Today we will be talking about the importance of loving what you do and why getting up every day excited about the day is so good for your well being and your long term health. Enjoy the show!

SPEAKERS

Phyllis Pieri, Carolyn,

Carolyn, I am so excited that you're here. To do you justice, I must read your bio. So Carolyn has purposefully and passionately guided, taught, inspired and mentored 1000s of business leaders in organizations since 1992. Her commitment is to always live above the line, be self aware, curious, I love that word curious, open minded and intentional as a speaker, consultant, coach and community builder. She supports conscious inspired leaders to go after their vision and dreams make a bigger impact in the world and be purpose prosperous. That's all mission are to bring love back to business and is truly this prospering power for every business to succeed. She is also the co founder of grand connection. And that's where I met Carolyn. And so Carolyn, welcome. I am so glad you're here. Thank you. Thank you for coming. So tell us a little bit about Carolyn, and why don't we start with the grand connection so that people have a better understanding of how you and I met?

Absolutely. And Phyllis, I just want to say I am thrilled about this podcast, I just want to start there before I go into the ground connection. I think this timing is is absolutely brilliant. And I know that women out there that are looking for something to be meaningful and purposeful and connected to that you are the resource woman, you are ready to support them. So I'm very excited about this podcast, and, and being on this podcast. So my name is Carolyn Cooper McHugh it. And I want to say that Phyllis and I met through a community that I have been building with my partner, Susan gerima. We taught business planning at a college, you know, 26 years ago, I've been supporting businesses for over 40 years to write your business. If you're in it for this long, let me tell you why I do love it. And the ground connection is a very unique community that we bring business skills, education, and some of the biggest speakers from around the world to teach small business. We have had over 6000 businesses since COVID, when we formed come through the ground connection. And from 35 countries. I mean, it was honestly Phyllis a divine download standing at the Grand Canyon. And I just saw this community I felt it. And you know, Susan, and I came together to serve these businesses. And it's been an amazing ride. Yes, in the last three years, you know, and we're on a mission to really have a community that cares. three core values are connect, create, and collaborate on the foundation of grant giving, which means that we have to serve first have to support other businesses first, build that meaningful strategic alliances, which that's what we've done over the time since I met you.

Absolutely yeah,

I know. Now I'm on your podcast, and who knows what else is going to happen? I mean, honestly, the opportunities people listen to me and hear my words. The opportunities for your business, you know can be global. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And to have people around you that lift you up that know richer you that guide you bring you the resources you need, that apps are the solutions to the problems that you have. You know, that is what a community does. And it's we welcome everybody to come, you know, to to events for free. And it's, it's an extraordinary community of businesses that are really eager to grow, but also a willingness to be a leader role within the community to support each other. It's grand connection.ca. And everybody's welcome. Got that on here somewhere. Yeah.

Yeah, I'll put it up. I'll put the link up. There we go. Thank you. You bet. So, Carolyn, you know, it's interesting, when I first joined you at the Grand connection, COVID It hit and you know, my world, like so many people took a left turn, and we were all kind of scrambling around trying to figure out what to do, right. And I've taken a really stretch my arms out, and there's so much going on in my world. And I've gone from my narrow world of just my franchise space, which I absolutely adore. And realizing that there are other people that can support my franchise people. And I had it I had tunnel vision for a long time about it was just them and you sell them the franchise, and then you know, the support, and everything's comes from the franchisor. Well, those poor people, they can only do so much, right. So, and over the last few years, I've learned the beauty of having community and you know, all of that. So I will be having a Facebook group and a private Facebook group coming up. And, and I'm really excited about the things that are coming forward and it spawning out of, you know, it's you said curiosity, and I love the word curiosity. I love that. I also love the word willingness. So and then the key topic we're talking about actually is all about love. So tell me, Carolyn, because you are a firm believer in loving what you do, and I am to so share with our audience what it is about loving your business that you've discovered over the years has been so very important.

Oh, it's everything, okay? It's absolutely every element of everything. So, so I'm gonna give you a couple pieces that you can percolate and think about. So you you need to find the purpose and the passion within your business to find those two places. Now, you have to look within for this. It's not an external exploration here. It's looking within and where you find the juice and the joy of your business. Mm hmm. Well, it's it's about having this deep commitment. Oh, there's my dog.

