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

Lori Kennedy: [00:00:30] Hello, this is Lori Kennedy, and I’m your host today for Women in Business, powered by Business RadioX Stone Payton. Our producer is also in the studio with us today and we are grateful to have you tuned in. Today we have three amazing women. We have Ellen Tyler with Ellen Tyler coaching. We have Karen McDonald with Innovation Impressions and we have Natalia Hunter with Hunter Public Adjusting. I’m going to start with Ellen. Ellen, tell us a little about what you do and how long you’ve been in business and who you serve.

Ellen Tyler: [00:01:07] Thanks, Laurie. So my name is Ellen Tyler. I’m a business coach. I’m here in Woodstock, Georgia. And the easiest way that I can explain this, which I just heard the other day, which I thought was funny, any human who has a problem, I can help. And that’s really broad. But I come from business. I came from a very strong corporate business background. And so I knew the chains that I had when I worked with a coach. And I thought if I could just do that because there was such an impact for me personally, our family, we adopted three additional children at that point in time because of that flexibility. And I thought, what a great way to do that for other people. So I tend to like to work with small business owners, career changers who. Want to do the work for their family and their clients and community. But I help them. I help them just do business better.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:07] I love that. I love that. I feel like whenever something in our life is an amazing makes an amazing difference that we want to. It’s like our instinct to then provide that to others, like be that same source of light for others. And I love that. There were some questions that you had, and I just want to ask one of them to start with. Tell us some goals that you that you give to people when you when you start working with them.

Ellen Tyler: [00:02:36] Sure. Thanks, Lori. When I think about goals, most people think about New Year’s resolutions, which they really don’t work. And one of the things that we help everyone understand is that we really don’t even know what a goal should entail and it should be something we’ve never done. So if it’s let’s let’s use business, it’s really easy or selling. Somebody might say, Well, I want to earn 50,000 more this year. Well, the goal has to be. But first of all, why? If you don’t know why And what does that what is that money going to do for you? Because just to have a goal of money won’t cause you to get up and get out of bed in the morning. It’s what does it do? Is it going to change your family? Are you going to take them to Disney World? Are you going to donate to charity? It’s it’s the why. And then just make it specific so you know what you’re aiming at.

Lori Kennedy: [00:03:41] That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing that, Natalia. Tell us about you and what you do and how long you’ve been doing it and how it. Functions in the community.

Natalia Hunter: [00:03:54] Thanks, Lori. My name is Natalia Hunter, and I’m my husband and I own a hunter. Public insurance adjusting. So we basically represent policyholders, homeowners, business owners against their own insurance. And the claim when I say against basically working with the policyholders and represent them. So kind of like an attorney, but without being an attorney. And we are kind of the next step and. Trying to protect the policyholders before they have to go to attorneys. And we’ve been in business, in the insurance business, really since 2008. We owned the restoration company. So we saw that side of spectrum and how homeowners basically get shorthanded on their payout and nobody could help them. So they would be forced to go to attorney. And of course, attorneys do represent them, but they do get small portion. So that doesn’t help the homeowner when you have to give away all your money that you’re paying your premiums for. So that’s how we ended up kind of switching almost five years ago now into public insurance adjusting, which is something that’s not very popular in Georgia. Not popular. People don’t know about it. If you go to Florida, everybody tells you, hey, call a public insurance adjuster, and that’s your first step. So that’s that’s what we do.

Lori Kennedy: [00:05:30] That’s interesting. I had never yes, I’d never heard of that until you told me about it. And I was like, wow, that’s awesome. Because you guys also have a lot of background in home building and construction and selling of real estate, you know, real estate in general. And so that I would think that’s definitely a need to have to make that beneficial for people, for sure.

Natalia Hunter: [00:05:53] Yes. And a lot of people tell us, oh, my God, we wish we knew you existed before. You know, I had the flood four years ago or we had people say, well, I had a flood last year and I was you know, I didn’t have enough money to put my business back together. And we actually say, you know, as long as it’s been less than a year, we can reopen the claim and go back and help those people.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:15] Oh, okay. I didn’t know that either. That’s good. Yeah.

Natalia Hunter: [00:06:18] So we’ve had that come in, you know, where people had a gas station that was destroyed by tornado and we were able to get them enough money to function on a monthly basis. You know, they still had income coming in because that was in their insurance policy. Yeah. So, yeah, that’s what we’re here for. And we love helping people. That’s that’s the reason why we exist.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:41] Well, I can’t help but notice that you have an accent. Tell us about what? How you got here to Georgia.

Natalia Hunter: [00:06:49] On the airplane. I’m just kidding.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:52] Okay.

