Entrepreneurs: Do Less, Lead Better—The Real Secrets to Scaling with Kenny Lange + Others (Full Episode)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Teacher burnout isn't anything new. [00:00:02] Speaker B: There's a notion that you're going to have to become someone you're not. [00:00:06] Speaker C: We're on a mission to turn playtime into a passport around the world. [00:00:10] Speaker D: I'm Richard Gerhart. [00:00:11] Speaker E: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart. You've just heard some snippets from our show. Do you want to know more about starting your business? Stay tuned. [00:00:19] Speaker F: Ramping up your business. The time is near. You've given it heart, now get it in gear. It's Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart. [00:00:30] Speaker D: I'm Richard Gearhart, founder of of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks and copyrights. [00:00:37] Speaker E: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart, not an attorney, but I do marketing for Gearhart Law. And I am the founder of Gear Media Studios, a full service podcast studio. [00:00:46] Speaker D: Do you lose your soul when you go into business? Join us today as we discuss leadership with Kenny Lang, a leadership and scaling coach who has helped businesses skyrocket their growth while helping founders scale without losing their mission and their people or their soul. [00:01:02] Speaker E: And then stay tuned For Jen Rafferty, Empowereducator.com she helps teachers and leaders thrive, beat burnout, and unlock their full potential. And after her, we have Whitney Dewenis Richardson from Global Sprouts, who's created unique cultural learning kits for kids that turn playtime into a passport to the world. Oh, I love that. [00:01:26] Speaker D: Welcome to Passage to Profit, the road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with celebrities and entrepreneurs about their stories in the business world. But before we get into our interviews, it's time for your business journey. Two in five Americans want to start a business or are thinking about starting their business. And we want to ask our panel today, every entrepreneur has that one what was I thinking Moment. What was yours? Kenny Lang, welcome to the show. What was your what was I thinking Moment? [00:01:57] Speaker B: As we were talking before the show, I think most of the time I'm waking up and going, what was I thinking? But I think it was probably with my first company, I started to hire employees and was getting further away from the work and I thought, well, I just wanted to, like, pay my bills and not have people tell me what to do. And now I have clients tell me what to do. And apparently you need to lead employees well or they do bad work and will leave your company. So they also sort of needed to tell me what to do. And it made me wonder, what was I thinking? [00:02:32] Speaker D: Well, that's a pretty good one. Jen, what was your thinking moment? [00:02:36] Speaker A: I think the biggest what was I thinking Moment happens when I rely heavily on something or someone to be the magic bullet for what I'm looking for. Because the truth is, it's my company and there isn't anybody that's going to have the magic bullet. And often we look outside of ourselves to find the quick, easy answers or the quick fixes for some of these really big challenges that we have as entrepreneurs. And sometimes we just have to be comfortable in that messy middle and work through the work to get to the other side. Because what's true is there is no magic bullet. So what was I thinking Happens once in a while when I rely too heavily on something outside of myself. [00:03:23] Speaker D: That's a great one. I'm guilty of that, too. Sometimes you just kind of want to share the responsibility of making a decision with somebody else. But when you're in business, you can share discussions, but ultimately the decisions are yours. And sometimes it's easy to kind of take a shortcut and let somebody else do the thinking for you, but lots of times when you do that, it just doesn't work out. So. Point well taken. Whitney Dwayne Richardson, what was your what was I thinking moment? [00:03:54] Speaker C: I would also say, similar to Kenny, it would always be my first business. And I failed to do a background check on a contractor when I opened up my fitness studio, and she ended up getting in a lot of trouble for something. And my first thought was, what the heck was I thinking? Why did I not run a background check to eliminate this from being bad publicity? I was freshly 19, I needed some fitness instructors, and I was about to open, and I just hired who I felt was a great candidate, which ended up biting me. [00:04:27] Speaker D: That is a lesson learned. And I guess doing a background check is really important no matter who you hire. Sometimes people just seem so great and you get so caught up in the moment, and especially when you're starting out. I remember I was so grateful that somebody would even want to work for me, right, that it's easy to sort of cut corners if you're not careful. [00:04:53] Speaker E: Elizabeth My what was I thinking moment came when I thought to myself, why in the world did I think it would be a good idea to open another brick and mortar business in this town because we had all our ducks in a row. We're going to do our grand opening. Everything was set. We've been in this building for two decades or, no, 15 years. So my what was I thinking Moment came when I realized not only I caught things in time, but it wasn't in time because the dealing with the town takes weeks and months. And anyway, we got through it, though, and the studio's running. [00:05:28] Speaker D: I remember those days. That was pretty exasperating. So it was rough, but we made it through. My what was I thinking? Moment was actually pretty embarrassing. I had hired a contractor to come and paint the second floor of our building here, and I didn't really look too closely at the thing that he wrote up. I hired him to do the job. I came upstairs and the walls were painted, but none of the moldings or the doors or the baseboards or any of that were painted. So we painted the walls blue, but the baseboards were like this ugly brown color. And I said, well, why didn't you paint the baseboards? He said, well, you just said paint the walls, they paint the baseboards. So as an attorney, I feel like I should have done a better job with that. Fortunately, I do do a better job of reviewing client contracts, but I didn't do such a great job in that situation. And I guess the takeaway moment from this, though, is that obviously anybody who's running a business is going to have a what was I thinking? Moment. And in the same club as Kenny, where I have those moments multiple times. But fortunately, usually you can adjust and you can get on with your business. So now it's time for our interview with Kenny Lang. He is a leadership and scaling coach who believes that most successful businesses are quietly failing at what really matters. He's on a mission to help founders explore their growth without sacrificing their soul, their people, or their purpose. So welcome to the show. Kenny, it's great to have you here. I was really intrigued by your comment about sacrificing your soul. Do you feel like business people sacrifice their soul when they take on a business project? [00:07:15] Speaker B: I think some end up feeling that way. Most of us, when we start a business, we have technical expertise in a particular area and we're good at doing a thing. And then as we get more clients and time goes on and we figure out, hey, we might actually have a business and be able to eat, um, which is always an exciting revelation. There's some point where you feel like you're butting up against a ceiling for growth, and you may have aspirations of growing very large, very big, go international, multi state, what, you know, whatever it may be. And I think that there is a notion that you're going to have to become someone you're not in order to build the company you want. [00:07:57] Speaker D: And then by becoming somebody that you're not, you're really sacrificing your soul because you're making personal internal sacrifices that you think are necessary to move the business forward. So what do you tell people when they find themselves in that situation? [00:08:12] Speaker B: For a lot of them, it can be just as simple as asking them, who told you you had to make that sacrifice or that you had to do it this way? And they'll go, well, no one, I guess. And that's when I go, okay, so you've developed some advice in your head that you think that the marketplace or the world or the universe or whatever is giving you, and that's the way that you have to be in order to grow a business. Because you are watching influencers on, you know, Instagram or watching YouTube videos of other successful entrepreneurs, and you see the way that they are. And while you admire and respect them, you're also subtly taking on, oh, that's the way I have to behave. That's the way I have to sell. When in. In fact, really all you have to do is be the one who can best connect with your customers, your ideal client profile, and serve them the best. And then all the things that you need to do to grow a successful business, however you define success, whether you just want to grow one or actually scale one, and those are two very different strategies, then that's the right way to go. Instead of saying, well, now I gotta copy all these other people. With my first company, I was an accidental marketing agency owner. I just needed to put food on the table and keep a roof over our head. And as I was building, I was like, okay, well, I, you know, I've been consuming tons of leadership content and those sorts of things, and this is my chance to really try some things out. You know, I think a lot of people start their entrepreneurial journey before they even start their