Take the Elevator
This podcast is purely about elevating people through individual life stories and experiences in the Elevator. In the Elevator, what's key is maybe changing your perspective; having self-actualization; embracing your purpose; and acting on it as we grow from one another. There is a whole different point of view when you look up to elevate.
Take the Elevator
354th Floor: The Hits and Misses - Celebrating Victories While Honoring Loss
We reflect on our personal and professional journeys through hits and misses, exploring how losses often transform into surprising victories when we maintain grit and determination.
• Career setbacks can feel devastating but often lead to unexpected opportunities
• Transitioning from a stable career to uncertainty requires tremendous mental fortitude
• Developing Essential Medical Services as entrepreneurs emerged directly from previous career losses
• Small victories like creating professional filing systems and payroll processes became meaningful milestones
• Having a "scrappy fighter" mentality helps transform defeats into future successes
• Finding joy in the process rather than just celebrating results sustains motivation
• "Make some noise" philosophy means creating your own positive momentum amid life's distractions
• Grit isn't necessarily about constant grinding but about maintaining belief in your purpose
• Removing time-wasting activities creates space for meaningful growth and achievement
• Hope serves as the fuel that keeps us moving forward with confidence that "the best is still ahead."
Check out our website at TheGenko.com to stay connected and share your own stories of transformation.
Look up, and let's elevate!
hey, it's been a great month.
Speaker 2:Yes, it has. I have to agree, and I'm not just saying that because you said it, I'm saying it because I'm looking over all the things that are going on good, bad and indifferent, that are going on good, bad and indifferent, and we walk away with some victories, with some wins, definitely, and what's funny is that, concurrently, there have been a lot of parts of this month that haven't been so great, true, that I actually wish didn't happen, to be quite honest, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about um, just our weekend, if you don't mind, before we go into this wonderful show that you've produced. Um, one of my highlights for the weekend? Um, definitely definitely two things. I saw the shameless band Woo Woo I mean, come on, um at September's in Paris, and the thing is for me, cory, is your band has been together for some years yeah and I thought for a couple of years, if I may, there was a bit of a plateau yep, there was I felt like the songs were so good, but I felt like I've heard this one quite a few times.
Speaker 1:You know, and I don't know what's happened with the band, but there has been like this elevation, this switch of a massive list of different types of music. You all are having so much fun up there and you're taking us back to like the 50s, um, to stuff that's current. Now you're jumping into country to rock, to r&b, and you're making your own. And I'm not just saying this because, yes, I am cory's wife. Hello, we're, I'm very aware of this, but cory will tell you I can be his biggest critic at times. Oh yeah, so I I could not sit still for the three hours. It was so good. I'm so amazed by the band and the growth. Yeah man.
Speaker 2:Um, one of my biggest things this weekend was absolutely I'm gonna say this real quick uh, my mother-in-law was there and she parted my mom that's my mom as hard as everybody else did with no alcohol whatsoever but, sober. This woman will go and she will ride. We started at maybe four o'clock in the afternoon after you and her went to some meetings and some right, she was up at five in the morning.
Speaker 1:That morning I said my mom is gonna poop. There is no way she's gonna last, no man two o'clock we were still rolling am.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, the band has grown and we have matured and some things, some key things, have happened and this is gonna kind of segue into the the episode. So I'm excited about how I can break this down really quickly. Um, we don't take in consideration what actors, actresses, athletes, employers, bosses, managers are going through on a daily basis to allow them not to perform at their top, peak level. And so when you realize that these are hurdles that they're dealing with in their lives and some of those hurdles are removed and they're able to move a little bit more free, it takes the pressure and the load off of the performance. So now you're you're working in your element and there was a few things that were happening with the band.
Speaker 2:So one of the band members was transitioning from orange county to Wrightwood through a, and this was a slow transition that started before Orange County, so there was a lot of pressure on this particular band member.
Speaker 2:There was another band member that was dealing with his own set of issues that were going on, and then me personally, I had a lot on my plate. There was a lot going on at my regular job, my nine to five. There were things happening in the book writing world that I had no control over and I just needed to figure this stuff out. Not to mention, I'm trying to practice plus manage plus acquire play dates. So the practicing was suffering on a on a whole another level, and so, once those things started to subside and the play dates came in, all of just overnight, um, I found all of our situations getting better and we became a much stronger, tighter, more rehearsed, prepared band. So, yeah, that's what you heard. Uh, last night and the night before you weren't able to come, but same thing, we just, we just we're a different band now yeah, and I hear a beautiful summary.
