Episode 037 – Kedma Ough

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Richard Matthews
Hello, and welcome back to the HERO Show.

My name is Richard Matthews.

And I’m here live on the line with Kedma Ough.

Kedma, are you there?

Kedma Ough
Yes, I am.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. Glad to have you here.

So let me do a quick introduction here for you.

Before we get into anything else we’ve got –

Your one of today’s most respected authorities on business funding

And entrepreneurship and nationally recognized business coach,

Small Business Administration award-winning “Small Business Champion.”

And you’ve got a book coming out this week,

You said called Target Funding, which I guess

Helps you obtain funding even if

… from sea and exhausted other avenues.

And that’s specifically for business funding?

Kedma Ough
Yes. Specifically, business funding.

So in every facet of business funding, yes.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. So what I’d like to start every show with is,

What are you known for today?

What is it that people come to you, Kedma, for?

Why do they bring you on to speak on stages or hire you?

What are the reasons that they reach out to you

And while you’re doing that, show off your cape?

Because it’s not often I have super heroes

Who bring their own capes to the show.

Kedma Ough
So these are my capes.

And actually all my capes are customized with my initial K.

And one of the things I’m known for is

I am dubbed the Small Business Superhero.

So on every keynote, every event I am in my uniform.

This is not a costume, I take it very seriously.

And so much so that if I’m not in uniform,

People will think something is wrong.

So, I talk on stage two reasons people really know me,

They know me for my expertise in funding,

Because that’s what I specialize in.

And they actually hire me also because of my work on

What it takes to be a superhero. So my origin story matches that.

And I really believe in the idea that

There are real superheroes in the world.

Not the ones we just see on film or reading comics.

And so I brought mine to life. So I live it every day.

Richard Matthews
That’s awesome. That’s the actually the reason why I built this show.

And why I put it together is because I think,

Particularly entrepreneurs are an unsung hero of the world.

They’re the people holding up the world and making it go around.

And I think the getting in and actually telling some of their stories

Through that lens of that comic book hero,

Because that’s something we’re all familiar with.

We’re all familiar with the comic book hero story arc,

And like putting real people into that arc and seeing how it works.

So anyways, that’s super cool.

So let’s actually talk about your origin story.

Every hero has an origin story, it’s where you started to realize

That you were different that maybe you had superpowers,

And maybe you can use them to help other people.

What sort of really started that journey for you

That where you could get into this journey?

Kedma Ough
That’s a really tough question. So let me answer it this way.

In my lens of how I see the world,

I only see four characters in the world, okay.

The first character I see is the victims of the world.

So suffice to say there are victims, however we slice it.

There are people that have been harmed in the world

Or are currently being harmed. The second is, the spectators.

These are the ones who watch observe don’t necessarily get involved.

The third is, of course, the villain. Their job is to create harm.

And thank God, we have superheroes.

Because if we only had life with the first three, we’d be in trouble.

So the reason my origin is so tied to my cape is, unfortunately,

If we looked at life as a movie, if we saw into the lens of people’s movie,

I was born into what I would call a horror movie,

Where I had a real villain.

And so I grew up in an environment that was really, really difficult.

And usually in a movie, like a horror film, you don’t escape.

You don’t have a story superhero.

And so my life changed at the age of 18, where I actually did escape.

And so I talked a lot about this on my keynotes,

I don’t know how much time we have.

But I will tell you that I escaped and went into hiding for five years.

And everything I do today is related to that origin.

And it’s related to making a commitment to help others

Who have struggled and continue to struggle.

So the reason I am a hero, in my mind is because it’s not a movie,

I played it out in real life.

And I was one of the lucky ones who made it.

Richard Matthews
So how did how did that transition from you having that story

Where you were actually the victim and escape from that into being

An entrepreneur who’s helping other people?

How did you make that transition?

Kedma Ough
Great question. So of course, there’s a lot of, sort of built into that.

But at a very young age, at the age of 18,

I made a commitment to essentially

Give a service for the rest of my life.

And I learned really quickly, there’s only two places in the world,

You can change people’s lives in their home,

Or in their business environment. And so I really got my crux,

Sort of my first big break, after I got my degree

As the director for the Women’s Business Center in Arizona,

And that entire career path was all about serving women,

Serving entrepreneurs, serving people with disabilities.

And really, that was my “aha!” right?

I knew my origin, but I needed to fill it into my career.

And so that’s where it really began.

Now, look, I just want to sort of step back.

I’m a fifth generation entrepreneur.

So I was born an entrepreneur, it’s in my DNA.

So I’ve always believed I was an entrepreneur,

I just didn’t know how to use what I knew,

In a way that created a career and also serve people.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. So it was sort of a long journey

From one place to the other for you.

Kedma Ough
Yes, I mean, it. To me, everything I have received in life

Was as a result of the biggest challenges I’ve gotten.

And so what I’ve learned through my career’s,

I managed the Women’s Business Center,

I’ve been innovation director for

The Small Business Development Center.

But it doesn’t matter in every single career.

The one Crux is very simple; One, it has to be entrepreneurship,

Because that’s what I love.

And Two, it’s helping people break through barriers

So that they can be successful. So I’m the kind of person who,

When a barrier is in front of me, I’m ready to fight.

I look forward to it because it’s an everyday thing.

As superheroes. If we’re not given barriers, nobody needs us.

Richard Matthews
We don’t have a reason to do what we do.

Kedma Ough
Right.

Richard Matthews
We’re problem solvers. Give us problems to solve.

