Candid Conversation with Host Adrienne Barker, MAS

Surface Pro, he was telling me. That is really cool.

Infrared. I had no idea that was a feature of that. So I have a question for you. Yes.

So when you talk about the elite team, I— my mind thinks of like a, um, like a Six Sigma. Is, is that— would that be similar to what would be considered an elite team?

So it's definitely— I, I think the process of Six Sigma is is going toward elite teams. My understanding of Six Sigma and people who have known Six Sigma have seen what I've done with organizations and that's what they said, they've compared it to that. I'm not a Six Sigma expert or black belt or green belt or anything like that, but I understand that's a constant process improvement. And I'd say it's a characteristic of an elite team to be constantly improving. right? So, so that aspect of it is correlated. I wouldn't say a Six Sigma— I wouldn't say they're necessarily one and the same, but I'd say there's definitely an elite team is going to be doing process improvement all the time. They're always seeking to improve, always how do we improve what we do, communicate, perform, execute, all those elements of it. So I would say that that There's correlation there. I don't know Six Sigma enough to say this is definitely what it is or not.

It's interesting. I don't understand why a company wouldn't do that in their course of their business life, why they wouldn't. You can't ever rest on your morals, right? You have to continually make sure that your processes are— I mean, I don't think it would ever— I think that process would die when the company dies and ends. Because how do you, I just, like they go together, but yet I've worked with some companies before that absolutely do not, you know, or the person that's leading the company does not have that thought process of every morning, what are we gonna do better? What processes can be changed? And that could be not only externally like computers and hardware, but even with the human interaction with the employees.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's across the board. How do we improve every aspect of what we're doing?

Right.

And how do I improve myself? Right. Because that, that really is at the start of the individuals on the team. They, the elite teams, right, are full of people who are saying, how do I improve myself so I can improve the team? And that's a big piece of it.

It's very difficult. I was, I was experiencing, you know, last year situation where I heard a lot of this. This is how we always do it. We've been doing it this way for 15 years. We're not going to change now. It's worked well for us in the past. There's no need to make a change. And then when you try to explain why you want to look at the processes, you're called, you know, negative and not someone that really, you know, team player. And it becomes— and so I could really— my heart goes out to people that have that kind of mindset where you want to continuously improve because then they're looked at very negative, that there's someone who, you know, isn't happy and they're, you know, just whatever those, those adjectives could be. But I absolutely believe in what you do. And if I had more brain, I think I could really actually do that because even as a SCORE mentor, I try to look at how I can help to prove that, you know, whatever they're doing, whether it's their sales system or not. But you and I share—

I'm sure, I'm sure you are doing it right, because you wouldn't be doing this if you didn't have that mindset. It really is. It really is the mindset, right? You're always seeking to improve. And how do I do things better? How do I, how do I serve better? Right. So that's part of it, right?

I try to make sure that I educate myself every day with something that I'm learning. And that is really why I love SCORE, is that there's always a reason to read. I just wish I had more energy, but that, you know, I think maybe being in the house has helped. So you and I share, um, I, I personally am in love with Maria de Villa. I think— I, I don't want to cry, but I, you know, I met her and asked her if she would be my friend for an hour and a half. I didn't expect that we would have such a close friendship. And but I honor the work that she does, and it's amazing how many she— I, I do think that she's touched by an angel. Do you remember the show Touched by an Angel?

Yep. Yeah, I didn't watch a lot of them, but I know the show.

Yeah, I think that Maria is such a great angel. So you reached out to Maria. Tell me, how did you even hear of Healthy Souls?

So, so Maria and I met on LinkedIn. I think it was early last year, and I was just reaching out to executive directors of nonprofits. I like, I like finding nonprofits. I am a person of faith and kind of feel the calling is we need to be on the attack against the gates of hell. Right? And so that's what we're called to do. And so I'm looking for other warriors that are out there that are attacking the gates of hell in whatever, whatever capacity they've been called to do that. And so I reached out to some nonprofits. She was one of them that, that connected with me. So, and, and so we, um, work— uh, I'm getting to do again here.

Let's see, for other warriors We were doing so well. Whatever.

Let's try that. There. Are we better?

We'll see in the end.

Yeah, I might, I might maybe default to that for a reason. Maybe there's less. Yeah, it really is less information on there. Let's see what that looks like.

It's awesome.

See if that helps.

Kind of cool.

That helps better. So, oh my gosh. So I— yeah, so I reached out to her and just— we just connected. We had a really great conversation, you know, explaining— I found out what she was doing and she heard what I was doing and she said, you know, I know we— I know we'll need you. I don't know if we can do it yet, but we'll need you in the future. And so we just stayed in contact, called a couple times just to see how things were going. And then I'm on the board, directors for, or foundation board for Advent Health University here in Orlando. And so I knew Maria from her post. She was doing some work in the Bahamas when the hurricane came through, and Advent Health had some students that, um, had families that they were from there. And so their families were, you know, obviously the student is very concerned, the, the university is very, you know, loving of their students and want to help them and everything. And so, um, I connected, uh, Maria with the, the university because they were trying to find a way to get resources to, uh, their students' families. And so Maria Maria said, we'll take care of it. And, um, they got together and they— I think they took, took care of my families for the families. And so it was a really great connection. Yeah, they did. And you just dropped off, is that, uh—

I just got rid of my video. I did it on purpose so that I could just— so I mean, what you're saying, I want to just hear. So, okay, so this is so beautiful. Okay. And then, so what— I don't recall this actually, so this is interesting to me.

