Meeting between Dmitri Sunshine and Caryn Paer — Full Transcript
Date: March 20, 2026 | Duration: 43 min | Speakers: Caryn Paer, Dmitri Sunshine
Caryn Paer: Hi.
Dmitri Sunshine: Sorry about being a little late.
Caryn Paer: It’s 201. We’re good.
Dmitri Sunshine: How are you doing?
Caryn Paer: Nice to meet you. I’m Karen Pear. I know my name is spelled funny, so I like to tell people it’s pronounced nice to meet.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yes, you too. Okay, so Karen.
Caryn Paer: Karen just spelled very weird or unusual. I should say. Not weird.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, that’s cool. Did you have like. By the way, do you mind if this fireflies note takers here?
Caryn Paer: Oh, and I was going to ask you, do you mind if my fathom note takers here.
Dmitri Sunshine: No, all good.
Caryn Paer: This meeting is being recorded, huh?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yes. Yeah. And I. I’ve been having my Claude cowork go through my meeting notes afterwards. And it’s really helpful because I have a. Have it generate like a daily brief and it goes back through all my stuff. So it’s like. Oh, yeah. Do you remember this stuff? Have you taken it? Yeah.
Caryn Paer: That’s great. That’s great. I gotta. I gotta take my notes to my next level. Like that.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Okay, good. I hope I could be inspirational for you.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. A hundred percent. That’s awesome. That’s really awesome. So I really appreciate that you reached out to connect and.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Excited to, you know, share more with each other and see how we can mutually benefit each other.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. And just to understand, you’re. You’re essentially like a fractional, let’s call it coo.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. I try to avoid that because COO means so many things to. And so many different things to everybody. And so. And I’ve talked to other people that are doing what I’m doing and everyone’s a little bit unclear the best way to position it. Right. Without thinking, like, how do you have a COO that’s fractional. Right. So I’m going with fractional operating leader. But it’s still early days and I continue to evolve different things. I welcome any feedback you might have based on your experience working with the companies that you work in. You know, from a cyber security lens.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. By the way, for full disclosure, this for me is very new venture. So I previously had my own software company. Okay, good.
Caryn Paer: Me too. No, I. I don’t have my first client yet.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay. Me either.
Caryn Paer: The later part of last year. So I decided in September to go all in on. On. On this attempt. Right. This endeavor. So I spent that part, you know, late September through the end of the year, really honing in on what are my offers, what’s my niche that even kind of has merged into LED into this year. My, you know, ICP and VALIDATING my thinking, not like necessarily asking for work, but just validating it and kind of turned into this year. First started publishing on LinkedIn, which now I haven’t even done in the last like three weeks because I’ve had very little time, I’ll say at my desk. And now really looking to, to expand my networking to network with potential prospects. That hasn’t been as much, but I’ve been recently come across like more. I’m in New York City. I don’t know where you’re based. Where are you? I’m sorry, a boulder. Right. No, I did know that. I did know that. That’s awesome. Networking groups and networking events and different kinds of events where I’m looking to show up where people that may be in, you know, the industry is interested in or the roles I’m interested in, in finding people in might be.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, I was curious. One of the best concepts I’ve come across recently was the idea of these guilds where especially from the standpoint that this gentleman, Ian, forget the last name now, but he’s proposing. It’s like, imagine it’s almost kind of like an umbrella agency. They do the initial discovery, they see like, who can they pull from, who do they send the network? And so they take like, you know, their cut. But the idea is that if someone, it was working with them and they like realized, oh, you need someone else and you know, to be brought in, it’s like, it’s kind of this camaraderie. Yeah, Solidarity. So I, I love the sound of that. I’m curious if you’ve come across anything.
Caryn Paer: You know, what I came across originally and I was just saying last week, I really want to look into it again, is I did come across companies that bring on fractionals and then help place them. And I suspect that some of them do what you do, do what you just said, which is, you know, looking to plug in in the same engagements. Right. Multiple people with different backgrounds, experience. And I haven’t, I haven’t like re looked at that, but it is something I do want to look into. I know they take a cut, but even if it’s some parallel way to get started, get going, get clients right, I’d be open to it. So I haven’t reinvigorated that it is on my list to do. I think I had pulled a few companies names together a while back. I’m happy to share when I surface that. But yeah, I don’t.
