Taking The Helm: Interview with Empower Employ founder Lindsay Helm

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But at the end of the summit, the speaker stands up and says something about, you know, guys, if there was a tool that was out there that we could pass you from place to place to give you job continuity that would translate the resume skills and do all these things. We would be in so much of a better place. He says, but it doesn't exist. And I was like, Why doesn't it exist? And that just resonated with me, and then I went home and built it.

Thank you for joining us today, folks. Today, our guest is someone who has massive efforts with helping our military veterans all around, she has launched a company that further helps make the complicated path of the military veteran hiring process much easier. This professional pillar of the military community is Mrs. Lindsay helm. Lindsay, I want to thank you for joining me today. Well, thank you for having me. It's truly an honor. I so happy to be here. I'd like to get started by getting to know a little bit about you. Where are you from? And when did you decide to join the military and why?

So I'm from a very small town in dry Ridge, Kentucky, its population is like teeny, tiny. I joined the military in 2003. And what made me decide to join, I knew that in dry Ridge, there weren't a lot of opportunities there. It's a very small, rural rural town. And that if I didn't find a way to get out of there, I was never going to be able to go to college. You know, we grew up poor. And I had goals. So I joined the military to leave my small town and see kind of what opportunities are out in the world.

Yeah, I know, a lot of times, it's kind of difficult to see things beyond the horizon. Can you talk with me on what you did while you were in service? And what was your experience like?

So in the military, I was a 25 Bravo. So I was in the army. And that's an information technology specialists. That title though, that's how I left change, like 18 million years. My experience was a good one, you know, my first duty station was camp Humphrey, South Korea. And so coming from the Bible Belt and going out there, I really had a new exposure to new culture and new people that I'd never seen before, there were different ethnicities, and backgrounds and just things that I never had expected. And then getting to travel globally was like such a big deal. Because my family, you know, our trips were to Grant County, you know, to Dairy Queen, that was like the big deal. So to go across country was like, amazing. As I transitioned back to Fort Campbell, I started with my family. And we started facing those challenges dual military couple of deployment and children. And so he joined the military, my former husband joined the military before I did, and he had more time, and I knew that we could make more money if I left the military and transitioned civilian life, and then I'd be able to be home with our children. So I opted to leave. I wasn't really in a toxic leadership environment, I probably had some of the best leaders I've ever met in my entire life that I look up to. And I still talk to them today. And it's just a sense of like, community and sister and brotherhood that you don't really get anywhere else. I think if you leave active duty, you really learned to miss it. So I kind of mitigated that by becoming a government contractor or GS employee, I basically just changed clothes and got to do my, my same job after I transitioned out.

Now Lindsey, just want to take it back a question when you mentioned where you're from dry Ridge, Kentucky, and you mentioned that you're you were poor growing up, that's very subjective. Can you give the listeners an idea of what exactly poor look like?

Let me tell you all, we were so poor, and my parents would murder me and be mortified if they heard me say this, but I'm going to tell you all the truth. You know, I grew up in a trailer park, which you know, so my house had wheels, mobile, then mobile now. But like my senior year of high school, I really wanted to go to prom and we just couldn't afford for me to go tickets were like $55 and this was 2003. Right? So things were hurting. So I went to a secondhand store and I bought a $25 prom dress. And my dad like screamed at me for 40 minutes over a $25 prom dress. That's how bad it was. Today's retail value of a prom dress, blow Blow at the store $199 and we could go spend that right now and not think twice about it. We used to have people bring us school supplies and Christmas gifts because my parents couldn't afford to do that either. And I'm the oldest of four. So you know both of my parents worked. It was just the situation that we lived in. So the the opportunity to join the military to get out of there and build a career for myself without going into debt. may sound like an army recruitment video, but I'm serious. I left you know, dry ridge. I I got to go to school, I got my masters, my professional certifications. And I started my career path using the army as my launch pad, and walked away, you know, with zero debt and all that experience. So it was like the great, it was a great setup.

