From Single Mom to 2 Billion how Class and Courage Win - Dr. Ann Kaplan Mulholland

31:15Another thing in business I always do, always do and still do. And I do it now. I used to do it on business cards. I do it now in my contact list. So if I'm talking to someone and they say something interesting about themselves personally, I make a note in the notes under that person's. So Charles, I would make a note if you mentioned you were a Speedo and you used to be a, I guess, a competitive swimmer. So I will make a note because if you and I didn't talk for a year and a half later and you called me up and said, hey Anne, and I'd say, yeah, how you doing? And did you ever post about that speedo again.

31:57You want to be able to know people, but this is a very fast moving world. And the more that you grow, the faster it moves and the more people you meet. Another thing that I do, and I try to tell this to my kids, is join organizations. So I joined the Ontario Economic Summit for years. I was a delegate at the G20Y on the Banking and Finance Committee. I met people from around the world. I'd attend this in different Paris or different places that we would have our meetings. And I would meet people from around the world and they became part of my Rolodex. So, and this can be done a lot easier now also with podcasts and vodcasts and YouTube channels.

32:41You can do that, but join committees and organizations in a large scale and you will meet more people that become part of your contact list. And that is really important because you want to open yourself up beyond your small or your small as relative people you've met in the current business that you're in now or in school or in the past. So I opened my world up to a very, very big, for me, Rolodex of contact people. And so even now in television, I go to the television conferences. And I know that I'm not noticeable, and I know that I'm really nothing amongst all the people that are there that are all searching to sell or buy something.

33:25And so I make sure that I make myself noticeable. And so, for example, when I went to MIPCOM, which is the reality TV show conference in Cannes, and my TV show is called Queen of the Castle, I brought a whole bag full of tiaras and we handed out tiaras to people. And I literally brought drag queens with me because I was the queen and dressed as the queen. And we were noticed. And I had to fight that with the producers of the show when they asked me to go to MIPCOM and meet people. I said, realize no one will know who I am. I mean, you're amongst all of these, you've got Warner Brothers, you've got Disney, you've got, I don't know what they're called now in this day and age, but you've got all the TV channels that are there and everybody's there.

34:13Make yourself noticeable in a good way. And so I think every moment is your elevator pitch. Take those elevator pitches and have that little soundbite available. And something I learned in PR when I would do the news or I would do something, I would practice. I would practice the worst questions somebody could ask. And I would have that soundbite that I wanted to say written down on a sheet of paper in front of me. And then if somebody asked me something, we used to do anti-aging shows. So we did anti-aging shows and I was money lending into the cosmetic medical market and veterinary and dental, et cetera.

34:58And I know that I, and I was money lending into home improvement as well. but because we did money lending into cosmetic enhancement always one of the first things that media would ask me is what have you had done and irrelevant to money lending and conventions that we would do but i would have written down on a sheet of paper while if i was thinking to have something done i would certainly go to our conference on anti-aging and it wouldn't matter what they said, but have that soundbite that you can slip in and divert from the question. And I hate to say it, but a lot of politicians just put the soundbite in and it has nothing to do with them.

35:39Learn from that because it's not a bad idea. But do it, but do it. We do it all the time. Don't answer the question that was asked. Answer the question you want to answer. So they could say, hey, what is your favorite food? It's like, it's a really interesting question. My favorite color is, so you're actually answering the question. you want to answer, not what was asked. And I think the other thing is when people show up to networking events, they get very scared because like, well, I'm not the queen of the castle. I'm not ooh la la. I haven't done regrettably the research, which I agree with you wholeheartedly do the research.

