lee, is, you know, why would I even want to do this? Right? Because as I, as I, you know, um, alluded to earlier, you know, people are traditionally and really generationally conditioned to experience flowers as a ready to use product and buy ready to use product. I mean, professionally designed by a florist, typically just either, you know, picked up at, you know, a retail space or delivered right to your door. You, you know, you kind of sit it down on your table, maybe you take a few pictures and throw it up on the gram.

Talia Boone: [00:08:06] But that’s really the extent of your engagement with flowers. You don’t really think about them as an interactive experience, and you definitely don’t think about them as as an interactive self-care or wellness experience. So a huge part of of what we’re doing right now is really educating people on the benefits of arranging your own flowers, right? The idea of, you know, this being the floral, um, version of, you know, when people will say, oh, you, you know, you need to go touch grass, meaning go and connect with nature, right? And, you know, talking about gardening as a comparative for flower arranging, you know, both being, you know, when people talk about touching grass, it’s really what they’re saying is you need to go and connect with nature because that’s, you know, that those are those things like are scientifically proven to improve your, your well-being. And gardening is is also a known therapeutic. People who garden talk about how incredibly meditative it is and how therapeutic it is just to have their hands in the soil and, and just be working with the earth.

Talia Boone: [00:09:07] And so we a lot of our, our kind of messaging, um, with, with our flowers has really been around finding comparisons that people can understand. And, and then we do a lot of work in the community. Right. We host regularly, uh, what we call our free community wellness events. And it’s typically kind of curating an experience so that people begin to associate flowers in this way of, you know, of self-care and wellness. So we’ll typically start with movement, which is usually walking, hiking, or a gentle restorative yoga session followed by either a guided or sound bath meditation or a, you know, breathwork exercise. And then we have them take that peaceful energy into just a really relaxing, um, floral design experience. And we find that when people are kind of guided, um, through that journey and kind of culminating with that floral design experience, they get it right away because it is incredibly, incredibly relaxing. But that is that’s an obstacle that we, you know, are constantly coming up against and trying to find new ways to educate people on, um, not just, you know, the art of flower arranging, but really why why it’s a wellness and self-care benefit to them.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:24] Now, um, when you’re out in the marketplace, are you selling primarily locally, or is this something that anybody around the country can, uh, go to the website and order?

Talia Boone: [00:10:37] Oh, yeah. We we absolutely ship nationally. So the way that our that way that it works is we partner with domestic flower farms. Um, and then we ship the boxes of flowers all across the country. So we are an e-commerce platform for consumers. So they’re able to go onto our website and then select the flower recipe, um, that they like best based on the flowers that are curated in that recipe. They tell us what box size they want, and then they let us know, do they want just a one time purchase, or do they want to subscribe to receive that box again, weekly or bi weekly or monthly? And then we ship those boxes to them overnight via Fedex. Um, and we ship anywhere in the continental United States. And then when they receive that box, they open it up and right away they’ve got, um, they’ve got some instructions on what to do when they get their flowers. First thing is always, you know, give them a little trim and put them right in water and let them, you know, kind of hydrate and perk up for at least 2 to 3 hours. And that’s really because because we ship, you know, usually the flowers have been out of, of water for, you know, at least at least 18 to 24 hours by the time they arrive to their recipient. And so we give them some quick care tips to get their flowers to perk up. And then once their flowers have rehydrated, they’re able to scan a QR code on the box that takes them right to our website, where we start to kind of give them, um, some more specific design tips, uh, for, for those specific recipe that they have.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:04] So on your website, there’s kind of instruction or education about how to, you know, attractively design. Of Acer because I would imagine people haven’t had this experience before, so they don’t even, you know, they don’t want to necessarily. There’s probably no right or wrong, but they want to look good. So there’s probably techniques to make it look as good as it can. Right.

Talia Boone: [00:12:27] That’s exactly that’s exactly right. It’s it’s interesting. I appreciate you asking that because we’re actually in the process of, of redesigning our website and having it be one that will support a design app that we’re ultimately build, that we’re working on building out now, that’s really intended to kind of show people all the different ways they could design that one recipe. So they may have one recipe, and we may have, you know, 5 to 7 different design videos that they can tune into, um, that can show them different ways that they could arrange the flowers, you know, in their vase. Right. So it’s to say, you know, our box is for the three sizes that they get will come with, you know, six, 9 or 12 bundles of flowers. We will we always say to people, don’t feel like all of those flowers have to go together in a single vase. If you like two of the flowers together, maybe it’s a you have one arrangement that just has two types of flowers, one arrangement that only has one type of flower, one arrangement that has, you know, four of the six or, you know, just kind of showing people that they don’t really have to be, um, just because we curated them together in a box doesn’t necessarily mean that they all have to go in a single arrangement together.

Talia Boone: [00:13:36] It’s really kind of a more, um, holistic, uh, esthetic curation to say that these flowers, when placed in proximity, will all look good and we’ll all look good together. And so, um, yes, they can go on to our website and see, um, design tips. And, you know, within the next I think probably I think 4 to 6 weeks, we’ll have the new site up where they’ll be able to see even more design videos and tutorials for the recipes that they have. We’re actually really excited about that because, you know, again, that’s one of the things that that we’ve heard from our customers most is that they’d love to see more tutorials, more videos that kind of support them, um, through that design experience. Because to your point, uh, for the most part, most of them have not, you know, they’re novice. They’re very new to this experience. And so the more that we can support them, um, the more they’re willing to to give it a try.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:26] Now, can you share a little bit about the reason you decided to become part of WebEx West?

Talia Boone: [00:14:33] Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s an easy one. I’m all about finding your community and finding your people. And, um, I just I met a couple of of women who were, um, a part of Webrequest and, and, uh, um, were, were certified women owned businesses, and they just, you know, really raved about the way the women worked together, the way they collaborate, but also the way, um, we bec uh, overall, we bec West in particular, really goes out of their way to curate, um, experiences and opportunities to get you in front of, um, your in front of corporate clients, which is, you know, again, when I talked earlier about, you know, we we have several key audiences, one of which being um, corporate partners. And there’s the, the opportunities that exist when you become a certified WebRTC, uh, member just cannot be matched. Right? Because when it’s almost like giving you an extra leg up and, and point of entry when you’re trying to get connected to brands that you may not currently have, you know, relationships with, they they set up opportunities for us to, you know, pitch them on our products and services, actually talk to them about how we can make our offering more compelling, you know, so that we can, you know, be, um, more likely to, to land contracts and those kind of things, they, you know, help us with, you know, creating capability statements so that we we know that the, you know, kind of initial, um, presentation explanation of capabilities and services are being presented and laid out in a way that, that, um, that corporate, um, um, partners and potential clients would, would want to see. So it’s just, um, it’s been a really, really incredible experience. I actually just earlier this week, um, uh, submitted my renewal, um, for them, we renew every year, and I don’t anticipate a time when I won’t be a member of, um, of WebRTC, in particular WebRTC West. I think that their, their programing and the way that they support their members is, is bar none.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:34] Now, um, it would be remiss for me not to ask you, since you are a marketing and branding expert, any advice for the entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur out there? Like, what are kind of foundational elements of branding and marketing that you would recommend somebody explore if they have a new venture like yours was new in a space, and you were kind of creating that space. Um. Any advice?

Talia Boone: [00:17:00] Yeah. You know what the the two main pieces of advice that I give any, um, any new founder, any new entrepreneur is first and foremost ask for help because you’re likely going to be doing something that you’ve not done before. And it’s there are so many people that want to help you. They just need to know that you need help. So absolutely, absolutely ask for help and allow people, um, allow people to be of service to you by helping you to grow the business that you’re that you’re, that you’re building. The second thing would be collaborate, collaborate, find other people to collaborate with. Right. I always, I always say one of the core, um, value tenets of, of postal petals is that African proverb that says, you know, if you want to go, um, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. And I just believe strongly in the power of collaboration, you know, cross, um, cross branded, uh, collaboration on social media for giveaways, those kinds of things. Whenever we do giveaways, we always do them in partnership with at least one, but sometimes up to 3 or 4 other other, um, emerging brands.

Talia Boone: [00:18:08] And that’s because when you’re when you cross promote, you’re able to introduce your product and service to their audience and they’re able to introduce, um, their product and service to, to your audience. And it’s just a really great kind of cost effective way for you to expand the visibility, um, of, of your brand. And then the third thing that I’ll say, and this, this probably comes from my, you know, kind of professional training as a, as a, as a, as a publicist is never underestimate the power of earned media. You know, most of the time when you’re starting a new company, you know, you’re bootstrapping, meaning that you have very limited resources and earned media is an excellent way to gain brand recognition and to get the word out about, um, your story and what and what you’re doing. So, um, I would say, um, ask for help, collaborate and really, really, um, you know, focus on earned media in the early days as much as you can.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:06] So, um, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Talia Boone: [00:19:11] Uh, you know, this is this being on right now is a huge help for me because, you know, for us, it’s all about continuing to, you know, to spread the message. You know, right now we’re in the throes of Mother’s Day promotions, and we’ve got a really exciting workshop that we’re that we’re rolling out for Mother’s Day that we’re super excited about, where we celebrate, you know, not just traditional moms, but, you know, people who are mother figures, you know, um, women who are aspiring to be mothers and really curating a space that’s safe for moms in all walks from all walks of life, in all stages. And so for us, it’s, you know, just continuing to push our message out, continuing to, um, to let people know that we exist, let people know that, you know, there’s a new way to experience flowers, there’s a new way to experience, um, self-care and its postal petals. And you know, where, uh, postal petals. Com and at postal petals across all, um, digital platforms. And so we’d appreciate people, you know, visiting our pages, liking our pages. Subscribe to our newsletter. Um, and, you know, purchase our box for themselves for a friend. Um, and just, you know, continue to spread the word about about floral healing and floral wellness.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:21] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Talia Boone: [00:20:26] Oh, thank you so much, Lee. I truly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you again for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:31] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see y’all next time on Women in Motion.

 

Tagged With: Postal Petals

BRX Pro Tip: Launch Conversation with Lee & Stone

May 30, 2024 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Launch Conversation with Lee & Stone

Stone Payton: Well, Lee, I think it’s fair to say that we’re beginning to hit our stride in terms of expanding the network, bringing on entrepreneurs in various communities across the country, bringing them into the Business RadioX family, setting up these new Business RadioX markets for these licensed studio operators. And I wanted to ask you, just getting started launching a new Business RadioX market, what are some things you’d be thinking about? What are some of the first few steps you would take? Let’s talk that through a little bit.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think at the heart of our business, it’s always the guests, right? It’s important to identify who the right guest is for the show. So, the first thing I would do if I was launching a studio in a new market would be to build this kind of dream list of guests. And that would be business associations that were in the market. I would identify referral partners. But, ultimately, it’s who are the businesses and the business people that I want to invite on the show to be a guest, to have them come on and share their story.

