March 24, 2026

Community at Large: Small biz voices, partnerships, real talk beyond Medicare—We Medi CARE!

Community at Large: Small biz voices, partnerships, real talk beyond Medicare—We Medi CARE!
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Season 1

Episode 3, Community at Large, of MedicareHour & More with Peter features Zeb Welborn (Chino Valley Chamber) and Mercedes Eckert (iSHOP Mystery Shopping). Discover how Joseph Insurance Broker LLC supports small businesses, entrepreneurship, and side income opportunities while connecting listeners to trusted local and national resources. Plus current events, sports, and real conversations—because it’s more than Medicare. We Medi CARE!

MedicareHour & More With Peter! is broadcast live Tuesdays at 9AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). MedicareHour & More With Peter! TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

MedicareHour & More With Peter! Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

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WEBVTT

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal, counseling,

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professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services

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of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

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Attention individuals, families and caregivers. It's Medicare Hour and More

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with Peter right here on k for HD Radio. This

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is the podcast for all types of insurance solutions while

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specializing in Medicare because we Medicare. Here's your host, Peter R.

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Joseph Heay, good morning, good morning, good morning. Glad to

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have you guys with us. Back here a third episode.

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We're excited. We're starting to get some viewers, so I

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appreciate all our audience and clients that have been tuning in.

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So we've got a unique show today. We've got some

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guests that are actually going to be not live. They're

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actually recorded. They couldn't come on live, but they've got

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some great nuggets of information. I think you'll enjoy those interviews.

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But before we start into those. I just want to

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share about why we bring on small businesses. Obviously we

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talk about all things insurance, especially Medicare, but we also

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want to have this, you know, to our listeners. We

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support local businesses. It's not just about buying a product,

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it's about investing in our community. So Joseph Insurance Broker,

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we're proud to work with and highlight businesses we believe

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in and inherently trust. We've done work with a lot

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of the businesses we're bringing on as guests, either you know,

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personally or business wise. We've also seen them work well

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in the community and help other businesses grow as well,

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and so we want to spotlight them make sure that

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those businesses are resources for you guys as well. So

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I just want to recap what we've basically covered last

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couple of episodes. You know, we covered Medicare Parts A, B, C,

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and D. We haven't got into depth in parts C yet,

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but we will do that.

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We also talked about.

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Enrollment periods for Medicare. Those are really important, especially when

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it comes to turning sixty five. We will have some

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nuggets for you guys at the end of this show

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to talk about how you actually d roll into medicare.

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That's really important information for you guys to understand and

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process as well, So we will share that information with

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you guys at the end of this episode. All right, So,

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our first video is going to be an interview with

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Zeb Wellborn, president of the Chino Vallet Chamber of Commerce

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here in Chino and Chino Hills in southern California. We've

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worked together quite immensely for the past five six years.

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I've actually been an ambassador for the Chino Valley Chamber

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of Commerce, helping small businesses locally grow and connect with

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each other. So enjoy this clip with Zeb and we'll

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come back and talk about it. All right, Jebb, welcome

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to our show. Appreciate you making the time for us.

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For those of you who don't know, Zeb is the

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president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce. Is Zeb

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Can you just tell us a little bit about yourself.

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Yeah, So, my name is EEV Welborne Presidence, you know,

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the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce. I am turning forty

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five tomorrow. I live Happy birthday, Thank you. I live

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in Ontario and work at the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce,

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and I also have a digital marketing business called well

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Born Media, so we help businesses with their digital presence.

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Awesome. So what I originally drew you into working with

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local businesses in the chamber of commerce.

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So I started a tutoring business. My first business was

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a tutoring business, and I was working with this one

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kid in this one on one capacity, and when I

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was learning about becoming a business owner myself, I was

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kind of like sharing all the stuff that I was learning,

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and I was really excited about the work that I

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was doing and the students I was working with, Like

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he wasn't doing that great in school, but I could

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just see through my enthusiasm how enthusiastic he was.

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Getting in the work that he was doing.

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And then when I started connecting with business owners, I

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just found them to be a lot like they're enthusiastic,

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they were excited about what they were doing. And so

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when I got involved in a chamber, I did meet

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lots of very excited, passionate people who are working towards

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a goal, and that just drew me to those. So

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one of the things that I set for a goal

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for myself is I just want to help passionate business

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owners be successful because I feel like when they have

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that vision and purpose to fulfill something that it makes the.

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World a better place.

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So that's what drew me to the chamber, and I

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was working with the chamber through my business, my digital

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marketing business. I was there probably for about seven or

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eight years running my business, and then they asked me

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to take it over in twenty eighteen. So I've been

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running the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce since the summer

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of twenty eighteen.

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Awesome, awesome, So what does your life look like outside

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of business and leadership? What kind of things do you

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enjoy doing?

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Yeah, So one of the things I set up when

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I was working with the chamber was I said, these

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five pillars, right, so these are the things that I

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like to do. So one of those, I mean so

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one of them is helping passionate business owners be successful,

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So that's one of the things. One of the other

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things is my family. So I do have three children,

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they are ten, seven, and five, and a wonderful wife,

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so we have that. I like to be of service,

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so I am a member of our local rotary club.

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We like to do things to help better the community

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and better other people. I like education, and learning. So

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I like to read a lot. I like to listen

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to podcasts, I like to listen to audio books. And

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then I like to teach others about the stuff that

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I'm learning. I like to do activities, so this includes

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golf and soccer. I play soccer every Sunday. I play

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golf as often as I can. I wrote a book

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about how to do social media marketing for golf courses.

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So that's the list of the five things. I think

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I covered them all.

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That's awesome. That's awesome. Man, you're a busy guy, all right.

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So a lot of people here a chamber of commerce,

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they don't fully understand it. What does the Chino Valley

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Chamber actually do?

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So we're a business organization.

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We have over four hundred members here in Chino and

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Chino Hills. So we represent those four hundred businesses in

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whatever ways that we can to make them grow. So

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whenever I do a ribbon cutting, I say we do

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three things. I say we're a catalyst for business growth,

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which means that we're here to help businesses grow, whether

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it be through educational trainings, through opportunities, through resources, through marketing.

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There's a whole bunch of different ways that we help

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businesses and help make them grow. Number two is we're

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a convener. So one of the things that's great that

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I really enjoy about the job, and what makes it

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different from kind of like running your own business versus

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being involved in the chamber, is you build up this

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strong ecosystem of people that are kind of doing the

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same thing.

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Right.

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So the thing that I feel like is the most

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valuable is when I'm growing my business, I want to

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grow it alongside people who are also dedicated, passionate, working

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towards growing their business because that makes all of us better.

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So we conven we have people.

