Laughter, Connection, and Entrepreneurship: Understanding the Link

Lisa Exp

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[00:00:00] Hello, school believer and welcome to episode number 63 of the undiscovered entrepreneur. And it's me DJ. Scoob.

Coming at you at whatever device you have to be listening on. Okay. So right away, I'm just going to let y'all know. I probably sound a little bit different. Uh, the setting's a little bit different. I've actually moved into my new place, still kind of getting things together. So hopefully the sound's okay. Um, it will probably change a little bit as I tweak things to make things sound better, look better in my new area.

So. Okay. So today I'm going to talk about the scuba leaver of the week. So the school believer of the week. Is the list of Abraham. Now the list of Abraham has been liking and commenting on my reels on Facebook. So thank you so much for doing that. I will definitely put your information in the show notes.

If anybody wants to know anything about the Alyssa, uh, look down under the show notes. Uh, faith and sparkles world. Uh, just to mention that one of three kind of links that she has going on right there.

Okay. So

today, we're talking to three of [00:01:00] three of our experience entrepreneurs. Today, we're talking to Lisa Olson. She has an incredible background. She's done Ted talks. She has books. And I couldn't think of anybody more perfect and more of a mashup to my person, I, to this lady at three, we're about to listen to.

So let's see what Lisa Olson has to say about her entrepreneur adventure.

Salutations, school believers. And we are here again with another. Amazing entrepreneur today. We're here with an experienced entrepreneur. Let's say hi to Lisa. Hi, Lisa. Hi everyone. All right. Thank you so much for agreeing to be in the undiscovered entrepreneur.

I really appreciate you coming and taking your time to be here with us today. Thanks

for inviting me.

Absolutely. Now I have one kind of semi serious question to ask you. Okay. You ready? You know, I'm ready. Oh yeah. All right. Are you a school believer? I'm a believer. Love it. Nice voice. Thank you so much for that.

All right, Lisa, if you could [00:02:00] do me a favor and just kind of describe for me who you are and what your entrepreneur adventure is and how long you've actually been doing it for.

Sure, Jesse, I am the practically world famous business humorist, interactive speaker, three time TEDx speaker, author, podcaster, embarrassing mom, and professional neg, Lisa David Olson.

My journey started over 20 years ago when I auditioned for an improvisation troupe, got accepted, loved the journey. We did sketch comedy and improvisation. To this day, I'm still doing it 20 plus years later, and it is now my troop, and I've just launched my third book.

Wow. Congratulations. Awesome. A new book.

What's the book called?

From the Spotlight to Real Life. Oh, we got it right there. Copy now. That's handy.

And in this book, I take my over 20 years of performing and speaking and [00:03:00] how that works from what I learned on stage into real life conversations. So my audience is those who want to be better speakers, those looking for their message. Teams that need to connect on a better level than the workday. So I've got gentle icebreakers.

I've got a quiz to find out if you're funny. I've got improvisation games in here that people can try out. And even samples from my card deck called Dare Zone. That are gentle prompts that you can do like charades or use them for storytelling or even writing prompts.

Wow, that's fantastic. If if it's okay with you, we can, if you could just put a little bit in the show notes there.

So if anybody wants to take advantage of those cards or the book, let's go ahead and have that there. Is that okay?

I adore when people take advantage of me. I'm all for it. All right. Awesome.

Thank you. I Was wondering what it was like when you first got started. When you first got started this whole thing, what was it like and how did you actually get started?

You gave us a little bit of taste of it earlier, [00:04:00] but what was it really like

i. Had two toddlers and was going through my first divorce. So yes, there's more than one divorce because I wear these guys out. I am a hyper hummingbird. But all my exes are friends. That's probably a good start for a country song.

But, I always craved to stay busy and that's because in my background, my first book, I talk about my traumatic background of growing up in an alcoholic home. My mother was a functioning alcoholic. Nowadays I know she was self medicating for her own internal struggles that she should have been getting the proper therapy and, and help like that.

But back then, you. Self-medicated. So she drank often and became pretty evil at night. And so my escape was humor. I could relieve. You know, laughter releases endorphins, it raises your energy level. It releases nature, [00:05:00] serotonin. As a kid, I just knew it felt good. So my siblings and I, after a round of dealing with mom, would comfort each other.

Dad was around, but not around back then. Again, I'm 58. So back then you didn't get into each other's business and I have talked to him about that. You know, as an adult, we've talked about what could have gone better. That would have been nice, but you go forward. So I make the choice to not be a victim. I make the choice to go forward, learn from it.

What did I get out of that? I was a, I am a darn good mama. So I've got two boys. Five shared sons total with my husband and they've never had to deal with anything I ever grew up with, but they are aware of it. So humor became such a relief and a therapy and an escape, mainly an escape. So it was like watching the Carol Burnett show.

I used to pretend she raised me because she was sure her parents were alcoholics and she'd live with her grandma [00:06:00] and fast forward to. Auditioning for that improv sketch group so many years ago, then doing a show so much like my mentor, my, you know, that I fan over is Carol Burnett sketches, improv song parodies.

We sing about the city's potholes and make a big musical out of it, anything like that. And wow, what do you want to be when you grow up? I'm doing it pretty cool way to, to come out of that question. Like, I want to be a ballerina. I'm like, I want to be a performer. Oh, I am.

