As we begin this new year, we take a look back over the unprecedented year that was 2020. While there was much to be unhappy about, the challenges brought positives along with them. Kris Parsons joins us to talk about some of the inspiring stories of some of the Luckiest People in the World...and a surprise call-in further emphasizes the silver linings to be found in 2020.
TRANSCRIPT
Diane Dayton 0:01
This is changing the rules, a podcast about designing the life you want to live, hosted by KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world.
KC Dempster 0:12
Good morning and Happy New Year, everybody. This is KC Dempster. And I'm in the wonderful Wildfire Podcast Studios in beautiful Woodbury, New Jersey. And I am delighted to be here, of course, with my co host Ray and our good friend and frequent guest, Kris Parsons,
Kris Parsons 0:31
Happy New Year.
Ray Loewe 0:33
Yeah, you know, this is happy new year, but you jumped the gun. This is the year end show from last year.
KC Dempster 0:39
Well, but it's but let's face it, it's the New Year. So
Ray Loewe 0:42
it certainly is.
KC Dempster 0:44
And we're going to do a recap, because I think now that we have gotten out of that horror that was 2020, that we need to be very positive looking forward to 2021. So let's talk about things that were positive that came out of 2020.
Ray Loewe 1:00
Okay, so let's, let's start with the fact that this show is all about the luckiest people in the world. So it can't be too negative to begin with. You know, we are surrounded with the luckiest people in the world. And one of the things that the luckiest people in the world do is they have a way of making themselves happy. Yes. But we completed a milestone for us. Last year was our first full year in doing podcasts. We have actually completed podcast 49 up to this point, right. And remember when we started we were doing every other week, and then we kind of went into every week. So the beauty of last year is we talked to some unbelievably interesting people, okay. And we focused in on the fact that they are the luckiest people in the world. And we tried to highlight them as to why. And we wanted them to be role models to us. So why so one of the people that we interviewed last year was a young lady by the name of Ruth.
Kris Parsons 2:05
Yes, with Ruth Kinsler.
Ray Loewe 2:06
Okay, do you want to give us a 30 second synopsis of Ruth?
Kris Parsons 2:11
Sure. Ruth was a wonderful, vibrant, exciting woman, she still is. But she had a bit of a setback, she had a stroke in her early 50s, which was a very odd type of stroke where she lost use of her legs for a while. And it was really devastating initially, but she found a way to twist it around. She ended up opening a company because she did lose her regular job. Initially, she opened up a company called Stroke of Life catering, which is a little play on
KC Dempster 2:43
Stroke of Luck,
Kris Parsons 2:44
a Stroke of Luck, I'm sorry, Luck, catering and a little play on words there. And she started baking and cooking and doing all these wonderful things for people. And because we were in this pandemic, and everybody was home, she her business took off, people were just calling her right and left for orders in catering. So she kind of took a really scary, tough situation, turned it around. And also a lot of her proceeds went to her rehab center Moss Rehab, who took care of her and now she can walk. She's doing great. She's almost back to normal. But this was an interesting way where she took a negative and turned it into positive.
Ray Loewe 3:21
So what do the luckiest people in the world do when they have a stroke and lose their job?
KC Dempster 3:26
Go ahead Ray,
Ray Loewe 3:27
They start their own business. Right? Exactly. You know, it's it's amazing to me, you know how contrarian people are sometimes. But But the interesting thing is that she made it work. And this is why she was one of the luckiest people in the world. You know, one of the other people that I thoroughly enjoyed meeting last year was a gentleman named Ajit. Ajit Matthew George. Yes. And, Ajit founded a company called Second Chances Farm. Okay. And what he did is he started with an old building down in Wilmington, Delaware, that was dilapidated warehouse. And he put together a system for growing food indoors in a vertical setting instead of horizontal right
KC Dempster 4:20
hydroponically
Ray Loewe 4:22
and and then he took this whole thing, and he opened jobs to people who are being released from prison. And if I remember one of the statements that he brought up, is he was trying to find jobs for 70 people by the time he was 70. Yeah, yeah. Good goal. Good. So again, you know, you want to learn more about these people go back and listen to some of their podcasts and, and stuff like that. Yeah,
KC Dempster 4:50
yeah. And and so far, you've meant mentioned to very positive people. And I think that's been a running theme, whether we've identified it or not they Just are optimistic and positive even in the face of with Ruth her her devastating stroke and with a sheet starting a whole new business because he, I think suffered a health issue and decided that he wanted in, you know, I think he was 65 at the time or something like that, and he wanted to find a purpose. And, and and he has and I think that's fantastic.
