WHY Not Wednesday with Cheryl Halbert

Hello, and welcome to why Not Wednesday. I am so excited to be with all of you today. We've got a really, really special show today. We've got the founder and CEO of Rep Cards. So Cheryl Halbert was frustrated after about 13 years as a medical device rep, taking customer calls that were asking her, hey, do you know who my rep is for this product? She decided to go out and solve this problem because a lost connection means a lost sale and poor patient care. So the problem is healthcare's revolving door of changing reps, changing healthcare personnel, territories, products, and companies. So guess what she did? She traded in her scrubs for business clothes, and she got to work on building a better way for healthcare to connect and keep pace with product experts so we could get quick answers for timely patient care that is always at the provider's fingertips. Cheryl has two life mottos. One, live a life full of gratitude and you'll live a full life. And number two, life is easy if you always do the right thing, even when it's not the easiest. So, wow, what a great introduction. Cheryl, what do you think? Did I get it all right?

You got it all right. Thanks for having me, Dan. I appreciate it.

I am so excited to have you on. Here's the reason, Cheryl. All our guests are normally coaches that are in the coaching industry and. And they do what we do. They help people discover their why, they help people discover their how and their what and then build the plan after that. Today's different because we have somebody who has gone through that process and applied it. So I talked a little bit about that in the introduction, Cheryl, but what. What is. What's it like to be somebody who likes to contribute? So let's start with that. Your why OS is as follows, and I posted about it. So if you're listening and you've been watching me on LinkedIn, her why is to contribute? Your how is to challenge the status quo, and your what is to find a better way. How does that fit the work that you're doing?

That's pretty easy. So my why is to contribute and make the lives or the jobs of those that I'm honored to call friends and colleagues easier. How I do that is by challenging the status quo of why have we always done it this way? Why have we always handed each other business cards and product brochures and, you know, played phone tag of hey, do you know who the rep is for this? So what I'm bringing and building is a better way. So it's right in line with. With everything that I With my why my yos.

So and I love. So this is the second or third week in a row that have somebody that's got some of my yos in them. So contribute Challenge. Better way. Contribute challenge makes sense. That's Dan. And then Gary is better way. Clarify, simplify. So you get along with both Gary and I and he loves better way. You know, that's what, that's what brought the Y Institute into being. Finding a better way to help people discover their why and then sharing it with others. And so I see a lot of that. There's so much contribute in better way too, because you don't just find a better way, you want to share it with the world. And I love that you're doing that already. Cheryl, tell me about your. You know, we're going to start with. Tell me about where rep cards began. I gave a little bit of background, but where did the idea come from? Where did it come from? What, what originated it?

So the idea originated when. Years ago when I was a distributor rep, actually. So when I first began my medical device career, I was covering six states. I would go into the OR and I would write on my business card what products I had at the time, what I was carrying in my bag, right? Leave it at the front desk. And inevitably a couple weeks later, because I covered some six states, I'd walk back in and they'd say, oh, Cheryl, we were just looking for you, but we couldn't find your business card because Dr. So and so had a case for you that he wanted to use your whatever widget on. And so for years, I've always thought, why do we not have like a rep directory where these healthcare providers can just look up who we are and who the rep is for the products and services that they need. So fast forward, you know, I continue working for Medtronic, who's the largest medical device manufacturer in the world. And it's even worse because there, because we've got so many reps running around. So I would get the phone call because I was in a niche specialty of heart valves, right? And so I would get the phone calls of, hey, Cheryl, do you know who my rep is for this? And again, I'm thinking, why do we not have a directory? So, you know, the, the title of this show is why Not? And, you know, I was laid off from Medtronic in March of 2019, which, you know, sometimes the man upstairs has a bigger plan than you do. And I took that as an omen of like, okay, little buddy, it's, it's your time like this idea you've had, It's. It's time. So I found myself asking, you know, why not me and why not now? So I took the plunge. But before I did that, I took, you know, took the YOS quiz and really made sure that that was, that was what I needed to be doing.

