Obstacles to Opportunities
When faced with life's obstacles, let's channel that negative energy into positivity and forge opportunities. Throughout the nation, business owners will share their experiences of triumphing over daunting challenges in their careers and lives, illustrating how they've harnessed these experiences for growth opportunities.
Obstacles to Opportunities
Shannon's Journey from Broadway to Empowering Artists
Welcome to this episode of Obstacles to Opportunities, where we sit down with the incredible Shannon Darin Harrell. From her early days as a child actor to becoming a mother and a devoted law enforcement wife, Shannon's journey is nothing short of inspiring. As a lover of ALL people, she has embraced advocacy and even graced the Broadway stage. But that's not all—Shannon is also a visionary entrepreneur who turned her passion for the creative arts into meaningful job opportunities for many.
Join us as Shannon takes us behind the scenes of her life as the owner of the Artist Babysitting Agency. In this candid conversation, she opens up about the highs and lows of being the face of her companies, sharing real-time experiences of navigating the challenges and triumphs. Shannon's leadership style is characterized by thoughtfulness, kindness, and sincerity, qualities that shine through as she imparts her wisdom. It's a chat that feels like friends gathered around a dinner table, as Shannon shares not only her professional insights but also the personal moments that have shaped her remarkable journey.
Tune in to discover the multifaceted world of Shannon Darin Harrell—a true embodiment of passion, resilience, and the power of turning dreams into reality.
Welcome to the Obscoles Opportunities podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm your host, jess Powell, and I'm your co-host, heather Kaine.
Speaker 1:And today I'm so excited to share with you our guest, shannon Darren Harrell, and I've got to kind of brag on her a little bit. And let's first start. She was previously named California Little Miss at the age of 12. She started her success off early in life and she went on to then become a Broadway actor. She's a mother, she is a wife and I just say she's an advocate for people in general. She just loves people and that's been a thread that I've seen through her life. She's been creatively standing up for people I would say her whole life and I can't wait to dive into that.
Speaker 2:She's entrepreneurship. Oh my goodness, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And her entrepreneurship is one that I think was born out of an obstacle. So I'm excited to kind of dive into that. So let's start in the beginning. You really started work at a young age. At 12. You kind of pinpointed a passion. You almost had a vision, it seems like at 12. Take us there a little bit and tell us what started your kind of acting, singing passion at such an early age.
Speaker 3:Sure, so I started very young being shy and my mom put me in singing and then found that it was a great outlet for me and I had a lot of passion for it and I ended up being pretty good at it.
Speaker 2:So I I'm not going to make you sing Like our last episode. I'm going to be just and Clark you saying, yeah, we don't need to.
Speaker 3:We don't need to go there, there's so many things. We don't need to go there.
Speaker 2:I have to have you break out like just a little teaser. We're good, sorry, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, I just don't know. They're just not signed today I get it.
Speaker 2:You'll be our closing music. There we go.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I just a lot of it really organically came and I really and I enjoyed it. And so working when I was younger and doing a lot of things in the Bay area, I just had a real passion for it. I never felt like it was work necessarily because I enjoyed it. And then as I got a little bit older, just trying to sort of find different ways that I wanted to pursue it and how far I wanted to pursue it. I knew from enough people in the industry that it is not an easy industry to be in and musical theater. There's a very low percentage of people who actually make a lifelong ability to make money out of it or there's sections of life they do that and whatnot. So I really wanted to make sure that it was the passion that I wanted and I knew I had to go to college and all that.
Speaker 2:You have a lot of pressures because I know that you sit in kind of your bio that you struggled with like body image and stuff like that at a young age. Do you feel like, how was that pressure in that?
Speaker 3:It was huge and it wasn't just like within once I got older. It was even when and I should say now that I know that times have changed and we have evolved as a society and people and in many ways when it comes down to body image and inclusivity for different body types and ethnicities, and all of that which is so wonderful but when I was growing up, body image and weight was massively an issue and something that was brought up to me in dance class. I was weighed, I was brought into bathrooms to talk about my weight. I was never an overweight child, I just wasn't a stick. I didn't have that sort of perception in my mind. That's why I always look at as a stick, but I just didn't have the perception.
