Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast. I'm your host, Thomas Helfrich. I'm on a mission to help you cut the tie to whatever the hell it is holding you back from success, the success that you define for yourself. And today I'm joined by Candice Edelin. Candice, how are you?

Speaker 2: 0:13

Good, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:16

I always am very grateful for the time anybody gives us to come on the show and talk about what you're doing. So just take a moment, introduce yourself and what it is you do.

Speaker 2: 0:24

All right. Well, I am Candice Edelin and I do a lot of work with helping companies build visibility. Mostly that leans toward LinkedIn, and we do a lot of training in terms of helping companies build their visibility and go prospect effectively on LinkedIn using human-to-human strategies, notebox. I don't believe that you can automate a relationship with another human being, and so we show people how to actually build relationships with commenting strategies, posting strategies and outreach strategies.

Speaker 1: 0:56

I just did a post that said most of the influencers on LinkedIn are fake. They're engagement pawns, and I talked about share panels, our social media panels and AI commenting, and it's not that and the reason. I know this because we've done all this ourselves. Try it see if it works, and what I see is a lot of people who sell stuff on that piece, and it's LinkedIn is not built for that. It is built for real connections, real human in their interactions, and they're doing everything they can to stop it, but it makes you pull back sometimes from LinkedIn because your content gets drowned out by all this other shit. So we'll get into that.

Speaker 1: 1:32

I just love what you're doing Human to human people. If you're not doing it that way, you are thinking about LinkedIn incorrectly. It's an investment, not a instant gratification AI platform. Exactly, we will go on from there. Cool Series on that. There are, though, a lot of LinkedIn agencies, like listen. I have an agency that's around LinkedIn and there's lots, and I think there's plenty of room for it, but I always ask people kind of what's your differentiator on what you do for your audience or for your customers?

Speaker 2: 2:04

Well and it's interesting, I mean even us we're starting to do some done for you from a content creation point of view, using interviews with our clients and also recordings of their calls with customers to start to extract what are the customers asking and then how can we turn the question and the answer into really, really customer-centric content. I'll give you an example. I mean just today we run a LinkedIn posting challenge and one of our members of the posting challenge today it's like the first post that she's put up since the challenge started on Tuesday and she put up the post and somebody reached out to her. You would think it was a poorly performing post because she got one comment, but that one comment was I really want to learn more about your services. They booked a call. They've already opened up an opportunity. It was like a perfect prospect. So to me that's like a really highly performing post. Even though it had one comment and like four likes on it, it's got it, got the job done.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So this is a big piece that I. I mean, I'm so glad to hear that because I'll get. We'll meet new people who want to kind of learn our system or do stuff, and they'll say but your content doesn't do well, and I go it's, it's not intended to, it's intended to talk to you and no one else. Yeah, you know, we'll get 20 likes on a post, but I'll get two meetings from it. Exactly, Exactly. We have to do 10,000 likes or not likes, views, let's say per post or 50 or whatever it would be, maybe 100,000 on a couple. It's zero business. And the thing with your algorithm you should be very aware of one you and I can debate this but is if you start getting viral shares, so to speak, to the wrong audience that wrong audience sees the stuff in the future and they don't exactly the, the algorithm gets trained to feed the your content to the wrong audience.

Speaker 2: 4:01

When that happens, I don't't want a viral post. I want to post like what Jennifer's post did. You know, and you still need to build audience. So you still need to do posts that are getting comments and are getting engagement, but are getting engagement from the right people. Because, like you said, you know you start building this almost like a rule for the algorithm that you're interested in these people over here when that's not true. You want these people, but the algorithm only feeds your stuff to these people if you keep trying to do these viral posts. So, yeah, plus, I believe human to human. You should comment on every, you should reply to every comment because you should treat people with respect and honor the fact that they took the time to comment. If you get a hundred, 300 comments on a post, that is such a time sink.

Speaker 1: 4:54

Yeah, Well, but it's also I mean, that's a big post right there at that point, the uh, what do you do with? I will ask you this question Uh, so what happens if you're kind of going down the wrong path? You know like you're getting the wrong, do you take a break or you just start posting the way you need to post to get the people that you like. So what do you do with that? Do you clean up your linkedin?

