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Join host Linda Ostovitz each month for meaningful, practical discussions with guests who are on the cutting edge of business. They'll talk and you'll grow.
Linda Ostovitz: Hello everyone and
welcome to Real Talk Real Growth.
I'm Linda Ostovitz and I am
thrilled to have as our guest
today, my friend Lynda Ellis, who
is the owner of Capitol Concierge.
I met Lynda through my board service with
the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.
I am the immediate past board chair, and
I'm still a member of the board as I have
been for a number of years, and right
now, chair the small business committee.
And in that position, I have been very
fortunate to have great opportunities
to really get to know people who
perhaps I might not have had the
opportunity to get to know as I have.
And Lynda is one of those people, and I
think she really hit my radar last year
when she was awarded recognition from
the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.
And I don't remember what it was called,
Lynda, but the award was given to you for
the fact that you had grown so much in a
short period of time in a business life.
We were looking at three years and
how much you had grown your business.
And frankly, I enjoyed being with you
and spending time with you, but when
I saw that, I thought, oh my goodness,
I need to know more about this woman's
business acumen, which is extraordinary.
So Lynda, thank you so much
for being with us today.
Look forward to our conversation
and sharing how it is that you
have come to be so successful.
Lynda Ellis: Thank you so much for
the invitation allowing me this honor.
Linda, it is really, really special
and may I say you are such a leader for
business and for women, so thank you.
Linda Ostovitz: Well, thank you
so much, but let's talk about you.
So, Capitol Concierge, is
the name of your business.
And if you would share with our
listeners, what Capitol Concierge does.
I know I was blown away when you
told me, so let's just blow away the
rest of our audience this afternoon.
Lynda Ellis: Well, thank you.
We are the people who do whatever you need
us to do that you don't have time to do.
So, our company is 35 years old.
We were started with five commercial
office properties where we are
the concierge of the front desk,
the person who greets you and says
goodnight to you when you leave.
And I came to the company in 98 and we
have flourished because of our team.
And so we're in residential properties,
we're at the front desk and we're in
private companies like, Facebook and
Google and Generali, which is the largest
travel insurance company in the world.
And we're in private companies who care
about their employees and want their
employees to have a better work life.
And we do those things that, as
long as it's legal and ethical,
that you don't have time to do.
The everyday stuff that you
think I'll get to, I'll get to,
I'll get to, but you never do.
Linda Ostovitz: So it's very interesting
that you point out in particular, as
long as it's legal and ethical, because
this woman, as you will hear, has lines
in the sand for what she does, how she
does it, who works for her, who doesn't
work for her, all of which really have
I'm oversimplifying this, have led her
to the success that she enjoys right now.
So I heard what you said, we do what
other people don't have the time
to do, but could you give us some
examples of the extraordinary things?
I think they're extraordinary.
Maybe your every day, I dunno, things that
your concierge have done for your clients.
Lynda Ellis: I'm happy to do that because
a lot of them are such fun things.
We do things that are not as fun.
I'll go into that.
But some of the fun things that we
have done is one of our Facebookers at
Facebook emailed our concierge and said,
I need 30 yards of this purple fabric.
And he had sent the concierge a
picture in a bizarre magazine of an
advertisement and there was a model
in it wearing a purple jacket, and he
said, I need 30 yards of that material.
It was not an advertisement for
the jacket itself, so our concierge
were all very resourceful.
That's one of the things we looked for.
And so the concierge called
Bazaar Magazine, found out
who the advertiser was.
Got the advertising agency so that we
could find out who the model agency
was and then determine whether that
model wearing that purple jacket was
a model modeling a designer jacket or
was it a jacket that he just put on?
So once we found that out, we called
the manufacturer of the jacket to
determine who was the manufacturer
of the material of that jacket.
And within two weeks, the Facebooker had.
30 yards of material that he wanted.
Linda Ostovitz: What resources you have.
I think you also shared with
me that one of your concierge
arranged a funeral for one of the,
I'm gonna use the word tenants.
I don't know if that's correct, but maybe
one of the tenants in their building and
another one arranged a from beginning
to end, a 25 year anniversary trip.
Could you just talk about those briefly?
Lynda Ellis: Those are so wonderful and
when I referenced the funeral service,
Linda, it gives us an opportunity to
make a difference in someone else's life.
