Gratitude, Resilience and Tech in Senior Living: Abbie Richie's Inspiring Story

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Transcript

Erin: 0:35

It is an exciting day for me to have, to be fangirling over my next guest, which is Abby Ritchie, who is the tech guru at the Smarter Service, the host of Tech Smarter, and she also has a tech talk segment that airs on Wednesdays on CBS, and she is our guest today on the Aspire for More with Erin podcast. Thank you, Abby Richie, for being here. I'm curious how you do all the things on that list.

Abbie: 1:07

Thank you, Erin. Thank you so much. I am honored to be here with you today to talk about aspiring for more, And, I think a lot of people, when, they see me, they think that I'm the tech person, the tech guru, and, there's so much more that's happening behind the scenes. Besides technology that I'm excited to share because it's really and truly what's happening behind the scenes that gets me going every day to do these things that I'm passionate about.

Erin: 1:40

Yes, because it takes you, you made a comment earlier about just always being ready and I think that's something that. A lot of us need to hear whether we're just living our daily lives or, struggling because we want something else and we're not necessarily getting there this idea of always being prepared this idea of becoming, you clearly do that because you have put in the work to get here. This is not just, oh, I woke up and got these phone calls. This is work. So tell us how you do that or how you have done that.

Abbie: 2:19

Yeah, so I, I see it in many ways. Thank you though. First and foremost, thank you. I'm very grateful. And I live in a place of constant gratitude. In fact, I start my day off with a gratitude run every single morning. It doesn't matter how long it is. The only thing that matters is that I'm moving my body. I'm moving my mind and I'm just giving gratitude for many things for my folks who are still alive and the world is a sweeter place when you have parents that are still living that love you right for my siblings who have been my best friends my whole life for my kiddos because I am a mom. I have two teenagers and I would say out of any of these roles that I'm playing, that one is the most important one, right? And I just, I have a lot to be proud of. Grateful for, and that's really and truly how I start my day. And like I mentioned, my folks, so I do come from a fourth generation entrepreneurial family. Yes. we have just it's built in, it's in my blood. Like I couldn't do, it's what I do. it's and I've seen in my family, I've seen them succeed and I've seen them fail. The people in my family are the first people I call when I succeed. And when I fail, because I know. They've walked through that journey and the entrepreneurial journey is alone. It's lonely, right? It's very isolating. but when you have a tribe around you who understands what you're going through, whether that's your family, which I know is rare, or it's a group of networking business, entrepreneurs that you can go to with these type of issues, that is something that's going to help you pick up the next day. you want. And go on.

Erin: 3:58

Yeah, I, my entire career has been inside of a community. So this title of being an entrepreneur, I just thought like you created a business license and business started coming. I just really had no idea the amount of work. mental toughness, fortitude, and like you said, gratitude. There's like a reason why she wakes up every day and Talks and gratitude and it is because the entrepreneur road is so Lonely and isolating and energy we attract energy And coming from a person who did not pay attention to all the things that she was thankful for until recently you attract the energy That you give off and if you're not careful You lose control Of everything that's coming at you that you don't want,

