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Building a Business in Your 50s Doesn’t Have to Suck!
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Mar 7, 2024
I sit down with serial entrepreneur Susan Salzman. As an originator of ideas and a trailblazer, building a business and building her brand and then her digital media platform, she has helped 100s of women do the same. Join us to find out how! #entrepreneur #serialentrepreneur #buildingabusiness 📌 Subscribe to the Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@carenglasser Check out my website here: http://www.carenglasser.com Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/carenglasser Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carenglasser Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/carenglasser Check out Susan's Website: https://www.susansalzman.com/
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0:00
hello everyone Karen Glasser here and
0:02
welcome to Karen Glasser live I'm here
0:04
today with Susan salsman she is a
0:07
business strategist and the national
0:09
director at one table so without further
0:12
Ado welcome to the show hey how's how
0:15
you doing today Susan I'm great thank
0:17
you so much for having me Karen I'm
0:18
really happy to be here and I'm grateful
0:20
that you invited me to be here oh my
0:22
pleasure I'm excited about the
0:24
conversation we're going to have and I'm
0:25
just want to jump right in we're going
0:27
to start with your journey and how you
0:29
got to where you are today um because
0:31
you've done a lot of things and I you
0:34
know you like to call yourself a Serial
0:35
entrepreneur first of all what does that
0:38
mean okay well what it means is I
0:40
created my first project at the age of
0:43
seven so it started very early on two
0:46
things happened at that time I created
0:48
my first product and I sold it behind
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the handball carts for a buck and I also
0:54
I also baked my first cake from scratch
0:56
without any help so I love to cook cook
1:00
cooking for others uh feeding others is
1:02
my love language and I love to use um
1:06
that form of hospitality as a way to
1:08
bring people in invite them into my home
1:11
but also way to show others how much I
1:15
care about them and when I do drop
1:17
something off at their home it's really
1:19
more about the experience rather than
1:20
the meal or the thing itself I love that
1:23
I'm that's my word for the year is
1:26
experience because if you don't have the
1:28
experience why would you even come back
1:30
to do it again right um now you've been
1:32
involved in the entertainment industry a
1:35
little bit and the business end so tell
1:36
us a little bit about that okay so I
1:39
started my career right out of college I
1:41
was very very very fortunate to um have
1:46
the most incredible first boss at the
1:48
age of 22 or 23 I think I was um uh can
1:52
I I mention his name his name was Bernie
1:54
Burstein and he was incredibly iconic
1:57
and um just what did I know we were an
2:00
office of seven at that time and we know
2:03
what's happened in terms of the growth
2:05
of that organization and Company since
2:07
but we were a team of seven it was a
2:09
beautiful space to learn grow be and I
2:13
was immediately kind of brought into
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to trust right like it wasn't like I
2:20
came in as a receptionist right first
2:22
job to two or three weeks after Bernie
2:25
looked at me who had a great assistant
2:27
at the time GG um and said you're really
2:30
smart um we're gonna bring you over to
2:32
us we're g to find a different
2:34
receptionist so it and I and I and I was
2:37
just really brought into the fold you
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know whether it was sitting in a
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writer's room for one of TV shows or um
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when Bernie became the uh head of Laura
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Mark jumping on the private jet to go
2:53
see a show in Vegas with him you and
2:56
then when Brad gray came in um he came
2:59
in as like a young you know and he kind
3:01
of looked at me and said again you're
3:04
smart I want you to work with me so I
3:06
was able to really work with both and I
3:08
was part of that um when we launched the
3:12
it's Gary Shandling show which was the
3:13
first iconic show to break the fourth
3:15
wall I was in the writer room I was in
3:18
the director's Booth with Alan rafkin
3:20
every week I was on set it was just so
3:23
fun and there and no wasn't really an
3:25
option for me or maybe there was some
3:27
NOS but I was never fearful to ask ask
3:30
can I well you know it's it's I'm just
3:32
listening to you and I think the the
3:34
stream that just kind of goes through
3:36
all of this is your incredible
3:41
confidence you have to be confident for
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people to say you're smart literally say
3:46
you're smart because you're you're not
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afraid of showing that you're smart and
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I know that in this world that we live
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in sometimes as a woman when you show
3:53
your smart that's not always the right
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yeah you know it's interesting you say
3:58
that maybe I shouldn't talk about this
4:00
but the just the other day my son looked
4:03
at me and said I was very I'm very like
4:05
my father I was very close with my
4:07
father actually yesterday was 17 years
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since he passed away and he said to me
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would your dad have said you were
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difficult and I would say yeah probably
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but I think what comes along with with
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being difficult is um is tenacity and um
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perseverance and
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not saying no and being driven you know
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and being driven in everything that I do
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whether it's making a box of cookies or
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what I'm doing in my daily life with my
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job or my family or whatever it is so
