Full transcript with Meridith Powell - Close The Deal Podcast

00:00.00

ewell smith

Our right disruptors, I've got a very special guest today from Asheville, so North Carolina. um She's the chair of the National Speakers Association. She's is a motivational speaker, does about 80 speeches across the United States every year on on the volume of books that she has authored. And today she's going to talk about one of her newest books. So I want to introduce you to Meredith Powell. Meredith, I want to welcome you to Close the Deal podcast.

00:29.73

Meridith

I'm looking forward to being here. Excited about it, you'll.

00:32.51

ewell smith

Yes. So quick, uh, I want to ask you what is the, okay. So first of all, before we get dive into this, the book, the name of the book is called thrive.

00:41.33

Meridith

Yes.

00:42.02

ewell smith

That's about facing challenges and you're in Asheville, North Carolina, one of my favorite cities. My wife is from South Carolina. So we go to the Nash Asheville on a regular basis.

00:53.97

ewell smith

And it was heartbreaking watching what had happened coming from New Orleans seeing and having gone of gone through what we had gone through. We could feel the pain from a distance. How are you all doing and resiliency of Asheville?

01:05.84

Meridith

Yeah.

01:07.72

ewell smith

We know you're going to come back. i want to i love

01:09.81

Meridith

Yeah, I would say that Asheville is kind of ah amazing. The people here are amazing, the the resiliency of the people. But if I have to be honest, and I guess you can relate to this coming from ah New Orleans, it's still really bad.

01:23.60

Meridith

i mean it's you know it's ah It just got up to 30 degrees here, and and it's daytime, which means that people slept in tents last night down and but down in the teens.

01:23.93

ewell smith

Yeah. Wow.

01:35.23

Meridith

and um So it's ah it's it's still very challenging and I was with a few bankers yesterday. We were going through how just hard hit the business community's been. I mean, we lost leaf season.

01:47.00

Meridith

Now we're into the hardest. I mean, imagine, you know, six months, your business has no revenue.

01:52.20

ewell smith

Yeah.

01:52.77

Meridith

Just it's challenging, but Asheville will come back. It's amazing.

01:56.26

ewell smith

Yeah.

01:56.84

Meridith

And and of so many good people are giving so much.

02:02.76

ewell smith

it's It's the volunteers and the people coming in to help that put us back on their feet. And I can say this with confidence, having gone through this, dealing with it with not just the seed and the seaweed industry, which I was a part of, ah you know,

02:19.96

ewell smith

You all will come up you will come back stronger and and Asheville is such a great place. People want to support the town. I know, I believe ah the, what's the, oh ah the Biltmore?

02:33.01

ewell smith

It has reopened correctly.

02:33.26

Meridith

Yes. it's it's yeah it's open It's open for Christmas. Biltmore Village is really completely destroyed, but the Biltmore Estate is open, which is bringing you know you know revenue back in um you know to the economy.

02:39.61

ewell smith

Oh, wow.

02:46.60

Meridith

So slowly things are are similarly things are coming back. you know and There are parts of Asheville that are fine. I mean, if you care about the community, it's a great time to come.

02:58.08

Meridith

The restaurants need you.

02:58.26

ewell smith

I love it.

02:59.92

Meridith

The shops need you. Buy Asheville this year. Look online. It's one of the greatest ways to support.

03:07.19

ewell smith

That is the message right there.

03:08.77

Meridith

Yeah.

03:08.91

ewell smith

Because that's the message we beat the drum on over and over.

03:11.21

Meridith

Yeah.

03:11.55

ewell smith

And I'm glad glad this.

03:12.14

Meridith

I mean, you're going to buy holiday gifts anyway.

03:15.35

ewell smith

Yes.

03:15.84

Meridith

um Why not do it in a way that that helps people who really need it?

03:20.43

ewell smith

That's fantastic. All right. So let's get into the challenge. Besides overcoming Helene, what's the greatest challenge you faced getting going in your business with what you did?

03:31.84

ewell smith

And how do you overcome that?

03:32.42

Meridith

Gosh, the biggest challenge I faced really getting going in in my business is that I really think that the biggest challenge I faced was learning to really ask for help.

03:45.61

Meridith

you know my My business has evolved. I'm not one of those people who decided what she was going to be when she grew up. And you know like we were talking, your dad was a dentist or people decide they want to be a doctor or an attorney or anything like that.

03:52.53

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

03:58.72

Meridith

My business just kept um just kept evolving. I didn't set out to be a motivational speaker. It wasn't really how how I started, but when I look at the challenges, I think it was fundamentally, I didn't have any business training.

04:06.22

ewell smith

Wow.

04:12.36

Meridith

I didn't have any business background. I didn't know how to run a business and I needed help and I needed education and I needed to learn and I waited far too long to realize that asking for help was a strength rather than, you know, rather than a weakness.

