29 – She’s a collaboration and sponsorship expert out of Canada: Tom interviews Charmaine Hammond

Episode 029 – Charmaine Hammond
[00:00:08] 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.

[00:00:27] Hey everyone. It's Tom here for Episode 29 of Screw the commute podcast. We've got a prolific lady with us. Charmaine Hammond's here we'll get tell you all about her in a minute. First is our sponsor. Now look I'm down on my knees begging you to check out a particular Webinar or pass it on to someone who could use it. I mean I'm so far down on my knees. I think the dogs are wanting to play with me, they think I'm ready to play.

[00:01:06] Now this webinar has to do with higher education. If you're considering getting retrained because you hate what you're doing or you want a better life for yourself and your family or if you have kids nephews nieces or neighbors who are wondering oh should I burn up hundreds of thousands of dollars and then end up broke with mountains of debt. No marketable skills. Well if that's the situation you just gotta watch this webinar you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking a little time out and visiting screwthecommute.com, Click on webinars and watch the one on higher education.

[00:01:44] All right now let's get to the main event. Charmaine Hammond is a serial entrepreneur and business owner. She's the professional speaker who teaches the principles of collaboration partnership and sponsorship. Her clients are having tremendous success securing their own partners and sponsors. As a result of Charmaine's teachings and program she has presented to more than 300000 people around the globe has appeared on media more than 250 times has published five books and is on a mission to help entrepreneurs raise their dreams through collaboration and sponsorship. Charmaine Are you ready to screw?

[00:02:35] So tell everybody a little bit about what you do.

[00:02:45] Raise a Dream, that's one of my companies. Rebecca and I she's my business partner. We help entrepreneurs be able to launch their projects whether it's writing a book or going on a speaking tour or creating a nonprofit or just making a difference in your community. We work with these entrepreneurs to figure out how to raise the project to raise that dream through other people's money and support which is collaboration and sponsorship. So we're having an amazing time watching all these projects that entrepreneurs are doing to make a bigger difference in the world and getting those projects out to the world faster.

[00:03:26] But what's the typical way you work with someone.

[00:03:28] We do a lot of live programs so live programs being one day events or three day events like a workshop where people come and we work with them directly. We also have some mentoring students that we work with one to one and we just take a few of those clients at a time because the work we do with them is pretty extensive. And then webinars and Facebook lives in ways that we can connect with people through virtual platforms.

[00:03:52] I know you have lots of them but any success stories of how people use your system.

[00:03:59] We do. I mean there's so many things that happen. A lot of our clients. First of all we'll get sponsors for things like their hair their clothing their jewelry their travel hotel rooms and then we're also seeing our students do incredible things like book tours or speaking tours or launching a nationwide program. And they're getting their different project needs covered whether it's things like printing or motor homes or even their speaking fees a lot of times as a speaker and you know this Tom because we've talked about this, a lot of times events don't have a fee to pay to a speaker and so we've had a lot of our students be able to secure their full fee. But it's coming through a sponsor. Not from the event organizer.

[00:04:45] Hey the money spends just as good doesn't it? I'm understanding that there's more sponsorship money available now because a lot of the traditional forms of advertising are drying up so companies are putting more money into direct contact with people we've been through podcasts and all the books and everything that can be sponsored. So did you ever have a job.

[00:05:15] I did. my first job. I don't know if you know this my first job was in jail. I was a correctional officer for many years.

[00:05:22] You're kidding me. I did not know that you a correctional officer.

[00:05:27] Four eleven and three quarters is how tall I am.

[00:05:30] Oh my goodness. But the thing that's not your height that maybe just sit back. It's just you're always laughing and happy and having a good time.

[00:05:41] Well believe me there was a lot to laugh about there and if you didn't laugh you'd cry.

[00:05:46] Was there a moment when you decided you know enough of this I want to go out on my own. Did somebody have a knife at your throat.

[00:05:59] Well it wasn't quite as scary as that but it was very alarming for me. I was executive director of one of the treatment facilities for young offenders. So this was about 10 kids that were under the age of 18 that were in there for three years for the crimes they committed. And I remember dealing with one particular youth and in my head it's you know my head just said it's time to go and I went in the next day and handed my resignation and the big clue for me Tom was that I knew that day at work I had zero passion left for the job. And I felt my compassion leaving me that day and I thought I don't want to be that person. So that was the next day I handed my resignation and followed my now husband then boyfriend across the country and started a new life.

[00:06:48] Well I mean it's interesting because I imagine those kids need some compassion in addition to somebody telling them what to do and get them out of trouble. But if you don't want to be there that's especially bad place to be. So you just dumped on one day. So many people say well you should plan. But you said goodbye.