Dmitri Sunshine: Please.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, there was one I had applied to and I never even heard back. And they Required a reference to references called Canopy Advisors. They had looked interesting. I don’t remember what their model is specifically, but like, I never heard back anyway in one way or another about it, which is, you know, thank you for applying. We’ve, you know, researched and looked into nothing, but they seem like a group that at least their way they presented themselves was a way that I would want to get included. But yeah, that is an interesting path for me that, that interesting path I’d like to pursue as well. Yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: By the way, the other day I came across human agency on LinkedIn.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: Which if you pull them up where I can find it and send it to you afterwards if you’d like. But they. It was a random thing. Just came across this and it was.
Caryn Paer: I think I came across it too, but go on. It sounds familiar, but like I’ve been bookmark saving a lot. So. Go on.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, yeah. Essentially it’s a. It’s kind of this mashup hybrid of a startup studio model with consulting to. So they. It seems like they’re. They’re creating their own ventures, but they’re also working a lot with existing. So they. I mean, when I looked at their like, careers page. Yeah, pretty extensive. And the thing that spoke to me was that they’re looking for like, operators. They’re looking for people who have experience running their own company and that they want to come in and kind of, you know, take ownership. And so for me, I was like, oh, this is great. Like from a very untraditional way.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. I think I’m on their site and it does say that you follow them. I’m trying to find where their careers is. I don’t see any of that.
Dmitri Sunshine: But on the website.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. Oh, there it is. Yeah, I’m on their website. I saw that you follow them on LinkedIn and then I clicked their website. Yeah, yeah, as you were talking. Oh, interesting. They got ventures.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. And it did a bunch of research with chat GPT on it and yeah, it does check out for the most part. I mean, it’s. Who knows what it’s really like behind the scenes.
Caryn Paer: Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, I’ll check that out. I’ll check that out. Sorry, go on.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. By the way, it’s interesting some of the reference or some of the mutual connections, like, you know, Mary or Marin Ryan. So are you involved in that kind of like regenerative?
Caryn Paer: Not at all. And I wonder. Let me just look, I have.
Dmitri Sunshine: Maybe I’m confusing.
Caryn Paer: No, you’re right. You’re actually right. It’s Possible that yeah, I see some of the mutual connections she and I have. So I had been attending this. Hum. Health. Health. Got it. Health business now hba, it’s health like business advisory. Why am I forgetting the name of it? I’ll, I’ll find it. Anyway, it’s, it’s a health related business advisory group and I’m on the board of a non profit that is providing mental health services to underserved children and families. So yeah, it’s been awesome. It’s a young non profit but it’s, it’s just amazing and really excited to be part of it. And, and as, so as part of that I found my way to this group. Health Board advisors. That’s what it is. And, and through there, you know, it’s people that are first of all much deep, deep expertise in the, in the health field very broadly from someone that’s researching something to cure something to investors. Right. It’s a whole range of people and I attended almost every month from October to February, it’s monthly and now they’re like having people apply to get approved because there’s so much interest and that’s where like I was like, I mean I love attending and like, you know, I always feel like how am I in this group? And not because I’m not giving myself credit but like, you know, the health arena is not an arena I’m really deeply in. I am on the board of this company and so what you’re supposed to do is apply and then like have a video of yourself to like then have get an interview and determine. And I kind of just got very busy and haven’t done that step. But I probably met her through that because what happens from that is like we all end up just like connecting on LinkedIn after that. And I don’t remember her specifically though. Let me just say that. Yeah, okay, that’s fair.
Dmitri Sunshine: I haven’t met her in person yet. It’s just, it’s one of those people that’s been in the very same circle
Caryn Paer: and Lori looking at Lori Kirkland, I remember the name and I. She was probably also maybe not.
Dmitri Sunshine: Oh yeah, Lori, Lori.
