March 18, 2025 • 27 mins
Valerie Bowden shares her incredible journey from social worker to entrepreneur, transforming her life through a seven-month solo backpacking trip across Africa before building a business connecting African talent with global companies.
• Left a 9-to-5 social work job to backpack the Cape to Cairo route through 13 African countries
• Lived in Ethiopia for eight years, where she met her husband and started a family
• Experienced the heartbreak of a failed startup that led to personal withdrawal and identity crisis
• Learned that taking the first step without knowing the outcome is essential for growth
• Founded Cradle to provide virtual assistants, marketing support, and cold calling services with staff in Africa
• Overcame a $30,000 loss from an unpaid client early in her business journey
• Creating win-win opportunities where African talent gets meaningful employment and US businesses get affordable support
• Discovered that personal transformation—becoming someone who doesn't quit—is more rewarding than financial success
Take the first step without knowing what's going to happen. It will be messy, but that helps you take your next step. If you're in a hard spot, don't withdraw from people who love you. And consider choosing Africa—for travel, hiring talent, or even grocery shopping—the continent will surprise you.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
If you've been stuck in fear, self-doubt, your past
failures and you're ready tobreak through your comfort zones
to finally reach the pinnacleof success in every area of your
life, then this podcast is foryou.
Here's your host, Terry LFossum.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, terry L Fossum here, welcome back once again to
the Comeback Chronicles podcast.
The podcast it's all about yougetting past your fears and your
self-doubts and your excusesand reaching new heights, and
you're going to love today'sguest.
I really do honestly believethat, because I do so.
If you've ever thought aboutgoing on an adventure I mean a
crazy adventure, not just we'regoing to go across town or
(00:48):
starting up a nonprofit, orstarting up a for-profit that
makes a significant differencein the world then you're going
to love today's guest as well,valerie Bowden.
Now Valerie, get this.
So she got her advanced degreein social work.
She got her, went to gradschool for social work and she
(01:10):
had been to Africa.
She had volunteered for threemonths.
Now, going into social workfigured that's what she wants to
do, until she did it for a year, and then that wasn't going to
be the deal.
She left her home in theMidwest, solo backpack across
Africa.
So, all by herself, she spentseven months traveling the Cape
(01:30):
to Cairo route and after thatget this she lived in Ethiopia
for eight years.
Have you seen Ethiopia?
There's a reason she livedthere, though.
Now, get this.
This is what I love, and chancehappens by stepping out there.
A lot of times While she wasout there she stumbled into the
outsourcing concept and what afabulous win-win it would be if
(01:52):
done correctly.
And I can attest to this becauseI've done some philanthropic
projects in Africa as well, andwhen I heard about this project
I'm like this is perfect, it'sfantastic.
People need to hear more aboutthis.
So her business is calledCradle C-R-D-L-E Cradle, like
the cradle of civilization, andshe's spent years building up
(02:15):
across all industries, level uptheir sales force, rise above
the competition.
With one single thought, onesingle concept Choose Africa.
She's been featured in a PBSdocumentary that highlighted the
challenges of orphans inEthiopia, the issues behind
volunteerism which I want to hiton that a little bit too.
That's important for people tounderstand and the need for
(02:37):
stable employment in emergingcountries Not just throw money
to them, but build up theiremployment.
Cannot wait to talk about allof this.
Valerie, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thank you so much for having me and for such a
wonderful introduction.
I mean, you nailed it, youshared it so well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we do our research at the Comeback
Chronicles podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I can see that I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
We got to talk.
I mean, there's so much tounpack here, but let's first of
all.
Okay, you're, you did a year ofa nine to five.
You're in the midst of that andwhat happened?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I realized that I was .
You know, I was 24, 25, and Iwas only looking forward to the
weekend.
Look, I just I didn't like days.
I dreaded Monday and I was likeI am not meant to be doing this
, at least right now.
But I didn't know really what Ishould be doing.
All I knew is that a couple ofyears before, I had spent three
months in Ethiopia.
I had a fabulous time inEthiopia, so I thought I should
(03:40):
just go back to Africa.
And then I was so broke becauseI was like right after grad
school that the only way I coulddo that was to buy a one-way
ticket to South Africa.
And that was kind of the startto what became my backpacking
trip.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Again, as we were just talking before we started
recording as a backpacker, Ilove that.
I love that.
Now, at some point you did astartup right, you start up at
tell when did when in all ofthis did that happen?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yep, so fast forward.
I did my seven monthbackpacking trip and through
that trip I realized, okay, youknow what Some of the charities
in Africa really aren't so greatand what's really just needed
is is jobs.
And so I decided I'm going toeven though I went to school for
social work undergrad and gradI'm with Roa kind of social work
I'm going to switch to business, but conscious capitalism,
right, business like a socialenterprise.
(04:27):
And so I decided, living inEthiopia by myself, I'm going to
start a business that's goingto create employment, it's going
to help farmers, it's going tobe this whole thing and the
social impact was amazing.
The business concept was amazing, but for so many reasons
including lack of investment,covid, like all of the things
(04:47):
that could be it failed and itit just worried me.
You know I had.
I am such an optimistic personthat I just didn't think it
would ever fail or that I wouldever have to stop.
And so when it, when we decidedwe could no longer move on, I
mean my world it just kind offell apart for a couple months.
It was really hard.
(05:08):
I had a hard time going out tosee friends.
I didn't go out.
I mean, honestly, looking back.
I didn't handle it in a waythat I'm super proud of now.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I think it's important if you don't mind
sharing.
And again, for everybodylistening.
My number one is always takingcare of my guests, only making
sure that they are comfortableand safe, but there are people
who are listening on to the showwho are going through the same
thing right now.
Would you mind sharing more?
What did that feel like?
I mean, how do you feelpersonally?
(05:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I, you know I made the mistake of really wrapping
my identity with my outwardsuccess.
So when the outward successwasn't there, it really took
apart my self-esteem for a whileand I think the part I regret
the most is just how much Iwithdrew from friends and family
, like not going out, notkeeping up with some of my old
(06:00):
friends, and that's the partthat you know you can't get back
.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Why do you think you did that?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Man, I was just so embarrassed.
