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You Can't Afford Me
Making the leap from employment to entrepreneurship can be a scary time. The biggest fear people have is the unknown. Here on the “You Can’t Afford Me Podast” we speak with hustlers and innovators on how to make the most of your journey. If you have questions we have answers.
You Can't Afford Me
Women can succeed in business without sacrificing family
Ever wished for a fairy godmother to tackle your endless to-do list? That's exactly what Kristin Richardson created with Sherah, her revolutionary personal assistant platform connecting moms to other moms for both virtual and in-person support.
In this captivating conversation, Kristen shares her journey from C-suite corporate executive to passionate entrepreneur, detailing the moment during COVID that pushed her to leave a 26-year career and build something new. When schools closed and her healthcare job demanded 70-hour weeks, Kristen posted a job listing for personal help—and accidentally discovered both a business opportunity and a social movement. While no full-time candidates applied, dozens of stay-at-home moms expressed interest in part-time, flexible work, while professional women flooded her with messages about their own struggles. "We need to formalize the village," Kristen realized, and Shira was born.
The discussion doesn't shy away from tough topics about gender dynamics in both personal relationships and professional settings. Despite progress, women continue facing significant wage gaps, invisible barriers to advancement, and what Kristen calls "the glass cliff"—where women are only offered leadership positions at failing companies as a last resort. Even more troubling? Women who leave the workforce for just one year can lose up to 30% of their salary when returning, while men's incomes typically rise after becoming fathers.
Beyond business insights, Kristen and host Sam share powerful perspectives on goal setting, manifestation, and the unexpected power of writing down your dreams—even if you tuck that paper away in a drawer. This wide-ranging, authentic conversation offers practical wisdom whether you're an entrepreneur, a working parent, or anyone seeking better work-life balance in today's demanding world.
Ready to transform your overwhelmed existence into a manageable life? Visit mysherah.com to discover how a personal assistant matched to your specific needs could be the missing piece you've been searching for.
www.themrpreneur.com
Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Our one-on-one coaching tailors strategies to your unique business goals. Dive into interactive workshops fostering skills essential for success. Looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event? Book Mr Prenuer to elevate your gathering. Visit wwwthemistrepreneurcom to learn more and embark on your path to entrepreneurial success. Mr Prenuer, empowering your entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the you Can't Afford Me podcast, where we skip the fluff and dive straight into the grind Real entrepreneurs, real struggles and the unfiltered journey behind success. Let's get into it, hey guys. The unfiltered journey behind success. Let's get into it. Hey guys, thanks for joining us on another episode of the you Can't Afford Me podcast. To say I'm excited about today's guest is an understatement. I think I actually met, found out about you through it was like Rich and Business or something like that and R4 came out on your business, then reached out to you, talked about bringing you on the podcast, where you just link up as quickly as as we were looking for. And then we had the big gipper summit mentioned person. There we were able to connect and we got you in the studio today. So there we have kristen in the studio.
Speaker 1:How you doing today good, I'm hot, though I'm hot, I am 51 menopausal all right, let's do this because we have the first on the podcast where guests has brought me alcoholic beverages you got a sad podcast, just say that so tell it, tell everybody, first off, what? What is this drink you gave me?
Speaker 2:okay. So, um, I am embarrassed to admit this, but, as a white woman, some other white woman gave me these drinks and they are named after, like lean white women names. What do they think?
Speaker 1:so it's called mom water yeah, but mine is a linda but your flavors are called by karen linda.
Speaker 2:I don't know. There's probably a dot in there or something and I got the blueberry piece but I think it's hilarious that you picked that, because I'm gonna have the sour, the locally brewed star Hill sour ale. I just grabbed whatever was in my fridge at home, my beer fridge at home Yep.
Speaker 2:Because I have had a day, I've had a week, had them all. This is actually brewed in Creuset. That's right, star Hill is in Creuset. I've had a year. It's just been a lot. And you know, every day as an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride. Some days are worse than others, yep, but today's been for real a day.
Speaker 1:Well, let's get some hot dogs.
Speaker 2:I just need actually like a shot of tequila added to this right now. Have you heard of the manmosa?
Speaker 1:Cheers Manmosa, I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 2:So a manmosa? I discovered this in Charlottesville. It's because men don't like mimosas. I guess it's too girly. With a, I'll burn a mimosal, oh you will. Okay, a manmosa, oh boy, that's a lot of stuff. Beer and champagne mixed, I think. Or maybe you can do it just with a light beer, but then you add a shot of vodka to it. Oh yeah, I can definitely do that. Yeah, you add to make it just kick it up a notch and then just a splash of orange juice.
Speaker 2:I need to do that. Actually, it's less sweet because you add the beer to it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I wouldn't expect to get bars on their tips today. So tell the variety real quick.
Speaker 2:What, what you do oh, what do I not do? Um, so currently I'm the founder of Shira. It's a personal assistant platform that connects moms to moms, so we formalize the village and empower moms to be able to get all their stuff done and not be so stressed out, burned out, miserable, about to give up on their jobs, scream at their husbands, take it out on their kids. And we create this amazing village in two and a half years, powered by tech on the back end, so that's what makes it so cool and scalable, but on the front end it's real human beings helping each other just to get it all done. And as much as I love my husband, did you meet him at Big Dipper?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think.
Speaker 2:I did. Okay, well, that's another topic we're gonna have y'all meet soon, because I was telling them all about you.
Speaker 2:Um, as much as I love my husband, he and I fall into the classic pattern of if you are a heterosexual couple today in the united states and you have children, especially if you have two or more children yep, women today are still doing a disproportionate amount of the work oh, I'm sure taking care of the children, running the household, keeping the home from falling apart, taking care of the family, the extended family, all the holidays, all the things, even if you get paid to work outside the home yeah and even if you out earn your husband, women still take on more of the work at home so why do you think that is?
Speaker 1:oh this open up a can there oh, let's put.
Speaker 2:You know, I've been doing this for um well, I know why I do it and why a lot of women do. It is it's what you were taught, right? Yeah, like my generation, I'm older than you, but I was born in 74, you know, raised in the 80s and 90s, and uh, that's, that's what we saw. We saw these women, these power women, going off and going to work and, like you can have it all, you can do it all. Like you can have it all you can like, whatever you can dream, you can go have it yep but then we actually never saw anything change at home.
Speaker 2:So we saw everything change outside of the home, right, but nothing changed in now all of a sudden, you have this whole generation of women who have been raised to like go after their dreams and see no boundaries.
Speaker 1:Yet at home nothing has changed do you think that's changed with the younger generation? Because the stuff we I'm I'm not in the world. Wait, how old are you?
Speaker 2:I'm 40, okay, okay, it is slowly changing. It is not changing enough. So many men say to me. But men, today, they do more than they ever have. True, they still do more than they ever have, and yet they still do like a quarter of what their partners do in a heterosexual relationship. This inequity does not exist in same-sex relationships. Both men and women see sex relationships, liam, why is that?
Speaker 1:That's a difficult question and you may get me canceled.
Speaker 2:What is that? What would your wife say?
Speaker 1:My wife's a stay-at-home mom. That was her dream. When we first met, I told her my dream was being a CEO and her dream was to be a stay-at-home mom. That was her dream. When we first met, I told her my dream was being a CEO and her dream was to be a stay-at-home mom. After we had our daughter our first child she came home four or five months after that. It really wasn't a discussion. She used to look at me and say, because we were getting the pictures from the daycare center and stuff like that and she's seeing her daughter grow up. She's like I know we're talking about this. You got a month to figure out how to burn meal and I was like okay, yeah, so that's awesome that you talked about it before, right.
Speaker 2:So then it was just like a refresh of the conversation. You had already had Yep, right and you were ready for it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but then you got the. Are you familiar with Kevin Samuels?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:You need to do a deep dive down about Kevin Samuels. He passed away I think two years ago, basically before all these guys were with the rape pill stuff. This was a guy that gave relationship advice and talked about the value of men versus women, that type of thing. Everyone was a high-value man, which that's less than 10% of all the men in the entire world, let alone the small percentage in America, and a lot of these, I would say 20 somethings are now like oh, my big guy, unless he's making like $300,000 a year and he's like six, two.
