The Entrepreneur Blueprint: Your Path to Success with Helen and Alvin Copeland

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Business Chop Podcast, where our guests speak on meeting the challenges

[00:00:08] of entrepreneurship as well as offer tips and advice on business, marketing, technology

[00:00:15] and more. Whether you are a newbie or seasoned professional, this episode is for you. I am

[00:00:21] your host, Audrey Wiggins. Let's chop it up.

[00:00:29] Before we get started, quick shout out to Perry Mason, my cousin for the new music. What do you

[00:00:34] think? Leave me a comment. Find his music on Apple Music as well as Spotify. That's P-E-R-Y,

[00:00:41] M-A-Y, S-I-N, Perry Mason. Thanks, Trace. Love the new music. Peace out.

[00:00:46] Hello, Chop Squad. It's great to be with you as usual and I'm excited for our guest today,

[00:00:52] Helen and Alvin Copeland. They're entrepreneurs, authors and very excited to present them to you

[00:00:58] who are friends that have been in business for a long time and I met them near the beginning

[00:01:02] of my business career. So I'm excited to be able to again, present them to you and

[00:01:08] really share the knowledge and the breadth and depth of their expertise as entrepreneurs.

[00:01:13] Now Helen, she's a dynamic entrepreneur with a background in management and public relations.

[00:01:19] And after working at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, she founded Copeland Communications

[00:01:24] Group or CCG. There she helped others achieve their entrepreneurial goals.

[00:01:30] She's known as the Maven of mentoring and that's true because she did that for me as well.

[00:01:35] Enjoy studying the Bible, visiting museums and hosting tea events. She lives with her husband

[00:01:42] Alvin who you'll meet in a moment here in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. In a moment,

[00:01:46] we'll come back and we'll ask some questions. You're going to hear a little message here.

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[00:02:19] Helen, Alvin, welcome to the business job.

[00:02:22] Thank you, Audrey. We're glad to be here.

[00:02:25] Thank you so much.

[00:02:26] You're welcome. Now, Alvin, I know I gave all this big intro about Helen,

[00:02:29] but I know you're an entrepreneur as well. Tell us about your business.

[00:02:34] Well, the other end of our business we're involved in what I call quality management

[00:02:39] systems. We install, we consult and we do training and basically go into companies of

[00:02:47] various sizes, large and small, and help them set up their system so they can be more quality

[00:02:53] oriented. And we put in processes and then we teach them how to manage those processes.

[00:03:00] And later on, we go back and audit them from time to time.

[00:03:03] And for that, they get certain certifications that many large corporations in our world now

[00:03:11] require companies to have. So I take small companies and large companies into an area where

[00:03:17] it's very restricted unless most of your process is under control.

[00:03:23] Oh, wow. So would this be manufacturing or what kind of business?

[00:03:27] Well, it's manufacturing but it can be any type of company. One of the standards that

[00:03:34] I teach and implement is called ISO 9000. And you've probably seen that on the side of

[00:03:40] buildings, especially automotive plants. It's really big in the Cleveland area because

[00:03:45] Cleveland is a part of the automotive food chain. So yeah, it's for all kinds of companies.

[00:03:51] One of the things that we're going to be doing in the future is helping smaller companies

[00:03:56] achieve some of those standards also that will just give them a more effective company

[00:04:01] operations. Okay, wow. Okay. So that's awesome. So I really appreciate you giving

[00:04:07] that information to us. We have this little real rounded picture of this husband and wife team.

[00:04:13] This is really exciting to just have both spouses, so to speak, are entrepreneurs and

[00:04:21] out there helping others to grow their businesses as well so they can be successful.

[00:04:26] And that's what I like about what you all, the both of you, you do. Maybe different

[00:04:32] industries, but the bottom line is the same. Let's grow. Let's be consistent and you really

[00:04:38] understand how we're serving our constituents as well. So I like that. So let's get started.

[00:04:45] Helen, I know you guys have the book out. So I don't know if you want to hold that up

[00:04:50] and talk about that for a moment because being an entrepreneur is a journey. And some of us

[00:05:00] have been on it for a while. There it is, on your mark. Ready, set, go. Love that.