Natalia Hunter: [00:06:54] Well, I’ve been in the United States for 26 years. Originally came from Russia, and I came as an exchange student, graduated high school there, came here, took an extra year of high school as an experience, and then ended up going to college. Just kind of enjoyed, you know, my adult life kind of started here, I don’t know, the adult life in Russia. So I ended up staying. I went back to Russia and, you know, visit family, but I stayed here and went to college and then eventually met my husband and got married. So 26 years later, I’m still here.

Lori Kennedy: [00:07:34] That is awesome. Well, we’re glad you’re here. I’m glad that I get to life with you. Karen, How are you today?

Karen McDonald: [00:07:40] I’m good, thanks.

Lori Kennedy: [00:07:41] Good. Can you tell us a little about your company and what you guys do?

Karen McDonald: [00:07:46] Yes. I’m Karen McDonald with innovative impressions. I’m a home stager and artist. I stage vacant and occupied homes Right now. I’m actually doing holiday staging. I offer redesign services and I sell my paintings.

Lori Kennedy: [00:08:02] That is so many things. That’s awesome. But they’re all creative. Not like not my gift. Creative. I’m like, Spreadsheet, please let me do a checklist. I think that’s awesome. I can’t do those things. How long have you been doing it?

Karen McDonald: [00:08:16] I became certified in 2016 with the Cherokee Board of Realtors.

Lori Kennedy: [00:08:21] Oh, wow. That’s great. So how do you set yourself apart as far as marketing yourself and your business? This is this is one of the questions you sent in.

Karen McDonald: [00:08:35] Yes. So a few things. My background. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in graphic design. Being an artist gives me a unique perspective to I use my paintings and my vacant homes. This makes it very personal and sets me apart from others. And number three, persistence. Whether it is a painting, staging or networking, I challenge myself to always be the best. It plays a role in all phases of my work.

Lori Kennedy: [00:09:04] Well, so you said something about certification. Tell me what degrees or qualifications qualify you for this job.

Karen McDonald: [00:09:12] I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, and I became certified through the Cherokee Board of Realtors in 2016 as a home stager.

Lori Kennedy: [00:09:22] That is awesome. Thank you for sharing that.

Karen McDonald: [00:09:25] Thank you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:09:26] Ellen. I’m going to come back. Q Because I have a question. In reference to goals. You talk about things like habits or. Tell us a little about how habits help you succeed in your goals.

Ellen Tyler: [00:09:41] Well, so I’ll I’ll I’ll help you understand. I’m going to ask you a question because this will help everybody understand habits. I know. Well, and actually it’s just going to be one to think about. So when you wake up in the morning and I always say this to anyone, if you have a spouse or you’re living with someone or just you, what’s your morning habit? And go to the bathroom. And then what?

Lori Kennedy: [00:10:03] Every morning.

Ellen Tyler: [00:10:05] I know. And then it’s like. And then what? Like you can you know, you can just look at it. I tell people, I get up and you go to the bathroom and brush your teeth. I take my animals downstairs, I feed them all happens the same way. Those are habits. And so when we’re not paying attention to the importance of habits in our day to day life, it also shows up. If I get my car and I normally go to the gym, but I think I’m going to the doctor and I go the same way to the gym. So if you think about it in that terms of how your daily life and working, if you let it just happen without paying attention, it’s very hard to get to a different place. So if I have a goal and I want to get to a different place and I’m using my same habits. I’m not going to get there. So we just have to change them.

Lori Kennedy: [00:10:56] Yes. That is awesome. That is awesome. Is there a book that you specifically recommend for somebody to starting along this journey? Like, I’ve read Atomic Habits and I thought it was amazing.

Ellen Tyler: [00:11:09] He’s really good because what he does in that book is James Cleary, who wrote Atomic Habits, and he actually helps people understand it’s small steps. Yeah, and the challenge for anyone in trying to create a habit is they go all in New Year’s resolution habits. 21 days later they give up. And it’s just it’s the repetition. And I think and I’m actually going to repeat one of the stories in this book because it’s really good to understand it was a gentleman who wanted to go to the gym and start working out. The first habit he had him do was get in the car, drive to the gym, sit in the car, drive home. So think of it that way. That’s how you can instill a habit.

Lori Kennedy: [00:11:50] I remember when I read it, it was habit stacking, which is basically what you’re saying. You start with something you’re already doing and then you just add something small to it and then you kind of correlate those, I guess, together.

Ellen Tyler: [00:12:03] Right, long term. Right. So the book is helpful, but one of the things I would I would tell anyone sitting here or anyone listening is that pick the one habit that you want to work on because the other challenge is, is that we go, I’m going to do this. I’m going to go to the gym, stop eating donuts, stop drinking my favorite drink, eating French fries and all. And we try to do everything. Pick the one that’s the most impactful. You get up every day. Attempt to keep the habit, start the next day, start the next. The illusion is in 21 days I should be able to do this. But the research actually shows it’s between 21 and 277 days for a person to make a habit. So but once they know that, then they can understand, Oh, I’m just going to try again tomorrow. I’m just going to try again tomorrow. And it is just building that skill.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:58] I was that you were you’re funny because you were right ahead of the next question. Like, I was like, how long does it take to make a habit? And you were already answered it. Thank you for reading my mind today. All right, Natalia. Tell me what motivates or inspires you?