And one of the one of the interviews that I loved was talking with Clint Willis. Clint is a writer, and Ray and I met him probably in the late 80s or so. He was working with Money magazine at the time, and we were frequently called upon to interview for college planning issues. And very shortly after we met him, though, he left Money Magazine and moved his family, he, his wife and their two children to Maine. And which seemed to me a little bit odd, not odd, but unusual, I guess, is a better word. And the point was, he felt that he wanted to raise his children in an area that would bring certain values to them. And he, they moved to Maine and he started a company, a writing company. And he ended up bringing in young writers and and mentoring them. And he created the ability for himself. Once he had this cadre of writers to take care of the day to day business. He has written books, he has pursued interests that were inspired by the books, he learned how to surf. And he's again, just such a very, he took a positive approach to his life he wanted, he knew what he wanted. And then he went after it.
Ray Loewe 6:51
You know, I think let's focus on this. He knew what he wanted. And I think what he wanted is he decided that he didn't want to raise his children in New York City. Right. And and so what do you do? I mean, in his case, again, he broke off with his major contact, quit his job. Yeah. And it was a good job. And believe me, he was one of the well known writers at the time. Right, right. And all of a sudden, he winds up in Maine in the environment that he wants to raise his family at. So you know, he's doing what the luckiest people in the world do you you go on out you personally design your own life. And then you step into it and you live it the way you want to live it. And Clint is a magnificent example of that. Yeah, you know, we have a surprise, we have a young lady named Sharon on the phone. Yep. And you introduced us to Sharon, Kris, why don't you? Why don't you introduce another one of the luckiest people in the world and bring Sharon on for a minute or two?
Kris Parsons 7:47
Okay, well, I'm Sharon McCullough, I actually work with Sharon McCullough, Expert Events. She is the President and CEO of this company. She's been doing major events for colleges, for organizations for health, hospitals, lots and lots for years and years. And then, of course, the pandemic hit. And all the events, the big events just came to a screeching halt within a matter of days, which was pretty, actually was I was pretty impressed with her on how quickly she was able to wrap up everything and help all her clients, you know, figure out what's going on, shut it down before anybody did something that they regretted. So it's been very exciting working with her. But it's also been a very challenging year, and the two of us have been finding ways to change the rules, so to speak with events. And Sharon has been so kind to actually be on the show right now. She She is called in Sharon, are you there?
Sharon McCullough 8:41
I am.
Ray Loewe 8:43
Happy New Year, Sharon.
Sharon McCullough 8:45
And to all of you.
KC Dempster 8:47
Thank you. Thank you.
Ray Loewe 8:49
So So Sharon, when when you look back at this last year, I'm sure it was a learning year from you for you what what was one of the biggest things that you learned and and let's do this in a positive way, let's not focus on the negative, you're going to focus on the positive anyway, but was one of the biggest things that you learn.
Sharon McCullough 9:10
I think one of the things was to take a step back and look at myself and my business. And for a while I had been thinking about as I get a little older, that I wanted to move more into some consulting and and it gave me the opportunity to really take them in, look at how I could help my client, evaluate what they've done with the events and fundraising and make better plans. And I've been talking with a lot of organizations about that to my my former clients and and also to take some new interesting steps. For instance, tomorrow. I Start a new contract with a small, two year arts institution who's working to form an alumni relations program. And my career prior to the events and corporate events played a major role in Alumni Relations program, but to be able to step in and help them, you know, just plan for being able to get that off the ground as they plan for their 25th anniversary, and then all the events that around that, it's given me the opportunity to say, Hey, you know, I could I could step out and do maybe some other things that that will be very interesting, exciting for me,
Ray Loewe 10:43
you know, going forward next year, we're not out of this thing yet. Or this year, I guess we're not out of this yet by a long shot. And you can see all of the things about the delays of vaccines and all of these things. So your business is going to change. And what are some of the things that you learned that maybe will forever change the way you look at business going forward?
Sharon McCullough 11:10
Well, I think the whole relying on the great advancements that technology made to support events, I mean, I used a lot of pretty fancy schmancy av systems and in live events, but the fact that that has all had to switch to virtual events, and it will slowly inch its way back to what the industry calls a hybrid event, which is part pre taped, pre done, virtual and and a live component, even one that goes back fully live event, I think we're going to see a lot of what has been very successfully developed to support or at least support, from my perspective, the nonprofit industry and the event industry in order to continue to reach their, their donors, their clients and and maintain their goals for fundraising in in a situation that's been incredibly difficult when you can't when you can't bring people together. Yeah.
