Transcript of From Single Mom to 2 Billion how Class and Courage Win - Dr. Ann Kaplan Mulholland

Welcome to the Proven podcast, where we don't care what you think, only what you can prove. On this episode, we talk to a queen. Anne walks us through what it took to go from being a single mom to building an empire that's worth over $2 billion. She was told that she wouldn't amount to anything, and she could never do it on her own. She didn't take that as a war cry. She took that as a challenge, one that she met with class, integrity, and a level of authenticity we rarely see. The episode starts now. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. I'm crazy excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Thank you.

It's rare that we run into people who balance not only work and life, but also energy and success. You're one of the people that when you came across this, I was like, I absolutely want you on the show to share some of this. But there may be four or five people on the planet who don't know who you are. Let's talk about who you are and get the audience up to date.

Well, I mean, how do you say who you are? If I describe myself, I'd say I'm a mom because really most of my life, I've raised 6, 8, 10 children, literally. That's who I am as a mom. But there is no reason to be a business person as well. I was a single mom to start out with, and I formed a company that was in financing, so small-ticket loans, unsecured loans. I built that up to $2 billion and sold the company. In the meantime, I invested in real estate. Now, I had to balance that with kids, so I still say I'm a mom, but there was a lot of stuff to me from building that and then investing in real estate portfolio. Then I continued to do that. On the other hand, I have more of a brain that is more mathematical, but also a creative brain, which I think when we analyze ourselves, we shouldn't be ashamed to say, I'm smart. As human beings, we don't want to say I'm intelligent, but I am. I don't think we should be ashamed to say our attributes. At the same time, I went to school and got an MBA and a Master's of Science and a doctorate in writing algorithms and a corporate governance designation, and I also did an interior design degree.

There was a balance there, but I also ended up speaking at different platforms and speak with the National Speakers Bureau and do motivational talks. In that, I was asked if I wanted to do my own TV show. I ended up hosting three television shows, and then, broadly, picked up by the Real Housewives and became one of the Real Housewives of Toronto. I ended up starring in a TV show that's going into its third season and airing in seven countries. There's a balance of how do you describe yourself? I'd say, at the end of the day, if I was a good mother, I would be proud. And a good daughter and a good friend, I would be proud. I'm a mom, but as in to all of us, there's so many more aspects of who we are.

I think it's really interesting as I see successful entrepreneurs. There's a difference between those who describe their success by their finances and those that describe themselves by who they are in life. I spent about eight years in a hospice watching people die. And then people that were the happiest, they always started with, Well, I'm a mom, or I'm a husband, or I'm a wife, or I'm a sister, or I'm a friend. They always start with that, Oh, I happen to have made all this money. But what really matters at the end of the day is who you are and what fills your heart. And I think before we started recording, we were talking about balance and how important that is. And I think the way you describe yourself hits that on a high level. But I don't think people really understand because they look someone like you that's had all of this success, and they don't know the other side of it. And regrettably, there are people online who are unfriendly, and they don't see the other side.

So for me, when you talk about that- That's interesting because people look at me when I meet them, and I realize that they don't see me, they see a wallet. So I'm like this dollar sign to them, and I'm talking to somebody, and I think, oh, I mean, they want to sit next to me, and they're chatting, and they think I'm nice, and I like to entertaining. And then I realize there's an ask that is going to come. And it's a rude awakening that I have to be aware of but not let it consume me. That maybe in between all that, I might meet a few good people that aren't on the ask. When you describe yourself, I don't describe myself with money because if that money goes, then I still want to be living on my values. I don't want to be told me as Having money, even though I have money. But that's so irrelevant to the person that somebody is.

It really is. I think it's important that people learn how to do this balance, how to find the difference and find out what matters to them. You went through some trying tribulations before when you had some stuff that happened. You're like, Okay, well, I'm going to go do this anyway, even though I'm a single mom and I'm rocking and rolling at the time. Can we talk about a little bit of that? What balance looks like and how you do survive some of these times where people regrettably see you as a wallet versus a human being.

Now with opening different businesses, I have to explain to the management that when somebody is giving a quote, it is important that they present themselves as the managers. If I'm attached to that, so I try not to market myself in conjunction with my businesses. I have a commercial building, I have managers, and I have to explain to them, do not associate me with the building because then people will start to... Because I'm friendly also. I think they mistake friendliness as being naive. And unfortunately, Charles, they mistake being female as being naive. It's always she, she, rather than the owners. They will emphasize the she, and they will get to me. I have to explain to the managers, realize that they are looking at my wallet and they're looking at getting a deal because there's a female behind it and because they show money. That aside, there's nothing I can do when I meet people and they do that. I just have to be aware and almost put up a careful barrier and make it very apparent that I'm not going to be investing in somebody's new idea or something like that, too. Because that often follows with, by the way, I I want to make pies in my home, and we do invest in it.

I always have to be very careful to say, I invest in what I manage.

I think there is this perception that if you're a female, you're nice, but also that you may be weak. I have found that the blessing that I've had of working with entrepreneurs who are female, most of them have leaned into that as an advantage. Oh, you're going to underestimate me. I'm This is going to make my life so much easier now because I have this competitive advantage now, because I get to come in and I get to surprise you instead of saying, Oh, well, I am this perception, because we're not what other people think of us. But to reach the levels of success that you've had and raising as many kids and going through the trials and tribulations, how do you find those bounces? What's the practical you stuck? We talked about you're always up early. I was like, I'm not. How do you do that?

Well, I have to get up early. I was trained when the kids were little. I have to get up and do whatever I needed to do before I drove them to school. I would have a shower, I'd get up, I do what I needed to do. If I was studying, it would be studying. I would get the kids ready. I had to organize the kids so that they could get their own breakfast, and they made their lunch the night before. They made their lunch the night before. When you have a number of kids, you have no choice but to train them. Then get in the car, I will have a shower, my hair will be wet, drive them to school, and then I would go to the hair dresser to do my hair in the morning while I worked with the computer and then went to the office. I'd be at the office by 8: 30, 9: 00 in the morning. It becomes 9: 30, depending on the day. Then I'd have my full work day not take a lunch because I needed to put that 8 hours in. In finance, you really need to be at a desk and put that time in.

Having a lunch was I'd rather go home an hour earlier than sit and eat somewhere. I'd bring my lunch, carefully pack my lunch, or I'd allocate whatever, $5 if I'm going to buy something. I budgeted on my lunch. Even now, I budget, and I could buy the restaurant. That's not a good deal. I would buy a pan of the press just to have the broccoli every day delivered, but I do watch every single time to this day.

