We've all been slapped by a sudden change in the rules. The COVID 19 virus has turned everyone's world upside down. But The Luckiest People in the World don't sit idly by and complain about how disrupted their lives are. Instead they have a perspective that can result in positive outcomes. And to do that, they need a plan. Today's guest, Kris Parsons of Parsons PR joins us to talk about her personal experiences with Changing the Rules and what she plans for her "new normal."
Kris Parsons: Kris@parsons-pr.com - www.parsons-pr.com
Ray Loewe - Ray@theluckiestguyintheworld.com - www.theluckiestguyintheworld.com
KC Dempster - kc@theluckiestguyintheworld.com
Diane Dayton
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.
Ray Loewe
Good morning, everybody. This is Ray Loewe and I am The Luckiest Guy in theWorld. And we're already changing the rules because KC, usually starts this intro, and we're not letting her do that today. She's got a much more important role. She's been moved up in the chain and we're going to hear from her in a little while.You know, I've mentioned many times that I am the luckiest guy in the world. The Luckiest Guy in the World is a state of mind. It's a state of being, it's how you feel. Later today we're going to introduce another one of the luckiest people in the world. Over the next several weeks, we intend to bring a number of luckiest people in In the world on the podcast. There are more than one of us floating out there. And one of the things that you're going to find as we talk to these people, is that there are certain characteristics that describe the luckiest people in the world. We're going to focus on three today because Kris Parsons, who is our guest, exemplifies three of these things. One is that the luckiest people in the world don't have a problem with changing the rules. They have the ability to deal with change in a number of ways. One, is they can change the rules when need be, but they can also work when other people change the rules on them. Okay? And they don't let rules get them down. One of the things that I believe is as soon as you control the rules, you get the freedom to be you and that is one of the largest characteristics of the luckiest people in the world. They do their thing and they do it well. The second characteristic is also a really critical and an important one. For some reason, the luckiest people in the world, always, always, always find a positive solution to problems. You know, most of the world sits around and they deal with all of the issues that are there and they focus on the problems. But luckiest people in the world don't do that. I saw a great little clip the other day, and it was about a teacher who gave her class a quiz. She handed out papers, and they were all facedown. When the kids were told to turn over the papers, there were no questions. There was a black dot in the middle of a white page.Then the teacher said, "I want you to write a story about what you see." Every kid in the class wrote about the black dot. When the teacher came back is she said, you know, the black dot could be important, but you missed the white spaces. And you're going to notice that the black dot is one little dot in the center, and the white spaces are all the rest. W e see that today we we see it on the news, often we focus on the black dots. we talk to people and they focus on the black dots. There's so much good stuff going on, and you're gonna find that our luckiest person in the world today focuses on the whitespace. It's because she's angelic, but that's another matter. The third piece, and this is really critical piece, is you're going to find the luckiest people in the world always have a plan. Now the plan doesn't always work the way you want it, but the plan does focus on a very definite direction that they want to go. It focuses on a number of things that they want to achieve. It focuses on kind of how they're going to get there. But they also have a playbook in here that says, when the game changes, and the rules change on me, and my plan falls apart, my plan doesn't fall apart. Because I got the game plan to fall into place, and I'm ready to move. And and finally in here, it's not just the plan, it's the action steps to put it in place. So these are the characteristics of the luckiest people in the world. Some of them as the ones we're going to focus on today. And Taylor, we're going to take a break, and then we're going to come back with KC Dempster, who's been elevated to star roll status here.
Diane Dayton
You're listening to changing the rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe The Luckiest Guy in the World. We will be right back with more exciting information.
Ray Loewe
And guess what? We're right back and Diane always makes me feel better. She makes me feel luckier for some reason. So KC Dempster you're going to take on the role of introducing Kris Parsons. You're going to take this message that Kris has, and you're going to get it in front of our listeners today. So say hi to everybody and take over please.
KC Dempster
You know, Ray, I think that you supposedly elevated my status so that you could talk more.
Ray Loewe
You I think you got it right. Nothing is free, right.
KC Dempster
Well, good morning, everybody. This is KC Dempster. And I guess I'm a starring role. And I'd like to take a minute and introduce somebody that you've already heard from before. It's our good friend Kris Parsons of Parsons, PR and today we're featuring Kris because she has some interesting insights to share with this whole business of changing rules and everything that Ray just talked about at the beginning. So welcome, Kris.
