Speaker  0:02  
Welcome to positive talk radio. Our goal is simple to explore evolving ideas, one conversation at a time. So stay with us. As right now, we present. We have got a tremendous author and program for you today. Her name is Kim Ling Ling. And she is right over there. And we're going to talk about her her work that she does a TV show that she took. She's all over the place. And we're going to talk about her and all of that stuff. So first of all, welcome to the podcast. How are you today?

Speaker  0:43  
I am doing awesome. Thank you for having me. This is gonna be fun.

Speaker  0:47  
It is going to be fun. Well, first of all, what is it that? What is it that you do?

Speaker  0:53  
Well, what I do is, I like my radio voice.

Speaker  0:57  
I do. I've been told I have one too.

Speaker  1:02  
You have a radio voice as well. I'm actually a co host, on a weekly 15 minute radio show called Voices for vets here in my local area. It's on a local classic rock station. So I we always banter back and forth about my radio voice. But so that's one thing that I do. It's I'm a huge advocate for veterans, and those who live with PTSD. So I have for over 25 years been helping helping veterans out quietly on the back end when they need it. Outside of that, that's in my personal side, volunteer side. I'm an author, and actually this month getting ready to have published my fourth anthology that I coordinated called when hope found me. So I'm kind of excited about that. And I'm a podcast host of let fear bounce podcast. So that's fun. I've been doing that for a couple years. And I'm also the host of a television show, that's an online streaming television show called The Right Stuff, WRI te the right stuff, the author's voice, and it's all those all the episodes are authors from all over the world from those who have just started writing to USA Today in New York Times bestsellers, they come on, and they share why they write their journey, how they got to where they're at, just you know, so we can find out more about the authors. And then you know, they share a little bit about their books as well.

Speaker  2:32  
And that's plenty. You know, the interesting thing about that is, is that people will assume they're gonna listen to this. It's like, you just kind of fell into this and it just kind of happened. But no, you made it happen in every step of the way. Everything that you've done, you've made it happen. Was there a moment in your life when you decided that this is the direction you wanted to take it?

Speaker  2:59  
Yes, actually, it's an exact moment when the the world closed its doors in the pandemic. So many businesses and companies shut their doors as well. And mine was one of them. Well, I was a sales and marketing director. So I was a road warrior. I had to be traveling all the time to visit customers, while everybody's doors were shut, and I didn't have any place to travel. So they didn't really need me. And they didn't know no one knew how long this shutdown lockdown thing was going to last. And so I was nicely let go. And there's no hurt feelings or anything. And I saw it come in and we had a long talk about it. But I lost my job. And I was at a point in my life. The next day, I'm sitting on the edge of my bed when I woke up and I'm like, Alright, Kim 24 hours to be angry. Be as mad as you want go out in the backyard, yell scream, swear, throw sticks and stones, whatever you want to do. And I did. Yes, you know, I'm in my 50s and I had not been in that position. There I am

Speaker  4:07  
with I can only imagine and it

Speaker  4:11  
was not a fun feeling. And so I gave myself 24 hours to be angry. And then that was it that I'm like, Alright, after that, Kim, you're pulling up your big girl panties. And you're gonna sit down, figure out what it is that you're good at what you love doing, what you're passionate about, and what you have a true heart for. And I started writing in 2004 and having you know, articles and different things published in different magazines and that but it was the stuff I did in the evenings to keep busy. Yeah, yeah. And I liked it and I like sharing other stories. So I you know, I interviewed like dozens and dozens of veterans and shared their stories and local newspapers and stuff like that. And then I thought, you know, I can I can do something with that. So, I started coordinating anthology reaching out to people and saying, Hey, I know you have a story, a personal story. And I reached out to people I knew. And it's Is that something that you would want to share with the world? Even though you've never shared it with anybody else, you want

Speaker  5:14  
to share it with the world now? We'll change the name to protect the innocent. Right,

Speaker  5:18  
right. So I started doing that writing my own stories and coordinating anthologies in that first 12 months, I had three books published three anthologies. In the midst of that, that was just crap, because I was like, No, I'm gonna make it happen. I'm not going to send resumes out anymore. I'm in my 50s. And quite honestly, I don't want a 30 year old boss, because I know more than they do. So that was my mindset. So I was like, No, I'm not gonna send my resume. I'm just so I made that decision. Then I was like, well, then you darn well better make something happen. So I started doing the books. And then one morning, I woke up and I went, Yeah, I'm seeing all kinds of stuff and hearing stuff online about podcasting. I don't even know what that's about. And this is just three years ago. So I googled it. And for two hours, did some research. This is how it all started. I googled it, and for about two hours was researching and like microphones and lights and all this. I'm like, Oh my gosh, it seems like a lot. But then I realized, you know, I could set up a nice little area for about 150 bucks or less, just to get me started. Because I already had a laptop and the computer and all that stuff. So I thought, Well, why not try it? So literally two hours after I started Googling, I recorded my first podcast. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. But I'm gonna do it anyway. And so here we are. Two years later, I'm I've just recorded like my 150/4 episode. And just I've met amazing people from all over the world. And then from my podcast is how the television show came. I was a guest on someone else's podcast. And they said, you know, you've got like, great energy. And we now have a brand new television network that's looking for dynamic hosts for a family friendly, clean network. And your story's great. And you're an author, and what is it that you want to do if you were to have a show? And it was just immediate, I said, I want to spotlight authors. And they said, you don't want the show about you? And I'm like, No, who wants to hear about me, I want to spotlight authors, and I go, so I would probably do something like that. And then I thought about it. Two or three days chewed on it for a little bit. And then I'm like, Well, why shouldn't you do it camp? Why not? Take a chance on yourself again. And so I did. And so that was almost two years ago now and the show's there's eight episodes up now. And I'm currently recording season two, there's 12, seat 12 shows 12 episodes to a season. And that's streaming online on like Amazon Prime, firestick, Roku, Samsung, LG smart, all different kinds of platforms. So yeah, that's what we've been doing the last three years. It's insane. People look at me, they're like, are you crazy? And I'm like, a little.

