Chris Medellin –
This is Breakthrough with Chris Medellin. Thank you guys for joining this episode. And I couldn’t be more excited for my guest today because I got to tell you the story about how we met before. Before we jump into it. So I am all about branding. I think branding is probably the most important thing that someone can do which is out building business connections with people and helping people, and what people don’t realize is that every single person listening today has a brand.
Chris Medellin –
I think leaders need to be on the field. What I’m noticing in the marketplace, and I noticed this when COVID happened, when everything got really crazy, we try to ramp up everything we were doing, Facebook groups and we were like sending videos to everybody. We were trying to be in everybody’s face because everybody had scrambled back to their houses and so this is not dissimilar from that. And I think what leaders need to be doing right now is pulling everybody out of their houses, getting them back into the community, getting them back to the basics of what it’s going to take to generate deals because the market is actually pretty healthy. What I’m saying is we just came off of one of the best months in the Phoenix market.
Chris Medellin –
So if I’m just looking at Phoenix Market, we’re coming off one of the best months that we’ve had in the last eight months of sales in the marketplace in the MLS. And so right now leaders need to be the vehicle of getting people motivated, and excited about what’s happening in the market. And in order to lead, you’re going to have to be on the field showing them how to do it.
Chris Medellin –
You just don’t know it yet. And they are. Your brand is basically, in my opinion, your reputation. And so I am here with one of the coolest people. She is a brand strategist with Ryan Sirhan’s team. She’s the owner of Elevate Design Studio. She has a podcast called Not Nice, Clever. It’s about branding, marketing, money, and manifestation. She’s a speaker, she’s a powerful Latina and she is a former teacher turned entrepreneur I couldn’t be more excited to have Candice Carcioppolo. I am excited. I’m going to do it again. I am excited to have Candice Carcioppolo and it’s so funny the way I wrote this. I wrote Sea Air Space CEO, Space Polo. So thank you for being here today. I’m so excited to finally get you in-studio live in Gilbert, Arizona.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Thank you. I’m super excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Chris Medellin –
So how did you end up in Arizona? Because you’re like living in San Diego.
Candice Carcioppolo –
San Diego now. And my husband was just like, hey, I’m going on a business trip. Do you want to Scottsdale? Do you want to come? I want to tag along. It’s like, I’ll get the hotel at the pool if you come along. And I was like, okay.
Chris Medellin –
I think every hotel, even the shady ones, has to have a pool in Arizona. But how cool is that? I mean, think about where you were. You and I were talking about this earlier, but think about it like a few years ago when you were a teacher, you would have never been able to just jump on a plane at the drop of a hat and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And we were trying to get away from the gloomy weather in San Diego. Yes. And so we’re like Scottsdale, where it’s 97 and sunny. Yeah.
Chris Medellin –
Sign me up. I love it. It is so beautiful out here. And by the way, it’s so beautiful in San Diego. But, you know, so couple of things that I got to tell you. So you and I met back in July at the forward event, and it was Neil’s second Ford event. And so for those of you that are listening that want to go to an amazing event, DM us because you got to be at the Ford event.
Chris Medellin –
It’s one of the coolest events that I’ve ever attended, but it is a place to connect with real estate professionals, mortgage professionals, and anyone who’s trying to elevate their brand. This is like the Who. It’s one of the industry events that everyone goes to because it’s so powerful. And I think you and I were talking about you got so many clients.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Going to so many opportunities from attending. And I’ve been going to Neil’s events and it was a much smaller event in San Diego. And honestly, I feel like it’s like a class reunion when I go to this event because these are like my people. They’re my friends, they’re the community that I look to and have who have helped me grow and so I just literally love going to these events.
Chris Medellin –
The best way to describe it for me is like, I feel like my Instagram exploded when I walked in. Yeah, I mean, it’s like I was the first day when I was picking up my badge. I was walking through and I think I had to go upstairs to get the badge or downstairs. I can’t remember. Yeah, maybe it’s downstairs and then like, I just was running into so many people that I had never met before. So if you’re following people on Instagram, they’re most likely going to be at this event. And I’m giving a free commercial to Neil on this, but because I believe in this event so much and then, you know, I’ll turn this over to say, you know, it was his event that really inspired me to create an event in Arizona called Breakthrough.
Chris Medellin –
And as I went through this, somebody was telling me about these moments that you have when you break through. And it’s that moment right before breakthrough that the best way to describe it is this is if you know you look at when boil water boils at 212 degrees and the moment at 211 that’s for me what this podcast is about is that moment right before you break through and somebody said this to me and it stuck right before the breakthrough. There’s a breakdown. And I wanted to talk to people who have really broken through in their careers and are on the upward swing of something amazing. And you came to mine. And when we met, I remember us meeting where I was walking through, breakthrough, and you guys came up because you knew the lending giant.
