← The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business
843: The Secret to Making a Bigger Impact with Your Business This Year
00:50:11
With Kailee Scales and Jenna Kutcher
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Transcript40 lines
- [00:02]
A
Contributing to the outcomes of other human beings connect us as humanity. And all the studies show that, you know, when you support other people, you get those dopamine rushes. You know, you just feel good. And so that is part of why people are incentivized to help and participate in social impact, because it just feels good.
- [00:23]
B
I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a 300 camera from Craig, Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks. All from my house in small town Minnesota with my family here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain. Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we we tackle practical, no fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired and empowered. This is the Goal Digger podcast. Do you ever wish you could unlock the secrets to leading with purpose on a global scale? Like what if you had the keys to running an organization that is absolutely changing the world? Well, today's guest is about to hand you those keys and let you inside of her reality. Kylie Scales is the CEO of Pencils of Promise, which is a global for purpose organization that's transformed education for over 800,000 children across Laos, Guatemala and Ghana. Since 2009, POP has built nearly 600 schools and tackled some of the biggest barriers to education, like access to clean water, sanitation and even menstrual health. Under Kylie's leadership, POP has become a force for change. And today she's here to share about how you can lead with purpose in your own work. In today's episode, we're diving into the do's and don'ts of leading a for purpose organization. How you can tie your mission and your business to greater results, not just for your own success and bottom line, but for positive impact on the world, ways to get involved both locally and globally, and the why behind the work that she does. If you've ever wondered how to make real change, if this year is the year that you Want to start giving back with your money, with your time, with your talents and energy. If you want to learn how to lead with heart and strategy, or you want to deepen how you are leaving your mark on this world, this is the conversation for you. Kylie, welcome to the Goal Digger podcast. Growing a business isn't for the faint of heart. It's a whole lot of everything. Building an audience, nurturing leads, managing channels, tracking metrics, and juggling all the moving pieces of your strategy. And let's not forget those late nights, long days and working weekends. Sound familiar? Sometimes it feels like you're wishing for just one thing to make it all a little bit easier. Well, meet Breeze, HubSpot's brand new collection of AI tools built specifically for marketers just like you. With Breeze, attracting the right audience, increasing leads and turning those leads into loyal customers just got faster and dare I say, easier than ever before. Imagine less stress and more success, more wins and fewer all nighters. With Breeze, you're not just keeping up, you're staying ahead. And pretty soon your business is going to have a lot to celebrate. Check out breeze@HubSpot.com marketers to learn more. That's HubSpot.com marketers. Kylie, what is the biggest myth about leading a nonprofit organization that you wish people understood?
- [03:59]
A
Yeah, I love that question. I would say that the biggest myth is that when you work for a mission driven organization rather than a for profit group, that leadership doesn't have to be as skilled in the work. And that couldn't be farther from the truth. In the nonprofit sector, there's just so many moving parts. It's incredibly complex. We have, for example, we have so many stakeholders that we look after, like our beneficiaries and our donors and our partners and our leaders, especially if we're working globally. So we're working with groups of people all over the world. And that's just part of it. There's also resources that we have to understand as it relates to fundraising and as it relates to expenditures. We have to think about impact in a very specific way. So we don't measure impact monetarily. We measure impact as it relates to our beneficiaries and social movement. So communicating that effectively, we also have to communicate our mission very specifically so that people feel truly connected to the impact that we have. So the skills run the gamut. We have to have a high emotional intelligence. We have to have a high financial acumen. We have to have global understanding of leadership. You know, there's just so much and for some reason there's that myth out there, but I'm here to tell you is a myth.
- [05:19]
B
Yes. Oh, my gosh. I'm so glad we are starting here, because I think the nonprofit sector is the most challenging. I mean, like you said, you literally have to be the best and clear and empathetic and, like, leveraging every tool that is necessary out there to further the mission, but also in a way, to market the mission so that people continue to give and further it. And so when you think about it.
- [05:47]
A
From marketing, there's another one.
- [05:49]
B
Yeah. It's like, dude, you have to be the best at all of the things to really survive and to make the impact that you are intending to make. I'm so glad we kicked off with that.
- [05:58]
A
Yeah.
