May 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Have you ever wondered if who you know matters more than what you know? This question lies at the heart of a transformative conversation with Janice Porter, a relationship marketing strategist who turned her teaching career into a thriving business built on connections.
Janice’s journey—from elementary school teacher to LinkedIn specialist—offers valuable insights for anyone feeling stuck or uncertain about their next career chapter, especially midlife professionals considering a change. She shares how the limitations of the school system led her to pursue a completely new path in business, ultimately building a successful career helping others leverage relationships for growth.
In this episode, Janice demystifies relationship marketing and explains how to harness the power of Linkedin as a networking tool. With her philosophy of “sending out to give, not to get,” she redefines traditional networking, emphasizing authentic connections and long-lasting business relationships. Janice offers actionable strategies for overcoming the fear of rejection, maintaining relationships through follow-ups, and turning online connections into real-world opportunities.
If you’re worried you’re “too old” to start something new, Janice has a message for you: " You've got wisdom to offer." She celebrates how experience, when paired with curiosity and openness, is the ultimate advantage. Ready to tap into the power of relationships? Tune in to discover how shifting your mindset and embracing connection could be the game changer in your career and life satisfaction.
For similar episodes on career transitions after 50 please check out episodes 109 and 117
And if you love traveling tune into The Ageless Traveler Podcast & subscribe to a free Travel Tuesday newsletter. This is the #1 resource for 60+ travelers. Join her private FACEBOOK SALON for like-minded travelers.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoy this podcast, please help us share the word by dropping a review and forward it to a friend.
Resources:
Janice Porter:
@socjanice
Linkedin: /in/janiceporter
https://www.amplifyounetwork.com/show/relationships-rule/episodes/
Beverley Glazer:
https://reinventimpossible.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverleyglazer/
https://www.facebook.com/beverley.glazer
https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenover50rock
https://www.instagram.com/beverleyglazer_reinvention/
🎁 BONUS: Take your first step to clarity, courage and momentum. Your free checklist: → From Stuck to Unstoppable – is here.
https://reinvent-impossible.aweb.page/from-stuck-to-unstoppable
Have feedback or a powerful story that's worth telling? Contact us at info@Reinventimpossible.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion, the
podcast designed to inspire yourgreatness and thrive through
life.
Get ready to conquer your fears.
Here's your hostpsychotherapist, coach and
empowerment expert, BeverlyGlazer.
Beverley Glazer (00:36):
What if the key to thriving in business and
life is all about who you know,and what if you don't know too
many people?
Welcome to Aging with Purposeand Passion.
I'm Beverley Glazzer, atransformational coach and
catalyst empowering women torewrite the rules, reclaim their
voice and create the life theywere meant to live, and you can
find me on reinventimpossiblecom.
Janice Porter is all aboutrelationships.
(01:00):
She's a relationship marketingstrategist, a LinkedIn
specialist and podcaster whotransformed her teaching career
into building a business throughthe power of connections.
If you've been struggling withtransitions in your life and
your career, keep listening,because these strategies are
(01:22):
going to excite you.
Hi, janice, welcome Great tosee you today.
Janice Porter (01:29):
Thanks, Beverley, it's my pleasure to be here.
Beverley Glazer (01:33):
I'm excited to talk to you.
Well, it's really interestingbecause you went from teaching.
You loved children.
Teaching was what you did.
Teaching was what you loved.
What age group did you teachwhen you started teaching?
Janice Porter (01:48):
I started as a primary grade teacher grade one,
grade two, grade three andtowards the end of my teaching
career, which was about 14 years, I was in the what we call the
intermediate grades four, five,six, Okay, so you always loved
children.
Beverley Glazer (02:04):
Yes, four, five , six, okay.
So you always loved childrenbecause I still do.
Janice Porter (02:08):
I love teaching and I was always.
I always knew I was going to bea teacher.
Beverley Glazer (02:14):
Well, you're still teaching, but teaching on
a different level Exactly.
You know completely different,and we're all children at heart
anyway.
Janice Porter (02:24):
Well, for me.
For me it was like like I lovedteaching but I didn't like the
bureaucracy of the public schoolsystem, and that's what I think
in the end got me.
And I had an opportunity totake a break, trying to get
pregnant.
It was having issues andwhatever and then when it was
(02:47):
time to go back, I did, I didhave my second daughter and go
back to the opportunity to goback to teaching, and I just
couldn't quite get there.
So that's when things startedto change for me, Right?
Beverley Glazer (03:00):
Yeah, right, but you had many changes.
You started really as being ayoung teacher, and you love
children.
You had the idea of the picketfence.
You lived that life as a younggirl and you got married and
your picket fence fell apart too.
(03:21):
That's right.
That's right, yeah.
And did you continue teachingor did you change then?
Like what went on?
Janice Porter (03:29):
No, I went back.
Well, I didn't right away.
I went, I did a different jobfor a year and then I went back
to teaching and I cause that'swhere I could, you know, make
money and that's where I was.
And also at this point I had avery young child and I needed to
make, you know, to be able tosupport myself.
So I went back to teaching andthat's when I taught most of my
(03:51):
career there, about anothereight, nine years, and then
that's when it was enoughalready.
You know, right, right.
Beverley Glazer (03:59):
But your husband was a teacher as well.
Janice Porter (04:02):
My second husband was a teacher.
He was a career teacher, heloved teaching and coaching.
And, yeah, he was he.
He could turn a blind eye tothe, you know, the bureaucracy
and just put his head down andteach.
I, on the other hand, couldn't,so it was different.
Beverley Glazer (04:21):
So how did you make that transition?
Because teaching adults andteaching children two different
things.
I know.