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Like our city elected to fills states, we have staff

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agencies are involved, which is the bookable when things come

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up or things arise to help make the community better.

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That's number one. That we are a champion.

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Community.

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So communities I have, we have.

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Strong, successful communities in the Chamber of com.

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Oh well, I think we lost you here. Okay, Okay,

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let's let's rewind that part. I'm gonna stop. No, No,

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that's my fault. I think we're not strong on our end. Okay,

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So let's the last thing we heard was the three things,

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So can you back up and share those three things again.

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Can you hear me?

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Okay, perfect and everything's good right now?

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Yes, yep, everything's perfect now, yep.

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Okay, all right.

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So whenever I do a ribbon cutting, we say that

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we are three things. We say that we are catalysts

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for business growth. So our goal is to help businesses grow.

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We provide lots of opportunities and resources for local businesses

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to be successful. So we provide trainings, we do marketing,

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we help connect them with folks, We do all sorts

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of things to help build their business and give them

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opportunities to grow. The next thing I say is we're

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conveniers of leaders and influencers. So one of the things

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that I enjoy most about being in this role is

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we have the opportunity to bring a lot of stakeholders together.

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Then most organizations don't have the ability to do so.

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If you want to get connected with your elected officials,

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you're having issues with staff at local cities. You want

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to get connected to police and fire department, You want

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to get connected with other business owners. You want to

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get connected with your community groups and your nonprofit organizations.

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The Chamber is connected to all of those and so

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we help bring those people together to make a bigger difference.

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So if you want to be a part of some

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kind of organization that is in the know, that has

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the opportunity for those resources that can get you connected

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to people, there's no better place in the Chamber. And

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then the last thing is I they were champions for

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a stronger community. So all the work that we do

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is our goal is to help build a stronger community.

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Businesses are the backbone of communities and what makes communities successful.

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So the Chamber of Commerce, our goal is to help

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encourage businesses to be invested and involved in the work

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that we do because you can't run a successful business

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in an ecosystem by yourself. If you have partners, you

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have other people doing it together. You're going to be

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more successful if we're all working together to achieve kind

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of common goals.

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Very cool, Very cool. All right, So I don't want

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to put you on the spot, but can you if

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you can recollect over the years, can you share a

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success story of a local business that benefited from being

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a part of the chamber.

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Yeah, I have hundreds of stories of those. I mean

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the ones that I always point to are the ones

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that where We've done something very successful for them, and

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then I'll get feedback that says that we didn't help

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that business, and then when I'm looking at it from

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the outside or from the inside out, I know we did.

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So one of those businesses was we have this program.

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The Sabergino County had this on the job training program

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where they had about it's fifty they pay fifty percent

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of the wages for any person that they hire for

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an organization.

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So we did a training on that.

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We invited a bunch of businesses, and then this business

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that we got connected.

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Took advantage of that program.

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So that program that they did not know about because

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they weren't connected in the chamber, but they learned about

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it through the chamber. They hired ten people with that,

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which is about five thousand dollars a piece, so they

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saved fifty thousand dollars. We also got them connected with

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another program that gave them about ten.

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Thousand dollars worth of stuff.

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So all of a sudden, told like I know that

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we delivered about sixty thousand dollars worth of funds to

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this business that didn't have that opportunity, and then they

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canceled their membership when the time was running because they

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couldn't attend the meetings. But at the same time, we

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still helped them deliver on that sixty thousand dollars worth

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of funds. And so that's one of those things where

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the cost of membership is only a few hundred bucks,

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but you get all this value from it and you've

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been able to grow because of the work that you've

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done through the chamber. We have so many businesses that

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kind of fit that category. We had one where it

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was The Taste of Chino, but it was during COVID,

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so all of these restaurants were shut down. We helped

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get a ten thousand dollars gift card for one of

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those restaurants that was struggling. It was on the verge

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of closing because they didn't know. They're open with actually

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providing lunch at our board meeting. That's happening later today.

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There's another another one that just happened recently was trans

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Tech Engineers. They're an engineering firm, so they went through

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our leadership program. We do a ten month long leadership program.

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He was in that program. He got connected with the

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China Valley fire. They were looking to build a new station.

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They just got to talking about what that new station

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was going to look like. They ended up hiring that firm.

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So we have opportunities to do business with each other.

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And I have hundreds of stories like that, but those

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are the ones that come to mind right now.

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Awesome, Okay, So let's say someone I mean, because I

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can fark back to my experience, but someone is just

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brand new starting their business. Why do you think it's

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important for them to maybe start getting involved with the

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chamber right off the bat.

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Yeah, and I'll just use my personal example, right, Like,

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when I joined the chamber, this is what I was

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looking for. I was looking for mentorship. I had no

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clue how to run a business. I did not know

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anybody in town. I was trying to grow my business,

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so twofold one, right, I'm trying to get customers and

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clients so that I can grow my business. But honestly,

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what I was looking for most was learning from other

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people who had been successful in business. So when I

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joined a chamber like I didn't I was. I remember

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thinking there's a few entities in town that really like

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epitomized business for me. And I grew up working at

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lostaun so lils Tron's Country Club was one of those.

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I grew up with. What's the other one?

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The Champion Newspapers was another one. So those two businesses,

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and I looked at those leaders of those because I

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knew who they were and they were kind of prominent

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people in our community, and I was like, I would

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love to learn from those people because they've built these

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really successful businesses. So getting a chance to network and

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engage with people who are also looking to grow their business,

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Number one is super exciting because you're working with very

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like minded people. They're all in the same space. You're

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all trying to grow together, and you're willing to help

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and support each other. But at the same time, you

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have these other people who have been around for a

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long time that are also connected with the Chamber that

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you can reach out to because you have this chamber

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relationship to get that feedback and advice on how to

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grow your business.

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And I think a lot of people look at.

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The Chamber like we're doing a lot of deals, are

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trying to do a lot of selling from people like

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I think that's the perception that most people come in.

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They're looking to sell their stuff, and that's why they

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join the Chamber. I think the Chamber provides so much

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more value if you're looking at as a growth opportunity,

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because there are so many ways to get connected that

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you would never think of if you're just trying to

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sell your stuff versus trying to leverage the whole opportunities

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that the Chamber brings, which is how to build a

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better business. And that's what you can do with the

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Chamber by connecting with people who are doing it, getting

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the resources and tools that are available, and then connecting

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with the people that make make the difference.

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Yeah, for sure. And I and just from my experience

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as you've been a great mentor to me over the years.

