Episode 20 - Elzie D. Flenard III - The Mayor

An inquisitive mind wanted to know all he could about business and because he took the initiative to ask the questions, he found his way to becoming The Mayor of Podcast Town. A dynamic and creative individual with so much to offer the world. 

Elzie D. Flenard III 

 

Leighann Lovely  00:15

Let's Talk HR is a place for HR professionals, business owners and employees to come together and share experiences and talk about what's working and what's not. How we can improve best practices so that companies can better attract, train and retain all generations of workers. We all know that there has been a huge shift in what people want, generations are coming together, more than ever, on what's important. Mental health has been brought to the forefront of everyone's mind. Let's humanize these conversations. Let's talk about how the economy has been impacted, and what needs to happen to find a balance. I'm your host, Leighann Lovely. So let's get this conversation started. And remember, if you enjoyed this episode, follow us like us and share us.

 

Leighann Lovely  01:05

Don't pigeon hole Elzie D. Flenard III, don't even try describe him this way, he'll point out another, change your perspective, and he'll lead you down another path, maybe without even realizing, he's a creative dude and entrepreneur, a family man, a business owner, no box fits him, It doesn't exist. He's a man of original thoughts, all products have unique thinking, I'm really excited that I get to have a conversation with The Mayor of Podcas Town. He's a very unique and dynamic individual. And today, you get to hear our conversation.

 

Leighann Lovely  01:46

Elzie, thank you so much for joining me today, I'm really excited to jump in and get to know you a little bit better, and have my audience get to know you. So thank you for being here.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  01:55

Thank you so much for having me, I am looking forward to the conversation.

 

Leighann Lovely  01:59

So why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about your background a little bit about you know.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  02:05

So we only have an hour. And so I'm gonna give you the two minute version. I am a creative. I've been a singer songwriter since I was about five years old. And what's funny is, I've always known to things like from a very early age, I knew that I wanted to own my own business. And I knew that I wanted to have a family. And so my plan, even as a 13, 14, 15 year old was to go to the get education, because that wasn't important to my mom. And I knew I needed to have a job so that I could get married and have a family. And so my grand plan was to go graduate, get married, have some kids, and then run my business whenever I you know, at the second that I could. And um, the plan really, really did work, I got more was married young, I ended up getting a degree in electronics and doing the whole education thing and had a couple of kids. But it was taking me a really long time to quit that job that I hated. And so what I ended up doing is launching enterprise now, so that I can learn from business people. And if during that process, I learned a ton from business people so much so that I ended up launching and doing, you know, starting my own business. And that sort of brings us to today where, you know, I'm running podcast town, as the mayor, and I'm helping other people use their voice to drive both revenue and built relationships.

 

Leighann Lovely  03:42

That's awesome. And wow, we could we could just dive right into that and make this that the whole entire conversation. But I love what you said about you know, basically learning from other people's having people and having those conversations learning from business owners, that's great. Because really, if we just all sat down and and listen to other people took the time to have conversations with other people the amount of knowledge that's available just from having a single conversation with somebody who's smarter than you. I mean, it's it's amazing. I think that, you know, I push that a lot. And I think you and I have talked about that before where you're like, Yeah, I just wanted to have conversations with business owners to see, you know, what they knew what I could learn from and that's you don't need to go to Google to look something up if you can sit down with somebody who's done it before, right? Yeah, that's awesome. So you recently posted and I just kind of mentioned this before, before we even started this conversation, but it really it I loved this post it grabbed me but you recently posted that you were putting it all out there and you are I love that tell me what that means.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  05:02