Speaker 1:That's coming to my mind, but I don't want to get to the end of the show while we haven't really started it, so I love what you've come up with today for the episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, so walk us through it so you know, today's show is going to be about hits and misses. When you got a hit on your hands, I mean and we can take this from any point of view uh, you're hitting at work, you're hitting in the game, you're hitting when you're just winning period, and then you're talking about the misses or the losses, or the L's as some people may refer to them. I'm going to take this L, take a knee, because I just can't get through this, and I just want to focus on both sides of that, but not diminishing one side or another one. It's key because sometimes we get caught up in the celebration so much that we forget about those times when we lost, and sometimes we're so down in the dumps and we're really hard on ourselves that we forget about the many wins we had, and so I just really want to enjoy that. How you feel about that, jen?
Speaker 1:I think it's good. So I just want to clarify hits means the same as wins. Right, right, when you hit it, you hit it big, like if I'm going to the casino and I hit it big, that's a win. Oh, you hit it out the park so that's oh yeah, that's another good one okay indeed.
Speaker 2:So, jane, I'm gonna start off with you. Let's talk about and we'll start with the latter of the two. Let's talk about one of the biggest losses professionally that you may have encountered. That really felt like it was going to set you back and make you not who you are are today man, that's a big question with quite a long timeline to go from.
Speaker 1:we'll go in bits and pieces. Yeah, well, there have been quite a few of losses in my career and one of them was when I was literally making 10 000 a month to take home. And that was on a on10,000 a month to take home and that was on a slow month and I was so used to that income, I was used to being the go-to person in a lot of the things that I was doing there. We had a new program and I created a whole standard operating procedure on this program and it was successful. While I'm doing this, I'm also taking on another task and I was driving out to Orange County to help some hospitals out there in case management stuff.
Speaker 1:So for me, it fulfills me to be busy, to be under pressure, to feel a need and help. And so when I realized that that career, that moment was coming to an end and it was just a weird course of events and a lot of them were out of my control and really coming from people who were hating on what was happening for me in my career- yeah and, looking back, I can truly say that.
Speaker 1:So my loss was not just the career, but I felt like my reputation, my heart was broken. I was so hurt by how all of that went down and, yeah, it just came crumbling quickly. So that was a loss on all ends. You talk about confidence, you know. You just feel like dang, did that just really happen?
Speaker 2:I was blindsided, yeah, and I'm going to pause you right there for a second, because there was another element of that that happened. That took place. We had volunteered as youth leaders for a time and then, once we had pretty much said, hey, it's not that we don't like what we're doing, we really enjoy it, but we're really about to ramp up on some personal business things, and so we're going to step down a little bit and they thought it was because of money and it wasn't, but they offered the money and then there was a break in your schedule to where you actually had time to be a part of the youth organization. And then that ended because we had done that for about a year and a half, two years where it was a full scale pay for being a youth and and working with the youth and running the sound and all that stuff yeah, so a lot of the things that we had put our hearts and soul into were just coming to an abrupt stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, that was a big loss huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, when you're talking about this lost gen, what was the things on your mind like as you're talking about this loss Jen? What was the things on your mind like as you're dealing with the loss, as you're going through the moment? I know you're heartbroken, I know you feel like the life is sucked out of you, but what are the mental issues are you dealing with?
Speaker 1:Oh man, I think I came pretty close to what I would consider a breakdown.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I kind of felt like what's next Lost in the dark and just looking at my family. It was really depending on me to shine through, and you know I have a play on words, so shine through the beep okay, so another because that's really what it was at that moment yeah, and I I don't want to jump topics here, but um, I had to shine through, um, in the shadows of the darkness that I felt that was creeping up.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? Yeah, like I had to find those glimmers, I had to make sense of it, and I felt like my processing time was cut short because everything to me at that time felt like time is of the essence, like if I stay in this space for too long, I'm going to get in a deeper and darker lull, and I wanted to rise above that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'm glad you're being transparent about that, Jen, because you were carrying a much heavier load than usual. And I'm going to say this you know you had taken on a program at another health plan and done something that hadn't been done at that point. Can you elaborate on that, just so people can get a better bird's eye view of what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1:Yes, so during that time and I'm going to put a plug out here for all you bosses that have mentored people and continue to partner with them to open up doors of opportunities, right, well, that's what had happened here one of my old supervisors she was actually on the podcast years ago yeah, um, susan sanchez took me yeah, what's up, susan?
