Navigating New Beginnings: Kristina Taylor on Entrepreneurial Growth and Technological Transformation
Jan 31, 2024Episode 38
Marc Bernstein / Kristina Taylor
Happy New Year, everyone! As we embrace the promise of a fresh start, we're thrilled to bring you a candid conversation with two remarkable guests: Kristina Taylor and a surprise guest, Shawn Gilfillan. Kristina, who prefers to go by Kris, joins us to share her pragmatic approach to New Year's resolutions in the realm of expanding her business, while Shawn offers a refreshing perspective on continuous growth that isn't anchored solely to the start of the year. Together, we navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship, celebrating the potential for positive economic strides despite the often gloomy news cycles.
Our discussion takes an intriguing turn as we examine the transformative role of technology in the business world. Recall when thermal fax was the pinnacle of office tech? Those days are long gone. Now, Kris gives us an insider's view of her businesses, American Tenant Screening and Verify Protect, and the vital importance of accurate background checks in our digital age. We tackle the challenges that precision services entail, and how maintaining a balance of thoroughness within the constraints of resources is crucial. The growth stories of Kris' ventures are nothing short of a testament to the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship.
We then look to the pillars of success that have anchored Kris's triumphs. She highlights adaptability and the readiness to pivot as essential ingredients in her recipe for success. We peer into the future, discussing Kris's innovative app concept aimed at streamlining background checks for the growing contract workforce and delve into personal milestones, emboldening our listeners with aspirations of financial independence.
About Kristina Taylor: Kristina Taylor is the president and majority shareholder of American Tenant Screen and VerifyProtect. She began her career in 1989 with American Tenant Screen, Inc., and rapidly ascended through the ranks. A visionary leader, in 1997 she pioneered Internet-based tenant background screening, catapulting ATS, Inc. ahead of competitors and expanding their clientele nationwide. She was named President in 2007. Under her guidance, the company evolved to include employee background screening and introduced VerifyProtect.com, seamlessly integrating employment background screening into the hiring process.
Are you a visionary founder with a compelling success story that deserves to be shared with our audience? We're on the lookout for accomplished business leaders like you to be featured on the Founders' Forum Radio Show and Podcast. If you've surmounted challenges, reached significant milestones, or have an exciting vision for the future, we'd be honored to have you as a guest on our show. Your experiences and insights can inspire and enlighten others in the business world. If you're eager to share your journey and the invaluable lessons you've learned along the way, we invite you to apply here.
Happy New Year, everyone! As we embrace the promise of a fresh start, we're thrilled to bring you a candid conversation with two remarkable guests: Kristina Taylor and a surprise guest, Shawn Gilfillan. Kristina, who prefers to go by Kris, joins us to share her pragmatic approach to New Year's resolutions in the realm of expanding her business, while Shawn offers a refreshing perspective on continuous growth that isn't anchored solely to the start of the year. Together, we navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship, celebrating the potential for positive economic strides despite the often gloomy news cycles.
Our discussion takes an intriguing turn as we examine the transformative role of technology in the business world. Recall when thermal fax was the pinnacle of office tech? Those days are long gone. Now, Kris gives us an insider's view of her businesses, American Tenant Screening and Verify Protect, and the vital importance of accurate background checks in our digital age. We tackle the challenges that precision services entail, and how maintaining a balance of thoroughness within the constraints of resources is crucial. The growth stories of Kris' ventures are nothing short of a testament to the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship.
We then look to the pillars of success that have anchored Kris's triumphs. She highlights adaptability and the readiness to pivot as essential ingredients in her recipe for success. We peer into the future, discussing Kris's innovative app concept aimed at streamlining background checks for the growing contract workforce and delve into personal milestones, emboldening our listeners with aspirations of financial independence.
About Kristina Taylor: Kristina Taylor is the president and majority shareholder of American Tenant Screen and VerifyProtect. She began her career in 1989 with American Tenant Screen, Inc., and rapidly ascended through the ranks. A visionary leader, in 1997 she pioneered Internet-based tenant background screening, catapulting ATS, Inc. ahead of competitors and expanding their clientele nationwide. She was named President in 2007. Under her guidance, the company evolved to include employee background screening and introduced VerifyProtect.com, seamlessly integrating employment background screening into the hiring process.
