Bringing Your Soul Values Into The Workplace: The Ruby Hour With Hope Caldwell
Have you ever had that moment where you're stuffing your face with Nutella and Ritz crackers during a His Dark Materials binge-fest, and then one of those horrific starving children in Africa commercials comes on?
You look down, spoonful of Nutella trembling in-hand, and you have that moment where you feel like an utter and absolute asshole? If you've ever felt that pang of oh-my-gosh-what-am-i-doing-with-my-life-i' m-such-a-cold-hearted-lizard, I made this episode just for you.
Meet your new girl crush and today's podcast guest, Hope Caldwell. Founder of KLH Group here in Charleston, Hope is an advocate for bringing your soul back into the workspace (and especially corporate Fortune 500 workspace.)
This woman gets CEOs of multibajillion dollar organizations to put their hands in the dirt (literally) one half of the day, and then on the other half of the day throws the most baller 5-star gala event you've ever been to in your life.
In this episode, get ready to be liberated from the old "martyrdom thinking" that you have to take a vow of poverty to be a soulful person - and step into the truth: that you need to be wildly successful so you can radically bless and serve the things that light your heart on fire (and have your Nutella, too.)
Bringing Your Soul Values Into The Workplace: The Ruby Hour Podcast With Hope Caldwell
Low on time? Jump to the sections of the episode that appeal to you!
1:15 How did you get started in Charleston?
2:30 Social Responsibility / An “Aha!” moment on a trip in East Africa
5:45 A 5 Star Approach To Social Responsibility
8:15 building a business creates sustainable waves
10:40 Get your sincerity level at the door (It makes all the difference)
12:00 How do you balance holiday stress and running your business?
14:40 Hope’s Journey of international adoption Donor eggs, biological childbirth, adoption: How to maneuver the “normal” terrains of options of building your family
19:45 Am I less than a woman if I’m not biologically able to conceive?
23:30 Infertility shaming // Infertility Street Cred
27:10 tips for balancing saying no to clients // how to stop running a fear based business
29:46 How to set boundaries with clients. // Having your clients “happening” to you versus you proactively working with clients
32:04 setting yourself up for success for 2020 How to balance the present with future planning?
35:45 Celebrate your weekly wins with your teams. Reflect on your wins
37:25 How do you attract like-minded people to join your company?
41:03 how to find high-caliber clients you’d LOVE to work with
44:00 how to balance marketing and sales
45:00 how to cultivate a culture of generosity // how to connect with soul values in corporate events
49:45 What’s been rocking your world personally?
53:00 rocking corporate company culture through street art
57:00 appealing to millennials and attracting high caliber talent
Full Episode Transcription
Shelby Ring:
So thank you so much for tuning in for another session of The Ruby Hour. I'm your host Shelby Ring and I have the amazing Hope Caldwell with me today.
Hope Caldwell:
Hello.
Shelby Ring:
I've been looking forward to this for so long. Hope is the founder of the KLH Group. They specialize in corporate event planning and bringing meaning to events, which I love this and I have heard hope speak so many times and every time I'm like, "I'm implementing the 5% to my business. I'm implementing all these principles." So, I'm so thrilled to have you here.
Hope Caldwell:
Thank you.
Shelby Ring:
Thank you for taking the time. For people that are just hearing about you or meeting you for the first time, how did you get started in your line of work?
Hope Caldwell:
I originated from New England, Boston Mass, and moved to Charleston, South Carolina to be a horse drawn carriage tour driver.
Shelby Ring:
What?
Hope Caldwell:
Yes. I got my permitting and drove carriages, and background went to school for hospitality. I knew I wanted to be in the hospitality industry. But I loved history and so moved here to be a tour guide and quickly recognized that being behind a horse in August in Charleston was not-
Shelby Ring:
Oh my gosh.
Hope Caldwell:
... the most appealing thing in the world. So switched over to event production and destination management quickly after, with a wonderful company based in Charleston, and Spent about 12 years doing that out at Kiawah Island. Then started this company in 2016 about eight months after we brought our son home from China.
Shelby Ring:
Awesome. Oh my gosh. I would've never associated like, "Hope had her roots in carriage tour guiding."
Hope Caldwell:
No one does that.
Shelby Ring:
That is so awesome.
Hope Caldwell:
But it served me so well. I have since traded in my carriage for a golf cart, and I take clients around all day, every day, showcasing our city to clients who want to come and experience Charleston as a destination.
Shelby Ring:
That is awesome.
Hope Caldwell:
So it really has served me well.
Shelby Ring:
That's beautiful. Oh my gosh. Okay. So I want to dive in really quick into the social impact of what you do.
Hope Caldwell:
Yes.
Shelby Ring:
I don't know of any other companies here locally that do this so beautifully. Walk me through what was the connection and what does that mean, of bringing meaning to events and the social impact?
Hope Caldwell:
It started in 2012, my husband and I served on our first mission trip to East Africa. I loved it, and if you've ever been to Africa it gets under your skin. So, homecoming was really tough because I was working in a five star property, but my heart to serve was with the underserved. I left my heart in Africa. I always joke that if I wasn't married, I would have moved there. But I quickly realized when I came home, well it took a couple of years, I can't say quickly, but I did realize that I could do a lot more good here than I could there for the masses.
Hope Caldwell:
I started to just get quiet and try to understand what my higher power wanted for me after that experience. What I started to see was a trend in the event industry where there were clients, some of our clients who were really interested and had the heart to serve, they just didn't have the opportunity to serve. So I started to test the theory and sure enough, it became, these events that we started doing where we implemented community service, became the heartbeat of a program and became what our clients were talking about and requesting again and again.
