Guard Your Greatness

by Nicole Walters | May 25, 2021

Guard Your Greatness

How are you liking these May Moment episodes? This month we are recounting some of your favorite episodes of the show because there are so many of you that have just discovered the podcast and because this is a group party, I want us all to be caught up!

Whether it’s your first time hearing these or your second or third, I know you’ll get something great out of them and this one is a GOOD one.

In this episode I share how I almost sold me business a few years back. Before releasing this episode, I had not told this story anywhere! I was NERVOUS to tell it but my goal is to always share my truth so that you can discover yours.

Thank you for hanging out with me today – I love our weekly chats and hearing how they are hitting you. Don’t forget to DM me, tweet me, or email me, I love making this a two-way conversation. Talk soon friend!

 Hey friend, you’re listening to The Nicole Walters Podcast. I’m a former six-figure corporate executive who woke up every morning feeling stuck in the life that I built for myself but using my corporate skills I took to the Internet and built a multi-seven-figure business, showing others how they can build a life they love. Now on this podcast, I share stories of being an entrepreneur, a mom to my three amazing girls and a wife to my crazy, cooky dancing hubbin. I’ve had a couple of viral videos too. So you know there’s going to be a lot of laughs here. So whether you’ve seen me on my viral vids or on the Today Show or read about me in Forbes, this is the place where we can meet, share stories, share laughs, and share fun. I’m your best friend in your head. So sit back, listen close, and let’s get started.

Hey friend. So it’s not easy to come to you every single week and spend time having conversations about some of the toughest things that I’ve had to learn and some of the most difficult moments that I had to overcome. But in sharing my truth, I know that I can help you realize yours, which is why I want to tell a story today, one that I haven’t told anywhere else. Only a few people actually know the story and I’m not going to lie to you right now. I’ve got pit stains. I’m nervous about telling this one. It was a story where I had to check in with the husband and I said, is it okay if I share this? But it’s important because I promised you that I would tell you what was going on behind the scenes as you were watching things happen on social media as you were seeing me, grace certain stages, I wanted you to understand that there’s so much more happening in order to make these moments happen and in knowing that truth, I hope again that’ll help you realize yours.

The thing I’m going to talk about today is that just 18 months ago, I almost signed over my entire business to Dave Ramsey. That’s right. You heard correctly. The business that I built, this multi seven figure business. I almost hung up my entire hat, signed everything over- the rights, my name, everything I’ve created. My wildly popular course, 1K1DAY, and my million dollar membership group, Yacht Club, over to THE Dave Ramsey and his entire organization. It’s hard to think now, today, that that was something I was going to do and I’ll tell you why in just one moment. Now, the reason why this episode comes after the last one where we talked about how balance is just totally bogus is because that was part of why I almost sold my business. I wanted to be home more. I wanted more structure. I wanted to make sure I was in a position where I’d be able to be a mom.

I missed vacation time and PTO and I just wanted to feel like I was doing this right. Why did I feel that way? Because of the thing that I want to talk about in this episode. I wasn’t guarding my greatness. I’ll get back to the story of how I almost sold my business, but first let’s talk about this. How much time do you spend on social media, watching TV, scrolling through Instagram, looking, consuming, living other people’s lives? Honestly, this podcast is kind of like that. If it wasn’t just two friends chatting in a car or in the kitchen, it’d be a different story. But there’s so much noise out there. Am I right? I feel like there’s a million places telling us a million different ways how we need to change, alter, modify, and just be something else. And if they’re not in the business of telling us that we need to be something different.

I feel like they’re telling us that they’re already fancy or that they already have it together. Like I don’t know if it’s just me, but it’s like I’ll go through Instagram and I don’t follow a lot of people and we’ll talk about why that is, but I don’t follow a lot of people, but I’m scrolling through and it just always feels like on some sides I feel like I’m being challenged, right? Like man, they’re really doing it and I hope I grow, but on some sides I’m like, man, am I getting this together? I can’t help but examine myself. Like is it all put together? Cause it seems like people have no flaws. One of my good friends, Jen puts it best when she says we need to choose real life. R E A L over reel life. R E E L. That’s right. The highlight reel. And that’s what social media is.

We’re only ever seeing bits and pieces of reality and honestly, half of the stuff we’re seeing is garbage, right? It’s filtered, curated lies that really are just there to get you to open your wallet. How many people do you see selling flat tummy tea? How many of them do you think are actually got flat tummies from this tea? I mean, the reality is people are in the business of selling you an altered reality. And in sharing my truth, which is something I take very seriously, it’s why I manage my social. It’s why you guys see the good and the bad. It’s why I’m not afraid to cry in front of you or film in my bathtub because in sharing my truth, I hope it helps, but I also make no promises to be a cure all. I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t sit here and tell you, look, I don’t have all the answers.

All I can do is tell you what I’ve done, how I did it and what I’ve learned from it and be honest and transparent in that process. But at the end of the day, you have to decide that you want it. You have to filter through what works and what doesn’t and apply it best. But what I can also say about all this is that I take our friendship really seriously. You chose to listen to me and I thank you for that and I take it all so seriously that you’re always going to get the real from me. And since you’ve taken the time to really put thought into whether or not we’re going to hang out, I also want to encourage you to examine who else you listen to because guarding your greatness is important. You are great. And in my journey I’ve been blessed with a lot of mentors, people who’ve come out of the woodwork to support me to the point where I almost sold my business to one.

And I want to take you back to that story. So in late 2016 I’d started pitching to get on bigger stages. It was so important to me to be able to build my business and to take it places in spaces with people I admired to help grow. And so it was at that time that I started the process of pitching THE Dave Ramsey. If you don’t know who he is, he’s a really big deal. And I want to tell you something that I can tell you only because I’ve spent time with him and I spent time with his team and I’ve spent time with his organization. I don’t care what you’ve heard from anyone else. He’s a good man. They are good people. They run a business that is driven behind helping people genuinely. That is their intention to serve, and it is their desire to deliver hope and every single day.

And I can say that with complete truth, knowing the people behind those walls. That said, when I started pitching them, it was with the desire to add to that dream, learn from their mission and to hopefully build something that looked even even just a fraction of a bit like what Dave has spent his entire life building. I wanted to help people and it was amazing when they told me no. The very first time I picked them guys, they said, yeah, we’re good. We don’t know who you are and we don’t just throw anybody up on our stages. And you know what? They were right to do that. But I kept pitching because when I hear no, all I’m hearing is not now. And when I hear no, I’m hearing, oh well y’all, you guys just didn’t quite understand. I’m Nicole Walters. I’m the girl with the great eyebrows and I kept being persistent and after about eight months they went ahead and they gave me the yes.

They invited me to come speak at a new event that they were curating called business boutique. And it was my joy. I was beside myself. I couldn’t believe that God had orchestrated things perfectly for me to get on stage next to THE Dave Ramsey. I mean this guy is a bajillion air who’s been in the business of helping transform people’s finances in the biggest way and I couldn’t believe that I would get little on me regular Nicole, who just a year ago was filming from her bathtub and working in a corporate cube would be on stage speaking next to this guy. It was unbelievable. I knew I had to show up and show out, which is exactly what I talked to you guys about in episode three. I had to do the work and boy did I. I slayed that stage. I crushed it and I made sure that when I showed up that everybody there knew how passionate I was about their mission and how I was willing to make it my own That I cared about serving people authentically and then I really knew that there was alignment between our organizations. And I must’ve done a really good job because soon thereafter we started talking about what could be, could there be a place for me for Nicole Walters as part of Team Ramsey? Could I possibly be gracing the stage, helping Dave with his mission, building a brand with their organization, getting out there and spreading the good word of freedom and debt free lifestyles and building a business that you love and chasing your passion?