Well, it's nice to see that you're making those dreams become a reality.

When I was growing up, I wanted to be an airline pilot and learn how to fly. That did not happen.

It's not too

late, Jesse. Oh, I'm going to do this. I, I found this and I think I'm going to stick with this. I really love my podcast and talking with amazing people like you, Lisa. All

right, let's say, let's teach you about creativity, Jesse.

Oh, here we go. This is [00:07:00] taking two unlikely ideas and putting them together, much like One of the best candies in the world, Reese's peanut butter cups. Somebody went, yeah, somebody went, let's throw some peanut butter in that chocolate and whatnot. Let's take the podcast into the cockpit. So it'd be a pod pit.

Let's do that. Hello. You're joining me at 14, 000 feet. Let's go through a cloud and tell me what you do. There you

go.

Life is short. You got to do all this stuff.

I like mashing things together, too. You'll find a lot of a lot of what I do is just mashing two ideas together to find one final idea.

That's a good way to do it,

too. Well, now you know. Now you know what you got to do with the rest of your day. Got to find

out

a way to get into that pod pit. Yeah, got to get the license. That's going to be the fun part.

All right. [00:08:00] What I'd like to know is in your first year of your entrepreneurial adventure what are some of the pitfalls that you've had? I know we've talked a couple of quick ones already, but did you have any kind of pitfalls that you talk about when you're first getting started?

Well, it's always, how do you find the right audience and how do you get clients?

I work one on one with people who want to speak from a stage or just become a better speaker for those crucial conversations with a boss, a partner, a kid. There are, we all need that. tool. We all need to be a better speaker and a better listener. So, like Grandma said, you got two ears and one mouth for a reason.

You should be listening twice as much as you're talking. And so, when you take all those tools together and help people with that, that is my passion. Yet, how do you find the right people is The issue, because we are now bombarded on social media. I mean, we are bombarded and emails, emails, emails. So I [00:09:00] don't do an email group.

Maybe I'm missing out on that, but I don't enjoy going through email that, that to me is chatter as well as social media. So that would be one of the hiccups is finding the right people, because I'm going to say, no, you don't speak to everyone. That's just wrong in the sense of not everyone is your jam.

Not everyone is going to watch this Netflix show. Not everyone is going to eat this kind of ice cream. How do you find your people and speak only to those people? I absolutely am weird. My podcast invites weirdos only. And I have a group on Facebook called, yeah, you're weird, Jesse. I have a Facebook group called counterclockwise and that's all memes and jokes.

It's all. Fun stuff. So I invite people there all the time. There's no politics. There's no body shaming. It's just all up and up PG 13 humor. And that is why I say if you do your content, the right people find you. Don't [00:10:00] think you're speaking to the masses. And I think I learned that years ago as a radio DJ don't speak.

Hey, everyone out there actually picture your best friend. And that's who you talk to. So one of my best friends is Kaylee. So maybe I'm going to talk to Kaylee. Oh my gosh. You wouldn't believe when I was at the store yesterday and I might get the giggles. Maybe I was in the dressing room and I asked somebody next to me, can you pass me the toilet paper?

We're out over here. I do stuff like that all the time. I'm going to talk into the microphone as if I'm talking to Kaylee. So that's my audience. That's how you find your right people. You cannot speak to the masses. That's what I found out.

Yeah. Cause it really seems like if you're trying to help everybody, you end up helping nobody.

Right. Right. If you're able to niche down to that one type of person and then talk to that one type of person as they are, really are, who they are, people will tend to find you just like you said.

Yes. Right. That's what you have to do because you [00:11:00] cannot expect that everybody's going to love you.

Guess what? They don't. Oh yeah. Both go through the salad bar. Our plates are not going to look the same.

No. We are not for everybody. As much as we want to be for everybody, we're really not. Not everybody's going to like my Scooby Doo laugh. Not everybody's going to like, my, my puppies that I have behind.

Who knows? Right. So the people that want to be with us will find us eventually and then follow us wherever

we want to go. And they'll bring their family, when I say family, I certainly mean just those we want to spend time around. Family is who you choose. Let me be clear on that.

And so then they're going to bring their friends in. When I started counterclockwise on Facebook, it's been going about three years. I've got 5, 000 people in there. It's just weird in a, in a brilliant way. I just started it for a place to dump all my memes and the people came and they invited their friends.

That's amazing. That's awesome. I like having the idea to where you could just drop all your funny stuff and just kind of like, [00:12:00] Oh, here it is. If you want to hit great.

Right before bed, jump onto counterclockwise and look through some silly stuff and comment on it. Keep the activity going and then avoid the news, not before bed.

So more punchlines, less headlines. There you go. I

like that. That's, that's a good tagline. I like it. All right. So you mentioned caribou net a little bit already, but do you have any like mentors or anybody that helps push you along in your entrepreneur adventure?

Well, I, I've got some really, my family is my comedy family and that would be my troop is called heart of lacrosse and that's because it's been based out of lacrosse Wisconsin since the eighties.

So I took it over and I think in 2000 and they are my family and I'll, that has a lot to do with why I wrote my book, having your partner on stage like Tracy and she [00:13:00] will know that look in my eyes. If I forget what character I am or where I'm at, she'll see the. Oh, S word. Look on my face and she'll fill it in.