It sounds like you start a delegation not even at work, but also at home. Okay, listen, I've got to empower the people underneath me, even if they're my kids, that I can only accomplish A, B, C. I only have so much energy and so much time in the day. I need to view my time as a resource as much as I view my finances as a resource, and I need to delegate downstream. People have a hard time doing that in business. That's very challenging, especially now. And they're like, Oh, well, millennials this, or Gen Z this, or whatever it is. You did it with children. So it negates that whole argument that it can't be done. How do you delegate properly when you are having this level of success and you're raising kids and you're getting married and you're a single mom and you're getting your doctorate and you're doing all this? What are some tactical ways for the people who are listening that are running companies? How do you delegate properly?

So I assume that people have a certain limitation to their talent, and I try to look for the talent that each individual has that I hire. And I don't try to fit a square peg in a round hole. If somebody is really, really good at sales, do the sales. But don't take someone who's very good at the front desk and greeting people and put them in sales. Make them the best greeter and then depend on that for them. I believe strongly in also a spiritual culture. So you pay people fairness and fairly, and then you invest in the culture of your organization, whichever your organization is. So it's a happy workplace. I would let go of anyone who talked negatively about somebody, and I hire for skills. No, I look for the skills, and then I hire for values. It's important to be in the front, and then I get rid of them really quickly, within three months, if they are rude, if they hit on somebody at work, if there's anything that they do, and I would fire anybody who stole from the company. That means anything that they steal, points. They think that they should get the points on hotel rooms that they a book for me or something like that.

Even as little as that, I would get rid of someone. There's a culture of trust and intoler for stealing and for disrespect. But there is a strong culture of happiness, smiles, and that somebody doesn't have to worry about their back. I think it's important to hire and be around the people that you want to work with and not to put them in positions that they can't handle, and then delegate and trust. You put your hands on and you trust the management. So once they are trained and that's in working and communicating with you, you need to trust that management or get rid of them. Don't have in the back of your mind, They're weak. Just get rid of them if they're weak.

So how do you hire for that? Because that's a challenge, right? We have a hard time. Right now, we're in layoff season. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost at the moment. How do you weed through that and hire the people that you know right from the beginning, Okay, this is a good human being?

You don't I do have an HR person that interviews, does a criminal record check, does all that for me. So people are screened. But in the end, when it's senior management, I do meet the people. And you have to have a gut feel for the person. And the questions that they ask you and you ask them. It's a gut feel. I have management that works for me now that are in senior management that I can see where they're really good people, really talented, but I don't put them into doing their full job scope. I say, Hire someone to do this part of your job. And even if they're better than you, they will not surpass you. So I'm very faithful to my management so that they hire people better than them and they don't feel like they're in jeopardy. And the market in the US is interesting because it is so... The work ethic to me is not there, I think, in general. And I think that some people make more money not working than they do working, and that the talent in certain types of trades is missing. That's difficult. I don't want to get into anything political, but if I look at anything about me living in the UK, When they had Brexit, a lot of the talent, and we're renovating a castle in England, a lot of the talent has left with Brexit.

Many of the people were Polish, many of the people were carpenters, many of the trades were. And with Brexit, all of that ended. I see see that happening in the US, probably globally, that there aren't engineers, there aren't electricians, there aren't plumbers. There's not the trades that we used to get. There are people that see making others, not themselves, making more money on just social media. But there needs to be a balance. Where is happiness in your work-life balance? You need to have work where you feel fulfilled, not just where you're making money, too.

I think there is a big change. And regrettably, COVID changed the ball game across the board. People realize that you didn't need to physically touch your employees anymore. They don't need to physically be in your office. There is the ability for certain tasks, you can actually outsource a wall of it. But there's other tasks, you're like, No, I still need it. We need to sit in and have meetings and execute together. But being able to say that your entire workforce can now be moved remote one way or the other has changed the ball game. As far as the work ethic, and again, I stay away from politics as much as I possibly can, I agree with you wholeheartedly. There's a sense of entitlement for source places, and you'll find that there's people outside of that place that work harder and want it more and are more hungry, and they go from there, and you have to honor that. When you're talking about fulfillment and balance with your work, there's a lot of people who never find that, and they're stuck. How do I find that purpose? They look at you and they're like, Hey, this is an individual who on every financial look is very successful.

They look at your personal life like, Okay, wow, also very successful. How has she done this? Is she just this unicorn that showed up? Or how does this individual have that? Is there a self Is there a work that you've done? Is there meditation that you've done? How do you find that fulfillment and financial and personal success?

I don't know that I overtly meditate, but I do have this inner peace Like a very strong inner peace. What you see is always what you get. There isn't another and. It's always this inner peace. I live from the core of values, and I think that's important to have your own values and have a self-check. If I hurt somebody, I would be devastated. If I said something disrespectful, I would be devastated. I just live like that, and that's important. Starting out in business many, many, many years ago, when you say, Does that a unicorn? I didn't want for anything more. I envisioned that I could build a big company. I wanted to have something that was widgets, and I didn't say I couldn't do it, but I actually had no money. And so it wasn't that this just happened overnight. I started the company. I always had an air of success. I could do it, but when somebody is looking at your financial statements, you haven't met there yet. But I would show people that I was capable of doing it. I did my research before I would approach the banks to invest with me because in money lending, you need banks behind you.

I had this air of doing it, but I didn't have any portfolio or any business. I had to really set up a business plan, show that I could fulfill it, and had 30 doors slammed in my face saying, No, maybe next year, maybe when you've reached this point before one of them bit. So you don't give up on it, and it did not happen overnight. But as I started to build the business, I thought, oh, my goodness, what if it falls apart? I've got to put food on the table. And I was working another job while I was building my business. So it was tiring. I'm renting out a room in my home so I could work a night shift. And then somebody would be home with the kids after I put them to bed. I remember at that time, I was a single mom. So this didn't happen overnight. And then as I was building my business, I started to think, what happens if all that falls apart? And what happens if I don't become super successful? So in 25 years, I've got to still support myself, not to depend on another guy or another husband that's going to leave me without anything.

