Farah Ismail, the founder of Interacting Consulting, shares her journey to success and her fearless mindset.
Farah brings her fearless mindset and inspiring journey to the table, sharing her insights and experiences on how to live the life of your dreams. She guides listeners through the process of unlocking their courage and taking action, providing tips on forgiveness, planting new seeds, and finding someone else to enjoy the journey with. Farah encourages us to be brave enough to use our voice, bold enough to listen to our heart, and strong enough to make big changes in our life. Don’t miss this insightful conversation!
Learn how to make big changes in your life and be the master of your own destiny!
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
Amy Franko helps organizations transform sales culture, ignite sales growth, and build high-impact leaders through her strategic selling programs. Recognized as a LinkedIn Top Sales Voice, Amy is the leading expert in modern sales strategies—including in-demand sales training programs, sales strategy, and as a sales keynote speaker and leadership keynote speaker. She guides growth-oriented organizations to significantly improve their results through B2B sales strategy and sales team skill development.
In this episode we find out more about Amy, and
why she credits coming from a large family with her success in sales
what does “modern selling” mean?
what are the misconceptions of today’s selling situations?
what are her observations about women in sales?
what has she learned from her successes and failure?
and finally, her 3 pieces of advice (you will love #!)
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
I wanted to write a book for what I would call the everyday, average, ordinary person, of which I am one who wanted to learn or discover if they could live a life that would leave an impact on the world. And I wholeheartedly believe every individual, every impact, every person can have an impact on the world around them. I wanted to bring others onto a journey where they could discover the steps that they could take to affirm themselves and recognize that an everyday, average, ordinary life are truly individuals who can change the course of the universe. And I truly believe that.
What did you learn when you wrote this book?
I began to realize what I was writing down in the book was who I am. I have found my purpose. That drives me. It’s the thing that leads me through life. I begin my purpose from this vantage point. All people of value, all people have hope. There’s always hope at the end.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
The “nevers” became my opportunities once I chose to consider them.
Why do we say “never” first?
Youth and inexperience
Lack of confidence
Easy is easier
No guidance
Fear is paralyzing
My “nevers” included:
Never – going to use my accounting degree
Never – going to be a CPA
Never – going to be the employer, content with being an employee
Never – going to merge
My “never” became “Maybe, OK, Probably” and finally “Yes” due to influencers and facing my challenges.
What are your challenges?
Do you value who you are – no one will ever value you as much as YOU
Are you leveraging your uniqueness?
Are you paralyzed by fear?
When and how you do say NO – that is not a never!
“Nevers” just may be your opportunities. Be more aware of the people in your life. Ask more questions versus acceptance. No one will value you more than you. Paralyzed by fear, you will miss your moment. Leverage your uniqueness, it is your journey.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
Balancing your professional and personal life can be challenging, but it’s essential.
Often, work takes precedence over everything else in our lives. Our desire to succeed professionally can push us to set aside our own well-being.
Creating a harmonious work-life balance or work-life integration is critical, though, to improve not only our physical, emotional, and mental well-being, but it’s also important for our career.
My guest is Dianne Grote Adams. She is president of Safex, a health and safety consulting business, who started her company in 1992. As a working mom with a young family, she wanted to create a company that would respect the abilities of people in a technical career while also offering them some flexibility. From its beginning, Safex has offered flexible scheduling and benefits—vacation, insurance, and paid holidays—for anyone who works more than 25 hours.
Did you find that you attracted the right team around you because of that philosophy?
A lot of people, I think, have this myth that part-time workers aren’t committed. And they say, well, they’re not really committed to their careers. And I found the opposite. They have time to do personal things. And guess what? They don’t make doctor’s appointments during work hours. They don’t make personal calls during work hours because they have other days to take care of that. So I find actually they are probably more committed because they knew they have a special opportunity that others might not have.
But there are people who maybe can’t handle flex time and flexibility. They need more structure. Do you find that sometimes that’s a challenge?
I think there are certain people who maybe need more guidance or more coaching to help them learn how to manage flex time. Many of us didn’t grow up with that as an option, right? Can everyone be successful? I don’t know. But you’ve got to be able to manage responsibility and accountability.
What would you tell employers who are starting businesses to get into this mindset today? How do you get started?
It has been a focus on what does that person. What is that person supposed to contribute, what are they supposed to do? And if you can put a good definition around that and they meet that, then why should you care what the exact hour is or whether they rode their bike for an hour at lunch or they left early to catch a concert?
So in your journey, what comes easy for you in the work-life balance?
For me, it’s really easy to tell someone else to go take the time off. I struggle still with that work ethic that I grew up with, that I need to be first in, last out, and yes, I need to on Sunday night to prepare for the upcoming week. I just don’t give myself that same grace.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
The millennial generation has been subjected to a lot of criticism – they are perceived as selfish, entitled and demanding, not to mention addicted to technology.
