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Audio digitally transcribed by Otter.ai

Introduction 0:02
Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns 0:19
It's a beautiful day for a beautiful day. And we have another pirate in the room. Callie, how are you doing?

Callie Teegardin 0:27
I am great. Russ, how are you? It's so good to see you.

Russ Johns 0:31
It's wonderful to see you again. It's been a few minutes. And since I was in Houston and hanging out with the team over in Houston there and I know we've we've kind of hung out together for a number of years. And you are a force of nature in Send Out Cards. And so I wanted to bring you on and share a little bit about personal branding and marketing and things like that. So how long have you been in Send Out Cards?

Callie Teegardin 0:59
11 and a half years, I started July 1 2009. It's the longest I've done anything in my life, which is crazy.

Russ Johns 1:08
And it seems like you're still enjoying it, I see your posts and your activity. And you're just amazing at everything that you do. So I really admire what you're doing. So tell us a little bit about..for those that may not have an awareness of Send Out Cards, tell us a little bit more about what that entails and what it's all about.

Callie Teegardin 1:28
Yeah, send out cards is a website or an app where you can go and send a real card through the actual mail. So think USPS. So we take in tangible touch. So email, and it could be cool, right? And we'd be so excited. And now we're in this digital age where we all get so much information through social media, through email that we get overwhelmed and things get lost. And so what Send Out Cards does is allows you to go out and send a tangible touch to a customer, to a friend, you know, tool of appreciation, because it's something that people actually stop and look at and keep, especially if you personalize and make it all about them. We allow you to add photos and do lots of really cool things in the process.

Russ Johns 2:17
I've received the Send Out cards from some of the pirates. And what they did was they took my profile picture off of LinkedIn and dropped it in the card and then personalized it and it's just really a heartfelt little touch that you're not expecting all the time. Especially in this digital age. You know, I do video a lot. I respond with video messages. You know, and that's just me, that's my personality, because it's, I just turn the camera on and just ramble on and it's okay. But it's nice to receive something like that. And you also have what's really a treat is brownies.

Callie Teegardin 3:03
Our brownies are amazing.

Russ Johns 3:05
Your brownies are amazing. it's so fantastic.

Callie Teegardin 3:09
I took one out of the freezer the other day and warmed it up. And so yeah, we have gifts as well. So brownies are what we are known for. They're our most popular gift, but we do things for men and women and books and holidays. Right? It is the holidays. It's December, this is by far our busiest month as we take holiday cards for individuals, but also for businesses very simple. And all the man hours is someone literally, you know, writing them out, licking the envelope sticking on the stamp, addressing them.

Russ Johns 3:44
Yeah. Well, you know, and there's this essence of personalization. However, send out cards has made it easier to send out cards, right? That's the whole and it's really a process and for those that have not received a card or have been involved in it. What's a typical scenario? I know that it's a network marketing organization. So the structure is, is very easy to access. And I know you have some products coming out that maybe I don't know, can you talk about anything that's coming out in the future?

Callie Teegardin 4:20
Well, I could talk about a little bit. So cards, if you know an affiliate or if you want to reach out to me, you can send your first card out for free. So you can be a customer of our system. We also do have an affiliate opportunity. And we have announced back in November that we have a better way coming. We have a short video about it. And to kind of give it to you in a nutshell, we are introducing six streams of income Send Out Cards being the first and on January 30, we will be announcing five additional income streams so someone can get in as an affiliate. We're calling a better way now. We're waiving our annual fee, because we're very excited about this. Unfortunately, I can't talk about the products. I do know what's coming, but I'm on non disclosure agreement on our product launch team with our corporate, but I will tell you, I'm very, very excited about what's going.

Russ Johns 5:19
Well, that's exciting to hear from you. Because you are just, you've been involved in it. And it's just so subtle, and so wonderful to see how it's developed. So, many other people's lives and having them and being engaged everything else. In fact, a friend, another pirate, she does another. She does legal shield, which is another network marketing platform. And she wanted to get someone to help her with her Send Out Cards, because it's like, I just don't have time to do everything. So she got a VA to start helping her with that to send out cards and, and so it's not necessarily something she's doing as a business. But she's doing it as a service to her other businesses. Yeah.

Callie Teegardin 6:12
Yeah, that's huge. Like, there's so many of our users actually, we have I think it's a four to one or five to one ratio from customers to affiliates, which is what you want in a company. And so we teach business owners to appreciate and love on their clients. Because if you think about it, as salespeople as business owners, we spend so much time acquiring those clients. But once we have them, it's like we forget about them. And then our competitors are coming in and loving on them. So if you can learn to appreciate and love on your clients, even after their clients, they stay, and they refer.

