Navigating Challenges: Irum Jones on Strength, Family, and Fortune -8

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Melody [: 00:00:00

Hello, misfits. It's Melody, your lady of business. And today on the Business Misfits, I interview Irum Jones. I feel a little pressured introducing Irum, but it has to be the best introduction I've ever done. Why? Because during our conversation, I got a lesson from Irum on how to tee people up. Not because I needed it, but because she is one of the best hype people I've ever met. I offered her a job mid episode. This woman has lived 100 lives.

Melody [: 00:00:29

She is a community builder. She is an optimist. Her energy is infectious. She is the best inspirer, a big cheerleader for people, and that's just the basics of who she is as a person in the business world. She's an award-winning entrepreneur, a best-selling author, a steam educator, a podcaster, philanthropist, advocate, change maker. She's a coach in the conquer program, a trusted advisor to businesses all over the country, and she recently helped launch 60 branches this past year of on call service pros in cities all over America. She's the chief empowerment officer. You thought it was done.

Melody [: 00:01:10

I'm not. She's the chief empowerment officer for the 1,000 member Dallas Professional Women's Association. And lastly, she's a Sparky. And I'll let her tell you what that means because I didn't know, but it might have something to do with her being a licensed HVAC and electrical contractor. Her foundational business is a family electrical and contracting business that that she shares with her husband. Okay. I tried my best. Irum has a lot of energy.

Melody [: 00:01:41

Her hype game is flawless. I have a lot of work to do on my hype game, but I think I did pretty good given that I only just had the lesson. So I know that I can't possibly fit her or anyone into a single paragraph, but hopefully, I did a good job presenting her. I'll end by saying that Irum is just a fantastic human being, and she's probably gonna be your new favorite person. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Irum Jones. Hello, business human. Are you a misfit? A person who wants to make a difference in this business world. Are you one of the unconventional? The visionaries? The quiet innovators? The heart centered leaders? The purpose driven? The community builders? The givers? Then you are my people.

Melody [: 00:02:32

I used to think business was a secret formula to be discovered and followed, but now I know it isn't a set of rules. It's an exciting creative adventure, and I wanna be on that adventure with you. I am your lady of business, Melody Edwards. Welcome to the Business Misfits podcast. Hello, Irum Jones. How are you? I'm so glad that you're here on the Business Misfits.

Irum Jones [: 00:02:59

Thank you, Melody. I'm, like, so honored to be here with you. So I'm, like, Melody, my favorite person.

Melody [: 00:03:07

Oh, thank you. And before I ask my regular questions, can you tell me what a sparkling Sparky is?

Irum Jones [: 00:03:16

Well, so number 1: Sparky is someone in the electrical industry. So if you're a fellow electrician and you know there's another electrician, you're like, hey, fellow Sparky. It's a term of endearment. And so I am an electrical and HVAC company. I also serve as an electrician. Now I don't fall into anything at all. But all of those lighting specialty stuff is what I get to do. So, yeah, I consider myself a Sparky because of that.

Irum Jones [: 00:03:42

It didn't wear my sparkling earrings, which are like lightning bolts. I totally should've photoshopped that in later.

Melody [: 00:03:48

I will.

Irum Jones [: 00:03:49

But that's what Sparky is. Now the sparkling part about it is I'm really, really proud of that facet of my life. I'm really proud of just what we were able to accomplish. Right? So I don't hide the fact that that's one of my hats. And I'd love to advocate for the trades and construction and just for the underdog. So I'm like, oh, it's like, let's put some sparkle and shine to it. And so I think that's kind of followed me along the way.

Melody [: 00:04:16

Yeah. You're definitely what I would call a sparkly personality. You're always like the reason why I first even met you was because you were what was the role that you played in the was it community?

Irum Jones [: 00:04:29

It was the conquer community. Yeah. It was the community manager.

Melody [: 00:04:33

Yeah. But you were more like the encourager, the spirit animal, like you were the cheerleader. It was all you, and it was all your energy, and you came with it, like, a 100% every single day.

Irum Jones [: 00:04:46

Oh, it was so fun, and it was so natural. And I was just like, man, is this an occupation? Is this, do I get paid for this? I mean, this is paid. You know? Yeah. I did, for the Concord community, which is an amazing coaching platform. Right? There's less than a 100 of us coaches and just everyone's so amazing. They have their own superpowers. And to be able to come into that space and serve as the community manager, really, it was like serving up all of the community. Like, not just the coaches.

Irum Jones [: 00:05:15

Right? But, like, the actual small businesses that had big dreams. And I was like, oh my god. This is my dream. Well, like, everything led to this moment. And so, yeah, I had an amazing opportunity, serving up as that.

Melody [: 00:05:30

We could just keep talking about this, but I feel like you'd be the best dream manager.

Irum Jones [: 00:05:34

Oh, I totally like, that's my jam. I read the dream book. Many years ago, I think I was introduced to it, like, over 10 years ago or something. Like someone showed me theirs locally in Dallas. And he was also in the trades. And he was like, come down to my shop. I'm gonna show you what I do with my folks. And I'm like, I treat my folks better.

Irum Jones [: 00:05:53

And then he walks me through it. I'm like, I should, you know, whatever. I take that back. And so from that moment forward, I was like, every great manager needs to read that book and needs to implement it and support their team. So, absolutely, I live by that.

Melody [: 00:06:12

And even if you're a small company, because I implemented it. I had read the book before, but I was like, we're too small to have a dream manager. But then in 2020, when I thought my business might fail like most people did, I was like, you know what? This year, I'm doing everything. I have nothing to lose. I had actually, in 2019, decided to do it, and I had sent something to all my clients. It was like a thank you card, but it also had, like, this little job opportunity inside of the card. Like, it was like a newsletter. Yeah.

Melody [: 00:06:41

And it talked about the dream manager. I said I was only gonna be able to pay, like, $15 an hour, probably be 20 hours a month for my team. But I knew my clients, and I had, like, the most amazing clients. And so I knew there would be some unicorn in there who'd jump on it, and there was. This woman who was absolutely amazing, Harvard educated, but worked in the in educational system, the college system as an advocate, all these things, and she just retired. And so she said she ended up doing it for free and gave and said, I'll do it for free for a year because she read the book and was like, I need to do this. And she was awesome, and then it got shut down.

Melody [: 00:07:22

But it and then I sold my company after that. But I'd always had dream boards for people. It felt cheesy, and also, I was like, I wanna run my company the way I wanna run my company, and we're gonna make vision boards.

Irum Jones [: 00:07:35

Yeah. Totally. I'm on the same bandwidth. Okay.