Hope Caldwell:
It's really the heart of the KLH Group and the reason we started it was because we believe the event industry really needed new life. For me, in order to stay in an industry like this, I needed to have life in it. And so, our social impact events breathe life into programs, not all of them, but for those clients and companies that are requesting social responsibility and requiring it really, of both their team members and within their business model. We offer a way to meet all of your responsibility through events.
Shelby Ring:
Wow.
Shelby Ring:
So you combined, because I just love this visual of what I think you do and feel free to correct me of how I visualize this happening. But you guys put on these impeccable, amazing galas; the caliber of events those of us in the event industry so admire and revel in. But then you're also taking these CEOs and these very high powered people and you're getting their hands in the mud working on projects. They're rebuilding housing. Walk me practically into what has some of that social impact literally looked like?
Hope Caldwell:
There's one company, it was our first real company who took a chance on us and I'll forever be grateful. But we had a pilot program called the clubhouse challenge, and they saw the video and they said, "Hell, yeah we want to do." Actually they said, "We want to do 20 of these." And I was like, "Oh, I don't think I can do that. We'll do 10." And so, it was 150 guests and in all of our events, they have to have a high level five-star approach to them because that's the expectation. So they all have great lighting, great linens, great music, great [inaudible 00:06:21], great food, all of it, with a community component.
Hope Caldwell:
So we brought this group to a venue, outdoors. Music was playing, it was just awesome. And there was a bunch of kids that were there. Prior to the guests arriving, I was able to share with them on their general session stage the importance of social responsibility and how cool their company was for implementing it, and how special they were as employees and as team members. It was all leadership so it comes from the top. But I got to share with them before they got to the event, the 10 kids that they were benefiting and each of those children were battling their fight with pediatric cancer.
Hope Caldwell:
So when the guests arrived, they knew their kiddo story and shoulder to shoulder alongside them, they built a clubhouse in about two and a half hours that this kiddo could bring home with them and live hopefully a long happy life. Some of our kiddos in the past few years have passed away but their siblings have been able to remember that day and get to play in the clubhouse where their sibling got to play. This specific client really, really loved the event so much so that they keep coming back year after year. So this is going to be hopefully your five next year.
Hope Caldwell:
So yeah, it's really special but the event itself is so high energy. We make sure it's high energy and we make sure it's under three hours because that's the attention span.
Shelby Ring:
Yes.
Hope Caldwell:
But we make sure there's something deliverable at the end for a specific community.
Shelby Ring:
I just remember tearing up that when I you shared the video of that in that project. That's like I'll never forget that. That's the most beautiful work of how do we make... I know for me my background is I did go to ministry school and I thought I wanted to be a missionary, and I thought that was my modality, that I would introduce change into the world. Then I would love the hell out of people and be able to be a presence. Through whatever journey, I now really believe that through building a business, it creates serious sustainable waves through community.
Hope Caldwell:
Oh yeah.
Shelby Ring:
In the way that I can offer it. Even if we're small. I know back in, I think 2017, you did the talk om I believe it was the 5% right?
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah.
Shelby Ring:
Okay. So I implemented that in my wedding videography business. We were babies but every quarter we picked a different local charity or circumstance that had happened. So, my favorite server at Page's Okra Grill was in a car accident and she was debilitated. They had to go fund me. She was our quarterly cause of our taking out... we weren't big, but just setting aside a piece of our profits for reinvesting back in our community. So it's like just, I love the heartbeat of what you do is it's like, it's not that you have to be not a prosperous business to make beautiful grassroots change.
Shelby Ring:
And the way that the system you've set up supports these incredible leaders and connects them to that heartbeat of that family who is going through a really challenging time. It's like that's just mind blowing to me and I love that.
Hope Caldwell:
Well, it's funny on that. I struggle with that though because, when I came home from Africa, I wanted to change everything. I wanted to make the world better but when I sat with that, I realized that what I learned there, I feel like they're doing it so well. The community in specifically Uganda, I learned so much from them on their level of happy with so very little, that when I came home I realized like it doesn't have to be grand gestures. And when we walked through our international adoption with our son, same thing. I saw a crisis of, the orphan crisis in China and I wanted to fix it. Why couldn't I?
Hope Caldwell:
But where I feel like God has had me is that we changed it for one human, and that's enough, and being okay with that being enough. And so when I share with my clients before they walk into one of our events, is I make sure they check their sincerity. Because when you walk in and you're just going through the motion, these kids can feel it.
Shelby Ring:
Wow.
Hope Caldwell:
They know it.
Shelby Ring:
Yeah. For sure.
Hope Caldwell:
They can feel it. Everybody can feel it. But when you walk in with a sincerity level, it just brings, it's grace that's moving from person to person. And when your sincerity level is up here, that grace just moves and moves and moves and that is a freaking memorable event. That's what people who leave remember.
Shelby Ring:
So cool. I love it. Yes. So we're in the holiday season right now, and I just wanted to get your true sense of, what have been things for you along your journey and in your business, I know there's several people that are in your company and so just being a founder, being somebody that's growing an organization, how do you balance when you are being pulled in a number of different directions, what does that look like in your life?
Hope Caldwell:
I'm not doing it well, especially this season.
Shelby Ring:
Oh, pinching to the choir.
Hope Caldwell:
Oh, goodness gracious. I wish I was, but I know how I want to be doing this. I think that when I have the time, when I make the time, I should say, to stay high level, that's when I can pour into my team members much better into my-
Shelby Ring:
Break down, what is high level?
Hope Caldwell:
You know the saying, what is the saying? Even though you should, or no, even though you can doesn't mean you should.
Shelby Ring:
Yes.
Hope Caldwell:
I think I have to be practicing that a lot more because as a founder, I naturally know how to plan events. I've been doing it for gosh, 15 years, but that doesn't mean I should be doing that. And I think because I have such a capable team who can do this work, probably actually I know better than me at this point, I have a responsibility to stay high level. What I mean by high level is not getting into the nitty gritty and the details of an event unless I own it and it's mine.
