Synergy HomeCare Owner Leighton Boyce: From Job Interview Disaster to Franchise Success

[0:16]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle podcast. Today's guest, she became a franchise owner at 26 with zero healthcare experience. But it all started with a job interview that she truly almost skipped. Leighton Boyce is the definition of heartforward hustle. From working customer service to building one of the most human- centered carving businesses in the game, she's changing what leadership actually feels like. And today, she's pulling back the curtain just a little bit, right? Just a little bit. We probably do this in part two and three. But Leon, how you doing today, madam? Thank you so much for taking your time.

[0:50]  I'm doing great. Happy to be on here. You I love your flow. I love your show. I love your energy. So, I'm excited to I'm excited to be on here and get to share a little bit.

[0:59]  As I told you offline, there's not a lot of leaders that are so set up for for this podcast set up. I mean, you got a mic, a good mic, got the headset, the vibe in the background. So, I know this would be a great episode. Let's let's get to the first question. Walk me back to that moment where you were sitting in that job interview, no healthc care background, no blueprint. What made you lean in instead of just walk out?

[1:22]  I've always been that way. So, you know, my dad always said, "Don't I don't care what you do as long as you're happy. You can be bagging groceries the rest of your life. If you're happy, that makes me happy." And, you know, whenever I walked into that job interview, I was young. I was I was 23, 20, 24. And uh I just winged it. And uh oh and um so yeah, it was uh it was exciting because like I didn't even know that home care existed for seniors. I'm from Arkansas where it's a lot of families taking care of families. So when you know we get we get like five 10 minutes into the interview, she's asking me questions. We're we're vibing and then you know I drop the question. So what do you really do here?

[2:16]  Which that would have turned me off. But we had such like a good connection and gosh, the previous owner was just amazing and knew that you can't train a personality into someone. So, I'll tell kind of an embarrassing story. Um,

[2:36]  let's hear it.

[2:38]  Okay. So, I was sitting down talking to her for quite some time and it a long time and I, you know, hadn't worn heels for an even longer amount of time. So, after we got up and I was going to go talk to the HR manager, just kind of do a second interview. I dropped I fell to the floor cuz my feet had my my leg fell asleep during the interview and I was mortified. But I I'm me and I just start laughing. Everyone starts laughing. I think it was at that moment that we realized it was going to be a match because in this industry you got to laugh at you got to laugh at things like that, you know.

[3:21]  No, that's good. I mean, for you it was probably I mean very embarrassing, but just to know probably after the fact like, okay, she took this a little easy. I got the job and and like you said, the energy match from the beginning. So sometimes it takes that sometimes it take that to break the ice unfortunately at your expense. But look where the hell you're at today, right?

[3:39]  I know. I know. What who who let me do this?

[3:43]  And you went from scheduler to to owner by 26. I mean kudos to you at it, right? And I know it hasn't been easy. What part of that grind really tested you the most, you would say? And what part made you think,

[3:55]  you know, I was built for this? Man, I just I got in that scheduler seat and I realized, okay, this isn't just scheduling. I'm matching client skills, needs with caregivers skills that they have and their personalities need to match and their schedules need to match because we're flexible. And um I got it so good. And then, you know, I'm looking around and I'm just carefully studying what everyone else is doing. And uh then I started to kind of get into their role and help them however I could and eventually learn the job. And then you know what was amazing is the previous owner would let me ask questions about what she was doing. She was happy to answer them. She was like someone's interested in what I'm doing. And I can understand that now. But um it was definitely a whirlwind. I never would have expected that I would go into this.

[4:55]  Where do you get this drive? Like, you know what I'm saying? Because I know you know right now when you hire some of these young folks, they don't have that type of drive. No disrespect to him,

[5:05]  but the the so young and wanting to learn in everybody's business, not because you were nosy, but because you wanted to get better because you're trying to figure out how can I do my job and help others do theirs and just makes everything life easier for everybody. Where does that come from,

[5:20]  man? I you know sometimes it's built into people but I grew up really poor and I had just bought and you know I've had it since I was 13 14. I love to work and I love to I love to be valued, you know, and sometimes it's it's like this thing of you've got to earn your value, you know, you you you feel that inside. And I really had impostor syndrome. So, I was doing everything that I could to not be an impostor. So, like I'm like, "Okay, no, I'm going to actually learn this learn this job front to back cuz no one's going to catch me slipping."

