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Andrew Hartman with Time Boss
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Andrew Hartman is Founder of Time Boss.
Time Boss helps busy teams and leaders take control of their time to get the results they want, via small group cohorts, 1:1 coaching, and corporate workshops.
Time Boss is a time operating system designed to multiply your time. Trade stress, overwhelm and anxiety for peace, freedom and clarity in your team’s professional and personal lives.
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- What makes Time Boss Different than other productivity frameworks
- How to find your highest sustainable pace
- Why we’re addicted to anxiety and what to do about it
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Time Boss, Mr. Andrew Hartman. How are you, man?
Andrew Hartman: Hey, Stone, I’m doing great. I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
Stone Payton: Well, it is an absolute delight to have you on the broadcast, Andrew. I got a thousand questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but a great place to start, in my experience, would be if you could share with me and for the benefit of our listeners, mission. Purpose what what are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man?
Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. You know, my heart is for people that are up to something, that have a contribution that they want to make, and they are precluded from getting that because of their relationship with time. Either they are overwhelmed. Too many things going on, always stuck putting out fires, or they are making their contribution happen, but they are burning too bright and they are going to burn out. They’re going to get checked out of the game because they just can’t sustain that pace. So I am for those people. I want them to take control of their time to get the results they want without anxiety or burnout being a part of that equation.
Stone Payton: So I got to know, man, what’s the backstory? How in the world did you find yourself in this line of work trying to serve this constituency?
Andrew Hartman: Yeah, I wish I could say that. I woke up and had a great idea, Stone. But, uh, you know, I was late 20s, uh, gotten a job where I had more to do than I had time to do it. Uh, almost instantly overwhelmed. Didn’t have the mental models to to handle it. Found out very quickly that I had been handed a to do list and a calendar, but no one ever taught me how to track, how to manage my time. Great parents went to a great school, great education, all the things. But what I realized is time management is tribal knowledge. If you don’t have parents that are good at it, or you’ve never had a boss that taught you how to do it, you just kind of have to figure it out on your own. And no one ever showed me. So overwhelmed. Wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats. You know, grab a notepad near me and just try to write down whatever was stressing me out or in my head. Wake up in the morning. Look at that notepad and it was just chicken scratch. Anyways, I didn’t get anything down. Meaningful. Um repeated that day after day, week, week after week for quite a while. Ultimately, ultimately led me to actually losing my sense of smell. Like I could feel it coming on well, well before Covid. And stress is wild. Stress has has really weird impacts on the body. You know, it’s hypertension, stomach issues. Uh headaches. Uh, and for me, it was lost. My sense of smell. So that was a real. That was a real red lights flashing on the dashboard moment of.
Andrew Hartman: Okay, it’s it’s got to change. Um, wish I could say I made a flip turn right there, but it took me quite a while. Um, you know, I joke often, I really started to run this weekly process of trying to fix it, and it it took me it took me a couple of years to really figure it out. And my conviction was this stone. I was I was an early stage software companies that, you know, short runways, high expectations. And a lot of us are in environments like that. You know, it’s not just early stage software companies. And I was feeling myself burning out. I was watching people on my team burn out, and I just came to the point where I thought, this is so silly, this is illogical. We need we need to be in the game as long as we can and go as fast as we can in as sustainable fashion as possible. So that led me to build out what ultimately became the Time Boss framework. And I started going fast without anxiety and burnout, making big impact. My team started making big impact. Individuals would leave my teams or end up at other companies and be like, hey, can you come and show us whatever we were doing back there? Because that was really working. And I, I just kind of backed into this framework that was really universal and made sense in any environment. And very candidly, I’ve just ridden the horse in the direction it’s going since then, and that’s where we are today.
Stone Payton: So this is a full time pursuit. This is what you do. You and your team are out there serving. Whoo!
Andrew Hartman: Uh, so we primarily serve, uh, companies that are in growth mode or growth mode, or they’ve had some type of compression on their time. So think knowledge workers where they are 100%, 100% responsible for their calendar. Their calendar is a wide open space every week where there are outcomes they’re responsible for and the decisions they make, literally the things they get on their calendar are the way that they drive value Incredibly stressful place to be. If you don’t know what to do with that. You’ll have more ideas, more things to do than you have time to do it, and you’ll find yourself overwhelmed pretty quickly. Or you’ll just start grinding and you’ll work crazy hours and it’ll start impacting your health. It’ll start impacting your relationships. Those are the people that we serve tend to be earlier stage companies. You know, larger corporates, unless they’re in growth mode, do they have some compelling event they’re driving. They’re just in a lower gear and can kind of get by without it. But for those companies that need it, it’s a life saver. Yeah.
Stone Payton: So let’s dive into the work a little bit if we could. And I’d like to explore it. Working with individuals, as I understand that that is an option, a path, but also with teams. I’m particularly interested in what happens early on in. I’ll call it an engagement cycle. That might not be the right phrase, but kind of early on in the relationship.
Andrew Hartman: Yeah. Yep. Early on it’s all about assessment. So we all have lived into a certain set of habits related to time, and we’ve done it for really, uh, rational reasons. Right? The people that are overwhelmed are doing their best, like they’re not choosing overwhelm. It’s just this is the best they have. This is what is in their hand right now. So what I’m really trying to understand is where are the individuals at or where are the teams at in their relationship with time. And that becomes our baseline. That really becomes our pivot point to say, okay, let’s get really clear on how our current habits are sending us sideways, either as an individual or as a team. And then let’s chart a path. Let’s let’s install the time based framework, and then let’s just start dealing with the friction that comes from that and helping people find that next gear. And the language we use is their highest sustainable pace. What is the what is the most impact you can have, the most outcomes you can drive in a way that’s ultimately sustainable for you. Where you are in the game the longest, you’re not. You’re not checking out because of stress or anxiety or burnout. You’re not getting diminished results because you’re burning too bright. You’re really finding that right pace for you and for your team to drive to drive the most impact possible.
Stone Payton: So what are you finding the most rewarding. What’s the most fun about it for you at this stage?
Andrew Hartman: I love that question. So thank you. Uh, you know, I was just telling a buddy, I, I feel like the work I do is I’m helping people realize that they have a bear trap on their foot, and they don’t even realize they have a bear trap on their foot. And when you open that bear trap and people are like, oh my gosh, this is what it’s like to run with two feet. They don’t even realize what’s possible when people get their relationship with time, right? The entire world opens up. It’s not just their professional world, it’s their personal world. You begin to be able to name a preferred future, and then you have the tools in your toolbox to actually make it happen, to represent those items on your calendar in a way that they’re actually going to get done. That’s that’s the greatest gift for me. I, I’ve always said I want to be a shortcut or a cheat code for anyone in their life. I just want to help them get what they can’t get on their own. And helping people solve their relationship with time is truly exponential, because it’s not just next week where they get that win. It’s every week for the rest of their life. And then, you know, a lot of people that go through time will say, I’m going to show my kids this. Like, this is just the way that time works. I want them to get this too. And that’s when I get into generational impact and legacy. I mean, I’m truly stunned as I’m talking about it. I’m getting goosebumps. Like, I just this is my love. This is my this is my lane. This is my assignment. Everyone involved with time, boss. This is what we’re up to.
Stone Payton: Well, that frame, that lens is very helpful for me personally. The way you characterize it as your relationship with time right out of the box, that helps you just look at it completely differently, doesn’t it?
Andrew Hartman: 100%. Yeah. We most people will say they’re fighting time. There’s not enough time. You know, we have these really negative self-talk tracks that we get stuck in. And what I try to help people understand is time is the opportunity. Time is your currency. It’s the way you make things happen. You know, it would be like an investment manager, uh, not wanting to deal with money. It doesn’t make any sense. You know, it’s a categorical mismatch. We are the stewards of this time that has been given to us. And I’m simply just trying to empower people where they look at every week as opportunity, not as man, how am I going to get through this? You know, last week was hard enough. How am I going to get through this week? And truly, that’s the average. That is, the average knowledge worker in at least in Western culture, is is running on overwhelm, experiencing some level of burnout, seeing waning, waning results. And it’s it’s self-inflicted wounds. It doesn’t have to be that way. And people just need to be shown that there’s a different way.
Stone Payton: I gotta believe that you run into observe some similar some patterns, like you get into a situation and you’re like, yep. And you may not. You’re probably more socially skilled than me. You might not let the person know that you’ve been there before, but you’re thinking to yourself, yep, seen this one before, and I bet we need to talk about this this and and and this is that is that accurate? Do you see some of the same pathology? Maybe a little strong but some of the same challenges across different clients? Hundred percent.
Andrew Hartman: Yeah. There’s three three personas. To your point, it really most people fall into one of these buckets, sometimes multiple, but often they’ll have one that’s dominant. There’s the firefighter where they are addicted to anxiety. Um, they let things catch on fire. Because what’s what’s nice about being a firefighter is, you know, your job. If the house is on fire, I’m supposed to put it out. And so you’ll have people that just live for the firefight, and they will tend to work extended hours or overwhelm themselves because they can’t get anything done on their priority list until it’s quiet, you know? And that often means early mornings, late nights, weekends off hours where they’re giving more of their life to work than they want to. And that’s really beginning to impact them. Uh, second persona would be a, uh, excuse me, a grinder. And these are people they are very clear on how to create value, but they have no governor on their speed. And so they will work more than they want to work because they constantly feel behind. They don’t have mental models that help them understand that they’re making good progress, so they just grind. Those people tend to burn too bright.
Andrew Hartman: This is I was actually in both of those personas at different points, but I tend to be more on the grinder side where that person really needs a good understanding of progress. They need to understand what enough is on a day by day and week by week basis, where again, they can really find that pace. Third one is an ideator. These are people that just are constantly coming up with new ideas. Those new ideas are constantly interrupting the old ideas. They tend to violate their own boundaries related to how much time they want to give to work or whatever area of their life, because they’re just so distracted. I joke, I joke, they tend to work extra hours because of squirrel, like something comes into their field of view and it sends them in another direction. And so those are I mean, truly, when I sit down with anyone, it’s it’s one of those three personas. And then each of those has a bit of a prescriptive path that you ask the right questions, you help them get the right mental models. They can make progress really rapidly, provided they have strong accountability to help them make that change.
Stone Payton: Because I don’t have my video on you didn’t see me grinning ear to ear when you talked about the squirrel.
Andrew Hartman: Are you. Are you an ideator stone? Is that your lane?
Stone Payton: I resemble that remark. I just I get so much, I guess, emotional compensation for for thinking I see something in a different light and then and then going down that path and and it has worked out just enough, right, that I want to keep doing it. Yeah.
Andrew Hartman: Right. Well and that’s, you know that what I was Sharon Stone, is it like you do that for a very rational reason. And people are firefighters for very rational reasons, and they’re grinders for very rational reasons. They have lived their way. We have all lived our way into our current experience of life for good reasons, for survival reasons, for the wins that it’s given us. And what I, what I really am helping people see is there’s there’s another mountain, there’s another lane, there’s another way to operate to get you what you want without the anxiety or the burnout or the stress, you know. But we replace that with peace and freedom and clarity, where you can just attack the things that matter to you without having those anchors on you that are also going to wear you down or pull you out of the game.
Stone Payton: So I’m around small business entrepreneur people a lot here in this community where we have a physical studio. It’s one of our business, radio X Studios, and I’m kind of like the social mayor here in little old Woodstock, Georgia, because I’m a radio guy that invites people to come talk about their business. And I don’t know if this is confined to small business people, but I observe a lot. What I would say some of these folks, in my opinion, and maybe it’s a little unfair because I’ve kind of reached a different level in my life and career, but it’s almost like they where busy as a badge, you know, is that you see, you’ve seen that. Yeah.
Andrew Hartman: Oh, absolutely. It’s an identity thing. And it’s, you know, the metaphor given to me by a mentor is we get excited about light bulbs when we need to get excited about lasers. You know, we walk in these rooms where it’s really bright and there’s so much going on, and we wear that in identity. But if we really care about our contribution, we got to get really clear of what is the outcome that we’re trying to drive. And then the next question is, how much of your life do you want to give to this thing? For it to actually get accomplished and busy is not busy is immaterial to that. Um, that equation. There are people that put that have decided to give 20 hours of their week to whatever they’re trying to make happen in the world, and they’re utterly overwhelmed, burning out. And there’s people that have decided to give 80 hours of their week or more, and their heart is on fire and they’re making amazing things happen. So time is not at all an indicator of success. And busy is not an indicator of success. It’s about what do you do with the currency of time you’re willing to give to that area of your life? And so yeah, I really I actually encourage those people, you know, they and I’ll hear, you know, we’ll hear it all the time. I can’t make that change. I’m just too busy. Well, we are all 100% responsible for our lives all the time.
Andrew Hartman: We whether we whether we like it or not. This is where the language time box came from. We are the time box of our future self. We are making decisions that will constrain our future self into having to carry out those plans. And so I’m simply encouraging people look at next week like a blank slate. How much of your life are you willing to give to this area? You know, most people will say most business owners will say 40 to 60 hours. They’re mostly they’re typically in that range. And then I simply say, what are we going to fill that with? What are the outcomes that you’re trying to drive, and what are the highest leverage things we can fill that week with with reasonable buffer to make those outcomes happen? And then whatever else doesn’t fit, we’re either going to say no to. We’re going to defer it. We’re going to delegate it. We’re going to figure out a way to digitize it. But we our first move is not busyness. Our first move is what are the highest leverage things that can drive the outcomes that I want. Again, under that big idea that we are 100% responsible for our life, our life is not happening to us. Our calendar is not happening to us. We are always choosing it. And I’m simply encouraging people to assume their role as their time boss and do something about it in a way that’s going to get the outcomes they want.
Stone Payton: You mentioned the term burnout and as an individual contributor, father, husband, friend. I don’t want to burn out for me. But as a leader in this organization, I absolutely don’t want my people to burn out. And I, I don’t have any hard data to prove it, but it’s probably out there. I mean, that can be a real dollars and cents impact. The people burning out, quitting on you, being unhappy, retention, the whole bit. Right.