Hey Tammy, here we are at the best bus stop. Let's, let's see what's going on. There's a bike over there, whatever. She's going to save me. That's who I want in my real life. That's the kind of coworker I want. I don't want the coworker. That's going to say. Oh, I did the report for you all by myself and you know, darn well, you started it for them and gave it to them, but they're nabbing it.

You know what? If it means that much to you, go for it, but I'm going to send you some other stuff too. But seriously, if somebody needs the spotlight that badly, they're hurting on the inside and it's not your, it's not yours to argue for. Let them go. They'll do themselves in on their own. Don't, you don't need to, don't ruin your own vibe because of that.

Yeah, for

sure. And it just, when you say something like that, I always think makes me think of the most five people that we hang around the most. Are the people that kind of help [00:14:00] us in our lives, right? Oh, and become we can become a kind of a bit of who they are as well, too So you want those people to be positive people those people that are gonna help you along as people are gonna Give you that highest on a you're okay.

Let's go on. Let's move here here. Just like you're talking about I always keep that in mind when I have the people I hang around with

Yes, absolutely. And if you've got that person in there, that's always the Nellie, the naysayer or Debbie Downer type, it's okay to break up with a friend. It's hard to break up with a friend, but it's okay because if that text pops up or their comment pops up and you have that feeling of dread, Oh my gosh, now I'm going to have to say something or you got to Cut losses, just go because you, you've got to open that space for those who really fill your cup.

You make room for those people that are going to give you the positive needs.

Always. Yes. There's certain people that support me online that I absolutely support. Even this morning, I [00:15:00] just got a message from somebody introducing another person to me who is interested in learning about TEDx talks because I've done a few now, and you know, that her name just.

Went to the top of my list. Holy cow. She's connecting me with the right people. What a blessing because We can support each other's work and online what that means is giving a heart instead of a like that matters on the algorithm That means adding a comment and tag a friend all of that costs you nothing But time you do that you support others and guess where you go now, they're looking at your page.

Somebody else sees your comment Oh, who's Jesse? Cool. You do this for each other. There's plenty of room for all of us Why not support the work that we appreciate and that and I want to see more of that someone to comment I want to see more of their stuff

Exactly. Exactly. Take that extra two seconds to be able to help somebody else out and in turn they'll help you out Yeah, and that's kind of way the way I live my life too is [00:16:00] I'm always trying to help somebody else You know, and that's the way I've always felt about that's the way I was raised.

I'd be that kid, when I was growing up, I was a kid. I would hold open the door for the old lady to get through. I was an Eagle Scout. I was helping people cross streets or whatever it is to help other people.

Are you not doing that anymore? Jesse? Oh, no, I'm still doing it. Oh, okay. Okay.

You're not slamming doors on elders. Okay. I just I got to add that to my notes. Okay. Put that down.

Okay. All right. He's an okay guy. That's okay. That's great. No, but I've lived by that. I've lived by helping others for my whole life is all about helping other people more than I help myself, which is, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

It comes back to you though. Yeah. It always comes back to you. That's the thing. Oh, I remember him. He helped me do this. Let's help him out.

You know, or giving a smile. How about when you're at the store and you actually say to the cashier or your server, how are you today? Or, uh, my, my third [00:17:00] TEDx is out and I ask a question that can connect almost any other, I can connect with any human, I promise you.

And it's with one question. And if you promise me, you'll go watch my TEDx and comment on it. I will share that with you right now.

We'll do better. We'll do one better than that. We'll put all three TEDx is in the show notes. If you could just leave me a link or send me a link to those.

Because views help it to be found as well.

But I was at the store and it was during the pandemic. Wow. What challenges we've made it through? Look at us. Look how strong we are. But during the pandemic, going to my local whole food store was my thrill. And. Was my social. I started waving at joggers. I don't know if you did. Oh my god. There's another person outside So I'm at the store and the cashier did their basic.

How are you? I said good. Did you find everything? Yes, and it could have been that usual silence as he's scanning the groceries But in that [00:18:00] moment, I really craved to connect in person. So I said What do you do for fun and his demeanor changed his work face went away as his face lit up and he grabbed his cell phone And he goes we foster kittens.

Do you want to see? I'm like, yeah I want to see this dude's a six foot four dreadlock wearing tie dyed shirt guy And he's fostering kittens and he's like, bends down to my height and he's showing me on his phone. These are named after the Golden Girls and we're looking at these, you know, Oh, look at, look at Blanche popping Dorothy on the nose.

How cute. And now every time I see him and I know his name is Matt with one T and I asked him why it's one T and he said he changed it so it wasn't like a doormat and the spelling and he remembers my name and I remember his and now what is it three years later? In fact, I brought him lunch one day. He works in a grocery store.

I brought him a lunch. That is a friendship. [00:19:00] And it's similar to my serious selfies with strangers, which is something I started right before, well, five years ago. And this is where I approach people. I don't know. It just occurred to me one day when two girls were having ice cream downtown. They were just young, living their best lives.

And they're along a brick wall taking all their selfies and we are attracted to fun. We are attracted to laughter. If you hear it in the office, you're like, what's going on over there? Cause you want in on it. Well, I wanted in on their fun. They're young. They got the waffle cones. They're taking pictures on a beautiful sunny day.

