Nitty Gritty of Process with CNN
In my Never Believe It Could Happen post I told you basically about the amazing fact that CNN found me in a sea of a million people. When I talked to Michael the morning after I responded to his first e-mail, he actually interviewed me about my Laid Off? Don’t Stress! book for about 45 minutes. He asked me questions like:
- what was the book about
- what was the inspiration for the book
- tell me your story of three lay offs
- how did you recover
- what are 3 things to encourage those who are laid off
Of course, since I knew he was calling, I got out my list of questions (and prepared answers) so that I would be ready as possible. He only asked a couple of “my” questions. Since it was my first time at talking to someone from a big network, I had no idea what to expect. I found he was extremely easy to talk to and pretty soon, I was not even worried about being ready, we just talked as friends. I don’t know if this is typical; I think I was lucky.
After that first day, Michael said he had to put a proposal together and submit it as a story idea to CNN. He was hoping to get it on Issue #1. I also told him I was going to East Cape for a fly-fishing vacation with Jeff DeBrown of The Reel Baja in three weeks, so if it were going to happen we had to coordinate it around that. No, I was not about to give up a dream fly fishing vacation that we’d planned a year ago.
I think that was one of the reasons I intrigued him. I was laid off three times, I decided to re-invent myself and become an entrepreneur at age 58, AND I was an avid fly fisher. Just before my husband retired, I started Winds of Change Consulting on a shoestring with 10 hours a week of marketing consulting with the Desert Pain Institute (DPI), joined NSA as a candidate, and joined Toastmasters in order to build my speaking career and started networking like crazy. It was profitable the very first year. He also liked that 6 years later, my husband Gerry and I were able to take 12 weeks off to fish and travel and I was making more money than I had ever made in Corporate America.
Back to the process…Michael called several times in the next two weeks to ask questions about my work, or about the book, or about times we could get together for the possible shoot. He even asked me if there was an airport in Lakeside near our Airstream so that they could come up and film me fly fishing in the beauty of Northern Arizona. We ditched that idea, the logistics just would be too complicated….He was still waiting to get the OK from CNN.
Finally the week before we were to head down to the Baja, he called me and said they had agreed to air the piece, but it would be on American Morning which starts at 3 a.m. EST. He assured me that CNN replays their pieces several times and then it would go to the Internet, so it would be aired several times. Again I was nervous, but I did what all the pros say to do, I sent him a whole list of questions he might ask (and that I would be prepared to answer:-)
We were leaving on vacation early Wednesday morning. I was working and very busy and had no idea how we could work it all in. They decided that Michael and a camera man he liked to work with would fly out on Monday and start the process – maybe shoot out at the Salt River on Monday and then at Desert Pain on Tuesday morning or even shoot us at the house packing for our big two week fishing trip.(oofta!!) My sister, Bev, and I went out to the Salt River to see if it was feasible – oh, yes, it was gorgeous. What a great backdrop, with the mountains and sun setting. I called the Arizona fish and game to see if they had stocked the river with fish and Salt River Project to see if there would even be enough water to fish. The levels tend to vary greatly in the summer.
The night before they came, Michael finally told me the name of the journalist would be that would interview me. I made the mistake of googling Ted Rowlands – man, if that wouldn’t intimidate a person, this guy has been on so many cases i.e. Lacey, OJ Simpson etc. I recognized his voice from all the reporting. There was a saving grace, he came from Wisconsin originally. At least we’d have a lot in common since we’d lived there for twenty years.
You know, one of the things you always think about when going on TV is what to wear. I called my friend, Mary Kay Ilnitsky from Icon Image and we discussed dress or pant suit, red or black etc. It never hurts to get advice. Well, Michael and Demere showed up at Desert Pain Institute in jeans. Immediately, they put me at ease. Unfortunately, only some of their equipment had come with them so they were running on batteries – we took the outside shots first. Fortunately, they could plug in inside DPI. Of course, I seized the opportunity to tell them all about DPI’s all “green” facility and fantastic staff. We proceeded to the ambulatory surgery center to film. No, in this sort of dry run interview, Michael didn’t ask me any of the questions that I’d sent him. We just chatted. We even were able to get one of the DPI doctors, Dr. Eric Boyd, in on the shots.
Tuesday morning bright and early, Gerry and I met Michael, Demere and Tom at a gas station on the way out to the Salt River – he had to get a day pass for the river. Of course, we had brought an extra pair of waders along for Ted, and a beautiful rod Gerry had made and a net for all the fish we were going to catch. Demere brought his own waders and out to the middle of the river we all went. Ted did the whole interview in the middle of the river. Gerry only rolled his eyes once when I was telling Ted how important attitude is while going through a lay off and that there is power in laughter through these tough times. I do get a little adamant about that. One of the things I’ve done since starting my own business is become a Certified Laughter Leader through the World Laughter Tours to add to my humor talks. Laughter is a gift that helps in all situations!!
After the interview, Ted and Gerry went off to learn more about fly fishing. I continued to fish and Demere and I stood in the middle of the river and solved all the problems of the world. When the crew left Mesa, they went to the cute little tea house, the Teeter House in Phoenix to film owner, Lynn Behringer, who also had a transition story in the Laid Off book.
The story of the airing will be the next blog, stop back to see how it all came down.