Living with Leukemia

[00:00:00] When I create the, the radiating reel posts, one of the things that really resonates with people is when I say, I go through all these crappy things, right? And then I say, but I’m grateful for this and for this and for this and for this. And, and people are like, you have such a great mindset. Like you’re going through all this stuff, but you, you can still find the gratitude.

You know? Yeah. How do you do that? Have you always been that way or do you have to? Work at it or, I mean, how do you do that? I haven’t been that way.

Welcome to the Onward Podcast. I’m your host, Emily Harmon. Just a little bit about the Onward Podcast. The Onward Podcast is all about facing adversity, moving forward, and discovering ourselves along the way. You see in May of 2019, I graduated. I graduated from working for the Department of the Navy for 34 [00:01:00] years, both as an officer and a civilian, and it was time for me to move on and do something different.

Everybody told me what I should be doing, and I wanted to rediscover my dreams and figure out what, what did I wanna do? Who is Emily and what does she want to do? After graduating, or some people might call it retiring, and so I did some inner work and I learned more about myself. I took that time to learn more about myself, and I decided I wanted to be a podcast host, and I wanted to have discussions with people about how they faced adversity and how they move forward in their lives.

Right after I graduated, my daughter called and told me, That my, my former husband, her father was sick with cancer two weeks after that, in mid-July of 2019, he was paralyzed in both arms and he [00:02:00] passed away on December 11th, 2019. And I know that he passed away with regrets. We didn’t talk about it a lot, but I know he was thinking, I could see him thinking about how he lived his life.

And that’s when I decided I’m going to even more so create a life that I love living. I’m not gonna wait for circumstances to change or situations to change. I’m going to live my life in a way that I love, and I’m going to encourage others to do the same, and that’s what my coaching program is all about.

You can check out my website, emily harmon.com to learn more about me and my offerings. My guest today is Tim Soen. Tim has been living with Leukemia for 15 years and he’s the co-host of the new livestream show showing Up Perspectives on Cancer. This show provides a platform for others to connect [00:03:00] and share their stories of being impacted by cancer.

He also hosts the is a co-host of the Tim and Jim Show, which features interviews with professionals from the marketing and business world to help educate the audience on how to help their business grow. He’s an award-winning livestream producer and coach, and Tim helps his clients make heartfelt impact and build relationships and grow their community on social media.

In this interview, Tim tells us that by sharing your personal story on live video, you can become more relatable, which will lead people to trust you more and means that they’ll buy from you more. Up until recently, Tim was often reluctant to share his story of living with leukemia because he was afraid people would look at him differently or it would be hard to get business or to find a new job.

But since sharing his story, Tim has made [00:04:00] even more connections and friends. And if you have leukemia or know of a family member or a friend who does, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Tim. I guarantee you, you’ll make a new friend. Now we’re gonna cut to the interview and I want to remind you that the Onward Podcast is broadcast Live.

So this was Broadcast Live, and you’ll hear me and Tim. Talking to the viewers cuz they post comments and they ask questions in the comments. And so you’ll hear us calling out some of the viewers. It’s a fun way to engage. And what’s fun about Live Streams is that everybody watching connects with everybody else and you can just watch new friendships and connections being made.

I typically go live on Wednesday nights at 7:30 PM Eastern, and sometimes I have a few shows in between, but if you connect with me on LinkedIn, you’ll know when I’m going live. So it’s a little intimidating to have Tim on the show because [00:05:00] what he does, um, for a living is he coaches people on how to produce live shows.

And so I’m producing a live show and I’ve got the expert is, uh, somebody I’m interviewing, so let’s hope I do it right. Let’s bring Tim in. Welcome, Tim. Hi, Emily. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here. Yeah, me too. I’m, I’m really thankful that you wanna talk about this topic, uh, about cancer.

You know, pretty much everybody in the world, I. Know somebody who has had cancer or has cancer, works with somebody in their family. And I think, you know, we all know people who’ve, who’ve suffered from it. And so I think that sometimes people have questions that they may be afraid to ask. And I know that you’re really, I.

Willing to share and vulnerable. I mean, you’ve even put in your LinkedIn profile that you’re a leukemia survivor. So I, you know, I know that we, we, I’m gonna let people know that are watching, they can ask you, uh, some [00:06:00] questions. So I’m an open book and people have actually reached out to me because I put leukemia survivor in my LinkedIn title.

Yeah. And, um, we’re praying for Sage. I know Sage couldn’t be here tonight. She even has the fact that she has cancer in her, in her profile, and she’s a single parent of five children. So she, she’s gonna watch later. So, thanks Cherie for sharing that. Sending lots of love. Yes, Tim, tell us your story. I’ve, I’ve read your blog and we’ll put a copy, we’ll put a link to your blog in the, um, show notes as well as in the comments here.

You wrote a blog about it, about when you first were diagnosed with cancer. Yeah. Almost 15 years ago. Yeah. Yeah, so, so in 2008 I was, I think I was 26 years old. I, I got, I noticed I had some purple like blotches on my legs. Never had anything like that before. So I went to my primary care doctor and they did some blood work and I was leaving the parking lot and they call me on my [00:07:00] cell phone and they say, you need to go to the hospital now.

