November 18, 2025 • 43 mins
In episode 46 of The Adaptive Mindset, Brett Gallant interviews Michele Novack, a seasoned leader in finance and cybersecurity with over 30 years of experience, as she shares her inspiring journey of transformation, resilience, and the importance of overcoming fear to pursue your dreams.
Tune in to explore themes of confidence, leadership, and the mindset shifts necessary to thrive in an evolving digital landscape.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:06] Transformation and mindset shift.
[00:06:44] The fear of failure.
[00:09:18] Who's missing out if you don't show up?
[00:12:54] Personal transformation through self-acceptance.
[00:16:19] Embracing Authentic Self-Expression.
[00:22:02] Overcoming imposter syndrome.
[00:25:54] Live your best life yet.
[00:28:08] Self-care for entrepreneurs.
[00:31:58] Leadership and delegation strategies.
[00:35:59] Live your best life yet.
[00:39:01] Mindset is a muscle.
[00:43:14] Impacting someone's life positively.
QUOTES
- "You can only be resilient if you can endure it." -Michele Novack
- "We've got to stop worrying about what other people think." -Michele Novack
- "Once you love yourself and know who you are, everything else will fall in line." -Michele Novack
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Brett Gallant
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brett_gallant/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.gallant.9
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-gallant-97805726/
Michelle Novack
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cardinalsbyte-mnovack/
WEBSITE
Adaptive Office Solutions: https://www.adaptiveoffice.ca/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thoughtleader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we
don't just talk tech, we unlock the strategies, stories, andmindset shifts you need to stay secure, lead boldly, and
thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcomeback to the Adaptive Mindset. Today's guest has
(00:25):
spent over 30 years leading in finance and cybersecurity, butbehind that experience is a deeper mission, helping
people transform fear into confidence, both in business andlife. I'm very pleased to have with me today,
Michele Novack. Michele, welcome to the show. It's greatLooking forward to it. Perfect. Hey, let's
(00:51):
dig right in a little bit of your origin story. You'veworked in leadership and cybersecurity for decades, but your story goes
way beyond that. It's one of transformation and mindset. HowYou know, it happened many, many years ago, you know, beyond my role as a business owner,
my journey has been one of like really resilience and growth andtrying to empower only, not only myself, but
(01:17):
others. And a couple of years ago, I mean, I worked infinance and banking for over 30 years, like you said. And I
saw the writing on the wall, right? The transition, the changes. AndI said, you get to a
point where you know that you're next up. Youknow that eventually you're going to get hit with, you know, we're downsizing and
(01:40):
this and that, you know, and it had to really kind ofhit me and say, where do I start? Like if I get if I lose
my job today, I've never not worked for someone. Whatam I going to do? Where do I go? How do I
start over? And, you know, I'm in a later stage of my life. Right.
You know, I'm not a spring chicken anymore, I tell everybody. So it kind ofreally made me kind of figure that out. Right. I had to sit down and say,
(02:07):
well, I can see the writing on the wall. I know it's coming. It's a matter of time. Andthat's really kind of where it started. Right. It drove me to
like a profound desire to kind of findout who Michele was without a corporate job. Hmm. Yeah.
And push me into me, finding me and, youknow, creating new skills. I went back to school when I was 50, you
(02:31):
know, and became a cyber engineer. It wasn'teasy, you know. Yeah,
so I think that, you know, answers your question, right? Like,where did it start? That's where it started. It was the fear of being casted
out. And what would I do next if I lost my job? It'skind of where it started, right? And I
(02:55):
think for me, helping people and empowering them and helping themthrough that journey, because I'm sure there's many, many people out
there in this world today either going through it orhave the same fears, which Joel may write
my book too, right? Overcoming your fear as an entrepreneur, right?
So how do you help people that have had that fear? LikeYou know, I think when I sit down and I have a conversation just like
(03:25):
you and I are having right now, you know, you talk about it, you know, what's on your mind? Whatare you worried about, right? When you start with those conversations, you
know, why are you afraid to follow that dream, right? Everybodyhas some type of ideal or
dream that they want growing up or later stage oflife, but it falls in the fear of silence, right?
(03:47):
Why do some of those die in silence, I always say? Andit's about transforming your mind, right? Like people
have to get to the sound understanding thatanything you do is a risk. And once
you overcome and understand that risk and understand that, youknow what, so what if you fail? it's how you pick
(04:08):
up those pieces and begin to continue on that matters,then you get through it, right? Transforming your idea into action
seems to be a thoughtless challenge that most people have,you know, and it's not only personally, but professionally, right? We
gather our thoughts, we sit there and we say, I want to do this, butnothing happens. And
(04:30):
that's what goes on. And, you know, my conversations are,you know, why are you afraid to follow your dream and be innovative? I
did it. I said, you know what? Got to write down apiece of paper. Well, the skills I have, what does that mean for me?
What can I do with all the skills I have in 30 years in banking? Right?
(04:51):
Or what new skills can I acquire that support what'sYeah. Yeah. You know, Brett, I'm sure you yourself, right? We all been through that journey.
You and I have the same background, right? In cybersecurity. Andit's not an easy field, you know, but Yeah,
you have to be one of resilience. You got to buckle down. Oh,But it's actually I love it. You know, I would never give it up
(05:16):
now that I do it. Right. Yeah. But it's not it'snot for everyone either. Right. No procrastination. I
always tell everybody. But I think on some level, procrastination insome level is healthy. People who procrastinate, some
people just get caught in that realm and they continue to procrastinate andthey worry, I'm going to start my business. And then they'd start the planning phase and
(05:38):
they stay in that planning phase for a year and two years. Andthey keep finding more and more reasons why not to
do it. That's huge to do it, right?
Oh, I can relate to that somuch. It parallels how
I started my own business. I started Adaptivein 2010 and there was another person in the community
(06:05):
that had the clientsfrom another company, but before he officially started, he was waiting
for the perfect business card, perfect plan. Ijust went and executed. In that case, I didn't procrastinate, but
sometimes we procrastinate too much waiting forthe perfect plan. It's sort of like that story
(06:28):
I've heard about the man and woman waiting forthe perfect time to have children. By the time they
paid off the mortgage and the education, they were 72. Itwas too late. Perfect time is now. You got to go after
You know, it's interesting. I talk to a lot of people like youdo, and it's right there. And I always say, well, what drives
(06:51):
that? But it's really the fear of failure. Mostpeople are afraid to fail. And
when somebody tells me that, oh, well, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'mlike, just pull the trigger. I started my business. I was like, I have no idea, but I'm going to
go out there and say, this is what I'm doing. And I'm just going to figure it out alongthe way. Doesn't mean I haven't made mistakes. Doesn't mean I haven't
(07:11):
come back to the board. Doesn't mean I had to learn how to builda business plan, understand how to project. I
had to do all those things. I never did. I never ran a business before in my life, right?
You know, obviously working for corporate, they make it look simple, butit's not, right? It's a lot of responsibility. You have people that
rely on you now. And that's even more ofa responsibility. But it's fear of failure, right?
(07:39):
People get so stuck in the fear of, well,what if it doesn't work? Well, what if it does? Right?
Like... Bingo. Yeah, yeah. Youdon't know unless you try. Michael Jordan failed. Right.
Think about Michael Jordan. I always I'm inspired by his story, but himand others. Right. But I always go back to that, Michael Jordan, that
(08:01):
a thousand times he failed before he made it. Einstein, evenThese are great minds, great people. But, you know, everybody had
Yeah. You know, how do you know your purpose, right?
And commit to it. I think that's another thing that, you know, peopledon't trust themselves. And I think that comes, it
(08:25):
comes from a deep innate of howyou are raised, the things that you've been taught throughout
your entire life, what you've seen growingup, and what you believe about yourself, right? We all self-sabotage to
some extent, because we're conditioned that way, right? IOh, bingo. I've you know,
(08:51):
I I'm a card carrying member, but I'm I'm workingon resigning my membership of the imposter syndrome club.