Kedma Ough
Exactly. Exactly.

Richard Matthews
Yes. Talk a little about your superpowers.

What is it that you do or build or offer this world

That helps solve problems for other people,

The things that you use to slay this world’s villains, so to speak.

Kedma Ough
I think I have the master the ability to master truth really quickly.

I think that’s a really important gift.

And I can speak to how I do that.

Truth and simplifying things. I think in our world

Where we over communicate, we lose translation.

It’s like this Gobble, cloudy, nobody knows

What anybody’s really saying.

And I like to think about it like a three year old.

I will often say, let me hear what I’m hearing right now.

Let me understand this, this and this.

Okay, so I’ll give you a really simple example.

As far as my slaying I had a situation happened

Where a coach called me who was having

A challenge with a client. And he says to me,

I need to set up a meeting with you, because we don’t know

What to do with this client.

I said, “What’s the matter?”

Well, this client was paying someone under the table,

And this person got hurt. But they don’t know

Why workman’s comp didn’t cover it. And they want to know

How they can get workman’s comp to cover it, because

They can’t afford to pay for this medical bills.

So this is what I said, “Okay, let me understand.”

The client is paying someone under the table,

Is that correct? “Yes.”

He says, “Oh, but the client didn’t know that.”

I said, “Did the client know what the term under the table is?”

He said, “Yes.”

Okay. So they were paying on the table, they understand the term,

And then the person got hurt, and they want to know

Why workman’s comp doesn’t help them?

And all of a sudden, the coach says,

“You just answered my question, didn’t you?”

I said, “Exactly.”

Because I said it in a very simple way.

Without putting all these little information behind,

Richard Matthews
Pull the story out and just get the actual, here’s the reality.

Kedma Ough
Just the facts, Here’s the reality. So the other thing I do is I –

Richard Matthews
I call it putting on the lower shelf.

Kedma Ough
I love that. So I lower that translation in funding.

People make this all this confusion in the funding world

Around loans, in criteria, in investment, and all people want is money.

They just want to –

Richard Matthews
It’s pretty simple just give me the money. Show me where it is.

Kedma Ough
Show me the money and so I really like to break it down

In a way that matches their communication style,

And gives them what they need.

Richard Matthews
So when it comes to funding, do you -?

Just on that side of the business,

Is it something that you just teach? Or do you actually come in

And into someone’s business and help them acquire funding?

Where does that business come in?

Kedma Ough
So twofold. One, is I love to teach because

It’s better for me to teach you how to create your own.

But at times, I do work with clients where I developed the report.

In the teaching aspect, I literally teach people how to find

What I call ‘hidden money.’

And my context from that is, every single day,

There’s a funding party going on every single day.

The problem is you’re not invited to the party.

And sometimes my clients say, “Well, I want to crash the party.”

I go, “How do you crush a party you’re not invited to?”

“You don’t even know exists?”

You have to know where it exists to crash the party.

So the first thing I do is I bring them into the world

So that they can understand

How to target fund specific for them, and then decide

Which funding party do they want to join?

Do they want to join the grant party, the resource party,

The contract party, the equity party?

Because there are parties happening every day,

But people don’t understand how to play in the parties.

Richard Matthews
And you have to decide like, which type of funding

Has which type of impact on your business.

Kedma Ough
You nailed it.

Richard Matthews
And just hearing the words from some of those things

Like you’re talking equity party, that’s where you’re like-

Someone is going to take an equity position

In your business in exchange for bonds, versus like a grant,

Probably some sort of requirement, potentially.

So there’s different gifts.

Kedma Ough
Yes. And to your point, I live in the world of grants and resources,

And my philosophy is simple,

I would rather offer you an opportunity to apply for funds

That you don’t have to repay back.

That’s the definition to me of grants,

You don’t have to repay the full amount of money,

Or full around your or you’re getting subsidy.

I’d rather that than me offering you debt, which is what a loan is,

Or equity where you’re losing a percentage of shares.

So if I can get you fund, without you repaying back

Or without you having a payout that gets me excited.

Richard Matthews
So and you’re generally helping businesses

Kedma Ough
All over the map. It all depends where our clients at.

Richard Matthews
Get working capital and things like that?

Kedma Ough
I help people at precede. So if you’re at research and development,

And you say, “I have an invention,

I have no idea how to pay for the patent search

Or the patent process,” That’s pre –

If you’re at the startup phase, and you’re looking

At things for working capital, yes, if you’re at the expansion phase,

I need jobs, I need to buy my own office,

Then, we can help at that level, as well.

Richard Matthews
So let’s do it. Let’s do real world real quick,

Just because it’s might as well.

So I have I have a supplement company.

Here’s one of our supplements.

There’s our shameless plug for the day. Supplement company.

And we’ve already got all the research done, products are done,

Products are live. Their on on Amazon, we are making sales.

Kedma Ough
Okay.

Richard Matthews
One of the things that has been holding me back

With driving the business forward is I need to have

A bunch of audience building stuff done, right.

So we need to put funds into some Facebook ads and

Some other ads to actually be some audience building stuff.

And then, like staff, a couple of staff members to help manage

Some of the advertising stuff. There wouldn’t be a huge amount

Of working capital, but any working capital

Would definitely help move some of that stuff forward.

What kind of stuff do you guys look at first?

Kedma Ough
Great question. So first, I would do a deep dive on your variables,

Because everything is built on variable.

So I’d have to first look at where you’re located.

So we know you’re located. Well, you’re traveling around.