- [05:59]
B
I mean, let's talk about how you got into this, how you got started. Pencils of Promise is an organization I've heard about for over a decade. Lewis Howes was one of my friends and mentors, and I remember him talking about it years and years ago. And so how did this all come to be?
- [06:16]
A
Well, the organization. Well, I can start with me, and then we can segue into the organization. While I started, I've always had a career in social impact. I started very early, when I was 20 years old. I was supposed to be a famous singer. I studied classically, sing voice, and so that was my aspiration. But I also grew up in Queens, New York, in a place where it's really difficult not to get involved with your community and doing things within the community. And so at a very young age, my parents really wanted me to become involved in my world. They wanted me to volunteer. I started volunteering probably at, like, 11:12. My first volunteer role was working at a place where foster students were transitioning from their original home to their foster home. So that was very interesting as a young person to just kind of play with the kids. And I understood and recognized very early on in life that life kind of wasn't the same for everyone, that there were just changes and disparities that people experienced, and that ultimately life wasn't always fair. And that really stuck with me. And as I grew older, I just got an opportunity to work with a candidate who was running for Congress in Brooklyn, and he asked me to be his fundraiser. And I was like, I'm a singer, sir. I don't really know what you mean.
- [07:34]
B
Do you know who I am?
- [07:37]
A
And he described for me I was volunteering for him, and he described for me what fundraising was and the impact that people had in this world. And that There was an actual role out there for people who wanted to bridge the gap between folks that wanted to inspire change in the world and folks that had solutions that they needed resources to motivate into action. And I was just like, this is a lot, but it does kind of sound like something that I might be able to do. And he was right. And so that was my first role and it kind of snowballed from there. And I've worked in over 20 countries all over the world. I've worked with CEOs and heads of state, I've worked for the Queen of Sweden, I've worked with Tony Blair, I've worked with just so many people with the throughway of equity. I've always worked in mission driven organizations that wanted to ensure that all people had opportunity, that all people had health care, that all people had education, that all people had all the things that we as people deserve because we knew that it would make the world better. So at this point it's compulsory. You know, I'm here to help repair the world and it just makes me feel like one can either contribute to a problem, one can harm or one can heal. One can contribute to solutions. And so I'm just very grateful to have had a very incredible career all over the world with incredible people of solutions focused work. So I'm here to help fix and so repair, make better. And so which led me to Pencil of Promise. So I was appointed as the CEO by the, the founder and the board and because I believe of that long history of contributing to the world and Pencils of Promise made so much sense for me, especially because of its focus on education, which I believe is one of our basic human rights. We all deserve to have knowledge. We all deserve to fulfill our highest potential. We all deserve to be able to be in environments that are conducive to that and have their basic resources that we need to explore talent which is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. So I'm very honored to lead this incredible organization with an incredible global team of people who believe just that and do just that on a daily basis. And we have our long term deliverables and outcomes for our students, but we also impact and change the lives of students on a daily basis.
- [10:15]
B
So that's amazing. Pencils of Promise has achieved so many amazing milestones under your leadership. Can you share just a little bit about what you guys do and kind of how people get involved with it?