So I started to rent the real estate and rent out the real estate and have the income for the mortgages to cover the mortgages. So I would lease out, just say my income was $1,000 a month or $10,000 or $20,000 or $50,000, depending on the property. My would need to cover the mortgage. I would have a mortgage as high, not lower, than the income coming in so that my tenants paid it off and built an annuity. Now I have more than 14 properties, income-earning ones worldwide. That, to me, would be an annuity, but it turned out to be a business as well, and a lot of work. Things don't just evolve, but when you want for nothing, The money wasn't important to me. Making money was, but showing it off. Didn't drive the Ferrari. I dressed in second-hand clothes. I still buy second-hand clothes. I still look in shops, still do that. I will buy a T-shirt and then cut it up to make it look like it's a fashion statement. Unfortunately or fortunately, all this ripped clothing is in right now. I'd look at it as, look successful, put yourself together. Don't talk gibberish when you're trying to do business.

You wouldn't go and audition for something and then talk about fixing your car. So focus on the moment and focus on that sales point where you're trying to sell yourself and everything that you put online in life. And so, Charles, I would not do any podcast or podcast or YouTube channel if I didn't trust the person that I'm doing it with. And that's a compliment to you because I live forever on the Internet. And so I acting cookey on your Instagram, on your Facebook, on anything. That's your resume. And so what you do in life, because at some point you're going to want to do something else. And if you've acted it's a bit goofy or it's a brand, then it'll come back to bite you. So you don't want to be doing things in life that you have to fix later. And so clean up, I would say to your viewers, clean up your act if you really, really want to be something and be that brand at all times. You can't be part-time, somebody who just sleeps with a bottle of beer in their hand. I don't think I've ever slept with a bottle of beer, maybe wine.

It depends on the wine.

On a consistent... I like the cheap California chardonnays. You can't Yeah, this is interesting because I live mostly abroad. I'm in the US sometimes, which me landing in the US, I think I can get California Chardonnay. You cannot get it in Canada. You cannot get it now with all tariff threats. You can't get California Chardonnay in Canada. I can't get it in the UK unless it's not popular. I love their Chardonnays. Anyway, back on topic.

I'll see what I can do about that. Before we hang up, I'll see what I could do about that to get that fixed for you. One of the things you talked about, and this is specifically hard for females, when they're walking into it and they're finding this balance and they're showing up authentically, and I agree with you 100 %, your online presence is your brand. And thank God I'm old enough that the goofy things I did when I was a teenager, there was no YouTube and Internet. I'll thank gosh, because that would have been embarrassing. I was on a swim team, so I was in a speedo. Thank goodness there's no pictures of that anywhere because no one wants to see that. Nobody wants to see that. But as we go forward, we're doing this. And when we're talking to female audience, specifically, because I want to help them out as much as I possibly can, what are the tactical things outside of clean up brand. I get it. You may or may not look good in a bikini. You may or may not... Don't post that stuff. Your online stuff is your brand. Clean that up immediately.

I tell people all the time, Keep it private until it's permanent. Then once it's permanent, keep it even more private. No one needs to know your business. There's a reason I don't follow anyone on Instagram. I follow one person. It's a city in Switzerland. That's the only thing I follow. I do not follow because there's been some bad stuff that's happened. But as you're going through and you have this tactical redesign of your online presence, what are the things that female business owners can sit down and say, Okay, this is the world you're going into. You know that this is going to happen no matter what. This is what you're running into. Here's how you prepare for that.

I The thing for female business owners is to own who they are. Don't be ashamed or concerned about who you are. You don't have to fit into some profile. Gone are the black suits and the white shirts and having to dress like men. Be who you are. And that person should be a confident person of the person you are. So own it, I would say, is the first thing I would say to a female entrepreneur. And also to work that much harder because when you walk in that room, you have less likely than if it's a man walking into the room. So when you walk in that room, own that room. And owning that room means that know the business to hand, do all of your research, be smarter, more knowledgeable than anybody else in the room, because I can guarantee, female or male, everyone can do as much research as you as if you overtly and carefully research what the topic is, find solutions for what any question could be asked, and even have it ready there in paper and writing. A lot of calls are on Zoom, but be very knowledgeable in your subjects as well.

So the third one, I would say, and the biggest one is think really, really big because there is no reason that you cannot be everything. So you always look at the business to hand, make sure that there's widgets, that it is... There's distribution, and that you can grow that business. So it's flexible to grow into a large business. If you're thinking about the business and the entrepreneurship is around, and I use this example before, I'm going to make pies in my kitchen. It's not going to sell to your friends. If you start thinking, my friends bought it, there's someone at the school, a parent at the school. That is not going to work. You have to think all the people you don't know that is going to buy into your idea and think even bigger. And then right now you've got AI. If you're not thinking of incorporating some type of AI in your business or doing a business that's affiliated with AI, you're missing the boat because that is really big right now. So I signed up to take a course, a diploma course at Harvard in AI. And so I'm going, I don't know enough about AI.

I get it. It's a buzzword. I get it's built on algorithms and regression models, and I get it that it's built on smart learning, but I need to know more. So get educated if you don't know it. Don't say, I don't know. Get yourself educated. And then now you're probably listening and going, This is exhausting. This is exhausting. It's too much work. It is a lot of work, but there's no reason you can't balance that work and that life if you really, really want to be successful. No one became successful as an entrepreneur without putting the work in. You've got to roll your sleeves up. You've got to be smarter than the new competition that's going to come in and try and grab your ideas, grab what you're doing, and you've got to stay one step on top of them and be adaptable to change. And females are more adaptable to change than men. So be adaptable to change. And don't be ashamed that you're a female, but don't fall into the female, Oh, I'm so exhausted. I got up and I had to get my hair done and do all this. I don't mention that.

I mention the things to do with the business, and I don't get cocky. Nobody wants a cocky person in business. You have to listen. As a female, we do listen, and we communicate well. Listen and communicate well what you're naturally capable and able to do. And don't get defensive because it's, Well, I don't think he listened, and all that. Don't overanalyze. Be prepared because you don't want to analyze your words. I'm talking about the females I talk to that are very successful, but then they find blocks in trying to get to the next level. If they talk to me about it, obviously, they want advice. They say things like, Well, I People saying, I'm not approachable. I said, Well, maybe you're not approachable. You need to be approachable, but for the right reasons.

You need to do the work. I think one of the things you said there was not thinking big enough. I think you and I are both in the same Harvard course right now. But you go in and you do it, and we're constantly working on it. I used to tell people all the time, Why do you spend the extra money for organic food? It's so much more expensive. I said, Well, it's cheaper than chemo. When people talk about, I don't want to do the work. This is so much work, and this is going to be so much stress to invest and research and take the Harvard courses. Why are you doing that? Because the opposite is worse. And understanding that ball game of, Yeah, I could have taken courses at, no offense, FAU, which is where I got my undergraduate from, or I could sit down, I could dig in, I could do this stuff from Harvard because it's a different ball game. I get to do it online. I want to get the best of the best because this is where we're going. I would love it if we were going to a world that said, Hey, you know what?