Speaker 2:Wait, that's what people say now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what they're saying now and it's like do you realize? Like, first off, are you the type of woman that is going to qualify for a man like that? And number two, oh yeah, this just took a turn.
Speaker 2:This just took a turn. Wait a second.
Speaker 1:I want to explain Wait did you wait?
Speaker 2:Do you know how much of a feminist I am? Before you invited me?
Speaker 1:No, I get it, but there I mean, there's two sides of the coin in terms of you also have these guys out there saying like, oh, I'm a high value man, like a woman needs to do X, y and Z for me, and they're the ones sitting in their basement like playing video games for 10 hours, 10 hours a day. Those aren't the guys I'm talking about. The guys that are out there. And let's realize too, I think the average income of an adult male in America is like $50,000 a year or something like that. So a lot of women, a lot of these younger ones, it's lower than you think it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, average family income oh, and I'm not.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember growing up $100,000. It was like holy crap, that man was balling.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought somebody had a split level or a two-story house.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Loaded.
Speaker 2:Yeah, loaded.
Speaker 1:But looking at a lot of these women in the younger dating pool, like I need a guy who makes strong, six figures, he has to have a six pack, he has to be 6'2", like all these different things. And all these women are fighting for the same guy but at the same time it's like the ones that are demanding that what are you doing with your life? Best lesson I ever got from a mentor. He said write down a list of the ideal things that you're looking for in a mate. And it was a very in-depth list that I wrote and this was like before you meet, yeah, before you meet anyone.
Speaker 2:by the way, the same thing works when you go to a restaurant. Like before you open a menu, ask yourself what is your body craving, like what sounds good to me tonight, before you ever look at the menu. So, because then you start getting influenced by what's in front of you. Oh, be true to what you. So I totally agree with you. Write down, yes, write down what you want. But the best thing is there's deal breakers. Yeah, what are your deal breakers?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, what that list does for you is it shows you the type of person you need to be to attract that type of person into your life. It's not about hey, I need this, this, this, and you gotta get way past the superficial piece like long hair, round eyes, big butt, stuff like that. What do I need? Supportive motherly. We know we're all looking for certain things, because these guys out here today are all going for the Instagram baddie. It's like's like well, what are you getting with that? What's the substance? If you're not someone for me, I have to have someone that I can have a conversation with. Like I mean, business is my life, so if I can't, you can't hold a conversation with me. My attraction yeah, 40 euros. Yeah, way down, um, so I'm interested to hear your okay.
Speaker 2:When did you make that list and when did you meet your wife?
Speaker 1:I was like 19, 20 years old when I made the list. I met my wife when I was 30.
Speaker 2:You made a list at 19?.
Speaker 1:I had some great mentors in my life. I did whatever they told me.
Speaker 2:I was perfect they say, the male brain isn't even fully developed. How did you know I was still?
Speaker 1:an idiot, but I knew what I wanted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was on that list. I an idiot, but I knew what I wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was on that list? I hope they changed the same team. Well, the stay-at-home mom thing was definitely one. I never wanted to be dating someone who kind of forced her to be a stay-at-home mom. I wanted someone who wanted that.
Speaker 2:The thing you wanted, somebody you could come home and talk about business to.
Speaker 1:To a certain extent I'm just saying I just didn't want a dummy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know you get some of these ones that they're hot but like you can't carry it. Like the old Shannon Sharp like thing, like dude, you're 56 years old. What do you have to talk to a 19 year old about? Like there's no way in the world I could have a relationship like with that kind of baby, those things like that supportive, because I knew I was put on this earth to do what I'm currently doing and if I didn't have a spouse that would be willing to support that and know that there are going to be weeks and nights where it's like, hey, I'm not going to put the kids down for bed tonight, like I missed this or that. That was very important to me, someone who is willing to take leadership from her husband. So that doesn't mean I'm running the household, I'm telling her about what to do. I'm the CEO of businesses, she's the CEO of her house. She loves the house. So when she says she needs something or when you do it, I don't argue Like, alright, if that's what you want, well, we'll do that.
Speaker 2:So if she said I need Shira, I need to delegate some. I'm getting burned out and writing this household is more than I can do by myself, what would you say?
Speaker 1:So I've actually come to her and said, hey, maybe we should look at hiring someone to do X, Y, Z, Because sometimes she'll complain like, oh, I'm not telling you this for after school. I'm like, well, let's look at that.
Speaker 2:It's not scaling your company right.
Speaker 1:After a, you need a new employee. She looks at oh no, that's not in the budget, because she manages the household budgets. She's like no, that's not in the budget, we'd probably be wasting money on that type of thing.
Speaker 2:So she's a big saver.
Speaker 1:She doesn't want to. I'll eventually get her to that one. I'm sure she may not need it. I'll try. No, she needs it, but after she meets me I'm sure she'll be convinced that it's not a bad idea. What do you think about the list?
Speaker 2:Yeah, my husband and I met when we were 37. Right, so we were. You were 30? How old were you when you met her?
Speaker 1:30, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's different meeting somebody Right. You've lived a lot, you've kissed a lot of frogs, you've made a lot of mistakes, yep. And so I had made my list, I had made my deal breaker list. I don't know if he had actually written his down you made it at 37 before now I made it maybe at like 35.
Speaker 2:I had wasted years with an idiot, years like, oh, such an idiot, um. And then finally I was like, okay, you, you gotta figure this out. So it's probably like 35, I was living in new virginia and like, okay, it's time to get a strategic plan around this right. Stop letting whoever walks through matchcom sway you, because I literally had a matchcom account like two other dating accounts yeah and I went through 2009, my.
Speaker 2:it was called like. I will say yes to anything. So, like anybody who wants to set me up, anybody who asked me on the dating site, anyone who comes along, I would say, yes, I'm going to date with them. Yeah, it was exhausting, but it was honestly one of the best years of my life. I had so much fun, nice. I went on so many dates that I had a, I had a spreadsheet, I had a. I still have a spreadsheet, I still have it safe. It's hilarious.
Speaker 2:It's like what dating site did I meet him on? Or what mutual friend, right? What was his username, what's his real name, phone number, email address, what's his job, what like interests? And then I even would keep up, because I was dating so much, trying to find the right guy, right. I literally had to keep up with, like, what I was wearing on every date, because, of course, now I know that men don't even pay attention to that. So I probably could have worn the exact same thing also all three dates and nobody would ever care. But as a, as a woman, you, you care about that. You think a man is noticing. So I'm like rotating my few outfits cause I'm dirt, poor, right Living in DC and it was intense, didn't meet my match at all, but met a lot of really great guys.
Speaker 2:Then, flash forward to New Year's Eve, going into 2010. And I was like I'm exhausted and I decided to do the exact opposite and I called it no men in 2010. And I decided to have a year of me, a year of intention around me, decided to have a year of me, a year of intention around me. So that January I wrote down like this is what I actually want, not just for a man in my life, but just for my life. Like, what am I actually doing here? Why am I living in DC? Am I even with that guy anymore? Brought me here. Like, what do I want out of my career? I've been in corporate America forever. Like, am I happy? What am I actually looking for in a guy? I feel like I'm making all these concessions, you know what do I actually want. And so I wrote down everything from like what do I want in my career? What do I want in a guy? What are my deal breakers and what are my deal breakers and what's my bucket list too, what do I want to?
Speaker 2:we're going to travel. What new skills do I want to have? And there was everything on there from like I wanted a guy who would pray with me. That was really important. Yep, and somebody who my family really liked. Yeah, because I dealt with that conflict.
Speaker 1:Yeah Long enough.
Speaker 2:But also on, there was like I want to learn how to tap dance, which I've never done. That's still on my bucket list, by the way. I still want to learn how to tap dance. And then, two months later, my husband came along. Literally, he like walked back into my life. We had met through mutual friends wait.
Speaker 1:So you were planning to take a year off from the end, and he showed up two months into this process a whole year I had planned on take.
Speaker 2:I started to blast right whole thing, created a logo for no man in 2010. I was all about it was gonna be like my eat, pray, love yeah year, right, like turn it into a novel.
