The Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter egg hunt episode. This is the Elevate Polk Podcast, and I'm your host, Chrissanne Long, flying solo on this special episode, a celebration of some of our past guests and the incredible stories, wisdom, and messages they have shared with us. Nate and I decided that it might be helpful for our newest audience members to have these special highlight reel type episodes as reference guides as we continue to build our local entrepreneurial ecosystem in Polk County, Florida. We hope you enjoy these stories shared by our first 4 entrepreneurs of season 2. So in this episode, you'll get to meet my co-host Nate, the great Kendrick from the Kendrick Group, Maria Berry-Swan from Stylishly You, Issam Morris from Fit Life Fitness, and Latrice Moore, the entrepreneurship coordinator and business administration professor at Polk State College. We hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll be back with a new guest next week. Here we go.

Hit go whenever you're ready.

All right. This is the Elevate Polk Podcast, and I'm your host, Chrissanne Long, after way too long with, as always, Rob Arturi, but not for long.

I know. Where am I going?

Well, you've already gone.

You kicked me to the curb.

Well, we had this, like, really great time of COVID-recorded episodes, and that was great for you because you didn't have to edit it. No, you're right. I didn't. But you made it happen. And it was hard because I couldn't see your face. So we're actually now back in the studio. So let's tell everybody where we are. What's happening?

Yeah. So we're back in the same studio. but in a different location.

In another time and place.

Well, it's still Lakeland. Well, it's still the same time zone, but yes, a different place. You're right. We are in the Maximize offices now.

So the last time we recorded, you were gainfully self-employed.

Yeah, I was, I was a, I was still an entrepreneur.

Yes. Well, you still are. I mean, you still have, you can't, you can't take the entrepreneur out of the person.

That's true.

That's true. Still, I think it gets in your blood.

Yeah.

But no, I, about the time that we wrapped up our last episode, I accepted a position at Lakeland Regional Health and I absolutely love it. And it, it's a great, great thing to be a part of an organization that's local. It's not, you know, one of these big conglomerates that's based in another state or whatever. It truly is a local thing. We've done things on the show about that where, you know, we talk about the, whether it's our transit or, you know, power utility, having that be a Lakeland or a Polk-centric thing, right, is really important.

And what better place for you to elevate Polk but through healthcare?

Well, that's true. And my giant booth that began its life on my screened-in porch and has moved around more times than I ever anticipated, has a lovely home here at Maximize. But no, the truth is I wanted, you know what, you always wanna do everything. You wanna keep doing everything. You don't ever want things to change. You don't wanna give up on things. And I don't necessarily think I ever wanted, I ever contemplated giving up on the show, But you have to be practical. Something has to give. And for me, as much as this was you and I in this show, I truly do think that the mission of it and what it brings, because nobody wants to just listen to me yak for the entire thing. There was a lot of what you were bringing to the show was very important. It needed to be highlighted. It was a positive thing. It was a good thing. And probably now more than ever, as we hopefully emerge from this pandemic funk in the next 6 months.

COVID cloud.

Yeah. I think you'll need that more than ever to kind of right the ship and kind of get things going. So it would break my heart to see that everything that we did and built, literally in this booth and figuratively in just the hours that we spent doing these podcasts and the amazing people that lent us their time and their experiences, It would just break my heart to see all that go to waste and just to, to just stop completely.

The now opportunity is the podcast booth in my office gives me a lot more time to focus on days that we're going to— days that we're going to record and opportunities to do it more frequently and even maybe opportunities to have more shows. What is the next frontier going to look like? And so just going to carve it out in my vision and what I've shared with you, Rob, and what I've shared with, you know, so we have with the interception of this podcast booth in our office, we also now have the equipment and the opportunity to make this a little bit more available than it was. So I, in our previous season, this is the end, basically this is the end of season 1. That's kind of what I'm suggesting here. And so season 2 is just around the corner. Ready, set, style.

Um, I found Lakeland. Let me tell you what's funny, I never really paid attention to anything in Lakeland until I started my business because it's so much stuff for entrepreneurs.

Oh wow.