You know, we've got, we've got. Steph McPheeb commented early. She said hello. She. Her motto is why not? And I love that. This story. So March 2019, you get a letter that says, hey, you know, we no longer need your position. Right. As valuable as you are, as much as you've done for us, and as good a rep as you are.

We'Re making the decision to go in another direction now with the how of challenge. Change is not that big a deal to you, right? So I, I can imagine a lot of people would have been very stressed by that. You said, what a great opportunity. I've had this idea. How long had the rev cards idea been in your head?

It originated in, like, December of 2010. Okay, so a long time.

So this idea.

12 years. The idea had been sitting in your head. So LinkedIn user just said, yes, he does. And he knew you'd have this idea in product, so. So he's talking about the man upstairs. God was already knew. So LinkedIn user, if you put your name, then we'll be able to know if. I think if we're not connected, we can't see your name. Put your name in there. So we know who you are. If you want to share it, we'd love to. We'd love to know who you are so we can address you by name. But, you know, you took that as an opportunity to go with this idea that had been sitting in your head for nine years. And then what was the first step? What was the first thing you did?

Well, you told us you discovered you went through the YOS process. What attracted you to go do that?

Well, I think anytime you go through, you know, a personal, professional change, whatever that may be, whether it be death, divorce, you know, getting laid off, having a kid, I think you, at least for me, you. You naturally kind of want to make sure that you take those opportunities as signs of, whether it be that, you know, you need to make a change sort of thing to really make sure that you're in line and kind of use that as a. As a compass for where you need to be going in life. So that's what drew me to, you know, first what's, you know, Find your why. And I, I did the Simon Sinek find your why, but I will say I found yours a heck of a lot easier and, and a lot more gratifying.

And so that's why I'm an advocate of it. But knowing your why and knowing my why now really solidified this is what I need to be doing. And also, you know, explains why I find so much joy and why I keep going with bringing this vision of making it easier for my friends and colleagues in the healthcare industry to connect, keep pace and collaborate on patient care. Because right now we're all so, you know, we're also siloed and, and everything's so fragmented and let's, let's bring it all together. You know, we've got HIPAA that we've got to be concerned about. And so I just think that there's a better way. So we're, we're building it.

I, I love that. So earlier we talked about your, your why, how and what. And by the way, we know who LinkedIn user was JT. So JT, we know you tune in every week, so thank you for the question. Here's the thing that you just talked about, that clarity that you talked about, because we talked to a lot of people because we have a similar name, right? We're the YA Institute. Everybody's heard of Simon Sinek's Way, and the people that have done both say what you did. You said gratification. You called us the instant gratification version because you take 10 minutes and you know your why, your how and your what, and we call it your why operating system. And I think you mentioned it just now. You know, we believe that when you, when what you do is in line with why you do what you do, you're going to have passion. And passion gives you the energy to pursue your dream, right? Because you had that passion you'd have. For a while it was just an idea, right? But then it became that. Now you've been in it, now you've been doing it for a couple of years and it's passion. Does anybody need to get you, push you out the door or push you to go talk to someone about your business of rep cards?

No.

No, it, it, because you, because you, it's fun. You, you get to share your vision and it's exciting to hear others say, yes, we need that. And that keeps propelling you forward and how can I help you? And you know, I would love to be on your platform. How do I get involved? All of those things are what keep you keep you motivated and keep you going because it's, it's, it's not for everybody. You know, being an entrepreneur is definitely a grind. Not it's not for, you're not going to get rich quick being an entrepreneur. But it's worth it when you see the impact.

That you're making and contributing to making the jobs of other people easier. I mean, that is the whole goal. There's a better way to do it.

