The Heart of Business
"The Heart of Business" podcast, hosted by Mo Fathelbab, is an authentic and insightful exploration of the human side of leadership and professional growth. Through candid conversations with accomplished business leaders, thought leaders, and peer group facilitators, Mo will delve deep into the personal journeys, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped their careers. Mo Fathelbab's skillful and empathetic approach creates a safe space for guests to share their truths and vulnerabilities, revealing the emotional and often unseen dimensions of success in the corporate world. Each episode offers listeners a chance to glean practical wisdom, heartfelt advice, and a profound understanding of the intricate interplay between leadership, authenticity, and personal growth.
The "Heart of Business" is the official podcast of International Facilitators Organization, LLC and hosted by IFO's founder and CEO, Mo Fathelbab. To learn more, please visit www.internationalfacilitatorsorganization.com.
The Heart of Business
Janet Carlson: Reinvention, Resilience & Revolutionizing Pharma with AI
In this episode, Janet Carlson—CEO and Creative Director of 1.11 Group—takes us on a journey through three decades of fearless entrepreneurship. From learning negotiation skills at just 9 years old to building the first pharmaceutical website without any prior experience, Janet’s story is a testament to grit, innovation, and the power of reinvention.
She opens up about losing 98% of her business after 9/11 and rebuilding with the help of an SBA loan, creating groundbreaking programs for healthcare professionals, and transforming pharma brand planning with AI. Along the way, Janet shares how she’s balanced business and family, including the decision to adopt a third child during COVID, and how running, reading, and boxing fuel her creativity and strength. With unwavering support from her father and husband, and the guidance of the Entrepreneurs Organization, Janet reminds us that when things get tough, there’s always a way forward—if you’re willing to pivot, ask for help, and keep going.
Please visit www.internationalfacilitatorsorganization.com to learn more about Mo Fathelbab and International Facilitators Organization (IFO), a leading provider of facilitators and related group facilitation services, providing training, certification, marketing services, education, and community for peer group facilitators at all stages of their career.
Welcome to the Heart of Business podcast sponsored by International Facilitators Organization. I'm your host, mo Fatalba, founder and president of International Facilitators Organization, and today our guest is a longtime friend and a long long time member of the entrepreneurs organization, janet Carlson, ceo and creative director of 111 Group. Janet, welcome to the podcast, great to see you.
Speaker 2:I'm delighted to be here and I'm so happy to see you, Mo. You're one of my favorite people.
Speaker 1:Well, you too, I'll never forget how long ago did we meet? Was it 20 years?
Speaker 2:ago At least. Yeah, it's been a while it's been a while.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that I heard tidbits of your story along the way and certainly you made an impression on me, so I want to take this opportunity to share the great Janet Carlson with our audience. So, oh boy, yeah. So I want to just start at the beginning. What was your first entrepreneurial gig? What was your first kind of way that you went out and said I'm going to do this on my own and make some money?
Speaker 2:Got it. So there was a kid across the street from my family. So you may or may not remember that I'm an Air Force brat. I've lived everywhere. Throw a dart at the map. I've been there. This particular place was when we were in Oklahoma. My dad was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base and we usually lived on the base when we first moved and then we would usually move to a house. Somewhere Across the street from us lived these beautiful architects. Like they were the most beautiful people you've ever seen and they had the nastiest little boy that I've ever met in my life. He was just a brat. I don't know if he was spoiled.
Speaker 2:his name was craig he had bright red hair and freckles and he was horrible. Oh no, so nobody in the neighborhood babysit him because he was just awful. So she called me up. They had to go to some architectural dinner or something, and so she said I'm desperate, I need you to babysit. And I said that's fine, I'd be happy to, and she goes. Okay, pay is $5 an hour. And I said not happening. Not happening. I said no, you will pay double. Why is that? And I said because your kid is awful and you know it. And I said no one else will babysit them. I'm your last hope. So it's cash, it's upfront and it's double. And if you are late, if you're like over I think it was like 10 o'clock you pay extra 10 bucks. They paid it happily.
