Jane
Welcome everybody. This is Jane Gardner of finding your purpose. And today I’m so excited because I’m talking to Chicke, Fitzgerald of Solutions Innovation, and her business is actually all about finding your purpose, when you’re in business. And I want to thank you so much for taking the time, cause I know you’re very busy, so thank you, Chicke, tell me a little bit more about, your business and, and how it all ties in to purpose. That’s so exciting.
Chicke
Well, Jane, and thank you, first, thank you so much for having me on. And yeah, purpose has, has been at the core of my business for some time now. I spent the first third of my career, beginning back all the way to the late seventies, with the top travel technology companies in the world. And so, the first third of my career was in corporate life with the companies that actually created the foundational technology for booking travel online. So I worked for Sabre, which birthed Travelocity, I worked for Worldspan, which was the foundational technology for Expedia and Priceline and Orbitz, and then worked for one of the largest global telecommunications companies in the world. And then in the mid nineties, I went out on my own and formed a strategic consulting firm and so spent about 10 years doing consulting. And during that time I had a real awakening of what was really important and, and I was very, very good at what I did, in the consulting world, ran a multimillion dollar consulting firm, but at the end of the day, I didn’t, I didn’t have joy in what I was doing and, you know, for those who can see the wall behind me, I’ve set up my Zoom wall to really be able to tell my story.
My head is covering it a little bit is, is across, which shows that my faith is at the foundation of everything that I do. And the book that I wrote several years ago called The Game Changer, is really the story, that tells what it’s like to be a tech entrepreneur, but to really be looking for what will give you long-term purpose and joy. And it, it is a, an allegorical business novel. So it’s not precisely my story, but one of the nice things about being an author is that you get to tell your story as a part of the story that you tell in your book. So, Jane, what has ended up happening is after that third of my career that was focused on strategic consulting, I ended up realizing I wanted to actually build a business where I could not only make money while I slept was kind of the business premise, but also that I could give back in a really meaningful way. And we can talk about that a little bit more, but my tech company is Solutions Innovations, and we have built a game-changing technology that builds on all of that history that I’ve got in the travel industry.
Jane
Oh, wow. I didn’t realize just how, yeah, how amazing you are, because that’s just amazing that you’re in that technology, because that was so innovative when you were working with it, the price line and everything that it is an amazing technology. Yeah. And now you’ve decided you want to help businesses with, finding what their purpose is. Is that, is that correct or ?
Chicke
Well, what we do is we give them, through our product, we actually give them a way to raise money for the causes that they care about. So our target clients are companies like CRM companies, calendaring companies, ticketing, and registration, events platforms, where we actually plug in our trip planning tool into their product. And then we give 10% of our revenues back to their charity of choice. So we give them a way to give back to their communities that they serve. And if our client is a nonprofit, we actually donate 25% of our revenue back to the charity.
Jane
Oh, wow. That’s wonderful. you were saying though, that you’re also starting to focus more on individuals with your game changer or what’s your game changer community all about?
Chicke
Well, the game changer community has actually existed for, almost a decade. It began as a, very, narrow group called the executive girlfriends group, which was all executive women. And we’ve had that community for 10 years. It’s where my radio shows started because we would have our weekly meeting and I would invite an author or an expert to be on the show. And the individuals that joined us, were generally part of the C-suite right within, within a company, or they had started their own companies. So many were solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. And so that community has always been about bringing together people who shared a desire to change the game. Right. So innovation at the core and not just technical innovation, but like I said, business model innovation, because what we’re doing with our traveling to give product within solutions innovations has more to do with giving than it does with booking travel. But the context of, of what generates that giving is the booking of travel. So, the community was formed. I said 10 years ago, and it has now blossomed beyond just women, to also include men. And again, we’ve got everybody from corporate executives and CEOs, down to people who are coaches and authors and people who are solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. So, they joined as individuals very much like you would join a Facebook group or a LinkedIn group, but it is a much more engaged group. It’s a much more focused group. And it, I think of it more like a round table than a podium where I am out talking to you about what I care about. Right. So allowing you to talk to one another.
Jane
Wow. That’s wonderful. I just, before I forget, cause I forgot to ask you, what do you do your radio show now still, or, yeah. And what’s the, what’s the name of the radio show I should be listening. It’s called the game changer. And is it on iTunes or is it on a special network or?
Chicke
It’s on all of them All of the popular, show channels my primary distribution is through the C-suite radio network and, C-suite is a group that was started by Jeffrey Hayzlett, who used to be the COO of Kodak. And, I joined the hero club, which is a subset of, of, the C-suite network about a year and a half ago. And they’re also a client of traveling to give. So when, when we were having face-to-face meetings before COVID, they would use our product for the attendees to get to their meetings.
