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Speech Transcript (very little editing so not exact)

Rai, thank you for coming on. Please introduce yourself that time to shine today podcast varsity squad. But first, what’s your favorite color? And why?

Oh, well, I think just take one look at me and you can guess.

Arrow we’re all that is cool, man. And like, look at your marketing with the Cornell content marketing. It’s, it’s blue as well. That’s fantastic. And afficher. It’s in your color wheel, right. And I’m literally looking at the Atlantic Ocean right now. And it is really blue. And I’m loving it. So

there we go. I love blue. It’s a nice, stoic, strong, soothing color. Time it instills confidence. And that’s really what I tried to do for my clients as well.

So absolutely. Okay, my friend, let’s get to the roots a little bit of where you were, and what got you to where you are and how you’re helping people level up.

Yeah, so I’ve been freelancing, since I was old enough to even think about having a job. And over the years, you know, went through what we’re all supposed to do. I got the good grades in high school, even though and you can read about this in my book, if you so choose, but dropped out of high school, went to college early, went into the corporate, very corporate mental health world, and used my three degrees to nestle into this niche in the mental health industry of being a counselor in the prison system. And I just totally burned out. I hated being an employee, I was a terrible employee. And so I just, even though as a great student, I knew that being beholden to some company, some corporation was not for me. And so I threw myself full time and to what had carried me through school carried me through life, which was freelance writing.

Wow. And so I didn’t hear did you go to college for for freelance writing?

No, I went to college for psychology. So I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in professional clinical counseling and marriage and family therapy, and a master’s in criminology.

So your blue hair don’t care and a smarty pants. Love it. I love that. So what got you into the freelance writing?

You know, it was really a natural ability. It was something that I was always good at words. Writing was something that came naturally to me. I feel like everybody has that natural thing. For some people. It’s athleticism. For some people. It’s art. For some people, it’s writing for some people speaking, everyone has a natural thing. And that just became my comfort zone. It became my creative outlet. And when I went to school, I won’t college at 17. I needed to get a job on campus and that’s where I started was writing content for the individual departments website. Since doing their coding and things like that, and it just, it stuck,

wow, wow, that’s amazing. Because I do get stuck writing, I can really speak. So like we spoke Off mic. And when I’m writing my book actually talk, and then I start typing it out and put a story frame around that, which, which is kind of my question of, how do you help? Do you work with freelance writers only? Or is that your niche? if you will?

That’s a great question. No, I work with anybody who would consider themselves as self employed creative. I also work with people who they’re in corporate America, they’re in a traditional job, maybe at a small business, large business, and they want to do something new and creative, and something that’s just for them. And so a lot of my clients are actually in their 40s 50s and 60s, and they’re going through a career change, and they want to be freelance something. And so I help them figure out what that natural talent really is. Because when you can tap into that, it’s almost like this endless source of energy, you never get tired of it.

Sure. And when you say the freelance, is it, so so people have a career or a job? Or are they looking to freelance themselves as writers for other companies, or I’m just really trying to really unpack that part? Yeah, typically, they

have a traditional job that they want to leave that job completely, and be completely self employed. So I work with freelance writers, designers, photographers, branding experts, vas, business managers, all sorts, anybody who is really in the service based business or wants to be some people that I start working with, they don’t even have a business when we start.

Wow, that’s fantastic. That’s really cool. So if you and I meet at a networking event, I hope we do one day, you know, we were talking and I shut my mouth, open my ears, and I asked you, you know, what do you do for a living? What? What’s your reply to that?

Well, I would say I help aspiring freelancers build healthier, happier, more profitable businesses. And I can pull in all of the tools that they need, because I have built two successful freelance businesses of my own. And I’ve worked in hundreds of other businesses, both service based product based and b2b enterprise businesses.

Wow, that’s fantastic. So when you you’ve worked a lot, one to one, right. Okay. So when you’re maybe in the discovery period, see if they really want to hire you, if you don’t mind sharing some of that secret sauce that you have to maybe help them find their blind spot?