What does that look like? And we started kind of building what that would be- talking about the different pieces, talking about all the nuances and going over contracts. While we were having these talks in the board room and then come home and I talked to my husband about it. I’m not going to lie to you, he wasn’t all the way on board. He was excited about the opportunity because what it would mean for our family is regular hours. It would mean going from just a team of two at the time, just me and my admin, to a full office of over 600 people that do nothing but help push the mission forward. It would mean having a mentor like Dave Ramsey help guide and drive the business and taking a lot of pressure off my shoulders of being CEO. It would mean being able to feel more in balance, right?

Because I don’t have to run the business. I can just be the business. Everything seemed right at the time. Well, these talks took a while, about eight months. Any big corporate merger alignment decision does take a long time. It also took a lot of prayer. I can’t tell you how much time I spent calling out to God and saying to myself, is this the right thing to do? I know that you told me that I’m supposed to build my own business. I know that you’ve aligned things in a certain way to make certain things happen, but who says no to Dave Ramsey? Is this the big thing that you brought for me? Is this the way that you plan on carrying my message across platforms? How do I know if what you’re bringing in front of me is what I need or what I don’t need?

So it’s then that I started talking to more of my mentors, seeking opinions, asking others, going to resources and doing research, reading and doing everything I could to get to the bottom answer. And it wasn’t until I spoke to one of my dear friends, Adia Rogers, who said to me, Nicole, you’re looking everywhere for an answer. You’re consuming all of the things. What you need to do is get quiet. There’s only one person you need to listen to. And in taking that time, getting quiet and truly listening, it was there that I got my answer. I needed to say no. It didn’t make sense for me to sign up for this. It didn’t make sense for me to sign everything that I was building over. I know what God has for me. So for me to sign it over, no matter how much that doesn’t seem to make sense, it was the right thing to do.

You may have never heard this before, but God is not the author of confusion and if you find yourself in confusion, so going to a certain situation, not quite knowing how to figure out going back and forth over whether or not that decision makes sense and and just feeling very twisted around and not sure of what to do. If a situation doesn’t make sense to you and you are bending over backwards to make it work, guess what? You always have another alternative. Go the other way. No is a complete sentence and you are allowed to choose it. And that’s what I did. I realized that on one hand I was confused about how I was going to make this work and sign over everything I’ve built. But then on the other hand, I knew that I was just scared to step up and be in charge.

I knew that I was just scared that I wasn’t good enough. I was just scared. At one point during our talks about turning over the business, I sat down with Dave and we had a really long chat. I think it was like four hours and I respect this man so, so much still do to this day, especially because of these words. I looked at Dave and I said, Dave, my biggest concern is that if I don’t sign with your business, I’m not going to make it. That everything and I built will never come to fruition and that I will never, ever, ever, ever get where I’m supposed to be. And God bless this man. He looked right at me and he said, Nicole, I know what you are. You’re just like me. Whether or not you decide to sign with my business, you will make it.

The question is how quickly will you get there? When I walked away from that moment, I knew that I had to be okay getting there in God’s time and maybe not my own and if I was willing to do that, well guess what? Anything can happen. I want to tell you right now that if there is nothing else that you take from this particular time that we spent together, it’s that only you can decide who you allow to influence your mindset. Don’t give that power to anyone who doesn’t deserve it. That includes social media. You are a product of what you consume. Surround yourself with people who will be there to support you, challenge you and speak truth that you need to hear when you need to hear it. So that means lay off the cat videos, turn down the reality TV. Remember you are what you consume, but that’s not all of it. There is another piece. There’s something that can have you completely paralyzed if you don’t let it go. We all have it inside of us and this thing can stop you dead in your tracks. You’re in the process of building something huge. You’re in the process of releasing your greatness to the world and before you know it, this shows up and it keeps you from moving forward. I’ve dealt with it, you deal with it and I’m going to tell you exactly how to unpack it, in our next chat. Thanks for listening.

Thanks so much for listening, and of course I would love to work with you. I believe that a side hustle is something that everyone needs. A little extra cash can change your life, and it’s my joy to work with everyday entrepreneurs and my signature program, 1K1DAY Academy. You can start now by heading over to 1K1day.com and joining the community. I cannot wait to work with you. Let’s get started.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How I almost sold my business a few years ago,
• What advice I received that led me to making my decision to not sell,
• How I make large decisions like this, and
• Why I believe we need to guard our greatness

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or email me at [email protected]!
• Have you listened to our previous May Moments? Listen here!
• If you love our chats like I do, I’d so appreciate a review for the show! You can share your thoughts on Apple here!

More about The Nicole Walters Podcast:

The Nicole Walters Podcast is for the everyday entrepreneur that wants to increase their income but doesn’t know where to start. If that’s you, you’re in the right place!

Nicole Walters is a wife, mom, income strategist, entrepreneur, and the founder of The Monetized Life™. Join Nicole each week for a new episode packed with what you need to know to gain clarity, grow your network and monetize your life using the proven corporate strategies she mastered in 10 years as a Fortune 500 executive.

Whether you’re just starting out and don’t know your next step, or you’re multi-passionate and don’t know the right next step, Nicole is here to break it down for you! Richfriend, let’s add some commas to your bank account!

Listen each week. Do. The. Work, and success WILL come!

You are Not Kim Kardashian

by Nicole Walters | May 18, 2021

You are Not Kim Kardashian

Welcome to our third May Moments! I am so excited that so many of you have just discovered the podcast and because this is a group party, I want us all to be caught up! That’s why in the month of May, we’re going to re-share our top episodes. Whether it’s your first time hearing these or your second or third, I know you’ll get something great out of them!

Unlike Kim Kardashian, we aren’t going to get paid for our looks. We have to show up and do the work. In this episode, I share a story of how I built a mutually beneficial relationship with a big brand by showing up and doing the WORK.

Listen in to hear how you can really set yourself apart in business! If you enjoyed the show, let us know what you think by writing a review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening friend!

Hey friend, you’re listening to The Nicole Walters Podcast. I’m a former six-figure corporate executive who woke up every morning feeling stuck in the life that I built for myself but using my corporate skills I took to the Internet and built a multi-seven-figure business, showing others how they can build a life they love. Now on this podcast, I share stories of being an entrepreneur, a mom to my three amazing girls and a wife to my crazy, cooky dancing hubbin. I’ve had a couple of viral videos too. So you know there’s going to be a lot of laughs here. So whether you’ve seen me on my viral vids or on the Today Show or read about me in Forbes, this is the place where we can meet, share stories, share laughs, and share fun. I’m your best friend in your head. So sit back, listen close, and let’s get started.

You’d never believe it. I had been building up to this day for weeks. I had the opportunity as a brand new blogger to attend this pretty huge event. They were expecting over 3000 attendees and every single major brand in my industry was going to be present. I knew that being at this event could be transformative. I had the opportunity to meet the heads of every single industry, all the major bloggers were going to be there, so there was an opportunity to collaborate and there were going to be panels, keynotes, and celebrities. I could get content for weeks and possibly secure some major money that, maybe just maybe, would allow me to turn my blogging thing into a full-time job. I was ready. Now, I spent time with the husband building out a binder with every single major blogger’s name in there, so that I knew what was going on with them, their business and their brands. I also took a list of every single brand that was going to be there, their head associates, and did my research so that I knew going into it, what to talk to them about. I coordinated because I was a blogger, my outfits, my hair, my makeup, and I was so excited to show up at this event because I really knew that this might be the thing that tips the scale and really you launches things to where they need to be.

So I showed up that day and I was ready. I had a plan of attack. I knew all the different booths that I was going to hit and I knew exactly who I needed to shake hands with. I walked in with the husband at my side, God bless him, taking photos of me and snapping things as well as taking some video to document things as they went. I was new to the whole blogging thing and I had been working my nine to five job, but I was excited to spend that Friday through Sunday working on what I loved. Which was sharing my solution, sharing my answers, and building a little side hustle that I knew mattered. So I went over fully prepared to chat with some brand ideas and partnership opportunities. I mean I knew that this was going to be something and while I was there they mentioned that they were having a panel that afternoon. They were going to be having a discussion about their different products and different offerings, hairstyles and then an open Q and A. And all I could think was, Gosh, how could I have not gotten on this panel? I wish I knew something about it earlier. Not only would it have been great visibility for my brand, but what an opportunity to show this company, how into their stuff I was, and how great of a representative I’d be. Well, I made my intentions known. I said to them, you know what? I really would have loved to have been on this panel and I recognize that I’m a little late to the game on getting signed up, but what I would absolutely love is if you kept me in mind next time and if you need any help today at all, whether it’s picking up boxes or packing up, or maybe a last-minute interview guest or someone to host, I’d be more than happy to step in and just let me know. I’ll stay close.