Yeah. And I understand you know, where you're coming from, when it's hard to talk about, you know, where you started. But I think the older that I get, the easier it becomes to talk about it, because a lot of people see where you are today. And they assume that things have always been good for you. And they always they assume that you were born with that silver spoon in your mouth. And quite honestly, that's the opposite. Most people that I know who are successful today came from very humble beginnings. And so I thought it was really important to get folks to understand that, you know, things for you starting out, required a lot of sacrifice required for you to make the about face when everyone else was just kind of pivoting a little bit this way and that way. And what I mean is, most folks don't even want to move to the next city or the next town, or they think moving to a big city is like a huge thing. And you just jumped right in on the deep end and just joined the military. So that's something that a lot of people don't do. And that was a huge sacrifice for you early on to make the transition, you know, beyond that horizon and grow. And you just just recently discussed your time in the military. Sounds like you were very fortunate to have some some really good leaders, but what was your transition out of the military, and into being a government contractor, like,

Oh, I was extremely successful in transition, but I was successful, because I, I made it a point to like, connect and talk to anybody that I possibly could, you know, when you're in the military, you always hear, I'm going to give out and be GS employee or I'm going to be a government contractor. No one ever took the time to sit down and explain to me like how that worked. I never had anybody write a resume for me from like, SFL, tap or any of those support programs. What I did have was an ally. Her name is Jillian. You know, as a soldier, I was at the one to six transportation battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And Jillian was the Help Desk tech that I would call because you know, you have limited permissions when you're like fixing computers, and you're not deployed, right? So I called Jill and I be like, hey, Jill, I'm stuck. And she'd laugh and be like, oh, peasant, let me show you how to do this. And we built this friendship from all the hours that we would be on the phone with each other because I was dealing with people's, you know, dumb choices on computers. And as that developed, I, you know, I found out that I was pregnant. And we had to make that decision with the the next child to stay or get out which we all know, I left and I said Jill, I have 30 days left. I don't know what I'm gonna do I want to come work with you. You sound awesome. And she said, okay, and I'm like, What do you mean? Okay, she said, Here, I'll send you my resume, you'll have to rewrite it. I'm like, Jillian, I don't know how to rewrite a resume. And she was like, come over here, I'll show you. So I sat on next door, and she rewrote my very first resume. Now I'm not gonna lie to y'all. I didn't read anything that she put on that I had no idea what skill she could have said I was a top notch like superstar rock star painter. And I didn't even check. But because she had the same skill set as me and she was a woman in tech, she was immediately a mentor. So Jillian got me my very first job at the, at the time, it was called a dual. Now it's a neck that tells you how old I am at the room. And my hire date there was all attributed to her teaching me how to show my skills. So I walked literally out of active duty, where I was, you know, telling people, you know, yes, Sunday, I'm going to leave and go work at the help desk. And you're going to have to call me and beg me for help. Don't talk to me like that. And I would make jokes. And then lo and behold, it happened and people would call in and be like, Oh, it's you? Do you remember that time you made me do push ups. I can't take your call right now here talk to my friend, Bob. And it became like a running joke. So that was really my first transition. From there, I started building my skills. And I became a GS nine at the Warrior Transition Battalion, their information technology specialists. And then I decided that although I love the military at that time, I needed a break because DS employment was like being a soldier and it was way too close to home. I wanted some freedom. So I went out to the civilian sector for a while.

Yeah. So it sounds like you're very fortunate in your career, you talked about having good leadership, you talked about having good transition. A lot of times when you're a person of good attitude and good character, a lot of things can follow that, you know, and if you have a positive mindset. So I think that that might have a lot to do with, you know, the circumstantial situation that you were in as far as running into the right people at the right time and making those connections because you seem like a very extroverted person, as it is. So even though you're from Dr. Ridge, Kentucky is a very small part of the state. You have this natural talent to just connect with folks. And that's pretty amazing. So what was it like throughout your career, whether you were in the military or whether you're a military spouse, to complete your education, you know, while being in service and being a mom,

