Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode, a couple of nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and as you can tell by the background, and for those of you who follow my show, you know, I'm still on vacation, a stress case as I call it, because I'm a workaholic and I have been nothing but stressed on this vacation.
I'm back in Virginia where I was stationed in military, so a lot of bad memories. The traffic is the worst in the world. The, the architecture of the roads in Virginia is just awful. It's decent now. It's decent now today, but it's been freezing cold. Most of my stay here, so not, not a good time, but I had the pleasure of through the OWL app.
Use my referral code whiskey in the link below. I met an amazing woman who now I can actually record with someone live enough of all this Zoom stuff, you know, it's great to actually be in person with someone. Wonderful. My, my first time, other than Ms. Whitney, co-hosted a David Jones locker series, but she lives with me, so it's kind of like.
It's easy to record in person. But yeah, we've got a beautiful background, a waterfront that is gonna have some great events at it, but that's just a little tease for later. So, fell further ado, Ms. Mary Fernandez, what can you tell us about yourself other than speaker life? Coach, podcaster, mother, wife, you love helping the community.
And so we're here to talk about leadership and community, getting involved in creating events. For the community, which you've done. Mm-hmm. And you're gonna continue to do mm-hmm. As long as you can. Yes. So I'm gonna pass it over to you. Tell us all about that. Wow. It's such a pleasure to be here. You know, anytime I see someone doing something, I believe in them almost immediately.
So when we connected, it was a yes automatically, because yes ma'am. I believe in dreams, I believe in goals and action takers. But when you say. Said something about talking about leadership. You know, I look back over my life and I see some of the situations I have been in, right? Some of the situations you have been in and some of the situations of college students, fresh, fresh out the gate, new job seekers, they've had some pretty interesting, um, experiences that could have taken them out of their good attitude or their right.
Good intentions for a great future without all that struggle, but they champion the situation. But why not talk about leadership antiquated styles. What is the mission of the leader, right? The organization. Are people invested in the business and the people? Are we interested in keeping up with how to get the most out of the team?
And have that proper relationship between leadership and followers or team players. How do you balance that out without killing dreams and stifling giants? So I'm all about leadership. Yeah. That's amazing. You know, two things I wanna address that you brought up and, and kind of last thing, you know, a lot of companies will say, we're a family, you know, we're a family.
Mm-hmm. You gotta balance that, right? Because you can't be too forgiving, you can't be, well, you know, the rules don't apply here or there. Right. You still have a business to run. Mm-hmm. But what you said before. Beforehand about people fresh outta college or even, you know, our, our younger folks, the, the high schoolers, you know?
Mm-hmm. You don't realize, a lot of leaders don't realize that when it comes to a person's first job, you're that person's introduction to what the working world is like. Mm-hmm. And you can completely change. You said they're that good attitude. Mm-hmm. You can be what, um, changes their work ethic for the worst.
You know, I met plenty of people. They're like, well, why don't you work? Why don't you, you know, why don't you wanna work? Why don't you wanna be a part of this company? Mm-hmm. Well, the last. Company I was at, you know, they didn't care about us. So I don't care about the working world. And in fact, you know, it's, it's happened even to me.
Mm-hmm. Because in the military, I had a lot of toxic change of commands where mm-hmm. They didn't care about you. They weren't invested in your growth, they weren't invested in you, you know, you were just, uh, property, just an asset. Mm-hmm. Um, and so when I got into the civilian world and I was working at the chemical plant, uh, one, it was all.
So the same exact structure, the same work style, and the same kind of toxic habits. Mm-hmm. But on another level, it was like, they're like, why don't you wanna work overtime? Why don't you wanna do this? And that put in extra effort. And it's like, because I did all of that and I got nothing. Mm-hmm. You know?
Mm-hmm. And, and so I understand it, you know, as a young adult, how that really affects us. How a leader's attitude changes things. 'cause I had a leader in the military who was great. Mm-hmm. He made me work harder. I worked extra hours because, you know, he was just inspiring. He was enthusiastic. He cared about us.
He cared about our personal lives. Mm-hmm. You know, he was like a father. Mm-hmm. And you know, especially my generation where we all have divorced parents or no father or mother. Mm-hmm. You know, it's important as a leader, as a mentor to play an example, you know, a role in their life to help guide them because they don't have guidance.