[6:05]  Yeah.

[6:06]  He's like, "I got the opportunity. I'll make sure that I capitalize all day." No,

[6:10]  I saw the opportunity from the beginning, you know? I was like, "This this is going to be mine one day

[6:17]  and I'm going to build it up while I'm down here."

[6:21]  And that, you know, that's that's the beautiful thing about things. I always tell especially when I speak to um the youth is any job that you go to, what's in it for you? What are you truly learning? Look at as as they're paying you to get educated, you know, and kind of to what you said um I was 19 years old when I went to go run a subway for the first time as a general manager, right? But I was just working and then but somebody seen something in me and he came and he says, "Man, like I see that you're here day and night. You have this work ethic. Would you want to get into management?" And I'm thinking like sure, for me it was about the money though. Not so much just managing a store, but what? I can run the store, make my own schedule, and I'm making money. Um, you know, and and I learned so much about leadership skills. I learned how to deal with people. I learned how to train people, you know, I learned scheduling, right? I learned how to order food. I mean, that led me to open up a cafe years down the road. For you, it it led you to open up your own business before the age of 25. Like, I don't see too many people that do that, you know? I you know I it's it's interesting. I think I've always been so interested in understanding people and knowing people and things about people. I can forget everything else, but I'm going to remember where this person went on vacation in 2004 with their uncle who passed away in 2007 and they had all this like I'm going to learn everything about a person. And even in customer service, it was very much like I always just wanted to win over people, even the crusty ones, you know. And you know, my goal was to treat people

[7:56]  even just in one encounter, treat that person better than anyone else is going to treat them in a day. Because if you think about it, you know, that's probably why they're a little bit crusty.

[8:08]  They're not appreciated. they're not treated well, you know, so give it to them, you know.

[8:12]  Yeah. Yeah. It's shift the mindset, right? It allows someone else to feel seen or maybe heard. Maybe it hasn't happened in a while. You don't know what's going on at home. Um, but I remember you once told me that you had to lie about your age to be taken seriously.

[8:25]  So, I didn't call you out on this.

[8:27]  Yes. I didn't even I didn't even think of it as an issue. And then they started scanning in my documents and they said they saw my birthday was 1992 and they were like

[8:37]  we just hired someone so young, you know, and I was like,

[8:41]  but does it matter?

[8:44]  What did that teach you though about perception versus power and leadership? I don't know what it taught me other than it doesn't matter if you have if you have the right person, you know, because I I really did have that drive. And I think that during that age, it can be a really it can be a really pivotal moment for you to try to find yourself. And in finding yourself, a lot of times people are looking at their jobs to help identify who they are. And I definitely was in that position at that time because, you know, it just such a fulfilling thing. But I did, you know, especially whenever I was going into people's homes with their family members who are older than my parents and, you know, grandparents who are older than my grandparents and, uh,

[9:41]  you know, they would be like, "Wow, you're really young." And I would just say, "I'm older than I look."

[9:49]  Which was true cuz I looked 15. You know,

[9:53]  you know what's crazy is that I'm 35 years old now and I still get treated like I'm 25. But however, cuz I'm 35 and you tell me I look 25. I'm like,

[10:02]  "Okay,

[10:02]  I appreciate it. I'll take it. I'll take it all day." I mean, I I work I think I told you last time that I I go to the high school often um as I'm one of the board members and I always get mistaken for one of the students and then I just laugh, you know, and I'm like, "No, I'm actually the president. I'm actually the president of the foundation." But thank you. It makes me feel so honored if you think that.