Speaker 2: 5:12

I shift. I definitely make that shift, but one of the best ways to start drawing the right audience is a commenting strategy. So, um, I in fact, I literally just created a prompt template for our posting challenge members today. So it's like super relevant for me about how to find the LinkedIn influencers, the people on LinkedIn that are influencing your target audience. So we're not looking for Adam Grant or Kim Kardashian, the people that your specific target audience follows and engages with, where they are posting not fluff posts, not, you know, selfies and and broetry, but they're posting real content that's meaningful for your target audience. And then you start following those people and hunting intentionally for their posts and dropping comments on those meaningful comments, and that causes people to start seeing you and you'll start growing the right followers. It's a super effective strategy for building.

Speaker 1: 6:15

We've been using it for that for years. It's been ruined by AI a bit and it's funny because I'll see comments in my posts the same ones or same four in the same row and I'm like stop commenting. Ai, it's killing your personal brand, smear. You're doing it and I was like don't have to do every one of my posts, but you never reply. So it's like why are you paying for that service Anyway? So don't do that, people, all right?

Speaker 2: 6:38

You can't automate a relationship with a human being.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Right. It's like what do you do? So, like when we would do commenting, people reply I personally I'd get it on a list of in sales, navigate and reach out. So, like there's a strategy, and I agree that's the way to do it, I will tell you, I think, and I'll share this back, what I call is a positive, polarizing comment. So let's say you're like a franchise, instead of work for somebody, go to the 100 influencers that are like get a better resume, here's how you get a job, here's how you advance your corporate career and go comment on their content.

Speaker 1: 7:10

That I respectfully disagree. I think you should become your own boss and pick up, and that's a positive, it's respectful, but it's positively polarizing. The other way, that's a great strategy. Yeah, it works really well, but you got to do a long form comment. That's not GPT and that's where the time suck comes in, or you need to. You know how to do it correctly. It's really good way to do it, but also establishes your brand and it's okay. You have to take a. In my opinion, I think you have to take a polarizing side on something. Yes, really good attention. I'll give you an example before we kind of move on here and this comes down to something I've never done. I'm usually like straight middle of the road.

Speaker 1: 7:47

My content, I think, is boring at times, but it is on point to what I believe in, which is, you know, let's just be good humans or whatever else right? I saw this Instagram post from Grant Cardone that he reshared here recently, four years later, on Easter, where he's literally grabbing his wife's breast while his daughter's on the picture and he's smiling. He thinks and I and I, I'm sure I'm happy. If that's their world, I'm happy with it. But the fact that you put that out on the world, objectifying your wife and women and with your daughters there even if that's your thing, you're an influencer what do you message? Are you sending to men and women that that's okay and it go, and if that's you people? And so I posted like I really circle. I was like no class. What I even replied into currently to one of his things about you should be doing great things to the world. I wrote, I posted that in his feed.

Speaker 1: 8:35

I'm like like grabbing boobs. Anyway, I've got a lot of traction and I didn't care because I even defriended, or whatever, a few people who were like there's no problem here. What's the? I was like do you want your son or daughter to be with that or be like that? I go, what the like? I don't fucking want to hang out with anybody who's like that. Like that guy is like classes. I don't care how much money you make or whatever else that is, just don't do that.

Speaker 2: 9:18

Like do that privately? Yeah, not great us and I think that's true on LinkedIn to the people you're following, the people that you're engaging with have a reflection on you, and so if you were engaging in that kind of content all the time, that's going to reflect on your own personal brand and people need to be thinking about that.

Speaker 1: 9:36

I agree. Uh, it's so I. I put it out there cause I was like you know what? Let's see, I rarely do polarizing. You know that one, wow, that one, wow, yeah, that one. I'm kind of like I will tell you what. I had a strong increase in female followers that that day. Oh, interesting, and it wasn't the intent. I was just like I just this is like, I don't even care. If you're a guy and believe in this, I'm not gonna probably do business with you anyway, because I'm not, I'm not that bro-ish anyway. Uh, I'm full man and like is you know, poor pro guys, but that, come on, don't be a back anyway. Um, I rest my case once again. I could do a full show on that one, probably just pictures with me, and that's rude. Okay, let's get into your journey a little bit. Before we do, though, how do you define success?

Speaker 2: 10:21

not the way I think most people do. I think I just find success as being able to kind of carve my own course. It's not about money for me. It's about being able to make decisions for my life that aren't driven by having to be a yes person. I'm not. I would make a terrible employee. I haven't been employed for a long time. I'm pretty much unemployable at this point, so I think it's really that. And then having enough money to have, you know, a comfortable retirement. I'm not looking to be rich, but I also don't want to eat cat food.