Janice Porter (04:27):
And and to be honest, I didn't know what I was
going to do.
And when I was on leave, afriend of mine said to me hey,
they're looking for someone todo some contract training at the
telephone company.
Are you interested?
And I said I don't know, sure,I'll be open to a conversation.
(04:48):
And uh, uh, and she said to mewell, well, give me your resume
and I'll take it in.
And I went resume, I'm ateacher, what do I know about
resume anyway?
So that was sort of thebeginning of the of the
changeover, and I ended up beinga contract trainer for many,
many years and growing andlearning, one, how to teach
(05:11):
adults and two, how to teach ortrain on telephone equipment,
voicemail equipment, how toprogram telephone equipment, I
mean it became a whole otherthing but I could do it on my
terms because I was a contractorall that time.
So that was my next career.
Beverley Glazer (05:34):
No, no, no, that's true, it was on your own
terms, but here it's kind oftotally different from marketing
and networking, and where didyou realize how important those
relationships were?
Janice Porter (05:47):
Well, for me, relationships were always
important.
However, my contract gig Icould see the writing on the
wall.
Things were changing in thecorporation, times were changing
and eventually I was let go,and this was the early 2000s and
I didn't get a gold watch, Ididn't get a pension, I didn't
(06:09):
get any of that from being thereall that time.
But I knew that that was therisk I took.
But now I had to figure thingsout for myself and I tried to
continue what I was doing at thetelephone company on my own,
and I didn't know anything aboutmarketing, I didn't know
anything about anything to dowith small business, because all
(06:31):
I did was show up and they'dsend me to train somewhere.
So I got really involved in thelocal chamber of commerce and
met a lot of people, asked a lotof questions, tried to sort of
find something that that I don'tknow I could do, I suppose.
(06:51):
But I met a young entrepreneurwho had a business doing
professional organizing and shewas selling licenses for her
already organized business andI'm a Virgo so I love being
organized and that appealed tome.
So I learned a lot from her andI bought her first license and
(07:15):
I went through the chamberstarted to meet a lot of people
and now I could teach againbecause I was able to do
presentations to the businessowners, lunch and learn things
like that around being organizedand so forth, and that started
that little business going.
And I did that for two or threeyears.
(07:36):
And then I got serious abouthow do I run my own business and
I didn't qualify for agovernment funded program that a
lot of people were able to take, but I was able to take a short
one and learn a little bitabout the basics of your own
business.
But I pretty much learned as Iwent and made lots of mistakes
(07:59):
and, yeah, got into differentthings, network marketing being
one of them and then I foundLinkedIn and that sort of
changed everything.
Beverley Glazer (08:12):
What did LinkedIn do for you?
Janice Porter (08:14):
Well, for me, what happened was, you know,
social media was pretty new inthe early 2000s and I kind of
dabbled in.
I didn't like Facebook, itreally didn't appeal to me.
And then I joined LinkedInearly on, but I didn't know what
it was and I kind of left it be.
And then somebody I went for awalk with a friend one day and I
asked her she knew aboutLinkedIn and she said yes, you
(08:36):
need to talk to this guy, it'sbrilliant and he'll show you all
about it.
And this young man actually satdown and gave me the basics on
LinkedIn and this started to goaround in my mind that, oh, my
goodness, I like this.
This is a straightforwardbusiness type platform that I
started sharing informationabout with my friends, and then
(08:58):
I realized that this wassomething I could dig my teeth
into and actually teach, and soit brought me around to being a
teacher again in my own way, andthat's what I loved about it it
was straightforward, it waseasy to teach for me, and that's
how it started, and that wasaround 2011.
So it's gone.
(09:21):
It's sort of evolved since then.
Beverley Glazer (09:33):
Sure, how can somebody who's never done this,
who knows about CVs and you knowresumes and they're ready to
get out there old school, whatwould you tell them about now
reaching out online, linkedin,social media, creating
connections there?
What would you tell them?
Janice Porter (09:46):
Well, I would tell them, regarding
particularly LinkedIn, that it'sstill an untapped market for
networking in so many ways.
There's over a billion peopleon LinkedIn now and growing all
the time.
However, there's only probablyabout what did they say?
(10:08):
300 million that actually useit.
Right, so it's an untappedmarket.
So it was.
You mentioned resumes andthings like that.
So originally it was a jobseeking type platform, but today
it's what we call the businessplatform for networking and for
(10:30):
you know, the business socialmedia platform the only one,
really and so it has its ownflavor, it has its own way of
being, and there are things thatone needs to know to be
effective on LinkedIn.
But it's more than what it was.
It's now a place tostrategically reach out to
(10:54):
people that maybe you want tomeet or want to meet their
people, that they know, andthere's ways to do it
effectively that most peopledon't even do.
It's also a place to be visibleand show your authority through
your content.
It's a lot, you know, but justlike what do they say?
(11:14):
Eat an elephant, one bite at atime.
You just start to learn how todo it and do it effectively,
rather than just throwing mud atthe wall, which most people do.
Beverley Glazer (11:25):
Yeah, no, what I'm hearing is for somebody that
doesn't understand it.
Janice Porter (11:30):
Just go in and take a look and watch, and
before you even do anything,yeah, and if you're smart,
you'll get someone to help youwho knows what they're doing
Exactly, so you're not wastingyour time and doing it wrong.
Beverley Glazer (11:42):
Exactly and not fear it.
And the only way to not fear itis press that button Exactly
and then you start to understand.
Also, there's so muchinformation that you could read
online, but reading is not thesame as doing.
Janice Porter (11:55):
Well, and not everybody learns that way right,
you're right, some people arebetter at doing and some people
need the visual and so forth.
So for sure.
