Meet Judy Budd

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Judy Budd. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Judy, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

When I was a young woman, I was golfing with a lady friend of mine. While on the golf course, I hit some rather poor shots and became upset with myself. Apparently my attitude was showing and my friend said to me, Judy, you get to decide every day what your attitude will be for the day. You can be happy and upbeat and people will want to be around you or you can be crabby and angry. If you choose to be crabby and angry, no one will want to be around you. So you decide when you get out of bed each morning, what type of day you want to have and what attitude you want. I choose to be happy, optimistic and look at the brighter side of things. It definitely makes for a much better day for yourself and those around you. When you realize that attitude is a decision, how can you be anything but optimistic and happy.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

First off, know that I am a very blessed woman. Throughout my varied career, I have had some wonderful positions and lived in wonderful places and have had two wonderful loves in my life. When I moved to Wilmington, NC just about 20 years ago, my husband and I were embarking on an entirely new world. He was retiring and I wanted to continue to work. As I look back, I was blessed that my former boss found me and I had a wonderful 13+ years career as the Sales Manager and Associate Publisher for several local publications.

Throughout my working career in Wilmington, I had planned to create a networking directory–just a little book that would list all of the networking organizations and everything about them. When Covid hit and I was forced to work from home, I realized I would never end up writing that book and threw out all of the material I had collected for the prior 16+ years. Wow, what a mistake. About 2 months after I r retired, I realized I did want to create a directory but realized it now had to be digital. I reached out to Jenna Curry Way who owns a digital agency to see who I should reach out to to have them help me create this directory. Long story short, when we next met and she said she loved my idea but thought it needed to be expanded to include anything you could join, attend, participate in or volunteer at. She became my partner that day and we created an incredible website. We have over 1,000 listings and pay for it through advertising, podcasts, blogs and special offers. We have a monthly newsletter as well as a community calendar. What a great resource we are to our community and especially to the vast number of newcomers to our area. We love what we do. We love helping people. We love getting businesses in front of new potential customers. We have continued to grow over the past 3 years and now have a sales staff helping us grow our business. So, I guess, I wasn’t really ready for retirement.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three things I find most important in life are being honest, being kind and working hard. The most important character trait you have is your integrity and honesty. Without these for your core, you have nothing. Being kind and fair is critical in your management style, your communication with others and your interaction with others. The Golden Rule still fits–treat others as you wish to be treated. And certainly, you can’t achieve success if you are not willing to put in the hard work it takes. I never expect anyone to work harder than I do. I set the pace in the company–the tone, the temperament and the character of our business. It has never failed me. My reputation is the only thing I will be able to take with me to the grave and it is the most important thing I have.

If someone is starting in business, pay attention to how others act in meetings, on sales calls, at events and all interactions with others, Know which traits you want to hone in on and improve in yourself and what you want to make sure you never do. You can’t take back bad behavior. You have to take the high road. Sometimes you have to eat crow. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself. Whatever happens, do it with care, kindness and always be fair and honest. You will never have to think back about what you did or said because you have done the right thing all along.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

How ironic that you ask this question. Having just experienced the death of my husband, I have thought about the remainder of my life and what do I want to do and accomplish. First, I don’t think I would change much. I have lived such a blessed life as I look back on it. Of course, as I was going through life, I am not sure I always thought the rough times were blessings. When you look back, you see those rough patches were all the ways God made me stronger so I was able to handle all the things thrown at me. I do know that all of my past experiences, ups and downs, have made me a kinder, gentler soul. I have way more tolerance, patience and understanding about all things in life. I would have to say I also was blessed because there are almost no items left on my bucket list that I want to accomplish and those that are there hopefully will be done in the next 10 years. I will spend more time with people I love being around and letting people know how much they mean to me.

I do see myself creating my legacy through my continuing to connect people. Being a connecter is what I do best. I do that through my business as well as my every day life. I will probably work until the day I die and be happy about it. I love the interaction with people that my life affords me. I will stay busy and look to help as many people as I can in whatever way works for them. I would want to continue to spread the happy gene because I think it keeps you young. I know there will be a dog in my life to keep me happy. I know also that when the day comes that I will leave this earth, my heart will be full of love.

Probably the most important thing I want to do in the next decade is remain blessed and happy.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Indigo Silver Photography
Jeff Poole

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Ignoring the Naysayers

Almost everything that’s changed the world in a positive way has been an unreasonable idea.

Mental Health
Thriving Through Adversity & Overcoming Mental Health Challenges

“After every storm, there is a rainbow. If you have eyes, you will find it.

Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of