Have you ever wanted to be part of a career in which you continually helped others advance in their career? Imagine doing all of this...not only having a background working at a prison, but taking your experiences where you continue to work directly with ex-prisoners, and so many more!

In Part 1 of a two part interview, Kris Pool discusses the importance of career planning and the vast resources that she offers in her position and how she got to be where she is today. She will share numerous personal anecdotes that will help to demonstrate how you can jumpstart your career again, no matter what stage you are at, by putting into perspectives the realities of the current job market and how to approach it effectively.

Guest Bio

Kris Pool is an 18-year veteran of Toastmasters; she has earned the Distinguished Toastmaster award three times and is working on her fourth.

Kris belongs to 3 Toastmasters clubs and is actively involved. She was the 2023 Spring Conference 2023 Chair for District 35 (Wisconsin and UP Michigan) and is the Social Media Coordinator (specifically for Facebook) for the District, a Club Coach, and she set a personal goal to visit a club in each state by the end of June; she has 6 more to go.

Kris has been employed since September 2021 with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development as an Employment and Training Specialist at the Sheboygan County Job Center. She is definitely putting her Toastmasters skills into practice daily in this role and loving every minute of it!!

Kris will celebrate 22 years of marriage to Troy in October. She has zero kids or pets (which gives her plenty of time for Toastmasters), enjoys reading, cooking, eating, and vacationing in Gatlinburg, TN.

Kris' Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2026673897344845/?ref=bookmarks

Kris' Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kris.pool.1

@poolkris on Instagram

@KrisPoolDTM on Twitter

• https://www.jobcenterofwisconsin.com - Visit this website to learn about a wide variety of resources for job seekers (not just for state employment!) that is provided by the State of Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development. In addition to being able to search for jobs, employers can post jobs and search for resumes, and a wealth of additional information about industries are available about the State of Wisconsin (and in some cases, beyond!)
• https://wisc.jobs/Pages/Welcome.aspx - Managed by the State of Wisconsin's Division of Personnel Management, this portal provides a wealth of information about applying for opportunities to work in various types of jobs. Whether it is working with natural resources, Indian Affairs, or dealing with other occupations of skills & trades, check out this website for your next career opportunity in Wisconsin!
• https://www.toastmasters.org/ - Want to learn about how Toastmasters can create more fulfilling communication and leadership experiences while being a positive, supporting environment? Check out this website to learn more about you can start your journey, and find a club closest to you by clicking on the "Find A Club" link on the top of the page.

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Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

This is Speaking From The Heart.

Welcome to episode number 12 of Speaking From the Heart.

This is a very special episode in which we're dividing into two parts, and

today you are listening to part one.

Our guest is Kris Pool, who is a 18 year veteran of Toastmasters and has

earned the Distinguished Toastmaster award three times and is currently

working on her fourth time to achieve.

She belongs to three Toastmaster clubs in which she's actively involved in.

She has been the 2023 conference chair for District 35, which includes

Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.

She has also been the social media coordinator, which she has been

able to utilize specifically for Facebook, the district's activities.

She's been a club coach.

She has a personal goal that she had been working on to visit a club in each of

the 50 United States by the end of June.

Chris has been employed since September 2021 with the Wisconsin Department

of Workforce Development as an employment and training specialist

at the Sheboygan County Job Center.

She's definitely putting her Toastmasters skills to work on a daily basis.

She's been married for over 22 years with her husband Troy.

She doesn't have any kids or pets, but that allows her to enjoy the

vast hobbies that she has, which includes reading, cooking, eating, and

vacationing in Gatlinsburg, Tennessee.

Now, why this is two episodes is because when we set out to record, I never

thought we would be going for over an hour about the various things that she

has done, not only at her job, which has some great information to share, but also

about her Toastmaster's experience we'll get into in part two of this interview.

Today, we're going to focus specifically on the employment and how she's been

able to take her skills to help benefit a wide reaching audience, not just

of people that are from the common denominators of our society, but you

might be just surprised by what she also interacts with on a daily basis.

But with that, Let's start part one of our interview with Kris Pool.

All right.

We have Kris Pool with us today.

Kris, thanks for sharing your heart with us.