So I got into like the free entrepreneur, um, class that they have in Lakeland, and that's when I found out about Co-Starters.

Mhm.

Got into Co-Starters and it changed my life. I felt like after I did the entrepreneur class and I did Co-Starters, I felt like, you know what, you might be able to be an entrepreneur for real. That's great. Like, this might be for you. And then I started doing Stylishly You and it's just been amazing. So I had just, you know, I had established my business, I think like 2018, because when I started I wanted to do a clothing line. I got pivoted, right? I wanted to do a clothing line. I saw like it was really expensive and things like that, so I said, you know what, that's a plan that God gave me, I'm gonna put on the back burner for now. I don't have a— I don't have a problem with put something on the back burner and see what works. I'm just like that, you know. So then, you know, in 2019 when I really started doing like, okay, I'm gonna do styling and things like that, um, December hit and I said I want to do— I don't— I realized I didn't like styling people for events, okay? That was not my thing, okay? Like a lot of stylists love that, like you can call them for big events and, you know, to buy the dresses and things like that. I was like, I don't want to do that. What I want to do, I want something more feasible because I wanted to be the stylist for the everyday woman. I know that, you know. So January, I was like, grand idea, I'm gonna do closet organizing because who doesn't need their closet organized, right?

And then, um, the people who don't have that support from, from within, you know, like your core family is wondering, what the heck, you have 3 heads, what, you're going to be an entrepreneur? Yeah. What are you doing? Yeah. What would you say to somebody like that?

It's funny you ask that because I know somebody like that and she's older and and she is making six figures at her job. So her family's like, what in the world are you doing? Why would you leave a $200,000 a year job to do whatever you say you're going to do? And I tell her all the time, you cannot explain your purpose to people. People won't understand that, right? Right. You have to be your biggest advocate, and you have to get who I call online besties. They're real, those friends, those girlfriends, you know, um, or networking, like those ones you can call up and say, girl, I'm having a I'm having a rough mental day today, you know, and I really don't have anybody in my space to talk to, right? Like, can we talk? And they will talk to you, they'll encourage you, you know. So find you some online besties, find you somebody in a networking, um, environment that you can call on and really just be your biggest advocate and know that whatever you're doing is purpose-driven. You can't really explain it to people, you know what I'm saying?

You can explain it to people who are also purpose-driven. Um, your purpose might not resonate with them, but they'll understand that that's your purpose and they'll encourage that and lift it up, lift you up in it. Building a field of hopes and dreams. But I want to know your thoughts since this is Black History Month. I also want to know your thoughts about where we as a county kind of stand in your opinion from an inclusion and diversity standpoint as it relates to entrepreneurship.

I think we still— I think because of the demographics of the county, I still think that we have a ways to go. I think that the ability for e-commerce has allowed more diverse products into the area, but in in terms of local entrepreneurship and the opportunities for minority businesses, I think that if we are running a mile and a mile is the finish line, I think that we are at the— or we're doing a 4x4, we're on the first runner. I think we still have a long way to go in the county. And that's not a bad thing. No one's saying that you got to be first. This isn't Talladega Nights, so it's not if you're first, you're last.

This is—

If you really are serious about doing it, what opportunities are you going to develop to help those minorities? What partnership are you going to help to create to help those minorities? Or what avenues do minorities have? And I think it's about having a serious conversation and bringing people to the table that realize that we have— it's not a problem, we have an opportunity to change the area because of where we're located.

I think it's, I think it's important to, when you're starting off, to really surround yourself. And like our previous guest said, she said, hey, I got to learn from somebody. And so to be willing to step out in good faith and to step outside of your comfort zone, which I'll just do a quick plug, we talk about that all the time in our Clubhouse group, right, that Chrissanne co-host and that she's over and moderating. It's, it's about being willing to step outside of your comfort zone, which is uncomfortable. And a lot of times it's nerve-wracking, but it's, it's huge because when you have people in your corner that are, that are teachers or, or mentors that are helping you, that you've stepped out of your comfort zone and reached out to in those moments in times when you are doubting yourself and when you are are challenged, or when you don't even think about that you've made something that you've melded together that could potentially be patented and you don't even know what that even means.

