Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations

#878 MSP GeekCon 2026: Heather Noggle - ๐Ÿš€ From Commodore 64 to Cybersecurity Leadership

โ€ข Joey Pinz โ€ข Episode 878

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๐Ÿš€ From Commodore 64 to Cybersecurity Leadership

What happens when a musician, communicator, and lifelong problem-solver enters the world of technology? In this fascinating episode of Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations, Joey Pinz sits down with Heather Noggle to explore her journey from programming on a Commodore 64 to becoming a respected cybersecurity consultant and workforce advocate. 

Heather shares how growing up as a curious โ€œlatchkey kidโ€ shaped her love for technology, music, and achievement. The conversation dives into the evolution of cybersecurity, why small businesses are dangerously unprepared for modern threats, and how Gen Z is about to transform the workforce forever.

The discussion also explores burnout, energy management, self-motivation, AI, documentation culture, and the importance of balancing technology with human connection. Heatherโ€™s perspective blends deep technical experience with emotional intelligence, making this episode especially valuable for MSPs, cybersecurity professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders navigating rapid technological change.

๐Ÿ”ฅ Top 3 Highlights

  • ๐Ÿ” Why cybersecurity failures are often human failures, not technical ones 
  • ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป How Gen Z will reshape MSPs and workplace expectations 
  • โšก The hidden cost of burnout and protecting your personal energy 

#CyberSecurity #MSP #MSPGeekCon #ArtificialIntelligence #TechLeadership #DigitalTransformation #CMMC #BusinessGrowth #GenZ #Leadership #CyberAwareness #TechPodcast #JoeyPinz #CyberRisk #ITServices #TechnologyLeadership #Entrepreneurship #InformationSecurity #FutureOfWork #Podcast

 

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Discipline. How does it play a role in your life? How does it drive your decisions? Do you have too much or too little? Every profession, hobby, or passion requires a level of discipline. I have used it in weight loss (+130 lbs.), family death, and found a +25 year business. Am I an expert? Absolutely not! Please join me, as I speak to interesting people and find out how discipline affects their career, life, goals, and decisions. Join me as I talk to interesting people in: #Health, #Fitness & #Wellness: #Business, #Technology & #Science: #Art & #Culture: Website: joeypinz.com All social media @TheJoeyPinz Do you wish to Sponsor? Get the prospectus here: www.joeypinz.com/sponsor

 

 

 

 

 

Episode Links:

 

hnoggle@codistac.com
 
 https://www.codistac.com       
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathernoggle/                

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SPEAKER_03

MSP Geekan 2026. What a really great, unique event. I get to go to a lot of events and they're run by a vendor. There's vendor hall there. This is completely run by MSPs. Mendy and the team, Kate, the team that's there are volunteers, and it's the attendees were all MSPs, not just owners, but technicians as well. It's just a great twist on what an event can be. One of the greatest things is that they had a game night. So many of the attendees are introverts. So they, you know, they didn't want to go to the bar. They didn't want to do any of that. And so they had these two big rooms set up. One side, one room, on one side of the hall was a DD, Dungeons and Dragons High game that many played. It was all set up. It was all there was people in charge of it. There was they had to create this car, and it was these tables set up as teams, and you chose a character. It was absolutely wonderful. And then across the hall, in another room, were actually the board games like uh Settlers of Time. Uh a bunch of games I'd never heard of. And some tables just played one game for the whole evening, some rotated through many of them, and it was absolutely wonderful. I got to participate in some of them. Everybody's very welcome and kind. Just a great twist.

SPEAKER_02

I think every event should adopt this. For those extroverts that want to go to the party and go to the bar, do that. But have this for those who don't. It's just a wonderful.