My pleasure.

Joshua.

I know that for a fact that being able to get a moment of yours is

something of a little bit of a challenge because you are such an awesome lady,

and full disclosure for our audience.

I've known Chris for several years, through Toastmasters, which yet

again, you get to hear a little bit more about that organization.

Maybe after this episode, you will finally check out a Toastmasters club,

which I'll also put in the show notes how you access it, but Chris, enough

about Toastmasters for a moment.

Yes.

I know that you have been working on a lot of things over the past several

years, and I just want you to tell us a little bit about what you've been doing

in your life because the audience already knows a little bit about yourself, but

what is it specifically that you've been able to achieve maybe in the last five

years or so that you're really proud of?

Oh, that's an interesting question.

Probably my work has been the area that I have had the most

growth, the most development, the most changes happening to me.

I always say I spent four years in prison, and I was actually the warden's

secretary for four years out at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.

It's in Plymouth, Wisconsin.

It is the country club of prisons in Wisconsin; apparently, that's

the nickname from the inmates.

Spent four years there and then I was released to the probation

and parole office in Sheboygan, and I spent about six years there.

Going from the institution to the probation parole office, I had a unique

perspective of those individuals who are being sentenced from court coming

in for probation, and those being released from the prison coming to our

office for meeting with the agents.

One of the issues I'm going say that I had working at the probation office, or for

the Department of Corrections, I did not feel that my skills were fully utilized.

I was the magician.

I did everything.

I get bored easily because I am a very quick, fast, efficient worker, and

that means I get my work done and I will volunteer and "oh, I can do that.

I can do that.

I can do that," which is both good and bad, keeps me busy, takes some of the

work off of the plate from all of our agents, but when I had the opportunity

to move over to the Department of Workforce Development as an employment

and training specialist, all those extra projects that I did, nobody knew

how to do that, and I tried to train.

I had directions written up.

They were at a loss because I just did it, and I did it effortlessly,

and now they had to start picking up the slack, which caused some problems.

In hindsight, I probably should not have done as much as I did, but I needed

to do that to keep myself occupied.

When this opportunity for the employment and training specialist

came up, it was just even a fluke.

Maybe every couple of months I would look at our website, WISC ,wisc.jobs.

That's the listing for our state of Wisconsin, all the employment positions,

all the different divisions and departments within the state, and I

just was playing around and I saw this opening and I do have a few different

requirements when I'm looking for a job.

I want something that I'm going to be challenged in, but not overly taxed.

Driving the commute is one of my big issues, where I could either work and

do some of the job remotely working from home, or it was a short commute time.

I've got some health issues.

The biggest one I have wrist issues.

That's one of my biggest ones.

I have a difficult time holding onto the steering wheel because it

hurts my hand, my right hand to hold onto it, so having a shorter drive

time is a big consideration for me.

I also have issues where if it's more than about a 20 minute drive,

I start to fall asleep regardless of how much I slept during the night.

I get so tired.

When I was working at the probation office, I would help cover down in our

Scoville office frequently; that's about a 30 minute drive, and after 20 minutes

I wanted to pull over and take a nap.

I could not keep my eyes open.

Wow.

Brought that one up to one of my many doctors and he put me

on a pill for narcolepsy, actually-

Mm-hmm.

And I still feel tired, but my eyes are not that droopy.

They have to close type of tired, so I'm able to drive and stay awake.

Even though I feel tired, I'm not as concerned that I will fall asleep

at the wheel, so that part has been eliminated, which is very good.

I want to ask you a few questions about what you were doing

at the prison, because a lot of people have this association that when you

go to prison that your life is over.

You have no hope, you have no chance, and I think the conversation, especially

being myself a state employee over the last decade or so, I've heard a

lot of the conversation and the tone and the words being used changed

significantly as it relates to people being able to reenter the workforce.

You are essentially a employment training specialist with the

Sheboygan County Job Center.

For those that don't know, Kris is in Wisconsin, but Kris, when you were

working with those inmates, maybe indirectly or directly, did you see that

maybe none of them were going to be able to ever succeed, that they were just

going to be stuck in prison forever?