Are you a visionary founder with a compelling success story that deserves to be shared with our audience? We're on the lookout for accomplished business leaders like you to be featured on the Founders' Forum Radio Show and Podcast. If you've surmounted challenges, reached significant milestones, or have an exciting vision for the future, we'd be honored to have you as a guest on our show. Your experiences and insights can inspire and enlighten others in the business world. If you're eager to share your journey and the invaluable lessons you've learned along the way, we invite you to apply here.
Announcer:
W-W-D-B 860 AM, philadelphia and W-P-E-N HD2, burlington, Philadelphia. Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant. Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.
Marc Bernstein:
Good morning America. How are you? This is our first show of 2024, so we welcome our guest this morning, Kristina Taylor, who goes by Kris. We'll meet her in a minute. We also have sitting in our second guest of the year, Shawn Gilfillan, who is Gilfillan.
Shawn Gilfillan:
Gill-Fillin.
Marc Bernstein:
Gill-Fillin.
Shawn Gilfillan:
There you go.
Marc Bernstein:
I know him pretty well at this point, but I still don't know his last name. Well, Shawn is with us this morning. Of course, Ang Onorato is here. Good morning, Ang.
Ang Onorato:
Good morning.
Marc Bernstein:
I can't believe it's a new year, Our topic we always start out with a topic of the day. This is a great day to talk about New Year's resolutions. I just would love to have your impressions of them. This is a little loaded, so I'm going to ask Kris first how do you deal with New Year's resolutions, if at all?
Kristina Taylor:
Well, I think I set them more as goals for the year. I do expect that there's going to be unexpected things that come up. I try not to hold too fast to them, but I do try and put myself in a direction. This year I just want to try and get myself poised to grow my company.
Marc Bernstein:
Ang, I'll ask you next what's your outlook on resolutions?
Ang Onorato:
I'm also not a fan. Maybe it's just the word resolution. I feel like it's too finite, too static.
Announcer:
You're stealing my thunder.
Ang Onorato:
Well, it's too definite. If you do this, then and I think it's just something made up by the gyms to get you to come back I like goals and tensions, something that's movable throughout the year. You move the needle a little baby steps along the way.
Marc Bernstein:
Shawn might say that the cigarette companies came up with goals and tensions to get away from resolutions. That's not good for selling cigarettes, Shawn. How about you? I'll let you be the clincher. I'm not going to have anything to add to this.
Shawn Gilfillan:
I think New Year's resolutions can happen at any time. You never know through the year, when things come up and you want to start something new, there's always right now. Just keep things moving through the year.
Marc Bernstein:
Give it a little color, give me the way you said it to me last night, which was great, so New Year's resolution can happen right now and right now, and right now.
Shawn Gilfillan:
You got 365 days in your new year, every single day of the year. Yep, I like it.
Ang Onorato:
Oh, I think I'm going to adopt that.
Marc Bernstein:
You just have to track them.
Shawn Gilfillan:
This is January 1st, the beginning of the year. Anyway, it's all made up.
Marc Bernstein:
It's all made up. I agree with that. But anyway, look at whatever works right, whatever helps. So Kris does them.
Marc Bernstein:
I have my annual intentions for the year, so I call them intentions rather resolutions, because I do think it's kind of final. But intentions allows you the ability to shift and to amend as you go, which I think, as entrepreneurs, we've all found we need to do. You can't just stay static. It doesn't usually work, but the idea is we're in a new year. It's going to be a good year, I hope, despite all the news every day that you hear. There's a lot of good out there. There's a lot of good things going on in our economy, which gets a bad rap. There's a lot of good things going on in business. There's a lot of good things going on with people developing and I do think and we've talked about this a little bit I think whatever is going on is indicate some kind of shift. All the bad stuff is leading to something better. I don't know what that means, but you guys agree, you're all nodding your heads. So change is a bad thing. Change is often a good thing, if not always so.
Marc Bernstein:
Kristina Taylor, president and majority shareholder of American Tenant, screen and Verify Protect and her cell number is no, I'm kidding. She's in person with us in the radio station today, as is Shawn. In our next show we'll introduce Shawn more formally. Kris began her career in 1989 with American Tenant Screen and she's not a founder in the traditional sense, so we're going to talk about this a little bit, which I like, this story. But she ascended through the ranks, so she's a visionary leader. So, going back to 1997, she pioneered internet-based tenant background screening. She catapulting ATS, which is American Tenant Screen, ahead of competitors and expanding their clientele nationwide. In 2007, she was named president and under her guidance, the company evolved to include employee background screening and introduced Verify Protectcom, seamlessly integrating employment background screening into the hiring process. So she's now owner of ATS right, partial owner and founder of Verify Protect, correct. So welcome Kris.
