57 – She chucked the corporate life: Tom interviews Carol McManus

Episode 057 – Carol McManus
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hello. Hello. hello. It's Tom here with episode 57 of screw the commute podcast. We got Carol McManus with us today. She is a good friend of mine and a prolific businessperson. I was on her former show 12 times and this is her first and I hope of many appearances on screw the commute. Episode 56 I hope you didn't miss that. What a compelling story. Mike Domitrz was here and in 1989 Mike's sister was raped which kicked him off on a 20 plus year career reducing sexual assault speaking at colleges in the military and corporations. His story is great and so are his business tips that was Episode 56 go back and listen to that if you haven't. All right our sponsor is kickstartcart.com the shopping cart system I've been using and promoting for 16 years that's actually longer now. Probably 18 years now because mere mortals can operate it to be able to do many of the things I teach and talk about on this podcast. You need a good shopping cart system. We give unlimited free one on one tutoring on the cart to get you up and running and help you figure things out fast. Get your 30 day free trial at KickStartcart.com and of course we'll have that in the show notes. This is episode 57 so screwthecommute.com/57.

[00:02:01] All right let's get to the main event. Carol McManus is an author speaker radio host and social media consultant. She is the CEO of C K C global media a branding and marketing company that helps individuals and companies reach new markets by elevating their message and amplifying their voice. Her newest book choices this is about real how real people share their stories of how they overcame challenges to design a better life. It's an international bestseller and a bronze award recipient from the nonfiction authors association Carol. Are you ready to screw? The commute.

[00:02:55] It's been a long time since we crossed paths and and I've been wondering what you've been up to. You got this see CKC global media. What's it all about. What are you up to.

[00:03:06] Well it's an evolution of the LinkedIn Lady so any of any of your listeners who have heard my voice. You know listen to the linkedin Lady show and heard your voice. Know that that's what I was doing for a number of years I really had morphed my coaching and consulting business into the social media space and I was known for a pretty long time as America's Linkedin lady and I still do do that. But what happened as that business evolved and as social media became more commonplace than it was. You know as we know it's changed and people's expectations have changed. What happened was much like how linkedin Lady came about where people wanted to know how I did that rather than just general business consulting. CKC is the next evolution of that and what it is is teaching businesses and entrepreneurs how I built and grew The linkedin Lady brand by using techniques such as publishing broadcasting speaking and then I call social media the candy wrapper on how I market all of that to the world very affordably very easily very manageable and just have a whole lot of fun doing it.

[00:04:15] So even even though you morphed away from that moniker the LinkedIn lady still the techniques apply to any kind of brand somebody would want to build right.

[00:04:27] Absolutely and that's what it's about. It's about business branding and personal branding because when you work with entrepreneurs and you know this it's as much your personal brand as it is your business brand. And that's where most of my clients are tapping into to me.

[00:04:42] How long did it take you to build that linkedin Lady brand.

[00:04:46] It took probably about a year from the time the idea came about.

[00:04:51] But you were Figuring it out as you went.

[00:04:54] Oh yeah I was figuring it out as I went. But I was the social media expert in very generic space and I was trying to figure out how I could carve my space and differentiate myself. And it was actually an audience member who met me the ladies room after being on stage.

[00:05:09] There's a tip for you everybody go to the ladies room. Can I do that.

[00:05:17] I would say that might be a problem but the principal still works in the men's room. But literally she turned to me after I'd been on stage. I did a program called Linking friending tweeting Oh my. And it was this was back in 2009 probably late 2009. And she because it was an audience of professionals I biased my my talk heavily toward LinkedIn and why it was important for professionals and people in the business to business aka B2B space to use LinkedIn. And she turned to me in the ladies room while she's washing her hands and said oh you're the linkedin lady. And I smiled and I said Yes I am. And that was the birth of the brand. And it took about a year. I socialized it. I tried it on for size. I did my research I found out at the time I had literally no competition in LinkedIn because everybody wanted to own Facebook or Twitter and it was literally in September of 2010 that I officially launched the website and started owning it. And then you know the rest is history. I spoke all over the country at many many conferences. I started my radio show did that for eight years under again that brand and just really really built it by living the brand. And so it was me but the linkedin lady was me and Carol McManus was linkedin lady so they became interchangeable.

[00:06:39] So I must not been that big a deal for eight years I was only on 12 times. I mean jeez I thought you liked me better than that.