Chris Medellin –
And he and you guys were talking and I was like, What do you guys do? And you said, Well, we work for Sirhan’s team. And I was like, Oh, I already know I’m spending money with them because, you know, you guys just look cool. You were doing amazing things. And then here we are less than a year later sitting in a studio. Look at that for a podcast, right? So how cool is that? And so thank you for coming. So let’s jump into this. You know, the name of the show is Breakthrough, and you’ve been on a made an amazing journey. You were, you know, a teacher who then decided to go build your business. So let’s talk about that journey and what that was like and the breakthrough moment for you.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Absolutely. So I taught middle school English in history for seven years and I loved it until I didn’t. I was in my early thirties and I was thinking, you know, I think I’m just too busy to only make this much money for the rest of my entire life. Like I already had my master’s degree. I was literally and my early thirties going to wait on a 3% cost of living raise every year.
Chris Medellin –
I was like, this is not.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, this does not seem right.
Chris Medellin –
Like it’s not real, but it’s not. It’s not right. Because I think you had the teachers have the hardest jobs, right? Because I know my kids.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And imagine 37 of them in a classroom times six periods a day. Right. Like it’s a lot. Yeah. And so I just came to a point where I was like, you know, this can’t be it for me. And I was a single woman, and I just knew that I wanted more for my life. I wanted to live in a certain neighborhood that I could never afford. I wanted to travel. I wanted to just feel like I had freedom with my finances. And I knew that teaching wasn’t going to give me that anymore. And so what I did was I ended up working for Teach for America and I became a coach of teachers and I raised my income a little bit with that job. And then I had a little bit more flexibility and freedom. So it kind of kind of felt like my own boss in that sense. I made my own schedule and that felt really good to me. So I was like, okay, this is cool. I like this. I get to make my own schedule to help teachers. I still get to see the kids regularly, and what I was doing was helping them backward plan their goals.
Candice Carcioppolo –
So the teacher had goals for their students and we would set them and we would figure out what actions you need to take to make those things true. And I really enjoyed it. And then five years in, I got to the exact same place that I was teaching. I was like making the max amount of money I was ever going to make and there I was with another income cap and I felt like it was bullshit.
Chris Medellin –
Yeah.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And why.
Chris Medellin –
Were you?
Candice Carcioppolo –
I was pissed. Yeah, I was pissed and I was reaching the point of burnout again. I didn’t feel valued. I didn’t feel like there was any opportunity for me. And, you know, I’m in my thirties, like mid-thirties at this point. And just thinking this again cannot be it. And what happened was some of the teachers, because all teachers have side hustles, reached out to me and were asking me, Hey, can you help me as you do in the classroom? but with my business, I have a side hustle yoga business. Can you help me set goals for that and figure out what things I should do or, you know, the T-shirt business? Can you help me with that? And I started doing a little bit of that. You know, they’d kick me down 50 bucks, 100 bucks, and it’d be, okay, cool.
Candice Carcioppolo –
You know, like, I have a little bit of extra cash, whatever. And then I started realizing I think I could actually do this on a bigger scale. And what if I picked my own clients that I worked with? Because at that time I was assigned teachers and sometimes revived and sometimes we did it right? That’s normal. Like, what if I always got to choose my client?
Candice Carcioppolo –
What if I always got to choose how much it cost to work with me? What if I always got to make my own schedule? I never had to answer to anyone else. I was like, That sounds like the dream. And, you know, I probably was naive at the time because I didn’t know enough about business to know what I was about to enter. But I had a passion and I knew that I couldn’t go on how I was living anymore. So I eventually made a six-month plan and I literally wrote down like every day on a piece of paper, and I crossed it off. I was like, I’m leaving my job. When I get to the end of this paper, like I’m just going to leave my job and I’m going to figure out how much money I can save so I can live for 3 to 6 months and figure it the fuck out.
Chris Medellin –
Was that moment was it equally as exciting as it was scary?
Candice Carcioppolo –
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Both of these things were true. Everyone was like, You’re insane. Like, this is a cushy job. Canada is like, You’re damn right. Like, don’t do this.
Chris Medellin –
And you have like, at the time you’re single, right? So it’s not like you’re. You’re married by yourself. You got it. Did you get the bills? Yeah, you know. Yeah, I got bills.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Like, no one. No one’s going to pay my rent, you know, like, I wasn’t. I definitely had all the thinking of myself, right? And I was like, if this doesn’t work out, it’s going to be really embarrassing. But also, I can always be a teacher again.
Chris Medellin –
You could always be. You had a fallback.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, like I could always be a teacher again. And so I think once I made that decision, the universe conspired to show me every single reason why this worked. I was on the right path. Yes. So during that time when I was like, crossing off the days, I remember one of the things that was really eating at me or scaring me and it sounds stupid to me now, but back then I was like, I don’t have a place to meet my clients because I can’t just like, bring them to my house. That’s weird. And I was meeting clients at Starbucks, but essentially every client would end up crying at some point because, you know, it’s.
Chris Medellin –
It’s an emotion. It’s an.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Emotional. Yeah, it’s emotional. He says.
