Gail O'Rourke on Nauset Recovery, how much do your kids listen to you about finance

what saraphina and I were in a entrepreneurial book club where Stephanie never read the right book and Stephanie was terrible at this book I really sto at book CL I did not fabulous I'm what I just had a visual I just had a visual I proud of it we are so lucky to have Gil oor in the studio with us today you and I are like passing ships as I said the other day we're always in the same areas but never ever have we had a full on conversation it's true I was at the habitat volunteer appreciation the other day and they're like I want you to meet Stephanie and then she was gone I was like where'd she go right always another commitment and you know what it's like to step commitments on things and it's that time of year where it's like I think it's the celebration time of year I feel like everyone all the work that we did we survived another summer it's a very capod thing it's true I think the fall I mean September October is probably the biggest quarter of the year I think for the cape because you're just gearing up for next spring and you're recuperating and some people need a little rest and it's just like go go go well you're officially retired okay Gale yeah you know well you know I think um we call it slow living okay what ises that what does that consist of for you because it doesn't seem very slow well I guess the difference between working full-time and running my own business and running my own business and not working full-time which is what I'm doing okay is is um just taking an extra 15 minutes to drink your coffee okay I like that you know and it's you don't get Monday morning scaries or the Sunday night sick that you get when your your schedule is so rigid yeah you know so it's it's just a different I think a different flow if you can manage your time a little better all right I like that I'm looking forward to that portion of my life whenever that happens I seem to start keep stacking things you know you got to have a plan you have to have a plan I'm all about having a plan yeah I think that that's always where where I'm lacking my my plans seem to deviate when I think I'm on the right track and I've got everything figured out and then there's always that wrench that thing that you're like um I got to fix that well you always have stuff to fix I think yeah I think you always have stuff to fix but I think that if you know where you're heading in five years or 10 years so I just turned 55 okay when I turned 50 you're sitting on the other side of the hill right okay so you get a much different perspective I think as you're approaching 4550 okay I'm halfway there I feel like we live longer so I feel like like that Hill is pushed to 60 a little 60 I don't know if i' want to make it to 120 I'd be exhausted I'm already tired 55 yeah I hear that so maybe we can start with like the beginning of of this process for you because I know that you were in kitchen design I was I've been in kitchen design and construction actually for over 20 years I started in my 30s as a cabinet maker uh I have my own company called Hometown woodworking I did all custom Woodworking and um built-ins and all those kind of things and in my 40s I opened a kitchen design firm called Whitewood kitchens that was in sandwich and sometimes Pembrook Falmouth Kingston and I had a great run with that company I started from just me to 14 employees in nine and a half years and sold that's incredible growth yeah sold it after nine and a half years for a seven figure exit so that was good for you pretty exciting right I mean this is you know the American dream yeah so the dream is start a business but what people don't realize the dream is how does that culminate for you whether it's a legacy company you're creating for your kids or it's a company that you're selling to move on to something else extrication process yeah so you know I never knew that my goal one of my greatest achievements would be successfully selling a company and that was that was really quite an achievement for me because it you're always on growth growth growth growth growth yeah and then you pivot and then well I knew nothing of this I've always been a worker be my entire life Army uh radio you you go to work you you entertain the people and then you then you go home and when pandemic happened and I had this aha moment which I didn't my husband was like you're GNA do this for your own job because I don't know what else you're going to do this is what you do uh we're gonna make this a job for you but it's not it's now this company and um I did do efor all because I had no idea how to do it but also what I wanted from it right so that was it was a nice soft entry to entrepreneurialship which I had no desire for I guess in my life I just never thought that that would be a possibility well I think that people don't understand that running a business is actually being an entrepreneur so I think the word entrepreneur is pretty scary and people think it comes with everything they don't know about but people have 90% of the idea and the determination and the will if they're going to be open a business they just don't know how to put it together in the right steps right so and I think that's what eforall gives you or any kind of structured Business program that that gives you the steps you can't you got to sign the lease before you get into the building you got to find a product before you can sell it you know those all those steps can't just decide one day I'm going to sell something well what are you going to sell you have to backtrack to the product did you always have that I know that you went to school western Mass girles spent a lot of time in that area right and um did you know that this was the trajectory for you you were going to make this business you're going to sell this business and then you were going to throw yourself into a life of servitude and volunteerism well I think that um I'm not surprised where I landed yeah so intuitively maybe uh I think that my first business uh Hometown woodworking which I really was my practice business where it really showed me you know all the parts to put a business together the bookkeeping the clients the the pace The Profit the labor um and then when I went back out in the real world after that job and worked for a couple under other company I was like aha I was doing it right so that was my practice moment that your practice went well yeah and I I didn't make a ton of money at that but I learned like that was my school Lauren thank you so much for joining us another eforall girl that I got to hang out with and collab with last night uh Jackie Beth and Grace Jen Christian also of