04:26.95

ewell smith

yeah

04:28.64

Meridith

But on a regular basis, I've faced every if one of my biggest failures

04:30.49

ewell smith

Yeah.

04:36.08

Meridith

I reached out to a mentor of mine and she said, if you're going to make it in this business, you're going to need to learn to toughen your skin because it is going to get much rougher than this.

04:43.25

ewell smith

Yeah.

04:46.10

ewell smith

Yeah.

04:46.27

Meridith

So I think that about business and I think that about life is that life is challenging and hard. It's about getting through it. It's not about what happened to you.

04:57.25

ewell smith

That's true. The spark, what was the spark that's that triggered you to say, okay, I am gonna become a motivational speaker. How'd that come about?

05:06.54

Meridith

Yeah, I wish there had been a spark. I don't roll like that.

05:10.32

ewell smith

Okay.

05:10.45

Meridith

I am somebody who moves before she thinks.

05:13.23

ewell smith

Ah, okay.

05:13.69

Meridith

And um and that's not always a good thing. But um literally, i I started my business when I was 40 years old, um so a little bit late in today's standards.

05:24.27

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

05:24.69

Meridith

And I started out as a business strategist. I was writing strategies for companies because that's what I had done in corporate America. And the businesses I worked with had done really well.

05:34.85

Meridith

they had They had really seen exponential growth and somebody said, would you talk to our Rotary Club? Would you talk to our Kiwanis Club? Tell us how you did it. I was so happy to share the message and then somebody tapped me on the shoulder.

05:43.66

ewell smith

Wow.

05:46.97

Meridith

I'm sure now because I was a terrible speaker. and said, you should think about joining the National Speakers Association. And I didn't even know this career existed. And let me tell you why I think this is important is because I'm having this conversation with my nephew right now.

05:55.91

ewell smith

while

06:01.79

Meridith

He's not sure what he wants to do in life. And I think that's the problem. We're all waiting until we know what to do. And my advice to him was just move. Just do something that you're not doing right now because that's something will lead to something.

06:17.94

Meridith

If I'd never started as a strategist, if I'd never said, okay, I'll speak to your Rotary Club, I'd have never found my path.

06:22.14

ewell smith

I love that. I love that.

07:41.93

Meridith

So i mean the reason I think this is so important is I'm talking to my nephew right now. I mean, he's he's barely 30 years old and he's trying to decide what he wants to do with his next career move. He's been studying a job for seven years. He's gone about as high as he can go. And he's and he he said, i I want to do something different. I just don't know what I want to do. And he stalled.

08:03.29

Meridith

And I said, that's the problem is everybody's waiting for what they want to do. and i and ah Hold on, sorry.

08:14.43

Meridith

Rob, I'm doing a podcast and you have the dog in the house with the bell.

08:14.53

ewell smith

That's okay.

08:18.51

Meridith

ah Oh God, sorry, I'm so sorry.

08:18.70

ewell smith

That's all right. That's more that's that's all right.

08:22.27

Meridith

yeah oh it This just wasn't meant to be.

08:22.43

ewell smith

We'll just keep going with it.

08:28.43

ewell smith

This could be a fun podcast. Just let it go the way it is.

08:30.54

Meridith

Yeah, it could be, could be.

08:31.59

ewell smith

is This is life. We're doing exactly what you're talking about doing. Maybe I'll maybe i'll will littlell leave it in here.

08:36.06

Meridith

yeah All right, right i'll start I'll start with my nephew. I think he's got the bell off now. So i feel the reason I think this is so important is because it's like with my nephew, he's barely 30 years old and trying to decide what he wants to do next. He's thought had a great run with his company, but he's as high as he can go. And I said to him, I said, the problem is you're waiting for the right answer rather than just doing something.

09:02.39

Meridith

If I had never um you know started my own business, but never started as a strategist, if I'd never said, I'll speak to the Rotary Club, I'd never know what I want to do.

09:13.50

Meridith

I don't even know if this is what I want to do, but everything is leading to something else. and And I think that's the importance in life. I think so many people get stuck because we're waiting for everything to be perfect rather than just moving to the next step.

09:23.39

ewell smith

Yeah.

09:29.65

ewell smith

I agree 100%. And I fell into that trap in my 30s, up into my 20s. And then things started clicking, but I kept trying. I kept trying until if I finally landed and into what I really enjoyed doing.

09:41.90

Meridith

Yeah.

09:42.15

ewell smith

and ah and And I think that's an important piece too, because I was pursuing the money at a young age. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

09:49.81

Meridith

Sure.