[00:06:49] There is only one person that had more shows than you and that one person had 13 shows. There was nobody else that was on as often as you and you're so frickin busy I would have you on more often but you could always track you down.

[00:07:02] Look who's talking. How long have I been trying to get you on this show.

[00:07:05] Well that's true. Mea culpa.

[00:07:09] You are the first one who's come up with the bathroom branding brand. And you know people this is why I get the big bucks I bring on the people that give you stuff you never hear anywhere else so. So now I think I know the answer to this but have you ever had a job.

[00:07:30] Oh yeah I had a job for a long time I was a corporate junkie. In fact when I went out on my own I always referred to myself as a recovering corporate executive.

[00:07:39] I tell people they say well what do I miss from the corporate world. And they say the camaraderie and stuff so I don't just buy a water cooler and stand by it and gossip to yourself and then you feel like you're back in the corporate world.

[00:07:52] And you know what I would add to that. When you look at your business card is big title big check big deal. You can do so much better on your own.

[00:08:02] There you go. So so tell us how that went though what you were doing. And then when was there a moment that you decided to go on your own or was it a transition period. How did that all work for you.

[00:08:15] Well it was sort of yes and yes the answer is I had a big title and a lot of responsibility. I was the SVP of international operations for a large company had a lot of responsibilities. I'd been with the same company for 26 years. Nothing bad to say. It was a great career tremendous opportunities. I got to move and live in some really wonderful places. But I was ready to leave and in fact was ready to leave in 2006. It was unbundling the group that I was responsible for at the time and thought I was walking out the door then and fate would have it they brought me back into this as this final position as senior vice president. And but this is as we were moving into the recession and as the year progressed and we were eliminating positions by attrition and trying to get to you know some redundancies. I call it the cubicle you know downsizing. It got to the point where economically they knew they were going to have to be getting rid of some big payroll. And I raised my hand to my boss and said Put me on the list and he said You're kidding right. And I said No I'm dead serious I really you need to get rid of payroll. I had a good run. I am fine walking out the door. And in fact Tom you know this better than anybody I wanted to walk out the door. I wanted to run to the to the parking lot but I had to remain the professional so I didn't run I just walked fast before they changed their mind.

[00:09:43] Did you get any kind of severance package.

[00:09:46] Oh yeah. And that was the other thing I had because I'd been with the company for so long I have to you know full confession here. I did have a year's salary and some other benefits that followed me for a period of time and so I had a cushion. I had a jumping board but I also was smart enough to know I had a good financial adviser and my financial adviser says put it in the bank and don't spend it.

[00:10:06] Yeah, that money can go very fast especially when you're at home and have nothing to do but order on Amazon.

[00:10:16] Exactly. So just to fast forward through all of it. I'm starting out on my own. I knew I wanted to use my skill set as a coach consultant and did some leadership development at the time which is sort of in the same wrapper but I didn't have a marketing budget so I turned to social media. I couldn't even spell social media at that time but it worked. I was able to network and connect with people and I didn't do a lot of fancy sales I didn't know I didn't know anything about sales letters and opt in boxes and downloads. I mean that was still except in the world of Internet marketing that was really not widely known in practice.

[00:10:55] So I just stumbled through which I think is also the reason why linkedin resonated with me because it was very civil. It wasn't the wild wild west of Facebook and MySpace was still out there at the time and it also connected with the people that I wanted to do business with which were other businesses and other professionals. So it and it just spiraled forward but my goal that first year was to do enough business to be able to replace my income. And I did that and I did it through half of it actually came from leads off of LinkedIn. So proof positive it works.

[00:11:31] So you still keep up with all the changes in Linkedin.

[00:11:33] Less and less. I'm very pissed off at linkedin right now because I don't like a lot of the changes they've made they've tried to turn it into a cheap sales machine with a lot of phony accounts and a lot of people that want to connect with you and and just pitch whatever it is they're pitching it. It's lost its magic and its its value in being a true professional online professional network because not everybody has time to go to BNI meetings or other networking events and go to all the chamber events to network or they want to network outside of their geography and linkedin was a great place to do that. It's it's I believe no longer as valuable but that's me.

[00:12:14] So what advice would you have for someone sitting in that cubicle now. Maybe they don't have a big severance package. What you know about working for themselves what what should they do to get ready to go into the world of no paycheck.

