Pathways with Amber Stitt

Unleashing LinkedIn Success & Long-Term Business Growth with Wendy Shore

• Amber Stitt • Season 3 • Episode 12

Share episode

🎙️Welcome to a special edition of Pathways with Amber Stitt: Pathways Unleashed with Wendy Shore! 

🎤 In this inspiring episode, host Amber Stitt sits down with Wendy Shore, best-selling author, LinkedIn & business growth strategist, and dynamic speaker. 

🤿 Amber and Wendy dive into the transformative power of networking, the evolution of LinkedIn as a community-building powerhouse, and the art of authentic collaboration in today’s entrepreneurial world. 

🍱 Wendy shares her journey from restaurateur to digital connector, exploring how building genuine relationships—both online and offline—can unlock new opportunities, friendships, and success, even for solopreneurs.

📱 Together, they demystify the often-misunderstood world of LinkedIn, offer actionable insights for anyone trying to grow their presence, and share resources like Wendy’s “quarterly ledger” for effective business planning. 

🛤️ Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, a corporate professional, or just starting your journey, this episode is packed with wisdom, inspiration, and practical tips to help you foster meaningful connections and design your own unique path to success.

✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

📃 The surprising power of LinkedIn beyond being just a digital resume.

👋 How to avoid the dreaded “pitch slap” and build real relationships.

👬 The importance of collaboration and community for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs.

💡 Tips for standing out online—even if you’re introverted.

🤝 The difference between introductions and true referrals.

🌮 Wendy’s own journey of leaving the restaurant industry to helping others find their voice.

💼 A behind-the-scenes look at Wendy’s collaborative workshops, upcoming events, and her “Solo 90” program for solopreneurs.

💪 How to harness the power of quarterly planning with Wendy’s custom ledger.

👀 Why you don’t need a dramatic story to inspire others—your experience matters!

📽️ To watch this podcast: https://youtu.be/AT91fzWoaeA 

🔗 Connect with Wendy Shore:

📲 Check out Wendy’s website: WendyShore.co

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyshore

#pathwayswithamberstitt #wendyshore #amberstitt #solo90 #linkedinstrategies #businesssuccess

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

🎬 And remember, let's take action today!!!

=====================

💻 Content Creators, Here Are Some Must Have Apps:

🔥 Opus Clips AI Creates Short Videos From Your Full Length Videos: https://www.opus.pro?via=909178

🔥 Find Hosts & Guests for Your Podcast: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/pathways

🔥 For Blogs, Descriptions, or Any Type of AI Generated Text Needed for Your Project: https://www.castmagic.io/?via=amber

Wendy Shore [00:00:00]:
Well, LinkedIn is very heavy into like these search engines.

Amber Stitt [00:00:04]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:00:04]:
So if you were to look yourself up right now, within the first 3 things that come up will probably be something LinkedIn related.

Amber Stitt [00:00:10]:
Okay. Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:00:11]:
Profile, a post, they're very heavy into SEO. So having a LinkedIn presence, when somebody looks you up, you're gonna come up at the top. And if there's people, like there's several Wendy Shores I've found, so I come up, now that I've been very active on LinkedIn, I come up higher in the search than I did before I got on LinkedIn.

Amber Stitt [00:00:30]:
Okay. Hello and welcome to Pathways Unleashed, a special edition of Pathways with Amber Stitt. The Pathways Unleashed podcasts were recorded with special guests and the authors of "The Unleashed Entrepreneur" and "The Biohacking Entrepreneur" who were celebrating the book launches at the Unleash Your Superpower conference in Delray Beach, Florida in April 2025. Let's join the conversation. Wendy Shore, store best-selling author, LinkedIn Strategist, which is like really, I think, important. If you don't mind me talking about your work today, is that going to be okay?

Wendy Shore [00:01:06]:
Of course, always.

Amber Stitt [00:01:08]:
I figured you'd be fine with it. All right, so Wendy is not an amateur to the public screen. She's on "Lattes and Caffeinated Conversations".

Wendy Shore [00:01:16]:
Yes. With Melissa Cohen.

Amber Stitt [00:01:17]:
Melissa is your co-host, so I got to meet her. She's awesome. We have the books, obviously, we're showcasing these. We've been in best-selling books together. We're celebrating that. We're celebrating some other things you have going on, too. But I wanted to talk about collaboration because you guys were talking about that this week. And it's just interesting how my dream of doing this with all the authors that I've met is coming to fruition and how important collaboration, whether it's writing a book, seeking out a community, you guys have been talking about that.

Amber Stitt [00:01:46]:
So I want to talk about LinkedIn in just a little bit because I think people are not thinking of it the right way, or they've had some bias towards it in business. And I want to kind of demystify that with you. But first let's talk about what you have found in business. Because as a serial entrepreneur, you've had different partnerships over the years. You talk about that in your books. Why is collaboration and your network, even online, so important?