eforall good morning to two amazing women we seem to be finding that a lot here on Lemon Ado thank you very much for noticing it's a kid Cod cultivator it really is aming women yeah we've been having a really great time talking to some amazing business owners some some people really in various spots of their growth which has been really nice for me to not only Champion some people that are just beginning but also to to watch other people that are just crushing it right now it's inspiring well don't you think the cape has changed definitely I mean in the last the vibration the atmosphere the climate of the cape in the last I would say strongly five years but even in the last I've been on the cape working since and just that uptick is going going going going and it's not stopped yeah so whatever is happening anywhere else the Cape is this little unicorn it's this little Private Idaho of of really uh economic growth that that everyone needs to be paying attention to because in housing people are working here and living here and staying here and in businesses have to shop on the keep you know we have to hire Talent on the keep because we're supporting each other like your neighbor well the rest of the world is outsourcing things and we seem to be knowing that we need to have each other's backs to get through this and uh I feel like it's very much Island mentality that is now on on Cape proper yes and and it's good it's a good mentality to have this is how we all survive this whatever it is is and whatever's coming no one wants to cross the bridge no for what even though I did I can cross the bridge a little bit I like weham still it's cape adjac cape adjacent so I like adjacent better yeah right I like being in my basement we um I live in Plymouth so which I still consider part of the cape so I love that I love actually I've worked in the cape forever um and I lived in the Plymouth forever and I love that I actually love the feeling crossing the bridge and I'm probably one of the few people that says they love crossing the bridge but to me it's I come over the bridge I did this morning it was a beautiful sunrise coming over the Sagamore Bridge and I'm coming over and I'm like I'm ready for my day yeah like I leave my you know my personal stuff behind I put on my you know Wonder Woman cave and I cross the bridge and take on I go to this cool Island and I get to do this this thing with all these amazing people the cape really is such a Melting Pot of Forward Thinking ideas but also back to your roots I think that that's where we're going and I think that we need to support each other with that uh eforall is definitely a space that I have found some comfort with other people going through similar trajectories and uh I I was really thankful to hang out with Lauren last night over a places right over the bridge uh but we're planning really cool stuff not often can you find a space where I built this farmers market started a nonprofit this year I feel like it was super successful state of massachusett feels like we were super successful because they've awarded us a little bit of money thank you very much but to be able to go and say to my friend who's a Creator in an art studio hey we need to commission the art studio because we need to build X Y and Z for the market to do X Y and Z with and it's just really really cool to take other people along but also to dream things that you never thought that you could make yeah the collective is pretty incredible I love it and it keeps growing every single year we've got a new cohort that we're going to be talking to and checking in with them but um to be able to work with a lot of them has been incredible and a lot of women which makes my heart really happy you just did enterprising women I did enterprising women yes I I love uh Cara's done an amazing job with Kate Plymouth Business she has such an amazing vision and she's so talented and she really is a um Community collector she collects she's a gatherer y she gatherers Talent she gathers talent and then she spins them around in a really fast and then she shoots them off in another Direction and says you do something over there now and connect and I I feel like it's it's such a big connection one of the most positive things about my retirement is that um my circle was a little small um it was I was working so hard and in a very specific industry so my reach was a lot of construction people and their partners and those kind of people but my work with e for all entrepreneurs for all and um habitat and these other organizations that I work with now I've met so many more talented people on the cave yeah and more businesses that are outside my initial reach of construction so for me it's it's like my family's getting bigger my community is getting bigger um even if I haven't met you in person I know you even though you know I follow I follow you on LinkedIn or I connect with all the entrepreneurs for eforall on Instagram so while I have might not have been in their shop yet yeah I've I we we celebrated success know yeah for sure it's it's you you know you're in there and that's that that cousin you've not met yet but you've heard all only good things about and you've never had that conversation that's Gail and I we've never even had a a conversation with each other but we're watching each other's good works and I love that that the programs that we put ourselves in volunteer wise have led us to this space yes uh habitat being one of them I absolutely Champion them I love them we did our cabin fever we're going to do it again a cabin fever party uh sometime in February where what's Cabin Fever we just have a party and have a band and we raise money for habitat last year was our first time absolutely we did it wear we raised like three grand for habitat and we you know it got me to I donated my car to Habitat I've had them on the I very much we need to find housing for people it's something that I truly believe in because if they can't live and work here what's the point and you need to live here to be able to work here and we can't just bring everybody from off Cape to do all the jobs here and we need to find a face for everyone yeah we really yeah without a doubt um so I know you've had Peter kimalon Andrew Philbrook Tara Cronin everybody from the habitat Blitz build so I'm part of that that team if you've not surpr surprise I know right I even have my Blitz shirt on today we have our wrap-up meeting today for love it and uh this was this Peter Kimble and I have done six builds together and so can you talk about the blitz build I absolutely can because well a little bit how much time do I know right lot to say did it in a week but it might take me a month to