business, right? They start as a dissatisfied employee. They think they could do it better, differently. Or maybe they just see the way a boss is leading and say, I have some different ideas on how this should be led. And you want to see if you're right or if you're hallucinating. And so I started my business, and when I felt like I actually had a business going, it wasn't just, oh, I could probably do this and just hold out time until I find a different job that I really like. I started listening. It was like, okay, what are these other agency owners doing? How are they selling? And I was. I was a HubSpot partner, and you may know of that company and love my time being a HubSpot partner. But I would pay attention to these other larger agencies and what they were doing and I would talk to some of the owners and they're like, oh, you've got to package this way and you got to sell this way. And I would go, oh, okay. I was going to do it this way because this sort of seems to be working. I just want to improve it, but I guess I can try that. And whenever I started going in that direction, it was as a mentor of mine. You say it felt like taking a shower with your socks on. Some didn't feel right. It wasn't me. So I was trying to run somebody else's business and I lost deals because I was trying to price way too high for what I was promising. Or the way I organized it was wrong, or just the way I communicated felt wrong. I'd also have people tell me, oh, you just, you gotta, you gotta organize your people this way and lead them this way and have these sort of meetings. I was like, I think that there's a better way that's really more human centered than just trying to squeeze every ounce of performance out of your people. And don't get me wrong, I'm, I'm results oriented. I love, you know, being in high performance mode. I'm a chronic overachiever, recovering perfectionist, all those fun things. [00:11:34] Speaker D: So we're with Kenny Lang, a leadership and scaling coach. You can find [email protected] Kenny, do you work one on one with your clients? Then how do you work with your clients? [00:11:45] Speaker B: It's usually a combination. I work a lot with senior leadership teams or executive leadership teams, annual strategic planning, quarterly planning, or just working through a difficult situation. And then I usually pair that with one on one executive coaching with at least the most senior executive, if not several other of the executives as well. [00:12:04] Speaker D: What has been like the most challenging leadership situation that you've been in where you've had to coach somebody and how did it play itself out? [00:12:13] Speaker B: The one that comes to mind first is a client. He was the CEO and he had recently hired a fractional coo. And they started out really great at honeymoon period and all that. After about four months they were having a lot of issues and they said, hey, we're really feeling like we're coming to an impasse, we could use your help. And I said, I'm happy to facilitate the conversation and help you navigate the conflict in a healthy way. They sent me like two and a half, three hours of recorded meetings and I, I happened to be driving to go see another client that's five hours away. So I, I had a little bit of time, but I listened to it, made some notes, and then I met with them the following day. And you know, I joke with them that it's, it was a bit like marital counseling, which is usually when I meet with the visionary and the operator, the second in command, that's usually the way it feels. And I just drew out like, hey, here's the different stories I'm hearing. You know, what are you believing about him? What are you believing about him? Or what really is your, your shared goal? And it took us about two, two and a half hours to walk through that conversation to where they got open, they got honest. We were getting into the details. I had to challenge beliefs on both of them. And some of that sometimes is, can be nerve wracking. When I'm challenging the CEO who signs the check that comes to me and I have to say, hey, I think you're making a mistake here, and I think you're in the wrong for this. And I think we need to explore that a little bit. And they, they both ended up thanking me and saying, hey, we love our quarterly sessions, but these, these one on ones and this sort of stuff is actually proving more valuable for us. [00:13:56] Speaker D: So how did they get off track in the first place? [00:13:58] Speaker B: I'm trying to think of the phrase I heard recently, but it's like withheld or unexpressed expectations are planned resentments. [00:14:06] Speaker E: Oh, I like that. [00:14:08] Speaker B: I think that's what had started to happen. I think they had a cursory or surface level understanding of what each other's lanes were and what they were there to do, and then had a bunch of other assumptions that they didn't share with one another in their one on ones or in team meetings, and that just continually led to them being at odds with each other, even on live calls in front of clients and other team members. And I think that was the part that really got them off track was their beliefs about what a CEO does and what a CEO does and where their focuses were and who's supposed to take on what, and that's not uncommon. But if you don't say anything, you can't do anything. I try to tell people like problems in a, in a business need to be treated like terrorism. If you see something, say something. [00:15:00] Speaker D: I mean, what were some of the assumptions, though? What were the differences in assumptions? Because, I mean, these relationships between, say, a CEO and a coo, I mean, it's kind of what the two partners make it, right? I mean, it should be at the outset, trying to clarify roles and responsibilities. But maybe that didn't happen. I mean, what were some of the things that got them off track? [00:15:23] Speaker B: No, it definitely happened. That was part of my early work with the CEO, was rebuilding their org chart and giving every position in the company a mission. Key responsibilities and KPIs at the weekly, monthly, and quarterly. [00:15:37] Speaker D: For our listeners who don't know what a KPI, what is a KPI? [00:15:40] Speaker B: KPI is a key performance indicator. So it's an easy way for your people to know they're winning, which is a really dignifying thing you can do for your people. But it also clarifies the expectations of what you're meant to do, how often you're meant to do it, and what the goal is. And it usually is a good way to indicate what future results will be. [00:16:01] Speaker E: And when you're hiring somebody, a professional to come in at a high level in your company. I just want to ask you this. It just occurred to me. Do you expect them to present you with what they think their KPIs will be for their position in your company? [00:16:15] Speaker D: No. [00:16:16] Speaker E: Oh, you don't? Okay, so you give. [00:16:18] Speaker B: I mean, they can have their expectations, but the organization has needs of its own. It's not even the needs of what the founder, the CEO thinks. Like, we have to treat the organization almost as a separate person. And that's why I tell people like, we design, you know, seats, or we say from, we got to move from heads to hats. We design the hat and then we find the heads to fit it. A lot of people mess up when they start designing job functions, job descriptions around an individual. And it never works out. 100% of the time. It will mess up your business or your nonprofit or your organization as a whole if you're designing around them. So you say, you know, company X is of this level with these goals, and it needs A, B and C from a CEO. And then you interview someone to see if they would match your, your core values. You know, are they going to be a healthy figure in the company and reinforce the culture, or are they going to detract from it? That's a binary thing. And then are they going to fit? And that's an acronym. Fuel, impact and timeliness. Does it energize them? Can they make significant positive impact? And is it the right time for them to sit in that seat? You know, you don't want a freshly minted CPA being the CFO of a Fortune 500 company. [00:17:32] Speaker D: Definitely not. Yeah, so we're with Kenny Lang, he's a leadership and scaling coach. He can be [email protected] what are the secrets to scaling a company? [00:17:44] Speaker B: It's actually doing a lot less than you think. And it's almost putting the steps that everybody talks about in business books and online and podcasts and things that it's doing certain things in right order and then understanding how to harness the talents you will need along the way. For instance, if you try to overly process a company early on, you're going to stifle the speed and innovation that's needed to get the rocket off the ground, so to speak. But later on you can't keep doing things as like I had an idea and now I'm, I've got a brand new initiative. You know, Whitney's got a business and she couldn't just like I'm driving into work today, I have an entirely new product and I'm going to put it online, I'm going to build it and just ship it. Right. Like early on that may work later on there probably needs to be a vetting process and some other people involved. And so that's where people getting the steps out of order tends to mess them up. And so within scaling, you've got to be able to move fast and do the right things. But then know when do you transition to doing the things right and that's where somebody who's a little bit more process oriented comes into play. And then you eventually you need somebody who can synergize the different styles because high flying visionaries, which are typically your founders, they are moving at mock Jesus with their hair on fire and processors are putting one foot in front of the other. And those two people can really be at odds. But unless they realize they need each