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From Test Anxiety to Triumph: The Entrepreneurial Leap of Sarah Michelle Boes

June 17, 2025 by angishields

HVR-Sarah-Michelle-Boes-Feature
High Velocity Radio
From Test Anxiety to Triumph: The Entrepreneurial Leap of Sarah Michelle Boes
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Stone Payton talks with Sarah Michelle Boes, founder of Sarah Michelle NP Reviews. Sarah shares her journey from nurse practitioner to entrepreneur, building a successful online test prep business during the pandemic and selling it after rapid growth. Following her daughter’s diagnosis with congenital heart disease, Sarah became an advocate for awareness and research. She discusses her advocacy work, memoir writing, and new podcast projects, offering insights on resilience, business transitions, and the importance of supporting congenital heart disease initiatives.

Sarah-Michelle-BoesSarah Michelle Boes, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, is the Founder of Sarah Michelle NP Reviews and also served as the Chief Nursing Officer at Blueprint Test Prep.

With a robust educational background including a BSN from the University of Kentucky and an MSN in Nursing Education from Western Governors University, Sarah has extensive experience in oncology, intensive care, and nursing education. After obtaining her family nurse practitioner degree in 2020 she launched SMNP Reviews, an innovative platform that rapidly grew to a seven-figure business within seven months. Following SMNP Reviews’ acquisition by Blueprint in 2022, Sarah transitioned to a role where she continued to oversee the nursing vertical while integrating cutting-edge educational technologies.

Sarah’s entrepreneurial journey is deeply intertwined with her personal life. Her daughter Meadow, born with severe heart defects, has required extensive medical care, inspiring Sarah’s commitment to pediatric cardiac research and care. In recognition of Meadow’s journey, Sarah has become a congenital heart disease activist and philanthropist. She serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations that support and advocate for this cause.

Beyond her business success, Sarah is a passionate advocate for mental health and female entrepreneurship. Her own experiences with anxiety and OCD have fueled her mission to help others manage mental health challenges, particularly within high-stakes environments like healthcare. She leverages her platform to support female entrepreneurs and promote awareness about the importance of mental well-being in professional settings.

With a significant social media following and notable media features, Sarah continues to influence the healthcare and entrepreneurial communities. She was recently honored with the Baylor Landrum Jr. “Leave a Legacy” Award in recognition of her leadership and dedication to improving the community through giving. Sarah aims to further her impact through philanthropy, focusing on congenital heart disease and mental health advocacy, while supporting ongoing advancements in pediatric healthcare.

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Episode Highlights

  • Sarah’s transition from nurse practitioner to entrepreneur during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Development of an online course for nurse practitioner test preparation.
  • Overcoming challenges related to test anxiety and inadequate traditional review courses.
  • Rapid business growth and revenue milestones achieved within months.
  • Decision to sell the business to focus on teaching and education.
  • Advocacy for congenital heart disease following personal experience with her daughter’s diagnosis.
  • Importance of raising awareness and funding for congenital heart disease research.
  • Insights on the emotional journey of selling a business and negotiation strategies.
  • Current projects, including memoir writing and podcasting.
  • Emphasis on resilience, personal transformation, and the impact of advocacy.

 

Transcript-iconThis 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 founder with Sarah Michelle NP Reviews, the lady herself, Sarah Michelle Boes. How are you?

Sarah Michelle Boes: I am incredible. Thank you so much for having me today.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s a delight to have you on the program and I got a ton of questions, but I think a good place. There’s just so much I don’t know, Sarah. Uh, I think a good place to start, though, would be if you could articulate for for me and our listeners. Mission. Purpose. What are you really out there trying to do for folks?

Sarah Michelle Boes: You know, honestly, I’ve thought about that a lot this year. And I think at my core, I really just want to rewrite what’s possible and kind of help people reframe their brains about what their lives could look like. Because if you had told me five years ago that I was going to create and sell a business and become a mom and all these incredible, exciting things I’ve been able to do, I would have never believed you because I was very risk averse, and I never would have thought I would have been entrepreneur. But being an entrepreneur has just really opened up a whole new season in my life that I am forever grateful for.

Stone Payton: So say more about that journey. How did you land here?

Sarah Michelle Boes: You know, a lot of great businesses come out of your own pain in a way, and I was about to graduate nurse practitioner school. It was in literally the prom and thick of Covid, and the market for nurse practitioner review courses and test prep to take the exam was very archaic. And so during Covid, they took what they used to do in two day in-person conferences and threw it on zoom. And they thought that would be a good fit. But that’s not exactly how that works. And so I was having major test anxiety preparing to take this exam. It was getting canceled all the time because it was Covid. And then I finally got to take the exam. It’s one of the easiest exams I’ve ever taken. And I was like, oh my goodness. Like, I really feel like if you can graduate nurse practitioner school, you can pass this exam. You just have to be able to believe in yourself and manage your anxiety to be able to do that. And it was that very, very simple idea of this is really about test anxiety. It’s less about the content. And I already know I love to teach. Like, could I create something that would have been what I wanted and serve my own pain points? And so I literally did it in a single weekend. So Memorial Day weekend 2020. My husband was outside building a smoker out of cinder blocks because he desperately wanted a smoker and we were too broke to buy one, and I sat inside and recorded a course on zoom that changed the entire trajectory of our lives.

Stone Payton: What a incredible leap of faith. I mean, that had to take some some guts to do that.

Sarah Michelle Boes: You know, people say that I don’t know, you know, because I’m a little bit risk averse, which is funny now looking back. But I think like the guts came in the sense of like willing to be cringe almost and put yourself out there and just see what happens. But I do think very fortunately for me, like there wasn’t a huge monetary risk, like the real risk I was running was like loss of time. And I was like, it’s Covid. Nothing else is happening in my world, in sphere right now. Like, if I lose a week of my time, two weeks of my time this weekend, etc. building this course and it doesn’t work, That’s fun. Um, but that course really ended up being what people not only really wanted, but they also really, really needed.

Stone Payton: So did you find that people embraced this pretty early on? Did it take off pretty quickly for you?

Sarah Michelle Boes: Yeah. So I made over Memorial Day weekend and that following Monday, I put it out to all my classmates because me being overachiever me, I was the first person in my class to test, and there were like 30 or so of us. And so I gave it to my 30 classmates for free and said, look, I’m going to give you this course. You tell me what you think and invite one other person to my group. I made a Facebook group, and so I let in the first 100 people for free, and by day three I was like, okay, like I’m already getting some good feedback and people are liking it. And this is a three hour course that I have made over the weekend. I was like, I’m just going to try to sell it and see what happens. And so the very first person I went to sell it to, I was selling it for $25 for lifetime access to my three hour course. And she said, absolutely not. My friend got it for free. Why would I pay you $25? And so she ended up haggling me down to $15. So for the very first day of my business, I sold it for $15, and I made $1,000 in a day. And it was so insane to me that I could possibly make $1,000 in a day and not leave my house. And from something that I actually enjoyed and wanted to do, I was like, oh my goodness, I have to like, dive head first. Like, what if I made $1,000 every single day? How cool would that be?

Stone Payton: So now that you’ve been at this a while, what what are you finding the most rewarding? What are you enjoying the most about it these days?

Sarah Michelle Boes: Well, you know, it has been a wild ride over these last few years. So to kind of give a bird’s eye view of the business, I started at the very tail end of May 2020. By August of that year, I made my first hundred thousand. Um, and by the time we were seven months in, I had made $1 million. And so I was kind of riding this rocket ship, and it was so much fun building, and it was so much fun exploring and really co-creating with my students, because what a lot of people don’t see from the outside is there was so much co-creation because I talked to thousands and thousands of my first customers, and I’m like, what did you like? What didn’t you like? What did you want more of? And that co-creation, that iteration and pivoting piece is so important in a new business, which is also why you can start messy and pivot later. I tell people all the time, I’m like, don’t overcomplicate starting a business. Just start messy because you’re going to change it anyways. But that being said, I was writing this rocket ship. I didn’t know how long it was going to be a rocket ship. I just knew it was flying into space. And so that was ultimately about the time that I decided to sell, because it was growing so rapidly that we were breaking every piece of software that we were touching and Like every like literally all the problems of a big business. But when you’re kind of like running it as a solopreneur feel huge. I mean, even just figuring out how to pay sales tax in every state because it was an online business was a huge thing to tackle, and I was really wearing all these hats. But the thing that I love in my life the most is to teach and to educate.

Sarah Michelle Boes: And so the more hats I took on, the less teaching, educating I got to do. And so my hope and my dream was in selling my business. A we would get the resources and the software that we needed like so desperately needed. But b I would get back to the parts of the business I love the most. And I’m not sure how much we talked about this when we talked previously, but within a month of selling my business, I was pregnant and I found out my daughter was sick. And so that really kind of flipped on its head what I imagined the acquisition process would look like and what I imagine my role would look like. And so for me, now, I’m doing the thing I love most, which is educating and teaching, but I’m kind of doing it in a brand new way because my daughter, with being born with congenital heart disease, I’ve now become such an advocate for her, and I’ve become an advocate for the congenital heart disease community. And I’m trying to educate and teach people all the time that congenital heart disease. So heart defects are the most common birth defect there is is 1 in 100, but they’re one of the very least funded. And so my mission and my advocacy work is to change that because awareness is what creates the funding, and funding is what creates the research that’s going to change my daughter’s life and the lives of those like her. So in a long winded way, I’m still doing the thing that I love the most. I’m just not necessarily doing it within my previous business and the way that I was. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing either.

Stone Payton: Well, I wouldn’t think so. And it sounds like everything that came before is is now helping you be that much more powerful and productive in serving this new pursuit of yours. I think that’s fantastic.

Sarah Michelle Boes: I absolutely agree every day, like being able to have the entrepreneurial expertise for nurse practitioner expertise, because I am technically a nurse practitioner, but also like the personal advocacy story of almost losing our daughter when she was four months old. All of those come together to create a really powerful way to advocate, which is I mean, I was literally in Washington, DC a month ago, so advocacy work is a really huge part of my life these days. And I think even in my previous business, I was advocating for mental health because, you know, none of the other review courses were talking about mental health as part of that game. And I was really the first person to bring that to light. So I think I’ve just switched my advocacy hat.

Stone Payton: So now a day in the life of Sarah Michelle is a little bit different, but but a lot of common threads like you tell us a little bit more about how you’re investing your time and energy on a day to day basis now?

Sarah Michelle Boes: Man, I think today is a perfect example of me as a human because I got up this morning with my daughter, and it’s always super important for me to have a slow morning with my daughter and be really intentional and get to soak that time in. And then we actually were invited by the American Heart Association to a go red luncheon, where we did a survivor fashion show. So I got to be my daughter’s escort down the runway this morning and get to talk all about congenital heart disease and how important it is to us and our family and those around us. And then I’m doing podcasts this afternoon. I’m on the board at our local children’s hospital. I have a children’s hospital event this afternoon as well. So today is very much an advocacy day and an advocacy filling day for me, but also a lot of my time right now, outside of the advocacy work I do, is working on my memoir because I’m about 100,000 words in which I’m very proud of, but I’m not done quite yet. And I really I want to be able to tell my story in a way that shows people just like what is possible, because I grew up in eastern Kentucky. Five years ago, I was making $40,000 a year as a nurse. And now to be able to have, like, the freedom of time and flexibility and money to chase the causes I love the most. Like I can’t even begin to describe how lucky I feel every single day when I wake up.

Stone Payton: Well, I would certainly say that you are fortunate to be blessed in that way. I don’t think luck had anything to do with it. And hearing you describe how this journey has, uh, has, has unfolded for you, I do have kind of a tactical question that you might have some insight on. Uh, what do you think people sometimes get wrong or misunderstand about getting ready to, to sell and live through the selling of their business. Any insight on that?

Sarah Michelle Boes: Oh my goodness. It is such an emotional process. That’s what I want people to understand before they ever walk through the door of the first meeting. It is an emotional process and you want to be as clear headed as possible. And so I think one of the very best ways to do that, if you’re thinking about an acquisition, and one of the things I’m most grateful that me and my husband did together was that we decided what our number was before we ever talked to anybody. So that way, when we got our first letter of intent and we got our first offer and valuation, when we looked at it and it wasn’t our number, it wasn’t like, oh my goodness, we really liked these people or we really want to do this over here. It was no, it’s simply not our number. So I really think that’s a great place to start. And the other thing I tell people a lot is that the deal is not done until it’s done. And it can be really difficult when you’re excited and you’re thinking about the valuation, you’re thinking about how your life is going to change to get lost in that fact. But the deal closes when all the papers are signed and it can fall apart at any moment. And a lot of deals do. And it’s nothing to do with you necessarily. That’s just also part of the process. Normal, unexpected part.

Stone Payton: So I want to hear more about this podcast. Are you being a guest on a podcast or is this one that you’re hosting?

