Finding Strength in Adversity: Gail Taylor’s Remarkable Story

Rich Bennett & Wendy Beck 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning ten this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared an episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we shared laughs, tears and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next ten years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Today, I'm going to get kind. 

No, no, no. The truth is. 

Rich Bennett 1:03
Thanks for joining the conversation, where we explore the stories and experiences that shape our world. I'm your host, Rich Bennett. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome. I'm just going to say it. She's a rock. Gale Taylor Gale is a Canadian songwriter, keynote speaker and author who has turned her personal experiences and passion for mental health advocacy into a powerful platform for change. With over 35 years of expertise in finance and a catalog of 13 heartfelt songs, Gale combines her talents to inspire hope and resilience. She's here to discuss her new book, Curveballs A Deeply Personal Guide to Embracing Life's Challenges and Designing a Path Toward Mental Wellness. Gale First of all, welcome to the show. But before I get into the book, 

Daniel, you can rock. 

Gail Taylor 1:58
Thank you. And thank you for having me. Awesome. 

Rich Bennett 2:03
Those of you listening. There's two websites I want to direct you to right away. I mean, don't go to them now. You won't go to them after you're finished listening. Gail Taylor, music icon. And the other one is Gail Taylor, author, Gawker.com. check out Gill's videos, her music videos. It's I have to ask you, is it you? You're not performing all the instruments on these tracks, are you? 

Gail Taylor 2:28
No, in fact, 

Rich Bennett 2:29
Okay. 

Gail Taylor 2:29
in fact, I'm playing the keyboards on some of the tracks and 

Rich Bennett 2:34
Okay. 

Gail Taylor 2:34
on other tracks. I'm not even on there as a musician. I'm just on there as the songwriter and the composer. I hire studio musicians, including vocalists. I mean, 

Rich Bennett 2:46
What? 

Gail Taylor 2:46
well, I know we're in such an amazing era right now where you don't, you know, as a songwriter, I don't have to depend on a record label or an established artist to bring my music to life. I can do it just by hiring studio musicians and vocalists. And yeah, I give them a demo and away we go. 

Rich Bennett 3:09
All right. So you mean to tell me on ambition is not a four letter word choices and boiled down to rock and roll, that's not use. 

Gail Taylor 3:16
No, no, that's not me singing. In fact, it's a different singer. Or bow down to rock and roll ambitions. Not a four letter word are two different singers. And as you listen to my music, you'll see sometimes it's male singers that I have going on. 

Rich Bennett 3:33
Okay. Did you write just the lyrics or the lyrics and the music? 

Gail Taylor 3:37
Both. But I. Cole, I. 

Rich Bennett 3:39
Why? 

Gail Taylor 3:39
Right. I have a I have a friend and co-writer out of Nashville that works with me. And so I'll work on the lyrics and then I'll bring her into the loop and then I'll give her like, Here's what I want the beat to be, and we'll work on a demo together and then we'll send the demo over to the studio and say, okay, here's, here's kind of what we're looking for. 

Rich Bennett 4:04
Well, I have a funny feeling if you don't have one yet. I have a funny feeling that there's a Grammy and a few. 

Gail Taylor 4:10
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 4:11
I mean, the music is that good? 

Gail Taylor 4:13
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 4:14
And the lyrics. Oh, my God. I mean, that's one thing I've always. 

to write lyrics in the past, but I've always today, I think a good song. Well, thread 

years. A good song tells a story lyrics do that. And that's something that's missing in a lot of music today, I believe. 

Gail Taylor 4:36
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm a storyteller, in fact. Hmm. I'll tell you how I got into music because you introduced me and said, You know, Gil's been in finance for 35 years. All right, so here's the story. When I was 58 years old, I started taking piano lessons, and I had. 

Rich Bennett 4:55
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait a minute. Hold up, hold up, back up. And. Wait a minute now. Okay. Now, I'm really blunt. When you were 58. 

Now. There is no way. You are 60 years. 

Gail Taylor 5:10
Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to be 69 at January. Sack. 

Rich Bennett 5:14
Oh, come on. 

Gail Taylor 5:15
So. 

Rich Bennett 5:16
All right. So those of you listening, I can see Gail. Gail does not look like she's 58. I was I would say maybe 45, 

Gail Taylor 5:26
Oh, wow. 

Rich Bennett 5:28
but. 

Gail Taylor 5:28
I love you. 

Rich Bennett 5:29
Wow. 

But this is mind boggling to say you didn't start playing piano till you were 15. 

Gail Taylor 5:36
No. And I had never taken an instrument. I had no music background at all. And so I started taking piano lessons and like learning scales, starting from scratch. And I fell in love with it. And like, music started coming back into my life, even just listening to it. I hadn't I hadn't realized that I had stopped listening to it. But on my way to work, I was listening to economic books, right? So I had I had literally stop without knowing it. And so after two years, I thought, you know what? I'm loving this so much. I'm already financially independent. I'm going to retire a little earlier than planned. So my practice and study music full time. So that's yeah, that's where the journey started. And so I did that at 61, I sold my practice at 61, started 

Rich Bennett 6:26
Wow. 

Gail Taylor 6:27
to study music full time, and I hired private teachers. I went Berklee School of Music. You don't have to audition your kids just because I wasn't. I wasn't qualified, but you can study with them online. And so I took bass guitar, I took ear training song. Right. 