And then during COVID, we were honored
to help many families with the parting
of their loved one and arranging
funeral services for those loved ones.
And it's really hard,
as you can well imagine.
And it was a wonderful opportunity
to make a difference in someone's
life that we couldn't shake their
hand or see personally, but it was a
really hard time and we were able to
lighten that load and it was truly a
blessing for us to be able to do that.
And in terms of the 25 th anniversary,
it was so fun because our client told
me he wanted something special, told
our concierge he wanted something
very special and they went on to an
island, they were there for a week
and one of the days he wanted a
beautiful, beautiful day of sailing.
And so he wanted a specific yacht
in terms of the feet of the yacht.
He wanted a captain so he
wouldn't have to sail it himself.
He wanted it catered.
He wanted special wines and he
wanted breakfast, lunch, and dinner
on that yacht by candlelight.
It happened, the weather cooperated.
It was beautiful weather.
And he came back and he said it
was the most amazing trip that
he and his wife had ever spent.
And he said it was wonderful
because of what you did.
It was so wonderful that, and we don't
encourage this, but he actually texted
me the next day and said, I want to
bring something back for the concierge.
And I see some earrings, could
I bring those back for her?
It was just such a really nice
touch, but they felt so wonderful.
And it's the memory.
It's the memory that we helped
create for them, and that's truly
an honor to be able to do that.
Linda Ostovitz: Well, you gave me
some chills during those two stories,
and then I think, my goodness,
she even controls the weather.
So that's pretty incredible.
So you had worked for Capitol
Concierge in management for a number
of years before you bought it.
So can you give us an idea of the size
of the company, what its capacity was,
what it was doing when you bought it?
Lynda Ellis: Absolutely.
I met our founder, Mary Naylor, and she's
one of those people who knows what the
market wants before the market wants it.
And so she was starting another
company and she wanted someone to
come in and run Capitol Concierge,
and that's something that I have done
throughout my career is run companies.
I just sold my second company and I
was looking for something different.
I was in instructional
technology for over 25 years.
It was fun.
It was good to me, but I
wanted something different.
And when I came to the company,
when I met Mary, I didn't
know how to spell concierge.
I can do that now.
And Mary and I just absolutely matched.
Our strengths and our weaknesses
complimented one another.
We talked from 10 to 10.
One day she called me at 11, made me
an offer, and the rest is history.
And at that time there were 19
people in our corporate office.
I don't have that now.
Because I believe in very
flat organizations, it keeps
you close to the client.
And we had at the time, 87 employees
and we were only in commercial
office properties providing, being
the person at the front desk.
And so I went to Mary, I said, why
don't we go into shopping malls?
And she said, yeah, I think that's great.
So we did a lot of work in shopping malls.
Tyson's Corner Center, Columbia Mall,
Towson, malls in Massachusetts, in
North and South Carolina and in Texas.
And then I wanted to go into residential.
Into high-end condominiums.
And she said, Lynda, that's a pain.
It is a pain, but we love it.
It's we, so we are a
company 24 by seven by 365.
And that's been very good to us.
And then I said, we need to provide our
service to corporations whose employers
value their employees, and how can
we make their day better so that the
individual employee feels seen and valued?
I'm very much a grower, Linda.
I get bored if we're not growing.
And we just started to grow and in 2007
after trying to sell the company for
our board three times, I went to the
board and said, why don't I buy it?
They said, oh, that's a great idea.
I said, yeah, that's a great idea.
It depends on the day,
whether it's a great idea.
And so I went to the company to our
employees and said, if you'll come along
with me on this journey, we will make
this company a national company and then
a global company, and we've done that.
We have a company in Ireland.
We have a company in the UK.
We're all over the United States.
It's wherever our client needs us to be.
And that has been such a wonderful gift
to me personally, both as a business
person, but as an entrepreneur.
We have over 300 people.
We're approaching 400 and it's because
of those people, we've been able to grow.
Our contracts, we are annual contracts
and we have contracts that we've had
for 30 years, and that's because we
understand you don't win or keep a client
when the contract is renewed in a year.
You keep that client every day with every
experience, with every touch, with anybody
that you see, and that's our standard.
Linda Ostovitz: So it sounds like
you had goals of going national, then
international, increasing your staff,
if you will, going into residential and
you've hit every single one of them.
So the question any entrepreneur would
have, and the one I have certainly
that has caused us to be having this
discussion is how do you do that?