Andrew Hartman: Absolutely. Yeah. If you look at an employee level, you’re looking at one and a half to two times the cost of that individual’s annual salary to replace them and to get them productive to the level of the person that left. So it’s I mean, it’s dollars and cents to not have people burn out. And the challenge is it’s not a, you know, no, burnout is not a gear that we shift into. It is a it is a week to week, month to month evaluation of where are we at. And that’s the that’s the power of of really looking at our time like habits. If we build in this weekly planning meeting and the time boss framework really runs around this idea of a weekly planning meeting. One of the key activities within that weekly planning meeting is asking myself the question, do I need more progress this week or do I need more peace? And that’s really a pendulum. There’s going to be there’s going to be weeks where you’re in too low of gear and you’re like, you know what? I need more progress. I need to I need to go a bit harder this week because I am responsible for these outcomes. I want to drive harder. And there’s going to be weeks where, you know, man, I have been burning too bright.
Andrew Hartman: If I don’t slow down, this is going to go bad. This is going to lead to burnout. This is going to impact my results, or this is going to impact my people. And you need to course correct back towards peace. But it requires an honest person evaluating that on a week to week basis. And that’s how you find your highest sustainable pace, where week over week over week, you’re making those tiny little course corrections to really find your lane. I know for me, I can do 50 hours, 50 hours of what I call income generating activities. If I press beyond that for multiple weeks at a time, I’ll feel it. My family will feel it. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. If I do less than that, I think I’m leaving meat on the bone. I think I can do more and I care about my contribution. I want to impact as many people as I possibly can with time, boss. But if I’m not careful, that means I could just work every waking hour, which I have in past areas and areas of my life. That kind of led me to this framework. So I’m really mindful of what is that highest sustainable pace to maximize my contribution over the long haul, over the long haul.
Stone Payton: So when you get on the other side of those 50 hours and it sounds like you more than most would be very tuned into that and self-aware. Do you choose to pursue other interests, passions, hobbies, and if so, speak to that a little bit, because the reason I’m asking is I’m operating under the distinct impression that the things I like to do, which most of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish, and travel, that I really feel like a it gives me some space, but I feel like I come back refreshed, recharged, and that much better prepared to genuinely serve.
Andrew Hartman: Absolutely. I mean, think of it. If you think of it, if you just max the RPMs on your car all day long, you would get to everywhere you want to go the fastest. But over the long haul, that’s going to wear down your car. Like there’s a it’s just not rational. And so what you’re what you’re describing, stone, is you’ve found your highest sustainable pace or you’re in pursuit of it. Right. That travel and fishing and hunting, those restore you to bring you back with the energy you need to be as successful as you can in this area where you really want to contribute and have massive impact. And so that’s the same for me. So I you know, what’s outside of my those 50 hours. So I, you know, I think of them like buckets of currency. So 50 hours is a bucket of currency that I’m trying to be as judicious as I can. And the rest of my life is another bucket. So then in that other bucket, it’s I’ve got teenagers, so it’s time with my kids. These are such critical years for me to be present in their life. And I am not successful if I if time boss is successful and continues to scale the way I want it to scale, and I lose relationships with my kids or with my wife, I’m not a success.
Andrew Hartman: My my definition of success is broader than simply that this this area where I professionally want to contribute. And so relationship with my kids, in my community, volunteering in my church. We love travel. My son and I love to fish. My daughter and I love to surf. My my wife and I love to go to great restaurants. Those are also priorities. I can’t look at those as like be priorities and I have to protect them. Just like I protect my professional hours, my work hours. Both of them have outcomes that I’m trying to drive. And truly, you know, Time Boss is primarily focused around people’s relationship with time at work. Most people take the same habits and frameworks and mental models into their personal life, because it works the exact same way. If whatever you want, whatever preferred future you want, you must represent that on your calendar. Because your calendar is your currency. It is the time you have, the time that you are stewarding, whether that’s hunting or fishing or surfing or going to great restaurants or relationship with your kids or your church or whatever you decide. We’re all 100% responsible. And so we have to prioritize it, and we have to map it to our calendar, and we have to be committed to our calendar or it’s just not going to happen.
Stone Payton: So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours, a firm like yours? How do you get the new business or you get to have conversations like this?
Andrew Hartman: Yeah. It’s great. I appreciate that question. You know, we are still in testing and learning phase to date. What’s really worked well is referral, which is great. I you know, I come from I mentioned I was an early stage software companies. I was primarily on the product side. And a really good product is all about solving a real problem. Um, and so we time boss has gotten really good at solving people’s relationship with time. That’s a that’s a spear in their chest. They feel overwhelmed. They feel like it’s precluding them from the life they want. And then those individuals refer their friends. They, you know, one individual comes from a company. They go back to their company and they refer coworkers or, you know, one business owner or team leader goes through. They refer, um, colleagues at other companies. The other thing that we are doing is quite a bit of speaking. So we we’ve just gotten into the vistage, um, speaking circuit. So we’re doing more speaking within Vistage, which has been great. And really, it’s just, you know, I’m at this stage, I’m, you know, we’re developing the name of Time Box, but we’re very early, so we have to go via venues that transfer authority. A referral is a powerful authority transfer. Speaking authentically and very practically in front of business leaders is a is a really powerful authority transfer where Vistage is saying we trust in this individual and then I can create real value in that environment. And then those those business owners are very open to, uh, having a next step conversation with me or referring me to to people that they know that where it might be a good fit. So those are the those are the primary ways right now. But like I said, we’re you know, we’re still young. We’re about a year and a half into this adventure. So we’re continuing to test and learn how we might grow it.
Stone Payton: Sure. Well, doing good work is turns out that’s a fantastic sales tool, isn’t it?
Andrew Hartman: Absolutely, yes. I keep telling our team if we one of our core values is solve real problems, that there’s nothing fluff in time. Boss, we are so committed to removing that spear from someone’s chest that is, you know, a sideways relationship with time. And I truly believe if we are, we stay committed to that. We will innovate the right ways. We will. We will be in the game long enough to discover the right paths for for there really to be great opportunity for everyone, because it’s at the end of the day, it’s creating value. This isn’t a this isn’t a shell game. This isn’t a smokescreen to get someone to sign a contract. This is a heartfelt connection to these individuals that I know what it’s like to get your relationship with time right. And I want everyone that we support to have that same experience because their whole world will open up to them. And I live for that. And anyone that joins the Time Boss team has to live for that. That’s the heartbeat. We have to have to be successful.
Stone Payton: Before we wrap up, I’d love to leave our listeners with a couple. I call them pro tips. Just a couple. I don’t know if it’s a do’s and don’ts, something to read, something to be thinking about. And look gang. The number one pro tip here is reach out to Andrew and his team and just have a conversation with them. But uh, prior to that, maybe there’s a couple of things we could leave them with an actionable pro tip or two.
Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. Number one pro tip, I’d say is get everything out of your head into a list. So if you’ve ever read Getting Things Done, this is a maxim within getting things done as well. But most of our stress and overwhelm comes from the fact that we can only hold 5 to 7 things in our head at a time, and anything else that’s out there just creates stress. So pro tip would be get it out of your head, get it onto a list, a single list that you’re going to be committed to. And then, you know, certainly there’s so many strategies beyond that of what to do with that list, but I think that’s a great place to start. Other thing I would highly recommend for people is, uh, put on their calendar right now 2 to 3 hours a day. I call it whirlwind and just have it be buffer in your calendar where you’re not overscheduling yourself, and that’s where you handle emails, client calls, water heater breaking, kid get sick, all the things that are going to happen in life. Just add some realistic buffer to your calendar. And here’s the thing that happens when you do that. If you have buffer and you have time where you know you can deal with the realities of life in the other part of your schedule, you will be so much more likely to be committed to your highest priorities. And certainly there’s ways in the time boss framework to maximize that time to really get the outcomes that you want. But just separating out some whirlwind time and some priority time will make you much more committed to your priority time. Instead of constantly feeling interrupted, constantly feeling like things are crashing into your world and adding and stress to your day to day. So those are. Those are two quick pro tips I would absolutely recommend.
Stone Payton: I am so glad that I asked. All right, man, what is the best way for our listeners to tap into your work? Maybe have that conversation with you or someone on your team, whatever you feel like is appropriate. Website, LinkedIn, email, whatever. But let’s make it easy to get to you.
Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. So you can check us out at Time Boston, US. You can reach out. We’ll do a free consultation with anyone. Oftentimes we end up solving a pretty hard problem even within that consultation. So no matter what, I think you’ll get a win from it. And we can definitely discover if there’s ongoing conversations to have. The other is on our website at Time Boston, US. If you hit resources, we have a 90 minute masterclass, which is a high level overview of the time boss framework. Incredibly actionable. You can put in whatever you learn in that masterclass into effect today and start getting wins on your calendar. Um, you know the the dirty little secret of any habit change is accountability is so critical. So my encouragement to anyone is watch the masterclass, find accountability, whether that’s with a friend or a coworker or with us with time boss. But that is how you will change. And so the masterclass is a great, great place to start. It’s absolutely free. It’s my way to serve the community. I think information is free if you need additional support to implement, we’d love to help.
Stone Payton: Well, Andrew, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. I can’t think of a more marvelous way to invest a Thursday afternoon. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, your heart. Keep up the good work, man. What you’re doing is so important and we sure appreciate you.
Andrew Hartman: Well, thank you so much, Stone. That’s really encouraging and a pleasure to be with you as well. I love, love your energy and your approach to life.
Stone Payton: My pleasure man. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Andrew Hartmann with time boss and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.
BRX Pro Tip: Always Be Curating
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BRX Pro Tip: Always Be Curating
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I can remember one of the most entertaining movies that dealt with the topic of sales. It was this Glengarry Glen Ross and Alec Baldwin talked about ABC, Always Be Closing. You have an ABC, but it’s a little different.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:21] Yeah. I think that in today’s world, the ABC for most, especially, mature businesses is Always Be Curating. You’re always curating your clients. You’re choosing your clients. You’re not waiting to be chosen. And when you have that mindset shift, you’re going to see that you’re going to get better clients. You’re going to get clients that are the right fit for you. And that you’re going to be able to deliver better service to them because they’re going to win, you’re going to win, you’re going to be aligned.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:53] A lot of times when you’re starting out, you’re taking any client. And you’ll learn that when you pick a poor fit client, then you might win in the short term and your client might think they’ve won. But it’s going to be difficult for both of you to keep winning over time. So, when you really can define who your ideal fit client is, and be very selective, and only work with the people that you know you can help, then you’re going to get better results for yourself, you’re going to be able to charge higher price, and you’re going to be able to deliver better results for your client. So, it’ll be a better situation for you in the long term.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:30] So, to me, in today’s world, ABC means Always Be Curating. Make sure you’re the one who’s in the driver’s seat when it comes to selecting the client rather than just hoping that they pick you.
Unlocking LinkedIn: Transform Your Profile into a Recruiter’s Dream
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In this episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, Lee Kantor and Rachel Simon talk with Richard McNeal, Senior Partner at Talentfoot Executive Search, exploring the intersection of LinkedIn, job searching, and recruitment. Richard emphasizes the importance of optimizing LinkedIn profiles with quantifiable accomplishments to attract recruiters. He discusses the recruitment process, highlighting the significance of personalization and consistency in job searching. The conversation also touches on the role of AI in recruitment, the value of certifications, and strategies for effective LinkedIn engagement. Richard offers practical advice for candidates and companies looking to enhance their recruitment efforts.
Richard McNeal is a Senior Partner at Talentfoot Executive Search specializing in digital marketing, eCommerce, and C-Suite search. He is well-versed in building and enriching client relationships.
Throughout his career, Rich has completed director to C-Suite searches from mid market to Fortune 500. Rich leads full cycle execution of executive searches, sourcing top talent, delivering white glove client service, and consulting with clients on position profiles and skill sets that make the most sense to drive their business growth.
Connect with Richard on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. This episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel. Excited to be here.
Rachel Simon: Hi Lee, how are you?
Lee Kantor: I am doing well. This is another episode virtually instead of in the studio. But you know we’re making it happen.
Rachel Simon: We make it happen. I don’t know what we did in the presumed days, but, you know, it’s a good backup plan. So here we are, and I’m super excited about our guest today. Um, we met at, I believe, one of my LinkedIn local ATL events in the spring. And we just hit it off and I knew he’d be a great guest for our listeners. So I’m very happy to welcome Richard McNeal. He is a senior partner with Talentfoot Executive Search. So Richard, welcome to the show.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Rachel Simon: Absolutely. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
Richard McNeal: Sure. So, you know, as you mentioned, I’m a senior partner here at Talentfoot Executive Search. We’re a boutique search firm that’s been around roughly about 14 years, female owned and led, really known for primarily recruiting and marketing and all things digital. Our founder came from the advertising world, so that’s where we kind of have our niche Awareness. But from there, we’ve really expanded into a lot of other areas outside of that focus. So even though I’m personally involved in marketing and Ecom primarily, also a big focus in sales, technology and HR and finance. So those are our other practices. And then typically our clients are usually lower to mid market, maybe series B to C 30 to 300 million. But we’ve worked with larger clients as well. And they typically come to us when they’re looking to scale from a digital perspective. They maybe don’t have a marketing team. They don’t have a digital marketing team set up, they don’t have a CMO. And they look they come to us to really help scale their business from a digital perspective. And I’m personally involved in searches, primarily director to C-suite. So anything from a garden variety director of digital marketing, VP of E-comm, VP of demand Gen, chief digital officer or chief marketing. And I also do a lot of just general C-suite search like a CEO, GM or president. So that’s a little bit about us and what I focus on day to day.
Rachel Simon: Yeah. And it’s so I’m excited about this conversation because, you know, obviously I talk LinkedIn all day every day. But I think when we can look at it from, I don’t tend to, you know, focus on the job search side and how candidates can be using it. Candidates can be positioning themselves and what ultimately recruiters and those hiring managers and decision makers are looking for when they are looking to source those potential candidates for whatever roles are coming up. So I think that this is going to be a lot. We have a lot to talk about, a lot to talk about.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, there’s a lot out there.
Rachel Simon: Um, so let’s dive in. I mean, what what do you see? I mean, you’re very active on LinkedIn. You post, I think, every single day, which is very impressive, I will say. Um, so you’re on the platform a fair amount. Like, what do you see as those, uh, what helps candidates really stand out when it comes to being found by recruiters on the platform?