I have three kids. So to answer that question and put it in perspective, I have three kids in five years. They are literally stacked on top of each other. So what was that? Like? It was hell. It was hell. My husband was deployed on his first deployment for a 19 month deployment. We had our first child, so he missed his entire birth delivery and first year life. And then I got pregnant with our daughter and I crap you not. I used to keep like one kid in a pumpkin seat, which is like a car seat, I guess. So pumpkin seat on the floor, other kid either in my lap or in the swing, and I would keep one foot on the pumpkin seat and bounce it. Well, I would sit at my computer with one hand and type and that was just for my bachelor's degree for my master's degree. I took a nightshift job as a sock analyst at Fort Irwin, California, and now my kids are school age, right? So we're contending the sports in school, and I would have to their dad would be in the fields. I hired a nanny who would be home with him at night while I would go work and then they'd be at school while while I slept. So it was a little complicated in that regard. But you know, I've got it done. And if you want to chuckle to me tell you why I got my master's degree. It's hilarious. Yeah. Okay, here we go. sick and tired of hearing from people with no experience that you need a master's in order to succeed. And True story. When I was at Fort Irwin, I read this. I'm money motivated for a little bit of time, or at least that point in my life, right? three kids, one husband, poor me money. Okay, cool. So Fort Irwin Park University had an opportunity to teach Information Technology and computer science as an adjunct professor at PARC at the local school, because the larger schools were 75 miles away, you know, one way. And so they said, we'll let you teach here. But you need a Master's. And I was like, Okay, I'll finish my master's. And they let me teach, I think, a couple semesters of college for like, 30 $600 a semester. And that was like, easy money for me. And I would take my students out on field trips to like the hospital, we were building there and sneak them into the construction site. I wouldn't make them do homework, because I thought that hands on training was better. I confess now that all of those students probably did not get your typical classroom experience. They got real life experience. And that's what that was, like my motivator to get my master's was money. So I could teach, I thought it would be fun to be a college professor. It was really creepy, though. Like, it was just a weird experience.

I don't think there's absolutely anything wrong with being a hands on professor, I can tell you when I was getting my undergrad, I had several professors that were that way. Typically, I'd say 80% of the professors, you know, open the books, and they have you read and it's sort of boring. I think back I had a professor who is a former police chief for Cleveland, Ohio, he didn't really teach from the book, he kind of taught from his own experience. He did like 25 years, you know, as a state trooper and then was a police chief guy was just a wealth of knowledge from straight up experience. And I enjoyed his class, like I sat there. And I wrote down some of the most meaningful quotes and thoughts and perspectives that I still think about today. And that's more than I'd say most of the college courses that I took, so there's nothing wrong with you know, getting your your students out on the ground and actually walking to, you know, Ground Zero to to check out like what's going on what's out there.

It was just a really good experience for me, because I never really agreed with and I just don't want to agree with agree with the concept that like a piece of paper defines who you are. That of course defines your capabilities. And so, you know, what if you had a learning disability, or what if like, school just wasn't your thing, and it wasn't my brother's thing, and we can talk about that later. But it shouldn't be a roadblock. So if I can take you out, especially if you're transitioning and show you a hard skill, or teach you a hard skill that you can take with you that's going to make the greater impact and not some stupid piece of paper. So I just took a lot of pride in like he accidentally hacked our network at the school ones because I was trying to show them how not to hack a network and I didn't think I was gonna succeed. So the look on my face when I was teaching them like networking and credentials. When I hacked into the wireless network they're in for the whole class. It wasn't rehearsed. I literally shocked myself that I broke into their network. Well, everybody watched me just things like that were like what we were doing in class, I had them watch like Josh writes, hacking adventures on how to hack your friends and neighbors for fun. I had them watch Johnny Long's no tech hacking, which at the time was like mind blowing. He talks about how he breaks into a federal thing with a coat hanger and a toilet paper roll. And that's how I spent my time teaching them. It wasn't you know, books and learning is real stuff that you could take with you. And it was fun. It's

hard to imagine that you were just to grow from dry Ridge, Kentucky. And I say that because I am very familiar with that area. Yeah, it's very rural area. It's beautiful, beautiful area, the the wilderness and stuff but it's just literally out in middle of nowhere. And here you are teaching, you know, college level courses. I know my mom would be so proud. My dad not so much. Definitely should be. So I understand that you continue to help the military community even after you decided to separate On the military, can you talk to us a little bit more about your your mentorship, and the assistance that you've given to the military community?