Wendy Shore [00:02:10]:
Well, I think today a lot of the relationships start online. So for example, I met Melissa Cohen on LinkedIn and then we connected in the DMs, first in the comments, then, DMs.

Amber Stitt [00:02:22]:
OK, so you are literally engaging on purpose, not just someone doing it for you. You guys were hanging out, chatting and noticing each other.

Wendy Shore [00:02:29]:
I have to tell you, when it comes to LinkedIn, LinkedIn's a little bit different. It's a little bit unique and it's really a community building platform. Other social medias are great for exposure, but I have not seen...I've been very active on Facebook and even in Facebook groups. I've been active on Instagram. I've never seen where a platform has resulted in real friendships and collaborations. People actively seek to help out each other and...

Amber Stitt [00:02:57]:
You get to choose.

Wendy Shore [00:02:58]:
That's one of the things that makes it unique. And I think people still look at LinkedIn as post your resume and that's where your resume goes to die.

Amber Stitt [00:03:07]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:03:08]:
And it's not, it's changed. It's a real social media platform with real people who are mostly business people.

Amber Stitt [00:03:15]:
There was a period of time, maybe it was because, gosh, what is it? Like 4 or 5 years ago when a lot of the sales tools were built and then everyone was inboxing each other, a bunch of spam and everyone got maxed out. I think that's where this all started, where it just felt like I don't trust you because you're inboxing me and there's still some of that, but you can find quality. And that's kind of where I want to head with you. Like you are helping people do that and I know that's what you do for work, but you are literally doing the work. I know Patricia is, and there's some of the others in our community that are actively on LinkedIn. Mad respect for it. You can find strategic partnerships and not even be in the same city.

Wendy Shore [00:03:50]:
Oh, 100%. So first of all, yeah, let's talk about the "Pitch Slap" for a moment.

Amber Stitt [00:03:56]:
I want to know what that is. Tell me, tell us.

Wendy Shore [00:03:58]:
I send you a connection request, you accept and I immediately respond with, "I have a product that can change your life." And sometimes these are AI driven, sometimes they're people. But most of the time they do not even take the time to read your bio. They just send you a connection request and then they're sending you promotions for their product, or service. Or they'll say: financial planning, insurance for healthcare.

Amber Stitt [00:04:22]:
My tagline could use some work, but like, I've already told you what I'm doing. Yeah. So this like.

Amber Stitt [00:04:27]:
Okay, so it's random.

Wendy Shore [00:04:29]:
So it's random, but it's the "Pitch Slap", they immediately, you accept the connection request and it's usually a nice, "I read this post that you did, or I saw a comment that you left on somebody's..." And then it's immediately a pitch. Don't do that. Nobody likes that. Nobody wants to get pitch slapped.

Amber Stitt [00:04:44]:
Gonna read through it.

Wendy Shore [00:04:45]:
Right. And the thing is, is you could actually be reaching out to somebody who is your ideal client, but you wanna build the relationship first. And they may not even be ready for your product or service. But if you build a relationship, you may find that somebody that they know is. And so then there's the referral part of the networking, community building.

Amber Stitt [00:05:05]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:05:06]:
And that is where collaborations are best.

Amber Stitt [00:05:10]:
Okay. So it's a safe place you all. And I know a lot of you are on LinkedIn watching anyway, but I feel that sometimes even people that are maybe in corporate America that are not B2B, or entrepreneurs, they might go, "I don't need it." But why does everyone need to have a profile and a presence on it?

Wendy Shore [00:05:26]:
Well, LinkedIn is very heavy into these search engines.

Amber Stitt [00:05:31]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:05:31]:
So if you were to look yourself up right now, within the first 3 things that come up will probably be something LinkedIn related.

Amber Stitt [00:05:37]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:05:38]:
A profile, a post, they're very heavy into SEO. So having a LinkedIn presence, when somebody looks you up, you're gonna come up at the top. And if there's people, like there's several Wendy Shores I've found, so I come up now that I've been very active on LinkedIn, I come up higher in the search than I did before I got on LinkedIn.

Amber Stitt [00:05:57]:
Okay. So it's giving you kind of like how Google, they'll reward you if you're actively on the platform and engaging and helping other people.

Wendy Shore [00:06:03]:
Correct.

Amber Stitt [00:06:04]:
Okay. Yeah. And I've had some people transition and they're gonna still stay corporate. But you can also use it reverse, too. You can go out and search and connect with people that you might in the future want to do business with, learn from, find a community of friends, or...

Wendy Shore [00:06:19]:
Absolutely.