Abbie: 4:54

right? So that's right. That is right. And, in regards to being an entrepreneur, it is a challenging road. For sure. I started my 2nd company in 2018. I've been down the road before. I knew what to expect. I never honestly expected to start another company, but never know. And so I started, Senior savvy in 2018. I truly did it based out of passion, which I think if you're starting something and you're a founder, you've got to be wholeheartedly in it in order to win it to get up every day and to continue serving the people that you've been tasked with. And so for me, starting senior savvy, which was a company that was helping older adults with their technology. It truly came out of a love and admiration for older adults. I grew up with my Nana and Papa while my parents were running their own businesses. My Nana and Papa. We're parenting my siblings and I, and so we spent a lot of time together growing up and I have a deep love and admiration for older adults. It's just truly, it's just what I do, why I do it. And I love it. and so I started that company and it just started to grow organically here in Scottsdale, Arizona, but at one point my brother. Todd said to me, ab, and I know when people call me ab that they really love me. Only people who love me call me ab. but I know like I'm endearing. So the ab, ab, no one knows you exist. You have, and you're providing an incredible service, a valuable service. People need to know about you. Okay. Now I think this was like 2019, maybe 2020, 2019 ish. Okay. Which is just truly a mere five years ago. So he was like, ab no one knows you. So you need to start getting out on social media. And I was like, Oh, he could not have said a more distasteful thing to me at that point. Cause I actually a hundred percent dislike social media. I was a looker, but not a clicker. that's it. Like I'd look, don't need it. Talk to my friends all the time. I don't need that. But he was like, this is a way for you to get out there. Minus the sales budget, minus a marketing budget, minus a promotion budget, right? Cause those were my limiting beliefs. I was like, I don't have any advertising, blah, blah, blah. He's you don't need that because you have social media. This is a way for you to get your message out there of how. technology can help older adults. And I really hated what he was telling me, but, he knew what he was saying and I knew it too. and so he was like, you need to post. And I was like, huh, what? No, I hate it. Really? I really disliked it a hundred percent. and I had no following whatsoever. Maybe two, three people. I don't know. And he was like, you could start where your business is. And at that point, my business was on LinkedIn. Start there. So people will always say, what should I do? Should I go on Instagram? Should I go on Facebook? Should I'm like, start where your people are, right? cultivate your following in one place. And then once you get your following, go on to the next one. And start working there, but focus on where your people are. And for me, it was the activity directors at senior living communities and the executive directors and those folks.

Erin: 8:05

It's true. There's a huge following. easy to find on LinkedIn. And so then you overcame your fears. There's a lot of fear about posting. There's a lot of fear, or there's a lot of lurkers and lookers instead of, people who are posting. I struggle with that myself, posting things, certain things make me more anxious than others. I used posting every day as a confidence builder for me, it was showing up for myself, building confidence, finding my voice. It wasn't necessarily about. engagement at first, did you find it that way for you too?

Abbie: 8:44

Yeah, it was really hard, cause I'd never posted before on any social media. And then, and there are still things to this day that are really challenging for me, proofreading what I'm writing. and editing that. but yeah, it was a med like Todd asked me to, To post five times a week where I was like, huh? Are you kidding me? I've got kids, how could I do that? He said start with twice a week can you do once a week? I said yes, I could do once a week He said start with your faqs your frequently asked questions These are the things that people ask you all the time that you don't even have to think about you know these so you know what? I need a new phone What should I get? Or should I get a desktop or a laptop? my, my kids keep trying to get me to use their Android, but I like my apple. What should I do? These are things are questions that people ask you all the time. You don't even have to think about them. Start there. Start with your FAQs. And because I'm just like, thematic, I like to. Theme my day. So FAQ Friday, that just makes sense to me. I don't have it written down anywhere, but I know that on Fridays it's FAQ day. So I started with my FAQs and then I just started on Tuesdays doing tech tip Tuesday. Like it's just, it's not like anyone needs to know about it, but at least for myself and keeping on top of my content, that's where I'm headed.

Erin: 9:59

It does help to do that. It really does and help you plan it out. And it gives you a forecasting model inside your mind. oh, I want to write this down for this time to certainly be very thematic like that. you had senior savvy, and then you started a podcast at the same time, or when did this podcast start?

Abbie: 10:21

I had senior savvy and then I was asked to host. Tech Tuesday. I think that was like, almost 3 years ago. And, that was a wonderful thing that happened to me. I had never interviewed people before I had in the past only been interviewed on TV and was very comfortable in the flip side. But what tech Tuesday allowed me to do is invite people that. Are engaged in this age tech innovation space and get to talk to them about what they're doing and why they're doing it. And it really opened up a whole world of visibility for me that I didn't have before. So I am eternally grateful for that. It helped me refine my presentation and my skills and, and really, and truly get to meet some folks. Fascinating people.

Erin: 11:12

Yeah, I've always enjoyed watching that segment and, learning about the tech side of things inside senior living, because I needed that education, so obviously leaders inside the community need that education as well. And then something happened because now the smarter services here, right? Yeah, something amazing happened. This is the journey of everyone, right? Everyone's life. evolves as long as you keep going and are consistent and are prepared to show up every day. So the smarter service came around.

