00;00;11;17 - 00;00;40;12 Unknown Hi, I'm Gail. Hi, I'm Katherine. Welcome to women over 70 aged reimagined. Our award winning weekly podcast. Visit women over 70.com to learn how you may become involved and join Agent Reimagined Circle and enjoy free participation in our online monthly programs. And a special thanks to Wells Fargo Advisors for their ongoing support. Though today we are happy to have Vickie Rock. 00;00;40;15 - 00;01;14;04 Unknown Vickie Rock is 73. She's an entrepreneur, leader, speaker, consult, and philanthropist, and tireless advocate for business owners. I've known Vickie for over 20 years through Nashville, Chicago, and have admired watching her advocacy work in action. Her mantra is if you are not learning, you are not contributing. A long list of awards and accomplishments attest to that, including multiple national, regional, and local board an advisory service for organizations. 00;01;14;07 - 00;01;32;26 Unknown For 38 years, Vicki's main work has been credit reporting. Starting her own business once she became licensed. Today, she specializes in teaching how best to pitch your business to gain contracts. Vicki, we are so happy to have you with us today. 00;01;32;26 - 00;01;45;01 Unknown One thing I notice about you is that your attitude is always upbeat, and you talk about being the importance of being with people who bring joy to the world. 00;01;45;04 - 00;02;22;26 Unknown And you know, I watched your during our Wonder Woman Mastermind Club meetings, and you never fail to offer value. Yet I know your life has not always been easy. So talk to us a little bit about your life growing up. Tell us a little bit. Well. Well, I started out, growing up. Part of my life, I'm mainly from the Chicago area, and, I it early in my life, we were out in Lowell, Indiana, went to first and second grade at a Catholic school out there. 00;02;22;28 - 00;02;50;21 Unknown And, and then at around seventh grade, I think it was, my parents got divorced, and, that was where things were a bit on the rough side because my father actually had the lights turned off and, house, foreclosed on and a car repossessed and everything because he wanted a divorce from my mom in order to marry another woman. 00;02;50;24 - 00;03;17;08 Unknown And so, after that was all over, my mom packed us three kids up and brought us back to Blue Island, Illinois. And, we had a two bedroom apartment. My mom, my mom is actually one of my heroes. Or she rose. And it's the it's terminology, because she she raised us, and she, she did a phenomenal job trying to. 00;03;17;08 - 00;03;42;01 Unknown You know, stick with us kids and, you know, have a job and, you know, you know, just took care of us, which was wonderful. We fought a lot. And, like, you know, my siblings and I. But, at, like, 12 years old, I was babysitting six kids in order to make some money. So I learned at a young age how to be independent. 00;03;42;03 - 00;04;08;12 Unknown And, you know, we all took care of each other and, you know, and here we are today. So my sister passed away a couple of years ago, but there's my brother and I that we're still hanging in there, and, so. And then I went straight from high school to, Kirkland and Ellis, which is a big law firm here in Chicago and, as a legal secretary. 00;04;08;15 - 00;04;45;06 Unknown And, from there, it was, I don't know, I just, I think that I, I truly believe that God has a path for me. So I follow that path where sometimes I wonder whether it's really that fun or not. You. But. So anyway, that's that's my childhood, into starting, you know, like, career. Yeah. So what made you decide to go into business on your own? 00;04;45;09 - 00;05;14;07 Unknown After I was the Kirkland for seven and a half years, and I had my. I got my, certified shorthand reporters license. I started working at a court reporting firm. And within three years of being at that court reporting firm, they were actually some people were thinking of breaking off. And I had my own clientele already from Kirkland and other places. 00;05;14;09 - 00;05;42;17 Unknown And so they asked me to come with and, that actually fell through as far as the other people coming. And I had already started the, things in motion. And so I left that firm and started Victoria Court Reporting Services, Inc. and, and brought like three different court reporters with me because they had more experience than I did as a court reporter. 00;05;42;20 - 00;06;14;26 Unknown It's only three and a half years. So, I started on my own is started right off the bat, very successful and had a great time building it. And I think that's, you know, I'm not going to say that's when you and I met, because that was around 1981, jail. But, that's when I realized, since I went straight from high school to Kirkland, I did not know that much about how to run a business. 00;06;14;29 - 00;06;53;28 Unknown And so that's where novel came in. And, with the sisterhood of novel, I learned how to run a business, and that was challenging. But it was very educational. And, Vicki, tell us what novel stands for for our for our listeners. So, yeah, that stands for the National Association of Women Business Owners. And I had some very wise women's supporters, whatever that, you know, really care for each other, take care of each other. 00;06;54;01 - 00;07;21;18 Unknown You know, have all kinds of ideas. They had all day, once a year marketing, workshops and things like that, that would help promote women. So that was wonderful. And then it was when I was I got married when I was 30 years old, and, I'm still married to my wonderful husband at age 43 or for 43 years. 00;07;21;20 - 00;07;51;09 Unknown And it's been, quite the trip. My whole journey is quite the trip. Yeah. Takes a lot of stay power and and girl power to to create a business and make it last and and all. And so with you, you have a lot to share, a lot of wisdom to share. I know. And you do that through mentoring and still are so active in other networking organizations. 