Nichole Harmon-Pointdujour On Building Her Network, Turning Gifts Into Income & Partnering + More

Nichole Harmon-Pointdujour On Building Her Network, Turning Gifts Into Income & Partnering + More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up? Its way up with Angela yee happy wealth Wednesday?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes, back again, back again. I feel like it was
my second home.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yeah, Nicole point yes, Ash she said it right, y'all
year that Yeah? Sure, but AKA Nicole Harmon. That's how Yeah, yeah,
that's how you know me.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
She's known me for decades, right, so Nicole Harmon yes,
now point d'sr.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
When did you change your last name?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I officially changed it, I want to say about a
year ago. But I've been married for two years. So
my husband's like, what do we No.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I think that's interesting because, like you said, I have
known you as Nicole Harmon for so long. Yeah, how
what was that process like? Because sometimes I think for women,
men don't think about how, like you know, how people
have known you, the branding that goes behind that. But
now point sounds fancy, said.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
It does, but it was, like you said, it's a
hard transition because I've been on w wash sheet since
I was twenty one, and everybody knew me as Nicole Harmon,
like you even to me as the Cole Harmon. So
even when I wrote my book, I put Nicole Harmon
point to jour. But legally it's the Cole point to sure, right,
but it was my husband was like, we're married, Like
you have a different like you need to change your
last name. But it was a hard transition for me
because I was always known as n Cole Hartmon. So so

(01:07):
people are gonna know who I am. They're not going
to answer my email. Like my friend I was like,
who is this right? Everybody everybody was doing, especially I
worked it like are you gonna answer my email?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
But well, the first time we had you on here
was early on in your business. You know, you are
the massive connector, and that's been who you have been
all this time. But now you know, I've always been
supportive of that because even in early conversations, just the
way you've been able to link people together, link corporations
and branding opportunities with people. That's definitely a skill that

(01:39):
I think that you've always had. Thank you, you know,
from when I first met you. And this can be
something that also was a business.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's a business, yeah, and you actually encouraged me because
you used to always say when are you starting that business?
When are you starting that business? And I'm like, Ange,
I'm just working. I don't know. I just connect people
you're like, no, this is a business. So thank you
for encouraging me to step out there. And I just
celebrated my one year anniversary on October third, Right, for
a long much in the business. But yeah, so literally,
I connect people, charge a few for connections. But I

(02:05):
also have an event called in the Room where I
bring corporate executives, industry leaders together all in one room
to help them get access to people that they know
me wouldn't come across on a daily basis. And I
interview a celebrity that has made it to do their
career projector tell us their career trajectory. So you're my
next guest, yes, November six, But just to give people
access to understand like what it takes to grow a business, right,

(02:25):
how did you start from point A all the way
to point Z and be successful at it?

Speaker 1 (02:29):
And I think the other really important piece of this,
because I know I'm going to be your special guest,
I November said, but another really important piece of this
is being in the room with other people and making
those connections. I was at an event over the weekend
and somebody asked me, you know, we're here and we're
looking at all these panels right, and there's people in
the room, but like, how do we make this something
that we can quantify? And so, and this was like

(02:52):
a younger person who wants to be in media and
is just getting started. How would you answer somebody that said, Okay,
you know I'm here, I'm in this, but how do
I turn this into more?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, that's a great question. So people ask me all
the time like how did you budget? Network? How do
you know? So many people? I tell them leave a value.
So if you're in this room and you're meeting somebody,
try to figure out how you can help that person
before you come with an ask, because ninety percent of
people come and ask well for things. They ask me
for things all day long, and I'm like, it's just
a little on Nicole. But when you're in that room,
you quantified by one figuring out how you can leave

(03:22):
a value to them, what you can help the other
person with following up And that is so important. When
we go to these different events, we get all these
business cars and they left in our purse or in
our pockets, or we put them in the trash, like
we don't do anything with them. Follow up with within
twenty four to forty eight hours seventy two at MAX
and just say it was a pleasure meeting you at
the Master Connection Agency event. I would love to connect

(03:43):
with you this week over coffee. Zoom and person always
tell people to do lunch because it's something about breaking
bread and breaking barriers, which I talk about.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, that's in the book.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Then they book, Yeah, breaking brand and Breaking barriers where
people let their hair down with over a meal, right,
and you get to learn more about them. But scheduling
that follow up within twenty four to seventy two at
the MAX to continue the conversation is important.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
I agree with that because at an event like that,
when there's like fifty people, you know, coming up to
one person asking for things, you know, will you be
my mentor will you do this? Will you do that?
While you may be amazing, it's really hard for anybody
to discern that just from an initial meeting when there's
a lot going on, people are pulling you in different directions. Yes,
and so yes, that follow up is important, and it's