We're only giving money and health and wealth to people who are on this podcast. Sure, that would be... But that's not going to happen. I'm going to run into a world where things are changing, and either I adapt or I die. One of the things that really stands out, regrettably, we don't teach women that they're enough. We're constantly telling them, You need more makeup, your hair needs to look this way, you need to be dressed a certain way, or doing all this. Your perspective is the complete opposite. It's like, Okay, you're than enough, but I need you to think bigger. That is a dear shift that most men and women, but specifically women, don't have because by default, it's harder because most men think we're one pushup away from looking from the Men's Health magazine. It's just that we were coded with that because we're men. But as we go into this long game, how do you teach and how do you empower women to think bigger, not only about what they're going to do, but about themselves?

Well, I think there's one thing that when you go back into the way women think, If you show up and you're wearing a nice dress, someone will say, Oh, that's a nice dress. And in their mind, they're going, How come I don't have a dress as nice as that? And then women compare themselves to each other. And I think you have to get out of that mode of comparing yourselves because that's something that you naturally do. But women also don't think of themselves as being big thinkers. And I think often it's a threat when a woman is a big thinker. I mean, I was a threat, I believe, to my husband, my current husband, many years. But he didn't I was so entrepreneurial and so aggressive, so I didn't talk about it. Sometimes you just have to play the So our relationship is better because I don't talk about business. I'm doing everything else, talking about the kids and things like that, but not about business. So you have to realize that a big thinking woman is going to be a threat to So you have to be aware of that. But think really, really big.

There's no reason you cannot run the show, be the top of your game, and get the emotion out of it. Because men are very, very good at getting the emotion out of it. So if you can be a woman, be a compassionate person, and be a smart thinker, and a good researcher, and not emotional about it, then you're stronger. And never, ever think that you're really smart. You can be intelligent, but don't think know more than other people because you never will know what's going on in everyone's head. And you never want to be the smartest person in the room. You want to be in a room full of people that are not yes people. You want to be in a room full of people that you want to work with. Another thing in business, I always do, always do and still do. And I do it now. I used to do it on business cards. I do it now in my contact list. So if I'm talking to someone and they say something interesting about themselves personally, I make a note in the notes under that person's. Charles, I would make a note if you mentioned you were a speedo and you used to be, I guess, a competitive swimmer.

Nice, yes.

I will make a note because if you and I didn't talk for a year and a half later and you called me up and said, Hey, Anne, and I'd say, Yeah, how are you doing? Did you ever post about that speedo again? You want to be able to know people. But this is a very fast moving world. The more that you grow, the faster it moves and the more people you meet. Another thing that I do, and I try to tell this to my kids, is join organizations. I joined the Ontario Economic Summit for years. I was a delegate in the G20Y on the Banking and Finance Committee. I met people from around the world. I'd attend this in different Paris or different places that we would have our meetings, and I would meet people from around the world, and they became part of my Rolodex. This can be done a lot easier now also with podcasts and VODCAS and YouTube channels. You can do that, but join committees and organizations in a large scale, and you will meet more people that become part of your contact list. That is really important because you want to open yourself up beyond your small, or small as relative, people you've met in the current business that you're in now or in school or in the past.

I open my world up to a very, very big, for me, rolodex of contact people. Even now in television, I go to the television conferences. I know that I'm not noticeable, and I know that I'm really nothing amongst all the people that are there that are all searching to sell or buy something. I make sure that I make myself noticeable. For For example, when I went to MIPCOM, which is the reality TV show conference in Cannes, and my TV show is called Queen of the Castle, I brought a whole bag full of tierras, and we handed out tierras to people. I literally brought drag queens with me because I was the queen and dressed as the queen. We were noticed, and I had to fight that with the producers of the show. When they asked me to go to MIPCOM and meet people, I said, But realize no one will know who I am. I mean, you're amongst all of these. You've got Warner Brothers, you've got Disney, you've got, I don't know what they're called now in this day and age, but you've got all the TV channels that are there, and everybody's there.

Make yourself noticeable in a good way. I think every moment is your elevator pitch. Take those elevator pitches and have that little sound bite available. Something I in PR, when I would do the news or I would do something, I would practice. I would practice the worst questions somebody could ask, and I would have that sound bite that I wanted to say written down on a sheet of paper in front of me. Then if somebody asked me something, we used to do anti-aging shows, where we did anti-aging shows, and I was money lending into the cosmetic medical market and veterinary and dental, etc. I know I was money lending into home improvement as well. But because we did money lending into cosmetic enhancement, always, one of the first things that media would ask me is, What have you had done? And irrelevant to money lending and conventions that we would do. But I would have written down on a sheet of paper, well, if I was thinking to have something done, I would certainly go to our conference on anti-aging, and it wouldn't matter what they said. But have that sound bite that you can slip in and divert from the question.

I hate to say it, but a lot of politicians just put the sound bite in, and it has nothing to do with the learn from that. It's not that idea. But do it.

We do it all the time. Don't answer the question that was asked. Answer the question you want to answer. They could say, Hey, what is your favorite food? It's like, It's a really interesting question. My favorite color is... So you're actually answering the question you want to answer, not what was asked. I think the other thing is when people show up to networking events, they get very scared because they're like, Well, I'm not the queen of the castle. I'm not, oh, la, la. I haven't done, regrettably, the research, which I agree with you, wholeheartedly do the research. I remember before social media, it really blew up, people on Facebook, and they posted everything. Their wedding anniversaries, they went to work with their kids, their hobbies. I would research all of that. So when I got to the meeting, I had more of those things to connect with. But what I've done at these events, and I would love to hear more of your ideas of how you connect, because obviously you connect on a huge level, is I will walk up and say, Hi, what is your biggest prop right now? I'm like, I need a plumber.

Like, Awesome. I'll be right back. I would go around the rest of the party and I would find a plumber. I'm like, Hi, you're a plumber? I'm like, You need to come with me. And then I would take plumber to the person who needs a plumber. I'm like, Hi, Here, you guys connected. You needed a plumber. How would I say? When the plumber is really happy because new client, and the person is really happy because I found a plumber, and that inherited in that, I get all that trust and I get all that connection, and I will just spend the whole time. For those of you who are listening, one of the proven tactics that work really well is be in service to others. Say, Listen, I might not feel that I'm good enough at this moment. Great. You can always connect people. There are times where I feel I'm not good enough. There's times where I feel like I'm amazing. When in doubt, connect people. What are the ways that you have connected? What are the ways that as a female, as you're coming into it, where they will marginalize you, where they will think about it about you?