Sarah Michelle Boes: Oh, I’m a little bit everywhere right now. So I actually had a podcast episode come out today. Um, that is another medical parent, and we’re talking about different advocacy work that we do in medical play and the different ways that we prepare our doctors for their appointments. And also as a passion project side project. For me, this will sound a little out of left field. Um, but for anyone who knows me personally, it makes a lot of sense because I’m very multi-passionate and I like to do all the things just for fun. I actually have my own astrology podcast, so.

Stone Payton: Of course you do.

Sarah Michelle Boes: Of course I do. Um, but for me, I gotta have a little bit of fun in there. And the astrology podcast, which is called the Cosmic Group chat. Me and my best friend do it is my little bit of fun that I get to sprinkle in.

Stone Payton: I love it! So what do you need more of and how can how can we help?

Sarah Michelle Boes: You know, I think the most important thing for me right now is just building the foundation and letting people know about who I am and my story, because my memoir will be coming out later this year, and I’m very excited about that. But it’s obviously it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of marketing work. It’s a lot of getting it out there. And so everyone who could possibly even be remotely interested by reading the story, which is so much more than building and selling a business that was obviously a big piece of it. I’m grateful for every opportunity to do that.

Stone Payton: What an exciting time for you and for all of us. I we’re going to continue to follow your story, and I want to make sure that we leave our listeners with some coordinates to connect with you, to tap into your podcast work, to get their hands on this memoir when it’s ready. Well, let’s leave them with some coordinates.

Sarah Michelle Boes: Oh, yes. I think the easiest place to start is Sarah Michelle Bowes. Com and that is Sarah with an H. And that is Bowes spelled in as B, as in boy o e s. And then I also have a pretty heavy social presence. Everyone knows that they can get Ahold of me at my Instagram, which is Sarah Michelle MP, MP. Being as a nurse practitioner, I’m the one that runs that account, so I’m the one that answers the messages. So you’re not getting a robot or a different human. It really is me and I love having human to human connection with people. You can also find me on the more standard places like LinkedIn. I do a lot of writing there, and if for whatever reason you’re interested in astrology or that piques your interest, I do the My Beginner Astrology podcast for anyone who’s just, we call it Astro curious, and that’s called the cosmic Group chat.

Stone Payton: I love it, Astro curious. Now I have a new phrase at the cocktail party. That’s terrific. Well, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Keep up the good work. The the work you’re doing is so important and impacting so many. And we sure appreciate you.

Sarah Michelle Boes: Thank you so much. I really hope to change the world for children with congenital heart disease. So I got a lot of work ahead of me.

Stone Payton: You do, but I think you’re up for it. And it’s been my pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Sarah Michelle bows and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Tagged With: Sarah Michelle NP Reviews

Build Smart: Using AI with Purpose to Beat Overwhelm Part 2

June 17, 2025 by angishields

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Women in Motion
Build Smart: Using AI with Purpose to Beat Overwhelm Part 2
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On today’s Women in Motion, Lee Kantor and Renita Manley are joined by AI expert Stephanie Nivinskus to discuss practical strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into business. Stephanie explains the importance of detailed prompts for effective AI use, shares top AI tool recommendations, and offers advice on overcoming overwhelm when adopting new technologies. The conversation emphasizes thoughtful, incremental learning and highlights Stephanie’s book, “Sizzle or Fizzle,” as a resource for business owners seeking to leverage AI for greater efficiency and impact.

SizzleForce Marketing is a very carefully curated team of certified fractional CMO’s, AI marketing strategy & execution specialists, digital marketing strategists, content marketers, copywriters, website designers and developers, branding experts, and social media marketers. Every day we strategize and execute marketing solutions for mission-driven, scaling companies. We service a broad range of clients, but we have an extra special place in our heart for pet brands. It might have something to do with the fact that we have not one, but two dogs on staff.

Stephanie-NivinskusEveryone’s got a story to tell, and Stephanie Nivinskus, CEO of SizzleForce, knows how to tell them. Since 1995, she’s helped thousands of business owners, big and small, transform their mission and vision into strategic marketing plans, compelling brand stories and meaningful marketing messages that humanize commerce, maximize opportunities and win customers.

The international #1 bestselling author of Absolutely Unforgettable: The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Creating A Heart-Centered Brand That Stands Out In A Noisy World, Stephanie is well-respected in the marketing industry.

She has written for Forbes and Entrepreneur and shared the stage with some of the world’s most renowned marketing and business growth experts, including Les Brown, Jasmine Star, and Suzy Batiz at Digital Marketer events as well as at countless business-building conferences including Level Up Live, The Copywriter Club IRL, and more.

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis 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 with Renita Manley, welcome to another episode of Women in Motion. We could not be doing this show without the support of WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories and covering these important topics.

Lee Kantor: And today, we’re digging in deep again on the topic of AI, and today’s episode is Build Smart Using AI with Purpose to Beat Overwhelm. And once again, we have our resident expert in AI, Stephanie Nivinskus, and she’s with SizzleForce, and author of the book, Sizzle Or Fizzle. Renita, this is going to be a great show.

Renita Manley: Yeah. So, this is part two of our AI series, and like Lee said, we’re discussing Using AI with Purpose to be Overwhelmed. So, we’re diving into how to thoughtfully integrate AI into your business, how to choose the right tools for your business goals, and how to avoid AI overwhelm and overload.

Lee Kantor: So, Stephanie, you want to kind of get us started on this topic, AI is everywhere but does it belong in everything?

Stephanie Nivinskus: AI is everywhere for sure, Lee. Does it belong in everything? I don’t think so yet, but yet is the key word in my answer. I think right now there are specific applications in life and business where AI is critical, and some other things not so much.

Stephanie Nivinskus: You know, for example, my daughter is almost 18, and she wants to get into the child care industry. And I don’t really see a place for robots running a classroom with 25 three year olds. You know what I mean? I don’t really see that happening. I could see it assisting in some ways, but there’s still going to be a human that’s needed in that space. But in terms of your typical office routines, your administrative operational tasks and marketing tasks, I think AI is a must.

Lee Kantor: Now, you’re using AI and robots kind of side by side. Are they a similar thing? Like, how are you kind of discerning the difference between AI and robots?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Well, when I’m thinking of AI, I’m thinking of bots, which is short for robot. So, you know, this is a complicated question, it’s kind of a funny one for you to ask this. Have you ever been to Vegas?

Lee Kantor: I have.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay. Have you met Aura, the humanoid?

Lee Kantor: No, I have not.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay. What about you, Renita, have you?

Lee Kantor: You’re muted, Renita.

Renita Manley: Yeah, I sure am muted. No, I have not met that robot.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay. All of you guys, the next time you go to Vegas – actually I think it was when I was in Vegas with WBEC the last time that I went to the Sphere, and they have a whole exhibit where you can meet the humanoid robots. And humanoid, meaning they’re built to kind of look like a human frame, and they talk and converse with you, and do all this stuff. That’s super kind of sci-fi-ish right now, right? It’s very entertaining. It’s fun to think of it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like I asked it – her name was Aura – and I said, Aura, are you funny? Like can you laugh at a joke? And she went, “Yes, I can. Ha. Ha. Ha.” So, that’s a robot. It’s a humanoid. When I’m thinking of bots in an AI sense, they can also just be little worker bees behind the computer.

Lee Kantor: And then, these worker bees are just code, though.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: I mean, for the listener who is not – you’re immersed in this technology all the time, so a lot of things I think that you maybe just take for granted or understand just through being in the world that you are so much, I don’t know if everybody who is working in another area understands it in the level you do. So, I just want to get clarity around some of the terms that we’re using.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, I think that the best way to break this down is to say that all bots are actually robots, but not all robots are bots. Okay? So, if that’s not clear as mud, here’s the difference. A robot has a body, not necessarily a beating heart body, but it has the figure of a body. It can move. It might have arms. It might have legs. It might have a head. It could be in the form of a dog. It could be in the form of a human, whatever. A bot is digital. It is. It’s just code. So, it is what automates the tasks inside the computer.

Lee Kantor: And then, by leveraging that code, we’re able to have the computer, we can lean on its knowledge base of lots and lots of data that it’s kind of accumulated, plus maybe some of our specific data in order to help us think through strategic questions or tactical questions, and help us physically create tools that can help us grow our business faster. So, the topic is overwhelmed, so this can help us kind of lessen our overwhelm, because we have this partner here that’s helping us with some of the things that are overwhelming us.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, a lot of people will refer to a tool like ChatGPT as an AI assistant.

Lee Kantor: And that’s how we should be treating it, right? We should be asking it to do things for us. We should ask it questions of things we don’t understand, maybe. And then, its job is to just answer the questions and be useful to us.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly right.

Renita Manley: Okay. So, I have a question for you, what’s the easiest way to gut check your current business operations to see where AI can actually lighten the load instead of overwhelming yourself?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Great question, Renita. Oh, so good. I think the best place to start is really by thinking about the tasks that are very repetitive in your business, and which of those tasks could an assistant help with little training. It could be something like, you know, summarizing a meeting or drafting a proposal or following up on a lead. If it feels repetitive, if it feels like a time suck, there’s a very high likelihood that AI will be able to help with it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, I always say, you know, you’re never going to know if it’s really going to help you unless you test it, right? So, run a small experiment with a tool or a workflow and see if it helps you. If it helps you, great, do more of it. If it doesn’t help you, figure out if it didn’t help you because maybe you didn’t give it the right instructions, or if it simply wasn’t helpful for you. Because even though there’s a million AI tools out there that can help people, that doesn’t mean every single tool can help every single person.

Renita Manley: Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, right before we hopped on today’s podcast, Steph, I was actually scrolling on Instagram and I was getting bombarded with ads telling me that I’m almost 100 years old because I’m still using ChatGPT, and there are 50 other apps that I should be using. So, what do you say to WBEs and other small business owners who are like me, still on Instagram or scrolling on Instagram and we’re just constantly seeing, “Hey, you’re using ChatGPT. You suck”?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay. Well, that’s funny that you’re saying that. I have not come across that, so I must be 200 years old and they’ve just given up. But no, I mean that’s ridiculous.

Renita Manley: Let me explain it, I don’t know what actual ad it was, but if there’s anyone out there listening and maybe you have experienced this same thing with me. So, Steph, I’m scrolling on Instagram, there’s actually a horsy call, something that’s telling me that I can learn 50 AI tools in four weeks if I try.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I’ve seen that, yes.

Renita Manley: Okay. Well, what do you say to a WBE who sees that, and then they’re like, “Oh, my gosh. What am I supposed to do?”

Stephanie Nivinskus: I think it’s total overwhelm. I think it’s designed to give you the highest level overview of a whole bunch of tools, and you probably only need three or four of them. And so, I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to learn about all these things and you’re going to be like, “Oh, my gosh. I can do this. I can do that. I can do the other thing.” And, “Oh. Well, that’s not really relevant in my business. I don’t really need that.” Or, “No, I already have a system that’s working just fine for me in this capacity.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: That’s my take on those things. I don’t think really anybody needs to know that many tools, unless this is your life like me, right? I need to know that many tools because this is my livelihood. But the rest of you guys, no. It’s silly. And it’s also like, okay, well, you can learn a tiny bit about a million different tools, or you can learn to use two or three or four of them really, really well, and you will get far better results if you do the latter.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you know if it’s better to hire an expert like yourself or just kind of dig in there? Because a lot of folks are feeling the overwhelm of this is too hard, there’s too many choices, and these ads are probably trying to do that and create kind of that fear and overwhelm. But as a business owner, how much should I be diving in and really having knowledge and ownership over this? Or should I just say, “You know what? I don’t do my taxes. I hire an expert for that. Why don’t I just hire an expert for this?”

Stephanie Nivinskus: I think it really depends how much you intend to use AI, as well as how much time you have to put into learning it. Because anybody could get on ChatGPT and enter in a couple of, you know, basic prompts and get something mediocre out. That’s easy and anyone can do that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But if you really intend to integrate AI into multiple facets of your business, AI and automations, then I think you probably need to bring in someone like me. If you don’t have the time or maybe you just don’t have the interest, maybe you’re just like, “You know what? I don’t want to do this. I want to go play pickleball” or “I can’t do this. I need to be in a meeting closing a sale,” that’s when you bring in someone like me to come in and do the heavy lifting for you, and then simplify it into step-by-step solutions that we can teach you how to implement on a daily basis really easily and really fast, so it will shorten the learning curve substantially.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And really, for you to get the most out of these tools, there is quite a bit of a learning curve. Sometimes people will be like, “Oh, I’ve got ChatGPT figured out,” “Why do you think you have it figured out?” I’ll say, and they’ll say, “Well, you know, I know how to prompt. I tell it my tone of voice. I tell it a couple things about me, and I get great stuff. I’m really happy.” Okay, if that’s where someone’s at, well, more power to them. Run with that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But I will tell you, you do not have ChatGPT figured out at all if that is what you’re saying, because it goes so much deeper than that, so much deeper, and it is capable of so much more. But you don’t know it because you don’t know the intricacies, and that’s where a professional can be helpful.