I was afraid I would go out andhear about how awesome their
jobs are, how awesome theirbusiness is going, and then I
would be saying mine's fallingapart and I don't know what to
do and I put all my money intoit.
Now I have no money, so Iwithdrew.
And I think the thing thatreally sticks with me the most
(06:25):
is that one of the friend groupsI withdrew from one of my
friends, actually passed awaylast year and I just always
think, wow, like I missed out onso many such a time.
I could have really stayed withmy friend and now I'll never
have that time back and I thinkthat always weighs heavily on me
.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Wow, wow.
And did you also have a feelingthat you failed?
I know you were serving peoplewith that company.
Did you have a feeling you werefailing them as well?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We did our best to make sure that they got other
jobs and then, in the midst ofthe pandemic and everything
that's happening, I thinkeverything got a little bit
crazy.
So I didn't feel as bad aboutthem because I knew that they
were fine, which was a relief.
I felt bad that I had wasted,like so many, friends and
family's time as well, likegetting free advice or extra
support, and I think the worstthing for an entrepreneur is to
(07:19):
have to go back to a nine tofive, and that's what I had to
do, and there's nothing worse asan entrepreneur to go and
finally, you know, be brave,make that step and then crawling
back to a job after yourstartup failed.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And, of course, it's easy for you to smile and laugh
about it now you know, and everyentrepreneur knows what you're
talking about there, but at thetime it's not funny, is it?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
No, it's not, it's not fun, and it was.
I mean, it was like months andmonths.
And so I mean now I look backand I've learned so many lessons
from it.
Like, don't wrap up youridentity and your business, make
sure you're having fun alongthe way.
Because I also I didn't travelmuch, I didn't enjoy my time.
So not only did the businessfail, but I have nothing else to
(08:10):
kind of show for that period oftime in my life either.
You know, I didn't build uprelationships, I didn't travel,
I didn't, I didn't do anythingelse.
And so I learned, yeah, just somany, so many hard lessons.
But then those lessons serve metoday, so now I'm able to look
back and be grateful for them.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So how have those lessons served you today?
And we'll get into the successof your company and everything
which is going to be so much fun.
And I still want to hear acouple of stories from the trail
.
There's always stories from thetrail, but how did those
lessons serve you today?
Can you think back to anyspecific instances back then and
how you're applying it to today?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Well, one of it's not necessarily a lesson, but the
nine to five that I had to dowas an outsourcing company, and
I didn't even know thatoutsourcing in Africa existed.
It was just the only job offerI got and I took it, and then
that led to literally what I'mdoing now.
So if I wouldn't have had thatstartup fail, I wouldn't have
(09:06):
ever worked at the company,which wouldn't lead me to doing
what I do now, and I love what Ido now.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
See, isn't that just the truth?
All too often, when we getdoors slammed in our face, which
happens to all of us, we onlysee that door in front of us and
our hurt nose when we don'trealize the old thing well,
another door opens up.
Yeah, it really does, and maybethis was the push you needed to
go out the correct door tobegin with.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Does that relate?
Yeah, 100%.
Looking back, it's almost hardto believe how perfectly it
worked out, but it was exactlywhat I needed and so, yeah, I'm
so grateful for it now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Growth always hurts.
That's the way it is.
But that's the pain that makesus stronger and takes us to
those places we couldn't gootherwise.
As a backpacker, you certainlyknow that.
A couple of tales from the road, from the trail.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Oh man, well, okay, so it started.
Know, it took me seven monthsand nine days and I did from
Cape town to Cairo, so I wentthrough 13 African countries and
I just had the best time.
I have no horrible stories, noscary stories, nothing like that
.
All my stories are like I gotlost and then somebody helped me
.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And I want to.
I want to go and hit that,because a lot of the listeners
are going, including my wife,when I told her about you, like
how did she have the courage to,on her own, go through Africa?
Because that, I mean, that's agreat courage and a first step
story lesson that we can teachas well.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Talk about that the lesson of my life is that you
always just have to take thefirst step without really
knowing where it leads.
So when I decided to go toSouth Africa, I didn't even know
the Cape to Cairo route existed.
I thought I would travel formaybe six weeks and I would just
go from South Africa to Egypt.
(10:55):
There's only a couple ofcountries in between.
I would spend a week in eachcountry, and the only reason why
I bought a one-way ticket isbecause I was worried about the
safety.
So I thought if something badhappens, I can just fly out of
wherever I'm closest.
So it wasn't even supposed tobe this big, huge trip.
But after I was traveling for afew weeks, I met so many other
(11:16):
backpackers who were doing theCairo to Cape Town route.
So same trip, but in reverseorder.
They told me how safe it was,how much fun they were having.
I learned how to do publictransport.
Um, I realized I was having alot of fun.
The locals were super nice, andso that's when I decided to do
Cape to Cairo after I'd alreadybeen traveling for a while.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I love it.
That's fantastic, and that'sthe only way you can get those
memories and those experiencesis just step out, do things
you've never done before, right.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, exactly.
And then the funny thing abouttraveling Africa is that there's
like no information online, soit's not like you can if I was
backpacking or even travelingsomewhere else you can find the
train tickets, the bus tickets,you can see the route online.
Like that doesn't exist in mostof the countries, at least when
I was traveling online.
Like that doesn't exist in mostof the countries, at least when
(12:06):
I was traveling, and so I neverknew how I was going to get
there until I got there.
So I literally just go to thebus stop and say I want to go to
the next city, how do I getthere?
And then they would just pointto the bus and I did my entire
trip like that.
So it taught me the lesson inlife that there's always a way,
but you don't really see, likeyou don't see that next stair
step until you take that nextstep, and so that's just how I
(12:26):
did my entire trip and now how Itry and live my life.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I love it.
That's a fantastic lesson foreverybody to hear right there.
So you, you did your Africathing.
What made you fall in love withit so much that you decided to
live in Ethiopia for all thoseyears?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Oh man Well, I mean first of all African countries
you only hear about the badthings, right as in America, you
only hear about the bad things,you don't hear about the good
things.