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And I know when I first started out, I was

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with New York Life and I didn't know really if

301
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that was the place for me. And the Chamber really

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opened my eyes to just other opportunities. And that's where

303
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we created our own business, Joseph Insurance Broker, and we

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started like right before COVID hit. So having the Chamber

305
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and those relationships was really key and important and we're

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just so glad to have that support system. You know. Obviously,

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our business grew and grew and grew, and so we

308
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got into a place where time was a factor and

309
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it was hard to make that time weekly. But we

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we're excited to be able to come back to the

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chamber at this point and you know, Zeb and I

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are going to be meeting about how to to be

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more active in that in that capacity. But it's all

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about relationship building, it's all about mentorship, and uh, you know,

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anyone listening into this interview, I highly recommend that you

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get involved with your local Chamber of Commerce. So I

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see Zeb froze a little bit again, but I think

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you're back. Hey, Zeb, are you there?

319
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I'm here? Yeah, all right, did.

320
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All that come come across?

321
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I hope?

322
00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:27.840
Okay, awesome, awesome. So I you know, there was just

323
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different grants that the Chamber made me aware of that

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was able to fund us to get me going. And uh,

325
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I don't think I would have grown as a business

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if I wasn't a part of the chamber. So thank you,

327
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Zeb for for all the support that you've given me

328
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over the years. Really appreciate that.

329
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Yeah, I know, I'm happy to do it.

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And one of the things that I want to like

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stress from our business community in general, right is like

332
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we have these opportunities for growth. I think people think

333
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that they have to attend chamber stuff to reap the

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benefits from it.

335
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It's just not true.

336
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There are so many resources that you can leverage to

337
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the chamber being connected against that way, and then when

338
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you do have the opportunity to kind of grow from those,

339
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it's important to help uplift others because by being a

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part and connected with the chamber, because you have the

341
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opportunity to influence those folks, Like, just like you got

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those opportunities, you have the opportunity to kind of do

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that for others too. It's been honestly, like one of

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the things that I enjoy most is watching businesses grow

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and be successful, and then I'm hoping that you know,

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as they do that, it's kind of it's an opportunity

347
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to build that bigger community and think a little bit

348
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bigger about how you can you leverage kind of that

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success in that realm into making a more of a

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positive impact from a community standpoint, and how do we

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uplift all boats together. So I want to encourage our businesses,

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you know, as they get involved. It's not just attending events,

353
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it's like the whole ecosystem of that community convener and catalyst,

354
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which you can everybody can play a role in.

355
00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:58.799
Yeah, for sure. So I know you're already touched on

356
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this a little bit, But as president, how would you

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describe your leadership style?

358
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So I feel like i'm you know, I've learned a

359
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lot on leadership. I did a podcast myself. It was

360
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called The Defining Success Podcasts, and I interviewed about one

361
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hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty people on

362
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like success and what does success look like? I think

363
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my leadership style is I like to absorb a lot

364
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of information. I like to ask a lot of questions,

365
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and then I like to try to take the action

366
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that makes that makes the most sense that it's kind

367
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of facilitating and supporting as many people as possible. So

368
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I get a lot of feedback, I get a lot

369
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of buy in, I'll get a lot of input, and

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then I take the action based off of that feedback

371
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and input to help make things better. So I wrote

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a book called The Social Golf Course, and the main

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concept of the book was was that people are using

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social media as a way to build kind of like

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social cues and getting feedback. But when you're but a

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lot of people look at social is just a marketing tool,

377
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and that's where the Chamber, social Media, all of these

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other entries, they're not just a marketing tool or they're

379
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not just a sales platform. It's how you leverage that

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to grow the whole ecosystem of things. And so I

381
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guess when you say my leadership style is is I

382
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like to get a lot of I test a lot

383
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of things, I take action on a lot of things.

384
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I get feedback, and then I work on improving from there.

385
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So it's kind of like constant iteration and constant improvement

386
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is what I try to do.

387
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Awesome, awesome, all right, So we're going to end things

388
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just with a rapid fire, just something fun and relatable

389
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.319
for our audience. So they'll just be and or questions,

390
00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:45.519
you just answer them. You don't have to say why

391
00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.400
if you don't want to. So the first one coffee

392
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.799
or energy drink. Coffee, all right, early mornings or late nights,

393
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.039
o late nights all right? All right? A favorite local

394
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:00.039
restaurant in Chino.

395
00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.680
Oh man, I go to Los Portales a lot. I

396
00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.599
go to Casadillas a lot. Canato's is delivering us food today.

397
00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:09.039
So all of those are.

398
00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:13.519
Great, awesome, awesome. All right, you already talked about this,

399
00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:16.680
but if you could just say one word that described

400
00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:26.279
your leadership style, Oh, gosh, impact, okay, awesome, and then

401
00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:29.400
last one, go to way to unwind after a long week.

402
00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:30.519
What's your go to way?

403
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:31.640
Well?

404
00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.559
I love playing soccer's on Sunday, so that's like the

405
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one thing that I reserved for myself to do. I

406
00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:39.319
love running around, I love chasing a ball, and I

407
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love scoring some goals every now and then.

408
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Sweet Sweet, Do you coach too? Do you coach like

409
00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:46.400
your kids?

410
00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:49.880
I did the lead playing in kind of folded, so

411
00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:52.000
I'm not doing that anymore. But I did coach them

412
00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:54.440
the last few years and it just folded last year,

413
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.599
so we're not doing that. But I did coach for

414
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seven years of high school before I had kids, which

415
00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.079
for probably three or four years as they're growing up.

416
00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:08.440
Okay, all right, So final takeaways. If someone listening today

417
00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:10.519
wants to get more involved in the community or grow

418
00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.200
their business, what's the first step they should take.

419
00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:14.319
Yeah.

420
00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.480
I mean, honestly, I feel like chambers of commerce are

421
00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:19.720
just the way that I'll look at chambers of commerce

422
00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:22.799
is it's really made up of the business community themselves.

423
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So if you want to grow your business and you

424
00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:28.839
want to think big, you can't just focus just on

425
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.400
your own business. The best businesses that I've seen that

426
00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.119
get involved are the ones that get involved and then

427
00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:38.000
have that feedback loop, right, you get working with a

428
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:39.759
lot of other people who are like minded, who are

429
00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:42.720
all trying to grow their business. They're all doing really innovative,

430
00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:45.119
cool things. If you're working in a silo, you're not

431
00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.000
going to be able to get that kind of purview

432
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:49.559
and assessment. You're also not able to help support and

433
00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:53.240
uplift and build a better community. Getting involved in the

434
00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:56.160
chamber helps you get the foundation of starting your business.

435
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.480
Once you've kind of built that established, you then move

436
00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:00.599
into a second phase, which is, hey, I want to

437
00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:02.200
be a leader in this community. How do I get

438
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.839
engaged and connected? And then the third phase is how

439
00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:06.200
do I make this even bigger?

440
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:06.640
How do we.

441
00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:09.960
Build a stronger community and relationship together.