SPEAKER_03

And the content was great. It was again all geared by MSEs, for MSEs, managed service providers, of course. Um, what a what a just a great event there in Orlando. Uh, I'm so glad that I was invited and I hope to get invited more. So I had five great conversations with podcasts. Heather Noggle was the first from Commodore 64 to cybersecurity leadership. Great conversation with Heather. I hadn't met her before. Uh, great, wonderful catching up and getting to understand her passions, what she does. Steven Siegel. My goodness, I've known Steven for 10-15 years with Kruhu uh finally, you know, were able to talk this way, uh, you know, in this one-on-one kind of long-warm uh conversation from ice cream shops to MSP growth machines. How he, you know, he was in the retail, right? He was uh he was at uh ice cream shops, he's from actually from New York, from right across Long Island Sound, where where I was uh born and raised, but where he was first introduced to MSPs and then and then continued to work with them now and how what his platform does and how he's had change. Great, really open conversation with Steven. Ashley Pyle. My first time uh meeting Ashley, I saw her up on stage give a keynote, it was wonderful. She had four disciplines, and I said I need to have her on the podcast. And she came on and she was absolutely wonderful and very open and very direct and um a very unique style. I really, really appreciate my conversation with Ashley Pyle. John Harden was next, and John was another podcaster, and we were kind of texting and uh before the event. I'm glad we were able to meet. He did see me twice actually at the event. A great conversation with John, building the future without losing humanity.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, lastly was with Monica Ozari. So uh I got to know Monica more at this event. Uh she was one of the volunteers. She's uh there in Toronto and has a consulting business, and everything is a system with Monica. Everything is a system, and she helps MSPs with that.

SPEAKER_03

So great conversations there at MSP GeekCon. Really appreciate it. Thank you for watching, for listening. Hi, I'm Joey Pins. And here's my 45-second introduction. After starting my business in the 90s, I started developing poor habits of eating in my diet because I was working way too much. Before you know it, I found myself 340 pounds. The doctor told me if I don't lose the weight, I'm not gonna see my daughter graduate. Took the next seven months, lost 130 pounds. People think there's some secret. Ask me, how'd you lose that weight? Like there's some secret. There is no secret. How'd I lose the weight? Just one word. Discipline. I've had other successes in life, and I attribute them all to discipline. Now I'm not the king of discipline, but I believe that it can help all of us. Friends, colleagues convinced me to start a podcast. The podcast mission, how do we better ourselves and society? I talked to interesting people in health, fitness, sport, wellness, business, technology, science, art and culture. And I eventually asked them how discipline plays a role in their life. Podcast vision, growth through learning from others. I appreciate your time, Heather. Tell me about yourself before the just a few years ago, before the age of 18. What were you like as a kid? What were your formidable years?

SPEAKER_00

So I'm an only kid, and so I was one of those makeup stuff in your head kind of people. Huh. Just trying to learn different things and be multidisciplinary. I was very interested in music. And so that is really that an achievement. I'm very interested in achievement and music and people.

SPEAKER_03

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00

And so none of those things are tech at all.

SPEAKER_03

In this fast-paced MSP landscape, how do you stay ahead? Introducing MSP Influencer.com, your ultimate hub for MSP news, insights, and community connection powered by Forza Dash. More than 75,000 MSP subscribed to our MSP Influencer Pulse weekly newsletter. Staying informed and ahead of industry trends. Tune in to emerging podcasts from Joey Pins and leading MSP voices, offering essential tips, powerful insights, and success stories. Explore our multi-authored blogs crafted specifically for MSP leaders, delivering fresh perspectives and actionable strategies. Celebrate excellence with the industry leading Forza Dash MSP Influencer Awards, recognizing innovation, leadership, and impact in the MSP community. Join thousands of MSP professionals who trust MSP Influencer.com to grow their business and expand their networks. MSP Influencer.com, where today's MSP leaders connect, collaborate, and conquer, all powered by the Forza Dash platform, helping MSP vendors work effectively with MSPs and helping MSPs grow. No, they're quite the opposite. They're art, but there could be a lot of art in tech.

SPEAKER_00

There is a whole lot of art in tech because tech is how you solve problems for people.

SPEAKER_03

And when you say music, an instrument, singing, all of them, yeah. Really?

SPEAKER_00

Trumpet, a little bit of piano, singing.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. And uh you picked it up yourself. Did you have a musical family?

SPEAKER_00

I have a musical family. My mom was a church organist. And so yeah, I'm in you never want your mom as your piano teacher. You need a separate person because mom always knows if you practice, so that you can't fudge your way through that. Yeah, I did. I started on the flute and I I didn't really love that. But when I found trumpet, they needed trumpet, so I picked up a trumpet and there it was. Wow. Right there. So I still play.

