Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Growing Your Business with a Virtual Assistant with Carole Copeland Thomas

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Growing Your Business with a Virtual Assistant with Carole Copeland Thomas · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
• 0:08
  Ending small business failure.
• 0:11
  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
• 0:17
  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:21
  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
• 0:25
  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
• 0:29
  Melinda Emerson.
• 0:31
  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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  And what come to the small biz chat podcast.
• 0:37
  I am so excited to be with you today.
• 0:39
  I am doing an interview with a long time friend speaker experts and a global thought leader.
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  Her name is Carol Copeland Thomas.
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  She hails from the great state of Massachusetts.
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  And I am so excited to have her with us today.
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  Carol, welcome to small the small Bishop podcast.
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  Oh, I I'm really decided to be on with you, Melinda, to see you grow and glow.
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  And all that you have done is simply amazing and really decided to be a guest on your
• 1:10
  program today.
• 1:11
  Awesome.
• 1:11
  Awesome.
• 1:12
  Well, you know, I really want to help you have you, like, you know, sort of walk us through
• 1:16
  your background.
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  So let me officially introduce you, and then we will get into the nitty gritty.
• 1:20
  You know?
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  Okay.
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  Carol is a speaker, a trainer, a global thought leader, has been a business owner for over 30
• 1:27
  years.
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  She moderates discussions around key issues affecting our global marketplace She has her
• 1:33
  pulse on issues affecting working professionals and consults with industry leaders on a regular
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  basis.
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  She knows how to analyze dynamics in the changing marketplace.
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  I guess you do, miss Carol, after 30 some odd years.
• 1:47
  3 years to be exact.
• 1:48
  Yes.
• 1:49
  He needs 3 years in business.
• 1:50
  Woo.
• 1:51
  That's alright.
• 1:52
  I'm celebrating 21 years.
• 1:55
  Ah, remember that.
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  But
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  I remember when I first got started, you were one of my first mentors in this business, and I
• 2:02
  really am so excited to have you.
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  I mean, you've done so much, and your brand has has twisted and evolved and Yeah.
• 2:11
  Are global.
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  Wait.
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  You're not you're not just in the US.
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  You've done funding Canada, India, El Salvador, Australia, South Africa, and Kenya.
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  When I grow up, I wanna be just like you.
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  I've only been at, like, 4 or 5 of this place.
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  So, speaking professionally, but I I'm really excited to have you on because I really want
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  you to talk about, you know, the the challenges of of, you know, remote workers and, you know,
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  when you have a team that's in a different time zone, different culture, and, you know, how you
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  have sort of, like, put together a team of people around you as your business has changed
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  and evolved.
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  And so I really kinda wanna just I wanna have you describe for us a little bit, you know,
• 2:54
  about your core business and about how your team is structured around you because I think
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  it's important because I think sometimes people think you just show up like this or, you know,
• 3:03
  like, like, Beyonce, like, you woke up like this.
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  You know, there's a whole team of people that that get you from place to place and and helps
• 3:11
  you organize your business.
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  And I really think it's important to get to the bones of some of that because I, you know, I
• 3:18
  have a team of 7 people that work for me.
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  And people are always shocked.
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  And I'm like, what do you think you think?
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  Like, how do you think I do all the things I do?
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  How do you think I produce the level of content that I do?
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  Right.
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  You have an amazing team of people around me who, you know, keep the trains running on time,
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  even when I'm in town, out of town, whatever, you know, you know, you can rely on us for
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  valuable content to grow your business.
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  So talk to me just a little bit about you know, how your business has evolved in the last
• 3:47
  couple of years
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  and Mhmm.
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  What kind of team you have around you?
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  Well, great question.
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  And I would say that the evolution determines the direction you take from a technology
• 4:00
  perspective, from a communications perspective, and where you really see yourself in business.
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  So I started off as a trainer.
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  I started off really as a a owner of a different type of business.
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  I was in the personnel space and ran a temporary employment agency when I started in
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  1987.
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  And then in 1989, had morphed and shifted over into training, having received a contract from
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  the phone company to train their employees.
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  So that led to other training work and so got out of the temporary employment space, which is
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  very cash driven and employment and labor driven, as you can only imagine, and then land
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  it into the training space.
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  So like many others, I look at myself as someone who started off as a trainer, and then
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  ultimately became the keynote speaker and the social entrepreneur that I see myself now.
