Cosmos

Welcome back to the show, my fellow Extraordinary American.

Today’s guest field is Carol Carpenter. Carol is a successful entrepreneur, actress, stuntwoman, speaker, and motorcycle race enthusiast. She’s starred in Moto Vixens LLC, a motorcycle track, the organization, and Iron Dog Media. 

Carol is a first-generation Child born in the United States to immigrant parents. She grew up experiencing the freedom of American culture, along with the deep-rooted traditions of the Chinese culture, speaking both English and Taiwanese. She was both Presbyterian and Buddhist; this unconventional upbringing has given her a unique perspective on how she views the world. 

Observing these vast differences allowed insights into various viewpoints, which have shaped how she navigates her businesses. Relationships: Being female in her culture and a child of the US with all its privileges, Carol was caught up amid the clashing of two cultures and had to learn how to accept and integrate them both into her life. 

She also contributes to the Amazon Book Strategic Growth for Leaders: 10 Success Keys to Elevate You to the Next Level. She’s an extraordinary American, and I plan to have her on this show. Carol, are you there?

Carol

I am.

Cosmos

Carol, thank you so much for taking the time to do this podcast with me. I really appreciate it. I appreciate you doing this.

Carol

Oh, thanks for having me, Cosmos.

Cosmos

So Carol, can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you got started?

Carol

In which company? Well.

Cosmos

In all of them, Iron Dog gave. What makes sense?

Carol

Yeah, motor Vixens is a company I started 12 years ago, and it’s been a difficult journey with that one because it’s a male-dominated industry, as you know, with motorcycles. 

So, breaking down those barriers was interesting. But once you kind of get your footing, then you can really start progressing and making headway. And I think leverage helped me greatly in getting out of obscurity. Of course, I dealt with great resistance for a long time, and now I’m at acceptance and possibly even admiration.

 Once I had that under my belt, I opened up a few other companies, Iron Dog Media, to help people build leverage after my experience and how it’s helped me. And then there is Selenium Strategy Group, where I help advise people who are either starting new businesses or would like to scale their businesses to create strategies.

Cosmos

So, Carol, I know you wanted to be a doctor at one point, or your parents wanted you to go to a different profession. From there, you ended up becoming a businessperson and got into entrepreneurship. 

So, can you tell me in the audience a little more about the transition from a more STEM-oriented career to where you are right now?

Carol

Yeah. You know, when you’re raised in Asian culture, you are dictated and needed to achieve what you are going to achieve, right? And I think for my parents, it came down to honoring them. My parents wanted me to become a doctor, and I was good at science and mathematics. 

And so, it was a natural transition in their minds. But my mom passed when I was 1920 years old. And when she passed, so did that particular drive and motivation to be a doctor. And at that point, I, you know, I had never explored what I wanted to do because I never realized I had a choice, which kind of led me into, you know, creating my bucket list. After all, by the time I was, you know, 20, I decided on a career change, and I instead got married and had kids. 

By the time I was in my 40s, you know, I was realizing I was going through a divorce. I have two teenage children, and I’m exactly in the same place I was 20 years ago. Dryer, so you know, not having the ability to make choices when you’re young, I think, greatly stunts your growth professionally and personally. So, I took that moment to create a bucket list, and my mom passed when she was 47.

So when you have a parent passing, you know, and they’re so young, and you’re divorced now, and you don’t have a plan, insight, or a path, all of a sudden, you start thinking, well, shoot, I don’t have very long, if you know, my mom passed it when she was 47, my chances of getting cancer are that much greater. You know, maybe I need to get. I want to move on with my plan because I can. It could be limited time, right? 

So, I created that bucket list, and it was one of the things I had always wanted to do because I was never adventurous growing up; I didn’t have that luck. Three was learning to ride a motorcycle. It scared the **** out of me. 

So, you know, I figured, why not do it? It’s right. I have the opportunity now, so I did it and found it. I loved it. I gained confidence doing it because it created a sense of freedom and accomplishment. Right. And that’s what led me down that path of motorcycles. I never intended to make a business out of it; naturally, I evolved organically. And I made a business out of it. I wanted to make my passion, my purpose, and my business. And that’s how it all got started.

