Introduction
Conquering Fear and Turning Hope into Reality: We all have a vision or a dream of our perfect or ideal life. Most of us never achieve that life. Why? One big reason is fear. Fear is the enemy of hope. Without hope, that vision and the dream will die. However, hope without action is a wish. For hope to become a reality it requires purpose-driven programs and strategies. Shelley Jeffcoat, the CEO of LCM Group is an award-winning culture builder; an advocate for teens, women, and veterans, and the host of the Slice of P.I.E. with Mrs. PIE podcast.
Episode Highlights
Shelley discusses her journey of overcoming fear and doubt to create LCM Group, a purpose-driven organization that helps thousands of people. She emphasizes the importance of finding purpose and being positive and shares her experiences with content creation and community building through Parade Deck.
Shelley talks about how her faith has been a cornerstone in her life and how it has helped her stay positive even during challenging times. She encourages viewers to not be afraid of failure and to take risks in pursuing their dreams, even if it means stepping out of their comfort zones.
She also stresses the importance of being open-minded and adaptable to change, and shares her perspective on finding opportunities. Shelley believes that opportunities can present themselves in unexpected ways, and encourages viewers to stay vigilant and always be on the lookout for potential chances to grow and learn.
Throughout the conversation, Shelley shares her insights on a range of topics, including personal branding, leadership, and community building. She also highlights the importance of giving back and helping others, and encourages viewers to find ways to make a positive impact in their communities.
Some discussion points in Shelley's conversation include:
- Overcoming fear and doubt to create purpose-driven organizations
- Finding purpose and being positive
- Experiences with content creation and community building
- The importance of faith in staying positive
- Encouragement to not be afraid of failure and to take risks
- The importance of being open-minded and adaptable to change
- Finding opportunities in unexpected ways
- Insights on personal branding, leadership, and community building
- The importance of giving back and making a positive impact
- Making hope a reality through purpose-driven programs and strategies
Watch full video
Resources
Shelley: https://paradedeck.com/creator/LCMGroupLLC
Frank: https://paradedeck.com/creator/trusttheprocess
Episode Transcript - Conquering Fear and Turning Hope into Reality
*generated by AI technology and may contain text errors
(00:10)
Well, folks, today we're going to talk about making hope a reality. Making hope a reality. Now, years ago, for those of us old enough to remember Jesse Jackson when he ran for president, he often said, keep hope alive.
(00:24)
And we all have a dream. We all have a vision of what our perfect life is, what we'd like it to be. Fortunately, most people never achieve that life. So you have to ask the question, why not? Why aren't we getting there?
(00:40)
But one big reason is fear. And fear is the enemy of hope. Without hope, your vision and your dream will die. But hope alone is not enough. Hope without action, it's just a wish. For hope to become reality, it requires a purpose-driven programs and strategies.
(01:04)
And that's what we're going to talk about today. My guest today is my friend Shelley Jeff Cohen. Now, this is one amazing individual. She is an employer brand and employee value opposition leader. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes here.
(01:19)
She's a CEO and the founder of LCM Group, an award winning culture builder. She is a teen woman and veterans advocate. Now, in her spare time, she's an author and she's the host of Slice of Pie P-I-E with Mrs.
(01:39)
This is not a pie you cook in the oven. We're going to talk about that here in a few minutes, too. Shelley. Welcome to life. All three events. This is amazing. I cannot believe I'm also a super fan of Frank's.
(01:52)
Just going to throw that out there really quickly. Thank you so much for having me. What's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Shelley and I have met on Parade Deck, which we're also going to talk about in a few minutes.
(02:02)
Yeah. Shelley, for the viewers, give them a little bit about your background. Yeah, so so the short story is I am you might not be able to tell looking at me, but I'm over 50 and I've been in the corporate world for over 30 years.
(02:18)
I was trying to calculate it earlier today as I'm preparing for another conversation, but I was born in Jamaica, so I'm an immigrant. Both my parents are long gone, but my mom was a teacher and a minister.
(02:33)
My father was a business owner. And I'm just very blessed. I have siblings, I'm a mom, a wife, an aunt, all those amazing things. And I think what I really enjoy now at this time of my life is I think now I'm able to look back at the journey Frank, and see that some of these sacrifices are kind of becoming rewards.