Resistant is asking for something.

Yeah, well, it's Tucker.

Come on. Come on, Tucker, you could be part of the show. There we go. Now you're happy.

So the truth is that we have home businesses. That's right, new. And if you want to find the love you have in your business, it allows you the success you create with your business, when you dial in your purpose and your passion. And then you get to spend more time with, you know, your friends and your family and nature and the things that you love. So the love in business, I think people have to find out what they love about their business, but they also need to love how they serve their clients.

Mm hmm. Yes, I agree. Totally.

You know, you have to figure out your unique Oh, dear. I want to pause for two seconds and let you chat on. I'm going to let him out of my office right now.

Yes, mine are in the garage and the car they are is their kennel. Anyway, so welcome to podcasting and welcome to live recording. And you know what, I have two dogs, I finally decided to put them in my garage in the car. My trainer tells me that they think it's a kennel. So I'm not being abusive to them. But you know, we live in an authentic world. And one thing you'll know about me, I'm very authentic, and I just roll with the punches. So I'll tell you a funny story. While we're waiting. I was doing a webinar one day, and I had a new Mac. I'm telling him a quick story. I had an iMac, I'm in the middle of this training and we're online and all of a sudden I hit a key and I appear with three of my girlfriends in a bathing suit at the beach. Oh lovely hotkeys on my Mac. I got rid of all those hotkeys. So Carolyn, welcome back.

You know what the truth here's the truth. And that, to me, love is truth. If you're going to look at your business, you have to look at your strengths. And you have to look at your limitations Absolutely. Find people out there that can fill in the gaps where you have limitations. And you have to really step up and be bold and be courageous and be willing to stretch out of your comfort zone to really let those strengths shine. And when you do, I guarantee you, you will be prosperous, I guarantee you. It is a personal and professional development journey. Yep. Yes. You can vouch for that. Yes. However, if you've been in business for a year, now, two years, it doesn't matter. It's, you know, I mean, it's having this abundant mindset.

Yes. But abundance is so important. Yeah.

And it's letting go of those limiting beliefs and those distractions, who can stay focused on what matters most, which is serving your clients from your highest self?

Well, you know, Carolyn, I think the other thing too, that I find, and when I've, I've been asked to be in some compilation books, so they've given me certain things that they wanted me to think about. And one of the things I realized, in doing kind of that exercise of doing some thinking back about my life was I had, I always had a lot of willingness, people would ask me if I wanted to do something, and I'd say yes. And I wonder, you know, I've often wondered what my life would be like, if I hadn't done that. Because I've had so many fabulous experiences, because I have been willing, and I kind of feel like, you know, God gives us a door, he opens a door, and you get a choice. You can either go through the door and see what's on the other side, or you can stay back here and stay stuck. I'm a firm believer have gone through the door always have always will. It's been, it's been a bumpy road. And it's been exciting. But you know, my grandmother called me when I was 20 years old, newly married. I had been married for about a year, I think. And she said, Honey, it's really important for you to learn something new every day. Absolutely. And I have carried that my whole life. I'm a, I'm a voracious learner. I'm always trying to learn new things, and always out there seeking. And it served me very well. But I think in today's world, especially Oh, my God, everything is right here.