Rich Bennett 6:46
Oh, come on. 

Gail Taylor 6:48
Yeah, I was taken at all keyboards and songwriting ended up being my my super passion and that I think that's because I talk so much. Yeah. And lyrics, lyrics are just stories, right? That's what they are. Stories. And so. So yeah, after two years of that, I thought, I'm going to reinvent myself as a musician. And when I shared that story with folks, I kept getting the same reaction. Oh, yeah, that's so inspiring. I'm going to go do something. They put on the back burner. So? So 

Rich Bennett 7:23
Right? 

Gail Taylor 7:23
I thought, Whoa. I never mind. I'm not reinventing myself as a musician. I'm going to come out of retirement, start my company. Jill Taylor music. And I'm going to reinvent myself as a keynote speaker. And I'm going to share my stories and my music because music is so heat healing. So I'm going to 

Rich Bennett 7:42
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 7:42
share my stories and my hear my my music to help folks become their best selves and help them through challenges. And when I mention that to an entertainment lawyer, he said, Well, if that's what you want to do, write a book. So I wrote a book. And yeah, 

Rich Bennett 7:59
Wow. 

Gail Taylor 7:59
Curveballs just came out on November the first. 

Rich Bennett 8:03
He threw you a curve ball there. 

Gail Taylor 8:05
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:06
Where 

Gail Taylor 8:06
It took a 

Rich Bennett 8:07
should. 

Gail Taylor 8:07
year. Who would have thought it was that hard to write a book? 

Rich Bennett 8:11
It's interesting, though, because when you mentioned how you you stopped listening to music and I think that happens a lot. People people will hear it, but they they don't listen to it. 

did all this training and everything, did you have a whole new love for music to where 

And I love doing this if if I'm home and my wife and daughter whom I'll put on headphones. Otherwise I'll just put up put on something and crank it up, but just pull out all the different instruments and all. Did you do that afterwards and just find a whole new love for music? 

Gail Taylor 8:50
Oh, yeah, because it was so different now I understood it. I under I could hear the different instruments. I knew what was going on. I understood the beat, I understood everything. And before I did and it was just like it was pleasure to my ears. But yeah, you're right. Once you understand music, it takes it to a deeper, deeper level. 

Rich Bennett 9:09
Oh, yeah. 

Gail Taylor 9:10
And I mean, I grew up with like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis and, you know. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 9:15
guys. 

Gail Taylor 9:15
my God, yes. 

Rich Bennett 9:19
Actually with that with and I know you can't name just one, but who are some of your favorite music artist? Not songwriters, but artist. 

Gail Taylor 9:30
Yeah, I think Elton John and Billy Joel are just really right up there because I love the piano. I really, 

Rich Bennett 9:37
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 9:38
really love the piano. 

Rich Bennett 9:41
Oh, yeah. Oh, that's a nice piano in the back, too. 

Gail Taylor 9:43
And so, yeah, it's, it's, it's my instrument. And so those two I think I listen to I really, really like them and go see them. But you know, like I said, for, for my, 

journey with music, it's all the old rock and roll and everything stemmed from that. It doesn't pop country. All the music has the old rock and roll. Everything that they did is embedded in the new stuff, which is really, really so neat. 

Rich Bennett 10:15
Yeah. Now, what about as far as songwriters? Who's who? Who are some of your favorites? 

Gail Taylor 10:21
Those two. I think that's part, though. I think that's part of how those two became. Well, it's not it's not Elton that writes his songs, Right. It's Bernie. And so Bernie Bernie, as a song, as a songwriter, I really, really like. Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:39
It's amazing that Billy Joel, because I know Elton John did help Bernie Taupin with some of them, but it's amazing. They never collaborated to write anything together. 

Gail Taylor 10:50
No, they as far as I know, like well, Billy stopped writing in the late seventies and he wrote a song recently with one of the Jonas Brothers, which was so, so I know it just came out last year. It was so cool that he did that. And so, yeah, you got to check that one out. You got to check that out. 

Rich Bennett 11:13
I had no idea. 

Gail Taylor 11:14
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:16
I wonder now my daughter loves the Jonas Brothers. I wonder why she didn't tell me that. 

Gail Taylor 11:20
Well, you'll have to ask her about it. 

Rich Bennett 11:22
I retired from deejay and too soon, I guess. I don't. 

So explain to me what led you into the mental health advocacy. 

Gail Taylor 11:32
So has this as the story begins. When I was 12 years old, my father died and I didn't deal with it really well. I it traumatized me. My mom had to take us from a small town and move us to a city. And the city swallowed me up and spit me out. I started using mind altering substances. I was doing alcohol, drugs and reckless behavior before my 30th birthday. And that stayed for over ten years, ten, 15 years before I hit my first bottom, which wasn't even my recovery. But at that point, I like I just wrote, I just woke up one day and thought, and, you know, there's got to be more to life than there's there's got to be something I can do differently. I made a mess of my house, my soul. And so I was in my mid-twenties, and that's when I started on my journey of personal growth. So I've actually been studying personal growth and and peak performance for 40 years. 

Rich Bennett 12:38
Oh, wow. 

Gail Taylor 12:38
It's funny, when I wrote in the intro of the book, I make a comment about, Hey, I didn't invent any of this. I've been studying this genre for 40 years and these are all the tools that I used when life threw curveballs at me that worked for me right then that might work for you. And so then my journey continued. And the first book was Thinking Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. 

