Intimate Empowerment: Anne Zuckerman’s Bezi®Bra Disc Story | RR254

Hello everyone and welcome to relationships

rule. I am so excited today to have as my guest, my new friend,

I hope I can call her my new friend. And Zuckerman and Anne

is coming to us all the way from Philadelphia area. And first of

all, welcome to the show. And

oh, thank you so much for having me. This is

absolutely wonderful. Well, it's

my pleasure. And and I actually met online of

course, on a podcast, Power Hour that common our mutual friend of

ours runs and, you know, you see all these faces on the screen,

and you kind of hear a few people talk and I kind of knew

right away I wanted to know more about and and so when we

reconnected after that, and we have become fast friends, which

I love. So and is really a multi entrepreneur, I mean, a multi

printer, as I think we call it, she has had several businesses.

She too is a podcaster, which I love. And we'll talk about all

of this, but I want to start with really her story, which

goes back to the firt, the main company that she started called

Aegis Inc. And the first question I had, of course is who

is EDA? And that's where the story starts. So And will you

share that story with us? Because it's there's so many

little gems in it that I want people to know.

Oh, thank you so much for asking. Yes, my company

is eat us. And or eat us Incorporated. I'm sorry, I'm

having can, cause. Thank you so much for asking. I love my

story, because it started with my mom. My mom was Edith. And

she was trained in design and corset making. She came to the

United States from Hungary and opened a lingerie shop. And as

much as I tried to get away from it, I ended up joining her in

the store. As she was working with my grandmother, my

grandmother passed away, and I hopped in. So I learned the

lingerie business, because she was trained in design and corset

making. She did alterations. So if someone came in and needed a

special bra for a dress, and needed, the straps changed, or

needed, the back changed, needed to be taken in, she would just

go in the back and fix it. And but she was hurt. She was old

school, European, I don't have to teach you how to do it, I

just have to show you and you have to learn. And so that was

my training. She sat down at the sewing machine. And I was

expected to know how to do all of this. And in fact, I did

learn I used to shorten robes and night gowns and taken bras

and adjust straps. And then I eventually became a mastectomy

fitter. So that's where everything started. And then of

course, everything in life changed. We moved into computer

software and automated systems. And a friend of mine. We had a

billing system that was done by my grandfather, he would hand

write bills every month. So we had house accounts. Yeah, men

would come in and purchase their night gowns and ropes and bras.

And they would say charge it. And he would write them a bill

at the end of the month, and they would pay and he and my

grandmother passed away my grandfather became quite

elderly, and it was a burden for him. And I knew that we could

computerize the system, we could automate. And a friend of mine

knew how to do that came to the store. And he created a program

for me. And this is way back in the early 90s. And so it was all

code. And as soon as he left the store, I changed the coat was

awful. But anyway, so that's where I started because I just

had to put my finger in every single pot to see what would

work and what didn't work. And so That's where my journey

began. And then a my mother, we had incorporated the business my

mother passed away. And that's when I said, the world is my

oyster. And I can do whatever I want. And I'm going to go for

it. Okay, so

I'm going to stop you there for a second before we

get to the next phase. Because what I didn't realize until you

told this story just now, because I knew the story, but

the details that you just mentioned, I can't believe how

similar that is to my background, because my

grandmother, who actually came from Russia, but she lived in

England, my grandmother was a seamstress, and an alteration

is, and she was a she beaded, she sewed sequins and things

like that on dresses, and so on. And so she taught my mom how to

do all of that. And she made us little beautiful dresses, my

sister and I that were matching all the time. And, but she died

sadly at like 56 or something from breast cancer, of course,

back in those days. But my mother, when we moved to Canada,

started as a seamstress in the back of a high end women's

clothing store. And my father was a clothing manufacturer. So

I grew up all around this, this and I was a saint, I learned how

to sew and so on. And so it just took me aback when you when you

told that story because I get it. And it also reminded me of

the book. Outliers. Have you read that book? Yeah, yeah. And

how? What's his name? The guy. The guy that wrote it?