Are these stereotypes true? Certainly not for everyone.
But there are certain tendencies and habits associated with the millennial generation that are more prevalent than in the other generations currently in the workforce. However, bashing any one group of people does more harm than it does it good.
My guest is Danielle Godby, a Retirement Planner at Golden Reserve.
Danielle talks about her generation’s focus on their job search. What’s a priority to them?
When I talk to my friends, it’s a lot about feeling fulfilled by the work that they do, being able to go home at night and know that they helped someone do something better or they can feel better about their contributions to their own community.
Does money come into play?
It’s not necessarily about how much money you can make, which, honestly, it’s quite surprising given all the student loan debt that is saddling my generation. But that’s really not the dialogue that I hear. It’s a lot more about feeling good about what they do and feeling appreciated in what they do.
Among your colleagues and your peers, do you find that they value other job attributes like learning and advancement more than they do income?
There are a few different things that I hear come up in conversation and they’re surprising to me. You would think income would be front and center of the conversation, given that we were taught our whole lives to prepare for college. But what I hear is they want to make an impact. They want to feel good about what they do. They want to have the flexibility to work from home if they need it or to take mental health days to have a work-life balance.
What can business owners do to motivate them to stay?
I think it’s very basic. If you pull it back to the bare bones, it’s just building a relationship with someone that’s strong, and consistent. You want something that lasts. So you have to invest in that relationship.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
My guest, Lindsay Karas Stencel, is a law firm partner, venture capitalist, podcaster, wellness advocate, fitnesser, adjunct law professor, and self-proclaimed dog mom.
One of the reasons that I have such a respect for her is that she thrives in a male-dominated venture capitalist environment. Women represent just 2% of the workforce in venture capitalism. So how does she navigate in that world?
You always want to be in a position where you can make the decisions that are best for you and whether that’s for your career, for your family, for your mental health, whatever.
And when venture capital work is dominated by men, how does she work in that atmosphere?
I never even noticed it because I was just doing my job. Like, shame on me. I should have been better about that. In retrospect, I, I should have. But I was just doing my job. And then I realized like, holy smokes, I have a responsibility. Because if I’m one of the few people who was able to get a role that’s like this and start to pave a pathway for other females and diverse individuals to come, I better like do it right so that their path is a little bit easier. Because mine wasn’t easy.
Lindsey talks about what she would tell women today who are moving up in the corporate ranks.
You can never let that (intimidation) show, that it’s shaking you. If it’s shaking you, don’t let them see it. Because the second that they do, I think a lot of people smell blood in the water and they say like, oh, I can dig in here. The fight isn’t over. We’ve got a long way to go. And so people need to continue to push on.
And how do women do this?
You have to be prepared for that. And you have to be prepared to be better than everybody else that’s around you. And you’ve got to put in the time to do it.
Women can be really tough on women.
I think when people behave in that way, male or female, but females have a tendency to do it to other females for whatever reason. It’s usually a reflection of them. It’s not a reflection of us, right? It’s a reflection because they don’t feel good about themselves. They don’t feel enough. All of those things. Unfortunately, that’s not my problem. Right? That is a them problem and not a me problem.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
My guest is Rachel Winder, Executive Director at the Ohio Women’s Coalition.
What is the Ohio Women’s Coalition?
“The Ohio Women’s Coalition is a diverse, non-partisan alliance of women in business, women leaders, women business owners, and men that support the mission across Ohio who are coming together to improve the economic position for all women in our state. The OWC was created to amplify the voice of women in Ohio and to help draw attention to the unique challenges that women encounter, especially underserved women of color and women who live in underserved areas of the state, to gain access to economic opportunities in order to achieve financial stability and prosperity.”
In a very short time, the OWC continues to increase the awareness of women small business owners, and help them find funding and support that is usually elusive to them. Rachel goes in-depth about the exciting initiatives the OWC has accomplished, and what is on the horizon.
Here’s an overview of what we talk about…
Accomplishments on behalf of Women-Owned Businesses in Ohio
• Created a statutory definition of “microbusiness” in the Ohio Revised Code (2016)
• Created a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) program in the State of Ohio (2020)
• Successfully advocated for $10 million in state-backed women-owned business loans at 3% interest rate (2021)
• Successfully advocated for $10 million in state-backed women and minority-owned business microloans at 0% interest rate (2021)
Results
• As of May 2022, $2,297,012 in Women’s Business Enterprise Loans have been approved for 11 companies, and $1,490,511 Ohio Micro-Loans have been approved for 39 companies. Nearly $3 million remains available in both loan programs with an additional $5 million available next fiscal year for each program.
• There are nearly as many WBE’s certified in Ohio as MBE’s, which is a program that was established more than 40 years ago. The OWC is committed to equality and lifting everybody up!