Speaker 2:This was gonna be my thing. And I invited all these guys I had dated in 2009. I invited them to a valentine's day mixer in dc for charity and I was like I wasn't your girl in 2009, but like come meet all these other amazing women and it's all for charity, right, and I posted it on Facebook, remember 2009. Yep, um, and Brian responded like oh, I'd love to come, and I was like who are you again? Like how am I even Facebook friends with you? Oh, that's right. I met you years ago through Stevie. Okay, got it. He comes into town from Richmond and next thing, you know, we call it the deal breaker weekend, where we just we just hit it off and he and I literally pulled out my list of deal breakers and was like something different here. He'd go home from that until Sunday and it's an amazing.
Speaker 1:Now we're both two kids's amazing how the universe opens up once you. I think there's a true power with putting pen to paper where, like when you have it up here, it only goes so far when you physically write something out. Like I was having a conversation with my CPA a couple weeks ago and he was like here's where I want you to be by the end of the month. So I wrote out the number he told me we needed by the end of the month and I just got so excited because that post-it note was just sitting in front of my monitor all month and I'm looking at it every single day. So, like proactively, you know, I'm sticking. Okay, I might get this deal closed. I'm going to do this. How about we pull this together? And then by the end of March it was done. But had I not put that in front of me? And it wasn't a prominent thought?
Speaker 2:Wait, are you one of these people into manifesting? Oh for sure, Of course you are. I don't believe that.
Speaker 1:You literally just told me the story where you did it.
Speaker 2:You manifested your name into your life. I am so practical. I live my life by Google spreadsheets. I live my whole life by Google spreadsheets.
Speaker 1:But do you not think you manifested your husband into your life?
Speaker 2:I am a very faith-based person. I'm too. I am very faith-based. I do believe that there is a higher being who knows better than I do what I ought to be doing with my life and has a plan for me, and I actually look back on my life and think God tried to put this man in my life many times and I was an idiot and didn't pay attention, and finally he was like hello, I'm going to put him in your life one more time. You better wake up. Yep, wake up. And I finally did so. No, I think it's more about that, that it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah all right. So let me answer this. If you wake up every day and you say to yourself oh, I feel like crap, versus if you wake up every day and say oh, I feel, amazing what that's? Different, that's different, I think that's, I think that's completely different so, all right, that may be more the power of the spoken I think that's more the power of this moving word and the power of.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if this is true, but I think it works. Somebody told me recently that the brain can't tell the difference between reality and what's true and what's a lie. Your brain can't really tell. So I'm like wait a second, let's try this. So when I'm thinking critical thoughts of myself and literally looking in the mirror saying horrible things to myself all the time, I got to stop this right and I'm even using it with my kids now. So I do think there's a difference between power of the word versus.
Speaker 2:There's something about that word manifesting. All right, let me. There's something about that word manifesting. There's something about that word manifesting.
Speaker 1:I'm going to Google the definition of manifesting right now.
Speaker 2:To me, manifesting is like you're brewing it up. You're literally creating it out of thin air. You're like all you got to do is dream it.
Speaker 1:So I don't. I'm not one of those ones, like you said, middle half. I don't inspiration board.
Speaker 2:I've done them before, but it's not like it's not my thing, um you know it's interesting because when you said you got to write it down, like my version of writing things down is my Google spreadsheets, but you, you literally write it down.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. And then to paper oh, absolutely. I think you can do it digitally as well too. But when you just have something in your head like, oh, I'm going to do like, oh, it's in your head, yeah. Yeah, like, if you like you're saying you want to tap dance, go on with it and write it on a piece of paper and see what happens. Okay, okay, even if you write it down and tuck it into a drawer and you don't open that drawer.
Speaker 2:Wait, don't even look at it.
Speaker 1:You don't have to, I'm telling you Wait are you for real right now? Yes, what?
Speaker 2:do you.
Speaker 1:Once you write something down, I'm telling you, your brain just initially starts. The subconscious is, I believe, the most powerful part of our brain. It just gets to work for you and then you may not even realize it, but things are happening to kind of bring that in, and it's not like just the universe and magic and all the other stuff happening.
Speaker 1:It's like no, literally planted this thought in your head and now in the background, it's working towards it it's like you know, if you ever like, when you're car shopping and you're like, oh, I think I'm gonna get a red car this time, and then all of a sudden you just start seeing red cars all over the highway and before you're like, I didn't know this many people drove red car.
Speaker 1:It's like now your brain's tuned in so if I like, write tap dancing on a post-it note and stick it in a drawer that I never look at well, don't, just because suddenly I'm gonna like, don't I just want to test, so suddenly I'm gonna like be seeing tap dancing things so right right out, like, hey, by uh, september of 2025, I want to, you know, start taking tap dance lessons or move towards that, or something like that. And then you'll probably start to find out all of a sudden, like something may pop up on your newsfeed where it's like, hey, free tap dance lessons this week, or blah, blah, blah, or like you're just going to start to see stuff pop up.
Speaker 1:Okay, or it's not going to automatically happen, you still have to take action but like the opportunities become a little bit more present to you right just, I mean, I'm sure you've done that in business where you're like, hey, I really want to get in touch with this person, I really want this partnership deal to go through, I really want xyz, you've written that out and seen how things have gone down that line you know I mean I'm no, I'm going to disagree.
Speaker 2:I feel like my life has been this weird the doors I wanted to be opened often never got opened, but tons of other doors got open. Well, so grateful, those other ones never got open.
Speaker 1:So that could be part of the spiritual piece that we've talked about, where it's like you know what we often think is best for us or what we need.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:God saying no, that's not what I planned for you. Here's my plan for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here's my plan so those doors are shut, like, for instance, I've had clients that deals didn't end up going through and I thought, like that was the client that I needed to have, and then the next one that came along paid more money. They're much easier to work with, like all these other facts. Often it's like okay, that was the better situation for me. Or like in relationship where you thought like okay, this, this is my god, this is gonna be my person, yeah, and then once you meet the right person, you realize, man, I'm so glad that door was shut and like that they arc out because my life would be miserable if I go for I will say, though even I need to try this more, writing it down, but I remember being in my last.
Speaker 2:So I spent 20, some years, 26 years, in corporate America, right, earning a very stable, good paycheck and benefits man. I'm a 401k, and I finally, during COVID, had this idea for a business, and I had always felt like I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial, have more flexibility, um, be my own boss, especially as a woman. It's hard to find people who are going to give you that opportunity right, and I kept working my way up the ladder in corporate America, and I had been in the C-suite for many years at various jobs, but nobody was ever going to give me like the CEO job yeah, nobody ever was right. I didn't have the MBA, which I always regretted not getting, but I was always doing so well in my career that I didn't want to go off track. No one was going to give it to me.
Speaker 2:I wasn't a white male. You know what that's like. I was like how am I going to do my own thing and actually be able to run things, because I'm very controlling. I want to be able to run things. I want everything to be master, better, smarter. All the time. Nobody ever moves fast enough for me ever.
Speaker 2:You see, that as ad bad thing or a bad thing? Oh, it's horrible.
Speaker 1:I can see it as a huge benefit to a certain extent. When stuff needs to get done, I hate the excuse of like, oh, it's going to take x amount. That's why Steve Jobs is like my coach of entrepreneurs. He was like no, we're going to get this done and we're going to get this done. Steve, there's no way to absolutely do it. I'm paying you to find a way to do it. Figure it out. Don't wait until something like this next week, and they always figure it out.
Speaker 2:Maybe you should just put it over the post.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, steve Jobs wrote stuff down. I promise you Black turtleneck, I promise you, wait what was back in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I said, obviously corporate America, and I had this idea. What?
Speaker 1:were you doing in corporate?
Speaker 2:America. I was the chief sales and marketing officer for a health care company. And prior to that I was chief marketing officer for a law firm and, prior to that, chief marketing officer for a marketing agency. You were always primarily yeah easily for Like the past 10 years. Yeah, yeah, worked my way up, worked my ass off my whole career, which is so funny that people this generation now coming up like everybody's like how did you do it? And I'm like my way is frowned upon now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Busting your ass for long hours, showing up far late, leaving late.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was always the first one, I was always the last one. I was there every weekend. Yes, I was the one who was always available, before there were even Blackberries making you available, right, like I did, and it's frowned upon now so yeah, so I don't think it should be frowned upon there's a lot to be said for work ethic yeah, because there is and just being around that way, and the boss is walking around looking for who to hand the assignment to and who can help out.
