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Ever wish you had a mentor to help you become who you were meant to be? Crystal Ware is redefining what it means to become your best self, in business, life, and love and sharing everything she she knows to get YOU there faster.
Are you stuck? Feel like you are meant for more but not sure how to breakthrough? Every week, we will explore all of your questions on building a path to true happiness, achieving success and creating our dream life. Brick by brick, we will work through the issues and mindsets that keep us stuck, dive into finding our passion and how to take ACTION. Clarity (vision) + Confidence (Owning your worth) + Courage (to live life on your own terms and become your own CEO) propels you to your destiny. And the good news it: its all within you!
Each week, host, Crystal Ware, will bring you all of the practical wisdom to grow every aspect of your career and life including mindset, vision, goal planning, social media management, financial acumen and so much more. You'll also meet top business leaders, entrepreneurs, mompreneurers and innovative thinkers who invested in themselves and found their way success and happiness by leading on their own terms.
You were made for more, so start living like it today. Join us as we take action, grow together, and get inspired to reach for your dreams.
Patrice Poltzer 0:00:05
I thought I was a millionaire. I'm like, I'm a millionaire. Eight strangers just gave me $297 on the Internet. It was just mind boggling that people would buy. Like, I couldn't even believe it. And she changed my life. And that is when my business went to the races.
Crystal Ware 0:00:19
Welcome to Get Clear with crystal ware. Get clear on our goals, own our worth, and learn to be the ceos of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business. Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learned to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board, and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear? Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. We are so happy to have you back. Today on the show, we have an amazing guest, Patrice Poltzer, award winning producer at the Today show. Gracie, storytelling award winner, mom to three boys just like me, founder and CEO of Patrice Poltzer Creative, where she has been working on storytelling with many of the brands that we know and love. So today on the show, me and produce are going to talk about so many things that have to do with career, building a career. You love pivoting storytelling and momming because those are all the things that impact, well, pretty much all of us.
Crystal Ware 0:01:40
So welcome to the show, Patrice. Can I just say, you have a great voice. Wow. I was not expecting that. And I was, like, listening to you, and I'm thinking, wow, you sound like you've been in the media or the news business before, but I don't think you have, so. Well, well done.
Patrice Poltzer 0:01:57
Well, thank you. That is such a good introduction and a kind word. I will tell you, then. I don't think I've ever said this on the show, but it's funny. My mom used to tell me as a child that, don't worry, if anybody kidnaps you, they will bring you back because you talk so much.
Crystal Ware 0:02:12
Nobody will want to listen to you. And they will get sick of you after 30 minutes. So I think I've just talked a lot in my life, and, yeah, I have not been on tv, but one day, maybe we can make these news segments something big and grand.
Crystal Ware 0:02:30
Well, yeah, I mean, hey, social media is the new tv, so for all intents and purposes, you are on tv. Yeah.
Patrice Poltzer 0:02:36
Well, it's true. This whole endeavor kind of started with me getting away from the traditional media during the election and Covid.
Crystal Ware 0:02:45
And it was so negative.
Patrice Poltzer 0:02:46
Right. I could not stand all the negativity. It was weighing me down. So I started getting on LinkedIn very regularly, and actually, I found there's so many brilliant people sharing so many interesting stories that are applicable and newsworthy right there in that social media platform. And that's really kind of what the catalyst for me to move forward was. So you're absolutely right. I love everything to do with social media and the news. We can get there, and we can do away with the negative news, as I call it. We can cultivate our own.
Crystal Ware 0:03:18
Exactly.
Patrice Poltzer 0:03:20
So I wanted to start with your background, because I think you really have an interesting background on your career and how things shaped. And I would love to know if you had these kind of intentions or ideas in college, post college, or how you kind of got out there, because I think it's really interesting for women to see all the different kinds of careers and how you can shape a different life, especially one that is unusual. And I know you have also a fun story about interning. So start from the beginning and tell us how you got into news media producing.
Crystal Ware 0:03:58
Yeah. So I'll give you cliff notes because we'll be here for the whole hour. But honestly, to be honest with you, I was a late bloomer. I didn't really kick start my career until I was almost 30. So for anyone listening that feels lost or feels that they're not on the path they thought they were supposed to be on or ware going to be on, do not fret, because I know that feeling. My 20s look like most people in their 20s were very lost. I'm from the midwest, and I'm sure it's not just the midwest. It's a lot of towns and a lot of places, but you sort of follow a script, right? You graduate from college, then you marry your college sweetheart, and then you have a corporate job, like a lawyer, like a consultant job in your. You crawl up the ladder and you make sure you're engaged, pregnant all by the time before you're 30. And if you're not on that path, then you're different. And I was not on that path. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and it was like, I graduated. And this sounds insane now that I think about it, but it's like, I graduated, and it hit me. Wait, I'm supposed to get a about.
Crystal Ware 0:05:12
Don't even talk to me about if people should be going to college, because it's like, oh, my God. Education, paying for. And I didn't realize how to get a job. But no, I was very lost when I left college. I ended up selling books door to door all over the country in a pure permission job. Nothing says lost like riding a bike around when you just graduated from college in the middle of Texas and you're like, what is my life right now? And I did that for three years. So it wasn't really until I got into my mid to late 20s where I started to just make some decisions and make some choices. And so fast forward. I ended up getting an internship, but I was 29. And I have a very vivid memory of this guy. His name is Jeff. I'll never forget his name. Walking up to me in the newsroom and he's like, is it true that you're almost 30? And it was like he saw inside my soul and saw my insecurity because I was very insecure about it.
