Business RadioX ®

Search Results for: kids care

Alina Ugas With Final Step International Inc.

by

FinalStepInternationalInc
Coach The Coach
Alina Ugas With Final Step International Inc.
Loading
/

Alina Ugas is a Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming® (NLP®), Hypnotherapist, and Co-founder of Final Step International and its trademark technique, The Needs-Based Method® with over 35 years of experience in health care, mental health, and business entrepreneurship.

Alina is a certified Success Coach and Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner who is passionate about helping professional women develop the skills and self-assurance they need to take control of their working and personal lives.

With over 35 years of experience in health care, mental health, and business entrepreneurship Alina will help you open the door to your dream life today with a 7-Step System to Self-Discovery, Awareness, and Empowerment.

Follow Final Step International on Facebook and LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Empowering women for success
  • Overcoming self-doubt
  • Navigating career and motherhood
  • Assisting women to reach their full potential
  • The Needs-Based Method®
  • The advantage to the 7-Step System to Self-Discovery, Awareness, and Empowerment

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 Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Alina Ugas with final step international. Welcome, Alina.

Alina Ugas: [00:00:44] Thank you. Thank you, Lee, for having me on your show.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about final step international. How are you serving, folks?

Alina Ugas: [00:00:54] Well, the final step we started back in twenty thirteen as a drug and alcohol communication education program, and that’s due to personal history, not history, but struggles with my family. And then we morphed it more into communications just, you know, communication skills. And now what we’re doing, one of the branches is we are working with women entrepreneurs and also women C-level executives who are looking to excel in their personal, professional and financial life.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:36] So now from serving people who are struggling personally with, I guess, addiction and things like that to now helping empower women and getting them on the track to success, they may seem, you know, very diametrically opposed in some ways. But I would imagine there’s a lot of kind of similar skills, isn’t there?

Alina Ugas: [00:01:59] Absolutely. One of the things that we did realize while the process of working with those who are struggling with addiction is that everybody’s story seemed to extend from childhood. And so that’s one of the things that we started focusing on and we realized within the first two years that we could actually our methodology could actually work for any circumstances in your life. And that’s again, through personal struggles, I realized that women are really not still to this day. We are not in a position where we should be working with side by side with men.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:43] So now for your client, is this something that how do they know that they’re they need your help? Like what are some symptoms that are maybe clues to help a woman, you know, partner up with you so you can assist them to to reach their whole full potential?

Alina Ugas: [00:03:02] Right. So what we’ve come across is women who are complaining about not being able to excel professionally or personally or financially. So women that are struggling in the man’s world, that’s what I call it. And that they’re always wondering, why is it that he gets the better promotions, better pay? So those women who are doubting that’s really is self doubt if they would really trust and believe in themselves, you know, we see tons of women that are in powerful positions. They would not be doubting themselves and a lot of them, which we’ve come across, are dealing with imposter syndrome. That whole, I don’t belong. I’m not good enough. So if you ever tell yourself, you know, negative chatter, I’m not good enough. I don’t belong. This job is not for me. That’s already a clue that you really need to work with a coach because that’s extending from somewhere.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:07] Now, do you find the average person struggles with that type of imposter syndrome? Is it something that affects, you know, the majority of folks and that it’s something that you’ve got to really nip in the bud if you really want to succeed?

Alina Ugas: [00:04:25] Absolutely, absolutely. You know, we all have I believe that it’s normal for us to have some doubt. But if that doubt persists for I want to say, you know, by the end of the day, then that’s a very letting you know that you are not able to work through that doubt on your own and that having a professional help you would really be beneficial to you.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:49] Now is that doubt something that is not a minor, just inconvenience, but it can really sabotage like you can do behaviorally things to sabotage your success that kind of just reinforce that imposter syndrome.

Alina Ugas: [00:05:05] Oh, absolutely. That’s where addiction comes in. And it’s not only addicted to drug and alcohol, you know, as women, one of the addictions that we have and that we help women work through is shoes, believe it or not, handbags. I don’t want to say I’m addicted, but I own well over forty five handbags and I only have two shoulders. So how many can I use at a time? So but that is just such such a feel good to me to be able to buy a handbag just because it’s pretty or whatever the case is. But then I realized prior to me, myself going through coaching, that was my way of satisfying that need that I had that I did not know what it was.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:54] So is that is the need something? It’s obviously not material, but it’s something there’s like a whole inside of you that you’re trying to fill with these materialistic objects.

Alina Ugas: [00:06:06] So the same thing with, again, with the drug, you know, you have a drink or you use whatever form of drugs, and it just makes you feel good for the moment. So it’s just like somebody that loves retail shopping. You know that you just go and buy, buy, buy and you really have no need for it, but you feel good in the moment that you’re doing it.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:29] So now so but that’s part of the challenge, right, that’s they don’t see it as a problem, I guess, like in drugs or alcohol, you know, you can look at yourself in the mirror and go, Wow, this probably isn’t great, but buying shoes or a handbag, you probably aren’t thinking, Wow, this is a problem, right? It’s not a big deal, right?

Alina Ugas: [00:06:50] You just know that you can’t pass up a pair of shoes, you can’t pass up a handbag. And then if you really ever stop to think, like, do I really need this when you realize that you have a closet full of boxes of shoes that you don’t wear, but just because it felt good in the moment? And then let’s not talk about looking at the credit card and realizing, no, I could not afford this. But though you still bought it because it felt good in that moment, but that is to it’s filling a hole that you have inside. You just can’t pinpoint what it is

Lee Kantor: [00:07:22] Now in your journey and your career of helping people at various stages of their life. Have you come up with kind of your own methodology to help these folks?

Alina Ugas: [00:07:32] Absolutely. Our methodology is called the needs based method and its trademark uniquely to us, and this is something that we’ve been working on to be able to train other coaches and even therapists and counselors in it. So what it is is to be able to identify the needs that you have in the moment. That doesn’t allow you to move forward, that the shoes are a perfect example, as a matter of fact, I just wanted to let you know that we did have a client that that was her addiction or shoes. But of course, it was a little bit more destructive. Know she was doing things that she wasn’t proud of in order to be able to afford the shoes. So that’s a perfect question for you to ask yourself, Is this a need or a want? Do I need it or do I just want this? And if you want it, why is it that you really want that? Whatever it is, if it’s a drugs, you know, the alcohol, the purse, the shoes? Why do I want it? And then once you start asking yourself and looking deep inside, then you’ll realize it’s filling a hole that you don’t even know what the hole is.

Alina Ugas: [00:08:40] Most of the time, I want to say 95 percent of the time is something that happened in childhood. It doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience because a lot of people believe that traumatic that trauma is something, you know, an abuse of rape, a death, whatever. Know, it could be something as simple as having a sibling being born, and you’re not knowing the uncertainty of how this new individual is going to impact your life. That’s the trauma. You know, I could honestly say that for years, that was the trauma that I had. My sister was born and I was born and raised part of my life in Cuba, and I didn’t know back then. They don’t tell you, parents don’t tell you anything. And so I didn’t know my mom was pregnant. She just showed up with this little bundle of hair and I was like, OK, cute, take her back, you know, because I was the only girl for five years. And believe it or not, that’s something that impact my life. I want to say for 40 years until I started seeking coaching, I didn’t realize that that was a childhood trauma, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:09:50] A lot of times people are kind of looking for that big trauma that’s, you know, a movie trauma that is horrific, but it can be just a disruption or how you perceived a threat when you know it’s not. Other people might not see that whatever that incident was as a threat, like your family didn’t see it as, Oh, I’m probably traumatizing Alina here by bringing this kid in, you know, they’re like the happiest day ever. And now we have two girls. We’re like.

Alina Ugas: [00:10:20] Right? Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:24] So now when folks work with you or when women work with you, what does that look like? Does it? Is it always kind of one on one? Coaching is a group coaching. How do you kind of work with your clients?

Alina Ugas: [00:10:36] It’s one on one coaching. We have had coaching in the past, and we’re willing to do it again if there’s a need. Recently, there hasn’t been a need for a group coaching women really like that one on one that special attention. And one of the things that I do say that sets us a little apart from others other than our methodology that needs space method is the fact that they get two. For one, they get Michael, my business partner in myself. You know, they get Michael has a male perspective and then they get me as a female perspective. And then we work tenderly. We, you know, I’m a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, so we integrate a lot of other methodologies to be able to help the women achieve the goals that they’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:27] And then now you’re looking for other kind of folks out there to be trained in the way that you do your work so that they can be helping other people in wherever they are.

Alina Ugas: [00:11:38] Absolutely. We have an 85 percent success rate. Michael, my business partner, has interviewed over 12000 individuals that are suffering from behavior issues. You know, drug alcohol addiction, sexual addiction, addiction, whatever. So and that’s what we realize that ninety five percent of them, believe it or not, come from a single parent household. It doesn’t matter what education level or social level that you’re in, the ones that are in a higher economy. Their issue is that their parent ignores them either to death, a doctor or an attorney, whatnot. The father’s not paying one on one attention, so those kids are equally as ignored as the ones that are living in a single parent household that the mom is always working.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:35] And then you help folks kind of just deal with that and how to manage it better and how to overcome it.

Alina Ugas: [00:12:43] Right? We teach them how to, first of all, become aware we have a seven step system that we put them through. So one of the biggest things is we teach them. Awareness that they don’t have step by step and then bring some clear understanding of their behavior and how to change or shift their mindset.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:06] And then once they have that awareness, then you give them kind of the tools to empower them to move forward.

Alina Ugas: [00:13:12] Absolutely. So actually, our seven step system is part of the tools that we use. We just have that copy written. And that’s something that if they go through all seven steps, sometimes you know, it does take about six months to a year, 18 months, depending on what is the original trauma. They will have that for the rest of their life. What they do is every situation to look at it, you know, they need to understand it. They need to become aware. Then what is the solution? So we give them all those tools to work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:44] And if somebody wants to learn more about your system, your programs and your certifications, what is the best way to get a hold of you in your team?

Alina Ugas: [00:13:55] It could either email me. We’re all over social media. Our new branch of the business is to be 60 mindset coaching. Our business is final step international. Like I said, they could email me at olina at Final Step International. We’re all over social media, so we’re pretty easy to access.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:18] Well, congratulations on all the success you’re doing. Important work and we appreciate you.

Alina Ugas: [00:14:23] Thank you, Lee. I really appreciate you for taking the time and having me on your show.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:27] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Workplace MVP LIVE from SHRM 2021: Brandee Izquierdo, SAFE Project

by

Brandee Izquierdo SAFE Project
Minneapolis St. Paul Studio
Workplace MVP LIVE from SHRM 2021: Brandee Izquierdo, SAFE Project
Loading
/

Brandee Izquierdo SAFE Project

Workplace MVP LIVE from SHRM 2021:  Brandee Izquierdo, SAFE Project

About 10 years ago, Brandee Izquierdo was sitting in a jail cell, struggling with a substance abuse disorder. Brandee joined Workplace MVP host Jamie Gassmann to talk about her long-term recovery, her work at SAFE Project, addiction in the workplace, and how her organization battles the U.S. addiction epidemic.  Workplace MVP is underwritten and presented by R3 Continuum and produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®.

This show was originally broadcast live from the 2021 SHRM Annual Conference held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Brandee Izquierdo, Executive Director, SAFE Project

Brandee Izquierdo SAFE Project
Brandee Izquierdo, Executive Director, SAFE Project

Brandee Izquierdo’s drive and determination are built on making an impact within behavioral health, promoting long-term recovery, and ensuring communities are educated and have the tools necessary to combat the addiction epidemic. Before leading the SAFE Project team, Brandee worked for Faces & Voices of Recovery as the Director of Advocacy and Outreach. In addition, she served as the Associate Director of Special Populations with Behavioral Health System Baltimore and as the Director of Consumer Affairs for the state of Maryland’s Behavioral Health Administration. In these leadership roles, Brandee has led advocacy efforts to expand access to behavioral health services and recovery support services while providing technical assistance both nationally and internationally, empowering others within the recovery movement. Her ability to build relationships and bridge gaps within behavioral health, community services, and criminal justice have been a catalyst for global peer expansion.

As a subject matter expert with Center for Social Innovation, Policy Research Associates, SAMHSA, and the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC), Brandee has made vast contributions within behavioral health and within the recovery movement around public policy, outreach, and workforce development. Additionally, Brandee has made a significant impact within the judicial system, advocating for access to treatment and recovery and is the principal investigator of Maryland’s integrated-Forensic Peer Recovery Specialist curriculum.

Brandee’s passion for service work and knowledge of recovery support services extends beyond behavioral health. With a master’s degree in Public Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Government and Public Policy, Brandee is currently working on her Doctorate in Public Administration with a specialization in Administration Justice.

SAFE Project

SAFE Project was founded in November 2017 by Admiral James and Mary Winnefeld, following the loss of their 19-year old son Jonathan to an accidental opioid overdose. Read more about Jonathan Winnefeld.

The Winnefelds immediately channeled their grief into action, hoping to save more families from the pain of loss. Whether it was seeking treatment, getting answers, or understanding the nature of the disease – they knew there needed to be a different solution to help other families facing the same journey with substance use disorder.

They swiftly built our SAFE Project team of experts who strive for meaningful action through our programs, and lead efforts that are unifying, non-partisan and evidence-based. SAFE seeks meaningful metrics that strengthen our interdependent six lines of operation, and ultimately aim to achieve SAFE Communities, SAFE Campuses, SAFE Workplaces and SAFE Veterans across the nation.

About Workplace MVP

Every day, around the world, organizations of all sizes face disruptive events and situations. Within those workplaces are everyday heroes in human resources, risk management, security, business continuity, and the C-suite. They don’t call themselves heroes though. On the contrary, they simply show up every day, laboring for the well-being of employees in their care, readying the workplace for and planning responses to disruption. This show, Workplace MVP, confers on these heroes the designation they deserve, Workplace MVP (Most Valuable Professionals), and gives them the forum to tell their story. As you hear their experiences, you will learn first-hand, real life approaches to readying the workplace, responses to crisis situations, and overcoming challenges of disruption. Visit our show archive here.

Workplace MVP Host Jamie Gassmann

Jamie Gassmann, Host, “Workplace MVP”

In addition to serving as the host to the Workplace MVP podcast, Jamie Gassmann is the Director of Marketing at R3 Continuum (R3c). Collectively, she has more than fourteen years of marketing experience. Across her tenure, she has experience working in and with various industries including banking, real estate, retail, crisis management, insurance, business continuity, and more. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications with special interest in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master of Business Administration from Paseka School of Business, Minnesota State University.

R3 Continuum

R3 Continuum is a global leader in workplace behavioral health and security solutions. R3c helps ensure the psychological and physical safety of organizations and their people in today’s ever-changing and often unpredictable world. Through their continuum of tailored solutions, including evaluations, crisis response, executive optimization, protective services, and more, they help organizations maintain and cultivate a workplace of wellbeing so that their people can thrive. Learn more about R3c at www.r3c.com.

Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:03] Broadcasting live from the SHRM 2021 Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center, it’s time for Workplace MVP. Brought to you by R3 Continuum, a global leader in workplace behavioral health, crisis, and security solutions. Now, here’s your host.

Jamie Gassman: [00:00:21] Hey, everyone. Jamie Gassman here, your host of Workplace MVP, broadcasting again from our SHRM 2021 Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. And with me today I have Brandee Izquierdo.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:00:34] Very good.

Jamie Gassman: [00:00:35] Did I say that right? All right. And, she is the executive director for Safe Project. Welcome to the show.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:00:40] Thanks, Jamie. I appreciate it.

Jamie Gassman: [00:00:42] So, tell me a little bit about your career journey and how you kind of came to be as part of Safe Project.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:00:49] Wow. What a journey it’s been. I’d like to first start by saying I am the executive director of Safe Project. However, I’m also a person in long-term recovery. So, my journey has been, needless to say, it’s been very complex and I think right now, especially with this radio station and the behavioral health component of things, the conversation is extremely timely.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:01:12] I will tell you from my own personal journey and my own personal perspective, I work in the behavioral health field now, but that is not the trajectory of my career or where I thought it was going to be. During my active addiction stages or days, for example, I worked in the corporate world and, you know, what a timely conversation to have because I found myself, you know, really faced with a lot of challenges in terms of mental health and substance use. And quite often in the workplace environment, we don’t have those conversations as candidly as we need to.

Jamie Gassman: [00:01:46] Yeah. Absolutely. So, from your perspective, those conversations, you know, and we can probably get into that. But, like, how does an employer open up those environments? So, from somebody who’s actually gone through that, what would you’ve wanted at that time from your employer?

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:02:02] Yeah. I think safety, safety first, a safe space to actually have those conversations. I think quite often, especially in the world of human resources, there’s a lot of fear around mental health conversation, substance use conversation. We’re afraid of legal issues, maybe overstepping our bounds. If I would have had some of those conversations early in my career when I was in the corporate world, I may have recognized that I had a problem.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:02:33] You know, we talk about employee retention. We talk about job performance. We talk about all of that from a business standpoint. But we don’t talk about the why. Why are organizations having a hard time retaining employees? Why are organizations having a difficult time, you know, keeping employees or making sure their own time or their performances is up to par? And a lot of times, if you start to ask that why and create that safe space in a workplace environment, you’re more likely for individuals to come out and say, “Hey, I need help.”

Jamie Gassman: [00:03:10] Yeah. You got to make it comfortable for them to be able to – that they’re not going to be penalized or treated differently, right. Because when you talk a lot about stigma with mental health in the workplace, you know, from your perspective, was that some of what held you back, maybe from talking about it was just that fear as an individual?

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:03:28] Absolutely. I mean, even if you take a look at my family dynamic, for example, you know, there was a lot of substance use in my earlier years and my youth years and I didn’t want to be one of those people. And, it wasn’t until, you know, the disease of addiction is very cunning and baffling.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:03:45] So, we don’t know what’s going to hit us. And, once it does, you’re in those grips and then you become those people and you perpetuate the stigma and the shame, both internally and externally. So, you’re not as free or feel as free or liberated to actually talk about that.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:04:02] And, I think from an employer standpoint also, you know, quite often we don’t think it’s our problem. You always hear, especially with the addiction epidemic that’s going on now, we’re losing 93 American – 93,000 Americans, over 250 individuals a day, and we deem it as a public health crisis. But it’s more than that. It is definitely more than that. And, I think corporations and businesses need to invest in their people and in their communities, and this is one way to do it.

Jamie Gassman: [00:04:30] Yeah. Well, [inaudible] a corporate or business level, you know, really, that can be sometimes the first places that you see that. I mean, you hear it with, like, schools and children that’s their outlet and that’s usually where people can see that somebody needs help. You know, if an employer is more open to seeing some of that or has education around the signs, they might be able to help them in being able to give an extension to their employee of help and support that maybe they aren’t able to get that outside of the workplace.

Jamie Gassman: [00:04:59] Absolutely. I mean, we look at America and our work habits. You know, for me, for Safe Project, I really try to build a culture of safe space or a judgment-free zone. We’re with individuals in our workplace for more than eight hours a day. If we say that we typically work 40 hours, we’re probably lying. We’re probably working more than that. So, we’re around other individuals in terms of colleagues, professionals, vendors, you know, just to name a few. So, we really need to understand the signs and symptoms of addiction and invest in our employees rather than just doing away with them because, you know, perhaps that’s a liability. We talk a lot of stuff as far as, “Oh, I care about my employees.” But do you really care about your employees? And if you do, start talking the talk and walking the walk.

Jamie Gassman: [00:05:51] Absolutely. So, Safe Project, tell me a little bit about your nonprofit and the work that you do.

Jamie Gassman: [00:05:55] Sure. So, again, as I mentioned, Safe Project was founded by Admiral Winnefeld and his wife, Sandy, who lost their son to an accidental overdose in 2017, actually on a college campus. So, their heart is in the collegiate space, but more importantly the community space as well.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:06:13] So, we work with different stakeholders whether it be college campuses, communities, safe workplaces, and safe veterans. So, in working with those different stakeholders, we know that we need to create collaborative partnerships to ensure that we are providing the best resources, education, and knowledge around substance use and mental health challenges that we possibly can throughout the nation.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:06:38] And that’s what we do. We meet communities and our stakeholders where they are and start to move them in the right direction. I kind of call it the Monty Hall approach, kind of old school. You know, let’s pick door one, two, or three. Door number one, for example, may be something as simple as let’s provide some preventive measures. We’re here with Detarra, for example, as one of our partners in drug disposal bags, in-home drug disposal bags. Or, we may want to go a little bit deeper and say, hey, how can we start developing these initiatives in these programs in your workplaces, not only to encompass a holistic wellness approach but also tackle, you know, the stigma associated with addiction and mental health.

Jamie Gassman: [00:07:19] Yeah. And I’ve heard that from some statistics that, you know, with people being home over this last year, substance abuse, addictions are on the rise because they’re doing it at home and there’s nobody to be able to, kind of, catch some of that stuff. Has your work increased, or what kinds of things have you guys put into place in kind of response to that?

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:07:43] Absolutely. It has increased. We are really taking off. We launched our Safe Workplaces initiative not too long ago, probably about six months ago. It’s been in development for a little bit over a year. But when COVID hit, what we’ve realized is that we need to start communicating with individuals because you can’t compartmentalize. It’s not your daily routine where you go to work, you work in an environment, and then you come home. You can really, you know, move back and forth in the substance use arena as far as your use is concerned and hide it very well.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:08:17] But there are also a lot of different aspects of mental health. You’re dealing with being a mom, perhaps a teacher, trying to keep your kids together, yourself together, and there’s no clear disconnect when it comes to work and your home environment.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:08:34] So, we’re seeing a lot in terms of mental health on the rise – people – but I’m also seeing some good stuff too. I’m seeing telehealth coming into play. I’m seeing individual organizations and businesses, really, saying, “Hey, how do we maintain the health and well-being of our employees?” But it’s pretty interesting. We can lead quite often with the mental health side of things. People are a little more accepting of that. They’re not as accepting of the substance use side. So, I think we need to really shine some light on that and that it is happening and it affects everyone.

Jamie Gassman: [00:09:08] Yeah. So, we’re here at SHRM, obviously an HR-focused work conference. If you were going to give advice to these H.R. leaders that are here at this conference from your own personal perspective, what would you want to leave them with?

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:09:22] I think I’d want to leave them with invest in your employees, not only from a work performance perspective but also from a well-being perspective. Start having those conversations and start to build a culture that creates judgment-free safe zones. You know, again, we’re saying that we can’t retain employees. We need to start investing in them as people. We don’t stop at the door and drop our bags off when we’re talking about our problems or issues or challenges in our home life. So, we need to start recognizing that and really just invest in our people and kind of get back to old school, you know. Care.

Jamie Gassman: [00:10:03] Yeah. Just care. Awesome. And creating that environment of safety.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:10:06] Right.