Do you say find their blind spot? Yeah, man. Yeah. So oftentimes, when people are thinking about a career transition, and actually, this is very real enrol for me right now, because my husband’s going through the same thing. He’s been with FedEx for almost 20 years, he hits 20 years in June, and he wants to do something on his own. He wants to be self employed. And so we’re looking at, okay, so what do you actually enjoy doing? What can you make money doing? And what are you so insanely interested in passionate about, that this is something that if you were three years in, you’re still in love with it, and you’re not going to burn out, get distracted and want to move on to something else. And oftentimes, when people are wrestling with this on their own, and actually, I’m working with a wonderful woman right now, she’s in her 50s. And she thinks that, you know, when we first started working together, she thought she couldn’t make the change. And that was her blind spot. She goes, I can’t do anything other than data entry, which is what she’s been doing for 20 years. And so we met and she said, Tell me about your life. Tell me about what you’re good at. Tell me about what you’re interested in. What are your hobbies? What relaxes you? And we realized she’s actually a phenomenal writer. And so she was able to launch her freelance writing business in about three months, because she already had a head start that she was blind to. She just thought, okay, I’m good at that, you know, I write our our Christmas letter or whatnot. But she didn’t see that as a marketable skill. And so it’s really, my experience in so many different businesses. gives me this great vantage point, because there’s really nothing that you cannot turn into a business. I have a friend who literally makes a living spinning basketballs on wine box, so nothing that you can’t do. Yeah, he’s fantastic.

That’s awesome. That that is unique, your breath of fresh air and stuff because you’re really helping people understand that there is more to them and that they can it find that passion and build a solid profitable business out of it in fantastic and not you know, I love that you said three year of burnout because that’s when people usually hit it because they’re so passionate that grind grind, grind. The someone like us really can help push through. So while you’re maybe in this discovery period, RaI is there You guys are kind of talking things out and whatnot. Is there any good question that you wish they would ask you, but never do?

Oh, but never do? I don’t know that there’s a question that my clients never asked me. Because really, when we work together, freelancing is a lifestyle. And so there’s nothing that’s off limits. If you want to have children, and you’re trying to become pregnant, that’s going to impact your business and your business is going to impact your ability to provide for your family, if you want to travel a lot, if you have depression, anxiety, if you have a family of two, or a family of 10. All of those are factors that go into building your business. And so there’s really nothing that we don’t touch on. And I think, in kind of a reverse way of answering your question, that’s exactly what I would tell people is don’t hold back, ask everything, ask anything, if there’s something that you feel like, Oh, I’m not gonna be able to build this business, or I’m not gonna be able to freelance because of XYZ. Talk about it, let’s figure out how that piece needs to inform your business model. I guarantee you there is nothing that would be able to stand in your way of building a successful business. There’s one man I work with, he’s absolutely delightful. But he is almost paralyzed from the neck down. So he really, he has a very limited mobility, he can’t even type. And he really can only sit, and he can only sit upright for a certain number of hours a day. And yet still, he has designed a business model that suits his life. It’s not meant to be the other way around. You’re not meant to grind it out and build a business just for the sake of it. Your business is supposed to support you and what you want out of life.

Wow. Can you say that? Let’s do that, again. Your business is to support you and what you want out of life. Right? Exactly. Yeah. So how are you so wise? It’s such?

Well, you gotta read the book. Okay. I won’t go into the whole. Read the book.

Wow. Okay. Wow, that’s that’s a process. It’s just so have you seen the movie? You’re a little bit younger. But have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Yes. Okay. Let’s get that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the 17 or 18 year old array. Okay. What kind of knowledge nuggets? Would what you know, now? Would you drop on her to maybe help her not so much change anything? Right, but shorten the learning curve, maybe level up a little bit quicker?