[00:12:29] Well find out how to do it right and do it quickly and you know you're the king of this. The idea is take your knowledge your expertise your passion your experience find a way to package it and create something that people want and people will pay for and then work with people like Tom who are going to teach you how to do it. I'm serious.

[00:12:51] That's what I do.

[00:12:52] Yeah exactly to teach you how to do it right. To be able to begin that passive income immediately. And if I were to roll back the clock and say what was the mistake that I made it was that I wasted too much frickin time getting to that point because I was doing the time for DOLLAR EXCHANGE And I loved it. I mean it's a great ego you know boost to be on a stage and you know have everybody applaud and stand up and cheer and even if they run to the back of the room and buy something from you it still takes a lot of time and energy and effort and expense because you know a lot of the big conferences that would attract that type of of commentary or expertise are on the west coast while I live on the East Coast. So every time you go for a one day conference you're out of the office for three days.

[00:13:40] So I hate to bring this up but you had some health issues too that kept you from flying.

[00:13:46] Yeah I actually yes I lost a couple of years there where I couldn't fly. So it was like OK. And that's when I actually got serious about the whole concept of passive income because it's that this whole idea that yes you can still be out there and work with people and I still do that and I love it because I love the interaction. But if I didn't have the passive income I'd still be quote unquote chasing the dollar.

[00:14:09] I've thought for years I've said this business that I've been in since the Internet started around 1994 as like an insurance policy and it happened like this past January when I got injured in a hunting accident. You know I was laid up but a week after out of intensive care I was still running my business on my laptop even I could hardly get up to go to the bathroom. A lot of people would be bankrupt if that happened you know because they have no savings they have no passive income. They're selling hours for dollars. So so yeah it paid off for both of us in that case. I really want to pound that point that everybody is that this is having what we call virtual real estate bringing in money from all over the place. You're not even limited to a local economy from all over the world. You can bring in money. So very important. Give the folks some tips about how you work at home. What are some of the things that you do to make you productive. And so any kind of tips that would help a person thinking about screwing that commute.

[00:15:17] Well the first one that I would give is probably so obvious people are going to laugh about it. But if you miss it you will not succeed. And the simple answer is you've got to treat your business as a business. You have to treat going to work as going to work now instead of commuting 77 miles which I did in my corporate my last corporate life. I commute 20 feet down the hall. From one bedroom to an office or a bedroom converted to an office. But I make a point of getting up getting dressed coming to my desk and starting my business day on a regular basis. Now that varies depending on the day but I'm not in my pajamas at 10 11 o'clock in the morning and I'm not you know I make a point of treating every day as a business day and so that would be my first tip.

[00:16:06] Have you run into where the neighbors and friends think oh well since you're at home let's go have lunch let's do that. Go to the movies. Have you run into any of that. They don't realize you're working just because you're at home.

[00:16:20] Yeah I when I was in Connecticut I had less of a problem with it because I really wasn't that close to a lot of my neighbors. When I moved to Pennsylvania it's different it's more rural people are more social so yes that started up. But I'm very good at saying no in a very nice way and deferring and delaying or not doing it all.

[00:16:42] So I do not be afraid. This is actually maybe a tip. Don't be afraid to say people you know I would love to go have a cup of cup of coffee with you but I simply cannot do it. Now I'm on a deadline whether you're on a deadline or not doesn't matter or I'm finishing a project for a client or maybe you're creating a new product say. I would love to do it and if you sincerely want to do it then make a date make an appointment but do it at your convenience. In other words what we're really saying Tom the tip is and this would be Tip Number 2 Don't let other people control your time you have to control your time calendar and I don't care if you decide to work two hours a day or 20 hours a day. That's up to you. But if you want to be successful there has to be discipline involved.

[00:17:27] Yeah my one of my other friends or you might you might not know Caroline de Posada she gets up at 5:00 goes running does all her work. So at 3:00 o'clock she can go pick her kids and be mom the rest of the night. So you get to pick what you want to do.

[00:17:45] Exactly. You get to pick what you want to do and then the other. The third tip. Again it's an obvious one but it's one that a lot of people skip over is be clear on your goals. But what I mean by that is not just filling out a goal sheet which you might have learned at some point in time took a class or had to do for a job. I'm talking about really having a clear vision of what your life's purpose is what your business purpose is what you want to accomplish and how does that translate for you into either dollars or you know objective and subjective satisfaction. Once you get clear on that then everything else rolls from there it becomes your beacon. This is why I get up every day. So that's the subjective things I'm doing it for my kids I'm doing it for my health I'm doing it for my retirement. The object of things is this is how much money I want to make. This is how many hours I want to work. This is how much what percentage of my time I want to give to philanthropic efforts whatever the it is if you get clarity around that then the work becomes so easy and so productive because you're always aiming at the same thing.