Rich Bennett 13:04
Oh. 

Gail Taylor 13:05
I know everybody's heard of that book. I read it. And because I was a dysfunctional 20 something year old, Rich to me met money. I decided I wanted to be a millionaire and I was going out on the quest to do it. And unfortunately I was successful at it. But at the time I still didn't realize I was an addict. And so what was happening? I had a type-A personality. I was an overachiever. So it was the early eighties where I work hard, play hard. And so I was working long, long hours becoming successful. Then I'd go to the bar with my work colleagues. But I had a three year old son. I know, and I made sure he was with good caregivers and said to myself, You know, the time I am with him, it's the quality that counts, not the quantity. But you know what? You need both Sorry, A kid needs both. And so then when he was 12 years old, I did the same thing to him. I moved him across the country. I brought a new man into his life. He had new school, new friends, same major shift from when I was 12. And guess what? He spiraled. He became a drug addict. He got into opioids big time. I know he's in recovery now, and he gave me permission to share our stories. So I did. You know, he's a really close friend of mine. 

Rich Bennett 14:31
I mean, good that he's in recovery. 

Gail Taylor 14:33
We've talked about it. He'd be dead 

Rich Bennett 14:35
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 14:35
if he wasn't. There's, 

Rich Bennett 14:36
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 14:36
you know, there's no question he'd be dead if he wasn't. 

Rich Bennett 14:39
Mm hmm. 

Gail Taylor 14:40
So, you know, when not when that happened, when he spiraled. That was my second time I hit bottom because the first time I reduced my using a lot to go after this 

Rich Bennett 14:51
hmm. 

Gail Taylor 14:51
new dream of of being successful. But I still didn't know that I was an addict. So I was still indulging everyday. Just later in the day or whatever. So when I started reading, okay, How to Deal with Troubling teenagers, then I started to study what was he was going through, and I realized, Oh my God, I'm an addict. I didn't even realize that. And so I was what they called a functional addict. Right. Because one 

Rich Bennett 15:17
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 15:18
one time I went to rehab with her. It was my family visit. And I asked the counselor that. I said, How come I didn't have to go to rehab to get clean? And he said, You know, I just read a whole bunch of books and started doing the things they told me to do. And he said, because you did what we call hitting a high bottom. 

Rich Bennett 15:37
Hitting a high. 

Gail Taylor 15:38
Yeah, that's what he said. That's what he told me. That's why you didn't have to go to rehab. You hit a high bottom. But regardless, I mean, an addict is an addict. I'm not, you know, it is what it is. And 

Rich Bennett 15:50
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 15:50
so, yeah, I learned everything. And that's what made me. I have such a soft spot in my heart for the loved ones of addicts. And that's, you know, you have to listen to my song. Wings. Wings is giving yourself permission to be happy, even though you're on a parallel journey with a loved one that's inactive addiction. I mean, it's not. You're on a parallel journey. You can help them. You could be their advocate, but you can't decide when they're going to get clean. That's on them right. So understanding everything, understanding boundaries and co-dependency and enabling and being able to, you know, still like like that song. Like I said, it's giving people permission to be happy. I had one lady say to me, I actually transferred it from addiction to dementia. My mom has dementia and she's really angry at me. But I realize from your song, Wait a minute. When I'm not with my mom, I don't have to be miserable and worried because of what she's going through. I can. I can still be happy. You're, you know. And so, yeah, that's that's my big message is you're you. 

Rich Bennett 17:07
So you're that song took a different meaning to somebody 

Gail Taylor 17:10
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:10
else. 

Gail Taylor 17:11
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:12
That is a sign of an extremely good artist right there. 

Gail Taylor 17:18
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 17:19
And I've mentioned this before. Art, whether it be music or painting, pottery, whatever, can have a different meaning to other people. And even the person that created that meaning can change throughout life. And that's that's a that's amazing. That's good. 

Gail Taylor 17:40
I remember once a story I heard Willie Nelson say somebody asked him, he Willie, what does that song mean? And he said, You tell me. 

Rich Bennett 17:49
Oh, I said, Oh my mean never ask a gardener. 

It'd be amazing if they came back with that answer. But that's that is. That's a good answer. I like that. Because you're right. Yeah. It means it could mean something different for everybody. 

Gail Taylor 18:09
And I'll just rose up, Miles, so that if you do go listen to Wings and watch the video and you are dealing with addiction and there's emotion there. Make sure you pick the time and place because you're going to cry. 

it's an emotional song. So don't you know. 

Rich Bennett 18:27
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 18:28
I just want to give people that warning because sometimes people. 

Rich Bennett 18:31
Right. 

Gail Taylor 18:32
Especially right now. Right. With the opiates, the fentanyl. I mean, in 2023, in Canada, we lost 6000 people to overdoses. You guys lost about 107,000. 

Rich Bennett 18:44
It's not. 

Gail Taylor 18:45
And a lot of them are between the ages of 20 and 39. Like these are young, young souls that, you know, it is so, so scary. 

Rich Bennett 18:55
And it was for a while. They were because they were releasing the the heroin fentanyl. Now, just now people are just doing straight fentanyl. 