Kris Parsons
Hello, thank you for having me today.
KC Dempster
Ray has kind of outlined a three, step focus of this whole business of the luckiest people in the world and how they deal with changing rules. And, you know, we often are encouraging people to change the rules themselves, but sometimes it happens to them, as it has been this has in this pandemic. So talk a little bit about this has affected you.
Kris Parsons
Yeah, sure. Well, yeah, right. I mean, we talked about changing the rules, but as Ray said earlier, the rules were changed for us with this pandemic. And, in the PR world it's, you know, a lot of changes. For instance, we are mostly a face to face business on a lot of levels. I mean, I do events, I meet with people, we strategize together, I have many lunch and coffee meetings and that's how I network. That's how I get new business. That's how how I work with people. And so you know, that changed abruptly. Another thing is a lot of my my work in Parsons PR is doing events, big events. In fact, I had to cancel quite a few, including one that was 700 plus people at the Lincoln Financial Field. So that's tough. All that has changed. We've postponed them, we've cancelled them. And what's a little difficult is there's no definite date of when they're going to be rescheduled. So that was a problem, so to speak. And, then obviously, a big part of my world as a PR person is talking to reporters on a daily and weekly basis. Well, to say that they're otherwise engaged with this pandemic is an understatement. I mean, they're, they just are not available and they're going through some tense times being working to 24 hours trying to gain information. So that's changed drastically. So yeah, there's quite a few changes that have happened in the PR world.
KC Dempster
So, what are the you know, you had you had to cancel an event. And one of the other changes was that you had a client, I think that's located in Brooklyn, and we're here in South Jersey. So all of a sudden, you weren't driving two hours to go visit clients either.
Kris Parsons
Right? Right. Well, and then, you know, going kind of into how these, as Ray says, luckiest people in the world find opportunity and not dwell on the problem. I think after we all got over the initial shock of our lives changing and making sure our family and friends and everybody was safe, you have to start thinking about the opportunities and some of the opportunities are that Yeah, you can do a lot of my job on a virtual basis. And you can still connect with everybody but in a different way. In fact, I like to call myself now a zoom meeting master. Where I have done more zoom meetings in the past two months than I think in my whole life and, yes, while I know technology, I know how to do it, there was a lot I had to learn. There was a lot the people on our meetings had to learn. And ironically, I found it rather empowering. I found that kind of interesting figuring out how to do stuff and noticing, oh, if we do this, this happens and, researching the different platforms. I mean, I've been a marketing executive for you know, 20 some years and, you know, you do think you know, almost everything but you're never never too old to learn. And I think that's one of the things that keeps us the luckiest people in the world and also keeps us young. You could always learn at any age and there's always something new and every time you learn something new, that knowledge, I think, empowers you to some extent you feel like, Oh, I didn't know I could do that and I can, and then you start to embrace it. In fact, in fact, going forward, I think we're probably going to have more virtual meetings and they will be much more acceptable because we had to do them because of this rule changing. But I think going forward, they might work out to be certainly economical, certainly efficient. We don't have to run like you said two hours to a meeting andall that travel time that makes you late for meetings and whatnot this way if we do more virtual things, and we up the technology, so it looks like you're really talking to somebody and you can see the reactions and you can see their tone of voice and all that. You know, it's fine. You're still conveying the same kind of information. In fact, you might even get more done. When you're when you're doing it virtually, Don't you thin, Ray? Or you can play Solitaire to while you're doing your meeting.
Ray Loewe
I think You're talking about where you're going with the plan, take a couple minutes and focus in on some of the opportunities that you uncovered about different ways of doing things. And you were talking a little bit in here not only about being a zoom master and that you had to develop these technology skills, but I think you have some clients that you have to work differently with.