Speaker 1:And where did you learn these impeccable negotiation skills at such a young age?
Speaker 2:So my dad was at this time he was probably a major or maybe he was even a lieutenant colonel by then but negotiating. So he negotiated contracts. It was part of his job and he actually ended up doing stuff like that with the Department of Defense. I mean to the tune of like billion dollar contracts.
Speaker 2:But when I was probably nine or 10, maybe nine, he took my parents, collected modern art. They were really into art and dad said said we're going to go to a gallery, you're going to learn how to negotiate. I was like, okay, what do I do? And he goes, walk around, pick out a piece that you love. You're going to negotiate the sale of it. I was like all right. So of course I picked out the biggest ass piece in the place. It was a carol summer piece that was the size of a wall. It was big and I have no idea what it was like. I can't remember how much I negotiated for exactly, but my dad kept his mouth shut the whole time and I I negotiated the deal. That piece is still in my parents living room.
Speaker 1:Well done, what a great story, lovely, lovely. So let's fast forward a bit. So when did you start your first business?
Speaker 2:Let's see that would be 1994.
Speaker 1:1994. And how did you do that? So a lot of people out there, you know, dream about starting a business and maybe don't know, like literally how to get started. So walk us through. What did you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well so. So let we need to go back a teeny bit. I got offered a job, so I worked at Pfizer after I opted out of med school. The first time I went to work for Pfizer as a sales rep and I was very good at it, but my goal was to get in house. So I went. After two years I was in-house, which was not done. They gave me a job as a liaison between sales and marketing. I was there for five years total.
Speaker 2:What I realized was that I was an ideator that's what I do best so I would come up with new ideas, I would get all excited about it and I drove my boss insane with this. She was a lifer at Pfizer and this is how things are done, and we don't do things new way. We do things our way. So I drove her crazy. So they started a committee for me. It was called the Bright Ideas Committee. This was so. I would go there, spit my ideas up and then go back to work and shut up and do it. That's basically what it was. So when I realized that's what it was, I went to work for an advertising agency where I negotiated a bonus, by the way I didn't have one day's advertising experience and I talked to fred kellogg, who's the ceo, and I said I want a sign-on bonus of fifteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 2:He said you do not have one day's experience in advertising. I said but I have four other interviews, so it could be you that hires me or them you pick. He gave me a check.
Speaker 1:Nice, I know right.
Speaker 2:So I worked for him. I loved him. I would have stayed as now part of Publicis. I would have stayed with him forever, except Christopher Whittle who started the Medical News Network. So he started a super well-funded company. He offered me a Jaguar as a company car and a ridiculous salary and bonuses and I was like, yeah, where do I sign? I didn't know I could be an entrepreneur until I worked for Chris. When I worked for Chris I was like, dang, I can do this. I can take my ideas and I can sell them. I mean, I know how to sell. I knew how to do all the pieces, but I didn't put it together until I saw Chris do it.
Speaker 1:And what about Chris? So he, you saw him do it, and that gave you the path and gave you the example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean he, he was fascinated because we'd be in the limo. We took limos everywhere and he would be drawing out ideas and said what do you think? Janet? And I was like holy shit, this guy draws stuff up and then gets it funded and does it Amazing. Why can't I do that?
Speaker 1:Why can't I do that yeah?
Speaker 2:Why can't I do that? So I worked for Chris, I think, for three years I headed up the J&J business, so I was dealing with the five presidents of the J&J companies at 27, 26,. I guess why the hell were they listening to me, you know? Except Chris said listen to her. But I remember practicing saying my name in the bathroom before I went into a meeting with these guys.