Lee Kantor: And I try to build this list both via build an email database of all these people and a LinkedIn database, so I have access to these people so I can ask them to come on a show without having to pay money to attract them. So, I would be connecting with them on LinkedIn and I would be building an email list in a CRM system so I can periodically send them content and send them invitations to come on shows. So, that would be my first move is kind of building this database of ideal guests for my house show.

Stone Payton: Yeah, and I’m the same way. And I would complement that with the activity I’ve already have some history doing. If it is my local community, which is typically the case when we’re setting up a new licensed studio operator, but I would start to socialize the idea that we’re launching the studio, and so the people that I’m already in relationship with, that’s another way to serve them and to get some buzz and some energy around it.

Stone Payton: So, while I would want to think through very carefully who I need to be in relationship with that I am not, I would also want to capitalize on those relationships I already have with people who, of course, have their own network. It’s kind of a balance, right? Like make sure you have a critical mass of people that you want to be in relationship with, but at the same time don’t be too scared to cast a little bit of a wide net. Have other folks from the community in there, give them a chance to share their story, promote their work, because one thing we have learned over the last 20 plus years is guest flow. I mean, that is the machine. That’s the cog that makes this whole machine work, isn’t it?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s so important to build that pipeline. And that’s always a great place to start is to start with people you already have a relationship with and just kind of, like you said, evangelize to them in saying, “Hey, I’m doing this thing, I would love for you to be a guest. And oh, by the way, do you know any other business people that are doing interesting things that I can connect with so that I can invite them on as a guest?”

Lee Kantor: Because, like you said, a good guest usually turns into two or three other good guests because you don’t know who your friend knows and your friend doesn’t know who their friend knows. So, it’s a great way to elegantly and organically build up your potential guest list is you start with people you already know and then just kind of ask people for referrals for other interesting guests.

Stone Payton: So, that’s a great start on a path to genuinely serving, actually helping people. What do you think the lead playbook would be? Again, you’re not brand new to the community, but you’re brand new as a licensed studio operator, what do you think the lead playbook would be in terms of beginning to actually make some money with this thing?

Lee Kantor: Right. You have to have, I think, two offerings to begin with. You need kind of a low price offering for people who can’t afford what, really, you want to sell is this higher ticket sponsorship. So, I would create some sort of a community partner program that sells a low price kind of a branding opportunity.

Lee Kantor: People who want to attach their brand to the Business RadioX brand locally in the marketplace, and that could be $100, $200 a month thing where their logo or their link to their website is on all of our email communications or on the website, things like that. Some digital branding opportunities for community partners. Give them access to the platform in terms of they can invite guests. You know, do things that don’t cost a lot of money, so that all of that initial money is pretty much just pure profit. So, I would have some community partner offering at go.

Lee Kantor: And, also, I would have some done for you, done with you business type show offering the associations, the chambers, the executive MBA programs, some of these larger institutions that we can be doing interviews of their clients or members or their students on their behalf and sell that at a good price, you know, usually in the $2,000 to 5,000 a month range. So, something that they can afford, something that is very tangible. It’s done for them for the most part.

Lee Kantor: Also, give them a chance to come on and be smart and create the thought leadership, and then also spotlight their existing customers or members or clients, so that you create a flow of content that’s shareable, that their people can share, that their sales people can share, that their organization can share, and that you can execute pretty easily on their behalf. So, those would be my first two moves until I had enough revenue to graduate to having my own physical studio in that market.

Stone Payton: So, going back to that done for you offering, I mean we’ve got some good use cases, maybe talk a little bit more, dive in a little bit more on because you’re actually the lead on executing it for one of our clients and it really is almost entirely done for you. And they’re getting tremendous benefit and we’re making a nice margin, yeah?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So, like I said, we work a lot with associations and membership groups where we’re interviewing their members. This provides a tremendous value to the members. It helps keep them sticky. It helps them feel good about the relationship. And one of the deliverables back to the association is, during the interviews, I typically ask for some sort of a testimonial, like, how has this group helped you or impacted your business? And they are happy to share an anecdote.

Lee Kantor: And so, we’re able to capture, you know, tons of this type of content that’s super important for the association because they don’t get that kind of organically. And then, we’re able to elegantly deliver that to them as a standalone piece of content that’s just part of the interview that we just kind of sneak in there. And so, that’s a big part of the offering.

Lee Kantor: And then, also, we periodically facilitate some sort of a roundtable or a discussion with the executives of the association that allows them to be the thought leader that they are, and to share their wisdom and knowledge, and facilitate a kind of robust conversation about their work and their mission and things like that. And that’s also an important deliverable back to them in terms of content that might be difficult for them to create on their own and then to have it being facilitated by us.

Lee Kantor: This third party established business talk network is important for them in terms of credibility and then it creates a ton of content. I mean, we’re just creating so much content for them to use in a variety of platforms throughout their whole kind of media mix. So, we’re creating the audio, we’re creating digital text, and then they can use that for video. We’re posting it everywhere. So, it’s just a tremendous amount of value and it’s pretty much done for them.

Stone Payton: And another core revenue stream for us that I’m going to ask you to dive into in some detail here in just a moment is the done with you in studio but, of course, it pretty much requires having a physical studio. But I’m thinking a good half step between what we’ve talked about, the done for you and kind of the community partner revenue streams, a good half step before making that commitment to establish a physical studio.

Lee Kantor: There’s equipment available now that’s pretty darn portable. And there are facilities now, you know, co-working spaces and other places that would be delighted to have you come in whether you’re in it or will you strike some kind of deal. You come in every Friday or two Thursdays a month, and you could actually take this portable equipment, you know, have radio day down at the local chamber or the bank or the co-working space, and you could start to ease into that physical studio kind of dynamic.

Stone Payton: What do you think about that as a half step before going to what I know I want to talk about and the company was actually founded on, which is, you know, a full physical studio?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think that that’s a great half step. And the equipment that you use for this kind of portable situation can easily transfer to that, you know, full-blown physical studio. So, it doesn’t have to be an or, I mean you can use the same equipment for both things. So, it’s one of those things where that could definitely work. It just requires you to then start feeling comfortable in and around this type of recording equipment and make sure you have your redundancy and all that stuff, which obviously we teach all of that.

Lee Kantor: But I think that that opens up and unlocks way more revenue streams. Now, you’re doing live events. Now, you’re showing up. Like you said, you could show up at golf tournaments. You can show up at trade shows, conferences. You can go into their office and just interview their people or their customers. So, radio day is a great half step to go in and start unlocking more and more of the revenue streams you get with Business RadioX.

Lee Kantor: I mean, when you look at it at the end of the day, there’s dozens of ways to make money with our platform. And the more tools you have at your disposal, the more of them you can access. So, yeah, that’s definitely a great way to go about taking the brand that you’re working with and then giving more and more people the opportunity to share their story in a variety of places and ways.

Stone Payton: Okay. Let’s talk about the bread and butter way of helping people and making money. The company was founded on this. You’ve got it pretty well baked, man, and very transferable. But let’s walk through some of the key tenets of that.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. At the heart of our work and the way that it began was helping B2B professional services, people in local markets meet those hard to reach people in person, face-to-face in an elegant, non-salesy way. It was helping them differentiate themselves from everybody else because they were creating a show that was spotlighting and supporting and celebrating the work of the niche that they work in.

Lee Kantor: The people that are the most important to them are invited on as guests. They come into the studio. They get a full-blown studio experience with microphones and headsets inside of a studio. It’s a photo op. They take a million pictures. It’s just a really intimate, great way to build and deepen relationships with the people that are most important to you.

Lee Kantor: And that is our bread and butter. This is what we do for folks in all of the studios all around the country. And this is where we help in those local markets. Those professional service experts who might feel like they’re a commodity, they’re just like one of a bunch of them, this helps them differentiate themselves and position themselves as that indispensable leader in the community that are doing the hard work of telling the stories of the folks that are in their niche and in the industry that they’re working in.

Lee Kantor: So, that’s the bread and butter. That is really the heart of the business in a lot of cases that have physical studios, because every day we’re interviewing real people in person, face-to-face, and helping people build and accelerate their relationships with those people who are most important to them.

Stone Payton: Well, this has been a refreshing and revitalizing conversation for me, man. I’m ready to ramp up and do it all over again. But, yeah, anyone who’s listening, if it’s a conversation you’d like to have and you would like to explore the idea of joining the Business RadioX family, becoming a licensed Business RadioX studio operator, let’s talk it through. There’s a tremendous opportunity there, first and foremost, to leverage the platform, just like you would do with your clients – and we’ve done for 20 plus years – to grow your existing business.

Stone Payton: And as Lee has described, I think, very well, there is also tremendous opportunity to genuinely serve, to help people, and make a very comfortable living while you’re doing it there in your local community. If you’d like to have that conversation, just reach out. My direct line is 770-335-2050. My email is stone, S-T-O-N-E, @businessradiox.com. And we’ll set up some time and talk it through.

David Samaha Interviews Host Sharon Cline

May 28, 2024 by angishields

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David Samaha Interviews Host Sharon Cline
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David Samaha turns the tables on host Sharon Cline, as he asks the questions in this episode of Fearless Formula.

Listen in to hear about Sharon’s background, and how her interest in radio brought her to Business RadioX®.

David-SamahaDavid Samaha is an ASE Certified Technician. In 2014, he started Diesel David, which eliminates the frustrations of working with a repair shop. His services are 100% mobile.

David’s customers love him because he saves them time, money, and heartache. No more waiting rooms, no more sheisty mechanics, and the best part is you get to drive your car or truck with confidence!

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I am your host Sharon Cline, and thankfully in a month it will be the two year anniversary of Fearless Formula and I’m going to have a new intro and I’m very excited about that. And also, third time is a charm because today on the show I’ve got Diesel David, who is one of my most favorite people, David Samaha. Hello.

David Samaha: Hello, Sharon. How are you doing?

Sharon Cline: I’m good. I’m freaked out, actually.

David Samaha: You’re a little bit nervous.

Sharon Cline: I am, I don’t like it.

David Samaha: So there’s this study that I recently saw where the brain cannot tell the difference between anxiety and excitement.

Sharon Cline: Okay.

David Samaha: It is what we tell the mind that it is.