Ray Loewe 12:21
Well, you know, thank you for being one of the luckiest people in the world and for being part of our group. And thanks for being here and Happy New Year. And those of you who haven't had a chance to listen to Sharon's podcast, it's online, you know, go get one there and pull it up, because there's a lot of wisdom and a lot of creativity there. And Sharon, just thanks for being you. All right,
Sharon McCullough 12:45
thank you.
Ray Loewe 12:48
Okay, we met some other people along the way. So let's KC, let's talk about Sharman.
KC Dempster 12:53
Wow, Sharman was so dynamic and so fascinating. Sharman is a professional musician. She was classically piano trained. And through a series of events and choices, she ended up getting into the classic rock business. And she toured and worked with the DuPrees for many, many years as their music director and their keyboardist and she met her husband through the music business. And he is a stand-in. He's not an actor necessarily, but he's a stand-in and, and he has been the stand-in for Joe Pesche For for many, many years. In fact, just recently, I happened to land on "My Cousin Vinnie," and I was thinking saying to my son, I know his stand-in. But Sharman has had a wonderfully exciting career, bouncing back and forth between live music and teaching, and finally decided to retire but she didn't retire in the classic sense. She just decided that she was going to start doing the things that she wanted to do. And so she has continued writing music and producing albums. She and her husband produced a movie together. And she's just so vibrant and full of life, that you can't help getting charged up when you talk with her.
Ray Loewe 14:19
Yeah, you know, if you ever get down yeah, just go to Shar Sharman's website. At some point, um listen to some of the music that she's created. And I had an experience last night, every Monday night Sharman does a live presentation on a YouTube channel on a Facebook channel. And what she does is she uses her music her original music in various forms to help people move ahead. Sharma is a big believer in if you're sitting on your rear end You know, you better get off and make some things happen and Sharman is a is a young 70 something type person And add her husband was on and they were singing together last night, you know, just a phenomenal event. And and you know, when we look at those people that we've talked about, there's some commonalities in here. You know, first of all, they're all really good at changing the rules, right? They are, you know, they don't let the rules get them down, and they figure out how to make them work for them, and how to use rules to to help them do what they want to do. And and another thing that they all do is they're all happy. I don't know if you noticed that. But they all seem to have this way of making themselves happy,
Kris Parsons 15:39
which is tricky. It's very hard, especially these times, it's hard. And they take that as kind of the way they start their day.
Ray Loewe 15:45
Well, they have a routine and you know, let's talk about john Freeman for a minute.
Kris Parsons 15:50
Our clown
KC Dempster 15:51
Our favorite clown
Ray Loewe 15:52
Yeah so, John is a financial adviser. He's out in Kansas City. He is not with us today on the air. But I met him in in a meeting that I was at, and he came in and he gave everybody a clown nose,
Kris Parsons 16:08
I love that, that was great
Ray Loewe 16:09
And at the end of the break, everybody put their nose on and walk back into the classroom. And wow, could you feel the difference. I mean, how how
Kris Parsons 16:18
everybody should wear a clown nose, I think
Ray Loewe 16:20
how can how can you be not happy? Right?
Kris Parsons 16:22
Right.
KC Dempster 16:23
Especially the people that let their mask ride low. They they put a clown nose on, it might be okay.
Ray Loewe 16:29
So, you know, part of this, again, is this ability to be happy. And and this affects John in the way he does business with people. And and we had I'm drawing a blank over the last year, it's a new year. Well, you know, we actually had him on in a joint session with Sarah Brown. And it was interesting, because Sarah was talking about the routine that she goes through every morning to make herself happy with some yoga and some exercise and some other things. JOHN doesn't mess with that. He Just puts on a nose.
Kris Parsons 17:08
I think I'd like that that's a little easier. Yeah.
KC Dempster 17:10
And he says that the laugh is equal to the size of the nose. Oh, the bigger the nose, the bigger the laugh.
Kris Parsons 17:18
There you go, there you go. Well, and again, that's what I learned from this is I do think we may come out of this. Being a kinder, gentler, friendlier group, I really do. I think we've all learned a lot that it does help and you have to help other people, you have to bring them up. You have to make them feel better when they're feeling bad. And I'm sensing it just in social media. I'm sensing it. Going to the store. I'm sensing it. I see. I hear many more pleases and thank yous than I've ever heard before. So I think we have to keep that I know, sometimes people go Oh, positive people are a little crazy. But I think if you have that as part of your routine, it's a it kind of happens by habit.
KC Dempster 17:57
Yeah. Yeah.