Melody [: 00:07:38

I know you are. Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:07:39

Imagine me being like the wife of the master electrician. Right? So, normally, right, if you're not in the industry, you're like, what does the wife do? Right? The change of curtains, you know, bring in cookies. What does she do? Well, I was fully immersed in the business. So when I read it, I was serving as the chief operating officer. And of course, I was dabbling in my other kind of like passion projects and stuff. And so here I am asking my technicians to build a dream board, but not on their own. I wanted them to do that with their family. Because I like to be preparing towards family values.

Melody [: 00:08:13

Yes.

Irum Jones [: 00:08:14

So us as a family, we have a family meeting every single month. That might sound cheesy to people. But,

Melody [: 00:08:21

No. It sounds amazing.

Irum Jones [: 00:08:22

Yeah. Well, but when you're doing so many different things, you want to make sure your priorities complement each other instead of like pull each other apart. I don't want a life for me, where I don't know my spouse, or I don't have a good connection with my kids. Like, I wanted to be very intentional of showing up as the best version of myself in like, everything I do. And so I needed the dream board to keep me focused because I had quadrants. So I wanna give a shout out to Ananda because Ananda was like, girl, let me draw this dream board for you. And I'm gonna give you these different quadrants. So then that way it's not all about you, but it's all about what you're bringing to the table.

Irum Jones [: 00:09:04

Then double that up. I got with my girl, Anna Rivera, who's an amazing vision board person. If she ever is in your city, like, you gotta do a vision board with her. And so she laid it out. And she was like, girl, here's the intersection line. So we actually created like our own version of it. And then I handed that over to my techs. And I'm like, Yeah, you're gonna do this with your family in the first days that you're hired, because I need to know where you're at because we're all in and I need to make sure you're all in.

Irum Jones [: 00:09:32

You're just not gonna turn wrenches for me. And so our turnaround rate, is very low. Our technicians, our admin, I mean, they are truly treated like great family members, the ones you wanna get around. That's how they act. And I feel like throughout the time that vision board holds them accountable. Like I'm working hard for my family. I'm busting my chops during HVAC season. Yes.

Irum Jones [: 00:09:58

I'm sacrificing whatever. Right. But I'm doing this because I'm trying to earn this trip to Disney.

Irum Jones [: 00:10:03

I'm trying to refinance or whatever their goals are and their families bought into it. So it's a whole support system. So again, you owe it to yourself, your employees, your girlfriends, whatever, to get you booked on to these type of vision boards that are very intentional.

Melody [: 00:10:21

I think a lot of people would think vision boards are cheesy in the trades. It's a lot of guys, and most guys are not thinking vision board. But all the high-level people are they do this. That's how you accomplish your dreams. Like, I don't have a podcast because I dreamed of a podcast. I have a podcast because I dreamed of a podcast and then had to figure out how to make it happen. I didn't know how to fulfill a dream when I was younger. It's important that we teach people that a dream can be turned into a project, a goal with action plans, and a timeline.

Irum Jones [: 00:10:55

Oh, absolutely. So one of the things that I tell people about is, you know, it's in the acronym SMART. And so stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relatable, time based. Right? And I'm like, no, no, no, no. We aren't doing things smart. We're gonna do things smarter. Okay? We can add the freaking E-R to it.

Melody [: 00:11:20

You're such a KEDMA.

Irum Jones [: 00:11:21

I feel like, I love KEDMA. Okay?

Melody [: 00:11:23

I know you do. You do for her.

Irum Jones [: 00:11:24

And another dream role. Right? Getting to work with such amazing women that don't hold back. So the smarter goal, which my girls endow professional women, which is an amazing pot of action-oriented women. They're business owners, socially responsible, changing lives. Oh my God. I taught them this trick that said, let's convert our smart goals into smarter goals. And the E-R is the most important part.

Irum Jones [: 00:11:48

So this is what it stands for. S specific. Okay. And measurable. Right? A action oriented, attainable. Okay. Are, you know, relatable t time based. Okay.

Irum Jones [: 00:11:59

The magic, the super sauce, the E stands for the, your goal has to drive emotion, energy in them. You get what I'm saying? Don't get you to those 3 E's. You're going to check out. You're going to give it out. Give what you're just going to give up the R equally important. R stands for how the heck are you going to reward yourself? You hear what I'm saying? Not to have a reward at the end of whatever goal, whatever sacrifice you're doing. Like for example, I tell people every time Zara and I do something together and it's a reach goal for us, her reward for that goal is we have a cup of coffee, like in silence at a new coffee place.

Irum Jones [: 00:12:44

It doesn't even have to be something memorable, like, or, you know, a lot of money being thrown at it, but let it be a moment that you savor. And so what we like to do is we like to savor a coffee and just kind of sit in the moment and celebrate it at a new coffee shop. So that's what we do. That's the R in her smarter goals. Do you get what I'm saying? So again, you don't need an excessive amount of resources or whatever to be happy. You just have to be a little more strategic in what you're doing and how you're going to do that. And most people actually set up goals without even believing that they're going to attain them. That's the sad part.

Melody [: 00:13:24

Yeah. I agree. A lot of the books about discipline, about goal setting, about all of these things are written by, I feel like, pretty disciplined people who have figured out a system that works for them to set goals. And then kind of we as a society, we as like a growth minded society, we all latch onto this concept. And if it doesn't work for us, sometimes we feel like we're the failure when really that person, the author, was not the right one for us, just like with a coach or anything. I've done that so many times where I've tried to use a system or something and it's for type A and I'm type ADD. That's not because the same thing is not gonna work because it takes 10 times more energy, 10 times more focus, and it's taking away energy from the other things that I could be using that for.

Irum Jones [: 00:14:16

Yeah. I don't operate in my super zones or my genius, and that's it. And I refuse to do anything else. I will not watch the dishes. Why? I don't enjoy them. I get exhausted. But if you want me to be in the kitchen all day cooking, I would love to. So it's just that you got to take an inventory of yourself at different parts of your life because you're continuing to evolve.

Irum Jones [: 00:14:41

You are not going to be the same version of yourself that you were 15 years ago. I hope not. And you won't be the version of yourself 15 years from now. So I would say continue to take inventory and don't be afraid of the person that you're becoming. Yeah. And if you have strong core values, that's going to be your north star. That's going to guide you where you need to be. So you're going to feel comfortable in your skin and take life from there.

Irum Jones [: 00:15:06

Right? You would Yeah. Your own happiness. So you define your own success. So I love this conversation that we're having. I can have it all day.