Hope Caldwell:
If I'm able to stay high level on sales and marketing on supporting my team members, on making sure our... everything's in check for everything they need within the office. I don't know, even filling up their gas tank or delivering the golf cart to where they need it. Those are nitty gritty, but that's high level to me because I'm supporting a team member who's working directly with the client.
Shelby Ring:
I love that.
Hope Caldwell:
Planning out 2020, what does the scheduling look like? Where are we overlapping? Where might we need more help? All of those details that are not getting done right now by the way.
Shelby Ring:
Yes, yes, yes.
Hope Caldwell:
All on my head, because we're in the grind. So I think that that, and the holiday season is really important to me with my family. I have a five-year-old who I just want to live out the holidays through his eyes and make that margin and make that time and set it aside for them. So, just prioritizing both of those during this season and remembering what the whole season is about.
Shelby Ring:
Can I ask you, with your journey of adoption, how was that process? I ask from a stance of my own personal reality and I know that I have a community of people around me, I was born without any eggs genetically. So this is something that's very relevant for me of the world of which route do you go, and really evaluating the model of different families and family structure in today's day and age. So that being the context, what was your journey?
Hope Caldwell:
So our journey is unique, just like anybody's journey. But Ken and I, my husband had seen the magnitude of the need worldwide, and we both agreed that we wanted to give a kiddo an opportunity to live in the United States that didn't have the opportunity yet. That was a pretty easy decision for us. Country of origin was a really tough decision. Really tough.
Shelby Ring:
Oh my gosh, how do you even start thinking and choosing?
Hope Caldwell:
I knew, I thought I knew that I wanted our baby to come from Africa, because it was in my skin, it was just where I wanted that to be and for a lot of different reasons, that was not our path. So when we agreed on China, it took a few months of us really getting real with ourselves about what we wanted. I think that one of the hardest parts about the process for us was eventually moving into a place to ask what was best for our future child. That was the first, I think, experience as parents, putting our future child's needs before our own.
Hope Caldwell:
That was really interesting but it took months of discussion and arguing and some pretty rough conversations. So, when we finally chose China, it got harder. Because then the process started and then when we finally about six months into the process, we were given Liam's referral photograph, and then it got even harder. Because now we knew we accepted a son, but now we knew he was alive and growing. And he celebrated his first birthday in an orphanage. We missed out on a lot but we chose to take the perspective of, we get to experience so much more soon. It took everything in my body to not fly there and just meet him. But it made it that much sweeter when we did.
Hope Caldwell:
So we decided to go the medical special needs route, and our little dude was close to never walking, so they say, and developmentally delayed. When we met him, he took his first steps for us in China, and he is now trilingual and smarter than Ken and I put together at five years old.
Shelby Ring:
Wow. It's so awesome.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah. So a lot of prayer and a lot of just constantly turning it over, but it is not for the faint of heart. It's a hard process, but so is having a baby biologically. I don't know what that feels like and I can't imagine it's easy.
Shelby Ring:
Well, and then the other route of donor eggs and the journey of infertility and will it take and all that whole world. It's like, whatever your course, you'll have your treasure hid along the away.
Hope Caldwell:
That's right. Yeah. And just trying to make the best yes when you can and I think in order to do that you just have to get quiet. So constantly making margin to be quiet and hearing, okay, what route am I supposed to take? I imagine we're very similar where I try to force things. I want things to go my way and when I was told that, "No, there is a 1% chance that you could have a baby biologically." I was like, "Well, okay, what's the next plan?" But I think over the years I've had to mourn that loss of that process, of not being able to have a biological child. And I'm fine with it like it was...
Hope Caldwell:
But because I was onto the next thing in my way or the highway I didn't necessarily mourn that loss until many years later. And now we have a very healthy child and I'm so thankful. But the process itself really changes you.
Shelby Ring:
Did you have in your journey that sense of... Did you ever have like something that has been a part of my process is, the am I truly feminine if I'm this fundamental woman ability to create quote life, and I struggled for a long time around, am I less of a woman, because... There's something fundamentally, I'm not as capable as what should be. Did you ever have any of that piece of the journey of-
Hope Caldwell:
I'm the youngest of seven kids and my mom obviously was plenty fertile.
Shelby Ring:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hope Caldwell:
For luck of a better word.
Shelby Ring:
For sure, yes.
Hope Caldwell:
But both my sisters went through infertility or fertility, one couldn't conceive and then the other had a little girl after eight rounds of in vitro. In high school, I had a crazy autoimmune issue where I was left in a wheelchair for about a year.
Shelby Ring:
Wow.
Hope Caldwell:
And, I think I always knew that I wasn't going to be able to conceive because of that issue with my spine and the autoimmune. I think I knew that my body would never be able to handle it and then after seeing my sisters and what they went through, I was fearful of fertility and I just always from a very early age knew that I was going to adopt. I don't know. To answer your question, I never felt less of a woman, but it's very curious. Considering my mom and all of her kids, and then all of us girls' conditions, if you will, for lack of a better term. So, I just feel like it is what it is. It's the way it's supposed to be and yeah.
Shelby Ring:
Yeah. It is such a journey and I feel like the moment that I connect with other women, regardless of whatever their process was with that, I just feel like it is such a gift.
Shelby Ring:
Truly.
Hope Caldwell:
Yes.
Shelby Ring:
And I like to phrase it as, I was gifted with premature ovarian failure at 19. That has been something that has been a huge source of strength because it's a catalyst to evaluate what I think, what are the beliefs I have, that I'm using to consider myself valid or enough and really getting through so many superficial elements of how we establish ourselves as just humans. And I think that's suffering, that's suffering to me. My family has suffered a lot and a lot of different journeys. Whether it's through adoption or fertility or alcoholism or broken marriages.