So when you're actuallytraveling you have so much fun,
you see how much safer it is,how good the food is, the coffee
, all the things to do, and soafter I did seven months of
(13:06):
adventure, after an adventurelike rafting the Nile, then the
next day I see gorillas, thenext day I'm at a market, then
you definitely can't go back toa nine to five.
After you did all that coolstuff, I was a little bit ruined
.
So I had gotten a job offer inEthiopia when I was traveling
and I decided to do it and itwas only for six months.
So I told my parents, just sixmore months and then I promise I
(13:28):
will come home and get like areal job, I promise.
And then, of course, eightyears later, I finally came home
with like a husband and a baby.
So I had met my husband acouple of years into living in
Ethiopia and then that was whenwe really cemented that we were
going to live there for a whileand then, once we had kids, we
eventually came back.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But yeah, and what was the job you got there?
Speaker 3 (13:50):
So first, once I realized I didn't want to do
exact social work, because Irealized I didn't want to do
charities anymore it was a jobthat was connecting women
exporters to buyers in the US.
So that was kind of my firstattempt at figuring out business
is how do you actually increasetrade?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
What was that?
It was?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
connecting like Ethiopian women exporters, so
women who were selling coffee,jewelry, scarves, and then I
would try and find the buyers inthe US and I was acting as kind
of like the bridge between themto connect them.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Okay, got it Got it fantastic.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And that's where you started getting the idea about
Cradle.
So I was doing the importing,the exporting, and then I mean I
had a whole bunch of jobs.
So then I started working at arestaurant and then that's when
I started eating some of thefood and making my own snacks.
And that's what led to myfailed startup, which was an
agribusiness, to make someEthiopian inspiredinspired
snacks.
And then, of course, once thatfailed, then I got into
(14:47):
outsourcing.
So a long journey to end up towhere I am today, that's for
sure.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Now you also.
We talked about you werestarting up a nonprofit and
ended up losing 30K on that gig.
What was that all about?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, so it wasn't my nonprofit but it was my
business cradle.
So that was.
Another hard lesson I learnedis about the first year into
business.
Before we really had propercontracts or proper financial
model, we had worked with thisclient who seemed good at first.
He talked about his nonprofitsin Africa.
He said that he wanted to dolife-changing commissions for
(15:25):
our cold calling team and so wereally thought so much of him
and he hired 12 people from usand then he just never paid us
and he never paid us and neverpaid us.
We didn't want to fire the 12people, right, you know, we were
still hoping for thecommissions, we still believed
in him, but it turns out henever paid us so we had to pay
(15:46):
out of pocket for those teammembers.
We lost, yeah, almost 30,000through it and and yeah, it was
a tough 30,000 for our firstfirst year and a half in
business Massive, yeah, yeah.
And yeah, last we heard I thinkhis business partner moved out
of the country.
I think they've conned a lot ofother companies, so we're not
(16:08):
alone.
But that was another thing.
That's like okay, I finallyhave the business I love, and
then you have this horribleexperience and it does taint you
a little bit.
So good news is it led us todevelop proper contracts, proper
finance model.
It's not feasible to happenagain, but it was a big hit for
sure.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So how did you get through it?
I mean, you got hit for $30,000early in the in the game.
It's like you said, that's hard, that's hard.
So what was it that that droveyou to keep going forward, not
to quit, to keep pushing forward?
What do you think kept yougoing?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
It's funny I had seen this Taylor Swift interview
where she talked about how sheloves making music, but that's
not where most of her time goes.
Most of her time goes towardsall these other things.
So she was saying you have toreally love what you do because
you have to deal with so muchother things along the way.
And I just thought, like thatreally hit me.
(17:04):
Like I love what I do, I lovethe team members we hire.
They're fun, they're energetic,they do a great job.
I love our other clients.
So it was just one of thosethings like this is something I
have to deal with.
It's just part of business.
I just said, like now I have myMBA, I'm just going to count it
as like a learning lesson.
(17:24):
And I kept yeah, we just had tokeep going.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I love it, and do you think it's in part because of
the feelings you have towardsthe African people there,
because I mean, it's a greatculture.
I've spent some time there too.
It's a wonderful culture.
Do you think that thatresponsibility kind of helped
drive you forward too as well?
I?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
think it's.
I think it's also just seen asan American.
We're just, we're just taughtthat you know, african countries
need charity and they're poor,and we only hear these bad
things.
And then, being an American whohas actually lived on the
continent and sees that much ofour aid does not really work not
all of it, but most of it orsome of it doesn't work and
seeing that there's so muchpotential and so much talent
(18:05):
there, it's like I just feel socompelled to be the person in
the US saying like, hey, we haveto stop what we're doing.
We have to see this continentin a different way, if not we're
going to miss out.
And for business owners outthere, connecting to African
talent is such a win-win modeland that really drives me to
keep going, even when it getshard.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I really believe you're right on that
that all too often the charitywe give people weakens them.
It doesn't help build them up.
Now it's important, and don'tgive me a bunch of bad emails
and letters and all that.
Everybody I give a lot of money, all right.
Now it's important and don'tgive me a bunch of bad emails
and letters and all that.
Everybody I give a lot of money, all right, but it's two very
particular charities that I well.
That's why I was in Africa.
I was following up on on two ofthem that I was giving a decent
amount of money to.
I looked into them, but one ofthe many things I've learned
(18:53):
through doing philanthropic workall of my life is the old teach
them how to fish thing you know, and in this case, if we can
help.
Another reason I love cradle andwhat you're doing, Valerie,
here, is you are, you're givingthem an opportunity to work, to
build themselves up, and notonly does that give the
financial opportunity, but thathelps change a culture as well,
(19:17):
cause we've got opportunitiesthat we can give to them and
they'll take them and they'llrun with them if they're taught
how to do it.
And that's what you're doingwith Cradle, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, for college grads anywhere in
this world to not have a goodjob once they get out of college
is hard.
So, yeah, I'm really when yougive someone the opportunity to
work hard, they do work hard.