Amber Stitt [00:06:20]:
There's really no excuses to find the resources.

Wendy Shore [00:06:22]:
And especially when it comes to solopreneurship. People are building solopreneur businesses intentionally. It used to be seen as this fallback, "Oh, are you're just starting out?" But people are saying, "You know what? I like staying small with today's AI tools, it's easy to get stuff done."

Wendy Shore [00:06:39]:
And so they're intentionally building solopreneur businesses that are reaching 6 - 7 figures. And they're saying that we're going to hit 8 figure solopreneurs in our lifetime.

Amber Stitt [00:06:49]:
Okay. So I wasn't thinking about taking this avenue with you because there's a lot of business that's saying, "Don't be solo, delegate, delegate." And that's kind of what I talked about in my chapter, scaling your business. But this, I think, is the consultancy world.

Wendy Shore [00:07:03]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:07:04]:
And a lot of people have the main thing and then that thing that can eventually be a really great transition tool. A lot of our guests talked about finding their new kind of pivot. If you have the consultancy out there, you can pivot whenever you want and make it a full time thing. And you've delegated through different businesses, too, and had to, I mean, a restaurant's completely different than what we're talking about. But...

Wendy Shore [00:07:23]:
But business is business.

Amber Stitt [00:07:24]:
Business is business and your network.

Wendy Shore [00:07:26]:
Right. So first with the delegation. As a solopreneur business owner you wear very many hats and you should know how to do most things, but it doesn't mean that you're doing everything.

Amber Stitt [00:07:36]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:07:36]:
That's where hiring a VA comes in, so you're not really working in a silo.

Amber Stitt [00:07:42]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:07:42]:
And we say business growth doesn't happen in a silo.

Amber Stitt [00:07:45]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:07:45]:
Or, as Melissa says, success is not pie.

Amber Stitt [00:07:49]:
Well, do you want to share what that means? Because I liked learning about that the other day.

Wendy Shore [00:07:52]:
So success is not a pie. That's exactly what it means. You don't get a slice of pie. It's not the name of a pie.

Amber Stitt [00:07:58]:
Yeah, or a pat on the back.

Wendy Shore [00:07:59]:
There you go. And I don't even know where that originated. Did you look up the origin of that?

Amber Stitt [00:08:03]:
I think she was talking about it. So we'll have to get back with her on that.

Wendy Shore [00:08:06]:
Yes. But I always said success doesn't happen in a silo. You don't grow alone. Even in a solopreneur business, you don't grow alone. And that's where collaboration and community comes in. Really strongly important because it can be very lonely. And especially if you're in a home office, which a lot of us tend to be, whether it's a room, a basement, or we're in our home offices.

Wendy Shore [00:08:28]:
So we leave our main part of the house, we go into our office and we work.

Amber Stitt [00:08:32]:
Very efficiently.

Wendy Shore [00:08:32]:
Very efficiently.

Amber Stitt [00:08:33]:
Yay, us, but...

Wendy Shore [00:08:34]:
But you're alone.

Amber Stitt [00:08:36]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:08:36]:
I mean, your family may be in the other room, but you're shutting the door and you're doing the work alone. And it's different than when you're in corporate and you gather around the water cooler and you catch up with people or, for me in my restaurant, my work was social.

Amber Stitt [00:08:49]:
Yeah. Okay, so that's interesting because I don't know that you can turn that off of that side of you, that enjoyment from having the different locations, seeing people's faces and seeing that they're enjoying what you're providing. So that is an interesting point. But you've been able to innovate off that and do the things you're doing now. But that's where that network can still be helpful in bite sized doses. Or you can go in and have as much engagement as you want. This episode of Pathways has been brought to you by Owwll. Owwll gives you access to new networks and valuable contacts

Amber Stitt [00:09:19]:
otherwise unreachable without a referral. Get in touch instantly in real time on a private one-on-one audio call. Search through vetted professionals to connect with the people you are looking for. Download the Owwll app today and expand your reach.

Wendy Shore [00:09:35]:
Recently I did an event in New York City and we are doing it again. If anybody wants to come to our event in New York City, we're doing a LinkedIn local meetup. We have a panel and we're now having the same people on the panel live. It's going to be live.

Amber Stitt [00:09:48]:
Streaming live.

Wendy Shore [00:09:49]:
It's going to be streaming live and it's going to be live. So if you want to meet us IRL, it's going to be at the Tempo Hilton in New York City.

Amber Stitt [00:09:56]:
I saw that on May 19th.

Wendy Shore [00:09:58]:
And if you can't make it. Yes. We are going to stream the panel and then afterwards we're going to break out into Mastermind sessions.

Amber Stitt [00:10:05]:
Fun.