(04:24):
important to think about what type of value that you
can bring to the table because I think that it's
also a job for you to be a mentee. Yes, right,
you're not just going to be absorbing from somebody, but
you also have to be like, Okay, how can I
make this person feel like there's some type of connection
where they actually want to have me around exactly.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
And I also also lead with do good business. Oh
my god, Ane's like, doing good business is so important
because just as good as good news travels fast, bad
news troubles fast. So when you get that opportunity, make
sure you show up on time, makes you execute with
excellence right, let them know what you can and can't do,
because if you do a good job, they're gonna say, oh,
you plug me out of time. That's my homegoing to
call like she does X, Y and Z. I might be, oh,

(05:03):
you know this person, yeah, exactly, because I do good business.
How did I not do good business? You would be like,
I'm not right. And so I think that's important when
you get the opportunity to make sure that you have
all your ducks in the road to execute whatever the
task is that they give you.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Let me ask you this though there's sometimes that people
may personally not like let's just say you know, let's
say you didn't know me, and you're like, oh, you know,
I'm gonna go on ange Let's show and they're like, oh, yeah, no,
I don't really you know, mess with her. She did X,
Y and Z. How do you discern when somebody's telling
you something about a person, but in some where you're like, well,

(05:36):
should I go find out for myself because they may
not be my experience. But then there's also that, well
you did get a warning from somebody who had a
bad experience. Don't go in there and do something that
You're like, dang, you know, she wants.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Some great questions. So every day I pray to God
to ask for discernment because there's tons of people around me.
There's tons of people that ask me for things, and
literally I ask for discernment. And you're right, just because
they treated this one person that way, man, I mean,
that's how I'm going to treat you. But you just
go in there with that in the back of your mind, saying, Okay,
I heard this and this about that person, but I'm
going to go in and see for myself whether it's good
or bad. So I tell people just to take the

(06:09):
opportunity because that might have been their one off experience.
And I also give people grace. Sometimes they made them
have bad day, right, and so just understanding, like if
it's a pattern, if you hear from three or four people,
then okay, maybe we shouldn't bet X Y Z right
if it keeps coming up. But for me, if I
hear it one or two times, I'm gonna go see
for myself to make sure that that person, you know,
see if that person is what they say they are.
Because sometimes people tell you they'll sell you a story,

(06:31):
they could do X, Y and Z, and then you
book them and it's like, wait, you don't do X,
Y and Z, right, right, So sometimes I find out
the hard way, but at least I gave them a
shot to see.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, because that's always a difficult thing. There's so many
people that like, you know, don't get along with somebody,
or they want you to not like somebody because they
don't like them. And now you're like, you know, it's
it's just a crazy business.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's a crazy business. And your name speaks like you
have to do good business. But you're right, there's people
that I have friends out I don't get along, but
I'm like that's between y'all, right, right, and I just
try to keep the peace, so you.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Know, and another thing when we talked about the breaking bed,
breaking bread and how important that is. And I see
you always are, like, you know, going to lunch or
one thing that you do a lot is you go
out and support people. Like if somebody's like I'm gonna
be in Atlanta, I have this going on, you will
pop out even if you could only come for a
minute and you have something else to do, just showing
your face, I think, and you know, trying is important.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Support is. So it's funny because Cynthia Bailey same was
fu I had a dinner with her and she said
Nicole was gonna support no matter what. I got baptized
and she had an event and I like came out
the water like I'm going to say water the water
put their hand in and pony. I was like, I
gotta support my friend. But those things matter, right, like
supporting your friend, posting their posting their business on your
social media page, showing up when you can't. If you

(07:44):
did an event one time Atlanta, I couldn't make it,
but I sent my friends to support you.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
So it's like those things matter because that builds a
relationship and it shows like Niicol's gonna support me. So
I'm gonna support her too, and like I said, just
showing up. But breaking bread, like I talk about in
the book, is so important. Where you have dinner with somebody,
you get to understand who they are and like feel
like it lets your hair down over a meal. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
I always feel like we have a lot of options
on who we can do business with, but we're always
gonna choose the person that we actually also like if
they're if it comes down to like, okay, you know,
either I'm gonna sit down with a co harmon or
a co point Djur, right, they both are equally qualified,
but I kind of like the co point Djur, like,
you know, like I enjoyed being around her, and sometimes

