SUMMARY
Carolyn shares her experience as she travels outside her four walls and how she started building her own brand.
Listen to the podcast here:
Podcast highlights:
02:05 – Who is Carolyn Scott-Hamilton?
04:07 – Building Her Own Brand
05:41 – There’s Something About Every Meal
08:19 – What Keeps Carolyn Going?
12:01 – Doing Everything On Your Own
BIO
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton is an Award-winning healthy, special diet and green living and travel expert, cookbook author, media spokesperson, holistic nutritionist, plant based vegan chef and television personality, Carolyn Scott-Hamilton is a respected Latin American figure in the world of a healthy lifestyle as well as special diet cooking and nutrition. With a highly acclaimed cookbook and travel show to her credit, Carolyn has traveled the world for her show, site and brand as well as to offer her services as a health and nutrition expert, recipe developer, writer, speaker, consultant and media spokesperson. She is frequently quoted in national media and regularly appears on television and radio programs sharing healthy recipes, travel tips and all things healthy, green and happy living.
[Transcription]
Michael Silvers [00:01] : Hi Everyone, I wanted to welcome you to the show today. Yes, you are on the mentor studio. Again, it’s going to be an amazing impactful show, aren’t they always? One thing I want you all to remember, and you’ve heard this from me before, is there is a difference because we’ll be bringing coaches and mentors and the greatest on the planet to you. And again, a coach is really somebody who will kick your behind and keep you moving forward very simply. And a mentor is somebody who’s already where you want to be, but it might not even be in the exact business you’re in. It could be somebody, again, who has the lifestyle that you want or the dreams that you want, or it could be an income, whatever that is for you we find that a lot of students really talk much more about lifestyle, but at the beginning of your career, I understand how the money’s going to make a difference.
Michael Silvers [00:46] : And we will always offer that to some of the mentors you’ve already heard, you know that it helps drive you in the direction that you want to go. So I wanted to welcome everybody again to the mentors studio and today my guest, she has done so much. I could literally sit on, read this bio for the next half hour, which will be awesome, right? All over you and go, oh my gosh, but I’m just going to introduce her. Let her do her own introduction. We call that an earn the right everybody. Write that down as you’re learning. It’s called an ETR. It’s how you earn the right. It’s one we’re going to put you on stage when you’re in front of a production crew, it’s how you earn the right of why are you even there and why should we listen to you? So I’m going to let her do that. I’m going to introduce her right now. I’d like everybody to give a big, thunderous, warm welcome to miss Carolyn Scott-Hamilton. There we go. Fantastic. Welcome to the show.
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [01:43] : Thank you. Thank you.
Michael Silvers [01:45] : Awesome. So tell us a little bit about yourself. And by the way, I just wanted to tell the audience, part of the reason that I do that is you’re not only what’s called heightened the state, so the audience gets a little excited what’s going on. They also learn better, but it also gets the person you’re working with sort of a little bit comfortable and it’s OK to have fun. So Carolyn tell us about yourself.
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [02:05] : Well, I am a holistic nutritionist. I’m a [Inaudible] chef. I also am the host and creator of the healthy voyager show, brand site, the whole empire. But I like to call it. I was a former publicist. I ran my own PR firm for many years and I ended up kind of falling into what I do now because previously in a life before PR I ended up going to culinary school and studying holistic nutrition and ended up kind of putting that side as I built my PR firm because I really was just doing that for my own personal knowledge. And back in 2005, I realized that this is what I wanted to do and I started to kind of build it on my own. I had the idea for the show and I started pitching the show around and it was a little too early and be healthy universe as far as traditional media went. So I said, you know what? I know how to build brands. I was a publicist for a long time, so I did it on my own and now here I am. And continuing to build that brand.
Michael Silvers [03:18] : That’s fantastic. You know, the thing that’s great about your story too is you took responsibility. You know, we always say don’t do everything yourself right where you are, right? But at the same time you had the knowledge and information to do what you needed to get done. And the difference is that you did it. Did you also though, while you were building your brand and list other people to really mentor you through that process?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [03:39] : Did Not. I did everything myself.
Michael Silvers [03:43] : Love it. I love it.