Caryn Paer: I, I do remember like connecting with her and we connected in August so that’s even before someone might have introduced me to her. I don’t remember. Oh yeah, probably. So I met. I’m in another networking group, it’s really focused on global companies and. But you don’t truly I guess have to be or you know, they’re a little discerning but if you’re Referred in. And I think she’s part of that. They meet monthly. This guy runs it that works at fis. It’s a. It’s a. You know, it’s. It’s a software company for. That sells financial service software. Anyway, he started this group before COVID in person moved to. Moved to virtual. Expanded beyond San Francisco, which is where they are. And I got introduced and because of the timing, I’m pretty sure. And who she’s connected with. I think I got introduced to her through that person. So, yeah, I think these people are all. And then Paula, because of some similar connections, I also think as health board advisors. And then Chris. Chris. I think Chris. I feel like we might have worked together. No.
Dmitri Sunshine: Well, he’s the one who’s always reaching out about, like, do you want this board position? Just pay us money.
Caryn Paer: So I might have just connected with him. Yeah. Like. But I don’t think we’ve ever spoken.
Dmitri Sunshine: That’s fair.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was a day when I only connected with people I like kind of knew or was meeting, and now it’s like it’s gotten out of control, I think.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Which is fine. But what. Like. So one of my friends that I met through, like, the work I’m doing. Right. Is also building something out. She’s kind of going through her LinkedIn connections to really hone in on who are the people that can. That I should really be connecting with and what I’m doing. Right. And she’s potentially. And. And we’ve had some conversations because we’re both in this program where this woman started to help people build out their fractional businesses where they’re like, connections that don’t matter. No. I don’t know that I truly don’t matter. But aren’t during the purpose of what you’re doing.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay.
Caryn Paer: Because the thought was you start targeted messaging around your connections. But I don’t know that I truly agree. Especially because I’ve got varied interests that are not just my own personal interests. I wouldn’t have had to do that then, so. But I think there’s a value to going through the connections and saying which one of these are ones that I now want to follow up with, connect, reconnect with whatever it might be based on what I’m doing right now. Right. So. Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, for sure. Curious, what are you using for your CRM?
Caryn Paer: Yeah, it’s. So this program that we signed up for has a CRM system.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay.
Caryn Paer: But it’s go high level, which I understand is a very good system. And I Think it’s an upsell for her, but I think she’s actually only charging us 3 per month on everyone and she’s going to make a fortune. But at the same time I’m like, well, for 97 a month. I’m paying her. I’ll be paying her $100 a month. Once I’m. Once I’m going live with the, the client side of it. Like, I can use certain links. It’s not considered live. Like even my booking calendar, which needs work from a visual standpoint, but it’s in that system. Like it’s a link in that engine. Right. So I hear GOA level is good. I haven’t truly really embraced it much yet, except beyond the calendar at the moment. I just set up Stripe, but like, you know, had to go through that process. I don’t have my website yet either, which is also something through this system you can build. And they’ll. So they’ll build it. I have to give them material, but they’ll build it. So I just. So, yeah. I mean, I like your website. You look. You look great. It looks great.
Dmitri Sunshine: Oh, thank you.
Caryn Paer: I like what you’ve done. Yeah?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. That’s a lot of going back and forth with Claude code.
Caryn Paer: Okay. Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: I mean, literally. What’s that?
Caryn Paer: You built it out yourself? Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yes, but I mean, myself meaning I’m just kind of steering it.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: But I mean, it’s amazing what you like with the. You know, there’s a new Chrome extension. So like, if I didn’t have API keys set up.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: It’ll just go and open up my browser if I. I mean, it can’t log in as me because I have my credentials separate. But if I’m logged in, it can go get the API keys, store them securely locally and do all the things that it needs to do. So you just, you can just let it run. It’s like. And they’ll prompt you if it’s like, I’m stuck. I need you to log in. Whatever.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: Highly recommended. I mean, okay. For me, I feel like, you know, I’m paying like for 2, 200 bucks a month for the, the Top tier of. Yeah, the cloud code. But okay. I’m probably using more than $200 worth of electricity alone. Yeah, I’m using it.
Caryn Paer: Right. I get it, I get it. Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: That’s pretty worth it. Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Okay, that’s good to know. And you know, I saw that you’re targeting registered investment advisors. Are you working with clients? Do you have clients?
Dmitri Sunshine: Not yet.
Caryn Paer: Okay. Okay. Right.