And they didn’t really say too much. I maybe they said something about, there’s a possibility it’s leukemia, something like that. I don’t really remember too well that conversation probably because I was so shocked by having to go to the hospital, you know, right away. So I drove two hours to, uh, Westchester Medical Center in Westchester County, in New York State, and I ended up staying there for about a week, and they diagnosed me with.

Chronic myeloid leukemia. I didn’t know really anything about leukemia. I knew there was one kid that was, uh, in my class, I think when I was younger, and he passed away from leukemia. But that’s really all I, I knew about leukemia. I had no idea at that point. That’s scary to be the only thing that you knew about it.

And plus, I think you said in your, you wrote in your blog that. You were leave, you were driving away and you got a call, like you hadn’t even left the parking lot, right? Yeah, I was literally about to leave the parking [00:08:00] lot to go home. Wow. What, like what were the thoughts running through your head? I. I really had no, no idea what to expect.

Like I didn’t know anything. I, you know, I didn’t know, like, would it shorten my life at all? Like, how will I have to get chemotherapy? You know? Would it affect, I, I had just started dating. I. Joy. My now wife and I actually didn’t tell her about it right away. She found out because there was an appointment slip on my refrigerator.

Oh my gosh. And she very gently asked me about it and um, that’s how she found out about it. But, but we’re married now and it’s all good. Yeah. And you got two kids. Seven and 10, two kids. Those are perfect ages. Those are perfect ages. Enjoy them. I know you’re enjoying them. So what, why did you decide to come out on LinkedIn?

I mean, LinkedIn’s supposed to be like this professional network and we don’t talk about, um, that kind [00:09:00] of stuff on LinkedIn. That’s like, I don’t know what kind of a post. But you, you talked about it. Yeah. It, it was a combination of things. I had seen a video by Steve Sullivan on LinkedIn. He’s a 35 year survivor of acute leukemia, and he had put out a video on National Cancer Survivor Day about, you know, about his journey.

And in the meantime, Jenny Gold had invited me on her show and her show. She usually interviews people about immune, people that have immune, you know, issues, autoimmune issues, and. And in the meantime, I had started posting radiating real content, which is the movement was created by Nancy Barrows, and the idea is to show up as yourself in the moment.

You don’t have to be all polished and shiny, but you just show up. The original idea was to take a picture of yourself in the morning when you wake up. Before you’re all [00:10:00] showered and you know, yeah, that’s brave. I never did that. Yeah. So I started out with that, but then I really discovered that radiating reel was really about so much more.

It was about just showing up in the moment and kind of sharing your, your personal story, and I found that that connected me and that kind of content resonated so much more, especially on LinkedIn. Then any post, I would do like five ways to get past the fear of live video, right? Like blah, blah, blah.

Everybody writes that, right? So that’s how I, so it was really the combination of radiating reel Steve Sullivan with his video. And then Jenny Gold inviting me on her show. Nancy Lewis Hill was originally gonna be on her show, but she had to back out. So everything just kind of aligned. And I had never told my story like that before, any, a little bit, very little bit on social media, but I, I felt like, I [00:11:00] just felt like things were coming together, that all these things were aligning.

And maybe it was just time. To do it. And, and I’m glad, I’m so glad I did because I’ve, I’ve heard from so many different people, from people that have family members, you know, who have leukemia or this guy reached out to me who’s a survivor himself. He was just diagnosed in May. He was like, Hey, could we get on a call and.

I don’t know what to expect, you know, kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, it’s been really in amazing, just like connecting with other survivors and, yeah. I don’t even know what the word is. You know, it’s been such a, I don’t even know what the word is. Yeah, and you’ve been on, uh, several different shows talking about it.

And so you’re spreading the world all, I mean, the, the word all over the world and giving other people permission to tell their story as well. And, and when I initially started the Onward Movement, which is, uh, a movement that I lead about [00:12:00] create, you know, creating a life that you love living, initially it was about, Authenticity, being authentic.

Kind of like the radiating real thing. Yeah. And then it kinda, I think it’s evolved as I’ve evolved and initially this podcast, the Onward podcast, and I don’t know where my brand thing is. It’s usually up there, but I don’t see it. Now. I’ve done something, uh, you know, I know how to do it, but it was about like facing adversity and moving forward.

And then I changed the theme of this show just a tiny bit. Because of my journey, which is facing adversity moving forward and discovering ourselves along the way. Yes, because that’s when, when we face adversity, I think that helps us really discover ourselves. And then the onward movement is about embracing authenticity, releasing the fear of judgment.

So that you can create the life of your dreams with confidence. And that’s kind of, I [00:13:00] think we tend to coach in areas where we’ve struggled and that’s kind of like been my struggle is like everyone told me when I retired or graduated, you should go be a government contracting consultant. I didn’t wanna do that.

So I encourage people just like, like, uh, Russ does and like you and radiating real and Nancy, you know, be ourselves. Figure out who we really are and live a life that you really love. And I know one of the things that you love doing is walking out in nature cuz I’ve been on the planet. Can you, can you tell It’s surrounding me.