Jamie Gassman: [00:10:07] Very cool. Well, thank you so much for joining us. If somebody wanted to get in touch with you or get more information about Safe Project and the work that you’re doing, how would they go about doing that?

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:10:16] Sure. They can visit us on our website at www.safeproject.us and I’m all about emailing me directly, which is brandee, B-R-A-N-D-E-E, @safeproject.us.

Jamie Gassman: [00:10:29] Wonderful. Well, thanks again, Brandee, for joining us. Thanks for sharing your story. Thank you for providing an opportunity for H.R. leaders to kind of hear another perspective and also kind of be more aware of ways that they can help support their employees that maybe are dealing with some substance abuse. Thanks for joining us.

Brandee Izquierdo: [00:10:45] Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

 

Scott and Jordan Arogeti With Arogeti Endeavors

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Scott and Jordan Arogeti With Arogeti Endeavors
Loading
/

Arogeti Endeavors is a general startup advisory and angel investment practice. The firm’s partners, Scott Arogeti and Jordan Arogeti, have a collective 25 years of experience, including tenures with six high-profile, fast-growing tech startups in Atlanta, including Salesloft, STORD, Rubicon Global, PlayOn! Sports, Voxie, and more.

Their background also includes time at IMG, one of the largest sports-marketing firms in the world; AIPAC, one of the most effective public affairs/lobbying organizations in the nation; and The White House Office of Public Liaison under President George W. Bush.

Follow Arogeti Endeavors on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Arogeti Endeavors’ core values or mission
  • Charles Krauthammer as a part of the inspiration behind Arogeti Endeavors

About Our Sponsor

OnPay’sOnPay-Dots payroll services and HR software give you more time to focus on what’s most important. Rated “Excellent” by PC Magazine, we make it easy to pay employees fast, we automate all payroll taxes, and we even keep all your HR and benefits organized and compliant.

Our award-winning customer service includes an accuracy guarantee, deep integrations with popular accounting software, and we’ll even enter all your employee information for you — whether you have five employees or 500. Take a closer look to see all the ways we can save you time and money in the back office.

Follow OnPay on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio brought to you by on pay Atlanta’s new standard in payroll. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor on pay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories today on the Atlanta Business Radio. We have Scott and Jordan Arogeti with Arogeti endeavors. Welcome.

Scott Arogeti: [00:00:42] Thank you. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, before we get too far into things, tell us about Erghezi endeavors. How are you serving, folks?

Scott Arogeti: [00:00:48] Yeah. Arrogating Endeavors is a startup advisory and angel investment shop. Jordan and I started this a little bit a few months after the pandemic began to kind of emerge, and our goal is to help founders and their teams really start and build and scale high growth startups.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:07] So now what has got you interested in that kind of angel kind of the angel part of the lifecycle of a startup?

Jordan Arogeti: [00:01:16] So both Scott and I caught the startup bug, so we’ve been married for almost six years, and each of us has worked at startups myself. I’ve been at Salesforce for close to six years. Scott has worked for some of the most well-known companies or startups here in Atlanta, stored Rubicon, Vox to name a few, and we became very inspired by the energy and all the skills necessary to build great companies. So we thought, Well, why don’t we kind of reverse engineer the idea of working for a startup and instead find a new vehicle and that that vehicle is through angel investing and then adding our our consultation and guidance on top of that?

Lee Kantor: [00:01:59] So now how are you kind of finding your place in the landscape when it comes to, you know, an incubator versus accelerator versus, you know, the ATC versus, you know, co-working spaces, all the variety of different resources that’s part of the startup ecosystem.

Scott Arogeti: [00:02:17] Yeah, it’s a great question. I mean, I think our goal is simply to get involved and help out wherever we can. We were familiar with a lot of the folks around town that work at different incubators and programs and certainly at ATV and at DC and a lot of our companies that we have that I know even Jordan, where she worked at sales lot. They originally came out of ATV. A few other companies that we’ve invested in have also come out of that at DC. So it’s certainly not really either or in our mind, it’s all about trying to get involved and help founders however we can. Our view is that founders are really are best served by establishing a list of really a group of investors and angels and advisors that have not only C-suite experience, but also experience up and down the org chart and also have the ability and the bandwidth to get involved in the early stages and help and build our view. Having worked at really early stage companies is that, you know, the first 10 20 customers for 10 20 hires really establishing those those first processes and systems are so crucial to lay the foundation for a company’s growth. So we actually look to kind of collaborate with not only the founders, but they have other investors and advisors. We also like to work with them to to kind of see what’s best for this particular business and how we can all help kind of in the same direction.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:33] So now how are you curating your startups that you work with? Like what is the makeup of a good startup to work with your team?

Jordan Arogeti: [00:03:44] You know, we don’t really have a tried and true formula. I would say pipeline for us has been the easiest part of our journey given our our networks and our backgrounds with the companies that we’ve been affiliated with. So for us, we’re looking for opportunities that are looking at trends in today’s world. You know, remote is a trend. Diversity is a trend. But we’re also looking for companies that we just think are designed to do good and looking for founders that we we enjoy working with. And that’s kind of the beauty of the model is that we can decide what we feel is is a good opportunity and evaluating what that total addressable market looks like. Today we have a variety of endeavors and they they don’t really all look the same. Some of them are be to be tech SAS and some of them are. Some of them are more a sustainability play or we even have a government tech company. Exactly. So there’s really no one kind of ideal endeavor for us. It’s more of how can we potentially add value and how does our background and our networks potentially complement what they’re trying to accomplish? And do we enjoy working with these people and talking to them on a daily and weekly basis?

Lee Kantor: [00:04:56] Where do they have to be at in order to have conversation with you? Can they just have an idea on a napkin and and talk to you and get funded? Or is it something they have to have, you know, at least a minimum viable product, they have to have a customer?

Scott Arogeti: [00:05:12] Yeah, it’s a good question. I think that there isn’t there isn’t a strict formula for it. Kind of, as Jordan alluded to, our sense is that for us to get involved and precede our seed round, we want there to be a little bit of traction. But in addition to the six endeavors that we’ve kind of we’ve developed an equity stake in, I’d say there’s probably a dozen or two more that we’ve tried to help out that are probably a little bit earlier in their journey. So that help even in an informal way. You can be introductions. It can be kind of some advice on on sales strategies or messaging or positioning. And then depending on kind of how how they evolve and how things go, then maybe we get involved as they get to a certain point in the future. So, you know, we’ve we’ve we’ve gotten involved in companies and introduce them to their first customer. I think that it’s it’s for most companies when you when you look to raise a seed round, you already have a little bit of initial traction. So I don’t think that we’ve put money in to a company that hasn’t at least gotten that. But we’ve invested in some companies that already have a 15 to 20 employees and other ones that are that are at this point are purely the co-founders. So there really isn’t one formula that we have to go with. It’s more a question of do we, as Jordan said, do we do we believe in the mission? Do we like the founders and their team? Do we think that we can add value? And if so, do we have the capacity to help? If the answers are all, yes, then we’ll look to get involved.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:36] So when you’re saying add value, how are you defining that value?

Scott Arogeti: [00:06:40] Yeah, there’s a lot different ways it takes shape. It’s one of the main ones. It’s sales advice and strategy that Jordan and I have backgrounds in sales. Jordan is still at sales and she works at sales. Full time helps with this and decide this is kind of my full time thing. So its sales strategy, its messaging and positioning advice, it’s helping with employee onboarding and recruiting and hiring practices. We have experience in that. It’s it really can be a lot different things. There’s a lot of different introductions to employees, to customers, to advisors, potential investors for a number of our investors, a number of our endeavors. We’ve been able to introduce them to others in our network that have invested alongside us. So it really kind of runs the gamut. It kind of depends on what where the startup is and what their needs are and how those needs kind of mature over time. But yeah, it’s really kind of varies. I mean, as as an example, yesterday, I think I spoke with four of our six and divers at different points throughout the day and helping them with very different challenges that they’re having all very normal challenges. But we kind of meet them where they are and kind of look to be seen from them as like an extension of the team almost.

Jordan Arogeti: [00:07:54] And I think what’s unique is while we certainly talk to the CEOs and founders, most often we also get involved with folks that are kind of in the job every day. So VP level is director levels to really understand the more micro level and the more minutia the day to day like what are they really running into beyond the strategy? And that’s where we’re really we think that it’s a unique opportunity for for endeavors to take advantage of because we’re willing to be, to Scott’s point, a bit more of an extension of their team versus just checking in, asking for updates.

Scott Arogeti: [00:08:29] Our goal is really to be active and and not simply to cut a check and then to ask for a report every month or quarter.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:38] Now, can you share some advice for that startup founder that isn’t on your radar yet? What are some of the things they should be doing in order to get on your radar or get on the radar of people like you?

Scott Arogeti: [00:08:54] Yeah, I’m in my view, I think all start ups. I think the most important thing is just to do an extensive amount of customer discovery. I think I think I think too often in startups these days, it’s it’s there’s companies that can be built simply to raise money as opposed to looking to find your customers first. I think the backbone of every company is happy customers. So if you have happy customers, if you have a product that solves a real pain point, that’s the most important thing as far as getting in touch with us or other people like us. I think there’s a there’s a wonderful kind of trend developing in Atlanta of the startup ecosystem with different investors and advisors that are kind of offering the services and their resources more for for seed and even a precedes. So I think if you if you if you have enough happy customers and you’re beginning to make some noise in the market, I think either either you’ll find people like us or people like us, I will find you. As you mentioned earlier, there’s a wonderful amount of resources from ATC to ATV to pitch competitions and know that venture Atlanta’s. It’s coming up soon. So there’s a lot of resources out there for people to begin to make some noise once they develop a following with the first. And most important thing is to find to find some customers who want your solution to the problems that they’re experiencing and are willing to pay for it.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:13] Now, can you share the story about Charles Krauthammer and how he influenced maybe at least the genesis of the idea or kind of moved you to get moving on this idea?

Scott Arogeti: [00:10:27] Yeah, of course. So George and I both have kind of been a long time fans of it. I remember reading his columns every week for a number of years and seeing them on TV. And his last piece that he wrote before he passed away. I believe it was in June of 18. It really struck a chord with both of us, though the final paragraph in that column where he essentially announced that he had a terminal cancer and this would be the last time that he would he would be able to talk to his readers. It was a very heavy piece, a very poignant piece, but he ended it by by, by thanking his readers, his column, his readers, his colleagues, his bosses. And he said, You know, it was a wonderful life. I’ll leave with no regrets. It was filled with the great loves and endeavors that make life worth living. I’m sad to go, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived, the life that I intended, and that last line really, really hit home with us. Live the life that you intended. So we in March 30th of last year, two weeks into the pandemic, we were blessed with our second child in 18 months, a beautiful baby girl. And as everyone remembers, that time period was it was pretty crazy.

Scott Arogeti: [00:11:33] It was pretty intense. So for us to come home and really in quarantine with 18 month old son and a newborn daughter with all the anxiety of not knowing if we’d gotten sick at the hospital of our parents and grandparents and friends and family, there were so many unknowns at that point. Kind of. Our first goal was just to kind of make sure everyone stayed healthy and to kind of figure out what life would look like after we got through April may get a little bit easier. June got a little bit easier and we kind of approached this fork in the road at the end of June, where Jordan was going back to work after her maternity leave from maternity leave was over at sales loft and I had to decide what I wanted to do. I had started ahead. Head of sales I had started up in town called Boxee about a month before the pandemic emerged and things were going well. But you know, that was the intensity of a ahead of sales role with two young kids at home in a pandemic. We made the decision that it was probably best for our family, for me to resign for that role, to be able to provide some stability at home and to allow Jordan to focus on really maximizing her chapter at sales loft.

Scott Arogeti: [00:12:41] So when we kind of started to figure out what we would do next and how I would spend the bandwidth that I had, that was kind of shaky, but was beginning to grow more as our kids started to sleep more and as daycare began to kind of become an option again as fall approached. This notion of living the life that you intend really kind of came back to the forefront. So we kind of had to reset and begin to map out what is it that we wanted to do? What did we enjoy doing and what could we do? So this idea of getting involved in startups was appealing. But the notion, instead of just working at one company full time of taking a bit of a different approach of saying, We have our skills, we have a little bit of resources. What if we tried something different? Would it be try to package our network, our skill, set our experiences and help companies from the position, not as an employee, but as a angel investor? And that’s kind of what led us to where we are now

Lee Kantor: [00:13:37] And then what size investments are you typically doing?

Scott Arogeti: [00:13:41] Predominantly at this point, it’s it’s low five figures. We aren’t we don’t have the capacity to be a leading any rounds. So it’s almost like we get involved around the seed round, maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later, and it kind of helped them grow and mature and evolve. And then as they get to their arounds and their bigger rounds and they bring in more institutional money, we kind of see our role as kind of beginning to kind of fade a fade more into the background where we’re still available, we’re still around as a resource, but at that point have have new and significantly more kind of experienced investors at that stage that can kind of help them along with their journey. You know, we’re still very early in figuring out what area getting Davids will be long term. We look to have more endeavors. We’re actually eight months into building our own company and have a few of the core’s endeavors that we’re looking at really kind of ramp up our involvement and which is different nonprofits and causes that are near and dear to our heart. But the first year and it’s just been at these six endeavors.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:46] And then how much bandwidth do you have? How big do you think this can get?

Scott Arogeti: [00:14:51] It’s a good question, well, we’ll see. We’ll see how, how these endeavors, how they how they evolve. I mean, there is a bit of there is a bit of a risk in this. I mean, it’s it’s an illiquid investment. And if in five to six years, these companies all don’t, I don’t make it, then you know, there’ll be some egg on our face. We’ll have to figure out what happens next. But we kind of like that that that challenge and we kind of have we have confidence in in ourselves and our ability to to help to pick companies that have potential and to do whatever we can to help them achieve that potential.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:24] Now any advice for people thinking about getting into the angel business like you are, what are some do’s and don’ts that you’ve learned in this short time? You’ve been involved in it?

Jordan Arogeti: [00:15:35] Oh, gosh, there’s a line, there’s a lot that we’ve learned. I mean, I think the first thing and then Scott will want to chime in here. I think you have to have you have to know what makes you unique. You have to have a differentiator, much like companies that much like the companies we talk to every day. They know what’s their differentiator and why they’re appealing to customers and how they create authentic demand. You know, today there’s no shortage of money available to companies. So to be an angel. I think you have to find like what that unique quality is in you, that that makes your money more valuable to to a to a founder than than somebody else. So for us, it’s it’s that that idea of being very active and being very focused on things like sales, like messaging, like onboarding, for recruiting internally. So really knowing kind of what that skill set is, I think that’s really, really imperative. Obviously, you have to have the cash to make it happen, but you also have to have some degree of focus on why you’re more appealing to a founder than somebody else.

Scott Arogeti: [00:16:36] Yeah, one thing I’d add to that is our in, our in our in our approach. It really is all about relationships. So I’ll just when everyone that we talk to, even if they’re in a formal endeavor or not just trying to be helpful however we can and trying to to to add value. So you know, it’s it’s very much a long game play. We’re both from Atlanta. We plan to be here the rest of our life. So playing a role in the story of this city’s. Technology market and really the entire ecosystem. Our goal is just to be helpful and to see how things go. So you never know where people will will will go as as their journey continues to trying to be helpful wherever possible. And we’ll see what happens.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:23] Well, I think it’s a great time to be a startup in Atlanta as opposed to, you know, maybe 15, 20 years ago. This is a totally different ecosystem that we have now. It’s pretty robust.

Scott Arogeti: [00:17:34] Yeah, we agree. It’s it’s fun. It’s exciting. There’s a whole lot happening. And through this unique structure, it really allows us to kind of maximize what we believe to be our strengths and to kind of get involved with a number of different companies in different industries that Jordan mentioned. We have a part of our portfolio. One of one of our companies is in Government Act. One is the procurement platform, one is B2B software. One is insisting it’s really it’s it’s it’s helping to to solve the issue of food insecurity through through a logistics and sustainability. I mean, it’s it’s really exciting to be able to kind of have our hands in a lot of different of different companies and industries.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:15] And I would imagine it’s pretty rewarding in that you’re getting to pick and choose what adventure you want to go on as long as they align with your core values and mission.

Jordan Arogeti: [00:18:23] So it’s certainly I mean, for us, you know, we we’ve both worked at companies some some very, very good, some some that we have different challenges. And I think for me, in my experience at sales life, I know the value of core values and and what that really means and how to really live them. So for us, when we created our giddy endeavors, it was very important that we knew what our core values were. So for us, it’s it’s all about intentionality, authenticity and relationships. And go

Scott Arogeti: [00:18:55] Ahead. Yeah, I was going to say I’ve I’ve worked in five different startups in this city and for different industries, at some companies that were very big and some that were very small. I was the first an employee at three different times and I’ve worn a different hat at those companies. So the idea of kind of having some, some some flexibility in the industries that you work in isn’t new to me, but it’s exciting to be able to kind of do all those things in a way at once. So yeah, there’s a whole lot happening here. It’s fun to to be able to get involved and help. And I’d say the most rewarding thing is to get the positive feedback from our founders and from their teams that we’re really adding value and that they’re the insights that we bring to the table and the connections that we make, introductions that we make that they are additive, they are delivering whether they’re new employees, new customers, new investors, new partners or vendors. I think that feedback, that validation has been the best part thus far for me. Make an introduction from from to between the founder and so on our network and that person ends up getting hired. That feels great. Make an introduction to someone and it ends up closing a new deal or having an investor see what we see and and choose to invest in the company. That’s that’s a really good feeling for us.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:10] Well, congratulations on all the success. What do you need more of? How can we help?

Scott Arogeti: [00:20:17] Honestly, I think we’re in a good place right now. We will want to give some more exposure to our companies. I mean, I think that we’re proud of our portfolio. The government tech platform by the name of the clarity value is doing. Big things are going to be announcing their seed round. I think in the not-too-distant future, they’ve already signed a lot of deals around the country. So it’s it’s a platform that’s looking to really help make sure that any government agency and entity has the ability to better. It’s almost like if you hear the term a lot now, employee experience and customer experience, they’re focused on the constituent experience. So if you want to, whether it’s getting a new driver’s license or a new permit for any kind of any, any interaction you have with the government, their role, their goal is to make it easier and less frustrating. So we’re proud of what they’re doing. Q in town, see you is doing. It’s doing a wonderful things and the B2B assessed space. We’re proud to be a minority investor in GoodRx and pro photo. I mean, the companies are all doing very well. They’re very early. But as they continue to grow and scale and exposure, we can kind of help deliver to them is fantastic.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:28] Good stuff. Well, if somebody wants to connect with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website arrogating endeavors?

Jordan Arogeti: [00:21:35] And so I would encourage them to reach out to us on LinkedIn. They can or are quite active there as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:41] And that’s r.o get-I endeavors. Correct. Correct. Well, Scott and Jordan, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you. Thank you. All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see, y’all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Christopher Klesh With Lifetime Leisure Experienced

by

ChristopherKlesh
Coach The Coach
Christopher Klesh With Lifetime Leisure Experienced
Loading
/

ChristopherKleshWhen Christopher Klesh left his successful 31-year marketing career with AT&T behind, he became a master of traveling in luxury for pennies on the dollar. He is the President of Lifetime Leisure Experienced.

Coach Chris is a retired corporate executive who loves to travel and stay at highly desirable vacation resorts with national renown for quality, service, and amenities. He’s a leading expert on vacation ownership systems, knowing the best travel deals available and utilizing that knowledge for maximum customer benefit.

Since 2002, he’s guided hundreds of families around the world to do the same. In the aftermath of the global pandemic, demand for his travel tips has never been stronger as families want to make memories together after so many months apart.

Most often we think the cost of these dream vacations is way beyond our wildest imaginations and most daunting, way beyond our budget. Nine times out of ten it is out of our budget, but Coach Chris can teach you INSIDER TIPS and TRICKS that will show you, amaze you, and get you going on the vacation you SO DESERVE.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Top 3 Travel Tips for families to save maximum $$$$$ on their travels
  • Key safety concerns for travel in the “new normal travel environment
  • The best resources, Travel Blogs etc. to gain the most current and relevant value for travel deals
  • The Corporate Wellness, Improved Health, Reduced Stress and Burnout benefits of Travel & Leisure
  • How to plan for that dream vacation without breaking the bank

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 Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to BRXAmbassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have coach Chris with Lifetime Leisure experienced welcome coach.

Chris Klesh: [00:00:44] Yeah, it’s great to be here with you, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about lifetime leisure experience. How you serve in, folks.

Chris Klesh: [00:00:52] Well, we service them because we empower the inside secrets to safe now with everybody concerned about safety with the COVID situation, safe luxury travel for just pennies on the dollar which bring families together so their memories lasts forever. That’s what I’m all about. It’s it’s all about the value of travel. Why people should travel. We travel not to escape life, but for life, not to escape us, but how to afford it, really, for pennies on the dollar.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] So now you position yourself as a travel coach. Can you share a little maybe the difference between a travel coach and maybe a travel agent?

Chris Klesh: [00:01:32] Yeah, I’d love to. Basically, I’m not a travel agent. I don’t book your airfares. What I show you is the potential, the resources. In other words, how you go about flying for free, different alternatives in travel and leisure. The importance, the the resources, the websites to how to go about the strategy. In other words, I’m known as a coach. The Game Plan, The X’s and O’s, the inside secrets, the actual place, how to live this lifestyle of privilege and travel and leisure for just pennies on the dollar. Make it affordable for your family and friends.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:08] So how did you get into this line of work? How did you kind of unlock all these tips and tricks?

Chris Klesh: [00:02:15] Well, I’ve always loved travel ever since 12 years old. I’m seventy three now and I’ve been traveling my whole life, and I was very blessed at an early age to travel with my family all over Europe. And as an athlete, I played golf football. I did traveling, so I had to travel blog bug. I’m cultural, I’m a conductor, so I used to go to a lot of Broadway shows. And so I’ve always liked seeing different cultures, different climates, different atmospheres and educational purposes. And then when I retired as an corporate executive with AT&T, I got into the speaking business. People wanted to know, How do you travel all these places? You’re not Donald Trump and and go all around the world. And so I turned it into a basically a business to help other people share the knowledge with them. It’s all about knowing the insights. Like I said, the inside secrets, the resources, the loopholes. How about going about doing it? I did it for myself, and now what I do is a company lifetime leisure experiences. I’m a professional speaker, coach, consultant, podcast guests like we’re doing here, a media interview and show other people that it’s possible that you don’t have to be rich to leverage if you’re well-educated, if you know the inside secrets and you know the loopholes. So it’s the speaker and my professional career. I just transition to speaking about travel and leisure and how to get the deals.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:48] Now, when did you kind of have that moment where you were like, You know what? I don’t have to pay rate card. There’s there’s better deals out there. When did that kind of light bulb go off and go, Hey, if I’m getting a deal here, maybe I can get a deal there? And then it just kept expanding. So how did that kind of come about?