Speaker 3:I was curvy and now I love my curves. That's what brought me my husband and multiple things in life. But it was a very difficult place to be and when I ended up evolving on cruise ships and all different kinds of things, yeah, my weight became a big issue and part of the reason why I had really stepped away from the industry. Also because I felt like it was being used as an excuse of like you know, oh, she's a little bigger than the costumes we have, or this or that, and at a size eight to 10.
Speaker 2:I thought that was weird. I mean, I think you and I are probably similar in age and I was a competitive gymnast and every week I had to be weighed in. And can you imagine them doing that now? I don't, they don't do that now, but I remember that. Yeah, I remember them measuring me. I remember them doing the weight. I remember and I was I mean, I was never a stick, I've always been very muscular, but yeah that's tough.
Speaker 2:It has, yeah, it's definitely an experience. So how do you think they use that? Because obviously you had you had to build a lot of confidence in who you are in order to overcome, maybe, what they were saying.
Speaker 3:Right, sure, so how did you use that? I mean, I, I really wanted to do the things that I felt like I had control over. I think that you know what the thread of life and even learning to this day is. There is not a whole lot that you have control over, and so the things I had control over was working really hard and knowing that I did everything I could to make things happen. So when it came down to auditions or when it came down to wanting certain parts or or what, what that whatever that might be I worked really hard in preparing myself for it so that if I didn't get it, or if I did get it, it still made me feel like I knew I did the work to make that happen. And then, if it became something where I didn't get it that you know I didn't fit a costume or whatnot, that you know that was really out of your control, out of my control, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, isn't that? Isn't that so true? And I think you know people do. I think it caught up on trying to control the uncontrollables, you know, in situations and that can be very stressful when you're in an obstacle to think about. When you're in an obstacle like, what can you control?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. So my coach actually said something to me yesterday, because I'm going through some issues, but this is not about me, it's about you. But she said to me. She said, heather, we tend to look and think of the one negative when you literally have hundreds of positive things around you. You've got to stop thinking of it, because then that person or that object has control, so you've got to just let it go Right, right. And that's what we do. Unfortunately, we think of the one negative instead of all the amazing things that are the positive, and so we have to just shift our mindset.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's good, but it's always, you know, it's easy to say and hard to do I did. But you're also trying to look at the bigger picture of like, how can I learn from this experience? What could I do differently? Are there things that could have made it in my control? Are there things? So it becomes kind of a bigger picture that you're looking at and really that shit we're applying that as moms and as wives and as entrepreneurs and as friends, and those things become really difficult to kind of thread all together when you're doing it. And I think that if you're thinking about this thing Unknown- caller what that happened.
Speaker 1:Why is it going through?
Speaker 2:Why is it going through this? I don't even have my phone in here, so it's my Bluetooth on my phone. Might be doing it Honestly. Should we take the Bluetooth off? Or is that how it goes to your Erarrrrrrr, tournament était wastewater. Are you in there, okay? Oh, wow, yeah. Or take the Bluetooth off your phone. Well, hopefully it doesn't ring again. Do you like to step away?
Speaker 1:and go on Bluetooth it, oh what do you think I have everything?
Speaker 2:Let's just where we'll find. Philip, if you can just edit out all of that, that would be great. I think we stop talking, so it should be an easy edit. So sorry about that, Philip. Thank you.
Speaker 1:OK, so I'm going to kind of segue here, because we just talked about you know how you perceive the obstacles, you know how to kind of get around them. So when we first met, you know you were kind of sharing with me a business idea that you had had a few years back and you had kind of shared with me like the journey of that and where you were at that point. But what I think is so interesting and I'd love to share with everyone, can you take us back to the time when you had the idea for your business? Sure, because I think it's so fascinating and it's so brilliant and I love the concept and I'm a big cheerleader for what you're doing.