Melody [: 00:15:13

I haven't even asked you the first question. So I'll do that now. Irum, do you think that you're a business misfit?

Irum Jones [: 00:15:22

Absolutely.

Melody [: 00:15:23

Why does that resonate with you?

Irum Jones [: 00:15:24

Oh, my gosh, one, because when I tried to fit in with the groups of all the other women, business owners. And I was like, it was my turn. And I said, yeah. I'm in the trades, the construction industry. They were like, oh, yeah. Uh-huh. Next.

Melody [: 00:15:42

Right.

Irum Jones [: 00:15:44

You were saying like, and I was, and know me, you know, kind of thing. I felt like that sucked. And then it's a male dominated industry. It doesn't matter how much money your company makes, how big your house is, what you drive, whatever. Right? None of that matters. As a woman in this industry, I feel like I have to constantly prove myself over and over again, 100-fold. And someone else can say it and give like the wrong instructions.

Irum Jones [: 00:16:13

And they're right immediately.

Melody [: 00:16:16

I know. I know.

Irum Jones [: 00:16:17

So I feel like from a biz fit standpoint, you know, I get it from both ends. I embrace them from both ends because I know that's a battle. But you know what? It doesn't get me down. If anything, when I meet another Bizfit, I'm like, I got you, girl. I know exactly what you're talking about. Right? So it's like a suggestion. I'm simpatico with someone immediately.

Melody [: 00:16:38

And it's quick. It's not like a surface level conversation type relationship. To me, that's a waste of my time because I don't wanna live in that. I used to think time was the resource. And when I was younger, time was the resource, and now energy is my resource. Yeah. Because I have still the same amount of time. I do not have the same amount of energy that I used to, and I also understand how valuable that energy is in terms of, like, if I make a video using my energy, it's going to attract so many more people to it because I'm in that sparkly.

Melody [: 00:17:16

Like, you can just feel it. Whereas when you're energy depleted.

Irum Jones [: 00:17:19

Yeah. You don't show up as yourself.

Melody [: 00:17:21

You don't show up. Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:17:23

And I love that about you because number 1, you've always been so authentic and so embracing. And so I don't give a whatever, you know, take me as I am, love me, you know, kind of thing. And I love that because it takes a lot of courage to be comfortable in your own skin. And so you model that from day one. So I absolutely adore you for that. You know, we have that community called lady pros, which I've cofounded with other women as well. And we all gravitated towards it because we were in a channel where men were kind of complaining about things. And we were the doers behind the scenes.

Irum Jones [: 00:17:58

And we're like, what's in the chaos? We're here. Cleaning the shit up. Right? So yeah. Anyway, so we all kind of got together. We're like, what if we had this crazy little community off on the side? And we nurtured it, we swapped tips, we checked up on each other. What about if we just started there? I don't want nothing from you. I just want to be here to support you. That's my jam.

Irum Jones [: 00:18:21

Like once you get the rest of something like that, you don't deal with the other stuff. You kind of remove yourself from like communities where it's so superficial. Like if I'm checking up on you, like, I really want to know what's going on Dy. Anyways, I love the community that you've built through that and this podcast that just helps conversations to flow.

Melody [: 00:18:43

The goal. That's the goal. And you know that I've been in the same world of home service. I talk about it every episode so far. It's because it so impacts my experience, my feelings of why I'm doing this now. And it's the same thing, and it still happens where I'll be I'm a giver. I wanna give advice, or when I see somebody has a problem, I'm like, hey.

Melody [: 00:19:06

And I don't wanna say and I have said this, and I do say it sometimes to introduce myself. I've said it as recently as a month ago, like, oh, I was in the trades for 30 years as both a technician and a business owner, so now I have street cred because I know how to do the thing, and I'm not just the lady sending you know? And then I'm like and I'm also BoomLift certified if you ever need somebody because then I'm telling them, like, I do shit, and I might do more than you do. But I want you to know that I'm legit because how would I even know what Boom Lift certified means if I wasn't? And then I can be like, okay. Now you've got my credibility, and now we can have a conversation where you might pay attention to me. There is an inner child in me who really, really gets mad still. Then I get gets mad at the guys sometimes about the way that happens, but I also have emotional intelligence, and I'm always cuddling my inner child and saying it's okay. So I'm growing, but it's hard.

Irum Jones [: 00:20:04

Melody, you know, to that, there's this thing that I call teeing up. Right? So for those that play golf, you know, tee, teeing it up. You're getting people excited. I feel like every woman should tee up another woman. And I'll give you an example right now. If I was introducing you on stage, I wouldn't just say, and here's Melody. And she has like, what the hell is that? Like, yeah, that's true. You have that, but I didn't tee you up.

Irum Jones [: 00:20:32

I didn't get people excited enough about you. I held back the enthusiasm that should be experienced when you get on stage. You get what I'm saying? So I should have said something right. More like, and we're going to have Melody, come on. And she has 30 years of experience. You want to grab your notebook. You want to let men, you want to grab your cup of coffee. If you haven't already, you got 5 minutes to get your butt in the seat because you don't want to miss out.

Irum Jones [: 00:20:58

And plus, she has an award-winning podcast and an amazing group of women. And she is an incredible person to know, right? That is teeing someone up.

Melody [: 00:21:08

You teed me up on the internet today. You were so nice.

Irum Jones [: 00:21:11

It's me. That's just me. I believe woman should tee up another woman like that. Like, I'm going to give you an example. You know how people love to know the business owners of a company and they love to brag. I know the person that owns the steak house. I know the person that, whatever. Right.

Irum Jones [: 00:21:29

And I always told my girls when I tee you up, I'm never going to say, go get a deal from her. No, I'm going to say, you know what? My girl does the best Christmas lights over there and listen, you're going to be able to put your head on the pillow every single night, knowing that her company does it right. Now, let me tell you something. My homegirl is not the cheapest one on the block. So if you're looking for that, don't haggle her. Okay. But if you want it done right, and you want all your neighbors to be really, really jealous of you in all the right way, call my girl. That's how you tee it up.

Melody [: 00:22:03

So true. Also, I'd like to offer you a job as my official tee up lady. You're just so naturally good at it. I tee up people, and I don't even do it like that because you're a natural almost like a salesperson of people. Right? I do that too. Like, when I love somebody, I'm gonna shout them out. I'm gonna be like, this person's amazing, but, like, the level of detail that you go into is so good, especially about price. I do that as well.