Chris Medellin –
Yeah.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Exactly. You’re figuring out these things about yourself and discovering things. And I was like, Did I want to be the bitches making people cry in Starbucks every day? Like, I need to figure out what’s going on, right? And I was hosting events with my best friend at the time, and it was called Vegas Women Connect, and it was an opportunity for women to connect in Las Vegas and connect both professionally and personally and so we’ve been hosting this event, and one day a neighbor came and I didn’t know she was a neighbor at the time, but she was like, Hey, you know, I’m sushi, I live right here. And I was like, I live right there. And realized that she, like, basically lived right behind me. And we started talking and she was like, Candace, I heard you talk about yoga.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Do you like to go to yoga? I was like, Yeah, I love yoga. And he’s like, Well if you ever go, I’d like to go with you. Like, okay. But it was like a passing fleeting kind of conversation. Well, she texted me the next day and she’s like, Are you going to yoga today? And I was like, Yeah. She was like, Can I go with you? So here we are in the car going to yoga. This girl that I met a day before at my networking event and we’re driving there and it’s a long, longest drive for Vegas. It’s like 20, 25 minutes. And so we’re driving and she’s a little older than me and she’s in the car and she’s like, How does it feel?
Candice Carcioppolo –
Like, I just have to tell you this. I really think you’re holding yourself back. It’s like that. You’re in my car, you yoga. You’re telling me like she’s like you’re. I just feel like you’re holding yourself back. Like you. You’re not, like, living up to your full potential. And I feel like there’s something else for you. And this is, you know, I’d been marking, telling There it goes and then telling off these days. And she’s just like, going in and hitting all the sensitive spots. Right. And I just met her. So I get to yoga and I’m pissed. I’m in yoga and I’m like, mad. Like, who does she think she is? She doesn’t know anything about my life. Like, I’m thinking all this stuff doing yoga. I leave yoga and I’m still mad, which is not supposed to be the case.
Chris Medellin –
Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I love this.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And so we were in the car and she starts up again.
Candice Carcioppolo –
I love her, right? And we get almost home and I’m just like, silent. And she’s just talking away, talking away. And she’s like, I don’t know why, Candace, but I feel like I need to tell you this. This is your time to blossom. And I’m like, Okay, whatever. Just go home. And so dropped her off. I went home and I was pissed and my best friend calls and she was like, Hey, so-and-so called and they want to meet with us because they’re opening a women’s co-working space in Las Vegas. And since we have the networking event, they want to just talk to us about how they can connect with our network. And I was like, Okay, sounds good. So we go to the meeting, which was like pretty much the next day we got to the meeting and we sit down with these two beautiful women who are like, We’re starting this co-working space in Las Vegas and I’m like, Oh, an office space in Las Vegas. I lived on 11th Street at the time. This was on Seventh Street.
Chris Medellin –
Perfect. Right?
Candice Carcioppolo –
Walking distance. Yeah. And so I’m sitting in this beautiful office space and they’re like, We just really admire what you’re doing for the community. And we know that you’re well-connected to women here, and we just want to offer you this space for you for free for the next six months. As long as you tell your friends about it.
Candice Carcioppolo –
I’m like, What the hell? When I got to the office, Chris, the name of the office is Blue. So I was like, Interesting. BLOOM So she told me, Blossom And I sit down and they’re like, going over their presentation. Like, they’re like little pitch to us to tell the women about it. They want us to know everything about it. So they start telling the origin story of where the word bloom came from, and it came from this quote and they might look it up, but it’s basically something like the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in Abuddin was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. And I was like, I’m getting chills right now just telling the story because Suchi just told me about Blossoming, and I’m sitting in this space, free office space for me because I don’t know, Suchi told me.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Because I’m. Because I’m telling the universe that I’m getting serious. And the universe is like, Oh, you’re getting serious. I’ll get serious, too, and show up for me. And after that, I just felt like things were just unfolding and the path was being, I don’t know, being lit up for me.
Chris Medellin –
So amazing.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It’s crazy. And turns out that one of the owners of the co-working space, Shelley Woolford, has become one of my best friends and dearest friends, and she’s just been an amazing support in my business. And that was, I don’t know, maybe six years.
Chris Medellin –
What a journey. Now, I think we all need these people in our lives that are going to say things to us that are going to make us think, Yeah, you know, my job is I connected with a lot of loan officers in the marketplace and I’m talking to them. And I realize sometimes that I believe in them more than maybe they believe in themselves.
Chris Medellin –
Yeah. And, you know, it’s a heartbreaking situation because sometimes I see it, but they’re not willing to put in the work that it’s going to take to do it. But you know, I met with a guy yesterday who’s an I think I want to say he well, I can’t say because then I’ll kind of out him.
Chris Medellin –
But he is probably one of the nation’s top loan officers. And he was terrified of a camera, terrified of a microphone, terrified of being. And he says no social. It’s such a mystery who this guy is, but he’s amazing. But no one I mean, no one knows him, Right? And I’m like, I see so much for you. Like, we can we could just turn you up. Yeah, bro. Like, and, you know, it’s heartbreaking sometimes because I’ve been in situations where I think I piss people off like your friend. Because who do you think you are? You know, I think a meeting went really well, but then they don’t call me back because they’re like, I didn’t like what you said. I like the way it made me feel, but I do think that we need those people in our corner that are going to push us to think and see ourselves. I want somebody to see me in a higher capacity than I see myself. Absolutely. I mean.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It’s so important. Yeah.
Chris Medellin –
And I think that that is a form of manifestation. Is It is? I always say this, you know, if you’re struggling with a piece of your business and rather than like this is what people do, they keep getting beat out on a deal. And so they call other people who are getting beat out in deals for validation now and so we got to do is you got to call the people that are winning. Yes. And call those people and see like, how are you doing it? But I think our brains tell us to stay behind. And it’s like we don’t want this discomfort. Yes. You to stay put where you’re at because you’re good. We got to push ourselves out of that.
