Lee Meyer with GoGetter Personal Assistant, Celina Meador with Century 21 Connect Realty and Melinda Servick with Sol Design

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. Welcome to Women in Business, where we celebrate influential women making a difference in our community. Now here’s your.

Lori Kennedy: [00:00:23] Host. Hello. This is Lori Kennedy and I’m your host today for Women in Business Powered by Business RadioX. Stone Payton, our producer is also in the studio with us today and we are grateful to have you tuned in today. We are interviewing Lee Myer with Go Getter or maybe something else. Melinda Servic was sold designs and Selina metter with Century 21. Welcome, ladies. I am so glad that you’re here and I am going to start with you, Lee. Yay, yay. Tell me your business name. What do you do and how long have you been doing it? And I know that you have a couple of different things happening because you have such an entrepreneurial if I said that correctly, I don’t even know Spirit. And you just cannot you just cannot stop it. One thing you have to do, 23 and a half, so that leaves a half an hour. Like to go to the bathroom or something today, maybe. I’m not sure. Anyway, tell us about what you do.

Lee Meyers: [00:01:27] Thank you, Laurie. Thank you for having me on. I feel really honored to be asked to be a part of this. It’s a dream when all this started to be in this place. So I’m super grateful. I own go get a personal assistant services. And what that is, is I do personal and business assistant services mainly for small business owners in my community. That could range from helping them on a personal side, whether it’s home management or getting their home under control from an organizational standpoint to helping them fit intermittent needs that they may not want to bring somebody on full time in their business, but they are drowning and they are low on bandwidth and they need somebody to come in and kind of help relieve some of that pressure. So I’ve done basic kind of admin duties of office organization. I do interpersonal networking for businesses, I market products really it’s tailored to each specific client. And I love to find out what their pain points are and how I can help them.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:25] And you get rid of old Hawaiian shirts out of my husband’s closet.

Lee Meyers: [00:02:28] He’s still Danny, still mad at me. I also do a videography business. We specialize in wedding and events. It’s called the highlight reel, and I run that with a partner out of Cherokee County.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:41] Awesome. All right, Melinda, tell us about you and your business and what you do.

Melinda Servick: [00:02:46] Well, I want to go to work for Lee.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:48] I know. I know.

Melinda Servick: [00:02:49] That sounds amazing. I would love to organize people’s houses. I have no problem throwing things out of the closet to. To the point that my husband stays mad at me, too. But anyway.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:59] That’s why I hired her. So he’d be mad at her.

Lee Meyers: [00:03:01] I know it’s so smart marriages.

Lee Meyers: [00:03:04] I save marriages.

Melinda Servick: [00:03:05] Which are so smart. I own Sol Design. We are an interior design firm that specializes in model homes and show houses for builders and developers. I’ve been in this business working for other people for about 12 years and then in residential construction, because that’s what we’re focused in for longer than I care to admit these days. But it’s been about 25 years now. I absolutely love residential construction and at periods in my career I’ve thought, I want to do something else, I want to go here, I want to do that. And every time I try to get out of this business, I just can’t. And I love it so much. And Sold Design was born in 2019 when the owners of the previous company I worked for retired and my husband said, What are you doing? You should just do this on your own. You should have done this five years ago. What is your problem? And I’m like, I’m so scared I can’t do this. But he helped me see the light and we started it. And here we are in our official third year and things are going great. So it’s a whole lot of fun. We’ve we’ve migrated into more residential design as well for individuals, which was not something I thought we would do. But COVID has kind of spurred that. And it’s been it’s just a lot of fun to enjoy the journey. And I, too, am honored to be here with you or you one of my dearest friends.

Lori Kennedy: [00:04:34] I miss you so much. Like we used to work together, everybody. And so we saw each other every day and we had to have girlfriend coffee time every morning because the industry was tanking at the time and it was stressful. So we talked about Jesus and how we could depend on other things outside of ourselves to sustain us. So it was I miss.

Melinda Servick: [00:04:58] You know, a really transformational time in both of our lives because you were down the road of marriage and kids and I was single and it just was really unique. I learned a lot from you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:05:08] Oh, thank you. That’s so valuable to have a friendship like that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:05:12] It’s kind of like we don’t see each other for months or even years, and all of a sudden we’re just exactly where we left off. It’s just very cool and just awesome. Celina, tell us hi. Tell us about you and your business and what you do.

Celina Meador: [00:05:28] So I am Selena met her with Century 21 Connect Realty. The office is in Roswell, but I base my business mainly in Cherokee County. And then of course, I have helped some of my clients move from Douglasville to Dawsonville. So but I mainly focus on Cherokee County. So I’m a realtor, so most people know what I do for a living. I sell houses and I focus on helping people buy and sell houses and mainly to people who like to live indoors. So that’s what I do. I think that you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:02] Do more than that, and I’m going to challenge you to give us a little bit more about like like I ran across you doing so many things in the community, like your name was popping up everywhere because you were drawing people together. Like that seemed to be a gift of yours that you just wanted to bring people together. Tell us about like how that works, not only how that feeds you personally, but how that works in your business as well.

Celina Meador: [00:06:28] So my background is actually in dance. I used to run and operate dance studios. I did that for 13 years between Texas and California. I also used to work for Disney World and just being in the entertainment.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:42] Wait Wait World, she worked for Disney World as a character, y’all.

Celina Meador: [00:06:47] I was.

Celina Meador: [00:06:47] I was friends with Chip and.

Celina Meador: [00:06:50] Dale.