Renita Manley: I think that your book Sizzle Or Fizzle might be the perfect bridge between should I hire an expert or can I do this myself? Shameless plug, but do you think so too?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, I think it’s definitely an option for someone that’s in the middle, someone that’s like I want expert guidance. Because otherwise, what are you left with? You’re either left just kind of pushing buttons on your computer and hoping something works, or maybe you watch a random YouTube video here or there, or you go to a session at a conference once in a year, and then you try and implement it at home, you’re like, “Well, I don’t remember half of what I learned.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: My book, definitely, because it’s filled with these 30 day implementation plans at the end of every chapter. It will guide you through learning how to use AI if your goal is to build a personal brand, grow your influence, and become the go-to authority in your industry, because that’s what the book is about.

Stephanie Nivinskus: If you want to learn things like how do I make an AI avatar of myself, how do I make a clone, a digital clone of myself so I can have a YouTube channel, but I never have to actually show my face. I can have a digital replica of myself and my voice running the whole channel. If you want stuff like that, that’s not in my book, and that’s probably stuff that you don’t want to try and learn on your own, but it is so stinking powerful, oh, my word.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I have a girlfriend who did this. She’s actually a pretty big name in AI, and her name is Julia McCoy, if you guys want to look her up. She’s very much a thought leader in this space. And she started a YouTube channel, I want to say it was in January of 2024, if I remember correctly. And I think it was around June or July, we were on the phone one day chatting about all the AI nerdiness, and we started talking about her YouTube channel, and I think at that point she had something like 80,000 followers.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And I was like, “Oh, my gosh. Your YouTube channel is cranking. You did that in seven months. That’s great.” And she goes, “Oh, that’s nothing. No, no, no. I need to get it to a million.” And she’s like, “I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it by January.” And I was like, “All right. You know what? If anyone’s going to do it, it’s you, Julia. You go, girl.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: Well, fast forward and it’s now January of 2025. And Julia came down with this very mysterious, debilitating illness, to the point where, like, in bed for months unable to do anything. Now, turn back the hands of time a couple of months, and she had been working on creating a digital clone of herself on YouTube. Just experimenting with this.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay, so now we’re back in January, she’s super sick, but she has this clone and she’s like, “Hmm, what can I make the clone do while I’m sick?” The clone has since run her entire YouTube channel, and it has absolutely exploded, absolutely off the charts explosion. And she doesn’t get in front of a camera, ever. She does behind the scenes stuff, but there’s literally a digital clone of her. Does that make sense?

Renita Manley: It does make sense. That’s so cool. Sometimes I watch YouTube videos and I wonder, like, how does this person never sick? Like, they are always pumping out videos. I just wonder if they’re using AI clones.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, she has videos that are getting 113,000 views and it’s not her. It’s not her. She’s at home resting and healing her body.

Renita Manley: Definitely that’s so cool.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. So, it’s pretty amazing what’s possible. If you want to do stuff like that, bring in a professional. Don’t try and figure that out on your own.

Renita Manley: So, who do you think your Sizzle Or Fizzle book or what type of WBE is that perfect for? So, let’s say our WBEs out there listening and they’re like, “Hmm, I want to be an AI industry expert,” what kind of WBE do you imagine your book would be ideal for?

Stephanie Nivinskus: I think it is ideal for somebody who is really in a place of needing and wanting to establish themselves as a leader in their space. Maybe they’ve got, you know, a decent amount of experience doing what they do, but they’re kind of still a secret. You know, they have some clients, but they’re capable of so much more, they want to have a voice that’s bigger, they want to be known as a thought leader in their space, this book is perfect for that person. And that person has to have time to actually do the 30 day exercises. That is the ideal person.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And, you know, I mean, some of this stuff while I break it down and I make it step-by-step, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be done in 30 minutes. You’re learning a whole new technology. You’re learning an entirely new way of positioning yourself. So, you know, it’s a time investment, and if you have the time or you can make the time, and you want to be positioned as a leader, a thought leader, you want to become a bigger influencer, then, yeah, my book’s a perfect fit for you.

Lee Kantor: Is there any actionable advice you can share for the person other than get your book and follow the 30 day plan? But some things, the low hanging fruit they can be doing, you know, when they’re frustrated of being that best kept secret, what are some of the things that can elevate them a little bit, at least the baby steps? And maybe it’s kind of sharing some of the big kind of chunks that, that 30 day kind of game plan will allow you to do.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Well, I think the first thing that somebody needs to do when they’re kind of on this mission is you need to figure out what your place is. Like, what is the unique value that you bring to the market, and how are you going to strategically position yourself, right? This isn’t an AI question. This is a you question. This is a, well, what do I want to be a thought leader for? What do I want to be known for? Where do I want to plant my flag, so to speak? That’s step one, and that’s something that you do without AI. You’ve got to figure out not just where you want to plant your flag, but also why people should trust you.

Stephanie Nivinskus: For most of us, you can throw a nickel and hit ten competitors, right? So, you’ve got to figure out where are you going to plant that flag and what makes you trustworthy. And that could be anything from, you know, your education, it could be your experience working with certain clients, it could be awards that you’ve won. There’s a million different differentiators, but you got to get clear on that stuff and you’ve got to be able to articulate that, and then you jump to the next steps.

Lee Kantor: And that’s where they should start before even attempting to kind of plug AI into whatever system.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Clarify your unique value proposition. Figure out why they should trust you. Oh, and one other thing, identify the unique problems that you solve for people. So, everyone’s got problems, what problems do you fix or solve really, really well? And what do you really like to solve?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like, I love to solve the AI overwhelm problem. When people are overwhelmed, they’re like, “Ah, I’m pulling my hair out. I don’t know what to do” or “I’m just getting this mediocre regurgitated fluff from AI, and I want good stuff that sets me apart.” I love working with someone like that. Who do you love to work with? What fires you up and makes you feel like, yeah, today was a good day at work?

Renita Manley: I like that approach. So, what are two or three questions that a small business owner can maybe just go to ChatGPT, since we’re all so familiar with that, what are two good prompts that we can write down and save for later? Or, you know, ask ChatGPT to help us get started with integrating AI into our business.

Renita Manley: So, let’s just say, “Hmm. Steph is right. Let me see what I can do. I’m going to ChatGPT and I say, hey, ChatGPT, how can you help my business grow?” I know I wouldn’t start with that question because, you know, it’s just way too bland, but what are two very good questions that an unfamiliar WBE to AI can use to start off her prompt experience with AI.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Okay. Well, here’s something that I’m going to tell you about prompting that a lot of people don’t know. Most people will do prompts that are one to three sentences long. Unless every word of those one to three sentences is like sharper than a sword, you’re going to get very mediocre results from those kinds of prompts. They might sound better than something you could write yourself if you’re not a writer, but it’s going to be mediocre because you’re not giving the AI enough, in this case, ChatGPT, you’re not giving ChatGPT enough to work with for it to really give you the good stuff.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, a proper prompt is going to be longer. That doesn’t mean it has to be, you know, like I talked about in the last episode, my 46 page prompt, that’s not what I’m talking about either. But you need to think of it the same way you would if you were training a human being to do something for you.

Stephanie Nivinskus: You wouldn’t hire an assistant and say whatever – you wouldn’t hire an assistant and say something like write an email to this client. They would be like, “Well, who’s the client? What’s the email about? What’s the tone? I mean, are we happy and friendly? Are we congratulating them on something? Are we angry with them? Are we demanding payment on something?” You would tell them, otherwise that person would just sit at the computer and be like, “I’m supposed to write an email to this person, but I have no idea what to say.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: ChatGPT is the same way. It doesn’t know what to do unless you tell it what you want. And the more detail you can give it, the more it will dial in exactly what you’re looking for. So, yes, you’ll give it the command to write this email, but give it all the background information. Give it all the tone information. If you have a desired length for the email, tell it that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: If you want it formatted in a certain way – like a lot of people when we were growing up, most of us learned you have to have five sentences in a paragraph. I don’t know if you guys remember hearing that as as a kid, but that’s what makes a paragraph, five sentences. And you never, ever, ever have one sentence has its own paragraph.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Well, the digital world has completely changed that and turned that on its head. And now, one sentence paragraphs are the easiest way for people to digest information. So, if you want your emails written like that, you got to tell ChatGPT that’s what you want. So, I don’t have a specific prompt to give you to start with. I have more the concepts of the things that you need to share with it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And like I said in the first training that we did here or the first podcast, sharing examples of what you want it to do for you will do so much more than anything else. So, if you have an example of another email that you’ve written, or maybe another five emails that you’ve written that have gotten the desired result that you want from this email, feed it to ChatGPT. Let it see it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: You can upload a PDF, you can upload different kinds of documents and you can say, “Analyze these emails and tell me what patterns you see.” It will say, “Oh. Well, I see that you have a friendly greeting, and then I see that you bring up a shocking statistic, and then you talk about an action, or you explain why something is happening, and then you talk about a suggested solution, and then you have a call to action in it, and then you sign off the email.” It might say something like that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And then, you say, “Great, let’s make that a framework for how I write emails for this particular reason. And so, now, I need you to write this email using that framework with this kind of tone, to this kind of person, in this length, in this style, blah, blah, blah.” Making sense?

Lee Kantor: Do you think that it’s possible to ask the AI to write the prompt for you, like you mentioned, like in a general way, I would like to write an email about this, can you write the prompt that will help me prompt you better, so that you will write the prompt that’s going to get the outcome I desire?

Stephanie Nivinskus: You can, but you have to be very clear, again, with the outcome that you desire to get the right prompt, because it’s going to give you mediocre at first.

Lee Kantor: Right, but then you can edit, once they gave you a prompt, now you’re not working off of a blank sheet of paper. Now you have a framework that the AI kind of understands. So then, now, you can take that framework and then change the words to get the outcome you desire.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, you can do that. It’s just that’s kind of like a step one thing. If you want something that is better quality and going to be more effective, then that would be your starting point, but not your finishing point. You can always ask ChatGPT, “I want to do this, what do you need to know in order to help me get this task done?” That can be a great place to start with all of this if looking at the blank page is overwhelming. That gets you started.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But you’ll notice the more you start using tools like this that it’ll give you an answer to something. And then if you push it, it might change its mind. It might take you in an entirely different direction. And what a lot of people do is they take that first answer and they’re like, “Okay. Not bad. I’ll take that and then I can dot I’s and cross T’s on it and make it my own.” But it’s like you’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible.

Stephanie Nivinskus: You can go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and you can say, “What is it about this email that’s not going to be effective? Tear it apart. Tear it apart like you are my biggest competitor that’s trying to outsell me.” And ChatGPT will take the email it just wrote for you and destroy it and tell you all the reasons it won’t work. “Oh, okay, ChatGPT, well, let’s go a step farther then. Tell me this.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, don’t say tell me what you need. Give it exactly what it says and then take that output and run with it, unless you think it’s absolutely spot on. Because by default you’re going to get mediocre from it. It was trained to be mediocre.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I don’t know if you guys know this, ChatGPT and many of these – they call them – LLMs, these were trained to be mediocre. They were trained to not offend people. They were trained to kind of just be please all generic kind of outputs. And so, if you don’t want generic, if you don’t want to sound like somebody that’s regurgitating the same information everybody else is saying, you’ve got to learn to prompt differently. And that’s a whole workshop in and of itself.

Renita Manley: So, LMS, that is Language Model System for anybody listening, is that correct?

Stephanie Nivinskus: LLM, Language Learning Model.

Renita Manley: LLM, Language Learning Model. Okay, got it. So, if you’re using ChatGPT, you can go in there and say, “I need you to sound edgy and rough. You can offend me if you need to.” And then go on with the prompt since it’s been trained to be, you know, mediocre?

Stephanie Nivinskus: You can say it —

Renita Manley: Or not be mediocre?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, you can, definitely. I train versions of ChatGPT for people that are so spot on. You would be shocked, that if you met this person and you talked to them in person, you would be shocked that they did not personally author every single word of what has been written, whether it’s a book or an email. But that that doesn’t happen with a few sentences.

Stephanie Nivinskus: When I’m doing stuff like that, I’m usually spending at least three hours developing my prompts for what it’s going to do. And that’s me as someone who’s been writing copy for 30 years. If you didn’t have 30 years of experience as a copywriter, this would take you weeks, months. I don’t even know if you’d be able to do it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, yeah, it’s an interesting thing that we’re talking about, but, yes, you can say things like write something edgy and whatnot, but again this is subjective. What does that actually mean? You know, what’s edgy to you might be mild to me. And I’m like, “Oh, Renita wants to be edgy,” and then I read it and I’m like, “This is so soft,” because you left it to ChatGPT to figure out what the heck that means. That’s where giving it examples is going to be a huge difference.

Renita Manley: Understood. So, before we head out of here today, well, in our previous episode, you mentioned that in addition to ChatGPT, you use this other app. It starts with the letter P. I can’t quite remember what you said.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Perplexity.