Natalia Hunter: [00:13:18] Oh, boy. It probably depends on the day.

Lori Kennedy: [00:13:23] I guess.

Natalia Hunter: [00:13:26] And it might be a. Not the answer you expect, but I guess financial freedom. And then there’s reasons why we do it. But most of the time we get up and do things is to make money and to have things and to be able to take care of our family and, you know, maybe help with community. So I’d say that’s what makes me get up and that’s what. Makes me move in the mornings.

Lori Kennedy: [00:13:59] Yeah, for sure. Karen, I’m going to ask you that same question. What motivates or inspires you?

Karen McDonald: [00:14:10] I love the creative process because I’m an artist and I love to help people and serve. Knowing that I’ve made a positive impact in the way someone feels about their space or about one of my paintings is very rewarding.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:24] It’s awesome. I’m going to go back and ask you a couple of questions from your sheet. I want to know. I want you to share some difficulties that you’ve had to overcome in your business.

Karen McDonald: [00:14:40] So after renting furniture for my staging jobs, I decided to invest in my own inventory. This decision enabled me to cut cost and remain competitive. By making this investment, I’ve had more opportunities to stage.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:55] That’s great. Well, what about a testimonial or a success story? Like, how is that fit into that?

Karen McDonald: [00:15:03] Actually, I do have a testimonial from my friend and realtor, Kris Contreras. We were recently featured in around Woodstock in the October issue, and here’s what he had to say. Having Karen as part of our listing team on every property has been an amazing investment for my clients and business that has more than paid off, Chris said. On every listing Karen has consulted, We have gone over the asking price. She’s my secret weapon.

Lori Kennedy: [00:15:31] That’s awesome. I feel like, yeah, when you I mean, we see it all over TV these days, you know, when the on all those real estate channels where they go in and they decorate the house with a professional not, you know, grandma’s old rose wallpaper and, and it makes, you know, it increases the value of those homes. So I love that you participate in that. Thank you. Ellen. What motivates or inspires you?

Ellen Tyler: [00:15:57] My family are, you know, when I and actually one of the things that it goes a little bit broader is like we all have a purpose. And so the purpose is really like Natalia said, you know, financial freedom is a huge motivator, but it’s because of the things that we get to do. And I always know that it’s I do it for my family. We’re changing the lives of five kids and it’s it’s just allowing them to experience life differently.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:27] That’s awesome. Tell me, what what can you help with and why should I consider investing in a coach?

Ellen Tyler: [00:16:37] So the easy answer is anybody who has a problem but we don’t raise our hands usually. Well, here’s what I would say. A person should hire a coach to hire to help them solve a problem that they have that they’re that they’re aware that they have. Because I work with business owners, there’s usually a frustration or a plateau of the businesses staying at a certain point and they just can’t move past. And a great way to understand why a coach helps is if you ever played sports, played a musical instrument or learned how to drive a car, somebody taught you. We get as far as we can go with our capabilities. And there’s nothing you know, people think that that’s a bad thing to say. Goal. I got pretty far, but I don’t know how to get to the next stage, and that’s what the coach will help with.

Lori Kennedy: [00:17:31] And so in reference to that specifically, the expectation shouldn’t be that you know more about their business, but just that you know more about how to push people to achieve the next level within their their own selves. Is that a correct statement or how would you say that?

Ellen Tyler: [00:17:51] And that’s it’s a good statement because it actually differentiates. Think about all the coaches out there. I mean, like there’s been an explosion of people who help in different areas, and I think that’s actually great. But it’s what does the coaching help you get to? And the process shouldn’t just be specific, those words specific.

Lori Kennedy: [00:18:14] To like going.

Ellen Tyler: [00:18:15] For. Right. So let’s just say, does it have to be somebody who has just automotive experience? No, because that makes it sound too specific, like it’s only going to work for auto repair shops or realtors or lawyers or fill in the blank. It should have a process that you can apply to anything. Business is usually the first thing.

Lori Kennedy: [00:18:38] Gotcha. How, Natalia? How to use your influence in the community.

Natalia Hunter: [00:18:48] Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know if I use my influence. I try to be helpful as far as guiding people in a certain way, like if they need somebody, you know, they need help with their car. I know. Hey, call Lori, Cal. You know, they’ll they’ll take care of you, you know, or just I feel like I’ve known. I’ve met tons of people, tons of business owners, and that’s been very helpful. Also, try to volunteer as much as I can, you know, on a couple of different boards where I’ve realized that the only way you can make changes is to be part of it and, you know, make some suggestions for changes. And that’s pretty much how I do it. And of course, you know, donating time, money, food, whatever it.