Dmitri Sunshine: I mean, yeah, it’s in, you know, that world of wealth management is so hard to break into because I have friends who are in that world and the feeling that I get is kind of like, hey, come back in. You know, I remember one person told me, like, come back, check in in like six months. Right. It’s. It’s this process of just like, are you still there? Are you still doing this? Like, yeah, it’s, it moves really slowly. It’s very trust centered. Yeah, so it is. Yeah, there’s. It’s hard when you’re trying to like, you’re like, I want to. I need to just start, you know, working with someone.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. But yeah, so it’s interesting. Yeah. Because, because one of the areas I’ve targeted, but I haven’t proven it out yet, is private equity backed registered investment advisor aggregators. Because for me the thinking is. And again, not validated. This was kind of working with Chad, right. Is if they’re aggregating RIAs, they might need to unify how they operate, which is where I come in and I can help, but there’s an alignment between us as far as RIA is. Right. But again, like at the moment that’s third on my list and I haven’t even gotten to my top one, which is high, high growth technology companies that sell financial services. Like, because I’ve just come across a lot of events lately, so I haven’t had much desk time to actually reach out. But what I will tell you about them telling you, come back, one story very short. I met with this guy. He, I, he ran the organization I was in at JP Morgan like in 2004. And he is now, you know, works at a private equity company, is on a ton of boards. And I was looking to validate my thinking, right? And I said, hey, companies scale, you know, they’re going to need help to, you know, improve how they operate based on that, this, that it’s like my portfolio. Companies don’t need that, blah, blah, blah, blah, like. And I kind of hung up the phone and went into a little bit of a spiral, a downward spiral from that because I was like, how is that Possible. I built a career doing this at J.P. morgan City. AIG in small businesses. Right. Isn’t. There’s no way that there aren’t companies. And then I just like, it almost put. Forced me to like validate for a longer period of time. My approach emails me on Friday, like I had written him off. I’m like, he’s never going to be interested in my services now. I don’t know if this will actually turn into business. But he’s like, hey, our private equity company is buying a company. It’s supposed to close at the end of the month. I’m going to be on the board. We need help in, you know, this area. What are you doing right now? Right. So I got on the phone yesterday after having a call with him with the head of the program I’m in, you know, and she was like, what did this teach you? Don’t ever write anyone off. So I would have never expected to hear from him again, you know, so you never know when that call will mean something. Yeah, right, yeah, absolutely, Absolutely.
Dmitri Sunshine: I just want to make sure I strike that balance between, you know, not because you, I’m sure you’ve had this where you accept a request on LinkedIn and you regret it afterwards because they just keep like, it’s the, like this constant splatter where it’s like, okay, this can’t be you manually reaching out to me because I’m on your list. It’s, it’s all automatic.
Caryn Paer: Right, right, right.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. That to me is just a big turnoff. And I had a, a friend who, he’s like, oh no, I do that and it works. I’m like, yeah, but how often do you turn people away? Right? So it’s like, I don’t think you actually know if it’s truly better than taking a more organic approach.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, I haven’t done that yet. But again, because like, I’m like, I got to get more time reaching out to people. But I will start with like, I looked up a few companies that ended up on my list for these high growth tech companies and like a couple of them I had second connections at. But I haven’t done anything with it yet, which is not good because I need to get business. But, but yeah, so I get that. And that is a question. And, and you know, there’s very different schools of thought. Some are, you know, don’t just rely on referrals. It’ll dry up, you know, or you’re. But it’s not necessarily referrals. It’s your, your warmer Network to, to cultivate. Right, yeah. And then the other, you know, and so therefore it’s start targeting people, the companies you want start commenting on their LinkedIn and you know, start to get noticed, then they might engage. And so I think it’s a little bit of both because if you start with the people that are completely cold connections and try to get yourself visible, that’s going to take a while too. Right.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, it can. I mean the thinking I have is there are individuals where they’re acutely experiencing that pain right now. And as long as you come across as professional enough and that you can most likely, you know, at least help with it in some way, I think. Yeah. So that’s where it becomes this numbers
Caryn Paer: game of, you know, 100% and it’s finding them. Right, but it’s finding them.
Dmitri Sunshine: Finding them is really challenging. I mean I do think this is where actually the sales navigator for me has been kind of.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. That I don’t pay for at the moment.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. I do think it’s worth it from the standpoint of like or maybe just paying for premium to do more outreach.
Caryn Paer: I have premium. I’ve had. Yeah, that I have. But I just haven’t paid for Sales navigator maybe yet.