Speaker 1:Yes, Even when I didn't know how to do so that if the boss asked for a volunteer, I was like I'll do it.
Speaker 2:I'll figure it out. I'll do it Exactly, you figure it out.
Speaker 1:And you always do when your back's against the wall. First off, we live in the information age and it wasn't like back then when we were like climbing the corporate ladder, not as much information was at our fingertips. Now we can literally just talk to your phone and ask it what you need to do, so the excuse of I don't know how to do something is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's no excuse anymore. That's actually me Keep a little overly confident in some ways. Right, but at the same time, most of what we do isn't brain surgery. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1:And the wheel has already been invented. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Speaker 2:I think it shifts, though when you're working for somebody else it goes from work ethic to you know. We're both running our own businesses and trying to scale them. To me, I think the skill set shifts towards more of a curiosity and like being more open to doing things differently and constantly pivoting and testing and being comfortable with testing and failing to figure out what's going to make it go faster Thousand percent, and you cannot be comfortable with where you are Thousand percent. So that's a whole different skill set that they do not teach you in corporate America at all.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. What was the turning for you in corporate america at all? Absolutely so. What was? What was the turning for you in terms of like, I gotta get out of corporate america and start yeah because I truly believe that entrepreneurs are born, not built. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:I just was diagnosed last week with add at 51 years old, and now I'm learning. That is a common trait among entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I get it so and we job hop a lot. We are never happy working for other people, because we do want things to move faster. We get bored easily. Other people around us maybe are happier with slow periods, with projects being a little boring. Is there okay with just collecting the paycheck? Right? And I'm like, no, no, I need the stimulus right. I like the paycheck, believe me, but I also want the stimulus of new challenges, no, and so my whole career I drove everybody nuts around me on my teams, my bosses, everyone because I could never chill out, I could never like sit back and enjoy the slow periods and I always wanted everything to be better, faster.
Speaker 2:Like as soon as you get done with one innovation project, it's like okay, well, here's five other things we have to fix. Like, why aren't we, why aren't we fixing that Right? And even CEOs will look at me and be like we're good, we're good. And I'm like don't you want to grow faster? Don't you want to make it better? Don't you want to make customer experience better? Don't you want to bring down your cost? Don't you see this other revenue stream opportunity? Don't you see, like, why are you not going after this stuff? Like all this stuff is running through my head, so I agree. I think now I'm learning. You are With this bug.
Speaker 1:So what was your life situation like when you became an entrepreneur? You had the kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had the kids. I was working in healthcare during COVID. My kids' schools were shut down. I was working in healthcare like 70 hours a week from home, trying to help keep this company open. During COVID With kids at home Zoom schooling for a year and a half Jeez, because Richmond Public schools were the last school system to open back up, it about killed me. We were on back-to-back calls all day long running this company trying to figure out even like some weeks we were like how are we making payroll? Like how are we gonna do this? Right?
Speaker 2:this is very hard I've been there oh, I've been there, yeah, we've been there. I always say, like, go for the big jobs, because people think when you climb a corporate ladder and you're going to work more, but you don't, you don't get paid more to work more, you get paid more to stress more. Yes, right, so as long as you can handle the stress, that's a bar. But like, take it on, do it Like you get more flexibility as you move up the ladder. But I think women, especially you're like Ooh, I can't go after that job, I'm not qualified and I'm gonna have to work more. I'm like no girl, you will have more flexibility, go after that job.
Speaker 2:But anyway, I was miserable during COVID and I'd said to my husband we need help. You are off building your own business. You are never home, you're trying to keep your business open during COVID and we've got two little kids, aging parents like I am dying. Can we find some money in the budget for me to hire somebody to help us at home? And we're like, yeah, yeah, let's just go find somebody. So I posted a job online on Indeed, linkedin, facebook, where I have a whole job description for a personal assistant for me, and nobody applied literally except for, like one random email that I got from some guy in the Philippines. Like nobody applied.
Speaker 2:And but the cool thing was all these people who know me on LinkedIn and Facebook. They came out of the woodwork and these women were saying like oh my God, you're not the only one who's dying. Like I'm dying too. It feels so good that you came out and admitted how miserable you are, but you don't want to give up your job. You do want to keep working. I would love to share with you a personal assistant. I'm like I don't have any candidates to share with you, right? Or they say, send me your second or third candidates. I'm like I don't have any candidates, like no one is applying. But then the cool thing was all these stay-at-home moms who were friends of mine started commenting and saying, well, I would love to help you but, I, can't perfectly do everything on this list and I don't want to work full time.
Speaker 2:Like I left my big job and I love being a stay at home mom now, but like if I could job share with someone, right. And that's when the idea came about, very organically, literally. I have screenshots of what that Facebook post was like and I was like here are hundreds of women saying they need help and hundreds of moms saying they want to provide help and everybody. We just need to formalize this village, right. And that's where the idea of Shira came from, like four years ago.
Speaker 1:So what was the conversation between you and your husband when you're like, okay, I'm going full time into this and leaving corporate America Because the money's never as good as people think?
Speaker 2:I never oh gosh, he and I are both very risk averse Financially risk averse which, by the way, is also a conversation people need to have before they get married, right? Yeah, it's not just about spending. It's about risk taking with the money, too, and values around the money with the money, too, and values around the money. So the idea of quitting a stable job was very scary to me and to him, right, but fortunately we'd already seen him do it and do it successfully, so there was a little bit of confidence there. But honestly, I don't think I ever would have done it if one I hadn't written it down. I did not physically write it down. I created it. I started a Google spreadsheet and I just started, because I do everything in a spreadsheet. Yeah, and I still have the spreadsheet.
Speaker 2:I just started brain dumping as much as I could. What's my vision? What services do we actually provide? What are the tasks that people need help with? What would the pay structure be? How much would I charge? What would the modeling look like on the pricing structure? Okay, how is this really going to work? Every time I would think about it, it I was pull up the spreadsheet and just bring up. I didn't. I told myself don't feel like ass, you perfectly organized, just dump it, just get it. And so there was something to the more I put into that spreadsheet, the more I invested in the spreadsheet, right. And suddenly you wait, I put so much equity into this. It's no longer just an idea, nope. And you start realizing you have something. And the next thing you know you're talking to people about it. That's the other piece. You may call it manifesting if you're talking to people about your dreams.
Speaker 1:Verbalizing it.
Speaker 2:When you do put it out there, then people start asking you about it, yep, and then you feel accountable to following up on it. And then you feel lame if you're not following up on it. Right, especially if you're a really driven person, absolutely Right. But I never would have probably quit if something really bad hadn't happened at work. Honestly and I won't go into the detail, but I remember sitting there and thinking this is god yelling at me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is god saying, just like when he brought my husband into my life. This is him saying you, idiot, I have tried so hard to gently guide you where you need to go and now I'm just going to make this situation so uncomfortable for you. So I went home that night and was like, hey, remember that idea I had for doing this? Yeah, I was like I think I'm ready. I think I'm ready. And he was like okay, let's do it. I was like good, because I just quit today. He was like of course you did. Of course you did. Like my husband knows If I get an idea, yeah, like I mean, you know we allow other opinions, but I have some pretty strong ones.
Speaker 1:And it's not like you, can't you finish and we're like I can get a job.
Speaker 2:I can find another job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're starting to work, yeah, yeah, yeah, if I had to. So.
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Speaker 2:I took six months off, worked on the business idea, enjoyed being a mom for a while and then launched a company six months after my last paycheck.
Speaker 1:How old were the kids when you took that? Six months off.
Speaker 2:So that was three years ago. Yeah, so they were eight and six, eight, six, yeah, the youngest was six. Like are we still biting someone's butt?
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, I'm still doing that right now.
Speaker 2:You are.
Speaker 1:Five and soon to be four.