And so I said, can we get a picture together? And they're like, yeah. Are you an influencer? I'm like, I didn't know at that point what that meant. I said, maybe as I raised up my camera to get a selfie, cause they said yes. It occurred to my creative and, hummingbird brain. I said, let's not smile.[00:20:00]

And the girl's like, you mean be serious? And I'm like, yeah, don't smile. So here we are with ice cream, getting a picture. And it's hilarious to me. And that was my first serious selfie with strangers. And from that, and no one has ever said no. And from that, I'm grabbing my first book. They, I have found, um, which way do I go?

This way. Look at that picture.

Wow.

So in the middle of my first book and all over my Facebook page, you'll, you'll find serious selfies with strangers like these. Bachelorettes that I got on the street. Look at them all.

All right. So any of you that's listening to the podcast, you're going to have to go to the YouTube to take a look at those.

She actually showed us a few pictures of the serious selfies. So make sure you head over to the YouTube so you can actually see these pictures. Okay. Sorry about that. Lisa, no, you're

right. I do the same with my podcast. You're right. I said, and for my audio only audience, it's a bachelorette party, all looking [00:21:00] quite glum.

And that is not what a bachelorette party on the streets of downtown looks like. But they were in it. They wanted to play what happens when you take a serious selfie with strangers is the laughter ahead of time, because you're trying to be serious, like trying not to laugh at a funeral or one of those weird times where you're trying to hold it in because it's coming out and it's inappropriate timing.

I say go with it, but the laughter when you look at the pictures. Is ridiculous. And then I post them on Facebook. I was on a trail a few weeks ago in the woods. My hubby was doing a photo shoot with someone and I had to run back to the car for something. And I see this group of hikers. They were college students and I asked for a serious selfie and they're all in and they're dying of laughter.

And then I passed him again on the trail because I'm running back and they're like, wait, wait, wait, give me your links. We want to see the picture. So I had to share it with them. But what's happened is one of the people that it happened to in a restaurant. Became one of my best, closest friends. In fact, I just connected with her today again, [00:22:00] and that's been four years.

We continually go out to eat at that same restaurant where we met. What a bonus for taking your face out of your phone, using it only for the camera, but acting with others, being aware of those around you, and not getting in their space, but inviting fun should they want to. They usually do.

It's amazing, isn't it?

How people are so willing to, to do something like that. Now Lisa, I actually work in a restaurant, I'm a server in a restaurant. And if you look at the restaurant's Facebook, I am photobombing all over the place. Love it! Whenever I see anybody taking a picture, nine times out of 10, I'm in it somewhere.

Do you have a photobomb face?

Do I have a photobomb? Yes. Yes, I do. May I see it?

Oh, and I will describe for our audio only. He is holding up a tray, I assume with his left hand, and he is delightedly smiling open mouth with [00:23:00] raised eyebrows. Quite delighted to be in the photo.

mY favorite one though, is when somebody actually gives me their camera and they say, Hey, can you take a picture of us?

You know, so they wanted me to take a picture of the table. So I take the picture. Then of course, what I do, I turn the camera around it and, you know, And take a picture of myself and hand it over to him and say, let me know how many likes you get on that. So

do it without telling them, just act like you're getting the focus and get a few selfies and then they'll just find them later.

I've done that before.

What's this guy? But you know, the funny thing is the restaurant I work at, I live in a tourist town. So there's people that come in year after year after year, they come to visit here. And a lot of people will come say, Hey, I remember you so cool. And, and the thing is, I also use my Scooby Doo persona while I'm at the restaurant, everybody calls me Scooby Doo at the restaurant.

Oh, okay. So people that come in will say, Hey, I remember you, you do the Scooby Doo [00:24:00] laugh and I go, and then they'll remember who I was. Zoinks like Zoinks, man. I do a little shaggy too. So. But yeah, it's the little things that you do to make an impression on other people that it, that reminds them of you, of who you are.

And later on that it comes around, Oh, I remember who you are. Yeah. I like what you do. Yeah. It's of that nature. So I see how that all comes around. So

now talking creativity and putting two things together. Do we yet have. Scooby snacks on the menu

on the menu. No, but I do have scooby snacks. I give it to the kids when they're a little fussy Those little cookies no crackers.

They're just you know, the saltine crackers

you get with it Oh those cuz they do make actual cookies with scooby doo. I know trust me. I know. Yeah, I'm sure you know But they also do look like dog treats. I'm sorry to say the box looks like dog treats. So do not set them too close to the dog's food. Both will make your hair shiny and vibrant and

your teeth will shine.

Yes. [00:25:00] Well,

sorry.

I love that story that you're making an experience for that. Now that is who, when my When I go out the food, you know, I want good food. Yes, but you give me an experience. You mess with me or play with me. You know, I'm loving it. And you were going to get a 50 percent tip because that's why we went out.

Not only do we not want to do dishes, we want to go out and have fun. You can't tell me people just want to be like, I'm going to eat my food and go. I mean, we want to play and I love that you pick up on that. So I'm sure with your experience of interviewing and such. That you know, those that are, that can play and those that can't, those that might mess with you.

Or something like that. And then you make that experience for them. That is, that is a gift. So I thank you as a consumer of restaurant food, because that's what I'm looking for. I love it. Yeah.