36:10I remember before social media really blew up, people on Facebook and they posted everything, their wedding anniversaries, their kids, their hobbies. And I would research all of that. So when I got to the meeting, I had more of those like things to connect with. But what I've done at these events is, and I would love to hear more of your ideas of how you connect because obviously you connect on a huge level is i will walk up and say hi what is your biggest prop right now so i'm like i need a plumber like awesome i'll be right back and i would go around the rest of the party and i would find a plumber i'm like hi you're a plumber i'm like you need to come with me and then i would take plumber to the person you need a plumber like hi here you guys connect you needed a plumber how would i say when the plumber's really happy because new client and the person's really happy because i found a plumber and that inherited in that i get all that trust and i get all that connection and i will just spend the whole time so for those of you who are listening one of the proven tactics that work really well is being service to others say listen i i might not feel that i'm good enough at this moment great you can always connect people there are times where i feel i'm good not good enough there's times where i feel like i'm amazing when when in doubt connect people what are what are the ways that you have connected what are the ways that you know as a female as you're coming into it where they will marginalize you where they will think bad about you because anytime i've been on a carpet no one's ever asked me what i'm wearing ever and i've had pr sit down okay this is what you're wearing i'm like i don't know what any of those words that came out of your mouth are i go i don't know because i don't you walk in you have your underwear on and they dress you with everything else i i've had to do that they'll give you a list i've never been asked who i'm wearing because my default response will be target i don't i just i don't pay attention it's either banana republic or target that's just i don't know but when i'm on stage or i'm being dressed up it's armani and all these other things i've never been asked that's a very different world than you live in so how do you what are some practical things when you do do research and you are walking into these things and you are setting up that you can give to and again to everybody it doesn't matter if internal plumbing or external plumbing but specifically for women to be prepared in that environment so i make sure that i do make those notes that night or that moment i will take the moment to make a note about a conversation that I have with somebody.

38:18So I don't get into personal life, never get into my personal life. I get into what that conversation that somebody is having with me. So just say it's at a party or at a dinner or an event. And I do throw the events and the parties and I'll get into that in a second. But when I meet somebody, I will make that note and I will make sure I get their WhatsApp connect on the WhatsApp and I will follow up and say, hey, it was nice to meet you. I will make that note and I will follow up with them to do with the conversation. And so I do not follow up with them and ask for something. I follow up with them.

38:53I don't ask like, hey, you know, this is what I do. I'm trying to make a connection for someone to fill a void. Or it might be the plumber, is to say, hey, it was good to meet you. I hope the plumber works out. Let me know if you don't find one. And I can see, you know, I live in the area and I can see if I can get somebody else that can help you. Follow up with a relevant conversation, but do not ever ask for something. And never reach out to somebody with an ask. And if you have an agenda, tell them your agenda. So, agenda is, I'd like to ask you if you're interested in investing in this firm.

39:29But don't follow up and say, hey, great to meet you. I really liked your Armani suit and, you know, let's connect sometime. Be very, very honest because no one has time to, no one's that silly or stupid anymore. I don't like using those words. They can read between the lines. So be very authentic and be very fortunate in what you're doing and then follow up and make sure that when you're at a party and you're there to network, that you actually do network. And so you actually are promoting yourself as a business person, whatever that is that you are at that moment and trying to promote yourself as, and then make sure that you're making that connection and the right connections.

40:09And something that I do now, when you talk about networking, is we do, and I work with throwing parties, where I invite like-minded people in, and anyone can do this themselves. And one of the things that you can do is invite like-minded people in the same ilk. So in mine, it would be CEOs of companies, and invite those people to a dinner. They don't pay. But the idea is that they get to network, they get an over-the-top experience, and their whole guest list, emails and contacts, are shared with everyone. And so they come there knowing they're going to meet like-minded people. And I don't invite people that don't fit into that group.

40:59So it's really, really an interesting way to network and meet a large group of people that you can bring together. And if you don't know a lot of people, make it a dinner. and then say, let's talk about AI and the impact on our businesses and invite like-minded people for that dinner that can network with each other. So be the networking instigator as well. So networking enough, create it. Get creative on how you can meet more people in your circle. So join committees, organizations, and get creative on networking. And if you don't have that group, create the group. And do not invite your close girlfriends that have nothing to do with it.

41:38and so do not invite your husband and do not let your kids sit at the table you are a working group that shows that you're focused on the moment so um i love that one of the things that happens at networking events at groups that i would love for you guys you to speak to is i have a client and recently she lives in dc she connected with an individual who was clearly not wanting to talk business with her to clean this way i can say that without getting in trouble he was interested in her for far beyond her brain this was an individual of immense power and trying to take prey on my client and we walked through a very specific thing of how to how to hold space for that but also how to exit out of it in a polite way my hallucination is you run into that quite a bit how do you handle that where the other side of the table is regrettably being inappropriate and crossing the lines of getting across on the personal side and being maybe a tad bit too aggressive how do you handle that without blowing up your network without creating a reputation where i'm not this but i'm also not that how do you deal with that type of environment so i'm in in no way am i making any kind of assumption about the person you just spoke spoke of, but I am really not an approachable person in that way.