Sharon Cline: Okay, then I’m excited. Right? Is that what I’m doing? I’m reframing. So this is a different show today for me. So that’s why I’m nervous.

David Samaha: Why is it a different show for you?

Sharon Cline: Because I asked the questions. I like being on this side where I’m like, David, tell me about your dreams. Tell me about how you made them come true and inspire other people to have the same kind of feeling that you do, but instead you’re asking me questions. Which the reason why I agreed to do this show, seriously, is because, uh, Joe Cianciolo, who we both know, Front porch advisor Joe, um, told me that one of the things that I can do to help connect with listeners is actually allow myself to to have the same vulnerabilities that I’m asking guests to have. So this has been on my mind for probably six months of sure, I’m going to do that someday in the future. And so when you asked me about….

David Samaha: I said, have you ever been interviewed?

Sharon Cline: And I was like, not on my show.

David Samaha: I was like, we should do it. I was like, let’s. And you’re like, okay? And I was like, when? And you’re like, da da da da date. And then I messaged you last week. I was like, hey, what was that date?

Sharon Cline: I was like, oh yeah, you didn’t forget about that. Okay. So anyway, it’s today, today’s the day. So I’m excited but nervous too. So I’m going to try to reframe it as excited. I don’t know why this like makes me uncomfortable because the the truth is I, I love asking questions and kind of understanding other people’s lives. Like, what is it like to be you for a little bit? But it’s interesting because I don’t think as deeply about myself as I do about other people. So this is fascinating.

David Samaha: Do you think some of our listeners have that have a similar tendency?

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I.

David Samaha: Do, to think more about others than, than oneself.

Sharon Cline: I do.

David Samaha: Do you I think absolutely.

Sharon Cline: Okay. It’s a lot easier. I think it’s very easier.

David Samaha: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. Okay. It’s going to be fine. Yeah. Because this is.

David Samaha: Fun. This is going to be good. So I wanted to start by understanding more of your background and your journey to. Because you’re not from Cherokee County. That’s right. Okay. So you came here and you got into to radio. Yeah. So how did how did that happen about your life on, like, what brought you to Cherokee County and then how you got into being a radio show host?

Sharon Cline: Okay. So, uh, I moved here from Florida in 1995, so I’ve been here almost 30 years, so it feels like home to me. Lived in, uh, Forsyth County for a good bit, but then about 21 years ago moved to Cherokee County. So I kind of consider it more my home now, Cherokee County. Um, but being on the radio, um, I had gone back to school, um, in 2009, 2010 to get my degree. And I went to Kennesaw State University and worked at the radio station there. And I had a couple different radio shows that I did, and I loved it and thought, that’s where I really would go for my career. Um, but I wound up going into the network television field, which is great, but always loved radio, always just loved the freedom of being able to ask questions and make it kind of my own, which is what I did at the station at the Owl Radio. And so when I met Stone at our networking meetings, Stone owns the studio here. He’s one of the founders of Business RadioX Stone Payton. He, uh, he had me on the show like two years ago or so, and we had talked about the fact that I had worked in radio, and if he ever needed someone to be a backup for him doing producing, that, I would be happy to do it. So it just kind of naturally unfolded that way. He was really generous with me and allowed me to, um, kind of decide how I would like to frame the show and who I would like to have on it, and it’s just been the biggest blessing to my life, I have to say. It’s like my happy days are Fridays because I get to talk to people.

David Samaha: Oh, that’s so fun. Thanks. So was it would you say Stone was your inspiration to get into radio or what?

Sharon Cline: It was it was, I would say, Stone because he I had wanted to work at a radio station at one point, but I really just needed the stability of an everyday job. That I could count on that didn’t require me to have weird hours, because at the time my son was young and I needed to be home. So I really went to stable route, stable, steady job. But then when I met, when I got into voiceovers and started doing books, which was in 2016, um, in an attempt to, um, expand my network, I started to go to our networking meetings that we go to here in Woodstock, and that’s how I met Stone. And when I heard he was in radio, I was like, well, maybe he needs voiceover work. Maybe he needs people, you know, to do announcing. And I didn’t really understand what Business RadioX was or whatever I just heard. He said radio. And then we became pretty fast friends. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in the world. And, um, he was just so sweet. Allowed me to be part of this. We also work on Main Street Warriors, which is a whole other program that’s associated. He’s wearing a shirt right now. Diesel David is, uh, yes. So that’s also another little avenue of Business RadioX that I get to participate in occasionally. So it’s been just so much fun, so much fun for my life. And I love how I get to know people in the community right next to me, right around me. How many times have I seen you at the networking meetings, having you on the show and actually devoting time, just you and me and also Brendan, who was here just being able to have a discussion in a room where there’s no distraction, there’s no other place I need to be, fosters such a sense of friendship and understanding that I don’t get when we’re in big networking meetings or on the street.

David Samaha: That’s what I love. That would that would make me want to have all sorts of people I know.

Sharon Cline: Right?

David Samaha: Like, it’s.

Sharon Cline: The truth.

David Samaha: And it’s not even it’s not so much of the interviewing and and the getting to know it’s I think it like is the authentic time. Right. Like the quality time.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Quality time. That’s a great way to look at it.

David Samaha: I think that’s like where the joy and like where the beauty. Yeah. In what goes on in this room.

Sharon Cline: Oh, that is so inspiring to me. Thank you. It’s true though, because when I am finished with an interview, most of the time I feel like I really know someone. And if and we’re friends somehow. It’s been an hour and I didn’t know you before, and now I feel like I know you and I genuinely want to understand, and I have no other motive than just what could other people glean from your experience that could be inspiring for them to follow their own dreams? I mean, that’s the goal, really. What keeps you from allowing fear to stop you? So yeah, it is a it is a sacred space that way for me. And, um, it is genuine, at least on my end. I think it’s genuine.

David Samaha: Some fake ease in here.

Sharon Cline: I haven’t really felt that yet, but that’s the thing. It’s like, maybe I. Maybe I just don’t know. I see everything through my lens and it all is the same, you know? But maybe.

David Samaha: Wow, that was prophetic. Thanks. I was I keep.

Sharon Cline: I go deep sometimes it.

David Samaha: Was like effortless. You’re like yeah that’s just that’s so you mentioned voiceover. Is that radio or is that something that’s different?

Sharon Cline: It is different. There are many, many avenues that voiceovers affect many different places that you can hear someone using their voice. But my goal when I started to do voiceovers was to be able to do a book, but in a tiny, tiny, tiny version of it because books are, you know, laborious. And I’m a producer of the book as well. So it’s intensive and I’m fine with that. But it’s I agree with doing that when I signed to do a book, but for voiceovers, you kind of, you know, 30s you’ll do an ad, you’re in and out. And that’s kind of what I like is, well, let me, let me do this, but in a quicker pace. So that’s why I went back. I went to school to, to learn how to be a voiceover artist and really be prepared to be in the industry. It’s very competitive. And I went to a school called called Such a Voice and they were wonderful and created my commercial demo and my narration demo, and that’s when I made my website and kind of tried to grow from there. But yes, there’s commercials that you can hear on TV, there’s radio, there’s um, oh goodness, I’m trying to like, you can definitely do books. There’s also, um, video games. That’s a big place to do. Well, um, animation is another place that I’m really working on. In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to a class that I’m going to learn a little bit more about that. So I’m trying to grow.

David Samaha: So you might see you on the on like an upcoming like Pixar.

Sharon Cline: Exactly. Well that would be the dream. The big dream I have. Okay. If I had to say that’s the big dream. Yes for sure. Um, but I, you know, it may be a minute before that happens.

David Samaha: Do you have like, any partiality towards like Dreamworks or Pixar?

Sharon Cline: Do not.

David Samaha: Disney right. Is there like one that you’re like, I want to work with these people? Because basically.

Sharon Cline: Yes, Disney would be great because my kids we watch Disney movies, you know, and it’s still just part of our sort of history. And every Disney movie that comes out, you know, we’ll watch. But I, you know, it’s so competitive. And I would love to make that my big dream. But at the same time I’m like, you know, that’s the big pie in the sky right there.

David Samaha: You’re also so talented.

Sharon Cline: Oh, this is the best interview.

David Samaha: So it’s like a matrix, right? Like you have the competition on the x axis and you have like talent on the y axis.

Sharon Cline: So that’s amazing X and y. Yeah I never thought about that.

David Samaha: And I think that your talent definitely a sense. And you’re not afraid to work hard.

Sharon Cline: No that’s true. You have to.

David Samaha: You also have a teenage son right.

Sharon Cline: Well he’s 21 now but yeah, he requires a lot of attention. I mean, as far as, like, being a parent to him because he’s still home. I don’t want to neglect, you know, my being in his life. So I still feel tied, you know, to home right now. Yeah.

David Samaha: That’s fine. So, like, I mean, because you were balancing what was it like to balance motherhood and launching a radio show two years ago? So you would have been 19, so you would have been a teen teenager, and.

Sharon Cline: You met him and talked to him about his car dreams, which, you know, he has big car dreams because you’re a diesel, David. You know, you’re in that whole world. Not only that, but your job is so successful and your business so good on you as well. Um, I it was a challenge, I think, because I didn’t know what I was doing. Um, but they’ve been my kids have been the most supportive in the world. I just love them. I got so lucky in the kid department. Very grateful.

David Samaha: So what? I’m trying to wrap my head around what makes you lucky in the kid department.

Sharon Cline: Um, I our relationship. That’s a good question. Our relationship? Um, between all three of my kids are. They’re very special to me, and, um, I, I love to observe who they are as adults. Can you hear the thunder? It’s, like, about to pour really bad outside the studio right now. I heard that I was wondering if you could hear it on.

David Samaha: Be like an ASMR. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: We’ll just take the mic outside. Funny. Yeah. So each of my kids, I love that I can appreciate who they are as just humans on the planet. Not my daughter or my son. It’s just, who are you? And how lucky am I that I got to have a hand in bringing these people to the world, and I just delight in them, you know? It’s just like, I love seeing what their journeys are like and how they’re different from me and how they’re alike, um, as I am. Is that how you say that? Yeah. So, I don’t know, we just they’re a really good people. They really care about other people. Um, they have a lot of resilience. Um, I’m very proud of of who they are and kind of admire that, you know, I’m related to them.

David Samaha: Wow. What a what a compliment. I think if I ever received that compliment from my mom, I wouldn’t know how to respond. I mean, because I think something that stands out to me here is your your kindness and support that you share with your kids. Because I think something that can be a tendency of so many people, right, is is like perfection. And that comes down to so many kids and they feel like they’re not good enough. And and that shows up in, in anger that shows up in like maybe isolation. And I don’t feel like that describes your kids at all.

