Gwendolyn Young: The Power of Systems and Processes

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Joining us from Chicago, Illinois, Gwendolyn L young is the founder and CEO of your virtual admin expert. I’m excited to talk today because some of this sounds useful for myself. She is a highly sought after organizational communications and administrative expert. She’s a huge fan of structure systems and processes, and loves helping her clients implement these in their business so that it helps their lives become easier and their businesses run smoother.  

Scale faster and profit quicker. Thanks for joining Gwendolyn. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here. Yeah. You know, you have a unique service. So, um, your virtual support agency, uh, correct me if I’m wrong. As a, as a fully managed operation, you help clients stay in their genius, as you say.  

And what you talk about is how you can not achieve massive success without. Systems send support. And so you help eliminate stress and business owners to be more efficient. So walk us through what it’s like to work with you and how you do what you do. Oh, great question. So, um, working with us is initially when a client is interested in our services, we sit down and have kind of what I call a discovery call.  

And this is just allowing me an opportunity to learn more about their needs about their business, how they work, how they make it. Money, what are some of the things that are stressing them out? And then how am I teaching? I can actually come in and potentially support them. And so once we’ve kind of gone through that process and they come on, I’m bored.  

Um, I have like a complete welcome packet that each client gets kind of walking them through some of the tools that we’re going to be using. Get them set up on the project management system, where we manage all of the communications, the tasks, the projects. Everything that’s streamlined. And then we jumped right into it.  

I become an integral part of the team. The first thing that I do is what I call it a business process. I, and so this is me going through their entire business, looking at what systems are using, what sorry, or programs they have in place. How things work together or don’t work together. And this is typically where I find where things are kind of disjointed.  

Um, and then I’m able to offer some recommendations to help them start to streamline some of those processes so they can be more efficient. Um, a lot of times what I find out with my clients is that they are struggling with managing time and tasks and really kind of doing everything themselves. And so it’s really hard to say.  

Scale a business and grow a business. When you’re the only person kind of doing all, you know, Jack of all trades, right? I’m sure your clients varied, but is there kind of a consistent, um, uh, consistency to, you know, the size of operation you work with? You know, how many employees they have? Is it usually like a.  

A startup, give us an example of the type of clients you work with. Yeah. So it’s typically entrepreneurs who have been entrepreneurs for probably a decade or so, and they’ve been working so low or they might have, you know, a couple of contractors that they work with or their startups. It’s getting ready to launch  

And so they may have one or two people on their team. They really don’t have the support in place. They’re typically yeah. Out meeting with clients, trying to raise money, trying to get the programs of the services launched. And so they don’t really have the time to, if we deal with the administrative stuff.  

And so that’s where we come in to support them in that process. Because those things yet admin things in the backend operation they’re critical. Right. They may not necessarily be the items that are generating revenue, but they’re the things that won’t allow you to generate revenue if they don’t get done.  

Yeah. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. How did you get into this professional? What’s your background? Ah, great question. So I come from corporate America. I was in corporate America for almost two decades, working in a large healthcare system here in Chicago. And about six years ago, I actually became ill.  

And so I was diagnosed with systemic lupus and had to come off of my corporate job. And so while I was in recovery, I just kept thinking, Hey, you know, what can I do that would actually allow media to be able to still support my family, be productive, um, and do something that I absolutely love. And so that’s how this was born.  

And I was like, Ooh. Hmm. I wonder if I could actually do what I did incorporate in the virtual space. Hmm. And I started doing some research and I found that this was actually a thing that they do and that people actually get paid for. And I was like, well, I’m all in. And I just jumped in and started researching and looking and put up some profiles.  

Um, and it’s been nonstop ever since. Why don’t we, why don’t we go down that path for a minute? You know, a lot of our audience is exactly the type of people that you work with and, and they’re just starting the entrepreneurial journey. So why don’t we talk about your personal journey a little bit, uh, and a little more detailed.  