Renita Manley: Perplexity. Okay. So, besides ChatGPT, I’m going to ask you to share with us two or three AI tools that we all should absolutely be using and why.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, okay. I will give you the ones that I think most WBEs could really benefit from quickly. And the reason that I’m going to share these is because they’re pretty easy to use, even if you don’t consider yourself techie at all, and you’re not going to have a big old learning curve, and they’re going to help you do things that most of us have to do.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, obviously ChatGPT, you need to have that. For anybody that is writing a lot of stuff, Claude is much better at writing what we call long form content than ChatGPT is. So, for example, a blog, an ebook, an actual book, Claude is going to do that a lot better than ChatGPT. So, ChatGPT is great for your shorter writing tasks. Claude is better for your longer writing tasks.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Another one, and this isn’t going to take any training – these two don’t take any training on your end at all – Fathom. I love Fathom. Fathom is an AI that you can use to record and summarize your meetings that you’re in online, when you’re on a Zoom meeting or Teams or Google Meet, whatever it is. The thing I love about it is that it’s not just recording the meeting, it’s recording the video, it’s recording the audio, it’s summarizing all of it. Once it’s done, then you can send that summary to the other people that were on the call or you can just grab a clip.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, let’s say you were on an hour long call, and there was one part of that conversation that applied to somebody in your organization who wasn’t able to be on the call. You could just pull that one clip from that hour long conversation out and share it with that team member.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Something that’s saved my backside more than once is when I’ve been on these long, long, long, long calls and I’m like, “Gosh, I know we talked about something -” you know, it might be a week later, I’m like, “Gosh. I remember we talked about that one thing, but what was it that they said? Ahhh.” You know, I’ll bang my head against the wall a few times and it won’t come to me, and I can go on the Claude and I can literally enter the words that I do remember, or even one word, and it will search the transcript and find it and give me that clip. And then, I can watch it again and I’m like, “Oh, yeah. That’s it.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: So Fathom, amazing. Also, it gives you like – I sound like I market for it. Maybe they should hire me. I promise I’m not involved with these financially at all, but maybe I should be. Fathom also will give you action lists. So, you know, you’re talking with someone, you’re like, “Okay. I’m going to do that. You’re going to do this. I’ll do that part. You do that part.” You can go into it after the call and it will say, “Who’s doing what?” I mean, it’s just so helpful.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Another tool that I love is – there’s not a lot of people that talk about it, and I don’t know why because it is awesome, it’s called Tango, like the dance. And you can use this tool to create SOPs effortlessly.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like with my company, we have so many different SOPs. This is how we do this and that and the other thing, da, da, da, da, this needs to be involved. And that’s really important for all of us, because if you’ve got an employee that has a lot of knowledge in their brain, and then God forbid that person gets hit by a bus and nobody else knows the stuff that was in their brain, your business is very vulnerable. And so, you need to get everybody doing brain dumps.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And writing SOPs is painful for a lot of people, so any tasks that are done online, you can actually get Tango and it will watch what you do online. You just go through what you normally do every day. It will watch what you do, and while you do it, it will capture screenshots and summarize step-by-step exactly what you’re doing. It writes the entire SOP with screenshots, pictures, italicize things, bold things. It’s like a dream. I got 100 SOPs from that thing in a matter of less than an hour.

Renita Manley: That’s amazing. I’ve tried to create SOPs with my own screenshots and I never finished, so that sounds amazing.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, exactly. And, you know, there’s a million other tools, but you asked for two or three, so there you go.

Lee Kantor: So, as we wrap here, is there anything you can share, maybe, to kind of differentiate between the overwhelm of a big picture I should learn about AI strategically and kind of in a macro view, and then tactically, there’s so many things within it, are there some do’s and don’ts when you’re kind of working kind of big picture and then small picture?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. I think big picture, you don’t need to become an AI expert at all to stay on top of what you need to know in the changing landscape of business right now. What you need to be is an expert in what you need to perform at the best capacity that you can, to be the most efficient and the most productive.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And you’re probably not going to know that off the top of your head, so that’s when you want to align yourself with someone who does this for a living that can teach you. Not teaching you generalities that apply to everyone, but teaching you what actually applies to you for your business.

Stephanie Nivinskus: On a micro level, I would say just learn one tool at a time, and maybe you make it a ten minute habit every day and say, for ten minutes today, I’m going to learn how to write better prompts, or I’m going to learn how to create better data sets. That’s the information that you feed it when you’re showing it what to do. And maybe you do that for ten minutes every day until you’re like, you know what? I’m writing killer prompts. And the reason I know that is because the outputs I’m getting, it doesn’t sound like what anybody else would say.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Can we talk real quick before we wrap? I have a list of over a thousand words that I have forbid my ChatGPT, Claude, et cetera, from using, because these words have become synonymous with you use AI, don’t you? I think everybody should have a list of forbidden words. They change, but in the beginning of all of this stuff, when it started taking off, the words – what were they? – unlocked, harness, leverage, those were words that everybody was putting in everything that they were writing. Unprecedented, that was a huge one. I will say now the word fluff is what unprecedented was two-and-a-half years ago. Everybody is saying fluff. Just look for it, you guys. Look at emails. Look at text messages. Look at blog posts.

Renita Manley: You know what I dislike?

Stephanie Nivinskus: What?

Renita Manley: You know what I dislike while you’re talking about this since we’re calling things out? I hate when I get an AI generated email from somebody, and I can tell because they just didn’t take out the bolded words and they leave all the hyphens in it, I’m like, “Come on, you could have at least unbolded it and took out the hyphens.”

Stephanie Nivinskus: And all the emojis, right?

Renita Manley: Oh, yes. Yes. AI social media post with numerous emojis, like AI goes emoji crazy. Take out your emojis, WBEs. If you’re using AI for everything, take the emojis out because it looks very AI-e.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Now one thing I will tell you, like you call them hyphens, some people call them em dashes or en dashes, that’s that long dash, right? It’s very trendy right now to rip on the em dash. A lot of people are doing that saying, “Oh, my gosh. I know you use ChatGPT because blah, blah, blah.” And ChatGPT does use those all the time.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But I will tell you also, as someone who has written copy for a living for three decades, the em dash is a beautiful, beautiful punctuation symbol and it carries great weight. And I’m in love with the em dash. Don’t kiss it off and say it’s evil because it’s not. It’s a beautiful friend. Just use it properly. Do I sound like a total word nerd? Yeah, I kind of.

Renita Manley: You sound like a writer. That’s exactly —

Stephanie Nivinskus: Thank you. That’s better than a word nerd.

Renita Manley: Okay. Well, any last parting advice for WBEs who are still feeling the overwhelm? Just one little piece.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Well, stop talking about how you’re feeling overwhelmed. Because the more you say you’re overwhelmed, the more overwhelmed you’re going to feel. And instead say, You know what? Today I’m going to spend ten minutes learning something. And every time you’re tempted to say “I’m overwhelmed by this. I’m not techie. I’m not blah, blah, blah,” say, “Ah, today I spent ten days learning how to do this, and I was able to get something better. Look at me. Yay, me.” Give yourself a high five and then take yourself out for lunch.

Lee Kantor: Well, if somebody wants to learn more, Steph, for your firm and your book, website, what’s the best way to connect?

Stephanie Nivinskus: My website is sizzleforce.com, sizzle like bacon, force like may the force be with you. And you can follow me on TikTok. I’m doing a lot of stuff on TikTok right now. Really, really, really short tutorials. I’m going to move them all over to YouTube and whatever eventually, as soon as I get my act together. But for right now, they’re on TikTok. And my book, Sizzle Or Fizzle, you can find on Amazon.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: And, Renita, before we wrap, can you share about that upcoming conference, the Unconventional Women’s Conference that’s happening at the end of July?

Renita Manley: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. July 23rd, Newport Beach, California. Make sure you guys go. Guys and gals who want to be WBEC-West. Wbec-west.org, go up to our events calendar and make sure you’re registered. And don’t forget to go on Amazon and look for the book Sizzle Or Fizzle. That’s what I’m doing as soon as we’re done recording because I’m in the gray area stuff. I need to be the bridge.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I got you, girl.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Renita Manley, we’ll see y’all next time on Women in Motion.

 

Tagged With: SizzleForce Marketing

BRX Pro Tip: From Interest to Action

June 17, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: From Interest to Action

Stone Payton: And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about helping someone navigate the journey from interest to action.

Lee Kantor: As a marketing person, that’s something I think about all the time. You know, one of the first hard things is to get someone interested. First, they know you exist, then they’re interested in what you do, and then how do you get them to take action and actually buy something.

Lee Kantor: So, getting someone interested is just the first step, and that’s a hard thing, and I don’t want to dismiss that as an easy thing. But to do that is difficult. Then once you’ve done that, the next hard thing is then you have to get them to start using whatever you’re offering.

Lee Kantor: So how do you bridge that gap? First, make the first next step easy and obvious. Have clear calls to action, have simple onboarding, and make sure there are some quick wins that help turn that curiosity into commitment. And if you can remove as much friction as possible wherever you can, whether it’s by offering a demo, a free trial, a guided walkthrough, just make it organic, obvious, and just a logical next step, and you’re going to have a better chance of succeeding.

Lee Kantor: Secondly, show real value as quickly as possible. You can talk about benefits, but they have to be able to experience those benefits as soon as possible, not just some long term promise that’s going to happen at the end. There has to be some quick wins at the beginning. And then, if you can share some success stories and testimonials from other people that are doing a similar thing and getting an outcome that this person desires, this is going to help them build confidence in pulling the trigger and taking that action you desire.

Lee Kantor: And then, ultimately, you have to stay engaged. You have to follow up. You have to keep asking questions. You have to keep holding them accountable to doing the work that they need to do in order to get the result that you promised. So, you have to have some sort of support mechanism in there as well. But, really, sometimes just a little encouragement is all it takes to turn interest into action.

Lee Kantor: Remember, you can’t just attract attention. You have to guide people toward real results if you are going to get the results that you desire.

Adapt or Be Automated: What AI Means for Your Business Part 1

June 16, 2025 by angishields

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor, Renita Manley, and AI marketing expert Stephanie Nivinskus launch a three-part series on artificial intelligence in business. They discuss the urgency of adopting AI, address common misconceptions and fears, and offer practical steps for getting started. Stephanie emphasizes the importance of human oversight, choosing the right AI tools, and using AI strategically. The episode encourages listeners—especially women—to embrace AI as a valuable tool for growth and competitiveness, setting the stage for deeper dives into AI integration and authenticity in future episodes.

SizzleForce Marketing is a very carefully curated team of certified fractional CMO’s, AI marketing strategy & execution specialists, digital marketing strategists, content marketers, copywriters, website designers and developers, branding experts, and social media marketers. Every day we strategize and execute marketing solutions for mission-driven, scaling companies. We service a broad range of clients, but we have an extra special place in our heart for pet brands. It might have something to do with the fact that we have not one, but two dogs on staff.

Stephanie-NivinskusEveryone’s got a story to tell, and Stephanie Nivinskus, CEO of SizzleForce, knows how to tell them. Since 1995, she’s helped thousands of business owners, big and small, transform their mission and vision into strategic marketing plans, compelling brand stories and meaningful marketing messages that humanize commerce, maximize opportunities and win customers.

The international #1 bestselling author of Absolutely Unforgettable: The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Creating A Heart-Centered Brand That Stands Out In A Noisy World, Stephanie is well-respected in the marketing industry.

She has written for Forbes and Entrepreneur and shared the stage with some of the world’s most renowned marketing and business growth experts, including Les Brown, Jasmine Star, and Suzy Batiz at Digital Marketer events as well as at countless business-building conferences including Level Up Live, The Copywriter Club IRL, and more.

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

  • Introduction to the significance of AI in the business landscape.
  • Structure of a three-part series on AI, focusing on its urgency and practical applications.
  • Overview of AI’s relevance and historical development in various sectors.
  • Discussion of common misconceptions and fears surrounding AI adoption.
  • Practical steps for individuals to start using AI effectively in personal and professional contexts.
  • Importance of communication etiquette when interacting with AI tools.
  • Implications of not adopting AI for businesses and the risk of becoming obsolete.
  • Gender disparities in AI adoption and encouragement for women to embrace AI as a tool.
  • Identifying market signals indicating the need for AI adoption.
  • Leveraging AI for strategic thinking and decision-making in business.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis 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. I’m so excited to be doing this series that we’re about to launch, it’s a three-part series on AI, and this episode is Adapt Now or Risk Being Automated. I’m joined with my co-host, Renita Manley. Welcome, Renita. How are you doing?

Renita Manley: Hi. Hi. Hey, Lee. How are you doing?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I am so excited that we’re talking about this topic, it’s so important and so relevant today. And I’m excited that we’ve got an expert, a true expert in this matter. We have Stephanie Nivinskus, and she has been in marketing for many years, and she’s an author, she’s a speaker, and she’s done so much work in this area. But before we get started, Renita, why don’t you kind of explain what this series is about?