talk about it Dave hegner retirement you should live my retirement her retirement's way busier than your retirement also Dave also a volunteer for Habitat so awesome that's amazing so habitat um so when I ran Whitewood kitchens we used to donate the kitchen every year or Cabinetry and and project management Services every year for that so as I was approaching um my company's sale that September I sold in November that September was my last Blitz build as Whitewood kitchens and I knew but none of my staff knew and it was very bittersweet because I was like am I never gonna be here again like how do I give up this part of my business this the part that I that is just the human part yeah and uh so I reached out to Habitat in January knowing there was a blitz build this year and I said I I can I can I come back please and they were like what of course you can come back no for the so I came back on is a I just came back on as part of the blitz build and this this year we did another two-story house which we've only done three times out of the six and it's always a little extra task to take on a two-story house in five days it's pretty incredible they building an entire home in five days yeah it's it's pretty magical uh we have we have we have learned a lot shortcuts I mean with the generous donation of Cape Cod panel where they actually kit the house they they build the walls and everything prior amazing we get the floor and everything in before we were like digging a hole with shovels the first day we're like we're never going to finish in a week LOF after 15 years we figured it out but um so Cape C panel sends it as a kit and I don't know if you remember a few weeks ago that terrible rainstorm everyone had here of course that was during Blitz build yeah all the framers put that put that up on the world's worst weather so that we can build this house in a week okay let's throw some wrenches at them it was bananas it was bananas and so in any case I I arrived on site on Monday with the walls already up by the end of the day the roof is on the next day we've got all me pvac Electrical Plumbing done we're Plastering done the next morning we're laying floors we're installing cabinets then the paint are in I mean it's only Wednesday now it's Wednesday then the painters are in I mean you have hundreds and hundreds of people during the course of the day that enter that job site and it's like managed cha oh it totally is managed chaos it's not like managed chaos it's organized chaos but that you said it it's management it's really people working together to just get this common thing done and it's awesome so the coolest part is the family the py family that received this home they found it in an August they won the lottery for for a home and they were just thrilled they they have two two boys and the mom and dad and then we I get chills every actually every time I talk about it uh then we found out Dan the the dad he had worked on the previous two Builds on the plaster crew for Tim Brennan not even knowing he was ever gonna get a habitat house and then he worked with his crew and Tim Brennan's crew and all the other plasters that donated their time and plastered his own house on that Wednesday night and he had no idea he was gonna win this nobody knew he didn't know in August he knew then for the week yeah and and so this is just a couple weeks ago they moved in Saturday that's incredible so you found out in August you don't have a home you don't know what you're gonna do you don't know what your path is the universe provides they get a home and two months later they move in and Gabe and I the um their son who's in elementary school we had a long talk at the end of The Blitz build because there's three more houses going in that neighborhood yeah and Gabe and I talked he really needs to be an ambassador for that neighborhood and show those kids what it means to live in a community and you know he has to keep his room clean I love this come over people come over and want to see his habitat house he's got to take care of got be show ready all the time and he's got to and we discussed doing his own laundry as mom wasn't quite sure if he was ready up but I encouraged her by 11 he should be doing his old laundry so anyways I love this Victoria Susan I'll see you in a few minutes uh I absolutely adore everybody that is here joining us we're talking with Gil or roor we're talking about the blitz builds and Habitat for Humanity uh the py family who was the one the recipient of it and it's just such an incredible gift but also they they work for it I was lucky enough to be in the room where you had your annual meeting for habitat and to see everyone together after that Mucky yucky week of building the blitz builds I cried the whole time oh my God I was sobbing I tears to my eyes just thinking about that meeting oh and the amount of people that showed up to do nothing but work and give was absolutely awe inspiring incredible and it could not have been a nicer day a more beautiful day the Sun was shining on this group of humans and it was it was magic it really was yeah and I think that people hear this story about The Blitz and they hear about habitat and they're busy and they're likew you know Gail I I don't have time I don't have a week to give I don't have time I don't have money to give what can I do and yeah what I tell people is you know what patronize one of those business that did take that week up to give when you're looking at you know hiring a landscaper find one that donated to the blitz build when you're going shop shopping for building materials go to Shepley go to cman go to midcap go to Falmouth number they donated all those materials when you're looking for a Tyler call Blue tile he's the one that donated the tile and the installer I mean these are that's how you can help and that's giving back in such a simple way that like oh of course of course that totally makes sense yeah put down your Amazon go to the store buy your stuff there I I laughed his Dave hegner came over and he's been a long time supporter and Builder and volunteer and he's a retired school teacher and he's still out there Building Homes and uh he's like what are you doing here like what do you mean what am I doing here I said not all volunteers swing a hammer Dave I do my best to shine some light on all the great good deeds and we do what we can in our space that we can yes and that's where we're at good morning Miss Cindy oh my God oh my God oh my God hello she is also an enterprising woman she is also a kitchen designer you guys have a lot of similarities you and Cindy G uh so let's talk about all of this volunteerism that you have and now you've got an app in all of your