• The State of Ohio is literally making room for Ohio women-owned businesses. Recently, members of the Minority Development Financing Advisory Board voluntarily stepped away in recognition of the lack of women-owned businesses represented. Because of our advocacy, the work of this Board has been mostly focused on women-owned business loans, and they recognized women-owned businesses were not represented equally on the Board.
• For the first time in Ohio history, in 2022, each state agency is being asked to predict how many contracts will be going to women-owned businesses during the next fiscal year.
WHEN: June 24, 2022, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel
Gain insights and connections with your Columbus professionals during this full-day event featuring:
Networking opportunities to make friends, business contacts, and build relationships to grow your career and business!
More than 300 professionals in attendance
Customize your day with choices from 15 breakout speakers
A powerful breakfast speaker
A luncheon keynote
More than 30 exhibitors
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
My guest, Aree Bly, is all about alignment. What do I mean by “alignment?” As she puts it on her LinkedIn profile, “Alignment is about recognizing where you lead at your best, identifying your next learning and growth opportunities, and exploring how to support those around you. It allows you to find success, be an effective leader, and show up authentically as you evolve through your career.” Here’s what her take is on how the pandemic reawakened our alignment…
Maybe this comes back to like a Leonard Cohen quote of “the cracks are where the light comes in.” The pandemic forcing people to break those routines. Raise the awareness of, “oh my gosh, I did not realize that my 50 hour, 60 hour workweeks were violating my desire to connect with people.” Or “I didn’t realize how much conflict I was feeling until I stepped away and went, OK, this is not working and this is why.” And we can start to see and become more aware of what is and isn’t working.
So how often does she think someone can reinvent themselves?
I think you could do it daily, honestly, depending on how big a change. The reinvention can and should be coming regularly, and it should be something that we’re looking at deliberately as we’re kind of saying, “Okay, where do I want to be going and what steps do I take to move in that direction?” And then it also means looking up occasionally and going, “Okay, I was headed on this path. Is it still right?”
Not only is alignment for you personally, but it can be an alignment change for your team. How does she approach this?
Let’s rearrange things to make sure that we’re setting ourselves up for success by recognizing how people operate. And that helped to clarify some of the decisions because some people were saying, “Well, You just like them better. So you’re moving them to this role” and you’re like, “Well, no, there’s a reason to it.” And once you put it all on paper and let everyone see, you know, and talk about it, it’s like, “Oh, you know, I’m really good at this, but I’m really tired of doing that because I’ve been doing it for years. I’d like to learn something new.”
What is the first step that people can do to make a change?
The first step is awareness, and it’s so hard to see the truth. And then from there it’s activating it.
Here she is from a recent Tedx Talk.Her website to find out more. This is THE podcast that advances women toward economic, social, and political achievement.
Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.
Sheryl, as the mentee, was in really, really bad shape as a business owner and reached out and said, I need a mentor. And she met Merry Korn, who’s a very successful businesswoman. She has used common sense practices, good advisors, all that kind of stuff. But Merry was not in Sheryl’s industry. Merry was a little intimidated by it, but she became a great mentor because business is business.
The key thing about their relationship that made it successful from the beginning, there was a connection. They had a great connection to the point that Sheryl, who didn’t know Merry, could be transparent, be open, and then she could actually listen and as she says, “be obedient” to and accountable to what Merry was telling her. Those were key elements of a good mentor relationship.
They also didn’t put a timetable on the relationship. They are still going strong. It’s not just about getting together. It’s not just getting coffee together. It’s just not talking. It’s about developing success. And in the case of Sheryl and Merry, Sheryl really became a completely different person as a business owner and a person. And Merry really loved the mentor role and was energized by being there with her. And there will probably be, I would say, business friends and lifetime friends.
This is why Sheryl thinks the mentoring was so impactful.
It was impactful because it actually pushed me to believe in myself. It was like it unleashed my potential that I didn’t even recognize.
We find out what Sheryl was hoping in the beginning that the mentoring would accomplish.
In the beginning, I was just hoping to break even because I was in a different mindset at the time. So initially I was thinking, if I can just break even, I’ll walk away and be done with business. But after being in the program, that changed it. I mean, it just changed everything and it just ended up being so much more.
And what did Merry want the mentoring relationship to accomplish?
One of the things I always said to Sheryl is, Sheryl, whatever happens between us, I know you’re going to be successful. And my big ask is to pay it forward. Her success as a minority woman business owner is she’s literally one in a million. It’s that rare. So my big ask of Sheryl is to pass it forward.
This is THE podcast that advances women toward economic, social, and political achievement. Hosted by Betty Collins, CPA, and Director at Brady Ware and Company. Betty also serves as the Committee Chair for Empowering Women, and Director of the Brady Ware Women Initiative. Each episode is presented by Brady Ware and Company, committed to empowering women to go their distance in the workplace and at home.