other, the company will never grow past a really complicated stage that they're in and get to scaling. [00:19:15] Speaker D: Is there a lot of simplification that's required in order to scale? Well, I mean, you mentioned complexity there. [00:19:22] Speaker B: Yeah, complexity sneaks up on you because you're doing things, you're trying to figure out what works. It's really fun. And as a matter of fact, when I'm coaching my clients, I, you know, I use a life cycle stage model called predictable success. And after you get out of early struggle, you're in the fun stage, you're high growth, it's exciting. You found product market fit, you understand your customers, you're selling left and right, almost everything you touch turns to gold. But it's just like more, more, more, more and eventually you stop the same level you were. You've had to hire more people. And guess what? People have their own ideas and they like to bring those in. They're not robots. So we're still waiting, you know, Tesla and Boston Dynamics and whoever else to give us robots to do exactly what we wanted them to do, how we wanted them to do it. And so when you take all of that, as sales grow and the company grows, complexity grows, we're naturally complicating beings and you reach a level to where you go, this isn't fun anymore. We're dropping the ball. Things we used to be amazing at, we're doing really poorly. We're missing deadlines, we're shipping the wrong things to people. Stuff's breaking in the warehouse, like whatever it may be. And then that's when you got to pause and say, okay, I think if we don't slow our decision making down a little bit, we're going to keep making the same mistakes and it's actually going to send us spiraling down. [00:20:42] Speaker D: We're with Kenny Lang, a leadership and scaling expert, and you're listening to Passage Profit. We have to take a commercial break, but we'll be back with more of Mr. Lane shortly. And don't forget to experience more of Passage to Profit by subscribing to us on Facebook, Instagram X and YouTube or subscribing to our podcast. Anywhere you get your podcast, just look for the Passage to Profit show on any of these platforms. Stay tuned. We have intellectual property news and secrets of the entrepreneurial mind coming up soon. [00:21:12] Speaker F: Attention investors. This is a simple commercial on the investment value of gold. Gold continues to make new highs in good markets and in bad markets. You need to have your portfolio balanced with gold. Learn about owning physical gold or getting a gold backed Ira. Make this simple call right now. [00:21:30] Speaker G: 8006-5320-7380-0653-2073. That's 800-653-2073, sponsored by Reagan Gold. [00:21:43] Speaker F: We're offering a 100% risk free gold guide. Gold continues to make new highs. And unlike stocks, gold has never been worth zero. 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Here's the number. 8005-7747-4280-0577-4742. 800-577-4742. That's 800, 57. [00:23:12] Speaker F: Now back to passage to profit once again, Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart and our. [00:23:17] Speaker E: Special guest, Kenny Lang. Kenny has done a lot in his career and now he's helping people scale their businesses. He has a podcast, how Leaders Think, which warms my heart because I love podcasting. But he also has a trademarked name of a model that he has, Lead to Scale. He has IP around that and how it helps leaders avoid burnout. So can you tell us a little bit about that? [00:23:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Lead to Scale came out of just reflecting on the last, I would say, 15 plus years of leading teams and starting businesses and helping run organizations. And I took a look at all the things that I felt I had gotten right, also gotten wrong, and then just different things I've learned from experts, books and things like that. And this is not totally unique in this part, but, you know, there's essentially three buckets or, or stages of leadership that we have to pay attention to, which are individual leadership, team leadership, and then organizational leadership. And so that goes lead, grow and scale. And they're in a flywheel. So one influences the other. And what I find is that if you don't take care of yourself, how do I lead myself and how do I maybe lead one other person? Your effectiveness and leading a team is going to be diminished and it's going to be much more difficult. I think leadership is a full body, full contact sport. And if you aren't doing what you need to do to develop yourself as a leader, then you're just going to be going through the motions and people are not going to gravitate towards following you. Right. Like you have to become a leader worth following, which means becoming inwardly sound and others focused. According to some research by Tim Spiker and so I take people through lead, grow and scale. But within each of those there's an inner flywheel of aware, aligned and accountable. So for each of those big three phases, I take leaders and founders and executives. They, they have to gain self awareness. You know, there's a great study from Cornell University that showed self awareness is the greatest predictor of success in leadership and in business. And once you're aware, then you can align your strategies. But most people want to just start with strategies. Well, if you don't know where you're starting from and you just hop in your car and start driving, like how do you know where to go if you don't know where you're starting from? And I try to help people avoid building that house of cards. And then finally we have to be accountable to the actions and the intentions that we have. And that may be through systems, it could be through technology, it could be through another person. And then I follow that same inner flywheel, aware, aligned and accountable for lead, grow and scale. So it starts with the leader and then we work our way into the entirety of the organization. So there's a sequence to it. [00:25:58] Speaker D: So you mentioned self awareness. So what are some of the things that you do when you're coaching a CEO or a leader to help them gain better self awareness? [00:26:09] Speaker B: I'm a huge fan of different assessments and diagnostics. As a. As a matter of fact, I've just released my own diagnostic around lead two scale. It's totally free, take you maybe five minutes and it'll give you a custom 44 page report. So you can go and check that [email protected] diagnostic but one of my favorite tools is using the Enneagram. [00:26:31] Speaker D: What was that? An Enneagram. [00:26:32] Speaker B: The Enneagram, yes. So it's. I've never heard of that. [00:26:35] Speaker E: How do you spell that? [00:26:36] Speaker B: E N N E A G R A M. Ennea. So basically it just means like nine enneagram pictures and there are nine personality archetypes that it describes. It originally started out thousands of years ago as just a verbally passed on between spiritual directors to help them and what they did with the, the different congregations and communities that they served. But it's since been iterated and updated to include psychiatry, psychology. Honestly, it's probably one of the most accurate ones assessments and I'm an assessment junkie but it targets the motivations of the person which don't really change once you hit a young, young adulthood. Behaviors change and that's why things like this and Myers Briggs and strengths finder. They can be good, but they give you really a snapshot of your behaviors in the moment. They don't really capture what your motivations are. And that's like the iceberg that's underneath the water that's actually much larger than what you see above. And so they just use the numbers like 1 through 9. For instance, I'm an enneagram 8, sometimes called the Active Controller, sometimes called the Challenger. Really intense. You have core fears and a worldview. And then what happens? Like, what is my path when I want to grow? Like, if I'm growing, how will I know it? If I'm becoming an unhealthy version of myself, what is that going to look like? And that has really, really helped me to be able to catch bad behaviors before. You know, I get carried away. Like, I may deal with anger. Can I sense the trigger before I erupt and yell at somebody? Right. Those sort of things are really, you know, grace giving and helpful. So what I like to say is there are levels of people's health. It's not that they went from a bad person to a good person or anything like that. It's understanding what your. Your darker side is. Because we all have a negative or shadow side or however you want to talk about it. It's not about eliminate that and just be all good. It's about embracing these parts of yourself, and that's self awareness. The other is just sort of like trying to be blissfully ignorant. [00:28:45] Speaker E: I do think that Richard has said this for many years. To truly be a good leader, you have to constantly work on yourself. And it's hard to do the deep emotional work. I mean, who wants to look at the bad parts of themselves and say, okay, how can I use these? Right? [00:29:00] Speaker B: And that's why I think it's such a gift to have outside, you know, coaches, consultants, people who can hold the mirror up. You know, it's a. It's a cliche, but it's a helpful one. A lot of times trying to work on yourself is like trying to read the label from inside the jar. It's really difficult to do that. And having someone that you can trust that you feel like their psychological safety, they hold space for you. I joke with a lot of my clients when I get started with them on the one, on one side of things, I was like, I just want to let you know it is not unusual for people to cry in the first few sessions. I am not trying to make you cry. I'm not going to be a big fat meanie head. I'm not trying to elicit anything, but if we're getting down to core motivations of your leadership in business and how that shows