Speaker 2:And I was like what are you doing? They're waiting to hear you. So put on your big girl pants and go. So I did. Once that phase was kind of coming to a close and I could see it you know, the Titanic was was sinking slowly, it just had run its course I decided I was going to do my own thing and I said to my dad what do you think I should call the company? He said call it JCA and associates. He goes, or JCA, yeah and associates, that's what it was. He said, so that way you can do anything. I was like okay, tony figured it out. So that's what I did.
Speaker 2:And I was focused on the web, because my dad said you know what? Everything you did with Chris was satellite based. The web is where it's going to be. This is what the web is. He worked on ARPANET, by the way. So I started making shit up and I went to Bristol Myers Squibb and I said we're going to create a website for you, and doctors are going to be able to come on it and read what Bristol-Myers Squibb is up to and what you have to offer and all that kind of stuff. And they're like okay, what's the web? What does that mean and I explained it and they wrote me a big fat check on bullshit. Oh my God, yeah check on bullshit.
Speaker 1:Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I coded it myself and God, was it ugly. It was just it was ugly. But you know what? It was the first website in the pharmaceutical industry.
Speaker 1:Oh my God. So then I started realizing. You know, you remember AOL. For God's sake, the dial-up tone and everything, of course, dudley Ansis founding board. Member of EO.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, yes, I realized that a way to get to doctors. So our focus of my agency was with healthcare professionals. The only way you saw healthcare professionals before was you had to walk in and talk to them. I realized you could send them an email. So we created the first email program called Mighty Mail. In pharma I sold a crap ton of those things. Again, I made it up and I went out and sold it. You know, then we did a sampling program because what I remembered as a rep was that I hated carrying the samples in. I thought those I didn't want to wear a brown delivery uniform and get signed samples. It was stupid. I needed my brain, because that's what that's really. What I was selling was the information I had on the drugs about you know, to share with the doctors, not samples let somebody else bring those. So we created the first sampling program that was done on the web and on a mobile and you could sign with your finger. We worked with 48 pharma companies and this is in 1990 this was.
Speaker 1:That was probably late late 90s, early 2000s well, you are ahead of your time, so you got your business started. What was it like in the beginning of the takeoff, right away? Do you have any, any, any stumbles along the way?
Speaker 2:Oh sure, I mean, you know I was making it up as I went along, but but you know, and then I had to deliver, so what? The smartest thing I did was hire my first employee and office manager, antone Darby. She was a model that was over six feet tall. She was stunningly beautiful and brilliant and she got my business in order, because I'm an ideator, but I need someone to control the chaos.
Speaker 1:And that was her. You're preaching to the choir. Got it Right?
Speaker 2:No, she was brilliant, and so I quadrupled my income in the first year because Antone billed them on time. If anybody was late, she'd read a Mariah Act. She was amazing. I'm still in touch with her. She lives in France now, but she was my employee for 10 years.
Speaker 2:My first one has stuck with me adored her and then I started hiring more people. I went and got one of the creative directors out of Bristol-Myers Squibb. She was my business partner for 12 years. Brilliant woman, a woman named Kim Wilson Couldn't have done it without her. She was smarter than me and super, super creative.
Speaker 1:And along the way, you joined EO, the Entrepreneurs Organization, which is where we met, and you were in a forum. I'd love to hear the effect of that forum on you personally and on your business.
Speaker 2:Sure. So, personally, you know, the very first thing we did was we wrote kind of a timeline of our life and I'll never forget that, because there was some ugly stuff that happened. You know, my parents got divorced when I was three. You know, my father, or my you know, I really didn't see my father until I was 18. My parents it was kind of ugly. Then we moved every two years, I mean, just various and sundry things happened along the way and it was really just going oh huh, that could have had an impact on me.