Speaker 1: 11:03

Well, I mean, cat food is expensive. Let's not set your sights too high here. Come on, though, it's pretty highbrow of you to want cat food.

Speaker 2: 11:15

I know, I know I actually have decided that I want a cat food-free retirement.

Speaker 1: 11:20

There you go. That's better In all ways. Like you want to be less than I just want to eat tuna. It's cheaper, exactly. Um, yeah, sorry I digress in your own journey, though. Um, you know it's not a straight path. Right, there's, there's, there's things. You know you how to do. What was kind of the biggest tie, so to speak? You needed to cut to find that success you just defined.

Speaker 2: 12:15

That's a good point, I think, assuming that I had to follow the SaaS bros model of you have to have this hockey stick growth and you're not successful unless you have that hockey stick growth. I certainly pursued that. I started a couple of software companies, went out and got funding for those. Have gone through that process and found that to be not very fulfilling and I failed. And one of the things that I was most afraid of was that failure was defining for me and I had a major business failure in 2006 and 2007. And what I learned is that failure one isn't final. It ended up being the launching pad for me and allowed me to establish credibility that I never would have realized. So I guess there's kind of like cutting that tie and finding a new way to be as a professional was a pretty big aha moment for me.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Yeah, it sounds and this happens a lot right. Someone else defined what success looked like chase to go with it, and I always say it's done in love, typically as parents or somebody else, and later in life maybe it's done to meet someone else's agenda in VC world or whatever else. But until you own your own path with that you feel out of you know it's not your suit, you're told to wear it and it's not you. And once you start defining your own success, it does change. I think when you're on someone else's success path of what matters, you won't find fulfillment in it until you've defined it yourself. So I love that. I mean, I hate the fact that you had to go through that, but'd share. I don't know if this is true for most people, but I've been of the mindset that if it's not, hard, it's not worthwhile.

Speaker 2: 14:02

And there are things that come easily for me around go-to-market strategy thinking about customers, thinking about how customers think and how to align content with them. That just is just natural for me, and I had a terrible time figuring out how to build a business model around doing what's easy for me, and I had a terrible time figuring out how to build a business model around doing what's easy for me, because it didn't feel like it was valuable if it was easy.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Yeah, some of the best businesses I hear about, they seem so simple. The other is, as I'm learning, and you go through this, when you first start as an entrepreneur, you kind of build a job for yourself because you just based on what you know or do, and I'm in that throes where I'm like pivoting to that's not what I intended to do, which I don't mind it. It's like not bad, I just don't want to. I'm 49. I don't want to do it at 59. I don't want to. I want to. But you evolve and you find your journey and you kind of define success. You realize, hey, I can't let these things define me. I need to set up the way I need to. So it's easier A lot of hard work, but easier later, easier to exit, easier to live, easier to let someone else take it over. Otherwise, you're kind of buying a job and, as soon as you know, you're going to screw yourself at some point. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:25

So do you remember the moment, though, when you realized it's an ongoing evolution for me because I keep going back to oh well, that's easy.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Why would somebody want to pay me money to do that? So I've been going through this evolution since 2007, and I've had people tell me this is what you're really good at, and no other people aren't good at that, and it's just this continual evolution for me of how to turn that into a business. Now I will tell you that that's not sellable. I mean, it's sellable as a service, but it's not sellable as now. I can create a business based on this and then I can have an exit strategy. So that's another thing that I am having to really rethink is do I want to build a business that has an exit strategy, or do I want to build a business that allows me to build a comfortable lifestyle where I don't have to work all the time, where I can work four or five hours a week and make enough money with that, or maybe 10 hours a week and live comfortably on that, so that I don't need to have a business I can sell? Maybe that's okay.

Speaker 1: 16:36

It is and it like, and I listen. We can, like I said, probably do another third show on that because it is a real struggle of, but it's also finding comfort too, right Of. Like you know, you got to pay people and in in in in the agency world. I just did a post on this and it did okay for me, but I will tell you that I said basically, in two years, small marketing agencies 80% are done because AI is getting better. The value prop in labor costs for my Philippines and other places are going up and so the value proposition, what what a smaller agency can can provide is going down, because a lot of their strategy is going to be covered by ai. A lot of the execution is going to be done by ai and then people can just hire a little lower talent or do it themselves, and so there's a real problem. Come for agencies that are there and I see that and and I'm like man, unless I pivot to a bigger agency, I'm not sure I want to do.