[00:18:54] Great advice. And just to remind everybody the full transcript of this will be in the show notes this is episode 57 so screwthecommute.com/57. Those are great tips that you can't write them down. You're in the car whenever you can always visit the show notes later. Now you have gotten screwed over in business.

[00:19:14] Of course who hasn't. You can't be in business and not get screwed over.

[00:19:18] What do you do about it.

[00:19:20] Well the first time I tried to fight it it was chasing down a client who hadn't paid me and I wasted way more time and I fractured relationships that I learned. Looking back was stupid. So the second time I was actually the second time I thought I was going to get screwed I sort of headed or headed off at the pass. And I I started offering my business and my services and this is that this is the time for dollars. Not so much the online but when you are dealing with people and you're dealing with RFPs and contracts and you know expectations you won't get screwed if you always give more than they expect would be number one you're going to minimize the number of people that are going to screw you. And if they do then the easiest thing to do Tom and I know people aren't going to want to hear this but it's cut your losses and walk away. Just cut your losses and walk away because it's probably not worth the time the aggravation and the whatever you're going to get out of it isn't going to be worth what you had to do to you know to either change your relationship you know get paid on something you didn't get paid on. So by adopting that a I haven't been screwed since because I do set different expectations I price differently all those things but I also don't let that baggage weigh me down and get in the way of what I do want to accomplish. I take that position. It's their problem not mine. Shame on them. But I'm moving on. And that has helped tremendously.

[00:20:58] And especially if you get attorneys involved it could cost you more to recover less.

[00:21:05] And when you do recover they're going to take a third of it anyway. So you know move on.

[00:21:10] All right so anything funny bizarre crazy happen in your business like.

[00:21:15] Funny bizarre happened. Oh god where do I start. I think the funniest is and I don't want to go into names here and it's maybe it's more bizarre is where I had a really unfortunate breakdown with someone I was working with as a coach you know who it is I don't want to get into names here but it was the it was bizarre in the sense that this coach was set up to help people grow their business. And when I took a path to grow my business you know different audience different target different coast but it became so competitive with this person that they basically made it. It got very ugly very personal and very destructive and it was bizarre. But it was not funny it was bizarre. And the most shocking thing was to realize that that when you invest in people and there was money invested in this relationship on my side and time and personal commitment only to have them basically not deliver on what you thought they were promising. It's very disappointing. And that's that's another actually a different example where I probably put too much energy into trying to make it right or at least and have it end civilly and in looking back it was a complete waste of time. So I just I just walked away.

[00:22:44] So it's not bizarre to me because you know I'm in that anti scam business that my consumer advocate role in my seminar scam role. It doesn't surprise me a bit because these people are sociopathic and they have no no goal other than to take your money. But they can put on any kind of face they want or they need to to get your money and then when they've tapped that out boom you're done you don't even exist. So yeah I'm very much against that. I'm sorry sorry that happened to you. Everything everything makes you stronger. So what do you like best about working for yourself and what's the worst part about working for yourself.

[00:23:25] So well the best part obviously is the freedom I no longer have to go into you know a corporate meeting or have a meeting with the boss or get permission to do things or have other people direct me to do things that either I don't want to do or don't think are right. And that's every day is not like that. But but if you live if you work for somebody else there's going to be some element of that. So it's this whole point about being able to make my choices about not only what I want to do but how I want to do it and how much of it I want to do and how I want to invest my time. So it's that freedom but it's not the freedom to go play golf every day. You know I'm not like that now for somebody else. Maybe that's what they want to do. God bless.