Dmitri Sunshine: It’s, it’s a horrible interface. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s actually. Yeah. I mean I’ve had better luck just using the regular search and then because that prioritizes based on some weird algorithm. But part of it is like how many mutual connections you have and there’s something about that.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: People are like oh, you know this person.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, I know, I know. So yeah, I mean I don’t have. Because I guess I’m early in what I’m doing too. I don’t have like this is what’s completely worked for me yet. Right. You know, we’ve been pushed which makes sense to like try to have as many one on ones and going to in person events those at least twice a month and I’ve just more recently found some things to go to here in New York. So I’ve been doing that more than I’ve been doing it that in like virtual or in person one on ones more than anything else. But I again need to make sure I’m showing up in the right rooms where I might get to a client as opposed to just going to event. Right, right. Which I’m really trying to be selective of. Like oh, there might be people in fin deck here. Oh there might be VCs here or right, yeah, that’s, that’s my focus. But you never know what will stick, right?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s hard. And I’ve, I have friends who been at this for years and decades and a lot of them have given up on traditional networking events.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Or let, let me put this. They’ve given up on them in their local city, at least.
Caryn Paer: Okay, I got it.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Maybe your situation is different because you’re
Caryn Paer: getting in the city. Yeah. And I’m, most of them aren’t just come network. Right. They’re events where I can network. Right. It’s like there’s a topic. There’s, there is one networking lunch I go to a couple times a month. But you know, it’s, it’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s different. It’s just like six to ten people. But. Yeah, no, I’m not like, just not just. But I’m looking for things that are event around a topic, around something where it’s bringing the right people. Right. Or potentially people that are in this, the industries or, you know, roles or that I’m interested in meeting as opposed to like, oh, we’re, we’re networking. Come, come gather. Right.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: What was I going to ask you? Are you targeting like certain size companies, whether it’s by dollar amount or employee?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, I mean, we’re looking for essentially like, well, first of all, the, the RIAs that are under 1.5 billion assets under management because they, they’ve just had new regulations slapped up on them.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: Take effect in June. And I think a lot of them have not fully implemented. I mean, the space is, there’s a lot of bigger players already kind of dominating it.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: It doesn’t seem that, that cohesive of an environment, so. But I don’t know, I’m, again, I’m also early in this. I’m still trying to understand the real dynamics at play. And right now for me, a lot has just been like, okay, who comes to mind as I’m going through like my contacts or go back through LinkedIn.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: But I would say if you’re not maximizing the number of connection requests you can do each week, like, if you don’t hit that limit.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: You’re underdoing it.
Caryn Paer: What is that limit?
Dmitri Sunshine: I think it’s different based on premium versus LinkedIn sales. Navigate. I think sales much higher limit. But it’ll tell you like, it’ll be
Caryn Paer: like, oh, no, I’m definitely not maximizing that. I can tell you that. I mean, I am connecting with people and it feels like a lot of people that I’m like, you know, but I’m sure it’s nowhere near like any kind of number. That’s a max.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay, gotcha.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. Not on purpose, right? Just based on, you know, once I really sit down and, and start chipping away at my list and saying, hey, you know, can, you know, can you introduce me to this person? Right. But I am connecting with people like you and others. Right. I just got off a networking lunch where there are people I want to connect with. Virtual lunch. Virtual lunch. Yeah. But yeah, just. I don’t know. So what’s next for you then? In what you need to do?
Dmitri Sunshine: What is next is I’m actually going to be jumping on the fraction 3 of the fractional sites. Fractionaljobs, IO, Catalan and I think fractionals, United States.
Caryn Paer: I’ve seen that one and I keep meaning to look into it.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Yeah.
Caryn Paer: I mean, okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: It’s kind of for me right now it’s, you know, since we’re being really transparent, it’s the. Yeah. Rich revenue. Right.
Caryn Paer: It’s like, I get it. I have no money, I have no income. I mean not. I have no money. But.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, yeah, I try not to say that too, by the way.
Caryn Paer: No, I didn’t mean to say that.