So let’s suppose your station, you say you’re located in Florida,

Or wherever your license? Where’s your company license?

Richard Matthews
Perfect. So the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to do

Kedma Ough
A geographic reach around Florida.

I want to see what county, what state,

What city is supporting in terms of funds

Because there’s a lot of funds, we could find that way.

I’m also going to do a deep dive on you

I need to understand if you’re the full owner, if you have a spouse?

If it’s a woman-owned business?

Do you have any background to like certain ethnicities?

Or are you a veteran because every single variable

Tied to who you are, can attack some funds.

So if I work with someone who is Hispanic woman-owned veteran

Who happens to live in Florida, I can tie funding

To those three variables. I, then I’m going to look at

Your social issue and see, okay

Who are you targeting for those nutritionals?

So is it just everyday people? Is it people with obesity?

Is it people who are dealing with diabetes?

Because if you tell me that there are certain people your marketing,

Then we’re going to go after funds related to the social impact.

So there could be funds set aside for people who are diabetic,

And maybe there’s some research dollars or

Marketing dollars to support that category.

So I would look at what is your social cause to this product?

Is it just for mass market? Are you going after women?

Are you going after people who have diabetes?

Going after people with obesity?

Because there are funds associated with social causes?

So we would look at it.

Richard Matthews
As just as an example, one of the things that we do

Is we donate to Vitamin Angels with every purchase.

And that goes towards, what do you call it?

The Vitamin A deficiency across the world.

Kedma Ough
Bingo. Okay, so now we want to look at that and say, Okay.

What other causes are tied to that, because there’s funding

Tied to those causes that you don’t know about yet

That we can circumvent to support your cause?

The other thing I would look at is your strategy for that.

You said you needed a focus group, then you said ads,

I would look at Okay, is that one? Is that the right strategy?

Or can we bring you more visibility to get you the focus group?

So, for example, we may be able to get you free PR.

By getting your information to a media or to some news coverage

That drives that need. And so sometimes when we’re building

This funding plan, we think we have to pay for it.

It has to come out of our pocket. That’s not how funding works.

Funding is looking at every single variable, unique determining

Do you have to pay for it? Or is there an alternative?

Or what resources are available? Or can we subsidize it?

So I would look at all of those variables,

And then we would target the funds for it.

Richard Matthews
That’s interesting. So and do you also have to

Know how much funds you’re looking for?

Kedma Ough
Absolutely, you have to know how much funds because

I want you to imagine that funding is like a pizza pie.

Because everybody has seen or eaten pizza.

Most people see funding as the entire pie.

I need to do a loan. I need to do equity.

I look at the pie as 12 slices.

So if we took your need of $100,000

I’m going to say,

Where does the hundred thousand dollars fit into the 12 slices?

So maybe 20,000 is coming from grants.

15,000 is coming from procurement.

10,000 may be coming from some kind of response

To the marketing. So we divvy up not only based on variables,

But based on the needs, and then we target the funds that way.

So you absolutely have to do that.

And one of the things we put in up my book

Is creating your needs by order of priority.

What do you absolutely need first,

Because that’s what we want to target first.

Richard Matthews
That’s really interesting. And I wouldn’t even have thought

To think about funding for the business.

Because I’ve always grown up with bootstrap style.

This is where you’re doing your own funding out of your pocket.

So I think there’s probably ways to get the funding that you need

To run through it. And it’s one of those things too,

And it’s just might be my perspective, but I’m always looking at,

Okay, you said, $100,000, I’m like,

“Man with $100,000, I can turn it into

A million dollar business overnight.”

I’m thinking if I could get away with, 10 grand in capital,

Then I could do a lot of things with that.

Kedma Ough
So, let me give you some real life stories

To make it really real for you and the audience.

I love to study how funding plays out.

So there was a funding program came out

A few months ago in Portland. And it was very interesting.

There was like a three week window. Okay.

And so it came from an economic agency.

And this is what it said, basically, it was $125,000 grant.

Where you got $25,000, every single year for five years.

But you had to get in the game this year to get it.

So imagine you’re getting in this game,

And you’re getting 25,000 every single year.

Not only that, not only the funds, but on top of that

You’re getting all wrapped around resources,

But here was the variables.

You had to be a for profit.

You had to be located in Portland, Multnomah County.

You had to be needing working capital.

That’s your three variables.

Your fourth parent variable is

You had to be African American or black.

And your fifth variable is

You had to be in the marijuana or cannabis business.

Okay. So, guess what? If you met three variables,

And you didn’t meet the other two, you’re not getting it.

But if you met all five variables,

And you didn’t know about it, you just lost out?

Richard Matthews
Wow.

Kedma Ough
Okay, so I’ll give you another quick example.

Me, my life story. In 2008, one of the reasons I wrote the book,

Just so you know, it’s because I reverse engineered a funding in 2001,

I filed bankruptcy.

There are three reasons why people file bankruptcy;

Job or a loss of a business, health crisis, or the third divorce.

Most women file bankruptcy for divorce.

I was in the third category. And literally, it worst, worst day of my life.

And two weeks later,

I got this credit card from Capital One for 200 bucks.

And I didn’t tell your audience, but I’ll tell you now,

So my favorite game as a little girl was monopoly.

If you’ve ever played Monopoly, when you go around the board,

Do you remember how much money you get?

Richard Matthews
200 bucks.

Kedma Ough
That’s right.

So I was back in the game. I was like, I’m in the game.

I’m ready to play. My 200 bucks is in.