Russ Johns 6:48
Yeah and it's top of mind, I mean, think about how much large brands spend every year just to be on the shelves being in the end aisles, in the grocery stores, and on the commercials and everywhere. The presence is, you know, omnipresent, as they say. And it's really about branding and getting that visibility out there. So it's one of those things that I just have to imagine that you have some very successful individuals because of send out cards that are, you know, growing their normal business, which is the typical, I guess, send out card, client or customer or affiliate?

Callie Teegardin 7:34
Yeah, yeah, our typical customer is typically a salesperson, a small business owner, a real estate agents, mortgage professional, that's looking for a way to really increase sales and referrals in their business, right? Typically, someone you find networking, they're networking, because they're looking to build better relationships, so they can increase sales and referrals. And what we teach you at Send Out Cards is that it's 80%, about the relationship and 20% marketing. If you're just out sending cards, and they're all about you, like, look at me, we have a sale, I'm so awesome, people aren't going to respond. But if you take the time and send someone like the cards you got with your photo on the front of someone being on this broadcast, thanking you for your time, that means something right? More than Hey, look at me, I'm special. And so what we teach our clients is that 80% of their communication should be all about the relationship. And then 20% of the time, you can come and ask for a referral or something. We believe in earning your referrals and deserving them instead of just assuming you get them and asking for that.

Russ Johns 8:45
Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a book about that Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, right. Yep. So let's go back aways. Let's go back with what what were you doing? And what were you thinking? And what possessed you to get involved in this organization in the first place? Many years ago?

Callie Teegardin 9:04
Yeah, I'll go back a little bit. So I was full time corporate America, I was always in some aspect of sales. And I was looking for a way out of the corporate world, and got involved in my first network marketing company as a way out. And it was a skincare company and in that business, I was a couple years in, and I was literally handwriting my thank you notes out to my clients. I was doing birthday cards, my mom raised me as a big note sender and I knew in business that would differentiate myself. So I was looking for a simple way to do that because working part time alongside a full time job where I was traveling, I needed a simple way to do it. So I got this brilliant idea, or at least what I thought was brilliant. Right? always scary. And I hired my neighbor's mom to send out all my birthday, thank you cards. Well, a couple months into that brilliant idea, one of my friends who was also my client, she's one of my best friends, called me up and said, Hey, Callie, I got your card and I'm like, great, and she's like, that's not your handwriting in that way only your best friend can do, you can hear it right. And I knew in that moment, a good gesture had gone wrong. So it was back at square A looking for something. And I met a lady, she told me all about Send Out Cards. I didn't get it until I got that first card in the mail. And when I did, it was very personalized to our conversation. She wasn't selling me on anything. She had a picture in it. And she had a personal message. And I knew if that wasn't her handwriting, it was a really good...it looked like handwriting and it ended up being because you can add your own handwriting and signature into the system. And I was sold. I like literally went to the website called her up and said, I'm going to, I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with this, but I need to do some research. And within a week I was in the company and decided to be an affiliate. And originally just to be an affiliate, I was still planning on building that other business, because I knew other business people could use this, I could get my money back. And I fell in love. And that was 11 and a half years ago.

Russ Johns 11:09
And you haven't looked back ever since.

Callie Teegardin 11:11
I haven't looked back ever since.

Russ Johns 11:13
That's so funny. You know, I actually, in another chapter of my life, I was managing three Hallmark stores.

Callie Teegardin 11:22
Oh, wow.

Russ Johns 11:23
So Hallmark and cards, you know, have been a thread in my life. And I've never, I mean, my handwriting when I was right handed before I broke my arm, I was terrible writer and when I had to go to being a left hander, it was even worse. So it's one of those things that I've journaled my whole life. However, sending letters out and things like that has never been one of my, one of my practices, you know, it's like, I'll text or phone call. I've always been on the tech side, but I just admire people that have been very consistent with sending out cards. I have a friend in Utah that sends me a card every year. He probably sends it twice a year birthday and he's an artist. And his handwriting looks like almost like a type of font. It's like typeface. It's like, it's so precise. It's like, how do you do that, Nick? And it's like crazy. I mean, it's so good. And it's just crazy that he does that. And it's just, it's a special touch. It's a special thing that happens. And I just love it. And I admire people that do it. And once you get the workflow down, and it's part of your personal branding and everything that goes along with it, it's really, it's a simple process. From what I can tell, I mean, what I've been involved in and understand. So maybe you could walk somebody through the process.