[00:24:07] For me. Speaking strictly in the business it's that freedom. Oh freedom to move I can be nimble I can be I can move quickly if I see the market changing or I see an opportunity. And I don't some people think I'm a serial entrepreneur. I'm not. Everything that I've done has actually been pretty linear and connected even though I've had different brands and done different things they've all been connected. And just a stage of growth. So in other words I didn't want to be a horse jockey one day and a brain surgeon the next. There has been a continuity of my business experience and what I'm what I'm doing but that's me. Some people want to do something completely different and that's fine. The worst part about working for yourself I think probably goes back to knowing how to set boundaries and being good with that and finding that way to communicate that to people. The coffee example you know the interruption that people wanting your time the people even simple things like e-mail you know e-mail can is our best friend in many respects but it can also be the biggest time sucker that there is. The beauty of new technology with texting and more electronic communication. You know me time I love to talk to people. But but talking on the phone all the time is for the most part a big waste of time of your business time. So being able to manage manage other people and their expectations of me and not disappoint and maintain the reputation and the image that you have which I think I do have of being open and giving and approachable and reachable and all those other wonderful things but yet not have it take me off track in terms of my own goals.

[00:25:50] Yeah it makes great sense except I gotta take exception with one thing you said about playing golf. I don't really like to play golf. I don't play golf take too much time with me. But if you did want to play golf every day I'd start a golf website site and sell affiliate things and put golf articles on there. And sell advertising so you can make it. For years we've been teaching people to make their hobby legitimately tax deductible. I do it with tennis. You know I have that side Fatsotennis.com and the protection dogs all that stuff is legitimately tax deductible because I have websites and I sell products based around it or refer products based around. So how can people work with. How do they find you. What do you have that they might be able to enjoy take advantage of more your knowledge.

[00:26:44] Well you know what's really funny is as with most businesses and I remember learning this from you years ago is you don't have to have all the answers or create all the products right from the get go. You start the process and then your clientele and your customers will tell you what they want. So build it. It's not so much build it and they will come build it. When they ask you for and and I have followed that advice as much as I possibly can.

[00:27:13] And so in terms of where my business is going it is absolutely still CKC global media and I see that being sort of my my brand that that is going to stick because there's a lot of latitude there. But I started off pretty broad trying to work with clients who wanted to say OK well how can I be a speaker and how should I publish and should I be a podcast or a radio host and how do I use social media. And it was what I realized. Number one it was too much overwhelming for the clientele that I'm targeting which again is small businesses and entrepreneurs. This is not corporate stuff. This is this is for real people like you and I. And real people who have passions and control over their business and desire to get their message out there. My tagline is elevate your message amplify your voice. I think you said that the intro. So what I have found is is what is most manageable and doable for people is really has fallen heavily into that publishing category. Now that could be anything from a simple as How do I start writing articles and maybe start a blog to I want to be a published author so the publishing side of my brand has has really taken on some real serious sea legs I've helped a lot of authors so I've almost become a writing coach not just on the techniques of writing but also obviously the publishing process and helping them decide do I want to self publish. Do I want to go with a hybrid publisher which for your listeners who don't know that's a pay to play format where you pay in to the publisher. But they are legitimate in the sense that they will get you out there distributed through traditional channels and they have the potential if your goal is to be in Barnes and Noble or Costco. They have the potential to get you there. And then of course if you want to pursue get an agent and go for the Simon and Schuster or the Macmillan contract we can teach you how to do that too. So that's where I'm seeing a lot of my business. Drawn to the Speaking piece is on a small scale I do some local workshops but I'm not really right now producing products. God knows I don't need to. Because you've got them all speaking from them right now. Exactly I just want to sell your products because they're so good so good. If you haven't read them a lot of what I thought I was a pretty good speaker to begin with and I know how to speak but speaking there's a difference between the business of speaking and the technique of speaking and you Tom address both of those things. But what I'm doing is more local. You know how do you get up and introduce yourself at a Rotary meeting and it's amazing how many people just can't do that. But that leads to other opportunities because if you can present yourself well on a small scale it opens up opportunities for you for your business and for your personal life. The podcasting and radio. I'm not. I'm promoting that as a concept.

[00:30:06] I'm actually going to be doing a new show this year with PBS here in northeastern Pennsylvania. So I'm going to you know I went from a little AM station in Greenwich Connecticut to internet radio. Loved it. I was very successful. It did a lot for my business and my branding but it was a lot of commitment a lot of responsibility and as my as my brand changed the Linkedin Lady branding no longer made sense to me so I retired that show about a year maybe almost a year and a half ago.

[00:30:35] So what I'm going to be doing now is a new show with local PBS called express yourself and it will be both broadcast as well as PBS. It'll be a once a week show and the concept is is to have people on as guests who have different ways to express themselves so they express yourself could be through speaking it can be through writing. It could be through products because you're expressing yourself and you're putting yourself out there. It's it's a pretty inclusive title so I'm going to have some fun with this. How do you express yourself. How do you get on America's Got Talent.