09:51.13

ewell smith

And then my wife finally asked me, I had an ulcer in my first job, that job we talked about before the show, I had an ulcer, my only ulcer I've ever had, because I was in the wrong job, great people, wrong job around me, amazing people around me, but it was the wrong job.

10:00.47

Meridith

yeah

10:04.86

ewell smith

And that's when my wife, then girlfriend, she said, you need to figure out what it is you at least enjoy doing, you know, find out what you love to do, you really enjoy it. So I was very fortunate to figure that out. um Okay, so let's start transition a little bit because this all leads to your books your books which are was it I can't wait to dive into that but before we get there You're in Asheville Let's say you have a client coming to town where I want to I want to help promote your favorite restaurant in town to bring some business Where would you take your client to eat dinner or at breakfast or lunch?

10:34.57

Meridith

Oh, I'd love that.

10:41.48

ewell smith

for to do business

10:42.97

Meridith

Yeah, it's a little um a little restaurant on Tunnel Road. It's kind of like a local's place. The food is phenomenal, but what really makes it is the staff.

10:49.49

ewell smith

That's the best.

10:53.26

Meridith

But my favorite bar none is a little restaurant called Copper Crown in Asheville, North Carolina. Food is amazing.

10:59.73

ewell smith

ah lot

11:00.31

Meridith

The staff is amazing.

11:00.49

ewell smith

Do you have a favorite dish there?

11:02.14

Meridith

The whole vibe is amazing. And I would definitely take a client there. yeah ah Yeah, I eat the um i eat either eat the scallops, but they're famous for their Brussels sprouts.

11:13.35

ewell smith

Okay, I love it. Oh, I gotta bring my wife. she That's one of her favorite things, okay.

11:16.34

Meridith

Yeah. yeah Well, they're you do you need to bring her. They're amazing.

11:21.16

ewell smith

um And then ah along this journey, who or what are you grateful for that helped you get your way to this point? Because you did take some steps and you mentioned one person.

11:32.23

Meridith

Yeah.

11:32.31

ewell smith

Is that it?

11:32.55

Meridith

i Oh my God.

11:33.16

ewell smith

Yeah.

11:33.55

Meridith

I'm grateful for so many people in my life. But if I had to really nail it, down to one, it would bar none be my mother. And the reason for that is that i um aye i we you know like a lot of people, I come from a pretty dysfunctional family.

11:40.87

ewell smith

ah

11:49.85

Meridith

um The youngest of four kids, all the men in my family all died of alcoholism. My dad, both my brothers, my first husband, everything.

11:55.26

ewell smith

Oh wow.

11:58.06

Meridith

But my mother really taught me from a young age getting through that, that life isn't fair and you need to buck up and you need to get yourself through. She never allowed us to make excuses. She never allowed us to whine and she never allowed us to feel sorry for ourselves. is she hurt Her motto is pretty much, this is the hand you're dealt, deal with it.

12:19.78

Meridith

And I am so grateful for those lessons. They have carried me through where I watched others around me allow valid reasons to prevent them from growing.

12:30.54

Meridith

I i didn't think I was allowed to make them an excuse.

12:36.05

ewell smith

Yeah, that's that you you remind me of my wife in a lot of ways.

12:40.70

Meridith

Yeah.

12:40.68

ewell smith

She's yeah she's got that tenacity, that grit, and she grew up dirt poor in South Carolina on the wrong side of the tracks and she got out of a small town.

12:47.77

Meridith

Yeah.

12:50.77

ewell smith

And she worked her way to New Orleans on scholarships and made ah made a life for herself. And then that's how Emily met in grad school.

12:57.40

Meridith

Yeah.

12:58.69

ewell smith

But that, she's been the better part of my half, you know, my my half to help me grow as a person, which I'm very grateful for.

13:02.02

Meridith

Yeah.

13:06.44

ewell smith

um Let's dive into, okay, so you start writing books.

13:11.79

Meridith

Yeah.

13:11.97

ewell smith

Now, you you worked in the corporate world for a while. You started at the age of 40 writing books, is that right? or Or speaking.

13:17.63

Meridith

Right.

13:17.81

ewell smith

And then the books followed.

13:19.65

Meridith

Yes.

13:20.40

ewell smith

Okay. So when you wrote your first book, ah talk to me about that. I'm just curious because I've written two books and the first book, I, even though I know how to do promotions and marketing my whole life, what do you claim to promoting my first book?

13:37.78

ewell smith

The imposter so syndrome actually hit me. I'm like, Oh, that's what this is about. You know, like I was like quality question.

13:43.77

Meridith

Yeah. Yeah.

13:45.70

ewell smith

The second book I've had no problem promoting.

13:47.95

Meridith

Yeah.

13:47.93

ewell smith

The first book, it was so what was the mental part to to say, okay, I'm gonna write a book about this.

