WIPp 031 Frannie Foltz: From Teacher, Administrator, Project Manager to Podcast Agent

Episode Transcript
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Frannie (00:00):
I can either be like the 16 year old girl with

(00:01):
excitement of like, "What's next", or I can be like, "What's n
xt", you know, in fear.
nd I thought, I'm going to bthe excited young girl that's
xcited about this. And when Itarted seeing that as an oppor
unity, it switched things

Dana (00:21):
You're listening to the work in progress podcast, and
we're your hosts, Dana inAngela. We believe your work and
career should evolve with you.
And it is therefore always awork in progress. In this
podcast, you will hear storiesof people who turn their careers
from something that no longerserves them into something that
complement who they are andtheir life goals. The way I like
to think about it is that thecareers are growing and

(00:44):
stretching, just like they are.
Our goal is to inspire you toget out there and to make the
changes you want for yourselfand your future. So let's get
started.
Good morning. Good afternoon.
Good evening, wherever you are.

(01:08):
Welcome back to the workingprogress podcast. Today, we're
very excited to be talking tofriends in the past friend who
worked as a teacher,administrator, project manager,
and today she is a podcastagent, she helps solopreneurs
build their audience and becomethe go to industry expert in
their field, through podcastappearances. It's really

(01:29):
exciting to talk to anotherperson who has experienced going
through all these transitions,especially during the time of
COVID. So thank you so much forjoining us. How are you today?

Frannie (01:39):
I'm awesome. I'm so excited to be here. You know,
transitions are the number onething in life, right? You're
always either in one, you'recoming out of one or you're
going into one, you know. So Ithink that it's a very timely
thing. So when I stumbled acrossyour podcast and started
listening, I was like, This isso perfect, because we are all
works in progress. And you'reconstantly, you know, in an

(02:00):
evolution to get to your nextstage and phase, I guess in
life.

Dana (02:04):
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to have you here. I know
that you've been through quite afew transitions yourself. And
first of all, I want to ask youa little bit about your
background, how did you getstarted in teaching.

Frannie (02:16):
So from the time I was a little girl I have I'm one of
four. So I have three brothers,actually two of them are
cousins. But in an Italianfamily, everyone's kind of like
your brother, your sister. Andso I used to always sit them
down and try to teach them fromthe time I was a little girl. So
I knew that was a trajectorythat I wanted to go into. And so

(02:37):
when I went to college, then Iknew going into college that I
was going to enter education.
And my grandmother had said shewas an immigrant, my mom herself
as an immigrant and workedreally hard. And she said, Okay,
I'll pay for four years,whatever you get done that four
years. So being theoverachiever, the only girl in
the family, I said, Okay, I'mgonna get three degrees in four
years. So that's what I did. SoI, all my degrees are in

(02:58):
education. And so I knew nothingelse. So to branch out to some
of the places I have, and we'llwait until you get later into
the conversation. But it was abig huge reach for me. But so I
have pretty much always havewanted to be a teacher. And that
was where, where I ended up in1997. I got my first teaching
job that's, you know, a fewmonths out of school, and then

(03:19):
was in the classroom until 2010.

Dana (03:24):
I see. And what did you teach?

Frannie (03:27):
I taught middle school English at an all girls school
on the east side of Cleveland, Iabsolutely loved it. Some people
have questioned like, Oh, Idon't know if I could ever work
in girls go, how did you likethat. And I absolutely loved it,
you know, obviously, being awoman, but the way that we
empowered students, and youknow, just the philosophy and
the pedagogy of an all girlseducation was very different and

(03:49):
foreign to me. But it waswonderful. So I taught English,
which has then helped me becauseI do write I've written a book
and I'm currently writing abook, as well as you know, doing
blogs and things like that. Soit certainly has helped me to
know, you know, when to use acommon DIRECT address, or can I
use a semicolon here? So thatEnglish background is certainly
helped me

Dana (04:08):
Do you feel you must feel like you're like when you were
eaching middle school? All girlchool? I wonder. I mean, obv
ously, I don't know. But I'm jst imagining that maybe it'
just feels like you're taking to a bunch of you're ta
king to your little sisters ad you're trying to you know, hel
them grow and teach obviouslyteach them English at the same

(04:29):
ime. That's such a very uniqe experience, I guess because I
don't have a little sister. Ihave an older sister, but it wa
that's the perfect descriptin of a Dana because, you know,
not having children myself annot having other siblings.
It was wonderful because Iwould just treat them you know,
like, okay, we're gonna taka little break right now we're
just gonna do some yoga. Weere just stretching. It was ju

(04:49):
t so fun.

Frannie (04:52):
It was fine. It was you know, and it's funny now,
because crazily enough a lot ofmy students are now you know,
have been graduated and they'relawyers. In their nurses and
their physicians and, andthey'll write me and say Miss
volts, you'll never, you'llnever know the impact you had on
me when we would lay on theground, and we would do our
breathing. And we will put ourhand on our chest and a hand on
her belly. And I'm like, oh, whoever knew that, you know, as a

(05:12):
10 year old student, that thatwould impact them. But you're
exactly right, like having thatkind of influence and impact.
And, you know, for anyone who'slistening to this, to just
recognizing that planting seeds,like you might never see, like,
not all my students are gonnaemail me and say, you know,
whether good or bad, you know,hopefully, it's more good. But
the impact you've had on them,but, you know, certainly things

(05:32):
that you say or do along thepath can certainly, you know, be
watered and cultivated andhopefully harvested later.

Dana (05:39):
Yeah, absolutely. I remember one of my favorite
teachers, actually my middleschool teacher, and she happens
to be a woman too. She wasn't myEnglish teacher, but she was my
math teacher. And I think shewas the person that actually got
me to enjoy math. And I thinkhaving a good teacher that you
you like, and you can, can,like, is able to teach you,

(06:00):
without making you feel like,like, this is all for a test,
something like that, it makes ahuge, huge difference and really
affects you down the road. It'snot just when you're there a
student, it's like, lifetime,actually.

Frannie (06:14):
Right? When it's interesting. And I know exactly,
we need to give all teachersespecially now during you know,
COVID and everything, givingsuch an appreciation with
virtual schooling and all theways in which they're pivoting.
But you know, one of the thingsI think about I'm a very, very
much a relationship person, Ithink relationship, you know,
especially in business shouldcome before anything, you know,

(06:34):
people before profit is what youoftentimes hear. And I think
that's so true. And, you know, Ithink about how just pouring
into my students, yes, if theylearned, you know, if this is a
Geron or an infinitive, that wasgreat, but what mattered most is
that I believed in them andencourage them. And, you know, I
think if, like you justmentioned, Dana, like, if we
think back to our schoolingexperiences, like most of us

(06:55):
don't remember the trigonometrytest we took, or, you know,
maybe the dissection of thefrog, you know what that bone
was, but we remember that theteacher incited in us a passion
for learning, or they believedin us, or they encouraged us to
reach more think differently.
That's really what I hope, youknow, that I was doing with the
students all those years, youknow, yes, I wanted them to
learn. And of course, they weretheir parents are paying for an

(07:17):
education. And I think theylearned along the way, because
they knew that I cared aboutthem.

Dana (07:23):
That's amazing. And tell me about the transition that you
you love. So when you leftteaching, what did you do and,
and why did you leave?