I can see it in front of me. Oh, same here.

Anyway,

we'll get back to that. But he talks about how you

know, the the Jews came over from the old country. And that's

what they knew. So that's how they moved forward in America,

right? Was the hours and hours and hours of things that like

they could only so or they could Yeah, anyway, it's just kind of

fantastic to me. So I'm still trying to remember his name.

It's not Daniel Pink. It's the other one and I get them.

Anyway, okay, so now you had inherited this store, basically,

in this business. And now you had, how did the idea come to

you to start your piece of that business, which was which is

bezzie broad discs, and a little bit about that entrepreneur?

funereal journey is how you made it happen, which I think is

really karma. And things happen for a reason, type of thing. So

tell me about that.

Well, I had seen a product. And in the back of my

mind, I remember the day so vividly, I was thinking I could

do better than that. And I, it just so happened, I was single

at the time. And I went on a singles hike on the Appalachian

Trail of all places. And there were quite a few of us. And we

stopped for lunch. And a whole bunch of people went swimming, I

sat on a rock was just observing. And after lunch, we

all got up and started walking again. And I happened to be

standing next to a young man. And I casually said, and what do

you do? And he said, he was an industrial design engineer. And

I said, What does that mean? Then he said that he designed

different parts of for things like vacuum cleaners or spray

bottles, or he designed at one point he designed the drip

section of for hospital IV connections, goodness, yeah. And

I thought, Oh, how interesting. And I casually said I've seen

something and I think I can do better. Can you help me? Yeah.

And he said, Well, I don't know. Let's Let's meet. So we did. And

I showed him what I had seen and I and we talked about it. And

the two of us came up with a plan and a design. He had

connections and I took everything that I had inherited

and met with patent attorney and then we discussed up pro rotate

mold, which was aluminum. From the prototype mold, I eventually

moved into a true production mold. Wow. And then years later

moved into the mold that I currently use, which is a double

cavity injection mold that's made of steel. It's a 500 pound

steel mold that's housed at a manufacturing facility in New

Jersey, which is the exciting part. The exciting part of all

of this is that I have a product that's manufactured here in the

United States,

which is amazing.

Yeah, and that's, that's the exciting

part. The exciting part is that anything is possible.

Well, you didn't know what you how to do what you

wanted to do. You had a vision, right? true entrepreneur, you

had a vision. How's it going to happen? You didn't think about

how you just wanted to make it happen. Right? And that's,

that's today there. You know, we use that term entrepreneurial,

so lightly, not I'm not as an entrepreneur compared to you

because you really truly had that vision. And I think that's

a true entrepreneur Gladwell, Malcolm Gladwell. Just came to,

oh, my God. And you knew it. I love that. Yes. Yeah, yes, I

couldn't get away from it. Okay, so now you've got a new product,

you have an you're in the digital age, and now you have to

figure out how to do online shopping and all of that good

stuff. Right? as well. So long. So how long into that business?

Did you start podcasting? Did you start, you know, networking,

all of that good stuff.

Well, what happened was Okay, so now I had

a product, right. And in the meantime, my mother was great at

business, but she hadn't bought the building. So I ended up

having to close her business. So now I was fully invested in my

bezzie broughtest business, right, but I needed to learn

marketing, but I needed to learn marketing in this new age of

digital. And so I looked around, and I said, Okay, fine, what can

I do? And that led me on this crazy road that I've been on, of

learning about funnels and software, and how to market and

where people can find me and all of that. Most, so much of

business these days is done through social media. I know.

And social media has been a challenge of mine to say the

least for

me, too. Yeah, I don't love it. So.

But I always have my options open. And I'm

always looking to see what I can absorb, where information is

going to come from. And I truly believe that we all get gifts on

a daily basis. The question is if we're open to receiving them,

so I knew nothing about podcasts, nothing. And there was

one podcast host that I had been introduced to. I listened to all

of his podcasts. And I thought that was great, but never gave

it another thought. I certainly didn't want to be a podcast

host. Oh, you didn't

know No at all? No.