Chris Klesh: [00:04:08] I think it was a transitional experiences. I’ve always been a guy my whole life. It always looked for a deal on everything or, you know, with a student ID. How do I go to shows for free when I was in the military, used my military discounts, et cetera? So I’ve all this one, one of those guys consumer that likes to leverage without being rich. So it was it’s innate to me. And then when I got into the travel thing, I learned, as you start going, traveling a little bit, I interviewed concierges. I read all the travel blogs, I read travel books, et cetera. I’ve interviewed tourists themselves, and so it’s just acquiring knowledge. It becomes a game. It’s like a drug to me. How do I get the best deal there? And I haven’t. For instance, I haven’t paid for a flight in the last 14 or 15 years, and I’m not married to a flight attendant. So, you know, it comes in handy.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:03] So now are you saying there’s a way for anybody who’s listening to not pay for their next flight?

Chris Klesh: [00:05:10] That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:12] So there are certain things that, you know, that can help somebody not pay for their next flight.

Chris Klesh: [00:05:17] Yeah, that’s correct. When we talk about travel and leisure now, the value of it, we all know the value of travel and leisure. You know, especially after this COVID situation, family has been cooped up for eight. Months they have weddings, they have graduations, the typical family vacation. It’s for corporate wellness, reduce stress. Reduce burnout. Families need to vacation, but the high expenses of it now. You touched on something. How do people fly for free? Well, here’s how. Every airline, every single one, whether you united your American, your delta, your Hawaiian, your southwest is associated with a bank that has its own credit card. Some airlines have two or three credit cards. For instance, Delta is associated with American Express, and there’s sign up bonuses where you spend a minimum amount, let’s say 2000. Let’s say with Delta now has a promotion with American Express, you get a gold credit card, you spend 2000 on your every day expenses, for instance, myself, I just charge my homeowner’s insurance and I wound up with thousand Delta SkyMiles. You leverage that with your spouse. She gets 70000 miles. If you have a business, you get a business credit card, another 70000 miles. There’s even a credit card out there that I show my clients. With American Airlines, these deals change weekly daily, you got to stay on top of it, that’s why you have somebody like me that reads all the blogs because they change where you could buy a cup of coffee for a pack of gum, make one purchase now on an American Airlines bank sponsored credit card and get sixty thousand American airline Advantage Miles.

Chris Klesh: [00:07:09] So you buy a pack of gum, your wife buys a cup of coffee and her name if you have a credit score. Seven hundred. That’s one hundred and twenty thousand American airline miles. That’s enough to go to Europe twice roundtrip or like four or five destinations in the United States. So it’s a game. Well, it’s pretty much known as travel hacking. A lot of people are into this game. It’s a loophole game. So now every airline has a bank, has a credit card. You want to select the airline that you fly most frequently with. That gets you to your desired destination, vacation destination or business destination or family destination. And you want to subscribe to their credit card and get the sign up bonus, which is generally 60 or 70 thousand miles. And some lot of these credit cards, you got to spend two or $3000 over a three or four month period. But there are some, like the one I mentioned with American Airlines. You buy a cup of coffee, one purchase. The cards free, by the way, no initiation charge. And you’re going to get. That’s the equivalent of $1000 for buying a, you know, these it’s all out there. These are loopholes, it’s available. That’s what I I speak about to my clients

Lee Kantor: [00:08:29] Now is there is a is it a good strategy to kind of have one airline in one hotel so you build up kind of a relationship and and points at those specific ones? Or is it better to just kind of find the best deal and jump on it, whatever it is?

Chris Klesh: [00:08:49] Well, that’s an excellent question. It all depends with hotel chains now the major ones, Bonvoy is now Marriott Rewards Marriott Merge with Starwood West, and it’s one brand. I mean, it covers 20 different from courtyards to Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, et cetera. I would say to build up loyalty with one hotel chain like I have done with Marriott, I’m at their highest level titanium platinum elite and it gets you all sorts of benefits. I’m upgraded to suites in New York overlooking Central Park. Concierge lounges, free breakfast, free, happy hour, late checkout, four o’clock, et cetera. So if you travel a lot, I would stick with one hotel chain when it comes to airlines. It’s a lot tougher to get that loyalty. Where are you going to get upgraded? So I would look for the best rate, the best credit card promotion because different airlines fly different places. And in other words, I use myself as an example. I live in Palm Beach Area Florida, but I have a place in Lake Tahoe and I’m a ski bum in the winter. So I ski in Vail. So I know American Airlines gets me to Reno, it gets me to Vail. So obviously I subscribe to the credit cards with American Airlines that let’s allows me to fly for free. I also travel to New York pre-COVID because I go to about 20 Broadway shows a year, and I know from just a little research that JetBlue and Delta fly nonstop from West Palm Beach to New York.

Chris Klesh: [00:10:24] So I entertain their credit cards and I fly free on them back and forth to New York. So each family, it’s a personal decision. Figure out where you like to travel to or your family reunions are or business destinations and get that loyalty program. But when it comes to hotels, I try to build up loyalty with one of the top chains and I recommend personally Marriott. It’s the Bonvoy program. In other words, you could get their credit card to again, what I mentioned three flights. If you get the associated credit cards with Chase Bank or American Express for the hotel chains like Marriott has Bonvoy, you spend X amount of dollars, you know your normal expenses, whether it be utility, insurance, et cetera. You’re going to get maybe one hundred thousand hotel points and that’s the equivalent of two or three nights, etc. And you’re going to build up loyalty that way. That will enable you to get upgraded to concierge lounges, late checkouts at four o’clock, et cetera. So there is a definite advantage to the loyalty programs.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:40] Now, when somebody is working with you, are they coming to you with a kind of a vacation in mind and they’re saying, Hey Chris, can you help me just kind of wring out the most value for this specific thing? Or is this something that they’re like, Look, I’m I’m at this stage of my life. I want to travel, you know, four times a year, and I’m going to work out a game plan with you to so I can get the most bang for my buck, for my travel, you know, for the next several years.

Chris Klesh: [00:12:08] Yeah, another excellent question. Yeah, I’m a professional speaker. Most of my seminars, I talk about the general benefits to travel and leisure and a few basic tips to save them fortunes, which I’ll get into another tip in a minute. But travel is so individualistic, some people like to go on cruises. Other people want to go on to Europe, other people play golf, other people ski, other people want to sit on the beach in Maui or Aruba. It’s some people travel with eight people their family, their kids, their grandkids, other people are solo travelers or just couples, etc. So what I try to do with my business is I tailor a program after they tell me what their goals are, where they want to travel, because everybody’s different. I know I’m a skier. I like culture. Other people might like camping or cruises or going to European museums, etc. So it’s very individual and it’s very individual. So the the solutions for those individuals change depending on what? They want to do, but there’s a solution for everybody out there in travel. The bottom line is, and this is one of my mantras, we travel not to escape life.

Chris Klesh: [00:13:24] But for life not to escape us, for this, to escape us, after all, it’s not the years in your life, but it’s the life in those years that matter and how important travel and leisure is to health, wellness, reduce burnout, et cetera relationships. And the key is, what’s the problem? People can’t afford it. It’s expensive going to four and five star hotels, getting on a flight expensive. So I created this business really for myself to show people again another one of my mantras that you don’t have to be rich to leverage. Everybody needs an advisor. You go to a doctor for medical advice, you go to your stockbroker or financial advisor for financial advice. And people would come to me as their travel coach, as an advisor. The point I’m in the right direction, they give them the right tools, things to think about, et cetera, how they can, like I say, right, it’s right on my business card. We look forward to servicing your dreams. We bring families together so their memories can last forever without breaking the bank. Now, I hope that answers your question.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:29] Well, I’m just trying to get into the logistics of how this actually works. If I’m like, say, my family have been talking for years, this is one of those things I’m sure every family does us. Wouldn’t it be great if we went to blank and in our case we’re looking at? Wouldn’t it be great if we went into some around the world trip where it was like a trip where we visit, you know, very strategic countries and places that we’re interested in going in? And I call you up. Hey, Chris, this is what we’d like to do in the next whatever year or 18 months, then do you help us say, OK, if you want to do this and go to these whatever 10 countries or 20 countries, this is how to do that. This is how you get the best flight here. This is give you the tactics.

Chris Klesh: [00:15:09] You’re just like a coach. I’m a coach. You can see travel coach, just like a football coach says we give you the plays, the action steps, the resources. How about going to this? How about thinking what airline goes weather, what season to go? What are the the I show people the 10 top blogs because this travel situation changes. I mean, with COVID now and quarantines and rules and regulations, what’s open, what’s not open? It’s a daily test to find out where you want to go, what you want to do, etc. So I try to guide people in the right way. Normally before COVID, I was giving, you know, 20 30 talks a year. People would hire me. I’m also an entertainer, I’m a comedian. So basically to show them the value of travel, not just the value, but again, some of these tips that they don’t have to pay to fly. And then if they wanted to work with me one on one, yes, I would work with somebody one on one to tailor a program, not as a travel agent now, but give them the resources, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:16:16] So you would give us the game plan. Ok, the first thing you want to do is like, OK, if you’re going to this country, think about fall or if you’re going over here, the best deal is going to be in winter, right?

Chris Klesh: [00:16:27] But the two biggest expenses, it all boils down to 80 or 90 percent of the expenses of travel revolve around airfares. Number one. And accommodation, so if we could jump ahead because I’ve done a lot of these interviews, the number two thing we talked about airfares where there’s every airline has an associated credit card. If you sign up for their their credit card, you’re going to get the initial bonus 60 70 thousand miles. You leverage that with your spouse or your grown children or your business, and you wind up flying for free the way I do. The other tip I give people, which is so important, is accommodations. Now everybody thinks when they travel, hotels, hotels, hotels, resorts, I tell people in my talks, in my experience, forget the word hotel. Strike it for your vocabulary. For your typical family vacation. Well, I’m talking five, seven nights, etc. Why? Because Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Westin, Disney, Starwood, Wyndham, even the Ritz-Carlton, they all have the vacation club products. Such as timeshares, where instead of staying in a hotel, you could get on the internet, use this resource for your listeners, read Wycombe and rent from an owner a timeshare. Why pay for a hotel room, 400 square feet, etc. when you could get two bedrooms or three bedrooms with a full kitchen, a washer dryer, underground parking, free health club, free WiFi for a third? The price of a hotel room? It’s possible, and let’s use me as an example.

Chris Klesh: [00:18:18] So I mentioned before I’m an active skier. I’m not rich. I go to Vail for two months, an average hotel room in Vail, Colorado. We’re talking about luxury now. A Marriott. The Marriott and Vail during the ski season goes for about seven hundred a night. Oh, and another 50 bucks to park your car. And yet on tax, you’re talking eight hundred a night for a nice room. Typically a nice four star resort where you could get on the internet. You don’t have to own a timeshare if they call in vacation clubs now from Marriott. And go on the internet and from an owner, rent, a two bedroom unit that sleeps eight, now sleeps eight three flat screen TVs, fireplace washer dryer, free underground parking, a clubhouse with an indoor outdoor pool, sauna, steam room, free transportation to the ski slopes, same beds that are in the Marriott Hotel. They managed the resort. And you’re going to pay to two or three hundred a night. Translation, you’re going to pay one third the price. Get triple the space and triple the amenities. It’s all possible to do so when your listeners are thinking about vacations. Forget hotels or even Airbnbs now with safety. You’re renting a room in somebody’s house. You’re going to save money from a hotel, but you’re not going to get full resort amenities.

Chris Klesh: [00:19:45] If you’re a golfer, for instance, there’s resorts on Hilton Head Island where golf comes for free. You could play golf with your buddies for some for free with card fees, golf fees two or three thousand dollars by renting a timeshare. Robyn owner Marietta comes with free golf, so all this is possible, so wherever you’re traveling, whether it’s Disney World and all these timeshares, vacation clubs buy these hotel brands Hilton, Marriott Hyatt and there’s a lot of other people where they were in Europe. When you’re in Disney World, where you in Hawaii playing Golf New York City? It’s another option for your accommodations, and that’s where you going to save 80 or 90 percent at a time and get all these luxury amenities. And again, we’re talking about safety instead of spending the money, going out to restaurants with your kids and your grandkids. And we’re people worried about crowds and safety still with this COVID environment. You have a full kitchen completely equipped to cook. A lot of them have outdoor grills, so you don’t have to spend that money to save them additional money. It’s a safety feature. And again, these hotel chains have strict sanitization standards. It’s all published on their website. So if you’re concerned about safety, you know all the rooms are basically going to be. Sanitized, free, clean, very well, et cetera, and it’s a great savings.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:13] Well, you say, well, you that that sounds like a great tip when it comes to accommodations, you’ve talked about airfare, you talked about accommodations, don’t you have one more tip before we wrap?

Chris Klesh: [00:21:23] Yeah, well, there’s there’s plenty of other tips besides that, I mean, you’re running a car depending there’s different resources, running a car is very expensive. I say join a loyalty program, I’m with national or enterprise or hertz, etc. Find out what your corporate discounts are. There’s a lot of websites. One, If you’re running a car, use Costco Travel looking at car rentals. Another internet website is auto. These are the major expenses of your travel. It’s airfare accommodations and renting of vehicles. So those three tips are going to save people 80 percent of their travel and they’re going to travel again. This is not tics. Motel six travel this year, all luxury four, five star accommodations and a lot of these resorts. As I mentioned, timeshares vacation clubs come with full resort amenities, the kitchen, the washer dryer, now underground parking the health club. You’re going to have it all for basically Motel six prices.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:31] Now, how do you feel about all inclusive, you know, travel deals?

Chris Klesh: [00:22:37] Well, again, I haven’t I’m not an expert on all inclusive travel deals, but there’s some out there, I would be thoroughly researched them. I look for testimonials, et cetera. I haven’t done those. I prefer, you know, the alacarte ones. But there are some people that want to go to a resort or they’re scuba dove and included lessons, tennis, free drinks, et cetera, if that’s what they want. Yes, there’s a savings to that, but I don’t consider myself the expert on it, but it is an option to consider if you want something like that.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:11] Now, if somebody wants to learn more or about maybe hiring you as a speaker or learning more about your coaching specifically for their travel, what is the website?

Chris Klesh: [00:23:21] Yeah. Well, I would suggest normally I’m a speaker if they they don’t have a group, they have obviously now hopefully speaking is going to come back for their association meetings conventions next year. That’s my forte is giving a presentation, answering their questions. Catering it to the group that you know, the travel tips and benefits of travel, et cetera. But right now, I’m offering a free initial consultation to your listeners. If they go to coach Chris Speakes dot com, it’s an automated calendar. They’ll get a free consultation with me. I’ll be glad to answer their questions if they have where they’re trying to go. There’s a little questionnaire first to make the 15 minutes available. In other words, how many people in their traveling party, what are the desired destinations? Are they a member of a loyalty thing? And I’ll try to guide them in the right way, given the right resources, the right websites, the right blogs to listen to, and if it’s something if I feel I could help them because I have connections with all the major hotel chains and again, I talk about timeshares. Preview tours is another way where you could go for 80 percent off. You have to put up with a sales tour, but you’re going to save 80 percent on the cost of the accommodations and they’re all luxury. So if they go to coach, Chris speaks dot com and it’s an automated calendar, I’ll schedule an appointment with them and there’s no problem. If there’s a problem with the calendar, then they could send me an email. I also have a free e-book for your listeners. Ninety nine travel tips without skimping. Just send me an email to Lifetime Leisure at Bell South Dot Net. And just say they want the e-book and with their name, phone number and their email address, and I’ll get out, it’s an e-book. I’ll be glad to send them my ninety nine travel tip e-book as a as a gift.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:21] Well, Chris, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Chris Klesh: [00:25:25] Well, it’s been my pleasure, I think. I just want to leave your listeners how important travel is. I interview a lot of people, and in this environment, like I say, we all need COVID or no COVID. We’ve been cooped up. We all need to retreat, relax, renew, rejoice and really create those memories for a lifetime because the best things in life think about it. They’re not the material things what are they? Your health, your family, your friends and those precious memories and experiences. And a lot of those memories and experiences happen through travel and leisure. And what I try to do is make it affordable to them. So they can’t say we can’t afford it because you don’t. You don’t have to be rich to leverage. And I’m glad to help these people out. I consider myself the number one travel guru. It’s it’s in my blood. It’s like a drug to me, and I love to help people out, save money and let them live the dream, so to speak.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:27] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

Bryan Gryka With Milt’s BBQ for the Perplexed

by

Chicago Business Radio
Chicago Business Radio
Bryan Gryka With Milt's BBQ for the Perplexed
Loading
/

Firmspace-sponsor-banner

Chef Bryan Gryka has always considered food his passion. From an early age he was focused on providing eclectic cuisine to anyone who would dare try his creations.

Growing up in central Arkansas, he adopted a love for soulful barbecue, which he has taken to his current foray at Milt’s BBQ for the Perplexed.

Although he loves working with barbecue, his professional training has been in traditional French cooking.

Chef Gryka has had his recipes featured in multiple cookbooks, as well as many online and television publications. A popular personal chef and lecturer, nothing excites him more than discovering new flavor combinations.

Since moving to Chicago, he has become well entrenched in the local kosher scene, working at many of the top venues in the area. After manning the helm at Milt’s BBQ for the Perplexed as Executive Chef for five years, he took on the additional role of General Manager in January 2018.

In January 2020, Chef Bryan also became the principal owner of Milt’s BBQ. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, two daughters, and son. And baseball. He’s into that, too.

Connect with Bryan on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Milt’s BBQ’s founding
  • Charitable giving
  • Milt’s commitment to the kosher community
  • Their relationship with Keshet
  • Jewish Baseball

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Chicago, Illinois, it’s time for Chicago Business Radio brought to you by Firmspace, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to Firmspace.com. Now here’s your host.

Max Kantor: [00:00:21] Hey everybody, and welcome to Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kantor. And before we jump into today’s story, I just want to point out that today’s show is sponsored by Firmspace. Without Firmspace, we couldn’t be sharing these important and interesting stories, so big shout out to them, and I’m excited to talk to the guest that we have today. He is the President, General Manager, Executive Chef and most importantly, the dishwasher of Milt’s Barbecue for the Perplexed in Chicago, Illinois. Please welcome to the show, Bryan Gryka. Welcome to the show, Bryan.

Bryan Gryka: [00:00:54] Hey, guys, how’s it going?

Max Kantor: [00:00:56] So just to jump in. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about Milt’s barbecue for the Perplexed?

Bryan Gryka: [00:01:02] Okay, I guess the short answer is we’ve been open for eight and a half years. We opened in January 2013. We’re in the very dead center of East Lakeview. If you’re in Chicago, about a mile from Wrigley Field and we’ve been rocking and rolling for quite a while now, we have some great support from the community and we’ve weathered the storm through COVID over the last year or so, and we’re still here.

Max Kantor: [00:01:28] That’s great to hear. How did you guys get started all the way back in 2013?

Bryan Gryka: [00:01:33] It was a process. So for people that don’t know we are a kosher restaurant and there’s a big dearth of kosher restaurants in the city of Chicago. We’re actually the only ones left the south of Rogers Park, the northern area of the city. When we opened eight years ago, there were a couple of other restaurants, but they’re not around anymore. But there is a little bit of a Jewish community around here, and there was a need for something like what we are offering. And you know, we you know, the former owner, Jeff Ader, spearheaded it. He funded the entire venture and there was a big groundswell of support. And you know, as I say, the rest is history.

Max Kantor: [00:02:12] Now I’m Jewish myself, so I’m kind of embarrassed to ask this question. But what is the difference between non-kosher barbeque and kosher barbecue?

Bryan Gryka: [00:02:23] I mean, that’s that’s a loaded question I could give, the short answer is, you know, most people know that pork isn’t kosher, so obviously we don’t have any. Many know that we don’t have mixed milk and meat, so we don’t have any dairy at all on premises. They are dairy restaurants. There are some restaurants that have separate milk and meat kitchens, but we’re all meat. We do a lot of beef, a lot of chicken, poultry, other poultry sometimes, and it gets a little more complicated than that. There are certain levels of kosher. So we’re on the stricter side. We’re certified kosher by the Chicago Rabbinical Council. So it they’re very supportive of us and it enables us to have the widest market that I think we can capture in terms of people that keep kosher and then obviously people that don’t. We try really hard not to advertise overtly that we’re, you know, hey, we’re a kosher restaurant. You know, we try to be a restaurant first that happens to be kosher, which, you know, for people that do keep kosher, that’s been lacking for many years. You know, it’s it gets very complicated when you really get into the politics behind it.

Max Kantor: [00:03:32] Hmm. Is kosher barbecue a national thing or is what you guys do? Very niche and very unique, and there’s not many restaurants like you.

Bryan Gryka: [00:03:41] So when we opened, there was one other kosher barbecue restaurant that has that closed years ago in Teaneck, New Jersey. So we are the longest standing one since then. There’s been actually quite a few. Barbecue is very hip these days, so there’s a half a dozen places in the New York area. There’s a couple in the Miami area. There’s some Los Angeles. I mean, it’s really just booming because, you know, people see that it works. It’s very hard to keep a restaurant surviving in general. And then when you bring in, you know, the cost of kosher food and then the restrictions, you know, we have a lot of days off. Just this week alone, we were the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. You’ve been closed the last few days. We’re just opening up now and we have a lot of holidays coming up this month that we’re missing most of September. So it’s very difficult to keep restaurants functioning. But you know, it’s it’s working and you know, people are trying to copy our model, which, you know, some people ask me if I’m bothered by it. I think it’s great. I think, you know, we show a business model that works and we were able to succeed. It’s really nice to see that others, you know, try to emulate that. That’s the sign of, you know, real success, I suppose.

Max Kantor: [00:04:51] Now I know in the Jewish community, brisket is such a big and important food in the culture. Is brisket kind of the go to dish at Milt’s?

Bryan Gryka: [00:05:01] Yeah, actually. You know, it’s funny. There’s I’ve actually talked a lot about brisket when I give lectures or other talks. We do a lot of brisket and wraps our beef ribs. I like them more, to be honest, just because they’re unique. They’re very beefy. And there’s even in the non-Pro. So there’s very few places in Chicago that do beef ribs at all. But in terms of brisket, yeah, I mean, it’s brisket was considered the garbage cut for such a long time that it was dirt cheap and that, you know, there’s a lot again, political stuff involved. You know, the Jews in Europe, we’re kind of stuck with the leftovers and a lot of ways and brisket was part of that. So we learned how to take a cheap cut and make it really good. And now it’s, you know, brisket is such a big part of Americana. If you go to Texas, it’s brisket everywhere. There is beef country. But if you look at what we’re doing, it’s actually it’s a great touch and it works really well. There’s so many things in its favor and you know, it’s it’s it’s perfect for barbecue and we love cooking it.