(02:58)
I love the fact that you opened up about doubt and fear. Those were things listen, those are things that I had to get over. It took me a long time to change the mindset, letting go of the fear of starting something.
(03:12)
So I started LCM group in April of 2022. It feels like it's been a long time. A lot of people think my company is a lot more mature than it is, and it isn't. And we're just so really grateful for all of the support that we're getting.
(03:28)
I think for now, as I'm thinking about doubt and fear and kind of where I am, I just want to throw out just a little bit of encouragement. Anyone who's going to be watching this, if you're in that season where you're trying to decide if you should take that step, do it anyway.
(03:44)
Do it anyway. Just do it. So tell us about LCM. So LCM Group. So when we started it, it was around the Pie brand. So Pi actually stands for proud, inspired and Proud. It's a brand that I own. And I had started it because I was trying to come up with messaging, really for my teen daughter.
(04:05)
There was an issue within her friend's circle. This is about around 2020. I'm sure everyone remember what was happening at that time, right? Yeah, so so I wanted to create positive messaging for kids because this is just messaging and strategy and marketing, and branding is just kind of part of something that I do generally.
(04:25)
Pi was that it was a vehicle to help kids find their value. And from that I had Affirmation guides and journals. You can probably see that on our site, workbooks and things like that. But it started to grow and it grew into finding ways to support.
(04:42)
I had veteran small business owners who were trying to figure out business strategy and marketing and branding, and then also had teen organizations like Boys and Girls Club, Palm Beach County. We were able to provide training for speech development, meaning Keynote Speaking series for teens and things like that.
(05:02)
So the company is basically focused on branding for teens and veterans, for job search. But we also do business branding for small business owners. And then we also have an entertainment arm, which is where the Mrs.
(05:15)
Pie comes in. That's interesting. Now, I heard you say and I read something yeah, I'm just crazy enough I love that. Start to believe we have the power to shift the trends personal brands from window dressing to the whole person.
(05:34)
Elaborate on that. So if you right now, right now being 2023. If you go on LinkedIn now and search personal brand, there are probably a million hits that you'll get in terms of people who offer these types of services, but the majority of them focus on the window dressing.
(05:54)
So how to take a gorgeous photo, how to look Instagram ready, how to change your tagline and create a profile on LinkedIn and things like that. But for me, I do understand that branding from a personal and a business perspective has to be more than that.
(06:11)
So in the same way that I was successful in building a business brand, meaning the values and the purpose behind that product or that organization, it's the same way that that's the methodology that I use for building your personal brand and aligning it to an actual strategy.
(06:28)
So it's not about just how to look good on social media. The window dressing is eventually going to come off. I don't care how beautiful you are, you're not going to be able to get that job if you're not bringing any value to the organization.
(06:42)
Right? So the other thing is, personal brand, for me, when I started thinking about how this rolls into financial literacy so, again, how does the full package make sense? So when you go on my channels, you see there's a lot of webinars free webinars.
(07:00)
We do this weekly where we invite people to continue their education. This is a part of your package. This is a part of your brand. There's a lot of opportunities where we're introducing you to other networks.
(07:11)
So we're building a community that is also a part of your brand. It's just not about just creating a look, a window dressing, and saying, this is going to be it for you. So that's really what it is. It was controversial, though.
(07:28)
You would imagine it would have been. Imagine it would have been. What's really impressive, Shelley, is and I'm sure you get like 100 emails a day, requests a day for. We can make your life perfect and all that.
(07:45)
And a lot of it is little inspirational quotes and they're nice, but they don't do anything. So you go way beyond that, is that correct? Yes, absolutely. And so I'm very thoughtful in the information that I'm messaging out, because, again, remember, this is kind of my thing.
(08:03)
Right. And so because our brand is proud, inspired, Empowered, everything that we're sharing out, even the people that we're supporting through posts, anyone that we have on any of our broadcast, on our lives, our programs, any guests, any events that we do, it really is founded on the principles of being proud, inspired, empowered.
(08:26)
So I can't do that. If the product that I'm giving you is window dressing, if I'm working with a small business owner and they're looking at what is my brand strategy, it's not going to be successful if it's not built on a foundation of purpose, which is really at the foundation of what we do.
(08:44)
So it's trying to take all of that into consideration when we launch anything out. Listen, when I share things on social media, there is a method to the madness. There's a strategy aligned to that. It's not a mistake.
