FLIGHT PATH
Welcome to Flight Path — where career paths aren’t linear, leadership isn’t boring, and pivots are basically a superpower. I’m Rebecca Woods. Let’s take off.
FLIGHT PATH
Rebecca Woods & Colleen Watson
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The Podcast Train keeps rolling with Colleen Watson directly from Bluebird Leaders Executive Sales Forum
Welcome to Flipk, the podcast where we explore the journey behind bold leadership, innovation, and lasting impact. Each episode we sit down with leaders, innovators, and building success by doing the work, learning the lessons, and sometimes ignoring the map altogether. Whether you're navigating healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, or simply trying to figure out what's up in your mind. Your before we take flight, we'd like to thank our sponsor. Open business professionals. Documentary. Welcome aboard.
SPEAKER_01Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Flight Path and our summer podcast train. We are brought to you by EFACS in the Buzz Podcast here in Boston, Massachusetts at our sales forum. We have one of our workshop speakers, Miss Colleen Watson. Welcome.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me, Rebecca. So nice to be here. Now we have a pass of working together, but can you tell us what you're doing now? So I'm doing two things now. So I work part-time selling for a company. Um, and then I also have my own sales training company and recently transitioned. So I was training anybody that would pay me. Right? That's what you got to do when you start. Yes. And so now I am focused on training sales teams in healthcare IT, healthcare revenue cycle, anything in the healthcare space, that's my focus. So I'm training sales teams. So if you find yourself having a pipeline that's like you're snowplowing it every month, it's pushing, pushing. Or maybe you have things that are just sitting in there so long they have uh running water and electricity because deals have been in that scary for years. Those are the types of things I help with.
SPEAKER_01Okay, awesome, awesome. All right, so we're gonna start with some fun questions to kick it off. So that uh icebreaker, summer personality. Are you beach, mountain, lake, or city?
SPEAKER_00Oh, so I love the beach, and I'm gonna combine mountain and lake. One of my best friends has a mountain house on a lake. Yeah. And it's kind of like where are we? In Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. I live in Philadelphia. Houses in the Poconos, and when I'm there, well, first because it's not mine, it's my friend's, so it's much easier. Yeah, yeah. You don't have to clean it. Right. And all of my worries just disappear. Nothing like sitting around the lake, around the fire pit. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. For me, um, as a kid, I've always gone up almost every year to Moosehead Lake in Maine, and we always joke about like there's no, well, there used to be no phone, no microwave, you know, outhouses. And so it's like so peaceful.
SPEAKER_00The weaker the Wi-Fi, the better the connection.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Isn't that so cool? I love that. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay. What song would be the soundtrack of your leadership journey right now?
SPEAKER_00Bitch better have my money. All right. I am not excited to say that. And I say that because I have a company of one, so I don't have anybody reporting up to myself. I am my toughest critic, right? Yeah. So I am I am pushing myself all of the time, and then I look at the account and I'm like, come on, we gotta go, girl. We gotta keep pushing.
SPEAKER_01I I gotta spoken like a true entrepreneur. Uh, what is one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?
SPEAKER_00Um, oh, I don't know. I'm such an open book and the talker that I put it on my overshare. I don't think anybody would be really surprised by anything with me. Um let's see. Not so much now, but I used to love rap music. That would be my hype music was rap.
SPEAKER_01See with the top-down, like Jamina.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but yeah, I'm an M fan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I love it. Okay. Um, if you could host a podcast anywhere this summer, where would it be?
SPEAKER_00Anywhere this summer, where would it be? Here's a weird answer. This summer, and this only applies to this summer. If I could host a podcast, it would be in China. Okay. Because my son happens to be going to China for two and a half weeks. Oh my god, both school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so it's literally the same son that always has something happen to him when he travels. So you're gonna be going out there.
SPEAKER_00Different son. Okay. One of my sons was kidnapped when he was traveling, but we paid the ransom and got him back. That's another podcast. But we were working together when that happened. I know, I remember. But this son's going to China, he won't have anything happen. But it's literally the other side of the world. Yes. And I would love to just if I could have like a way to just teleport there. So a quick podcast, check on home.
SPEAKER_01Check on home. Okay. All right. What was your first job? First job ever.
SPEAKER_00I was the shampoo girl at a hair salon. Oh. My mom's hair salon. So your mom's and I would shampoo hair.
SPEAKER_01So your hands always smelt good.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. I was the shampoo girl.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Okay. Some leadership questions. So what is the challenge that shaped you into the leader that you are today?