So you talked about how you set started profiles, walk us through that initial grind. You know, it sounds like it accelerated pretty quickly, but walk us through like the smaller details of what you had to do to get things going. Oh, yeah. I started with kind of what they call like your warm network. So I started telling everybody that this is what I was thinking of doing.  

Here’s what I wanted to do here was the kind of skill that’s what I had. And I got it. A lot of encouragement to just kind of go for it. And so I made sure I told family, I told them. Friends. I got a list of people from friends and family. Like, do you know any entrepreneurs that are looking for support services?  

They’ve been working by themselves that they need help, you know, launching different things or help with like managing their calendar or travel or whatever ever. Um, and then I went online and put up a lot of profiles. So I put a profile up on the Upwork network. I put a profile up on, you know, some of the other sites.  

Job sites and put profiles out there. I made sure that those profiles were up to date. I made sure that I really kind of highlighted my skillset, made sure that there was a great image up there because people love to relate and kind of see who they’re working with, especially in the virtual space. Right.  

Because you don’t get that opportunity to physically meet people. And so I just kind of really made myself personable online in text, in images. And so I did that. And then I filled out proposals and RFPs, like crazy. And so it was about six months before I actually got my first client. Um, I was at the point where I was like, Oh, is this really gonna work?  

But I just kept at it every day. Filling out proposals filling out RFPs. Then I learned about social media. So I got onto Facebook, started sharing that way. Um, and then I got my first client down in Florida and I was like, Oh, this is amazing. And so I just stopped learning more about marketing and doing everything that I possibly could to get the word out about.  

Here’s what I’m doing. And people just started to initially, um, I started to learn about how do you manage an online business, you know, is it very similar to running a corporate office? And so a lot of that corporate XP I took and transferred over. So everything I learned about operations, I brought over to the virtual space.  

Now, now that you can look back and you said it, you know, it took six months to kind of get in a groove. Is there anything that you learned over that time that you would tell yourself now looking back, or that you could share with our audience that would help cut that learning curve a little bit? Yes, partner with somebody who’s been in the business that you want to go in, or who’s done what you’ve done, um, partner with them, or get a mentor or a coach of some kind early on, um, versus kind of trying to really figure it out yourself.  

That’s going to help the learning card because they’ve gained knowledge and information, you know, about things that are going to be relevant to you, your and they can help cut that learning or for you. They can show you some of the things to implement. They can show you some of the people, you know, to connect with some of the ways to market your business that are going to be really important.  

So I think connecting with somebody early on and not just trying to kind of go at it, solo is really key and I wish I would have done that early on. I want to talk more about your experience. So you talked about being from the corporate world, but your experience goes beyond that. So, you know, the notes I have from being offline was that you’ve been honored as one of influential women in business by the daily Herald business ledger.  

In partnership with the national association of women, business owners, Chicago chapter, and the women’s, uh, in, uh, innovation network. And then you also hold a master’s in organizational leadership from Lewis university. That’s I mean, that’s a lot of credentials to back you up. That’s um, you know, what of that do you feel most has contributed to your success?  

Um, my education, certainly, um, because I would not have been able to achieve some of the awards and recognition that I have without my education and my opinion. And so that allowed me to really kind of broaden my perspective. So school was one of the. Best things that I could have ever done. It taught me about different cultures.  

It taught me about looking at things from a business perspective, a human perspective, just from a different way than what I was accustomed to. Um, it taught me diversity. It taught me. Brainstorming and strategic planning. It like really stretched me. So my education was very key, um, before getting my master’s there’s that Louis?  

I did my undergrad at the Frye university, which of course, everybody knows it’s kind of like the tech school. And so that’s where I learned a lot of the business information system pieces and where I really became like, Really enthralled with systems and processes because I was like, Oh, this is amazing.  