They looked at me and they were kind of surprised. I guess typically people have a tendency to not humble themselves enough to say, Hey, I’ll pitch in where I can and I could tell that it was probably a little refreshing for them to hear that. And they said, well, you know what Nicole, we appreciate that. We will absolutely keep you in mind, but we’re all full for today. And that was okay with me. I had no problem but I was still going to stay close. So I hung out a bit. I wait until a little bit before this was about to go on the panel and all of a sudden I see a look in the vice president of the company’s eyes. Something was definitely wrong. She starts scanning the room and she spots me. She runs over and she says, Hey Nicole! Actually, would you mind filling it on the panel? We actually have a free spot. Someone didn’t show up. I looked up, I said, a little thank you God in my head and then I looked at her and said, no problem. I gotcha. She said, thanks so much, and I got out there. Guys, I rocked that panel. It was awesome. People were laughing husband was walking through the aisles handing out my business cards and it was a great time. From then on I built an ongoing relationship with that brand and even to this day we still stay in touch with opportunities if they need any client help, you name it, I’m there for them. But let me tell you how that’s pocket open on the panel and it wasn’t just because I’m heavily favored. Amen. It was also because one of the bloggers that didn’t show up, well, she thought she was Kim Kardashian. And that’s what this episode’s about. You are not Kim Kardashian.

This is one of the things that people forget in this space because of Insta fame. Just because you have a ton of followers, just because you have a lot of notoriety, just because you have visibility or who your friends are or what celebrities you hang out with, does not mean that you can not show up, not do the work, not be professional and still get paid. You are not Kim Kardashian. You will not get paid for your looks. You’re not going to get paid just for standing in the room. You have to do something. You have to be professional. You have to show up. Here’s what happened. That blogger was contracted to show up on site, but she decided she just didn’t want to come. She had something else she wanted to do. The opportunity didn’t interest her enough, and maybe she didn’t feel wedded enough to the brand. I don’t know what was going through her mind that morning, but what I do know was that it was incredibly unprofessional. So she decided to not show at all and she no-showed, no call, and guess who got to step into that role because I was a consummate professional because they knew they could trust me and guess who built an ongoing relationship. Yeah, me. And that can also be you as long as you understand that in this business world if you’re wondering how can I differentiate myself, how can I stand out? Because there are a million people doing what I do. There are a million people in the industry I want to be in. There are so many people out there who are already successful. How can I get famous through all the noise? Well, guess what? Your business professionalism, your work ethic can be your differentiator.

I know as well as you do that if you’re passionate about what you have to offer to this world, whether it is being a terrific mom or whether it is stepping out there and being a great speaker or having a terrific product. That you’re able to stand out because of how much you care about what’s given. Let’s be honest, the money’s nice. It’s great when you get paid to serve in your purpose, but at the end of the day, if you’re truly doing what you love, you would do it for free. You care about the results. You care about helping people. You care about making an impact. That’s why you show up every single day and because of that, if you couple that same care and deep connection to what you’re doing with professionalism, business skills, knowing how to respond to an email and do things on time, knowing how to say what you’re going to do and actually do it. Knowing how to act with integrity and couple that with a little bit of old school things like picking up the phone to follow up with a client, and checking in with them to see how they like the service that you provided. If you do these things, you will stand out and you’re going to differentiate yourself.

There’s something that’s going on with social media, and I dunno if you’ve seen it too, but it’s starting to bug me because it really isn’t how things work in corporate America. There’s something that’s happening where if you go on the Internet and you just post a bunch of pictures of yourself, selfies or butt shots at the gym, or pictures of you with nice things like Lamborghinis and fancy handbags, designer clothes or, or expensive shoes, shopping trips and pictures, you know, and in crazy locales that all of a sudden people are gonna think you made it and that you’re worthy to spend money with. Well, guess what your worth does not reside in stuff. And the truth is people with real money and real purpose, are not spending it on stuff. When I scroll down people’s Instagram pages and I see nothing but designer labels and fancy pants things, all I could think is that’s money that’s not sitting in their bank account. People who truly have commas are humble. They shop at Target, they-they save, sometimes they thrift, occasionally they mend a pair of socks because, why throw away a good pair of socks. Right? And I mean the reality is there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to nice things. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of your labor. But if that becomes all that you are, to the point where you start believing that these things are worth more than the service that you offer, it’s going to show in your work and people aren’t going to want to work with you. You have to remember that whatever got you here isn’t going to get you there.

So that does mean that you have to uplevel and bring new skills to the game. You have to constantly learn, constantly evolving, constantly growing. And there’s nothing wrong with, you know, treating yourself and getting a little fancier while you do it. But also remember that the things that you did that got you here, are some of the things that you’re going to need to keep doing no matter where you go. If you find yourself confused about what’s working and you feel like you need to revamp and start a new in order to get ahead, well, I’m going to advise you to say, hey, sometimes it’s about taking it back to the basics. One of the things that was always very successful for me and my business was making myself accessible. I run all of my own social media and it’s not uncommon for me to get into my inbox, kick customer service out and answer emails myself. It wasn’t weird in my early stages for me to pick up the phone and call my students. It didn’t matter if I had 1 or 1000. I was picking up the phone and calling them up and saying, hey, how’s it going? This is actually Nicole and I want to know how you’re doing, and the reason why I did that is that we’re in the business of people. I care about people and you should too. As a matter of fact, I bet you do. We wouldn’t be best friends, Internet, podcast style if you weren’t kind of like me if you weren’t about being and doing, and serving and giving something more and so that’s why I want to caution you and use that story as a cautionary tale to understand that, listen, we’re never going to get paid for just showing up. We have to make sure that we are truly connected with serving people with excellence, right? Top notch service. You want to do the work but you want to do it well and you want people to trust you. You want to have integrity. You want to make sure that when you leave the room, all they remember is how awesome you were when you showed up and how awesomely you served.

So instead of worrying about, oh my gosh, how am I going to stand out? Is the thing that I offer good enough? Just make sure that what you do offer you do well, that you get better at the work that you do, that you focus on trying to grow every single day. If you do your work with excellence, you will never be in a position where people are going to say, Hey, I’m going to go with the next girl. Now, if there is nothing that you remember, there’s nothing else you take from this podcast. The one thing that I want you to remember, and this one’s easy, you are not Kim Kardashian girl. You gotta do the work. You gotta show up. You gotta show out, you gotta slay and you gotta deliver.

All that sounds good and great. We’ve talked about doing the work, right? We’ve talked about how we have to keep it all together and make sure that we are always showing up, right? All these things matter, but what if we’re doing the work and things are getting out of hand? I know that it’s very easy when you’re passionate about something to spend all day doing it, getting lost in the moment, and that can have some really serious effects on your life. I’m guilty of it. As a matter of fact, I had a huge moment happen with my kids that changed everything. It changed how I did business. It changed how I looked at the world. It changed how I interacted with my students. It changed who I was, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it In our next episode because this thing will change everything for you.

Thanks so much for listening, friend. If you enjoyed this podcast, head over to www.NicoleWalters.com. I’d love for us to stay in touch, so make sure you drop your email address so I can send you inspiration, business details, and the occasional funny story and because I’m so generous, there might even be a selfie in the next. Thanks again. Make sure you subscribe and come back soon.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What you and Kim Kardashian don’t have in common,
• How I set myself apart in business (this is good!)
• Why you have to keep showing up to build your business, and
• How to land opportunities that you would otherwise not get

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or email me at [email protected]!
• Have you listened to our previous May Moments? Listen here!
• If you love our chats like I do, I’d so appreciate a review for the show! You can share your thoughts on Apple here!