(08:25):
that can make or break a decision where somebody is
like all things else, you know, taking into consideration, I
want to do business with somebody that actually like that's true.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
People do business with who they like and who they trust.
And you already know there's people on your fault. They called.
It's like, oh my god, they're calling me because what
they they're gonna ask me for? Right, And it's like,
don't really want to do business or I want to
do with this headache or they're always late, or they're
just different things that characters that people have. So that's
why I tell people, like, do the good business, show
up on time and try to be a good person.
Like it costs you nothing to show up for your friends,
It costs you nothing to post their stuff there, costs

(08:55):
you nothing to support So like, yeah, people do business
with who they like and who they trust.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Now this is it's a crazy political time as well,
and I want to ask you, how does this play
a role into you know, people actually collaborating and working together,
Because sometimes if somebody doesn't morally align with what you
believe or what you feel, that can put kind of
like a hindrance. But you may feel strongly about something
like let's just say, I don't know who you're supporting,

(09:22):
you know, in this office, but let's just say, let's
just say you didn't really like Trump that much and
somebody was a huge chump supporter, right it's you know,
all up and down their page and very defensive of
their president. How does that affect how you do business
or should it?

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah? So again, so I come from the corporate world,
and we're taught not to teach religion or politics. You
can't talk about those two you're from Wall Streets or
from Wall Street. Yes, and so once I brush out
on my own, I talk about God every day, Like
if anybody looks at my page, I always talk about God.
I did want to say in this in this climate,
three hundred and sixty five thousand black women have lost
their job since January three hundred and sixty five thousand,

(10:02):
and so I tell people that we need each other
more than ever. You need to collaborate, you need those allies,
You need people to help you and your business grow.
Your network is your net worth. So if I don't
agree with somebody's political views, I just try to we
don't talk about it, Like I don't really talk about
politics because I think I'm brainwashed from Wall Street, where
you can't really talk about it. But there's like some

(10:24):
companies that may sponsor my event but may think differently
than I think.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
The CEO might feel away and now you're like Dan,
the CEO of this person donated money to X campaign.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
And yeah, it gets really really tricky. I try to
focus on the bottom line, which is helping the community.
That's why I try to focus on like are you
sponsoring this? Are you bringing in your resources to help
us get this event off the ground. I try to
focus on that and not really get involved in the
politics because again, you're in corporate you can't talk about
those two.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
So now your business is a year old. Now it's
a year old.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, There's also been.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
A lot of things happening with like rollbacks on programs
and DEI want to I want to see how has
that affected you or has it at all?

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yes, it's definitely so. Again, the three hundred and sixty
five thousand black women lost their jobs in this year,
I was a black woman. I'm no longer on Wall Street.
I didn't lose my job, but I chose my business.
But it does affect with sponsorship. So my last event,
I had Amazon and Puma sponsor because DNI changed the
lack we're focusing internally. So that hurts with me trying
to put on an event using those corporate sponsored sponsorship dollars.

(11:25):
I do have one company that came in. It was like,
we're supporting you no matter what, and I'll announce them
if you come to the room November six. But I'm
just grateful to still have those connections to help sponsor.
Because events cost a lot to put on. So I'm
grateful to have those connections, but it's hurt a lot
of people are hurting right now because organizations that do
sponsor D and I are rolling it back, or they're
focus internally, meaning that they're focusing on the Black and
Broann employees that are internal to them versus external events.

(11:48):
I spoke at it like three or four events conferences lately,
and they all said, like, we hurt this year because
we didn't have the corporate backing. And it sucks because
they have these great events for the communities to help
us right grow our network, get education information, and corporations
are just like either we don't have it, or our
budgets cut or you know, spending it elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Now, you said you left Wall Street to focus on
your business. I did tell me how that decision went,
because I know there's people listening right now who are like, well,
I have this side hustle that I'm doing, or I
have you know, something that I aspire to start or launch,
but I'm scared to leave my bread and butter. This
is what pays the bills, this is how to be
able to fund my business. How did you decide it