Kris Parsons
Right, right. Okay. Well, for instance, actually, you were one of them. The I you know, we had the wonderful Friends Connection planned for April 17. Last Friday, no two Fridays ago, I guess. And yeah, that was gonna be a fabulous event. We were scheduled at the Marriott at the Olde City. We had a whole day of wonderful food and cocktail parties and incredible speakers and we were going to talk about some wonderful subjects. We had people already signed up. So, you know, we took it a different level. And we decided to do a virtual preview. I mean, obviously not the same thing. But we've got 30 some people on a virtual meeting, we had a couple of our sponsors who graciously decided to come in and speak a little bit. We did a modified version. And I think it was it was successful. I think people got a taste of what, would happen when they went to the real Friends Connection. And we were able to connect, we're able to hear a little bit about what the speaker said, and you know, kind of whip that up in, in two weeks, which I thought was quite well done. So, so yeah, I mean, that was very exciting to do, and, you know, hopefully, we can do some more things like that, until we can get back to normal. I think I've also been, I'm sorry, No, go ahead. I was also gonna say I've, found, you know, obviously because we're now all online,. and we're all working on computers and our phones and Facebook and Instagram and, everything we've had to rely on that. And a lot of people have in fact, I have one client. It's a restaurant. It's Spicy Affair Indian Cuisine down in Swedesborough. And we have really taken the Facebook to a new level, the social media we jumped right on it. And we related exactly to what was going on. We didn't lose the communication with our customers. We immediately talked to them we, you know, tried to make sure to see how they were feeling and giving them some comfort and we immediately upped our takeout and delivery game and, really said, Look, we're here for you and we're doing lots of takeout. We even delivered a lot of food to healthcare workers at Inspira, Mullica Hill. So we embraced this problem and found ways to make it positive and our Facebook followers have gone up dramatically. So that was an opportunity to look at social media in a different way and have your comments not just be slapping up the same old, same old; have it relate to what's going on. So that means paying attention to the current affairs and then relating that to what's going on. In fact, aren't you? Aren't you going to be doing some some custom facemasks Ray?
Ray Loewe
Well, yeah, we are. But before we get there, I'm kind of laughing to myself here because you're, you know, everybody else...We look at all these restaurants and all they're all whining about, you know, how they're going out of business, how they're, you know, how they're going to do things. Now, some of them that picked up the pieces, okay, and are doing interesting things you did in this particular case, you know, you've got here you got a client and i, you mentioned the word affairs before and I got a kick out of it because the name of the restaurant is A Spicy Affair, you know, and what you've done is you're not wallowing in the problem. What you're doing is you're saying out there, there is a positive solution. Let's go find it. And people are around. So you hit social media, right? I mean, you know what, oh, people don't have other things to do. They're heavy into social media today. You know, you do you've done the freebie for other workers. Now that's not entirely original. But you know, you're out there and you did it. And I think mentioned to me also that this particular client is doing extremely well with their takeout business. The business is not suffereing, Okay, like everybody else is.
Kris Parsons
Well, and what's interesting, I'll let you in on a little secret. Well, not a secret because we've talked about it on social media but they are opening a new location on Main Street in Swedesborough. They've renovated a beautiful bank. And they're going to be it's just going to be wonderful. Part of what I was doing was planning this really grandiose, grand opening that we were hoping to have in May or June. Well, now I think that's going to be moved back. But this also gives them an opportunity to do some of the renovations. And keep in mind some of the new things that are going to be different. I mean, maybe the tables will be a little further apart, maybe we'll install some additional safety and health things in the bathroom, you know, non touchable things and whatnot. So I'm able to be there with them as we're hearing the stories from the government of what what's going to be changing and we can maybe assimilate some of that into the new place, have a little bit more time. And the first thing we're doing is working on the takeout because I don't think we're going to open right away even if people are allowed to, we want to wait and get it right. So we're going to take our time and rely on the takeout business for a while so we can do that. properly. So yeah, it's a different way of looking at things. And also I think, you know, we're we're trying to connect with people. And I think that's the whole basis of Friends Connection, we're being very sensitive to what we're saying to people. I mean, we're letting them know that, hey, we're out there for you. If there's anybody in need, let us know, we'll send them a free meal. You know, and I think that was some of my other clients. We're letting them know that we're here with you. And I think like you said, it's not original, other people are doing it, but it was something that we jumped on right away. Because, you know, we are all connected on some level everybody. And we have to, you know, show our sensitivity.