[00:05:06] And so going forward, we know what we want to do. Some of us have business plans, some do not.

[00:05:13] And it's more to it than just we go into business because we want to help and solve

[00:05:19] this particular problem, whether it's a tangible item or a service. So tell us how

[00:05:27] how you, how the two of you actually, how do you help people, you know, entrepreneurs in that vein?

[00:05:34] Well, first of all, I want to talk about the purpose. And there's purpose number one

[00:05:41] is about 20 years ago, I created a workbook for new entrepreneurs who needed

[00:05:48] assistance in finding a business mentor. So I put together a workbook for them. And as I said,

[00:05:56] it was almost 20 years ago. And to fast forward, I thought about maybe I need to revisit that

[00:06:02] workbook and maybe, you know, do a do-over. Then I thought about it, hey, everybody has

[00:06:07] the internet now they can get access to anything, especially on mentoring. So I said,

[00:06:12] well, I need to kick it up a notch. Write a book. Okay. Wow. And so the workbook from 20

[00:06:20] years ago is a catalyst for me having the current on your mark. We said go moving beyond

[00:06:27] regrets to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. That's a title and then some, isn't it?

[00:06:34] But so, and also I wanted to, the book focus is, you know, we're actually giving a tribute

[00:06:44] to entrepreneurs 50 and older. Excellent. Okay. People that are 50 years and older, maybe

[00:06:53] whatever in their youth, they tried entrepreneurship and it didn't work or whatever the reason.

[00:06:59] But we want them to know that you can hit the reset and do a do-over, you know,

[00:07:05] to revitalize your business. Now, because we can talk about this, Alvin and I, because

[00:07:12] we have a lot to share. Number one and number two, we've been married for 54 years. Wow. Come

[00:07:19] on everybody. That's a blessing. Praise God. Right. And we have, we have been in and out of

[00:07:25] entrepreneurship. Okay. So we have a lot to say and we feel, and more importantly, we know

[00:07:32] we can help a new entrepreneur or an entrepreneur that needs to be, I call it,

[00:07:39] getting beyond being unstuck. Okay. And the second portion of it is,

[00:07:47] the reason that I wrote this book is because of the legacy factor in my family.

[00:07:53] I want to continue the legacy. Now, back in the 1940s, Andre, my great grandmother

[00:08:01] had in essence her own little real estate business going. I mean, she had homes and

[00:08:05] apartments and she rented them out and she collected money, property management and all

[00:08:10] that. So that was the generation that started the real estate back in the 1940s. Her grandson,

[00:08:17] grandson, great-grandsons and great-great-granddaughter are still living as I call it,

[00:08:23] the Lewis legacy of real estate. That's awesome. Yes. Yes. Now I need to complete this thought

[00:08:31] because my uncle would always say, niece, come on, join us and the family real estate business.

[00:08:39] You can make a lot of money. I can hear him. And bless his heart. He chroniced for many years

[00:08:44] and I just kept telling him thanks, but no thanks. I had an entrepreneurial spirit,

[00:08:50] yes, but it was going to go in a different direction. So, and I wanted to add a new

[00:08:56] branch to the family legacy. And that legacy would include me being a business owner,

[00:09:04] public relations and Maven of mentoring. I love that title, Maven of mentoring.

[00:09:09] I love it too. Maven is such a nice Yiddish word meaning expert. So I took that and put

[00:09:15] on my mentoring and Maven hat and I wore it out. But anyway, so what the most important

[00:09:22] thing is that I found that it can be just as rewarding to see that the entrepreneurial spirit

[00:09:28] continues in other unique ways. And by that way, I'm still honoring my grandmother,

[00:09:32] great-grandmother because I'm still honoring her because I've got that entrepreneurial spirit.

[00:09:38] Okay. I just took it in a different direction. And again, it adds a new chapter

[00:09:42] to my family legacy. Yes. Awesome. Alvin, what's your take?

