What’s In Your Toolbox?

Hello, and welcome to sunny Tuesday. And Jill and I have been cooped up for far too long this morning doing all the types of world domination things. So we figured, you know, it. We needed some sunshine, baby. And we thought we'd take a page from Nick's book and take you on a walk with us. Cause we needed just to get our. Our bodies moving. We did. We needed to shake off some energy, absorb some vitamin D. Mmm. Feels so good. We like to save these palms right here. These are your solar panels. So whenever we need a little bit of energy, put your palms to the sun.

Boom. Let it. And it's such a nice, like, reset. So, yeah, on today's toolbox talk, we're in the midst of something. So if you haven't gathered from us, we like to bring in. Good afternoon, junk food junkie. What's up? If you haven't gathered it from us, we like to really bring in ideas that are very relevant. Like, now, something that happened today, maybe it happened yesterday, to these live sessions, because we're in it, we're feeling it. We want it to be relevant and relatable to you. So if you don't know about us, we own a company called Girls Mentorship.

So we teach life and personal development skills to teen and tween girls. We loop in their parents, coaches, teachers, wherever possible. And we're in the midst of planning for a summer camp now. With planning for a summer camp comes tons and tons of preparation. We are marketing our little booties off, literally. We've been on the news twice. We have two more segments planned this week and next week. However, we're trying to get our collateral into school districts directly, and we are having a hard time doing so.

School districts are locked down. Red tape everywhere. There cannot pass go, literally. And they don't want us to collect the 200? Oh, they definitely don't want us to collect the 200. They don't want to let us in to save their lives. And we understand that. I want to first say that we absolutely understand that. There's a barrier to entry. They have to protect their kiddos. No, they do. They're an organization. Yeah, yeah. But we can't even pay to play. They won't even let us get vetted in order to get in because we don't hold a certain status in our business, which happens to be a non profit.

We're not a nonprofit business. We are a for profit business. And they don't like that. That is not who they want to be advertising to their kids and their families. The problem with that mindset is it's archaic. It doesn't allow for organizations like ours who want to do good in the community, especially given in the subject matter that we teach on. It's hugely lacking within schools. So they are experiencing a miss, I want to say, in terms of not partnering with certain organizations like ours.

So that was a long lead in to kind of the premise that we want to talk about today. We wanted to bring you all a conversation around not quitting because one door closed. Mary and I, man, over the last two and a half years, we have realized that no one is going to advocate more for our business and our dreams than us. So if an opportunity gets presented, we're excited about it and it doesn't follow through or it doesn't happen, it doesn't mean that you just quit. You gotta keep figuring out, okay, if it's not the front door, it's the back door.

If it's not the back door, it's the side door, it's the window, it's wherever else. So that's kind of where we're at right now in figuring out how do we, how do we collaborate with school districts versus it feeling like we're in competition with them. We're in competition with them like they're telling us no. And it's this power struggle because that's not what we want. So the first takeaway is no simply means not right now. It is not. The one thing that no is not is an opportunity for you to sit down on yourselves and give up because there are several other opportunities, like Jill just pointed out, to get the result that you want to get.

If you can come up with a creative way to do so. And Jungfu. Jungki said, can you contact the counselors at the schools to let them know what you're doing? That is one of our options. That's one of our, our back door. So the front door wasn't working for us. So now we're in communication with certain counselors and psychologists. Yes. Also PTOs and PTA's. Jill just joined the PTA at her local school district to get a little bit more insight into how they operate as well as the communication that can go out in their newsletters.

Because they have a separate newsletter that goes out to community. Right. Yeah. So with, we know that our experience is unique to us, but find yourself in this story around, okay, maybe you're working towards something and it's just feeling really tough for you to break. Break through. Whatever peg. Round hole. Exactly. And if there's anything that Mary and I, when we have those nos, when we have to remind ourselves, it just means it's. It's not. It's not. It's not a no. It's a not right now. But then we're gonna figure out, okay, well, where's our path?

It's the mindset. It's all about your mindset, Mary. And I love to say that we will always land on our feet, no matter what. So just because we're getting resistance around the school districts, we're like, that's okay. It's not gonna take us down. It's just going to redirect us on our path to where we're trying to go. Another thing that we've noticed in getting these no's, particularly because we are business owners, is the mentality. Jill just said something around mindset. It's the mentality of employees.

