EP:35 - Entrepreneur Inspiration - Kelly Merbler on Flexibility, Leadership, and the Power of Connection

Kelly Merbler  has made significant shifts in her values to embrace a more flexible lifestyle and create lasting impact through her leadership development work.

Kelly talks about creating community through her ‘Coffee with Kelly’ events every Friday and hear our thoughts on networking and making meaningful connections in today's world. 

We’re also joined by the vibrant Linsaya VanDeusen, Wellness Warrior Collective's visionary, here to encourage us all to "put more plants on our plate" and find community in wellness. Alongside Rebecca Norrington, a happiness specialist, we delve deep into how adversity can spark profound self-discovery and growth.

Plus, hear about the unique bet we place with Kelly, spotlighting the engaging features of the Owwl platform—a valuable tool for burgeoning entrepreneurs and established professionals alike.

Contact Kelly
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymerbler/

Timestamps
00:00 Panelists must be intentional and focused.
05:09 Continuous learning and adaptation are crucial for leadership.
09:01 Clarify purpose and values to ensure culture.
11:41 Leaders must connect with teams, play strengths.
15:24 Referral-based business, strong relationships, trust, service.
19:10 Seeking flexibility, innovation; passionate about leadership development.
20:51 Dad's passing led to healthier lifestyle choices.
23:59 Hiring father's caregiver in Florida amid dementia.
27:29 Seek mentor; readiness, admiration, and aspiration.
31:17 Upcoming book focuses on uncovering unhappiness factors.
35:17 Struggled with challenge, need accountability partner.
39:50 Connecting and inviting can have ripple effects.
41:31 Make 15 calls on app, get rewards.
44:03 Live status for multitasking while receiving calls.