Abbie: 11:46

That's right. it, this was about a year ago. I was really struggling with senior savvy. I was, wanting to remove myself from the operations of the business. as an entrepreneur, like you end up doing all these things, like I couldn't scale the company cause I was too busy, managing all the details I had about, just short of a dozen people that were doing. Tech concierge work at different communities and we were teaching classes and then I was paying them and and so there was like these various areas of entrepreneurial, management payroll and, managing people remotely. These things were really draining my passion. Okay. So much so that I remember thinking like, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to do this management. Peace anymore because it's taking away from what is really like my zone. and at that point it wasn't even helping people one on one. I wasn't helping people one on one anymore. I was mostly on TV or doing the podcast and talking about technology and a greater sense of how it's impacting older adults and really loving that. And every time I got pulled away from that, I was like, Gurr, right? Gurr. And seriously, you should see how short my emails were to the people I was managing because I just disliked it so much. And I remember thinking to myself, Goodness, things have got to change, right? Because I don't like this anymore. And I only do something that I'm like really passionately in, in energetically behind, but managing that business was not something I was enjoying at all. So I was thinking to myself, this was a year ago, holy smokes, things have got to change. If things don't change by January, 2024. as an entrepreneur, like we don't just quit, We don't quit. We may have these ideas like. but no, I can't quit. I can't give that up, right? and so I started to think, what could really save my business situation is by bringing on an operations manager, that would be a goal of mine. And it was part of my vision board. And I just want to let you know, as an entrepreneur, you got to know what your visions are. You need to know where you're headed. If you don't, you're never going to get back to what your goals are. You're going to get so diversified handling. All these other things that you're going to forget what your passion is all about. so I remember thinking to myself, I'm going to hire an operations manager. And if this does not significantly improve my feeling about the business by January. Big changes got to be made big changes, right? we really get, I noticed as entrepreneurs, we get really Married to our baby, right? We're really married to our baby and sometimes can't see beyond That to figure it out. I did end up hiring an operations manager and I'm sad. I'm sorry to say it's like the worst hire I've ever made in, hiring people for, and I've been doing that for years and years to like, I don't know, 15 years or something like hiring, managing people. This was the worst hire I ever made first. She was a friend of mine. We were not speaking the same language. It was it was creating more chaos than it was order. And I couldn't get myself out of the business really truly couldn't at the same time, my assistant who'd been with me for almost three years, Was going on maternity leave. I didn't think she was coming back. I was just like, dang, doors are closing. This is not working out. And I'm not happy about this. And it's not fun. This is not fun anymore. I'm not enjoying it. Not that everything has to be fun. Like you want to have like deep energy behind what you're doing on a daily basis. And if you're not, Rethink what you're doing and how you're doing it. Like I talked to a lot of innovators, on tech smarter and interview them, whatever. And I always ask them what their origin story is. And I'm like, It's got to be better than that. come on, you got to bring it, bring, whatever it is, bring all your passion, bring your energy, or expect it to peter out on you rather quickly. So, just about the time that my assistant, told me she was going to maternity leave and I realized, oh, God, Gosh, the operations manager is not working. I started speaking with the smarter service. we had talked, we had spoken, I don't know, maybe three, four months. We had very similar interests and they were looking for someone like me. And I was definitely looking for someone like them. I didn't know how it would happen. And honestly, if you look back in my journals, you'll see that I called this my miracle merger. I was like, there's a miracle merger occurring. I, this is miraculous. I never thought this could happen a year. like a, Oh my gosh, like these people, they're like, we have such similar missions and they have the infrastructure and the people in place to do these things. And they, it was amazing. So in March, Senior Savvy was acquired. By the smarter service and I never ever thought I would have so much synergy with a group of people ever, like I've been a solopreneur for so long. I've just been like me, myself and I, and those are the other people, right? Whatever, I just never thought in a hundred years that have so much synergy. With the team, it's just been a miracle merger,

Erin: 17:06

but you walk, you run in gratitude, right? how to put the energy out there and for it to come back to you in. Big ways, and I also believe that entrepreneurs and executive directors inside the community are really closely knit when you have the passion and the desire to actually Make an impact on people's lives. And so it does become your baby and it does become not fun when you have to be involved in every single component of the job. It's almost impossible, right? And it does take the fun out of it. It absolutely does. And look at you, you manifested it. You brought it to you and you let go of control. How hard was letting go of control? Was it easy or was it a little bit more difficult than you thought?