Speaker 2:So it was just really outlining, you know, where I'd come from, some of the struggles that I'd faced and that my, that my family dealt with but that we, you know, really came out of it. I mean, when I think about the gifts that my stepfather which I never called my stepfather, by the way, I designate, he's my dad, my birth father is father Got it and I'm very close to both of them, but that I mean that was a process, but it made me realize that I had to fix that relationship with my father, and I did. I reached out to him and he was open to it and he said you can ask me any question you want. I did. I asked really hard questions. He gave very honest answers. It was very healing. So it was just going back to face that stuff. You don't know you have something to heal unless you face it, and that's what I did. So and it was just everybody out laying out their shit, man, it was just allowing yourself to be vulnerable as an Air Force brat, I never cried.
Speaker 2:I got fights all the time because the pack of wolves would show up and you had to punch kids in the face to leave you alone, and you had to do that. So I learned to have kind of this exterior shell of steel so that I didn't get my ass kicked on the base. But that's not really a grown-up way to do things. You can't punch people. There's a few people I still wanted to punch, by the way, but I don't throw punches anymore.
Speaker 1:Not anymore. Okay, well, thank goodness. And then what about on the business side? How did it help you?
Speaker 2:On the business side. So I realized my strengths and weaknesses. So it was really I knew my superpowers and I knew my kryptonite and what I did was I got help with the stuff that I struggled with. So there was one guy in our group, dave. I don't know if you remember him. He was probably the smartest guy in the bunch, just really insightful, just a smart cookie. And if I had a thing where I was trying to figure out how to monetarily put something together, I would ride the subway home with Dave and ask him questions and that poor man would listen and then counsel me. He was brilliant. I'm still in touch with him too.
Speaker 2:Henry was the one who Henry Kassendorf was the first one to sell his company and he talked us through the process of doing that. I mean, he sold this company to HP, for heaven's sakes, and made a crap ton of money. Christine Dimmick same thing the lessons learned. You know what worked, what didn't work, what you should do, how you need to be set up, just understanding their path. And then you know if I could follow in their steps or if I could get advice from them. But each one had different things to offer. Some people I was close to, more close to than others, but I had respect for everyone in the group and I appreciated the very different viewpoints we had and man people served it up.
Speaker 2:I can share one specific thing that happened. I got sued for an age discrimination case. I hired this guy. I fired him just short of three months because he was a liar. He was basically he kind of fabricated what he'd done. He wasn't doing the work he was contracted to do and he was a big fat liar. So I said you are a liar, you're not doing the work. I said, first of all, you never did do this work. You can't do this work and you're not doing it now and I have proof. So you're fired. You are actually so fired and he sued me. So I was so mad. I thought he was a real dirtbag for doing that and I went to the forum and I said I need to discuss this because I need some advice. I'm really mad and it was taking a lot of energy. And I went around the table and I said tell me what you think. Every single person said pay him.
Speaker 1:I was like last thing you want to do.
Speaker 2:No, and they said shut up and pay him. You know why? No, and they said shut up and pay him. You know why? Look how much energy you're expending on someone who's a big fat liar. So you pick you want to sue this guy or you want to. You can pay him. Is it going to bug you? Sure, Don't sign the check, then. If you don't want to, you don't have to.
Speaker 2:You can have your financial guy sign the check, don't worry about it, and then walk away and screw that guy. You don't give him another, he doesn't get to live, as they say, rent free in your head. And I did pay him and I let it go and it was the smartest thing I did. And then I counseled other friends of mine who were entrepreneurs one who got sued for a huge amount of money and I said, instead of going court against this guy, have lunch with him, ask him to lunch and have a conversation. They did.