Yeah, I'm almost out. So. That'sa good thing. Yes. Yes. You know,
there's a heart of what you're saying. And it reminds me of a gentlemanthat helped me launch the podcast. He says,
(09:15):
who's missing out because you're not showing up? Oh,my God, I love that. Yeah. I love
that. Because deep down, we'reall meant to help people. And
if there's something, for folks listening, there's somethingon your heart that you're called to do, you're
(09:36):
possibly affectingsomebody's life by not showing up. You could make an impact on
somebody's life. Who's missing out? SpeaksYeah, as you say it, it's absolutely true though, right? Like, I never
looked at it that way, but as you say it, it's absolutely truebecause, you know, I always believe like you have
(10:03):
Your life's path will lead you where you're meant to go, right? If you really trustin it. And let's get to trusting your decisions, right? Because
that's another reason why people fail. They don't trust themselvesenough. You've got to trust your decisions and
be a game changer. That's how you get there. You're notalways going to be right, but you've got to make that decision. Pulling the trigger,
(10:24):
making it happen, right? Keep going. But trustis a very finicky thing, right,
for a lot of people. And, you know,you're right. Like, think about it. If Einstein never
showed up, right, where would we be today? Candles,right? Benjamin Franklin never showed
(10:46):
up where we would be today, right? Like, think about thinkabout like people from four or five hundred
years ago. They don't have the technology. They don't have the advancements thatwe have today. We're so much further advanced that
we could do anything we want. Let's not even get talk about AI.
Right. Oh, I know. As soon as you said everything,everything I use is AI today. Right. Like so. Yeah. Let's not even
(11:11):
talk about machine learning. Let's not talk about quantum computing. Let's not talkabout all of that, right? Think about those folks, you know, hundreds of years
ago. Things we take for granted. Yes. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
To my point, we take our lives for granted becausewe don't know any better. You know, I mean, and that's the
(11:31):
way the evolution of life is supposed to happen. We're supposed to get better and better andbetter and better over time, right? Our parents want for us more than
they had. We want for our children more than we have.
And it will always be cyclical and continue to give and go andgo. But, you know, again, why do some people get it done and
then others never give their ideas, get their ideaslike what ties back to my own personal transformation. Sometimes you
(12:02):
just get to that point where you say enough is enough. It'seither that, or you've just instinctively always
been a person that's just, I'm going after it. Butfor me, for some of my pivotal moments
is when I've decided what I've, I recordeda reel recently where I really dawned on
(12:23):
me, it's time to go all in. I fallin on the belief of myself, my identity. There are
things that I really haven't accepted and I think there's things ineverybody's life that we don't accept about who we are and how we show up in
(12:44):
And, you know, that's so important. So I wrote another book, right?
It's called Shifting Your Mindset to 21 Days of Abundance. Thatbook, so profound. But for me, I
did it for me because I was going through a really horrific timein my life. I got depressed. You know, things were
overwhelming. You know, we all go through that.
(13:04):
Right. And if you say you've never had one of those moments, well, I don't know.
But I had one of those moments and I really had to look at myself and say, whoare you, Michele, looking hard in the mirror, cry at night, and
then kind of break all down my trauma from my years ofliving and get through it. And, you know, I wrote that
book that's profoundly personal for me, butalso as a guide for others. Because if you go
(13:29):
through that book, it's many chapters, but you take a 21 day journeyAnd it asks you deep questions in each chapter before
you can move on to the next. And you find who you are. Youmay not like who you are. You may not
find what you what you what you thought you are, butyou become a better version of you. And that's really what I found, like
(13:52):
by doing and writing that book to your point. Right.
You get to the nitty gritty and you can look at yourself in the mirror andbe authentic. Right. We got to stop worrying about what other people think.
I mean, we're living in a society that everybody judges everybody. Andit's just it's just very sad because
(14:12):
Nobody can judge me. I don't judge anybody. Be you, let mebe me. But it's very hard to live that way these days, unfortunately. And
my passion has really given me theopportunity to share my experiences, whether it's
navigating the highs and lows. of entrepreneurship, creatingimpactful collaborations or just offering whatever free
(14:38):
resources or support in the community and be mindfulabout other people's journey. I think that's very hard. When
you meet somebody, you'll get nervous. I mean, Iget nervous. I don't know you that well. Right. And
you're afraid to kind of just speak your truth because you don't want to be judged.
But we have to do that. We have todo it because who's missing out if we don't do it? Again,
(15:03):
going back to what you said, it's profound. That saying isprofound, right? Like, maybe one person
will hear you and I speak today and say, you know what? Ido need to evaluate my life. I need to get over the
fear of what I'm doing. And I want to start that business. I hope Ido it right. Like if I we can encourage one
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person to find those hidden fears that hold them captiveand let it go. Right. And, you know, I dare
you, right? I'll dare you reveal your own journey, explorethe raw battlegrounds of your mind. start
And what are you going to be honest with yourself? Don't you? Andif you're not, and if you're not ready, you just need to explore or
(15:56):
I think we all have. And you know, whether you have a sound friend,a spouse, you know, that one person that's been
there, whatever it could be, it could be a partner, it could be anybody. Youknow, if you're spiritual, spiritual people, whatever it might be,
right? You got to ask for help. Peopleare so afraid and ashamed. I'm going to use that word ashamed.
(16:19):
I think a lot of people are ashamed of showingtheir true person to other people because they're afraid
again of being judged or not being accepted. Andyou know what? It doesn't matter. Showing yourself to
Yeah, I danced in the bank today. Iseriously did. Good for you! We
(16:44):
were pretending to be, we were waiting for the bank to openand we, I live in Canada, the bank, it was called Scotiabank,
but we were all there, we were pretending to be Walmart readers. I said, youknow what, that's it, I'm renaming the bank to the Social Bank. Be
(17:04):
I love it. You know, it just brought me to somethingthat I do. I mean, I have a grandson that's two and a half, and we
go around Target, and I'm like absolutely crazy inthe aisles with him. I mean, everybody's always looking at me, and my sister's
like, calm down, you're embarrassing me. I'm like, I don't care. Don'tstand next to me. I'm a kid right now.
(17:24):
I'm a two year old kid playing with a two year old. And that's all that matters tome. But that's how genuine you have to really get to.
And it's really hard for some people to let that, you know, to get there. And,you know, I don't want to minimize that journey because it's no, no, 100 percent.
I'm just I'm at a place where I feel comfortable doingthat, even dancing. And when I go to the United States, especially
(17:47):
when I was in Denver with my wife, we went to Target. I was dancing inthe middle of the aisle. And she's like, I don't know you, but
You do. And then, you know, you want to embarrass them more. So you continue withit. You know, the shenanigans, guys, I have. But it's good.
It's good for us. You know, that just means that, you know, we've come sofar in our own journeys that we're OK with it. Right. Like, yeah. And
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Yeah, I think. Yeah. And we're talking about it right now, aren'tYeah, and I think, you know, our message out there is, you
know, a let's talk about being a game changer when whenyou want to start your own business and you could probably validate this. You
don't know where to start, but there are free resources out there. Iwent to a government. training
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program, right, to teach me how to start my business. Itwas a six-month course with the Women's Economic Development
course, and that's what it was called, and you got a certificate. Butthey taught you all about business, all the essential things
of what you needed to know about business. So for anybody out there that'sreally looking to do that, they need to start there. If you have no
(18:58):
idea about how to run a business, yeah, you can wing it, you can go out,you can, you know, whatever. It depends what type of business you're running, but it
helps you talk about how to structure it, the type of structure youneed, legalities of it. It walks you through building
a business plan, the marketing, right? We all struggle withmarketing. Gotta love my AI bots that are out there every day, posting
(19:18):
to LinkedIn, Facebook, right? Because Lord knows I don't have thetime. Um, but, you know,
so you need to have, it was really foundational for me because again,I've never ran a business before and everybody has their own
way of approaching those things, but there's a lot of free resources. Um,you know, government contracting and stuff like that. There's a whole nother element
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Other business owners. I found over the years,speaking to other business owners, hey i'm i'm
doing this or going to a chamber of commerce butother business owners we we often forget to ask others
and i believe most people want to help each other so wedon't ask question enough questions or
(20:01):
or the right questions or we feel likeAnd you know, you hit it dead on, right? Like the
Chamber of Commerce and small business. When I launched my business, I did. Ireached out to a lot of people that I knew owned businesses, friends of mine. talk
to me, you know, here's my thing. I tested my theoryright before I launched, you know, and then when I first came out,
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I asked them, I asked them, I said, can I do this on your business forfree? Can you allow me, give me feedback, right? Like I
went out there and I, you know, put myself out there because I needed totest it. And I made tweaks along the way before I got my
first client. You know, I remember walking into my first clientand I had to do a presentation. Yeah. I'm
(20:49):
going to tell you, I was a nervous wreck. But oneof the things I did and, you know, I walked into this client
and I was in there and I was like, you know, listen, I'm going to be very honest withyou. You're my first client and I am scared right now. And
I told him straight out. I was like, you know, I'm hoping that youwill find through what I exposed to you today, through me telling
(21:09):
you about the benefits of working with me and who I am, that you'll agreeto be, you know, take me on and continue with me or whatever I
said. But, you know, going back to what you said, peopleare willing to help. And that client looked
at me straight in the face. And you know, they weren't a small client. Andthey said, you know what? We got you. He
(21:30):
actually said that. The owner of the company, we still talk. He'slike, we got you, don't worry about it. He goes, you know, feel free, walk
us through your product, walk us through your process. AndThat moment and vulnerability, that was another key
thing. I just, I feel like, I just want to say, I feelYeah, I mean, it's hard to be vulnerable because again,
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that leads back to, you know, imposterYeah. And you know what? I'm trying to get over that.
