Leading as a Woman: From Civil Servant to Founder with Organizational Expert Carrie Bateman-Buckley

Transcript

Speaker 2

00:00

In this episode, we get the chance to chat with one of my sister's Carrie. Bateman Buckley, who is has a proven track record of leadership, and we walk through a good bit of her backstory with we touch on how she was able to join the University of Oregon Ducks on the as part of the first, women's lacrosse team out there and how she's been able to use her skills that she's developed through team sports and applied. That in multiple facets of her life and how she's traveled a lot in her worked internationally, and how she spent the last 15 years in leadership positions in large organizations. Including when she was a senior Cabinet member of the New York City Department of Education, which is just super impressive, we dive into that a good bit. But we also talked about how her life flashed before her eyes during a. Attic event that happened to her in New York City in broad daylight when a gun was pulled on her and then the subsequent three years of kind of trauma being reminded of this incident, and we talked a good bit about that, but we also move on and discuss how Carrie was able to launch her. Her business, Windsor Bateman Solutions, WBS, for short, they provide services for both large and small organizations. And again, we talked a lot about that and the personal side of rising through the ranks in different organizations as a W-2 leader, but then carries transition into being a founder. And we also find out that she's going to be a mother soon to. So there's a lot of the human element ailments weaved in through this one, it's a very relatable practical episode. You're going to love it. Welcome to the, from adversity, to abundance podcast. Are you an.

Speaker 1

02:09

Entrepreneur or aspiring.

Speaker 2

02:10

Entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you in Paxil stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle.

Speaker 1

02:28

Join us, and you will experience the power of true.

Speaker 2

02:31

Stories and gain practical Knowledge, from.

Speaker 1

02:34

Founders, who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health.

Speaker 2

02:42

Relationship and financial challenges.

Speaker 1

02:44

So you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life, you are destined to live turn your adversity into abundance. Yes.

Speaker 2

02:57

Welcome everybody to another episode of the form adversity, to abundance podcast. I am your host Jamie Bateman and I know I say every time that we have a special guest, but this guest is truly special. She's my sister Carrie Bateman Buckley of Windsor Bateman Solutions. Carrie, how are you doing today?

Speaker 1

03:18

I am doing well, just excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2

03:22

Absolutely. Yeah, this is going to be a fun, fun chat. Going to be different from a lot of the ones we have had already other previous episodes. So, yeah. So where are you? Where are you joining us?

Speaker 1

03:34

From joining from Brooklyn? New York.

Speaker 2

03:38

Awesome. I was up there for your wedding last year, which was a ton of fun Carrie. So who are you? What are you up to? What does your business look like, you know what's your kind of what's your story today?

Speaker 1

03:51

Thank you. Thanks a to be here. My business is called Windsor Bateman Solutions. We go by UBS to shorten it a bit, and we're really focused on organizational design and strategic planning. My background is in working in large institutions. So, previously is working for the New York City Department of Education, which sure we will get into a more, but was a Cabinet member there and have worked for other like Special Olympics, International worked on projects with the Centers for Disease Control. So ultimately where I have landed in terms. My business is helping large institutions or even small startups thinking, think about their team and their Staffing and what they need to be successful. So we are now in year, two of the business, which is been awesome. Learned a lot. And I am excited to talk more about that.

Speaker 2

04:49

Today. Yeah. Absolutely. No. I think it's going to be very relevant to our listener. You know, we The Listener out there. Is primarily made up listeners are made up of entrepreneurs or, you know, budding, entrepreneurs want to be entrepreneurs, people who are interested in entrepreneurship and potentially making the leap from their W2 to starting a business like you have pretty recently done. And, so I am thrilled to get into that in a little bit. That's super exciting. And I would definitely want to talk more about what you know what your business does and who you serve in more detail. Before we get there, let us jump back into your back story. Obviously, you know, you're one of my six siblings, so I personally know a decent amount of your backstory but the listener doesn't know who you are and where you came from. So let us talk about that. You know what's let us dive in? Where do you want to?

Speaker 1

05:45

Start? So my back story, I grew up in the small town, in Maryland, just south of the Pennsylvania border, it's called hair furred and Number six, of seven. As you know and what was awesome about that was always getting to have people around them. I have always loved being around people and having all the siblings, the neighbors and that was really fun growing up. And I think another pertinent detail is that being number 6 of 7 allowed me a lot of flexibility to try things out and ultimately, I ended Going to the West Coast After High School to start the first, the University of Oregon's ever, first women's lacrosse team. So was looking at a lot of colleges on the east coast and ultimately picked the one that was supported by Nike and just seemed like a really exciting opportunity. And I think that's a thread that will probably see continued throughout this time today. I really am. Joy starting things and so it was a huge leap for me, I had never actually been to the West Coast before going out to the recruiting trip with the University of Oregon. So it's my first ever time on the west coast and then ultimately chose to live out there. And go to college, they're learned a tremendous amount by being a division 1 athlete. Being a female athlete in a world of a lot of athletes that were going professional and Basketball football. And just you know that experience really taught me a lot and then from there, move back to the east coast for a few years or to Baltimore for a few years and got my Master's in public health from Johns Hopkins. And then throughout that time was working on a project with Special Olympics, International and had the opportunity to go International after that. I always loved traveling. So I spent some time in Southeast Asia, working on a project.