Speaker 2:Ooh yeah, you got another Mm-hmm. Yeah, and they still don't wipe it well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, my daughter thinks she can. She's a five-year-old, she thinks she can do everything by herself. I'm like, no, you still need mom and dad for, yeah, you still need mom and dad for a few things. I love that. So let's go into detail about your business, like what are the specific services that you're able to offer to us?
Speaker 2:So what's distinctive about Shira that I knew moms needed is it couldn't just be virtual. There's a lot of virtual assistant companies out there, right Like you hear about VAs you hear about especially entrepreneurs are all about having. Do you have a VA?
Speaker 1:I used to and I got a little bit cumbersome. I'm the tight now. I need someone in person.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, totally. There's just something about VAs that still just doesn't work right, and especially with moms, there's so much in-person errands you need to run, and on top of it there's so much with local market knowledge that you pour into being an amazing mom and running the family too, that all the virtual assistant companies out there were missing that. And so what's unique about us is that we do virtual and in-person tasks, which is very even though it's only about 25% of what we do is the in-person stuff. The value that it brings like S-U allergies the relief that it brings to people is amazing. Like right now, if you needed, if you were like I did not get a Mother's Day gift, sam you, so it's Friday.
Speaker 1:Can I hire you right now? It's.
Speaker 2:Friday. You better sign up, mysheerancom.
Speaker 1:I made the lunch reservation.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, we would have done that for you. We would have done that for you. We would Right now you could add a task and literally log on, go. We would have done that for you. We would right now you could add a task and literally log on, go into your personal task dashboard. And I mean, you can give us as little direction because our assistants are mothers.
Speaker 1:Wait, so this isn't just for women, this is just a female, a female.
Speaker 2:Our primary customer is a woman.
Speaker 1:But everything you just described right there I'm like, yeah, I need that shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, we have men who are our customers. We have a few divorced dads who now realize how much work it is to keep a family running.
Speaker 1:I told my wife. Anytime my wife leaves me with the kids for more than four hours, I'm like there's no way in hell. I love my kids. There is no way in hell I'm going to do this whole time Like I can't. A weekend with the kids, three in all, can't do it.
Speaker 2:Those six months I took off before I started Shira. They were the best and the worst six months of my entire life. I was like I'm ready to go to an office.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my wife threatens that sometimes I'm like girl, you've been out of the workforce in four, a little bit. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, once the kids are in school all day, she might find herself thinking well, and this is what our assistants think they're like. Well, I used to work full time. Now I'm at home, now the kids are old enough to where they're in school all day long. So right from like eight to three, and sure I need time to do my own family stuff, but I've still got like three to five hours every day of a little bit of flexibility and if I can do something, I feel really good about a competent doing and be able to help other families locally.
Speaker 1:She was goody with a thousand percent sign up for that.
Speaker 2:It feels good.
Speaker 1:So what's your? So are you probably I need to add a task.
Speaker 2:Yeah, make, I mean you literally could just be like make Mother's Day for my wife amazing. You're kind of something she loves, right, and one of our moms would pick up that task and do the whole thing for you Deliver the presents, wrap them, okay, everything. Make the reservation Plus, handle your mother, your aunt, your sister, like all those.
Speaker 1:I need this Because even all of like, just I need this, because even all yes, just with customer, because this is something I think will be good for businesses in terms of, like, outsourcing, because for me, like uh, over the last few months, we've gotten real big in terms of, uh, client engagement and developing forward clients. Yeah, so, like if I got a client that's a big bourbon guy some bourbon with some thing you know, right and I don't have time to do this.
Speaker 1:I have big ideas for it, I love it and it needs to be done. Don't have the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't have time to do that. Yeah, we totally do that, and if they're local, we would pick it up and hand deliver it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, she would love to do something like that, um but everybody's different.
Speaker 2:Like you asked me like what do you do? You know everybody's had the same stuff they need, right? Like everybody needs mother's day help, everybody needs help with figuring out laundry and meal planning and, you know, coming up with summer camps and finding sitters and all those things, right, well then, everybody's got quirky stuff. We all have quirky stuff and our families that we need help with, and we've done some quirky, quirky things for people, and so I never say we limit what we do because you never know what is going to come up. I mean, we've done everything from like silly things like find a juggler on a unicycle, cause that's my son's dream for his birthday party is find a juggler on a unicycle, which we have in our preferred vendor list. I know exactly who to call Um. But then at the same time we have like I need a divorce attorney, I need a therapist. My husband is showing signs of really being in deep depression. That's a good answer. I need to find assisted living for my mom.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, there's really serious things that we take on too, and so we're not just doers. The empathy you have to bring to this job Do I mean you're probably like this too in your job, like when you're working with other entrepreneurs, there has to be a vulnerability and no shame of what they're doing. Yep Brought to the table Absolutely, and a compassion because you've been there. You've been there, and so these women I know it's men too, but mostly women come to us and they are so filled with shame and guilt that they are even having to ask for help yeah right.
Speaker 2:And then once we say to them you're not alone, like we have hundreds of customers right and we talk to thousands of women, we're all the same, we're all stressed out, we're all exhausted, we all need help. But they feel like a failure for having to ask for help. And then, once they feel the relief from it, it's like a drug.
Speaker 1:Yep, I'm going to make sure I highly doubt my wife listens to every episode that I put out on this. I'm gonna make sure she listens this episode because would you just describe there in terms of the mom guilt if they're not doing it, I'm like no, like it's. The kids are going to be just as happy if. If you call and set that party at chuck e cheese, versus if some random stranger that the kids don't want we're still going to be there, have a good time.
Speaker 2:Like doesn't make a difference but we live in a social media world that has raised the bar even more on moms, right, like all we all we ever post is like the perfect pictures, right of mother's day, everybody in their matching outfits at the fancy restaurant for mother's day right, nobody's showing the stress leading up to it. No one's showing the fact that she feels like a total failure leading up to mother's day because she feels like she's a horrible mom, right, nope, like no.
Speaker 1:Nobody shows that so talk to me about, uh, women in the workforce today. Because from my point of view, so like my CMO is a female To me having a female in certain positions, women just have a better touch when it comes to certain things. Like I make very much a visionary type of person. I get an idea and it's going to be one of the best ideas you've ever heard, but in terms of getting things implemented, doing the little things that lead up to that heard, but in terms of getting things implemented, doing the little things that lead up to that a detail, I suck yeah, suck, yeah. But my cmo, erin phenomenal at it and like when I first hired her, like she still responds to me this way because in 10 years I haven't been used to having someone on this level with me working where I can barely say something if she's able to finish my sentence and be like same I did that two hours ago like Stop worrying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got it, I got it, that piece.
Speaker 1:But I don't see as much and you educate me. I'm not paying her less than what I paid the last person for that position. She's actually the one that's grown the fastest in the organization in over 10 years. The bonuses, the raises, the things that she's gotten and she's only been here less than five months. She bonuses the raises, the things that she's gotten, and she's only been here less than five months. She's grown way faster than anybody else in my organization ever.
Speaker 2:Is that? Is she providing more value to the company?
Speaker 1:She's providing more value. She has all these different things. I'm always the type of like I don't care who you are black, white, women, man, whatever it is If you provide value, you making my life easier. Who am I to send you away with more money? Yeah, like you're forcing me to pay you more money.
Speaker 2:And she's helping you actually grow the company, grow the revenue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like she's bringing in big accounts.
Speaker 1:That's amazing Doing everything. Is that still a thing in the workplace where women are fighting for equality? As a black man, it's easy for me to say this, because I know what it was like climbing up the corporate ladder and still getting some doors open because of the color basket. Sometimes it's how people just want. I don't know if I've ever admitted this on the podcast. All of the businesses I've ever started with a co-founder have been with a white guy. It's by design, because I knew that there were certain doors that like okay, man, I need you to be the first one to walk through this door, this one over here. Okay, I got this, but like, strategically, I have to think about those things. So is that still the living in the workplace With women? Is that still a thing in terms of wages and things like that?
Speaker 2:The wage gap has widened since COVID Really Record numbers of women dropped out of the workforce during COVID, voluntarily. Most have gone back. Why was?