Kristina Taylor:
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
Marc Bernstein:
Sure, I'm thrilled to have you here. I like your story because and we're going to have another thought for the next show, which you'll also be on on Shawn's show but your story begins with wanting to go to college. Correct, and why don't you take it from there?
Kristina Taylor:
So yeah, so I wanted to go to college but we couldn't afford it we weren't, we were having some trouble and so I started working, trying to work my way through college, and I went to Delaware County Community College and paying my way, and then I wanted to get into, you know, another university. I tried for St Joe's. I took a class there, but it was very expensive. So, and as I was working, I kind of stumbled across this company that was a startup, American Tenants Green. They were out of Narberth, right above the Narberth Movie Theater. So hopefully this is local so people know what I'm talking about.
Kristina Taylor:
Near the Greeks too, right, yes, yes right, but not too far from the Greeks at all. Yes, so, and you know it was that, and as is space, and I started working there, but it was just fascinating to me. So, and the other owners, they had started the business, but they were what you might call now serial entrepreneurs, so they were starting other businesses and so, as they were, you know, trying out other types of businesses, they really need someone to take over the day to day. So I saw a great opportunity in that and they recognized that I was able to do that and so it kind of took off from there.
Marc Bernstein:
So what started as a need became a creation, of yours, really.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, yeah.
Marc Bernstein:
I think that's so great. Were you going to say something else?
Kristina Taylor:
I was just going to say. Then I kind of ended up. I did end up taking a few more courses, but then I was like this is really where I want to be. So then I just devoted myself to the University of real life, which.
Ang Onorato:
I think is what most entrepreneurs really excel at, because you just have to wear so many hats and just make it through the day and grow the business. So I love that too.
Marc Bernstein:
Shawn, you're a graduate of the University of life as well.
Shawn Gilfillan:
Still consider myself a student, A student right.
Marc Bernstein:
Me too, me too, and I've been at it a long time Still, me too.
Shawn Gilfillan:
When's the?
Marc Bernstein:
end. There is no end. Hopefully there's no end. Right, that's the idea. So, Kris, along the way I know you probably ran into an obstacle here and there. Right, Can you think of any that might have influenced later outcomes that might have helped in the influence of your career?
Kristina Taylor:
Well, as you mentioned, the Internet, the coming of the Internet was really a big. It's technology has been a driver, which I think is a driver in a lot of people's businesses. But before the Internet people would have those fax machines, those thermal fax machines I don't know if you remember them and they were challenging. You'd get the information, you'd get the report and then you try and get it to the person. That would take almost as much time as compiling the information. So when I saw this, it was like prodigy came out and it just a light bulb went off. They were actually the company that was top, the number one in the Philly top 100 had used prodigy to catapult themselves. So I saw that I was like, wait a minute, maybe we could use that. So then I looked for a company that could help us develop it.
Marc Bernstein:
So you had an early challenge that involved technology that was somewhat antiquated, went out and found new technology and for 1997, that's an early story of technology, of creating a business.
Kristina Taylor:
My competitors were actually driving fax machines to the clients.
Announcer:
And I was like, yeah, I didn't want to do that, but we wanted to be nationwide.
Marc Bernstein:
You didn't want to have people in each city driving fax machines only.
Kristina Taylor:
Yes, machines around.
Marc Bernstein:
That's a great visual.
Shawn Gilfillan:
Sounds like another business, I know right.
Kristina Taylor:
And servicing them too, because you know.
Marc Bernstein:
They break down a lot.
Ang Onorato:
Your subsidy business was the Xerox distributor. Yeah, yeah.
Kristina Taylor:
So technology has been a driver in our business, actually even now, you know so, which maybe we'll talk about.
Marc Bernstein:
So tell us a little bit about what you do, because I know you do background screening but, I, know it's different from what a lot of companies do, so talk about that and also maybe talk about the differences between your two companies.
Kristina Taylor:
OK, yeah, so the difference that I feel like with my company is that again it's kind of just a you know, avoiding pain, like I don't want to have applicants come back to me and say you got this wrong. So, whereas you know some of our competitors, they kind of take the approach of like we'll fix it on the back end. So they try and get the information out quickly. They try and process it, you know, as hands off as they possibly can. And we take a more hands-on approach because I always tell them when I have a new employee start, I always tell them that you can't unring a bell. So if you send out a report that's incorrect, then you know you can't always take that back. Even if you correct it afterwards, it still taints the applicant. So we really try and pay close attention to making sure that our information is accurate.