It's hard. I had that too. I mean, I think we all go through it. A lotof people go through it. I don't know. I haven't met one small business owner
who hasn't told me they haven't gone through it to tell you the truth. Okay.
Yeah. They've done the mental drills and youknow, know your best self. Right. But they've
(22:25):
all gone through it. You know, I think what empowered memost was, you know, just helping me break through that barrier of
myself and overcoming my own, again, fears aboutwho I was, building my own
journey and trusting my own journey and letting go everything else, right?
You know, I have an atypical personality. So a lot ofpeople tell me you're very direct. And It's
(22:50):
just who I am, right? And I don't want to change that because that's whoI am. You have to get to a point. Of course, you're
tactful and you adjust to your audience becauseyou have to in business. But there's an element of
you that should not change, I should say. Andyou've got to be authentic and true to yourself. And once you get there, I
(23:11):
think in anything that you do, whether it's a business, whether it'sgoing to play soccer, or you want to go and become the next opera
singer, I don't know. You gotta just be true toyourself, right? You
and I have that similarity where we agree with that, right? Like otherpeople do wanna be out there and help you. There are so many communities
(23:32):
now building up, especially I think after COVID, peopleare trying to get back out, networking more into the community where
you're seeing people face-to-face, but online, there's tons ofthem. I just met a gentleman the other day that
works for a big company And they've beenin business for 25 years marketing, but they are developing
(23:54):
platforms for online communities. Like some of their customers are Lego,right? They have the online community so people can meet and
talk about just Legos or whatever it is that they want to do in that community. It'sisolated. But I see a lot of that today, right? Like
even us, cybersecurity, we're trying to build a community onLinkedIn and gathering people together. And you see more and
(24:14):
more of that happening because We all need support eachWell, human beings, we all thrive
on connection. AndI remember after COVID, or
in the middle of COVID, when we were first able to do something sociable,I was doing Scouting Leader, and we were
(24:38):
able to allow the kids to meet together, but wehad to maintain social distance. Within the first 30 seconds,
By the first thing, the other scout leaders ofchild clothes line, my boy, and they were
(24:59):
just laughing and having fun. But it was so beautiful. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, I mean, we are what you do. You want that connection. Youneed that. That's what makes the world go around. I mean, there's like I
said, there's good and bad and everything that, you know, there's a lot going on in the world today.
And, you know, to stay grounded, to say to stay focused, to,Like, I can't let there be in the driver's seat. Oh,
(25:28):
God, no. Yeah. Yeah. And we too often we do.
But you know what, I'll tell you the truth. But like, I can't say that I don't have doubts everynow and then, right? Like, we all do. Financially,
we all have that financial responsibility and burdens, which theyadd up. But you got to live a meaningful
(25:48):
life. Like my motto to everybody is live your best lifeyet. Go and live your best life yet.
I tell everybody it's in my book. Go live your best life yet. Ifyou had to close your eyes today and nothing mattered,
no money, no health issues, no nothing, what wouldYeah, that's one of the questions I have in my book. And are you being honest with yourself? Is that
(26:14):
Yeah, it's one of the questions in my book, but some of those questions willreally make you think about yourself. So,
you know, it's not and I think I even stated in like thevery foreword of the book that, you know, this is not for somebody who wants
to pick up a book and, you know, doesn't follow through. This is someone who'sgoing to do the work. And I state it very clearly because you
(26:36):
really, it's got to be thought-provoking, right? It's very thought-provoking questionsand you're creating a space for authenticity. You're inspiring
yourself, right? You're kind of unpacking whoyou are. You know, I'm making making it, you
know, being informed about kind of how you'regoing to live your life going forward. What's going to motivate you?
(26:58):
What empowers you? You know, for me, living vicariouslyto my grandson is what's doing it for now. Right. but
you and your scout kids or whatever it might be, right? Your sons, Ithink we all have that. We lose sight of that. Like life is
life. And we, you know, as entrepreneurs, you know,we can work 70, 80 hours a week and we have our heads down. And especially
(27:22):
in the cyber world, you know, that's when it gets hacked. That'sthree days of your life, you know? You
know, but pulling back from that, right? What doesWell, I think the lesson I've learned in my own journey,
I've lost, released over 120 pounds sinceOctober 23, Michele. God bless. And
(27:48):
entrepreneurship, as you know, Theone thing that I would tell people what I've learned is
you have to treat yourself first, treatyourself like your best client. So you have the energy and
we forget that. And so that's part of the mindset ofthat. We need to be really honest with ourselves. Are
(28:10):
we really putting our own oxygenmask on to be able to show up? And
then you handle fear in a whole different way, because I'm handling fear in a wholeYou know, it's interesting what you just said, putting the oxygen mask on,
you know, because we don't take care of ourselves asentrepreneurs. No, you learn to. So
(28:35):
I'll rephrase that. But as you're growing your business and scalingyour business, you know, we all go through certain phases as you grow your
business, right? And you get to the next level, whatever. And you got to say, what'senough for me, right? There's got to be a point where, what do you really want?
And it goes back to some of those questions, right? Like, what does that mean? Yeah,what tells you nothing will ever fulfill you unless you
(28:56):
love yourself. And I don't care what anybody says if you don't love yourself first.
you'll never be fulfilled. So it's got to start with that. And that'swhere that oxygen mask. Yeah. That's
where you know, right. We've all had those moments and youlet your hair down and you sit in bed at night and you know, you're up until three
o'clock in the morning and everything's rushing through your head 100 milesan hour. And sometimes you get the most inspiring things on
(29:23):
how to change your business at those hours. But, um,you gotta also learn to shut it down, shut the noise. And
I've done that for myself, right? Well,I'll tell you one of the strategies and, you know, one of
the things that I've done because we all have full plates. Ihave a list of maybe 20, 30 things, you know, you look at your calendar, like
(29:46):
you said, we've been on meetings all day. I've always said there's threethings I wake up in the morning and I write down the three priorities that
I need to complete looking at my list, three. IfI get to a fourth, you're very lucky. Three. And
I know by the end of the day, comeno matter what, I'm going to fulfill them. I'm going to do those three things.
(30:08):
And I make it around taking care of myself first. It's got to be one thing thatI take care of myself. What am I going to do for myself today?
Because that's the most important, to keep us going andnot having to use an oxygen mask. The
second is, what do my clients need? And thethird is, what's my business need? Or what's
(30:29):
the community? Where am I at? Right. If the business andthe clients are good, then, you know, where my community, what else
do I need in my family? So like those are the three things thatI always kind of focus. And I, you know, I scale through and I pick the three
things and I break at a time. OK, between this time and this time, I'm going to do thisfor this. This is my time. This is business time, work
(30:50):
time. Right. So I'm doing this podcast with you today. Thisis my time. I wanted to do this today. I wanted to share. This was part of my
car today. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes.