I mean, obviously, that's a obscene question for me because I know

that you've seen people do that.

Sure.

But I'm curious, what have you identified as the most successful

people that leave that area of being in probation or being in the the jail system,

and what do you think have been some of the determining factors to do that?

Is there any insight you could give us?

My personal opinion on this one: majority of the people who are in the

prisons, they are not bad people; they are people who made bad choices, and

those who are the repeat offenders, they are not making that conscious effort

to make positive changes in their life.

Sometimes I have seen individuals, they have come back on probation 4,

5, 6, 7, 12 times, or go back into prison multiple times, and for them,

at some point, there is something that "aha" moment of I need to start making

changes in my life, whether it's now they have a child, they've finally

grown up somebody that they loved, has passed away, something has happened for

them to finally realize they are the ones who are in control of their life.

They are the ones who have to make a positive change.

For those who want to rehabilitate who want to make improvements, there

are so many programs available in the correctional system for them.

In Wisconsin, each of the different institutions and correctional facilities

have different programs available.

When you are sentenced to prison, you go to dodge, and that's kind of the intake

prison, and you spend several weeks there.

Health assessments, dental assessments, mental assessments,

they talk about learning, education, jobs; the interests.

What kind of programs do you need to be in?

Are you a sex offender?

Are you a drug abuser?

You go through different programming, and then based on all of the

information, which I've never been involved in all of that detail,

but that's what I've taken from it.

You are assigned then to a different institution.

If you are interested in culinary arts and cooking, becoming a chef, then

there's one specific institution that is their focus, and they prepare meals.

They learn all the skills that are needed.

There's one that has specifics for automotive and detailing

and auto mechanic; wide variety of different options available.

If you're looking to get your GED, all of the correctional institutions have

schools where you can get your GED.

Most of the prisons are paired up with a technical college program

so that they can graduate with an associates degree in specific areas.

Hmm.

I know at Kettle Moraine, every year we would have a job fair, so we would

bring in 50 to 60 employers who are open to hiring those with a felony background.

Employers get tax credits if they do hire those with a felony background

and most people, it's probably the opposite of what they think.

Those that have that felony background are the ones who normally will

work harder because they want to prove themselves to that employer.

They will go out of their way to make sure that they are on time or early.

They put in the overtime, they've got the positive attitude

because they want to succeed.

I was instrumental in helping with our job fairs and I would do some

one-on-one workshops and trainings.

I would work with the individuals in developing their resumes, so they

would hand write it out, and then we actually had remember one day, I was

one of five individual staff members who would be helping to type up their

resumes, and I had a line of about 20 guys wanting to work with me for their

resume and everybody else had maybe one person in line, because I didn't just

retype what they had written out as I'm going through, I remember one person

he put on his resume, he dug holes.

You can't just put, I dug holes on a resume that, that

does not relate very well.

Yeah.

I said, tell me a little bit more about this: did you

work on a construction crew?

Yes.

Okay, did you use a shovel?

Yes.

Did you use a backhoe?

Yes.

Were you certified to use that backhoe?

Well, of course you have to, otherwise, you're not allowed to use the backhoe,

so it opened up a lot more discussion and we put together this wonderful,

fantastic resume because I was asking those questions and pulling out

answers, they dug holes, that's all that they could think that they did, but

there's so much more involved in that.

I have to say that, for myself, especially working through the business, I

do resume writing and reviews and helping people to be able to expand themselves

as part of this, and it is exactly the same concept, Kris, that we have to not

just look at, well, yeah, I dug holes.

Well, what did you do with those holes?

What was involved with it?

Did you work with other people?

Did you actually achieve something as a result of it?

Was there a cost savings with that sort of digging of the hole?

Why was it a cost savings?

Those are the questions that we often have to flush out that some people

think, "yes, I did this specific responsibility," but because you are

working on what those accomplishments are, that really helps you to stand out.

I want to pivot back on something that you said about having those people come

to you, those 20 people, especially when you are working with a resume, or

even people that you are making that connection with, because for some people

that don't know, Kris, is a great hugger and I've been able to be privileged

to receive some of those hugs once or twice, but you have that contagious

emotion of connection with people that fantastic opportunity to bond with others.