Melody [: 00:22:30

Like, I wanna protect my female friends because we have a tendency to be the givers who want to give the discounts. So that people who used to do it all the time when I was, like, doing window cleaning or other businesses that are not their luxury services, and I'd be like, wow. They're so nice. I think that rich person deserves a discount. It doesn't make any sense. It's emotion.

Irum Jones [: 00:22:54

It is. I mean, there's a few things. Right, Melody? Like Yeah. One of them is I feel like I've lived so many lives in a single life that I've had. So what a lot of people don't know is one of my first internships was at a record label. Right? One of the first things that I got to do was shadow a really amazing publicist, which allowed me to give my space and a lot of the marketing pieces. So about 5 years ago was the first time that I kind of stepped out from being the behind-the-scenes person. So I was the implementer, the integrator, the person that came in kind of figured out the high-level ideas and also said, I don't think it's going to work because I'm going to have to put in 80 hours of this. Right. I was that the emergency person. And I spent a lot of my career in tech, automotive industry, telecommunications, just all of these other industries that I had some really crazy great experiences in.

Irum Jones [: 00:23:49

And I just took those transferable skill sets and just kept piling them on. I never left this behind just because I changed roles. Today, I think is National Publicist Day. And it was funny because I do represent a few speakers and a few people. And they were like, hey, thanks for being the best ever. I'm like, I'm just doing my job because I feel like I need to represent you in your true light and authenticity and the great things you bring to the table. And yeah. They trust me enough to do that.

Irum Jones [: 00:24:18

So, yeah, Mel, if you're looking for a publicist, I got you teed up.

Melody [: 00:24:20

I am. Well, you're my publicist now, but you could yeah. You're my tee up publicist. You are an authentic person to me as well. But I think also there are probably times when you're not feeling the best and you still bring your best every time.

Irum Jones [: 00:24:35

I have to. I have to.

Melody [: 00:24:37

You don't have to. A lot of people don't, but you do.

Irum Jones [: 00:24:40

Well, here's the difference. Here's the difference. Right? I struggled with perfection. Perfectionism is real and it will hold you back. I strive to be the best version of myself, not the perfect version. Those are two completely different things. I've spent a 2-year obsessive journey on fixing the perfectionism things that were getting in the way of me and my daughter's relationship. She's a perfection too.

Irum Jones [: 00:25:08

And she called it out on me. And I was like, you know what, baby, I am going to buy this workbook for you. And I'm going to buy it for me. And I am an obsessive, disciplined person. And so therefore, I'm going to complete this. So whether or not you complete this, you're gonna get a better version of your mama. So as I went through, I realized that holy cow, I got the best version of me in perfectionism kind of switched around. And finally, in my mid-forties, I'm like, I was really just striving to be the best version of myself with the resources, with the circle, with just everything that I have in front of me.

Irum Jones [: 00:25:46

That's all I was really looking to be because I owe it to myself and just, you know, kinda like my background of just feeling like I survived so many things. I just cannot be here to be mediocre. Like, I have to show up. Myself because that's the only way I know how to show up. So anyways, if you're struggling with perfectionism, I'll give you the book that I worked through, but it was a 2-year journey. It was painful.

Melody [: 00:26:13

Yeah. I definitely feel you on that. I am a lot less of a perfectionist. I feel like almost gone in the opposite direction of being, like, understanding that that's what I want and therefore, let's just cut to the chase. Let's take a shortcut and just not do perfect because I failed at that over and over and over again for decades because it's not attainable. So I've gotten really good at not being perfect if anybody needs advice. I have a question for you kind of on that. Do you deal with imposter syndrome or have you, and how have you worked on that?

Irum Jones [: 00:26:47

Yeah, that is a little tough. Like, if you put me in a situation without giving me enough heads up, I'm totally gonna have impostor syndrome because I have impostor syndrome if I don't feel prepared. I feel like it's unfair to put someone in a situation where they're unprepared because then they're going to doubt their abilities and they're going to jump into this professional survival mode. Right? Cause they're like, like, I should know this, shouldn't I? And then later on, you're like, holy cow. Why was it even given to me? I mean, I'm not a CPA. Why would you want me to do, you know, whatever you're asking me to do? So I think that imposter syndrome creeps up on me when someone gives me something without giving me enough bandwidth details or a briefing. Right now, my life is really consumed with meetings. Right? So the company that's being run by other managers, we still own electrician on call, but I step back as a founder.

Irum Jones [: 00:27:47

I need to know what they're doing, why they're doing it, what resources they're asking for. And if I get a meeting agenda the day before or an hour before, that doesn't give me enough bandwidth, right, to actually consume the information they're trying to communicate with me. So I'm gonna sit in there owning the business for 24 years and go, I am not sure if we should do this. And totally show up as this version of myself. That's unprepared. And that was unfair because they me in that situation. So that's how I've been combating imposter syndrome by asking myself 3 questions. Number 1, am I a specialist in this? No.

Irum Jones [: 00:28:28

Why are we having the conversation with me? Would you like my specialists? Okay. The question number 2 is why is this being handed over to me at this very moment? Which means maybe they know I'm not the specialist, but I'm the best person to resolve the problem. So if that's the case, I want to level set expectations that look, I'm going to throw a crazy idea, but you guys got to do the research, right? I'm great at ideation. So I get pulled into a lot of stuff.

Irum Jones [: 00:28:53

And the question I ask is, am I going to legally be on the hook for what I say right now? That's a level of accountability. The thing that I see Melody is there's a trend that there's so much information you can consume, and you can pair it someone else's speech or whatever. Right?

Melody [: 00:29:13

Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:29:14

Show up like that. So if someone is putting me in an imposter syndrome situation, I'm going to call it out before I have to go through that. So I don't see what in the meeting unless if there's an agenda. If we don't do the agenda, I'm out. If you change the terms of it, I'm out because I have no business breathing anything into what you're asking me to do.

Melody [: 00:29:38

It's so weird because your definition of imposter syndrome and everybody else's definition is so different. Like, my definition is going into the room with people who are very, very confident, and then me feeling like I must not know anything because internally, I'm not confident like that or externally. You know what I mean? And so even though I am sometimes smarter than those people, I feel like I don't know anything because they show up confident and I don't. So it's more from in those situations, it's about me. In meetings, I don't feel that way at all. So it's really interesting. I think it's so personal for people.

Irum Jones [: 00:30:18

It is. And I have this great discussion. I forgot her name. It was just a few days ago, we're talking about did imposter syndrome start because they just started throwing women into rooms and going figure it out. Because we can always just figure it out. And then we somehow in those situations realize that, hey, we may not know everything because we didn't get the exposure. And then maybe some other people were much louder than us because sometimes confidence is perceived as the loudest person in the room. Not really.