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Transcript

0:23

I've learned from my mentor. It's if you do things consistently, then over time, you're going to see the result. Hey, everybody. In the Owwl community, we are live on the Owl podcast, and I'm joined by Ellie Sandra, my co host today. And we're gonna get into our guests in a moment. Kelly, she's gonna be one of our best guests because she does amazing events down here in Boca Raton, all about networking. So we are super excited to have her on the show, but to start things out, Ellie, what's going on in the music world? Just a lot of things in the work for me personally, and I feel like this is my year. That's what I keep saying. This is my year. This is Owl's year. The year to soar. Eating the right. He said, what's the word of the year for us? I'm like, soar. Yeah. Obviously, I think that for me, this last year of just networking for Owwl events, and I'm finally hitting the right spots and meeting the right people, because it really is all, at least, I think, in music, in every industry, a lot of it, I would say 75%, is, like, who? You know? Because if you have the skills and you have the talent, then at that point, you just have to make the right connection. So I think finally, after years, it's like those connections are finally clicking in. And all the tools I see often, everyone's like, well, I don't want to do another platform. I only do LinkedIn, or I do a little bit on Instagram, or I do a little bit on x these days and a little bit of in person networking. But what I've noticed that you do is you combine them. All right? If you go to an in person networking event like the one you went with Kelly, you walked away with. Yeah. You took some of those cards, and some of them became guests on the Owl podcast. Some of them weren't a fit for the podcast. And then you met them on Zoom. Some of them were a fit to go meet in person. Grab a coffee. Yeah. So I look at it as, like, you always look at the angle. You look around. Well, I meet someone, and I go, okay, is this an Owwl connection? Is this a music connection? There's always something that you can. Or is this a friend? You can always find common interests with people. Well, we're on this topic. We have a big event that we are planning, so if you're tuning in right now, we are a major sponsor over at Podfest Expo that's happening on January 25 through the 20 eigth. We're going to announce all the speakers that are on a panel that I am hosting with Cindy Metzler. And it's exciting because this is why we're going to soar in 2024. It's intentional. We put these panelists together, and they're all going to host our interactive Owl podcast booth. We're going to be the only podcast booth that is live on the floor. And there's 1500 plus attendees coming. And so their ten year anniversary, and they're also hosting the podcasting hall of Fame there that Friday night. So most people just go with the booth. They're like, we'll wing it. We'll get some people to download our app. Not us. We bought hundreds of t shirts. They'll say, you could pick my brain after you pick your payment method. You can only get one of those if you come on the interactive podcast. All the panelists have to host our know that was the deal. They were going to become a panelist. So we're very intentional, and that's what we're going to speak about today with our guests, actually, because you could run events, but you have to be intentional. You have to make sure you go in, say, what are you going to get out of it? Actually, Kelly asked me that today. She's like, what do you want to get out know this podcast today? I love that question because you kind of take a step back. You're like, you're right. What do we want to get out of this? Right? We want you guys to call Kelly and Kelly, obviously, to help you guys, and it leads to opportunities and vice versa. We want her to obviously have a great experience on the show today. Great. Get great content. But before we go into her, go buy your tickets. We did post over at Owl app and meet us. It's our first community meetup since we launched, so we're hoping to have over 50 people in our community join us. You get to meet myself, you get to meet Ellie, and hopefully Kelly joins us after hearing about all this excitement that's happening at the end of the month. So, Kelly, welcome to the Owl podcast. How are you doing today? Fantastic. It is January of 2024. Four is my lucky number, and it's going to be the best year yet. Me, too. Well, four, four, four. I do put it on roulette. I always yell like low black. No, I put it on roulette. And I do, too. You were like, four, six, eight. No, don't do that. You're like, that's, oh, well, you never know. Well, so, Kelly, tell our audience a little bit about the Kelly Merbler company. The Kelly Marbler company is actually celebrating its six year anniversary this month. So it's a big month. As an entrepreneur, I mean, you know, Jason, you know, Ellie, every little step, every little milestone means a lot. But we are an organization that specializes in leadership development. We focus on building strengths based cultures and strengths based leaders. Using the assessment from Gallup Clifton. Strengths. That's the primary thing that my business does. But I also do a lot of keynote speaking at associations, conferences, events for corporate offices, and leadership retreats, as well as executive coaching. So those are the three buckets that we really cover. And when it comes to leadership, I see a lot of videos about this on TikTok and Instagram reels these days. It's like you can't just open up a book, read it, and just execute. It's so hard. Everyone's always learning. The world is changing so quickly. So what you think you should be doing, then it doesn't apply to your business. So you really need someone like yourself to really sit down with and really kind of say, okay, what do you think about this? My processes and should I be harder on the person? Should I not? Where are the boundaries? Right. I mean, I struggle with this all the time, being the financial service business, as well as running Owwl. Like, Owl's new to me. Right. I have to handle things a lot differently. We have employees here, but then we also have brand ambassadors, and it's like the brand ambassadors, obviously, are not employees, so you have to handle those a little differently. Sure. So let's jump into if I was your client for a second, how does this all work? Explain. I'm a leader of Owwl and a financial service firm, and let's just make it about Owwl for a second. Sure. What happens? I go to one of your events, I'm like, I'm really curious. Do we start with a one on one zoom? Do we meet in person? Kind of. How does the business operate? Yeah, I would love to have a conversation after an event. I mean, that's always a goal, is to meet great people that want to be better leaders or have better cultures within their organization. So. Absolutely. I would reach out, see if we can connect over coffee. I love coffee. Coffee with Kelly. Right. You want to tell our audience about our coffee? I can see it from bar over here. There is a whole coffee bar. We do. We do have Starbucks syrups. It's pretty amazing. You want vanilla hazelnut? We got it. They literally had a menu when I walked in. Of what coffee choices wanted. We don't mess around here. They take it seriously. We want you to be caffeinated when you come on the Owl podcast. But we didn't even have coffee day. Surprisingly, coffee lovers and none of us have coffee. Probably the first episode, by the way, ever. Yeah. New year, new us,