You live near the Delaware River, so you get outside a lot. Yeah, and especially during the pandemic. I mean before I used to walk a lot as well, but. Especially during the pandemic, like in the early days I used to walk like every single morning before the girls enjoy even got up. I would go for a walk every morning by the river.

Yeah. It’s changed a little bit now cuz things are a little different, but So you, so you I love nature. Oh yeah. [00:14:00] And it’s, it’s just got, um, A healing way about it for, so for 15 years you’ve lived with this leukemia, right? Have you always had it or that you were in remission, but is it you’re in remission, but you still kind of have it?

I mean, how does that work? Yeah. I know my mom’s in remission from one of her cancers, but it’s still there lurking, so it’s gotta always come in mind. Yeah, so in two thou, so basically there’s a, there’s a test that they do that’s called a gene test, and they measure the percentage of leukemia cells in your body versus whatever else there is.

I don’t know what it’s called, non leukemia cells. So it was down to zero in 2019. Now, the last few times I’ve gone, it’s been slowly creeping by, so there’s a chance that when I go the next time, if the numbers are up again, I may have to switch my, I take an oral chemo medication daily, so I may need to switch that cuz sometimes.

After so many years, one of the medications will, their effectiveness won’t be as much, you know, cuz your body gets so [00:15:00] used to it. Yeah, yeah. And you said in your blog that your medication, uh, would be if you didn’t have insurance 10,000 a month. Yeah, it’s, it’s super crazy. And luckily there’s, there’s organizations like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or even some of the pharmaceutical companies have.

You know, aid that you can apply for. But yeah, if you don’t have insurance, it, it can be really challenging. For sure. So what have you discovered about yourself along this journey? Oh my gosh. Mm-hmm. The journey of living with leukemia or sharing my story or all of it? Any of it. Whatever you wanna share, you know?

What kinds of things have you discovered about yourself? I really like connecting with. With other people that, that are also survivors. You know, just sharing each other’s stories, learning about each other, you know, on the personal level, on the professional level, what is, you know, just, just learning about each other.

And [00:16:00] I probably live life a little bit more, you know, like I value my time more, I guess I would say. Mm-hmm. You know, because you never know, like when you’re diagnosed with something like leukemia, you’re. You have like a new awareness of like your time and what you’re doing and and how you wanna spend it?

I think so. I would say that as well, but really connecting with other, other survivors has been really, really enlightening for me. I bet, because, you know, I mean, I know my mom has had lymphoma, but I haven’t had it. I know my former husband, my kid’s dad passed away from, from cancer, but I didn’t have it.

So I know from like a caregiver’s or you know, a loved one’s perspective, but I’ve never had it, so I don’t know that. Right. Like the feelings that you have. So I can see how that would be Yeah, understandable. That that would be really comforting to talk to other people. Who [00:17:00] have been through it and then helping other people.

Cuz I know when you help others I’m thinking you’re helping yourself too. Yeah, for sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I had never really, in the past before, before sharing my story, I had never like intentionally tried to reach out to other survivors or, or share my story. And it’s been almost 15 years, you know, so, I think I kind of felt that because like the medication I take works well, I don’t have side effects from it.

I, I’ve always been kind of hesitant about sharing my story or even reaching out to others. I guess I kind of also feel or felt like kind of guilty because what if other people that I talk to, what if their health isn’t going as well? You know, because you might think it is or whatever. Yeah, yeah. So I’ve always been kind of like, I don’t know, like it’s kind [00:18:00] of awkward, you know, felt kind of awkward, but I’m so glad that I, that I have shared it now.

Yeah. And Jenny’s here she says, hi, Jenny. Hi, Jenny. Jenny. Jenny’s show is the first show that I shared my story on, so thanks for giving me that space, Jenny. Yeah. So how do you talk to your children about it? I haven’t yet. You haven’t yet? I,

I haven’t because it hasn’t affected me much. Like they would never know unless, unless I told them. And, you know, I’ve kind of gone back and forth in my head, but I mean, our kids are 10 and seven and I, yeah, I don’t want to put stress on them that. You know, maybe something would happen to me. You know, like if I, if I don’t need to, I, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s a hard decision.

Yeah. That is a hard decision. But that [00:19:00] makes sense to me. They’re, they’re, yeah. They’re gonna worry when they may not need to worry. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So what would you say to some, to, um, somebody who has a loved one, or a friend that they know has cancer? Sometimes people don’t know what to say, so they don’t say anything or they’re, you know, not sure if they should offer help or whatever.

I mean, do you have any advice for somebody?

Don’t, don’t not call them. Call them, and. I don’t wanna say, pretend like they don’t have cancer, but you know, like there’s still another human being. They’re still on this planet, you know? So, I mean, I know, I know it could definitely be kind of awkward, but just try to, just try to have a conversation. I mean, maybe start off with something, you know, lighter or, or something like that.

But, but don’t, don’t not call because you’re, I mean, if you love [00:20:00] the person, right? If you. You know, you’re concerned about them. You know, definitely let them know in some way that you’re, that you’re thinking about them, that you’re paying for them. Don’t just disappear because you don’t know what to say.