Chris Medellin –
And so you did this because you were actually finding excuses about office space. Yeah. Which plenty of, you know, things were to work. But you were right. And then, and it but what’s amazing is how this opened up and like, I, I started getting emotional when you were saying because I knew where the story was in a go and I was like, I love acts of kindness. They had no idea you needed this. And they were like, they thought they were like somebody in a room said, You know, we’re going to picture yeah, now we’re going to get clients from her because she had like has a good network and you were like, I need this. And it was just a perfect match.
Candice Carcioppolo –
A perfect match.
Chris Medellin –
So I love this. This is such a great story.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It is. And I think that sometimes we seek out someone to validate us staying where we are.
Chris Medellin –
Yes.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Because then that makes us feel like we’re doing the right thing instead of seeking out people who are going to be like, now you’re holding yourself back and you’re not living up to your potential. And I’m not here for that. You know, like we don’t want to hear that. And so we seek out the people who are going to be like, Yeah, you’re right.
Candice Carcioppolo –
The market does up. No. One is selling houses right now. No, that’s not even the case. Right. And so I think it’s really important to have people who believe in you and who maybe are a little bit removed from the issue. I remember when Serhant first reached out to me and they were talking about me working with them, they reached out to me. They found me in the clubhouse. And I remember it was like telling my best friend that they wanted me to, like, do this, like exercise, to demonstrate my knowledge of branding, right? And I looked at it and I was like, I can’t do this. She’s like, What? She’s like, You talk about this every day. What are you talking about? You can you’re.
Chris Medellin –
Intimidated by this brand name. Yes.
Candice Carcioppola –
That’s the only thing, right?
Chris Medellin –
That’s it.
Candice Carcioppolo –
That’s better. Yeah, but 100%. But my best friend was like, No, girl, you’re fucking doing this. And you know everything about this. And so stop. Stop holding yourself back. And. And so I went through the exercise. It took me hours, like, probably like 4 hours I did it, which shouldn’t have taken me that long, but I was just overthinking it.
Candice Carcioppolo –
I was like, Oh, sir, oh my gosh. You know, And the reality of it is that I am a branding and marketing expert. This is what I do. This is what I talk about every single day. But there are still moments in my life when I get nervous or I’m like, Am I as good as that person? And I have people in my corner all the time who were like, My biggest cheerleader is my biggest hype. People are like, What are you even talking about? Like, you’re just making stuff up now right at this point. And, I realized that at every level, you still have those feelings. Yes. It doesn’t go away. Yes. And at least it hasn’t for me. And maybe it’ll go away for six months and then it comes up again when I’m on another stage with a different person.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Right. And I just want to talk about that because I think that people maybe look at someone like you and say, well, Chris isn’t afraid of or Chris knows exactly what he’s doing 100% of the time. And the reality of it is that’s not true.
Chris Medellin –
It’s 100% sure. Like, yes. So I was so nervous, like coming into work today to do this. Like, I’m like, I can’t let her down. Like, she shows up big. Like, I can’t f this up, you know, like, I was even thinking about like, we were supposed to do our podcast, realized we weren’t prepared. We had to redo it because I didn’t do my homework on it and I was like, and I’m like, literally going to talk to her 5 minutes before and we’re going to jump into this podcast and do it, but like there’s all these nerves that go into it, but you have to overcome that.
Candice Carcioppolo –
You just have to keep putting on a plan through. Yeah, you have to put one foot in front of the other. And you know, I work with real estate agents about building their personal brand, and showing up on social media is a huge part of building your brand. And I always have agents who, like, want the most polished, perfect video with the perfect transitions, with the music, with whatever all these things and the captions and all that and I’m like, You’re not even there yet. You’re trying to like, be the Ferrari. And we’re starting in a Civic, like, let us just start right here with the Civic and then we can build to that, right? But no one is ever no one likes to be a beginner. And I think that.
Chris Medellin –
No one with money, no one who has money wants to start as a beginner, Right? Like, like.
Candice Carcioppolo –
But you have to.
Chris Medellin –
You have to, I mean, like, and by the way, what I stop when I stop to scroll.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah.
Chris Medellin –
Especially with your stuff. It’s when you’re traveling and your selfie style. I want to see that. Yeah. When I see somebody in front of a camera reading a script, I can tell immediately. You’re reading a script? Yeah. It’s not about you, right? And I’m not into it. You know, in my opinion, like, take that script because a lot of times these are good scripts. Make it a make. You make it like how.
Candice Carcioppolo –
You start your story. Yeah.
Chris Medellin –
And so, like, but that’s the thing. I mean, I think all you need is your phone and the record button, and boom, let’s go. So I totally agree with you on that.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It’s about bringing people into your world and sometimes when we’re sitting in front of a camera and we have a script and we’re like counting on the videographer to make us look excellent, which I love a videographer to make me look excellent. But if that’s the only thing you’re counting on and you’re not actually working on yourself. Yes and your energy and your storytelling and your experience, it’s going to come across not as great as it could.