And there's so much there's so much. There's so much confusion. There's so much Instagram, there's so much facebook, watch LinkedIn, Google, everything, and people are confused, I have to be honest with you. And they tend to go down certain paths that don't work out, and then they lose their faith. Yes. So you know, when you talk about opening doors, I mean, my business, the symbol of inspired business development is a key, because of the key that opens the doors to opportunity. Yes, we need to make the decision in our business that we want to grow. And we have to be willing to surrender to what is, which is exactly what you just said, Yeah. And people will say, Oh, this is happening, okay, this is great. I'm gonna have to let go of that. That's really not working, what am I going to do instead. So that's why I think you need a community, you need a coach, you need support, you need someone who has been down that path before you, to support you, to guide you and to nurture you. So you have to find a competent, more blase, more bold, and more courageous. Because this position of willingness that you suggested, the next level, on this map of consciousness, which I love by David R. Hawkins, in the book called letting go the pathway to surrender is this is that when you come to that place of willingness, you have an open mind. Hmm, that's right. You're being curious and thinking, I wonder, I wonder what can be. And then you accept the radical responsibility of pursuing those dreams, those visions and those goals? Yeah, when you do that, it's kind of like this whole new world opens up. Absolutely. You know, we started out at the Grand connection people, with 18 people coming to our events. And we talked just Susan and I, just serving the world for the first year contributing to businesses around the world and then more people came then more businesses came And then more and more. And then Susan said, We got to turn this into a membership idea. So she a membership site. And then, you know, I mean, to have 6000 businesses come through our events at the Grand connection is like miracle material people. Yes, yeah. Yeah, only three years ago that Susan and I standing beside each other at the Grand Canyon. So the piece that I want to deposit today about loving what you do, you have to know that something is percolating, uh, huh. Wants to be communicated with you with your business, but you have to be really ready for it. Feel that opportunity is coming, because I knew something was coming. I didn't know what was in that moment. I went, Ah, that's it.

You know, when you said, you got a download that reminded me I had a gal, I'm in another group. And she reached out to me and she's got a book that she just that she wrote. And it was what she called a download. She said, I just got this download of this book. And it's putting God first in your business. And I've I started reading it yesterday, I'm going to take it up to our Saddleback Church, and talk to the pastor up there about, you know, maybe doing a Bible study or something, because she's got some really good material in there. And, you know, so it's those things that well, I

Need in this story, too. Okay, good, please. My mom was 93 passed away. Wow. So we met every Sunday for three hours writing a book called The grant connection, your pay? No. And I would, she couldn't see very well. So I'd have my laptop and the font would be this big. And we would take certain scriptures from the Bible, we would take certain principles, philosophies, guidelines, foundations in there. I was bringing God to business. And she'd say, No, Carolyn, it can't be written that way. And I said, Well, how should it be written mum, my mum passed away March 27, two years ago, so that's two days ago, now two years. And my dream is to write that book and share her principles and concepts of bringing God into business. So guess what bringing love back to business is? That's right. It's God. Because to me, God is love. And we are all being called. Yes, really show up, step up and speak up. Uh huh. So in our businesses, so, you know, a lot of people have some, some insecurities around this some resistance to this yet. I think it's becoming more and more vocal and visual, and people are accepting this kind of love is really how we have to serve our clients.

Yep. And it is about serving others. I mean, it's, you know, doing what you can to help other people. And, you know, you and I are both, you know, you and I are both kindred souls. I mean, that's what we love doing is being of service to other people. And that's what makes me happy. So, Carolyn, tell me about one of the most rewarding moments you've had, I'm just going to stay with the Grande connection over the last three years with the Grande connection.

I would say I've had many of them. I'll give you the flavor of what it feels like. Okay, so we have people you don't haven't been to an event yet, but we welcome you to so we have, you know, usually at our bigger events, we have between 80 to 120 people on Zoom. So I have the honor of holding the space for these people of inspiring these people to be courageous, to be bolder in their business to take action to form relationships, meaningful relationships with other businesses. You know, there's many times that I have just paused at an event, looked at both my big 27 inch screens and had all these people connected to me. Reflecting back to me, all the love that I am projecting to them. It is eautiful it is it's sacred to me. And you know, I think that rang connection, this this incredible opportunity that I have to serve this community is all about that from realize that when we intentionally put out that energy of love, it becomes a mirror. It reflects right back to us. So, you know, many in the bigger events one on one, it has taught me more confidence than I mean, I was a motivational speaker for years and years and spoke on stages in front of 1000s of people. I would run programs I you know, but this on Zoom feels so, right. And so good. And people think on Zoom, you cannot connect with people. Guess what?

Oh, you can?

Totally, totally. Yeah, with your heart. I mean, some I've met a few of the people at the ground connection in person. And they say, and they give me a hug. And I said, Well, we've had more No, we happened.