You know, like Right. That’s probably could be one of like the most awkward situations for someone who has cancer is like, If people stop reaching out to you or if, yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, and sometimes maybe you could even ask the person, right? I mean, like everyone reacts differently. I remember my former husband, he, he wouldn’t meet with anybody from work.

He wouldn’t, he didn’t really take many calls, but he was really, Really sick. So maybe that. That’s it. So you just, I mean, to be able to then somebody posted here a Facebook user. I appreciate your honesty. So to be able to have just an honest conversation with the person and ask, how can I best support you?

Right. I love that for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe to make the, don’t make the conversation all about [00:21:00] cancer. So let’s talk a little bit about what you do for a living as you’re critiquing how I’m running my live show in your mind. You’re doing great. You’re doing great. So yeah, you’re the producer of live shows.

You have a couple live shows. So we did some banners on that. So you have the Tim and Jim show, which is Wednesdays at 11 in the morning Eastern. And you broadcasted on LinkedIn and where else? Yeah, we broadcast on LinkedIn. We also broadcast on, there’s a Tim and Jim show YouTube channel as well as a Tim and Jim show Facebook page among other places.

But we bring on guests to talk about all things to grow. You’re a small business, so it could be something marketing related, entrepreneurship, health mindset, really anything, you know, to help small businesses grow. And we just celebrated three years doing that in August. Yeah, that’s good. It’s pretty challenging starting a small business.

Oh, for sure. We all know that, right? Yeah. We all know that. And, uh, you can feel alone. And [00:22:00] so it’s really important to, you know, have a show like that or to have, um, masterminds where, you know, everybody who’s starting their own business doesn’t feel alone. That’s, you know, just like talking about the cancer, talking about all these real life issues, you know, everyone, a lot of people are like, oh, I don’t know if I should share that.

But then you realize other people, uh, are going through that too and feeling the same thing. Yeah, I think it, I think it depends on like, on your comfort level. Like it took me almost 15 years to share my story. Right? And because you don’t know, like one of the, some of the concerns I had were like, would people look at me differently?

Would they talk to me differently? If I was going for a job, would my chances of a job be less because they knew I had cancer? Or if I was starting my own business, like, are clients gonna. If somehow they knew mm-hmm. You know, would my chances of getting a client be less? But I’ve found, through sharing my story, that it’s only connected me with more heart-centered, amazing people, [00:23:00] whether they’re affected by cancer or their family members or not.

And you know, I would say for, for people who are survivors or family members, you know, if you’re comfortable sharing, The story, it’s gonna connect you with other people that could be a support for you. You know, there might become friends or you might collaborate in some way, you know, so, you know, if you’re comfortable with it, do it.

You know, like you don’t, you don’t wanna worry about people that, like, if there are people that are, would look at you differently or talk differently, or wouldn’t hire you, maybe those, you know, you don’t want those people to hire you anyway. Right, right, right. So, It’s taken a while to get to that mindset, you know?

But that’s been my experience. Well, I’m sure we all have, you know, I know I do ha have some things that. If I shared would make me feel really vulnerable and that I haven’t shared yet. Um, getting closer. But yeah, definitely it [00:24:00] does take time Yeah. To be able to do that. So I like that, that idea of the Tim and Jim show being about helping small business owners from, you know, mindset to start, you know, cuz it’s, it’s very challenging.

My last role, I was the head of small business for the Navy and the Marine Corps and, you know, I was Oh wow. But I had worked for the government, so I was the director of small business for the Navy and Marine Corps. So all these small business owners were coming and talking to me about, you know, how do you do business with the Navy and the Marine Corps?

And, uh, but that, I saw it from the government perspective and now I’m starting my own small business, and I even appreciate those small businesses even more that we’re doing business because it’s, it’s very challenging for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, for sure. So that’s one of your shows. And then you have one that’s after this show every night.

Thank you for not conflicting with mine. Uh, yes, I totally planned it that way. Yeah, I’m sure you did. It’s called What’s Good Wednesday. So it’s Wednesdays nine to 11 Eastern. And that’s you and Brian Schulman and then Nancy Barrows. And what do you guys [00:25:00] talk about on what’s good Wednesdays? Yeah. So we invite people, uh, to come live on the show for a few minutes.

They share what’s good in their world, what’s good in the world, and we dance together on screen. You can pick your jam of choice, and so it’s just to put the focus on the good positivity and dance together. Have some fun. And you do that on LinkedIn. Yes. Saturday is even crazier. Saturday’s crazy. And this four hours, no, I’ve joined you guys, uh, Saturday from like, I was hiking in the mountains.

I, you know, yes, I remember then I joined you guys. I’ve joined you from the shores at the Chesapeake Bay. I don’t know how you guys spend your Saturdays doing that, but you enjoy it. You guys should tune into those shows. And let’s see. You also should connect with Tim on LinkedIn because, you know, tell us about the kinds of things that you do.

You help. People produce live shows and what else? Yeah, I help people produce live shows, so if they just want to show up and have a great conversation with a [00:26:00] guest, you could have somebody else behind the scenes, you know, bringing on the banners like this down here, the logo, if there were any like recorded videos or things like that just to make the show more engaging.