Dmitri Sunshine: It’s the, the money is in progress. Is.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah, no, I wouldn’t say that to a prospect or. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: I, I definitely up with. So my startup that I had before this.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Keys. I just kept pushing it to see. It’s like, okay, maybe, maybe things can unlock this month. And it never did. So it’s kind of on ice for now.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: Still very excited about it because I mean, essentially imagine next time you go to a big ass conference, you could see the top 12 people that you should actually connect with. Right, right. And that are trusted by your. Some of the people that you trust. That to me is still not being done in a, let’s say this in a way that feels like it’s not cheap.
Caryn Paer: Right, Right. Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: I, I learned a hard lesson which is. Okay, like, you know, don’t, don’t keep pushing it. Don’t keep trying to stretch things out. It’s like if it starts to stretch.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Maybe it’s not the right time to, to do that.
Caryn Paer: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I, you know, I got let go last summer from my job at Citibank and it just felt different. Like this time was like I could take out my virtual playbook. I could go look for another full time job at Another bank. I’m like. But I don’t want to, you know, I just did felt like I was meant to be on a different path. Yeah. So here’s my attempt. Hoping to, you know, get that first client, make it work and go from there.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, well, I, I mean, I’ll tell you this. So the software company that I had, I started in 2007. I mean it was similar thing. It’s just like, okay, like how do I, you know. And it was amazing. I mean I did end up going to a bunch of like trade shows and things like that. That helped. But it was like the best learning experience ever. So grateful to do that, even though it was really hard. But yeah, there’s, there’s nothing like that ability to have the autonomy.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, absolutely. So hopefully. Right. Otherwise I may be heading back somewhere. But I’m gonna give it a little, I think before.
Dmitri Sunshine: I think if you’ve gone this far, you can, you could stick it. But yeah, definitely do this. Do you have a one pager PDF?
Caryn Paer: I do, would be. Yeah, I do.
Dmitri Sunshine: Would you send that over?
Caryn Paer: Yeah, I’ll send that to you. And likewise, if you have one, you know, share it with me and yeah, I mean look, as we all get into clients, there’s a lot of adjacent needs. Right.
Dmitri Sunshine: So yeah.
Caryn Paer: You know, have you thought about, you obviously have stated your niches. Have you thought about insurance companies at all or.
Dmitri Sunshine: We are probably gonna, we are probably gonna. For cyber security. Insurance brokers is kind of one of the top things that keeps bubbling up.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, they, you know, just generally and this is a very broad statement, they tend to be a little behind the financial service companies just in general. Right. I worked at AIG and I was like, oh my God. You know, and that’s the reason I asked like you know, they, and if finding smaller ones. Right. That are obviously that’s I’m sure your target. We’re not looking at that. None of us are looking at those big companies because they’re not even hiring fractionals. But let alone they, you know, that’s not the way they operate. But yeah, so that’s just what came to mind because yeah, even for me targeting like private equity backed companies, I know that that’s a harder space to get into in the way that you said the RAAs aren’t. Right. Because you get even if you know people who know people still like someone being willing to let you in. Right.
Dmitri Sunshine: It’s.
Caryn Paer: It will take time. It will take time. So I have, you know, private equity backed insurance roll ups and that’s where I have the RIAs also. But I think that’ll be third for me. But just because I have to start with something and I’m starting with non PE backed anything. Right. Just to try to investigate and see if I get connections. But certainly making connections in advance just even at private equity firms that might be in that space and you know, will be key as well. I just haven’t made many. I’ve made. I’ve connected with some last year in the healthcare industry. But just because I had friends of friends who were like, yeah, what you’re looking to do makes a lot of sense regardless of what industry you’re looking to do it in. Right. Which I kind of knew that. But after having that one call I was like, I don’t get this. What am I going to do? Oh my God. What was I thinking? Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Are you, are you posting pretty regularly?
Caryn Paer: I was for like four weeks.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay.
Caryn Paer: It was. Or five and then the last two, maybe even three. At this point I’ve just been going and being. Leaving the house and going to events and networking that I haven’t like had true desktime.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: So I’ve got to get back into it and, and you know, the conversation that we have when within like people that are in this program we’re in is some are getting like connected to people from their posts, but it’s also having the thought leadership. Right. Just so that eventually like plugging that into your website and just saying, look at all the stuff I’ve done. Right. Have you been, have you been publishing?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: I mean, not as I. I’m falling behind. What? Yeah, I’ve set out just because, I mean right now, AI it’s still, even as much as I’ve given it around my voice, it still writes. It’s just so bad right now. Put that out there.