The way things flow together. Um, and so taking that experience and they get it, my masters in organizational leadership and learning how organizations actually operate, how people think, how rigid and bring it together. That’s been the biggest, um, the biggest. Factor to my success. And so education, I know comes in different forms.  

So I’m always learning, taking a class or doing something, but education was huge for me. You say that school worked well for you and contributed to your career. What do you think about, you know, college in general? It seems like lately there’s a lot of polarization about whether college is worth it nowadays. 

 Um, what’s, what’s your take on that? I think it’s just one option. Um, to be perfectly honest. Yeah. You have to really weigh the risk because it’s expensive, right? Like college now, even back when I was in was expensive. So I can only imagine what it costs now to go to school, but it’s only one facet. It’s only one option.  

I think education in different forms, whether that’s partnering with a mentor, whether that’s taking some classes, um, you know, somewhere else, whether college or not college. Um, I think it’s important personally because I think it just exposes you to. You know, diversity, different people, you learn how to think you get access to professors.  

Who’ve been in the field for years that you might want to study. I think it’s important, but I don’t think it’s the only option. Um, even when I think about my children, college was always on the table. It was like, you have to try it, but if it doesn’t work and it’s not for you, then you know, I’m not going to hold your feet to the fire because it makes no sense to spend four years learning something.  

That you’re probably not going to use or implement or that you’re going to hate. It just makes no sense. Yeah. All right. So now, now we take all that education. Yeah. And an experience we fast forward and you have a successful business today. Um, what’s, what’s been one of your greatest achievements. Um, now that you’ve got things running smoothly, One of my greatest achievements, um, I would say is hitting my six figure Mark.  

So early on and building a team. Um, I really pride myself on that cause I was able to go from a solo corner to actually having a team that works with me. And that has been a huge factor in my success as well, because now I’m not doing a little. So everything that I’m teaching my clients and sharing with my clients and helping them to do, I did that for myself first.  

Um, so I know how effective and how, how efficient it is and how it makes it so much easier to grow and scale your business. And. Eliminates the stress. It’s amazing. Um, when you have a client, I had a client who had not taken a vacation in like 17 years because she was always working so low. And then for me to come and be a part of our team and her to go take a week off and not have to worry about her business, to me, that’s like the ultimate success.  

So the fact that I’ve been able to do that for myself and for my clients, biggest hands down achievement ever. What are, what are some of the, of the crazy stories like that? Um, you know, either the law, the 17 years is a good example between having a vacation. I’m sure that’s not the only. Only my client.  

That’s something like that’s happened. What are, what are some of the other things that people have been able to do? Or just interesting, interesting things that have come up as a result of working with you? Yeah, lots of good things that come up. One thing that really sticks out in my mind is I remember, um, bringing on a client and starting working with them on their back ends.  

And I noticed that they had $40,000 of outstanding receivables that they had no idea. What’s out there. Yeah. So the first thing I was thinking was okay, um, I’m going to. Pray that one day somebody owes me $40,000 and it’s not going to make a difference you can tell, or my life that I’m going to be so unbothered by it.  

That’s the first thing. Um, and then I’m just like Holy cow. But what was great about that was I was able to implement a system for billing and invoicing, and I was able to cut that $40,000 down to $12,000 in outstanding receivables and a matter of 30 days. Um, by implementing a process. And then within 60, 60 days we had collected the entire thing.  

And so those are the kind of results that I help my clients achieve because sometimes they’re so busy just like working and working and working. They’re not realizing that yeah, you sent the invoice, but the person didn’t actually. Hey the invoice. And so they don’t have the time to kind of follow the path or follow up.  

Um, and that’s where I come in, where I’m like, Hey, you know, get lost in cyberspace, but we’re still waiting for this invoice to be paid. Can you give us a heads up of when we connect that? And so that’s kind of where I come in. I can kind of come in and be the enforcer, so to speak, um, for the client. So that’s been one that really sticks out.  