Sharon Cline: No, no, I, I’m not perfect. I’m so far from perfect. So for me to look at them and expect any kind of perfection is unrealistic and damaging. And I wouldn’t want to do that to them because I could never live up to anything like that. I think one thing I really appreciate, and that I it’s one of the goals I have here on on this show, is that we all are humans on this planet, and we all are trying to do the best we can. And so I can I can ascribe that same philosophy to being a mother and putting my children in that same sort of lens of, you’re just, you’re doing the best you can. I’m doing the best I can, and some days I do better than others. But like, I am fully human. I’m all the things. I’m jealous and supportive and angry and happy. I’m every spectrum just depending on whether or not I’ve had enough sleep, whether I’ve eaten, whether I’m just, yeah, what is that day?

David Samaha: What is it? Halts like hungry, angry, lonely. Tired. Yeah. If it’s any of those four things and if it’s two of them, God help us.

Sharon Cline: I forgot about my God. I have to remember that I love it. Yeah, because I yeah, I would, I would just want them to be I want them to live their life however, they believe their life should be lived, as long as they’re not hurting themselves or somebody else. If they if that, whatever they’re doing that makes them happy and feel the most authentic to themselves. That’s what I want that for everybody. But yeah.

David Samaha: A, um. Almost like an abiding in, like, nonviolence.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Right.

David Samaha: And then. And then like. Like bowing to nonviolence would be, like abiding in their truth.

Sharon Cline: Oh my goodness.

David Samaha: So it’s like, be be in your truth, son, but not at the cost of someone else. Exactly. Oh, that’s so good.

Sharon Cline: Yes, that’s exactly it. I love the word abide. I never really thought about it like that, but that was a really beautiful way to phrase that.

David Samaha: You said, like, laborious or something. Oh, yeah. And I’m like, oh, we’re gonna learn on this show. No, we’re going to did I, we’re going to prep for college.

Sharon Cline: And no, you’re, you have, uh, you know, a way of looking at the world that is really cool to me. So I’m, I’m excited to see when you’re asking me questions, I’m like, okay. Because again, I like asking the question. So when you’re asking questions, my brain immediately is like, okay, so what? How does he think about this? You know, it’s like my brain’s working really hard right now.

David Samaha: That’s so fascinating because I feel like it’s probably working even harder since I don’t have any formal training. Well, right. Like like if, like, it’s like if I see someone talk about cars that doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it’s pretty exhausting to follow them, especially if it’s regarding a problem.

Sharon Cline: Because you know so much.

David Samaha: Because it’s like there’s a there’s a particular way that you would assess this problem and you would provide the data in that manner. And when the customer is like giving you this information and this information like everything’s out of sorts, you have to recompile it in your head to make sense. So I almost feel like you’re experiencing that in terms of having all of the knowledge and what an interview format looks like, how it flows and the like. Okay, I’m trying to get this emotion like all the way to the audience, right? Like my listeners. Right? It’s like, that’s who this is. It’s not just for the people in this room. Yes, it’s in a sense, it’s it’s selfless for like, what can I provide? What can these people get out of this type of value? Yes. Whether it’s joy or knowledge. Yes. You know, wisdom or inspiration. Yes. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: It’s true. But I also like it because it’s forcing me to exercise a muscle that I don’t usually exercise, which is vulnerability and kind of a profound way in a deep way. I don’t usually answer. I love asking because I know my motivation behind the asking is really for genuinely, for good and for understanding, but being on the other. And I do ask a lot of guests, you know, to be vulnerable or authentic. And I’m that’s my favorite place to be.

David Samaha: But what would you tell a guest that was struggling with being vulnerable? Like you could tell there’s just so much more depth and like, so much more there.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Um. So oftentimes before a show, if someone’s never done this before, I try to say, you know, it’s like we’re just at a coffee shop having a conversation because the truth is, I would most likely be asking those exact questions at a coffee shop where I’d just be like, tell me what it’s like to be you. You know, it’s not about the audience. And sort of, um, what do they call it, like gratuitous, um, displays of emotion or or, um, deep questions for the sake of an impact. It’s not about that. It’s more about what’s it just like to be you. And oftentimes at the end, of course, I just want every guest to be happy. At the end, they’ll say, that was great, you know, or they’re happy. And that that’s all I really want is for someone to feel heard and honored and, um, understood and valued for a little while because I think that is really missing a lot in life for most people, for a lot of people. So that’s what is like joy for me. That’s why it’s sacred to me, because it’s really honoring the human experience you’re in right now. It’s the whole goal for the show for me.

David Samaha: Do you feel like there was do you feel like it came natural to you to experience the human experience? Yes, yes, because I think it’s so unnatural for so many people.

Sharon Cline: I agree, I agree, I think I’m a weird person. I really think I’m a little odd. I swear, I think I’m a little bit of an outlier somewhere. My brain does not relax. It’s always thinking, thinking, um, I don’t really have a chill. I don’t have a shut off. I’m not a.

David Samaha: Doctor, but I think that’s a condition.

Sharon Cline: It’s called a weird condition. The outlier condition. It probably is. I don’t know, I, I’m a very curious person, and so but I also love, um, knowing I come from, like, when I’m interviewing someone, I’m coming from a place of, um. We’re your human. I’m a human, you know? What’s it like to be you and your human world and. I don’t. We’re the same, you know. We’re more alike than we are different. So if someone’s struggling in an interview, I will usually highlight an emotion like, okay, did that scare you? Or, you know, how did you work around the setback that you had? How did you get the courage to do it? What what was the feeling like that made you do it? Because those feelings are universal.

David Samaha: Yeah, well, things were a mess back in oh eight and oh nine. Yes. 2010. So where did you get the courage to go back to school? Like that was an undertaking?

Sharon Cline: It was um, so I had been married for 20 years, and I suspected that my marriage wasn’t going to last much longer. So I went to school in an attempt to be able to take care of myself because I had been a stay at home mom the majority of my married life, and I wanted to be able to take care of myself and make sure that I had some kind of degree or something so that I could be on my own if I if I needed to be. And so that was the impetus for going back to school. But I loved school, I absolutely loved school. And, um, would probably have been a lifelong student if I didn’t. You know how there are people that are what are they called, like a professional student? Something like that. I would have done that.

David Samaha: Probably five degrees.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Exactly.

David Samaha: On their sex.

Sharon Cline: Exactly. Because I just was kind of fascinated with seeing the world from a I think I was 38 or 39 when I went back to school. So seeing the world from an adult perspective and, and having it explained to me, um, almost as on a basic level to mostly 20 year olds, um, I just kind of saw it a little bit differently. And I was very determined to graduate, um, with the highest honors I could get because I thought, these are 20, 19, 18, you know, year old kids. I’m smart. I can do this. You know, like, I just determined, very determined to graduate with, um, you know, as high grade as I could. So I was very hard on myself with school, and I took it very seriously. Um, but I also knew that it was an attempt to make sure that I could at least take care of myself financially, you know, on my own, if I. If my marriage didn’t survive.

David Samaha: Yeah. That makes me think of the meme where it’s like there’s four pictures of the same person. So it’d be like, Sharon is a student, and it’s like, you look like a courtroom judge. You know, you’re like, so stern and, like, determined. And then it’s like Sharon as like a radio host and like.

Sharon Cline: What is it I know.

David Samaha: Well, so it it obviously you succeeded in taking care of yourself. And I can make that statement factually, just simply looking at your eyebrows because they are so manicured. I know I’m going to describe it for y’all. So there’s this a perfect amount of spacing between her eyebrows and then the shape of them. It just goes, it has this, this very nice radius that it follows. And I mean, they’re perfectly manicured and I it’s we’re on radio, which is, you know amazing like glad to be here but this these eyebrows need to be on TV. They need to be on TV.

Sharon Cline: So I hope I can replicate tomorrow and every day whatever I did today. Because that is so sweet.

David Samaha: I don’t think you did anything. I feel like just like.

Sharon Cline: No, I did.

David Samaha: Well, that’s so inadvertently put so much pressure on her. But the best part is, is no one will have anything to compare it to.

Sharon Cline: That’s so true. Whatever your imagination is, we’ll just make that.

David Samaha: As we move into quadrant two of Sharon on radio, she’s like, all smiles, super positive. I was like, on time. And for me, that’s running behind. Oh. And oftentimes. I saw on the big stuff. I’m like. 30 minutes, 15 minutes early. You don’t.

Sharon Cline: Give yourself that.

David Samaha: Time. I don’t like on time is not or, you know, on time is late on like the big stuff. But then like the normal things. It’s time is time is a spectrum.

Sharon Cline: Oh that’s fascinating.

David Samaha: So like like young professionals of Woodstock, I’m always there 15 to 30 minutes early like that. That’s an event that’s like a big deal to me. Yeah, that’s.

Sharon Cline: Our networking meeting. Yeah. So you’re always there early before 730.

David Samaha: Always there early before. Yeah, I’m usually there like 650 to like seven. Geez. And then so early. I know it’s so early. Um, yeah. So, like, you were just so gracious. Oh, like. Yeah. We’ll just get started. You’re like, it’s gonna rain. And I’m like.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, just be safe.

David Samaha: Does that have to? I was like, does that affect the audio quality? No, I didn’t understand. It was just like supportive. Yeah. Like okay. That was that was fun.

Sharon Cline: No I would feel horrible if you rushed here, you know, and something happened to you. So that would destroy my life, I think. So let’s just just take your time. You take your.

David Samaha: Time. Still not interviewed?

Sharon Cline: Oh, God. Yeah. That’s okay, I know. Oh my gosh, I can’t.

David Samaha: So so. Okay, so who would Sharon be as like a mother, right. If we had to fill like fill in that quadrant because I feel like you’re, like, bubbly and like smiley on the radio show, like, needs to be TV. Maybe we can settle for, like, a podcast video. Maybe.

Sharon Cline: So at some point, I think we’re moving in that direction. We have a couple cameras in here in the studio, but we don’t use them consistently.

David Samaha: More and more. Um, yeah, I’ve noticed more and more cameras come here. That’s right.

Sharon Cline: It’s a it’s a it’s a next venture, but it’s not like I like just rolling in here and not caring what I look like too. So that’s kind of nice.

David Samaha: Well, I think that’s part of the human experience. Right? It’s like it doesn’t have to. It’s almost like you could come in here exactly like. How you are now or in a day. Apparently, when you don’t care. Like what do you look like? And it’s like that could be. Almost like a Business RadioX video exclusive. Yes. Right. Does it have to be every episode? No, but it’s like whenever it’s like feeling. It’s like, you know what? Like, let’s let’s go live, like, let’s, you know, let’s kind of show people the energy we have going on here because some people are visual learners, right? Even if it’s just learning from a smile, it hits the cortex that much more.