13:52.29

Meridith

Yeah, i I was so, like so many things in my life, I was so lucky with my first book. I told you I tend to move before I think. So there wasn't a lot of thought to writing a book. I mean, somebody says you should write a book. And I said, okay, well, I found this fabulous editor. And she said, have you ever written a book? And I said, no. And she said, then we're going to do it my way. And I was like, great.

14:14.82

Meridith

and um And so she said, what do you want to write a book about? And I'm like, I have no idea. And she said, what do people ask you about the most? And at that time in my life, I just started my career. I was mostly in sales.

14:26.17

Meridith

People were asking me how to turn a prospect into a customer and how to turn a customer into an advocate.

14:29.24

ewell smith

Hmm. Hmm.

14:32.65

Meridith

And I said, that's what I want to write about. I want to write this step by step. She said, great. So she gave me a methodology on how to write a book. And and it was so um, reader focused.

14:44.91

Meridith

And I tell you all that because then when it came to promoting the book, it was so easy because I didn't feel like any of that book was about me.

14:52.28

ewell smith

Hmm.

14:54.38

Meridith

It was about the fact that people had asked me for help and I had a way to help them. It was like, I was answering the same question over and over again to people.

14:59.51

ewell smith

I love that.

15:03.16

Meridith

Now I could put it in a book and I could go, Oh, are you stuck here? Here you go. You know? And so it it was just, such a different mindset for me.

15:14.09

ewell smith

That's so interesting you said that because the first book I think I wrote was for me.

15:19.72

Meridith

Yes.

15:20.91

ewell smith

And the second book literally is I became a franchise consultant and all the questions I kept getting asked

15:24.02

Meridith

Uh-huh.

15:30.00

ewell smith

is how I wrote the book. It was easy to write. And then it's easy to promote because it answers the questions. I don't have to, you know, I can give the book here, take a read if you like what you read.

15:36.72

Meridith

Yeah.

15:39.43

Meridith

Yeah.

15:40.46

ewell smith

And then so you, you're able to take that and then what, okay. So then you, you write the first book. yeah You have a home run, the first book, which is rare, very rare.

15:53.37

ewell smith

How, how many books have you written so far?

15:56.46

Meridith

I've written, I'm at 10 right now. I've got the 11th coming out next year.

15:58.44

ewell smith

10.

16:00.84

Meridith

Now, now let me tell you that the only reason I think my book was a home run was because the book was 100% focused on helping other people.

16:06.90

ewell smith

um Yes.

16:11.67

Meridith

And i think I think what you said is so true. I think so often we write books because we want to tell our story or we want to whatever.

16:17.73

ewell smith

Yeah.

16:18.91

Meridith

And I think that's why I think I was so blessed to find that editor who just was like, nope, we're doing it my way. And she taught me the way that makes it comfortable as an author.

16:29.53

Meridith

so But here's the beautiful, the reason I've written 10 books is not because I'm a great writer or an author, was because I learned with the first book how much a book raises your confidence.

16:42.12

Meridith

When people ask me before I wrote the book, how to turn a prospect into a customer, I kind of knew.

16:42.19

ewell smith

Uh-huh.

16:48.41

Meridith

But the moment you title a book that and you decide to write chapters, you have to be so sure of what you think, why you think it, and be able to relay it in a book and commit to it.

16:51.11

ewell smith

Yeah.

17:00.80

Meridith

that then talking becomes really easy. So I would write books if I was the only one who read them because it it's like a way of going to school for me and getting better at at what i and what I do.

17:05.77

ewell smith

Is therapeutic? I find it therapeutic.

17:13.89

Meridith

Yeah, it's very um very very therapeutic.

17:14.72

ewell smith

I mean.

17:17.48

Meridith

In fact, when my last brother passed away, from alcoholism, I called my sister and I said, I said, I know that we should be like mourning right now, but there's no way that six male members of our family have died from alcoholism.

17:30.61

Meridith

And we, we were supposed to tell a message.

17:30.83

ewell smith

Wow.

17:34.66

ewell smith

Yeah.

17:34.80

Meridith

And so my sister and I wrote a book about it. And the books have been sold all over the world, help people all over the world. for But the book was therapeutic for us. We wrote our feelings through our solutions of how to navigate that our solution.

17:43.90

ewell smith

Yeah.

17:49.27

Meridith

And every book feels that way to me. I mean, the reason I wrote thrive and turning uncertainty to competitive advantage is I was struggling and I needed answers.

17:52.16

ewell smith

That's amazing.

17:57.46

ewell smith

Yeah.

17:58.80

Meridith

So I wrote that all out.

18:01.01

ewell smith

So yeah, I want to dive into that book and pull out a few nuggets from that book because that's your latest book, correct?

18:07.57

Meridith

Yeah.