Cosmos

So, Carol, you talked about choice, and you know, in America, the conventional wisdom is we have the free will to make choices. But I know that from my perspective, I came as an immigrant here to America, and I had Indian parents, and then I had to face some similar situations. 

But then, when I came to America, I realized there was a. Hole in the world where we’re free to choose our destiny. So, how did that affect your life altogether? Doing entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship is the opposite of being like a doctor or doing one career track altogether. It requires a lot of freedom and a lot of free way of thinking. So I’m just curious about that.

Carol

Oh yeah, and a lot of mistakes along the. Way. But they’re all learning experiences, and you know you can’t grow unless you face hardships and gain that wisdom and knowledge along the way with the people you surround yourself with. 

And I was lucky enough To hire a couple of advisors who have been instrumental in developing me, and after, you know, spending some time with them and understanding their way of thinking and the education they gave me was paramount to becoming what I currently have. Com.

Cosmos

So, Carol, what when you decided to do these companies, right, and you do? Like the motorcycle and the motorcycle company you had is in a male-dominated field. What was your mindset going into it knowing that?

Carol

I didn’t have a plan, right? I just knew I loved it so much that being a woman and being a minority in that industry. If I could find a way to invite more women to join and create businesses around it, I don’t think anything should be unbalanced. There needs to be a male and a female mindset in everything because if it’s too male-dominated, then you’re not inviting. Others to join. I don’t believe in an exclusivity type of deal. I believe in inclusivity.

Cosmos

Yeah, but you know, motorcycle in general, it’s like there are very few women over there, and it’s a daunting task for most people even to be in that industry. 

So, if you didn’t have a mindset, you went there. So my question is, how did you go about dealing with the business and dealing with all the other men? And, like, how did you go about succeeding? Even though the odds are against you in that field.

Carol

I was lucky enough to have those advisors during the time of great resistance when, you know, I dealt with them—threatening my staff, calling and emailing them, and telling them not to be in my days. I had them pull my social media, so they must have made a claim that allowed them to pull me. So, getting back into my social media was a task in itself. At the time, it wasn’t easy to see the silver lining in all this, but what it built in me was this resilience because I knew I wanted to do this. If I created the path, I knew others would follow, so that was my driving force.

Cosmos

I mean, resilience and determination are key traits in entrepreneurship, right? So Carol, like for the listeners over here, how would you develop resilience and determination if you, if you’re, let’s say, starting in a business, or is it more in-built and just something that you’re born with?

Carol

No. Everything can be learned, and I think it’s important to surround yourself with people who have taken that journey and that path before you, right? It might not be in the same industry, but they’ve become successful because they’ve been persistent and resilient. They have the determination, and if they can instill that in you and teach you right, then I think you can accomplish anything.

Cosmos

Yeah. I mean, a lot of times, like perseverance, resilience, and determination. These are key traits in the field altogether. But sometimes, you can go there. There’s this concept like I had when talking with other entrepreneurs; it’s about pivoting versus going through one path. 

One of the questions I had for you, Carol, is when do you know to pivot versus using brute force and just going towards this one path till you succeed? At what point do you realize that you need to change? Strategies and all of that.

Carol

If you have to use brute force, that’s an indicator because I think you can accomplish things like treading lightly, right? If you know it’s going to disrupt, it’s OK to disrupt as long as it doesn’t hurt or harm other people, right? So. For instance, the guys were making it very difficult for me. I was kind of depressed about the whole thing. I wasn’t sure how to move forward, but my advisors reminded me if you’re in a state of resistance, it’s because you’re doing something that’s ******* somebody off, and now you’re in a position of influence. 

So keep moving forward because eventually. They’ll fall off, and instead you’ll, you’ll be replaced with people who will fight for you. Most recently, I had this horrible moment at an award ceremony where I was sitting there with my boyfriend, and he was there. He won his race, so obviously, he was going up on the podium, right? He was talking about and thanking me, Moto Vixens, and everything else. Well, at the end of the ceremony, many people mentioned me, right? 