Shelby Ring:
There's a lot of suffering and all along the way, I continue to get pulled out from that and I continue to have this, we call it redemptive remembering. Being able to say, I see, I see the path here. I see where my higher power had me in this place to grow. So, I'm thankful for the scars in a way because it's created this new journey and it's like, okay. But it's really hard when you're in it. When I was told I couldn't have a baby, the last thing I wanted to do was hear somebody say, it's God's will. Fuck off.
Hope Caldwell:
Or the classic, like, "Oh, you know what? Miracles can happen.
Shelby Ring:
That's right. It's last thing you want to hear.
Shelby Ring:
All the things that people are trying to say to... and they mean it genuinely.
Hope Caldwell:
I totally agree. But then it's like, okay, well then it's given me a place to be able to pour into other women who are either on the mission field or who are going through adoption or fertility or alcoholism or... All of these, it feels like a demographic of people. It gives you street cred. You're like, I'm no stranger to suffering. I'm no stranger to facing your own inner, some people might call it demons or your own inner... your journey. It makes me think of one family. So my husband on our wedding day found out he had a brain cyst.
Shelby Ring:
On your wedding day, he figured this out?
Hope Caldwell:
on our wedding day.
Shelby Ring:
What?
Hope Caldwell:
Yes. In front of 200 people.
Shelby Ring:
What?
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, had it had an episode on the alter. Yeah, got carried out and we were down in the church basement. We went to our reception because, what do you do? I had no idea.
Shelby Ring:
Did he go to the reception?
Hope Caldwell:
He did go to the reception.
Shelby Ring:
Okay, so he had this experience.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah.
Shelby Ring:
And then he was like, well that was weird.
Hope Caldwell:
No, no, no. He didn't remember any of it. He just came to the next day.
Shelby Ring:
So wait, was he functioning around at the reception?
Hope Caldwell:
We danced.
Hope Caldwell:
We danced our first dance and-
Shelby Ring:
What?
Hope Caldwell:
I know it's a big deal. I think this year alone I have gotten to the point where that is no longer our story. We are no longer, thank goodness and I wouldn't share it otherwise, but we are no longer identifying who we are because of that in our marriage. But yeah, it was monumental.
Shelby Ring:
For sure.
Hope Caldwell:
And four months later found the system, his brain when he stopped walking and talking, had a pretty big brain surgery, big brain surgery and then recovery. And or was I going with that, oh, oh, back to the suffering and being able to pour into families. A part of our delivery of clubhouses. So some of these kiddos that we identify with and partner with, one specific had a brain tumor and woke up and couldn't walk, couldn't talk. And so I got to deliver one of the clubhouses to his family, and his mom was there and she and I just connected over the brain and how difficult it is to hear this and to be told that there's not a lot anybody can do except wait and see and do therapy. That was a lot of what we went through.
Hope Caldwell:
I feel like God has given me these stories and these instances to be able to pour into people our beneficiaries to and their families. It's almost like a ministry in a way, I guess.
Shelby Ring:
It sounds exactly a ministry.
Hope Caldwell:
I know, but it's like a job. It's so great. But those stories are what we're able to go back to our clients and share, and say, "You know what? It's not about building a clubhouse. It's about what these families get to experience and the care that they get to get and the communication and the connection that you are giving them through these events." Crazy, right?
Shelby Ring:
Yes. So tying into this time of year and knowing how to maneuver all of the... I know for so many of us we're interacting with family and I know there's that quote, "Oh, I'm totally going to butcher it." It's like a great yogi that was like, "If you think you've mastered your inner reality, go spend a week with your family."
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, if you think you're enlightened.
Shelby Ring:
Yes. And so in the midst of, I'm sure so many people listening are feeling, maybe pull in a lot of different directions I know that I feel that, on the regular, what are some things that have helped you in your life, maneuver the terrain of when to say no and not associate it with guilt. What's your journey with that?
Hope Caldwell:
I struggle with that. No surprise as well, but I'm getting better at it. I'm getting better at making the right yeses and saying no to the right things. I think where I struggle the most is probably with clients because I have now identified that it's fear based decision making. Fear-based, what if the money's not there? What if the clients are not there? Because there was a time where it wasn't. Sure as an entrepreneur and a business owner, there was a time where I didn't have any clients and I didn't have any money. But that's no way to run a business, fear-based.
Hope Caldwell:
And so I'm getting better at recognizing when I say yes and when I say no, not out of fear, but it requires a ton of presence and a ton-
Shelby Ring:
How do you maneuver that? How do you maneuver, can you feel when the fear based thinking, what does that feel like practically for you or how do you maneuver?
Hope Caldwell:
My husband is a really good sounding board for me. I'm able to call, and because he walked with me through those times, and be able to say this out loud and receive feedback of like, hey, you're probably spiraling. You probably either need to go for a walk, or I'm involved with a 12 step program that helps me stay very present and so I might need to go to a meeting. Or I have a conversation with another business owner, a me too kind of thing, and then get real and say, "Maybe, maybe I don't mean to spend an entire day with you client. Maybe I can carve out two hours for you and that can be enough." Then get really, really tight on my schedule so that the best yeses are being made.
Shelby Ring:
How did you learn to start, or did you ever feel a shift between having the client interaction happening to you versus valuing your time and shifting to realize that your schedule is truly your schedule?
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, there was a long time our clients and dictated my schedule. And if I'm honest, they still do-
Shelby Ring:
Sure.
Hope Caldwell:
... at times. It's like they're the ones paying you and most of... 99% of my business is from outside of this city, and so they're only here for one or two days, for a short period of time.
Shelby Ring:
It's very time sensitive.