So true. And it's interesting, like I said, bringing up my generation, you know, I'm also the co-founder and co-host of Generational Bridge Builders with Steven Barrow. Shout out to him. Great guy. You know, he's kind of like that father. Figure, he's more of the bad uncle in my life. You know, he is more of a bad uncle, but since I don't have a father, he is a good substitute and, you know.
Okay. Uh, we talk about the generational gap. Mm-hmm. And one of the things we address frequently is the attitude toward work. Mm-hmm. We, we talked recently about ghosting, like how a lot of young people just quit without notice. Mm-hmm. Or just don't show up to interviews and how the world has changed so much.
Mm-hmm. So, Ms. Mary, as you've been in the working world, what are some big. Changes you've seen and you know, some of the people you've mentored is just like, wow, this is so different from when I was growing up and when I was working in the world. Definitely. Now help me stay on track. Yes ma'am. I remember, um, many years ago when I was an aspiring first time job.
Seeker and I was old enough to go out and search for interesting avenues to follow. Right. I know my father gave me good advice. Look for a job with benefits. Yes ma'am. So that you can fall in love with that job and give your best and not have to worry about little things like that. And I was in the elevator of city hall of one of our neighbor neighboring cities, and I had gone into an office, got the information I needed, came back and was making notes.
And a gentleman in a nice suit, businessman said to me, conscientious, okay. So he noticed me. He saw me, and he was aware of the fact that I am very interested in getting a great job or whatever I just left. Must have been that interesting that I took notes. So inspiring words from wellers and in, in the old high schools, we were groomed to get ready for the professional world, right?
We were groomed to get ready for the career of your dream with disciplines like showing up, dressing up, right. Uh, stick-to-it-ness, believe in yourself. Uh, bounce back ability. Just get ready for that world. Right? And the organizations in the school framed us just right because there were rules of engagement.
For the different organizations that they, I think with the problems in school now they are, they're distracted from the power of great organizations to teach things like structure, discipline, protocol, command, rank, you know, like who's in charge, respect that person. So a lot of that is gone now, working with one of my first jobs.
The incentives made it so that you wanted to strive for promotional opportunities, right? The structures were written down so that you knew what you had to do, the opportunities for posting jobs with working there. You could do extra school work, the job provided educational benefits, all kind of things to invest in yourself because we want to invest in you, right?
We felt that, but. Honda has gone on and I've seen different bosses of different styles. It looks like there's a great divide between who's working on the team and who's coming on board and how valuable they are and what they're bringing, and the I am important. I am the boss. Okay, now what we gonna do?
Now what? That eager, enthusiastic desire to work and be a part of the team and find out the promotional framework and, and get appreciated for what you do and get guided for what you need to do. All of that team seemed to have watered down with this state of importance and, and almost like the, the leadership teams are not being trained on how to work with people, much less how to develop themselves to become great leaders.
So the gap is getting wider and wider, and now I'm even seeing, I see great organizations. I, I do see great organizations of course, but I do see a lot of lacking in a lot of of leaders. Now we have. I love my city and I, and I love how my five cities work together, right? However, I know they have so many things on the plate, but let's talk about these big companies, right?
Big companies that have the power to influence the next generation and the world if they invest in those individuals. Help them grow as individuals, as well as master the skills of their job and give them tips on how to improve where they lack and applaud them. Where they are doing well. They have the power to change the world, but I've seen a lot of.
Bad outcomes from those situations. Right. Dare I elaborate? Well, you know, I'll say there's a lot of that where it's, people aren't caring about legacy. It's a, a very selfish world, and it's like, all right, I just, whatever I gotta do for this company, I don't care about the person who comes after me. And, and I, I believe I discussed it with you in the military.
I had, and I've shared this story so many times on the show. If you're a frequent listener, I apologize. But you know, every time I bring this up, because I had a leader mm-hmm. Who I came up to him and I said, Hey boss man, you know, we're working a 24 hour military duty day, like every other day. Mm-hmm. Pour in starboard sometimes every three days.
Mm-hmm. You work 24 hours, then straight into nine hours, then you're off, catch up on all your errands. Mm-hmm. Gotta call mom so she doesn't freak out, you know? Right. Like a good mother. Spec like a good mother. Yeah. Uh, and then, you know, whatever else you gotta do. And then it's the next 24 hour day. Mm-hmm.
Back. So, and I said, Hey, you know, boss man, we've got, you know, this amount of people, X, Y, Z, we've got, here's how we can arrange things. So we do this every six days or every eight days, like all the other. You know, divisions in the ship are doing his response. I don't care. You don't have it worse than I did.