Speaker 2: 17:29

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Or I need to go maybe more strategy of, like I create digital videos and courses on this stuff, which I'm not sure I want to do.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Well, AI is going to displace some of that too.

Speaker 1: 17:40

I agree, anything, it's knowledge, worker based, um, is there even a podcast potential? But I think people will still want to hear real people, uh, but it the truth is, the content behind it might be better. So there's a lot of change coming, yeah, and I don't disagree, so uh, do you. So there's one thing, that to know your success. There's another thing to uh, you know, know what tie you need to cut, so to speak, and you realize the moment. But then there's the how.

Speaker 2: 18:08

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:09

How are you doing this?

Speaker 2: 18:12

And that's so bloody hard. It's like how I was doing it. I thought that I had it all figured out in 20, because between 2020, 21, 22, 23, we were seeing 100% growth year over year over year and I'm like, oh my gosh, we've nailed it.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Yeah, you and I were tracking on the same on that because I'm like, oh, this is great, we're crushing it. We went from 100K to 300K to 600.

Speaker 2: 18:38

Yes, and I'm like holy crap, what just happened? Yeah, and so what was working isn't working now. And so now we're re reinventing again, and I mean, I've learned that over the however many years it is since 2007. When I started this, we've reinvented this business a few times, and now I'm like I have to do this again. But yeah, I got to do it again and it sucks and I'm pissed. And yeah, I got to do it again, um, but yeah, I got to do it again and it sucks and I'm pissed, and yeah, I got to do it again.

Speaker 1: 19:13

It's funny. We uh and you also, like you know we had raised our prices cause we added value and stuff. But now with technology, I'm going back to listen. I don't need to charge a few thousand a month. I can charge 500 a month because I can do it with about a hundred dollars of labor and the rest you know, with technology and it's, it's more profitable.

Speaker 2: 19:30

And have that yeah exactly, and so you.

Speaker 1: 19:32

So you relook at the flip side of that that people don't talk about. There are spouses, uh, and other people in your life that go. You're pivoting again.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Oh gosh, this happens, this conversation happens all the time.

Speaker 1: 19:44

I know I mean I live it and I'm like I have to explain that. But they just think you're doing what you're doing and you're in and it's the hard right, something like. But I just know I need to and it's.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Well, yeah, the fact is no, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just trying to figure it out.

Speaker 1: 19:59

You are correct. But I know I have to figure it out or go to cat food, and your point is cat food's too expensive. So well crap, that's not even my solution. Oh yeah, I mean, cat food is the wrong answer here. We don't want to, and it's a question I actually when I used to drink years ago you know, I bought a knee in tuna.

Speaker 1: 20:29

It was right. No, it just just don't drink it. Don't drink any cap. Um, you know, I, I, I, I love that. You have this, you have it. So tell me kind of what, uh, the impact is on your life right now as you're cutting this tie and you're working through it.

Speaker 2: 20:44

Well, it's been interesting. Um, I was like super bummed because I like the business we have right now. I've been having fun with it. It was a pivot in itself. We moved from consulting and strategy work with clients to training and coaching, and that was a big pivot and it was really fun and it was a blast and I'm like gosh. Now I feel like I'm kind of going back to what I was doing before, but then I get some clients and I'm like holy cow, this is really fun. I'm really really enjoying this new thing too. So we're just figuring it out.

Speaker 2: 21:20

What I'm doing more now is helping clients to tap into what's going on in their businesses, the conversations they're having internally, and turning that into super meaningful content and then expanding it beyond LinkedIn, because, yes, linkedin is super important, but so is email nurturing, so is your blog, so is third-party content, and proving that you're human is going to be huge, continue to be important. But, yes, we're using AI to help that, and so I can help clients get faster results by getting in there in a little bit more of a done with you solution. So we will never be a done for you again, because I don't believe you can outsource a relationship with another human being, um, but we can actually step next to the client and help them with it. So that's where we're kind of adding we're not completely pivoting away from the training stuff we're doing, but we're adding that on for the ones that are just having trouble getting everything done because they're so freaking busy.

Speaker 1: 22:20

Well, I hear your song. We are actually as we looked at it and we looked at services. I went back to our. That was actually this week with my teams. We went back to the original model that, hey, we're paying because out of necessity, we're paying per post. We used to just do flat, like I'd pay them a salary. I was like we have to go to that model because the volatility in the market of when people are going to try the next 90 days of AI is real, is real and and and it just people listen.