Gail Taylor 19:02
And carfentanil and. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 19:05
Yeah. And the other thing, it's scary. And I didn't know this because we had we, we talk about addiction a lot and we had two guys on and they told us about Zelazny. And now in some areas they're taking Cytosine and mixing it with fentanyl. Of course, our first response was What the hell is policy? Zine Zine is make sure I get this right. I think he said like it's a horse tranquilizer. But what happens is it all like, you'll get a spot somewhere on your skin and it's not necessarily the injection spot. It's it starts getting purple, but it starts almost like leprosy, I guess, in a way. And people are losing their limbs from this stuff. And it's just, 

oh, God. You know, it's funny because here in the U.S. we always talk about the war on drugs, but this is not it's not a U.S. thing. It's not a it's not a Canada thing. This is a worldwide problem. 

Gail Taylor 20:04
It is. 

Rich Bennett 20:05
I and I'm surprised 

any governments have never said it's a pandemic like COVID was because of. 

Gail Taylor 20:15
Well, our government did, and it did make it an epidemic like they did. And I'm not sure if yours did too. They might have, but I know our said we have an epidemic right now. 

Rich Bennett 20:27
Yeah, it's not an epidemic. It is definitely a pandemic because, I mean, there and the thing is, it starts with a lot of the. Well, you know, I mean, anything can lead to addiction. It could be alcohol 

refers to anything can lead to drug addiction. It could be alcohol, it could be marijuana. It could be 

prescription medicine that the doctor gives you for pills, you know, for pain. There's just so many things. And it's it's. Oh, 

Gail Taylor 20:58
And that's actually when I didn't realize I was an addict. That was the big shift that had taken place for me as I switched from getting high on chemicals to getting high on alcohol and marijuana. Right. 

Rich Bennett 21:11
yeah. 

Gail Taylor 21:11
And so that's why, like I said, I didn't realize. And then and then the second turn, I switched to just alcohol and then it was yeah, it's. 

Rich Bennett 21:23
Wow. 

Gail Taylor 21:23
Right. It could be anything. And. Opioids are prescribed painkillers. So that can be where a lot of folks get started. 

Rich Bennett 21:32
You cover a lot of this stuff in curveballs, 

Gail Taylor 21:34
I do. I do. Because kind of like life threw a lot of curveballs at me and it threw 

Rich Bennett 21:39
right? 

Gail Taylor 21:39
a lot at you. And it throws a lot at everybody that's like, this is this is my story. But my thing is, it's not the curveballs life throws at you. It's how you handle them. We are all getting cold balls, curveballs, unless we're living in a bubble. Right? And so that's it. It's. 

Rich Bennett 21:59
Almost every day. 

Gail Taylor 22:00
Yeah, Yeah. Curveballs are fine. It's not the curveballs. It's what you do with them. So this is. This is kind of cool. Each chapter, I share a personal story and a curveball, and then I share the tools that I use to help me work my way through it. And then at the end of the chapter, there's a QR code, so you could put your phone over it and it'll take you to the video and the song that was inspired by that story. So I, I put a soundtrack in my book. I literally put a soundtrack in my book with QR codes. Isn't that cool? 

Rich Bennett 22:40
You know, that is that is thinking outside of the box. Because back in the day, and I'm sure you remember this, some of the some of the books we were buying had a soundtrack attached, which was usually on CD. Maybe actually, I remember any books that had unless it was books on tape. But now with today's The Way Everything's Changed, you got that? That is that's good. That is smart. 

Gail Taylor 23:05
I know we're good. And it's funny that you said that about Out of the Box because. When I was 16, I dropped out of school. Right. I was I was an addict. During during my journey through life and as a financial adviser, I became very highly educated. I studied at I got an MBA at Queen's, I did my analyst that worked. And I did some executive training at Harvard. So I did become a highly educated person. But while I was on this journey at work. Being a financial advisor is a male dominated industry. So I'm in the boardroom with a lot of men a lot of times, and I kept getting. Wow. Gail, you really think out of the box and I was giggling to myself because it's not that I was able to think out of the box. It was that I didn't know what was in the box because I net because I didn't do traditional university like they did. I learnt differently. I was self taught and I went through a different, different time, different journey. They all thought the same because they went through the same universities and the same training, so they thought the same in the box. And so it was so funny when I used to hear that expression, I used to, I didn't say it out loud to them, but I used to get it out of myself. Yep, That's because I don't know what's in the box. 

Rich Bennett 24:27
Diana. I love. That's amazing. I like that. I never heard. 

You had the street smarts. I guess you could. 

Gail Taylor 24:36
Absolutely. Yeah, that was it. I had the street smart and they had the book smarts. 

Rich Bennett 24:41
Yeah. Which the book smarts. Everybody's learned the same thing because they're reading the same book. 

Gail Taylor 24:45
Yes, exactly. And because I did my education throughout my life, I became a lifelong learner. I did it later. I did different types of training. It was mine. It was an individual thing. 

Rich Bennett 25:00
You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

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Rich Bennett 26:23
With your 

background and your especially with the mental health advocacy and everything you were learning when you were younger, how did you end up getting into the financial field and not like becoming a therapist or anything? 

Gail Taylor 26:41
Well, because what happened was when I read that book, Thinking Grow Rich and I wanted to be rich, I started reading books. How do people become rich? And where did everybody get their wealth? And the first thing that came out was real estate. Real estate. Everybody makes their money in real estate. So I started studying real estate and investment real estate in particular. And I went into that field. And so I would and it's not hard to take little courses to get a real estate 

Rich Bennett 27:12
Right. 