Richard McNeal: Yeah. And I think really the way it’s evolved, too is, you know, a lot of folks are now treating LinkedIn essentially as a resume, right. Your digital resume. So and that’s typically as recruiters one of the first places we’re going. So I think as if you’re a candidate or someone who’s on the market, what you really want to do, what we try to see as recruiters is underneath the hood from your titles. Right. Because especially in marketing, like a marketing manager can mean a bunch of different things depending on the category, how big the company is. Is it B2B is a B2C? So any way that you can list out very similar to a resume like what you’re doing day to day, and then also key accomplishments, because obviously what we’re looking for as recruiters, and particularly with companies that are in growth stages, they’re trying to scale their business. So we want to know how you’ve been, how you’ve done that, how you’ve helped scale other companies, how you’ve driven leads, acquired customers and some of the metrics and numbers around that. So I think that’s always helpful for sure. And then this is maybe like an interesting subtopic. But I do think, you know, LinkedIn has evolved into a place where you get to know people personally as well. And I think we could discuss on ways to to do that, not to do that. But I do think from a candidate perspective, getting a sense of like how someone is personally their disposition, their what values are important to them that can help us also vet fit from a culture, mission or values perspective and just get to know people personally before we even get on the phone with them, right? Or on video.
Richard McNeal: So those would be my tips, um, as it relates to the candidate perspective. And then if you even want to talk about the job search, it’s it’s it’s it’s the go to platform. But it’s tough out there. Um, and I always recommend to candidates that, you know, whether you’re internal talent acquisition or recruiter like myself are usually dealing with a lot of in the last two years, there’s been a ton of inbound candidate traffic, like a ton. Um, whereas, you know, during Covid in 2021, it was kind of flipped around. You know, it was more, um, the candidate inbound candidate leads weren’t in the same at the same volume. But if you’re on the job search, be mindful about the kind of roles you’re reaching out to be, right? I mean, and I’ve seen it right, like some candidates sending sending in their application or reaching out and it’s clear they haven’t done their homework on the role. So being targeted around the kind of roles you’re interested in, being personalized and sending those bullets out to talent acquisition or recruiter about why this role interests you being succinct but personalized. I think that segmentation and personalization to recruiters or internal to is important, and just being consistent, like it’s tough out there. There’s a lot of people on the job search and there’s there’s some churn on the market despite the economy, you know, being in a relatively good position. So just being consistent around it, I think is important. And luckily, you know, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to to break through at some point. So I know I kind of threw a lot out there, but yeah, I would I would describe you gave us a.
Rachel Simon: Lot a lot to unpack. Um, I want to kind of go back to what you were talking about when it comes to, um, the accomplishments piece, because this is something that I discuss with my clients as well when I’m helping them with their profiles, particularly like in the experience section and their about section. Um, often people are talking about all the responsibilities that they had in their past roles of, I did this, I managed this, I, you know, here’s 27 things that I was responsible for versus to your point. What are some key quantifiable accomplishments that I can list versus, um, that are going to be significantly more impactful and show the what I bring to the table and what I can actually make happen for an organization. So I’m so glad you brought that up, because I think that’s such an important clarification. And just like if you can make one change in your LinkedIn profile is to think about, can I can I think about those accomplishments in my past roles? Yep.
Richard McNeal: And I think if you know the kind of talent I work with, although they tend to be more digital or performance marketing focused, but even if you’re on the creative or content side, like some roles, have a creative or content piece. So ways you can talk about like this is the website I optimized and this was the impact. Like here’s a link to it Or no content, collateral, or other kind of ways to showcase how you put materials or your creative knowledge to use. I think that’s always important as well, particularly on the marketing side. So those are just a couple other ways you can also outside of quantifying it, you can also put something behind it because sometimes clients will want to see that down the road anyway.
Rachel Simon: Yeah using the adding the media. Yeah. Show some like portfolio pieces. Yeah I think that that’s a great point. Um, what is it that as the on the recruiter side like if you had to share like what are the what’s the first thing that you would go to when you’re looking at somebody’s um, profile? Because I know I’ve, I’ve had a, a tour of the back end of LinkedIn recruiter because I obviously don’t have it. Um, and it’s very different than what we’re seeing on our normal, you know, LinkedIn screen. So what is it that like you have to have this nailed down if you want to stand out?
Richard McNeal: Well, I would definitely go back to you have to be able to show under the hood behind titles, right underneath titles. That’s big. Um, I think I think some of the other pieces and I will maybe I answer this in a different way as a recruiter when I’m also typically and this is sort of outside the candidate control. A lot of times what I’m looking for is not just similar category or industry as a client, similar vertical, but revenue size, right? Like where is a company at in scale? Are you at did you come on board at 10 million or are they 30,000,050 100? Because that can help benchmark our recruitment. That can help kind of calibrate our recruitment efforts, because obviously we’re trying to look for talent has worked at a similar scale, not always in a in a plug and play regard, but that’s part of our strategy. So I guess I would even say if you can, if you’re thinking about how to tailor your profile even to talk about the revenue impact or even just how big the company was, because often as recruiters, right? Because then what we’ll have to do usually have a list of scale companies we’re looking for, but we don’t recognize one. We’ll have to go in and see, like how big it is, right? Or what the scale was or what kind of fundraising point is it? Was it at? So those are the things that I think are important, particularly in the work I do. So if you can frame your if you can frame it a little bit more data around that, I think that’s helpful as a candidate to kind of share the impact. And just as a recruiter, that’s another piece that that I’m looking for. Because if someone is at a $10 million company as a VP of marketing, that’s a lot different from someone who’s at a 200 or 300 million, right? So it just gives me a sense on how to find the right fit, and it can make you maybe stand out more for specific roles where that revenue scale or impact is important.
Rachel Simon: Interesting. Lee, before, I want to jump into the content piece that Rich was talking about, but I’m going to throw it to you and yeah.
Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit? I mean, you’re talking about kind of, um, behind the scenes of what it looks like, but can you walk through, uh, you know, when there’s a job listing, like what happens when you get like, a thousand people, you know, respond or 100 or whatever? The number is some big number. And can you walk through how it gets kind of narrowed down and you get to an actionable amount of people? Because I can’t imagine if there’s a thousand people that apply to something, or even in the hundreds that you’re going down and reading every single person’s thing manually. So can you explain how it gets kind of cut down to where you’re in a pile where you’re actually reaching out and having a human conversation with somebody. Do you mind sharing what that looks like? So a person who is applying can get some context of what they’re throwing themselves into?
Richard McNeal: Yeah, for sure. And I can make I think it would probably be helpful to, to make a couple distinctions. I mean, typically when you’re working with recruiters, particularly at a higher level, we’re not just throwing out app postings and hoping someone applies. Now, that can be often part of our tactic to either create more candidate flow if we need candidate flow or, um, to be able to create visibility for the role. Because what we’re typically doing is actively, actively recruiting, right. And that could be sourcing. And that’s typically sourcing from our own database and utilizing our research team and also doing original research in LinkedIn. Right. So a lot of that is going into LinkedIn sourcing based off the skill set, the candidate profiles and the revenue range, and sending targeted segmenting segmented messages. So there’s kind of like two different ways to look at that. Um, because from a sourcing and reaching out perspective, it takes a lot from a recruiter standpoint, it takes a lot of resources. And being very intentional around how we’re messaging the people. It’s a lot of marketing, right? How we’re messaging, how we’re reaching out, the kind of message that we’re sending to them to to get the right people to pay attention and lift their head up. So that’s more from the active, right? Recruitment. We’re we’re headhunting is the term I don’t love that term. But that’s what we’re doing is actually going after talent that we know is aligned. Now to the other part of the question as far as the postings. Right. Because it’s it’s wild out there. If you go on the LinkedIn, you can see like 300, 400 people apply. Now, internal HR is probably are probably the folks who are using that tactic more than I would be necessarily, since I’m an active, you know, search consultant and recruiter, but in the ways that I’ve utilized it before, if I do need candidate flow is we have ways of searching.
Richard McNeal: We’ll do keyword searching to look for the right applicants, to look for the right skill set, the right titling. So we try to kind of start at that top of funnel and then whittle down from there. And then, you know, ultimately if you know, I have found candidates, it doesn’t happen a ton, but I have found candidates who have applied to a role. If I put a posting up and just need some candidate flow who are all aligned and very quickly, what we’re doing is I usually reaching out with an email or even a text, depending on where I am with the client search, right very quickly. And I do think if I can say from a talent acquisition standpoint, we tend to be a bit more aggressive than internal talent acquisition because we’re just motivated in a different way, right? So we’re usually reaching out pretty aggressively, um, particularly if someone applies. But those are just some different ways to look at kind of distinction between active recruitment, which is the world I’m living in, which we do sometimes utilize and put up postings compared to, you know, those postings out there where you see 300 or 400 applications. And again, when you try to go through those applications, it can be cumbersome. And it takes it takes a lot of searching and filtering, but that’s not usually the first place we go to as a recruiter. So just a sense of kind of I hope that’s helpful. As far as how we approach a search project, I’m happy to answer any other.
Lee Kantor: Well, the reason I’m asking is that, um, obviously all I do is interview business people. And I know a lot of folks that are, you know, in between things and maybe they’re working as a consultant today, but they are looking for some sort of a, you know, a full time job somewhere. And they just I’m hearing a lot of I don’t want to say horror stories, but a lot of frustration in terms of, you know, they’re applying for lots of things. They’re not getting any response back. Um, and it’s just they just get frustrated by the, the process. So I was trying to get some insight into, um, the process from these people that, you know, are moving from maybe a large organization where they’ve been, you know, laid off, and then all of a sudden they’re trying to get back in and they’re not getting any traction whatsoever.
Richard McNeal: So I guess going back a bit to earlier point, then I do think it just takes it takes consistency, personalization and just making sure that message is sent. Because just sending an application in with all the noise that is out there and the number of applications is likely not going to get someone to pay attention. I had a colleague who actually was a recruiter, and he was looking for a job, and he was asking me for advice and I told him the same thing. And ultimately he, you know, put he put targeted applications in, uh, so I would that’s another thing I would recommend is don’t apply to just everything. Be targeted about your approach and then following up. Whether it’s a direct email, there’s tools out there to pull a recruiter or talent acquisition or HR email. Following up directly on LinkedIn and back to his example, he put those applications in and then ultimately after keep tapping them on the shoulder, got a response right. He maybe got like 1 or 2 interviews ultimately, or at least got a thumbs up or thumbs down, you know, some kind of update.
Richard McNeal: So and it is tough. Like I don’t think honestly, I don’t think there’s a magic bullet. Right. And I think what you have to look at from an internal talent acquisition, which is not the side I’m on, is often those folks are not just working on 10 or 12 requisitions. They’re doing internal HR things. They’ve got policy. They might just be even a 1 or 2 person shop. And it can be tough to keep up with it, because I know it’s tough for me. Sometimes I’m only doing recruiting like that’s all I do. So I just think it takes being Intentional about the rules you’re applying to and then doing the right personalized follow up, whether it’s direct email, whether it’s LinkedIn to talent acquisition to the recruiters. Because I do think that consistency does help punch through. And I will say I’ve had people that that do that tactic with me. And ultimately, I may not have the bandwidth every time they reach out to respond, but I usually do try to respond after a few times, right? So it does help get attention for sure.
Rachel Simon: So I was going to ask you because you again, I mentioned you’re very active on LinkedIn and you post very regularly there. Do you think it’s a good strategy to for people to like candidates who comment on your content? Are they breaking through the noise? Like, are those people that you would be paying attention to and be like, oh, Joe, is this guy? Joe’s been commenting on my content pretty regularly. I’m going to check out his profile, and then maybe he is potentially like in your target market for a role somewhere.
Richard McNeal: Yeah. No, I definitely think it’s it’s helpful whether commenting or sending a direct message, because I wish I almost had an assistant to respond to all the LinkedIn messages I get. But I can guarantee you most recruiters and I myself, even if I can’t respond at first. But I see your commenting, posting, or sending me a message, I’ll at least take a look at your profile. And then if I’ve got an urgent need or a client need, then most likely you’ll get a response from me, from me, depending on where I am with that search. Now keep in mind too, as a as an active recruiter or search consultant, what I’m trying to do is is deliver for clients primarily. So if my desk is really slammed with projects, unless they’re someone’s profile is really closely aligned, I may not have time just to reach out to you just for networking, but that is part of why the consistency is helpful too. Because once my desk maybe I close some searches, things slowed down a bit. Then I can ramp up the candidate development side and I can reach out and make those connections where I can. I will go back to my messages, be like, okay, who messaged me a while back that I liked by just simply didn’t have time to connect with them because that’s where those networking connections and that consistency helps because then I can develop my network, understand more of your background, and then I might have a surge down the road that, um, that’s well aligned. Right? So a lot of my ability to interact with people on LinkedIn depends on just kind of what I’m trying to deliver on right now, if that makes sense.
Rachel Simon: Yeah, yeah. Good luck keeping track of your LinkedIn inbox. That place is a crazy hot mess sometimes.
Richard McNeal: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Rachel Simon: I definitely I don’t know if you if you’re, um, your strategy involves using the starred messages, but that’s what I use to keep track of messages is like, if I want to make sure I don’t lose a message, I will star it, and then I can easily go back and find it because otherwise it is so easy to lose track of stuff in there.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, right. Like it’s those little things just to make sure that it’s kind of like in your email inbox. If you need to respond to something, you pin it or flag it. It’s like the same it’s the same thing. Yeah, that’s definitely one tactic that can that can work. Yeah, that.
Rachel Simon: That place is messy. Um, let’s talk a little bit about, uh, you know, on almost every single show that, uh, Lee and I do, we talk about AI. It comes up all the time. It’s kind of a hot topic these days. Uh, so how does AI and all of the different. I like tools, functions like development. What does how does that interact in your world?
Richard McNeal: Yeah. So I would say from a candidate or from just a maybe not a candidate perspective, but just kind of trends, I guess. Um. You’re right. I mean, it’s it’s top of mind in every form, one way or another. I think from a marketing perspective, there’s a lot of it happening around, like a lot of ways it’s getting utilized around ad tech content creation. Um, so is AI going to replace every job? I would say probably not. But the people who don’t know how to utilize it or leverage it are probably at a disadvantage. So just becoming more familiar with how to leverage AI or any technology really is, is an asset to someone’s career development. It’s kind of a no brainer. What I would say I’m seeing from a, um, client side is companies who are leveraging or utilizing AI, and some of those tools get enough traction where it’s freeing up maybe content development that can be done in different ways or more quickly. It can, um, maybe eliminate some of those administrative tasks is is the leaders I’m talking to, then maybe they’re a director to VP or CMO or then having to look at the underneath that org structure and trying to shift resources, or maybe roles that had a fairly AI focus and how to shift those roles, roles that maybe have focused on another area of the business, maybe be more strategic.
