The Story of Hello World, llc & How a Goldfinch became its Logo

Welcome back to the No Problem Parenting Podcast, where we choose to deal with and overcome the behavioral and emotional challenges within our home. Hey, parents, I'm Jackie Fenderman. I'm your host. And today's episode is a little off topic. I'm actually going to share with you how I came up with the name Hello World for my parent coaching company and why the goldfinch is the logo of the company. If you listen to episode one, which is, you know, my very first, very imperfect episode, you'll learn a little bit more about how I started my career and why I was called to like work with kids and all of that. But in 1995, when I started with the nonprofit agency as a mental health practitioner, I literally loved the agency and I planned on retiring there. Like I had this goal that I was going to be the first employee to make 50 years with the company. I was hired at the age of 22 and I figured in a nonprofit world, I'd be working until at least 72 years old, right? So Like I was on a mission to be the first employee to hit 50 years.

And I really loved the job. And, you know, I went from being a mental health practitioner to doing some coordination to being full time coordinator. And honestly, it's it ended up being too much. I am not sure if it was a bit like crisis that was going on.

But there was definitely something happening to me starting in about 2011, where no matter what conference I went to on leadership or, you know, a specific topic on mental health or something that was supposed to help inspire me or motivate me or interest me or no matter what I did, I just I was I was checking out. I just I wasn't happy anymore. And rather than just sit and blame the agency, which I'd done plenty of, you know, on and off at the time, I decided I needed to I needed to do something to figure out where my next what my next step was, what my next mission in life was going to be.

And so I started attending conferences, leadership conferences and stuff with a different lens on. It was more about looking for that next venture or that next thing that I could do that was going to kind of fill my cup, make me feel like I was doing good in the world. And that wasn't so freaking stressful. So I was at a leader cast conference in my local community.

And during so it was a simulcast conference. Right. So that was actually in Georgia, but we're watching it in, you know, a local church here in town. And during the intermission of this leader cast event, there were these silhouette dancers.

So these kids, ages like 4, 5 to 16, dressed in full body leotard on a black screen, dancing on a black screen, forming pictures and, you know, like flowers and butterflies and words like faith and belief and hope. And just shaping these words out of their bodies, connecting their bodies together. It was just absolutely, in fact, if anybody knows how I can find that specific performance, I think it's 2012. and I haven't been able to track it down, but it was absolutely beautiful, totally moved me. Here I am at this conference sitting in the front, at the front table as I am moved to tears watching these dancers perform to the song Hello World by Lady A. Now I'd heard that song before. I never,

I didn't hear, certainly didn't hear it in the same way that I heard it that day with those children dancers performing to it. So it literally moved me. And here I am like in this conference of probably 300 people, business people. And I'm in like the middle table, the front row, and I'm tears pouring down my eyes. And I'm just like, my gosh, this is so beautiful. And for those that know me, they know I'm sappy. And I love that kind of stuff. So, but here I'm like trying to not like I really wanted to just fall apart right there. Oh, this is so great. I held it together, dried my tears. After the intermission, then the host of the conference had said there were pieces of paper on the table and they wanted us to write down three goals or three things,

three accomplishments that we wanted to make happen. And then they were going to send these back to us within a few months. So we could keep them in our mind and we're supposed to like be working towards these. Did a personal goal and then a work goal. And then my third goal, I wrote, when I'm brave enough, I'm going to start my own company and I'm going to call it Hello World.

And its mission is going to be awakening family attachment. And then at the bottom of the page, I just, I wrote, just do it. All right. So, you know, I folded it up, put it in the envelope, finished the workshop. You know, Marcus Buckingham was one of the presenters at the workshop, and he asked, what is unique about you? And then he said, make it useful. And so I was like, oh, I know what's unique about me, you know, and so I became really motivated and I was going to do just that. But then, you know, as this happens, many of you can relate that go to, you know, leadership conferences and stuff by Monday, I was like, yeah, the moment wore off and I've got a crap load of work to do. And I just have to like, get it together and get this done. I mean,

how could I leave an at the time 18 year stable career? Like what is a parent coach? Does anybody even know what that is? All the logic came back into play. And I was just like, okay, whatever, Jackie. Nice idea. And life went on. And then by 2013, so it's like a year, year and a half later, I was working 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week as a coordinator for this company, driving, you know, 3,000 to 5,000 miles a month, answering emails to all hours of the night.

And despite my love for the company, my success with the company, all that I learned, I just felt like I wasn't in the right place. I wasn't doing the right thing. And, you know, suck it up, buttercup, right? Like, how many of us deal with that at work?

You know, of course, I was like, was I just burned out? You know, maybe I just needed to take a long vacation. Was I being selfish or lazy? Anyway, I prayed and prayed.

And just like, please, God, show me what I'm supposed to do. Help me. Like, can I start my own company? Is this something like I could even attempt?

What should I be doing? Then one day while sitting at my home office, typing away at emails, I heard this tap, tap, tap. Ignored it. Kept typing emails, doing my thing.