If you had it worse than I did, maybe I would feel bad. Mm-hmm. I don't care. I had to watch paint drive when I, you know, when I was in your position, I had to watch paint drive. I really don't care what you had to do. It's about us, who it's about. And you know, if we're not happy and we all leave, guess what you're getting called.
Back in to fill our spot. Mm-hmm. Or you had to stay longer, they pressure you to stay in. Mm-hmm. You know, it's really about, and you know, they always say stay in and be the change you wanna see. But we are so discouraged because we see our leaders saying, there's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can do.
I, I didn't stay in, you know, for this long because I couldn't do anything, or I'm not gonna stay in because of this. Mm-hmm. Now, what I want to ask you, Ms. Mary, is you said, and I want to see if I'm understanding this correct. Okay. Yeah. It almost sounded like you're saying schools are training us how to get the job, but not how to perform well at doing the job at, you know, staying at the job.
They're saying, you know, here's how you get the interview. You dress right, you're on time, you take notes, you sit up straight, all this stuff, right? Mm-hmm. All this fluff, I want to call it, it's important, don't get me wrong, like, please do this. Don't show up looking stupid. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But it's not like from there, it's not like, now here's what you do.
And I also on some. Way, they kind of encourage you too much. They set you up like you're saying eager, like what can I do to help? What can I do to help? Mm-hmm. Which is great. Mm-hmm. Uh, one of the best, you know, pieces of advice I was ever given was this guy said, Hey, here's some leadership advice for when you get outta the military.
Say, alright, what is this expecting me of the first 90 days? What is something you're facing? I don't a big level in the company, that's an issue. Mm-hmm. And is there anything I can do as I start here that can help that in any way? Um, and I think it's great to have that. Mentality of wanting to help. I feel a lot of leaders aren't receptive to that.
They're like, oh, you can't do anything. Or it doesn't matter. They're just so self-centered and stressed. Mm-hmm. And you know, you're talking about big companies and, and small companies and you know, it is true that they affect each other too, because they'll be like, whoa, if this company is doing it and they're such a big famous company and they're making money, then I can do it.
Mm-hmm. And it might be something bad, it might be not treating their employees right. Mm-hmm. So. I'll let you elaborate on that. Okay. First of all, when I was making reference to the schools, that was when I was in school, right? And I'm up there with, um, past the 50 mark. You're about, I was gonna say, you don't look a day over 29, so 60 mark.
Little further up there, closer to the 80 mark than I amam to the 70, 60 mark. So what's. Going on in schools right now is foreign to me. I have right, have not had a high school student in a while, even on the elementary level and uh, uh, primary level, all those things are kind of different. Those structures are so different and foreign to me now, but I did.
Get to see the college level more recent than college students. Right. More recent than the early level. Right. I know there are a lot of good programs out there for sure. I just do not see the, the not being in there, but working with entrepreneurs and startups and then seeing young people do things like get recruited.
Head hunters come looking for them. Right. This is one that's Ed in my mind forever. Head hunters comes looking for the potential great next generation of. Employee, uh, the student has the fresh off the press skills to do the job well. Master skills. Maybe they don't have all the people development skills, but they have the skills enough to do the professional interview and impress you to get that job right.
They have their personalities, which may not be like every other person on the line or every other person on in the plant, but do you have a structure in place as a boss, as an employee, as a company, to embrace and celebrate the different personalities, the different way people communicate? Right. And the different ways they learn and like to be recognized or not be recognized.
Everyone's different. How they investing in their. People. So that's key. Then they ask you to move, come move and leave your home and set up everything. Come to this town and work for us. Get an apartment. Um, you do all that investing. You make all that travel in and out of town to get that new job in the new location.
Then you get in there and you make a technical mistake. A little mistake that I believe could have been caught at step one by a supervisor at least checking the work of a brand new employee for at least three months, six months, one month. But no, they don't do the training, don't, they don't live up to the, throw them to the wolves.
Don't live up to the promise of we are. Family, we want you here. We're gonna look out for you. They threw them right to the job, high level quality work, but one little mistake that wasn't explained nor court, oh, that cost us so much money. So we're gonna have to dump you into this city where you know no one have no family, right?
Have just got this apartment and this new job and you're just gonna have to go make it on your own while we clean up this mess. Six little items they gotta clean up, but they didn't invest in training that new employee I. That new employee to the, to their company, right? Having that supervisor on hand that could have caught that mistake at number two or number three, just threw them to the wolves per se.