How do you accomplish those goals?
You are not, from my observation, a
company that does a lot of advertising
or is in social media or billboards.
I'm dating myself, I know.
But how is it that you have been
so successful in what you have
accomplished in meeting your goals?
Lynda Ellis: I think a
couple of things, Linda.
It's our standard.
We're very selective how we hire, but
it's making every single one of our
employees know that not only that they're
seen, but they're truly valued and
they are a part of this organization.
And I talked to them about,
it doesn't matter if we have
a hundred, 200, 500 employees.
We have one company, one set
of standards, one mission.
Our values are united together.
And so people know, I think being
clear to employees what your
expectations are, what your vision is.
And quite honestly, Linda,
it's the people, our employees
have made our growth, not me.
I'm pretty good at staying
out of people's way.
We hire great people and let them do
their job and they know they are a part
of the team, but there's only one team.
We have several hundred concierges,
several hundred employees.
There's only one team.
Linda Ostovitz: We talked, I think a
little bit about, previously, that getting
the right employee, especially since
that's how you have grown this company, is
critical and I remember very clearly you
articulating your standard to me a hundred
percent, a hundred percent of the time,
Lynda Ellis: Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: And there's a
lot of people out there looking
for jobs and there's a lot of
competition for good employees.
What process do you utilize?
How many people do you have to go through
to find that next one employee who
gets the privilege of working for you?
Lynda Ellis: We're very selective.
As I've shared with you we have in-house
recruiters, and they're at an average of
34 interviews to find one that we will
invite into the company and we are very
specific about what we're looking for.
There are things that you must bring
with you that we can't teach you.
We can teach you how to be a concierge.
We can't teach you to be
on time every single day.
We can't teach you to have a smile on
your face when your day is horrible.
We can't teach you to hold the
door open for someone just because.
It's gotta be automatic.
And we look for people who genuinely,
authentically want to make someone else's
day better when their day is horrible.
That's what we look for, and I am the
first one up when we do our training,
and there's a couple of reasons for that.
I want people to know who I am
and that I'm accessible to them.
Each one of them, every single one of
our employees has my cell phone, which
is on 24 by seven by 365, but I share
with them, here's the edition, here's
who we are, these are our values.
And I congratulate you.
So let's say our training for one day
is 10 people 'cause the math is easy.
We know that there have been
340 interviews for these 10
people to be in this room.
And so I congratulate them for
joining the team and thank them for
accepting our invitation to join
the team because they have choices.
And I always tell them, think about this.
340 people wanted the seat
that you're in right now.
Think how special you are.
I start with a question does everybody
here agree with me that there are
billions of people on this planet?
Billions.
And yes, they do.
And then I say to them, but you
realize there's only one you.
Just.
One.
You.
That's how special you are and
that's how special our company is.
And you've just joined a
team of over 300 colleagues.
And from the very beginning I want them
to feel I, whoever I am, I am important.
I also share that we have different jobs.
I do a job of trying to
create or creating the vision.
They're doing the job of buying
into that vision and helping to
create the reality of that vision.
And they're special.
And so I think by helping people
feel that they count, they stay.
We have very high retention.
And I may have shared with you
that if you are with us a year,
you're gonna be with us five.
If you're with us five, you're
gonna be with us for a long time.
And I have to share with you, I don't
know that I've shared this but last
Thursday, our president and three of
our operations managers hosted three
of our employees at a very, very nice
dinner, two of which we were celebrating
their 20th anniversary with our company,
and one of which, on that Thursday
night was his 30th anniversary with us.
It's about being a part of something
bigger than yourself and that you know
that you count because people have
choices and they can leave whenever
they want, but they wanna be here.
It starts at the very beginning so
that they know from the CEO owner to
every single other employee, we're
all one team and we're together.
Linda Ostovitz: Everybody talks about the
importance of what you have just said, and
it's not a hard thing to agree to, right?
We're one team, we want people to know
we're important, but the execution
seems to be so hard to accomplish.
You've done it.
Now, do you have other people at other
levels in the organization who you
can't meet with 300 people every day.
We understand that, and
you're a force of nature.
When people are in your presence,
they feel everything you just said.
But what do you do after you've
had the opportunity to share with
them or make them recognize how
special they are to have that
reinforced over time by other people?
How does that work?
Lynda Ellis: Because we hire that, we
hire people for what they, who they are.