Unknown Speaker  8:26  
Well, what did your friends and family say was what? Well, first of all, before I go there, I want to ask you this, because there's there are people out there. Because i i also traveled for a living for for like five or six years. And there are people out there that say, Well, you know, golly, you get to fly around these places you get to go you don't you get preferential treatment at the rental car place, she gets to stay at night, you got a company credit card, you just throw it down in the bin, you can buy drinks for people, and you can go out to nice dinners and that and I did that for five years until on one night I was sitting in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. In the third story of a Motel Six. It's the only thing in Arkansas and what you can get and getting room service from McDonald watching CNN on a Tuesday night and going Nope, this is there's got to be a better way to live than this.

Unknown Speaker  9:24  
don't realize that when you travel, what it is is hotel rooms, hotel conference rooms, airports, airplanes, rental cars. You don't have time and your days are like 1617 hour days. You don't have time to go do anything fun.

Unknown Speaker  9:46  
No you don't. You're busy working all the time all

Unknown Speaker  9:51  
the time. And then at nighttime when you get back to your hotel room after having that late dinner that late really nice dinner and you get back to your hotel room at night. You're 10 You have to answer all the emails that have been blasting through your phone or your computer all day. It's not to me, it's not fun. And I did, it was tiring. It got tiring quickly for me. And my worst was Valentine's Day. I was flying home from California via Alabama. And so we landed in Alabama. And I'm like, Alright, rushing to catch my my neck my connection because we were cutting it really, really close. And I get there and there's like hundreds of people complaining. I'm going oh, no, what happened? Well, there was a blizzard up home where I was live where I lived. So the airports were closed down. So Valentine's Day, this is how fun traveling is, folks. They shuttled us to this scary hotel. And mine. My room was the kind that had a door to the outside. So it was an outside door. It wasn't internal. It didn't shut. It still had like an inch gap, and it didn't shut. So I moved the desk and the chair in front of it. And then I tied stuff up top. So it would make noise if someone was trying to get in. And then as I'm like thinking, Oh, this is I'm not going to sleep tonight at all. And I'm hungry. I'm starving. And I have to walk a long ways to the only thing that's there is KFC. And it's Valentine's Day. So I'm getting my stuff ready to go, you know, like run as fast as I can to KFC, because it was not in a great neighborhood either where they took, I couldn't believe it. I am going I don't fit in. And this guy comes and knocks on the door and he puts his eye up to the crack. And I'm like, and I said, Yes. And he goes, You go shut this door. It's not safe. And I went it doesn't shut. It won't shut. It was I'll see if I can get some may take care of it for you. And I went but who were you? Oh, I see is an eyeball. exam that was you know, when I finally got home, and then it was the next day, of course. And then when I got home, I had to chip off like a half an inch ice off my car out of the longterm parking lot and drive two hours to get home. By the time I got home. I was really, really sick. I mean, like it was a horrible flu. And I went I don't want to travel anymore.

Unknown Speaker  12:35  
Well, in that hotel you were staying at when he went to the front desk, I'm sure they said, so do you want to rent an hour? Or is this going to be all night?

Unknown Speaker  12:42  
They just they just assigned us rooms. We didn't even get a choice. They just said this is your room. Here's your key, because there was hundreds of us that were stranded hundreds.

Unknown Speaker  12:51  
So they were I'm sure filling up every hotel they can find. Or

Unknown Speaker  13:00  
the best one I was flying home from Birmingham, England. And something caught on fire in the plane. And I'm sitting there going, We'd only been flying for about a half hour. And I went it feels like we're turning. Look at the person beside me right now. No, we're not turning. I'm like, Oh, we're tilted. We're turning. And I went I smell smoke. And then all the lights went out. And I'm going oh, oh gosh. Oh gosh. And then they be the captain of the plane. The pilot comes on, says we're experiencing some electrical difficulties. So we're being rerouted to Shannon Ireland. Well, I had never been to Ireland before. And I'm like, Oh, right. We're on fire. And we have no electric and I'm going to Ireland.

Unknown Speaker  13:55  
Well, that'd be fun.

Unknown Speaker  13:57  
You know that we didn't you didn't get a chance to do anything. But we were there for a day and a half. And we our hotel, we had a really, really nice hotel. The people were wonderful to us, they treated us really, really well. And we had the chance to go out and wander around the countryside where we're at. And there was a castle like right across this beautiful rolling green fill. And I'm like, Well, this is the place I need the land if I was stuck in Ireland, so I can say I've been to Ireland now.

Unknown Speaker  14:26  
Do you have any idea who lives in the castle or what the history of it? Oh,

Unknown Speaker  14:30  
no, because we didn't get to? It was a long walk.

Unknown Speaker  14:35  
Oh, it was

Unknown Speaker  14:36  
the violin. You know, you kind of look and you're like, Oh, that looks pretty close. And then you walk for 45 minutes and we're like, it's not as close as we thought.

Unknown Speaker  14:43  
It's still the same looks the same as it did 45 minutes.

Unknown Speaker  14:48  
But it was beautiful. You know, so that was you know, that was kind of scary for a minute. I let myself be scared for a minute and I'm like, oh Kim. It is what it is. We're gonna roll with whatever happens You know, and then I just kept telling myself, you get to go to Ireland, he gets good Ireland that was, you know, my six year old brain trying to keep myself from being afraid.

Unknown Speaker  15:11  
You know, I flew a lot. And there were times when you would think that there was a problem. We never had a problem like that, though, where we had turbulence and that kind of thing, but never had the lights go out. And then you're going What did I pray last? Maybe? Just you What did you What did I do wrong yesterday that I need to do a tune to tune a tone for today, because I'm going to die now.