Frannie (07:34):
So in 2010, then I pivoted from the classroom, and
I was then an administrator. Soat the same school, and that was
really the first time ladieswere like, my eyes were open to
something beyond, you know, Ialways joke that, you know, I
was doing sales, I was doingadmissions. And so, you know, I
always joke though, as ateacher, you're also a
salesperson, right? I wasgetting my students to, I was
selling them on the idea thatwriting a persuasive essay was

(07:56):
exciting and fun, you know. Andso now I was doing that. And
still in the administrationside, though, in the school,
it's at this point, then, again,very much relationship building,
but it opened my eyes tomarketing, all of a sudden, I
was looking at, oh, this is thelanguage or this is the sales
language, you know, and eventhough we never talked about it
like that, it that's really whatit was, you know, I was sharing

(08:18):
experiences and sharing stories.
And then, of course, theadvertising side of things,
having open houses and meet andgreets, and, you know, different
events. And that really thengave me some experience and
exposure to managing events, manand group managing groups of
people doing things. You know, Iused to, like, take little
videos on my iPhone, I would geta group of girls together when a
student got accepted. And Iwould, you know,

(08:39):
congratulations, Angela. Andthey would you know, and I send
off a video, the parents lovethat like personalization. So
then, when I was when I wasdoing that, and my boss, I had a
really good yield. It was myfirst year in it, and which
meant all the students who weaccepted chose us. And I had
100%. And she said, What did youdo? And I said, I just created
relationships. Like I would callthe parents and just say, Hey, I

(09:03):
remember your dog, you know, wasgoing in for hip surgery. How
did that work out? And theywould just say, like, are you
calling me about theapplications? Like, I'm calling
about your dog, like, didn'thave the surgery yesterday, you
know, or something. And theyjust loved that like that
attention. So I realized, like,I'm onto something. Now, I also
didn't mention this because itwas more of my side hustle. I've
always had a side hustle. And Ithink it's important for people

(09:25):
to have a side hustle. But Iworked at Disney. When I first
started teaching in 1997. Istarted working at Disney. So
talk about, you know, the kingsand the queens of customer
service and excellence. So I hadreally had learned about how to
go that extra mile, you know,somebody dropped their popcorn
on Main Street. I would justswoop right in and pick it up,
Nick Oh, here you go. And, youknow, magically disappear with

(09:47):
new popcorn. And so I havelearned that as customer
service. So that was certainlysomething that was a part of my
informal training, if you will,I'll be at formal in the form of
a job, you know, part time job.
So, then that helped me then topivot when COVID happened. And I
was like, well, I kind of havethis customer service thing

(10:08):
dialed in, and this relationshipbuilding thing. And that led me
to the launching my own businessnow. So I, I have a very niche.
And if you if it's okay withyou'll kind of just dive into
that, you know, I know youdidn't ask the question. And if
you do have a specific question,by all means, I will circle back
to that we can piggyback butit's funny because, you know,

(10:29):
people ask, Well, how did youget into this, and it's
certainly something as I justshared the story. So far, it's
happened over many years, youknow, the English background,
has helped me then to writingpitches. So I call myself like a
punk podcast, pardon me, I'mconcierge. So I really help
people get on podcasts, which isfunny, because I'm on the other
end of it now, where I'mactually the guest, which is

(10:50):
hugely exciting for me. Sothanks for having me. But I
started, you know, thinkingabout the relationships that you
build, and then the connectionsyou have with people, not only
with my clients, but then alsowith the hosts. So now I have
enough of, you know, credibilitywith hosts, Rob, just call and
say, hey, I've got somebody Ithink might be a really great
guest, are you interested inlearning more, or here's their
media sheet, or, you know,here's the website or whatnot.

(11:13):
So it's a lot of thosefoundational skills that I've
learned along the way that kindof led me to this circuitous
route in this niche that I don'teven think people knew existed,
you know, or that does exist.

Angela (11:27):
Now, that is so so amazing, I just want to say
like, you know, all of thethings that I heard so far,
like, you also already gave asummary. But I just want to kind
of like highlight that one moretime, because a lot of the times
when you're coming from, likeanon, not to say that your
background is not traditional,but like when your route or your
career path is not very linear.
And you know, you're not seeinglike the same kind of industry.

(11:48):
And then you're going from like,maybe entry level to like the
executive level, sometimesyou're a little concerned. And
at least that makes me feel alittle worried, because I feel
like I'm not advancing, but youreally, you know, did a really
good job of using all of yourcombination of education
background, and your Englishteacher expertise, and your

(12:08):
customer service kind ofknowledge from working at
Disney, which is a world classcompany that's known for their
customer experience, and thenyour passion for building
relationship and putting peoplefirst, which is something that's
unique to you know, and then allof those combined, like you
said, kind of helped to createthis little niche. And you're,
you know, your own businessright now, which is helping

(12:32):
people get on their podcast, Ithink that's just really
amazing. And maybe somethingthat you never imagined word
like, you know, you never likepictured yourself doing. But
then kind of just along the way,you realize you have all of
these skill sets and experience.
And now there's something thatyou're interested in doing, and
you just jumped right into it.

Frannie (12:52):
100% and like you just mentioned, Angela, you know, I
think that, you know, they saythat millennials, or you know,
this generation that they willhave a number of careers, it's
upwards of a dozen careers, andthey're not just talking jobs,
they're talking careers, so youdon't even completely pivoting.
And so that's remarkable in andof itself, you know, during the
course of their 40 or 50 year,you know, career span, that

(13:15):
they'll have the number ofcareers and I think, you know,
I'm in my mid 40s. And I thinkto myself, wow, I would never
have thought that. And you know,when I first started teaching in
1997, podcasts weren't even athing. I think that the first
podcast were in 2004, you know,so I was definitely ahead of my
time. But again, I think it goesback to one knowing what your
talents are and what yourgiftings are. And then also to

(13:36):
like, knowing how you can servepeople, you know, when I was
like, go for my job in February,I sat down on my last flight, I
was going to New Orleans. And Ithought, okay, what's next?
Like, this is my last work trip.
What am I going to do, eventhough I'm getting a severance,
like, I have to figure out like,what are my next steps? And I
was going to travel and I justreally I just sat down on the

(13:57):
plane, you girls, and I juststarted writing like, Okay, what
are the things that light me up?
What are the things that I'mjazzed about doing? What are the
things that I hate and that myenergy and I literally just
started listing things? And thenI was like, Alright, what
applications do I know how touse? And I just started, like,
you know, okay, Google Slides,Google Drive, like the basic

(14:17):
things, you know, I mean,Microsoft Word like anything,
you know, database systems,everything that I've used all on
my way, who are the mentors whoI really looked up to in the
past, what are the things that Iliked about their jobs, and I
just sort of brain dumping andit was like this divine
download, where God was justlike, pouring it into me and I
literally wrote this little bookand it's about, it's called from
your frog from that girl's fire,you know, from your fire to that

(14:39):
girl's on fire. And it's allabout making transitions in life
because, as we mentioned, you'realways transitioning into
something, whether it be into arelationship, you know, you're
going into a relationship or outof a relationship or into
motherhood or, you know, in anempty nester like you're
constantly evolving andtransitioning. And so to have,
you know, almost like apractical roadmap was helpful

(15:00):
for me because I've been, I'vehad a lot of transitions in my
life, whether it be literallybeing homeless, breaking up
engagements, like I've had anarray of things in my life that
have happened. A lot of themchoices, you know, I would
definitely never be a victimabout that. But how can I help
somebody and put them first tohelp them navigate through a
transition that they might begoing through to?

Angela (15:21):
That's amazing. And was that when you wrote your first
book? Tell us about your firstbook.

