Episode 044 - Kathi Sharpe-Ross, Author of RE:INVENT YOUR LIFE!

Yeah, I normally have. I'm so grateful to my friends here at led truck media. He got this made up for me cause there's a, there's a picture right behind my head and light and the screen always reflects off of it. Never quite seem to terrible when you wear glasses. I mean, I guess I could take them off, you know, which I usually, I only wear them when I'm reading or on the computer.

So I'm not a glasses person. And then all of a sudden I'm like, if I really want to see the expression on someone's face, I gotta put a Bob, but I'll probably have him off and on. I don't know. That's totally cool. I think we're used to the reflection we are officially live. We are live on the YouTube, plug this in here.

Um, LinkedIn, and we'll be able to pull this off YouTube, right? Sure. Well, I'll, I'll send you this whole thing and then you can do all the things. I'd like to do as soon as he left to do right.

And with any luck I'm going to double-check and I haven't broken anything. We're still there, Kathy. That means that we're live on YouTube. And been a while since I've done a live on YouTube. I'm so, so glad it's you. And I feel as though a proper introduction is in order, is it okay with you? If I do that, I would love that.

Awesome insiders. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the out of home insider show. We've got a very special guest today's guest is Kathy sharp. Kathy is the author of reinvent your life. What are you waiting for? It's a step-by-step guide on reinventing yourself, your business and everything in between a regular contributor to the Huffington post thrive global and industry conferences.

Kathy is a sought after speaker workshop leader, an avid Philippi. She's an entrepreneur with three decades of global brand and lifestyle marketing expertise. And she's also the creator of the reinvention exchange.com the hub for all things, life reinvention. And today she is our guests, Kathy. Thanks for being here.

Thanks. He's so much, Tim. It's so fun to be here and I love that it's a Friday afternoon. What a fun way to take out the week and start the week. Absolutely. We started calling these things Friday live drives, but that was when people still had to drive. So I think that we should just keep going with the title and, uh, eventually maybe we'll be driving on Friday afternoons again, real.

Well, great. Well, Brandon, thank you very much. Thank you all. Thanks. Bye people after this. Thank you to all of my people. Hey insiders. If you've got a question that you want to ask, Kathy, make sure to drop it in the YouTube chat, because at the end of this, we're going to make time to answer some of your questions.

You're going to get your questions answered right here on today's show. But Cathy, I want to ask a question right out of the gate. Let's go swing big. What's the biggest lie that we tell ourselves about ramping. Oh, the biggest lie. I think the biggest lie is the, we don't think we're entitled. I don't think, I don't think the people believe that they're entitled to live the life that they want.

And if they're not living the life that they want, that they're entitled to make the changes in their life to create the lives that they. And I just love that you asked that question the way you asked it, because you know, this was not rehearsed and entitled is like the theme of everything. I talk about, we at N sprinkly, it's the reason I wrote this book.

It's the reason this conversation is so important to me and to people that I meet and that I hope to inspire and motivate. I've been told the years, I've run my own business with 32 years and I've been told over and over again that I'm very lucky and that I get to do what I want when I want, how I want.

And the truth is it was by design. I decided a very long time ago that I was going to create the type of life that I wanted to do. Live in a city. I want to live in travel as part of my business work with great people, run a marketing agency. As I do the sharp Alliance that enables me to have a playground to do what I enjoy.

That enables me to connect with businesses, industries, and people that I love being with. So if it's two o'clock in the morning and I'm working, I got a smile on my face and that's the way I've chosen to live my life and created it by design. Now. And not everybody gets to do that. Not everybody thinks they can do that.

So this sense of entitlement, which, you know, can be misconstrued as a negative word. I see it as an opportunistic word. So I think we all have to know that the truth is that we are entitled how we then get to where we want to be. That sort of is when the word. But if we recognize that we are entitled to have what we want in our lives and create what we want in our lives, that's an amazing place to function.

The idea of giving ourselves permission to be open to what you just described to us, really being intentional about the things that we want and not necessarily just being a passenger to life. Where do you start? How do you, if, if you've gotten to this point you're fed up and you're just overwhelmed by all of it.