KC Dempster
And, Kris, I know that you work with another company to put on these big events that you do have what happened to them. I mean, what changes are they going to have to make with events do you think,
Kris Parsons
right well, that's that's, that's actually that's kind of moving into my area of What's the plan? You know, like you said, if this crisis has taught us anything, you do need a plan. You definitely need a plan. And that's been your mission and motto before this even happened. That was what changing the rules is all about. We need a plan in life in every stage of our life. So...
Ray Loewe
Before you go into the plan, I picked up a couple other things that we talked about the other day. So you've got a couple kids at home, alright, with you. Talk about what's changed in the educational field. And you know how this impact your life.
Kris Parsons
Oh, right. Yeah, no, that's a good point. And in fact, I want to send out kudos to the education community because I'll tell you what I mean, yes. You know, the health care workers beyond a doubt are heroes, our sanitation people, everything, but I was really impressed being the parent of two college students, how the education system really jumped into gear And with very little downtime, got this whole Virtual Learning up and running. I mean, you know, what is today still Tuesday? I mean, right now in my house, everybody's in their respective rooms, offices, and they're, they're taking classes, they're listening to lectures, they're taking tests, they're doing papers. It's really, you know, education-wise, my kids are still on board. And, they're in there for their classes. And I was pretty impressed and I have a lot of friends in the neighborhood, my neighborhood who are teachers, you know, elementary, middle school, high school teachers and they are busy, they are on their computers, they are teaching their kids you know, they are like, Look, we are not going to have that setback. We're gonna do it. You know, the only difference is they're they're learning in their pajamas.
Ray Loewe
You have to feed them.
Kris Parsons
Well, yeah, that's Yeah, that's that's a little bit of the downside. Growing boys.
Ray Loewe
So trips is supermarket or not out of your life, even with this
Kris Parsons
...very creative with cooking.
Ray Loewe
You helped us make a change that I found interesting because, again, you can't get out and see people. So we've been doing coffee and cocktails. You were highly involved in that. Thank you very much. And talk a little bit about that. And, you know, kind of why we had to do that.
Kris Parsons
Right. Well, well remember in the very beginning when I said part of my job in PR is networking, meeting people going out having lunch meetings, dinner meetings. It's a huge part of my world. And I think it's a huge part of everybody's world and it's fun. I think we've made it in that was great. We've made it kind of casual. Ray even has interesting backdrops. In fact, I want to go to that bar that you have as one of your backdrops because it's fantastic.
Ray Loewe
As soon as we're allowed Kris.
Kris Parsons
But in that and just just to explain those some some listeners what that is, what we do is we invite, you know, six to eight people every Thursday to either jump on at 8:45 in the morning for a coffee hour. And then again later that day at 4:45 that way we only need to take a shower, you know, for that one day. And it's a virtual coffee hour and a virtual happy hour and everybody brings their own coffee and brings their own drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and we just talk and I love how Ray has structured it. that it's it's not scripted. It's very casual. And we just have some conversations come out of it and you'd be surprised what what we talked about. Some of them are great, they're they're interesting, they're diverse. And then after the fact we share the emails and contact information with everybody that was on the call. That way, if you want to network and have your own separate little private conversation afterwards, you can. So right there, that gives me the opportunity to network. It gives other people the opportunity. In fact, I think we've had a couple connections, right? People have called other people about something. There was one woman that does a does a calendar or cookbook or something. And I think we connected people with somebody else who wanted to do that as a gift. So it's fascinating. And then the nice thing is, we don't really know what's going to come out of it. And isn't that the same way when you have networking events and you meet people? You don't exactly know what's gonna come out of it, but you end up connecting with people.
Ray Loewe
Yeah, no, you know, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that can't go out and network anymore. That used to be a part of my life. Well, that's a bunch of junk because you can, you just got to do it differently and you get the brain trust together. And all of a sudden, these ideas come out of nowhere.
KC Dempster
Kris, I think he just called us a brain trust.
Ray Loewe
Yeah, enjoy that while it lasts. One of the biggest benefits I think of virtual coffee in the morning is you can eat virtual pastries. I had the best cream filled donut the other day, and no calories, no effect on my diet at all. And I could almost taste it
KC Dempster
almost being the keyword.
Kris Parsons
Right and you just hope that pastries in somebody else's house, right?