Wendy Shore [00:10:06]:
But our emcee, Donny Boivin, who we've...and I may have pronounced your name wrong., Donny. I'm sorry.

Amber Stitt [00:10:11]:
Yay, shout out to Donny Boivin.

Wendy Shore [00:10:14]:
He's really big on talking about networking.

Wendy Shore [00:10:17]:
And he's saying like when you go to a networking event, you don't necessarily go to get your clients from networking events. You go to meet people who may then introduce you to your clients. Because there's a different barrier. If I'm meeting with you and I'm not trying to sell you something, but I know that you know people, we can have better conversations and figure out how we can help each other and refer each other.

Amber Stitt [00:10:46]:
You're choosing to be there. I know BNI is, no knocking on BNI, but it's mandatory. You have these certain things you have to do where this is like a fluidity of a natural...you're choosing to be there, spending your time, looking forward to going to the city. It's a different vibe.

Wendy Shore [00:10:59]:
Right. He has a group that meets every week online, too. Multiple groups.

Amber Stitt [00:11:03]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:11:03]:
And it's basically a, "Who can I refer you to this week? What are you looking for?" So are you looking to meet people in the healthcare industry? Are you looking to meet people like healthcare industry adjacent? And what does that look like? And then everybody helps each other try and figure out who we can introduce each other to.

Amber Stitt [00:11:20]:
And you have a chance to kind of vet out the person you're speaking with, too. Or, you can watch them online and see how are you feeling about what are they posting about? Are they consistent? Do you like their truth behind what they're messaging? Is it all AI? Because it might be a little bit, but yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:11:32]:
And that's why it's really important to get to know somebody. Because when you refer somebody, it's your reputation. And another thing to keep in mind, which is interesting, there's a difference between a referral and an introduction. I can introduce you to somebody, or I can refer you to somebody. Referring comes with a stronger promise where introductions are just, "Oh, I know somebody, let me introduce you."

Amber Stitt [00:11:55]:
Right.

Wendy Shore [00:11:56]:
And then what happens?

Amber Stitt [00:11:56]:
You're not going to hang your hat on that one.

Wendy Shore [00:11:57]:
Exactly.

Amber Stitt [00:11:58]:
The referral is different. That's our rep behind the referral.

Wendy Shore [00:12:01]:
100%. And Patricia today did a really great post about your reputation. Like your reputation is everything. So whatever you do in business, you really need to do it with integrity. And sometimes that means longer growth patterns. It means periods of no growth.

Wendy Shore [00:12:18]:
As you're figuring out the next thing.

Amber Stitt [00:12:20]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:12:21]:
But when you go for the cash grab or the money grab and you.

Amber Stitt [00:12:25]:
Too trendy, it's not real.

Wendy Shore [00:12:26]:
It's not real. And you lose your reputation because you really can't deliver what you're promising. You're following the herd and doing that overnight success promise, or looking for overnight success yourself.

Amber Stitt [00:12:35]:
Yeah. What do you think about the younger kids that are seeing the trendy one percenters? Like, we forget there's one percenters of success. It's not everyone making millions of dollars, but I think they think that's real for everybody. And you can Google who makes a million dollars a year. It's not many people.

Wendy Shore [00:12:50]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:12:51]:
But it seems like there is. Having a community on LinkedIn could be so important because that could virtually...you don't have to be in the same city, because you can watch, you can communicate, and it's kind of a safe place to play. But I think it's important that we...and this is where I wanted to kind of bring in with you is what you do. You have to be doing these things. You have to be using an app like Owwll, or something, to build these business relationships, because the trendy stuff is not real for most.

Wendy Shore [00:13:16]:
And that's the whole thing. When you're on Owwll, and if you're on a call with somebody, if somebody calls you, you call somebody.

Amber Stitt [00:13:22]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:13:22]:
You have to know what you're talking about.

Amber Stitt [00:13:25]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:13:25]:
It's one thing to write a post, but it's another thing to actually speak to somebody and either get, or give advice. And when you're giving advice. This is in my chapter, but how I found my voice and how I started speaking up.

Amber Stitt [00:13:37]:
In this one, in Impact?

Wendy Shore [00:13:38]:
Yep.

Amber Stitt [00:13:38]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:13:39]:
Was Clubhouse.

Amber Stitt [00:13:40]:
Oh, yeah. That's how I met Patricia, too.

Wendy Shore [00:13:42]:
Yes. That's how I met Patricia, also. And actually even Wendi, even though we live in the same town. But what happened when I first got on Clubhouse? I was quiet.

Amber Stitt [00:13:50]:
I would never speak. I was too scared.

Wendy Shore [00:13:52]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:13:52]:
And I'm chatty.