- [10:28]
A
Yeah. So for those who are unfamiliar and thank you so much for being someone who is very familiar with our work I appreciate that. But for those who aren't familiar, Pencils of Promise helps to remove the barriers for education for students throughout the world, particularly in Ghana, Guatemala and Laos. We work in the most rural areas in those countries to ensure that students have the basic things that they need in order to stay in school and matriculate throughout the course of their school career, which will open up future opportunities for them. And some of the things that we address, we're probably best known for building schools, so we focus on infrastructure. To date, as you said, we have built 615 schools around the world, which is amazing. Like, you know, I say the number sometimes and it just is like, oh, yeah, okay, 615. But then when you see a school and you see how just the scale of it, of what a school looks like in a rural community, and you also get to experience the hope and the joy that such a symbol represents to a community, it is just astounding to think about. So we built infrastructure that includes classrooms that are bright and beautiful. Oftentimes we go into communities where they're lacking in that type of infrastructure, and we either will repair it or we'll build from scratch. So places around the world, like in Ghana, for example, students just. There's overcrowding, there's not enough room. The schools are very old. They aren't necessarily the safest structures for our students. And in some places, students are learning outside. Students may be learning under trees. And while that may sound whimsical, it really isn't. Because if there are climate concerns, if it rains, school is over. Or there may be distractions like bugs that fall from the trees or animals. And these are young children. We work in the primary school level. We work in public schools in the primary school level. So these are like the little ones who can't be distracted during the day when they're learning. And so we make sure that they have these safe, beautiful, bright, colorful classrooms that they're interested in going to every single day and excited to be with their peers. In addition to that, we also build private bathrooms, which is very important to students. Imagine a world where you don't have access to bathroom facilities. Many of our students don't have access to bathroom facilities, even in their home communities, and they have a communal bathroom. But we're able to build private bathrooms for students, which is transformative to a child's experience on a daily basis. They can go to school with comfort and ease, and that's especially important for girls. We make sure that teachers within the classrooms are adequate. So Sometimes in the areas where we work, teachers don't have or haven't learned the best ways to increase literacy competencies. They haven't learned the best ways to engage students in the classroom. Sometimes corporal punishment is still utilized in the classroom because teachers have not yet got the message that that may not be the best way to engage a student. So we have a very strong teacher support program. And where we train teachers sometimes in language. There are places where we work in the world where there are multiple dialects that are being spoken and students come together and there's multiple dialect. We want to make sure that there's one language that everyone is learning. So we train teachers in English and in other languages to make sure that they have the tools that they need in order to engage our students. Another barrier that students face going to school are our health. Lots of times children get sick because they don't understand or they've never learned the basic principles of hand washing. They don't have access to safe water in their community. So often they'll drink water from the river, the nearby river where people wash dishes, their bodies, clothing, and children are drinking from those sources and they get sick, or because they're not washing their hands, they get easily communicable diseases. And so they're left without going. They can't go to school. As we know, if you get sick, you can't go to school. And so we make sure that students have access to safe water for drinking. We build hand washing stations so students can turn on a tap in many cases to wash their hands. We provide soap, we teach them the hand washing song. But we're able to provide all of that. And I'm extraordinarily proud that we have very specific emphasis and focus on girl students. We want to make sure that there's gender parity in the classroom. We want to make sure that girls who become women have the same opportunities in life. And that begins very early in the school setting. When girls have an interruption in the classroom, they can't continue school. The onset of their period usually marks that interruption. They stay home, they fall behind, they become susceptible to things like early marriage, or they drop out and they don't matriculate, and they won't have those same opportunities in life. So we make sure that there's menstrual health training for both our students, our teachers, both boys and girls. We train our community members so in case there are any myths that need to be overcome about the importance of girls in school, those are eradicated by bringing those communities together. And our team training those communities and we get to see market uptick in student attendance. We get to see students who are performing better in areas where we're training the teachers. We're getting to see students who have better outcomes than their peers who are not in POP schools. And so we're just really excited about all of that. And yeah, that's pop.
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B