SPEAKER_03

And so how did you get introduced into tech?

SPEAKER_00

So when I was a a youngster, I mean, so many of us here, I mean I've got the long gray hair, you I don't know if you can see, since this is, you know, it's not video, but it sure is video. I've been here a while. But in the 80s, my parents bought this this little thing called a Commodore 64. Yeah. And they didn't know anything about computers, they just thought, well, you know, my only kid is at home. We weren't those lashkey kids. She's at home after school. She might want to learn what to do with this computer thing because she's she shows some aptitude toward it. And they didn't buy any way to persist any of the work that I was doing. So we would put the computer and we would hook it up to the television because that's what you did then, didn't have a monitor. And then at the end of the day, when I had been playing with it for a couple hours, I'll turn it off and everything was lost. So I had enough interest in this little machine though that probably about a year later they bought what was called a data set. And tech people listening to this will remember that the data set was a very slow mechanism for storage, and I still showed enough interest in programming and doing things on the computer that they finally bought me a disk drive. So I graduated to being an advanced Commodore 64 user at the ripe age of twelve.

SPEAKER_03

And back then were you programming? I started with an Atari, I didn't start with the 64.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I had an Atari, you know, the little thing with the Space Invaders. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. When you say Atari, it's just the game thing. But I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah, I was programming and really, really practical stuff. Basic?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's what they're doing. Basic 10 print heather, comma, 20 go to 10. Yeah, we started there. And then you switch it out for a comment, it would go a different way across the screen. But so really practical things. Like in seventh grade, there was the idea that you had to know every country in the world and all the capitals in the world. So I would program how to have it randomize that and quiz me in, and I aced geography geography. Just really practical.

SPEAKER_03

So you put in an array and then you did a random on the array, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then I would expand that and iterate through. I would have it grade me how well I did that section. I would have it, I just want to do one continent and things like that. I still retain some of that crazy knowledge. Just but yeah, that's the background there. And then the next question you're gonna ask, I'm gonna see if I can preempt it, is what happened next?

SPEAKER_03

What happened next, Heather?

SPEAKER_00

So I went to high school and I wanted to be a girl and not a geek. That's what happened next.

SPEAKER_03

You wanted to be a girl, not a geek.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, in the 80s. I mean, you go to a computer club, there aren't any women there. That's right. There are no girls. So I decided in high school I was gonna be if the geekyest I would get would be the band geek. So I I went more the music route and eventually went into college as a music major, switched in the middle of the communication, and took one computer class, and that was that.

SPEAKER_03

That was it.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna be a music teacher.

SPEAKER_03

You were gonna be a music teacher.

SPEAKER_00

It's gonna be a music teacher.

SPEAKER_03

Because the teaching yourself basic, catching that bug wasn't enough. Music was too po too big for me.

SPEAKER_00

I was still dabbling with it, but yeah, music was a really big thing, and then I decided uh very practically that that wasn't the direction to go. That was gonna be a passion, a supporting life thing. But communication, that's something you use everywhere. That's a degree I got that I use every day, and you understand that. Of course. And so throughout all that, though, coming out of college in the early 90s, I would end up in a job. I started in HR. Very communication, very people-oriented, lots of interviewing, lots of conversations, lots of questions, lots of answers. But there were never enough computer people. And so I am the definition of shadow IT.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

So in HR, in the in that period of time in the early 90s, there's no applicant tracking systems in the public sector where I was working. I was working for University of Missouri and then St. Louis County government. There are no applicant tracking systems, there are no job tracking systems. So I built those.

SPEAKER_01

You built those.

SPEAKER_00

I would get there, I would interview people, and then that would be a little too much people in one day. And I had the skill, and the people who hired me were curious. Oh, okay, we need these things. Do you want to go build them? And the answer was always yes.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

So I was always at that point learning that I need to be half people half tech. So that I that persists today. I'm half people half tech.

SPEAKER_03

And when you were building these systems, what were you building them in? Paradox for Windows. Um started in DOS.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And then Microsoft Access. Yes. I have built some pretty amazing things in Microsoft Access. Me too. And then that was it. When you're a shadow IT, you take what you're given.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And we were we were not carrying one IOT about securing anything. We were just building. We were building so that we could work better, we could work faster, we could serve more people. That's always been the motivation.