Right. And that's I think that's fundamental people.
If you don't have some kind ofstructure or goal in your day, no matter how.
(31:15):
how big your company is or how small it is. You'lljust keep spinning. You're on the spin cycle. You'll be a boat
lost at sea. You can think that you got 90 thingsdone and you know what? All of that stuff is still gonna be there tomorrow. And
that's why you have people. You have to learn to delegate, right? You'vegot to learn to trust, trust others because we
(31:35):
all get caught up and I can do it. I can do it.
Can they do it? Can they do it the same way? Let it go. You hiredI've adopted what I say a lot
now, because I've learned this from scouting with thescouting group that I partner with a lot in another city on
(31:56):
their trailer, theslogans there, train them, trust them, let them lead. And
when I talk about leadership, I think of that allthe time, because that's what I've done with my team. train them, trust
them, and let them lead. Step back and let them dowhat they do so I can have that time
(32:17):
and I like that's key. SoAnd it doesn't mean it's not going to come with all of
the baggage that comes with, you know, running a business, right? You're going tohave those moments. They're going to have people. Things are not always going to work out.
But, you know, if you train them and you train in the right way and it's how you react, youknow, one of the things I've learned is, you know, when the fire is burning and there's
(32:39):
a fire and you've got to put it out, Istep back, I'm very calm, and I listen. Okay, well,
we have a fire today. Well, what's the solution? I getit, what's the solution? And you know, they'll all, everybody's,
what's the solution? And I'll ask them 15 times, what's the solution?
And so everybody kind of, you know, andit's funny, like Fridays are a fun day. It
(33:05):
was called Friday fun day. an hour before the weekend, beforethe end of the, I don't care what went on this past week, I don't care if
we lost clients, gang clients, fires, talkto me about you. Like, what are you doing the weekend? What
are our plans? What's going on? Tell me about afun moment this week, you know, whatever you need to do,
(33:26):
right? Let it all out, vent it out, let's get it out, youknow, but giving them that space to
do that, right? Being aleader, you have to lead and we're
on show and I've learned that, you know, the tough way, you do learn that the tough way, butI've been in corporate for many, many years. So I get it as well, right? I
have, God, I've had that ability whereI understood that a very long time ago and learned that lesson that, you know,
(33:52):
they're watching you and, you know, ifyou're crying in the corner, they're gonna cry with you. But if,
you're reassuring them, it's gonna be all right. They're gonnabuild that confidence even further. And next time when a fire comes,
they're gonna handle it and they're gonna come to you and say, hey, we had a fire today, but this is what we did,right? And that's where you get to eventually with
(34:19):
your folks. So I think that's very important, right? Likedoing that and just being real and authentic. I mean, it doesn't
mean we don't fill up our days, doesn't mean that Again,I've gotten calls nine, 10 o'clock at night. Clients have my personal
cell. I have some, which I don't recommend everybody do,but I'm one of those. But
(34:42):
there are a few clients out there where, you know, they have my celland I've gotten calls, you know, I think I've just been hacked. I'm like, okay, well,
let's go, you know, but you have to blendit. And it's very hard to balance. Life is hard, right? Like, Sometimes
we have personal lives, we have family that gets sick, right? Wehave, you know, I'm in, you know, Gen X, so I have parents
(35:06):
that are older, right? We have kids, youknow, and going through God knows what crisis at
this age, right? So you'redealing with a lot of moving, juggling pieces and juggling that is
not easy. And that's, you know, listen, getting a therapist is Irecommend it. I've had one myself, right? It helps
you get grounded. My book, my first book was dedicated to mytherapist because she really helped me understand loving yourself first is
(35:32):
what it's about. Once you love yourself and know who you are, everything elsewill fall in line. And it's absolutely true. I didn't believe her back then, but
I know it takes a while to accept that. Yeah. Now,you know, I wrote this down. I wrote a few things down while we were talking and
(35:55):
And I will, you know, I'm looking forward to the next phaseYou know, I'm again, life is living and
having fun and making experiences and, andliving at your 10 X potential. No.
You know, it's interesting. Life is really that simple. Like you can do whateverYeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm a member
(36:20):
of that overcomplication club. But I've I've I'vejoined the simple, simple life. I'm not simple, though.
I dance right along with you. I'll tell you the truth, Brett, because I'm right inthere when I see something fun. I'm like, let's just do it. Who
It was great. Michele, when I went to tell her before they opened,But that's when you know you're alive, right? You're living your best life. You know, I'll
(36:52):
share a quick story because I don't know how much time we have left. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Two years ago, I died. They had to resuscitate me.
True story. Right. Oh, wow. And yeah, well, youknow, stress as a kind of, you know, health is very
Yes. Now, you know, love yourselffirst, but take care of your health. But anyway, short
(37:16):
and long of it is, is you really do kind of get a different perspectiveon life in addition to everything else that you're already going through in your journey. And
I mean, I woke up in a hospital didn't know where I was. butit made me look at my life differently, profoundly, and ask a lot of
tough questions in addition to that book I wrote, right? AndI think, you know, you gotta really kind of,
(37:42):
if you're not a writer, you're not a journaler, record yourself, talkto yourself. You may seem crazy, but you're not. Love yourself, yeah.
Love yourself. And then write down what matters to you,right? Like, I write that every day. I write down one thing that matters to
me in the morning. Right? What matters tome today? Yeah. Right? Outside of everything else,
(38:04):
I always write what matters to me today. And I answer that question. I'm like, that'smy focus today. That's what matters. But I remind myself
that I matter. A lot of people donot do that for themselves. You matter. We
all matter. you know, and again, it's about loving yourself,right? But what matters to me today, and it could be what matters to
(38:25):
me today is making sure that everybody gets paid on time, right? Itcould be anything, right? I'm just, you know, being very lighthearted, you
know, but, you know, it could be what mattersto me today is going home and celebrating my daughter's birthday. It could be
anything, but whatever matters to you, make sure that it's the most importantthing in your life at that moment. And be happy with it.
(38:47):
I just, I want to piggyback on that for peoplelistening, you matter. You
I think it's ideal. I mean, we drive a message and you're doing a great,great job here, right? But getting that message out for people, I
(39:08):
think it's very important. You know, adoptive mindset is,you know, the name of the podcast and it is about mind. Our
Mindset is a muscle, I say. You know, it's a muscle thatAbsolutely. You know what's interesting? The mind is
a computer and the mind doesn't know what's real or not. And that's mybook. Your mind only knows what you tell it. And
(39:35):
If you tell yourself you're sad, you're gonnabe sad. You can control that, but you just have
to make the decision on how you're gonna perceive itand turn it into something. It's just like energy. Where
Yeah, so that's a, you know, again, my name is Michele Novack. The nameof my company is Cardinal Bytes Cybersecurity Risk
(40:00):
Management. They can certainly find my book on Kindle. Ihave a few books out there. So it's definitely on Kindle, Amazon,
wherever you want to go. Yeah, I'm onLinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on a lot of different kind
of connective type of small business community centersand stuff. But those are the primary. I think I'm on Facebook. I know I'm
(40:28):
I would always say LinkedIn. I tell everybody to go to LinkedIn. Youknow, I'm always on that thing. It sends me messages. It kind of reminds
I love it. Hey, before we go, I want to do something, okay? Okay.
I've been doing this a little fun. Rapid fireOkay. Okay. Let's
(40:50):
start. Okay. One small business, one small businessJeeva AI. Okay. Okay. What's
(41:14):
Yeah. What's one thing you do every day that protects yourmindset? Tell myself what
matters. Yeah, you said that. Finish thissentence. Living my best life yet means.