up, then we may be pressing on something that you would rather leave hidden or you are just not consciously aware. But it's running in the background, and when it bubbles to the surface, it's probably going to evoke some emotions. I've had people who realize that part of their. Their leadership was being influenced by unresolved grief over their father dying early. And again, you're a whole person. You don't have work. Richard home, Richard. Driving and yelling at people in traffic, Richard. You're just one Richard. And so I engage the whole person because I know that that's the only way that real progress and transformation is going to happen. And ultimately, as someone who is a service provider, while I love my clients and I care deeply about them as people, I'm being hired to help them drive towards a result and a transformation. And it usually means I'm asking them to take a hard look at themselves first. [00:30:39] Speaker D: That's really great. And I really love that you're doing that because that is, you know, touching those sensitive spots is part of the healing process, which helps us move forward. [00:30:51] Speaker B: Right. [00:30:51] Speaker D: And so we've all got those emotional issues that could benefit from resolution and help us move forward in our lives. So, Kenny Lang, a leadership and scaling expert. This has been fascinating. So, Kenny, can you tell us where people can find you? [00:31:08] Speaker B: Yeah, as you mentioned, kennylang.com, great place to start. I've linked up the blog, the diagnostic, the PO there's some other free resources there. LinkedIn is a great place to connect with me. It's probably my most active channel and along with the YouTube channel for the podcast How Leaders Think. And that's wherever fine podcasts are broadcast. [00:31:29] Speaker D: Awesome. Well, very good. So make sure you check out Kenny Lang and his unique approach to leadership and scaling. [00:31:37] Speaker E: Yeah, and if you liked what he said, just go subscribe to his YouTube channel. Give him another subscriber. Right. [00:31:42] Speaker D: There you go. [00:31:43] Speaker E: Can use all the subscribers we can get. [00:31:45] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:31:46] Speaker E: Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart. [00:31:49] Speaker D: So now it's time for Intellectual Property News. And we have an interesting case. We're going to be talking about a case here that is actually a criminal case. Normally, intellectual property doesn't involve crimes, but we're going to be talking a little bit about the Gilgo beach killings. And of course, that's been quite the attention grabber here on the East Coast. [00:32:13] Speaker E: Not sure Everyone knows what it was. [00:32:15] Speaker D: Well, why don't you tell them? [00:32:16] Speaker E: I'll tell them briefly. So there was this beach along, I guess, the river, and the name was Gogo Beach. And the family had lost their daughter. They couldn't find her. She was a prostitute. And they kept looking and kept looking. Finally, her body was found in Gogo Beach. And as they looked, they found many more bodies of prostitutes who had been killed and dumped there. They looked and looked, and they've identified a guy that they think did it. Now, I don't think he's been convicted yet. [00:32:44] Speaker D: No. His name is Rex Huberman, and he's an architect out on Long Island. It turns out that he conducted an interview with Antoine Amira, who had a YouTube channel. And this is the only interview that he did. And apparently Antoine Amira posted it and got a tremendous amount of attention. And then Netflix, as part of a documentary, basically copied the interview. It was only 47. [00:33:14] Speaker E: They didn't copy it. They took it and inserted it. [00:33:16] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:33:17] Speaker D: They took it and put it in their documentary on the Gilgo beach killings. The question is, as well, were they entitled to do this? [00:33:24] Speaker E: Well, he's suing them, right? [00:33:26] Speaker D: Yeah, Antoine is suing them. And he's. He's pointing out that other content creators, other film companies contacted him about the interview and asked for a license to it. And Netflix never did. They just took the content and they put it in their documentary. So he's claiming copyright infringement. And I guess the question is, does Netflix have a fair use defense? Right. So fair use, you're entitled to use others copyright material if you're, you know, doing a news story or if you're educating people or if there's some sort of parody involved. You're entitled to use somebody's copyrighted material, but only for a limited type of purpose. And so I guess I'd like to ask our panel, what do you think about this situation? And what do you think, you know, does you think Netflix has any kind of defense? So why don't we start with. With Jen Rafferty? Jen, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this. [00:34:27] Speaker A: My thoughts are going to be really short. I don't have enough information to have a strong opinion about this, which is why I have an IP lawyer myself. So as an entrepreneur, whenever I have questions about ip, I call him. He's great. Get yourself an IP lawyer. [00:34:42] Speaker D: All right, that's pretty good. Whitney, what are your thoughts? [00:34:45] Speaker C: Oh, I do need more information, but my first thought is Netflix's such a huge platform and they're making money off of users subscribing to use that platform. So I don't know how big the original interviewer was, but I could see easily, if it's a small content creator that's doing these interviews, why it would be important to have credits be paid for the license to use the information. I can see that side of it. I also think that Netflix is bringing awareness to the case, and if it hasn't, if he doesn't have a decision on whether he's guilty or not yet, maybe they can get some, like, outsider opinion. [00:35:25] Speaker D: You raised a good point. Even if it's kind of educational, it's a documentary, Right. So they're broadcasting facts. Even if it's educational, you know, they're still making money off of the whole broadcast and the process. So they're not doing it just to put it out there in the public and educate the public. They're doing it to get more views for Netflix. Right. So I'm thinking that Netflix might have a tough time with this, but maybe Kenny Lang has different thoughts. [00:35:52] Speaker B: I would echo the similar sentiment of just wanting to know more information. They. They took it from a YouTube video. Is that correct? [00:36:00] Speaker D: Yeah, just. [00:36:01] Speaker B: Okay. So did they credit the interviewer in the Netflix? [00:36:07] Speaker D: I'm not sure that they did. To a certain extent, crediting the interviewer does not get you off the hook for copyright infringement. Right. So you actually need the permission of the content creator. I don't have that information in front of me, but it probably wouldn't factor in too much into a court's eventual decision. [00:36:27] Speaker B: No, but from the standpoint of if I'm the interviewer, if I got credited in a Netflix documentary, I would be promoting the absolute mess out of that, and I would be a lot less worried. I mean, if you're just trying to get your one payday, because now what you're going to do. So, taken from the entrepreneurial side, like, again, I'm not a lawyer. Not going to pretend to be. If you want, I could chat, GPT, something. That sounds smart. If I'm an entrepreneur and I'm trying to establish a brand online around my skills as an interviewer, as a. As a storyteller, and, you know, I have, let's just say, 500 subscribers or something like that, which is not bad, but it's not like, at the upper echelon of attention, Netflix credits me, or I get to say, point my footage original, they took it if I'm suing them. And whether I win or not, I probably just lost A lot of opportunities to do business with other bigger media outlets because the chase is that you turn into your own massive media outlet, is slim to none and like you're going to get either bought and shelved or something else. And then if you say, hey, I just want credit or you can point to that and you say, hey, look, my stuff is so good that Netflix took it for this documentary. I'm doing some other things. Does Netflix, does Prime, does Hulu, does all these, you know, the 17 different streaming services that, that someone could subscribe to? Would you also like an interview? Could I shoot something for you? So if I'm trying to build a career, I could get Precious about my 47 seconds. It'd be different if it was a 47 minute documentary that they took and republished as their own. But you took a clip, bro. [00:38:12] Speaker D: You're taking a pretty practical approach to this and not looking at it so much legally, but maybe as an opportunity to generate more interest in your business, which I think is pretty interesting. It is interesting that sometimes in the entertainment world people do file lawsuits just for the publicity of filing a lawsuit. Right? You see that with celebrities quite a bit. And you know, maybe this is part of the reason why he's filing it. Although if you didn't get any compensation out of it, then maybe he's looking for that too. But you raised a great point. We have to take another commercial break. Don't forget, we have secrets of the entrepreneurial mind coming up soon. And if you have an idea or invention that you want to protect, contact us at Gearhart Law. We work with entrepreneurs worldwide to help them through the entire process of obtaining patents, trademarks and copyrights. You can visit learn moreaboutpatents.com or learnmoreaboutrademarks.com for a free consultation. And you can download your entrepreneur's quick guide to patents or trademarks and schedule a free consultation with the Gerhardt Law attorney. We'll be back right after this. [00:39:24] Speaker H: With medguard Alert, you're never alone. You can connect with medical professionals anywhere, anytime. And now Medguard is introducing our exclusive new Care Watch. If you need help quickly, use it from anywhere to contact medical professionals. No cell phone required. The CareWatch is not only a life saving medical alert device, it's a revolutionary health monitoring system that checks your blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation and much. And here's the best part. If you have Medicaid, you may qualify to get your Care Watch for free. The Care Watch is only available through medguard Alert. Call us right now. We have monitoring programs starting as low as a dollar a day. The call is free, activation is free, shipping is free, and no contract is required. Remember, with Medicaid, you may qualify to get your care watch for free. Call us to get your care watch right now. [00:40:12] Speaker G: 8007-0511-9880-0705-1198. 