Ellen Tyler: [00:19:40] Takes, I will actually add to that because I don’t she didn’t mention this. So Natalia took care of her health about a year ago. And I think sometimes that question can have the perception, like, I have to do something where Natalia just showed up healthier, which caused people to ask her questions so it might not be related to work or something else, But you inspired a lot of people.

Natalia Hunter: [00:20:10] Yes, actually, I didn’t even think about it, but I guess I was. Yes. I’ve decided to take control of me for once and lost £40 and change my lifestyle. And I did have I think I helped about 25 people on top of it because everybody was reaching out. What do you do? What did you do? What’s the secret? Well, it’s not a secret. It just, you know, you just have to get discipline and you have to want the bad enough.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:34] But yeah, for sure.

Natalia Hunter: [00:20:36] For sure.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:38] Karen, how do you use your influence in the community?

Karen McDonald: [00:20:42] Um, I actually am a sponsor of the Lights of Joy in Kennesaw. I look for opportunities to support nonprofits, and I’m continuously seeking out events that make a difference in the community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:57] That’s awesome. Ellen, how about you? How do you use your influence in the community?

Ellen Tyler: [00:21:01] So for me, it’s. It’s what do I care about? And and who do I want to help? And and I think one of it we’ll think about this like we got invited to come here today to share what we do with the community. And my mentor, Bob Proctor, was really great at this. I will tell you exactly what I do. I any business owner, anyone I get to spend time with, we’ll share. This is how you do it because. It’s not a secret. And so if they can just change something little by something I said. That’s the best thing ever. And then, you know, I love animals, so it’s why I can’t go into the humane shelter anymore because I will bring home more.

Lori Kennedy: [00:21:47] But it’s just I’ve been banned. Yes. Well.

Ellen Tyler: [00:21:51] It’s kind of like you can’t bring any more animals in. But, you know, it’s just really how can we help in the community? And we’ve always been a big supporter of doing business in the community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:01] Well, you mentioned mentors, so let’s go into that question. Tell us about if you have many mentees and if you are being mentored and how that looks for you.

Ellen Tyler: [00:22:13] Sure. And I actually love that question because a question I’ll get asked if somebody is intrigued about investigating hiring a coach, they want to know, what should we ask? And they said the first question you should ask a coach, Well, there’s two. One is who do they work with? Like who is their mentor or what coach do they hire? Because if I gave the impression that I’m done.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:38] Like for sure.

Ellen Tyler: [00:22:40] Yeah, it doesn’t work. So we should always be working. So yes, I actually have to now that I work with. And then the benefit is, is that it filters down through. So if people hire me, it works for them. And but anyone I sit with it, they have the ability to learn from that knowledge that I gained from my coaches.

Lori Kennedy: [00:23:00] Yeah, I felt like this was a funny question for you because like, while I mentor for a living. Hello, You know, so. Yeah, no.

Ellen Tyler: [00:23:08] Well, but there’s, there’s free mentoring because it does happen. People aren’t always, they’re not always in the place, but can I give them something that can propel them. I actually, I will tell anybody this. There’s three things of a person did they never have to hire a coach? Do you want to know what they are?

Lori Kennedy: [00:23:29] Yeah.

Ellen Tyler: [00:23:30] Have a gold card with your goal written down. Gold card? Have a vision board with no more than 4 to 5 pictures on it and have a written descriptive statement of your goal. That’s it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:23:46] Hold on. I’m writing this down.

Natalia Hunter: [00:23:48] I just need one more. I need the gold card.

Lori Kennedy: [00:23:51] Well.

Ellen Tyler: [00:23:52] I have them. You all can hunt me down for them. But. But. And. But here’s the intriguing thing with all of my clients. Last December, this is. I told them the same thing. 90% didn’t do it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:24:06] Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Natalia Hunter: [00:24:10] And deceive him may mean to send text to a picture of picking one goal from my vision board. So just pick one. I’m like, I pick two. Like.

Lori Kennedy: [00:24:19] Of course you did. I’m surprised you didn’t pick ten. When we came in, I introduced Natalia to Lori, who owns Innovation Spot. And I said, I don’t even know all the businesses she owns because she’s like, She’s got an addiction. And it has to do with owning businesses.

Natalia Hunter: [00:24:40] We narrowed it down only to now.

Lori Kennedy: [00:24:43] So tell us about mentoring and how you are mentored and and how you mentor others. And if you don’t have an answer, I do. Oh, I’m kind of like Ellen had an answer for you on something else.