I tried, that's what I tried to do is make experience, not just, but it's funny that When I did that, because I [00:26:00] was working at the restaurant first before I was podcasting, but I try to carry that, what I do and the play that I have over there into my podcast.

And that's why, I brand myself with my Scooby Doo stuff and do what I do because that seemed to be what everybody else wanted at the restaurant. So that's why I do it here.

Fantastic. I do have a Scooby Doo story for you.

Oh, yes. Scooby Doo stories. Love them.

My comedy troupe, we always do our big musical ending after a three week.

We do three weeks of shows. We were in our heyday. And at the end of each show was the musical. So, like I said, the musical about potholes. Maybe it's the musical about show choir parents. You know, all the sparkles. My husband played the show choir mom in a full beard. And it was, it's all just parody and fun about where we live.

So, we're doing Scooby Doo scene. And I got to be Velma. No, wait, which one is it? What are the girls names? Daphne. I was Daphne, of course. The purple dress, the little green scarf, the red hair. Yeah, I was Daphne. My girlfriend was my [00:27:00] comedy girlfriend was Velma. And we had Scooby Doo. We had Shaggy and oh, and who's the guy?

Um,

come on, come on, Lisa. What

is this? Oh, blonde hair, little blue tie. Yes. The Ascot. Oh, what is his name? Starts with an F.

Freddy. There you go. Fred.

Yeah. Oh, God. It does not look like a Friday. Okay. Fred, my husband finds a location of a brand new apartment complex that is not yet renting out. So we use the whole hallway, my husband's a videographer and the director, we use the whole hallway to run from door to door as a group with the hands and the feet flapping.

And then he did it so that we would run out of one door. And of course he cuts the scene and we're coming through one way at the end of the [00:28:00] hallway. And then all of a sudden we're close up. It was one of the biggest hits that we've ever had for musicals. So then in town is our huge Oktoberfest.

Celebration, big, big, big thing in Wisconsin. I'm in Minnesota. I'm right on the border. Huge drinking fest. So we're invited to come and perform on one of those stage that's a glockenspiel. So the stage is turning and you can just be on it like you're a live clock, whatever the heck it is. People have been drinking since 11 in the morning because it was the tapping of the golden keg.

We get down there sober as heck at 4 p. m. We forgot the Scooby Doo costume. Oh no! Ruh roh! Ruh roh! We get down there. There's no glockenspiel stage. They have us in a tent where guys, college guys are wasted throwing an empty barrel back and forth like it's a football. We had to ask them to [00:29:00] scoot so we could start doing improvisation.

Nobody cared about that, that, so that, that was my downer ending of it, but we did have fun running through the the whole empty apartment complex where we could just be so, Oh, my husband's brain is just brilliant. So that's my Scooby

Doo

story. That's one of my most favorite gags in the Scooby Doo history is the door gags.

Yes.

And my husband made that come to life. Yes. That's so while we're showing that in the theater on the video. We of course are running across the stage, then it was the video, then we come through the stage the other way. It's just so silly. Oh, that is a fond, fond memory. I'm glad I got to share that with you.

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah they've kind of gotten away from that a little bit up until this last new version of Scooby Doo where I actually saw some new door gags. Really? That was the one thing I really, that really, when I was growing up, that's the one thing I always looked forward to is the door gags.

I don't know why. Yes.

That's just some brilliant plotting. I think that's funny. It really

is. [00:30:00] All right. So I'm going to get back to talking stuff here. Oh boy. No, nice. Nice. A little tangent. Love it. Okay. And your vast number of accomplishments you've had, you've had Ted talks, you've had books, you had all kinds of great things.

What is the one thing you actually are most proud of in your accomplishments?

My children, I know that's a basic question, but I am so proud of my sons. They have common sense. They have kindness. They are Zen and they are loving. They check in on me every day. They're they're 26 and 28 already.

Somehow that happened. And we chat every day. We are just, we are a three pack. I have three dots on my arm. That's my sons. I have three dots. On my back. We are a three pack, so we are, we, they've been through the divorces with me, they've been through all the shifts and all the [00:31:00] things, and I'm still close with their dad.

We chat every week I mean, we used to run a karate studio together, so we're very close. But I mean, it's, I'm very proud that those humans have common sense because I work in a police department by day. I'm in records and dispatch, and believe me, I, I know a lot of things about a lot of people. On the inside and not everybody has common sense, so you can go to college as long as you want, but you still may not know how to cross the street.

So there's that. So I'm very proud of them. Another thing I'm super proud of is the fact that. I get paid to speak and share my passions and that I can connect people through humor. I can get teams to loosen up. I can get groups to learn about each other on a human level, not just a coworker level. And boy, do things change in your dynamic on your team.

When you know each other, truly know each other. After I've spent an hour with you, not bragging. I'm just saying [00:32:00] people don't take the time. So great leaders know a connected team is a productive team. But how do you get there? You get there through me and I've got talents that I'm putting out there and I'm trying to use all of them that I can because we don't know how long we have on this blue and green spinning marble.

That's why I say you got to get that pilot license. And if you don't, you can still interview people on a plane. You can still have your podcast on the plane. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there you go. I'm not dropping that idea, Jesse.

I think we're stuck with it.

