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Welcome to Make Your Passion Pay, hosted by LuAnn Buechler, a seasoned leader with a master’s degree in Hospitality Administration and a recipient of the TLC Award for Leadership. This podcast is designed for business owners who have left toxic environments to create their own thriving workplaces but find themselves struggling with team building and mindset. Join LuAnn as she shares insights and strategies to help you cultivate joy and a positive mindset in your business and personal life. Drawing from her experience working with renowned leaders like Dr. Ivan Misner, LuAnn guides you in building a supportive community and mastering the art of people management. Each episode offers practical advice and inspiring stories to empower you to transform your work environment into one that reflects your values and passions. Tune in to discover how to lead with joy, foster meaningful connections, and truly make your passion pay.
Welcome to Make Your Passion Pay podcast, where we talk about the six Cs making your passions pay, which are polarity, connection, community, collaboration, creativity, and commitment. Today, we're going to talk a lot about that with my new friend Kandas Rodarte. Rodarte, did I say that right? Kandas hosts conversations, workshops, and communities that are useful, engaging, and transformative to Gen X women solopreneurs. She has been building businesses for over 30 years, all the while living with metastatic breast cancer. That's resilience, my friend. She is an internet marketing pioneer, a veteran podcast and YouTube talk show host, and gratitude is her business strategy. Love it. Just love it. So she has a show called the Gratitude Geek. Go listen to Kandas's podcast, Gratitude Geek. I was on the show. Thank you, Kandas. Welcome to today.
(00:07:05.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Thank you for sharing your wisdom with the Gratitude geek audience.
(00:07:10.996) LuAnn Buechler: We had a lot of fun that day.
(00:07:12.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah you dropped some major groovy bombs. It was episode 323 old if you're looking for
(00:07:17.396) LuAnn Buechler: Excellent. Excellent. So Kandas, tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey. It sounds long and like it took some resilience.
(00:07:28.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: So, when I was 18 years old, I was introduced to the Tupperware opportunity. I still lived at home with my parents. I was a student and I had a part-time job working in a retail store in a mall. Remember malls? Do you remember malls? And I thought, here's a single woman, very young, thinking, oh yeah, I could sell Tupperware and I had a lot of fun doing it. And to this day, I still own the Tupperware that I bought from myself when I was 18 and I am 56 years old. So, let me tell you when
(00:08:03.296) LuAnn Buechler: tablet.
(00:08:03.796) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah, well, Tupperware sort of—I don't know if it's even around anymore. I saw it in a Target. I was like, oh, I'm so sad because it's such a good product. But you never know. And then I went, I did the corporate route after that and I got my feet wet in manufacturing, working in the sales department at The North Face. And that was so much fun. Working for a company like The North Face is—I mean, I highly recommend, highly recommend. And then I got recruited by another retail company with a chain of retail stores across the country and I moved to Texas and I was miserable. I really did not like the culture at that company, but I had met my husband and we were engaged and I told him I was miserable and he said quit. So I did and we started our own business. This was in 1998. We launched the very first online custom furniture store, where you could actually choose your colors, your doors, your knobs, your handles,
(00:09:13.096) LuAnn Buechler: all
(00:09:13.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That with a shopping cart, and this was about 2000. By that time, we actually got a bill. So I am truly an internet marketing pioneer because before me there was nobody doing what we did the way we did it.
(00:09:28.996) LuAnn Buechler: That is fascinating. I didn't know that piece of your puzzle. And does that company still exist today?
(00:09:37.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: We retired in 2017 and moved to Michigan.
(00:09:44.296) LuAnn Buechler: Wow. That managed to take a lot of collaboration with partners and producers to produce the furniture.
(00:09:51.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah, my husband was the builder and he trained because we had amazing systems in place. We both read—oh my goodness gracious, it was a really popular book about system building, E-Myth. We both read E-Myth, and then we put systems into place. So we were able—my husband was able to train teenagers to build this furniture, and he oversaw everything.