18:08.28

ewell smith

So I want to share with it one more thing. I wrote the first book. I got the bug and I knew I was going to write a second book and I'd started writing that.

18:14.54

Meridith

yeah

18:18.39

ewell smith

And that one is going to be, I ended up leapfrogging and doing a different book on franchise because that became my business and I fell in love with the writing process.

18:21.27

Meridith

Yeah.

18:27.19

ewell smith

And, but now I've got the third book halfway written and I got a fourth one. I know what I want to write about it. So it becomes addictive because it,

18:36.71

Meridith

A bug.

18:39.36

ewell smith

you do feel like you're helping people and serving and then you then it gives you a platform to speak to which is what you built you built a business around that speaking at 80 businesses or conferences a year that's that's a girl all right let's your book called thrive is very timely it's it's written for business people ah before ka before Katrina before Helene

18:45.23

Meridith

Yeah. Yeah.

19:02.98

Meridith

Yeah.

19:03.52

ewell smith

But I'm sure there's elements that probably apply the the mindset of overcoming the challenges of a Haleen.

19:07.28

Meridith

yeah

19:10.57

ewell smith

My mentor said, it doesn't matter if it's a category one or a category five. If it hits you directly, it's a category five, the storm.

19:19.94

Meridith

Yeah.

19:21.29

ewell smith

And a lot of people feel that way in business. They feel like they're getting hammered. And it's ah it's catastrophic to them and they need to figure out how to survive and then start thriving again.

19:34.00

ewell smith

ah yeah Let's talk about that. Let's talk about your book thrive and let's dig a little deeper into it and then we'll we ah button it up because I think the we want to we don't want to give away the whole book.

19:49.40

ewell smith

I want you to help sell some copies.

19:49.83

Meridith

Well, i love um I love what you said there, because I think that is so important too, is that when it comes to uncertainty, oh you know this book I started it before the global pandemic, and um it doesn't have to be uncertainty.

20:02.87

ewell smith

Oh wow.

20:06.34

Meridith

There's no judgment around it. It isn't that I've gone through Helene, so my uncertainty is stronger than somebody who just lost their job.

20:14.97

ewell smith

Yeah.

20:15.37

Meridith

or you know So, uncertainty has no judgment. And this methodology works for for everybody, no matter the size. And yes, it's for personal. In fact, I love that you said that because when I finished the book, I had it all set to go to the publisher.

20:29.70

Meridith

And I was like, wait a minute, the Great Depression didn't end at five o'clock. These people had to go home at night and deal with the Great Depression and their personal lives.

20:35.73

ewell smith

me

20:37.19

Meridith

So, the last chapter of the book is how to apply the methodology to your personal life.

20:41.51

ewell smith

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

20:43.63

Meridith

So the reason I wrote the book, the whole purpose of my mission in life now, is that I wrote the book because back in 2016, when the economy was running hot, everybody was saying, we're having our best year on record, but oh, this uncertainty. And I thought, why does uncertainty always have to be negative? And doesn't the world blow up every 50 years or so? Can't we go back and see, we've had gas crisis, we've had rapid inflation, we've had you know we've had wars, we've had, you know you name it.

21:13.16

Meridith

And very few businesses thrive through it. Most disappear.

21:18.60

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

21:18.74

Meridith

And I wanted to figure out why the ones who thrive through it, were there any themes? Were there any commonalities? Were there any things that I could pick up? So I spent six years studying, doing quantitative and qualitative research.

21:32.58

Meridith

And from all that research, I've been able to define a methodology, a literal nine steps.

21:32.65

ewell smith

Wow.

21:37.62

Meridith

What I love about these nine steps is that The biggest problem people have in uncertainty is knowing what to do. They freeze. Even if they want to take action, they the fear freezes them.

21:50.06

Meridith

And this mo methodology takes all the fear out of it.

21:52.68

ewell smith

I love it.

21:52.98

Meridith

What I can say, just do these nine things. If you do these nine things over and over, it's a lifestyle. You'll thrive no matter what.

22:02.35

ewell smith

All right, let's let's unpack, pick your favorite two, or what you'd like to talk about, maybe three if you, you know, it's time, we can do two, whatever you wanna do.

22:06.37

Meridith

Okay.

22:12.20

ewell smith

ah And let's unpack a couple of them and and see where we go.

22:15.05

Meridith

Okay.

22:18.09

Meridith

Well, all nine are my favorite, but I'm going to give you a couple of them.

22:20.10

ewell smith

Okay. All right.

22:21.31

Meridith

Um, you can not, I'm going to start with number one, cause you can't go anywhere without number one.

22:24.36

ewell smith

Okay. Okay.

22:26.44

Meridith

And number one is that you need to understand where you're headed and where you're going. I call it a relentless vision.