Max Kantor: [00:05:58] It is perfect for barbecue. And I got to say brisket is my favorite cut of meat and my favorite thing to get from a barbecue restaurant. So to hear you talk about it, I mean, I’m over here starving for food. This interview’s got me so hungry. But you know, moving on from food, the most obvious question I have for you is, who is Milt?

Bryan Gryka: [00:06:18] So I mentioned our former owner, Jeff Ader. So he just sold the restaurant to us about a year ago, and I can talk about that later. But Milt was his uncle who, like Jeff likes to say, was the irreverent guy that you never got married or had kids. And he was the one that was like, super fun. So he was the one that went well. While Jeff and his siblings were teenagers, they would sneak them drinks there and try to teach them poker and things like that. Just, you know, he was the fun guy. And so he had a special place in Jeff’s heart, and he died years ago. I honestly don’t know when I’ve only seen the one picture. If you go to our website, there’s that one picture of Mel that’s literally, literally the only one I’ve ever seen. So he’s like, It’s definitely an enigma, for sure.

Max Kantor: [00:07:00] Wow. I guess everyone has that, you know, Uncle Milt in their life. Everyone has that person. So that’s super cool that, you know, he he named the restaurant after his uncle Milt. Now you mentioned that you recently acquired the restaurant a year ago. What was that process like and what led to that?

Bryan Gryka: [00:07:18] Well, I mean, COVID certainly messed a lot of things up and. So I like to joke now that Jeff knew when to sell high. So Jeff, a big part of the restaurant and Jeff’s personality, is he’s really big into philanthropy. You know, he’s got enough money at this point. You know, I don’t want to call it a midlife crisis, but he’s very at a point where he wants to give back, and he’s doing a lot of different ventures to give back to the community and to the world at large. And so Milt is part of that at the same time. So he funded the restaurant. You know, like most restaurants, we struggled at the beginning and we made sure that we stayed afloat. We were never at risk of ever shutting our doors. And then it got to a point. Over the last few years, the restaurant was in the black consistently and doing really, really well. And so he was like, You know, I’m giving back, you know, we were giving money to charity every single month. If you look at our website and if you look at our windows outside the restaurant, we were doing a charity of the month since we’ve opened. And so Jeff’s like, OK, well, I’m giving money to all these different organizations. Why not give it back to the employees? You know, it just seemed the natural step, and he was like, You know, I did my job did the Little Mary Poppins thing where he’s, you know, OK, my job here is done. You know, you guys are successful. You don’t need me any more. Here’s the keys and joy. And that’s kind of where that went. And you know, we announced that publicly in January of last year, and there was a few articles written about that. But, you know, for obvious reasons, the transition took a lot more time than we were expecting, just because of all the shutting down and the financial uncertainty. But we sealed the deal, you know, last year, and here we are.

Max Kantor: [00:09:01] That’s so great that you guys were able to make it through the pandemic, and I know it was so hard for so many restaurants. Was there ever a point during the pandemic where the future looked uncertain? You didn’t know kind of what was what and what changes did you make during the pandemic to make it through? Four Milt’s?

Bryan Gryka: [00:09:20] Yeah, so that’s a tricky one. You know, I tend to be more of the, you know, I’m very linear in the way I think, and I’m always trying to think of like worst case scenarios, which, you know, doesn’t help with my anxiety. But it certainly helps in terms of operational, which is one thing I think works in my favor in terms of running the place I’m always trying to think of, you know? The ways to make sure we don’t fail. So on one part of me, I was always worried how long the last what’s going to happen? I’m sure other business owners, the people that are listening to this. We’ve all had the same thoughts. You know, it’s very nerve wracking. It’s hard to sleep at night. But at the same time, we always knew we had Jeff support. And, you know, I always figured, you know, hey, maybe if it ever got really, really bad, I could be like, Hey, I need some cash. We can’t succeed, but we never got to that point, you know? You know, we definitely took advantage of cheap loans. You know, one thing that worked certainly in our favor was that we always did things by the book, you know, in terms of payroll and taking care of our employees. And, you know, with the PPP loans which were geared specifically on the way you know, payroll was done is that it worked for us for the restaurants that pay people cash or, you know, under the table, they got the short end of the stick when it came to the loans. We didn’t have that problem. So we definitely took advantage and it certainly helps. So, you know, the short answer after that long winded one is, yeah, we were. I was worried, but not really. We were never anywhere close to, you know, considering shutting the doors.

Max Kantor: [00:10:46] That’s great. That’s awesome to hear. And what are some dos and don’ts for people getting started and what you do for what you do in the in the restaurant industry? So someone who maybe wants to be a chef or eventually own their own restaurant,

Bryan Gryka: [00:11:02] That’s, you know, a lot of it is luck. I can’t lie right place, right time. You know, certainly, you know, that’s part of what happened to me. You know, I’m I don’t want to say I’m like, I’m an amazing chef where I’m really, really good at what I do or anything like that. I just, you know, I was right place, right time. I was I was the right fit for what they needed here. And so for a lot of people, it’s, you know, just work, you know, try your best to learn as much as you can be well-rounded. You know, I, you know, obviously, I have a cooking background, which I did for a long time. But you know, since I, you know, I always in my last jobs and everything, I tried really hard to pay attention to the books, the back end, all the paperwork for area of it because, you know, I had to quickly become general manager here and I had to learn all the operational side very quickly at the rest. And three different, you know, the chef was very right brain creative, you know, you’re you’re the one that’s always fighting the general manager to get a few extra bucks to pay for stuff in the kitchen, little things like that. And then the general manager side is like, the numbers guy is the one who’s, you know, trying to make the restaurant successful. So these two competing aspects, you have to be good at both. You have to really pay attention to the things that you’re doing. So there are people that really want to do it, you know, pay attention to different restaurants, look at, you know, get different jobs, you know, ask as many questions as you can. I have cooks and employees here where if they have questions, I will certainly answer them for them if they want to know what’s going on the operational side. I will teach them, you know, a big part of what I do is teaching. So pay attention, try to learn, really try to learn. That’s, you know, I don’t know how helpful of an answer that is.

Max Kantor: [00:12:44] No, that’s great. You know, it sounds like on the business side of things, you have a lot of hands and a lot of different pots. No pun intended. And you know, on the cooking side, ironically, you also have a lot of hands in a lot of different pots. Being the chef? So how do you? I know, you know, an important part of a restaurant as you want to keep innovating, you want to bring the new thing out to people to not get stuck, I guess. So how do you invent and innovate new recipes while also keeping in mind to stay kosher?

Bryan Gryka: [00:13:15] So that is a little tricky. I was a little more honestly, since the COVID stuff, I’ve streamlined a lot and I’m a lot less willing right now to take risks in terms of, Hey, here’s a special because, you know, meat prices and everything are skyrocketing, business is down and we were less able to weather, you know, major losses on specials and food. So, you know, people ask me why I don’t do duck specials and I’m like, Well, Coach the Coach dog is seven bucks a pound. That means, you know, each bird is 50 bucks and you know, you just do the math, but I’m doing, you know? You know, I had to sell each duck entree for like one hundred dollars. People are going to spend that right now. So I think having a being very cognizant of what people are willing to spend, you know, just as an example today, specifically, I have a lot of extra picks from the holiday and I needed to find a use for them. And so, you know, one suggestion was, Hey, let’s do a fig bread pudding, because that tastes really good. And I’m like, I would eat that. I think it would be very good. I don’t think it would sell.

Bryan Gryka: [00:14:13] And so I’m turning right now. It’s working in the kitchen is I’m turning to figs into a big comfy and I’ll try to find a different dessert. But one thing is I don’t want to waste it. And number two is, I will. I want to preserve it so I can save it for a dessert I think would work like a nice fall. Dessert awaits the weather to change. And so I think part of it is being creative in minimizing waste. And you hear people talking about that all the time is minimizing waste and being very focused on that. And so I’ll find a good use for it. But you know, being creative but not wasteful is really tricky. When we’re successful and doing really well, it’s a lot easier to control. But yeah, I just I can’t I can’t risk doing a bunch of like, you know, veal chops right now. If I’m only able to sell one or two a night and then what do I do with the leftovers? Like, you know, there’s a limit to that creativity, to the point where you just either have old meat or you’re making stock or some random stuff because you don’t know what else to do.

Max Kantor: [00:15:08] Mm hmm. How do you create a community not only for your customers coming in, but for your employees as well?

Bryan Gryka: [00:15:18] So for the employees, you know, we have a very we’ve we’ve treated them well, I mean, you know. With all the closures and stuff you think about September and then the we’re closed for most of this month and even there’s other days, you know, there’s a couple of weeks earlier in the calendar that are, we’re all so closed. And so one thing I’ve been very cognizant, cognizant of doing is saving cash and trying to find ways to be able to support our staff even when we’re closed or not working. But they know that they’re being supported and never going to be, you know, nickel and dime. You know, I’ve worked in corporate, I’ve worked in a lot of places where, you know, it’s like if it’s time to, you know, time to lean, time to clean, and people and the employees will nickel and dime their low paid staff, which. I have a very, very hard time with, you know, we have employees making, you know, minimum wage or just a hair above it and your nickel and diming, you know, little quarters of an hour, you know, with them. And I think that’s a very caustic and work environment. And I think that’s showing now in the labor workforce right now. You hear all over the place where restaurants are struggling to find employees and all these other delivery drivers and all these other quote unquote low paying jobs who’ve been basically abused for the most part for decades. And now they feel that they’ve got some power and they’re kind of going against that. We have weathered that. We haven’t haven’t had any issues. I haven’t been trying to hire because I made sure my employees were employed the entire time. They never nickel and dime their hours. If they get overtime, congratulations, you earned it. And that’s the way they get rewarded. And then part of it is we also make sure that we give back to them financially and otherwise.

Max Kantor: [00:17:01] Well, it sounds like you’re creating a really, really great environment to work at, at Milt’s. And so for anyone listening, people who are want to come try the restaurant and order the delicious food that you’re making. What’s the best way people can research you and find you?

Bryan Gryka: [00:17:17] Obviously, our website would be the first place to go. Covid WW Milt’s BBC.com. We’re pretty active on our Facebook page. Not so much on Instagram, but you know, I’m really poor with that. But yeah, you can see our menu, Google, our menus all up there. We got lots of pictures and we have people talk about us and we’re here. Come on. By now we’re we’re out. We’re open most of the time.

Max Kantor: [00:17:42] Yes, definitely for sure. And Brian, real quick, right before we sign off, I’m just curious, what’s your favorite thing to cook at Milt’s?

Bryan Gryka: [00:17:50] My favorite thing to cook. Probably, you know, either family meal, which is usually some version of chicken and potatoes or off the menu. I’m a really big fan of our half chicken. We’ve been awarded a few times for our smoked chicken. Yeah, it’s excellent. And I’m a big fan of it and I’ll eat it over and over again. It’s the one item I never gotten sick of.

Max Kantor: [00:18:12] Oh, awesome. Well, I’m excited. The next time I’m in Chicago, I’ll be sure to stop by Milk’s barbecue for the perplex. Brian, thanks so much for being on the show today.

Bryan Gryka: [00:18:19] Thank you very much. I appreciate it

Max Kantor: [00:18:21] And thanks everybody for listening to another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Cantor, and we’ll see you next time.

Intro: [00:18:29] This episode is Chicago Business Radio has been brought to you by firm SpaceX, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to Firme Space.com.

 

 

About Our Sponsor

FSSOLOMark-WhiteonBLKIn 2016, Firmspace began with a belief that flew directly in the face of conventional thinking. We committed to building a sanctuary for the one group that continued to be underserved  – professionals.

From the blueprints forward, we set out to create an environment that empowered professionals to do what they do best. The end result was a private, secure sanctuary for professionals that’s distinctly different.

We call it Proworking.

It’s a simple distinction: While others are in the business of providing space, we’re in the business of supporting professionals as much as it’s humanly – and technologically – possible. We believe great achievers require space for collecting their thoughts — not for collecting contacts, so we add to their continued success by offering them sovereign soil with like-minded professionals.

Abby Richmond from First Baptist Church Woodstock, Allie Kennedy from Momentum Church, and Brielle Underwood from The Factory

by

Women In Business
Women In Business
Abby Richmond from First Baptist Church Woodstock, Allie Kennedy from Momentum Church, and Brielle Underwood from The Factory
Loading
/

This Episode was brought to you by

Alpha and Omega

Abby Richmond, First Baptist Church Woodstock

Abby RichmondFirst Baptist Church Woodstock

 

 

 

 

 

Allie Kennedy, Momentum Church

Allie KennedyMomentum Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brielle Underwood, The Factory

Brielle UnderwoodThe Factory

 

 

 

 

 

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker1: [00:00:08] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. Welcome to women in business where we celebrate

Speaker2: [00:00:18] Influential women making a difference

Speaker1: [00:00:20] In our community.

Speaker3: [00:00:22] Now here’s your host. Hello, Laurie Kennedy here, 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. We are grateful to have you tuned in with us and today we are interviewing a group of young worship leaders that I just happen to know and love. We are going to be speaking with Brian Underwood and we are going to be speaking with Ali Kennedy, and we are going to be speaking with Abby Richardson.

Speaker2: [00:00:56] Richmond Close, Richmond. Ok.

Speaker3: [00:00:59] She will just start with this because she’s always been Abby Honigstein to me, and I just I’m too old to remember new things. So tell us what is new in your life about this marriage thing? Like, how does this change your life?

Speaker2: [00:01:13] Oh, like just about everything. Yeah, so got married in March to the best man in the world, Graham Richmond. He was our bass player at church, and I thought he was way too cute and talented to not marry me. So I said, All right, it’s time, man. So we got married in March. He’s just incredible. But yeah, it changed my last name from Lowenstein, which is like quite the mouthful to Richmond, and everyone knows how to spell. I keep trying to spell it on the phone and people cut me off and I’m like, OK, you got it. You got it. You’re good.

Speaker3: [00:01:38] Yeah, I never knew how to say your name. Yeah, no wonder it was like Cohen’s Steen and jerks. Like, No, I should I tell you what he said? He was like, No, it’s like Frankenstein. Oh, I

Speaker1: [00:01:47] Got it all the time. Yeah, yeah, I’m not complaining. I remember.

Speaker2: [00:01:53] I love it. No, I appreciate it. My dad is. My dad doesn’t even know my new last name. So you’re good. You’re good to go.

Speaker3: [00:01:58] Oh, thank you. Thank you. I’m glad you love me. I’m glad we’ve we’ve known each other a long time forever. How did we meet?

Speaker2: [00:02:05] Ok, so church. We grew up, but we and I knew you. You were like Lori Kennedy, incredible worship leader or ministry lady. So I knew who you were. But when I was what, probably 16 or 17, I got to go with you to Romania on a mission trip. And so that’s like about the best way to get to know someone so just fell in love with you there and had the privilege to go back one more time. But I don’t think you were with us that time, but I wasn’t. But just, I mean, just your influence on me has been incredible. And then you introduced me to Ali as well, who’s become one of my closest friends. So really a gift?

Speaker3: [00:02:35] Ali Well, how do we know each other?

Speaker1: [00:02:37] I’m your daughter in law. Oh, I was just like the obligation person to come on today.

Speaker3: [00:02:42] So well, what changes are getting ready to happen in your life?

Speaker1: [00:02:45] Well, I’m about 25 days out from having my second child. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Second girl. Yes, super excited. We’ve got a one and a half year old already, so pray for us, please. Thank you. Yeah, big stuff. Big stuff.

Speaker3: [00:02:59] That’s awesome. Well, Brielle, I don’t know you very well yet, but I want to get to know you tell us about yourself.

Speaker4: [00:03:06] Well, I just turned twenty five. I had a birthday this past weekend, so that’s exciting. I guess I am working full time and finance. I just bought a house a few months ago.

Speaker3: [00:03:20] Congratulations.

Speaker4: [00:03:21] Yes, thank you.

Speaker3: [00:03:22] That’s awesome. Well, how did you get started singing?

Speaker4: [00:03:26] Wow. Well, I’ve been singing for literally ever like since I was a kid. Love to sing. I started getting involved, leading worship when I was, I guess my first time was probably a middle school is when I like started leading worship, getting involved in church with music. And then ever since then, I’ve just been leading a church with youth groups and now I’m at the factory. And so I lead on Sunday mornings there and love it.

Speaker3: [00:03:53] Ok. Awesome. And do you play any instruments?

Speaker4: [00:03:56] I can play keys, but I’m not very good at it. So yeah, I don’t like I’m not a professional, any instrument. But yeah, I can sit in my room and like play keys and sing a little bit.

Speaker3: [00:04:07] Do you write at all?

Speaker4: [00:04:08] I don’t. I’ve tried and I have written a couple of things and I think I’m proud of, but I’ve tried.

Speaker3: [00:04:15] Well, we’re going to write a jingle after this is over, right? I got to

Speaker1: [00:04:18] Leave. I got to go get a quick meeting after this. Sorry. No, I’m here for it. You know that? Well, how did you get started? Oh gosh. My my whole family saying, like my grandma was an opera singer and both my siblings on my dad’s side sang. And so when I was born, they were just like, Does she sing? And I started singing. But I got started in worship. Other than my dad being a pastor for my whole life, I didn’t really do much worship music until I was probably 18 or 19. And now I get to lead at our church, which, you know, Momentum Church on Sundays. So it’s pretty awesome.

Speaker3: [00:04:54] Yeah. Ok, that was Ali. And now, Abby, how about you?

Speaker2: [00:04:57] Yeah. So my whole family is not interested in music, so I didn’t really come from it, but I just realized I like to sing and was interested in it. So I kind of started playing around with some instruments and starting to sing. I’m not good at any of them. Like spoiler, it’s not good, but picked up a ukulele when I was in middle school and thought it was just the coolest thing. And so seeing a little bit at church kind of got to be known as like a musician. And right about the time I was starting high school, my another spoiler, my. Us now came to Woodstock, and he just wanted to get students involved, so I got sort of leading worship when I was 14 and really that’s where my love and just desire to do music just kind of developed. So I’ve been doing that since I was 14.

Speaker3: [00:05:41] And what church do you?

Speaker2: [00:05:43] Oh, I’m at First Baptist Church, Woodstock.

Speaker3: [00:05:45] Ok, awesome. Well, all those are amazing churches in Woodstock, Momentum and First Baptist and the factory, and we are just grateful that you guys are here today. What? Tell me a little about in any of you can speak up. Just tell us who you are when you speak up, because there’s so many similar voices

Speaker2: [00:06:02] As I go lower if you want

Speaker1: [00:06:05] Picking up.

Speaker3: [00:06:06] Yeah, that reminds me of what we were going to sing. Y’all are going to sing. Oh yeah, so let’s do that real quick. Ok? All right, you ready? All right. You want me to count down? Yeah, sure. Please. One two.

Speaker1: [00:06:25] No, don’t count. Don’t count on us. I’ll just start us all day.

Speaker2: [00:06:28] Ok, that’s doing it, girls.

Speaker1: [00:06:31] Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound. Let’s see. Guys like me, I once was lost, but now. Oh, I am found was blind, but now.

[00:07:09] I see. I lost a

Speaker1: [00:07:16] Little too high. I was like on my notes are like, No,

Speaker2: [00:07:22] This is live on air. This is real life.

Speaker3: [00:07:24] Well, it sounded great. What did you think, Stone? I thought it was fantastic. Thanks.

Speaker1: [00:07:29] The name we started laughing about half truths, though it is

Speaker2: [00:07:34] Behind the scenes. I love it.

Speaker3: [00:07:36] So funny. Let’s start with you, Ali. What is your most memorable moment on stage?

Speaker1: [00:07:42] Oh gosh, I could go like a funnier I could go a serious. I guess it just depends.

Speaker3: [00:07:48] Funny.

Speaker1: [00:07:49] Oh, I thought I thought you’d big serious. Well, I don’t think that was on stage, but that was a pretty funny moment that we just had in the in the room. As far as far as more serious ones go, I actually I got saved singing on stage, singing worship, music, which is pretty interesting. I recently have like kind of divulged into that because I got saved when I was eight, got saved again when I was 14. Kind of like rededicated my life. But when I got involved at momentum, one of our old worship leaders, like asked me to start worshiping there, and I was like, No, he was like, please. And I was like, OK, so I was actually, I was in the position of leading worship before I even like knew the gravity of what that meant for me. And so I don’t know if it was one specific moment or if it was just over the course of months, but God just started doing a work in my life through that. And now I look back and I can see a very clear distinction between me before that time and me after that time. And I give that to being able to worship on stage.

Speaker2: [00:08:49] So awesome.

Speaker3: [00:08:49] That’s awesome. I do feel like there are different times for those of you who were raised in the church, I do feel like there are different. You have a different understanding of who God is to you. At age eight than you do at 16. So it’s perfectly normal to have another encounter. Yeah, because you you are much more able to understand

Speaker1: [00:09:10] Things and you see you see those like those big stories people have where they’re like, Oh, I was a prisoner and I had just everything was changed for me. And like, So your whole life, you’re like, looking for that big aha moment, especially if you grow up in the church. But it just ends up kind of being something that after time you’re like, Oh, wow, I can definitely see where that changed for me. Like, maybe I didn’t not believe and then start believing, but it still was like a big moment, you know?

Speaker3: [00:09:35] Right, right, right. Yeah. What about you, Breel? Most memorable moment on stage?

Speaker4: [00:09:41] My most memorable moment. The first the first thought that comes to mind is a few years ago, I had gone through like a really tough season in life, and I had cling to these two worship songs that I just literally listened to on repeat for days and days and days months. And about six months after what I had gone through, I got to lead those songs at church. And to me, that was just a really special moment because I was bringing what what was personal and my personal time with God to be able to share with my church and the congregation and get to lead those songs. So that was a really cool moment. And I just remember like. Even God in that moment, just saying, look at where I’ve brought you from and what I’ve brought you through and how I’ve been faithful even through the struggles of life. And so it was just a really cool moment to be able to share that.

Speaker2: [00:10:35] That’s awesome.

Speaker3: [00:10:36] What were those songs?

Speaker4: [00:10:38] Yeah, the two songs. So it’s yes, I will buy elevation worship and then Psalm. Twenty three. I’m not alone, and I can’t remember who does that song, but those were like my staple songs for months and months and months, and I still like to this day. We’ll just like, sit in my car crying, listening to those songs because they’re so good. Yeah, so it was a really cool moment.

Speaker3: [00:11:00] That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing. What about you, Miss Abbey?