(00:10:18.096) LuAnn Buechler: Well,
(00:10:18.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: because of the systems.
(00:10:20.996) LuAnn Buechler: Because of the
(00:10:21.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: systems, the systems
(00:10:23.196) LuAnn Buechler: You know, I love the E-Myth and I don't remember it as a systems book. Isn't that interesting? Maybe I should say that differently. I love Michael E. Gerber, the author of The E-Myth. And Michael says that in the absence of passion, there can be no success.
(00:10:42.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That is true,
(00:10:44.496) LuAnn Buechler: right? If you're not passionate about what you're doing, you will never, truly feel successful
(00:10:49.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: that is so true.
(00:10:51.496) LuAnn Buechler: That is why I help people identify their passions. But you found yours, haven't you, Kandas?
(00:10:59.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I think my passion is community building.
(00:11:03.496) LuAnn Buechler: I think it is.
(00:11:04.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: It's what I have always done. I remember in high school, because my father worked for the military, I moved around a lot until about seventh grade or eighth grade. Until seventh grade and eighth grade, we planted our flag and stayed in the same place for a while. But because I had moved around a lot, whenever a new kid came to school, I immediately just wanted to be kind to them. And so years later, when Myspace—do you remember Myspace?—when Myspace came out, I got a message from somebody I had went to high school with, and she said, I want to tell you how much I appreciated how kind you were to me, because high school really sucked, and you were one of the only people that was nice to me.
(00:11:46.996) LuAnn Buechler: Wow,
(00:11:47.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And I didn't do it on purpose. I just think you should make everybody feel inclusive. It's been my
(00:11:54.896) LuAnn Buechler: thing to do, right?
(00:11:56.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: It
(00:11:56.696) LuAnn Buechler: is
(00:11:56.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: It is the right thing to do. I've spent my entire adult life trying to build community that involved everybody. Like, if I threw an event, everybody was welcome. I didn't care if you had purple hair and you wore neon green shoes, and the person next to you was wearing loafers and a tie. You are welcome at my events because you learn from each other, and without inclusivity, you cannot move forward, you cannot learn, you're just stuck and stagnant. So I've always wanted a big community that everybody felt welcome in.
(00:12:39.596) LuAnn Buechler: Okay, I want you to say that again. Without inclusivity, you can't learn, because we're all the same if we lock out others.
(00:12:54.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Wow. Yes, the homogeneity. You have homogeneity without inclusivity. You have homogeneity, and homogeneity is boring and there's nothing to learn.
(00:13:06.796) LuAnn Buechler: Right.
(00:13:07.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Right.
(00:13:09.596) LuAnn Buechler: That is fascinating. I love that.
(00:13:11.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Thank you.
(00:13:12.296) LuAnn Buechler: I love that. So, tell us about how you build community.
(00:13:16.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Well, my favorite community building story is 2017. My husband and I had already decided that we were going to move to Michigan, and we were going to shut down a business and move to Michigan. About, I'm gonna say, February of 2017, I'm talking to a friend of mine who works in a comic book shop and I said, you know, it might be fun to put together a Star Wars art festival. Do you think we could use that parking lot next door? And she said, I think so. So within about a week I had the permit, I had lined up the porta potties, I had started recruiting vendors, and on the weekend of May the 4th—May the 4th is the Star Wars...
(00:13:59.896) LuAnn Buechler: Yes.
(00:14:00.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: All day, right on the weekend of May the 4th. I had two or three thousand attendees, about 40 to 45 vendors. There were artists, three food trucks, about 100 people in costume, and two cars that were decked out in Star Wars, you know, Star Wars-themed art cars. I did that in three months, four months, with the help of a team, of course. I recruited a team to help, but it was the—oh, and I got the high school, two high schools involved to come and do stuff. It was all within—because, and the reason I was able to do that successfully is because I had already built communities of people who wanted to do stuff like that. That is my favorite community building story because without the community, I wouldn't have been able to put on this event in such a short amount of time that was wildly successful and a whole lot of fun.