[10:24]  You know, another thing that you uh that I really loved um you being this young leader, you've also created something called the procrastination station. I guess I do

[10:33]  really to support that mental health piece, right? Which is not in any business manual, per se, but what made you practice or prioritize emotional safety um for you and your team?

[10:46]  I'm we've I've always been weird. I've always been like um a little too much for people, you know? Like I can be a lot. I can tone it down, but I can also be a lot. So, I like to get some of that out. for me if I don't have a handful of belly laughs during the day at work it's not a good day for me so you know and I realized that taking a break regard and we would take a break and have just discussions and you we would go back to work and it was good you know to have that little break but then whenever I started you know I started with it because I was interviewing people for office positions and you even caregiving positions and I wanted to see how they play a game they don't know how to play you know so you learn a lot about a person if they've never played yachts and you pull out some dice so it it went from that to okay uh late I hear Leighton pulling out the table and next you're going to she's going to pull out the cardboard the flattened cardboard so that it'll muff the sound of the dice you know so Um really it's it was about come it was about stopping work for a second and having a minute to have fun because you know you're like oh well I need to look at this document with fresh eyes or I need another pair of eyes on it. It's not just coming at your tasks afterwards with a new set of eyes but after having like a good time you know you're going to come at it more positively. you're going to have better conversations with people and that and we have so many conversations. It's important to do and it's you know I for a while I'm like this business is life or death but then I realized this business is life and death and so we need to be able to even reminisce on the good times that we have in the office and make it a place of positive energy. If the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure to guys share this, post it on LinkedIn, or even text that nonprofit friend that you just have. Whatever works. This is what keeps the conversation going and allows us to just grow this community together. Seriously, we appreciate you.

[13:16]  I love that. How big have you been able to grow these organizations the last couple of years? Like, how much staff is on there now? is a roller coaster. It's a roller coaster. We have right now we have around 40 caregivers.

[13:29]  Wow.

[13:29]  And it's myself and two other people in the office and we like to keep communication tight, which is why it's like that. I've had five or six people in the office. It was fine. Communication slipped through the cracks. Caregivers didn't feel as they were talking to someone who they could really vent to. And so, yeah, I I mean, as far as the office, I do like to keep it tight. It's that's my preference, but caregiver wise, um, you know, we go between 40 and 60. So,

[14:03]  good. No, that's that's amazing. I mean, that's that's well probably sure it's enough, right? Anything else becomes a little bit, oh my god,

[14:12]  hire some more people. I've always said that I'm only going to hire nice people. And if that means that we're a boutique company, that means we're a boutique company because I'm not going to walk in the door and be dealing with people I don't want to deal with because they're mean, you know.

[14:26]  You're right. So,

[14:27]  you're right. You're right. I I love this. You you've also remember you mentioning to me that you were you were having some personal issues, so you were still showing up um but you were still balancing being present without losing yourself.

[14:41]  Yeah. So, you know, it's just kind of a pivotal moment when, you know, gosh, you know, I'm just I go go go go. I work overnight on the like on the computer and then the next night I might be on call and be called to someone's house. And I really did neglect myself for what I thought was helpful for the business. It was not. Um, I need I kept putting off appointments and I stopped going to my doctor and I was just being the business. And uh, so I found out that I I got a cancer diagnosis uh, this year. And that really was just not surprising to me for some reason. I don't know if it's because I deal with it a lot or because I don't know. It was just one of those moments where I was like, "Okay, another thing on my to-do list. Let's write it down. We're going to schedule it out. I'm going to time block. I'm going to time batch and it's all going to be fine." You know, and I just made it a part of work. And then I was like, "Wait a minute. I feel terrible right now. I don't feel good. I'm not bringing my best self in." and people can tell, you know, and uh so that was really like a moment of, okay, I've trained these people. I trust these people.

[16:11]  Take a day off,

[16:13]  you know,

[16:14]  and remove yourself from the on call schedule. Let them have the reins while I while I deal with myself. And man, I just have to say to anyone out there who's who's an entrepreneur, go to your doctor.