Crystal Ware 0:06:18
And so I just remember thinking like, oh, my God, I'm never going to ever treat anyone if I ever get anywhere in this life or in a job, or like, I'm never going to make an intern or anyone feel. He made me feel so less than. And then after my internship, I decided to move to New York. And again, you always hear of the glamorous. I moved to New York in my twenty s, and I was almost 30 when I did this. Most of my friends were engaged, very serious. Some already had kids. So me leaving the midwest at almost 30 was not the script that you tend to follow. And I came to New York without a job. Craigslist, roommate. It was very much like make or break it. I didn't come from a family that's funding me. It wasn't like that. So I ended up getting a job in Bloomberg TV as an overnight producer. An overnight associate producer in the asian market news.
Crystal Ware 0:07:21
No one was more surprised than I was that I got that job, because I remember thinking, what about this resume screams anything about. It was just one of these situations where I think it doesn't even matter. But it was an awful job. It was overnight. I started at 02:00 a.m. Ended at eleven, but it was a foot in the door. I was not a full time employee. I was like, freelancing. So they don't have to pay you like health ware. It's all those like, especially in the media industry, so many industries, fashion media, some of these outwardly know you can take advantage, right, to be taken advantage of. People that just want to get in. So I did that job for a while. But, you know, like, once I got in in New York, it's like things went into hyperdrive. And ironically, I ended my media career at the end of 2016. I was at the Today show for six years as a producer.
Crystal Ware 0:08:25
And the only reason that I got that job, I know this because my boss is a mentor still. He's since left NBC. But I interviewed for that job. It was not at the Today show. It was for another department in NBC. And it was right at the time where BuzzFeed was coming into play and online video. Remember when BuzzFeed would do those food videos and they'd have like 5 billion views and everyone is like, oh, my God. And so all these news stations that knew nothing about digital media or nothing were freaking out. They're like, oh, my God, the Internet. The Internet, right? So it was a unit within the company that was my boss at the time, was so ahead of his time. He was like a leader. He was one of these visionary people. And he saw the writing on the wall, and he knew that the industry was going to head online. And so he had made this unit.
Crystal Ware 0:09:21
And this is not to get too geeky, but let's say you have a brand like Mercedes. They give the Today show, let's say 100 grand for advertisement. My boss would say to the ad sales team at Today show or NBC, give me 50 grand, give me 20 grand of that 100 grand budget, and we will make content for and for Mercedes. We'll put it on the Today show website. But we're not just going to make commercials. We're going to make, like, stories. And at the time, that was not what people did. Now we're used to watching TikToks and watching Instagram and going on YouTube and being told really great stories. But in 2012, 2013, there was not a lot of that. At the time, most big tv show platforms would just simply take the broadcast or let's say the anchors right in the morning, and they would just make little splices but not change anything for the Internet, right? So it didn't do well. So anyway, I got a job in his unit. And my boss said, when you interviewed with me, I was like, this chick has so underqualified, she has none of the skills. But it somehow came up that I sold books door to door in our interview. And he said that as soon as he heard that I sold books for three years, he goes, you were hired in my brain because I already knew that I could teach you any skill.
Crystal Ware 0:10:47
I could teach you how to edit video. I could teach you how to make a story. I could teach you how to write scripts. I could teach you all these technical skills. But not many people are willing to go door to door on 100% commission for not one, but two, but three years. It's so funny how sometimes when you look back at your life, and only in the hindsight, right when I was selling books door to door, those were some of my lowest days. I mean, literally just being rejected all day. You're in the hot sun. I was riding a bike, so lost. I'm like, I just graduated college, and I'm walking around. It was just very confusing. My whole family was confused. Like, wait, what are you doing? But honestly, that's the reason that I ended up getting my real first big break at NBC.
Patrice Poltzer 0:11:34
And I would like to say right there, for everybody listening, especially people that may be hiring other people, is that tracks perfectly with what I've experienced. Oftentimes, you find amazing candidates, and if they have the drive, the tenacity, the personality, that's going to fit in with the group, the team, the dynamic, so many of the skills are teachable. And I think it's a really sad place where we are in the world now where you have to have so many qualifications to get almost any job, and it's just, like, ridiculous. I really think we need to look for people that are teachable. And that's what I hear, is that he saw you were teachable. You had all these other kind of personality factors that were going to lend themselves to success. The technical skills.
Crystal Ware 0:12:25
Okay.
Patrice Poltzer 0:12:25
Unless you're going to be a brain surgeon or an architect.
Crystal Ware 0:12:28
Okay.
Patrice Poltzer 0:12:29
Maybe you need some qualifications there.
Crystal Ware 0:12:31
Yeah. Please hire for tech. Please hire for. Still on that, right. Please hire the best brain surgeon that really knows how to do surgery. Yes.
Patrice Poltzer 0:12:42
But like, 90% of the jobs out there, I really think a good mentor and a good environment, you can learn the right person with the right attitude, open mindedness, those kind of things. So I just wanted to butt in there and for everybody listening, to think about for yourself, be teachable, show the other qualities that you have, that you have, the determination, the drive, the factors to lend itself to success, and being open minded to being teachable, that will do wonders. And for people hiring, look for those things. Okay.
Crystal Ware 0:13:15
Because I do see that it's a.
Patrice Poltzer 0:13:18
Hard job market out there. People are struggling on both ends of the aisle, and if we take a practical approach like this, we would be just light years ahead. Okay, back to it. So he gave you an opportunity. He was visionary. And you got to get in on doing some really cool and new and trending things that really change the landscape of how ads are done, how stories ware sold, and how news is driven.