(00:14:55.996) LuAnn Buechler: So, we talk about community and make your passions pay, right? And this is exactly what Kandas is referring to. It took a community that she had already built of people to create that fabulous event in just three months' time. We all need community in our businesses to do the same thing—to produce the fabulous results we want to produce, we have to have that community around us. One of my mentors says that if we had a label on us as to how to care for us as human beings, it would say, store in community.
(00:15:35.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I love that. Who is who says that,
(00:15:37.696) LuAnn Buechler: Who is Lynne McTaggart? She teaches the power of eight and
(00:15:44.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: now I can give credit to that quote.
(00:15:46.696) LuAnn Buechler: Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Love it.
(00:15:50.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That's awesome. But your community is really, it's so important. A couple of months ago, I was looking at my offering, what I offer in terms of paid offers. I have a lot of things that I do that I give away, but in terms of paid offers, I was looking at what I was offering. I was like, this isn't working for me. This isn't working for me. I don't want to be a coach. You know, I love running masterminds, but I don't want to charge that much for them. I want them to be accessible and affordable, and so I said I want to do this as a community and I want to stop calling myself a coach. So I don't call myself a coach anymore. I am a community builder. So I created a community for my podcast listeners who are genetics women's solopreneurs for the most part, and we do things within the community that will help them grow their solo businesses while having people, you know, while other women have their backs.
(00:16:50.396) LuAnn Buechler: And women need women. You know, we are supportive. Historically, I think it was a sense of we had to compete with each other, and now I see the shift in women supporting women. Those are the communities I certainly want to be in as a woman entrepreneur, so I believe what you're talking about, that community is called the Gratitude Geek Lab. Is that right?
(00:17:15.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That is correct.
(00:17:16.396) LuAnn Buechler: The Gratitude Geek Lab, looking up if you
(00:17:20.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: want to
(00:17:20.396) LuAnn Buechler: do Unity.
(00:17:22.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Let's experiment in the lab with ideas, you know,
(00:17:25.396) LuAnn Buechler: here with
(00:17:26.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: ideas with ideas and that's why I called it lab.
(00:17:29.496) LuAnn Buechler: And I was going to ask you that question because it set you apart too, right? Nobody else is really doing that and using that word, and I love it.
(00:17:37.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Well, when you are a solo business, some things that big companies do may not work for you, but some of the things big companies do may work for you, but you won't know unless you try. So I give you a little space so that you feel comfortable trying that tiny little experiment. It doesn't have to be huge. I mean, one of my things is do the same thing every day for 90 days and just see if it moves the needle. And that one little thing can be, you know, 10 sit-ups every day. I'm going to do 10 sit-ups for 90 days, right? Yeah, I thought it was 56 days. But 90—is it 90? It's somewhere between 60 and 90 days to change it. Hella different studies. But yeah. So let's talk about this women supporting women thing for a minute because this morning I was—I need to mention another thing too. I saw that there was a need for women creators, like content creators, to have a support group, a networking group, where they could come together in a safe space without men to collaborate and co-create new things. So, it's for podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, short form, long form, whatever it is. If you're a content creator, this networking group is for you as a woman. Anyway, I launched the first one on Wednesday and I got feedback like, it was so electric, I've never felt this way. I still have a buzz and my favorite was, I don't like networking because people always are taking when you go to a networking event. People are always taking, and I felt like everybody at this event was a giver. They were there to give.