How do you start with giving yourself permission to, to reinvent? Well, I think we all get on this treadmill of life. Right? We get out of college. If we went to college, we started a job, maybe 1, 2, 3 jobs later, and we wake up one day doing our life as we call it. But this is nine feeling of, you know, I wish I could do this.

I wish I was doing that. I, you see people on Instagram, you see people, you know, kind of doing all these amazing things going, gosh, why, why am I not doing that? I'm envious. And we may not want to admit it, but there's that knowing feeling at us a, I think we need to start listening to that a little bit more.

I think we have to recognize those things that kind of make us feel a little aspirational about something. And wishing we had something in our lives that perhaps is not there. So listening is really critical, starting to be very aware of thoughts like that, and maybe even documenting them so that we can identify what's sort of coming up on a regular basis.

And then really starting to question what your own passions are. There's one of my favorite chapters is called. Hello? Are you still. And I just love that question because I think if all of us go back to when we look five or 12 and we want it to be, you know, a karate expert or I, Hey, I wanted to be an elevated driver when I was eight years old because we traveled the world and I thought those guys that were operating that thing and had the caps on, and I thought that was so cool.

And, you know, I wanted to, I guess I wanted to be in control. Was a metaphor. So the way I've lived, my life never thought about that before, but I think if we can recognize the things that we want slept, maybe you want it to be a rock star when he was seven years old. And you know, may, you may not be Mick Jagger today, but maybe there's a way to incorporate something off that into your life that will bring you joy.

And that right there could be your great re-invent. 'cause that feeling that, that you create for yourself when you're doing what you love, affects everything about you and everyone around you. So it's pretty important to be in tune with who we are and what we're passionate about and find ways to let those things into our lives in ways that are meaningful and impact.

You just, uh, you just gave me an aha moment, um, when you did the rock star thing. So I didn't, I didn't put two and two together and it's, it's the reason why I'm doing the show. The podcast is that in high school, I was lead singer in a band and, and I, you know, like to relive those days and describe what that rush was like to just be up on stage, like.

Oh, like all eyes on you and all of the pressure like that comes with this ultimate responsibility. And it, it was, it was a high and in, in a way, this podcast has kind of become that opportunity to have a responsibility to a community. And also like the pressure of being on stage in that moment. And I didn't realize until you just said you are, you really are.

I mean, you are giving such joy to people. You are in command of an audience that you get to really share and project some really insightful information. And it is your stage. I mean, it's, it's a pretty special thing. And I get that. I do the re-invention virtual chats because I couldn't do a book tour is in all these markets and cities.

I had to create my own version of a virtual book tour. So I created the reinvention virtual chat series. And I keep saying to my friends and my family, I feel like I've found my new calling. I feel like a talk show. So now I'm hosting and interviewing people and I've got to prepare the questions and really understand where they're coming from and extract really important information out of them.

And I get that it's a really special feeling. So it's pretty amazing that you figured out how this kind of plays into that and maybe what the next iteration of that could be. Or maybe, maybe this is it. And that that's part of it too, right? Is that constant evolution. Uh, some folks know this story and that it started out as one thing, it started as a way for me to talk to really smart people and accelerate my learning curve.

And then it turned into something completely different that I had no intention of it becoming. And I'm really grateful for that because I think it's helped a lot of folks along the way. And yeah. To folks that might not have had one otherwise, how frequently do you think that happens? Where, where we are in the reinvention process and we're just one aha moment away from going, oh wait.

I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. And I can really extract a lot of joy and intrinsic value from this.

Don't realize the power and the control that they can actually have in their lives. So when you have those aha moments and you can start to put a plan together, and I'm really focused for folks about putting that reinvention plan together, and it may sound like a daunting task. But it's something that can start out in a very simplistic form and then you can start to really flesh it out further and take each point of that and really detail it.

But it's a lot like a GPS system. When you get in the car, if you create that destination and you type in the address that you need to get to, that could be seven different ways to get there depending on where you live and where you're going and where you're at and where you're going. And you are going to have traffic cop up when you take one route and it's going to rewrap you and you may end up having to change the direction that it originally set out for you it's much like your on reinvention roadmap life gets in the way.