Um, because I still to this day, can’t imagine somebody owing me $40,000. I would be like, that reminds me of the movie. I want to say it was called the middleman. I might be wrong, but there’s a movie about these guys that started a technology behind, um, online. Gateways and transactions. And they had like a check for like a million bucks sitting in the drawer and their guys just going through it and pulls it down.  

And he’s like, come on, guys, you got to check for a million bucks. Sit in here. Yeah. It’s like, hello, somebody want to put that in the bank? Um, so yeah, so that’s a good one. Um, another one that comes to mind is I had a client who was doing it. Everything in her business. So she was the talent. She was the content creator.  

She was a marketer. She was a social media person. She was the appointment schedulers. She was the travel Booker. And I just was like, huh? How in the world are you doing all of this? Um, by yourself. And so we were able to, to come in and really look at our processes and it was interesting because she was using one platform for emails, she’s using outlook for email and then using Google for calendar.  

And I’m like, well, why aren’t we merging these? And just using one. System. And so I was able to transition her entire email system over to one platform, get her streamlined with everything, um, and then implemented a project management system. And she has taken off and been nonstop ever since because everything’s in one central location for her.  

So, um, I love seeing things like that for my clients come together. What is the most common issue that you see almost every person you work with that is just kind of like your go to thing that you almost always have to help with. They have no systems in place. They’re just kind of. Doing everything manually, um, or not doing somethings at all.  

So there’s no systems and processes. There’s no centralization. And so I can typically look back with every client I’ve had to implement some sort of process to help them in their business be more efficient. That’s the number one thing that I say across the board, what do you do with, with the more intimate tasks like managing email inboxes that require a, you know, More personal knowledge and experience. 

Do you, do you take on tasks like that? I do. Yeah, we actually, um, have clients, we manage inboxes and typically what I recommend and what my clients have done is we’ll set up sort of like an admin or support email, and then we have everything filtered there. So it helps to reduce their inbox. And then helps us get into the forefront of managing all of that for them, whether it’s customer service issues, whether it’s somebody needing access to a program, or if it’s just an inquiry, they want the person to come and speak, or they need some media information.  

Um, that way everything’s centralized and that person doesn’t have to the stress, like it’s stuff that needs to be responded to. But they don’t need to necessarily be the person that responds to it. And so that’s how we set it up and we’re able to filter it out and it works really well. All the invoices can go there.  

Um, any type of communication, if you need to put a contact on your website, everything’s going to go to that email and we filter and manage it out. Um, and so that’s a key, a core thing of what I do is really getting to understand and know my client’s business so that I can kind of share their voice.  

When I’m responding to their clients and their customer. So it sounds like this is something that you help with longterm. Um, but before that longterm engagement, how long of a process is it for you to, to, to get to that smooth sailing point with it, with a new client? It’s about a three to fix month process, depending on how involved they are in the business, how much they’re doing, how many programs or services that they might have. 

 So it can take about three to six months to really kind of get to a smooth selling where everything just becomes like second nature, like, okay, I know this client needs XYZ and it’s like, Just over, it becomes a routine, but it’s about a three, six month, three to six months initially to get them set up streamline process in place, understand their business and for them to feel comfortable, um, being able to delegate and hand it off.  

That’s one of the biggest challenges I find with my entrepreneurs and my clients. It’s their it’s like their baby. And so handing that off and trusting someone. Um, that you’ve only met virtually to manage that for you can sometimes be a stressor for them. And so just reassuring them that, Hey, I’m here for you.  

I’m a hundred percent invested in your business. Um, everything’s going to be fine. So they have to be comfortable with the process as well. And that takes about three to six months. What type of engagement do you have with your clients? Do you set up a recurring followup? Obviously you’re managing staff on a daily basis or regular basis, but do you have like a reoccurring one-on-one engagement just with them to give them like a state of the union?  