Speaker 2

08:03

Yeah, you definitely been, I guess, trendsetter Pathfinder, I don't know what you want to call it, but within our family mean lacrosse, especially back then was more of an East Coast sport. I know it's grown significantly but and I guess five out of seven, seven of us played in college. But, you know, none of us had gone that far. Our way, you know, geographically physically. So that was just that fact was a big, you know, big deal at the time for certainly for you personally, but for the family as well. So that was I know Oregon. You had to travel to fly a lot to play just to play games and but I love the, you know, just I have been convinced even as the years go on that the values and lessons, that personally that I have learned from team sports and I have talked to a lot of other entrepreneurs business people. I just think team sports are fantastic Avenue to develop skills and Lessons Learned and transferable skills that help you in life and business. So I think that's a phenomenal background for any entrepreneur, really but obviously, you have springboard it off of that and done a lot since then. So okay, so pick it up from where you left off.

Speaker 1

09:25

And just want to give a shout out there to my Oregon lacrosse team. He's as you were saying it's important, and we're still incredibly close to this day, and they're about 13 or 14 of us that stay in close touch like almost daily, definitely.

Speaker 2

09:42

Especially starting something brand-new like you said. It's you didn't just get plugged into it. An existing machine. You were one of the creators and founders of that program, really? If you think about it, so that would Bond, any unit that, you know, that's awesome. So yeah, absolutely. So then you mentioned Johns Hopkins and then pick it up from there.

Speaker 1

10:06

Then after Hopkins went to Southeast Asia. And I was working with the Special Olympics on a project in both Malaysia and Thailand and it was really about developing healthy. The project was called healthy athletes and it was all about health programs. But in trying to develop something that was practical and working with their Department of Acacia in their Departments of health and learned so much there. Just the cultural aspect of disability and how it impacts health services and Educational Services was eye-opening even between the two different countries of Malaysia. And Thailand was very different one was much more integrated in the community one and was much more institutionalized. And so just that experience of learning About that their institutions and the intersection with culture was fascinating and also the opportunity to travel around and work. There was really incredible.

Speaker 2

11:09

And what was your let me jump into it what was your like that? Because that it's not too many people have done anything like that you know at least in my world I will say. But what was your driving force? I mean beyond what you learn from it. What why did you pursue that? I mean, it sounds fascinating. About what were you? What was in it for you? If you will.

Speaker 1

11:31

Good question, I had been working on a grant evaluation program for the Special Olympics here, and so they were funding these programs. So I had done a lot of work on paper of how to develop the evaluation process for them. And at the end they asked, would you want to go work in the field and to me the opportunity to see it in action was when I was eager to do, and so I jumped at that opportunity and, like I said, spent a few months over there. Getting to work with them.

Speaker 2

12:06

Got it? Well, I mean, as you know, that's the execution, you know, is critical, right? So on the ground and, you know, ideas are great. But how do you actually make things happen? And it sounds like you have got a lot of experience in actually implementing and executing plans, strategies, Etc, which I think we're going to get. So where did, where did things take you word your life, take you after that?

Speaker 1

12:31

After I spent some time in Bangkok, I realized that I could thrive in a big city, I think. First, I was a little overwhelmed by it. There's the different language. I was learning public transportation systems and really overwhelming at first, very scary, not in a safety sense, but just in a sense of like having to take in a lot of information at the beginning. And once I started getting a routine there and figuring out the bus system, I realized that I really enjoyed living in the big city, and so I ultimately was wanting to come back to the US but was open to either DC or New York at the time and ended up getting a job in New York and moved to your shortly thereafter. And now I have been Work for 11 years, which is wild. Never thought, I would be here this long, but here, I am.

Speaker 2

13:34

Yeah, I know somebody else. Who said the same thing? Travis anyway, that's really cool. So then talk to us about the 11 years in New.

Speaker 1

13:45

York. Yeah, so the project I have been working on with the Special Olympics was funded project by the Centers for Disease Control. And so a lot of the work that we were doing was Us-based work program monitoring and evaluation, how to essentially determine that the funding that was going to the program was, well, used and creating the outcomes that we were looking for. And so since I already had that understanding it was something I was able to apply to another project with the Centers for Disease Control. And so the job that I got when I first moved to New York, was a project where the Centers for Disease Control is funding the trip. Durham Association the national Trend Syndrome Association. So I was working with them to teach medical providers and teachers about the disability and how to work with people who have it. So for teachers, more classroom-based support and then for doctors how to identify it and diagnose it and really enjoyed that work. And it also included a lot of travel which was fun at the time. And when you're traveling every week or two, it can get to be a lot. And so after that ended up moving over to the New York City, Department of Education, where I started out in the special ed office. And then ultimately went on from there, to hold a number of different roles.

Speaker 2

15:18

Got it. So, you know, I think one thing that people struggle without there, sometimes as maybe they may not, Feel like they're in the exact right, roll right then and there what would you say to the person who, you know, doesn't necessarily love their job? But you know, I have got my own thoughts. I am trying not to unleash them right now but I guess Lessons Learned as far as career Transitions and Transferable skills. I mean, you know, you certainly probably didn't know that you'd be where you are right now 10 15 years ago, right? So if someone's out there working at a W-2, do you have any advice for that person who hasn't started a business? Maybe it's thinking about it, and we will get more into that your transition into your business, but speak to that person who doesn't love their job, you know? And but You know, may not see where their future is headed, just yet.