Hope Caldwell:
Yes, I do need to prioritize them. So, they do dictate my schedule, but it's every other thing happening outside of my clients, that I can be in control of. And that I think is where I could do a better job of setting boundaries. I have a hard time, you would have a hard time getting me out past five o'clock, because five o'clock on is dedicated to my family. But I'll go do anything with you during the day if it a business meeting or a lunch or a walk or something like that. But you got to catch me between 9:00 to 5:00, or 8:30 to 5:00 if there's no other clients going on, because the evenings are dedicated to my family.
Hope Caldwell:
So yeah, it's a work in progress. It's hard. It's hard. But boundaries are really important. And I think surrounding myself with other women, especially who are really good at setting boundaries has helped me realize, okay, there's something to this. And setting aside exercise and prayer and meditation in the mornings, it's been a game changer for me this month. It's something that I used to do all the time and then life happens, but this month especially, I've implemented again just becoming more aware of it and it's changed a lot of how I feel all day, every day.
Hope Caldwell:
So if it's just that hour that I can get up a little earlier and do this stuff to help me, help my mood and help it really everything throughout the day. But it's hard. It takes awareness.
Shelby Ring:
What about when you're coping with looking at the new year, coming into 2020, do you ever have any type of... because I know you're a planner, but also I know for me sometimes when I think of the next year, it seems so grandiose and it can be daunting or overwhelming. How do you balance staying present with what is, and today and this week and this moment, with being someone that is like very proactively building their reality.
Hope Caldwell:
So it's no surprise that faith's really important to me and so I have this mantra of, this is the day the Lord has made, let us just rejoice and be glad. I think when I get into the moment of, 2020 is terrifying to me right now.
Shelby Ring:
It's terrifying.
Hope Caldwell:
You know?
Shelby Ring:
Oh, yes.
Hope Caldwell:
I know. We have four events on one single day that we know of right now. But then I say that and four years ago I was like, "Yes, I'll do anything." So it's perspective a, but b, knowing that I'll be given what I can handle and it's going to be okay. I don't want to sound too cliche and too big picture, but truly I revel in the fact that I've made it this far. This year has been really crazy and we've had multiple events on the same day but there's always help and there's always people there to support you, and it's just awesome to be a witness of when you need something, it shows up. I 100% believe in that. And so, I don't know, I don't really worry that much. I just expect it to work.
Shelby Ring:
Which that's a very high energy to be in. I'm working with my life coach reading this book called the magician's way and it's all about visualizing that end result, and trusting when you align your thoughts to be like, what's the experience I want to have in 2020 or whenever and you have a state of, you know what, I have proof and data that it always works out. It's going to come together. And to have that subconscious mind be attuned to that versus, maybe I know for me when I was first getting set up and we're like, "I'll take anything with a pulse." And you're struggling but then over time, you look for the data to validate. Wait a second, I believe it is going to come through for me-
Hope Caldwell:
Sure.
Shelby Ring:
And I believe in this moment and in this time that, look, there was success even in small ways. That's what I've been working on is the the subconscious belief system. What am I letting fuel my circumstance? How am I visualizing what's happening to me? Because we look for proof in whatever we're doing. So if we think that the universe is against us and that things are going to fall apart and it just doesn't work out for me. I try and it just, there's always something I'm not expecting and it comes through. That's something I'm tackling by the horns right now. And you look for proof of showing where that's happened, but at the same time, in the same instance, shifting that mentality of being like, I am constantly supported by a higher power.
Shelby Ring:
It always works out then you're like, "Oh, I got that really good parking spot. What else? Okay, well that actually worked out with my timing. Oh, downtown was blocked, but I magically got through Calhoun with no traffic. It was green lights the whole way." Then you see, you can validate whatever argument.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah. Agreed.
Shelby Ring:
It's the story that you want to feed.
Hope Caldwell:
I think practically too, every week my team and I, we look back to see what our winds were and how the week went for us, and looking forward to what are our big three for this week. That has been a really cool process of celebration. And I think as a business owner, you're just constantly go, go, go, go, go. But being able to reflect on wins has helped me and helped us as a team remember, oh, even if they're small, they're wins. And in the midst of some pretty weighty things, those wins are just, are really helpful to reflect on.
Shelby Ring:
And they're anchors. Because they're anchoring you in, okay, this current circumstance is uncomfortable. If you didn't have your language cleaned up, it could be like, this sucks, this is unfortunate. This is, oh my gosh, crisis or, all right, we have an opportunity to grow right now. We have an opportunity to rise up, and what kind of proof do we have that we can get through it? Oh, well here's all of our trophy moments of this came through, we accomplished this happened, this was executed beautifully. This followed through, and seeing the anchors of, you've got what it takes, that's so powerful to do that simple practice of each week, circle back around with your team.
Shelby Ring:
How do you balance... What is your perspective? Okay, yes. With your team and the people that you work with, and I feel like I'm curious to know, have you attracted like-minded people in your team? How has it worked for you given, I feel like you have a mix of this philanthropic servant heart mixed with a very savvy and excellent caliber of operating as a business owner and an event planner. How have you attracted people on your team?
Hope Caldwell:
I've done well and I've done poor. I know that there's a science to hiring but I often just trust my gut. So I've had a handful of team members now, and I think I really do, I trust my gut and their level of sincerity when they show up to a meeting with me. As far as the interview process goes, I do need to know their heart. I think that's really important, but I also need to know that they can work hard.
Shelby Ring:
It's both.
Hope Caldwell:
It is no joke.
Shelby Ring:
You're sore right now, right?
Hope Caldwell:
I'm sore.
Shelby Ring:
You just went through lifting hundreds of chairs and benches-
Hope Caldwell:
140 to be precise. 12 tables, two a fire pits, eight rocking chairs and a partridge in a [inaudible 00:38:47].