I mean, look, I started the plan to write this book 10 years ago. That's when I had my epiphany. That was my aha moment. I was like, I'm going to write a book about this whole compensation because I'm recognizing that people need to feel entitled and know that. It can be adventure and really have the courage and let's talk to the people.

So this whole journey started 10 years ago. My intention was not to take 10 years to write a book. I mean, that's ridiculous. It's only 208 page. It's not like we're talking about a volume, we're talking 20, 20.8. So, but the whole thing became a process. And from that. For me. And what I really highly recommend to folks is that you put that plan together.

You have a sense of where you want to end up and then you touch it in some way, every. Whether you think about it, whether you talk to people about it. Whether in my case, I started writing blogs. I started interviewing people. I was outlining the, did the marketing plan because it's what I do for a living.

I read the marketing plan before I did anything else. I was contacted HuffPost and thrive global and was writing columns for them. I was being interviewed doing speaking engagements workshops. So I was building this arsenal of content and I was engaged in the subject matter. While I was writing the book and that was a process.

I was running a company. I was raising a family and I was on my own timeline. So that was fine. But finally I woke up one day, 10 years later and there's the book. So I think it's critical that we recognize those. We put a game plan together and we may abandon it and that's okay. We may look at that plan and a year from now.

I'm very, you know what? That was a great idea then, but my life is shit. The things around me have shifted, but I'm going to make a right turn. And I'm going to take a little bit of that and now go do something else with that theory, that idea, that concept, or not at all, I'm going to come up with a new hub of it.

Then we have to be a little easier on ourselves. I agree. I agree. I think that, that we do, we hold ourselves to sometimes. Not unrealistic because I think that anything is realistic, but to a standard of somebody else that we see who's already arrived at the destination and we go, wait, wait, I don't even have the directions, but I want to be there.

How do I get there? And why can't I just skip the whole thing again? Unpack that for me, because for me, I've, I've learned it through this evolution. But I, I want, I want the audience to hear it from you. You do a lot of incredible things. You're engaged in so many different things, but how does someone get started?

Right? You didn't wake up one day and you were doing all of those things. How do you pick one thing to get started and build on it or what's the right way to get there? Right? Well, the roadmap is definitely sort of your, your, your true planning. Document, if you will. And when I say document, I'm not kidding.

One of the things that you find that I do in my book, and most people who write books, never tell you to break the book down and walk away from it. I say it about three times in the book where I'm like, put the book down, get a piece of paper, write it. As a matter of fact, when I send a book to people directly, I have this little card that goes in the book and it's a place to take notes because I want people to.

To take notes to write down the things that I recommend that help create, not only a focus goal or a strategy, or start to recognize things about yourself, whether it's values and how you're spending your time, but it also makes you a little more accountable to yourself when you actually sit and write things down and yeah, you can do it on the computer.

You can do it on your phone, but putting pen to paper takes it to a whole level. And a lot of this railways, there you go. It just does and really absorb and retain what it is you're emotionally connecting with. So that's key right there. And then something else that I always ask people to do is recognize and really pat yourself on the back, when you've actually done that, recognize that you made a phone call to someone that you wanted to be a mentor around, whatever it is that you want to do.

Pat yourself on the back. When you looked up the schedule for the workout class tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM today, so that you're already thinking great, that's the class I'm going to take at 9:00 AM tomorrow morning. I'm going to put it on my schedule and I have just accomplished a step towards doing something that I wanted to do.

Right. So there's little things that I think many of us take for granted are so important. That we recognize that we commend ourselves for pat ourselves on the back for, and don't take for granted because every step of that journey is going to get you to that end result, touch it every day in some way.

So memorialize it recognize that it's valuable to you. Listen to that voice, of course, in the beginning to kind of start to really recognize what you want to do in your life. That's going to be different and build off that because the more you do and the more you recognize that accomplishment, the more it fuels your desire to keep moving ahead.

It's like if we go on a diet and if you stick with it for a week and you've lost two pounds or three pounds, you feel like you've accomplished something and you can do another day and can do another day after. So all you need is that first little incremental step to try to boil the ocean all at once.

It's never going to work, but if we break it into bite size pieces and we kind of bifurcate all of these pieces and figure out what to do at day, what to do at night, but you can research on a computer when you need to call someone to have a conversation, all those different pieces, you start to map that out and then you start to really realize that you have a way before.

