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BRX Pro Tip: Achieving Word of Mouth Momentum

March 29, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Achieving Word of Mouth Momentum

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BRX Pro Tip: Achieving Word of Mouth Momentum

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, most of us in the professional services arena have come to really appreciate, and even wear as a badge of honor, this method of getting new clients called word of mouth. But to really get meaningful word of mouth momentum, have we cracked the code on that? What’s the best way to get that done?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Well, I think you have to do it intentionally. I mean, if you really believe that word of mouth is critical to your success, then you better build into your service something that makes it easy for your clients to share what you’re doing for them. And you have to give them the tools to tell people about you. If you don’t have anything for your clients to be sharing or to let other people know how they’re benefiting, then you really should invest some time into coming up for something that makes it easy for them to do that. Because if you don’t have that kind of memorable piece of content or some sort of collateral or something that makes it easy for your client to share the work that they’re doing with you, then how can you get any word of mouth? There’s nothing to share. You’re not doing anything that’s shareable.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:23] So, if you’re not intentionally kind of building out some word of mouth tools for your clients and for your prospects to share, then you’re just hoping that people will discover you. And their hope is not the strategy. So, I think that you don’t want to be the best kept secret if you don’t have to be. So, make it easy for your clients to share some of the the work that you’re doing so that you can benefit and truly benefit from word of mouth.

Celebrating 125 Years: How the NCRA Serves the Public

March 28, 2024 by angishields

Association Leadership Radio

Celebrating 125 Years: How the NCRA Serves the Public

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In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor is joined by Kristin Anderson, President of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), which is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Kristin discusses the NCRA’s mission to support its 12,000 members in achieving professional excellence in capturing and converting spoken word to text. She explains the importance of court reporters in legal settings, their role in providing access to the deaf and hard of hearing community, and the rigorous certification process for stenographers.

Kristin also shares her personal journey into the profession, inspired by her father, and emphasizes the value of shadowing professionals to explore career options. The conversation also covers the NCRA’s efforts to attract new talent through the A to Z program and the significance of maintaining the human element in legal proceedings.

Kristin Anderson is the official court reporter for the 481st Judicial District Court, Denton County, Texas. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management and Human Relations in 2012 and with her Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership in 2022.

Anderson is a Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) in Illinois and Texas and holds the nationally recognized professional certification of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and her Federal Certified Realtime Reporter (FCRR) designation with the U.S. Court Reporters Association (USCRA).

Ms. Anderson has been a stenographer for 24 years. Previously, she worked as a freelance reporter in Kansas and Missouri and as an official court reporter for the states of Illinois and Kansas as well as for Bexar County, in San Antonio.

She is a past chair and vice chair of the National Congress of State Associations (NCSA), under NCRA, and served on that committee in various capacities from 2006-2014. She has also served on several other committees and task forces during her 19 years of volunteer service for the profession at both the national and state level, including two terms as president of the Kansas Court Reporters Association.

During her NCRA board service, Anderson has chaired the Board Policy & Procedures Committee as the Association’s Vice President and the Finance and Audit committees during her two years as the Secretary-Treasurer. Prior to becoming President, Anderson served as NCRA’s President-Elect.

From 2015-2016, she also served on the convention and ethics committees for the Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA). In addition to TCRA and USCRA, Anderson also holds membership in the Texas Deposition Reporters Association (TexDRA).

Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn and follow NCRA on Facebook, X and Instagram.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

The importance of the stenographer as the guardian of the court record
Quality captioning for equal access to communication
Job opportunities
Making every connection matter

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:20] Lee Kantor. Here another episode of Association Leadership Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today we have Kristin Anderson with National Court Reporter’s Association,she’s the President, on today. Welcome, Kristin.

Kristin Anderson: [00:00:34] Thank you Lee. Happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:36] I am so excited to learn about your association. Tell us a little bit about National Court Reporter Association. How you serving folks?

Kristin Anderson: [00:00:45] Well, actually it’s exciting. Our association is celebrating its 125th year this year. So it’s been it’s a very special year. So we’ve been in existence for 125 years. And hopefully we’re going to be around for 125 more. So we’re an association of approximately 12,000 members. And the mission statement of Ncra is to and Ncra stands for National Court Reporters Association promotes excellence among those who capture and convert the spoken word to text, and is committed to supporting every member in achieving the highest level of professional expertise. So we a lot of things we do, we serve the public in the court setting, and also we represent Captioners who do a broadcast captioning and, um, access real time cart captioning is access real time for those that are in the deaf and hard of hearing community. So we represent the interests of those people. We offer certifications. That’s probably where we are backbone of the association. That’s where a lot of people come. They want to get their certifications. We have several certifications and I can talk about those, but, um, they’ve evolved through a time. So we have speed requirements to be a court reporter. If everybody knows what a court reporter is, a stenographer, we have a little machine that has 24 keys on it. And it’s it looks everybody remembers it back in the day when you type on it, mine is out in the courtroom. I should have brought it in here to. I could have shown, but it’s, uh, we take down everything phonetically. And so it’s a service we provide for the public in capturing the record. And so it’s an important instrument and kind of a timeless profession, I would say that we’ve been doing for all the ages. There were pen readers and then there’s been machine riders for a long time now, really about 100 years.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:38] So. So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Kristin Anderson: [00:02:43] Um, how did I get. That’s a great question. Um, well, I mean, when I was going into college, I, I loved to organization being doing legal work and stuff, and my dad was a tax accountant, um, every year. So he told me, well, why don’t you look into this profession? They seem to do quite well. And so I went on a shadowing experience. And I would always encourage any young people that are out in the world not knowing what they want to do. You go shadow something for one day, and you might know if you think you have a knack for the profession you want to go into, and I. I loved it from the minute, um, I went in shadowed with somebody that was a mutual student, probably about ten years before I, um, when I got a school, she had been working. And so I went and shadowed. And then, um, fast forward a few years, I was a coworker of hers. That was the first place I worked. So is my dad. Kind of inspired me because it’s like the greatest profession that you’ve never heard about. People were just like that quiet little person in the courtroom, um, trying to take down all the proceedings, um, very quickly, all the time. It seems faster and faster. But we also, when I mentioned the certifications, we do real time. And so that’s very vital, um, in a huge asset that we provide from just making the record that we take down with our steno, our computer, um, aided transcription software translates that and so into English text. And then we also can provide that by streaming real time for our judges or attorneys in the courtroom. And actually, um, it can be done there and in the deposition setting. And then, as I mentioned, the cart cart captioning access for those that, um, have deaf or hard of hearing or late deafened adults.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:33] Now, I mean, this is just fascinating because everybody in any movie that has a courtroom, there’s a person there that is, you know, you write or people like you in it and you wonder, like, how do you kind of they always kind of have this straight face, this neutral, um, demeanor about them. Is that a hard part of this when you’re hearing testimony or is that you kind of. Tune it out. But you’re listening. But you’re not trying to get emotionally involved.

Kristin Anderson: [00:05:04] Yeah, I would, that’s a good observation. I would say a lot of those things just because, um, our job is difficult and we take it very seriously because, uh, we are taking down the most intimate affairs of people’s lives, and you want to be attuned to what’s going on. And, um, you know, if people get emotional and they talk over each other, you can, um, step in and say, can you repeat that and stuff? That’s why, um, it’s so essential to have that human element when you’re making the records. So yeah, we, we do or like some, some refer to us as solemn soldiers in there, but we, um, we know our job is and we take it very seriously because we’re there to as a neutral party. Most importantly, we don’t have any interest in the outcomes of those cases and just providing the service of the record for an appeal purposes so that everybody can go through the process of the justice system.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:04] Yeah, it’s one of those things I had a chance when I was younger to be part of a grand jury. And, um, and I don’t think that a lay person who has never been on a jury or a grand jury or in the courtroom, like, you see, probably, you know, almost every day, but people take this very seriously. This isn’t like fun and games and people, you know, kind of being dismissive. I think by and large, people’s heart is in the right place when they walk into that courtroom, they’re trying to do. Right. Um, is that what you experienced? Oh, you.

Kristin Anderson: [00:06:36] Mean like in the jury or just.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:37] Just the the everybody involved in this, it seems like they’re trying to get they’re trying to be fair and right, and they’re not being they’re not taking it lightly. The responsibility.

Kristin Anderson: [00:06:49] No. Yeah. Like I mentioned, we are taking down the most serious things in life. And, um, it can be very emotional. I mean, family law cases are very emotional because they often involve marriage and divorce and custody of children. And then, um, there’s crimes against children, there’s crimes, um, in general. So there’s victims and there’s, um, people involved. So but everybody has a job in the courtroom, and an attorney is to advocate for their client and for reporters to make the record and judges to, you know, run the proceedings and, um, give everybody a fair hearing. So, yeah, everybody has it takes a whole team to make, um, make it all work. But I think it all comes together, uh, really? Well, um.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:41] Now, um, do you find that, uh, is it difficult to get new people to take this job? I mean, I’m sure this isn’t on the radar of most people when they’re thinking about career.

Kristin Anderson: [00:07:52] Well, um, we we’ve been a lot better about that the last few years. We have, um, something called the Ncra A to Z program. And what that is, it’s, um, ncra is about promoting and protecting our profession, but that’s about promoting it. And so it’s a free course that you can take through our web if you go to our website and, um, you can put in A to Z and it’ll, it’ll take you to the correct area, but it’s um, or it’s at discover org and it’s about a six week program. It’s six weeks and you learn all the letters, as I said, A to Z on your machine and learn how to write little phrases. Everything we take down is phonetically, uh, down in strokes, as opposed to every single letter like you would on a quirky keyboard, however. So yeah, people can, um, check it out. And I can tell you when I used to, um, work in my previous jurisdiction down in Bexar County in San Antonio, Texas, uh, there’s a group we had our judge that would swear in the panel of jurors, and there would be several hundred people there would tell everybody. We’re always looking for more court reporters. There’s this free program. So what better place? And a jury, um, pool downstairs where they’re all meeting to see where they’re going to go to all these practically 50 courts. And so, um, whether they’re interested or somebody in their family is interested, it’s a great way to kind of tip your, uh, stick your toe in the water and see if you’re cut out for it. Um, and if you really want to invest, go into school and learning the theory and, and going forward. So it’s just an introduction to steno program that we’ve offered and it’s had great success.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:31] Now do you have to have kind of legal background or legal education or certifications?

Kristin Anderson: [00:09:38] No. You um, those are great things. When you’re in school, you, um, you’ll take legal terminology. You’ll take medical terminology because there can be med mal cases that are those are very difficult. And, um, so you don’t really I would say you need a good command of the English language. That’s very important. Now, however, the spoken language doesn’t always sound as eloquent as a book, and it doesn’t come out that way. But we’re there to get what is actually said. So being able to punctuate and having a good command of that is very important. And um, being very, um, you need to be self-assertive in a sense of knowing, um, you have people after you’re in court, they’ll order transcripts and you have to work on your get your transcripts finalized. And being very organized, I think, is what I’m saying is a good skill set of being a court reporter.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:30] So now does every court reporter have to be certified through the National Court Reporters Association?

Kristin Anderson: [00:10:37] Um, not everyone. Um, ours is a we do offer a national um, certification called the PR, the registered professional reporter, and a lot of states adopt that as their state legislation. So but some states are different. So for example, in Texas they do not offer reciprocity for that. I had to take the Texas test to be certified here. Um, however, I used to live in Kansas years ago and they honored my PR certification. Um, so it just kind of depends on the state, but a lot of them utilize the test so they don’t have to set up their own board and go through the whole process of offering testing. They’ll they’ll honor the national test a lot of places.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:21] Now, what um, what was the reason that you got so involved with the association that you’re now the president, like.

Kristin Anderson: [00:11:29] Oh, I, um, you know, uh, actually, I went to to, um, school, got out and started working in my home state and then moved to Kansas. And I, um, when I right after I moved there, when my father passed away and he was very involved, um, giving back on church council, he was on the township supervisor and always giving back in some way. And I had a friend of mine said, oh, you know, you should um, after a year went by, she goes, you should, um, give back and get involved and make a difference. And, um, having a, you know, a voice heard on a state level for what’s going on and things that are affecting our profession. So I did and I’ve done secretary, treasurer, um, vice president, all that stuff. I did that all in Kansas. And, um, I’ve worked in several courts, um, from Illinois to Kansas to Texas through the years. I’ve been working 24 years now. And so I got involved. And the thing is, is you get more than you give. I think a lot of times in leadership. So, um, you start giving back. And you meet a lot of great people and we have a lot in common. And so we have common interests. And I got involved with that, just trying to mostly not only promote the profession as we’ve discussed, but protecting it. And, um, meaning that making sure that the integrity of the record is seen all the way through, through the ears and making sure that human element is there. When you have a stenographer who always has care, custody and control of your record and just trying to be involved and, um, make sure we offer services that are valuable to our membership.

Kristin Anderson: [00:13:17] We recently were up in Washington, D.C. on the, um, we had boot camp and we were on the hill and we had a bill, um, we were working on about, um, asking for a task force for research and oversight of potential AI in the Courts Act of 2024. So we were working on that because we think that our, like our lawmakers, need to put guardrails in place about, um, making sure, um, AI isn’t just put in and there’s no people have access to all that information. We talked about how people come in. They have they talk about very private things in their lives, medical conditions, social security numbers, children’s names, um, credit card numbers, bank accounts sometimes. So you want to make sure you always know who’s going to have access to that information. And as a licensed professional who’s accountable, um, to, um, my licensing board, actually, here in Texas, for example, you don’t want to you don’t want to compromise that. So you’re paid, you’re a professional and you keep all that information confidential. So those are important. But that’s how I’ve gotten involved with leadership was just, um, going through the ranks of that and just, um, making a difference. And I guess I’m kind of going into leadership. It was always making sure the members are heard about what matters to them. And I think that is a big component of leadership is a lot of times. I became president of Ncra back in August of 2023, and I my term will be up in, oh no, it was July.

Kristin Anderson: [00:14:58] It was a little before um, August and it’ll my term will be up on August 1st. And so it’s been a journey. It’s been very busy. Um, I’m in a very busy court, but, uh, you just want to make sure everybody’s interests are heard, um, in a way that, um, can make a difference. Uh, a lot of times people think, um, you know, people complain about stuff and they think, oh, why isn’t Ncra or something doing this? And I really think a lot of it is, is people just want to be heard. And so it kind of goes back to Covey’s, um, book about, um, seek first to understand, then to be understood. So those are just some that’s just a highlight of some things in leadership that I think are important. And people want to know that they’re being heard and their concerns are being addressed. And a big thing that the board of the NCC board of directors brought, um, before this year was a members matter meeting, and there was some things that need some addressing that they kind of resurfaced through the years and through different presidents, and we wanted to address them. And so now we have a page on our website available to our members that it’s so we don’t have to always revisit issues because that’s always a concern sometimes of revisiting issues. You can’t be up looking at the 30,000 foot level of the future of the association and the profession. Um, sometimes when you’re dealing with, um, some issues that have come up time and time again, sometimes, if that makes sense.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:29] Yeah. I think you, um, mentioned a very important part. Like if you’re not serving your members and your membership isn’t growing, that’s a major problem. I mean, that that’s something that you really should be rethinking, because the reason you’re in an association is to be of service to the members. I mean, the members are the heart of the association. Without them, there would be no association.

Kristin Anderson: [00:16:53] Exactly, exactly. I agree with that.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:57] Now, are there opportunities within the association to help the member get, you know, opportunities or to network with, uh, amongst themselves and, you know, get kind of maybe more learning or collaboration?

Kristin Anderson: [00:17:12] Yeah, we have a lot of, um, um, a learning center that people can go in and get, um, continuing education points for, um, their certifications. But, um, a few years back during Covid, actually, we even provide a lot of services. Free May is mental Health awareness month. And so, um, we offer free webinars on that for our membership. Because not only for yourself, you might have families that are going through things. Um, working in the legal field can be a stressful job, so it’s just good to have, um, that kind of outlet available to you. So we have those kind of resources as well. We also, um, we have a foundation and we have relief for any kind of world disaster. Um, well, world national disaster here. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and things that happen. They can reach out for support from their association and a lot of member benefits, um, that we offer there. So it’s just trying to offer them a lot of tools that they can use for themselves, um, to make them to make life easier, life better and a better professional, um, type of things. So, yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:26] So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Kristin Anderson: [00:18:30] Well, we always need more people, uh, going into the profession, um, because this is a great job that, like I mentioned in the beginning that you’ve never heard of. And so there there’s really you’re going to find a job somewhere when you get done. It’s not that. Oh, I went to college and got a degree. It’s a usually a two year. It’s a, it’s usually associate degree program. And in a community college and some people can get done in two years. Some people take a little longer. Just depends on how long you can speed, how quickly you can build your speed to be a stenographer. And so, um, getting the word out about this is a great job. If you’re wanting to get out into the workplace and, um, make a very comfortable living. Um, I court reporters usually do very well. Um, you have to work very hard, but it’s, um, it’s very worth it, I think. So, um, I’ve been single all my years and been able to support myself in my Labradors, so it’s it’s gone well for me.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:26] So now, is it something that, um, like you mentioned, like, if I, I go through the program, I get my speed up. Um, I, is there going to be an opportunity near me, or is it something that I might have to travel and go, oh, you know what? Like, like you mentioned, you lived in a variety of states like, oh, I’m going to have to go to another state in order for the opportunity.

Kristin Anderson: [00:19:50] Um, well, there’s opportunities everywhere. Um, you can. There’s not as much as there used to be during Covid. There’s remote depositions, so you can work remotely, but sometimes there’s notary, um, requirements in areas. So that can make it a challenge. So you can do that. I mentioned cart captioning that can either sometimes be on location or that a lot of that is remote. People caption the weather while they’re sitting in Iowa for Canada or on the west coast somewhere. So that can be done. Captioning is usually done from somebody remotely from somebody’s home. And even in states there’s official ship openings. There’s a lot of opportunity for deposition work, which is pretrial discovery. Depositions are also done by freelance court reporters. And so there’s opportunity there. So if you wanted to move to Chicago or, uh, Tucson, Arizona, you’re going to find opportunities.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:48] I think so, yeah. So most kind of even mid to large cities there’s going to be a lot of opportunity.

Kristin Anderson: [00:20:55] Yeah I think so. I mean they there’s some remote areas that have a hard time filling official positions. And but they have a hard time filling out a lot of sometimes a lot of positions. I think, um, society kind of just gravitates towards larger cities right nowadays than they did 50, 60 years ago or more.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:14] So if somebody wants to learn more about National Court Reporters Association, what’s a website again?

Kristin Anderson: [00:21:20] It’s. Uh ncra.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:22] Org Ncaa.org. Well, Kristen, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Kristin Anderson: [00:21:31] Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:33] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Association leadership Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: Why a Business Coach Should be a BRX Studio Partner

March 28, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Why a Business Coach Should be a BRX Studio Partner

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BRX Pro Tip: Why a Business Coach Should be a BRX Studio Partner

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you know me, I have a tendency to feel like Business RadioX is going to solve world peace. But I do think there are so many people in some very specific categories who should really seriously consider teaming up with us to serve people. Let’s talk a little bit about, very specifically today, though, why should business coaches become Business RadioX ambassadors, correspondents, studio partners? Why should business coaches team up with us?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Well, I think one of the great things that we’re offering business coaches nowadays is this no cost, no risk way of partnering with us through the Ambassador Program. And the Ambassador Program allows them to invite whoever they want to come on our show. And when they have that ability, they’re going to be amazed at how many doors that opens and how easy it is to now start a conversation and build a relationship with the people who matter most to them. And we recommend that the only people they should ask are the people important to them. Whatever niche they serve in terms of coaching, that’s who they should invite on.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:25] I’d invite on existing clients. I’d invite on prospective clients. Anybody that’s important to me in my business coaching business wherever I’m located, that’s who I recommend you invite on. And there’s no fee to do that. They can be doing this through LinkedIn. They can be doing it through just their normal networking. You know, one day when networking is in person again, they can start doing that. Inviting interesting folks in their ecosystem to a Business RadioX show is the easiest and most effective way to start a relationship with someone.