Crystal Ware 0:13:46
Yeah. And at the time, you didn't know that, but this was around 2013 14. And, yeah, he got me in. But again, he was volatile because he was a visionary. And when you're a visionary, you can't be too big for some of these companies, because if you're too big and you're too visionary, and it doesn't fit within, and it's all politics, right? When you get to be very high up. So then when the guy at the time that was running the whole division, he got pushed out. He was my boss's protector. And then it's so interesting, right? You get into these places and you're like, oh, my God, I'm not cut out for this battleship game. And I wasn't because you have to be a little bit political at some of these big places, I think, to really survive. And I was always on the verge of getting fired. So when my boss was pushed out, his unit was dismantled. But you know what? And it's funny, I just recorded another podcast a few weeks ago, and it made me email him thanking him, because you know what he did again?
Crystal Ware 0:14:54
Because he's one of the best bosses I've ever had in my life, is anyone who's ever worked for him will walk through fire. They're like, oh, because we had no vacation. He ran his little unit like a startup, right? He's like, I don't care where you work. This is before that was remote. Work was a thing. And so anyway, what he did was he was smart because he said to us, he goes, you guys are all going to lose your jobs because I'm getting dismantled. But here's what I'm going to do. He told me, he goes, patrice, I'm going to keep you active in this system. So your badge. Because at those big companies, having badge access is everything. That means you still get access to the. I could go into 30 rock every day, right? And being around, being seen, being visible, which is a whole other conundrum in this light of work, right? Where young people just aren't in the offices as much, but where I was in media, that was part of the game as well.
Crystal Ware 0:15:49
Like, kind of being there, being able to see someone in the cafeteria, being able to see someone at the coffee. So he let me be in the system. So the system did not know that I wasn't actually working there anymore. So what? That allowed me. It allowed me time. So my boss then would email his contacts and be like, hey, if you have a spot, this girl is amazing. You definitely want her. And so that's how I ended up getting a job on the Today show again, not because I came up through the ranks, because, a, I now had tech skills, because I was in this weird unit. I now knew how to shoot video. I could edit, and I could go and operate as a one woman band and tell stories all on my own. So I was cheap. I was cheap labor. So that's why I got in. Not because she's amazing.
Crystal Ware 0:16:38
Because. No, it was because, okay, she came from digital. She has some skills. And then my boss was like, oh, she works in the building. So he did me a solid. That's how I got my foot into today's show.
Patrice Poltzer 0:16:54
And that was a wild ride.
Crystal Ware 0:16:56
It was a very wild ride. It was both equal parts amazing. It was mostly amazing. But it's also one of those environments where you get in and you start looking around and you're like, oh, well, what's next? It's like that job where a lot of people don't leave because it's like, just, it is. There are lots of glamorous things, right? You're working in 30 rock, like Saturday Night Live is above you, and you're bumping into Jay Z or Jimmy Fallon or Beyonce. That aspect of working at the show is absolutely true. But at the end of the day, you are still beholden to creative ideas that aren't your own. Usually you're doing stories that you don't really want to do. You're on weird deadlines. You have to have weird hours. I mean, I was there for Sandy Hook. It was like the worst night of my life. You ware in it for everything.
Crystal Ware 0:17:55
And so if you don't want to be an executive because I didn't, and you don't want to just claw your way up as a producer and you maybe make. It's like that weird life where you're just doing the same job. So, anyway, I started getting twitchy when I'm like, I don't even know what my future is here. So in 2016, that was my last year I went out on a high. I ended up getting really involved with the syrian refugee crisis. I did a bunch of stories where I traveled and embedded myself with american mothers on the shores of turkey when the boats were coming. Mean, it changed my life, genuinely. It changed me as a person. And it was interesting because that whole year, I was fighting for parity for salary. I found out a much more junior male employee that was doing basically my job in less was making like 30,000, 40,000 more dollars than I was.
Patrice Poltzer 0:18:57
Can I ask how you found that out? Because this is like, my passion topic. It's like getting paid, owning your worth, asking and demanding what you're worth. So how did you even find that out?
Crystal Ware 0:19:09
Yeah, it was double fold. And actually I found out that another female producer was, like, making way more money than I was. And she was horrified when I told her what I was making. And she goes, you realize, blah, blah, blah, makes this. And this was the male, so I don't know how she knew, but it was like my eye, and this is right before I was pregnant. I was with my second kid, and I was just all ragey. So I remember marching in my boss's office. I'm like, this is bullshit. I'm like, I just found out that she makes this. And rather than be like, he's just like, yeah, so. And I was just like, well, I almost didn't know what the. I didn't plan this out in my brain. And I just said, I'm like, well, this is insane. But you are. You're made to feel very powerless in those situations because the attitude is someone wants your job, which is not true.
Crystal Ware 0:20:10
It might be true, but you're only as good as your last best story. So it's perfect. It's primes for people that work there. You're on that hamster wheel of, you can have the greatest thing in the world, and guess what? That airs for 2 minutes, and the minute that ends, you're back at square one being like, okay, what is the next? It's Sort of this constant. It's never fulfilling. You can never fill it up. So anyway, I ended up getting a raise. I remember that year. And I ended up doing this story that my boss didn't want me to do, but I made such a stink about it, and I went to his boss. I wouldn't do that now. And I, looking back, it was very insubordinate of me. But I copied an email and I was like, this is a news organization. And I'm like, we should be doing this story.