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  The work that I did, the kind of marketing that I did, the operational activity that I did 33
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  years ago was all based on the office I was in in Suburban Boston with a partner, a a staff
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  person that we had, and then all these employees that we were putting to work And
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  everything was done by phone.
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  I think we had fax machines then, and maybe they had come into existence.
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  Gosh.
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  Only the medical industry is still using fax machines that I want.
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  Oh, well, I I still get a couple of faxes.
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  So, yeah, it it it's around, but But, you know, I I do all mine, internally now through my
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  email account.
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  So, you know, we did it that way.
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  And then the bulk of the work that you did was either face to face or you mailed things.
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  So you had a large mailing bill because you needed to mail out your promotional materials,
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  your postcards, whatever packets.
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  Do I remember the pack of the twofold packets that we would mail, and that was probably $4 or
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  $5 per packet.
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  And so that's where we were 30 plus years ago.
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  Then as technology came into well, the the nineties operated very much like that.
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  Email was coming into existence at that time.
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  And then around 2000 or so, that's when things began to change.
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  I started off in 2000 doing conference calls.
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  Where you would have these group calls.
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  You'd have a bridge line, and everybody would come on.
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  And I did workshops that way and and made money that way.
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  So technology was first with the phone and then ultimately through email and then ultimately
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  through the internet system.
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  So the evolution I have been around has meant that I've had to just grow up and be a part of
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  the times.
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  I I could not fax everything because people don't have fax machines now.
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  So now we're we're we're talking on zoom.
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  We're using the zoom platform.
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  I use this platform all the time, and it means that I had to bring in a team of professionals
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  who I work with.
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  I had to deal with a remote team, which we're gonna talk about, and then a team of wonderful
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  volunteers who work with me with my events that I hold.
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  I am in the process of holding my 27th breakfast event in March.
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  I've had 27 since the year 2000 been doing this 20 years, and I now have held 13 conferences
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  since the year 2008 with the multicultural symposium series.
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  So that is run with my remote team And also with my wonderful volunteers who are always
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  there, they just show up.
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  They say, just tell us when and where, and they're there.
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  So it's that kind of combination as a social entrepreneur that has gotten me through these
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  33 years.
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  And I think anybody who was listening to your program needs to look at themselves in that
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  manner.
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  There there are people who will work with you on a voluntary basis.
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  There are people who will work with you either as a face to face staff person or a remote
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  staff person, and then you have to have those champions and those cheerleaders who will be
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  there, who will work with you, and will advocate for your business because they're
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  internal influencers and and and power shakers and decision makers.
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  Right.
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  So in terms of how your business operates now, like, what is your sort of, like, core business
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  and, like, kinda sort of, like, How how are you how are you structured team wise, like, right
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  now in terms of
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  Great question.
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  Great question.
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  I'm a content provider operating on different platforms.
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  My main topics deal with diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion, and empowerment
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  issues from a global perspective.
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  So I'm always looking at these topics from a global perspective.
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  So companies will bring me in to deliver a keynote address or a training session or to
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  facilitate a group of staff members.
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  I will then function within the confines of conventions and conferences where I will be a
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  main platform speaker or presenter.
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  So those are the bulk activities of which I generate revenue.
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  There are 2 other revenue generators.
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  1 is my events business, which I just mentioned in terms of the conferences and the breakfast
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  events that I put on.
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  And then I am growing, and I'm really excited about growing a membership platform.
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  The multicultural Symposium series now has close to 200 members who pay an annual fee to
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  get access to the archives of our webinars, to also participate in our events either at a free
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  rate because that's part of their, their fee or a reduced rate.
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  And then we're bringing on online courses that will be part of this member's only platform.
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  So those are the main revenue generators of my business sort of dovetailed into each other,
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  and also they have to do with, just who I am as a as a human being, as a person.
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  Sure.
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  So staff wise, how many people help you on a weekly basis or a project basis sort of, like,
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  get all of these things accomplished?
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  I mean, and congratulations for being so diversified.
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  You know, so often people say, you know, a speaker, if they drop dead tomorrow, their
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  business is done.
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  Right?
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  It's it's really in important to have multiple streams of income and have other ways that you
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  can impact people.
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  Certainly, I've been able to do that via my books and my blogs.
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  And I have several online courses as well and this podcast.
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  I mean, people have been begging me to do a podcast for years.