Because any time I've been on a carpet, no one's ever asked me what I'm wearing, ever. I've had PR sit down and say, Okay, this is what you're wearing. I'm like, I don't What do you think any of those words that came out of your mouth are. I go, I don't know because you walk in, you have your underwear on, and they dress you with everything else. I've had to do that. They'll give you a list. I've never been asked who I'm wearing because my default response will be target. I don't pay attention. It's either Banana Republic or Target. I don't know. But when I'm on stage or I'm being dressed up, it's Armani and all these other things. I've never been asked. That's a very different world than you live in. What are some practical things when you do do research and you are walking into these things and you are setting up that you can give to, and again, to everybody, it doesn't matter if it's internal plumbing or external plumbing, but specifically for women to be prepared in that environment?

I make sure that I do make those notes that night or that moment. I will take the moment to make a note about a conversation that I have with somebody. I don't get into my personal life, never get into my personal life. I get into what that conversation that somebody is having with me. Just say it's at a party or at a dinner or an event, and I do throw events in the parties, and I'll get into that in a second. But when I meet somebody, I will make that note, and I will make sure I get their WhatsApp, connect on the WhatsApp, and I will follow up. It's like, Hey, it was nice to meet you. I will make that note, and I will follow up with them to do with the conversation. I do not follow up with them and ask for something. I follow up with them. I don't ask, Hey, you know what I do? I don't want to invest with you. I'm trying to make a connection. I'm looking for someone to fill a wait. Or it might be the plumber is to, Hey, it was good to meet you.

I hope the plumber works out. Let me know if you don't find one. I live in the area and I can see if I can get somebody else that can help you. Follow up with the relevant conversation, but do not ever ask for something and never reach out to somebody with an ask. And if you have an agenda, tell them your agenda. The agenda is, I'd like to ask you if you're interested in investing in this firm. But don't follow up and say, Hey, great to meet you. I really liked your Armani suit, and let's connect sometime. Be very, very honest because no one has time to... No one's that silly or stupid anymore. I don't like using those words. They can read between the lines. So be very authentic and be very formal in what you're doing, and then follow up and make sure that when you're at a party and you're there to network, that you actually do network. And so you actually are promoting yourself as a business person, whatever that is that you are at that moment and trying to promote yourself as, and then make sure that you're making that connection and the right connections.

And something that I do now when you talk about networking is we do, and I work with throwing parties where I invite like-minded people in, and anyone can do this themselves. One of the things that you can do is invite like-minded people in the same ilk, so in mine, it would be CEOs of companies, and invite those people to a dinner. They don't pay, but the idea is that they get to network, they get an over-the-top experience, and their whole guest list, emails and contacts are shared with everyone. And so they come there knowing they're going to meet like-minded people. And I don't invite people that don't fit into that group. So it's It's really, really an interesting way to network and meet a large group of people that you can bring together. And if you don't know a lot of people, make it a dinner and then say, Let's talk about AI and the impact on our businesses, and invite like-minded people for that dinner that can network with each other. So be the networking instigator as well. So networking enough, create it. Get creative on how you can meet more people in your circle.

So join committees, organizations, and get creative on networking. And if you don't have that group, create the group. And do not invite your close girlfriends that have nothing to do with it. And do not invite your husband, and do not let your kids sit at the table. You are working group that shows that you're focused on the moment.

I love that. One of the things that happens at networking events at groups, that I would love for you guys, you to speak to, is I have a client, and recently, she lives in DC. She'd be connected with an individual who was clearly not wanting to talk business with her. To clean this way, I can say that without getting him in trouble. He was interested in her for far beyond her brain. This was an individual of immense power and trying to take prey on my client. We walk through a very specific thing of how to hold space for that, but also how to exit out of it in a polite way. My hallucination is you run into that quite a bit. How do you handle that where the other side of the table is regretful possibly being inappropriate and crossing the lines of getting across on the personal side and being maybe a bit too aggressive? How do you handle that without blowing up your network, without creating a reputation where I'm not this, but I'm also not that? How do you deal with that type of environment?

In no way am I making any assumption about the person you just spoke of, but I am really not an approachable person in that way. I that if I say hi to a man in a certain environment, that they think I want to sleep with them. I said this to my daughters is when they were leaving to go off to school. If a man asks you for coffee, he wants to sleep with you. If a man says that you look nice, he wants to sleep with you. If a man wants to look at your computer, he wants to sleep with you. Do not ever think that you look so interesting that they have anything else on their mind. Anyway, unfortunately, that's it. But in business, when I was building business, I didn't have a lot of confrontation. But the times that I did, there was one time when there was a banker, and we'd love dinner and I was walking to my hotel and he was walking to his car, we walked together. And then I said, okay, goodbye. And he leaned over to kiss me. I stepped back. Well, just mortified because wasn't the intention.

But I took it upon myself to realize I went away from my own advice that actually somebody doesn't want to just walk in the same direction as me. But then because he was so senior, I addressed it and said, I know you didn't intend that. No harm done. Nobody will ever know. And just addressed it that way and then kept it professional. And so I got the book, but not to address that he was under any I also traveled for conferences. These are securitization conferences, banking and finance conferences, anything. I don't go, unfortunately, to the Brandy & Cigars. It's just a girl in a bar. It doesn't work. I don't need to do that. I have been where I'm traveling on my own, and some guys knocked on my door at my hotel. It's like, I guess he saw me go in there or in the elevator when you're going up the elevator and somebody from the conference decides to hit on you because it's the last resort. Like a hit on 100, it's always a numbers game. Don't think that you're that special. It's a numbers game. Somebody is going to hit on you.

So you need to address it. You need to address You need to address it head on. First of all, you need to not be approachable. So eye contact that stuff doesn't work. Any joking or insinuation, you're going to regret it later. But when something does happen, address it and be very professional and don't say anything to do with anything that means that you're leaving that door slightly open. The answer of, while I'm married, it doesn't matter anymore. No one cares if you're married or not. It's probably easier. Just keep it professional. Make sure they know that you are perfectly serious of what you're doing. Because I can guarantee if you open that door, they're going to think that you're opening that door for other people anyway. No one's going to think they're the only one. You're just part of the game. And your reputation will get out there. And if you have made an error, don't beat yourself up. Just don't do it going forward. Just don't become what your past was because we all have made mistakes. All of us have. If I'm not going to let my mistakes weigh on me. I'm just not going to continue to make them.