Chris Medellin –
Yes.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And so I don’t even know how we got on this content creation thing, but essentially letting yourself be a beginner and letting yourself go through the discomfort of feeling like you’re not the most knowledgeable person in the room is so important. It was really funny because I went to two events kind of back to back, and my husband when I got home was like, How are the events? and I was like, Oh, they were great. And I was like, He was like, Well, how did you feel? Like amongst the people? And I was like, Oh, at this event I felt like I was like top of my game. Everyone there was like looking at me. It was great. At this event, I felt like, Oh, I need to learn some more shit, you know?
Candice Carcioppolo –
And he was like, Wow, I love that. And I was like, I love that because I know I’m in the right rooms when I’m learning from other people. Right? And you absolutely.
Chris Medellin –
Rushed the room not to interrupt, but you, I have to say this. You crushed the room at the Sirhan event. I mean, you just were you Well, a couple of things that I think that I would learn from as a speaker. You walk through the room and got to meet everybody before the event. Yeah. And I didn’t realize you were a speaker there until you got up on stage and I was like, the energy was already there. You had already pulled in the energy. You knew what was going on. You knew the people in the room. So it becomes a lot easier to get in front of them and talk them through. But you’re you did such a great job at the event energy-wise. I mean, you need to be on more stages.
Chris Medellin –
So I hope anybody listening that wants to hire a really good speaker, a powerful Latina speaker, this is who you get is Candace, because I thought you crushed it on that. So let me get let me bring it back because I want to I do I want to talk about branding. I want a good chunk of this to be about branding.
Chris Medellin –
We’re good on time and I want to, but I want to finish out this breakthrough story. So you make the transition and then you finally do it like I want to know, what was it like the day that you signed? And then I want to go back to your yoga partner. What was your name Sushi. Sushi? Are you guys friends now?
Candice Carcioppolo –
We are friends. I adore her. Yes. I don’t talk to her as much as they should, but she’s amazing, obviously. Yes. Helped me through a difficult time when I didn’t know that I even needed her. But somehow she knew.
Chris Medellin –
That’s good. I love that. I love people like that. And I love that she was just watching you because I believe she watched you from afar before she shot her shot as a friend. And I’ll talk about this and I’m going to try not to get emotional about my daughter. I think I told Kat this, but who’s your podcast partner? and when I heard your first podcast, I loved it. And I immediately sent it to my daughter, who is 26, and she’s in title in Dallas, Texas. And I was like, I wish you would hang out with people like this because she’s had such a hard time finding female friends and strong female friends. And I’ve always liked growing up.
Chris Medellin –
Even when she was growing up, I always wanted her to have like a mentor, you know, in her life that was outside of her parents. Right. And she never had that. And so I was like, I wish that you got it because you’re Latina. She’s Latina. Like, I was like, you need to have friends like this. Like, listen to more podcasts like this. But, you know, when you think about what you did with the podcast and how you guys are so confident and that’s like, such like you, but you had to go to this moment of doubt and like, you know, you had to surround yourself with other powerful women. What was it like the day that you like, literally, like said, I’m, I’m done, I’m done and then and then like, you wrote the letter, the resignation letter, and then you moved into the unknown.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, well, it was crickets at first. Like I had a few, maybe a few clients. And the next thing you.
Chris Medellin –
Remember, how many had. I don’t.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Remember. I didn’t want to say a number. That’s inaccurate, but not many. You know that. Okay. But she got real. Yeah, she got real. And honestly, I lost a lot of friends, which I don’t think that a lot of people talk about. But when I left the teaching profession, anyone in education, not anyone, but a lot of people in education thought like, I thought I was better than them, or I thought that you know, teaching was beneath me.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And that wasn’t the case at all. I have obviously the utmost respect for teachers. I was one, I understand, but I just knew it wasn’t for me anymore. And it wasn’t until probably really recently like maybe last couple of years when people started seeing me on stages, seeing me travel across the country, seeing me with my teacher, and seeing my podcast, for them to be like, Damn, she did the damn thing, you know? and it took a long time. And I did lose friends and that was a challenge. And I just want to say that because if you’re in this season of your life right now where you are maybe outgrowing your circle and you’re feeling guilty about it, I think that I want you to know that you have the power of choice to choose your community.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And sometimes we do outgrow friends, and that doesn’t mean we don’t love them and wish them well. It just means that we need to be intentional about our limited amount of time here on Earth and intentional with what messages we want to hear and who we want to spend it with. Because you will only go as far as the people you surround yourself with.
Chris Medellin –
I got to say, I got to jump in on this because this is so true. As you start to elevate, you start to outgrow. Yeah. And, you know, I, I remember I, I didn’t finish college, but I went to a few courses in college and I had a sociology class. And I remember writing this paper about how everything I need in my life is within a five-mile radius.