[16:30]  Do all of the blood tests, do all of the testing. Don't put it off because it's

[16:35]  it's a ride.

[16:37]  I mean, the difference between as we just mentioned, life and truly deaf, right? Um and and kudos to you. I mean, there was something to learn there, right? You had to really step back and see everything that you built. Does it continue to survive without me?

[16:54]  And it did, right? And it it goes to show the legacy that you're really building at a very young age. But kind of to what you just said, this is nowhere near um on your level. But the other day, I'm the type of person that when I get sick, I work through it.

[17:05]  Oh, yeah.

[17:06]  I mean, I could be with no voice and still sit here and want to do a podcast, right? It's just who we are. That's just the drive, this work ethic that we have. So, I tell you what, I'm 35 years old now. The life, the body, the mind, everything is a little different than what it used to be. Okay? It doesn't recover as fast. uh you know, all these different things.

[17:21]  So, my kids all got sick, my wife got sick, and then it was my turn to get sick. And um I told you I streamed during the evening time. I'm doing probably six podcasts a week. I'm talking to some clients. I could do a lot of talking, showing up, and people think that, oh, it's easy. No, listen. Showing up. Okay, that's that's not easy. Okay, sometimes I want to sleep. It's what you just brought that up because you know that is like in my head that has always been

[17:49]  that's the vision of a leader. That's leading with purpose is showing up every day regardless. And you know like I've had kidney stone like last year I had a kidney stone removal surgery thing. I'm under anesthetics. Next thing I just get to the office, you know.

[18:07]  Yeah. Ready to work.

[18:09]  Get to work. You're like, "Why are you here right now?"

[18:12]  I'll tell you what, I had to go back to a story that I was just uh finishing, but I'm going to tell you because you said that I remember one time getting in a car accident, right? And we were It was Friendsgiving's day. So, Friendsgiving was happening at my house. So, I get in an accident on my way to my house. Friendsgiving is starting about an hour and a half, right? And um I'm bleeding. I I got this gash back here. I'm bleeding. I mean, the car is total all these different things. Of course, I'm just in La La Land, okay? Okay, I just got in this car accident. Luckily, I I walked away with that. I burned in my arm. So my wife is like, "You don't want to get stitches?" And in my mind, I'm like, "No, we got friends giving. Like, we could figure that out later. Can we just put a band-aid?" Mind you, the band-aid was going to cover it. To this day, I never went to the hospital and I got this just scar in the back of my head. I just let you know, but that's the things that we do and it's bad. So, that's the reason I say this is the other day I I was not feeling well and um I had a stream that night. It was Monday and I was like if I go live on Monday and it's wrestling. So wrestling is just it's energy, right?

[19:11]  If I strain myself, I'm not lasting till Friday. Back in the days maybe.

[19:16]  So I said, you know what? I'm not going to go live. And I took it easy. I I made sure that I had to take care of the body that I heard the body talking to me cuz that's sometimes the body does talk to you and we just still keep going and keep going and keep going. I can only imagine that the body was talking to you, but you was like, "Oh, I I'll do it later. I'll do it later. And sometimes it takes us to kind of hit that that wall to be realized like, oh, to what you mentioned, my neighbor passed away because of cancer. And when he told me that and I was seeing him and like just kind of, you know, deteriorating,

[19:48]  not doing well. Yeah. You know, and he ends up passing, he actually ends up passing away, but when he was telling me these things,

[19:54]  I'm not a a young individual either. And and you know what? Cancer hits at any age. I mean, anything hits at any age. Life hits at any age. So when he told me that, that was the first thing I said. And I got kids. I need to go check myself. I need to make sure that everything is good. Cuz we act like things are good, but we don't really know what it looks like on the inside. The things that we're putting in our bodies, the you know, sun. There's so many different things that can cause issues at the end of the day. Some that you know, like you mentioned, you didn't know. You just felt like it was just the normal thing. My my back is hurt. You know, some people just think, "Oh, it's my back. It's cool. I'll be all right." So, I love that you mentioned that you just um it's okay to to slow down. It's okay to let other people's lead while you take care of yourself sometimes mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Cuz I spoke to some leaders, man, and and that they didn't see things in their life till they were 40 years old where they were able to see like, man, I almost lost my business because I didn't take time to think what was going around me, the way I was treating people. because it's a go go go every single day mentality, you know. So, I I commend you for just staying so strong through those times and and here you are, you know, still doing it. Still pushing,

[21:06]  you know, I love it.