Speaker2: [00:11:03] Yeah. So I’ve had the privilege for the past few years to be involved with a women’s conference called Favored Women’s Conference, and it’s awesome. And I love leading worship for like a normal congregation, but I think we all would agree. Like just singing for women, there’s just like a tenderness and a sweetness. But this last September we had one and these honestly, these past few years for me have really been such gifts. And just like honestly, I would really consider these like just mountaintop years of just kind of feeling like the culmination of years I’ve poured into Woodstock and kind of getting to be in this role. And also just, you know, obviously like meeting my husband. And I just remember this moment on one of the mornings. It was one of our last mornings it was all the ladies are there, they’re they’re engaged and they’re we’re all emotional, right? Because we just are. We’re crying and you know, right? And I mean, I’m on stage with just all of my closest friends leading worship. And then to my right is my was my fiance at the time, and it was just it’s just such a sweet moment, like you said, just to kind of like take in the Lord’s faithfulness to you. And so that one’s pretty much stuck on my head is a really, really sweet moment for me.

Speaker3: [00:12:09] Oh, that’s awesome. I would love to talk about mentorship for a minute. Cool. Just both in reference to, well, I’d like and just say your name when you answer, but answer in any order you want. But I want to know. Whether you how you feel mentorship applies, like how is it important to you and do you feel like it’s important to both do it with others as well as have it done with you? And then who are your mentors? And are you working on that from both both angles where you’re mentoring others and they’re mentoring you? I know that was a big mouthful. Sorry. So.

Speaker2: [00:12:46] This is Abby, I can start. So this is something big on my heart, so I am on staff at First Baptist Woodstock as our student worship coordinator, and I really I started fresh out of college and kind of as a surprise. And so as I’ve kind of walked it, it’s just developed for me. And as I’ve grown in my role, I’ve kind of realized, honestly, I’m probably like the only worship pastor in the world who like, does not really like music that much like, I don’t love music, I don’t have to write. But I mean, I truly love God’s word and I love I love pastoring and I love mentorship. And so it took me a few years to kind of get into that. But now that I have what I’m so grateful for about the stage and about leading worship is that it? Honestly, it almost like gains trust with people, which is such a gift. So it gains trust with me, with these young girls that are sitting with us or just in our congregation. And so that’s been a huge gift to really try to steward that. So mentorship is pretty much the biggest part of my role in my opinion at our church.

Speaker2: [00:13:45] I mean, this morning I had coffee with a girl, but I have a few that I really tried to consistently meet with. I probably have three girls that I have like a weekly thing with. But then any of our worship leaders I try to meet with on at least a monthly basis, just be involved and know about their life. And I think the sweet thing about that is it’s just so spirit inspired. It’s so personal, and it’s it’s just really such a gift to have gotten to grow up and worship waiting and then help develop other people and see, you know, just these budding desires to be a worship leader like, you know, even just putting walks at the ward, like starting to hear God’s spirit or starting to like it, love his word. It’s just so cool to see, and I’m grateful to get to foster that. And I’ve I’ve I’ve actually prayed for a woman to mentor me for a long time and didn’t really feel like God gave me one person. Just kind of even like Missouri, just like helped highlight for me different people who had really poured into me, but recently, kind of like by happenstance, this lady that I’ve known for a long time with a church named Karen has really started to consistent like she pretty much has pursued me for years to, like, be in some sort of discipleship with her.

Speaker2: [00:14:49] And so we try to meet once every few weeks, and she’s just awesome. She’s like pretty much the queen of discipleship, I think is her title like I would call it. I just feel like I literally officially know, but just has such an incredible love for God’s word, incredible love for people, and is just so real and genuine. So I really try to, especially as I’m growing in discipleship others. It’s awesome and I’m grateful for it, but it’s also heavy. I mean, it’s people’s real stuff that’s going on right and real questions and real burdens, especially with these girls that are 16 17. And, you know, I’m just barely about to be twenty five and I’m like, Do I know, like, can I do I have the authority to speak into this? Like, do I know? So I really lean on God’s spirit. But Karen’s also such a resource for me to know how to love what other people. Well, so that’s my answer.

Speaker1: [00:15:36] That’s good. I want to pay you back off that a little bit because I’ve had the privilege of getting to sing and lead at First Baptist with Abbey, partly because of all the connections Lori introducing us and all of that. And you know this, obviously, but you’ve been a big mentor to me and a lot of ways. She really just she does a really good job of making people feel important and just being so generous with the privilege of getting to sing there. Like, I think as girls, we can all say like it, coming from a performance based background and feel like a worship background. It’s been very different, but it’s very easy to feel threatened by other women, especially other women worshipers, because you, like, want to be the one that gets chosen to sing that song, you know? But Abbey has done such a good job just cultivating like a team atmosphere there, and that’s something that I’m able to then take back to my church and try to cultivate as well, which I think is really awesome. And with that, I feel like I am just kind of entering a season of looking for more opportunities to disciple and not be disciple, because I did mention I was performing before I was worshiping, and it’s very different. So I’ve been blessed to have people like Laurie, a girl. Hannah Johnson at our church is sticking out to me right now who’s just they just have that heart for worship and they kind of have taught me what that means and how to use that as a tool and how it’s how powerful it is and how much it can, you know, Trump the enemy and all of that stuff. So I’m excited. I feel like I’m starting to get to a point where I can pour into others more than I could before because I actually have the knowledge to back it up, which is really nice.

Speaker4: [00:17:09] So, yeah, and I agree with Ali. I think I’m also kind of in a season of life where I’ve always had a heart and a passion to pour into younger women. And so I think. That’s something that I I’ve done before, and I kind of took a break from that just being in college and but now I’m always looking for opportunities and, you know, praying for God to put people into my life that I can pour into and just build a relationship with. And I think at my church, like, we have a leadership team. So I would consider a lot of those, like some of my mentors that I look up to. And then my best friend, Nicole, she’s she’s amazing. And I literally prayed for a friend like her for years and like, God bless me. She’s my roommate. She’s great. She also leads worship, and so she’s like a really big impact on my life and just keeping me accountable and walking through life together, like just doing every day together. And so I’m very thankful for her and just getting to have a relationship with someone who can connect on all aspects of life with me. And I think that’s really awesome to have people that you know, you can pour into and then also learn from and, you know, grow with. So that’s where I’m at.

Speaker3: [00:18:27] That’s awesome. I I know we kind of touched on this a little bit, but being on stage puts you in front of people where they look up to you, especially, I mean, all people of all ages. But but specifically, younger girls are looking up to you and are looking to you, and that’s pretty heavy. How do you use that influence in the community?

Speaker4: [00:18:54] I can start, I think for me, I yell, Yes, this is Breo I, I always keep in mind that, you know, I want to be the same person on stage and off stage. I don’t want to be one person at church and then one person at home. And my goal is just to like in everything I do everywhere I go. I just want to be a white and I just want to glorify God in my actions, my words and ultimately, and I was telling you this a little bit last week, I think Laurie is that my goal is just to love people. And I know, especially with things that have gone on in the last couple of years in this world, like there’s been a lot of division and I just want to be someone that can be a light and be show Christ through my love and through my actions and how I am with people. So I just try to keep that in mind, no matter what I’m doing, where I am is that I do have influence, whether I want to or not. And I just want to show Christ in everything I do and bring glory to him. And, you know, keep that in mind in my daily walk in life.

Speaker2: [00:20:02] Yeah. This is Abby. But I totally agree with that. I think it’s been especially interesting to me in the past few years with social media. Just it’s it’s always like easy for people to maybe misinterpret things you do in life, but social media, it’s like it’s almost hard to like, get your point across in the right way. And it’s just like really balancing that. I’m so grateful for the influence that I have and that the stage does give me that trust with people. It does give me that influence over people’s lives. But I mean, it makes you be cautious about what you post, what you say, which I mean and things. It seems like innocuous or things that like wouldn’t matter, but it’s just always worth it to make sure what you’re posting is or what you’re posting or what you’re doing. What you’re saying publicly is uplifting and, like you said, lines up with my values and I’m walking that somehow with someone girls that I mentor where they’ll post something. And it’s just it’s what everyone else is doing. And it’s just the song that was playing in the background or whatever and really encouraging them with like, what a gift it is, where we’re on stage in God’s house. I mean, that’s a huge deal. Our platform problems a huge deal. And so making sure all that we’re doing leaves no questions in people’s minds. It leaves no reason to like, wonder or like, you know, just always is clear and always uplifting to other people I love.

Speaker1: [00:21:15] This is Ali. I was last to go, but I still felt like I need to say it. No, it’s it’s so true. I think it’s also it’s accountability. A lot to something I’ve in developing my relationship with Christ. I find that it’s like if I’m not going to worship at home, I shouldn’t be worshiping on the stage. So getting into that kind of cycle of obedience and really making sure that the genuinely is there and that I am who I am on stage and off stage, that’s the biggest thing. I think that is the most important thing to me because my least favorite thing growing up in churches is, you know, kind of loving a pastor, loving something that a pastor said. And then the pastor’s walking off stage and you’re like, Oh, they’re not like, you talk to them and you’re like, That’s not the same spirit that I saw on that stage. Like, something has changed just in the moment that you walk down those steps. So I think trying to find the balance of being genuine on stage and genuine offstage and, you know, not deflecting things and not being afraid to have those like tough conversations because you find yourself getting approached by people a lot with really heavy stuff. Yeah. And it’s like, why does that happen to me? But you know, you’re you’re leaving church and somebody is like, Hey, so-and-so just died, can you pray for me? And you’re like, Whoa, you know, like, that’s that’s tough, but you have to be you have to be genuine. You have to be willing to take that time and, you know, pray with them and be open to speaking life. If you feel led and all of that, you

Speaker2: [00:22:37] Know, I this is Abby again. I love what you just said. I say that a lot to girls that I disciple who that are some of our worship leaders is just like, honestly, the worship leading moment is the tip of the iceberg. If you think about it, right? That’s the that’s the tip of the iceberg of the week that you spent in the word or walking with the Lord or praying with people or in community, because then you get on stage and it’s got to just be the overflow, right? And I honestly think for a long time, I’m grateful that I started young leading worship. But also, I can think back to honestly years that I had improper motivations or like getting up there and thinking of times that I was like, I want to be really spiritual right now. So I’ll say this thing. And and it is just so much richer to be in a season where I get on stage with something to say and something to sing and something to worship about. Because I spent my time in the world this week, I spent this time with the Lord. This week I’m I’m full and I’m overflowing on stage, and I think that can be a misconception, you know, and sometimes something we miss.

Speaker1: [00:23:34] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:23:35] For me, this is Breo, but I I notice a difference when I’m up on stage leading worship, and I haven’t spent time with God that week because I’m like, I’m I feel like I’m giving out of an empty tank. And so I always try to be intentional during my weeks, whether that’s through having. My own personal worship or doing my devotional or whatever it is, because I want to be able to to actually have something to give on a Sunday morning, and I always try to keep in mind, like when I’m up there, it’s not about me. I like my prayer. Almost every week is God. I pray that you will increase and I will decrease because I don’t want people to see me up on stage. I want them to see God through me and allow him to use me in those moments.

Speaker1: [00:24:24] Totally. That’s real that this is Ali. Again, that’s something that I’m in a season of, too. Like just I’ve said it many times, but coming from performing to worshiping like it completely changes the motivation about what you’re doing. And my biggest fear, just as a worshiper, is to be in a place where I feel like it’s about me. And the enemy recently has been heavily using that on me and trying to be like, It is about you, you’re doing this for you, blah blah blah. All that stuff, fun stuff in your head all the time. But I think it’s so it’s so much easier to fight the enemy. When you are read up and you’ve got the word in your heart and you’ve got those prayers down, you’ve already kind of prepped for that. And then you find yourself there just being like, You are so small, you know, and God is so big and this is this is silly. Get out of my head, you know, write seriously.

Speaker2: [00:25:10] And I think it’s zabi again. And like you were saying, all that you said was very sweet, but thinking about that like team atmosphere that we want to have at a church, right? Like the quickest way to walk that is for me to be selfish, for me, to be focused on me and for beautiful, talented Ali Canada to come in with her incredible voice. And I’m like, I’m going to, I’m going to fight you. Don’t sing my songs, you know, like that.

Speaker1: [00:25:29] You just get

Speaker2: [00:25:30] That. I mean, honestly, that’s the spirit that we can get into. Sometimes right is just like, I do want to shine. I want to I want you to hear me. I want this like attention. I want this moment. And it’s so from the enemy. Like, if you think about the fruit of that, like it’s just straight up from the enemy. But being able to walk in with the spirit of just all about Jesus and connect and all about even beyond that just others and end the people that are near you and worshiping with you. It just it robs you of any sort of like, you know, selfishness in that so, so important. And in fact, so much

Speaker3: [00:26:01] So each of you are individuals with not only your individual gifts, but the individual way that you. Show them to the world, how does your individuality show up in your worship? I know that’s kind of a hard question. So like. The uniqueness that you are. Versus somebody else singing that same song, like, what do you do that’s different than someone else, like, for example, we run an automotive shop, and so I get asked all the time what makes you different than someone else? And I say, Well, we, you know, have quality and integrity and honesty, and we try to treat our employees and our customers like family. Yeah.

Speaker2: [00:26:47] I would say that I have quality in tech, what else did you say? I’m just getting

Speaker1: [00:26:50] Quality.

Speaker3: [00:26:51] Ok. No, no, no, no. Here was honesty. I have honesty,

Speaker2: [00:26:59] Integrity, integrity and quality. And I treat my employees. I’m just I’m just kidding. You know, honestly, what came to mind when you said that I like, I kind of said, I’m coming to terms with, I’m not your worship pastor who knows what the number system is, and I don’t. I can play about five chords on the guitar. And so I’m not musically like there, and I really had to come to terms with being, you know, wanting to be more pastoral and real and loving God’s word. And I’m like, Where did you put me in this position to do music? But I love your words. So how does that work? But really, I think for me, maybe this doesn’t apply to just exactly singing songs, but I really tried to be like, you know, the word like, no, the scripture behind the songs. So I feel or even things connecting to it, I always try to really have that in my heart because that’s what I love. It’s what I love. It’s what I feel like words gifted me with. And so especially in our environs where I’m more free, I try to be like, Read up. And I think that is something different about kind of how I approach worship. And also, I am. I don’t know if you can like, read this on this. I’m like lighthearted and goofy and awkward, and I mess up words and I’m like, I’m pretty silly and I’m but I think I’m pretty comfortable in my skin. And I think that can when that plays some benefit because it makes other people more comfortable in their skin. And I think approaching leading worship like that is good, too. I’m definitely not your most polished worship leader. I cry through about half of every song that we do.

Speaker1: [00:28:25] If you’re laughing, it’s like very true. I cry all the time

Speaker2: [00:28:28] When we sing. So I’m really trying to knowing that that’s how I approach life, it’s how I approach conversations. It’s how I also try to approach leading worship in that way for me to and I think I’ve definitely been come to known as to come to be known as the crier at our church and the. But, you know, just in that way, just trying to be authentic and be myself.

Speaker4: [00:28:47] Yeah. Going off of what Abby said, I think I try to be very intentional. This is real. When when I’m on stage because I don’t want to get up there and just be singing a song, I want to whatever the songs are that we’re doing that week, I want to find how that can connect to me so that I’m able to deliver and really be up there worshiping myself. Like, I’m not just up there singing and leading like, I want to be up there also worshiping. And so I try to be mindful of that. Every week when we have songs is like, I’m going to spend time with these songs and connecting to them and finding the purpose that they have in my life and what they mean to me. And I’m also I’m very I’m a very quiet person. So when it comes to talking, I’m not good at that. So I try to use, you know, God, let God use me in those moments. And sometimes I’m like, They’re terrified. You know, still, to this day, I’ll get nervous sometimes, but I just have to remember, like, God is using me and it’s not about me, it’s not about me. And so just having that reminder, I think that can bring a little more authentic ness. Is that a

Speaker3: [00:29:59] Word authenticity,

Speaker4: [00:30:01] Authenticity to my worship because I don’t want it to be about me. I don’t want it to be just me up there singing, so I try to keep that in mind.

Speaker1: [00:30:10] That’s good. This is Ali. I feel like I’m still really learning about what makes me unique as a person. I feel like that, especially when I was just beginning the journey of learning how to worship like it was almost like every time I got up on that stage, I could feel God telling me a little bit more about who he was, an intern who I am. And so I think through that, I’ve been able to kind of build my confidence as not only just a worshiper, but as a woman. And I think that I found just power in the declaration of worship. And I feel like that that when when things are shining the most for me is when there’s a song that is just absolutely like reminding me it’s repetitive and it’s just saying, you know, like, God is good. God is good things like that that I can just continue to just like pound in. And that’s that’s when I get personally the most excited and the most giddy and jumpy and all of those good things. I don’t really jump right now, but I used to jump a little bit of a hop. I kind of we’re currently early, but I used to jump.

Speaker3: [00:31:14] I figured that was going to be your most embarrassing moment on stage. You know myself at the revival.

Speaker1: [00:31:19] Yeah. I’m just

Speaker3: [00:31:20] Saying, if you did, I didn’t say, you did say you

Speaker1: [00:31:23] Did. Yeah, I’m joking about it. I was like, I’m not going to tell anyone. And then I got off stage and I was like, Guys, I beat myself on the radio show and you said, Guys, I feed myself. Listen, we’re on the air. I don’t know. You know, people are hearing this. You haven’t carried a child. You haven’t carried your second child. You can’t say anything about like 15 pounds on your bladder at all times and your jump. And I wear black pants a lot right now.

Speaker3: [00:31:50] They have these things called depends.

Speaker2: [00:31:52] I know. Please.

Speaker1: [00:31:54] Wow. So. We’re actually going to have to go pick. Really? Yeah. In Prep.

Speaker3: [00:32:04] And so as iron sharpens, I will make it serious again, right? I was given an iron sharpens iron. How do you find like minded people to spend time with? That’s cool.

Speaker1: [00:32:15] Good question. This is Ali. I can take this one. Do it. I really can. Man, I think prayer has been the biggest thing for me. Just like wanting so badly, like to have people around me that I can do life with. And that like what you were talking about with your friend Nicole, like that are just ironed for you and that want the same things that you want. And it’s just been so sweet to see how God has just like delivered people through connection. I think that’s the biggest thing. Like the more the more involved I’ve gotten with people in my church, the more people I’ve met. That’s how I got to meet Abby. That’s how I know my best friend, All-Bran. Just people like that that you can really just do life with. I think that just prayer and like diligently asking God like, I need people in my life like this. I need somebody like this in my life. I’ve seen God just like, give me the fruit of that in so many ways. And it’s just crazy, because sometimes you don’t even notice it until you’re in it. And then you’re like, Oh my gosh, that’s exactly what I prayed for. Wow, you know?

Speaker3: [00:33:10] Yeah, they say, you’re like the five people that you spend the most time with. And so I want to make sure that I’m being very careful about who those people are.

Speaker2: [00:33:20] Holly, I would say this is Abby, something you said. Ali really struck a chord with me, but I think it’s true. God loves community. I mean, it’s his heart. And one thing I’ve really learned recently, Steph, that’s God’s heart. He’s just, I mean, he’s our friend with it and so we can ask him for stuff. But you said you said sometimes you don’t even notice it until you’re in it. And I think for me, I’ve grown up at First Baptist Woodstock since I was two pretty much been my community. And honestly, like, you know, different people have come and gone and moved away and friends. And I think every season I’m like, Well, you know, there’s just it’s the same people here, but asking God to give me eyes to see there’s people that I like grew up, you know, near barely knew. And now there’s some of our closest friends like me and my husband or I have an intern right now who’s awesome. But she was one of my students, like when I first started my job, and now she’s one of my closest friends and awesome to see the fruit of what the words I’ve done in her life and in our friendship. And it’s just sweet how much she wants to help us, you know, with that to find the right people.

Speaker1: [00:34:21] He’s even this is Ali again, are just following up. He’s even like taking friends in my life, like my best friend Alex. She has. I’ve known her since middle school, but we weren’t really friends until high school and we literally became friends because all of our friends graduated and we just had each other and we were like, Well, we have nothing in common. Let’s just be friends. It’s fine and it’s just crazy because now she’s one of my only friends that I’ve known my whole life. That’s in the exact same walk of life that I’m in. Like, we go to the same church. We’re both married young like she wants kids, probably more than I wanted kids. And it’s just it’s just so cool how God can shape people that you didn’t think would be like that into that for you, especially if you’re diligent and prayer on it.

Speaker4: [00:34:58] But yeah, I think for me, I’m going a season of life where it actually is harder for me to meet people because I’m not in school anymore. I mean, I have my church, but I don’t really do a lot other than like work and I have the friends I have. So I think for me, even just saying yes to things like this, because this is totally out of my comfort zone, but we’re building connections and like I’ve known about you each other since, like middle school, but I haven’t seen each other in years. And so you were

Speaker2: [00:35:25] Getting coffee next week, I decided I just, you

Speaker4: [00:35:27] Know, so like even just like meeting you guys and like getting to catch up. And I think things like this are really awesome to just like sometimes you just have to step out of your comfort zone to meet people and do things like this, to build relationships and be intentional and follow up with people. So I think for me, I’m just in a season of my life where I am really just praying that God will bring more of those people into my life because I have my core group. But I’m always looking to build relationships with people and connect with people. Awesome.

Speaker3: [00:35:58] Yeah. So I I know that God works every day and every single one of our lives, but I think that we have to look for it in order to see it or find it, which I’m not always amazing at, but I do know that. So I try. What is God doing in your life right now?

Speaker2: [00:36:20] Is this cool? Okay, I’ll start here. This is Abby. I was saying this to Ali on her couch last week. I this has been a really sweet season for me. I I honestly, we go through different seasons here in the words voice and not and struggling. But right now I really do feel like he’s like speaking like a little too much. Like, I’m like, I want to say, mean thing to my husband. And he’s like, Don’t? And I’m like, Oh, let

Speaker1: [00:36:44] Me go like

Speaker2: [00:36:45] I really am feeling. His spirit on my heart, and I’m I’m so grateful for that my journal right now is full of I was thinking about this to state. I went to the word and I got this. And so right now I’m really trying to listen to his voice, but it’s and I think I’m growing in that, which is really cool. But a lot of times I’ll hear him say a word or give me a picture and I’m like, That’s it. That’s what you’re saying right now. I’ll go for it. We’ll talk later once I’ve gotten to the destination. And that is not what walking with God is. It’s walking hand and hand with him, hand in hand with him and in step with him and listening to his voice and hearing him say stuff and asking him about it, saying When now how much? How would you like me to like, you know, it’s walking in step with him and being faithful when he pulls you the directions right now? I mean, I’m recently married, so as awesome. But you know, it’s like the season.