Frannie (15:26):
Yes. And it was it was my first book. So I am
Christian. And I feel like Godhas given me this pride about
three years ago. He said, it'stime to write a book, you know,
more of a memoir. And I startedwriting and I have 90,000 words
written right now. But it'sawful girls, if you were to read
it, you'd be like, What is shelike? It's all over the place.
And literally, I just sat down,and I told a story about, you

(15:48):
know, being in fifth grade, andI told a story about my high
school homecoming, and that, youknow, just it's all over the
place. So I have all thesewords, kind of in this Google
Doc at this point. So this wasmy first book that I just wrote
in February, I self publishedliterally, wrote the book,
edited the book, got everything,you know, my cover everything up
and done in three weeks, like Iwas like, wow, I mean, it's
really, it's only a 90 pagebook. So it's not like it's

(16:10):
anything that crazy, but it wasenough, you know, that I was
able to get it out there. So Ihave that. And then I now have
just restarted, Oh, my gosh, theundertaking of writing my book
now. So I'm really kind ofdiving in. And I've, I've taken
a course I've hired a coach andauthor coach. So I'm working on
that now. Because I really wantto commit to this, by the end of
this year to at least have somesemblance of at least a

(16:30):
manuscript to get out there withmy 90,000 words, even though I
have a feeling that 75,000 ofthem will have to be scrapped.

Angela (16:38):
And what is the second book about?

Frannie (16:40):
Great question, because again, in the outlining process,
you know, I just startedwriting, and it was my memoir,
but now I know that it needs tobe more for a reader, right?
Like, it just can't be about mystories, because it's not going
to be about helping them. Soit's about owning your worth,
and about knowing yourboundaries. And so in
relationships, physically, youknow, intimate relationships, as
well as friendships, I'velearned a lot of things, you

(17:01):
know, when to say no, teaching,you know, you teach people how
to treat you, and things likethat, but then also how that has
impacted me in career, you know,in my career as well, knowing
those boundaries of when to sayno, when something is not
ethical, you know, especiallybeing an entrepreneur. You know,
sometimes you go after the moneybecause you're like afraid that
that you're not going to haveit. And so here's a perfect

(17:22):
example, a couple weeks ago, Iwas interviewing client, I
always interview my clients,because it's a two way street.
And as I mentioned, I'mChristian. So I work with a lot
of Christian entrepreneurs. Andoddly enough, a lot of them are
authors. So I'm on a phone callwith this gentleman, and he was
sweetest anything, but hedropped all the swear words. And
there's no judgment in that. Butthat's just not me and my brand.

(17:42):
So a lot of the podcastconnections I have, are also
Christian. So I thought I can'thave this guy going on there.
And I don't want him you know,and so I just got to the end of
the call, and I just said, youknow, you have an awesome story,
your book sounds awesome, Ireally want to read it. However,
I just don't know if we're aright fit. And I went on to
explain that. And so with thatbeing said, I think that that is
really important. You know,going back to my book, The theme

(18:05):
of it is, knowing what yourboundaries are. And I had to
say, Okay, this is what isvaluable to me, and this is what
I value. So I'm going to have tosay no to picking up this high
end client, you know, at thecost of it not necessarily being
in alignment with what my valuesystem is, and how in the middle
of all of these. I mean, you'reyou have your own podcast, you
interview your clients beforeyou actually bring them on. How

(18:27):
do you balance your time betweenwriting a book and, you know,
working on your, your business?
So I actually do my podcast ismore I don't know, I call it
more of like a vlog, right? Likealmost like a video blog. But
I'm Sunday nights, I do mine.
And I just do them live. Andthen I just repurpose them over
on YouTube at this point. And sowith that being said, those are

(18:51):
pretty easy. And I just lovegetting out and talking with
people. But with writing thebook, I make an intentional
time. So what I did was I foundthat I know I'm best in the
morning, I'm I'm an early bird,I'd not a night out also I get
really good rest. And then Iwake up in the morning. And I
have a really good routine inthe morning of you know, prayer
time and just quiet time. Andthen I just literally start
diving in. And I block out for90 minute blocks throughout the

(19:14):
day. Really, after about oneo'clock, I've spent like there's
not as much creativity. And sobetween 60 and 90 minutes, I
really try to get that beforenoon. And then I try to have my
meetings only on certain days. Ihave my meetings on Mondays and
Wednesdays and I really only tryto then write Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday. And then of course onthe weekends I really try so it

(19:35):
takes a lot of structure anddiscipline. Like you have to to
treat it as your full time jobat this point even though it's
not. So I'm working a lot rightnow but because I have a
deadline and want to get it outthere. I'm really kind of
focused.

Dana (19:48):
So if you're done by 12 and then you have these four
blocks of 90 minutes, that meansyou start at...

Frannie (19:55):
About 430 is usually when I wake up really get up
because, and you know, my prayertime is usually like I have a
prayer time and routine in themorning. And that's usually I
walk at, in the mornings, and Ijust do that. So from like, 445
ish, you know, the time I get mycoffee and whatnot until like
six is kind of my own personalquiet time. And then I kind of

(20:16):
dive in around six 630 with kindof sitting down to write

Dana (20:22):
This is okay, this is interesting. It's obviously a
bit off topic. But I'm, I'm, I'mthe opposite of you. I'm a night
owl. And recently, I've beentrying to wake up early, because
I was reading about it. And thenI noticed that a lot of the
things I want to get done,actually don't get done, because
usually I do them at night. Andthen just lately, when I when I

(20:44):
try to get to them at night, I'malready too tired. So I heard
about, you know, doing all thosethings in the morning. And the
benefit of that, so I decided totry it. And in the beginning I
was doing well, I actuallybought like a, what they call
like a wakeup alarm clock. It'slike a light that turns on. So
that has been helping me. And soI was for a while I was able to

(21:06):
wake up at I think six, which isextremely early for me. And then
I really do see the benefit ofyou know, just get like having
that quiet moment for that. Likeyou said, you have like an hour
and a half to yourself. Andthat's such a, like a golden
hour, I feel like you can getwhat you want to do get started

(21:27):
in the morning, so, so theydon't get derailed by whatever
happens in the rest of the day.
And that is so amazing. But Idon't know how like. So for
example, if you go to if youwake up at 430, that means when
do you sleep,

Frannie (21:41):
I go to bed early as I usually get to bed around nine
930. Like I really try to checkmy phone, I put it on airplane
mode, usually around nine and myfriends and family know that.
And I don't, I don't take it offuntil I'm done with my quiet
time. So I don't check email, Idon't check Instagram, I don't
check the weather, I don't doany of that until after I've had
my quiet time. I do have like anold iPod that I use. And I will

(22:04):
check my you know, I have aBible app that I use. And I'll
check the Scripture and thingslike that, or sometimes I'll use
it for commentary orreferencing. But otherwise, I
really try to stay away fromtechnology during that time I
try to read journal, and if youknow how Elrod he has morning
miracle, or Miracle Morning, Ican't remember which one it is.
But he has a great book. And asyou know, to you know, both of

(22:26):
you ladies know, any successfulentrepreneur has a morning
routine before they go into workthey have their entire day has
been like thought about, youknow, they have intentionally
thought about the people,they're going to meet with what
they're going to say, you know,all of those details. And I've
always been a morning person.
And you know, I help people alsoI'm a fitness teacher as well.

