Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is where smart business conversations meet real world experience, where strategies are shared, lessons are learned, and ideas come to life. I'm Emily Galindo and you're watching Biz Talk, your destination for real insight from the mind shaping tomorrow's business world only on NOW Media television.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to Biz Talk. I'm your host, Emily Galindo. And here on Biz Talk, we talk about all things business so that you can have the best business, fastest growing business, most effective type of business that you want. And we are exploring all of those things here on Biz Talk today. And we are joined by an amazing guest, Scott Goodell with Goodell Health Solutions, talking about Medicare. It's about to be open enrollment and it is important that whether you own a business or are just a regular human being need to understand this very complicated and sometimes scary and confusing topic. And there's nobody better to talk about it than Scott Goodell. So welcome, Scott.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Well, well, thank you, Emily. Thank you so much for allowing me to be here today. I'm super excited about being here at Biz Talk.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Me too. We are, well, happy to have you as a lot of our viewers are, you know, have been in business for a while and I would assume are getting to that age of about 60, 65, about to retire potentially. And this topic, as we've discussed, because I know you personally, is a complicated one. And we all have aging parents at minimum, and we get calls and they get the spam and we see the mail and all of the things. So I'm glad that you're here to help us sort it all out.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes, I will try to navigate that maze for you today.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Very good. So how long have you been in in the Medicare expert space?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: So I started in 2018 into the Medicare space because my mom was one of those folks that was confused about what was going on. And so she reached out to me and asked me if I would leave corporate America so that that way I could start a business. And so reluctant at first. I'm so super glad that I did it now. Yeah, that's why I got into it is because there was so much confusion because it changes every year and what to do and.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Right. So I mean, to help the viewers. I mean, I'm just kind of a 101 is Medicare is a federally funded program to help serve people over the age of 65 and taking care of their health insurance.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Is that accurate to a point? Yes, it's accurate and enough to where it's an 8020 split that's the only thing that a lot of people need to know what happens is when you turn 65, what we ask you to do is to go on to socialsecurity.govssa.gov and then you're going to put in an application or you're actually going to fill out a profile there, remember your password, always do the two step program. So that way it sends you a text. So if somebody else were to log in, you would be able to know that that's what's happening. But then you're going to go on there and you're actually going to see see what Social Security has set up for you. What that means is that at the very bottom of your page you're gonna see a little graph at the bottom. And if it's all green all the way across, that means that you've worked and paid into Social Security at least 40 quarters or 10 years of your life.
That's going to allow you to be able to get your part A And it's all alphabetical stuff now. So instead of knowing just PPO and HMO from your employer, now we're going to go into letters because it makes it that much better to go through the AlphaB.
So a if you have worked 40 quarters or 10 years of your life and you paid into Social Security, in most cases that's at no cost to you. What A does is it takes care of all your hospitalization and anything that it would take for you to be in a bed other than your own overnight.
Part B is going to be what you're going to do whenever you want to leave your employer and you're looking to have part B. What that does is it takes care of all of your outpatient stuff of so including your doctor's visits, any outpatient surgeries, any type of skilled nursing facilities, or not skilled nurse facilities, but like treatments for like physical therapy, things like that, that you don't have to stay overnight. That's what the part B covers. And then you'll see a bunch of a lot of commercials about different things. But the part A and the part B you get from Social Security and they administer that for you. It depends on what your income level is, on what your part B premium will be.
Right now in 2025, the Part B premium is 185. So when I start talking to business owners that are on a different plan or they're on a company plan, my question to them is always, do you spend more than $185 a month on your part of whatever the insurance company charges you for your. Your company plan. And do you have more than 20 employees at your company? So that two big questions that I always ask and when do you look to retire? Because the full retirement age right now is about 67 years old. And at 67 you are fully vested, which means that you get 100% of whatever the Social Security Administration owes you for the time that you are and the money that you put in.
You can go to 70. A lot of folks are now going.
As we are aging nowadays, we have great benefits through some of our companies. We have a lot of fine corporations here in the Houston area or in the Texas area. And so a lot of people are staying. If you go to 70, they offer you a better, a better part B or part B premium benefit, which means that they'll pay you more than what you would if you were at your normal. Anyway, this is confusing. So I'm going to tell you, if you don't know about it or you want to know more about it, contact me because there's a lot of moving pieces.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: So that was going to be my question. So it started out very. And that was a great example of how this can get very complicated very quickly because I was following you right up until that lot and you're just like, okay. And then we start having lots of other questions and lots of other moving parts. And so my question would have been, is that why people need to actually because if I can go to Social Security, if they can go to Social Security.gov why, why do we need to speak with. With you? But then we just got to that place, we're like. And that's why you need to talk to somebody so that they can ask you all of these questions. Right?