Speaker 1:Record numbers of women dropped out of the workforce during COVID, voluntarily.
Speaker 2:Most have gone back. Why was it? Right, because of childcare. Right, childcare was a hot freaking mess across the world and so who's the default parent, regardless of how much they're making? Who's the default parent who quit her job to stay at home? Right, they left the workforce. Most women have gone back into it, but you will lose a woman when she takes even a year off from her career, can lose up to like 30% of her salary if she just leaves for one year and then tries to come back.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, the number is there. For men it's called the mom penalty, if she even takes a pause or a step back, whereas men, when they have children, their income rises because they are perceived as oh, we got to pay him more. Yeah, he's a caregiver, right, like he's a breadwinner. And it's also conscious, right, like he's a breadwinner. And it's all subconscious, right. There are all these unconscious biases that we all have that are limiting women in the workplace, and so women start out at 49 to 50% of the total workforce in the United States. So entry-level work, everybody's equal, right, men and women. And then we get down to the. Numbers vary on the size of the company, but by the time you get to the C-suite it's like 16% of women yeah Right, are in the C-suite, and then single digits for CEO yeah Right.
Speaker 1:It's like 2% of-.
Speaker 2:And then let's talk about venture capital, right, like, as a female founder. We're now down to one percent of venture capital money comes to female founders. Even less if you're a black woman, right, like it's brutal. And then, yeah, so in corporate america you are less likely to get promoted as a woman than a man, even a black man, right. And then, on top of it, even worse for a black woman or a woman of color. And then you're also making less still the. The wage gap keeps widening, and if you have children, the wage gap is even worse so I'm gonna answer this which is which then becomes even more a reason to quit your job and not your way
Speaker 2:up the ladder and say, which is fine, like with your wife, like if that's, if that's what you want and you know it, great, yeah, right. But if that's not what you want, like I've always known that's not what I want, right. But we live in a society. I remember I was so just that it were during covid, freaking, working in health care right during covid, and I had so many people say to me your husband's an attorney, why don't you just quit?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Record scratch. Like I love working, yeah, Like it's like every day I wake up and working to me is like it's like solving a puzzle, A sudoku puzzle, right, Like it's so much fun figuring out this puzzle of trying to grow a business. I love it.
Speaker 1:So let me play. Let me play God's advocate. If women's wages are so far less than men, then why would companies not just have an all-female staff, because in turn, that would increase their margins.
Speaker 2:Not only would it increase their margins, it would increase revenue and margin, because if you put a woman over a company and put woman on your board, you're more likely to grow faster and we make less, which is that's what I'm saying so why would companies not do that?
Speaker 1:Economically, majority of women in corporate America are making far less than their male counterparts.
Speaker 2:Our company is not just hiring all females at it's just unconscious bias right, and a lot of it's conscious too on top of it. You know that as a black man.
Speaker 1:See, and I don't, I just don't. It doesn't compute with my brain in terms of I'm looking for the best person who can get the job done. I get two shits. What you look like, like whether you're transgender or male, female, asfaga, can you get the?
Speaker 2:job done. Can you give me results? There's perceived risk, though. There's perceived risk in hiring somebody to make decisions, to be in a leadership role. There is perceived risk to put someone in that role who looks differently from you, who thinks differently from you. So if you're open, if you are more open to that and you see the value in actually bringing in diverse thinking, diverse background, you get it right. But being a black man, being a woman, you do get more of the value that diverse backgrounds and thinking bring to.
Speaker 2:That Rethink is not a good thing. No, it is not a good thing. No, it is not a good thing at all. Have you heard about the glass cliff? Mm-hmm. So everybody knows about the glass ceiling? Yeah Right, Everybody knows about that, right? Women hitting up against like moving up to only a certain level. They typically get to mid-management and they can never really get past that. There's a new perspective called the glass cliff, which is the only way women actually move into the C-suite and actually get to the CEO role is at companies that are failing and are about to just bomb it, not make it close up the doors, and only then is a woman only then is a woman.
Speaker 2:Are they like well shit.
Speaker 1:What else we got to lose.
Speaker 2:Let's put her in there and see what she can do. Right. That is when women are more likely to get the opportunity to move into the C-suite and be given the C-year goal, when there are almost like no other options left Right. So hail Mary, that thing right, Like, let's try it and see what happens. Statistically it goes well. That's great, yeah, see. I'm glad Glasscliff, look it up.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. I listened to a podcast with a diary of a CEO.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, and he had, I can't remember. Love his podcast, yeah.
Speaker 1:The lady from Spanx, oh yeah, sarah Wastley. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's been a shark boat, shark tape business like that. She kind of talked about that perspective as well too. But I'm like now, when you haven't track record on these things in terms of there's no reason to think like this because, in my mind, if you're in business, if you're in business for yourself, I put feelings to the side. I'm like fuck your feelings. That's what discipline is is putting your feelings to the side and just doing what needs to be done. If the numbers are there and this is a proven track record, why would I not go down that path? That's showing me this is the best option for us to be successful.
Speaker 1:In my experience, like the females out there, I actively seek out women in terms of, specifically, the videographer role. It is so hard to find a great female videographer Like it's damn near impossible Interesting. I've only had two on my staff in 10 years and I actively look for them because, especially when we're working in the wedding space, typically I'll be the first shooter when we're shooting the wedding. The first shooter is typically with the bride when she's getting prepped and they're having mimosas and hair and making out and all that stuff getting done. I always thought like, as cool as I am and as great as I make this experience, I'm sure they would all feel more comfortable as relaxing, as my lynchburg accent yeah and absolutely it's swooning.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they would feel more comfortable if a woman was in here filling in right now. Um, and I cannot find like vastly experienced female videographers. When I do, dear god, I try to hold her for dear life because to me it's an asset, because there's so many situations we get into.
Speaker 1:We're like right right let's say, let's say we're doing a video with you. One of my guys is filming you. They're gonna get the lighting set up right, camera angles, everything's gonna be money. But if you got like a piece of hair over here, the makeup's not perfect. We don't know, because we don't do makeup or you're not gonna say anything.
Speaker 2:yes's just kind of a comfort. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But if a female videographer hey, you have. They fix your hair like do this, oh wow, they can pay attention to those little details. Yeah, so they're just situations that they're better equipped to have.
Speaker 2:Maybe you should put that on a post-it note. I'm like See, that's all you had to do, just got to write it down. Email videographer.
Speaker 1:I can't wait till you write something down, put it in the drawer you're forced to email me and be like say, hi, the post is no thing you and I.
Speaker 2:When you come from a more disadvantaged group, I think you naturally observe the majority. You are more of a fly on the wall, a constant observer. That's true. When you're on the outside looking in, you are more able to see what's not going well. When you are inside the fishbowl and everything is seemingly going okay and it's seemingly going okay because you come from a privileged background, right. But when you're on the outside looking into that fishbowl, not coming from an advantaged background, more worried about paying the bills, more worried about scaling faster, about the margin, you are more inclined to be paying attention to the tiniest little details of what will make you grow faster. Right, absolutely yeah. When you're in the fishbowl and you are privileged, there is a complacency and comfort there of why rock the boat? Yep, right 100%.
Speaker 1:I totally agree with that. Let's jump into the Big Dipper Summit First off. I want to get your. I got ideas. Yes, I want to get your opinion on because I know you were part of the team developing that. First I'll say this Within the last three years, that is one of the best, if not the best, conference I've been to in the last three years. Right, amazing Like. The speakers were top notch. The staff there was so friendly and organized, like, from my perspective, everything went off without a hitch and I'm sure there were things going right.
Speaker 2:I'm sure the people in the background do something that you and I don't know but it was an amazing event, I mean I couldn't believe I was sitting there listening to the speakers. Yeah, it's insane. Like how is this a rich man?
Speaker 1:yeah and then. So here's my only qualm with it. And, ken, I love you. I love you, bro. I was like more people should know about it, like I had people come to me after I was posting stuff about it, a lot of things, with the next week and they're like dude, what, where was this? Why me? I know about this.