So it's pretty critical. I mean, we talk about 10 different steps in my book and I'm happy to share them. Um, but there's, there's, I, I, 26 power tools that take you through different incarnations of how to start to understand where you want in your life. I mean, if you don't know today that there's a part of your life that you'd love to reinvent and it could be a five minute re-invention it can be a ten-year re-invention.

You may not think there's anything in your life that you'd like to do more of or want more of in your life. It might be learning Italian. It could be starting to ride a bike every day. It doesn't have to be something that's going to blow up your life and, you know, sort of like change your career, but it could be something that enhances.

Let's let's go a little bit deeper on that, because I think that so many times we, again, the unrealistic expectations that, that sometimes we set is all right, I'm going through this reinvention. I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my career. Uh, I should just start at. But it doesn't S reinvention doesn't necessarily have to equal.

I'm going to start a company. I'm going to start a blog. I'm going to become a personality. What are some like, just small, really practical, tactical ways that we can reinvent pieces of our life or our relationships does it apply? Yeah. A hundred percent. And I think, you know, we can take so many parts of ourselves, spiritual hobbies, volunteer.

Health and fitness, mindfulness career, this career and this work and think about it. Some people just have jobs and other people are engaged in careers that they're incredibly passionate about because of who they are and what they do. Some people are working at a job for money, but they may be an artist and that is their, their passion.

And they need the money to pay the rent by the pains to keep a roof over their head. So there are all these facets of ourselves and they can have a list in here about 20 different parts of our whole being that we may want to reinvent. And I'm a big believer that you don't have to reinvent your life out of the first city.

You can look at your life like I do all the time. I'm telling you that I've been living a life that I. For as long as I can remember, I was very fortunate the way I grew up and traveled the world. And I knew I wanted to travel in my life. I knew at the age of 24, when I got out of college, that I wanted to have my own business.

And that's what I did. But I'm always looking because I'm curious at what else could I have in my mind? Where else could I go? Can I learn another language? Is there another fitness goal that I may have? Is there another dietary goal? Is there a spiritual goal? I just reached out to a new organization the other day here in LA saying, I want to volunteer.

I want to do something to help you guys just, you know, adding to the list of things I'm already doing because. I think living a full life and giving ourselves what we want is really important. So I think it's really an and I love that you asked that question. I think it's really important that we recognize that reinventions, they come in all shapes and sizes and the more we fulfill our lives with things that we love, the better we're going to be as people, the better we're going to be as partners, as workers, as friends, as daughters, as sons, as.

So much more fulfilling. I mean, I love talking to folks who are going through the empty nest phase of their lives right now, and they're moaning and groaning about their kids leaving home. And I'm going, you've been complaining for 20 years that there are all these things that you couldn't do. And now you get to do anything you want with your time.

So all those hours that you felt were being usurped by those amazing children. You get to take those hours back. What are you going to do with one more hour, a week, five more hours a week, seven more hours a week. How do you want to spend your precious time? You know, and that's, I think something really fun to think.

It's a really good way to break it down to that micro level. Right. You've you've got this time back. How would you like to fill it? Just binge watching Netflix or learning how to paint with oils or whatever that thing is that you've been putting off and making the excuse that you couldn't and giving yourself back to the first idea.

Right. And all that. Yeah. On that note, I just, you just triggered him as a thought about that. When you talk about China, I mean, how many people use the excuse? I don't have. I mean, okay. Granted, you become an empty-nester, you got time back, but if you've got a house full and you're working a job and you've got a house to run and children to raise, and God knows kids homeschooling.

Now on top of it, you're going, this is not a chance. I'm going to find a half an hour, an hour in my life every day to dedicate. Well, that may not be the case. It's about prioritizing. It's about coordinating. It's about planning and this may not work for everybody, but I can tell you that if you watch a half hour less of Netflix, and this is what made me think of it, and I love Netflix, but we all get stuck in that black hole.

What if you took a walk at six in the morning and listen to a podcast about something that you're interested in that applies to something you want to be doing in your re-invention? You've now consolidated exercise your health a little personal time and something towards the goal of what you're trying to do.