Speaker2: [00:37:38] I’m dreaming about the future, right? So my husband and I are like, When’s kids am I? Am I going to stay here at my job? Are you going to stay at your job or are we going to do this? Or are we going to do this? Do you want to move to California or Greece? Or, you know, we’re doing all the commerce, all the dreaming and all the conversations, and it’s cool to walk that with the word, but I think I’m quick to hear a word and say, All right, this is what he’s saying. Let’s do it. As you know, take this step, but it’s really cool to get to just walk with the Lord and hear him excite parts of my heart, speak dreams over my future, but not give me the timeline. So I just get to kind of walk with him with it all in front of him, right? So that’s kind of where I’m at right now, just learning to actually listen to what he’s saying and just walk in step with him. Yeah, I

Speaker4: [00:38:18] Like what you said about, you know, God doesn’t always give us a timeline. I feel like right now I’m in a season of just kind of a waiting period. And it’s been there’s moments from like, God, where’s my husband? Because I’m, you know, I’m single right now, and I feel like a lot of people around me are getting married or getting engaged or having kids, and it’s easy to feel like I’m falling behind. But through this season of Just Waiting, God has been very faithful, and he constantly is reminding me like, look at where I’ve brought you from and look at what I’ve brought you through and look at how good I’ve been through all seasons of your life. And so I think, you know, God, we don’t always know his timeline, but I know that his plan for me and his purpose for my life is good. And I just have to remember that, you know, things don’t always happen the way I want them to. And just keeping in mind that, like, I wouldn’t want them to happen my way anyway because my plan is not as good as God’s plan for my life is. So that’s just something I’m like constantly being reminded of is that, you know, I may be in a different season right now, but God is still good and he’s still faithful. And even on days where I just want to like Cry and I’m like, Why God? Why? Like, he’s he’s good and he has a purpose for me. And so I just have to use this time in my life to still bring glory to God. And maybe there’s someone that I can encourage through a waiting period as well.

Speaker1: [00:39:55] I think that’s cool. This is Ali. I feel like that that’s so real to everybody like that. One of the biggest parts of my testimony is the God’s really overcome a lot of anxiousness in my life. Like I used to say, I have anxiety now. I say I get anxious because there’s totally a difference in the power of the tongue and what you say. But in that literally as soon as I started like getting tools from the Lord to be able to walk out like healthy thoughts and healthy amounts of stress, he was like, OK, you’re going to get married, you’re going to have two kids, you’re going to buy a house and you’re going. And I was like, OK, I hate change. I hate it. But I feel like I’m just a season of just constant adjustment all the time and I’m tired. But it’s been just the sweetest of things and the things that people are like wanting for and wishing for, and I wouldn’t change anything. But I think the biggest thing that I’m in, right, the second is just being able to look back and I know I can feel the faith that I have that although, you know, this change is coming rapidly, you know, it’s going to be OK in the end.

Speaker1: [00:40:57] And I’ve seen I’ve seen God’s faithfulness before. So to actually be able to sit back and rely on that and not not have that anxiousness like my body literally like wants to be anxious so bad about it. And then I’m like, Oh, wait, like, no, I already like, we’ve gone through this before, but it is. It’s I know, I know where I start, I know where I end, but it’s like the period in between. That’s hard for me because I want to just be angry or I just want to be, you know, I want to be angry or I want to be amazing. And and it’s hard to just like know that it’s kind of up and down in between, like while you’re walking to that point and while you’re getting there. But like really just being able to like, sit in the sweetness of God and be like, OK, yeah, no, just one day at a time. Like, I know where I’m going. Just get me there, you know?

Speaker2: [00:41:39] Right, right. Oh, good.

Speaker3: [00:41:41] So if you’ve made like a big mistake on stage. What would that look like and how would you recover?

Speaker1: [00:41:50] I already told my Laurie. No, I’m sorry.

Speaker3: [00:41:53] Well, you didn’t have a puddle on the floor or anything.

Speaker1: [00:41:56] No one ever needed to know. But I have to tell everyone everything. You know, I feel the.

Speaker2: [00:42:02] Man, I would say for me, I am forgetful and I say the wrong thing, and I’m clumsy as all get out and I drop stuff in a break stuff and I’m not a good guitar player. So the chances of me getting out of a service unscathed with all the right chords, all the right words and not falling from one way or the other. That’s a pretty tough, but for me, I’m grateful. Like I said earlier, I think my my giftedness is my comfortability, so most of my venues that I’m in has just they just know they just come to expect, let me do it, they let me roll off and let me sing the wrong words. Mess up, fall down, whatever. Let me do it. But I mean, I think I took it and come down with it. I’ve never fallen. I have never fallen flat. I have tripped major before.

Speaker3: [00:42:49] Do you like just go to your knees and pretend like you’re worshiping,

Speaker1: [00:42:53] Falling out and spirits? So I swear to God this is Ali. I think the hardest thing for me in those moments is like, I deflect to joking when I’m uncomfortable and it’s very, very hard for me to recover from any major faux pas on the stage in a way that I can like bring it back to being spirit minded, like I want to kind of be like, you know, and this my stuff. I’ve never said that, but I’m thinking of this time when we had second service and our drummer and our bass, no, our drummer and our lead guitarist decided to go to copper coin and between the services, and they weren’t back in time for the second service. No. Yes. And like, nobody knew until it was too late and I was just standing on stage and everybody was just kind of looking around and I was like, anyone seen our drummer like we were on stage with no anyone and we just kind of stood there for a bit. And then our worship pastor in all his glory actually came up and he drummed so he can do everything. The first song and a half was him, and then they had like a switch. Yeah, but see, in that moment, it’s like, it’s really it’s hard to be like, OK, no, we’re here to worship. Like, That’s funny, and I want to laugh about that the whole rest of the service. But I can’t keep making jokes about it because, no, it’s OK.

Speaker4: [00:44:05] We love that. Yeah, there’s definitely this is yeah, there’s definitely been multiple times where I’ll come in at the wrong time or sing the wrong note or forget the words or whatever. But I think it’s just, you know, you just keep going and just give yourself grace because it’s hard in those moments for me not to get in my head and be like, Oh, I just messed up the whole song or whatever. So thankfully, I haven’t had any major embarrassing thing happen. Knock on wood.

Speaker1: [00:44:32] Let’s hope this Sunday it’s happening.

Speaker3: [00:44:34] No, no, no. I didn’t. I didn’t call that in determining of the tone.

Speaker4: [00:44:39] Yeah, you just I mean, especially when you’re up there, you know, live in person, like you just got to keep rolling with it. And so it’s just, you know, you keep going, you

Speaker1: [00:44:48] Just keep going and hope nobody notices like,

Speaker3: [00:44:51] You know and the other people don’t.

Speaker2: [00:44:53] Yeah, a lot of times

Speaker4: [00:44:54] People don’t know. So like little things that you may be like, Oh my God, that was such a big, you

Speaker1: [00:44:59] Know, like just because I would notice if I was in the audience doesn’t mean that other people? Right?

Speaker3: [00:45:04] Yeah, totally. I think the average person doesn’t notice most of the things that don’t happen the way they’re supposed to on stage.

Speaker1: [00:45:12] I always ask, Grant, this is Ali. I always ask Grant after. I’m like, Oh, like, did you hear when like, I went, like, blah blah blah or something, you know? And he’s like, what? No, like, I know. And he’s like my gauge. Like, if he noticed like it was probably really bad. Like, if didn’t and we’re probably cool.

Speaker4: [00:45:24] We’re probably a lot harder on ourselves than other people are on us. Like people don’t notice, but it’s hard not to like, beat yourself up sometimes about things that you do on stage. So it’s just like a reminder of like, it’s OK. Yeah, like, it’s not about me.

Speaker3: [00:45:40] Yeah, yeah. There’s a balance between being a perfectionist, but yet still being diligent and in preparation.

Speaker2: [00:45:46] Totally, totally. And that’s where, again, it’s like the fruit on stage of what you’ve done throughout the week, not only spiritually but also in preparation. And I know when I haven’t learned a guitar song

Speaker1: [00:45:58] Before the night, like, I’m sorry, Abby’s talking about how she’s bad at guitar. I actually kind of play the guitar and Abby plays,

Speaker2: [00:46:04] No, I like like she will in the mix like they really

Speaker1: [00:46:08] Do, and I just pretend like I can’t play. But I had my

Speaker2: [00:46:12] Guitar came to the wrong key for like a good half of a song. Oh my god, I turn it down and they turn it down. So nobody cared. That’s what I’m saying, right?

Speaker1: [00:46:19] Like, we love the intuitive production team. I know

Speaker3: [00:46:23] They see my

Speaker1: [00:46:23] At the wrong spot. They’re like, Let’s cut it off. Let’s just cut it off. She’s that to everyone.

Speaker2: [00:46:29] It’s good time.

Speaker3: [00:46:30] All right. Last thoughts. Oh, starting with Gabriel,

Speaker4: [00:46:34] Last thoughts about

Speaker3: [00:46:35] What just we’re getting ready to end anything you want to say. Any any message you want to give those who are listening?

Speaker4: [00:46:43] I’m I’m just thankful to be here. Enviable to be a part of this, I think it’s been awesome, even just getting to know Ali and Abby and Lori a little bit better. I guess my parting thoughts would be, you know, whatever season of life you’re in right now. Just trust God and you know things. Walking with God in life is so much better than walking alone. And so, you know, no matter what’s going on in anyone’s life right now or in the world, just cling to God and trust him and put your faith in God because things will always work out in the end how they’re supposed to.

Speaker1: [00:47:19] I love it. Ali, this is Ali Ali. I’m sorry. Are you sure? Yes, I’m 90 percent sure. Well, first off, it has been just a joy to get to know YouTube real seriously. Like not to be weird, but like, let’s all hang out because this was fun. What are you doing after this? Like, what are we? You guys want to go to my house. It’s like eight minutes from here. We can know. But really, it’s been a joy to get to know you today and to get to talk to my ladies as well. And I think basically what Burrell said, she pretty much summed it up. I feel like that was kind of like a very we all kind of are in that same spot in a lot of different ways. But if you’re listening to this and you want to know more about Jesus or you want to just talk about seasons and different things like, I don’t know if our social media stuff is up, but we are all in to listen. So just let us know. And if you also want to come to any of our churches, you can do that too. Shameless plug. I know it’s like

Speaker2: [00:48:17] All all one body, right? Yeah.

Speaker1: [00:48:18] Oh, baby,

Speaker2: [00:48:21] Hey, this is Abby. I’ll give my closing thoughts too seriously. Have loved talking to you so sweet to just hear how the Lord is working in y’all’s life, y’all. Churches and ministries. It’s such a gift. My encouragement would be just cultivate your connection with God’s spirit, cultivate learning how to learn, learning, how to hear from him and hear his voice. I think in whatever field you’re in, if it’s pretty much got anything to do with people at all, which most things do. Hearing God’s voice is so good because he is wise. He knows everyone, everyone’s heart where they’re at. He sees the future. He knows what we can’t see. And so listening to his voice and, like braille said, just trusting in him and what he says is such a gift. And it makes all the difference. So thank you so much for having me. I don’t know if

Speaker3: [00:49:10] I totally had so much fun doing this, and I want to get to know you better 3L as well. And I I want to like, you know, why I want to hang out with you guys. You’re so full of life and so much fun. And I just I’ve just greatly enjoyed it. Thank you guys for being here today.

Speaker2: [00:49:27] Same time next week, please.

Speaker3: [00:49:29] Yes, thank you. Thank you for joining us today on women in business powered by Business RadioX. Until next time, this is Lori Kennedy reminding you to keep learning and growing.

Shannon Hudson With 9Round Fitness

by

9Round
Franchise Marketing Radio
Shannon Hudson With 9Round Fitness
Loading
/

Brought To You By SeoSamba . . . Comprehensive, High Performing Marketing Solutions For Mature And Emerging Franchise Brands . . . To Supercharge Your Franchise Marketing, Go To seosamba.com.

9Round

Shannon “The Cannon” Hudson, founder, and CEO of 9Round Franchising, LLC, is a former IKF Light Middleweight Kickboxing Champion of the World. He trained under legendary boxing trainer Xavier Biggs, brother of 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Tyrell Biggs.

After over 70 bouts in the ring, competing in Canada and Europe, Shannon could not find a place where the average person could be exposed to the “Top Secret” training of some of the best fighters in the world. That is where his vision for 9Round began.

He knew that if he could take the grueling workouts he did in the ring, and create a non-intimidating, convenient circuit workout format, then the average person could enjoy the benefits of boxing and kickboxing without getting hit.

Shannon is a family man himself with two children, so keeping the workout short but still effective was key when creating the 9Round concept.

Shannon and his wife, Heather, opened their first 9Round studio in 2008. Since then, the brand has grown to more than 750 locations across 42 states and in 12 foreign countries.

Shannon is fully involved in the day-to-day operations of the business and constantly works to bring the best support to 9Round franchisees and the best workout experience to 9Round members.

He released a business book entitled Zero to 100 in early 2016, which is a candid memoir of the journey from one 9Round location to the first 100 locations being opened. This book made Shannon a best-selling author on Amazon. Shannon enjoys public speaking and motivating others by thinking outside the box.

Connect with Shannon on LinkedIn and follow 9Round Fitness on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How 9Round responded to the pandemic and helped franchisees get through the shutdown
  • Evolve faster when you have crisis
  • Strategy for continuing to develop additional comprehensive support for franchisees
  • Overcoming challenges in business

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Welcome to Franchise Marketing Radio, brought to you by Akosombo Comprehensive, high performing marketing solutions for mature and emerging franchise brands to supercharge your franchise marketing, Go to SEOSamba.com.That’s SEOsamba.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Shannon Hudson with 9round fitness. Welcome, Shannon.

Shannon Hudson: [00:00:42] Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:43] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about nine round fitness. How are you serving, folks?

Shannon Hudson: [00:00:48] Well, we serve people by helping them punch and kick to get in better shape with kickboxing fitness program. And we we use kickboxing as the vehicle to make people feel better and just live a better life.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:02] So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in fitness and in kickboxing?

Shannon Hudson: [00:01:06] Great question. My older brother, almost nine years older than me, started martial arts when I was born in nineteen seventy nine and I grew up basically in a karate school. I remember going to watch him do karate, and when I turned seven years old, almost eight, I started karate in the same karate school and just grew up loving it, started competing in karate tournaments, then went into boxing and kick boxing and turn professional. As a professional kickboxer, I won a world title in 2011. Up in Canada had a great career. I got to meet some really neat people. I got the fight on Chuck Norris World Combat League. As a professional, I got to do some really neat things and get the fight in Europe, representing the USA over there on the kickboxing event in Europe a couple of times. And you know, I wanted to create something that I could give to the average person, but take out the getting hit part and make it all about fitness and fun. And we created my wife and I created this 30 minute workout back in two thousand eight, and here we are 13 years later and seven hundred locations later.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:12] So now when you were making the transition from being a professional fighter to creating something that you know a regular person could enjoy and benefit from, was that a difficult transition to just mentally kind of wrap your head around, OK? Everything I’ve been doing and training for has been to succeed as a fighter in a ring, and now I’m going to take some of those techniques, similar techniques and then use it for a regular person to just kind of get in shape with mentally. Was that difficult for you?

Shannon Hudson: [00:02:44] Of course. I mean, you have to think we got the term we use as beginner friendly, right? So how do we take something that I took to a very high level and make it beginner friendly where anyone can do it? And that’s kind of the mentality you have to have when you want to scale something on the masses is to make it very beginner friendly. So that’s what we’ve done, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of it. And you know, so so yes, it is challenging, but it’s a different mindset. Yes, sir.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:13] Now when you’re when you were first kind of playing around with the concept and you were focusing in on beginners and people that don’t want to be kind of the best fighter they can be, but just want to kind of start moving and play on the ground with their grandkids. That’s a different kind of audience and clientele that I’m sure you were surrounded with. Was that hard for you to kind of kind of wrap your head around how to serve these kind of people that are just, you know, for them going to check the mail and coming back and not be winded is a big victory.

Shannon Hudson: [00:03:48] No, you’re so right. And it was challenging and it surprised us. When I say us, my wife and I, you know, because you think boxing, kickboxing, you think this guy? Tough stuff, kind of kind of thing. But when we opened it open the very first nine round location, two thousand eight, we realized, Oh my gosh, females are a big part of this. And today, demographically, we’re 60 to 70 percent female age 30 to 40, and it really surprised us. Can this can younger people in older people do it? Absolutely. But that’s really that’s a real sweet spot for that. And my wife, Heather is a big advocate for it and believes that one of the reasons is females want to feel empowered and they they do feel empowered, punching and kicking where maybe guys like you and I, Lee grew up wrestling and roughhousing. And maybe, maybe females didn’t do that as much, but it surprised us on who this what? Who’s attracted to this? And you know, we’re very now we’ve learned so much and we’re very grateful for it. But it was surprising and very different than we thought originally.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:54] So then when you were starting out, did you have to kind of format the classes a lot different than maybe you initially drew them up?

Shannon Hudson: [00:05:02] No. You know, that’s funny. You say that the nine stations, the nine different rounds are still the same equipment, same same type of round, but we do different drills on the rounds every day. The workout changes every day, so we didn’t have to change anything as far as the core format of the model. We’ve definitely improved since then. We have full time workout programs in-house that program all these workouts for the franchise owners out there. And you mentioned the word classes it’s. It’s funny you say that because we really don’t have classes, the 30 minute sessions is a circuit that’s running pretty much all of the most of the day. And when a member shows up, they can just pop in the circuit whenever they whenever they get there, which makes it really appealing for very busy people so they don’t have to make a set class time.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:49] So you don’t have to be there at noon, you can come at any time and then just jump in and you where you start is where you start and it takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Shannon Hudson: [00:05:58] You got it. You nailed it. It’s like a conveyor belt. It’s perfect.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:01] And then now, what about from a franchisee standpoint? Is your ideal franchisee like kind of that fitness wellness person? Or could it be anybody?

Shannon Hudson: [00:06:10] It is. Well, it’s a couple of things that the director of the studio, which which is the face of the business and that might be an owner, operator or it might be a manager, right? So like Lee, if you wanted to hire. I don’t know you, Lee, and you didn’t want to be in the day to day, then you would hire a manager to run the studio who would be into fitness. Yes, and love people and love being the face of the business. If you were the owner operator and wanted to do that as your job right, you would be in there and you would be. And we definitely want you to love fitness. One of our values is you have to love fitness. You have to love people. This is a people business and you’ve got to be to connect with people. So, yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:50] So somebody on the team has got to be that face for the nine round fitness studio.

Shannon Hudson: [00:06:56] You got it. You have to have a driver in there that drives the business. That’s the day to day is the face of the business, kind of like I’m the face of the franchising company, right? I go to the events I’m on, I’m on the radio shows with you, right? So, so yes, you have to have that person that has that passion for it because that energy and that excitement is attractive and that’s what you want.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:17] Now, when a person takes on this, are you looking for that owner to be kind of just that fitness wellness person that’s serving that local community? Or at this stage, are you looking for kind of I need empire builders who is going to take over a market that’s going to, you know, take over a large territory. And so therefore, I’m looking for more of the professional franchisee who maybe has other franchises that are aligned with this from a customer standpoint. But then they can weave this into a make a really dynamic portfolio.

Shannon Hudson: [00:07:50] Yeah, great question. Actually, we’re looking for both. We will take both, you know, we love the smart business operator. That’s very advanced in franchising. In fact, we have several that own other concepts, not fitness, but they are multi unit owners and they do very, very well with they get franchisor. They understand it’s about systems and building people and training people and developing them. So, so yes, however, we we love the dynamic, passion driven person as well that’s willing to join a team nine round and willing to be coached and trained and follow a system. So the answer is we will do. We will take both of those.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:28] Now, how did kind of COVID impact the business in terms of a lot of locations weren’t allowed to have face to face? Were you the way you’re set up? It sounds like you might already kind of have some social distancing as part of just the makeup of the fitness center. But did that really impact you or were you able to navigate that pretty well?

Shannon Hudson: [00:08:48] Well, yeah, it impacted us a lot. I think restaurants and fitness centers and gyms really got hit the hardest, I think. But you’re right, our model is set up. You know, our stations are minimum seven eight feet apart. So the social distancing piece is actually pretty easy for us to do. But again, physical people breathing hard huffing and puffing. Yes, it did cause a lot of operational issues. But you know what? We we capitalized on that. We created an in-home at home workout. We have an app called Nine Room. Now, a lot of nine round franchise owners are selling this piece as an at home only workout, and they’re being able to take the revenue from that or include it in the membership to make the membership more robust and more well-rounded. So you have an in-studio membership, but you also have your app or you can plug on and turn it on at home or on all the apps the Roku, the iOS, the Android. So you know what? We built a studio at our headquarters to film these workouts in, and we have all the fancy lights and cameras and we’re on all the apps. So, you know, in great crisis comes innovation and different technology that’s advancing, and we’re proud to be a part of that and lead the way in that. So. So yes, it impacted us. It’s been hard. It’s not been easy. You know, we’re in 17 countries, too. So that throws a whole nother wrinkle in because the U.S., you know, half of the U.S. is vaccinated and the and doing better with with COVID, we’re handling it better. But now there’s, you know, the the variant and then you have the other countries or not as far along as we are for, for example, Australia, a lot of them are on total lockdown. We’re getting ready to open up our first location in Vietnam, but we can’t the whole countries lock down all of a sudden. So has it been hard? Yes. But you know, some good things have come out and with innovation that has come out of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:41] So now what has it been like for you as an entrepreneur, somebody who came up as a professional athlete and is now kind of growing this massive global franchise network? Any advice for the folks out there, maybe with an emerging brand themselves and how they can, you know, they aspire to where you’re at right now?

Shannon Hudson: [00:11:03] Absolutely. You know, the advice is don’t let the business outgrow you write a lot. A lot of founders sometimes, you know, founder and CEO are two different things. And I’ve so far I’ve been very blessed. I’ve been able to learn the CEO piece in the business piece and I’m still learning it every single day. Don’t get me wrong, but a lot of founders don’t continue on to become the CEO and operate the business, operate the chain at this level. So if you are one of those people, you have to decide. The advice is do you want to learn how to run the business or do you want to just be a founder and not really be in the day to day operations of running a business? I’ve decided, yes, I want to be the operating the business, so I enjoy it. I love it. I enjoy building a team and learning business systems. And so those are things you have to decide if you if you want to do so, whatever the decision is, commit to it and don’t let the business out, grow yourself and rock and roll.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:02] Now, do you think that you might have somewhat of a competitive advantage being an athlete at the highest level like you have been and you have been surrounded by coaching and great coaches and leaders that you just see that as part of the team is having a coach or a great leader. So therefore you kind of gravitate towards that role. Or maybe you look for people that have those qualities.