Ray Loewe 17:58
You know, before we get out of time over here, let's talk for a minute about easter eggs. Yeah, oh,
Kris Parsons 18:05
yes. I remember that podcast. You have to go back to these podcasts and listen to them again. And again. Because you, you hear more things each time you go back?
Ray Loewe 18:13
Well, I do every time I go out walking, I timed my walks. And the podcasts are about 20 minutes, right? And so depending upon the length of the walk, if it's a short walk, you can get it in one podcast, you can get in two or three. And they make the time go by fast and I re hear things that I didn't hear the same way. Right, right. So they get me motivated. So let's talk about Jane for a minute and what she did because Jane started as an artist, and when she decided to have her kids, she took control of her life again. Okay. And she said, Okay, I want to be at home. I want to be at home with my kids. So what can I do? Because I don't want my life my want mine to go to waste. All right.
KC Dempster 19:01
So she developed. She didn't create this. She learned and made a career out of Pysanky which is the art of Ukrainian easter egg dyeing and her. The photos I have seen of her easter eggs are absolutely stunning.
Ray Loewe 19:24
And they're in the White House. And she's got some in the Smithsonian.
KC Dempster 19:28
And I think the Ronald Reagan library.
Ray Loewe 19:30
Yeah. So So again, you know, if you think about this, here's somebody who took control of their life and said, I want to be home. Mm hmm. And she created the atmosphere to be home. And she made a living at it, but not only made a living at it, and she's famous for it.
KC Dempster 19:48
Yes, yes. She wrote a book about it. And then after about 30 years, she felt that she had said everything about eggs that she could say and decided To start a new career, and she did, and she's a life coach, she's at certified, you know, it's not. So she just didn't say, Oh, I'm going to be a life coach and start calling people up. She got certified and trained. And she helps with business coaching. And then she created something during the pandemic that is Ray's favorite
Ray Loewe 20:19
study hall.
KC Dempster 20:20
Yes,
Kris Parsons 20:21
I love that. That was great.
Ray Loewe 20:23
So you know, all these people have all these projects that they never get to write. And one of the things Jane learned as a coach is accountability is really important. So she set up this thing called study hall where people actually pay her to meet her online for several hours, and work by themselves.
Kris Parsons 20:43
And listen, I am a consultant, I work from my home and you do need some discipline to keep you from being distracted. And I think it's great. She actually holds you to your work. She's there with you virtually, but helping you. Okay, you said you were gonna finish that by this time. Did you do it?
KC Dempster 21:00
Yeah. Yeah,
Kris Parsons 21:02
it's great. It's great idea.
Ray Loewe 21:03
Yeah. So so you know, we're getting near the end of our time over here. But when we look back on last year, we had so many Well, we had Jeff Wuorio, who's another writer who moved to Maine because he wanted the right atmosphere to take care of his kids. We had Bill Hughes is a life coach who shows up at our coffee hours all the time. And, and he's wonderful because he's got all these coaching concepts that are just kind of like one liners that hit home. Very bright, very bright. Yeah. We have Mark Bernstein, who wrote a book on fiscal therapy. And, you know, he'll be on one of our shows next year, because he's introducing a new concept. We had Lea Andrews on, okay. Lea is a young lady who teaches Spanish, Italian, French, to young kids under the age of three Mandarin. Yeah, and Mandarin. And she does this with games and songs. And you know, talk about an idea that's right, for the time. Absolutely. And I just see her business booming over the next year, because people are worried about their kids and their grandchildren missing a year of education. So we've just had guests after guests after guests who are the luckiest people in the world. And, and it's not, you know, I the best life in the world over here. And the reason I'm one of the luckiest
Kris Parsons 22:24
That's because the two of us are sitting here.
Ray Loewe 22:25
Well, that's true. But the luckiest guy in the world gets to interview people every week. And you sit here and you just get motivated and and you just get captivated by the way people take control of their lives. And it says, you know, there's no excuse re you got to be happy. And you got to move forward. And what are you going to do with the next 30 years that you have? Yeah, well, I have more than that. I'm going to live to be 156 .
KC Dempster 22:51
Yeah, so you say
Ray Loewe 22:53
so there, so stay tuned. Come back next year, we're going to interview more of the luckiest
KC Dempster 22:58
Well, let's let's finish this year, though.
Ray Loewe 23:00
All right. Okay, you're on finish.
KC Dempster 23:03
Okay. Well, thank you all for listening. And we'll be back next week and join us.
Diane Dayton 23:10
Thank you for listening to Changing the Rules, a podcast designed to help you make your life the way you want, and give you what you need to make it happen. Join us in two weeks for our next exciting topic on changing the rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe the luckiest guy in the world.