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  So I finally, last year said, alright.
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  I'm gonna do it, you know, but, you know, you only have so much bandwidth and doing small
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  business chat live on Twitter every week for the last ten and a half years was a lot.
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  Wow.
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  We have transitioned to doing small biz shot once a month.
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  Uh-huh.
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  The small business chat podcast every week.
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  So we had to, you know, some had to give.
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  So Yeah.
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  Well, I think that's it.
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  You you're taught you are actually talking about the evolution that your business has gone
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  through.
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  And I remember that you were when you were in the production space and now look at the space
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  that you're in now in terms of podcasting, and sort of scaling down with your your chats that
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  you're having, and you've scaled up the podcast.
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  The the way to go now is through podcast.
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  So hats off to you.
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  I operate with 1 virtual staff person, again, with all these other components that I have
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  voluntary My daughter is wonderful.
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  My younger daughter lives with me, and so she is a big help and just in and helps out reminds
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  me.
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  She's she calls herself hurting my assistant, and she is.
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  So I I probably should say I have two people.
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  Help out.
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  But about 7 months ago, I had the good fortune of deciding I I wanna go with a virtual remote
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  person.
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  I'm not I don't care where they live in the world.
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  Well, I do a fair amount of research, and I did research and decided that the company that used
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  to be called Elance is now called Upwork is where I could find a good person.
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  I had used another platform for a short term project and that worked out fine, but I knew
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  that Upwork, that's U P W ORK, would be the platform to find virtual talent freelancers all
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  over the world.
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  Did a search, put up my job description, checked out a number of people in the United
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  States first.
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  I went to the US first.
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  And then I said, no.
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  I need to broaden my search.
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  And I went outside of the US and, decided that there was a young woman in Egypt who met my
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  needs.
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  And in our interview and in talking with her, there were some issues with her technology.
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  That caused a problem.
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  And then there was a very long delay in her responding to me alternatively.
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  So I figured that was going to be a bit of a challenge and I moved on and then ultimately
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  found a wonderful young woman in the Philippines who met my needs was a top rank
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  person with Upwork, and her name was Isabella.
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  She had an American name that was used for business purposes.
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  But her name was Isabella.
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  And we took off.
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  This was at the end of June of 2019 And actually the week that I hired her, she was
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  just turning thirty years old.
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  Wow.
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  Wow.
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  So you hired somebody in the Philippines.
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  Now what was she doing for you?
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  She was my marketer, my phone representative, and I would send her a long lists, long list of
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  prospects all over the United States meeting planners, convention planners, etcetera, as we
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  were building out my keynote business.
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  So she was tasked with actually going and calling as many as 60 to 80 people a a day to
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  qualify leads, and then we developed a system where she would then email me through this
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  Upwork platform, Excel spreadsheets with who these individuals were, their contact
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  information, and then I would follow-up.
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  So this was how we did business.
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  What amazed me, Melinda, is her very 1st day doing this.
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  First of all, I trained her Through Zoom, we had several Zoom sessions.
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  I wanted to check her English.
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  I corrected some things, including my name, how to pronounce my name, She was skilled.
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  She had had this experience before.
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  She had worked at call center.
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  So the the mechanisms, the operational piece of it she was very, very good at.
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  It was understanding who I was and the type of person that I was, and she had represented a
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  speaker before, represented a speaker of color before, So the speaking industry was she was
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  very familiar with that.
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  Mhmm.
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  So we went through the orientation process, the training process, and then she was off and
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  running.
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  So the last week, almost the last couple of days of June, the very 1st day, she probably
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  made 60 calls.
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  And she just, she goes through the calls.
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  She has the script down pat in terms of the script that is provide for her personality.
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  And she came up with, I believe, 3 or 4 solid leads where I just said, woah.
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  This is quite amazing.
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  To the extent that one of those leads to this day is actually part of a health care speaker
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  bureau.
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  And I have written an article for them, and they are now marketing me as a keynote speaker.
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  So that was from the very 1st day of Aiza actually making those phone calls.
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  And so it continued from there.
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  She was with very few was very, very skilled in qualifying leads and then sending the
• 16:10
  information to me.
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  So much stalled, Melinda, that she she got ahead of me, that I had to catch up and then
• 16:18
  slow her down because she was so efficient in identifying and qualifying these
• 16:31
  My new book fixture business is really about encouraging people to take back control of
• 16:34
  their business and change how their businesses is run.