22:32.17

ewell smith

Hmm.

22:32.75

Meridith

That's the strategy. Note that is not a vision. That is not a vision board that is stuck in my bedroom. It is not a vision that is hung on your you know break room wall. It is a vision that you are so focused on that when obstacles show up, your mind finds a way to get there.

22:50.28

Meridith

The biggest thing that I learned from my research is that success is not logical. You mentioned that your wife grew up dirt poor in South Carolina. If you look at that logically, she should not be successful.

23:03.82

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

23:04.52

Meridith

The odds were stacked against her, but success isn't logical.

23:07.00

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

23:09.25

Meridith

Success is a matter of of focusing your brain on what you can control and forgetting about the rest. That sounds so simple, but it is, but it is not easy because the brain is wired for negativity.

23:21.30

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

23:23.74

Meridith

It protects us, right?

23:24.68

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

23:26.15

Meridith

So I call it a relentless vision and that means like if you got up with me here in Asheville, North Carolina every morning, you would see the very first thing I do is read my vision. It's a little note card and on that note card is where I see my life, where I see my health, my business, my finances, and my marriage a year from now.

23:45.15

Meridith

um It's funny because I had a number on my finances. I wrote it out a couple of years ago, and I would say I i would retire when my husband and I hit this number. We were at the financial advisor yesterday, and that was the number we hit.

23:58.56

ewell smith

Awesome.

23:58.82

Meridith

I was shocked. I couldn't believe we hit it. We were at dinner last night. My husband said, are you surprised we've done that well? I said, what i said sort of. I said, but not really. I said, that's the number I've had on my um my vision.

24:08.92

Meridith

i read it every I read it three times a day. I read it in the morning.

24:11.75

ewell smith

I love that.

24:12.43

Meridith

I read it at lunch. I read it again before I go to bed. And um so so that, I really, if you took nothing else from this podcast, if I could just get the world to quit focusing on what they can't control and focus on what they can, your life will radically change.

24:20.57

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

24:31.90

Meridith

If you'd have made me write, i when I started researching businesses and I researched hundreds of them, If you'd have made me guess which ones would still be here, I'd have been so wrong because on a piece of paper, the ones that made it shouldn't have made it.

24:41.32

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

24:47.82

ewell smith

Yeah. Wow.

24:49.27

Meridith

You know?

24:50.05

ewell smith

Yeah, 100 percent. um Focus on what you can control. you know There's so many, and the uncertainty piece. I've been through some serious crisis events, lead an industry through crisis events.

25:05.50

ewell smith

One of them being in the BP oil spill when I was head of the seafood industry. And when we came through Katrina with the seafood industry, we knew we would come back because you know stuff gets knocked down, boats get destroyed, they rebuild.

25:19.80

Meridith

yeah

25:23.69

ewell smith

When the BP oil spill happened, there was so much uncertainty or wrapped around it, because nobody knew what does this mean. And for 87 days, that well leaked oil. And halfway through, I'll never forget, one of the famous chefs called me at 6am, I was on the dock down in Venice, the very bottom of the state. And the chef called me, I recognized his voice right away. He's like, you'll, are we going to have an industry left?

25:52.31

ewell smith

And my candid answer was, I don't know, but all we could do was face day by day, the facts that we could control.

26:01.09

Meridith

Yeah.

26:01.40

ewell smith

And the, one of the biggest things we could do is take action to take them on off of reacting, but focus on how can we move forward? And that's exactly what you just described.

26:09.80

Meridith

Yeah.

26:12.24

Meridith

Yeah, whatever.

26:12.22

ewell smith

That's what you just know. What's important is you describe that for your life as a vision every day.

26:15.55

Meridith

Yeah.

26:17.35

ewell smith

What's, which I find fascinating.

26:19.75

Meridith

Yeah. And the reason that that there's that there's five pillars to it is because I'm old enough that when I was growing up, I believed that business and personal were separate. We were told they were completely separate.

26:30.82

Meridith

They're not. If your health is not right, it will impact your business.

26:31.57

ewell smith

Yeah. Yep.

26:35.29

Meridith

If your finances are not straight, it will impact your relationship. Now you need to be perfect in every arena, but what you have to be doing is you have to make progress.

26:40.83

ewell smith

yeah

26:44.49

Meridith

in every single area and know that what you're doing is taking steps in every single area.

26:45.95

ewell smith

Yeah.

26:51.17

Meridith

And that's what you've got to do.

26:51.39

ewell smith

That's a key word.

26:52.68

Meridith

Yeah.

26:52.65

ewell smith

Progress. Progress is everything.

26:53.28

Meridith

Progress.

26:55.16

ewell smith

but I say progress powers potential.