(12:28):
was time.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah. So, as Angela mentioned, I've been on watch you
twenty one years. That's a long time. That's two decades, right,
And that's all I know is that security, that corporate check,
the insurance, the fo okay, all the things that come from.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
And then sometimes there's people who mess with you just
because of that too.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
There's people that will because you have a certain position.
They're like, oh, we need to know her.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and I was, and I was at VP, and
I had a certain position like you said I had.
I was in charge of a multi million dollar budget.
So yeah, some people were don't be in charge of
no budget, right, And it was all thou best friends,
all one thousand best friends. But God gave me the vision.
And like it's just so, God gave me the vision
launch this business. A year ago. You encourage me. Some
other people kept saying, like you have something special, launch
this business. I help people now identify how to how

(13:11):
to identify your gifts, right, because yes, you could be
doing something as doing something as a passion project, but
how do you get paid for that? So that's my
calling that God put over me. It's called paycheck, paycheck
to purpose, that's what it is paycheck to purpose. But
it's where I help people figure out how to identify
what their gifts are and how to get paid for
your gift, your God given talent. God gives us a
gift to give away, and that's how I monetize my gift.

(13:33):
My gift is the master connecting people. I wrote a
book on it. I have events where I connect people
in the room. If somebody's saying I want to speak
about something, I want to get more corporate, get corporate
a lot. I know people at corporations that can help
them get speaking opportunities. So I teach people now, like,
don't be scared, write it out, get a plan, stay
at your job as long as you can. To fund
the business, because running a business costs so much money.

(13:55):
Oh my god, people don't realize that. Right. I have
to pay extra for Zoom, like something I think about
because my meeting is over an hour. Zoom was like,
I'm excuse me, o'ver a forty five minutes done? Done
in two minutes? Right, So little things that add up.
You have to have trademarks so people don't steal your
name or your copyright. So I tell people more. You
have to have funding you can get business funding, make
sure your credits right, but operating in your gift, it

(14:18):
just feels so much better. So God told me like,
it's time for you to move. I have something bigger
and better for you. And I was like, all right, guy,
you know what I can do. You know where my
bills are, So I just took the leap.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
So how has it been? Also, like we just said earlier,
there's people that were your besties, you know, when you
have that budget that you can allocate and then you know,
now it's kind of like a reverse where it's like, Okay,
I need to tap into some budgets, you know, to
get everything done that I need to get done. How
has that been for you as far as you know,

(14:48):
realizing things sometimes about people around you or do you
think that in general it's been supportive?

Speaker 2 (14:54):
So that's an amazing question. So for me, I actually
felt like it was a breakup because I lost my ident,
I lost my day.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Twenty four years is a long time time.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah. I was always the VP on Wall Street, Like
I've been there since I was twenty one years old,
and so now I'm like, well, the first thing people
ask you is what do you work? What do you
do on the CEO of the mass Conector Agency? What
is that? Because it's not a big household name yet
y'all yet. But I did have to look into that
because I'm the strong friend that doesn't like to ask
anybody for anything. That's me Like, I don't like to

(15:23):
ask my friends. I have some high profile, high powered friends,
and I never like to ask. And I came to
a point where it's like, Okay, Nicole, you need to ask.
You have this business. See who's in your corner, see who'
supporting you from the ground up. And my friends have
been I'm just grateful to God they have been so supportive.
Like you specifically, You're like, I'm coming to Atlanta. Tell
me when I gotta be right, Like my friends are like,
whatever you need, I'm there to support, So don't be

(15:45):
scared to ask.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
And you're right because a lot of us, I think,
feel like we have to go it alone, and sometimes
when things are hard, we don't want to tell anybody
how hard it is hard, and you just feel like
I got to just grind it out myself and get
it done and come through one the other side when
it's okay to be like, listen, I need. I guess
some help here, like I have this going on. You know,
I ain't got the budget I used to have.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Right, And you'll be surprised how man people will help you,
would help you, and you just got to ask. And
what's crazy is I had that dinner torch I mentioned
Cynthia earlier, and I said, y'all, I'm not on washing it.
I pulled my close friends together in Land. I said
I'm not on wash it anymore, and they were like,
all right, it's about time. I was celebrating. I'm like, no,
did I hear what I said? Like I left this
nice cooking shop right, and they're like, no, you're about

(16:27):
to saw. I called et. When I write, He's like,
oh my god, you're about to sew. Everybody was so
excited for me, and I'm like, no, I just left
like my comfort, Like this is a comfort. You know.
I was doing well there and so I was saying that.
They all were like, well, nobody knows what's going on
in your life. They don't know that you left for washing.
You need to be on social media talking about it.
Cynthia specifically said, we need to know, we need to
hear from you and I'm like, you want me to
go in there and tell my business like that's how