Speaker 1

16:24

Love that question.

Speaker 2

16:27

Once I finally got it out, right.

Speaker 1

16:30

That's a hard one to answer, but my first thought is a job is only one component of your life to and, you know, I think we put a lot of emphasis on getting a lot. The meaning of Our Lives coming from our jobs. And while it's one factor, I think there are many others as well. And so it's great. We will just, you know, zooming out a little That note that I also was doing a lot of other things with my life that brought me a lot of joy and I say they're still, even if you don't love your W-2, there's still a lot, you can get out of it and to connect those two thoughts. And I recently completed all visiting, all 50 states. And so there was a personal aspect during the job with the TSA and CDC that I got to travel to a number of different. It states and that was fun for me too just to get to explore and see new places, but there's always a skill set that you're developing along the way even if you don't know where it's going to lead. And so with that just the opportunity to understand the public health system, the CDC, how they operate the job itself. Like I think I outgrew pretty quickly, and so I, you know, was kind of hanging on, but Little bit bored and tired and at the same time, I appreciated the opportunity that I had because I was learning a lot and just the opportunity to have a W-2. Like I recognize the privilege that I have had to have a great education, and I was paying off student loans at the time. So just having a consistent paycheck is something that was really beneficial to me and so that Financial stability Was really helpful and I know that you know, you can be tired of a job and yet when you get that paycheck it's really helpful. And, so I think just recognizing that the skills your building will come into play later. I didn't see it at the time but then as you were talking about covid earlier like that ended up being a major project I worked on, and so I didn't really see at the time that the CDC and the intersection between public health and education Systems would come into play, but it was kind of happening along the way without my knowing. And then later on into the future, it did come together.

Speaker 2

19:04

Sure. Now, that's makes a lot of sense. And obviously, everyone's journey is fairly individualized and that sense and there's no way we could say, oh, you should leave your W-2 next week, without really understanding the situation, but I think that those are some key principles. You just laid out and lessons you learned. So, So now, obviously, this show is called from adversity to abundance. And so, we're going to The Listener, might be saying, you know what's the adversity? We're going to talk about with Carrie. So, and again, we're this show, we risk just glossing over the, a lot of the ups and downs that you have been through. But let us focus on some of the human adversity that you have dealt with talk to us about.

Speaker 1

19:51

That. Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity. To, you know, like I was saying, talk about all the aspects of life that can happen and to bring it back during that first job here in New York, had an unfortunate incident. And while I was at my office was an incredibly safe part of the city and I had stepped out to take a personal phone call during the day and actually was robbed at gunpoint, which as you can imagine. Was terrifying. And that event was really difficult, you quickly, see the end of your life which is its just hard to process that. And, you know, Not only was that event really traumatizing. But then also the court process that went on for three years that I had no choice over. I was a subpoenaed witness and all of this and Just dragged the process out even longer. And so it was one of those things that I wanted to, you know, work through with a therapist and would love for it to have ended, but I had to keep going to court. Or you can imagine how flawed that system is, you know, it's getting rescheduled having to show up to talk about my experience and just a lot that happened there. So it was a really difficult few years from that perspective of having to process. Again, like I said, being the end of my life and then having to relive it time and time again, inside a court setting where lawyers are coming after you to protect the person who did this to you.

Speaker 2

21:44

Yeah. So you know, we won't spend too much time on it but it sounds like it, you know, this was obviously overwhelming and Really complicated and remote very emotional experience that you had. There's no way we can, you know, really appreciate the depth of what you went through, but talk to us just kind of in the moments after this happen. I know you're probably in shock but kind of what is going through your mind as far as seeing your life flash before your eyes.

Speaker 1

22:20

Yeah, definitely. I am shocked. And it just I don't know how to describe it. It's kind of like you just see everything within like a two-second period it. There's just a lot that comes to light, I guess and it's very scary and then like I said, spent a lot of time in therapy working through the trauma of it. And ultimately I don't want to say it's a silver lining necessarily because I think it's really terrible and no one should have to go through it. And but having the space to work through it and unpack that trauma and then almost not, I don't, I say not be scared of anything. It definitely to me is the scariest thing. Someone can go through, right? Coping with that end of life experience and so then it's probably not the right word but it's almost liberating in the sense that yeah, you have come to terms with the fact that it will. Happen one day and then from there other things become less important and you're a little bit more free to live your life without caring. What people think.

Speaker 2

23:35

Sure. No, that's a really, you know, great way of looking at it of not been through anything exactly like that at all, we did have a guest on prior who his name's a Clint Fiore, and he survived a Cessna plane crash by himself and walked away. Come in and this is not. It just reminds me of some of the things you're saying, remind, remind me of what he was saying that essentially every day since then is a bonus, and he's he mentioned the same thing where doesn't sweat the small stuff as much anymore because how could he? So just yeah. And like you said, you know, we're we hope no one ever has to go through anything like that, but that Doesn't mean that you couldn't have pulled out, you know, kind of benefits or you know Lessons Learned or some kind of good. Things can come out of bad situations in my opinion. So yeah obviously sorry that happened and you know the three ensuing years were not easy either because it sounds like you were being reminded constantly of this issue that you're this super scary incident that you were trying to move on from. Thankfully, you know, you hadn't had anyone. Hopefully remind you of forcibly, remind you of this until till this crazy podcast host made, you talk about it again, but yeah. So now once that kind of three-year period was over, were you able to move on from that for the most part or how were you processing things at that point?