Shelby Ring:
I'm sore from just hearing that description right now.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah it is no joke. It is no joke. There are some days where you get to play with kids who... and it's lovely and fun and light, but most days it is not that. So I need to know you have grit and just, you're willing to do what it takes to get the job done no matter what. That's really something you can't teach and it's something I look for in a team member. It's no surprise that I'm pretty square, so I really love having teammates that can keep it fun, keep it real and-
Shelby Ring:
What do you mean your square? What does that mean?
Hope Caldwell:
I feel like I'm in a box. I feel like you got to work hard to get me out. Once I'm out and having fun, it's a whole another ball game. But it's hard for me to get there. I feel like I'm square as in I'm pretty wound up, I'm pretty tight.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
I do a lot of, when I'm in the zone, I'm in the zone. But when you get me out of the zone, it's really fun. So I look for people who can get me out of the zone.
Shelby Ring:
Are you in the box right now or are you out of the box?
Hope Caldwell:
I'm pretty in the box.
Shelby Ring:
What?
Hope Caldwell:
Yes.
Shelby Ring:
You seem crazy in the box.
Shelby Ring:
The pinky, I think so too.
Shelby Ring:
I if this is your being in a box, when I think of being in a box it'd be like, [inaudible 00:40:05] I can think of when we're, I was going to say like balls deep and editing, when we're really in the thick of editing. I have a very particular mind when I'm writing emails about staff. But then then we're on the street with robot cat outfits being like, [inaudible 00:40:20]. But you, your box seems lovely.
Hope Caldwell:
Thank you.
Shelby Ring:
I love what you've done with the place.
Hope Caldwell:
Are going to edit that.
Shelby Ring:
No, I think that's perfect.
Hope Caldwell:
I do too. It's my day-to-day. I do love that. But my husband probably gets the backend of it. It's like, "Oh, how am I going to get it all done?" Or, "I have to get up earlier." I'm so self centered at times.
Shelby Ring:
Aren't we all?
Hope Caldwell:
So I do. I look for team members who they want to maybe do something fun or want to go to sport sometimes or maybe just get out and go for a walk, that can get me out of that owner box.
Shelby Ring:
What has helped you with finding the caliber of clients that resonates with... Because you mentioned your first client that was willing to take a chance on doing something that is more rooted in the social impact piece. How has that grown?
Hope Caldwell:
It's all education. When we are able to get in front of businesses, and generally it's Fortune 500 companies. When we're able to either on the phone with their planners or get in front of them, educating them that this exists is half the battle. Once they commit to it, I have no doubt, it is like a slam dunk and they'll come back. But the education piece is something that's been really a pretty interesting journey for me, but one that I find myself really loving. I love to speak on the topic, I love to share on the topic. I really resonate with that. So, connecting with clients on that level, it's like a me too kind of thing.
Hope Caldwell:
Everybody, loves to talk about it. Most people believe in it, but it's getting them to take that step, the financial commitment to it, and that has to come from leadership. So, we've had a really good time talking about it and now we're being sought after. There's enough-
Shelby Ring:
You've built enough momentum [crosstalk 00:42:33]-
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, conversation around it.
Shelby Ring:
You have a wake.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, that companies are calling us specifically for that. Which is really mind blowing when you start a company with a goal like that, but knowing you're going to do whatever it takes to get there and now you're finding... and by no means have we arrived.
Shelby Ring:
Sure.
Hope Caldwell:
But it is really fun to get those calls. It's always surreal to get those calls and say, hey, we're interested in a social impact event. We're xyz company and we are willing to do this and prioritize it. It's like, yes, this does happen.
Shelby Ring:
Just like when the iPod was created and the whole thing of Steve Jobs being like, "We need to create something that people don't know exist yet and they don't know they need it, but once we create it, they can't live without it."
Hope Caldwell:
That's right.
Shelby Ring:
That's what you're creating something that is unheard of until they've heard of it. Then they have to have it [crosstalk 00:43:25]-
Hope Caldwell:
And then they have to have it. Then they start prioritizing it and then they start building in and then it's like, yeah, no brainer. So cool.
Shelby Ring:
I can only imagine the fulfillment of getting those calls or the emails reaching out for people being like, we... There's nothing better than when someone's like, "We watched your wedding songs, suggestion tips video where we're just total idiots and just playful." And they're like, "That was the funniest thing we've ever seen. We want to book you for a wedding." Or, "We love your culture, we love your whatever. We hate the vampire movie song too. We love you already. Let's work together."
Shelby Ring:
When you can find people that resonate with that main vein of that's your heart and soul, and it's coming out in the service that you're doing and all the evangelizing, educating, storytelling of what this looks like, I can only imagine it's got to be amazing [inaudible 00:44:18].
Hope Caldwell:
I think that's the high level stuff too. Maybe not high level because there's details to it, but there's nobody else that's going to be doing that but me. That's where I need to be spending my time, but we also as a company need to be making money, and so that's what the other stuff is. Coming back to you, how are you using your time? That's the stuff that lights me up. That's the stuff I want to be working on this season. Is like that's what lights me up. That's where I want to, if I'm not with my family or spending time with my friends, that's the stuff I want to be working on. It's so cool and so fun. So I think that that's what I'm going to do this season.
Shelby Ring:
Get it. Well, that's so awesome. I guess my only other thought that I have for you or that email, because I'm like, oh my gosh, we have like an hour without... If I can ask you anything, what would I want to ask you? What would I want to glean from in your life? Did you always have a generous spirit?
Hope Caldwell:
Did I always have a generous spirit? Well, being the youngest of seven, really, six growing up and then we found out we had an older brother.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
You talk about survival, so I was surviving.
Shelby Ring:
Yes, yes.