(16:49):
That's how I looked at it. But I was like,
you know what, y'all, I'm gonna go on there and
say I'm a full time entrepreneur. This is what I'm doing,
this is how, this is what I've learned. This how
I can help you grow your business, how can help
you stop out on faith? So, yes, I started on
social media. I'm on the camera all the time that
I just tracking my life and showing the trajectory of
how I started and where I'm going.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah. No, And I know that's what we're gonna be
talking about even more in November six.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, November six. Get in the room, yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yes, And it is important to get in the room
and events like this. I always tell people sometimes I
know we could feel like, well, you know, this is
this something that I have to do for work, This
is something you.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Have to do for you, for you. I want to
say one quick story. So one of my friends was
on a panel and high profile person and I was like,
I wasn't feeling myself. I just left my company two weeksaited.
She's on a panel and like and she said, I
support all my friends. So I'm like, I'm gonna pull
myself together go to this event. I really don't want
to go cause I'm just like Morning leaving walls sheet,
but I go to support her. She comes off stage
and she's like, you don't look like yourself, and I

(17:44):
was like, what does that mean? I thought I pulled
myself together. She's just like, you're usually high energy, like
you know Nicole, And I said okay. She's like, I'm
giving you sister girls time, taking you to lunch. We
went to lunch. At the lunch and a girl walks
over and she goes, I know you, but I'm thinking
she's talking to my friend and she's like, no, I
know you, and I'm like me. She said, yes, she
said I came to your event. I said really. She
said yeah. She's like your event changed my life. Oh wow,

(18:06):
that's what I said. I said, I even changed your life?
She said, I said how? She said, I'm working on
a real estate project in Tennessee, so two million dollar project,
and I met a guy that does government contracting in
the room ature event that's helped me with my contracts.
And so it was like stories like that I'm like, God,
I hear you. Let me keep going.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, that made you feel like really energized.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yes, I'm like, okay, go now I'm on the right track. Someone.
If your event changes someone's life and they get the
opportunity to help with their business, that's why I created
the room so you can meet people that can get
you to the next level.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Well, I'm excited to be there because I'm hoping I
can meet some people.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
But you got to ask all the people come out.
I'm trying to.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Miss some people to get me to the next level,
you know. I just I have that building in Detroit
that I did and we've been working on getting into
a permanent mortgage. And I actually met this woman at
a conference. She's from Detroit, but she works, you know,
she has a VC fund and she connected me with
another woman who runs the Opportunity Resource Fund who helped

(19:01):
us get in with the bank. Like it was like
a whole chain of things happening. But if I wouldn't
been in that room.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Room to meet that person, Yes.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know, and I always want to make sure we
give credit to the people that are you know. Shout
out to you, Shelana, Thank you so much. For that,
but I haven't even known her that long. And sometimes
it's the people that you're going to end up meeting
at an event like this who are like minded, that
are trying to win, that are trying to get somewhere,
that are ambitious, and that have no problem helping you, yes,
you know, and that you have no problem helping them either.

(19:30):
Those you know, I know. We feel like we have
our friends who we grew up with, who we've known forever,
but sometimes these newer people that are kind of come
into our lives are the ones that are going to
really help us on the trajectory that we're on business wise.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, it's easier to gather that open yourself up to it, yes, exactly.
And so these people in this room coming here to network,
like they're in the room saying I want to help
help people. I want to grow my network. So when
you come into the space, the garage are already down,
the time is here. We're here for it. Yeah, we're
here to help everybody, and so I'm excited. I'm excited
that you're coming.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
All right, Well, I cannot wait to see you guys.
Where can people get tickets?

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, so you can get tickets at www dot Themasterconnectoragency
dot com. That's my website. You can also follow me
on Instagram at the Master Underscore Connector and the link
is in my bio. Hopefully you guys all come use
code connect twenty to get twenty percent off. I'm given
I just specifically for Angela, ye, since I want her
radio show today, So get your tickets now. It's going

(20:24):
to be a dope room. I'm interviewing Angela. She's gonna
give you all the chips on how she got her businesses,
her coffee, her real estate. Right. But you'll be in
there with I have one major corporate sponsor coming and
they're bringing their executives, right, and so it's all about
being in the room with those executives that have a
seat at the table like I was. I can help
write a check to sponsor your businesses.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
All right, we love it, well, Thank you so much, Nicole.
Always appreciate you. I'm looking forward it and looking forward
to it, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of
you in the room.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
In the room November six,