But I saw the opportunity to be a guest. Yes.

So I said, Okay, fine. So I will be a guest on podcasts. And that

will be my way of marketing without having to tackle the

whole issue of social media, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,

all of that. I'll just be a podcast guest. Yeah. And I

happened to go to a networking meeting. And the presenter at

this particular meeting was a lady who I had met a few years

before. And at that time, she was managing director of a

networking organization. She had not started in podcasting yet.

But when she spoke at the networking event, she had she

had opened a podcast School, a school to train podcast hosts,

right. So I called her up because I knew her and I said,

Listen, I I don't want to be a host I want to be guest. Can you

help me? And she said, not really what I do, but my school

is opening on Monday. I said, Okay, I have nothing to lose,

I'll just sign up for the school. That way, I will learn

what podcasting is all about a learn how to be a better guest.

Right? And that'll be that. And I started the school and she

said, and in 28 days, it's now 30 days, but in 28 days, you

will have a podcast. And I said, But but But you said No buts. In

28 days, you will have a podcast and I said, but But what if and

she said there are no what ifs? In 28 days, you'll have a

podcast. And 20 days later, I had a podcast, and then

discovered that I absolutely love podcasts and podcasting and

being a host. Yeah. It is truly a passion of mine. I love

meeting people. I have loved every single guest I've had on

my podcast. I've learned something from everyone. And

being a serial entrepreneur. For me. It's like kidney candy box.

Yeah. Yeah. And I love it. And your podcast is

called just wanted to ask. So how did that come to be?

Well, I, as I said, I was a big fan of

someone's podcast, and what some how in passing. He said, just

wanted to ask and I said, That's it. That's the name of my

podcast, just wanted to ask. And I interview entrepreneurs like

myself, coaches, consultants, and authors. And what I do on my

podcast is promote other people's businesses, because

that's what I have a passion for. I love helping people do

the same thing I did get out there on a bigger stage and a

bigger platform. So

have you ever thought, and I'm just listening

to our episode, actually, that I, you kindly had me on your

podcast, a month, last month. And, and you are a great host?

It's you can tell that you love it. So that's kind of the fun

thing I do, too. I love interviewing people, because I

love finding out more about people. We're both really

curious people, I just know it. And have you have you ever

thought of having another like sideline, which is helping

entrepreneurs, coaching entrepreneurs, or however you're

training them, whatever you would make that be? Because

you've been you've been that person that takes the leap that

that something I don't have that that would is it's like, it's

trust, it's trusting in them in the process or trusting in the

that it's going to work, right? You're a positive person, and

you just think, well, I'm going to invest. I know something's

good is gonna happen. Have you thought about that? I have.

And I've certainly had people ask me a

lot of questions. I love answering people's questions,

and helping in whatever way I can. And connecting people with

other people as you do. We both like connecting people with

whatever information we can share. And it's and you've

introduced me to this whole other aspects of relationship

building. So, yeah, I love doing that. Have I put together a

program yet? No. But it's not beyond my imagination. Or,

because I don't know where life will take me tomorrow.

Right? I was just that your new the new piece has

to be a play on just wanted to ask. And really, like did you

ever want to ask or something? You know, something like that?

Yeah. And kind of fun.

It's crazy. Recently, I've talked I've

spoken with friends of mine. And you know, there's this concept

of chasing squirrels. Oh, yeah. I know when running after shiny

objects. And some of my friends have thought that that's what I

did. I was just chasing, chasing shiny objects without thought

But, and it's taken me a number of years. But now, in hindsight,

if I look back, and it's always 2020. Looking back, I realized

that in many ways, it was strategic. Everything that I've

done, since my mother's passing has led me along a path, a path

of learning, and a path of growing and expanding. And I

think that's what I truly, truly appreciate most about what life

has to offer, especially now.