Speaker 1:It saved them a huge lawsuit. They actually offered me a job running their company after that Amazing, amazing. So tell us a bit about the trajectory of this business that you started that quadrupled your income in the first year oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:I mean the. So the business I was really in the first part of it was, it was one 11 interactive. At that time we were doing websites for pharmaceutical companies. I don't even remember how much we were charging. It was a lot. I mean we got one check from Pfizer for a million dollars for a website. We were doing a lot of convention work and I had a traveling team of 13 people who would travel and just go to conventions. We'd build the booth and then we'd man the booth or person the booth and you know, all weekend long we'd be meeting with doctors and such and it was a blast. And then 9-11 happened. After 9-11, I lost 98% of my business in one, literally one day.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God. Every single company called and canceled our contract. And I said you know, like you can't do that, I have a contract right here. It's a signed contract. And they said tough shit, you want to fight Johnson and Johnson. Let's see how that works out. And so I was like what do I do? Well, I got a notice from the SBA and it said if you need help getting some assistance, come on down, bring your paperwork and we'll talk to you. I went through one line. I talked to three people. I had my paperwork in place and I walked away with $180,000.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:Amazing. I didn't have to lay off one person. I had enough runway for probably a couple. It was a number of months, probably eight months or so. Um, I went and got drunk in the bar. Not going to lie, um took my entire crew with me. We were drunk as skunks and I said we're going to figure this out, guys, cause we just can't sit here drinking. So and they said, what should we do? And I said I got an idea and I drew a picture of how we were going to do sampling. It was a sloppy picture because I'd had like six Cosmos, by the way, but I drew out how we were going to do a sampling program. And when I went to work on Monday, I said we're going to meet and we're going to figure out how to do this. And we did it. And we partnered with Hippocrates and, like I said, we sold it to 48 companies.
Speaker 1:Like I said, we sold it to 48 companies. Oh my God, Amazing, amazing, amazing Janet. So, janet, what quality of yours you think has helped you the most in finding the success all throughout your life? Stubbornness.
Speaker 2:Honestly. I mean, ideation is one thing, yeah, so I put this up not that long ago never, never, never give up.
Speaker 1:I love that give up.
Speaker 2:You can't give up. I think people give up too easily. Um, when it gets, when it gets tough, um, you know there's, there's always oil on the road to entrepreneurialism. It is not for pansies, it's. You have to have grit. And um, it's one of the things that I saw with my son's rugby team. My son plays rugby in college. He's also on another team. They were losing to Boston College badly. I think it was 35 to 0. They were being trounced and the captain of the rugby team for UConn said lads, this is not how we do things. We're going to have to go out there and we have to leave it all on the field. So if you don't want to do that, take a walk. If you want to join me and leave it on the field, let's go. We can't give up. Who's got the grit? And I was like dang.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:That spoke to my soul, because I was like that. My friend is entrepreneurialism when it gets tough, you better find your grit and there's always a path out. It may not be the easy path, but what I've also learned is you have to ask for help. I think entrepreneurs say, oh you know I'll fail if I don't do this myself. That's a bunch of BS, so get over yourself. Yes, have your grit, make a plan. If you don't have a plan, you ain't going nowhere either.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you ask for help and I've done that. I've reached out to colleagues of mine that I worked with in the past. I've reached out to mentors. I reached out to you and it's just have a conversation and get the help you need and be blunt about it. Let yourself be vulnerable. If they think that you're, you know, weak, that's on them. You don't control what other people think about. You can control only the actions that you do.
Speaker 1:Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, janet, exciting, as always. I knew this would be an amazing conversation, so I'm not done with you yet, though. What are you doing these days? What are you doing now?
Speaker 2:AI, baby AI baby.
Speaker 2:I love it, my, okay. So again it comes back to my dad. My dad, new year's, 2023. We were drinking Prosecco, eating oysters, celebrating new year's and my dad said, honey, if you don Prosecco, eating oysters, celebrating new years? And my dad said, honey, if you don't do something with AI, you won't be doing anything. I said, well, what does that mean? He goes you need to figure out AI for healthcare and for pharmaceuticals or you won't have a business. And I was like Jesus, okay, um, and so I started messing around with a little bit. I got team members on it. I said we got to figure this out. We got to figure out what we're going to do and we were doing at the time for healthcare companies, we do brand maps.