(08:59)
When I share or say something, it's usually aligned to something. That's a broader message that we want to share with the communities that we're trying to build up. I love what you're doing. An example where I work as a mentor with the University of California Entrepreneurship, the ten Bake research universities in California.
(09:20)
And they yeah, they're having trouble going from the from the laboratory to the business sector. And so they're they're they're really not doing well. And they, they said to me, well, I asked them, you're the biggest research operation in the world.
(09:34)
What's your number one reason why this isn't happening? And they said, well, we didn't meet the market need. And I'm not as nice as you. I said, well, that's a nice way to say you didn't pass the who cares test.
(09:47)
That's right. So part of what you do is nicer than that, obviously is. Why should anybody care about what you're doing? Is that right? That's exactly right. So tying it back to the purpose. So we have a lot of folks who don't listen, right?
(10:06)
They're not listening to their customers. They're not listening to their employees. They're not listening to their communities. I happen to be one of those folks who do a great job listening. I listen.
(10:16)
I listen because I want to understand. I listen because I want to learn. I listen because I'm a problem solver. So if you just take a beat in the way that you approach your business or if you're a student, you're trying to think about maybe what's the career you're moving into, you're an entrepreneur.
(10:32)
You're trying to figure out what the market needs are and where you're going to shift and grow and things like that, take a beat and listen. So listening to the market, listening to your competitors, listening to potential clients, I'm a listener.
(10:45)
And then once I figure out that, okay, there's a way that I can problem solve. I also do research, so I'm taking it back to the basics. So it's not about just throwing a solution at every problem, because I am not the solution for many problems.
(11:02)
I'm just the solution for the ones that make sense. And I'm very clear if I'm meeting with someone, I might know someone who could help you with this, it's not me. Right. So you just got to be mindful of those.
(11:12)
But again, it goes back to purpose. Right. So my purpose is there's a high level of customer service. There's credibility that's aligned. There's a reputation that's aligned to the way that I operate.
(11:26)
My name carries a lot of influence now after 30 years being around. Right. So I want to make sure that. I'm maintaining that there's that high level of care. And again, it doesn't matter if I'm talking to someone who is just doing ideation or someone who has a healthy budget.
(11:48)
It really doesn't matter to me. You're going to get the same level of support. And I think about this, I'm a mentor of many, so I don't know where by way, I don't know where this extra time comes from.
(12:01)
I spin a lot of plates. So I'm one of those people who I'm just very blessed that I can spin a lot of plates, and I do it very well until I drop one and then it's over. But I'm able to do that. I move in different circles in different ways, and I'm a part of several organizations that have me join as a mentor.
(12:21)
And so some of the things that I share with mentees, I tell them to think about. What are the five ways that you can show up? So you showing up as a strategist or as a thought leader or a subject matter expert?
(12:35)
What does that mean for you? How do you align your values and your purpose to that? And then you have to execute on that. So it's just really basic principles that I'm using that I think that's kind of helping us to be successful in growing LCM group.
(12:52)
What I love about what you do is you say, I know how to do this. Yes. And you stay on that track. Yes. I've met so many people in the course of my life. Yeah, I can do that. Yeah, I can do that too. Okay.
(13:11)
You're not an expert in everything. Okay. But the thing that Shelley and gentlemen, if she isn't the expert in it, she probably knows somebody who is. That's right. Make that connection. That's right.
(13:21)
And we build the community. So that's another thing. I call that doing good business. Okay. And this is, again, back to the core of our reputation. And because when I built LCM Group, my idea is to have this business scale.
(13:39)
So in the same way that you would set up a Fortune 500, it's the same way that I've set this business up. It's the idea of scaling. And so part of scaling is knowing your target audience and knowing what you're good at, what you can deliver ever.
(13:52)
And if there's an opportunity for us to shift and expand, we will take that on at that point. But for right now, we've got to know what we do very well and master it, right? I want to master what we do very well, and then we can kind of expand that.
(14:07)
But you got to know kind of your bubble, right? And then you operate in that and then be a good corporate citizen. And when I say corporate citizen, it doesn't matter what size, whether you're the only person in your organization or not, but be someone who stewards to others.
(14:24)
So if there's an opportunity for me to refer someone, and I'm not referring like, affiliate marketing, I'm literally referring as in, like, go work with my friend Frank. Go talk to my friend Andrew. Go touch.
