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Empowering Transformation: The Profound Impact of the CEO Program on Personal and Professional Growth
87 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of The Better Contractor Podcast, Brent Oberlink delves into the transformative experiences of young entrepreneur, Jadie Keck, who began her journey through the CEO program. Coming from a small school, she shares how the skills acquired through the program set her apart, enabling her to confidently engage with professors and peers. The CEO program didn't just provide business knowledge; it fostered personal growth, enhancing her communication skills and professional demeanor. Mentorship played a pivotal role in her development, offering not just business insights but also valuable life lessons. The discussion touches on the challenges and rewards of creating and managing a small business, stressing the importance of deadlines, teamwork, and the ability to adapt and learn from failures. The episode wraps up with a discussion on the lasting impact of the CEO program and the enduring value of mentorship, highlighting the desire to give back to the community and mentor future generations. This episode is a testament to the CEO program's power in shaping not just careers but also character, preparing young individuals to thrive in the business world and beyond.
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Transcript
The Role of Mentorship in Business
00:00:11
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. Today, we're gonna talk about the importance of giving back in mentoring as business owners. um enough There's a lot of business owners that do not, in my opinion, do enough to basically give back or or help the next generation to succeed. Mentoring is a huge part of of my life. I love it. I think it's something every business owner should be doing. We should be helping the next generation. We should be giving them the tools to succeed. There's so much stuff that we've been through that we've learned. And I look back at mentors I've had in my life, and if I can give someone a nugget of information that helps them to shave off a problem or make a problem that normally may last five years be a 10-minute problem, then that's what we should be doing to give them a leg up.
00:01:01
Speaker
um we should be as the older generation also fostering leadership skills and stuff like that in next generation.
Exploring the CEO Program with Jadie Keck
00:01:08
Speaker
So I'm an active part of our local CEO program which is sponsored through the Midland Institute of Entrepreneurship for high school seniors and I'm joined today by Jadie Keck, an alumni of the program, sophomore this year in college, close friend, employee because she was good, and also current mentee. Jadie, welcome. Thank you.
00:01:34
Speaker
So first we'll talk a little bit about mentoring. So why should business owners get involved in mentoring specifically? I think there's two sides of it. i think there's the One side is what can it do for your business and then what can you do for your mentee or your community. Obviously, if you can have an impact on both, that's ideal. But I don't think you should ever be motivated by just business. So like let's say you mentor me.
00:02:07
Speaker
and you sold candy bars, I'm probably going to tell people to buy your candy bars. But because you're mentoring me, my life is going to improve, hopefully, if you give me good advice. And then in turn, I would probably help you a little bit in some areas of your life just by having that kind of relationship. yeah So I think it's really important to help your community but also like show young people what can be done and show them how they should be when it's their turn to give back. It's almost like a expand their mind type of thing of what's possible. Yeah if you want to create this renewal within your community you've got to just start the cycle and
00:02:52
Speaker
if you're the first to do in it and it takes off then hopefully it snowballs into something that really impacts your community and if it doesn't then and you just try again Yeah, I like how you say because I do think there's some people that sometimes do giving back things Simply because it looks good not because they're necessarily invested. So I do like that you brought that in that Your heart needs to be in it. You need to go 110% How have mentors you've met, either in the program before or after or whatever, how have they
Personal Reflections on Mentorship
00:03:25
Speaker
impacted your life? Well, so, we've talked about this a little bit, but looking back at the last four years of my life, so junior year of high school, senior year of high school, freshman year of college, sophomore year of college, um I have grown in multiple areas of my life
00:03:45
Speaker
in ways I never thought I would because of my mentors. So more specifically, when I was in high school, my graphic design and art teacher really helped me expand my horizon when it came to career choice. I thought that I couldn't be a creative because creative people just didn't make money. So I kind of surpassed that like need and desire to make art because I thought I needed to be a CNA to make money. Or a radiologist. The typical route. right so
00:04:21
Speaker
It wasn't until I really watched her, sat down with her, and talked about what a career as an artist would look like. I i didn't know that I could do it. so Without her, I probably wouldn't be here. I'd probably be doing something I hate. and CEO having mentors that aren't like There was lots of observing that happened. So we would go to business visits I would watch People engage with the students like that was really great because it showed me that my county didn't suck You grew up in a small town and you just assume that everywhere else is so much better now I have a deep love for my hometown and
00:05:03
Speaker
I don't necessarily want to live there, but when I go back home, I'm going to give my money to small businesses and I'm going to be involved in ways that will benefit my community opposed to just... So it almost makes you appreciate those things more. Yeah, totally. And just from college and being involved with you and my, I almost said my wife, your wife,
The Impact of Mentorship on Personal and Professional Growth
00:05:28
Speaker
not my wife. If you want her, take her. With my mentors, Brent and Annie, um i I feel that I specifically i think I'm capable of more than I thought I was capable of before. And lots of doors and opportunities have been opened.