Yes, absolutely. Um, we have standing meetings every week. Um, some of them are 30 minutes. Some of them are 60 minutes. Um, and some, some clients, depending on the complexity of the business, I may have two standing meetings with them a week. So that we always have a touch point. So use a system called boxer.  

Um, and again, also my project management system that I use. So they always have access to me with Voxer. Yeah. Client who absolutely loves it real estate. So he’s always on site. So it’s easy for him to just hit the button in the app and send me a message or type something in, and I’m going to get it right away.  

And so I make sure that they always feel connected to me, even if it’s in real time, they have a way to access me. And that has worked wonders for I’m working with my clients. So yes, standing meanings are must, can’t be engaged in part of somebody’s businesses. You’re not talking to them. Ironically though, I do have one client  

Who’s been a client of mine for. Four years now. And I’ve only talked to him once, you know what? That’s funny. Um, you got me beat because I, the longest I ever went without talking to a client was three years. Yeah. You know, every month we do their thing and they’d pay their bills without question. Yeah.  

Yeah. That’s interesting. It works seamlessly. So I was like, huh, that’s interesting. But we have everything so streamlined and it’s so clear. Cut that. I mean, it just doesn’t. It doesn’t need it. We do schedule management, um, for him. And so we know exactly what the scheduling that lines are and unless there’s an issue, um, he just allows us to do what we do and we’re great at it.  

Yeah. Um, in my experience with the client that I went three years without talking to, um, and I’ll give you the opportunity to elaborate after, after my comment, but I think what helps a lot is. Proactively setting expectations. So you, you know, Hey, here’s where we’re going to start. This is what I’m doing weeks one and two, after that, you know, weeks, two through four, here’s where we’re going.  

And then, you know, months, two plus we’re doing this. And then by month six, you should expect this and reiterate that in the discussions, reiterate that in the contracts reiterate that after it’s a done deal. Um, and I think that’s going along a long ways, at least for my company in, um, you know, establishing that trust that you had mentioned.  

And, and building a good rapport and, and just making for a smooth operation. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Um, and that’s exactly how we did it. We agreed on what the scheduling guidelines were going to be. We talked about how often he would like to have, you know, that email platform checks, um, and what the response times would be to the clients who were trying to schedule with him.  

So we set all that early on, um, and it just worked really well. And if anything needed to be, you know, redone or streamlined or touchpoint, after that, we would. Shoot an email to say, Hey, here’s what I’m doing. I’m going to change from this conference platform to this one. And we would make the updates in the scheduling guidelines, but that’s really key.  

And I think once clients see that you show up for them and that you’re delivering what was agreed upon then. And they’re like all in. So there’s no longer a trust factor, right. They know that I can count on Gwendolyn. Do X, Y, and Z, and it’s worked well. So I don’t have any more concerns or worries. And I think that’s the important part.  

So where do you go from here? Do you have any longterm goals with your company? I do. Thanks for asking. I am actually still working on building up the agency. So my goal is to bring on more clients that we work with long term and be able to give more, um, virtual support people, an opportunity to work with us.  

So I’m now looking at building out. Full team. So adding on, um, you know, content writers and community managers, because I’m finding that these, yeah, there are things that as my clients grow, these are things that they need in their businesses. And I want to be one stop shop for them. I don’t want them to have to worry about sourcing and finding talent.  

Um, they can leave that to me and trust that I’m going to build a great team to support them in their business. So that’s the next step for me. And I’m super excited about it. So it almost sounds like you said one stop shop. So in, in some ways, in addition to that working one on one with your clients, it almost sounds like you’re a broker of talent.  

And so when they want to go down a certain path, instead of them saying, you know, what do I need to do to go down that path? They can just say landline, here’s the path I want to go down and figure it out. Yes. Yes. That’s exactly it. So I appreciate you’re telling us the background and sharing some of your successes.  

Now with the majority of our audience being entrepreneurs. I also like to give the opportunity to talk about, you know, some of the things that you’ve learned from maybe rougher points in your career or hard lessons learned. Um, do you have any of those stories that you could share that might help some of our listeners outsource early?  