Chris Medellin –
I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and I believed when I wrote that paper, I will never leave a five-mile radius of this man. That’s right. I have lived in Florida, and I’ve lived in California. I’ve lived, you know, Arizona and, you know, Columbus, Ohio, like weird places. Right? But I’ve lived in all these different places. But at that moment in my life, I was like, I’m only going to live here and I’m going to stay with these friends and someone said, You’re going to outgrow this, and I hope you outgrow this. And I remember that being a scary feeling for me. But what you find when you start to just take a step further is that friends will start to hate on you. Mhm. The family will start to hate you. Especially like this is the weirdest thing in the Latino culture because I talked to a lot of Latinos and Latinas and I was talking to one of the and I actually had on a podcast, but she was saying like her family was kind of hating on her or like, you know, they’re like, Oh, you’re too good now because you’re now making money. And it’s like there’s this feeling of like, people want to hold you back.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, it’s crazy.
Chris Medellin –
And it’s funny because when I first started posting and you might have gone to this, I knew who is hating on my stuff.
Chris Medellin –
It’s the people I know, right? And I’m like, I’m like this so crazy. And I’d get the text message like, Oh, will you stop posting like, why you hating like, you know, one of my buddies that I would be just texted me yesterday like, Hey, bro, help me in my videos. And I was like, okay, I will help you with your videos all day. Shit talking, mate. I will help you with your videos. But I think at the end of the day, when you outgrow your friendships, that’s that. It’s sad, but it’s a good thing. Yeah. Because what you’re trying to do is hang out with people. I tell my wife we have to hang out with people who are ten steps ahead of us.
Candice Carcioppolo –
100%.
Chris Medellin –
You know, whatever our goals are, we got to be around the people that are making us. You know, it’s not to leave the people behind. There’s a place in our hearts for them. But I got to be friends with the people that are ten steps ahead of us because that’s what we’re going to learn. And that’s where you can, you know, grow and so that.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It’s possible for you. I know that sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes we’re like, Oh, well, that person, oh my gosh, they’re just like special and different and like, whatever. And then, then you become their friends and you realize, No, literally they’re just like you. Except they did that even when it was hard.
Chris Medellin –
Yes.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And they’re going to hype you up and they’re going to tell you that it’s possible and they’re going to be like, I don’t know what I’m doing either. And then you’re realizing, okay, I can access that, too.
Chris Medellin –
You know, 100%. Yeah. I mean, that’s so this journey that you’ve been on has been so, like, eye-opening. You know, like for me to hear your story and to watch you continue to grow, like a year ago when we met you. Yeah, you’ve, you’ve catapulted so moneywise. How are you doing? You know, I mean, we get money. Good. You’re good. Yeah. I love that. I love that you’re, like, winning and you’re not afraid to talk about money. You’re not afraid.
Candice Carcioppolo –
I, I want to talk about money because I remember, you know, there was a time in my life when I thought, you know, making $70,000 was going to be amazing. And now I just literally make however much money I want to make Christmas and I charge however much money I want to charge. So and I wasn’t always like that and there are still moments when I’m like, it’s okay, it’s time to change my prices where I get a little nervous. I was actually talking about this to me the other day because I did her branding and at the end of it she was like, Candace, you really need to raise your price. Like, I’m glad. I’m glad I did it at this price.
Candice Carcioppolo –
But the quality of what you gave me is this next level. And I have a little bit of hesitation, but I know she’s right and it’s just insane. Like how that has changed from, you know, I was charging $50, $100 for an hour with me. And that’s definitely not the case anymore.
Chris Medellin –
I love this. Yes. So good. Congratulations. Thank you. I love hearing this story. And so your breakthrough moment went from being a teacher to making the leap and the scary leap into the unknown and you’ve now made more income. You have more freedom. Are you having more fun?
Candice Carcioppolo –
Oh, so much more fun, Yeah.
Chris Medellin –
And then you got married.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, I got married about six months ago now.
Chris Medellin –
Congratulations.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Thank you so much. Yeah. And he’s also an entrepreneur, which I think was key for It’s a kind of like a pillar of our relationship is that we’re both entrepreneurs he owns three businesses and there’s a lot of inspiration that I get from him in the way he handles his business. And absolutely, I talk about this a lot, but, you know, watching Ryan run Servant and then listening and when watching my husband run his businesses, there’s a lot of things that I know I can learn from men in the way that they run businesses and when I began to kind of take on some of those things, I realized the difference in my business. Like, I feel like men are much better at just naturally saying, like, this is what it is, where I know that in the past I’ve been like, Oh, well, we could do this or we could do that and try to be super accommodating and where I found the most success in my business is when I’m just like, This is it, and I respect that now.
Chris Medellin –
But I find I don’t I don’t think it’s just a male versus female. I think that in business and as the higher you go in business, there are fewer people that look like us in the industry. And so you guys were saying something on your podcast one day about how you would be in I don’t know if it was your cat.
Chris Medellin –
I think it was you maybe I can’t remember. But somebody said I remember being in an end in like a board meeting and apologizing for what I was about to say, like, I’m sorry, you know, and I but I’ve done that. It resonated with me because, you know, it was like I didn’t have the voice and the confidence that I do today, and then that’s mentorship. It’s like watching and you’re observing how you would behave on somebody else’s behavior in your implementation. And I think that that’s important for people to do. And then again, it’s like being surrounded by amazing people and you surround yourself with the right people. How did it turn out that you ended up working with servants so they found you?
Candice Carcioppolo –
They used to host the clubhouse room.
Chris Medellin –
Oh, that’s right. Yes.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And it was so funny because my friend Rae Ellen asked a question in the clubhouse room, and he was asking, like the servant team who was like, there, the panel apparently other.
