Sylvia Scott Teaser 00:00

Mastering your mind, that to me, I think is so key anymore because we have so much stuff going on. And so many things happening on social media that aren't so great. People cutting each other down, people doing this, doing that.

Intro 00:18

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you, precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:44

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and we're doing something a little bit different this year with some of our episodes. We're repurposing some of our favorite episodes around specific topics related to entrepreneurship. This month we're focusing on entrepreneurship and community. Us, we, our, together and we're gonna look at entrepreneurship and industries in different types of entrepreneurship and ultimately what that really means. But we're also gonna delve deeper into the importance of community, networking, niche communities and how that supports being a CEO, entrepreneur, and business owner. So sit back. and enjoy these special episodes around entrepreneurship and community.

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest back on the show. I have Sylvia Scott of Girls CEO connection. Sylvia, always a pleasure to have you on the show.

Sylvia Scott 01:31

Oh, thank you, Gresham. I'm excited to be here. I'm always excited to be talking to you, and I'm especially excited this time because this is women's entrepreneurship. And my book is coming out.

Gresham Harkless 01:42

Yes, absolutely. Definitely, an action-packed month to say the least. There are so many great things that I know that you do for women entrepreneurs and of course your book and all the awesome things that we're good to cover a little bit on the, on the show. Before we do that, of course, I wanted to read a little bit more about Sylvia so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Sylvia R.J. Scott has dedicated her career to empowering up-and-coming female professionals all over the world. She is the founder of Girls CEO Connection, and a creator of numerous educational initiatives designed to teach, motivate and prepare young women for successful entrepreneurial careers.

Through her book, Realizing a Vision your Toolkit for Success, words of Wisdom for young female entrepreneurs, mentoring programs, presentations, and events, Sylvia shares stories, advice and skill building pearls women everywhere can use to build their futures. A natural born connector with a keen talent for bringing out the best in others. Sylvia was named one of DataBird's Business Journal's, most inspiring Female Entrepreneurs in 2019, and she served as an e-mentor with the Institute for Economic Empowerment in Kabul, Afghanistan, and as a virtual business consultant for Coachella Women's Business Center in California, and of course, she was a guest on episode number 1209 of our podcast as well too. So Sylvia, love having you back on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Sylvia Scott 02:59

I really am. Thank you.

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Gresham Harkless 03:01

Absolutely. Well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. I know I touched on it, but hear a little bit more about what you've been able to do and what you have definitely packed in your book as well.

Sylvia Scott 03:12

Okay. The idea actually came for self-empowering young women back in 1997, but I turned it into entrepreneurship after 2003 when I was conference manager for the Women's Leadership Exchange. And I saw how dynamic and how strong women entrepreneurs were. And the self-commonness they had, and I could see that in young women and that by being an entrepreneur, that really made a difference in the young women that I met. So I thought the great thing is, I was gonna start with a conference, which was fine, but then after we did a couple of them and the girls wanted more and I developed a team board. We decided to change it from just not only doing conferences, but doing mentoring, coaching interviewing women, or now it's younger women entrepreneurs on YouTube, putting them on the website so girls can hear what they have to say about starting and growing their businesses. Then we turn those into podcasts.

I have a teen board of which I'm looking for new young women ambassadors now because the others have graduated from my school that are in college. It's always great to have them. In fact, I had a great editorial team of girls from Chicago that helped edit the book, Realizing a Vision your Toolkit for Success. And so they really got in helping over like two years actually of working with me on the book. I had girls in California that helped with it. So what I've done with the business is trying to get as many young females that are interested in entrepreneurship, involved in entrepreneurship now involved in what they would like to learn or see expand on. We're gonna be doing a little bit more with coaching on communication skills. So that's where we're headed. And now that the pandemic is over, I'm hoping to give back to doing live conferences because you know how much teenagers don't like Zoom. Zoom conference is not for teenagers, so I wanna get back to the end real-life conferences that we do at a university that is appealing or you want the girls to go to if they wanna go to college.

Hopefully in the next couple of cases, good three or four months to plan it, get a new conference going, and that's where we bring in entrepreneurs that girls get a chance to meet, that they become role models. But we talk about specific topics, all of the soft skills, and that's what the book is about, soft skills that make women famous. And that's what they've told me. They're soft skills. They may have a great business plan, know how to do things, they know how to their financials, but they're gonna tell you something Gresham, especially for women, if you don't have your soft skills down, that can throw you totally off. You cannot act like a man in business when you're a woman entrepreneur. There are skills that you need to develop that will take your business further than you ever expected, as well as yourself in the community.

Gresham Harkless 06:24

Yeah, absolutely. So, I wanted to drill down a little bit more into your book. I know we touched on a little bit. I think you mentioned some of the things that were there. Could you tell us a little bit more on what we can find in your book and all the awesomeness that you have there?

Sylvia Scott 06:35

Okay. So the book has 10 chapters and it's broken down to starting with your passion and the importance of passion and taking your passion and turning it into a business. Some of the examples I use are girls that did take their passion turned into a business. They didn't let somebody change it. They didn't let somebody, say, well, that's nice, but this is what I think you should be doing. Then there's a couple of stories about girls that came up, they had a great passion, but then they weren't able to take that exact passion, say to be a ballet. That exact passion is because of something that happened. So what could they take as far as a passion for ballet and turn it into a business, developing the leadership within and not being afraid. And so I have a chapter on mastering your mind because if you can't master your mind, you can't master your business or your life.

Gresham Harkless 07:32 Right.