Oh, gosh. So you know, being a porter one was really an eye opener for me. And especially as we moved from Fort Irwin to Georgia, you know, as a veteran, I had gone place to place with my spouse at the time, and I never went without a job because I had a field that was portable and paid well. And so I was really proud of myself. And I did some advocacy of where or when to bring jobs there, because it was so remote, and I won an award for it. After that, that award gave me recognition and the military spouse community, which is something I had never tapped into before, you know, the view of the spouse at the time from a veteran's perspective, was like, they were whiny, they complained all the time, they didn't do anything, they sat at home, and were lazy, and just took care of their kids. And you know, I don't want anything to do with that. But then when I won that award, I was invited to go to Washington, DC. And I was sitting in this room, and I'm looking around at all these spouses. Now these ladies man, they are dressed to the nines, there is Calvin Klein and Gucci everywhere and heels and pearls. And I'm just sitting in the corner, like managers don't belong here. And but they started talking about at their employment summit, going to Congress and banging on the doors of Congress to make change. And they were talking about employment things. And they were talking about laws and taxes, and, and all of these really deep issues that impacted our military community. And I thought, Man, I'm one of these people, I can be a part of this, if I really try, you know, I just have to talk to somebody. And so we were sitting in a room, and they were at the end of the employment summit, somebody was speaking. And here I'm a little hoity toity at the time, because I'm like, I don't need this information. I have a job. This is the worst experience of my life, I just want to go home. I'm so embarrassed, I don't belong here. But at the end of the summit, the speaker stands up and says something about, you know, guys, if there was a tool that was out there that we could pass you from place to place to give you job continuity that would translate the resume skills and do all these things, we would be in so much of a better place. He says, but it doesn't exist. I was like, Why doesn't it exist. And that just resonated with me. And then I went home and built it. And then it died. So after that, one of my next experiences was pcsing, from Fort Irwin, California to Fort Gordon Georgia go signal. So we were there. And I applied to work as a IT manager for a construction project at Fort Gordon Georgia building the cyber school, our cyber Center of Excellence. What's interesting about that is I had just left the contract building military treatment facilities, planning all the it at Fort Irwin, California, this seems like a solid match to me, right? So I get there, I do all this pre work, all this networking, and finally thinking I'm gonna get this interview, and she responds back to me and put this in writing. We're not interested in pursuing you anymore as a candidate, because you're not going to be here long enough to be a value and your husband's in the military. Put that in writing and I was like, What is my husband gonna work here? Are you gonna hire him? I mean, the next Do you hire after me can walk out of here two seconds later, like there's it's at will employment, what is who I'm married to have to do with anything. So what I did is I went on Facebook Live because I was so infuriated. I just wanted to vent to my friends, right? Like I just moved somewhere, I couldn't go see my friend, I had made friends. And I told my story. And this is before Facebook had like those control features. And I didn't realize the impact of that words matter. At the time, I was still very young and dumb. So I get on Facebook Live and I just unload, I tell the story. I'm upset. I'm infuriated. I'm going to report them because they're a government contractor. And it's discrimination. I just lost my mind. Okay, like could not deal could not cope full on hurricane home like level five plowing down. And that video went viral. It's still out there today. And the result of that is I got to write an article for military spouse magazine about how military spouses are a protected class, which up until that point, I had never been educated on identified as veteran than identified as veteran and military spouses. Suddenly, I was punished. So that really just kicked off the advocacy of what you have today. And so in current day, fast forwarding through a bunch of transitions, I now live at Fort Drum, New York. I recently got married in February to another service member. So we launched him How are employed because last year during the pandemic, and six months as a