Unknown Speaker  15:35  
It was, it was an odd feeling. It really was. It was almost surreal. And when we landed, everybody, everybody just erupted, you know, screaming, yelling, back, and then we were stuck there for a day and a half. But every you know, they took care of us. They they fed us in our hotels and everything was taken care of. We didn't have to pay any of that. And, you know, it was actually very, very pleasant. They made it as pleasant as they could for 273 people that were stranded, you know, on, they weren't invited, we just showed up.

Unknown Speaker  16:14  
Well, I can just imagine the conversation that the airline had with the hotel, which would have been these folks almost burned up and so they're still here, and so we're gonna put them in your hotel. The what the one time that that happened to me kinda was going to San Francisco. Have you ever gotten to the San Francisco Airport? Yes. It's right there on the bay. Yeah. And it's like you are overwater. You're overwater. You're going down, you're going down, you're going down. You're still over water. And you're going does this guy know what he's doing? And San Francisco is also very windy. So it was like we were going there they need to dig down down to the water. And then right at the last minute you're underground or your you see the ground and he's right. And it's like and so everybody of course got up apply applauded the captain that that time but but so

Unknown Speaker  17:09  
ever have one of those those landings where there's a crazy crosswind happening, and the pilot brings you in the plane sideways.

Unknown Speaker  17:18  
Yes,

Unknown Speaker  17:19  
that's how I landed in San Francisco. I'm like It's like I'm holding on to like the whoever the stranger's arm is next to me.

Unknown Speaker  17:33  
And you know, it would be funny if you could anticipate it. It was like this was like at Disneyland and this was a simulation but this is real shoes expression. This is

Unknown Speaker  17:45  
a trip that on my way home I got stuck in Alabama.

Unknown Speaker  17:49  
Which I can think of I used to sell chicken and so I I went to the south a great deal. And I can think of many places I'd like to go. Sadly, Alabama, any one of them?

Unknown Speaker  18:01  
Well, I what I saw wasn't great. I'm sure there's much much better than what I saw. I was confined to my room with a door that wouldn't shut

Unknown Speaker  18:12  
and you couldn't even get to the KFC which is the only thing in town. And then you have no luggage. Right? That's right you want

Unknown Speaker  18:21  
now and you know what I learned early on traveling. Always carry at least a t shirt socks, underwear toothbrush and hairbrush in your tote or purse or whatever. Exactly. Always. So I did so I was like, well at least to have a clean t shirt and underwear to sleep in. It was a nightmare.

Unknown Speaker  18:43  
You become a season traveler when you when you do that. Oh, yes. Did

Unknown Speaker  18:47  
I do it now all the time. Anytime I go anywhere? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  18:51  
Yeah. Well, so Mark, is it's called experience

Unknown Speaker  18:56  
right toe with there's a tip for everybody watching and listening in when you carry in your purse.

Unknown Speaker  19:07  
Exactly. And then make sure that you've you've got enough stuff that to keep you occupied and stuff and Oh, and also a charger. Got to have your phone charger and

Unknown Speaker  19:17  
Absolutely. Don't put it in your suitcase.

Unknown Speaker  19:20  
No, because your suitcase may end up in Ireland and you're in Alabama.

Unknown Speaker  19:25  
Exactly. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker  19:29  
You don't want that to happen to you, but Okay, so we regress and I want to move did we? We were We went all the way back to the traveling days and there are tons of stories about about it's like for me after I got to traveling and I did the radio show for a while I have to give that up. I was a bus driver for 12 years. So I've got lots of bus driving stories that I can share but that's a story for another time. But I wanted to mention to talk to you because As there was a point in time when you made this cataclysmic shift in everything that you were doing, and people around you were going, What in the hell is she thinking? How did how did they do they come come around to your way of thinking? Or do they still think? What am I? How was she thinking?

Unknown Speaker  20:25  
I think some were too nice to say anything. It was my family that said, What are you doing? Are you can you make a living doing that? Can you make any money doing this? How are you going to pay your bills? It was constant. And I, I had to put up a wall against that. Yeah. Because I said, I can't, you're dumping negative energy on me. And that's not going to help me. It would be nice if you just said, that is. So you know, courageous, Kim. Good luck. What can we do to help? But and that was from that was from the people closest to me. Now, those that, like, were co workers or other people that I know, they were like, Oh, my goodness, that is awesome. Do it, you're gonna be brilliant. You know, and if you've got something, you need us to help you share stuff on social media send it, I will share it to as much as we can for you. I mean, and that's, that's how it started. And I just, I said, I cannot let that negativity land on me. I just can't. Because I'm gonna make this happen. And everybody else i They weren't saying it to be mean, they were seeing it and love and concern, and I understand that. But I also knew that there was a there was like a little spark or something inside me that needed to be a little brighter, that I had probably dimmed over the years. And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna let my light shine. I'm gonna let my light shine, I dimmed it because I wasn't able to be Kim for a long time, I was always wife or mom, or this or that. And now I'm at a life point in my life, where it's me and my dog. And I'm like, wow, who is Kim? Because you go by so many titles. And I'm like, I'm in my 50s. And I'm just now figuring out who and what I can be. And you know what, I'm enjoying the journey.

Unknown Speaker  22:37  
Yeah, there's a marvelous time and a place to be. It's like I had the same experience. When I started positive talk radio in 2003. My friends and family were like, Have you lost your mind? Are you nuts? Can you make any money at this? And so I wouldn't even do the, you know, pencil it out. And say this is I can sell this advertising this what I can get. And other than that, it happened that way. But that's what I thought. Yeah. And, but I had one guy, I went to a dinner for where I used to work, which was us food service, had a dinner. And the procurement manager had had too much to drink. And he came up to me, and he was saying, You are you doing such a wonderful thing? I wish I had the balls to do that. But I just don't, you know, and so people that didn't know you thought you're doing, you're following your passion, you're doing what you should do. They wouldn't do it themselves, but they're living vicariously through you. And so congratulations. And you should feel really good about who you are and what you're doing because you're making a difference in the world at the same time.

Unknown Speaker  23:50  
And that was the other thing. I knew that whatever it is that I did. I wanted it to have a positive impact wherever it landed, if that makes sense.