Now, how many people would like that experience of being thrown to the wolves? Then you created a homeless person in a new town, in a new city with a new apartment, right? You just created a homeless person who was top of their, their field. Where they came from, but now in your field, they don't fit in anymore.
You know, you did all that romantic Right. Then you got 'em and then you dump 'em. Right. And the biggest thing I'm seeing nowadays is I had bought a drink for this woman at a bar who is playing guitar. Mm-hmm. Gonna find out she has a full psychology degree, she just can't get hired. And this is common everywhere.
Mm-hmm. And even when I've. Been job hunting, which now I'm the founder of my own company. So yes, done with those days. Congratulations. Hopefully, hopefully I, maybe I may job hunting in the future, you know, God, God willing. I don't, but uhhuh, you know, it's all years and years of experience and it's always this.
And this has been going on well before my time is, you're right. They want all this experience, but no one's willing to take a chance on you to get that experience. You know? And it's like this endless cycle and even degrees now are becoming so worthless, even though college is more expensive. Mm-hmm. And more difficult.
And it has more programs. The degree is worthless. Worthless and worthless. You know, word play there. Okay. Okay. You know, I'd like act. To see more, like more kind of trade school-ish kind of things where you actually learn a skill for this. Right? Especially in the digital age. There's no, like you go to college for all this computer engineering, computer science programming.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There should be a trade school where you actually learn specifically that technological skill to use, because like even the classes I'm taking or that I've seen other people take in college to get the degree, it's like, cool, we memorize. This stuff to get this class just a high enough score so we can get the degree, but we don't actually know how to use any of the stuff that the company's gonna have us use.
Mm-hmm. Or you know, and it's, and the biggest thing is the work experience. It's like, how are you supposed to get it? It says eight plus years in accounting and taxing. So unless you have a family or a connection mm-hmm. To get hired, someone takes a chance on you. You know, I think companies need to be more receptive, but they're so, I don't wanna lose any money.
I don't wanna lose any time. Mentality that, you know, they're not, like you said, even training the people they have, it's like they just throw you into the woods. So the negative report, they, the student researched on the internet about, well, they don't train you, they don't this, and on that came true.
Right? And that Prime newly hired found out all of that was true. And because of lack of training and supervisor became one of the homeless in that city because they moved there because they were sought out about the headhunter. But I. Put a positive and a reality spin on it as well. All right. Okay.
Trade schools were very popular and I like to study and research what's going on in the world around me. And I was doing an events in one of the five cities, 'cause our five cities seemed to work really well together in the areas that they need to, like how could we collaborate as a five city area, right?
But then what can we separate and do on our own because this, my city needs this, my city. And so they pay attention right to their cities and what they need. But I was just in one of the five cities and there was. His new trade school. I said, oh my God, a's trade school, how many people know of this? I don't know of him, and I live here.
I said, that's wonderful. What can I do to get you on my podcast? Okay. So getting to that individual that I met getting past that phone is a big, you know, is a big issue, right? So I would want the world to know about them. That's what my podcast is about, getting the spotlight on everyday heroes and, and leaving a legacy and making an impact.
Now, the other thing I hope I can stay on point about. Uh, there are a lot of new programs that are popping up to train and educate students, but then there is such, there's so many new things happening so fast that the marketplace isn't trained on how to prepare for it, such as when you work for a new job.
Now communication skills means something totally different. Yeah. Your assignment means something different. The assignment for the job you have actually means whatever project or direction this company decides to go, this is the skill base I need. Need you to have, right? And be able to get the education on it, or work on this or work on that so that you can show up and do that element of the job.
So explanations of what is expected have really changed, but maybe leadership or the team have a broken communication where the new and new, the the old leadership does not know how to integrate the new way of the world and use the talent of this amazing generation that. Born in a tech world and can at five years old help grandma with her computer.
Yes ma'am. Or at 10 years old tell you, like my children told me, they told us you need a computer telling us as parents, you need a computer. It is the way of the world. If you don't learn it now, you will be behind the time. These were children telling me that, help me get my first phone, help me set up my first, uh, computer and helped us do this and do that.
They had books like this, uh, because they love technology so much where you can go. In there and find this code means this, so my husband and and their children would go in there and fix it. That's that. That kind of talent should not be squashed degrees not being used or used college. I've always loved the idea of going to college, learning, eating up what's on the table.