I guess like. Trying to go to sleep tonight and not drink coffee at 04: 7:27

00 but initially. I would love to have a further conversation with clients that I get to meet because I want to get to know you. I want to know what you're all about, what's important to you, what do you value, and what are some of the challenges that you're going through? We all have challenges in the leadership lives that we lead, and especially if you're leading a team and running a company. So I know you have typical challenges that I would have and explain to. Our audience what are the typical situations that most people go through that are leaders? How to keep their employees engaged. Yes. Is a big challenge right now. Coffee that I'm good at. See, you just get coffee. They don't need a coach, they just need coffee. Caffeine, right? Absolutely. That doesn't work. Celsius more powerful. That's right. But how to keep employees engaged? It's a huge problem. How to overcome burnout. A lot of employees and employers leaders especially, because they're carrying this huge load right now. Who's loving on the leaders? They're being asked to do so much and take care of their employees, but who's taking care of the leaders as well? So what is it that you're facing? How to improve your culture, how to grow your culture. How to find the right people. How to retain the staff that you've hired. Hiring is so hard. All of the above, and I come from that world. I spent 21 years in the recruiting and staffing world, so I understand how hard that is. It is so hard to find good people, but when you find them, you got to make sure you can keep them, because I know how hard it is to find them. Give us your best three tips for keeping them engaged. I'll share my three. What I personally have done, because you could go back to any organization, look at track record. How long have people been with you? You're right. Is there a lot of turnover? Did the people that leave you call you stole or they're gone? Are bridges burnt? Absolutely. So my best tip would be purpose. Making sure that your culture has a sense of purpose. Do you operate under a mission, vision and value statement? Values are a huge part of culture. And do your employees really understand what the organization's mission is? Do they feel that they are connected with the mission and that their job matters in the mission? Everybody's job matters in an organization, no matter if you have 500 employees or three employees, do they understand that? So I always start with purpose and how to make sure that there's clarity in purpose where people are working. So dive in a little deeper because I see so many leaders have a quote out front they have in their manual, they have it on their email signature. But in the real world, it's like, it's doesn't, it doesn't really happen. Right. And sometimes it has to happen naturally. Right. I have to be like, danielle, Stephanie, let's go grab a coffee. We're all tired. And make some jokes in the car. And those jokes make the day better, right. And it could be little actions of saying thank you or little gestures of someone has a bad day, write a funny little sticky note on their desk and be like, you're doing great. Those are some of my things that I do. But how do you really get these folks that sometimes they don't have that personality to really engage? And it probably depends on the size of the organization, too, because obviously we work at a startup and there's only three of us, so it's easier to just be like, I'm going to take them to coffee. Whereas if you have a really big organization, the CEO can't necessarily know what's going on with the employees. So. Absolutely. I guess that, too depends. And part of that is, are leaders set up for success in the process? Because there's so many times, I mean, I do a lot of work in healthcare, as one example, and a director of, or that I've worked with is the only leader responsible for 80 nurses. You can't lead through touching 80 nurses on a weekly basis. That is not set up for success. So are organizations setting leaders up for success? Because if not, it's going to be a long hill and you can only do what you can only do as a leader without burning out. So in that case, that one person who's supposed to lead over 80 nurses, would you say to the organization, we need to actually break this up into 40 and 40 and get another leader? Or would you say, what would you give advice? Well, I mean, that would definitely be something I would look at because that's not realistic, right? Yeah. If you want an engaged staff, the leader has to be able to connect with their teams. And if there's not enough time to get to everybody, then people are falling short. They're missing that connection or those meaningful conversations. And so is that leader developing somebody underneath them that could be that next person on the bench or potential future leaders that could potentially rise up to help delegate some of those duties for leaders that truly love doing that, too. You've got to find people that play to strengths as well. There are some leaders that naturally, that's just not what they do well, and you mentioned that and doesn't make them a bad leader. There's amazing leaders out there that don't have that high emotional intelligence, but they know who to surround themselves with. They know who to surround themselves with and complementing themselves with someone that does have high emotional intelligence so they can play off of each other. I love that you bring that up because after 300 interviews through this podcast and my other one, I noticed that sometimes I'm like, that's the one that's running a half a million dollar brand or a billion dollar brand. And it's just that they're good at that. They're good at lining up the people next to them and they know their strengths and they don't try to do it all. That's not always like their thing being that specific type of leader. Like Simon Sinek, he's amazing on stage, he's an amazing speaker. But that other entrepreneur, they're not a great public speaker. They're great one on one. Not in big groups, of course. How about on the flip side, how do you actually get clients, right? Because this is the biggest issue in almost every business. Like, you could be amazing at teaching people one on one, but you got to get them to sit down and listen. Most people will not listen. Right. I'm a leader. I get 100 million emails. I go to conferences and we're always like, I'm doing fine. And next. Next. I don't need this. This isn't for me. Right. So you have to have a marketing plan for your own business. Of course. And a funnel. Right? And of course, Owl is a funnel, right. People call you if you list your price low at a dollar, you're going to get 2030 calls in a month. If you put up to $20, the ods are. You're going to get only a handful. Right. And