00;07;51;09 - 00;08;26;22 Unknown And, and you're out there doing you're out there. Yeah, yeah. Thank you, thank you. Yeah. Your faith. You've talked about your faith. You know, I've heard you talk about your faith and how that has sustained you in. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know. I don't know, I, I especially when things go sideways, it really makes a big difference if you do have faith or or whatever in, 00;08;26;25 - 00;08;54;21 Unknown Who else do you know, who can you lean on or whatever? And so for me, it's prayer, you know, and then it's also my friends, you know, many years ago, I, I had, I did I was married once before, and that was right out of high school with my high school sweetheart, and I was married to him for about three and a half years. 00;08;54;24 - 00;09;29;22 Unknown And, we were couples and everything was couples. And then when I got divorced from him, I realized how how important it is to have friends that are women and and some men, but the women are the ones that really, you know, we're here for each other, you know, and, Yeah, it's so important to have women friends, you know. 00;09;29;24 - 00;10;06;05 Unknown So why did you decide to sell your business? That was in 20. Yeah. And in 2018, I decided to sell my business because of, technology was getting very expensive. Everything was moving along as far as court reporting. Unfortunately, court reporters do not, they don't advertise for what a great, job it is, career that it is. 00;10;06;07 - 00;10;31;22 Unknown And so there was a shortage of court reporters. And so I decided that I was going to sell my business because I was up til 2 or 3:00 in the morning, although I had around 75 court reporters that worked with me. I was having trouble getting coverage for the work that I had in addition to the technology had got to be even more and more expensive. 00;10;31;22 - 00;11;11;10 Unknown And I was a single business owner. And so I decided to sell the business to the world's largest court reporting firm, called Bare Text, Legal Solutions. And today I get to not only get commissions from clients that I still have. But I also finally, after managing my business for so many years, I can I got back into being in the deposition room with my clients, and so I'm having a lot of fun with, doing depositions and running my pitch training services. 00;11;11;12 - 00;11;48;14 Unknown But being in the room with my clients and supporting them in, you know, handling the record and things like that. In the meanwhile, I've got a, a huge, huge scheduling department, and I've got all these, all technology support backup group. And it's just been wonderful as far as that goes. I'm curious about what makes court reporting so such a fun and fulfilling career, because I'm just, you know, in a court and I see the court reporter is the one who's quietly typing away, madly typing away. 00;11;48;16 - 00;12;17;06 Unknown What, what why is that such a great career? Career? Oh my gosh, Catherine, I got into court reporting because I loved spelling. I loved learning new words in court reporting. When you go out as a freelance court reporter, that's one that that is hired by attorneys versus being in the courtroom full time. But you never know who you're going to meet. 00;12;17;09 - 00;12;45;15 Unknown You never know what type of terminology you're going to be presented with. You know, whether it's a doctor, a brain surgeon or an expert in construction or any of that, you're always meeting somebody new every day as long as you go out to jobs. And so it's a wonderful career, especially if you're a social person and you probably if you meet court reporters, they talk a lot. 00;12;45;17 - 00;13;06;19 Unknown They talk a lot because they're the ones that are sitting there not being able to talk at all. They're just big. I think you can also say that they're great listeners because they are court reporters, but I do interrupt people when they talk over each other. Drives me crazy, because you can only take one person at a time. 00;13;06;21 - 00;13;34;19 Unknown And, when people get in arguments or something like that, it's like I try to take control of the. So, yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah. So you might ask, how did I get into pitching? So I did take the, I don't know if you've heard of the Goldman Sachs 10,000, small businesses program, but I did apply for that. 00;13;34;19 - 00;14;01;14 Unknown And I got into that while I was in, you know, I had my court reporting business. And so the 10,000 small businesses program part of it, you have to come up with the growth opportunity. And so with my court reporting, I had a whole videography department. And what I wanted to do for my growth opportunity was how to work with the attorneys that I attorney. 00;14;01;14 - 00;14;26;13 Unknown Clients of mine and see if I could help them in better explaining their specialty in law, and that we would video record it, and then we'd give them the video recording and they could put it up posted on their website. This was back when attorneys really didn't advertise that much, and you've got to be careful about what all you really can say and what you can deliver. 00;14;26;16 - 00;14;52;08 Unknown So that was the beginning of the pitch training. I started doing that and and then it broke into, I'm also very involved with the Women's Business Development Center, which is, BDC and so and, and Nabeel, we've, you know, videotaped a lot of notable events too. So, yeah, there we go 00;14;52;08 - 00;14;57;21 Unknown that I hear Gayle say that you are a storyteller as well. 00;14;57;23 - 00;15;33;15 Unknown Part of your pitch involves storytelling, and that is so important. You know, you can talk about yourself like crazy, but it has to do everything with connecting with people has to do with being able to tell your story. And so when you've got 60s or 3 minutes or 5 minutes, whatever, it's what I do is help people develop that story from the whole beginning, all the way through to the end. 00;15;33;16 - 00;16;04;22 Unknown And, you know, making connections. It's not always okay. Yeah. That's right. You're, you're very much involved in a number of organizations, community wise, charitable wise, I believe. And it seems like I see you everywhere whenever there is something going on and they'll tell us about some of those activities that you do. Oh, wow. Well, I talked a little bit about novel, and, novel has events. 