Crystal Ware 0:21:00
And if we don't do this story, I will do this myself. I mean, I was like, seven months pregnant. I was just like, do not mess. And I ended up getting approved. And that's how I went to Greece. I mean, it was a whole thing. Like, I went by myself with one other woman and two of us filmed. I was, like, massively pregnant, but it was, like, the greatest thing I ever did in my career. But then when I left for maternity leave, I ended up getting poached by a startup in New York. And first of all, that doesn't happen. Like, wait, what? No one wants a pregnant. Like, no one wants people on maternity leave in this startup. This is kind of hilarious, because kind of going back to my intern, I always have such a soft spot for interns. I was always, like, the intern's favorite.
Crystal Ware 0:21:43
Literally, it was like, me and a bunch of little hens. And I would like, come here. Come to Mama. Because I was just always so conscious of, like, they'd be like, what can I do? I'm like, no, just your presence is fine. I was like, I couldn't even tell them to do work, which is silly, but the interns always really liked me. And I remember right before I left for attorney leave, Phoebe comes up to me, and she's like, patrice. She goes, you have to get on Snapchat. And I go, Phoebe. At the time, I was like, I don't think anyone wants to. I'm like, a mom of two. What are you talking about? She's like, no. She's like, I think you would do really well on Snapchat. So I remember the week of me leaving on maternity leave, she showed me how to use Snapchat.
Crystal Ware 0:22:29
And this is in 2016. I sound like I'm 1000 years old right now. But back in 2016, moms were not on Snapchat, so I got on maternity leave. And when I say I literally had a snapchat world, it was like, I got so into it on my maternity leave. Because you know how it is when.
Patrice Poltzer 0:22:50
You'Re on maternity leave, you're in your own world. That's all there is.
Crystal Ware 0:22:53
I was like, this is amazing. I'm like, I'm breastfeeding. I'm like, let's go to get some wine in the stroller. I mean, it was like I had this whole. It was amazing. I had, like, friends, and so I ended up getting this random. You want to talk about random again? But again, there's a thread here. I'm, like, connecting the dots. Actually, as I'm saying this, I got an email on LinkedIn from the guy who was the CEO of this startup, and he starts his message off, by the way, this is LinkedIn in 2016. I maybe had my name. I wasn't on LinkedIn, so I don't even know how I checked my wasn't. But I remember he messaged me he goes, this sounds crazy. He goes, I'm obsessed with your snapchat. He goes, my whole team watches your Snapchat.
Crystal Ware 0:23:35
And every day we're like, what is that Brooklyn mom doing? And we need to watch her snaps. He's like, I think you need to come and run my video team for my company. And I remember thinking it was a joke. I was like, this is a joke. I was like, virtual. Because also I'm like, today's show, I wasn't looking. I just gotten a raise. I had just won an award. I won a Gracie award. I was flown out to LA with the cool kids. I was not a cool kid. So it was like, for the first time after feeling, like, late to the party, late, you know, for entering my was, I did have this moment of like, wow, this is like, I kind of felt know of what, and so I wasn't looking. And so when this guy was said that, I'm like, this is insane. But I met him for lunch in the west village, I'll never forget, I went and met him and it was like him and the founder and then this woman, and they were telling me about what they were doing and blah, blah, blah.
Crystal Ware 0:24:35
And we kept talking and the whole time. And finally they offered me this, we really want you to come and do this. And I remember thinking, I remember I called my boss on maternity leave, and I'm like, this is what they're offering me. And he's like, go. He's like, get out. He goes, everyone dies here. He's like, go. Clear. He knew. He goes, you need to get out. And then he goes, get out. Learn some stuff. I really had a good relationship. Me and my boss had like a, it was a respectful relationship. Even though we pissed each other off a lot, I respected him.
Crystal Ware 0:25:16
And so he goes, go and do stuff and then come back and you can be our bosses, right? That's how he kind of framed it. And so I didn't return from my maternity leave in 2016. I went straight into this new startup environment, and it was the worst job experience. It was pretty awful. But again, life is twist and turns. If that wouldn't have happened, I would never have started my own company. So that's how I exited the news business. I exited because I was invited to this startup. And to be honest with you, for many years, I didn't talk about that because the startup experience was such a soul crushing, esteem destroying, painful moment. And you have to understand, it was a big deal that I didn't come back from maternity leave. My team threw me a going away party. It was, like, my dream job. It was like, oh, my God, patrice, this is so cool. And I was so excited to go, and I didn't even last 100 days.
Crystal Ware 0:26:18
And so it was really hard because also, I probably didn't have the confidence to recognize things. And also, you internalize everything. I'm like, I'm worthless. I have no skills. I can't make it outside the walls of this environment. When you're in those toxic situations, you start to doubt all of your own decisions. I couldn't even order lunch. I remember one time a woman who was not very nice was asking me what I wanted for lunch one day. And I remember in my head, like, well, is this a test? Or am I supposed to say, you start to become crazy? And every day, I would leave that job. I would hold it in all day, and I would get on the subway, and I would just bawl. And it got to the point where it was like I was so openly every day, and my husband every day, he knew he'd have my toddler and my baby usually waiting for me in the apartment, and I would trudge up those stairs, and I would just open the door, and I would just collapse. It was such a dark period.