00:05:50
Speaker
so overall mentors have impacted my life greatly. I would be a little scared to see what it would look like without my mentors, and I think people are silly if they don't have them. Whether that's a teacher, a parent, someone you meet in the community, and it can be like a ah watch mentor. It doesn't have to be let's meet and take notes and talk about stuff, but I think Having a relationship with someone who wants you to succeed and you want to succeed and you both take action and thought in how you're going to grow to get that success is important. Yeah. I think there's when you brought up like observance and we've talked about like mentors I had. I didn't have the one on one like we have.
00:06:36
Speaker
Mine was more of a surface mentor, which is still valuable, obviously. yeah But i'm I'm naturally an observer anyway, so I was always like finding these people that had aspect here that I like, or this aspect that I like, so I would mirror this or mirror that, and then kind of bring it all together like, okay, this is the ideal person I want to become. What I would have loved to have the one on one, but I just didn't have anybody like, here, I will dedicate this much time to you. um What are some key nuggets of wisdom you think that you've gained from mentorship to last, let's just say, three years? Is there anything super worthy that would be worth sharing on podcast? I'm sorry, it's taking me a minute.
00:07:19
Speaker
no phone um Well, I really love the saying that um was talked about a bunch in CEO. There's no growth in your comfort zone and there's no comfort in your growth zone. That's something that I think about probably not on a daily basis but on a regular basis. If I'm laying in my bed trying to decide if I should scroll on TikTok or work on my website, I think, well, I don't really want to because I'd rather go to bed and get my nine hours of sleep. But I probably just need to work on my website.
00:07:56
Speaker
yeah um From you and Annie, I think, and this is probably summing up a lot of information because there's a lot I could say, but life is what you make it. So you two are good examples of what you work for, you will get. As well as it can't all be about money and success. Not that that's what you're about. You're a good example of being driven and having success in business, but also prioritizing relationships. Being well-rounded. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah it's not all It's not about having cool cars or cool watches. It's about the kind of people you surround yourself with and honestly the mental health of yourself and others because I mean, it would be really lonely to just have cool cars and watches.
00:08:46
Speaker
I've always said in growing up, for some reason, there were some successful people that I've never seen. And not to be mean, but they were fat and out of shape. And you knew their their relationships at home were not ideal, but they had money. And I remember even when I was younger thinking, well, that's not success right because you're miserable everywhere else. And if you die rich and everybody hates you, or and you die young because you're out of shape, that's not really having achieved a whole lot. um So I like that you bring that up, though, that it is that well-roundedness of excelling here, here, and here. And you may have three different mentors. You may have one that's decent in all of it. You may have one that just completely kills it with relationships. You may have one that completely kills it in fitness. They're not good in another area, but there's stuff you can learn from each of them. That's what is beautiful about mentors because you don't have to pick just one person to model your life after you you watch and observe. There's things that you do that I want to do and there's things that you do that I am not interested in doing. You're not perfect. Oh my gosh. so um and I it's neat that having you on here, number one, yeah it's it's cool because
00:09:58
Speaker
I've gotten so much out of the mentorship as well. Like I know a lot of people think, well, the mentor is the one doing all the giving, yeah the mentees taking doing all the receiving. While that's generically the case, it is actually not what it is. You've done really just as much mentorship. the inspiration, the drive, the hunger, when you get to be in your 40s versus 20, it is inspiring to see that drive and hunger. Because a lot of people, it does start to die in your 40s, unfortunately, yeah and older. So it kind of keeps that spark alive. And there's aspects and things in life that you look at differently than even I do. So there's so much of that mentorship coming back at me, which is awesome. yeah um So anyway, just something I wanted to add in there.