42:58And if I say hi to a man in a certain environment, that they think I want to sleep with them. And I said this to my daughters when they were leaving to go off to school. If a man asks you for coffee, he wants to sleep with you. If a man says that you look nice, he wants to sleep with you. If a man wants to look at your computer, he wants to sleep with you. Do not ever think that you look so interesting that they have anything else on their mind. And so anyway, unfortunately, that's it. But in business, when I was building business, I didn't have a lot of confrontation. But the times that I did, there was one time when there was a banker and we had left to dinner and I was walking to my hotel and he was walking to his car.

43:48we walked together. And then I said, okay, goodbye. And he leaned over to kiss me. And I stepped back. Well, you know, just mortified because that wasn't the intention, but I took it upon myself to realize I went away from my own advice that actually somebody doesn't want to just walk in the same direction as me. And so, but then because he was so senior, I addressed it and said, I know you didn't intend that. No harm done. Nobody will ever know. And just addressed it that way and then kept it professional. And so I had to address the act of the book, but not to address that he was under any kind of threat.

44:30I also traveled for conferences, like these are securitization conference, banking and finance conferences, anything. I don't go, unfortunately, to the brandy and cigars. It's just a girl in a bar. It doesn't work. I don't need to do that. And I have been where I'm traveling on my own and some guys knocked on my door at my hotel. And it's like, I guess he saw me go in there or in the elevator when you're going up the elevator and somebody from the conference decides to hit on you. And because it's the last resort, like you hit on a hundred, it's always a numbers game. Don't think that you're that special.

45:11It's a numbers game. Somebody is going to hit on you. So you need to address it. You need to address it head on. First of all, you need to not be approachable. So eye contact, that stuff doesn't work. Any kind of joking or insinuation, you're going to regret it later. But when something does happen, address it and be very professional and don't say anything to do with anything that means that you're leaving that door slightly open. and the answer of while I'm married, it doesn't matter anymore. No one cares if you're married or not. It's probably easier. Just keep it professional. Make sure they know that you are a professional and curious of what you're doing because I can guarantee if you open that door, they're going to think that you're opening that door for other people anyway.

46:01So no one's going to think they're the only one. You're just part of the game and your reputation will get out there. And if you have made an error, don't beat yourself up. Just don't do it going forward. Just don't become what your past was because we all have made mistakes. All of us have. And let my mistakes weigh on me. I'm just not going to continue to make them. There was a movie called Dumb and Dumber with Jim Terry. And there's a scene where the lady's like, he's like, so what are my chances? She's like, not in a million years. She's like, so you're telling me there's a chance. And it's like, oh my God.

46:38And it just really encapsulates the male mind. It's like, wait, so maybe? Like if you were the last guy on earth, no. Okay, so there's a chance. That's not what I was saying at all. So yeah, so having that kind of, no, that's not how it works. Now, when we go into this - I can say, if I can add this, I can say being in business, and I deal with some people that are very high level in business, they know I'm really safe because they know I'm not out to hit on them. I'm not trying to sleep to get ahead. And that's almost a joke. But I'm not trying to do anything in a sexual way with them and that I am focused.

47:18And that makes me a safe person. Yes. The easy approach, because it's not part of the equation. It's not even considered part of the equation. It's not... It's not, we're never going to go there. But I don't have to say I am approachable because that's not part of it. And aside from that, there's a whole world of people out there. If I wanted to do that, it shouldn't be with people I do business with. Absolutely. So when we start doing business and we start scaling, you've scaled empires and you've scaled everything from finances to everything else, and even your own home. Everyone talks about processes.

47:55They talk about systems. And regrettably, systems right now is very much a buzzword. What are some of the tactical systems that you've implemented in your businesses as you scale? Because you can only do so much, right? We've learned this from the SEAL community. Outside of a six to eight man team, life gets real challenging. So how do you put in the systems and how do you monitor scaling on that level? It's really hard. It is really hard. You're right. So what I'm doing, if I can use the example with the castle and we're building a brand with the castles. I've only had the castle, I think, two and a half years.

48:27not a long time and then renovating that i look at it as okay what's your ultimate look at your ultimate distribution and then i i go backward from there and i start at the very beginning so ultimately i want to distribute worldwide to tourists and people that come to england and want to visit a castle and a bride and groom that wants to get married at a castle there's where my market is. How do I get to them? Well, social media and landing pages like your website. And also I look at doing the television. You can do your own YouTube channel too, but I do a TV show around the castle. There's my distribution.