Speaker 2:Full of more people need to know about this, so talk to about and they were and you know they recorded the whole thing. So they're, you know they're making it available online your jmi and ken. They have, similar to you, total visionaries, right. So the vision they have for it, I think, is so much bigger than actually what occurred over those three days and they put it together that quick so fast like we're talking now.
Speaker 1:It's been two months, so you've had this together yeah, yeah, but you know, they know everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like two degrees of separation from everyone, like kevin biggin has nothing on them. Yeah, um, but if you were in that room, there was a magic that was there, not only in like sitting there watching these amazing speakers and the insights that you were taking in, but the people who were in that room. There were such quality relationships and connections made in that room, absolutely Like you, yep Right, yep Tons and I literally was depressed the next week. I was so depressed, like to go back into my hole and to not have this source of inspiration every day. Yep, I got sad. Yep, I got really sad.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you, I can tell I literally was like what's my calendar?
Speaker 2:When am I going to see Sam again? When am I going to see Brianna again? When are we?
Speaker 1:going to see Ashley. Well, that's why I immediately went to all the contacts I made and started scheduling people.
Speaker 2:It is real and it was. I think what they're creating is such a vision for Richmond right.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Such a vision for Richmond because the content spanned and this is what I actually want to pitch you an idea for a podcast, and this is what I actually I want to pitch you an idea for a podcast. The content and the people there span so many different types, Like the combination of it being culture and commerce, yes, and inspire, like all of us gaining insights and inspiration from all of that. I mean my interview with Will Keck that day on stage. He was so inspiring.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's why I don't get on a podcast.
Speaker 2:Me too. He was so great. But I also think Heidi Nell said this at the very end when she was interviewing Lauren Simmons.
Speaker 1:You stazed at that one. Right, I did not, but I got her book, I had to go. I had to go. That was the last one. You were not there, I was there. I know Javon was like. So after Javon was free, he said I immediately ordered a book off Amazon. That was probably the fastest I've read a book. I finished a book in like three days.
Speaker 2:It was. I've read a book. I finished a book in like three days. It was so good. She believes in manifesting.
Speaker 2:She does she wrote it now she did and she's pretty badass, but the collection of people there was the most diverse group of people I've also seen in Richmond in a long time both, again, business and culture, yeah, racial, gender, socioeconomic. I was just blown away, yeah, and I loved everybody. I met there, yep, and, coming from North Carolina, I've always so. I grew in North Carolina, moved and moved to Richmond after college I'm old, 96, went to Boston, came back, went to DC, came back. So I keep coming back to Richmond. It's now home. It keeps getting cooler. This town is so segregated, yeah, yep, what is that? North Carolina is not like that, like the South. This place is not the South.
Speaker 2:I mean you're from Lynchburg.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is that just like a Virginia thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a Virginia, you read the Jim Crow laws and like all that sort of stuff. Like this has been set up by design, wow. And that's one reason why I go so hard is because I'm like it's not just about me and what I have going on. It's setting the example and being the change of stuff like this, because a lot of people think, well, it's just me, but I can't move the needle, that so much. But when I can go in the high school classroom and show them, yeah, I'm a college dropout. I worked in the field for 10 years. I required a college degree and I was able to escape that and I just continued to work my way up the chain. And then we're going out and started up eight, nine different businesses and I'm nothing special, so like, if I could do this, if I, if I can get my family out the hood, then there's no reason you can't either, because I dare say majority of people who put this together are way smarter than me. It's just being able to have an idea. I'm really obsessed right now in terms of my reading and education right now and leadership and diving in again to see jobs.
Speaker 1:He talked about his second comeback to Apple. The growth of the company had nothing to do with the new products. It wasn't the iPod, it wasn't the iPhone, it wasn't the iPad, it wasn't ASO. He literally made it his mission to pull together the best of the best people with whatever they did to brought them in that company. I was listening to something the other day. They were saying as a CEO, 25% of your focus each week should be on acquiring the best talent you possibly can. Oh, and I read that yesterday I opened up another it'd be post. I'm like you know what? I'm going to keep this open.
Speaker 1:Enzo is always hard If it, if it's the right part because if you think about doing, If you find that rock star and you're like, oh, I can't see growing my business without this person, you're going to move heaven and hell to make sure you're able to have the finances or make a spot for that person on your team, because you know what it's going to do for your organization. So I'm very much looking forward to this new phase where it's like I'm probably going to be schooling in some town for the next three, four months as long as the work ethic is there with the tests, all right 100.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's like figuring out the right company, like are you gonna fit the company culture? Um, are you? It's not just your skill set, it's like are you the type of person that meshes with what we have going on here as well, too? This is like what's forced. Like, uh, I'm not gonna date on one specific team, which I was about to do, but, but I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Oh, interesting. The reason I thought Steelers have always been one of the most successful teams in the draft is because we don't draft the best at that position. We draft the best at that position for our style of offense or games, so it's not always about going out and getting the best.
Speaker 2:Yes, the best they know who they are, they do their play styles yeah. Absolutely. That's what Tony Bennett did.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Me too. Yeah, totally different playing style, yep.
Speaker 1:Yep. So what was your involvement with the Big Dipper Summit?
Speaker 2:I tell you I will do anything Ken Johnson and JMI want me to do because they are such visionaries and they're such at the hub of great things happening in Richmond. So I don't even know how I first got involved I think maybe it was through Startup Virginia and like the labs, I don't even know. And next thing I know I mean it went from like. It went from like would you be a speaker? To suddenly like I'm gathering because I got so excited, like their energy and their enthusiasm is so infectious. Next thing, I know I'm gathering because I got so excited, like their energy and their enthusiasm is so infectious.
Speaker 2:Next thing I know I was gathering friends to be speakers. I was gathering people in my network to be moderators for panels, telling everybody about it right, trying to spread the word, helping them think through what the days look like and what the agenda look like. And while it was taking away time from running Shira for a little while, I felt so honored to be a part of that process and to watch their team work and pull this together, because I knew and I still know it is going to be something huge one day and I literally am going to be able to say, I was there that first year and I was actually a teeny, teeny, tiny part of putting together a tiny part of it, and people are going to be like, wow, like you were there that first time.
Speaker 1:This is going to be the alpha mole.
Speaker 2:This is the alpha mole All in the world to come yeah, I mean I already said to ken that next year I'm gonna pretend like this is a conference out of town. Yo, I'm getting a sitter for three days, I'm booking a hotel room. I'm just like I'm fully immersing myself into the content, the people, the experiences, like all of it to fully take advantage of it.
Speaker 1:Right, we do that if we're out of town, so we need to pretend like it's an out-of-town conference right, that was my only thing, like it was literally five minutes from my office, so yeah, pop it in and out yeah, you're distracted, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's, it was just so amazing. Um, I also think what they're creating needs to be more than just a conference like it is it is. They created something that I felt like was a movement. Yeah, especially for our market. It was a movement and like an energy and ethos that I want to keep going yeah um, yeah, I, which is why I think we need a little brainstorm session with you. Ashley Williams, javon Brianna.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need like a little brainstorm session with uh, I'll marry this out and maybe a podcast.
Speaker 2:Yep, let's do it I guess when, when all of us get together, we also can't shut up about business, richmond, relationships, kids and we all have such different perspectives. Yep, and I just like it when you get called princess. We're going to skate that as that one right there, um, but we need to keep that going right. We got to just that energy going 100 right and figure out how do we do. How do we do that throughout the year, richmond?
Speaker 1:say that I think that needs to be a smaller version of that. Maybe two to three times per year. Yeah, and then that made your conference each year, cause I mean, when I tell you those, like I've sat in rooms with, like some amazing speakers, that amazing car. I got so much value out of this because and the guys from earn your leisure and I told you when I first met you like they were the only reason I bought. I love those guys.
Speaker 2:they are so awesome you reached out to me about this and I was like, oh, by the way, have you heard about the Big Dipper Summit? And you were like, oh, I literally just bought my ticket. It was kind of like we manifested.
Speaker 1:I really didn't, but I think Troy from EYL said this on stage when you're at these conferences, it's great to hear your Tony Bennett, your Scott Benpelt, all these leaders on stage, but the best value is the people that you're sitting next to Walk around network and I think the way that was orchestrated, it was set up so perfectly. Sometimes I feel like networking is kind of forced. This just felt like so. I mean, if I'm sitting next to somebody and I don't, it was like the conversations just started to happen.