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yeah I don't know I don't know if it's
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such a bad thing I don't I don't think
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it's a bad thing at all um so let's talk
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about how you help women and how you
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help people um because you you kind of
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segue from the from the entertainment
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industry to not I mean you didn't kind
4:57
of leave it you're still you're still
5:00
there making sure that um people get
5:02
what they need um where they where they
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need it so how how do you work with
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people well that's been a journey you
5:10
asked me about my journey you know if I
5:12
could just Infuse a little something in
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there in between because there's bookend
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that you know of course Bernie was the
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bookend on the left and then I think
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really where I am today with my my
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position at one table is the book end on
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the right is in
5:30
WR there was you probably remember this
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because I know you are an LA person
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you're involved in the entertainment
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business there was a writer strike in
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1988 and and I was kind of I was feeling
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a little Mal content and I had I had
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gotten a job offer by a really
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incredible director writer producer who
5:48
had just won the Academy Award and to
5:50
run development for his company they
5:53
were making a deal at a new studio and I
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thought wow this is a great opportunity
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for me to have a pause and a break and
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so I had a four or five month pause
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before that job was happening and I
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opted into that pause because I'd been
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working since I was 12 so so I started
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making gifts for friends in that time
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and they started showing up at baby
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showers this was pre- internet really on
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on the cust of email that we didn't have
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a Facebook we didn't even know have the
6:22
word Google or SEO or any of the things
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that are just part of our vernacular
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today and I started making gifts for in
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a very organic way and they I started
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bringing them to baby showers and
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someone's like I want two of those and
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can you make me X to match and
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entrepreneur entrepreneur there you go
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yeah over the next 20 years I spent 20
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years building a seven fig Global
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Lifestyle brand that put me on the pages
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of every magazine I was kind of that
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Guru that they came to from those talk
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shows like Access Hollywood I was on
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Oprah Show I wrote a book CL and Potter
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published a book that I wrote
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and um I did a couple movie sets so it
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was again I think being Scrappy and
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being um maybe confident or or again no
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is not really in my vernacular no just
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really means sometimes not now right and
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but but keep persevering so I did that
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20 years 2008 we know what happened in
7:21
2008 my dad had just passed away as I
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just mentioned it's been 17 years and I
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was really I had four three young
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children three young boys and again I
7:31
pause and so I went back to what I love
7:35
cooking started a food blog before they
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were groovy didn't know what I was doing
7:39
figured out figuring out digital media
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marketing at that time created Community
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which is my word for this year and um
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people started coming and my recipes
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started becoming syndicated in National
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magazines and stuff like that didn't ask
7:54
for it didn't want to be a food blogger
7:56
just needed a portal for my recipes a
7:59
space to be creative and um people
8:02
started coming to me how did you build a
8:04
business how did you write a blog how do
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you do I was like G just do this and
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they're like no let me hire you so that