Speaker 1

25:20

Yes, definitely. I mean, I think even before that I was able again, I think therapy is tremendous, was able to work through it and a lot of helpful ways and also accept that it's something. Once you have an experience like this, it never fully goes away. And that's part of the process too. And so it's something that is I will say is near and dear to my heart. So I have definitely moved on in terms of a processing. It Way. But at the same time, I think my heart breaks a little bit potentially more than some other peoples when we see things like in Nashville, that's happening. It just thinks that is really important and a, you know, might feel that a little bit more viscerally than some others who haven't had a first-hand experience with gun violence.

Speaker 2

26:12

So night, I imagine.

Speaker 1

26:14

Yet to motivate us to action.

Speaker 2

26:15

to sure. I imagine liking you alluded to the fact that it was. You said it was a pretty safe area, generally speaking, right? So I would imagine that's then hard to deal with because you didn't think you're just at work, you know, honey safe part of New York City, right? And so, therefore That's no longer safe rate that in your mind and in your mind or possibly in reality, right? So yeah, that's pretty complicated for sure. So okay, so from a kind of more of a, you know, career business standpoint. How did things progress since the in the last few years, for you?

Speaker 1

27:01

Sure. So I had moved on to the New York City Department of Education, So you mentioned started off in the special ed office there and was in charge of writing their whole policy and procedures. Manual. First, the special education process in New York City and so that allowed me to learn the entire system because as you're aware of the special, ed process intersects with Transportation with even food, potentially, like with every part of the entire system. And so in that year, I learned it the system as a whole which was really helpful because I had Really right out how it all worked and then had the opportunity to be promoted to Chief of Staff for all the special ed in New York, which is 240,000 students with disabilities here. So.

Speaker 2

27:53

Yeah, tell the listener because I know a little bit about the kind of give us a little bit of context like the New York City. What kind of budget were you working with? Like, compared to, you know, or some kind of numbers you want to throw at this as far as yeah. What you were? Were what you were overseeing?

Speaker 1

28:09

The New York City system has about 1.1 million students and so it's the largest school district in the country. The next largest is Los Angeles, and they have about 450,000 students. So, just to put that in perspective, we're significantly larger here than any other system. And with special education, not only are you overseeing the public school. So we had 1,800 public schools in our system, you're also supporting Students with disabilities who are in charter schools and private schools. And so you're responsible for any child in New York City who has a disability over three years of age between 3 and 21. So even if they're homeschooled, you're responsible for providing support. So the number of students was tremendous and then our overall budget was about 38 billion dollars with a be.

Speaker 2

29:06

With Abby. Yeah, that's you.

Speaker 1

29:09

Then went on to manage a portion of that budget as well. So after special education helped roll out, our Universal pre-k program where we're focused on free, childcare free preschool for all four year olds and then three year olds. And then after that role was the chief operating officer for division, that over-salt, private schools, Charter Schools impartial, Was for families of kids with disabilities, a number of different facets. And know, I mentioned earlier, the work that we did around covid. So I was actually on New York City's emergency management team for the covid response as well.

Speaker 2

29:54

That's a, that's impressive. I imagine that. Just that New York City's, the organization's you worked in and oversaw / helped oversee. Yeah. They're larger than the many states or organizations as a whole. So that's I know you did a fantastic job there. What? Now, you don't do that anymore. You don't be too. You're a Founder. You have made some changes since then career-wise. What? You know, how did you get where you are today?

Speaker 1

30:33

I love that and I also was just thinking back to your earlier question about, you know if you're in a W-2 job that you might not necessarily enjoy so much. And I really enjoyed my work with the Department of Education, I will say. And it was really difficult, it's a hard institution to work in. And so, to me something that always made the W2 job, better was learning. And so like any opportunity for that and intellectual stimulation, always balance. Out the other parts of the job that I didn't love so much which will tie into this next question because ultimately I felt like I had learned I don't say all there is to learn. It's a huge system but you know I had really gotten to know the special ed system. The charter schools, the private schools Early Childhood. I also had the opportunity to be acting Deputy Chancellor, which is the on the Minute second to the chancellor. And, so I had, you know, experienced a number of growth opportunities. Had really gotten to know the system and after supporting covid response, really just felt like there wasn't much more for me to learn. I wasn't really growing intellectually or managerially and so was just ready to make a change at that point in my career and I wasn't sure exactly what direction is going to go. And as I mentioned, I have a public health background, so I was thinking of even returning back to that Arena a little bit more. So I was thinking about Hospital Administration and then with covid where it was, but wasn't the world. I was looking to jump into and started talking to a few companies. And the qualities that I realized that I was looking for in my next role was variety. I really liked working on different projects and with a Number of different people. And so that was something that I just claimed to and realized that I liked some of the Consulting group's. I was talking to worked nationally and I liked the opportunity to get to work with groups in different geographical locations, and so I was considering and going with one group and I had met with their CEO and was a really large consulting company, and He said something to me in the meeting, and he said, you know, I think you're further along than I was when I started. Wow. And I will pair that with the fact that they also didn't have any women in leadership positions. It didn't seem like they had a real motivation to get there either. So, to me, that's a clear signal of how, I will be entering an organization and I really appreciated the opportunity of not with him. Was still considering it. But ultimately, I believed him wanted to really show that a woman could be a successful business owner and wanted to set it up myself. After that, it's like, if, you know if it's going to be a long path to prove that a woman can be a leader in this organization. That's not really the fight, I want to fight right now. I would rather go set up my own business and show that Can be successful there. So ultimately how I landed on opening my own, I will see.