Sharon Cline: That was amazing. Learning from a smile I love that. Well, okay, so yes, um, TikTok and reels and all of that. It’s very important. Um, but I just, I don’t know, I like being I don’t like being on camera as much as I like being, you know, just the voice. That’s where I’m happiest.

David Samaha: Like, I like being interviewed more than I like being on camera.

Sharon Cline: Which I don’t like at all. No, you’re making this fun, though, so thank you. I appreciate that.

David Samaha: You’re welcome. Okay, so if we went to the Motherhood Quadrant okay, that would be like quadrant. I don’t know you as a mother.

Sharon Cline: Truth. You know, me as just a networking person and voiceover and also business radio X but as a mom, um, okay, so I’m saying this knowing that my children may be better to explain it to you than than I.

David Samaha: How would your kids describe you in that quadrant?

Sharon Cline: Um. Optimistically, I’m going to say that they would say that I’m supportive and loving. Um, but.

David Samaha: So you’d have, like, a spatula. It’s like I.

Sharon Cline: Made fresh.

David Samaha: Linens. Like, is that what we’re describing? Okay.

Sharon Cline: When they were younger, I was very heavily into the mother role. I would stay at home, mom. I did what they needed. They were in classes and they took sports and whatever. I did the very classic stay at home mom things in the minivan. Absolutely. And loved being a mother to them. I always wanted to be a mother, so I felt very lucky that I got to have that experience and and still feel that way. Um, as they have grown and their lives have changed, two of them have moved out. I still just have the one home. I don’t my interactions with them are different, so my role shifted instead of being I’m still their mom and I still care about you and.

David Samaha: A call center.

Sharon Cline: I’m in a call center? Yes, like answering phones.

David Samaha: This is your. This is your mother. What problem may I solve for you today? It’s like, mom, all my laundry is pink because my roommate put in the blanket. Okay, here’s what you do.

Sharon Cline: Here’s what you do. Yes, I would love those calls. I can I can do those calls. It’s harder now, which is surprising. Wow. Actually, to say, because when they were younger and I was, you know, in charge of kind of a good bit of what they experienced in life, they were, uh, movable and according to what I needed that, you know, we’re having dinner now. We’re taking a bath now we’re going to bed now, um, and as they got to be teenagers and now are well, my oldest will be 29 next month. And then Rachel just turned 27 the other day. Um, and John 21, they’re my role is not I can’t control anything that they’re going through. Really. My role is to be support and to witness what they go through and to give them tools to help them manage whatever they go through. But I cannot control any of it. And my job is not to insert myself and give them my opinion. I don’t think that’s unless they ask for it. If they ask for it, I will give it. But my role is support is if they need me, how can I best help them navigate relationships or, um, you know, situations that they’ve been in. Um, so it’s harder because I cannot influence as much what their experiences are like. I just have to help them get through them if they want me to. Yeah, it’s harder for me. Do you feel like.

David Samaha: You have a sense of, like, need to know with them? Is that like, something that you try and keep at bay, or is that not really?

Sharon Cline: It’s a good question because my daughter actually, I just had lunch with her, my oldest, Grace, and she I asked her some questions and she said, how much do you want to know about this? You know? And I was like, well, this is a good question. How much should I know about this? Just a topic that we were kind of trying to figure something out about. And, um, some things are their experience to have completely separate from my role in their life. I don’t need to know everything. I don’t want them to feel a, um, that that judgment of mother onto them. Um hum. Um, they’re always my child, but they are. They’re they’re humans that were brought here to have their experience. And it’s not my place to influence that unless they ask for it and or unless I think they’re in danger. Um, and then, you know, or something horrible is going to happen, I’ll be like, listen. But mostly I try to observe what they’re going through and say, do you need, you know, be here for them. If they say, I’m struggling or what would you do? Or here’s how I would handle it. But, you know, their experience, their job is to grow and learn while they’re here. And I don’t want to hinder that. So witnessing them struggle. Very hard for me for sure, because I don’t want them to struggle and witnessing people being mean to them or whatever, not love them like I do is very difficult for me. I want them to be loved like I love them, but I also know they won’t be so. Having having to see them go through, have a very full human experience and know that I can’t save them from anything really is tough. For sure. But but but that’s okay.

David Samaha: Yeah. That’s what.

Sharon Cline: We do.

David Samaha: That’s. I feel like that’s more. That’s ideal. Oh nice. Right. Like way more than okay. I mean, I feel like that’s almost like a goal of parenthood, right? Because I think it’s so you get so attached to wanting the best for them. And then we don’t realize that we’re taking away the best, which is to be able to be present and experience your life. And it seems like you’ve actually really. Done a lot of work to make that be true for your relationship with them, I think.

Sharon Cline: And I think a lot of people when they because I had I’ve had like a tough childhood. So like growing up and seeing how I would have wanted someone to treat me makes me want to treat my children that way. If the support that I want to give them, I want the goal is for them, for me is to be. Resilient, you know, don’t let life knock you down too hard. Um, be able to get up and keep going and also care about other humans as well as yourself, and just live a life that is the most authentic to the way you think you should, whatever that looks like. Um, that’s it for me. I want them to just be happy. What makes you happy? You know, again, as long as they’re not hurting themselves or someone else, do what you got to do, you know, to make yourself happy. That’s it. Uh, I don’t know. I think, you know, when you when you grow up and you see things that you wish were different and you have an opportunity to do different than then, that’s like liberating.

David Samaha: Yeah. It’s great. This is, you know, we can rewrite. We can rewrite the story.

Sharon Cline: That’s exactly right. And in the same way, I get to reparent myself because I get to give them what I would have wanted. I get to experience it as if it were a little bit me. And although we’re different people, the support is universal. So I get to I rewrite, rewrite history a little bit for myself.

David Samaha: What do you what challenges do you face personally or professionally that shaped that?

Sharon Cline: Um, so I am the hardest person on myself. When I make a mistake. It’s it goes in the 2:00 in the morning playlist. Gosh. It’s awesome. It’s so awesome being me. Uh, yeah. So I think that I, I struggle with mistakes. I struggle with hearing, um, you know, the voices that are like, you should have known. It should be different. How could you let that happen? Why didn’t you? You know, the the. I don’t even know where those voices exactly come from. Outside of, like, maybe it’s parent related, but I think just knowing that I make mistakes is really tough for me. And knowing that, um, oftentimes now when I’m doing things, it’s out there in the world, it doesn’t go away. So it’s not, you know, it’s just it’s out there. So, um, I think that has informed a lot of the struggles that I have, because I have a lot of anxiety and a lot of worry, and, um, I don’t surrender as well as I wish I did to to the experience, to the journey. You know, the journey is the destination. I’m always like, nah, I got to get to the destination. What are you talking about? Like we suffer through the journey to get the. You know, it’s just I have to always reframe myself, reframe the way I think about it and calm myself down. Um, it’s tough because I’m, again, I’m my own worst enemy and no one is harder and no one says more awful things to me than me. And, um, so yeah, that’s that’s tough, but I’m I’m getting a little bit better.

David Samaha: I’m honestly. But I know that I’m not perfect.

Sharon Cline: No I’m not. That’s great. Yeah. I’m not, and nobody else is. But yeah, for me I think that’s that even though I say I know I’m not perfect, I if I make a mistake that I really didn’t want to make, that’s tough for me to forgive myself for. But do you find that is the same for you?

David Samaha: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. And I feel like the. I think that’s common for so many people. There’s this thing that I once heard that what is most intimate is what is most universal.

Sharon Cline: Oh, what? I’ve not heard that.

David Samaha: Yeah. So it’s like, that’s a very personal, intimate thing, right. To to not feel good enough.

Sharon Cline: Oh, yeah.

David Samaha: Or to feel like you, you are missing the mark.

Sharon Cline: 100% when like.

David Samaha: A lot of times it’s arbitrary.

Sharon Cline: And whose decision is it that’s good enough, right.

David Samaha: Yeah. Well, and and it’s what’s so fascinating is you have, I think what tends. To be true is like when we’re so hard on ourselves, then we’re hard on other people. And I think that you have. Cultured a lot of awareness around it to especially protect your kids right from this, like trauma and this, you know, perfectionism. Perfectionism. Yeah, yeah. To to to bleed over to them to be like, no, here’s what you need to do. Or, you know, like don’t do that. Like right to like almost like I think it’s so easy for many people to want to live and to actually, like, live out their kids lives. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: That vicarious thing.

David Samaha: Yeah, I.

Sharon Cline: Do, I, I mean, I do experience what they experience. So if it comes.

David Samaha: Down to what’s your action. Right. Like, yes. You know, I think that’s like so many of us. Will not even realize that we have a choice. And you know that you have a choice, and then you’re observing it, and then you’re changing your actions to be like, this is what I actually wanted, right? Because you didn’t have that reality, because your parents did not have the awareness and also the self-discipline to be able to create a disconnect between what was in their mind and what actually came out of their mouth. And here you are. Curing generational trauma really is what this comes down to, because your kids are not going to have the same trauma that you had, and your parents probably had that same trauma from your grandparents.

Sharon Cline: It’s there.

David Samaha: It’s literally stopped here with you.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, that’s one of the goals I had, was that I didn’t want them to feel the way I felt in many situations. Um, so check. However, it’s fascinating to me how different they are when presented with situations. I would respond a certain way. They would respond differently. I’m fascinated by that. How how different would I have been with a different upbringing? And that’s what I actually do here at Fearless Formula is I want to know, what is it like to be you and what was your upbringing like? And I wonder if I would have made the same choices that you’ve made, if I had your upbringing, or if I wouldn’t have? Do I like that? Do I not like that? Is that inherent to my personality? You know, I’m just very curious that way. My brain again. Yeah, doesn’t chill. But I appreciate your acknowledging that. It’s very sweet. I do want they just have their challenges will be different. They don’t have that same challenge that I did that I continue to battle battle. They have different challenges, but their life is still challenging. So but they just don’t have this one.

David Samaha: Yeah. So this is forewarning. If you have kids in the car, if you’re on children you don’t want to like, oh no, what are you so well okay. Yeah we’ll give it a second. So if you were just laughing and this is about to exit my mouth. So if you passed away. Yes. Today. Yes. Would you be happy with the life that you lived? Yes. I have zeroed out in that. I believe that wholeheartedly. Like, I mean, just the one. Just that little. Not even little. It’s the massive nugget that we unlocked about, like how many people can claim that they’ve stopped generational trauma? What an accomplishment.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. It’s funny. I don’t think it’s like.