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was really
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2009 where my whole journey into helping
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others in this way um started and so
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whether it was a brand or women or CEOs
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or artists or whatever I've been doing
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that for the past many years so what do
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what do you like about that what is your
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most favorite thing that you show up to
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do this regularly why do you like it so
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much um well at my core I don't know if
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you know fun but in fun there is that
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helpful friend corner or whatever I
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think I sit in that helpful friend
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corner I you know whether people come to
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me I know I just introduce you to my
8:51
friend Shirley like Shirley always calls
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me like where should I get these socks
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or where should I you know like that
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kind of thing I'm like a concierge right
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and and so I really like being able to
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get people from I can't to I can letting
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them showing them what's
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possible and showing them that
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opportunities are all around us we just
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have to really be open in our both our
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heart and our head to be open to
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allowing them to come in and
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so and I think it's perspective Karen I
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think it's really being able to offer
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somebody another perspective that they
9:30
can't really see on their own and that
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really comes through dialogue it comes
9:35
through conversation it comes through
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the what I call the
9:38
volley and and you're you like to say
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you know building a business in your 50s
9:44
doesn't have to suck in fact that's why
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we called the show that because when I
9:48
heard that I I said you're Absolut
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literally I said you're absolutely right
9:52
it doesn't have to suck in your 60s it
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doesn't have to
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suck it's all how you come to this and
10:00
in fact you are a walking Testament to
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that and you mentioned it a little bit
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earlier um you are now the national
10:06
director um um at one table and first of
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all brief little explanation I know what
10:12
it is but I'm going to let you explain
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what one table is and what you're doing
10:16
with them okay I'm so happy you asked
10:18
that so well okay so I'll tell you that
10:22
first and then I want to piggy back on
10:23
something you just said um when you were
10:25
talking but um one table is a now an
10:30
international nonprofit Jewish nonprofit
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organization that started 10 years ago
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by our founder Alisa Klein who um which
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at the end of the day it's rooted in
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humanity so it was started 10 years ago
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because Alisa um and and some of the
10:46
people that she was affiliated with
10:47
found that there was a disconnect in the
10:51
um Jewish demographic of 20 to 30 year
10:54
olds who were feeling a tad disconnected
10:57
to maybe the rituals or the roots or the
10:59
Traditions that they had grown up with
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many of them were not returning home
11:03
after college moving to another state
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they were not near their family and but
11:07
but these young people were not joining
11:09
synagogues but they wanted to find a way
11:12
to bring what they love about being
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Jewish into their home in their own way
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in their in a DIY way so basically um
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basically one table is a at the end of
11:28
the day goal and our aim is to build
11:31
community and we do that using the using
11:34
the Shabbat dinner table as a vehicle to
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do that right so so what happened was
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they were doing some research during the
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pandemic as well as jfna Jewish
11:43
Federation North America also did some
11:45
really incredible um study about the
11:48
epidemic of loneliness and what they
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found was that our demographic mine and
11:53
yours um the 5055 plus Community was
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really struggling with loneliness many
11:59
of them empty nesters change of life
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life pivot death divorce whatever comes
12:03
along with that we're not we're not
12:06
affiliated with synagogue anymore I can
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speak to that because when my kids my
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last son was bfed we didn't really we