26:55.78

Meridith

it Yeah.

26:58.21

ewell smith

You know, it really does.

26:58.69

Meridith

Yeah. And confidence is where progress comes. I mean, progress builds confidence.

27:02.13

ewell smith

yeah bills yeah yeah okay I love this so we could probably talk an hour just subject what about number two what's if what's the next what's the what's yeah okay okay perfect

27:04.59

Meridith

It's not about achieving a goal. It is about, did I did i did i get closer to what I want to achieve?

27:14.43

Meridith

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah exactly so so Yeah. So I always, I'll just go right into strategy number two. We'll, we'll do, we'll do, we'll do one and two, because I always tell people that I don't want you to think this book is Pollyanna, like cast a vision. We hold hands. We sing Kumbaya and somehow uncertainty is okay.

27:33.34

ewell smith

ah Sure, that's not how it works.

27:33.64

Meridith

But if your, but yeah, no, but if your mind is strong enough, you're ready for strategy number two. And strategy number two, I love is um it's based on the US military. And if you know anything about the US military, you know that they have a great mantra and the mantra is embrace the suck.

27:52.72

Meridith

And that's not the strategy, but it's the mantra. The strategy is condition yourself for change. But the idea around embrace the suck is that it's not the optimist that survives.

27:58.10

ewell smith

and

28:02.16

Meridith

And it isn't the pessimist. It's the realist. It's the one who goes, you know what? This sucks. I don't like it.

28:07.30

ewell smith

Yeah.

28:07.50

Meridith

But how can I start to work with it and navigate? And the company that we studied through this, in every chapter, I've got a historical company and I've got a modern example.

28:18.09

Meridith

But the historical one is is Jim Beam. and how they survived prohibition. And nobody believed that prohibition would become law, not Jim Beam or any of his competitors. But Jim Beam was a very different type of leader, and he asked himself a very important question, and it's a question all of us should be asking ourselves, and that is, what if? What would I do if prohibition became law? And so even though he didn't believe that would become his reality,

28:45.50

Meridith

He didn't believe that change would come. He got ready anyway. And he bought land in Florida, started growing citrus. He um he ah invested in in the mining industry. So when prohibition became law, he was ready.

28:58.11

Meridith

He had enough revenue streams coming in. Every single competitor that Jim Beam had declared bankruptcy.

29:03.67

ewell smith

Wow.

29:04.22

Meridith

And while they were busy cleaning up the mess their lives and businesses had become, he started asking himself, what if again, what would I do if prohibition was repealed?

29:13.42

ewell smith

Huh?

29:13.61

Meridith

and he lined up distributors and investors. And so when prohibition was repealed, he was back up and running in 120 days, a full year ahead of his closest competitor.

29:23.85

ewell smith

That's a great story.

29:24.01

Meridith

So the power of that is we all know change is coming. Why do we wait for it? Why don't we get ready for change now? You know, it was funny. We were out to dinner with some friends the other day and they won't talk about retirement. I'm 61 years old and um and ah they won't talk about retirement. They're like, no, no, no. We're never stopping working. We're never goingnna we're never going to move into a retirement facility or whatever.

29:49.58

Meridith

And I'm like, you know what, whatever, but it's going to come. And then you're going to end up being a burden on your kids and it's going to be a mess. I mean, you can't, some change sucks and you cannot stop it.

30:02.09

Meridith

But if you prepare for it, you will navigate through it beautifully.

30:02.12

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

30:06.20

ewell smith

Yes.

30:06.53

Meridith

And your greatest opportunity could be on the other side.

30:10.78

ewell smith

I, I, man, it changes coming and the challenges come with it and you have to run towards those challenges.

30:15.84

Meridith

Yes.

30:18.22

ewell smith

Yep.

30:18.44

Meridith

Yeah.

30:19.26

ewell smith

Yep.

30:20.09

Meridith

Yeah.

30:20.08

ewell smith

And, and face them head on.

30:21.87

Meridith

Yeah. You know, I have a, I've got a really good, um, my best friend in the world has six, uh, children and you know you can imagine her entire life was spent raising six kids and her husband was a golf course designer was constantly gone traveling.

30:35.59

Meridith

She didn't play golf because she didn't have time to comb her hair, you know?

30:38.77

ewell smith

yeah

30:39.67

Meridith

And, uh, when her youngest son was in high school, she started to play golf and nobody could believe she was starting to play golf because our husband had tried to get her to play for years but she said to me and i love this it's about conditioning yourself and she said i don't like golf i don't want to play golf but my youngest son is graduating from school i'm about to be in a house with just me and and my husband.

31:01.98

Meridith

And the only thing he does is play golf and loves it.

31:02.42

ewell smith

Yeah. So.