More about The Nicole Walters Podcast:

The Nicole Walters Podcast is for the everyday entrepreneur that wants to increase their income but doesn’t know where to start. If that’s you, you’re in the right place!

Nicole Walters is a wife, mom, income strategist, entrepreneur, and the founder of The Monetized Life™. Join Nicole each week for a new episode packed with what you need to know to gain clarity, grow your network and monetize your life using the proven corporate strategies she mastered in 10 years as a Fortune 500 executive.

Whether you’re just starting out and don’t know your next step, or you’re multi-passionate and don’t know the right next step, Nicole is here to break it down for you! Richfriend, let’s add some commas to your bank account!

Listen each week. Do. The. Work, and success WILL come!

Do not get weary

by Nicole Walters | May 11, 2021

 Do not get weary

Welcome to our second May Moments! I am so excited that so many of you have just discovered the podcast and because this is a group party, I want us all to be caught up! That’s why in the month of May, we’re going to re-share our top episodes. Whether it’s your first time hearing these or your second or third, I know you’ll get something great out of them!

I’m so glad you’re listening to this one because we are having an open and honest conversation about how the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t over and what we’re really after. This episode will help you to do not get weary in this fight. This topic is as timely as it was when it was first released in June of 2020.

We need you to stay in this fight and not grow weary and this conversation will help. Thanks for being here friend. I’m so honored that you spend this time with me each week. I want these talks to be a two-way street so send me a DM on Instagram or Twitter. I can’t wait to hear from you!

(00:00):
Hey friend, you’re listening to The Nicole Walters Podcast. I’m a former six-figure corporate executive who woke up every morning feeling stuck in the life that I built for myself but using my corporate skills I took to the Internet and built a multi-seven-figure business, showing others how they can build a life they love. Now on this podcast, I share stories of being an entrepreneur, a mom to my three amazing girls and a wife to my crazy, cooky dancing Hubbin. I’ve had a couple of viral videos too. So you know there’s going to be a lot of laughs here. So whether you’ve seen me on my viral vids or on the Today Show or read about me in Forbes, this is the place where we can meet, share stories, share laughs, and share fun. I’m your best friend in your head. So sit back, listen close, and let’s get started.

(00:50):
Hey everybody. Hey guys. I wanted to come on because a lot of stuff has just happened recently and I wanted to unpack some of the recent news with you to help you internalize it really, really well, and to apply it to your life even better. And to hopefully get ahead of possibly saying some things that you may not want to say that could cause a little bit of confusion or not really help things move in a positive direction. So if this is your first time, thank you so much for jumping on. If you just have five minutes, this will help a lot. And like, I always like to start out. This is an open, honest conversation in a safe place and safe, meaning that the intent here is to know everyone’s intention is forward moving progress and everyone’s intention is to learn. And everyone’s intention is application of the things that we’re learning, not just performative, listening, right?

(01:46):
We actually want to deep down be the person that we say we want to be, right? So here’s what I want to talk about. And it may be a smidge uncomfortable, but I promise you, it’s not going to be the type of uncomfortable that isn’t going to leave you better off. So you may have heard recently, especially if you are one of my lighter brighters right, which is a term I use for anyone who may be Caucasian, white or white presenting. Right? So meaning you’re afforded some of the benefits and perks of being white, even if you’re not. So here’s what we’re going to talk about. You may have heard that the other officers in the George Floyd murder have now been charged and there were three other officers that weren’t charged right away. Uh, the primary officer involved in the crime was charged, you know, not right away, but before these other officers were charged.

(02:35):
So this is just, I’m just explaining just general news, right? Like this is not an opinion. It’s not political. It’s just the news. Right. And furthermore, the original primary officer was also, his charges were upgraded from third degree murder to second degree murder. Right? So that’s the latest and the greatest in terms of the news. And it doesn’t matter how you feel about that portion of it. Right? I want to talk to you about what comes next, because I think that it’s possible. And I’m not saying this is how you feel, but it may be how other people around you feel, that some people are going to think that this is what’s going to make everything stop. And I wanted to come on just before people even start getting on Facebook or being on Facebook arguments or things like that to kind of give you some perspective.

(03:24):
Because it’s very possible, I just want to prepare you as like your friend. I’m just hear me out. It’s very possible that this is not going to be the thing like, um, and I’m going to use the sentence here. Cause you may hear it. I’m not saying it’s what you’ll say, but it may be what you hear other people say or people around you say, “Well, now they got what they want. So why are they still mad?” or “Now they got what they want so why are they still protesting?” or, “They got what they want. So why is this still happening?” And you’re going to hear, you’re going to hear that language just because racism isn’t gone and a hashtag, right? It’s not gone in a thing. You’re going to hear that type of icky language and perspectives and odds are those perspectives are from people who just may not understand some of the things you’ve been working on or some of the things you’ve been reading and diving into.

(04:11):
But the reality is part of why people are so, so upset right now, people meaning black people is because it isn’t about just one isolated incident. It’s about the whole fact that our, that black lives have not been treated well in this country. And they’ve been at risk. So because we have such a long history of basically being like, please pay attention, please pay attention. We swear, this is serious. Can you please just investigate, please take it seriously. Like it’s really, really scary. Like I really need some help and not getting any reaction from it. And sometimes even being told, yeah, you’re making it up. The fact that this one thing has happened, isn’t going to be enough to have people say, Oh, okay, good. Well, I’m glad everyone understands. Like that’s not going to be enough. And furthermore, believe it or not, a lot of black people are going to be scared that even though they’ve been arrested that the justice system’s not going to work to do its complete job, which means really doing a full trial, really doing a thorough investigation, really calling the best witnesses in and making sure that if they’re prosecuted, right.

(05:22):
Even if they’re found guilty, you know, by the full justice system that they’re going to get enough time in jail rather than a Oh right. Well, you met what you meant. You know, like we know where we get it. We did the process. And so I say all this to kind of prepare you to let you know that it isn’t over yet. And it’s really important that if you start one of the things you’re going to start hearing from people who, you know, may have been all about the, like I get this whole black lives matter thing now, but they’re going to be like, is this done yet? Like, they’re just eager to feel. Cause here’s the deal. It’s been uncomfortable for everyone. Right? It’s been overwhelming to let this consume our lives for like the past week. But for black people it’s consumed our lives for our entire lives.

(06:05):
And so for a lot of people, they’re going to look at all of this and say, I cannot not wait to get some air. Right. I cannot wait to get some air. When are we going to get back to posting gym selfies? I didn’t do squats for no reason. I want to post that on Instagram. Right. And you’re going to realize very quickly that it’s not over, it’s not over. And so I know that we all probably want a little breathing space right from this situation. But the problem is that because people weren’t able to breathe and they were killed, this is going to keep going. And so what’s really important. I think what matters most to so many black people that are in your life and that you will see continue to speak up about this and what we’re probably most scared of more than anything, because a lot of us are prepared for this to not even work out in terms of a trial.

(06:57):
A lot of us are prepared for just in case this doesn’t work out. Right. Cause we’ve been here before, but at what I think most of us and I don’t want to speak for all black people, but what I, what I can honestly say, I feel for sure and I’m hoping you hear and understand is that I’m more scared that you’re going to be over it. Oh, I don’t want to get emotional. I don’t want to cry about it, but I’m most scared that you’re going to be over it. And that you’re going to say this was too hard and I don’t want to do this anymore because it’s not my thing. You know? And I just want to let you know that even if you decide that you’re tired of doing this, and even if you decide that like, well, they got what they wanted.

(07:38):
I’m still going to be scared in the car. And I’m still going to be scared. Like when my daughter, so I have an 18 year old daughter that is amazing, right? She’s a firecracker. She beat stage four cancer, she’s a 4.0 student, she is easily one of the most amazing humans I’ve ever met in my life. Like she inspires me and I can’t even believe I get to be her mom and I, my family, my three girls are adopted and I feel so blessed that I was even chosen to like be in their world. And my baby girl, like she always asked me, I thought about his day. She was like, Oh, so I think I want to go walk the dog today. And I’m like, sure. And then I’m like, but make sure you come in at this hour and don’t go further than here and just be really careful.