• 16:37
  It's not okay to skip paychecks.
• 16:39
  It's not okay to never feel like you can take a vacation.
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  And it's also not okay to not know how much profit you've made in your business until your
• 16:47
  taxes are done.
• 16:48
  I really want business owners to stop letting their businesses be runaway trained.
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  I've written this book to teach people processes and systems to help them run their
• 16:56
  businesses intentionally, my goal is to help existing entrepreneurs create a business that
• 17:02
  allows them to live their dream life.
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  Alright.
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  Now what is the time difference between
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  the Egypt and the Philippines?
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  It's like, hey.
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  How are you guys commute Like, would you wake up in the morning?
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  There'd be this email waiting for you
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  from her?
• 17:18
  Oh my goodness.
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  I I would with I deal with now well, 3, 4 countries.
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  And you you you learn as a as a speaker and and as a business owner like I am, and and your
• 17:30
  your those who are listening to this podcast and your Twitter followers, if they're doing
• 17:37
  any global work, you're just you're in many ways, your clock is a 24 hour clock.
• 17:42
  I have a 24 hour clock on my phone so that you just become adapt adapted to it.
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  The Philippines, they are 13 hours ahead of us at this time, ahead of a Eastern Standard Time
• 17:54
  at this time.
• 17:55
  So very, very often, and we had this conversation with isa that she would make her
• 18:01
  phone calls at 12 midnight her time, an 11 midnight, her time, or 10 o'clock, mid, 10
• 18:09
  o'clock, her time, or 11 o'clock, or more midnight her time.
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  Which would correspond with the morning and early afternoon hours on the East Coast or
• 18:18
  wherever she was calling.
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  She would call because she was sometimes calling the West Coast or calling Texas or or
• 18:24
  Michigan or other parts of the country.
• 18:27
  Colorado made several calls there.
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  And so that, midnight time frame was a good time for her.
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  And then she would wrap up her report.
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  She would then email me around 2 o'clock in the morning.
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  And I remember the first time I said, oh my gosh.
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  This is inhumane.
• 18:44
  I can't have her do that.
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  So is, is, you know, is there another time that will work for you?
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  And her response, Melinda was, no.
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  This is this is fine.
• 18:55
  This is business.
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  This is the, the right time I'm able to reach people at this time.
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  Don't worry about it.
• 19:01
  Not a problem.
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  So she adjusted her schedule.
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  She would sleep during the day, our time, so that she would be able to work with me and
• 19:07
  others in the evening.
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  She had other, jobs that she was working on.
• 19:11
  Oh, wow.
• 19:12
  Oh, wow.
• 19:13
  So she was she was obviously very focused and dedicated on her work.
• 19:17
  She won a 5 star rating on Upwork.
• 19:19
  Right.
• 19:20
  Yes.
• 19:20
  You're right.
• 19:21
  So so tell me how that progressed.
• 19:23
  Like, like, you you very quickly got attached to this woman I'm imagining because she was so
• 19:29
  effective and you guys were in such regular communication.
• 19:32
  Mhmm.
• 19:32
  It the the relationship developed.
• 19:35
  It was constant she was a real professional.
• 19:39
  And as I said, I had to catch up with her.
• 19:41
  I was traveling during much of the time, and out of the country as well.
• 19:46
  During the first trip that I made to Colorado, I had to go to our speakers convention.
• 19:51
  I bought a very inexpensive printer put it in my suitcase so that I would be able to do my
• 19:59
  reporting and pull off her sheets so that our system would not be broken And then I modified
• 20:05
  that with other trips.
• 20:07
  But, again, she was she was concentrating on her work.
• 20:11
  She didn't let her other responsibilities and things that she was doing with her family.
• 20:16
  She was married.
• 20:17
  Had a beautiful five year old daughter.
• 20:19
  None of that interfered with her job.
• 20:21
  She worked around it and it worked out beautifully.
• 20:24
  Found out that she was principally the breadwinner in her family.
• 20:28
  So the money that I was paying her and others were paying her, paying her rent, and paying
• 20:32
  other responsibilities.
• 20:33
  Her husband was dutifully taking care of their child.
• 20:36
  While she was working and and doing other things.
• 20:38
  So they had a great relationship.
• 20:40
  She'd been married 7 years, and it worked very well.