Stone Payton: [00:02:04] Well, and I guess if you think about it, an ambassador, even in a new developing market for us, they’re getting a lot of the same benefits that our paying clients get, the ones who write us checks in our more developed markets, because they really are getting a chance to strengthen existing relationships, open some doors with, in some cases, folks that, you know, may not have given them the time of day before that.

Stone Payton: [00:02:33] And I will say this, you also mentioned, you know, focus on people who it’s going to be good for you, meaning the ambassador. And, you know, that came up the other day with one of our newer ambassadors. Bless his heart, he was trying to help us because he really appreciated the opportunity we were giving him. And he was focusing even more to make sure it was really a good fit for the Business RadioX Network. And, of course, we appreciate that. But, you know, I kind of helped him understand, “Look, just reach out and start connecting with people who will be good for you, and the rest of it will fall into place,” right?

Lee Kantor: [00:03:11] Yeah. We’re business to business, so anybody a business coach is coaching is somebody that’s involved in business, that has a business of some sort. And that’s a perfectly appropriate guest for Business Radiox. So, it’s a no brainer. Business coaches should be inviting their prospective clients and their existing clients to shows, and we can help them do that in an easy, elegant, effective way through the Ambassador Program.

Stone Payton: [00:03:37] And some of them who do that Ambassador Program for a while, I mean, we’ve learned they’re going to want to talk about being a correspondent and even taking it up a notch. So, yeah, well, there you have it. That’s why if you’re a business coach, I mean, at least have a conversation with us about it.

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March 28, 2024 by angishields

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Women in Construction: Milestones to Millions Part 2

March 27, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

Women in Construction: Milestones to Millions Part 2

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In Episode Two of “Milestones to Millions,” our Women in Construction series, Dr. Giovanna Brasfield and Cynthia Lamecker share captivating narratives about their remarkable journeys within the different areas of the construction industry. Both of these inspiring women initially navigated the corporate world before seizing the opportunity to establish their own companies. The episode features comprehensive discussions around answering calls to action, spotlighting their ability to adapt, perform, and deliver results in challenging situations. Further, Dr. Giovanna and Cynthia articulate the significance of dreaming big and setting ambitious goals as Women Business Owners.

They provide invaluable insights into the art of learning and growing within their fields, emphasizing the continuous pursuit of knowledge as a cornerstone of their success. Moreover, they generously share their wisdom on becoming experts in their respective lines of work, offering practical advice that serves as a beacon for aspiring women entrepreneurs in the construction and non-traditional construction industries. Episode Two is a testament to resilience, ambition, and the transformative power of strategic goal-setting in the dynamic world of construction.

Giovanna Brasfield (Dr. G), CEO of Brasfield & Associates, LLC, is a renowned advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the construction industry.

With over 19 years of expertise, Dr. G focuses on leadership, DEI program development, and education. She champions actionable steps for culturally diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces.

Dr. G has garnered numerous accolades, including the 2023 Comerica Bank’s Women Business Award and the 2023 AGC of California – Associate of the Year. Holding dual doctorate degrees from the University of La Verne, she is an Executive Certified Master Compliance Administrator.

Dr. G actively contributes to various boards, serving in leadership roles for AGC of California, RAND Foundation’s Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy, and West Angeles Community Development Corporation.

Connect with Dr. G on LinkedIn.

Cynthia Lamecker has been a resident of Las Vegas since 1997 and an alumna of UNLV.

Coming from a construction background that began in project management then grew into operations management, she was involved in many high profile company transactions which included the sale of one of DuPont’s company assets to Koch Industries in 2005.

In 2007, she founded Stage House with Tony Lamecker and grew the company from a small startup to a business with 10% annual growth and over 40 employees.

Cynthia is a long time supporter of Candlelighters of Southern Nevada and a multiple Trifecta holder in Spartan obstacle course racing.

Follow Stage House on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

About Our Co-Host

Dr. Pamela Williamson, President & CEO of WBEC-West, is an exemplary, dedicated individual, and has extensive experience as a senior leader for over twenty years.

She has served as the CEO of SABA 7 a consulting firm, overseen quality control at a Psychiatric urgent care facility of a National Behavioral Health Care Organization where she served as Vice President and Deputy Director,and has served as the CEO of WBEC-West, since 2008.

Her extensive experience in developing and implementing innovative alliances with key stakeholders has enabled the organizations to reach new levels of growth and stability. Her ability to lead and empower staff members creates a strong team environment which filters throughout the entire organization.

She takes an active role in facilitating connections between corporations and women business enterprises and sees a promising future for WBENC Certified women-owned businesses.

Dr. Williamson holds a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration, a Master’s degrees in Business Administration, and bachelor degrees in both Psychology and Sociology.

Connect with Dr. Williamson on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This 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 Dr. Pamela Williamson. Another episode of Women in Motion brought to you by WBEC West. So excited to be talking about what we’re talking about this month, celebrating Construction Month and really getting into these Milestones to Millions series. So welcome, Dr. Pamela.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:00:46] Hi. Thanks, Lee. It is good to be with you again. I am so excited for today’s show. We have two dynamic women, um, that have quite a few things in common, actually. And so we have Dr. Giovanna Brasfield and we also have Cynthia Lamecker. I hope I got that right this time. And what’s interesting about both of them is that one, they have truly taken the journey from milestones to millions, but also they both started working for corporations. And so I’m excited to have them share their journey. Um, I’m going to start with Cynthia. Do you want to talk to us a little bit about how you started in the field of construction, which we all know is a very male dominated industry. How you started and built your way to the successful business owner that you are today?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:01:41] Sure. Thank you very much again for having me. Yes, my my career did start off in construction. I’ve been in Las Vegas since 1997, and I worked for DuPont, and they had a series of flooring companies on the West Coast. So did that for about eight years. And then in 2005, Las Vegas started taking a downturn in our real estate market. I was involved with the acquisition of our company they had sold to another another entity, to be honest, didn’t love the corporate environment strictly after being through something that, you know, we experienced a lot of layoffs and then we moved, moved over to a different entity. I decided that I wanted to do something to where I had more control as to how we treated our people, our employees. At the time, my husband was building scenery. So what that means is the sets. So when you see any shows or any events and you see all the the facades, he’s been in that for quite some time. And he also worked for a large corporation. And at the time I said, you know, I think we could do this ourselves and do it much better. And, you know, we could get into this with our own set of ethics and, you know, really make a great business for ourselves. So we did that, and we started in 2007, was told no by about 30 banks when we were going to them ask for for SBA startup funding and then just ended up putting everything on the line.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:03:15] Finally was able to obtain a smaller SBA loan. And then we were off and running. So we started our our shop in 2007, the July 4th. Actually, he and I probably spent every waking moment here, you know, setting up our shop. I mean, I even remember it’s the heat of the summer here in Vegas, which is feels like it’s 118, but it feels like 150. And we’re out in the warehouse putting down flooring and and all of all of that. But, um, it’s been quite a ride since then. I think I’ve learned. I’ve learned everything from how to laminate something to how to stand up to the big boys when when the times are getting tough. So, um, that’s the beginning of our, our journey here. Um, we’ve had a really great run. We were able to weather the economic downturn that Las Vegas then, you know, saw shortly after we started, 0809 uh, survived that and, um, have just kept thriving. 2020 was also another another pain point for us. Um, but we’ve done a lot of work. We learned a lot of lessons from the earlier, uh, down downturn that we experienced in 0809. And I felt going into 2020, I felt bulletproof, but I wasn’t quite well, I wasn’t quite grasping how long we were going to need to to remain bulletproof.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:04:43] But, um, we made it and we’re still we’re still surviving. And I feel that a lot of that has to do with the people that we’ve surrounded ourselves from the very beginning. Um, I’ve had a, you know, if I ask someone to work for me, I don’t take that lightly. Like, that was one thing that I didn’t appreciate in corporate life was just the expendability of people. You know, they’re just a number, or this person is older, reaching retirement, so on and so forth. Um, for for me, it’s always been very important that if you give to me your life to work here and you put your, your family’s faith and everything in me, it’s my duty to make sure you’ve got a job. Um, so I’ve been very proud of the fact that since day one, we’ve been able to maintain that 2020. Unfortunately, I did have to lay off some people, but not everybody. I kept my crew, um, my main crew. But, um, I really feel like that’s that’s been one of the reasons why we’ve been so successful is we’ve always valued our employees. We valued, um, what that means to go get up every day and work for somebody and put their faith in your decisions that you’re making every day. So in a nutshell, I hope that wasn’t too long of an explanation, but that’s kind of a nutshell as to where we are now.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:06:02] No, it was great. Thank you. I’m going to ask Doctor Giovanni the same question. If you’d like to just share with us how you started, where you’re at today, and then we can get into some discussion questions.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:06:19] Thank you so much Dr. Pamela forinviting me to be a part of today’s conversation, especially when it comes to just women and advancement of women in this space of construction. So my circle is it’s quite interesting. It’s kind of full circle. I started off as a consultant helping the Small Business Development Center when it came to this initiative to help businesses get certified as a DBS. From there, um, I had a chance to work with some of the large major construction companies, from civil to commercial, and really helping them strategically include small businesses, workforce, youth engagement, charitable giving. And it has been such a journey working on many different amazing projects. Um, when we’re talking about large infrastructure, um, from hospitals, hotels, military facilities, civil, uh, roadway work. And my favorite one was the automated people mover project at the Los Angeles World Airport. But it was at a point where our country, as you know, and in 2021 was 2020, uh, was faced with such hardship. There was, uh, employees, there was organizations looking for more ways that they can be inclusive. It was height of social injustice. And I got many calls from large executives across the country asking about, is Dei real? Do we have to do anything? Do we have to say anything? How does this go away? You know, how do we engage our employees? I mean, the questions went on and on and it was quite eye opening, just eye opening in the need for more inclusive practices and more, uh, opportunity for me to really help multiple organizations. So at that time, I had a chance to jump mind and heart in, which was absolutely scary. And at that time, you know, I had a chance of serving as as Webbank board chair.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:08:13] And it was a hard, um, decision to leave and now become a WB, which was amazing to see the resources and support that Webbank West provides our women certified businesses. So now in this space, as a certified small Business WB, I have a chance to really work in helping multiple organizations pivot. Think about strategy, think about their employee resource groups engagement for retention of industry. But it’s been a journey. Um, and the beautiful part is that I’m still learning and growing as a consultant. So from, you know, RFP strategy, sitting down with the team and looking at geographic areas of organizations, maybe it could be hardship of the workforce in that area to figure out how they can have them on their projects, or even how to maximize various different scopes of work or NAICs codes for these large mega projects. And my new favorite initiative, where I’ve been asked by clients is to help them when it comes to their employee resource group. And so I’ve been focusing on women in the industry. So one of my clients, I’ve been helping them with strategic planning for their ERG, uh, where I’ve gone to Boston to talk to their executives. I’ve also helped them with allyship. And then this year, for, um, Women in Construction Week, we’re focusing on mentorship. So it’s been just a a great opportunity for me in this space by just raising my hand, which I never, ever imagined, raising my hand and answering the call to action when it came to an industry that just needs more inclusive practice and inclusive collaboration to really, um, engage more and build pathways for others into, um, overall opportunities.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:05] Now, I’d like to ask each of you, but I’ll start with you, Doctor Giovanna. When you first started out and this is now your business, it’s Brasfield and Associates. Put the shingle up and now you’re ready to begin. How? Um. How did you kind of come up with the positioning and niche that you were going to serve so that you, you know, could get, uh, you know, get some momentum quickly and get some wins early, like, or did did you were you ended up today kind of evolve over time or did you have a pretty good handle of, okay, here’s an opportunity, here’s my superpowers. This is where I’ll be able to really kind of quickly get going.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:10:46] Wow, Lee, thank you so much for that question. I think that’s I mean. It’s interesting journey. So literally when I was packing up my office, I left. I was serving as vice president for this large mega civil construction company overseeing the western states. And when I packed up my office, I was in the car ride home like questioning did I do the right thing? I answered the call to action. I jumped out there heart and mind, and now I gotta figure out how to sink. I mean, how to swim, not sink. And so I remember calling one of the people that I knew in the industry and I was saying, hey, you know what? My email address is going to change. I’m going to have a new one. And then at that moment, um, he responded and he says, doctor G, you’re free. And I said, yeah. And, uh, he says, we have this executive leadership training program that we need a Dei consultant to help us actually develop the training for executives across the country. We’re launching this new program. We haven’t fleshed out this one scope of work. We would love for you to lead the training. And we want you to participate in this leadership program. And now that’s, you know, Project Engage, which is a major, um, uh, any industry training for leaders across the country. So that was my first contact. And then from there I got another one to help another civil construction company.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:12:06] And the ball just kept rolling. And it’s been truly, truly amazing. So Brasfield and Associates has turned into now this premier diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility consulting firm that focuses on inclusion for the small businesses and also workforce development and helping when it comes to social impact with charitable giving and contributions. And now I have a team. You know, first it started off with just me, but now I have operations, I have a communications, I have outreach, um, person, that coordinator who helps me going out to events. And my team truly excels in delivering customized solutions when it comes to strategy, trainings, employee resource groups. And then also, I’ve been a keynote speaker, which was something that I didn’t anticipate in my space as a small business, but I’m able to speak like I spoke at, uh, new Formas World Conference, which was streamed, uh, it was hosted in the US, but it was streamed throughout their different partners across the world, or even another organization where I had a chance to have my presentation, um, streamed to the United Kingdom in Scotland. And in May I will be going to Lean Construction Institute, Finland to do a keynote presentation in Finland. So it’s been one of these journeys where there’s such a need, where I’m focusing on Dei, but that particular one is going to be lean in to Dei, where it’s looking at lean practices. But the Dei lens, and again, it was just answering the call to action where this ball has been been truly, truly rolling.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:13:38] And the stuff that the interesting part is as a when I was corporate, I used to have all these, uh, recommendations to removing barriers for small businesses and what they should do, but it’s a whole different. Perspective when you’re in the driver’s seat of the car. The things that I used to say, be patient with your invoice processing means something so different now. I’m like, oh, so my takeaway in this space now is a stronger strategy for these large organizations, because now I get to feel that same thing and impact that I used to coach people through not knowing the other side of the heel of the mountain. And now I live it. So, you know, I’m more of an advocate. I’m a stronger advocate because I’m speaking from a point of experience, lived experience, whether it be good or those hardships that we have to overcome as small business owners. And I remember talking to one of them, for example, and saying, hey, you go through this all the time. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. I thought my doctorate was hard. This is really hard because it’s your baby. You wanted to grow. You want it to be successful. You wanted to change people’s lives. And the answer they gave me back was yes, doctor G. This is what we go through now.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:57] Cynthia, thank you.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:14:58] For that question.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:00] Cynthia, can you share, um, the beginnings and, um, how you found that niche and, and how it’s evolved over time?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:15:08] Yes, absolutely. Um, we actually had a lot of relationships with the, um, the technical directors for, um, the properties on the strip, um, most importantly, Bellagio. Um, everybody over there was a really big champion for for what we were about to embark on. And, um, they gave us a chance. They they gave us a chance. And, uh, you know, we we spent a lot of time just getting our name out there. Um, Las Vegas is it’s big and it’s small. The especially the industry that that we’re in, it’s very small. Um, nationally, I feel like we all know each other. We all know who’s who’s doing what. Um, but but for us, you know, getting our, our start in, in the ballrooms of Bellagio was definitely where, where it kicked off. And then, you know, as people moved around city center opened up about two years later. Um, so that spawned Aria, which was another, uh, another big, big fan of our, our company. They brought us along with them. And then, you know, through time, we’ve, we’ve grown with, with the technical directors as they’ve moved around. Um, we learned a lot of lessons in the beginning as far as not placing all of our, our eggs in the basket of Las Vegas. Um, we know what we’re really good at. And, um, we decided to start branching out, um, into the West Coast. So it started off, we got into esports pretty quickly. Again, this is a small industry and you start meeting people. People start moving around. So with all the work we were doing down on the strip, it started, um, attracting a lot of our esports clients. So we started off with, uh, Sony PlayStation.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:16:56] We did E3 for them for several years. We recreated the Sweet Tooth truck, which was a fun and interesting, uh, uh, project that we had for a while. You know, still to this day get tagged in memes where people are like, do you remember this truck? And I’m like, oh, that’s great. We built that. And the little the guns, they don’t even know. Those are your Yoplait yogurt lids. Like it’s. So it’s fun to kind of see like where things have gone today. Um, but and in the meantime, you know, again, just from word of mouth, we, we started talking to, uh, the, the tank people. I don’t know if you remember the show tank, the fishing, uh, fish tank guys. Um, so we filmed a few seasons here, and it’s just all of this work just started pushing us in the direction to where we are now. Um, we just recently finished our most high profile, uh, project to date, which was the CBS stage that was out in the Bellagio fountains for the week leading up to the Super Bowl. And, uh, and again, it was fitting that it was in it was in the Bellagio because that’s where we got our start. So it’s been a nice feather in our cap. Um, you know, we’re rounding up year 17 in business, and it’s been the wildest, craziest, scariest, best ride of my entire life. Um, so that’s that’s where we’re going now this year, it’s, you know, bigger goals and, um, focusing on company development. We’re pushing about 40 employees right now. Um, so we’re just getting ready for the next our next move.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:30] Now, Cynthia, can you share maybe some advice for women that are getting into a male dominated industry like construction? Is there some do’s and don’ts that you’ve learned over the years?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:18:41] Yes, I can and I hope I hope these sound okay. But you know, when I first started in construction, I was 21 years old and I was very lucky to have. Women mentors that were very frank with me. You know, I worked with superintendents and, um, they’re not the nicest at times, and especially if you’re a woman, at least in the early days, um, you really had to prove that you knew what you were, that you knew what you were talking about. But the biggest thing that, um, that I was, I was taught and that I lived by was just trying to keep my emotions in check. You know, whenever somebody was angry or they were trying to direct a problem at me, that wasn’t necessarily my problem. I just always kept my composure, kept cool, um, and didn’t didn’t back down. You know, like, I like to use the phrase telephone tough guys, you know, like, I would get superintendents screaming at me on the phone and cussing me up and down. And I’d say, you know, I’m going to go out. I’m gonna drive out there, I’m going to meet this guy. I’m going to meet him face to face so he can put a face to the phone that he’s screaming at. And I just felt like that. That helped me for for the rest of my journey, because now I’m not scared when times are tough. Um, I assess the situation, and I, we just deal with it. Um, as far as dealing with, with, um, a male dominated industry, I and even right now, you know, it’s a little bit like that in, in our world. But I just feel like if you keep your cool, keep your composure and deal with the facts, you can you can get through anything. And and I just try to never let never let anything hurt my feelings. You know, I always say I leave my feelings at home every day when I. When I leave the house.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:33] Doctor G.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:20:37] I would say, um, I guess I have two things that people have sold into my life that really kind of helped me. When it’s coming to the future leaders of industry and talking with women. I would say always perform, always deliver, which was from Rick Moore from Swinerton. Um, and then the other one is Big John Herrera of Second Call, who talks about always being in shark mode. And so what that means is when you’re in shark mode, you think about a shark, you’re fierce, you’re you’re swimming, you’re at the top of your game, you’re always hunting, you’re looking to take on, you’re free, but you’re also empowered. So I think about those two things that really have helped me in my career, meaning removing barriers. So because I don’t have a traditional background in construction, I fell in love with construction. It was almost like seeing the matrix. You know, you go into a room, you see these amazing renderings, these designs that are on paper, whether it be a hospital, hotel or even a elevated guideway project. And from there I’m like, wow, this has to become something. This has to engage local community members. This has to help certify small businesses, build impact and capacity, and I get to be involved in the process. So from that journey, truly, I think about shark mode, whereas I had to go in the room and be on top of my game regardless because again, I don’t didn’t have that traditional background in construction. So what I did was I lined myself with others with those two, um, kind of quotes in my head that mentors shared with me.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:22:21] I would align myself with others who were the experts in that space. So, for example, if I wanted to know about a construction schedule, I’m tapping into the superintendent, the project, or the area superintendent because they’re the ones are in charge. They know what’s going on. They know how to run their crews. They have the different scopes of work that they’re having. And, you know, in the next pipeline, they know what’s union trades. Crews are coming on when the work is finished. And to me, that was so helpful and understanding the overall progress made in order for me to really help the overall team with engaging the small business, with engaging the workforce and understanding those field dynamics at the ground root rather than just the office perspective. So I’ll put my boots on and I would go out there and visit him. Shark mode. People were like, well, I didn’t know you knew that. And I’m like, because I take the time to really develop again. It’s always perform that Rick Moore quote and being in shark mode, staying ahead because most people funny enough, I don’t know if you know this. I mean, Cynthia, I don’t know if this from your experience, but most people don’t read the details in the contract. So when you go into the room. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. It’s I is shocking. I’m getting believe it. So all I would do is just read the contract and know the details and the policies and they’re like, wow, you’re so like. And I’m like, hey, I’ll be shark mode, right? Always for.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:23:48] And she.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:23:50] Yeah, you’re you’re correct on that. You know, as long as as you’re performing that that’s that’s the ticket. You know, I think that um, many times, you know, and let’s be frank, we run across a lot of people that they they think they know what’s going on and they don’t. And it’s really easy to to pinpoint that right away. And I feel like those, those that know you kind of stick together and, um, and exact, like you’re saying, with contracts, sometimes I feel like I could probably like, squeeze something in there, and I know they’re not going to see it. I know they’re not going to see it, but, uh. Yeah. No, I, I agree, you just you’ve got to perform. And once, once you’re a proven performer, then a lot of the other things, they don’t happen as often. Um, and and again, just not shying away. You know, I like to think we, we do all the scary stuff. We do all the heavy lifting, you know, like when, when I tell people what we do, they’re like, oh, like trade shows. I’m like, no. Have you seen, like, a 40 foot long whale hanging above your head when you went to CES? That was us.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:24:54] Like, we’re we’re never afraid to say no, but but it’s the same thing. Like we’ve had to we’ve had to gain our clients trust by proving that we know what we’re talking about, proving that, you know, safety comes number one. When we do anything we engineer, we over engineer some things. Um, and we’re just we’re all about the details. We, when we perform bids, our bids, they spell out exactly what you’re getting, exactly what your finishes are and how much. You know, that’s another thing too, that that we see happens is sometimes somebody will say, oh, this is going to cost X. And then the projects finish. And it was the project was blown to to pieces. The budget was, um, we, we do our best to not do that. So we’re always into the details. Um, and just delivering, you know, if we say we’re going to be there at 3:00, we’re going to be there at 245 waiting for you, you know, and we’ve and we train everybody from the top down that way.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:25:52] You raised a good point, Cynthia. You talked about not being afraid to say no, right. And looking at the details of the contract. And I think about, I mean, so I’m on the earlier part of my journey and you have all this years of experience, which is awesome. And I think about even as a new person coming into business, this one client was was having a conversation with me and I’m like, okay, I’m going to submit my proposal for scope of work. And, you know, I’ll price it accordingly based on the the details of the RFP. And so she’s her response to me was, well, we usually don’t pay our, our small businesses for work up front on the pre proposal stages. And I paused and I just was like unfortunately I didn’t go into business to to operate in such fashion. And I said I’m not sure I can’t speak for other businesses. And I think this is where the experience, like you said, like you do all this major work and it’s just having that ground to stand and say, you know what, if something’s not right, no, it’s okay. Right. And I told her at that time I’m like, well, I can’t speak for other firms, but I can speak for my firm and this is how I operate. So I love to hear, you know, just especially with your your years of experience in doing these large projects and how you said you can’t be afraid to say no and looking at all of those details because they make a difference, you know, when you the contracts can talk about insurance and people don’t know, they might get excited about this value and not see all these heavy risks that eat into the value that they would have made off of the project because of the carrying the insurance a certain level, rather than negotiating those terms.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:27:27] Right, right, right. You’re absolutely right. You know, I, I think there’s an art to saying no, because, you know, it’s the exact opposite of what you ever wanted. When you’re starting a business, you want to say yes, yes, yes. But if it’s going to cause the the product to suffer, your mental health to suffer, um, your employees to suffer, you’ve got to be able to find a delicate way to tell a client. No, you know, we just experienced that in the last two months. You know, this the Super Bowl is is going to be you know, we’re not going to see that in Vegas for a while. And, you know, we’ve seen so much activity that we cannot forget about the clients that brought us here. You know. And while there’s a lot of new work out there, you know, it was difficult kind of navigating because we didn’t just do Super Bowl. We also still had New Year’s Eve, we had CES. And literally 24 hours after Super Bowl ended, Chinese New Year and all of these, all of these events are very, very important to the to our end clients, you know, so we did have to say no a bit, but it’s never no, you know, it’s no. And here’s why or no, we we always try to offer solutions. And, and honestly that has helped us for future work. You know we’ve had clients come back and say you said no to this project three months ago. And we appreciate that you were honest and didn’t take it on and completely, you know, kill this event. We have another one, you know, and I think people appreciate honesty, especially now, you know, I, I see it all the time where we all rely on our vendors, especially if you’re in construction, you know, you, you, you rely on those suppliers.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:29:13] And if they can’t deliver, you’ve got a big problem, you know, and I think that being able to just be transparent with clients and especially with money, that’s another one a lot of people don’t like to take a lot like to talk about money. I tell people all the time, if you’re going to go into business, you better get real comfortable talking about money because there is nobody else. There is no one ahead of you to call. There’s no well, let me check my boss. You’re it. You’re it. Like I actually have a picture of Jesse James’s hand where it says pay up, suck on his hand in my office. So when people come here and I meet them for the first time and they’re like, well, what do you do here? I’m like, I do a lot, but that I collect money, you know, and I make sure that my business is is healthy. You know, we we do custom fabrication. So when we get people and to be honest, we don’t get it a lot anymore. Like in the early days, people would hem and haw because we always require a deposit, especially on anything that we’re, we’re building because a lot of these items are one and done. You know, once I cut that piece of wood, it’s it. So, you know, in the beginning a lot of people were like, well, you know, 60%.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:30:19] You’re like, well, it’s custom and it’s it’s our policy period. You know, there doesn’t need to be an explanation. It’s what you need to to run your business. And then same thing for us. You know, we don’t have an opportunity to lean anything like in a traditional construction sense. So once our last semi leaves, that’s it. You know, if I haven’t collected. There’s a chance I may not be able to. And I don’t take that chance. You know, there’s too much at stake. And, you know, like you’re saying a lot of people just don’t understand in business, especially with. Construction. You’ve got to have the heaviest of insurance policies and they’re not cheap. You know, I’ve got to have I’ve got 70,000ft², got seven welders running right now. I hope you can’t hear them, but I’ve got seven welders on the other side of my wall, you know. So it’s like this stuff costs money and payrolls every Friday. So I just think, you know, like I was trying to say earlier, just, you know, not being scared of of the important parts of business and money is one of them, you know, it is money is one. And and being able to service your clients to the best of your abilities, which even means the times that you won’t be able to service them. You just need to be able to be up front, let them know, and they’re way more appreciative when you do that rather than taking it on and it just being a disaster.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:38] Now let’s talk a little bit about goals and aiming higher. A lot of folks that get into business when they’re first starting out, I find that they don’t dream big enough. How important is it, um, to have kind of those big dreams and aim may be higher than the expectations of people around you a lot of times. Uh, does, uh, Cynthia, you want to take a stab at this? Uh, uh, because you’re you’re coming off that big, uh, milestone achievement of the Super Bowl.