49:07So then you go back and you want to scale the business. That's how I'm going to scale it up. Then you have to go back to the beginning. How do I start the business? And so that part is the hard part is how do you get the management in place and then step away from it. So you've got to invest a lot of time in any business you have before you grow it. But you have to know your website platform to start with even before you've started the business. So you've got to look at your distribution is social media, website, media is your distribution channel and go back and start a business. And I do that with my real estate.

49:44I do that with my finance business when I had it and my insurance company. All those kind of things I have to look at. How do I distribute? And the channel might not be public. It might be it's B2B as well. So when you were talking about distribution, there seemed to be a little bit for me, I was like, I have a goal and then I back into distribution. Like I know exactly where I'm going to want this to go. It's kind of like firing an arrow. I don't fire an arrow and then decide, I wonder where I want the arrow to go. No, I'm very clear where I want the arrow to go. It's a go in there. Now, how I get it there, that changes the ballgame.

50:19Is there a difference in your mind between goal and distribution? And then if there is, what are the distribution factors that you have found that have the best ROI? So if I were to make it more clarity, the goal would be, for example, in the castle, that I want to meet tourists to come to the castle and brides to come to the castle. That's my distribution, not my distribution channel, but that's my audience. That's my target. Yeah. yet my target audience but my goal would be for them to come to the castle spend money have a great experience so to spend money they need a great experience for them to come back again it needs to be a great experience and how do i let people know this is a great experience so that's my distribution channel in the insurance company my distribution channel is b2b so it would be to businesses that are selling small ticket loans we do creditors and life and disability insurance.

51:12So offer that to your clients and this is the experience you're going to get. And so that's not a public one. That's not social media. I have to understand my audience is another business and they want an easy, easy platform. Click on and then they want good reporting. So you have to think of everything and it's not easy. So building your platforms, building your accounting systems, having them work with, in our case, the castle has a hotel, so it has to work with the booking.com and those platforms. All of that is not easy, but it's not beyond what you're capable of. It's just a lot of work. Right.

51:51And then understanding that when I'm getting on a plane, I dress a certain way. When I'm swimming, we're not going to talk about speedos anymore, but when I'm swimming, I swim a different way. There's different distributions at different times at different places but when it comes to the scaling because you're doing a lot and primarily your your main goal is like i'm a mom first at the end of the day i'm a mom that's my first priority that's who i am i happen to do all this other stuff which means you have to build a squad you have to build a team of people that you trust how do you empower track them down bonus them up in a very competitive marketplace because regrettably there's a lot of people who are looking for work the people who have the jobs and the ones that are elite are very though they will find more there's a very small amount of elite talented individuals out there how do you build a team of those empower them and then scale with them because there's a lot of there's a lot of psychology behind it but i'm curious how you do it and scale to these next levels so the the way i do it when it's an actual business that I'm running is there's, if they're with the company for one year, then we bonus on the past six months of the success of the organization.

53:04So if they're with the company, they have to be with the company one year and then they get a bonus based on the success of the organization. So the revenue, so you might not have positive cashflow, but you would have a revenue coming in. So they're bonused on that. So they, they know that they're bonus on the past six months, but if they leave the company, they wouldn't get the bonus. So they have to be the company six months. So I make sure that they want to be there, but we also offer, after they've been there a year, we pay for their education relative to what their job is or what job they'd like to do, and we will pay for that education.

53:39They do not have to pay us back as long as they're working with the company, and then dependent on what we're paying for, like an MBA or is it a chef's course or whatever it is. They're doing accounting. We've done many, many offerings and fulfilled for education. And as long as they stay with the company relative to the cost and the time it took to do the education one year out or whatever. And we say, we want you to leave the company in better shape than you came to the company in. So that means you've learned from us because you want to be stimulated. Most people do. You want to be hiring people that want to be stimulated, but you want to help people grow too.

54:19And you help people grow, you will grow. So invest back in your employees. They are the biggest asset you have are the people you employ, but invest back in them. And I do not, and I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do not offer shares in companies and things like that to employees. I don't make it that complex, but I do offer bonuses based on performance of the company. So I love that you're investing in people that you want to invest in you. Again, it goes back to the be in service, give to others first, and you will get more tenfold because this is just, it's a concept that most people aren't doing.