Speaker 2:So I can't wait to tell about it, and you explained.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, again, like it was a very organic process that I just immediately had passion for. So, being a performer in New York City, there's, you know, the ability to do every job under the sun and more than you don't really want to even talk about trying to make ends meet and make it happen. And one of the things that I was doing that I was really enjoying was working with kids. So I was doing a lot of babysitting, as much as I possibly could, and was really having a great time. Feeling requested a lot, and a lot of why I was requested was that I was using the time that I was working with kids to explore my artistry, play with them, have a good time, let all the other stuff go and just be present and play, and I would also use my music book and sometimes I would sing to them and sometimes we would do different things that I was growing from learning with them and in talking to other artist friends of mine, they were along those same lines and wanting to do that, but trying to find the outlets of the right families to work with, trying to find the outlets of people understanding our position in terms of being artists, and all of that was difficult. So I just decided to formally kind of put together. I found an attorney and sat down and said, like what does this look like? And we, over a couple of years before it formally opened in 2006,. So really like sometime in 2003, the concept was about and then we worked through it and officially opened in 2006.
Speaker 3:I opened very small, with a couple of families, we did focus groups and with a couple of sitters, and we didn't do a bunch of advertising. We really wanted to almost look at it like as a club in the idea that we were helping these families with really solid sitters and having these kids be able to benefit from the ability to be doing something super exciting for them and not just like mom and daughter at home. So I have to hang out with this other person, so what kinds of activities would they do with the kids? So really it's all about, like imagination and exploration. So it can be anything from doing a simple art project or doing some drawing or doing some coloring to coming up with like a full play or reading a book and deciding like creating a song, yeah, and how many different endings can we make this book? And, like you, pick a different ending, I'll do a different one, and then we'll all kind of come together and seeing and allowing kids to have their imagination grow in different ways.
Speaker 3:It can also be kids are quite over scheduled and so sometimes all we had time for was like a walk home. And so what can you do on that walk home or in between this class and that class, to do something on the way home that we can make up stories for, that we can expand our mind and really dive into that. And it still is something that is the most rewarding part of the business in terms of the fact that these kids are really getting so much out of different people than the beautiful things that they get from their parents. They're having these wonderful influences around them, especially in parents that are not artistically inclined. They might be excelling in other ways, and so they're really able to kind of have that creative side come in, which I think is really important.
Speaker 3:And it's something I grew up on. I didn't think that we had babysitters. I just thought that my parents knew the coolest people and they ended up being. They just wanted to hang out with you, exactly. I knew that this high schooler totally wanted to come over because I'm cool, but they were a part of the theater community and it turned out to be just an organic process for them too, and so I kept reminding myself. So you were raised by artist babysitters.
Speaker 1:And you had In many ways, I guess. Yeah, that's so cool. So the problem you were really solving which I love is that artists tend to have kind of a flex in schedule so they can be very busy and then they have downtime, and so what you were kind of solving for them is that you were able to provide an income for them during the time whenever they might be off work and maybe not have work. And then you were solving a problem for parents, because I remember and I've we will get here but the pandemic when that happened, a lot of the educational programs, schools shut down at a lot of the United States, and so I remember as a parent thinking I don't want my child to just be sitting at home all day. How do we fill the time with really value add type materials programming? I can't do all this, I'm trying to work. What could we do? So let's fast forward to COVID and what happened with your business at that point.
Speaker 3:Sure, Well, I should also say that, like, one of the main reasons why it became such a Large situation, in New York especially, was that you kind of have the either full-time nanny or you have this issue of, like what happens between three and six thirty. You know, yeah, those parents are just not able to be done with work at six thirty. So finding that sort of part-time school pickup was really our prime time kind of situation. So when the pandemic hit, we, we all shut down, yeah, and you know. And so at the time I had about a hundred and fifty Plus ish and can't remember the exact number independent contractors. So all of our sitters are independent contractors. They're not actual employees but they're, they're independent contractors working with us.