It's amazing. I'm pretty sure that living in Minnesota means you kind of have to love winter. And honestly, winter is one of my favorite seasons. Cozy nights, fluffy socks, all the sweaters. But I could do without the dryness that it brings. My daughter has the driest hands of all time. I'm talking like painful dry skin. And so every night after she's asleep, I sneak into her room with OCA's Underia algae body butter and I lather her up. It has become a sweet little evening ritual, even if she doesn't remember it in the morning. And I love knowing that I'm using something that works so well for her skin. This body butter has been a game changer for our family. It is rich and creamy, but it absorbs instantly no greasy residue, just soft, smooth, deeply hydrated skin. And the scent. Oh, I wish you could smell it. It is this fresh, natural blend of grapefruit, lime, cypress and a hint of mango mandarin. It's like this little burst of sunshine in the winter. Now what makes it even better is knowing that osea's products are clean, vegan, cruelty free and made of organic ingredients. It feels so good to support a family owned company that truly represents the natural world while giving us skincare that actually works. If you are ready to give your skin or someone you loves a new year, glow up. Now is the perfect time. OSEA is offering gold digger listeners 10 off of your first order site wide. Just use the Code gold digger@ocamaliboot.com that's O S E A Malibu.com with the code gold digger for 10 off. I promise you your skin is about to thank you. You know I love finding tools that make running a business even easier. And so I'm so excited to share with you a tool that I swear by, which is Gusto. It's an all in one payroll, benefits and HR platform and I love it so much I recently made my entire team switch to it with gusto. Payroll is fast and super simple whether you're handling W2s or 1099s, but that's just the beginning. You can offer health benefits, 401k plans and so much more. All Tailored to nearly any budget. Their software is super simple. It's all online. You can access it from anywhere. And you can run unlimited payroll for one monthly price with no hidden fees and taxes. Gusto takes care of those two, automatically filing and paying them across all 50 states. Businesses save on average, $2,600 48 hours a year by switching. No wonder four out of five businesses say Gusto is worth it. Here's the best part. Gusto is giving you gold diggers three months for free. When you run your first payroll, head to gusto.com/gold digger to snag this offer. That's gusto.com/gold diger. Don't miss out. You know, I think there's just so many layers to it, and I think that your organization has handled it and just navigated it so beautifully with education purely at the core of everything. And I think that's just so incredible. One thing that I wanted to talk to you about, Kylie, is that so many of my listeners are entrepreneurs. And I feel like entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs cause they want to change the world, right? Like, they want to impact the world in big and small ways. And one of the best ways that I feel like entrepreneurs have an opportunity is leveraging their income to make a greater impact. And I'm curious, you know, you've worked with some really incredible entrepreneurs. That's how I found out about your mission in the first place. What are some interesting ways that entrepreneurs have looped in giving or made pencils of promise a focus in their business or really impacted their level of impact through their entrepreneurship?
- [19:46]
A
Yeah, and I love this as well, because I think that if you're an entrepreneur, and I have a very entrepreneurial role, this work is very entrepreneurial. And you get so distracted. There's just so many things that you need to handle. And sometimes supporting social impact can feel like, oh, my gosh, another thing. And someday I'll get to that. And if I. Once I get to this certain level, then I'll be able to. To do, you know, that thing that, you know, that you want to do. Because we all understand that contributing to the outcomes of other human beings connect us as humanity. And all the studies show that, you know, when you support other people, you get those dopamine rushes. You know, you just feel good. And so that is part of why people are incentivized to help and participate in social impact, because it just feels good. But sometimes we're worried. We're just like, oh, gosh, there's just too much on my plate. One of the things that I've observed with POP in particular is because of our mission and because of our focus with students and with children, and because we are able to create deep connections with our beneficiaries and our communities. We know teachers names, we get to engage with students, we know communities, we know community members, we know all of that. We have the opportunity to really offer that deep connection to folks that want to participate in social impact. And I think that's possible for a host of different organizations, that there is something there that you can connect deeply to. And it's important because that dopamine rush that I talked about, that that belongs to all of us. So our, our customers, our clients, they want to feel that too. And if they know that they're working with or they are supporting a company that provides that to them as well as their product or their service, that will build trust, that will build good feelings, that loyalty within your customer base. Because they're like, I get to not only get the service, I get to not only get this product, but I get to feel good, and I get to hear about the impact that I get to make in the world through my purchase, through my. Through our relationship. And that is an added layer that will help develop those relationships a lot deeper with your client base. It'll help develop those relationships a lot deeper with your clients because you offer something that no one else can truly, completely uniquely. And some of the ways that I see people do that, we have a lot of pop does, has a lot of connections with, like, newer, up and coming, burgeoning businesses, because we get to tell our story together. And when you are a burgeoning business, you're a founder, you have a startup phase, you have a story to tell. And when you're able to bring that story together with a story of hope, a story, story of success, a story, particularly as it relates, in our case, to children and education. When you're able to connect those dots, the story is enriched, it becomes deeper, it becomes more motivating. People are like, tell me more. Tell me more about you. Tell me more about what you're doing. And it just becomes this real way to have this relationship with the base that you are hoping to inspire and engage.