Speaker 1: 22:46

If you're, if you're looking at things in 90 days, take it with the idea that you're trying to do something for a full year mentality. The reason is 90 days is really tough to prove anything because the first 30 or so you're guessing on what the hell you're doing, and so you're, you're measuring like you're an incomplete data and I tell people this all the time. Like you have to look any of these Meta, any of them is an investment of time, because long term, what's going to matter is that people know you're real, because I believe that's actually going to be the biggest factor. More people are going back to coffees and things like that to meet, and that means more local or more industry focused. We'll keep moving forward. You and I are too close. This is have. This is like two like people are like. What the hell are these two talking about? I know?

Speaker 2: 23:29

I want to just go grab coffee with you and sit and talk for the next five hours, because this would be Listen.

Speaker 1: 23:35

I mean you're in the group. We can have a mastermind breakout on LinkedIn all day. I would love that. It'd be great. That'd be fun. The thing I'd like to know, maybe in your life, what are you most grateful for?

Speaker 2: 23:48

That Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

Speaker 1: 23:51

Wow, that's a common answer.

Speaker 2: 23:52

Is it?

Speaker 1: 23:57

Believe it or not. I don't know if I'm tracking this, but I'm on a faith journey. I always tell people I'm not going to be selling Bibles anytime soon on your doorstep, but the idea is I would have been like roll my eyes, like seriously, like three years ago. Now I'm like I totally get it Like that's fine state you find. And if you don't get that people out there listen your thing like don't be, like. It's one of those things. It meets you where you are when you need it and I hope if you ever do need it it does because it will. But it's, it's one of those things where, uh, it's a beautiful thing. So I love that answer. That's really beautiful and I understand it. No expression, the explanation needed uh, anybody else. We're not going to go down the faith journey. You can listen to 50 other shows we have. We talk about that all right uh, some rapid fire questions.

Speaker 1: 24:41

um, you know I usually start with a different one, but I'm gonna ask you this one differently what's your favorite book? What's the must-read book for you?

Speaker 2: 24:52

Oh gosh, I read a lot of books and I do a lot of fiction we're going to pick one, but the one book that has influenced me, other than the Bible, the most in my life is how to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.

Speaker 1: 25:08

I read that or listened to it, I should say, and it seemed antiquated, some of the stuff you're like duh, but you should listen to it, just so you can realize that that's a principle that's been around forever and people haven't changed that much. So I think it's all right, duh, so go do it. I like that one as well.

Speaker 2: 25:27

I don't overlook the misogynistic kind of tone in there. It was written in like what the 20s. It's an old book, so forgive that and just look for the principles.

Speaker 1: 25:36

I thought about it as like a narration of a movie set in the time. Oh yeah, that's how I thought about it. I was like my word this is oh, um, but the the the principles. I think what I took from it is the principles remain in human today. Yes, and so it. That's, that's the beauty. That's why books are classic. Who gives you, though, inspiration day to day?

Speaker 2: 26:01

oh, you know I. I guess, in terms of people I'm following on linkedin, um gal aga is somebody that I find just amazing. I love the stuff that he's putting in. Nate Nasrallah are two people that have a big influence on me Richard Vanderblom on the LinkedIn algorithm and then, in terms of other things, I still listen to Tim Keller all the time. For those who don't know, he passed away, but he is a phenomenal preacher and apologist that I just love his content. So I guess those people yeah, no, I like it.

Speaker 1: 26:39

That's a good list of people you could check out In your kind of journey. What's been the best business advice you've received?

Speaker 2: 26:48

Ooh, Hmm, I guess for me it's been around. Just because it's easy for me doesn't mean it's easy for other people. When I first started Propel Growth, we had a client who I was trying to sell him one thing and he was trying to buy something completely different. I wanted to sell him, like ongoing content creation services. He wanted to just buy my time to sit there and talk through strategy with him and it was so bloody easy to do that because it just came so naturally to me. It's like, well, no, you don't want to do that, Like, go focus on these things.