Irum Jones [: 00:30:48

Yeah. That has all the right answers. So is it possible that imposter syndrome is here because it stems from an environmental thing?

Melody [: 00:30:58

Maybe. But what about this statistic of I think it's women will only apply for a job if they are feel a 100% qualified, whereas a man will apply for a job if he feels 55 or 60% qualified. And that has nothing to do. I think it's environmental. It's society, of course, too. I'm not blaming things, but I do think men seem to not have it as much as women do.

Irum Jones [: 00:31:27

Yeah. It's tough. Right? Because I coach and consult with a lot of men and I'll tell you, they have deep fears. They have weak regrets. I mean, their imposter syndrome that they're having over there is like crippling and crushing not to compare it to women. But with women, it's so easy for us to be more open about it. And they actually have this discussion and say, yeah, we have imposter syndrome. And sometimes I feel like I don't belong. And sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have attained what I have.

Irum Jones [: 00:31:57

And I have tons of fears, and we can cry about it. Men on the other hand, can't really just show up because we, I guess we tie their emotions into their strength of some sort and their strength into their credibility. And so they have to bottle everything inside. It's tough to see both sides. And that's fine. I always kind of pay attention to the statistics. But the statistic that you just mentioned, it's different between industries. So, obstruction industry, girl, listen, if you're a master electrician and a master electrician and a master plumber license and a master HVAC, whatever you got your EPA global licenses and you're a triple threat, you know, damn well, you are, you need to be earning $300,000 on the, you, you know what you're worth because you have that license, and no one can take that away from you.

Irum Jones [: 00:32:45

That's fine.

Melody [: 00:32:45

How many women are doing that? That's the problem, which we know.

Irum Jones [: 00:32:50

If you are a triple threat woman, I want to meet you. Okay. Nobody wants to meet you.

Melody [: 00:32:56

Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:32:56

I need some double black belts over here. You know, that, that do plumbing, electrical or 2 of them, and they know their worth. You Oh, yeah. Them down for nothing. So I feel like women in the construction industry that, that have some sort of license when it comes down to their license, you just see, like, I mean, you see boxing gloves on, you see things saying, they are ready. Okay. You're ready to fight for what they they're worth And good for them. Good for them in that.

Irum Jones [: 00:33:25

So I can't really speak on, like, some other industries, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was, like, the general thing for, like, corporate America. Right?

Melody [: 00:33:34

I think it's more probably corporate America y. But I would also say, like, when I had a window cleaning company in the beginning, no women applied ever, and it wasn't until I started, but no women applied for any of these trades in general. Licensed, a little different because they've already gone to school most. Right? And so they know what their path is, whereas some of these other trades that you don't need a license for and they haven't gone to school, like, that's just sounds impossible. I wouldn't have ever become a window cleaner. It sounds like a really dangerous hard job, and that's what it is. But when you change the ad, when you start to think of all of the reasons why people don't apply, I got to the point where I had so many female applicants, I had to tone it back because I made it too good, and I'm not even kidding about that. And the guys who now own that company have a completely most years, they have 4 to 5 women working for them.

Melody [: 00:34:30

They have no idea because they don't follow they're not in these groups. They have no idea. That's weird that, like, they just have so many women, but I taught them how to do it. I taught them how to train people because there's 3 things. You need to have a great ad, a great way of collecting people towards you. You need to have great training. And for women, we didn't grow up with tools. We didn't grow up climbing ladders usually, so we need almost remedial training.

Melody [: 00:34:55

And then you need a great culture in your company. None of these things are easy.

Irum Jones [: 00:34:59

And women are over communicators. Right? So you have to consistently, like, feed us in helping us understand what we're doing is on the right path. Because really at its core, we wanna be the best versions of whatever we're doing. We wanna feel fulfilled. Right? But we need that feedback. So in the construction industry, I mean, at one point, listen, I went to work for other construction companies, so I can come back to my company and go bullshit. This is what the GM is doing over there. So we're gonna do it too.

Irum Jones [: 00:35:29

And what's crazy is before I had to do that, I came up with the idea and everyone was like, nah, we can't do it. We're too small. And I'm like being a small company doesn't mean that you can be disorganized. Like get that out of your mind being a small business and being organized from the very beginning means that you're going to be able to hold onto your. Profits even more. And you don't have to compromise, you know, your customers, your employees and all that other stuff. I love that you were able to switch in and tap into that and go, you know what? We're going to attract these women. We're going to communicate.

Irum Jones [: 00:36:01

We're going to hit on all the things that are important to them before they even ask. So they know that this is a safe, secure career for them. So good for you.

Melody [: 00:36:11

And can I say one thing? Because I didn't mention men. What it attracted was women and what I call friendly men. Those transparent guys who you just see who they are, you never would be, like, nervous about them coming into your house because they just show up and you're like, I like this person. That's who women want in their house and women control, you know, most of the household income.

Irum Jones [: 00:36:35

Decision makers. Absolutely.

Melody [: 00:36:36

They're the decision makers, so you wanna cater to those people. So that's what it really was. It's not just attracting the women. It's like the right kinds of men. All of the things and all of these weird millions of lives that I've had have led me to the knowledge that I have now just like you, and we're just unicorns. We're misfits. Right? We've done too many things or just enough things. What happened in the year 1984?

Irum Jones [: 00:37:15

In 1984 was a really tough year for me, for my family. We officially migrated over to the United States from the Middle East, and we had a tragedy in our home and our family. Ended up losing my younger sister while my parents were on vacation. It was just a horrible situation. My parents were super young. And in that, I kinda got flung in the shuffle, displaced. And literally, like, at that age, I was like, I'm never gonna have a childhood again. And it just clicked with me.

Irum Jones [: 00:37:50

And I that was like before I was in kindergarten. Kindergarten didn't exist back. I had the most traumatizing time of being displaced because I went from a very loving household into this coldness. And it I'm never gonna play again. I'm never gonna play with the doll. I have to survive if I survive. That was the mentality that got triggered, that got activated.

Melody [: 00:38:19

I'm sure you've done plenty of work. I feel like with the things that activated things in me when I was young, that kind of like we're like, I'm not a kid anymore kind of feelings. As a grown up in my forties, I feel like I've taken back so much of that. I'm like, I'm gonna be a kid again because I don't care, and I'm gonna figure out how to find that childlike wonder that I once had for a moment.