also, it depends on your expertise. If you're a lawyer, you could charge more. If you are a real estate agent, everyone knows your phone number is listed on a website. They call you for free. What are you doing charging $20 for real estate advice? Right. It doesn't usually match. So Owwl is a networking tool, but inevitably it's a lead source, right? People on there turn it into real relationships and real business. So in your shoes, how do you do it? Because you're in a very crowded space, of course, and a lot of leaders is like, it looks all the same, right? And that's a true statement. Same thing. Me being a financial advisor. How many people will say, now I'm good. I have one of those. I'm like, you have one of those? I'm like, okay, we teach different things. There's different niches, right? Give me a chance. I always had to have some type of rebuttal for that. And they're like, well, let me give you a second opinion. What's the worst case scenario? I teach you one or two things for free, right? And I'm like, give me 30 minutes on a Zoom meeting. And I always found something wrong 100% of the time. Now, they didn't always work with me, but they always would thank me after the meeting because I always knew every person is different, everyone has different skill sets. So, same thing with you. I know that there was ten people that I met with. You're going to teach me something regardless of me hiring you, right? So explain, how do you actually find clients? I've been really blessed with my clients. Honestly, the majority of my business does come from referrals when I've worked with someone. Looking back when I did my annual review plan for my company last year, looking where my clients and my leads came from, there's two very apparent sources for me that have worked really well. But I also know there's so much more I can do that I need to be doing. But what has worked well for me is the referral source. And I've built really strong relationships through trust and great service for six years. And that takes a lot of time to nurture and foster. But I always really want to make sure I don't over promise and under deliver. So I'm very intentional about that. Okay. So that's been my number one source, and people have carried me forward into other doors. My number two source, honestly, has been LinkedIn. Love it. Yeah, people say I love LinkedIn on steroids. And we're power users of LinkedIn. Me and Ellie are posting all the time. We're big believers because you could get to the CEO of a company by just sending them a message. And most of the time it's not outsourced their inbox. And last time, ceos have like 1000, 2000 connections. People don't realize, like they're running 100 million dollar brand and they're going to respond. It's quite impressive. Yeah. LinkedIn is an amazing tool. So give us a tip. What are you doing on LinkedIn? What's unique with your strategy? I don't know if it's unique or different from others. I think it's just I'm consistent. Platform and consistency compounds. As I've learned from my mentor, if you do things consistently, then over time you're going to see the results. It's like building your 401k. Just start making the deposit pounding. Yeah. And let it happen. So who is your mentor? You said mentor John Maxwell is. I have many mentors, but John Maxwell is the one that truly I look at as the one that kind of took me from the rubble and helped me become a wonderful leader. But I have several mentors in my life and I'm blessed to have them now. Was he a mentor your first year? Right? You said six years ago you started the brand. Obviously the first year is always the hardest. Did you have him by your side that first year? I did not have him by my side, but I always had him where I could learn from him. Okay. Obviously he's very busy, but I did meet him in 2014, and so that's kind of what led me to finding what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I was going to ask about that, actually, because we were talking before the episode started about both of us. Oh, yeah, switch it around. There we go. Both of us being in corporate and how we never want to go back. Yeah, we were talking about it. So I was curious when you knew it was time to make the switch and just how your journey with starting your company and how that came about. I spent and millennials and Gen Z might fall off your chair right now, but I spent 21 years in corporate America and I learned so much from it. But I decided after, I don't know, it was through the loss of my mother. Honestly, Jason, I loved my job for many, many years. Love my job. But as time went on and different life experiences happened in my life, I really started to see life differently. And what I wanted most in my life and my value shifted. And it wasn't all about making the big paycheck. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to make a nice paycheck. I'm not saying it's not, but my value shifted where I really wanted to have more flexibility with my kids. I wanted to be able to have the freedom to make decisions in how I wanted to run my business and I wanted to be innovative and do something that I thought the market really needed. And at that time, I really saw the need for leadership development. I was that leader in an organization that was promoted but not developed per se, and I figured it out. We figure it out. But I wasn't necessarily set up for success. So I really started getting hungry to be a better leader and learn. And it was that quest of me kind of taking hold of my own future and studying and finding great mentors and really applying what I've learned in my leadership with the teams back in corporate America that really kind of lit my fire. And I said, I love what I'm doing to help myself be a better leader and teams be a better leader, that I saw a need for what it was, and then companies had a need for what I could potentially bring. Nice. So talk a little bit about the personal situation you went through, because I see that often. Like, I just saw Matt Williams from fro pro showing his video from, like, ten years ago where he was an alcoholic. Right. He had a major issue, and now he's so open about his story, and he helps other people. I'm sure you know Matt Williams from fro pro as well. Yeah. So I just know I went through a personal situation, and I woke up, right. I had cancer last year. My dad, what he went through with his passing away two months ago, and just even prior to that, and I know my big awakening was, like, I got to eat healthier when I was diagnosed, right, with cancer. And then after that, I did the 75 day heart challenge. I've kept the weight off since, but now I make sure I'm fortunate. I look at it as, like, at 40 years old, you get that knock on the door, say, what the hell are you doing? Wake up. Be smarter. I'm running a business. I don't