David Samaha: A life goal. I feel like some people like. They’ll never accomplish that. And even even. And they want to.

Sharon Cline: Right, right. Uh. Thank you. I don’t even know what to say I. I don’t know. I think each generation, you know, their influences as we watch TV and as we grow and what we’ve been exposed to can help us think a little differently. So who knows what my children and their children will be like in terms of exposure and and accessibility to knowledge and how pervasive it is now to look at, you know, the words like narcissist and gaslighting and all of those kind of relationship dynamics that maybe 20 years ago were only heard if you were in therapy. So now it’s become such a normal part of our vernacular that they’re now going to normalize that, I believe, and then have an awareness of it that will create different relationships than what we’ve had in the past. So my parents and their parents and their parents did the best they could with what they had. And I trying the same. I’m sure if you were to look at a pendulum being on one side of a very abusive and the other side very permissive, um, you can, you can swing one way or the other and they’re, they’re damaging items, you know, results each, each side.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. So striking the balance of honoring, you know, my children and their human experience, but also worrying about them and, you know, hoping that they will make decisions that, you know, I know because I’ve been on the planet so long, you know, generally are not a good outcome. I don’t know, I can’t I want them to learn. That’s the best thing. I want them to learn and, um, and, and, and care about other people leave the world a little better, you know, because they were on it. That would be great. And I see that, though, with the relationships that they have and the interactions that they have with their jobs and things. So I’m that, you know, I couldn’t be prouder of just the fact that, like, I was I was part of of that. That’s like, I if I died today, that’s the legacy that I, I’m proud to leave for them. But I, I would also say I’m, I’m afraid of a lot of things, but I’m not afraid of making some changes that will align my life to be more authentically lived for myself, even if it’s scary, even if it’s I don’t know how it’s all going to play.

David Samaha: Has it always been that way for you? Yes. Really? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: I’ve always had that drive for freedom. That drive for control of how I want my life to play out. Um, so I was terrified, you know, to leave a marriage I’d been in for 20 years. I’d never been in the, you know, a business world or taking care of myself in a major way and didn’t know a lot. And. Uh, but I still. Did it.

David Samaha: You knew. You knew that there that it was possible.

Sharon Cline: Yes, and I was.

David Samaha: And you knew that there was access for that to be true for you. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Resources. Somewhere, somehow it’s going to work out. If it doesn’t, I’ll make a different decision and hopefully that’ll work out. Um, I don’t know.

David Samaha: So what I feel like that would be like, almost in like list format, right? If you could list off some of, like, the top resources that you saw or maybe even thought would be resources, and it was necessary to explore that to get to the actual resource. If you could maybe list off a few things for someone that is thinking about entering singlehood, right?

Sharon Cline: Again, something very daunting, like, yeah, what?

David Samaha: What would those things be?

Sharon Cline: I’m very grateful to, um, I’ve had some very good friends that have helped me to, um. Find people that can help me. So if I say, here’s my problem, oh, I know, I know someone who knows someone, you know, even finding my divorce attorney and all of those things, like really good people that led me along the way.

David Samaha: So you said wise, safe friends that you’re able to be vulnerable around?

Sharon Cline: Yes. That genuinely want good things, you know, that are that.

David Samaha: Aren’t trying to live your life for you.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Or control anything or want an outcome, anything other than my being happy. So yes.

David Samaha: Okay. How how do you know when your friends want to control you? Or we can literally get it.

Sharon Cline: So oh my God, I.

David Samaha: Feel like it’s way more that happens with women, right? I don’t feel like that happens as much with guys. Kind of like.

Sharon Cline: I never thought about that. I feel like.

David Samaha: Guys are just like, oh yeah, man. Like, don’t do that. That’s dumb. Or like, did you just need to go ahead and do that? Like, you’ve been talking about it for two years, like. It’s not just in relationships, right? I’m just thinking like guys in general, but I feel like I’ve.

Sharon Cline: Never thought about that.

David Samaha: This whole I’m a firm believer that if you go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, it is very telling of anyone’s struggles where like the the core core struggle. Right? So the feminine struggle is trust and the masculine struggle is worthiness. So when you had Eve, right, she didn’t was not trusting that God was going to provide all the knowledge that she needed, the plan that she needed to know. Right? So she sought control by going after the apple. And then Adam was there with her. So he witnessed all of this going down. And because of his own lack of worthiness, he was not strong and foundational enough to say, hey, we should not do this.

Sharon Cline: Wow. Interesting. I never thought about that whole story like that before.

David Samaha: Yeah, I really would like to have like. Some actual, like, philosophical, you know, explanation of this. This is only my own, um, hypothesis from from reading the Bible. Right. But it’s like. Yeah, I think that like with guys it’s worthiness. It’s. Yeah, they’re being passive. Like they wouldn’t judge another guy because they might. They’re judging themselves too hard. Oh right. And I feel like with women it’s like they want to seek control even with their friends. Right. So it’s like they’re not ashamed of what they have going on. So they’re willing to just be like, tell you how that you need to live your life.

Sharon Cline: So I have had relationships, friendships that have had more of a, um, an investment in the outcome of what my decisions were. And I’ve had to leave those friendships. And it’s some of it’s been somewhat traumatic for me. And, um.

David Samaha: Because then you beat yourself up because you’re like, I should have known.

Sharon Cline: Or.

David Samaha: Or I didn’t do it.

Sharon Cline: Should have been more generous, or I should have taken someone else’s feelings into consideration more as opposed, you know. Yeah. Um, but I also know that as I’ve evolved and continue to, um, if there are friends that can’t come along the journey with me. Um, and I’ve had to let let them go, then I’m actually making room for people who are wanting to go on the journey with me as I see my journey to be.

David Samaha: Oh, wow. So that would almost be like resource number two is like understanding that you’re you are capable, even if you had to let some people go along the way.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Which the irony is that the more authentic I became to myself, the more I lost some people that I didn’t want to lose and I could not reconcile. That was it was the antithesis of what I wanted. Um, but. I also, um, had to shore up myself to where, at the end of the day, am I being the most authentic to me? Is someone wanting that same, you know, journey for me, or do they want something for themselves in the end? Um, if they don’t want to, if they’re not aligning with me and aren’t congruent with me, then they can’t come. And I, I grieved it, I didn’t understand it. I went to therapy because of it. No doubt I was very confused. But I see now my friendships are in a very they’re in a different level for me because, um, I allow people in my space that are willing to be supportive in the way that feels, uh, congruent with.

David Samaha: That’s so cool.

Sharon Cline: Yes, but I had to I had to learn it the hard way. I had to grieve a lot, so.

David Samaha: Well, yeah, I mean, it’s something that isn’t. I don’t feel like we just know how to pick friends, right?

Sharon Cline: And. And women are horrible. I’m one of them. I mean, you know, we can be horribly mean and duplicitous and, um, you know, controlling is a is a great word. Um, there’s a lot of competition and a lot of different ways. And I am not a competitive person as a human on the planet. We’re all just humans on the planet. So for someone to feel competition with me is painful for me, because I just think you’re just like me. I am you, you are me. You know? We’re the same. Like, why are we competing? So I don’t know. That’s how I feel today. I may change someday, but right now I. I just feel like the friendships that I have and the way, the way that I have curated a small group, um, I’m grateful for and value very highly. And I’m good. I’m good where I don’t need anything else. Even even having time like this with you is special. But going out with my friend Tricia, I went out with her last night. Like there’s only so much time I have, you know, so I’ve kind of got, like, my hierarchy. And I try to feed those relationships by spending time with them or talking on the phone. Um, but yeah, I mean, women, women are, are pretty messed up in a lot of ways. But I really am grateful for just the perspective I have now of where I want them in my life, how I want to place them in my life. But it came through pain, a lot of pain.

David Samaha: And you feel like that was was that like a journey that you went on after you? Yes. Left your marriage? Yes. Okay. So to even get to that point, you were really you had to double down on your resources. Yes. So one of them was like asking right, the right friends for guidance and for like actual resources. Right?

Sharon Cline: Like people and support and emotional support. And what would you do if you know, this happened? How would you feel? Where would you go to get help if this problem was presented to you? Yeah, but I didn’t lose everyone. I just lost some very key people. But my, um, I still had some good friends that I could still talk to. And the bottom line being that I really was my best resource, I had to learn how to do it on my own. It’s the best way for me to become strong. And I.

David Samaha: Was just thinking.

Sharon Cline: That, yeah, so I didn’t. I had support, but the bottom line always came down to what did I really ultimately want? How did I see my life playing out? And, um, I had to figure it out on my own. I had to be good with losing people if it meant that I was being authentic to myself. And it’s like a muscle, you know, after after a certain point, you know, you just you do that enough to where you start to see relationships where. No, I see that tendency is not going to work for me, you know? Yeah. You just get stronger because you have because you have to. But ultimately it is, you know, your journey is yours and mine is mine. And we have I’m going to die alone, you know, on this planet. It’s going to be my journey is mine alone, you know? So I have to I have to be responsible to myself. Um, but I let myself down a lot, too, so, I mean, I say, I’m going to do stuff and I don’t. And, you know, I make plans, like, today is the gym. And then I’ll be like, no, you know, this TikTok is taking me way too long to go through. And then, you know, I don’t go that kind of stuff. So I still have work to do.

David Samaha: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we all do. Yeah, we all do. And I feel like that’s such a good example. Right. Like with social media and the asset that it can be. Right. And you live in that world like you are, you’re talking about like, um, you know, your kids and like their access and like just this generation’s access to media. And I’m like, you are media. Yeah, you are, you are, you are, you are radio. Like that’s true.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

David Samaha: And what a good. You know what a good resource to. Leave, right. So like, you know. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Well it gives me self esteem, honestly, to do something that I feel is, um, good in the world. I know my intention behind it and I, I’m grateful to have an area, an avenue, you know, to use to help, to have that experience that I feel like I’m loving on people a little bit. It it makes me feel, uh, good about myself at night, you know, when I put my head down, like I did try to honor people today. And not every day is the best day. But on these days, I feel lucky that I can do that. So, I mean, there are a lot of things I do wrong. Or, you know, if you want to judge wrong, whatever that subjectiveness is, but I can do better, whatever. But at the end of the day, I like knowing that what time I did have here, I got to love on people a little bit, or maybe make them happier a little bit, because you don’t know where that happiness exponentially can go, you know? You don’t know what it’ll mean for someone, or maybe someone will hear this and be inspired.