Beverley Glazer (12:04):
Exactly.
And so social media andconnections.
How do you end up keeping thoseconnections?
Because you know, on socialmedia what happens is people
meet you, people greet you andoff, they go into cyberspace and
you never hear from them again.
Right, and what do you do aboutthat?
Janice Porter (12:20):
And I think that actually that statement is true
of in-person networking as well,because you've got to find your
people, you've got to find whodo you really connect with, and
then staying connected is thehardest part and it takes work,
it really does, and maybe youhave a rhythm around it, maybe
(12:41):
you don't know what to do, butreally communication can be in
so many ways.
I had a situation the other daywhere not a situation, but for
me I act a lot on my promptings,meaning that somebody comes to
my mind or comes on my heart.
That means I need to reach outto them, and I did something the
(13:03):
other day.
This happened.
There's a woman that I've knownfor a while.
She's a realtor.
She had actually done some workfor us a few years ago.
She had reached out in amarketing way a month or so ago,
a couple months ago, and Imeant to reach out then and it
got lost in the shuffle and thatday she was on my heart.
(13:25):
So I picked up the phone.
Isn't that strange?
Nobody ever picks up the phone.
I picked up the phone and calledher and, because she's a
realtor, I thought she'danswered the phone right
Realtors usually do and she did.
And the very first thing that Isaid to her was, after, you
know, saying hi was do you havea minute now, or or should you
know?
Should I call back, cause youalways want to respect people's
(13:47):
time, of course.
She says I have 10 minutes, I'min the car, great.
So we chatted and we ended upbooking a call for this next
week to follow up on somethingthat we talked about.
But if you can do that in rhythm, if you can speak to somebody,
maybe you have a conversationfor the first time offline, like
(14:08):
you've had a couple of messageson LinkedIn and the object is
always the objective is alwaysto take them offline to a phone
call or a Zoom call or in-personmeeting and then from there, if
you think it's going furtherone.
You want to follow up always,whether that's with a text,
email, a phone call or heavenforbid, as I love to do send a
(14:31):
card and because I love thattangible touch that people get
and they remember longer, andthen put them into your
follow-up calendar or mark a daythen, two months from now or a
month from now, to follow up andtalk to them again.
You have to keep people in thatflow to stay connected.
(14:55):
Maybe something comes up thatyou think of that person, they
might be interested in it.
You send it to them.
Something of value just stayingon top of it's, in top of mind
with them is big and veryhelpful would you have any
advice as what a follow-upcalendar even is?
Beverley Glazer (15:14):
I know there's all kinds of platforms that do
that, but if you're're new atthis, you can be clueless.
Janice Porter (15:21):
Well, and first you have to decide do I want to
go old school or new school?
Right, you know, old school,having a calendar or an actual
physical calendar on your desk.
You just put that person, youdo it.
Maybe you have a time each weekfor follow-up that's a good
idea, actually Friday'sfollow-up day, and maybe Friday
(15:41):
morning you assign yourself acouple of hours to do that
follow-up.
So whoever is in that nextfollow-up week, you would have
them already listed on yourcalendar with their phone number
or their email or whateveryou're going to do.
And then, if you're more newschool, then it's.
Do I want a CRM, a customerrelationship manager program, or
(16:03):
do I just use a spreadsheet?
I tend to use my calendar, myonline calendar, where, if I've
talked to you, I'll move itforward a couple of weeks to
touch base with you again in myfollow-up time period.
But everyone's different timeperiod, but everyone's different
.
Some people want thesophistication either of Sales
(16:24):
Navigator, which is the moresophisticated sales producing
portion of LinkedIn, maybe theyhave there's so many CRMs, from
Salesforce, which is one of thebig ones, to some of the smaller
ones that are lesssophisticated.
I've tried them all.
I can't seem to get into arhythm of them myself, to be
(16:45):
honest.
So for me, I do it with mycalendar but and sometimes a
spreadsheet.
Especially if I've gone to meeta lot of people in a group,
then I want them on aspreadsheet so I can make sure I
connect with them accordingly.
I hope that helps.
Beverley Glazer (17:01):
Oh, I'm sure it will.
And let me also ask you, thoughyou just picked up a phone to
this realtor expecting thisperson to pick up, but maybe not
.
Janice Porter (17:11):
I didn't expect her to, but I was surprised that
she did.
But that's good, okay, sorry.
Beverley Glazer (17:16):
Yeah, well, no, no, no, Because what happens
also is there is a fear, a fearof reaching out.
Now, this person was somewhatof a stranger, but really what
you're saying is you made amistake here with the way you
reached out to me and maybe Ican help you.
You know, you didn't actuallyhave to say that, but if she
(17:37):
came into salesy and you canoffer a suggestion, you can feel
that somebody is going to beoffended and how do you?
Janice Porter (17:46):
By picking up the phone.
Beverley Glazer (17:49):
You mean by calling them, by picking her up,
then saying you know, I thoughtof you and there's a reason.
It wasn't because of her sale,it was really because of your
sale.
It wasn't because of her sale,it was really because of your
sale.
And so, how you know, how cansomebody who really has the same
intent that you had but is notas experienced, how can they
(18:09):
overcome their fear of rejectionright there?
Janice Porter (18:12):
Well, that's a really good question.
First of all, that fear ofrejection.
You have to build that thickskin over time because really
those are two things I learned along time ago.
One is um is um, don't take itpersonally.
(18:38):
And two, don't be um.
Well, it's almost the samething, like don't be um, uh,
affected by the outcome.
Don't expect, you know, andthen get disappointed you can't.
It's like okay.
So if the purpose of the call isjust a follow-up or if you have
(19:01):
what you're saying, I thinkwhat you're saying is do you
have an ulterior motive?