Patrice Poltzer 0:27:29
I just want to pause and say thank you to all the amazing people tuning in and making this show a success. And to share some exciting scoop, I am opening up, for the first time ever, one on one coaching. We have two options available, the executive edge two week program and the career catalyst six week program, which will use my proprietary earn it framework. If you're ready to propel your professional journey, crush your salary goals, or need someone to coach you through a big career decision, let's conquer it together. Limited spots for unlimited empowerment links. To sign up will be in the show notes and in the link tree on my Instagram and LinkedIn site. See you there. Yeah, I can relate to that. That's what I had. The same. And what I hear, though, is, like, one, it's so powerful that you had the courage to try something totally new and different, because how do you know that it's not for you? How do you know that it's not the right thing? And I'm big on you never want to have those what ifs, those I shoulda, coulda, woulda. And so to have the bravery to leave something really stable, known, engaged job and try something new, but then to also have the courage to say, this is terrible after 100 days, because I was talking to somebody just the other day, and they were talking with someone who had been at their job, I don't know, nine months, and they're like, it's not good. It's not for me.
Patrice Poltzer 0:29:08
It's not the right place. However, I'm really just trying to get to that year mark so it doesn't look bad on my resume.
Crystal Ware 0:29:14
Why?
Patrice Poltzer 0:29:15
Life is too short. If it's toxic, if it's eating you alive, if you are miserable and crying. I was at my job similar to that. I don't know, about ten months. Every day wasn't so bad, but it was not good. And it's partly like you said, it's like, what do you think about yourself? What does it make you feel about yourself? What are the labels that you're putting on yourself? And I think those are the things that hold most of us back. You talked about working at the Today show, and there's a certain panache with saying, I work at the Today show, and this is my job, and these are the people I get to rub elbows with. But if it's not growing you, and if it's not giving you the long term satisfaction, then what does having that label on that title on your resume do for you? When I hear you tell that, I think it's just brave, because it is hard to leave that behind. I had to leave behind being a lawyer. I still use my law degree, but I'm not a practicing lawyer. I left behind working at a very big Fortune 50 company, which was, like, such a big deal.
Patrice Poltzer 0:30:30
I had a great team. I was a boss, and just leaving those things behind. But when you see a vision for your life and when you think there are other things that you need to explore, it all adds up to the puzzle of who you are and where you get. So then you turn and you create this amazing company on your own. How did that go?
Crystal Ware 0:30:52
That sounds very nice. You make it sound like it was intentional, but no, honestly. Oh, God. I mean, that was just never on the radar. Entrepreneurship was never something that I aspired to be genuinely. I always assumed that you had to be very special, because whenever you hear stories about entrepreneurship, and granted, this is. Maybe it's changing now because everyone has a business now, but there was a period of time where you either knew you wanted to have this amazing idea, like the Steve jobs, right? Or we always knew she had a lemonade stand when she was five years old and she was selling bracelets in third grade. It's like every entrepreneur story kind of followed this similar arc of, like, you were born out of the womb. Knowing that you were special and you had this idea and you knew how to execute or you had family or you had family money. It wasn't even available to me. No one was entrepreneurs in my family. It wasn't like I had that modeling. And so I remember after this job ended in like a hot, fiery death. At the time, I had the health insurance.
Crystal Ware 0:32:06
It was very scary. My husband had taken his own career risks earlier, and this was a four year play, and I was making really good money. So I was going to kind of like my turn to kind of take the reins of, we lived in New York City, young kids. Our cost of living was high. And so when I lost that, it was like, oh, my God. And I remember I was so depressed that I couldn't even fathom interviewing. There was no way. And also, I was embarrassed because I couldn't tell even my own colleagues that I don't work there anymore.
Patrice Poltzer 0:32:42
Well, why?
Patrice Poltzer 0:32:44
What was wrong with you? Why didn't it work out for you? Right? And so I remember I told my boss and he kind of said, he goes, well, you can come back. And I remember thinking like, oh, my God. And not that I was putting my nose up to that because it was a great job, but really, I'm going to come back. I have to going away party. And she's back. So it got to a point where actually my husband just said, he's like, he needs you to just get up off the floor. Literally, my baby tried a newborn, a toddler. And I remember there was, like this moment where my baby was looking at me in his bouncer chair, and I was just, like, staring at him and he was, like, smiling. And I just kind of had this moment. I'm like, I got to get up. I got to get up. So at the time, I remember thinking to myself, okay, maybe I'll try to just do a project just to get my esteem back, just to get myself healthy in a healthier mental spot.
Patrice Poltzer 0:33:45
And so there was someone who knew someone because I had the Today show credentials, right? So people that had, again, a little bit of credibility, it's like, oh, I was a producer. So someone had a company and they're like, hey, we need to make a video for our website. It was a vitamin subscription company. And they're like, do you want to do it? And I'm like, I mean, no, I did not. But I was like, I need money, and I just need to just start earning some income. So I remember I had no idea what I was doing, even though I was making shows or tv and online stuff. There's like a different switch when it's corporate. And it's interesting. The one good thing about this, not the one good thing, there was actually a few, but the startup, it was the first time I got exposed to brands in a real way because it was a little bit like I was doing back in that first job at NBC where we were like making videos for Mercedes, but we were doing it in a different, it was sort of similar. I kind of got reexposed back into that world of like, again, all these brands wanted to make video. And so there was this thinking of like, oh, my God, these marketing people are terrible. They don't know what they're doing. Because when you come from editorial land, there's no time for that.
Patrice Poltzer 0:35:07
You can't be a commercial. You actually have to focus on the story and the heart and the soul and connecting to the audience. They don't change the channel. So my brain was just thinking about how they would tell their commercial different. So I did this video for this website. I shot it, I edited it, and then someone else was like, my company started as pure production where it was like companies, brands, small businesses would hire me to make video. But I didn't take myself seriously. I was like, this is not what I want to do. I don't want to run a production company. It's very duty, too. I was in New York City and people would be like, what camera should I use? I'd be like, I have no idea. Don't ask me. I don't know. It'd be like, sha Sony or a canon.