[21:07]  You just you can't let it uh stop you, but you do have to be just as proactive in life with your own body and your own life outside of work because life outside of work does ex exist, I guess. Who knew? Um, and you know, you do have to be proactive. Like you said at the beginning of the week, you said, "I'm not going to last until Friday." So, you you had self-preservation and you you have to manage your body just as well as you manage your business. And it's just

[21:42]  it's dire.

[21:43]  Yeah. No, 100%. I I appreciate you sharing that. And I I also want to talk about you. You had this one dream of being a lawyer and then something more aligned with joy. How did you break out of doing what was expected and step into what made you feel alive? I mean or did you realize at one point what was I who was I kidding? I want to be a lawyer.

[22:03]  It was kind of like that like you know I'm going to change I'm going to change the world you know I am superwoman and I'm going to learn these policies and change the world. And then, you know, I get around these other people that are in these polysai classes. I'm like, "These guys are I don't like these people." Um, and I found that I'm really I'm changing the world one person at a time in a population of people who are

[22:35]  who are shadowed.

[22:37]  They are shadowed from the public. And like it's, you know, this is so much more fulfilling. And customer service was more fulfilling than you know than what a lot of lawyers or you know anyone in government can do sometimes you know um I won't get into any conspiracy theories but

[22:59]  I have some

[23:00]  Well listen I want to talk about something that you're a little curious about but also skeptical um around AI right you have this healthy dose of just being skeptical around AI uh what's one way you would actually love. You talk about changing and really making a difference. I love to see AI show up in caregiving that feels human and not so much robotic.

[23:24]  That's hard. This is such a divisive and interesting topic um that I'm almost scared to talk about it because they're listening. Um but no, I

[23:35]  you know my neighbor tells me that I said hey um why don't you just you know how you say okay Google and you talk to your phone and set up alarm. So I always do it all the time. So, mind you, my neighbor was also in the military, so that's probably even further than how we believe. So, I said, "Hey, man, just tell your phone. You could just talk to it. You just tell them to take notes." And he's like, "No, no, no. I can't do that. They're listening."

[23:54]  I'm like, "They're listening even when you don't talk to it." Like, they're saying that all the time.

[23:58]  Yeah. How do you think they know they're saying that we're saying, you know,

[24:02]  don't do that, you know? But um yeah, I you know, I've I've thought a lot about that question because it it's something that comes up a lot in in home care. Um there's no replacement for human interaction, but um I think there is a place for taking a load off of our back that doesn't necessarily need to be there. you know, there are a lot of policies that we have to write and continue to write and procedures that we have to update and things like that. And you know, English isn't everyone's first language. So, it's extremely helpful to um provide consistency in my documentation. Um, and I know that there there are so many different ways that AI is going to affect this industry. I'm not sure how, but um I can only imagine that, you know, we're going to have better information about

[25:08]  um what's really going on with our clients before before it actually occurs, which can early intervention is, you know, not something that I would ever be against at all. So, um yeah, hopefully hopefully it all turns out okay. Listen, I'm you know, it's funny. I'm such a big AI user. So, the way that I use AI, and I think you kind of use AI a little bit, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but there is there's so many different ways right now where AI is really changing ways for so many industries in the healthcare, the nonprofit space, both of the spaces that we love to talk to leaders in and and you just hear I mean people thinking about how do we communicate um and keep that engagement right that out of sight out of mind but also talk to the families while their their loved ones are being taken care of um because that's also important how we communicate with those family members you know um so creating AI automation around something like that. Yeah. Oh, I don't I don't know because I like to have that for myself. Like that's the that's the that's the good stuff.