The race director made it a point to mention every other organization as a supporter of that particular race club, which just hurt me because I was the one who helped them become successful at one point. Being excluded from that was like them sticking the middle finger at me. See what I can do because I’m in a position of power, and they made it such a public statement.

I didn’t know how to react, so I had my boyfriend drive me to my car at the end of the ceremony. I said I was not going to join everybody for dinner. I have to go home, and I have to reflect. The next day, everybody was back up on the podium, but I had a lot of people. I had. I have affected their life. And they went up and thanked me personally and thanked my company. So, in what he did to exclude me, other people defended and stood up for me. So his public statement that he thought would bring me down, Ashley, caused everybody else to get up there and thank me even more. So, I invite resistance at this moment because the more you do to injure me publicly, the more people come to my rescue.

Cosmos

So, Carl, it’s very interesting. This story is incredible cause it just shows human nature to a certain extent. But your idea of resistance and having a positive attribute to it versus negative is something that the audience can glean into because a lot of times when we think of resistance, We are afraid of it. We do not want to have resistance. 

But usually, when you have resistance and the strength to overcome it, that’s how we get to the next level. So, for the audience’s sake, how do you know what kind of mindset we should have when facing obstacles and resistance in our lives from your perspective?

Carol

Take a positive spin on it, and don’t react. Reflect. Then respond. Because I think most of us tend to be very reactionary, but that comes from. An aspect of fear, right? And you don’t have a reason to be fearful. Things happen. We know that, right? But it’s how we respond to it that makes a difference.

Cosmos

So, Carol, how did your perspective and resistance evolve? Altogether, you’ve had so many resist-like obstacles in your life. So, starting from when you were a teenager, right now? Like, what is the progression of how you looked at life and how you looked at obstacles in your life?

Carol

Oh, well, when I when you’re young, right? Our basic needs are acceptance and approval. So, we will do anything to be accepted in society and conform to what others want us to be. But that’s not us. That’s authentically not us, I mean. You live in the US; you have freedom and choices. Why are we choosing to be like everyone else? We should be choosing to be ourselves and then really shine a light on who we are instead of trying to conform and just blend into the background, which does nothing for us. 

So, when I was young, I did exactly that, and it got me nowhere, right? All it got me was, oh. I think I’m supposed to do this next. I had no direction. I had no plan, and now I love resistance because it means I’m ticking somebody off. 

And they don’t like my success, and that’s fine. You don’t have to like my success at all, but I will overcome that negativity that you’re trying to spread and completely like love the holy. Crap out of you. Because I think that spreads a better message.

Cosmos

So, Carol, one of the things I realized in my own life is that sometimes, for no reason at all, people will hate you. And then there will also be people who love you for no reason. And it’s nothing to do with you, per se. It concerns their perception of things and something about you, making them think negatively about themselves. And then they want to protect it. 

But it’s strange, and yet a lot of people like it. 

The reason I bring it up is because a lot of people want to be liked. Right. Like they want to be liked by everybody. But if you’re going to be wildly successful, you’re going to have haters, and you’re going to have people who will not like you for any reason. And you have to have a positive spin to it. But I don’t know. Like what? What? What are your thoughts on that matter?

Carol

I think you know you put your head down. You do what’s right and do it for you, right? And when you do that with the greater scheme of things, like how you want to affect the world, how you want to impact the world, that’s the greater message. So why are you worried about the little things when you should be worried about them? Big thing. It’s a bigger perspective.

Cosmos

I mean, sometimes we just get so caught up in the small things in the world that we fail to see the 30,000 per perspective, and I think that’s when we start realizing that the small things don’t matter. It’s like when we have a big strategy, things come into perspective altogether.

Carol

You have to be focused on that. So why are you? Why are you clouding your thoughts with these little things when you know the big picture and must remain focused? We have so many distractions in the world, right? We can’t control that. What we can control is ourselves and our lives.

Cosmos

Yeah, I mean. That’s that’s pretty true—a lot of people. There’s also another thing that I realized that is also like being a victim of circumstances. A lot of people, and this applies to entrepreneurship as well, have a victim mentality, but it does not work well in entrepreneurship. 