Like it, right? Yes, I was at an event. I think it was like maybe in October, and I ran into Kimberly Crowe. And I went up, gave her a big hug. herbage kind of looked at me. And I went, it's fellas joy, oh, my God. But it was so funny, because she was rather taken aback by that. But I felt like, you know, I should hug her because I've been on I've been in her, you know, play house several times and felt like I really knew her. So you

know, I mean, people are talking about this time of not being alone of being lonely thinking you have to run your business by yourself that you have to run our franchise by yourself. It's not true. It is not true at all. There is so many resources and people out there that have an open mind and open heart that are smarter than you that know, things that you don't know, that are willing to share those things, and that it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg or a foot. I mean, honestly, I no longer have to spend $10,000 for this or you know, 20,000 for that. It's not true. Again, you know, but it's not true. You know,

I've had, I've talked with so many people. And, you know, obviously a lot of people decide that franchising isn't the right model for them. And the thing that I'm really excited about is now after the last three years of meeting all these wonderful people, now I have resources for people. So if they figure that franchising isn't the right direction for them to go, now I can refer them to people like you and to the ground connection and, you know, get them set up with some resources and people like I've been doing some work with Steve Brosman. And, and I met Steve on the grand connection. No, he's fabulous. My Ozzie buddy, and we have more fun.

Yeah. You know, and that's a really important piece for that I want to land for people what Phyllis just said and that is that Phyllis is not only a franchisee support system, coach, everything strategist, but she's also a connector of connectors. So she is telling you that if you have an issue, a problem or an obstacle within your franchise that you want to talk to Phyllis because she has a huge resource in the bank of specialists that she trusts that she believes in that she wholeheartedly can recommend to you. So it's not even about her.

Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. Well, you know, what they? Well, my mom had a friend and they had a statement, which I love, and it's cast bread upon the water, and it comes back and sandwiches.

That's totally funny.

Yeah. I love that.

My aunt's phrase to she used to say all the time that what we give, we reap the tenfold harvest.

Yeah, same idea. And recently,

what's been, you know, how there's certain phrases that that you're learning and that you're just implementing and letting land for yourself? So it's this one, I only get to keep what I give to myself, and when I give to others. Oh, I

like that.

That's all. You know, I mean, when you get into your 60s, which I am, and, you know, you start to realize that this concept of self care is very, very important. We don't know how long we have here. That's right. Yeah, we don't, we really don't. And, and to me, it's about honoring oneself. So I can serve from my highest self. So whether that be to my family, my four legged friend Tucker, who is fine, no, thank you, for the community I serve, or my individual clients and groups that I teach. So it's really important to think about that I have passionately incorporated many self care and honoring processes in the am and the pm that serve me to be grounded and energetic and confident. And so it's really made a massive difference in my life.

Well, you know, it's interesting. One of the things that's on my agenda is I'm going to do a women's retreat. Grant, I'm really excited about it. Because women in franchising, typically, they are so busy being busy and working, and they never take care of themselves. And so I really want to it's really on my heart put together a women's retreat, and I'll have some guest speakers will

be there, girl. Honestly, I had to learn how to do this. I have always been a grant giver. I have yet I didn't give to myself enough. So I get tired, burnt out. Exhausted. Yeah. Not not often leave. But I still would. And since I've incorporated self care, not once.

Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I had a coach. I think it was last year. And she said, Phyllis, you need to design a, what did she call a delicious morning routine. And I just love that a delicious morning routine, I thought, what is that going to look like? So my delicious morning routine is getting my coffee getting in my chair, both dogs jump right on me with their blanket. And you know, I do my reading and I do some meditation, and I do some journaling. And that has really, really helped me and you know, sometimes I get responsive writing, I'll just say, Okay, God, what does he want me to do? And then all of a sudden, my hand just starts going. So you know, who knows? It's kind of fun.

I think that having a morning routine. It's based on the artists way Julia Cameron, which I who I love, she looks like a Marilyn Monroe with bright red lipstick. And she's in her 80s. And she's so comfortable in her own skin girls. Oh, my goodness. So I was inspired by her a couple years ago. So I get up in the morning. And we can she recommends to write from your soul. The first 45 minutes you get up audience clean and pure and truth. So I call it my right my my writings and sacred truths. So I write every morning to Phyllis. And Mike starts with dearest God. Yep, me too. So that's what works. And I write one page. And then I share that with the people that are closest to me to inspire them. And I receive wonderful love coming back to me too. The other thing that I do is I make sure that I get into nature for 30 to 45 minutes and hate my dog and listen to incredible books. Love audiobooks.