Callie Teegardin 12:52
Yeah, it's a simple process. So we really have two types of cards. One, what you would reference before was the heartfelt card where I can literally go in the system and create a card for that person very unique to then send it out. That's a lot of times when I had photos, personal message, what I fell in love with about the system, the heartfelt was kind of second for me, most people come in for that was what we call our system sense. And that's where I can create a card once and send it out to an entire group of people. So we're at the holidays, think like a Christmas card. Also think like a birthday card for your client where you can create a birthday card and send that out to all of your clients and it'll mail seven days before their birthday. I love that because my birthday cards in that previous business, the message was the same, but it was sitting down and having to write it. And so this for me was a huge time savings to be able to do that.

Russ Johns 13:45
Yeah, you don't have to think about it every single time. And occasionally, and occasionally, like you had indicated your your friend knew that it wasn't your handwriting. So sometimes good automation and intention can go a wrong direction. So it sounds like a great solution. You know, I want to say I want to give a shout out to a couple of individuals here that are in the in the room. Angie's in the room visiting, she is an amazing individual that joins us. And she actually came up with the idea for the five minute follow up and said, Hey Russ, do this. So the pirates are an amazing community. Callie, I mean, it's just an amazing individual. Grant. Grant gears. He is a pirate and he actually has a company that creates golf equipment, golf bags, golf gloves. And so you should probably connect with

Callie Teegardin 14:43
Yeah, hi Grant.

Russ Johns 14:46
Rob Thomas. He's in there. Yes, I am an affiliate and a pirate and Rob has he's he's amazing individual that sends out great information. He has a network and a networking team. He does dining and networking and diners. He's an incredible individual to connect with. Tracie, who I love dearly. She is the producer of the show. So thank you so much for being here. Rob says, and the bon bons.

Callie Teegardin 15:21
Oh, those are good. Yeah, they are.

Russ Johns 15:27
Russ. Russ Hedge, I actually recorded Russ Hedge on a five minute follow up. Good morning. Love the #PirateBroadcast™. Thank you for the positive start up to my day, full of great information. So and then Rob Thomas says, always make it about them. Love it. And then silverfox talks. Thank you so much for being here. She says morning. fantastic idea. So these are some of the people that are involved in the pirate community. And I think it's really, it's almost the same thing because Send Out Cards feels like to me that it is a community. It's like this collaboration. There's no, you know, when you don't, you know, when you're working together with people, there's no competition.

Callie Teegardin 16:17
Right. Yeah, huge community. And for a network marketing company, a very unique community, in the way that we train cross line, it's not like this is my team, don't talk to anyone else, we're very one big community crossline willing to help like in my team page, I would say a third to a half of the page has now become people that don't have an active uplines. And so they come to learn. And so it's a really great community, because we are a company all about giving, right? Relationship marketing and our philosophy of gift to give, which means when you give to the universe, God gives back, we're not give to get like, I'm going to do this so I can get something. And so when you have that philosophy as a key and to act on your promptings another philosophy, you just create this amazing community.

Russ Johns 17:07
It's amazing. And I've always gravitated toward relationship marketing, and it's really an easy access to start a conversation, because you're not in it, to get anything out of it, you're in it to understand and learn about the other individual, the people that are involved in the conversation. And so that's one piece that I've just really kind of admired for you is when we first met, we were at an event, a networking event, and there are a lot of people out there. And I eventually understood what you were doing. However, it wasn't about anybody else in what you were doing. It was about what they were doing. And the conversation that I was involved and engaged with. When I first met you, I was like, well, I have no idea what you do. However, you seem to care about people. So it's like, alright, very cool. It's like she's awesome. And it just always has been you. And that's the way you've always been. And I think you've practiced, you're really good at practicing, you know, personal branding, personal, you know, brand marketing. And so how has that evolved over time coming from the corporate environment, because we're both kind of outside the corporate environment, Been there, done that. And now we're doing our own thing. So personal branding for you is fairly, you know, present in your world. So talk a little bit about how that is evolved for you.

