Meet Scott and Rebeca Hardie

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

Scott and Rebeca, thank you so much for making time for us today. We can’t wait to dive into your story and the lessons you’ve learned along the way, but maybe we can start with something foundational to your success. How have you gone about developing your ability to communicate effectively?

To be effective communicators we need to stay alert and keep our eyes open for things that catch our interest—there’s no telling where the next great idea might come from. We need to stay curious—taking in inspiration from different sources (magazines, TV, nature, museums, music, etc.) We need to stay uncomfortable—when we think we know it all we cut ourselves off from a chance to learn. We need to be open to collaborate with others—the friction of competing ideas can help develop even better ideas that we could’ve never imagined. We need to allow ourselves to be bored—boredom works to keep our minds from being overloaded and gives us the opportunity to create. We need to allow ourselves to fail—if we’re constantly worried about failing we’ll miss the chance to discover something new and fascinating. It’s our job to take all that we’ve learned in this process and communicate it to others.

Along the way, we’ve discovered that to communicate effectively we have to be active listeners, good observers, and vulnerable contributors in our conversations.

Being an active listener when someone is speaking allows us to learn even more about a subject by responding with, “Tell me more!” or “That’s interesting!” or, “Where did you learn that?” It makes the conservation more dynamic and exciting. We’re listening for knowledge and details. For example, when we have a guest on our podcast we try to listen for commonality and expand questioning from there. This is how they know we’re listening and this encourages them to be good listeners too.

Being a good observer is recognizing that the person we are communicating with is more important than us. That means keeping a pulse on the body language of our listener or guest. Are they looking off, walking off, or nodding off? This may be a good time to ask an engaging question. It’s also about observing ourselves, our posture, eye contact, and body language. Whether conducting an interview or meeting coworkers how we carry ourselves and greet people helps set the pace for how effective our communication will be.

Being vulnerable may very well be the hardest part of communicating. Being honest about our own personal experiences can be uncomfortable. When we share a common emotion over a similar situation it tears down walls and creates authenticity. And authenticity creates a connection that can result in a deeper more effective conversation.

Communicating effectively can be beneficial for everyone. Being an active listener, a good observer, and being vulnerable can make for a more flexible and meaningful conversation—and what may seem like a tangent could end up being the most fruitful part of our experience.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

We are the co-creators of Hardie Party of Five and a Half with a creative presence on a variety of social media platforms. We originally started our podcast in 2019 with a very broad focus. We’ve interviewed everyone from stunt car drivers to clothing designers and even a blind adventurer. Eventually, we decided to narrow our focus. We realized that our passions were food, travel and life hacks. We love to have diverse conversations, experience new cultures and build community. Our perspective is unique in the content creator world because we are 50+ and empty nesters.

If you get down to the ditty gritty, we go to places, do things and report back. We explore hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, national parks and coffee shops all over the world. Our job is to tell you all about it through interviews, reels and stories. Collaboration is a big deal for us too! Along the road, we’ve collaborated with top chefs and bakers from around the globe as well as local farmer’s markets. Through these experiences we’ve gained so much more than knowledge and created community with some super amazing people.

What’s around the corner for us? Food, travel, more food and more travel, of course! And with all of this food and travel, you know we have a growing list of our favorite places to eat, places to stay and products to use. As we cross the globe, our goal is to collaborate with unique people and brands that best represent the food and travel industry.

And, one last thing, we often get asked, “what’s the half for?” That’s a great story! We married in 1992 and raised three boys who are all adults now. Drew, Jake and Alex all tower over us at a whopping 6’ 3” plus. In 2018, a sweet young lady named Emily crossed our path. She was in need of a place to stay and we offered her one of our extra rooms. What started as a roommate situation quickly became family. Did we mention that she is 5” 2” tall? And, there you have it, the bonus sister is the “half”!

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

Grit. Because sometimes content doesn’t come easy and things don’t work out like we’ve planned. In a world of instant gratification, we have to dig deeper when things get uncomfortable. For example, when that post or interview that we thought was going to go viral doesn’t get as many clicks and likes as we’d hoped we have to resolve to shake it off and keep creating.

Communication. Rebecca is a hair stylist by trade which makes her naturally outgoing. Her experience behind the chair helps her know how to talk to people of all ages and backgrounds. Scott is a graphic designer by trade which makes him naturally creative. This expertise makes him the mastermind behind our eye-catching graphics. When we combine these skills we become a content-creating powerhouse that can communicate effectively to a very diverse audience.

Curosity. We’re always looking for the most unusual things. At restaurants, we find the most unique dishes on the menu and try them. When we’re explore new locations we want to find the hidden gems that others might overlook. For our interviews, we like to dig deep in our research and develop intriguing questions that others might not ask. Our guests are pleasantly surprised and they appreciate the personal touches that our curiosity creates.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed when we feel like we always have to be “on”. Because we are constantly reading, watching, or doing things for the purpose of gathering content, we have to intentionally make sure we spend time reading, watching, and doing things that are for pleasure only. A few examples include going out on a date night with no intention to gather content or going on a phone free (or at least social media free) weekend adventure and, sometimes, we even leave our house without our cell phones. Yes, we feel totally naked! But that forces us to use our brains instead of relying on our handheld computers.

We also love serving in our community which gives us a sense a purpose and allows us to think of others more and ourselves less. In addition to that, consistent exercise (working out at the gym or enjoying some competitive pickleball) helps us promote self-care, enhance our well-being and keeps the brain fog away!

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