volunteer, I saw the need for drama again, where there's no jobs is extremely desolate. We can't go anywhere because it's COVID. I helped to place 150 military spouses and veterans across the United States. The average salary for that was about $55,000 a year. And the basic requirement for those jobs is a high school diploma. That got me a lot of recognition and Street crowd around here to the point that like I couldn't go out in public or I hear somebody go, isn't there a girl here that works for insert company that she like helps people get jobs, but she's not a recruiter? What does she do? Well, I'm a project manager and Program Manager. That's what I do. But on the side, I'm over here hustling, making sure y'all are taken care of because your community I care about, that led to the launch of empower employee this year. And so we're on a mission to do the same thing. I don't want to be viewed as a staffing agency because this is the twist we are we have developed a course that is called link and link is targeted at going in and solving the following issue. Hey, Lindsay, hey, company. We really are looking for recruiters. We desperately need them to fill these remote roles. Okay, meet my friend, Joe. Joe's an army recruiter. He's getting out in six months. Okay, we'll talk to him. Hey, Lindsay, hey, company didn't work out? Why not? Joe doesn't have any real life experience. Lindsey goes. But he's an army recruiter, you asked me for a recruiter? I don't understand how does he not have 18 years of real life experience? What about the army is not real life experience. And that at its very core is the class that I'm teaching internally, to these to these companies. It's Sherm accredited, so the Society of Human Resources professional says that I know what I'm talking about, and everyone can take my class for these businesses to change the way they're doing business internally. So that's how I'm attacking employment from that side of the house. I've also developed leap for military spouses, and pivot for transitioning servicemembers where your learning career skills mentorship like typical things that you see a VSO but with Lindsey as a hands on approach, that being said, because I made such a splash last year, and continue to be hurricane home and make all this noise for our community, I've been invited to help companies find talent. But I've been refusing to help talent if they don't take the class. Because what's the point if you're if you're not ready, you don't deserve the talent. So there's that. And then lastly, we're building a software created by military spouses and veterans, for military spouses and veterans to solve the employment problem. So empower employees is going to teach companies how to fish, we're going to teach our population how to meet those companies. And then we're going to give them a tool so that I don't have to be the intermediary anymore. I want to teach, train, develop and see you get a job. That's what I care about. That software name is Jake. It is named in honor of my brother who passed away in October of 2020, which, again, when you were talking about, you know, things that were easy and having this upbringing, let's just stop and summarize this. I grew up poor. I had no education. I'm not privileged. I went through a divorce. I was a single mom. It was like the craziest experience COVID happened and then I lost my only blood sibling less than six months ago. And powerplay came out of the concept that like after Jake pass, I needed some I needed to reignited passion in me, so that I would get out of bed, I needed a purpose. And I had a mentor, Meredith Smith, no lie, Meredith Taylor. I know all of them nurse Taylor. And she called me one day and said, You need to get out of bed, this has to end, we're going to get you out, we're going to do this for you. And we're going to be there for you and is the first time the spouse had supported me instead of a veteran population. So you know, all of that really played out and kind of scrolling on the Jake subject. You know, Jake was the first person I ever helped get a job. And that's a really funny story for a different time. But so we're funding Jake, we're crowdsourcing him to solve our problem. And then, you know, we've got all that experience. So that's a whole lot going on. But I'm hoping that the difference between us and other companies will be that the salaries that I'm looking at right now, like one of the jobs I have posted shameless plug. As far as cyber security engineer. The pay on this thing is 100k a year. And it's 100% remote with a veteran friendly company. That's my target audience. Gone are the days of $12.50 an hour for your experience, because you're worth so much more. So thanks for coming to my TED talk on that. It drives me nuts.