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Right. Because part A and part B is only going to give you an 80, 20 split. So that means that the government is on the hook for 80% of your medical expenses and you're going to be on the hook for 20% on top of the 185. On top of the 185.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Right. So the 20% is what I specialize in. So the 80% comes from the government. And then I help you navigate what you want to do with the other 20%. We can do.
There's two sides of it. You can do a, like a supplement type of side with a part D plan, or you can go to what you see on TV where they offer Medicare Advantage plans, which is considered the part C C plan or the letter.
And with that, most cases There's a part D embedded in it. So C is Medicare Advantage plan.
D is prescription drug plan F or G. Depends on when your birthday, when you turn 65 on your birthday tells me exactly what I can do to offer you that. But in most cases, that takes care of it. You would pay a company of our carrier a monthly premium on it, depending on your age, and then you would get a part D plan to go along with it. So you're not penalized. There are some penalties that happen within the realm of this. So it's always important to reach out to a trusted person like myself to be able to help you understand what penalties will be available to you or if you don't have to have them at all.
If you're working and you're looking at retiring, that's the time that you need to call me.
A lot of people get severance packages. Some people get laid off.
And we only have a certain amount of time that we can actually get you onto a Medicare program before you're penalized. And so I take pride in finding out what that looks like so we can make that happen. There's a lot of realtors. There's people that are.
I'm. Well, I'm a self. I own my own company. So there's a lot of people that are out there that own their own businesses and they don't have access. And so they go to the marketplace or they find a company out there that allows them to be able to have under 65 benefits.
But they need to understand that when they start turning, when they get to close, I would say four months before your 65th birthday, we should be talking to Social Security, lining stuff up. They used to allow you to go into the Social Security benefit office, and they stopped doing that. So now it's all online. So if you are turning 65 in the next six months or so, I would get on there and get an account set up and start talking about what I wanted to do, especially as a business owner, because in most cases, it's an expense for you to have health insurance. So your part B premium could go. Could go towards the business piece and it could be a expense for you, right? Taxable expense.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So we've had Holly on here talking about that before and helping that, and a CPA on here talking about how it is a benefit. And if you need some, here's an option for you.
So the thing for you, though, is my question, so once we set up this account, now all of a sudden, does my phone start magically ringing with like a gazillion people who want to talk to me about this, just like you.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: So, yeah, what happens is your information is in databases across the country because they know you're turning 65. We all know this because, well, we have birth certificates, and so they get information from you different ways. If you're an AARP member or if you have put any information into a system with your name and your birthday on it, then most cases that will trigger an option. Most people that are agents like myself will try to send you like cards to try to entice you to be able to call them. So if you're getting tons and tons of mail and you don't and you can't get rid of it, call me. I would be more than happy to assist you and give you all the information at the touch of your fingertips without having to worry about all of that. You can just trash all of it like junk mail.
But if you go onto a site that says Medicare and the name of the company is Medicare, that's frowned upon in our. In our industry, it's not a good practice to put the word Medicare in it because none of us work for Medicare. We're all brokers of whatever company we choose to go with.
I have 13 carriers that I am licensed with, so I fit your needs to whatever plan suits your suit, your pocketbook, and getting that 20% as low as I can to help you with your finances and how you want to build your business.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: I love that. And I think that that piece of information was really important. So I want to make sure that we all heard it correctly. Like, it's Goodell Health Services, Health Solutions. Goodell Health Solutions. And so, and you've mentioned this before, but if somebody has the word Medicare in their company name, that is highly frowned upon. It is automatically a red flag. This is probably not the right company to be working with. Is what you.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a ton of things. Yeah, yeah. You got to do a scope of appointment. It has to be in before 48 hours before your appointment, unless we're at the end of the month, there's a permission to contact. You have to give people permission to be able to connect with you. So if you were to send me a referral, like your parents, you would have to actually, I would tell you to send me an email or send me a text message so that way we could connect and then I could go from there on what we need to do.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Right. You can't just call them.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: I can't.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: I can just give you their number and you call them.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: That's against the rules. And anytime that you're on a phone call with somebody and if they don't give you the disclaimer that they don't sell all the Medicare plans because we only have so many plans in our area, that's frowned upon as well. So there's a ton of disclaimers and different things because they just don't want, they don't want people taking advantage of seniors. And so I follow all of the rules that are behind that to stay compliant.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: I mean, that's a lot of information, a ton of great information to take away. And because there are so much. We're going to have Scott back after this segment. So we're going to go to commercial break and we will be right back with more information from Scott.
We are just getting started. Stick around. And we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:13:09] Speaker C: Before.
[00:13:26] Speaker D: I've got to ask, what was your defining aha moment when you realized gaming was going to play a big part not only in your life but in tech?
[00:13:40] Speaker E: So I've been gaming since I was literally like in diapers, right? Like since I was just a child.