What they believe in and their integrity.
Those are all characteristics
that we look for.
You mentioned my a hundred percent of a
hundred percent of the time, one of the
things I talk a lot about in training,
and I'm not doing, I'm only, I think
my piece is like 30 minutes and part
of it is getting to know the new hires.
It's the genuineness of that experience
and I share with them, our standard
is a hundred percent of a hundred
percent of the time, and you have
to go way beyond a hundred percent
to get noticed in this company.
And the reason our floor, the reason
our foundation is a hundred percent a
hundred percent of the time is how do
I go to a client and say, I'm gonna
charge you a hundred percent of the
fee, but I'm only gonna give you 99%.
Because when I'm a customer, I want
a hundred percent of my manicure.
I want a hundred percent of my haircut.
I want a hundred percent of
my maintenance on my car.
I don't want 99.9.
I paid you a hundred percent.
And so many times people it's hard.
That's why it's hard for the first year.
Because life is what life is.
And we all have challenges where
people are sick and I'm really
worried about my loved one.
They had a horrible diagnosis,
just come on or they shared with
me, or I have four flat tires.
What am I gonna do?
When you put your hand on the door
of you're building, it is showtime.
There are no exceptions, and
I'm very clear about that.
That goes for whatever.
And I don't wanna say levels
'cause I don't believe we
have levels in our company.
We have different jobs in our company.
So whether you are in the corporate
office, you're a part-timer.
We have 70 over, I think we're
about 70 on-call people, that
there's only one standard.
And I share with them, if you get
into this company, it's not what you
thought it would be, or it's not what
you wanna do, because I'm a really
staunch believer and you should
be doing something that you enjoy.
If it's not what you want, tell us.
We'll help you find something else.
Doesn't make you a bad person.
It means we're the wrong
company for your career.
So it's just hiring, whether that's
our accountant, our director of our
accounting, our hr, our any of the
facets of our operation, they've
been hired exactly the same way.
And they are held accountable
for exactly the same things.
It's one of the things and I've been
some of my entrepreneurial friends
have really challenged me on this.
Our org chart is a bit different.
I'm on the bottom.
Concierges are on the top.
The reason they're up on top is they're
the ones who are in front of the customer.
I'm not, and I share with them
the reason our org chart is that
way is I have one job, just one.
And that's to support them.
So when you visualize that org chart
and I'm on the bottom, I'm supporting
those folks and we do a lot to reinforce.
It's really important that we
support one another without even
thinking about, it's just what we do.
Linda Ostovitz: I think that employers
across the board are trying to be
creative and certainly cost conscious
while still supporting their people
and letting their people know that,
that we support them and so forth.
What works for you in terms of, again,
on a continuing basis, showing your
folks, reminding their folks that
they are the key to the success of
this company, that they're supported
and that they're appreciated.
Lynda Ellis: I think transparency.
Things happen in businesses.
I'll give you a great example.
A few years ago we had a situation,
I won't name the company.
But our payroll didn't hit, and
I got a call about 5:30 in the
morning that the payroll hadn't hit.
Turns out end of the story, it's
a positive, but at the end of the
story is when the payroll company
sent the money however, that's done,
they left one of the numbers out.
It was a human error.
I get it.
But it was scary because a lot
of our people, like many others
live paycheck to paycheck.
And so I came in to the office
and I had gathered the team and I
said, I'm gonna send an email out.
And a couple of people on the team,
on the corporate team said, well,
wait, we don't know what we're doing.
We don't know what the resolution
is yet, and I said, I know that, but
you think they're not gonna know that
the money is not in their account?
I wanna get to them.
I sent them an email and I said,
I have no idea what happened.
I know that you guys have gotta be scared.
I am concerned about this.
I will manage, we're
gonna manage through this.
If you have any things that hit
and you're gonna have fees, we'll
pay those fees will be paid for.
And I will be back to you at 10
o'clock this morning to let you
know where we're at and update you.
Without exception, Linda, every
single email that I received back
was Lynda, we know you and it
always i'm so grateful for this.
Every single email was, Lynda,
we know you have our back.
We'll take care of the client
while you're taking care of us.
You can't ask for more than that.
You can't buy that.
You have to show that you
have to be transparent.
Things happen.
We had another situation where again,
it was a situation with payroll.
I just went and said, Hey
guys, this is what happened.