And then also virtual events I produce, I’m gonna be producing one next month for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. They, it, it’s an awards dinner that they used to do in person, did it last year for them also virtually. So then that, and then I also coach people on how to create their own live shows or virtual events if they wanna do it themselves, but they just need some guidance that as well.

So everything live streaming, whether you, you need some guidance or, or hands on help. And were you doing this before the pandemic or is it something that you started when the pandemic happened? Yeah, so, so this is started because of the pandemic. We were already doing the Tim and Jim show for two years when the pandemic hit.

But then I really switched my business. I had started [00:27:00] a group coaching program on how to create your own LinkedIn, or not LinkedIn, but live show on whatever platform in April of 2020. And I did that course. I think for five rounds throughout the pandemic. But before that, I was mainly working with small businesses here in Northeast Pennsylvania with their, like creating social media content for them going onsite and live streaming for local businesses or for local events.

There’s a readers and writers festival that happens every year that I worked with and some other local events with an organization. Kind of like a Chamber of Commerce kind of thing. Mm-hmm. So really all the things that were majorly impacted by Covid, that’s who I was working with.

Oh, that’s so challenging. I know. Yeah. Oh, so Sheri says, children detect what’s going on. I was 11 years old when my mother got cancer, and they told me she, she had a year to live, but she lived longer, and I was glad they did because I had a grownup conversation with her [00:28:00] and asked her about our family history.

That’s interesting. I dunno if you guys have connected, but it, have you popped? I think we’re on Zoom. Yeah. It might be a good conversation to have because somebody for sure who’s been through it as a child. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. Yes, and Sean’s here too. Very awesome and amazing. Hey. Hi Carl.

Sean, thanks for joining us. You’re amazing as well. Yes, he is. He talks all about vulnerability. He does love and uh, I had him on this show Love and yeah, he’s sharing all about that, which is another thing. There’s so many things now that are shared on LinkedIn that weren’t before the pandemic, and I guess it’s the pandemic that changed it.

I don’t know if it’s a combination of a bunch of things coming together. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I spend a lot more time. I’ve spent a lot more time on LinkedIn since the pen. And, you know, working on Brian’s show is, it’s like totally the opposite of what you would expect to see on LinkedIn, right?

It’s like [00:29:00] wacky, crazy people dancing on LinkedIn. Right. But putting the focus on positivity and, you know, encouraging people and things like that. But before that, I mean, my experience mostly with LinkedIn was, you know, uh, professional social media platform. You know, like so many people. Say it is. But I think more and more people now are, they’re becoming more vulnerable on the platform.

They’re having more fun on the platform, but still many people as well are, are using it in a more professional way. Yeah. You know, in those more traditional ways. Yeah. Right. I mean, you can kind of have a mixture. It’s like we, we, you know, it’s, it’s even harder now to separate work and life, right? So yeah.

There says you’re connected through Russ Hedge. Yeah. That’s awesome. Because of the show the other day. Probably. That’s Hi, dj. Hey dj. You joining us? I think she, she and I have a call coming up too. Um, that’s awesome. She was in some of my live streaming courses. Oh, cool. [00:30:00] Yeah. So what can you share? Like one or two tips if someone wants to livestream.

Like if someone’s sitting here thinking this is really intimidating, you know, to go live and to have a conversation with somebody else. And you know, I didn’t go over all the questions I was gonna ask Tim, so this is just kind of a conversation and then all these people can watch that might be intimidating for, for some people.

What advice do you, yeah, for sure. It was intimidating for me at the beginning as well when I started live streaming. I would say if you can, if you have people that can show up for your live show, right? Either even at the beginning, if it’s friends or family, right? Send them the link to the show ahead of time and have them.

Have them show up. I know for me, I always feel better when there are people in the comments and I can shout them out and I just feel more comfortable. Right. Oh, dj. Yes. Tim is such a, oh, thank you dj. That’s what I do. Tim is such [00:31:00] a leader and a mentor. Yes, yes. And then the other thing is, I mean, you can, you can practice.

Ahead of time. You know, if you wanted to stream, if you use Facebook, you could stream, there’s a setting for just me if you want to practice and then look back at it. Or you could, if you have a Facebook group, set up a private Facebook group and do it that way if you wanna practice ahead of time. But when you go live the first time, I mean, even if you say, you know, Hey, I’m really nervous.

I’m going live for the first time, you know, bear with me. Like, that’s okay. You know, like, yeah, your first video is not gonna be your best video. For sure. You know, so just, just be you and, and it’ll get easier each time. But I think if, if you encourage your community to show up, I know for me and for other people I’ve worked with, that it make that much easier because, because they’re there supporting you, but then you can also shout them out and it gives them, gives you also something to talk about during your show.

Yeah. It’s, it’s, it can be more intimidating to be talking [00:32:00] and not having people show up. It’s really important. Yeah. Uh, when people show up. So I thank every single one of you that have shown up, that are watching, that are listening because it gives us, it makes us feel like, well, Maybe this is a, a show that people wanna watch and that, you know, I’m seeing something important and because we’re, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s a little nerve-wracking for me too to do this.