[00:07:13] Yeah and I knew because for ten years you know I loved that career. Tom I mean it was a place where I could make a difference. I so enjoy the relationships I built with the youth specifically when I was working with youth. And what made it so special is the staff on my team were compassionate. They were carrying their creative all the things that were needed to help these kids have a good start in life after they left our program. And I remember just kind of going there feeling boy that day and I thought the kids need more from me than I'm feeling right now. And I knew that that was the day.

[00:07:47] Wow. Are there any success stories you can either tell or you can recall from the young people turning themselves around.

[00:07:55] I have my favorite story is that I had worked with a young one of the kids he was just a really good kid who made some very bad decisions and he was in for a couple of years. And he was really difficult to deal with and when he would challenge the staff or be abusive I always had him write an apology letter. I really wanted him to learn how to accept responsibility and ownership. So he wrote many apology letters and some of them were actually not very pleasant. But anyhow years later after I'd left that business that I was in a different part of the country my sister at her place of business that hired this young person to work at their company and they were talking about crazy things they did as kids. And he talked about being in this correctional facility with this crazy lady with spiky short hair. Name is Charmaine Hammond and my sister is coming out of her skin thinking that's my sister! And he actually said there's any person I could thank in the world or go back and just tell them that they made a difference it was her because the day I left that center was the day I learned to turn my life around. He says I still have all the apology letters that I wrote that he got back when he was discharged and that made the whole 10 years of tough situations worth it.

[00:09:07] Well that actually brought it to your mind. I mean that's all talk about making a difference in the world. And then you quit.

[00:09:25] So would you suggest your method of just dropping out. I mean how was the finances at that time were you going to be OK. Did you have money saved.

[00:09:35] Yeah I had some money saved. I was living at home at the time. So that helped. Yeah I had moved back home when I moved locations for the place that I was working at but I did have money saved up I had a vehicle that was paid off and so I was in fairly ok shape but you know when I left that career and traveled across the country to follow Chris the place that I ended up going had a jail. But it wasn't operational although the community had enough people to fill the jail. But I had to get a new career. And so you know looking back and in response to your question it might have been a little more effective have I actually had a bit of a plan and there's the pattern there for me Tom because you know one of the challenges I had in business was I grew too fast and didn't have a plan. So there's a theme about that in my life. The need for all of us to have a plan.

[00:10:30] You know every business has ups and downs and you've found the way to overcome many of those. But I'm just wondering we are technically stalking Chris did he know you were chasing him across the country and trying to get away from you. He invited me. OK. He's not here to defend himself. Yeah he might tell you a different story.

[00:10:59] All right so give folks some tips about how they could use sponsorship to help their business or help them start their business or grow it.

[00:11:07] Well sponsorship is based on relationships so all those people listening that are good at relationships are going to have an easier time with sponsorship. So sponsorship can cover things that you use in your own business. For example you know my clothing my hair styles printing things like that are sponsored for us and what it does for a business especially newer businesses is it's reducing the money that you actually have to put out. But what it's really doing and this is why I love sponsorship relationships Tom is that what it's really doing is that sponsor is while you're helping them solve some of their problems maybe getting in front of a new audience or marketing in a new way they're helping you in many ways. And it's not just about the money it's the influence they bring and the connections they bring and you know I remember when one sponsor on my million acts of kindness tour tweeted out about the tour that they were happy to support this project and this tour. It reached millions of people and none of my tweets have ever reached millions of people. For me that was so much more valuable the connections they brought into my world.

[00:12:13] Ok so that's one thing. What else?

[00:12:16] The other ways that sponsorship can help businesses is that it can position them in front of new clients so it would actually can help you grow your business. It can also help you learn one of the things that I love about sponsorship as I'm learning about different industries by working with different types of sponsors. So for example my business has nothing to do with pets but my million acts of kindness tour had a lot to do with pets because our dog Toby was the star of the tour because he was the star of the books I was promoting. So we got introduced to the pet industry through this relationship with sponsors who were supporting the tour so it's given me a whole new audience for me to speak to to sell our products to provide training to so it can grow your business in so many ways.

[00:13:06] How should they get started if they're thinking about OK need money to do x. What would be the first step.

[00:13:14] First thing is to know your value and what you can bring to sponsors that's critical so that they understand what's in it for them by supporting your project. And the second thing is to look close to home. Every time we talk to students they always want to go to the head office of Microsoft or the head office of a phone company and the Olympics are going there. What we want to do is work to local and work with those businesses that are down the street from us and closer to home and also in your circle. My first 40 sponsors were all people I knew Tom. We had about 60 sponsors for me and then lots more for our state.