Speaker 2

34:10

That's awesome. Yeah. So essentially you had what appeared to be a decent opportunity in front of you, but you decided to think bigger and proof kind of proved him, right? If you will, actually I was going to say, prove him wrong but really proved him, right? And okay, so then you determine that You're going to open Windsor Bateman Solutions are how did that process work?

Speaker 1

34:39

Yes I still was I will say like dabbling at the beginning. I didn't go in there saying like I want to run my own business. Let us do this. It was more like, okay, I will start here and then it's base to reflect on what I am really looking for and.

Speaker 2

34:56

I think that's a key point just to jump in real quick because it's very easy for. The Listener or even, you know me to look to listen to a guest or to look back and say well they obviously had it all figured out, you know Carrie had her 10-year plan laid out and the reality is not so much. I mean it's so it's can be more of a day to day or week to week or month to month approach and it can still be a successful you know way of progressing through your career life. So I think that's important. You don't have to necessarily Sara Lee, have it all figured out ahead of time before you get started. Sounds like you took a more little bit more micro level approach to that part of your transition, from the W2 to the entrepreneurial world is that fair to say.

Speaker 1

35:48

That's fair to say. And the one thing I will say that I had planned for, in advance was financially, I had given myself a cushion there, so that I wouldn't be stressed on that.

Speaker 2

35:59

Front and that's really important. Yeah.

Speaker 1

36:03

Been saving up over time again. Not even sure what this was the leap? I was going to make but I did have that they're in order to support myself as I was.

Speaker 2

36:14

Yeah, it gives you more options, more sense of security and just the backstop. And if, if this doesn't work, okay, I wasted a few months or year, but I am, so I can still kind of pivot and go into a better Direction. So, that's, yeah, that's Also easy to gloss over is the personal discipline to save, and I saw that firsthand. You were, you were saving a lot from a personal finance standpoint or at least I saw second hand. I will say I saw, you know, that you have the discipline to do that, which is critical. So, so talk to us, kind of, you know, once you were like, okay, I am all in on this business, you know, I have got the name, I have got working on the website. What's, I know, as an entrepreneur Or there's a lot and, you know, a lot to juggle, there's always there always multiple problems and fires to put out, but how did it progress up until today?

Speaker 1

37:13

I love that. And just what you're saying in terms of people starting and thinking that the person has it all together. I remember as I was starting, I didn't know what area I wanted to focus on. I, you know, had worked in special education, Universal Pre-K Dot. Systems Health Systems. And, so I was starting off pretty Broad and not really thinking from a sales or marketing perspective or even Business Development. I just wanted to work on different projects, and so I remember thinking like I was so almost overwhelmed by that and impressed by everyone else who already had it together. Particularly around the website. So I put my website together myself, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, Or you're cutting costs and you're wearing a lot of hats yourself. And I think one of the first lessons I learned in starting a business is that 80% Rule? And yeah thing it to be good enough. Sure. Which is really hard for me because I like to make sure everything's high quality but when you're starting that's just not going to help you be successful.

Speaker 2

38:23

So now it's yeah I won't there's so much that you're is so true. There, the Pareto Principle, I think they call it the 80/20 rule and just I guess I forgot what the quote is, but Perfection is the enemy of the good. Good. Yes, it just, it's so true. You just can't Perfection. Is just you're never going to get there especially in the beginning of Your Love launching your business type thing. So you learned that you were learning that lesson and I would guess still learning that lesson because I think we all are still learning that lesson. And so, what did that? How did that? That actually look.

Speaker 1

39:02

For you. Yeah, I got my website to place where it was good enough in about two days and then just started reaching out to people and wanted to find out from people who had done it, how they had gone about it. When it looked like also was really intimidated by a lot of these people's websites because they looked so beautiful and mine did not and someone actually said to me just want to share My website didn't I didn't even bring it up, and she said I didn't start out with this website. Like it took time to get here and you will learn and just was really helpful to have some of that encouragement along the way. Sure people who were in a place that I wanted to be and so started off very broad, just really reaching out to people seeing who had some projects that they needed support with and was very open-ended. And was starting out just by myself at the beginning, which psychologically it can be very difficult because you're trying to bring in new business and it's all you and your learning all the different things along the way that need to get done, like quarterly taxes and contracts and how to pitch your service and price. It. So that first six months especially but Year, I will say just was a lot of learning and with difficult in a lot of ways. And that's saying something for someone who loves setting up new systems, it just was like this constant influx of new information and also needing to complete all the projects myself just because of the capital, the financial place where I was, and so I have reached out, I had some colleagues who had moved on to other positions, and I was fortunate to start on some small projects there and essentially those started growing into bigger projects and then I also started just getting better at how I could package my services and reaching out to more people. So was doing more business development and had the opportunity to work with some edtech companies as they were starting off. And, so I was working across a variety of different Great content areas and providing different services and ultimately that was really difficult for one brain to manage and you know also just starting a business and being the CEO and CFO and c00 and project manager. It's just a lot for one person. So I started realizing that I needed to focus more. So unlike something that I could replicate across clients. And that's how I landed on organizational design and strategic.