Speaker 3:And then I had five office staff and Administrative staff and we were, we were in a very great place. We were, we were really in a beautiful spot and it was really exciting. And then Everything fell apart and so within, you know, with within a couple of days I remember March 12th we started having to cancel two weeks out of bookings and then we literally just lost everything. So we ended up working for a while with about ten solid more first responder families, doctors, firefighters, police things of that nature, and we, we were following the super strict protocols, which is very different from you know, most everywhere else In the cities, were you?
Speaker 2:just in New York at that time. Yes, okay, now are you still are. So you are still just in New York. Okay, but you relocated your family in April's. We did, yeah we did.
Speaker 3:We. We had an opportunity at that point to kind of reassess what was happening. The short story of it is is that my husband had retired from law enforcement in Arlington, virginia, and To be full-time with us in New York City, and he retired about three weeks before the pandemic, had to take on another job in the city, which we were all super excited about, and he had about six weeks off in between those two jobs for us to sort of just be a family. And and so we, when the pandemic hit, I ended up going to we went to California together to help with my parents and get help from my parents, so that I could really focus on work and figure out what we were going to do.
Speaker 3:And so when we got back to the city, the law enforcement culture was very different in New York City. The job that my husband had was no longer being offered, and so we just needed to make a decision, and we needed to make a decision quick. And we had come to Marco Island to get married In 2016 and we had thought about like a vacation home here someday, maybe another ten years from now, and we just had really liked it and and we just said let's try it, let's go, let's figure we got it, we're gonna do something. And it was very difficult. There's no two ways about it.
Speaker 2:It was how did you still fit your business from a hundred and usually fifty independent contractors to then Went down in the pandemic? To how many?
Speaker 3:I, we were probably working with ten to fifteen fifteen.
Speaker 1:so some people may just throw down to our or be like that's what I've quit, we're just gonna shut the doors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. How did you take from there to where you are now Breathing?
Speaker 3:that locks everything breathing and and a lot, of, a lot of support. I mean I I went into a Quick mode of what else can we offer within this company to help other people? So we we started doing virtual classes that were like even just story time and things like that, and that was helpful for a while, but it became it became difficult. We also pivoted a little bit into some tutoring to help out so that we were Able, you know, to help some kids do tutoring in a different way too. That maybe was a little bit more fun or Add a little artistic flair to it.
Speaker 2:Now, by doing zoom Right. That probably could potentially expand your audience as well, right?
Speaker 3:It did. It did for a while and I feel like for maybe the first three or four months, we had a nice, a nice little grouping that was working. It wasn't enough to sustain and it's very difficult at that age group also for those families To get kids to concentrate that way through zoom. And then a lot of the issue was that they were doing it all day, anyway, at home, because none of these kids were going to school. So, you know, so they were doing it all day and then to get back on to zoom, you know, with us it was a lot for it's for them and it was a lot to ask, right, and so we just got into this Position where, you know, we were trying to find all these different avenues and, and slowly, you know, by the start of of 2000, fall of 2020, we expanded a bit into trying to figure out, you know, more families that we could help based on the guidelines of schooling, and there was like some pod groups that were happening. So we then kind of morphed our situation into the rules really that were going on, and that was something that we had to be really conscious about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was very, very layered. That's like the, and I just wasn't willing at that point to give up. I felt like I had a lot of people that were counting on me. I had a lot of people that had left to go back to their hometown, but with all the intention to come back out, and so I wanted to be there for them when they decided to do that, although I do understand that a lot of them, you know, just never were able to come back out. Moving to New York City is very difficult, especially, you know, when you're in your early 20s, and so asking somebody to do that twice, right and find another apartment and do that all over again.
Speaker 2:It's interesting that you know we're talking about this because at the time my sister and my husband's cousin was on Broadway. She was a singer credible and she got shut down so she was trying to figure out ways to make money. So she actually taught our kids like literature and all of that stuff during COVID by Zoom, yeah, because it was kind of like, okay, siri, you know, like we, you know she needed money and I kind of created I really did, because I it was. She needed money and I needed leverage, right, you know, and I got so boring and so I see how valuable and she was so creative. You know, the stories and the imagination that she would pull out of my children was incredible and they also built a bond, you know, and it's their cousin, so it was really cool.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing, and I have always been very passionate about the fact that artistry can create a connection with people that is unlike any other connection. So what's your?