That's great. That's amazing. You've got some amazing kids. I'm glad that you're proud of them and that's your best accomplishment. My three kids. I have three kids as well, too. I have two sons and a daughter. My Who's your

favorite? Who's my favorite? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

They're all my favorite.

No, but, um That's alright. But my oldest, he's [00:33:00] 31 now. And Really? Yeah. And he is a He's learning to be a blacksmith. Awesome. Yeah. Isn't that great?

Cool. You're going to get a cool Christmas present. I certainly

hope so.

Wow. That's fantastic.

And then my daughter she is an artist of many different types.

She does animation. She actually makes homemade dolls to sell. And she also teaches children pottery. Wow! Oh, man! So, they're very artistic, they're very capable, all of them. And then my daughter just had her second child two weeks ago. Aw, congratulations!

Yes, I'm grandpa

again. Grandpa Scooby! Yes!

Grandpa do! Grandpa do.

yEah, so that's great. So that's my first announcement. My second granddaughter. Yay. Okay. So,

oh, that's so exciting. They're all [00:34:00] creative. Yeah. And then some are making pottery. Some are making metal. Some are making humans. Yes.

Some of them are doing both. And then my youngest believe it or not, just finished high school, six months early tested out of high school and he's actually went away.

He lives about two hours from home now to learn on trade of culinary. So he's going to learn

how to be a cook. I'm all about that. Oh, you've got creativity just oozing in those

genetics. Yeah. You know, only percentage of that's me. I, I'm a stick figure guy. I'm You know, I'm not making anything.

So I do this and say, this is, this is my creativity. What we're doing right here.

So I love that your kids are into the hands on work. I think that's, that's what we're lacking in this world. And one of my sons is a cook. The other one's a vegan. So he definitely is a cook for himself. And cause you got to make it, otherwise you'll never find it.

And that is. Fantastic. [00:35:00] You, you've really set yourself up well for retirement.

Well, I hope so. That's still a ways to go. I don't know if I'll ever retire. I just want to do this. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life until I fall over, you know, just this and then, being with my kids and watching them succeed and what they want to do.

Yeah. It's really big for me too.

So absolutely. Well, congrats. What a cool

family. Yeah. And what a cool family for you too. You got a, you got some great stuff going on your end too there. Yeah.

My three step sons, they are my boys too. And I've been with them almost 11 years already. So, I mean, they call me mom.

I am their mom and they are. Very loving and very smart guys. And yeah, we got some cooks. We got some one guy put himself through college. He's working in a law firm and going to marry a nurse. And the youngest is back in school teaching. So it's just fantastic. Just what they do. And it's not what they do, but also some of them help with our shows.

And, you know, the [00:36:00] youngest is, what is he? 23 now he'll put on dress and be Betty on stage. He's he's in our troop and you don't get to just be in the troop. It's a big darn deal. Yeah, it's

fun. All right. That's awesome. All right. Now that we've talked about our best accomplishments in our lifetime, what I'd like to know here is if you were to come across somebody who's looking to start an entrepreneurship, what advice would you give them?

What steps would you have? What would be the best advice you can give somebody that's just jumping into entrepreneurship?

Always have a plan B, baby. Always have a plan B. My husband has entertainment business for over 30 years. In fact, that's how I met him. I was like 18 ish and I went and I applied and I got a gig as a DJ doing parties.

And. Fast forward, you know, almost 30 years here [00:37:00] we are married. So we were always friends, watched each other's marriages and kids and always knew each other's kids and then ended up divorced at the same time. And then he's in my comedy troupe, all the things. It's a story. I just, I is very precious to me.

So COVID hits, I'm helping him with the business and it's game shows. And he's a fantastic voice artist, so he could be any game show host you want. He builds the sets. We could do Family Feud. We had the screen. I'm in the back hitting the answers on the laptop. It's fancy. We did Match Game. He set up the whole match game table where you've got the three people and three people.

It was intense to set up, but very fun to play. And then Inflatable Games. And that was all over the place in tri state area and DJ service, tri state area. Hello, COVID, holy crap. Here we are shutting down his business. There's nothing happening. [00:38:00] I turned into a person still working full time, but also trying to sell things on Craigslist, eBay, Facebook, all the things.

Yeah I'm interested in that, uh, sumo wrestling game. Will you take 40 bucks for it? You know, and you're just talking three story warehouse, five fleet cars on and on. I could go huge business folded. Always have a plan B. You know, people say to me, why aren't you speaking full time? Why don't you just go out and speak full time?

Thank you, but, after that happening, and the fact that we didn't lose our house, and the fact that we're still married Yeah, I'm going to always have a plan B. So shorter answer is it's a beautiful thing to say you're an entrepreneur, but can you do it on the side and test the waters? That's what I would do.

Hey, if you blow it up and that turns into your full time great. But if you have a partner, who's got the full time gig with the insurance, even better.

Exactly. Exactly. Always have that backup, just in

case that's where I'm [00:39:00] at. It worked for me. No regrets. My job kept us going until he landed something else with his video work and is in a high corporation right now.

A very large corporation. I, we, that was a big struggle. That's all I can say. And yeah, maybe we'll never have to see that again in our lifetimes, but that's the good part. And then, Once you're going, always remember those who helped you get there. And again, it's about support online.

It's about a genuine thank you note in the mail. It's about reaching out a messenger. Hey, I thought about you today. Thank you. Or, you know, when it's time for a book launch, like I'm going through, I am going to ask people for reviews. I am just going to have to do it because people don't think of that.