Renita Manley: Yeah. Okay. Great. So, you know, today is kicking off our three-part AI series. Part one is going to be focusing on awareness and urgency and what AI means for your business right now. And in part two, Stephanie is going to be talking to us about building your business using AI with purpose, how to choose the right tools for your company, and how not to overwhelm yourself, because this technology is moving at a rapid pace and it can get very overwhelming. And in part three, we’re going to tackle staying authentic while using AI tools for your content and brand. All right.

Lee Kantor: All right. So, Stephanie, why don’t we get into it? Do you mind for folks who aren’t familiar, just kind of giving your macro view of AI in general and where you see it fitting into kind of a person’s marketing or even just their business nowadays.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Honestly, I see AI fitting into every aspect of business starting now, starting two-and-a-half years ago actually. But for those that haven’t jumped on the AI train yet, it is critical. AI is infiltrating every sector of business and personal lives. And so, it’s really, really urgent right now for everybody to start learning about this, to start embracing it, start using it, and start seeing what’s possible.

Lee Kantor: And can you kind of define some terms, like what is AI? Is AI like my Alexa at my house? Is AI ChatGPT? Kind of can you define some of the terminology and what the tools are?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, absolutely. So, AI stands for artificial intelligence, and technically it has been in development for almost 100 years, which always kind of freaks people out. They’re like, “What? I didn’t know that.” But to your point, Lee, yes, your Alexa is AI, your Siri is AI, ChatGPT is AI. So, there are a lot of different versions of all of this. It is a technology that is learning about how humans reason, like how humans reason, how humans think.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And what we’re going to be talking about today mostly is conversational AI, which is when you can go back and forth with the AI and literally have a conversation and work through an idea.

Lee Kantor: And then, for folks who aren’t using this, are they just not using it because, oh, that’s too scary or I don’t understand it? Or are they not using it because kind of philosophically they think it’s cheating in some manner.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I think both could be true. I think it depends on the person. I think there is a lot of fear around AI. And I think there’s also a lot of misinformation. There’s a lot of everything really. There’s also a real persistent myth that circulates that you have to be techie to use this, and none of it’s true, right? None of it is true.

Stephanie Nivinskus: There’s another fear, too, that I’m seeing people have, like they’re afraid they’re going to make mistakes. I remember when the internet first started becoming mainstream and people thought, “Oh, my gosh. If I strikethrough this word in a Microsoft Word, I’m going to blow up the entire company.” Do you remember that when people were so scared? It’s the same thing, people are afraid that they’re going to make some huge, costly mistake by using it. But, really. I mean, it’s possible, but it’s pretty hard.

Lee Kantor: Now, when a person is beginning using it, what are kind of some of the baby steps to ease your way into the technology? Do you have to, like, pick one of the AI kind of platforms? Because it’s not just ChatGPT, there’s quite a few platforms out there, Perplexity, Claude, I mean, Google has one, Facebook/Meta has one, X/Twitter has one. There’s a bunch of them floating around, do you kind of have to just pick one and just kind of start playing with it?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, that’s usually how people start. Most people start with ChatGPT just because it’s the most popular one, and, you know, you can get access to it for free, and it’s gotten the most buzz. It’s very user friendly and you can jump in and start using it right away.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And how you start using it, I like to think of it as if you all turn back the hands of time and go back to high school, and when you were in high school, your English teacher would say, “All right. Everybody’s going to write an essay about what they did over the summer.” And the prompt is, what did you do last summer? AI is the same sort of thing, you’re giving it the prompt though, instead of the English teacher. Does that make sense, Lee?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, I understand, but for some people it’s challenging because the blank sheet of paper is scary, because that means I can ask it anything, but because I can ask it anything, I don’t know where to begin, and so I don’t ask it anything.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Right, right, right.

Renita Manley: I think we’re going to actually get into more of that in our episode two, aren’t we, where we’re going to be talking about how to use it? More specifically, you got a lot of gems to give us. Is that true, Stephanie?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. We are going to be talking about that. But, you know, to help the people right now who just want to get started, I think one of the best things that you can do is start using it for a personal task before you use it for something professional.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like literally, you can say to it these are the ingredients I have in my refrigerator, tell me what I can make for dinner tonight. That’s it and just see what it can do. That’s when you’re going to start to see that this tool actually works for you, not the other way around. And once you start doing some of these simple, simple tasks, then you’re going to feel more confident to start using it in a business capacity.

Renita Manley: So, what you’re suggesting to our WBEs and anyone else out there listening, if they’re feeling a bit overwhelmed just even introducing themselves to AI, just try using an AI tool, as you suggested ChatGPT, and just play around with it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah.

Renita Manley: Just play.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, just ask it questions. Pretend you’re going to coffee with your best friend and you have a question about something. You know, maybe it’s a question about what are people saying about the new movie, Mission Impossible. Throw that into ChatGPT, see what it says.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Or maybe let’s say you’re going to a dinner party and you don’t know what to wear, you don’t know what’s appropriate to wear, and you’re going to meet some big who’s who. You could go into ChatGPT and say I’m going to a dinner party, I’m going to meet somebody that’s very influential in my field, this is where the party is going to be held, what should I wear? What’s appropriate?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Don’t overthink it is my message. Don’t overthink it. Don’t overcomplicate it. Just ask it questions.

Lee Kantor: Is there an etiquette when you’re communicating with it? Like some people I noticed use like please and thank you. Some people just ask the prompt kind of directly. Is there some do’s and don’ts around that?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. So, it’s funny, this is a hot topic. Actually, there was a report that just came out probably about six weeks ago that talked about how all of the pleases and the thank yous are actually costing OpenAI, which is the company that owns ChatGPT, like millions, maybe even billions of dollars. So, they’re saying like, Don’t say that. But then, there’s all this fear people have that the AI overlords are going to take over the world, so they’re like I better be nice to them in case they do.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I don’t subscribe to any of that. I believe that this is a robot, and this is a robot that works for me, and so I don’t say please and thank you to it. I speak to it like I’m giving it commands because it is a tool that I am commanding, not a person.

Renita Manley: Oh, God. I’m one of those people that says thank you.

Stephanie Nivinskus: It’s lovely. It’s a lovely thing to do. It’s just funny. It’s very interesting, there’s like reports about how much more energy it’s taking, and therefore wasting, and that’s a whole other rabbit hole.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re using AI in your business, there was something that somebody told me a while ago at the beginning of some of these automations, that if you can put your work in a checklist form, that’s probably something that can be automated. Is that kind of a similar type of thinking when it comes to AI? If you can write kind of a list of things and tasks to do then there’s a good opportunity there to maybe have the AI help you with that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, sure. But that’s not exclusively what it can do. But absolutely, if you have a checklist that is indicative of something that AI can help you with and oftentimes automate for you, making it so that you’re not having to do these redundant time sucking tasks that are just slowing you down and costing you money, because time is money, right?

Renita Manley: Yeah, it’s a lot of money and time is moving fast. So, I know we’re keeping everything light right now, but I do want to ask you one heavier question, I know you’re ready for this. But let’s say a small business owner refuses to adopt AI, are they risking sabotaging their chances of staying relevant? Like, if we don’t get with the program, are we going to fall behind as small business owners?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Absolutely. And honestly, it’s not just like you might fall behind kind of way. It’s more like you’re going to disappear from the conversation kind of way. AI, at this point, it’s not just a nice to have. It is a visibility tool. It is a decision making tool. It is a productivity tool. If you’re not using it, you need to be aware that your competitors are. And because they’re using it, they’re reaching your buyers faster. They’re showing up in more places. They’re pitching smarter. Their positioning is data backed. So, yeah, if you are refusing to adopt AI, it’s kind of like riding a tricycle in a formula one race.

Renita Manley: Okay. So, I’m thinking like a WBE right now, and, Steph, I heard you say I risk disappearing. So, with my WBE cap on, the first thought that I had was, how the heck am I going to disappear if I don’t use AI? So, can you explain what exactly you mean my business would disappear if I don’t start integrating AI? That scares me. I’m a WBE, it’s worrying me.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And I’m not trying to instill fear in anybody. I’m trying to instill awareness, all right? The reason the business would disappear – I said it would disappear from the conversation, to be clear, okay?

Renita Manley: Yes, you did. You did.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, your business isn’t technically going to disappear. However, if all of your competitors are using it and they’re faster and they’ve got more data and they’re doing more things than you are, then you’re just going to kind of slide back behind the curtain. You’re not going to be as seen. You’re not going to be as informed. You’re not going to be as fast. And that’s going to get in the way of you staying on top of things and staying a leader in your industry.

Renita Manley: Got it. So, if I heard you correctly, what you’re saying to all of our WBEs listening is, if you don’t start integrating AI, you’re going to be missing out on all the benefits of it, such as the data information that you can get. And other businesses are going to be using their data from AI to move their company forward while you’re still checking emails.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah.

Renita Manley: Okay.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Just for anybody that was around when the internet first became a thing, I always point people back to that. I know I touched on this a little bit earlier, but it’s so true, you guys. For the Gen Xers in the room that are listening and some of the older millennials, you guys might remember this, there were a lot of people that said I am not going to use that internet thing. I’m not going to do it. I don’t need it. I’m fine the way I’ve been doing business all of these years. And think about it, where are they now?

Stephanie Nivinskus: If there’s anybody on this planet that is still refusing to use the internet, how relevant are they? How much are they part of the conversation? They’re not. The same thing happened with, you know, social media, there is a segment of the population that’s I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to use it. I won’t do it, I won’t do it, I won’t do it. And the conversation continued, it just continued without them. I don’t think anybody in business wants the conversation to continue without them.

Renita Manley: So, I actually read a lot of articles, Steph, that kind of go into what you’re talking about. A lot of women – and this is not just me saying this. These are articles that I researched before coming on this podcast. I read these articles and women are more so not implementing AI. We’re implementing it. We’re integrating it at a slower pace than our counterparts. So, why do you think that’s happening specifically with women?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. I think women are more susceptible to being afraid of change than men are. And I know some people might be like, “What are you talking about? I’m not afraid of change.”

Renita Manley: We didn’t say this. It was the research.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I think that you are. I think that we are. I think we’re wired differently. We are. We’re wired differently. And that’s okay. That’s okay. But we have to decide, because we’re wired differently, how are we going to move forward.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And like I was telling Lee a little bit ago, you know, there’s so much fear around something new, something unknown. How is this going to work? Is this going to replace me? This is so overwhelming. You know, we have all of this negative mindset stuff, just like going around in circles in our brain, and we need to just stop. And we need to remember this is a tool. This is a tool that’s here to help me and I can start small. And no, I’m not going to blow up the world by asking AI the wrong question or giving it the wrong command.

Lee Kantor: Now, what are some kind of symptoms that I might be in a space in my industry or my work that others are using AI and kind of they’re out competing me? Or is there some kind of symptoms or signals maybe from the marketplace that are kind of telling you, but you may not be noticing it, that AI is around you and you’re slowly disappearing, like you mentioned earlier?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Well, I think, you know, sometimes when you get on a call for an RFP, you get on these group calls where they’re answering questions, I think those Q&A sessions are going to continue to look real different than they used to, because a lot of people are going to do their research with AI ahead of time so their questions are going to change.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And so, if you’re asking the same old, same old, and you hear other people asking questions and you’re like, “Wow. I didn’t even think about that. Oh, my gosh, that never occurred to me. Huh,” that’s an indicator that they’re using AI to help them come up with really insightful questions that will help them move forward. And that’s a red flag to you, like hurry up, get with it, get on the train.

Lee Kantor: And you mentioned that AI is extremely powerful. And it isn’t just for kind of some of the low hanging fruit, like you mentioned, regarding tasks or some basic automations. But you think that there’s also a place for it when it comes into, like, strategy and more of the kind of big picture thinking and maybe longer term thinking, like that’s an opportunity if you start leveraging in there.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s what I do. I’m an AI marketing strategist, and so I am constantly using it to help me play out different strategic initiatives. I’m constantly using it. I like to think of AI as my sparring partner. I actually tell it to act as my sparring partner. Because what I want it to do is not just give me answers to things, I want it to help me dig into a strategic initiative and a direction that I may be thinking of going.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And then, I want it to give me this different perspective and tell me all the reasons that might not work, or all of the blind spots I may not be seeing, things like that. And then, that makes my critical thinking process go even deeper and be more effective, because I’m not just thinking from one vantage point, I’m thinking from vantage points that are not like naturally at the top of my mind. Does that make sense?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. One of the things I like to also do is I want it to be the expert in the area. Like I’ll give it parameters in helping it help me. And I want it to be best in class or I want outside the box thinking that, you know, an average player wouldn’t think of. And I want it to push and I don’t just want it to answer.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. And there’s a couple things I’ll say about that, Lee. One mistake that I see a lot of people make is that they will say things like be a smart assistant and give me time saving solutions. A prompt like that or a parameter like that is pretty vague and it’s up for interpretation by the AI. And so, you could get exactly what you want and you could get something that’s totally off from what you’re looking for.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And I’m a huge believer that AI responds much better to being shown what you want than being told what you want. And so, what I mean by that is when you go into ChatGPT or Perplexity or Claude, or whichever one you choose to use, whenever you can upload examples of what you’re talking about, you’re going to dial in the results so much faster.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, for example, if you want it to help you work on an RFP, give it an RFP with any private or sensitive information blacked out. That’s critical. Make sure you do that. Because I’m going on a little tangent here, but just so you know, do not act like anything you do on any AI is going to be private. I don’t care what anybody says to you. You need to be very aware of the fact that, especially right now, there’s a court order out actually right now that is requiring OpenAI to save all conversations, including deleted conversations for a certain amount of time. It might get overturned. Who knows what’s going to happen with that?