I love that. So you're incorporating all of it. So the, not just the, not just the contributing because you're helping people. Right. That's a big part of it. But you found a different way. You saw a different way 12 years before you started this business business, and you found a better way. So you've got a great filter, you know, and the coaches that are listening, they're gonna, they're gonna recognize this because we talk about what's the difference between challenge the status quo and finding a better way. Both of them challenge the status quo and say, let's do it differently. You know, what I like to say is with me, who's, who's challenged without the better way is I'll do things different just to be different. That's what a challenge the status quo. Different thinker does a better way. Person will only do it differently if it's better. Right. So you kind of become your own filter for those great ideas your challenge mind comes up with. And you say, okay, which one's better? That's the one we're going to implement. And that probably did a lot of the refining for the product that you brought to the market.

Yeah. So Dan, when my challenge of the status quo started, started at a very young age too. So I grew up with brothers, which is why I can thrive in a male dominated medical device world. But years ago, I mean my, if I wanted to do something on, I grew up on a farm, right. To do something. A lot of times my mom would say, you can't do that because you're a girl. And I was like, that's dumb. So I would.

Not a good, that's not a good reason, Mark.

I'm like, that, that's a dumb reason. So I would go to my dad and say, dad, can you? It was usually like, teach me how to drive the tractor or drive the uni loader or you know, ride the four wheeler, whatever it was. It was always something like that. And so he always, he taught, he always taught me. And then I figured out pretty quickly, yeah, I can do that. So.

Challenging the Status quo comes natural just from growing up with brothers and I guess being told, being told what you can and cannot do, right. And then factor in being German and stubborn. You're like, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna figure a way to do that. So where did the better way come in?

So better way. I'm always seeking to improve, right? I'm always reading. My husband tells me I probably read too much, but I'm an avid learner. I, I, I love learning and figuring out life hack ways. You know, I, I like to share things, hacks that I've learned through the years with, with others because that's, it feeds into how I can contribute to making your life easier. So it's, it just better, better way. There's, there's always a better way to do things. I mean, I'll give you a great example.

Yeah.

People always tell you, oh, you should read this book or you should read that book. And if I had a dollar for every time somebody, you know, said oh, you should read this book, I'd probably be poor because I would go out and buy all of those library books and instead I figured out that there's an, there's an app called Blinkist where you can read like a book report on it in minutes and kind of get the Cliff Notes of it. So then I'll read the Cliff Notes and if I really think that doing a deep dive into that book would be beneficial, then I'll go out and get the book. But if that, that app alone has probably saved me hundreds of dollars, if not thousands.

All right, what's the name of the app, Cheryl? Because we're going to put that in the show notes.

It's Blinkist Bl. I have no get in this, by the way. It's B L I N K I S T Blinkist.

Blinkist. I've got to remember that because I love to read the, My big, my best year, I read 48 books in one year. So I love reading. I'm always reading two books at a time. So. But I like that idea. Sometimes you get into a book and you're halfway through it and it's, and it's always about self improvement. I mean, I'll tell you the one I'm reading right now. The consistency chain. I met the author, Jim Packard and George Campbell are amaz. I'll be, I'll be, I'm actually going to have them on, on the show here in a, in a few weeks and they're going to talk about the consistency chain. But I love that Blinkist. It's a shortcut so you can get the Cliff Notes and then move forward if you decide then you want to buy it. Here's the thing I heard from Darren Hardy and Cheryl, tell me if you agree. He says, you know, poor people have big TVs, rich people have libraries. And I took that to mean, you know, how much would I spend on an 80 inch television? You know, it's 1800 dollars or something. So if as long as I don't spend over $1,800 on books a year, I'm doing better than buying an 80 inch flat screen TV. What do you think of that advice?

I think that's pretty spot on, but I guess that makes me wealthy because I have both.

The best of both worlds, right? Yeah.

I mean, if we're, if we're going off that measuring stick, I'm do it. Okay.

Good stuff. Well, I love, I love that because I'm always looking for people that do what I do. And the lucky thing about what I do is I get to meet a lot of authors and they send me books and they get to, they write inside of them. So I have a lot of signed copies, which is really cool. So, Cheryl, let's go on a little bit more down the question that we want to know a little bit more about.