00:10:42
Speaker
Keep you up to date on the slang. You do keep me up to date. And I try and sometimes I mess up though on the slang. But I try. I try to be cool. Yeah. ah So we've referenced the EO law, but we've not really talked about what it is. So if there's someone listening who's actually interested This is in a lot of counties, but it's not everywhere. um The Midland Institute would obviously love to see CEO in other counties where it's not. So can you tell us just a little bit about what CEO is, what's the class structure, or
Inside the CEO Program: Structure and Learning
00:11:15
Speaker
stuff like that? Yeah, so CEO is in a typical classroom setting. You meet before school starts at whatever location you decide to meet at, and you're in class
00:11:28
Speaker
um I think we arrived at, I think classes from seven to nine. You guys usually arrive. Yeah. I want to say we, my class, we got there earlier than we supposed to. So I think we actually got there at six 15, but it started at six 30. I think I could be a little, I know now they're doing seven 30, but most of them are there at seven to nine. Yeah. Well, early. It was early. It's early when you're in high school. Sorry, it's early. Classes are longer than like a normal hour period, 50 minute period. um So a typical day, we could spend in class where we could be talking about badge business, individual business, class business, which are all things that you create in class. Badge business is a way to fund your class.
00:12:21
Speaker
class business is another way to fund your class but it's more collaborative like you're planning creating an event or whatever it is you could you could sell a product you could host an event you could offer a service it's up to the kids what they do an individual business is something you create solely on your own so First semester is badge business, class business focused. So we're doing more planning, collaboration type stuff. And then second semester is more individual planning and business visits. So whenever we visited Land Recorp, we got to the office at 9.
00:13:02
Speaker
other than that yeah sorry And then we listen to you tell us about your business, give us some advice, tour your building facility and ask questions. So it varies what we are and what we're doing, but it's such an engaging way to learn. because I personally really hate the the lecture type of learning. I want to be involved, have my hands in it, and that's what you do. The best way to me to learn is to do. So if you're talking about how to open a checking account for your business and how to get a Illinois tax ID, like the best way to do it is to actually do it.
00:13:44
Speaker
So that you're referring to is the individual business. Yeah. So my two favorite parts of the program is the individual businesses in the mentor program, which is actually really tied to it. elaborate lot on those Yeah. So, uh, every student is assigned a mentor. I'm not sure how other counties do it, but for Fayette, we did kind of like a speed dating type situation. So if you were a mentor and I was a student, I would come over and talk to you for However long I can introduce myself. I would maybe tell you what kind of business I want to do and then Really see like if we click any kind of how they're paired is like for instance there was a mentor who owned a landscaping company and then a student in my class who wanted to sell plants and
00:14:40
Speaker
So our facilitator thought that there would be a good pair. So typically that's how it goes. um I haven't really seen it foster or grow into something like deep and beautiful that is a relationship that carries on through the years. But I'm also not involved with every student. So maybe there's communication that I don't know about. Yeah, i like there's probably some that stay in contact for a while. I'm not really sure how long.
00:15:07
Speaker
How do you feel like the program benefited you personally and professionally now, like as you've been out of it two years? Yeah. How do you think it's benefited? My favorite story is to talk about when I arrived at Blackburn, the the college I went to first. When I did new student stuff or after I got to campus, I just felt like my communication and my I guess confidence, or the way the way I carried myself, I should say, was not the same compared to other students. I was going up to people and like, I don't think I was shaking any students' hands, but I was going up and introducing myself and trying to like talk to these people, whereas the majority of the other students were kind of just like hanging back, like walking around. That's probably the number one thing I've noticed, people that come into the program and by the time they exit, is their social skills. Totally. It is probably the first major thing that changes.