Abbie: 18:00

Yeah, I think it's always, always a challenge. It's always a challenge. I remember the first time I hired, my first tech specialist to work with, work with clients where I was like, that's my baby, right? That's my baby. But then I also remember the first time I dropped my daughter off with my folks and I, for an overnight and I was like, They've got my limb, right? And so you just, you do these things in, in, in baby steps, right? You do them in baby steps. And what I found is if you're holding on to everything, you are not open to receiving anything. Yeah, and just like in parenting, like I've found, I have to release and not police. And I think those same, same thing is with being a founder, same type of thing. That's a, that's some

Erin: 18:56

That's some good word right there. Thank you. Mic drop. I know, truly. How, tell me how did hosting, okay, so just, we're gonna, I'm just gonna preface this. If you've been following me long enough, you know that I have always wanted to be on the news. I wanted to be a news broadcaster. Okay. I grew up. watching the news broadcasters on TV. like literally watching their mannerisms, how they talk, how they describe. I watch things with a very analytical eye. So much so that when I was a child, I saw his name was Bob Grip. I saw him at a midnight mass that my grandmother took me to and I almost freaked out. this man is just a man going to midnight mass. At Christmas time and I'm like And then not even two weeks later i'm in my neighborhood going for a walk and somebody else Lives in my neighborhood that is a broadcaster on tv and I found myself I just waved to her and I'm like, oh, my she's on the news. How did you get on the news? And what is it like? And all these cameras are staring at you and or do you do it from your house? what is it? Tell me about it.

Abbie: 20:14

Yeah, that's an excellent question. And. And so in, I think 2021 or so, I took a bootcamp, all right, it was called be on TV bootcamp. This was one of the most impactful things I could do to change the trajectory of my career besides posting on social media. And I really wanted to be on TV. Like you, and it felt like there was a way for me to get the message out there about how you use technology to help older adults, that kind of thing. and I tried doing it on my own and I wasn't doing it right. And I took this bootcamp, it's like the second kind of bootcamp I took this one in particular. Stuck and it worked for me and they taught us how to show up on camera because then all of the interviews were done on zoom. So it's like the perfect time to really get into it because there are producers all over the world who are, who need content. They constantly need content in order to fill their news. Okay, and you have the content that they need, and if you don't connect with them, they don't know that you exist. And in addition to teaching you how to show up on camera, they also taught us how to write a pitch. And there's a formula to that. And I was definitely missing that whole formula before I learned how to do this. And so they taught us how to write a pitch. They taught us how to send the pitches and then how to follow up and how to connect with these people on social media in a value added way. So I learned a lot and I am like a total sponge and anytime I'm in the. In the presence of experts, I listen to what they say and I apply. I'm like the kind of person who takes the free bootcamp and, learns everything, applies everything, and is also becomes your biggest fan, but also your worst customer because I don't sign up for the next thing. but I have, but with this one in particular, I learned so much. They signed up for their master mind, and that was the first time I ever really invested in myself. Okay. This was expensive for me to do, and it would still be expensive today, but I was like, very much saw that what they were teaching me worked. And I wanted more of that. And I wanted to take it to the next level. So there are times where you're going to have to take it to the next level and get a coach and have someone really put eyes on what you're doing and get Give you actionable, tasks so that you can refine your presentation. And through that mastermind, that's exactly what I did. I started pitching, pitching, and realizing that the producers need your content. They need it or they have no show. And so partially just putting yourself out there, like. All right, I feel awkward following up with them again. This time though, I'm not going to say the same thing I said last time. I'm going to have a little, add a little value. Did you hear about this? Did you know about this? I'm doing this kind of thing, whatever. And, continue to put myself out there. And what happened was I would get Booked on the news, various new stations across the country would then ask me to do a tech segment. Now, I want to really make a really clear distinction here. when I talk about this, because this was a big limiting belief for me, if I had leaned into this sooner, I would have achieved success faster. Okay, here's what I, here's what I thought. I thought I could only talk about technology for older adults. That's what I thought. I thought I'm only like, that's my expertise at the time. I, that's all I want to talk about. There are other people in who talk about consumer tech or they talk about, car tech or whatever, like I'm all about. And that's it. Once I dropped that label and said, yeah, talk about iPhones and headphones and consumer tech. Like I can find that low hanging fruit. I don't have to be so niche here. I can keep my niche. And expand it a little bit, right? So that I could reach more people. That's when, the big turnaround happened for me.