And so I went on a journey to uncover

Every single funding source for people like me,

Who are good people that struggle,

But deserve the American dream.

Fast forward, 2008 I get approached by someone to say

There’s a commercial opportunity for me to buy my own office.

I say to them, “I have filed bankruptcy. That’s not possible.”

They say, “Oh, that’s not one of the variables.”

I said, but I don’t have the collateral.

They said, “Oh, that’s not one of the variables.”

So what’s the variables?

They said, “Oh, you have to be in business,” Okay

You have to be located in Multnomah County, okay.

You have to be doing three years or more with profit, okay.

You have to do a community impact,

You have to show that you’ve done something

In your business to impact the community. Got it.

And the last thing is, you have to be a woman,

A minority or an immigrant. That was the five variables.

So in 2008, I purchased my own office for 6% down.

In the last 10 years, my interest has been fixed at point 0-4 percent.

Richard Matthews
Wow, that’s like almost free money.

Kedma Ough
It is free money.

It’s less than half a percent. So that’s an example,

Of another example of how I tied variables to the funding.

Richard Matthews
That’s really crazy. So, I never would have –

I wouldn’t know anything about the funding stuff.

And this is probably a this, strips and steps into the politics side

A little bit, but I never even considered some of the funding stuff.

Because I’m like a white male.

Kedma Ough
Yes.

Richard Matthews
There’s like no funding for anyone that’s white male,

I remember going in college for that, when we looked at

For getting college loans and other things.

And it’s like, there’s nothing available for someone

Who’s an average height white male.

Kedma Ough
Yes. So yes and no. Depends, I mean,

I deal with white males all the time.

And we may look at other variables.

And, if we’re going to be political, you’re correct,

I have to play in the legislative world a lot

Because a lot of the funding that comes down,

Really is about having the right lobbyists.

Really about having the right champions, and we can’t

As a small business, can you afford a lobbyist?

Probably not, let’s just be real here.

But what you can do is you can align with a superhero,

Who is constantly looking at all the funding that you can get.

And so in your case, if we can’t go after the fact

That you’re not a minority, or you’re not gay,

Or you’re not veteran, then we can look at what is the social costs.

We can look at where the geographic is.

We can look at the size of the business

Because there are variables that are unique to you.

Richard Matthews
And like what your business is, that’s really fascinating

And see, I had never heard the term or the idea

That there’s variables other than like, your minority status

And things like that. So I just know that it doesn’t –

It’s not even something I would spend the time to look into.

Yeah. It’s really fascinating, though.

There’s lots of variables and things that you get

Into your business has a specific community cause that’s super cool.

Kedma Ough
Huge.

Richard Matthews
And I think one of the things I actually teach

A lot of my clients when they’re getting their businesses up

And going and off the ground is like,

How can you tie some sort of a community cause to it?

Because not only does it do good things for the community,

But it’s also their good marketing points.

Kedma Ough
Absolutely.

Richard Matthews
People love to do businesses that are doing

Positive stuff for the community.

Kedma Ough
Absolutely.

Richard Matthews
Global or whatnot.

Kedma Ough
And so what the ‘Aha’ moment is,

Is that funding is just like target marketing.

When I say to you target marketing, you get it,

You’re like, of course Kedma. We’ve got a profile.

We have to see the customer demographics.

We have to understand what they’re looking for.

I want you to apply that same mindset.

And know that implies the same way in funding.

Richard Matthews
That’s really cool. You’re just going the other way around.

Kedma Ough
Exactly.

Richard Matthews
So they’re looking at your profile and your variables –

Kedma Ough
You nailed it.

Richard Matthews
Love it. I’m gonna have to read your book when it comes out.

You said it was the ninth?

Kedma Ough
On the twelfth.

Richard Matthews
So it’s coming out shortly. So my next question for you

On the other side of superpowers is the fatal flaw.

Something that has, Superman has kryptonite.

Batman’s not really super.

Something that has held your business back or

That you’ve held yourself back with,

That you’ve had to work on and more importantly,

How have you worked on fixing it

For other people who might suffer from something similar?

Kedma Ough
My fatal flaw because I speak in truth is,

I believe people. I honestly, my husband, if you met him,

He doesn’t really believe in people,

Although I would challenge but he’s like,

He will constantly, he will require them to earn his trust.

I don’t require that because I believe people at face value.

And one of the lessons I learned was, in one of my earlier businesses.

I ran a daycare, because I have three boys.

And I did the math, and it was too expensive to go to daycare.

So I started my own daycare.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely.

And I did everything right. I hired someone. I paid for their living,

Literally, living expenses. So they had rent-free, living wages,

Everything they wanted. And I entrusted them

Because they were managing the daycare because I was doing another

I had another business. And they embezzled $35,000 from me.

It took me about three months to realize it.

It was so significant in my business that I had to close the business.

The interesting part is they had figured out a legal loophole,

Where I could not sue them for the money.

And when I worked with the detectives, the detective said,

This person was so sophisticated, that legally

You cannot get the money back. I said, but I paid them.

I paid them full time I got –

They said, “You’re absolutely right.

On paper, you’ve been embezzled,

And you cannot go after the money

Because of the loophole that they knew about.”

Wow.

Kedma Ough
And it was devastating for me. I mean, I cried and cried and cried.

I cried. Actually, it’s really, it’s very emotional, right now.

I’ll tell you why I cried. I cried.

Because I had given that person so much.

I had, I had lifted them up from poverty.

And not only was it someone who harmed me.