David Samaha: We don’t always know the outcome, what we do that will actually bring that truth. So it comes so much down to this, like authentic living, right? Like I had a friend messaged me the other night, um, and she was like, hey, um, I was just talking with my son about, you know, some personal things, like, you know, just how, like when you talk with kids and then they start rambling and, like, sharing, like, things that they remember about an event. And it was actually the passing of her mother. And it was at the funeral. And like, you know, it was shared publicly. And she was a friend of mine and I like stopped in to like, pay my respects. And I don’t know if they had food there or if I had food with me. Long story short, I remember her son was crying and I just like, gave him some, like, cheese puffs and like, that’s what like, I totally forgot about this. And she messaged me and she’s like, yeah, like he says, like saying he’s like, yeah. And I was sad until someone gave me cheese puffs. And then I was happy and like, that’s what he remembered from it. And like, I almost didn’t. I almost didn’t go, but like more so than that. Like that was just me being me, right? Like someone that’s a friend. Like, we didn’t go super far back, right? And I showed up and like to the point of, like, I was the only person in my friend circle that was there. So I immediately felt really awkward, like, oh, like, I shouldn’t be here. Like I’m an imposter because it’s like such a like it was like family, like very close family. So but it was like two years later for that story to come back to here. It was like, how cool is that? Right? So like when you come in here and you’re able to like ask questions, you don’t really have this agenda, right? You’re not trying to like, understand more about diesel mechanics. So that way you can, you know, fix your diesel truck. Yeah. You know.

Sharon Cline: What is it, diesel? David? It would be Chateauneuf. Diesel. Sharon. Something like that. Like, try to take something.

David Samaha: You could be like a Honda shadow expert.

Sharon Cline: Excuse me. No, the Prius, the Toyota Prius expert. Yeah.

David Samaha: Those are such great cars.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Gosh, thank you for saying that on radio. I really appreciate that. Brendan goat.

David Samaha: My coworker is like, man, I’m surprised that you don’t drive a Prius. Like, hybrids are really starting to grow on me. And it’s just funny because it’s like two guys that run a diesel shop, like talking about like, the practicality of hybrids. And it’s just, it’s funny. Um, how awesome.

Sharon Cline: For you to have a moment that two years later, you get to almost see it from a third party perspective because you don’t remember it. You know, you get to experience it in that moment of what I did, that you know, how awesome to see yourself that way. What a gift that is.

David Samaha: It was such a gift. It was it made me I read it and I like I had to take a pause because it had. It shocked me that much. And what I did remember was feeling like out of place.

Sharon Cline: Oh, like.

David Samaha: Almost like.

Sharon Cline: Feeling. The whole thing was.

David Samaha: Almost like regretting going. I mean, obviously I didn’t like, hold a regret about it, right? But like in that moment, I remember being like, I shouldn’t be here. But it’s like when you do things like just because you’re doing it authentically doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be comfortable truth or it’s going to be easy.

Sharon Cline: Or land the way you think it’s going to. Yeah.

David Samaha: Truth, right? Like how many times have we spoken life in our friends and it was not an easy conversation?

Sharon Cline: No, you’re right, I have this quote on my phone. It’s my screensaver right now that says the outcome has little to do with me. The process is what needs my participation. The process is mine, the outcome is not mine. And I love that because it means that I’m just in this moment, doing the best I can with what I know. The outcome is going to be what it’s supposed to be. Yeah, and I can’t control everything or everyone because I would if I could. Yeah, for safety, I guess. For safety. Safety above all else, I’m sure. But yeah. So I think that’s like what you’re saying. You were just in that moment and the outcome landed in a way that you didn’t even expect. So that’s actually super special. You know, you’re right. How often do we do little things that we don’t know where what the impact will be? But if your intention is for good, you just having the peace of like I did the best I could with what I knew, you don’t have to. I’m a mental torture person. But in those moments, you don’t have to mentally torture yourself if you’re just doing the best you can in that moment.

David Samaha: And I think sometimes of when. We’re not doing our best. We. Can simply look at evidence of what we did do when we were at our best, and then just do that.

Sharon Cline: Yes, that’s true.

David Samaha: Because it’s not always clear on what we should do. Especially like if you’re going through a season of life, if you’re going through some stuff. You’re not going to know what to do. Your judgment, your wisdom is not going to be at the level of when you are switched on and you are, you know, properly nourished and you’re like, not, you know, stuck in. Yeah, yeah. When you’re not stuck in like the base of Maslow’s triangle. Right. Like, oh, wow. So from then it’s just like we can go, like, empirically. Yes. And look back like. Okay. Well, when. Sharing eats noodles. She feels better, right? Like when David gets a good night’s rest like and then responds to this text like the conversation goes better. So it’s like, I’m just going to go to bed now, right?

Sharon Cline: So that requires self control. And there are days where I have more than others. But yes, I mean, I like that you talked about that. Maslow, Maslow’s hierarchy of need. You know, where the base is, the survival, you know, shelter. And then as you go further up the triangle to the peak of the triangle is like, you know, existence and the purpose of being here. So, yeah, there are days where I’m surviving on the bottom of that triangle, and then there are days where I get to touch on moments like this, where I get to talk more philosophically and, um, you know, esoterically, which I love. It’s like my happy spot. But I also love that what you’re saying is embracing, um, like what I talk about the human experience. Like there are going to be days where you do need to know where you are. Yeah, just you’re going to need to rest. Just rest, you know, but give yourself the space to not respond from, you know, the times where you know, you’re not 100%. I love that I’m a.

David Samaha: Huge fan of like, what can we do to set ourselves up for a more joyful life? And like, you don’t have to ascend from, you know, food, water, shelter up to, you know, stable family environment, up to, you know, through the ladder. You can skip that whole thing and all the like, exhaustion and energy that would be involved and just simply because it doesn’t take much energy to think about the past, you know, or to like, be like, okay, what would. Another thing that I like is like if I have like someone that I really look up to or someone that’s wise or like a mentor in my life, be like, what would this person tell me to do in this instance? Or what would I tell someone to do if they were in this? And it’s so easy, right? I don’t have to go through all those stages to be that person at that level to like, show up how that person would show up. Because guess what? In this moment, I’m not that person. So yeah, I’m a huge fan of this of this hack of like, look at what? Tell someone, look at what I would do if I was in a really good spot or what would someone tell me to do, not taking any of these things and then just do that.

Sharon Cline: But, you know, it gets bogged down with shame. So that’s a struggle for me is being able to look at myself. Third party. What would I tell if I were Sharon’s good friend? What would I say? But that comes with the other side of the coin of why didn’t I already know that? You know, why am I fighting so hard? What do I ultimately really want? Am I being lazy? You know the judgment and the shame. So I have to be better a little. Because what you’re talking about, I get, I completely get. But when the resistance comes with how do I not shame myself for needing that? So I gotta work on that rules.

David Samaha: Right?

Sharon Cline: Like rules. Whose rules?

David Samaha: What’s your rule? Right. You make a rule that sets you up for a congruent life, right? If that’s what you’re optimizing for. Yes. Is congruency alignment, right. Like what I try and optimize for is joy. And that’s something that’s an area that there’s a lot of growth opportunity in that in that area. We all have it for me. Right. But it’s like I mean your rule could be like, hey, like if I am struggling, like I will automatically map myself and on Maslow’s triangle, and if I’m in the bottom category or the second category from the bottom, then I will. Handle things this way, right? Like if I’m, if I’m in the bottom or next to the bottom, like, then there’s no judgment because I am going to do things in a survivalist mindset. Correct? Correct. So then it’s no, there’s no judgment. There’s no room for judgment because you’ve already said like, okay, now if I’m here, here, like I’m going to expect the most out of myself because I can actually deliver the most nice.

Sharon Cline: I love that it’s a hack, like you said, a life hack.

David Samaha: It’s not a it’s not ambiguous anymore.

Sharon Cline: No it’s not. I love that because.

David Samaha: You’re either there or you’re not.

Sharon Cline: And either way, it’s okay. Because I have a plan. Yeah. And I don’t have to judge myself for needing the plan. I got it. That’s nice. Um. Thanks, diesel. David.

David Samaha: You’re so welcome. Sharon. So one thing that I wanted to get into, and I know we’re closing in on our time, was. You ride motorcycles?

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh. Yeah I do. And so in 2016, I took a riding course at one of the Harley dealerships here in town. And I always wanted to, um, at the time I was dating someone who did ride, so I was like, that’s it. You know, I want to ride to and really loved it and took the class twice. And then I took the advanced riding course, and, uh. You’ve got a motorcycle that I still have. And, um, you know, thinking of expanding and getting a different motorcycle at some point. Um, but I really enjoy the camaraderie in the motorcycle community. I think it’s gotten a bad I mean, it’s maybe a justified rap. However, it’s some of the most wonderful people and most solid, kindest, funniest people I’ve ever met has been on a motorcycle. And, um, it’s just a major part of my life. I mean, I’m sad it’s raining all weekend. It’s Memorial Day weekend, and I’m the saddest person because I, you know, would love to go out tomorrow and just go for the day and go ride somewhere and explore the world. And I don’t know, part of me likes that. It’s unexpected. There’s just always a little part of me that’s like, yeah, I ride, you know, as.

David Samaha: You wear a Harley Davidson shirt and have like, I know, right? Like hard metal necklace on there’s like ball bearings and this like this black tank top with like a, there’s like a goose riding a motorcycle. There’s two geese that say Harley Davidson.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. So true.

David Samaha: Like on the beach, like bum bum. Like riding away from the sunset. They’re like, this ain’t a happy shirt. Like we’re hard. We don’t. We don’t ride off into the sunset. We ride out of it. We go and we say goodbye. We’re going ladies.

Sharon Cline: It does. It’s funny though. It’s like lots of women in particular, being part of a women’s writing group called The Leader’s Atlanta. Here in Atlanta, um, a lot of people don’t see women writers as being, um, a large part of the demographic. And they are they grow every year. So I, you and I both have a mutual friend and a coworker. I met her through the leaders. She’s become one of my best friends.

David Samaha: She yells, gang leader.

Sharon Cline: Gang leader.

David Samaha: That was that was my original question. So. So you’re a part of a biker gang? Yeah, I’m.

Sharon Cline: Part of a biker gang. Sure, yeah. Girl gang. I call it my girl gang. But it’s not a gang. It’s just a collective of women that ride once a month and we have a bike night and, you know, just nice people. Just the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Um, so far that I’ve experienced. But, yes, I mean, lifelong friendships can come from that, you know what I mean? Like, um, you do life together in certain ways, and I’ve had some of the most joyful rides where I’ve cried because I’m so happy and, uh, just it’s spiritual for me and, um, very important. And thankfully, my children are very supportive of the times that I go riding. And, you know, I’ll say like, can you hold the fort down? You know, when they were what was this, eight years ago? So they were younger, you know, it was probably a big surprise, I would say, for them, for me to ride. But they’ve they know it’s just part of who I am. So, um. Yeah.