I love it. I love it. Hey, okay,My IT guy is gonna take care of it and antivirus cures
(41:49):
So true. Okay, andif you could tell your younger self one thing about leadership, what
That's an interesting question. My younger self wouldbe, believe in who you are and don't
(42:13):
Yeah, that's so true. Abusiness client of mine says, don't let anyone ever
tell you how to run your business. Lastquestion here for you. A
(42:36):
Find a way. I say that to everybody. Find a way. Theytell me it can't be fixed. Find a way. Diana
Ayad. Her storywas one of the best stories. I always go back to her TEDx talks, but
Perfect. Beautiful. Michele, thank you so much. Wehad such a great time today getting to know you. In closing,
(43:01):
just think of what Michele says, living, you know,live your best life yet. So please
connect with Michele, share this episode. likeit, but especially share it with somebody that could be impacted by
what Michele shared. You can make a difference in somebody's life, insomebody's day. And that's what we're here for. Michele, thank
(43:27):
Thank you. Thanks, Brett. Appreciate theThanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. If you found value in
today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age.
Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thoughtleader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we
don't just talk tech, we unlock the strategies, stories, andmindset shifts you need to stay secure, lead boldly, and
thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcomeback to the Adaptive Mindset. Today's guest has
(00:25):
spent over 30 years leading in finance and cybersecurity, butbehind that experience is a deeper mission, helping
people transform fear into confidence, both in business andlife. I'm very pleased to have with me today,
Michele Novack. Michele, welcome to the show. It's greatLooking forward to it. Perfect. Hey, let's
(00:51):
dig right in a little bit of your origin story. You'veworked in leadership and cybersecurity for decades, but your story goes
way beyond that. It's one of transformation and mindset. HowYou know, it happened many, many years ago, you know, beyond my role as a business owner,
my journey has been one of like really resilience and growth andtrying to empower only, not only myself, but
(01:17):
others. And a couple of years ago, I mean, I worked infinance and banking for over 30 years, like you said. And I
saw the writing on the wall, right? The transition, the changes. AndI said, you get to a
point where you know that you're next up. Youknow that eventually you're going to get hit with, you know, we're downsizing and
(01:40):
this and that, you know, and it had to really kind ofhit me and say, where do I start? Like if I get if I lose
my job today, I've never not worked for someone. Whatam I going to do? Where do I go? How do I
start over? And, you know, I'm in a later stage of my life. Right.
You know, I'm not a spring chicken anymore, I tell everybody. So it kind ofreally made me kind of figure that out. Right. I had to sit down and say,
(02:07):
well, I can see the writing on the wall. I know it's coming. It's a matter of time. Andthat's really kind of where it started. Right. It drove me to
like a profound desire to kind of findout who Michele was without a corporate job. Hmm. Yeah.
And push me into me, finding me and, youknow, creating new skills. I went back to school when I was 50, you
(02:31):
know, and became a cyber engineer. It wasn'teasy, you know. Yeah,
so I think that, you know, answers your question, right? Like,where did it start? That's where it started. It was the fear of being casted
out. And what would I do next if I lost my job? It'skind of where it started, right? And I
(02:55):
think for me, helping people and empowering them and helping themthrough that journey, because I'm sure there's many, many people out
there in this world today either going through it orhave the same fears, which Joel may write
my book too, right? Overcoming your fear as an entrepreneur, right?
So how do you help people that have had that fear? LikeYou know, I think when I sit down and I have a conversation just like
(03:25):
you and I are having right now, you know, you talk about it, you know, what's on your mind? Whatare you worried about, right? When you start with those conversations, you
know, why are you afraid to follow that dream, right? Everybodyhas some type of ideal or
dream that they want growing up or later stage oflife, but it falls in the fear of silence, right?
(03:47):
Why do some of those die in silence, I always say? Andit's about transforming your mind, right? Like people
have to get to the sound understanding thatanything you do is a risk. And once
you overcome and understand that risk and understand that, youknow what, so what if you fail? it's how you pick
(04:08):
up those pieces and begin to continue on that matters,then you get through it, right? Transforming your idea into action
seems to be a thoughtless challenge that most people have,you know, and it's not only personally, but professionally, right? We
gather our thoughts, we sit there and we say, I want to do this, butnothing happens. And
(04:30):
that's what goes on. And, you know, my conversations are,you know, why are you afraid to follow your dream and be innovative? I
did it. I said, you know what? Got to write down apiece of paper. Well, the skills I have, what does that mean for me?
What can I do with all the skills I have in 30 years in banking? Right?
(04:51):
Or what new skills can I acquire that support what'sYeah. Yeah. You know, Brett, I'm sure you yourself, right? We all been through that journey.
You and I have the same background, right? In cybersecurity. Andit's not an easy field, you know, but Yeah,
you have to be one of resilience. You got to buckle down. Oh,But it's actually I love it. You know, I would never give it up
(05:16):
now that I do it. Right. Yeah. But it's not it'snot for everyone either. Right. No procrastination. I
always tell everybody. But I think on some level, procrastination insome level is healthy. People who procrastinate, some
people just get caught in that realm and they continue to procrastinate andthey worry, I'm going to start my business. And then they'd start the planning phase and
(05:38):
they stay in that planning phase for a year and two years. Andthey keep finding more and more reasons why not to
do it. That's huge to do it, right?
Oh, I can relate to that somuch. It parallels how
I started my own business. I started Adaptivein 2010 and there was another person in the community
(06:05):
that had the clientsfrom another company, but before he officially started, he was waiting
for the perfect business card, perfect plan. Ijust went and executed. In that case, I didn't procrastinate, but
sometimes we procrastinate too much waiting forthe perfect plan. It's sort of like that story
(06:28):
I've heard about the man and woman waiting forthe perfect time to have children. By the time they
paid off the mortgage and the education, they were 72. Itwas too late. Perfect time is now. You got to go after
You know, it's interesting. I talk to a lot of people like youdo, and it's right there. And I always say, well, what drives
(06:51):
that? But it's really the fear of failure. Mostpeople are afraid to fail. And
when somebody tells me that, oh, well, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'mlike, just pull the trigger. I started my business. I was like, I have no idea, but I'm going to
go out there and say, this is what I'm doing. And I'm just going to figure it out alongthe way. Doesn't mean I haven't made mistakes. Doesn't mean I haven't
(07:11):
come back to the board. Doesn't mean I had to learn how to builda business plan, understand how to project. I
had to do all those things. I never did. I never ran a business before in my life, right?
You know, obviously working for corporate, they make it look simple, butit's not, right? It's a lot of responsibility. You have people that
rely on you now. And that's even more ofa responsibility. But it's fear of failure, right?
(07:39):
People get so stuck in the fear of, well,what if it doesn't work? Well, what if it does? Right?
Like... Bingo. Yeah, yeah. Youdon't know unless you try. Michael Jordan failed. Right.
Think about Michael Jordan. I always I'm inspired by his story, but himand others. Right. But I always go back to that, Michael Jordan, that
(08:01):
a thousand times he failed before he made it. Einstein, evenThese are great minds, great people. But, you know, everybody had
Yeah. You know, how do you know your purpose, right?
And commit to it. I think that's another thing that, you know, peopledon't trust themselves. And I think that comes, it
(08:25):
comes from a deep innate of howyou are raised, the things that you've been taught throughout
your entire life, what you've seen growingup, and what you believe about yourself, right? We all self-sabotage to
some extent, because we're conditioned that way, right? IOh, bingo. I've you know,
(08:51):
I I'm a card carrying member, but I'm I'm workingon resigning my membership of the imposter syndrome club.
Yeah, I'm almost out. So. That'sa good thing. Yes. Yes. You know,
there's a heart of what you're saying. And it reminds me of a gentlemanthat helped me launch the podcast. He says,
(09:15):
who's missing out because you're not showing up? Oh,my God, I love that. Yeah. I love
that. Because deep down, we'reall meant to help people. And
if there's something, for folks listening, there's somethingon your heart that you're called to do, you're
(09:36):
possibly affectingsomebody's life by not showing up. You could make an impact on
somebody's life. Who's missing out? SpeaksYeah, as you say it, it's absolutely true though, right? Like, I never
looked at it that way, but as you say it, it's absolutely truebecause, you know, I always believe like you have
(10:03):
Your life's path will lead you where you're meant to go, right? If you really trustin it. And let's get to trusting your decisions, right? Because
that's another reason why people fail. They don't trust themselvesenough. You've got to trust your decisions and
be a game changer. That's how you get there. You're notalways going to be right, but you've got to make that decision. Pulling the trigger,
(10:24):
making it happen, right? Keep going. But trustis a very finicky thing, right,
for a lot of people. And, you know,you're right. Like, think about it. If Einstein never
showed up, right, where would we be today? Candles,right? Benjamin Franklin never showed
(10:46):
up where we would be today, right? Like, think about thinkabout like people from four or five hundred
years ago. They don't have the technology. They don't have the advancements thatwe have today. We're so much further advanced that
we could do anything we want. Let's not even get talk about AI.