Caryn Paer: But you know what, like what, what, what’s been said in my program and I get it because like the. One of the first ones I think I spent three days on and then this friend I meet with twice a week, we’re like each other’s accountability partner. She’s like, I just put it out there. She’s like, first of all, you’re only going to get so much visibility with it, but you’re going to have it out there. Just put it out there and move on. And. Right. Like none of them are going to be perfect. Right. Like some of the ones I initially wrote, you know, when I read other people’s I’m like, I don’t Understand them. And now I like, tell Chad write in, like, grade five to seven reading level. But I also saw that from, like, some list of best practices. I’m like, it’s much simpler. Like, it resonates with me because I was never someone to, like, read the New York Times.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Like, just, like, I’m like, simplify it for me and like, the general. So I like it better that way. But, you know, so I’ve been told, like, you know, it doesn’t need to be anywhere near perfect. And then the other thing that they’ve shared, the. The head of the program shared was like, hey, after you do a quarter’s worth of publishing, just start to repost. You’re the only one that’s sick of your content. You know what I mean? Like, so that’s another thing. So you don’t have to keep working at it. And then you can maybe the next quarter if you want to have some fresh stuff, but you can just recirculate it.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Yeah, I love that.
Caryn Paer: I was just telling my nonprofit, because we’re doing this, Mental Health is challenged to really help reduce the stigma of mental health. It launches in May for their second year. And they have all these people that submitted videos of, like, what mental health is to them. And I’m like, from last year. And, yeah, we’re going to ask new people, but I’m like, guys, we can use those videos and post them. No one’s going to know. And it doesn’t really matter if they were from last year. They’re still relevant.
Dmitri Sunshine: Exactly.
Caryn Paer: Right. And it helps, you know, give the volume of the content, but it’s just, why not? Right? So they’re like, oh, you know, But I wouldn’t have said that had I not been in this program and been hearing that from, you know, so, yeah, sharing t. But it takes a village to do all this stuff. Right. And if we can all help each other, you know, I truly believe that. That that will make a difference for all of us.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. By the way, I think I want to host a show and tell salon for 4 fractionals to come together to kind of share about, like, what are you finding? Like, what’s your. Like, you know, essentially it’s like, can. Can you condense in 10 minutes? Like, what’s your top tricks?
Caryn Paer: Yeah. Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: So if you’re interested in joining that.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, I might be. I only say might because I feel like on some level I’m not ready to speak about this stuff, because I don’t know. But. But just reach out like, whenever you’re ready. And if I’m like, yeah, I think I could put something. It’s not about speaking as much as it is about, like, do I have the. I don’t want to say material, but, like, is there enough that I think I can offer? And there probably is if I thought about it, but there is.
Dmitri Sunshine: I feel like you’ve shared a lot with me today that’s really useful.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: So.
Caryn Paer: All right, great. Great. Yeah, yeah, no, then I’d be happy to. Yeah, yeah, that’d be great.
Dmitri Sunshine: Beautiful.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. I read in your profile that you’re passionate about mental health as well.
Dmitri Sunshine: I am, Yeah. I am. I. I’ve had my own struggles in the past, and so right now I. I’m really grateful for having very solid mental health. And then we also have a baby coming in.
Caryn Paer: Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: So I’m like, that’s gonna be shaking up my world and I know.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: My previous mental health. Ish. Challenges were from sleep deprivation.
Caryn Paer: Okay.
Dmitri Sunshine: That, like, that really rocked my. My brain.
Caryn Paer: Okay, so you need to be careful, right?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I mean, it’s just.
Caryn Paer: No, I just meant with a baby and not sleeping.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Yeah. No, it just means, like, everything else has to be kind of, you know, really smoothed out and.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Just as holistic of a lifestyle as possible.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. That’s great. And is this your first?
Dmitri Sunshine: No, this will. So this will be our first together with me and my wife now, but I’ve got three, so I’ve got two other boys, so this will be my third.
Caryn Paer: Oh, my goodness, that’s so exciting. And how old are your other boys?
Dmitri Sunshine: Almost 17 and almost nine.
Caryn Paer: You have a 17 year old. You look so young.