Patrice Poltzer 0:35:58
I'd be like, and then you start realizing when brands start hiring you. I'm like, I'm just project managing here because I would have to scramble to go find my freelancers. Let's say my project was 30 grand. You were not making 30 grand. You are paying your shooters, you're paying your editors. And also I learned real quickly that this was not sustainable because two times had happened where I had a shoot and I had locked in like my best freelancer, right? My shooter. I had two shooters and they knew each other. Guess what? They got offered a month long gig in LA.
Patrice Poltzer 0:36:38
Sorry.
Crystal Ware 0:36:39
Yeah, okay. I know we were going to make whatever, but we're going to make five times that amount in 30 days. So I had two different projects at the last, the week of the shoot drop out. And I'm like, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. And at the time, I was running around like a mad person. Lights. I wasn't making much money. I really wanted to have a third baby at this time. My husband's like, are you crazy? We're New York City. You want another baby? I was, like, going bankrupt. I was literally going in credit card debt, because even though I was like, I had Amazon as a client, I had Netflix. So from the outside, if you would think like, oh, my. And actually, you wouldn't, because I didn't post on social media.
Crystal Ware 0:37:23
I didn't do anything. No marketing. It was all, like, kind of just my network. But it all came unraveling around Covid, where I'm like, this is not sustainable. So I serendipitously met this woman online, and I ended up taking a mastermind. This is in at the top of 2020. Before COVID I had no idea what a mastermind was. I didn't know you could make money online. I remember thinking, like, what? She goes, you are not thinking about your business, right? She goes, you need to get online. I'm like, and do what? I'm not an influencer. Like, what? She goes, no, you need to teach people how to storytell.
Crystal Ware 0:38:05
I remember she changed my life. I'm still really good friends with her. She's the smartest person I know. She taught me everything. I took a mastermind 90 days with her. I gave this woman $10,000. I put it on a credit card. I'll never forget it. It was, like, the craziest thing I've ever done. A stranger I had just met, I had one Zoom chat with her, and by the end of the zoom, I'm like, take my money, which I didn't have. I remember I talked to my husband. I'm like, I need to put ten grand on this credit card, because I just feel this in my gut that I need to learn this. I need to know how to go online. I need to know how to make more money coming from different places. And right now, all I know how to do is make money from selling my services.
Crystal Ware 0:38:40
And it's a long sales cycle, and in order to make good money for where we were living, I needed to really be closing bigish projects a few times a month. And those had long sales cycles, so I was like, the math is not mathing. So anyway, I took this mastermind, and I swear to God, right before COVID hit, I finished her mastermind, and she taught me how to think about selling. I made my Instagram public. She goes, your Instagram is your marketing platform. She goes, it is not your family album. She goes, if you want a family album. You go started, that's fine. But this is your marketing platform. This is free marketing. She goes, you are a storyteller. She's like, you got to start using your skills like, you're not using them. You're not opening up. You're not showing up. I'm like, oh, my God.
Crystal Ware 0:39:27
And so I remember my first ever product I ever sold was a $297 Zoom four week boot camp about how to make a video. And she taught me everything. She taught me how to presell. I did not make a single piece of content. I sold everything. You sell everything first. Most people do it wrong. They do it backwards. They spend all this time on a product or a class or a pdf or a digital download, and then they announce it to the world, and it's crickets. She goes, it's not how that you do. So she taught me, and I swear to God, Zoom sold eight spots. Eight strangers. I thought I was a millionaire. I'm like, I'm a millionaire. Eight strangers just gave me $297 on the Internet.
Crystal Ware 0:40:05
I remember my sister was helping me. We have this all on video. And I'm like, I just made $1,000. It was just mind boggling that people would buy. I couldn't even believe it. And she changed my life. And that is when my business went to the races. And it all happened during COVID because I also was pregnant with my third. I won, got my third baby, but I also now couldn't do production. It was shut, so I had no choice. My back was to the wall. So again, all the overthinking I might have been doing, like, I don't want to get online, or what am I going to say? I'm not an influencer. I was like, oh, fuck that. I am pregnant with my third.
Crystal Ware 0:40:46
My business is shut. What is happening to the world? It's burning. What do I have to lose? And I just went all in, and I literally one day showed up on my instagram, and I have not gotten off my instagram since it's been three years. I show up every day. And I've built a very successful business online. And now most of my business is online. And I have a small portion. My video team, I ended up partnering with a video production company in New York that I still use. And it's great because I can take any projects and I don't have to run around chasing freelancers, but I get a cut. And if I have to be on set, then I get a bigger cut. But anyway, so my business has really pivoted and now that I'm living in Lisbon, it's going to pivot even more. So life is wild.
Patrice Poltzer 0:41:33
When you ware 29 and you're interning, what would that girl think about who you ware today, the life that you're living, and, like, all that you've done.
Crystal Ware 0:41:45
That'S a good business you've built. Yeah. I mean, no, it's a really good question because I think also one of the downsides of working for yourself is that it's really easy to just never step outside of yourself and acknowledge and be proud. It's a weird state of mind where, because you are a little bit in a silo, you kind of don't have that. At least at the company, a boss could be like, great job, or you win an award. It's like you kind of get these little nuggets of validation, and the validation isn't the same, right? It is in sales, and, sure, but it's different. Honestly, if my 29 year old self could see me now, I think she'd be really proud. I think she'd be blown away, actually. I don't think she'd be actually living in a european country with three kids in a business. I think she'd be like, that's someone else's story. Swipe left. What? So even I sometimes. It's weird.