It was another woman who harmed me.

And I couldn’t understand in my mind

Why another woman would harm me. I couldn’t understand it.

And so I had to really step back and my –

I still believe in people,

I will never allow someone who’s harmed me

To change other people.

But now I have very clear boundaries and systems in place.

So that that never happens again.

Richard Matthews
And I know it’s a hard thing to deal with.

For me, because I’m the same way I tend to trust first

And ask questions later. And that it’s a great positive mindset

And skill to have, because it lets you move quickly.

If you haven’t yet, because it’s one of those things –

It’s a double edged sword because

When you trust first and ask question later,

You can make decisions quickly. You can move quickly,

You can do things fast, and money loves speed,

And entrepreneurship loves speed. So it’s a great skill to have,

But you have to temper it a bit or other things can happen.

Like what happened to you.

I had something similar I had a sort of a partner.

And I say partner, because I had some of this temporary stuff

In there already where it was,

We didn’t have a legal partnership setup.

We had a contractor contract the relationship set up.

Where there was a pay for performance in place.

So momentarily it looked like a partnership.

But legally, it wasn’t a partnership, which is great.

And he was using the systems and stuff.

Found out he got a wagon with drugs and alcohol

And started using the systems itself and its business

To embezzle funds from his clients.

Pulls up like 30 thousand dollars.

And when the detectives knock on the door,

And they’re like, “Hey, what do you know about all this?”

And it’s like, “Whatever, whatever you want. I’ve got all this.”

You can get access to all of the details and all the data

And everything that we collected.

So, I’ve been there. And it’s rough, but it’s rough.

Luckily, there was no done damage to me or my business.

It was just his own business that he had damaged.

And I was able to sidestep that. It’s like someone that you trust.

I trust them. We were friends. Our kids had played together,

That kind of stuff. His was less of an evil and more of a:

He’d gotten himself back into drugs and alcohol,

And you make poor decisions when you do that.

But it’s the same kind of thing.

Kedma Ough
It’s like it. And so I’d say that’s my flaw. I do trust everyone.

And because of that, I move through business very fast.

I get through a lot of red tape because I trust; I believe in people.

So that’s a painful lesson.

Richard Matthews
Absolutely. So, talk a little bit about your common enemy.

The way I like to think about the common enemy is, if you could,

When someone hires you, or your they’re hearing you on stage,

Or reading your book, whatever it is, if you could go into them

And use your magic wand, and erase something that you know

Is holding them back. What would that be?

Kedma Ough
The common enemy is really simple.

You know, everybody wants to have the dream;

The vision of freedom; the opportunity for wealth;

The opportunity for happiness. And yet, they don’t really believe it.

So, you enter into this, and I’m a product of that.

I said, I came from a horror movie

But I live a Disney movie right now.

So, nobody feel upset for me. I got my kid. I travel.

I have a great time. I love my life. And so, what I come up against

Consistently, is this limiting belief that they face.

And they’re so certain of it, that they sabotage their own success.

And so, when I tell people that their mind

Sometimes does not serve them, there’s a reason I say that.

The mind does not serve them. And so, usually when I come up

With those people who are really stern and sure, on their limiting belief,

I often say this: “How’s that working for you? Happy?”

Richard Matthews
Is it giving you the result you want?

Kedma Ough
How’s it working? Is it working for you? They’re like,

It’s not really working for me. I’m like, “Hey, how about this.

How about I invite that you try it my way for six months

And if it doesn’t work out, we can always go back to your life?”

Richard Matthews
I like that. I call that the… There’s a name I have for that.

I’m going to forget what it is. Basically, you’re inviting them

To take part in a provocative question.

What if, for just a little while we try to do it another way?

And just see what happens. And if it’s good; great. If it’s not;

Feel free to: that was stupid, I don’t want anything to do with it.

It’s not a: your way’s wrong and my way’s right

Which shuts people down. It’s more of a:

Let’s just explore something new together.

Kedma Ough
Exactly. The other thing I would say that is the enemy,

Is two things combined together are explosive.

If they are individual, I can deal with them

When they combine their explosive. Ignorance and ego.

If you have ego, but you’re really educated,

Because I have a strong ego. I’m not gonna lie to you.

But I have a strong ego based on foundation. I can be comfortable

In what I know. But if I don’t know something,

If you throw me into a cooking class,

Because I’m the worst cook you could meet. I’ll tell you:

I’m a worst cook. I broil cake. Don’t listen to me.

But when you have ignorance and ego, that’s explosive.

So, that’s the thing I try to focus on.

Making sure people can get the education they need

So they’re not coming from a place of ignorance, and then fear,

Which blocks them from being successful.

Richard Matthews
I like that delineation between ego and ignorance,

Because ego can be dangerous, if it’s paired with ignorance.

But ego, I like to say, like arrogance, sometimes, if it’s earned,

Is really useful. Because I’m pretty arrogant,

With the things that I’m really good at. Because I’ve earned it.

And I know my way around a few things. Which is really great

When you’re in a sales presentation; or

When you’re speaking from stage; when you’re writing;

Or you’re speaking with authority. People will listen to you

Because you have that level of arrogance that you realize is earned.

This guy or this gal knows this shit. That’s allowed.

And then in the other areas, where you have ignorance,

That’s where humility is really, really useful. When someone asks me,

They’re like, “Hey, can you run ads on this platform?”

I’m like, “I know how to write an ad.

I don’t know a damn thing about that platform.”

I mean, we can explore that if you want.