And there it is again. So I turned around and the most beautiful goldfinch was perched on the windowsill, just turning his head sort of back and forth like it was curious looking at me. And then it would tap its beak on the window. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is so cool.

It was so pretty. I'd never seen a goldfinch in our yard. We'd been in our house for like 12 years, lived in the country. I don't know if it's because we had cats and now we didn't have a cat, but birds were showing up more.

But I'd never seen this, seen a goldfinch. It was just absolutely beautiful. And I was like really kind of awestruck over it. I'm like, it just stopped me.

Like just had a moment with the goldfinch and grabbed my BlackBerry phone. So, you know, that's dating the story, right? And to my surprise, it stuck around so I could get some pictures of it. And then it flew in three circles and it would flutter its wings up against the window and like go back.

Almost like it was dancing with its reflection. And flew around these three circles and then zipped off. It was just whoosh, it was gone. OK, so this is where it gets a little weird and maybe it's too mushy for some of you, but I started crying. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I was so beautiful. And I know, mom, I start talking to my mom and thinking my mom's the goldfinch visiting me, right? Coming to like support me or show me something beautiful and give me this little break. And, you know, I'm like, I know I need to do something different, but how can I leave? And, you know, do I have the courage to do it and the smarts to do it? All that stuff.

So I prayed to her, prayed to her. And then, you know, my work phone rang and I was back to work. All right. So then the next day I had to be at our head office about an hour from where I live. And so I get to the office and my colleague Pam was there. And so I told her, I'm like, hey, Pam, guess what? She's a spiritual person. And and and we'd swap, you know, fun stories and things before and and just inspiring things. Right.

So I'm like, hey, guess what? I saw a goldfinch yesterday and I showed her the picture and I told her, she's like, hey, Jackie, we got to look that up. I'm like, what do you mean look that up? And she said, the goldfinch is trying to send you a message.

Like, you need to pay attention to that. Like, what are you talking about? So she looks it up. And here's the message that the goldfinch was sending.

goldfinch comes to you to help you awaken to nature's spirits helps with endurance and transition of physical to spiritual aids in understanding the power of your voice and your own song the goldfinch teaches the value and importance of changes healthy family resolutions along with balance and harmony in dealing with people goldfinch will teach you to awaken to once hidden choices. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. Because even just the word awaken was in there. And I remembered with Hello World, I was like, the mission is going to be to awaken family attachment. I was like, okay, this is kind of interesting. But of course, I poo pooed the idea. I mean, had some fun with it. Pam and I enjoyed this moment. But then I got in the car and went on with my 300 mile traveling day, you know, and just sort of tried not to overthink the message. It was so interesting that I'd been praying to God for purpose and, you know, to help lead me. And the minute he shows me something that I, somebody showed me how to pay attention to,

and I'm poo-pooing it and trying to ignore it. Ugh, silly me. So anyway, it gets even better. So as I am going on, you know, another month goes by and working my can off and I'm just not happy.

I'm sitting in my recliner one day having my morning coffee and my guys had just left for school and work. And it's a rainy, misty, gloomy day. And so I'm sitting there and I'm just like, oh, trying to get motivated when all I really wanted to do was grab a book and sit in front of a fireplace all cozied up because the weather was just, you know, perfect for a day like that. But I'm like, all right, again, suck it up, get to work. I look out on my window and here's an owl perched on the railing of our deck. We don't have an owl ornament. I had never seen an owl in my yard, again, 12 years in my house. And it's right outside my window. I watched it turn its head all the way around. I'd never seen an owl in person or at least not that close. It's like through the window, but probably 10 feet away. And I was just like, are you kidding me? This is so cool. And so of course I grabbed my BlackBerry phone, took a picture, which darn didn't even think why I didn't want to move too much because I thought it would fly away. So the picture is like through the screen. So it's a horrible picture, but you can at least tell it's there. What do I do? Get up and I run to my computer really quick because now I got to look up the owl. Pam's got me interested in this. I'm so curious. So the owl, when the owl shows up in your life,

listen and look out for the subtle signs that are around you. The owl is a great helper to be attentive to what usually goes below your radar, but is now of particular importance. The owl is also a guide to uncover your hidden potential and abilities. so check whether you need to reveal more of your intuitive nature so cool and now I'm like okay maybe there's something to this maybe this is God sending me a message because that is spot on to what I'm feeling in the moment but again you know back to work life goes on there's lots of things to do and so I just kind of set it aside and still life isn't getting easier for me at work A few weeks later, I'm in my office again, and I had just ended a call with a super unhappy employee.

I was unhappy, too. I was not pleased with the situation. And as I hung up the phone, I was like, okay, this is it. I'm getting, I'm done.

This is just silly. Why am I doing this? And I look out my window, kind of hoping there'd be a goldfinch out there. Give me another sign and, you know, some kind of miracle here.

But as I approached the window, I saw a baby fawn, this little deer, spotted deer eating from the edge of our lawn. And he was just so innocent and tiny and so sweet. And so I'm like, we see deer in our yard all the time. Like, this is nothing new.