Gail Taylor 27:12
license. So I went into that field. And then after I was in it for a while and I excelled at it, I started with commercial and investment real estate. So I was selling shopping centers and apartment buildings. And then I took the Canadian securities course. So I would understand the rest of the portfolios so that my buyers like stocks and bonds. Oh, my God. I just fell in love with the context of it because as a financial advisor, it's all relationships. You get a client and you keep them for 25 years. You help them, you work with people to help them with financial plans, to build their retirement portfolios so they can retire and have the same lifestyle where with real estate it was all transactions. You met a lawyer, you met an accountant, you met a buyer and a seller, and that was it. Six months later, they were gone. So yeah, so that's how it happened. And then I shifted into that to the being an advisor because I just I like relationships, I like people and I was like, to me, that was it. I was I had a purpose. I was helping people figure out and it would I don't I think it's the same in your country. It's a life skill that's not taught in school. 

Rich Bennett 28:28
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 28:28
How. How to prepare for financially. And so I loved that I got to do that. 

Rich Bennett 28:34
Okay, So you're doing that. You're a keynote speaker. You're a songwriter. You're. What am I missing here? Of course, a mother. So. But we're not going to count that part. We're not going to count mother, because it wouldn't work, Wolf, this question, because that would be your answer. Being a mother would. What is? 

Out of the careers you've had, What is what's been your favorite? in an off year, I forgot that I went to. 

Gail Taylor 29:03
You know, I think that being a financial advisor and the role that I have right now as on my on my signature, I say I'm an empowerment advocate. Right? That's what I call myself, an empowerment advocate. So being a financial advisor and being an empowerment advocate, using the music and the keynote, I'm going to say they were they're pretty much equal. And the reason like it's interesting because a lot of people say to me when they're interviewing me, Oh yeah, you're so lucky you finally found your passion. You know, you worked in finance for all those years and and then you became an artist. And I'm there. Whoa. This isn't you know, this isn't. This is chapter two. Well, maybe. 

Rich Bennett 29:49
Right. You had 

Gail Taylor 29:49
Maybe 

Rich Bennett 29:50
a passion. 

Gail Taylor 29:50
Chapter four. Yes. I had a passion and, you know, I had been doing it for a quarter of a century. And 

Rich Bennett 29:58
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 29:59
now something else came up and I thought, well, I'll try something new. And so I got another passion. And that's one of the big things I talk about in the book is purpose and passion. How important it is to find a career that means something to you because you spend half your waking hours at work. Right. Don't saddle so many people in our country. It's just saddle and you don't have to. Like, that's my big thing. What do you like doing? Do you like dogs? Do you like animals? Go work with a VAD or. Or start a dog walking business or like. Or maybe some of the ideas that you come up with. You'll have to go back to school. But I always say to people, you got to come home at the end of the day with a bounce in your step and a twinkle in your eye because you enjoyed your day. 

Rich Bennett 30:47
Yeah, 

Gail Taylor 30:47
And Rich, some people say, well, there's limited jobs. No, no, no, there's no limited jobs. My son, this is my best example for that. My son works in pest control and he loves his job. He loves it. And I said, what do you like about it? And he said, Mom, I knock on the door, and the person answers the door and they're really stressed out because they have bedbugs or they have cockroaches. 

Rich Bennett 31:12
right. 

Gail Taylor 31:12
Sometimes it's marginal folks. And I'm able to say to them, Hey, don't worry, you're going to go out for 4 hours. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to come in your home. I tell them exactly what I'm going to do. And then when you come back in 4 hours, you'll have your home back and you don't have to worry about getting bitten or anything. And he said, and just watching the calmness come over their face, he said, It's so important to me. And you know, which that job would be my worst nightmare. Like, don't put me anywhere near cockroaches are bedbugs are let out critters. But that's the point I'm trying to make, right? There's there's so many different jobs out there, and there could be two people that hate their jobs. And if they switch jobs, they both love their jobs. Right? Like, 

Rich Bennett 31:58
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 31:59
that's what I'm saying. Don't settle. Go think about all the things that you like doing and figure out what opportunities there are to turn that into your career. 

Rich Bennett 32:10
There's no rule that says you can't have more than one career. 

Gail Taylor 32:12
Oh, you're not. You're going to have to have more than one. There's not in 

Rich Bennett 32:16
Oh, yeah. 

Gail Taylor 32:16
you know, maybe our grandparents had one career their whole lives, but that's not the reality of today. Curveball is look at covert. How many people got lost their jobs over Covid's and had to reinvent themselves? Well, I'll tell you, a lot of folks that ended up being a blessing for them. They took that curveball and they found something that was more dynamic for them. And that's why I say it's not the curveball, it's what do you do with it? 

Rich Bennett 32:43
I mean, just. Just. I mean, with you and I in our lifetime. Look, how many different careers have new careers have come around? Because when we when we were in school, there was no such thing as the Internet. First of all, 

Gail Taylor 32:56
There wasn't even computers. 

Rich Bennett 32:57
didn't have. No, I mean, it's funny because when I got the Marine Corps, I went to broadcast school to become a deejay on the air. He made it. Couldn't stand it. And and then I got into sales and then computers. But computers I liked because, again, you're dealing with people. You're helping people. Sales I loved. But if Picasso was around back then. I would have probably. Well, no, I probably wouldn't have done it because I didn't like talking to people. 

I was very shy back then, believe it or not. So I. With curveballs. How long did this actually take you to write? 