But just like with your restaurant work, a tip says a lot, and that's great. A review for the restaurant. Is great. There's just different ways we can support each other.

Fantastic. Some great advice. We'll keep that to heart, Lisa. Thank you so much for all that. All right. [00:40:00] So this is getting kind of towards the end here.

So what I'd like to know is with all my guests that I talk to, we try to get a six month goal for each other. So what do you see doing in the next six months? Do you have a goal of a six month goal for yourself?

I never set goals, Jesse. I don't do it. And right or wrong, it's just my brain. The way, um, I grew up, my brain doesn't, the traumatic background, I don't have great memory recall and things.

So going forward, I'm always looking for more paying speaking gigs. I can't wait to be whisked away to travel to speak. I've got a big gig coming up this week that I'll take off from the day job. So I'm always looking to inspire. And ignite teams and groups and fun and play my game, dare zone with them and play my telemarketer calls that are actual real calls where I didn't let the telemarketers get to their point that [00:41:00] I have 22 calls on iTunes.

And so that I'd say going forward, that's all I do is I'm still looking to promote my book. So for the next six months, it's going to be getting my book out there. Going to have somebody hire me and they're going to buy 50 books and I'm going to come and speak and everybody gets a book. I don't have it lined up yet, but yeah, that would be on my list.

How about you, Jesse? Next six months

for me, uh, I actually want to have my first paid speaking gig myself. I'm actually wanting to be a speaker. I Want, I'm going to have one of my jobs. Hope I have two jobs actually on top of everything else. One of those jobs be gone. And be getting paid to do my podcast, having sponsors and things like that.

And change of, uh, of living venue. I'm going to be in a little bit of a better place. So those are my, those are my six months goals. So here's what I'm going to do with you, Lisa, in six months, I'd like to follow up with you and we're [00:42:00] going to hold each other accountable. I'm going to have another interview like this and we're going to see how many books you're sold.

We're going to see if I've gotten out of this pretty place that I'm living in right now. How's that?

Hey, if it's still a rough, that's okay. Yeah, that's still good. Gotta be grateful for the stuff you got. That's all right. Yes, yes, absolutely. I can check in. I do call myself an accountability buddy and that's why my title is professional nag.

So you got that right. Count on me. I will nag you.

No boy. I'm in trouble. So the book launch, is that the book that we were talking about just a minute ago? Is that the one that we're talking about?

Yep. Spotlight to real life. It's reigniting teams and adding spark for communication as well as encouraging speakers.

All right. And is that on, where can I get that? Is it Amazon or is there a website?

Amazon and there's other outlets. But yeah, Amazon's the best. I can absolutely send you a link and. And within it, like I say it's not one long read. There's different sections. There's a [00:43:00] spot in there to find out if you're funny.

And there's all kinds of speaking tips and skills for a better communication. And it's all packed with very snide humor. Of course.

All right, school believers, let's help Lisa out. Let's help her with her book launch. Everybody take a look at that book and see if I think it'd be great for anybody.

Yes. Yes.

As well as my dare zone deck. I got to tell you, it's pretty good. I'm going to pick a card for you quick. Oh, okay. Here we go. So every card has two choices. And when I'm speaking in person, I give them two cards. So they have a choice of four of things to do. So do you want a choice of two or four? How are you feeling?

Let's do two. All right. Tell me when, when your choices, I'll show you, but then I'll tell you, you are either going to be a butterfly who is allergic to flowers, but doesn't give up or this, I'm sure you're going to pick this. [00:44:00] Tell us about a time when you had horrible customer service as a server. I'm sure you've got those stories, but it's your choice, your choice.

Let's see horrible customer service. Um, I think there was a couple of times, a couple of times I've actually had a, because I go out to eat obviously and have being a server, I observe things a little bit differently than most when I go out to restaurants to eat myself. And you know, when that server is having a bad day, you really do.

Yes. yoU know, like the last person that sat at this table probably stiffed him and didn't give him a tip or just treated him horribly because I'll come down and this guy came up, he didn't just set my glass down in front of me. He like, flapped the thing down in front of me, you know, yeah. What would you like today?

You know, so you could just tell it his voice. What the hell you here for? Right? And he comes back and he. [00:45:00] No, not literally, but almost literally like drops the food in front of me, you know, the plate of spaghetti or was I can't remember what it was.

Let's make it spaghetti for the sake

of the story. Okay.

So, cause that's messy. So like when you drop spaghetti, it splats all over the place. And what's funny is I literally said, Hey dude, are you okay? What's going on? And I was right. The last person that sat there had a 150. Ticket, but didn't leave them any, any tip at all. Now, if, if you know how servers work now in my state, servers get paid half minimum wage.

So that's better than around here. Yeah. And that equals about six bucks an hour. So when you, when you don't tip like that, I'm basically paying, getting paid 6 to do all this work. Now, if they get a drink. From the bar, I have to tip out the bartender for that drink, which means now it's costing me money.

People [00:46:00] do not know that. Most people don't know that. Yeah. So, I'm, I feel for this guy. Hey, dude, I'm a server. I understand. And I actually tip, I actually, uh, tipped him my ticket. My ticket was only 30 bucks. I tipped him 30 bucks.