Speaker6: [00:32:08] So, yes, it’s everything.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:32:11] It’s everything. I tell people that all the time. You know, when when we first started up, I can’t tell you how many people were like, you’re crazy. This is going to happen. That’s going to happen. I was like, well, that’s fine. I want to find out for myself. And those things that they warned us about didn’t happen. You know, and I think that it people don’t dream big anymore. And that’s and that’s sad to me because if you’re not pushing for the next, the next big thing, then, then what are you doing? You know, like in the beginning it was, oh, I can’t wait till we do $1 million in revenue. And when we hit that, it was like, okay, now I can’t wait for, you know, we would we would start looking at clients or shows or events that were, you know, I’m calling it my bucket list. Um, you know, you had to put a target on some of those and some of the backs of those things, or else you’ll lose sight of what you’re doing. You know, I, I always say the Super Bowl was won when we first started. I was like, I know that we’ve made it when we did something big for Super Bowl and we just did that.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:33:14] So I have my eyes set on something else, the last one, but it’s like you have to do that if you don’t set goals. What are you doing? You’ve got to do that. And there is no such thing as too big. I feel like, you know, again, in the beginning, everybody was like, oh, that’s cute. You know, you have a little shop and so on and so forth. No, we’re now in, you know, of course it’s my opinion, but I feel like I could justify it. Or one of the biggest scenery companies in Las Vegas, you know, I we’ve touched everything that exists on the strip, pretty much, um, done a lot of shows, met a lot of great people. And, you know, I feel like we’re just hitting our stride, you know, again, we’re 17 years in. My big thing now is I’m trying to get get the people that have worked for us. I’ve got a lot of people that have been with us more than ten years. I want them to start working on their retirement plan with us. I want them to start taking the torch. I’m ready to start passing that on, which is very scary as a business owner. But it’s it’s paramount, you know, again, it’s a goal.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:34:20] I had goals as to how long I wanted to do this. I had goals as to revenue numbers, um, metrics. You know, we’re talking really about giving back to the community. And I’ve lived. I’m a military kid, so Las Vegas is the closest to home that I’ve ever had. I’ve never lived anywhere in my whole life as long as I have here. And so it means everything to me to be able to do things in our community. Um, and we’ve we’ve been very, very blessed the last few years. You know, even coming out of the pandemic, everybody was like, oh, are you guys okay? Is this. I’m like, oh yeah, we’re innovative. But you know, chips are down, but we’re going to figure it out. And we did. We built a studio. Um, we talked about dreaming big during the pandemic. I spent a lot of time in my home office thinking, all right, what are we going to do? We went and got contractor licenses. We went and turned one of our suites into a studio, and all of a sudden everything started taking off. So there’s nothing wrong with having big goals, is what I’m saying. You put your heart into them and something’s going to stick.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:35:23] Thank you. Raised such a good point. I mean, think about there’s that saying that big man used to say, you know, if you shoot for the star, you know, shoot for the stars, shoot for the moon, then you’re amongst the stars if you miss. So those kind of like strategies are so needed just to think big as a small. I mean, as a growing business, I won’t even say. And I’m like hearing your story 17 years and I’m like, whoa. As I look ahead in my road, I’m like super excited because I feel so empowered and motivated by your own story. And you’re right. Every year. Thank you. Yeah, you’re doing some amazing things. And then Super Bowl super excited. But um, yeah, every year so far I have set my goals big, big big. Just thinking outside the box every annual goals and five years out. What does that look like. Look at percent ratios. I look at revenue. I look at, um, industries and just things that I want to accomplish for the me and the team as I continue to grow and even structure like changing structure, what does that look like? Um, for new locations, placement, there’s a conversation I’m having upcoming with Denver and there’s one with Vegas. So it’s like, okay, scary goals, but goals nonetheless, because you have to think big in order to grow and take the risk. Like you said, you took this risk to change your your one of your facilities out and voila, now it’s return on investment. Beautiful. So I’m super excited to have that experience. Hopefully soon.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:36:51] Yes. And I and I and I’m sure that I’m sure that you will. And you said something like scary goals. I know it sounds a little cliche, but I always say if it doesn’t scare you, it’s not worth it. Like you’ve got to be scared and excited at the same time. You know, I feel like, you know, I say this all the time that I if I were to die tomorrow, I’d be okay with that because I accomplished a lot of the scary stuff. And then it trickles over into your personal life too. You know, I done a lot of things that pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, but they helped me grow. And those, you know, my my hobbies have also helped me as a leader, you know, especially, um, I know I keep not trying to bring up negative times, but I think it’s important for people to share, you know, how you do get through negative times. I think that you’ve got employees, they look to you, you know, you’re the one when I say like, oh, yeah, I got to call somebody else. You’re the one that’s at that top. So you’ve got to be able to show that. That you got this. Yes. It’s scary. And yes, they’re on this boat with you and there’s a hole in the bottom, and something fell out the back. And the waters are doing this, but you’re at the head of that boat and you’re telling them this is where we’re going.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:38:03] Buckle in, but we’re going to be okay. And, uh, and, you know, sometimes in the back of your mind, you’re like, God, I hope we’re going to be okay. I’m going to sell myself on it. But you’ve got to you’ve got to be able to you got to be able to sell your scary to your employees as well. You know, again, I’m going to use the Super Bowl. I think I was probably asked four times over the course of that project, because we built that in eight weeks over the holidays. I had welders out there day before they went filming live. The whole time the guys were like, is this really worth it? And I’m like, yeah, it absolutely is worth it. You’re building a stage that the whole world is going to see, and not for a five minute halftime show. We’re out there all week. Drew Barrymore’s coming tomorrow, so let’s get this done. You know. So again, you know when when you do have a scary goal like that, you really got to sell yourself on it because you’re going to get questioned. People riding with you are going to say, are you sure about this? You’ve got to be able to say, yeah, I am. I know it’s scary, but yeah, I’m sure about this.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:39:06] Okay. I think that confidence makes a difference when you’re all in and you’re like, we’re gonna do it and we’re gonna be successful at it. The team seems to be like the momentum. You can see the momentum and the excitement that they’re a part of the change, the impact. And then once you continue as a leader to continue to rally and support. I mean, I mean, I’ve had those moments, like you talked about those moments where I’m like, man, am I going the right way? Am I doing the right stuff? This is hard every day. Like what I have to when I kill, I eat kind of thing, right? Yeah. New contracts are great.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:39:37] Absolutely. Our hunter. You’re your own hunter. Every day I tell like I. We have a painting in our conference room that is that it’s a bunch of people wearing, like, you know, professional suits, but they all have, like, war paint on them, and one’s got like, a a, you know, deer on his back and they’re all looking at a city and it’s like, that’s that’s life. You know, it’s either we eat or someone else eats, right? You know, and. Right. And I think that, um, especially like I’m going to keep referring to this projects, it was tough. You know, it’s hard to keep people motivated over the holidays, you know, and um, especially with construction, like my type of construction is a little bit different. I always tell people we work when no one else wants to, you know, like New Year’s Eve holidays. And, um, one of my departments worked 31 days straight. The last day they had off was New Year’s Day. And, um, I thought it was really important. At the end of this, we all went down to the to the structure on the strip. I pulled them all in front and I said, look at what you guys just did. And to see like a bunch of grown men, ironworkers that are all still dirty because they’ve been working that morning, kind of take their hats off and look up. And they went, wow, this is amazing. I never thought I could do this, you know? So then once you start showing the people around you that they can do hard things too, you know, they they start buying the Kool-Aid, you know, they’re drinking the Kool-Aid. They’re like, yeah, this is great. I love doing hard things. So, you know, I always think it’s it’s it’s the the best motto is just keep it, push and get these big, big scary goals. Because once you accomplish them, you do feel like you’re on top of the world and you’re like, yeah, what’s next? That’s exactly what I was asked before. Here. They’re like, what’s next? It’s like, well, we’re coming up with it.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:41:31] Right? Right. And I remember talking to this other consultant where she still has the job and she does consulting on the side. And so we were talking about she’s like, you do this 100% of your time. And I just kind of looked and I was like, yeah. And she’s like, I’m always scared to do that, to give up the the corporate job to do that 100%. She was I said, well, to me, I had to believe in myself enough to jump 100% in so I can know I gave it 100% try. Good effort. I brought people in that could help me with my weaker areas to really think about things strategically, long terme, or even operationally right when it comes to billing and finance and putting together packages. So she’s like, I just can’t believe, you know, she’s like, I’ve always thought about it, but I haven’t. And I get more proud because I’m like, wow, these lights are on because I had a contract.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:42:22] That’s right, that’s right. But but you’re all.

Speaker6: [00:42:25] In a contract.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:42:27] But you’re all in, you know, and that’s like you said, you jumped in with both feet. That’s the only way. You know, you’ve really got to work your dream every day. And it’s it’s rewarding. As difficult as some of the hardest days are, like you just said, it’s rewarding when you look around and you’re like, I did this, I did this, I put all these people to work. Or like you’re saying, the lights are on because of me, the internet’s because of me, you know? So but it’s fun. Like, I would not trade this life for anything. You know, the hard, like I said, the hard days. That’s just part of the package. You know, it’s growth. Hard, hard things make you grow. They, you know.

Speaker6: [00:43:07] So indeed, it’s a.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:43:09] Stretch, right? The stretch.

Speaker6: [00:43:11] The stretch I love it I love it.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:14] Now, Cynthia, who’s your ideal client? Uh, who out there is that perfect fit client for you and your firm?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:22] That I don’t already have.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:24] Okay.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:25] Ah, well.

Speaker6: [00:43:27] You know, dream big.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:28] Aim high.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:31] Um hmm. That’s a great question. I feel like we’ve got we’ve got an incredible Rolodex right now. So I, I don’t know, I feel like we’re we’re working with all the, the industry leaders that we’ve wanted to work with. Um, you know, right now, I think. As far as, um, is there.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:52] A type of client? Is there like a, you know, is there an industry type that you would like to get into or that you haven’t already, or it’s just a matter of in order to grow, you just need more work from each of your existing clients.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:44:06] Um, yes. I think in order to grow, we we have to. We’re trying to pick which industry or I’m sorry, which facet of our industry we like best. Um, you know, our heart will always be with the, um, you know, Las Vegas and the shows that we have here. But as far as, as clientele, we actually do have, um, a lot of great clients that spend a lot of time, um, with, um. Working on inclusion and working with small businesses, diverse businesses, women owned businesses. And those have been great. You know, we’ve got, um, a couple, I call them corporate corporate clients, you know, bringing me back to the corporate world. And they’re they’re great to work with. You know, they’re they’re understanding about things. Their deadlines are are great. Um, and they’re realistic. So I feel like at this point of the game that’s, that’s kind of where we want to go, you know, the, the big crazy things you see on TV, those are fun, but they’re bloodbaths to get through, you know, the, the, the, the, like keynote speeches that come through here. We do a lot of what we call corporate industrial. So if we’ve got like a drug, a drug company coming out and they’re, um, launching something new, we’ll do the set for that. And those type of clients have always been fun to work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:45:30] So if somebody wants to get Ahold of you, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:45:34] It’s steakhouse LV. Like Las Vegas. Com and our Instagram page is is pretty active. We we do our best to put up the work that we’re, that we’re creating. Um, unfortunately we signed a lot of NDAs. So some stuff we can’t put up. We do a lot of auto dealership or, I’m sorry, auto manufacturers. So we get to see all the cool new stuff where it comes out. So but our website does does cover all of the big ones and it covers what we do now.