Hope Caldwell:
So I think there was a lot of humility built in being the youngest of seven. I wore their clothes, boys and girls. And my parents did the best they could, and but by no means were we... We were living large enough. We went to Disney once. That was a big deal with six kids. So I think the humility piece was ingrained at a very young age. Then when I started to really understand and start to feel my religion was built into us, beaten into us. But when I started to understand the heart behind it is when I started to want to give.
Hope Caldwell:
I think I always knew I wanted to spend time in Africa. I never knew why it called me. So I would say that the giving heart was always there. But I think when I finally experienced what it was like to give, there's nothing better. There really is nothing better. The cool part is, and this is what I tell my clients, you can't buy that. It's not something you can purchase because it was purchased for us. But you can purchase an experience or set up an experience like that where it will flow. I think that's fricking cool.
Shelby Ring:
That's that truly, to me I think that's self-mastery or the mastery of an organization to facilitate those experiences, which it's like that's literally, you are bringing meaning to events. You're literally creating magic for companies to connect with a soul value. If their heart space is there, you're creating a nurturing environment for magic to happen, for real human connection, and that... The stories that people keep for the rest of their life.
Hope Caldwell:
We call it a culture of generosity. That's what we're doing and we are just a very, very small part of this master plan. We call it the ripple effect too. So we are just dropping that one little ripple. We are creating that and then it is so cool to watch the stories that come of it. I had a client who built these beautiful clubhouses for a couple of kiddos and one of them, actually both of them now have had some really cool stories that come of it. But one of them, his name was Gage, he was 10 years old I believe, but he came alive on the baseball field and he was in remission up until the day before this event. And found out his cancer was back and was really angry that he couldn't play baseball any longer.
Hope Caldwell:
He came to this event and there was a woman who was building with her company, who went back and told her husband who is the coach of a minor league baseball team. The baseball team heard about Gage, adopted him as somebody that they wanted to pour into. Sent a bunch of balls and bats and gloves and all this stuff to his treatment center in Pennsylvania, and they now have this wonderful, beautiful connection. The other little boy, Milo, he's local in Charleston, but he's going through his chemo treatments now, but Make-A-Wish is coming up, and he needed to raise a little bit of money so they made shirts. So I sent it just a simple note, "Hey guys, Milo's going through this. Would you consider." And they met their goal, like this.
Hope Caldwell:
It's just a ripple effect. We're not doing anything special here, anything grand, it's just connections. Like what you guys do. You connect people in storytelling. It's like a front row seat to watch magic happen and living in expectation that that's going to happen. I think that's what makes us get up every morning. You know?
Shelby Ring:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). In your life, in your journey, we're always living, we're always growing, expanding, what in your life? Either personally or professionally, what's been rocking your world, both personally and professionally.
Hope Caldwell:
Personally, I couldn't be more thrilled with where my marriages. I'm so, so, so happy about it. It's been a long, almost nine years. We'll celebrate nine years next month. But this year especially, I feel like we've been in in a season for eight years, and we're finally reaping the harvest that season, and there's nothing better. There really is nothing better to just be in alignment. So that has rocked my world, but it's not without a lot of work. So each of us are doing our own work and it's just fun to go home and fun to be with my family. I love that. I love that piece of it.
Hope Caldwell:
Then professionally, a part of what I am tasked to do as a visionary is coming up with more creative ideas. Because when you are blessed to have repeat clientele, well then they're like, "Well what's next?"
Shelby Ring:
What's down, two, three, four. Yes, yes.
Hope Caldwell:
And so we've got a freaking awesome event coming up on Friday this week. It's the first time we're ever doing this, but it's going to be in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. It's been a big goal of mine to get involved in the CBD industry.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
I have a lot of friends and family involved. I believe very much in what the industry is doing and the products that are coming out of that. But I also see the industry that has a need. When they are signing these agreements or are working towards getting these permits for these cities, they are somewhat required and there's an expectation of the community to see, what are you going to do for the community? So I see us as a really, really valuable asset to some pretty big CBD companies in helping meet their community service goals and needs and requirements. But also helping with their PR in helping the community understand that they're there for a good reason. So I feel like our community events are win-win for this massive industry that's breaking them.
Shelby Ring:
And it's still at the beginning where there's controversy or confusion.
Hope Caldwell:
Very much same.
Shelby Ring:
So that's very integral.
Hope Caldwell:
So we have our first event on Friday with and awesome CBD company. When we were playing around with ideas, we decided that this community itself really could benefit from a beautification project. And a lot of what we do requires involvement of the... We want our clients to show up and do something hands on. And so-
Shelby Ring:
Yes, I love that.
Hope Caldwell:
I remember I was in Vegas last month I think, and I woke up and I told my husband, I was like, "I want to paint a mural. Doesn't that sound fun?" And he's like, "What are you talking about, are you crazy?" And I was like, "No, I want to do this and I want to do it with a company." He's like, "Cool, let's do it." So we are painting a mural Friday, a sick mural. I'll show you a picture of it.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
It's awesome. It's from a local artist, Douglas Panzone from Charleston.
Shelby Ring:
Oh, wow.
Hope Caldwell:
He did The Righteous Gemstones one. He did-
Shelby Ring:
Oh, that was great.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah, street art.
Shelby Ring:
Dude-
Hope Caldwell:
It's so cool.
Shelby Ring:
... so cool.
Hope Caldwell:
But he's doing most of it. He just got up there today. He's doing most of it. It's like a 50 foot wall.
Shelby Ring:
Oh yeah.
Shelby Ring:
Massive canvas work with, oh my gosh.
Hope Caldwell:
So, he's doing most of it and then the company's coming for two hours to finish it.
Shelby Ring:
Oh, very cool.
Hope Caldwell:
With spray paint and then we have a beautiful plaque for the town or for the city, and then we have fire pits come in and we've got donut making, and a big cauldron of hot cider.