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [03:46] : Not because I wanted to because it was out of necessity you know.
Michael Silvers [03:46] : I do. And you know, it’s interesting though because probably to get to where you were actually to build your firm, there were other people that you had worked for right? That, you know, you mentored with at the same time, so you took all those learnings and you were able to build this brand that’s been very successful and will continue to be successful as you continue to build your brand. What excites you about your brand? What gets you up every morning?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [04:24] : For me, to travel outside of my four walls and experiencing something new, adventure, new people, new food. That’s really why I launched the brand to begin with. And of course there are million other aspects to it, but I would say that travel is at the heart of what I do.
Michael Silvers [04:46]: I like that that’s the lifestyle right away. And thing is that it puts us in a much greater frame when we see what’s going on around the world, but when we eat our way through other countries, that’s a really awesome though, don’t you get to know in a way more about the country, through the food than almost many the other ways.
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [05:08] : 100 percent you get to. Well, especially if you make her way off the beaten path, you know, if you’re not just dining at the hotel or at the Torres recommended spots, if you’re really getting into neighborhoods that you normally wouldn’t go to as a tourist, you really break away from that. You get to meet people that you wouldn’t normally meet, experience culture and food and the way that you normally wouldn’t. So that’s really fun for me.
Michael Silvers [05:39] : Also, it’s because even people that are introverts still gets that. There’s something around the meal and the meal creates comfort, right? So it really opens you up for that new experience in that new learning and it’s done so differently in many different areas. You know, when you really started to build the brand and get out there, got it on and you shopped it around and you were very successful doing that. What did you keep as the end in mind? What would that focus that you would present or go for when you were building the brand?
Carolyn Scott-Hamiton [06:16] : I really just believe in the idea and what it could be because there’s not just one singular item idea show product. It’s kind of an entire, I guess I would say empire I did. There’s so much that can be placed under the umbrella of my brand. I kind of sat in the eyes of I guess, well Disney, how he had an idea that could be an umbrella to so many other things and that’s kind of how what keeps me going really that if one thing doesn’t necessarily pan out there so many other things under the scope of the brand that could.
Michael Silvers [07:01] : I like it. That’s a very catchy phrase and that’s again, it’s people can say, yeah, that inserted, it’s catchy, but at the same time it’s a lifestyle and that’s what we’re finding more and more people are really looking for is that lifestyle and as you’re building your brand and really becoming, do you see yourself as the brand?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [07:22] : Yeah, I do. And it’s funny because I go by, you know, the healthy voyage over the past couple of years I’ve really tried to put myself more as the brand. I mean, it’s always been me and my brand, but I’ve really tried to use my name more than healthy voyager just because I can be separate from it, but still be the face of it. So I can be other things than just the healthy voyager. But the healthy voyager as me.
Michael Silvers [07:54] : I love that. And when you broke into this is what comes up all the time that people who are trying to either break into the industry, whether it’s the entertainment industry or music or personal development, I want to be on stage. There’s a lot of times that it’s hard. Right? And it’s a road. And what kept you going?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [08:18] : Well, I guess what kept me going is I didn’t really want to do anything else. I would think, Oh wow, you know, when you have a tough day or a tough week or even a tough month like, oh, should I just give up? And then you think, well, what else do I want to do? And you think, I’ve either already done it and I don’t want to do it, or there’s nothing else that excites me that I would be as passionate about. So you keep going.
Michael Silvers [08:46] : That’s actually great because part of it is I think it becomes more than ourselves and you can obviously agree or disagree. I think we get to the point that you’re doing your brand. And when I read through your publicity and everything, it’s very much about making a difference than about you. Can you say a little bit more about that?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [09:09] : It’s funny because I started this before there was even the term social media, there was no facebook, there was no twitter, there was no instagram, there was nothing. The only thing that had really started was youtube. And it was my space, but no one really used it for business purposes really, unless you were a DJ. So it just wasn’t like it is now. So when I started I really just wanted to be a resource for other people. So yeah, you know, I shop the show around and I would have been the host of the show and Creator and producer. But it really was to be a resource for people, initially as someone who could prove that you could travel the world regardless of your dietary restriction. So it’s definitely grown from there, but that’s still very much the crux of what it is.