When you are working with people, and you maybe don't even know who they are, and

you have this generation of thought of, "I want to make this person feel pretty

good today," and doesn't necessarily have to be a hug, but what goes through

your mind that makes you feel prompted to do something like that, because I

think that most people don't normally go up and think, "Yeah, I'm going to

make this person feel good today," and I'm not saying that's generative

of all the different types of people-

Mm-hmm.

But, there are a special class of people that are doing

that, and what makes you do that?

I think part of it, especially now in my role as an employment and training

specialist, I get paid to help people build their resumes, but it's more than

that, and it's just a part of who I am and I will react and kind of mirror the, not

necessarily the attitude, but the actions of the individuals coming into our job

center, and I don't make a connection with everyone, and it works out then that my

coworkers can make the connection with those that I can't, but oftentimes it's

a matter of listening to them and asking questions to draw out more information.

We'll have individuals come in, I need a job.

What type of job are you looking for?

Anything, I just need a job.

Anything encompasses a whole lot of stuff.

Okay.

I know that there's a dentist opening across the street.

You want to apply for that?

Well, I can't be a dentist.

You just said you could do anything.

Okay.

I know there's an adjunct instructor position up here.

Well, I can't be a teacher.

Okay.

Let's narrow down what is your, anything that you can do or want to

do, and once we start having that conversation, that dialogue, that

opens up more of where I can try and gear them towards four specific jobs

and then that helps to focus how we're going to build their resume as well.

If it's somebody who wants to transition to something different, I

have a different approach for them.

If they're coming from the factory, they want to move into an office

position, we have to approach their resume in a different way.

I will have, I've got several people who come in, "I just was released today."

Most people, when you hear that phrase, would not know what that actually means.

That means it's a Tuesday, they just got released from prison today and their

first stop was coming to the job center.

That tells me they are the type of person they want to make positive

changes in their life if they go from prison to the job center.

Boom.

Most times those are the ones that come in.

I need to find a job.

I need some help with housing.

I do need to get on food share and healthcare.

All right.

When job is their number one priority because they need to have stable

employment so that they can be comfortable with using these other services.

Others have a different perspective: I need food share.

I need healthcare.

I need housing and rental assistance.

I need a job, because for them, they need those basic needs satisfied

before they can have the confidence to get a job and maintain a job.

You approach everyone a little bit differently.

I have one person, any kind of suggestion that I would offer to him,

he would, just, almost, I felt like he was attacking me and from the first

moment he walked in, I need help.

I need unemployment.

All right.

We need, I'll be getting you the forms.

This one, this one, this one.

Do you have a current resume?

No, I don't need a resume.

Okay.

Are you going to be looking for jobs?

Well, yeah.

Then do you have a resume?

I told you I don't need a resume.

Okay.

Just from the response I back off then come to find out, yeah, he

needs to build a resume, but he was convinced he had worked at one

position or one company for 10 years.

Any employer would see he had 10 years of experience at one

company, they're gonna hire them.

Boom.

No, it's more than that, and it took him over a year and a half and three jobs

that he did get, and he either walked out or he was let go within a week and

a half, because it's more than just working for one company for 10 years.

Attitude as a big part of it, wanting to learn, wanting to change

because things are different.

What would you say to somebody then that would be having that attitude

or that mindset of, "I don't think that you are going to help me to where

I need to go," because I often come across that a lot, especially with

clients that I work with or try to work with, and they're simply not ready.

What is your approach, especially for even people coming from that background where

they were released, how do you address that type of, I don't want to say,

deficiency, because I think that it's just an understanding or having an awareness

and some people don't have that awareness.

Mm-hmm.

How do you bring about that in a positive, professional sort of way?

What's the best tact if you can describe how you take that approach?

Sure.

Some of it is, the explanation of how you apply for jobs, how you

interview, that process has changed over the last 10, 15, 20 years.

It's not where you make one resume, you make a hundred copies, you send

it all out, the exact same thing.

You do need to customize that resume.

That resume is that initial marketing tool pulls in that first employer say,

Ooh, I need to bring that person in so I can meet them in person and get to

know them so I can determine, yes, this is who I want to hire and work for me.