always have to spend those extra 3 hours from 07:00 to 10: 21:42

00 at night at the office. It could wait until the next morning, and I could go out and play pickleball for 2 hours and get some exercise. So I made a point. Now, like, I'm out of the office two days a week playing pickleball. Good for you. And I'm just, like, keeping the weight off. I'm swimming every morning. But tell us your situation. What impacted you to make this big shift? With your values, that could be an hour podcast. Yeah, I mean, I'll keep it short, but that's something that's really close to my heart because people do ask me what really made the decision. So it was the journey of going through Alzheimer's with my mother very honestly and watching her eventually have to go in a nursing home. As an only child, my husband and I did the best we could to care for her. But life happens. You're working. You've got small kids. This is a lot of people's issue today, right now as we speak. And for a year and a half, she lived in a nursing home in Boynton beach, and I would go there to visit her quite often. And I will tell you that it changed my whole perspective of what life was about. Because not only did I watch my mom and how she was deteriorating in her life, but I made a lot of friends with the other patients there, and we'd have conversations, like sitting at the cafeteria table and the one lady that really shifted it for me. I'll never forget what she said. I was sitting there with my mom and this other Alzheimer's patient, and she was coherent. She could talk. You wouldn't even know she had Alzheimer's. But she said, it's so nice that you come here to visit your mom. She said, my kids live 5 miles away. I put them through law school and medical school, and I never see them. And it was that moment that really shifted, because I knew that life was not all about the money. Yeah. It wasn't about the fancy car. They never asked about the money or the fancy car or. They never talked about the things that they had in their life. They talked about feeling loved and that they mattered. And that was what really started to come into my mind. And it just took me from someone that could be selfish at times, and I think we all are at times, but it really created humility within me, and that's what started the project that I do every year for Alzheimer's. Wow. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. Because when you mentioned earlier about the Alzheimer's, now I'm like, oh, makes sense. Personal story. But when you see that, I mean, Jason, you know, when I went through. It, I had to hire my father's first caregiver in Florida. And it's really hard. He had lewy body dementia, and it's know, we had to cover the glass. I had to leave work one day and put covers over because he was seeing people, and in the early stages, hard. He was having a one on one conversation with you, and he's like, can you believe it? Someone walked in my apartment, started using my bathroom, three in the morning, and he's talking crystal clearly, and they're like, wait, is this real? And then I didn't nicely tell the person, like, he has a condition right now. He's on the earlier stages of it, but it was Scary. My mind. I called police multiple times on him, and then eventually it just turned to a facility full time. But it's years of that. It's such a horrible disease and so slow. And it's hard on that caregiver. You were the only one. There wasn't other children that they like. You do it, you do it. You had to do it, and it does change your perspective. And then you look back in life, you're like, oh, maybe I should have went boating more. Maybe I should have done this. Absolutely. We have that moment, and everyone had this with COVID right? That's why we've seen the uptick of entrepreneurship, right? Everyone realized, wait a second, what am I doing? I don't have to just work a nine to five. I could start a side hobby and make additional income, something I'm more passionate about. And it could be decorating this water bottle, right? You see all this stuff, like, all these hobbies that have come out, and people are turning those passion projects into full time projects. Our editor of the Owl podcast, I'll give him a shout out. Brian Briggs, you know, he ditched the construction industry about three months ago. He's like, I'm going all in on podcasting. So he just did it. And it's just like, you have to have that aha moment. Just go for it. And Covid really did that to a lot of people. And that's where Owl is coming into play, which is good. Transition to our next element of the show. We're going to call people live on the Owwl platform, is, if you're an entrepreneur, ##preneur out there, or a solo entrepreneur, of course, you could utilize Owwl as a tool when you get home from work, call people, network with them, and build opportunities for your business. Learn from personal levels, like what we just talked about. It doesn't always have to be business. You just want to have a mentor. You just want to have a voice. And we do mentorship Mondays. We just changed it. It's going to be all day on Monday. No more nine to twelve, because the west coast isn't awake most of the time. So we made a decision. We're going to give it a try all day Mondays. If you want to participate, we're going to pin mentorship Monday to the top. You lower your price to a dollar. And of course, just network and connect with people. So it's a way to find a mentor, right? Everyone always talks. Well, I'm looking for an expert to call, tell people, how do you find a mentor? Everyone talks about it. And that's one of my pet peeves is like, how do you get one? I want one. Hey, someone out there, I don't have a mentor. My father was my mentor, but now with a tech company, I would love a mentor, right? If you built an app out there, find me, call me, message me on LinkedIn. I love to have a one on one once in a while where I could just call your cell phone. It's not always booking, it's just