54:56They're talking about, oh, I want to have a gym inside the organization or invest in the people, give them what they actually want. So when we talk about real estate, switching the gears completely, you've invested in real estate and you've done that. The market's changing. The world's changing right now. Again, without getting political, it is getting very interesting. When we do this, where do you see real estate going? Where do you see things? Because you sit at a higher perch than a lot of people through a lot of hard work and effort on your own, a lot of self-sacrifice. You've made it and you have a different perspective than most people do.

55:32Where do you see things going with real estate? Where do you see things going for female entrepreneurs in the next 5, 10 years? so for real estate in the next five or ten years and we could talk about it worldwide but it's the housing market i wouldn't be investing in housing right now i wouldn't be looking at hey i want to have this perfect place to live if that's what your investment is depends on what your agenda is but it's not the time i think market is going to go down even more but if you are so inclined to want to buy invest in something that you can rent out so start investing in the rental market rather than lifestyle market for yourself.

56:10And then weigh out what you're paying for what you live in. And even if you have to, get a place that you can rent out part of it. So it supplements your cost of living, depending on where you're at. So this is not buying or anything. And don't look for your dream house in this current market. I would wait if you don't have the free cash to do that. But real estate commercially is also on a decline because people are working out of their home. A lot of real estate's going into the market. In particular, you'd look at in the last years, all the big department stores are shutting down because everything is online.

56:44Now, where we'd be smart to look at is in warehousing close to airports. And so I'm looking at, okay, if I'm going to buy real estate, where can I put warehousing? How can I help in the distribution market for where the channels are going and how people are actually shopping? So look for that. But if you start to think like that, what you're going to do is get a real estate agent, commercial real estate agent, that's going to be jumping all over you if they think you're going to buy something from someone else. I don't sign on a realtor. For me personally, I assign different realtors to look for what I'm doing.

57:23They don't want to bother, so I have to get another realtor to call them and say, yes, she is real. And she will buy. Right? So it's also, don't think that you, just because you're looking to buy, that the realtors are going to listen to you. But if they know you actually are, then you know this world, Charles, very well. Then I can buy commercial real estate without signing on the broker. And I can buy commercial real estate and get a good deal. And I also look for bankruptcy deals. I don't know that the commercial office building is a good place right now. I think converting what was an office building to residential would be, especially if you're looking into lower income residential and you might want to look at where subsidized by the city or place that you're in.

58:15So that might be something that is better. But get to know the real estate game and do your back of the napkin calculation if you're just entering into the market. The back of the napkin is a smart thing to do. When I first went into real estate and I had some cash, I called up two big-time real estate guys. And I asked for an hour of their time. I brought another female with me, so I didn't think I was hitting on them. met them at their offices, and said, just tell me how you play this game. How does a real estate game work? And I want to go in commercial real estate. I want to start buying commercial buildings.

58:54How does the game work? And they gave me an hour of their time, each of them. Completely different perspectives. So it's actually good that I didn't go to one because I would have taken their perspective. And then don't get confused when you get different perspectives because everyone has a different way of playing the game. And there's not a right... but listen to a few people and ask the professionals, not your friends, how do I invest in that? And then in real estate and the current market you want to understand as well. And the political market too. If you're investing in rental properties and Airbnbs, that can change because you might have the hotel industry step in, in the jurisdiction that you're in and say, we no longer want Airbnbs.