Speaker 2

42:05

Planning. Gotcha. Yeah, and that's, it's a constant struggle from, you know, I never thought of myself as a marketing person. But you really number one, if you believe in what you're selling, you're in marketing. I mean, you if you believe in what you're providing your that you're actually adding value, then you should be trying to sell what you're offering. You should be marketing, you should so whether we like it or not, Marketing people. And you know, it's a constant learning process for me as well for sure, and I think that's critical. So, so it sounds like you took and I can just I will speak to from, like the podcast, it, which is not all that I do. But I can, I can say when you, when you launched a podcast, which I recommend once you, once you get down the road, you know, you want to speak to everybody. You want your listener base to be super expansive. You want a million downloads tomorrow but the reality is, if I am speaking to every everyone in the country in the world, I am really speaking to no one, and so they talked about defining your avatar. Making a very specific, you know, age, gender occupation, even if not every listener fits neatly into that category, that focus is critical. You can then later expand, you know, expand and contract. And attract, these are things that I am learning myself, so you were able to kind of focus and so Define, if you can, who is your client? I mean what's, what does that look like today?

Speaker 1

43:49

My client really could be anyone, but we focus on larger institutions and so in my time at the D OE, I had led a number of office transitions mergers Unfortunately sometimes we had to reduce headcount and Staffing funding and could find other positions for people to grow into, but just realize there was a real Gap there between The Human Experience and what people were going through on their own team and the way that the structure was organized as a whole. So, ultimately our goal is to help anyone who has a team but think through how to improve their morale. Any staffing gaps that exist from, we do a survey, and we do a functional analysis where we actually capture every function that each team member is managing, and then we zoom our and think about the structure as a whole and any staffing gaps that are needed down to helping us think through job descriptions. If at the end we recommend, they hire two positions will even help them rate the JD's for those. And then there are some teams that we have worked with. If that are brand-new and so startups, or even just new initiatives that are launching like you were saying earlier with the idea and implementation sometimes you have a leader who has a wonderful idea, and they don't have the capacity to Think Through the operations, that's where we come in to help. Think through what the team structure should look like how to prioritize hiring within that. One of our clients actually was a former White House advisor on Energy. And he's been a leader with the Ukrainian crisis, and he have a lot of funding coming in, but needs a team to support him as they ramp up. And so, we were that, you know, team that could come in quickly to help execute that verse taking a number of years to think through all the knees there.

Speaker 2

45:53

So sure, makes sense.

Speaker 1

45:55

But that's the type of work that we.

Speaker 2

45:58

Do. Yeah, it's perfect that. Yeah. Do you have any other just quickly any other sort of case studies you could point to such a kind of make this kind of materialize in our brains?

Speaker 1

46:11

For sure. We also have been working really closely with Columbia University. As I am sure many are familiar here in New York. They started the first ever School of its kind in the nation on climate. And so with that they had just a small team that was starting off. And How it's grown over the past three years to offer master's degrees in the future, undergraduate degrees and what goes along with that of course is all the Staffing and thinking through the operations. And so we have helped them. Build on some existing teams that have merged into the school right now. We're working with their budget and finance team, and so they had some of the capacity that was already there but also it's a new school. So then there's some capacity that we have been adding. And so we have done a number of projects with them where we're really thinking through the hiring and their growth plan. And so it would range from one year to five years in terms of what that Staffing plan looks like. And also supporting with survey and team retreats to really understand the experience of the people who have been there as we're going through that merger. And so that's been Really helpful to them, to get the extra capacity to people from an outside perspective, capture the data, help break it down. We're really going through slides of data in terms of survey responses, and also we do stakeholder interviews. So we're capturing the qualitative data there. And our goal is to keep the people at the center of any kind of organizational.

Speaker 2

47:54

Change. It makes a lot of sense, and that's been a common theme among not, not your business model, but the among the successful entrepreneurs and business people we have had on this show, it almost always comes back to the people and people being the backbone of any business or organization as much as AI is real and systems are super important, we all get that but that stuff changes and honestly is really secondary to the people of the organization and that goes back to your, you know, your team work at Oregon and Understanding the importance of working together. So that's awesome. Now, before we, before I fire off some rapid fire questions, what you want? You have something else you want to.

Speaker 1

48:42

Say, I was just thinking to that I hadn't mentioned, like, in terms of growth for my company that I then was fortunate to be able to bring some people onto my.

Speaker 2

48:52

Team, which time we must have like similar to that X. Because that's literally what I was going to ask is, is instead of just your It's, which is critical and very important. But how did the growth of your internally, your own team? I can't imagine you have a ton of time. You know, that's the that entrepreneurial challenge always is working in your business versus on your business. So but focusing on your business, how did your team grow? And what does that look like? Now.