Or you take that walk and you make that phone call to that mentor or those people that you need to talk to. So there's always a way it's about wanting it. And it's about figuring out the why, why do you want it in your life? Because that why will drive you and blew through always to your end? And you've got to really recognize it and it doesn't matter what part of it is of your life.

It is that you're looking to reinvent, but that why is critical, that it really kind of makes sense of that. I think that's it very practical and a lot of folks can apply exactly that strategy. I think it's important to note too. Y you might feel the effects day one, but very likely it's going to take some time, right?

Cause you're reprogramming something that you've been doing for 20, 30, 40, 50 years of your life. You are literally reprogramming the way that your brain functions and processes that how much, how important is it to be present? Of the process of re-invention extremely, and I think you need to schedule time with yourself.

You need to make appointments with yourself to focus on that project. I call it project you and you make apartments like you would with a client, with a doctor. With someone, I mean, I have a 21 year old son who says, mom, I need help with something on my career. I want to get into marketing and do internships.

You have a lot of caution. So obviously, you know, and I'll say, great, let's make a time on Saturday at 10:00 AM, sit down or the coffee in the courtyard and let's have that conversation. It's equally important to do that with ourselves. We have to make the time we have to schedule. 'cause otherwise, it's just like, oh yeah.

It's like the book. Oh yeah. It's great. Great. I should do that. Yes. I should do that. If you don't stop and write these things down and try to action. Some of those. It's going to be a great book and you're going to love it. And you're going to tell a lot of people about what you got out of it. But if you wake up in five years from now and you haven't really actioned anything that was in there, you may not get to where you want to go.

So I think you really have to integrate that in from a scheduling standpoint, from a prioritization standpoint, and really put yourself through some of this. You've got to really take what you want to do seriously, even if it feels frivolous and it doesn't seem important. And you also need some kind of accountability since there's somebody in your life that you can share with them that you're embarking on this.

That you've got a passionate desire, a dream, and might be to pick up a guitar and start playing the guitar. It might be cooking lessons. It could be building a shed in the backyard. You know, we've all been handed the gift of extra time in the last six months and whether or not we like it. We were handed time for those who commuted for those who were spending hours in an office.

Now they're just working from home. Water cooler chatter, all the commuting in and out the meetings to have meetings, to have meetings. I mean, come on, we've all seen it. We've known that there's been some little gift of extra time in their life and not just time, but also an occasion to pause and really think about our lives right now and what serving our greater purpose and who we are as individuals and what we want.

So if you haven't yet taken advantage of that or thought of it that way, It may be time right now before you reemerge into the world, again, as we're all starting to kind of phase back into reality and this new, the new norm of now, but is it really what you want? Is that really? Do you want to go back to that?

You want your habits to be exactly what they were before. Have you had that aha moment? Have you been able to kind of look at your life and go. Now that I know that I can work out on a Friday at eight o'clock in the morning and then start working on my computer at 10. I'm going to do that. And maybe I can do that three days a week, or maybe I can do that five days a week or get up a little bit earlier, or so it's given us the ability because everybody else is doing it.

There's not as much pressure that maybe we can actually start to look at the structure of our lives, the content in our lives. And how we really want to be in this world. He talked about GPS. I'm a fan. I like the GPS. Um, but I'm a guy and I'm stubborn. And if there's no GPS, typically won't ask for directions and I'm just kind of forced my way through it.

Um, what what's, what's something that. W like for guys or gals like myself that were just too stubborn to ask for help. Where do you, where do you start with? No, my favorite topic with all due respect to every one of you guys out there. I love you dearly. I love the men, every man in my life. I love, I have two boys that I've raised trust.

This is, this is my gift to you.

I actually have a section in the book, chapter 14, and it's men don't ask for directions. And we all know that that is it's such a great metaphor. Men tend to not have these conversations with one another. They may have them with their respective others. They don't have them with each other. Whether you're at a golf game, whether you're sitting at a bar, it's a lot of grunting.

There's a lot of chatter. There's not a lot of deep dive. This is what I need. This is what I want. And let's face it. The midlife crisis. It's not a crisis. It is a cry for reinvention. That's all it is. It is the I'm kinda bored with my life. How did I get on this treadmill that I. Why does my life feel so gray?