No, it's no, I'm glad that you went in. You went into that, because that was going to be my next question was to talk about empower, employ. And and you went into it, but Well, I want to I want to comment on what you just said, you know, as far as you need a reason to get up in the morning, I just interviewed Tom Tran. He's a Hollywood comedian. He works. He works mainly at the Laugh Factory. It's been on a lot of TV shows. Tom was also mentioning the same thing too. He gets involved with his music, he gets involved with acting, he gets involved with comedy. And he also mentioned the same thing where, you know, he needs to keep these projects going. And he needs to give back to the military community to basically you know, have a reason to get up every morning. So I can identify with what you're saying, you know, when you talk about that, but just want to mention really quick or just want to ask, I should say when you decided to press forward with empower, employ What was it like finding mentors or people to link up with and connect with to take that giant leap? It sounds like throughout your whole life, you've, you've done these giant leaps you leap from Dr. Ridge, Kentucky, to the military, the military to civilian world. Now you're leaping into your own business, like, Can you talk a little bit about that?

Man, it is scary as hell, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm scared to death. I've never run a business in my entire life. The success here has been beyond phenomenal. Like I I'm struggling to find words. So for timeline purposes, I I call Bruce Thompson, who is a mentor at veter ATI, his calendar, by the way, is always full. So if you can get in to see him, good luck, May the odds be in your favor. But I called him in February and I said, Bruce, I'm so lost, I don't love the job that I'm doing now. You know, Jay just died on depressed, like, I don't want to do this anymore. I didn't want to die or anything. I just, I don't want to get out of bed. And so Bruce said, you know, Lindsey, with all the stuff that you've been doing, and all the advocacy you were doing, you should be doing something on your own, you can make so much more of an impact by playing by your own roles. So did you hear me when I told you that that server crashed in 2017? And I lost $40,000? I'm not going to do that again. No, thank you. I think he said to me, I'm gonna give you 30 days to get it in here. Alright, and 30 days, you need to call me back and you need to tell me, you got a new job that you love. That's something you're passionate about, or you started your own business. The next call Bruce got for me was not 30 days later, it was 60 days later, and I call him said, Hey, you want a partner my company started. And so before I called Bruce, I called my friend Kate, who we've been advocating together for over a year and she's in Hampton Roads. And I said, Kate, now's the time to bring back in power employee, you know, remote work is a new thing. Now, Tim Kaine has introduced the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for military spouses into Congress. The Biden administration is 100% on board for military hiring. It's on the Initiative's. Let's get out there and do this thing. And I thought she told me no, she said, Okay, that was a Monday, on Tuesday, Monday night, I built our website on Tuesday, I did our first pitch. Two weeks later, I signed our first staffing contract. Last week, I signed for more staffing contracts. And then I said, Oh, crap, I'm in over my head. And I reached out for a new mentor, his name is Dr. Dragon. And he is part of local Best, and he's a marine. And every time I get soccer, I'm scared that I'm going to make the wrong decision. I sent him a message on LinkedIn. And he says, Just keep swimming, you're doing fine. And so I just keep checking in with them. So it's been a struggle to balance entrepreneur startup and the way that we're seeing success. I made my first $21 yesterday. All right, so excited. So we're officially Incorporated, we made some money. It's not like anything to write home about. But it shows that people are interested, it was just a random donation. And our crowdsource has raised like 18 $100 in four days, so people are in it to win it. And so those supportive the community really has like brought me back to life, it it makes me feel like what I'm saying is accurate. And that I'm not just blowing hot air and like that I want to be in the spotlight or that like I'm going to tell you, I'm not going to help you and then leave you know, if you get my backing that I'm going to help you then we're going to go and find you a job if it kills me. And it almost has because again, I haven't slept in three days. So that's what that's like right now. It's just really overwhelming and exciting. And I'm losing my voice because I keep talking about it. I've gotten to a point where I've started recording myself and just sending it to people because I can't take any more phone calls. I've had to learn how to delegate to other people and trust that they're going to love this as much as I do. And learning a lot about myself right now I am I'm growing every day. I'm a completely different person that I was two weeks ago when somebody says so how can we help you? And I'd be like, Oh, I don't know yet today, somebody called and said, Lindsay, how can we help empower employee? I'm like, Listen, I need your network connections. I need your backing. And I need a new contract. And they'll be like, okay, so I'm learning that you have to be direct and ask people because if you're wishy washy with them, they think that you're like, not reliable or trustworthy. And I'm just like, bam, I need it. And then I send them away and wait for the response. So that's how that shaking out right now.

Yeah, sounds like you've grown quite a bit. And it sounds I can even hear the passion in your voice as far as like how much you want to help the military community. So all I care about, I just want to ask you, so what was it like building a business plan for empower employee?

I did it in 2017. So I had a coach there by going to like the small businesses for you know, the VA. So when I decided to launch it was really it was a split second decision that happened out of nowhere, but thank God I still had my old business plan and I had, but we modified it. We changed our mission and focused on teaching. So had my old business plan. How My own marketing material still had my old logo had all of my stuff already there, because I prepped it. So it was a learning experience. But with like a project management background and being around contracts for the last couple of years, it wasn't that big of a stretch. And we've just had to make small modifications. I assure you my business plan on paper is probably a poop show. And I'll probably have it reviewed again soon. But the massive like, jump on in backing for this mission has been so overwhelming. I haven't had time to stop and look at it. It's just been like call after call after call.

No, I completely understand. I can tell like within the last few weeks, you've gotten extremely busy. Yeah, watch LinkedIn. It's on fire. I know. I know. I understand you're involved in crowdsourcing. Yeah, if anyone out there wants to connect with you, where can they connect with you and how can they support your cause?