Speaker 2:Brand maps is basically it was a structured interview. It would take two hours to do the interview just to find out where they are, where they want to go, and we craft a map to get them where they want to be with high level strategy and tactics. It took, you know. So the interview. Writing up the interview took five or six days. Then you do a review with them. I mean the whole process took a couple weeks.
Speaker 2:I had a colleague of mine call up and he goes I love your brand map. I did one with him and he said you need to automate it. And I was like how the hell do I do that? And he goes I'll show you. So we talked about it. Now we do it using prompts and the people answer the questions with their voice. First of all, they love it because they can do it at midnight if they want. I don't care. I had to schedule the meetings before and be on the call and that took a tremendous chunk of time. I don't do that anymore. If they want to do it at one in the morning or at Bora Bora, I could care less. It also allows people on their team to participate, even if they aren't together or on different time zones or whatever allows them to participate. And now we can turn those around in a day, a day. Yeah, I mean, I usually take a little longer.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was two weeks, two weeks, amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2:And they're fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then we built. So then we built a tool because we were doing a lot of content creation across different team members. The problem was the voices were different. My voice was very unique I curse, I say all kinds of stuff. I mean, you've probably seen some of my posts. They're a little spicy sometimes, but my voice is the voice, the brand, for 111 Group. So if someone else was writing, it wasn't the same. So we built a tool with my voice baked in with our vernacular, baked in with our phr phrasing, baked in with all that kind of stuff, so that no matter who writes, it sounds like the brand. And we're building those tools for our clients.
Speaker 2:So now, instead of having to like come up with social media or write an email program or even write, I read proposals with it too. It's a blast and you know what? I can knock out that paperwork? I had nine things to write. I did it in half an hour, yeah, and they're beautiful and I just tweak them. You know it's still, but I'm still doing the work. The thing is it's a tool like a pen or a computer or anything else. It's. It's no different, but the stuff comes from here. Nothing can duplicate that.
Speaker 1:So how much do you think AI is going to displace jobs Like in your field. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think AI is going to take out the monkey work. I think so. I don't think it's going to be. I mean, will it replace jobs? I just don't think so. I think it'll. Just it's like another tool, you know. I mean we had to write shit out before we had computers. I think for people like me who ideate, it just allows me to do more stuff faster. But I think for companies it's going to require somebody who uses the tool. Somebody's got to hold the tool.
Speaker 2:The AI is not doing it itself. You have to write prompts. Well, you have to have tools to do the prompts, because not everybody's good at writing prompts. So we've created that. That's another job. You know, creating those tools is something. Teaching the clients how to use it is something. Working with clients as they use the tools. I mean I think some of the very low level stuff might get knocked out. I mean I see now at the grocery store, you know like there aren't as many people checking people out. By the way, you know there's more of that is done. But now you can do a different job. That isn't monkey work. You know what I mean. So I just feel in the agency world it's just allowing us to do things better that allow the more higher functioning things to be done with more brainpower to do it. That's how I look at it.
Speaker 2:I spend less time doing stupid crap, which I hate writing proposals. I mean you need to do it, but I hate writing them and I usually do the proposals, or at least the last piece of it. And here it's like proposals can be put in front of me and I can review it and make some tweaks Out the door. It goes in a much more timely fashion because I don't dread doing it anymore. You know it takes me. I mean I can bust out a proposal in four minutes.
Speaker 1:Amazing. You know, I have done the same thing. I got to tell you it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible because, wow, what a tool. What a tool.
Speaker 2:Well. So one of the things I was on a run, so a lot of times I'll think of ideas on a run and I started thinking about brand planning. So in the pharmaceutical industry, every single brand there is writes a plan. There are 20,000 brands in the United States, by the way. Right now, every single one of them writes a plan every single year, and every year everyone bitches because everybody well, okay, I'll preface this 94% of people in pharma hate brand planning because it's monkey work. You got to go around, get everybody to the table, everybody's got to say their piece. So what we've done is we've created a version where you use your voice to give the input, based on last year's brand plan. So it takes last year's brand plan, puts it in the system, we create the questions. You see the prompts, your team answers the questions with your voice. Guess what? No one's writing. No one's writing.