59:38So be prepared for the changes. right i think understanding that it's what the market is currently doing like commercial real estate's finally figuring out that mixed use is a different ballgame for them there was a property that was done out here that was a commercial property since the 80s and now it's mixed and it's it's the biggest square footage that we have in kentucky and it was just someone who had the vision to say okay we're going to change the ballgame we're going to make this we're going to make sure that it not only gives value to the community and the city that we're in but also value upstream and i think the commercial players are starting to understand a mixed use environment when it comes into bankruptcies and all that and you were talking about how people shop like we've got i'm in kentucky right now we have a arctic uh freeze or blizzard or whatever it is that's going to come in and i'm from florida so anything below 20 degrees is very confusing to me seeing my car with because my car's up here and it's got my florida license plate and there's three inches of snow sitting on top of the car my car is very confused right now it's like what it's happening but even me who has the ability it has that i'm still just going to go to costco and say click like and have it delivered so the way people buy has completely changed so honoring things have changed i again i grew up when you went to the stores i know what sears is and i know what kmart is and all that those things don't exist anymore understanding that the market has changed completely also understanding that that lunch that you did with those two gentlemen in probably saved you and made you millions of dollars to allocate allocate it so finding someone and for the people who are listening most of us who who are just even just one tier higher than you are because that's what makes you an expert you know one more thing than the person that's asking you that's now you're the expert um we want to tell it we want to share this because we're excited because we've learned something and we want to give back most people i know will want to be in service and want to help out and and go from there so i love that you did that i love that you invested in your people as well with their education and say because i'm going to invest in you where do you see again different vantage point where do you because everything right now is oh cryptocurrency and ai and all this where do you see things going with that especially with a political environment that's challenging that's as good as i can get that's as clean as i can to be met up with where do you see things going um in that world as far as the crypto and the ai as well because you have done a lot in finance yes and the crypto to me is really scary because i don't think they have that lockdown right now and there is this big environment and people have made a lot of money investing in crypto i stay away from that easy money i hope to get that easy money investment and there was a girl she was a photographer and I hired her in Italy to do a photo shoot and she had just invested in crypto and made a ton of money and I was like oh wow like wow like tell me how you do it and she said Ann I knew somebody who was investing in crypto and started a crypto business that's how I did it she said I would stay far away from it if you don't the person that founded the company.

1:02:46And it's almost like a lot of the stocks you get in on the early investors, you've got something to know, and then they don't say that. Of course not, because that would be inside information. But if you don't know the game, like I don't invest in real estate. I mean, in the stock market or crypto, because I don't know the game. I don't know about businesses. And I was reading about Warren Buffett recently, and he would invest in his early stages, he got to know the company before he invested in it. So if you're going to invest in anything, crypto or stocks, know the company. Do your research.

1:03:25Are they a legitimate company? Are they a startup? What is the market like? You actually have to do that or don't invest. So I think that's really important. But crypto, I see it shaking everything up. I don't know if it's going to take over for currency, like US currency, or euros, or British pounds. I don't know that it can or will do that, but I'm cognizant of it, and I'm cognizant of cash. Cash, you don't want to hang on to a lot of cash, because cash is nothing when it's left in the bank doing nothing. And so I make sure that I try to invest back, but right now it's mostly bonds and things that are safe because I don't know this market.

1:04:09And I have to say, I can't give advice on investment because I'm not an investment person. I'm a careful person. Well, I think the advice you just gave is important, right? If you don't understand something, and I learned this from Melvin Simon at the time he was 64 richest person in the world. I'd never met anyone like that. He said, if you don't understand it, you're not investing, you're gambling. And that's up to you. If you want to gamble, gamble. But if you're investing something and you don't fully understand it, be willing to lose the cash. And if not, it is what it is. So having that perspective changed for me, for the person who had been there, changed.

1:04:43Like, I'm not a crypto guy. Do I think the blockchain technology can be used inside currencies in the future? Sure. But I don't know anything about it. So my goal is to kind of stay away and stay with what I feel is safe. And when I think, okay, I've got a little bit of knowledge in this. This makes sense to me. And if not, I'm not going to risk certain things. so yes you've you've also so you've done well in business you've done well in your personal life you've also broken into the online world as far as you know you have a tv show when you've and you've had to deal with the trials and tribulations of fame if someone wants to go into that world and they want to step in and break through what are the what is the advice that you would give them as far as is this a path you would recommend what are the things they should avoid when it comes to becoming a personality and online or in on tv so i think if you were building a brand i would say build yourself up on social media be that brand and there's nothing wrong with i mean i don't do things to be famous and i'm not all over famous all over the world but in certain markets I am known, especially Canada.

1:05:55But doing a TV show, you do get recognized going different places in different markets. But I would say build your brand. Build your brand up on social media. Be that personality because that brand helps market you. Your personal brand will open doors for you and the more you're recognized, and social media is the best place to do it, the more you're ready, the more that door will open. When you contact somebody, they're looking on your Instagram page. They're looking you on social media. Who is this person that's contacting me? So at the top, you have what your description is. So I have that description on my social media and that brand is who I want them to know.

1:06:37You will not see my kids on my social media. That's not the brand I want people to see me as in business. That's my personal day out of my personal life. Yes, I am a mom, but I let my kids have their own identity. I shouldn't say I let them. I want them to have their own identity. So be that brand. The person I admire the most is Richard Branson. And I'm so sad now that it's so heartbreaking, losing his wife. But Richard Branson markets himself first and foremost. He is a brand who's not ashamed of who he is. He owns who he is. He's an out there, adventurous person that's also a business person.