Yeah, I think for me, I've done a lot of different things, man I have, I teach people all the time I've done any job you can think of, I've probably done it. I've worked fast food. I've cleaned the bottom of barges. I was a janitor for a little bit. I've been an electronic electronic technician, I've been an electrical engineer, I've been a project I've done anything you can imagine, like, I've done a job that's related. And the one of the things that I'm I'm morbidly aware of, in some respects, is that I don't have all day, like, I'm not gonna be here forever. Right. And that, and that, again, is sort of morbid to think about but but it really it motivates me to, to get every gift, every talent, every idea, every crazy thing that I want to do, and get it out there because you don't know what tomorrow brings. And I want to die empty. I want to die having done tried every single thing that my crazy little brain cups could think of. And so that's sort of what what the sentiment of that post was, is that I'm, I'm at the point in my life, where I'm going to lay it out online, you know, I want to do some acting, I want to do some modeling, I'm going to start an action movie. It doesn't have to be a blockbuster Hollywood movie, right? But I'm gonna do all of that stuff. I'm gonna write a couple of books. I'm gonna do more podcasts, I'm gonna do other businesses, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna put it all on the line.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:37

That's, that's awesome. Wow, um, the phrase that you just said, I want to die empty. I've never heard it said better. Yeah, if we could all give our all to the world, to our family, to our friends to the world, on a regular basis, what a better what a better place that, you know, this would be right. If we were constantly trying to do better and be better just out of pure desire to, to give what we have to the worlds when that make for such a, such a more interesting story.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  07:21

Yeah, and the cool part about it is, is when you give without the expectation of getting anything in return, it's pure. And, you know, if people will return it, that's awesome. If they don't, that's awesome, too. And, and really just embracing the journey, like the destination is known, like, I know, what the, what the end goal is gonna be right? So I'm just really laser laser focused on enjoying the journey.

 

Leighann Lovely  07:50

So tell me a little bit about the journey. And I got to ask, how do you clean the bottom of a bar?

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  07:58

Well, I, I'm glad nobody has ever asked that follow up question. Okay, so there are different types of barges that carry different types of things. And depending on what the barges carrying it, you know, will determine what you use to clean it. For example, if it's corn, you can simply use, you know, those utility brushes that you see. And, you know, sweep it to the edge of the barge, and then they have these really, really big hoses, that then sucks the corner up from the corner. But if the barges carrying what they call pig iron slices, these little blocks of iron, well, you can't really use that, that little brush anymore. So you have to use your 10 fingers. And you have to pick up the arm iron, take it to the edge of the barge and rinse and repeat and then use the brush to sweep the dust. It's really dusty, and it's hot, and it's miserable. The pay wasn't that great. But it motivated me to get my degree because I was like, I know what I don't want to do. This I like the people who do it. God bless them. It was not for me, I was like okay, I am going to go to whatever I need to do to not have to do this. Right.

 

Leighann Lovely  09:16

So right we you know, we forget the journey sometimes the beginning of the journey because you know, I to I worked at a McDonald's and I only lasted six months. And I was young but I realized wow, I this is not for me. Now there are people who have a career. You know, they become a manager at a fast food place. And it's that's that's their career. I couldn't do it. I came home every day greasy, smelly. I remember my brother worked at a at a Pizza Hut. And every time I smell pizza hut, like if I even walk into a Pizza Hut, I'm like, Oh, no offense to pizza. I mean, I I I'm not picking on them but you When you have to smell the smell of somebody after they've been there for eight hours, remove it. It's rough, but I guess it puts in perspective that there I mean, there are jobs out there that are, you're I mean, it's a grind. It's truly a grind. And there's every there's somebody for every job out there. But it really does put in perspective for some of us who are sitting behind a microphone, talking about the job versus the person who's actually physically doing the job. So I have to remember to thank those people that much more for doing a job that I just can't dealing with, you know, food is not for me.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  10:46

And not to belabor the point, Leighann, but so I forgot to add, so when you're cleaning the barges, you have to use high pressure water hoses. And at the time, this was 25 years ago, so I wasn't, I wasn't as heavy as I am now. Right? I've grown a little bit since then. And so I literally am leaning all of my body weight forward into this high pressure hose to what to wash this down. So can you picture like, it's the bottom of bars are about 12 to 14 feet deep. It's hot outside, and I'm where else from it. It's Southern Illinois. So it's 99 degrees, the normal temperature. So it's like 125 degrees, dusty, and I'm leaning like all of my little box, by the way to this high pressure hose to clean up the thing. And I was like, yeah,

 