But it’s not something I know really well.

And that’s where it’s really useful if you have, I know how to learn.

Like that’s a skill I’ve got really well.

So, if you want to learn together how to build refrigerator,

I’m sure we can figure it out.

We could figure something out together.

I love that that that delineation between arrogance and ignorance.

Kedma Ough
I want to also give you gold for you and your audience,

Because I deal with, especially a lot of women

Who say they don’t want to brag. The idea of bragging.

So here they are, they’re in business. And I say,

“Give me your elevator pitch or sell me.” They’re like,

“I don’t want to brag. I don’t want to brag.”

Here’s my definition of brag: Bring repetitive, authentic, greatness

To the world. If you are bringing repetitive, authentic, greatness

To the world; you need to brag. So, I brag all the time

Because I’m always bringing authenticity and greatness

To the community. And if I don’t brag, nobody’s going to know about it.

Richard Matthews
Your methods can’t help anyone if it’s under a bushel.

Sometimes you have to let your light shine,

And let people hear what you’re doing and see what you’re doing.

And that really helps. That’s actually a really good transition

To the next question, which is the driving force.

If your common enemy is something that you fight against;

Your driving force to something you fight for.

Spider Man fights to save New York. Batman fights save Gotham.

Google fights to index all the world’s information.

What is it that you fight for Kedma?

Kedma Ough
I fight for justice, pretty simple. I know, I sound like a superhero.

Fight for justice. Here’s my dilemma: I believe in open access

To opportunities, especially funding

Because without funding opportunities, we are constantly

In a position of some people have it, and some people don’t.

If everybody has an equal opportunity doesn’t mean everybody wins.

Richard Matthews
We’re not talking about equal outcome.

We’re talking about equal opportunity.

Kedma Ough
Equal opportunity. I play chess. I love playing chess.

You cannot win a chess game if you don’t know the pieces

To the chess game. You can’t win if you don’t understand

How the Queen works; how the bishop works. Once you know the rules,

Then you can have a chance to win.

The problem we have in funding is most people don’t know the rules.

Most people don’t know how the players play. And so,

Justice is not served. If we elevate everyone with education,

And everybody knows and then chooses not to; then my job is done.

I’m not here to chase them to do it.

I’m here to teach them what they may not know.

Richard Matthews
It’s a good way to play the game because most people think…

I always like to think of entrepreneurship and business

As a game that we’re playing.

And a lot of people are playing the game

And they don’t know all the rules.

They learn certain sets of the rules.

I learned how to do product sourcing, Or I learned how to do HR,

Or I learned how to do accounting.

And there’s all these things you have to learn

To successfully run a business. And funding is such a huge thing

That most people…it’s a cloak and dagger Voodoo kind of thing.

Everyone looks at it and thinks, it’s like Google’s SEO;

Nobody knows what the hell is going on.

But funding is just one of those things that if you look

At the clock a little bit, the rules probably haven’t changed that much.

You just have to learn what they are.

Kedma Ough
Yes, learn what they are.

And then learn how to understand where to find it.

If you ask me, it’s about I live in justice. And I have to tell you,

Just clear out for anybody listening. I cannot stand bullies.

I don’t care who you are. And I don’t care what position you hold.

I have gone after, no disrespect, I have gone after people I report to.

If I feel that they are preventing access to people.

You do not want to be in front of me. The train will go forward.

And you have three choices. You get on the train;

You wave me goodbye; or you go in front of the train.

It still moves. So it’s all about access for me

Which leads to justice. So that’s my thing.

Richard Matthews
Awesome. I love it. Let’s talk a little bit about your tools.

Your hero’s tool belt. Maybe it’s a big magical hammer, like Thor.

Or a bulletproof vest like your neighborhood police officer.

What are some of the tools that you use

To either help people get access to funding

Or that you use to teach people about funding?

What are some the tools you use in your business

To help do what you do?

Kedma Ough
I think from a communication perspective, it’s making sure

That we match their language. I cannot I don’t know about you,

I finished my Masters in Business. How many professors

Spoke to us as if we were astronauts. And I’m like,

“Does anybody here really understand what they’re saying,

Or did we just go into our French class?”

I think what’s really important is whatever you’re speaking on,

As an expert, make sure you match it to their language.

Because if I’m dealing with a scientist,

I can absolutely match their language. If I’m dealing with someone

Who dropped out of school and never finished high school.

I’m still going to give them the same information,

But in a way that resonates for them.

The second thing is you have to have your, I call it,

“The Good Funding Mafia.” You have to have people

Who are representing you

And know where to find the funds for you.

So whatever you call that your advocate, your gate supporter,

I call it the funding Uber person,

Who’s going to get you in the vehicle and say,

“Oh, you want to go there? Okay, let me get you there really quickly,

We’re not going to do a lot of stops,

We’re going to go right there.”

Sometimes it’s as easy as me picking up the phone.

I’ll give you an example. I was working with a client

A few years ago who was developing a new product

In the housewares industry. It was a new product that was going to

Support people in the kitchen. Really thought they had a great idea,

Was thinking about licensing it and wanted to go through all the costs.

Filing the patent, making sure you have the prototype.

I mean, you’re talking thousands of thousands of dollars.

I say that this person,”Oh, housewear. I happen to know,

The head of licensing for one of the largest housewear companies

In the country. They review about 4000 new housewear products

Each year. How about I call this person; send them your product

And have them analyze it?” That to me is gold.

Because one person who reviews 4000 in the industry

Is going to give more advice and more knowledge

Than anything this person could have done.