Okay, all right.
So in this case, this is a goodexample, because I did have an
ulterior motive.
I meant two things.
One, she'd had some healthissues.
Her husband had some healthissues.
I was genuinely concerned and Ihad sent a card or two over a
(19:22):
period of time.
But I was looking in thatconversation If it didn't happen
, it didn't happen and I wouldhave done it another time.
But I was looking for an openingand she actually gave it to me,
because I said something abouthave you been I'm sensing you
(19:44):
haven't been working a lot overthe last year or so with the
health issues.
She said no, actually I haven't, and I jokingly said, hey, you
should come join my team with mycard company.
I said you'd be so good at it,you wouldn't have to go out of
the house to do it.
And she said, speaking of that,I do want to talk to you about
(20:08):
starting that up again.
So she kind of I was.
That's how it came about.
So we had this piece to theconversation.
I said, well, I'd love to showyou what's new.
Let's do it on a call next week.
We didn't do it right then andthere, and because I wanted to
respect the time that you know,she picked up the phone and she
was driving somewhere and thatwas it.
(20:29):
So if it doesn't happen, though,it doesn't happen.
So you have to.
You have to make the callreally about them.
You have to be much morefocused If it happens.
Listen, listen for the clues ofthe um mottos, or that we that
we talk about with the sense thecard sending company that I'm
(21:00):
with is send out, and it's thesame thing on the phone send out
to give, with no expectation,don't send out to get right.
So if you send a card tosomeone and you send it out
there, they're not necessarilygoing to say thank you for the
card, like bless my mom.
She used to thank people forthe thank you cards, for the
(21:21):
thank you cards, like she wasalways doing that.
She was never really able tosay, oh, that was for me, that's
really nice.
She always felt she had to dosomething else.
But most people will notcomment.
But you shouldn't expect that.
Just let it go.
You do it for the right reasons, then it's, it's going to work
out right.
Send out to give, not to get.
Beverley Glazer (21:42):
Yes, and that would be in selling as well.
Absolutely.
Janice Porter (21:46):
Yes, it's.
It's about looking for how youcan serve really.
Beverley Glazer (21:53):
Right.
What do you tell an older womanwho feels it's too late to even
start?
Janice?
Janice Porter (22:00):
I know it isn't because I'm old and a lot of my
energy comes from being able tohelp people.
And I have friends who areretired and say why are you
still working?
Why are you still working?
I said because I don't work aslong hours as I used to, but I
love working, because I lovemeeting people and I love
(22:22):
talking to people.
I have my podcast, like you do,and I get to meet so many
interesting people by havingthat podcast.
To meet so many interestingpeople by by having that podcast
and working with younger peoplegives me energy and keeps me
young as well.
So I say no, you've got wisdom.
That's the word I love to usewith with older people, older
women like myself.
(22:43):
It's it's you've got wisdom tooffer.
And, and as long as you keep upwith the times, if that makes
sense, because I think that thathelps, it is.
It's funny.
I saw a I think it was onFacebook.
I saw a clip of a young guy whowas 34 years old and he was a
(23:09):
professor at a university or aguest professor, and he was, or
he came to a high school tospeak to these kids.
So these high schoolers are genalpha, gen alpha, okay, and um,
because they're under 20, right, they're, they.
(23:29):
They were born in the 2000s,right?
So they're Gen Alpha.
So he said at the beginning ofhis speech that he was going to
speak to them.
He's going to do his wholespeech in their language,
because they have a lot of slanglanguage that nobody knows what
they're talking about.
And he started to deliver thisspeech and he did so in there,
(23:52):
using their idioms and theirterms, and they were killing
themselves, laughing in theaudience because they they
connected with them and it's thesame principle, right?
Only in a different.
I don't know if I could go thatfar, but, um, you know cause, I
haven't really experienced thatone yet, but definitely with
the.
You know the Gen Z, gen, x, gen, you know the millennials, that
(24:17):
kind of thing.
Beverley Glazer (24:18):
Yeah, now what you're actually saying is stay
relevant, have an open mind, becurious throughout this whole
thing.
Thank you so much, janice.
Janice Porter is a relationshipmarketing strategist, a
LinkedIn specialist and apodcaster who transformed her
teaching career into building abusiness through the power of
(24:42):
connections.
Here are some takeaways fromthis episode.
Meaningful relationships matter.
Start cultivating them, build aLinkedIn profile to attract the
right people and stay curious.
It opens you up to newpossibilities.
If you've been struggling tomake a career transition or to
(25:04):
improve your business, here'swhat you could do right now
Connect with a potential client,customer or friend.
Give without intending toreceive, and be curious in all
their needs.
For similar episodes ontransitioning your career when
you're over 50, check outepisode 109 and 117 of Aging
(25:29):
with Purpose and Passion.
And, if you love travel, listento the Ageless Travel podcast
and subscribe to the TravelTuesday newsletter.
The Ageless Traveler is thenumber one resource for active
travelers 60 plus.
It's hosted by Adrienne Berg,whose mission is to ensure that
(25:50):
you never, ever stop traveling,and all these links are going to
be in the show notes as well.
So where can people learn moreabout you, janice, and about
your podcast, and where can theyfind you?
Janice Porter (26:05):
They can find me at JanicePortercom, and there
they will see all the differentthings that that I can support
them with and and more about me.
Uh, they can also find me onLinkedIn at, linkedin.
com slash in slash, janicePorter.
So it is easy to find me onLinkedIn.
(26:26):
And my podcast is calledrelationships rule and it's
everywhere Uh.
Apple Spotify wherever yeah,terrific, yeah.