[00:31:17] Tell me about the PBS thing. How does one land the PBS gig.

[00:31:22] I tell you in my case it was quite accidental. I was invited to be interviewed on a local PBS because you know our PBS NPR station it's actually quite large it covers 22 counties in northeastern Pennsylvania and into the fringes of southern New York and and across the Delaware River. So this is a big station. I mean when I say a big station there there building is about 30,000 square feet. This is a big station. I was invited to do an interview for an event I was doing this summer called author fest here a local event for authors mostly local and regional authors and they were helping us promote it. Well in the conversation we were on a local show called the art scene and that's all this host does as she talks about things that are happening you know in our case in northeastern Pennsylvania. So it's not a syndicate able kind of a show. But in talking with them and realizing the footprint and the things that they are doing in TV in video in podcast in live radio in I mean everything I was telling them about my background. And they approached me and said Would you be interested in doing a show for us.

[00:32:36] And I was shocked because I like you said how does one get a gig with PBS. And the answer is I would say you're not going to start there. The standards are pretty high but they listen to a few of my shows from the past realized I could probably put a sentence together and I could interview somebody and that it might. And what I wanted to do was because I actually had this idea of Express Yourself. But I was going to do it just in a straight podcast form and do it on my own.

[00:33:07] And house it on my Web site. And they got me excited about the fact that now this has this has legs and this is something you need to do and you know so whether it'll ever be syndicated down the road. Who knows. But right now I would be thrilled to do it. You know here in the in the northeast so I'll probably be starting that in the next couple of months.

[00:33:26] Ok. Yeah this is ringing a bell with me. I got a call from from PBS and they said hey would you do a show for us. We heard you're on the Linkedin Lady show and I said call Carol she'll do it.

[00:33:39] So I owe it all to you.

[00:33:44] Everything she talked about folks who have links in the show notes. And this is episode 57 so it's screwthecommute.com/57. We've got to take a break for a few shout outs and our sponsor when we come back we're going to ask Carol to tell us what a typical day looks like for her and how she stays motivated.

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[00:36:01] All right back to the main event. Carol McManus is here. Carol what's a typical day look like for you. Let's do two of them let's say if you're on the road working a typical day and if you're home working what's a typical day look like.

[00:36:16] Well the typical day on the road which I frankly I'm doing a lot less of because that's one of my goals is I just don't want to travel anymore like I did. And I don't have to. That's the other beautiful thing about screwing the commute is that you have that choice that and again I always say choice because if you want to do it go for it. But when I am on the road I always have work with me. So if I'm flying it's really easy because you've got your tablet you've got your whenever my mind is always going. And I learned a long time ago that when you have an idea seed of an idea you want to capture it in the moment because you'll never remember it again and it may not go anywhere and that's okay. But if you don't write it down or captured on a little voice recorder on your phone or some people still carry their little Olympus recorders whatever whatever your style is make sure you capture it.

[00:37:02] But that's different than than acting on every idea you have every five minutes. That's looking you know the squirrel or the shiny object syndrome.

[00:37:14] Yeah and that is a trap that you can fall into when you're on your own because you do you know you have an idea or you talk to somebody and they make a suggestion and you go oh that's really cool and then you run off in a direction. So a typical day for me when I'm on the road is which isn't very often because I don't do that much anymore but I do try to take work with me and capture it either in writing or on a recorder on my phone or on my little Olympus which I still do carry at but I don't always act on all those ideas. I think the important thing is is just to keep things salting away sort of like your idea file and electronic devices have helped us capture that stuff much much easier than we could in the old days when it was all about post it notes and notebooks. But that would be an idea on the road.

[00:38:06] But the other thing that I do is I make a point of talking to people starting conversations not being obnoxious but you know when you're on a plane or standing in line or waiting for something you will be amazed at how much you can learn from people and by the way I don't stick my hand out and start telling them how wonderful I am and everything I do. In fact I will often walk away from a conversation and the person won't know anything about me because I am a curious person. I like to ask people you know oh why are you going to you know Chicago or you know just something about them what do you do for a living. Tell me about yourself and that usually opens the door to some type of a conversation so be a listener.

[00:38:53] Here's a good one not to say hey who'd you vote for.