Speaker 1:So she invited me on this journey and I call it an adventure. She's pretty much like I'm able to hire five nurses at your level LVN, and I really want to prove to this health plan that you all can do what RNs can do in the field of case management. And she goes and they're going to scrutinize everything that you do. But I think, after six months, if we could prove that this is possible, it's going to open up other doors for LVNs, like you're going to put this on the map, like this is going to be groundbreaking. So, of course, I'm like sign me up, right? So that happened during this time too, and so that was still going on, which I was really grateful. I had the one thing left that I felt like.
Speaker 1:I just so dramatic, but at the time it's, I felt at least I got this one thing left, real thing that gave me security as far as income and my career and where I was going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, incredible. I love how you tell this story because what it does is it gives a point of view that a lot of people don't get to see. The struggle, oh yeah, the loss, the not hitting so well this is the reference in baseball and basketball football, when you're not at the top of your game and it's not because of something you did personally, but it's just the set of circumstances that are presented against you in life. So, I love this story.
Speaker 1:And that really struck me, corey, when you said a lot of people don't see this struggle. I think what I've gotten very accustomed to is the people who are close to me or really know me, know the struggle. And then, what may be more outward facing to people who are distant and taking a peek into our lives, like how that looks like, oh, she's always happy. Like how that looks like, oh, she's always happy, oh, she's always, you know, so positive and on top of everything. And how how do cory and jen do this? Like, oh, they, I've heard this, they're just lucky, or they, they land on their feet. Even when they fall, you know, they land on their feet. Um, and I do say that we do have great bounce back, but we very much honor the fallen moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, yeah, we, we try to celebrate in a fallen state and not the fall, but what is to come? And I'm going to say this with no regrets and no filter we are fighters. We are the scrappiest, hardest fighters that you will ever meet, because we know what it takes to, uh, stay in this, in this thing called life, and so if you have no fight left, then you're just throwing in the towel and you're giving up.
Speaker 1:I like that word scrappiest? Yeah, I really do, and so I really want to touch here that in those moments, because you asked me a really great question. So what did I do in that? So this is how I felt I felt depressed, and my shining moment in that was just getting out of bed, right, because sometimes that's tough to just move when you're feeling that way or knowing that, hello, this probably is for a good reason, because you've left a toxic situation right and that's the thing about toxicity is, when you're in it you don't realize it.
Speaker 1:And um, I started to realize it, so that started to give me hope and it got me plugged back into my purpose. I lost it along the way because I got caught up in the bigness. Well before that was the bigness of everything right, but yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Afterwards, woe is me for sure. And then my last thing, I think, was admitting that I need help. What I mean by that is just talking to you about what was going on and leaning into my network and trusting that what was coming next was supposed to be, and not get caught up with the amount of money, what this looks like. You know what I mean Like, and it's a trip because everything that's so obvious or so important to you I was being asked to. Yeah, that's small stuff, there's something bigger here, but you don't know quite what it is.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and so I know the people are probably wondering how did you bounce back, how did you turn this thing around? That's a whole other story. How did you bounce back, how did you turn this thing around? That's a whole. I just fast-forwarded you through a lot of that and we're gonna have definitely tell that story at some point in time yeah, I call those transformational victories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, that's what it was, and you just opened my, our minds and our hearts to what else is out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm gonna tell a brief win of mine yes.
Speaker 1:If you don't mind.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't have anything to do with music or the books. It actually has to do with the business that we formed out of that darkness that came about, and that business flourished like never before. But it was a seasonal business, it happened for a brief season and we enjoyed it immensely. So, basically, what happened was, um, jen had transitioned into her current job and I was able to see something that was we didn't know was possible, and it was through a name. It wasn't so much I mean when I say it was through a name, it was the service of the name that we saw through this, and so it actually took legs months later, after we had moved into our last home. I'm going to let Jen take it from there, because that's where essential medical staffing began to grow legs, from there, because that's where essential medical staffing began to grow legs. And, uh, and the reason why I'm letting her do it is because, ultimately, this is her podcast story, and so I'm just I'm facilitating it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he sent, and I just call it essential. I just think that's so much power, it's so, so essential, just essential period yeah. So I think we, um, yeah, so much power, it's so, so essential, just essential period, yeah. So I think we, um, yeah, we did register as essential medical staffing, um, and then we went to rename me as essential services. By the way, that facebook page is still very much alive oh my god still we still get hits and um dms from there.
Speaker 2:I still get calls yeah, are you guys still I'm like uh, yeah I don't know so we started.
Speaker 1:I started teaching case management and I love teaching for those who know me like I love teaching. I love when people get it, I love when there's a challenge and got to figure out another way to present the material so I can partner with the people so they get it. And so just seeing nurses and doctors from other countries come over and go into case management was so rewarding. And it's interesting how that was such a huge win from what I consider a loss, because I had taught case management before and I had to leave that role for a few reasons. But I enjoyed it so much. Right, and I had the most wonderful training and you you were able to see like man, I could, I could do some stuff with this yeah right.