And I told them what we were gonna do.
It's just being honest.
It's being transparent, and it's
caring enough to communicate.
And quite honestly, I'm singing
to the choir here, but you
wanna handle the narrative.
People are gonna make up
whatever they wanna make up.
If they don't know what the facts are.
If they don't know what's
going on, they're gonna,
they're gonna make up a story.
I want that to be a real story.
Linda Ostovitz: And often those
stories they make up are worse
than what the reality is, right?
Because then it takes
on a life of its own.
And I don't know I have come to learn with
each growing year that I've been doing
what I'm doing, which now numbers 44,
that everything is about relationships
and obviously you have a relationship
with each of your employees and there
is a trust there that's been cultivated
that starts with everybody knowing the
expectations and meeting them and having
open discussions about what they are.
So yay you for that and
everything else you've done.
Lynda Ellis: Well, Linda, like you've
done you're a leader in your career and
in your field, and it's caring enough
to make people know that they're seen.
I just can't, I know companies
struggle with this, but I don't,
maybe it's because I like people.
I don't know.
I genuinely like people I think we're
extraordinarily interesting animals.
But I'm reminded of times where I've
had to sever a relationship, and
I may have mentioned this to you.
I just got one yesterday, one of the
employees that I had to sever the
relationship because I believe you know
that I believe I don't fire anybody.
You fire yourself.
I don't wanna come to this party.
You brought me here.
This person sent me the cutest
little meme or whatever they're
called, yesterday is hump day.
I hope you're having a great day.
I terminated her.
It's letting people know who you
are and that you genuinely care.
And I've said to people,
Hey, I can fire you.
It's not personal.
Let's go have lunch.
It didn't work out, didn't work out
because you didn't adhere to our
standards and you don't breathe the
value system that we have in our company.
You gotta breathe it, you gotta be it,
and it's not kind of, sort of, maybe
sometimes it's a hundred percent of a
hundred percent of the time and that
your, that you understand in this company,
it is not a risk to screw something up.
Where the risk comes in is you
hide it, you hide it, you're dead.
You let us know, we're gonna help you.
But, and I share with people, if you
hide it, you took away my runway.
I can't help you.
We've had serious situations where
somebody will call me and they're like,
Lynda, Lynda what's going on, and they
tell me and we, we solve it together.
It's kind of relationship
that we make with our clients.
Our clients.
We've had, as I mentioned, for years and
I, it's because every single day we have
to earn it and we know we have to earn it.
Linda Ostovitz: That leads me to something
else that we had talked about, which
is how do you get more clients and
your very direct and simple answer to
me was listen to them and your clients
will tell you how to get more clients.
Why don't you share
what you meant by that?
Lynda Ellis: Is I have this,
my team, I've heard them say.
Okay, be careful 'cause Lynda's
gonna get the duct tape out.
It's, you gotta shut up and listen.
You have to listen to hear, don't listen
to respond, listen to hear someone.
And I often will say, if you're
talking 20% of the time, you're
talking 10% of the time too much.
What are you talking for?
Shut up and listen to
what the person is saying.
What are they thinking?
How are they feeling?
You wanna develop the relationship with a
person, so you establish a level of trust
that can grow and you also can hear, oh
my gosh, this is what's going on for them.
How could I help them?
And so you help them whether
or not it means business for
you that day or that moment.
Down the pike, they're gonna remember,
you know what, I was talking to Lynda
and she told me she has a concierge
service and I think you ought to call her.
It's all as you started,
Linda, it's relationships.
It is, and it's just, I know,
you know, grew up with something
nice, just as nice to do and be
accountable for your own decisions.
For your own consequences because
we're human and we screw up.
But if we screw up, we are
mock speed to the client to
say, we really messed this up.
Here's what we're doing.
We wanna know, we wanna partner
with you to make it okay.
Because when you think about it,
what we do, we're brought in by
property management companies.
They have customers and our job is
to serve their customers, whether
they're called tenants or residents,
and sometimes we have high maintenance
people that we serve and that puts
the property manager in the middle.
So we have a number of customers,
if you will, that need different
things at different times, and you
just, you have to be intentional
about wanting to make somebody else's
day better and solving the problem.
Linda Ostovitz: There is this quote.
I don't, I'm not even sure who said
it, but I don't remember what you said,
but I remember how you made me feel.