And one of the things I love Idon't know if you've heard like
the Trevor Noah analogy aboutthe fishing, but it's like not
(19:45):
only do you have to teach themhow to fish, you also have to
give them the fishing rod.
So in our situation, especiallyif someone in Ethiopia or
Zimbabwe were to apply for a UScompany, too often they'd be
turned down because of thecountry of origin.
So we try and be that partthat's saying like no, give them
a chance, at least interviewthem, and we kind of take that
(20:06):
role and then from there it'sreally up to them to clench the
interview, but we try and makeit at least happen and open that
door.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So what all kind of jobs do you provide for people?
If I'm looking for somebody tohelp me out through Cradle, how
can you help me out?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Great question.
So we do virtual assistants.
That will just make your lifeso much easier.
Help you buy back your time.
We do marketing assistants tohelp you with LinkedIn, social
media, podcasting, things likethat.
And then our biggest verticalis actually cold calling.
So it could be cold calling orappointment setting Anytime you
(20:45):
need like a very perfectAmerican accent to be that first
touch point on the phone.
That's what we do, really well.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And that perfect American accent is critical
these days.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
We are I mean honestly, that's one thing I
have to brag about is especiallyin Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has like the bestaccents, I don't know like they
have great education, they havegreat English, but they also
watch tons of Hollywood movies.
I don't know what it is, butthe English is incredible in
Ethiopia particularly.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I'll be darned.
I'll be darned.
So on the social media, yousaid they can do LinkedIn and
all that.
They're in Ethiopia.
What would make me think thatthey know more about social
media than I do?
That's a softball questionright there, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I mean, honestly, the younger generation is just on
it right In today's world.
We're such a especially afterCOVID, where it's like a global
world, so young people are kindof on par with young people
everywhere.
So I mean, who else would youwant running your TikTok or your
Instagram?
Like, you don't want someoneolder, you want someone who's
like 22, 23.
(21:52):
Like, that's actually theperfect person for the job.
And if you think for listeners,if you think the young people,
which is pretty much everybodyto me these days, don't know
(22:13):
about this stuff.
You could not be more wrong.
I guarantee you they are as hipas us old people would say.
As anybody here in the Stateshire because of the team members
.
I know they're so cool.
They make me feel not coolbecause they're so cool, but
yeah, I mean they've gonethrough college, they're
well-educated, especially atCradle.
Everybody we've hired we alwayssay we're step two, so they've
already worked for, like anoutsourcing or an international
company that unfortunatelyprobably didn't pay them well,
(22:35):
didn't treat them well, butprobably did give them good
training.
So we're step two, like onceyou have that good training and
you know what you really want todo with your life, then you can
work for us and we really matchyou based on your career.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's interesting.
So what effect have you seenwith the people that you're
working with and theircommunities?
How are you helping thembesides a paycheck, which is
well kind of important?
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Oh yeah, it's amazing .
It's amazing to see like momswho now have more money to send
their kids to like a betterschool.
Um, there was some.
There was a guy who said likehe was going to have to like
leave his family and go findwork somewhere else and because
he has a job with us, he gets tostay and he has.
He has two kids.
So that felt good.
One girl was just like.
The first thing I did with mypaycheck is I took my mom out
(23:18):
shopping and for her that wasthe biggest win.
And it's also on the other sidebecause we work with so many, I
would say, small andmedium-sized businesses in the
US who probably couldn't affordto hire someone in the US.
So that means the founder isjust kind of doing it themselves
.
And so I especially loveworking with some of these moms
(23:39):
or or dads in the US who nowthey have more time with their
kids, they're able to take theirfirst vacation, their sales are
increasing easier, so it'sreally cool just to see how it's
it really is like the win-winon both sides.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Absolutely.
Was it worth it?
You went through a lot to gethere between failed company that
had you basically locked inyour house for a while, not
wanting to talk to anybody,embarrassed, and all that.
Okay, Now let's, we'll, we'lltry again.
Cradle bam, $30,000.
Somebody rips you off of toughtimes.
(24:15):
Heartbreak, I get it Been there, you know Now that you're at
this side of it.
Was it worth it?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's so worth it, but not because of what I thought
would be worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Now that we're finally doing well, I can pay
myself a paycheck.
I you know we've been, we'vebeen lucky to get some really
great kind of recognition.
That's not actually what makesme happy.
What makes me happy is,honestly, who I've become in the
process, like someone whodoesn't quit, someone who can
make decisions, someone who canlead a team, someone who now is
employing 100 people.
(24:52):
The person I've had to becometo do that is what makes me most
gratified at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And that is always the case, I believe, with an
entrepreneurial effort of anykind.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It is that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's just like at the end of our backpacking trips.
You know we saw a lot of stuff,we did a lot of stuff, but it's
what we gain from it internallyand externally that really
matters the most.
What would you love to leaveeverybody with?
Some pearls of wisdom fromeverything that's been through,
from the young lady that's goneacross Africa on her own, built
(25:26):
this company and everything else.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
What would you like to leave everybody with?
I would say my advice is alwaysto take the first step without
knowing what's going to happen,because you're not going to ever
know what's going to happen.
So you just have to take thatfirst step.
It's going to be messy, butthat will help you take your
next step.
Second thing is, if you're in ahard spot, if your business
isn't doing well, don't withdrawfrom the people who love you.
(25:50):
Go out there even more andspend more time with them.
And the third thing I would sayit's our slogan but choose
Africa, whether that's whetheryou're planning, like, a
vacation, whether you need tohire a cold caller, or even if
you're at the grocery store,like buy that Ethiopian coffee
or that chocolate that's made inMadagascar.
(26:11):
Like the continent will reallysurprise you when you start to
see the other aspect of it.
And so start, just startexploring.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's fantastic, valerie.
Thank you so much for thatGreat, great advice at the end
there as well.
So for everybody listeningagain, I couldn't agree more
Take that step.
You don't have to know whereit's going to end up.
Take that step out the door.
You're going to get cuts,you're going to get bruises,
odds are you're going to getsome heartbreak.