Sylvia Scott 07:32

And as I wrote that chapter about not losing your temper, stepping back, and thinking.

Gresham Harkless 07:39

Nice. Yeah. I love that. And especially your ability, and it might even be part of the secret sauce, I guess, of the book, is being able to kind of blend each of those aspects because it does not just sound like it's not just the words of wisdom, the nuggets as I like to call them, but you also have the activities. It sounds like you have real stories, so it's not just you saying these things. It actually has things that have manifested itself in interactions that you've had or been able to do. It sounds like you've been able to blend all of those aspects into the book so that people can, of course, the young women can, of course, hit the ground running.

Sylvia Scott 8:11

Right. That's it because I do, I have interviewed some of the young women entrepreneurs, and then the women that started the alternative hair color company, manic panic, their crazy colors back in the punk days of the seventies are still in business. And they come up with, you know, they're in a story about, being persistent and not giving up and just keeping moving forward.

Gresham Harkless 08:38

Right. That makes sense. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Sylvia Scott 08:50

I think now after writing the book and I'm looking at everything that I put in it, it's making me really look at how I act, how I respond, and by taking those nuggets out of the book and applying it to myself, that's really made a difference as well as realizing you always say you can't do it by yourself. I think too many women try to do things by themselves. Well, this is what I learned and what I will hold onto. I had a teen editorial board the girls from Chicago and having them involved and listening to them, and this is what I really got into more that I'd like to say is listening more and hearing what other people had to say and their input and asking more questions and keeping precise notes. That's making me more efficient, and I've just run into that again too. It's like I have to pay attention and listen and not let my mind wander and take notes and then ask more questions so that I know that I'm on top of things. That means I have less problems with having to run back and look at my emails and say, wait, wait, somebody said this. Wait, wait, wait. You know, stop wasting time and putting it all in a notebook now. I learned this from writing the book, but listening to what the girls had to say and other people now, and taking precise notes, that's keeping me to be more productive. And I would say that for anybody. Listen, listen, listen. And ask, ask, ask.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

Yeah. I love that. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO Nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I would love it if it's something, a chapter or maybe your top nugget that you feel like you have written in your book that we can all learn from or even young women can learn from, but do you have a CEO nugget that that would be extremely impactful that you've covered in your book?

Sylvia Scott 10:52

I think mastering your mind. That to me, I think is so key anymore because we have so much stuff going on. And so many things happening on social media that aren't so great, people cutting each other down, people doing this, doing that. But thinking to myself, just mastering what's happening in my mind and not taking everything so personal and stepping back from what's happened on social media, what's happening around the world, and not taking everything so personal because it's not your fault. A lot of these things just aren't your fault. They're not my fault. And I have finally learned that it's not my fault all the time. And so by writing the book, but leaning at mastering your mind and not jumping off the edge all at once because somebody says something to me that hits me the wrong way, boy, I usually just jump at everything. Now it's just stepping back and think, okay, what does this mean? Or so I didn't care  about it, maybe it's just there. It's taking my mind away from something I should be paying attention to, and so mastering my mind. Mastering your mind is something I think is really, really important.

Gresham Harkless 12:17

Awesome. Awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is a definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote and quote, CEOs on this show. But from the Girls Connection CEO founder, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you, Sylvia

Sylvia Scott 12:30

Engage and power, encouraging and motivating others to accomplish the vision for your business or the vision for themselves, Your vision yourself. But then also it means independence and responsibility. And I think of what goes along with the engaging and the empowering, but then with the responsibility is when you look at your team as a CEO instead of saying, oh, I need another person for this, or We need this, or we need that. Look within your team and see what nuggets are there, and what's hidden gems are in your team members, and when you find those, develop it, and motivate it within your team members before you go to the outside, because chances are there are people there that have the talents and the skills that you need. You just haven't seen them yet.

Being a CEO means to find them and bring them out and help them, develop them. And that way you still have your team, but they're expanding into new areas. So that's one thing that I think of being a CEO and creating that environment where you can find that, where they can learn and where they can grow together no matter how long they've been together. But finding those little hidden gems, expertise in your team members and then the environment to help it grow. That's, to me being a CEO.

Gresham Harkless 13:57

Absolutely. Well, Sylvia, truly appreciate that definition. I, of course, appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best people can get ahold of you, find out about their organization, get a copy of the book, find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Sylvia Scott 14:17

The book will be on Amazon and the link to Amazon will also be on our website, girlsceoconnection.com. There's a page about realizing a vision. There's a page on the book, and the Girls CEO Connection is https:www.girlsceoconnection.com. And we're on Instagram, Facebook group, Pinterest. I'm gonna start doing more. Well, we've got several videos and doing more videos. One thing, if you know a young entrepreneur, a young woman entrepreneur that you would like me to know about, please send me an email at sylviagirlsceoconnection.com and send me their website and even if it's you, go ahead and do that because I'm looking for you, more young women entrepreneurs to interview. They go on YouTube, they go on our website, video page, and we turn it into a podcast. A lot of times I'll do a blog post on it. But it's a great way for others to learn from them.

Gresham Harkless 15:19

Nice. Very, very exciting. I definitely appreciate all the awesome work that you're doing. Obviously, with the time that you took today. We will have the links and information in the show notes and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Sylvia Scott 15:28

Thank you. Thank you so much, Gresham. I really appreciate being on the show today as always. But this is especially great with the women's entrepreneurship one.

Outro 15:36

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Get your driven CEO gear at ceogear.co. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blue16media.com. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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