There was a movie called Dumb & Dumber, with Jim Terry, and There's a scene where the lady is like, What are my chances? She's like, Not in a million years. She's like, So you're telling me there's a chance? It's like, Oh, my God. It just really encapsulates the male mind. It's like, Wait, so maybe? If you were the last guy on Earth, no. Okay, so there's a chance. That's not what I was saying at all. Having that... No, that's not how it works. Now, when we go into this- If I can add this, I can say being in business, and I deal with some people that are very high level in business, they I'm really safe because they know I'm not out to hit on them.

I'm not trying to sleep, to get ahead. That's almost a joke. But I'm not trying to do anything in a sexual way with them and that I am focused. That makes me a safe person. The easy approach, because it's not part of the equation. It's not even considered part of the equation. It's not We're never going to go there. But I don't have to say that I am approachable because that's not part of it. And aside from that, there's a whole world of people out there. If I wanted to do that, it shouldn't be with the people I do business with.

Absolutely. So when we start doing business and we start scaling, you've scaled empires and you've scaled everything from finances to everything else, and even your own home. Everyone talks about processes. They talk about systems, and regrettably, systems right now is very much a buzzword. What are some of the tactical systems that you've implemented in your businesses as Zscal, because you can only do so much. We've learned this from the seal community. Outside of a six to eight-man team, life gets real challenging. How do you put in the systems and how do you monitor scaling on that level?

It's really hard. It is really hard, you're right. When I'm doing, if I can use the example with a castle and we're building a brand with a castle. I've only had the castle, I think two and a half years, not a long time. Then I'm renovating that, I look at it as, okay, what's your ultimate? Look at your ultimate distribution. And then I go backward from there and I start at the very beginning. So ultimately, I want to distribute worldwide to tourists and people that come to England and want to visit a castle and a bride and groom that wants to get married at a castle. There's where my market is. How do I get to them? Well, social media and landing pages like your website. Also, I look at doing the television. You could do your own YouTube channel, too. But I do a TV show around the castle. There's my distribution. Then you go back and you want to scale the business. That's how I'm going to scale it up. Then you have to go back to the beginning. How do I start the business? And so that part is the hard part, is how do you get the management in place and then step away from it.

So you've got to invest a lot of time in any business you have before you grow it. But you have to know your website platform to start with even before you've started the business. So you've got to look at your distribution is social media, website media is your distribution channel. And go back and start a business. I do that with my real estate. I do that with my finance business when I had it, and my insurance company, all those things I have to look at, how do I distribute? And the channel might not be public. It might be it's B2B as well.

So when you're talking When you talk about distribution, there seemed to be a little bit for me, I was like, I have a goal, and then I back into distribution. I know exactly where I'm going to want this to go. It's like firing an arrow. I don't fire an arrow and then decide, I wonder where I want the arrow to go. No, I'm very clear where I want the arrow to go. It's a goal in there. Now, how I get it there, that changes the ball game. Is there a difference in your mind between goal and distribution? And then if there is, what are the distribution factors that you have found that have the best ROI?

If I were to make it more clarity, The goal would be, for example, in the castle that I want to meet tourists to come to the castle and brides to come to the castle. That's my distribution, not my distribution channel, but that's my audience. That's my target. Yeah, my target audience. But my goal would be for them to come to the castle, spend money, have a great experience. To spend money, they need a great experience. For them to come back again, it needs to be a great experience. How do I let people know this is a great experience? That's my distribution channel. In the insurance company, my distribution channel is B2B. It would be to businesses that are selling small ticket loans. We do creditors and life and disability insurance. Offer that to your clients, and this is the experience you're going to get. That's not a public one. That's not social media. I have to understand my audience is another business, and they want an easy platform. Click on, and then they want good reporting. So You have to think of everything, and it's not easy. Building your platforms, building your accounting systems, having them work with...

In our case, the castle has a hotel, so it has to work with the Booking. Com and those platforms. All of that is not easy. But it's not beyond what you're capable of. It's just a lot of work.

Then understanding that when I'm getting on a plane, I dress a certain way. When I'm swimming, we're not going to talk about speedos anymore, but when I'm swimming, there's different distributions in different times in different places. But when it comes to the scaling, because you're doing a lot, and primarily your main goal is like, I'm a mom first. At the end of the day, I'm a mom. That's my first priority. That's who I am. I happen to do all this other stuff, which means you have to build a squad. You have to build a team of people that you trust. How do you empower, track them down, bonus them up in a very competitive marketplace? Because regrettably, there's a lot of people who are looking for work. The people who have the jobs and the ones that are elite, they will find more. There's a very small amount of elite talented individuals out there. How do you build a team of those, empower them, and then scale with them? Because there's a lot of psychology behind it, but I'm curious how you do it and scale to these next levels?

The way I do it when it's an actual business that I'm running is if they're with the company for one year, then we bonus on the past six months of the success of the organization. If they're with the company, they have to be with the company one year, and then they get a bonus based on the success of the organization, so the revenue. You might not have positive cash flow, but you would have A revenue coming in. They're bonused on that. They know that they're bonus on that. So they know that their bonus on the past six months. But if they leave the company, they wouldn't get the bonus. So they have to be the company six months. I make sure that they want to be there. But we also offer after they've been there a year, we pay for their education relative to what their job is or what the job they'd like to do. And we will pay for that education. They do not have to pay us back as long as they're working with the company and then dependent on what we're paying for, like an MBA or is it a chef's course or whatever it is, they're doing accounting.

We've done many, many offerings and fulfilled for education. As long as they stay with the company relative to the cost and the time it took to do the education, one year out or whatever. We say, We want you to leave the company in better shape than you came to the company in. That means you've learned from us because you want to be stimulated. Most people do. You want to be hiring people that want to be stimulated, but you want to help people grow, too. You help people grow, you will grow. So invest back in your employees. They are the biggest asset you have, are the people you employ, but invest back in them. I do not... I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do not offer shares in companies and things like that to employees. I don't make it that complex, but I do offer bonuses based on performance of the company.

I love that you're investing in people that you want to invest in you. Again, it goes back to the be in service, give to others first, and you will get more tenfold, because this is just a concept that most people aren't doing. They're talking about, Oh, I want to have a gym inside the organization, or I'm like, Mmm, invest in the people. Give them what they actually want. So when we talk about real estate, switching the gears completely, you've invested in real estate and you've done that. The market's changing. The world's changing right now. Again, without getting political, it is getting very interesting. When we do this, where do you see real estate going? Where do you see things? Because you sit at a higher perch than a lot of people through a lot of hard work and effort on your own, a lot of self-sacrifice. You've made it and you have a different perspective than most people do. Where do you see things going with real estate? Where do you see things going for female entrepreneurs in the next 5, 10 year?