(14:36)
You know what I mean? I am referring because for the benefit of the entire community, we all need to be successful. So that's kind of and I take a lot of pride in helping a lot of up and coming businesses do that as well.
(14:50)
It's outstanding. And it's a mutual give and take. Yes. Right. We all know Shelley can do this better than I can, so let me send it over that way. Because you want to do right by the customer. Whether you have the solution for them or not, you still want to do right by them.
(15:07)
That's incredible. Now, you do an awful lot of spotlighting of other businesses. You have something you called a Slice of Pie tipsy Tuesday. What is this? On our lives? We actually run four lives now for a week.
(15:24)
I'm growing, as we say this. So so Tipsy Tuesday actually is every Tuesdays at 07:00 p.m.. We invite a guest to come on and we talk to business owners or entrepreneurs. Sometimes it's people who have just launched their businesses or folks who've been at it for much longer, and it's the opportunity for other people to learn and be inspired and encouraged by some of what someone else would have done.
(15:49)
And then for those guests that come on, listen, it's free marketing. So they're coming on and I tell them, listen, this is how branding works. You're going to get the video afterwards, chop it up and use it to help support your business.
(16:04)
There is zero cost. It is just a passion of mine. And so the best thing about this so far that is we started this last June, and I started this on a bet. Frank started the lives on a bet because it was I bet you can't go on YouTube.
(16:22)
I was on YouTube watching cleaning videos and perfume hauls. That was the height of what I was doing on YouTube. But then I started to realize that this was a great medium for me to help people, to get them out front.
(16:38)
And so we've expanded from obviously we're not just on YouTube now, we stream on other channels, facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, and we've kind of grown. And then we also have podcasts available so that people can kind of listen to some of the great content that we've had.
(16:54)
But that's what Tipsy Tuesday is. I'm not a drinker. There's never any alcohol on my part. But I invite my guests to bring a cocktail if that's their thing. No one is sticking me up on it, but it's just that it's a really engaging informative, a way for you to support a business, a business owner and learn something.
(17:15)
There's a lot of nuggets that we drop in those calls. Thursdays are different. Thursdays we've shifted it to a teen audience and then, like I said, we have other lives that happen during the week. Tell us about the teen thing.
(17:26)
You put a lot of time and energy into youth. Yeah, I'm a mom of a teen, but kids just have my heart. And I don't know if it's because my mom was a teacher as well, and I grew up around kids. There's five of us as kids.
(17:43)
We're all obviously all adults now, but kids just have my heart. So we wanted to give my my daughter a way to speak to kids. And as I said, pie started really because of her. This whole thing started because of my daughter.
(17:58)
And so we wanted to spotlight we spotlighted teachers from her school at that time. They came on and talked about the great things they're working on. We've had organizations that serve teens come on during the summer.
(18:09)
We're going to take a break. Again, she's a teen, so we're going to create more content. But it's really about making sure that we're magnifying some of the great work and people within our communities globally that are helping our team.
(18:23)
So that is just another way for us to serve our community and get some good information out. I love this. My daughters are all grown now, but I was a single parent. I had two daughters. And as I learned through pain and suffering, self esteem for young women is critical.
(18:45)
Yes. And what you're doing is giving them that platform. Is that right? Absolutely. So I take back one of the funniest episodes we did. Actually, two of my favorite episodes. One of them was a back to school episode where Bella was coming on, and she was talking about getting ready for school and sharing the tips with kids, what you should do, what you should buy, things like that.
(19:10)
And I couldn't stop laughing at the top. And by the way, these are lies. We don't edit. We just go live. So whatever happens on those calls is what you see. And sometimes we're like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe we kept that.
(19:23)
But I couldn't stop giggling with Joy that she was going back to school in a couple of weeks, and she was just getting more and more upset, like, why are you so happy? Because you're going back to school?
(19:36)
And it turned out to be one of the funniest episodes, but it was so cool because we heard from other parents, who a lot of times people are watching our replay, that they were just as giddy about the kids going back to school and other episodes.
(19:51)
We had some serious ones. We had ones where she shared her battle with depression, shared thoughts of the sword and how she worked through that, how she overcame that. Again, this is a team. And so her being able to share those stories is a safe environment because she's on with me.
(20:11)
But we know that this is touching the lives of so many people. So we're so proud of that. And so we're going to keep sharing her journey as we go through high school and then touch on things like college prep and college funding and selecting courses and all of those things and bringing everyone along for the journey who could use some encouragement.