• 20:43
  But she knew that her work was important because that was that was bringing home the
• 20:47
  bacon, should I say?
• 20:49
  Now was this your first experience working with an overseas Person?
• 20:53
  Yes.
• 20:53
  It was.
• 20:54
  It was.
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  Now I've had other relationships in with parts of my business and and parts of the
• 21:00
  humanitarian work that I do.
• 21:01
  So I was accustomed to, you know, the mechanics and those kind of things with those who are
• 21:07
  English speaking and and working with them.
• 21:09
  So that was not a challenge at all.
• 21:11
  For me, it was systematizing what I was doing with her so that if in fact she would move on
• 21:20
  to other freelance responsibilities, and and and she would leave me, which, you know, which
• 21:25
  happens that I would have the system in place to bring in someone else.
• 21:30
  And so early on, I said, no.
• 21:32
  I I can't just focus on Aiza.
• 21:34
  Even though Aiza's doing such a great job, I wanna make sure that this system can work for
• 21:39
  other freelancers should I bring them in?
• 21:42
  Well, that's really smart.
• 21:43
  And that's something that we talk about all the time.
• 21:45
  With my small business owners that I coach and in my book, fix your business, I talk about,
• 21:51
  you know, you need to figure out how to delegate, but before you can do that, You gotta
• 21:55
  figure out what you're delegating.
• 21:57
  Now, you know, you gotta develop your processes and systems and standard operating procedures
• 22:02
  and write them down.
• 22:03
  Exactly.
• 22:04
  If everything is in your head about how your business runs.
• 22:08
  I wonder
• 22:08
  if you get hit by a bus, you're gonna be in trouble.
• 22:10
  You know?
• 22:11
  So I I applaud you for being for, you know, for thinking enough to say, okay.
• 22:15
  You know what?
• 22:16
  Let me develop this system, but let me develop a replicatable system.
• 22:21
  Right.
• 22:22
  I have to move on to someone else, it's like next.
• 22:24
  Okay.
• 22:25
  The I know how to train.
• 22:26
  I know the script.
• 22:27
  I know how to, you know, so I think that's really, really brilliant that you were able to
• 22:31
  do that.
• 22:32
  But but but I know that along the road when you were working with your virtual assistant,
• 22:38
  something happened.
• 22:39
  Tell me about what happened to her as you guys were were flowing along and and and working
• 22:44
  together.
• 22:45
  Yeah.
• 22:46
  I I'm, wencing as you're asking that question because it is painful.
• 22:51
  6 months into the relationship Again, things were going great.
• 22:55
  I was shifting some of my marketing strategy.
• 22:58
  She was shifting with me.
• 23:00
  We were calling different lists, and I was beginning to have great success with
• 23:05
  universities that I was approaching with a special package where I would go in and speak
• 23:10
  to either students faculty or both.
• 23:12
  So she was a part of that activity and that campaign that I was on.
• 23:17
  Around Christmas time 2019, I noticed that there were a couple of missed phone calls or a
• 23:24
  couple of missed contacts that normally by that time she would have contacted me during
• 23:30
  Christmas week, we had worked out where she would do research during the Christmas holidays
• 23:34
  because, obviously, people were away and phone calls wouldn't be very productive.
• 23:38
  So she was going to begin that process.
• 23:41
  I was waiting to hear from her.
• 23:43
  Again, I I had no reason to doubt things were not working out well.
• 23:48
  And then after about a week, not hearing from her, and I was, at that point, not only
• 23:54
  contacting her on the Upwork platform, I was emailing her saying, what's what's going on and
• 24:00
  didn't hear anything back from her.
• 24:02
  So I said, oh my.
• 24:03
  Maybe she's moved on.
• 24:05
  And She's just gone, and I wish her the very best.
• 24:09
  This was the 1st week in January.
• 24:12
  And then by January 9th, I figured that she had moved on for real.
• 24:18
  I received, an a message on the Upwork platform with her account from a person who was
• 24:26
  identifying himself as her husband, Jomar.
• 24:30
  It was a very long message.
• 24:32
  I was actually on my way to a to a function where I was going to do some networking.
• 24:37
  And I read it in shock and horror and somewhat this can't possibly be happening.
• 24:46
  To make a long story short, they had been watching television in their home very modest
• 24:52
  small home on December 28th with their daughter dancing.
• 24:56
  They were watching TV and their five year old was dancing having fun.