But in the end, if you keeppushing through, it'll all be
(26:41):
worth it and then you can haveyour own Comeback Chronicle.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
So that's it for today's episode of the Comeback
Chronicles.
Head on over to Apple Podcastsor wherever you listen and
subscribe to the show.
One lucky listener every singleweek that posts a review on
Apple Podcasts will win a chancein the grand prize drawing to
win a $25,000 private VIP datewith Terry O Fossum himself.
(27:09):
Be sure to head on over toComebackChroniclesPodcastcom and
pick up a free copy of Terry'sgift and join us on the next
episode.
If you've been stuck in fear, self-doubt, your past
failures and you're ready tobreak through your comfort zones
to finally reach the pinnacleof success in every area of your
life, then this podcast is foryou.
Here's your host, Terry LFossum.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, terry L Fossum here, welcome back once again to
the Comeback Chronicles podcast.
The podcast it's all about yougetting past your fears and your
self-doubts and your excusesand reaching new heights, and
you're going to love today'sguest.
I really do honestly believethat, because I do so.
If you've ever thought aboutgoing on an adventure I mean a
crazy adventure, not just we'regoing to go across town or
(00:48):
starting up a nonprofit, orstarting up a for-profit that
makes a significant differencein the world then you're going
to love today's guest as well,valerie Bowden.
Now Valerie, get this.
So she got her advanced degreein social work.
She got her, went to gradschool for social work and she
(01:10):
had been to Africa.
She had volunteered for threemonths.
Now, going into social workfigured that's what she wants to
do, until she did it for a year, and then that wasn't going to
be the deal.
She left her home in theMidwest, solo backpack across
Africa.
So, all by herself, she spentseven months traveling the Cape
(01:30):
to Cairo route and after thatget this she lived in Ethiopia
for eight years.
Have you seen Ethiopia?
There's a reason she livedthere, though.
Now, get this.
This is what I love, and chancehappens by stepping out there.
A lot of times While she wasout there she stumbled into the
outsourcing concept and what afabulous win-win it would be if
(01:52):
done correctly.
And I can attest to this becauseI've done some philanthropic
projects in Africa as well, andwhen I heard about this project
I'm like this is perfect, it'sfantastic.
People need to hear more aboutthis.
So her business is calledCradle C-R-D-L-E Cradle, like
the cradle of civilization, andshe's spent years building up
(02:15):
across all industries, level uptheir sales force, rise above
the competition.
With one single thought, onesingle concept Choose Africa.
She's been featured in a PBSdocumentary that highlighted the
challenges of orphans inEthiopia, the issues behind
volunteerism which I want to hiton that a little bit too.
That's important for people tounderstand and the need for
(02:37):
stable employment in emergingcountries Not just throw money
to them, but build up theiremployment.
Cannot wait to talk about allof this.
Valerie, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thank you so much for having me and for such a
wonderful introduction.
I mean, you nailed it, youshared it so well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, we do our research at the Comeback
Chronicles podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I can see that I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
We got to talk.
I mean, there's so much tounpack here, but let's first of
all.
Okay, you're, you did a year ofa nine to five.
You're in the midst of that andwhat happened?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I realized that I was .
You know, I was 24, 25, and Iwas only looking forward to the
weekend.
Look, I just I didn't like days.
I dreaded Monday and I was likeI am not meant to be doing this
, at least right now.
But I didn't know really what Ishould be doing.
All I knew is that a couple ofyears before, I had spent three
months in Ethiopia.
I had a fabulous time inEthiopia, so I thought I should
(03:40):
just go back to Africa.
And then I was so broke becauseI was like right after grad
school that the only way I coulddo that was to buy a one-way
ticket to South Africa.
And that was kind of the startto what became my backpacking
trip.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Again, as we were just talking before we started
recording as a backpacker, Ilove that.
I love that.
Now, at some point you did astartup right, you start up at
tell when did when in all ofthis did that happen?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yep, so fast forward.
I did my seven monthbackpacking trip and through
that trip I realized, okay, youknow what Some of the charities
in Africa really aren't so greatand what's really just needed
is is jobs.
And so I decided I'm going toeven though I went to school for
social work undergrad and gradI'm with Roa kind of social work
I'm going to switch to business, but conscious capitalism,
right, business like a socialenterprise.
(04:27):
And so I decided, living inEthiopia by myself, I'm going to
start a business that's goingto create employment, it's going
to help farmers, it's going tobe this whole thing and the
social impact was amazing.
The business concept was amazing, but for so many reasons
including lack of investment,covid, like all of the things
(04:47):
that could be it failed and itit just worried me.
You know I had.
I am such an optimistic personthat I just didn't think it
would ever fail or that I wouldever have to stop.
And so when it, when we decidedwe could no longer move on, I
mean my world it just kind offell apart for a couple months.
It was really hard.
(05:08):
I had a hard time going out tosee friends.
I didn't go out.
I mean, honestly, looking back.
I didn't handle it in a waythat I'm super proud of now.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I think it's important if you don't mind
sharing.
And again, for everybodylistening.
My number one is always takingcare of my guests, only making
sure that they are comfortableand safe, but there are people
who are listening on to the showwho are going through the same
thing right now.
Would you mind sharing more?
What did that feel like?
I mean, how do you feelpersonally?
(05:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I, you know I made the mistake of really wrapping
my identity with my outwardsuccess.
So when the outward successwasn't there, it really took
apart my self-esteem for a whileand I think the part I regret
the most is just how much Iwithdrew from friends and family
, like not going out, notkeeping up with some of my old
(06:00):
friends, and that's the partthat you know you can't get back
.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Why do you think you did that?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Man, I was just so embarrassed.
I was afraid I would go out andhear about how awesome their
jobs are, how awesome theirbusiness is going, and then I
would be saying mine's fallingapart and I don't know what to
do and I put all my money intoit.
Now I have no money, so Iwithdrew.
And I think the thing thatreally sticks with me the most
(06:25):
is that one of the friend groupsI withdrew from one of my
friends, actually passed awaylast year and I just always
think, wow, like I missed out onso many such a time.