SPEAKER_00Challenge that shaped me into the leader that I am today. I think um a few things. Early in my career, I think we've all had a boss like this. I had a really, really tough boss. Really tough. I won't say where I worked, but um it was a job where we didn't clock in, but we logged into our telephone, right? So um I'm going way back. I'm going way back. I'm a little bit old. So we logged into our telephone at the end of the day. Log out of your telephone. And it was in the city and there was traffic. And then um one day I was maybe five minutes late. And if you were late at this company, you got an occurrence. So you could be a minute late, an hour late, it was an occurrence. And then, so that happened. Month or two later, end of the day, I'm leaving, I'm walking in my car, and she's like, Hey Colleen, can I talk to you for a few minutes? And I didn't say this, but I thought to myself, if you didn't give me five minutes one morning, don't ask for an extra five minutes in the end of the day. Right? Like terrible. And then I thought, one day when I'm the boss, this is I was like in my 20s, and I just thought, one day when I'm the boss, I'm gonna be real. I'm gonna be somebody that if I ask for something, people want to work for me and they want to work with me, and we're gonna be a team, and they're not gonna resent me. Yeah. So I I'll never forget that moment and that thought. That I'm glad I didn't say, but it was on the tip of my tongue.
SPEAKER_01Well, I've had the honor and privilege of working for you and you as my boss, and it's it was so much fun to collaborate with you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for saying it was and I learned a ton from you. Yeah, it was during the we definitely learned a ton from each other. It was the first time I was in, I was always rev cycle, that was healthcare IT. Sound something new. Yeah. And you were fun. You you definitely managed up. Oh, you did a great job.
SPEAKER_01Thanks. Uh, what's one thing you would tell your younger self entering Rev Cycle or Healthcare or IT today?
SPEAKER_00The challenges are are the same. We've the challenges we're dealing with now, I mean, they've evolved a little and we have AI and all of that, but the big picture challenges are the same, right? So know your stuff, keep up on industry trends. And one thing I wish I would have done better when I was younger, that I'm getting better at now, is that cheesy expression, your network is your net worth. It's so true. I wish I would have really worked on my personal brand. I always worked for the company I was with. Yeah. Which is great. I don't regret that, but I also wish I would have also represented my personal brand at the same time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I always tell people to keep posting. Yeah, sure, you can post and share for your company, but you need to be out there and posting for yourself and building your own brand because you never know where you're going to go or what's going to happen next. Or somebody's going to see you posting and actually offer you a job. It happens. Like, right? So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Here I've seen people that I don't know very well, but I see them when I'm like, I feel like I know you so well. You post so much. There's a connection.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Or for me, I post a lot, and so I have a lot of silent followers, and then I'll see them at a bigger conference. But I've been following you for the last two years. I'm like, I don't even know who you are, right? Yeah. But they're, you know, in some way you're helping them, right? And so you just never know who you're.
SPEAKER_00When I say I'm going to a blue bird leader event, and I'm like, Do you guys know Rebecca Woods? I always get, I don't know her, know her, but I know her. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, all right. Um, I you're a bookie. Okay, so what book or podcast are you into today?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I keep reading so many. I love books. I know you're books. And I especially audiobooks. The one I'm reading right now, a little weird, a little like actually I'll tell you how I picked it, because it's a funny story. So I I listen to audiobooks a lot. I go on Audible and it recommends things for you, right? It has an algorithm like anything else. Yeah. So I couldn't pick a book. Kind of like movie night with a family, you just spend so much time. So I told my husband, I'm like, I'm gonna do this on the phone and it's gonna swipe through, and I want you to stop it. And so I went like that and he and it landed on this book. Oh, I can't remember the name of it, but I'll describe it. It was uh it takes place, it's historical fiction, true story about or historical fiction, about a um female sniper during World War II. Oh, that's cool. Yes, um, who had like the most kills and during a time when women were barely knew how to barely knew how to carry a gun and that was unheard of. Yeah. So a cool badass woman.
SPEAKER_01Um what do you do outside of work to relax, find your zen, all that good stuff, besides read books and drink spicy margaritas because we know you like those.
SPEAKER_00I love spicy marks. I like to read. I um I like to bathe. And now that might not sound like a hobby to most people, but the way I do it, bathing is a hobby. I have my lotions, I have my potions, I have my setup. I spend way too much money on bath stuff. So all the things. And so like I also work out, but that's not a hobby. That's something I try to do because it's the right thing to do. But at the end of the workout, my reward, typically I do a quick shower to rinse off, and then yeah, a nice bath audiobook or regular book, and just that's my that is my zen.