Some of these individuals, they don't see that.

They don't understand the importance of the resume or the importance of

explaining what you have been able to do.

The person who had worked at the same company for 10 years, this company

has eight different divisions: , Well, what did you do there?

It was pulling teeth to try and find out what department, what division he actually

worked in, what different lines did he do, because he didn't think any of that

was important, and after a while when he would come in, he was my kryptonite.

The other, my coworkers, they would work with him instead, because they

had a different relationship with him that they were able to somewhat

connect with him than I could.

I did have, I want to say my outbursts, one day with him as after

about a year and my outburst, I was very quiet and calm, and I told

him, I said, "I'm very worried."

I said, "you continue to ask the same questions every single week when

you come in here, and I'm giving the answers, all the coworkers are giving

the same answers, but you're not remembering, you're not retaining.

I don't know if it's because you don't want to remember this information because

you have a certain thought process."

I said, "I'm worried because I don't know how to help you anymore because

I have given you all of the different suggestions, all the different ideas

that have worked for other individuals, but because you seem to not want to

take the ideas and suggestions, I don't know what to do anymore with

you or how I can help you anymore."

It wasn't because you gave up on them or anything at all.

It definitely doesn't sound like that.

You and others have been working so hard to try to instill this in this person,

but they are just not ready to accept it.

Yeah, and it was funny because a little bit after that, I had left for

lunch, and my coworker came up to me after lunch and he said, you know, this person

asked him what was wrong with me today.

Wow.

Wow.

Oh my gosh, and all along and think, you know, because of the

different questions that he kept asking, I wanted to ask him, "Can he read?

Is he literate?", but I can't ask that one, and I did find out now in the

last two months, he is dyslexic because he actually came in, asked me to help

fill out a paper application form, because he kept coming over, well, what

does it mean by, what does this mean?

What does this mean?

"Okay, did I fill out all these questions?," and he would miss different

ones, or what should I be writing?

Based on that, he is dyslexic, and because I found out later, he did finally

apply for DVR, division of Vocational Rehabilitation, they help all individuals

with so many different disabilities, and it's not just physical ones.

If there's mental, there's diabetes, asthma, amputation,

stroke, and so many different types of disabilities DVR works with.

He did get that job that I helped him with that application.

It's been about three or four weeks now.

I'm very excited.

I haven't heard that he's come back at all, but one of the questions I

had asked him when we were filling out this application, " What does the

company do?", because his focus was, it is a five minute walk from his house.

I love that.

What do they do?

Well, I think they make socks or something, I don't know if they're,

if, if they're interest or then I said, have you done any research

on the company, because that's one of the things we always promote.

You need to research the company; is this a company that you want to work for?

Do they make products or do they have the same values of what you believe in?

What is their culture like?

Are you going to be a fit with them?

Are they going to be a fit for you?

His response was, "well, if they're interested in me,

they'll tell me what they do."

When you have somebody that says that, and they are saying, "yeah,

well, I know that I'm important and they're going to tell me what I want

because I'm the one in control."

How do you, how do you start to shift that mindset, because obviously we know

that going in with that sort of mindset is not going to help you get any money

from them, because that is not, that is in effect, changing the conversation

to, "I don't need a job from you.

I'm the one that you need to employ because I'm the one

that has the most worth."

I'm not saying that that's not a good mindset-

Mm-hmm.

When it comes to certain jobs, but maybe I would say for a good 85, 90% of

jobs, it does not work that way especially when you're trying to convince, out of

a pool of applicants, that you are the standout candidate that they should hire.

How do you stop them from going down that path?

It depends on that individual, so for this person, I knew there

was not going to be anything I say that's going to change his mind.

I just dropped it; I did let DVR know this was his perspective.

He said, "well, because DVR, they'll help me get the job anyway."

He thinks that it's going to be given to him on a silver platter,

and I gave DVR that heads up that this is what we had talked about.

There are some people you can tell that they're open.

They don't realize that things have changed, and when I start talking

about researching the company, because they're going ask you, "Well,

what do you know about our company?"

in an interview, practicing some of those interview questions.