So I did read that your dad had said something

about you not going to university, you're not going to

college. And, and I think your mom said, he just didn't want to

pay for it. Right. And it's funny because my mom didn't get

to have a, an advanced education. And she was a

lifelong learner. And she was passionate about learning

different things. And as she became well, I don't think it

happened, really, until she became a widow. But then she

started going and taking courses and learning about things. And,

and so for you, you didn't go to college? I don't think right,

but you started to do other things that taught you along the

way. Is that correct? Yeah,

I did go to I did go to a junior college.

Okay. Okay. Um, I felt that I wasn't able to come play for

years. Okay. Um, it frightened me and in in saying that my

parents were divorced. So you get 111 piece of advice from one

side? And then you have other input from the other side? Yeah.

And because my parents were all immigrants, yeah. They didn't

really understand what that part of the US was all about, because

they had gone to school in Europe. And so it was a totally

different system. Of course, of course. And so for me,

everything was pretty new. If I had to do all over again, would

I have gone farther? Possibly.

Well, what was it that frightened you? You said

you were scared to go further?

Well, part of it was I really didn't think that I

was going to do well. Okay. Okay. And then I also didn't

know what I wanted to be when I grew up. Yeah, there's that too,

right. So yeah, it's all. Now when I was a junior college, I

did major in retailing. That's what it was called, then not

marketing, but retailing. And I did learn about business and

brick and mortar. Yes.

Okay. You know, it's interesting, if you had it

to do again today, in today's world, would you go to

university?

It's an interesting question. I'm not

sure I know,

because I've changing my tune on it as well.

I mean, I grew up with a father who had come from England, who

had been in the war and didn't get to go to university, and he

was really smart and should have, but there was no money to

do that. And the war was on. So all I ever heard my sister and I

was you're going to university, you're going to university

because he didn't get to write. So we went to university. And

that was the thing to do back then. And then it's changed. Now

I believe so much. And I have one daughter that would go to

school for her whole life if she could, she loves learning, and

she loved being at university. But she went away and traveled

and she came back and she finished. And when she came

back, I said, we're done. If you go back, you're on your own,

right. So she did. And she finished university. The other

one hated school, the only reason she was in college was to

play basketball, and she never graduated. And it was like, at

first devastating to me that she didn't finish. I felt I hadn't

done my job. But I don't feel that way. Now. I think that that

wasn't meant for her and she had to learn in different ways. So,

you know, it's not the stigma anymore for me that I thought it

was back then. And I don't know if I today. I don't know if I

push it as much. Get out there and learn about

life. Yeah, you're right. It was a stigma

for me too, for many, many years. And then all of a sudden,

I looked around and said, but look at all these really, really

successful people who don't have a degree. Exactly. And I

thought, okay, fine, there's possibility for me, and then I I

heard a gentleman named Alex scharffen. Speak. And he's

written a very small, thin book entitled e p t, the

entrepreneurial personality type. Oh. And when I heard him

speak, I just I cried, I absolutely cried. Because he was

speaking about me, let that growing up. He always felt like

he was on the outside. And I realized that as much as I love

learning, I'm not great at sitting in a classroom, I will

listen to lectures. For hours, I will listen to podcasts for

hours. But to be in a, an, to be in a classroom, and confined

with one subject of that seems daunting for my brain. Okay. So

I can't say that I haven't had an amazing education. Exactly,

exactly. So what's your goal for your

podcast? Because I know that you've just returned from a

podcast conference, and you're pretty pumped up. Do you have

new goals for your podcast now? Well,

I've my podcast has passed the 100 episodes.