Celina Meador: [00:06:51] I was friends with them. They are. There they are quite they’re quite entertaining. Chip is a big flirt, and Dale is just kind of his. His silly sidekick.

Lori Kennedy: [00:07:07] Too funny. Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.

Celina Meador: [00:07:09] Go ahead. Good. You’re good. So coming from working in entertainment and just seeing the light in people’s eyes, whenever they see something that they like, they see their favorite character. They understand a dance step. Just seeing that light bulb go off in the kids faces is the world to me. Since I had moved from I was in California whenever I moved here to Georgia five years ago and. I knew I had to get into something where I could see the light coming up in people’s eyes again. So when I got into real estate a little over three years ago, I was like, this, this is what I get to do. And guess what I’m going to be doing? I’m going to be driving around and showing nice couples, these fancy houses, and that’s what real estate is going to look like because that’s what we see on TV. It’s not it’s almost not at all what actual real estate looks like. You spend about 80 to 90% of your time, of your working hours marketing. How am I going to market myself? I am. I feel like I’m a pretty unique person. I know that I have charm and I’m very approachable. So how can I put those aspects of myself out into the community to help the community? And I was sitting down with my broker one day and he was like, Selina, who are you going to help buy and sell houses with? Like, I really don’t know.

Celina Meador: [00:08:41] He’s like, What have what do you like to do? I was like, I like to help people. And he was like, You know what, Selina? I don’t think you’re the type of person to be in the office making cold calls. He’s like, That works for some people. I don’t want you doing that. I want you to get out there and meet people and make them like you. I’m like, Well, well, that’s easy. He’s like, That’s your job. So I was like, Okay, who am I going to be working with every day? And he was like, What do you what do you like? Who do you like to help? I was like, Well, I really like helping other like minded people. And he’s like, You have a business, right? Like, yes, I do. And he’s like, okay, help business owners. I’m like, okay, how do I help business owners? He’s like, You’ve got to figure that out. I was like, Okay. So what I did was I went onto Facebook into the search and I typed in Canton business. The very next week was going to be the very first Canton Business Club meeting.

Celina Meador: [00:09:33] I was like, Oh, there’s about 35 people that said that they’re going to this, I’m I’m going to go to this. And that just started my whole journey into networking. And I found a hashtag that is community over competition. And that’s very fitting for me and for my business because. That’s. That’s how I am whenever I meet another real term, like, awesome. It’s so nice to meet you. You know, tell me about your business. Tell me about your clients. You know, how can how can we help each other grow and with community over competition as the base for my business, it doesn’t matter if our business is crosspads if they never crosspads because I know so many other business owners, I now have somebody that whenever I’m talking to a client and they need something, whether it crosses real estate or not, I know where to send them. And that’s what networking has has brought me. So I operate on community over competition and like I said, I love meeting other realtors. Doesn’t matter if I’m a realtor, if we ever do business, you know, together, if we’re ever co hopping on a deal, it doesn’t matter. Because I know that person that’s that’s the warm above bubbly place. To me, it’s because I know so many different kinds of people.

Lori Kennedy: [00:10:49] Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, tell us who is in your household.

Celina Meador: [00:10:53] I have myself I have an eight year old little boy named Waylon who is big into baseball and reading and sports and all of the boy things, including lots and lots of dirt and rocks that are in my house as well. I just got engaged a couple of months ago or about six weeks ago. Thank you. So I have my fiancee and we have his 18, 19 year old pit mix dog named Max.

Lori Kennedy: [00:11:26] That’s awesome. What about you? Melinda, tell us who’s in your house.

Melinda Servick: [00:11:31] I have my husband of about 13 years now. Yes. And two sons, ten and 12. So I have a lot of dirt and rocks in my house, too. And a dog, Quincy, who is two and a half golden retriever. She’s a cove, a dog. We we jumped in, took the plunge with every other household in America and got a dog during the puppy shortage who never thought there would be one. Exactly. There was. My husband also is an entrepreneur, and I say also reluctantly, because I don’t feel like I am I have become one. He is the entrepreneur in our in our household. He does sports consulting. And then Brady, my 12 year old is big into golf and my ten year old is into baseball. So very active fun. We’re in the honeymoon stage with our children. They are still precious and wonderful. They love us. We love them, that’s all.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:33] It’s just terrific. That’s awesome.

Melinda Servick: [00:12:36] So sweet to that as long as possible. Yes, I know, because.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:41] Yeah, I know.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:43] Lee, tell us who’s in your household.

Lee Meyers: [00:12:45] Okay, so I have two girls. My oldest daughter just started high school this year, so I’m officially the parent to a high schooler. It’s so crazy because we just did our walk through of the school and when I went, I was like, I just left high school. So how are you here? I’m so confused. But her name is Annabel. She’s my oldest, and then my youngest is Scarlet. She’s in seventh grade and it’s just us girls and we just have a really special relationship. I feel really lucky to be their mom. They have been super supportive of me in business and it’s helped develop our relationship in different areas and I get to involve them and it’s just really special. And even though they’re girls and they’re older, I still have dirt and rocks in my house because they are always bringing in stuff and playing outside. And I love that. I love that they love to do that. So I don’t think our houses will ever be clean until they’re out of the house.

Lori Kennedy: [00:13:42] So I am curious, both ladies have gone in a little bit more in depth about how they got started or why they got started. I want to hear that from you as well.