And my podcast is calledRelationships Rule and it's
everywhere.
Apple Spotify wherever yeah,terrific.
Beverley Glazer (26:35):
Yes, and if you didn't pick up those links,
they're going to be in the shownotes.
All of them also will be on mysite, which is
reinventedpossiblecom.
And so, my friends, what's nextfor you?
Are you just going through themotions?
Are you living a life that youtruly love?
Get my free guide to go fromstuck to unstoppable.
(26:57):
And that where do you thinkIt'll be?
In the show notes, right belowthis episode as well.
You can connect with me,Beverly Glazer, on all social
media platforms and in mypositive group on Facebook,
that's Women Over 50 Rock, andthank you for listening.
Have you enjoyed thisconversation?
Please subscribe, drop us areview and send it to a friend,
(27:22):
and remember you only have onelife, so live it with Purpose
and Passion
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Thank you for joining us.
You can connect with Bev on herwebsite, reinventimpossible.
com and, while you're there,join our newsletter subscribe so
you don't miss an episode.
Until next time, keep agingwith purpose and passion and
(28:01):
celebrate life.
Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion, the
podcast designed to inspire yourgreatness and thrive through
life.
Get ready to conquer your fears.
Here's your hostpsychotherapist, coach and
empowerment expert, BeverlyGlazer.
Beverley Glazer (00:36):
What if the key to thriving in business and
life is all about who you know,and what if you don't know too
many people?
Welcome to Aging with Purposeand Passion.
I'm Beverley Glazzer, atransformational coach and
catalyst empowering women torewrite the rules, reclaim their
voice and create the life theywere meant to live, and you can
find me on reinventimpossiblecom.
Janice Porter is all aboutrelationships.
(01:00):
She's a relationship marketingstrategist, a LinkedIn
specialist and podcaster whotransformed her teaching career
into building a business throughthe power of connections.
If you've been struggling withtransitions in your life and
your career, keep listening,because these strategies are
(01:22):
going to excite you.
Hi, janice, welcome Great tosee you today.
Janice Porter (01:29):
Thanks, Beverley, it's my pleasure to be here.
Beverley Glazer (01:33):
I'm excited to talk to you.
Well, it's really interestingbecause you went from teaching.
You loved children.
Teaching was what you did.
Teaching was what you loved.
What age group did you teachwhen you started teaching?
Janice Porter (01:48):
I started as a primary grade teacher grade one,
grade two, grade three andtowards the end of my teaching
career, which was about 14 years, I was in the what we call the
intermediate grades four, five,six, Okay, so you always loved
children.
Beverley Glazer (02:04):
Yes, four, five , six, okay.
So you always loved childrenbecause I still do.
Janice Porter (02:08):
I love teaching and I was always.
I always knew I was going to bea teacher.
Beverley Glazer (02:14):
Well, you're still teaching, but teaching on
a different level Exactly.
You know completely different,and we're all children at heart
anyway.
Janice Porter (02:24):
Well, for me.
For me it was like like I lovedteaching but I didn't like the
bureaucracy of the public schoolsystem, and that's what I think
in the end got me.
And I had an opportunity totake a break, trying to get
pregnant.
It was having issues andwhatever and then when it was
(02:47):
time to go back, I did, I didhave my second daughter and go
back to the opportunity to goback to teaching, and I just
couldn't quite get there.
So that's when things startedto change for me, Right?
Beverley Glazer (03:00):
Yeah, right, but you had many changes.
You started really as being ayoung teacher, and you love
children.
You had the idea of the picketfence.
You lived that life as a younggirl and you got married and
your picket fence fell apart too.
(03:21):
That's right.
That's right, yeah.
And did you continue teachingor did you change then?
Like what went on?
Janice Porter (03:29):
No, I went back.
Well, I didn't right away.
I went, I did a different jobfor a year and then I went back
to teaching and I cause that'swhere I could, you know, make
money and that's where I was.
And also at this point I had avery young child and I needed to
make, you know, to be able tosupport myself.
So I went back to teaching andthat's when I taught most of my
(03:51):
career there, about anothereight, nine years, and then
that's when it was enoughalready.
You know, right, right.
Beverley Glazer (03:59):
But your husband was a teacher as well.
Janice Porter (04:02):
My second husband was a teacher.
He was a career teacher, heloved teaching and coaching.
And, yeah, he was he.
He could turn a blind eye tothe, you know, the bureaucracy
and just put his head down andteach.
I, on the other hand, couldn't,so it was different.
Beverley Glazer (04:21):
So how did you make that transition?
Because teaching adults andteaching children two different
things.
I know.
Janice Porter (04:27):
And and to be honest, I didn't know what I was
going to do.
And when I was on leave, afriend of mine said to me hey,
they're looking for someone todo some contract training at the
telephone company.
Are you interested?
And I said I don't know, sure,I'll be open to a conversation.
(04:48):
And uh, uh, and she said to mewell, well, give me your resume
and I'll take it in.
And I went resume, I'm ateacher, what do I know about
resume anyway?
So that was sort of thebeginning of the of the
changeover, and I ended up beinga contract trainer for many,
many years and growing andlearning, one, how to teach
(05:11):
adults and two, how to teach ortrain on telephone equipment,
voicemail equipment, how toprogram telephone equipment, I
mean it became a whole otherthing but I could do it on my
terms because I was a contractorall that time.
So that was my next career.
Beverley Glazer (05:34):
No, no, no, that's true, it was on your own
terms, but here it's kind oftotally different from marketing
and networking, and where didyou realize how important those
relationships were?
Janice Porter (05:47):
Well, for me, relationships were always
important.
However, my contract gig Icould see the writing on the
wall.