SPEAKER_03

So you have people and you have tech. Yes. And to this day, there's still that that wrestle?

SPEAKER_00

There there is. So when I left HR and the right before the dot com boom, I got this great programming job. I mean, fantastic programming job in the year 2000. And so I went from interviewing people all day and then making that shift so I could be half people, half tech, and fully happy, into coding all day in a dark room.

SPEAKER_01

Whoa.

SPEAKER_00

And that was the opposite shift of I now don't have it's enough people. And so over time, I had the same client for basically five years. And over time we built that to where I was doing a whole lot of software requirements and doing the people-facing portion and making sure the customer service component was there. So I'm coding four hours a day and I'm talking the other four. It just always I've been able to make my own jobs as we go along, which leads to where I am now, which is mostly consulting.

SPEAKER_03

And that's a rare quality because those people that like to code like to be in kind of dark rooms and I liked it, just not all day. Not all day, yeah. Yeah. So you're talking with technology and you're talking with people.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Which do you like more?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. Which do you like more?

SPEAKER_03

I guess it depends. It does.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, when you've been in the industry for any thirty some odd years, it always depends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because it's situational.

SPEAKER_03

Sometimes I want to get a uh a solution done with technology, and sometimes I want to talk to people.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. I thoroughly enjoy my alone time if I'm up early in the morning so that I'm ready to meet the people with the answers to their problems. And that's I really enjoy interesting work on interesting problems that other people might not want to tackle.

SPEAKER_03

So we're here, of course, at MSP GeekCon in Orlando in uh what mid-May. Uh what are some of your goals this week?

SPEAKER_00

This week I'm here to see old friends and to talk with my son. We are on stage together talking about Gen Z and your MSP.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm just really excited about this topic. It comes from some other workforce conversations I have that lead all the way back to that HR career and just seeing the same things repeat over and over again. Technology is all of us who are in the workforce today, technology impacts us greatly. It does. So the talks that I give are usually from that perspective of look at what all has happened since just even a hundred years ago and what it means to us and what's coming next. And people are the same, but we get these monikers and we use technology in different ways based on when we're born and what we what we've lived.

SPEAKER_03

What should we know? What should we appreciate but appreciate about Gen X? Uh excuse me, Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, because yeah, Gen X I can talk all day for. But Gen Z, they are a bunch of curious people who do not want to waste time and they want to make an impact. And they don't want obstacles put in their way just because obstacles used to be there. If there's a way to remove the obstacles, let's do that.

SPEAKER_03

Interesting. Well, that's an interesting summary. And how do you arrive at that? Just by knowing, I I've raised two of them. Right.

SPEAKER_00

And so and the interactions with them and seeing how they think and the things that frustrate them and the things that they enjoy to do when they're motivated to do them. And also just really enjoy talking with people. And so young people, they're in technology too. So as we go to these conferences, we meet people of all ages. And I see that Gen Z is gonna make a really big shift. And the oldest of Gen Z is already gonna be turning 30 next year.

SPEAKER_03

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00

So that those are not those are valid adults who've been in our workforce for I don't know, maybe as many as fourteen years. Right. I think some people are starting to work at 14 now. So we have true veterans in our Gen Z, and one of the stats I'm throwing out there is by 2030, I believe, that we're gonna have sixty percent of the workforce will be millennials or Gen Z.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And all digital natives.

SPEAKER_03

All digital natives.

SPEAKER_00

So going back to the beginning of the conversation, that's radically different than tinkering with a Commodore 64 in your home computing before most people even understand that computers are gonna absolutely revolutionize our lives.

SPEAKER_03

In a very far different way. Yeah. Yeah. Are you excited about that?

SPEAKER_00

I we we are where we are.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so yes, I'm excited about it. I want to bring the people into the tech. I moved into security and sometimes I talk through this just because all these things we built over all these years, we didn't secure them in the early years. That wasn't in the the mindset and the default and everything that we're doing. And so a lot of my my friends are small business owners, they're not technical. And just the understanding of the basics of what we as people need to do. That's one of the other conversation topics I like to have. And MSPs feel this pain because sometimes those companies grow, then oh, now I need to go seek an MSP. Now I have eleven people or twelve people, and they're not ready. They're not ready, they don't understand the increased cost, the technical debt. And so it's the conversations we have to have with people about the stages they're in now, the growth they anticipate or inherit that they didn't anticipate, and what it means to technology to sustain their business and grow it.