Oh, wait, that’s a good question. You know, like you said, I wouldn’t change anything as as marred and painful as some parts of our pasts are. They make us who we are. And we needed to go through those those things in order to become who we are today. But I would say that, you know, early in my career, I’ll use air quotes for that early in my quote, unquote, career. When I was a 1617 year old freelance writer, I was writing high school and college papers for people. And I felt

sticky for money. Yeah.

I know. Of course. Now, that’s not ethical. But that’s what I was good at. I was so good at school, that that’s what I relied on, especially, you know, getting kicked out at 16 Going to college at 17 I had to do something and that’s what I did. And I got really stuck in my head that I was a not legitimate writer, because my experience was in academic writing only and it took me longer than it should have to switch into the more marketable writing that I do today like blog content website content marketing emails, brand messaging all

Wow, so I gotta ask you though your you said twice. You got kicked out of high school when college so how did that work? I

got kicked out of my house when house sorry.

Yeah, yeah, sure. It’s in the book. So I don’t want

and so I decided to drop out of high school when I was 16. And then I got a job at Starbucks lied about my age, you know, signed off on my own work permit all in. I went to undergrad when I was 17. And finish that degree in three years. So I’ve always been a bit younger of of all of my car. Oh, that

is that’s just damn impressive. Oh, so how do you want your dash remember that little line in between your incarnation date, your expiration date, your life date and that they hopefully it’s a long way down the road? How do you want your dash remember?

Oh, wow, that’s a powerful question. I wasn’t ready for that one. You know, when I’m working one on one with someone and I do have group programs, and I do have group workshops that we do every month and things like that, but it’s it’s the one on one relationships where I see the light come on for people where they feel like, it has been such a grind to get to where they are. And they’ve been working so hard, they’re so tired, they just, they’ve almost lost hope that there’s anything else out there. And then we have these conversations, and we start to build this model that is completely custom to them. And when we figure out how much they need to charge, how few clients they really need to get in order to hit their financial goals, how reasonable and how doable, it all seems. And then they actually start doing it and they realize they’re capable. It’s like this the light goes off in their heads in their hearts up from their eyes that it just it’s like they have new life. And if I can do that for as many people as I can in between that carnation day incarnation data, they then that would make me really proud you

are young and planting planting trees you’re never going to sit in the shade. Oh, that’s that’s fantastic. Man you your tree has a lot of fruit on it say that tree with the most fruit bends to the ground and you’re really helping people that are stuck situations level up in better their life and that I love love hearing that. Right? So what keeps you up at night?

Time my calendar fills up i i want to work with more people I am I still very much am working on the balance of my two businesses because I love them both. And I’ve had coaches and mentors tell me, you know, shut down one shut down the other just go all in on one and I can’t do

that told me the same. Yeah,

right. And you you know, on the chyron side, I’m helping people build those self employed businesses. Well, for me, my Cornell side is my self employed business. So I want to continue walking the walk as I’m talking the talk. And I just cannot. I can’t abandon either one, I want them both. And I want to do them all all the time.

And you’ll merge them into something that I love. I love that. I mean, I’ve been a real estate broker since 1999. And I’m really good at it. But real estate to me is kind of like an highschool girlfriend where it’ll be my first my I will always love her no matter what. But I’m just not as passionate about her, but I won’t let her go. You know, so I’m gonna have my few and it’s a lot easier for me to hire somebody to do a lot of the work as I grow my my coaching business. So I love I love that you’re passionate about both of them. You don’t want to let either one don’t i i actually can see you know as a coach’s standpoint, you can merge them easy or keep them going parallel to each other. So then what do you think people misunderstand the most about you? Right?