442
00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.599
So I think that there's a lot of different ways

443
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:14.720
to get involved and connected, and the more that businesses

444
00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:16.720
do it, the more impact we're going to have for

445
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:19.440
ourselves but also for our communities.

446
00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:22.440
For sure. For sure, well zeb Wellborn, president of the

447
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.480
Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for everything you're

448
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.839
doing to support local businesses and strengthen our community. To

449
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.200
our listeners, whether you're a business owner or just someone

450
00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:34.200
who wants to stay connected locally here in Chino Chino Hills,

451
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:38.319
getting involved makes a difference. Zeb Is there a website

452
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.240
that people can go to?

453
00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:40.160
Yeah?

454
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.880
Yeah, I go to Chino Valley Chamber dot com. And Peter,

455
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I just want to say, you know, you've been connected

456
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:46.480
for a while. I know you said really great things

457
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:48.519
about the work that we do when the Chamber does,

458
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:50.079
and I just want to say that it's nice to

459
00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:52.799
see you and your business grow and I'm excited for

460
00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:55.480
all that you're doing and wishing you the best.

461
00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:58.200
Thank you man. This is Medicare Hour and More with

462
00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.640
Peter where we talk business, community, everything that impacts your future.

463
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:08.799
Thanks for listening, guys. All right, Well hope you guys

464
00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:12.839
appreciated that interview with DEEV Welborn. You know, we just

465
00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:17.079
want to emphasize that we you know, why should you

466
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.720
become a client of ours? Well, you could see that

467
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:22.720
we make a community impact. We actually get involved in

468
00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:26.319
our community. We get involved with other local businesses, and

469
00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:28.920
we try to help them grow and put the spotlight

470
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on them as well. So it's not just all about me, me,

471
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me or sss. It's also about other people as well,

472
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:39.599
so that's important to keep in mind. Our second interview

473
00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.079
is going to be with Mercedes Ecker. She is the

474
00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:47.559
CEO of Eyeshop. It's a mystery shopping company. So for

475
00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:50.119
those of you who don't know, I actually was in

476
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:53.480
mystery shopping before I created my own business. It was

477
00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:58.559
kind of my stop gap or intermediary job between the

478
00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:03.640
nonprofit sector and and the insurance industry, and it actually

479
00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:06.319
was a blast. I had a lot of fun doing it.

480
00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:08.519
So we're gonna learn a little bit about more about

481
00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:16.160
this industry, So enjoy this clip with Mercedes Ecker. Hey,

482
00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:20.279
good morning everyone. Welcome to our show. Medicare Alan Moore

483
00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.680
with myself, Peter Mercedes. We want to welcome you to

484
00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:28.279
our show. We're especially excited for this one because I

485
00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:32.319
known Michelle I'm Michelle Mercedes for quite a while I

486
00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:35.319
think probably what five six years at least now, So

487
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:38.839
if for those of you who don't know, I actually

488
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:43.440
was in mystery shopping for quite a while before I

489
00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:45.599
got into this industry, and I was actually doing it

490
00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:48.480
full time. So we're gonna get to know a little

491
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.720
bit more about Mercedes and her company and what she's

492
00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:54.519
all about, and hopefully a little bit about her personal

493
00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:58.279
life as well. So this is Mercedes Ecker. She is

494
00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:03.799
the ce OH and president of Eyeshop. So, Mercedes, why

495
00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:06.200
don't you just give us a little bit of personal

496
00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:11.079
background of your business, what it's all about, how you

497
00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:13.160
got involved with it, and we'll go from there.

498
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:14.119
Yeah.

499
00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.680
Absolutely, well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to

500
00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:20.640
be here. Yeah, just a little bit about me and

501
00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:26.119
about the company. I started Mystery Shopping in twenty thirteen,

502
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.279
so it's been it's been.

503
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:29.240
Well over a decade.

504
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:35.119
And started the company in twenty fifteen after just falling

505
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.559
in love with mystery shopping on a personal level and

506
00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:43.160
seeing how amazing and how helpful it was for our

507
00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:49.400
family when it comes to income. And twenty fifteen I started,

508
00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:53.000
you know, teaching classes to people that also wanted to

509
00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:56.440
get into the industry, and one thing led to another,

510
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.480
and I mean now we're looking at a little over

511
00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.960
ten year years of being in business with over twenty

512
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.680
four thousand shoppers that we've trained and a lot of

513
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:11.880
lives touched, a lot of income made, and so I

514
00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:15.880
spend a lot of my working hours, you know, doing that.

515
00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:20.039
And I live in Indiana with my husband. We have

516
00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:21.519
two daughters.

517
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.720
One is sophomore in college and the other one graduates

518
00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:26.640
in like less than sixty days from her.

519
00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.759
Oh my gosh, I remember when they were a lot younger.

520
00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:33.559
Wow, I know, it's I mean, time flew by.

521
00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.039
So we're kind of like in this new season of

522
00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:39.559
life and we're excited about what comes next.

523
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:43.799
Awesome, awesome. Well, what keeps you passionate about this business today?

524
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:48.240
Honestly, it is seeing people's lives changed. That's the best

525
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:48.759
part of it.

526
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:49.079
Right.

527
00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:52.400
So when someone tells me, oh my gosh, this brung

528
00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:55.240
purpose to my life, which we've had multiple people. I

529
00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:58.759
never expected that to be a result, but we've had

530
00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:02.240
multiple people that have told me, you know, I was

531
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.880
battling depression, didn't want to get up out of bed,

532
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.200
and this got me up out of bed. We've had,

533
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:13.720
I know, specifically, one lady she couldn't conceive, she was

534
00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:19.000
having fertility issues, and she was able to use her

535
00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:23.640
mystery shopping money to pay for IVF treatments and she

536
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:27.000
is now on her second child, and so she always

537
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.400
credits that to the money she was able to bring

538
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.799
in with mystery shopping. So just so many awesome stories,

539
00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:38.000
and I think, like that is that's what keeps me going, Right.

540
00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:41.480
That's awesome. That's a great story. I'm glad you shared that.

541
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.920
So for those of you who are listening in, you're

542
00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:48.160
probably wondering what exactly is mystery shopping? Can you kind

543
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:51.519
of give synopsis of what a day to day would

544
00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:53.240
look like as somebody who's mystery shopping.

545
00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:57.720
Yeah, so here's how I describe mystery shopping.

546
00:27:58.359 --> 00:27:59.039
It is a.

547
00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:04.680
Job where people like you and me go into businesses undercover.

548
00:28:05.319 --> 00:28:08.880
We pretend to be a regular customer. The employees have

549
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.319
no idea, but we're actually there to evaluate them, to

550
00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:17.200
evaluate our customer experience. And so in exchange for that evaluation,

551
00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:21.880
we as mystery shoppers, are paid. So mystery shoppers get

552
00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:27.960
paid to do this in just about every industry you know, airlines, casinos,

553
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:33.359
movie theaters, hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, I mean, you name it.