31:05.66

Meridith

If I don't learn to play, we're not going to have anything to talk about. I think it is one of the most, now she's a nut. She's a fanatic. I mean, she's a way bigger golfer than he ever was.

31:11.97

ewell smith

I love it.

31:14.41

Meridith

But my point is she saw the change coming and she got ready.

31:19.40

ewell smith

Wow.

31:20.47

Meridith

You know, rather than sitting there with no kids in the house and nothing in common, you know,

31:20.45

ewell smith

I love it. Yeah, I love it. it Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's in the relentless vision helps you power through those moments, right?

31:32.66

Meridith

Yeah.

31:35.45

Meridith

Yes. and ah It is, it it is unbelievable how that relentless um vision, it pops an intrinsic motivation because it helps you see go, I don't like this, but let me power through it.

31:36.31

ewell smith

That to adapt to change.

31:51.50

ewell smith

Yeah, you've got me fired up. All right.

31:53.63

Meridith

Yeah.

31:53.58

ewell smith

um Let me ask you an interesting question, then we'll button it up, ah where people can find your book and get in touch with you and so forth.

31:58.39

Meridith

Yeah.

32:02.31

ewell smith

If there was one thing you could have done differently, what would that have been? And how would you you coach people to that?

32:13.57

Meridith

You know, if there was one thing that I could have done, oh my god there's a million things that I could have done differently but the biggest is I would have gotten my ego out of the way. I was so insecure in my 20s and my 30s and I really tried to try to

32:22.48

ewell smith

Yeah.

32:28.56

Meridith

I tried to cover that up. And that that prevented me from taking advantage of relationships that could have benefited me, opening doors or taking chances.

32:39.17

ewell smith

Yep.

32:40.74

Meridith

And the insecurity prevented me from wanting to fail. I always had to be the smartest person in the room.

32:44.67

ewell smith

Yeah.

32:46.61

Meridith

I wasn't listening. I wasn't um i wasn't humble.

32:48.22

ewell smith

Yeah.

32:50.56

Meridith

and

32:51.13

ewell smith

I'll guilty of the same.

32:51.73

Meridith

vulnerability and humbleness, they're huge. And they cost me years in my business.

32:57.03

ewell smith

Yeah.

32:59.29

Meridith

The other mistake I made was, and I think this is a ah byproduct of it, it took me too long to find my voice and to ask for what I wanted.

33:05.75

ewell smith

and

33:08.13

Meridith

I was a typical young female.

33:08.38

ewell smith

Wow.

33:09.73

Meridith

I was very passive aggressive. If I worked hard, I thought people should notice. And when they didn't, I i became passive aggressive.

33:13.77

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

33:16.75

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

33:17.11

Meridith

And i I was kind of my own worst enemy in the beginning. So I didn't really hit and really hit my wake up call until about 36 or 37.

33:27.97

ewell smith

Wow, that's amazing. That's, and that's, that's a testament right there. Cause a lot of people, you know, people want, I mean, i coming out of high school and college, I thought, man, I'm going to be a business person, right?

33:39.07

ewell smith

Or, you know, ride the gate and be successful. And I didn't know what the heck was going on until about 29.

33:44.75

Meridith

Yeah.

33:46.28

ewell smith

And then I let, then my career started going and then I found my footing and I had, I had an incredible run.

33:48.59

Meridith

Yes.

33:55.03

ewell smith

but it took a long time so for me to figure that out. And then then there's people like my wife who had it figured out like, how'd you do that?

34:02.65

Meridith

Yeah, yeah, i was now I was not one of those people.

34:04.27

ewell smith

But ah yeah, yeah. All right. Where can people find you for your speaking engagements and your book?

34:13.09

Meridith

Well, I am a big believer in build your network. It will change your life. So if you connect with me, I will connect with you, but you can find me, I tend to live on LinkedIn, um, more than anywhere else, but also reach out to me on my website, just the words value speaker.com.

34:20.28

ewell smith

Yep. yep

34:25.54

Meridith

Just the words value speaker dot.com. And, um, and you know, I write a lot, I shoot a lot of videos, but I find my ideas from engaging with people.

34:36.75

Meridith

So it's a benefit to me if you reach out to me.

34:39.75

ewell smith

I love it. You know, this is better. This has been, fantastic the you know, the best part of my podcasting is the conversations before and after I talk about, I talk about that all the time.

34:46.61

Meridith

Oh, I agree. You learned so much.

34:50.52

ewell smith

And so I'm looking forward to our post conversation. And then, um, and I want to thank you for this time because you got me. motivated just you know i just i love that mindset i love that energy and i know that it's it's the truth and i'm gonna have to read the other seven uh uh points that you have from your book called thrive so thank you for your time i appreciate it all right okay all right

35:12.63

Meridith

That's right. That's rig