1:07:22He's approachable. He's nice. He is that, let's just have a party and let's have it happen, but let's get to business tomorrow. He's philanthropic. He brings people together. He's engaging. And that I admire. So look at somebody you admire. And I admire him. And I think, I'm not going to be able to market my brand. So that brand opens doors. So when I want to, for example, go to banks for money, if I want to purchase something, they actually know my brand. And so that opens. You don't have to say, who is she? They can look me up on social media. They go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's who she is.

1:07:58And then also on my LinkedIn page, it has the businesses I've had. A link in the page would be my resume. My Instagram would be my pictures and what I want to be presented as. And my Twitter would be the news that I'm interested in. I look at that for news feeds. I look at Twitter as a different place. Facebook, do not have a Facebook page that shows yourself in your bikini if you don't want to do that, or your Speedo, or your kids and doing a barbecue. Have a separate one that is not public with your family. The one that everybody can see. Your Facebook page should be the same as your business page.

1:08:41And then I also have my own website, which is a brand I want people to see when they find me. That's very counterintuitive. I know it is, but you need to be. But I am myself in all of them, but very careful that I'm not putting on something that I don't want the world to see, because it is a world and a very cruel world, unfortunately. And it will come back to you, even if you don't want it to, and don't succumb to it either. but yeah i think i think when you talk about platforms understanding that again you don't dress for a tuxedo a black tie event and i can't believe you're saying speedo again but in a speedo you don't go to the beach in a suit there is a time and a place and understanding that instagram facebook twitter tiktok whatever it is there are rules in that environment and they show up in a very specific way and obeying those rules and being able to control your image because regrettably we live in a society that if i drank some water one group will say oh my gosh he took water away from children and he's the most horrible person in the world and then the other people like oh my god he touched the water now it's holy water like oh my goodness so i can't control what's outside of me but i can't control at least what i'm putting out there and the brand i'm trying to represent so that people do look me up um they're like oh this is this is what they're trying to say maybe that was just someone who's a troll and someone who just and get out of their house and get some vitamin d every once in a while so just again i can't control those people one of the things you talk about being very intentional with and something that's really important is you know how to find you and how to connect with you and that this is how you show up here this is how you show up there especially for my audience who are females because i get questions all the time and they're like hey this is great we love it for this but we would love a female perspective again sorry guys for the guys out there yes by all means please contact and i've had i've had conversation with she's a lovely amazing human being but also if people want to track you down and they want to connect with you and they want to be empowered and say hey this is someone who seems to have done it on and it wasn't an easy road right if you if you look up your story and you read your book it was not an easy road that got you here you didn't wake up with a silver spoon and then have the perfect relationships and then you went through trials and tribulations and you decided okay i'm still going to double down and invest in me and I'm going to pick myself up and do it.

1:11:01If people wanted to get a hold of you and people wanted to connect with you and they wanted to learn more about you and operate in a level of integrity that you show up with, how do they do that? What's the best way to get a hold of you? I think they would go on my Instagram and message me. So Ann Kaplan, like A-N-N-K-A-P-L-A-N underscore own it. And message me, but reference your podcast, your podcast, your YouTube channel. reference your name and just say yes and that will get more attention because behind the scenes I have someone else who manages my messages but they will bring it to me so somebody actually wanted to message me on that but reference and just say that they saw that and I will absolutely reach back and so it's it's important that they reference that because I do get a lot of messages and get a lot of trolls.

1:11:58And so, yeah, it's... For those who are playing at home, I don't read my own messages on social media either. I have someone else who does that. If you see that I'm online, probably sooner than you, Ann, it's not. It is someone on my team, and they're filtering all of this because just bandwidth and just regrettably trolls, I don't let that energy end. but um thank you for coming on and sharing and being so humble and honest to connect with the audience there's as soon as you came on because we get pitched all the time for people to come on as guests as soon as you're like absolutely 100 i can move everything around i want to bring anna on i want to talk to her thank you so much for coming on and sharing so much of you with us thank you that's a wrap on another episode where identity beats income and your reputation writes your future.

1:12:47Clean up your brand, own who you are, show up like the person you're becoming. Because in a world that never forgets, how you live online is how you get paid offline. And remember, if you don't control your image, someone else will.