Richard McNeal: So that’s where it could. That’s where I think I see a lot of decision makers or leaders trying to figure out the the way that AI has had an impact, how to then shift their organization and teams. If some of the that time that’s dedicated in the past to generating content or other um, other areas is now being replaced, is just shifting those resources in an effective way? I’ve heard that directly. Um, and also keep in mind, too, that you’ve got talent you’ll likely want to retain. And just making sure a lot of crafting kind of the the skill set or re crafting the scope of someone’s role. Um, and then another thing I would say, too, that’s really interesting is just the funny thing about marketing. I’ve talked to so many CMO or marketing leaders who, of course, are already doing anything from comms, PR and demand gen to, you know, sales enablement or Ecom or the customer digital journey. The CMO is not an easy job to have. Is it? Often getting thrown on their plate now like, oh, you want to be part of this AI task force so we can enter, you know, figure out how to do AI. So a lot of digital marketing or just marketing leaders are now getting some kind of strategic leadership on AI thrown onto their plate as well. So I don’t know.
Rachel Simon: But it’s interesting that it’s interesting you say that because I was at a professional development talk in the spring and, um, somebody was doing this. Amazing. It was a session was about AI. It’s obviously a big topic. And talking about how organizations have to create an AI policy like it is. You know, ten years ago we were talking about you have to have a social media policy. And now it is we have to have an AI policy. And so I’m not surprised to hear you say that the CMO is getting pulled into how do we develop this AI task force or policies and procedures? Um, because ultimately the company has to protect itself, but protect their employees as well, and how they’re using these tools. And it’s like a brave new world out there. We don’t know what we’re doing.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of, um, there’s a lot of interesting, I think, interesting conversations I’ve had for sure, for how leaders are thinking through that. And then if I can just make another comment on trends out there in marketing and e-com, all my clients in some form are talking about social commerce, like TikTok shop how to you know how to reach Customers on those platforms. Not all, but a significant amount of my clients lately have been pretty consumer focused. So they’re all sort of feeling their way around tick tock shops, social commerce, how to manage that growing space as well. So not necessarily on the AI side, but just another trend that I’m that I’m seeing.
Rachel Simon: Um, yeah.
Richard McNeal: Common digital side.
Rachel Simon: I’d be curious, uh, also because, um, Edelman put out their annual thought leadership, uh, report about a month ago, maybe. Um, and it’s on my to do list to, like, write a post about it, but how more and more on the B2B side, like having thought leadership from a company from the, you know, the executives is such an important decision making factor when it comes to, um, who people are going to be doing work with. Um, and so I’m wondering if you are hearing anything on the thought leadership side as well.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, not as much on the B2C, B2B side as much from in the TikTok world, but more so on the consumer side. And just a lot of brands trying to figure out, like even is this platform right for us? Um, but to go back to a basic thing, I know we talked about this before on the B2B side is, you know, clients not always, which I’m sure you know about. We’ve discussed not fully utilizing LinkedIn to. To for employer branding, for differentiation, to make themselves more aware to potential talent. And I and I’ve had candidates to first couple more maybe earlier stage companies growth stage that where clients haven’t had their presence digital front door built out as much. Wondering why that’s the case and why new employees don’t have their new employer listed in their experience, those type of things. But that just to go back to that, to the B2B side, that that it hasn’t always been a major hurdle as I’ve worked on searches, but candidates ask questions about that. So and I know not all every company has a resources dedicated to, you know, go do a full branding on LinkedIn and employee engagement or prospective employee engagement. But it is something candidates obviously pay attention to and ask questions. Um.
Rachel Simon: Well, they can reach out to me and I will help them with that because it is super important. Uh, Lee, do you have any, uh, any thoughts questions on the AI, uh, topic? Because I know that’s a topic that we love to chat about.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. Is it a value, you think, for candidates to be doing, getting some of those certifications, even if they’re free certifications from a lot of the different, um, platforms out there, like HubSpot or, or, um, some even the specific AI ones that allow you to kind of learn and get some sort of a certificate of learning or completion. Is that something that you would see as valuable, or it would check some box to at least get them to, you know, the level where they’re having conversations?
Richard McNeal: Yeah, I think it never hurts. Um, particularly if, you know, there’s a lot of people I’ve talked to who are maybe in between roles or impacted by some kind of layoff, and you can kind of keep your, keep your, um, you know, muscles in shape as it relates to AI and technology. And I have seen a lot of people who have put that on their profiles, and particularly with martech and the different ways they’re utilizing and implementing AI, I think it’s definitely never hurts. I don’t know if it always pushes someone over the goal line, but on a search, but at least helps show that they’re continuing to stay engaged, to stay, um, you know, within the trends. And there’s been a lot of people out there to maybe not always at the level I’m conducting searches on, but, you know, maybe fractional or freelance folks who are utilizing some of them. Maybe they’re in between roles or they’re fractional or freelance thing has really worked out on the marketing or digital side. So I think being able to demonstrate how you’ve done that and even on just on specific projects, going back to how you’ve used different tech tools, how you maybe implemented CRMs, leveraged AI ways to demonstrate that on LinkedIn or on your, um, is always helpful, for sure. So I think it never hurts just to keep those those tech muscles in shape.
Rachel Simon: Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think, you know, these days, I know in marketing I see this in different groups. I’m in like there’s a big marketing communications Facebook group that I’m a member of, and there’s been just lots of women in that. It’s it’s a women’s group in that group just, you know, who are talking about it being, you know, months taking months and months and months looking for their next role. And it’s very challenging out there. So, you know, I’m hoping that people listening just take to heart some of these really these really helpful tools and strategies that we’ve been talking about of like, again, really clearly positioning yourselves, focusing on those accomplishments, you know, quantifying things as much as you possibly can and then ultimately just doing a good job of building relationships with the right people that can potentially open the door. Yeah. And the next role for sure.
Richard McNeal: And if I can also just add to that too, is and I actually posted about this I think last week or something. But um, it can be really frustrating. Like as a candidate, like I’ve obviously talked to and engaged with people who have been on the market for a while, and it’s tough because as a recruiter, you’re, you know, clients are the one who’s who paid us. But we’re relationship builders. We want to help people like find their next role. So I definitely feel that. But, you know, I’ve also seen some bad actors out there who maybe haven’t maintained their professionalism and have let their frustrations spill over. And, you know, just definitely keep mindful that not just recruiters, maybe prospective employers will see some of that, those comments or that frustration. So and I get it, I feel it. But just to keep that in mind too, and just I think if you are consistent with some of the tactics, um, that I’ve tried to outline, I think it will work out. It will land you a role eventually, but I think just maintaining kind of the professional nature out there is important, because a lot of that stuff you can’t get back if you post it right. I mean, and I know you can’t. Yeah, I know it can be frustrating too. And that’s another thing. Like I’ve worked uh, part of what I’ve done is I worked a little bit in the due diligence space with, you know, there’s companies out there who will work and partner with search firms and other employers to scrape social media I for flag or reputational issues. So there’s a lot of people have such a big footprint out there now. Just got to be mindful about what you put out in the digital sphere and, you know, making sure it doesn’t impact where your next employer, um, where you, you know, become employed next.
Rachel Simon: Yeah. I’m so glad you brought that up because, um, I, uh, for any of anyone who spends a significant amount of time on LinkedIn like the two of us do, I have seen some very questionable things where I’m like, somebody’s going to see that. Um, so it’s sort of like, does it pass the grandma test? Right? Would you say, would you say it to your. Would you say it to your grandma? Um, and and I get it like it is a place for us to have our community and, and come for support. And I think there is a time and a place to share some, you know, to be going and saying, you know, I’m just I’m really struggling here. It’s my job search is taking a lot longer, but doing it in a way that is, is not, uh, overly negative. I think it’s the tremendous negativity comes in and that can become a liability. Um, you know, and I always, I like, I always like to say we want Lincoln to be an asset, not a liability for us. So let’s focus on how we can make it an asset. Right? Yeah.
Richard McNeal: That’s great. No, that’s a really good way of looking at it. And I always encourage I’ve had a lot of candidates say like, well, I’ve been impacted by, you know, layoffs or reduction or maybe they just left on their own. They’re like, oh, should I, should I make a post about that? I’m open to work. And I’m like, yes. Why? Like, you know, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Uh, there’s been some hesitancy around that. I think, you know, you have to be mindful about how you do it, and you always want to be respectful to your prior employer no matter what went down. Because, again, people are going to see how you kind of conduct yourself in that on that platform. Right? So I think, um, I think there’s a lot I always encourage people to put themselves out there. Right. If they are on the job search, like there’s no reason not to not to kind of broadcast that you’re on the search because, uh, it helps draw up awareness, no doubt. But you definitely have to be you have to be mindful about how you do it. And I’ve seen more just I haven’t seen the frustration come when people say they’re open to work and maybe they’ve been impacted. I’ve seen it just bubble up on comments or posts or, you know, maybe someone, a recruiter posts about a role and someone hasn’t followed up with them and they maybe say some stuff they shouldn’t have said, but definitely, um, you know, as just the number of platforms and channels out there to kind of evaluate someone’s digital footprint. You just have to you have to pay more attention to it as a candidate, I think.
Rachel Simon: Yeah, for sure. So my last question is green banner yes or no?
Richard McNeal: That’s that’s a tough one.
Richard McNeal: Yeah, I would say yes. I mean, I never as a recruiter, I have never seen I have never not reached out to somebody because they have a green band. I mean, okay, so I’m, I’m looking more at, you know, at least first glance, like scope, name, rank, title where they’ve been, how they’ve articulated accomplishments, maybe ten years to a certain degree, although ten years are becoming a lot shorter. But I’ve never not reached out to someone because it says they’re open. I mean, that’s just that’s silly. I mean, I think that’s a little bit of analysis paralysis, perhaps, but, um, yeah, I don’t I don’t know what your opinion is on it, but I don’t it hasn’t held me back from reaching out to someone, because if they look to be a good fit, I’m, I’m going to reach out.
Rachel Simon: So, um, I that’s very helpful. No, it’s definitely like a point of debate, I think, in the LinkedIn consulting space. Um, personally, where I am not a fan of it is when there are consultants who use it. That’s a really good point.
Richard McNeal: Yes.
Rachel Simon: I don’t like that. I don’t think is the right use for it. I think it should be safe for somebody who is looking for their next.
Richard McNeal: Well, they flipped it as a ploy.
Rachel Simon: Correct. Like, I’m open to work with new clients is a lot different than I’m looking for my next employer to hire me. So I think it should be generally on LinkedIn. It could be. My tip for today is that we should use the the tools and tactics that they give us for what they’re intended for. So use the pronoun space to add your pronouns if you want. As opposed to what? Sometimes I see people put quippy little things in that part of their profile, you know? So use the tools for what they’re intended for. And that is the best way to kind of like be on the platform. And so open to work is intended for people looking for their next employer to hire them.
Richard McNeal: Agreed.
Lee Kantor: Now, Rich, what could we be doing for you? What do you need more of? Do you need more candidates? You need more companies to partner with you to help them find candidates. Um, what can we be doing for you?
Richard McNeal: Well, yeah. I mean, we’re always looking for, uh, companies that are looking to scale or, of course, you know, talent out there. Um, I am actually working on on one Atlanta baseball right now, although that that search seems to get is seems to be in some later stages, probably going to close in the next 1 to 2 weeks. So I do have a bit of a Atlanta base as well. But um, yeah, I mean, if you’re a company out there that’s looking if you need that director of E-com, that digital leader who knows how to drive leads on the B2B or B2C side. And that’s where we really focus. Right, is that’s my focus is day in and day out digital marketing on either side. And that’s where we step in, because we often can add something to where internal talent acquisition just maybe doesn’t know what they’re looking for. But we can help partner with them in the search process to get the right talent in front of them. And, you know, in the pipeline for sure. So, yeah, I mean, been going out a little bit of a our firm is nationwide and I have worked with a couple Atlanta based clients. Don’t have to be in Atlanta. But it’s always great with the local footprint. So you know if you’re a company out there that’s that’s looking to scale your digital digital team or candidate who is in the marketing or e-com space, you know, that’s that’s the area I work in. So I always love to have a connection. And if I can’t reach out immediately, just tap me on the shoulder a couple more times.
Lee Kantor: So now what’s the website and what’s the coordinates that connect with you or somebody on the team?
Richard McNeal: Yeah for sure. Well, of course I’m always, um, I’m always available on LinkedIn. Um, you know, and then in Talent Foot, we can just go right to the website is just talent foot. Uh. Com. And that’s where you can find us. We’re a Chicago based firm, but have a nationwide, nationwide presence. But yeah, those are the ways you can reach out.
Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Rachel. Great guest.
Rachel Simon: Awesome. Yeah, this was great. Well, thank you so much for being here today. Again, I’m sorry we didn’t get to be in person, but next time for sure. Um, and just so many great tips for on the candidate side. Um, and I know you’re just doing great work helping your clients find their next awesome employees, so thanks for being here.
Richard McNeal: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.
About Your Host
Rachel Simon is the CEO & Founder of Connect the Dots Digital. She helps B2B companies close more business by leveraging the power of LinkedIn.
Rachel works with professionals, both individuals and teams, to position their authentic brand on LinkedIn so they can connect organically with ideal clients, attract the best talent, and stand out as a leader in their industry.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.
From Detroit to Hollywood: Anise Fuller’s Quest for Diversity Behind the Camera
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor is joined by Anise Fuller, founder of Walk By Faith Productions. Anise shares her journey from Detroit to Los Angeles, transitioning from acting to production. She discusses the importance of promoting diversity in the entertainment industry and her proactive approach to creating opportunities for underrepresented communities. Anise highlights her efforts to secure certifications, collaborate with major studios, and mentor foster youth. She emphasizes the significance of networking, mentorship, and taking initiative. The episode underscores Anise’s dedication to fostering inclusivity and her ongoing projects aimed at diversifying storytelling in media.
Anise Fuller hails from Detroit, MI. A mother, entrepreneur, director, producer, writer, professional dancer and actress. Anise has appeared on shows such as Shameless, Call Me Kat, Lethal Weapon, CSI, House M.D., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and a host of commercials just to name a few.
Anise started her on own production service company in 2018 called Walk By Faith Productions dedicated to producing and developing stories that challenge the perceptions in the entertainment industry. Additionally, Anise was blessed to have held the position of managing director for one of the only Black-owned theaters in Hollywood, COLSAC Theater.