Erin: 24:17

It's the limiting belief, number one, vesting in yourself, and then just, for me, to understand, and for you, you did it, your worth is not tied into the no. It just means you haven't given enough value yet. Which is huge. It's huge. And so then ultimately you landed the consistent Wednesday airing on CBS, which is so cool. So cool, thank you for sharing that

Abbie: 24:47

and you're welcome. And I just, I don't want it to seem like, oh, I just landed and showed up 1 day there. It was not like that. Aaron, it wasn't like that. It was something I wanted, a deeply wanted this and it did not lose sight of it and so much so that, if you see. I've got a vision board right there, right? I'm not going to lose sight of these things. These things are front and center. I've got my computer screen and I've got my vision board. and I made sure, even though I'm running a company and I'm parents, teens, and I'm a single mom, I made sure that on a daily basis, I was not going to lose sight of where I wanted to go. And so typically that would mean doing the hard thing first. I sit down at my desk, I'm not going to do, those other things, like check email. That's important. Don't get me wrong. But I'm going to do the hard thing first. And that hard thing is going to be pitching a producer, looking on the job boards. Finding, the right role for myself and the role I applied for wasn't the right role for myself, for CBS. It wasn't, it was for, it was a different role, but I put myself out there. I got an interview and I auditioned. And even then they said, we're looking for someone different. And then, and I was heartbroken, but even then I was like, but have you thought about this? And they were like, we have. Let's talk about it. So it wasn't like I just landed there. It was like, I didn't lose sight of where I wanted to go.

Erin: 26:15

And you didn't let no stop you. you knew it. Yeah. like you knew it, you had the passion in it. That's. That's really inspiring. So give us two quick tips because a lot of people in senior living have this option of video and they don't use video well. I think video is a great tool to use to communicate with your associates, with your family members of your residents and your residents. It's just, I used it a lot inside of the community a, because. I wanted to be a broadcaster, and I studied them my entire life. So I had an element. I had an element of curiosity. I did not have an element of confidence in that. It certainly had to work up to that. But curious enough, what would be your top 2 tips? For somebody like an executive director or a sales director who, has to use video or is strongly encouraged to use video for their sales and marketing and communication to their families. And. Doesn't want to because they're intimidated by it. What would be your top 2 tips for that?

Abbie: 27:22

I would, recommend starting with something, really well, like it could be those FAQs. It's starting right there. You don't have to make anything up. You already know how to answer those questions. And the other thing I would say within that same bit is just to keep it short, keep it under a minute. Okay. No one is, and no one is expecting Spielberg production out of you. All right. What we are, what everyone is expecting is that you're going to use your phone. Okay. Use what you got. You don't need to go get a bunch of equipment and set it up and do this and that. It's use what you got. Start small. Start short. And get comfortable with seeing yourself on camera enough, like you said. Put the reps in and then you'll find it becomes easier for you to do it.

Erin: 28:18

Yes. One of the things that I struggled with the most was And this is me and every facet of my life. Okay, you're supposed to know what to do and no one else takes 25 takes to say, what? 30 second delivery of a message. That's not true. I know. yes, they take a lot in reps. It's just yeah, that's yes.