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [10:06] : But it wasn’t necessarily about me. And it’s funny now in the wild wild west that is the Internet age, you know, you look at all these millennials, you know, that their brand is just themselves and they’re not really experts on anything but it’s just about them being them. So that’s really a funny thing to wrap my head around because that’s never what I intended to do. So it’s funny because I’m still trying to stay true to what I do and still be relevant to everyone. And it’s funny thinking, oh, should I start posting in all my Instagram pictures and know that kind of stuff. I’m like, no, that’s really not me. So the brand is me, but it’s not me. It’s a really fine line to walk with what I do.
Michael Silvers [10:55] : It’s great. As you move forward in what you’re doing and really what you’re creating, what you’re creating is actually been spectacular. And I love the whole travel component because it does bring that, you know, we’re really part of what we’re trying to teach his lifestyle. So stop focusing on the money part and focus on what is the lifestyle you’re trying to create not only for you but those around you and then give service back with that lifestyle. I think that travel component again shows us it’s not just us in this world and I’m so blessed to be on the phone with you that you’re actually doing that because the times that I’ve walked into other countries and went, this is not like my country and that there’s work to be done here. I think changes us and as you move in that framework and as you built, you know really and you’re obviously building bigger and bigger and reaching more and more fans. What challenges or obstacles, you know, what’s one thing that you really ran into and how did you move past it?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [12:00] : Doing everything on my own. I guess it’s just spreading myself so thin. I think that’s probably my biggest obstacle. I’m just out of necessity. So I think time and availability to do everything well has been kind of my biggest problem. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
Michael Silvers [12:25] : Yes you do. I wasn’t going to say that we’re going to turn this into a coaching session, but that’s a great lesson though for everybody to learn is because we do teach, stop doing it on your own and it’s so hard not to. I do the same thing I built, right? Whatever I do, I’m like, I can do it, I can do it. Well, I can do a better. I know what my mission is and there’s a tendency to always want to do that or to you know, and then again, how do we circle itself with the right team? And by the way, we will talk about teams and how to create those teams and how to create that million dollar team around you. But that’s for another call. I’m glad you actually brought that up. I was wondering if you go there and that’s a great one to be on.
Michael Silvers [13:08] : And one last thing, just really again about advice because we’ve all gotten advice. You know, you built a brand by yourself because you had mentors who brought you to the point that you have the pr and you had the background to build it, with everybody’s itch you’ve ever worked with in because you’ve been in studios, you’ve been on TV, travel, you’ve obviously done their cooking. What again, if you were to leave the audience with one great piece of advice and maybe even a little homework to just get going or get them going now, what would you tell me if I was brand new in the industry?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [13:47] : I’m very much an advocate of get off your butt and do it and don’t wait to do tomorrow what can be done today. I am the opposite of a procrastinator and I think that’s why I’ve been successful in different fields, because I don’t wait until tomorrow or next week or until things are right, I just do it. So I think for me, what I would tell people is it’s going to be scary whether you do it today or tomorrow or next week, so you may as well just get it over with and just do it.
Michael Silvers [14:23] : Fantastic. You know, I want to appreciate you taking your time with us. This has been, again, a great call and I want to let everybody know to that you will hear much more from Carolyn at the Mentor studio. She has such an amazing background experience. The publisher side is critical to everything that we do and create and really understanding a lot of people don’t even understand what that is and what that means. She brings a wealth of knowledge. You did it, you’re continuing to do it. It’s your passion. You bring that side too. I think it will only become better at everything we are to be able to hear you more listened to you more. We’ll put up her links and everything on our site so you can get more information. You can join her and really be on this revolution, which is creating lifestyle, being there for people, eating better, being healthier, and living a better existence. Any last things before we go?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton [15:25] : No. I think you wrapped it all out quite nicely.
Michael Silvers [15:26] : Fantastic. Well, again, thank you so much for your time today and thank you audience for everyone around the world listening to this show, whether it’s morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are. We appreciate you. You’re part of our team. We’re building a family and at the mentor studio. Have a great morning, afternoon or evening. Carolyn, thank you so much for being on. Goodbye everyone.