Speaker 1

49:20

Super fortunate. I have a team. There are four of us now and it started like one step at a time. I will say so Had reached out to someone at the beginning who I knew had been freelancing, and we started having check-ins. And then once I had some projects asked if she would want to work on them, so started off having one person on my team and then when I was fortunate to bring in another big project, then was able to bring in another former colleague of mine. And so, then started growing, and then as you know, have a really important team member who Support with some of them were like administrative functions and with that this is the first time the project one of the Predators were working on. Now is the first time when I have had all of them on the same project at the same time and it's been so fun. They really enjoy it too and it's just really nice to get to see people's strengths coming together and the product of what we offer now is significantly enhanced and Not only that, but was also able to work with a graphic designer and updating our website too. So some capacity growth inside the organization. Also, had more opportunities to work with some people who had specific skill sets externally as well.

Speaker 2

50:50

Sure. So it sounds like you're the founder and CEO and then you have got some three program managers. Is that kind of how it's broken out? Gotcha. Yeah, it's a, it's a constant battle, but I, it's a lot of fun, you know, you never there, but just building that team and making progress together, and hopefully, you know, meeting their individual goals as well. And encouraging them along the ways. It's I really enjoy that as well. Do you see internally for your business? Do you see kind of staying in that, you know, four to five person, you know, realm for a while? Or do you want to have 50 employees and in 10 years? Where do you see it?

Speaker 1

51:34

Going? It's a really good question. I think, when I was first starting off, it was hard to be on my own and also a nice relief in some ways to be able to work independently, but I think after having others join, I just realized how much I love working with people. And so really enjoyed it. And also I am at a transition personally where I am about to become a mother and really excited about that. And what's really About thank you about being an entrepreneur as the flexibility that's built into it and I had actually met with a woman a few months ago, who's been really successful in building her business. And she was saying how the beginning everyone was talking about scaling up, and she was thinking that she wanted to but then valued other parts of her life more so. And, so I am not sure exactly where I wanted to go. I know that I love working on a team. I think in and Ideal World. We would grow and like I love to be able to build even more of a team, but I am not sure exactly what size that would look like. And I am also curious to see how things might shift, as my personal life shifts as well.

Speaker 2

52:54

Yeah. I think it's a healthy answer because no one, no one truly has it all figured out anyway. So awesome. Well, I have got some kind of Rapid Fire questions. I am going to Rattle off here. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you?

Speaker 1

53:11

Oh, and I think the people who want to meet up during the day, and I think they don't understand that I am actually working full-time during the day. So I have a lot of flexibility, and I am also working with clients, and a number of meetings. And so feel like there's like a lack of understanding about what actually goes into running a business. If you're not doing it, It.

Speaker 2

53:37

I 100%, I couldn't agree more well, especially just working from home. It's that can be challenging. So, looking back. What's one of your biggest failures? Regrets. People sometimes don't like the word failure, but something you would do over. If you.

Speaker 1

53:58

Could My first client actually, just was not a fit for me. Okay. But I said yes, because I was starting off and thought I had to say yes to everyone.

Speaker 2

54:11

That's a really good that you talk a little bit more about that. That's really interesting.

Speaker 1

54:15

I think I could tell from the outset that we didn't share the same goals. It was like close enough but ultimately, I recognize they were looking to use me for sales and their relations to get them into certain You know, to unlock certain doors for them but.

Speaker 2

54:31

That for your network.

Speaker 1

54:32

Basically, I am at work and just not how I operate. I appreciate my relationships and I want to add value to people but I just don't approach the work in the same way. And, so I was trying to come up with some kind of service for them, that could balance the two or thread, the needle, so to speak. And ultimately, they had a lot of expectations and I did not enjoy the work and it ended amick amicably but it just was a learning for me that I should be a little bit more Discerning in terms of the projects. I say yes to and it was very stressful because it was my first client. So I just thought that was how they all are going to go. So I definitely felt like it was a failure at the time and of course now with hindsight I can See it a little bit more. Clear.

Speaker 2

55:31

I can just you know, like in our mortgage note business, we have a by box for one fund and a by box for another fund and it's like it used to be like we overanalyze all it's been all this time looking at deals and you know now it's like well if it doesn't fit in our by box move on, and that's a little more transactional than what you're talking about. But I can say, on the rental side, we have gotten better at saying no, this isn't a fit for this tenant isn't going to be a fit. You know, we have had some bad experiences there where we just jump and you know, the tenant says, we need to fix this, and we say you know, right away and it's a I think that's a critical piece. Are you do hold more, I guess power and you have a lot of it's up to you. It's your business. You know who you want to work with who you want to serve. So that's really good and I imagine that gets to you spoke earlier about focusing your business more. I imagine those two things. Are not unrelated. If you could go back and give your 18 year old self some advice, what would that be?

Speaker 1

56:36

Wow, that's a really good one.

Speaker 2

56:40

And even though you're my sister, I did, I did not prepare carry for any of these questions. Just your listener out. There are done not prepare her.

Speaker 1

56:50

I wish I had a little bit more Grace with myself. I think I helped have always held myself to a high standard Nerd and I think that just like Ally myself to mess up a little bit more during the College Years would have been a helpful learning experience. And, so I would say just to like relax a little bit more about things actually and to not sweat the small stuff as much.

Speaker 2

57:21

I was agreeing. Not saying you should relax. I can relate is what I am saying. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, I don't know if you're drinking coffee these days, but if you could have a drink or coffee when you're able to, with any historical figure, who would that be?

Speaker 1

57:37

Oh, that's such a good one.

Speaker 2

57:40

It doesn't have to be your number one. It could be one of 10 that come to mind.