- [22:59]
B
I love this so much, and I think you make so many good points. And one thing that I've noticed, especially with entrepreneurs early on, is it is that delayed future, right? Of like, well, someday I'll give to these causes. And I remember, I think it was Tony Robbins said something like, if you can't give $100 out of a thousand, you're never gonna be able to give 100,000 out of a million. If you don't get in the practice of looping in your contributions and your giving when you don't have a lot, what makes you think you're gonna be able to part with it when you do? And I just think that's so beautiful because it's always stood with me of like, get into the practice now and then. As your results grow, so can your impact grow. And I feel like it's just so beautiful and, and I think that so many of my listeners are likely in that state of thinking I can't give. And I would argue that you can. I would argue that you absolutely can. And something that is interesting that's happened with me is, you know, in the past in the building of this business, for a long time I had money to give and not time. And recently as I've shifted, we do a four day work week, our culture has shifted. We have way better work, life balance. I now have time and money to give. And it's been just interesting to see how enriching that experience not only is, but also just how your level of consciousness and awareness expands. Like, yes, saying where, when you started, when you were so young, being exposed to like the realities of what is happening in your own backyard, in your own communities and globally, it really just expands not only the way that you think, but also the way that you show up. And so I absolutely love that. What would you say are some of the most common ways that you see entrepreneurs loop giving in? Like, is it a percentage of profits? Is it campaigns? Is it global fundraising? Like, what are some of those ways?
- [24:52]
A
All of the above. Number one, I have seen entrepreneurs, certainly we have a lot of folks who want to, who do this like crowdsourcing, percentage of sale type thing because that really helps with. And I say crowdsourcing and percentage of sale because they kind of go in tandem. I think that works best. So the percentage of sale in that, you know, every percentage of whatever the purchase price is, of whatever the item is will go to, to the charitable organization.
- [25:19]
B
But.
- [25:19]
A
And however I think that works best, and I've seen that work best when there's a goal attached, right? So it's one thing to be able to say a dollar from every one of your purchases will go to this charitable organization. And we love them and they're so great. But it's another thing to say we as an organization have a goal to build a classroom, provide books and resources to These specific students in this community, and this is the book, you know, and have real specific around the impact that you are offering, then when that dollar is much more meaningful to the person that knows that part of their percentage of sale is contributing and they get that feeling of real impact. And to what you. And I think that ties very closely into what you were saying about people want to wait and they just want to wait until they get to a certain level. I think that also has to do with the fact that people don't recognize the impact of their contributions at all sizes. People think like, well, unless I'm able to give fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, you know, two hundred thousand dollars. And don't get me wrong, we love those gifts. Love them, yeah. But, but. And they are very, very helpful. But they also are helpful in those smaller numbers too. With it, because of the mass scale that we can create around those smaller numbers. Those are important too. And it's up to the organization to be able to share the impact of gifts at any level so people know that we use it. It takes $85 to put a child through school for us. And so we have to make sure now that's one child. We've served hundreds of thousands of children. So the numbers add up. But the point is, is that it is a result of a lot of people who contribute to the thing that we're hoping to achieve. And by creating that goal, by creating that moment. Sometimes we have companies that say, we want to build an entire school and it'll take us a year, and we want to engage our community in that school. And we love that because when that happens, we're able to share so much about the community that they're going to impact about the students, they're going to impact about the classrooms they're going to build. And we're able to share the process with the community, from the groundbreaking all the way up to the inauguration, which I have to say is a huge deal for Pencils of Promise. There's ribbon cuttings and ceremonies and performances, and it's a scene. It's amazing because the communities are so happy and we're able to take people on that journey. So they're able to feel like, I helped do this. I was a part. I will change this community forever. Because it's true, when you build a school, that school remains for generations. The impact of education lasts for generations. And people deserve to know that their percentage of their sale, their contribution does that, because it really does. So anyway, just an example of how I've seen That work.
- [28:16]
B
I love that. I think one thing you touched on, and I think even as business owners, we could leverage the strategy in our own businesses, is just the power of specificity and having people really understand, like what is the end result, right. Like whether they're buying your product or service or whether they're donating. Having something to really attach, like the end result of $85 is helping one student this year and having that connection piece to what that actually amounts to. And I think oftentimes for nonprofits getting so clear in the communication as to what turns into, what allows people to envision and understand the impact at a much greater level. Because I think a lot of people would say, well, What. What is $100 going to do? And when you can actually connect it to the idea and the visual of a true human being being able to be granted the access to education, it changes the conversation so dramatically, right?
- [29:08]
A
Yes.