free time so when if anyone ask me I think people ask this if you could do any job in your life you know what would it be and since I was I don't know 12 I've always said volunteer because everyone's happy to see you um can I tell you a little story about my mom and how she created a volunteering me no would love for you to tell me this so this this is what I'm going to cry you keep talking no I need to give you a moment I feel like my entire life has been something of service my grandmother was very very involved in the church very involved in volunteering she had eight children she was very much one of those people that gave and gave some more even when she had nothing and our community gave and gave her some more when she lost her husband at 40 so it was one of those things that I've always watched and my children always volunteer we're we big volunteer people if you need a hand we are there for you my entire family volunteers all of us we do it together my kids will don't even think twice about throwing an extra helping hand somewhere so it is very important for me and I'm so glad that you're going to talk about your mom's organization of volunteerism that's great yes so when I was she worked at a hospital and so I was 12 my twin sister and I Dawn the red candy striper apron I I have to buy one maybe Halloween I'll be a candy striper love it uh and um we volunteered helping patients once a week and one day I couldn't go my mom was working um my dad who was supposed to be around wasn't couldn't drive me and I had to call the organizer uh up and tell her I couldn't come again I'm like 12 and I called and the woman yeah at us like yelled at us on the phone and I called my mom right I know right and I called my mom crying and she hung up the phone she got off her desk she marched up to that woman's office and yelled at her and said my kids are volunteering you cannot get in trouble for that right like stop and it's such validated all the volunteer work that I do you do it because you love it and you want to do it but there's no shame in not volunteering hearing mhm does that make sense so she gave me that permission to you can say no today I don't feel good or whatever whatever is going on in your life don't feel that guilt it's not an obligation and and I always felt like that was a place that was only for celebrating not for punishment or you know you at 12 you're like am I doing good in school am I am I cleaning my room you're always constantly trying not to get in trouble right and then to be doing that and got in trouble anyways my mom totally backed me up it's probably one of the first times that she had an opportunity to do that yeah um she was always Marching In the principal's office for something too she was kind of one of those people which was great you always need that righteous human in your life yeah so she was that too and I became that mother also do you do I need to come to school that's awesome and uh she gave her whole life and when I was 17 she passed away so she had instilled that giving um in me at a young age and you know when I developed my app Bena 4 made me think of the Legacy part of the app which I can talk about but you know she just would have had her 96th birthday oh wow and if I wanted to volunteer a give on her birthday to something she loved I don't know what that is anymore because it was so long ago that that that she volunteered so I I gave to the hospital that she worked in that's nice and I felt like so much of that information is missing of the of what she could have Tau taught me because she I was so young when she passed away and I I wish I had that information so it's you're never going to find it in a resume you're never going to find it in an obituary right you're not going to find it in a scrapbook necessarily but that giving that people do that is so quiet there's a story there that people need to hear there's a story about why they give and who they give to and maybe it's because of their parents or a cousin or something about their Journey that makes that one particular thing important to them and and I that's what I'm hoping to do with my app is maybe connect some of those dots for people and families okay what what is the app about okay so benefect 4 um when I sold my company really within the first couple months I was searching for kind of next and I said you know what I I know I'm volunteering and I already signed up for a bunch stuff e for all and all that and then I decided I can do more than that and I pledged a million dollars to in my lifetime again I don't know I don't have a necessarily A fre million dollars but um but I could raise some of that money I could donate goods and for some of that money I could volunteer my time in exchange for some of that money and I could donate some money so those are the this there was several different ways that I could get that and being a a business person and a met I'm very into metrics and tracking uh I started this Excel spreadsheet and I started tracking it because some of it's not tax deductible so you're not putting it on your in your QuickBooks it it's a lot of GoFundMe you know my daughter's friend got in a car accident um it's all the little stuff yeah so I and then I started adding a column and telling a little story about why I gave there because I knew that if I pass away young like my mom did I'd never get to the million but then I'd want to hand this Excel spreadsheet to my kids and I'd want them to continue that Journey for me and celebrate when they got to million so that's really how it started in and I said well there's got to be an easier way because I'm a process person I'm going to build an app how hard can that be incredibly hard I will tell you two years later but um so now benefact 4 you can download it on iOS and the Google Play Store and it's right where you are when you're giving so it's an app that actually you record your giving right in the app and you put a little journey in and you can see my journey and you can say what is this E forall I don't know let me click the uh link oh Gail was at a board meeting last night oh and she talked to some other she saw some business owners um you know I've seen her post three or four times about this let me check it out yeah maybe this is a program for Me Maybe This is a place I can volunteer my expertise um we have people in here that bought Reese for Veterans for uh Veterans Day we have people that volunteer at the Plymouth Pucket Museum and they talk about their experience there we have people doing Casa which is an amazing organization that helps ch um you know provides guardianship in the in the um legal Circle we have social capital Inc which does tons of stuff with