I used to do my podcast interviews over Zoom, and then I would just publish it later. Now I do it live and then still publish later, but I think the live is just so much more fun. The engagement. Oh, for sure. The interaction. You can ask questions, the interaction, and I know on the Tim and Jim or the, uh, what’s real Wednesdays?

Is that what It’s good Wednesday? Yeah. What’s good Wednesday? Oh my gosh. You guys usually have like 2000 comments or something like that. We do have a lot of comments and yeah, but I think it helps because we do, we do, you know, we do what’s good Wednesday, but we also do shout out Saturday. So yeah, and we’ve been doing it like [00:33:00] throughout the entire pandemic and I think Brian was doing it a little bit even before.

So the consistency that would, that’s another thing I would say is having a consistent schedule figure show is really important Also. Yeah, every night, like every Wednesday, seven 30, except for I’m gonna take a couple days off over the holidays, a couple weeks. I think that Okay, right. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah.

So many friends are streamers and we’re all so busy. So much support to all of you. Yeah, that is a challenge too. There’s so many different live streams, but even just stopping by, if you don’t stay the whole time stopping by and saying hi, that’s awesome too. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you just stay a few minutes and then that’s also another good way to.

To grow your network as well. If you’re watching somebody else’s live stream and you notice they’re not a, a first connection on LinkedIn, send them a message. Say, Hey, I’m also watching Emily’s amazing show. You know, I’d love to connect with you on LinkedIn. Yeah, yeah. It’s all, yeah. That’s awesome. So, oh, she says, never, never stop.[00:34:00] 

Always be live streaming. Yeah. Well I remember I was intimidated the very first time I did it. And then a couple of times I’ve just been like, I’m gonna go live cuz by myself, cuz I wanna share something. And then once I went live and I can’t remember exactly what it was I was sharing, but I started to cry.

Ah. So, you know, it’s, it’s okay. I mean, we all cry, right? It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah. DJ says, I don’t like to, uh, leave when I arrive. Yeah, it’s, but it’s. It’s showing the human side of us. We’re all humans. We all have feelings. We’re not just, I’m a livestream producer, you know, and here’s my five tips.

I mean, it’s, it’s more than that. And that makes people wanna connect with you, Tim, and that makes them want to attend. You have a class coming up, right? They do. You, you and, uh, Nancy are doing why personal content is your most powerful tool. It’s a complimentary workshop on October 21st. [00:35:00] Yeah. Uh, it’s October 21st.

It’s at eight 30 Eastern time. Five 30 Pacific time. Yeah. And we’re gonna, we’re gonna share our personal stories. We’re gonna talk about, you know, how we go about sharing our personal stories and how. You can do that as well to whether it’s to increase your engagement on your live shows or social media content to grow your business, to grow your network, to reach your personal goals, things like that, you know, so we’ll share some tips and we have a great community of people signed up already, but we would love for you to sign up as well.

And it is free and it’s gonna be, uh, a great group of people. You can connect with those people as well. You know, through the workshop. Yeah. Because you know, cuz you also do that show with about small businesses and what small business owners need to know. I mean, people do business with people. Exactly.

They don’t do business with the company. And it’s the same applies to the federal government. People would call and say, you know, I wanna do business with the government. [00:36:00] Who’s the government? There’s so many, right? There’s so many government agencies. What do you mean when you say you wanna do business with the government?

What do you mean when you say I coach? Like who do you coach? Who’s your ideal client? You know, there’s so many things that you need to know, and people connect with people that they know, like, and trust. So how do they get to know, like, and trust you? It’s, it’s a little easier to know, like, and trust someone who.

Is confident enough and vulnerable enough to share his cancer story on all these live shows and to post in his LinkedIn profile about being a cancer survivor. Not a lot of people do that, so No, it’s true and it’s, and it’s interesting because since I’ve. Shared my leukemia story. You know, I heard, I, somebody I was talking to who’s another live streamer, he said, I was talking to somebody and they said that you should be creating more content that’s, uh, business related or that sells your services.

Because most of my content [00:37:00] now is not business related. It is mostly about leukemia or headaches or, or headaches. You post all the time about your headaches, but Right. People can relate Exactly. That has really. And I used to post these pictures when it was really bad. Well, I’d be on the couch at like midnight and I’d post this picture that was like really dark and you could just see like part of my face and those posts resonated so much with people.

Because you don’t see that on LinkedIn normally, right? No. You don’t. No, but, but since doing that, and even though I haven’t been posting a lot of business related stories, I’ve gotten on so many calls with people. I’ve started working with new clients and it’s just been therapeutic for me to, to share, like, to actually write this down, I used to be a journalist and I used to love writing, but I got away from that when I started doing video.

But doing all this radiating reel has really, I’ve like refound my love of writing as well, which has been That’s awesome. Really? Yeah. [00:38:00] Yeah, thanks. Well, one, you know, I post some personal things, not a lot, and I, and I think to myself, why is that? And when I retire, you know, my whole life I’ve been busy, busy, busy, busy.