David Samaha: Do you, do you and your. I know your son loves cars. Do you inherit him also share a love for riding.

Sharon Cline: You know he doesn’t. No one else rides in my family. My kids don’t ride. I do, but I think we have a love of mechanics. Like, right now, he actually is taking a class on, um, motorcycle suspension and something else. So I told him, whatever you learn, can you teach me so that I can know about. And it’s a good opportunity for us to spend time together. But also, I’m a big fan of classic cars like he is. So that’s our time. We get to, you know, talk like we’ll be driving somewhere and he’ll see some car and he’ll be like, oh my God, that’s a whatever name. And he knows all the names and numbers and whatever it means. And yeah, so we get to bond, um, we get to bond about different vehicles, you know, not the traditional, you know, Prius. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but yeah, we get to talk about the different ways that we can get around the world in different kinds of vehicles. So they’re very all my kids are very supportive of that. So I’m very grateful.

David Samaha: That’s so cool.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

David Samaha: That is that is so cool. Yeah. I feel like that’s like the ideal. Um. Relationship, right? So you have to like bond over it. But then so there’s like a certain risk. Right.

Sharon Cline: Yes there is. So if they were riding I would be worried like crazy because they’re my children. But I ride and I don’t, you know, I’m just like, well, I’m heading out. Yeah. It’s terrible. It’s it’s definitely hypocritical. But yeah, I like to I.

David Samaha: Like that’s the biggest, the biggest double standard. Yeah. Like this is not a bad one to have. I feel like.

Sharon Cline: I can’t get it out of my head though. Like it’s I don’t know if I could disengage the, the worry that I just naturally have over my children, but, um, you know, if they wrote, I’d be like, great, just tell me when you get home. But, like, I don’t worry about myself, so I don’t know. It’s the price of love.

David Samaha: That’s so fun. Well, as we close up, yes, I would like to do a few, like rapid fire.

Sharon Cline: Oh, no. Okay.

David Samaha: Right. This has been, like, really conversational and enjoyable. Okay. Um, what is your favorite motorcycle ride?

Sharon Cline: So I just did it recently. Um, I and my friend Presley, we went riding up to, um, Suches, which is part of North Georgia, and I felt like I rode very strong and, um, different than I usually do because I was using a different bike and I just had the best day. That was my best, happiest ride. It was like two weeks ago. Um, we went up to where two wheels of Suches is, which is like this campground and a lot of bikers go to. And it was an unexpected day because we didn’t plan to do that. But it was my happiest day, I would say for sure.

David Samaha: That’s awesome.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. It just happened. Out of all my years in.

David Samaha: Two Wheels of Suches. Is that the corner store?

Sharon Cline: It is. It’s like a little store. It’s like a restaurant. Yeah, it’s.

David Samaha: Like across from the campsite of where? Yes, yes. Right there. Super familiar with that spot.

Sharon Cline: Nice.

David Samaha: What is a favorite car of your son’s?

Sharon Cline: The 1988 Toyota Corolla. Gt-s is his absolute most favorite car, so he is still working on getting it running just right. But it’s his favorite. He and he also loves the Ae86, which is a Toyota um Torino vehicle. It’s part of the initial D anime series. So it’s like this hatchback. It’s like 1986. It’s got like black, black and white paint. And that’s his dream car. But they’re very, very expensive. Um, so this car is like the next best thing that he has. Yeah.

David Samaha: Yeah. Like a stepping stone. Yeah. And it makes it that much more enjoyable when he gets the 86, you know, like.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, he’s determined, you know, 100%.

David Samaha: Yeah. What is hidden talent of yours?

Sharon Cline: A hidden talent. Um. Oh, no. Oh, no. Do I have a hidden talent? Oh, I sing. Really? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Yeah.

David Samaha: I forgot, I forgot it just. Well, I just smash it on stage.

Sharon Cline: No, I don’t lead my life with singing. But I do sing and. Yeah, like, that’s just a little side side thing that I do, so. But mostly in the car or the shower or do people who are like, please stop. That’s hysterical. No, but I do, I do, I can hold a tune. Okay.

David Samaha: That is great. All right. So the last one is what are you looking forward to doing on your Memorial Day weekend?

Sharon Cline: Oh good question. Okay. If you answer that for me as well when I’m finished okay. And then we’ll wrap it up. So this weekend I would have wanted to ride. It’s a beautiful weekend. Normally you know it’s summer, beginning of summer, but no riding. Um, I may be spending time with my friends. I know Anna, actually. Our mutual friend may be having some friends over tomorrow, so I might do that. Um, but generally speaking, if I can just get some good rest in because I’ve had a very busy several weeks, I would love that. So, and any time I can spend with my kids is great. So that’s probably what I’ll wind up doing.

David Samaha: And it’s, you know, like so the rain actually serves a purpose because.

Sharon Cline: It forces me to rest. Yes. To rest. Okay. Yeah, that’s a good thing.

David Samaha: Let’s look at purpose in the plan.

Sharon Cline: Purpose? The big plan. All right. What are you going to do?

David Samaha: I am so looking forward to a wedding. Really? Yes.

Sharon Cline: Who’s getting married?

David Samaha: My best friend, Kyle. Isabel is his name. He moved in next door to me when I was two years old. You’re still best friend and we are still best friends to this day.

Sharon Cline: So sweet.

David Samaha: We live next door to one another for 18 years. And then my family moved like three miles over, two miles over and again, still best friends. And then I’m going to be the best man in his wedding. So when I leave here, I’m going up to North Georgia. It’s going to be at Coal Creek Lodge or something, and it’s beautiful facility. And I think something that I’m like also so proud of. I’m going to brag on this for a minute. I only asked you this question so you would ask it back.

Sharon Cline: I love how honest you are. I’m down for the honesty that is.

David Samaha: That isn’t why at all. No, it’s just it just so happens that I have a really rad weekend coming up. Oh, goodness. So he. Yeah. Like we’ve I’ve reserved the cabin from Friday to Monday a while ago. And then, as it turns out, because like that was like kind of the dates that they were going up there. Got it. And, you know, being part of the wedding party, I figured everyone was going to do that. And there’s like not many of us going up tonight really. So that to me was like, and there was a time where I was thinking like, okay, do I go up on Saturday with everyone else? And then it was that was very short lived thought, because you’re like, no, like, this is my best friend. Like knowing the woman and knowing the man that he is, it’s one of those marriages where you’re like, they will be together for the rest of their lives.

Sharon Cline: My goodness.

David Samaha: You know, like his heart and his willingness to compromise. And also like, he’s not a passive guy. So he’s very like he’s assertive to her. On when he needs his alone time. He’s assertive about like his non-negotiables, which aren’t much. Right. Like he’s he’s like the guy, right? He wants to go hunting. He wants to play golf, he wants to eat a steak and he wants to spend time with his partner. Right. Like. Those are like. Those are his wants. And, you know, for him to be able to take care of his own needs to be like, hey, like, I need this time for myself. Like it makes him present for her. Like she gets the full him. And I think that that’s so important, right? Because if you’re not doing things for yourself, then you’re just pouring from an empty cup. And I think that’s why a lot of relationships fail is because the woman’s not having their needs met and the man is unable to meet their needs, and they’re like, oh, he’s not the right guy for me, right?

Sharon Cline: Or vice versa. Yeah. Same thing. Exactly. Right. I love that he has boundaries like that, because, I mean, the way I define boundaries is like my way to love myself and you at the same time, honor myself and honor you at the same time. And that, to me, makes a balanced human, you know? Yeah. So that sounds are you going to spend time with him tonight? Yes.

David Samaha: So so that was like it was a quick I was like, should I just go up with everyone else? Like. And I was like, no, like he’s my best friend. Like if anything, this gives us a chance to bond more. And knowing how like caring of a person he is, like he’s definitely a nurturer and. He that’ll mean so much that like, man, if all the people like you are one of the few that actually came up that was willing to, like, adjust your schedule, you know, reprioritize, you know, pay the extra night, like, you know, all all the little things that go in. Yeah. For someone knowing that, like they made a good choice in a best man and that they also like, you know, just feel valued and like, you know, just that everything is, you know, it’s good. It’s not tainted.

Sharon Cline: It’s so rare that people have friendships for that long these days. And it’s something that you clearly value. And it’s very sweet that you get to be part of such a moment in his life and, you know, his new wife’s life. I’m such a romantic. So when I hear happy couples, I’m just like, yay! I love happy couples, happy marriages. And yes, you know, the belief in, um, true love. Yeah. So that is so wonderful. Yes. I’d probably cry all weekend.

David Samaha: No, I have every belief that they will continue to flourish in their marriage. Like there is a point of where she. Was doing some things that weren’t serving her and their relationship. And like he had the courage to bring that up to her. And like, that’s what you need in a partner. Like you need someone that actually cares about you and will speak truth because and like about you, because sometimes we’re stuck and whether we know it or whether we don’t know it, right? Sometimes we know we’re stuck and we’re just that stuck that we like, need someone to just put out a hand and save us. And it’s like his voice and his care and his love was able to, like, pick her up and give her permission to just be who she actually is. And like that type, like, I feel like that’s the relationship goals. Heck yeah. Right. Like to see it.

Sharon Cline: Right in front of you? Yes. And celebrate it this weekend 100%.

David Samaha: Can’t wait.

Sharon Cline: Heck yeah. Okay, okay. That was a good show. We had fun.

David Samaha: Yeah. And I feel like we learned a little bit about you. There’s still much mystery for future interviews.

Sharon Cline: Oh, interesting. Okay. You know a lot. Diesel. David, I can’t thank you enough for even asking me to do this. And I was so nervous, obviously, in the beginning, but it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. And I appreciate you even investing time with me this way, because I don’t I don’t normally do that. So, um, you know, have, have this moment of, of vulnerability that again, I know I ask a lot of, of guests that way. So, um, now I can kind of even have a little more compassion for them when I’m when I’m asking questions, too, because I know what it’s like. So thank you for providing that opportunity for me.

David Samaha: You’re so welcome. I’m happy to be here.

Sharon Cline: We’ll do it again sometime.

David Samaha: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: You’re welcome diesel David, and thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX where um, oh, again, and this is Sharon Cline. And I’m reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Tagged With: Diesel David, Fearless Formula, Sharon Cline

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