Speaker 1:So the fact that those skills and the practice because here's what I think, cory, I think people have a lot of talent, but you know, we've been in march madness I think it's the practice of the talent that really puts you over the top, if I may say so. Yeah, so all that practice really came into play. Um, cory, you and I had so much fun. We opened up a registry for nurse case managers throughout LA County and we had a blast. We were just figuring things out as we went along.
Speaker 1:Played the game and thought like, okay, give us the rules as we're playing and we're going to process it quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm so excited I keep jumping in. I'm sorry, that's where my win came in. And so a lot of people are like well, where did your win come, Corey? Well, that was it. I got a chance to be an entrepreneur for the first time. I started the paperwork, I was able to get it registered and file and do all this wonderful, amazing stuff. And I'm just dragging Jen along, but along, because she was like I don't know this process and I didn't really know it either. But I had to show some leadership in this because I needed her to feel confident in what we were doing. And I'm just going to be transparent. Can I be transparent Please?
Speaker 1:So you better be right, there you go.
Speaker 2:So Jen had already started teaching and we were beginning to receive income from that. And the bank approached us ultimately and said are you guys operating as a business? And we were like yes. And the branch manager was so kind and so nice and he told me he said you might want to do this, you might want to dodge your eyes and cross your t's because if you don't, you may get yourself in some trouble. And that was enough warning for me. And that was probably about two months into it.
Speaker 2:So I I said, okay, you don't have to tell me twice, I'm not trying to spend time in jail and I'm not trying to have to pay no absorbing amount of money back to something that I was trying to make money from. And so what basically happened was I learned on the fly and then I would share the information with Jen. And then Jen just, my goodness, just flourished like a sunflower in the sun. She was facing up and just going as hard and as fast as you could, and I couldn't keep up most of the time, and there was even thoughts of Corey are you going to be all right?
Speaker 1:in this. I thought you kept up beautifully. I tried. I want to share this because this is one of my joys. Yeah, I think it's in the details, that's the most exciting stuff.
Speaker 1:So Corey made Essential look so good when I say that we had the nice employee files, the contracts, the application, just all the paperwork, the application, just all the paperwork. The way you dealt with the different hospitals we worked with and our employees, and I loved it because here's the stretch for Corey and you were so open to the stretch. Like I said, corey, we need to work with the nurses who are signing on. First, we need to get them strong in their resume, which I took care of, and then you did so beautifully with them. On the interviewing, yeah, right, and that was fun. Yeah, and it was just this whole partnership. We learned how to do payroll. We learned how to team build, how to keep our nurses engaged, and I mean because you're, team build, how to keep our nurses engaged, and I mean because you're. We were literally asking them the night before the morning of to go fill a position.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was needed, you know, and so you had to have dedicated employees who were so engaged, not just willing but wanting to do the work yeah, and you had to have people on standby that were able to do this, because, again, when you're working a registry, they don't know that they're going to need someone until the day of sometimes. Sometimes they give you a little bit of advance, and then we got to face this hard truth that all hospitals don't necessarily adapt to that personality type as well as another one. So we had to do some interchanging and some swapping and figuring that part out as well, and so I'm actually exposing myself right now, because a lot of people don't know that side of me that business side of me and I try to keep it that way as far as where I work, because I'm not trying to do that anymore, especially for someone else.
Speaker 2:I'm more than willing to do that for myself, but that's not what I was called to do in a career.
Speaker 1:And I love that because you said you got your first taste for being an entrepreneur and when I say you got addicted to that taste my goodness.
Speaker 1:So you said you couldn't keep up with me. Now I feel like I'm in that position, like whoa, I don't know if I can keep up with you. So I think, for me, just listening to us retell this story, I feel like the word that I use for this in all of this is that transition from counting your losses and you use these terms so great cory for like taking the knee or whatever it is that you say taking the l taking the l, we're taking the l's and we learned that and I think, without those l's, man, even the mini victories right, because those were so important.
Speaker 1:For I remember when we got our folders and it just spoke to me, the setup with the little prongs you know.
Speaker 1:For me that was a mini victory. I was like we're like legit. Oh snap, we've got a label on the file folder. We're doing payroll. Like this stuff is really happening, and you're right, we had so much fun with it. So I think for me, Like this stuff is really happening and you're right, we had so much fun with it. So I think for me, that transition from taking the L's to celebrating the many victories and the wins is really about grit. I have to say it's all about continuous improvement. Like we didn't give up. No, To your point, we did not give up.