800-705-1198. That's 800-705-1198. [00:40:24] Speaker H: Hey, listen to me. I'm one of the credit cards in your wallet. I'm about to explode and pop like a balloon. You're using me and my brothers way too much. Your credit cards aren't the only ones annoyed. It's your paycheck that doesn't have enough to pay everything. Save your credit cards, your paycheck, and yourself. A lot of P A I N pain. Call the debt helpline now, not tomorrow. Right now. Our experts will show you how you can cut your interest rates and your payments on your credit cards in half. Credit card companies have special assistance programs designed to help you make this 100% free. Call right now and learn how you could get out of credit credit card debt. Here's the number. [00:41:10] Speaker G: 8007-3853-3280-0738-5332-800738-53332. That's 800-738-5332. Paid four by zero debt. [00:41:25] Speaker F: Passage to profit continues with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart. [00:41:29] Speaker D: Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show heard in 38 markets across the U.S. u.S. We'd like to do a shout out to our affiliate WHSY 950am and 105.9 FM in Laurel Hattiesburg, Ms. Also, our podcast is ranked in the global top 3% of podcasts and we've also been recently selected by Feedspot Podcasters Database as a top 10 entrepreneur interview podcast. So subscribe to the Passage to Profit show on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and also on the Iheart app. And now it is time for Elizabeth's Spotlight. So, Alice, what you've been up to. [00:42:09] Speaker E: A lot the studio. As you know, we had the grand opening the end of April and I've been getting clients steadily. I don't even have my website up yet and that has become a pinch point for me and I am bugging the person who's doing it repeatedly. [00:42:24] Speaker D: So has that been like another what was I thinking moment? [00:42:27] Speaker E: Yeah, what was I thinking moment? I like what he did with the website though, because it lets people book the different rooms separately. But I really, really need it because I'm getting all these bookings now and I'm having to keep track of them in my calendar and it's getting kind of difficult because I'm getting a lot of bookings. So hopefully that website will be up soon and we can do the bookings there. I have a meetup coming. It's a dive into AI customer experience and ownership in regards to content creation. So we have somebody who's going to be talking about ChatGPT5 and how that's affecting content creation. Somebody who's going to be talking about customer experience especially. I'm hoping she'll talk about do people like AI generated podcasts better than human ones? Or are humans still. [00:43:14] Speaker D: Are we still in the running? [00:43:15] Speaker E: Do we still have a job? And then also one of Gearhart law attorneys, David Pustolski, will be talking about copyrights and content ownership. So it's a meetup podcast and YouTube creators community meetup. And it's also on Eventbrite. You can go to the Meetup website if you don't want to join Meetup. You can just find it on Eventbrite and I. It's a dive into AI customer experience and ownership, so I should have the exact name of it. But it's September 16, it's online and it's in person. I'm excited about that. I'm also having an event in the studio next week, a Woman's Women in Business luncheon, where I'll be presenting and teaching another adult school class on Intro to Podcasting and doing my research and watching lots of videos on what people are doing to rank on YouTube now. It changes all the time. So, yeah, we're moving forward with that. And the studio's being used for a lot of different types of content creation, so that's pretty fun. [00:44:11] Speaker D: That sounds great. Lots of exciting things coming down the pike in the world of podcasting. [00:44:16] Speaker E: Absolutely. So enough about that. Now we're going to do our medical minute. And we do always manage to slip in some artificial intelligence talk into the show. This medical minute has to do with AI. So here's an instance where the Mayo Clinic did their own AI program. So it's interesting because AI went from all developers. Now companies are doing their own chatgpt. They're doing their own data centers where they can search their own data. They can use it like you would use ChatGPT, only it's all their own stuff. But what the Mayo Clinic is doing now is really cool. They developed an artificial intelligence system that can Detect surgical site infections with high accuracy from patient submitted photos. If you go and get your appendix out and you've got this big cut on you and it's healing and you're not sure if it's healing right and you don't want to get out of bed to go to the doctor, obviously, then what you can do is you can have somebody help you take a photo of it and you can send that photo to the Mayo Clinic and their AI can look at that photo and say, okay, this looks like it's starting to get infected. This is infected. Oh, I don't think this is infected. It can do the analysis on that. They're really for operations that people have at the Mayo Clinic or at their doctor's office. So they looked at 20,000 images from more than 6,000 patients across nine Mayo Clinic hospitals. And they're really looking at how people got some backup after operations and looking at those and seeing do they look like they're infected. So it uses a two stage model. It detects whether an image contains a surgical incision. So it achieved a 94% accuracy in detecting incisions and 81% in identifying infections. So I mean, I think that's pretty awesome because if they do surgery on you and send you home, you don't want to have to go see the doctor again. Kudos to the Mayo Clinic for doing that. I think that the more we can use AI to help clarify things like that, the better off we are. You still need a doctor to look at it, of course. But anyway, enough about that. I want to hear from our other two guests. We're going to start with Dr. Jen Rafferty. Her website is empowered educator.com and she is going to talk about what she is doing with education. So welcome Jen. Give us an overview of what you're doing. [00:46:34] Speaker A: Sure. So Empowered Educator provides unparalleled training for all of the adults in schools about emotional intelligence. So similarly to what Kenny was talking about, you know, we realized that teacher burnout isn't anything new. It was highlighted during COVID and could no longer be ignored. And frankly, it's been getting worse since. Our kids are changing, their needs are changing, their emotional needs are growing. And the adults around them who are caring for them, teaching them, supporting them, are not able to give them what they need because we ourselves are starving for our own emotional well being. And so when we go in there and we train teachers on self awareness, self regulation, social awareness and relationship management, among other things, high level mindset work, they're able to show up as their best selves for their students in the communities that they serve. Boy, I know that as a parent, right? [00:47:28] Speaker E: If you don't get a good night's rest as a parent, it's really hard to put up with those kids the next day. [00:47:33] Speaker A: Sure is. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. [00:47:36] Speaker D: So what are some symptoms of burnout? How does a teacher know if they're burnt out? [00:47:41] Speaker A: Being a teacher with burnout isn't any different than being a person who does anything else in the world with burnout. The way perhaps that it is manifested could be a little bit different. But, you know, think about when you're feeling burnt out, what does that physically feel like to you? You're probably, you know, achy, you're, you probably have a headache, your muscles are probably tense, and that means you're probably not eating very well. You might be scrolling on social media for a lot longer or zoning out on Netflix or some other streaming platform. You might be finding yourself drinking a bottle or two of wine when you might not have wanted to in the first place. And finding all of these numbing strategies where if you were to sit for a moment and focus on the things that are actually challenging you, that requires some work. And again, going back to what Kenny had talked about before, it's easier to go to external, make quick fixes for how you're feeling, but the truth is they're not sustainable. So we continue to quick fix ourselves into feeling better. And we have this idea of self care being, getting a manicure, going out to get a massage, or taking a mental health day. None of those strategies are sustainable. So burnout looks like exhaustion, emotional exhaustion. Burnout can look like feeling impatient and snappy with the people who are around you, not focusing at work, not focusing anywhere, fatigue, all of it. And so when you're in burnout, you, you know it, you just often don't know how to get