[00:13:54] Yeah. Only had one. But it was a big one. So have you ever gotten screwed in business.

[00:14:07] How long do you have for the story. You know one of the stories I was thinking about with that question is yes I showed up I traveled across the country from Vancouver to Georgia to attend this conference as a speaker and when I got there it was the unconference. There was no conference so I showed up paid for my travel. What had happened as the conference organizer forgot to book the conference room. Just a minor thing so there's all these speakers and people in the audience. And there was no conference. And that was a huge you know a huge learning. And there's always that things in business like clients who don't pay their bills. But there's been that kind of scenario really alerted me to wow there might be also things I need to do differently in my business so that you know I don't show up at a unconference again.

[00:15:07] Had you been paid already? No that was a whole other part of the drama. So the organizer he went out of business and I couldn't get a hold of him I did try and get my. I had to pay actually to attend the conference. So I did get that back. I think from pay pal they were really great to deal with but I couldn't get the flight costs back. And it was quite disturbing to say the least.

[00:15:31] Well that's where people with me my professional speaking kit because I would never let that happen to you. That's kind of bizarre. Anything funny happen.

[00:15:45] My favorite story I share this. All the time so I show up at this little speaking event. Somebody who booked it on my behalf and said this will be a great event Charmaine and I was going to show up and teach conflict resolution because that was what this group was needing and that was my background for many years. So I show up and we're doing introductions and some kind of an icebreaker exercise. And the person in the audience really seriously looks at me and says I actually negotiate with extraterrestrial beings.

[00:16:14] And it was one of those moments that was like her teasing me do I laugh to be serious. And I think I was so stunned I said pardon. And he said well I negotiate in other planets. Yeah he's a mediator in other planets and I thought how to handle it how would you that Tom.

[00:16:32] It was probably have a pretty good chance of winning in your mind anyway.

[00:16:40] So there's times like that where you meet people. It was a really interesting conversation later but I've had a few of those. You know Chris who never uses Bounce in the dryer had done the laundry for me as I was getting ready to go to a speaking engagement and I'm up there in front of 500 executives and I can feel something strange in the bottom of my pant like my pant legs were moving around my boots. And I went I took a break I go over to see what's happening at the bottom of my pant leg and it's a pair of Chris's underwear that were stuck inside my pant leg. So the funny part is I was teaching them about feedback so I came back in the room and had the underwear in my hand and I said you know people what have we learned about giving feedback. Somebody could let me know that I had undies dragging from my pant leg so I've had tons of embarrassing moments and funny stories but I think they're all what keep us human.

[00:17:37] What do you like best about being in business for yourself and what's the worst part.

[00:17:43] I love having the freedom to kind of work when my energy is I get energy at weird times like a lot of people in business. And I get to work where the energy is and I get to do a lot of what I really enjoy. So the things that are sort of in my genius and what I don't love about being in business for myself is that sometimes when we're growing we have to do some of the stuff that is not our genius like you know me. Tom I'm not technical at all and so I've had to learn a little bit of it to be able to understand the right type of people we need to hire and bring onto the team. But when you're in business for yourself it's not like when I worked in corrections or in other jobs where you've got a whole team and a bunch of departments that you can go and have them solve the problem. So sometimes business can be a little isolating or challenge us to learn things that we have to learn just to keep the business going.

[00:18:38] I had one lady say she married for tech support. She said he married for first class upgrades. So that was a Good deal. So how can people work with you. What types of programs do you have that they could take advantage of. Tell them about your books and things.

[00:18:59] Well for those people listening that like online programs. We have a great online program that teaches the whole process of securing partners and collaboration and that's available through raiseadream.com they can contact us and I really suggest people follow us on social media we're really active in helping people learn even those that are not working with us because there's so many things that people can do to just start developing relationships to sort of transform their business and become collaboration partners. So I would say check out our Website. Check out one of our life events. We do them all the time in different locations. That's a great way to see if sponsorship is a fit for your business and for the goals that you have in mind for your business.

[00:19:51] All right so we have to take a brief break for our sponsor. And then we will be right back and Charmaine's going to tell us what a typical day looks like for her and how she stays motivated.

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[00:20:33] All right we are back with the fantabulous Charmaine Hammond and Charmaine. Tell us what a typical day looks like for you.

[00:20:44] Oh a typical day for me starts with coffee. And Chris usually makes it because he makes way better coffee than I do.

[00:20:51] What if you were out of coffee. What would happen to your day.

