Episode 10

Gratitude - Remastered | LAYC10

Thanksgiving = Thanks + Giving

Giving = Generosity + Sharing

Sharing = Lifting + Climbing

Climbing = Capable + Empowered

Empowered = Creation + Expansion

Expansion = Growth + Opportunity

Opportunity = Abundance + Gratitude

Gratitude is not limited to specific dates, events, or traditions.

Gratitude works 365 and 7/24.

Gratitude is diverse and inclusive.

Gratitude is for all to show and receive.

Gratitude is recession and inflation proof.

Gratitude is a currency that always increases value and impact.

Everyday is Thanksgiving when you practice Gratitude.

I am grateful to reshare a remastered version of Episode 10 of an interview with Gratitude Guru, Michele Bailey and inspiring ideas from best-selling book, The Curreny of Gratitude. Premiered April 2021 and even more relevant today!

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 

Dynamic, a self-made entrepreneur who overcame obstacles with an unrelenting positive nature, a farm girl work ethic, and a conscious choice to thrive rather than survive, Isabel Alexander cultivated an award-winning, $10+ million global chemical business and grew it from dining room table to international boardrooms.

Isabel’s strengths include the ability to initiate and nurture strategic relationships, a love of lifelong learning and talents for helping others maximize their potential. An inspiring speaker within both industry and community, she is a driving force behind those with the courage to follow her example of thriving against the odds.

With 50+ years of business experience across diverse industries, Isabel is respected as an advisor, a coach, a mentor, and a role model. She believes in sharing collective wisdom and empowering others to economic independence.

 

Founder:

Lift As You Climb Movement (www.facebook.com/groups/liftasyouclimbmovement)

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ (www.IsabelBanerjee.com)

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/isabelalexanderbanerjee/

 

Thank You for Listening!

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If you have questions about this episode, please send me an email at Hello@TheEncoreCatalyst.com

 

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Copyright 2024 Isabel Alexander

Transcript
Speaker:

​ Isabel: Welcome everybody.

Speaker:

This is a particularly happy day for me because this is the first time.

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You are witnessing the first time that I am interviewing a guest

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on the Lift As You Climb podcast.

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Up to this point, you've just listened to Moi, and now it's time to expand

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what we're doing here in the universe, and start to share with you some very,

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very special relationships I have with women who also Lift As They Climb.

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Today I am interviewing a dear friend, a long time mentor, inspiration cheerleader

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of mine, and her name is Michele Bailey.

Speaker:

That's Michele with one L.

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Make sure you spell that right when you Google her.

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She is the founder, CEO, and inspiration of multiple organizations,

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enterprises, and those details are going to be shared in the show notes.

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We're not gonna take up a lot of time to tell you about those

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businesses, but I can tell you that two of my favorite ones are Blazing.

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THE Agency, and the other is My Big Idea.

Speaker:

Michele, if I didn't quite get Blazing's moniker correct you can fix that up.

Speaker:

So welcome today, Michele.

Michele:

Thank you Isabel.

Michele:

I am so delighted to be here, with my dear friend of many, many years.

Isabel:

Yes!

Isabel:

Yay!...

Isabel:

The reason Michele and I met in the beginning was about being an entrepreneur.

Isabel:

The first introduction to Michele was when another badass femmepreneur...

Isabel:

put her arm around my neck, and took me to a WPO Women President's

Isabel:

Organization meeting, and that was when I first met Michele in Toronto, Canada.

Isabel:

Mmm....

Isabel:

Years ago...

Isabel:

and yesterday I realized it was the 32nd anniversary of me

Isabel:

becoming an entrepreneur, and starting my first all me business.

Isabel:

Michele, I think you probably have a few years on me...

Isabel:

in terms of owning the entrepreneur title.

Isabel:

Correct?

Isabel:

When did you start your first business?

Michele:

26 years ago, Isabel, for me.

Isabel:

26 years...

Isabel:

And look how young we are!

Isabel:

By the way, the podcast right now, of course you're probably listening

Isabel:

to us on your favorite podcast app...

Isabel:

But it's also soon going to be on its own YouTube channel.

Isabel:

So you'd be able to check how cute Michele and I are...

Isabel:

And that 26 and 32 years of entrepreneurship have

Isabel:

only enhanced our glow.