So that's always been a part of my life. And I've always loved computers and loved tech. And one of the things that I like about gaming the most and one of the reasons in terms of the field and one of the reasons I went into that field is you kind of get to do a little bit of everything.
You're not doing just laptops or just phones or just audio. You get to do everything within the context of one of the most fun parts of tech, which is playing video games. So I like that I get to kind of have my hands in every different kind of consumer technology because I love it all and I can't pick just one thing.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:14:25] Speaker D: Well, let's talk about Rog, if you had to describe Republic of Gamers Vibe to someone entirely new to gaming, what would you say in one sentence?
[00:14:39] Speaker E: I would say we are the premier PC gaming brand for enthusiasts that really want to get the absolute most out of their games.
[00:14:48] Speaker D: I love that product and innovation is really huge.
I have been working with Asus probably for the past year, right. And Every time I talk to them or touch base with a representative from there, they're always launching something new or working on something new. And I love that. So what makes ASUS ROG pre built desktop stand out from building your own rig like, or getting one from somewhere else even?
[00:15:21] Speaker E: Yeah, that's a great question. So I mean, when it comes to buying versus building, a lot of that is personal preference because we sell PC components too. For people who want to build their own PCs, that's been a part of our DNA since the founding of the company.
But not everyone wants to build their own PC, right? Some people love games and they just want to go buy a PC off the shelf and get gaming as soon as possible. And so we offer pre built desktops for those people as well.
And it's also, you know, useful because when we build a machine right, we're not just putting parts together in a case, we're validating every component. We're carefully designing the thermals and the airflow through the system, making sure that everything works together and then putting it all through a battery of quality tests to make sure it stands the test of time. Right. Like when you're buying from us, you're not just buying the parts, you're buying our expertise in building PCs.
[00:16:11] Speaker D: Okay, so from your expertise, what ROG desktop right now feels like the ultimate Gamer Flex. Like which one is a showstopper?
[00:16:24] Speaker E: So we have a few different desktops, but the one that is the ultimate Gamer Flex would be the ROG G700.
It's kind of a standard tower size. It's got these beautiful glass panels so you can see all of the hardware inside with all of the custom lighting and stuff like that that comes with it. And we offer a whole range of different models with varying graphics cards, levels of storage and RAM and processors. So you can kind of find the one that fits both your budget and kind of your performance needs for gaming or whatever else you're using the machine for.
[00:16:58] Speaker D: So one thing that I am noticing in the gaming world is like it's moving fast, changes are happening within an instant. I mean even now, like AI, right? When it first came out around the top of the pandemic, I looked it up. I think it was like 2022 that it came on the scene. We're seeing advancements within a couple of months. So staying ahead of the game, I know that ASUS is really good with that, but talk to me about how gaming tech has evolved. It's seeming like it's evolving in lightning fast speed. But how Does OG like stay ahead of design cooling all of those things and components surrounding the ultimate gamer desktop?
[00:17:53] Speaker E: Yeah, it has been changing fast and it has necessitated some changes in the way that we build desktops. Right. Graphics cards are bigger and more powerful than ever. So we're having to build cases that take those kinds of things into account in terms of size, in terms of airflow.
We have a lot of products that have built in NPUs for that AI stuff.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Stuff.
[00:18:14] Speaker E: How do we kind of factor that into the system and balance the cost of all of the parts with the experience that the gamers want? Of course, with gaming, AI has been a part of it for quite some time now with Nvidia tools like DLSS and ray tracing and all of that. And of course, we want to make sure that gamers are getting the latest and greatest technologies in everything we build.
[00:18:38] Speaker D: I love that. So as I'm not a gamer, but I'm definitely a content creator. But there are many gamers who also stream or they create content. So how does Rog desktops really cater to creators, not just those players?
[00:18:59] Speaker E: Well, the beautiful thing is that these days, so much of gaming and creating relies on the same types of hardware, right? Powerful CPUs and graphics cards, lots of storage, whether it's for your big game library or all of that raw footage that you recorded for your next project.
And so you could absolutely kind of piece together a machine that is going to have everything you need for both gaming and creating. And then, you know, as long as you have enough USB ports to plug in all of that external gear you need, if you're streaming or whatever and you've got the power for it, you're golden.
[00:19:33] Speaker D: Love that. I know that gaming has become like a full blown culture.
Like it's now like gamers, right? So how does the brand tap into that culture beyond just hardware and design?