Now that you know your why operating system, you learned, you learned it a couple of years ago and it was in the infancy stages of rep cards. How did you apply it to your business? How did you apply it to your messaging? How do you use it on an everyday basis, the way you go about being who you are?

Well, if you go on our website, it's, it's in our messaging, it's in our mission of why, why we do what we do, which is, you know, to make everybody's life easier. So it's in the messaging of our product.

And then I think the biggest thing, Dan, is that, you know, knowing your why or knowing my personal why keeps you motivated when times get tough. Because like I, like I mentioned earlier, it's. It's not an easy path. And if you don't know your why or your purpose, if I didn't, I would have probably given up a long time ago or I wouldn't have pursued it at all because it's, it's not easy and it requires ruthless prioritization and focus and grit. And my why is what keeps me going. It's what keeps me motivated. And, you know, it's why I'm trying to achieve what I'm trying to, you know, what we're building and how I'm trying to achieve it.

So, you know, the hardest part for everybody, especially entrepreneurs, is that first sale. So you come with a sales background, so you had that advantage. You've been in those tough conversations. You've been. You've heard no. A bunch of times. But tell us about the first.

Continue. But the sodas, the yeses.

Yes, that's right. So tell me about that first. First sale, the first big deal you got. Tell us about that story. How did it happen? And. And, you know, that's give. That gives you the fuel for the next one. So I love hearing that story.

So the biggest sale so far is, you know, obviously working with these hospitals.

Right.

Getting into them and getting the yes from them. It's not easy because there's. There's approval processes that you got to go through. You know, not as, as I was mentioning earlier, nothing in health care moves quick.

Right.

But getting those first yeses and then getting, you know, because we have reps on our platform as well, getting, getting all of that going.

Come. I guess it comes pretty naturally, I guess, like you said, because I've been in sales for so long that it's. I guess I've just come to expect the yes.

Right. It's coming, right. Every no gets you closer to yes.

Yes. And when I'm told no, I mean, it's like, okay, there's plenty of other fish to fry.

Like anything else, so. And you keep going. Yeah, but it's help when you. When someone else sees your vision and someone else sees how passionate you are about making their job and their life easier and helping them save money and. And be more efficient with their time.

Mm.

Yeah. Of course. They're like, yes. And then, you know, now we're. We're actually working with a couple of hospitals on quantifying that for them. And we're. I don't have that number yet, but that number is going to be pretty big is what we expect because the average hospital weighs about 8.3 million in case delays every year, which is a huge number. And we. We think we can put a dent in that. So that's. That's going to be pretty fun. Whenever we get that, whenever we get that number. And we can not only tell you, but we can show you.

Well, and that. That's so important, right, because that's. That proof, that proof of concept, I can tell you how great it is. But let me show you, using your own data, what it is that you're wasting every time you're not getting hold of the right person or you're using the wrong product or the doctor has to postpone a surgery because they couldn't get their question answered or a procedure gets, gets delayed. It impacts the reimbursement and it impacts who you're going. The patient. It's going to go to another hospital. Right. They're going to get a bad impression. So it impacts your ratings. It impacts a lot of things. I can't wait. You're going to have to come back and tell us more about that. So one of the things we didn't do, and I like to do this at the end so we're, gosh, we're getting close to the end. I want to ask, and you kind of hit on this a little bit. So I'll ask you in two parts. What has been your biggest why not moment professionally? And then I'm going to ask you what's been your biggest why not moment personally.

So my biggest, I answered that question earlier. My biggest performance professional why not moment was definitely when I was laid off.

Yeah.

And why not now? Why not me? Somebody is, I mean this technology needs to exist. There's really no reason it's 2022. There's no reason why we should still be siloed and as fragmented as we are in connecting, keeping pace and collaborating on patient care. Because I don't, I mean you walk into any hospital and they've, they have to have vendor reps in there. Especially now.

Right.