I could have really stayed withmy friend and now I'll never
have that time back and I thinkthat always weighs heavily on me
.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Wow, wow.
And did you also have a feelingthat you failed?
I know you were serving peoplewith that company.
Did you have a feeling you werefailing them as well?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We did our best to make sure that they got other
jobs and then, in the midst ofthe pandemic and everything
that's happening, I thinkeverything got a little bit
crazy.
So I didn't feel as bad aboutthem because I knew that they
were fine, which was a relief.
I felt bad that I had wasted,like so many, friends and
family's time as well, likegetting free advice or extra
support, and I think the worstthing for an entrepreneur is to
(07:19):
have to go back to a nine tofive, and that's what I had to
do, and there's nothing worse asan entrepreneur to go and
finally, you know, be brave,make that step and then crawling
back to a job after yourstartup failed.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And, of course, it's easy for you to smile and laugh
about it now you know, and everyentrepreneur knows what you're
talking about there, but at thetime it's not funny, is it?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
No, it's not, it's not fun, and it was.
I mean, it was like months andmonths.
And so I mean now I look backand I've learned so many lessons
from it.
Like, don't wrap up youridentity and your business, make
sure you're having fun alongthe way.
Because I also I didn't travelmuch, I didn't enjoy my time.
So not only did the businessfail, but I have nothing else to
(08:10):
kind of show for that period oftime in my life either.
You know, I didn't build uprelationships, I didn't travel,
I didn't, I didn't do anythingelse.
And so I learned, yeah, just somany, so many hard lessons.
But then those lessons serve metoday, so now I'm able to look
back and be grateful for them.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So how have those lessons served you today?
And we'll get into the successof your company and everything
which is going to be so much fun.
And I still want to hear acouple of stories from the trail
.
There's always stories from thetrail, but how did those
lessons serve you today?
Can you think back to anyspecific instances back then and
how you're applying it to today?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Well, one of it's not necessarily a lesson, but the
nine to five that I had to dowas an outsourcing company, and
I didn't even know thatoutsourcing in Africa existed.
It was just the only job offerI got and I took it, and then
that led to literally what I'mdoing now.
So if I wouldn't have had thatstartup fail, I wouldn't have
(09:06):
ever worked at the company,which wouldn't lead me to doing
what I do now, and I love what Ido now.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
See, isn't that just the truth?
All too often, when we getdoors slammed in our face, which
happens to all of us, we onlysee that door in front of us and
our hurt nose when we don'trealize the old thing well,
another door opens up.
Yeah, it really does, and maybethis was the push you needed to
go out the correct door tobegin with.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Does that relate?
Yeah, 100%.
Looking back, it's almost hardto believe how perfectly it
worked out, but it was exactlywhat I needed and so, yeah, I'm
so grateful for it now.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Growth always hurts.
That's the way it is.
But that's the pain that makesus stronger and takes us to
those places we couldn't gootherwise.
As a backpacker, you certainlyknow that.
A couple of tales from the road, from the trail.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Oh man, well, okay, so it started.
Know, it took me seven monthsand nine days and I did from
Cape town to Cairo, so I wentthrough 13 African countries and
I just had the best time.
I have no horrible stories, noscary stories, nothing like that
.
All my stories are like I gotlost and then somebody helped me
.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And I want to.
I want to go and hit that,because a lot of the listeners
are going, including my wife,when I told her about you, like
how did she have the courage to,on her own, go through Africa?
Because that, I mean, that's agreat courage and a first step
story lesson that we can teachas well.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Talk about that the lesson of my life is that you
always just have to take thefirst step without really
knowing where it leads.
So when I decided to go toSouth Africa, I didn't even know
the Cape to Cairo route existed.
I thought I would travel formaybe six weeks and I would just
go from South Africa to Egypt.
(10:55):
There's only a couple ofcountries in between.
I would spend a week in eachcountry, and the only reason why
I bought a one-way ticket isbecause I was worried about the
safety.
So I thought if something badhappens, I can just fly out of
wherever I'm closest.
So it wasn't even supposed tobe this big, huge trip.
But after I was traveling for afew weeks, I met so many other
(11:16):
backpackers who were doing theCairo to Cape Town route.
So same trip, but in reverseorder.
They told me how safe it was,how much fun they were having.
I learned how to do publictransport.
Um, I realized I was having alot of fun.
The locals were super nice, andso that's when I decided to do
Cape to Cairo after I'd alreadybeen traveling for a while.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I love it.
That's fantastic, and that'sthe only way you can get those
memories and those experiencesis just step out, do things
you've never done before, right.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yes, exactly.
And then the funny thing abouttraveling Africa is that there's
like no information online, soit's not like you can if I was
backpacking or even travelingsomewhere else you can find the
train tickets, the bus tickets,you can see the route online.
Like that doesn't exist in mostof the countries, at least when
I was traveling online.
Like that doesn't exist in mostof the countries, at least when
(12:06):
I was traveling, and so I neverknew how I was going to get
there until I got there.
So I literally just go to thebus stop and say I want to go to
the next city, how do I getthere?
And then they would just pointto the bus and I did my entire
trip like that.
So it taught me the lesson inlife that there's always a way,
but you don't really see, likeyou don't see that next stair
step until you take that nextstep, and so that's just how I
(12:26):
did my entire trip and now how Itry and live my life.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I love it.
That's a fantastic lesson foreverybody to hear right there.
So you, you did your Africathing.
What made you fall in love withit so much that you decided to
live in Ethiopia for all thoseyears?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Oh man Well, I mean first of all African countries
you only hear about the badthings, right as in America, you
only hear about the bad things,you don't hear about the good
things.
So when you're actuallytraveling you have so much fun,
you see how much safer it is,how good the food is, the coffee
, all the things to do, and soafter I did seven months of
(13:06):
adventure, after an adventurelike rafting the Nile, then the
next day I see gorillas, thenext day I'm at a market, then
you definitely can't go back toa nine to five.
After you did all that coolstuff, I was a little bit ruined
.
So I had gotten a job offer inEthiopia when I was traveling
and I decided to do it and itwas only for six months.