Lee Meyers: [00:13:52] That’s actually funny, Selina, that you brought up Canton Business Club as an initiating point of your kind of business networking launch, because that group also holds a very special place in my heart. Back in 2020, I was still in my corporate job. I used to do risk analytics for a large company, and I was very unfulfilled in my job. And because I love people and I don’t want to be behind a computer and I always wanted to start a business and I thought, what am I going to do? Like almost praying, like, God, what gifts do I have? What can I go do? I just didn’t know. But what I did know is that I love people. I love helping people, and I wanted to find a way to make that work. And I started seeing all these services becoming really popular back in, I would say, 2019. I noticed that Instacart, the Ubereats, all of these convenience things, and I noticed that we live in an area where people do have some extra disposable income and they are very busy, so they have the opportunity to pay somebody else to help them with these tasks. And so I thought, well, I used to be a stay at home mom and I did everything. And that’s a lot of stuff. It’s very valuable to keep a household running and and to help people that are busy in their career with that. And I thought, I wonder if anybody would hire me for that. So I had found Canton Business Club and it’s funny, at the time I was in a relationship where I was not supported or encouraged and I was actually told that attending that would be a waste of time.

Lee Meyers: [00:15:28] What am I doing? Just really discouraged from going forward in it. And I went, I did not have a business. I did not have a business name. I didn’t know what exactly I was going to do. But I went to the group and there was probably around 30 or so people there at the time. And I told them that I said, I’m really here to be around like minded people. I want to be around entrepreneurs. I want to learn from you all. I want to learn how you got started. I want to find my path to be an entrepreneur. And everybody clapped like which I was not expecting. And I say that only to say the encouragement that came from that room and from these people who now years later have become some of my dear friends and clients and, you know, all of these things. They changed me on that day and I’ve told them this, and I cried at a meeting and told them this because they were the first people that really believed in me in my life and support. Ordered me to go do this business and to let go of that fear of I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’m good enough. What do I know? You know, all those things that you think. And they I never looked back from that day. I just felt so supported by my community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:42] That’s awesome. That is awesome.

Lee Meyers: [00:16:44] I think I was there that day. Were you? I think so. I do remember that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:49] Okay, that’s.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:49] Funny. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:51] That’s a really awesome.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:53] You got to be part of the.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:54] Change of her life. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:57] So let me ask you, I’m going to start with you, Melinda, because I’ve seen some posts on your social media where you and your whole family are like out somewhere serving meals to the homeless. Or you take them like, tell us about how you’re using your influence in the community. And I love seeing you teach your children to care about those that are less fortunate. So tell us a little about that.

Melinda Servick: [00:17:25] Oh, that’s a great question. That is a huge family mission for us. In fact, we have named ourselves the Civic Sunshine Soldiers, which is super cute. The boys love that. When we came up with that name about five years ago, my husband Todd is such a humble and wonderful human and he believes in putting others before yourself. And we’ve always just both. We love helping people, and I think that’s probably what’s common about all of us in this room today, it sounds like, is we all just genuinely care about other people and helping them get from point A to point B. So volunteering was just something that was ingrained in our relationship from the very beginning. And then when you see small children like really getting so excited about it and asking and wanting to do these service things, it just, you know, it just makes it that much easier to make it happen. And since we had our name serving Sunshine soldiers, we kind of had committed to that role in in our world. We’ve actually implemented it as part of soul design. Giving back is a huge part of our company and our mission in the world. We give back a portion of every job that we do to the community. We pray about which where we should put our money. And it’s so funny how God lands very interesting things on our plate that you’re like, I don’t really think that was something, but but God has spoken through us as to where He wants us to place that emphasis in the community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:19:01] But I really think I need an example. Don’t you all want to hear an example?

Melinda Servick: [00:19:07] So again, like after we finish each job, we always take a portion, even if the profit of that job was not so much. That was a commitment that I made when I started the company that I just wanted to do God’s work when when I could, you know, I wanted to be able to to give back to the community. And so, for instance, there was a there’s a mission at our church called Good Sam. It’s a an inner city farm where they grow food for people that live in the UN, you know, the poverty stricken areas of Atlanta where they can’t get fresh food and they have created this garden that supports people to be able to eat healthy because eating is so bad in our country right now. And people, the less money you have, the worse you are forced to eat because that’s what’s affordable and you can’t get fresh produce and fresh things. And so good. Sam has started this garden, the farm, and again we heard about it at church. And I said to Todd, That’s it. That’s that’s where God wants the money to go. I just know it, you know, I just feel it. And it’s, it’s an awesome feeling. And every time it has been brought to us like that. But we also share our giving with our employees, too. And we ask them to identify a place that they would like the money to go. So we had a big project about a year and a half ago and there was a larger amount of money that we were able to give away. So we shared that with all of our employees and we let each person choose something that they thought was really important to give that money to. So it’s just so much fun to give back. I mean, you always say, you know, when you go on mission trips or when you’re volunteering, you get way more out of it than the people that you’re volunteering for. And a life of service will never go to waste.

Lori Kennedy: [00:21:02] That’s so awesome. Well, are you being mentored and are you mentoring others and what does that look like in your life?