00:16:02
Speaker
I also, which is fortunate and unfortunate, I feel I'm more comfortable talking to adults. yeah Which, I mean, in my college setting wasn't a big deal, but I do feel like I could charm a room full of 40, 30 year olds better than I could 15, 18 year olds. um But I just felt like my communication the way I carried myself was way more elevated. Like the very first time I met the chair of the art department, I shook his hand, and to me it looked like he was kind of thrown off by it. I'm not entirely sure if I'm reading that correctly, but I think yeah I am. yeah So I just, I was disappointed. yeah And maybe that was my college, maybe
00:16:46
Speaker
I don't know, but I felt like I i was not impressed with the students there and they're like drive to get things done and to Just I guess be go-getters. Yeah. Yeah, so the CEO program it is an application process so Obviously that's already kind of hand-selecting students that are driven or they would not want to do this program because it's not easy No, there's nothing about it. That's easy. It's very time-consuming So you're already dealing with those who are more driven. And then the application process weeds out those, because they have to do references. They've got to answer a bunch of questions. so And then you pick the students that best answer.
Student Entrepreneurship and Skills Development
00:17:25
Speaker
So you're automatically then selecting the top of the class. And it's been interesting watching you come back to some of the alumni events, seeing you here in town around other people and adults, and seeing how well you do interact. um
00:17:41
Speaker
And I think of like Leo and some of the kids in the program that we both know. It's a different level yeah having been through it for being 20 years old of how you guys deal with adults. And we employ both of you, so. yeah Yeah, that's true. So obviously I saw it. Yeah. It definitely has helped me professionally, too, because i I think if I wouldn't have gone through the program, like my engagement with you in a professional setting would be lacking. Yeah. And I don't want to speak for Leo, but I feel it would be the same for him as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Both of you are.
00:18:13
Speaker
naturally good, it just made you better, essentially. yeah agree um The individual businesses, so you know as a business owner, I'm obviously very entrepreneurial. I love it. Tell us a little bit more about that side of it. Yeah, so when I was in the third grade I started my own duct tape business. It's nothing like that. it's not you You make whatever kind of crocheted duct tape thing and then you sell it. You have to write up a business plan.
00:18:44
Speaker
talk about profit margins, go to the bank and set up a checking account that is specific to your bank, but you can't do that until you register your business through whatever government, agency, your state has. So, it I don't think people take it as seriously whenever they hear that you are a high school senior with a business. it It's a different level of planning and responsibility that you have to take on when you do that. I i really loved the process of like working for myself, being my own kind of boss and um being able to be creative in whatever way I wanted. yeah
00:19:30
Speaker
But it's kind of tricky to decide what you want to do because looking back, like I love my business and I plan to pursue it further once I've graduated college. but I don't think there's a market for what I was passionate about where I'm from. So I probably would have chosen something different to make some more money. In that area. Yeah, you you apply to get a $500 grant to start your business. You write your business plan, meet with a banker, and show them all of your stuff. And then they approve your $500 grant. And you can ask for a loan from the CEO foundation as well. but
00:20:12
Speaker
then not very many students use it. But from that $500 you start your business, you buy your banners, your mailing stuff, your products, everything you need and then your profit is solely yours. So I wish I would have been more profit driven and done something that would have made me two, $3,000 and maybe it saved my passion for later in life. Yeah, okay, okay. So needless to say, doing that process that was super helpful yeah because your mentor is also involved. So there's a mentor. Yes, yeah yeah totally. it you're not You don't have to sit on the couch with your mom and dad who know nothing about business and figure it out. You've got people in your corner to help you out. And it's been beneficial to me because now
00:20:58
Speaker
If I wouldn't have gone to the CEO program, I wouldn't want to pursue my like future like dreams and goals. like i I wouldn't think I could start my own business. and I thought it was really hard, and it's not very hard. Which which is the cool thing about the program is you're meeting all these different business owners who you know at one point were your age. Yeah, totally. And it's neat because there's a lot of businesses in the community. You drive by them every day. You don't even realize what they do. You may not realize they have 80 employees. You may not realize they're doing millions of dollars a year because there's this little building that you drove by every day. You think, oh, that's Fayette County. yeah There's no way that's doing a whole lot. Then you find out it actually is. But what it teaches you is it's possible, number one, that you see other people doing it. but You see them doing it in your small town. Yes. and i
00:21:47
Speaker
So we've talked about this before. If I were to decide that Vandalia was the place for me to put down roots, if I needed to buy a house or hire a plumber, I would go through all of the investors of the CEO program and that's how I would decide. Because if you are putting in your time and money to help out kids that you own nothing to, like that to me says something about you and your character and then your core values as a company. Okay. So obviously I've hired two from the CEO program, you and Leo from your class. And I'm no doubt there'll be more in time. But there's a reason I hired them and I'll let you elaborate on why you think that reason is. I think it is. Why do you think I hired you guys? Not just because I'm awesome. Well, you're awesome, but why else? Well, from past conversations, I know that you have told me in a room full of young people, I stand out. I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn. Toot it. But I think you said it is how I engage with people, how I dress, how I carry myself, that type of thing. And I don't want to give CEO all the credit.