Speaker 2:vision for the future of your company.
Speaker 3:I mean, the vision continues to really be the same in terms of trying to help as many people as we can and trying to formulate. You know, just recently this fall, we had a complete full circle moment. That has really left me so grateful in terms of the fact that we were working with a family who had very young kids when we first started. So now we're just about 18 years in and he one of their children is now a sitter for us and he's phenomenal and he and everything you know that he talks about. He talks about wanting to do exactly what artist babysitting did for him. So it's just to continue to make sure.
Speaker 3:You know, when we look at big picture things, I grew up in a situation where the arts was never cut out of our school programs. Now, in a lot of ways, if they're doing budget cuts and things like that, the arts is one of the first places to go. So I want to make sure that kids are getting as much of that creativity as possible. I never grew up thinking that I wasn't a smart person or that I didn't have it together, but I was never a book person. I was never into life in that way. I always had to see it differently or from a story perspective, and then it made sense to me and so you know, I think there's, I know I'm not the only one, so having those, outlets are important.
Speaker 2:My daughter is dyslexic, and so she learns through stories. She learns then. The doctor explained it to me. It's like if you're dyslexic, one side of your brain gets much stronger, which is the artistic, which is the storytelling, which is the thing outside of the box, and so that's how she learns, and so I feel like there's so much such a big population now that they need it more than ever. Do you think you'll expand outside of New York?
Speaker 3:You know, we never say never. I've gone through it in a multitude of ways. I think that the big situation you know that I just face right now is there's a difference in how I'm working now when you look at how you were working in your 20s and starting a business, and I was, you know, working many, many hours all the time, but I didn't have anybody to be responsible for other than myself. And so now, at 45, when I'm in a situation of like trying to rebuild a company in a way that I had before, I'm doing it at a slower process and I'm not intentionally you're intentionally, exactly right intentionally looking at what I can take on and how I can take on those projects. It's okay, right, it's more than okay.
Speaker 3:And I think that why there's a multitude of reasons for me with the way that I set up the business, why it really works in New York, and a lot of them are completely logistical. When it comes down to transportation and how we work out timing, you know there's so many different ways. You know that people can get to the city in terms of everyone's taking the subway, nobody's driving Nobody. There's just a lot of logistics of that that the business is fully set up for. And it doesn't mean it can't happen in other cities. It just has to happen differently. And I've always put it out there that if somebody wanted to partner on it or someone's listening, but, I'm open to it.
Speaker 3:But I think that, like I know what it takes to do that in the way that I think it should be done, and I won't do it for any less than that, and right now, my heart and my mind and my body and my soul is still with every client that I have and every sitter that I have in New York, and I don't think I have the capacity for another city the way it should be done at this moment.
Speaker 2:Okay, and one of the things that I got challenged from my number one entrepreneur in my life, whose name is Gary Keller, who started Keller Williams. He challenged me to take my business and put it in a box right. All the systems, everything. Put it in a box so that other people could leverage it right. And for me at first I was like I don't even know how I would do that. So you wonder if the evolution of something you have is everything that you've worked so hard for what? 18 years? 18 years, if there's ever a way to put it in a system that other people because it's so needed. I mean, I feel like right now, kids, because of social media and their phones, they're not making this space in their mind for imagination and play Right, and I think, now more than ever, every child needs a person. I'm not, I'm not a really creative person, but I know that about myself, which is why I bring those people in my children's life right. Sure, I think a lot of people don't.
Speaker 1:I feel like my mind's spinning off like, with all these things, I'm like wanting to build a bit and I'm like, okay, you're going to be sending I'm not even going to say it on here because I'm not going to tell anyone else I'm going to tell you what I have in my mind because I'm like this could be big.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll have side copy. So I know we're running out of a little bit of time, but I do want to get to something you know, just just real life stuff, right, yeah, real life things. So I saw a post this morning before you came in and you were addressing a pretty heavy issue and it had to do with your company, and I even was like do you still want to come? Are you in the right headspace? Are you okay? Because you know people, people could see you and see your 18 years of success and what you've built and have no clue Right the kinds of things that you have to deal with on a day to day basis, and we have a really great example of an obstacle that you recently faced. So do you want to just share what you will about that and then we can kind of you know just Sure.