Leighann Lovely  11:34

Yeah. When that have been a funny joke for somebody just flip that pressure watch. Just watch you fault for watching. Go. Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. Okay. All right. So so you, you, this journey has now brought you to podcast town, where you are the mayor? How How have you become the mayor now? I mean, tell me that story.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  12:04

As much as I want to take credit for it. I have to tell the story how it happened. So I'm working with Mr. Pat Miller, the idea Coach, and we're talking strategy we're talking about where I want the business to go and what it what it what is the vision and he takes this pause, which is dangerous for a creative person to do any kind of stares off and he leans back in his chair. And he says, You know what? You're the mayor will call you the mayor of podcast, the way you show up the way you preside the way you connect people. You're you're the mayor. And I said, Okay, so I started to tease it out on social. And I made a post I never forget, I'm on Facebook. And I put it out there just kind of saying, Hey, I'm the mayor running for for office, blah, blah, blah. And my mom calls me, and she's like, I'm so excited for you. I'm so happy that you're running for mayor. I'm like, Mom, it's a marketing campaign. Not not a real mayor. And so that's the moment I knew, Okay, this thing might have some legs, so we kind of, you know, ran with it.

 

Leighann Lovely  13:19

That oh my god, that's so cute. That is That is adorable that your mom that she would be so proud. I mean, but it she should have though, because it is the fact that it's grabbing people's attention going okay, wait, who is this guy? Like he's running for mayor? Who? That that is beautiful. That is in despite the fact that you know, you didn't necessarily come up with it that you ran with it. You took it and you you built on that. But I didn't think about like the initial I'm running for mayor. And because if I were to see that I'd go okay, well, Mayor of what who's the, you know, should I be voting for this guy? I'm gonna research him who is he? That That's brilliant. I never really thought about it that way. Now, this goes a little bit of a step further, because I've been to, you know, I bend to your studio. You also lay out the red carpet for those who come to visit you. So tell me a little bit about that. I love to dive into this.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  14:23

Oh my goodness, I love telling the story. Okay, so I always tell people I am the most strategically random person you will ever meet.

 

Leighann Lovely  14:32

Right? Strategically random.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  14:35

Yes, So I'm sitting in studio one day and we're just doing a session and a lady walks by and her high heels are just killing my recording like they are piercing through and it was bad. So I go up to David Noel, the the manager at the time. And I say David, um, do you think that the lab will will allow us to put an area rug out so that when the ladies and sometimes gentlemen, depending on what kind of shoes they have on, when they go by, it doesn't kill my recording. He's like, Well, you know, I don't think that they'll allow us to do that. But maybe you could put like a runner out or something like that so that they can walk on set. Okay, is it okay to compromise. And so I hop on Amazon, I'm looking for, you know, renters or carpet or anything. And so I put in a search, I hit Enter, and this red carpet comes up. And I go, Hmm, I think this would be a really cool thing to do is put the red carpet out, because, you know, we treat you like a star if I guess town, and we help you show up and perform, and it's kind of on brand. And so I get it. And I roll it out. And I take a little it was literally like a three second video of just the carpet and then our sign. And then I got calls the next day from people who had seen it on social, wanting to come into the studio to work with us. So again, strategically random, completely random, I wasn't brilliant. I didn't say well, let's roll out the red carpet and add that, to our experience. It was like, I need to solve a problem.

 

Leighann Lovely  16:17

Right? don't downplay it. See, but that's sometimes brilliance comes from, here's a problem. Let me figure out how to solve it. And that's where the brilliance comes from. I mean, so don't don't downplay that. I don't absolutely don't downplay that. But you also, you also have the problem of you rolled that out. And then some of the people in the building were walking around it, where

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  16:42

it was funny is you can hear them walking around it, like they will come to the edge of it. And then they would like I can almost picture them making the decision. Like, I'm gonna walk around this carpet, this guy is obviously there to walk on and they're walking right around him like, Okay, well, you can only do so much.