You have to believe that you are in control of your faith and destiny and are accountable for everything, but that happens when you are doing business. But what are what? What are your thoughts on that, Carol?

Carol

My boyfriend is great at creating concepts. When I deal with people, he says that first, you need to find out if they’re competent. If they’re competent, you need to determine if they’re accountable. Most of all, you need to make sure they are of integrity. Those are the three things I measure people on.

Cosmos

For example, when they’re competent, accountable, and honest, how would you know they are? They have these three things because—a lot of times.

Carol

We have to work with them.

Cosmos

I’m asking because many people have this mask on where they pretend to be something they’re not, and then it’s only over some time. We find those things out.

Carol

Yeah, well, that’s how it works, right? It would be best to put a little trust in them and then find out. First of all, if they’re competent, if they’re not competent, then you don’t even need to move to accountability anymore. Right. 

Competency in what you do and what you say. If you are going to do something and you’re going to do it well, then I want to see if you’re accountable. If you give me a deadline and you meet that deadline, great. You’ve met, and you know you’ve completed two steps. The third step is to find out if you’re an integral person.

Cosmos

So, Carol, what is it? The one revelation you’ve had during all your years in entrepreneurship business, like when it comes to business and relationships, is the one revolution or the one nugget you think is the most important?

Carol

Listen to your intuition. Your intuition is always telling you yes or no. When our pride or ego gets in the way, we act on that instead of listening to our intuition. It’s there for a reason.

Cosmos

Many people would claim, Carol, that they don’t have the two Shion or that they don’t know how to listen to it. You know what intuition is.

Carol

Yeah. Well, then, you haven’t cultivated that. Right. And I think that deserves some time. Into looking and delving into it because your intuition is what is in you from the minute you’re born; you know if somebody’s good, you know, if somebody’s bad, how many times is the hair on the back of your neck stood up or somebody’s giving you the chills? That’s an indicator, but we don’t listen to it cause somehow, somewhere, we’re like, oh, that can’t be right. 

You have to listen to your intuition. I found that things went fairly well if I did.

Cosmos

Yeah, it’s funny. We get those weird feelings in our stomachs, or we have something that’s on the right or something right, which doesn’t make any sense. But more often than not, it turns out to be true, and it’s just something that’s not explainable, but it just works for some reason.

Carol

Yeah. So I think it’s important to tap into that and understand it, right? And you do just like anything else; you have to test; you have to test that constantly because you won’t know until you test that, and you put that concept into your life, and it integrates it into your life.

Cosmos

Yeah, that’s there. When it comes to intuition, a lot of things help with it, especially for me, like meditation. If you have a calm emotional state, I’ve realized that that helps with intuition a lot because when you have a calm, concentrated state, you feel more able to discern.

Carol

Absolutely.

Cosmos

Feeling that’s when intuition comes into play more often.

Carol

Yeah, intuition helps with creativity, and when you have a clear mind, you can solve any problem.

Cosmos

Yeah, I think Einstein basically said that he got his formula when he was in a calm state, and then it was just a flash of knowledge that just came in.

Carol

You know, I think he is the one where he tells the story of he would put a ball in his hand and he would start to fall asleep, right? Because there’s a. Something with your brain waves. You’re in a certain state when your creativity is the highest. 

So he would hold on to that ball and fall asleep, and as he fell asleep when he entered that state, the ball would hit the ground and wake him up, and he would have these moments of brilliance and genius.

Cosmos

Yeah, I mean, I’m not. I don’t know if that’s him or not, but it’s something that has been documented. If you look at it mentally, for instance, he had got his periodic table in a dream, but he was in a very calm state of mind, and his intuition flowed. 

However, the basic point that I would want the audience to know is that intuition does work, especially in business and relationships. But how do you cultivate it? That comes from, as you mentioned, practice and then working.

Carol

Yeah, absolutely.

Cosmos

So, Carol, one of the questions I wanted to ask you was about your culture, like adapting to American culture from Chinese culture. And then, on integrating everything you know into, like, business and entrepreneurship, how did you manage to do that? 