It was during this period in her career that she was afforded the opportunity to hone her skills as a producer, director, and writer, and to cast shows. She also donated her time as a Board of Director member of Diamond in the Raw Foundation which is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and expose at-risk teen girls to a multitude of careers in the entertainment industry, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Additionally, Anise has held positions at NBCUniversal and Warner Bros with their Employee Resource Groups specifically their DEI groups geared towards providing opportunities, learning tools and communication for people of color at the studios. 
Recently Anise was accepted into the 50 Women Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship, a program that teaches women how to lead themselves, their careers, and their organizations and systems changes in a holistic way. It is the only program designed to meet the unique opportunities – and challenges – women experience in their industries.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Alliance of Women Directors and Chair of Events for the Black Directors Advancement Committee.
Follow Walk By Faith Productions on LinkedIn.
Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have a Anise Fuller with Walk By Faith Productions. Welcome.
Anise Fuller: Hi. Good afternoon. I am honored and blessed to be here on this platform. I appreciate it.
Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Walk By Faith. How are you serving folks?
Anise Fuller: How am I serving folks? Well, the industry is getting a lot better now since the strike is over, but my company is focused on providing production services to studios, production companies, corporations with shooting corporate videos or filming commercials. Anything to do with film and television, that’s me, as well as servicing some government companies and trying to get government contracts in the process. So, anything to do with filming, developing, even advertising, digital ads, commercials, print, that will be my company, Walk By Faith, but telling diverse stories as well in the process.
Lee Kantor: So, can you share a little bit about your backstory? Were you always on the production end or did you start out in another place in the business?
Anise Fuller: Well, yes. I have a very, I would say, unorthodox, maybe, way in the business. I am originally from Detroit, Michigan, and there’s not a lot of entertainment in Detroit when I was growing up. It is now. I think, you know, they shoot more in Detroit. But growing up, I got a four year dance scholarship and I wanted to be a doctor, majored in nutrition and food science, really a big business mind, but I also wanted to work in hospitals. It was just all mixed up. And I was a dancer. So, very eclectic, kind of unorthodox background. And then, I did pageants. And just I loved everything about entertainment, but I also like the business side of things.
Anise Fuller: So, I moved out to Los Angeles and started interning and working in post-production first, and then got an internship with a big production company, then made my way to the studios. You know, I started working in home entertainment first at Warner Brothers and then at NBCUniversal, and started working in DEI, actually, at both of those studios and had prominent positions, and saw the lack of diversity behind the camera.
Anise Fuller: I really always have that in my spirit even growing up. When I was 15, I saw Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and how you shouldn’t wait on people to give you anything. You can make things and produce things yourself if you see there’s a need.
Anise Fuller: So, while I was working at Warner Brothers, that’s where Walk By Faith was birthed, because I would walk around the lot and it’s a historic place to work, so I took advantage. On lunch hours, I would walk around and look in the stages, and I would go to some of the offices where VP’s were of development and talk to them, and got mentors at Warner Brothers. But, also, saw the lack, again, a lack of diversity every time I looked in the stages when they were filming things.
Anise Fuller: And I said instead of complaining about it, let me do something about it. And that’s when I started developing Walk by Faith, and it just eventually grew. Yeah, it grew and I said I’m going to be the person to help BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community get more work behind the scenes. If I have the work, they will have the work. So, that’s how I came about doing that.
Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re in Detroit and you are about to head towards California, did you have any contacts? Like do you just get in a car and just pack up and just start going, “You know, I have a cousin here, so I’m just going to stay here and knock on doors”? How do you make that move? I mean, that’s a brave move.
Anise Fuller: It is. I was only 21 at the time. I have a very big family, by the way, who’s very supportive of me. And my parents made us grow up to think like entrepreneurs, go to college and all that, but also do your own business. That’s how we grew up. You know, my parents flipped homes and all of that in Detroit, so we’ve always came from a business background as far as growing up with a business mindset.
Anise Fuller: But my parents thought I was crazy, like, “You don’t know anybody in Los Angeles.” I said, “I’m gonna do this thing. I’m getting pulled out there.” I feel like I could do something because I started off acting, actually. And I still act, of course, but most of my work is behind the camera. And I just say I’m going to go out there. I knew one person through someone else indirectly. Someone’s cousin lived out here. The cousin from Detroit hooked me up with her cousin here, and that’s how it got started. I didn’t know anything.
Anise Fuller: The cousin worked in the entertainment business, but I was green. And I started doing theater and things of that nature, but then I also started working behind the scenes, and I started doing AD work, and applying for the DGA trainee program and just learning everything I could. I was very strategic and focused when I came out here, even though it’s a huge struggle. L.A. is no joke. Only the strongest and bravest will survive that half stamina out here because it’s very oversaturated, but also it’s very difficult to break. It can be very difficult to break-in in front and behind the camera. But I worked my way up, pounded the pavement, started making connections and resources.
Anise Fuller: I started doing stand in work at first, and, again, I’m very focused and strategic in where I want to go and what goals I want to meet. So, while I was doing standing work and not acting, I would go to all the crew members, I would talk to the directors. Every set I was on, I would ask them what they did, how they did it. I would walk around. I was never scared to ask questions, and most people are scared. You know, when you’re on a set and you’re not the actor or the director, I would ask questions, “Hey. Can I sit behind the camera with you? Can I stand here? Can I shadow you?” When I didn’t know what shadowing was, but I put in my spirit to shadow people while I was on sets. Every set that I worked on, I would ask questions. I would go to the script supervisor. So, that’s how I actually got my entrance into the business behind the camera.
Anise Fuller: I did not go to film school. I learned everything being on a set. And then, once I would act on sets, I would get resources that way as well and just ask questions. And if I get hired for something, “Hey, is it okay if I also am the second AD?” So, my parents thought I was absolutely out of my mind and said, “Why would you leave your family to go to this expensive place?” But I did, and they supported me and they paid a lot of my rent a lot of times.
Lee Kantor: That helps, because that’s no joke either the rent over there.
Anise Fuller: Yes, it is. Oh, man. Now, I have a house here and it’s even worse.
Lee Kantor: I mean, from what I’m hearing, if you were going to give advice to a young person that is thinking about getting involved in show business, and obviously there’s a lot of places they can plug in. It doesn’t have to be in front of the camera. There’s lots of opportunities behind the camera. There’s lots of opportunities in editing. And lots of industries touch show business. It’s a very broad based industry.
Lee Kantor: But what I’m hearing is that wherever you land in there, just start being friendly and meeting people, and networking and connecting with people because you don’t know where the golden ticket is. You don’t know who the person is that’s going to hook you up and connect you with the right person. So, be nice to people, be curious, be respectful, and then just meet a lot of people and see what happens.
Anise Fuller: Yes. That is the biggest, biggest, most important, impactful advice I have given to children that I mentor. That’s exactly what I work in also, I spend my time mentoring foster youth also. I’ve been on boards. One organization is called Kids In The Spotlight and the other one is Diamond In The Raw, where we help kids who are interested in the entertainment industry and teach them and train them how to write, direct, do everything in their foster youth. So, it’s telling them they have the opportunity, but it’s also giving them exposure. If you don’t know what you want to do, see what you want to do. Expose them to it. So, that’s the biggest advice we always give them is resources.
Anise Fuller: Volunteering is a big thing. The reason why I’m in some of the spaces and had pitch meetings with some studios is because I volunteered at the studios that I worked at and were able to meet other people at other studios. And that’s how I built up my roster, because I didn’t have my hand out.
Anise Fuller: That’s a big thing, a lot of people in this industry, if they’re younger, they have their hand out or they expect something, or they have entitled – I want to use – mentality to a certain degree. But in this business, you can’t do that. You have to build and it’s slow. You have to build your relationships with people and volunteer.
Anise Fuller: For instance, MACRO is a big production company. If MACRO needs volunteers and you see that they’re shooting something, go ask the vice-president or the head of production, “Hey, if you ever need a PA, I’m here.” There’s nothing wrong with starting at the bottom, because that’s how you learn and that’s how you work your way up, depending on what age you are.
Anise Fuller: But, yes, volunteering is a big thing that I teach also. Don’t have your hand out. Be there to help because people honor that and they see that you work your butt off and they’ll help you in return. It may not be a year from now. It may be two years, three years. I’m a testament of that, like contacts I had at Warner Brothers are not helping me now in my production service business.
Lee Kantor: Right. It’s the people you know when you’re younger. As you progress and they progress, they’re getting higher up, you’re getting higher up. It just makes sense that they’re going to go to you when they need something because they already know, and like, and trust you.
Anise Fuller: Yes, that’s exactly right. That’s literally how this business works. They go to people that they know and trust and rely on, that know they’re going to get the job done and show up.
Lee Kantor: Right. Because this business is super risky as it is. There’s enough things that you got to watch out for, the unexpected things. You don’t want somebody to mess up a job. You can’t take those kind of risks, so you’re going to go with somebody that you know, like, and trust so at least you don’t have to worry about that element of things.
Anise Fuller: That is very true. Absolutely the truth.
Lee Kantor: Now, talk about kind of the progression. So, you started out acting yourself, but then slowly your production company started doing different elements of pre-production, post-production, production. Are you doing entire soup to nuts, you know, making movies, making shows?
Anise Fuller: Yes. All of that. Again, I started off, actually while I was acting, I became a managing director of one of the only Black theaters in Los Angeles. I fell into that role, which is crazy. I learned so much about behind the scenes, and it’s a great stomping grounds. You know, if anybody’s interested in acting or anything like that, I always recommend theater also. FYI, always start in theater because you can’t do a retake. I learned how to stage manage and do the lights. It was very important building ground for me in theater.
Anise Fuller: I started off doing that, but then a lot of stereotypical roles, so I got with groups of actors and we would write our own things. I don’t consider myself a writer, but then it became a necessity to do that. And it is a necessity in this business, you should know how to write your own content. So, that’s where it came out from me wanting to be in my own things and writing it.
Anise Fuller: And then, I got with another person, who’s also the copartner of my company, he started acquiring his own equipment. So then, we said, “Well, let’s just start shooting stuff.” And then, I got trained in how to do casting, so I started casting other actors that I knew also. You know, I just fell into the behind the scenes because it was a necessity.
Lee Kantor: Right, you weren’t waiting anymore. You were saying, “You know what? Look, I have cameras, I have a brain, I can write, I’m going to write roles for myself. And my buddy is going to help me film this stuff. And we’re not going to wait anymore. We’re going to just do and take action.” And that’s where the magic happens. Because once you do that, now the sky’s the limit. You’re in control now.
Anise Fuller: Yes. And every Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, I think even Julia Roberts, they have all said don’t sit on your hands. You know, with the technology we have now – when I did start, it was film – everybody’s doing it on iPhones. So, I mean, it’s easy to do your own thing and not wait. So, that’s how I started getting with other actors that I knew that were talented, and we just started writing our own thing, and then it just progressed.
Anise Fuller: When I was working at Warner Brothers, I saw the disparity and the the unbalance, and that’s when I said acting is great, but I really need to make more opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds. So, I already had the resources. I had enough experience. I have had films go into great film festivals, won awards. I have an award winning team. I know all of that distribution of things and I just said there’s a gap and diversity with production services in this industry so I’m going to be here to help fill that gap.
Lee Kantor: So, how did you get plugged into the WBEC-West community?
Anise Fuller: This is an interesting story. So, I have been pitching my production services to studios since I have the connections. So, you have to pitch and say this is why Disney should use my production services for your T.V. shows or for your films. So, when I met with one of the VP’s there, she told me here’s the portal for diversity suppliers for your production service. Fill this out and we’ll be able to use your company to film things. Disney will. I said awesome. I went on the site and I got cold stopped and it said, nope, you can’t go past green without having a certification. I was like, “A certification. What is this?”
Lee Kantor: Right. “I’m a woman. What are you talking about? I’m a woman-owned business. Isn’t that enough?”
Anise Fuller: That’s the great thing about Disney is that in order for you to do work with them or for them to use you as a vendor in this space, you have to have a certification. So, I went through that whole process of figuring out what is a certification. Because if you think about it, most entertainment companies don’t have certifications, not that I know of. So, I do stand out in that space of having multiple certifications. But that’s how I got into the space. I went down the rabbit hole at sam.gov, but then found out about WBENC, and then I also got accepted into a program called 50 Woman Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship, and it was in Arizona. And they further solidified you need to do WBENC.
Anise Fuller: And I had already started the process. And then, that’s how I got connected to WBENC and it’s been a blessing. It just opened my eyes and resources to things that, again, gaps in my skillset to a certain degree because I didn’t know anything about certifications. But I’ve been, you know, learning every step of the way with the organization.
Lee Kantor: So, what’s next for Walk By Faith? What are you working on?
Anise Fuller: Well, I am working on my solidification, solidifying business with Southern California Edison. That’s one big thing that I’m working with. I just had a big meeting with them to do any type of filming or corporate videos, corporate training videos, things of that nature with them. And then, I’m also going to be shooting a feature up in Vancouver in the third quarter, sometime in October, November, so that’s on the books. And then, I’ve been pitching some amazing shows to Hulu and other studios.
Anise Fuller: So, that’s what I’m constantly doing, developing really unscripted at this point, unscripted shows and pitching those, and getting option agreements and things like that. But the movie is coming up and then solidifying my relationship with Southern California Edison.
Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more talent, more actors, production people, opportunities? Who can we connect you with?
Anise Fuller: Well, the opportunities can never stop. As you are aware with WBENC, once we get a notification to submit to an RFP or RFQ, it’s very labor intensive and sometimes you don’t hear back, very competitive even though they’re set aside money, that’s what I’m working hard at. It’s not necessarily working with studios, but working in that government sector is really important to me and my company in solidifying consistent work. You know, having a five year contract would be amazing for my team. So, that’s hence why I’m trying to build my relationship with the utilities companies and things of that nature. That would be help me, the government contracts.
Lee Kantor: Right. So, if we have any listeners who are connected that way or looking for production help, contact Anise. And can you share the website? What’s the best way to learn more about the production company?
Anise Fuller: Yes. You can go to walkbyfaithproductions – that’s with an S on the end – .com, Walk By Faith Productions. And I’m also, of course, on Instagram, @walkbyfaithprod, P-R-O-D. That’s where you can find me. And you can find everything that I’ve done probably on IMDb. I don’t know if people are familiar with that database, but imdb.com also.
Lee Kantor: Well, congratulations on all the success thus far. You’re doing amazing things.
Anise Fuller: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I appreciate the exposure as well.
Lee Kantor: You got it.
Anise Fuller: And thank you, WBENC. Yes, WBENC has been a great help to me as well.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.