Speaker 2:And I told you this earlier and I meant it, your point, we did not give up. And I told you this earlier and I meant it. You know we have to savor. That means to just hold on to and just take it all the way in those victories, because a lot of people try to store up their victories for a rainy day. And there's no need in storing up victories for a rainy day because when the rainy day comes, you're dealing with the rain. So enjoy that victory. I love that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely In that moment. Some people might say because you know we get this a lot, how do you guys have time to do all this? Someone called me a workaholic. If they only knew how much downtime I actually have in the middle of all of this. So here's my bottom line grit isn't necessarily about the grind. We weren't use the word hustle because I think that works for us when we've got to push through right, but for me it's about the believing piece. Well, we're old school too.
Speaker 2:Jane, I'm gonna let you get into that I know the word hustle is not what it means today for us in the in the early 70s, when when the coach said hustle, he meant move it, get it moving go go. Yes, it wasn't hustling in the way of a side gig or doing something, or like coming close to breaking down.
Speaker 1:Right, right, right. I just knew and I say this today Genco is not done yet. No, I think we haven't started yet. I'm so excited, like in two to three years, we're going to get to look back at Genco, like we just talked about the Shameless Band, and be able to see the growth. You know what I mean. And so for those who don't know and be able to ask us about this sorry about that lost connection for a second is um, what was he going to say? Oh, um, how do you get through this? Oh, what, what is make some noise mean? And we've said this before and we'll say it again that the world around us makes a whole lot of noise, and a genco sound company is about making your own noise.
Speaker 1:So I've had to make noise through obstacles that, like, have blocked our way yeah right distractions that steal our focus yeah um man yeah we and we've talked about failures that have shaken at least my confidence right in doubts that whisper not, maybe you weren't supposed to do this Right and um, disappointments that weigh down the heart and that's why we say make some noise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause I'm just thinking about how it sounds when you wake up in the morning and the dogs are barking, the birds are chirping, you hear the traffic in the distance going by, and sometimes you hear people talking and guys are walking through the neighborhood and you hear, um, just the ambient sounds outside and and whatever things are happening in the house maybe someone's cooking, maybe someone's, you know, putting something together and so all that noise is happening and you're picking up on that, and if you're the quietest thing, you get lost in that. So sometimes it's important, it's almost essential, that you make your own noise so that it can rise above the rest of the stuff. And that's just at home, in the peace of the morning. We're not talking about high traffic time and rush hour. It's just insane, right, right, right.
Speaker 2:I also wanted to say one more thing, jen. Uh, because you asked people. Uh, well, you said that people ask and I get asked this all the time, jen, and I don't have a tv regimen, like I don't have a favorite tv show, I don't know what's on uh, the, the prime time go ahead.
Speaker 1:I don't even know that that's a thing anymore. Don't say primetime.
Speaker 2:There's gotta be as long as there's a.
Speaker 1:TV network. As long as there's TV channels, okay, there's gotta be shows that somebody's watching.
Speaker 2:you know, I got you. And so we? We just don't know, because we don't give TV that kind of time of our lives. And so what that did over the course of three or four years into that, it just allows so much time for you to develop your brain For other things. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think for us, that's what achievement is right, it's that the steady steps towards our purpose. And to be steady, you've got to be grounded in things and and I just I'm so excited about where we're going, where our friends are going in the future, and for me, I think, despite the the things that happened in March that we wish didn't happen, that happened in March that we wish didn't happen, here's what it is Bottom line is that we have hope, and what that means is it's fuel that says the best is still ahead.
Speaker 2:The best is yet to come.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So if you've listened to this episode and you've thought to yourself man, that's impactful, just know this you have just the same amount of tools that we have, and that's just have a little fight, grit and determination and be willing to hustle a little bit. It's great to have these conversations with Jen and just sit back and remember, reminisce, but it's even more so energizing to think about the future and what's to come, and I hope you're able to do the same, and maybe you can reminisce about some stories and shoot us an email, shoot us a. We do have a website now so you can stay in contact with us that way, jen.
Speaker 1:Yeah we haven't put a plug in because it's a work in progress, but hey, it is what it is. So the website's called TheGenko T-H-E-G-E-N-K-Ocom. Yeah, Check us out there, Corey. This was such a beautiful episode. I really appreciate the recall and recognizing all parts of the journey. Like that's so important, so well you know us to take the elevator. We say, look up and let's elevate. Elevate Every day, elevate Every day, elevate Every day, elevate Every day.