And that was my way of avoiding my feelings. I have a hyper achiever saboteur up here, and it tells me, you achieve that, you’re gonna be really happy. Yeah. Then achieve well. Now you gotta go for that. And so I’ve been in the past two years really working on myself doing inner work. And one of the reasons that I retired or graduated is because I knew.

I wanted to feel my feelings again. I, I could tell you I’m happy or sad, but, you know, someone asked, well, where do you feel in your body? I don’t know what, but it’s so important to know that stuff. And the only way to, to, to learn it is to spend time with yourself and not be busy, busy, busy. And so as I’m doing more of that, [00:39:00] I’m starting.

To find my voice, to be able to share stuff. Yes. So, and like you and Nancy, give me courage and other people courage too. Jenny says, I love the show. I can’t wait to have you on my show. I, and I look forward to hopefully meeting you in person, Jenny, because I am gonna go visit my daughter. In December, I think before Christmas in Colorado, in Denver, and that’s where Jenny lives.

Yay. I can’t wait to see my daughter. I haven’t seen her since Christmas, but yeah. Yeah. So I can’t wait to see her. And Jenny says she’s known as the Crier. Okay, great. Jenny, I’ll get on your show you and we’ll just cry. How about that? She brings bacon if she has a guest and somebody’s gonna cry. She breaks out the bacon and she said, do you want some bacon?

I get you to be like, right, Jenny,

I’m so happy you opened up Tim. Thanks for sharing with us. Always here to support. Thank you, tj. You’re always so supportive. I appreciate you so much. [00:40:00] So we’ve talked about a lot of things. We’ve talked about, like the cost of the medication, how you find out you had cancer, you know, whether or not when you would tell your children how to approach somebody that has cancer and how to best support them, and all the things that you do and all your live shows.

What haven’t I asked that I should ask? Oh goodness. I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, one thing I would say is that I’m so grateful for all the people. I’m so grateful for you. I’m so grateful for all the people that I’ve met through LinkedIn especially. Um, Just all the people that have been so supportive when I’m doing all these posts that I didn’t create content like that before.

You know? Like I didn’t know how it was gonna go. I didn’t know if I was gonna do one of them, or I just wrote my 61st radiating real post the other day. Wow. Yeah. It’s [00:41:00] sometimes when you’re sharing something really personal to hit that send button, and then if no one comments, you’re like, oh, maybe I shouldn’t have hit.

Post, but Right. But you, you’ve learned along the way, you know, like what people resonate with and there might be things that you share that people aren’t comfortable reacting to Also. Yeah. You know, especially on LinkedIn, right? Because so many people view view it as that professional platform. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, a question popped in my head that I was gonna ask and then I forgot. Oh, so you know, I’m also my banner here. It says, create a life that you love. What are the things that you’re doing in your life to create a life that you love living? Oh goodness. I love what we were saying before. I love nature. I love being out in nature.

I love walking along the river. I love spending time with our family, our kids. You know, it’s been challenging with the pandemic and. Marcelle isn’t a vaccine yet for their age. Hopefully [00:42:00] there will be soon. So I’m looking forward to when we can do more, you know, do more things. Family, nature, coffee. I mean, always be drinking coffee.

That’s always important. Wait, it, it’s almost, it. How, how are you gonna go to sleep tonight? There’s water in this cup. Okay. I was gonna say, oh wow. Maybe I wasn’t exactly radiating real there.

That’s funny. Yeah. So, oh, Jenny has a question. Sorry. Okay. Jenny has a question. What’d she say? Oh, you like Dunking Donuts? Why? I think it’s because after college I moved around a lot. I worked at different newspapers in New Mexico and New Hampshire and Connecticut and New Jersey. And wherever I went, there was a Dunking Donuts.

So I would go and I would get coffee and other things, which are not the healthiest thing. But I found that when [00:43:00] you go, whether it’s Dunking Donuts or another coffee shop, if you go there every day, you see, uh, familiar faces, right? And you start talking to them. And before Covid, I used to actually go to Dunking Donuts.

I’d bring my laptop and I would do my work and sit there for a few hours. And people would walk in, especially people that were in, there’s a brain injury, like people who have brain injuries, there’s a home nearby to, to Duncan. So they would come in and, and they would talk with me. And I don’t know, I, I just found that there was like a sense of community.

I really love community, whether it’s online or in person. You know, I used to do workshops before covid. In person here in Northeast Pennsylvania. I really miss that, the in-person interaction. And I think mostly I just miss the, the community aspect. You know, with Dunking Donuts and wherever I moved to, there seemed to be a Dunking Donuts nearby, so it was just familiar.[00:44:00] 

Oh, and she, Jenny says, I was gonna ask him why he likes to go on walks in nature. I think it’s because it’s just, it’s just so peaceful and quiet, and, When you have 10 and seven year old kids and you’re around them, which I love them to death, they’re not quiet ever, mostly. And, and with the pandemic, like, you know, it just like, there’s just so much stress during the pandemic, you know, not knowing what was going to be on, going on day to day or minutes to minute or second to second, or.