Crystal Ware 0:42:56
I'm like, I can't believe I live in Europe right now. My kids go to school and are speaking like, it's weird. Yeah.
Patrice Poltzer 0:43:07
I mean, I remember one time I specifically. It was like, you've been in the subway in. Sure. You know, and if it's commute time, it's, like, stinky and hot and it's crazy and crowded and everybody's like, go, go. I feel like it's New York subway on steroids, to be honest. And I just remember I'm hustling down the stairs. I'm, like, trying to get on the train and running and dodging people, making sure I get on the right track because I've got on the wrong one before. And then I was on the periphery of town, not knowing where the hell I was. And I'm walking through, and I just had this moment. It just. Light was shining on me in that dark little subway, and I literally did a circle in the subway and said, this is all I'd ever dreamed of as a little girl wanting to get out of Texas and explore and work internationally and be around these different cultures and learning and growing, and this is it. And it just. The feeling hit me on an inky.
Crystal Ware 0:44:09
Old subway, I love it.
Patrice Poltzer 0:44:11
And I just got teared up, and I was know, this is it. And I come back to that moment all the time. Because when you are pushing in your purpose and your goals and your dreams, it's scary. It's hard. You have three kids. Life is not easy. People can sit around and look at me and think, oh, your life is so grand from the outside. Life is never as easy as it looks for people. And I'm not saying that to, like, woe is me because I love my life, and it is great, but everybody has challenges. And so when I think about where am I going? What am I trying to achieve and the drive that I have to give something meaningful to the world that also fills the hole in my heart and the things that I want to create. When it's challenging, I try to bring myself back to that place in the subway and think, I love that. I love my life. I am so thankful for all that I've done, all that I am and all that I have, and I just need to keep going.
Crystal Ware 0:45:13
No, I think it's. And, you know, it's because I am recently moved from New York to Lisbon, and it's been a very challenging hundred days. The only thing I can describe it is I feel like I'm shedding skin. Living in New York is like an identity, and it's the type of thing where you get it or you don't get. But, like, if you love living in York like it is, and I didn't realize. I love living in New York. I love raising my kids there. I loved it. I love the chaos. I love the subway. I love the chaos, the dirt. I like seeing the, like, I love the beautiful. Like, everything, it was just like, everything was just at your disposal, and I really felt know there's a reason people go to New York to pursue their dream. So you really are surrounded by energy that is palpable. Right.
Crystal Ware 0:46:01
You can't put your finger on it, but I really believe it's because you're just around a lot of people that are going after it. And when you're around that, that makes you want to do better and be better. Right. However, there's a lot of downside to that, too. But what I'm realizing here is kind of pulled out of that, I'm unraveling because I'm like, wow, I really tied a lot of my own identity into living there, and I don't live there anymore. I live in Lisbon. And it is like I don't know who I am here. Not to sound like, too esoteric, but I don't have a community. Right? I spent 13 years building a community. I don't have that. I don't know the language. I'm bad at things. I don't know how to pay things with an app, everything. I feel like I am starting over in this really interesting way, and I'm trying to embrace it, but it's hard.
Crystal Ware 0:46:48
And there are days where I'm like, this feels too hard. But I also think, I know intuitively in my gut that this is how you keep unlocking those levels, right. Of personal growth, happiness. Not everyone's happiness is moving their family to an international, to internationally. But what's your version of that? And I think most people don't do that. Most people stay. Most people are fine with fine. Most people are too scared to try something, whether that's leave the job, leave the relationship, try on a new health routine move, whether it's international, whether it's to a different town, whether it's to a different state. So you kind of live this life where I think most people are like in this homostasis place where I know that to kind of get to that feeling of like, oh, I'm alive, or I'm really, to me, maximizing life because we don't know how long we have. To me, it's experiences, and this is a hard experience. I'm in the hard part of this experience right now, but I do know that the only way out of it is through. But I know I'm going to be different when I come out of it, and I think it'll be better.
Patrice Poltzer 0:48:11
And so what was the genesis for the move?
Crystal Ware 0:48:14
Lots of little wasn't. Like I said, I love living in New York. There's nowhere else I'd rather live. That's also when you kind of realize, living in the United States, I'm like, there is nowhere I'd rather live. And so all of a sudden that becomes very expensive. We have three know. I run a start. You're in that hustle where you're like, what are we know? New York has gotten out of control cost wise. And I'm not just saying that because New York is always expensive, but truly just gross. Where you're just like, this is not tenable. This is not tenable. So when you start doing that, we're not suburb people. There are certain places in the country I just can't move to. So it's like, okay, all of a sudden your options shrink.
Crystal Ware 0:49:02
The guns. The guns. I think it's insanity. What us american parents are forced to deal with in the country. And there's so many Americans actually leaving the country because of that. And there was an incident at my kids school, and you think like, oh, I'm in New York. Gun laws are strict. It's like, no. I also grew up in a suburb of Chicago, right near Highland park. It was a mass shooting there, 4 July, 10 minutes from where I grew up. That town is traumatized. I know. So many people forever traumatized. It's like, this is dumb. So a little bit of the politics, little bit of the cost of living.