am americore and the NorthShore we have habitat we have we have um people just donating to someone homeless and recording $2 so there's no there's no place in here for everything's meaningful yeah because like you know then you're walking down the street and you see a homeless person well if I give him some money I can record it so you know you're Doom scrolling in the morning you get up you got your coffee I go from Instagram then I go over to LinkedIn then I check my maybe my email my stocks this isn't Doom scrolling you click on benefi for the first thing you see in the morning is all the good stuff people did yesterday and you like you know what I might have I'm going grocery shopping today if I pick up two cans of peanut butter every time I go grocery shopping probably by the end of the month I have a pretty decent bag to donate it with food pantry yeah rtb love Gale goals Cindy says I'm listening I absolutely love that aspect of it because that's the positivity that I'm always looking for that's the good the goodness of life you know those things that you want to look at not the misery right and it's so true we get sucked into other people's misery sometimes when you spend a lot of time on social and I think if I got sucked into people's Good Deeds all the time I would absolutely be inspired to do more Good Deeds so it's good it's funny and even just developing the app it's it's actually changed my mindset and I am a giver and I do give back and a friend of mine said to me well Gail not everyone gives back as much as or thinks about giving back as much as you do and I'm like that's okay as long as they think about it once in a while MH when they have that extra minute moment dollar and it's I mean we're talking about kindness here yeah yeah you know we're not just talking about money and donations and my the goal of my app was not to celebrate the monetary donations the goal of my app is to celebrate the moments of donations and people say well you can make a donation right through the app I'm like no because that's not what it's for it's about selling braiding all those other times the mentoring running a road race a Cancer Walk um um a golf tournament you know that's all we do it for fun but you know there's a lot of time and energy that goes into the people that are planning it and volunteering for it and then playing in it and and all the organizations that benefit from that yeah I like celebrating goodness there's nothing wrong with that I'm very much I started the process of downloading the app and then I'm like I don't even know what it's about I'm gonna talk to Gail before I finish this and then we'll figure this out so now that makes it an easy choice for me so well and I think it's um you know the the the challenges that we're having with the app and I just launched in February we have several thousand downloads um we have a good amount of active users and um you know it's getting that stickiness in it yep you know and getting at people coming back to it for more so what's actually super exciting by the end of this month you're going to be able to comment on people's Journeys and C love that and for me that I was a little afraid about that because I wanted to to do it in a place that was safe and not have the comments but I ask I actually think I'm I I might be missing missing something there so we're adding it in I mean you can watch other people what people do on venmo for crying out loud and that's become a story for people so well I don't get that I gotta tell you I just got Beno but uh anyways I think there's lots of um Avenues you can post events on there you can if you need volunteers you can there's a whole section for very much like that organizing volunteers um or or asking for help for organizations you can post your organization on the feed you can share people on I mean there's it's the functionality is actually can grow in so many different directions I'm just seeing where the users at this point want to take it yeah I love that that's our our big goal for 2025 here at lemon Ado lemonade is to build our volunteer program uh within the schools so I'm I'm really excited to be able to do that and any little bit that I can collect from other people's good works I mean that's what it's about right assembling the right parts when you're building a machine right and this is what we're working with here we've got Gil roor from benefact 4 talking a little bit about her app the goodness the positivity I absolutely love it uh while we're on this vein we're going to be out later on this morning we're heading on over to Enchanted Florist it's in Centerville Kelly is a fabulous supporter of mental health it's pedal forward day so for the last decade florists around the world have been giving away two bouquet of flowers one for you to keep and one for you to brighten someone else's day ped It Forward pedal it forward so this will be our third year JT and I are going to be over at Enchanted Flores today starting at 11 o'clock last year we gave away 150 bouquet year before that we did 150 so we're uh it depends while supplies last but Kelly always tries to add 5 to 10 more so we're hoping for 200 this year uh but that's like these kind of little goals that I would love to stack up like we've given away 500 bouquets of flowers incred people just for nothing else other than to brighten their day here give it to your mail person give it to your lady that's checking you out at the grocery store oh my gosh this is amazing I'm going today I'm gonna buy 8,000 bouquet of flowers and give I mean and these are free she just here take them and pass them to somebody else if nothing else just to brighten their day it's what it's about and where is this where Enchanted Florist is in Centerville it's right on 28 I'll be going right by today I'm gonna go over there please do please come and see us uh and this is just something that we have done this is our third year in a row and it's just important to do these little acts of good because it does you could really change someone's Day by paying attention to them it's not a lot my gosh flowers are amazing right I you're gonna make me cry again it's just and this is what I'm saying there's so many of these opport o unities that are literally right in front of you and and you're like I heard Stephanie on I'm driving by the florist well it's not Enchanted Florist okay I can stop in there and pick up you know but if you don't make it today you could give them to yourself exactly go to your local florist go to go visit Kelly at another point in time or utilize her for any event that you've got coming up weddings funerals surprises however it is support your local I think it's just really important