And that’s what happened. It was literally a phone call.

And within two weeks they were on talking to that person.

How long would it have taken that person to have access to that person?

Richard Matthews
Long time, especially someone reviewing 12 to 15 products a day.

Kedma Ough
Probably never. So, the other part is giving them access

To difficult people that, normally, they can’t reach.

Richard Matthews
So, my daughter is coming in and saying hi.

Kedma Ough
Hello. No worries. I have three boys.

Richard Matthews
Here we go. She’s a toddler. She’s coming in to interrupt the show.

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Richard Matthews
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My next question here is pretty simple. And it has to do

With your own personal heroes. Frodo had Gandalf.

Luke had Obi Wan. Robert Kiyosaki had his rich dad.

Who were some of your heroes? Were they real life mentors?

Were they speakers or authors?

Were they peers who were just for years ahead of you?

And how important were they to what you’ve accomplished so far?

Kedma Ough
My top hero was Linda Carter, Wonder Woman.

When I was going through the biggest struggles in my life,

I learned one key thing that I have stuck with.

I learned that no matter what was happening outside

Of who you are. Anything in the external environment,

Whatever it was, no matter how difficult. Nobody could own

Your thoughts. Nobody could own your thoughts.

And I learned to discipline that. I would watch her on the shows.

And I would see what she would do.

And I would see how she would fight for justice.

And I would see how she had her little truth.

She would lasso people up and say,”Tell me the truth.”

And I embedded that so much that in many ways I became her.

And so I live like that. Anybody who knows me lives like that.

I think that really saved me, in so many ways

And also allowed me to become the person I am.

Richard Matthews
That’s cool. So, it was actually a comic book hero

Who turned you into a hero. That’s the first time

I’ve had an answer like that. A lot of times people have

Authors or mentors or coaches something like that.

But an actual superhero, who really helped define who you are

Which is, I think, that’s really wonderful.

Kedma Ough
Yes. And everything I have is her. Every computer,

All my bags, my car, every sport I do. Everything.

Richard Matthews
So, off topic. Did you like the wonder woman movie that came out?

Kedma Ough
Look, I like Gal Gadot because she’s Israeli and I’m Israeli.

But nobody replaces Linda.

Richard Matthews
I actually really enjoyed the movie.

Kedma Ough
I liked it. But I emulated who I am

Based on the original Wonder Woman.

Richard Matthews
Let’s bring it home for our listeners a little bit

And talk about your guiding principles.

What are the top one or two principles or actions

You use on a regular basis that contribute to your success

And influence you enjoying your space?

Maybe one that you wish you’d known when you started out.

Kedma Ough
Can you give me an example? So, I’m clear with the question.

Richard Matthews
Some of the guiding principles…

one of the things that I hear regularly on the show is

every day I put my my things down on my journal

or I think about stuff that you do on a regular basis that helps drive your business.

Kedma Ough
Well, one is my mantra. So I’m about to tell you it.

I don’t tell a lot of people. But here we go.

I say two things every single day when I wake up.

And they contradict each other. So hold on.

First thing I say is I’m the luckiest woman alive

and I really believe that luck finds me every single day

because I believe that I am very lucky.

The second thing I say right after I say that is today’s my last day on earth.

Now I say that because what it does is it brings home to me

that I don’t get tomorrow. I only get today because I believe in that wholeheartedly.

I live my life as if today is my last day. And I’m careful who I surround myself with.

That is huge for me.

Richard Matthews
It’s really understanding that you only have now

we only have now. So many people look at their life in terms of

what my future is going to be. But every future that you have is not a reality.

Kedma Ough
I only have today.

Richard Matthews
It’s something that hopefully may happen. But right you only have right now.

Kedma Ough
And I will tell you right now if I die in five minutes, or maybe after this podcast or audio,

I am going to feel happy because I live with no regrets.

I live my life as if today’s my last day, I really do.

Richard Matthews
That’d be very uncomfortable for me. My guest died right on the show. So there you go.

Kedma Ough
Okay, we’re not going to promote that. I’m just saying,

that’s definitely one of my mantras.

The second mantra I have is, and I live by this, and I’ll explain what it is.

I have a rule that I only have one friend per state.

And the rule behind that is I am really cautious on who I bring in my inner circle.

So I have people who will call me and say listen, I want to be your friend.

I’m like, Where are you located? I’m in Oregon.

Yeah, that’s taken. So that’s not possible.

Like, well, what do you mean, I’m like,

well, you have to wait for them to either relocate or die.

Or there’s an opening in South Dakota. Otherwise, we cannot be friends.

Happy to be acquaintance. But there is no room.

And I’ve done that for years, because I want to make it clear that I’m very,

very careful who I bring into my inner circle because

your inner circle is going to affect you. So that’s how I do it one friend per state.

Richard Matthews
That’s crazy. So who’s your Who’s your friend California?

Kedma Ough
Um, I do have a friend in California, but I don’t believe I have one in Florida.

Richard Matthews
Oh see.

Kedma Ough
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I, I’m really careful.

Richard Matthews
I’m just in California right now. So we can have,

Kedma Ough
it doesn’t work like that you have to be stationed there.

You can’t just go back and forth.

Richard Matthews
That’s really cool. So I like the feeling or the the thinking behind that is that

the five people you spend the most time with are the ones that you become like,

Kedma Ough
It’s not the five people, the five tribes.

Because I’m a math, you know, I have, you know, my background is math.