Isabel:

So today, Michele...

Isabel:

I was so grateful, and I am using that word purposely for all of you...

Isabel:

The word gratitude is the theme, the anchor, for this episode.

Isabel:

It is only appropriate that Michele should be the guest, because today we

Isabel:

are celebrating the launch of her new book about gratitude in the world.

Isabel:

By the time this episode airs...

Isabel:

Her book will be available internationally.

Isabel:

I believe.

Isabel:

Michele?....

Isabel:

So why don't I have you tell us about the book, and where

Isabel:

people will find out about it.

Michele:

The book is called The Currency of Gratitude.

Michele:

It is being published by Forbes Books.

Michele:

It will be available on amazon.com starting April 13th after they

Michele:

launch it in Times Square.

Isabel:

Oh really?

Isabel:

I didn't know that.

Isabel:

That's so cool.

Isabel:

Darn, if it wasn't 2021...

Isabel:

We'd be off to New York to celebrate it right there in Times Square.

Michele:

Absolutely Isabel...

Michele:

That's the one thing we can't do, but it will be in Times Square on the Jumbotron.

Isabel:

Oh, I am so excited.

Isabel:

What time of the day?

Isabel:

Do you know yet?

Michele:

I don't know yet.

Isabel:

Okay...

Isabel:

So I will be sure when we have that information we'll

Isabel:

add it to the show notes.

Isabel:

Well, I guess by that time it will have been a fait accompli...

Isabel:

But maybe we can find it on YouTube and rewatch it.

Isabel:

. We've established that you're an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur,

Isabel:

which is another reason I'm grateful for you in my life because you spoke on my

Isabel:

first Global Serial Entrepreneur Summit.

Isabel:

Now we've established that you're an author...

Isabel:

I happen to know this isn't your first rodeo in writing

Isabel:

a book, or publishing a book.

Isabel:

How many books have you written, Michele?

Michele:

This is my second book.

Michele:

The Currency of Gratitude is my second book.

Michele:

The first book was called, It's Not All About You...

Michele:

It's about the company you keep.

Michele:

I actually wrote that book, Isabel, because so many women were asking me for

Michele:

coffee dates, lunch date, wine dates.

Michele:

They wanted to get into my mind as an entrepreneur and find

Michele:

out all kinds of tid bits...

Michele:

So I launched that book because I didn't have a tremendous amount of time to do

Michele:

all these dates, so I just would give people the book and tell them, read it.

Michele:

It has lots of entrepreneurial hints and hacks for you to live by.

Isabel:

That was brilliant and that was very generous of you, because

Isabel:

then they could take it away and at any time you could be with them,

Isabel:

because there was that resource book.

Isabel:

I still have my copy, I treasure it.

Isabel:

I have repurposed many books in my lifetime, but I will never repurpose that

Isabel:

one because it serves as a reminder to me constantly that I really am the product of

Isabel:

the women that I spend the most time with.

Isabel:

And to be very wise and careful about where I put that time and

Isabel:

also how I reciprocate with others.

Isabel:

So thank you.

Isabel:

So I'd love to know, do you recall an age as a child that you were

Isabel:

aware of the word gratitude?

Michele:

Isabel, I believe I became aware of gratitude in a very big way

Michele:

when I lived in Manchester, New Hampshire between the ages of three to 12.

Michele:

My parents were extremely gracious.

Michele:

My father was a medical doctor and working all the time, and we lived in

Michele:

this big house on North Bay Street.

Michele:

So what my mother did...Is offer the home to exchange students from Nigeria.

Michele:

She brought her parents to live with us.

Michele:

She opened up her home and heart to people who needed a little bit of

Michele:

extra, extra help, extra guidance.

Michele:

So I started to see how graciousness and gratitude started to play out.

Michele:

Then I've always been an artist.

Michele:

I would go to my room in the evening and with a pen and ink,

Michele:

I would draw handmade cards.

Michele:

And then I would sell these cards in bunches...

Michele:

3 and 5...

Michele:

With matching envelopes...

Michele:

Door to door to my neighbors, so they too could write gratitude notes, or thank

Michele:

you notes to other people done by moi...

Michele:

a young artist.

Isabel:

I love that story.

Isabel:

This reveals that you were an entrepreneur and also generating the

Isabel:

currency of gratitude as a child.