I think because I have been freelance writing for 15 years. And I have a much bigger reputation, especially in the subscription industry, with brands like prettylitter and volume box. And I can list so many subscriptions that I have been so fortunate enough to work with. But that’s really become my niche, my reputation as a professional. And so starting this new way. And it’s been four or five years now that I’ve been mentoring other freelancers and self employed business owners, but not many people know that side of me they just see me as the copywriters they see me as the person to go to for the content marketing strategy. And so that’s, I’m sorry, I forgot what your original question. No, what people might misunderstand, misunderstand. Yes, it’s it is that that dual balance, having both of those passions being able to serve both of those populations. I’m not just the writer. I’m not just the business mentor or the freelancing. I’m really both and I feel like that’s actually what gives me more of an edge because I’m still in the business. Yeah, and I’m coaching people in

that’s that’s fantastic. So did you do he might be actually no he’s in San Antonio Seth Erickson Does that ring a bell at all? He is. He actually wrote this book I’m kind of going through the owns the company called Storify Okay, and he’s in Texas call he wrote a book called How To Hack humans which is awesome because it’s about how to write enticing emails and marketing messages and stuff like that I gotta hook you guys up there and taxes so you know I always believe in the plus equals minus where you find someone further ahead than you and learn from them someone equal to you and trade and minus and help them level up. So definitely want to make that introduction. I will definitely do that. So let’s take out of this equation all anything electronic, anything technological, but what are three things Things that RaI can’t live without.

I have pens all over my house. Like literally everywhere I even have a pencil in the shower that I use on a waterproof notepad because I know where ideas are coming. Right, exactly. And they always seem to come to me in the shower

100%

in the car when I’m driving drives, you know, and so I would definitely say having pens everywhere. Also, even though there are so many great online project management tools and things, I still use a paper planner that I always have in front of me. That’s awesome. Yeah, exactly. And then I would also say, water. Whenever I start to feel like I can’t focus, I can’t get this project done. I’m hitting a wall. Typically, because I’m dehydrated,

hydrated. Absolutely. I mean, what 83% of our bodies water or some jazz like that. I mean, without a doubt, I mean, I’m six foot one and 260 I have to drink out over a gallon a day for me to feel right. Especially when two three o’clock rolls around. I mean, again, I’ve told you my age is 50. So it’s like, you know, it’s like every morning I wake up because of all the combat sports and stuff that I played and competed in like my body has like a check engine light, right, that kind of pops on every day and is water after water after water. So which I love it now. And it’s funny because I’ll tell by people I coach and like get hydrated, like but I pee every five seconds. If you if you stay hydrated, you don’t pee as much. Say that’s I tell people you got to do it. Oh,

can you hear me? I can Yeah, we froze there for a second.

So what is raised definition of a life well lived,

life well lived. So one of the things that I tell my freelancers, oftentimes, they’ll, they’ll have a goal. And after three months, we’ve hit that goal. And then they set another goal. And we hit that six month mark, and they’ve hit that goal and they go, when is it ever going to end? Like it feels like there’s always more for me to do? And I yeah, of course there is. That’s the point of life, the point of life is to get as far as possible in your own personal evolution, whether that’s mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, whatever is important to you. And for most of us, it’s a combination of all of those things. It’s how far can you get it’s about not to sound too cliche, you know, probably find this on a poster Bed, Bath and Beyond, but it’s about the journey. It’s about that process and that evolution, and how efficient can you get at evolving yourself to another level. So a life well lived for me is not one of stagnation. And you need the plateaus, the plateaus in growth are great because that’s when you can refine and optimize because everything settles down and you can start to see where the gaps are and maybe start tightening those up before you go to the next level. But it’s about not letting yourself settle. Wow, love it stopping and just being committed to constantly evolving yourself,

you know, for A listers, so I call my business for A listers. The bottom of the top of one mountain is the bottom of next you know and just keep evolving keep leveling up. That’s why we say it here leveling up. I love love love that you said that. So time to shine today podcast versus squad we are back in RaI you and I if we ever connect and meet up, we could probably talk 1520 minutes on each one of these questions but you have five seconds with no explanations and they can all be answered that way. I promise. Okay, are you ready to level up? Oh, serious smile that beautiful smile. He’s fine. We’re gonna have fun here. What is the best leveling up advice raise ever received?