554
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.200
Shoppers mystery shoppers get to go into these places and

555
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:41.559
get paid to evaluate them. So it's a pretty cool job, right,

556
00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.119
and so the day to day for a mystery shopper,

557
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:49.119
it really varies by person and their own schedule. So

558
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:52.640
the cool thing about mystery shopping it's completely flexible and

559
00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:54.880
you can kind of bend it which way to match

560
00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:58.599
your lifestyle. We have shoppers that do this as a

561
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:01.160
side hustle, so they've got their main jobs and then

562
00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:04.039
they're doing this, you know, after work or on the

563
00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:05.160
weekends when they're off.

564
00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:06.359
And then you have.

565
00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:09.039
People that do this full time. They are waking up

566
00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:11.759
in the morning, they're hitting the road and doing shops

567
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:12.200
all day.

568
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:13.839
This is their full time job.

569
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:17.000
And you know that looks a little bit different from

570
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:18.559
somebody who would do it as a side hustle. But

571
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:21.400
either way, it's very flexible and you kind of work

572
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:22.400
on your own terms.

573
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.440
Wow, that's very cool. So is it like a W

574
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:28.079
two or ten ninety nine? I like, how how did

575
00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:28.720
people work that?

576
00:29:29.640 --> 00:29:29.920
Yeah?

577
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:35.240
So ten ninety nine unless you live in Nevada. So yeah,

578
00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:39.359
so with Nevada you've got to get your PILB, your

579
00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:43.079
private investigator's license, But everywhere else you're a ten ninety

580
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:47.480
nine independent contractor. And I think most people are familiar

581
00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:50.000
with that kind of work. Whether they've done door Dash

582
00:29:50.119 --> 00:29:53.119
or Instacart or sold Mary Kay. At some point, I

583
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:55.960
think we all tried a ten ninety nine gig job.

584
00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:59.680
So it's really no different in that sense, especially when

585
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.000
it comes to reporting your taxes and things like that.

586
00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:05.640
So obviously with the rise of the gig economy, you know,

587
00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:11.000
especially after COVID, how does this actually fit into someone's

588
00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:13.119
life as a side hustle, Like, how would they be

589
00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:17.000
able to do this? Are there like requirements recommendations on

590
00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:19.880
how to get started? What would you say? Yeah?

591
00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:24.720
Absolutely so I always tell people there are a few requirements, right,

592
00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:27.079
You need to be at least eighteen years old.

593
00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.640
You really do need transportation.

594
00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.160
While there are shops that you can do on the

595
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.839
phone or the internet, the bulk of shops is going

596
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:39.079
to come from you actually getting inside of the business,

597
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:41.920
the brick and mortar. So you need transportation, you need

598
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:46.160
internet access, good writing and grammar, and you need to

599
00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:51.480
be able to follow instructions. So that's very important, right

600
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.440
because you are given a set of instructions to follow

601
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.960
on what they want you to evaluate, So good reading,

602
00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.039
comprehension skills. But as long as you have the I

603
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.640
mean ideally you can mystery shop. Just about anybody can

604
00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:09.640
do it. So yeah, those are the requirements that I

605
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:10.680
tell everybody.

606
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:15.720
Yeah, okay, so I mean, speaking from my experience, I

607
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:18.680
never thought you could do this full time. So just

608
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:22.440
for those listening and following me, I actually was in

609
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.920
the nonprofit sector for twenty some years. Our family was

610
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.200
burnt out by the politics of the nonprofit sector, so

611
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:35.640
we decided to kind of transition and bumped into Pamela.

612
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:37.279
I don't even know how I bumped. I think it

613
00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:40.079
was on a social media site and she kind of

614
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.759
told me about it, and then we I just decided, okay,

615
00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:46.240
let's try this out. And I was making good money.

616
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:48.559
I was really surprised at first. I was just doing

617
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:51.400
that as a side hustle, doing some other jobs here

618
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:53.920
and there, and then all of a sudden, money started

619
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:56.759
pouring in from jobs that I loved doing, and I

620
00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:00.319
would actually bring gifts back to my kids of the

621
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.400
fact that I was mystery shopping as well. And there's

622
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:07.119
some high tech jobs. I mean, there's there's a camera

623
00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:11.880
that you could buy that goes under your clothes and

624
00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:17.640
that actually you actually would actually turn that video into

625
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:20.440
the mystery shopping company. You work with and then do

626
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:25.359
some narration and editing as well. That I was fully

627
00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:28.160
blown away by some of the jobs that are out

628
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:31.920
there for mystery shopping. So, you know, for viewers out

629
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:35.599
there listening right now, what's a realistic income that people

630
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:39.160
can make from the you know, the bare minimum all

631
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:41.799
the way up to you know, sky's the limit, right,

632
00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:43.640
So what have you seen?

633
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.119
Yeah, so this is a great question because I have

634
00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:49.960
data to back this up. So we've been in business,

635
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:53.000
you know, ten years, we have been collecting that data.

636
00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:58.200
And so what our records indicate is that, for one,

637
00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:01.039
most mystery shoppers they do this as a side hustle.

638
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:03.480
So most people do this as a side hustle.

639
00:33:03.720 --> 00:33:07.440
And so the side hustlers, they're earning on average two

640
00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:10.079
to five hundred a week just doing this on the side.

641
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:12.839
And then our full time shoppers, which, as you said,

642
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:14.519
a lot of people don't realize they can do this

643
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.039
full time. But when they do, you know, they kind

644
00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:19.680
of weigh the pros and cons of if they have

645
00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:22.200
like a job already, like hey, if I can make

646
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:25.160
more money, or this fits better with my family situation,

647
00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.240
I'm going to do full time. So we do have

648
00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:30.559
shoppers that full time mystery shop and on average they're

649
00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:34.000
bringing in a thousand plus a week, so it is lucrative.

650
00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:37.559
Yeah, that is awesome. That is awesome. So what should

651
00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:40.319
people watch out for our look into in terms of

652
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:44.319
mystery shopping opportunities? Is there like a website that people

653
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:46.759
go to. Are there people that they need to connect with,

654
00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:49.720
like yourself? How do people get started?

655
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:50.880
Yeah?

656
00:33:50.920 --> 00:33:53.279
Well, first off, I answer the one question like what

657
00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:57.319
to look out for are scams? Because there are scams

658
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.559
out there unfortunately, and I you know, the thing that

659
00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:03.119
people don't realize is that mystery shopping has been around

660
00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:06.359
since the nineteen forties. I mean it's almost one hundred

661
00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:08.800
years old, so it's been around a very long time.