Like where you had to learn, you’re in between these two worlds, and then you’re just somehow managing to integrate everything. How did you go about doing it?

Carol

It was very awkward. As you know, traditions run very deep, and so being raised in an Asian culture and having superstitions and all the different disciplines—you know, it’s hard when you’re born in the States because you see all your friends who are obviously all American. Right. 

And they’ve always had choices when? You would say I can’t go out because I have to take music lessons. I have to do my studies, and I have to do. I’ve got to go to choir. I’ve got to do your parents booked you with things that they deemed important for your development, and maybe you know, and I get it. They only knew what they knew based on their own experience, right? 

But they thought they were doing the right thing. I give my children all the freedom in the world, and I don’t know what’s better—giving them all the freedom in the world or being part of two different cultures and trying to integrate them. I think having the two cultures has helped me understand and accept them. There are more things than I would probably accept if I were only raised with freedom because freedom also comes with absolutes. You’ll be very black and white about things, no or yes. But you’re not combining the two, and it doesn’t come from what I believe. It is a state of grace—integrating things to make it better for everyone. I don’t think there’s right or wrong, right? 

Once you combine them, you can create a beautiful synergy. I wasn’t good at it in the beginning. I get it, but it takes time to figure out your sweet spot.

Cosmos

You have to have the perfect delicate balance, which is pretty difficult. But once you do it, it’s almost magical. You get things done in a very efficient way. It’s almost, I think, where is that concept, the Zen Buddhist concept of like of like moderation or like the balance? This like this, like the way of everything you know.

Carol

Yeah, there’s a, I think. It’s a samurai. The samurais are fierce warriors, right? And they realized, too, that they’re Japanese in Asia. Obviously, in the Asian culture, they cultivate balance. So, to keep them from being just warriors, they would make them sit down and do little tasks, like making dumplings, because it requires patience. And agility, right? And focuses your mind differently so that you can become creative, too. 

You are always balancing the masculine and the feminine, and that’s how you become a well-rounded individual.

Cosmos

So, just so the audience can know more, how do you balance the masculine and the feminine when it comes to business, and what does that look like from your perspective?

Carol

Well, feminine energy is a lot of, I would like to say, a lot of compromise, right, and masculine energy is brute force, right? So, if you combine the two, you now have an individual who can think through things but fight. When necessary, right? 

And if I didn’t have, let’s just say, if I were overly dominant and feminine, I wouldn’t have fought for my position. To be in the motorcycle world. Now, if I came to brute force and I was like this masculine energy, right, I would have gone in there and laid waste to everybody. And that’s not the right way to do things either.

Cosmos

A lot of people in business think that’s the right way. But yeah, I see your point.

Carol

Yeah. So that’s how I combine the two.

Cosmos

So masculine and feminine, you have to have a balance of it. If you can combine the two in business, then that will create more success than anything else.

Carol

Gives you an edge. Not everybody can do it. It’s a delicate balance, right?

Cosmos

It seems hard to do, but it’s so important to do it, you know? How would somebody balance that from your perspective?

Carol

Well, you got to determine, first of all, right? Are you more of one than the other, right? And I think a lot of it comes down to compassion and empathy. Those are things that help soften that masculine energy. And you don’t want to be. It’s too feminine, either, because then you’re a doormat. And you’ll believe everything that comes along, and you won’t challenge situations, and then without a challenge, you don’t grow.

Cosmos

Yeah, that is completely true about challenge and growth because, without challenges, you weren’t growing. And so, I’m seeing your point about that, you know, because in either, like in business, you either have people who are too masculine or people who are too feminine and having that balance is so far. But it’s just so hard to do.

Carol

Oh, God, it’s not easy. If it was easy, everyone could do it.

Cosmos

Yeah. They don’t have a reason for this, as we have these traditional schools, but they don’t teach you how to do it. Like, they don’t even teach you much about entrepreneurship and business. It’s just something that you learn through life experience.

Carol

Yeah, I think I have life, experience, and guidance. I’ve been very lucky to have advisors, and you know I have a lot of feminine energy, right? 