Melinda Servick: [00:21:08] I am being mentored. I have a spiritual director, a lady at my church. And this is another fascinating story. And 2018, on a rainy Sunday, we went to church and we had a new pastor at the time, and this was probably his third or fourth sermon. And we really liked him. And he was giving a sermon about think about the people who. Made the biggest impact on your life. Think about their names and think about there’s going to think about names that pop into your head that could be influential for you in your life. And this name of this woman popped into my head, Sue Ellen. She’s a member of our church, but I had never. Lori, I think you might know this story, but I didn’t know her personally. She had a blog that I had been reading for about three or four years, so I knew of her and I’m thinking, Whatever God like. Thank you for that name. But I don’t know this woman. I don’t know how she’s going to have an impact on my life, whatever. Fast forward, she had groups that I could have gone to and attended, but I blew off all the. I don’t have time. I didn’t do it too busy to this to that all the things. And finally in 2020, she didn’t Enneagram course. And that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:18] Was the one you invited me.

Melinda Servick: [00:22:19] To. Yes. And I was sucked in because I love all things personality, you know, let’s peel the layers, figure it out like I love the research. That’s what I love about design. Our design company, that that’s the part of it I love the most is peeling the layers back and figuring out what direction we should really go with a project. But there Sue Ellen and then I got very close to her through that Enneagram course, started going to other women’s courses for her, and now she’s become my personal, spiritual director and has really mentored me through an interesting time in my life. I lost my mom last year and that was really transformational for me because she was my best friend and Sue has been instrumental in helping me through that journey. And so that is who’s mentoring me. And I have a girl who’s been in my life since 2013 that had come to work for the other company who I have been mentoring with her for that many, almost ten years now and adore her. And again, it’s just such a joy to feel like you can share your experiences and those people can benefit, hopefully kind of like what children that they can learn. Some of the things that you’ve you’ve already been through, you’ve already walked that path. So and she’s a blessing to me. I learn again. I learn just as much from her now. Yeah. As I feel like she might have learned from me in the early days.

Lori Kennedy: [00:23:48] So yeah, that’s awesome. Selena, tell us about mentoring in your life. Are you mentoring anyone? Is anyone mentoring you? What does that look like for you?

Celina Meador: [00:23:56] So at my office we’ve got our broker who is probably one of the most humble people I have ever met. You would never think that somebody this humble has got the resources to back him up, to help out the agents. And so his the way that he operates his business is there at the office is how can how can we help our agents succeed? And what do I need to provide? What can we as as a team? So he’s got his staff. What can we do as a team to help out our agents, sell more houses in less time. So anything that we can take off of their plates, how can we take that in so that they can go out and just go out and meet people, go out and talk to people. So that’s having that behind me and behind the rest of the other the other realtors at my office is it’s it’s inspiring and it’s also motivational to. To know that he has all of these resources there at the office for us so that we can go out there and just do what we need to do. So it’s like I said, it’s inspirational and it’s also motivational to get out there and just get out and meet people.

Lori Kennedy: [00:25:22] Yeah, that’s great.

Lori Kennedy: [00:25:24] Leigh, I want you to tell us a couple of things. I do want you to answer the mentoring question, but also for the what you’re doing in the community. I know you do a lot of amazing things, but I’d like you to focus on the video stuff for the city, like what that looks like.

Lee Meyers: [00:25:41] Okay. For me, I’ve had since I’ve started this, I’ve had several people that have been in my life. I don’t know if you could exactly call it mentor because it’s not consistent on like a planned basis. But they are people that have invested in me and have been there for me and have just really coached me through learning the ins and outs of beginning a business and what to do and what to look out for and how to protect yourself. And, you know, how to work through some obstacles that that come up. So somebody in our community that I really owe a lot of things to is Bronson KURTZ. He’s one of my best friends. He took me under his wing literally the day he met me. And at times I wanted to be like, Let me just not think for a minute, please, because he was so informative and so pushing. And I needed that because I, I was very in my head about what I was doing and I really don’t think I would be to the place that I am without his support all of last year. He means a lot to me. And so that’s somebody that comes to mind. We’re we actually work out of the same office sometimes. So I see him all the time and and that’s great.

Lori Kennedy: [00:26:56] Tell him I said hi and tell him we might have a client for him.

Lee Meyers: [00:26:59] Yeah.

Lee Meyers: [00:27:00] He’s great. He’s. He’s good. He’s very good at what he does. He owns a wonderful IT company in Woodstock. And then as far as the city goes, we don’t have we have not done paid work with the city. So I want to make that clear. But we love doing videos of events around our community. We don’t profit off of them. But what we love doing is showing how great our community is, showing all of the people in our community, just showing the events and what a great job the city does for all of our residents. And we also do in Canton as well, just all over Cherokee County. We just love to be able to show people what an awesome place we live in and let them feel that experience there. Video.

Lori Kennedy: [00:27:46] Selena. Tell me about a mistake that you made in business and what you learned from it, how you fixed it. You know, just give us the story.

Celina Meador: [00:27:58] So what I have learned over the past probably year, year and a half, is to not let the negative comments and the negative influence. Get inside and keep you from succeeding. In what you know that you’ve got to do in your business.

Lori Kennedy: [00:28:20] Yeah.

Celina Meador: [00:28:21] So that’s, that’s what I’ve had to, to learn and just just flesh it out. Flesh it out. You can listen to it all day long and it just it gets in your head and you can’t listen. You can’t you can listen to it if you’ve got to be in that atmosphere. But you can’t you can’t let it get to you, brush it off and just keep doing exactly what it is that, you know in your heart is how you build your business, is how you operate in your personal life. So every aspect of your life operate it on the way that you want to operate it and not let the negative thoughts get into your head.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:03] That is a very good advice. Thank you. I need that today.

Celina Meador: [00:29:10] I think I needed to say it out loud too.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:12] Right. Can you just like, text that to me each morning?