(22:46):
And so I would always tellpeople, I used to teach class at
533 days a week in the morning,and the class would be packed
ladies, there would be like 40people in there. And I would
always say, nobody needs you at530 in the morning, you know, I
mean, it's very unusual thatpeople want you or they're
calling you at 530 the morning,but 530 at night, everyone wants
your attention, you know, oreven at 930 at night, you know,

(23:07):
it's so much easier to getdistracted or throw in the load
or laundry. Whereas in themorning when it's quiet, you
don't want to wake anyone elseup and you kind of have your own
little routine. So that's alwaysjust worked for me.

Dana (23:20):
Got it. Yeah, that's um, yeah, thanks for agreeing to do
railing with me a little bit.
But this is a this is a very, Iguess, a topic. I'm really,
really interested lately. Sothanks for indulging me. Before
we should go back to the careertransition part. So. So let me
see. So you left corporateAmerica? And what was the
transition? Like, you know,coming out of it, and then

(23:42):
starting your own company,figuring it out? I think you
touched on that a little bit.
But I'm interested in learningmore about it. Like, you know,
what's the actual process? Whatdid you actually go through?
And, yeah, was it difficult? Iimagine it must be kind of hard,
but just tell me about it. I'minterested in it

Frannie (24:05):
So first of all, you know, I was let go of my job.
And I think that just likeanything like in a relationship
or anything, nobody wants to berejected. So I went through a
lot of emotional stuff, like, Ohmy gosh, like, even though many
other people at the company hadbeen, moko was like I was
isolated. It still took a tollon me, you know, mentally where
it was like, Okay, I wasrejected, you know, like, they

(24:25):
don't want me to, you know, noteverybody was like, oh, and so
that kind of took its own tollon me. So I had to really like
dig in deep there and to say,okay, like, this is not, you
know, there's a expression thatthings don't happen to you, they
happen for you. And I was like,Okay, this is an opportunity.
Like, I get to see this as anopportunity. And there's that
commercial for insurance. Andthere's a 16 year old girl and

(24:45):
she comes outside. And thescript is simple. It's two
words. She says my car, she'ssuper excited, and she sees her
car and has a big bow on it. Andthen they, you know, split
screens and there's the guy whocomes outside and he's a, you
know, middle aged man and hiscars being towed away. And he
goes my car, it's the exact sameexpression, but their
perspective and theircircumstances were completely
different. And I thought tomyself, I can either be like the

(25:07):
16 year old girl with excitementof like, what's next? Or I could
be like, shoot what's next, youknow, in fear. And I thought,
I'm going to be the excitedyoung girl that excited about
this. And so, when I startedseeing that as an opportunity,
it switched things around. Andthen when I started, like, you
know, doing some research, andwhat were people doing, and, you
know, I kind of fell into as Imentioned, the podcasting thing,

(25:29):
I, I just started reaching outto all my friends, I was like,
hey, look, I've been let go ofmy job. This is my skill set.
What are some things you know,do you know anybody who might be
looking for this, this and this.
And, you know, I, I was doingproject management, a lot of
things were in the online space.
So I was able to help peoplewith, you know, setting up
landing pages or conversionpixels, and I had had experience

(25:50):
or Hey, I can do an Instagramstory, you know. So a friend of
mine reached out and said, Hey,you know, my fiance, I think,
you know, he's an older, he's inhis 60s, and he's wanting to
make a transition, like, maybeyou could help him and I was,
like, awesome. And so he was anamazing first start. And then he
was the one who ended upstarting to get on podcast right
away. And I thought to myself,wait, like, this might be a

(26:11):
need, you know, I was able tobook him on over 50 podcasts,
really not, not quickly. But Istarted, like, figuring out the
perfection, like I perfected apitch. And then I would listen
to podcasts. And then there'smillions of podcasts, as you
ladies know, and I was like,there's so many ways I can go
ahead and pivot this. And youknow, my business name is shine
with frannie. And my goal is tohelp amplify other people and

(26:32):
help them shine, you know, to beable to take what their story
is, because everybody has aunique story, you know,
everybody has something to say,because their experience, even
if you've seen the same movie,you're going to walk away from
that movie with a differentexperience because of your own
background. And, you know, theschema that you come into that
with. So that was where I waslike, I think I can do something

(26:52):
with. So like you said, You hadmentioned earlier, Angela, like
it took my education background,my writing background, my
customer service experience Irelated to building and I was
like, I'm gonna kind of craftthis. And then I just started
kind of rolling with it. Andsure enough, here we are,
ladies. So it was you know, itwas it's tough, though. And I
will be honest, like, you hadasked, like, tell a little bit

(27:13):
about it. As they say ineverything, all relationships
are good, but they're hard. Andthey're hard, but they're good.
You know, like, It's hard beingan entrepreneur, like you're
constantly like, okay, who's inmy pipelines, you know, setting
up social media, hiring a VA toset my social media doing the
different things that I'm doing.
And then also, you know, it's sogood, because I get to be
flexible, I get to have my ownhours I get, you know, I get to

(27:34):
meet new people, I get to travelplaces, you know, all of those
things. But yet, it's hard, youknow, so I think that if
somebody is listening to this,and they're like, I want to do
that 100% go all in, do it, tryit, figure it out, you know,
you'll figure it out. Find amentor to help you along the
way, which is the number onething I think it's important for
any any person and in any phaseof life, whether you're losing

(27:56):
weight, or whether you know,you're in a relationship, you
need to have somebody who you'relooking to an aspiring to be
white, you know, who can getwisdom from, and especially with
starting a business this day andage especially.

Dana (28:09):
Yeah, absolutely. And would you say that? If Would you
say that you would be doingthis? If you were not let go
from your previous company?

Frannie (28:19):
Not at all, I wouldn't have thought that, you know,
like, this was almost like aresourceful, like, I have to
figure out how I'm going to makethis happen. And, you know, my
family, I come from a verytraditional Italian background,
Holmes and my family. Just theother day, somebody said, Does
your family know what you do?
And I was like, nope, they haveno clue. You know, and I think
to myself, because it is it'ssomething that's one its niche,

(28:41):
and two is kind of moreprogressive and New Age, you
know, rather than my familywho's just like, so are you
going to get a job? Or have yousent on a resume? And I'm like,
No, I'm kind of doing this wholepodcasting thing, you know. And
so, it is interesting. I think alot of people don't understand a
lot of the new careers, if youwill, because they are so non

(29:01):
traditional. Right? This I thinkthere's something to be said.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Sorry. Sorry. No, I was just toointeresting. No, that was my
thought. I totally just went Itwas kind of off at a tangent. I
think there's something as Imentioned before, you know, in
my mid 40s, there's so much tobe learned from the younger

(29:22):
generation, whether it beworking from home or working
from a coffee shop or havingcasual Fridays, like we have so
much just the ways that I thinkthat so many younger people are
very innovative and outside thebox thinkers. I know that
sometimes millennials get a badrap and, you know, oftentimes,
like, oh, that they're lazy orthey're unmotivated or
something. I've heard that youknow, from people who are my

(29:43):
age, and I'm like, but how canyou work within that, like
they're not lazy because they'rewanting to work in a coffee
shop. They're just wanting towork differently. It just
doesn't look the same way thatwe work, you know?

Dana (29:56):
Well, you're so nice. I feel like a lot of millennials
must be so happy Right now?