Lee Kantor: [00:46:04] Doctor G, who’s your ideal client? And, uh. What? Who would that be? What? Is there a niche that you want to get into? Is there an area that you’d like more business in?

Speaker6: [00:46:16] I’m all, you know.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:46:18] So initially when I started, it was only construction. Now I have some, um, architecture firms reaching out for inclusion efforts. And then it’s been telecommunications. It’s been technology, it’s been education. So it’s been an evolution of industries. When I again when I started, I was so narrow minded, I was thinking I would be in one space. And now I see that the conversation practices and kind of policy, I mean, assessments are across industry. And he’s taken that core foundation and applying it to each organization. Kind of like customized because each one is so uniquely different where they are in the overall Dia journey. Some are a little further along. I remember one client asked me, hey, we we we know you work with this other company and we want you to do a training just like that here. And I paused and I and they said, we only have like a week and a half for you to pull this training together. Our leaders are involved and engaged. And I said, let’s stop. Leaders are involved and engage a week and a half to prep a whole training. That would be a two and a half day training, really. How involved are your leaders and how supported are your leaders? And so she paused and thought and I said, plus the other organization you were referring to that I worked with because I gave her a client list. The other organization that you’re referring to, they have ten years celebrating their employee resource group to support women in industry.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:47:37] You are launching your program to support women in industry. There are two different spectrums of the effort for inclusion. So it’s not a cookie cutter type model that needs to be applied. It needs to be customized based on where you are in your journey. And so that same question to answer that lead would be all industries, because each organization is as such at a different point in where they are in the Dei journey, whether they want to help me look externally when it comes to project pursuits or deliverables, or even serving as serving as the owner’s representative, making sure that the contractor and is meeting requirements, that’s one role, or even internally when it comes to employee retention. You know, our industry as a whole has a huge, huge shortage at some capacity across the country. And it’s really looking at how do organizations retain workforce so that they can build some of these amazing projects and whatever dollar value. And so it’s helping those companies think, um, for the education they have EEO policies I’m helping. I have a couple of conversations right now. Oh, and I’m also speaking on this upcoming, uh, the California Community College Foundation has a women’s caucus. I’ll be speaking in March 8th for that event. Again, it’s just these different industries for me to really strategically look at, of how to help everyone elevate.

Lee Kantor: [00:49:00] And is there a website they can go to to connect with you.

Speaker6: [00:49:04] Or learn more?

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:49:04] First and last name your great question, Lee. It’s my first and last name. So it’s not doctor. So that’s Doctor Giovanna Brasfield. So com so Doctor Giovanna Brasfield com or of course my favorite is LinkedIn. I get many different messages on LinkedIn. If they can’t remember Giovanna Brasfield, they’ll search me out there and give me a quick message. Um, from there. And then we’ll connect about opportunities or even just to to know what’s going on in industry or research that they might be looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:49:38] Good stuff, Doctor Pamela. What a show.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:49:43] You know what? It was a fantastic. I want to just emphasize just a couple of things that were shared, because both doctor G and Cynthia dropped some major nuggets, and I want to make sure our listeners walk away with them after listening to the show. Um, I think my favorite one was have clarity in your yeses, but also have clarity in your nose. And so I think that is such great advice, because you definitely need to know why you’re saying no and be able to discuss that no with your client. I think another one that is one that we hear a lot, but I just also want to kind of bold it and highlight it is, you know, dream big, have stretch goals, be able to measure your success. And Cynthia, I think one of the things that you said, which I love, which which was around your story about bringing your your team together to see what they accomplished. You know, I think it’s so important to celebrate those accomplishments, um, not just internally, but also let the world know about your accomplishments, um, by sharing what you guys do each and every day, it just helps to build the confidence and the others that are watching you, especially for newer entrepreneurs and even for people who are just thinking about starting a business. Um, just seeing and hearing about your success just helps them build their confidence and make that decision to step out on their own. More valuable and more realistic. So thank you guys. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for sharing your story so openly, Lee, and thank you for being such a fantastic host.

Lee Kantor: [00:51:29] Well, this was a great show and it was so important to hear from all of you. You’re all doing such important work and we appreciate you. Thank you for being part of this.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:51:39] Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker6: [00:51:41] Thank you. All right.

Lee Kantor: [00:51:43] This is Lee Kantor for Doctor Pamela Williamson. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion. No.

BRX Pro Tip: Promise Deliver Check

March 27, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Promise Deliver Check

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BRX Pro Tip: Promise Deliver Check

Stone Payton: Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, we have consistently suggested that to be successful in this business, and I suspect it applies to most businesses, you make promises and then, you keep them. But there’s another component to this. We may think that we’re delivering on the promise, but the best way to make sure is to check with the client, to make sure that we are delivering on the promise in the way that they feel like we should be delivering. Can you talk to that a little bit?

Lee Kantor: Sure. This is one of the big points of differentiation between our media platform and traditional media. We don’t just kind of put out—our clients don’t put out an ad and then, just hope that it’s effective. Our responsibility as a studio partner or as a consultant, with consulting with our clients and holding them accountable in terms of the result that they desire. They’re holding us accountable and we’re holding them accountable. It has to work together.

Lee Kantor: So, we have to check in with the clients to make sure that they are getting what we promised them that they should be getting. And then, these check-ins, you have to be professionally confrontive with them in order to hold them accountable, to make sure that they’re getting the guests that they’re supposed to be getting in order for them to be successful. Because if they don’t have the right guests, they’re not going to be successful, they’re not going to get clients.

Lee Kantor: And it’s going to be an exercise that’s fun to do, but it’s not going to be an exercise that’s delivering like Stone says, that green dollar ROI. So, we have to hold them accountable to the guests that are coming in there. And if they’re struggling to get the guests, we have to help them get the guests if we can. So, we have to manage their expectations that this isn’t some magic formula. You know, they say they’re hosting a show and all of a sudden—or they’re sponsoring a show and all of sudden, money appears.

Lee Kantor: We’ve got to manage expectations. This requires work. You have to be proactive. You have to ask people that you don’t know to be a guest. This way, you can nip some of these problems in the bud before they become real problems when it’s time to renew. And if they’re not getting those inbound guests request yet, you might want to help them either go through your Facebook or your LinkedIn and make some introductions for them.

Lee Kantor: You might have to buy some Facebook ads or some ads to help promote the show on their behalf and use some of the budget that they’re spending with you to help them get the word out and to help them get more inbound guest leads. It’s critically important. If they do not have the right people in the room with them, they are not going to get the results that you promised them. And then, I think as a platform, we have to take some responsibility in helping them achieve the goals that you promised that they would achieve.

Stone Payton: So, another little side note from Stone here. You know I’m fond of saying that this thing of ours, it works. It always works. It never doesn’t work. And that really is the case if you aim it in the right fashion and you’re clear about what you’re trying to accomplish with the platform. But the other thing to watch out for is you are going to deliver on the promise, particularly if you follow some of these guidelines. And sometimes, your clients will forget or not truly recognize that you’re the reason the promise got delivered.

Stone Payton: Sometimes, they think it’s their charm and their intellect. And I’m not saying that doesn’t play a role, but come on, guys, we accomplished so much through our platform. And you don’t have to, you know, get in their face about it. But sometimes, your clients have to be reminded that, look, the reason you have these relationships, the reason you have this access, the reason you’re generating this green dollar ROI is because you have a Business RadioX show.

BRX Pro Tip: Clear Strategy Means Easy Decisions

March 26, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Clear Strategy Means Easy Decisions

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BRX Pro Tip: Clear Strategy Means Easy Decisions

Stone Payton: And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kanter here with you. Lee, you and I both believe this: clear strategy means easier decisions.

Lee Kantor: Right. It’s very important to really keep your strategy and your ultimate goal in mind when you’re making decisions. And if it gets muddled or you get distracted, then it’s easy to go off course. So, you have to understand what your true north is, and then success is sure to follow. Like in our case, our strategy is clear, we want to be the voice of business in our market, and we want to help our clients be the voice of business in their market or their niche that they serve.

Lee Kantor: So, that means that every decision that we make should help achieve that goal. And it should be pretty binary yes or no. And if somebody says, “Hey, you should do this,” and then, you just go, “Well, is that going to help me achieve my goal of being the voice of business? Yes or no? Does the math make sense and I can afford to do this. Then, let’s consider it.” If it doesn’t, then the answer’s no. It just is everything becomes clearer and simpler once you have just a really clear understanding of where you want to go and hold every decision to it’s either helping you get there or it’s not. And the answer is either hell yeah or no.

Stone Payton: [00:01:20] I like that. Hell yeah or no.

Joanie Chamberland with Rise Up

March 26, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Joanie Chamberland with Rise Up

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Many people struggle with self-doubt, it makes them unable to leave their comfort zones and overcome the things holding them back in life.

Using the martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Rise Up helps people grow their confidence and the resilience they need to rise up over both physical and mental obstacles so they can reach their full potential not just on the mat, but in every part of their lives.

Joanie Chamberland is a retired black belt competitor and the only female BJJ school owner in Georgia.

She’s been training 16 years and teaching 12 years.

Follow Rise Up on Facebook and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:17] Thank you so much for joining us on 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 on the show, we have the owner and head instructor of Rise Up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is in Kennesaw, Georgia. They focus on creating a family, community and a safe environment, and I’m just so excited to welcome Joanie Chamberland to the show.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:00:44] Hey, hey, I’m excited to be here.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:47] This is your second business radio interview this week.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:00:49] Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:49] We’ve kind of, like, glommed onto you a little bit, like, don’t leave. Come into my studio.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:00:55] Exactly.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:56] How are you?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:00:57] I am, I’m doing good. Minus the yellow season upon us.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:00] But, you know, I’m feeling it too. And I can hear it as well. But like we were saying, it’s raining now. We’re hoping it clears out some.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:05] Oh, it’s supposed to rain for a little while.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:07] Yeah, light rain for a few hours.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:09] I’m like, yes, please.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:10] Let’s embrace. So I was looking a little bit about your history, and you were born in Quebec, and you came over here to the United States. When?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:20] In 2000. Okay.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:22] So actually not that long ago then.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:24] I mean, most of my life.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:25] But, you know, I guess. Yeah. You’re a young and you’re young. I mean, you look great, so. All right. So. But you still have family up in Quebec?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:32] Yes. Only my immediate family is here. So my dad, my mom, my brother here, um, we actually didn’t speak English when we moved here, so that was interesting.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:42] How did how did they just kind of like here school figure out.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:01:45] So they told me I don’t understand. And where’s the bathroom? And, um, and I went to the school ahead of time with my mom. I met my teacher, walked around, and then the first day of school, I got in there and I couldn’t remember how to get to the classroom. So I just, like, walked around aimlessly and then happened to see my teacher in the library and just followed it to the classroom. So, um.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:09] That must have been a very intimidating to try to learn English on the fly.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:02:14] It was. It was honestly just weird. It was weird. I would just hear little Johnny, blah blah blah blah blah, Quebec la la la la la la Joni. You know, nothing made sense. There was no cards on everything. So like, everything had, you know, a clock would say clock sync, sync, you know, doorknob. So everything door, everything had a sticky note or a note card on it for me to be able to learn English.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:37] How long did it take you until you felt comfortable?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:02:41] Um, probably just a couple months. I was eight, so it’s not super hard. And when you’re like forced you there’s. You have to. Yeah. So yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:50] But at eight it’s great. Like you were saying, when you’re young you’re sponge and you can learn things. So. But nice to be bilingual while you’re here in Georgia.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:02:57] Yeah. Except for French is not very useful here. But, you know, it does throw people off.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:02] Oh, I bet. Right. Well, but it’s kind of cool. Like I was saying, there’s a restaurant in canton called La Vie and they speak French. And so if you ever happen to go up there, you guys will be really cute.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:03:10] Well, you know, what’s actually kind of funny is my mom was helping at the front desk for a little bit at the gym. And sometimes if you speak another language, you think you’re speaking the right language and you’re not. And so I hear her talk to this new person that comes in, and then she starts talking in French. And I look at my mom and I was like, mom. And then he goes, oh no, I told her, I’m from Morocco, I speak French. And so I was just like, oh, okay, sounds good. I just thought my mom forgot she wasn’t speaking the right language, and she’s just telling this guy all this stuff in French. And I was like, um, mom, mom. Okay, no. We’re good.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:45] All right. Do you feel like you’ve lost any of your, um, fluency because you’re not using it all the time? Or is it get is it affected like that at all?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:03:53] Uh, well, so I speak French every day because I talk to both my parents and French because it’s a lot easier. Unless we’re arguing it’s way easier in English for me. Um, but it’s. I don’t have a French accent, and I do have an ugly English accent when I speak French. So interesting. And then you lose the I don’t know, the nuances and like the phrases and stuff, but I mean, I’m not up to the hip lingo in Georgia either. So, you know.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:19] I follow some, some people on TikTok that throw in these terms that I’m just like, what? I have to look up Urban Dictionary. So yeah, yeah, there are ways to try to be hip. But yeah, no, that’s okay, I can I almost embrace a little bit my non hipness because it’s like on purpose I’m not going to join like I am my age and I’m staying there.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:04:36] She’s like word.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:37] Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:04:39] Because like what does that mean.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:41] Never mind. Well, I’m so happy that you’ve come in the studio because you and I have talked about, um, self-defense classes that you offer at the studio. And, um, I’ve had a lot of intimidation about it because I’ve had some trauma in my background that I’ve taken a self-defense class in the past, and it’s been very traumatic for me because it’s brought up some emotions I don’t even know I have right underneath the surface. And you were very kind about making sure that any time I would come, I would be really comfortable. So thank you for being so generous that way. But also just the fact that I can imagine you’re giving everyone an not just self-defense, but in your classes a sense of I’ll meet you where you are. And so can you tell me a little bit about your philosophy behind your studio?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:05:25] Yeah. So I’ve actually been training martial arts since I was four. Um, and I do realize people aren’t like me, um, in which has been something that’s interesting for the business has been like, well, why did you sign up? And, you know, I did jujitsu because I liked jujitsu. Um, and honestly, I didn’t do it for self-defense. I didn’t do it for friends. I used to wrestle with my friend in the living room, and I was always really small, strong core. I did gymnastics and stuff my whole life, but I’m not good at gymnastics. Um, but she was a soccer player, and she was strong, and I was, I started jujitsu, I didn’t even weigh 100 pounds. So I was really tiny. And she kept pinning me down. And my brother’s friend saw it, and he was like, here, let me show you some stuff. And I was like, what is this? He’s like jiu jitsu. And I was like, okay, cool. So he showed me a little bit and I went to another school and found out, like started an actual jujitsu program. Long story short, you know, he showed me some stuff to get out of that. And through being in all those different studios. Right. Doing the taekwondo as a kid. Um, then I did taekwondo as a teenager, and then I came back and went to try krav.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:06:28] I’ve done jiu jitsu, but from being there and going to a bunch of different schools, I realized like. What is that thing that makes it intimidating for people, right? Because for me, it’s not. So we’ve been trying to get new clients in and I’m like, I don’t know, you don’t get people like me. Like, I just signed up. I walked in and I was like, let me do this class, right? I love jiu jitsu and I just want to be able to beat people up. So, um, but I want to be able to do it consistently, right? So I need to be safe. And we have this thing, you know, we say at the gym, that’s funny. It’s just like, if you break your toys, then you don’t have any toys to play with. So, you know, coming in, we already know it’s a really awkward, intimidating thing. I do remember being a white belt and we had a big window and we’d be doing these warm ups, and you look super weird. Like I was like, what if somebody just, like, looked at us right now? They’d be like, what are they doing? And it’s like some of the most fundamental movements you have to do shrimping and bridging. And so I was like, okay, I can see like how that would feel. So, you know, for me, being so small, being a female in this sport, starting jiu jitsu young, I was 16, started teaching at 19.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:07:28] A lot of people would come in and quit. Because or like not sign up because like, well, this little person doesn’t know what they’re doing. And so over time, I’ve realized kind of what is intimidating about it. Listening to my students and me being there is like a lot of gyms are just very macho. Or you walk in and nobody greets you. Um, there’s this been this whole thing where they think, you know, it’s so MMA because you see jiu jitsu in like UFC, right? And, but UFC and MMA is a mixture of martial arts. It’s mixed MMA. So you use some jiu jitsu but Croft taekwondo, you know, Muay Thai, boxing, all of that’s in there. So I want everybody to know, like jiu jitsu isn’t MMA, it’s in MMA because all martial arts are. So when you come to our gym, like, we want to make sure that you’re aware, like when you come in, right? We all know it’s a hard sport. It’s awkward. Nobody’s body just naturally does it. There’s very few. But every time you come in, you’re like, okay, I was 16. I trained with guys that were like, didn’t want to touch me. They were super awkward. And I’m like, now you made this awkward, like, just grab my guy and move on.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:08:33] So my whole thing is like, I know that we all come in at a different place and with different skills and different understanding of the body and of other people, and you know, their story. So when you come in, you’re going to be partnered with somebody who’s been training for a while that understands what that’s like, so they can help you because two people don’t know what they’re doing together is terrifying. So we get somebody who knows what they’re doing to help you and make you feel comfortable and understand, like, okay, this is an awkward move. We all know. So we’re going to show you why we do this move. And so I want to make sure that everybody who comes in like it’s a very physically demanding sport, but everybody’s body can get used to something physically demanding. The thing that’s hard about jiu jitsu is that it’s extremely mentally demanding and and it will bring up things, like you said to me that you don’t even know are inside of you sometimes. And so you need to be in a room where you’re comfortable because you’re going to have to make it through a lot of things. And I’ve done so myself, just being so small in the sport, constantly having people lay on me and I’m, I’m claustrophobic.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:09:30] So having to deal with just that on its own and and being okay and knowing like, oh, I have to do is tap. So at my gym, I focused on making sure that everybody knows, like when you’re coming in, like, we all understand how weird and awkward jiu jitsu can be. And I also know that that it’s, you know, few and far between like me that just come in because they want to do jiu jitsu. And so that’s been our whole goal is like, okay, you come in like we’re going to have a good time. Like it’s structured and I can be strict. But also like especially with adults, like I know you’re here as your hobby. You’re here to learn something like, I want you to come in and like, have a good time, enjoy yourself. Because and I want to enjoy the people around me. So I make sure, like no matter what, somebody’s going to be there helping you and making sure that you’re comfortable and you’re good, even if that means that today, like, you’re just going to sit out and watch, right, see how things are done. And then as you get going, we’ll give you some, you know, okay, come work with this person. Like they’ll help you with these few things. And then as you go on you’ll just get more comfortable.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:24] So it’s like a trust.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:10:26] When you get.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:26] There.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:10:27] Yeah, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:28] So you had, uh, started, uh, rise up jiu jitsu in 2019. That’s when it opened. So what made you want to start your own gym here?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:10:37] So I actually started teaching in gosh, I was 19. So whenever I think that was, uh. 2014, maybe 20. No earlier than that, 2012. Um, I’m not trying to do the math right now. I’m thinking about, like, college. I was in college and I was offered the job because my professor actually moved back to Guam. So I started teaching then as as a purple belt. And I taught in, um, it was at at the time a lot of people do actually know him. Gregory Lamont, um, still really great, um, relationship with him and his wife April, that were my mentors forever. So I taught in his gym for a long time. It’s actually called integrated Martial Arts, and I have an event coming up there soon. So I was teaching for a while with him. And the way that it was, because it’s it was an ATA, there was only so much growth that was going to be able to be done. We kept trying to push jujitsu in the ATA system, and they just they didn’t mind it, but they never helped us. So just constantly being in there, I could never really do exactly what I wanted with my program. And honestly, the people that had bought us at the time, Karate Atlanta, they also viewed it like, well, you don’t learn life skills in jujitsu.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:11:50] And it’s like, well, I grew up in the ATA system, so I do make sure that it’s a structured class. We bow in and out, there’s respect. We talk about life skills, they’re learning something. And the reality with jiu jitsu is that it’s really a parallel to life, right? Because some days you come in and like, everything is amazing. You’re beating everyone, the next day you’re just getting beat up by everyone, right? So it’s it really helps you learn like how to deal with those situations in, in life too, because you’re constantly being put in uncomfortable situations and going, is this really something that’s going to like, hurt me? Like, am I going to pass out with this choke? Or is this just kind of uncomfortable? And I can turn my head right, which means like just in life, like, is this really something that’s so hard? Like, I might not make it through, or does it just feel really hard and like all I got to do is like, look at the corner and like, there it is, like the lights right there.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:12:35] So. Being in there, it was hard for me to really make the program bigger, and I had had an opportunity with somebody who was saying they wanted to open a gym, and they already knew from the beginning I wanted to do that. So eventually, since we couldn’t, we kept trying to get me to be able to move up. Um, it just didn’t work in the the way that the structure of the atom karate system. So I ended up opening my own gym, and that was. With the help of mass tourism. In the same shopping center. We partnered together and the kids took both classes for a while, and then I moved to my newest big location, which is over off Bells Ferry Road. And you know, we just keep growing that way. And like I said, I’m still great friends with them. It’s a wonderful place. It just wasn’t going to be able to give me the growth that I wanted and to be able to structure it how I want to make sure that I give that vibe. Right. Because it’s just a kind of a different vibe when you’re looking at the taekwondo side, then jiu jitsu.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:30] Right. So I think when when you’re talking about misunderstandings of what jiu jitsu even is, you know, it’s like you were saying, I can imagine mixed martial arts and people think it’s going to be so physically challenging and, and, and have a different philosophy than what it really is. But I also think it’s fascinating that the way you’re discussing it and explaining it has the mental side of it is so interesting because you think about the physical and the challenges that’s going to come this way, because if you’ve I’ve seen obviously I’ve seen, um, and you have seen jiu jitsu matches and it’s, it is so physical, but the, the mental side is, is kind of not something that I was thinking is like, wow, I have to actually get my mind in this space of making sure that I feel safe. And what am I going to do if I don’t? And I guess I just was thinking kind of brawn, you know, is what’s most important, I suppose. So can you talk a little bit about that?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:14:24] So, um, there’s and this is just the philosophy for jiu jitsu in general. And it’s we basically it’s we call it like it’s like chess, right? It’s mental chess because the whole time, like it’s physical and mental chess because the whole time, like you’re trying to stay a couple moves ahead of your opponent and just something as simple as, like if somebody were like, we start from standing, we go to the ground, right? If somebody were to take me down and I get underneath them, I can be in my head and be like, oh God, they took me down, right? And then I’m trying to use my power to to push them back over. Or I could think something like, all right, what’s next? Right. I got taken down. There’s no worries about why. Think about it. Right. Let’s move on to the next thing, which is the hardest thing to do in jiu jitsu. And that’s what I’m constantly trying to teach my students, is don’t focus on that bad thing that just happened to you. You got to focus on the next step. So what’s the next step? They’re going to take me down, but there is no way they’re also going to get mount on me, right? They’re not just going to take me down and just land all the way on top of me. So if they take me down, my my foot hooks going in, I’m sweeping them back over and I’m on top of them. Right. And so it’s thinking about, okay, what’s next. Right. Okay. I want this person to extend their arm straight. So I’m going to push and they’re going to try to push me away. Bam that arm is straight. So you’re constantly you’re you’re baiting them. The the better and better you get at jiu jitsu.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:15:37] You’re 4 or 5, six steps ahead of them or you already know. Well, if I grab here, they can only move this way or this way. And honestly, my challenge for this last year, because I used to compete a lot and I retired last year, I was very physically and time physically demanding, time consuming. So I changed my mindset to, okay, when I roll with my my buddies that are bigger and they’re high ranks, right? They’ve been training longer than me. So it’s not jiu jitsu is to help a small person beat a big person that doesn’t know what they’re doing. Okay, but when your best friend is been training just as long as you have has been a black belt, you know, twice as long as you have, and they’re 225 pounds. Your goal is okay. Like, how can I outsmart him? So he told me, well, when I grab here, you can do this or this. And I’m like, oh, well, actually I have a third option. So that’s been my whole goal is like, okay, I can’t I’m not beating him physically. Even if I use flexibility, I still can’t beat him. So now it’s okay, I’m going to set some things up. Or you know, we train together so long. He knows my moves. I’m like, I’m gonna do something he’s not expecting. So there is so much mental awareness that you have to have in jiu jitsu. And it’s very difficult when you first start off because, you know, people are laying on you, they’re choking you. It’s hard to think when people are all all over you sweating on you. Sometimes we avoid those people, you know, where they’re they’ve got their legs near your face. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:53] They’re touching you so much.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:16:54] Right the whole time. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:56] So it’s such an odd thing, especially with a stranger to be like, so physically intimate like that, you know, in a battle.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:17:02] Yeah, exactly. And that’s why also, like, you don’t start off just doing that right away. Right. That’s why we partner you with somebody that’s going to help you and make you feel comfortable. Because if you already don’t feel comfortable with someone, how are you going to do the other part. Right. And so but that’s over time. And so that’s, that’s the thing about it is it’s just there’s so much thought involved and you’re never going to do the same roll again. You’re never going to have the same exact fight again because oh, well, even if we go together all the time we’re going to try new things. So it’s it’s really great because it’s so mentally engaging. That’s why I haven’t stopped. I’ve done many, many martial arts in my life, and jiu jitsu is the only one I’ve stuck with because it’s so mentally engaging and it’s never the same. And then you can have so many different partners that are all doing different stuff. If somebody is flexible, if they’re short, they’re tall, they’re long, they’re strong, they’re it’s really honestly a amazing the amount of things you can do with jiu jitsu.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:56] I had no idea. I mean, I knew the basics of it and I’ve seen matches and but I’ve never really thought about how, um, it’s like chess. Like, if I move this way, they’re going to move this way, which will let me do this, you know, which. So you really have to be 100% present.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:18:11] Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:12] In that moment, which is what it’s like for me, motorcycle riding, because I have to be so present when I’m on my bike. And there’s a piece that I have about it when I’m in that space because I’m very like, I’m not thinking about all the other things that I have to do. So I’m imagining actually, it’s it’s kind of cathartic for me. To let go of everything else and just be in this moment. So I imagine that might feel the same, even though you’re fighting or not fighting. Is it fighting?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:18:40] We call it. We call it rolling.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:41] Okay. Rolling.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:18:42] But I mean, that is the the sparring or fighting portion of jiu jitsu. Right. Rolling is when you get to use all the moves that you know, and and honestly, it is it is something that requires your entire mind and, and it’s funny because when you say that, I think about this time I competed and, um, I tried to tell my students, it’s not you’re never both moving forward. Right? Sometimes you can move backwards while they’re moving forward. And I remember we were going and typically you have your first round, you know, you do your first division and then it’ll be a couple hours before the next one. But somehow we got them to like speed it up. And we ended up competing again like our second round within like 30 minutes. And I was hungry. So I was competing and all of a sudden she kind of, like, lands on me and like, you know, her body hits my stomach and I’m like, man, I’m hungry. And I’m like, oh God, I’m competing. I got to keep I got to focus on what I’m doing. And so, you know, just a thought like that, it wasn’t even negative. Like it wasn’t like, oh, she did this to me or whatever. It was just like, man, I’m I’m hungry. Oh. Oh, gosh. Oh, okay. All right. I’m fighting someone right now. Please.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:43] Intrusive thoughts. Right. Yeah. It’s like.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:19:45] So you do have to you really have to have your focus on jiu jitsu. And so it’s it’s nice because it does literally. And I think that’s why people love coming. And it does clear your mind because it just doesn’t allow you to think about anything else. Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:59] It doesn’t matter your emails. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing on the way home. When you get home, it’s this moment and it’s a challenge to be 100% present, I think all the time. Oh yeah, it’s that mindfulness. But I like that that something that reminds me that I need to do it because it’s easy for me to get very distracted with a million things. But to be right here, present right now, even in this interview, it’s like, appreciate what this is. And I feel like I’ve experienced life in a more meaningful way when I’m really thinking about what I’m doing and every moment. Right.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:20:29] And then and the thing too, that’s nice is the person that you’re doing with also knows that you’re giving them your full attention. Right? And so there’s never this thing of like, you know. Are we both present right now? Like, are we doing this thing together?