Callie Teegardin 18:43
Yeah, it's definitely evolved for me, and, you know, coming out of that corporate world, and having always been in sales. I wasn't the best at networking when I started because I was in sales mode, because that's what you did. But I realized over time, that I built relationships with my clients. That's why I was good in sales. And if I did networking, I learned that when I went to a networking event that I needed to be of service to the other people. And if I did that, that was going to expand my network. It's all about planting seeds, right? And so if I could help others, you have a law of reciprocity, they actually want to help you. So you can go into an event really not talk about what you do and when you don't talk about what you do, people are more intrigued about what you do. And so through my personal brand, really now is about finding joy in the journey. I do a daily Facebook post about finding joy every day in my day, which has definitely changed me over the last three years. When I turned 40, I went through a divorce. I lost my dad and my mom in a period of about three years, and I was just fed up with my 40s and so I was leaving on a 18 day trip, I love to travel and I decided to find joy. It was like 10 days after my mom died, decided to find joy every day in that trip, well, what was only going to be 18 days is now 1137 days later. It has been great because it gives me a voice on social media that allows me to really focus on, hey, even if it's a bad day, here's what I learned, here's where I found my joy. And in that, I've been able to develop relationships. And part of my personal brand, with using Send Out Cards is we've talked about this earlier, I might have a birthday and a half birthday girl. So one of the things is I want to reach out to my network at least twice a year, you know, we talk to our connections, our really close connections all the time, right? Once a day, once a week, once a month. But we all have these huge networks because of social media, and people we've met along the way, and we're really bad at staying in communication with them. But social media allows us so what I've done is I've started a birthday and a half birthday campaign, really in the honor of my mom, she used to celebrate half birthday with my niece and nephew. And so I decided a few years ago, to reach out to my network with a birthday card and a half birthday card every year and a birthday and half birthday message on Facebook. And it's fun, because it's unexpected. it differentiates me and I don't stop there. Typically, if someone starts responding back, it's about starting a conversation, seeing where they're at. And like seeing what's going on. Right, every three to six months, our lives change. So what's new in your world is typically a question I'm asking. And it's really developed great relationships in my network and in my sphere.

Russ Johns 21:39
That's fantastic. I love it and what it does is just when I was in sales at one point in time, and texting was popular for me, I would just reach out, and I would go down the list randomly. And I would just text people and say, hey, checking in, how you doing. And it's amazing what happens when you do that without any kind of expectation or any, you know, understanding that something's going to take place. And nine times out of 10, somebody will respond back and say, Hey, thanks for the check in, really appreciate it, or they'll respond with whatever they're gonna respond with. And it's just really gratifying. I mean, I'm grateful. And I have #gratitude in my life. And, you know, most all the time, actually, in some degrees, you know, you have degrees of #gratitude. And I just really enjoy the opportunity to make a connection and follow up with people. Because it's so easy. And yet it takes time. And you know, we all get busy and everything else. So is there anything that you're doing that is for half birthdays? How do you keep track of all these dates and times and these people?

Callie Teegardin 22:53
Yeah, so I'm on Facebook, when I decided to do it a couple years ago, I started in January. And when I would go in and send my birthdays that day, I actually started a Excel spreadsheet that says January 1, January 2, and just started adding the names. So then come around July 1, I was able to start so it was labor intensive, though it's one of the best and unique things I've ever done. And it's about I think in you know, in networking and sales, there's a fine line of making it about you and making it about them. Right. This I am known for, this is part of my brand. But I've learned that I still need to make it about that it's not a sales pitch, it's not have you seen our latest product. It's literally just catching up with people. And sometimes a door will open and what a door is they say something that actually allows a conversation about business. Most time 95% doors don't open. But when something comes up like this a better way promotion we're doing, I was able to reach out to my network about it. Because I've spent, you know, the last couple of years building relationships and putting the relationship first. And that's so important. I will see somebody will do this, but then they make it all about them. And when we can make it all about the other person. They are interested when we come back and say, I have something that may be of interest to you, because I've taken the time to stop listen and get to know that.

Russ Johns 24:21
Yeah, there was a theory of you know, Kevin Kelley and 1000 true fans is if you can build a community, it doesn't have to be millions, it could be 1000. It could be even less than 1000. I mean, you don't have to have a huge community to have a wonderful business and, you know, make a decent living on it either. So it's really about how can you maintain the connection? How can you continue with the conversation, and I've had several times in my world where you know, I'll get an email this goes on and on. Build it up, and then I go off and do something else or my life changes and things like that. And it's consistency to 11 and a half years is amazingly consistent. So that's really important as well. So what are some other small nuances of personal branding that you can drop gold nuggets of knowledge along the #PirateBroadcast™ here,