to remember these moments where they do pay attention and want to give back in these spaces I think Wednesday should be a like give somebody flowers day let's just make that Wednesday I like that Wednesdays now I want to put it on benefect 4 it's gonna be a challenge Wednesday buy someone flowers um it's funny on the on the app benefect 4 we can you I can challenge you I can set up a challenge and then you have to accomplishment accomplish it in a certain amount of time that's amazing and I think that that's something that I would like to do and then give to my employees to challenge them to do something forward facing miss Emily add it to your our daily works and all the stuff that we've got going on why not that's at least a fun challenge of doing some positive stuff team building skills everybody that's what we're doing um so you threw out horses at me earlier and I'm like wait what now you're volunteering with horses what's what's happening yeah so I grew up writing and so this is this retirement thing is a little about doing all the stuff I never had time for okay earlier in my life I feel like I grew up a little quick and so I grew up riding with my sister at a horse and um so have you been around horses before yeah I mean majestic creatures yeah I mean their vibration is just amazing and just being in their presence and there's a reason why they use them for healing and PTSD patients and it it and I have three dogs too so I mean I'm all about animals okay and so my husband wanted riding lessons I got him some riding lessons we were at the farm it's a it's a local Farm in Plymouth whips farm and you know we said how can we help how can we volunteer and they trained us to feed the horses is 12 of them and we feed every Friday morning and we it takes two hours no matter how fast we walk how fast we move it two of us takes two hours and and you can't skip like there's no skipping you have to get someone to cover you I mean this is horses this feeding horses right it happens twice a day every day 365 days a year whether it's raining snowing um beautiful out and um they're just beautiful and they all have different personalities and and we go and we just spend time with them and other times I'll go and I'll just brush them um we do a little writing but for the most part I just I just sit in their space and we have this one new horse her her name is credits and she just came from Maine and she's beautiful she's she's white with a little speckle red and she's she's just gorgeous and she was really nervous when she first came to the farm and she was having trouble eating you know she just getting settled it's I didn't really know there's so much to go on with horses and personalities and who can talk to who and you know who's going to bother somebody else it's been really interesting to kind of learn who you can put together and all that so credits was was a little nervous and you know I'm at the farm they have personalities yeah we're really concerned about her eating because she came in a little bit thin and and she she came over and I'm holding her bucket so she could eat out of the bucket while I'm holding it and I just started humming to her yeah and she settled down and I was humming nursery rhymes to her because I used to do that with my kids and I don't know why I've never done this with any other horse in the last year but it just spoke to me and so I started humming this and she ate her food and then she started settle Dow over the weeks and I saw her again the other day and and I and she was trying to get the other horse's food so you're trying to sometimes play block and tackle while one's finishing because one wants to eat their food and I started humming again and she came right up to me like this she came up to me and her face was so close to my face and she's I'm humming and she is literally smelling me and breathing right in my face like it was like a as much as a horse with kiss yeah and I mean I'll never forget that moment it was it was just this connection and this reward I felt I got from giving her some space and seeing her right yeah I see you I see you credit and uh she saw me wow it's powerful yeah oh I didn't know we were going to get so emotional today Gail I love you to pieces this is the first time that we've gotten to sit and actually have a conversation so I'm I'm just thank you thank you for being here and thank you for sharing that with me I I mean horses are healing yeah they're great and and whips Farm is always looking for volunteers so um we my husband just met through eforall in the South Coast another horse farm in uh I forget where but down on the south coast but not that far away they have 30 horses there and they need Vol they're having trouble with the volunteers there so there's so many places that you don't necessar have to find a nonprofit to volunteer right well that's exactly it that's why we chose so this this past weekend we did a 05k for I love that for the women's early detection fund it's a fund that's at Cape cot hospital that fills in the gaps between your insurance coverage so it's not a nonprofit it's not a it's just a fund that's there that doctors and caregivers know to go to my friend Jen Reiko started it when we started doing the dance marathon and we were looking for ways to help just Cape Cod women and this is what we decided to do so you know it was our first ever there were so many other things going on this past weekend but we raised $1,000 doar I had a bag Piper come Martha Campbell who is absolutely phenomenal and we just did two laps around the field in bash me comets like right is that oh it was absolutely fun but it was not an organized nonprofit it wasn't this big to do it was just this little movement to raise some funds for this specific fund at kod hospital to help what you did was raise awareness about that fund and that's actually more powerful than than the money you'll ever raise correct is direct is showing those 50 people that didn't know about it they can get help they can they can help yeah they can get engaged I I think that's and don't skimp on your Healthcare if you need that test get it done and then ask for the money afterwards you just take care of yourself I think it's just really important that you only have one of these so take care of it please I appreciate it uh if I wasn't driving to Boston for a job I would have stopped oh can someone can you back up to this dance marathon thing yes what's that so for the last I think 12 or 13 years Jennifer Reiko a breast cancer survivor had asked me if I would DJ this dance marathon and I was thinking like old school like ballroom dance marathons so here I show up in a ball gown and um it is a gym full of kids