Ray Loewe
Yeah, you know, I'm kind of looking at notes here to try and figure out what we missed because there were, there were so many ideas. And, again, we're in this section here about taking, finding the solution that's positive. And so many people sit on their rear ends during this thing, they don't do anything. Okay? And yet, this is a perfect opportunity to continue doing what you do and do more. And I think one of the things that you mentioned is how much less travel you're doing now, because you're doing virtual meetings and how much money that saves your clients, and how much time it saves you. And guess what? You don't have to fix the hair in the morning as much. Okay? video cameras are a little more forgiving than face-to-face. All right, and we can all get away without deodorant if we want.
KC Dempster
All right, Ray, we're getting a little too personal here. All right, let's talk about the plan.
Ray Loewe
What? Okay, so talk about the plan.
KC Dempster
Well, and then I was just gonna say that the luckiest people in the world always need to have a plan. And so with Kris, what what's the plan going forward? Now that you've discovered all of these opportunities for your business? What's your plan going forward?
Kris Parsons
Right, well, well, like you said, Yeah, One of the things that that I found out which I was a little surprised people, not everybody has a crisis communications plan. I was surprised. I thought most people did, but they don't. And so even even a crisis communications primer, like if something like this happens, how do you communicate? I mean, the one thing that doesn't change, and in fact, it gets enhanced in situations like this is the ability to communicate clearly and concisely. And so you know, you have to, tell a whole bunch of people, you have to tell your staff, you have to tell your constituents, you have to tell your donors, you have to tell your supporters. I mean, when we decided to cancel the Friends Connection and make it virtual, you know, we had to figure out okay, what's the plan? Do we send out a group email? Do we send a group email to these people first, and then these people? How do we communicate that we've changed the rules, so to speak, and so that's the one thing I'm focusing a little bit more on. I mean, that's what I'm offering now to clients is, I'll probably put together a crisis communication primer for you. So, when something like this happens, you can just pull out your primer and say, Okay, this is step one, step two, step three, and step four, when something like this happens, you know, because every every crisis is different, you're gonna have to customize them all, but, but you really need to be able to clearly and concisely communicate with your constituents and your staff and donors and whatnot. And you have to do it in a way that's not going to cause too many repercussions. So that's kind of a plan and a new plan for me. And then we were talking a lot about events and I work very heavily with with a woman, Sharon McCullough. She's the president and CEO of Expert Events. She does you know, huge fundraisers for colleges, for nonprofits. In Philadelphia, New York, Washington, DC, Virginia, she's quite skilled in that area. So she and I have been strategizing now like, how are we going to do this? How are we going to...events, I don't think events, big events particularly are going to be the same for a while. So we are offering an event assessment. In other words, we will sit with you at no charge. And we will talk to you about Okay, what do you have planned on an annual basis? What DID you have planned on an annual basis? Let's look at it. Well, we won't charge you for this. We'll look at it. We'll see what we can do. How do we need to adjust them going forward? Because I don't know about you guys. Trying to be positive is one thing, but I don't think this is going to. We're not going to come out of this in the next few weeks. I think things are going to change. And it's going to be a while until we get a vaccine that's going to be a while. So we can do things the same. And so we want to assess the situation and see how we can help people raise money, do their events, assess them and see which ones work or will work and in which ones won't work, and what can we do to change it and how we can incorporate is a virtual situation that people are willing to pay money to see something virtually,
Ray Loewe
You know, can you take a minute you're telling me about an event now this this is not going into the future, but it's something that happened in the past that I think it's you can take into the future. It was a about a virtual event that you had where you had live music on one of the big radio stations, TV, you had an event, you know, talk about it, because the way fundraising is going to be done has to change. And I don't think your clients can't wait for two years to come out of the new normal because they have budgets and they can't wait to raise money. So you know, we're not going to go drink together at a big gala dinner where we all get dressed up. I don't know that I really liked those anyway. But, but
Kris Parsons
You don't like to wear a tuxedo, I know.
Ray Loewe
Well, you know if i if i were playing baccarat in the right casino, yes. Okay.
KC Dempster
Okay James Bond let Kris talk about this event that she did.
Ray Loewe
Yeah, it was a phenomenal idea and and maybe it's gonna come back.
