Six-Figure Chicks Book Series Founder Mel Carr

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest today, Mel Carr. She’s the owner at Cloversy. Executive Virtual Assistance is what they offer. She’s the founder of Six Figure Chicks book series, multi number one international best selling author and founder of her Right to Rise nonprofit. Mel, welcome to the show.

Mel Carr: Good morning. Thank you. That’s a mouthful.

Trisha Stetzel: Is you’ve done so much and you’re doing incredible work. You and I met through, um, an invitation for Six Figure Chicks. But I want to start at the beginning. So, Mel, tell us a little bit about you and how you got Cloversy started and what that is all about, and then we’ll dive into the rest.

Mel Carr: Wonderful. So Six Figure, or sorry Cloversy, it’s all about six figure chicks right? Let’s be honest. Um but back up a few years. Cloversy was founded after I’d spent a number of years overseas. Uh, contracts ended. I decided to come back to the real world, and my my visions and paths in life had changed greatly. And so I was like, ah, I think I’m done. 25 years in corporate. What else can I do for myself? How can I, like, earn money for myself? All the investment of time and energy that we put into jobs? While it’s not bad, I was just at that point where I wanted to, um, you know, invest in something for myself. So I searched through small business owners and associates that I had friended here in Arizona, and I saw, wow, okay, well, we can really offer the support virtually, even if we’re in the same town. Um, you know, there’s a lot of gaps in businesses that, you know, the, the owners or entrepreneurs don’t see because they’re in the business and they think, you know, well, I don’t need to hire a full time person, so I’ll just do it myself. And then, you know, as we start our businesses, we do usually wear all the hats. And, you know, that doesn’t mean we have to continue wearing all the hats we can delegate. That’s the one way that your business is going to grow, right? If you delegate out those tasks you don’t need to be doing, you shouldn’t be doing, you don’t have time to do. Um, so yeah, I created oversee executive virtual assistants, kind of how I say the executive virtual assistants is different than like the VA that everyone has heard of or knows is that we are 100% woman led US based company. Um, nothing against anyone else or overseas. However, we just have a different level of expertise, understanding and communication. So that’s why I say we offer a higher level of virtual assistance to take care of our clients needs.

Trisha Stetzel: It’s so important to have access to something like that. You know, I talked to so many business owners who don’t think or believe that they could have someone on their team that can help them with these administrative tasks that they really don’t have time for, but it is actually very affordable. When you think about the business owners bill rate compared to what they would be paying for a virtual assistant to come in and do some of those things, right. We don’t want to pay ourselves to go do email and calendaring and those sorts of things, but we do it anyway, right? Uh, because we don’t know. A lot of us don’t know that we have access to something as amazing as the service that you’re providing.

Mel Carr: Yeah, exactly. And to think about, like, you know, back in the corporate days or when you’re working for another company, there was always an executive assistant or an assistant closely working with the VP or CEO or, you know, they handled everything. They were the right hand person to that VP. If they couldn’t do a task, they knew who to contact or who to give it to. Like that frees up so much time. I like how you said, you know, it’s it’s challenging sometimes for us to really put into dollars what our, our, our time is worth, you know. So I always like to say easy to think of, like if you’re at $100 an hour times that by five hours a week, you’re spent on doing social media content or replying to emails. So that’s $500 a week times four weeks. That’s, you know, $2,000 a month of your time that you are just giving away. But yeah, you could turn that into something beneficial for your company, like concentrating on your clients, being new clients.

Trisha Stetzel: Or prospecting getting new ones. Right? Yes.

Mel Carr: Yeah. And hire somebody for, you know, half the price or less. Um, it just and or, you know, some business owners have been burned by going overseas or not delegating or hiring on the right person. Person that’s going to understand your business and your vision. Um, so that you know, that bad experience often delays them in wanting or looking for other support.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. And there’s such a learning curve. If you’ve never had an assistant in your own business, you don’t know how to communicate. You don’t know what they can do for you. And I know that Cloversy really, um, is very apt at making sure that the owner and executive virtual assistant have a good relationship and they understand each other and what needs to get done, right, so that the the business owner, the entrepreneur, isn’t sitting around going, gosh, how am I going to give this person X hours of work, right? And so they spin in circles and then they don’t hire them or they don’t have a good relationship with that assistant. Right. Uh, there’s a lot there’s a big learning curve. Yeah.