You know, it just, it was a consistent thing I did every morning. I went for a walk by the river every morning. Um, and it was just like that quiet time to start out the day. Yeah. You know, just put me in the right mindset. Mm-hmm. Especially not knowing what would be coming. Yeah. And it seems like, you know, I mean the cancer diagnosis is really hard to take.

I know that. [00:45:00] But you’ve found, you also found gratitude and you’ve found the gift. You’ve talked tonight about the gift and the opportunities that have come from your diagnosis, right? I mean, the meeting of Oh yeah. People being able to help other people. So you’ve got such a great attitude about it, a good mental attitude about it, it seems like.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. It. When I create the, the radiating reel posts, one of the things that really resonates with people is when I say, I go through all these crappy things, right? And then I say, but I’m grateful for this and for this and for this and for this. And, and people are like, you have such a great mindset, like you’re going through all this stuff, but you, you can still find the gratitude.

You know? Yeah. How do you do that? Have you always been that way or do you have to work at it, or, I mean, how do you do that? I haven’t been that way. I think [00:46:00] Nancy Barrows, she has that mindset and I spent a lot of time with her, with the shows and everything, and I think that kind of rubbed off on me just through, you know, through conversations we’ve had and watching shows that she’s been on.

And cuz she always shares how she’s so grateful for everything that’s happened along her journey and, and you know, the good and the bad. So I think, I think mostly just through. Through conversations with her, I’ve really, yeah. Learned to appreciate things even when they’re not so great. Yeah, that’s, that’s something that you can teach your kids too, because our kids learn by observing us.

Oh, that’s definitely true. Yeah. It is a good way to meditate. Yeah. Do you listen to music or do you, are you just alone in your thoughts, or what do you do when you walk? I’m, no, I don’t usually listen. Well, sometimes. Not usually. Usually just quiet. Just quiet. Or [00:47:00] when it was the beginning of the pandemic.

Nancy Lewis Hill has a show that she does in the morning in her, she has a Facebook group called Lighten Up with Miss Nancy and, and she went live every morning at like seven 30 in the morning, I think it was. She still does it. Wow. Sometimes I would watch that show as I’m walking. Okay. Because that just brought people together.

She started it after the pandemic started, and it was just like the idea of like stopping by, you know, show up, support each other, share what’s going on. Mm-hmm. Still with the focus on, you know, the good and positivity. Yeah. Um, but just a place that we could all come together while we’re all going through so much to, to show up, support each other, lift each other up, that kind of thing.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thank you so much, uh, Tim for being on the Onward Podcast. I really appreciate this interview and I know you talked about Nancy a lot. Nancy is going to, we’re doing a little special interview on October [00:48:00] 18th, Monday night coming up. Oh, yay. Or Nancy’s gonna be on, that’ll be great. On the Onward podcast.

So yeah, normally I’m just on, uh, Wednesday nights, but, uh, she’s gonna be on, on a Monday night and we wanted to fit her in so, Awesome. All right. And as we are leaving, please check out this upcoming workshop, complimentary free workshop on why personal content is your most powerful tool, and are you gonna be offering it again?

Because this podcast is gonna be published as a regular podcast, like after October 21st, but there might be other times we should just connect with you on LinkedIn and follow you and yeah, that’s the best way. I’m sure we’ll offer it again at some point, but, uh, we just have the one scheduled for right now.

Yeah. And then the Tim and Jim show, which is on Wednesdays at 11 Eastern. And then we’re gonna wrap this up and, and Tim’s gonna go get ready for another show. Yes. Nine o’clock tonight. Nine to 11. And the reason you guys moved the show to later at night is to [00:49:00] support Nancy, cause she’s on the West Coast and so you guys have become good friends.

Yeah. And she works during the day for a, a school district and it’s hard for her to, we used to do the show at two o’clock in the afternoon, but that wasn’t feasible for her anymore, so we moved it for so she could, she could be there. Jenny says, cuz she lives in Denver. She got up at five 30 for Nancy Louis Hills podcast.

I didn’t realize, wow. Didn’t realize it was that early for her. Oh my goodness. Yeah, cuz it would be even four 30 for people out in California. Thank you so much Tim. Thank you to everybody who, uh, watched this show. I r we really appreciate you guys. Thank you for stopping by and make sure you, uh, go watch the uh, Wednesday night show later tonight at nine o’clock.

Yes. Yes. Come. Come. All right. More fun. More fun. Thank you for listening today. And make sure to check out the show notes where I have links for connecting with Tim and more about his shows [00:50:00] as well as the blog he wrote about living with leukemia. The Onward Podcast is sponsored by my coaching business, Emily Harmon, coaching and Consulting.

You can check out my website, emily harmon.com to learn about my offerings, and you can also schedule a complimentary 15 minute call with me where we can talk about what you might want to get out of coaching and how I can help you, or we can just meet. I love to meet. All of the people who listened to the Onward Podcast, I don’t know all of you.

Some, some of you are listening from across the ocean, from around the world, and I love meeting people, so just use a link on my website to schedule a conversation with me and let’s get to know one another. I’d love your feedback on how I can make this podcast even better for you. Thank you for listening and enjoy the rest of your day.[00:51:00]