(20:34)
Means they want to be independent. They want to be like everybody else. That's exactly right. So that's incredibly important that other teens see this or parents of other teens see this, and they just say, you're not by yourself.
(20:49)
I mean, the teen internalize it. No, I'm I'm not alone. I'm not the only one dealing with this. That's right. That's outstanding. Really impressive. Really impressive. Now, we first met on something called Parade Deck.
(21:04)
You've been with them a little longer than I have. What is parade deck? So. Paradeck is actually a community of content creators. And Andrew Appleton is the CEO. I'll say this up front. I am on the advisory board now, so I'm really very proud of the organization.
(21:23)
And the intention is to create a community where content creators can we come on? And we have different events that we kind of use the tool as a one stop shop opposite. If you go to Parade Deck, you'll be able to see all of everything that I have.
(21:39)
If you go to Parade Deck, LCM Group or Parade Deck Mrs. Pi, you'll see everything all the blogs, all the books. It's a great one stop place for content creators. It's been growing incredibly. So I think we're 5.8 million subscribers in totality.
(21:57)
It's probably a little bit more than 5.8, I hope the latest numbers are. But it's such an incredible community. And I think what I really appreciate about Free Deck is these other content creators. I call them, like, real influencers, including Frank.
(22:12)
Okay? People who have been around for quite some time. They have incredible networks, access. They're credible, strong products, all of those things, right? What I love about it is that now I have access to Frank.
(22:31)
You know what I mean? Now here I am on a podcast with Frank, right? So it's just the ability to connect and reach across so many other creators who normally I wouldn't, and then there's different training and training resources that are available if you become a member.
(22:48)
And Andrew, he's just one of the one of those good guys who's just always championing other folks to do well. So I'm super proud of parade deck. I'm excited to be on the board, and there's so much more to come with this organization.
(23:07)
It's very impressive. Any of. Ladies and gentlemen out there, if you haven't heard of it, contact Shelley or contact definitely make the connection for you. At least look at it and see what potential it could have for you.
(23:20)
Now, Shelley, this is pretty amazing. You're like the juggler. Remember on the old you're not old enough to remember this, but I remember the Ed Sullivan Show. They would have a guy with stick. That's me.
(23:33)
I'm a plate. Spinner it. How do you stay so positive when you're doing, like, 400 things at the same time? Oh, I think it's my faith. I know it's my faith. It's absolute. I'm a woman of faith, so I know that's where all of my strength comes from.
(23:49)
And sometimes there are days that are challenging. Yesterday was a tough day for me. For some reason, I was just in such a funk, and I couldn't figure out what was happening, and I knew I needed to take a beat and step away.
(24:02)
But what I realized yesterday, Frank, I was working to prepare for a speaking engagement that I have coming up next week, and I had to revise the introduction slide. And as I was revising the introduction slide, it dawned on me that some of the things that I was hoping for, that I would have achieved this, achieved this is 2022.
(24:22)
I achieved it, and it's the last day in May 2023. And so I was really energized by seeing the results. I'm very results driven. So to be able to see that so what keeps me positive is I have a lot of hope in humanity.
(24:39)
I know it sounds very corny. I know that I have purpose and a reason for being here. I feel like the more good that I do for others, the more good that I do for others, and the more good that I do for others.
(24:52)
Right. That's just how I operate. And so I was always a positive minded person, but I was surrounded with a lot of negative people. Does that make sense? So once I started to mature, meaning getting older and started to make some selections in even who I surrounded myself with or the people that were speaking into my life, once I started removing some of those negative things and also removing fear and doubt, right?
(25:26) - Conquering Fear and Turning Hope into Reality
Things just shifted very quickly. And so I don't know how many of you, when we went through that period in 2000 and 22,021, you were at home and there were a lot of people baking bread and making yogurt from scratch.
(25:41)
I was one of them. And I was doing all kinds of cleaning and organizing. But the other thing that I did during that time was I was filtering in my head all the things that I needed to do to make life better for myself and my family.
(25:53)
And I never came off that journey. So a lot of folks kind of stepped off that platform once everything came back to normal. And so they're experiencing, oh, nothing's really changed. And yet for me, everything has changed.