(08:18):
And if anything seems off, don’t do it. Like I have to give her kind of a paragraph whenever she wants to go out and walk the dog. And those sorts of things won’t change until we know that there’s like stuff in writing in law that says that if anything, like George Floyd happens or that the officers aren’t even going to think to do something like that. So that’s kind of, that’s what we’re actually fighting for. So even though there’ve been a lot of calls to bring the other officers to justice, I really want you to understand that what we’re looking for is actual real world, like paperwork stuff, saying that like, guess what? Another George Floyd won’t happen. What we want is to make sure that there are no more George Floyd’s, not just justice for George Floyd.

(09:05):
Does that make sense friends? I hope so, because I know that there’s going to be an immediate sort of like, can it be over? And because we haven’t gotten paperwork that says like, no, like we are going to make sure that cause you know, I’m not defending officers, but every black person knows that not every cop is a bad cop. Every black person knows that. But what we’re concerned about is that the system is also failing police officers. Can you imagine that? It’s also failing them and we want to make sure they have all the tools to do their job well, so that the aren’t any more George Floyds. Meaning they shouldn’t be out on the street after a 30 hour work shift. If they have had several incidences of showing bad behavior, that needs to be noted and consequences need to be dealt and they need to make sure they can’t go and work other places.

(10:01):
Think about it if you had a police officer that you knew did a lot of things that weren’t right, and that police officer was able to go get a job as a security guard at your kid’s school, how would you feel about that? That’s scary. Right? That’s scary. It’s a scary thing. And we don’t have systems and paperwork to just keep track of those types of things and even better. If you’re someone who is a big, huge, like, you know, I’ve always really supported a lot of police officers and I’m really a big like, you know, law and order type of girl. I want you to understand that you should want these things too, because it will actually help your officers, military people get safer because if your husband or brother is a good cop, you want them to be loved, appreciated, and respected for the work they do.

(10:49):
And it’s very difficult for us to do that because we just like, you can’t tell who’s a, you know, just cause they, like they say, they can’t tell who’s the looter, who’s trouble because of, you know, systemic problems. We, we can’t really tell which cop is a good copper, always scared. Cause you guys the ones with the guns. Right? So knowing that that’s why it’s so important to not let up, because this is also your fight to make sure that your police officers are safe and to make sure that they’re able to, right? And so that’s why we want to make sure this helps everybody. So even though we are thrilled, we meaning all black people everywhere and hopefully you too, right? Hopefully you two are super thrilled to hear that we are going to engage the justice system. I just really want you to understand that it’s not over yet and you may still see people protesting and it’s likely that you’re still going to see hashtags and it’s really, really possible that we’re still going to need you to donate.

(11:48):

And we’re still gonna need you to speak up for your kid on the playground. And we’re still gonna need you whenever you’re having an event or a party or whatever else to invite your black friend, because we want to make sure that you understand that there’s still work ahead. And if you’re a mama of a toddler or have a little one or a mom of kids, I do want you to understand that if you think about it, you’re a mama for a lifetime, right? And if you’ve got a little one, you’ve got 18 years of teaching, 18 years of teaching to make sure that kid grows up into a great adult that understands the importance of seeing everyone’s color and being a helper for people who have dealt with so much oppression for so many years. So there’s work to be done, right?

(12:31):
And I don’t want you to let up. That’s my biggest fear is that I just, I don’t want the fact that we’re bearing our souls and that we’re having these conversations because this news just came out for anybody to back off. So please stick with it with us and keep calling for a fair trial and keep voting for people who are paying attention to policies, right? Not voting party, not voting people, but voting for policy, right? What do these people think, believe and do and is that the direction and the world that I want to live in. Those are the types of things we want to do. So that’s all I wanted to share with you guys. I just wanted to give you guys an opportunity to when you hear this news, come be well equipped to have those conversations because you’re going to be surrounded, especially if you’re a lighter, brighter, or you’re white person, you’re going to be equipped to.

(13:21):
Now, when you hear people around me who may not have spent time doing the work, you’re going to be able to actually say, Hey, Hey, Hey, you know, I know that you’re saying you wish that it was over. And boy, you can’t understand why people are still mad. I want to let you know, they’re mad because it’s not over. And we want to make sure that things have changed all the way, all the way. I am so grateful because I’ve gotten so many messages from so many of you about, you know, trying to increase your understanding and really trying to lean in and trying to hear where people’s hearts are and wanting to learn what to do. And I don’t think we have all of the answers, but you’re doing the work, you’re showing up and you’re getting uncomfortable. And I’m grateful that we get uncomfortable together. Like this, look at us, we got uncomfortable and we all, we made it right. But it wasn’t that bad. Right. See, and we can keep having these conversations and we can still love each other afterwards. All right. So go out, do something, do something, act, make a difference. Today’s a good day. Justice is in motion.

(14:20):
All right, guys. Thank you so much. Bye guys. Thanks so much for listening, friend. If you enjoyed this podcast, head over to NicoleWalters.com. I’d love for us to stay in touch, so make sure you drop your email address so I can send you inspiration, business details and the occasional funny story and because I’m so generous, there might even be a selfie in the mix. Thanks again. Make sure you subscribe and come back soon.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why you’ve heard people ask, “Is it over yet?”
• How to keep yourself from growing weary now and in the future,
• What really needs to happen for us to feel safe, and
• Why we need you in this fight long term

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• In addition to using your voice and voting, consider donating to organizations like:
  • Black Lives Matter
  • United Way
  • Big Brothers and Big Sisters
• Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or email me at [email protected]!
• Have you listened to our first May Moments? Listen to it here!
• If you love our chats like I do, I’d so appreciate a review for the show! You can share your thoughts on Apple here!

More about The Nicole Walters Podcast:

The Nicole Walters Podcast is for the everyday entrepreneur that wants to increase their income but doesn’t know where to start. If that’s you, you’re in the right place!

Nicole Walters is a wife, mom, income strategist, entrepreneur, and the founder of The Monetized Life™. Join Nicole each week for a new episode packed with what you need to know to gain clarity, grow your network and monetize your life using the proven corporate strategies she mastered in 10 years as a Fortune 500 executive.

Whether you’re just starting out and don’t know your next step, or you’re multi-passionate and don’t know the right next step, Nicole is here to break it down for you! Richfriend, let’s add some commas to your bank account!

Listen each week. Do. The. Work, and success WILL come!

Pivot Points

by Nicole Walters | May 4, 2021

Pivot Points

I am so excited that so many of you have just discovered the podcast and because this is a group party, I want us all to be caught up! That’s why in the month of May, we’re going to re-share our top episodes. Whether it’s your first time hearing these or your second or third, I know you’ll get something great out of them!

So tune in today’s episode where I share the incredible story of how I met my daughters and how God put our family together. This is just part 1 of a two-part episode so don’t forget to tune in for part 2 (find it HERE!) Thanks for listening friend!

Hey friend, you’re listening to The Nicole Walters Podcast. I’m a former six-figure corporate executive who woke up every morning feeling stuck in the life that I built for myself but using my corporate skills I took to the Internet and built a multi-seven-figure business, showing others how they can build a life they love. Now on this podcast, I share stories of being an entrepreneur, a mom to my three amazing girls and a wife to my crazy, cooky dancing hubbin. I’ve had a couple of viral videos too. So you know there’s going to be a lot of laughs here. So whether you’ve seen me on my viral vids or on the Today Show or read about me in Forbes, this is the place where we can meet, share stories, share laughs, and share fun. I’m your best friend in your head. So sit back, listen close, and let’s get started.