[00:09:49] Well, this legacy that Helen's talking about, it was part of what drove her to want to become

[00:09:59] an entrepreneur. And I have the same situation in my family. I look back and I think about,

[00:10:07] I go back to my grandfather. Create a legacy, he had a business. Now back then, I think we saw

[00:10:16] it was sort of the birth of a business that needed to be sustained by some other types

[00:10:24] of things, but he had a job, but also he had this yearning to start a business.

[00:10:29] So I remember I think back and I go through our legacy and he started a business. Now,

[00:10:34] he had seven children. Wow. So you can imagine trying to start a business and keeping it going

[00:10:42] during that period of time, but he did that. But fast forward, one of his children, my uncle

[00:10:49] had one child, he had seven, but one uncle said, okay, I want to go into business also.

[00:10:56] So I look at his history and that legacy from granddad passed down to him and he started

[00:11:03] a business. Then along came one of his other sons, a second son. That son had five children

[00:11:11] and he did the same thing. He said, I want to start my own business. So that was part of

[00:11:16] his legacy. So now we see from granddad down another generation. And then there was my dad,

[00:11:25] which was one of obviously the grandfather's sons. And I started a business and I could go

[00:11:32] on probably for an hour and talk about the things that drove me to want to be an entrepreneur

[00:11:39] and start a business under some really tough circumstances, but we did it. So that legacy

[00:11:45] went down also. So when you combine Helen's legacy and my legacy of wanting to be an

[00:11:52] entrepreneur, then that's sort of a match made in heaven. There's no way that we could get away

[00:11:58] from that. That's why we sit here now and it's been such a big part of our lives.

[00:12:04] LESLIE KENDRICKS And this is important to our individual histories and to really understand

[00:12:10] like, well, where did I get this thought from or this bug in your genes and you're watching

[00:12:17] osmosis or whatever and seeing the generations before you and what they did and have similar

[00:12:23] experience. All right, thanks Alvin for that overview. That's really important about our

[00:12:27] legacy. Now Helen, going back a little more deeper into what is the motivation for actually

[00:12:32] writing the book? HELEN HALLIGAN Andree, if I were to ask you where do most dreams end up,

[00:12:36] what would be your response? HELLEN HALLIGAN In the grave or just undone.

[00:12:40] HELEN HALLIGAN That's right. That's right. A lot of people don't even think about that

[00:12:45] because, you know, cemeteries are full of unfulfilled dreams. Okay. And I want our

[00:12:52] listeners, you know, to know that their dreams shouldn't end up there. It's important the

[00:12:58] motivation for me writing the book of there's a, you know, this particular aspect of it is

[00:13:05] I began to look at some past regrets and the sense of realizing that they were stumbling

[00:13:11] blocks for me and caused me to be stuck and I wasn't moving forward in a healthy way, Audrey.

[00:13:17] So, for example, I regretted that I hadn't written books or manuscripts, excuse me,

[00:13:24] not manuscripts, but books and or memoirs earlier in my life. And they may have been able to

[00:13:32] help other people, you know, I don't want my regret going with me. My regrets going to

[00:13:39] accompany me to the cemetery. I'll put it that way. Exactly. So, and none of us should,

[00:13:46] you know, I mean, that shouldn't be a goal. So, I had a little exercise when I was dealing with

[00:13:53] my regrets, Audrey, I sat down one day and I wrote them down on a piece of paper. I balled

[00:14:00] them up and I threw them away. Wow. That was very powerful. That was very important because

[00:14:07] remember regrets need not be an indication of failure but a valid reason for a reset.

[00:14:14] Hmm. Okay.

[00:14:21] Yeah, sort of continuing that thought, the words that you use when you talk about starting

[00:14:27] something all over again, doing a reset, people generally think, okay, it is failure.

[00:14:34] I didn't do certain things and what comes with failure is a feeling of guilt.

[00:14:40] And what we've discovered even in writing this book and really looking back, this book has

[00:14:46] really caused us to look back at our history of being an entrepreneur. And we've done so many

[00:14:53] things, so many things that you forget about and things that you struggle through. And

[00:15:00] you look back and say, well, the way we handle that we went in this other direction

[00:15:06] and the way we handled that, we went in a different direction.