Wendy Shore [00:13:53]:
Right?

Amber Stitt [00:13:54]:
Chatty over here.

Wendy Shore [00:13:55]:
Hello. Do I look like I'm shy? And that's it. I was quiet. I was afraid to speak up. And there was all these people and some people who I saw on social media who I was like, "Wow, I can't believe I'm in the room with them."

Amber Stitt [00:14:07]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:14:08]:
And then I would listen to the advice that they were giving, and I was like, "That's really bad advice. No, what are you saying?"

Amber Stitt [00:14:17]:
And everyone can be in the room. It's free for all, as long as you're respectful.

Wendy Shore [00:14:20]:
Yes. And you can get up on stage. And people were just sharing really bad, to me, really bad business advice from what I've seen and from my experience. And so I started speaking up because I wanted to put people on the right path right. Now, I never called anybody out and said, "Oh, no, you're wrong." But I did put my thoughts out and that's where I started speaking up and helping people. And that's where I sort of turned more towards helping entrepreneurs than helping small businesses.

Amber Stitt [00:14:46]:
Oh, wow.

Wendy Shore [00:14:47]:
That was sort of the pivot. It didn't even hit me then, but now that I'm doing it now I realize that's when...you could always connect the dots looking backwards. And I realized that that's when I was enjoying helping people. And I was enjoying taking my experience, and this was the biggest for me in writing this chapter. And by the way, this is going to be my TEDx talk.

Amber Stitt [00:15:07]:
When is that happening?

Wendy Shore [00:15:08]:
I don't know. I'm applying soon.

Amber Stitt [00:15:10]:
Oh, oh, oh. So this is in the...

Wendy Shore [00:15:12]:
This is my...

Amber Stitt [00:15:13]:
It's been submitted.

Wendy Shore [00:15:14]:
So anybody who's listening, you don't need a hero's journey to make a difference in somebody's life.

Amber Stitt [00:15:19]:
I love that you talked about that in the book because I wrote about something that happened in my way back, but I don't really live in that history. It was a time that happened with my family. So I wrote about it in my books because I thought I had to. And it makes it relatable. Like my, "Why".

Wendy Shore [00:15:33]:
Absolutely.

Amber Stitt [00:15:33]:
I needed to.

Wendy Shore [00:15:34]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:15:35]:
But I love that you say that because everything matters. It doesn't have to come from a place of just awful trauma to be impactful. Yes.

Wendy Shore [00:15:42]:
And what seems normal to you could really be extraordinary to somebody else because they haven't lived it yet and they haven't gone through it.

Amber Stitt [00:15:49]:
So that was...I'm glad you brought that up because I don't think I wrote that down in my notes, but I was like, you said it. And that's where it's just having some grace with yourself and do the work that you want to do.

Wendy Shore [00:16:00]:
And find your voice to help people. Because if you help one person, you don't know who that one person's going to help, who that one person's going to help, and even if everybody...you just have this ripple effect. And so find your voice and share it. And you don't have to have that dramatic, or traumatic event.

Amber Stitt [00:16:19]:
Well, you can also borrow from other people's experience, years and years. We have books for that. We have interviews, but that's where this community, you can go and filter and search. So let's talk about how you help people on LinkedIn. Because I don't want to forget what's in this juicy...I was like, "What is that? I want to have one of those." How are you helping people online?

Wendy Shore [00:16:35]:
This is yours.

Amber Stitt [00:16:36]:
Oh, well, I got a gift. Yes! Was it you that said something about being...no, it was Gen X. And we're kind of like the no excuses generation. Even though I really feel like right now there's really no excuses is like you could be the quietest, most introverted person in the world and you can still engage and talk on LinkedIn and comment.

Wendy Shore [00:16:54]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:16:55]:
Celebrate the people you think are really making a difference.

Wendy Shore [00:16:57]:
Absolutely.

Amber Stitt [00:16:58]:
And that's where those friendships can start. And I think that's where people that might have given up at some point with the pitch...

Wendy Shore [00:17:04]:
Pitch slapping.

Amber Stitt [00:17:05]:
Pitch slapping. Get back in the game and get your profile picture up and let me see who you are. If I were to hire someone, and they don't have a LinkedIn, I'm like, "You're not even innovating and you're 20 in your, whatever age you are..." I do pay attention to that because we are a virtual business.

Wendy Shore [00:17:21]:
And I was just going to say that a lot of people work from home. So if you want to work from home, people want to know who you are.

Amber Stitt [00:17:28]:
Right.

Wendy Shore [00:17:28]:
And so you have to put yourself out there. A profile, engaging in comments. And here's the thing, if you're just starting out, you may not have a lot of experience. Okay. But learn something, write about it. Read something write about it when something strikes you. Why? And write about it, because that's gonna set the tone for you, your personality.