[00:39:02] Yeah not a good start to a conversation. And if you have very strong opinions one way or the other the it can very much alienate people and destroy conversations. But but again be curious don't be afraid to talk to people. And so that would be on the road as far as typical day which is more common for me. What do I do here. I rely on my calendar.

[00:39:28] I rely on my e-mail and I rely on my phone. I get up early because you know I have a dog so I'm always up by 6:00 o'clock in the morning sometimes earlier but no later than 6:00 o'clock I'll have my coffee. I'll probably watch a few minutes of the news mostly to see the weather more than anything else. But I'm and then I get dressed I'm all almost always at my desk by 730 and I do believe that is part of my success as an entrepreneur because I start with a fresh mind and a fresh start. And it's not about 730 it's whatever day you're. Your time starts but get done the important things first because it makes it energizes you and makes you FEEL SO PRODUCTIVE. And it also relieves the guilt. If you look at the clock at 11:00 and say well I had a full day you know what I'm going to go play this afternoon and I'm going to go shopping I'm going to go play golf. It takes that guilt away. So that would be a typical day for me and I do that in since relocating to Pennsylvania. A lot of that time that non-work time has become philanthropic. I run two writers groups I'm involved in a couple of events I talked about author fest this fall I'm doing Millford readers and writers festival. I run the marketing committee for our local. It's called the downtown Holly partnership which is our version of a chamber. And then I draw my limits. That's how I not only give back but use my skill set to do things that I want to do and make connections. And every one of those volunteer things has led to some piece of business for me some opportunity and that's my choice. Other people either don't feel they can afford the time to do that. I didn't in my first couple of years because I was too busy trying to build a business and chase a dollar. I didn't have time to volunteer. But now I'm at a point because a lot of the things I learned from Tom.

[00:41:17] I'm at the point now where I don't have to worry if I if how much time I give because I know that I've got my income at at a level where it's comfortable. It's continuous and I can do as much or little as I want to with my business time and to me that would be the ultimate goal for people. It's the whole thing comes down to be in control.

[00:41:41] And the cost of living is less where you moved to.

[00:41:44] Much less.

[00:41:48] It's just impossible you have to make a fortune just to break even or still lose money. I was hearing yesterday on the radio that people making 120,000 dollars a year get food stamps in California.

[00:42:04] Scary, isn't it.

[00:42:04] Yeah yeah. I mean and I know I make a lot of money but I know things can cost a lot of money and I think the tax the state tax was thirteen and a half percent alone and all the other taxes and city taxes and real estate taxes and everything it can make sense folks to move to an area where you don't have to make a fortune just to lose money. So any parting thoughts for our screwballs thinking about either getting in the business or improving their business.

[00:42:38] The most important one and I said it before is tap into what you're passionate about because your probability of success is going to skyrocket if you really care deeply about what it is you're doing. When you when you become an entrepreneur especially if you are one of these listeners who has left a more traditional job it can be scary. It is going to come with pain and suffering and obstacles and challenges. But if you are really passionate about it it's no longer a job. It's not even a career. It becomes the essence of who you are and you will get joy from that which will help you power through all the challenges that you're going to have along the way. And then that breakthrough point the other thing that I would say is stick with it until you have that breakthrough. I mean Tom you and I both heard this many times over the years. There are so many people that stop running just before they reach the finish line and you whatever you're doing the payoff is there. And you know I can't tell you Tom can't tell you whether it's going to come in a month or six months or a year. But it will come if you pay attention refine your business and stick to it. And and just have fun doing it. Have fun.

[00:43:55] Very well said. You know I do. I can't go five minutes without laughing at something. Carol, great catching up with you. Thanks so much for blessing everybody with your knowledge and your inspiration. We really appreciate it. Everybody check the show notes this is episode 57. You get access to all Carol's contact and all the things she has available for you to help you. And she's very good at helping you. You know I don't have people on the show that that aren't reputable and have a lot of track record behind them. So so check her stuff out. Also get your free trial of kickstartcart.com if you're serious about online business this handles all your e-mail your selling your up selling all the things I've talked about in this podcast on my Monday training sessions. Speaking of that this coming Monday I'm going to give you the ins and outs of list building. And still to this day the gold is in the list. I'm going to show you how to mine some of that gold on Monday. So please subscribe and review if you don't know how to do it. We have instructions at screwthecommute.com. Thanks to Carol. Check out her stuff and I'll catch you all on the Monday training session. See ya later.

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