So people are faced with policies and things that they have to abide by, and that's it for them. It's very black and white. There is no gray area. But as entrepreneurs, there is a lot of gray area. And whether you work for yourself or you work for somebody else, we want to challenge you to really flex your entrepreneurial mindset, because you are not living in a place of lack or can't. You're living in a place of abundance and opportunity. And if more employees operated that way for their business, I guarantee those businesses, whether it's schools, our businesses, would see better results and probably more support for the community.

Because another thing that Jill is seeing within this PTO experiment is that no parents are raising their hands to want to participate. So everybody has an opinion, right? Everybody wants to see change. Everybody wants this, that, and the other. But they're actually not willing to raise their hand and say, I want to volunteer. I actually want to, you know, bring my ideas to the table and help. So it's interesting because they could be. What did you say? There is also the board of education on our list as well.

I put this on our stories yesterday, and we got. Sorry about the dog. Oh, my gosh. I'm getting peppered in the face. Hot girl walk. Flies and bees are just buzzing in my face. So I put this on our stories yesterday, and we had a lot of suggestions as well as potential contacts that came up. So the board of education is one of those. And I was joking with Jill earlier that we may have started a movement because we got the people fired up around this concept, because our business and this mission and vision around teaching girls social, emotional learning and the skills to actually people better has garnered a lot of support.

So when the people heard that the school districts were rejecting our flyers to promote our summer camps, they were p*****. So I was joking with Jill earlier that we may have started a movement, and before we know it, we might be in front of Congress lobbying these ideas in order to get education more accessible to the people that need it. So, with all of that said, if you got a no today, take that as a knot right now. That is not an excuse for you to give up on your mission. What it is is an opportunity to find another way to get in, to be the crack in the wall, as you pointed out, junk food junkie.

Oh, I love that. Right? And it's all about your mindset. Are you operating from a fixed employee mindset, or are you operating from an abundant, how can I figure this out, entrepreneurial type of mindset. I don't care if I've been an employee for people. I know what my bosses appreciated, within reason. I'm not making lackadaisical decisions without getting approval first. But I know all of my bosses, and Jill was one of them, at one point, appreciated my entrepreneurial mindset within the zone of their business.

So, how are you operating? Are you taking your nose as permanent, and that's it? You're giving up? Or are you seeing that as an ability to. Or an opportunity to. Check that back door. Maybe there's a window open, something that you haven't seen yet. So. And one last thing before we send you off on your Tuesday. I'm wearing this awesome shirt, and I don't know if you guys can read this, but it says, community, connection, and collaboration. And to us, no matter who we are speaking to, whether it's school districts, whether it's our Cadre fam, does it matter?

Like this? This is the mindset right here. It's about collaboration. And maybe it's not a, hey, at this time, we can help you out, but we can always extend our arm out to say, how can we serve and help you? It's not a competition. We want to look at it and change the way that we do business by being in collaboration, because, really, that's when everybody wins. Oh, and I love that in sales, you are taught to get nine nos, but don't give up, because your 10th will be a yes. And I immediately think of that pictorial where there's two guys digging with a pickaxe, and they're underground, and one of them has a tunnel, and he's about two milliseconds away from a diamond, but he's given up and walked away.

Meanwhile, the guy behind him is just about to strike gold. So it really is. You can get so many doors slammed in your face, but that one door is going to open and it's going to lead to a thousand more opportunities for you. So great. Call out. Don't give up. Don't sit down on yourself and keep freaking moving. Because if it's important to you, you're going to find a way. Where there's a will, there is a way. And like Jill said earlier, no one else is going to do it for you. There's going to be people who come along and collaborate and make up your community.

But at the end of the day, they're gonna go back to what they want to do, not what you want. So advocate for yourself. Always, always, always. Okay, you guys, we're fired up. We are. I'm out of breath. Mary's been holding this phone out like just such a champ here. Thank you guys for such a wonderful dialogue. Yeah, this resonated with you. And as always, there's gonna be incredible lives going on this week. Week. Enjoy engaging with us in the chat function or on the community feed. We can't wait to connect with you guys again next week, but make it a good week.

You guys will talk to you then. And Luke, I need to get you one of these hats because you've made mention of how much you like it. I like this one. My ramble on. Oh, the ramble on. Iconic Arizona local company. It is a local company, so duly noted. We're fired up, too. And I know, Luke, we were having a text exchange yesterday about the same thing because your wife's been a teacher for a long, long time, so you understand the kind of power struggle that we're in right now. But this ain't a no. This no doesn't mean nothing to us.

We're gonna keep going, so. And we'll follow up and keep you guys posted. We will. Now that you're invested. So we love you all. Go off, enjoy the rest of this beautiful Tuesday, and we will see you on the next episode.