Wendy Shore [00:17:46]:
And people understand that you're new, you're young, you're just starting out. So get out there.

Amber Stitt [00:17:54]:
Yeah. It's kind of like, I think Alex Hormozi talks about this and some others. Don't tell people about stuff you don't know how to do. Just show people what's working for you and your story and be vulnerable if you want, but don't tell, show through what you've been doing, and it could be an evolution of things. And, I mean, your journey's been like that, too.

Wendy Shore [00:18:13]:
Yes. Oh, a complete.

Amber Stitt [00:18:14]:
Do you ever miss the restaurant business?

Wendy Shore [00:18:15]:
I do sometimes. I do.

Amber Stitt [00:18:17]:
A lot easier to not be in the restaurant business?

Wendy Shore [00:18:19]:
It's a lot easier. You know, it was literally...and I had multiple restaurants, so could I step away and have managers run it?

Amber Stitt [00:18:27]:
It's not 9 to 5.

Wendy Shore [00:18:28]:
But it's not who I am. And why am I working on Friday, Saturday? Well, because those are my busy nights, and that's when I get to interact the most with my customers. I've been asked to go back in it. And sometimes I'll be driving by a shopping center, or a place and I'll be like, "Oh, that would be a great place for a..." Then I slap myself and go, "What are you thinking?"

Wendy Shore [00:18:48]:
I have a life now. The restaurant was my life. And I'll be honest, when I left the restaurant business, it was a struggle for a while because being a restaurateur was also my identity.

Amber Stitt [00:18:58]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:18:59]:
And so I was lost.

Amber Stitt [00:19:01]:
Oh, from serving and bartending in different phases of my life. There's this energy, this buzz, and then there's the busy. And then you get over it and you conquer your busy hour to two hours, whatever it is. And then you're like...but it's exhausting. And then you're up late. And so I'm sure to transition from that world of, I mean, it's chaos in a good way because you obviously organize from the kitchen to the presentation to people, even how many tables. All of it's organized. But there's that moment of multitasking.

Amber Stitt [00:19:29]:
Oh, going crazy. And then you're making the drinks, going fast. "How many times can I work through that room and make every minute count?" It's kind of fun, but I'm sure that was hard to detox out of that rush. We'll call it, not chaos...

Wendy Shore [00:19:41]:
Oh, no. But it is chaos. There's a rush. And when things are going, just sometimes your timing is just spot on. And sometimes it's everything is up in the air all at once and you have to, in a moment, kind of look and go, enough. Don't cry. But you have to figure out with all these balls, which ones are glass.

Amber Stitt [00:20:00]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:20:01]:
And which ones are plastic.

Amber Stitt [00:20:03]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:20:03]:
Because the glass ones, you can't let drop. They're going to break. So you can let the plastic ones kind of fall a little bit and you'll go back and pick them up later. And that really helps the decision making. Anybody who's worked in the restaurant business...and listen, retail is tough and working with customers anywhere, but there's so much going on. And when people are hungry, they can be very cranky.

Amber Stitt [00:20:21]:
I'm kind of hungry right now. It's after 2:00?

Wendy Shore [00:20:23]:
Well, thank goodness you're not cranky.

Amber Stitt [00:20:25]:
Yeah, I'm not hangry yet.

Amber Stitt [00:20:28]:
No, but I mean, and then they're checking the time, "You said it would be 30 minutes." All of that from front to back.

Wendy Shore [00:20:34]:
And when you're hungry 3 minutes seems like 12.

Amber Stitt [00:20:38]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:20:39]:
Right. And 10 minutes seems like it's a half hour. And so people will literally go, "I've been waiting half hour." And then you turn, you look and you're like, "Ma', am, it's only been eight minutes. I'm sorry."

Amber Stitt [00:20:48]:
Yeah, "Go find a friend. Go hang out and have some fun." You're listening to Pathways with Amber Stitt. For more episodes like this, plus so much more, check out the podcast page at: AmberStitt.com Let's take action together! Now let's get back to our episode. Okay, so let's get into this quarterly ledger.

Wendy Shore [00:21:07]:
So this is what I had worked through with my clients and for myself. And it wasn't organized, so I put it together as an organizer. So it's a planner in progress. And then so here it kind of tells you in the front page how to use it.

Amber Stitt [00:21:21]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:21:22]:
And then we go through and we have our.

Amber Stitt [00:21:25]:
I love it.

Wendy Shore [00:21:26]:
Big picture planning.

Amber Stitt [00:21:27]:
There's something to be said about having it in your hands. I know digital, it's kind of like a combo, but literally touching the paper.

Wendy Shore [00:21:34]:
I'm old school. I like the paper.