Callie Teegardin 25:23
I think a big part of personal branding is knowing where you want to go. So I am big in writing what I call a top 100 list. And I really got this from Coach Lou Holtz, former coach at Notre Dame, when I was football manager there. And so that's a little thing you might not have known about me. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. He's somewhere on my wall, I'm too close. But I have a picture of inside with my parents. It's really cool. And I started what I call a top 100 list. So it's 100 things I want to do. In my lifetime. It's like a bucket list. But every year, I actually update that. I take off anything that I've accomplished. And it's always 100, because I got a lot of years left to live so and so in that and that piece, and then also designing what my perfect day looks like in five years, what, three to five, seven years, what does my life look like? And I think part of your personal brand is understanding who you are, where you want to go. Right and how that resonates. Because if you know where you want to go and let go of exactly how it comes, then your personal brand is going to evolve about who you become. One of my mentors and friends Jordan Adler, Adler, his brand is beach money, and he wanted beach money long before he ever had it. Right. But it was the dream. And so you know, where you want to go. I think that's really important personal brand. It's not just showing up and saying, I want to do this someday. It's like, okay, where do I want to go? Who do I want to be? And then how does my brand evolve out of that?

Russ Johns 26:57
That's fantastic. I love that idea. That concept. And I, for myself, it's about the freedom and flexibility to decide what I do with my day. You know, it's like, I want to stretch my day.

Callie Teegardin 27:14
Right. One of my mottos is, I want to be free to choose how when and where I work and play that really was the first part of my brand, right and what came up. And before we run out of time, I have a fun pirate fact for you.

Russ Johns 27:29
A fun pirate fact.

Callie Teegardin 27:33
You know, September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. And my birthday is September 19. So I definitely have a connection to the pirate world. on national Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Russ Johns 27:48
A lot of people don't know that that day even exists. And it's this is just really special. It's fantastic. I love I love love love having these conversations in the morning to start my day off right and Callie, this has been a pleasure and a blessing so much. How do you like people to connect with you? Where do you like to hang out? And where do you like to be found?

Callie Teegardin 28:13
Yeah, pretty much found on Facebook is the best place to find me. I'm on LinkedIn, but not as heavy. I definitely have a YouTube channel, a lot of videos out there. But Facebook or emails The best way to get a hold of me.

Russ Johns 28:27
That's fantastic. Darlene says, this is how I think yes, amazing. I agree. Mystery is powerful and engages people. I just really loved the opportunity to share these things and not everybody, you know, has the same experience. I mean, we've been doing the same thing and what we call work and job and life. However, our experiences are so unique and individual that it's really nice to be able to find little nuances. And so if you're building a legacy in Send Out Cards, you know, I applaud your efforts and energy in that and it's just you've done some incredible work. And when we get back to traveling, where's the first place, you're gonna go?

Callie Teegardin 29:14
Um, scuba diving in the Caribbean islands somewhere. I have a trip to the Bahamas in April. So hopefully that can happen.

Russ Johns 29:26
Yeah. And you're coming. You just you just celebrated a two year anniversary for being married. So congratulations.

Callie Teegardin 29:34
Yeah. 2 year wedding anniversary. My husband is British. So we've been in the immigration process. That's been interesting that we got some good news yesterday that we finally have a date at the embassy. And most people don't know that. I haven't announced that. That'll be later today. So probably is going to be here finally, mid February. So he's not been in the US in over two and a half years. And so it'll be great when that finally happens,

Russ Johns 30:01
Fantastic. And Rob Thomas, the master networker says, love being a pirate. Nice job, you two. Thank you always. Rob, it's a pleasure having you in the network. And Callie, as always, it's always wonderful to see your smiling face and wonderful personality and keep doing what you're doing because it's well needed and deserved for some of the individuals that are involved in what you're doing. And if you get to catch up with any of the Houston homies, you know, say hi.

Callie Teegardin 30:36
I will do that.

Russ Johns 30:37
Send my love. So, thank you so much for being here, Callie. It's a pleasure, all the #gratitude in the world and best wishes onall your adventures and congratulations on getting married and getting the citizenship all worked out in the embassy and looking forward to a launch soon with new products and services. So looks like a new adventure. And as always, everyone, you know, #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree and if you could just take a moment and go subscribe to my YouTube channel and the podcast and leave a review, comment and engage in social media, do that social thing like we, we always love to have happen. So that's what keeps us going. And everyone, you #enjoyourday. Thanks for being here. Take care.

Callie Teegardin 31:31
Thanks.

Exit 31:34
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