Right. Oh, I know. As soon as you said everything,everything I use is AI today. Right. Like so. Yeah. Let's not even
(11:11):
talk about machine learning. Let's not talk about quantum computing. Let's not talkabout all of that, right? Think about those folks, you know, hundreds of years
ago. Things we take for granted. Yes. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
To my point, we take our lives for granted becausewe don't know any better. You know, I mean, and that's the
(11:31):
way the evolution of life is supposed to happen. We're supposed to get better and better andbetter and better over time, right? Our parents want for us more than
they had. We want for our children more than we have.
And it will always be cyclical and continue to give and go andgo. But, you know, again, why do some people get it done and
then others never give their ideas, get their ideaslike what ties back to my own personal transformation. Sometimes you
(12:02):
just get to that point where you say enough is enough. It'seither that, or you've just instinctively always
been a person that's just, I'm going after it. Butfor me, for some of my pivotal moments
is when I've decided what I've, I recordeda reel recently where I really dawned on
(12:23):
me, it's time to go all in. I fallin on the belief of myself, my identity. There are
things that I really haven't accepted and I think there's things ineverybody's life that we don't accept about who we are and how we show up in
(12:44):
And, you know, that's so important. So I wrote another book, right?
It's called Shifting Your Mindset to 21 Days of Abundance. Thatbook, so profound. But for me, I
did it for me because I was going through a really horrific timein my life. I got depressed. You know, things were
overwhelming. You know, we all go through that.
(13:04):
Right. And if you say you've never had one of those moments, well, I don't know.
But I had one of those moments and I really had to look at myself and say, whoare you, Michele, looking hard in the mirror, cry at night, and
then kind of break all down my trauma from my years ofliving and get through it. And, you know, I wrote that
book that's profoundly personal for me, butalso as a guide for others. Because if you go
(13:29):
through that book, it's many chapters, but you take a 21 day journeyAnd it asks you deep questions in each chapter before
you can move on to the next. And you find who you are. Youmay not like who you are. You may not
find what you what you what you thought you are, butyou become a better version of you. And that's really what I found, like
(13:52):
by doing and writing that book to your point. Right.
You get to the nitty gritty and you can look at yourself in the mirror andbe authentic. Right. We got to stop worrying about what other people think.
I mean, we're living in a society that everybody judges everybody. Andit's just it's just very sad because
(14:12):
Nobody can judge me. I don't judge anybody. Be you, let mebe me. But it's very hard to live that way these days, unfortunately. And
my passion has really given me theopportunity to share my experiences, whether it's
navigating the highs and lows. of entrepreneurship, creatingimpactful collaborations or just offering whatever free
(14:38):
resources or support in the community and be mindfulabout other people's journey. I think that's very hard. When
you meet somebody, you'll get nervous. I mean, Iget nervous. I don't know you that well. Right. And
you're afraid to kind of just speak your truth because you don't want to be judged.
But we have to do that. We have todo it because who's missing out if we don't do it? Again,
(15:03):
going back to what you said, it's profound. That saying isprofound, right? Like, maybe one person
will hear you and I speak today and say, you know what? Ido need to evaluate my life. I need to get over the
fear of what I'm doing. And I want to start that business. I hope Ido it right. Like if I we can encourage one
(15:24):
person to find those hidden fears that hold them captiveand let it go. Right. And, you know, I dare
you, right? I'll dare you reveal your own journey, explorethe raw battlegrounds of your mind. start
And what are you going to be honest with yourself? Don't you? Andif you're not, and if you're not ready, you just need to explore or
(15:56):
I think we all have. And you know, whether you have a sound friend,a spouse, you know, that one person that's been
there, whatever it could be, it could be a partner, it could be anybody. Youknow, if you're spiritual, spiritual people, whatever it might be,
right? You got to ask for help. Peopleare so afraid and ashamed. I'm going to use that word ashamed.
(16:19):
I think a lot of people are ashamed of showingtheir true person to other people because they're afraid
again of being judged or not being accepted. Andyou know what? It doesn't matter. Showing yourself to
Yeah, I danced in the bank today. Iseriously did. Good for you! We
(16:44):
were pretending to be, we were waiting for the bank to openand we, I live in Canada, the bank, it was called Scotiabank,
but we were all there, we were pretending to be Walmart readers. I said, youknow what, that's it, I'm renaming the bank to the Social Bank. Be
(17:04):
I love it. You know, it just brought me to somethingthat I do. I mean, I have a grandson that's two and a half, and we
go around Target, and I'm like absolutely crazy inthe aisles with him. I mean, everybody's always looking at me, and my sister's
like, calm down, you're embarrassing me. I'm like, I don't care. Don'tstand next to me. I'm a kid right now.
(17:24):
I'm a two year old kid playing with a two year old. And that's all that matters tome. But that's how genuine you have to really get to.
And it's really hard for some people to let that, you know, to get there. And,you know, I don't want to minimize that journey because it's no, no, 100 percent.
I'm just I'm at a place where I feel comfortable doingthat, even dancing. And when I go to the United States, especially
(17:47):
when I was in Denver with my wife, we went to Target. I was dancing inthe middle of the aisle. And she's like, I don't know you, but
You do. And then, you know, you want to embarrass them more. So you continue withit. You know, the shenanigans, guys, I have. But it's good.
It's good for us. You know, that just means that, you know, we've come sofar in our own journeys that we're OK with it. Right. Like, yeah. And
(18:13):
Yeah, I think. Yeah. And we're talking about it right now, aren'tYeah, and I think, you know, our message out there is, you
know, a let's talk about being a game changer when whenyou want to start your own business and you could probably validate this. You
don't know where to start, but there are free resources out there. Iwent to a government. training
(18:36):
program, right, to teach me how to start my business. Itwas a six-month course with the Women's Economic Development
course, and that's what it was called, and you got a certificate. Butthey taught you all about business, all the essential things
of what you needed to know about business. So for anybody out there that'sreally looking to do that, they need to start there. If you have no
(18:58):
idea about how to run a business, yeah, you can wing it, you can go out,you can, you know, whatever. It depends what type of business you're running, but it
helps you talk about how to structure it, the type of structure youneed, legalities of it. It walks you through building
a business plan, the marketing, right? We all struggle withmarketing. Gotta love my AI bots that are out there every day, posting
(19:18):
to LinkedIn, Facebook, right? Because Lord knows I don't have thetime. Um, but, you know,
so you need to have, it was really foundational for me because again,I've never ran a business before and everybody has their own
way of approaching those things, but there's a lot of free resources. Um,you know, government contracting and stuff like that. There's a whole nother element
(19:39):
Other business owners. I found over the years,speaking to other business owners, hey i'm i'm
doing this or going to a chamber of commerce butother business owners we we often forget to ask others
and i believe most people want to help each other so wedon't ask question enough questions or
(20:01):
or the right questions or we feel likeAnd you know, you hit it dead on, right? Like the
Chamber of Commerce and small business. When I launched my business, I did. Ireached out to a lot of people that I knew owned businesses, friends of mine. talk
to me, you know, here's my thing. I tested my theoryright before I launched, you know, and then when I first came out,
(20:27):
I asked them, I asked them, I said, can I do this on your business forfree? Can you allow me, give me feedback, right? Like I
went out there and I, you know, put myself out there because I needed totest it. And I made tweaks along the way before I got my
first client. You know, I remember walking into my first clientand I had to do a presentation. Yeah. I'm
(20:49):
going to tell you, I was a nervous wreck. But oneof the things I did and, you know, I walked into this client
and I was in there and I was like, you know, listen, I'm going to be very honest withyou. You're my first client and I am scared right now. And
I told him straight out. I was like, you know, I'm hoping that youwill find through what I exposed to you today, through me telling
(21:09):
you about the benefits of working with me and who I am, that you'll agreeto be, you know, take me on and continue with me or whatever I
said. But, you know, going back to what you said, peopleare willing to help. And that client looked
at me straight in the face. And you know, they weren't a small client. Andthey said, you know what? We got you. He
(21:30):
actually said that. The owner of the company, we still talk. He'slike, we got you, don't worry about it. He goes, you know, feel free, walk
us through your product, walk us through your process. AndThat moment and vulnerability, that was another key
thing. I just, I feel like, I just want to say, I feelYeah, I mean, it's hard to be vulnerable because again,
(21:57):
that leads back to, you know, imposterYeah. And you know what? I'm trying to get over that.