Celina Meador: [00:29:16] I can.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:17] Just as a reminder, Melinda, what about you? Tell us about a mistake that you’ve made in your business and what you learned from it.

Melinda Servick: [00:29:24] It’s a great question. I love yours, Selena. By the way, how true changed the channel? I often say that to my kids, and in that same vein, I think my biggest mistake and my husband agreed with me when I I did pose this question to him earlier is that I didn’t have enough faith in myself from the beginning. Wow. I let fear drop me all the the the gloom and doom what.

Melinda Servick: [00:29:54] If’s the negative.

Melinda Servick: [00:29:55] The negative. Then it’s very similar to what you’re saying, Selena. It’s, it’s a really it’s a change of your mindset to to have faith and to believe that what you’re meant to do and what you’re meant to be will it will happen if you’ll just go down that road. And it’s scary because the road is so unknown. But even you said it, Leigh, I mean, how many people you had no confidence because no one believed in you until that group. And it’s it’s so true. Like and how many people out there are living under that little rock and how horrible that is because of all the great things that could be in the world if they would just have the faith.

Celina Meador: [00:30:38] Absolutely.

Lori Kennedy: [00:30:39] It’s so good. Sally. It’s your turn to answer that question.

Lee Meyers: [00:30:44] Is it my turn? This is a mistake that I made when I very first started my business, and I learned a lot from it. It has helped. And that is and this pertains especially to what I do, because it is so personal and it is me. I took on a client that I knew just because a client says, yes, I want to hire you does not mean you are always a right fit. And I had to learn that the hard way. I took on a client that is outside of Cherokee County, not my normal realm, which is all local small business owner. I took on somebody that was more of an executive level living in Atlanta that had very unrealistic expectations based on what we had agreed to. And I knew in my gut that this was not going to be a good scenario for me to continue. But I stuck in it for about six months because I thought that I needed to learn a lesson and I needed to learn how to work with difficult people, and I needed to develop a thicker skin, and I needed to do this and I needed to do that. And then one of my dear friends, who’s also kind of like a mentor, he said, Why are you teaching yourself this lesson? What what are you going to learn from it? Because this is outside of your comfort zone.

Lee Meyers: [00:32:04] It’s it’s breaking you down. It’s taking away from your clients who fill you up and who you do great work with. You have this one thing that is, it’s dragging the rest of you down and you’ve got to cut it. And that was a really hard thought to have to let somebody go, because I’m so grateful for every client that I have for anybody that wants to work with me. It just felt weird to tell that person this is not a good fit. But the minute that I did that, I had just a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. I felt I felt re-energized about my business. My light came back and I was approached probably a few months after that with a similar situation of somebody that reminded me of that type of client. And I was very confidently able to say, I think you need to work with somebody that can give you full one on one time, and we’re just not a good fit. And I now can see what is going to benefit not only that, that person, but what will benefit me and being able to grow my business and and be maintain my sanity.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:10] Which is important.

Lee Meyers: [00:33:11] Yes, it takes all kinds to make the world go round. And there are so many different kinds of people. And as business owners, we have to understand that not every person out there is the right client for us and we’re not the right person for them either.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:27] So yeah, yeah. I feel like that’s especially like that’s important in all of our industries. But a lot of us like Melinda, for example, she deals with the whole company, whereas you for example, Selina, as you are dealing one person to one person. And I know that. You know, like a. A 50 year old couple looking for a house might have a different need than a 20 year old single male looking for a house, you know, and and that might require somebody different to help them. To best help them find what they need potentially. You know. And so I love what you shared earlier about your concept of cooperation, because truly there’s enough business for us all. And if you’re doing your job well, you’re going to get your share of it, right, for sure. What do you, Syleena, have a message that is for women specifically?

Lee Meyers: [00:34:29] I keep doing the do. Very simple. Keep doing the do. You can’t stop. You know, like I said earlier, you can’t let those negative thoughts, you know, like, am I pretty enough? Am I. Am I smart enough to do this? Am I do I have the right education to do it? Keep those negative thoughts out because you know what you’re doing. Just keep doing.

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:51] It. Yeah. Melinda, do you have a message for women specifically?

Melinda Servick: [00:34:55] The same. It would just be the same.

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:57] Get it, girl? I get it, girl.

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:00] Do you have a.

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:01] Message for women specifically?

Melinda Servick: [00:35:04] Is this supposed to just be an encouraging thing or like a life lesson thing? What?

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:08] Whatever your heart tells you to say.

Melinda Servick: [00:35:11] My biggest thing for I mean, I wouldn’t say that it’s woman specific, but anybody is find somebody who can remind you of who you are and what you are and what you bring to the table. And any time you are feeling like you are on that rabbit wheel of the self doubt and the negativity and all of those things that keep replaying find whatever it is that you need to pull yourself off of that wheel, whether it’s an encouraging something that you listen to, whether it’s a best friend that reminds you of all of those things, but actively seek that any time you feel that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:46] Yeah. I feel like, you know, I know we’ve heard this. We become like the five people we spend the most time with. I was about to say, like, I feel like we need to be intentional about who we choose to spend our time with and that because we want to spend time with people that make us better. You know that people who are already where we’re trying to be, both personally, emotionally, business wise, whatever, whatever it is that you’re trying to seek, which I guess is why ask a mentoring question? Because I want to hear all the things right, and I learn from these every single time I come in here, I have this whole page of notes I take with me. It’s like a counseling session.