662
00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:10.679
But I think it got such.

663
00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:12.760
A bad rep but you had a lot of scammers

664
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:15.559
coming in and so when somebody heard mystery shopper or

665
00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:18.679
secret shopper, they automatically thought, oh, this doesn't exist, or

666
00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:21.159
this is a scam. So you really want to watch

667
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:25.280
out four scams and how you recognize those. Honestly, they're

668
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:28.320
easy to recognize for the most part because you're like, Okay,

669
00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:31.239
something's fishy. You know, if you get a random check

670
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:33.480
in the mail for twenty five hundred dollars of work

671
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:34.000
you haven't.

672
00:34:34.039 --> 00:34:36.440
Yeah, and I've got one of those. I mean that's yeah,

673
00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:37.079
it's crazy.

674
00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:40.199
It's crazy, and there are people who fall for it,

675
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:42.639
but I think, you know, they're just like they're like,

676
00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:44.280
oh my gosh, I really need this money, so they

677
00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:46.679
want to believe it. But I think everybody would have

678
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:49.840
a big red flag that's going off, like, no reputable

679
00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:52.159
company is going to pay you upfront for money that

680
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:55.199
for a job that you have not completed, right, So

681
00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:57.440
that is a red flag that would be a scam.

682
00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:00.000
And then on the flip if you're wanting to get

683
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:02.199
it started. So what we do is we have a

684
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:05.840
free training. We bring everybody in through this free training

685
00:35:06.280 --> 00:35:08.719
that you can get on our website, which I'm sure

686
00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:10.239
you'll share.

687
00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:13.400
Yeah, that'll be on our podcast website as well as

688
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:18.920
it'll be streaming too. So underneath mercedes name is going

689
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.400
to be a banner that says her name or phone

690
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.559
number the website that you can go to.

691
00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:28.280
Yes, so we would just send you there. It's literally

692
00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:30.639
a free training. It's only thirty five minutes. We go

693
00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:33.599
over you know what mystery shopping is. How it works

694
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.719
how to avoid scams, the basics. So if you're interested,

695
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:39.239
that's where we would tell.

696
00:35:39.119 --> 00:35:39.840
You to get stored.

697
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:44.400
Awesome, awesome, And then I, yeah, I've got a story

698
00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:47.440
where I actually fell for one of those scams unfortunately,

699
00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:50.360
and you know, I didn't get a check for that

700
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:52.719
big I think it was like eight nine hundred dollars

701
00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:54.400
and they tell you have to go to the gas

702
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:57.519
stations and do this mystery shop. It looked totally legit,

703
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:01.440
and then you find out the check bounces. It's yeah,

704
00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:05.000
it's it's a whole scheme. So unfortunately, you know, don't

705
00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:07.920
I'm a pretty smart person and I fell for it,

706
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.400
So it can happen to anyone. But yeah, there is,

707
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:15.039
unfortunately scams in every industry, so you guys just be

708
00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:19.039
watching out for that and those red flags. So one

709
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:22.400
thing we're passionate about here at Joseph Insurance Broker is

710
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:25.559
giving a voice to small businesses, especially ones that we've

711
00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:29.199
worked with in the past. I've got a history obviously

712
00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:33.360
with you guys, So whether it's through insurance, financial security,

713
00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:38.559
even side income streams, I think it's important to give

714
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:41.880
a voice to these businesses. These businesses are businesses that

715
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:46.119
we trust inherently. Mercedes, like I said, has been around

716
00:36:46.119 --> 00:36:48.639
for quite a while. She knows the ins and outs

717
00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:51.039
of this industry, so she would be the perfect person

718
00:36:51.880 --> 00:36:55.480
to go to to consult about mystery shopping. Are there

719
00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:58.719
any other red flags that you would share just in

720
00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:03.440
your experience of people go now mystery shopping? Has there been?

721
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:06.199
Because I know I've run into situations. You know, you

722
00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:10.079
brought up a great point about editing and your grammar

723
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:14.920
needs to be really good, and I've gotten some situations

724
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:17.840
where I thought I've narrated it pretty well and then

725
00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:19.559
it got turned back to me saying, you know, you

726
00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:22.320
don't have enough information. So what would you say to

727
00:37:22.360 --> 00:37:22.920
folks like that?

728
00:37:24.039 --> 00:37:24.320
Yeah?

729
00:37:24.360 --> 00:37:27.920
Absolutely, So there's so many like nowadays as compared to

730
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.639
when I first started, There's so many tools out there

731
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:33.360
to help you. So one of the things that we

732
00:37:33.480 --> 00:37:36.880
recommend is like grammarly, which is like a free website

733
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:38.760
can help you with your grammar and things like that.

734
00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:41.679
And then as far as like when you fill out

735
00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:45.320
the reports, every report is different. We go over this,

736
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:48.480
you know in training and things like that. But you know,

737
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:50.000
some companies do want.

738
00:37:49.880 --> 00:37:50.679
A lot of detail.

739
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:54.800
Others of them could care less. Right, I've kind of

740
00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:57.239
the opposite with you, Like I've gotten too where I've

741
00:37:57.239 --> 00:37:59.480
submitted a report and they said, oh, you don't even

742
00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:00.360
have to say that.

743
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:02.599
You know, you can delete some.

744
00:38:02.559 --> 00:38:04.679
Of this and I'm like, oh, I didn't know it

745
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:07.880
was that easy. So you get both ends of the spectrum.

746
00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:11.440
And so really it's just paying attention to the report

747
00:38:11.480 --> 00:38:16.280
and then also checking out the survey before you fill

748
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:19.159
it out, so you're able to look at what questions

749
00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:21.840
they're going to ask you before you even go in

750
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:24.599
to do the mystery shop, which is very helpful. And

751
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:27.880
I've been seeing a lot more where they're also adding in,

752
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:30.519
here's how we want you to write this out if

753
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:31.280
there's a narrative.

754
00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:32.800
So that's pretty helpful too.

755
00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:37.079
Okay, awesome, awesome. So as a CEO, we're going to

756
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.000
talk about you personally. What's one lesson you've learned about

757
00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:42.719
leadership and building a company at this point?

758
00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:46.840
Oh my gosh, that's that's that's a whole episode.

759
00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:49.760
That is a whole episode. Right, Well, I get a

760
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:53.880
little little, just a tiny bit a sliver of information

761
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:54.519
if you can.

762
00:38:55.159 --> 00:38:56.639
Yeah, absolutely, well.