Sharon Cline: [00:20:42] Just phoning it in.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:20:42] Yeah. Like, no, you’re definitely doing. If not, as soon as that arm comes across your neck, you’re like, okay, I’m here, you know, and so it’s, it’s, you know, it’s it is that thing that clears your mind and really helps you out. And especially when you find that. Right, Jim. And that’s that is one of the other things I tell people like this is how I created my Jim. Right. But anytime you’re trying out some Jim’s because I had somebody ask me the other day actually at the wipe out, you know, how do you know if it’s a good Jim? Like, what if you’re not close to my Jim? Um, well, the thing is, you know, go in there and you can look up the instructors, see if they’ve competed, see if they have, you know, their reviews and all that. If you have a friend who trains, they probably know someone in the area. But also when you go in there, you just have to like when you go in, do you feel comfortable? Is this somewhere you want to be a long terme? Because jiu jitsu is. It takes about ten years to get a black belt.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:21:31] So if your goal when you come in is to earn your black belt, like you’re going to be there for a while. So make sure that you like the instruction, the class times, how they’re structured, the people that are with you. And that’s our goal. There is like, if you’re meant to be at my gym, you will be at my gym. Like you’ll walk in like, this is the place. Like I enjoy this. Like, this is what I’m here for. It’s a hobby, right? And so like, that’s the whole thing that we’re trying to create. Is that like mindfulness, like you want to be here, like, people don’t come onto my mat and bring their cell phones out there because that’s not that’s not what they’re there for. Shoot. Somebody’s phone was ringing one time. Nobody like that person didn’t even realize it because they were so zoned in. And then they’re like, oh my God, I’m so sorry. That’s my phone. Like, let me go turn it off. And it’s like, we hardly that hardly ever happens. But it’s one of those things that like when you’re there, you’re there.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:14] I saw on your website that you also, um, your classes start for children as young as four years old. Yeah. What’s that like?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:22:21] So we, um, I originally started seven and up, and the goal was always to have the 4 to 6 year old class. Um. And if y’all haven’t met me, I can do it. Okay? I’m a good instructor, so I can do it, but it takes a lot of energy, and that’s not me. So, um, I had somebody come in and start that program, and then he ended up moving out of state. And my best friend, who’s amazing took over, and, um, she actually owns her own gym in Douglasville. Um, but she just had a baby, so she’s gone now. But anyways, she came in and she took over that. And, you know, we actually do teach them jiu jitsu, and we are one of the few schools that actually has jiu jitsu for 4 to 6 year olds. Typically it’s the taekwondo schools that have it. Um, and it is a very it’s very rewarding and fun. They say really funny things. I mean, it’s great and I, I got a really good picture of one of the little ones that just moved to juniors yesterday. And so the 4 to 6 year olds is there. You know, we’re teaching them jiu jitsu and they’re very excited and they’re they’re always rolling and they’re adorable. But it is hard to wrangle kids that are fighting each other. So it’s it just takes a lot of energy. Um, and then we have the seven to. Adult size, you know, like.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:37] Teen almost.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:23:38] You know, 12, 13, 14 it just depends on their size and then adults and up, which is what I teach is the seven up to adults. Um, it’s it’s honestly been really good and I know they can do it. I’m just really hard on those expectations. Like, I know what you kids can do. So, you know, it’s it’s very rewarding. It’s very fun. We actually have a few competing this weekend that are in the 4 to 6 year old range. Um, and if you I’ve never seen it, it’s adorable. It’s adorable. It’s amazing. So that is definitely my favorite part of doing that. But teaching the classes is hard.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:12] The challenge.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:24:12] Is real. Yes, the challenge is real, but it’s. When you see it. It’s kind of incredible what it does with the kids.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:19] So I was thinking the discipline that it requires is probably just such a great life skill for children to start to develop as young as four.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:24:27] Yes, definitely. The main thing for us and for most places in general, but for us is that it has to be something that you, you’re doing at home, and then we’ll help you be that secondary place that they learn it at. Because if it’s just us like we it’s it’s way too hard. So we make sure that like, that’s what they’re getting there is that supplemental discipline. Like we talk with the parents, we make sure we’re all on the same page. Um, and we actually are opening up a third class because our classes are getting really full. So we actually opened up a Friday class. It’s going to be starting in April so that we can get a few more people in.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:02] That’s awesome. So you’re growing. Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:25:04] We’re growing definitely. And definitely the little Lamaze class.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:07] That’s what they’re called.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:25:08] Yeah. That’s what we call them the little Lamaze.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:13] So they can say they’re a lama. Yeah. Well, I saw also that you have summer camps that you provide as well, and you have, um, um, Parents Night Out that you’ve done in the past, I saw, which is so helpful. I imagine it’s like you are not just teaching your classes, but you’re really engaging the community in different ways.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:25:33] Right? So the the summer camp, we only have one this year. It’s in June. And and that’s because I knew I was going to be teaching a lot more classes this, this time around with my best friend having her baby. But so we have the summer camp in June. It is open to the public. Um, they will do jujitsu every day because I’m trying to get it out there because, like I said, most people just aren’t aware of what jujitsu really is. Some people are. And the other thing is, it’s like a lot of people don’t know what jujitsu is. And how do.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:59] You explain it? How do you explain what jujitsu is?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:26:02] I just tell people it’s it’s more or less looks like wrestling, but you’re learning how to defend yourself on the ground. And there are uses of judo techniques to take people down and wrestling to take them down. Right. And a lot of people are just worried that somebody is going to get hurt. I mean, it’s a full contact sport, but that’s we’re teaching them. Jujitsu is about control, like being able to control yourself and your opponent. So there is so much self control aspect to it that they that people don’t understand. And so that’s the thing is like once you bring them in and let them try it, they can see that as well as like I mean, honestly, I like to have fun with the kids. So we have like marshmallow wars at camp, you know. So and they have like they make forts and stuff and, and I really do enjoy seeing how creative the kids can be. Um, and I do have like I have them teach at my gym, um, and then so they get their belt. So they have to be able to teach something because I was like, you don’t actually know something if you can’t teach that thing. And I don’t believe I think all black belts should be able to teach, but just because you’re a black belt doesn’t mean that you can teach, which is to me.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:27:00] Like, why? Like there shouldn’t be real. So I have my kids start teaching from early on, right? And then with the parents night out, we just try to help them out and give them, you know, we understand like they’re they’re coming in and they’re bringing their kids to us and they’re, you know, constantly all day, every day with their kids. So we try to have some parents night outs so that our parents can go and like, have fun and, you know, just leave their kids with us. They already know they’re safe because they come here and train with us. They can bring their friends kids so y’all can have, you know, double dates and whatnot. Um, how fun. Yeah. But on the vice versa, we also do adult game nights. So like all the adult students, we all get together and we bring some food and we play board games and we puzzle and like we’ve talked about bringing like video games but have had this system set up. But none of us end up playing. We always end up playing board games together. But so we do like geek out together as, as adults as well. So, you know, fully inclusive. We’re like, all right, y’all drop your kids off somewhere else tonight and come hang out.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:57] But how nice. Because it’s not just developing like you were saying. It’s a family atmosphere. It’s not just developing your skills in jiu jitsu, but it’s developing relationships and friendships.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:28:06] Right. And and we also have a leadership program. And so in my leadership programs is kids and adults, and I teach them how to teach jiu jitsu. Right, how to coach, how to coach in competition because it’s very different. Um, how to help, you know, the new people that come in, like how to be a good training partner and how to make sure that everything runs how we want it to and get them ready for their belts as well as like I just teach them overall leadership stuff so they’ll learn how to public speak. They’ll learn like we worked on like time blocking. And one of them, I had somebody come out and talk about, like, being a good friend. Um, I’m trying to get somebody to come out and like, you know, help us work with the special needs community just so that we’re always giving back. They have to do community service projects so that, you know, we’re always giving back to our community as well, because what’s the point of only growing our little community? But then we go out there and we’re like, what is this place? So we’re trying to always give back and create that same environment around us as well.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:58] I love it. Um, and you also have an event, um, that’s coming up in May. It’s a charity event and it supports neurofibromatosis. Is that right? Yep.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:29:08] That’s right.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:09] Um, so can you tell me? I mean, it’s wonderful that you are considering outside of what, your little bubble. Studio is you’re considering what? What kind of contributions you can make to your community. But this is a specific event. Can you tell me about that?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:29:24] Yeah. So my best friend actually had neurofibromatosis, and I had decided I wanted to help out, like raise funds and awareness for it. And I had told her, I’m going to hold it, you know, hold this event in October. And unfortunately, that year she passed away in August.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:39] So. Sorry.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:29:40] Yeah. It was it was rough. And if anybody’s lost anyone, you know, sometimes it just hits you. But. I’m working through that and trying to help out the family. We did. We still continued that event in the first year in October, and we did like a big memorial for her, and we had a silent auction tent and just, you know, raising awareness because most people don’t know what NPH is. And it’s honestly pretty common. Um, and then every year after that, we stuck with May because it’s May is NF Awareness Month. And so we’ve stuck with May. And it’s a big endurance event and it’s ten ten minute rounds of jiujitsu, which is very daunting. And even people have been training for a long time. Like I can’t make it through. And the reality is it’s like we’re all there for the same reason. So it’s it’s a lot of fun, right? Like we play music and there are kids that are doing the ten minute rounds. We’re all trying to last ten, ten minute rounds. It’s not a competition. We’re all there laughing, having a good time. We stop and we do an intermission halfway to talk about NF and, you know, have people understand what it is. And this year we’re going to do our silent auction again. We’re going to have, um, the little sober bar out there. We’re going to have a food truck. We’re going to have some vendor tables. Um, we got a girl coming out. She does, like, body jewelry and shave stuff. And I’m so sorry I can’t remember her name right now. Um, so it’s going to be like a really nice big event. And this year we’re, we’re partnering with Pennies Flight, and that’s what we’re going to give all our money. So everything is going to that charity.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:01] So what must it feel like for you to see an event, um, year after year? You know, that, um, is inspired by your friend?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:31:12] Um, it’s honestly, I just really I love that everybody there is, like, having a good time, you know, it’s it’s always hard and and typically we’ll do, like, a moment of silence in between. And I hate crying. So, you know, it’s one of those things that’s it’s a little rough. But at the end of the day, like, we all know why we’re there. And it’s always a great reason. And I think that’s what makes it so nice is like we’re just like I said, we’re there having fun. Right? And and we want the public come out. Y’all can come watch us, you know, do our rounds. And if that’s something that, you know, you’re interested in seeing what jiu jitsu is like and you feel like, oh, I heard it’s always fighting. Like, come and watch this role. Like, we, we like rolling. We it doesn’t look like we’re murdering each other because we’re all smiling and like, having a good time while we’re doing it. So that’s kind of, you know, the whole gist with that event is like letting people know what it’s about and being able to last through it, because people who have NF have like, tumors on their face and their body and they’re hurting and it’s it’s a nerve disease. So it’s, you know, being able to show like listen, they can if they can walk around all day in pain with their tumors and and you know, sometimes they’re cancerous, sometimes they’re not. They’re in pain. Mariel was always in pain with migraines. Like we can do ten, ten minute rounds, like, that’s like the least we can do, right? So that’s kind of the whole thing, is to last through those ten minute rounds and just show her support that, like doing something hard and feeling good that you’re doing this and, you know, knowing that it’s not even anything compared to them.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:34] I like that you’re talking about almost reframing what your situation is like. I’m healthy enough to do this. Appreciate the fact that I am.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:32:43] Exactly.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:44] That’s that’s a big deal.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:32:45] Well, there’s, um, Cupid’s underwear run. And they got me with this because they they you’re supposed to do it in your underwear, right? And obviously I’m fit and all that, but there’s some weird to me about going around in my underwear in downtown, and they’re like one of the emails because I wasn’t going to do it in my underwear. Emails was like, you know, they have tumors all over their face that they’re uncomfortable with, and you can’t walk around in your underwear for, you know, 30 minutes. And I was like, okay, you got me. So that’s kind of the thing we’re going with. So, you know, you’re too scared to do ten, ten minute rounds, but they have to live with enough every day of their life. Like, the least you can do is 100 minutes of rolling.

Sharon Cline: [00:33:17] It’s an important reminder. I can complain about a million things, but it’s just because I’m in my own little world. But it doesn’t take much to look outside of yourself and see, you know, what other people suffer with, and then have an appreciation for where you are.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:33:30] Right? And it does make me feel grateful to know, you know, I’m here like I get to do this and she would want nothing else than that.

Sharon Cline: [00:33:39] So, well, you also teach a women’s self-defense class. Can you talk to me about that?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:33:44] I can, so we did. We tried this year doing a series. Um, they’re quarterly. And, you know, the reason being, like, you’re not going to learn how to defend yourself in one class. And I know some, like the moms, are very busy and they’re taking their kids everywhere and trying to make sure their kids are safe. But you got to take care of yourself, too. So the next one is actually April 26th. And the goal of that is to get all the women together to give them some tips on, like what to do to keep yourself safe, as well as learn about some of the martial arts and about jiu jitsu. They are going to build on each other, so we’re going to do different stuff at them. But I’ll do a quick recap every time to just kind of make sure everybody is aware of like what the goal of the class is, but it’s just a lot of people think they’re going to be safe just because they have a gun or they have a knife. But the reality is like usually if you’re going to be attacked, you don’t know that you’re going to be attacked. So you need to be able to defend yourself. And everyone thinks, well, it’s fight or, you know, flight or fight. And it’s like, no, there’s also freeze, which is probably the worst thing you could do.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:34:42] And and the reality is watching it day in and day out, you know, when somebody. Puts their arm around your neck to choke you. With a black belt. Somebody puts their arm around me like, I’m going to be talking to you like nothing’s happening. You’re going to be like, what is going on? This is super weird. Well, I’m constantly having people try to choke me. And so to me, I know, like, okay, what’s when is it actually a problem? Like when do I need to end this from happening. Whereas somebody brand new comes in, you put your arm around their neck and they’re immediately like, oh my gosh, get off me! And they’re in there. They’re fighting or fly or freezing or crying. And so the whole thing is to get you comfortable somewhere that’s not supposed to be comfortable. Right. And so that you know what to do when you’re in those situations. So my class is is informative as well as physically. You’re going to be doing this stuff so that you can learn like, okay, is this what I want to do? And I was asked a really good question last year when I did my first class. And one of the ladies was like, well, which martial art is the best and which.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:42] What a question. Which mine?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:35:44] Well, yes, jujitsu is because you’re learning how to defend yourself on the ground. But if you don’t like jiu jitsu and you don’t go to jiu jitsu, then it’s useless for you. So the biggest thing is, the one that you’ll actually attend is the one that’s best for you. And and you know, and it’s great. I think everyone that has a gun or whatever should do their gun safety class, and that’s wonderful. But that’s not going to stop if somebody’s hand-to-hand fighting you. So if you don’t have the time to reach for your gun, right. If you don’t have these things, you need to be able to also defend yourself with just your own body, right? Same with knife defense, same with all of those things. So I don’t discourage any of those classes. I think they’re wonderful and you should do that stuff too. But what if you didn’t have that right? So keeping yourself safe and just being aware that, like, what if one day you just what if your gun wasn’t there, then you’re comfortable and you know that you can at least do something long enough to defend yourself and get the cops out, or get your husband or whoever, or get away.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:37] Yeah, just one second.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:36:39] Get your dog something.

Sharon Cline: [00:36:41] It’s muscle memory we were talking about the other day. Right. So you’re you already have the experience of having to do it, like to defend yourself in that way. Right. So, um, knowing that you have that in the like, you have a plan. If something does happen, there’s a piece that comes with that too. Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:37:00] When it’s not even like it’s even more deep than that. It’s not really a plan. Like I don’t have a plan, but I’m very well aware if somebody touches me like it’s going to be bad for them. And so because I just like, I don’t have to think about a plan. I don’t have to think about doing this thing. It will just happen. And it’s the same thing. You start noticing it as an instructor is I’ll teach a move and then I’ll watch everybody do it. I’m like, why are they doing this all wrong? And then I look and I’m like, mhm. Everybody come back in. They’re like, what? I’m like, I forgot to tell you, I do a shrimp here because my body just does it naturally. Right. It don’t have to think okay I’m going to do this in shrimp. So I just do it naturally. And I don’t tell them, well when they go out there they don’t do a shrimp because I didn’t tell them to do a shrimp. And so like, that’s the stuff that I know, like my body is just going to take over and do it. And so over time when your body gets used to doing certain things, it just knows, right. When I when I frame my shrimp, a lot of people just try to frame and push and they’re laying flat on their back and it doesn’t work.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:37:55] So knowing that, like, I don’t even have to have a plan. So that’s kind of the whole thing is I’m very comfortable in knowing that I don’t need a plan, I don’t need my body will do it interesting. And my body will do it under stress because I’m constantly doing things under stress. Right? And especially because I competed a lot. And there’s not that many women that compete in with my time that I can go train. Typically, I train in the daytime for myself, and that’s when everybody’s working. So I’m fighting dudes all the time, and I have to look at them and be like, don’t be nice to me. Like when I go out there and compete, those girls don’t care. They don’t care. So I have to be able to push under that kind of pressure. So you’re constantly being put under that pressure to where okay, now I know, like things don’t feel so bad anymore when you’re like, man, like 10s ago I got this 200 pound guy that’s literally trying to choke me with every muscle that he has. And now I’m just sitting here walking in every day life like, okay, this is not so bad. Might be raining in the pollen stinks, but I can still breed better.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:56] So how interesting it is the mental part of it. Because like you’re talking about even just sparring, it’s like I just went through this big sparring with this 200 pound guy and that’s like was really difficult. But now I can just appreciate going about my day, whereas someone else who doesn’t have those moments where they’re like, have feel like they really accomplished something significant, you know, they’re going to complain about the rain like I do. You know what I mean? It’s it’s interesting that there’s like that side of it that actually puts a different focus and perspective on, on your on your daily experience. Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:39:34] Everything that you do for sure, it’s, it’s crazy because you never know when it’s going to come up. And the thing with the plan too, you were saying is I actually have a girl who’s been training for a while, she’s starting a little llama, she’s in a junior class, and we’re kind of talking about how like. She doesn’t. She’s gotten so much better, but her goal coming in for her mom was for her to come in and learn how to focus. And, um, she used to like, cry and want to run off the mat. I mean, it used to be really bad, and Lauren did an amazing job with her in the little Lamaze class, and now she’s in the juniors class with me. And, you know, we were making jokes because she always whines about everything, and she’s the strongest little girl. And I’m like, girl, you’re so strong. Just yeet this kid off you. But she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. So anyways, we used to joke at her and be like, the ambulance is here.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:21] Because she would.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:40:21] Always be like.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:22] My hair. It’s like, Jocelyn, you’re tough.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:40:24] Like, just knock him over and get your hair out. And so we were having a conversation about how, like, she’s getting there, right? She’s finally getting to a point where she’s going to be ready to test, like for her next stripe. She’s she’s been doing pretty well in class. And her mom said, you know, actually, the other day, a little boy went and grabbed her on the playground and she used jiu jitsu, and she had no idea she used it because it’s so ingrained in her. So she’s like, she was trying to tell me, like, she’s learning this stuff, even though it might feel like sometimes she’s not because she’s kind of all over the place. She’s like, she’s using it without knowing that she’s using it. She didn’t even know she did jiu jitsu, but I watched her just take this kid’s arms off of her and turn around and just face him. And she was like, oh, that’s what she does in jiu jitsu all the time.

Sharon Cline: [00:41:03] It feels like all women, just because we are naturally bi biologically, um, not don’t have as much muscle mass as men, right. So it feels like to be able to fight, I have a chance of fighting and getting away or however you need to get out of it. It feels like this is a skill that women should have. All women should have.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:41:25] Absolutely. And in the reality too, of it is that 90% of fights go to the ground. So anybody who could possibly get bullied or in a fight like you have a very high likelihood you end up being on the ground, which is where most of jiu jitsu is. But also just the majority of attacks that happen on women would be something that you need to learn how to get away from someone who’s trying to hold you down, trying to hug you, trying to keep and and the natural tendency for people, honestly, when you if you ever watch a new person do jiu jitsu, if somebody gets on top of them and they hug them and it’s like, no, no, like you don’t want to put more weight on yourself like you, you they already have gravity working for them. Like don’t pull them even tighter on top of you, but it feels like you just want to keep them there. You don’t. But the reality is you need to be extending them away, pushing them away, and creating space between the two of you. And everyone is physically so much stronger than they think they are.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:20] You just such an interesting statement. I feel I can get away if someone’s going to fight me. But you think you can do it and you think you have the strength. But no, you do.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:42:29] No you do. You’re so much stronger than you think you are. And that’s what jiu jitsu will show you is like, oh, all I had to do was like, put my arm here. And like, they can’t do that. And it’s like. But it feels so physically like, I’m not that strong man. I started jujitsu, I was 97 pounds, I was not and I was not strong. My I see pictures, I’m like, wow, my legs are the same size as my arms. Like, that’s bad. Um, but I was my core was very strong from gymnastics and, and I had a trampoline that I was always on as a kid, but. Doing jiu jitsu will make you strong in ways that aren’t what you’d get, like in a lifting gym. Right. So there are some people come in that are super strong, and I am not strong in that sense. I mean, I’ve lifted weights and I try to be strong, but you don’t need all that to defend yourself, right? And obviously, hopefully most of y’all know if you ever were in a situation where you had to fight and you’re going to fight, you have these crazy things that happen. Like if your kid is about to get hit by a car, you’re going to lift that car. Like, those are real adrenaline. Yeah. And all the chemicals that are going to rush through you. So as long as you know what to do with that, it’s going to work for you. But you won’t know what to do with that if you’re not trained.

Sharon Cline: [00:43:36] Who’s your ideal client?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:43:38] My ideal client is somebody who wants to learn jiu jitsu, honestly, like that’s coming in and they want to learn more about jiu jitsu, like self defense is great to. But as soon as that comes in, it’s just like, man, this is so cool. Like I’m learning all this stuff. Um, and just, like, enjoys having a good time, honestly, like, I like people like me. Um, yeah. That’s who. When you come in the gym, you’re going to see a bunch of people that are similar to me. Like, we have the same type of mannerisms and stuff, and we we just made a joke on on Wednesday. I said, you know, they say you attract people like you. And I was like, I didn’t realize I was going to attract all the evolutionarily weak people. I said, you know, I wear glasses, half my students wear glasses. You know, we’re all in there snorting the Flonase because we can’t breathe with the pollen. I got asthma, this guy’s got asthma. We got four inhalers in the gym. I’m allergic to things. I got, you know, if you eat peanuts and that’s like your number one thing, don’t come to my gym. You’re going to kill half the gym. You know, we got a guy who’s allergic to all the fruits. I mean, I was like, man, we are evolutionarily weak. But guess what? If we didn’t do jujitsu, we probably would be dead. Like, let’s be real. So, you know, lactose intolerant. I was like, guys.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:46] All the things.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:44:47] Yeah, if you’re evolutionarily weak, you’ll probably find your way to us anyways. But.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:51] But you can fight.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:44:52] Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, but really that’s my ideal client, really is somebody who’s interested in learning more jiu jitsu, doing doing a workout that doesn’t feel like a workout, you know, and and you don’t have to be in shape to do jujitsu. I hear that all the time, too. Like, well, I’m gonna get in shape first and I’ll show up. Like, you will get in shape for jiu jitsu by doing jiu jitsu. That’s the only thing when I went to law school and I couldn’t train as much, people like, well, just go running. And I was like, that’s adorable. But running does not give you jiu jitsu cardio at all. And, um, honestly would just kill my knees. So I’m, I’m I’m good. Um, triathletes come in and they’re they’re dying. They can’t breathe after two minutes of a jiu jitsu round because it’s a whole different cardio weightlifters. Yeah, they’re strong, but do their weights push back? Um, no, ours do, and they push back at weird angles. So it’s it’s just a whole different thing that it’s hard to just prepare for, like come in and do jiu jitsu and we will show you what you can do, where you’re at now and what you can do later on. And I think that’s one of the the big things that I’ve been trying to get my students to understand this year is, you know, listen, if you got short arms, you got short arms.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:46:00] You can’t change that, okay? You got short legs, you got short legs. And, you know, I got long, skinny legs so I can do certain moves. Triangles is a is a big one that some people struggle with to have short, thick legs because you can’t close your legs. And so I tell them like, don’t be upset that you can’t do what I do. You have other moves that are going to be so easy for you that are so hard for me because I don’t have. My legs are so long, there’s so much space they can escape and so be where you’re at now. If you’re flexible now, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be flexible in ten years from now. If you’re not flexible now, you could become flexible, right? If you’re if you’re fat and you’re trying to lose weight, well guess what. Right now your body is heavy. Use that. And then when you lose your weight, then we’ll teach you other stuff to do with your, you know, small, limber bodies. So you have to work with your body where it’s at now.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:49] I love that because it’s not like looking at something where I’m you can say I’m not fit enough. The negatives, the reasons why you can’t. It’s actually embracing the gifts of where you are right now and leveraging them.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:47:02] Exactly. Shoot, if I was 300 pounds, guess what? I would lay on everybody too. I would, right? Because you would be able to. For me to hold someone down takes a lot. It takes a lot. So and it takes a lot of skill and people forget. They look at well, you know, you might not struggle because you’re a black belt. And it’s like, guys, I was never I wasn’t always a black belt, you know, because my favorite thing is people like, well, I’m just too small to do this. And it’s like, you’re listen, you’re the world’s tiniest violin right here. Like, I.

Sharon Cline: [00:47:28] Called the ambulance.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:47:29] I’m like, yeah, exactly. I’ve been the smallest one for for a long time. Right? You just get used to that. Like, that’s the point of Jiu-Jitsu is to be able to to defend yourself being the smaller one. So it just takes technique. But they’re like, well, you’re a black belt. Yeah. Well, I was a white belt in small to like, I was a blue belt and small. I was a purple belt and small I was a brown belt and small like I was always small. So being small is not the excuse. I learned what my body can do, being small. And guess what? It’s a little easier to get out of things when you’re small.

Sharon Cline: [00:47:58] Right?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:47:59] So that’s a.

Sharon Cline: [00:47:59] Leverage too, right? Yeah, exactly.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:48:01] I’m like, I just got to make a little space to get out. You got to make a big space to get out. So it’s using what you have, right? I got lots of friends with different shaped bodies. And that’s the other thing is knowing, like, you know, there are certain set moves you have to know how to do and you have to be able to teach and have to be able to do. But then also it’s just being able to show other people how to do it and going, okay, my body can’t physically go, here, let me show you how you can do it right. And then if there’s certain techniques that you let’s say you got three like really flexible people, I’ll just show them that on the side and be like, if y’all want to try this one, like go for it. Like this works for y’all. So just being aware that like, okay, some things are permanent with your body. Like your arm length. My arms are very long for my body. Um, which can be great and can be terrible. Right. So I can’t change that. So the. Things that you can’t change. You just have to accept and be like, okay, we’re here. These are the moves I can do. Let’s get good at those. So it’s it’s, um, it’s an acceptance to. Yeah, it’s yeah it is.

Sharon Cline: [00:48:57] What’s it, what’s it like? Um, what’s something that’s really surprised you about having your own business?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:49:04] Um, I would say, like, honestly, that people are a lot more patient than you think they are.

Sharon Cline: [00:49:10] Nice.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:49:11] Um, because I when I started, it was just me. And so I’m trying to do I’ve done all of it because where I started, I did everything right. I did sign ups, I took classes, I taught classes, I, you know, contacted schools, everything. And so when I did it by myself and I had to do everything by myself, only myself, not sharing it with somebody else, I had to tell people, you know, like, hey, I really want to talk with you, but I’m about to sit down and talk with this person. Could you just give me a couple minutes, or can I schedule you for next time? And for the most part, everybody were always willing, like, yeah, yeah, we’ll give you a few minutes, no worries. Like no big deal. And so I always tell people like just ask like the worst case scenario, they’re going to say no. And guess what? If they say no, then they just weren’t meant to be here anyways. And so I’ve really enjoyed the. Meeting all these great people. And, you know, honestly, nowadays it feels like everybody sucks.

Sharon Cline: [00:50:08] Yeah. I didn’t expect you to say that. But it’s true, it’s true, it is true. And then the evidence of it everywhere. If you really. I mean, you don’t even have to really look. It’s kind of shown to you. Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:50:20] And it’s, you know, unfortunately through, you know, the, the Covid and everything that we went through. But the reality is there’s still so many great people out there. And if that’s what you’re looking for, that’s what you’re going to find. And so it’s been nice to see that. Um, but I would say on the flip side, the other thing that I, that I’ve seen is, is the ghosting, oh my God. Like, people on the flip side of the kindness and the, you know, people being patient and everything that I’ve seen, it’s it’s people are too scared to just let you know what their decisions are. So they’d rather just say nothing. And it’s like when you own a small business, like the text message you’re receiving is from the business owner, or they’re 1 or 2 employees, like it’s not automated. If it’s automated, it’s going to say opt out. Yeah. You know, we’ve had people just say stop. And it’s like I’m a human being texting you. And and I had an employee that was like kind of offended. And I said, you know what? Send him a picture of your face and say, hey, I’m actually a real human being. I’m sorry I’ve bothered you. If you ever need anything else, just please reach out to us. And and of course, they’re like, oh, my God, I had no idea. Yeah, yeah. So it’s just, you know, that thing has been.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:23] Interesting aspect of it that you weren’t expecting.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:51:25] Yeah. So many people assume everything’s automated because of all the AI and and automation that’s happening nowadays. And then just the ghosting.

Sharon Cline: [00:51:34] What’s the most satisfying part of owning your studio.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:51:38] That I get to do what I want to do. I don’t have to answer to anybody else on that end. Um, and honestly, the funny thing is, I don’t I only want to teach in most gym owners that I know, like they don’t want to teach, they want to do everything else. So I’m kind of on the the flip side of everyone else. Um, because for me, it’s just. Satisfying to help people do the things they didn’t think they could do. So doing a sign up, isn’t that right? Teaching is when I get to see all those things and like, learn the new things and the tips to show them and see those like aha moments and. I get to go out and coach them in competition because I think for me, the most rewarding thing is, um, my friends coming out thing, the, the most rewarding thing is like getting somebody else to their win and just seeing them feel like how great that thing is, but also knowing. Because for me, I was on a team for a long time that they only cared about me if I was winning. Um, but also knowing that like, your whole team is behind you, win or lose. Like, all we want to see is that you tried your best and like that, you’ve that you came out there and you go, okay, I did everything I could like. Yeah, listen, we all hate losing. It sucks. But the reality is that you can still go out there and perform well and lose. Watch me compete. You’ll know. So going out there performing and feeling good that like, even though you didn’t win, you still did everything that you could. You tried the moves from class, you were on your stuff, and then we’ll go on and work the stuff that weren’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:53:08] That’s a life skill too, though, is, is knowing that you don’t have to reach a specific, defined goal that you have to in order to feel like you’ve done a good job of something you’ve learned something you’ve shown up.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:53:20] Right. It’s it’s for us. It’s the excellence factor. We’re not looking for perfection. We want excellence. We want you to do everything in the best that you can, that you can do at the time.

Sharon Cline: [00:53:29] Do you think people miss that message? Like in general, I do. I was wondering if you you think the same. Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:53:34] I mean, I definitely am that person, right? That I’ll look at something be like, oh, I didn’t write that very well. I need to rewrite that. And I’m like, oh my gosh, I need it. There’s no such thing as perfection. Like I’ve been working on that, working towards excellence and getting people to understand, like, you can lose and be excellent. It’s okay, like and be.

Sharon Cline: [00:53:50] Proud of yourself.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:53:51] Exactly. I did everything that I could and unfortunately it didn’t work out for me this time. And the reality is like we can always get better. So every time you say, well, I’m going to reach this, then it’s going to be this thing and then that thing and then this thing. And so it’s just like, I want everyone to know that, like, I took my time and I did this thing, but I’m also human. So if I’m writing something and it’s in pen and I spell it wrong, well, I’m not going to start all over again. I’m probably going to just white it out or just cross it off and and keep going because it’s like, well, hey, listen, you got something handwritten by me, which is not something you receive a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:54:24] So truth.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:54:25] So just always thinking about that and going, okay, did I perform to the best of my abilities? And at the end of the day, the only person that cares that they lost is the person who lost. Right? And and you can feel comfortable in knowing that your whole team goes, we know you tried your best. And if you if you don’t feel like you tried your best, well then that’s on you. Don’t tell us that you did right. So I just tell them, like, if you got a two out of ten in the tank, you give us your two out of ten.

Sharon Cline: [00:54:49] It’s, um, you’re talking about compassion for yourself, right? Like accepting where you are and that you did the best that you could. And even if it wasn’t what you wanted, you still did the best you could. And that’s enough. Exactly.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:55:02] Because you can’t give something you don’t have. That doesn’t make any sense. So if you have a two out of ten, you can’t give an eight out of ten. So then you but you know, and that’s the other thing is trusting people when they go, I gave everything, okay. That’s all I can ask. Next time we just make it to where you have more to give.

Sharon Cline: [00:55:17] So do you feel like you have a fearless formula for your life? What makes you brave to do what you do?

Joanie Chamberland: [00:55:26] Um, I think, you know, it’s funny. I struggle with this bravery word. Um, I was talking about with a friend about this, I, I think I just always try it. I mean, I just think to myself, the worst case scenario I’m going to get is a no. I mean, that’s the reality, right? In most things, I mean, most the worst case scenario, we’re going to get rejected. We can already reject ourselves and not ask or we can go get rejected. I mean, but at the end of the day, we got rejected either way. So I’d rather just go ask. And for the most part, typically the answer is yes. Like in most most things in life, like if you want a promotion, go ask for it. If you want to go on a radio show, go ask for it, right? If you want to make some friends, go talk to some people.

Sharon Cline: [00:56:09] But you know that’s what stops people so much is the is the fear is the fear of a no, the fear of rejection, the fear of shame, you know? So I just love that you are exemplifying the opposite.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:56:21] Yeah. And it’s it’s not easy. It’s not easy, right? I mean, there are.

Sharon Cline: [00:56:25] Definitely to note, though, you know, some people find it natural and some don’t. But you’re I like that you’re saying it’s not easy because some people will say that’s easy for you. It’s easy for you to say, it’s easy for you to do. Well.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:56:36] No, no, I wasn’t always this way. I mean, there are things for sure like, um. I’ve never really cared what people think about me. I’m just always me. And I’m hearing constantly lately that it’s hard to be yourself. And that doesn’t make sense to me. Like, I’m like, it’s hard for me to not be myself because then I’m like, what did I tell this person? What was this thing? Who am I like? I don’t have time for all that. I got too many other things to worry about. So this is me. And if I’m gonna have to apologize for anything, it’s like, I’m sorry. I didn’t think before I did this thing. Um, I promise I’ll work on it. But, um, you know, the main thing is, like, we’re all human. We all have flaws. And so that’s kind of the thing I embrace is like, this is this is who I am. I’m working to be better, always right to to show that excellence and constantly trying to be better. And, you know, when you get better things around, you get better. So that’s kind of my goal in life. And if there’s a setback, well guess what this is. This is life. This is what happens.

Sharon Cline: [00:57:32] I love it because it just gives me a feeling of of just accepting where I am today. Um, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be any different than whatever is authentic to me today. Right. And that’s good enough.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:57:46] It’s because that’s it. Like you, that’s all you have. That is it. You can’t be something you’re not. You can’t give something you don’t have. You have to just be yourself. And guess what? You’re the best version of you there is because there is only one of you.

Sharon Cline: [00:57:59] You’re talking about that radical acceptance of who you are, which is such a challenge for me sometimes. So I appreciate the energy of it. It’s like I can feel what you’re saying and that I can access it. I just tend to think, um, not, you know, someone doesn’t like what I said or this didn’t go as well. And so I need to do better. And it’s like always a lack as opposed to, um. So what? Yeah.

Joanie Chamberland: [00:58:25] So what? I mean, you are you and I’ve learned a long time. Listen, there’s there’s not a lot of in between with me. People pretty much either love me or hate me. And and to be honest with you, like, that’s fine with me. That’s completely fine with me. Because if you’re not for me and I’m not for you, then please find people that your people. Yeah. I mean, that’s okay. Like, shoot, if we were all the same, this would be a heck of a boring life. So, you know, and and sure, sometimes someone might not agree with my, my actions. Sometimes I might not agree with my actions. But at the end of the day, I’m constantly trying to make sure that I sleep at night because at the end of the day, like the only person that’s thinking about me is me, everyone else is thinking about themselves. It’s true. So, you know, I can sit here and be like, oh, what did Sharon think about my performance? What did this person. But like at the end of the day, Sharon’s going home and Sharon’s thinking like, I wonder what Johnny thought about my show. And it’s like we were thinking about ourselves the whole time. And so, you know, it’s one of those things of going, okay, it really doesn’t matter. And, and I don’t know if it’s because I moved here and didn’t speak the language if that made a difference. You know, because I did have to come into a place that’s like, you know, I had no friends, I had nobody, I didn’t speak the language. It was awkward. I’m not girly. All the girls wanted me to hang out with them. And I’m like, no, I don’t want to do this, you know? So I’ve kind of always been not the typical person anyways. But just being myself is just something that was never hard for me. So I will say that’s true for me. Being myself isn’t hard. Um, I was peer pressured once in my life and I’ll never do that again. And it was really stupid. Um, I burnt my backyard down. Oh, my magnifying glass.

Sharon Cline: [01:00:00] Well, that’s a big one. Have you had to do only one peer pressure moment?

Joanie Chamberland: [01:00:03] No, no, no, the peer pressure moment was that they told me to lie to my dad and say I was looking for an earring with a magnifying glass, and it caught the yard on fire. Like, we’re guys. We all know that’s not true. My dad showed me how to start the fire with a magnifying glass. He can’t be upset. Um, and so the whole thing happened. They all left, and my dad was like, why did you lie? And I was like, do you mean like, if you were just told me the truth, like, we wouldn’t be here right now? He’s like, but you clearly weren’t looking for an earring. No, I was burning a whole magnifying glass or a hole in a newspaper with a magnifying glass. And the shoe that we were using to hold it down. I picked one up and my friend was like, don’t want the other one to burn. She picked it up and then it flew in the air. Caught on fire. Dry season in Georgia. So, you know, it was a complete accident. We called 911. We got it taken care of. But yeah. So after that I was like, I told my friends, they’re not going to believe this. And they’re like, it doesn’t matter. You can’t tell them the truth. So, you know, that was my one peer pressure moment. And then after that I was like, okay, my dad’s kind of right like that. That was so dumb. Nobody was going to believe that. So I’m like, so you accept.

Sharon Cline: [01:01:00] Your you accept yourself, you accept your experiences, you embrace them as learning and you frame it as a positive.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:01:07] Pretty much for them. I try very hard and you know, and honestly, losing my best friend has made a difference on my life because it’s you think you’re going to see somebody tomorrow. And that’s not always true. And so I’d rather you just have the real me all the time and the things that, you know are just so dumb. Like you don’t want to tell somebody you love them. Why? Like we’re human beings. We’re meant to love each other. That’s kind of the whole purpose of being here. So, you know, that also has changed how I view things and how I talk to people and what I see in life and like what’s important. And to me, like being there for those people. And making sure that we’re all those kind of people that are paying it forward and being there for one another is really all that really matters at the end of the day. So, you know, I try to. Learn things about that and talk to people that are like that and connect with those kind of people. And like you were asking like, who do I want in my gym? Like, those are the kind of people I want on my gym like that just want to be better versions of themselves. They want to learn jiu jitsu. They want to be there. They want to help other people. Because even though people think jiu jitsu is not a team sport. It’s a team sport. We might not be throwing a ball back and forth together to finish as a team, but the only way we get better is by training with each other and going hard together. And then guess what? When I’m competing, my whole team is cheering behind me. When they’re competing, I’m cheering and the rest of the team is cheering. So it is a very big team sport in that sense. So I want a community.

Sharon Cline: [01:02:30] Yeah, and I like that you’re talking about helping. It’s it’s in an effort to help each other at the end. Because I think that’s why we’re we’re here is to help each other get through this life because it’s so tough. Right. And anytime you know, but to have people help you, it’s, um, I think it’s a sacred thing.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:02:48] Yes. And to be able to help others, I mean, honestly, nothing feels better if you look back, anything that you do figure out, the way that you help them like that feels great. And so with jiu jitsu, I can do that all the time. You can do that coming in and helping. And even if what you’re doing is making yourself stronger and making yourself be able to defend yourself because now you feel better, then you’ll be able to be a better mom, a better girlfriend, a better wife, a better person, because you don’t have to walk around in fear. And honestly, fear is just. It’s it’s an illusion anyways, right? We all put that on ourselves and it’s, you know, everyone knows like, oh, I feel doing this thing and all of sudden you’re doing you’re like, oh, wasn’t that bad. Like that’s like most of life. Like, oh man, why did I, why was I scared of that?

Sharon Cline: [01:03:27] Like it’s an important lesson. I think that’s why I like the show, you know. What’s your fearless formula? I mean, it is true that, um, when you face those things, they’re not as big as you or as bad as you think that they will be. Yeah. Most often our imaginations are so much worse than what reality, you know?

Joanie Chamberland: [01:03:44] And that’s actually what makes us human, too, like animals and and whatnot. They can’t. They don’t have that. Like, they can’t think about all these different scenarios. They just do these things. Well, humans. Oh yeah. We can. Well, why do they look that way? Why do they do this thing? How come they’re looking at me like that? What is this? And then you’re like, oh, wow. He’s blind.

Sharon Cline: [01:04:02] Oh, yeah. The whole time he’s been staring at me. Yeah. But not oh, gosh, we.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:04:08] Have a blind student, and, uh. And he’s he’s such a crap talker. He’s hilarious. He’s amazing. And he’s been training with me for years. So, you know, that is one of the things that we have around the gym. And today we were just saying that we’re like, well, he’s going to say he couldn’t see it.

Sharon Cline: [01:04:23] And he’s like.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:04:24] Well, I can’t see it, coach.

Sharon Cline: [01:04:27] Well, if someone wanted to get in touch with you about joining the gym or just getting to know more about you in particular, how could they do that?

Joanie Chamberland: [01:04:34] So it’s actually pretty simple. I named my gym Rise Up for a reason. Um, so it’s just rise up BJJ com for Brazilian jiu jitsu, which I know if you’re at home going, I don’t know how to say that. That’s, you know, 90%, 90% of people just I don’t know how to say that thing. Jujitsu, jiu jitsu, jujitsu. Um, so yeah, rise up, BJJ com okay. Um, and then we’re on.

Sharon Cline: [01:04:59] Facebook, I know, and.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:05:00] Facebook, Instagram and all of them are just rise up BJJ so just backslash rise up BJJ. Um, and then on there you’ll be able to text us, call us all of the above. The website just got redone. So it’s very easy to reach out to us.

Sharon Cline: [01:05:14] Beautiful. It looks great. I was like.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:05:16] And he’s to match. So so we’ve done that. And then if not you can just stop by. We are um in Kennesaw. So right off of exit four, Bells Ferry Road where the public shopping center. Apparently everyone knows there’s a harbor freight there. Okay, don’t. It’s the one behind the the. There’s a waffle House up front, and it brand new urgent care. So, um, we’re in that shopping center in the left corner. We’re trying to, you know, kick the competition out there. The the liquor store.

Sharon Cline: [01:05:42] Oh my gosh. That’s kind of the opposite of jiu jitsu, I guess. Yeah. Well, I can’t thank you enough for coming to the studio and sharing your story. And hopefully people who listen will be inspired to know that they don’t have to be in a perfect physical condition in order to use whatever they do have to defend themselves and to feel like they’re being successful.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:06:05] Yes, exactly. And, um, the other thing too, is like, we have a guy who’s got miss, we have, like I said, a blind guy. We’ve had people in that have, um, Asperger’s like their jiu jitsu is for anyone who can mentally make it through. In the way you mentally make it through is to be on the right team. So, you know, hopefully don’t let any of those physicality problems stop you either. Come on in and we’ll show you how to make things work. Um, and thank you so much for having me here. It’s been a blast.

Sharon Cline: [01:06:33] Joanna, you were so much fun to talk to you, and I really appreciate it. Thanks for all that you do.

Joanie Chamberland: [01:06:37] Absolutely. Thank you for having me on.

Sharon Cline: [01:06:38] Sure. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you with knowledge and understanding we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

Joseph Pittman with The Pitt Stop

March 25, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Joseph Pittman with The Pitt Stop

00:00 /

This episode was brought to you by

Joseph Pittman is the owner of The Pitt Stop, a military family owned Ice Cream Truck.

Connect with Joseph on Facebook and Instagram.

Austyn Guest is a young entrepreneur from the The Kid Biz Expo program.

Layla Dierdorff is a young entrepreneur from the The Kid Biz Expo program.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Kid Biz Radio. Kid Biz Radio creates conversations about the power of entrepreneurship and the positive impact that journey can have on kids. For more information, go to kidbizexpo.com. Now here’s your host.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:00:28] Hi, welcome to Kid Biz Radio. I’m Layla.

Austyn Guest: [00:00:31] And I’m Austyn,

Layla Dierdorff: [00:00:32] And today we have an awesome guest with us in the studio, Joseph with Pitt Stop.

Joseph Pittman: [00:00:36] How are you guys doing today? Yeah, like she said, my name is, uh, Joseph Pittman, and my business is the Pitt Stop ice cream truck.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:00:43] Thank you so much for being with us today. Um, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business?

Joseph Pittman: [00:00:49] Uh, sure. Uh, my business started, I would say about three, 3 to 4 years ago. It’s, uh, it does novelty ice cream. I sell like, the the characters, like the Powerpuff Girls. Spongebob. Yeah. All things that are all the rage. All the kids want. Yeah, I’m in the military. I’ve been in the military six years now, and it’s a family business. It’s me, my wife, and. The rest of my team is like my my daughters. They’re like the the mascots almost. You see them, you see them in the pictures, pictures on our social media and also my parents and my wife’s parents. They help with like inventory and things like that.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:01:28] So complete family business.

Joseph Pittman: [00:01:30] Exactly. Nice team effort.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:01:33] Yes. Yeah. Um, so can you tell us a little bit about how you got started? Like from the very like I have an idea to where it is now, so.

Joseph Pittman: [00:01:42] The business got started. I was I came home from uh, from from from from service and I was I was no longer active. I was switching over to the reserve role. And this is when, uh, Covid was just starting to become on the rage. So, uh, nobody, nobody was really hiring. Yeah. And so. My wife actually found something on Craigslist of a in downtown Atlanta. People. There was like a part time you can like rent an ice cream truck and you basically work on percentage. Um, I would get like 30% of, of my sales. And so I went there. Yeah. So went down there and it was a total. Uh, excuse my French crap show. Yeah, yeah. Um, the trucks were not to talk bad in other businesses, but the trucks were really run down. Some trucks didn’t even have a steering wheel. You were.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:02:37] Oh, my God, I feel like that’s kind of necessary.

Joseph Pittman: [00:02:41] Yeah, yeah. I mean, you would. You would think so.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:02:42] You think? Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:02:45] Um, no, no. Ac um, some of the trucks were shut down. You’d be driving, uh, 60 on the highway, and all of a sudden, choo choo choo choo choo.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:02:52] Oh, terrifying. And they only give you 30%. Exactly.

Joseph Pittman: [00:02:57] I mean, if it rained, you got 35.

Austyn Guest: [00:03:01] Oh, wow. Still.

Joseph Pittman: [00:03:02] But I was bringing home around like. I was bringing them around 3 to $400 a day, but I was making I was barely, barely making anything off of that. And I was just thinking to myself, I was like, I can do this a lot better.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:03:17] Maybe with a working truck.

Joseph Pittman: [00:03:19] Exactly. Exactly. And so. Going off. My me and my wife. Me and my wife talked. Wait till the next year. Then we we looked we looked on online and we found a truck. Mhm. Uh, we we got the truck. It was a already kind of kind of pre built ice cream truck. But we put our own little twist on it. We tricked it out. Uh did a better speaker system a better coat of paint. Um we switched out the inside, gutted out all the, all the seats and everything. Put some freezers in there, put some, uh, a little a little table table for, like, uh, for drinks and drinks and whatnot. And, um, it sort of it just, it just kept blossoming and kept building, and it is what it is today. Um, you’ll notice me driving around. I’m not like most ice cream trucks with, like, the creepy ice cream music.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:04:09] Yeah, it’s it’s actually really.

Austyn Guest: [00:04:11] I never realized how some of them are a little creepy until I got older.

Joseph Pittman: [00:04:14] Yeah, it’s like, I don’t want to send my kid there. It seems kind of a little.

Austyn Guest: [00:04:18] It’s a little off.