I've always liked the idea and I heard our governor say at one time, our former governor say that I believe in the children getting a job and a trade so they can pay fees. Themselves clothe themselves while they're learning to get the degree that they want. Right? So where are the training schools? I don't know.
What's the disconnect? 'cause there's so much good out here, but there's still so much confusion, right? Then there's so much disparity and, and sadness and depression, right? Depression is just coming to the, to the forefront. Depression in what is anxiety, right? COVID. All these things that have happened to people are coming to the surface, like bubbled up during COVID and now they've got to learn to talk indeed with people in person.
Right. I'm the first in, in person interview. Right. In a while. Right. And, and some people grew up thinking like, we've always had masks, we've always done everything online. Like my youngest sister, her first two years of high school were online. Mm. Like, that's insane. And I insane. You know, we've talked all the time on the show about how does that affect our children, you know?
Right. Having that, it was like toddlers with masks. On, like, that's insane. Right. And, and something too, you're talking about so many skilled, you know, young people. There's so much competition too. You know, there's a, it's a very competitive job field now more than ever. 'cause you have, the population itself is just massive.
And there's so much self-education, online degree programs, all this flexible online college. Mm-hmm. It's like, you know, it's not just the rich kids or the scholarships. You know, from smart people. It's like anyone, anyone. And, and you know, I don't wanna say anyone can go to college. I know there's still a lot of obstacles out there, right?
Right. But the amount of people getting higher education is so much larger than it was. True. True. This is an amazing generation. I love the way you put it, where people were born into mass and don't know a world without it. Our world is, is, is going through a dramatic change right now. There is a mighty force of good moving.
Equally as strong as the force to amen, disrupt everything. So we must show up, speak up, do something or say something. But how do you do that unless you're an entrepreneur like yourself. Right? Um, and where do you go get the people who have lost their fire and their dream and their passion, right? For wanting to take their gifting into the marketplace, right?
I believe entrepreneurship is a sure far way, but you and I were both in Florida at the same time. We didn't get to see each other, y'all. We didn't even know each other then, but we found each other. Found, right. Each our group. Yes, ma'am. And we got to talk and with our people, but we, we connected because we found them.
Yes ma'am. But one of the things was we went there, we saw, and we saw this massive talent of people. Amazing people minded, amazing like-minded dreams and goals, which was okay, I got a voice. I got a platform. I know in my beginning years of my podcast, I was in 10 countries and not even showing up like I should.
Not even having my systems and everything in place, but I believe don't wait to get it all fixed up and pretty. Just go for it. Start ugly. Start ugly. Oh Chris, you know. Hey, founder of I Fest. Oh my God, Chris and, and, and, uh, the founder Hill, they are pure geniuses, right? Who took an apple, who took an idea and then they put an umbrella over all of us.
They have bro Guinness books of records, right? 'cause you were there. You've been vetted. VET, meaning he's been approved. He's been approved. He's, he's someone I can reach out to, right? All those people in that hotel, we felt protected and everyone was so. Friendly. You know, it was, everyone came up, what's your podcast?
What's your mission? How can we help? Lemme connect you with X, Y, Z, A, B, C. You know, it wasn't competition, real competition. I thought it was gonna be, I thought I was gonna be like, all right, anyone who's military, like, get away from me. You're my competition. It wasn't, it was like, Hey brother, here's every guest I've had.
If you wanna reach out to them, let me come on your show. You come on my show. Woo. Let's. To do some fundraisers together projects. Yes. Yes. And you know, you're talking about ways of getting a message out there and working with people, talking about podcasts and entrepreneurship. How about a walk-a-thon?
That's a great way to raise some awareness. Oh my god, I'm a, I'm more of a 5K guy 'cause I'm still young and you know, I like to run and feel good and. Get a participation trophy. Mm-hmm. But Walkathon is great too, and I'd love to hear about maybe you happen to have one coming up here soon. Absolutely. I have Walk-a-Thon 2024 and Women's Expo on this waterfront right here in the city of Portsmouth.
This is the go to distance. Distance. We're at our beautiful hotel, number one hotel in our city, and you walk down that way and you end up at the pavilion. Park and the festival park, that's where we actually start. I wanted to do an event like that as a gratitude, right? And thank you event to pull people out to walk for a cause.
Let's get under an an umbrella where we all can just thank goodness for life, health and strength, and the ability to get up another day. Right? The two causes are stopping domestic violence and bringing more conversation around it. And then the third, second one is curing cancer. In our lifetime, in the workplace, whether we're entrepreneurs or not, in my entrepreneurial workplace, I have found so many clients that have experienced one or both of those issues.