Lynda Ellis: Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: And it sounds to me
like you have cultivated Lynda this
team of individuals who are focused on
how do I make my tenants or residents,
whatever it is, feel better by
something I was able to do for them no
matter how large or how small, right?
And you, it's probably hard to
measure how large or how small.
Because you can say hello or touch
somebody's arm, and if they're having a
miserable day, it might just be enough
to make 'em feel better for that moment.
Lynda Ellis: That's so true.
Is something that we talk about.
Yeah.
An example I give to our employees
is, have you ever been walking down
the street and somebody smiles at
you and says, good afternoon and
you say, oh yeah, good afternoon.
Fine.
Did you walk away thinking
that's an idiot, or did you
walk away feeling better?
Really simple.
Linda Ostovitz: I totally agree, totally.
Lynda Ellis: It's, it is,
how did you make me feel?
What is special?
And to your point, Linda, there
are so many stories that we have
where the concierge has made a
difference in someone's life.
I remember one of our concierges,
she's retired now Betty and I was in
the building visiting, and I was with
Betty and she introduced me to this
person and the person said to me,
I am so happy to meet you because I
want you to know how special Betty is.
That when my husband was sick, Betty was
there and Betty knew when to talk to me
and not talk to me, and Betty helped me.
She would help me when I cried and
she would help me with my fear.
That's what we do.
Linda Ostovitz: So I just got chills
again for about the 10th time during
this conversation, quite frankly.
Clearly you are an amazing business
woman, but you were also a very generous
woman and business who is engaged with
her community and believes in giving back
and being a participant at all levels.
Would you share with us the ways that
you are involved in that way, and
what does that do for you personally?
Lynda Ellis: I am Irish.
My father was born and raised
in Belfast, and he raised me
to give back to the community.
That wasn't a question.
It was, that's what we do.
And so from the time I, I remember
going into hospitals when I
was 12 to talking to patients.
And it is, you can never,
ever give as much as you get.
You can't.
It's impossible, and it's just
creating a smile in somebody else's
face and just knowing that you
were able to make somebody else's
day better is really special.
You can't buy it.
It's not for sale.
So I've always been involved and I've
been very, very, very involved in the Red
Cross in a member of the Tiffany Circle.
And I was chair of the Tiffany
Circle, which is the philanthropic
women within Red Cross.
'Cause I lived in, I was married
in Japan and our daughter was
born in Japan and I learned over
there so many wonderful lessons.
And because we were not military I
couldn't get a job initially and I
volunteered with the Red Cross and I
saw how wonderful that organization
with all of its faults, with all of
the stuff that you hear about that
organization is so really special
because it's making a difference.
It's helping people.
And so I've always been
involved with the Red Cross.
I am on the, I've been on the board of the
trustees for my alma mater, my university.
I'm now chair and I'm in
the chamber with Hugh.
I mean, who would not like that?
I'm on the legislative committee and for
all of your listeners who are listening,
please get involved in what's happening
in our state, and involved with what's
going on in the school district, but
your vote counts, your presence counts.
And that's so, so important because
we have to help one another.
I actually, one of the things that we
really, it's a fun thing for those of
your listeners who are familiar with
McGruff the Crime Fighting Dog that is
the National Council Crime Prevention
Council, and I'm chair of that board.
And because we're relaunching
the awareness of McGruff,
the Crime-fighting Dog.
We're really fighting against all of the
deaths of fentanyl and counterfeit drugs.
I'm so proud of the work we're doing,
but it gives me a chance to make
a difference on a different level.
I also am very involved in my,
my church on several committees.
It gives you the gift of
making a difference in lives.
So it really is
self-serving, I have to say.
I've had many conversations with
many people about, I feel guilty
because it is very selfish.
How can you make somebody
else's day better?
How can you create a smile on
somebody else's face and not feel
good about yourself and not feel good?
Oh my gosh.
Not that you're so aware of it
consciously, but you feel good, and
how can you not want more of that?
Linda Ostovitz: It is a
feel good thing to do.
There's no question about it.
And I know you also, you've talked
about some of the things you've done to
give back, but I know you also mentor
yo younger entrepreneurs, I guess is
the right way to put it and share with
them the benefit of your experiences.
And while I think every mentor
mentee relationship is different,
'cause obviously you're dealing with
different people at different places,
you did share with me that there are
sort of a list I wrote anyway, of
things that you tell your mentees
and people that you help throughout
your life every day for how to grow.