Things were changing in thecorporation, times were changing
and eventually I was let go,and this was the early 2000s and
I didn't get a gold watch, Ididn't get a pension, I didn't
(06:09):
get any of that from being thereall that time.
But I knew that that was therisk I took.
But now I had to figure thingsout for myself and I tried to
continue what I was doing at thetelephone company on my own,
and I didn't know anything aboutmarketing, I didn't know
anything about anything to dowith small business, because all
(06:31):
I did was show up and they'dsend me to train somewhere.
So I got really involved in thelocal chamber of commerce and
met a lot of people, asked a lotof questions, tried to sort of
find something that that I don'tknow I could do, I suppose.
(06:51):
But I met a young entrepreneurwho had a business doing
professional organizing and shewas selling licenses for her
already organized business andI'm a Virgo so I love being
organized and that appealed tome.
So I learned a lot from her andI bought her first license and
(07:15):
I went through the chamberstarted to meet a lot of people
and now I could teach againbecause I was able to do
presentations to the businessowners, lunch and learn things
like that around being organizedand so forth, and that started
that little business going.
And I did that for two or threeyears.
(07:36):
And then I got serious abouthow do I run my own business and
I didn't qualify for agovernment funded program that a
lot of people were able to take, but I was able to take a short
one and learn a little bitabout the basics of your own
business.
But I pretty much learned as Iwent and made lots of mistakes
(07:59):
and, yeah, got into differentthings, network marketing being
one of them and then I foundLinkedIn and that sort of
changed everything.
Beverley Glazer (08:12):
What did LinkedIn do for you?
Janice Porter (08:14):
Well, for me, what happened was, you know,
social media was pretty new inthe early 2000s and I kind of
dabbled in.
I didn't like Facebook, itreally didn't appeal to me.
And then I joined LinkedInearly on, but I didn't know what
it was and I kind of left it be.
And then somebody I went for awalk with a friend one day and I
asked her she knew aboutLinkedIn and she said yes, you
(08:36):
need to talk to this guy, it'sbrilliant and he'll show you all
about it.
And this young man actually satdown and gave me the basics on
LinkedIn and this started to goaround in my mind that, oh, my
goodness, I like this.
This is a straightforwardbusiness type platform that I
started sharing informationabout with my friends, and then
(08:58):
I realized that this wassomething I could dig my teeth
into and actually teach, and soit brought me around to being a
teacher again in my own way, andthat's what I loved about it it
was straightforward, it waseasy to teach for me, and that's
how it started, and that wasaround 2011.
So it's gone.
(09:21):
It's sort of evolved since then.
Beverley Glazer (09:33):
Sure, how can somebody who's never done this,
who knows about CVs and you knowresumes and they're ready to
get out there old school, whatwould you tell them about now
reaching out online, linkedin,social media, creating
connections there?
What would you tell them?
Janice Porter (09:46):
Well, I would tell them, regarding
particularly LinkedIn, that it'sstill an untapped market for
networking in so many ways.
There's over a billion peopleon LinkedIn now and growing all
the time.
However, there's only probablyabout what did they say?
(10:08):
300 million that actually useit.
Right, so it's an untappedmarket.
So it was.
You mentioned resumes andthings like that.
So originally it was a jobseeking type platform, but today
it's what we call the businessplatform for networking and for
(10:30):
you know, the business socialmedia platform the only one,
really and so it has its ownflavor, it has its own way of
being, and there are things thatone needs to know to be
effective on LinkedIn.
But it's more than what it was.
It's now a place tostrategically reach out to
(10:54):
people that maybe you want tomeet or want to meet their
people, that they know, andthere's ways to do it
effectively that most peopledon't even do.
It's also a place to be visibleand show your authority through
your content.
It's a lot, you know, but justlike what do they say?
(11:14):
Eat an elephant, one bite at atime.
You just start to learn how todo it and do it effectively,
rather than just throwing mud atthe wall, which most people do.
Beverley Glazer (11:25):
Yeah, no, what I'm hearing is for somebody that
doesn't understand it.
Janice Porter (11:30):
Just go in and take a look and watch, and
before you even do anything,yeah, and if you're smart,
you'll get someone to help youwho knows what they're doing
Exactly, so you're not wastingyour time and doing it wrong.
Beverley Glazer (11:42):
Exactly and not fear it.
And the only way to not fear itis press that button Exactly
and then you start to understand.
Also, there's so muchinformation that you could read
online, but reading is not thesame as doing.
Janice Porter (11:55):
Well, and not everybody learns that way right,
you're right, some people arebetter at doing and some people
need the visual and so forth.
So for sure.
Beverley Glazer (12:04):
Exactly.
And so social media andconnections.
How do you end up keeping thoseconnections?
Because you know, on socialmedia what happens is people
meet you, people greet you andoff, they go into cyberspace and
you never hear from them again.
Right, and what do you do aboutthat?
Janice Porter (12:20):
And I think that actually that statement is true
of in-person networking as well,because you've got to find your
people, you've got to find whodo you really connect with, and
then staying connected is thehardest part and it takes work,
it really does, and maybe youhave a rhythm around it, maybe
(12:41):
you don't know what to do, butreally communication can be in
so many ways.
I had a situation the other daywhere not a situation, but for
me I act a lot on my promptings,meaning that somebody comes to
my mind or comes on my heart.
That means I need to reach outto them, and I did something the
(13:03):
other day.
This happened.
There's a woman that I've knownfor a while.
She's a realtor.
She had actually done some workfor us a few years ago.
She had reached out in amarketing way a month or so ago,
a couple months ago, and Imeant to reach out then and it
got lost in the shuffle and thatday she was on my heart.