Gail Taylor 33:41
But a year. 

Rich Bennett 33:43
Really? 

Gail Taylor 33:44
Yeah, it took me about a year and a lot of the stories were already in my head. And because I'm not a journalist and I wanted it to be good, I used a village to help me. I didn't do it on my own. I had. Yeah, Yeah. I hired a I hired a book writer and editor to work with when I was struggling with how to word a paragraph, I throw it into chat GB to t and use a little air to fix my wording. I read a book on how to write a book and actually. 

Rich Bennett 34:15
Yeah, there's books out there like that. 

Gail Taylor 34:18
I know. And one of the things they said was make sure it gets lots of eyes on it. So I got friends and family and I just send them a chapter and I'd say, Could you read this chapter and tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions. And so I would take all that and and work that into it. And then I hired a publisher to publish it. So I went through the office. Oh, yeah. I hired a publisher because the book was my journey and part of my my keynote speeches. So I couldn't I didn't want to give anybody control at all, whether or not this got shelved or where it got sold, I wanted it full blown. Well, it's the type-A personality to. 

Rich Bennett 35:00
Would not. But that's good because a lot of people 

self-publish because they can never find a publisher. 

Gail Taylor 35:07
Yeah. I didn't even try. I didn't even try. I didn't want to give up the. The control. 

Rich Bennett 35:12
Ned, does the publisher also handle the marketing for you or. 

Gail Taylor 35:15
Yeah. Oh. Well, so they, they handle the distribution. So my books are available anywhere that you buy a book. 

Rich Bennett 35:24
Right? 

Gail Taylor 35:24
Online, right? Amazon Barnes and Noble in Canada adds chapters and Indigo. If you buy it online, then you'll find my book. There. And so they do that. They do the distribution. And it's it's really interesting because in today's world it's all dropshipping. 

Rich Bennett 35:43
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 35:43
So Amazon doesn't have copies of my book. If you ordered my book today, you'd get it in three days. But in the meantime, they printed that. 

Rich Bennett 35:53
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 35:54
It wasn't in the warehouse. They printed it and shipped it to you, and you get it in three days. It's just amazing. 

Rich Bennett 35:59
What if somebody wants an autograph? 

Gail Taylor 36:02
Well, they have to live in town or. Out. I've been doing a lot of shows, I tell you. 

Rich Bennett 36:09
Or purchase it. Send it to you. You're said to back. 

Gail Taylor 36:13
Yeah, exactly. 

Rich Bennett 36:15
Wow. So with the book. All right. So you went through a publisher there helping you do the marketing. 

This this is something that amazes me, too, because it's very beautiful. Who created the cover? 

Gail Taylor 36:35
It was a combination, but I'm going to throw a shout out to my niece, Raven Shane, because what happened was I had I had thought about the concept of what I wanted to do. 

Rich Bennett 36:49
Mm hmm. 

Gail Taylor 36:49
Until well, had a consultant for me. And so we did three versions of it. And then I took the three versions and I sent them out to, you know, my daughter, my son and my my niece who's in design. And I said, What do you guys think of this? And which one should I go with? And she came back and she said, Well, I like the one with the butterfly and the hand, but I had a red background on it. And she said, I think you should put a gray background like this. And she put, This looks like clouds, right? 

Rich Bennett 37:25
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 37:26
Curveballs. It looks like clouds and the butterfly has to make their way through the clouds to get through the curveballs. And I thought, Oh my God, this is perfect. And she changed the font up a little bit on what she sent me. And then I had the idea to put the music notes in the butterfly. And so, yeah, yeah, she's you. Could you could check her out online, too, because she's Raven Change. She's a designer and she has her own website. And I know isn't an it is. 

Rich Bennett 37:53
Wow. 

Gail Taylor 37:54
Is. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:56
Wow. And this. So those of you listening this were recording is November 22nd, and this just came out November 1st. Is that right? In November? Now. It's not on. It's not on Audible yet. Right. 

Gail Taylor 38:11
No, but the reason it's not was because the publisher that I hired would only let me do an audible version if I used a professional narrator. And I wanted to use my own voice because it's my stories. So I did it. I hired another publisher for the audio book I've recorded, added the whole thing, and at the end of each chapter, we're going to play the song. 

Rich Bennett 38:37
Oh, 

Gail Taylor 38:37
So instead 

Rich Bennett 38:37
yes. 

Gail Taylor 38:38
of the QR code. 

Rich Bennett 38:39
I love that. 

Gail Taylor 38:39
Song. Yeah. So it's in the works right now. I. 

Rich Bennett 38:43
Good. 

Gail Taylor 38:43
Then all the recording and now the the publisher is doing the mixing and the mastering and all the fancy duty stuff that they do. So it should be coming out before too, too long. 

Rich Bennett 38:54
So when you were writing the book, what was the, I guess, the hardest part 

that you were? Because they're 

Gail Taylor 39:04
I 

Rich Bennett 39:04
bringing 

Gail Taylor 39:04
think. 

Rich Bennett 39:05
back a lot of feelings and all. 

Gail Taylor 39:07
Yeah. I think, you know, emotionally, I was connecting with all my stories and it. 

Rich Bennett 39:13
Mm hmm. 

Gail Taylor 39:13
Go quite smoothly. There was a couple of songs that I had to write because I didn't have one. Like my my actually, I think my catalog is up to 18 songs now. And some of the songs, it's all inspirational music, 

Rich Bennett 39:26
Right. 