Received? Go for it. Scared. Scared.

Do it scared I actually have that on my wall. Love it. Love it. So share one of your personal habits that contributes to your

success. Meditating every morning in

our in drinking water. You see me? You know walking down the street. I’m kind of in my doldrums. You know, other than that complete step by step process. What other book would you say for you read this?

Oh, it’s Vishen Lakhiani. He’s the Buddha in the badass. Not that one. I did like that one. But it’s the code. Oh,

the extraordinary code. Right? Yeah. Great. Yes, yes. Good. Good call. What’s your most commonly used emoji when you tax?

The heart ice? Everybody

nicknames growing up.

Ray Ray, Ray Ban.

Okay, very cool. Very cool. Chess checkers or monopoly? Yes. Definitely check this one Josh. Okay, very good. So what’s your go to ice cream flavor? Butter Pecan. All right. All right,

click this one yet.

The sandwich called the RE Re. What is on that sandwich?

Turkey avocado, bacon, onion and Caesar dressing.

You threw in some man candy, that bacon. I love it. Love it. Love it. So you could take a time machine for one day come back to present day but for one day, would you go anytime in the past? Or say 30 years in the future? 30 years in the future. Very cool. Very cool. favorite charity and organization like to give your time or money to

a couple of wounded warriors, for sure. Thank you also the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They’re one of the reasons that my grandma is one of the longest living survivors of leukemia in California.

Thank you. I’d love both of those Wounded Warriors is my gig too. I did. I was I served so it’s kind of my thing. So last question. You can elaborate on this one. But what is the best decade of music? 60s 70s 80s or 90s 80s?

Absolutely. I one of my actually my very first concert was Metallica. When I was eight years old. No way. Really? Yep. And I’ve been to eight or nine of their shows. And my dad actually made friends with Kurt Hammett. At one point. They’re still in touch over text now.

I will send you a picture off him but like Hatfield and I just had beers a couple of weeks ago. No way. Yeah. So guys, I live in Jupiter, Florida, or no drink now. Well, he drink the old duels I had my regular. So yeah, but yeah, it’s funny. I saw them when I was young and like the the always come to Florida, where I live. I live with basically paradise and Jupiter, Florida. So like Kid Rock is like six doors down. And like I get a lot of a lot of people that live here. And it was fun. He had some really cool stories and stuff like that. And yeah, yeah, Master puppets was my jam back. And this was the 80s and I was a teenager. So at that time, I just imagine, like really 32 What year would that put you be born like, late at night, I graduated in 1990. Great Year.

I played drums as a kid and I secretly wanted to be Lars Ulrich.

Nice, not a bad one have a drum after fantastic. So how can we find you?

Pretty much everywhere. I’m on Facebook, I’m on Instagram. And then of course my websites are where you can find all of my resources. So if you’re looking to be a freelance writer, check out Cornell content marketing.com. I have guides I have courses, I have SEO checklist that will teach you how to do everything that your clients are going to ask you to do. And then if you’re looking to design a healthier, happier, more profitable freelance business, check me out at chyron consulting.us.

Love that. And all those will be in the show notes for them to find you a little bit about the complete step by step process for building a business that will support the life you desire. So tell us a little bit I know that you’re a contributing writer, but still your publisher fantastic. Tell us a little bit about the book.

So I think maybe you’re thinking about two different things. So I do have an eBook out. That’s the complete guide to building a successful freelance business. That is a free gift. You can find it on my website at Karen consulting.us. The book that came out is called Corporate dropouts. And it’s an anthology of stories from women who were in corporate America and left and what it really takes to forge your own path and make your own way in the world.

Wow. Wow. In like your that’s the one you had the chapter in?