Oh my gosh. Um, even when you think you can’t really afford to outsource start small, um, whether it’s just maybe or social media or marketing, or maybe your appointment scheduling, but. Just don’t stay in it too long herself. It was one of the things that I wish I had done earlier. Um, because what happens is you have a tendency to start working so much in your business that you lose sight of working on your business.  

So when you’re in it, you’re not working on marketing as much or networking as the mage or. Creating new services or new content, um, and being able to say relevant things that are going to help you to stay relevant, really need that business development focus time. So if you can, I would say early it’s one of the things I wish I had done, um, definitely training.  

So. I am a master at kind of, um, upleveling my skill set. So if there’s something that you need to learn about your craft, about the industry that you’re in, the people that you want to connect with and make sure that you’re doing that on a consistent regular basis building in. So one of the things that I’ve started to do that I wish I had done earlier was I actually have business development block.  

On my schedule every week. And so I have about two to three hours where nothing goes in that time I’ve protected fiercely, and I am focused only on the things that I do I need to do for my business. Um, whether that’s going to be writing a piece of content, networking, reaching out to somebody in the industry, learning a skillset.  

Um, I’m using that time wisely just to build my business. And I highly recommend every entrepreneur has that time in their calendar. What type of, whether it’s networking or social media, what tactic has worked best for you personally, to attract the types of clients that you want to work with? Getting clear on who I want it to work with and why I want it to work with them.  

That was a huge turning point for me and my business, because initially coming in, I was just willing to work with anybody who was going to pay me for my yeah. But then I quickly learned that’s probably not a great strategy because I got a few people that I did not want to work with. And so I had to get super clear.  

Okay. Who is it that you really want to work with and what’s going to be, what’s going to work well for them and what’s going to work well for you. And so I sat down and there’s, um, a couple of core things that I look, look for. And if the client does not have that, then it’s a no go for me. And I try to refer them to somebody else, if I can, or I just let them know it’s not going to be a good fit.  

So number one, they have to be happy people. I have learned that working with none happy people is very stressful, very draining. And I learned that transference of energy is very real. And so, um, I can wait or for people who are not happy because it’s just. It’s miserable. Um, they have to have a vision of where they see their business.  

So this is very important for startups to, if they don’t know what they want for their business. Then I have found it very difficult to be able to help them through that process because they’re not really willing at that moment to sit down and flush it out. So if they have, yeah, not started the process of really flushing out what their business is, who they want to serve, why they want to do it and why they’re in it.  

Um, then I found that that’s, I just don’t want to work with those types of people. Um, and then of course they have to be able to pay for the service. Which is important because I don’t want my services to them to be like a huge burden because when people are so super focused on, Oh my gosh, how am I going to pay for something?  

They don’t have a real good tendency to see the value in it. Um, and they’re really focused on the wrong thing. So I want to make sure that that’s not going to be a burden and a barrier. I don’t want to be a hardship. For anybody. Um, so those are three very important things for me that I’m really looking for when I’m getting ready to work with a client.  

And that has been a game changer for my business. It’s important, especially for the earlier entrepreneurs to be able to, um, The phrase I heard recently was to flex your no muscle. Absolutely. Yeah. And you have a very valid point that the people need to see you as an investment and not an expense. Yeah.  

You know, it’s, it’s something that’s not for everybody. And, and you know, what I found interesting was when you talk about the people that you, you want to work for versus you, who you’d prefer not to work for in my experience, you almost develop a sixth sense. Um, when you talk to people and so maybe they haven’t filled out your questionnaire or met those three checkpoints, but you just get them on the phone for that first time.  