Business Coach and Political Candidate Danielle Bell
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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors
Danielle Bell is running for Georgia State House of Representatives to build a stronger, more compassionate community. Our current legislature has been the least productive and most gridlocked in U.S. history. As a social worker and business leader in mental health settings, Danielle possesses a unique ability to connect with people of different perspectives and backgrounds. She will seek out and rely on common values—not popular ideologies—to overcome division and drive results.
Danielle grew up on a family farm in Indiana and learned the value of hard work and compassion from her parents—a small business owner and a waitress. Whether helping informally at home or volunteering with organizations in school or advocating in her community, Danielle’s heart has always led her to step up, roll up her sleeves, and work collaboratively to help others. She understands the transformative power of service and will represent the needs of her constituents with transparency, honesty, and commitment. 
Throughout her career as a clinical therapist, she has listened to countless stories and has observed that many of her clients face universal challenges: (1) Families are struggling to achieve financial security because of economic forces beyond their control; (2) Parents and guardians are frustrated by the ways our education system is failing our children; (3) People of all ages are having difficulty accessing adequate healthcare. These issues shaped her priorities for creating meaningful change. It’s time to send someone to the Georgia House who will really fight to improve the quality of life for all Georgians.
Danielle has been married to Jason Bell since 2011. Their journey led them to Georgia in 2015 after Jason’s military retirement. She and Jason enjoy raising their beautiful daughters as Georgia natives. Danielle is also an active member of her local Catholic church.
Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.
Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s episode is brought to you in part by our Community Partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to. Main Street warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel David, Inc. Please go check them out at diesel. David. Dot com. Now please join me in welcoming to the broadcast business coach and political candidate. She’s a business coach with Focal Point Ms. Danielle Bell. How are you?
Danielle Bell: Hey there. It’s great to be here. Thank you. I’m doing well.
Stone Payton: Well, it is a delight to have you on the show. I got a thousand questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think maybe a great place to start would. Would be if you could share with me in our listeners mission. Purpose. What is it that you and your team are really out there trying to do for folks in the, in the coaching to to serve them?
Danielle Bell: Yeah. So it’s kind of an interesting story. I’m a clinical therapist by trade. I’ve been a licensed clinical social worker for 15 years, started with helping kids, actually, and families at risk youth kids with behavior issues. And then it grew from there. I worked with women’s trauma. I’ve worked with addictions and through my career I moved up into clinical leadership. I worked at a hospital as a clinical director and then worked for a startup company, telehealth, out of California, where they specialized in chronic pain and complex health and loved what I was doing for that company. It was really powerful, and I thought I was going to retire there, that that was my passion and my calling. But being a startup, when they went under, um, a couple of things. Um, I had to figure out again what was my purpose. Like, I thought that was it. And now I’m trying to find. Okay, what’s my next pathway? Um, so, uh, as a spiritual person prayed for direction of, like, what’s next? How can I have an impact, be involved in my community and make a difference? Um, my dad was a small business owner, so when my husband came to me soon after that and said, you enjoyed doing this internally for this company, let’s start our own business and do that. Um, and he’s also a certified executive coach, so it went very well. We found actually it was kind of a funny story that when he would come home, when he was taking his classes and I had already been a therapist for ten plus years, he was like, this is how you help people reach their goals.
Danielle Bell: And I was like, oh, really? So that worked really well for us. And I thought, that’s our new direction. And at the same time, I sent that prayer up, I got a call from one of the caucus recruiters from the Democratic Party who said, um, would you be interested in running? And I thought, is a social worker and somebody who cares about her community, who just sent up a prayer that says, what’s my opportunity? How can I have an impact and help people and be involved in my community? I have to at least see this through. So that, um, gave me the courage. He introduced me to different people and organizations. I took a candidate training program to learn how to do this because I’m a social worker and, you know, an entrepreneur, not a political candidate. So it’s all new territory. I’m learning a lot. I’m really hopeful. I think that my favorite part, as you said, my mission is really that community focused Advocacy of what do people need? What do people in our community need? They need jobs. They need, um, ability to drive here on the way. You know, we’ve we’re talking about traffic. And just like that, infrastructure support and how fast our communities are growing and they’re great and they’re vital. And it’s a really great place to live. But we have to make sure that we’re planning and supporting people.
Stone Payton: So I have to confess, before we began talking, I sort of envisioned today’s episode to go down two very disparate tracks. That’s not the case at all. Your work, your mission, is so wholly integrated. All of it. It serves. Both of those tracks serve each other, don’t they?
Danielle Bell: I feel like when I tell people I’m a business coach, I help businesses grow and I’m running for office, that it sounds like I’m all over the place going in seven different directions. But you’re absolutely right. I really feel like my mission, my purpose is very aligned in moving forward, this community integration and how can I help and be involved.
Stone Payton: So you touched on it but what do you feel like is, uh, been the most rewarding about all of this so far? What’s the most fun about it for you?
Danielle Bell: The most fun for me, I think, is being able to connect in unexpected ways. I think especially at the federal level of where politics is and where we can even be in our communities is separation division. You know, we think about political division. Most people that I talk to are tired of the pettiness and the name calling. And when I talk to people on both sides of the aisle and I say, I’m here and we have a lot of common values and really want the same things, we can connect on a deeper level and see eye to eye. And it’s not just like, oh, well, you have this different perspective than me, so we can’t talk. My most rewarding moments have been when I’ve been able to talk to people across the aisle and really find common value and areas where we align and really want what’s best for our neighbors.
Stone Payton: I got to believe Having the mental health background that you do certainly gives you for me, in my mind, street cred. Right? Like like so. But I also have to believe it really serves your ability to be effective for your clients and the coaching work and to communicate, like you said, across the aisle and to those of us. And I’m sure I’m not the only one, I am very much ready to get back. Can’t we just have a conversation about an issue as opposed to, you know, I’m a gun toting redneck and you’re, you know, no, I mean, yeah, and.
Danielle Bell: My parents are Republican, you know, very much gun owning. I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Like, I can really relate to a lot of rural values, you know, we or what are traditionally red values. I’m very spiritual, religious. I, um, care about my community. I want to help people. I think that those are commonality, things that are not just, you know, right or left aligned.
Stone Payton: So I often will ask because we have a lot of entrepreneurs. Small business owners come through here and I’m almost always asking them, well, how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours? And I learn a lot. Guys, if you want to learn, get yourself a radio show. You get a lot of good advice, but I’m fascinated at the at the political path because in my nomenclature, you’ve got some serious sales and marketing to do on on that path. What is that? I can’t imagine.
Danielle Bell: Um, something that you said earlier about my therapy background affecting where I am now, and it absolutely does. I talk to business owners every day that have stress and anxiety. They’re juggling a lot of plates, and it’s really hard to figure out, okay, what’s most important and how do I move forward. So helping business owners to learn some business acumen to develop those skills and then deal with the stress. Find out some work life balance. Because ultimately we work for our families. We work to provide. We work to, you know, reach those goals and dreams that we had when we set out. And just because the day to day stress gets so high, sometimes business owners lose focus of that. So that’s what I really love, is bringing that focus in. And on the political side, my mental health background really helps me with I compare it to I’ve done marriage therapy right, sitting on a in a room, a married couple on a couch, you know, husband on the right, wife on the left, whatever. And nobody’s willing to listen. Nobody’s willing to talk, nobody’s willing to work together. And it feels hopeless. And because I sat there and I know how to deal with those situations, that’s exactly how it feels in our political divide of, like, the right and the left seem so extreme, so far apart. But when we find those commonalities and we learn to trust, we’re all just people. We just have different views and ideas on how to get where we’re going. We can find way more common ground where we agree. And when. Research actually shows that when you find those connections and you establish that baseline, oh, government starts working for the people and policy is effective in more people approve of the job that their government is doing for them. It’s an act of service. It’s not. It’s not supposed to be for power and prestige. I want to get into this because of that servant heart.
Stone Payton: So when you leapt off the cliff and decided to go from a little bit more of a corporate kind of environment to a coaching practice, I’m sure you had lots of choices in the type of path you chose. You chose to go with an established system, a focal point. Can you talk a little bit about that decision and. Yeah, okay.
Danielle Bell: This is a joke. But I honestly had this conversation with my husband of like, okay, we’re going to go into business together. I need a model. I need some kind of outline of what it’s going to look like. And if you can show me that, then I will say yes, because I didn’t want it to say I turn or I say turn right. He says, turn left. And then there’s conflict because I actually enjoy being married to him and I don’t want to have to fire him. So that was my joke.
Stone Payton: So you wanted something, a proven model, a structure, exactly. That you could bring all of your talents and meld it and mold it and make it your own to serve. But you wanted to have some sort of structure to it. Yeah.
Danielle Bell: And Focal Point has done that. So they are founded on the business acumen and success of Brian Tracy. And he’s written lots of books and I know that name. Yeah, right. He’s amazing. I’ve seen him present. He’s 80 and still just, like, rocking out amazing stuff. Wow. Yeah. So he’s our founder and really began with helping other entrepreneurs achieve the levels that he has. And because they’ve worked to create an entire curriculum of the materials that I have available to me to help business owners be successful so I can offer them those research based, scientifically proven skills, techniques and strategies that will work through and what I bring to the table. It’s more than just getting a book, because I can flip through the pages and really tailor my approach to a business owner’s specific needs and where they are in their growth of their business cycle.
Stone Payton: So let’s dive into the work just a little bit on that front, if we could. And I’m particularly interested in the front end of, I guess you would call it an engagement cycle, like those first few conversations. Now that I’m saying this out loud, it strikes me that it may not be a heck of a lot different than early conversations in your in your therapy practice, but what are some of the first few things that happen in a in a coaching relationship with you?
Danielle Bell: Yeah, that’s a good question. Um, first I would I like to call it a discovery conversation. Um, what’s your business about? What are your goals? Because I don’t want to take anybody’s money. If I don’t feel that I’m a good fit or that they don’t, you know, trust that this, this professional relationship is going to help them get where they want to go So I want to have at least 2 or 3 conversations before we talk about any kind of money. And that’s very much a rapport building, get to know you kind of phase. So first start with very general, um, what’s your business, what’s your goals, what’s important to you, what motivates you, what drives you. And then we can get more specific where I want to teach you a couple strategies. Even if you don’t choose me as your business coach, I want you to be able to take something away from our time and put into use. That’s going to help you in your business. So I’ll teach maybe a couple strategies. For example, I missed or mentioned earlier the life cycle of a business. So having an understanding of where you are in that can help me to understand how I can help you. What kind of, um, obstacles are likely to come up and what kind of strategies we can use to overcome them, to help you to continue to grow where other businesses might fail, you’re more prepared for dealing with those things.
Stone Payton: Sounds to me like it would be a very productive conversation and a tremendous amount of value you? Whether the person chose to work with you formally or not? Are you starting to get to the point? Or maybe you’ve been there where more of these opportunities to serve are kind of coming in over the transom? Or do you find yourself having to shake the trees a little bit on your own, just like you do on running for office? Do you have to? Do you find that you do some sales and marketing activities?
Danielle Bell: I think the again, very overlapping in my direction is showing up is half the battle.
Stone Payton: Amen.
Danielle Bell: Mhm.
Stone Payton: Absolutely.
Danielle Bell: So I’ve been going to business networking, talking with people, listening to their stories better, understanding what’s going on with them so that I can relate, understand and help. So I think yeah, I think that about covers it showing up and proving that you’re reliable and trustworthy. If you say you’re going to do something, then you should do it.
Stone Payton: So I was sharing with our observer who’s here this morning that goes to Georgia Tech in June that I wasn’t sure at all that I had the temperament to be a coach. I occasionally have an opportunity to coach some people within the Business RadioX, uh, network, but I began to share with her there are some fundamental assumptions or myths or misconceptions that people have about utilizing this medium to help people and make money. I got to believe that’s the that’s the case about coaching. And I got to believe that’s the case about trying to serve in political office. Can you speak to either or both of those?
Danielle Bell: Um, I think boiling it down to, to trust of you want a good relationship with people and being able to listen, really understanding. Um, goes back to my therapy history of listening to people connecting with what’s important to them. Um, because what you want for your business, it may be millions and millions of dollars, or it might be I’m stressed to the max, and I want to spend more time taking my kid out and playing baseball and whatever it is, then I can work with you on those specific goals, and we’re going to figure out strategies that get you there.
Stone Payton: So I don’t. Know when you’d have the time, but I’m going to ask anyway. Uh, passions, interests, pursuits, hobbies outside the scope of of the work we’re. Describing. Or is it just a all hands on deck heads down for right now.
Danielle Bell: Right now it’s a lot. Of work. But I still think that balance and self-care are important. So every morning I try to. Get out in my garden. I have a cantaloupes and sunflowers and squash and pumpkins. So just little things that make me happy. The squash bugs do not make me happy. Um.
Stone Payton: Have you been able to grow tomatoes? We’ve had it. We had such success with tomatoes last year, and we just. We’re not. We haven’t cracked the code this year.
Danielle Bell: They’re smaller this year. I don’t know if it’s a weather thing or what. Maybe my seeds were defective. That’s what I thought.
Stone Payton: Well, as you probably know, the vast majority of our listener base, the folks who tap into our content across the network, but particularly Cherokee Business Radio, small business owners, maybe they are mid-level managers in a small to mid-size company entrepreneurs, but people with a very vested interest in the in the business environment. So as a candidate, let’s speak to them a little bit just to would love to hear what you have to say about everything from how you intend to try to serve that community. And let’s be fair and right. And just about this, what we should be doing as small business owners.
Danielle Bell: Um, yeah. Being invested in the community in terms of how I want to serve. Um, I think that my highest priority is being an accurate reflection of my community. I’ve knocked on over a thousand doors. Wow. And that’s not just, you know, just Democrats or just Republicans. I want to hear the voice of everyone, because when I am elected, I’m going to represent everyone. And I think that people deserve leadership and representation That reflect their values and care about their concerns. So knocking on doors, really listening to people, connecting with people wherever I can, whenever I can, um, is my top priority for that. And the same thing with helping people in the business world. Um, as I said earlier, my dad was a small business owner and I saw him work really hard. He got up at 6 a.m. and he’d work all day and, you know, run the guys. He had a construction business, had a few guys that worked for him, and he would, you know, come home tired and collapse on the couch. And it was often, you know, he was late for dinner because he had to go get ready for the next day. And so as just a witness to a small business owner who was successful, but who who worked really hard and nothing came easy, and it was a tough climb up to that being successful. So, uh, really being able to help people to connect with what’s important and maybe make that journey a little bit easier.