763
00:38:56.719 --> 00:39:00.679
I would say one of the things that is important

764
00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:05.000
to me is creating a great environment and culture among

765
00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:07.320
your team. And so you have to make sure you

766
00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:10.559
have the right people on your team. And so that

767
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.440
really is a big deal. And when I say the

768
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:16.800
right people, it has to be a good combination. It

769
00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:20.480
can't be Okay, this person can do the task, but

770
00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:25.519
they're they're not nice, they're not loyal, or you have

771
00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:29.880
people that are loyal and are nice that they repeatedly

772
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.679
cannot meet the standard of the quality of work output. Right,

773
00:39:34.920 --> 00:39:37.800
So you need a good combination of people that meet

774
00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:41.880
the two right. Deciding what your company culture is like,

775
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:46.639
your company values, your motto, all those things, and then

776
00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:49.880
start building from there, because once you know what you

777
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:53.679
want your team to look like in terms of the values,

778
00:39:54.039 --> 00:39:57.840
then you're able to accurately assess who fits in with

779
00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:02.119
those company values. And when you have everybody on one accord,

780
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:05.320
that synergy will be created and you're gonna get stuff

781
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:07.000
done and you're gonna be successful.

782
00:40:07.639 --> 00:40:10.440
Very good. That's great advice, Mercedie. Thank you for sharing that.

783
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:13.800
So we're gonna have a little fun segment to end

784
00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:17.360
our session. It's gonna be like rapid fire, so you

785
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:19.440
don't have to say why, but it's gonna be an

786
00:40:19.519 --> 00:40:23.079
and or type of question. So I'm gonna shoot them

787
00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:25.280
out to you and then you decide if you want to,

788
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:28.039
you know, tell us why. If not, you just keep

789
00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:32.320
it short, all right, okay? First question? Coffee or tea?

790
00:40:34.119 --> 00:40:36.840
All right? All right? Are you an early bird or

791
00:40:36.880 --> 00:40:37.519
a night owl?

792
00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:39.440
Early bird?

793
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:40.280
Okay?

794
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:40.719
Okay?

795
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:44.000
What's your favorite way to spend the weekend.

796
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:48.119
Watching? Go into the movie theaters?

797
00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:49.079
Yeah?

798
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:50.599
Have you seen any good movies lately?

799
00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:53.679
Solo Mea with Kevin James?

800
00:40:53.880 --> 00:40:57.039
Oh, I actually wanted to see that. Okay? And then

801
00:40:57.159 --> 00:41:03.159
one word that describes your leadership style? Fine, awesome, I

802
00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:07.280
love it. I love it well, Mercedes, you do guys

803
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:13.599
have Medicare Medicare Mystery shopping conferences as well? Right, how

804
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:15.079
how often do those occur?

805
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:18.920
We have one every single year, so it's an annual event.

806
00:41:19.280 --> 00:41:22.159
New there's a new place, you know, a new city

807
00:41:22.159 --> 00:41:23.280
and state every year.

808
00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:27.679
Okay, And we are actually looking forward to coming out

809
00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:30.559
to one of those out in Vegas this next fall.

810
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:34.159
So if you guys are listening, especially if you're one

811
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:37.840
of my clients and you are retired and you're looking

812
00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:41.679
for extra income, this is actually the perfect way to

813
00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:44.199
do a side hustle. Trust me, the money will be

814
00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:47.519
there and that's a lot of fun, right, so you

815
00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:50.880
got nothing to lose. But yeah, and then if you're

816
00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:53.960
a mystery shopper listening in, I will be at that conference.

817
00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:58.559
You know. We do everything with Medicare retirement health insurance,

818
00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:03.599
so I'm your person for that knowledge and that process.

819
00:42:03.639 --> 00:42:06.559
So Mercedes, I appreciate you inviting me out for that.

820
00:42:06.800 --> 00:42:09.880
I really do. Are there any last words you have

821
00:42:10.079 --> 00:42:13.039
for anyone listening, any bits of advice?

822
00:42:14.039 --> 00:42:17.719
I would say, when an opportunity comes your way, you know,

823
00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.480
think about it and act on it if it makes sense.

824
00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:24.599
And that's not just mystery shopping, that's anything. You know.

825
00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:26.599
There's so many opportunities that come our.

826
00:42:26.519 --> 00:42:30.599
Way on a daily basis, and I think that sometimes

827
00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:32.840
we can get overwhelmed with them and so we just

828
00:42:32.840 --> 00:42:37.000
shut it all off. But sometimes the answer to what

829
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.960
we've been seeking are in those opportunities, or at least

830
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:44.960
one of them. So never just brush something off. Always

831
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:46.079
give it a little bit of thought.

832
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:49.960
Hi, one hundred percent agree. That's great advice. Mercedes. I

833
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:52.559
appreciate your time. I thank you so much for coming

834
00:42:52.599 --> 00:42:55.480
on our show. This has been Medica Hour and more

835
00:42:55.559 --> 00:42:58.760
with Peter. Please join us next week. We're live every

836
00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:06.360
Tuesday at nine Banks a Lot. Thank you, all right.

837
00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:11.760
So that was our second interview with Mercedes. I really

838
00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:17.199
appreciated her time and her efforts in that industry. You know,

839
00:43:17.239 --> 00:43:21.800
obviously we are a community connector. We're a trusted advisor

840
00:43:21.880 --> 00:43:24.440
to small businesses. That's kind of why we're showing these

841
00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:28.840
kind of clips and spotlighting these small businesses. As I

842
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:32.239
shared in the interview, we're actually going to be at

843
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:37.000
the conference in Vegas in October, and the reason being

844
00:43:37.079 --> 00:43:39.679
is that, you know, she was saying that these people

845
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:43.880
are ten ninety nine employees. But when you're an independent contractor,

846
00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:46.480
you need to have health insurance, right and you can

847
00:43:46.519 --> 00:43:51.119
only do that through you know, Obamacare or direct to

848
00:43:51.239 --> 00:43:54.519
private insurance companies, and that's where we come in. We

849
00:43:54.599 --> 00:44:01.199
also want to provide liability insurance as they're traveling travel insurance,

850
00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:03.760
we do offer that, and life insurance as well in

851
00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:07.239
case anything happens, God forbid and their families are well

852
00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:09.800
taken care of. So those are the things that we're offering,

853
00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:11.440
and that's why we're going to be stationed at that

854
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:15.559
conference this next year. But we're so happy to have

855
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:19.960
both zeb and Mercedes on our show today, and we

856
00:44:20.119 --> 00:44:24.159
just want to quickly go over our sponsors again that

857
00:44:24.280 --> 00:44:27.400
make this show possible. Mercedes is one of them. I

858
00:44:27.559 --> 00:44:30.480
Shop there are a great sponsor of ours. Rosa say,

859
00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:36.119
local florist here in Chino Hills and Chamber of Commerce

860
00:44:36.199 --> 00:44:40.480
is a great supporter of our business. And then we're

861
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.639
going to have an interview with Christian Brindle, the president

862
00:44:43.800 --> 00:44:48.480
of Everything Senior Insurance. They're what's called an FMO in

863
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:53.480
the medicare industry. And then Glenn Shelton, his partner, who

864
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:58.079
is an owner of what's called Lead Heroes. They're both

865
00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:01.840
going to be on throughout the year being interviewed and

866
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:06.079
we welcome them immensely because they are huge sponsors of

867
00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:08.559
our show, so we thank them so much for that.