00:23:00
Speaker
but I'm giving CEO a lot of credit. When I- You went from good to great, right? Yes, yeah, yeah good to great. um Like with the with the dress specifically, when I go back to CEO events, knowing that as a student, the dress code is business casual, I wear something business casual. I may go a little more on the casual side, but I do that because I don't want to distract from these current students. I don't wear like a hot pink button-up shirt because if they wear, I want you to look at them because they're the ones you should be impressed with right now, not me, not an alumni. But you you just learn to conduct yourself in a more professional way. It's not all about waking up early and doing business tours, but it's about how how you shake someone's hand.
00:23:51
Speaker
how you introduce yourself, how you send an email, how you do a follow-up call or how to recover when you mess up on a call because I've done that before and it's really embarrassing. How'd you do that? I gave the wrong date to the person I was speaking to on the phone so I had to call back and say I told you this date but actually can I come on this day instead? And there they are investors in the CEO program, so it's not the first time that they're hit up by a CEO kid for yeah you know something class-related.
00:24:24
Speaker
but just overall the level of professionalism that you learn and ah and adopt into your own life is pretty impressive for a teenager and it really just prepares you for the real world and I hate when people say that because CEO is all hard and it feels pretty real to me. I hear what you're saying on that. um That is a good point of the program, is the communication. yeah Because as a business owner, we all know.
00:24:56
Speaker
someone who doesn't communicate effectively, even though they may be great at a lot of different things if they can't communicate and do it effectively.
Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs through Mentorship
00:25:03
Speaker
And that's one thing the CEO program I think really prepares you guys for, especially with our two facilitators we've had, is communicating to the business owners, to each other, to the facilitator. Like it is very much a do it now type of thing. So the mentorship thing is something that obviously To me, that is we've talked about CEO a lot, but mentorship should be something I think a business owner should do, <unk> regardless of that program. Whether that is some young guy in your community that's starting a new business, I can think of people when I started mine that poured in, cared, wanted to to know what I was doing, who pushed me. There was two or three guys at the gym I went to when I was 20 some years old.
00:25:48
Speaker
And they weren't like mentor, mentee like we are, but they were people that every time I would go to the gym, they had asked, hey, how's the business doing? Have you tried this? Are you doing this? Do you need any help with anything, any advice? And I look back at that and that was so beneficial. And I remember two of those three especially were like, you can do this on a broad scale. Like this doesn't have to just be Fayette County. Think big, like they just kept pushing the whole think big thing. and That's what we did. you know So we thought big. So you know we're nationwide. And that is slightly attributed to to those people's influence. So get to know those young.
00:26:30
Speaker
people who are trying to start that business that are scared or whatever, and they they need someone like you to say, hey, you actually can do this, and I've been in your shoes ah at one point, and then give them some tips. But the founder of CEO, Craig Lindval, did you ever get to know him? He passed away, but did you ever get to know him at all or hear much about him? We learned about him initially. like um when you are you go through orientation and tell you about the class, you learn about him a little bit, but we really kind of got to know him, his philosophy and like perspective, what CEO is, should and could be by reading his book, um Things You Wish You Knew Yesterday, which unfortunately we didn't get to get through the whole book when I was in class, but that's something that I will totally read again and probably, I'll probably read a few times.