Isabel:

It just went from there.

Michele:

You know what Isabel, it absolutely did.

Michele:

So it started there and then we moved so many times.

Michele:

We moved multiple times, and what I found is in different places

Michele:

we moved, whether it be different countries or different states,

Michele:

making new friends trying to fit in.

Michele:

I became very grateful for people who allowed me into their life because I

Michele:

was the newbie trying to make friends, especially through high school.

Michele:

I was in 5 different high schools.

Michele:

Very hard to fit in...

Michele:

In three different countries...

Michele:

Yeah, so I really had to hone a sense of graciousness, and kindness, and generosity

Michele:

to people who allowed me to join their cliques because I was an outsider.

Isabel:

You could have gone the complete opposite and withdrawn or been bitter,

Isabel:

but fortunately you're you, and you recognized that the way to find your

Isabel:

own happiness, was to continue to improve on that skill of sharing your

Isabel:

graciousness, and your gratefulness.

Isabel:

I know and anyone who knows you personally I know will support me in this statement:

Isabel:

It's contagious, when we are with you Michele.

Isabel:

It's contagious to want to be more generous, more

Isabel:

appreciative, more grateful.

Isabel:

I hope that in a very significant way, the release of your book will cause a

Isabel:

gratitude explosion around the world.

Isabel:

I truly, truly hope that...

Isabel:

I couldn't think of a better time in history, although history always

Isabel:

provides us a reason to make that choice, to be grateful or miserable.

Isabel:

So thank you.

Isabel:

I'm putting that in my arsenal.

Isabel:

Is there a presale of your book?

Isabel:

Just for my own knowledge.

Michele:

Yes, pre-sale, you can order, go ahead and order on Amazon.

Michele:

Forbes has it up, so feel free to pre-order.

Michele:

When we do the actual virtual launch on April 29th, we will

Michele:

have bundled packages with audio.

Michele:

The My Big Idea Planner, we will have gratitude cards and the book

Michele:

that you can bundle together.

Michele:

We are doing a promotion on April 20.

Michele:

When we do the virtual launch, it will be our friend, you know her well, Christine

Michele:

McGee on April 29th at 1:00 PM Eastern.

Isabel:

I have already saved that date on my calendar and I'll be

Isabel:

sharing it with the audience and with our entrepreneurial circle because

Isabel:

I don't wanna miss a good party.

Isabel:

I know you always have a good party and what an opportunity, and you just Thank

Isabel:

you for giving me this segue because I wanted to ask at the end of the show,

Isabel:

would you come back another day on the podcast and talk about my big idea?

Isabel:

With me.

Isabel:

I just feel this is a time also where it would be so important to people

Isabel:

to understand that concept of having a big idea, setting the goals and

Isabel:

the process that you created, that I have used multiple times in my life.

Michele:

Absolutely Isabel, and you've already taken the program several times

Michele:

and I would love to share how to get a personal and professional work life blend.

Michele:

We're already working on My Big Idea 3.0.

Michele:

We're including the COVID fatigue and what has shown up, or not shown

Michele:

up for people throughout COVID.

Michele:

Diversity and inclusion in both our personal and professional lives and ESG.

Michele:

Let's bring it all together, and let's address the issues that people need to

Michele:

talk about, whether it's recognizing it in themselves, but moving forward because

Michele:

we have to have a more inclusive and grateful world, as we come out of 2020.

Isabel:

That is so important.

Isabel:

And the timing again, absolutely perfect.

Isabel:

Thank you for doing that.

Isabel:

This is news to me, and I'm excited to hear about this.

Isabel:

All right, so I'm gonna fess up cuz I'm gonna guess I may not

Isabel:

be the only person listening.

Isabel:

What's ESG?

Michele:

Environmental Sustainability...

Isabel:

Sustainability Goal!...

Michele:

Yes.

Isabel:

I don't get full marks, but I get part marks for remembering.

Isabel:

Right, okay.

Isabel:

Which is very important everybody out there...

Isabel:

Because I'm a farm girl at heart, and always will be.

Isabel:

So environmental sustainability started for me as a child.

Isabel:

Okay.

Isabel:

That's really, really exciting to know about that and it's so

Isabel:

cool because what we are talking about in the current Summit is...