Natalia Hunter: [00:24:59] I guess I don’t consider myself a mentor. I try to learn from every person that I meet. Like, I feel like every time I talk to somebody, I learn something new. You know, it’s so to me, I these are my mentors. As people I meet, I try to read books, you know, sometimes. Listen. Listen to the motivational speeches. As far as me mentoring anybody else. I guess just when I did my weight loss journey and lifestyle change, I did that. And we try and we try to help people that call us that have small claims that it would not be financially responsible for us to get involved to help them. So we try to give them a few pointers and say, hey, we can’t get involved because it would hurt you more than, you know, we’d be able to help you. But here’s what you should do. You know your options is this, this and this and good luck. You know, like, let us know if that works and if there’s anything else we can do. That’s pretty much it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:26:14] Yeah, I do feel like I feel like you and I are very similar in the sense that I want to whenever I sit down with somebody, I want to learn from them, and I also want to give something to them. And so I feel like all of my many of my relationships are both mentor and mentee, depending on wherever. They’re going to know more about one thing and I’m going to know more about something else. And so when you and I sat down, for example, together, I was trying to structure some things for our future, you know, to prepare. I’m not a spring chicken, so trying to kind of prepare for what our next steps are and how to structure the businesses and that sort of thing. And you were very forthcoming and helpful. You’re like, okay, I’ve already done some of this, so let me share it with you. And I feel like those are my favorite relationships with people. Or when I sit down with somebody, I learn what their needs are and if I know something about that, I share that and then I listen and then I, you know, I get the same from them and it’s kind of like our sharpens iron, but I just.

Natalia Hunter: [00:27:15] Help each.

Lori Kennedy: [00:27:16] Other. Yeah, I just love that. And so I feel like all my relationships are mentor mentee to that effect. But Karen, tell us about your mentor and mentee relationships.

Karen McDonald: [00:27:27] I actually don’t have a mentor and I’m not. I’m kind of like Natalie. I’m not sure if I’m mentoring, but I do go to networking groups and try to learn more about the folks there.

Lori Kennedy: [00:27:41] And yeah, I feel like every time I see you, you’re like taking pictures and encouraging people and getting the word out about them and tagging them. Like there are ways that you are showing that you’re bringing people along with you on a journey.

Karen McDonald: [00:27:56] Good for sure.

Natalia Hunter: [00:27:57] But you do help like you came in and help some of my clients. You know, she came in and did a free consultation on one of the listings I’ve had before in my real estate business and give them some pointers. So that’s part of you being mentor.

Karen McDonald: [00:28:12] That’s true. I do offer first time realtors a complimentary consult, usually for an occupied home, but it’s up to 2 hours and it’s a $250 value.

Lori Kennedy: [00:28:23] Look at that post that later and tell us who’s in your household or who’s in your family. Who’s in your family?

Karen McDonald: [00:28:32] Actually, my kids are 18 and 22 and they are out of the house. My dog Abe and I are the household.

Lori Kennedy: [00:28:40] Gotcha. Tell you who’s in your household or who’s in your family. Because like I have adult children that are in my family but not in my house.

Natalia Hunter: [00:28:47] I was going to say it’s just me and my husband and our dog right now. But we’re blended families, so we have three kids, 31 be 26 and 19. So the last one is in college. She’s got another year. So hopefully by December next year she’ll be graduating. And so in.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:07] Your and your bank, okay will be one step closer to financial freedom.

Natalia Hunter: [00:29:10] Yeah I know I told her play the lottery.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:14] Maybe you will maybe retire. We’ll all retire. Oh, my goodness. What about you, Miss Ellen?

Ellen Tyler: [00:29:22] Well, a week ago, we finally got the last child out.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:26] Who had come back finally.

Ellen Tyler: [00:29:27] During the pandemic. So honestly, and we’ve been married 40 plus years, and it’s the first time there was only there’s probably only been one year where we didn’t have somebody living with us. So we’re kind of going we don’t know what this is like, but there’s five kids, there are two grandsons, and then we have the fur babies at home.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:48] Oh, I have one that keeps coming back. But did you see that maybe was I think it might have been failure to launch. Yes. But where he was like feeding the fish naked. Yes. Yes. Okay. My husband was like, oh, once everybody moves out, we’re going to have a naked house. I’m like, We’re too old to have a naked house. That would be scary. Well, all right. We’re going to everybody’s got like a little bit of blush on right now. Natalia, tell me about a mistake that you made in business and what you learned from it.

Natalia Hunter: [00:30:18] Oh, boy. I felt like I probably make them. If not daily, but weekly. I feel like there’s like whether it’s you said something or, you know, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to stop talking and start listening more.

Lori Kennedy: [00:30:36] Oh, that’s good.