Wow.

And just to make up for, you know, that last person, but to let them know that not everybody is like this.

So even though he kind of treated me badly towards then and there, I found out about him and what was going on and, you know, tried to help out. So

what a great story and a great learning for everybody to know. There's, I carry dollar bills in my car because. My favorite coffee hut wasn't accepting tips on my card, and often I would use my card.

My husband and I always carry ones in our car to be able to tip. Add a drive thru window and they just think that's the best thing. Sometimes I'll bring them candy and you're right. You, that server, unfortunately he couldn't shake it off, but you picked up on that. And people need to know that if you [00:47:00] tip, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong.

My husband always tips in cash. So that the server can claim what they want to claim. Maybe we can't say that on here, but okay, we're not going to say it. But if you tip in cash, let's just say that's, that's a pretty favorite flavor. And we went out to eat last night and the owners know us at this place.

He said, hang on a second as we were trying to pay. And he wrote out a gift certificate to us for 30 bucks. I haven't seen that in years that you're handed on your way out, you're given a gift card. That was amazing. So they do remember you guys. So always tip well and always, you know, be, be that good customer because they do remember you.

Yes. yEah, so I know servings has, it's really. I've been serving all together for about 12 years altogether.

Oh man. So. You've got stories. I've got stories. People that bring the cup this way with your fingers over the rim. Oh boy. Okay. Yeah. That'll

make me cry. Yeah.

That'll

make me cry. We can [00:48:00] see her.

I'll talk all day about server stories. I got a ton of them, but I'm, we're going to go ahead.

Me running the train over the side here. Oh boy.

How can we get ahold of you, Lisa? If we like your stuff and we want to follow you how do we get ahold of you?

Yes. Look up Lisa, David Olson, and that is.

What you'll find me, Lisa David Olson, but basically I'm, my playground is usually Facebook, but I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn, a little bit on Twitter, not so much the X, I guess it is now the, I always say the, cause I'm 58, the LinkedIn, the Facebook, get off the lawn and yeah, you'll find me around, but I do have a website, lisadavidolson.

com. And whatever, yeah, look me up. My podcast is stranger connections where every single episode ends with my guest sharing a dare or prank story because I'm weird. All

right. And join the club. We have t shirts. All right. Lisa, thank you for being on the [00:49:00] undiscovered entrepreneur. It's been an absolute blast to have you on the show.

All right, school believers. Thank you so much for listening and stay tuned for the wrap up. Okay. One more laugh.

One more giggle. Oh yeah. I

hear it. Thank you everybody. Zoinks. Like zoinks, man. I love it. All right, everybody. Thank you. Bye.

All right. Screw believers. That was Lisa. Holy cow. That was probably one of the funnest interviews I have ever done. Uh, lots of great laughs. We both learned a lot from each other. Hopefully you learned a little more, a little bit more about me and who I am than that, because I was not planning any of that.

Um, but. It was a great conversation, some fantastic stories, and hopefully you learned something from that experience on entrepreneur because holy heck, I definitely learned a lot, not just about entrepreneurship, but a little bit about myself too. So hopefully you did the same thing.

All right now a little bit more about me, just like I said, the very beginning I am in my new place now. [00:50:00] Uh, we moved to another place, similar to the other one, but I like this one a lot better. So we'll see what happens. There's some more space in here. Uh, this might be a little bit easier for me to actually work.

So I'm really excited about it. , if you didn't catch it last time, we're not gonna make it to pod Fest this year because of the move, but I'm okay with that. , it'll just give me more of an opportunity to save it for next year or if another one pops up here anytime soon. I'm okay with it. Things are moving on.

I'm still gonna keep doing what I'm doing I hope you're enjoying undiscovered advice because. I never done anything like that before, and it's working out so well for me, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. , hopefully you're learning something from everybody that I'm talking to here right now, too.

Had my first snow day today. It started snowing outside. If, actually look into my reels. You'll see. Kind of introduced you to the snow. , but we'll see how that goes. Love it. And, , I still want you to take a look at. The AI prompts that I made for you look into those. If you're starting your entrepreneurial venture and you want to [00:51:00] get some really quick and great information articles, anything like that to get you started across the start line. And.

Remember next week on Tuesday. At 4:00 PM central time. I'm going to be doing my first live. I'm really looking forward to this. And I'm hoping everybody that listens to this will show. You could find me it's going to be live on YouTube so you can look up undiscovered entrepreneur.

On YouTube and subscribe and get ready for that. , it's going to be on Facebook. So if you want to look me up on Facebook, I am. Scoob. Uh, Facebook bass slash I am scoop. If you want to like me there or follow me there, you'll get a notification when it comes on. Uh, I'm going to try to put it at some other places too, but those are going to be the two main places we're talking about. Or please, if you haven't done it yet, please follow.

I would really, really appreciate it. If he followed me. , whether you're here on YouTube or you're here on. Any kind of the podcasting platforms. Hit that subscribe button hit that bell. Some of them have bells. [00:52:00] Uh, yeah, absolutely hit that bell. So, you know, when the next episode is going to come out, you're going to see and hear all the new things that are coming out for this year. All right, everybody.

Thank you so much for a great episode

and our next episode is going to be a new undiscovered entrepreneur. So we'll talk to them later. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. E.