(13:25):
So I picked up the phone.
Isn't that strange?
Nobody ever picks up the phone.
I picked up the phone and calledher and, because she's a
realtor, I thought she'danswered the phone right
Realtors usually do and she did.
And the very first thing that Isaid to her was, after, you
know, saying hi was do you havea minute now, or or should you
know?
Should I call back, cause youalways want to respect people's
(13:47):
time, of course.
She says I have 10 minutes, I'min the car, great.
So we chatted and we ended upbooking a call for this next
week to follow up on somethingthat we talked about.
But if you can do that in rhythm, if you can speak to somebody,
maybe you have a conversationfor the first time offline, like
(14:08):
you've had a couple of messageson LinkedIn and the object is
always the objective is alwaysto take them offline to a phone
call or a Zoom call or in-personmeeting and then from there, if
you think it's going furtherone.
You want to follow up always,whether that's with a text,
email, a phone call or heavenforbid, as I love to do send a
(14:31):
card and because I love thattangible touch that people get
and they remember longer, andthen put them into your
follow-up calendar or mark a daythen, two months from now or a
month from now, to follow up andtalk to them again.
You have to keep people in thatflow to stay connected.
(14:55):
Maybe something comes up thatyou think of that person, they
might be interested in it.
You send it to them.
Something of value just stayingon top of it's, in top of mind
with them is big and veryhelpful would you have any
advice as what a follow-upcalendar even is?
Beverley Glazer (15:14):
I know there's all kinds of platforms that do
that, but if you're're new atthis, you can be clueless.
Janice Porter (15:21):
Well, and first you have to decide do I want to
go old school or new school?
Right, you know, old school,having a calendar or an actual
physical calendar on your desk.
You just put that person, youdo it.
Maybe you have a time each weekfor follow-up that's a good
idea, actually Friday'sfollow-up day, and maybe Friday
(15:41):
morning you assign yourself acouple of hours to do that
follow-up.
So whoever is in that nextfollow-up week, you would have
them already listed on yourcalendar with their phone number
or their email or whateveryou're going to do.
And then, if you're more newschool, then it's.
Do I want a CRM, a customerrelationship manager program, or
(16:03):
do I just use a spreadsheet?
I tend to use my calendar, myonline calendar, where, if I've
talked to you, I'll move itforward a couple of weeks to
touch base with you again in myfollow-up time period.
But everyone's different timeperiod, but everyone's different
.
Some people want thesophistication either of Sales
(16:24):
Navigator, which is the moresophisticated sales producing
portion of LinkedIn, maybe theyhave there's so many CRMs, from
Salesforce, which is one of thebig ones, to some of the smaller
ones that are lesssophisticated.
I've tried them all.
I can't seem to get into arhythm of them myself, to be
(16:45):
honest.
So for me, I do it with mycalendar but and sometimes a
spreadsheet.
Especially if I've gone to meeta lot of people in a group,
then I want them on aspreadsheet so I can make sure I
connect with them accordingly.
I hope that helps.
Beverley Glazer (17:01):
Oh, I'm sure it will.
And let me also ask you, thoughyou just picked up a phone to
this realtor expecting thisperson to pick up, but maybe not
.
Janice Porter (17:11):
I didn't expect her to, but I was surprised that
she did.
But that's good, okay, sorry.
Beverley Glazer (17:16):
Yeah, well, no, no, no, Because what happens
also is there is a fear, a fearof reaching out.
Now, this person was somewhatof a stranger, but really what
you're saying is you made amistake here with the way you
reached out to me and maybe Ican help you.
You know, you didn't actuallyhave to say that, but if she
(17:37):
came into salesy and you canoffer a suggestion, you can feel
that somebody is going to beoffended and how do you?
Janice Porter (17:46):
By picking up the phone.
Beverley Glazer (17:49):
You mean by calling them, by picking her up,
then saying you know, I thoughtof you and there's a reason.
It wasn't because of her sale,it was really because of your
sale.
It wasn't because of her sale,it was really because of your
sale.
And so, how you know, how cansomebody who really has the same
intent that you had but is notas experienced, how can they
(18:09):
overcome their fear of rejectionright there?
Janice Porter (18:12):
Well, that's a really good question.
First of all, that fear ofrejection.
You have to build that thickskin over time because really
those are two things I learned along time ago.
One is um is um, don't take itpersonally.
(18:38):
And two, don't be um.
Well, it's almost the samething, like don't be um, uh,
affected by the outcome.
Don't expect, you know, andthen get disappointed you can't.
It's like okay.
So if the purpose of the call isjust a follow-up or if you have
(19:01):
what you're saying, I thinkwhat you're saying is do you
have an ulterior motive?
Okay, all right.
So in this case, this is a goodexample, because I did have an
ulterior motive.
I meant two things.
One, she'd had some healthissues.
Her husband had some healthissues.
I was genuinely concerned and Ihad sent a card or two over a
(19:22):
period of time.
But I was looking in thatconversation If it didn't happen
, it didn't happen and I wouldhave done it another time.
But I was looking for an openingand she actually gave it to me,
because I said something abouthave you been I'm sensing you
(19:44):
haven't been working a lot overthe last year or so with the
health issues.
She said no, actually I haven't, and I jokingly said, hey, you
should come join my team with mycard company.
I said you'd be so good at it,you wouldn't have to go out of
the house to do it.
And she said, speaking of that,I do want to talk to you about
(20:08):
starting that up again.
So she kind of I was.
That's how it came about.
So we had this piece to theconversation.
I said, well, I'd love to showyou what's new.
Let's do it on a call next week.
We didn't do it right then andthere, and because I wanted to
respect the time that you know,she picked up the phone and she
was driving somewhere and thatwas it.