Amber Stitt [00:21:35]:
Yep.

Wendy Shore [00:21:36]:
And then we set up our quarterly, our monthly goals.

Amber Stitt [00:21:40]:
So you do accountability calls then?

Wendy Shore [00:21:42]:
So well, yes, you go back and you look. Oh, and then I have where you can make and block time. This originally started as a social media content calendar, but it can be social media, or it could just be things you have to get done. And when you're going to block it out, which includes family time because sometimes if you don't block out time for yourself...

Amber Stitt [00:21:56]:
Okay, so you got 30 minute, which is kind of like that pomodoro. When they. If you hear about that blocking out 20, 30 minutes, that's what you and time block. Something's running over that. Maybe that's a special note that that needs to be addressed.

Wendy Shore [00:22:07]:
That needs to be addressed, and why is it running...? And then we go into our weekly review, what stuff...

Amber Stitt [00:22:11]:
Virtual coffees is on the agenda.

Wendy Shore [00:22:13]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:22:14]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:22:15]:
Yes. You have to connect with people. How many? And so wait, this is not in here, but I'm going to add it in the next version. I have a friend who I adore. Her name is Chelli.

Amber Stitt [00:22:23]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:22:24]:
And she talks about sending out ships. So when you...back in the old days, when they would send the ships out to go across and pick up the spices and the goods. If you sent out one ship, maybe one would come back, or maybe pirates would get it, or maybe it would...so you would have to send out multiple ships.

Amber Stitt [00:22:42]:
Oh.

Wendy Shore [00:22:43]:
Because the more ships you send out, the more chance you have of having the goods come back into port. So if you're doing nothing, if you're not reaching out to people, if you're not following up, you can't expect the ships to come in.

Amber Stitt [00:22:54]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:22:55]:
If you're not sending them out. So I may have something on here..."How many ships did you send out this week?"

Amber Stitt [00:23:00]:
Oh, yeah. Because there's a certain percentage of conversion not to get analytical, but if you don't have a volume of ships going out, how are you going to expect...

Wendy Shore [00:23:07]:
You can't just.

Amber Stitt [00:23:08]:
How many emails did you send?

Wendy Shore [00:23:09]:
How many people have called you? How many did you call? None. Okay, well...

Amber Stitt [00:23:14]:
Okay, there you go.

Wendy Shore [00:23:15]:
And then I start each week with a quote. So this one is, "Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can," by Arthur Ashe. Just pick another one. Oh, this is one of my favorite quotes, Sophia Bush: "You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously."

Amber Stitt [00:23:30]:
Cool. Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:23:31]:
And then in the end, it's just getting the quarter done, and then you review the quarter.

Amber Stitt [00:23:34]:
Okay, so quarterly ledger. So this is where...and then you could probably go back and reevaluate for the year. You kind of keep your stack together.

Wendy Shore [00:23:42]:
And sometimes what happens is when you're doing this, you realize what you set out to do, you no longer want to do. You look at the goals and you're like, "I thought I wanted to do that, but it's not lighting my soul on fire." Or it's not...

Amber Stitt [00:23:54]:
And that's important because if you don't write it down, then you probably could have a shiny ball show up and go, "Nope, remember, that didn't work out." You can have something, some track record of that, that evidence of that.

Wendy Shore [00:24:03]:
And so I've been working on this program that I want to launch. It's ready to go. It's called, "Solo 90". Solopreneur 90. It's 90 days to a profitable solopreneur. And it's been a little bit on hold.

Wendy Shore [00:24:14]:
Because what happens? Things happen. Life happens, and you can't let it deter you. But my mom wound up, she broke her femur bone last year. I just want to tell you, my mom was in the hospital most of January, February, March, all the way through May. She had a heart condition, and she was on her way to recovery, and then she broke her femur bone in February. And she has been between the hospital and rehab, five blood transfusions...

Amber Stitt [00:24:37]:
East Coast.

Wendy Shore [00:24:37]:
East Coast. Here. She's here.

Amber Stitt [00:24:39]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:24:39]:
Which means I'm running several times a week to see her, which is, I mean, thank God I have my parents. And she's doing fabulous. And she's actually at the point where she's getting to stand up out of the wheelchair, but it's been a long road.

Amber Stitt [00:24:49]:
Sure.

Wendy Shore [00:24:49]:
And so between my clients, between Ready Brush, I work at Ready Brush as a CFO two days a week. These are pre-pasted toothbrushes, great for traveling, so...

Amber Stitt [00:25:01]:
Oh my gosh.

Wendy Shore [00:25:02]:
I brought you a lot of presents.

Amber Stitt [00:25:03]:
You did! You're the only one. We need to talk about this. Oh, no, no. Kate brought me a coffee. Sorry, Kate.