- [29:08]
B
One thing that I think is interesting, we just did this within my own company is we had a Black Friday promotion and I ended up taking all the profits from that and donating it both locally and globally. And it was something that we didn't announce, we didn't share to our community. We didn't share until afterwards internally. But I think that what is powerful is when you get the community involved and in them knowing that those purchases matter. And so I think what would be super interesting is for our listeners to imagine like, do you have a promotion coming up where you could loop giving to it? Do you have a way to connect what you care about within your own realm of values to something greater than you, yourself and your bottom line? And I just think that there's so much power because ultimately, I'm sure you see this all the time, Kylie. Like, I really do believe people want to leave the world a better place.
- [29:59]
A
Yes.
- [30:00]
B
Want to make a difference. But oftentimes if you don't even share with your community how or where or what you're passionate about, they don't even know that the opportunities exist. Is that something you see often?
- [30:11]
A
I love that you said that because I believe that having a values driven life is increasingly important not only to individuals in the mission driven space, but individuals in the for profit space. I think we've learned that having purpose in our lives is very fulfilling. It allows for us to navigate a lot of the challenges that may come up for us as individuals if we know we have an ultimate purpose. And I think that we've become more aware as humanity of what purpose could look like we've become more aware of what our brothers and sisters all around the world are experiencing and we have become more aware of our connectivity. So I think that when you're able in a for profit setting to share your personal values, to share a bit of yourself, we also live in a world where sharing of ourselves has increased. You know, I feel like I know a lot of people through social media, through folks, through influencers. I feel like I've friends with a lot of folks and as a result of that, that means that we're giving people, we're connecting more, even though sometimes it feels like we're not, we're seeing each other more, even though sometimes it feels like we're siloed, but we aren't, we are becoming more connected and to share our personal values and what motivates us and what inspires us and what we're able to witness and see around the world and what we know. You touched on a point earlier, that this work allows you to just know more, just allows you to just understand, understand more about the world that you live in. Sharing that with other people is very, very powerful. And it creates, as I was saying, that deeper connection between you and your client base, between you and your customer. It just creates this depth that can't be replicated through a transaction alone. So I believe that all of those things are highly important and I encourage people to really think about what your personal values are, what your company's values are, how you want to leave the world, how you want to impact the world and be very vocal about it. Don't be shy. Yeah, yeah. Share that because it's inspirational and it makes, and it's aspirational. People are like, I want to be like them. And people will. You'll develop deep, deep trust with your communities in that way.
- [32:28]
B
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- [36:09]
A
Yes. The data suggests that people are contributing to causes and to organizations that have. Where they have a personal experience or they have a personal connection to it, which is why it's so great to work for an organization like pop, where education is our mission. And we all went to school, you know, and many of us understand how impactful school can be for us. But yes, I absolutely think that, again, people express themselves. They identify with the organizations they support, support. They express their. Their values once again, through the organizations they support, because they want to ensure that other people in this world, people they've never met, people they may never meet, have what they need to not just survive, but thrive. And that is a gift from the heart. So we talk about giving money, but money is, you know, currency moves. Money is just the facilitator. Money is just the thing that. That allows for impact to happen, for people to thrive, for people to have what they need. And there is so much beauty in that. And which is, again, back to those earlier points of don't wait, why wait? It's all fluid. We have to utilize. Resources are here to be used to make change. Resources are here to be used to deliver on something. And when you decide to deliver in a charitable way, it's because you understand that. That you want to move people. You want to move progress. You want to help us as people evolve. You want people to have what they need and desire for themselves and for the planet, no matter what it is that you support. So I think it is very much connected to your personal experience, your personal values, and it gives you so much personal impact and personal fulfillment to be able to support other people.
- [38:00]
B
I love that, you know, I think.
- [38:01]
A
Or animals.
- [38:02]
B
Yes. Or yes. Anyway, you know, I think at the beginning of the year, a lot of times people have to reconnect with their why in their business. And, like, why are they showing up? Entrepreneurship exposes the all the parts of you that you need to heal and that, you know, it's hard. It's not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But one thing that I want to challenge our listeners at the beginning of the year is like, what is your why? And how can you anchor it to something deeper than Your own self and your own success. And I feel like for a lot of people, when they start to get involved and when they start to see the impact that their work is having, not just in their own circle of influence, but beyond it, it anchors their desire to earn more money, to set bigger goals, to make a bigger impact. And for some people, I think that that is the ticket to wanting to grow and expand. Because you said it, money is currency, and somebody's gonna get the money. So why not focus on getting the money into the right hands of people that are actually gonna do good with the money? What is your why, Kylie? Because the work you do is not easy. And so tell me, like, what is your why? What gets you out of bed? What keeps you on this mission?