Yeah, I do, too. I'm a big audio book person.

I get so weird. So I'm into one right now that I'm crazy about. I think I'm actually even going to do a book club about this one. This is so good. It's called the 15 commitments to conscious leadership. Oh, that

sounds awesome.

It is. It is incredible. I just found it. And people have told me Have you read that book? What you're talking about is in that book. I said, No, I have not read that book. Oh, so I feel like I've come home with this book. I feel like it's everything for me is creating conscious inspired leaders. That's my jam. That's my juice. And to bring your gifts, your talents and your expertise, you know, in your franchise, you got to figure that out. You got to figure out what that is what stands out in your market, how people the reason they say yes to you the reason come back to you, all of that. So I think I'm going to do that with this.

I think that's great. You know, it's interesting. I was thinking this morning, actually when I was in my prayer meditation time, and I was reading that new book too. And I was thinking about how I come up with Different companies to introduce to people. And I know that it's God inspired. I mean, there, I mean, companies will just pop in my head, and I'll go, oh, wow, that will be a great fit. So you know, none of this is happening by accident. And I'm I'm part of it is say I listen.

Well and curious, my darling, I love intriguing. I do and I get, I get, I'd get exactly the same thing. And the other thing I want to invite people to do is this, I call it truth, marketing. So this is interesting. So this is part of my program. And so what that is, is when you are inspired, or you're thinking of someone, you have that connection, send an email, connect them, yes. The second part of it is to reach out to people and appreciate them, from your heart, from your soul. And from your spirit. I've already done it. I did it four times this morning. And while when I got back, so it's it's about building those authentic, genuine heart felt relationships. So when they think of a business development coach, that they're going to recommend to their clients who they're going to think about, they're going to think about me, of course, yeah, because I've shared my love and appreciation and gratitude, whether it be the email they sent out, whether it be a post on LinkedIn, whether it be their newsletter that they just shared, whether it be that I you know, love their branding, I love your branding here with it with this. Do I told you that? So it's really important to share appreciation and gratitude on what you receive? Yes. Because it will come back to you as a 10 fold harvest, I promise. Absolutely.

Free. Yeah. You know, oh, this has been fabulous. Fabulous. Fabulous. Okay, and I have to do a, I have to do a plug, I apologize. But what about my iniquity consider a franchise book. So I'm very excited, I did make it to number one. So I'm very happy about that people can buy it on Amazon. So that's been really, really fun. And I think Suzy proven with itty bitty publishing for helping me make that all happen. So, um,

Can I ask you a question about your book? Of course, I remember when you're getting that book together. I know. Yeah. Number you having this extraordinary vision of completion on that bungle? So I just have a question for you, what was the gift for you in creating that book and completing it?

One was the completion of it. Being an add girl, I have a lot of unfinished projects. This last year, though, I was able to accomplish my book getting finished, you know, creating and getting my podcast going. And there was one other thing I did, oh, and I've taken the book, and I've created a program out of it. Actually, this first time back talking about it, but yeah, I've taken the book and created a program. So not only do I help people find the right franchise, but I really have a program where they can really get a lot of more detailed information. And I'm going to be doing weekly coaching calls with those, to take it, take it more so that, you know, it's more of developing that relationship. And, you know, I'm a member of my local chamber here, and I have small business owners that I work with and help and they love the work that I the things that I come up with. And you know, it's funny I anyway, I so I mixed Sam growing and expanding,

while also I'm thinking that surface contribution you're giving to franchisees. So it's whether they're existing, or whether they're curious, a sense of wonder on well, you know, maybe I can have a franchise, maybe I can sink my teeth into something that's meaningful, and feel really great every day and have my own business. I can say I love franchise, I've done a lot of business planning with franchises to have, you know, yet I think franchise supports you so much with the system, the process, it helps you become successful so much faster than me invent it yourself. Also having your support with all these 40 years of experience. So anything that pops up, you'll have a solution for and it's just wise choices.