00:27:20
Speaker
So we do not have Travis in the podcast today, so I have to do at least one quote. And it's from Craig Linval. There are going to be rapids, some of which you see waiting for you and some that you cannot. You have no choice, so you may as well accept it and enjoy the ride. As a quote, I think it's kind of cool. It is something you're going to to experience in business, but with having some mentors and people around you, it makes those rapids a little bit less hostile. so that I actually remember reading that. There's another part in his book with an illustration of a straight line and then this big, conjumbled mess of swirls and then it levels out and it right underneath it is a straight line and then right underneath that line is like
00:28:07
Speaker
Kind of like a heartbeat type thing. and It's just to illustrate that life isn't that straight line. You're going to go up and down and around and under and through and then you're going to go yeah up and down. Life is not just a straight shot to what you want it to look like. yeah yeah He's a quint the not queen the king of good advice. Yeah, that whole book's chopped full of that type of stuff. yeah um But I think going through that with someone, and a mentor a mentor doesn't have to necessarily be older, a lot of times they are, but someone who's maybe walked in those shoes at some point already, but that helps that little squiggly line to hopefully be a little bit straighter. So I'm all about effectiveness, so communication, whatever it is that you're doing has to actually be effective, you can't just do it. So now that you're in college, you've been out of the program,
00:29:04
Speaker
What is something my generation and older can do better for your generation? Well, we've talked about this, but I think a lot of like. boomers and older people just I'm not a boomer, by the way. yeah Just so you know. I know who's a boomer, okay okay but I think a lot of older generations assume that people my age, the only thing we want to do is play on our phones and make TikToks and like vape. like that's That's not everybody. That's that'ss a lot of people, but it's not everybody. so i think
00:29:37
Speaker
What is important is to acknowledge the mistakes that older generations have made, talk about how it's impacted everybody, and then formulate a plan of how to improve. I think, there's to me, there's no point in talking about what went wrong or what didn't work well if you're not going to provide solutions. Sometimes you need to point out, like hey, this just didn't work, and then whoever figures it out. but If I had a um tree care company and you were my mentor and you said, yeah, this piece of equipment sucks. And I'm like, okay, great. What do I do now? So just acknowledging what didn't work and then helping helping them succeed, really. Yeah. I think a lot of generations, not just currently, but in the past do a very bad job of hating on the young generation. And the reality is we're the ones raising them.
00:30:35
Speaker
So if they're not good, if you don't think they're good, it's probably your own fault. so But I think you're right, though, that it has to be a helpful solution. So you can't just sit there and complain about yeah the way things are, or the new generation, or the way the kids are these days, provide them a solution, provide them something different, right? No, it's totally. Yeah. So with that said, since COVID, there's been this huge push of like the online and virtual stuff.
Balancing Motivation and Relationships for Success
00:31:05
Speaker
What do you prefer and do you see a value, I guess, in both? I do think it's a value in both. I think podcasts are really big right now. I know lots of people that listen to like that motivational type stuff and that works. It helps people right light that fire and get stuff done. So I don't think it's totally worthless, but I think there's an importance with like human connections. Psychology has proven
00:31:35
Speaker
that having that face-to-face in-person relationship is very beneficial not only to your mental health but your productivity. So I i i think social media and kind of that virtual world should be more for like Motivation? yeah like Ideas? like If I see an influencer girl online posting that she went to Italy and that she's 23 in Italy, I'm like, holy shit, I want to go to Italy when I'm 23, so that's going to inspire me and maybe give me a few ideas, but then I'm going to come to you or Annie or my parents or whoever, and I'm going to say, like this is my goal, this is what I want to do, can you help me get there? yeah so I see the value in both. yeah What do you think?
00:32:24
Speaker
I think the online, you can reach a huge audience, which has value from many different fronts. I think a lot of people online currently are ah probably only motivational. I think that needs to be a little bit more real. There's a few, one of the groups I'm a part of, it is online, but it is a little bit more real. It talks about the the struggle as well, not just get out there and make stuff happen. So I think there's a value in having that balance of the good and the bad and the and the realism. I am someone who likes the human connection a little bit more. So even though I'm in that group and I love it, I use that to kind of facilitate ideas.