Speaker 2:And then I take all the transcripts from all the teams from all over the world and I put them into a document and I hand them back a brief and I flag the misalignment. So anywhere they're not on the same page, they see it in bright yellow and then they can correct those misalignments like that and then I hand them back a finished brief. It goes to their agency to do their sparkly magic and add their input. Goes to their agency to do their sparkling magic and add their input. But it's not using up all those billable hours or people's time doing shit everybody hates anyway. Now it's actually fun to do so. 23,000 brands give me 1% of that, you know and I'm off to the races.
Speaker 1:So you've reinvented yourself at least a couple of times now. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Or is it more than?
Speaker 1:that At least three times. At least three times, at least three times you have to do.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're not willing to pivot, you're probably screwed too. Um, you know, you gotta see the writing on the wall. If something is not working, then you need to say okay, I need either. You know, and you can't give up too quickly, though, because sometimes it's going to take some perseverance, but you got to make sure you got the runway to do that, and I was fortunate that I had the runway to make this big pivot, because we had gone out of pharma for about eight years and it takes some doing to get back in, and so I banked the runway time and I said we're going to stick it because this is the right thing to do, and I think within a week, we're going to have our first deals in pharma. There'll be about four of them.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, I have no doubt. I have no doubt. So last thing is we haven't talked too much about your personal life, some of your passions that really get you out of bed in the morning other than work, because I know you're passionate about your work.
Speaker 2:But you know like I actually take time to read and drink coffee in the morning. When I get up, the first thing I do is I got to take. You know, john, and I take the dogs out, but I take time to read. I read probably three books a week.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:On a slow week Probably three books a week. Amazing On a slow week.
Speaker 1:What's one of your favorites right now?
Speaker 2:I am reading. What is it? The Four Winds. It's a book about the Great Depression, which I may tell you, if you're ever having a tough time in your entrepreneurial day, go read this book, because then you know, hey, we ain't breathing dust in.
Speaker 1:What's the perspective? Huh.
Speaker 2:Oh God, yeah, no, it's like get over yourself. You didn't live through the depression and let me tell you that was a cluster. You know what? Um, I mean I've uh, so one of the challenges from New York times was reading different kinds of books. So they had a challenge. I think there were 10 different types of books that they wanted you to try, and so I've been checking things off, which is kind of fun, reading from a different genre. I'm reading a book about summer, reading a book from a different time. Uh, it's been really fun. So my kids made fun of me when I put it on the refrigerator, but I've been reading books and checking them off and feeling very superior.
Speaker 2:Uh, I love running. I'm running Keeps me sane. I do it for my physical health, yes, but I do it for my mental health, and I run three times a week, typically in the woods next to a river, no headphones, no, nothing. Just listening to wind and birds and other creatures that I don't want to think about walking around, but I just go into my own head. It's where I come up with a lot of thoughts going forward and stuff we can try. Um, things I want to talk about with clients, a lot of social media posts get written here while I'm running. Um, I loved boxing. Um, I actually got invited to fight in the golden gloves. Um, when we lived in New York. I'm a very good boxer. I can throw a punch baby.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I'm going to stay away. I got it.
Speaker 2:It's, um, you know like, it's just instinctual. I threw my first punch in nursery school. Apparently, some kid was beating up one of my brothers. I told him to knock it off. He didn't. I punched him in the face. You are tough. I know I am tough. I love boxing, but after I had babies my doctor was like I think your boxing days are over.
Speaker 1:It's a.
