It's a #SpeakEasy Podcast takeover by Margo Lovett host of Her Business Her Voice Her Conversation Podcast.
Margo is bringing you a candid conversation with Altovise Pelzer about her journey as a woman in business, a woman in podcasting, and as a mother. Margo has watched Altovise's journey with a birdseye view of her consistency and heart for women. As a previous guest and fellow podcaster, Margo's vantage point gave her a perspective that added to this genuine and inspiring interview.
Margo's brought some strong questions and conversations starting with Altovise posting videos of herself jumping rope.
1. What is the jumping rope all about?
Altovise: So a friend of mine, Shannaan Dawda, was doing a challenge and it was the 100-day jump rope challenge. And I am, I'm not a big jump roper. I don't even know if that's the word terminology, but I hopped in to definitely support and it wasn't too bad. I only had a few days that I was like, Okay, Siri, me and you are not getting along!
Every day I had to ask Siri a number between zero and a hundred. And when she gave that number, that's how many jumps times 10. That's how many jumps I had to do for that day. So imagine I, when I got the day that she said 100. And I had to do a thousand jumps. Oh, my legs were so sore, so sore, but I loved it.
See, you're a pioneer girl. I've got a few questions for you. You always look like you're having fun. And I noticed that you were committed. You really, really were committed. Which takes me on over to the #SpeakEasy. You have been hosting the speakeasy podcast for four years. Now that takes commitment. You know, the data says that people stop podcasting after episode number eight, then I read after episode number 16, then I read after episode number 20, but four years in what made you decide I'm going to podcast.
2. Take us back into it, help us understand what the speakeasy is all about and how did you make it for four years,
Altovise: So it started with just an idea. Um, I was just like, you know, For me as an introvert, I needed to find ways to network that worked best for me. Um, for me, one-on-one conversations are what I can handle as long as you're not calling me on a regular basis.
This is comfortable. Like I create the atmosphere here as opposed to having to kind of fit into somebody else's atmosphere. That's one piece of it. And then the other piece was there are so many entrepreneurs out here in the world. Like I know we hear about Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and Grant Cardone, but there are so many entrepreneurs who are doing five and six and seven figures in their business who have so much insight and wisdom to share.
I knew what it was like for me. And my first five years of business. I wish that I had some of the people who have had on as guests to kind of pour into me within those first five years. That's, that's who I'm talking to. That's who I want to serve.
Margo: I hear it all in your voice and that atmosphere that you create for your guests, it really is one full of liberty and you listen because you care. And I can imagine you have learned volumes and volumes. I mean, you probably have a master's or Ph.D. in business just from being a podcaster.
Altovise: You know how they talk about the 10,000-hour role? Well, man, I'm way past the 10th rule.
I not only get to interview these awesome guests, but I also get to talk to them. I gave to, you know, it messaged them, email them, and over time it's helped me grow in a couple of areas. It's helped me grow as a business owner. It's helped me grow as a speaker. It's helped me grow as a person.
There are still so many things, especially in the African-American, um, arena where it's taboo to talk about... it is taboo to think about it. You know, there are still people that are in hushed tones when it comes to human trafficking and domestic violence and things of that nature. When these things are very prevalent in our society and things that we, in order for us to top to stop it, we need to talk about it.
And so it's allowed me to really dig in deep and get some roots in what I'm doing with my organization and helping women, who've been through domestic violence and homelessness. Each time I talk to somebody who's been in an arena or a realm where they've come from that, and they've succeeded, I say, wow.
Every time. I do an episode. Every time we sell a program, every time we sell a book through world voice league money goes towards being able to support another child that can have a greater life like that. It supports a woman being able to get out of her domestic violent relationship and it's so much bigger than what it originally started as that I'm just like, wow.
3. Where did you find the grit and the gumption to approach these people and have the confidence to know that I'm going to extend this invitation?
So that was a crazy experience for me because it wasn't until after maybe about the first year or so, maybe two years that I started having this boldness in asking people to be a guest on the show.
I'm still pretty nervous, you know, listen, we think more than we act as introverts. And so, you know, you kind of think of every scenario. No, I can't do it because I'm waiting for aliens to arrive or any number of things. Right. I mean, it is what it is. But I just had to go for it. And it was an interesting experience, but over time, I've learned to respect people's time.
In respecting people's time, put me in, a place of being able to say, I'm coming to you because there's something I really do value about you. And I know that it's going to be something of value for my clients or for my listeners or, you know, in any number of ways. I also connect with people to bring them to do special masterclasses for my free Facebook community. I have them come and do special masterclasses for my private clients. I mean, I literally tap into many different areas when it comes to connecting with people.
4. You've been through some things in podcasting, life, and entrepreneur. Give some pearls of wisdom concerning time for us, please
Altovise: So that's interesting that you would bring that up. I value my time. It's interesting because I had to make a shift within the business, maybe about a few years back.
I had to start looking at my time as a value and it came after leaving a full-time job. And, you know, they tell you how much your time is worth. Uh, it came in the midst of me being in a community where they still didn't really value your time. They wanted you to do this and be here and do this and do this and it still, wasn't a true value on your time. And I had to come to the realization that if you don't put any value on your time, then somebody else will. And that is a harsh reality because we don't know how much time we have. And so if I'm always allowing somebody else to dictate the value of my time, Then that's how we lead to the grave, being the most valuable place on earth.
It's because I allowed someone else to dictate what I was going to do with my time. And I said, wow, I saw this in working with my clients and looking at them and saying, no, your time is valuable. I think we've been conditioned along the way to think that we have to abide by what somebody else tells us our time is worth.
5. What are you working on next?
So for me, the next big thing that I'm doing is this program with #Unmuted through World Voice Legal LLC, which is my business. We did an anthology, which is the first in the series, and it came out in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. It was Amazon's best-selling book.
What we're doing is something called the un-muted box and the un-muted box is a box that we're sending out to women's organizations worldwide. It will have empowerment books, self-care items, and necessities for women to become #unmuted.