[00:15:10] You know what? That's a reset. Okay. You can have multiple resets in your life. In fact,

[00:15:16] once the business is where you think it should be and you want it to be,

[00:15:20] then there's always some other place to go. So that's the point that we wanted to get across

[00:15:25] also with God's help and being knowledgeable of the things of what he has set in your legacy

[00:15:32] that we've just talked about. You realize that, okay, you might be resetting many times in your

[00:15:40] entrepreneurial history, just like you do in your life. So that was another reason for

[00:15:45] the motivation for writing a book. As Helen said earlier, these are things that we've lived

[00:15:51] and sometimes we have to just sit down and reflect on what did we do and how did we do

[00:15:55] it? And oh, that's a reset. Just another way of looking at it. Okay. I like that.

[00:16:02] So what other challenges do you think entrepreneurs experience?

[00:16:05] I think we can look at it this way. Challenges are disruptions.

[00:16:12] Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And I think Helen, she can probably tell you best about a situation

[00:16:18] that we had in the middle of something that we were involved in business where

[00:16:24] she was involved having some problems with an aunt and so forth. So Helen, why don't

[00:16:31] you tell us a little bit about that? Okay. That came at time of a major disruption

[00:16:36] in our business, Andre. I had an aunt who at the time was a retired nurse

[00:16:43] and her husband had died many years before. She had no children and she is a retired nurse,

[00:16:48] but she had these myriad of health issues. So I stepped up. It was just starting off a few

[00:16:53] hours a week and then the next thing was full blown. I'm taking care of everything.

[00:16:58] Caregiver. Yeah. And that went on for three years, okay? And after three years,

[00:17:04] it was time for her to get, I mean she's getting more serious health issues. So it was

[00:17:13] time for her to get into a nursing facility where she could get a 24-7 care. Okay. So

[00:17:18] I did what I could and it was time for me to move on. Okay. Now I had to move from that

[00:17:25] and hit the reset button. I had to get back to my business. Okay. After three years,

[00:17:30] I had to get back into and I wanted to do the PR and so on and so forth. So when you,

[00:17:36] resets can come in a form of family matters. You might have to step out and help someone.

[00:17:42] It could be health issues. It could be financial challenges. There are all kinds of

[00:17:48] disruptions that can be a part of your entrepreneurial journey, but you have to

[00:17:57] keep them moving. You have to make adjustments and you have to do what you have to do.

[00:18:01] Every disruption can be an opportunity to begin a new reset. As Alvin said,

[00:18:05] you can have multiple resets in your life. So we encourage people not to give up.

[00:18:10] If you have to keep hitting that reset every year, do it until you feel that your purpose

[00:18:16] has finally been addressed. And as we sit here as seasoned

[00:18:23] entrepreneurs, it's really important when you talk about encouraging people and they have to

[00:18:29] start over if they just have to pick up where they left off five years ago or whatever that

[00:18:34] it's okay to do that. And that they're not a failure. We aren't failures because life does

[00:18:40] happen and sometimes it's out of our control. Most of the time it's out of our control.

[00:18:45] And then other times it may just be a choice that we have made, but to own up that choice and say,

[00:18:49] okay, that's what I've done. And moving forward, this is really what I want to do.

[00:18:54] Because I do believe that at some point through our life experiences, we end up seeing full

[00:18:59] circles like, this is what I'm supposed to do. And I need to figure out how I'm going

[00:19:03] to get this done and start asking for help. And in the reset, sometimes we go back and

[00:19:08] relearn what we already know, but it has to be a fresh or renewed, so to speak.

[00:19:18] Yeah. To one of your points there, we stress one thing in the book is that you have to take an

[00:19:26] inventory of yourself from time to time. And sometimes it's a situation where

[00:19:33] you find out some things about yourself that on the surface does not look very healthy.

[00:19:39] For example, you might be saying, okay, I put off this really important thing over here

[00:19:47] in favor of this other thing that's not quite as important. And I'm beginning to see a pattern

[00:19:54] in doing that. But sometimes that thing that's not so important is the direction that you

[00:20:00] need to move in. Because that's where your legacy and your background and your talents

[00:20:06] and your skills are guiding you. So sometimes there's a self-evaluation that has to go on.