So I told my parents, just sixmore months and then I promise I
(13:28):
will come home and get like areal job, I promise.
And then, of course, eightyears later, I finally came home
with like a husband and a baby.
So I had met my husband acouple of years into living in
Ethiopia and then that was whenwe really cemented that we were
going to live there for a whileand then, once we had kids, we
eventually came back.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
But yeah, and what was the job you got there?
Speaker 3 (13:50):
So first, once I realized I didn't want to do
exact social work, because Irealized I didn't want to do
charities anymore it was a jobthat was connecting women
exporters to buyers in the US.
So that was kind of my firstattempt at figuring out business
is how do you actually increasetrade?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
What was that?
It was?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
connecting like Ethiopian women exporters, so
women who were selling coffee,jewelry, scarves, and then I
would try and find the buyers inthe US and I was acting as kind
of like the bridge between themto connect them.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Okay, got it Got it fantastic.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And that's where you started getting the idea about
Cradle.
So I was doing the importing,the exporting, and then I mean I
had a whole bunch of jobs.
So then I started working at arestaurant and then that's when
I started eating some of thefood and making my own snacks.
And that's what led to myfailed startup, which was an
agribusiness, to make someEthiopian inspiredinspired
snacks.
And then, of course, once thatfailed, then I got into
(14:47):
outsourcing.
So a long journey to end up towhere I am today, that's for
sure.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Now you also.
We talked about you werestarting up a nonprofit and
ended up losing 30K on that gig.
What was that all about?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, so it wasn't my nonprofit but it was my
business cradle.
So that was.
Another hard lesson I learnedis about the first year into
business.
Before we really had propercontracts or proper financial
model, we had worked with thisclient who seemed good at first.
He talked about his nonprofitsin Africa.
He said that he wanted to dolife-changing commissions for
(15:25):
our cold calling team and so wereally thought so much of him
and he hired 12 people from usand then he just never paid us
and he never paid us and neverpaid us.
We didn't want to fire the 12people, right, you know, we were
still hoping for thecommissions, we still believed
in him, but it turns out henever paid us so we had to pay
(15:46):
out of pocket for those teammembers.
We lost, yeah, almost 30,000through it and and yeah, it was
a tough 30,000 for our firstfirst year and a half in
business Massive, yeah, yeah.
And yeah, last we heard I thinkhis business partner moved out
of the country.
I think they've conned a lot ofother companies, so we're not
(16:08):
alone.
But that was another thing.
That's like okay, I finallyhave the business I love, and
then you have this horribleexperience and it does taint you
a little bit.
So good news is it led us todevelop proper contracts, proper
finance model.
It's not feasible to happenagain, but it was a big hit for
sure.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So how did you get through it?
I mean, you got hit for $30,000early in the in the game.
It's like you said, that's hard, that's hard.
So what was it that that droveyou to keep going forward, not
to quit, to keep pushing forward?
What do you think kept yougoing?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
It's funny I had seen this Taylor Swift interview
where she talked about how sheloves making music, but that's
not where most of her time goes.
Most of her time goes towardsall these other things.
So she was saying you have toreally love what you do because
you have to deal with so muchother things along the way.
And I just thought, like thatreally hit me.
(17:04):
Like I love what I do, I lovethe team members we hire.
They're fun, they're energetic,they do a great job.
I love our other clients.
So it was just one of thosethings like this is something I
have to deal with.
It's just part of business.
I just said, like now I have myMBA, I'm just going to count it
as like a learning lesson.
(17:24):
And I kept yeah, we just had tokeep going.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I love it, and do you think it's in part because of
the feelings you have towardsthe African people there,
because I mean, it's a greatculture.
I've spent some time there too.
It's a wonderful culture.
Do you think that thatresponsibility kind of helped
drive you forward too as well?
I?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
think it's.
I think it's also just seen asan American.
We're just, we're just taughtthat you know, african countries
need charity and they're poor,and we only hear these bad
things.
And then, being an American whohas actually lived on the
continent and sees that much ofour aid does not really work not
all of it, but most of it orsome of it doesn't work and
seeing that there's so muchpotential and so much talent
(18:05):
there, it's like I just feel socompelled to be the person in
the US saying like, hey, we haveto stop what we're doing.
We have to see this continentin a different way, if not we're
going to miss out.
And for business owners outthere, connecting to African
talent is such a win-win modeland that really drives me to
keep going, even when it getshard.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I really believe you're right on that
that all too often the charitywe give people weakens them.
It doesn't help build them up.
Now it's important, and don'tgive me a bunch of bad emails
and letters and all that.
Everybody I give a lot of money, all right.
Now it's important and don'tgive me a bunch of bad emails
and letters and all that.
Everybody I give a lot of money, all right, but it's two very
particular charities that I well.
That's why I was in Africa.
I was following up on on two ofthem that I was giving a decent
amount of money to.
I looked into them, but one ofthe many things I've learned
(18:53):
through doing philanthropic workall of my life is the old teach
them how to fish thing you know, and in this case, if we can
help.
Another reason I love cradle andwhat you're doing, Valerie,
here, is you are, you're givingthem an opportunity to work, to
build themselves up, and notonly does that give the
financial opportunity, but thathelps change a culture as well,
(19:17):
cause we've got opportunitiesthat we can give to them and
they'll take them and they'llrun with them if they're taught
how to do it.
And that's what you're doingwith Cradle, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, for college grads anywhere in
this world to not have a goodjob once they get out of college
is hard.
So, yeah, I'm really when yougive someone the opportunity to
work hard, they do work hard.
And one of the things I love Idon't know if you've heard like
the Trevor Noah analogy aboutthe fishing, but it's like not
(19:45):
only do you have to teach themhow to fish, you also have to
give them the fishing rod.
So in our situation, especiallyif someone in Ethiopia or
Zimbabwe were to apply for a UScompany, too often they'd be
turned down because of thecountry of origin.
So we try and be that partthat's saying like no, give them
a chance, at least interviewthem, and we kind of take that
(20:06):
role and then from there it'sreally up to them to clench the
interview, but we try and makeit at least happen and open that
door.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So what all kind of jobs do you provide for people?