Stone Payton: So I failed to ask, uh, but what specific seat See? Is that the right term? See? Have you chosen to to run for Wednesday election? Some of the logistics on this? Yeah, absolutely.
Danielle Bell: Um, I’m running for state House of Representatives for district 44, which is Woodstock. And then it goes down along canton, um, to, like, north of Marietta Square. So it stops just shy of the square. And, um, I’m new to politics, as I said. You know, I’ve told you a lot about my background. The incumbent has been in office for 30 years, so since 1995. And where I’m different is I’m engaged in the community, I show up, I host events, I have events, I attend to other people’s events. Um, like I said, knocking on doors and, um, trying to do a very much grassroots organization. So donations are small dollar donations coming in from my community to help fuel what I’m able to accomplish, um, versus being funded by the party and super PACs.
Stone Payton: So day to day, um like small business people. What should we be doing? Like, I know to go vote. I know to read up a little bit. I have the benefit of getting a chance to have real conversations with people and kind of a little bit of a controlled environment. But, you know, so the election will be in November, early November. But okay, so on any given Thursday in February, what should I be doing to stay informed? How appropriate is it to reach out and have a conversation with your local rep? That’s sounds like you’re really open to that, right?
Danielle Bell: I would really love that. Absolutely. Uh, talking to people, I talked with a gentleman last week while canvasing, and he happens to be a Republican, but we both had a passion for healthcare. His wife was a nurse, his son was an EMT. And we actually talked at the hospital where I used to work or talked about that hospital where I used to work and, um, just being able to talk to him. And he at the end shook my hand and said, this has been a breath of fresh air and inspiration, like, thank you for showing up. I’m glad we had these conversations. I think that for years we’ve been told not to talk about it. You know, don’t talk about politics, don’t talk about religion because those are taboo and you’re going to offend somebody. And I think we’ve forgotten how to talk about it. Um, and then when we do, it’s like I have to stomp my feet. And, and because I know that I’m going against the grain of what’s socially acceptable, I have to be offensive and, like, stake my claim. And what happens is we just, like, are on edge and looking for arguments because we’re not we know we’re not doing what’s like quote unquote, okay. Um, so I think that we need to get to a point of we can talk about things that are really important to us because our political beliefs and how we see it is really important to us. But if we’re in a in a silo of I only get my news from one source, I only talk to people who believe like I do, then I can’t see that there are other people with different experiences. Um, and that we have a lot more in common than the news would like us to believe.
Stone Payton: That has got to be true. And I have to believe that you and I could have a conversation and maybe cover the breadth of 6 or 8 topics, and we just may not be in the same place on one topic. I don’t think you throw the baby out with the bathwater on that, right? You know, just have a real conversation.
Danielle Bell: There are there is no candidate that you are going to agree with 100%. But what I like to do when I’m going to the ballot box is say, is this somebody that I trust their values? And is this someone that I believe would have my best interest at heart if I won, have them voting for me or to like if I have a conversation and say, hey, I have this need. Am I going to trust them to to listen and care about my experiences?
Stone Payton: Amen.
Stone Payton: All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to tap in to your work, learn more about your candidacy, what you stand for, what you’re hoping to accomplish, and let’s also give them some coordinates to connect with you on the on the coaching front, whatever you feel like is appropriate website, email, whatever.
Danielle Bell: Okay, great. So let’s see where to start. As I said, my big passion is community on the political front. If you want to check out where I am in terms of, you know, policy, I haven’t have really cute pictures of my family. I have three kids. I haven’t mentioned them yet, but they’re on my website. I have three girls, Diana, Avery and Aaliyah. So they’re nine, seven and four. No, she just turned five last week. Nine, seven and five. Uh, and uh, so check out my website. You can see all of my contact information if you’d like to meet me in person. I’m actually having a networking dinner on Thursday night. So come. It’s in Kennesaw. You can, um, find. Let’s see what’s the best way I can put a link to that on my website? I’ll do that as soon as we get out of here, because I don’t have it on my website. It’s in a different place, but that way it’s findable. Um, and email is also there on my website. So you can find that in terms of business coaching. Same. I have, um, Danielle Bell dot focal point coaching.com. Uh, so you can find me on there. So Danielle for georgia.com or Danielle Bell dot focalpoint Coaching.com.
Stone Payton: Fantastic. Well Danielle, it has been an absolute delight having you in the studio. I hope you won’t be a stranger after you are elected. I hope you’ll come in periodically and get us caught up with what’s going on. But you’re doing such important work and we sure appreciate you.
Danielle Bell: Thank you so much. This has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.
Stone Payton: Well, it’s my pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Danielle Bell, and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.
BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Be a Dream Killer
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BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Be a Dream Killer
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you this morning. Lee, there are a lot of things we should do. There are a lot of things that we should not do. But one of the cardinal rules, man, don’t be a dream killer.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Yeah. Life is hard enough without being around dream killers. I think, as a leader, it’s important to let your team know that you believe in them and that you support them. You know, like we said, life is hard, and people lose faith very easily nowadays. So, don’t be that pessimist or as pessimists like to call themselves realists, you know the person that just loves to tell folks the truth, quote-unquote, about how it really is. Instead, be that optimist that believes dreams can come true if you work hard, do the right thing and don’t give up.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] So, keep grinding. Support and celebrate the work of your team and let them know it is possible to achieve the outcome they desire.
Ramping up to attend the WBEC-West 21st Annual Procurement and Awards Conference with Marianne Ellis
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In this episode of Women in Motion, host Lee Kantor interviews Marianne Ellis, CEO of the CEO Success Community. They discuss the significance of building a supportive community for women and diversity-owned businesses aiming for corporate contracts with Fortune 500 companies. Marianne shares insights about her organization and offers practical tips for attendees of the upcoming 21st Annual Procurement Conference in Las Vegas. Key advice includes thorough preparation, effective networking, and strategic follow-up.
Marianne Ellis is the CEO/Co-Founder of CEO Success Community–the source for Women & Diversity Owned Businesses seeking Corporate Contracts with Fortune 500 companies.
Our mission is to show CEOs the fastest path to increased revenue and growth. We are a CEO Community membership offering the following business tracks: Get To The Buyer, RFP/Proposal To The Win, Business Innovation, Sales Accelerator, Pivot Your Business, Virtual Conference Maximizer, Business Succession Planning and more.
We are proud to have coached thousands of Diversity CEOs. Major Corporations hire us to coach their Rising Suppliers like SCE, PG&E, and CDW. Diversity Associations WBENC, WBEC-West, WBEC-Pacific, and NAWBO count on us to run their signature workshops sponsored by Capital One, Mass Mutual, Bank of America, UPS, T-Mobile, Walmart, Accenture, and more.
CEO Success Community was built on a successful sales practice that averaged more than $100 million in new billing growth in less than 18 months. We have both sell-side and buy-side procurement experience running Fortune 500 RFPs. Our CEO programs have been featured in the 2023 Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR) Economic Global Impact Report.
Marianne is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Co-Author of Women In Business Leading The Way and a Member of the Television Academy—annually attending The Emmys. She is an LA Times Inspirational Women of the Year Nominee, Two-Time Winner WBE Advocate of the Year, Community Impact Award and on the WBENC National Host Committee WBENC Nashville 2023. She was featured as a sought-after speaker.
Connect with Marianne on LinkedIn.
Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Marianne Ellis with CEO Success Community. Welcome.
Marianne Ellis: Hi, Lee, great to be back.
Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to get caught up. For those who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about CEO Success Community? How are you serving folks?
Marianne Ellis: Well, the way I like to say how we serve folks is we are the source for women and diversity-owned businesses seeking corporate contracts with Fortune 500 companies, which is why it’s perfect that we’re going to talk today about this upcoming September conference.
Marianne Ellis: Our mission, Lee, is to show CEOs the fastest path to increase revenue and growth and through RFPs and corporate contracting, that is a huge way to double and triple your company. We work both for corporations like Southern California Edison, PG&E, and CDW, putting programs together for diverse business owners. I can talk more about that later.
Marianne Ellis: And we also have a CEO Success Community where we have our CEOs work together to grow their business in a mastermind. And also we have about ten intellectual property workshops that have been very successful. And recently we were written up in the billion-dollar roundtable. So, big honor for us in 2024.
Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for other entrepreneurs out there that would like to build a community like you’ve been able to build? Like, is there some kind of things that are must-haves, nice to haves? Like, how would you go about building a community from scratch if you had to?
Marianne Ellis: It’s interesting. How to build a community from scratch, mine really happened organically and it all happened at WBENC West. So WBENC West has a wonderful program called the Platinum Supplier Program. I’m in year ten as a lead coach working with Jaymee Lomax, who is amazing. She’s the VP of WBENC West. Did the program for multiple years. It’s helping diversity-business owners, specifically women, get their capability statement ready.
Marianne Ellis: Capability statement is a like a resume for your business when you’re talking to corporations. And there’s a standard format, and we have a five-week program where we get the women, newly certified women business owners, ready with their capability statement. The story goes, after about two or three years of doing this or when the program ended, Lee, the CEO, said, “Marianne, can we keep working with you?” And I said, “Well, we don’t have a program for that right now.” And they said, “Well, could you create a community where we met monthly, got some more coaching advice since you, you know, were in a $16 billion spend procurement team? You know how the buyers feel. Can we keep working with you?” And here I am seven years later, Lee.
Lee Kantor: So, is that kind of at the heart of it? You have to be useful. You have to have some kind of organic reason for everybody to get together, that it’s a kind of a win-win around.
Marianne Ellis: I think when you think about affinity clubs, you know, whether you’re involved with your college, you know, after you graduate, whether you’re involved with certain charities or different causes that are important to you, it really has to do with being in a community of like-minded individuals and having things in common.
Marianne Ellis: So, what the CEOs and CEO success community have in common is they want to grow their business through RFP and corporate contracting. Some of them do do what we call WBE business owner to business owner contracting. But primarily it’s about RFP and corporate contracting. So they’re all, you know, also trying to run their business. So it’s staffing, it’s insurance, it’s process and procedures. It’s sales and marketing. They all have the same needs. We have a CEO group that’s been meeting on Tuesdays since the very beginning twice a month.
Lee Kantor: So, now if somebody wants to learn more about your community, what’s the best way to get a hold of you or check it out?
Marianne Ellis: I would say go on ceosuccesscommunity.com, like all good websites. Like, I try to do as I coach, make sure that, you know, you check out our website, look at our different programs and there’s a way to respond also on the website.
Lee Kantor: Now, we’re also here to talk about the upcoming 21st Annual Procurement Conference in Vegas in September. What is your take on that? How have you experienced this conference in the past?
Marianne Ellis: Well, first of all, I want to do a shoutout to anybody that’s listening that is a platinum supplier graduate. When you sign up for the conference, please check the box: yes, I’m a PSP graduate.
Marianne Ellis: I am so excited. Now, that we are post-COVID, WBENC West, so that’s Dr. Pamela Williamson and Jaymee Lomax have brought back the in-person platinum supplier showcase. So about 10 or 12 lucky business owners are going to be able to go in front of MGM, Chase, Disney, you know, Amgen, Amazon, and present their company. And what a fantastic opportunity.
Marianne Ellis: So, number one, I want to do a shoutout to the PSP graduates. Make sure that you register for the conference. It’s September 17th to 19th. We’re saying it’s in Vegas, but it’s really at the Westin Lake in Henderson so we’re not on the strip, and it’s going to be the 21st annual conference, and it’s going to be amazing. There’s going to be matchmakers, there’s going to be roundtables, there’s going to be cornhole playing with corporations. So if you haven’t registered for the conference, make sure you do so before it gets closed out and full up.
Lee Kantor: Now, the theme this year is amplify your success. Do you have any tips for conferencegoers when it comes to amplifying their success?
Marianne Ellis: Absolutely. I do a program right now that is sponsored by CDW. They are amazing WBENC Corporation. I think they’re a Fortune – they’re within the Fortune 40. And I take 15 business owners to the conference. So this is definitely my sweet spot. And to anyone that’s listening, I wanted to give you what I call my six top tips.
Lee Kantor: So I’ll go as long as you want, Lee, and then feel free to interrupt me. I would say tip number one, read the WBENC West Conference website three times and look for prospect names and conference opportunities. I’ll give you some hints if you’re listening. There’s a lunch on Wednesday where WBEs, business owners, can have an expo table. Now, unlike nationals, this is only going to be the WBE, the women business owners, are going to be tabling, and the corporations are going to have an opportunity to stop by your table. And you can also invite them. So if you look at the website and you check that on sign up, that’s important.
Marianne Ellis: Number two, there is a breakfast Thursday morning, a pitch competition. So, get your 60-second pitch ready and you’re going to pitch at the table. And then you’ve got to win your table. And then you go up on stage. And when you go up on stage, you’ll again have a chance to pitch your business.
Marianne Ellis: Also, when you read the conference website very carefully, which is tip number one, you’ll see that Amazon is listing their sourcing opportunities, but you’ve got to apply by August 19th, so don’t miss that.
Marianne Ellis: Two more things. WBENC West and Jaymee Lomax are having pre-conference training on August 9th and August 27th. Plus, you can sign up for the cornhole competition. You want to do that. It was a lot of fun when WBENC did this before and you get partnered with corporations.
Marianne Ellis: So, tip number one, Lee, read the conference website. Look at the prospect names, and the corporations that are going to be there. I also have the list of all the corporations that I saw on the sponsorship page that I can share with our listeners. As well as if you look at the pitch competition, they list their name and their company name. So, you can learn so much by – don’t give the website short shrift. Make sure that you read it three times. That’s tip number one out of six. Back to you, Lee.
Lee Kantor: And this is one of those things where, sure, it’s in Vegas, sure, you’re going to be at a nice hotel and resort, but you have to do some pre-work if you want to wring out the most value. Right? You wouldn’t just show up here and think like, oh, I’ll just figure it out when I get there. How hard could it be?
Marianne Ellis: So, okay, you are teeing me up perfectly, Lee. So tip number two, if you’re new at this, target three to five businesses. If you’re experienced, target eight to ten. What do I mean by that?
Marianne Ellis: So, when I talk about targets – this is going to surprise some of your listeners. The first thing you should do is thank your current clients. When I was at an event last week, that was a real fun one in Newport that WBENC West did. We got to network on a boat. The first thing I did was thank my current clients, Southern California Edison. So, shoutout to Gloria and William. They were there. So, that’s number one. Find out which of your current clients are going and put them on your list.