SPEAKER_03

Wanna show your love for discipline, inspiration, and the Joey Pins podcast? Now's your chance. Introducing the brand new Joey Pins merch store, where style meets discipline. Choose from premium apparel, cozy hoodies, stylish hats, durable bags, and your new favorite coffee mug, all featuring the iconic Joey Pins logo. Perfect for podcast fans, discipline enthusiasts, or as unique gifts for friends and family. Every purchase supports the Joey Pins Discipline Conversations Podcast, helping us continue to inspire greatness and promote positive change. Visit JoeyPins.com slash store today and wear your discipline proudly. Joey Pins merch. Wear it, share it, and live it. It almost reminds me, Heather, of Y2K. We were prepared, yeah. I was there, of course. Yeah, yeah. Well, not only were we prepared, we were we didn't think 20 years ahead when the clocks would change, the year would change. Yeah. Are we prepared for this next phase? I wonder.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know that we are fully prepared, super small businesses. I did sit in a cybersecurity insurance questionnaire, and it is radically different than I think it would have been two years ago. Really? And they're asking for much more basic hygiene than they were before. And so I think small businesses need to understand just because you attest to, yeah, I do that, I'll do that. If you don't do all that, if you do have a claim, they're not going to pay. And I don't like to lead with fear, but the list of questions they're asking is longer the the likely payout for certain small businesses who are not mature, it's not going to be there if they're not going to do the things they say they're doing.

SPEAKER_03

You sit on the board at the Missouri Cybersecurity. What is it called again?

SPEAKER_00

Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. We call it MCCOE, which strangely is not really even shorter.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it probably is. It is now. And the and the mission of the organization?

SPEAKER_00

We are preparing the workforce uh for cybersecurity. Right now we are helping people who are entry level, they might have a few certifications or a college degree, community college degree, very practical, but not the work experience. And so we are helping them get some experience and understanding what pen tests are like and maybe even participate on that. Definitely cybersecurity assessments. And then the third area is we're building a working SOC where we can get some SOC analyst training, and then we partner in working with Hack the Box to bolster additional skills for these people who are in our apprenticeship program, and we have our Missouri Department of Labor registered apprenticeship program.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. So when I talk to MSPs, what keeps them up at night has been pretty consistent, and number one is cybersecurity.

SPEAKER_00

And having the talent who understand coming in to work for them to understand security and its place, and I'm not shocked that you say that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Cybersecurity, human capital, as you mentioned, and then growth. You know, I was at RSA a couple of months ago, the biggest security event of the world, and 50,000 people there, and all they were talking about was AI. They're barely talking about security.

SPEAKER_00

And then we had to talk about securing AI, which is really the same conversation but different.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. It is fascinating. Is there a question, Heather, that you wish more people asked you?

SPEAKER_00

That's a good question. Why should I care? Beyond the I've given you the basics, some of which you know, some I'm going back to small businesses. Why why you should care? Why should I care? I would love to talk more about that. And I do a lot of civic talks locally. I live in a metro area of about 500,000 people, so it's a small city. I talk at rotary clubs, I leave people with their eyes a little bit wide over things that they should be doing. And the idea that every human is their home's network administrator. Somebody in your home has to update the router. Somebody in your home needs to make sure that you are properly managing passwords like you're a business now. And to educate your parents often, not just your children, but your parents on how everything this I like to say that the need for cybersecurity, it's it's invisible, but it's not imaginary.

SPEAKER_03

Because there's so much FUD, right? There's so much warning, everything's gonna break, everything's gonna kill you. You know, should how should we be taking this seriously? So you have to kind of weed through that.

SPEAKER_00

And also we can't see that it's relevant to us because it is an invisible attack against us.