Unknown Speaker  24:05  
No, I don't have no earthly idea. What do you mean, positive stuff? Who wants to do positive stuff? Anyone?

Unknown Speaker  24:17  
Who does positive stuff looks positive? And like the titles of their shows? I don't know.

Unknown Speaker  24:23  
I can't even imagine why somebody would do such a thing.

Unknown Speaker  24:28  
You know, and that was that was kind of like the driving thing. I was like, You know what, I'm not gonna let them drag me down. They have more fear than I do. Just let me do my thing. Well, I make a lot of money. I don't know. And there were times where it's like, wow, I don't really know if I'm going to be able to pay my bills this month. You know, and that first 12 to 16 months. That was not easy. None of what I do, it might look like I do a lot and whoo. Wow. That's amazing. That's cool, but Holy Toledo. It's a lot of work. And it's much, much more than the 40 hour week job you're doing, if you love what you're doing, because I do it all myself, I don't, I have not reached that point where I can pay someone to help me like a virtual assistant or anything like that. When I get to that point, oh, my God, I am going to do a happy dance in my backyard with my dog. When I reached that point, and I'm slowly creeping there, and I went, you know what, this is going at the pace it's meant to go, I'm not going to force it or push it because all that does is put stress on me. And I don't need it. So if I'm going at a turtle pace, I'm going on a turtle pace, but I'm still going forward. So to me, that's a win.

Unknown Speaker  25:45  
Exactly. And by the way, we need to talk before before we can leave today, because I may have a I have a name for you that may help with with virtual assistants and stuff, but but we'll talk about that. But what you're doing and what I'm doing, you know, and honestly, when I was doing positive talk radio the first time in 2003, it was self funded as well. And I spent probably $75,000 of my own money and lost it all. And of course, that's what, that's where the wife went, and she went down the same. Anyway, we've never been about that. But so but it was, I felt driven to do it. And I still feel driven to do it. And I can do it now, things have totally changed. And the universe. I don't know how you feel about the universe. But for me, it is lined up so that I can do this. Because this is what is required of me. In my opinion.

Unknown Speaker  26:52  
I feel the same. And you know, you know what? There's not a lot of us out there.

Unknown Speaker  26:57  
Right yet. Hopefully there'll be more.

Unknown Speaker  26:59  
I'm I'm thinking there's more. But I've not met a whole lot. Because the fear factor of always coming out of your own pocket. And because I'm sitting there going, should I put this on my credit card? You know, I need this to make this work to make this work better. And you? Well, you just said 75 grand. I didn't hit I haven't. haven't spent that much. But I spent more than I should have that first year. And that I didn't have. And I've never done that in my life. I'm very frugal, very frugal, and I watch every penny and I know where it's all at. And I don't get anything really if I don't need it. You know,

Unknown Speaker  27:43  
you and I are of the same cloth. Do you know that? I've got a pair of shoes that I bought three months ago, it's still in the box in the bag that it was delivered by Amazon? Because I'm wearing the old pair of the same style until it could they haven't totally worn out yet.

Unknown Speaker  28:00  
Well on sometimes you have to do that. Because by the time they do wear out your favorite shoes, they're not they're going to be discontinued or something. Exactly. You have to think ahead on things like that sometime. See, we're smart. See how smart we are?

Unknown Speaker  28:15  
Exactly. We know what we're doing. We know.

Unknown Speaker  28:19  
We know what we're doing.

Unknown Speaker  28:21  
So now you know there's a thing, there's a thing about trust. Because you've got to trust that what you if you believe in it. Well, let me ask you, I gotta ask you this, because it happens to me all the time. When you are done doing a podcast or doing the radio, by the way, working with the veterans and doing that show, you need to do heavy, heavy, heavy congratulations on that. Because that really, that that needs to be done and all the things you're doing and the writing that you're doing and the end the end the TV show. It's it's really is cool. But when you get done with a podcast, do you feel oh, I'm tired. I've done or do you feel uplifted?

Unknown Speaker  29:10  
It depends on what the topics were. To be honest. Usually I'm amped up afterwards, you know, I'm still amped up for a good hour afterwards. But I've had a few guests that just their stories literally just tore my heart apart. And yeah, just tore my heart apart. And when that would get done, we'd be done. And we always chit chat afterwards, you know, so it's like another 20 minutes or half hour afterwards. We're just chit chatting Off mic. And there were a few times where I literally just I shut my computer down and just said I have to grab the dog and go for a walk. And I was just done mentally and you know emotionally but tip Basically, I'm kind of amped up all like, you know, get everything ready, like downloaded and all of his stuff and everything ready with the promo slides and all that, and working on, you know, like the show notes. And I try and do that. And then I go back at it the next day, or whenever it is that I can to really, you know, fine tune everything. I'm usually pretty amped up about it. But there's actually there's more and more of that lately, more people coming on in our conversations just kind of often my guests will say, Wow, I had not anticipated talking about that with you. And, you know, wow, didn't expect it to go this direction. And that's what I say, well, that's why I like how we just kind of free flow because I'm getting to know you. I don't want to know your title. I don't care about your title. You know what that title might be if you know, you're a doctor, or you have a PhD. I know what I how I say it is I say you may have a lot of letters after your name, but that's not what I want to know about. I want to know about you your name, not the letters after your name.

Unknown Speaker  31:09  
Exactly. And and even when you're interviewing famous people. Like I've had the opportunity to interview like the old Donald Walsch and Gary Zhukov and John Edward, the psychic and and those folks, they're just people, right? And you just want to find out about, and I pride myself on asking questions that no one has ever asked them.

Unknown Speaker  31:33  
I do the same thing. And they just come to Yeah, yeah. And they'll be like, where did you come up with that question? I'm like it was been floating around in the corner over there. And it finally came.