Speaker 2:So it helped.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the way like drinks and snacks and everything were set up, it was just like an environment where, like you're walking past us, it's like I mean, you look like you got something wrong. Let's chat. What do we have to do? Like, let's chat, We'll go to. Like it was just so natural.
Speaker 2:It was small enough to have, yes, really quality conversations with people that didn't feel forced.
Speaker 1:So selfishly yeah, I've discussed that. We're like man. I really want to see this summit grow because of the value they are in, but selfishly I love to keep it at this size because I'm getting oh yeah, I got a bunch of out of there At the Oz.
Speaker 2:I just, are you like this when I go on vacation? You know how some people when they go on vacation, they want to read like I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, harry Potter or something like that.
Speaker 2:Right, or sports, or, like you know, some women might read some fiction novel or something. Right, I'm like, no, my version of vacation is and a business podcast or a business book. Right, like that's. I just want to geek out, right? So like, how do I bring this community back together of really diverse people, diverse thinking, interesting people, such interesting people, and keep that going, where we all love to just nerd out? On scaling strategies. Right people like I can talk scaling strategies all day long.
Speaker 2:But then pepper it in with my favorite, bourbon, and the best way to wipe our kids' butt and myrtle advice.
Speaker 1:I tell my wife this all the time. She's like we may have something with the family. Like Ursa, I have a family, we go out with her friends and the you know, the husbands are there. Yeah, Rob, weren't you talking to someone? So I'm like, right, If we're not talking money, health or business, like what are we talking about? Like you know, I got, I got my packs of friends where it's like OK, these are my fantasy football guys. I know when I need the outlet and I need to turn this off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're one of those.
Speaker 1:When I need the outlet and I need to turn this off. This is the group of friends I go to, but the people I talk to regularly, week to week, if it ain't business, health or finances, dude, don't talk to them, yeah.
Speaker 2:As a man, do you find it easy to find people to talk about business? Because, as a woman.
Speaker 1:Finding someone who's intelligent enough to speak on a certain level, because it's always my girl to be the dumbest guy on the earth. I don't want to be the one teaching everyone because I've done that for years where it's like the analogy with car battery If I'm recharging everybody and give everybody else a jump on their car, eventually I got to start my car up and my battery's dead After a while. You get tired of leaning over and trying to pull people up. Now it's like I want people on my level, I want people helping to pull me up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally um, but I think that they almost have time finding that. Yeah, to a certain extent, like they're, they're definitely a number of people will reach out, which I don't have a problem with, like people reaching out to me on the radio basis hey man, what's an advice on this or something cool? Yeah, I'll set a few minutes aside to do that. The bike, if you're costly, reaching out to me on a regular basis. Hey man, what's an advice on this or something Cool? Yeah, I'll set a few minutes aside to do that. The bike, if you're costly. Reach out to me every week. It was just like you're pulling, you're pulling, you're pulling.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Tommy had no value out of this. That's why I've loved this full net of like traditionally meeting and really adding my and I may just blow it up here, but you walk away from this experience and say, okay, not only did me and Sam have a great conversation, he gave me a platform to speak about my brand and my business. This is going to be on every major podcast platform. This is going to be on YouTube. I get shorts that are going out on social media. He's adding value to this relationship from the start. So because of that, what can I do to add value to him as well, too? It's a reciprocal relationship that just continues versus. A lot of these relationships may just start where somebody perceives me at a certain level and they're just like I just need to keep pulling. They're transactional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in short, term, yeah, and why it's hard to find like a mentor. Because it's like my approach anytime I've, you know, in the traditional sense had a mentor, I I've, you know, in the traditional sense had a mentor. I've always come to them and be like, okay, well, what's the value I can bring to you? Because I know what value.
Speaker 2:I know what yeah, yeah, hey.
Speaker 1:Do you need a video for your company? Hey, do you need photography? Do you need this? Do you need some help? I will do that in exchange for you sitting down with me for 45 minutes and talking to you and ask you for coffee, like, hey, I just want to pick your brain. Pick your brain the worst thing anyone could ever say, because my, my time is worth more than a double cheeseburger and a side fries Like you're not doing me any value by paying $15 for me. I can buy my own damn dinner.
Speaker 2:Pick your brain. Can we just tell people that, like, from now on, no more emails that say yeah. Like from now on, no more emails that say can I buy you a coffee? I'd love to pick your brain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bring something to the table. There was a guy I'm talking to now where I'm trying to get a deal done on the marketing side, but when we initially reconnected he told me he has this big investment deal that he's working on, so he's looking for investors. Yeah, and I don't have the capital right now for what he's looking for, but I know a few people with that capital. So I said you know what? Let me bring someone to you. You get this deal closed. Then let's talk about the marketing piece, because if I help you get the cash flow that you need, I've created the opportunity for you to afford my services yes, and then you can help me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly so it's that relationship of always looking at how can I give before I take, because that's the reverse for most people. Most people are coming to you trying to take I'll be.
Speaker 2:I'm actually okay with giving, as long as it's very specific, yep and um, transparent, um, specific transparent, um a little bit of appreciation of probably good. You know, someone's going to come to me with a very specific scenario of this is what I'm challenged with and it seems like it relates back to your life in this way, and I'd love to pick your brain, because your experience at this company looks like it would be relevant to me here. And it's okay, let's talk, we're going to play, let's talk. Or, hey, kristen, you know this person and I want to get introduced.
Speaker 1:Great, just say it yeah, and that also juices me up just say it yeah but like when people try to eat you with the okey-doke and they like hit you with the fate, like nah, like bro, if you just come straight out, totally, this is what you want right a little bit.
Speaker 2:I mean, we don't have time for it, we don't have time. I've said that, don't have time.
Speaker 1:I've said that to people who have worked here before. I've had someone come here and they literally worked here for three months so they could have a W-2, so they could get approved for a mortgage to buy their first home, and they just dropped us at the last second oh, got my W-2, got approved for a mortgage, hey, I'm out of here. And I'm literally saying in all of my interviews I don weeks or six years. I just want to make sure that I'm putting you on the path to success, putting you in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Just tell me that I'll help you. There are moments where Just tell me you need free months of a W-2? I'm happy to help you with that. Let's figure it out.
Speaker 2:Let's figure out how I can get something out of this, and you can too, yep, but let um, all right, I gotta cut this all because you and I will be talking for, like I know, okay. So here's the thing. Javon, yep, ashley, who else? Brianna? Brianna, do you know, suzanne burns from humble haven. So brianna ashley and suzanne and I, we had lunch at tom tom together the week before big dipper. It seems like like the four of us we could have just sat there outside on the mall in Charlottesville and talked for like six hours nonstop, like all entrepreneurs, just grinding away, figuring out how to scale, intertwining the conversation constantly with like relationships, diversifying your financial investments. You name it right, it's the best Shoes purses right.
Speaker 1:It's the best Shoes purses right. All right, kirsten, this has been awesome If people want to reach out to you, if they want to learn more about your organization.
Speaker 2:I could Don't ask to pick my brain.
Speaker 1:Don't ask to pick my brain, I'm going to get but I love helping people, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, check us out at myshiracom. Hit me up Email kpr at myshiracom. It's called shira, s-h-e-r-a-h. She Ra Like a ra or Right Like a shira. Many men For some reason, women have no problem pronouncing it. Yeah, but it's almost like when men see the word she, they're like, it's like they. There's a mental block there that men can do not want to say the word she she wrote. I got it it's a feminine hero and there's a lot of them, and you better put in a task right now.
Speaker 1:Say, get your wife an amazing mother's day, press up oh yeah, no, we're to talk as soon as the camera's off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, thank you, sam. I feel like maybe I didn't manifest you, but I do feel like God placed you in my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you may have manifested. I may show up at your house with some tap dances for you here pretty soon. Until you write it down, it may not happen.
Speaker 2:Dinner party. I think the next step is a dinner party with all of our spouses, like, get that whole crew together with our spouses and yeah, I think that's our next step. I'm waiting.
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