[00:20:13] So people feel guilty about that sometime because they're chasing down this rabbit hole

[00:20:20] of something that is expected of them by others, where maybe God has given you a

[00:20:27] focus to go in this direction. So you have to be very much aware of yourself. That's a reset.

[00:20:34] That's a major reset. So we've discovered that during our years being in business also.

[00:20:40] Yeah, that's awesome right there for sure. Because a lot of times we have a tendency

[00:20:47] in our insecurity, listen to the voices over here that someone is saying that we should do.

[00:20:56] And we know in our heart of hearts they're wrong. But the struggle, get that ball and chain off

[00:21:02] our ankle. So we can propel forward. We're not reckless with it. There's realities of life.

[00:21:12] There's living and paying bills and all those sorts of things. So sometimes you have to do

[00:21:18] double duty. You have to do multiple things just to keep things together until you arrive

[00:21:25] at the place that you think you need to be. Yeah, absolutely for sure. Now can you offer some

[00:21:31] courses of actions that we can take with talking about this reset and starting over?

[00:21:37] Yeah, there's some specific things we can talk about. I have Helen talk about,

[00:21:41] this is one I never knew about. It was imposter syndrome. Have you ever heard of that,

[00:21:47] Henry? Oh yeah, whatever. I'm the queen of being an imposter.

[00:21:53] Yeah, we all get that one. And I know what, and the people on the outside of us,

[00:21:59] let me get back to you. I'll take you guys brought that up. People don't really see that.

[00:22:04] And sometimes your younger family members might see some of that but they don't understand that

[00:22:10] that's why you're doing it. They just may say, well, you're not really, I see you

[00:22:14] come up with all this great stuff or whatever, but you didn't execute, but they don't know really

[00:22:18] what was behind that not executing. It was the fear, but go ahead. I don't want to take over.

[00:22:23] Go ahead. Yeah, because it's so important to me and instead of trying to grasp it,

[00:22:29] I checked out psychology today. And just for the sake of me getting through this smoothly,

[00:22:36] I'm going to quote what they say. Okay. With regards to imposter syndrome, people who struggle

[00:22:43] with imposter syndrome believe that they are undeserving of their achievements and the high

[00:22:48] esteem in which they are in fact generally held. They feel that they aren't as competent

[00:22:54] or intelligent as others might think. And that's soon enough, people will discover the truth

[00:22:59] about them. Oh, yeah, that's powerful. Isn't that powerful? There's so many people suffering

[00:23:06] from that. I'm like, what? Yeah. Oh, wow. But anyway, that's something that I want people

[00:23:12] to be, first of all, to realize it and not let it become a stronghold in your life.

[00:23:19] Yes. Yes. We're going to pray that up off of us. There's three other things that we

[00:23:25] talk about. Well, there are many things, barriers that we talk about in the book.

[00:23:30] I want to talk a little bit about fear, worry and anxiety. In our book, we call this

[00:23:35] slaying the giants. They're giants because we all suffer from this. And I'll tell you a little bit

[00:23:42] first about, let's just talk a little bit about worry and anxiety. And basically,

[00:23:51] I'll give you an example. Here's what worry will do. It will come to you and it'll say,

[00:23:58] there's a train wreck above coming up. Something coming down the tracks.

[00:24:02] Train wreck means something is going to be destroyed. It's not specific. It doesn't

[00:24:09] tell you what the train wreck is. It doesn't say how fast it's going, where it's going to hit.

[00:24:15] It's just something coming down the road and you're listening to that. And we listen to

[00:24:20] that every night on the news, right? Right. The train wreck coming. OK. But then what happens is

[00:24:28] there's something that's called anxiety sets up inside of us.

[00:24:31] Anxiety becomes the expression of the train wreck coming. The anxiety is in your mind and you

[00:24:39] start to kind of summarize in your mind, this is what this train wreck is going to be.

[00:24:45] This is specifically what's going to happen. And you begin to take ownership of it.

[00:24:51] And when you take ownership of it, what happens, it becomes a real barrier in your life.