SPEAKER_03

So is there something let's go like 10 years ago, Heather, and is there something firmly you believe then that you no longer believe now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I wasn't really paying too much attention to security outside of application security. So personal, it wasn't something I was looking that much at. Right around then, I think Google would have shifted where their all the websites now had to be secured, HTTPS, and otherwise you'd get the nasty chrome warning. And I remember thinking, well, why are they doing that, even as an application developer? And so very narrowly focused on what I was doing and keeping that secure. But again, I think a lot of the work I do is penance because I should have known better. But if you're working in a small shop and you're focused on a very specific thing, I I worked in in that job for 22 years, and so I'm not looking at the world around and the changes that were happening. And I think that that's common for people when they're in a job, they're focused on what they have to protect and do in that particular job, and that's a problem. Problem for both that job and that employer, but it's also a problem if they lose that person. The knowledge debt, which is taking it back to my talk coming here, is that one of the greatest things that Gen Z is gonna force an organization to do is to not let the culture tolerate a lack of documentation, a lack of dues paying. We we we need to make sure that we're not forcing Gen Z, who's ready to work and work at an accelerated pace, just hand them the video and the 10 steps to the 10 videos that show this is the workful. They're ready to go and ask some questions. We're not ready to build that sort of pipeline for them yet. And we're gonna need to be. And boy, I would have liked that 30 years ago when I was starting my career. Okay, you have these 10 things that you need to do in this sequence. Here's how you go and learn how to do all those things. And by the way, if we're out of date, please catch it so we can update our documentation.

SPEAKER_03

Heather, I started my MSP back in the 90s. Okay. Was working way too hard, 14, 16 hour days. You're no stranger to this, and not paying attention to myself. You know, I was in my twenties. I was invincible, right? And poor diet habits, not exercising anymore. I get in front of the doctor, she tells me I'm at 340 pounds. Oh my. So I'd gained all this weight. I didn't I knew I was getting big, didn't know I was getting that big. So she says to me, if you don't lose this weight, you're not gonna see your daughter graduate. My daughter was just born. Scared the life out of me, right? I'm driving home, punching the steering, you know. I I can abuse myself all I want, but it's much bigger than me now. Spent the next six, seven months, about six yeah, six, seven months, lost about 120 pounds, and kept it off. You you have to look at these things, you can't look at it as a finishing line, right? These are lifelong changes. So when I tell people this, they always say, What's your secret? What'd you do? And I say, There's no secret, just discipline. Right? Routine, focus, motivation. How does discipline play a role in your life?

SPEAKER_00

So what you're describing, I I like to call a catalyst moment. And just something that has you go pause and shift. So some of those, I probably have six or seven of those. One was when I noticed an employer didn't value me enough to have a conversation, it was time to leave.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Another one was taking a college entrance exam. I got a really good score, but it wasn't the score I wanted. So I took that thing six times until I got the score I wanted.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And it it gave me quite a bit of money in scholarship. So it's the same sort of thing as I I see this thing I want to do, I'm gonna go do it. Here's what it's gonna take to get there. It's gonna be a sacrifice, and I'm gonna go do it. The most recent one is I just got the two certifications for CMMC.

SPEAKER_02

I saw that.

SPEAKER_00

And I didn't plan that. That was a November moment of okay, now the government has said, yes, we're gonna do this. That means they're gonna need to be more assessors, and more companies are gonna need to be ready, and they have work on their hands. Just going back to the small companies I'm talking about. I've I've got built a persona of what small businesses look like who've been based on the 22 years I was in the one place. They're not making the shifts necessary, and if they've been like the cyber insurance, just attesting, yeah, yeah, yeah, we do that, and now we have a verification framework. I that's where the passion for that is, is this is about people and processes in CMMC, and those are the areas I'm most interested in. A lot of people can come and verify the tech, but to do the true readiness and to have it not shift, much like you talked about with your own journey, is that is no drift. We've got to get in here, we've got to have establish or bolster a program and make sure that we are doing what we say and saying what we do, as all of the training programs tell us.

SPEAKER_03

What do you love about technology?

SPEAKER_00

I love what it enables us to do that is not mundane, so we can spend our brains and our curiosity on things that are more important to us.

SPEAKER_03

And what do you dislike about it?

SPEAKER_00

I dislike that it dehumanizes things and also can cause us, in the case of AI, to lose some of our strategic thinking and some of our curiosity. John Harden was just in there talking about the curiosity.