Yes, I was a contributing author for that one. So one of the chapters is

got it and what is the heading of your chapter? What’s the name of it?

So mine is called the black sheep who became the Alpha Wolf.

It fits you perfectly. Fantastic. So one last ask of you here but can you leave us with one last Knowledge Nugget we can take with us internalize and take action.

Oftentimes, we see our weaknesses that society says our weaknesses whether it’s anxiety, depression, PTSD, the size or shape of your body, your physical abilities, and actually those are some of your greatest strengths. When you decide to build your own business build your own life and make your own rules so anything that you’ve ever felt shitty about, I guarantee you can flip that on its head and make it something that you love about yourself

and I love that because they let a lot of outside influences make them feel shitty a lot of times because they there’s more to them and sometimes their family members or friends that are loving on them tell them they can’t that crab in a bucket thing trying to pull him back in and it sets up their weaknesses were really is their strengths and needs to be unpacked and adjust to the world. I love that you said that in squad we had just gotten an awesome, basically free masterclass from my good friend RaI here you know she went to college early, you know, and then worked in the corporate mental health world that understood that like kind of punching a clock and living under somebody’s rules was that her thing that, that she’s so much a rebel, but she’s somebody that, you know, saw and wanted to unpack the things within her lifestyle to address the world. You know, she found her creative outlet through freelance writing, and she wants to help you do the same. So if you are, you know, you’re feel that you might have a creative side or even if you don’t feel you have a creative side, let us make a warm introduction to RaI to help her unpack and see if she can bring it to the surface and maybe even bring her on as one of our clients. That would be awesome because she reminds us, you know, freelancing is a lifestyle, it’s just not something that you do and kick back and say, you know, I freelance today or, you know, play around a golf and that’s it or, you know, that’s it’s not there. Freelancing is a lifestyle terrain, and it is you as well if you’re wanting to build your business, because you’re going to have to have the right marketing. That’s, that’s put out there. And, you know, in she reminds us that their businesses are supposed to support us the support our endeavors, not just the money, but also the passion, the feelings that go into living a leveled up life, you know, she loves, loves, loves to see others succeed. She’s actually more interested in hearing your story than telling first to you, and that’s something that her age I know, I’ve called her young, but seriously, early 30s. That’s awesome. Awesome to really hear, you know, if you’re kind of stuck, get your asking gear, get out there, ask questions, find a mentor, she, she’ll tell you that and like, you know, again, here, we believe that you know, mentoring, the more that you mentor, the more and mortal you become, okay, as you’re passing it forward, you’re getting it out there. And again, I’m gonna reiterate that RaI is planting trees she’s never gonna sit in the shade of and she breaks down her system and an inch by inch. It’s a cinch by the yard, it’s hard we say that she’ll break it down inch by inch, so you can really help grow that side of your business. You know, lastly, she reminds us that what society sees as our weaknesses, and they pour that into you and it kind of brings you down remember, that’s probably your strength. And that needs to be unleashed to the world and get out there and do it and re you level up your health. You level up your wealth, your humble yet you’re hungry and curious. And you’ve earned your varsity squad letter here at time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on. I absolutely love your guts. And I can’t wait to collaborate with you in the future, my friend.

Thanks so much, Scott. This

has been awesome. You bet by now. Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of time to shine today podcast. proudly brought to you by Southern New Jersey real estate real estate excellence who can be reached at 561-249-7266 and online at www dot Sutter in nugent.com. If you’re a business owner or professional who would like to be interviewed on top to shine today, please visit time to shine today.com Flash guest. If you liked this episode, please subscribe on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts. There’s a link in the show notes to our website. Also there you will see a recommended resources. We hope that you will support our show by supporting them. If you like what you’ve been listening to, it’d be great if you could just give us a five star rating and tell your friends how to subscribe while you’re at it. I’m your host Scott Ferguson. And until next time, let’s level up it’s our time to shine

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