Natalia Hunter: [00:30:38] You know, because when I feel like when you first get in business, especially being self employed, do you try to sell yourself so hard and you just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and then you realize you talk to yourself out of business because you either come through too strong or you set too much or something happens. So that’s one of the things I still work on or try to work on and listen to people.

Lori Kennedy: [00:31:05] Gotcha. I like what you said about that. You fail daily. Not because I like that you fail daily, but there’s a somebody that I work with that my other job and his name is Ryan Lake, but he has a book called Chasing Failure. And and we all know this like you’re never going to succeed without making an attempt and you’re probably going to fail before you get it right. So I just I have tried to I, I have a fear of failure and I’ve tried to embrace that. That is not going to help me gain my best life.

Natalia Hunter: [00:31:40] I have to change a paradigm on that, too, because I had that same, you know, have a strong personality control issues and like, I need to be in charge. I need to be the one making decisions and not fail. But then I kind of start looking at it as well. The only way I fail is if I don’t learn from it, from if I quit, if I quit trying. So that helped me change my paradigm and kind of start. And doing things differently.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:09] Yeah, for sure. For sure. Karen, tell us about a mistake you made and what you learned from it.

Karen McDonald: [00:32:16] Yeah, I actually underestimated my time on a project in the beginning, but I still honored the price. It was a good lesson to learn early in my business.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:28] Yeah, for sure. How about you, Ellen?

Ellen Tyler: [00:32:31] I would say early on, not charging enough.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:34] And.

Ellen Tyler: [00:32:35] Letting individuals come into the group coaching who were not a good fit and disrupted it more than anything. So just personality wise. And. They weren’t really ready.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:51] So tell us. I haven’t heard about group coaching before from you. So tell tell me a little about this and like, what kind of personality would mess up your group?

Ellen Tyler: [00:33:02] Well, so first I’ll tell you that the ideal person is somebody who is hungry and disciplined, who really wants to. Move the needle. The ones that don’t fit are the ones that blame everything outside and aren’t willing to look at. Like Natalia said, paradigms like so see where the problem. But we’re the solution. So if I can’t accept I’m the problem, then I’m not going to believe that there’s a solution that I can come with up with versus somebody outside has to give me the answer to my problem.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:37] I love that. And I it was too much to write down, so I’m going to go listen to it later. So how did you start to discern who could be in the group and who couldn’t? How did you discern who has this attitude? Because I need this to hire employees.

Ellen Tyler: [00:33:53] Yeah, well, a lot of.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:54] It.

Ellen Tyler: [00:33:55] I’m just going to tell you it’s intuition. But sometimes it’s like, think about the questions you would want answers to, and sometimes it’s their past. That would be a good clue. So for me, it’s that. Have you ever hired a coach or bought a program? Because most everybody would say, Oh, I bought I bought this program to do this and this, and it sat in the drawer or on the computer. The key is if they’ve done something in the past similar to what you’re looking for. My question is, did you do the work or why didn’t it work?

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:29] Yeah, I think why didn’t it work would help, you know, if they’re blaming themselves or blaming someone else. And I.

Ellen Tyler: [00:34:34] Right.

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:34] That’s a big key.

Ellen Tyler: [00:34:35] You get really good at just when you come into a conversation. There’s actually a way you can prepare even in interviews. And it’s to ask yourself, what do I want the outcome to be? Usually it’s that let’s use an interview as a process. Well, it’s that I want I want to determine if this is somebody I want to go to the next step with, not like hire them on the spot and then then it’s us. What do we have to think? I have a great place of work. We have great camaraderie. Camaraderie. I can’t talk today, you know, but just I’m creating this spot. And so you have to think about that. Okay. So if I think that, then how do I have to feel? Not like, oh my gosh, you know, if they’re the last person on earth, I’m going to hire them anyways because nobody’s walking through the door. That is not going to help you. It’s more that, you know what, I’ll know when they come in. It’s I’m just going to listen to my gut. And then you ask yourself, what are the action steps I need to do? Which in any situation it’s usually ask really good questions and then shut your mouth.

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:40] So what is different about you in reference to being a coach?

Ellen Tyler: [00:35:46] So for all of us, it’s what is my personal background that I brought into this that makes a difference. And I discovered I didn’t know this. I was an entrepreneur hiding in the corporate world. So I opened businesses, open businesses, open businesses.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:03] Sounds like Natalia. Yes.

Ellen Tyler: [00:36:05] But I hid under the corporate umbrella.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:07] She did it without it.

Ellen Tyler: [00:36:09] I was like, I’m going to wait.

Natalia Hunter: [00:36:10] And see that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:11] Now. It’s all fixed. I’m like.