 

Leighann Lovely  17:02

Didn't want to get the beautiful red carpet dirty. Right? That that is a brilliant again, you know, that's a brilliant strategic move, whether it came from, you know, oh, that's a great idea. You know, I happenstance upon you know, this, here's a red carpet that Amazon is, you know, selling. But you know, that's, it's just great. It's another brilliant marketing move that others would have not necessarily thought of. So it's perfect. So now, obviously, you know, over the last two years, I'm assuming that, well, you're seeing podcasts pop up all over the place, because we have now shifted to a virtual world and people are trying to get their voices out there. Right. So how has that I mean, shifted for you? Have you seen an uprise? Have you seen? What have you seen?

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  17:56

Um, I think it's, it's great in a lot of ways. I'm the big guys are here to stay, you know, the Amazons, the Spotify and the the big businesses. But I think what it's doing is it's helping the podcast industry as a whole sort of settle in and become a legitimate long term industry. Whereas before, there were a few times in the history of podcasting, where it would grow in increasing popularity, and then sort of flatline or or not necessarily stabilized, but kind of plateau. And then it will come to popularity and then plateau. I don't think podcasts are going anywhere anytime soon, especially in the b2b space, just because it's such a, an organic way to build relationships and to, to gather anchor content, that I think if you're in business, in the next two or three years, you're gonna be in the podcast space, whether you're hosting a show, guessing on a show or sponsoring a show you if you're smart, you will be in the podcast space in some form. So so there's almost this leveling out that's happening. So there's different types, I don't want to call them tears of podcasters there's the hobby podcaster, who you know, they just have something to say and they want to grab a microphone and some headphones and interview their friends and, and top. Then there's the the podcaster, who is building a business on his podcast like I did, I mean, I literally built my entire brand and business on the back of my podcast. I see more of that happening. And I see on the consumer level, a lot more focused content that's geared to entertain and intersect in, entertain and inform. And I also see a sharp rise in the two Bs businesses using podcasting. So I think the future's bright for the industry. It's exciting for podcast town. It just means that we've continually had to re reinvent ourselves and sort of find our place in the ever changing industry that is podcasting.

 

Leighann Lovely  20:20

Right. So you said something that was interesting. So podcasting, not going away. So one way or another you think that b2b businesses are going to be somehow involved in podcasting? And you listed three, whether or not they are podcasting, sponsoring podcasting? Or what was the other one? Or guesting on shows or guesting on shows. Okay, so now I have come up against employers who are absolutely pushing against, I don't want to do that I don't want to be involved in that. This is not the wave of the future. So do you think that and again, we I'm sure that we experienced this when the internet came out? Oh, we're not gonna we're not gonna jump on that everything is going to be however, how was this is done. But I mean, there's just there's companies who are just not forward thinking on that. And, you know, advertising right now is a lot of companies do radio, a lot of companies do print a lot of companies. So do you think that companies who are jumping on the bandwagon now are going to have a lot more of that, the cutting edge of that, or, and in some of the companies who are just not willing to change, do you think they're going to be hurting long run,

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  21:43

I don't know that I will use the term hurting, I would say, you know, just like anything else, you'll experience the diminishing returns right? As as it begins to get more popular, the rates are going to increase, because podcasters are going to realize, I should be making more per episode for this spot than I am. And the power dynamics will shift a bit when podcasts or books become more savvy, that's knowing the true power that they have. I mean, if if you get if you could get somebody endorsement to their their people who they already have their they like them, know them, trust them. That's extremely valuable. Right, that's more that's a deeper connection, then a Facebook ad, for example, or a TV ad. So I think that they they're going to experience loss in terms of the sort of like, if you look at Facebook ads, for example, if you were running Facebook ads, 10 years ago, you got a lot more for your dollar than you do now. I think podcast advertising will be the same way where now it's pretty cheap, you know, $35 per 1000 downloads is what people are paying, and sometimes less. That won't always be the case when when podcasters and content creators get savvy and realize that, hey, I have a lot to offer, that price is going to go up. And I think that the people who are lacking now are going to are going to miss out on the early days. Where it was it was more cost effective.