You have to be prepared as a job seeker, and job seekers

don't necessarily realize that.

It's a lot of work to find work and you kind of have to

play off of how that person is.

If they're open to your feedback, open to those suggestions, sometimes it is a

process and you have to do baby steps.

I know I'm the type of person, I just want to give you everything all at one time.

I do that work, I do that in Toastmasters, and I really have to pull myself back

because I expect everyone to be at the same level where I am, my same thought

process of this is what is important so I have to take care of this.

Not everyone is there.

I always have to look at each individual and see where they are

of how much I can push for them.

I've had a couple individuals come in.

They lost their job that morning and they come straight in, "I

need to apply for unemployment.

I need to work on a resume.

I need to find a job."

Well, by the time they get that third sentence out, they are in tears because

they are this, there's so much grief, there's so much to process, and I've

told those people, I said, you're, we're not doing anything today.

You are not in the frame of mind.

I said, these are some of the things I want you to work on over the next

couple of days, come back, then we can start working on your resume.

Then, we can start working on this.

You need to just take some time, get your head wrapped around this

situation because this is a huge loss.

If you just were terminated from a position through your

fault or not your fault.

It's a huge thing to comprehend.

We have workshops on job loss strategies.

You're going through those five stages of grief if you've lost a loved one.

Same thing happens when you've lost your job.

I'll try and relate.

When I had lost my job, I was unemployed for three months.

I thought, whew, I'll get a job right away.

Not a big deal.

It took over a year and a half to find my full-time position.

I found a temp job in the meantime, but it's a lot to take in, and it

was a lady and I sent her away and she came back the following week.

We worked on her resume.

She got a job within a week or two, because at that point then when

she came back, she was in a frame of mind to accept the suggestions

and information I was sharing.

She was ready to put in the work that was needed, and I love when that happens.

I love the success stories.

I had one gentleman, and he had had a stroke.

He had very limited use of the left side of his body, and so I did a lot

of the typing and application entry for him, which we're not supposed

to do, but I worked with him four or five months, and then he got a

temp position, and then after three months they hired him on full-time.

Every couple months he would stop back in just to say hi, give an update,

how he's enjoying the work, pretty much doing everything one-handed.

He's keeping up with everyone else, and it was a fast-paced situation.

I love hearing those success stories.

You have said a lot when it has come to the realm of vocational

rehabilitation, which is something that I have worked in myself for a number of

years working with blind entrepreneurs, and you also touched on a lot of personal

stories about some of those people that have come through your services or

even started to work on what that next reality is for them, especially with

all the things that they have going on.

I want to ask you this.

What are two things that you would recommend to somebody, whether they are

going through a difficult time, whether they were just released from prison

and they happen to find this podcast, if they were going through a traumatic

situation in which they've had to relocate, what are the top two things

that they should do starting today that would help them to get to the next step?

I should caveat by saying that this should be relating to the job searching process,

so even getting to an application.

Sure.

I think having the positive mindset, and knowing that

things have changed over time.

You need to have basic computer skills.

You can't always rely on what you have done in the past.

Things have changed technology-wise, the way that businesses work, what

they are producing nowadays, what your role within a company is, being

open-minded to knowing that things have changed, I think is number one.

Number two would be to learn new skills, because the more skills

that you have, especially those soft skills, those interpersonal skills,

the ones that help you to develop the relationships that you are going

to need when you are in a new job.

Those are the two things to think about and be most aware of.

What a great part one of my interview with Kris where we really

focused on not just the job skills that are important for someone be

able to grow, but I loved her personal stories that she connected with as

it related to the candidates and the people that would come through the

door throughout her job that she has currently, but how it easily transferred

over from the things that she was doing while she was locked up in prison.

Folks, if you were missing the joke, she was not ever in jail; she worked at a

jail as a result of her employment, and I found that to be incredibly awesome to

hear because of not just the ways that we often think about prisoners and after

they are serving their term, going back in the workforce, we're thinking that

maybe they have no opportunity, no skills, they are just going to be really tough

to retrain and get into the workforce.

These are people that are the hardest working and have built back whatever

they had lost as a result of some of the mistakes that had happened.