SPEAKER_01Well, our MC, uh Michael Matrix is the same thing. He was so excited to have a what do you have? Like a spa tub at one of our hotels recently we stayed at, and then we have a hot tub here at the Omni, and he could not wait to jump in the hot tub here. That's great. Um, all right. Uh rapid rapid summer question. So coffee or tea? Coffee, milk, cream, black, white, black, heavy whip and cream. Okay. Oh, oh really the heavy stuff. Okay. Oh, yeah. That would not settle in my stomach well. Uh sunrise, sunset. Sunset. Okay. Favorite summer snack.
SPEAKER_00Oh. A spicy margarita. There's a snack, too. There's usually like some mud old jalapeno and mud old cucumbers. Oh, there's a snack. When you get to the bottom, the chunky stuff, that's a snack. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh, last thing you binge watched.
SPEAKER_00Um, I just re-watched Shits Creek. Okay. Totally binged it like it's my job.
SPEAKER_01Like, uh, we've all fly a lot for work, so window or aisle?
SPEAKER_00Window.
SPEAKER_01You're really? Yeah. You're the first window person I've interviewed.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01Okay, everyone has said aisle. Like, we don't have a window person. All right. One word that describes your leadership style. Servant. Okay. And fave favorite vacation that you've ever taken.
SPEAKER_00Um, we've had a lot of really good vacations. Um oh, this is supposed to be rapid fire. We were a Disney family when the kids were really little. We've done a few islands, a recent trip to Savannah, which is a beautiful city for all this from Savannah, but not something, you know, really exotic. Yeah. But it was just a quick getaway with my husband and I unplanned, just went and it was so fun. Like it was so fun. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you have two boys.
SPEAKER_00I do.
SPEAKER_01And a husband, which I always call the third child.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh so how do you manage it all? Now you're an entrepreneur, you're also working for another company. You have two boys that always in shenanigans. I'm always hearing stories about the trouble and whatever they're up to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01How do you do it? How do you do it all?
SPEAKER_00Negligence. Did you put the blues which just run free? Some, you know, joke. No, that's the puppy you have. You have a puppy. And I have and you have a puppy. Yeah, two, yeah, two dogs. Um, how do I manage it all? I wish that I could say that I had the secret to managing it all. I think that I compartmentalize what I try to do, not always successfully, but what I try to do is when I'm working, I try to be heads down and work and focus on that. When I'm with my family, I try really hard to be just focused on family time. Um, when I'm doing one, I'm not doing the other. So there's always the balance. So I have not figured out, and I'd be, I think we'd be hard pressed to find somebody that has figured out how to just make it all work beautifully.
SPEAKER_01It takes an army. That's what I tell people. It's both my mom's helping with the girls today, divide and conquer and running around. Somebody else is helping with the dog all while we're here, because it's the last week of school while there's softball playoffs and plays, and I'm like, oh my god. Right. Why'd I pick this week, anyways?
SPEAKER_00It's so hard. And then there's times when it's great, right? There's times when I'm like, I'm so glad that I'm out and traveling and doing things and filling my cup. Yeah. And then there's times when I'm like, I wish I was home. Yeah. But my kids are grown now, so no regrets. Yeah. For sure.
SPEAKER_01All right. Why why bluebird leaders? Why come here? Why support Bluebird?
SPEAKER_00Um, my goodness. First answer would be you, right? We work together and you are infectious in the best kind of way, in the best way. Um, and then also there's nothing like it. I mean, I know everybody's gonna say that, right? There's nothing like bluebird leaders, but lift as we rise. There's nothing like a community of women where you can reach out to somebody and they respond. And I've had people reach out to me, and it's not a chore, it's an honor. Like somebody reached out, and a few people have actually, and I am like, I'm honored to be able to help in your journey. I think it's just an amazing thing that you've built, and it just continues to grow.
SPEAKER_01Can't do it without people like you in the community, otherwise. Well, thank you for thanking. Just bringing everyone just brings their authentic self and we all help each other, so it's been really awesome.
SPEAKER_00There are no egos in that room. No, we check our egos at the door. It's the most dressed up I've ever been for any typically it's like located, like it's just the boat tonight will be located. Oh, I'm getting changed. But yeah, it's just the best relaxed atmosphere where we encourage vulnerability. Yeah, awesome. Thanks for coming. Thank you for handing me.