Chris Medellin –
And I remember.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, you remember Clubhouse, right? I love the clubhouse. It changed my career. Honestly, the networking that happened there. And then instead of letting the servant team answer, I raised my hand and I answered. My friend raised a question and the president of their hemp ventures was in my DMS right after that. And that’s kind of how that happened. Yeah. And that was honestly, it was a scary moment and I like to talk about it even though I’m a little hesitant to talk about it sometimes I like to talk about it because I just know someone is at that place right now where they need to make that decision and they’re not feeling totally confident, but they just need to do it anyways.
Chris Medellin –
100% and join the conversation. I mean, like whether it’s LinkedIn, whether it’s Instagram, join the conversation in the DMS, the in the post. You know, like I never forget when somebody posts I mean, comments on a post. So I like I want to engage there you know in the DMS we were here because of DNS, you know so so I really, I really love this. Now let’s talk about I want to shift gears into what you do from a branding perspective. And because I think this part I know I missed it and I don’t know that I could really go back and change it, but if somebody’s like, there are people with money, yes, there are people who have marketing budgets and there are people who look at that money and say, I know I have to spend X amount and I’m going to go buy leads with it, or I’m going to go call a real estate agent and I’m going to partner with them on Zillow and I’m going to pay for their marketing budget so that if if you know, if they’re winning, then maybe I get a few deals. Right. And what they’re doing is they’re not building who they are as an individual and a brand. And so you come in and you help people with this. And for me, I’m going to just kind of give you an overlay because I really believe in this process.
Chris Medellin –
And then I want you to kind of pull it apart. I believe that in order to build your brand, you first have to do some internal work of understanding who, and what your values are. And then once you understand what your values are, then you’ve got to figure out how. Who are you serving? Yeah, like your avatar, who, and your target audiences and then you got to now build a marketing plan around that piece of it. And I think people start. They go and buy scripts. Yes. And then they just start reading scripts and they go on camera and there’s no like, I don’t know, the passion behind it. And so luckily some people evolve and figure out their mission. Yep.
Chris Medellin –
But then some people just stay stuck in just reading a script or developing a script. And, and I’m in that category, like, I will develop a script and then I get in front of a camera and I read it and it’s like, I just we were just talking to the day. I was like, That doesn’t feel good anymore. Yeah, I don’t like that. Like, I don’t want to do it. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I don’t like that anymore. This doesn’t feel authentic. So tell me for you, like, how do you take somebody through your process of their brand? For someone that’s listening, that’s like, I need this. I don’t have a brand.
Chris Medellin –
How do you help them through the process?
Candice Carcioppolo –
There are so many different things there. One, whether you know you have a brand or not, you have one. And either you build your brand with intention or one is just assigned to you. Because people already have ideas in their minds of who you are and what you represent. And you either put those ideas in their mind, buy what you decide to share, and how you decide to act and show up, or you just willy nilly act and show up and let them think whatever they want to think. And so I like to take ownership of my brand and I like my clients to take ownership of their brand and say, if I want people to believe X, then I have to show them, right?
Candice Carcioppolo –
And so that’s how we backward map your brand. So I like to tell this silly story, but one time I was at a women’s event in Las Vegas. I was just an attendee and I was like, you know, watching these people speak on stage, I was probably in my early years of entrepreneurship and I was like, I want to speak on stage. I want to like host events like this. And during the lunch break, I went up on the stage and I just sat in the chair kind of like this and had a little microphone and had my friend take a picture. I don’t really think anything of it. And then I was like, I’m going to post this because it was kind of like I’m posting my vision board essentially, right? And so I posted it, and within a couple of weeks, I got my first paid speaking gig because someone saw me as a speaker.
Chris Medellin –
That’s amazing. That’s manifestation.
Candice Carcioppolo –
To manifestation. Yeah. And it’s also like it was the first time that I realized, Oh, what I show them.
Chris Medellin –
Mm-hmm.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Impacts what they believe about me. And so that’s why every time I’m at the airport, I’m like, I’m at the airport. Here’s my airport outfit. Like, I’m flying to South Carolina, I’m flying to San Francisco on a plane to New York. I will tell you what I’m doing. And I’m saying this because some people are listening, are doing a lot of really cool shit, and they’re not showing us just like your friend that you were talking about earlier, right Like, he’s awesome, but no one online would know that. And I like to think about, okay, I could impact the people that I’m going to be standing in front of in South Carolina next Friday. Or thousands of people can see me doing this online because I decided to take a picture because I decided to tell the story in a video form and it takes me almost no time.
Candice Carcioppolo –
I’m doing it while I’m there. 30 seconds before I get on stage, I will get on my story and say I’m about to go on stage and this is what I’m talking about.
Chris Medellin –
And that’s what could potentially be your next.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yes. And yesterday I was in bed and I said, I’m booking my thing, my plane ticket to South Carolina right now, and I’m going to be talking about branding and marketing, and someone on my end this morning said, Can you do that at my place? Can you come to us and do that? Because I shared it.
Chris Medellin –
Yeah.