Frannie (30:02):
Well, I hope so I think that there's too many times
where we look down on, we don'tlook at the opportunity to learn
from, whether it be the youngergeneration or the older
generation, there's somethingfrom everybody, right, like,
Millennials have just as much tolearn from our generation and
the generation before me aswell. And that's where I think
the open mindedness, you know,coming into it saying, What can

(30:22):
I learn? How can we do thingsdifferently?

Dana (30:25):
Hmm, that's so true.

Angela (30:27):
Tell us about how you found your first client.

Frannie (30:31):
Girls, it was cold calling, I literally just put it
out there like, and again,that's where it goes, just it
speaks to having thoserelationships from all those
years, you know, and I juststarted picking up the phone,
and I literally started coldcalling, which I was not really
familiar with, you know, I'm notin kind of the sales that way
now that some professions likethey want you to have 25 calls a

(30:53):
day, you know, in certainfields, and I that was not
ideal. And even in admissions,you know, a lot of people came
to us, I didn't have to do asmuch cold calling. So for me, it
was humbling, you know, to pickup the phone and to say, Hey, I
just lost my job. You know, thisis what I'm doing. Do you know
anybody who might need someservices? And, you know, in it,
and I was willing to do anythingin the beginning. And that's one

(31:15):
thing, I think, too, foranybody, you know, recognizing
that there's nothing and I toldpeople, there's nothing that's
too low. For me, there's nothingthat's beneath me. Like, if you
need me to scrub your toilet fora while I would do it. You don't
I mean, because I think thatthat's where like, I learned
grit, and also that it has mademe successful in my jobs in the
past, where they knew they couldask me to do anything like, Oh,

(31:37):
hey, frannie, will you go onthis field trip with these
students? You know, for a weekin Cape Cod, which, hey, I'm not
complaining about that, by anymeans. But, you know, is an
undertaking of time and energyand resources to go with these,
you know, it was just a biggerdeal. But I've always been
willing to pay Sure. Send meYeah, let me do it, you know,
you need me to shut that box,I'll move it for you. You know,
whatever it is, I've always beenwilling to do it. So I was

(31:59):
willing to do whatever, youknow, when I was first let go in
February, I just startedreaching out like, hey, if they
need me to, you know, write ablog for them, I'll do that if
they need me to make phone callsfor them. I was making phone
calls for one of my clients whois a real estate agent. And I
was just calling and gettingreferrals. And I was kind of
doing her telemarketing. And soI was willing to do whatever it

(32:20):
took.
Yes, exactly.

Angela (32:37):
And that you actually, so when you say cold calling you
like actually call them callthem just because nowadays,
there's so many different waysof contacting people. And I
wonder like, you know, have youtried a few different kinds? And
maybe do you find one platformworks better than the other or
anything like that?

Frannie (32:52):
Yeah, it's interesting.
You mentioned that, Angela,because I think you're right,
like, meeting people where theyare, right. So if I knew, for
example, by one client, whoended up signing with me, who is
16 and 16. For him, it wasn'tgonna make sense to send a DM,
right, or to send something thatwas just, you know, electronic,
I had to pick up the phone andcall him or I couldn't hashtag
and be like, Hey, you know, so.

(33:15):
So that I kind of have to meetpeople where they are, but
because I was, I was reallylooking at my inner circle. And
I was like, Alright, let meidentify 10 people who I know
have a very, very, very widenet, you know, and who can cast
the net wide for me. And I justwrote those 10 people down. And
you guys, I want to say it waseasy. But literally, by the
second day, I got a phone callback like, Hey, I actually know

(33:35):
somebody who. And so I was ableto sign a five figure client
that same week that I was like,Oh, my job.

Dana (33:41):
Wow. Yeah.

Frannie (33:43):
Yeah. So which, again, you know, that's not normal. And
I don't want anyone to be like,Oh, that's way too easy. It's
not easy. And that five figureswas over the course of three
months, not over the course of,you know, a week or a month that
I was making that money. But Iwas able to come up with a
proposal and get, you know,everything dialed in and was
like, Hey, you know, this workedfor you. And, you know, how

(34:05):
does, you know which part ofthis works? So and that was
that. And so since then, youknow, it's it's definitely
evolved, if you will, becauseI've had to meet people where
they are. So now I use a lot ofLinkedIn connections, which is
actually how I connected withyou girls, you know, and I just
use filters on LinkedIn toconnect with, you know,
podcasters. And that was kind ofhow it was. And it was funny,

(34:28):
because many of my clients, Ihave one other one, but I was
like, I was intrigued by yours.
I listened to a few episodes.
And I was like, oh, Mike, myclients, I don't know if they'll
be good fits, because they'vekind of like the one was in a
career for 25 years. It's like,he didn't really have a lot of
transitions. And then anotherone, he was actually in prison,
which is really interesting. ButI was like, I don't know if
that's the kind of transitionthey're looking for. But I was

(34:50):
like, I might be able to speakto this, which is the reason why
I was like, hey, if you are everlooking for somebody I might be
able to help out.

Angela (34:57):
For sure. This is so interesting. And then it Love
that you mentioned great. Thatreminds me of something that I
guess I don't normally show thispart of life. You know, my it's
definitely not on my resume. ButI think this was when I was just
starting out. So on my firstjob, I had just something came
to me. And I felt like I neededto learn how to Oh, I remember

(35:19):
sorry, this was when I was firstbecame a be starting to become
interested in the business sideof, I guess any kind of
business. Even though I didgraduate with an economics
degree, I think at the time, Ichose to do something that was a
little more relevant to myscience degree. And I think a
little bit into the job, I feltlike, Okay, I understand how it

(35:40):
works, and how operations kindof work within a laboratory
setting in some kind of a lifescience company. But I want to
understand a little bit moreabout the business side of
things, and I have no idea howto, like, get my hands dirty, if
you will, to do that. Because,you know, I was like a year into
working my first job and aftercollege, and I just like didn't
really know anyone. So I decidedto just kind of find a, I walked

(36:06):
into actually a quite big foodservice chain kind of
restaurant, really close to myfirst job. And I just asked them
if they needed help. So then Igot interviewed on the spot
right away, and I got a job. Butthe job was a service job. So I
was a server, I was just workingthere after my first job. And I
will say that's something thatyou know, something that's like,

(36:29):
out of the blue kind of almost,and it does not really fit with
anything else that I have on myresume. So I never had it really
on my resume. But when talkingabout like grids, and what you
can learn from any job,regardless of what it is, that's
always going to be the numberone job that I want to talk
about. Because at that job, Ilearned that yes, the customer's

(36:49):
always right. But there arealways ways to kind of engage
with with them when they're not,not really right. And you just
have to know how to do it andalways very respectful and
things like that. And it reallytaught me to kind of see that,
you know, I guess, understandand see people in the service
industry a little bitdifferently than how I would

(37:10):
would have if I never worked inthe service industry myself. And
yeah, I really liked that youmentioned, you know, you
sometimes just have to be likewilling to do almost anything
and everything there is to kindof get started and from there
on, you can learn so much more.
You don't even know what you'rein store for. So, yeah, I think
yeah, it's something if I couldgive an advice to anyone that's

(37:31):
like in the younger generationin there, maybe like late teens
or early 20s, I would say isjust, you know, take any
opportunity that comes your wayand try to make the most out of
it. Hundred percent. And don'tyou treat people differently in
the service industry? Angeles?
Yeah, because you literallybecause because you know that

(37:52):
you've been there, you knowthat, oh, you know, your
stereotype or like any kind of acommon stereotype of people that
are working kind of behind thecounter, you really don't know
very much until you're in it.
And they actually are capable ofdoing so much more. And they're
actually their job was actuallyquite difficult, you know,
sometimes handling people thatare coming in when they're like
having a bad day. And yeah, Ithink I heard somebody kind of

(38:15):
made a comment about how, ifyou're in the service industry,
you understand that people kindof take all of the bad things
out on you in all of yourinteractions with them, like
unintentionally, and sometimesthat's, you know,
subconsciously, that they'rejust like, maybe a little more
rude than they should need tobe. But that's kind of just
like, you know, something youlearn once you're in there, and

(38:37):
you haven't gone through that Ifeel like I just you know, have
so much more respect for all thedifferent jobs out there. And
because, you know, every jobreally teaches you something.
So, yeah, I think it also kindof fits with what you're saying,
you know, doesn't matter what itis that you meet, I will, I'm
willing to do it, even if like,you know, you kind of did some

(38:58):
telemarketing for one of youraccount clients, which is not
really what you were, you werein it for, but you did it
anyway. And now let's dosomething else.