(26:06)
And again, it doesn't mean that it's easy. It's just my response is different. Right. And so I think it's easy to be positive. It's actually hard to be negative because you have to convince yourself that something is going to fail.
(26:21)
So the energy that you would put into convincing yourself into something is going to fail. You can just as easily convince yourself, hey, this might work out. I just choose to go through, hey, this might work out.
(26:35)
Exactly. I found that to be quite an AHA moment. The pandemic is horrible as it was. It was an AHA moment. And for so many people, and a lot of us did that cleansing. I don't want this in my life anymore.
(26:50)
I want this to have happened. Even the great resignation that they all talked about, that had to do what I saw was that had to do with. There's more to my life than this. I'm sick and tired of driving an hour to work, spending eight to 10 hours in a cubicle, and driving an hour back home, 12 hours of my 24 hours day.
(27:12)
I'm doing something I can't stand. Right? You got to change that. That's what you did, and you got to change that. And so I'm fairly lucky I'm still at this organization. I would have been mention them, but again, you can see it on LinkedIn.
(27:29)
And as I'm there, we celebrated. We won 17 Culture awards. Not the kind you pay for, not the ones you not pay for play, but 17 Culture Awards in two years. And I sat at the beginning of this year, and I thought, wow, that was me.
(27:53) - Conquering Fear and Turning Hope into Reality
There was zero before me. I've only been there four years. Right? Now. I'm exhausted. Right? That was me. And so if you're thinking about overcoming fear and doubt, I had no fear or no doubt that I could do this.
(28:07)
By the way, I knew with everything in me that I could do this if I just had the opportunity to do it. Right? So now I'm on the other side of the reward, right? But it's still, what do I do next? So a lot of my energy has been just shifting into LCM group.
(28:25)
LCM group is, listen, I tried to give this thing back because, again, I mentioned I'm a woman of faith. I was like, God, I don't want to do this. I'm okay where I am. But I'm just following the journey of where it leads.
(28:41)
And it is impossible for me to look back at April 2022. Just the scale of the amount of things that we've been able to do. We can actually say we've touched thousands of lives. And I know this. We were recognized in.
(29:01)
A newspaper, which is the largest, oldest British, black and African newspaper in the UK. They've been around for 40 something years and they sponsored two articles on this US company, Me. Right. So for me, it's like and that was within months of LCM group being around.
(29:22)
And why do they spotlight US? Because I really believe that you should expand personal branding to folks who can't afford it. So, literally, I had courses on teachable that I thought, I'm going to give this away for free because people need it.
(29:37)
I'm just going to keep hammering home like, this is the information that you need to have. And part of that reward was that recognition. That helps us reach a broader customer base. Right. So it's things like that.
(29:49)
So I think for those of you all, if you're thinking about what it is that you want to do or how do you find purpose in what you do, purpose shows up the minute you say yes to it. Everything aligns and gives you what you need.
(30:02)
But you got to do the work. It's not magic. You have to do the work. There are nights and I can't remember a weekend off, but because it's so amazing, Frank, because it's so fulfilling, because I know the smile on someone's face if I share something that's encouraging and uplifting, because I know if I go that extra distance and take that call, I can help somebody else.
(30:29)
Because it's all working together. Right. But it's still work. It's a tremendous amount of work. The biggest challenge that I saw when I was corporate consultant was how stops so many things. I want to do this, but I don't know how.
(30:49)
So then I don't do it. Just go, the how will work itself out. If it's supposed to happen, the how will work itself out. That's right. Is that what you found? Oh, my gosh. Before coming on here, I was in a conversation with another podcast influencer, and one of the things that we were talking about is it literally is that it literally said, I feel like you just took what you said, but it's the how.
(31:17)
And I was sharing with her that this is the way I see it because I know I'm on track and I'm on purpose. Right. Meaning I'm aligned to this thing. Right. All these things that I need are going to show up in the right time.
(31:32)
There have been times when I've said, why is what I needed? It didn't show up. And so there's no sense in getting upset about it. It wasn't the right time. If that thing showed up before I was ready for it, I would have made a mess of it.
(31:46)
To be honest, if LCM Group or Pie showed up ten years ago, I would have made a mess of it. This is not my first venture. I actually was a clothing designer in 2002. Okay. I had a whole clothing line.