out of it. [00:49:17] Speaker E: So how do you get out of it? What do you do? [00:49:19] Speaker A: Well, the first thing I think again, you know, hearkening back to what Kenny had talked about, you know, I have my PhD in educational psychology, so I'm coming from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience and high level mindset work here. However, a lot of times when we talk about mindset, we forget that we have a body. And the truth is the body is where all of this information is stored. You know, you think 65 to 85,000 thoughts every single day, and most of them are on repeat. And they come from fear and past experiences. And your ego. And so in order to make changes, you have to stop listening to the thoughts in your mind, which are not facts, they're options, and start listening to your body. And so many of us have been dissociated from our bodies for decades for all sorts of reasons. Big T trauma, little T trauma society, what we see on TV and the things that we consume. But when you start to connect with your body, that's where you get to recognize, well, where does this stress live? Stress is internal, stressors are external. So how do we go about navigating burnout? You have to slow down enough and create some sort of quiet and, and stillness for you to even understand what's going on here before you start addressing the things that are outside of you. [00:50:34] Speaker D: But I do kind of wonder, how do you connect with your body? What do you tell people? I mean, I think I might know, but I'd like to hear your, your thoughts on that. [00:50:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's an excellent question. And truthfully, this one little exercise has changed my life and the thousands of educators and clients that I work with. And that's taking just 30 seconds. First of all, putting your hand to your heart, it is that simple. When you put your hand to your own body, you are releasing oxytocin, which is the trust hormone and the love hormone. So if you want to establish some more self trust and self love, you don't have to buy another app. Just put your hand on your heart for a second. And the second piece to this is breathing. You know, when we have intentional breathing breaks throughout the day, you're interrupting your autopilot. We take about 23,000 breaths every single day. And I, you know, if you think about it, how many of those are intentional? Probably none. And so take just a couple of seconds hand to heart. I use the box breath, which is inhale for four, pause for four, exhale for four, pause for four. I do that three times, and I do that about four times a day at the very least. And what that does is it not only gets me in touch with my body, it interrupts my thought processes and it creates awareness to what my body is doing, which normally I wouldn't realize. For example, when I do a breathing break throughout the day, I might realize my shoulders want to be in my earrings. And I'm thinking to myself, I didn't even realize that my shoulders were so high up. And I have a moment to relax and refocus my thoughts. You know, the greatest gift that you have is your attention. And we think attention comes from the mind, but it comes from the body first. And until we start interrupting those patterns simply just by breathing throughout the day intentionally, nothing's ever going to change. [00:52:27] Speaker E: Yeah, I agree. So we're talking to Jen Rafferty with Empowered Educator. We have our guest here today, Kenny Lang. Kenny, do you have a question or comment for Jen? [00:52:37] Speaker B: I just want to plus one, all of that. I was somebody who trapped a lot of stress in my body and actually had to have a therapist help me with grounding, box breathing. And Jen, I'd be curious what from your research and just client interactions. It's one thing to maybe put in some practices or start to figure out, okay, I am stressed, but preventative because it's, you know, it can be hard when you're burnout. You're like, I don't want to do anything. I just want to scroll down to get started. And then to start to catch yourself before you become dysregulated. Because in the classroom, like I'm, we're seeing stories of teachers who, they likely are burnt out, they're dysregulated, and then they're exhibiting poor behavior towards students and, and it's costing them their jobs or at least the reputation. So how do they start to get on the front end of that and have some, like an early warning system? [00:53:36] Speaker A: Great question. So first thing, there's two things. First thing is a regulated nervous system does not mean that you are singing Kumbaya floating on cloud nine all day. A regulated nervous system is about oscillating between your sympathetic nervous system and your parasympathetic nervous system, which is a state of survival and protection versus a state of safety and performance, which is really where we want to be to do our best work, to show up up to do things like speak on this radio show, to teach a class, to serve clients. Right? But your brain is actively going to search out threats and deficits because its job is to keep you alive. Your brain doesn't care if you're happy. Your brain doesn't care if you're living your dreams. In fact, it would rather you didn't live your dreams because it has no evidence of you doing that and surviving to tell the tale. So it's wanting to keep you in a stress state more often than is serving you. And so the structures that, that we have to support the people that we serve. You know, I mentioned before, I do my breathing breaks at least four times a day, not because I'm feeling stressed, but because I'm stretching my regulation muscle so that my Nervous system, when is activated by some sort of threat, it's not going to the high peaks that it might have before and it's able to come down more easily than it had before. So instead, instead of kind of going through my day in this, you know, ragged, like high alerts, I'm more able to float through the day with, okay, this is activating, but I'm able to come right back down. And that's the stuff that happens before. It's very upstream thinking. You know, I read a lot of Heath's books. I love Dan Heath. He talks about that upstream thinking of business, of strategy. Well, I think about that in terms of nervous system regulation as well. [00:55:30] Speaker E: So Jen, what is your business model? Are you coaching individuals? Are you giving presentations to groups? How are you spreading the word on this? [00:55:37] Speaker A: There are a few things that we're doing. We have a multi way of getting our content right now. A lot of it is done online. We have two self paced classes called Thrive. And once clients move through those self paced classes, we have two online live experiences where people can get the replays if they want to. But it takes you through more of an introductory Runway to this emotional intelligence and high level mindset work to then going really deep with a live practitioner. So we can really get into, you know, what Kenny was even talking about before belief work. You know, where did we learn these things about ourselves? How are we showing up, who do we want to be and how do we build a bridge to support you to get there? So those classes are called redesign youn mind 1, redesign youn mind 2. And then in the meantime we have programs for parents which are very similar leadership which is very similar. And then I go out, I do a lot of keynote speaking and I'm able to do events like this and interviews like this too. And I also have a book coming out next year with Penguin Random House. So there's a lot of different ways to get to this content and how we can serve our clients and people. [00:56:43] Speaker E: Find that through your website. [00:56:44] Speaker A: Yes. [00:56:45] Speaker D: Empowereducator.com so does your main focus around burnout or do you also serve teachers and leaders in other ways too? [00:56:55] Speaker A: Our focus, I would not say is burnout. That is a nice result of the work that we do. What we're doing is we are providing our workforce in our educational systems with the skill set to show up as their best selves. What's happening is our kids are learning what it's like to be an adult by looking at the adults around them who are living in perpetual overwhelm and frustration, and they're thirsty for emotional connection and connection to each other. And, you know, once we get to be a certain age, we're adulting all of a sudden, and we're expected to know how to live through life. And no one actually teaches you these skills. So we come in and we teach how to manage your emotional life, how to manage your thoughts, how to regulate your nervous system so that it's the work that makes all of the other work work. And what does happen is we're finding that teachers are feeling less burnt out, but we're also finding that there's a higher retention rate. We're finding that kids are performing better academically when their teachers are more regulated. We're finding that there are lower behavior referrals in these classrooms. We're finding that teachers are. Are finally living their best lives. Like, hey, Jen, I took your class, and I've lost 60 pounds this year. Hey, Jen, I took your class, and I finally booked this trip to Ireland that's been on my bucket list forever. I had this really difficult conversation with my administrator, and now our relationship is so much better. So it's not just about burnout. Burnout is a very popular, buzzy term right now that we can point to, but it's really about showing up, up as the person that you want to be, not by default. You're living your life by design instead of by default. [00:58:48] Speaker D: Given all the changes in the world between Covid and cell phones and popular culture, is it possible for a single teacher to really lead a classroom of young people? You know, high schoolers, middle schoolers, you know, it seems like a tremendous