00;16;04;22 - 00;16;30;22 Unknown thank God for Covid because without Covid, we never would have gotten on just zoom. And, especially for people who don't go out so much anymore, they can socialize and do a lot of things in zoom. And so, you know, novel has these, things events called connects once a month in all different areas. 00;16;30;22 - 00;17;11;14 Unknown And so, I'm involved with that and the whole connects groups. I mentioned the 10,000 small businesses they've got, they're a whole alumni. They have over 15,000 small businesses that have taken the program across the United States, got 1100 just here in Chicago. There's the Women's Business Development Center that has free counseling for small businesses. And they have so many workshops to help businesses grow and learn more, especially, you know, the financial background and things like that. 00;17;11;14 - 00;17;35;19 Unknown So and then the charitable ones, I work, I do things with my church. I'm a lector and a communion minister. And then I do workshops there that they have for free. And then, the biggest one that I am most impressed with and love doing is the center for Disabilities and Elder Law, which is a not for profit here in Chicago. 00;17;35;26 - 00;18;12;08 Unknown It is very, very successful. They have about 28, people on their board of directors there. They've been amazing with helping seniors. And and disabled people and making sure that they're not being scammed or that they're not being, run out of their home, you know, they make it a point. They've got a special arrangement with the city of Chicago in that they have access to the seniors, contact information. 00;18;12;08 - 00;18;48;24 Unknown And so at least once a year, they contact the seniors and make sure that they're getting their senior freeze for real estate and things like that. But more than anything, how many elder people have gotten into trouble where even their family, sorry to say, or the stranger has scammed them, whether it's, you know, online or it's somebody who got them to sign over their mortgage or the I'm sorry, their, their home, and then they end up being thrown out. 00;18;48;26 - 00;19;20;03 Unknown And so the center for Disabilities and Elder Law have the highest level of attorneys to help protect the seniors. So it's a wonderful, wonderful thing. Really good to know. Yes. Well, now that you're in your 70s, because I like to ask is, how are you thinking about your own aging? Are you thinking about it? Oh, yes. You know, I, I had somebody give me a really dirty look the other day. 00;19;20;03 - 00;19;40;14 Unknown I was at lunch with someone and they, you know, they were asking me about aging and stuff. And I think this person might have been in their 80s. And I said to them, do you know how many Thanksgivings we have left in our life? 00;19;40;16 - 00;20;11;17 Unknown And he gave me a dirty look because he did not want to really think about that. But, you know, for me it is like, really if if we did think about how many Thanksgivings that we had left or how many other holidays, what would we be doing to make the best of what we have left? And we don't know how much room we got left, but let's let's make the best of it. 00;20;11;23 - 00;20;41;09 Unknown You know? And I think the other thing is, you know, my husband is in the estate planning, he's an attorney and things in estate planning. And I hear so many stories about these people that, hold, hold things against each other or whatever, especially family members. And so the other thing I concentrate a lot on is forgiving people. 00;20;41;12 - 00;21;15;26 Unknown And because, you know, what goes around comes around. And, and so we need to really work on enjoying the rest of our lives in joy. And how do we share that with others? How do we make up with those friends or relatives that, might be gone before us or that we might be gone before we're able to really tell them how we think and how much we love them. 00;21;15;29 - 00;21;54;17 Unknown So, so, for me to, you know, the rest of my life, I can't imagine not doing something, you know, that staying involved, continuing to contribute to friends and business owners and my, my job really, I feel like, is raising people up by giving referrals to people, for business or even that reminding people is as we get older and we start falling apart, you know, reminding each other about the joyous times, the best times that we've had. 00;21;54;19 - 00;22;18;25 Unknown I saw a girlfriend. She had a really bad liver problem. And I started sending her the pictures of some of the events that we had been at and when she looked really good and things like that. And that helped raise her spirits. And so, you know, how do we raise each other up? Right? Really? Yet is all, well, that is beautiful. 00;22;18;28 - 00;22;46;17 Unknown And we thank you so much for being here, Vicky, and for sharing your story and for sharing your joy, because you always enjoy and and just really appreciate all that you do. We do thank the listeners. We'd like to see more of you at our monthly online programs, Make Your Voice Heard, as together we change the conversation about women aging. 00;22;46;19 - 00;23;17;19 Unknown Visit Aging Reimagined Circle at Women over 70.com. And if you like women over 70, we you'll you check. Please check out the weekly podcast with Beverly Glaser. Aging with Purpose and Passion. This podcast is about inspiring women over 50 who embrace bold life shifts and unlock their potential through captivating stories from trailblazing senior women. Thanks for listening.