Jane
Oh wow. That’s great. You’re very, very busy lady. so I’m gonna put up the offer now and if you could just speak about, I think you’ve already spoken about exactly, you know, what the game changer is all about, but if you could just maybe mention, how, how we join, you know, who do we have to be to join the game changer network that would be great. Thanks.
Chicke
It, well, I think I’m going to start with the book because the book is, again, it’s a, a business parable and for those of you who are a bit burned out on self-help books and on business books, this is a really great alternative because it tells a story of the individuals that are a part of a company. And it tells it in the context of, at the end of a meeting that they have offsite. And we’ve all had those offsite meetings that we think are going to change the world, right The company’s going to miraculously turn around, but, but what ends up happening in this book is the people who attend that meeting that doesn’t go well, that doesn’t, you know, lay the groundwork for changing the world. They all scatter and go or back to the office or out for dinner with friends, but on the way to where they’re going, they listen to one of my radio shows. So it features people like Bob Burg who wrote, the go giver and a Catarina Walter who wrote. And so within the context of the book, it tells that story and it shows you that every single person needs something different to transform their company. So if you were wanting to become purpose driven, you will find one story perhaps that resonates with you on, on the game-changer books. So the offer that you put up, the book is available on Amazon, just search for the game changer and Chicke Fitzgerald. I’m assuming that you’ll put a link that they can get and joining the game changer community, what I would suggest, and you’ve got up on the screen right now, my personal website, Chickefitzgerald.com And it, all of my, electronic presence, they all lead you to the same place. So whether you, whether you come in, because you remember my name, Chicke Fitzgerald, and go to Chickefitzgerald.com, or you go to the game changer network, which is the site for my radio shows. It will take you in and help you figure out how to join the community. And, again, I believe on your, your offer page, you’ve got the direct link in to join the community. And really anyone is welcome. You will be asked a couple of questions when you join the community of why do you want to be there. How do you feel like you can contribute. This is not a place to come and broadcast your offers. I mean, we get plenty of that all day long on LinkedIn. This is a place to actually get to know people discuss and to be able to really move up that engagement ladder of really building trust with people. So that if you do have an offer, if you do have something that you want to share with people that they’ll listen to you, right, and that you aren’t just spamming them with offers that they don’t care about. Because again, I think we’ve all been so inundated with that. So we welcome anyone who, who feels like they do want to change their game, or they are a game changer to become a part of that community. And, again, you’ll find your place. There are many different ways that you can participate. we still do have the executive girlfriends group we meet every Monday afternoon. So, again, coming into Chickefitzgerald.com guides you to everything that we’re doing and the tool that we use within that website to show you all the different things you can learn is actually a product of our company.
Jane
Oh, wow. Yeah. Wait, we get to try it out at the same time, that’s wonderful. To think about that, because I know on LinkedIn is so hard to, to have real relationships. Yes. You have to try hard for that. And, I think going to wrap up by you celebrating about finding joy and in what you do cause I think that’s what you’re all about.
Chicke
Well, at the end of the day, what I realized is that even though I was a gifted consultant and able to do very, very well financially at the end of the day, if you don’t find joy in what you do, it’s time to take a step back and figure out what it is that you want to do. And taking that step back, I realized that my true gift is in my ability to solve problems. And the name of my company Solutions is all about being able to see both the problem and the solution in the same frame. So, I take great joy in helping others find their purpose. you know, I, I do a lot of one-on-one coaching and mentoring. I still do consulting, but on a very, very limited basis, I have to really be convinced that the cause is a good one and that it resonates with me. And, again, I’ve got a number of companies that I’m either a member of their board or their advisory board. So, very interested in helping other entrepreneurs. So that’s how I get my joy. And then of course, building products that, that really changed the game, particularly in the travel industry where I spent my entire adult life, that gives me incredible joy. And so I’m excited about rolling out our traveling to give product.
Jane
Oh. So it’s not rolled out yet then are, the traveling to give or you’ve been using it. So what do you, what do you mean rolling out You mean for a company Is that what you mean.
Chicke
No, the product is actually a mature product, but we have been taking a bit of a pause because of COVID because our product relies on a healthy travel and events business.
Jane
Yeah. Yeah. Actually I, I, took down my, travel website, celebrating travel test for now. Yeah. So that’s, that’s great. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Chicke. It sounds like you’re very busy person. I’m finding that a lot of people, the way that they are are getting out there is, is advisory boards and you know, volunteering for that kind of thing. So, yeah, that’s one way you can certainly, help help your community is, is with that kind of thing. So thank you very much, Chicke, for taking the time.
Chicke
You’re welcome, Jane. Thank you. Great day. Bye-bye