- [39:13]
A
And I think it's so interesting when we think about our whys, because, you know, entrepreneurs, and I've worked with many startup organizations, like, I have that very entrepreneurial spirit. And any leader of a nonprofit has to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit. And we ask that why question a lot as it relates to why our business needs to exist, why we need to ask, you know, our communities for support in certain ways, why problems need to be solved. But we don't always ask our personal why. You know, we ask about our business based why. We always want to have, like, what is our values proposition, you know, all those whys. But we don't ask our whys about, like, ourselves, like, why are we here? Why do we do this work? Why have we chosen this as opposed to the millions of other things that we can choose to do? And so for me, as I described earlier, how I thought about the world and how I was introduced at a very early age to the change that one person could make. Myself, I could make in my community. And then I realized I could make change in my city. And then I made. I recognized that I can make change in my state, and then I recognize that I can make change in my world. I always wanted to stay connected to why I was doing it, because it's so hard. Because it's, you know, there's all of those things that I listed that leaders have to contend with. And for me, it's because I learned very early on that I believe that we are all deeply connected to one another. And those early experiences taught me, especially working with children in vulnerable moments of their lives. And I remember being so sad at first and crying so much. I've cried a lot doing this work, because a lot of times you see really difficult things. But I realized that we are not just connected, but we are responsible for each other. So when I'm moved by the work that I do, or when I see things that I wish I could change, I know that I'm the change that I want to see in the world. And sometimes it's discouraging, and sometimes you see things, bad things still happen. You know, imagine a person who's contributed her entire life, myself, me, to social change and to moving the world in the right direction when bad things still happen. I'm like, now, what have I been saying? You know, like, I'm just tired. Can people work with me? You know, like, sometimes I feel that way, and I'm just like, what's the point? And it gets very heavy sometimes. But then I realize that I am here to help. Like I'm helping, that I am responsible. If not me, then who? If I'm not healing, I could be harming. And that's my why. My why is to help heal. My why is to be responsible for my brothers, my sisters, my cousins on planet Earth. Because we're here, us together. And so who else is responsible for us here together except us here together? And so it's very, very powerful and meaningful for me to feel that responsibility. And because it allows me to feel connected, I don't feel, you know, life can be lonely. We can feel like we're dropped here on this planet with no explanation. We can feel like, you know, purpose is hard to find. We're looking for it under every single leaf, right? Like, you know, maybe it's to make money, maybe it's to be famous. Like, we're trying to figure it out. Like, what is our reason? But if we recognize that we are truly connected to each other and we're responsible for each other, we're never alone. There's always an answer. There's always a purpose because we are here together. So those are my whys. And I tap into them daily because, as I said, these things can be hard. And again, I'm curious as to when we're all going to wake up and when we're all going to, like, you know, just get this done once and for all. And I recognize that it's a process, that there is no day where everything is going to magically be perfect. That's not a thing. But I do know that it's a marathon. And every single day, incrementally, things can be better. People's lives can change one person's life. I've had so many experiences where I know. I know that I've changed one person's life forever and that. That will stay with me forever and that allows me to continue on my daily journey. So that's my.
- [43:32]
B
Why I love that. One thing that I think is interesting that we both have in common, and I think it might be helpful for our listeners, is that with you at a young age, getting involved. I volunteered at our soup kitchen and my mom would bring us with, and I have these very just visceral memories of the experience. And so this last year, I was like, you know what? I don't work on Fridays. I have time now. And so I applied to volunteer at the same place that I did as a child. And what has been so amazing and interesting is that I go in once or twice a month and prep food and then serve it. And I've been able to invite other moms, like my mom friends where we do school drop off and we head down. And I'm like, we could be sitting in a coffee shop talking to each other, or we could be chopping tomatoes and onions and putting together salad. Salads and using our gifts as moms to help serve the community. And the other best part of it is that it's a kind of big commitment. It's six hours and my grandpa has been coming in and serving the food with me. And to see, like, the generational impact of that and getting to spend time with my grandpa and laughing as he always forgets to hand people their forks and having these moments and memories and exposure to the real needs in our own backyards. You know, I think with the world, it can often just feel like you were saying, like, when will people wake up? Like, when is this going to get better? And I think you can start globally, you can start locally. There are opportunities literally everywhere of places, people, organizations that need what you can offer, whether it's your expertise, your money, your time, your energy, your motivation, your platform. Like, and I just, I hope that this is the year that instead of us just saying, I want change, we really step into whatever we have available and accessible to ourselves and whatever we feel really called and passionate about to get involved in. Because, man, this community has so many gifts inside. And like Kylie, you get to see the direct impact of, like, small and big actions and watch the literal ripple effect as it not only ripples down into the next generations, but it also ripples up. And I think we can often forget that.