Speaker 3:Is it real? Yeah, I mean it's unfortunate, but it is truly real life, and there is a part as being a human being that I could definitely like run and put the blanket over myself and stay on the couch all day and feel a little sorry for being stuck in a position that I have no control over. But basically, we are in a situation where a past sitter of mine who's not a current sitter on the streets of New York, you know, made some comments in the absolutely terrible situation that we are in right now with with the war that's going on between the, between Israel and the Palestinians and Hamas and the kidnapped victims, and my heart breaks for all of the people that are involved in all of this and the passion that is coming out all over the place and just trying to find peace for everybody is completely overwhelming and it's and it's just something that you know we are so supportive in regards to trying to find that peace and figure figure out. And unfortunately, a sitter that that was associated with artist babysitting made a, in my opinion, a very bad judgment call in regards to something that she said that was recorded and put on to social media and somehow got associated with the fact that she was a sitter of ours and and is not working with us any any longer, and so artist babysitting has been now posted all over the place in this negative light associated with this person that we don't you know that we hire anti Semitic you know sitters and things of that nature or don't vet our sitters or don't do the right thing in terms of making sure that we're getting the best people for everyone's care, and it's it's a devastating situation to be in, and it's it's we're in a situation where, I mean, I was hurt, broken to see what's happening across the board and, of course, like there, there was a way you know I wasn't a part of this, I didn't, but but I do take responsibility that there was, you know, a moment that the sitter was, was working with us.
Speaker 3:But our vetting process I'm extremely passionate about. We run an NCIC background check. We make sure that there is absolutely no criminal history. We work hard within our interview process to really have a great understanding, you know, and and she's working with pre schools and with other people outside of us that are all child oriented within the city. So that had a huge impact on me, especially in the references that we got from them. So there was no red flag at all in our conversations, as well as through our detailed process that brought me, you know, to a position where this situation would have happened. So we're just in, we're wanting to make sure that everybody feels, you know, the understanding of where we come from. We've, we've put out statements for that and those statements are, you know, tried and true to the, to the depths of my core, that we're, you know, we're just devastated by by what's happened and and just, you know, want to make sure that we can find some sort of peace and understanding from the everybody involved.
Speaker 2:It's so hard because you don't have control over that, you know, and she made a terrible judgment call, terrible, yeah. And the poor matter, how much of that and you dead. There's no way to control someone's behavior, right, especially she wasn't on your clock.
Speaker 1:You know what. The background is. Right, we all don't understand the context, but I do know that it was something that was terrible, right and hurtful. But but you don't know what kind of day she had. You don't know her filter, her story, her background. You know so, so it's, it's right. It's extremely hard as a business owner because when you do hire people, they can represent you, but can you control if they've had a bad day? Can you control their uh, shelter on the world?
Speaker 3:I know it's the to me, if you, if we're really looking at the word obstacle, the biggest obstacle, from start to finish, that I've had with this business is that I am passionate about making sure that all of these wonderful sitters also have jobs and to to support their artistry.
Speaker 3:But what you're looking at is the fact that then I'm having, I am representing somebody else and somebody else is representing me, so I might be doing my job at 110%, but I can't. I can't, you know, do their job for them. So you are, you are doing everything you possibly can to ask them to please show up and do your job and be the person that I know I'm going to be on the outside for them and to represent them. And and sometimes people fall short of that and it's it's really disappointing, and sometimes they're in ways that you know are not a big deal, and then all of a sudden, here we are in a way that is is a big deal, that you know is creating hate mail for us and situations that you know I are devastating, or are devastating.