So easiest way free way to support the cause? share it on social media so you can find me on LinkedIn at hashtag take the helm at lm because I'm a leader haha I just that teaches you marketing right you'll never forget that you can't find me as take the helm you'll remember my former last name which was heralds the search for hashtag Hark the herald. So take the home, Park The Herald, empower employ, you can share on our video. If you feel if you watch the videos inside of the crowdsource and you feel compelled back at $10 $5 $2 buy a T shirt the T shirts are made by a local military spouse here at Fort Drum. Those are not outsourced so you're supporting her local business. By doing that. I only have like 13 of those left. I think I started with 50 I have to go check out I want to tell you why. KP bought his last night at two o'clock in the morning because he doesn't sleep. So you can share it out on social media. You can find us on Facebook at empower employees. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, tik tok, my tic tocs of hilarious I love the spouses that stitch in and share their stories and that we're able to give them a platform for that YouTube, it we're out there, we're everywhere, all you basically have to do is search for me or the company. And that's how you find us. If you need career support or career services, our calendar is booked up until the end of the month already. So please, please, please, I should be upfront about this, go to www dot empower employee.us and click book appointment or career coaching. Here's the thing I need to tell you all about this, our career coaching right now is not free. And just $75 an hour. And this is why the guy that's doing your career coaching is Tim King, Tim was laid off randomly from another company, who said that they were going to replace his role with a cheaper option, even though he was bringing in sales. So I'm a little petty, I hired him. And then I called the person that laid them off and invited them to partner with empower employ, they said yes. And now I'm going to send him back over there to teach the courses that they were going to outsource somebody else. So that $75 covers him salary, the resume rewrite that you get all of his experience hands on coaching. And then we're going to do our best based on prepping you and our classes to pair you with a job that's remote that pays well. So when you're putting that investment in, you're putting that investment into yourself, we're not greedy or trying to rob you blind if you cannot afford the $75. But you can afford a $5 donation to back it back the programs and send him an email on our website and say I backed it for $5 we'll throw you in the chute. We're not here to try to rob you wine, but I got to make sure Tim can be this family. So that's a lot. I just wanted to explain it. So when you see it your eyes don't bug out of your head. You run away.

Yeah, Tim is Tim is a veteran, too.

He is he's a marine and his story is inside of our Indiegogo crowdfunding, you could watch it, he talks about some really tough subjects about how if he hadn't found a job that he loves, like the one he has now, he probably wouldn't be here today. He's motivated in a way that scares me. He's got more passion than I do. And those are the people I want on my team because they're gonna care about y'all, right, and they understand the culture and everything. And I'll make sure that I post all these links down in the show notes as well. So anyone that didn't catch something, you can look down in the show notes of the podcast and find, find that link, find that information down there. And Lindsey, before we wrap things up today, we

just want to ask, Is there anything else that you can tell the crowd? Or do you want to share with the crowd before we finish off the show?

Yeah. So again, I don't think I can trust him enough how grateful I am for the support of this community that everybody wants to help everybody. Just because I look like I'm successful. And I'm out there running it. I didn't forget where I came from. I didn't forget that I was poor. I'm still poor. I forget what it was like to struggle. Um, and so just as you're saying all this, you know, I hope that you feel inspired, but reach out if you have questions. I am swamped, but I will get back to you. It may take me a hot minute. Just keep going and don't quit. And if you feel like you need somebody to talk to, you know, reach out to me, I'll be here for you. But thank you for all of the support just it's I

could cry. It's it's phenomenal. The honor is all mine because it's nice to connect with people who have humble beginnings. And, you know, hopefully someone out there can connect with you and understand like, where you came from, and your sacrifice and your struggle, and your fight and overcoming all the obstacles that you did. And I'm looking forward to seeing where empower employee goes from here. I'm, I'm excited for you. And I'll definitely be keeping tabs and supporting you as well. So I appreciate your time today, Lindsay, thank you for sharing your story. And thank you for sharing your next adventure.

Thank you so much for having me. And I guess I should tell you before I leave, they're doing a new local news story on me. And you know, if you get it, share it out, if you know somebody that's in the news media, this is what somebody told me the other day, and I know I'm having a Southern Baptist moment, somebody approached me and asked how they can help me with our crowdsource or crowd fund, and then proceeded to tell me why we would never succeed in our crowdfunding because I didn't do it the right way. So every time I've gotten told no, in my life, I've stood up and said, watch this. And so Hey, y'all watch this. So if you know somebody in the news arena, or on like a National Broadcasting stage, please ask them to go find our story, because nothing would make me happier than to show them the power of this community and prove that person. absolutely wrong. Because we're powerful. But sorry for my crazy rant. It was just a frustration that I forgot to bring up. Thank you so much for your time.

Yeah. Thank you, Lindsay. And I wish you well, and I'll be supporting you going forward. So thank you for your time today. And for the listeners out there. Hopefully you enjoyed the show today and you got a little something out of it. Please check out empower, employ. By the time this publishes. I know they're going to be well along their their path to their goals. Thank you. So thank you for listening today. This is KP with Lindsey. And we're out