Unknown Speaker  31:46  
When I was doing originally, and I didn't know anything, and I was just learning as I was going. And I had an assistant that she said, You know, it's the strangest thing happens. And I said, What do you mean? She said, You'll be interviewing somebody? And I thought that question will come into my head, and then it'll come out of your mouth. How does that happen? It's I said, I don't know. It just comes to me. And I just, it just comes to me. So I asked the question, because in she said, that's weird. That's uncanny. Because that happened. And she said, it happened all the time. And you do the same thing?

Unknown Speaker  32:27  
Yeah. And I didn't realize it until people started saying, you know, after we'd be done, they're like, holy cow. I can't believe I just cried. You know, and these are like, men. I cannot believe that. I just broke down crying. And I had never anticipated sharing. What do I did? And I'm like, I'm glad you did. Because obviously, you needed to. It just happened to be on something that the whole world can listen to.

Unknown Speaker  32:53  
Exactly. What did you know that that is a rare and wonderful gift that you have?

Unknown Speaker  33:00  
I'm ridiculously empathetic. And I think you are too I get vibes from people, whether it's through this medium or in person. And you can you can kit at least I do I catch that every once in a while I could physically feel it. And then, you know, I kind of sit there and listen and watch as they're talking. And then the different questions will come up that have literally nothing to do with why I wanted them on the show. You? Well, I think I need to ask this question. I think I'm being nudged somehow to ask this particular question. And I've never been told, I'd rather not answer. No, you know, and they can any of my guests can say, you know, I'd rather not talk about that. And I'd be okay, let's move on. But I've never had anybody say that they've literally just some of them have just poured their heart out. And you realize as they're talking, they probably haven't ever done this. And they're releasing, they're releasing something that they've been holding on to for so long. And they didn't realize just what a negative anchor was and how it was weighing them down. And I you know, emails I would get afterwards say, wow, you know, wow, I was kind of embarrassed, but I feel so much better. And I just sit there and like, I'll start crying. Reading these emails that I get from some of my guests. They'll be like, Oh my gosh, okay, I did the right thing. You know, it's ridiculous. I mean, I get really invested when I have a guest on when they're sharing their heart. That's hard. That's a courageous thing to do. And I am over and over again humbled by what my guests share, because they feel safe enough to share with me. That's humbling. Truly, truly home. Buying.

Unknown Speaker  35:00  
But it's also a rare gift that you have. Because a lot of a lot of hosts, I've talked to a lot of people that, that do that are on a lot of podcasts. And they say, well, a lot of them will have scripted answers and scripted questions. And they'll just read off the list and, and they're not really listening to what you're saying. They just want to get through the list and stuff. And so it becomes a completely different thing than if you're having a conversation.

Unknown Speaker  35:27  
I yeah, I don't Well, you don't do lists either do Yeah. I can't obviously not because we talked for how long about our travel?

Unknown Speaker  35:37  
I didn't even know before we got on here. I had no idea that you were traveling as well.

Unknown Speaker  35:43  
Let's see. That's what makes this kind of doing it this way fun.

Unknown Speaker  35:46  
It doesn't need it doesn't need and I find out more about people and their hopes, their dreams, their desires, where they come from than any other way, are you I can't do it any other way. And I've been told I should you know that's according to this manual here. Let me show you this manual. It says over here that you're supposed to see it says right here. You're supposed to have scripted questions so that people can so that you have everything prepared and stuff. It's like phooey. I'm not going to do that I can and then you're never gonna be successful. Well, okay, then I'll, but I can't do it that way.

Unknown Speaker  36:21  
Right me there. Because you know what that is, you know, and I've had people tell me that too. I've got this great book that you can, you know, read Kevin, it tells you just how to do a podcast. And I'm like, Do you have a podcast? Oh, well, no, I've been a guest many times. Oh, so you've never done one yourself? Well, no, I've been a guest. Okay. I don't need your book. Thank you. You know, thank you for thinking of me, but I don't need it. Because I, to me, You know what that is? That's like having a boss again. Yes, a boss telling you what to do.

Unknown Speaker  36:59  
Yes, indeed. And

Unknown Speaker  37:01  
that's the wrong mindset. But that's that's how I look at that. And I agree with you. Yeah. I don't want script. I don't want a list of 10 questions that I should ask because it would distract me? Because I'd be like, oh, oh, we're running out of time. And I haven't even gotten to question six yet. So distracted, and you wouldn't even be able to truly listen. And if you're a good host, or a good friend, good spouse, whatever, you have to learn the fine art of listening. And many people don't have it.

Unknown Speaker  37:38  
It is a fine art. Indeed, indeed. Because if you aren't listening, I was in sales manager. And I had 12 guys and gals working for me. And it always bothered me that B and occasionally I'd go on, I go with with them into a cold call. Cold Calls, you're hard to do.

Unknown Speaker  38:02  
But I loved it. We'll see you and I heard

Unknown Speaker  38:04  
kind of odd that way. But for a lot of fun. And so the stressful to do a cold call and you're trying to get across to the guy, why they should buy from you, and what you got, and so forth. And so there would be many times we'd be talking with the owner or the buyer. And he would and he would say something and the salesman that was conducting the cold call, it would go right over their head because they weren't paying attention. They weren't listening to what the man said or the woman said so because they were formulating in their mind what the her their response was going to be to what they thought he said and and so they end up then they regurgitate the same old shit again, that they did on the last cold calling, they're not listening to the guy and or the gal and so it fails. Inevitably it fails because they're not listening podcasters who don't listen to a guest and are able and not able to pivot based upon the direction that the guest wants to go will not succeed and it won't be very good. That's my opinion.

Unknown Speaker  39:15  
No, I agree. And I agree wholeheartedly with it won't be very good. I've listened to a few episodes of other folks and you're like well it just sounds so canned and even the the guest was stiff in their delivery of their answers to the questions and they don't feel comfortable

Unknown Speaker  39:38  
that's why you're right.