For real estate in the next 5 or 10 years, and we could talk about it worldwide, but it's The housing market, I wouldn't be investing in housing right now. I wouldn't be looking at, Hey, I want to have this perfect place to live. If that's what your investment is, it depends on what your agenda is. But it's not the time. I think market is going to go down even more. But if you are so inclined to want to buy, invest in something that you can rent out. Start investing in a rental market rather than lifestyle market for yourself. Then weigh out what you're paying for what you live in. Even if you have to, get a place that you can rent out part of it, so it supplements your cost of living, depending on where you're at. So this is not buying a house or anything. And don't look for your dream house in this current market. I would wait if you don't have the free cash to do But real estate, commercially, is also in a decline because people are working out of their home. A lot of real estate is into the market.

In particular, you'd look at in the last years, all the big department stores are shutting down because everything is online. Now, where it would be smart to look at is in warehousing close to airports. And so I'm looking at, okay, if I'm going to buy real estate, where can I put warehousing? How can I help in the distribution market for where the channels are going and how people are actually shopping? Look for that. But if you start to think like that, what you're going to do is get a real estate agent, commercial real estate agent that's going to be jumping all over you. If they think you're going to buy something from someone else, I don't sign on a realtor. For me personally, I assign different realtors to look for what I'm doing. They don't want to bother, so I have to get another realtor to call them and say, Yes, she is real. And She will buy. So it's also, don't think that you, just because you're looking to buy, that the realtors are going to listen to you. But if they know you actually are, then you know this world, Charles, very well.

Then I can buy commercial real estate without signing on the broker, and I can buy commercial real estate and get a good deal. And I also look for bankruptcy deals. But I don't know that the commercial Commercial office building is a good place right now. I think converting what was an office residential would be, especially if you're looking into lower income residential, and you might want to look at where it's subsidized by the city or place that you're in. So that might be something that is better. But get to know the real estate game and do your back of the napkin calculation if you're just entering into the market. Back of the napkin is a smart thing to do. When When I first went into real estate and I had some cash, I called up two big-time real estate guys, and I asked for an hour of their time. I brought another female with me, so I didn't think I was hitting on them, met them went to their offices, and said, Just tell me how you play this game. How does a real estate game work? I want to go in commercial real estate.

I want to start buying commercial buildings. How does the game work? And they gave me an hour of their time, each of them. They There's many different perspectives. So it was actually good that I didn't go to one because I would have taken their perspective. Then don't get confused when you get different perspectives because everyone has a different way of playing the game. And there's not a right, but Listen to a few people and ask the professionals, not your friends, how do I invest in that? And then in real estate and the current market you want to understand as well. I think the political market, too. If you're investing in rental properties Airbnbs, that can change because you might have the hotel industry step in in the jurisdiction that you're in and say, We no longer want Airbnbs, so be prepared for the changes.

I think understanding that it's what the market is currently doing. Commercial real estate is finally figuring out that mixed-use. It's a different ball game for them. There was a property that was done out here that was a commercial property since the '80s, and now it's mixed. It's the biggest square footage that we have in Kentucky. It was just someone who had vision to say, Okay, we're going to change the ball game. We're going to make this. We're going to make sure that it not only gives value to the community and the city that we're in, but also value upstream. I think the commercial players are starting to understand a mixed-use environment. When it comes into bankruptcies and all that, and you were talking about how people shop. I'm in Kentucky right now. We have a Arctic freeze or blizzard or whatever it is that's going to come in. And I'm from Florida. Anything below 20 degrees is very confusing to me seeing my car, because my car Because my car's up here, and it's got my Florida license plate, and there's three inches of snow sitting on top of the car. My car is very confused right now.

It's like, What is happening? But even me, who has the ability, it has that, I'm still just going to go to Costco and say, Click, click, and have it delivered. So the way people buy has completely changed. So honoring, things have changed. Again, I grew up when you went to the stores. I know what Sears is, and I know what Kmart is, and all that. Those things don't exist anymore. Understanding that the market has changed completely. Also understanding that that lunch that you did with those two gentlemen probably saved you and made you millions of dollars to allocate it. So finding someone. And for the people who are listening, most of us who are just even just one tier higher than you are, because that's what makes you an expert. One more thing than the person that's asking you. Now you're the expert. We want to tell it. We want to share this because we're excited because we've learned something and we want to give back. Most people I know will want to be in service and want to help out and go from there. I love that you did that. I love that you invested in your people as well with their education and say, I'm going to invest in you.

Where do you see... Again, different vantage point. Because everything right now is, oh, cryptocurrency and AI and all this. Where do you see things going with that, especially with a political environment that's challenging. That's as good as I can get. That's as clean as I can clean that up with. Where do you see things going in that world as far as the crypto and the AI as well? Because you have done a lot in finance.

Yes. The crypto, to me, is really scary because I don't think they have that lockdown right now. There is this big environment, and people have made a lot of money investing in crypto. I stay away from that easy money. I hope to get that easy money investment. And there was a girl, she was a photographer, and I hired her in Italy to do a photoshoot. And she had just invested in crypto and made a ton of money. I was like, wow, tell me how you do it. And she said, Anne, I knew somebody who was investing in crypto and started a crypto business. That's how I did it. She said, I would stay far away from it. If you don't know the person that founded the company. It's almost like a lot of the stocks you get in on the early investors, you've got some of the flow, and then they don't say that. Of course not, because it would be inside information. But if you don't know the game, I don't He would invest in real estate, I mean, in the stock market or crypto, because I don't know the game. I don't know about businesses.

I was reading about Warren Buffett recently, and he would invest in his early stages. He got to know the company before he invested in it. If you're going to invest in anything, crypto or stocks, know the company. Do your research. Are they a legitimate company? Are they a startup? What is the market like? You actually have to do or don't invest. I think that's really important. But crypto, I see it shaking everything up. I don't know if it's going to take over for currency, US currency, or euros or British pounds. I don't know that it can or will do that, but I think I'm cognizant of it. I'm cognizant of cash. Cash, you don't want to hang on to a lot of cash because cash is nothing when it's left the bank doing nothing. I make sure that I try to invest back, but right now it's mostly bonds and things that are safe because I don't know this market. I have to say I can't give advice on investment because I'm not an investment person. I'm a careful person.