Speaker 2: 27:41

And I got the opportunity to have a huge impact on Equinix, which is a multi-billion dollar data center. When they were pre they were still in the hundreds of millions and I was working with the largest sector of their business and and it just took off and I I actually got to have a pretty significant role in that because John, the guy that was leading that that business unit, just wanted to sit down and talk to me about the financial sector and how to how to build it there, and it was easy for me it was. It seemed so obvious and yet that was what he wanted to pay me for and I can't tell you how long it took me to like wrap my head around that it was ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 28:23

It's funny. So in life, right, right, yeah, a lot of times people realize skill they have which comes easy to them not, like not, you see this in kids. One thing they don't realize how well they do it and then so they think they have to to make it. They got to go develop something they don't do. Well, right, and like you know, like, if you're a singer or something else, right, there's lots of people like, listen, you have a talent in. Why are you trying to do acting or something Like sing. Get the attention from the gift you've been given from God. Exactly, you're a legendary Pokemon card from the start. Now go get your stage one and two. Now, if you got on a nerd like me and you evolve Pokemons, I'm learning this.

Speaker 1: 29:01

The point being is I'm a basic. I can't go up to the next level ever on that Like. I can't train to where you start and so like. And when you have that like, I'm very good at consulting strategy and bringing that like. I just couldn't stand the travel and that kind of work anymore. That comes super easy. I'm sure I'll probably return to it at some point. But the point is I realized that. But that's easy. Coding was not Me delivering marketing. No, that that's easy. Coding was not me delivering marketing. No, that's why I have a team like I. I've been very clear what I do. Well, you're spot on and you struggle with that because somehow, maybe back in childhood, someone said, hey, you need to, you need to work on your skills. And you're like I I got these gifts, why can't work on those?

Speaker 2: 29:39

so well a culture teaches us if the way to success is working hard, which is totally not true, but I've bought into that my whole life and so yeah it's. I don't know why this is so ridiculously hard for me to wrap my head around.

Speaker 1: 29:55

When you're younger. I like the Alex Ramosi principle here, where you got time generally on your hands or on your favor. So do work hard and smart. Both Work the weekends. Take the time now to make that investment yourself. That is actually good advice. Like, stop going out, stop watching Netflix, work on yourself. Do you have 300 bucks? Instead of going out for the month by a course, do something because it's a better use of your time. Older, you want to have more time with family and things that you've done or collected. It's different. So I think hard is the right answer, Smart with it is the better.

Speaker 2: 30:27

And thinking carefully, thinking critically about what you're doing and what you're working on, what you're hearing, what you're reading. I don't think enough people, it's like we're not. Our culture has lost critical thinking capability.

Speaker 1: 30:42

Oh, that's what we've got podcast number four coming. Yeah, how to debate in the country again without killing each other.

Speaker 2: 30:49

Well, there's a novel idea, yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:51

That's part of what my men's group's about. How can you talk about stuff without fisticuffs? Well, actually we go fisticuffs. We can all walk out of there, friends, all you can. Just don't pull a gun, all right.

Speaker 2: 31:14

If you could go back to any part in your life anytime, when would you and what would you do differently? You know that's a hard thing to answer, because if I did that, it would change the trajectory to where I am right now, and I'm 10 years ahead of you. I'm 59. And I love my life. I love my husband. I would not want to do anything that would alter that trajectory. I didn't get married till I was 46. So if I went back I could screw that up. So I don't know that I would. I I like where I am. I am I satisfied? No, Am I content? Yes, Am I joyful? Yes, Do I have everything? Yes, what's that?

Speaker 1: 31:57

Are you insatiable?

Speaker 2: 31:58

Yes, yeah, exactly, but that's the try to cut like, stop me, I don't want to screw that up. I.

Speaker 1: 32:12

I like where things are right now. I mean, it's one of those questions I ask just to see where people take it and then what are they applying in their life today to do differently? It's the mindset I got to versus I have to. Yeah, and things happen for you instead of to you. And if you look at it like all that happened for me to be here today, then that's the right mindset. I think one of the best answers I ever got the guy was like I wish I would have ordered a black coffee instead of a latte a minute ago. I'm going to fix that after the show, but right now I wish I had a black coffee. I love that. That's an fantastic answer. I mean, nothing really changes if I just do that, and now I'm sitting with a coffee on one, but I guess I'll just get another one after that.

Speaker 2: 32:48

That's an awesome answer. That's a great answer I guess I would go back and tell myself not to be so afraid of failure, because what I've learned is if you're going to fall, fall forward. Fall on your face. We made some forward progress.

Speaker 1: 33:04

that way Don't collapse like in a faint, like we just don't know what happened.