Isabel:

How, we as entrepreneurs, femmepreneurs...

Isabel:

Take the lessons that we learn through difficult,

Isabel:

unscheduled, inconvenient times...

Isabel:

Of which there always will be in history.

Isabel:

The current one happens to be called a pandemic, and how we take the

Isabel:

lessons that we learn and then we...

Isabel:

Transform, improve, innovate our businesses.

Isabel:

What I'm hearing is you recognize there was an opportunity to up level

Isabel:

the My Big Idea reach because of this.

Isabel:

Is that right?

Michele:

Absolutely Isabel, because in the My Big Idea Program...

Michele:

We asked usually 10 questions per section, but they are simple but profound.

Michele:

For instance, through this pandemic...

Michele:

Who showed up for you, that you least expected?...

Michele:

and...

Michele:

Who didn't show up for you, that you expected.

Michele:

What value have you relied on through this pandemic?

Michele:

What new habit have you created, that you will still have when this is over?

Michele:

Different questions like that to make you reflect and really think

Michele:

about your life moving forward.

Isabel:

I love those questions, and with your permission, I'd like to include

Isabel:

those in the show notes because...

Isabel:

That's a good thought starter, and that's a good, get off your ass,

Isabel:

and change your own world...

Isabel:

Way to begin, right?

Michele:

Absolutely.

Isabel:

Coincidentally...

Isabel:

About two episodes ago, or maybe three, on this podcast...

Isabel:

I did an episode about one whole life.

Isabel:

And I spoke about our dear friend and mentor Marg Hachey's revelation...

Isabel:

That she shared to me that as women, as femmepreneurs, entrepreneurs...

Isabel:

We don't have one professional life, and one personal life, that in fact...

Isabel:

We have one whole life.

Isabel:

I said that work-life-balance is BS, because it's my experience, my

Isabel:

opinion that if everything is in balance, nothing is moving, nothing

Isabel:

is changing, nothing is growing.

Isabel:

There has to be movement, and give and take.

Isabel:

So when you first expressed the term work life blend.

Isabel:

I went...

Isabel:

Yeah...

Isabel:

Okay, that I can buy into.

Isabel:

It's a blend, and each day I'm in charge of the recipe, right?

Isabel:

How much of the professional part I put in, how much of the personal

Isabel:

part I put in, and I'm the cook.

Isabel:

Thank you.

Isabel:

Thank you for that.

Isabel:

All right.

Isabel:

Going back to...

Isabel:

The Currency of Gratitude...

Isabel:

Concept...

Isabel:

Was there any particular moment in your business career that you

Isabel:

remember the catalyst, let's say...

Isabel:

For you to start to incorporate that practice of gratitude in your

Isabel:

business and with your clients?

Isabel:

Cause I know, because of our relationship, that you do a

Isabel:

lot of gratitude work with your major clients and their teams.

Michele:

Well actually, gratitude for me was second nature, it is second nature.

Michele:

About four years ago, my managing partner, Eric Marshall...

Michele:

I went to him and I said, I've been asked to open a woman's summit with

Michele:

a five minute speech on my passion.

Michele:

And he looked at me and said, What are you speaking on?

Michele:

I said, personal, professional goal setting for work life blend.

Michele:

He looked at me and said Michele...

Michele:

That's your process.

Michele:

That's not your passion.

Michele:

This very cynical man looked at me and...

Michele:

I said, what do you mean that's not my passion?

Michele:

He said, no, that's your process.

Michele:

Your passion is gratitude...

Michele:

Everything about you is about being grateful.

Michele:

And he walked off.

Isabel:

Yay, Eric!

Michele:

And then I sat down, and I thought about it, and I thought...

Michele:

He's absolutely right.

Michele:

It is about gratitude, because gratitude opens up so many doors for us.

Michele:

It's a gift that keeps on giving.

Michele:

It's a gift we give out, that comes back to us threefold, in whatever

Michele:

way gratitude shows up for people.

Michele:

And I'm not just talking about a note, I'm not talking about a lovely email.

Michele:

I'm not talking about a phone call.

Michele:

I'm talking about all the ways gratitude shows up and you don't expect it...

Michele:

An unexpected, sincere smile from a stranger...

Michele:

Someone walks by you, especially if it's a woman and says...