Marc Bernstein:
Well, just listening to this from the outside, people's professional lives are at stake, their careers, sometimes their lives.
Kristina Taylor:
Well, we're talking about the two different businesses. American tenant screening is screening for landlords and property managers, so we're dealing with the way our applicants live, and then employment screening we're dealing with where they work. So it's really important to us to get it right.
Marc Bernstein:
And you know, and that's always been the way I've approached it- Now the negative to that is it takes a little longer, or does it not take a little longer it?
Kristina Taylor:
takes longer, yeah, and it takes more people power. So yeah, and so that's been a drawback, because then we can't always be as competitively priced.
Marc Bernstein:
But your. I assume that your clients understand that they pick you because they want it done right from the beginning.
Kristina Taylor:
Right, they don't want to have to deal with. They don't want to deal with disputes, you know, after the fact, like I, you know, yeah, they don't want to have to worry about, because if you dispute a record then they have to wait before they can actually make the decision. So a lot of people just want to fill that position right away or they want to fill that apartment, and having the information accurate and timely is really critical.
Ang Onorato:
I can tell you, having a career as an executive recruiter for you know a million decades, it's really important, not just for what you're saying, but even for the recruitment partners too. Right, so we would put things through and if there's a delay or inaccuracies, you've put a lot of work into those candidates, like Marc said, and it's so important to them, their families, but also the companies. But from our perspective too, having a wrong or incomplete background screen is worse than the kiss of death, especially if it's just from an error. So I'm glad to hear that you have that kind of constigators white glove approach. It's definitely worth it.
Marc Bernstein:
Thank you. So I just had a visual about all this I'm watching. I got hooked on this show Suits. That was out years ago it's on Netflix. Anyone watch it?
Ang Onorato:
Oh, kidding you guys all watch. Suits From the very beginning.
Marc Bernstein:
So I don't know how it ends, so don't tell me because I'm only in season three.
Ang Onorato:
She marries a prince, just so you know.
Marc Bernstein:
Yeah, I knew that part somehow. But Mike Ross, the fraud. It's just interesting how background checks could have changed that whole story.
Kristina Taylor:
Right, right and you'd be surprised how many times people like well, we don't need to background check him because they come from XYZ company and we trust XYZ companies, so we feel like they did the screening, so we don't need to. And you just wonder how much of them is like whisper down the lane kind of. You know people get passed from one company to another. Was anybody ever really originally background checked?
Marc Bernstein:
Which is which of the companies does more business now? American Tenant Screen or Verify, protect Well.
Kristina Taylor:
Verify, Protect has grown over the past, I would say three to five years. We've grown, and so it used to be 80, 20, and now it's probably more like 60, 40, and we're hoping to, you know, move that for the next year, so we'll move that Interesting?
Marc Bernstein:
Yeah, we have about a minute. Do you wanna introduce your question, cause I know where you're going next?
Ang Onorato:
Yeah. So, Marc, this is how we've learned to play off of each other. So you know, I love to talk about culture and the people side of it. So your business is interesting cause you're on both sides of that right For people that you bring into your own company, as well as who you're placing. So I'm very curious about you know how you've seen the market, not just from technology change, but just the market itself in terms of the candidate base, with the tenants, you know what's kind of. How have you just seen that change in terms of the people that you're working with?
Kristina Taylor:
Well, I really see right now is that people are moving more to contract workers. I mean, employees want to be contract workers and you know employers are learning to adapt to that and in some cases, want that as well. So I think that's been and remote work has been a big one, obviously from the pandemic. So people learning how to create culture when you have a remote workforce is really, you know, a driving force.
Ang Onorato:
And how have you done that for the folks that work for your company, what you talked about? You know you want that high-glove approach, but how do you assess and build the right culture for you?
Marc Bernstein:
Well, if I could just say you're totally remote, just about as far as remote, yeah, we're almost entirely remote at this point.
Kristina Taylor:
I have one employee that comes in to you know process a mail that comes in. But yeah, we just I do weekly meetings. I didn't at first, but we do weekly check-in meetings and when I check in with people I don't just check in with their work, I check in with how they are, what they're doing, what their outside activities are and things like that. So I used to feed everybody when they were in the office. I used to buy lunch all the time. So now we just send like Dordache or something like that.
Ang Onorato:
Well, that's still a very nice touch because people you know you get to mix up there looking at the same four walls in their kitchens as their workstations. So I think that's amazing.