Speaker 2: 33:08

Yeah, yeah, but but I think we're we fear failure more than we should. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:16

I'm somebody who fears sucking, like being bad at something or being perceived at something. Uh, here's a crazy thing. How many videos do I have on YouTube? I don't know a lot. I am afraid to put a course out there. Really, I did it. I put a YouTube course it's being produced 40 minutes of how to build a 10K a month business. I'm doing a bunch of shorts. I just lay to it. I'm like who cares? Let's just go do this and learn from it and see if anybody cares about it.

Speaker 2: 33:45

Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 1: 33:46

It's amazing, though. I'm not afraid to be on camera, but I'm afraid of what I'm saying doesn't make sense and it's boring. I was like I'm underproducing it. I'm an overproducer of confidence. Just forget it, let's go. Final question If there was a question I should have asked you though I didn't what would that question have been and how would you have answered it?

Speaker 2: 34:05

oh, um, hmm, I guess, um, you could have asked um, like if you were going back to your you know whatever self, 30 year old self, what would I tell them? Or 20-year-old self, I would tell myself to take seriously finding a mentor. Think that I grasped the advantage a mentor who would really want to see me grow could have made in my life. And I've looked at people who did have those mentors and it's pretty remarkable the impact that has had. So if I'm talking to anybody who's 20, 30, 40 years old, go find a mentor, even 50 and 60-year-olds, we can all use mentors. I have mentors now and it's really made a difference.

Speaker 1: 35:17

I struggled. There's two things I've come to realize and that's fantastic advice of which I would have ignored myself years ago, because lots of people say, hey, you should get a mentor, and even I knew. Have ignored myself years ago because lots of people say, hey, should you get a mentor?

Speaker 1: 35:29

and even I knew I was like I need a mentor ego, yeah and adhd yeah, and thinking you're the smartest person in the room is plaguing me for 47, maybe the 49 years, and um, there's no way I would have been accepting of that and I think I realized that's why I never picked anyone, because I just didn't trust anyone to be smarter or figure out what I'm doing. But there's so like cause I didn't. I just you know so.

Speaker 2: 35:51

I had this giant chip on my shoulder during my twenties and I was, and it was mostly because I felt so unqualified and if I, if I got exposed, everything I would lose everything. You know, not that I had anything, I don't know what I thought I was going to lose but I was so terrified of being exposed as a fraud because I felt like a fraud.

Speaker 1: 36:14

I look back, I look at myself as pretty much a Will Farrell character in any movie where he thinks he's smart and he's actually dumb. Yeah, it's embarrassing to think about that. If I watch myself, I'd be like, oh, I cannot believe I'm doing that right now. I'd be like, yeah, how did I not die there? Or whatever else. Um, thank you, by the way, so much for taking the 15 minute podcast that we're at 36 minutes and that's how I don't even time. You know, I time does exist. The teams in the Philippines, they're in the future. But, yeah, we exist at the same time, not true? No, time doesn't exist. All right, uh, we're just now. Who should get a hold of you? How should they do that?

Speaker 2: 36:54

um, anybody who's trying to figure out how to crack the code on building your presence on linkedin and you believe that you want to treat people as human beings and with respect and you agree with me that you can't automate a relationship or outsource a relationship, contact me. I'll help you figure it out. We work a lot with coaches and consultants and marketing agencies and a lot of Microsoft partners to help build presence on LinkedIn and attract leads. I mean, to me it's about the end goal, it's not just about being an influencer.

Speaker 1: 37:29

I find it funny that Microsoft people and I've worked with a few myself that apparently the internal resources for LinkedIn, for Microsoft isn't there because a lot of them have no clue how to use it.

Speaker 2: 37:41

People at LinkedIn don't know how to use LinkedIn. Let's be honest.

Speaker 1: 37:45

There's a lot of strings and hamster wheels and people turning cranks back there. Yeah, if you don't know, just let someone flag your account for something and watch how horribly it is to try to get it. So we won't go down podcast five. Candice, thank you, I appreciate you.

Speaker 2: 38:02

Thank you so much for having me. This has been a blast.

Speaker 1: 38:05

I enjoy it very much and listen everybody who made it to this point. You rock for listening watching. If this was your first time, I do hope you come back. I hope it's the first of many. Get out there, go cut a tie to something holding you back and just unleash that best version of yourself on the terms you've defined as success.