And you just know that it’s not going to be a fit. Yes, yes you do. And, um, I’m quickly like. I love what you’re doing. I think it’s amazing. Um, because I, I want to, I only want to work with people that I really believe in what they’re doing and really believe that I can help them move that forward. Um, but if it’s not a good fit, like if I’m talking to them and they’re like all over the place, they’re in like five or six different places, I’m like, No, because I’m a systems person.  

Right. And so I know that me trying to help you implement system, if you’re not ready for it, it’s going to be like the mad scientist and you know, the school teacher trying to bridge something together. And it’s just not, it doesn’t work well. I’ve tried it. Trust me. It it’s frustrating for both, for both parts. 

 And we don’t want that. So outside of business, what do you like doing in your, in your downtime? What are some of your hobbies? Um, I love reading. I love spending time with my family. I have a new grandson, so I love faith. Thank you. Um, so I love kissing his face and spending time with him. And I love eating.  

I love to eat really good food all the time. So those are some of the things I love to do when I’m not working. All right. Well, um, Gwendolyn, we’re kind of getting closer to wrapping up here. Um, I want to give you the opportunity to put out your contact information to our listeners. Oh, yes, please. So you can find me on my website, which is your virtual admin expert.com.  

You can also connect with me on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram at your admin expert. So please reach out, love to connect with you guys. And thank you so much for having Damon. Yeah. And I’ll give you one last opportunity. I think you you’ve clearly illustrated what type of services you offer, but, but why don’t you just give us the sales pitch, which is funny because I’m like, I don’t really know that I’m a self person.  

Like, I just love to talk. Beautiful what I do. And if I can help them, then I want them to come over. We do provide audit support services. So I do have a business process audit package where if you’re not ready to kind of commit to an ongoing thing that I can actually come in, take a look at your back in, look at your business.  

And then give you some recommendations on how to streamline that and make it more efficient, more effective, um, and so that she can be more profitable. So you can do that. Or I have a monthly support packages where I can actually become a part of your team, help you with your admin services, your travel management, your social media, um, I even help with onsite support. 

 So if you have a big event, It’s coming up and you need an onsite coordinator. Um, I’ve had clients supply me out and be there for a couple of days to help manage that the whole process. So come to my website, virtual admin expert, and I would love to talk with you so you can book a consultation right from the site.  

I think that’s great because as business owners, they can get more comfortable with you with that little audit package. And like you said, that’s, that’s one of the more important parts that takes time. So, so that’s unique, unique offer you have there? Well, um, Gwendolyn, before we started, I told you, I asked if you could hear my sound.  

We w we do this, um, what it is is we don’t tell our guests, but we have a random question generator. And so we’ve been very informal about this before, but now we have a jingle. And so now we’re, we’re very, we’re very official now. So I hope you can hear our new jingles. So here we go. Okay. Let me bring it up here.  

Uh, I should’ve had this ready. I thought it was that  

random question. Uh, I don’t know if you can hear that. That was pretty quiet. Your random question is, uh, what is the craziest thing that you’ve ever done? The craziest thing I’ve ever done? Um, Oh, wow. What is the craziest thing I’ve ever done?  

I’ll give you a backup question. If you draw a blank. Yeah. I’ve drawn up. I must mean I’m not very much fun. No crazy. Sorry. Okay. So here’s your backup question? Um, if money and time, weren’t an issue, what would you be doing if you were not doing what you’re doing right now? Oh, I would be traveling the world.  

Um, I would love to just go and experience different cultures and really eat some great food. Remember, I love food. So, um, I would love to go to different countries and eat lots of different food and really, um, develop kind of my palette. So that’s probably what I would be doing if I was not doing this.  

I’d be on a plane somewhere right now, somewhere. Yeah, I’m right there with ya. Let’s go to the beach somewhere. Let’s go very cold here in Chicago. So no. And where I’m at? Yeah. Yeah. Very gloomy here today. I’m cold. Yeah. Well, Gwendolyn, I appreciate your time. Thanks for your stories. And I look forward to sharing your experience with our listeners.  

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.