- [45:41]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And thank you for sharing that. That's. That's so sweet that you have that intergenerational moments. And I think you are Experiencing what I experience every day when I think about my why, like, it is just. It is the care that we're able to deliver one another that powers us through life. Because all of us need care. All of us need support. There are times in all of our lives where we need, maybe not in the same way. We all have different needs, but we all have needs. We all need one another some way. The kindness of a stranger, our mothers, you know, all of it, it runs the gamut. And to be able to actively deliver that is part of the human condition. And we have to remember that it's not an extra. It's not something that we have to make time for. And maybe someday, and I hope I get to be in a position where I can that is not the human condition. I'm here to tell you as a person who contributed my entire life or dedicated my entire life to this, as hard as it's been, I've had the most beautiful life journey I could possibly describe. I feel like the luckiest person alive because I've discovered the truth. I've discovered that we are here to care for one another. And I encourage all listeners to really think about those times as you share that story. I'm sure we all have a story. I'm sure we all have a moment where if we haven't formally yet contributed to an organization, maybe we did something nice for somebody, maybe we paid for the person. Starbucks behind us in the car, maybe we did some. And remember, tap into that feeling, because I promise you, when you remember that, your heart is going to swell. You're going to feel better. Anything that felt bad about your day is going to disappoint, disappear a little bit more. Because that moment of care was a moment that your humanity shined its brightest. And if we can remember those moments and multiply them as you're doing, multiply those moments every single day. Make sure that you engage in those moments every single day. We. You will benefit.
- [47:56]
B
Yeah.
- [47:57]
A
And then we all will benefit.
- [47:58]
B
Yes. Oh, my gosh, Kylie. Where can everybody learn more about you? Follow your journey as a CEO, but also get involved in Pencils of Promise? I challenge all of my listeners to go check out their organization, see if it's a place where maybe you can start your giving journey, start contributing and just get more engrossed in the mission. Tell me where we can connect.
- [48:20]
A
Yes, absolutely. You can connect to POP, which we call Pencil Promise. As@pencilsofpromise. You can follow us on all social media channels. At PencilSofPromise, you can follow me at Kylie Scales across all social media platforms as well and follow my journey. Yeah. So please look us up and we'd love to engage you further.
- [48:41]
B
Oh, thank you so much for coming on the show. This is such a beautiful way to start the new year and I hope that this conversation just inspires our listeners into action this year.
- [48:51]
A
Thank you. Thank you so much.
- [48:54]
B
I hope today's conversation leaves you inspired, thinking of different ways that you can leverage your business, your gifts, your profits to give back, and to leave the world a better place. I absolutely loved this conversation with Kylie and so admire and respect the work that she's doing in this world. And I think that as entrepreneurs, we have this responsibility to not just leave a legacy of our own journey, our own stories, and focus on our own bottom line, but to really leverage the gifts, the tools and the expertise that we have and the ways that we're using them in our business to make the world a better place. And so let this be the year that you really put your money where your mouth is, that you show up in ways that help change the world and make it into the space that we all want to be in. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Gold Digger podcast. Until next time, keep on digging, digging your biggest goals. Thanks for pulling up a seat for another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. I hope today's episode fueled you with inspiration, gave you information that you can turn into action, and realigned you with your true north in life and business. If you've enjoyed today's episode, head on over to gold diggerpodcast.com for today's show. Notes, discount codes for our sponsors, freebies to fuel your results, and so much more. And if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss a future show. We'll see you next time. Gold Diggers.