texting. Like, I'm having a shitty day. Could I call you real quick? Right? I went through a rough time and went to a tech company. We have money being processed. You could imagine the emails I receive. I can only. It's horrible. A dollar gets missing. It's like negative review here, email threats, losses. I'm like, we'll give you the money back. Why don't you just wait 1 minute, right? So we get a lot of pushback, unfortunately. But talk about mentorship while I look up some people that we're going to call. So if you're out there, get ready on Owwl, we're going to call you. Okay, so how I would go about finding a mentor? First, ask yourself the question, are you ready for a mentor? A lot of people say they want a mentor, but are they ready to be mentored? And that was the first thing I really had to look at because was I willing to put my self defenses down? Was I willing to hear feedback that maybe I needed to hear and get advice on what I needed to do? And was I willing to do the hard things? So that was the first thing I asked myself. And then the second thing, when it comes to finding a mentor is who do you admire? Who really do you aspire to have a career successful as? And it doesn't mean you're going to do the same thing that they are. But I look for someone that is about ten years ahead in business than I am. So they're just enough far away where they still can see what I cannot see, but they're not too far away. Okay, so that's another thing. And then who do I admire that I want to be mentored by? Rebecca, you're live on the Owl podcast. Hey, Rebecca. Well, hello, Owwl podcast. Hoot hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot. Hey, Rebecca, meet Kelly Merbler. To start things out, can you tell our audience in under 30 seconds who you are and what you do? Well, I am the global leading happiness specialist, inner peace practitioner, and student of the universe. But what I do is I share with people that happiness is a practice skill, and I share with people what to practice. Love that. Well, Kelly, do you have a question for Ms. Rebecca? Rebecca, there's such a need for more happiness in our world. We're living through a tough time. I always choose to find joy and the blessings that are in my life, but there's a lot of people out there that have a hard time with that. So, Rebecca, what advice would you give for someone in my network that is really struggling with finding happiness through a tough time? What I always say, all the work is done in the mirror. And so before anything, are you willing to look in the mirror because you have all the answers, you have all the solutions. And happiness, just like any other skill, from being a podcaster to being a writer, a speaker, an athlete, is a practice. It's a practice skill. So when I share with people, does anybody want to be happier? Everybody raises their hand. Everybody raises their hand. But when I tell them that you got to go to the mirror, you can't blame your circumstances. You can't even blame what's going on in the world about why you're feeling a certain way and who is going to contribute to the world. Somebody that has a peaceful vibration, a peaceful energy, or somebody that's angry and upset and revengeful. So what I do realize after 45 years of this work is that everyone isn't interested. And there are some people, I don't get it, but there are some people that are happy being miserable, that are happy being angry, that are comfortable. Scratch the happy. Yeah, I was going to say not happy, but they're probably so programmed, used to it, but it's so uncomfortable. There's a big group called lawyers out. There that's so funny. And, you know, Danielle, it's funny you should say that, because the book that I'm writing now, and I found the editor on Owwl, and I'm in the stages, maybe the laugh is going to come out in a month. But it's called program for unhappiness, exposing the untold truth. And in that book, I have 55 programmed behaviors that have been proven to subtract from when people say happiness. And when I say happiness, it's not about, oh, something happens, and I'm happy. Some people even like the word. They rather use joy or rather use whatever. But I'm really talking about an energy, a vibrational, personal vibration that everybody can feel. I like that. It's not like what with my singing students, for example. A lot of them want to know what can I do? But it's really like undoing and unlearning habits that have been for them in their bodies, like certain things, like nervous habits. So a lot of it is more like unlearning in a way, rather than creating new habits, if that makes sense. Brilliant, Danielle, brilliant, because that's what I say. You have to unlearn what you've learned. I think we're going to maybe do our next caller, but thank you so much, Rebecca. Rebecca, we're looking at different people roll the dice that are available. Oh, look at this. Hello, Lindsaya, how are you? This is Jason Hill. Can you hear me? Yes. You are actually live on the Owl podcast. Hello. Hello. I actually was just directed to the podcast just a few minutes ago. I was just sitting down at my computer to go pull it up. Oh, my gosh, look at this. And now it's fate. We saw you alive. I'm like, oh, wow. I'm like, she just joined Owwl the other day. Well, can you. And I've had three calls today already, so definitely excited about this app. And how did those three calls go so far? Every single call has been beneficial, it's been insightful, your ambassadors are exceptional, and it's got me all jazzed up about what is to come. It's got me jazzed up. Jazzed. Our year, we're soaring 2024. So can you share with our audience in under 30 seconds a little bit about what you do and how you're going to make a dent on this world? And then we're going to have Kelly ask you a question. Absolutely. I'd love to. I'm Lindsaya and I'm the founder of Wellness Warrior Collective. I'm a serial entrepreneur and a former brand director of the US territory for a