Dmitri Sunshine: Thank you. I know, I get that. And I’m like, oh, man, I hope I don’t come across too young, but.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah, no, no, you don’t come across too young, but you just come across young. I should just say that’s not a bad thing. You don’t come across like, you’re 25 and, like, are you experienced or do you have anything but. Yeah, no, no, you come across very articulate and experienced.
Dmitri Sunshine: Thank you.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, that’s very exciting. Do you know what you’re having?
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah, it’s a boy.
Caryn Paer: Oh, my goodness. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Yeah, I have two boys, so.
Dmitri Sunshine: Oh, nice. How old are you?
Caryn Paer: So mine are 19 and 21. Turning 20, 22 soon. Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Wow, that’s such a good age, right? Like teenage.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, yeah. They’re still, you know, figuring stuff out and they’re good kids, so. Yeah. Yeah, it’s good. That’s awesome. That’s great. Yeah. I mean, I’ve learned a lot about mental health first just from my kids and their related issues. And my young, my, My younger son had this autoimmune disease, but it presented as also depression, anxiety, anger, like, so there was a lot wrapped around it that we had to unpack and uncover and figure out. And then I learned more about myself through them and, and with mental health, I mean, and like even like ADD and so, you know, in the. More the last 10 years. So it’s been an amazing journey to learn all of this and incorporate it now into my life and now even like as a board seat on this company. You know, the. The founder was my older son’s psychologist when he was young and then again like later in preschool and his companies had therapists that work with my other son. So it’s really kind of cool that it’s kind of come full circle and, you know, now we’re working together in this way. So. Yeah, yeah, I may, I may have you, like, spread the word and forward some posts that we make around what we’re doing.
Dmitri Sunshine: I will definitely be up for that. So, yeah, if you just ping me because.
Caryn Paer: Yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: So many people on LinkedIn now.
Caryn Paer: Absolutely. You got it in about a month. Right. Like, it’s, it’s going to be like, leading up into launching in May because, like, May is mental health awareness month. But. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay, good.
Caryn Paer: Yeah. Awesome.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Well, so send me, send me whatever you got.
Caryn Paer: I will, I definitely will. Likewise. Yeah, that’s good.
Dmitri Sunshine: But if you have anything else and you know, you can throw up a website so quick.
Caryn Paer: I know. I mean, I have this company doing it. Right. I just. So I just, I hired someone. I wanted a logo. I didn’t just want my company name. So I just submitted her the paperwork for like the brand strategy workbook I needed to fill out, which I just, like, I dedicated some time yesterday and I’m not spending a lot of money, but relative to what these things can cost. But so I’m getting that and once. And so I have to also now spend time on like the content for my link for my site. But I know otherwise I could. But at this point, because actually I was working to get Stripe set up and it was like you need a public site and I couldn’t find the setting on LinkedIn. I. So I threw up a page in LinkedIn for Baxter Advisors, my company. But, like, I didn’t put a lot of time and effort into what the words are. I just took stuff I have. I couldn’t find the public setting. Oh, my husband found it, figured it out. He’s like, that’s my superpower. I’ll figure it out. And I was like. But. So I was like, if I have to, I guess I’ll just use vibe code. I honestly, I don’t really even know what that means, but I know I could spin up a site quickly. But he figured it out. So I’ll get this up, you know, hopefully sooner than later. But we’re working on the. The code and we’re working on. She’s going to be working on the graphic stuff, so.
Dmitri Sunshine: Oh, beautiful. Okay.
Caryn Paer: Yeah, definitely. Let’s reconnecting with you. Yeah, I’ll send that to you much later. I’ve got another couple calls.
Dmitri Sunshine: Absolutely.
Caryn Paer: I got to do some stuff for my son as well to help him.
Dmitri Sunshine: Okay.
Caryn Paer: He’s looking for an internship this summer, but really great connecting with you. Let’s stay in touch.
Dmitri Sunshine: Yeah. Yeah, please. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Caryn Paer: And wait, when. When did you say your baby’s due?
Dmitri Sunshine: May 15th.
Caryn Paer: Okay, May 15th. All right. I gotta write that. All right, cool. Well, great speaking with you. Enjoy your weekends.
Dmitri Sunshine: You too, dear.
Caryn Paer: Bye. Bye. Bye.