00:33:02
Speaker
yeah um But I would want the in-person to be able to go a little bit deeper, yeah to actually have someone to talk to. But I have this specific problem. How can I navigate those waters? I have a little bit of beef with the online stuff, too, because my boyfriend really likes to listen to the guy who makes people take their shirt off. Like, oh, you're fat. like I personally don't like that. And I feel like we're starting to see, especially for like the male audience, like that is what it is. I don't love the the yelling at people. you know That's me. I mean, I yell at you all the time. Oh, yeah. I love it. I don't yell. I do not yell at her all the time. But it kind of is interesting to me to see like how that works. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like having a conversation with you can motivate me. But somebody else like needs to be yelled at. See someone getting yelled at for being fat like that. And I guess that's the beauty of online. You can find whatever works for you personally.
00:33:53
Speaker
yeah because there are people who that's what they need and that's what they like. And there's people that do not want to be yelled at like that. So that's true. It's a good point. Yeah. As we kind of wrap things up, do you think the mentorship we provided CEO, other people, is that, will that
Continuing the Cycle of Mentorship
00:34:11
Speaker
cause you? So one of the things I like in business is that what you're doing today will hopefully spur people to continue to do that going forward, that what you're doing will have a trivial effect going forward. Do you think all of this will...
00:34:24
Speaker
be something that you do at 30, 40, 50, 60 years old. Totally. I would love to be involved with CEOs as long as possible, as long as they'll have me. um I think like the mentorship and giving back is kind of a cycle. So I feel, and I think I can speak for other students, that CEO is such a wonderful program that because so many people poured into me, it's almost like it's my it's my duty to return the favor. Yeah. and Not that that's just what I have to do, I want to. I think a lot of the kids that go through the CEO program, too, all often have that that mentor, mentee kind of thing already. So like growing up, like I was the oldest cousin, but I also was like the big girl playing with the little kids, too. because they would like I wouldn't shoot them away because they're little kids. I would still want to play with them. So I think there's a part of me always that does want to help those.
00:35:23
Speaker
Not the playing with people's gonna yeah know help them but like if my little brother wanted advice for me I'd give it to him like that I would do whatever he needed because I want to help him be better. Yeah, so totally awesome awesome um I think the business owners listing We've talked about like purposeful mentorship. So the one-on-one where you know, you're doing it A lot of mine were observant, which we talked about earlier. So don't underestimate, though, the power you have by living your life ah a correct, right way, um living a certain standard, having a standard and letting that be a little bit known. There are people watching, and they they they want that. I was someone who liked the observant style. I was a little shy as a kid.
00:36:08
Speaker
I wasn't going to walk up to an adult and be like, hey, you want to mentor me? I just wasn't who I was. But I was incredibly observant. And there was, I can name like three or four people that specifically, more than that too, but those three specifically played a huge role. Probably one of them, two of them don't even know it, one of them does. But I observed and learned so much from them on how to conduct, how to behave, what I wanted to even how like the charisma, you know, when I walk into a room, what's your body language? How do you talk to people? How do you engage people? How deep do you go? So don't underestimate the power of the ah observant mentor as well. So do you have any final thoughts as we wrap up?
00:36:48
Speaker
My final thoughts are if you're thinking of investing, do it. If you're thinking of joining, do it. And all the students who are current alumnis don't think just because you're graduated, you're not a part of the CEO brand. Because I think of being a part of the CEO brand, people still look at me and they tie my life back to the program. So you always have to hold that standard. And just because you graduated a few years ago doesn't mean you can't be involved, so. Yeah. So I think one of the issues in society today is that there is not enough of a standard. So I like that you said that word. You can help set the standard for two kids, three kids, four kids, 10 kids, the program, your community, whatever it is. And you should be. Because if you're not, there either isn't a standard or someone else is setting it and it may not be what what it should be.
00:37:43
Speaker
um final thought I had is it's not just about like the giving there is so much that you'll get back as well doing mentoring like I even though it's time to send me I absolutely love the mentorship with you you know and the others that we mentor um that is huge it'll actually motivate you as well it's inspiring it's motivational so with that said podcast is over for now. If you liked it, share it. If you don't turn it off. Let's get you next time.