(00:19:29.896) LuAnn Buechler: but I
(00:19:30.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Marketed it as a collaboration event. I never once said networking, I marketed it. So it attracted the people who wanted to come to collaborate and co-create. But this morning, I was thinking about that, and I was thinking, you know, the reason why it was so electric is because the women in the room felt safe to
(00:19:54.796) LuAnn Buechler: share with
(00:19:55.096) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Each other, which won't happen if there's men in the room. And then I was like, oh man, now I understand what's going on with men, why men are so angry right now, because we've taken that away from them. And I know this is not where this conversation needs to go, but I'd like to encourage women to allow men to have a male-only, like, go out with their friends or have male friends. If you have men in your life, encourage them to seek out the same kind of male companionship or camaraderie that we as women naturally gravitate towards,
(00:20:37.796) LuAnn Buechler: I would agree with that, and my husband's an avid golfer, and so he has his golfing buddies, right? But that's four hours of sheer men time,
(00:20:48.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: right? Yeah.
(00:20:49.196) LuAnn Buechler: Yeah. And so he has, he has that outlet and I have an ex-husband who never was good at that, and so I really agree with that. And in supporting men to do that. However, I want to say that we were talking about inclusivity and there are some men that fit in the circle of women supporting women. So, a member of eWomenNetwork, and what eWomenNetwork says is, we don't exclude men. And a few good men are a part of our network. And I've noticed a difference, right? In that we all carry all of those emotional and personality traits, some heavier than others, right? Depends which way we're constructed, but there's some great individual men who are strong enough to stand in a room full of women. Yeah, and very supportive and love to get that kind of support in return.
(00:21:56.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And I wasn't saying to separate. I was
(00:22:00.196) LuAnn Buechler: Saying.
(00:22:00.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: To allow,
(00:22:05.496) LuAnn Buechler: And it's
(00:22:05.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Right. Yeah, oh absolutely.
(00:22:07.596) LuAnn Buechler: Words matter. And so, yeah. Allow each of us to have the space we need and find the groups, the communities, that feel right for us,
(00:22:17.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: right?
(00:22:17.996) LuAnn Buechler: Exactly. Find those communities in your life and you know, I'm a BNI person, which we live in the philosophy of givers gain. So I love that you've created a network that is about that—givers, women supporting women. I want to come and be a part of it and see what
(00:22:38.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: you
(00:22:38.596) LuAnn Buechler: want on there.
(00:22:40.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: You are so welcome.
(00:22:41.296) LuAnn Buechler: Once a month, creating the safe space is a really important piece of that. What you just said, creating that safe space, and I try and do that in my retreats and events. I do do that. I don't try, I create that in my events and retreats that I put on and create that safe space, and it absolutely builds community. I remember when I began, women showed up and they said, well, we're gonna come to win because we love you, we're your friend, but we don't get it. And then after the event, after the first retreat, they were like, oh, now we get it. We get it, and it was really, I said, what did you really enjoy? And that was it, it was being in community and being supported by other women and collaborating with other women. I just don't
(00:23:31.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Retreats. Also include whitewater, rafting.
(00:23:36.096) LuAnn Buechler: Well, I'm happy to do one for that because I've been whitewater, rafting several times,
(00:23:40.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: but
(00:23:40.796) LuAnn Buechler: No. We have done consistent trips into the Boundary Waters canoe area.
(00:23:46.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: of Northern
(00:23:47.896) LuAnn Buechler: Okay. And let's see. Sylvania is a wilderness in Michigan that is similar to the Boundary Waters. I've been there as well, but it's not wild like white rapids. It's really just lakes connected to more and more lakes that you can explore. And so you do hiking and portaging and camping, and you have to carry everything you need with you. What we did that for was to show women that you do have the capability of taking care of yourself in this environment. You don't need all those other things that you had back at home, right? And again, if we're in community together and there's only eight of us that go at a time, we support one another and we work together as a team. It's beautiful, and the women walk away and go, oh my gosh, I really did that.
(00:24:46.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Well, and the safety piece of it is so important because that's what you do, what you do. Canoeing can be scary too. But what you do is scary and you make it safe.