Crystal Ware 0:49:40
We like adventure. My husband's british, so we travel to Europe every summer because we usually come to London, and then we'll go bop around. And also, my kids ages are perfect. They're ten, seven, and three. If we don't do this now, we wouldn't do it, because the older my kids get, it's harder to move during teenage years, although I've met so many people that have moved teens. And it's wild. It's really interesting. So we tell ourselves these stories, but actually, these teens are so thankful they're american. They're so thankful to have this experience. And even though it was hard, they now can see why their parents did it. And also, quality of life. The Europeans, man, it's healthcare. Like the health care, the mental health, the way they view the world. I kind of wanted to experience it. You always hear about it, and vacationing is one thing, but living is another.
Crystal Ware 0:50:30
And I'm like, let's try this on for a few years. So we're going to try it, and worst case scenario, we move back. Moving is not like this. I think white flag. I think when we were younger, when someone moved, it was like, well, that's it. That's the rest of your life. Moving doesn't have to be like the rest of your.
Patrice Poltzer 0:50:54
Is. Do you remember, what were they called? Glamour girls, the british glamour girls years ago. Jordan.
Crystal Ware 0:51:01
Oh, wait. Yeah. Yes.
Patrice Poltzer 0:51:03
Okay, so she has a podcast with her sister. I've never listened to it. I don't even know how I found out about this, but her sister is like the complete opposite of her. This sweet little just british lady raising her little baby, and they co host this podcast. Anyway, I found her sister on Instagram, and I started following her, and I can't remember her name, but she lives in the countryside of London. And in my mind, this is the jam. Like, I am a city girl. I want to be near the city, but then I see those cute little british towns, and I'm like, f all of this. Like, I'm out. Let's go, family. I'm out of here. But I don't want to live in the city in Europe. I want to live in a little cottage village and go to the butcher, go to my little maytag repair guy. It's not like in America where you have these pay for hire. You have legitimately trained people for all the trades and all the things, and it's just like this cute little community.
Crystal Ware 0:52:00
You're so funny.
Patrice Poltzer 0:52:01
So my husband is just stateside, so it's me fantasizing, but it's always in the back of my head that, like, in ten years, you can summer, maybe.
Crystal Ware 0:52:09
You can start going somewhere for the.
Patrice Poltzer 0:52:12
Summers and chunks that this summer is probably, my husband works in baseball, so summer is hard for him.
Crystal Ware 0:52:19
Got it.
Patrice Poltzer 0:52:20
But for me, I think I maybe mentioned this to you. A message one time is like, I think I'm going to try to be brave, and my husband will come for a week, but I'm going to stay for another week by myself with all three kids. Oh, my God.
Crystal Ware 0:52:33
I live in Lisbon, but there's so many amazing beach towns and farm. I just met this woman this morning for coffee who lives in Portugal, but she lives in a sustainable farm that she.
Patrice Poltzer 0:52:46
Come, and everybody in Europe travels with their kids. So I feel like it's just more.
Crystal Ware 0:52:52
You'Re going to die. I don't know how much you spend time, but even traveling, they see you at the airport. This is how I know I land in Europe. When I landed in Lisbon with my family, a man comes up to me and goes, come here, over here. Takes me, removes me from the long line for customs, and brings me to a special. Just, it's like, this is how it should be. There is a bar and a kiosk in every single park in Lisbon. Every bar, there's a bathroom, a nice bathroom, and there's a bar with food and snacks. It's like, oh, yes.
Crystal Ware 0:53:26
How can we reorganize and reorient our life around family centricity, which is so important. But, Patrice, I want to be respectful of your time. I know you have so much going on.
Crystal Ware 0:53:37
Thank you so much for this amazing conversation. Let people know where they can find you and if there's anything else you want to plug or any program or anything that you're coming.
Patrice Poltzer 0:53:46
I mean, so Instagram. Patrice Poltzer is my handle. I spend a lot of time there, and my specialty is helping leaders, business owners, and people in corporate who maybe have to do a lot of speaking or have to do a lot of presenting, tapping into the power of their own stories in order to have more impact. I specialize in founder story. I make videos, and I also am huge geek into AI and how AI helps storytelling because not everyone's a born storyteller. So AI has been this amazing tool. So I run cohorts, I run programs, and yeah, right now, probably the one thing that's like the easiest, lowest lift is I have an AI workshop that is like a really great intro into how to think about using AI for the emotional part. This is not like, here's 55 Chat GPT prompts. This is actually, can we use AI to help us emotionally tap into the power of emotional storytelling, which makes it powerful. And then I also have a video intro course. Like, if you've never done video and you're like, what? But you know you need to start learning video. I have a video class about how to make a compelling 62nd video using a lot of my processes from my days working at the Today show and working with businesses.
Crystal Ware 0:55:07
That's amazing, guys. Connect and follow Patrice. She also does a lot on LinkedIn and if you need help building your story, building a speech, doing anything related to that, just reach out. She is amazing. Thank you so much for your time as I knew this would fly by everybody. Keep getting clear. Keep working on your pivot. Know that whatever it is that you're looking for out there, for that happiness, when you take the bravery and courage to go after it, you will get there. You will find it. So don't be afraid to shed the old and start something new. Until next time, keep getting clear thanks so much for tuning in. If you want to create a career you love, get the salary you deserve and build the confidence to live life on your own terms. Sign up for my free newsletter where you'll get actionable tips to raise your worth, build your wealth, create freedom, and create a life you absolutely love. Head over to crystalwaremedia.com to sign up or click the link in the show notes and join thousands of others making their dreams a reality. Whether you are just embarking on the journey or well on your way, the worthful newsletter has something for you.