868
00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:13.880
So I want to quickly touch on enrollment and how

869
00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:17.119
to enroll into Medicare before we actually finish off our show.

870
00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:20.320
You've got a couple of minutes left. Thank you for

871
00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:24.599
those hanging in. Remember we are live on Facebook and

872
00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:31.719
we are also live on YouTube at Medicare at Minute

873
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:34.679
with Peter. That's our channel for YouTube, and then our

874
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:38.360
Facebook is Joseph Insurance Broker LLC. You can also look

875
00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:41.920
for my personal profile. We're live on there as Peter R. Joseph,

876
00:45:42.039 --> 00:45:45.960
So just the heads up on that. So for enrollment,

877
00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:48.599
you know when you're turning sixty five or you're coming

878
00:45:48.639 --> 00:45:51.559
off an employer plan. There's a few ways to enroll

879
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:57.079
into Part B of Medicare. The first thing is, yes,

880
00:45:57.239 --> 00:46:01.920
you can call Social Security. I don't don't recommend that.

881
00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:04.679
They are so short staffed right now. The wait time

882
00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:08.119
on that is hours and hours and hours, and so

883
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:09.599
you don't want to be on the phone that long.

884
00:46:11.960 --> 00:46:14.360
And so the second way to do this is actually

885
00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:17.360
to drop into local Social Security office. A lot of

886
00:46:17.400 --> 00:46:22.760
them now are open because of after COVID they did

887
00:46:22.840 --> 00:46:26.000
open their facilities now, so you can walk in, hop

888
00:46:26.039 --> 00:46:30.119
in there. Yeah, sometimes there's a wait in line, but

889
00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:35.639
you can drop off a form that's called CMS forty B.

890
00:46:36.559 --> 00:46:38.960
You can find that on our website. You can actually

891
00:46:39.039 --> 00:46:42.280
email me as well for that information, but you just

892
00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:44.400
it's a one page application, You fill it out and

893
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:46.519
then you drop it off with this local Social Security

894
00:46:46.519 --> 00:46:49.599
office that will get you into the system. The last

895
00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:52.960
way is if you are tech savvy, you can actually

896
00:46:52.960 --> 00:46:57.000
create an account on SSA dot gov. That's s SA,

897
00:46:58.199 --> 00:47:00.599
s as in SAMs is in SAMA is in Apple

898
00:47:00.679 --> 00:47:04.199
dot gov, g O V as in victor. You go

899
00:47:04.239 --> 00:47:07.800
on there, you're going to create hopefully if you already

900
00:47:07.800 --> 00:47:10.760
created an account with Social Security but you haven't, that's

901
00:47:10.840 --> 00:47:12.800
the way to do it. And then there's a blue

902
00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:15.440
button that says sign up for Medicare. You just follow

903
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:19.199
the steps on there. The hard part about that is,

904
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:23.480
you know, with the two factor authentication now with everything,

905
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:26.400
you do have to have an email address and a

906
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:30.159
cell phone because they're gonna send you digits to that

907
00:47:30.239 --> 00:47:32.199
cell phone number and then they're going to send you

908
00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:34.599
a code to your email address, and so you want

909
00:47:34.599 --> 00:47:36.480
to make sure that you have both of those set up,

910
00:47:37.159 --> 00:47:39.280
otherwise you're not gonna be able to set up an account.

911
00:47:39.400 --> 00:47:42.440
So and then they're going to have you create an

912
00:47:42.440 --> 00:47:46.119
account through what's called i D dot gov. It just

913
00:47:46.239 --> 00:47:49.960
verifies your identity. So, you know, a lot of my

914
00:47:50.039 --> 00:47:54.000
clients find it hard to walk through that. I will

915
00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:57.159
walk that through with you guys, though, if you are

916
00:47:57.159 --> 00:47:59.800
a client of ours or prospect, will hop on the

917
00:47:59.800 --> 00:48:03.119
phone and I will zoom in and go on the

918
00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:06.679
website with you, or I'll go into person with you

919
00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:10.000
at your home and walk you through the website so

920
00:48:10.039 --> 00:48:12.440
that we can get you set up for that. So

921
00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:17.320
I just wanted to end here. Well, just a couple

922
00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:21.920
of thoughts. Again, this is Medicare Hour and more. So

923
00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:24.880
we don't just focus on Medicare. We focus on all

924
00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:28.440
things insurance. We also focus on a lot of small

925
00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:32.800
businesses that we inherently trust and that we work with

926
00:48:33.360 --> 00:48:37.320
directly or indirectly, and so we want those small businesses

927
00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:40.519
to be resources for you guys. Again, you can go

928
00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:44.719
to Chino Valley Chamber dot com for Zeb's information. You

929
00:48:44.760 --> 00:48:47.360
can go to I shop a g as in Good

930
00:48:47.519 --> 00:48:52.440
P'sanpaul dot com, I SHOPAGP dot com for Mercedes information

931
00:48:52.519 --> 00:48:55.400
and become a mystery shopper. I highly recommend that it's

932
00:48:55.440 --> 00:48:57.679
a lot of fun. If you've got time and I

933
00:48:57.679 --> 00:49:00.079
have a side hustle, that's the way to do it.

934
00:49:00.800 --> 00:49:04.440
So again, this is Medicare Hour and more repeater where

935
00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:07.039
we bring you more than just Medicare. We bring you

936
00:49:07.079 --> 00:49:11.440
to people in businesses shaping our community. We are a

937
00:49:11.559 --> 00:49:17.559
company that supports local economic growth and we are conveners

938
00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:20.119
about and so we appreciate the time that zeb and

939
00:49:20.159 --> 00:49:24.199
Mercedes gave us and we medicare.

940
00:49:25.360 --> 00:49:29.239
Thanks for listening. Tune into Medicare Hour and More with

941
00:49:29.360 --> 00:49:33.360
Peter every Tuesday at nine am Pacific time right here

942
00:49:33.400 --> 00:49:38.519
on KFOURHD Radio at kfourhd dot com for more real

943
00:49:38.599 --> 00:49:43.360
life stories from experts who medicare about you and protecting

944
00:49:43.440 --> 00:49:47.599
your health, your finances, and your future. See you next

945
00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:47.960
week