The military side of it. The nightmare and the horrors of their stories made me want to help because I know I was in bed with, um, a, a domino issues in 2020, and then we were confined to home. So I was basically bedridden waiting for surgery that had to be canceled. And now all of a sudden, all the little bad things that have happened between there and now made me just wanna wake up one day and say, thank you, God, for another day where I can.
Still this right? Put those bad happenings aside. Amen to that, and go at life and celebrate and bring as many people as I want with me. I have the author of Dating Shouldn't Hurt. This Man has a book. That should be, it does hurt be Bad by everyone. He's one of my speakers. And he has short 10,000, short of a million downloads telling his story about his daughter.
Wow. Have you ever heard of Love Bombing? I have, yes. Have you heard of Flying Monkeys? Not the second one. The first one my dad did to my mom. Um, you know, 'cause I did grow up in a emotional domestic violence sound sold, and there was. Sexual abuse and a lot of emotional and verbal abuse and so, mm-hmm. I am familiar with some of the terms.
The second one, not as much. Okay. He educated me and I did a four part interview that will debut on, uh, the first will debut episode. Part one will debut on YouTube, my a Tuesday of next week. And just to hear that intro, part one, you want every child, every school, every teacher, every minister, every law enforcement person, as he would say to hear that.
Because that's what our children, mothers, right daughters are dealing with. So that's that us looking out for each other in that envelope of, uh, like that safe place we were in when we were at Pod Fest. But then, um, curing Cancer, one of my champions is Nick Cling Smith, and I give all of them their, their recognition because they said yes.
To me when it came to right. I would like to showcase you. I want to put you in the spotlight. Four time cancer survivor type one diabetic, four times recovering alcoholic. And I warn people before they listen to his episode that he says he's known for a bad attitude, but he was fighting cancer for his life and 24 was the first time he experienced cancer.
He's won a hundred medals since. Running and traveling the world competing. Next is Cell Diaz, and I know you don't tell us. I know, I do. See, we know each other's friends because we're under that same podcast umbrella. And, and Steven Barrow, you know, on our first episode of Generational Bridge Builders, he talked about how.
He had cancer as a child, a terminal cancer, and America had not approved yet. The, the cure for it. That for his specific kind. Mm-hmm. They sentenced him to death and he fled the country and had to go get surgery. They actually arrested and took away the guy who saved his life. Wow. It's a, it is a amazing story.
It really is. Wow. So those are stories out there. And then I think Gina, Gina is our, um, wellness speaker, right? So now. What I'm looking for is for friends and family, people that don't know me, but people who come under the same sincere umbrella of wanting to make a difference to show up and walk. The link to registering will be on his site.
Y'all need to register preferably before the end of this month. Let a hundred or 500 of us show up and walk for a car. And we're gonna make it fun for you and we're gonna, you know, treat you right. So that is one of the things I'm doing under my umbrella, right? Instead of being president of this association, or president of that group, or project developer for that group, right?
I wanted to do it under my name. As an individual citizen to encourage others, do something, right? Live your dream, take your gifting, and those dreamers that have had their dreams squashed like you did when you went in the military, and I'm so sorry you had that ma'am experience. I want them to come alive and look at, look, you have two legs and some don't.
You don't have eight. You're trying to figure out how to walk with eight, right? Find something to be thankful for and find the thing that makes you happy. And brings you joy. This is a new world we are living in. And it may be rough now, but bad times do not always last. And joy does come in the morning and you say, what morning?
When? When? When is that morning coming? It's coming. Just stay around to see it. Keep making yourself better every day. Just don't give in and succumb because what you succumb to, succumbs to you, right. What you hope for and you reach up for, it comes to you. You may not see it, but it's coming. I'm walking. I wasn't walking in 2019, right?
In 2020. I was trying to walk and I, I don't have my cane with me because I was trying to recover. And when you're bedridden, then you lose your health and strength and now you gotta rebuild those weak muscles. So, right. Let's find a reason to come together. I mean, it was so neat, you know, that. We got together, ma.
We were in Florida and just didn't see each other. But we felt the same love and appreciation. Right. They made us feel good, didn't they? Right. They made us feel important. Right. And they took care of us. And let me give you one more. PJ Zo. Okay. He was one of the speakers. Did you go to his book signing? No, I did not.