Irum Jones [: 00:38:43

Same thing. I have literally lived out my adult life hood as a child. Like, I am probably an eccentric, crazy. I will do what I want to do. I have fun. I'm not gonna hold back. And I'll tell you, I love what I savor now, and I appreciate that experience that I had. And it really shaped me to have so much gratitude for what I have now.

Irum Jones [: 00:39:09

But I also feel from a social responsibility, effort. And one of the reasons why I give back so much is I never want a child to feel like that. And somehow that trauma from back then, you know, over 40 years ago, I can sense that in a child immediately. I can sense that immediately. And they say that about trauma victims, right, is that we can sense someone else's trauma in the room. And so, therefore, when we're in crowds, sometimes it's overwhelming because we can feel the guys and the bad guys in the same room. Yeah. Can't really say that.

Irum Jones [: 00:39:46

Right? And we adjust the process to our feelings. That's how I've had to really live my adulthood is through that. Anyways, start at a very young age of just being abandoned and saying, no. This isn't something I'm processing because, you know, I was left home alone one day. No. No. No. This was being truly abandoned.

Irum Jones [: 00:40:07

And knowing when someone who was gonna pick me up and then realizing that I was the face of trauma for so many people because I was a reminder of, like, the only girl that was left. I had identity issues because I wasn't the curly hair, rosy cheek, you know, all of those, beautiful facets, you know, every culture has. Right? I was the middle skin, dark skin child with straight, lumpy hair. Okay. That was me. So I heard adults say just the most vicious things around me. Almost like, why does she survive? Why wasn't it the other? And to have that afflicted on you, it really eats away at who you're supposed to be. And so that's what I had to deal with during those years.

Melody [: 00:40:55

And so let's move forward a whole decade to 1994. What's going on for you then?

Irum Jones [: 00:41:02

I transitioned over to the United States fully. I'm just always going back and forth. Then I got tossed into the New York City foster care system. Lord. The worst, roughest, toughest system that's out there. A promise of, hey, you're going to have stability. You're going to have a family that loves you. You're going to have, you know, we're going to have safety and all these other things.

Irum Jones [: 00:41:25

And mind you, throughout that childhood that I mentioned, it was constant abuse of every level. Right? So I didn't know what a functioning, safe, secure home look like. And so that's how the fuck here ended up happening anyway. So I get fling into this situation. And overnight, what I thought I left a bad situation became a nightmare. And so I spent the next couple of years literally like either sleeping on a stairwell. Because again, it was safer for me to sleep there than it was my own bed constantly being attacked or propositioned or whatever you just running. I spent all those years running and so embarrassed because I couldn't live a normal student life.

Irum Jones [: 00:42:13

So I was the flaky friend that smoked cigarettes. Why? Because cigarettes would curb my appetite, and it was cheaper to buy a pack of cigarettes back in the day. But if you were looking on the outside, this girl is lost. What is happening? And no one took the time to actually come in deeper and go, hey, maybe there's something even more happening. Maybe the situation she's in. And now I will tell you that has shaped me so much in how I, again, give back to those communities where I can recognize that there is something critical happening and save someone. Because back then, in 1994, I was like, no one's coming to save me. Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:43:00

Tough times.

Melody [: 00:43:01

I have a similar it's not anything like your story, and it's also my own story. But what I really realized is once abuse starts, it's like I think of the scarlet letter. It's almost like you have a scarlet v on your forehead for victim, like, come victimize me. Somehow bad people know. You just learn not to say no to anybody. That's really what the problem for me was because I never got taught how to say no.

Irum Jones [: 00:43:28

I will tell you for me, I battled with feeling like I was a coward Because I had sisters in foster care, and I would come in and they would say, listen. You can't look pretty. You better look dirty as possible. You don't wanna be the clean girl in here. You don't wanna look pretty. Tonight will be my turn to take a meeting or whatever is gonna happen. And I need you to leave or hide in the closet. And literally, these girls would protect me and say, you're going to be either the last one that they're going to get to, but we're going to take these rounds because you're the only one going to school right now.

Irum Jones [: 00:44:12

That was the sacrifices that these sisters did for me. And when it was my turn, do you know what I did? I ran, I didn't take mine. I was just like, okay. And I ran. And so as an adult, I was just like, dude, I abandoned these people. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't take these licks for them who did that. And it wasn't until, you know, I'm open about therapy where my therapist sat me down. She said, there was nothing you could have done.

Irum Jones [: 00:44:43

You were a child. There was nothing you could have done. So you've got to throw that shame away. These people. Yes. They sacrifice. Yes. They helped you in that moment.

Irum Jones [: 00:44:54

And you did what you only knew how to do, which was survive and run. And that's what you did. So you did what was right. And by the way, the other thing she said was you couldn't take them with you where you were going. If you tried, they had already kind of given up. And that was something I had to simmer on. And I'll tell you, Melanie, people don't know the trenches that you've been in until you have moments to say, did you know that someone did that immense amount of sacrifice for me? So that's why fast forward. When I say I can never show up mediocre.

Irum Jones [: 00:45:33

So risk their life for me. Someone did the unimaginable, just because I was going to school every day, and they thought I had a chance. And how can I let the, the spirit of what they believed in me die out? I can never be that selfish to do that. No, that's what was happening.

Melody [: 00:45:55

Well, then let's go forward another decade to 2004.

Irum Jones [: 00:45:59

2004. Ah, yes. I'm a full adult. I have my degree. We have an electrician on call by the standards of society, everything that we deem successful, house, blah, blah, blah, cards, whatever. Right. Everything was there. I was an overachiever.

Irum Jones [: 00:46:21

I burned myself out on both ends, trying to keep up with everything I've never had. And now finally, for the first time in my life, I'm like, oh, I have this. I can do that. I literally was just in a place of thinking I was doing everything right. And really, I was just destroying my health. I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, and that's when you don't eat on time, and you just don't have things scheduled and your body goes into hibernation mode. And so, again, I'm like, I got this trophy husband over here, you know. You know, I'm thinking I'm doing everything right.

Irum Jones [: 00:47:03

I was showing up as the worst wife, the worst mom, I was over myself, I was chasing dollars. And when that doctor sat me down, she was like, hey, so you got 2 choices, right? Choice number 1 is you can continue living your life and you won't be able to enjoy, you know, after you, you know, mid forties, you might not even make it. She said, because your brain is going to be so fried, so numb, you're going to have brain fog, and you're not going to be able to enjoy anything. Right? That's probably gonna lead you to die a little early. Right? And I'm like, what? That's what no action gets me. I said, well, what does action get me? She goes, okay. So what action gets you is you're gonna be a little more intentional about what you do, where you spend your time, what you say no to. And she flagged a lot of, you know, qualities and traits in me that took me, you know, decades to heal through, solve through, work through.