(00:24:59.596) LuAnn Buechler: Yeah. I because I grew up canoeing, you know, from a little girl. It didn't ever feel dangerous to me and then a friend of mine came our first trip and only after we had paddled for a day or two. Did she say? I'm afraid of the water. I can't swim. And I'm like, I had no idea and look at The Bravery that you've shown and getting in a canoe on this huge Lake and paddling off into the wild. You know, we should do it and we don't get ourselves credit for it like really she probably wasn't even owning it as How brave am I and I said that to her. Right, her mind was simply overcoming fear. And probably forcing herself through it.
(00:25:48.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I think that as women that is something that we are really good at. We're very good at doing something even when it's scary, because we have to. The stories of women that have saved their children from cars that were, you know, the question of cars or whatever, they just figure it out and they do it. They overcome the fear and they get it done, because we have that special survival instinct that makes us nurture and care and want to save, so,
(00:26:14.496) LuAnn Buechler: in react
(00:26:15.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And react, and yeah, and so yeah, it makes total sense that a woman who can't swim would go on a canoeing trip and canoe even though she was afraid. It makes total sense.
(00:26:28.396) LuAnn Buechler: But right, what our audience needs to remember is that you have people in your life right now, you may not even think so, but you have people in your life right now who are there to support you. And there's more and more out there because that's what we want and we want communities of women. So come hang out with Kandas, come hang out with me, we would love to support you and whatever your endeavors are. And I was just talking to a couple yesterday anyway about their journey in entrepreneurship and they have in what one might normally think of as retirement years, but neither of them are retired. They are both working, but they got rid of their home and all that it takes to have a home and all of those expenses, and they're house sitters.
(00:27:29.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: It takes fun.
(00:27:31.096) LuAnn Buechler: They take care of people's homes all over the country, and they sit at a house for a month, three months, whatever those people's journeys, wherever they're off to. I thought it was a money maker, but it's not a money maker. It's a trade.
(00:27:49.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah
(00:27:50.096) LuAnn Buechler: We have a place to live, and we can take care of your house while you're gone.
(00:27:54.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah, I love
(00:27:55.896) LuAnn Buechler: that your pets and it's just eliminated this huge expense in their life. I think it's powerful.
(00:28:04.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And it sounds like so much fun.
(00:28:07.396) LuAnn Buechler: It's like, you know, they were talking about this. The reality is that we're used to, when we're trained or domesticated, that we're supposed to have a house and take care of it and live in it and stay in one place, you know, and that just doesn't have to be the truth.
(00:28:24.096) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And I mean, a lot of times what holds people back from traveling, like we have three cats, we wouldn't be able to travel on this. We have the house sitter. Luckily, we have a neighbor who is a pet sitter, so she watches our pets when we're gone. But yeah, if we didn't have her, we wouldn't go.
(00:28:44.596) LuAnn Buechler: Yeah, I have this tendency to plan a trip and forget that I have a dog and go, oh, what am I?
(00:28:56.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: A woman who had a very successful dog sitting business in her home. People would bring their dogs to hang out with her while they were gone, and she would have three or four dogs at a time. She was like the dog whisperer because, you know, dogs can be territorial. So, yeah. I mean, there are so many, like you said earlier, if you're passionate about something, you can make a profit from it,
(00:29:21.596) LuAnn Buechler: Right? And that's where the creativity comes in, right? Think creatively, think outside the box. There is a way to make money if you're providing value to someone else that's important to them. People's pets are important to them, and so if you're going to take care of their home and their dog or cats while they can go off and travel, it's a win-win situation. And again, there's no cash exchanging hands in this house sitting situation, but exchanging value. Yeah. Yeah.
(00:30:00.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And as long as the homeowners have enough dog food for their dogs, and the homeowners need to let you eat any food that's in the refrigerator as well.
(00:30:12.296) LuAnn Buechler: I think they did that
(00:30:13.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: too,
(00:30:13.896) LuAnn Buechler: You know, you kind of assume the responsibility that they were talking about, which you mentioned culture earlier of a company, which is another c word that's under connection in my world, that you got to connect and create culture. But they said they have to learn new culture every city they go to.