Wendy Shore [00:25:08]:
It's the restaurant business is what I am, hospitality. My parents taught me well.

Amber Stitt [00:25:12]:
Well, my electric toothbrush, I charged it and it's not charged, so I need...I have a different brush, don't worry, I brushed my teeth today, but I would like to try one of these.

Wendy Shore [00:25:21]:
Oh, they're awesome. So they're pre-pasted, but they're quality. So you can use them over and over again.

Amber Stitt [00:25:25]:
Oh!

Wendy Shore [00:25:26]:
If you wanted to. Yep.

Amber Stitt [00:25:27]:
Cool. Okay, so let's get back to this, what you were just saying, though. Life happens and so that's where you're just spending time to take care. But I think let's say your mom goes in the hospital and you're using a workbook to then track. And we talk about resilience a lot on Pathways. You gotta have a plan. You have to practice for risk management. We won't talk about insurance right now.

Amber Stitt [00:25:46]:
If you do things like this, when things pop up, you're more ready and the fire is happening. But you've done the fire drill. That's why some of these steps are very important.

Wendy Shore [00:25:55]:
And when you look, there's a section where it says, "What stopped me from meeting my goals?"

Amber Stitt [00:25:59]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:26:00]:
Right. And sometimes it's just distraction. You get distracted.

Amber Stitt [00:26:04]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:26:04]:
The shiny penny and there's all these things going on, and then you're realizing, "Okay, something's holding me back, but it's nothing real that's holding me back." But other times there's real things that hold you back. Life gets in the way.

Amber Stitt [00:26:15]:
Yeah, lessons of accountability.

Wendy Shore [00:26:17]:
Right, and it's okay to pause.

Amber Stitt [00:26:19]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:26:20]:
But don't stop.

Amber Stitt [00:26:21]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:26:21]:
You know, and so now I've pushed this out. My plan now is July.

Amber Stitt [00:26:25]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:26:26]:
And I know people say July is not a good time, but that's okay. I want to start this small anyway.

Amber Stitt [00:26:30]:
Solopreneurs, they're doing it. They don't have a season.

Wendy Shore [00:26:33]:
We don't have a season. But you know what some solopreneurs have young children and then their children are off for the summer, so maybe they're working a little bit less, or maybe they're not ready to take a course.

Amber Stitt [00:26:43]:
But it's not before the holidays for sure. So this is a good time to have them start reflecting on what they want for that next year.

Wendy Shore [00:26:50]:
Oh, and then I can help them plan for their holiday, so for me, July is a great time.

Amber Stitt [00:26:55]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:26:55]:
You know, I'm looking forward to starting in July.

Amber Stitt [00:26:57]:
Okay. So you're going to be showcasing that on LinkedIn. So obviously LinkedIn followers, you're already here. How else can people find you?

Wendy Shore [00:27:04]:
So they can go to my website.

Amber Stitt [00:27:07]:
Yeah.

Wendy Shore [00:27:07]:
WendyShore.co

Amber Stitt [00:27:08]:
Okay.

Wendy Shore [00:27:09]:
"C-O" keep the "M". Keep your money. No, just kidding. Make more money. I don't know. WendyShore.com was not available, so it is WendyShore.co.

Amber Stitt [00:27:16]:
Oh, I know. Because you said there's a few "Wendy Shores".

Wendy Shore [00:27:18]:
Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:27:18]:
We're gonna put everything in the show notes too, so we'll be able to connect people with how they can get this too, correct?

Wendy Shore [00:27:24]:
Oh, absolutely. Yes.

Amber Stitt [00:27:26]:
I'm excited for this next journey and I can't wait for people to learn more about that solopreneur, "Solo 90". Okay. Putting it out there. It's gotta happen now.

Wendy Shore [00:27:34]:
Yep.

Amber Stitt [00:27:35]:
Thanks for being here.

Wendy Shore [00:27:36]:
Oh, my God, thank you for having me. This was such an enjoyable conversation.

Amber Stitt [00:27:39]:
And more to come. Thank you. We got more to do. Maybe I'll be in New York virtually. We'll see.

Wendy Shore [00:27:43]:
Or, just fly in.

Amber Stitt [00:27:45]:
I know.

Wendy Shore [00:27:46]:
You know the city, it's a great city.

Amber Stitt [00:27:49]:
Thank you.

Wendy Shore [00:27:49]:
Thank you so much.

Amber Stitt [00:27:51]:
Thank you for joining us for this special edition of Pathways Unleashed, recorded at Owwll headquarters here in Delray Beach, Florida. Join us for more powerful conversations with real people who dare to design life on their own terms. Until next time, keep taking action on your unique path!