Mel Carr: Most definitely. It’s a learning curve for the hiring anyone. Right. In your business, in person, brick and mortar or virtually. It’s all about communication. That’s the number one thing to a successful relationship with your clients, your staff. You know, your personal life, right? Yeah. Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. So Cloversy led to six figure checks. But before we leave Cloversy how can folks who might be interested in talking to you about the opportunity to have an executive virtual assistant? How can they find you? What’s the best way? Yeah.

Mel Carr: Easy, Clover. Com it’s clover with an s y.com. I’m on all social media outlets. Um, you know, go to the website. It has direct contact with me. Call me email. I have an executive team as well as our clients. So every client gets a dedicated exec VA, they get an online business manager and then they get me as a business strategist. So it’s kind of like your own little exec team. Um, but for just a microcosm of the cost and time needed.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. And worth every single penny. You could go get more clients while you’re getting all of the other stuff done at a very high level. Right? And that’s what’s important, right? They make me look good. Yeah.

Mel Carr: Our time is our most valuable asset. And for you to really take control of yourself and your business is by seeing how how else you can delegate. Who else can be doing these things? And you know, that then flowed into, you know, my own, um, business management. I was like, how am I going to grow my business? How am I going to market myself and my business? There are so many other avenues besides social media, ads, email you should be doing, you know, most or all of those things, however. So I was in one of my business masterminds early on a couple of years ago, uh, publisher came to the meeting and she was like, the best way to write your own book is to do a book collaboration. So that means you bring in other authors to all write one chapter. You don’t have to write a whole book. One and done. Easy. I’m like sold. So I, I, you know, I, I sold you know, I bought the package. I was like, this sounds amazing. I have clients who have done this, so I know. Um, how well this marketing piece is to, you know, businesses and entrepreneurs who. Take advantage of this. And, um, you know, they all said, well, why don’t you write a book on.

Mel Carr: Vas and I’m like, well, everybody has a book on Vas. That was right at that time where it just kind. Of exploded and I said, huh, what am I going to write about? So I went back to my first business coach. She asked me what I wanted to make that first year, and I was like, I don’t know, I just want to. Pay my bills and have a good life. She’s like, well, you know, I kind of need a dollar amount. Good coach, good coach. Right? Like, okay, so I just said $100,000. Um, and I reached that goal, surpassed it. So. Fast forward, back to the the book collaboration. I was like six figures like that really stood out to me because it was more than a dollar amount. Even then, it was my road to success. Like I put that in front of me as a goal, I reached it, I surpassed it, and I want to celebrate it. Yeah. And too often I found that people just don’t talk about it. Like women especially, um, because we, you know, we feel judged or that, you know, we’re, we’re touting we’re better than others. And it’s not a fact at all, like six figures. And then I was like six figure females, women chicks, six figure chicks came.

Trisha Stetzel: I love it. That’s so awesome. I this is how you and I met, uh, someone introduced us, by the way. It is a BNI connection. Maybe once or twice separated. We both know BNI, and so it was a great connection for us. And when you started telling me about this book collab. I was so excited. And by the way, the reason why Mel is on with us in Houston is because six figure chick’s book collabs coming to Houston. And you’ve already had lots of successes around other cities that you’ve been in, and you’ve got a couple. Houston. And I believe there’s one in California that you’re starting up right now as well. So tell us more about the actual book collab. And then we can kind of dive into some of the things that I really love about the, um, intangibles around doing something like this.

Mel Carr: Yeah, yeah I know, thank you. And it’s just so many great things about this. Like, you know, if we had an hour, I could go on and on. But. So first book was published in 2022 with women from around the nation. Um, it was great success. International bestseller. Fast forward 24. I was like, I’m ready to do my next book in the series. However, let’s let’s dive down into like a community focused book. Like, let’s start with my hometown Phoenix. I did Phoenix, it was just like ten times the success of the previous one because we were focused in on one community. We built really strong relationships. We were in person, which I love in person meetings. Right? Like no more craziness from before of separation. And then I was like, okay, how else can we leave a lasting legacy in this community? Phoenix well, let’s let’s have a launch party. Let’s invite local businesses. Let’s give these authors a really strong platform to stand on and market their their success, their expertise. So we brought these women together. We had an amazing launch party. And then I said, okay, what else can we do? Let’s do more books.