Michele:

Darn it, you look awesome!

Michele:

Yeah.

Michele:

It's someone who buys you a coffee, whether it's in the coffee line,

Michele:

drive through, or someone who just shows up and puts a cup on your desk.

Michele:

Things like making a call to someone that you know is struggling...

Michele:

And just being there to listen to whatever it is they wanna say.

Michele:

Sometimes it's just letting silence do the lifting.

Michele:

It's just a really, really great hug...

Michele:

Where people know you care.

Michele:

There's so many ways, gratitude, kindness, empathy, show up.

Michele:

Figure out what works for you with the person you're with.

Isabel:

I hear you, and I walk in your shoes in that area.

Isabel:

It's something that not every day, certainly am I as good

Isabel:

at doing that consistently.

Isabel:

And I want to do better.

Isabel:

I know you work with large brands and major corporations in your

Isabel:

advertising/branding business...

Isabel:

Your digital marketing business.

Isabel:

How do you convey to a CEO, or a manager in a larger organization...

Isabel:

That they can recoup the investment, so to speak...

Isabel:

To make that currency in their business.

Michele:

Well, that's actually why I wrote The Currency of Gratitude.

Michele:

I teach people how small gestures create big business results.

Michele:

I like to teach them by starting with example.

Michele:

I ask...

Michele:

It doesn't matter if it's the CEO, it's a VP level manager, whoever...

Michele:

The people I work with are the people that have entrusted us in their care.

Michele:

I often ask if we can meet for a coffee or lunch.

Michele:

I take the time, and often they say to me, I don't have any time.

Michele:

I said you're gonna have to eat, how about I bring lunch?

Michele:

And all I do when I'm meeting with them is say...

Michele:

I'm here to get to know you as a person.

Michele:

We're not here to talk about business, unless you wanna talk about business.

Michele:

That's not why I'm here.

Michele:

I'm here to tell you that I appreciate what you do...

Michele:

The work you give us, you've got awesome people...

Michele:

We love working with them, but I'm just wanting to get to know you as

Michele:

a person, and how I might be able to help you in whatever way I can.

Michele:

Isabel, this takes people aback...

Michele:

They kinda look at me and cross their arms.

Michele:

Like...

Michele:

You just wanna talk?

Michele:

Yes, and I'm doing that through this last year with the pandemic.

Michele:

Zoom...

Michele:

I have virtual lunches.

Michele:

Make sure you have your lunch.

Michele:

I have my lunch.

Michele:

We talk about everything but business.

Michele:

I have to tell you, I cannot get off the phone with my clients

Michele:

until we book the next one.

Michele:

They want the next one booked, because it's just fun.

Michele:

We're just sharing ideas, strategies, talking openly.

Michele:

Talking vulnerably, being vulnerable, being transparent.

Michele:

I often again lead by example...

Michele:

A client might say to me, so how are you doing Michele?...

Michele:

and I might say...

Michele:

This has been a really hard week for me...

Michele:

I'm really struggling.

Michele:

I'm really struggling to be positive, and I know I need

Michele:

to be positive for my team...

Michele:

But I'm having a really hard time.

Michele:

So I find myself doing, and then they'll look at me and go, Wow.

Michele:

Then let me share with you my week and then it becomes open,

Michele:

honest, vulnerable, and real.

Michele:

Right now we don't have time for the superficial, cuz we are all

Michele:

struggling differently in our own way.

Michele:

And I tell people when I have energy.

Michele:

It is my job to pay it forward, and give energy to somebody else.

Michele:

Just like if you have energy, Isabel...

Michele:

You need to pay it forward, because we need to keep lifting each other up...

Michele:

Lift As We Climb.

Michele:

We need to do that to one another.

Isabel:

Thank you.

Isabel:

You know...

Isabel:

Just thinking...

Isabel:

Energy isn't pie...

Isabel:

There isn't a limited number of slices, right?

Isabel:

Energy is unlimited, and continues to expand.

Isabel:

How brilliant to think...

Isabel:

We're not trying to sell ourselves, but we are giving of ourselves...

Isabel:

To that other relationship, by being human, and really caring about them.

Isabel:

The old masculine style of salesmanship...

Isabel:

This is a far better, a more enduring, sustainable way

Isabel:

of building a relationship.