If I'm looking for somebody tohelp me out through Cradle, how
can you help me out?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Great question.
So we do virtual assistants.
That will just make your lifeso much easier.
Help you buy back your time.
We do marketing assistants tohelp you with LinkedIn, social
media, podcasting, things likethat.
And then our biggest verticalis actually cold calling.
So it could be cold calling orappointment setting Anytime you
(20:45):
need like a very perfectAmerican accent to be that first
touch point on the phone.
That's what we do, really well.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And that perfect American accent is critical
these days.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
We are I mean honestly, that's one thing I
have to brag about is especiallyin Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has like the bestaccents, I don't know like they
have great education, they havegreat English, but they also
watch tons of Hollywood movies.
I don't know what it is, butthe English is incredible in
Ethiopia particularly.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I'll be darned.
I'll be darned.
So on the social media, yousaid they can do LinkedIn and
all that.
They're in Ethiopia.
What would make me think thatthey know more about social
media than I do?
That's a softball questionright there, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I mean, honestly, the younger generation is just on
it right In today's world.
We're such a especially afterCOVID, where it's like a global
world, so young people are kindof on par with young people
everywhere.
So I mean, who else would youwant running your TikTok or your
Instagram?
Like, you don't want someoneolder, you want someone who's
like 22, 23.
(21:52):
Like, that's actually theperfect person for the job.
And if you think for listeners,if you think the young people,
which is pretty much everybodyto me these days, don't know
(22:13):
about this stuff.
You could not be more wrong.
I guarantee you they are as hipas us old people would say.
As anybody here in the Stateshire because of the team members
.
I know they're so cool.
They make me feel not coolbecause they're so cool, but
yeah, I mean they've gonethrough college, they're
well-educated, especially atCradle.
Everybody we've hired we alwayssay we're step two, so they've
already worked for, like anoutsourcing or an international
company that unfortunatelyprobably didn't pay them well,
(22:35):
didn't treat them well, butprobably did give them good
training.
So we're step two, like onceyou have that good training and
you know what you really want todo with your life, then you can
work for us and we really matchyou based on your career.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
That's interesting.
So what effect have you seenwith the people that you're
working with and theircommunities?
How are you helping thembesides a paycheck, which is
well kind of important?
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Oh yeah, it's amazing .
It's amazing to see like momswho now have more money to send
their kids to like a betterschool.
Um, there was some.
There was a guy who said likehe was going to have to like
leave his family and go findwork somewhere else and because
he has a job with us, he gets tostay and he has.
He has two kids.
So that felt good.
One girl was just like.
The first thing I did with mypaycheck is I took my mom out
(23:18):
shopping and for her that wasthe biggest win.
And it's also on the other sidebecause we work with so many, I
would say, small andmedium-sized businesses in the
US who probably couldn't affordto hire someone in the US.
So that means the founder isjust kind of doing it themselves
.
And so I especially loveworking with some of these moms
(23:39):
or or dads in the US who nowthey have more time with their
kids, they're able to take theirfirst vacation, their sales are
increasing easier, so it'sreally cool just to see how it's
it really is like the win-winon both sides.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Absolutely.
Was it worth it?
You went through a lot to gethere between failed company that
had you basically locked inyour house for a while, not
wanting to talk to anybody,embarrassed, and all that.
Okay, Now let's, we'll, we'lltry again.
Cradle bam, $30,000.
Somebody rips you off of toughtimes.
(24:15):
Heartbreak, I get it Been there, you know Now that you're at
this side of it.
Was it worth it?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's so worth it, but not because of what I thought
would be worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Now that we're finally doing well, I can pay
myself a paycheck.
I you know we've been, we'vebeen lucky to get some really
great kind of recognition.
That's not actually what makesme happy.
What makes me happy is,honestly, who I've become in the
process, like someone whodoesn't quit, someone who can
make decisions, someone who canlead a team, someone who now is
employing 100 people.
(24:52):
The person I've had to becometo do that is what makes me most
gratified at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And that is always the case, I believe, with an
entrepreneurial effort of anykind.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
It is that.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's just like at the end of our backpacking trips.
You know we saw a lot of stuff,we did a lot of stuff, but it's
what we gain from it internallyand externally that really
matters the most.
What would you love to leaveeverybody with?
Some pearls of wisdom fromeverything that's been through,
from the young lady that's goneacross Africa on her own, built
(25:26):
this company and everything else.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
What would you like to leave everybody with?
I would say my advice is alwaysto take the first step without
knowing what's going to happen,because you're not going to ever
know what's going to happen.
So you just have to take thatfirst step.
It's going to be messy, butthat will help you take your
next step.
Second thing is, if you're in ahard spot, if your business
isn't doing well, don't withdrawfrom the people who love you.
(25:50):
Go out there even more andspend more time with them.
And the third thing I would sayit's our slogan but choose
Africa, whether that's whetheryou're planning, like, a
vacation, whether you need tohire a cold caller, or even if
you're at the grocery store,like buy that Ethiopian coffee
or that chocolate that's made inMadagascar.
(26:11):
Like the continent will reallysurprise you when you start to
see the other aspect of it.
And so start, just startexploring.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
That's fantastic, valerie.
Thank you so much for thatGreat, great advice at the end
there as well.
So for everybody listeningagain, I couldn't agree more
Take that step.
You don't have to know whereit's going to end up.
Take that step out the door.
You're going to get cuts,you're going to get bruises,
odds are you're going to getsome heartbreak.
But in the end, if you keeppushing through, it'll all be
(26:41):
worth it and then you can haveyour own Comeback Chronicle.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
So that's it for today's episode of the Comeback
Chronicles.
Head on over to Apple Podcastsor wherever you listen and
subscribe to the show.
One lucky listener every singleweek that posts a review on
Apple Podcasts will win a chancein the grand prize drawing to
win a $25,000 private VIP datewith Terry O Fossum himself.
(27:09):
Be sure to head on over toComebackChroniclesPodcastcom and
pick up a free copy of Terry'sgift and join us on the next
episode.
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