[00:19:48] Speaker E: You know, it's funny, having been around for a lot of kind of the video game rise in that culture, we see it as, yes, you have this community of really dedicated gaming enthusiasts, right? And we do a lot for them. We have our own Discord server where they can come in and talk games and tech. We stream on Twitch every week to kind of interface with the community that way. But. But the gaming community is so much bigger than just this kind of intense community playing hardcore esports. Right. Gamers have become everybody, where Maybe in the 80s and 90s it was the smaller subset of people. Now everybody is playing games on their computers, on their phones, on their consoles, and we want to incorporate Everyone into kind of that, that Rog ethos. And so while we do focus on PCs, we also make accessories that work with your game consoles. We make a that's designed for gaming. And even in our phones that aren't primarily designed for gaming, like our Asus Zenfone series, we have gaming features there too. We're trying to kind of include everyone in that space.
[00:20:54] Speaker D: Yeah, I noticed that.
And I love that I was able to attend ASUS's Design Week in London. And just to see how they've, like, really come together and used and sourced, you know, natural materials to make the Zenbook was absolutely astounding. I was just like, so I loved how they merged art and tech. It was just such a cool display. But they're always, like I said, being on top of the emerging trends in gaming. So I would love to know from you, what are some emerging trends in gaming tech? Like, you know, AI, graphics leaps, immersive interfaces are you most excited about right now?
[00:21:44] Speaker E: Oh, man, there's so much. I mean, you're right that AI is a huge part of it. Right. I think we're going to see that continue to grow, not just in changing the way your games look and perform, but in making them more immersive and making cloud gaming a more popular way to play. Right. No downloads or installs required, just instantly start playing. We're also seeing a lot of innovation in the handheld space. You can see right behind me here, I've got my Rog Xbox Ally, which will be on shelves very soon. And I got to tell you, it might be one of the most exciting pieces of gaming hardware I've used in the last, I don't know, decade. Being able to kind of pick up games where I left off on my PC, on my handheld, whether I'm on a plane or I'm in bed or I'm traveling for work. It's incredible and just totally changes the game in how I play games from my PC library.
[00:22:35] Speaker D: That sounds so cool.
[00:22:37] Speaker E: You're like, it's awesome.
[00:22:38] Speaker D: I can do whatever and pick up where I left off. And that, I think is the main thing is, you know, being able to seamlessly pick up from one device to another.
Well, I appreciate you giving your insights and talking to me today, Whitson. I had so much fun learning more, even more than what I already knew about Rog and Asus, and it was great to learn it from someone that we kind of have, like, very similar media paths, and I think that is really, really co.
Is there anything that you would like users or potential users to know that I didn't cover or ask you today.
[00:23:25] Speaker E: No, I would just reiterate that no matter what you're looking for, we probably have it. Whether you want something super powerful like that Strix Scar, something thin and light, a big desktop with all the bells and whistles, something super compact you can hide anywhere, we have everything for every budget and every type of user that's out there.
[00:23:42] Speaker D: All right, Whitson, well, we take it from you, the expert here. Thank you so much again for joining me. It's been such an awesome time diving into the world of gamers tech with you today. I know the audience will leave with a lot of insight and maybe even a little desktop envy.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: Right.
[00:24:03] Speaker E: Here's hoping.
Thanks for having me.
[00:24:06] Speaker D: Of course. Have a great rest of your day.
[00:24:08] Speaker E: You too.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching BIZ TALK only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz TALK on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
Welcome back to Biz talk. If you're just now joining us, I am your host, Emily Galindo. And we are here to help you, you, the business owner, business professional, get the most out of your business and most out of your life by learning from the experts that we have on the show. And with this first half of the show, we talked a lot about what to do and how to take care of you when you are nearing retirement, when in terms of health insurance and Medicare. And this segment is going to be much on a different scale, but I think way more impactful in terms of you as the human being who's running the business. And today we have an amazing guest with us, Courtney Widener, who is the owner of Aligned and Alive. And she is a connector and life catalyst here to talk with us about how we can take care of ourselves in a way that's actually going to generate more fulfillment, more aliveness than just money in our business. So welcome, Courtney Widener.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Why, thank you, Emily. This is awesome. Thanks for having me on the show today.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: I absolutely am just honored because I think that not enough of us and our viewers hear enough about this part of owning a business.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Yes, this is the part so many of us miss.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: Right. We think that we get into business to make money to take care of our families, to leave this legacy. Check, check, check.
Then why Is being alive in the business being missed? And what does that mean?
[00:25:49] Speaker C: There's so many components that we as business owners and professionals miss and why we're doing what we do. A lot of times we get into a business, my, myself, it's like it was the family business fell into it, right? And it was like, well, I know how to do this thing. I know how to do it really well. And I'm just grinding away every day in my business. And it's one of those things where we reach a point of just really getting tired and burnout and not really feeling the zest of life. You know what I mean? And it's.
Something's missing. So many of us, we've been in business for years. We've checked all the boxes, we've hit our goals, we've made lots of money, we've built teams, We've got all of this success.
And why am I still not feeling fulfilled? Why am I not feeling the happy and the joy? And then there's, like, this guilt that creeps in. Like, I have everything, like, what's going on here? Like, what is something missing?