And so I would just give up, or I would feel like I’m a doormat, or you know, I would just relinquish control to somebody. But they’ve helped cultivate it by challenging me. And you are reminding me and showing me a different perspective. And I think that’s helped balance me as well, as you know, my upbringing. I mean, I’ve had to let go of a lot of these limiting beliefs that I grew up with thinking that I was, you know, I belonged in a box, and I’ve got to conform, and I’ve got to do these things, and I realize I don’t know. I realize I am most productive when I live outside of the box.

Cosmos

No, I mean totally, Carol. You have to live outside the box to do entrepreneurship. Because if you’re in the box, you’ll never get anything done. But Carol, on a different note, you embody an immigrant entrepreneur who came to America and had at me.

Carol

No.

Cosmos

And it’s just like an amazing thing cause American identity is all about the immigrant, entrepreneurial identity. And then my question to you, for the sake of the audience, is. Was it easy when you went about doing it, or was it the identity of America that made you who you are? Or is it something that just naturally came to you?

Carol

I don’t think it’s a natural thing. I think life offers you opportunities. It’s just when you choose to take the opportunities, and they do it, it doesn’t offer them all the time. But sometimes, it happens where it is magical, right, and truly unexpected. I never thought I would ride a motorcycle lesson race in a million years, right? But I guess if I could say anything, it’s that life is an adventure. Are you part of the adventure? Are you just existing? 

So, if there’s an opportunity to do something like way in left field and you’re like, I could never do that, do it. That could be your opportunity.

Cosmos

I mean, totally, but how often do we take those chances? And we don’t do it out of fear. I’ve thought about it multiple times. There are so many times when we are afraid of doing something we want to do, and then we don’t end up doing it, and then later on in life, we have regrets.

Carol

Oh, I want to live life with no regrets. I want to go to my deathbed. I’ve done everything that I thought of. I set my mind on it; even if I failed, I still did it.

Cosmos

I mean, that’s the right way to go about it, but many people are just afraid of doing things they want to. Play it safe. And they go to the dead beds with regrets. Like, I think there’s like a.

Carol

What state? What’s safe in life? Honestly, what’s safe?

Cosmos

You tell me, Carol. There’s a lot.

Carol

Yeah, nothing. Yeah, people are seeking security and things that are not safe, right? Our society’s economics is based on fear. Think about insurance. Why do we buy insurance just in case? Right? So, it’s fear-based. It’s not with the sense of taking a risk now and then and seeing where it leads.

Cosmos

No, I mean, for sure. I mean, that’s how a lot of business models are based on fear, but it’s coming down to a lot of people tending to want to have security; they don’t want to take risks to live out their dreams, you know, because I mean, America is about realizing your dream, whatever it is. But how are you going to achieve your dream? If you do not take those chances, you’re just always afraid.

Carol

Yeah. No risk, no reward.

Cosmos

Yeah, I mean, it’s just something that I’ve just realized, you know, because, in this nation, we have a lot of people that we talk about realizing the American dream. 

Still, we’re just too afraid to take the chances to get there, you know, to start a new business or to do something in life that’s so spectacular that your dream. It will be fulfilled, and you have to take those chances. And that’s essentially the entrepreneurial spirit, you know.

Carol

Is it?

Cosmos

So, Carol, I wanted to ask you a question. I know you refer to a chapter in this book, Amazon Book Strategic Group for Leaders: 10 Success Keys to Elevate You to the Next Level. Could you tell me in the audience a little bit more about that, what the chapter is about, and all of that in general?

Carol

I don’t want to give it away, but it’s about vision and strategy. So, you know, when we go into business, sometimes we. Have our why? But we don’t necessarily have our how right, and that’s OK. That’s how I started the motorcycle business. I had no idea what I was going to do. I knew I wanted to do this right to get there, but another story existed. Right. 

And boy, it was bumpy along the way. There were many ups and downs because it is not a straight line to success. And honestly, if you have a question, why does that evolve along the way? Along the way, you develop and evolve to meet that challenge when the time comes.

Cosmos

About creating their vision and strategy. Do they? And how? What is the process of them going about doing that?