 

Leighann Lovely  23:23

Interesting. Now you had mentioned Facebook, so at one time Facebook was the place to go. And that's starting to fizzle out because of a generational thing. The younger generation coming in is no longer jumping on Facebook, they're jumping on. Now I'm dating myself, I don't even know what they're jumping on now. What is it Instagram? Is it tick tock is it you know, all the new platforms. So Facebook is starting to kind of what I think they said buy in the next over the next 10 years, Facebook is going to start to you know, even die off more and more and more because they're not getting the new users coming on. And you know, as new users don't come on, the information that you know is flowing from there starts to go down, whatever. It's been a long time since I did the research on that one. Anyways, so as as we've seen in the past, you know, fads come and go. Now you would mentioned podcasts would go up and then they would not you didn't say they would plateau. Well yet you said they would kind of plateau and then they'd go up again. Do you? Do you see that podcasts are gonna continue to be on the rise and a consistency or do you think that they're going to continue to kind of have that up and down motion?

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  24:48

I think that they'll continue to to increase in popularity for a couple of reasons. Which is which is the grease. The top reason that I got into podcasting is I started doing some research on the moon meant of people wanting what they want, when they want how they want it, this whole on demand culture. And I don't see that stopping anytime soon. I know that for a fact that Google is working on our audio search, I know that there are more and more social audio sites popping up. There's a reason for that. LinkedIn has, you know, is jumping into social audio. And so there, there's a trend. And they're doing these things for for a reason. This, like, I'll give you an example, my son, he doesn't know how to type. But he Googles more than I do. And he does that, because he clicks on he punches the little microphone. And he says, Google, what's two plus two? And Google tells him what two plus two is. So more broadly, audio is not going away. And there are people who who want information when they want it, how they want it. That's to the point, and specific, that is not going away, especially on the enterprise side. There's tons of opportunities, both internal and external, that companies can leverage podcasting, and audio, more broadly, to, to hone in vision, things like vision, mission, culture, disseminating information. There's all all these cool ways that you can leverage audio to, to stay connected and foster community. Wow. And

 

Leighann Lovely  26:37

You hit on something. I don't know how old your your son is, but my four year old talks to Alexa. Yep. So Wow. Yep, you absolutely hit it on the head. We are becoming a not just a virtual world, but a audio virtual world where our homes are now controlled by Hey, Alexa, put this on the grocery list. Hey, Alexa, turn on the lights. Hey, Alexa, do I mean I have I tell Alexa to turn on my daughter's room and it turns on hers. Her little twinkly lights in her room. And you're right. I'll be standing in the kitchen. And I'm like, What am I going to make for dinner? Hey, Alexa, give me a chicken tender dinner. And she's like, here are five different recipes. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I mean, back in the day, when I was young. I mean, when I was 1819 20 years old, I had to go and open up a cookbook. And if there wasn't the right recipe in that cookbook, well, I was out of luck. I mean, yeah, yes. And something else that you said that I found interesting. People want very precise content, they want to be able to say, I'm looking for content related to this. i And and that's another thing that I think people should, you know, if you're interested in making or creating a podcast, it needs to be marketed properly. And I think you and I talked about this briefly marketed properly, should, you know giving an understanding of what your content is about. So that people know how to grab that information and get that very specific information that they're looking for. So if you you know, somebody is, and I do this all the time, you know, hey, Alexa, or Google or whatever, you're, how do I fix my, this type of refrigerator with this type of filter? You know, we now have the ability to do that. Or if I want to learn about how to you know, garden, I can listen to a podcast about I don't know if there's podcasts out there. I'm sure there is a podcast about gardening for you know, gardening, or somebody who wants to landscape their yard. So you're right. I guess you're Yeah. Of course. You're right. I mean, you are the mayor.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  29:17

I think the other thing that's interesting is how how passive of a medium Park podcasting is like, a lot of times when I'm doing housework, or washing the dishes or snow blowing even I'll listen to a podcast. And I learned just as much from that passive listening as I would if I were reading it in a book. And of course, everybody is different. But I think if you're if you're a business or if you're a brand, it also allows you to shorten the sales cycle. I can't tell you how many times I've hopped on the phone with somebody and they knew things about me that I was surprised that they knew because they listened to my podcast. And they're like, oh, okay, so they feel like they know me already. You know, they hop on the Zoom call and like, hey, the mayor's is on the call, right? Because they've listened to my shows, and they feel like they know me. And so we get past that whole part of the sales process, because they already, like, know, and trust me, now it's just a matter of, is what I do a fit for, for what they need. So, so for businesses, that's an especially important part of, you know, your consideration, right. You know, you shorten that sales cycle, and, and really set up in a situation where, now you're just solving a problem, you know, you don't have to sell them anything.