So let’s talk about why I’m even doing this whole thing. Why on earth is there just another podcast to listen to? Well, in this season I want to introduce you to the principles I’ve been using to guide my life. I wasn’t always a huge entrepreneur making multi-seven figures and having a full-time staff. While it’s awesome to be able to build a business where I help people live a life they love and use their God-given gifts, it was complicated. Before that, I’m the child of immigrants who grew up in Washington DC. They didn’t have much. My dad was a cab driver and my mom was a secretary at a boating insurance company. I was blessed to be able to go to some top schools. I started off in DC private schools and I worked my way up to awesome, awesome universities, but the reality was I slept on a couch until I was 12, there were many nights where I didn’t have much and I was hungry and I woke up to roaches crawling all over me and I closed my eyes tightly hoping I could get back to bed quickly. I had days where I didn’t know if I was going to eat, and there were nights where I woke up in the middle of the night knowing that my fridge was empty. I know that story doesn’t sound unfamiliar. It’s a hard-luck story, rags to riches, but the reality is none of those things would have changed if I didn’t change.

After I got married, met my amazing husband, we were living a pretty good life. I was working a corporate job and I was a senior executive at 28, one of the youngest in my division. I loved what I did. I was working, helping build fortune 500 companies, turning them and their products into industry leaders. And it was so much fun. First Class flights, amazing dinners, using my knowledge and my industry expertise to make my company billions. But the reality was that job fed my family, but it didn’t feed my soul and I knew that that wasn’t all that I was. I had real gifts that were worth something and I deserve to use them. So when I got older, I knew that I needed to leverage my college experience to get where I needed to go. And rising through the corporate ranks wasn’t all that I was. There were times where I only had $24 in my bank account and I would look at my husband and we’d say to ourselves, we’re grateful that we have food in our fridge and we’re grateful that we have gas in our tank, but if anything goes wrong, we’re not going to make it. We’re busy making sure that we’re paying off our debt and living our best lives, but at the end of the day, it feels like we’re always living paycheck to paycheck and all we really want is some breathing room. And that was when I said, I’ve got to get a side hustle. I started my blog, Natural Nicole, and it was awesome.

It was great to share knowledge about African American beauty products with people who were also looking for answers. I knew that I loved sharing answers, but you know what? I didn’t hate my nine to five job. I just knew that I was about something more. And so that was when I started offering my blogger friends information about how to build their blog into a business. I mean, I did it for corporations all day. Why couldn’t I do it for the everyday person? And boy did it work. It took off. Now that’s what was happening in front of the scenes. That might be a little bit of why you may know me or see me or caught me on a viral video, but the reality is there was a lot happening behind the scenes. You can follow my journey at ​www.nicolewalters.com​, you can sign up for my business products at ​www.1k1day.com​. You can listen to other people’s podcasts and you can follow me on social media and you’ll catch all the business stuff and maybe even catch a little bit of fun family stuff, but the reality is everybody’s little bit more complex than that.

There are things happening behind the scenes that no one knows about and there are principles that have helped guide me and help me grow, and that’s what this podcast is about. It’s the behind the scenes. It’s the deeper story, there’s more to it and I’m excited to share all of that with you guys here today. I want to make sure that in this podcast I am being honest, real and transparent because I want you to understand that nothing happens overnight, and I’m able to share with you the journey that it takes. I’m going to be doing that by leading each episode with a different principle that I’ve been applying during this very journey. I’m hoping that one of these principles will unlock your own success. Today, I want to start off by sharing a personal story of mine, one that changed my life and it led me to actually being right here on this podcast chatting with you and it’s the story of how I became a mother of three girls in just 30 days. So if you think you need a break or if you need a snack, now’s the time to grab it. So it’s only going to take a couple more minutes, but turn up the volume. Lean in. We’re going to get started.

It was in 2014. I’d been married a little over six years. I think it was closer to seven and my husband was this amazing guy. We met online on Ok Cupid back before it was too sketchy and we had a pretty awesome marriage at this point. The first three years were, man, isn’t that marriage overall? I think that it’s one of these things where we’re like, oh yeah, dating. It was great, and then you get married and you’re like, Whoa, you’re in my stuff. You’re touching my things. You’re breathing my air. I think I love you, but oh my gosh, if you don’t do these dishes. Right? It’s just so crazy. Knowing how to date is so different from knowing how to be married, but we made it work. We were disagreeing, but we just didn’t understand what it meant to be married. We came into the marriage with two different definitions and we’re just trying to find our footing, but oh my goodness, by year five, oh, we were in our sweet spot. By year six, the love was overflowing and I’d finally gotten really stable. I had my six-figure job and we had a little bit of extra income, even though we knew that things were tight, but we were at that place where I think most of us remember right when we got married and things were kind of working and our jeans still fit. We didn’t have kids. We were going out for dinners, having fun, you know, finding little hobbies, things to do. It was that great place in our marriage. We were looking good. Oh, the late twenties it was a pretty good place and I remember on this October night, we just had date night, which frankly when you don’t have kids and you’re newly married, every day is basically date night. We were hanging out with each other and went out to dinner and afterward I said, hey, how about we grab some dessert? So my husband said to me, that sounds great. Yeah, let’s go. So we went to go grab some crepes at this place called Sophie’s. It’s in Baltimore. I absolutely love it. And Sophie’s was actually the shop that we went to for our very first date and living in Baltimore. We would always swing by there. We just love to go back. It was one of our favorite places and I’m kind of like a type A personality. I think it’s worth noting. I liked doing my research, I like checking things out and for some reason this night, even though it was like nine o’clock, I didn’t even check Yelp to see if Sophie’s was open. I was like, let’s just swing by there and you know, that’s kind of how God works, right?

He moves and ordains our steps and sends us in the right direction even if we don’t necessarily know if it makes sense because there’s someplace we have to get and we were going to get there whether we liked it or not. So we’re driving down this street in Baltimore, it’s called Northern Avenue. And so I see this image and it’s just bouncing up and down in the corner and it’s so, so dark. I mean guys, this was at, this point it was probably 9:30 or 10 o’clock on a cold October night in Maryland. It was brisk. So I was like, we need to pull over. We need to pull over and we get to that corner or really close to Sophie’s. I know he’s focused on dessert, but as we get closer, I noticed that this isn’t a dog at all. There was actually a woman standing in that shadow as well, and the woman’s older and it was a small child. She was jumping up and down because it looked like she was counting. You know when you walk around and you try not to step on a crack and break your mother’s back? You could see that this woman who was older look to be about in her fifties maybe even older than that. Whatever it was, you could see she was wearing a lot of the life she was living on her outside. She looked like she’d been through a lot. I’m trying not to get emotional here because I don’t even know if I could ever tell the story and not get emotional.

This little girl was dirty, her clothing had smudges on it, and her shoes had holes, but her face was just a light. She was absolutely radiant. And I remember when my husband pulled over, this woman said hello and you know, my husband goes to give her some money. Now this woman was holding a sign that says, you know, I’m hungry, please help. And he hands her a couple of bucks and when he goes to hand her the money, she takes it and then it looks over at, the little girl and says, now what do we say? And this little girl looks up, she looks to be about two years old, she’s really, really small. And she says, thank you. And as she says, thank you. I noticed that she’s missing some of her front teeth. And I say to the woman, oh, she’s missing her teeth. And she says, yeah, she has to go to the dentist and get it out. And I was like, wow, you’re going to the dentist, you’re such a brave little girl. The girl was shy like most young kids are, but she started beaming this big smile and I just saw her whole face light up. I didn’t even know it could get any brighter.