Isabel:

We know the person...

Isabel:

What their goals are, their struggles are, and figure out what we have

Isabel:

to offer, how that will support them to accomplish what they want

Isabel:

for their own personal satisfaction.

Michele:

You know what?

Michele:

When you're vulnerable and open...

Michele:

It comes back to you Isabel, you know that...

Michele:

We've been in many places together.

Isabel:

Yes, absolutely.

Isabel:

As I often kid people...

Isabel:

I'm willing to be the person that'll sit in my underwear in the room...

Isabel:

Be vulnerable, and awkward...

Isabel:

So that everybody else can let down their armor...

Isabel:

And let's find the solution.

Isabel:

Let's figure this out.

Isabel:

but then again, you taught me a few things about good underwear...

Isabel:

So that's great.

Isabel:

Okay, so where do you go from here?

Isabel:

What are the other ways that this message, which is more than a message, really,

Isabel:

it's a culture that we could spread...

Isabel:

One at a time...

Isabel:

multiples of us at a time.

Isabel:

This new awareness of how gratitude is good business.

Michele:

Isabel, I would love to start a gratitude movement.

Isabel:

Yes!

Michele:

I would love to teach people how simple it is to

Michele:

recognize another individual.

Michele:

If you start following me on all my social channels...

Michele:

My Big Idea Facebook...

Michele:

Instagram This Is My Big Idea...

Michele:

and LinkedIn My Big Idea.

Michele:

You are going to see how we are trying to dial up the conversation

Michele:

and show people how easy it can be.

Michele:

I undertook this...

Michele:

How can I say this?...

Michele:

It almost wasn't an option for me not to write this book because they had heard

Michele:

that I teach a very simple but powerful way of how to acknowledge people in your

Michele:

life through the My Big Idea Program.

Michele:

They approached me and they said, the business world needs to get this.

Michele:

What can you do?

Michele:

Can you write this book?

Michele:

So I thought about it, and Isabel, what I did is...

Michele:

There's Placing gratitude at the center of your personal

Michele:

brand, is the first chapter.

Michele:

Creating brand ambassadors in your own corporation.

Michele:

How do you do that?

Michele:

Gratitude and winning business.

Michele:

Gratitude as a means of retaining clients and customers.

Michele:

Gratitude and self care.

Michele:

Gratitude in times of crisis.

Michele:

And then...

Michele:

Making gratitude a habit.

Michele:

Those are the chapters of the book.

Michele:

I think I've transcended all the areas and show...

Michele:

Using real business cases, ones that are out there, and ones that

Michele:

I've employed in my own business...

Michele:

That drive the message home.

Michele:

At the end of each chapter, I have reflection questions.

Michele:

Simple...

Michele:

Write right in the book, but this will help you on your gratitude journey.

Michele:

This is making gratitude outward facing.

Isabel:

I love this, Michele.

Isabel:

I love it on all levels.

Isabel:

I love that...

Isabel:

As you said...

Isabel:

gratitude can be a very small, no cost, way of reaching out and touching

Isabel:

somebody deeply, personally, impactfully.

Isabel:

You can start small and build.

Isabel:

I love that it involves everyone, so it's inclusive and I think there's like this

Isabel:

sort of exponential effect that happens.

Isabel:

It's like a catalytic reaction.

Isabel:

The more someone else grateful, the more that creates...

Isabel:

It just continues to ripple out and I love that...

Isabel:

This is a way that our teams can get behind and involved in our

Isabel:

companies, and feeling incredible pride in the brand that they work for.

Isabel:

Just so many ways of looking at the opportunities that gratitude creates

Isabel:

for us, and creates for others.

Isabel:

I'm a hundred percent behind your movement.

Isabel:

It's definitely needed.

Isabel:

We've had a really good opportunity in this past lockdown withdrawal...

Isabel:

To reflect on what's most important in our lives...

Isabel:

What we miss the most.

Isabel:

To think of different ways to do things.

Isabel:

This is so timely.

Isabel:

Thank you.

Michele:

You're so welcome.

Isabel:

All right...

Isabel:

I know...

Isabel:

From experience and imagination...

Isabel:

That I could talk to you for days and days and days...

Isabel:

And we would never run out of ideas.

Isabel:

So I'm gonna say...