Gail Taylor 39:27
some of it's social justice, but most of it's just inspirational music. Not just it is inspirational. But there was a couple of chapters that I needed a song for. I didn't have one, 

Rich Bennett 39:38
hmm. 

Gail Taylor 39:38
and one was the introduction song, which was the story about my dad. And I had tried to write that before. And I every time I attempted to write a story about the loss of my dad, it ended up in the file songs I'm not going to record. And then and then I needed it for the book. So I wrote it through. It's called Through the Eyes of Others. 

Rich Bennett 40:04
Mm 

Gail Taylor 40:05
And 

Rich Bennett 40:05
hmm. 

Gail Taylor 40:05
it's funny because I wrote it from inspiration from a couple of my siblings that are younger than me, and they don't remember him. So it's a it's a song about losing a loved one so young that you don't remember them. So all of the stories and the memories you have are through the eyes of others. 

Rich Bennett 40:25
Mm hmm. 

Gail Taylor 40:25
Stories that other people shared with you. So that when I had to write for the book and the one you we talked about earlier, that you were listening to Ambitions, not a four 

Rich Bennett 40:34
Yes. 

Gail Taylor 40:34
letter word. I had to write that one for the book. I went down to Nashville. I record everything in Nashville. 

Rich Bennett 40:40
Oh, wow. 

Gail Taylor 40:41
So I flew down to Nashville last summer to write those three songs. And because the book was missing those three songs. Yeah, I have a studio there. It's called Beard Studio. Beard 

Rich Bennett 40:53
Here. 

Gail Taylor 40:53
Music steward. Yeah. Beard Music studio. And the way that the Beard music studio works is a lot of folks use them to do their original music. Some use them to do their demo. But what happens is you hire them and you give them your demo and you say, okay, this is the song, this is the key. I want it and this is the beat I want. And you work with their producer and you're kind of co-producing, but they're musicians. I mean, my keyboardist goes on tour with Tim McGraw and and the bass player with Miranda Lambert. Like, these are talented, talented people. I know. I know. They're just incredible. And so, yeah, I go down there sometimes I work with them on Zoom. If I can't go down, but I go down and they record. They're just so amazing. And then somebody does the scratch vocals, and then I pick who I want the vocalist to be. And a lot of the songs is my friend and co-writer Mallory TRANEL, because she's got a studio down there as well. She's got a band called Crimson Calamity. It's Americana. It's an up and coming American Abed and Oh my God, 

Rich Bennett 42:03
think 

Gail Taylor 42:03
the. 

Rich Bennett 42:03
I've heard of them. 

Gail Taylor 42:04
Yeah, it's a duo and they do harmonies. They are so talented. 

Rich Bennett 42:10
Wow. That's. Yeah. All right. I love this. The fact that it's audible now with the music, the song playing at the end. That is good. I was. 

You should be teaching business as well. 

I mean, that's. That is smart business thinking right there. 

Gail Taylor 42:32
Teaching is a challenging profession for somebody like me. I'm a little too out of the box for that. But 

Rich Bennett 42:40
Teaching. 

Gail Taylor 42:40
I. 

Rich Bennett 42:41
And period, 

Gail Taylor 42:42
Yeah, I actually did do it once for about five years for the University of Alberta 

Rich Bennett 42:47
Uche. 

Gail Taylor 42:48
faculty of Extension. I taught a course called Introduction to the Financial Markets. 

Rich Bennett 42:53
hmm. 

Gail Taylor 42:54
And actually this is my second book because when I taught that course, it was around 2000. I couldn't find a book that I wanted to use as a reference book. So I wrote one. And so, yeah, it was called Yes, you can Have Your Cake and Eat it too. A Guide to Financial Planning. And so but it was also time sensitive, right? 

Rich Bennett 43:16
Right. 

Gail Taylor 43:17
It was a book that was only going to stay on the shelves for five years because I was talking about what was current in the markets that. 

Rich Bennett 43:24
So with the book, because there's something else I want to talk to you about. But with the book, tell everybody why they need to purchase this. 

Gail Taylor 43:34
Oh, lots and lots of reasons. Because it's it's a book about how to level up, how to get past the things that are keeping you from going after your dreams, keeping you from that next step that you want to go through. And I think we all need it. 

Rich Bennett 43:58
Yeah. 

Gail Taylor 43:58
Like, I've I've read 100 books that are versions of my books, and I think they're all amazing. And I just think reading a book like this and hey, you heard the beginning of my story, right? I was a 12 year old addict that dropped out of school at 16. Who became a self-made millionaire, managed $130 million, shifted into music, and all because I became a lifelong learner and went after the things that I love to do. And so it's like. To me. Yeah. To me. If you're already doing those things, then you're going to enjoy my book because it's it's just reinforcement. You're on the right track, right? If you're not already doing them, then it'll help you and all the tools are going to work for everyone. Some things that might work for Rich wouldn't work for Gayle and vice versa. So you'll find out when you're reading the book. But I go from you know, beginner stuff to time management, right? And so it it covers everything. 

Rich Bennett 45:04
So those of you listening when you purchased the book. And after you read it and listen to it, listen to the music. leave a full review. And actually, when when they scan the QR code, is it taken them to Spotify or to the YouTube video? 

Gail Taylor 45:22
It'll take them to YouTube so they can actually see the video. 