[26:14]  That's where you win the good stuff. Yeah. That's where I get to win them. And so, um it's with AI, I think that it's good for

[26:26]  for a business like mine, it's good for helping us stay compliant with state rules and regulations. So, I could roll out, you know, um something that's AI for, you know, if someone's auto insurance runs out, I don't have to think about that. That's going to it's going to prompt them to do it and then we're going to have it. I don't have to worry about that instead of chasing someone around for their auto insurance, new driver's license, first aid, whatever. So, um it's it's it definitely kind of also takes like the the onus of um of asking people to do things over and over. I'm like, yes, AI did it. Wasn't me.

[27:02]  Facts. It wasn't me. Yeah. Yeah. I don't feel too bad.

[27:05]  But I will say, you know, I was I was doing another podcast and they were asking very convoluted questions and so I like put it in my Google doc put on Gemini and then it I was like, "Help me answer these questions." And I after that I printed it out and I mistook it for the original one that he gave me. And I'm over here like, how in the heck do I answer all of these questions? I overprepared so well for this interview because of AI,

[27:40]  although it was a mistake, you know, but it it really

[27:46]  it really did help me prepare, you know. So, I mean, there there are different avenues that I that I use it and um I just know that it's that it's only going to get better in a lot of ways, you know. I mean, I'm ordering Wendy's now, talking to the AI.

[28:01]  Have you been to Wendy's and ordered?

[28:03]  Give me one, too.

[28:04]  Listen, I'm getting I'm getting the biggie bag all day, okay? I'm a chicken sandwich type of guy. Um, but no, it is. I remember the first time pulling up to Wendy's and thinking to myself like, "Wow, there's an AI really taking my order." And it's accurate. It's accurate. You make the changes and it makes the changes. And um, you know, someone says, "Well, one day it's going to be face recognition." I'm like, "Well, that's scary." Like you just pull up to the drive-thru and it just automatically spits out your order. Come on now.

[28:29]  If I pull up with my husband and he there's facial recognition and it shows that I've had three burgers the day before that I've snuck, it's not going to be good. But it's not definitely not.

[28:43]  I uh for the young leader who's listening who feels like they're maybe too early or not ready, what's something that you would actually tell them about leading with heart while still protecting um your peace as well? I would say if you you've got to love what you're doing. If you don't love what you're doing, quit

[29:09]  quit your job. Yeah.

[29:11]  And do something that you really love because at the end of the day, you know, if you're not liking what you're doing, you are not going to show up well. You are not going to communicate well and you're going to end up wasting years of your life. Um, but with being young, just know that you have a lot ahead of you. And so preparing for your later years and learning what you want out of life, how do you want to retire? You know, like think about those things. Set goals now so that you can and look at your goals every single day. I know that's that's the rule for that's a known rule, but really write out your goal end goal for at every day. Recite it and live it.

[30:09]  I like what you're saying. I actually spoke to someone yesterday and I I always ask this question. When someone looks unhappy or they're in that what do I do type phase, always ask, are you happy or are you comfortable? Right? I asked that to another gentleman actually the other day and he just just starts laughing and he's like I'm comfortable. I said hey man I mean is that really good to be comfortable or do you want to be happy in what you do? You have the opportunity. It was like I I was at the school and the principal says, "Hey man, talk to this guy real quick." And he wanted this guy to be the robotics teacher and the dude right now he's teaching at a smaller school K through 8 and he's he's comfortable. But now you can go work with a a pretty prestige, you know, high school, you know, legacy is like 50 60 years a school and do robotics. Sounds fun to me. You know what I mean? Sounds like I'll be happy. So, uh I'm telling him I'm like, "Man, like I get it. You're very loyal.

[31:02]  Sure. But at any moment working for somebody, I don't care how loyal you are, they'll get rid of you and replace you. You know what I mean? So, it's like go find happiness.