• 25:01
  A truck driver lost control of his truck, his vehicle, and mixed up the accelerator with the
• 25:08
  brake.
• 25:09
  Thinking that he was putting on the brake.
• 25:12
  He was actually putting on the accelerator.
• 25:14
  He was pushing on the accelerator, and he crashed through their home And isa
• 25:20
  instinctively pushed her daughter aside so that she would not be hurt and tragically got caught
• 25:29
  under the truck.
• 25:30
  The the truck hit her full blown hit on.
• 25:34
  It took first responders, her husband, to remove her from the truck, get her to the
• 25:40
  hospital.
• 25:40
  And at that time, when her husband, this is on 9th January, contacted me.
• 25:45
  She was brain dead.
• 25:47
  They had done all they could for her, and it's just a matter of time as to what was going to
• 25:51
  happen.
• 25:53
  He was panicking.
• 25:55
  He had they had no money saved.
• 25:57
  They had med mounting medical bills, and it was a a disastrous situation.
• 26:02
  I made one quick check online.
• 26:04
  This is technology again, Melinda, and found a newspaper article validating everything he
• 26:11
  said.
• 26:12
  They gave her name.
• 26:13
  They gave the driver's name, the his age, the street she lived on.
• 26:18
  And so this was a true story.
• 26:20
  This was not fabricated.
• 26:22
  And so I then immediately made the decision.
• 26:24
  I will help you out because I was the last freelance contract that she had.
• 26:31
  She had worked with others, and she had worked with e speakers, which is a platform for
• 26:36
  professional speakers, they had worked with her up until I think Thanksgiving at my
• 26:41
  recommendation.
• 26:42
  So I said, we we're we're gonna have to figure out how to raise money to help out.
• 26:49
  And so I set up a GoFundMe page that I have in existence today sadly on January 12th, she did
• 26:57
  pass away.
• 26:59
  And then it was a pretty horrific nail biting experience working with a funeral home and then
• 27:05
  ultimately a cemetery to find out what the bills were going to be.
• 27:10
  There was also a very large hospital bill that the truck driver had promised to pay.
• 27:16
  Unfortunately, he has now vanished, and so that bill is also looming And, I managed to
• 27:23
  successfully work with the funeral home to pay their bill in installments And then the
• 27:30
  cemetery I thought would also go along with the same kind of arrangements.
• 27:35
  They would not.
• 27:36
  They were very adamant and very rigid in how they were going to handle this.
• 27:41
  And again, mind you, I'm calling back and forth to the Philippines, fortunately, on an AT and T
• 27:47
  plan, so that I had set up so that my bill would not be gigantic at the end, but it was
• 27:54
  really friends and colleagues who have pitched in and helped out with this GoFundMe page.
• 28:01
  She was finally buried on the 21st of January.
• 28:06
  There was a one day delay.
• 28:08
  The hassles of the cemetery.
• 28:10
  I'm not happy with them.
• 28:12
  They were not very helpful at all.
• 28:15
  But and finally, the the relatives had to do some very creative financing, very sacrificial
• 28:21
  creative financing to get her buried.
• 28:24
  So now at this point, we have now reimbursed the family paid off the cemetery and we are now
• 28:31
  at the final stages of pain off the funeral home where I am needing help from people
• 28:37
  everywhere to help out with that.
• 28:39
  And then other responsibilities and other bills because this husband, his to daughter, they're
• 28:44
  now homeless.
• 28:45
  They're homeless destroyed.
• 28:46
  And they're living with relatives.
• 28:48
  And so, actually, he is now coming back from Manila.
• 28:52
  His first trip to Manila.
• 28:53
  He lives on the island of Palawan and had never gone to the island where Manila is situated
• 29:00
  trying to figure out if even the media can help out with his case.
• 29:05
  So so the GoFundMe page is still up and
• 29:09
  Yes.
• 29:10
  It is.
• 29:10
  Trying to raise money.
• 29:11
  So tell us about How much money are you trying to raise?
• 29:15
  And, you know, when is the deadline?
• 29:17
  You know, like, what's tell me.
• 29:19
  Tell all the who would wear.
• 29:21
  Yes.
• 29:21
  I set up a GoFundMe page that was relatively easy.
• 29:25
  I also created a purchased a URL to make it easy for my subscribers, my donors, to support.
• 29:32
  So people nearly have to go to www.helpherfamily.com.