hair color company. And how I help and make such an impact on this world is through our community. We help humans amplify the wellness warrior within through our events, through our conversations, which we do live in the clubhouse app and we also host live events. And through our podcast. So lots of powerful things that we're doing and virtual programs as well. Well, Lindsay, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kelly. So I would like to ask you, what is your best tip for creating wellness in one's life? What would you recommend for 2024? Oh, my goodness. Well, for 2024, put more plants on your plate. Put more plants on your plate. Of all varieties. This has been one of the biggest health hacks that has amplified my wellness, has helped me throw away diagnoses that I was told I would have for a lifetime. And the phytonutrients are what? Fuel cell rejuvenation. And that is a lifetime of healthy living. So putting more plants on your plate is what I would recommend. At first I thought you said, like, get a lot of plans in your, like, get out. But that's very memorable, though. Put more plants on your plate, around. You and on your plate, especially because. We were confused at first and now, yeah, it is memorable. That stuck with me. So, Lindsaya, I will absolutely remember that. Now I'm going to go home and eat lettuce. Thank you very much. But it's not that easy. How do we execute? No, it is. I did the 75 day hard challenge last year and I try to improve and I did good for a period of my life, but then it's like, it's so difficult. Food is so good. I have two kids, I go out to dinner all the time and it's just hard. How do you execute doctor people holding you accountable? Right, because if I'm held accountable, like when we did the 75 day hour challenge, we had to drink a gallon of water a day. But would you agree Lindsaya is just the accountability partner? I believe that accountability is a great thing, but the reality is to rely on other people to take charge of our health, I think is where most of us find that it becomes hard because accountability won't always be there. I have found that knOwwledge trumps everything. The more that we know, the more likely we are to lean in the direction of our knOwwledge. And so for me, it's been really about the deeper understanding. And then also it's about recipes. Which. Is I make a barbecue, like literally a buffalo chicken dip. That obviously is chicken free because I am. Where do you live? You coming down to Florida? I make a spinach dip that will blow your socks. Right, that's what I said. You got to doctor it up. Are you going to Podfest expo, by the way? I heard podcast. I want to be at her Super bOwwl party. Yeah, seriously, my parties are definitely fun. Our retreats are plant exclusive and I feed, like, again, we feed people for three days and it's delicious and nobody goes hungry. In fact, everyone is so full and they feel so vivacious. And I unfortunately, am not coming to podfest, although I have started considering if I could make some adjustments to my. Schedule to get there, because I will give you a host of our booth. That would be a blast. Try to rearrange your schedule. We'd love to connect. All right, well, say no more. I will be taking a peek to see if I can make that happen probably as soon as we hang up this phone. So I'll definitely go look at the Instagram post. Okay. Any last questions for. No, thank you, Linda. Yeah, my only thing I want to say is thank you guys for creating this platform, creating the opportunity for entrepreneurs and business owners to connect and create greater and deeper connections. I'm really excited about what I have discovered, and I really want to say a big thank you to stack because he told me to get on this app a year ago and I kind of heard it in passing and didn't really land with it. And I'm sad, but that I missed a year and I'm grateful that I've started now. So thank you all for what you're doing. Hey, it's right timing because after this event, I think it's going to be our explosion moment. We have a big update coming out in a week or so that's going to fix some of our bugs. And then we believe it's going to hold more experts to continue utilizing it with some of the bugs that we're fixing. And then that event, we figure we're going to get at least 200 new experts based on how we're intentionally doing our booth. So it's perfect timing. You didn't miss much. And it's all about the future and connecting, as simple as what you're doing. Go live. Keep your price down if you want more incoming calls. We see too many people just putting their price up high. Leaving Owwl once you get to ten calls, change your price. People get excited, oh, now you can charge $10 and they think they're just going to win the lotto and people are just going to call them. It's like, that does not happen in business. You don't just post on LinkedIn and say, hire me. I'm great at teaching leadership skills. Right? It does not work like that. And then what happens is we see a huge fall off rate from ten to 20 always. And they're like, your platform was great, but I don't know. Not many people call me, I'll go, whose fault is that? You're using the tool improperly. Also making sure that you reach out to people and call. Like, you don't just sit and wait for calls. But people are as low as a dollar. They get to know who you are. It is a community. And then they can go in the chat forum and recommend you to other experts and then you can get leads that way as well. So brilliant. Love the tips. And it's crazy. The two minutes of tips we just provided is all it's ever done to made such a huge back to other people. There's been people that have requested delete the app. I told them that try this method for 30 days. They try and they're like, oh, my God, I got like 20 new opportunities come my way after doing it like that. And then they realize like, oh, my God. All the featured podcast guests that we have, like Kelly, she's