Kris Parsons
Well, interestingly and ironically this was years and years ago and kudos to a wonderful, wonderful colleague and boss of mine who I will never forget Robert Capana, of Settlement Music School. They had a virtual concert where you listened to classical performers, classical music being performed at the Hotel Atop the Bellevue, but you listened to it on w RTI radio, which was classical radio at the time, and then you followed along in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a full page where you followed along the program and there was also a little contest for little kids to listen along because they were hoping to get more kids reading the paper, clues to the answers were in the live broadcast. And you listen to it from home, you followed along on the radio, and you followed along on the page in the Inquirer and then obviously you made donations to the, to the school. And ironically, though, people loved it so much, they did it for several years, people loved it so much that they wanted to be able to attend it as well. So it became a live event where we had, you know, 200 to 300 people there, but you also could listen to it at home and you also could follow along on the in the paper, but, you know, obviously that we could do that again, but then minus the live the live part,
Ray Loewe
but the live part will come. It's exactly, it's you know, what goes around comes around sometimes. And I when you were talking about that the other day, I'm just sitting here thinking wow, What a great idea to bring back for people who want to raise money. You know, we've got the media, we've got the newspapers, newspapers are struggling, let's give them some business. You know, we have the radio and TV stations that I don't know if you've watched TV lately, but the pickings are really not real good. Okay. And I'm ready for a classical music event, you know, believe me, I'm ready.
Kris Parsons
I think they've done some of that. I mean, that whole thing that Lady Gaga put together for the World Health Organization. And that was a monumental task of bringing all those people together, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, everything was virtual. It was pretty seamless. I was pretty impressed with that. So yes, I think that's, that was a new idea years and years ago, but now I think it's going to become a much more popular event. And I do think people are doing that I do think organizations are doing I think Settlement Music School already did something online as well.
KC Dempster
And I just heard a news thing this morning where apparently people that are into video games are,that's becoming a fundraiser, I think there was a Fortnight event where celebrities were playing...
Kris Parsons
out for them. So there's been some poker games and whatnot. So yeah, I mean, it's really, people are resourceful and like you said, given challenges, I'm just so impressed how people rise up to them. And they do you know, it's a tough time. It's a scary time. But, boy, you gotta love the American spirit that people are rising up to do this
Ray Loewe
well and so the luckiest people in the world that are making things happen. So this is why you are one of the luckiest people in the world. Well, you know, you think about what you've done and you broke it, you kind of broke it down in a nice way for us. Number one, there was a problem. All right, all of a sudden, the world came to a screeching halt, and you had to sit down and figure out what the heck is going on. And then the second thing and this is what sets you apart from many, many other people is what's the solution? And what's the positive solution? It's not just hiding under your bed. Right. Okay. And, and there are a lot of people that are doing that today. So what the luckiest people do is they go on out and they create and they come up with these positive solutions. And some of it is creating,..some of it is just digging it out. Some of it in the case of you know, the music event that you're talking about, maybe going back into history and and saying what was there? It's interesting to me how your plan has changed, but yet you have a plan. Right? Yeah. You know, I really loved the idea that you know, you've recognized that people here are, they don't have a disaster plan. They don't have one?
Kris Parsons
Yeah, I was surprised. I was surprised. I mean, some people But I was surprised how many did not.
Ray Loewe
Well, I I think it's natural. We don't want to face the disaster, but here we are, we're facing the disaster. So So here's a business opportunity that will be part of your plan. And you know, the big event thing. It fascinates me the way you're attacking it. So kudos to you. You know, you, you are one of the luckiest people in the world. And you know, this, it has nothing to do with luck, does it?
Kris Parsons
No, no, it does. It does have to do with lot of hard work. And it's always thinking and you're right. And you do have to, you do have to kind of discipline yourself a little bit, right? Because you're right, you could you could, it's very easy to, you know, sit by the refrigerator, in your pajamas and eat bonbons and say, oh, gosh, I can't deal with this. But you have to sort of say Alright, this is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to change. This is a new way of figuring out how to make money. And it's it's good and I and I have to tell you, I think you know, I'm encouraged by all these different businesses and i and i love it Ray, that you're going to be doing this and you made me your first guinea pig on this, I think it's going to be interesting to see how many industries are doing business a little differently from now on. And it will be interesting to hear some of these people I hope, I hope they're going to be guests on your show to see how they're they're dealing with things in education and finance and entertainment and travel. How are they going to be doing things in the new normal?