Irum Jones [: 00:48:05

And it was a life changing moment because that was the first time someone raised this level of awareness of, oh, yeah, you think you're living your American dream, but yeah, your American dream is actually killing you because you're overdoing it. And no one told me around me, even if they were telling me, I didn't want to listen to them. Like who's going to tell me that my hubby, so I can turn back around and go, well, you don't support my dreams. Right? And so I can go girl, you're jealous. Right. And then you're fighting with everyone. But what I did learn through that process is the people that really care about you in your inner circle. You're not going to like everything that they say, and they're not there to be your yes, men.

Irum Jones [: 00:48:46

Right. They are there to simply love you unconditionally and to support you unconditionally. So therefore, kid, he goes, if he says, kitty, you know what? We're not spending time. You know, he calls me kitty because if he says kitty, you know what? We're not spending enough time together. Guess what? I'm canceling all my plans for the week. He's number one. And back then, if he would have said that I would have been like, babe, schedule me. And for like 2 weeks from now, object to finish, you know? And that's how disconnected I was.

Irum Jones [: 00:49:25

So I would say 2004 was a pivotal year where I finally felt like I was awakened to be the right version of this adult version. I've always been dreaming myself to that came from not having much abandonment issues, all of those. Right. So I overcompensated and all the. Yeah. So that's what led me to now 2024. Yeah.

Melody [: 00:49:50

Well, I didn't even think about the fact that it's 2024. Because we didn't do 2014 or 2024. But your timeline did line up for those decades. You have such an incredible story. Every single woman who has come on here has had, like, a very incredible story. And it's stuff we don't even like, we talk about it if, like, we're in these situations. But with Kedna's episode, I think I talked about how I was hospitalized 3 times when I was 18 & 19, and nobody knows that about me unless it comes up in a weird situation. And it was such a pivotal moment in my life, and those 5 years were just like, it was make it or break it for me.

Melody [: 00:50:30

So, like, we all have these things that don't get brought up a lot, but I think they're the connectors for like, the fact that you're brave enough to even It doesn't feel brave maybe now, but I think it's pretty brave to talk about those situations. And I think that's really a good thing that you do.

Irum Jones [: 00:50:50

No. Thank you for that. One of the things that I've learned through my life is I've had so many bad things happen to me. And I really don't believe in bad people. I believe bad situations, bad circumstances. I believe that at our core, we are always trying to do the right thing. We just don't have an understanding of why we're doing that thing. So am I going to fault a drug dealer for, you know, I'm just saying.

Irum Jones [: 00:51:19

Right. Right. Sacrificing, doing whatever. I have no idea what their struggle is. Right? I'm not gonna ever pass judgment. And I think that being able to untap into that zone of how I see everyone is like my brothers and my sisters. I truly believe everyone walking around there, whether they love me or hate me as my brother or my sister type of situation, but I treat them with humanity, kindness. And I don't know what they've experienced through life.

Irum Jones [: 00:51:48

But what I'm gonna do is project anything negative on anyone or make someone else's life difficult. I feel like it takes more energy to do that than to just, you know, overlook something or smile through something. So what I've learned in my life is actually now is I'm much calmer. You can't really rattle me up. I get excited really quickly because I'm excited about life and everything. I find joy in other people's accomplishments because I'm really happy for them in what they're doing. And I guess I'm showing up as a version of me that I wish I would have found, like, when I was so little and so broken, where it was like, hey, you can do this, you can do this. Like, I didn't have anyone that does it. So now when I do it, those that really know me are like, that's just how she is. Yeah. I just love that about life. The other thing is, you know, you mentioned your currency is energy. Like, that's your currency at the moment. My currency right now is freedom.

Irum Jones [: 00:52:50

So freedom in resources, freedom in time, freedom in my thought process, the freedom for me to actually say, I disagree with you, but I still love you. So I love hearing what everyone's currency is because currency is at the same thing to everyone. Like someone might be walking, watching this and going, girls, I don't know what you're talking about because currency is money to me. Right?

Melody [: 00:53:13

Yes. Cool.

Irum Jones [: 00:53:15

Okay. Great. But time, energy, freedom, currency as well.

Melody [: 00:53:20

So in my virtual assistant life, I've had hundreds of clients, and everybody always says, and what the marketing always is we'll give you, like, a virtual assistant will give you freedom, time freedom, the ability to make more money, whatever. But really what it comes down to and what I've learned is it doesn't matter if you throw a second person into the mix to help you. We have to do so much work on ourselves to be able to actually get to the freedom. I don't think most business owners or entrepreneurs actually want time freedom. They think they do, but when they get it, they fill it up again. For me, I don't say time freedom anymore. What I really want is What you said is freedom, that's what it is. But for me, I just want to be able to just do only things I enjoy, which is basically what you're saying too.

Melody [: 00:54:11

And it's For years, I thought just getting more employees or getting people around me to support me wouldn't give me that, but I was always in the way of it. And so I just wanna tell people, like, people cannot solve the problem of our own workaholic traits, our own you know, addiction traits that we have. There's like so much internal work that has to be done. But it misfits like to do the work.

Irum Jones [: 00:54:37

We do. We're not afraid of the hard work. Right? That's so true. Because I when I walked away from electrician on call, I didn't even know that beyond being a business owner, there was a such thing as a founder. I had to rewrite my process. And I wrote it in a way where I thought I was always gonna be part of the mix. And so it made sense to me. And then the 2nd time around, I rewrote it and I rewrote it in a way where I would have to be the decision maker.

Irum Jones [: 00:55:03

Then the 3rd time I wrote it, it was as if I was completely removed. And so it took 18 months before ChatGPT. So you know, I'm pissed about doing it now. I would have been like, yeah, months. So anyways, so I had to go through that motion. And I was just like, I didn't have to insert myself in I was in my own way all along. I think, you know, in the coaching and consulting world when people go, era, I'm like, how do I, you know, get out of my business? I don't like to, you know, run it at the rate, especially in the trades. I always ask them.

Irum Jones [: 00:55:37

Yeah. And are you a technician that happens to own the business or are you a business owner that just happens to be a badass technician? Now, which one are you going to owe? Because I'm going to conform to that style. And somewhere in between, it finally clicks to them. And they're like, oh, I'm a business owner or, Hey, Aram, Actually, I don't wanna be a business owner. I'm okay with being a tech and I'm gonna hire someone to run it. And that will not take away from my ego or the fact that I'm the founder. I don't have to control everything.