Candice Carcioppolo –
And so what I like to do with my clients when it comes to branding is figure out who they are. And the three questions I like to start with are Who are you? Who do you serve and how do you serve them? And most people don’t know the answer to any of those. And it sounds like it’s a five-minute exercise, but it’s really an exercise. It’s going to take you weeks or perhaps months to figure out, well, who am I?
Chris Medellin –
Yeah, I know somebody who went through your question here. And they were like, it took them like 2 hours to really, like get away from their family, get away from their business, and really just go internal to figure out who they were. And I will venture to guess that when this is over, their business will double because of the intention they’re putting around their reputation and their brand.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Yeah, easily.
Chris Medellin –
Easily.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Easily double. And so many people are just trying to get the next thing I call it the hamster wheel. When you’re saying, you know, paying for leads because you’re going to stay on that hamster.
Chris Medellin –
Wheel your vendor.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Forever. Yeah, right. There’s no opportunity for you to get off of that because the minute you stop buying leads. Draut Right. And so what I like to do is spend, help my clients to spend their money intentionally when they’re thinking about growing their brand so they can learn how to convey their message and connect to the right people.
Candice Carcioppolo –
They learn how to leverage social media, they learn how to network with the right people so that their brand is working while they sleep.
Chris Medellin –
I love that, you know your brand is working. Why do you sleep and you help people too?
Candice Carcioppolo –
Help people do that.
Chris Medellin –
So how does that work with, you know, you work for what Ryan calls himself the greatest?
Candice Carcioppolo –
The greatest real estate broker, like all the world?
Chris Medellin –
Something like that. Yeah. So and I and I believe that he is like, but, but if you think about the.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Branding, we talk about the.
Chris Medellin –
Brand. I remember that. But if I was moving to New York, yeah, I would get Sprint to do my deal, right? Because he’s a celebrity and he is a celebrity like a legit celebrity. And the fact that you can you have access because he’s like doing deals And so that’s what people should want that’s what they should evil elevate to is to build a brand that people feel like, I don’t care about your price because I know you’re good.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Ooh, you know what? I had this conversation a couple of weeks ago. Someone was like, Well, I have to respond to this person, like, right this second. And I was like, Why? Mm-hmm. You don’t have to. Or do you think that Ryan responds right that second to every person? No, but they’ll wait because they believe that he’s good enough and if you act like you are not worthy of someone waiting an hour to hear back from you, that’s an internal problem and I’m helping people to build up confidence in their brand to know that you’re worth the wait. I’m not saying not to communicate with their clients. I’m just saying that if something else is going on, you are not feeling like you’re losing someone.
Chris Medellin –
Do you know? And by the way, as you talked to any top producer, we went through phases where we felt like if you did not respond immediately, they were going to find somebody else. So what branding does for you, is it helps you build your brand. It helps you build your brand so that you’re so good and people know you’re so good that they’re willing to wait and I think that comment right there is the best comment because we all go through it. Like, if I don’t return a call for an employee, I’m like, Well, they’re going to quit because somebody else is willing to take the call.
Candice Carcioppolo –
It was all about communication, right?
Chris Medellin –
It’s all of that.
Candice Carcioppolo –
So if you build a brand that people know like and trust, they will wait and if you are a good communicator and you say, Hey, when I’m with clients, I like to be fully present. When I’m not with clients, I take my messages and get back to you. If you prepare your people with what that cadence is, since they trust you, they’re not worried that you’re not getting back to them.
Chris Medellin –
100%. I totally agree with that. And you know, and then when you’re good, you’re good. I mean, like. Exactly. I’ll text like my phone is ringing a second ago because I usually go on, do not disturb, but I forgot to do that. And like, whoever that is, they know I’m going to call them right back. Right. You know, so I think people, you know, you just got to build that brand where people trust and they’re willing to wait. But it goes so much deeper than that. And I think, you know, if for anybody that’s out there building content, ask yourself this question. Do you know who your audience is? Do you know who you are? And if the answer is no, then you really should consider talking to someone like Candice who can really help, you know, focus like take all of the information that’s in your head and really focus it in on how do we intentionally build your brand and so I want to thank you because I saw you were in Scottsdale. This is really funny, but I saw she was in Scottsdale walking down the street and I said, you’re in Scottsdale, Let’s do a podcast. And two days later we’re sitting here live. And you fly out today, right?
Candice Carcioppolo –
I’m driving back, actually. Oh, cool. On Saturday. So I’m here for a while. Okay.
Chris Medellin –
Rule Awesome. I’m so glad that we got a chance to do this because I’ve been wanting to do this. You’re amazing. I hope we continue to collaborate together. I know that there’s, you know, really good synergy there. I’m so proud of what you’re doing and to watch it from the sidelines and, you know, I hope to become a client and I hope that people that work with me will become a client. People listen. This will become a client because I think you’re that good. So thank you for being here today.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Thank you so much, Chris.
Chris Medellin –
Awesome. Thank you so much. And everybody. Follow Candace.
Candice Carcioppolo –
Instagram. Candice Carcioppolo is everywhere. Candace Candice Carcioppolo.com. There you go. I’ll be in my DMS.
Chris Medellin –
We will post when we link it. We’ll put all of her information in there so you can contact her and connect with her, follow her on Instagram. Thank you, guys, for listening, and have a wonderful day.
No responses yet