Unknown Speaker  39:41  
Yeah, so I tell that's how I tell people I might you know I do audio only when it's when I you know drop an episode it's audio only but we were going to record so we can see each other. Come as you are. I tend to I tell him I guess. Come as you are grab your favorite cup of coffee or whatever it is. If the dog barks the baby Gries you have to sneeze, fart, whatever. Just let it go. And we'll just do this and count to five, give me give me a buffer to edit. But you know, don't be embarrassed, who cares? It's life we aren't, we all have a life to live. And if you're doing this from home, and you got a baby, or a dog or a cat, you know, the tail keeps going across the screen, to this cat tail. Still, totally silent. And my guest just kept talking. But the cat just kept going back. I finally had to say, that's your cat. What's your cat's name? I literally had to interrupt her and say, you know, I've seen I've been watching the tail go back. What's, what's the cat's name.

Unknown Speaker  40:49  
And that's why I do everything live. And I don't edit for content. Because some of the most precious things come out of out of the mouths of people when they are not feeling scripted. And they're like, this, by the way, has been a sensational episode. Because it's open, it's honest, we're having a good time. And people sense that people will get that they were having a good time talking to one another. And I've learned a lot from you. And it's it's you are you are really dynamic. And I really appreciate who you are. As a matter of fact, I'm so excited that you're going to come back tomorrow at noon on KK nw 11:50am. That'll be fun. Yay. And you're gonna love the the producer that we have. His name is Nathan on Fridays, and he'll get involved and it's just it's a great time. Well, we'll have a lot of fun with it. But you aren't you are really dynamic. What do you see yourself taking this by the way? All the things you're doing?

Unknown Speaker  41:50  
You know, I would like to find a moderate level of success with all of them. I don't have these aspirations. Okay, here's what here's the thing. dollar signs. Don't drive me having a positive impact on people's lives does. And you can't put $1 sign on. Now people might sit there and say you're full of BS. But if you knew me personally, you'd know that I'm actually speaking the truth. I am not going to blow smoke up anybody's anything.

Unknown Speaker  42:26  
kazoo

Unknown Speaker  42:28  
kazoo very. I was gonna say dupa my Polish coming out. My grandma always used to call my grandpa dupa Yash.

Unknown Speaker  42:41  
I know know what that means. But it doesn't sound loving. I mean super duper duper. Speaking of which, tomorrow on the show we do we have to follow the FCC rules on the radio show, which we don't have to follow here. But by the way, did anybody ever tell you you kind of look like Lily Tomlin? Lily Tomlin. No. Really? No. Not now. But just because she's she's old. She might be dead now.

Unknown Speaker  43:15  
That sounds like from Frankie and grace.

Unknown Speaker  43:20  
Don't know if that one but there was. No anyway. It's

Unknown Speaker  43:23  
not it's on streaming. It's Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. They have a show. Like, the things are like season seven. They're hilarious. But they're in their 70s.

Unknown Speaker  43:35  
Well, yeah, but when she was at sea, I'm old enough to remember her when she was on laugh in laughing and

Unknown Speaker  43:42  
Saturday Night Live. Wasn't she on Sunday night? Why? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  43:45  
And she she did this? Yeah. Anyway, but I've just you know, because you

Unknown Speaker  43:50  
know, I've not not have I've never heard that. So that's

Unknown Speaker  43:55  
me. You ever heard of a guy by the name of Wilford Brimley? Yeah. I get I get that all the time. You look like Wilford Brimley.

Unknown Speaker  44:05  
I'm gonna have to google him because I can't picture who what his face looks like. You

Unknown Speaker  44:12  
he wants to remember the movie cocoon? Yeah. The the older kind of heavy set.

Unknown Speaker  44:22  
Okay, okay. Oh, I can see that. See? See? So everybody has a doppelganger somewhere.

Unknown Speaker  44:33  
I've no, I want a doppelganger mean.

Unknown Speaker  44:36  
That's what your twin you have a twin somewhere. Oh, literally a full twin. There is. I have been totally in this is literally in the same county where I live. I will have people come up to me and say, Hey, I yelled at you on the street the other day you didn't even acknowledge me and I said, it wasn't me. And they're going Yes, it was Hey, I went I wasn't in town. Yes. But I've gotten that so many times over the years and people, they said, Kim, you've got someone who looks exactly like you the same build, you walk the same way that like the same profile. I have like the slight bump in my nose. They're like, it's exactly this person. And I would love to finally meet this person, because they're probably getting yelled Kim all the time. And they're like, Who is this Kim person? But that's what a doppelganger is. It's your your twin somewhere. Everybody has one.

Unknown Speaker  45:34  
I will I believe that. I believe that. So. So it's so you're going to continue doing what you're doing? Oh, I wanted to ask you, because I graduated from high school in 1975. The Vietnam War ended in that year 73. More so. But as they flew out of, you know, the helicopters lift off in 75. Yeah. And I knew quite a number of people growing up that were Vietnam vets, and how shabbily we, as a country, treated those guys who, by and large, were drafted into the military, and for were fulfilling their obligation when they went to Vietnam. And it wasn't a choice that they made. And we treated them so poorly, that when they came back, and so many of them ended up homeless, and many of them took their own lives. And so if I, can you talk about the work that you do with the vets a little bit, because I think it's so damned important.

Unknown Speaker  46:41  
You know, it's interesting, you mentioned Vietnam vets, because the veteran posts that I am a life member of now, I'm not old enough to be a Vietnam vet, but our veteran posts called the veterans of the Vietnam War. And they're open to anybody honorably discharged from any era. And I'm known as the kid, because I'm the youngest one, because they're all hitting 70. And over now. But I've been a member, a life member there for over 25 years now. And those are the guys. They're all my big brothers, you know, and I'm their little sister, and it's a family, we are true, we truly are a family. And we look out for one another because a lot of times only another vet will understand you. A lot of times, I'm a veteran myself. And I live with PTSD. And that's something that you don't share was just, you know, casual conversation. And it took me years to acknowledge that I had some things I probably needed to deal with. And it was those guys, the Vietnam vets combat vets that came up to me one day and said, Alright, kid, we don't know what you're going through. But we recognize the signs. And if you don't go to the VA and talk to somebody, we will drag you there. Because I had become very ill I lost a lot of weight wasn't sleeping, I was smoking like a chimney. Thankfully, I never was drinking or doing drugs or anything like that. I never thought of taking my own life. But I was in a very, very dark place. And I told them fu don't need any help. We meal on. A week later. They drugged me.

