161. This Won’t Last Forever with Helen Fanucci

FINE is a 4-Letter Word

You know the saying: your network is your net worth.

You can intentionally engineer the results by curating your circle of influence over time, keeping in touch, and being on the alert for subtle connections the casual observer might miss.

And then you might unintentionally end up on a flight with the CEO of your former employer, take your chance on grabbing the seat next to him in first class, and seize the opportunity to create networking connections that help him close a major deal.

Helen Fanucci took both approaches and had been able to practice and master the art of finding what’s possible.

Her parents instilled this in her by showing her she could achieve anything she put her mind to. When, as a young girl living in Boston, she told her father, who was the minister of a congregational church, that she wanted to go to the MIT, and asked if he thought she could get in, he told her the only way to find out was to try.

Spoiler alert - she got into MIT.

But before that, as Helen was finishing seventh grade, her mother died of ovarian cancer only a year after her family had moved to Seattle. During a visit to Boston she realized that although she was struggling to fit in living in Seattle, she could find her place if she intentionally looked for and created it.

After graduating from MIT, she worked as a manufacturing engineer for IBM in Silicon Valley. Worried that IBM’s culture of spending your entire career there could leave her stagnant, she pivoted into sales. She grew into the role through building her network and seeking knowledge where she could find it - until an unsettling discovery led her to leave IBM and work for a prospective client.

Cue the coincidental meeting with the CEO of IBM on the airplane and Helen’s opportunity to use her networking skills to create a relationship between the CEO and her new employer’s CEO. By all standards, everything was going just fine.

But Fine is a 4-Letter Word.

In a moment, when you meet Helen, you’ll discover how going on maternity leave changed everything. How spending a career in corporate America inspired her mantra of “this won’t last forever.” And why all these years later she’s started her own company that helps B2B companies with their go-to-market using AI tools.

It's a fascinating story, and you have to hear Helen tell it in her own words.

Helen’s hype song is “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.

Resources:

• Helen Fanucci’s website: https://www.pipelinepower.ai/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenfanucci/
• Claim your copy of Helen's book, Love Your Team: A Survival Guide for Sales Managers in a Hybrid World.

Invitation from Lori:

In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.

You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.

Once you read it, you’ll

✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.

✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.

✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and rewire your beliefs.

It’s only 7 pages, so it won’t take you long to get through. When you’re ready to say F*ck Being Fine, this guide is the place to start and it will give you new perspectives that could change your life starting today!

Go to https://zenrabbit.com right now to download it for free.

So now, it’s time to meet Helen. We’re headed to the pickleball court, and there she is – on her phone working on a movie!