Speaker 2:It's, it is hard on your brain. I realized after a fight. I didn't feel quite right. It's, it is very hard on you. And my one of my business partners said I need you to have your brain, because your brain is what leads this company. So knock it off. And so I did. I did stop boxing but, but I got grabbed in a garage in New York City and some guy tried to grab me and I had my hands up and he goes oh my God, don't hit me. I said then maybe you want to take your hands off me, pal Ooh.
Speaker 2:Yeah it does serve a purpose too.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, yeah, so reading, running, boxing, watching rugby or any sport my kids are playing. My kids played soccer, lacrosse and then rugby. So I've got three 20-year-olds. We have twins, a boy and a girl, Harry and Ellie. And then Shania is our third kid that we got during COVID. Her family went through a really rough time Parents died, and so we took her in and she's now our kid.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. What's that been like to bring in another kid into the family? How has that impacted the family?
Speaker 2:You know, it was during COVID, so it was a very difficult time. But when we realized that things were not good at her house, um, she just really couldn't go back there. Then we just we had to step up and it wasn't um, it really wasn't an option, um, it was one of those things that if we sent her back that she would not have made it. I don't think Um and it was just, it was just a decision that was so obvious to me that I thought, if we don't do this, I think we'd kind of go to hell. I, I mean, I'm Catholic light, but you know, I just thought, you know, I can solve this kid's problem, and it's not that big a lift, it's one more kid, like you know whatever.
Speaker 2:It. It wasn't without bumps, but we worked through them and she, she, I mean she's a, she's a wonderful child and, uh, she's just, she's a whole different person. I mean, when she came to us she would eat tiny and try to make herself small and not speak, and now she's, like, you know, curses as much as me and you know, eats with a healthy appetite and she's and she exercises and she's exploring, you know, lake Ontario this summer with an internship that's paid, by the way, amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All three kids are working. I mean it's just, it's, you know, all three kids are in college. So yeah, I mean I work to keep my kids in college.
Speaker 1:There you go. So last question, janet what is or who is one person? And I have a feeling I know this answer, but who's one person who's had the biggest impact on you, maybe the person for whom you're most grateful? Well, tough question.
Speaker 2:It is, but I think it's actually Ollie Carlson. So he gave me his name. When I was seven years old, he adopted me and, uh, you know his passion for art, um, his knowledge about so many things, but, but his forward thinking ability, um, the web, ai, you know all that kind of stuff where he said, hey, you know you might want to think about. And when he says, you know you might want to think about, I think about it. I think I'm grateful that he took me in and his daughter, my little brother, and I became his children the day he adopted us. You know, he just gave me things that I would have never had. I mean, we traveled all over the place. He gave me a love for traveling the world. He gave me a joy for speaking other languages and the bravery to do so. But the appreciation for art, I mean. I met Alexander Calder. You know, because of my dad. They were there. His family had a long, deep relationship with the Calders. I mean, I would have never done these things without Ali Carlson. So the fact that he became my dad and now I have the benefit of two dads is even better. He's certainly one of the people.
Speaker 2:The other one is my husband, john Sanders, who really did believe in me and never tried to I mean, the word control isn't the right word he saw who I was and he was comfortable enough in his own skin and confident enough in his own being that he could let me be me and be okay with that.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure many like I don't want to say this about many men, because I don't know if that's true or false he just accepted me for the spirit I was and just let it rip. And he's had the belief in me, um, from the very beginning. Um and just has always had my back, no matter what, even when I was coming up with some crazy shit, and I'm sure he was saying himself what in the holy crap is this woman getting us into now? But he stands by me and he believes in me and he I mean to say he's a wind beneath my wings is an understatement but we are true partners in parenthood. I guess I should say but bless that man's heart. I mean, he's always had my back and I love him to death.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. Janet Carlson, what a pleasure to see you and to share your incredible energy and spirit with our audience. Thank you again. Thank you to our audience and, as a reminder, podcast reviews have an impact on a podcast visibility, so please leave a review to help others find a show. Thank you for tuning in and have a lovely rest of your day.