Just like there were so many things. Yes, yes. I was all over the place my first year, so I was going here, here, here and there. And, uh. Speaking of speakers, I may, you may, you might catch me speaking there next year. I, I applied so hopefully, hopefully. Oh my God, you did courageous. You can catch me speaking at the AI Masterclass virtual pod fest, though I will be teaching some things, so, oh my God, I'm so happy for you.
Plug Oh no, that's not a Chainless plug. We wanna know because as soon as we met, I. Started following his podcast. That's what you do when you meet someone. You support them by following that podcast. If you download their podcast, if you like them or you want to know more, do follow and comment. Commenting on my video Premier, subscribe, and those things help the entrepreneur.
Right? So we're on a mission at Podcasters. Mine is Leadership Legacies and Legends. Unleash. That's the title of my podcast. It was a war crop of women. Because there are so many people, particularly women who were trying to get the pieces of the puzzle together to start a business, launch a business, right?
Get this financing, get this funding. Where are the grants? Are there grants? I know so much now. It's just ridiculous. Right. I did so much and I didn't wanna take it with me. 'cause see, I was in my bed trying to get my health back right? And I didn't wanna take all that information with me. And when I was in the hospital in ICU and the doctors would come in every day and tell me the truth.
That's how beautiful ferry the doctors would come in and tell you the truth, right? We gotta get the infection down. We got to get the, um, temperature down and the inflammation if we go to surgery. There's a chance you won't come out. They have to tell the truth. We were on a team, so they were telling me what I had to do, right?
Drink, move through the pain, get up, do everything they said, do. And I was totally in my God's hands because there was nothing I could do. But follow the hands of those beautiful doctors that will come into there with those, I mean in ICU, you think you're gonna get some sleep? Oh man. Every time you go to sleep, there's another team, there's another team, there's another team trying to save your life.
You know what, and, and what I want to focus on and, and say here is, is to keep fighting. You know, there's so many people who get a bad diagnosis, you know, medical, physical, whatever it is, and they just give up. You know, and you know, Russell Roberts, the youngest flight instructor in America, came on my show recently.
Mm-hmm. And we had a great interview and one of the biggest takeaways from that was, you know, a lot of people confused not the right time with failure. They gave up before it was their time. You know, people every, and especially the younger generation want everything like this instant gratification.
Mm-hmm. Sometimes it's not your time. You know, like he was a, he wanted to be a, a pilot. Mm-hmm. Youngest flight instructor in America became a great pilot, an amazing guy, very successful growing up. He wore glasses and at the time when he was growing up, you could not be a pilot with glasses instead of giving up.
He trained and trained like that wouldn't matter. And there came a time where they took away that, right. They took away that they said, we need pilots. Desperately. Right. If you can't see perfectly, if you wear glasses, you're allowed now. But people like his father, people I've known in real life, you know, who get sick or there's some kind of obstacle, just give up.
Mm-hmm. And, and I've seen it. One of the best cartoons I ever saw was this guy was digging underground, digging, digging, digging. He's like, I can't keep doing this. And he turned around. And you see, you can see it's a cross section. There's a giant diamond right on the other side, just a little bit of dirt.
Wow. Yeah. And, and, and that's how it is sometimes. That is life. That that is life. That is a great life story. You gotta keep fighting. So, and I'm glad you fought because now you're here empowering and passing that on to others. Mm-hmm. And, and your spirit of gratitude is something that I also embody and I try to tell everyone to have as well.
Mm-hmm. Every morning I wake up and I'm very religious, so I pray and I say, thank you Lord. That I woke up, that I had my health. There's people who did not wake up, right? There are people who woke up and they're sick. People who woke up and they said, you know, your parents passed away. There's so much bad news out there.
And so, and people highlight that instead of the good news. Mm-hmm. And, and we don't realize there's all these small. Blessings We have, like you said, waking up and being able to walk without a cane even. Yes. You know, I'm sure you're happy and And the pain, you're happy. The pain, oh, that was a foreign level of pain.
Like I was an alien on another planet. Right. Experiencing something that was totally unreal to know that there are people living with that kind of pain every day. Every day for years. So find something to be thankful for. When I, when I met you and I heard your, your passion, your caring, I heard your faith, I heard your entrepreneurship and as podcasters, we tend to look out for each other.
If he needed me, I wanted me as a guest. I said yes. 'cause I want to be your guess. Whatever price we had to pay a few minutes of your day, right. And our schedules are so different that we didn't get to talk until a few minutes before the interview. Touch Bases is moving by text, but that was good enough.