burden to try to manage and elevate them. Is it still possible for teachers to be effective? [00:59:13] Speaker A: A thousand percent. I was a teacher in the classroom. I taught middle school music for 15 years, and I loved it. I was really good at my job. And I know a lot. Thousands, thousands of dedicated, brilliant educators who can take a classroom full of kids and turn it into magic. And I think what's happening now, particularly with this post, post Covid, Our kids are changing AI. There's a conversation that's happening that is the wrong question. It's not about AI versus teachers. It's how do we provide our teachers with the support, with the education, with the integration so that they can serve this new generation of kids. How do we close that gap? And instead we're having wrong conversations about school vouchers. We need to be having conversations about how do we fund our public schools so that our teachers have the support that they need to do the job that they wanted to do, that our kids depend on them doing. And so do I think it's possible? Absolutely. Do I think they're set up for failure? Yeah, I do. And so the people who are actually doing it are going over and beyond what is necessary. And we need to keep those teachers, especially those teachers in the classroom. [01:00:31] Speaker E: Yeah, I, I agree 100%. And with the whole artificial intelligence revolution, I guess is what we should, maybe should call it. [01:00:38] Speaker A: We. [01:00:38] Speaker E: There was, I saw a teacher present. Well, he was head of tech at the Summit schools here in New Jersey. And they're teaching kids how to do queries for ChatGPT. They're teaching kids to harness AI, not to just be dragged along by AI by the, you know, scruff of their neck or whatever. I think that's what we have to do as humans is we have to make AI work for us and not just like, let it control us. Right? [01:01:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:01:05] Speaker D: I mean, I would say though, that being an old school type of person, if you're constantly relying on AI to answer your questions, what are you actually learning? Kenny, you were going to say something? [01:01:16] Speaker B: Yeah. If we were in a court of law, I'd yell objection. AI only gives you as good of an answer as your prompt. Yes, it's garbage in, garbage out. I've had this conversation with numerous people, teachers included, and some people who say, yeah, you're just outsourcing your thinking. You're actually not. I spend probably two to four hours a day utilizing AI in my business, creating custom agents and things like that. And I can tell you, you can put in a really simple prompt and get a really bad answer. And I'm not talking about it's hallucinating or factually incorrect. It's actually just really plain and vanilla and not even helpful towards your end goal. And so it is requiring a different kind and style of thinking that I'm 100% with with Jen on. This is like it's. It's got to be about how do we equip the teachers to bring it into the classroom and teach them practical use cases. Because in the marketplace, so we're was bring it back to entrepreneurship. I'm telling my clients, I was like, AI is not going to take your job. The people who know how to use AI will use your job. [01:02:23] Speaker E: Exactly. Because they'll be doing everything faster because they won't do exactly what AI says, but it'll give them a starting point. They'll be starting from third base. [01:02:31] Speaker B: It'll be better It'll be faster. And if you don't use it, you are just going to be left behind in a way that you won't ever be able to make up the distance. [01:02:41] Speaker E: So, Jen, we are all behind you 100%. [01:02:44] Speaker D: We have time for one last question with Jen, and that is, how do you view AI and what do you think is the right way to teach AI in our school systems? [01:02:52] Speaker A: I would never be so presumptuous as to share what I think is the right way to do anything. However, I do believe that when we focus on our humanness, our ability to navigate AI will be more seamless. What's happening is we are so focused on the outcome and the output with AI, we are as human beings, adolescent in our emotional development. And that is, I think, going to be the downfall, because until you have the emotional skills to support the use of AI, the gap is going to continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And so while I continue speak to AI use and how we, we see this manifesting in schools and in. In our world, my expertise is really over here in AI so that we can support all of the new technologies that are coming out. [01:03:51] Speaker E: Yeah, I'm glad you're doing that. This has been really interesting. [01:03:54] Speaker C: We. [01:03:55] Speaker E: We need to move on. Whitney's been waiting patiently. But again, what is your website? [01:04:00] Speaker A: Empowered Educator.com. [01:04:02] Speaker E: Thank you very much. [01:04:03] Speaker D: Passage to Profit with Richard. Analysis with Care Hart. [01:04:06] Speaker E: And now it is time for Whitney Duanes Richardson with Global Sprouts. I love what you're doing too. Your work is very important for children. So please tell us all about what you're doing. [01:04:16] Speaker C: Global Sprouts is a culture kit that introduces other cultures to kids across America on a monthly basis. You can subscribe or you can purchase certain countries as one off kits. And we're on a mission to turn playtime into a passport around the world. [01:04:33] Speaker E: I love that. So what age ranges are your kits for? [01:04:36] Speaker C: 2 through 8. And then we are about to launch an older kit for kids 8 through 15. [01:04:42] Speaker E: Do you have them for adults? [01:04:44] Speaker C: You know, that is a very commonly asked question. So the fun part is if you are an adult with the kid and you buy it for your kid, we do have a parent's guide so that parents can learn about the culture first before teaching their children. [01:04:57] Speaker D: What got you into this business? Where did you come up with the idea to do these culture kits? [01:05:02] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm half Chamorro and half Dutch. I was raised on the island of Guam until 2013 when I landed in the States. I became Whit from Guam. It was my entire identity within 30 days. Everyone was fascinated that I was from the island. No one knew where Guam was, and definitely no one knew who chamorros were. So I was whipped from Guam. I noticed very quickly that there was a huge gap in American kids in the educational school system. It was my senior year of high school school that didn't understand about the world around them. They were so siloed in America. I know the states. Maybe I've visited another state before, maybe I haven't. And then I had my daughter two years ago, and she's bilingual. She knows everything in Spanish that she knows in English. And a few people, some of my closest friends, said, that's silly. Why would you ever teach your kids Spanish? And that moment I was like, you know what? We're going to teach kids about all types of cultures so that when my daughter is. Is my age and deciding to have kids, that it's not taboo to learn another language at an early age. [01:06:04] Speaker D: So you felt that there was a real need for children to appreciate and understand just even the existence of other cultures. So what countries have you curated these kits for? [01:06:16] Speaker C: Our goal was to feature larger known countries and cultures and smaller known cultures. So we do Spain, Guam, Australia, Venezuela, Lesotho, which is a super small kingdom in the middle of South Africa. We have 12 now, and we have 36 on the roadmap that we're still in process of creating. And Cyprus is another one, which is a small island southeast of Greece. So making sure that we're featuring those cultures that don't necessarily get a lot of publicity in America. [01:06:45] Speaker E: That's awesome. I see here, too, that you have a charitable aspect to this. You donate one box for every 50 souls. [01:06:52] Speaker C: We do. So we've partnered with all the World's Kids Inc. We do a yearly partnership with them where we donate one box back to underserved children in the south side of St. Pete here in Florida. And then we also feature, we give back some of our proceeds. And then she takes, I think, a select amount of kids, five to 10 of them every year on a large trip to another country that is also underserved. And we give that all together. [01:07:19] Speaker E: That's wonderful. [01:07:21] Speaker D: Can you describe for us what's in the kits? Are they kind of similar among countries, or does each kit have different pieces? And what could somebody expect if they received a kit saved from Spain? [01:07:33] Speaker C: So in Spain, it's my favorite story. It's all based around the flamenco dance, which is very popular in Spanish culture. You Get a castanet. Your craft kit in the box is creating an avenico, which is the fan that they'll use in their dance dance. You'll receive a red silk scarf, a story about the flamingo dance, and Globie traveling to Spain. You'll receive the country's flag and an activity book so that kids are interested in fun activities with a dry erase marker to learn some words in Spanish. Certain activities, tracing, matching colors, shapes. So each box comes with a series of lesson plans. So if the parent is a homeschooling family or the kid is school, they have an activity for each week of the month. And in that, depending on the age group, the parent can lead that conversation. We use project based learning behind each of our kids. So the first step is to have that excitement about learning about a new culture in a new country. And then you experience it hands on, really immerse yourself. And then afterwards you reflect on that experience. [01:08:36] Speaker D: Great. [01:08:37] Speaker E: We're talking to Whitney