(32:00)
It was on the local television show in Nashville, Tennessee in 2002. So this is not my first foray into business. And so I know that the timing had to be right. Absolutely. But the resources that you need, it shows up differently, and sometimes it doesn't show up in the way you expect it.
(32:19)
I think that's why a lot of people, they'll drop it's like a hot potato. It's not what I expected, so I'm not going to take it well. Opportunity looks differently. So something else that I've been able to do very well is fine tune the way that I see opportunity.
(32:35)
So before I used to see opportunity, like 100%, it had to be buttoned up. Right. Now when I see opportunity, I can see the inspiration of it and then I go for it. That's very different. Right. So it's the way that if I'm in a conversation, I'm listening for opportunity.
(32:53)
I'm always listening for opportunity. And then when I'm off that conversation, I'm figuring out, what's the return on the opportunity? Right. That's how you know. Am I wasting my time? What's the return on the opportunity?
(33:07)
So it's just thinking differently about your approach? Absolutely. It's so important. It is. What if you can't tell you how many organizations that I've gone in and talk with and the terms that drive me crazy.
(33:27)
Shell probably make you crazy. Yeah. Best practice. It is the way it is. I'm just like that we've always done it this way. I hear those terms. At least my head wanted to explode. Yes. And the organizations like you and the people like you who look at something and say, yeah, I hear what you're doing, but what if what if this yes.
(33:52)
What if we did this differently? What if opens up so many doors. Yes. Wow. This is amazing. So, Shelley, we're just about out of time here. What last words you want to leave with the viewers around the world?
(34:06)
I think I want to leave some encouragement for those of you who are in a spot right now where maybe if you're feeling stuck and you need to get unstuck, get unstuck. Okay. If you're in a position where you're fearful of the next step or you're having doubts, just do it anyway.
(34:28)
Just do it anyway. I'm not afraid to fail. But here's the other thing on the other side of that. I'm not going to fail. So I absolutely believe that. And so everything that I do aligns with that. Right.
(34:41)
So you have to start with that mindset. You're not going to fail. Try it anyway. Don't worry about what anyone says around you. Something I share with my mentees all the time, and they say, I have a vision to do, blah, blah, blah.
(34:53)
That's your vision? You have to own it. You have to work it, you have to execute on it. Don't let other people tell you what your vision is. It's yours. You have the responsibility to see it through.
(35:04)
So don't get upset if people are like, I don't understand what you're doing. It's your vision, so bring it to light. And so I just encourage you. Don't be afraid to go out and do those things. I highly welcome and encourage you.
(35:17)
Please connect with me on social media. Um, I love meeting new people. I'm all for community, anything I can do. I'll churn out positive posts, but it really is coming from my heart. I'm not just throwing out content for likes and clicks, I promise you.
(35:33)
So please make sure that you're doing that. I definitely want to know how folks are doing and help in any way I can. And I am so grateful for this opportunity. Frank, like I said, I am a fan. I actually do watch his YouTube videos and you all should, too.
(35:47)
Make sure you love, like, subscribe, follow, do everything you need to. Make sure that you're staying in touch with Frank and all the work and amazing work that he's doing as well. Well, thank you. This is pretty amazing.
(36:01)
Shelley's on LinkedIn, she's on Facebook, she's on parade deck. You can find her at a lot of different places. She's easy to find. And as you just heard for the last how many minutes we've been on here, she's incredibly easy to talk to.
(36:15)
Just amazing. Just amazing. Well, as I said, we're just about out of time. I want to thank Shelley one more time for giving us the she's helped thousands and thousands of people through this purpose driven life.
(36:27)
And when she first told me she was Mrs. Pie, I went, what? You want a bakery? No, this is important. What she's doing is something you need to know. You just need to know her. Well, folks, you can see this show on parade deck.
(36:45)
We're just starting. The things will be posted up on parade deck now. It'll be on my YouTube channel, which is also known as Frank Zakari. I keep things fairly simple. And it will be on podcasts. Anything.
(36:55)
Places where you see Pod get your podcast spotify, I Heart, Alexa, music, et cetera, all those different things. I will send Ellie a link once it gets processed, and she will post it on all the places that she posts all her information.
(37:08)
In addition, now, let me leave you with this that we do every single week. Ladies and gentlemen, none of us are in this alone. And the secret to walking on water is to know where the rocks are. And today, Shelley showed us where many of those rocks are.
(37:22)
Conquering Fear and Turning Hope into Reality.
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