Stephanie Nivinskus: But back to the point, once you’ve blacked out any sensitive information, upload that into, let’s say, ChatGPT and say analyze this RFP that I won. Tell me what I may have said in this RFP that made the people that hired me choose me over my competitors. Like, have it analyze things and then say apply this same framework to helping me fill out this next RFP.

Lee Kantor: And so, the more specific you are upfront and give it source material, then you’re going to probably get a better output from it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Absolutely. You know, even if you want it to help you write something, well, don’t just say write something that’s smart. Give it a little sass and make it friendly. Don’t just say that because it’s so subjective. Give it an example of something that you’ve written already that you love that is those things. Or it doesn’t even have to be your own thing. It could be something somebody else wrote, and say, you know, I love the way that this was written. This stood out to me because X, Y, and Z. Try to mirror this tone. Even asking it sometimes, how would you describe the tone of this communication? I want it mirrored in what you do for me.

Lee Kantor: Now, where do you kind of draw the line when it comes to delegating kind of this type of job to your AI? Is it something that you ask it to do something and then you cut and paste the answer, or is it more of you’re still having to kind of put your secret sauce onto whatever comes out of it. Like, do you delegate or do you abdicate when it comes to the outputs from AI?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. The biggest mistake people make is putting something into ChatGPT or whichever AI they’re using, and copying and pasting it without giving it their human intelligence. The biggest mistake they make. Number one, it makes you sound like everybody else. Number two, it can often be filled with inaccurate information. Number three, can misrepresent things. Number four – I mean, I could go on and on and on.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I am a huge believer also that AI without HI, meaning AI, artificial intelligence, without HI, human intelligence is dangerous. You absolutely need to be supervising it, overseeing every output that it is giving you. Now, things are advancing very, very rapidly, and there are now things called AI agents that are much more hands off than the basic things that a lot of people have been doing the last couple of years, you still have to oversee it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: I built an agent probably two months ago, and this thing is insane. It’s amazing what it was able to do for me. However, I still went through every single word it gave me, and I found inaccuracies, and I found things that I had to shift to make sure that it was relevant, full of integrity, and useful for the purpose that I had for it.

Lee Kantor: Can you explain what an AI agent is for people who aren’t familiar with that term? And is it something you purchase or is it something you create? Like what is an AI agent and how can somebody use one?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, there’s a lot of arguments out there about what an AI agent is, and there’s a lot of people that are calling things agents that are not actually agents, so I’ll start with that. But I will tell you that an agent in the truest definition is something that can work autonomously. So, something like ChatGPT is conversational. You write something, it writes something, you write something, it writes something.

Stephanie Nivinskus: An agent, for example, there’s one called Manus that I use. This is what I did a couple months ago on Manus, I wrote a very, very, very long prompt. It was actually 46 pages in Google Docs. I wrote a 46 page prompt of exactly what I wanted it to do, and then I said, go to town, have fun, I’m going to bed, Manus. And I went to bed. I woke up the next morning and I received a product that would usually take me about a month of time to complete, but it did it literally while I slept. It’s crazy. That is a true agent.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like I said, I still went through it and redlined it because you have to. I mean, that’s just responsible use of AI. But the fact that it can do things like that, as opposed to just converse with you about things, write a social media post, write a blog post, respond to an email, blah, blah, blah, that’s the simple kind of starter point. The agents are more like, nope, we can do this from start to finish. Good to go without your involvement.

Renita Manley: So, what you’re saying is, if we have a more profound task for AI, we should be using Manus and not the conversational ChatGPT?

Stephanie Nivinskus: No, no, not necessarily. And again, that’s subjective, too, what makes something profound, right? You know, the reason I went to Manus was because I was testing if this could literally replace me in a certain aspect of my work. And so, I gave it an assignment that, like I said, takes me about a month as a senior level marketer. I’ve been in marketing for 30 years, you guys, I’m not new to this. As a senior level marketer, I laid out this 46 page long prompt explaining exactly what I do, how it needs to be done, da, da, da, and threw it into Manus and said, now do it and let me see how good you are. I wanted to evaluate my threat. And it was good, but it wasn’t good enough without human intervention.

Renita Manley: Yeah. Human intel, yeah, so that HI aspect was missing?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. The human intelligence, it was. It gets redundant too. That’s another thing that happens a lot. When you’re doing some of the more complex work, it will start to say the same thing 15 different times in 15 different ways. But then, if you read through it, you’ll be like, okay, I got it. I got it the first three times you said it. So, you’ve got to go through and you’ve got to edit. I like to think of AI is going to get you 90 percent to the finish line, the other 10 percent is where your human intelligence comes into play.

Lee Kantor: Now, for the folks that are going to do this now, they hear what you’re saying and they feel the sense of urgency. Is it something that you can just rely on the free versions of all these AI, or is it something that you have to really pay whatever, $20 a month or whatever it is for any given one of these tools?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. I think it depends on your usage, like what are you trying to do. I think that if you’re doing simple things like help me write an email response, you can get away with the free version of stuff. When you’re doing more complex tasks, when you are doing tasks – you know, I use probably about five different AIs every single day, multiple times throughout my day, and then I use other ones outside of that.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, for me, I might be considered a power user. And for me, I need to have the paid versions of these tools because I do get better results from them. I get access to different features than someone who’s just using the free version gets. I get access to things faster than a free user would get. Just like anything else, you can use an app on your phone, you can use the free version and you’ll be able to do some stuff. But if you want the really good stuff, you got to pay. AI is the same way.

Renita Manley: Okay. So, this might be a little bit intrusive, but I bet someone was listening and wondering what five AI apps is Steph using every day. So, don’t give us five because I don’t want you to give us all your secret sauce, but maybe share like two or three apps that you’re using every day. That already made me overwhelmed again.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, yeah. Don’t be overwhelmed. Be excited at the opportunity. Oh, my gosh. There’s so much I could do for you.

Renita Manley: I’m trying. I’m trying.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yay, AI. That’s what we’re doing. Okay. I have ChatGPT open all day, every day. I have Perplexity open all day, every day. For those of you guys that aren’t familiar with Perplexity, I am telling you it is your BFF. You will never use Google again once you use Perplexity. It is such a better experience.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Like you know how when you go to Google and you put in a query for something and it’ll serve up some ads, and then it’ll serve up ten different blue links that you can read the little Meta description of and decide whether or not you want to click on it to get more information, that’s the Google experience, aside from the AI overviews that they’ve started integrating up at the top.

Stephanie Nivinskus: When you go to Perplexity, it doesn’t give you a bunch of links that you need to research. It gives you the answers that you want, and then it gives you the citations that you can click on if you want more information on the topic. It’s so much more effective. It’s faster. It’s more thorough. Oh, my gosh. If Perplexity could be my boyfriend, it would be.

Renita Manley: It would be the perfect one, huh?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah. Right. Right. This coming from a very happily married woman for 25 years.

Renita Manley: Okay. Same. Hey, hubby.

Lee Kantor: So, let’s talk a little bit about your book. Can you share what kind of prompted you to write the book, Sizzle Or Fizzle? What was kind of the impetus for writing it? And what are you hoping the reader gets out of it?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yeah, the reason I wrote it is really because there is such a sense of overwhelm out there, and people don’t know how to use this stuff correctly, right? They’re getting a lot of mixed messages. And so, I wanted to write it as someone who is not just an AI expert, but a marketing expert, because those two skills combined make you see things from a different vantage point, if that makes sense.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, what I did in the book, it’s much more than just a typical book. It’s not something you’re going to sit down and spend a couple hours reading through and be done. At the end of every chapter, there are exercises for you to complete, there are terms for you to learn, there are step-by-step things that you’re supposed to do. Like it will say for the next 30 days, here’s what you need to do in days one through seven in order to reach this goal. All the goals are things about how to establish yourself as a leading voice in your field, how to build your authority, how to build your personal brand.

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, I have chapters on things like creating communities online, and a chapter on writing content, and a chapter on speaking, and a chapter on all these different things that people do to market their business, but I’m teaching you how to use AI to speed up the process.

Renita Manley: So, your book, Sizzle Or Fizzle, what you’re telling me is it’s all about how you can position yourself to be the go-to expert in your industry?

Stephanie Nivinskus: Absolutely. How to use AI to do that.

Renita Manley: Yeah, yeah, that’s really cool to know, but let me ask you this, why is it important right now for WBEs to be using AI to position themselves as the authorities in their industries, and specifically how can Sizzle Or Fizzle, your book, help our WBEs do that? And again, how can your book, Sizzle Or Fizzle, help us position ourselves as go-to authorities in our industry?

Stephanie Nivinskus: So, the book is going to help you with those 30 day implementation plans that are at the end of every chapter, starting with chapter three. So, that’s what it’s going to do, you’re going to read that chapter and then dive into the 30 day implementation plan. And it’s going to break it down into step-by-step things to do, so it’s going to crush that overwhelm. It’s going to crush that misinformation. It’s going to crush the lack of clarity, because I’m literally telling you day one, do this right, and when you read the chapter, you’ll understand how to do it.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Now, the one thing I did not include in the book that a lot of people are like, “Oh, how come you didn’t include a list of AI tools?” And I’ll tell you exactly why I did not do that. I would have loved to do that, but I’m telling you, my book would have been irrelevant by the time it went to print if I did that because the AI tool landscape is changing literally on an hourly basis.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And so, if I had written like, “Oh, yeah. You need to use Claude for this,” that answer would have been totally different today, right? You need to use, you know, ElevenLabs for that. Well, maybe, maybe not. So, I don’t have a list of recommended AI tools in there for that very reason.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But if anybody has questions about specific tools that I recommend for specific purposes, you know, please reach out. That’s what I do. I’m here to answer that question. I’m actually on TikTok, so those of you guys that are TikTokers should find me. My handle is @sizzlefrce, the name of my company, S-I-Z-Z-L-E-F-O-R-C-E. Sizzle like bacon, force like may the force be with you. I am on TikTok usually two or three times every single day dropping very relevant, very practical AI usage tips. And anybody, whether you’re a beginner or you’re an advanced user, anybody can learn from this.

Lee Kantor: And kind of the bottom line message from today’s episode, though, is don’t wait. There’s no perfect time to start. Today is the perfect time to start.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Yesterday was the perfect time to start. Today is the next best choice.

Renita Manley: Today is the perfect time to go to sizzleforce.com – is that what it is? – and get Stephanie’s book.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Oh, yeah. Actually, you’re going to find my book – I need to put it on my website. It’s not there yet. Just go to Amazon, because then if you’re a Prime user, you can get it shipped for free.

Renita Manley: Oh, that’s fancy.

Stephanie Nivinskus: And so you guys know, it’s available as an audiobook, it’s available as an ebook, it’s available as a softcover book, and it’s available as a hardcover book. So, however you like to read, I’ve made it possible.

Renita Manley: If you want to get started with AI today, then I recommend you all go check out our WBE certified Steph Nivinskus. Go to Amazon, type in Sizzle Or Fizzle and it should pop up, is that what you’re telling us?

Stephanie Nivinskus: That’s exactly what I’m telling you.

Renita Manley: And that’s exactly what any WBE listening to this should do right now.

Stephanie Nivinskus: That’s right.

Lee Kantor: And, Renita, what is the second episode going to cover?

Renita Manley: Well, let me see here. Let me check my notes. I believe we’re going to be talking a little bit more about some current tools. So, I know she doesn’t have those listed in her books, but we’re going to be talking a little bit more about some tools that you can use to help with your overwhelm, and that’s pretty much it. That episode might be old in like three months, according to Stephanie.

Lee Kantor: Right.

Stephanie Nivinskus: But it’s going to be really helpful for people that listen to it right away. It’s going to be real helpful. And we can always do a follow up conversation. This is what’s neat, honestly, you guys, this is one thing, if I could just drop this before we wrap up.