Melinda Servick: [00:36:24] For those that if you can’t find the people, the physical people around you to be around the five people that you were just talking about that you most want to be like if you can’t physically find those people, you can listen to them, get them on audio books, find those books that you can listen to. So when you’re driving in your car on the way to work, you are becoming part of that person or you are getting connected to that person even if you’re not physically around them. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:54] Learning from them.

Melinda Servick: [00:36:55] Yeah. Great, sure.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:56] Great point. What are some misconceptions about your industry?

Melinda Servick: [00:37:00] Melinda Oh, everybody thinks interior design is so fun.

Lee Meyers: [00:37:04] Yeah, I do. It’s awesome and just great all the time.

Melinda Servick: [00:37:08] It’s not well. Well, of course it is. I do it. I know. I chose to stay in it. Of course it is.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:15] But every business has sticky points that are more difficult than others. What are the ones that are that people you know, like the misconceptions about your industry? What are some of the realities of things that you have to do that aren’t as fun?

Melinda Servick: [00:37:28] Well, they think it’s easy. You know, like what? What color should I paint my wall? And they think you can just spit that out like in 30 seconds. Agreeable. Gray Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:38] Well, that is a pretty good color.

Melinda Servick: [00:37:39] Laurie You know, I could tell you’ve been in this business agreeable. Gray is super strong, but it takes a lot of thought. And what we do is putting lots of pieces together and making sure they relate and they’re cohesive and they create harmony. Because I know you’ve all walked in a house where it didn’t feel harmonious and it didn’t have that good juju. And that’s it’s just because the elements got mismatched or crossed and and maybe you didn’t explore things holistically like you should have. So it’s not this magic wand that you just flap and it’s poof, done. Yes, it would. And TV makes it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:23] Look like that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:24] Which Syleena, you said that. Yes. Like it just doesn’t happen like that. So understanding, getting people to understand that this is a process and this is a journey that we’re going to go down and we’re going to get there. But it does take the peeling of the layers and the understanding and the learning, because your lifestyle plays a part in what we’re going to want to put together for you and and all the things. It’s just not a one shot. And they wouldn’t be happy if it was a one shot deal because I probably tried that and that’s hence why they’re coming to us.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:58] So I have a personal question. Oh, okay. You know, like the cobbler’s.

Lori Kennedy: [00:39:03] Shoes or oh, oh is mine.

Lori Kennedy: [00:39:06] Tell me about your house.

Celina Meador: [00:39:09] Well.

Lori Kennedy: [00:39:11] You got two boys bringing sticks and rocks in.

Celina Meador: [00:39:13] It’s too funny. And of course, I’ve picked a white couch because who wouldn’t have a white couch in the middle of raising two boys and now a dog? The dog, by the way, has been the most destructive of anything in my home, not my children. I believe that. Yeah. You know, it’s just crazy. I want to redo all of it. Lori right now, of course. I mean, I’m seeing what’s new, what’s next? It’s my life all day, every day.

Lori Kennedy: [00:39:40] Wait until your kids are a little bit older.

Celina Meador: [00:39:42] I know. And I keep telling myself that. And that’s another thing I have to say to myself is it’s okay if I don’t have the best and the freshest. People aren’t judging our talents and our abilities by what our house looks like. Because you’re right, the cobbler never has his own. His own cheese.

Lori Kennedy: [00:39:59] Yeah, I mean, my car runs. That’s appraised.

Celina Meador: [00:40:02] That’s right.

Celina Meador: [00:40:03] There. Maybe not the way you you just did one for your last client. I want new drapes. I want a new so far. I want a new rug. I want a new coffee table. It’ll come.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:14] I’m sure Selena wants new houses. Like you see all those houses all the time. You’re like, Oh, I’d like to have that one.

Celina Meador: [00:40:19] I actually like the older houses.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:22] Do you.

Celina Meador: [00:40:23] Because I see. I see the bones of a house. Yeah. And how can I paint the image for my clients of what the house could turn into whenever it’s their home?

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:35] Y’all, I’m seeing a TV show right here.

Celina Meador: [00:40:37] Oh, yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:38] Oh, right here. The three of you. I’m seeing the TV show.

Celina Meador: [00:40:42] Like, maybe you come design our homes and then we’ll do something.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:45] All right, we’ll just. Yeah, I don’t know. I kinda. It was. We’ll just love you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:50] I love you. I need. I totally need help with the purge. Believe me, I’ve plenty of clothes that you need to say. Melinda, it’s got to go out of style.

Melinda Servick: [00:40:59] Now we play a game. It’s called the Yes or no game, and you have about 2 seconds to decide. You got to go with your gut.

Melinda Servick: [00:41:05] I read that book. Wasn’t there a book about that?

Lori Kennedy: [00:41:07] There’s been a lot today.

Melinda Servick: [00:41:08] My mom had me read it anyway about that. If you if it doesn’t bring you joy, you need.

Speaker4: [00:41:13] Marie.

Intro: [00:41:13] Kondo. Yes. That’s the one. Right.

Lori Kennedy: [00:41:16] Well, poor Lee got blamed with throwing a shirt away. That was misplaced. And I took up for you. I said, Well, I took up for me. I said, I knew better than to throw that sure away. I did not throw that shirt away and I did not tell Lee to throw that shirt away. We found it somewhere. I don’t remember where it was. My son probably borrowed it or something, so I totally forgot where we were. Let’s see. Misconceptions about your industry, Lee.