going to be live in the next seven days. Follow her, you get a notification, she's one dollars. And you could connect with her and then maybe she'll invite you when she has her next event down here in south Florida. You just don't know what ripple impact it will have after contacting someone for a buck. Right? So too often people are like, well, I just want to take calls. I'm an expert. I'm like, we're all experts. Everyone has a profile, but where else is there the ability to connect with so many people this quickly? One day we'll all look back and be like, oh, my God. This cut out all the friction that all these other platforms had, which is. Messaging people, waiting and. Yeah, Lindsay, amazing innovation. Thank you. You got to. Thank you. Minutes. See ya. Thank you. Okay, everyone, see it before we leave. I don't want us to forget. Oh, yes. Because we have a special little thing we do every week. It's called a bet. So we make a bet with all of our guests. So far, no one has won their side of the bet. So who knows? Maybe you will be. You are right. Zero people. Zero people have won the bet. So maybe you'll. Brielle. Well, she didn't do the bet yet. Because one person that we didn't do a bet with would have won. That's funny. Yeah. So essentially, we will ask you for a favor and if you complete that, then you get something from us. And if you don't complete it, then we get something from you. So should we just do the typical thing that we ask? Let's do it. Which is within seven days. Yeah, within seven days. If you make 15. Make or take 15 calls. Make or take 15 calls on the app, then you can get something from us. So that could be. You mentioned earlier when we were talking before the show that you wanted to eventually start your own podcast. So that could be potentially getting our studio for free for a couple of hours to try your own podcast episode, try it out, see how it goes. We can show you how to set you up with all the equipment. You'll have our producer here, so that could be something we could offer you. We could offer you some Owwl merch. We could offer you free ticket to podfest expo. Yeah, sure. Free ticket to podfest. So it's your choice what you want. So what's the spot? The bet is we're saying we're wagering 15. You have to do 15. So if you don't do it. Well, if you do do it. So if you do do it, then you get one of those things from us. So it's your choice. Yeah, but we have to wager, she's saying. Right. So then what do we get from you? I'm trying to think. I mean, you do maybe Jason a booth for free. Yeah, or Jason speaks or something. That's a pretty good opportunity. Work with that. Our booths are not cheap. I remember seeing the flyers coming around. Okay, deal. So 15 calls on Owwl made or received in the next seven days. And we'll set you up with your account and show you how to use it. And we'll be available if you have any questions. All right, bet's on. Bet is on. Want to bet the bet that she's. Going to win it? Anyone out there wants over under on this? We can put some real money down on this one. I think she might be our first winner. I have a feeling that means it. Needs an extra special prize. I thought last week. I know, it's true. I could have sworn she had so much confidence. I was like, wow, we bet a lot last week, too. I was like, she's going to win this one. And it did not occur. Yeah. And it's really like anything else in life. It's that first step. It's like that first time going in the. Right. The first time going on the. Like. It's always hard because it's change, right? But then once you do one, like, we just heard from Lindsay. She's like, I just went live. I got three calls. She's like, this is amazing. She's waiting for more and more calls, and now she's on the Owl podcast. That quickly? But we have a lot of people that's just like. It's literally this. Yeah, but I think here's a timer. You log in and you just set yourself available for any amount of time, and then that just puts you at. Live status so you can be doing your other work, and then you can be on other things on your phone and then someone calls you just like a normal phone call. Got it. But I think maybe what I've learned from the last episodes, the people that talk themselves up and are like, I'm amazing at this. This is easy. I used to be in sales. Those people are probably bullshitting, right? So maybe Kelly, who's just like, deal. Like she's going to be the not. She doesn't have to brag. She has a good track record. Okay, well, Kelly, thank you for joining us on the Owl podcast today. For audience listening, of course they could call you on Owl app momentarily, but what are other ways that they can reach out to you? Obviously, LinkedIn. Let's start there under Kelly Merbler Instagram, Kelly Merbler motivation YouTube, Kelly Merbler motivation and WW kellymerblerco.com. And real quick too, you have your Kelly. Oh, coffee with Kelly. Everyone is always welcome to. And where is that? Where can people on my website. So go to www.kellymerblerco.com and just click on the link. This is coffee with Kelly. It is free. Okay. And it's a zoom, right? Every Friday? Well, almost every Friday. Unless I'm traveling from

08: 45:51

00 a.m. To nine. And it's like a networking event, essentially. Honestly, it's a global community of people that are looking for professional development. Okay, sounds good. You just won up to us. You have coffee on your website. We have to do this too. Coffee bar. But we're not out there on the web. You're getting me excited. It's no longer the Owl podcast. This is the coffee podcast. We're switching it up. Coffee talk. Thanks again for joining us. For everyone listening. We'll be back next Wednesday. Take care. Bye. Post production for the Owl podcast is done with care by Brian at Ocean Tree Creative. OTC offers full service podcast post production. As well as social media, video production. And coaching and mentoring on both areas. Reach out to Brian via the link. The show notes close.