With you know, the high, high turnover. I call it the great retraining. You've got to retrain all of the hospital personnel on, on this industry knowledge and how to use these products correctly because that's, I mean medical, it's, it's all over the journals that, you know, medical errors have been, have been up through the pandemic and.

Right.

That's simply because we're short staffed. These details get, get slipped through the cracks.

Right.

And so I, it's, it comes naturally that we got to have a better way.

And that's what I keep pushing for. And yeah, I mean knowing your why is just, it's an investment in yourself but it constantly plays, pays dividends especially as you make daily and life decisions like you know, starting or building a company. It definitely played a part.

So, so what about personally biggest personal why not moment?

Ah, Dan, I, I'm gonna re. Geez.

So I think my biggest why not moment came years ago actually. So.

I'm just gonna throw it out there. My mom Got a flyer in the mail for a beauty pageant.

It was Miss Teen St. Louis. And my mom said, why? Why not? And that I read it and I was like, I was 15 at the time, and I thought, yeah, why not? Yeah, sounds fun. So it was actually where I learned how to give a firm handshake. I was up against.

I think it was close to 30 women. I had never been in a pageant before, thought, why not me? And lo and behold, I won my first yes way back in the day. I was Miss Teen St. Louis, 1999, if that dates me at all. But, yeah, I, I, and that, I think, kind of set off this. Why not me? I mean, I've, ever since that, that time, I've always, you got to believe in yourself.

Right?

I think that really propelled that confidence that I, I can do it.

So it sounds to me like this isn't a story you share very often, Cheryl. But you said, you know what? Why not? I'm going to share it today.

So thank you for, in the vein of being vulnerable and, and really being open and candid with the audience. I mean, it's, it is what it is.

I love it. I think that's a great accomplishment. And I think there's the obvious stuff, right? You've got to be presentable to be in a beauty pageant, but there's a lot more to it. Like you said, you learn how to give a firm handshake, you learn about how to present. You learn how to be in front of an audience. Right. I'm sure all of those things have come into play as you're doing what you're doing now.

Yeah.

It was great because it was.

How to interview. Right. And how to be confident in yourself. And as a teenager, you often say those filler words, right? So how do you, how do you not say those filler words and be professional and polished and get your point across quickly and easily and tell those, tell those stories just like I'm doing now.

I love that. So here, here's we're right, we're running right on time, which is great. Cheryl, what would you say to someone? So we on, in, in the audience, we've got coaches who are yos, certified coaches. They walk their clients through this process every day. And I'm sure we've got some, your, your network responded really well to your LinkedIn post. So I'm sure some of your friends are listening, people that you worked with. What would you say to someone who's considering learning more about themselves through learning their. Why maybe working with one of our coaches. What would you say to someone that's thinking about doing that?

So your why is really your compass. And once you know it, it's a breath of fresh air because everything starts to make sense. I've alluded to what that my why is definitely my passion and what keeps me grinding every day.

My how of challenging the status quo. As I mentioned, looking back, I know how that came about right from my brothers. Finding a better way again, that just comes through.

Asking my dad to teach me. Teach me things years ago and getting the confidence and, you know, I. I used those beauty pageants actually to pay for a year of college. That's actually. And finding a better way to do that, too, and go to. Go to college. So it all makes sense. And once you know that, everything you do gets so much easier. And the decisions that you make, it's. It all makes sense. And you're.

You're. You're on the. You're. You're on the fast track, I guess you could say, to.

Really living out your purpose and doing what you're meant to do.

That is so awesome. You struck a chord with Damasio. Who's listening? When you find your why, it really puts things in perspective and helps you communicate that. So, Cheryl, thank you so much for being on with us today. It's our first time doing this with. With one of our clients who's actually gone through it, and I've actually got a couple more that I've lined up because I knew this would be a great conversation for our coaches to hear and for people that are considering going on that journey to discover their why, how, and what. Have a great rest of your week, and best of luck with rep cards. Keep us in the loop.

Okay, I will do that. Thanks for having me again, Dan. Appreciate it. Bye. Bye.