Frannie (39:07):
And a percent and you know, it gives back to the cold
calling. And I think what'simportant to you know, I don't
have children of my own, butthinking about how, you know,
when I'm with my nieces andnephews, for example, we'll go
to the movie theater, and youknow, you eat your popcorn or
whatever on the ground. I'mlike, oh, we're gonna throw
their way like, Oh, well,someone's gonna come and clean
it up. Like, what if in 10years, you're that person?

Dana (39:27):
Exactly.

Frannie (39:28):
You can do your part, like you ate the popcorn, like,
be responsible, be full ofintegrity. And if you can help
them out, and like, you know,the lady, the gym who's cleaning
all the equipment down rightnow. I'm like, thank you so
much. Like, I'm so grateful forher. Because, you know, there's
nothing like, what if that wasme 20 years ago, you know, and I
think just there needs to be aspace of gratitude around that
too. So I think it does. Do youteach you a lot of things?

Dana (39:50):
Yes, for sure. It's amazing what like the bits and
pieces of wisdom you picked upalong the way of your journey
and so good to hear the

Frannie (40:01):
Boom, I think that's what's important too is that we
have to just like you mentioned,Angela like, Okay, well, what
did you learn about that? Likeyou just talked about, like
customer service and like thecustomer's always right. And I
think at any experience, likeyou walk away saying, Okay, what
did I like about this? What didI like about this? You know, and
hopefully the pain points thatyou didn't like, is what's going
to proceed, you know, push youto pursue something that you do,
like, you know, like, I can'ttake this anymore. And I only

(40:23):
taught it to my one friend,she's in a business, she's in a
job that she hates. And I'mlike, well, you don't hate it
that badly. Could you dosomething about it, you would be
looking for a new job. And she'slike, well, that's harsh. And
I'm like, Well, it's true. Youdon't mean like, if you really,
really hate it, you're going toput your resume together, or
you're going to you know, you'regoing to start looking and
figuring it out. But it'scomfortable, you know, I mean,

(40:43):
she gets a steady paycheck, andso it's not too uncomfortable
for her to make that move. Samething with your weight, right?
Like, and I think about that allthe time, because I've had
extreme weight loss in my life.
And so I think, Okay, well, whenmy pants don't start fitting
again, that's when I'm like,Okay, I need to do something
rather than buy new wardrobeevery season. You know, like,
it's the same thing in yourcareer. So?

Dana (41:03):
Absolutely. Um, so I'm interested in learning more
about your podcast, actually,why don't you tell us a little
bit about it.

Frannie (41:11):
So as I mentioned, it's not a full fledged podcast,
because it's more or less like alive talk show. So it's like
this, but I do no editing, andeverything is just completely,
you know, raw. And so I justhave on different people who can
inspire people. And it might be,I call it right now, frannie.
And friends, I have an idea forfree on five, where I talk about

(41:32):
five different pillars of whatare important to me, but I'm
holding off on that, I think,until when my book comes out.
But right now I just bring ondifferent friends. And I'm very
sociable. So I always say thatI've never met, you know,
there's never been a person thatI haven't met that hasn't become
a friend. So I just bring uplike, last week, I had some a
friend of mine who came on andshe talked about the money

(41:52):
mindset around entrepreneurialpoverty. So she talked about how
entrepreneurs will oftentimespay everyone else before they
paid themselves, and how we haveto kind of pivot, you know, that
mindset and replace that. I hadmy brother on both of us on
online dating, he's divorced.
And I'm single. And so we talkedabout our online dating
experiences and what to look forin a profile. So they're just

(42:12):
kind of random things, butthings that I think might
intrigue people. Oddly enoughgirls, he got dates from it. I
did not know, I'm just saying,I'm not so sure how that work
for us.

Dana (42:26):
People reached out after listening?

Angela (42:30):
Oh my gosh, that's amazi

Frannie (42:32):
Oh, for you, it was Yeah, I know, it was really
good. Because you know, most ofmy audience is all females. So
it was totally fine. And theywere friends who I knew. And
they were like, Is your brothersingle? And I was like, what the
whole point of doing this, youknow, nothing that was not to
get a date, it was to bringawareness to it. We caught it.
He said, she said, so it waslike, you know, I said like, do
you let her you know, do you lether pay? Or do you pay? Do you

(42:53):
kiss on the first date or not?
So it was kind of like rapidfire kind of questioning where I
was answering. And he wasanswering our perspectives on
it. So yeah, so I feel like Ican almost do one of those like,
because strangely enough, I knowa lot of people who are single,
whether it be because they'redivorced or whatnot, you know,
in their 40s and 50s. But I feellike that might actually be a
talk show.

Dana (43:15):
Yeah, actually, I was just gonna say that this could be
this could turn into somethingvery, very interesting, because
that's a topic that obviouslyeverybody is interested in, you
know, and, yeah, that's sobrilliant that sometimes, you
know, all these ideas will justcome out of what you're doing
and you can, being anentrepreneur, you can also you
can just pursue them.

Frannie (43:36):
That's so interesting.
You say that, because, you know,they said that online dating has
jacked up since COVID. Because,you know, maybe nobody's out in
the public. And so, because ofthat everybody was online
dating. And, you know, everybodyhad all the time in the world.
So they were all sitting aroundat home looking at apps, so in
profiles, so I thought, well,maybe I should do something
that's actually I have a dateand almost a decade. And that

(43:58):
was actually what started it forme was I was like, maybe I
should go back on and just kindof see what's out there. And
yeah, so that's how it kind ofstarted. So we'll see. But my
ultimate dream, ladies is tohave a talk show. And I've had
that dream since I was inseventh grade. I've always
wanted to have a talk show. Andso I know what the marathon you
know what the finish line lookslike. But getting there. So
having this little podcast nicheand listening to podcasts, being

(44:20):
on podcast, getting peopleconnected to podcasts, I'm
getting a lot of experience ofwhat I would do what I wouldn't
do. So I think I kind ofconsider this my market
research. And the good thing isI'm making money while I'm doing
it.

Dana (44:34):
So yeah, definitely, I th nk you will be collecting a lot
of good topics along the way.
So I'm excited for that. Likeif you have a talk show. I'm
ll for it. I will be I'll be yur number one liste

Frannie (44:46):
I was gonna say you girls might get to be guests. So
how about that?

Dana (44:51):
Yeah, so, um, actually, a question just popped into my
head and I was wondering, maybeyou can answer that for me. So
since you work on you helped Youknow, build a brand and using
podcast and, and and thesetechnologies. I was wondering,
what do you think like, do youhave any advice on creating a
pitch for yourself in thepodcast space?