Shannon Hudson: [00:12:28] Oh, hundred percent. I mean, being competitive, be a competitive fighter or being a professional athlete has helped me be competitive in business. And I think anyone and I think everyone is competitive to a certain extent, but I take it even further. I like to win. I like to beat my kid and Mario Kart, too, you know, and playing video games. So I’m just competitive, right? So yes, and you have to you have to have that drive to win in business. You have to be competitive. I mean, it’s a competitive world. And I look I have trainers still today that that in business trainers, coaches and also physical trainers and coaches. So everyone needs a coach. Everyone needs to be held accountable. Everyone needs to be pushed to go as far as you can possibly go. And absolutely, it’s helped me. Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:15] Now how do you help your franchisees as coaching involved as part of what the franchisee gets is their access to kind of these great leaders that you get to benefit from?

Shannon Hudson: [00:13:28] I mean, we think it’s the most important thing we can do as a franchisor is the training, and that’s also teaching, so our people are what we call them. Franchise business coaches have to be good at teaching franchisees. We do regional trainings. Everybody has a franchise business coach in-house. We were out there, a corporate rep, when they open, if they’re struggling, we’ll go see them. We have annual conventions, we have online training modules that they go through online universities, they go through. I mean, it goes on and on and it’s something that continuously has to evolve and it’s very, very important. And people call it training, but it’s really teaching, you know, training and teaching basically the same thing. You have to be teaching and become a good teacher. So everyone here needs to really work. We really work hard on our communication skills, are teaching ability or teaching skills, and we’re saying what the franchisees need. We have a franchise advisory council. We’re asking them, Hey, tell us, like, what training do you need on marketing? So we’ll find that we’ll develop it. If we can’t find it, we’ll make it so. So you’re right, one hundred percent. I think good franchise systems out there have great training teaching programs, and it’s very important

Lee Kantor: [00:14:41] Now for the folks that are in a local market. What separates kind of the rock stars from the kind of middle of the pack? What are they doing in their local market to really be successful and serve and really nurture the relationships that you need to have in order to serve a local community?

Shannon Hudson: [00:14:58] Great question. It’s all about execution franchising. We have the playbook done. It’s who can execute the best. And a lot of people don’t understand that marketing is one of the most important things you can possibly do. It’s why I’m on this radio show right now. What am I doing in marketing, right? Because I mean, a great example that I tell everyone is McDonald’s. They don’t have the best product, but they sell more hamburgers than anyone in the world. Now why? It’s that? Why is that was the marketing they have. I mean, it’s the marketing they’ve done years and years consistently over and over and over. So in the community, you have to execute, you have to be out in the community, be the face of the community. You need to be the nine nine round guy or girl or gal out there. You have to be the face and and it has to be consistently done. Do we want a great product? Absolutely. Do we give a good product? One hundred percent. But without the marketing, no matter how good your product or service is, if you don’t do it and do it consistently, no one’s going to get helped by it. Get served, as you like to say, and I like that terminology, we’re serving right. We keep that attitude, keep marketing. That’s how you win in this business.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:10] Now what do you what are you looking at as you continue to expand? What are the next, you know, the end of this year and next year look like for you guys?

Shannon Hudson: [00:16:18] Yeah, great. Great question. We’re hopefully going to open in three new countries Vietnam, Indonesia and Qatar in the Middle East. We have a pretty big presence over there in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. We have almost 40 locations in Saudi Arabia. We’re going to continue with our app. We’re doing some new technology inside our studio with screens, workout screens, coaching screens by the workout stations to help give the customer a better experience. So a lot of innovation, a lot of exciting things happening. And you know, we’re hoping to finish the year strong and start 2020 too strong because, you know, New Year’s is coming a big time of year for us, New Year’s first quarter of twenty twenty two. So we’re just ramping up staffing up here. We have more on the Home Office staff. We have more team now than we did before COVID and I’m very proud of that. So we’re excited to continue growing and continue kicking well.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:13] If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website?

Shannon Hudson: [00:17:20] Easy nine round. That’s the number nine. Are you? And we’re looking forward to getting as many people punching and kicking as we can.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:29] Lee Well, congratulations on all the success, Shannon, and you’re doing amazing work and we really appreciate it.

Shannon Hudson: [00:17:37] Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:39] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll sail next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.

Joanna Tress With Mattanna5DX

by

Joanna Tress
Coach The Coach
Joanna Tress With Mattanna5DX
Loading
/

Matthew and Joanna Tress is a married couple celebrating a life of purpose and passion by liberating the performing artists within themselves and sharing that sweet freedom by helping others do the same.

They are the founders of Mattanna5DX.

While they are not professionals, they have performed at public and private events consistently for the past 30 years. You’ll get a taste of their “secret sauce” of bringing dreams to reality when you participate in one of their virtual or live events.

After hosting workshops, music nights, and showcases over the years and touching hundreds of lives, they’re taking it all to the next level for you. They’re here to facilitate, collaborate and motivate.

Connect with Joanna on Linkedin.

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 Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Joanna Trece with Mattanna5DX. Welcome, Joanna.

Joanna Tress: [00:00:44] Hello, I’m so happy to be here, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Mantegna. How are you certain folks?

Joanna Tress: [00:00:52] Well, Matina, five, is actually short for the Matina five dimensional performing arts experience. So we are a collective of people age thirty five and older here in Orlando, Florida, or wherever. All over the world, they would like to sing, dance, act, play an instrument or express themselves creatively in a supportive judgment free zone. Or we’re having fun and helping one another overcome whatever obstacles we might have when it comes to getting on stage or in front of the camera as a performing artist.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:30] Well, it’s interesting that you’re targeting this kind of a little bit older group that may be a lot of performing arts folks go after I was recently interviewing someone and they told me this interesting fact, and you’re probably can resonate with this when they talk to children that are like preschool, kindergarten, they ask, Who’s an artist? Everybody raises their hand. But by the time they’re in fourth and fifth grade, only a handful of people raise their hand anymore when they’re asked if they’re an artist. And at some point, people are starting to self-select out of the arts. And, you know, only the the one person that can draw well considers themselves an artist, and everybody else says they’re not an artist anymore. And I thought that was really sad, and I’m excited to learn how you’re kind of rekindling that artistic spirit in, folks.

Joanna Tress: [00:02:21] Thank you so much. It’s definitely needed because in particular, the performing arts with the dance lessons, the band and the chorus at school and community theater often target the children, and we’re busy investing time and energy and resources into helping our youth develop those skills and then see where that takes them further on in life. But for many of us, when we’re grown up, we’re at the height of our careers. We’re taking care of families, even older parents, et cetera. We found that our experiences in the performing arts have gone to the back burner or nonexistence or whatever. Hopes, dreams and aspirations we had as a young person have sort of died. So we want to rekindle that and let people just have that missing piece of their life or build and be able to delve into their art and just really feel alive again, happy and satisfied with where they are because they’re being their authentic self.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:23] Now, how did this idea kind of come about? Is this something have you been involved in the arts your whole career or is this kind of a second act for you and your team?

Joanna Tress: [00:03:34] Right? Well, this is where I started off with what high school and college performances make my first professional demo back in nineteen ninety three. And I’ve been in multiple bands and a community, theater, productions and things over the years. And then I taught kids as well. So I’ve seen both sides of the experience where I taught young people as far as singing stage presence and beginning piano. And that is where I realized that, well, wait a minute, I want to do things now. I want to have fun and I could continue to do community theater. But there are a variety of options. Now I’m creating a new option that is going to to help someone who maybe doesn’t have the confidence or the skill level doesn’t know how to plug into the arts. My I have a gateway to that and we’ll do our own thing, and folks can add that to their resume and their workshops and things that help them get to where they want to be. So really, we make dreams come true. People have all kinds of creative concepts and ideas, and we can collaborate on them and make sure we find a way to make it happen.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:51] So why do you think so many people kind of self-select out of this performing arts? Is it because they feel like, Oh, you know, my window is closed, I’m not going to become famous? So then why bother? Or there’s too much rejection? They’re never going to pick me. Like, what are some of the reasons you found that people kind of opt out of the arts at, you know, at a certain age?

Joanna Tress: [00:05:13] Yeah. And it’s all of the above. People respond to a survey that’s on our website, and some of the responses include that when they were young, their parents want them to focus on academics even though they had an interest in the art. So sometimes it’s that family pressure or the family business and for them, for a particular career path and they don’t see where it can fit in. For others, there was an accomplished young woman who studied opera for years could sing and play the piano, et cetera, have even put out a record. But then she had an accident, and that that drastically dramatically affected her ability to sing. It was an injury to her face and put her in intense pain, so she put that on the back burner for years. So a lot of times it could be health related. It can be just the responsibilities that we think are we don’t have time. It’s those who feel that they’re not good enough, that they don’t have anything to offer, that they won’t make it. You get rejected so many times for certain auditions and and then you just sort of want to give up. So it’s a combination and everyone has a story. And we actually delve into that so that we can frame our experience. That’s keeping us away from what we love to do and really create a bridge that we can cross over. All right, that was then. This is the next chapter, and here’s what we can do now.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:44] So now what are the five dimensions for Montana five d x?

Joanna Tress: [00:06:50] Well, the five for performing arts that I mentioned as far as creative expression, playing an instrument, acting, dancing and singing, while also we want to make sure every time we get together that we’re immersing ourselves with our five main senses. So we’re going to have something that excites the eyes. Something you can touch and feel physically, tactically. Of course, what you can hear with your ears, which you can smell and what you can taste, especially when we have our live experiences. You know, even if you were giving a goodie bag, it’s going to have something to indulge your senses so that you’re completely immersed in that experience. That’s why we call it five dimensional. And of course, the fifth dimension is also magic, so we’ve got a little sprinkle of that, too.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:39] Now what is the experience like for someone who wants to kind of join forces with you or participate in some of your activities?

Joanna Tress: [00:07:49] Ok, well, the first stop is W W W Dot Matan Lee Kantor, that’s M82 A and a dot org Mactan, a double t double edged sword because that’s where they’ll see what we’re about, and they’re invited to take our initial survey to see where they are. We follow up. We have a secondary survey to get more specific and then we have a free 30 minute consultation to let them know what we can do for them, how we see them. And then of course, we invite them to one of our events online, virtually by Zoom, of course, first. And of course, what that leads to after know, sometimes there’s an open mic element. Sometimes there’s a creative writing and even meditation element. Sometimes it’s an assessment. We have an actual process step by step, but ultimately we want to get together and put a live show on for the community to buy. Tickets have sponsors just all of us delve in and and present a customized show based on each person’s interest. So every show we’re going to do is different.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:08] And then so it’s primarily for people in the Orlando area.

Joanna Tress: [00:09:12] Well, the live events, yes, you’ll come to Orlando for the live events, but of course, the virtual events and we’re getting together on Zoom. I’ve attended many successful events online. That’s, of course, because of COVID. That’s we’ve transitioned to so we can all still share and participate in the workshop activities and even have the spotlight in that group setting. We’re all pretty comfortable with that now, and you’ve got to start somewhere so virtually we can serve the world and then go for that special thing. Got to come to Orlando, and it’s the big time comes over when we get COVID under control, like next year. We look forward to that.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:54] So now are you partnering with other organizations that are involved in the performing arts or would like to be?

Joanna Tress: [00:10:01] Absolutely. I I have organizations that I love and support, like the Tim Aqua Arts Organization here in Orlando. I went to a live performance before the shutdown and blew my mind. There is a collective with recording studios and stages small stages called Jacob JIC. I’ve attended their events and support them, but we are really open to all of the places that have been used that have an audience that we can help and nurture. And we’re opening that up. So we participated with where we attended Orlando Fringe. We’d like to volunteer next as Theater Festival. So really, we’re just getting involved we can and getting the word out. That’s really what I’m doing. The podcast circuit for the radio is to spread the word, to get more people to join us, so we have more to work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:04] Now do you find that there’s some kind of maybe businesses that would like to have you maybe do a luncheon, learn or do some education to kind of instill that creativity and that artistic kind of culture into their organization?

Joanna Tress: [00:11:20] Absolutely. I am open to that and I am working on reaching out to businesses for that. Next week actually is my first lunch and learn, so to speak. It is at a a place for the healing arts, so they focus on on total health and wellness with natural things, maybe alternative or homeopathic, whatever you want to call it. And I was invited to attend their staff meeting because we can talk about the therapeutic qualities so they have plenty of clients who would love to have this creative outlet and to really show how it incorporates into your overall mental, emotional and physical health too. So we’re just starting with that next week.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:09] Now you talked about the events you do virtually and in person. If someone goes to your website, is there some samples of that? Can they kind of get a feel for what an event looks like or sounds like?

Joanna Tress: [00:12:23] We don’t have the samples yet. I will. When I connect with someone, I can share testimonials with them that I have on other websites. So experience that I have had and gotten positive feedback, things like singalongs and music nights that are posted. And so it’s not trying to be secretive, but we try to streamline things and we’re really inviting people to connect with us and then we have so much to share from that point. But we want them to get in touch with us and share a little about themselves as well, because the more feedback that we get from those who visit Montana, the more customized we can have to really make this experience what people want and need. You sell them what they want and then you give them what you need. That was the advice I’ve got recently.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:16] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on all the success if somebody wants to learn more one more time with the website.

Joanna Tress: [00:13:22] Yes, WW w dot Mattina dot org. That’s M a t a and a dot org, m a t a and a dot org.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:36] Well, Joanna, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Joanna Tress: [00:13:40] Oh, I loved it. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:45] Once again, that’s Montana Dawg. Joanna Trece. Thank you for sharing. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you. Thank you. All right, this ad Lee Kantor, we will sail next time on Coach the Coach radio.

 

Workplace MVP: Jeff Gorter, R3 Continuum

by

Jeff Gorter
Minneapolis St. Paul Studio
Workplace MVP: Jeff Gorter, R3 Continuum
Loading
/

Jeff Gorter

Workplace MVP:  Jeff Gorter, R3 Continuum

Critical incident response veteran Jeff Gorter contends that business and human responses to crisis events are not separate but interwoven. On the twentieth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Jeff and host Jamie Gassman discussed the parallels of that event and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the importance of acknowledging 9/11 for your employees.  Workplace MVP is underwritten and presented by R3 Continuum and produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®.

Jeff Gorter, Vice President of Crisis Response Services, R3 Continuum

Jeff Gorter, Vice President of Crisis Response Services, R3 Continuum

Jeff Gorter, MSW, LCSW, is VP of Clinical Crisis Response at R3 Continuum. Mr. Gorter brings over 30 years of clinical experience including consultation and extensive on-site critical incident response to businesses and communities. He has responded directly to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia Tech shootings, the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill, the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan, the Newtown Tragedy, the Orlando Pulse Nightclub Shooting, the Las Vegas Shooting, and the breaching of the US Capitol on 1/6/21. He has conducted trainings and presented at the Employee Assistance Professionals Association Annual Conference, the American Psychological Association Annual Conference, the World Conference on Disaster Management, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Meeting, and at other state, national and international venues on a variety of topics.

LinkedIn

R3 Continuum

R3 Continuum is a global leader in workplace behavioral health and security solutions. R3c helps ensure the psychological and physical safety of organizations and their people in today’s ever-changing and often unpredictable world. Through their continuum of tailored solutions, including evaluations, crisis response, executive optimization, protective services, and more, they help organizations maintain and cultivate a workplace of wellbeing so that their people can thrive. Learn more about R3c at www.r3c.com.

Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

About Workplace MVP

Every day, around the world, organizations of all sizes face disruptive events and situations. Within those workplaces are everyday heroes in human resources, risk management, security, business continuity, and the C-suite. They don’t call themselves heroes though. On the contrary, they simply show up every day, laboring for the well-being of employees in their care, readying the workplace for and planning responses to disruption. This show, Workplace MVP, confers on these heroes the designation they deserve, Workplace MVP (Most Valuable Professionals), and gives them the forum to tell their story. As you hear their experiences, you will learn first-hand, real life approaches to readying the workplace, responses to crisis situations, and overcoming challenges of disruption. Visit our show archive here.

Workplace MVP Host Jamie Gassmann

In addition to serving as the host to the Workplace MVP podcast, Jamie Gassmann is the Director of Marketing at R3 Continuum (R3c). Collectively, she has more than fourteen years of marketing experience. Across her tenure, she has experience working in and with various industries including banking, real estate, retail, crisis management, insurance, business continuity, and more. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications with special interest in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master of Business Administration from Paseka School of Business, Minnesota State University.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:03] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Workplace MVP. Workplace MVP is brought to you by R3 Continuum, a global leader in workplace behavioral health and security solutions. Now, here’s your host, Jamie Gassmann.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:00:24] Hi, everyone. Your host, Jamie Gassmann, here. And welcome to this episode of Workplace MVP. This year marks the 20th anniversary for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We are also halfway through the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are calling these two tragic bookends to the last two decades. Interestingly, though, while these two events are different in nature, the impact they made on businesses and employees are very similar.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:00:53] Is this a coincidence? Or is there something to be learned about the impact disruption can have on an organization and its people? What should an employer be focused on when an event like 9/11 or COVID-19 happens? Are there solutions or support options that can be leveraged to help them successfully navigate the troubled aftermath of the events?

Jamie Gassmann: [00:01:15] With us today to share his expertise and firsthand knowledge from responding to the psychological first aid needs of employers for both 9/11 and COVID-19, among other major events across our history, is Workplace MVP Jeff Gorter, Vice President of Crisis Response Services for our show sponsor, R3 Continuum. Welcome to the show, Jeff.

Jeff Gorter: [00:01:37] Thank you, Jamie. I appreciate the opportunity.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:01:40] So, we’re glad to have you here and really interested in hearing a little bit about yourself and your career journey that’s led you to R3 Continuum and to where you’re at today.

Jeff Gorter: [00:01:53] No. Thanks. And just by way of background, I am a clinical social worker, master’s level social worker. And so, I come from a clinical background and have been in the field providing services either in private practice or in a public setting for 35 years. But the last 20 years of that have been specifically focused on providing disaster response.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:02:20] And so, can you share with our audience the disaster response work that you did post-9/11? And how does that compare to the work that you’re doing today in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Jeff Gorter: [00:02:33] And if you caught the 20 year reference, I really look at 9/11 as sort of that was certainly my first experience in responding to a large scale event. Part of the backstory of that is that the former president of Crisis Care Network, which is now known as R3 Continuum, Bob VandePol and I were in private practice together. And he had left the practice I’d say six months before 9/11.

Jeff Gorter: [00:03:03] And when the attacks occurred on that day, I called Bob and I said, “Bob, from what I understand, based on the new position that you’re in, I guess your company is going to be involved in this. I just want to let you know I am trained in this, if there’s anything I can do to help.” To which he said, “Can you be on a plane in four hours?” And I was in New York City that evening able to provide and to begin providing response.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:03:34] And how does that compare to some of the response works? I know you’ve done some response work with the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of that’s been done virtually. But are some of the sessions or some of the work that you’re doing with that, can you tell us a little bit about, you know, how they work and kind of what your role is that you play within that?

Jeff Gorter: [00:03:56] It’s an excellent question. Because I’ve really been wrestling with the fact that, you know, this being the 20th anniversary of 9/11, that was very much in the forefront of my mind, and yet COVID has such a dominating factor. And, as you said in your intro, it’s kind of no surprise that these two things are, you know, juxtaposed here at this moment.

Jeff Gorter: [00:04:19] So, specifically, when I went to New York City, I was deployed to assist businesses as employees were returning to work for the first time following the attacks. And that’s a key element in that, you know, businesses played a major role in helping employees feel like they were getting back to some sense of normalcy or something that they could control. And so, many of the things that they talked about were more tangible, if you will, in the sense that they talked about things like the smells, things like the grittiness of the dust that was everywhere, how a siren going off for a police or fire would create a startle response the first time. And many of us can remember that the first time we saw a plane flying again after all flights had been grounded.

Jeff Gorter: [00:05:19] And so, for many of them these were much more visceral kind of descriptions of what they were going through. And, yet, for many of them, their stories were also about how resilience, how going back to work was not just getting back to work, but was in for many of them, a patriotic act. A small but very tangible stand against the darkness, if you will. And their getting back to work meant this is something I can do in this national crisis.

Jeff Gorter: [00:05:52] Now, in juxtaposing it to COVID-19 that the swift recovery of business operations is and has been continues to be a central component to our nation’s recovery. But it’s different because 9/11 was confined to a day and we didn’t know that at the time. But it’s confined to 9/11. It was a specific point in our calendar that we can look back. And it was a moment of sharp human initiated attack.

Jeff Gorter: [00:06:24] Now, COVID has a different perspective in that it is a prolonged, ongoing, unfolding, still not done crisis, driven primarily by biology. And so, in that sense, you know, the fear and the emotions elicited are, in many ways, just as powerful. Whereas, you could point to it, you could feel it between your fingers in New York City what the attack was like. Here, it’s kind of a vague, shadowy fear creeping outside your door. It’s everywhere, and yet I can’t point to it. And so, the fear is the common factor, but it’s also different kind of fear. And so, I think that’s important to recognize.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:07:16] Absolutely. And, obviously, from a business perspective, there’s some similarities in some of the thinking. And so, looking at your perspective of business leaders – and I know we’ve talked about this and I know you’ve got an opinion and kind of some thoughts – around that balancing act between human and business and how employers need to be looking at that following a disruption in the workplace, can you share your perspective on that with us?

Jeff Gorter: [00:07:42] Yeah. Well, I begin with the assumption that many business makers or business leaders have that the human response and the business aspects are two different things. And I contend that they are not. That they are, in fact, inextricably woven. And that, typically, when a large scale disaster hits, business leaders will go to their business continuity plan. They’ll pull that three ring binder off the shelf or they’ll go to their files and they’ll look at that plan, as they should. And they’ll review that crisis plan, the policies, procedures, what the strategies were to contain the crisis and mitigate the impact. That’s a sound thinking.

Jeff Gorter: [00:08:25] The trouble is, most of those plans focused on issues like I.T. security, facilities management, supply chain integrity, things that undoubtedly are important elements in a business recovery. But these plans often forget the most essential aspect, the human element. It doesn’t matter how secure your firewalls are or how quickly you get the power restored and the computers working again, if the people aren’t reassured and ready to go back to work. So, taking care of your people is taking care of your business. And I know I think it’s a mistake when a business owner says, “Well, I’m going to do one over the other.” They have to be done simultaneously.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:09:10] And, you know, so focusing on that people side of it, when a major incident occurs such as 9/11, or when you’ve got a pandemic like COVID-19, or other types of disruptions that impact a workplace, typically, if you were going to provide recommendation, what’s that first thing that an employer should be focusing on when it comes to their people?