that I'm DJing for that are just down to dance and I was like okay well this is what we're doing I love that ignore my ball gown Let's Get Down kids so you know from then on we went with the yoga pants and t-shirts but here I am thinking we're doing a ballroom dance like old timey dance till you drop sort of thing no it wasn't have you done it for adults yet uh uh absolutely anybody can show up and come and just dance we have the belly dancers come what and these troops of dancers it's called tro Mirage and one of their oldest belly dancers I think she's like 90 and she gets up there and puts a little coin belt on and she's all shaking it on the stage oh my gosh I love that and down to like little Littlest dancers out there for four hours it's a great time and uh we're now at kpod Academy where we just have a great day sometime in April I think we have to push to may this year just because of timing and school vacation but it's it gets done it gets done every single year and we raise money for this fund that she decided to just make because she was sick of all the donations leaving the cape amazing right yeah I'm a big give local person Global give local yeah I think it's just really important to remember the uh the people in your own town on your street that might be suffering in silence so we we show up where we need to show up within the community and that's what D that drove me to make our our Mash B Farmers Market just be so open and wonderful we have volunteers every single 42 nonprofits tables for completely free all the food vendors that are there they're there that don't pay for it um they just show up and feed our community um I went and got snap and and Wick coupons to be able to afford that to have our community so over thousands of dollars we gave a$ thousand dollar wor their free fruits and vegetables kids all it was the pop program the power of produce where kids could just come up get a token and go pick out a fruit or a vegetable we had live entertainment we had people just sit and enjoy being outside we had people that uh are aged Community looking to just be around people right and sit there and take it all in so H it was really a magical space and I can't wait to build that further next year but it was one of those moments where I had that aha moment where I signed up to be on the affordable house housing Committee in my town where I'm showing up now because I know I I we need to do this and as busy as we are we need to focus on the places that we can make the biggest impact and it's right in your town and so one of the big messages I try to give with Ben for is is just encouraging people to take that first step everyone has good intentions right everyone that first step into action because if we can't take that first step into action we're never going to get to impact it's so overwhelming and that's I I wanted to talk to you specifically because of that enterprising women because I find rooms like that very intimidating you do yeah I do I I do being in a room like I know it's those moments where I'm like oh like what do I have to offer I for whatever reason you have this like space where you're like okay what am I bringing to this table Stephanie no impostor syndrome here yeah no nope I love it I love that write that down tear it up throw it out there's no imposter syndrome this is not a useful that is not a useful feeling no it's definitely not but I know a lot of people do have those moments there like why am I do why I'm afraid you're afraid to take that first step who do I think I am that I think I can do that and I tell you I've had that with Ben Effect 4 like who do I think I am that can that can make an app as big as Instagram yeah Facebook yep LinkedIn I'm going to do it I'm I it's going to happen the universe will provide um we're starting today on lemonad that's it we're doing it download the app we're doing it right now we're starting our own Cape cob movement and I think that you know imposter syndrome you got to get rid of that anybody any person man woman child out there you got to get rid of that that is such a useless emotion so enterprising women I I'm afraid to be in the room yeah it was one of those moments for me but I also get asked all the time like I feel it's overwhelming I don't know to start I don't know how to put my foot out there and just show up somewhere so I think you just have to Pivot that perception right I walked into that room and I said to myself these are all my new friends and I said to that myself when I walked in the room and they introduced me on the stage and I waved at everybody and I said hi new friends and that was just a genuine I didn't plan that it just came from inside was like now I know all these people and there were so many people that I did know and so many people I didn't and so many people that came up to me after and thanked me for sharing part of my story and and just I think being present and and talking to for them to be able to say you know she can do that I can do that if you know I you know carara asked me and I'm and I I said the same thing what am I gonna talk about right you know and and you don't really know and I had some great conversations with the moderator um Joanna and we you know we crafted a few questions and then you know the conversation took a whole different turn we seriously who is this I I hope you're not allergic to cats apparently M mine has decided that you need to be around he never bothers people no he doesn't see he feeling my you know he's coming over to you called him like Moana Solace yeah don't cry Gail it's okay you're not an imposter my go yeah right it's too funny but it's so true where we get stuck in this space where we're afraid to just start I think that that's really where it is for a lot of people where do you start you just you just start I don't know how else to explain it to that um yeah get rid of the fear the fear will stop you every every time yeah you know the fear is just such again it can be healthy some fear like you know don't jump off a cliff right thank you you know the the legitimate fear uh you know drive safely wear your seat belt all those things but fear of being the real you is not a real fear fear of showing somebody who you are inside or being vulnerable um brune Brown's talk on vulnerability I've been dying to get a chance to to be in the room no oh she yeah her talk I mean I just her podcast on vulnerability is amazing uh and it it's really eye openening I think that I probably should have more fear than I do well um but but I don't and I and I think that's one of my best qualities that I'm willing to take a risk do you think that's come with age do you think that's come with wisdom do you think