Ellen Tyler: [00:36:14] Okay. And it’s that background. So I didn’t come out of that and go, Well, let me be a relationship coach, but it’s what do I care about and what can I help them with? And I had the experience because I did the work and I did the process. And coming from my background, I’m highly structured. I former life financial advisor, all designated. And that’s what makes me different is that I have a process. I didn’t just wake up and go, I think I had a life changing event. Let me see if I can help people. How are you feeling today?

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:50] Well, I’m feeling pretty good. I got out of bed this morning and I went to the bathroom.

Ellen Tyler: [00:36:54] I tell people I might be your friend. He goes, You go. But you don’t hire me to be your friend.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:00] Yeah.

Natalia Hunter: [00:37:02] You got two habits for me. That would.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:03] Be. I know, I know. I know. Lori was.

Ellen Tyler: [00:37:06] The bathroom when she.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:07] Wakes up. That was good recall, wasn’t it? Right. And that back like that.

Natalia Hunter: [00:37:11] Learning good, fast learner.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:14] All right. The next question is about a message that is for women specifically. Karen, I’m going to start with you.

Karen McDonald: [00:37:24] Great. Actually have an inspirational saying that I brought today. Clothes won’t change the world. The women who wear them will. Anne Klein.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:35] I love it. Wow. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Natalia, do you have a message for women specifically?

Natalia Hunter: [00:37:46] Well, I guess it’s just just do it. Be like Nike. I mean, if there’s something you want to do it, do it. And don’t be afraid. I mean, the worst thing you happen is it doesn’t work out how you wanted it to be. Maybe, But it’s something’s going to change and it’s going to be a learning process. So whether you want to start a business or switch career, there’s plenty of places and people, you know, like Allen that can help you, guide you and tell you what to do if you lost. Yeah. So I just say, don’t be afraid of trying new things.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:26] Ellen, do you have a message for women specifically?

Ellen Tyler: [00:38:30] I would say if you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do? And start dreaming again?

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:37] What are some misconceptions about your industry?

Ellen Tyler: [00:38:40] That we’re consultants and will come in and tell you exactly what to do?

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:45] And that we don’t have to do any work. On the other hand, on the other side of that.

Ellen Tyler: [00:38:49] Right.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:50] What are some misconceptions about your industry, Natalia?

Natalia Hunter: [00:38:54] I guess the biggest one is people think that when you know there’s a loss and because there’s award insurance and and our description that we work for the insurance company, just like when they send their own adjusters and tell you how much they’re going to pay you on the loss, we don’t see no conflict there. Right. People think we work for the insurance company and we don’t you know, we represent policyholders. And then. I guess another thing is that people think, Oh, it’s expensive. I already don’t have enough money. Well, our average increase from initial offer when we come in is about 600%. It’s not a yes, it’s not. So it’s more than covers our fee to the point where the numbers are staggering. I just did one of the videos. I don’t know if you happen to see it. The client called us. They had a flood. They offered they received from the insurance company was 122,000. So they didn’t hire us until two months later. And within a month and a half we were So far. So far we are up to 522,000. Wow. And it’s not we’re not finished yet. So it is huge difference Now, obviously not in every house, but 600% is big.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:18] Right. And that’s definitely the difference. There is enough to have your fee.

Natalia Hunter: [00:40:23] More than that plus. Not to mention because my husband is a general contractor and like you mentioned, we have the knowledge of the construction we use to build homes and real estate knowledge. So the values we are able to get them, the money that’s going to get them put him back to pre loss condition in today’s market, not what they paid for it when they bought it because that’s what they entitled to to be indemnified and that’s why we exist.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:51] Wow. That’s very eye opening. I appreciate that. Karen, tell us about a misconception in your industry.

Karen McDonald: [00:41:00] Sure. Staging a vacant home is essential, but staging an occupied home is equally essential. I think people only think about staging a vacant property. This is a misconception because occupied homes need to be staged. Occupied home means the home owners are living in the house while it’s for sale. During an occupied consult, I have the advantage of looking at the property with my staging and not from the homeowners perspective that live there.

Lori Kennedy: [00:41:29] So when you do that for a homeowner that actually lives there, do they have to move their furniture out? Like, do you have to? Do they have to like, get a storage unit and get their furniture out of that? Or how does that typically work? Like what? What do you do different for them that you would do for an unoccupied home?

Karen McDonald: [00:41:49] Yeah. So if it’s occupied, I go in and do a consult and I work with what they have. We start outside, we go room by room and I, you know, talk about making conversation areas with the furniture they have. Getting rid of personal items in the home. We’re trying to create a neutral environment.

Lori Kennedy: [00:42:09] Yeah, kind of simplifying it, Right? Got it. That makes sense. We’re going to start winding it down, ladies. So, Ellen, I’m going to start with you. I want you to tell me a tip of your trade, and then I want you to let us know how others can get in touch with your business.

