Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Traci Lamb. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Traci, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
After working at hospice for over 13 years and speaking with patients on a daily basis, I realized anyone of the millions of unpaid caregivers taking care of a loved one at home did not have a “one stop shop” for them to find products/services to help them on their caregiving journeys. From a 2 week special needs child, to the 102 yr old grandma and everyone in-between, they all needed help. There are so many companies that offer fantastic products and services but the reality is you can’t Google what you don’t know exists. I started my company in 2019 to try to change that. The next 2 years I slowly built my business to where I was names one of the Top 100 Healthcare Visionairies in the World in 2021 by the International Federation for the Advancement of Healthcare (IFAH). That September, both of my parents got sick and I put my company on hold for the next 11 months to go in full caregiver mode myself. Both of my siblings have died so I was on my own, having divorced in 2019 and not having any children. I took care of mom and dad until Dad died in Feb 2022 and I still take care of my mom full time. When my dad died in feb 2022, I found out he was completely destitute. mom and I were almost homeless. Mom got $5k when dad died. In May of 2022, she came to me with the money and said she wanted me to take it and go “all in” in my business. I am a person of faith and prayed that night that I literally had no back up plan other than God. In the next 90 days, I got my first radio show based out of Palm Beach County Florida that is still on every Saturday morning and hits about 150k people. In August of last year, I was to come on a local TV show with my one and only client. I did and told them there was nothing about caregiving currently on TV. That started the conversation. In Januay 2023, I partnered with that company, CP Communications and my first TV show – Caregiving Worldwide dropped. CP professionally produces, edits and distributes my show worldwide on their streaming platform – RHSTV which streams on Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Google TV. By the time the 12th episode dropped in June of this year, we were reaching over 600k viewers worldwide across 7 countries. We now have expanded to an entire network – Caregiving Worldwide Network. Our second series, Safe & Sound: Adaptive Concepts for Vibrant Living, dropped its first 3 episodes in November 2023. This show involves healthcare professionals vetting multiple products on each show that can be purchased through the show or through the website. We intend to start doing multiple new series and new shows in 2024 including some in front of live studio audiences.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Caregiving Worldwide Network is a global TV network found on the RHSTV channel on Roku, Hulu, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Google TV. We can also be found on the RHSTV app or www.rhstv.com As of December, 2023, we currently have 2 TV series that are specifically geared to the unpaid millions taking care of any aged loved one at home, from special needs children to older adults and everyone in between. Caregiving Worldwide is a show that showcases one particular company each episode. Safe & Sound: Adaptive Concepts for Vibrant Living showcases multiple products vetted by healthcare professionals that can be bought immediately through the TV show or the website (www.safeandsound.media) New Products/Services and resources will continue to be added throughout the year to the Safe & Sound website and new episodes of the TV show will be coming out in late 2024. We truly want Safe & Sound to become THE “one stop shop” for caregivers to find anything and everything they need on their caregiving journey
Have you ever had to pivot?
Yes – when I first started my business in 2019, I started off initially thinking that I would coach individually caregivers. I even took a year long certification class and became a certified Life Coach and Executive Coach. I have always been a visionairy and by the end of the class, I was already thinking bigger. I decided I would do seminars, but right then, COVID hit. So, I switched to trying to do webinars. This went okay but was not really doing that well. I found out that it’s hard to find caregivers and even more importantly, most caregivers don’t have the money or the time to do webinars. So, when I was offered the opportunity for radio, I jumped at it. I thought at least this would allow me to hit a lot more people with my message. The next month when I was invited to be on the TV show, after we finished taping, I told them there was nothing about caregiving in TV. This started the conversation that ended up leading to us getting the Caregiving Worldwide Network
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When my father died after caring for he and my mom alone for 11 months, I found out he was completely broke. My mom got $5k when he died and was only going to get $1600/month total from his Social Security. I started working from home to make ends meet. We had nowhere to live for 3 months and moved in with a friend for free so we wouldn’t be homeless. I finally found a doublewide trailer where they put a single piece of sheet down the middle and called one side a “2 bedroom/2 bath”. On the other side of the sheet rock, they cut a single piece of sheet rock in half and called it a “1 bedroom/1 bath” on either side of that half piece of sheet rock. The 1 bedroom/1 bath was 428 sq ft. That’s what mom and I moved in to. I gave her the bedroom and I slept on the kitchen floor for the next year. The rent was $880/mo and that’s how and where I built and grew my business. It was the hardest year of my life. We spent Christmas there in 2022 with a 3 ft Christmas tree on the only table in the whole place where we ate and I worked.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.safeandsound.media and www.caregivingworldwide.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caregiving_worldwide_network/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracilamb/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TraciCaregiving