This is nothing abnormal. But I took a picture of it, you know, and it's just, again, just this tiny little fawn and no mama in sight, no mother deer around at all. And so I just thought, well, you know what? What if I look up this?

Like I see this animal in my yard all the time, but I'm going to look it up. Well, guess what the deer says, you guys. The deer is often a sign to not be too hard on yourself. Still the voice of the self-critic and treat yourself with gentleness and understanding.

Be yourself and continue along your path. Seek out your inner treasures and use them generously to help those around you. Trust that kindness and graciousness will be well received. Deer is a messenger of serenity.

Can see between the shadows and hear what isn't being said. Deer teaches us to maintain our innocence and gentleness so that we can share our openheartedness with others. Okay, the deer is a sign not to be too hard on yourself. I was being super hard on myself.

I was beating myself up. I'm not trusting my intuition. I'm not really able to use my generosity the way I want to. I'm being kind of stifled.

There's just all these things that kind of made me go, all right, I do need to listen to my own voice and my own song and I can go out and start this new venture, right? So I'm getting the nod. At the same time, I started to look at the interpretations of these three animals and be like, well, maybe it's just telling me to stay the course, you know, keep your head down, trust that kindness and graciousness will be received. You know, you'll be okay. You just have to keep on your path. So it was back and forth, back and forth. And then one day, you know, I was talking to people and sharing this with other people, but it was one day when I was talking to my son and I had a bad day and, you know, kids pick up on that. And he had asked me, he's like, mom, are you okay? What's the matter? And he was about eight at the time.

And I said, buddy, I'm just having a rough day. And I'm kind of, I really want to leave my work and I want to start my own company, but I don't know if I should. And I feel like God's talking to me and telling me that it's okay and I can do it, but I'm not really a hundred percent sure. And then I showed him the pictures, you know, where he's sitting there in the recliner with me talking. I said, here's the goldfinch that visited the window and, you know, I showed him the owl and I showed him the deer. And I said, but I just don't know yet if that's, if God is, if I'm making this up or if he's actually speaking to me. And Andrew goes, uh mom uh pretty sure it's god telling you you can do it and i said how do you know buddy like how do i know that and he said well mom g is for goldfinch o is for owl and d is for deer and that spells god okay like the hello world song says all the empty disappears i remember why i'm here just surrender and believe i fall down on my knees hello world everything was coming together And it was just a really cool thing. And it was very inspirational. And I, I really that that kind of stuff feeds me. It's it fills me up. So I was like, okay, I got to do this. And so talked with my husband. And, you know, he was like, you're good at what you do. If you can figure this out, you can make it happen. Go for it. And so that's all I needed to hear.

And so I resigned my coordinator position, gave our director time to find somebody to fill that, and then started Hello World in November of 2013 and stayed with the company for a couple more years. I didn't, I was a little nervous to completely jump ship. And I kind of was hoping that Hello World and the agency would join forces and be able to work, you know, figure something out and work together. But that wasn't what was in the plan, I guess.

So by 2015, I left the agency after 20 years and just stayed full time with Hello World. Hello World is here and going strong. And now, like I mentioned, I'm rebranding to No Problem Parenting. But I just really wanted to honor Hello World and share that story.

I know some people ask me and I don't have time to tell it all. So now I can say, hey, go listen to episode 32 and you can hear about it. I actually do a presentation about this called Mrs. Overdo It.

How's that working for you? And in that presentation, I go into a lot more of the signs. Like these three were the key signs, but there were things like stop signs. There were snakes.

There were things like changing the toilet paper roll, needing to change the toilet paper roll at every gas station that I would stop at on those 300 to 500 mile days. not all the signs come to us in heartfelt or inspirational ways. Like sometimes it's snakes as fighters and stop signs and rerouting and detours and all this other kind of stuff. So I go into that in that presentation and just kind of help people to pay attention. The bottom line of all this is pay attention to the signs, those things that stand out. The things that catch your attention or kind of catch you off guard or make you stop in your tracks and think about or ponder or wonder about something, like pay attention to those. Look them up. There's all different kinds of sites. You can just say, what's the meaning of this or that or the other? Or just pray about it or meditate about it. Pay attention to it is all I'm trying to say. It just might be what you needed to hear or the acknowledgement that you needed to pursue your dream or your mission for the world.

So there you have it. That's my hello world story. And that is how I became an entrepreneur, which was never on my radar. I never thought I'd be an entrepreneur. And speaking of entrepreneurs, my next episode is about how to raise your kids to be entrepreneurs with special guest Mart Fertel. He and his wife and his kids had an idea of a simple life hack that's going to help all of you listening out there. And I mean, it never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes the ideas that people, the inventions or the ideas that people come up with, it's oftentimes like, why didn't I think of that? That's genius. So I had a super fun conversation with Mort and learned all about his family's values and how they have really inspired and helped to create competent kids. So you want to check that episode out as well. All right, guys, for now, hugs and high fives.

You got this. you