Melody [: 00:56:10

That was me. I loved working with my hands. I met an electrician a couple weeks ago who has a big business, and he loves being in the field, like, doesn't have to be. So it's like you don't have to be in the field you choose to be. There's a difference. That's the freedom when you can make the choice instead of it having to be in any business when you get to make the choice. So this conversation has gone so quickly. It was really fast, and we covered so many cool things that I didn't even know we would talk about.

Melody [: 00:56:41

So now we've reached the time where we Misfit Minute, that's the time. And this is the fun part because based on our conversation, I already know what some of the answers are gonna be, I wanna see if my brain is right. All you have to do is say which one you are, either or. Early bird or night owl?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:00

Early bird.

Melody [: 00:57:02

Introvert or extrovert?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:04

Introvert.

Melody [: 00:57:01

More time or more money?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:06

More time.

Melody [: 00:57:07

Type A or type ADD.

Irum Jones [: 00:57:10

It's type A.

Melody [: 00:57:12

Saver or spender?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:15

Saver.

Melody [: 00:57:16

Workaholic or recovering workaholic?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:19

Recovering workaholic.

Melody [: 00:57:21

Adventure or relaxing?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:23

Both.

Melody [: 00:57:25

Things or experiences?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:27

Experiences.

Melody [: 00:57:29

Phone calls or texts?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:30

Phone calls.

Melody [: 00:57:31

Plan ahead or go with the flow?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:34

Plan ahead.

Melody [: 00:57:35

Hands on or delegate?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:38

Delegate.

Melody [: 00:57:40

Compete or collaborate?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:42

Collaborate.

Melody [: 00:57:44

Sweet or savory?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:46

Savory.

Melody [: 00:57:46

Quick thinker or over thinker?

Irum Jones [: 00:57:48

Over thinker.

Melody [: 00:57:51

You're actually a quick thinker in this game. I did think you would say you were a recovering workaholic. I would have been shocked if you hadn't based on the story.

Irum Jones [: 00:58:01

I'm fine, and I'm fine every day I go.

Melody [: 00:58:05

Me too. I'm always in recovery. Well, it's just I need the reminder constantly to, like, chill out. The only way I can say that, like, I'm just a recovering workaholic.

Irum Jones [: 00:58:15

Yes. I am. And I'll tell you, I live with a self care advocate. Okay? I am so blessed to live with a self care advocate that looked at my life and was just like, hell no, I don't want to run ragged, like, oh, which is my daughter. Yeah. So now she's an adult. And so now she's allowed and able to talk to me as an adult. So we no longer have a mommy daughter relationship in that I have her in adult mode.

Irum Jones [: 00:58:42

So it's hope will happen to adult daughter because she's like, hey, mom, guess what? You're doing it again. And I don't like it. I'm like, really girl, you know? So it's so crazy. I feel like I have just like gained a new best friend with her.

Melody [: 00:58:59

Yeah. I love that.

Irum Jones [: 00:58:59

She keeps me on track. So keep me on track, Melody, when it comes to that.

Melody [: 00:59:04

I think that you I've met your daughter and your son, and I think I even met, was it one of your sisters or something?

Irum Jones [: 00:59:13

Maybe my sisters.

Melody [: 00:59:13

In Florida.

Irum Jones [: 00:59:15

Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That is my dear, dear Kiana.

Melody [: 00:59:20

Yeah. So I feel like I really fell in love with your family and just I think you're such a fantastic mom. You've actually inspired me so many times with just the way you talk about. Not that everything's perfect. Just the way you talk about and approach your relationships with your kids, I think, is really very wise and smart. And I'm always looking for ways to do it better, especially because I grew up with my daughter, so we're like the Fighting Gilmore Girls.

Irum Jones [: 00:59:45

Yeah. Oh, we get there too. We get there too. We got our safe words, though. It's all

Melody [: 00:59:49

That's smart. Maybe that's what I need to do, safe word. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Irum Jones [: 00:59:53

So Honey, if you think mommy's gonna get upset, say I think you're gonna get salty mom. Or if you think the conversation is gonna be 5 minutes, but really gonna be 50 minutes because you're asking me for advice, money and all those other things that goes along with it to say, hey, mom. This conversation may get a little long. Okay? But you gotta warn a sister. Okay? Yeah. You gotta warn me.

Melody [: 01:00:15

That's so smart. Thank you so much, Irum. This was, like, such a fun conversation. I love learning more about you. I'm just so impressed with not just who you are as a person, but the light that you shine in the world and how accepting of people and how much of, like, a cheerleader of other women you are. It's like everything I want to be. So thank you.

Irum Jones [: 01:00:36

Thank you so much, Melody. And you are amazing, and you're such a pioneer in everything that you do. Thanks for feeding the Bizfit and for a place for us to be in connect. And I hope we have a retreat soon. Are you planning a retreat for all the Bizfit to get together?

Melody [: 01:00:50

There will be a retreat. I hope it should be in 2025 because 2024 is almost over.

Irum Jones [: 01:00:56

Let's do it.

Melody [: 01:00:57

Next year, my goal is a lot of being out of my business, but without an accident, like my concussion or without a surgery. Just like having time and space again. And so I'm setting it up like that with my team right now, and next year is all about just connection, and that's supposed to be my job.

Irum Jones [: 01:01:17

Is that your work for the year that we can hold you accountable for? Which one? Connection?

Melody [: 01:01:22

Sure. For next year, 2025. This year. This year was confidence, I think, but I actually worked on my confidence, and I am confident now. It's crazy. Here we are. It was only 30 years in the making.

Irum Jones [: 01:01:34

Well, congrats.

Melody [: 01:01:35

Thank you, Irum. It was a great conversation.

Irum Jones [: 01:01:38

Thanks so much. Alright, Melody.

Melody [: 01:01:43

Listen, Bisfit. If you believe in the mission of this podcast, I need you to like and subscribe right now. Pause this, go find the podcast. You might already be there, which is easy. Just go like and subscribe. And if you really, really believe in it, and you want Bizfits to unite and change the whole business world, please rate it. Rating is the best way to get the word out to attract more like minded misfits like you and me, so that we can overthrow the takers of this world who currently dominate the business universe. Now I know I sound like I'm some courageous lady of business.

Melody [: 01:02:14

I am not. I can't do this alone and I don't want to. I need you and we need a coalition of fellow Bizfits. So do it now. The quicker we take action, the quicker we can change our business world. Now let's go do great things and I will see you next week.

Melody [: 01:02:39

I'm a misfit. I'm a I'm a misfit.