[00:24:58] And now you have fulfilled the mission of a lie that the worry created in your mind.

[00:25:07] Also as human, we're going to worry sometimes, some of us. But I remember something that I read

[00:25:13] many years ago and it's still in my spirit. It says, worry is like sitting in a rocking

[00:25:19] chair. It gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. Hello. Absolutely.

[00:25:27] But anyway, there's a chapter on slaying the giants. That's a very powerful chapter. OK.

[00:25:34] All of them are powerful, but that's there's something that all of us humans

[00:25:38] deal with all of these. These are giants and we have to slay those giants.

[00:25:42] Yes, we do. Yeah. And if we need help doing it, please let's ask for help.

[00:25:48] Trusted friend or like you, we need a maven of mentoring

[00:25:56] or a master of mentoring. We're laughing, but that is so true.

[00:26:02] How can we get your book? You can get our book by going to

[00:26:08] onyourmarkresetgo.com. OK. And that would be very great. A good step.

[00:26:16] And also we'd like for him to fill out the contact page and leave a comment about the

[00:26:20] you know, about the podcast. And if I may, Andre, there is one thing that I think is very

[00:26:25] powerful, a concluding thought that I have. OK. And it's something I call

[00:26:32] valuing the visceral. That means that you go with your first gut feeling, your instinct or

[00:26:39] hunch when you're an entrepreneur. Here's a scene. It was back 20, 25 years ago when

[00:26:46] when General Colin Powell came to Cleveland. He came to talk to youth organizations.

[00:26:53] Now, as a maven of mentoring, if I wanted to get contracts, I'd better get down there

[00:27:01] to the event. And some of my colleagues said they are not going to go. You know,

[00:27:05] they're very negative. And I said, oh, that surprised me that they were negative, you know.

[00:27:10] But anyway, I stepped on it faith. Trust in my gut. And while there, I was sitting on a

[00:27:17] table by myself and up walks two women. We introduced, you know, we all exchange cards

[00:27:24] and, you know, and and introduced ourselves and so on and so forth. One of the ladies said to me,

[00:27:30] I mean, this is divinely orchestrated. We're here because we need someone to set up and manage

[00:27:40] our our mentoring program. Wow. Keep that thought in mind. OK. Now, you know, a lot of us have

[00:27:47] heard of Cedric the entertainer. Mm hmm. He says you got to risk it to get the biscuit.

[00:27:53] So my biscuit, it was my faith in needing to be there for that Colin Powell event.

[00:28:01] The fact that I was going in alone only serves to demonstrate that entrepreneurs,

[00:28:06] you know, sometimes, you know, entrepreneurship is often a lonely road to travel.

[00:28:11] What I want to do is let let the listening audience know that because I stepped out in

[00:28:17] faith and went with my gut, I eventually received a hefty mentoring contract. So,

[00:28:24] ladies and gentlemen, please, please value your visceral. Go with your gut,

[00:28:30] your gut feeling, your instinct or hunch. That's what I wanted to say.

[00:28:34] Very awesome. Thank you. We appreciate that. So how can we get in touch with you?

[00:28:39] Otherwise your social media channel or how can we?

[00:28:43] Well, we are. Yeah, we are sassy senior citizens, but we have to get a little more savvy. OK.

[00:28:52] All right. The tech diva will take care of you.

[00:28:57] We got to get with the program.

[00:28:58] But go to the website. The website is there.

[00:29:01] Yes. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Please. You know,

[00:29:04] plug into the website and, you know, pull out the contact form.

[00:29:07] Just think of Helen. Just ask for. Yeah. So thank you guys again. And Chop Squad,

[00:29:12] you have your marching orders as usual. And it's very important, you know, the work that Helen

[00:29:18] and Alvin have done over the years and culminating into a book for entrepreneurs new or, you know,

[00:29:25] some of those are still on that road. So thanks again. Appreciate you guys.

[00:29:30] Thank you for having us. Bye bye.

[00:29:42] And review is much appreciated to go deeper with our guests. Please visit their website

[00:29:47] and social channels to learn more about us. Please visit business shop.info or all together

[00:29:53] that is where we will help you expand your brand.