Marc Bernstein:
I'll mention too we could go back to this right after our break, which is coming in like now, but we I talked earlier with Kris about the company culture in terms of the whole idea of vulnerability. It's a buzzword that we've talked about with other guests and maybe we can get into that a little bit how she makes it a little more intimate without making it personal, which is a great jumping off point. So with that, let's take a quick break and hear something about Verify, protect.
Announcer:
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Marc Bernstein:
So we're back on Founders Forum and we are live on WWDB AM in Philadelphia, as well as a podcast. So since we're live, I have to say great job, tj. We love the voice, we love the music. Great job on the ad. So we were talking about your companies and we were talking about company culture, and how do you get people to open up and what's the benefit of doing that in your businesses?
Kristina Taylor:
Well, I think initially it started because I wanna work somewhere that I wanna work Like. I don't wanna work in an environment that's difficult people or anything like that. So I try and create an environment that I wanna enjoy working in and with people that I really like. So I do that, and with vulnerability. Like I said before, I'm a terrible liar, so I it's good to be a terrible liar.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, so you can see right through me, and so if you get caught in a lie it's always really uncomfortable, so it just takes the hard truth first and foremost. So a lot of times I share with people my experiences when I'm struggling, and then they tend to wanna share their experiences if they're having trouble.
Ang Onorato:
So have you found I'm curious about how that has helped your retention and longevity of your folks. I mean because I think it's no secret that the world's a tough place to work, especially the last many years, and I think people, younger workers as well they're kind of demanding a workplace that looks at them as the human behind the work as well. So have you noticed that it's helped your retention rate the way that you have built that culture?
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, I mean I have most of my employees have been five or five years Like they worked with me through the pandemic, which was just it's just great to have a good workforce through something like that. So, yeah, like Lawrence, but with me over 10 years. She's 12 now, so now there's five, six years. My main thing is that what ends up happening is I kind of like to get people who don't have a lot of experience, but they have the right attitude, they have the right values and then they learn and grow with the company and then sometimes I kind of have to let them go because they find other opportunities where they can expand themselves. And we're small companies so there's not always a place for some people to go. So that's usually when I lose somebody.
Ang Onorato:
So it sounds like you're also looking at people that also come from the school of life, potentially and not so keyed on. I'm gonna check your background and you have to have that for your degrees so you look for people that can be molded into a long-term employee and give them opportunities. I think that's really important, especially in the labor force today.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah.
Marc Bernstein:
Kris, before we go on to the future, which the show's a lot about, the future for future vision of our founders to sum up your success and look back in terms of what you've been able to do so far, what do you think were the greatest ingredients to your success, to what you've built in the business thus far?
Kristina Taylor:
You know, I think that the ability or the desire to change, to always adapt to what's going on, you know, I just feel like I'm always searching for that next thing, like, okay, what's especially like the experience with the internet and all that, it's like okay, there's probably another thing coming around the corner that I want to take advantage of.
Marc Bernstein:
Ch-ch-changes.
Ang Onorato:
There's a, well, there's a friend of mine, Marc's not gonna take an opportunity to incorporate some music in again.
Marc Bernstein:
so Well, I have a my friend, ray Lowe, who Angie knows who's who got me really into this podcasting business. He's his brand, is the luckiest guy in the world and he's got. He's just a real creative guy and he had a show called Breaking the Rules which was on TV in New Jersey and then he changed it to Changing the Rules and that was David Bowie's song, was the theme song. So, but because pretty much everybody that comes on, if you're a founder, if you're an entrepreneur, you have to change the rules to some extent for it to work. You know, you've got to. Most of us are disruptors in some form or another and you've got to be to kind of stand out. I know you don't agree with that, Shawn, oh yeah.
Shawn Gilfillan:
Rules are always changing.
Marc Bernstein:
We'll have your chance to talk about that soon on our next show. So, Kris, looking forward, tell me about your three-year vision and here's the way I ask it If this is January, early in January 2024, and we're now in 2027, looking back on the last three years, what would have to happen for you professionally, personally, if you want, financially, if you want for you to say that that was a successful three-year period in your life?
Kristina Taylor:
Well, the main thing I'm really looking at when we talked about contract workers being a big new segment of the workforce is I'm working on developing an app that will tie into the background screening world to help contract workers manage their maybe they have multiple jobs and also help employers, you know, tie into those workers. So I'm hoping that that app will be fully developed by that time, does this apply to your business as well?