Unknown Speaker  48:48  
Kicking and screaming.

Unknown Speaker  48:49  
Yeah. And MF in them. And yeah, I was a I was a totally different person. Totally different person back then. And they took me in at that time. This was quite a while ago. At that time, there was nothing in the VA in place for female veterans. And there was certainly no female counselors. And so there I am in front of a male counselor. And the first thing he said was, we don't know what to do with you. We have nothing in place for you for what you've been through being a female. I said, well, at least you're honest. And that was literally all I said, we sat there and stared at each other for 45 minutes. I said nothing. And those guys, those Vietnam vets from that point on, have all my respect and all my thankfulness. They've got my heart. And I have had their six for years and they've had my six for years in many, many ups and downs in our lives, many and from that. Gosh, I will do whatever I can to help a veteran who's struggling, whether it's giving them a last 10 bucks, whether it's getting them some clothes, because they're homeless, or soon to be homeless, they're living in their car. They're sick, they might need counseling, they need something. Or they're just afraid. Because of what's going on in here. It's scary. And sometimes it's only another veteran who will get it. Who understand that darkness, because that darkness is scary. It's very hard to face your own demons. It's very hard. And when you have another veteran share that is so humbling, and so courageous on their part, but what a huge blessing. Because I'm like, Oh, my goodness, they, now I know how to help them. Now I know what I can possibly do. And I wouldn't change any, I'm going to start crying, I would not change how many tears I've shed how many hugs I've had from smelly stinky homeless men. I wouldn't change any event. Because everybody that I've tried along with so many people, the men and women in my post, you see these people now thriving, and they had nothing they're living in their car, one gentleman was living in a shack where the dirt floor shack was a dirt floor. And we're like, Not On Our Watch soldier, Not on our watch. So I will not stop doing what I do for veterans. And I won't stop sharing their stories because they need to be heard. And hopefully, by God lessons will be learned from it. And we won't have to keep making as a country the same mistakes over and over again. And putting people in situations that they never should have been put in to begin with. You know, I will always support our men and women in the military. Always, always, always. And I will defend that to anyone who wants to argue with me. Actually, I won't argue with them. I don't argue with people. I just you know, I'll I'll wave my flag and walk away.

Unknown Speaker  52:39  
First of all, thank you for your service. Yeah, I'm sorry that what happened to you happen to you. And just circumstances are not important to share. But it was horrific for you. I can't imagine if you haven't been through it. If you haven't gone and been in combat or, or seen friends of yours being in combat, and and the things that happened to them. And just being in the military, it can be my my uncle. My uncle was basically died because he was in the military. He got in those days. This is back in 1971. In those days, it was just called. He was depressed. Right. So they would give him uppers for him to wake up in the morning downers for him to go to bed at night. And that's all they could do for him. They had a drink in between a drink in between. And so he ended up walking up. He was at a Western State Hospital in western Washington. And he wanted to come to our house, we think the only way he knew how to get up there was to go up by five. So he started walking by five in the middle of the night, and was hit by seven cars. They think. And he obviously passed away. And it was because of his service in the military. And he was there in the 60s. So he was he if he wasn't in Vietnam, he knew guys that had been and and all of that, but it's still happening today. Because we still have we still have people from Iraq and from Afghanistan, and the various places that we have sent our children to go fight our old Mike Whiteman war wars that make no sense to anybody. Anyway,

Unknown Speaker  54:34  
my niece, my niece is currently across the pond.

Unknown Speaker  54:38  
So as my son, yeah, my son's in the Air Force and in London. Currently my

Unknown Speaker  54:43  
my niece is in the army and she's at an undisclosed location

Unknown Speaker  54:51  
that you

Unknown Speaker  54:52  
were always happy when we hear from her.

Unknown Speaker  54:56  
And that's that. That means she's in harm's way. So More,

Unknown Speaker  55:01  
undisclosed, undisclosed location. Yeah. Yeah, people can read between the lines. I've gotten really good at it.

Unknown Speaker  55:10  
And you know what? I didn't anticipate that this conversation was gonna go there and go where it's gone. And my heart number one goes out to you. I'm I'm, I'm so impressed with the human being that you are. And then the and the feelings that you have for, for people. It's just, it's you. You're You're a stud. You're a stud at

Unknown Speaker  55:39  
a new one. Lily Tomlin look a like Sadat.

Unknown Speaker  55:47  
And, and you're funny, and you're, you're, you're, you're engaging, and you've got great energy, and you care. And I will do everything that I can do on our in the future to support you and your work.

Unknown Speaker  56:02  
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Absolute pleasure to be on your show. I mean, I love meeting people of like mind, and with the same kind of heart. So I thank you for your heart as well.

Unknown Speaker  56:18  
It has been well, we're going to have more fun tomorrow, that'll that'll that'll be great. And that, you know, in my in my world in my life, things happen for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. There's a reason why the GAO cancels, forget tomorrow show is because it cleared the way for you to be on the show tomorrow. Because there's somebody in Seattle who's going to be driving at lunchtime, and you're there. They're going to listen to that show that we're going to do, and it's going to help them.

Unknown Speaker  56:47  
Yes. And isn't that amazing?

Unknown Speaker  56:52  
That's all there is? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  56:55  
That we're given the opportunity to do that. That for me, I'm a Christian. So I feel like God, so whenever I say nudge, and that's God, the big guy nudging me. He's opening up those doors, and it's very cool to see how he works. Sometimes.