Abbie: 28:40

Yes, but here's the thing. If it stays in your phone, you're not helping anyone.

Erin: 28:48

Yes.

Abbie: 28:49

You're not helping anyone. and so the whole purpose of getting yourself, putting yourself out there and putting things on video is to serve the people that you're been tasked to help. And if it stays in your phone, cause you're like too worried about it, whatever it doesn't help you.

Erin: 29:06

yeah, it's a leverage you are one person and you may have 50 to 120 to 200 family members that you have to talk to and convey emotion to and for them to for you to give and for them to receive the emotional impact of your message that email doesn't necessarily give you so video is a huge leveraging tool. If you choose to use it and realize that yes, it may take you 30 minutes for a 32nd to one minute. Clip, but eventually it will take you less. That's right. That is right. Yeah. to wrap this up, because you've already inspired me mightily. With keep going, it doesn't matter invest in yourself just because you got to know. Does it mean the end? And always be ready and these are huge points that I am receiving today. So thank you very much. I do have to talk about. You being at Tony Robbins business mastery event that you posted on LinkedIn. And I have to say. I was jealous. I was jealous. I felt jealousy and I just wanted to say, tell me about it. Please tell everybody about it.

Abbie: 30:23

Oh, I'm so honored. I was so honored to be there. So thank you. And that was my 1st time going in person and I have attended virtually, maybe 5 other times. So I was just so honored to be there in person. And, Because my brother, Todd, who told me to get on video, right? And I hated everything he said. Todd is a video marketing genius and he speaks for Tony Robbins business mastery. He's part of their faculty speakers. So he, it was the first time I could get away to join him in person. And it was just an amazing backstage kind of experience. I had such a blast. And, also just to be in the presence of people who want to be doing better is so invigorating. So the more that you can put yourself in a situation with other people who are thriving, who just don't take okay. As the status quo is going to just lift you to another height entirely.

Erin: 31:28

Get in the rooms. that's why I want to build the communities for senior living leaders. I just think, the Tony Robbins business mastery, the, all the other things that he's done, because I've done quite a few of his, virtual webinars. it changed my life being in groups of people with minded goals that are vulnerable with each other that support each other because they realize that. Life is full of abundance. It changes people's lives. And about two and a half years ago, I would have rolled my eyes at this version of me and at you and I would say, you don't even know how hard this is, but it could have been so much easier. It could have been so much easier had I just understood those principles, so get in the rooms where you're not the smartest person get in the rooms where you're not the most successful person. And then one day you may find yourself on Wednesdays, airing on Wednesdays at CBS and Tony Robbins business mastery mastermind virtual event. talk about. Inspiring to me and that is you. So thank you. Thank you for this episode. Thank you for being consistent and paving the road for people like me and giving us those tips and just being persevering it 1 step at a time proof that it works. the smarter service is available to communities. We want to at least give a plug to them so communities can purchase the SmarterService or is it just individuals? What do we have

Abbie: 33:10

both? We offer a tech concierge program at senior living communities. And then if you have someone who needs 1 more 1 on 1 help, you can purchase a membership.

Erin: 33:20

if a resident can't get a remote control to work. yes, yeah,

Abbie: 33:25

exactly. big problem. I hear this all the time. It's always it's the cable. It's always the cable. yeah, my main instructor

Erin: 33:32

and maintenance assistant spent. So much time fixing remote controls.

Abbie: 33:38

Yes. And so 1 thing that we do with the smarter services, we offset that demand by providing a tech concierge at your community.

Erin: 33:47

Which is an amazing service, which I knew nothing about when I was in the community. yeah, look up the smarter service now, because that is an amazing asset. So thank you so much for being here. If people wanted to get in touch with you, they can find you on LinkedIn.

Abbie: 34:02

Definitely. You can DM me, slide into my DMS on LinkedIn. Okay. Or you can email me, Abby at the smarter service. com.

Erin: 34:10

Absolutely. Thank you for your time today. I greatly appreciate it. And as always for my listeners, aspire for more for you.