It's hard. I had that too. I mean, I think we all go through it. A lotof people go through it. I don't know. I haven't met one small business owner
who hasn't told me they haven't gone through it to tell you the truth. Okay.
Yeah. They've done the mental drills and youknow, know your best self. Right. But they've
(22:25):
all gone through it. You know, I think what empowered memost was, you know, just helping me break through that barrier of
myself and overcoming my own, again, fears aboutwho I was, building my own
journey and trusting my own journey and letting go everything else, right?
You know, I have an atypical personality. So a lot ofpeople tell me you're very direct. And It's
(22:50):
just who I am, right? And I don't want to change that because that's whoI am. You have to get to a point. Of course, you're
tactful and you adjust to your audience becauseyou have to in business. But there's an element of
you that should not change, I should say. Andyou've got to be authentic and true to yourself. And once you get there, I
(23:11):
think in anything that you do, whether it's a business, whether it'sgoing to play soccer, or you want to go and become the next opera
singer, I don't know. You gotta just be true toyourself, right? You
and I have that similarity where we agree with that, right? Like otherpeople do wanna be out there and help you. There are so many communities
(23:32):
now building up, especially I think after COVID, peopleare trying to get back out, networking more into the community where
you're seeing people face-to-face, but online, there's tons ofthem. I just met a gentleman the other day that
works for a big company And they've beenin business for 25 years marketing, but they are developing
(23:54):
platforms for online communities. Like some of their customers are Lego,right? They have the online community so people can meet and
talk about just Legos or whatever it is that they want to do in that community. It'sisolated. But I see a lot of that today, right? Like
even us, cybersecurity, we're trying to build a community onLinkedIn and gathering people together. And you see more and
(24:14):
more of that happening because We all need support eachWell, human beings, we all thrive
on connection. AndI remember after COVID, or
in the middle of COVID, when we were first able to do something sociable,I was doing Scouting Leader, and we were
(24:38):
able to allow the kids to meet together, but wehad to maintain social distance. Within the first 30 seconds,
By the first thing, the other scout leaders ofchild clothes line, my boy, and they were
(24:59):
just laughing and having fun. But it was so beautiful. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, I mean, we are what you do. You want that connection. Youneed that. That's what makes the world go around. I mean, there's like I
said, there's good and bad and everything that, you know, there's a lot going on in the world today.
And, you know, to stay grounded, to say to stay focused, to,Like, I can't let there be in the driver's seat. Oh,
(25:28):
God, no. Yeah. Yeah. And we too often we do.
But you know what, I'll tell you the truth. But like, I can't say that I don't have doubts everynow and then, right? Like, we all do. Financially,
we all have that financial responsibility and burdens, which theyadd up. But you got to live a meaningful
(25:48):
life. Like my motto to everybody is live your best lifeyet. Go and live your best life yet.
I tell everybody it's in my book. Go live your best life yet. Ifyou had to close your eyes today and nothing mattered,
no money, no health issues, no nothing, what wouldYeah, that's one of the questions I have in my book. And are you being honest with yourself? Is that
(26:14):
Yeah, it's one of the questions in my book, but some of those questions willreally make you think about yourself. So,
you know, it's not and I think I even stated in like thevery foreword of the book that, you know, this is not for somebody who wants
to pick up a book and, you know, doesn't follow through. This is someone who'sgoing to do the work. And I state it very clearly because you
(26:36):
really, it's got to be thought-provoking, right? It's very thought-provoking questionsand you're creating a space for authenticity. You're inspiring
yourself, right? You're kind of unpacking whoyou are. You know, I'm making making it, you
know, being informed about kind of how you'regoing to live your life going forward. What's going to motivate you?
(26:58):
What empowers you? You know, for me, living vicariouslyto my grandson is what's doing it for now. Right. but
you and your scout kids or whatever it might be, right? Your sons, Ithink we all have that. We lose sight of that. Like life is
life. And we, you know, as entrepreneurs, you know,we can work 70, 80 hours a week and we have our heads down. And especially
(27:22):
in the cyber world, you know, that's when it gets hacked. That'sthree days of your life, you know? You
know, but pulling back from that, right? What doesWell, I think the lesson I've learned in my own journey,
I've lost, released over 120 pounds sinceOctober 23, Michele. God bless. And
(27:48):
entrepreneurship, as you know, Theone thing that I would tell people what I've learned is
you have to treat yourself first, treatyourself like your best client. So you have the energy and
we forget that. And so that's part of the mindset ofthat. We need to be really honest with ourselves. Are
(28:10):
we really putting our own oxygenmask on to be able to show up? And
then you handle fear in a whole different way, because I'm handling fear in a wholeYou know, it's interesting what you just said, putting the oxygen mask on,
you know, because we don't take care of ourselves asentrepreneurs. No, you learn to. So
(28:35):
I'll rephrase that. But as you're growing your business and scalingyour business, you know, we all go through certain phases as you grow your
business, right? And you get to the next level, whatever. And you got to say, what'senough for me, right? There's got to be a point where, what do you really want?
And it goes back to some of those questions, right? Like, what does that mean? Yeah,what tells you nothing will ever fulfill you unless you
(28:56):
love yourself. And I don't care what anybody says if you don't love yourself first.
you'll never be fulfilled. So it's got to start with that. And that'swhere that oxygen mask. Yeah. That's
where you know, right. We've all had those moments and youlet your hair down and you sit in bed at night and you know, you're up until three
o'clock in the morning and everything's rushing through your head 100 milesan hour. And sometimes you get the most inspiring things on
(29:23):
how to change your business at those hours. But, um,you gotta also learn to shut it down, shut the noise. And
I've done that for myself, right? Well,I'll tell you one of the strategies and, you know, one of
the things that I've done because we all have full plates. Ihave a list of maybe 20, 30 things, you know, you look at your calendar, like
(29:46):
you said, we've been on meetings all day. I've always said there's threethings I wake up in the morning and I write down the three priorities that
I need to complete looking at my list, three. IfI get to a fourth, you're very lucky. Three. And
I know by the end of the day, comeno matter what, I'm going to fulfill them. I'm going to do those three things.
(30:08):
And I make it around taking care of myself first. It's got to be one thing thatI take care of myself. What am I going to do for myself today?
Because that's the most important, to keep us going andnot having to use an oxygen mask. The
second is, what do my clients need? And thethird is, what's my business need? Or what's
(30:29):
the community? Where am I at? Right. If the business andthe clients are good, then, you know, where my community, what else
do I need in my family? So like those are the three things thatI always kind of focus. And I, you know, I scale through and I pick the three
things and I break at a time. OK, between this time and this time, I'm going to do thisfor this. This is my time. This is business time, work
(30:50):
time. Right. So I'm doing this podcast with you today. Thisis my time. I wanted to do this today. I wanted to share. This was part of my
car today. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes.
Right. And that's I think that's fundamental people.
If you don't have some kind ofstructure or goal in your day, no matter how.
(31:15):
how big your company is or how small it is. You'lljust keep spinning. You're on the spin cycle. You'll be a boat
lost at sea. You can think that you got 90 thingsdone and you know what? All of that stuff is still gonna be there tomorrow. And
that's why you have people. You have to learn to delegate, right? You'vegot to learn to trust, trust others because we
(31:35):
all get caught up and I can do it. I can do it.