Shelby Ring:
Oh yeah, cauldron.
Hope Caldwell:
It's just going to be a fun block party. Then they get to invite all of their family members. But outside of that being really cool, one of the coolest parts about this, and it's our first time, my first time of being in on the conversations behind the events from the beginning. So, the conversation went, we got in touch with the community outreach person and then they had the facility managers on the call. And community outreach shared with the facility manager, this is what we're doing and this is why we want to do it. And it's because we believe so much in what y'all are doing here. We want to pour into you, we want to support you, we want to say thank you in this season of thanks. We want to give thanks to you because you are our number one priority. You are what is keeping us innovative, is keeping us creative, is giving us street cred. You know y'all are the ones doing it.
Hope Caldwell:
And the facility manager says, before he said all that, she said, why do you care about us? We're just one little blimp in a big ass company. And he came back with that, and being able to hear somebody share, and me be able to say, "Yeah, that is exactly why we're doing this." And then get to execute it and then watch these people show up and say, hell yeah. And go home that night and be able to say, "Hey, this is the company that I work for." Not only do they believe in us and want to appoint us, they believe in a community where this can happen. It's just cool-
Shelby Ring:
That's beautiful.
Hope Caldwell:
... to watch it all come out and then there's a wicked cool factor of the street art.
Shelby Ring:
Well, that's so cool. It's not just the mural. It's what the mural and the experience of the mural means to all of the parties involved.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah. Oh, it's going to be so awesome. Say a prayer though. It's going to be like 38 degrees.
Shelby Ring:
Have you ever seen that, oh, they're like, why are all the angles really scribly.
Hope Caldwell:
No, but they're already used to it. We're in Charleston-
Shelby Ring:
Yeah, where are shrimps when it comes to the cold.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah! It's 60 and I have driving gloves in my pocket.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah. So that is firing me up today. I'm ready to get up there and watch this thing. We have a video coming out of it and-
Shelby Ring:
Share the link of that with us and we put in our podcast notes.
Hope Caldwell:
I will, I definitely will. It's like our first and when it goes well, there'll be implementing it all next year, quarterly. And that's a big goal of ours, is to get in with the companies that prioritize this type of work, where we're offering quarterly events all over the country for different parts of different departments.
Shelby Ring:
That's what lights us up.
Shelby Ring:
And it's so vibrant on these big organizations where if you are addressing different chapters or different departments, it's like that's a sustainable model of the satisfaction of employees is... All the stats about retaining happy employees, giving fulfillment through their role. So even if they do have something that maybe is a dryer role and they're not getting to do something so fanciful, the benefits of these companies getting to have that heart and soul energy, regardless of their size, that's-
Hope Caldwell:
And I truly believe we're all on a war for talent right now. I think good talent is hard to find and I think you have to be setting yourself apart. And you have to be... The new up and coming generation is no longer asking for this, they're requiring this of companies. Not only is it a retention strategy, it's an attraction strategy as well. I think it's one of the talks I do, it's a growth strategy, where social impact can be a growth strategy for your company on retention, attraction, productivity, and then what does that equal? That equals a higher profit. It increases your bottom line and it goes from doing well by doing good. They don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Shelby Ring:
Great. Yes. Yes.
Hope Caldwell:
It's awesome.
Shelby Ring:
Yeah, that's such a good... That is this era.
Hope Caldwell:
Yeah. I love that.
Shelby Ring:
Because we don't all have to work at the big mega... Not all of us are going to... my dream job when I was a teenager, wanted to work for Pixar and be an animator.
Hope Caldwell:
Cool.
Shelby Ring:
Because I was like, "This is the craziest thing." But now I'm like, "Can I build my own office to have like a ball pit in it and make my own mini, just that environment that does trigger ingenuity and-"
Hope Caldwell:
Yes.
Shelby Ring:
I don't know what we do. What do we do now? That's cool. We make stupid videos.
Hope Caldwell:
That's fine.
Shelby Ring:
Like who donates of like who doesn't flush the toilet in the office? You know what I mean? I don't know. We have fun in our own little-
Hope Caldwell:
I need more of that. See, I need you more. I need a ball pit in my office.
Shelby Ring:
Yes. We'll talk about that in another... That just disruptive. That's like our heartbeat. We have riot in our name, not by happenstance, but because we want to shake up the status quo. And we all went through the punk rock phase is like a preteen, but that energy is like, "Well, why do we have to do it this way? Why do we do things this way? Why are conferences a certain experience." That questioning is the root of ingenuity and experience, and not just saying yes because other people did it before, but because it makes sense and that disruptive.
Hope Caldwell:
I love that word. Disrupting the industries.
Shelby Ring:
All right. We love it too. Well this has been amazing Hope. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your heart and your energy, and yeah, a little glimpse into the day in the life of what you've built in our community. How can people get in touch with you?
Hope Caldwell:
So we're on Instagram and Facebook KLH Group, LinkedIn, under KLH Group and Hope Caldwell.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
Then email, hope@klhgroup.co.
Shelby Ring:
Okay.
Hope Caldwell:
And anything else I'm thinking or forgetting?
Shelby Ring:
I'm sure on Twitter somewhere I'm supposed to know that stuff.
Shelby Ring:
Yeah, whatever. Yeah. And then website?
Hope Caldwell:
klhgroup.co
Shelby Ring:
Awesome. Awesome girl.
Hope Caldwell:
If you know-
Shelby Ring:
Thank you so much.
Hope Caldwell:
Thank you.
Shelby Ring:
For our listeners and our viewers, thank you so much for tuning in for this episode. Please be sure to like, subscribe. If you have any other questions for Hope, leave them in the comments and we'll be more than happy to circle around. And for this episode, I hope that you live a life filled with passion today and that you make a story or two worth telling!