And what's missing is alignment and being aligned in your life and knowing exactly what it is specifically that you are here to do. We are not here just to sell a.
We are here to engage with people and make an impact. And just imagine how much more beneficial, how much just more alive you're going to feel in your business when you're incredibly clear about, number one, who you're here to serve, right? So many of us have done, like, ideal customer exercises before, but I'm talking about taking this just to an exponential level where you actually know this person, your target client. We'll call it that. It's called the Avatar.
But you know them with such precision. This is a specific person, one person. So many of us say, well, what's your target market? Well, I serve men and women ages 30 to 60. And that's like, all over the map, right? Because how do you market to someone who's a single mom and she's 30 versus a guy who's 60 and coming into retirement, right? It's like those are two totally different worlds, two totally different people and honing in exactly the one person that you are uniquely designed to serve. And this isn't necessarily about, oh, will I sell insurance or real estate or, you know, Medicare, like Scott does? Like, there is more depth to what we do, and if we don't uncover what that is, then we just get really tired. Our businesses become very Monotonous and just kind of shallow. And I'm like, yeah, I'm grinding away. And I keep doing this thing, and I'm selling and this and this. And it's like, what's missing?
There's a lot missing.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: There's a lot missing.
[00:28:25] Speaker C: There's a lot missing. So it's not about, you know, when I tell people, ask people the question, why do you do what you do? What do you think?
[00:28:32] Speaker A: They tell me to make an impact. To help people. I hear that a lot.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: To help people.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: To help people.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Right. And so when I asked them the question, why do you do what you do?
And that's the answer that they give me. That is being in service to someone else.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: Like, I want to help people. I want to help people succeed. I want to, you know, help them get a house and all of those things. And it's like, well, that's great. That's awesome. I'm not discrediting that at all. But that's really your vision. What is it that you want to give that person in a real estate world? You know, you want to have somebody have home ownership?
What's. What's behind that? Like, what are they going to experience when you help them get in that home?
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Right. Dream accomplishment or, like, I mean, this is my.
[00:29:13] Speaker C: My family. I'm gonna have Thanksgiving. I'm gonna have Christmas here. Everybody's gonna come in, and you're just gonna have so much, you know, love and all of that. Right. Like, that's really what it's about. I'm not just selling them a house.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: Right, Right.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: I'm selling them, like, their life, basically the place that they can do life. Sure. It's a perfect environment to do it.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:31] Speaker C: And really wrap it into. Okay, so what is it that I want to create for people?
So for. My vision is that I help humans feel belonging, love, and alive.
And what does that do for me? So the vision is what we do in service to other people.
And the why is. What is it that it gives us in return? And it's not always exactly the same thing, but a lot of times it is.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Okay, all right.
[00:29:59] Speaker C: And so I want people because I want to feel love in this life.
The why that we unpack is a whole process and figuring out what is our deepest, most unmet need.
And it's something that stems way back from childhood. It's something that we probably have never really even thought about before.
But there's a process to determine what this is, and it's very personal. It's different for everyone.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: It sounds very personal.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: It is very personal. And when I did the work of and found my alignment, I discovered that, yes, my vision is to help people feel belonging, love, and alive. The why that I receive, why do I do that? Because I want to feel love.
And when I know that I have served my vision and I have lived my vision, and I have helped people feel those things, the gift that I receive in return is love.
And so the law of giving and receiving says if there's something that we want to receive, that deepest, most unmet need that we didn't have, whether it's to feel valued, to be important, to feel appreciated, like, whatever that is for you, maybe you didn't have that as a child. And so now in adulthood, that's like, what we live for.
And when we have it and we feel that way, I think most people can identify there are times that we have felt totally alive in our life.
But what was going on at that time and who were we with and what were we doing? We don't ever really slow down long enough to think about those things and think, well, when did I really feel so alive?
And how do I replicate that?
[00:31:24] Speaker A: I love that. Because I was thinking as you were talking, if you could recreate that feeling just from a business owner standpoint, I would think that you would want to do it more often. Right. So now we're fueling productivity, and we're feeling why we're doing this, and we're fueling because you're getting just that energy piece, that energy exchange of more than just money. Right. And then would you say in your work that when you are feeling that way and feeling more productive and fulfilled and all of that, that the money is a byproduct of just living in silo?
[00:31:55] Speaker C: Absolutely. The energy is totally different. Totally different. And y' all might have heard the whole thing around, like, the energy, the difference between. Between desperation and determination.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: Right.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: We talk a lot about that in sales. Like that people can feel the desperation trying to close the deal real hard. Yeah.
[00:32:09] Speaker C: Yes. And people know when we're alive and when we're not.