Isabel:

Please, let's get our calendars out another time, and make

Isabel:

a date to do this again.

Isabel:

I'm inviting our audience to comment and send us suggestions

Isabel:

that you'd like to hear Michele and I explore deeper, because that

Isabel:

is part of Lift As You Climb....

Isabel:

We are all learning.

Isabel:

We are women under construction, women in progress...

Isabel:

But we are very happy to share what we learn as we go...

Isabel:

and we'll come back together.

Isabel:

But before you leave us today...

Isabel:

There's a lot out there in the media about you, Michele Bailey...

Isabel:

But is there maybe something that might not be on Google,

Isabel:

that you could share about you?

Michele:

Well Isabel...

Michele:

considering that I own a digital advertising agency...

Michele:

What people might not know about me is I'm an old fashioned analog girl.

Michele:

I love pictures.

Michele:

I love memories.

Michele:

I love creating memories for people.

Michele:

So I print out photographs...

Michele:

And I create scrapbooks...

Michele:

Stickers...

Michele:

All of that.

Michele:

I have done over 57 scrapbooks.

Michele:

I give them to friends for special occasions where I've traveled with them.

Michele:

So if people say...

Michele:

What's Antarctic like?, What's Chile like?...

Michele:

I just pull out the scrapbooks.

Michele:

It's not about looking perfect.

Michele:

It's about capturing the memories of the country, and all the

Michele:

energy that goes around it.

Michele:

So in five minutes, people can look at these scrapbooks.

Michele:

People ask me over and over again...

Michele:

I want one of these.

Michele:

I need one of these.

Michele:

I said, but you do digital books all the time.

Michele:

No, I want one of these.

Michele:

You know what?...

Michele:

I create scrapbooks.

Isabel:

I'd say that's an example of sensory gratitude . Thank you, Michele.

Isabel:

All right, everyone out there in podcast and YouTube land, I hope

Isabel:

that you have enjoyed this time with Michele as much as I have.

Isabel:

She definitely is gratitude, deep, deep, deep in my soul, and

Isabel:

continues to lift me, every day, by how she shows up in the world.

Isabel:

A sincere, flawed, awesome individual...

Isabel:

And she is not afraid to show it.

Isabel:

I encourage you to be who you really are too.

Isabel:

Michele, Thank you!

Isabel:

Get out there and make some more people grateful!

Isabel:

Yay!

Michele:

In closing, Isabel.

Michele:

I wanna thank you for everything you're doing, especially for women,

Michele:

especially for women entrepreneurs.

Michele:

We have to stop being crabs in a bucket.

Michele:

We can't pull another down when they get to the top of the bucket.

Michele:

We need to Lift as we Climb so we can change the world together.

Michele:

Thanks, Isabel, for including me in your world.

Isabel:

Thank you Michele.

Isabel:

Well said.

Isabel:

Actually, I think we should give them some homework Michele.

Isabel:

How about we get everybody out there writing some thank you

Isabel:

cards, and gratitude notes?

Michele:

I would love it.

Michele:

You could put your assignment for the week to write two gratitude cards a week,

Michele:

for four weeks, read them directly to somebody through Zoom or in person...

Michele:

And watch the magic that transforms.

Michele:

Go for it.

Isabel:

Awesome.

Isabel:

Okay.

Isabel:

There's gonna be a gratitude explosion now in the world.

Isabel:

All right, everybody do your homework.

Isabel:

I'll talk to you soon.

About the Podcast

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Lift As You Climb
Live Your Legacy; Empower Others to Create Theirs

About your host

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Isabel Alexander

Dynamic, self-made entrepreneur who overcame obstacles with an unrelenting positive nature, a farm girl work ethic and a conscious choice to thrive rather than survive, Isabel Alexander Banerjee cultivated an award winning, $10 million+ global chemical wholesale business and grew it from dining room table to international boardrooms.

Isabel’s strengths include the ability to initiate & nurture strategic relationships, a love of lifelong learning and talents for helping others maximize their potential. An inspiring speaker within both industry and community, she is a driving force behind those with the courage to follow her example of thriving against the odds.

With 50+ years of business experience across diverse industries, Isabel is respected as an advisor, a coach, a mentor and a role model. She believes in sharing collective wisdom and empowering others to economic independence.

Isabel Alexander
Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst