Jodi Stolove knows how a bad situation can launch success. She didn’t let an injury keep her down. We have a chat about how she pivoted in her career to find success and what she’s doing to keep her business thriving during COVID-19.
Jodi Stolove loves to sit down on the job while still achieving great results as an entrepreneur. She founded Chair Dancing® Fitness when a fractured foot forced her to conduct her dance and aerobic classes from a chair. Creativity born of necessity resulted in her developing unique seated fitness programs combining the pleasure of exercise, dance, and music. While she “sat down” to bring exercise to meet the needs of anyone wanting to embrace exercise, the fitness industry took notice.
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How A Bad Situation Can Launch Success
- Show up fully with authentic enthusiasm and passion.
- Be nice to everyone. In life and sales, the greatest motivator is love.
- You are your brand. Being Authentic works, walk your talk!
- Pay attention to detail. Strive for Excellence vs Perfection.
- When there is a Problem find the solution.
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Transcript
Hi, I’m Jodi Stolove of Chair Dancing Fitness and we’re talking about how a bad situation can launch success and you’re listening to The Brand Journalism Advantage.
Episode 439.
One of my favorite spins is this, the idea that we have to be socially distant. Well, what if we spin that around and we call it distance socializing?
The Brand Journalism Advantage, the podcast that teaches the power of storytelling to increase business by attracting, engaging and influencing consumers. Now it’s time to think like a journalist with your host brand journalist, Phoebe Chongchua.
Hello, Brand Journalism community. I’m Phoebe Chongchua. Thanks for tuning into The Brand Journalism Advantage podcast. Here we go with the inside scoop on today’s show, Jodi Stolove. Jodi loves to sit down on the job while still achieving great results as an entrepreneur, she founded chair dancing, fitness when a fractured foot forced her to conduct her dance and aerobic classes from a chair. Wow. What a change, right Jodi, that you, that could have been the end of your career, but it ended up being the beginning. Welcome to the show.
Yes. Well, thank you, Phoebe. It’s great to put a spin on how something that seems really awful at the time can turn into something pretty darn wonderful.
Brand Journalism community. This is so perfect for what we’re going through right now with COVID-19 and every day it seems like you’re turning on the news and you’re hearing more and more bad news. We do hope that good news will be coming soon. And I hope that if you’re listening right now that this will help you realize that from a bad situation you can, indeed, find success. So you might have to pivot as many of us are doing, you might have to learn new skills and apply them rather quickly, but we’re going to hear so much more about how a bad situation can actually launch success from Jodi. She’s had a healthy career despite the challenges. So, Jodi, I’m looking forward to that Q & A with you to talk about your career over the decades and perhaps more important what you’re doing right now in this COVID-19 crisis. So we’re going to dig into all of that. But first we’re going to kick it off with her icebreaker. Wow. Now, really even in this crisis, she writes, she hasn’t eaten chocolate in six years.
Right. And can you imagine that? I used to eat it every single day, just a little bit. I was pretty good about, you know, moderation. But many of my friends wished they had had the same little sort of syndrome, which made me not like chocolate anymore. And I really, it’s been life-changing and I eat probably healthier, but I do miss my, my treat.
So what was the syndrome?
Oh, I had a, I had a virus that attacked my taste buds and it has not recovered fully and it’s been six years. But again, I have plenty of things I can taste that tastes really delicious but not chocolate.
So that’s really interesting, especially in light of what we’re hearing about, you know, some of the symptoms. Obviously that was not your, your issue because this was well over six years ago that this happened. But we are hearing that in some of the people who are getting, you know, the Coronavirus, they’re losing their taste.
Exactly It can hit very many places. And you know, the doctor who diagnosed me said, you know, even healthy people can often get a virus. And so I think that’s important because here I teach health and fitness and I’m always into all that. And I got something really peculiar and it had a lasting effect on me. But again, I’m the one who always puts the spin on things and says, Oh, there’s always a silver lining here. And the silver lining was I eat really healthy foods that taste great and I really don’t spend the calories on chocolate, but I do, I really enjoy, I did enjoy ice cream and chocolate very, very much. And so I’ve had to find other ways to treat myself.
Okay, well I kind of wish that would happen with me and cheese.
I told you people envy me for this, right?
Yes, indeed.
Jodi, I have a quote for you that I’d like you to weigh in on. I think it goes perfectly with your attitude and with what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. Here it goes. “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth, maybe the best thing in the world for you.” That’s Walt Disney. Your thoughts?
Oh yeah. You know, go along with “that which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” Absolutely. Again, I think we come out of this period of time where we are being asked to stay at home, to stay in place, we, we’re going to be different people stronger, more mindful, more appreciative and grateful. Many things just like what happened to me when something bad happened and I had to figure out how I was going to stay sane during that and it turned into a career.
Fabulous. Can’t wait to hear a little bit more about that, but share with us a success quote or a tip that you’d like to leave with our audience.
Well, my, my favorite quote is “A disappointment today may be a blessing in disguise tomorrow.”
Love it. Love it. We’re getting the theme loud and clear. So brand journalism community, be sure to head over to ThinkLikeAJournalist.com Look up Jodi’s show notes and all the tips and information will be there. Also a way to connect with her, but you’re hearing it loud and clear. Stay focused, pivot when you need to, and even in the chaos and the bad situations we will find success. So, let’s hear a little bit more about that. Jodi, take us first to your career highlight that moment in time that you know, your proudest share the story.
Well, again, there’s many over a 30-year career, but the most exciting thing that ever happened and the best thing for me to get my message across was when I was able to get on QVC and I appeared from, from 2006 to 2015 about eight to 10 times a year I would fly to Philadelphia from San Diego and do a live presentation and I would be able to reach people that were sitting in their living rooms, their kitchens, households, wherever, and they were able to say, “Hey, I can do exercise because here was this woman who broke her foot many, many years ago and said, I need to dance. I need to exercise.” And by God I’m going to do it even if it’s sitting in a chair. So I was able to reach a lot of people and it felt wonderful to have that opportunity of doing live TV through QVC. And it was an awesome experience and many, many years of it.
So now take me to that moment in time when it didn’t work. Share with us a story about that struggle. What did you learn from it and how did you come out better on the other side?
Okay, well, again, we’re going to go back even many years before QVC. And I have to say I was really, I felt really, really struck down when I had been on HSN and that was back in 1997. So I had only been in business about six years and I was so excited again to have this opportunity to reach people in their households where I wanted them to be able to use my product and it just didn’t work. And I was again, fairly new in business and I had sent thousands and those days of VHS videotapes to Tampa where they are located and they just politely sent them all back to me and they landed here and I had to figure out what to do to sell them. And I was able to do that. I was able to sell all of those videos that I had made, thinking I’m going to sell them on home shopping network and I didn’t let it stop me and that I’m proud of. But it was, it was really, really a disappointing time.
I’ll bet and that goes way back talking about VHS. So you’ve certainly learned a lot and I’m sure there’s a lot of technology that, well, it’s definitely changed. And you know, I’m sure you have a lot of stories about how you’re using it today and having to learn and thrive with that. So we’re going to dig right into all of this. We’re talking about how a bad situation can launch success. I don’t think it’s any more perfect than where we are right now. Many of you are probably cooped up in your homes, your small businesses hopefully are not struggling. But if they are, I’m hoping that Jodi can impart some inspiration as well as some advice that you can take away from her on what she’s done, not just now in this difficult time, but over the decades as she’s been. So tell me, Jodi, how have you survived as an entrepreneur all the decades and especially, now when things are changing so much and you’re in the fitness world to boot.
Yeah. Okay. So, so let’s go to the, over the decades it’s really been because I authentically believe in what I need to do for other people, which is to give them an opportunity to exercise. Because remember what I created is for people that aren’t going to go to a gym that probably won’t go out and take a walk for various reasons depending on where they live and the weather or their physical situation. I really was offering stay active at home fitness. So when this new COVID-19 stay in place, all the gyms closed and all that happened, I immediately went into thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I really now again need to help people to have a way to exercise, to work their body and their mind and to feel happy and good even if it’s just for a short time every day.’ So I had never heard of zoom.
I mean, I’m not sure if that was something everybody did, but I, at age 61, had never heard of it. And all of a sudden I had to become an expert on giving classes through Zoom. And then I said, okay, I can do Facebook live as long as I’m doing Zoom. So I’m trying to use all this technology and repeating often technology is my friend. I can do this. And just keeping that good, that good attitude and mindset so that I was able to continue to do the kinds of kind of work I had been doing, but even in a broader way in some ways. So again, the silver lining for me, Phoebe has been that I’m reaching people from all over the world that might have had my DVD, but now I’m doing a live class with them and it’s pretty exciting.
That is very exciting. You know, I remember when we met a long time ago when I was on channel 10 and you know, it was so much more to go live, right? You had to have an ENG truck, you had to be in the studio and now we can do what we’re doing, which is we’re recording over Skype. And, of course, I use Zoom as well as Facebook Live and YouTube. I mean, there’s a million different ways practically to get your message out and to still stay connected almost, you know, despite what you do. Even if you have a retail store, there are ways to still send out messages. And certainly with your fitness, you’re now going well beyond the geographical boundaries. So that’s really cool. But I’m curious how as a business owner, because you know, I, I work with a lot of clients and when there’s a crisis I help them pivot and I’ve been teaching clients how to use this technology. But I’m curious from your perspective, how, you know, when you’re, you’re pretty much one person, maybe you have some help but how do you go about learning all of this? What did you have to do?, I know the answer is going to be good because I can tell, but what did you have to do that maybe somebody else might be sitting there going, it’s just too much. You know, I can’t be, I can’t wear so many different hats, but yet they have to right now because they’re at home alone?
Right? Well, okay. So I do have an assistant and she’s wonderful, but she’s not coming into the office or into my home to help me. I’m in my home of course during this. And so I, I have a half the say I gave birth to a beautiful daughter at age 41. So if we do the math that makes her 20. And so the fact that she was using zoom university when her university said you got to go home I was able to get a little bit of help from her.
So that came in very, very handy that my 20 year old daughter was able to step into my office and say, mom, you can do this. But with that said, I still have had to learn a lot on my own. And part of what I had what I had to learn was how to present in front of of the live zoom camera staring at the screen or a little boxes of people and to feel sort of more natural at it and not be so hard on myself. Maybe look at my need for wanting to be excellent because I did a lot of filming like you did Phoebe as well when I would film something and then we’d get to edit it. And I would get to make it beyond, you know, every detail had to be taken care of and you got to let go of all that is what I learned with the whole, this whole thing of doing live exercise classes. It’s just being real and letting people know that, Hey, I’m learning this along with you and I’m just glad we’re able to do this.
I was going to ask you, I am so glad to hear that your daughter’s jumped in and it’s great, you know, the younger generations teaching us and keeping us up on it and it really doesn’t it open your eyes to the fact that you go, wow, it took a crisis to make me get on board with stuff that I should be doing for my business, right?
Oh yeah. That’s silver lining. Again, Phoebe, it will never be the same for me. I definitely feel that I have learned this technology and it’s going to be a benefit for my business from here on out. And if you would ask me three weeks ago if that’s the direction I wanted to go where I thought I should go, I would have gone, no, no, you’re kidding, I’m fine. I’m teaching tons of classes in person. It just feels right to me to do, to do that. I can run here and run there, but I think my reach could be even more, more important and, and larger. And this is, this has pushed me beyond my limits as it has with many people’s situations and businesses and shown me a whole new way to, to be, be the brand that I am.
Fabulous. So connecting to your audience, what I heard you say while physically distancing is that you’re no longer teaching the classes in person, you’re teaching them over zoom, you’re teaching them over Facebook and live streaming. What’s one tip that you can give to our audience about that? I mean, I know you said you had to look, you learned to get comfortable with not being able to edit. What else should our audience know if they’re going to go in this direction?
You know, I often have found that when I show up real, authentic, caring, enthusiastic, passionate, all the things that I am as a person, but when I really let myself show up that way, whether it’s live TV or zoom again, it makes me real and I am real, you know, people say, think they, they buy your, your DVD Phoebe and they think that you’re this movie star or something. It’s like, I know I’m the one who also has been cleaning my house and doing all of my my, my work and I’m just this real person and I, I, I want, I want people to relate to me that way. And it’s worked for me over the years to show that kind of side of myself to every single person who I come into contact with. And one of my favorite stories is that somebody who worked at a post office became a buyer at a health insurance company and she remembered me because I would walk in with a smile and with my excitement about me sending off the videos in those days of the DVDs later on. And then she remembered me when she went to work at this health insurance company and now that company buys thousands of my DVDs every year. So it’s like being, being that same person no matter what the situation is, that’s been huge for me.
And what do you recommend during these difficult times to keep thriving? Obviously, it’s the attitude that you’ve said. You know, “when you’re given lemons, make lemonade,” right? I mean, we know all the different sayings that exist, but how do you really do that when it’s so bad?
It’s hard. I’m a real people person. So one of my favorite spins is this, the idea that we have to be socially distant. Well, what if we spin that around and we call it distance socializing. So in my distance socializing, I’m speaking to people that I haven’t spoken to in a long time or I’m face timing them or I’m doing zoom with them and I really am socializing with them from a distance. And so I put a spin on it that way and it makes me feel, you know, less less. Like, I’m, you know, being this person that just has to stay in my house. I’ve also, I’m fortunate that I can be with my daughter and my husband and take walks and spend time cooking for me. It slowed me down enough that I can be more mindful. And again, that’s a gift because I think, wow, you know, some, some day I’m going to say I had my college-aged daughter living with me and we spent time together and quality time we might not have had, I think we certainly wouldn’t have had if she had stayed at college and this hadn’t happened. So I really think the perspective we put on things and also giving ourselves a gift each day of something that is our pleasure and making sure that happens. It’s self love and self care that go together. And I think for me a fun exercise or a gentle stretching program or chair yoga like I represent, giving yourself that time can just help you get through each and every day, one day at a time until we get over this.
Oh, I love it and you can see why Brand Journalism community that I had Jodi on to talk about how a bad situation can launch success. What I’m hearing loud and clear is it all starts in the mind. So keep your thoughts right, stay strong y friends the situation will get better. But, I have another dire situation for you that we always talk about on the Brand Journalism podcast. It goes like this. Jodi, you’ve been hired to help an ailing company. It’s about to financially collapse its reputation shot. You have a month, a thousand dollar budget, a smartphone and a laptop. How do you begin to turn this company around?
Well, a lot of contact with people, real people talking to real people using Facebook. And in my case, it would be giving away my product. I would be giving away DVDs so that that thousand dollars was mostly in a gift and a gift that I believe would then start a gift that other people would want and it would just go from there it would blossom. And I think giving is a way of receiving. And so to me it would turn, I know it turned my company around.
What is one piece of technology, video, multimedia equipment or an app that you just can’t live without?
Gosh, my, my new friend Zoom my computer for sure. I need the Zoom and the computer. We got to stay connected.
One book, documentary blog, podcast or internet channel?
Well, my favorite book over the years has been the E-Myth and I had to learn how to be a business person. So that book was, has been invaluable to me.
Get The E-Myth
Expert predictions. The year is 2025 we are rapidly closing in on this. And you know, when I started asking this question, when the podcast first came out about three years, oh gosh, yeah, no longer than that, several years ago that I started doing it, we’ve got almost 450 episodes. I never thought that we’d have gone through a situation like this. I don’t think anyone could predict that the Coronavirus was coming for us. So, tell me with your best, you know, knowledge from where we are today in 2025, how do you think you should operate to build a competitive advantage in the marketplace?
Well, you know, again, 2025 is so close it seems, and when get past all this time where we’ve been using our technology, I think we’re going to go back to some basics. I think that the lesson I’m taking from this Corona virus dealing with technology all the time, but then when I’m not on Zoom, Facebook, the computer, the iPhone, when I’m not doing that, it feels so good to just get back to quiet basics. Having a meal, taking a walk, slowing down, being more mindful. I really noticed a difference that I can separate those two. So I think in the year 2025, we’re going to separate them much more than we do now. We’re not going to be sitting at a table with our phones out. We’re going to be connecting with people again in a new and more appreciative, great way with gratitude of what we have and that we can sit and hug somebody and do that again. Won’t that feel amazing?
It will indeed. Yeah, and we’ve already seen a lot of the gifts and memes floating around about that. Let’s hope we stay connected.
I love people’s sense of humor; that never hurts either.
That’s right. Well, you know about this time, I usually ask where you wine, dine, and play, but you know, I’ve got a different question as we close out. During this period of time, what’s one thing you’re doing at home? Maybe something that you didn’t do before that you’re like, wow, now that I got this time or now that I’m here all the time, I’m doing what?
Well, I again, slowing down and enjoying the process instead of just getting it done. I’m finding that whether I’m cooking, cleaning, which I’m doing a lot more of whatever I’m doing, I’m definitely more in the process in the moment as opposed to, hey, let me just get this done and hurry up about it because I got other important things to do. It just has been really nice to slow down and make sure, again, like I said earlier, the take that couple minutes every single day. In my case, it’s usually 30 minutes to an hour. It’s a nice, it’s a nice long walk. It’s watching something on, on a Ted talk, listening to a podcast, taking the time to learn something new every day. Just again using technology. Oh, I figured out a way to digitize my daughter’s DVDs so that I could have her life digitized and I thought, this is great I have the time to do this right now. Let me get it done. And what a wonderful accomplishment. And it just, it’s just a different way of going through and planning your day.
Love it. I love the attitude. So I’m so good. See what I mean? Brand Journalism community. I told you she’d bring some inspiration. So hope you take a deep breath, take it all in, and make it happen. Take a bad situation and find a way to launch your own success. Jodi, thank you so much for being on the Brand Journalism Advantage podcast.
It was absolutely my pleasure and I wish everybody who’s listening and you, Phoebe, good health and on the other side of this life will be even sweeter.
Hey, Brand Journalism community. You know that you can find all the valuable information in the show notes. All you have to do is head on over to ThinkLikeAJournalist.com and in the search box type in 439 and this interview and the resources mentioned in this episode will pop right up.
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