Stephanie Nivinskus: It is so important to stay on top of all of this stuff. When you’re running a business outside of this space, it probably feels impossible. I tell you honestly, this is my business and it still feels impossible. So, that is my strong suggestion to you, find an expert who makes this their life, and look to that expert to summarize things for you quickly and what you really need to know. Because a lot of it you don’t really need to know, right? But there are some things that will absolutely change everything for your business, and make you so much more productive, so much more efficient, and honestly, so much more profitable if you use it right. It’s good stuff, you guys. The opportunity is amazing and I hope you will start using it.

Renita Manley: Today – or yesterday.

Lee Kantor: And, Renita, before we wrap, can you remind the listeners about the upcoming Unconventional Women’s Conference.

Renita Manley: Absolutely. If you are not registered to attend our Unconventional Women’s Conference, it is coming up July 23rd at Newport Beach in California. You just want to go visit our website, wbec-west.org, click on events at the top of the page, look for the month of July and register to come to Unconventional Women’s Conference, July 23rd, Newport Beach, California.

Lee Kantor: And, Steph, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Stephanie Nivinskus: Thank you for having me. It was a joy.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Renita Manley, we will see you all next time on Women in Motion.

Tagged With: SizzleForce Marketing

The Art of Networking: Building Connections in a Tough Job Market

June 16, 2025 by angishields

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Greater Perimeter Business Radio
The Art of Networking: Building Connections in a Tough Job Market
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In this episode of Greater Perimeter Business Radio, Lee Kantor and Rachel Simon interview Nancy Gamble, CEO of Hire Profile. Nancy shares insights on the current job market in the creative and marketing sectors, discusses the impact of AI on recruitment, and offers practical advice for job seekers. The conversation covers the importance of networking, personal branding, and cultural fit, as well as strategies for standing out in a competitive landscape. Nancy also highlights the value of authentic employer branding and provides tips for both candidates and companies navigating today’s evolving hiring environment.

Hire-Profile-logo

Nancy-GambleNancy Gamble brings people together. She uses her connective superpowers for good as the founder and CEO of Hire Profile Inc.

This former California girl got her marketing degree from CSU Long Beach, then worked in advertising in Los Angeles and recruitment in London and Atlanta, where she led the Creating Staffing Team at Aquent. Strong industry vision led Nancy to launch Hire Profile in 2003.

When she’s not matching Atlanta’s top talent with its leading creative and marketing employers, Nancy volunteers on the AIESECLife National Team, cooks, and gardens. She is a roadie for her musician husband. She lives in Alpharetta with her husband and their rescue dachshund mix, Scruffles.

Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn and follow Hire Profile on Facebook.

Episode Highlights

  • Current challenges in the job market, particularly for job seekers in creative and marketing fields.
  • The impact of economic fluctuations and significant events on hiring trends.
  • The importance of networking and building relationships for job seekers.
  • Strategies for job applications, including applying to a diverse range of positions.
  • Navigating the interview process and addressing extensive project requests.
  • The evolving role of AI in recruitment and its implications for the creative industry.
  • Practical tips for leveraging AI tools in the job search process.
  • The significance of cultural fit between candidates and companies in recruitment.
  • The importance of employer branding in attracting top talent.
  • Innovative approaches to showcasing candidates’ skills and experiences beyond traditional profiles.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Greater Perimeter, it’s time for Greater Perimeter Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Greater Perimeter Business Radio. And today’s episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to connectthedots.digital. Welcome back, Rachel. How you been?

Rachel Simon: I’m good. How are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. So excited about this episode. We’ve got a great guest.

Rachel Simon: Me, too, I’m really thrilled to have our guest here today, someone I’ve known professionally for probably a number of years, and I was like, why has she not been on our show yet? So, here she is. So, we are going to chat today with Nancy Gamble, who is the CEO and founder of Hire Profile. And, Nancy, welcome. Great to have you here.

Nancy Gamble: Thank you for having me.

Rachel Simon: So, we always kick off every conversation with tell us a little bit about you and your business.

Nancy Gamble: Sure. Well, I’m an advertising, I guess, escapee from Los Angeles area. Everybody pray for them right now. And I moved to Atlanta to take a job as a recruiter for a global, you know, multinational company, and it was a great training ground and really got to know the Atlanta market. I didn’t know a soul when I got here.

Nancy Gamble: And worked there until I decided, like many entrepreneurs do, I could do it without you. I can do it better. And then, you realize, oh, boy, there’s a lot to learn about running a business versus just being a recruiter. However, I was able to keep it going, and we have grown and we have prospered, we’re in our 22nd year.

Rachel Simon: That’s amazing. Congratulations.

Nancy Gamble: Thank you. You know, there’s been ups and downs, I’m not going to lie. But the best part, and it will never get old, and that is calling someone and telling them they got the job. I will never ever tire of that and it’s what keeps me going.

Rachel Simon: Right. It’s those wins, right, that make your heart soar that you’re really making a difference for people.

Nancy Gamble: Yeah, absolutely.

Rachel Simon: I mean, you’ve been in business since 2003, so you’ve been through some ups and downs of the economy.

Nancy Gamble: The mortgage crisis, right. Before I started my business, we had 9/11, we have had threats of recession. I’ve been through lots of presidents. This quarter has been interesting, I won’t kid you. We’ve all been a little maybe freaked out at the news sometimes, but we have to stay strong, stay positive, and the work still needs to get done. And there are great people that have lost their jobs by no fault of their own, and we really want to help as many of them as we possibly can to find new positions.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. So, tell me Hire Profile focuses on creatives, people in the marketing and creative space.

Nancy Gamble: Marketing, creative, advertising, design, PR, digital web, everything like that, anything a marketing department or a creative or digital agency would employ. We don’t do administrative or nurses or IT, or anything outside. We’re very, very narrowly focused, but we are client agnostic in that we will work on corporate accounts, we’ll work with agencies, small boutique agencies, large worldwide companies, all of that, and in all sorts of different industries.

Rachel Simon: So, because you’re focused in the creative space and the marketing space, let’s talk a little bit about the market right now. Would you consider it to be a tough job market?

Nancy Gamble: I do. I do. And I think it has fluctuated some over this quarter. I think a lot of people were a little paralyzed, you know, post-election. Everything was coming so fast, people didn’t know what to think. I think we kind of have, in some ways, normalized the amount of news that will blow your mind every single day. And we are now, I think, built up a bit of a tolerance and we’re able to just focus on moving forward.

Nancy Gamble: So, I feel like we’re going to come out of it soon. But the last couple of months have been tough with big companies laying off entire departments, moving departments to other countries. I’ve had a lot of companies, some leaving Georgia, which I don’t think is political, but just happens to be. So, I’ve just known so many great people that have lost their job and not through any fault of their own.

Nancy Gamble: And so, it’s a great time if you are looking to upgrade your talent, or to add some positions, or to find like an innovation expert on AI because your company hasn’t really adopted it yet, there are just some amazing not only consultants and job seekers out there that could really up anyone’s game.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. It’s interesting. I saw a post this morning on LinkedIn from somebody who was looking to hire, you know, a marketing executive, and they were in the post – I’m going to try to remember it – it was like along the lines of how hard it’s been to find somebody because someone has great creatives, but they don’t understand the data, or the other person just wants to speak to the spreadsheet. And someone else I know who’s a very skilled marketer was like, there’s so many good people out there looking right now, perhaps you need to refine the way you’re looking for your talent.

Nancy Gamble: Well, and that’s why working with a professional recruiter or an agency that does that is that’s all we do. And most of the hiring that gets done, the person who’s doing a lot of the legwork, oftentimes this is a side job for them. They have their fulltime job. So, this search ends up taking quite a bit of time away from leadership and management to interview and screen, and reject, and do all the things that you have to do. And that’s why I think a lot of people say I get ghosted, because the volume of applicants, actually, a lot of the time, is the upfront narrowing of the field to the truly qualified.

Nancy Gamble: And that’s what we do every day, we have a very robust database that has been refined and added to and perfected for 20 years. And we obviously have, you know, the LinkedIn and all that, but we have advanced search tools within that. But it’s really the network. Kat Rutherford is my right hand, it’s she and I putting our heads together and say, ooh, oh, yes. Remember the guy we talked to last week? He would be perfect for so-and-so. And really putting that human element back into it.

Rachel Simon: And we love Kat. And Kat knows literally everyone in Atlanta.

Nancy Gamble: Yeah. When she came to me a number of years ago and really wanted to try something new, and so I thought I will train you to be a recruiter, but you already have the inherent skills, aptitudes, attitudes, everything about wanting to connect people, and she’s just been a star.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you give some advice for that candidate, the person that you mentioned that has maybe been laid off for no fault of their own, but they want to get back in the game, and they are frustrated by what seems to be a lot of attempts to get work, but then they’re not getting the work they feel like they desire. How do they stand out? How do they get on somebody like your radar in order to be found?

Nancy Gamble: That’s a great question. And there are lots of ways to skin that cat. I find that people who are pleasantly persistent —

Rachel Simon: I like how you put that.

Nancy Gamble: — and who write to me on LinkedIn, they offer their attributes, they offer their resume, obviously get things started. But I look for people who are being thought leaders. Even if they’re out of work, they can still talk about the work that they do, talk about companies who are doing that work well. So, I do look for people who are active on LinkedIn and who are also at trade association events or who volunteer to be panel speakers, to be on a committee.

Nancy Gamble: I mean, I remember being on the ad club – I don’t know, an award committee, and we all sat and stuffed envelopes and things like that. I felt like I call those people for the next 20 years because we had that experience together. So, you will have to do a lot of online applications, but you’ve got to get out of your house. And I really advise people to get away from the screen. Do not do this eight hours a day, five days a week because you will go nutso. Get out. Go see some people.

Nancy Gamble: And then, also back to netweaving – remember that book – that was all about going to an event, let’s say, and looking for ways that you can connect the other people in that room versus just looking for connections that will benefit you. Those kind of attitudes will take you far.

Lee Kantor: Now, when a person is out there, should they be doing those kind of applying online to things, or is it more effective to just target certain companies and just see if you know somebody within there and then start kind of rekindling maybe some weaker tie relationships within there to kind of see if there’s opportunities?

Rachel Simon: Two great paths, and the answer to both is yes. So, an example is my own husband. He’s the husband of a recruiter, so I have a lot that I can share with him, which he may or may not like at the beginning. He was leaving the mortgage industry, which is an obvious thing to do right now. But he wanted to go into something else as a client success.

Nancy Gamble: And he said, I am only going to apply to LinkedIn positions that I see, that I know somebody at that company. I said, that’s great and you need to do that, but I don’t think there will be enough volume. You will have to apply to some jobs that you don’t know anybody, companies you’ve never heard of, all of it. And he ended up getting a job that he loves at a company he’d never heard of in which he knew no one and loves it.

Rachel Simon: Oh, interesting.

Lee Kantor: And what was his path to that?

Nancy Gamble: Linkedin.

Lee Kantor: So, if he didn’t know anything, how did he know to choose that company?

Nancy Gamble: It was a role that he is familiar with, but he didn’t know the company. So, he’s a client success manager and he ended up getting a great job with Hannon Hill, and we’re just thrilled about it. So, it can happen to anyone.

Lee Kantor: So, it’s and not or?

Nancy Gamble: Yeah. So, like for an average job seeker, how many applications might they need to be completing? It really depends because I don’t think there is any average, because there’s entry level, there’s mid-management, there’s C-level people that are all looking, so I don’t have an exact number for you. But I have a dear friend who’s out of work and I won’t name her, but she will text me, I applied to 300 jobs this week.

Rachel Simon: Oh, goodness.

Nancy Gamble: I don’t think that is a number that other people need to replicate. I think it would be much less.

Rachel Simon: Okay. Yeah. But that’s tough. That’s an intense number of applications.

Nancy Gamble: Yeah, and then she’s like, I have to get out and get away from the screen or, you know.

Rachel Simon: Okay. I have a question, because this is something I see a lot in some of the marketing groups that I’m in. What is your opinion, in the marketing space, often people are asked to do pretty comprehensive projects as a part of the interview process.

Nancy Gamble: That’s a great question, and it’s something that recruiting firms have, I can’t say wrestled with, because we’re pretty against it if it starts to smell like a paid project.

Rachel Simon: That’s exactly what I was wondering.

Nancy Gamble: If it is something for their true future, if it is something that is intensive as far as workload, then I would push against that. Now, we have had people do a prospective 30, 60, 90 day plan. We have had people have to write a press release. We were working years ago with Cartoon Network, and I thought what they did was one of the smartest – this is a long ago – was they pulled a job jacket and they gave three or four art directors an old project that had already been completed, aired, everything, but they didn’t know about it, so they got the original brief.

Nancy Gamble: And so, this was a true project that – excuse me, it was a true test, not a paid project. This is something they weren’t going to use in the future. And then, it was a really good test of who would get the job and understand their work.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I’ve just seen so many job seekers, again in various groups, who feel very uncomfortable being asked, and often with like 48 hour turnaround time, to complete a strategic plan to do X, Y, and Z. And they’re like, are you going to use this if I don’t get the job?