 

Leighann Lovely  30:44

Right, breaking down those walls. So that they Yeah, having that comfort, already that intimacy that, you know, you typically have to create within that first, you know, meeting sometimes even a second meeting, they already have that, because you've now put your voice out there to them. Yeah, that I, honestly, I didn't even think about that. But, you know, even on this podcast, I reveal a lot of information about myself, I reveal a lot of things that, you know, in my world, so it is sometimes creepy. When I talk to people, and they're like, Oh, my God, I loved blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, Who are you know that? Oh, well, you said it, and you talked about it, and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I forget sometimes what I say on those, and yes, you're absolutely right. But you're right. That's the whole point is to, you know, let people see into you. Whether it you know, see that side of you that, you know, break down those walls into, it's almost like having a one on one except that you're, you know, sitting and having a conversation. Maybe it's just a solo podcast, maybe you're just sitting here having a conversation with somebody else. But it is definitely a way to warm people up. Yeah, that's, that's, that's awesome. That's awesome. So when did you know that you were going to create your business? I mean, was there like a light bulb that went off? And you're like, Yep, I'm going to create podcastone.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  32:27

Well, the SOA, so it's a long story lean, but I'll try to keep it short. So it so enterprise now, literally started because remember, I told you, I'm strategically random. At the end of all of my episodes, I would ask my guests, if you were me, what would you do? What would you be doing? And one day, the guest looks at me, and they say, Well, you know, LC, I would help people start podcasts. Because you started this one, it seems like it's a great show, and you enjoy doing it, and you're halfway decent at it. So I would, I would help people start podcasts. And I thought, hmm, because that had never occurred to me. Because my only goal when I started my show was to meet business people and learn from them. And so that's what I did. I started helping people start start launch podcasts. And that's sort of how the business was born. And one day I, you know, I wanted to do a group coaching program. And I was working with my business coach, that's theirs. That's the common thing, right? I'm always trying to, you know, get better and work with with coaches, because they can see things that that we can't see. But, um, so I said, I told him, I want to, I want to do a group coaching program. Sorry, that's a great idea. You should do it. And so I'll come back to him with this brand called podcast out because I wanted to give it a name. Right. And he's like, Huh, that's a really good name. That's the brand. I was like, Okay. I'm glad you like it. He's like, No, I don't think you understand. Enterprise now is, is great. It's cool. But I don't know what that is. Podcast town is the brand. And I'm a little you know, I'm a little slow. Sometimes I still didn't catch on. He said, and I said, Great. I'm glad you like he said, No, Elzie get rid of five or enterprise now make podcast town, the main brand. And so that's what I did. And so I kind of put enterprise now the app down as a podcast, and elevated podcast town as the brand of the company.

 

Leighann Lovely  34:26

I don't feel like you have trouble understanding. I feel like you have trouble accepting the compliments. Like, yeah, Elzie you're, you're awesome. So you know, go and do this. And you're like, Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, it's a great idea. No, no, no, you're you rock dude. Just like, okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I have a I have a friend that that does that too. That's, you know, always like you're like, Yeah, dude, that's so great. And they're like, Okay, you're like, No, you don't understand. Like, you just blew the title. off of this place, and everybody is like standing ovation. And you're just like, Yeah, okay, great. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, I mean, you're, you have brilliant ideas. And you've I mean, you're obviously, you know, successful. And you like you said, you have a lot to give to the world. So. So every, every episode this season, I asked everybody the same question. So I'm going to ask you the question of the season. If you could pinpoint a time period in your career that made a huge difference in your life or career path? When would that be? And why?