Joseph Pittman: [00:04:19] It’s a little scary. And so I modernized it a little bit, put a little flavor on it.

Austyn Guest: [00:04:23] A little, spice it up a little bit.

Joseph Pittman: [00:04:25] And so now you’ll notice the, the hip hop, uh, it’s like a hip hop remix to the, to the ice cream song.

Austyn Guest: [00:04:31] That’s a little more comforting.

Joseph Pittman: [00:04:32] Exactly. Makes you bop, bop your head makes the parents come and want to dance with the kids. So it really puts a smile on people’s faces. And, um. Yeah. It just sort of just kept, kept, kept building and building. My wife has, has had previous business business experience. She used to own a cleaning company. So she, she helps out with the, the the the background of it, like with the um with managing, managing the funds. My father in law, he’s retired and he helps us. It actually helped him out a bunch because he was he’s a retired vet, but he, he he couldn’t fully retire. He was working for a auto shop standing up like six hours a day. He’s he’s in his upper 70s.

Austyn Guest: [00:05:16] So yeah, that’s not a lot. Yeah. Back was.

Joseph Pittman: [00:05:18] Always hurting. And so we wanted to make it give him a job that was a lot easier on him and that that paid a lot more. So he was happy to to switch things over. Yeah. I mean, I think it really started when my daughter said she wanted ice cream and pointed at a pointed it pointed at a truck. And that’s how we got the idea, the idea of it, which led to the craziness which led to led to this, which led to now.

Austyn Guest: [00:05:41] Yeah. That’s how, uh, my first one started. We went to get, uh, old time photos up in. We were in some pigeon forge, right? I think we were in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and we went to get old time photos, and we’re like, hey, this would be really cool if this was a mobile thing. Like, you go, you have this in like a trailer and you go to people and get old time photos. Obviously, we didn’t start with that because that costs a lot more money than we thought it did, but we ended up getting like a trailer and we were going to turn it into a mobile photo booth and things kind of snowballed from there.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:06:13] So eventually, hopefully, hopefully timey photos.

Austyn Guest: [00:06:15] That yes, eventually.

Austyn Guest: [00:06:17] Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:06:17] Awesome. That’s awesome.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:06:19] So, um, what are you doing? I guess, to help your business succeed. Like, what are you doing for marketing? Advertising?

Joseph Pittman: [00:06:29] Word of mouth?

Layla Dierdorff: [00:06:30] Thank you. Sorry. Word of mouth.

Joseph Pittman: [00:06:32] Um, so I came up with the the business plan when we were. When we were first starting, we started off with using, like, Instagram, basically just different types of social media. And to, to really get our name out there, um, we offered a kind of almost like a competition where not really a competition, but if the, if the customer took a picture with our truck and did like a nice little caption and tagged us in it at the end of the month, they had a chance to win. Like a free weeks of free weeks of worth of ice cream basically. So they call us up. Oh you won! We give them a code if they either see us around or they would call us to their house and I would give them give them some free.

Austyn Guest: [00:07:12] Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:07:13] That’s awesome.

Joseph Pittman: [00:07:14] And the the following just kept kept blowing, kept blowing up, blowing up, blowing up. And now it’s, it’s it’s no longer we have to say oh take a picture with us. It’s people rushing up and saying, okay, can we take a picture with you guys or we would love to have you here. Yeah.

Austyn Guest: [00:07:29] Yeah. I know we’ve had uh, we’ve had you had a couple of our events and pictures are happening constantly. Yes.

Joseph Pittman: [00:07:36] Yeah. It’s always great to see you guys at the Expos. It’s just a bunch of smiling faces and the.

Austyn Guest: [00:07:42] Kids running around.

Joseph Pittman: [00:07:42] Exactly. It’s controlled.

Austyn Guest: [00:07:47] Chaos.

Joseph Pittman: [00:07:47] Yes, that’s exactly yes.

Austyn Guest: [00:07:49] We have a lot of that going on in our house.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:07:51] So on this entrepreneurial journey, you say that you’re pretty successful, but what do you define success as?

Joseph Pittman: [00:07:59] That’s that’s a that’s a great question. I would say success comes in in in levels. First off, success obviously is is monetary. Is what you’re doing actually is bringing money and bringing money to the household. Are you able to take care of your family without actually making profit? Exactly. Profit. Profit is. Profit is really? Well, so monetary. And then another would be happiness. Am I happy doing my job? Do I, do I go out there? Am I am I dreading it or do I have a smile on my face? Am I looking forward to it? And luckily I have a job to where I go out there and I see. And basically I just see smiling faces and people are excited to see me. So the energy just is uplifting almost. And then the parents, you get a real rapport with the parents and then they’re like, oh, you’re this. This is my favorite thing to hear. It’s like, oh, it’s finally nice to not me to meet a non-creepy ice cream.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:08:52] Yeah, yeah. It’s like so welcoming.

Austyn Guest: [00:08:55] It really is.

Joseph Pittman: [00:08:56] And so that puts a smile on my face because that’s that’s what I was going for. Yeah.

Austyn Guest: [00:09:01] It’s nice to have that option.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:09:02] Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:09:03] So that’s, that’s, that’s very, um that’s very what’s the word I’m looking for.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:09:08] Important?

Joseph Pittman: [00:09:09] Yeah,thank you. Thank you.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:09:11] You’re welcome.

Joseph Pittman: [00:09:11] Very important. Um, also, um, I would say generational wealth, basically. Um, I’m building something that for my, my daughters can take over with if they, if they so choose to do so. Um, so when it comes to their time to go into the business business world or if they, if they, if they pursue that, they have something to either look at as a, as kind of like an example or just something they can jump right into and then start having success of their own.

Austyn Guest: [00:09:41] So obviously you’ve had quite the long journey in many steps to it. Are there any maybe regrets you have about how you went about starting your business?

Joseph Pittman: [00:09:51] I wouldn’t say anything to regret any regrets because even even a failure is just a lesson in disguise. Mhm. Um, because you might have a downfall or a setback, but it’s something that you, that you learned from so that you, it doesn’t happen in the future. Um, and it’s just like, like every, every step, every step of the way is just like it’s, it’s a learning experience. And so it really puts him puts it in perspective.

Joseph Pittman: [00:10:17] Tongue teaser, puts in perspective how lucky you are to be able to actually pursue like have your own having your own business because it’s not an easy thing to do. People fail at it every day, and once you have the building blocks to really continue to continue to build and continue to expand and continue to grow, it just it’s a blessing. It’s really.

Austyn Guest: [00:10:40] There have definitely been, um, personally for me, many learning experiences with mine because as I said, it was a mobile photo booth and now we’re slowly pivoting it, pivoting it into a mobile like refreshment experience. So it definitely took a turn. And there have been many lessons to learn with that.

Joseph Pittman: [00:10:58] So and that’s great because not not only are you improving your business, your business is also evolving to steps that might not have been the plan with at first.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:11:06] Yeah. Um, so do you have any advice for any aspiring entrepreneurs?

Joseph Pittman: [00:11:11] I would say, uh, don’t give up. Um, there will be roadblocks. Um, it’ll be it’ll be hard. Um hum. Um, but at the end of the day, if you if you stick with it, you’ll it’ll be rewarding. And. What you reap, what you sow. So whatever you put into it is what you receive. If you go in half heartedly, half heartedly thinking that, oh, this is easy, or I can just do this when I feel like it. Mhm.

Austyn Guest: [00:11:36] That’s not going to get anything.

Joseph Pittman: [00:11:37] Not going to get anywhere. But if you go in there nose to the Bridgestone with a, with a fire, fire in your stomach and you just got you just on go.

Austyn Guest: [00:11:47] It’s you. So it will be worth it. Exactly.

Joseph Pittman: [00:11:50] World’s your oyster. Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:11:51] So we’ve talked a lot about the past and the past and the present. Let’s talk about the future. Um, do you have any future goals for your business?

Joseph Pittman: [00:11:58] Oh, definitely.

Austyn Guest: [00:11:59] I feel like everybody has to have at least one.

Joseph Pittman: [00:12:02] Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:12:02] If you if you don’t have a tier list of of goals, whether it’s small to, to large or a five year plan, then I don’t see your business really going anywhere because you’re not really thinking about the future. Mhm. Um, I would definitely say that one is to continue expanding the amount of trucks that I have to, I would say to at least at least five different trucks.

Austyn Guest: [00:12:25] How many trucks do you have?

Joseph Pittman: [00:12:26] Just I just have the one. Just the flagship right now. Um, I have trucks that are being built. Okay. For the for the future once I have a location to build it on. So finding finding a location to to put to put my trucks on. Yeah. Expanding to get to get more trucks. Yeah. Um, continuing to, to build a brand to where people are excited to. Oh. Or there’s word of mouth out there saying, oh, that’s a reputable company or the people that work there. The family that works there are great and lost my train of thought. ADHD

Austyn Guest: [00:13:01] Happens all the time, don’t worry.

Joseph Pittman: [00:13:15] Boom! So, finally finding a plot of land to build my trucks on multitude of trucks, building a brand. And to eventually get to the point where I want. I want to be on rival rival with rivalry with, with uh, with, I would say Kona to where there’s a oh wow, a bunch of pit stops and being franchised to to to like different cities, different different states and they stay on the third. I’ve actually had people that have came and saw how how I do business and have asked about about franchising, but I believe it’s, it’s it’s too early.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:13:51] Because that’ll take some steps.

Joseph Pittman: [00:13:52] Yeah, exactly. If I just rush into it, it could be bad for the brand.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:13:56] Franchise takes time.

Joseph Pittman: [00:13:57] Yeah. So I’m continuing continuing to do the research and to find out, um, how to how to do it perfectly. And then once, once the, once the diagrams been perfected, then I’m we’re looking to definitely franchise it.

Austyn Guest: [00:14:12] Yeah.

Austyn Guest: [00:14:14] Okay. So have a bit of more deep thinking questions so you have time to answer. You can think about it. So if you had the attention of the whole world, everybody is listening to you, watching you, listening to what you are saying for five minutes. What would you say?

Joseph Pittman: [00:14:32] I would say. How you doing, world? This is Mr. Pitstop, aka Pit stop ice cream truck, I would say. Be ready because I’m coming. My family’s coming. The pit stop.

Austyn Guest: [00:14:46] We’re coming for you.

Joseph Pittman: [00:14:47] It’s coming to a neighborhood near you. And guess what? We’re bringing smiles. We’re bringing laughter. We’re bringing energy. We’re bringing ice cream.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:14:56] This is the best one so far.

Austyn Guest: [00:14:57] This is the best answer we’ve gotten.

Joseph Pittman: [00:14:59] Bringing ice cream. And guess what? It’s going to hit you in your soul. It’s going to bring up those nostalgic childhood memories that you had of chasing after that old school ice cream ice cream truck. And he he wouldn’t let you catch up. But when you finally caught up, you had smiles and you was like, out of breath, ha ha. But you had that. nickel. The ice cream was probably a nickel back then. You had that.

Austyn Guest: [00:15:22] It’s like $2 now.

Joseph Pittman: [00:15:23] $5 for some of them.

Austyn Guest: [00:15:25] Yeah. That’s true.

Joseph Pittman: [00:15:26] You got that nickel and you got that ice cream and you’re just so ecstatic. You take that first lick. And what is that joy. That’s what.

Austyn Guest: [00:15:35] That’s what pure happiness.

Joseph Pittman: [00:15:37] This is bringing to you. Happiness. This is actual joy, this nostalgia. It’s coming.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:15:42] Okay. I love the performance you gave us first.

Austyn Guest: [00:15:46] Best answer so far.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:15:47] Yeah, most people do something like, oh, chase after your dreams and you’re like, no, in AD, this is awesome. Not no hates anybody’s answers. You’ve all had very good answers, but that was a performance right there.

Joseph Pittman: [00:16:00] That was me bowing. That’s my hat. Hit the. Hit the mic. My bad.

Austyn Guest: [00:16:03] You’re good. You’re totally good.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:16:04] Okay. If you woke up tomorrow without your business, what would your first steps be? To recovery if you chose to recover?

Joseph Pittman: [00:16:13] Um, it would definitely be starting a, like a game plan. Starting start. Have my big goals. But first start off with my my small goals. And once I once you achieve the small goals, it’ll eventually start snowballing into. Your larger goals come into play and.

Austyn Guest: [00:16:32] It comes in domino effect.

Joseph Pittman: [00:16:33] Exactlyl So I would start off, um, probably not on Craig’s List this time.

Austyn Guest: [00:16:38] Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:16:39] I would, uh, I would start with, um, looking looking looking around at my, my, my target audience seeing, seeing if there is a market for what I’m bringing. And people are having kids every day.

Austyn Guest: [00:16:54] Yeah, there’s always a market for ice cream. Everybody loves ice.

Joseph Pittman: [00:16:56] Cream. Ice cream. It’s for the young, young and the old. So I would I would find find the community and just do do what we did before start, start small and continue to grow.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:17:07] Yeah I like that a lot. That’s very good.

Austyn Guest: [00:17:08] Okay. Now that we’ve done deeper questions we’re gonna do a quick this or that answer as fast as you can. So so quickly.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:17:18] Okay. Cats or dogs?

Joseph Pittman: [00:17:21] If you if you don’t have a bow wow in your bed. What are you. What are you doing? If you if you don’t have if you don’t have a little. Oh look at look look look look at that shoe. And look it into your soul. And just saying I will be there. I’m your best friend because a cat will turn on you. I had a cat back in my day. Ten years old. Black cat name was Gideon. So one day I’m over there. Pat Gideon trying to create a soul tie. What does he do? He scratches me, and I still have that scratched. Look at that. Still have that still there. That is my reminder to say cat dogs are better than cats. Never forgot you, Gideon. I have choice words for you if we ever meet again. But definitely dogs. Dogs for sure.

Austyn Guest: [00:18:04] Got it. I totally agree with that statement.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:18:06] Okay. Spider-man or Batman?

Joseph Pittman: [00:18:09] Oh, that’s the wrong question to ask.

Austyn Guest: [00:18:12] Okay. Who would you. Prefer it be, then?

Joseph Pittman: [00:18:14] Ah, see? I because this is making you choose between Marvel and DC so it is. Marvel is obviously better.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:18:22] Thank you. Fair.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:18:23] Thank you.

Austyn Guest: [00:18:24] Yeah, it is.

Joseph Pittman: [00:18:25] Based off the characters. Spider-man’s kind of lame. I’m I’m I’m going, I’m going. Brucey all the way. His his backstory is similar. I wouldn’t say I’m not saying I’m Batman.

Joseph Pittman: [00:18:39] We we have similar, similar traits. I mean, we had a hard upbringing and then. Out of the mud. In the darkness of the night. We came and we conquered. And I’m still, I’m still, I’m still young, young, young bat. Still, still young bats I don’t have the bat cave. I don’t have my.

Austyn Guest: [00:18:58] You don’t got all that technology yet.

Joseph Pittman: [00:18:59] Got that yet. But I got I got my family I got Alfred. Yeah I got Robin I got dang. What’s the other one I got. You know point is I got my peeps I got my, I got, I got my family got.

Austyn Guest: [00:19:10] The whole crew.

Joseph Pittman: [00:19:11] Exactly.I got my crew with me and we’re still we’re still coming full, full, full, full full Wayne. So I’m sticking my man Batman.

Austyn Guest: [00:19:17] Got it.

Austyn Guest: [00:19:18] Okay. Books or movies?

Joseph Pittman: [00:19:22] I see, I read Harry Potter and I saw the saw the movies. I might have to go. I might actually have to go. Books with this books. Expand. Expand your mind. It allows you to have more of an imagination to where you can put you. It’s not, it’s not. It doesn’t confine you movies. It’s like, hey, here it is. Books is imagination. How do you think it’s going to go? It’s more of a it’s more of a guessing game. I’m good book.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:19:48] That’s true. Okay. Waffle or curly fries?

Joseph Pittman: [00:19:53] I got the deep question. You said. You said this was simple.

Austyn Guest: [00:19:56] Supposed to be a quick lightning round.

Joseph Pittman: [00:19:58] Oh, lightning. Lightning, lightning. Um. I’m gonna go waffle.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:06] I’m gonna go waffle. Waffles.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:20:08] Mountains or the beach?

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:10] See, um.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:12] I love how we say lightning round and we get a story for each answer.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:16] Me and the mountains. We have beef. Oh.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:20] Oh, happens in the mountains?

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:22] It’s cold in the mountains and fair. I don’t like the cold. I get ashy, uh, for for the for the people that are not that melanated. That means that I turn, uh, a little chalky and I get cold, I get brittle, and I. And I crack, so I’m I’m I’m gonna go.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:37] That’s a wonderful description.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:39] I’m gonna stick. I’m gonna stick with the beach.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:41] Okay?

Layla Dierdorff: [00:20:41] Okay.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:41] I can sit there, I can I can catch a nice little tan. As long as you don’t get.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:45] Yeah.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:46] Swimming.

Austyn Guest: [00:20:46] Yeah.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:20:47] I like it. Sweet or salty.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:56] Ah, that’s tough, that’s tough.

Joseph Pittman: [00:20:58] I’ma go, I’ma go sweet. I’ma go sweet on this one.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:00] Okay, okay.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:01] Chocolate or fruity candy?

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:03] Chocolate.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:06] Stick with the chocolate. Stick with the chocolate.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:21:11] Cake or pie.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:14] A sweet potato pie that exists.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:19] I’m sorry. I didn’t know that existed.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:22] You haven’t lived.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:23] My bad.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:25] We’ve had some sweet potato pie. Slightly. I would say slightly. Microwave for about 12, 12, 12 seconds.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:31] 12 specifically.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:33] Got it.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:34] 12 seconds with some whipped cream and a single scoop of vanilla ice cream. Ooh. I’m telling you.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:41] Okay.

Austyn Guest: [00:21:41] Okay. This usually more applies to the women. But low or high rise jeans.

Joseph Pittman: [00:21:48] I’ve never pictured myself in either but but I think I could pull off either one. But if I had to, if I had to decide.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:00] With my legs, my thighs which would make my eyes pop. Um, I’m, I’m gonna have to stick with the. I’m gonna stick with the high rise.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:08] Okay.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:09] Keep, keep keep a little classy.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:10] Good choice, good choice.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:22:11] Okay. Um. Comedy or horror?

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:13] I mean, if you have. If you have a guess.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:15] Yeah, I would have guessed comedy for you, personally.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:18] I think I’m, i think I’m pretty funny.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:19] My wife. I mean, we’ve been laughing this whole time, so.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:21] Yeah, I’d say you’re pretty funny.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:22] Oh, yeah. Tell that to my wife. Yeah.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:25] So my dad would have said thanks.

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:28] Comedy. Yes.

Austyn Guest: [00:22:29] Well, thank you so much, Joseph, for hanging out with us today. We’ve really appreciated it. Can you tell everyone how they can get in touch with you and check out what you’re doing?

Joseph Pittman: [00:22:37] Yes. So you can follow us on Instagram at the Pit Stop. Pit stop with two T’s um, underscore ATL. We also have a Twitter, and if they don’t ban TikTok, we have a TikTok that’s hopefully they don’t. Um, you can email us at, um, the Pit Stop. At gmail.com. Um, you can contact us. Our number is (404) 502-1552. For all your party and happiness needs and happiness is only a pit stop away.

Austyn Guest: [00:23:11] Oh, yes. Off the top.

Layla Dierdorff: [00:23:14] Oh, fantastic. We really enjoyed our time with you today, and we know our audience will get so much out of hearing your story. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the next one. Awesome!