Kristina Taylor:
Yes. So, like if you think about a contract worker, they probably have, they work, they may work multiple jobs. Well, every time they go to a job, they have to get a background check, and it's like it's time consuming and whatnot. But if they already have had it done, if they could have somewhere to go where they could say here's my background check. It's by a reputable company you know, and then the employer, the person who's hiring them, could look at that background check and then they would have that information.
Marc Bernstein:
And so, putting it more centrally located, so in a way you're creating a depository for universal background checks, in a way kind of.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, yeah that I want to look at it less as a depository. I really want to look at it as I want the contractor to own their own information because I think that's privacy is a big concern, so I want the person to have you know ownership, they have access and they control it. They control where it goes. Who gets access to?
Marc Bernstein:
it. You know what that's a better idea than mine.
Ang Onorato:
I think it's important too, because it's never been that way right, you don't know what transpires about your life and background to the employer when you're going through the application process. You just it just goes into some you know cloud somewhere and you don't know if you get the job, but you don't know why often so interesting.
Marc Bernstein:
So what else? I know you have more than that for your three-year vision.
Kristina Taylor:
Well, you know, I personally I would like to. My son's gonna graduate, so I hope that he you know College, right, Not college high school.
Marc Bernstein:
Oh, high school, high school.
Kristina Taylor:
So, yeah, he's trying to figure out where he what he wants to do and I, you know I'm trying to help him with that, but I want it to be his decision. So that's challenging, sure is. So hopefully he will have gone somewhere Sure has been there, done that, so where he can be. You know I want him to be happy and you know, so that's. You know that's on the personal front. And you know, financially I would like to. You know I always want to make more money. So, yeah, good goal.
Marc Bernstein:
I won't put a number on it because, yeah, so you had written to me about this, so I'm gonna add a couple things.
Kristina Taylor:
Okay.
Marc Bernstein:
You said, implement your current growth opportunity. Were the background checks. That was part of the growth.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, that contract worker is the growth opportunity. Yeah.
Marc Bernstein:
And you also said financially, not to have financial stresses and be able to do what I need or what one to do, which to me is the definition of financial independence. You're working because you want to, not because you have to. Is that so?
Kristina Taylor:
That and also to be able to have the financial ability to do like if I want to grow this app, if I want to do this, like, okay, now I've got to find funding. It'd be nice to not have to worry about where is that funding gonna come from.
Marc Bernstein:
So we just have a couple minutes left and, by the way, I want to give both of you my book before we leave. It's called the Fiscal Therapy Solution, so it addresses a lot of those issues. So I never plug what I do, but I'm starting to get smarter about that. So, anyway, I know you're a reader. What are your favorite books?
Kristina Taylor:
Would you like to read? Well, my all time favorite book is by Rabbi Kushner, harold Kushner and he wrote how Good Do we have To Be, which is different from his, and I always thought that that was-.
Marc Bernstein:
Why Bad Things Happen to Good People's Heir.
Kristina Taylor:
He wrote originally why Bad Things Happen to Good People, which was a very difficult book to read, I found it was.
Marc Bernstein:
I read that yeah.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, but how Good Do we have To Be? Was always like, because when you run a business, sometimes you have to make decisions that aren't popular or aren't good or don't make you feel comfortable. So it's like if you always just tried to be good, you probably would run yourself into trouble. So I definitely was searching for that answer, and that was. That's one of my favorite books.
Marc Bernstein:
I didn't read that one. I'm gonna read that one.
Ang Onorato:
Yeah, we've accumulated quite a library from talking to our guests. So and that's a really important point I think you raise about being an entrepreneur you're not always the most popular person in the room if it's ultimately for the right thing.
Kristina Taylor:
Right, you have to make hard decisions.
Marc Bernstein:
We have time for just one last quick question. Okay, if you were speaking to your younger self, what advice would you give you? Oh dear, that's Angie's question, but I knew you would like that one.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, I think it's just yeah, not stressing so much in the moment, because sometimes you take a lot on in the moment and then, and so as I've gotten older, I've become more relaxed about things that come. You know that come up, issues that come up, and trying to work through the problem knowing that eventually they will end.
Marc Bernstein:
So I know, this too shall pass.
Kristina Taylor:
Yeah, this too shall pass. That took me a long time to learn that.
Marc Bernstein:
That's great Well, that's a great end point and that's something we all should be thinking about all the time or be able to use all the time. So, Kris, I appreciate you being here today. You'll join us with Shawn for the opening of Shawn's show and which will be recorded and to be displayed on the radio sometime soon, and look for our podcast founders forum on all major streaming services. Have a great week and we'll see you soon.