Speaker 2:Now, what entrepreneurship is all about, though? Entrepreneurship is about? I mean, you have to trust in people, and people are usually our biggest obstacle, right, right, you know, because you can't you can't have control over what someone does, right, and so I'm sorry for that, I mean, that's just. It stinks, but just for me, you know, one of the things I always do is just pray for that person, you know, and there's obviously a lot of anger that she's got to figure out inside of her in order to move past things in our life, because that's just not a way to live, right.
Speaker 3:And I think you know, for myself and for artists, baby sitting agency um, what has been most devastating in light of all of this is that I have been very passionate about being a very equal person. You know I'm in an interracial marriage. Um, I have, you know, lots of different sides of life that bring out so many different things that I feel like I have been given really wonderful opportunity to um be able to see equality in so many different ways. From the people I have worked with in the, in the theater community, from the LGBTQ community, from um from you know different cultures and ethnicities and backgrounds and religious and beliefs, like I. I love that and I love that. It's one of the things that I've missed the most about being in New York City is that the culture has wrapped me up in a way that I have learned so much from so many different people. Um, so to be in a situation where that might be questioned right? Um, that, to me, is what I I'm having the hardest time getting around.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and I think if they don't know you right, you know, at the end of the day, you know people want they see what they see on social media, what they see, but they don't know your heart, right, and social media is quick, like it's. It's quick and hopefully the people that are listening will know your heart Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1:That was what I hope to. I mean, uh, that that is exactly who I see you have been. You know, through examples in your life, you've stood up for people, you have had a valuable perspective, you care for people, and so I'm sure, um, this has been hitting you hard in a way, because you just it's very different than how you live your life and what you believe. So I, uh, I've, you know, we, we, I gave you a big hug when you came in here. I know it's like, I definitely know that that is, it's a it's a tough day.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, this is a really good example, guys, of you know, entrepreneurship is not easy. Maybe someone else is dealing with, uh, waking up to some bad news today. Yeah, and I just hope that she and in story will, you know, inspire you to to dig in, not give up and just stay true to who you are, because, at the end of the day, that's really what matters If you know in your heart who you are and, um, you know, you step into that, step into that and truth and carry on, continue and you know I'm sometimes these things help you reflect to too, absolutely Right.
Speaker 2:It helps you then maybe create better systems. Maybe you know what I mean. Not saying that you didn't, but like these things I know for me in my past. When, when things have arised like this with talent, which I call people are talent in our industry, right, sure, then it makes you reflect on ways that you can improve. Sure, and um, you know.
Speaker 3:It's important too, to find your people, you know, find your support group. I mean, I'm absolutely. I immediately called my sister last night and you know she's in marketing, and was like I need to make sure that, like we're you know I'm communicating my brain is all over the place, you know, and so you know I knew I could count on her like nobody else. And and, um, you know people in my staff that I can count on obviously my husband, like but find, find your people that you know we'll just, um, we'll be there to support you, not to do it for you, but we'll we'll stop and really be there to support you. It's it's, it's it makes life um, be able to do it on a different level.
Speaker 1:I think that that is a theme. I would say every single episode we talk about support.
Speaker 2:You know, that's one of the reasons why I have a team right and I could be a broker and be by myself, or I could sell real estate by myself, but it wouldn't be any fun. You know what I mean and I know that I can't do right People. People are crazy if they think they can do it on their own right. Everybody needs a support system.
Speaker 3:They're not doing it on their own as well. I think that that's the, and you can't be afraid to learn things from other people, you know. I mean or a different perspective, or hearing it differently, or saying it differently, like you know, kind of yeah. That wraps back to yeah, I mean I just that's why I love having all the different people around me, because I definitely don't know it all, but you know lifelong Amen yeah absolutely Well, this has been so great and I really appreciate you.
Speaker 1:You know just having the the grit to come in today despite it being a hard day for you, and you showed up, came and you are speaking. You know your truth in your heart and we really appreciate that and and I just I think we will hopefully inspire someone else that's listening that might be having a day like that too. So thank you so much. My pleasure, thank you for having me Helpful.
Speaker 3:You got to get up and keep going. That's right, we'll be talking out.
Speaker 2:Talk it out, all right, thank you.