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  35:40

That is a fantastic question. There's so many, if I could think of just one. I would say, when I was, I was still in high school. And I didn't think to two things, I didn't think I was smart enough to go to college. And I definitely didn't think I could afford it. Because we, you know, I grew up in not an affluent household, right. And so college for me was, it was a, it was a dream. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't something that was tangible. And so my plan was not to say that there's anything wrong with this, but this is my teenage brain thinking like, Okay, well, I'll just go into the army, because that's, that's what's available to me. And my sister who had she's six years older than I am, and she was, I'm home on leave. And I told her, hey, you know, here's what I'm thinking about doing. And she looks at me, she says, Well, I will say, I think you I think you could go to college, I think you could, you could do it. And over a period of time, she no did what big sisters do. And she kept encouraging and giving me those those nuggets of wisdom. And so it worked. And so one day, I decided, Okay, I'm gonna go to college. And that's a whole nother story land on why I decided to go into what I went into. But, um, so I go back to my, my army recruiter, and I tell him, you know, I think I want to go in a different direction, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to college. And I'll never forget it, he looks me in the eye. And he says, You're, you're not, you can't go to college, you can't afford it. And at that moment, something changed in my mentality. It was like, not only am I gonna go to college, but I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna kill it. And I'll show you. And from that point on, that's been my mantra. It's like, there's nothing that is off limits to me, not because I'm so arrogant that I think I'm so awesome. But but it was too early to things because I know God is on my side. And I know that if I put in the work, and if I believe it, then I could do anything. And that was the pivotal moment in my life, really, that cemented that mentality in me.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:08

You know, when somebody tells us that we can't do something, it's, it's a almost animal, animalistic reaction, to immediately strike back and say, don't tell me, I can't do this. I'm going to do it. And sometimes it's all you need to push you to that limit of, I'm absolutely going to positively do this. And it's not even about like, let me show you let me show me that I can absolutely do this. And that, I mean, sometimes that's all it takes, right? Sometimes it's a matter of just one person saying, You can't do that for you to. And here's something that really drives that home. If I tell my daughter, again, I'll remind you, if she's four, don't eat that. She'll go, okay. And she pick it up and eat it. And I'm like, What is it with reverse psychology? When it comes to humans? Somebody tells you, you can't do that. And they're like, nope, pretty sure I can. It's, it's absolutely if somebody you know, no, not to say that I'm against encouragement to children, because I'm not gonna, you know, you can't you're not going to be able to graduate this, this. No, that no, I'm 100% on an encouragement, but sometimes it takes in life for somebody to say, I'm not sure that you can do that. For that person to go, no. I'm digging in. I'm absolutely going to positively do that. And, and good for you. Good for your sister. For you know, encouraging you and constantly and did you say that your sister wasn't in the military? She was Yeah. Okay. So and thank you. No, thank you for her service as well. But I mean, that's awesome for her to and your family to encourage you to do. You know, to do that, that's, that's amazing to have the family support the family dynamic that you need in order to go out and do you know what you what you've done. So this has been an absolute amazing conversation, but if somebody wanted to get in contact with you, how would they go about doing that?

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  40:27

The easiest way is via email, and my email address is just Mayor@podcasttown.net. Oh, and connect with me on LinkedIn as well.

 

Leighann Lovely  40:38

Yep. Awesome. So alzate like I said, it's been such an amazing conversation. You really are. A jack of all trades, master of none, but truly, well, I think you are a master of plenty. But yeah, you're definitely a dynamic, dynamic individual. So thank you so much for your time.

 

Elzie D. Flenard III  40:59

I appreciate you having me.

 

Leighann Lovely  41:01

Thank you again for listening to Let's Talk HR. I appreciate your time and support without you the audience this would not be possible. So don't forget that if you enjoyed this episode, to follow us, like us or share us. Have a wonderful day.

 

Elzie D. Flenard 

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elziedflenardiii/ 

E-mail - Mayor@podcasttown.net 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/cruen/family-time License code: 2330NZD3BLNDKPYI

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