Maybe that might have been of their fault, maybe that had have been of their fault.

But nevertheless, they have been able to move forward.

Now, if you are in the Wisconsin area, Kris did leave a link with me

for the job center of Wisconsin that if you are in Wisconsin you need any

help, you can check out their website, jobcenterofwisconsin.com; I'll put it in

the show notes, and they have resources not only for those that are in the area,

but even if you're looking for any sort of training or any sort of opportunity, this

is a great website to check out even as somebody that might not even have anything

to do with the state of Wisconsin.

I really loved Kris's story about all the things that she has been through in

a medical perspective, because sometimes even having some of those difficulties,

you have to find a way inwardly to work through them and we've had guests on

this show already that have talked about their vast experiences and been able

to overcome them as a result of that.

It wasn't just about the things that she was giving us tips, it was about her

personality, her approach to this, and I really enjoyed that she was able to

change all the things about, not just the people that were coming through the

door and that we were trying to always make positive strides in our life to

go in that right direction, but she said something that was really keen

for me, which is to find something that unlocks them, and we've been talking

in a lot of various episodes about that potential that is within somebody.

Something that is so dormant that sometimes it's even hard for us to

find out, what can we do to go from the point A that we're at right

now to move on to the point B?

I really loved how she took that personality and how she takes that

opportunity for people that are going through such a hard time and is

willing to apply herself to help them get to the next step, so much so that

she has people lining up to see her.

What a great person to be able to know, who is just so contagious with her

personality and positivity that you want to go up and listen to them, and that's

the key is that we have to find ourselves to listen to people so that we can create

that value, and sometimes realizing those things and having the opportunity to be

able to listen is a challenge in itself.

It does require active listening, as some of my other guests have mentioned.

I love Kris' point of view when it comes to not just dealing with that, but also

realizing that things have changed in the world and what used to work maybe 10 or

20 years ago doesn't always work at the same time, at the same place, in the same

manner as maybe things are working today.

Nobody's entitled to anything.

You always have to show your worth because people don't

necessarily know what that is.

I know that for a fact.

Listen to me, on a podcast, trying to show you that I have confidence,

relationships, and determination to change the world as we view it using our voice.

I know, I stitched that all together in one nice package about my whole entire

business, Your Speaking Voice, but that's what it takes is having that opportunity

of a lifetime to prove yourself, to showcase what you truly are, and

doing it in as little time as you can, because some people don't have enough

time to do that, and time is precious.

It's not to subject anybody and put them down into another category.

It's just that for many of us, we can embellish.

We can show what we can do, given all the tools that we have, and if we had infinite

amount of time, we could show that throughout the vast experiences that we

have lived on this earth, whether that's been for 20, 30, 40, so on and so forth.

All those different year combinations, all those different decades; each of

us bring something unique to the table, but we also have to be prepared to

not only address what we are qualified to do, but the people that are on the

other side of the table have to also be ready for the questions and answers

that you are going to respond to.

That's why they are looking for somebody that is unique.

Don't ever take that for granted.

Sometimes just getting over that aspect of feeling like you are nervous and afraid

can be the very first step in showcasing all of those different opportunities,

which for my business, I do offer resumes.

I do offer interview preparation.

I do offer confidence building, but the problem is, I can give you all these

things, but if I draw a line in the sand and I ask you to step forward knowing

that you have to take responsibility for some of the work that you're going to

put into it, are you going to put it in?

Are you going to be some of those people that have been released from prison

and they're ready to take things on?

If you are a listener that has been in prison, I have to say that I have

the utmost respect for you because it isn't just the fact that you have gone

through some of the things that you have endured and come on the other side being

a different type of person, but you have shown yourself to be somebody that

you never thought possible after going through the experiences that you have.

I'm proud.

I'm honored, and I enjoy the conversation that I had with Kris as a result of that

and getting to understand more about what some of those people go through.

Now, I have to say, that sometimes that even if you have all those

things ahead of you, addressing the steps ahead are the most important.

If you're able to do that, nothing is impossible.

We'll continue this conversation in part two of episode 12, which

will air tomorrow, but until then, thanks for listening to Speaking

From The Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.

Thanks for listening.

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