I said, okay, well you guys stay warm. Have a good night. God bless you. But I could feel something happened within me. Something had changed. There was a pivot. We continued driving, and we went to Sophie’s, but everything was different. Sophie’s was closed and had been closed for about 45 minutes or so. And I kinda thought to myself, why didn’t I look up the time? And of course they’re closed, it’s nighttime. What was I even thinking? So we start to head back and we turn around the corner and head back home and we have to pass by that corner again. And let me be honest about something. I remember thinking to myself, and God forgive me for it. I remember thinking, please God, don’t let them still be on that corner. Don’t let them be there. Because if they are, I’m going to have to do something. And I don’t know if you guys have ever been in that place before where you just know that once you know something, you can’t unknow it. Once something enters your world, you have to act. And for me, this feeling of not just being able to drive by again was something I didn’t want to lean into. I didn’t want to do it. I just wanted to go home and find something in the fridge to have for dessert for my husband. I wanted to finish date night. I just didn’t want to have to act. Not that night. But sure enough we see them there and I tried my best not to make eye contact. I remember thinking, just don’t look at the corner Nicole. Just don’t look at the corner. And my husband drives by and we don’t even make it to the next stop sign before I’m doing that, hitting his arm thing again and I’m saying we have to go back, we have to go back. So we turn around and we go back and as we’re driving back, it’s only a couple seconds before we pull up to them.

And I’m thinking to myself, what am I even going to say to these people, what am I even doing? There are barely any cars around cause it’s night and it’s late and I don’t even know what I’m doing. What am I even going to say to them? And I gotta say, any moms or dads who are listening to this. You know that feeling you get, that mom feeling deep in your gut, when you see a situation and you just know it’s not quite right and you can’t put your finger on it, but you’re like, something here is not adding up. It’s not good and, and something’s gotta change. I have to step in. It’s kind of like that. Something in my gut that said, this little girl is out just a little too late and it’s a little bit too cold and I just need to do something about this. We pull up next to her and all I could think was, are you guys hungry? And the mom says, yes, actually we really are. And I said, okay, well you know, I don’t know what’s open right now, but I think there’s a subway down the street. Could I maybe get you guys some dinner? And she says, yeah, that’d be great. That’d be really great. So I’m like, well, come on with us and hop in the car and bring your bags with you and then we’ll get going. And in the back of my head, all I could think was, this little girl doesn’t even have a car seat. But you know, it’s interesting how in those moments, those details don’t seem to matter much. You just wanted to get some food into their belly. So they get into the car and we pull up and the only thing open at this hour is Subway. I feel like Subway never closes.

So we go in and they’re walking in and you know, I’m like, get whatever you want, you know, whatever you need. And the woman looks at me and she says, you know, I have two more at home. And I was like, okay, well I guess we should get something for them too. Just get whatever you want. So she’s taking her order, and the little one is standing there and I squat down and I get eye contact with her and I say, hey, so what’s your name? And she looks at me and I’ll never forget hearing her voice say, Ali. And all I could think at that moment is that I have to do whatever I can to help this little girl. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what it looks like, but I need to help them. So we finished the order and when we’re done, the woman’s stands on the sidewalk outside of the Subway and she’s like, thank you so much. And she turns to walk home and I look at them both and say, Hey, uh, we could give you a ride back. Now if you’ve ever seen my husband on social media at all, you’ll know that he’s a playful guy, but he’s kind of a serious matter of fact guy and he’s quiet. God blessed this man for dealing with me as his wife, man. He goes along with anything I put him through. And I am so fortunate that God really matched me with the right person because he gives me the space to be as crazy as I want to be. As long as I respect when he puts his foot down and says, okay, Nicole enough. This is one of those times where he shot me those eyes and said, Nicole what are you doing? And I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and gave him the please, I’m sorry, I can’t, you know, and they look back and they’re like, yeah, we’d like a ride if that’s okay with you. So they get back in the car and I drive them back to their home and I call it a home because that is where their family lived, but it wasn’t much, it was a small one story row house in Baltimore. They kind of looked like townhouses, but they’ve been split into several apartments. And on the first floor, it’s government provided housing.

So I walk them up the door and I walk up to the door and the one thing I noticed right away was that the home was packed with stuff and it wasn’t super clean and I just couldn’t figure out when I was looking around where a little kid would play. It was just so much going on. It was pretty apparent that things weren’t right here. I couldn’t believe that there were any more people that lived in that house, let alone a family of four. The mother opens a door and I step inside and she screams the name of the other two girls and I wait a second, I kind of look towards the area that she was just calling them from and the little one runs in and just kinda scurries around looking for some toy. And then the two girls come out and they are gorgeous, just gorgeous. One was 11 at the time and the other one looked to be about 14. The best way I could describe them was three beautiful girls, but they looked like wilted flowers bent over, not smiling, looking at the ground. They didn’t make eye contact and their mother said thank the nice lady for bringing us sandwiches. Whether you want to call it partially just being a teenager or maybe even lacking joy. I mean they say in unison, thank you. A classic teenager response. And I’m like, you’re welcome girls. You know, you’re welcome. And I didn’t know what to say. I mean I’m old. I felt awkward. What are you, what are kids even like nowadays? What do, how do I connect with an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old? All they do is Snapchat and listen to rap. I don’t know what to do with this. So I’m grasping at straws for something more to say. And I’m just like, uh, do you guys like makeup and hair and stuff? I have this little blog thing that I do and you know, if, if you like, I got some stuff I can bring to you and maybe if you’re just into that and they kind of lift their heads up and they look at me maybe doing a little half smile and they’re like, yeah, yeah, we do like that stuff. And I was like, okay, well great. I’d love to bring some stuff back to you tomorrow. And then the mom’s like, sure, sure. And so I look at the mom and I say, is there anything else that you need? I mean, since I’m coming back and she looks at me and says, well, we could really use some groceries. And I said, no problem. You know, I’ll be back tomorrow.

So I say goodbye to the family and I walked down the stairs and when I get into the car, look at my husband and he can tell something is up. He can tell that I’ve pivoted. I say to him, Hey, so we have a choice right now. I know what it’s like to grow up poor and I know what it’s like to have people promise you that they’re going to help and fall through every single time. Here’s the truth. We can walk away from this situation right now and we would not be the first ones to do it. We can walk away and never come back. We would just be another one on the list. They wouldn’t even remember us after a while. But if we say we’re going to come back, then we can never ever leave. These kids are used to people leaving them and I do not want to be another person who does that. My husband looks at me and he says, Nicole, you can bring them groceries. He’s so matter-of-fact I mean, he didn’t even think much about it. I was like, okay, thanks. I’ll take it. I’m not going to, I’m not going to complain. I’m going to shut up and roll with it.

So the next day I bring them groceries and then the day after that I pick up the girls and I take them to school. And the week after that I bring them dinner and the weeks after that I start bringing them to my home and helping them study. And soon after I’m in their school and meeting all their teachers. And over the course of a month, what started off as just a lucky meeting on the side of the street, turns into a full mentorship of these three girls where I’m just trying to help support them. And I’m kind of like a big sister just being in their lives and I don’t know what my goal was. I Dunno really what I was thinking. I just, I just wanted to make sure that they knew that someone saw them. I wanted them to know that somebody sees them because kids who aren’t seen, they don’t feel like they belong to anything. They questioned their worth and then they just do whatever and I just knew that if they knew that somebody saw them and if somebody acted like they mattered, then they would act like they mattered. It’s all I really wanted to do, so I just wanted to make sure that they were seen, so 30 days into knowing them or a little over 30 days, I went to go do my regular drop off. I pick up the girls from school and make sure that they got some dinner, help them with their homework, and then I’d take them home again. I’d been doing this routine for a while and it’s starting to feel pretty regular and I go to drop them off and their mom is acting a little weird. Maybe even a little erratic. And she says to me as I’m getting ready to walk back to my car like I always do. Hey uh Nicole, I need to talk to you. I need to talk to you. So we step outside and we get into the car and she looks at me and she says, Nicole, I need to tell you something. I’m like, oh, all right. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what that entails, but okay. And she says to me, Nicole, I use drugs.