What else is out there? I need to feel alive. I know people are like, oh, that's me. Oh, that's me. You know, everybody identifies with something that I'm saying here in some way. And I have some amazing stories that are so reflective of what is possible. People who realized that they were a little stir-crazy.

And you asked the average person what they wanted to do when they were five years old, 12 years old, you know that, hello? Are you still in there? What was it that you wanted? If you wanted to be a rock star in my God, get online, you know, when was the last time you picked up the guitar where you 12, 15 maybe in college.

Right? So, yeah, it was a long time ago. So you know, that burning desire to be a rock star, but never did anything. And it's like a dream on fulfill. That's going to kind of grate at you for the rest of your life. Well, get back the tar, go on eBay, get some, you know, inexpensive guitar, second hand, go on YouTube, take guitar lessons, pick it up.

And you know what? They go down the hall or get on the phone on zoom or whatever it is. And talk to a couple of your buddies who feel the same way you're sitting in that corner office that cubicle, and you're just going, man has gotta be something better. And I need some knee time and you're not going to meditate.

You're not the guy that's going to go out and meditate or have mindful moments in the grass. Okay. You may be, but you may not be. So maybe this is your meditation. Maybe this is your heart singing and get those guys. Maybe you put a garage band together. And you suddenly feel fulfilled and you're not going to mind going to work on Monday.

You may have a little skip in your step. Maybe nobody will see it, but you are going to feel different because everything that you do to improve the quality of your life and nurture your soul is going to give you a greater sense of self. You're going to be a better human. You're going to be a better parent, a better father, a better worker.

You're going to be a better evolved, reinvented individual in so many ways. So don't think that those small things are inconsequential. They are everything they're going to change the chemistry of your. Right. And so, so maybe, maybe there's almost a false positive of, I hate my job. I need to reinvent. I need to start that business.

I need to find a new job. I need to level up professionally, but maybe it's, maybe it's tweaking one of those little things. Yeah, really causing the problem, treating, treating the cause, not the symptoms and you know what, that's a really great point because I'm sure a lot of people feel that way and the daunting notion of, well, where else could I work and how am I going to get that promotion?

And that could be very overwhelming. And in some cases challenging to attain, or it may take longer to attain, but what do you do in the meanwhile while perhaps that perhaps that is a goal. Well then, yeah. What are the things that you can control that you can affect, that you can have some control over in your life and create for yourself?

And that's a pretty, pretty powerful thing and very empowering to have that controlling. There's nothing to stop you from going on, eBay buying a second hand guitar. I'm sure it's quite affordable and or whatever the metaphor for that is. Building a shed in the backyard, painting something going on, Babel and learning in another language.

There are plenty of things. As a matter of fact, I talk about the, the budget version of every lofty dream and idea that we have. I give a list of, you want to do this? Here's the budget version you want to do that? Here's a bunch of versions. So I do that in the book because I don't think people should exclude.

Themselves from living out dreams that they think are unattainable. I think that there's always a way forward. There's always a way to get closer to something that you may want in your life. Right. So rather than just working harder at work to try and get ahead, maybe. Reapply, some of that effort back into yourself to reap the benefits, the work that you're doing, that you can benefit from, from just taking a step back and really get into, get into the root of it.

But that, that in itself, That's doing some deep self work and, uh, you might, you might meet some demons that you've been suppressing along the way. Right. And I mean, look, you know, you brought up the subject of, of man and, and respectfully, you know, too many men have blown up their lives with, you know, the, the metaphorical or the actual, you know, the girlfriend and the red porch.

I mean, really isn't necessary in this day and age, you know, are there other ways to fill, fulfill yourself, nurture your soul? Find the depth and the breadth and your existing relationship, because you're a happier person and you've actually fulfilled yourselves in different ways. And this is not just a men thing.

I mean, there are plenty of women out there, you know, that feel that same way. So look introspectively, be aware, listen to that voice in your head. Look for ways to find the things that you can bring into your life to create a more fulfilled sense of. Let's play with some scenarios, maybe game. I am a VP of a big media company.