Ellen Tyler: [00:42:25] So a tip of the trade is that. Guys. There are so many. Let’s do one. Pick one thing and do it. Pick one thing. You don’t have to do 100. Pick one idea. One idea from a book, one idea from a person, and just do it and they can reach me. I have a website. Ellen Tyler, Coach Pinkham The email is pretty simple. There’s contact me on there. They can get in touch.

Lori Kennedy: [00:42:53] Awesome. Natalia, how about you?

Natalia Hunter: [00:42:57] I guess the biggest or step one would be for the policy holders is read your policy. Know what you bought and see if you have a coverage and you know some of the policies could be up to 100 pages long. It’s not just a declaration page, you know, it’s the whole policy. So you have to read your policy. As far as getting in touch with us, our website is go back dot com. It can be reached at our office number 7702137020. And we’re here to help.

Lori Kennedy: [00:43:38] I’m going to ask you one more question, though, because I probably haven’t read all my policies. I’m just being honest. Am I looking for something specific?

Natalia Hunter: [00:43:48] Well, you’d be surprised. Some of the policies, for example, you buy insurance to protect you from flood, right? The flood happens. You want to be protected. Well, sometimes insurance policies exclude that or they may exclude something else that you want to have, you know, like or sewage backup, for example. Most policies don’t give you that automatically. You have to get that as endorsement. So, oh, that’s a big one.

Lori Kennedy: [00:44:17] Do you have like a little piece of your company that just helps people read their policies?

Natalia Hunter: [00:44:22] That would be actually, that’s our next business.

Lori Kennedy: [00:44:26] Oh, we’re back to that again.

Natalia Hunter: [00:44:30] Yes. So we were just we we’re restructuring as of New Year will have a new business or it will.

Ellen Tyler: [00:44:36] Be your new client.

Lori Kennedy: [00:44:37] Yes. I want to sign up for that to get my policies looked at. Yes. Because I don’t know what I’m looking for. Even if I read it, I don’t know what I would want. But I did remember hearing something about if the water comes in from above versus below, it’s different. Like this is a storm that’s a flood. And even though they might be the same thing. Yes, that one might. They are. They are right there. So you have a.

Natalia Hunter: [00:45:05] Flood in your basement that came in from outside. You do not have a coverage unless you have flood insurance. Yeah, I know. People don’t know.

Lori Kennedy: [00:45:15] That. Let me write this down, too. I’m going to have to go back and listen to this one for sure.

Natalia Hunter: [00:45:19] Yeah, So but yes, you know, we do do consulting. And like I said, that’s going to be our next business where we combine it and we’re going to have, you know, this department for this and that. And so we able to help people and business owners and, you know, anybody that we can because as of right now, we cannot represent the third party. We can only work for policyholders. But with consulting business will be able to help contractors, builders, anybody.

Lori Kennedy: [00:45:49] Got it. All right, Karen, tell us a tip of your trade and then how others can get in touch with you.

Karen McDonald: [00:45:56] Okay. A tip in staging is that less is more. Almost every home I see has too much clutter and furniture. Owning less is better than organizing more. Not only does it free up the space, but it frees you up mentally in staging. We want the rooms to feel bigger and creating a neutral environment and highlighting the features of the home is the goal. Folks can get in touch with me at I staging on social media. I also have a website I staging and my phone number is 404538885.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:34] Awesome. I want to ask one more question and that is I want to know what areas you all serve or work in. So, Karen, what areas do you work in?

Karen McDonald: [00:46:42] Yeah, I work in the metro Atlanta area.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:44] Okay. So any, any like on the south side or just on the north?

Karen McDonald: [00:46:49] Yeah, I’m all over. Most of my work is in Cherokee and Cobb, but I go all over Atlanta.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:54] Okay, awesome.

Natalia Hunter: [00:46:55] Natalia Well, we are licensed in the entire state of Georgia, so it depends on the scope of work and the job. You know, we will go all over the state, but as of right now, you know, probably within, I’d say an hour, hour and a half radius from Atlanta. Got it. But we do right now. We do most in Cherokee County.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:20] Okay. Okay. What about you, Miss Ellen?

Ellen Tyler: [00:47:22] Humans in the world.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:23] Yeah, you can do Zoom or whatever. Some kind of online thing. Okay, great. Awesome. Well, thank you, ladies, for being here today. Before we close stone, say hi. Hi. Do you have anything brilliant Yesterday? Brilliant for y’all. But I am going to reach out to Natalia and bring her my insurance policy. I tell you that much for sure. Awesome. Well.

Natalia Hunter: [00:47:49] Thank you, Laurie, for having me.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:50] Yes. Yes. I was so happy that you’re here. And thank you for joining us today. On Women in Business Powered by Business Radio X. Until next time, this is Laurie Kennedy reminding you to keep learning and growing.