[31:14]  I understand loyalty. Listen, I can't go to another barber because that's my barber. Okay.

[31:20]  There's a difference though. A job, go find happiness. And sometimes he's even a taking a pay cut. But when you go home every day and you're not venting to your wife, you know, about something or your or your husband or your mom or like that's when you realize it's happy. When you wake up and just excited to get to do it all over again, that's happiness. But when you're like, "Oh, this again, you're just comfortable. You're just collecting a paycheck,

[31:44]  right?" You know, I have definitely experienced um people who want to work less and I'm like I need someone who wants to work more, you know, like uh it's and you know like kind of and almost going back to the question before about young leaders is like you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time. If you're not uncomfortable, you're not doing your job right. If you're not uncomfortable with something,

[32:17]  are you really learning? Are you really

[32:18]  learning? Are you growing? You're not.

[32:21]  You know, you mentioned earlier is roller coaster.

[32:24]  And um I was someone told me he's like, "Man, you know, and and kind of was in the bad context like, man, you know, life's really been a kind of a roller coaster for me and this and this." And I'm such a person that likes to just flip everything. I said, "That's actually good because if you're not on a roller coaster, then are you really even living? Life is about upside down. You're just in line with the funnel cake,

[32:47]  man. I love this. We have had such a good time. And I ask, where can people follow more of you? Um, and get to learn more about Synergy as well and just tap into it. LinkedIn, social medias, where where you

[33:00]  Leon Boyce, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. Synergy Home Care of Longmont is my business. And you can find us on our website. Google us. Um, our phone number 7204-5788. Um, and uh, we also have a Tik Tok. We have a an Instagram, too. So, we post some fun stuff on there. So, um, I don't we're it's not I'm not going to put out boring content. So,

[33:31]  there you go. Yeah, because you're not a boring person. I mean, even the whole experience that we're getting today, like I love it. Where where is this? See, mine is just things that I love, right? I love plants. I love I love wrestling. So, I like to incorporate a little bit of that. But, I'm I'm getting a little vibe here. What is the vibe that we're getting behind you?

[33:47]  We are getting

[33:50]  We're getting like a Hogwarts botanical thing that I wasn't really going for, but it ended up that way. I have, you know, just like I've got I've got, you know, I've got a little bit of a setup, but it really just comes from just I wanted a room in my house that was exactly what I would want my entire house to be if I could make all of the rules. Um, so it it's really just like kind of dark academia, a place where I feel creative, a place where I can sing, a place where I can be all of the things at once. You know, I can I can jump from an email to a podcast. You know, it's it's just a great little

[34:35]  stage. I love being in here and it's important to love where you're at.

[34:39]  Same. I um even when I put the kids down, I'm right back here.

[34:43]  Yeah.

[34:44]  Like this is my space, you know? I I love it. Like you mentioned, I can swing this away.

[34:49]  And pick it back up, right?

[34:51]  You know what I mean? And and I got three screens and I'm here just click clacking on this, you know,

[34:55]  really building. This is a space where I feel comfortable. And I'm still, you know, I uh like I mentioned earlier, everyone every time someone sees it, they was like, man, like I want that. I'm like, it takes time. You know, like I I didn't know I wanted a floating shelf, but I seen one on Facebook. I'm like, "Oh, I could put my plants on, you know." Look, now there's not even plants. There's wrestling figures on it. So, you just never know. You know,

[35:16]  never know. Um, it's time for that blind question. Now, you I mean, you in the seat, you know, nice little seat there. We'll put you in the hot seat. Um, let's talk about it. If I handed you a mic and the whole the whole world had to listen for 30 seconds, what would you say and who would you hope hears it the loudest? That's a good one. Um, I would say don't worry about what anyone else is doing. Stay in your lane. Worry about you. And that's all.

[35:54]  I love you. I love you. Who you want to hear this the loudest? I want, you know, I want all of I want all the young leaders to hear that. I And I want I want everyone to hear it. It's because that is just like it's it's

[36:11]  it's palpable in the environments these days.