Can they do it? Can they do it the same way? Let it go. You hiredI've adopted what I say a lot
now, because I've learned this from scouting with thescouting group that I partner with a lot in another city on
(31:56):
their trailer, theslogans there, train them, trust them, let them lead. And
when I talk about leadership, I think of that allthe time, because that's what I've done with my team. train them, trust
them, and let them lead. Step back and let them dowhat they do so I can have that time
(32:17):
and I like that's key. SoAnd it doesn't mean it's not going to come with all of
the baggage that comes with, you know, running a business, right? You're going tohave those moments. They're going to have people. Things are not always going to work out.
But, you know, if you train them and you train in the right way and it's how you react, youknow, one of the things I've learned is, you know, when the fire is burning and there's
(32:39):
a fire and you've got to put it out, Istep back, I'm very calm, and I listen. Okay, well,
we have a fire today. Well, what's the solution? I getit, what's the solution? And you know, they'll all, everybody's,
what's the solution? And I'll ask them 15 times, what's the solution?
And so everybody kind of, you know, andit's funny, like Fridays are a fun day. It
(33:05):
was called Friday fun day. an hour before the weekend, beforethe end of the, I don't care what went on this past week, I don't care if
we lost clients, gang clients, fires, talkto me about you. Like, what are you doing the weekend? What
are our plans? What's going on? Tell me about afun moment this week, you know, whatever you need to do,
(33:26):
right? Let it all out, vent it out, let's get it out, youknow, but giving them that space to
do that, right? Being aleader, you have to lead and we're
on show and I've learned that, you know, the tough way, you do learn that the tough way, butI've been in corporate for many, many years. So I get it as well, right? I
have, God, I've had that ability whereI understood that a very long time ago and learned that lesson that, you know,
(33:52):
they're watching you and, you know, ifyou're crying in the corner, they're gonna cry with you. But if,
you're reassuring them, it's gonna be all right. They're gonnabuild that confidence even further. And next time when a fire comes,
they're gonna handle it and they're gonna come to you and say, hey, we had a fire today, but this is what we did,right? And that's where you get to eventually with
(34:19):
your folks. So I think that's very important, right? Likedoing that and just being real and authentic. I mean, it doesn't
mean we don't fill up our days, doesn't mean that Again,I've gotten calls nine, 10 o'clock at night. Clients have my personal
cell. I have some, which I don't recommend everybody do,but I'm one of those. But
(34:42):
there are a few clients out there where, you know, they have my celland I've gotten calls, you know, I think I've just been hacked. I'm like, okay, well,
let's go, you know, but you have to blendit. And it's very hard to balance. Life is hard, right? Like, Sometimes
we have personal lives, we have family that gets sick, right? Wehave, you know, I'm in, you know, Gen X, so I have parents
(35:06):
that are older, right? We have kids, youknow, and going through God knows what crisis at
this age, right? So you'redealing with a lot of moving, juggling pieces and juggling that is
not easy. And that's, you know, listen, getting a therapist is Irecommend it. I've had one myself, right? It helps
you get grounded. My book, my first book was dedicated to mytherapist because she really helped me understand loving yourself first is
(35:32):
what it's about. Once you love yourself and know who you are, everything elsewill fall in line. And it's absolutely true. I didn't believe her back then, but
I know it takes a while to accept that. Yeah. Now,you know, I wrote this down. I wrote a few things down while we were talking and
(35:55):
And I will, you know, I'm looking forward to the next phaseYou know, I'm again, life is living and
having fun and making experiences and, andliving at your 10 X potential. No.
You know, it's interesting. Life is really that simple. Like you can do whateverYeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm a member
(36:20):
of that overcomplication club. But I've I've I'vejoined the simple, simple life. I'm not simple, though.
I dance right along with you. I'll tell you the truth, Brett, because I'm right inthere when I see something fun. I'm like, let's just do it. Who
It was great. Michele, when I went to tell her before they opened,But that's when you know you're alive, right? You're living your best life. You know, I'll
(36:52):
share a quick story because I don't know how much time we have left. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Two years ago, I died. They had to resuscitate me.
True story. Right. Oh, wow. And yeah, well, youknow, stress as a kind of, you know, health is very
Yes. Now, you know, love yourselffirst, but take care of your health. But anyway, short
(37:16):
and long of it is, is you really do kind of get a different perspectiveon life in addition to everything else that you're already going through in your journey. And
I mean, I woke up in a hospital didn't know where I was. butit made me look at my life differently, profoundly, and ask a lot of
tough questions in addition to that book I wrote, right? AndI think, you know, you gotta really kind of,
(37:42):
if you're not a writer, you're not a journaler, record yourself, talkto yourself. You may seem crazy, but you're not. Love yourself, yeah.
Love yourself. And then write down what matters to you,right? Like, I write that every day. I write down one thing that matters to
me in the morning. Right? What matters tome today? Yeah. Right? Outside of everything else,
(38:04):
I always write what matters to me today. And I answer that question. I'm like, that'smy focus today. That's what matters. But I remind myself
that I matter. A lot of people donot do that for themselves. You matter. We
all matter. you know, and again, it's about loving yourself,right? But what matters to me today, and it could be what matters to
(38:25):
me today is making sure that everybody gets paid on time, right? Itcould be anything, right? I'm just, you know, being very lighthearted, you
know, but, you know, it could be what mattersto me today is going home and celebrating my daughter's birthday. It could be
anything, but whatever matters to you, make sure that it's the most importantthing in your life at that moment. And be happy with it.
(38:47):
I just, I want to piggyback on that for peoplelistening, you matter. You
I think it's ideal. I mean, we drive a message and you're doing a great,great job here, right? But getting that message out for people, I
(39:08):
think it's very important. You know, adoptive mindset is,you know, the name of the podcast and it is about mind. Our
Mindset is a muscle, I say. You know, it's a muscle thatAbsolutely. You know what's interesting? The mind is
a computer and the mind doesn't know what's real or not. And that's mybook. Your mind only knows what you tell it. And
(39:35):
If you tell yourself you're sad, you're gonnabe sad. You can control that, but you just have
to make the decision on how you're gonna perceive itand turn it into something. It's just like energy. Where
Yeah, so that's a, you know, again, my name is Michele Novack. The nameof my company is Cardinal Bytes Cybersecurity Risk
(40:00):
Management. They can certainly find my book on Kindle. Ihave a few books out there. So it's definitely on Kindle, Amazon,
wherever you want to go. Yeah, I'm onLinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on a lot of different kind
of connective type of small business community centersand stuff. But those are the primary. I think I'm on Facebook. I know I'm
(40:28):
I would always say LinkedIn. I tell everybody to go to LinkedIn. Youknow, I'm always on that thing. It sends me messages. It kind of reminds
I love it. Hey, before we go, I want to do something, okay? Okay.
I've been doing this a little fun. Rapid fireOkay. Okay. Let's
(40:50):
start. Okay. One small business, one small businessJeeva AI. Okay. Okay. What's
(41:14):
Yeah. What's one thing you do every day that protects yourmindset? Tell myself what
matters. Yeah, you said that. Finish thissentence. Living my best life yet means.
I love it. I love it. Hey, okay,My IT guy is gonna take care of it and antivirus cures
(41:49):
So true. Okay, andif you could tell your younger self one thing about leadership, what
That's an interesting question. My younger self wouldbe, believe in who you are and don't
(42:13):
Yeah, that's so true. Abusiness client of mine says, don't let anyone ever
tell you how to run your business. Lastquestion here for you. A
(42:36):
Find a way. I say that to everybody. Find a way. Theytell me it can't be fixed. Find a way. Diana
Ayad. Her storywas one of the best stories. I always go back to her TEDx talks, but
Perfect. Beautiful. Michele, thank you so much. Wehad such a great time today getting to know you. In closing,
(43:01):
just think of what Michele says, living, you know,live your best life yet. So please
connect with Michele, share this episode. likeit, but especially share it with somebody that could be impacted by
what Michele shared. You can make a difference in somebody's life, insomebody's day. And that's what we're here for. Michele, thank
(43:27):
Thank you. Thanks, Brett. Appreciate theThanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. If you found value in
today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age.
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