because i' I've definitely seen a shift the older I get or the more knowledge or the more experience you have it's less scary since given my early you know my younger years where you know my family kind of fell apart a little in my late 17 you know college Years yeah um I lost my parachute early yeah so I think that that confidence I didn't let that hold me back I did what I was set to do anyway put myself through college you know got married had kids doing small things on your own or even big things on your own recognize that in yourself so that builds that confidence in you and say well I've darn I've already had twins like of course I can run a marathon don't take my advice don't take my advice anyways but you know what I mean like take one accomplishment and build on that okay I've I've donated $10 what can I do next I've donated one hour at that walk what could I do next how can I make that bigger how can I grow that even if it's that 10% rule how can I grow it by 10 Perc how can I be more generous 10% more every day and see I'm not a natural person to push myself I I do have a couple of mentors in my life that are always like okay that was great for last year but what what what are we going to do we need to double this or we need to go check with that and I'm like I don't want to do that I I want to do that way more work but then I do it and it's not it's not painful well it's rewarding but I think that you have to give yourself permission to Pivot yeah you might be next year like you know what I I did I've been there done that I've done this I'm gonna I really want to take this farmer Farmers Market idea National yeah or Regional or something that and it's okay ha to put down one thing and pick up something else and that's what I had to give my permission to do with Whitewood kitchens yeah I had to give myself permission to put I have a hard time Rel yeah I have a hard time putting things down I'm the lady in the grocery store with all the things that won't get the cart and I came in here and now I have too many things and I I wish I had a cart but I don't have a cart I carry it all with me so I do need to work on putting things down or resting things or giving them to somebody else to hold okay with that I think that you have to appreciate that someone else could do it better than you and so I got the company to where I needed to get it for me Y and it had other places it wanted to go because what I created was this own unique thing y this unique entity that was Gale and and that company was ready to be somebody different yeah to be be a different entity entity and I was ready to be something different and I had to give myself permission to let that go it's hard in your 50s to say I'm going to flip my life all over again or um start something new or but all I can say is I hope you're inspired to just do something different yeah and to say you know I've always wanted to open my own bake shop I've always wanted to open my own florist I've always wanted to open my own nonprofit do it yeah what have you got to lose call me Gail at gor.com Benny I love it Benny at benefact 4 you want a mentor I'm your girl I will do it for free I will volunteer I will track it on benefact for and you know I might not have all the advice or even the right advice but you're starting somewhere yeah I can help you find someone that can help you find you said that I we edit podcasts here at lemon Ado and we're fortunate to be full and busy and I'm not complaining at all but a lot of them are Financial podcasts and uh one in particular talks about retirement you know your end goals what are you doing with your money blah blah blah blah and one of the big things we're at towards the end of the year where they're talking about well you're you're 60 you're not going to start a new business and I was like I disagree yeah when I'm sitting there listening and I'm editing these things are you more likely to probably not but it's still okay to do so and think about it do you know there's a um 70 year old woman opening a yoga studio in the efor all program right now I love it I mean and then you think of entrepreneur it has to be young you have to be a startup you have to be a hipstar no way yeah we there's every age through that program and everywhere opening businesses Jim Pressman with his coffee van we have um the sixa tour guy which I love um so many so many people uh with a little bit more age and experience and I think as business owners you know we learn from each other too and I didn't open Whitewood kitchens as my first business I opened it at the culmination of my career how smart was that that was brilliant yeah if I'd wait to tell was 50 I wouldn't probably have taken that chance probably not so but at 40 I was like I'm here I'm Ready the stars are lining up and you know I went for it and I would never have guessed where I was 10 years later yeah but look at me talking to you with Stephanie and I'm on LinkedIn like on some video and I'm like look this is where all the cool kids are hanging I I just love that you're willing to do that given all of the spaces that you find yourself in but they're all interconnected with the fact that they're people doing cool things yeah so I mean that's that's really what it boils down to so what are you doing today to take that one step how are you g to move your needle a little bit more forward 10% right that's it so 10% of 24 hours is what I don't know I'm not good at math the numbers 24 minutes spret what can you do for 24 minutes or $24 maybe that's our challenge today it's a $24 challenge 24 challenge today um you can give 24 hugs you could you could just you know I'm going to give away more than 24 bouquet of flowers today at pedal it Ford so come see us overed wait I'm totally doing that and I think that you could spend you could give yourself 24 minutes of kindness and I think that that's something you don't even do people don't even do every day so uh I love look at us parting messaging here gilor you can find her on LinkedIn as you're watching her possibly right now benefact for check out the app and let's uh let's all do a little bit to uh be a better person today 10% right I'm there you can find me there I see you it's perfect I see you coming up we've got Hank on lunch break tomorrow on the show Susan joins us it's a full moon and it's getting a little witchy out there also a fabulous entrepreneur in her own right and I'm excited to talk about her new project that she's got coming up uh all you have to do is download the app Alexa play lemon Ado radio and uh we will talk to you soon have a great day everybody 24 minutes while dancing right you dancing us out Gale dancing us out that went by super fast oh