Jeff Gorter: [00:09:33] So, I look at it as two parts. The first part, first and foremost always is safety. I need to ensure the safety of the employees. And that means physical safety and emotional safety. I have to prepare or provide for both aspects of that. So, I need to make sure when a large-scale event happens, have all the appropriate authorities been called? Have the right people been notified? Is the site secure? Are all the employees accounted for? Have immediate steps been taken, even simple steps like providing food, water, or blankets? Have immediate steps been taken for the care and comfort of my team? And has leadership physically directly checked on the team? Have they been visible? Have they gone around? Have they checked on and ensured the safety of everybody, both physically and emotionally? So, safety is first, job one.

Jeff Gorter: [00:10:32] But then, followed up by that, there are three simple things that I would say that the leader needs to do, and that is communicate, communicate, communicate. That one safety is restored, it’s imperative that leadership starts communicating early and often. This establishes them as a credible source of verifiable information, and that is in short supply following a crisis.

Jeff Gorter: [00:11:01] And it’s a common mistake among leaders to say, “Well, you know what? I’ll send a message out.” Or, “I’ll do some communication once I know all the facts. Once I have a complete idea of what’s going on, once I know the whole ball of wax, then I’ll be able to send out a message that encompasses everything.” And then, as one hour goes by and two hours go by and four hours go by, employees in that absence are going to become increasingly anxious. And it’s human nature in the absence of real information to plug in our worst possible fears.

Jeff Gorter: [00:11:40] And so, you know, maybe they’re going to ask themselves, “Maybe leadership was hurt. I thought we would have heard by now. Maybe they’re part of the injured. Maybe they don’t know that this is going on. Maybe they’re unaware of this. Maybe they don’t care.” And you can see that in the absence of real information. By that point, a negative narrative has already begun to take root.

Jeff Gorter: [00:12:04] And it is so hard to play catch up after that and try and establish. Especially in the age of instantaneous communication through social media and other sources like that, it is absolutely essential that a leader is out there early with frequent brief updates sharing what you know, what is verifiable, and share what you don’t know, but promising to confirm it as soon as you can. Which is to say, “I’m going to be open about I don’t know. I don’t, as a leader, have to have all the answers right now.”

Jeff Gorter: [00:12:42] And doing that, sharing what you know, admitting what you don’t but saying I’ll get it as soon as I can, has an incredibly calming and reassuring effect. It will enhance a leader’s standing with their employees and lets them know, “Okay. The leaders have a plan. They know what they’re doing. They are on top of this. I can take a deep breath at this moment.”

Jeff Gorter: [00:13:08] So, again, as an example, saying something like, “Following this event, we can confirm that three employees were injured and have been transported to the hospital,” that’s verifiable. “We don’t know their status at this point, but we will share that info as soon as we get it.” That’s all you need, something as brief as that. So often, again, leaders will, “Well, until we know more, I’m not going to say anything.” Or they’ll make, “I’m sure everybody’s going to be okay.” Are you sure? Can you guarantee that? No? Don’t say it if you can’t.

Jeff Gorter: [00:13:45] Just simply say what you know, admit what you don’t know. But assure them that as soon as we can have verifiable information, we’ll get back to you. It’s amazing how comforting and calming that is for an employee group that is looking to you for leadership in the midst of this.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:14:06] Great. And, you know, as you continue to go through kind of that recovery process after these types of events, when an organization is starting to regain a sense of new normalcy, how, at that point, can business leaders help to support employees and, really, the organization as a whole in that recovery effort?

Jeff Gorter: [00:14:27] Yeah. Kind of building on what I was saying before, that the employee and organizational interplay is inextricably interwoven. The employee recovery depends on organizational recovery and vice versa. Employees are going to look to the workplace for stability, financial stability, as well as just something that I know is there, predictability, structure. They crave a return to something that feels normal, and where they feel in control, and where they know what they’re supposed to do.

Jeff Gorter: [00:15:03] When the crisis happened, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I’d like to get back to something where I feel I am trained and where I have a sense of influence and agency. Likewise, organizations are only as strong as their employees. And they need engaged, motivated, healthy workers to weather the storm. There’s an old quote from Kipling in which he said, “The strength of the pack is the wolf. And the strength of the wolf is the pack.” Meaning, the interplay between the organization and the individual they support each other.

Jeff Gorter: [00:15:41] And so, business leaders set the tone of positive resilience and an expectation of recovery for everybody. And part of that is ensuring access to the resources that are supportive to their employees, like onsite or virtual behavioral health specialists who are able to provide immediate support, psychological first aid, and encouragement. Being able to offer 24-7 phone or text access, perhaps via their employee assistance program or through other strategic vendors who can provide that. Offering and making sure there is access to print or electronic resources for education, coping, guidance. Things like that are immediate steps that the employer can do to support the employee. And as the employees come back, they support the organization and it is a common effort.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:16:48] And so, for disruptions like with the COVID-19 pandemic where we’re kind of on this ever changing kind of evolution, if you will, for the last year-and-a-half, do some of those same initiatives apply in the context of a disruption that maybe continues to evolve as opposed to a one day event?

Jeff Gorter: [00:17:11] I think you’re absolutely right. And even more so, I think that because what we have come to realize, even though we’re 18 months into this – the words almost stick in my throat in saying that, but that’s where we are right now at this taping – almost every day, it is a changing, fluid, dynamic circumstance. Where we are now and where we were back in February 2020 are vastly different places. And we know so much more and yet we are incredibly aware of how much we don’t know.

Jeff Gorter: [00:17:48] And so, that same central concept that in the absence of real information – I’m going to plug in my fears – just highlights the need for leadership to have a constant, steady, reliable drumbeat of information, even if it’s little bits. Even if my update today is to say no new changes today, that’s worth doing. That is something that reassures them that leadership is on top of it.

Jeff Gorter: [00:18:20] Because, again, that’s one of the things that clearly has typified this prolonged, slow moving disaster is that, you know, almost no two days are the same. And yet there’s still this emotional sense of Groundhog Day of, “What? It’s still here? We’re still talking about this.” And so, yeah, for leadership to not fall into the trap of thinking, “Oh. They don’t want to hear any more updates.” No, keep doing it. It’s essential.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:18:52] Great. And, obviously, for 9/11 this is a milestone anniversary, so looking at milestone anniversaries, you know, some employees may have or may experience kind of a reaction or, like, a triggering effect to that. And just how an employee handles the disruption when it’s happening, it’s all different in terms of the different levels of resilience and how people kind of process trauma. From your experience, you know, what should an employer be looking at so that they can show support and care knowing that with an anniversary like the 20 year anniversary everyone’s going to kind of approach it differently?

Jeff Gorter: [00:19:37] Yeah. No, that’s a great question. I mean, there were some organizations, obviously those in the New York area or Pennsylvania or in D.C. that were directly impacted. But I think it would be a mistake for a business leader to assume that, “Well, I don’t think any of my people were involved. I don’t need to pay attention to that. I don’t need to mention that.” In the 20 years people have moved, people have relocated, people have taken different jobs. People who were children at that point, who may have lost a loved one at that time, have grown up, moved, taken on new jobs. Again, it would be a mistake to think, “Oh, it’s so far back, we don’t really need to worry about it.” This is a significant day.

Jeff Gorter: [00:20:21] And so, for an employer, I think it’s important for them to acknowledge the solemnity of this day, the power of this day itself, and to recognize that employees may have some challenges with it. Not everybody. Not that they have to. But some may. And so, as a leader, getting out ahead of that and simply recognizing and acknowledging that lets them know that you get it, that you understand that this day is different from other days. It has significance, which helps those employees to feel understood and validated, not isolated and alone as if something is broken or wrong with them.

Jeff Gorter: [00:21:02] And so, it’s important, too, one of the ways that an employer can do that is to remind their employee of the wide range of resources that they have. Again, the behavioral health support, either onsite or virtually, as we’ve talked about before, should they choose to use it. So, for them, again, highlighting what their EAP can do or other groups. In most cases, people just want to be able to share their experiences. And anniversaries are times where we talk about it, because that helps us when we talk about it. It helps us feel less alone. It feels connected. We feel like we’re part of something. They may or may not want to talk about it, but it’s important for a leader to create this safe space for people to do that, to be able to talk about it.

Jeff Gorter: [00:21:54] Because I think one of the things that I am sure once we get past COVID, we’re going to do this. But one of the things that happened during 9/11, if we look back on it, all of us constructed a narrative. A story of where we were when it happened. What happened next? How did it impact us? Where are we now? We developed a story. That’s human nature. It’s how we make peace with it. It’s how we wrap our minds around it. This narrative is where we begin to constrain it as a chapter in our lives. An important chapter, a significant chapter, but not the only chapter in our lives. Things happen to be for that. Things have happened since that.

Jeff Gorter: [00:22:39] And so, being able to talk about it in that narrative sense, as if it’s a chapter helps to, again, feel a sense of control. And I begin to view myself, not as a victim, as if it’s still going on today, but more as a survivor or perhaps even a thriver. Here’s how I grew from this. Here’s how I’m different because of that. Here’s where I learned some things that are important.

Jeff Gorter: [00:23:07] So, being at work on the day of an anniversary, I think is beneficial to employees impacted by any major disruptive event because, again, there’s surprising power in the mundane, comfort in the normal. I want to be around something that feels supportive and and constrained. And going about their everyday lives helps a sense of control, helps them get through that day, and it helps them to have a balanced perspective on the significance of the past. The reality of this present. And the hope for the future. We will move to the next chapter as it were.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:23:49] Great. So, if a leader were starting a conversation like that with their employees – you know, because I love that concept of creating kind of this, like, open area. This comforting, you know, feeling that it’s okay to be transparent in how you feel about that – if you were going to provide a conversation starter for how a leader could set that tone and set that stage for that conversation, how would you advise them to speak to kind of get that conversation moving?

Jeff Gorter: [00:24:25] So, I think, you know, a generalized statement to begin with saying, “As we approach this anniversary, we recognize the power it has for us as a nation, for many of us as individuals. We want to acknowledge that and here’s the things we’re going to do.” And maybe that, again, if they are aware of folks who were survivors or who had a closer context, or it is part of our organizational history that our company was impacted by that day, then I think it would be a very wise idea to have onsite or virtual counselors available to be able to provide immediate, tangible, I could point down the hall and I can see that person if I want to go talk to them, I know they’re there. That’s an immediate thing that they can do.

Jeff Gorter: [00:25:14] The other is to remind them of other resources that they may have. Their employee assistance program, 24-7 hotline that is offered. To simply say at the point of the towers collapsing, many organizations I’m aware of will have a moment of silence at the moment, perhaps, when the first plane struck the building. They will do that, and that is, again, a way of honoring the solemnity of it, a way of acknowledging the reality of it, and just simply let your employees know, “Okay. We get this. We’re taking it seriously. This means something to us. And we’re doing some things to acknowledge that.”

Jeff Gorter: [00:26:01] Other organizations may say, “You know what? Given this day -” maybe even something simple like saying “- we’re having lunch brought in as just a way to acknowledge and provide a communal opportunity for us to get together and share that experience.” You know, depending on the the structure of your work site, that is a pretty low cost way to affirm to your employee group because they will talk about that afterwards. “Wow. Our company got it and they did something substantial to help us.”

Jamie Gassmann: [00:26:44] Great advice. So, we’re going to take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. Workplace MVP is sponsored by R3 Continuum. R3 Continuum is a global leader in providing expert, reliable, responsive, and tailored behavioral health, crisis, and security solutions to promote workplace wellbeing and performance in the face of an ever changing and often unpredictable world. Learn more about how R3 Continuum can tailor a solution for your organization’s unique challenges by visiting r3c.com today.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:27:19] So, some feel, Jeff – and we kind of mentioned it in the introduction too – that 9/11 and COVID-19 pandemic are tragic bookend events and have various similarities in their impact on employees, you know, with mental health concerns, substance abuse, sleeping concerns. Can you share your perspective on this? You know, are there similarities? And if so, what would you say are the similarities? And do you have any context to why that might be the case?

Jeff Gorter: [00:27:56] I think that’s a great observation, because I think on the surface, it would be easy to say, “Well, my goodness. I can hardly think of two completely disparate type of events.” I mean, they are radically different and they’re separated by 20 years. But if we did that, we lose tapping into the accumulated wisdom and knowledge that we gained from how we adapted to 9/11, and how that has sustained us through so many other crises that have happened in between, and how that can inform and shape what we’re doing now in response to the current crisis.

Jeff Gorter: [00:28:35] So, some areas of similarities that occurred to me is that, you know, both 9/11 and COVID changed everything about how business is conducted. I mean, if we think back on it, I think one when cheap and easy example is – for those of us of a certain age – can you remember when you didn’t have to take your shoes off at the airport to get on a plane? You know, it changed how we travel. It changed what we define as safety. It changed what security protocols with baggage. It changed even the work environment itself, where we work, who we work with, how we work has been changed.

Jeff Gorter: [00:29:18] There was radical change after 9/11 and the same thing has been happening after COVID, that it’s created changes that are going to be likely permanent as a way of adaptations to that. And so, that’s one area of similarity in that everything’s changed.

Jeff Gorter: [00:29:38] Another is that both 9/11 and COVID-19 have required a massive expenditure of time, money, resources by companies to respond to it, to adapt to it, to restore some sense of functional operations and confidence. That happened after 9/11. The same thing happened after COVID-19. I defy you to find a company that says, “You know what? We are pretty much operating exactly the same way with exactly the same plans, policies, and procedures as we did before those events. You know, it really didn’t touch us. It didn’t change us.”

Jeff Gorter: [00:30:19] I mean, to the contrary and particularly in the midst of the pandemic, we had to initiate almost immediate changes. As I said earlier, things like we’re operating from home now where many of us who never envisioned ourselves as remote workers now find themselves with their library kingdom. And other things in which we’ve changed. We’ve made so many initiatives in response to this to try to enhance the safety while returning to operations. And we don’t know the effectiveness of many of these until later. You know, we have to make the change. We’re going to do it.

Jeff Gorter: [00:31:07] But many leaders and workers alike are saying, “Well, did we do the right thing? Did we make the right decision? Are we doing enough? Or did we do too much?” So, I mean, these questions were the same that’s an echo of 9/11. We said the same kinds of things. We wrestled with the same sort of initiatives then as we do now in determining what was the right calibration. It’s only in hindsight that we’ll know. But it did require massive amounts of time and energy.

Jeff Gorter: [00:31:41] And then, the third thing, and I think this is probably the one that is most pertinent to me as a behavioral health professional, is that, both of these events had a global emotional impact unlike any other event. And if we think back over the last 20 years, there have been many major events. We are only a few days away from the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. There have been multiple large scale mass shootings at schools or in other public locations. There has been a breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Jeff Gorter: [00:32:21] All of these things are major defining events, yet none of them had the emotional charge on a global scale. There’s almost no person on the planet that has not been aware of those events that was not emotionally moved by those events. There was a universal sense of shock, vulnerability, fear that defined 9/11 and was very similar to the pandemic. And I think, you know, those other tragedies that I said were huge and highly visible, but they were constrained to areas, regions, cities, location. Whereas, 9/11 led the whole world to know things are different and the same has happened with COVID-19.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:33:18] Interesting. And you you mentioned in a previous conversation with us and you may have have kind of touched on it a little bit here that events like 9/11 and COVID-19 pandemic are described as seminal moments that impact an individual’s view on life, which can lead to them re-evaluating what’s important. So, can you elaborate a little bit more on that?

Jeff Gorter: [00:33:45] Yeah. I think, the easiest way to understand, seminal moments are those milestones, those tragic milestones in the story of your life. As I talked about, they are unavoidable reference points in the story of our lives. You know, we will say, “Was that pre-COVID or post-COVID?” It’s the kind of thing that you immediately will recognize and you reference events as almost, you know, magnetically rotating around that.

Jeff Gorter: [00:34:19] But what I think is so important about that is that the events are the events. The events themselves are only the beginning. I think the way we responded to them is much more compelling and is much more reflective of that personal agency, that personal story that we construct, that narrative that we build following these events. So, the event happened, but the story of how we endured, what we had to let go of, where we grew, how we changed, how we adapted, how we found moments of happiness or lightness even in the midst, those kinds of things are lived experiences that I think hold tremendous value.

Jeff Gorter: [00:35:09] You know, I think that in older days that might have been called wisdom. That’s the kind of thing that you look back on and you say, “You know, I would never want to go through that again. But I learned some things about myself, about my company, about my community, or about my country.” And that is important knowledge to be able to have and to incorporate. I know that we all want to hurry by. We all want to get to the happy ending. Can I just flip through the book? Can I fast forward to the end of the show here and see the happy ending?

Jeff Gorter: [00:35:44] But the reality is, if we let this moment pass by without intentionally purposely reflecting on what this means to me as a person, what this means to me as a leader, what this means to my company, what it means to my team, I think we lose something of incredible value.

Jeff Gorter: [00:36:05] And so, again, especially with something that has been as prolonged as the pandemic, we’re just like, “Well, I just need to get through it. I just need to get through another day. I just need to keep rolling.” But I think savvy leaders have found that stepping back, intentionally reflecting on this, and what lessons I learned from it, it positions them for better success in the future when they get past this.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:36:38] Right. So, almost like attributing meaning to the event and how that is having an impact on your life, because it could be both in positive ways and negative ways. So, there could be a couple of different things that are learned from that, both professionally and personally when you’re looking at it, would you agree?

Jeff Gorter: [00:36:57] Exactly. I think, again, attributing meaning to it as part of that narrative making. It’s human nature that when we go through an event that has that kind of power that impacts us like a physical blow, we try and make sense of it. We try and reassert a sense of control. And we typically go – sorry. I’m going to go a little Psych 101 here for a moment – in one of two directions. Meaning, attribution means we either determine internal disposition, what does this say about me? About how I handle it? What does this reveal about me? Or external situation, what does this say about my context, my company, my community, my country? So, we’re going to assign a meaning to this.

Jeff Gorter: [00:37:51] And, again, the event is the event. So, the pain has occurred, the trauma has occurred, the tragedy has occurred. That doesn’t change. But my meaning will greatly influence my trajectory afterwards. And so, by that, there is a critical inflection point. There is a moment. A moment where almost all of us, whether we’re conscious of it or not, where we look at this and we say, “Wow. What I just went through, what does this say about me?”

Jeff Gorter: [00:38:24] Do I look at this and do I say, “You know what? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, man, I’m just glad I got through that.” Or do I say, “You know what? This just proves once again that I am the unluckiest guy on the face of the Earth. You know, I am a soccer ball on the field of life. I just get kicked around all the time.” Do I view this as, “Wow. I am so happy to be alive following this. I am going to go home and kiss my partner and hug the kids. And I’m going to enjoy life in a different way. I’m going to value life.” Do I say that? Or do I say, “What’s the point? Why even try? Stuff like this happens. I told you it’s just one bad thing after another.”

Jeff Gorter: [00:39:13] And you know why? The event is the event. My interpretation is going to determine whether I move ahead with resilience and in a positive way. Or that I add on to the sense of negativity, the sense of pathology, something must be broken. And, you know, do I view this as, “Okay. These powerful emotions I’m experiencing are normal, understandable reactions to this really powerful event.” That makes sense. Or do I say, “I’m not handling it right. I must be doing it poorly. I think I’m not smart enough or strong enough. Maybe I’m broken. Maybe I’m losing it.” You know, the event is the event, but my interpretation is going to determine where I go from. And so, I think that how we attribute meaning is going to help us move forward.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:40:09] Interesting. And so, you know, looking at kind of moving forward and looking at leaders that might be listening in on this conversation, if you are going to give them a take away from this show, something that you wanted to leave them with that can help them to effectively support their employees when disruption occurs, what would you share with them? What would you want them to take with them?

Jeff Gorter: [00:40:35] So, I’m going to share not something that originates from me, but I want to share a quote from one of my favorite poets, Maya Angelou. She had a quote that I think I have reflected on and it has helped me in so many situations when responding to a large scale event. And the quote is, “They will never remember what you said. They will never remember what you did. But they will always remember how you made them feel.” And I find that so incredible.

Jeff Gorter: [00:41:09] Because as a leader, I urge you, I encourage you to help your team feel cared for, help them feel supported, help them feel valued. And when you do that, they will surprise you. They will inspire you. They will lift up your company in ways you can’t do alone. So, it’s not about having the magic words. It’s not about following exactly the ten point plan. It’s about keeping in mind that my goal is they will remember how I made them feel. Make them feel cared for and valued, and they will take care of the rest.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:41:49] Fantastic. So, looking out over your career, I’m always curious to ask my guests, what are you most proud of when you look out over your career?

Jeff Gorter: [00:42:01] Well, that is a challenging question. The things that are obvious particularly in the context of our conversation, being able to have responded directly to 9/11, having had an influence here during COVID, or responding to the Vegas shootings, or going to D.C., all of those events that I have done. But I don’t want to be distracted by, let’s say, the bright, shiny, big is the only thing that matters.

Jeff Gorter: [00:42:40] I think probably what I’m most proud of is that I consider it a humbling honor to be able to walk alongside somebody in what might have been one of the worst days of their lives. And it doesn’t matter whether it was a mass event that rocks the globe or whether it was the loss of a friend and co-worker who they had really come to depend on. Being able to be there and help take a little bit off their shoulders, it’s a day well spent. And so, it’s each one of those times that I’ve had an opportunity to speak into somebody’s life.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:43:20] Wonderful. So, with our listeners, if they wanted to get a hold of you, Jeff, how would they be able to do that?

Jeff Gorter: [00:43:28] Well, as I mentioned, I am with R3 Continuum, and so, certainly, being able to access that through our website. But also being able to respond to me directly, if you’d like to send an email to jeff.gorter@r3c.com, jeff.gorter@r3c.com. And I’d certainly be willing to respond to any questions.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:44:00] Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Jeff. It was very moving, great information shared, very powerful stories, and advice. And we really do appreciate you. And thank you for letting us celebrate you on the show today. And hearing the experiences you had, the work you did in supporting workplaces at 9/11, and even with COVID, and other events within our history. So, thank you so much for being a part of our show.

Jeff Gorter: [00:44:31] Thank you so much, Jamie. And I urge all your listeners, be well, be safe.

Jamie Gassmann: [00:44:38] Great. And we also want to thank our show sponsor, R3 Continuum, for supporting the Workplace MVP podcast. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. If you’ve not already done so, make sure to subscribe so you get our most recent episodes and other resources. You can also follow our show on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter at Workplace MVP. If you are a workplace MVP or know someone who is, we want to know. Email us at info@workplace-mvp.com. Thank you all for joining us. And have a great rest of your day.

 

Our Mission

We help local business leaders get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession.

We support and celebrate business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignores. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

Sponsor a Show

Build Relationships and Grow Your Business. Click here for more details.

Partner With Us

Discover More Here

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy

Connect with us

Want to keep up with the latest in pro-business news across the network? Follow us on social media for the latest stories!

Business RadioX® Headquarters
1000 Abernathy Rd. NE
Building 400, Suite L-10
Sandy Springs, GA 30328