Mel Carr: So we do have LA. We have Houston, which you were a part of. Which I’m super excited about. So we have in both locations, we have a couple of authors signed on. Now we have a total of 19 six figure chick author slots that we’re looking to fill. And then, um, from the Phoenix launch party, we announced Phoenix Volume two is in production as well. Due to popular demand, I had the lady, the first author for that book at the launch party. She was just like, she missed out on the first book, and she saw me at an event, um, like last month. And she’s like, I really want to let you know that I feel so bad for saying no to Phoenix. She’s like, I’ve seen what you’ve created and what how the women are together and what, um, you know, empowerment and inspiration you’re sharing. Like, I’m so sorry I missed out. Let me know when you have your next book. And I said, okay, let’s do it. She’s like signed on.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. It’s like FOMO, right? Oh, she totally has FOMO.

Mel Carr: However, you know, like, it takes big, you know, shoes to say, like, hey, look, I missed out. Like, yeah, let’s do it. You know, I instead of like, oh, well, great. Congratulations. I’m so happy for you. And behind the scenes, she’s like, shoot. Yeah, I don’t ask. You don’t receive.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s right. You can never get a yes if you don’t ask or no for that matter. But you do. You got to get out and and be proud of the question that you have and just ask it, what’s the worst that could happen? Right? Mel could say no, but instead she said, yes.

Mel Carr: Yes. And it’s all about saying yes to yourself. The whole premise behind six figure checks is, you know, celebrate your wins, because everything that we create assists and aids somebody else in some way. Like, you enrich other people’s lives through your coaching. You know, I give work opportunity to women that work for my company. I give time back to our clients. We all are in this for a reason, to give back and serve others.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. So before I give my take on why I want to be a part of six figure checks, Houston edition, uh, tell people where they can find you if they’re very interested in being a part of the six figure checks collab.

Mel Carr: Yeah. So if you’re interested in becoming an author, sharing your story of success, being in a publication with other successful females, um, go to six figure male.com. That’s the private authorship page to see all the benefits. Contact me. Um, you know Mel C at six figure chicks.com. We’re on all social platforms as well. Um, you know, I’d love to have a conversation with successful females in the Houston area to be in the book with you. Um, and to be a long in this amazing movement and to leave that lasting legacy with women, men and young women, especially in Houston area and nationwide.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And I’m so excited about it. Mel Watt now when we connected, we would probably be friends anyway, right? We just connected. And it was a fun conversation from the very beginning. But what drew me in and made me want to be a part of this book collaboration was not just telling my story, but being able to share that experience and mentorship with others, especially young women. So a lot of my listeners know that I’m very involved in the veteran community and very involved with other women, but also in mentorship. It’s very important to me. So I think the biggest piece for me is to be able to bring this book launch to Houston and invite young women to a book signing or an event where they can talk to all of these women who have told their story about how they got to six figures or beyond. And I think that’s so important that these young women see these strong women not only telling their stories, but how they are also collaborating together. As you and I talked about this, I come from a generation. I don’t want to make any assumptions about you, but I come from a generation where women competed so much that we didn’t support each other. And so I’m a huge proponent of finding ways for us as women to to lift each other up. Right, and bring bring each other, bring us together so that we can do something meaningful for the next generations or generations to come. So thank you for doing this and I’m so excited. So I ladies, if you’re listening and you’re in the Houston area, I’m in and so should you be. So reach out to me or you can reach out directly to Mel. Go to six figure Mel mel.com so that you can get all the deets on this and schedule a call with Mel and get on board. So I’m super excited about this. All right, Mel, I do not want to leave this conversation with you without talking about her right to Rise, the nonprofit that you started. So tell us more about that.