Yeah, you know, it's funny, because I've had such a varied life with associations with many The amazing franchise brands and with, you know, I remember when I was asked to train people how to do what I do, and I thought, I just do it, you know, it's like I had great training, which I was very grateful for. But then when you have to write and you're a teacher, so you get this, and I didn't, but, but when I had to think about, I had to really be conscious of the things that I would say, because I would just say them, because they just, they're just natural for me, right? So I had to really think about all of that. But in doing that, I was able to really, and that's part of what the books all about, too, as I was able to really dig in and think about every step of the way, and what they needed to look for, and how would help and so forth.

You know, I just think books are some of the most incredibly powerful tools to learn. But also the people that wrote the books, if they have the answers for you, you need to connect with them.

Amazing. All right. So I have one more question for you. Okay. What is your best business advice that you would give to somebody that's in business, and they're really wanting to take it up a notch? What would you suggest?

Well, network? Yeah, is because your business, you only know what you know, you don't even know what you don't know, you don't even know that you don't know what you don't know. That's right. So you have to step outside your comfort zone, you have to step outside, even if it's geographical, you got to connect with other like minded community members that are willing and open to support you. So you have to find I always say in networking, you have to find your home, you got to find the community that you can form a strategic Power team. I mean, this is where we're going deep. And why the ground connection, our focus is to teach businesses at the member mingles as well as some of the other events that we got percolating is to teach businesses how to look for find and choose between four to six other power hour partners, production, Dziedzic alliances, because when you can have those setup, it can be a constant flow of business. You know, some people think, well, I don't really want to go online, virtually. You know, what changed your mind on that, please? Yeah, totally. Yeah. You can learn things there, you can still follow through and incorporate them in your city. So if you have a florist franchise, and you're in your florist shop, you only know what you know, you only know what the franchisee is teaching you. You only know about your past experience. Yep, participating in a community and learning new skills, new strategies. Powerful, new, really powerful that you can take and percolate and fine tune your way of serving your clients, following up with your clients hear everything, marketing, in the sales, everything. So can I just say that our events are curated every month. So they build on each other? We have themes each month from January to December. So if you go to our website, you can see that but to me, it's forming those strategic power teams, whether you come to our community, whether you go to another community, whether you collaborate and create, be the leader to don't wait for someone else to do it. You got to do it yourself. So maybe you join with four or five other franchisee, leaders, you know, across the nation, across Canada, across the US and Europe, whatever it is, and come together to create solutions and bigger visions and bigger dreams and be prosperous.

Yes. You know, it's interesting because, you know, the best ideas come from the franchise owners. I mean, and so the franchisors want, they want their ideas after they've spent the first year with their head down, learning the systems. And then they can go ahead and offer great ideas but first they need to, you know, roll up their sleeves and understand the process and get it all dialed in. So anyway, well Carolyn, thank you so very much. This has been so much fun, and I so appreciate you now I'm going to have show notes in here. So I will make sure if you have a special link that you want them to go to You so they could go check out the grand connection or any information you want me to put in the show notes, just send those over to me. And I'll make sure that people can

value that. That would be wonderful. And we have an amazing event tomorrow. I don't Is this going out? Right away?

It's live streaming right now. Okay, perfect.

So we have an incredible event tomorrow, that is all about collaboration through community. Nice. At the grand connection, we have mixers where we bring another community to our community and their members. So you get to meet and in breakout rooms is going to be fantastic. So that event all all share with you that link to when we get off your fellas. And I welcome everybody to come for free complimentary. Absolutely. Yeah. Get a taste. You know, it's really safe. It's comfortable. It's inspiring. You'll get ideas that you can take away that will make an impact on the success of your business. I guarantee lately,

for sure. I agree. 100%. All right, my friend. Thank you so very much. Thank you, everybody, for listening.

Thanks for listening to fierce females in franchising. We hope you feel inspired by the stories and insights shared by our amazing female franchise, founders and franchisees, don't forget to tune in next week for another episode filled with valuable advice, motivation, and a good dose of fun. And if you're ready to take the leap and explore franchising for yourself, head to our website for more information and resources. Remember, franchising is the best kept secret in town, and we're here to help you unlock it's endless possibilities. So stay fierce, stay curious, and keep crushing those goals.