Lee Meyers: [00:41:44] So I don’t know anybody else that has a personal assistant business. I’ve actually never been in that realm, so I don’t have a lot of insight on what other people deal with or misconceptions as a whole. For me personally, the biggest misconception people have about me in my business is that I just do organizing and that is my fault because I have a social media aversion. I, I don’t like posting about myself. Honestly, I need to hire somebody to do that. For me, it’s very difficult for me to constantly be posting about myself and it’s just an uncomfortable thing. So what I have posted is all organizing. So people think Lee is an organizer and I do, and I love organizing. But what I want people to know about me is that the core purpose and soul of my company is to help small business owners. And I have a lot of talents that can be used to help them just take things off their plate, help them brainstorm with things, help them market and network their business. My goal is to help them grow and to achieve and be able to do more, not just keep their space organized.

Lori Kennedy: [00:42:53] Syleena Misconceptions about your industry, my dear.

Lee Meyers: [00:42:57] Oh, this one. So those times people think what a realtor does when it comes to selling selling house is you come over, you put the lock box up there, you put this on in the yard and disappear. And the house will sell. That’s not at all what happens.

Lori Kennedy: [00:43:12] There kind of was for a little bit, just for a smidgen of.

Lee Meyers: [00:43:15] Time, for a smidgen of time. So that’s a major misconception behind getting that client to be able to sell that one house. How much time did you spend with that client? What what time did you spend? What money did you spend to get that client? For me, in my business, I don’t spend a lot of money on gaining clients or earning clients is what I like to say. I spend a lot of time with people. So. You know, getting out there and just meeting people. If if you like me, great, you know, we can do business because there’s that line. I forget who says it. You only do business with people that you know, like and trust. So we don’t just show up and put a sign in the yard and. All right, it’ll sell. That’s not you know, that’s maybe 1% of what happens. Another misconception is, oh, we get to drive around in an S-Class Mercedes and go look at fancy houses all day with this nice couple that wants to buy these big fancy houses. That’s not what real estate is. There’s so much more. There are so many more houses than just the fancy ones. And the people that live in the not fancy ones are, you know, and there’s a huge there’s a range. How do I say? There’s there’s a spectrum of what people think of fancy houses like for me growing up, I grew up poor kid in Texas. So for me, if I grew up thinking that if you had a house instead of, you know, a mobile home or a shack, that, oh, you were rich. So that’s what I thought growing up. And then I now I live in a house and I’m like, wow. Like, you know, I’m living the dream. I’m living what I thought was rich as a child. So there’s a big spectrum as to what a fancy house is. But I digress. It’s not just driving around and showing nice couples a fancy house, and they pick one and buy it. That’s, you know, less than, you know, just like on the seller’s side, it’s like 1% of what I do.

Lori Kennedy: [00:45:29] What are the greatest challenges that you’re now facing as an industry?

Lee Meyers: [00:45:34] As an industry, it’s a. Gosh, there’s there’s so many different ones. Different. I kind of think of it as when you have a stone or you have a diamond, there’s so many different facets to it. What? I guess mainly what I’m finding is. Educating the people who think that they’re educated on my industry.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:01] Wow. Okay.

Lee Meyers: [00:46:03] That’s that’s mainly what it is. And I guess putting it in a way that they they understand it where they think that it’s their idea. On how. On how the industry is. Does that make any sense?

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:19] Do you need to come work at an automotive repair shop? We have lots of people who think they know how to work on cars. They’ve looked it up on YouTube. Right.

Intro: [00:46:29] Right.

Lee Meyers: [00:46:30] Yep.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:31] So say that again. Educating.

Lee Meyers: [00:46:34] Educating the people who think that they’re educated about your industry. Hmm.

Intro: [00:46:40] I think that’s what so good. That’s so.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:42] Good. Lee, what about you? What are the greatest challenges you’re now facing as a business or industry?

Lee Meyers: [00:46:48] My challenge is just figuring out how to grow while being full force in it. I have been really contemplating that all year. I’m deciding on my next steps. I’m deciding on do I just stay myself because I do have another business that I love that is growing, that I love putting my support in. I’m just kind of still in that in that place where I’m still figuring out exactly where my path is going to take me. I can help.

Lee Meyers: [00:47:19] You with that. You are the best with that.

Speaker4: [00:47:23] Advice giver.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:23] Ever.

Melinda Servick: [00:47:25] Melinda Oh, I think we all face that as a small business, so ours would be similar to Lee’s. Like, When do you put the pedal to the metal and go full in on the growth? It’s a scary thing because you get to a point where you have more work than you can do, but yet you don’t have so much work that affords the next person.

Speaker4: [00:47:43] Exactly.

Melinda Servick: [00:47:44] There. You got to think you got to go back to the faith. I know. That’s where we’re doing faith. Dang, faith.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:49] Well, and affording the next person is also needs to be the right person if they’re going to be facing your customers. And so that’s so hard to to make sure that you’re in a place where the people that the next people that you trust with your customers and your clients are the right people.

Intro: [00:48:08] Yeah. And we definitely deal with that as well, finding the right people to come in. I have always said I want to work with people that are my friends. Absolutely. And that I love because there’s that level of trust there and there’s that level of comfort. And I want to keep that. The whole energy of what created sole design the same I don’t want to change it. But for our industry specifically and you guys are this is no surprise to you is or shortages I mean for us like we just can’t get things fast enough and products have escalated and cost and what we were able to do last year at a certain price is now 30% different. And that’s that’s just kind of baffling to I think we’re all we’re getting there because people are finally seeing the inflation in all different areas of the world. Right. So it’s not as shocking when we tell them that, but it’s it’s been a difficult obstacle for us.