Yeah, so So that was a way we connected and how that, you know, God used that connection to help many people, you know, because Maria was doing some— I think she had some flights headed to Bahamas where they— and they were taking care of delivery right to the door of those families. So it was really a great connection to make that happen. So she really helped them out and it was good. So recently, I just touched base with her again just to see how she was doing. We got to talking, got to talking on, you know, she was helping out with the COVID-19 response, serving some, you know, people, vulnerable people, so they wouldn't have to get out of the, get out of their homes. And she shared she had, I really don't even remember exactly how the conversation went, but it clued in on me that she had some data systems and data issues that I could probably help with. And so from a system standpoint, and so I— we got pulled up on Zoom and, uh, she showed me what she was doing and I did something real quick to show her if this is what she'd like. And, uh, you know, kind of— she would— she was calling people, getting her information, and then trying to assign them to different teams. Uh, they were trying to use Google Maps for the address to link it up. And, uh, so I just kind of made it real simple for her by, by using a form that people could register on so she didn't have to collect the information. And then she could assign them to a team in that, on that spreadsheet, and it automatically took the address and created a link to Google Maps. And then we shared it on a, in a, in different reports by team so that that team whoever was on that team, that individual would be able to have their list and their only their list and be able to pull that up on their phone and go deliver with just the information they needed and nothing more. So that, that was kind of what we solved. And, you know, Maria said that it— she was spending about 2 hours a night making that thing work or trying to make that work. And so I took it down to about a few seconds for per person that she had to deal with. And she said it probably saved her about 10 hours a week. So we'll— that's kind of what we did.

So I— about— per person that— she said it probably— That's a good amount of time.

We go back to infrared. It's a little bit quirky again. That is, that is really huge to think that you're able to save someone that kind of time. That, and especially Maria, who doesn't, you know, I think she gets 4 or 5 hours sleep a night. It's pretty intense. Maybe this story, maybe exactly this story is pretty, pretty, pretty, it's a pretty wow because I don't know if the average person doesn't realize that something like that would exist. So really, if you have an idea in your mind on how you can make something go smoother, but you don't know how to do it, the idea— and it's computer-related— the idea would be to contact you so that you could do it.

Yeah, and there, I mean, there are—

you really can figure out the way to fix something to, to make it work for someone.

That, that—

can you hear me?

Yeah.

How, how are you doing with COVID-19 right now?

So, so it's interesting. The—

how are you doing?

So it's definitely changed my routine quite a bit as far as, you know, working from home all the time. I like the idea that it saves on gas and travel and everything, and I like the idea of the Zoom meetings or the, you know, these these online meetings, and we're finding that that is very beneficial. I actually picked up a client in the midst of all this and working with their systems, so that's doing well. On the ministry side, my church, I'm part of Mosaic Church out here in Winter Garden on the west side of Orlando, and we've got a team that is focused on poverty alleviation, and so we've been doing just about every week for the last 4 weeks anyway, you know, finding some food sources and finding some things to help some particular families that we know of that we've vetted and are getting to know better and build relationship with and just kind of helping them navigate these challenging times. So that's kind of the COVID-19 for me is, you know, involved with that and spending, you know, I'm at home with my boys and just— I've got a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old and they're finishing up school online, which is interesting. So my oldest son is going to be finishing UCF with a statistics degree. Actually, this is his final week for that. And he's planning on going on to do sign language. So he wants to— Florida program. So he's excited about that, and I'm excited for him. And then my, my younger son, he's not sure what he wants to do yet. So, so that, that's kind of, you know, kind of where we're at. And wow, yeah, it's, it's, it's interesting times for sure.

So that's, you know, kind of where we're at.

I love it. I wonder why this, uh, program— it really is. Why, why do you think this program is, uh, is acting this way? Is it the bandwidth? What, what is the reason?

I, I'm thinking it's the internet connection.

Why do you think this program is acting— yeah, I pay for like high-speed internet. You would think that I would— how do you even know? It's always a question I have. How do you really know? You're—

yeah, you don't. And I see up in the top left of my window that it's only got 1 bar out of 5, and that— I don't know if that's mine or yours, so it could be on my end. I've got— I think I've got the business class for Spectrum around here, but I don't know. I'm not sure how powerful or how accurate it is either. So, and these bars keep jumping from 5 down to 1. So, and it might be, it might be my Wi-Fi.

So I don't, I'm not sure how, uh, well Exactly.

I don't want to complain.

Oh, I—

and I really think if I could help you, for you, please let me know. If you have an article you write, I'll share it and, you know, just try to pass on your information.

Oh, great. I appreciate it, Adrian. Thank you so much for having me on. I've enjoyed the conversation and I didn't get to learn too much about you, so we'll, we'll have to have another, another visit.

I appreciate that. Halo, who I work for, is in Orlando. So, well, they're all over the United States, but I— where there's an office in Orlando. So when I get to Orlando for a meeting, or because I will be going to Orlando a few times, I will, I will look you up because I love that area of Winter Garden too. Thank you so much. You are really, honestly, a hometown hero.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's amazing. So God bless you. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Adrian. Have a great day.

You're a lovely man.

Thank you. Take care.