Frannie (45:12):
100%. The first thing y u want to do is make sure
ou give a compliment to the prson, you know, listenin
to their podcast. And thenlike, for example, when I
you know, messaged you guys,I went, I listened to your podc
st before I, before I connectedwith you, before I emailed
ou, I was like, Oh, thesegirls are awesome. And like, I
read your bio. So I knew youguys were twins, and I had
read some information, I did mresearch on it. So and then tha

(45:33):
would be the first thing is,you know, making sure y
u give an authentic genuine cmpliment. And then the second th
ng I want to do is make sure yo're going to share how you'r
going to provide value for tem. Like, I'm not here to tal
about me and my talk show,like, I'm hoping that somebody
alks away saying, wow, you knowstarting a business or the tr
nsitions, or, you know, there'sopefully, a little takeaway
for every person who's listenig to this at least one takeawa

(45:54):
, because you want to be ableo provide value for the aud
ence that you're presenting t. This is not about me prom
ting, you know, anything that Ive shared so far, you know, whe
her it be a book or the book I'writing, hopefully, this is goi
g to help somebody who's goig through their own trans
tion, and they're a work in pogres

Dana (46:10):
That's amazing. And also, another thing that you mentioned
earlier that I kind of want tocircle back is that you said
that you seem to have a likenatural, like ability to, let's
say you're very, very good atcustomer service, or building
relationships. Do you have anytips for that?

Frannie (46:31):
Number sent first, first and foremost, is always
thinking about, okay, what wouldthe other what would that person
want? And so as Angelamentioned, with her, you know,
experience working in theservice industry, you know,
everybody loves a compliment,right? So whether it's the girl
at Target, and you're like, Ohmy gosh, I love that lipstick.
Like yesterday, she had thesefancy nails, and I was like,
your nails look amazing, arethose for Halloween, and she was

(46:53):
just like, you could just seeher like light up. And so just
really being gender. I don'tthink we do that very often. You
know, and people oftentimes willsay, Oh, hey, how are you today?
And my response girls, I'll say,I'm just like, I look good. And
it's not that I believe thatit's not that I'm arrogant, but
I just make people laugh, like,people are like, Oh, that's
funny. And so if you can justlike connect with people in a

(47:14):
way that is just not your state,you know, kind of response of
I'm good. How are you? You knowwhat I mean? Like getting people
to think and laugh and smile.
And so I think for me, justreally just being genuine with a
compliment. And always justconnecting with people finding a
way to connect with them, askingopen ended questions, obviously,
I was a teacher for years, whereif I just say, you know, did you

(47:36):
like that movie? Yes. Or whatwas your favorite part of that
movie? You know, when I was ateacher, I would ask my
students, those kinds ofquestions, you know, not just,
you know, closed endedquestions. So really trying to
have those engagingconversations and then saying to
somebody, well, tell me moreabout that, or Wow, that sounds
really exciting. But just likewhat you girls are doing
tonight, you know, today, you'recircling back and like, oh, tell

(47:56):
me about this and go a littledeeper. And who doesn't love
talking about themselves? Right?
So having somebody share alittle bit about their
experience, they walk awayfeeling better. So I think
that's like, those are some keysI would certainly say is, you
know, being genuine andcompliment somebody, and then
kind of asking those open endedquestions, that's going to give

(48:17):
you an opportunity to find yetanother question to ask them.
And then the third thing, as Imentioned girls earlier, for
sure, and I apologize by callingyou girls, ladies, I should say
that there was like, not thatyou're you know, I feel like a
wrinkle ranter over here becauseI'm so much older than you. But
with like, I also think thatlearning from other people,
there's a guy he's fromCleveland, and I lived in

(48:39):
Cleveland for years. JOHNdegioia, says his name and he
has a great book called SecretService. And he's actually
consulted with Starbucks, andDisney and Chrysler and big
fortune 500 companies. And soI've done some of his trainings,
and he's all about the secretthings have cut the customer
industry. Like for example, heowns a beauty salon. And so if
you go to his beauty salon Thefirst time you get a different

(49:02):
color cape, than if you're thereas a third time guest. So the
first and second time they treatyou you know, the capes that you
wear when you get your hairwashed and whatnot and haircut.
So they treat you verydifferently. They come and they
give you champagne or wine orthey ask if you want want, you
know, they'll do your nails,they'll go ahead and give you a
little nail polish change, likeand they guess what, by the
second time you're like, I'mhooked like I got it above and

(49:24):
beyond service. And so that'sreally for me was like learning
some of those little tricks,like I mentioned earlier, like
when I would call the familiesand say, Hey, tell me about your
dog. You know, like, nobody wasjust calling to find out about
their dog. And then I was like,Oh, I don't even know where your
application is. I haven't evenlooked at it this week. I just
sincerely was calling about yourdog. You don't mean? So they
were like, oh, it made it feellike I was genuinely caring

(49:45):
about them and not about themcoming to the school. So then
they felt cared for. And itreally was genuine. I really did
care about the families.

Dana (49:53):
Mm hmm. Wow, I love that.
Um, actually, you mentionedsomething that I'm really
interested So, I'm going to asksorry, so many questions.

Frannie (50:03):
Oh, no, I love it.

Dana (50:04):
Yeah. So you mentioned that to ask open ended
questions. And I feel likethat's something that's very
important to do. But I am justso bad at it. Are there? Are
there any, like easy ones thatyou can ask? You know, for
example, like you mentioned agood one. What was your favorite
part about the movie? I thinkthat's excellent. But I think
sometimes when I'm trying to,you know, talk to someone, and I

(50:27):
just, I just don't know what toask, what are some easy ones you
think?

Frannie (50:32):
So I think, you know, telling, like, for example, this
morning, some of the girls had abirthday party, My birthday is
next week. So they and I said,Okay, why does everybody go
around and share your favoriteor most memorable birthday
experience? Like just being veryopen ended versus like, you
know, just winter birthday? Youdon't mean? Like, that's
something that's just like aclosed ended, you know, v
rsus what was your favorite mmory? You know, or what was th

(50:55):
one lady went on? And she walike, well, I told all my frie
ds to come for a birthday part. And we actually were having
party. And I was like, Well, tht was certainly memorable. And
then that started, and I wasike, Well, what did your mom
ay, you know, and all the kids sowed up at the house, like, so t
en it just led to very naturaly asking those questions.
nd I think too, anytime you cn try to tap into an emotion,
ou know, because people remmber emotions, they don't rem

(51:17):
mber facts as much as they reember emotions or stories, if
ou will. And so really beinable to anchor that, like, fo
example, when I taught Eglish, I used to have to try to
anchor something that my studens were learning in something th
y already knew. And so toe able to do that, so it's the
ame thing in our lives, righ, like, now that I know Angela's
story about, you know, I lovehat she was so full of grid, she

(51:37):
just went in and said, like,ey, do you guys have any jobs?
nd on the spot, she was intervewed, you know? And then I, yo
know, I'd say, Well, what didou learn? What was the numb
r one thing you learned from tat job? Or, you know, how did th
t job help you for the next, yu know, how did that prepare you
for your next career and thigs like that? So I think just be
ng genuinely concerned aboupeople and wanting to know, lik

(51:58):
, what their experiences have ben? And I would, Dana, I would r
frame I don't think you're, youaid, I'm so bad at asking the
e questions. I don't thinkyou're bad at all. It's just al
o to like, you're just learnig, you know, we're constantly l
arning new questions to ask, anI think you're great at it
So thank you.