Ray Loewe
Well, we're gonna we're gonna take a break and when we come back, stay in the conversation, Kris, because you're gonna be able to contribute to some of this stuff. And KC, you certainly but, Taylor, we're going to take a break and come back with the French Connection, please.
Diane Dayton
This is changing the rules. Stay tuned to learn more about the Friends Connection and how you can be a part of this valuable life experience.
KC Dempster
Well, I'm gonna jump in here and say welcome back because even though I have a starring role I haven't been able to talk very much have I?
Kris Parsons
No?
Ray Loewe
Well, you're gonna get to talk a lot here. Let me let me bring up a couple of items and then just get your brain working and expound. Okay. So the first thing I want to say here is that the luckiest people in the world hang out with other people who make them feel lucky. So this is one of the reasons we wanted to have Kristine on the show today. Okay, because here she is she's doing things I feel lucky or right now I have ideas running through my head. Okay. She talked to us.
KC Dempster
Well, you know, there's a character from Saturday Night Live called Debbie Downer. And it was very funny to watch. There's such a kernel of truth to that if I did used to get together with a bunch of women, and there was one person in that group who was Debbie Downer. I mean, if somebody mentioned that they knew somebody, it was themselves or someone in their family or friends that had a problem. She had a worst problem. You know, it was just she was just such a bummer that I ended up and this was a this was a group that got together for almost 30 years. I, I joke about it, I say, I divorced them. I had to leave because she the one person was just dragging us down. And so yeah, you want to you want to hang out with people that are uplifting and that aren't sucking the air out of the room.
Ray Loewe
Yeah, you know, and this was the purpose of our Friends Connection conference. You know, it's all about having conversations. We can sit here and brainstorm with ourselves. And, you know, I'm sure that that was a big part of your plan. Kris, I mean, you got to sit there with your self and talk to you, right? Because you are one of the luckiest people in the world. So you're hanging out with somebody good, but but sooner or later, you got to take that and you got to share that with other people. Because luck feeds on luck. And one of the biggest things we do with our Friends Connection conference is we get a good group of lucky people together. And we talk about why we're lucky and we talk about how we can help each other be luckier. And one of the things that was intriguing today about listening to you, is that you've taken several real downers here and turned them into uppers without drugs. You don't know that for sure. That's true. But you know, KC talk a little bit about this Friends Connection and what happened at the last one, and what we're doing about the next one.
KC Dempster
Well at the last one, there was a little bit of a technical difficulty. I won't go into a lot of detail, but apparently I was not able to mute myself at an appropriate time. And I was trying to handle a problem with somebody who was having trouble getting onto the call. And so everybody on the call could hear me. So what we're now doing is we are exploring different platforms.
Ray Loewe
Yeah, but she now everybody knows how important you are really. So you know, this whole concept of having people like Kris here and talking about how you how you take the doubters and turn them into offers, and then more important, put them in a plan. We're going to do that again, with people from different industries, because it's the same problem, but it's different. This Friends Connection thing where we don't know where we're going to go with it. Obviously, we would love to all meet in a group and wine to dine each other and be able to exchange ideas. But it may have to be virtual for a while and we'll explore how to do that and we'll get people like Kris to come on board and talk about how they're attacking the world today in a positive way. And I'm just excited about the whole thing. I mean, I, I really feel like the luckiest guy in the world. And it's because I associated with the luckiest people in the world. So thank you. All
KC Dempster
Right. Nothing like a crisis to bring out the best.
Ray Loewe
OK diva.Why don't we let her to sign off for us. And I promise we'll let you talk more next week.
Kris Parsons
She's the star you know, she's the star of the show.
KC Dempster
Yeah, I'm gonna have to start wearing diva so that you remember. But I definitely want to thank you, Kris, for being our guest today. You really had a lot of valuable and interesting information to share with us. And I know that you will be certainly participating with us a lot more in the future. And Ray, always a pleasure. And I would invite everybody Everybody to subscribe to our podcast. Tell your friends to subscribe to our podcast because we have a lot of great stuff going on here. And we'll be back in two weeks and don't miss it.
Diane Dayton
Thank you for listening to Changing the Rules, a podcast designed to help you live 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.