Your word is good enough. It seems like we've built a culture under the leadership, our beautiful, uh, mentors, right? Uh, we've built a culture where we all want. The same thing, successful one another, and getting your message out there. What is your message? Don't go, don't, don't give up. Don't give up. Right there.
The world is a better place every day that you show up, that you show up. And you know what, and, and I struggled with this too because I'm a, I'm small and growing. I just started my podcast recently and I'm so ambitious. I'm so far ahead of myself mentally that I, you know, I. Self-talk down on myself, you know, oh, you're not good enough in this one person.
If one person's life is changed, you know, it's a domino effect, you know? Mm-hmm. But we wanna save everyone. And I actually got counseled by a chief. He said, Mr. Whiskey, you know, you're so down and depressed and you're so tired and exhausted. You're never sleeping, and you're always taking care of this tail, or this tail, or this tail.
He goes, even Superman couldn't save everyone. Right. Team Batman. But. I understood what he was trying to say. Even Superman, who's supposed to be the ideal perfect man. Mm-hmm. Couldn't save everyone. He goes, there's just too much out there. But the. More you do, the more that's gonna be affected. Mm-hmm.
There's a ripple effect. Yes. And, and what The last thing I wanna say before I let you wrap it up here for us is the gratitude and the the fighting spirit go hand in hand when you are grateful. It is so much easier to keep. Fighting and to have that optimism, you need to keep that. And I've talked about it on the show many times, a negative mindset versus a positive mindset.
And we live in a world where the negative mindset is the normal. Mm-hmm. It's so easy to maintain. Mm-hmm. Go out there and keep that positive mindset. And I'll tell you, waking up and being grateful. Starts the day off so much better. If you wake up and you're like, I don't want to go to work today. I don't want to be here.
You know what? There are people who woke up and they still don't have a job and they need a job. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. And I could give you example after example. Just think about your life. Don't ever compare your work to others, but think in comparison while others don't have that you have. Mm-hmm.
Just to help yourself if you're struggling with that. But Ms. Mary. I want you to wrap things up here with, you've already given us some great advice, you know, so if you wanna sum it up in a QO or anything else you'd like to add. Okay. My mission is connecting people, services, and opportunities, and I believe that business and personal development go hand in hand.
'cause if you're really good at one and not good at the other, you're kinda like walking with one leg shorter than the other, and you're wondering why your hip hurt and your back hurt. Right, and things are going like this, are not going like that. I totally agree about waking up, expecting good. The good is you have a roof over your head.
You have the ability to get up and go get a glass of water. Some cannot. The world is so. And, and, and change such a massive change, a wheel right now that you make a difference. When you bring your positive to this change wheel, know that it's going to come back around the big old days of joy, overflowing opportunities, your skills and demand.
Podcasters in the van. Right? Even look at tv. TV is changing. This is the new TV of tomorrow. It is YouTube. This is the new YouTube and TikTok and all that. Yeah. And you have those skills as as a parent, adult, or young adult. You have those skills. You all you need is a to the future. All you need is a phone.
When I do my little thing, they said, how do you run your business? I said, with a microphone, a camera, and a computer, and a winning personality. It's been a pleasure. I thank you for inviting me. Yes ma'am. And we made time to get together. Yes maam. And you are in town for a short period of time. We made time to get together.
Oh yeah. Because your goals are important. My goals are important. Corporate America, your important, but so are your employees. And until that marriage, yet it together. Yes ma'am. And you talk about us making time for each other, you know. Put on events for your community and go to your community events, especially you younger generation out there.
'cause I know y'all say it's cringe, it's it's boring. You know what's the point? It's only the old people go and make connections. I, I love going to those events because you'll meet people who will change the course for your life. I've gone to events like. That I didn't wanna go to all, and then I go and I meet people who have excelled my business or my personal growth, or been friends that I still talk to now.
You never know who you're gonna meet and you won't meet them without going. So whether it's a walk-a-thon or a Christmas party or whatever it is, there's look at the calendar or the website for your town, whatever town it is, even if it's a small town. Mm-hmm. There's something going on. And if there's not.
Make something. So that's, that's just what I want to end with. Ms. Mary, thank you so much for your time. It's been a pleasure and I, I won't make it this year, but I'm sure you'll do more walk-a-thons in the future and I will show up and I, I will walk. Alright, ma. Looking forward to it. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Thank you.