12:13
lost not lost that Community but the
12:15
community changed and so we weren't
12:18
really affiliated with the synagogue
12:20
although I go for high holidays and I
12:22
might go to the rabbis for Shabbat once
12:24
in a while but but we we were really
12:29
feeling disconnected and lonely and so
12:31
they thought well this is working so
12:33
well in the 20 to 30 year old
12:35
demographic to date we have about uh
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we've had about 130 Shabbat dinners on
12:39
our social dining platform we are a tech
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company that's about 260 seats at the
12:45
table over 600 cities Across America and
12:48
now Canada amazing I mean just amazing
12:51
amazing and so they what they said was
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well it's working so well there let's
12:56
tap into the 5055 plus community we need
12:59
somebody to run this who's that going to
13:01
be and through a national search they
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actually found me and I'm so incredibly
13:05
grateful I love my role and it merges so
13:08
beautifully with what I've been doing
13:10
because I'm continuing to help others
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find vehicles to build community and
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exercise their voice find their voice go
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from I can't to I can many of the people
13:22
I talked to say well God I haven't
13:23
hosted in a long time or my apartment's
13:26
small and I just moved and I don't know
13:28
anybody it's like I give you're a
13:30
solution you're a solution maker you
13:32
will find the solution for all of those
13:34
things I can you know anyone if you're
13:36
just tuning in right now uh we're we're
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talking to Susan salsman and we're
13:39
talking about community and we're
13:41
talking about one table and we're
13:43
talking about bringing people together
13:44
and it is very clear Susan as you talk
13:47
the passion is literally like oozing
13:50
from you and I don't say that lightly
13:52
you clearly love what you do and you
13:55
clearly want to make a difference um but
13:59
you you also talk about women lacking
14:01
confidence and things like that so is
14:03
that why it the bottom you know was that
14:07
why you do this it is Karen because I
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think when somebody asked me the other
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day I was talking with somebody telling
14:16
them how you've helped me over the past
14:17
three years you know I still have a
14:19
couple clients that I meet at night or
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on the weekends through Zoom or
14:23
sometimes in person and I was telling
14:25
him the other day and I really was
14:26
trying to figure out how you've helped
14:28
me because where I was to where I am
14:30
today the transformation is um almost
14:33
like unrecognizable to a lot of people
14:35
that that knew me before and and we were
14:39
talking about it and she said what do
14:41
you think it is and I said at the end of
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the day it's confidence it really is
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confidence because we C it because look
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we
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have can I cuss you can do whatever you
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want we're on all day long
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you go as mother as mothers as partners
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as whatever whatever we're on all
15:06
day long the expectation for everything
15:08
that we are capable of doing is so high
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because we've set that bar really really
15:12
high that that when we don't we are
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completely just on and so I think
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that we lose our confidence and many of
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us women gave up that thing of who we
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were or what we did or how we operated
15:27
in the world to raise our family or be
15:29
the CEO of our family and we lost
15:33
ourselves so how do we find oursel they
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need people like me doesn't have to be
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me but many people need people like me
15:40
to hold up the mirror that's what I do
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first and then I offer them the shovel
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and I always say do you want a big
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shovel or a little shovel because that
15:47
will that will determine how how much
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we're gonna Susan you're walking
15:51
testimonial of your what you are
15:54
actually teaching and instructing and
15:56
encouraging women I mean you are as you
15:59
say living proof because you know what
16:02
one table gave me a job at
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62 h i all I can say is how smart are
16:11
they number one and um they're very very
16:14
lucky number two to have you but but but
16:17
because of your passion and because you
16:20
are again setting a really good example
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for any age it's not just 50 plus or 60
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plus it's a good example for women at
16:30
any age I think that's why the word
16:32
confidence kind of came out of my mouth
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at the beginning and here we are full
16:36
circle coming around to the other side
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it is really about confidence I get
16:40
asked that all the time you know because
16:42
I've done a lot of things too and
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they'll say well how did you know and
16:45
it's like I didn't I didn't know I just
16:48
figured I would try it if you don't try
16:50
it right it's not going to happen um so
16:55
a couple more questions because you're
16:57
fascinating and I'm just really curious
16:59
is there somewhere that you want to go
17:02
to at this point that inspires you or
17:05
motivates you at this
17:07
time um you know it's interesting well