I've been in the industry for 20 years. I was furloughed. My position was eliminated and no one is hiring for a VP of what I do. What do I do? Um, number one, let's look at your ready. And that is a very critical thing because when you look at your resume and you start to identify who you are on paper and how you, if you're, if you're looking to stay in the business, assuming that you are and need to find that new job, take a look at that resume.

You're probably not the only person out there right now going through. So, what does your resume look like? How does it stand out from everybody else's and most importantly, have somebody that, you know, that knows you really, really well, like a good friend, not necessarily a work colleague, but good friend, looking at your resume and looking at you and say there's a whole lot of stuff missing in this resume that does not speak to what I know about.

You be shocked. I've done this for many friends over the years where they don't recognize themselves. When I give them back their resume, they have skills than I know watching them for 30 years as friends that I see them as I'm not working with them side by side in their business. So my version of their resume is not going to be VP marketing media.

Sure it's going to be all that other contextual stuff that I bring to the table. Cause that's what I see in that. And they don't recognize that because they're thinking very Lynn Lynn linearly about who they are on paper. So number one, get that CV or LinkedIn profile or resume really, really well developed and make sure that you're communicating to your entire community.

I think it's super important that you go on LinkedIn and you actually start connecting with more people that you comment in smart and clever and you know, not self promotional ways, but you start to really network with the community that's on there. It's an invaluable tool and it's a way to start building your network.

And if you're really authentically interested in the business and you're reading the work of people from companies and agencies, And brands that are doing things that are relevant to you, then you're going to have an opinion on and why not share it and why not get your name out there. And other people are going to see your comment and go who's that that's interesting.

Who are they? And then if your bio says that you are, you know, seeking a new job and a way forward, then someone may pick up on that. So putting yourself out there, and that's not always easy for everybody, but. It's time. You've got to do it. You've got to take a deep breath. You've got to look at that moment of fear and say, okay, this is going to be a wild ride.

This is an adventure, but guess what? It's time. And you know, what's the worst thing that happened. People will not respond to anything you say on LinkedIn. That's not rejection. That's just a bunch of busy people out there. Um, that's really important. So definitely tweaking that resume and having folks help you with.

Don't be shy to hand it to three or four people and really get their input because you're going to get a very rich version of yourself, make a list of every company you've ever been interested in. And this goes back to being in a place that you're interested in. Passion. Who were those companies? I mean, I have interns and friends every day.

Sometimes I think I'm this, my calling actually, I have a very large and deep database of over 10,000 people. So I have a lot of people calling me going, I'm looking for a job or I need to connect with somebody and I'm a big connectors. So that happens often, even with my kid, I said, give me a list of 20 companies you're interested in.

And then I will send out your letter for your intern. To people that, you know, that you've told me that you're interested in. So do the homework, where do you want to be? And then start figuring out and mapping out where the connection points are. And then reach out to folks that, you know, that are two or three degrees separated from that company.

If not direct and ask for help, never be afraid to ask for help. People love helping people. People really, really enjoy helping people, even if they're. It's a great gift to ask someone to help you do something. So I think it's really important that you just don't take for granted that nobody wants to help you.

I agree. And I'm proof of exactly that if you could ask any one of the guests of the show, it's been me asking if they'd be willing to do a thing, and everybody has been so gracious and generous with their time and their insight. I was just going to say, I think now more than ever, there is such a generosity of spirit that, you know, I've seen acts of kindness from some of the most senior level executives in our industry that have just warmed my heart.

I mean, it's really amazing to see. Absolutely. This is a, these are a set of questions we ask every guest in this first one is. I almost feel silly asking it, but if you weren't doing what you're doing, what would you be doing if money were no object? Right. The famous question. Um, if I had to pick another layer to add to my life, which is probably what it would be, I have always said, number one, I want to win the lottery so I can do what I love for a living all for charities.

Awesome. So if I had clients that didn't have to write me checks every month and I was doing that to make the world a better place and help a lot of people. And that's all I could do that to me is my ultimate fantasy that I want to be doing it from a different part of the world every other week, traveling.

And giving back to the world are just what makes make my heart sing. And that's, I think why I love what I'm doing with my book and the whole topic of re-invention because I'm helping inspire people to recognize how they can live their best life. So it goes hand in hand and in a way, what I do for a living in my agency to be helping brands and companies and people grow and realize their dream and kind of be in service of that to them.