(00:30:32.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Oh, that's true.
(00:30:33.796) LuAnn Buechler: Because every city is a little different, like how they handle their recycling and their garbage and just the things that we take for granted around our households, they have to relearn in all these different locations so that they fit in the culture, which I think would be fascinating.
(00:30:53.496) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I had a friend that came to visit and she was staying in an Airbnb, and we were over at her house having dinner and we had a bunch of soda cans and I was like, where's your recycling can? And she goes, I don't know. And so we went on a hunt for it and we found it, but in my community, we recycle. We have our recycling can and it's picked up on a certain day, every, you know, so that, but in other communities, they don't have that. So,
(00:31:17.396) LuAnn Buechler: Really precise about
(00:31:20.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: theirs. Right? And
(00:31:21.796) LuAnn Buechler: Remember what city they were talking about? We were talking about this specific subject and they said they had the smallest little garbage cans because everything had its own recycling or compost or what have you. So the pride of the neighborhood was if you had a tiny little garbage can of actual garbage.
(00:31:44.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That must be Portland because
(00:31:47.296) LuAnn Buechler: what
(00:31:47.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: My father had like four garbage cans. He had one for the compost, one for the recycling, one for the garbage. I can't remember what the other one was.
(00:31:54.996) LuAnn Buechler: what?
(00:31:55.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Maybe they separated, but yeah, important that they take their separation of the trash very seriously, but it's true. If you separate your trash out, you have very little garbage.
(00:32:05.696) LuAnn Buechler: right?
(00:32:06.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: You know, most of it is reusable or recyclable.
(00:32:09.296) LuAnn Buechler: So
(00:32:10.296) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: that we told her, we went down a rabbit hole with that, I love it
(00:32:12.996) LuAnn Buechler: Well, but the thing is, the point, if I can bring it back around, is that culture is the culture, right? And so many businesses fail to really focus on creating the culture that they want to have. And then, let me tell you, people, if you don't create the culture that you want, it will be created for you and you might not like it. Yeah. And think about it, even in your neighborhoods you have a culture. In your church community, you have a culture. Every community has its own cultural norms, right? I mentioned to be in I&E Women Network. We have core values in both those organizations that create the culture by which we engage with one another and how we do business together.
(00:33:02.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah.
(00:33:03.896) LuAnn Buechler: So, if you're not looking at creating culture in your organization, I don't care if you're a one person show or if you're 300 employees. Right, culture is key.
(00:33:18.396) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Exactly. I want to bring up the law of two feet. I learned this in my career. As an employee or as a participant in an event or part of a community, if that culture doesn't serve you, you have two feet and you can walk away from it. You do not have to stay in a culture that doesn't align with your values. That lesson has served me well.
(00:33:50.296) LuAnn Buechler: And you have to know what your values are, own them, and live within every day. Really conscious awareness of that, which is why I help people find their passions. Those are really their core values, right? And that you are consciously aware of them so you can make those choices. So I can say, wait a minute. This community is not a culture that aligns with my values. I might take my two feet and I'm going to walk away, right? And so you stay stuck in places that you really don't belong.
(00:34:24.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: And the thing is, when you walk away and you walk into a different opportunity, you have no idea what's going to happen. You just have to accept and allow, right? Back to the allow, accepting, allow that something wonderful is going to happen. Yes. If it doesn't, two feet,
(00:34:40.796) LuAnn Buechler: People like myself say that word belong. And this is a trick word, right? Because we want to belong. We want to have the sense of belonging and being a part of something. And so sometimes we stay too long in communities that aren't right, just so we belong somewhere.
(00:35:01.796) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah, we try to mold ourselves into something that we don't fit where we
(00:35:06.296) LuAnn Buechler: don't, right? And so it takes courage, another c word. It takes courage to recognize that and go find the right community. And the
(00:35:16.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Right. It's one of the reasons why I build communities. Because rather than trying to fit my world belief into somebody else's community, I build a community around my world belief that welcomes everybody.