Duanes Richardson with Global Sprouts. And with us we have Kenny Lang, who has given us some great business advice. Kenny, do you have any questions or advice for Whitney? [01:08:49] Speaker B: Can you talk a little bit more about the project based learning and how are you engaging the kids so that there's not just comprehension but retention of the cultural values you're sharing? [01:08:59] Speaker C: Great question. I'm going to tie it back into AI One time I was on a keynote speaker event, had just wrapped up and a gentleman came up to me and said, said, oh, you're teaching them hands on, right? And that's amazing. But what about AI? And AI is great. You can really create some amazing things with it. But it's up to us as the teachers and the parents of the next generation to teach them to be better and to do better. And the way to do those two things are through critical thinking and problem solving skills. So as we go through project based learning in each of our kids. Kids, the kids are researching, they're really understanding why they need to build this abenico, which is the fan. Why is that important? The flamenco dance, then they're creating it and having that hands on experience. And my favorite thing to do is like, not give my daughter one of the materials. And she's like, how am I going to cut this? I'm like, well, I guess you're gonna have to figure it out. You can crease it, you can use some water, you can use a ruler. And then she's using those deeper critical thinking skills, solving the problem. And then afterwards we'll watch some videos on the flamingo dance happening in Spain. We'll really seal the deal with having that immersive experience and then reflecting on everything we just learned. One of my favorite stories is my daughter, specifically when we were testing the prototype and she knew Spanish, we learned hola. We traced it. She was two so it wasn't like the best tracing, but she got it kind of down, little scribble. But the next morning she came into our room and said hola. And she had her red silk scarf and she was flicking it around like the flamenco dancers did. That's the impact we want to have. We want to take one piece of different cultures and incorporate that into our day to day life. [01:10:44] Speaker E: Are you selling this to parents online? And also, what about schools? Are schools interested at all? [01:10:50] Speaker C: They are. So we were in 57 schools before launching to consumers preschools. Love it. We have classroom kits for schools to purchase and then we do sell directly to consumers and primarily their grandparents, homeschool families. [01:11:05] Speaker E: We need to find out your website again. [01:11:08] Speaker C: My website is globalsprouts.com we're going to. [01:11:11] Speaker D: Need to take a commercial break, but stay tuned for more Passage to Profit with Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mind coming up next. [01:11:18] Speaker H: I am a non attorney spokesperson representing a team of lawyers who help people that have been injured or wrong. If you've been involved in a serious car, truck or motorcycle accident or injured at work, you have rights and you may be entitled to money for your suffering. Don't accept an offer you get from an insurance company until you talk to a lawyer. And we represent some of the best personal injury lawyers you can find, tough lawyers that will fight to win your case. And they're so good they stake their reputation on it by only getting paid if you win. So if you've been in a serious car, truck or motorcycle accident or hurt on the job, find out today for free what kind of compensation you may be entitled to. [01:12:01] Speaker G: Call the legal helpline right now, 800-492-7014, 8004-9270-1480-0492-7014. That's eight. [01:12:18] Speaker F: It's passage to Profit. [01:12:20] Speaker D: Now it's time for Noah's retrospective. [01:12:23] Speaker E: Noah Fleishman is our producer here at Passage to Profit. And he just has a way of putting his best memories in perspective. [01:12:30] Speaker I: Can you imagine a world without caller id? That was the world I grew up in. Either you sat by the phone all day and waited for it to ring and pounced when it did, or you stayed out of the house all day to avoid the call. You didn't want to. Well, one day my mother got nailed. It was about 8 o' clock on a Saturday morning. My mother and I had just moved into our brand new apartment and nobody was awake. The phone woke us up. Who could it be? My mother picked up and turns out it was her old friend from high school. 30 years earlier. She hadn't spoken to this woman in years, but she calls up and says, hey, I got your number from a friend and I'm in town. You want to get together? Well, my mom's just kind of waking up, her hair's a mess and she's in her night clothes and she says to her, oh, you know, I would love to, but it turns out I have plans today and I was just on my way out the door. Well, they parted kindly and hung up and I broke up into an explosion of laughter. My mother didn't know what hit me. I explained to her what I was laughing at. The sight of her in her bedclothes with her hair a mess, saying, I was just on my way out the door. And we both laughed together for at least a good five minutes. It was a wonderful mother and son bonding moment. And it was made possible by a little less technology. [01:13:35] Speaker H: Now more with Richard and Elizabeth passage to profit. [01:13:39] Speaker E: And now it is time for Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mind. So, Kenny Lang, I am going to ask you, do you have a secret you can share? [01:13:49] Speaker B: Yes, when I was in the third grade. Oh, no, not that kind of secret. Sorry. Secrets of success. [01:13:56] Speaker D: Be like the third grade story. Better, but go for it. [01:13:59] Speaker B: Well, things are better left in the past. I'm glad I grew up in an age without social media. I'd say the secret that took me the longest to learn is consistency beats intensity. [01:14:10] Speaker E: I have to agree because we've been doing this show for how many years now? Since 2018? Seven years. [01:14:17] Speaker D: Seven years. [01:14:18] Speaker E: And we're in the top 3% of global podcasts. I think that part of it is the consistency and longevity. [01:14:23] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that's a very powerful statement. [01:14:26] Speaker E: Dr. Jen Rafferty, do you have a secret you'd like to share? [01:14:30] Speaker A: Sure. I think the thing that I look at every single day, have it on my desk, I share with all of my clients, is enough is a decision, not an amount. And the only person who gets to decide when it's enough is you. [01:14:42] Speaker B: Wow. [01:14:43] Speaker E: I love that. [01:14:44] Speaker A: You have to slow down enough and create some sort of quiet and stillness for you to even understand what's going on here before you start addressing the things that are outside of you. Okay. [01:14:56] Speaker E: Whitney Dewinas Richardson, do you have a secret you can share? [01:14:59] Speaker C: I do. Make your decision. Don't think too much about it. Make your decision. [01:15:04] Speaker E: Excellent. [01:15:05] Speaker D: I like that one. I think moving quickly is great. If it turned out to be not the best decision, you can always make a new one and change course. Right. [01:15:13] Speaker E: You can plan and plan and plan and never do anything. Right. [01:15:15] Speaker C: My favorite example is when you're at the nail salon and there's 17 different shades of blue. Just pick the blue. You're going to be able to change it in two weeks from now. Pick your color and run with it. [01:15:27] Speaker E: Richard Gearhart, what is my secret? [01:15:30] Speaker D: Well, well, don't underestimate the importance of self care. If you're an entrepreneur and really just going back to what we were talking about before, kind of some of Dr. Rafferty's remarks, it's important to take care of your mental and emotional health, not just on occasion, but develop a plan and a strategy for keeping yourself healthy. Because sometimes you're out there on your own and you need to have the resources, you know, keep functioning in the right way. So I think that's going to be my secret this week. [01:16:03] Speaker E: Well, after this morning, the morning we went through, mine is going to be always have a plan B. I know you've heard that before. This is going to be always have a plan C. I used our equipment last night to do some recording last night, got here today, got set up to do the show and the computer decided it was going to do updates forever and ever and ever. And I'm like, are we okay, Plan B, get someone's laptop. We'll have to do it on laptop. Have to get our other mics, which aren't as good as these ones, but maybe we can clean it up and editing afterwards. Plan C. Well, I hadn't really, I guess, was to go home and get my laptop if your laptop didn't work. So anyway, always have a backup plan because things can go wrong that you do not expect. [01:16:45] Speaker D: There you go. Well, that's it for us. Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show appearing in 38 markets across the United States. In addition, Passage to Profit has also been recently selected by Feedspot Podcasters Database as a top 10 entrepreneur interview podcast. Thank you to the P2P team, our producer, Noah Fleishman and our program coordinator, Alicia Morrissey, our studio assistant, Rishiket Bussari, and our social media powerhouse, Carolina Tabares. Look for our podcast tomorrow. Anywhere you get your podcasts, our podcast is ranked in the top 3%. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram X and on our YouTube channel. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark and copyright needs. You can find [email protected] and contact us for a free consultation. Take care everybody. Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week. [01:17:52] Speaker A: It.