Is a wonderful thing to be able to do every day and to be able to use my creativity and my business acumen and be able to help people grow their businesses is a gift to them as well. And it's a gift to me because I get a lot out of that. Um, but I think, yeah, supporting more causes because they can, 30% of our business has always been on pro bono clients because that's just the way I run my business.

Um, and more travel. So the moment, you know, those blind spills safe, then traveling is open. You know, I'll be right back on the plane. I haven't been on a plane in six months and it's really odd to me. Well, I think you've just answered the next question, which is what are you most excited for? Travel, travel, travel.

Most definitely. You know, I, I thrive on my connections and my relationships and my. In the world. Um, I love doing business with people that I have real relationships with. And I think that for me, the not going to Carolina, then not going into DPA and not going to add weight. He cannot go into like all of these things, CES coming up, like all of these things that have been like pulled out from underneath us, that's killing me and in New York is the second time to me.

I've been for 25 years. I've been there every month for the last 25, 30 years. So two. Be living that that is something I truly miss. And I cannot wait. I'm excited for that. Some, some version of that to be safe and return back in my life. Again, I'm excited for it because then I think things will be pretty much back to normal when we're all doing that stuff.

As an author, where do you go for inspiration education meditation, your reader podcast listener. Where do you get. I listened to a lot of podcasts. I think there are some incredibly profound and really wonderful people out there. So a lot of podcasts listening, I do that. And I walk every day, so I kind of do it on purpose so that I could create that time.

Um, my commute has ever only been about eight blocks, so I've never had drive time. So I've had to create those spaces. Um, I read a lot, I subscribed to a lot of newsletters. I'm a very, very curious person. And sometimes it's just a lot of headlines in a week. Other times. I get to flag things and I have time on the weekends where I'm like, that is my go deeper moment.

And you know, probably so much left unread and unheard. And I read a lot of books. I watch a lot of shows on television. A lot of people always say to me, how do you, how do you fit it all in? Um, I, I use my time. Well, and the downtime for me is family. I love to cook. So I'll be like watching the news while I'm cooking big multi-tasker I rarely am in front of a television without my laptop in front of me.

Um, so I think that is definitely one of my, my fine superpowers is to be able to multitask and do it well. Um, but I'm curious, and I think that I, I look for the content and the information that will. Make my life richer. So I really make it a habit to sort of give it a little bit of all of that to myself.

And that makes me feel very fulfilled. Speaking of looking for things, where can people find you. Give us a place to check out. So a couple things, the reinvention exchange.com is my website for the book and all things about re-invention content. And you can click on the virtual chat tab. If you're interested in joining a virtual chat any Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, and I have amazing guests on all the time.

And Tim, we're going to have to talk about that. Um, You can buy my book. If you go on any of the links there@amazon.com at apple books, if you want a signed copy, I'm more than happy. All you have to do is DM or email me, reach me through my website. And I would more than gladly sign a copy and you'll get this little note card in there that will give you a little place to write notes as well.

And I can send it to anybody you want. I've had people ask me to send them in 10 different directions, which is always fun. And, um, my agency is the sharp Alliance. And so the website for that is shark alliance.com. And a lot of history on what we've done for the last 30 years as a marketing sponsorship brand business development agency.

And I bring the two together. I mean, really now we're helping companies figure out how do we invent their businesses, how to reinvent in this new kind of mode of role that we're in and how to leverage strategic partnerships and brand partners. To build your business and create more virtual experiences and engagement.

And, but to everything we've done in 30 years, this is like I'm having a field day. I feel like I've prepared for this moment, my whole life. So I'm like, bring it on the challenge, the stimulation, the business, the creativity. It's an extraordinary time right now. Truly as I think we'll look back at this time right now as the gold rush of our, that the playing field has been leveled and now is the time to reinvent yourself.

So do check Cathy on all those places as always friends. If this has been helpful, please share it with somebody else who could benefit if you want to get swagged. You just visited, always swagged.com and get you some swag. Kathy spent a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Thanks so much. Don't forget to click that subscribe button down the corner.