It is a total energy thing. And when we are living in alignment, know exactly what we're here to do, what it's going to do for us beyond the money, because we did not come here to make money.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: It's just the thing that we have to do.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: That's the thing we have to do.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: To live, to live.
[00:32:29] Speaker C: So how do we make it the thing that completely fills us up, meets our needs, and if we want to receive that more. Well, we got to figure out how to give it to other people and people. Like, so how do you make people feel love in an insurance business?
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Okay, great question.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: Right?
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: And it's all about intentionality. My clients are not numbers to me. They all have my cell phone. If something happens, like, I am incredibly accessible. I know kind of what's, you know, going on in their lives. I check on them.
You know, we have a true relationship. And my clients have been with me, some of them, for almost two decades now. Like, and it's because of that relationship. And now that I found my alignment and what my why is, now I've just been really able to amp that up, and it adds so much more sus. Like, it's the. The value of the relationship now that we are transacting more than just the product or the service.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:25] Speaker C: You know.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:25] Speaker C: And so, yes, that's easy, but that's so transactional. People don't like feeling like they're sold to. Nobody wants to be sold to.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: Correct. Right. Right.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: So how do we set ourselves apart from all the other insurance agents and real estate agents and all of those people out there in the world? We have to give them more than just a product at a good price, and that's the impact we can make when somebody feels like their insurance agent actually cares about them and loves them. Like, that's. I know that sets me apart from everybody else out there that's just trying to get some sales goals, you know, and yes, we all work on commission, and so we're all just trying to get that next sale.
But it's so much more effortless when you are marketing to your avatar specifically. And when you make your ads and you make your Facebook and your reels. Excuse me, reels, and all of that that you're talking to that one person.
And people may say, that's so specific. Like, I'm going to leave all this other business on the table if I'm only talking to one person.
It is the opposite effect of what happens, because you start speaking as if you're speaking to this one person that you want to help.
But other people are going to hear that message and they're going to resonate with things that you say. And your authenticity. Authenticity comes through so clearly that people are like, you know what I want? I just want to do business with this person. It's not about the company. It's not about what you're selling. They're more interested in doing business with you because they see the human that you are, you see, people are attracted to that.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: People are extremely. We've had multiple guests, experts on branding, come on the show and say that authenticity, the market is shifting in terms of what people are looking for. Absolutely. As much as we love of ChatGPT and open AI and it's making things more efficient, we have also very quickly become numb to the perfection of how well it's written. And we actually, I think it happened a lot faster than we wanted it to, but are now looking for and would prefer some spelling errors, some grammar errors, a comma missed or whatever to be like, at least I know they wrote it and it was a real human being. Exactly right. Yep.
[00:35:28] Speaker C: And the algorithms now are knowing when it's all chatgpt written too. And so there's. And I've heard all kinds of stuff from people that it's like when there are bloopers in your post, when there are mistakes in your post, like, that's more human.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:35:40] Speaker C: Robots don't make those mistakes.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:35:42] Speaker C: And the algorithm knows that. And so it's like, that's not authentic content, because a robot.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: Right. And when people, Customers want to work with a company, they want it to be with a person. They, like you said, they want to be, do work with that. So people wanted to check you out while we go. We got to go to commercial break. But if people wanted to check you out, where could they start learning some more about you and what you do, the work you do.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: So my website is what makes you come alive dot com.
And that's what we do, is we take a look at what makes you come alive. How do you come alive in your business? By doing the alignment process. And check out my website there. I've got some events on there, I've got some podcasts posted, so you can kind of see what I'm about and what I do to help people.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: Yeah, this is incredibly interesting stuff. We're super excited because it's just not being talked about. I think people feel like they're missing something in life and they're missing something in their business.
And this type of work is just. It really does reach the bottom line of a business.
[00:36:39] Speaker C: Absolutely. And before we go, I forgot the fourth component here that it bears mentioning, because once we figure all these things out and we know we're here to serve, what we're doing for them, what it does for us on an energetic level, how do we stay there? How do we make sure that we don't, like, go off the rails and we stay in alignment and that's what the values are for.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:36:58] Speaker C: So deep dive into core values. We look at that too. Because I need those in your business as well.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: You definitely do. You need those in life and in business. But stick around. We'll come right back and talk with Courtney some more about the revolution of business and life that she's going to be starting and core values. And so hang in there. Come right back because this is exciting. Great stuff.
We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes tips. Stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of Biz Talk or any of your favorite Now Media TV shows live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming in both English and in Spanish. Prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and breaking news to lifestyle, culture and everything in between, now media TV is streaming 247 ready whenever you are.