Mel Carr: Yeah. Thank you. Um, so her Right to rise was birthed from six figure checks because I, you know, I, as I said before, I lasting legacy. How can we do this even stronger, harder, more memorable in our communities? I said, okay, let’s leave. Let’s let’s team up with a local charity on each of these events. And I said, okay. Thought about it a little bit more. I said, well, why not do my own charity nonprofit? Like, I know exactly what I want to give and who I want to, you know, give it to. And I said, okay, fine. I teamed up with our, one of our authors in the second book of our The Phoenix Volume one, Shantoyia Nicole Brian Pruett Foundation. She’s my fiscal sponsor. So we were able to start right up. Her right to Rise is here to provide a platform of the ability for young women, 18 to 26, to share their story of, you know, their their struggles, their triumphs in that young age, to be able to network and mentor with the authors that are in this book. So coming up is our first mentorship day for Phoenix, January 25th. We’ll will bring back all the authors from the Phoenix book, and even the first if they want to join, along with 100 plus young women. We’re going to mentor with those young women for the day. We’re going to invite them complementary to learn from these women will create vision boards. We’ll, you know, go over financial success, financial literacy, you know, dressing to impress all of those tangible, practical, tactical things that they may not have learned or are learning in school. Um, you know, I want to give them the opportunity to really have that time with these authors to ask questions, learn, grow, become as successful or more than us.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, and I failed to mention because I think this is something else, is really I not think I know this is something else that’s really important to me is yes, there are 19 authors, 18 of them are paid collaborators. That 19th one comes in on a scholarship, and it’s all based on the 18 who have come together and get to decide who to scholarship that 19th position, to somebody really important in the community, which I think is fantastic. I just love that there’s so much give back and everything that you’re doing. Mel, I very Farbstein thank you for introducing me to Mel C and shout out to Barry. Um, otherwise I wouldn’t know about this. And I’m so excited. I’ve already been talking about this opportunity I had for ladies that I’m working on getting them to reach out to you, and I know there are so many others in the greater Houston area that could benefit from an opportunity like this. So, Mel, as we start to close our conversation today, what advice do you have to women out there who are thinking, gosh, that sounds like a great opportunity, but maybe I’m not ready?

Mel Carr: Yeah. That’s great. Just just hop on a call, you know, hop on a call with me or you. Because, for example, in the second book, I have one of the authors, um, Amber, she’s a flight attendant for southwest. Her husband introduced us and pushed her. She was like, I don’t have a story to share. I don’t own a business. And I said, no, there’s that’s so incorrect. You have a story to share. You have been working for southwest for 20 plus years. That’s what you’re passionate about. Like you love serving the people that are, you know, on your planes daily and you have a personal side that you know, you can share and heal from. Because writing those stories for these authors are more than just marketing their business, sharing their story, growing. It’s about healing from their written words. And that’s the message I want to get across to these young women, women in general that are scared or don’t think that they have a story to share or that they’re writing down those words, are going to do anything to help them move forward. And and it is it’s personally, professionally, it all goes hand in hand. And Amber is now pushed past those barriers that held her back. And she is leaving a legacy for her son, you know, like she’s she has something that she’s so proud of. And she has a circle of these women who are around her to support her and motivate her to do whatever she wants.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Yeah. So for women who are looking for that circle that you don’t have, this creates that, right? It gives you a new network of women to be with and like physically, not just over zoom. We’re all going to get together in person. And I think that that is so important as we move forward on all of our journeys. Right. So I know I sit behind my computer screen all day, every day, almost 300 days a year, right? Uh, I had to get out of my my seat. I gotta get out of my seat, and I gotta get out, and I need to do that. And this is going to give me the opportunity to get back in person with a community of women that I really want to be around. And I’m so excited about this. And while you were talking, I thought of one more lady that I need to reach out to. So, uh, if you’re listening and and hear what Mel said. Mel said this particular lady, Amber, was not a business owner, but she’s still a six figure chick and she still has a story to tell. So please hear that. You do not have to be a business owner, right? You just have to be in the space where you’re ready to go tell your story as a six figure chick. Mel, I’m so excited to have you on the show today. This is so much fun. Any parting words from you as we close?

Mel Carr: No thank you. Somebody asked me just recently, what’s your three favorite words to share? And I said six figure year chicks.

Trisha Stetzel: I love it. All right. You can find Mel C at Cloversy which is her executive assistant business. You can also go directly to the Six Figure Chicks website at six figure Mel mel.com. So you can get all of the deets on what we talked about today. Mel, thank you again. I’m so excited about this. We’re getting started right away, which is even better. No one has to wait. Uh, and I hope that we can drive some more ladies to pick up the phone and have a conversation with you. Thank you.

Mel Carr: Thank you.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.