(20:29):
So if it doesn't happen, though,it doesn't happen.
So you have to.
You have to make the callreally about them.
You have to be much morefocused If it happens.
Listen, listen for the clues ofthe um mottos, or that we that
we talk about with the sense thecard sending company that I'm
(21:00):
with is send out, and it's thesame thing on the phone send out
to give, with no expectation,don't send out to get right.
So if you send a card tosomeone and you send it out
there, they're not necessarilygoing to say thank you for the
card, like bless my mom.
She used to thank people forthe thank you cards, for the
(21:21):
thank you cards, like she wasalways doing that.
She was never really able tosay, oh, that was for me, that's
really nice.
She always felt she had to dosomething else.
But most people will notcomment.
But you shouldn't expect that.
Just let it go.
You do it for the right reasons, then it's, it's going to work
out right.
Send out to give, not to get.
Beverley Glazer (21:42):
Yes, and that would be in selling as well.
Absolutely.
Janice Porter (21:46):
Yes, it's.
It's about looking for how youcan serve really.
Beverley Glazer (21:53):
Right.
What do you tell an older womanwho feels it's too late to even
start?
Janice?
Janice Porter (22:00):
I know it isn't because I'm old and a lot of my
energy comes from being able tohelp people.
And I have friends who areretired and say why are you
still working?
Why are you still working?
I said because I don't work aslong hours as I used to, but I
love working, because I lovemeeting people and I love
(22:22):
talking to people.
I have my podcast, like you do,and I get to meet so many
interesting people by havingthat podcast.
To meet so many interestingpeople by by having that podcast
and working with younger peoplegives me energy and keeps me
young as well.
So I say no, you've got wisdom.
That's the word I love to usewith with older people, older
women like myself.
(22:43):
It's it's you've got wisdom tooffer.
And, and as long as you keep upwith the times, if that makes
sense, because I think that thathelps, it is.
It's funny.
I saw a I think it was onFacebook.
I saw a clip of a young guy whowas 34 years old and he was a
(23:09):
professor at a university or aguest professor, and he was, or
he came to a high school tospeak to these kids.
So these high schoolers are genalpha, gen alpha, okay, and um,
because they're under 20, right, they're, they.
(23:29):
They were born in the 2000s,right?
So they're Gen Alpha.
So he said at the beginning ofhis speech that he was going to
speak to them.
He's going to do his wholespeech in their language,
because they have a lot of slanglanguage that nobody knows what
they're talking about.
And he started to deliver thisspeech and he did so in there,
(23:52):
using their idioms and theirterms, and they were killing
themselves, laughing in theaudience because they they
connected with them and it's thesame principle, right?
Only in a different.
I don't know if I could go thatfar, but, um, you know cause, I
haven't really experienced thatone yet, but definitely with
the.
You know the Gen Z, gen, x, gen, you know the millennials, that
(24:17):
kind of thing.
Beverley Glazer (24:18):
Yeah, now what you're actually saying is stay
relevant, have an open mind, becurious throughout this whole
thing.
Thank you so much, janice.
Janice Porter is a relationshipmarketing strategist, a
LinkedIn specialist and apodcaster who transformed her
teaching career into building abusiness through the power of
(24:42):
connections.
Here are some takeaways fromthis episode.
Meaningful relationships matter.
Start cultivating them, build aLinkedIn profile to attract the
right people and stay curious.
It opens you up to newpossibilities.
If you've been struggling tomake a career transition or to
(25:04):
improve your business, here'swhat you could do right now
Connect with a potential client,customer or friend.
Give without intending toreceive, and be curious in all
their needs.
For similar episodes ontransitioning your career when
you're over 50, check outepisode 109 and 117 of Aging
(25:29):
with Purpose and Passion.
And, if you love travel, listento the Ageless Travel podcast
and subscribe to the TravelTuesday newsletter.
The Ageless Traveler is thenumber one resource for active
travelers 60 plus.
It's hosted by Adrienne Berg,whose mission is to ensure that
(25:50):
you never, ever stop traveling,and all these links are going to
be in the show notes as well.
So where can people learn moreabout you, janice, and about
your podcast, and where can theyfind you?
Janice Porter (26:05):
They can find me at JanicePortercom, and there
they will see all the differentthings that that I can support
them with and and more about me.
Uh, they can also find me onLinkedIn at, linkedin.
com slash in slash, janicePorter.
So it is easy to find me onLinkedIn.
(26:26):
And my podcast is calledrelationships rule and it's
everywhere Uh.
Apple Spotify wherever yeah,terrific, yeah.
And my podcast is calledRelationships Rule and it's
everywhere.
Apple Spotify wherever yeah,terrific.
Beverley Glazer (26:35):
Yes, and if you didn't pick up those links,
they're going to be in the shownotes.
All of them also will be on mysite, which is
reinventedpossiblecom.
And so, my friends, what's nextfor you?
Are you just going through themotions?
Are you living a life that youtruly love?
Get my free guide to go fromstuck to unstoppable.
(26:57):
And that where do you thinkIt'll be?
In the show notes, right belowthis episode as well.
You can connect with me,Beverly Glazer, on all social
media platforms and in mypositive group on Facebook,
that's Women Over 50 Rock, andthank you for listening.
Have you enjoyed thisconversation?
Please subscribe, drop us areview and send it to a friend,
(27:22):
and remember you only have onelife, so live it with Purpose
and Passion
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Thank you for joining us.
You can connect with Bev on herwebsite, reinventimpossible.
com and, while you're there,join our newsletter subscribe so
you don't miss an episode.
Until next time, keep agingwith purpose and passion and
(28:01):
celebrate life.
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