[00:20:57] Tea or water it would still go ok though I would probably walk to a coffee shop to go get coffee. But actually we're really lucky we have a wonderful little independent coffee store right behind us. So literally about a 45 second walk. And you know we have a dog Toby and one of the things I love about working for myself is that I get to take my day starts with taking the dog for a walk and that's a great way to start the day get clear be in the sunshine or in Vancouver in the pouring rain and then my day starts with generally I've got a to do list or kind of a list of key priorities that I have to get done and the reason I keep that key priority list is I can busy myself with all kinds of things that aren't very important and don't matter. So for me I've learned that I've got to tackle those five or ten most urgent things before I check email or do anything else and then the day kind of goes from there. Well generally it goes into e-mail and that takes you down a big path. It's sort of like the same thing is when you go on Facebook and then you reappear two hours later and then I do social media I'm live on social media. I do my own social media so it's great. I love being able to celebrate our students wins and check out what our students are doing.

[00:22:28] And so that's something that's a priority for me every day. One of the things I have to push myself to do though related to speaking is reconnecting with past clients and an event organizers. So that's one of the things that can easily I can easily run out of time for. And so I need to push myself to make those kinds of calls every day and also and you know how hard we're working on our product creation. So that's the other thing I need to do is set time aside for creating our products and writing blogs and articles so that we continually have new information being available to the public and to our students.

[00:23:04] That's a typical day. But let's say you have a speaking engagement across the country or in another country. What's the lead up to that. What's that look like.

[00:23:13] Well that's for me it's usually getting up at 330 in the morning to get to the airport. That's lovely. There is nowhere open for coffee at that time by the way. So and then you know hanging around the airport. And usually that's where I check e-mails I've learned not to respond to e-mails at 330 in the morning because your brain is not working and you write weird stuff. So ahead of time I should say ahead of getting up at 330 I would have had everything ready to go. Like you, you've kind of got a speaker kit everything's ready to go and you got everything needed to go with you. I double check my e-mails and my contract immediately because I have thought that I was going to one place and where I'm going is in a different place. Because when you travel a lot it becomes somewhat of a blur so I do that the night before and in the morning and then once I get to the place that I'm speaking I love to go ahead of time I don't like flying in hours before I speak. If you fly in at the last minute you miss that opportunity to meet the audience.

[00:24:25] Yeah. And with weather. So I just like to show up and be early and be available to my clients. And then when I come home it's hang out with Chris and Toby as a priority and then following up on conferences is very important to do quickly.

[00:24:42] So how do you stay motivated for all this stuff.

[00:24:44] Oh that's a great question. I don't work in isolation. Part of what what Jazzes me is working with other people so I stay in contact with my team. But I also take time Tom to do things that I don't want and if the word is fun or that give me joy. But creating is something that I love to do. So mapping out a new webinar or writing a new chapter in a book. Those are things that give me energy they don't suck my energy from me so I've learned that if this is going to be stressful for me. It's probably because I'm doing all kinds of things that are difficult and are not my genius and that I don't enjoy. And sometimes you still have to do that anyways. But how I counteract that is by building in things where my creativity can come out every day.

[00:25:31] Wow. Well I like being alone. So if I was alone I'd do better at it.

[00:25:43] So you got any parting thoughts for all our screwballs out there.

[00:25:47] Well you know the one thing I'd say is that even if you're thinking of leaving a job to start a business or if you're already in a business one of the things that can just suck our energy so quickly and set things down a negative path is by not dealing with issues as they come up. So challenges are going to be there whether you're leaving a job or you have a business challenges are going to be there and deal with them immediately because the stress of not dealing with things can complicate everything that comes afterwards so just deal with stuff as it emerges. Don't let things build. And the other piece I would say is make sure that you're focusing on some of the things that are your genius and that give you joy because that's where the motivation and inspirational stay really high.

[00:26:31] Very well said. So thank you so much for bringing yourself and bringing a little bit of Toby and a little bit of Chris in. We're gonna have to talk to him to see if you actually were stalking him or not. It is only one sided conversation here. So I want to get the real story. How do people reach you if they have questions or want to ask you about your programs or sponsorship or whatever.

[00:26:58] They can reach me through the website raiseadream.com or also on Facebook under the same handle and I respond to the messages. I'm getting a lot of Facebook messages these days. So that's one of my main ways of communicating now. Who knew.

[00:27:12] I'm sure a lot of people here will be wanting to talk to you about this. Thanks so much again for gracing us with your presence. And this has been Episode 29 Charmaine Hammond. Don't forget to check out 28 where I go into one of my training sessions how to advertise online. Check out that webinar over at screwthecommute.com for higher education and I will see you on the next episode. Catch ya later.

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