Marianne Ellis: Number two, you want to think about new business. So when you think about targeting new business, you want to look at the corporation category. Like, what industry are you an expert in? Are you an expert in utility, banking, pharma? And then put them on the list.
Marianne Ellis: And then I also say when you pick your three to five, definitely do your homework, what’s important to that corporation and how can you be of service and help. Do they have some new construction happening? Do they have a new product launch? What role can you play and how are you better than their current incumbent?
Marianne Ellis: There is a third group when you make your targeting list, I want to remind you. Don’t forget to thank the WBENC West team. So, definitely you don’t need to include them in your 3 to 5, or 8 to 10. But I would definitely make sure to connect with them.
Marianne Ellis: And I also say take a look at the sponsor page. So again, if you’re listening, here’s the sponsors I saw: MGM, Chase, Aflac, SoCal Gas, SRP, Disney, Banner Health, SCE, Sony, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, ASU, Amazon, Intel, Amgen, Caesars, Metropolitan Water Bank of America. So are any of those corporations ones that you have experienced with their industry, or are they current clients that you should check in with? Definitely, do your homework before you come to the conference so that you have your conference offer. Or what is it that your company can do to help that corporation? So tip number two, make sure to target your top 3 to 5 targets if you’re new at conferencing, or 8 to 10 if you’re experienced, and be conference ready.
Lee Kantor: Now, we’re talking obviously a lot about the conference and how to kind of get the most value from it. How do you handle the follow-up after the conference? You go to the conference, you have your list, you go through, you meet these people. How are you kind of elegantly following up with the folks you met throughout the year? Because you don’t want an event like this that you put this much time, energy, and resource in to just be that event. Like, you don’t want it to end there. You need kind of the relationships to kind of build over time. So how were you kind of doing follow-up where you’re staying top of mind?
Marianne Ellis: I’m so glad you asked that question because 50% of those that attend the September conference in Vegas for WBENC West will do absolutely nothing. According to the National Sales Association, over 50% of people that go to conferences or in sales never follow up, and it can take 5 to 12 meaningful interactions to win a relationship with a corporation to get in there for an RFP invitation.
Marianne Ellis: So, what I recommend is that you have your follow-up ready before you go so that all you have to do is fine-tune it once you learn more about the company, either in your one-on-one conversation or if they’re presenting at all at conference. So, that was going to be my suggestion number five. So we got through two.
Marianne Ellis: I’ll go down to number five, which is, be ready with outreach before you go. So you want to send out emails, LinkedIn messaging before you go to conference with those connections that you have that you know they’re going to be there and you want to up your posting on LinkedIn. That’s pre.
Marianne Ellis: During, you want to reach out to them to connect for coffee or a drink or a meal.
Marianne Ellis: And then post, you want to request a 15-minute introductory follow-up. Or if they specifically asked for something, you can follow up with that, but I would have this all pre-written before you go to conference. So in terms of outreach, I always say be ready with your drip five-plus program. And it has everything to do with pre, during, and post-outreach.
Lee Kantor: And like you said, you can get like 80-90% of that done before the conference. Like, you could be working on that today.
Marianne Ellis: You’ll be exhausted. There was actually a very impressive diversity-business owner. We were at a conference. I was talking to a corporation. They had asked for something and she emailed it that day right back. And when I looked at, because they shared with me what they had received in my mind but I didn’t say it out loud, a lot of that was pre-written. So, absolutely, you know what your company does best and how you help your current clients, be ready to express that when you go back and talk to the companies you just met.
Lee Kantor: Now, is WBEC-West doing anything to help, maybe before the conference to get ready? Is there going to be any type of education to help prepare a conferencegoer, you know, to help them kind of get the most out of it? Is there any webinars or anything like that?
Marianne Ellis: Absolutely. Jaymee Lomax is going to have her amazing pre-conference training on August 9th and August 27th. I want to tell you, I am uber-experienced and I have already signed up for 08/09 and 08/27 for her conference training because each conference brings something new and it’s really important that you listen to part one and part two. And just again, it’s about a month prior to the conference, so you still have plenty of time to take what you learn and apply it for your company.
Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned you’re a veteran and you’ve been to, you know, more than one of these things in the past. Are there any highlights or anything memorable about any of the conferences in the past you’d like to share?
Marianne Ellis: I have a couple of quick stories because it’s their success stories, and we always love success stories. So, when we were in Denver, which was the last national conference, one of the business owners had really highlighted their keywords, which is so important in corporate contracting. Keywords is like, that’s the menu, that’s what they’re sourcing and shopping. And she had highlighted her keywords, and I was physically standing there when the corporate said, “I am sourcing that. You do that. Let’s sit down. I want to talk to you about an upcoming RFP.”
Marianne Ellis: Wow! She didn’t even have to do a 15-minute introduction. Her keywords did that. And I know that WBENC-West has a monthly keyword training. I would definitely recommend that you check that out on their website, which is wbec-west.com. If you go into the calendar, they monthly talk about keywords.
Marianne Ellis: A second great story is a business owner had really prepared themselves, and they were able to show to a corporation a problem on their website, which they could fix immediately for them, and they immediately got a purchase order. It was amazing. This corporation was so grateful. And they said, “You know, we have all these suppliers and you’re not even one of them. And you spot and you saw a problem on our website.” And rather than just pointing out the problem, they quickly had the solution and they immediately got a purchase order for that. Wow!
Marianne Ellis: Now, most of the time, as we like to remind everybody, it can take 18 to 24 months to get a contract with a corporation going through the RFP process. But they also have discretionary spend. Many corporations, Lee, can – they can do a purchase order for under 50,000. Some corporations it’s even higher. And they – again, if you’re what you do, your service is below their threshold, they could even pay you on a credit card. It’s called the p-card.
Marianne Ellis: So, sometimes that magic happens where you get invited to an RFP right at the conference. Or the even rarer one is you get a purchase order right at the conference. But I have seen it with my own eyes happen.
Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things that those weren’t just random, pure luck. I mean, there was a lot of preparation that allowed them to be lucky at the right time.
Marianne Ellis: What do they say? It’s like hard work is how luck happens. Both of these business owners, both women, had worked very, very hard. And the woman who had worked on the keyword, she had really fine-tuned them. So the minute that these corporations saw her keywords, they were like, yep, that’s what I need. Or nope, that’s not what I need. And the other business owner, she was a very experienced conferencegoer so she went to that 8 to 10 level of preparation. And the corporation that, you know, she had taken a look at these 8 to 10 corporations and were looking for any flaws or problems. Her area was website, Ux/UI.
Lee Kantor: Now, you’ve mentioned so many things that are obviously valuable to growing a person’s business. But part of this conference is kind of building relationships and nurturing existing relationships. Are there things that you’re going to be doing or looking forward to maybe that aren’t the hardcore business stuff but it’s more the fun, friendly build rapport and build and deepen relationship stuff that you’re looking forward to?
Marianne Ellis: I think you have the right spirit, Lee. Absolutely. I always say in my area of must-do’s, yes, we all need to have a conference checklist, and we can talk about that in a minute. But I think the most important thing you need to pack before you go to the September conference in Vegas, you need to pack the right attitude. And what I mean by that is this is not the hard sell time. Nobody likes to be hustled. You don’t like to be hard sold when you walk into a store or you meet people.
Marianne Ellis: So, this is really relationship building, getting to know people as human beings because we all are human beings, having a lot of respect. So, I always say relationship and respect come before revenue. If you put revenue first and you don’t build that relationship and respect, it’s never going to happen. I also think what’s really important besides, you know, having a conference checklist and packing the right attitude, I also think you need to live in the moment.
Marianne Ellis: And that’s one of my favorite parts, is I can plan and plan and plan and so can the CEOs I work with but opportunity will find you if you are open. If you have your head in your playbook or your head in your phone or your head in your notes, a terrific opportunity could pass right by you. My favorite story in that area was they had meet and greets at one conference, and there was this one corporation sitting all by themselves because everybody rushes, you know, to the, you know, the Amazon table or the Disney table.
Marianne Ellis: But they were sitting all by themselves and one business owner said, you know what? I’m not going to rush where the crowds are. I’m going to go to this individual person and create a relationship. They now have a contract with that corporation. They got the full one-on-one time with this company. So, sometimes it’s good to go where others are not. Sometimes it’s good to say hello to somebody standing by themselves. You have an opportunity to have a one-on-one. And it’s also great to make relationships with other business owners. And that’s your network.
Marianne Ellis: Jaymee Lomax is famous for her saying, HASU, which is hook a sister up. So all the time, if I meet a corporation, I ask them what they’re sourcing. I just recently did that when I was in Newport, and I heard that one company is looking for electricians and people who can do more, you know, residential, commercial repairs. So, I’m going to look into the business owners I know and refer them.
Marianne Ellis: So, yeah, I think you have to – that’s to me the spontaneous – sort of spontaneous things that happen. And that’s a really big part of having all the preparation but living in the moment.
Lee Kantor: And that’s what’s so magical about these in-person conferences. It’s hard to duplicate that virtually. And so when you have the opportunity to be in-person and meet face-to-face with folks you might have been on a Zoom with, it really becomes magical. And you can really accelerate relationships in this environment.
Marianne Ellis: I would also – to the listeners if anyone gets to Vegas and starts to panic or gets confused, I think we, you know, come by my table. Just take a break and come by my – I’m in a table. I have a CEO Success Community table. Just come by and say, you know, or if you have a question or if there’s something I can do to help you, you know, just know that there’s a lot of us that have been doing this for a while and we’re always willing to help other business owners.
Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned this checklist. Do you got any checklist information to share?
Marianne Ellis: So in terms of the checklist, I’ll go through a couple of things that I would like everyone to keep in mind that they should have prepared. First thing is business cards. And make sure your business cards have plenty of white space so the corporates can write notes. Don’t have those cards that you can’t write on or all-colored front and back. But, you know, we do want to be more sustainable. We do want to be digital. So I always say bring a digital card and a hard, you know, regular card.
Marianne Ellis: Capability statements. I think it’s good to bring a few – they may not want to walk away with it, but at least it can anchor a conversation. QR code is another thing that a lot of corporations like. Again, if you’re doing your table, you want to bring whatever signage you need for your table or giveaways.
Marianne Ellis: I also think on that checklist, you want to make sure that you pack comfortable shoes and clothes that you’ve worn before. Don’t run out and buy new stuff. Make sure it’s comfortable.
Marianne Ellis: You’re using your phone a lot during the day, so bring a battery. And, you know, some people are more on their phone versus notepad.
Marianne Ellis: You definitely want to check your website and your LinkedIn before you go. And matter of fact, you may want to announce on LinkedIn that you’re going to be there because there’ll be a lot, a lot of other business owners there. But also think about your email signature.
Marianne Ellis: I also think on your checklist, it’s good to have a group, kind of a gang, that maybe you’re in a group chat so you don’t feel like you’re all alone. We talked about your homework on your top, whether you’re doing 3 to 5 if you’re new prospects, or 8 to 10 if you’re experienced. I think those are the big things.
Marianne Ellis: And then, like Lee and I talked about earlier, you know, get that prospect outreach program ready. So when you get back, you can just change a few things and then follow up. So, that would be my checklist.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. And a great place to start is the WBEC-West website. That’s W-B-E-C, hypen, W-E-ST, dot com. Go there. You can sign up for those webinars, which I think are really important, and that’s going to be happening, you know, several weeks before the event so it’s important to kind of just dip your toe in and just start to meet some of the folks that are going to be there and that can be helpful.
Marianne Ellis: I also think that messaging is really important, Lee. So I do want to remind everybody, take a look at the messaging on your website.
Lee Kantor: And then, so, the messaging and the website, and then you mentioned the email signature in any way you’re communicating probably on social media as well. Right?
Marianne Ellis: To really get a Word document and introduce yourself in 20 words. That’s about 10 seconds and that’s about all you can hear if you’re online. And then if you’re doing an expo table, I’d have a 30-second introduction, which is about 75 words.
Marianne Ellis: So, I also think there is a preparation. And then I would practice. Practice with your family, practice with your employees, practice with your friends. Make sure that once you socially introduce yourself, you’re someone that they’d like to continue to talk to, not run away.
Marianne Ellis: And, for the expo table, or if you get a longer period of time with the corporation, you know, what is your 30-second introduction? Your elevator pitch, if you know what I mean. So, I think messaging is important, and I think being short to the point and succinct.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, absolutely. And, Marianne, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom today. It’s so important for folks. If someone wants to connect with you, one more time, your website for SEO Success Community.
Marianne Ellis: It’s www.ceosuccesscommunity.com. And I’ll also be there, helping with Jaymee Lomax with the platinum supplier in-person showcase. So, yeah, year ten working for WBENC West in this area is such a joy. And again, if I can help anyone, please come and seek me out at the conference. And hopefully, I’ll see you at the training on August 9th and August 27th.
Marianne Ellis: My last fast piece of advice, my iPhone is my secret weapon at the conference, so come by my table and ask me about that.
Lee Kantor: All right. Well, Marianne, thank you so much for sharing your story and for all those tips. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Marianne Ellis: Thank you. And thank you to WBENC West. We owe so much to WBENC West, Dr. Pamela Anderson – Dr. Pamela Williamson – I love that – Jaymee Lomax, as well as Tera Jenkins. We also have Heather who’s on board, and Ella, I mean, Maria. There’s a whole great team behind WBENC West and we really appreciate all of them. So, thank you.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.
BRX Pro Tip: You Need a Team
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BRX Pro Tip: You Need a Team
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you this morning. Lee, I know a lot of us entrepreneurial types, man, we like to be individual contributors. But if we’re going to reach our objectives and we’re going to do it on any kind of timeframe that’s reasonable, man, you need a team.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:20] Yeah, you need a team. It is so hard to scale to any size without the help of other people. And, look, your team could be software, so don’t discount software as part of your team. But I find that without really gathering and curating as many A level teammates that you can acquire, then it’s very difficult to scale.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] You should, as soon as you start generating any type of revenue, figure out a way to attract A players to your team to fill in the gaps in the skillset that you bring to the table. And the more A players you have, the faster you are going to succeed. And don’t settle for C, D, or F players no matter how desperate you are to fill that role, because you just can’t afford to damage your brand with people that aren’t good enough and that don’t care enough as much as you do. So, find those A players, find a way to bring them on, and you will see that your company will grow and thrive in ways that may be difficult to imagine today.