Angela (52:19):
What advice do you have for other people that are also
thinking about starting theirbusiness during Kobe, I feel
like now, it's just a littledifferent than like, you know,
last year, or even like, Januarythis year, like Kobe, just like,
broke kind of a wrench into alot of things. And since you
were so successful, successfuldoing it yourself, we love to
share, you know, any advice youhave.

Frannie (52:42):
So I think the first and foremost thing is looking to
see how you can meet a need. Andso mine was very niche, and it
was, you know, I went to like,like I mentioned earlier, I just
went to some of my friends. AndI was like, a casting that far
and wide. I really didn't know,I knew that I had like, these
five skills that I was reallywanting, like, these are the
things I wanted to do. Andagain, you know, people are

(53:03):
like, well, what exactly do youdo, and I, initially I was
calling myself just like a PRperson, because I was helping
people, like, just get connectedwith like, you know, whether it
be a person who is going to doyour website, or whether it's
going to be the person who, youknow, I was just more of a
connector for people. And I'mlike, but how do you get paid to
do that? And I was like, I don'twant to necessarily be an
agency. And so then I startedthinking, like, Well, everybody

(53:24):
has a story, and I love beingable to help share that for
people. But I don't want towrite, you know, people have
asked me to go straight forthem. And I'm like, No, I don't
want to that's such a labor oflove. You know, I mean, yeah,
it's just labor. I don't evenknow if I love, you know, would
love doing that for someoneelse. I love doing my own
things. But, um, so I thought,so I think that looking at and
see, okay, well, there's a need,like, as you girls know, like,

(53:46):
both of you have full time jobs,and you're doing this, it's
like, people are busy. And somany entrepreneurs are doing so
many things in their business,for them to write a pitch,
listen to the podcast, researchthem, you know, doing all the
all the things, if you will airquotes, there's a lot of detail.
And I thought, well, what if Ijust made that a no concierge
service and just say, I will doit, I'll send you the links,
I'll put the headshot up, I'llsend them the bio, I'll do all

(54:08):
the things for you. And I'mlike, great. So that's how it
happened, you know, where I wasjust like, Why can meet a need,
if they're maxed out? They don'tknow, you know, the people to
connect with, they don't havethe time to do the research.
What if I just go ahead and dothat for them and meet the need.
So look and see how you can meeta need with the strengths and
the things you like doing if youdon't like doing it. Just

(54:29):
because it's meeting a need isnot going to fill you up.

Angela (54:33):
That's a great point.
And as an entrepreneur yourself,do you have like a go to person
source or any kind of like,source of knowledge that you
kind of use this to, like guideyourself in this journey and to
building your own business?

Frannie (54:50):
Yeah, so I have a coach, I work with a coach. I
think that's hugely importantand you do have to invest in
yourself. That's the one thingis you know, you have to invest
in yourself. And not only that,but then also have provided me
with a community of otherentrepreneurs who are doing
similar things, who I was ableto say like, Oh, well tell me
about this, or what do you know?
Even for podcasts? I'm like,What microphone do you use? What
headset Do you know their basicthings, but it just provides for

(55:10):
you that community. So you feelvery comfortable being able to
ask questions. And then also, itgives you that, that
encouragement of like, Okay,well, what's working here,
what's not and someone to kindof someone who's not in the
weeds with you, you know,sometimes you get caught up. So
I think that's a huge componentto being successful. And again,
I'm in a constant work inprogress, ladies. So, you know,

(55:33):
on any given day are exactlyexactly what I love your
podcasts for that reason. Butthat would be the first one is
making sure you invest inyourself, you know, working with
a coach, I think is hugelyimportant. And then as I just
mentioned, being able to be in acommunity where you feel
comfortable to be vulnerable,because you're gonna have to
say, Oh, my gosh, I messed thisup, or, Oh, my gosh, you know, I
tried this, and I spent $10,000,and it didn't work, you know,

(55:57):
and now what, you know,sometimes I think that we're
afraid to say, like, I messedup, or I failed. Now what? So if
you have, you know, even if it'sjust a trusted few people,
right, you know, in your,there's that expression, be
careful of people who are inyour circle, you want the people
who are in your corner. And Ithink that's huge, because you
might have a lot of people whoare part of your inner circle,

(56:18):
if you will, but not everybodyis going to be there to cheer
you on. Not everyone's going tobe there to be like, you know,
excited for you and encourageyou, but the people in your
corner are. So that's huge.

Dana (56:30):
Absolutely. Thank you so much. frannie. I think that
probably wraps up all of ourquestions. Is there something
particular something else thatyou want to talk about on the
podcast, we can go?

Frannie (56:43):
No, I think that, you know, hopefully, this was
comprehensive. Hopefully, itgave people some insight and you
know, some takeaways to be ableto walk away and hopefully have
at least something that they cango ahead and, you know,
implement, I'm really, I reallythink it's important to have
practical and tactical, like,it's great. If you're inspired.
That's one thing, but if you'renot going to take action, then

(57:05):
that's a whole other thing. Andactually, people can go to my
book, if they are in thetransition, I give them seven
practical tip tips and tools tomaking a seamless transition. So
one of them I talk about findingyour Sensei, you know, finding
that mentor, I talked about, youknow, honing and zoning, I
talked about creating goals. Sothere's a lot of practical tips.
And it's a workbook because ofthe teacher in me. So there's

(57:25):
exercises at the end of everychapter that are like, it's
really yeah, and I'm like, it'sa workbook, which means it won't
work unless you do so you haveto go and ask yourself the
questions and make a point toyou know, reach out and have
lunch with somebody or you know,have coffee or make a phone
call. So it's very practical,you know, right, the deadline,
right, the date that youconfirmed it, all those things,
so it kind of hold youaccountable.

Dana (57:46):
That's great. Where can people find you

Frannie (57:50):
So I'm at shine with brandy on every platform. So o
shine with brandy calm is my wbsite, and then on Inst
gram, LinkedIn, Twitter, andacebook. It's all shy with fran
ie. And then of course, if theyjust type in, yeah, shall we f
annie will bring you all of my hndles are also at the bott
m of my page there too. And theycan subscribe and they'll get
hat free ebook when they subsribe, or they can buy it on Amaz

(58:11):
n. A cute little tip there thatI learned from my coach. She
as the book available to purcase on Amazon. But you can also
make it for a freebie for theiemail. So FYI, if someone is a
entrepreneur, and they're likewhat do I do with this kind
of make money? Yes, you can.
Yeah,

Angela (58:27):
Thank you so much for sharing that tip with us.

Frannie (58:29):
You're welcome.
Hopefully it will, somebody willwill use it. Maybe you girls.

Dana (58:34):
Yeah. Thank you for your time today. Thank you so much
for all these wonderful wisdomand really, really love your
sense of humor. So I reallyenjoyed this conversation so
much. Thank you.

Frannie (58:45):
Thanks, Dana. Thanks, Angela. You guys are the best. I
wish you only the best

Angela (58:49):
Thank you so

Dana (58:50):
Thank you. Bye. Bye.
You just finished listening toan episode of the work in
progress podcast. If you likedthis episode, make sure you
share this with someone who canbenefit from it and leave us a
review on iTunes. Don't forgetto let us know what you think or

(59:11):
if you have any questions. Youcan find our contact information
in the episode description. Keepdoing the good work and I look
forward to speaking with yousoon.

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