But what do you tell them?
What do you tell our people who
are listening to us how to grow?
Lynda Ellis: You gotta
start out with a vision.
You have to start out
with what you wanna do.
And you have to lean into that.
You have to know, you
have to bet on yourself.
You can't be fearful.
If it was easy, everybody
would be doing it right.
And I encourage them to have the
faith that they genuinely have, the
faith they need to have in themselves.
They're betting on themselves.
I think it's really important for
any entrepreneur, but especially
for people just getting started.
I just met with a couple this
morning, two wonderful individuals,
and it's about what is your vision?
What are you doing, what do you want?
And then putting that in place
and doing it legitimately doing it
authentically and believing in yourself.
And I may have shared with
you about our Buffalo Culture.
I'm not sure that we talked about
that, but do you know that the
buffalo is the only animal on
earth that runs into a storm?
You know why they do that?
You get through the storm sooner.
Think about that.
Why would you not wanna
lean into the storm?
Linda Ostovitz: Like
swallowing the frog, right?
Lynda Ellis: Yes, yes, exactly.
You lean into things and you listen
to others, you seek out other business
people and hear what they're saying.
Shut up and listen again.
It's amazing how many people
wanna talk rather than listen and
you learn such wonderful things.
And do not be afraid to fail.
Every failure is a lesson to make you
stronger, to help you grow, to help
you do what you wanna do, to accomplish
the things you want to accomplish.
Linda Ostovitz: What is your advice
consistent with all of what you've
just shared in terms of a strategic
plan and how far out it should go?
How do we execute it?
How about that?
Lynda Ellis: So thank you.
I appreciate that.
Linda Ostovitz: You're welcome.
Lynda Ellis: I used to be
five year strategic plans.
I don't do those anymore.
It's three years and I do it's
only three years, and you're lucky
if you get three years because
time, everything goes so fast.
You've gotta sit down, develop your
strategic plan, know what you're gonna do,
and the specifics to that because one of
the things, putting things down on paper.
Or I guess in the computer you
think, oh my gosh, I have to do that.
Yeah, you do.
Or you'll learn that I've got gaps.
And embrace the gaps.
Figure that out, and then adhere
to your plan and be willing to,
for that to be somewhat fluid.
Because if something doesn't
work, it's not a failure.
It means that you've
gotta go a different way.
The plans are so important, and I
will say that if you don't have a
plan, how are you gonna get there?
Where are you gonna go?
And it's a lot of things.
I've been blessed in my career to have
a lot of luck and a lot of blessings.
But without a plan, I
wouldn't have had that luck.
I wouldn't have had those blessings.
And you have to know that it's you.
It is you, you are it.
And you have to be willing to accept that.
You have to understand and
intimately know there are gonna
be a lot of missed birthdays.
There's gonna be a, and it doesn't
matter if you're a man or woman.
There's gonna be a lot of
things that you have to do.
But if you've got that plan and you
live the plan, you're gonna make it.
Even though the plan may change in
six months because something happened,
it's, you may get a new competitor
like AI is a competitor to us.
Okay, well I didn't know that 10 years
ago, even though AI was being developed.
So what do we do now?
And honestly, I think and I may have
shared this with you, Linda, one of the
number one things is you have to have fun.
If it ain't fun.
If you got this life, and why
would you not enjoy living your
life doing what you wanna do?
Linda Ostovitz: What a fabulous
way to wrap up this wonderful
conversation with you.
Lynda Ellis, it has been a privilege.
I got to talk to you today, and just
so anybody knows, I don't do this cold.
I would never put
anybody in that position.
So we always have a conversation before
the conversation, so we make sure we
pull out all the best nuggets and cover
everything that we ought to cover.
So twice I've gotten to have this
conversation with you in versions of it.
It's a privilege.
I admire you so much and I'm very
thankful for all that you've brought to
the chamber, to the business life that
I'm engaged in, into my personal life.
So thank you for all of that.
Our listeners, please follow the podcast.
It's Real Talk, which if you know me, I
think, you know, that's what we do and
our goal is to establish Real Growth.
So follow me wherever you
regularly listen to your podcasts.
Lynda, thank you again.
It's been a privilege.
Very much appreciate you joining us today.
Lynda Ellis: Thank you.
It's an honor.