I was episode 100. I know I'm excited. Yes,

we should have celebrated. Yeah, well, we still

can. Yes. Okay. So I passed the 100. Mark. So that is certainly

an achievement. Absolutely. And I am interviewing some

absolutely amazing people. So in terms of a goal, I'm just happy

to, to have interview after interview after interview. And

as I said, it's like Christmas day, every day that I interview

someone, because I never know what I'll learn and who I get to

meet. Yeah, that's

so true. So many fun things that happen from I

actually got a very strange, or I'll tell you about it offline.

But somebody new that I met in the podcasting world, and it

sort of opened another, another door. And that happens all the

time, which is really kind of fun. So I know that you are I

already know that you're a curious person. And I always

like to ask a couple of quick questions of my guests. And one

of them is my curiosity question, which is, you know, do

you believe that curiosity is innate? Or learned? And part

two, what are you most curious about right now?

Is it innate or learned?

Just so you know, yeah.

I think people can learn. I think people can

learn that. For me, it was innate, but dormant. Ah, I did

not realize as a child, that it that I had a gift of being

curious. As children, sometimes we just don't see what's around

us. We think that the gifts that we have, everyone has, but they

don't. Correct. Yeah. And so people are amazed to that. I, I

love learning about software. I love learning about technology.

I love learning about all sorts of topics like marketing. And as

I get older, that hasn't deterred me, I'm still

interested, I still want to learn. And so and people are

surprised by that. And I'm surprised when people don't have

that.

I know me too. I agree. And are you do well, I

know you love podcasts. And do you read as well? Are you a

reader like real books or ebooks or what do you like? Or do you

watch things? Well,

I have discovered that I learned best

by listening. Okay, and it was really interesting. I had some

visual issues growing up, which I didn't realize I had. When I

got my first Kindle, I realized that when I enlarge the print,

it was so much easier for me to read. Which I also didn't I

didn't know as a child. So that opened one door and then when I

discovered audible, that opened another huge door. So I love

listening to books on audible and when And I drive I mostly

listen to business books. Yeah. So that's why I've listened to

Gladwell, and I've listened to other people, because those are

the kinds of books that I love listening to in the car. Now,

because I'm in the podcast space, I do listen to podcasts

when I'm not driving. Yeah, I listened

to, I'm not driving as much as I used to. So

I have to find I have to go for a walk and listen to a podcast

as well. So yeah, so that's great. Well, this has been so

much fun. And I want to ask, one last question in sent in the

sense of my audience is probably very similar to yours. It's

entrepreneurs. It's small business owners, it's

commissioned salespeople, it speakers authors, what piece of

advice would you share with them that you think keeps you going?

What keeps me going, or that you've

learned that stays with you, you know, that

you've learned a long time ago.

There's always more to learn. And everything,

there's so much that comes around again, I met you and we

talked about relationships. And that was a part of my life that

I wasn't paying enough attention to. And through meeting you, I

have upped my game. I know, I love it. That's great. And so

again, I have no idea what doors open. But plus, I think, and

I'll share this as well. And that is that for many years,

people saw network marketing as not something wonderful. But in

today's world, network marketing companies can teach you so much

about marketing and how to do business the right way. And I

think that's one of the main lessons, I've learned that

there's just so much information out there, also within the

network marketing community, because companies are large, and

they keep up with everything current. It's not like going to

a class where you don't know what kind of business the

professor has worked in, or where they are in their

business. So the possibilities are endless. Oh,

for sure. And we haven't even talked about that,

because I'm a network marketer. And I love that industry. And I

think not only does it teach you about business, it teaches you

about yourself. There's a lot of personal development involved in

being a network marketer, for sure. So yes, maybe that'll be

next time. We'll just talk about that. So thank you again, for

being on the show. And it was a delight. And people can find you

where, and I will put it in the show notes.

But my podcast is just wanted to ask.com it can

be found on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify. My product is that

bezzie be easy. I woman.com. Right. And again, and things

like that. Right. Right. And on both websites, there's lots of

information about me as well. Awesome.

Thank you again, thank you so much. And thank you

to my audience for listening as usual. If you liked what you

heard, please leave a review. We always love that it helps the

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