Welcome back to Biz Talk. If you're just now joining us, I am your host Emily Galindo and we are talking with Courtney Widener, a connector and life catalyst with aligned and alive and what makes you come alive. And that's what we've been talking about this whole afternoon. And then our first segment is how does being fully alive in your business generate more revenue and generate more fulfillment in just existing in the world and doing what you you're doing. And while that's incredible, she talked about four components. So go back and watch that. The four components of how to discover what makes you come alive. But my question to you, Courtney, is now I know what it is. What do I do with that information?
[00:38:56] Speaker C: Great question.
We discover all this stuff, we find our alignment, we figure out all of these pieces, right, that we need to be bringing into our business and how do we put our why and live our vision and all of that. And once we figure all of that out, there are some other things that we need to incorporate into our business and our daily life to get that aliveness really popping. And as business owners, I can speak to this. We are terrible with self care I think I can say that terrible safely. I think I can say that everything.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Gets done before I even look at what do I need.
[00:39:33] Speaker C: Exactly. Right. We are so conditioned, and women especially, like, we've got the kids, we have like all of these things. We have a million things that we have to get done in a day. And we are usually the last one that gets whatever we have left over from the spoons that we have left at the end of the day.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Which you call, what you call them spoons?
[00:39:47] Speaker C: Yeah, spoons.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Our energy bank. Energy bank. The energy bank, Right.
[00:39:50] Speaker C: We only have so much energy in a day and sometimes we spend it all before noon. Like sometimes that happens, right. And so how do we keep replenishing those spoons? Right. And getting to ourselves to where we are vibrating at a really high frequency frequency all the time. And why this is so important is when the stuff in business actually happens, we lose huge clients, the economy tanks. There's, you know, different things can happen that actually impact our businesses. And we have dips, right? And those things are a lot harder to get through when we're not aligned and we're not alive and the alive process. So once we get the alignment, the alive piece, we have to look at that self care.
This is one vehicle that we have for our entire life and it takes us through and it gives us the ability to do our work and do our business and all of that. So we have to take care of it. And I know that's such a flip in a concept that most people just really struggle with that.
And if there are reasons that you struggle with making self care a priority in your life, awareness around those resistance things, a whole nother piece, you might.
[00:40:54] Speaker A: Want to look at that, right?
[00:40:55] Speaker C: So having awareness on where we have resistance, what it's there for the beliefs that we tell ourselves, if we have these unconscious beliefs and underlying commitments in our world and we think that I'm not going to be successful or I'm not enough or I'm too much. Right. There are so many little unconscious things that we believe that hold us back from our success in our business. So we take a look at that and then we rewrite those beliefs and turn them into empowering ones that actually are going to help us soar in life.
So the self care piece, having awareness around our thoughts and the stories that we tell ourselves, reprogramming ourselves and flipping those beliefs so now that it's the positive, empowering side. And then the village, I talk about the village a lot because one of the things that I'VE noticed in business is that so many business owners feel alone, and they feel like, I'm on an island. I'm doing this all by myself. We have struggles. We have things that we're not doing probably in the way that we should be in our business. And then we're maybe a little embarrassed and ashamed about that, because I don't want to admit that I don't have my stuff together in my business.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Right. Haven't filed my taxes in five years.
Keeping. That's real talk, though, like, cash flow. It's about to be upside down.
[00:42:06] Speaker C: Am I not gonna make payroll?
[00:42:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:08] Speaker C: I have the extreme anxiety, massive amounts of stress.
How amazing would it be if you had 10 people on the ready that you were like this with? Because you've had the deep conversations. You talk about your goals. You want to know how you can really help each other in your business, so much so that a friendship has developed. And then when that stuff in business happens, you actually have solid friends and people in your village that you can call and reach out and say, hey, I'm really struggling with this.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: Would you be willing to help me, talk me through this? If you're open to advice, tell them. So, like, the power of the village is something that I really have trouble explaining to people until you are aware that you don't have one, and then you start to build one and you start bringing in those mentors in your life. And, man, if you are the brightest person in the room and you don't have a mentor in your airspace, you're not growing, and you're not going to get to that next level in your business. If you're not surrounding yourself with people that are smarter than you or not necessarily even smarter than you, they have something that you don't have.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: Right? Right.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: And I want that. Right.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:43:16] Speaker C: They've hit this level of success, whatever.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: It is, whatever that looks like. Right. It could be that they have. They've been financially successful or they have an amazing village or.
[00:43:24] Speaker C: Right. Their business is at a level where I want my business to get to. So, I mean, I talk about my mentor and coach, Nancy Levin, all the time.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:43:31] Speaker C: Like, Nancy's about 10 years ahead of me in her coaching business. She's got a coach coaching academy where I became a certified coach.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: She's written books.
[00:43:38] Speaker C: She's got, you know, all of these workshops and all this stuff, and I'm like, that's where I'm going, like. And I have someone that has hit that level of success. They're making that Money, they are making impact in this world. And that's really what lights me up. It's not about the money, it's about the impact and the lives that we touch.