• 29:40
  Help herfamily.com.
• 29:44
  It will take you straight to the GoFundMe page.
• 29:47
  No amount is too small or too large.
• 29:51
  We are raising $25,000 in anticipation of, perhaps a 10,000 plus a medical bill that may
• 30:00
  have to be paid in in some kind of way.
• 30:03
  Funeral expenses, several $1000 trying to find housing for Jaummar, schooling for his
• 30:11
  daughter, and those are just the basic expenses.
• 30:15
  That you need to survive in that country, given the circumstances.
• 30:20
  Alright.
• 30:20
  So it's help her family dotcom.
• 30:23
  Okay.
• 30:24
  Correct.
• 30:24
  Well, listen.
• 30:24
  You know, I think it is amazing that you took this on and that you loved on this woman who
• 30:30
  you never met in person who decided to, you know, assist her husband.
• 30:37
  And, you know, I I have always known how god works through you, Carol Copeland.
• 30:43
  I I am not shocked at all that you have tried to help this family and We're certainly gonna
• 30:51
  get the word out and try to get more people to help and support because this is a tragedy.
• 30:56
  Yes.
• 30:57
  A family.
• 30:58
  This is a a child without a mother and and, you know, a husband in despair and, you know, one
• 31:04
  of the things that it doesn't cost people anything to show love and kindness and empathy.
• 31:11
  So we are so grateful that you've come to the small beach chat podcast to share this story We
• 31:16
  definitely wanna encourage our listeners and subscribers to go to help her family dot com
• 31:22
  and see if they could give a little something something to, ease ease this family's struggle.
• 31:29
  You know, I know that whenever you give you will get.
• 31:34
  And and and no matter what you give, you'll never be god given no matter what you give.
• 31:39
  Mhmm.
• 31:39
  So my mother always taught me.
• 31:41
  And so I think that, you know, this is a business story.
• 31:44
  Right?
• 31:45
  This is, like, this is a business.
• 31:47
  This is, you this was a a remote staff person that you had Exactly.
• 31:51
  Supporting your business.
• 31:52
  And all of a sudden, her family needed help and and and kudos to you for all of the work that
• 31:58
  you did.
• 31:59
  And my goodness negotiating with the funeral home.
• 32:01
  Well, I I have to help my best friend growing up, Denise Grayfelder, who was an ex Burt in
• 32:07
  communications because she was there.
• 32:09
  She's also very skilled in the international marketplace.
• 32:12
  I had lots of guidance from her.
• 32:15
  Joe Heaps with e speakers also has come alongside me, and so you'll see his name on the
• 32:21
  GoFundMe page So there were people here.
• 32:24
  Again, in the business community, as you're saying, Denise Great Felder is a is a nonprofit
• 32:28
  business owner, but very savvy.
• 32:31
  Jo Heap's business owner, So this is a this is a a small business saga, a small business
• 32:37
  story.
• 32:38
  Again, we are needing the professional skills of those around the country to help us.
• 32:43
  So when something like this happens to someone where they have nowhere else to turn, I had to
• 32:49
  help.
• 32:50
  Had no choice.
• 32:51
  Well, when you reached out to me, I had to help too.
• 32:54
  So that's what we're doing.
• 32:56
  We're gonna make sure that we get this out soon so that we can support you.
• 33:01
  And if someone's interested in just needing to know more about you, Carol, where can they
• 33:06
  reach you?
• 33:06
  Where can they get some information about Carol Copeland Thomas and all of the global, training
• 33:12
  work that you do.
• 33:13
  Thank you so much.
• 33:14
  I'll give you two places to go One, because you're so big on Twitter, my Twitter handle is
• 33:20
  atglobalcarrol.
• 33:22
  It's atglobalglobalcar ole, you can go there and and read all about me.
• 33:29
  I'm also on LinkedIn and Facebook.
• 33:32
  And my website is carolcopelandthomas.com, my name.
• 33:37
  Carol with an e.
• 33:38
  Yes.
• 33:39
  Alright.
• 33:40
  Well, thank you so much.
• 33:41
  This is the small Bizchett podcast.
• 33:43
  I am Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, and I will leave you with this.
• 33:46
  You never lose in business either you win or you learn.
• 33:49
  God bless everybody.
• 33:50
  I'll see you next time.
• 33:54
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 33:59
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 34:05
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.