(00:35:30.896) LuAnn Buechler: Loved it.
(00:35:32.096) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: You know, and because everybody feels welcome, it's dynamic and wonderful. And, you know, my goal is to make you feel well.
(00:35:45.196) LuAnn Buechler: Give you a community to belong to. Love it so much. So, gratitude as a business strategy—before we move on, before we have to wrap this up, I want to talk about gratitude as a business strategy. So tell my audience how that works.
(00:36:06.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I think that the best way to explain how to weave gratitude into your business strategy is something that Rachel Speckman said on my show a couple of months ago. She said that every time her hand touches a doorknob, she says thank you for this opportunity. So every time I am a guest on a podcast, I say thank you for this opportunity. Every time a guest is on my show, I do my best to make that guest feel like I really appreciate them. I even send really cool thank you cards, which you haven't received yet because I batch them. But I just go out of my way to make the person I'm interfacing with feel like they are so appreciated, because what you appreciate, appreciates.
(00:37:02.396) LuAnn Buechler: you're,
(00:37:02.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: When you have a gratitude-based strategy and you are shedding appreciation everywhere you go, you are spreading all these seeds and more wonderful opportunities are sprouting because gratitude is a fertilizer. I'm telling you, gratitude is like manure. It's just a pile of poo until you spread it around, and when you spread it around, opportunities and amazing things grow.
(00:37:24.996) LuAnn Buechler: Gratitude as a fertilizer. I love that so much, and I'm going to adopt that doorknob philosophy.
(00:37:35.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Yeah, thank
(00:37:36.696) LuAnn Buechler: the greatest opportunity every time
(00:37:38.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: it's a wonderful gratitude practice. That's so simple. So simple to incorporate into your into your daily routine. Like every time I turn on the microphone, thank you for this opportunity.
(00:37:50.896) LuAnn Buechler: Love it. Thank you for that tip. All of us in the audience can use that tip. I sign my emails with gratitude and with appreciation, depends what I feel in the moment. But I do that as well to make people feel appreciated and to be grateful for even having a conversation with someone. So Kandas, thank you for the opportunity to have you on my show. I appreciate
(00:38:18.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: it
(00:38:18.896) LuAnn Buechler: so much, so much, thanks. I think there's more for us to do in the world together.
(00:38:22.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I agree
(00:38:23.896) LuAnn Buechler: Because we are definitely like-minded, we will make sure that access to the Gratitude Geek Lab and the Gratitude Geek Podcast are in the show notes when we post the podcast. Of course, we'll share it with you as well to share with your audience and vice versa because that's what we're doing—collaborating with each other.
(00:38:45.996) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: I hope we also include the Creator Co-op mixers because I think that's the best opportunity that I offer.
(00:38:51.896) LuAnn Buechler: Okay? Well, no, wait a minute, I don't know what those are.
(00:38:54.896) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: That's the networking group that we've been talking about.
(00:38:57.496) LuAnn Buechler: Okay, so the networking group is not the Gratitude Geek Lab.
(00:39:01.196) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: Know. The lab is an incubator.
(00:39:02.996) LuAnn Buechler: The lab is a community.
(00:39:04.696) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: The lab is a community incubator.
(00:39:07.296) LuAnn Buechler: okay,
(00:39:08.096) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: The Creator Collab mixers are networking opportunities.
(00:39:13.096) LuAnn Buechler: Creator. Oh, lab
(00:39:14.596) Kandas Nesbitt-Rodarte: mixers mixers.
(00:39:16.696) LuAnn Buechler: All right. Well, send me an invite to that and we'll make sure to let everyone know it's for everybody else. All right, so go out, be grateful. Be grateful for the communities that you have and find the right communities that you can be grateful for. Thanks again, Kandas, for being on the show. Everybody have a great day.