Rich Bennett 45:25
I perfectly. 

Gail Taylor 45:26
Yeah, I have a chapter on Spotify, but it goes to youth. 

Rich Bennett 45:29
All right. So make sure you leave a review there, too, because again, y'all heard me say it is going to drive the algorithms up. MOG Father, if you're listening. Brad Cox I have a funny feeling you are going to take Gayle's idea, and with one of your books, you're going to put QR codes in the back after each chapter for your songs as well. That's a brilliant idea. I love that. But I do want to ask you about something. Tell us about the inspirational pendants. 

Gail Taylor 46:02
Oh, okay. That's. So in the book, one of the things that I talk about are I'm showing. Bandit. It says, staying young on it. In the book I talk about this and that the first real turning point for me, the first tool that I used, was internal dialogue. Internal dialogue is everything. It's positive thinking, right? It's going from self-sabotage to positive thinking. And I know when I use that term, you know, the power of positive thinking. There was a book called that by Norman Vincent Peale. When I talk about it, people think about it a little bit as a cliché. But if you can shift your internal dialogue to manifest what it is, whatever it is that you want, it's huge. It's huge. Like, it was a game changer for me. And what happened to me in the seventies, I read a book by Gail Allen called The Call saying, You got this. And she had a mantra, garbage in, garbage out. She was a long distance runner. And she she had a mantra that was garbage in, garbage out. So let's say I'm applying to do a keynote speech and I get my head and say, Oh, why am I even filling this out? They've probably heard everything I have to say or there's so many other gets me garbage in, garbage out. I'm screaming garbage in, garbage out. And then I rephrase it. Oh, my God, I'm so happy. I stumbled upon this keynote. I'm a perfect fit. I'll be able to share my message, help the folks with their dreams. And then in addition to that, the purpose of the pendants was to give you a tactile item to shift that in your head so you can rub it, you can scratch the engraving on it, and you can use it to help you along with whatever mantra you use. Like I shared my garbage in, garbage out. But that's the purpose of the pendants, to remind you don't self-sabotage. And often, often people need need something physically to touch to do that. 

Rich Bennett 48:13
Those of you listening again, if you go to Gail Taylor and I get Gail Taylor emusic.com, link called store and you can find, of course curveballs there and these inspirational pendants because I just love time is on my side. Yes. Staying young would you. That's the one year where I got I mean, there's some great ones there. I always thought you were just, you know, since me, you know, I thought you just found that secret fountain of youth and you were drinking the water from it. It's. 

Gail Taylor 48:45
No. And here here's the other thing I'll share with your listeners, though, is that. 

This doesn't happen overnight. This isn't a New Year's resolution that you're going to shift your your thinking. You know, you're I almost call it brainwashing yourself. It takes a couple of years to get rid of all the, you know, depending on where you are on your journey. But life through a lot of stuff that a lot of us and if we just saddled with it all in our brain and now we want to say, okay, wait a minute, I want to manifest my own life. I don't want it to be what what saddled I want to create. I want to design my best life. Right. Designing your best life. I say take look at it as you're going to take a one year course or a two year course. So you're going to train for a marathon however you want to frame it, look at it and start the journey one step at a time. And every day you do a little bit more and you plan it out and whatever however you decide to do it because yeah, folks, it's not going to happen overnight. It's really something that you have to look at as, Hey, this is going to take a while, but it's going to be worth it. 

Rich Bennett 50:00
Well, Gail, before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? 

Gail Taylor 50:05
No other than never give up. 

Rich Bennett 50:10
Exactly. So what is next for Gail Taylor? 

Gail Taylor 50:16
I'm going to spend the next year, maybe two, promoting the book. Doing keynote speech is spending as much of my energy as I can just helping folks to level up. And it doesn't matter. Like my subjects are empowering women addiction, levelling up. You know, and I just oh my God, I'm just so excited that I'm going to get to spend the next few years really focused on helping others. 

Rich Bennett 50:46
Now, during this time, are you still going to be writing songs? 

Gail Taylor 50:49
Oh, I don't see. Put that to bed. 

Rich Bennett 50:54
Good. Good. Now. And are you working on another book yet? 

Gail Taylor 50:58
Not yet, but I've had a lot of people that have read this one say, When's your next one coming out? So that's kind of encouraging. 

Rich Bennett 51:06
I. And the thing is, this book is it can be great for so many different people. And you know, what is those of you listening again, purchase the book, but I'm sure you know of because this is not just your story. This is a guidebook as well. And those if you listen, I'm sure you know somebody that could, you know, use this book. So make sure you get it. Gail, I want to thank you so much and those of you listening again who listened to her music purchase the book. I'm telling you, man, you are going to be blown away when you hear this. I once we wrap up, I'm going to be cranking it all. 

It's good. And you started We met when you were 58. 

Gail Taylor 51:56
58. 

Rich Bennett 51:57
And you're 69. Well, 69. January 2nd. 

Gail Taylor 52:01
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 52:02
Right. So. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. So I think I know the name of your next book. And so. 

Gail Taylor 52:08
What's that? 

Oh, you're so sweet. 

Rich Bennett 52:15
Gail, thanks so much. 

Gail Taylor 52:17
Thank you for having me. This was awesome. 

Rich Bennett 52:20
Oh, my pleasure. 

Rich Bennett 52:22
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoy today's episode and learn something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with Rich Bennett. Com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care. Be kind and keep the conversations going.