[36:13]  No, for sure.

[36:14]  Yeah. Just, you know, do what you love

[36:17]  and stay in your lane.

[36:19]  That is very good. Especially in the social media days, right? Everyone sees something and just thinks like, oh, that's what I want. And they try to replicate it. But it's like that's you lose the it's not authentic, right? That was so big when I talked to leaders and a lot of the compliments I always get back is

[36:34]  thank you for allowing me to just feel comfortable

[36:36]  and it was so authentic, right? Because that is so huge um for our young leaders. You don't have to show up as somebody else.

[36:43]  Show up as your true self. You know, of course it has to be a sense of professionalism and and you know, got to carry yourself well, but I'll tell you, I'll give you this example. I was very and I don't know, I don't know if I should have taken it the wrong I think others may have taken the wrong way, but for me it's like whatever. Like I'm in that space. It's like whatever anybody thinks of me, right? Like it is what it is.

[37:02]  So I walk into the school and it's a high school and um we were awarding probably like 12 to 15 scholarships.

[37:09]  So I'm in there my long sleeve Edgewater shirt, right? I'm an alumni. Um you know, I'm dressed damn near almost like one of the students. Oh yeah.

[37:16]  So the principal comes around, right? The principal comes around and obviously he's in the a blazer. He's a whole suit. Okay. Um, but mind you, it's also his first year that he's doing this award show, but to me it's like I'm at a kids scholarship award show, right? He doesn't get it fancy. I could get really fancy, but I had to understand my environment, per se. So, um, he looks at me, he's like, "That's what you're wearing?" And I looked, I'm like, "Yeah, why you got a problem?" He's like, "Oh, I mean, I got a button-up Edgewater shirt if you want to." I'm like, "Nah, bro. I feel comfortable. Like, I I feel like I could relate to the kids more, you know, in this way because I realized that I don't have to sit in a suit and tie. It doesn't make any me any different than just sitting like this.

[37:55]  Even

[37:56]  I can't tell you how many blazers I bought. Don't need them.

[37:59]  Don't need them. Yeah. I I used to uh have a client that says, "Yeah, you want to show up um you know, maybe in a buttonup at least to speak to the CEOs and to these leaders." And I'm like, so I was doing that at first. And as I started to get with more leaders and I'm like, they're they're just in here almost in their pajamas talking to me like

[38:17]  Yes. You know, and I love that because it shows the truess Ron is behind our leaders. Like, we're no different than the next person.

[38:24]  I know.

[38:25]  We just stay in our lane.

[38:26]  Yep. It's true. I tell my I tell my office staff, business casual, guys, but don't expect me to be business casual. I'll be wearing my Tupac shirt and my ripped jeans and uh it is what it is.

[38:40]  I love it. That's it. That's what makes you That's what people love you, right? Is because they like, man, I just love how she's just so free. She's herself. So opposite from when I started but yeah

[38:49]  we got to learn somehow. We got to learn somehow.

[38:51]  I ask you what is your blind question to the next leave that we have here on the hard and hustle.

[38:55]  Um I want to ask what does retirement look like for you and what is your exit strategy?

[39:03]  Oh lord that's a good question. That is a good question. I haven't had anyone ask that question in over a couple 50 60 episodes. So this is a really good question. Awesome.

[39:13]  It has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to have this conversation with us.

[39:18]  Let's do it again.

[39:20]  I I agree. I definitely agree. This was definitely a vibe. It was It was easy peasy. And again, it just seemed like we were just having coffee. Um you know, so thank you so much guys. If you're still here, make sure you guys do like, subscribe, comment. These are amazing leaders in the healthc care space and we also talk to those in the nonprofit space. Look at leaders that are doing maybe what you want to do or doing what you are doing and collaborate. Reach out. Figure out how we can all help each other to make sure that this place, this world becomes a better place.

[39:49]  Guys, this has been the Heart and Hustle podcast. My name is E Fra. This has been Leighton. We'll catch you guys in the next episode. Lers. Bye.