Right.

You have somebody that speaks into your life and says, you should probably pursue that idea.

Mm-hmm.

And you feel empowered and you feel like you have the ability to do it. It's life-changing and it's game-changing. And I think these conversations should happen more. 'Cause I, until today, I didn't even realize that that was happening at Polk State. And I think that's massive.

It is.

For Polk County. That's why she's here. Massive for the city.

It's funny because one of the questions was, I think you asked about the type of entrepreneur I am, and I find myself, I said, a research entrepreneur, but educators are also, they inspire their students. And so part of my, Nate asked how did I get here and my background. One of the things that I think makes me an effective educator and to inspire people is I actually taught. Well, when I first moved down here, I was a manager. And then I woke up one morning and said, I want to be a teacher. And my mom said, you don't even know if you like kids like that. And I said, no, I think I want to teach.

How fit is your life? So it was really just the loss of sports that made you lose the interest in school?

Yes.

Yes.

It wasn't grades. You didn't get kicked out. It was just suddenly like I've lost interest because there's no sports for me. Yeah. See, I'm a—

I'm kind of the person like on action. So when, you know, growing up, especially, you know, my early years in college, you know, as we're young, you know, patience is the hardest thing for us being young. So, you know, I was, I just grew impatient. I grew impatient on my junior year. Things were looking up as well though. So my original goal was to play National Football League. So things were looking up, you know, I ended up getting some connections. You know, I just, One day at practice, I just fell out of love with it. So walking towards, you know, a ball was overthrown. I'm walking towards the ball, and that was the moment I realized, as soon as I picked it up, like, I kind of want to do something else. I've been giving my life, you know, I was still young, but I've been giving my whole life to— so as I'm walking downstairs, there's a flyer to my right, and on the flyer it says, personal training class, such and such, blah, blah, blah. So I look into it, I'm like, okay, you know, I'ma just give it a shot.

So Unk planted the seed.

Planted the seed.

And then you saw something shortly, I mean, what was the time difference between when that idea?

So the summer, we'll say the summer of, say the summer of 2017, he planted the seed. So, you know, going into my junior year, you know, I threw it out the window, didn't really think about it, but you know, that flyer kind of slapped me. And, you know, from there I reached out to the instructor, Chris, at the time. And, you know, he got me enrolled into the class and it was over from there.

Okay. So, so he's a personal trainer. That's great. Awesome. You know, so that was the initial thought. So then you and I sat down and had a conversation and you blew my mind because that was what you did at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. But that is not what you're doing now.

Right.

So let's talk about— let's just kind of fast forward a little bit into where you are you are now and what your plans are because as I say this, it's kind of exciting because you're a tech entrepreneur. So you went from I'm going to be a personal trainer to I'm now going to create a technology that is going to help me help others train.

Right.

Okay. So talk about what Fitlife is today.

Yeah. So now Fitlife, fortunately we got the opportunity to create a software where now we can help people all over, so not just locally. So, and that's where we look to head. So initially I had this crazy idea of I want to get the entire world fit. Definitely, definitely want to start in the US. And because we have like the numbers as far as like obesity, things going out to negative health, negativity, those numbers are way too high. I feel like a little bit higher than it should be. And we just don't have enough, enough people taking exercise seriously. Yeah. And exercising is just not about looks. It relates to you going to what you're doing throughout the day, how you're feeling. And I definitely feel like adding exercise into how you feel you can fit it in will, will make you feel a lot better and eventually, you know, make, make, make the world a better place.

It's building that ecosystem.

Yes.

The ecosystem is everything because you can, you can have somewhat of a foundation, but if there's not ecosystem within where they can work and work around and collaborate and lean on and know that there's partnerships around as they're growing their business, then there's nothing really there.

So, absolutely. Well, this has been great. I'm so glad that we had this conversation. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. And remember, we have a new episode each week, so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And remember to leave us a review. We promise to read every one. You can always find all of our episodes at elevatefolk.com. And if there's something you want to hear about on an upcoming episode, an entrepreneur you want us to interview, reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Folk. Boom shakalaka!