Unknown Speaker  57:12  
I grew up Lutheran, I've got more of a spiritual, Eastern bent to me, but it doesn't matter. Because it's the same. In my mind. It's just it's an exact same thing. Yes. I do not need to put any labels on it. Right? Because what is what just happens and it comes from inside you, it comes from inside your heart. And so if anybody gets anything from this podcast today, I hope that they will get this. Follow your heart, do what your heart tells you is the best thing for you, for your family. And follow through and do it and follow your passion.

Unknown Speaker  57:48  
I agree.

Unknown Speaker  57:50  
I do you would

Unknown Speaker  57:53  
we could make a song.

Unknown Speaker  57:57  
We could as a matter of fact,

Unknown Speaker  57:59  
we could make a song about follow your passion and your art. You're probably there might be a song like that, but it wouldn't be like ours.

Unknown Speaker  58:09  
So you know I did you ever see Braveheart? The movie?

Unknown Speaker  58:13  
No, I actually couldn't bring myself to watch it. Sometimes I can't watch shows like that, because they rip me apart. I

Unknown Speaker  58:19  
know I get it. And what it's one of my favorite movies. Because of it's done really well. But there's a scene in it where William Wallace, his father and his brother, are go to fight the British and they die in it. And they bring the bodies back to the house and they are dressing the bodies and getting ready for a burial. And his and William Wallace is sitting there. And he's kind of daydreaming. And his father who's dead at this point, turns his head looks at him. It's kind of like a dream state. We're thinking looks at him and says, Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it. And that that is like my mantra. Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it.

Unknown Speaker  59:10  
Wow, that's deep. When we could make a really good song.

Unknown Speaker  59:20  
We could and I know people that know how to write music, too.

Unknown Speaker  59:24  
Yeah, I was gonna say I can sing but I can't write music.

Unknown Speaker  59:29  
Well, I actually have a had a guy that his name is Tommy Tikka. And he wrote a song for me. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  59:39  
For your shows. Do you ever like did you write a song like a jingle for your shows?

Unknown Speaker  59:44  
He's what he had. I asked him if he had a song that I could use in the in the course of my show and and he said and so when he How to finish the yeah so in this with this one he's got words too and he took the words out for this

Unknown Speaker  1:00:17  
yeah

Unknown Speaker  1:00:27  
I get I can I can hear other things in my head jumping in

Unknown Speaker  1:00:33  
yeah called fire knife my favorite part I use it for the opening and for chillier tomorrow, and everything that I do I like it

Unknown Speaker  1:01:27  
well, you and I are of the same age so it's it's not while you're a ton younger than me, but

Unknown Speaker  1:01:33  
you and I are the same age but not even close.

Unknown Speaker  1:01:38  
This I meant to say the same era. I

Unknown Speaker  1:01:40  
understand. When did you say you graduated high school?

Unknown Speaker  1:01:44  
1975. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I got at least a decade and a half on, you

Unknown Speaker  1:01:52  
know, 11 I graduated in 86.

Unknown Speaker  1:01:58  
Geez, I remember 1986. Very, very well. So 86 Well, that meant seven that you were born in 68 or 6968.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:15  
And you missed out on the Beatles you missed out on? On the JFK assassination. That's not much

Unknown Speaker  1:02:23  
right. The Beatles, my parents listened to so I grew up listening to The Beatles and The Mamas and the Papas and the Kingston Trio. Oh, I like your parents already. And all of that. So that's what I grew up listening to.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:39  
Yes, so did my kids, they have no choice? Yeah, by the way, Kim, I, we've been doing this an hour, I gotta let you go. Was because

Unknown Speaker  1:02:51  
it's been an hour. I'm just sitting here talking.

Unknown Speaker  1:02:54  
And I said, we're gonna talk more tomorrow. But I want to thank you so much. And before we go, I want to give you the opportunity to talk to our audiences listening now. And there have been some that have been listening. And the ones that will be listening in the future. I want you to tell them anything that you would like them to know.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:14  
Yeah, we oh my goodness, we talked about so much, folks. Just be true to yourself. Don't let other people tell you how you should be. You know what you're good at what you're passionate about. You have that hidden talent that you've never had a chance to let shine. Don't let that don't let your light dim so much that goes out. No matter the circumstance of what your life might be life, life can be pretty poopy at times, don't let your light go out. Reach out to somebody else to help them. You know, have someone help you flick fan that flame. Don't let your light go out. The world needs your life. The world is a better place because your light is in it. So don't you like that? That's all I'm saying.

Unknown Speaker  1:03:59  
I couldn't say it any better. And we'll leave it with that. Kim, thank you so much for being here. And go to her website, which is Kim Lang sang Lang Lang. author.com. Lang, Ling author.com, that's Leng l i n g author.com. You can find out all the things that she's doing. support her buy stuff in her shop, please. You need to keep doing this and how and however you can do that. You need to be supported in that. So make sure that this woman can continue to do the work she's doing because it is friggin awesome.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:45  
Thank you. Thank you very much. I had I had a wonderful time tonight. This was this was great. Thanks so much for having me on.

Unknown Speaker  1:04:52  
I was going to say another word entirely but I decided I keep it clean. But you're friggin awesome.

Unknown Speaker  1:05:00  
here to the mutual admiration society right now.

Unknown Speaker  1:05:06  
Well, you know, I gotta just gotta tell you that I'm gonna let you go as not very often I get to talk to somebody who this is just like me. Only different.

Unknown Speaker  1:05:19  
Female. Exactly a female version. And I

Unknown Speaker  1:05:23  
used to be a male, but that's a story for another time. So anyway. So thank you so much, and stay right where you are. I'll be right back. All right. Hey, thanks for enjoying this episode all the way to the end. Please give us a like and subscribe to this channel. This has been a production of positive talk radio dotnet please visit our website oddly named positive talk radio dotnet for more details about us and our mission, which is to provide great positive programming designed to inspire us all. I'm Kevin McDonald, and I'm proud of these shows, and I'm truly hope that you'll like them and share them with friends and family. So on behalf of our entire team, remember, be kind to one another because each other's all week.