Right, right. Who wants to die alone with a bunch of money, right?
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Well, I want to go back to the Village, especially for our viewers. In terms of like in the beginning of your list, I'm gonna be honest, I was like, and who has time for that? Like I'm over here trying to run my business, trying to coach these people, hire new people. Like I've got all this stuff going on.
And so now you want me to take time out of my fire dumpster over here and focus on me and self care and bath. Like where am I gonna put this time wise? But then I'm gonna be honest. By the time you got to the Village, I took a great big sigh of relief and was like, oh man, that would be something to be able. I mean I have it so I know what it feels like. But like for our viewers to experience, I'm sure they also just for a minute went, man, that would be nice to at least have somebody to talk to you about this problem.
[00:44:43] Speaker C: Right, Exactly.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: So maybe I do have the time and would make the time if I just got that piece out of it.
[00:44:48] Speaker C: All we have is time, people. It's how we choose to spend it. And if story you're telling yourself is I don't have time to take care of myself, I don't have time to take a vacation, I challenge you to look at that because the more you keep telling yourself that, the more it's going to be true for you.
And what if, just what if you started taking better care of yourself and because you're taking better care of yourself again, the energy is going to shift. That alone will start attracting more people because your energy is going to shift, right? And you're gonna start feeling more self confidence, more self love. Like if we don't take care of this, it's useless, truly.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: And I've heard you say in a lot of your content, you know, you do the thing to feel the thing.
[00:45:32] Speaker C: Do the thing to feel the feel, right? Like if I don't feel like I am a lovable person, if I don't feel like I'm worth it, if I don't feel that I'm worthy of success, do the things and they can be little tiny micro actions. Just pick up the phone, call someone, have a conversation, give your why to someone else intentionally.
All of these little things are going to start shifting your Mindset. And when you start to realize that you're the most important person in your life, you're the only person that you live with your whole life. And as soon as this meat suit starts to, to go, then life becomes a struggle. Right?
[00:46:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:46:12] Speaker C: So. And it's not just about taking care of our physical meat suit and making sure that we eat right and get enough sleep and all of that. It's doing the inner work.
[00:46:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:46:20] Speaker C: Taking care of us inside the meat suit. And that looks like examining those stories that we tell ourselves. I don't have time.
I got to take care of everybody else before I take care of me.
But what if what you're wanting is on the other side of you taking care of yourself?
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Maybe. And so you have a space for this. We've got a few minutes before the end of the show, but I want you to have, you have a space for people to come and have these conversations, talk to us about the revolution.
[00:46:44] Speaker C: I do. So the Alive Revolution is my movement, my message put into a movement and I know how important the village is and how I personally started to really come alive when I started to grow and do my inner work with other people and having those friends that are all looking to be the best versions of themselves have the most impact they can have in this world. So we know that my life meant something. I think we all kind of want our lives to mean something. Right. And so the Alive revolution. I've got two things coming up. So I have a free 90 minute zoom. It's coming up on October 7th. We're going to put some details on how people can sign up for that. So it's going to be on October 7th and is a free 90 minute zoom where you can come tune in. It is very interactive. I don't just sit here and talk for 90 minutes. I mean, this is a very engaging 90 minutes and you're going to meet new people. We're going to be looking at some things that you might not have looked at before. And if that interests you and you want to dive deeper into the work, then My six week group coaching experience, the Alive Revolution, starts on Tuesday, October 14th, and it goes for six weeks, goes till November 18th. Right. So October 14th, November 18th, they're 90 minutes a week. It is a group coaching container and we go through the Alive Revolution framework.
And this is how do we start to feel more alive in our life more of the time and keep that going? Because it's a cycle and it's something, a framework that we always get to go Back to when we're feeling crummy, feeling burnout, feeling just, ugh. Chances are we're not having forward movement in our own life, right?
[00:48:13] Speaker A: But having done the work with you, at least you'll have the framework to go back and look at it and say, where am I out of alignment? What have I done? What choices have I made?
[00:48:20] Speaker C: Community after that. So you do the six weeks. You learn the language, you learn how we do the things. And setting goals and accountability is huge in the live Revolution because you want a village that helps keep you accountable to hitting goals and moving forward in life. And then once you complete the six week, then I have a monthly group coaching experience. It's twice a month, second and fourth Tuesdays, so that way you can tune in, have a coaching experience with me and the other people that have been through. I call them my revolutionaries. The people have been through this process, and. And this is all a bunch of people that want to come more alive in their life more of the time.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: Perfect. I mean, then there's so much more to unpack. But reach out to Courtney to continue having this conversation because it really does make a huge difference in your business and how you feel about doing it. So thank you very much, everyone, for tuning in today and taking a moment to really invest in yourself and in your business. Go out there and make it a great week. We'll see you next time.