So this is the part of the story where I have to admit that I’m really, really naive. I mean, some of you guys are probably already like, of course, Nicole, obviously the situation wasn’t together. What did you think? Well, listen, I’m the person who literally thought that Milli Vanilli was real. Okay. My mind was blown. Okay. Like I am telling you, girl, you know it’s true is my favorite song. So like I legit did not know. It was like, bless my heart. I’m just one of those people. So I’m sitting here and this woman is telling me that she uses drugs. I could feel my heart drop into the pit of my stomach because now, all the little signs made sense. All of it suddenly was like a flashback playing in my head and everything was coming together. But then I was like, oh crap, what did I get myself into? What’s my husband going to say? Oh, oh no, am I safe right now? Wait, what’s going on? It was almost like, and I’m a big believer that God doesn’t show you everything you need to know all at once because it might actually affect your decision making. You may run away. And if I’d known this going into it, who’s to say, what I would’ve done? Probably would have run away. But needless to say, she told me this and the first thing I could muster, the first thing I could say was, well, okay, well what type of drugs? And she says, and I can kind of laugh at it now because it wasn’t really funny in the moment, but she’s like, I do a little bit of heroin. And I tried to stay clean off the heroin. And so when I’m clean off the heroin, I’m only doing a little bit of crack. Cause like a little bit of crack is a thing. Right? Jeez, I just got this sort of like, okay, oh my gosh, well are you clean right now? And she’s like, well I try to be and I’m telling you, this conversation goes left super quick. So I’m like, well what do you know? I mean are you doing better? Are you in treatment? Like what does this mean? You know? And she says, well the reason I’m telling you this is because I’m going to jail and I freeze. I look straight ahead over the steering wheel and then I look at her and it’s almost as if I was trying to search her face to see if she was telling me the truth cause this wasn’t a joke and she was definitely telling me the truth and all I could say to her was, well, okay, what’s going to happen to the girls?

And she says, well I can sign my check over to the boyfriend or the state might take them. And it was in that moment that I said to myself, okay, this is more than just mentorship. I’m going to have to make a choice, whether it’s now two months from now, three months from now, I’m going to have to come to a place where I’m going to have to decide if I’m willing to step in and help these girls completely and be there for them for whatever stretch of time, whatever that means. If it’s parenting them for a stretch, supporting them for a stretch, this is more than I ever thought and I have got to be prepared to step in because this situation is unstable. So I said to her, okay, well you know what? Let me see what I can do. I’m going to talk to my husband, I’m going to see if there’s something we can do to make sure we can still help with getting the girls to school, things like that, because it may just be a lot for your boyfriend to take on. And I feel like maybe I could help a little bit. And so she looks at me and she’s like, okay, well that’d be good if you could do that, that’d be good. And I said, yeah, you know what I mean? Maybe you know, we have a lot of space in our house and it might just be easier if the girls stay with us at least during the week, just until you get out. And she was like, yeah, I mean, I guess we could do that. She’d never been to her house before, but I guess she was okay with it. And I was like, well yeah, knowing in my head I was just like, please God, speak to my husband’s heart because he’s going to be like, oh my goodness. So she’s like, all right, cool, cool.

I remember going home and telling my husband what was going on and that the situation had escalated and this is what I think needed to happen. And so he said, okay, well let’s figure out what we can do. And so he goes ahead and he figures out how we can make it work and just make sure that we can handle their medical affairs and their school affairs and all that good stuff. And sure enough, we made it work. I remember at the time when I told their mom that we were willing to step in and watch the girls while she served her time, the thing she asked me was two things. One, will I still get to keep my check? Yeah, you’ll get to keep your check. And two, this still won’t make you their mom, you know? Right. And I told her, you’re right, I won’t officially be their mom. And she said, okay. Yeah, no, all right. So 30 days in and just a matter of moments, I became a mom to three girls.

Now, it may not have been clear as day at that point, but I did know from that moment on based on what I’d seen, experienced and what my husband and I discussed that I was never going to turn back. About a year after she went in, when she was finally released and she came out, it was very, very clear because the girls found out and they looked at me and the first thing they said was, Miss Nicole, please don’t make us go back. We want to stay with you. I looked at my husband at this point, I gotta tell you, we had a routine. We had joy. I invested in potty seats. And any parents know that once you convert, everything over to potty seats, that’s commitment. We have baby clothes everywhere. We had toys. I mean it was at a point where I could not imagine my world without these girls in it. We looked at each other knowing that we had a lot to take on and that we probably couldn’t stay in our tiny home in Baltimore City and we probably would need to get a different school district and the little one was going to need to start school soon. We had to figure it out. We have all of our family conversations in the open, so we all sat down and had a family meeting and we all looked at other and we said, what do we want to happen here? And the girl said we want to stay with you? And we said, we wanted to stay with you too, so let’s go talk to your mom. We sat down and talked to their mom and their mom agreed. There’s a better school district near you guys and I’m sure your home probably has a little bit more room and definitely more food.

We all agreed this was what was right and this is what we needed to do. After that, I looked at my husband, I said, we’re going to need to move and he’s like, Nicole, this is getting real. And I was like, don’t worry, I’ll figure it out. I’ll work and I’ll hustle and I’ll make it happen and I think that it was around this time that most of you who are listening, who may have met me before, seen me on social media. Who have been following my story as I become an entrepreneur and launch my own businesses. This might have been when we first met. I was working my nine to five corporate job as a senior executive and loving it, but also realizing that I wasn’t using all of my God-given gifts to serve people and it was in that time that I knew that if we were going to get our girls full time, if we were going to move into the suburbs and have a home where they could each have their own room, know that they’re wanted and build our family, that I would need to quit my job.

I had a three-year-old that needed me full time. I had a family now. We all needed to be together. I had a kid going to college and in just two years, another one going to college. My whole life had changed in just a matter of a few months and I needed to make sure that I was bringing in the revenue to support this family. We were not going to go into debt behind this chance meeting. I also needed to make sure that I had the time to love this family. I needed to better align with my purpose for my own inner calling and I needed to glorify God. And so it was in that moment that everything changed and I knew that I needed to pivot and it was then that I decided I needed to have my quit day. And that is a story of how my family came to be, but there’s so much more to it. And this story is the one that led up to the big moment where I went live online in front of 10,000 people. I called up my boss and I quit my job and that’s where I want to start our next episode.

I want to tell you how I launched my business, how I made $11,000 in just three weeks prior to calling my boss and quitting live. I want to tell you how this very video went viral within 24 hours and it was watched by over a hundred thousand people. It was absolutely crazy and I can’t wait to share every single moment what you saw in front of the screen and what happened behind it, but before I go, I want you to know this. If there’s nothing else that you take from this episode, just remember, no matter what your situation is like whenever you’re feeling low, remember that God is speaking about you in rooms that you are not in at the time when you got your first job offer, there was a conversation while you were at home wondering whether or not you would get the job when you got proposed to there was a guy going out and buying that ring for months in advance. Always remember that things are moving on your behalf even when you can’t see them.

Thanks for listening. I can’t wait to chat with you soon. Thanks so much for listening, friend. If you enjoy this podcast, head over to NicoleWalters.com I’d love for us to stay in touch, so make sure you drop your email address so I can send you inspiration, business details, and the occasional funny story and because I’m so generous, there might even be a selfie in the mix. Thanks again. Make sure you subscribe and come back soon.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The story of how I became a mom of 3 in under 30 days,
• What event led me to quit my 6-figure corporate job,
• God’s incredible plan for bringing our family together, and
• How things are always working in your favor, behind the scenes

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Listen to part 2 of this episode HERE
• Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or shoot me an email at [email protected]!
• Have you listened to our last episode on the toxic hustle? Listen to it here!
• If you love our chats like I do, I’d so appreciate a review for the show! You can share your thoughts on Apple here!

More about The Nicole Walters Podcast:

The Nicole Walters Podcast is for the everyday entrepreneur that wants to increase their income but doesn’t know where to start. If that’s you, you’re in the right place!

Nicole Walters is a wife, mom, income strategist, entrepreneur, and the founder of The Monetized Life™. Join Nicole each week for a new episode packed with what you need to know to gain clarity, grow your network and monetize your life using the proven corporate strategies she mastered in 10 years as a Fortune 500 executive.

Whether you’re just starting out and don’t know your next step, or you’re multi-passionate and don’t know the right next step, Nicole is here to break it down for you! Richfriend, let’s add some commas to your bank account!

Listen each week. Do. The. Work, and success WILL come!