So if we did the five people, and God forbid something happened to you,

So if something happens to you, I still have my tribe.

I’ve just lost 20% of my tribe. So we don’t want five people but five tribes.

So I like to think of the five tribes. So I have a speaker’s tribe, a finance tribe,

I have a business tribe. And that way, I don’t put a lot of stress on that one person.

Yeah. But I do put I put the value on the tribe itself.

Richard Matthews
That’s a good way to think about it.

And like if you actually look at your life, you probably have them that way. Right?

If I do, I know. I do that. Right? I have my my business tribe and people in it.

And there’s people in that tribe that I’m closer to than others.

But you know, you have your you know,

in my case, I have my religious tribe and you

Kedma Ough
know, my LinkedIn tribe. Yep, I have my superhero tribe.

Richard Matthews
That’s awesome. I like the way you think about that.

Last question is pretty simple. I do this on every I call it the hero’s challenge.

And this way the hero’s challenge goes…

Do you have someone in your life or your network

that you can introduce to me that you think has a really cool, entrepreneurial story?

Who are they first things are fine.

And why do you think they should come on the show and share their story?

Kedma Ough
Oh, I have so many.

Helen Anderson. Helen Anderson is a rock star.

She is a former Mrs. Oregon, she’s absolutely stunning inside and out.

She started her company. She’s a nurse.

And she when she was having kids very young.

She was nursing because she’s a nurse, and she was nursing

and she was having a hard time with nursing, collecting milk.

And so she developed products for nursing moms.

And she did so successful in that business that she sold out

to a very large company, I think two or three years ago.

And now she’s like the chief lactation officer, she travels around the country,

she does the show, she gets to work from home, she gets paid really, really well.

And she’s such an inspiration. Because she didn’t come from the business world

she came from, “I have a problem that I need to solve.”

And she now solved it for millions of people.

Because now when you go to any WIC program

or program supporting low income moms,

her product is there to support these moms so that they can go back to work,

but still have connections with their babies.

Richard Matthews
That’s really wonderful. Yeah, and some of the best businesses

come from people who are just solving problems in their lives.

And that’s why we call them heroes. That’s why I call them heroes.

Kedma Ough
Exactly.

Richard Matthews
Okay, so last part is basically where can people find you

if they’re interested in learning about finance,

or they want to hire you to speak or they want to coach with you?

Where can they find you? Second, and probably more important is

who are the type of people that should reach out?

Kedma Ough
Yes, well, they can find me through you, of course, because I always want to honor

if you find another Kedma in the world… run!

so there should just literally be one me.

So you can find me on LinkedIn, just Kedma Ough and Kedma means to move forward.

You can find me on KedmaOugh.com my website or target funding com,

the kind of people who would be best for me, or anyone who have

visited Mr. or Mrs. Google in the last year to try to find funds

and realize they can’t find it. So I love clients who are, you know, challenged right now.

So anyone is who is in the spectrum of saying, you know,

“I would like more funds, or I’d like to understand that.”

And second for speaking, because I speak all over the country.

It’s for organizations that are working with entrepreneurs

and small businesses that would love to have you know, superhero on stage.

That makes it fun. And then I also do a lot around women organizations.

So I just did a keynote for the Idaho women’s symposium,

where I not I only talk about business, but I weave in programs

that are specific to their demographic.

So, you know, I’m going to be speaking at the US Patent Office,

I just spoke at the National hardware show.

So I, honestly, I weave into anything related to entrepreneurship

within certain verticals. So it could be everything from science to housewares.

Richard Matthews
And just as a heartfelt thank you,

I do appreciate having female role models for my daughters

to look up to. I have three daughters that I hope to,

you know, to brainwash into being entrepreneurs at some point in their lives.

Kedma Ough
I love it.

Richard Matthews
So anyways, it’s really great to hear from other women who are doing cool things

and getting on stage and inspiring young women all over the world.

So thank you for that. And last thing… you have a book coming out,

by the time this episode airs, it’ll probably be available for purchase,

where can people go to find that book? What’s it about?

Kedma Ough
Yes, I’m so excited. So it’s hitting on the 12th.

So July 12, Amazon, I’ll be on a couple of TV shows this week,

next week, just supporting people. So it’s really about the navigation,

you could literally go through the book, we have over 100 funding resources,

we put in the book, this is not a friends family credit card thing.

This is… Oh my god, I’m going to read the book.

And I can go and I can follow up with the resources today.

So we’ll have that available. And then people can reach out

we’re also building a target funding report database.

So if you’re saying, God, I love the book, and I don’t have the time.

You can come on to the site can your variables

and we will customize a report for you. And you can just take it and go.

Richard Matthews
That’s really cool. Yeah. Okay, so the name of the book is target funding.

And we have I assume same kind of thing on Amazon.

If they just look up, Kedma Ough, they’ll be

Kedma Ough
Yep. Target Funding Kedma Ough

Richard Matthews
let me spell that for people. So if they’re looking for you on LinkedIn

or on Amazon K E D M A N O is O U G H. We trust you said, right.

Kedma Ough
Yep. Yeah.

Richard Matthews
Yeah, so we have we have the unnecessary letters to say O,

but it’s O U G H.

Unknown Speaker
Yes. Awesome.

Richard Matthews
So thank you for being on the show. It has been fantastic.

I look forward to to hearing from you soon.

And I’ll uh, can you pre-order the book?

Can I put it away? I’ll go ahead and put it on my wish list

so I get notified when it comes out.

Yes. Well, thank you for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.