Carol

Well, is there a need that you can see that you can provide it? Is it #1? Something that you love, right? #2 doesn’t make you feel like you. You’re fulfilling a person’s need, and #3 becomes your purpose, right? 

So, all these things play into creating that vision. And first of all, you’ve got to have passion for it, because if you don’t, there will be times. And you want to throw in the towel. And because you have passion for it, you won’t.

Cosmos

Yeah, that’s some of the like. Overall, I’ve noticed in all the interviews that all the entrepreneurs I’ve talked to have always had a vision, a strategy, and a passion for what they did. 

They also had resilience and determination, which are the common traits that I see throughout. They’re different ways of going about the same thing, but ultimately, they have these same themes and something profound, like watching these patterns. Then, the same patterns lead to success.

Carol

And it doesn’t matter which industry, right?

Cosmos

Yeah, they, they, I mean, it could be any industry, but if you have these same characteristics or these same traits, these same ways of thinking, and especially in our vision, knowing your why—and that’s the big one like you mentioned about the why—if it’s a passion and wine, it’s like the foundation of everything.

Carol

Yeah. Yeah, it’s a strong foundation on which to build any business.

Cosmos

And usually, if it’s very emotional, then it’s done. You know, you can go through any obstacle in life, but that’s something that I’ve noticed.

Carol

Yeah, Yep, very true.

Cosmos

So, Carol, I know you’ve talked about motor vixens, but you also have another company called Iron Dog Media. Can you tell me the audience a little bit more about that and what that’s about?

Carol

Sure. Iron Dog Media came about in my development of leverage, and I didn’t realize how important leverage was in scaling a business—and I guess most people don’t. When my advisors first told me to start putting together a media kit, I just remember saying I didn’t know why because I was nobody. But if you want to get out of obscurity and stop being a nobody, you must develop a tool of leverage, a media kit.

So, I did it, and then I started sending it out. And let’s just base it on the motorcycle industry for now. I found that it would become very easy. It would be best to get sponsors because you’ve taken the time and effort and have a place to control the narrative. In that media kit, your bio is your story, and your story comes from your voice, which is very important if you go to Wikipedia; what does Wikipedia do? It takes facts and then develops a story for you. 

So, a media kit is the only place to form your own story and convey that to the world. And then, of course, it also kind of gives brief synopses on all your other businesses. The things that you’re doing, podcasts, you know. And if you’re an author, author, speaker, or speaker, right? Whatever. Right. It’s a one-place, but it is a huge anchor point. When you send that to somebody, somebody now sees that you’ve taken the time, energy, and effort to do it. So that’s how that business came along from my experience with the development of my mode of existence. You know, my leverage. So, we do in Iron Dog media, we do media kits, we do logos, we do branding, we do websites, you name it, right? We even host websites. 

So, all this came. From my experience, as I was developing motor vixens, the selenium strategy group came because I curated, learned, and developed as a person so much that I found other people would find. This knowledge is valuable.

So yeah, those three businesses. I also have two other businesses, but they’re in the development stage right now—a lot of them. Juggling balls at the moment, spin and play.

Cosmos

So, Carol, what are you talking about, leverage and perception, especially about that? It’s so important. I have a digital media kit, and I took your help with that. I would recommend that anybody who’s listening to this Reach out to you. They want to communicate themselves, but it is very important for leverage. Is everything in life and business ultimately a perception? 

And how somebody perceives you the first time they see you affect their interactions with you, too. You know.

Carol

Right. And social media, unfortunately, has taken such a front seat in how people perceive you, and it’s really easy to make yourself look successful on social media. But when you have a media kit, it tells people how successful you are.

Cosmos

No, Carol, how can our audience connect with you to learn more about you and your business? That you do.

Carol

Carolcarpentermedia.com is my media kit, which has links to everything I’ve ever done or am currently involved in.

Cosmos

OK, that sounds good. Carol, I’m so grateful you took the time to do this podcast with us and share your wisdom. I do hope that you come back later—time, you know.

Carol

Oh, absolutely. Anytime cosmos.

Cosmos

And I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye for now.