Speaker 1

57:44

Think, right now there's someone who is leader in the women. Nor space. And that's who I would choose to have coffee with. And I went to hire her conference recently, and she's really focused on marginalized communities business owners. Her name is Rachel Rogers, and think, I read her book and went to the conference. I think there's a lot to learn there, and so it would probably be someone like her who has a lot of experience in building a successful business as a woman.

Speaker 2

58:17

Perfect. If you were given 10 million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with?

Speaker 1

58:22

It? Oh well I just took a retirement classroom okay? Mapped out how much we need for that?

Speaker 2

58:32

That would help you a little bit.

Speaker 1

58:33

Right? Earmark the amount that we need to get to retirement just to have that complete and then would find Charities and other groups to give the rest of it too.

Speaker 2

58:49

Love it. How about a book that you could recommend do any books come to mind? It could be personal or business related anything you can recommend to our listener.

Speaker 1

59:01

As I mentioned, I am almost I am seven months pregnant and it's almost going to be a new mother, and so I have been reading a lot of pregnancies book. So I have been reading books by an economist who really takes a data-driven perspective on pregnancy and outcomes and so expecting Better is the book. I have been reading recently where she breaks down studies about coffee, for instance, like you're saying and if they have any impact and things like that. So that's what's been on my bookshelf right now.

Speaker 2

59:32

No, that's a good one. It's, you know, it we're learning a lot even with teenagers that, you know, that things from the form prior to birth, probably have a lot to do with how someone's life goes. But so, What's one thing in your business that you're just one challenge that you're facing right now? I know there's 25. But what's what kind of big one that you're working through right now?

Speaker 1

01:00:00

Again going to bring it back to that same topic. But since I have never been here, before, from a business perspective and maternity leave perspective, just trying to plan for that in a way that is realistic. But also I love my business and like I want to make sure that I am prioritizing my baby in the next stage and also would love to come back to it in a way where there's a balance between the business still running but also having the home life that I am looking for. So just grappling with how to do that right now? Its an is the mental.

Speaker 2

01:00:38

Challenge. Sure, we can't. None of us can create more time, right? Right. The one resource that's Limited in your opinion. What is one? One of the most important personality traits that someone can someone needs to be successful in your industry.

Speaker 1

01:00:55

I would say being a good listener. I think that what I love about what we do is we have these one-on-one meetings with people, and we really get to the heart of the matter in the meetings with them, and it's all from listening. So I just think empathy goes a long way in any industry that you're in.

Speaker 2

01:01:14

Couldn't agree, more send seems like it's more of a more and more of a lost art these days listening. What have we not covered that? You'd like to.

Speaker 1

01:01:28

I would like to give a shout out to my husband who has been really supportive of me professionally and personally as I started this business I think we actually had met at work, and so I feel like he had a Brent, he had knowledge about how I had been successful in that Arena, and he never wavered in my ability to be successful and starting my business. And I think it's gone such a long way because even those moments when you're starting a business and even if you feel successful you were also still feeling challenged in a lot of ways. And it's just so helpful to have a partner who is really supportive and is always speaking encouraging things to you. And, so I think that's also been really valuable to me.

Speaker 2

01:02:17

Yeah. I think that's just for anyone who is in a similar position. It's just extremely. It's overlooked and it's honestly, we should talk about more on the that more on the podcast because it's a critical piece just especially more and more today. I think working from home entrepreneurship is becoming even more popular and but it's you don't operate in a vacuum or a silo the people in your personal life in your the closest people to, you are just critical. So and I know from my perspective, your husband has been very Supportive. So that's awesome. What else? Is there? Anything else we should? We should touch on Carrie.

Speaker 1

01:03:04

We have covered a lot but a lot of fun, I think the most important lesson is that, if you're wanting to start a business, is just to keep going, like it will be difficult and there will be aspects that feel like they're going to you know, really stop you in your tracks as your Events that will and you just have to keep going and then it can build over.

Speaker 2

01:03:30

Time. I love that. It's not like you didn't pivot and like you said, you focused. You'd certainly took in data to make better decisions going forward, you didn't just like put on blinders and go forward. But you still, you have had persistence and understood this may suck right now but that's okay. That's because anything in life is that's worthwhile I will is also challenging, so I love that. It's fantastic Carrie Bateman we're sorry Carrie Bateman Buckley, where can our listeners find you online?

Speaker 1

01:04:06

We're at Windsor Bateman solutions by ruins our women.com, Windsor Bateman Solutions. If you were to Google it, and we have an email address, hello at Windsor Bateman.com and you can feel free to be in touch with us there. We'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 2

01:04:22

Sounds great. Kerry, thank you so much. Being vulnerable about some of the particular personal incident that you unfortunately went through and for sharing about your experience and the ups and downs of becoming an entrepreneur and you know the but shining a light on The Human Side of that, we really appreciate you taking the time today. So, thank you so much.

Speaker 1

01:04:45

Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Speaker 2

01:04:47

Absolutely into the listener out there. Thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us and that is your time, be sure to check out our new podcast website, adversity to abundance.com. That's the number to adversity to abundance.com. Thanks everyone. Take care investors. Have you ever felt frustrated by your loan?

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Leading as a Woman: From Civil Servant to Founder with Organizational Expert Carrie Bateman-Buckley

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