SPEAKER_03

Curiosity, yeah. Is there something in the last month or so you changed your mind on?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a great question that I've probably got to think a little bit on. I think that I want to be a more patient and more present person. And I think I've changed my mind on how to do that. Interesting. And it's just to take some some pause in periods of time where I really need to be working, and instead of trying to continually deliver, deliver, deliver, to actually step back and say, maybe that can wait. And maybe I have enough capital with this customer to say, I'd like to put this off, and here's what it will benefit you, or here's what you'll gain from it. Because right now I'm in an execution phase, not a creative phase. I've actually had to do that this week.

SPEAKER_03

You're an executive, not creative.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And how do you make that jump?

SPEAKER_00

I I have to, and it's a new client who's taking most of my time, and so there's the learning curve, there's the execution, there's this we were in an assessment last week, the customer passed with the perfect 110. Wow. That takes time and space and the energy. I think we have as a shift of technology, we I think where we're seeing a lot of energy deficit, not necessarily a time deficit. If we're working past when our energy will allow us to be at our best, then we are depleting our energy going toward burnout. We have enough time. We just don't have enough energy to give 100% or even 90% or 80%, so that we've got at least a B plus on whatever we're delivering. And I say we, but that's very personal for me. I try to protect my energy where I can. I know it's limited.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, Joey Pins here. Wanna take your podcast experience to the next level? I'm excited to invite you to become a YouTube member. It's the absolute best way to support the channel and enhance your connection. Join our amazing community and unlock the incredible perks, custom loyalty badges, exclusive emojis, and priority comment replies. Your voice will always stand out. Be the first to watch new videos with early access. Receive special membership shoutouts and get exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and updates. Dive into content available only to our members, special videos, deep dives, and insider perspectives. Engage directly with me. Suggest podcast topics you want to hear, and even get personalized video shout outs. Hit the join button right now and become part of something special. Let's build this amazing community together. I can't wait to welcome you as a new member. Join the Joey Pins family today. What motivates you?

SPEAKER_00

Me.

SPEAKER_03

You motivate yourself.

SPEAKER_00

I'm deeply self-motivated.

SPEAKER_03

How so?

SPEAKER_00

If I don't care about it, then I have to find a way to hack myself so that I care about it if I have to do it. So the the ups and the downs of the motivation when you're self-motivated. I have two children who are deeply self-motivated as well, or not. It's it's the same same sort of problem.

SPEAKER_03

You care about what you care about.

SPEAKER_00

I care about what I care about. Yes. So whatever moral things I've got, we've got a bells behind us, it's distracting.

SPEAKER_03

Sorry. It's like Christmas.

SPEAKER_00

It is, but you know, in May.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, if if I love a thing, if I want to make a thing better, if I'm invested in a person, then I'm motivated. But if not, it's hard to be. And so if it is an important thing that I don't truly care about, but someone else I care about cares about the important thing, I have to build some sort of bridge so that I care. I've learned that over time, that deeply self-motivated.

SPEAKER_03

And how do you measure success?

SPEAKER_00

I'm doing things that I love. If I'm successful, then I'm doing enough work to pay my bills and have some left over, and I'm doing work that I feel is impactful to me because I'm self-motivated.

SPEAKER_03

Heather, I thank you so much for your time. I I appreciate you reaching out on LinkedIn. If anybody's watching and listening, how can they get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_00

LinkedIn's the easiest way. And so you just Heather Noggle, N-O-G-G-L-E. There are two of us there. I'm the older looking one. She and I connected because she was getting messages for me. We had a couple good laughs. Isn't that nice? There's just two of us.

SPEAKER_03

So thank you so much for your time.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, Joe.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for listening and/or viewing Joey Pins Discipline Conversations. Please share this episode with one or two of your friends who you think may benefit from the episode. Our website, www.joeepins.com. There you find lots of resources, and you can join our mailing list. Please follow us on all our social media, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Podcast information, the video version of our podcast is on YouTube. Please subscribe. Audio is on all major podcasting platforms. Please follow them. And if you like it, please consider giving the five star rating. We'd really appreciate it. And thank you again for listening, for watching, and showing in the discipline conversation.