I think the advice you just gave is important, right? If you don't understand something, and I learned this from Melvin Simon at the time, he was 64th richest person in the world. I'd never met anyone like that. He said, If you don't understand it, you're not investing, you're gambling. And that's up to you. If you want to gamble, gamble. But if you're investing in something and you don't fully understand it, be willing to lose the cash. And if not, it is what it is. So having that perspective changed for me, for the person who had been there, changed. I'm not a crypto guy. Do I think the blockchain technology can be used inside currencies in the future? Sure. But I don't know anything about it. So my goal is to stay away and stay with what I feel is safe and what I think, okay, I've got a little bit of knowledge in this. This makes sense to me. And if not, I'm not going to risk certain things. So you've done well in business, you've done well in your personal life. You've also broken into the online world as far as you have a TV show and you've had to deal with the trials and tribulations of Fame, if someone wants to go into that world and they want to step in and break through, what is the advice that you would give them as far as, is this a path you would recommend?

What are the things they should avoid when it comes to becoming a personality and online or on TV?

I think if you were building a brand, I would say, build yourself up on social media, be that brand. There's nothing wrong with... I mean, I don't do things to be famous, and I'm not all over famous all over the world, but in certain markets, I am known, especially Canada. But doing a TV show, you do get recognized going different places in different markets. But I would say, build your brand, build your brand up on social media, be that personality, because that brand helps market you. Your personal brand will open doors for you, and the more you're recognized, and social media is the best place to do it. The more you're ready, the more that door will open. When you contact somebody, they're looking on your Instagram page. They're looking you on social media. Who is this person that's contacting me? So at the top, you have what your description is. So I have that description on my social media. And that brand is who I want them to know. You will not see my kids on my social media. That's not the brand I want people to see me as in business. That's my personal I stay out of my personal life.

Yes, I am a mom, but I let my kids have their own identity. I shouldn't say I let them. I want them to have their own identity. So be that brand. The person I admire the most is Richard Branson. I'm so sad. Now, that's so heartbreaking losing his wife. But Richard Branson markets himself first and foremost. He is a brand who's not ashamed of who he is. He owns who he is. He's an out there, adventurous person that's also a business person. He's approachable. He's nice. He is that, let's just have a party and let's have it happen, but let's get to business tomorrow. He's philanthropic. He brings people together. He's engaging. And that I admire. Look at somebody you admire, and I admire him. And I think, I'm not going to be able to market my brand. So that brand opens doors. So when I want to, for example, go to banks for money, if I want to purchase something, they actually know my brand. And so that opened. They don't have to say, who is she? They can look me up on social media. They go, oh, yeah, that's who she is. And then also on my LinkedIn page, it has the businesses I've had.

That's my... A link in the page would be my resume. My Instagram would be my pictures and what I want to be presented as. And my Twitter would be the news that I'm interested in. I look at that for news feeds. I look at Twitter as a different place. Facebook do not have a Facebook page that shows yourself in your bikini if you don't want to do that, or your speedo, or your kids and doing a barbecue. Have a separate one that is not public with your family. The one that everybody can see. Your Facebook page should be the same as your business page. Then I also have my own website, which is a brand I want people to see when they find me. That's very talented. I know it is, but you need to be. But I am myself. I am myself in all of them, but very careful that I'm I'm not putting on something that I don't want the world to see because it is a world in a very cruel world, unfortunately. It will come back to you even if you don't want it to, and don't succumb to it either.

I think It's important. I think when you talk about platforms, understanding that, again, you don't dress at a tuxedo or a black tie event in, I can't believe it's in speedo again, but in a speedo. You don't go to the beach in a suit. There's a time and a place. And understanding that Instagram, Facebook, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, whatever it is, there are rules in that environment, and they show up in a very specific way and obeying those rules and being able to control your image. Because regrettably, we live in a society that if I drink some water, one group will say, Oh, my gosh, he took water away from children, and he's the most horrible person in the world. And then the other people are like, Oh, my God, he touched the water. Now it's hauling water. I'm like, Oh, my goodness. So I can't control what's outside of me, but I can't control at least what I'm putting out there and the brand I'm trying to represent. So if People do look me up. They're like, Oh, this is what they're trying to say. Maybe that was just someone who's a troll and someone who just needs to get out of their house and get some vitamin D every once in a while.

So just, again, I can't control those people. One of the things you talk about being very intentional with, and so that's really part, is how to find you and how to connect with you. And that this is how you show up here, this is how you show up there, especially for my audience who are females, because I get questions all the time, and they're like, Hey, this is great. We love it for this, but we would love a female perspective. Again, sorry, guys. For the guys out there, yes, by all means, please contact Anne. I've had a conversation with she. She's a lovely, amazing human being. But also, if people want to track you down and they want to connect with you and they want to be empowered and say, Hey, this is someone who seems to have done it on, and it wasn't an easy road. If you look up your story and you read your book, it was not an easy road that got you here. You didn't wake up with a silver spoon and then have the perfect relationships. You went through trials and tribulations and you decided, Okay, I'm still going to double down and invest in me, and I'm going to pick myself up and do it.

If people wanted to get a hold of you, if people wanted to connect with you, and they wanted to learn more about you and operate in a level of integrity that you show up with, how do they do that? What's the best way to get a hold of you?

I think they would go on my Instagram and message me. So Anne Kaplan, like A-N-N-K-A-P-L-A-N_ownit. And message me, but reference your podcast, your podcast, your YouTube channel. Reference your name and just say, I'm going to do this, and that will get more attention because behind the scenes, I have someone else who manages my messages, but they will bring it to my... So somebody actually wanted to message me on that, but reference me and just say that they saw that, and I will absolutely reach back. It's important that they reference that because I do get a lot of messages and I get a lot of trolls.

It's It's. For those who are playing at home, I don't read my own messages on social media either. I have someone else who does that. If you see that I'm online, probably sooner to you, Anne, it's not. It is someone on my team, and they're filtering all of this. Because just bandwidth and just regrettably trolls. I don't let that energy in. But thank you for coming on and sharing and being so humble and honest to connect with the audience. As soon as you came on, because we get pitched all the time for people to come on as guests. As soon as you... I'm like, Absolutely, 100%. I'll move everything around. I want to bring Anna on. I want to talk to her. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing so much of you with us.

Thank you.

That's a wrap on another episode. Where Identity Beats Income and Your Reputation Writes Your Future. Clean up your brand, own who you are, show up like the person you're becoming. Because in a world that never forgets, how you live online is how you get paid offline. Remember, if you don't control your image, someone else will.