Lori Kennedy: [00:49:09] Yeah. Same for us. Not only getting parts, but getting them to us. And, and then of course, they just the prices are just out of the right. Out of the world. Out of this world. Okay. We’re going to start winding down. And so I’m going to start with. Good. I know, right. Pau Stone probably has another meeting, though, at some point in time. I can’t stay here with us all day.

Intro: [00:49:31] I think he’s having fun. I think he is.

Lee Meyers: [00:49:34] I am.

Lori Kennedy: [00:49:37] How? Melinda, how can others get in touch with your business?

Intro: [00:49:40] Oh, well, we are on Instagram at sole design. Zero nine is one way. Also our website sold design design. We have a Connect with us tab that you can send to us. So those would be the two best ways to find us in the world.

Lori Kennedy: [00:49:58] Awesome. How about you, Miss Selena?

Lee Meyers: [00:50:00] I am on four major social media platform. So there’s the Facebook, the Facebook, there’s the Facebook, there’s the Instagram, there is LinkedIn and there’s YouTube. And so those are the four main ways. And then also you can find me in downtown Canton, in Hickory Flat, in downtown Woodstock. I’m in I’m in lots and lots of places.

Lori Kennedy: [00:50:25] You’re very active on social media, too. She’s gathered she’s a gatherer of of people to do things together. Like like you’ll find something that you think is a good thing or a fun thing to do, and you’ll get all these people to go. And I think that’s I can’t wait. I haven’t joined yet. I wanted to last night they did karaoke. They did like live band karaoke. I’d be so good at that. It would be so much fun. But we had plans. I couldn’t go. But next time. Really? Yeah, I want to do that. That one sounds amazing. Lee How do people get in touch with you?

Speaker4: [00:50:58] So I’m on Facebook and Instagram as well. You’ll find me under. Go get her personal assistant services on my social media. I put my actual phone number. It goes directly to me. I very much deal on a personal connecting level. So anybody that has any questions or is curious about if I could help you feel free to call, text and like Selena, I feel like I’m always out and about because I love my community, so I’m sure I’ll run into people at some point.

Lori Kennedy: [00:51:27] Okay. And I have one last question for each of you, and then we’re closing down what is a tip of your trade? Who wants to answer first?

Intro: [00:51:37] I had that. Yeah. Melissa, this is melinda. I have two tips real quickly. So for interior design, a lot of people try to just look at what should I do in my kitchen? What color faucet should I get? What color cabinets? What color countertops? I always encourage and most people are probably there now. But find a photo that you love that really is the end your end goal and work backward from that. It’s always easiest if you start with the end in mind and then find the elements that go with it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:08] Now you sound like Stephen Covey.

Intro: [00:52:09] Well, hey, I’ve read that book. Another great one to read. And the second quick one is when you’re mounting, window treatments, always mount them closer to the ceiling, not just at the top of the header of your window, because it makes the room feel a lot larger. Selina probably knows that one from walking in and out of so many houses, helps the room feel bigger, more spacious. I love it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:32] We just did that. We changed some of our colors. Probably got agreeable gray or something, I don’t know. And and got longer.

Intro: [00:52:40] Panels.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:41] Blinds. So that were. Yes. Panels so that we could put them up higher.

Intro: [00:52:44] Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:45] Smart words are hard for me.

Lee Meyers: [00:52:46] Sorry.

Speaker4: [00:52:48] You’re writing a podcast.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:49] I know, right? That’s why I write it all down. Tips of the trade.

Speaker4: [00:52:53] I’ll give. This sounds kind of counterproductive because I said I don’t want to just be known as an organizer. But the most asked question I get from people is about organizing their business or their home, and they want to know, How do I start? I feel so overwhelmed. Everything needs organized. What do I do? And so I tell people, you start with one thing one drawer, one cabinet, one closet. Wherever that is, go to the thing that bothers you the most, that disrupts your life the most, and stops you from having some sort of flow in your home or office. So start there. And the feeling of accomplishment you get by completing one small step oftentimes is enough encouragement to keep going, and it empowers you. And you just feel better when you see these things come together. So start small and just keep on moving.

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:46] Got a tip for us, Miss Melina.

Lee Meyers: [00:53:48] For in real estate, whether you’re buying or you’re wanting to sell your home. Interview. Talk to me. See if I’m the right fit. If I’m not the right fit, I’m completely okay with that. I would rather somebody say, hey, you know, it’s just not, you know, not quite the right person for us. Okay, great. How can I get you in touch with the right person? So, interview? Yeah. Talk to me.

Lori Kennedy: [00:54:12] Well, my husband last night was he YouTube is his friend. He loves watching YouTube videos. I can’t I it’s so hard for me. But anyway, he ran across one about how to get your car to go 300,000 miles. Right. And so he’s watching that. And really, it’s all about preventive maintenance. So a lot of people forget their preventive maintenance. And so I encourage you to keep up with your preventive maintenance on your vehicle so that it can go further and treat you better and not strand you on the side of the road.

Lee Meyers: [00:54:45] I actually took a class called Preventative Maintenance in college. It was one of my elective credits that I could take.

Lori Kennedy: [00:54:52] Good job, girl. Yes, that’s awesome. Well, thank you for joining us today on Women in Business Powered by Business RadioX. And until next time, this is Lori Kennedy reminding you to keep learning and growing.