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first of all I love what I'm doing and I
17:11
you know I tell people I'm gonna die
17:13
here you know but um I hope that I'm
17:16
around with them for a very long time
17:18
and so but with that
17:21
said I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna
17:24
backtrack here a little bit so in
17:27
2016 I was diagnosed with cancer for the
17:30
first time it's I've been diagnosed
17:31
three times now so but I was diagnosed
17:33
for the first time and it really gave me
17:35
a wakeup call because I was um I wasn't
17:38
feeling super confident at that time
17:40
even though I was helping people I
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didn't like the way I was helping people
17:44
or I was working with the people that I
17:46
was working with because I was more
17:48
micromanaging them rather than
17:49
empowering them to do the thing for the
17:52
for their business for their brand for
17:54
their voice so that diagnosis gave me an
17:57
opportunity to again pause a little
17:59
regroup and reframe and in that
18:02
reframing I created for myself what I
18:05
use today with my clients called the f-
18:07
stage framework and I think what I think
18:12
that um what I really love oh my God can
18:18
we okay wait I think that what I really
18:20
love about all of this is that um we
18:25
come to certain things at different
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stages and different phases in our life
18:29
and so I really what's been coming my
18:33
way because my words for this year is um
18:37
community and repurpose and what I
18:40
really love doing is like I'm traveling
18:42
for one table next week I'm going down
18:45
to Florida to speak to a big gaggle of
18:47
people and I really like that I like
18:49
having this conversation with you so I
18:53
like speaking I like sharing the story
18:56
because I know that it's inspirational
18:57
so I think where I'd really like to go
19:00
is really be able to inspire women our
19:04
age whether 40 50 60 whatever maybe in a
19:08
bigger way and on a bigger scale because
19:12
I want women like us to all believe that
19:15
they still have the goods this they have
19:18
the goods inside of them they just need
19:20
help digging it out I want everybody to
19:22
be able to see that they have still have
19:24
opportunities that it's not over and
19:26
again you said it I'm living proof at 62
19:28
they gave me an opportunity I love what
19:31
I'm doing I personally don't feel
19:32
there's anybody better for the job but
19:35
and you know what how I don't know very
19:37
many women people but but specifically
19:40
women that feel confident enough to say
19:42
that out loud and kudos to you my friend
19:45
I I just applaud you because if more of
19:48
us were to be able to stand up and say
19:49
there is nobody better than me to do
19:51
this we would we would go far I have one
19:54
more question and right before we did we
19:56
came on for this show I said Legacy is
19:58
really important to me and so the last
20:01
question I really want to ask you is how
20:02
do you want to be
20:05
remembered okay so it's so interesting
20:08
you asked that because I have an
20:09
exercise I do with some of my clients
20:11
it's it's it's called Write Your
20:14
obituary and so um and it's basically
20:19
this I haven't personally dove into it
20:22
myself but now you're reminding me that
20:25
I need to do that I think I really just
20:27
want to reme be remembered as somebody
20:29
who
20:30
um there is a Maya Angelou quote about
20:35
like I'm GNA butcher it but people will
20:38
will they won't remember what you said
20:41
or like how you how you well no they
20:45
will how you acted but they will
20:47
remember how you made them feel right
20:49
made you feel right that that's how I
20:51
want to be remembered how did I make you
20:54
feel and um hopefully it I made them
20:58
feel good so I I want to let people know
21:01
how they can stay in touch with you and
21:04
look at your programs and the different
21:05
things that you're doing first of all
21:07
they can go check your website out at
21:08
Susans salman.com and to monetize your
21:11
mission which is awesome and then
21:13
finally or not finally in addition to
21:15
that they can tap into it what does that
21:17
mean tap into it so tap into it is a
21:20
free resource it's it's a downloadable
21:22
PDF that anybody can opt into and it
21:24
really is tap into your hidden talents
21:26
you you mentioned something before
21:28
people came to you and said how' you do
21:30
this and how'd you do that and you said
21:31
I just didn't I just tried things right
21:35
so it's kind of like tapping into your
21:37
gut tapping into those hidden talents
21:39
and it's five very simple questions that
21:41
allows you to see yourself maybe in a
21:45
way that I would see you when we got
21:47
into a room together but you're doing it
21:49
independently in our so take advantage
21:51
guys take advantage of this Susans
21:52
salman.com tap- into- it also you have
21:57
another Workshop that coming up uh
21:59
capture your essent workshop and again
22:01
it's Susan salman.com
22:03
Workshop what we're telling you is go
22:05
over to the website there's lots of
22:06
great stuff check it out now if you're
22:08
social media fend like a lot of us are
22:11
you can check out Susan on Instagram and
22:13
you'll notice there's the underscore and
22:15
licked in the middle of that and then
22:18
finally Linked In you can check her out
22:21
at Susan solsman Susan we've talked
22:23
about a lot of things are is there
22:25
something you want to share with the
22:26
audience that we just didn't get to
22:29
um well first of all thank you um I'm
22:31
grateful for you asking me these some of
22:34
these hard questions and making me think
22:36
early on a Saturday morning um and um I
22:41
I just think again that um no isn't an
22:45
option like you know um the only way you
22:49
fail is by giving up so don't give up
22:51
there's always detours there's always
22:54
ways to Verve on uh Veer on the other
22:58
side of the road your destination is
23:00
always the same but you might take you
23:02
different Avenues to get there and
23:04
different roads to get there so love the
23:06
visual I love the visual of that Susan
23:09
thank you for spending Saturday with me
23:12
and we know that those of you who are
23:14
watching whether it's right now or later
23:16
on sometime later on we know you have a
23:18
choice as to where you spend your time
23:20
and you chose to spend it with Susan and
23:22
I today we are grateful go out give
23:24
somebody of an awesome day and we'll see
23:26
you next time on Ken glass live goodbye
23:29
everyone
#Business Formation