Nancy Gamble: Yeah. Well, that’s very, very true. And I always say, pay attention to the tension. If that is bothering you and you don’t feel like you’re being treated fairly and justly, then that’s a sign you probably need to walk away.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. Very interesting.

Nancy Gamble: And I’ll make one other comment about that. I think these elaborate tests are an indication that a company really doesn’t know how to hire. They don’t know how to see the skills and to truly assess a human being for their skillsets and their probability of success. So, they put them through all these hoops so they can see it in writing. I think if they were better interviewers, they wouldn’t need to go to those great lengths to find the right person.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. Interesting.

Lee Kantor: Now, how would you advise the candidates when it comes to AI? And I know AI for creatives is kind of a double-edged sword. I mean, it’s something here that seems like a wave that is not going away, so you better accept it in some form.

Rachel Simon: Definitely.

Lee Kantor: But there’s a lot of creatives that are kind of anti-AI in the sense that it’s cheating in some manner. They have some apprehension about using it or even saying they’re using it. So, how would you, if you were a creative, kind of leverage AI, or at least feel better about using it in order to upskill yourself? Because these jobs, it’s a must have at some point, if not now already.

Nancy Gamble: Right. The saying is that AI won’t replace your job, but somebody knows how to use AI well. So, I think they’re going to have to embrace it to some degree. Now, do you just throw a bunch of prompts in there and take whatever they give you? No. But if you can use it as an idea generator that then helps you have a launching pad to go create your own work, I think that it can be a useful tool.

Nancy Gamble: There was a great post, I think it was a Nike ad that they gave the creative brief to AI to see what they would come up with. And it was so far below what the agency had come up with. It was for the WNBA. And I just was like, wow, you can’t take the human element out. We’re not there yet. Hopefully whenever, we’ll be there, where the human doesn’t —

Rachel Simon: A friend of mine likes to say AI didn’t have a childhood, right?

Nancy Gamble: That’s great. I love that.

Rachel Simon: No, I mean, on the AI topic, which we talk about almost every single show because it’s just such a prominent topic for all professions, do you think that the market for people in the marketing and creative space is where it is right now because companies think that they can just throw some prompts into AI and they don’t need a copywriter anymore, like Gemini can write our stuff for us. We’ll just say, do this and then make three edits and post it.

Nancy Gamble: Yeah, I think there’s going to be some of that, probably. I do feel for the entry level college grads that are coming in for those entry level copy editor type positions, those might be fewer and further between. But not all companies have embraced AI, obviously.

Nancy Gamble: I was talking to a guy yesterday – not yesterday, two days ago, and he was saying that, you know, just think about the cost. Let’s say you have a thousand people, and all you do is give them ChatGPT at $20 a month. How much is that a month? $20,000 a month just to give one of the more basic AI capabilities to your staff.

Nancy Gamble: So, they’re not all there yet. I think that job seekers, as well as people on the job, need to use it as a tool to save them time and to be a jumping off point for creative work. I think obviously cleaning up your own writing, getting ideas, I mean, you can take it to make whole social media plans and calendars, and those types of tasks, I think, is a great use of it.

Rachel Simon: I agree, it is an amazing thought partner and a pretty darn good editor, too, right?

Nancy Gamble: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve learned a lot about commas and where to put them.

Rachel Simon: I have one client that has a certain word he just hates in content, and so I can say find what that specific word is in this blog and then remove them, because it’s much faster than if I’m reading it myself and I might miss one.

Nancy Gamble: Right. Right. Interesting. AI is not going anywhere. And one of the things, I’ll give one of our cheats out to job seekers, and we use this to help us as well, is, taking a job description and putting it into ChatGPT and asking what the top five questions would a hiring manager ask based on this job description for a job in client success or whatever. Then, you take what it gave you and say, now give me the answers.

Rachel Simon: Oh, that’s very interesting. And then, I suppose you could upload your resume into it to say –

Nancy Gamble: Yes. Take off your contact information, but yes, say, based on my experience, how would I best address these top five questions? So, yes, playing around with that and being ready and prepared for the most likely questions would be a great use of AI.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, I love that idea.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any AI platforms that you recommend? Like you mentioned, ChatGPT, is there any AI platforms that are kind of geared towards marketing and advertising folks or creatives that is, you know, better than another?

Nancy Gamble: I am probably not the person to ask because I’m a little old fashioned that I’m still doing my own writing. So, no, other than ChatGPT, I don’t have a recommendation. I mean, obviously Gemini is on every screen that we open in Google, but that’s very information-based, like collecting information from all sorts of different sources to create an answer to a question.

Lee Kantor: But marketing firms aren’t asking, oh, I need somebody with this kind of experience. Are they even kind of tracking AI? Like do they ask you to say, look, they have to have, you know, so much? Or we’re just still at the beginning in this?

Nancy Gamble: I think we’re still at the beginning. It hasn’t become a job requirement in any of the jobs that we have had, I would say, in the last quarter, six months. Now they might start adding must understand AI, but I haven’t seen it yet.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, and I think it probably depends on, you know, is the company Microsoft-based, because if so, they’re probably going to only use Copilot. If it’s Google-based, they’re probably going to only use Gemini, because they can be internal so that it protects personalized information.

Nancy Gamble: I do know of one that I was talking to somebody at an event last night, and they were talking about Leonardo, that now has a new partnership with Canva, so that is something that, I believe, it creates video and now that’s built into Canva.

Rachel Simon: I love Canva.

Nancy Gamble: But then, there was a whole talk about are you a graphic designer just because you know Canva? Like there used to be so much that led up to you being able to be a commercial designer or content creator, and now it’s like, I can use Canva.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, I would say as somebody who’s used Canva pretty regularly for many, many years, I am 100 percent not a graphic designer, but I sure do love to make things in Canva. But there’s things that I am good at and other things where I’m like, yeah, this is not going to work. So, there’s still a lot of skill with the actual graphic design software.

Nancy Gamble: Like me losing and Canva could be a dangerous thing.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, exactly. So, let’s talk a little bit about, you know, you mentioned LinkedIn and kind of showing up as a thought leader. You know, I have obviously a lot of experience helping professionals who are in their current roles to position themselves. So, what are the things that you would look for a candidate that is going to help them break through the noise? And sort of my experience and sort of opinion is we don’t want to be we writing our profile for our intended audience. So, for job seekers, that intended audience is potentially the next company they could be working for.

Nancy Gamble: Well, that is an interesting, timely question, because I had a conversation with a woman who has a company that actually we’re going to start partnering with them. It’ll be released in our next newsletter. But it is where you can host a website that is just simply your name dotcom. It’s hard to explain you, it’s a page about you, but it talks about what your offerings are, any pricing packages that you have, when should you come in on a project, what problems do you solve. It’s very much catered to what you’re trying to do as a freelancer.

Nancy Gamble: They are going to be working on a job seeker one, but it’s so much better than having to build a website on your own, and also just sending someone to your LinkedIn page, which is much more chronological and doesn’t necessarily speak to what you’re trying to convey. So, we’re going to be helping candidates be able to create those profiles that they can then use in their search.

Rachel Simon: I feel like there used to be a website, because I believe I had a profile on it that was called like me.com, and it did something similar to that. That would have been like at least ten years ago.

Nancy Gamble: Yeah, that’s probably gone and maybe this will replace it.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, you mentioned you work with both kind of enterprise and agency, what does that look like? Are they coming to you because they’re frustrated, or are they coming to you because they just are trying to fill this position they can’t? Like what does that look like the beginning of a relationship?

Nancy Gamble: It has started on several notes. Sometimes they come because they’re failing, and that’s okay, this is not their main job. They’ve found a few candidates. Nothing good seems to be coming through their own posting. They said, we need to up our game. We need to get this filled and we’re not finding them. And that’s a great place to start.

Nancy Gamble: I like to start more at the beginning, before it’s been out there and beaten to death and, you know, but I can still come in and offer fresh ideas and fresh talent.

Nancy Gamble: We have people that have worked with us repeatedly, and they know what it takes to go do all of this legwork themselves. So, they come to us at the beginning and they said, you’re it, you do it. Even if we get an internal applicant, we’re going to send them to you to screen, profile, and then present them back to us with rationale, or obviously say that they weren’t a good fit.

Nancy Gamble: So, we’ve had both. I always talk to Kat about our ideal client, and a lot of times it’s a non-sexy mid-market company that they don’t have an entire recruiting team. They don’t have procurement. They don’t have chief people officer. They’re like, we need people, but we don’t have a department to take this on. And we’re not getting resumes under the door every day because we’re not Spanx or whoever. Those people are the people we can help them right away.

Rachel Simon: I mean, it’s the same for that size company who may not have an internal marketing team, right, and they’re going to bring an agency in to do their their marketing team.

Nancy Gamble: Absolutely, and we eventually helped companies be matched with agencies, too. That’s great fun, so much fun. And so, a lot of times it’s, okay, we’re getting rid of our agency, and now we’re going to bring it all in-house, and we got to build a team. So, we’ve had probably every scenario come. I like it when it’s near the beginning, but I also like it when somebody says I’m not touching this anymore, just do your thing, and that’s great.

Lee Kantor: So, what are some of the questions you’re asking them to really hone in on who they really want or what need they’re trying to fulfill? Because I’m sure a lot of times they’re coming to you with what they think they need, but because of your expertise, you’re like, well, maybe that’s a starting point, but what you really need is this instead. Like, you got to kind of work through it, right, because they don’t know what they don’t know and you see this every day.

Nancy Gamble: That’s such a great comment, because one of our kind of adages within recruiting is, if you want to make some money in recruiting, don’t give the client what they want, because they will come to you.

Nancy Gamble: And I had an organization come to me saying that they had too many men in leadership. They really needed a woman for this creative director role, and they really wanted somebody that came, but not from a design background. They wanted like a copy background. They wanted somebody in the local market who already had a lot of connections. I didn’t fill the role.

Nancy Gamble: And the guy moved in two doors down from me. I said, “Oh, nice to meet you, new neighbor.” He’s like, “Yeah, I just took this job as creative director here.” And he was a male from out of town with a graphic design background. I was like, oh, my gosh. I was trying to give them what they wanted and it wasn’t it.

Nancy Gamble: So, we really try to get what’s not written on the resume – or excuse me, the job description, what’s between the lines. And we really talked to them about who succeeded in the past, why didn’t the last person succeed, and also give me the good, the bad, the ugly. And sometimes it’s emphasis on the ugly. Is there a manager that’s driven off people? Is there a lack of resources? Is there something about this job that’s going to come up later?

Nancy Gamble: And we have a whole intake form that gives us the ability to walk through everything from department structure, to management styles, to, like I was saying, success, what attitudes, what skills, what professional demeanor is going to succeed here, and it’s different for every company.

Nancy Gamble: We really want to get into their culture as well. And a lot of people say we have a great culture. Well, what is that? What does that mean? Does that mean a beer truck comes around on Friday or does that mean I pay 100 percent of their benefits? So, it’s, okay, I appreciate the snacks, but let’s talk about what could really woo a top candidate and what makes this a great place to work.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, it’s interesting to think about that because companies, you know, one of the areas that is kind of becoming bigger and bigger in marketing is employer branding, and so how are companies positioning themselves to attract top talent?

Nancy Gamble: Yes.

Rachel Simon: And some companies are excellent at it. And lots maybe not so much.

Nancy Gamble: Yes. And we, as a third party agency, obviously, we don’t work there every day. So, in some ways we have to go a lot on what they tell us. And then, of course, we talk to people who have used to work there and this and that.

Nancy Gamble: I totally forgot what I was going to say, but getting under the hood with a client and also them having the relationship where we can give them feedback, “Okay, Jane went on your interview. She’s going to withdraw herself from this and here’s why, and you need to hear this. Your manager ate a sandwich the whole time they were on a Zoom call, or whatever. You know, this isn’t going well, that you’re not presenting your best foot forward.” Because we get a lot of feedback on our candidates, so sometimes we have to be able to have that relationship where we can give feedback back to them.

Nancy Gamble: And also at the beginning, if the salary is not up to par, it’s, you know, five days a week in office at a low salary and this, that and the other, you know, we’re going to have to say you’re going to get pushed back in these areas. You are giving us ten tough to fill criteria, we’re probably going to find seven of them. And you’re going to have to tell us which one or two or three you could live without. And so, we boil it down as far as we can.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. Very interesting.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a story where somebody came to you with a challenge and you helped them fill that position and helped that company maybe get to a new level? Obviously don’t name the name of the company, but maybe just the challenge that they had and how you were able to fill it and then elevate the company because of that.

Nancy Gamble: I have a very recent story, which we just had a sign offer and expect acceptance, but we probably had one of the tougher jobs to fill that we’ve had, and it was for a global CMO of a direct to consumer brand, but they had to know how to sell in the EU, in France and England. A lot of people say global, but that might mean Canada and Mexico. It might mean we have partners in China. But this was very specific and it was managing global teams.

Nancy Gamble: And the company came to us at the beginning and said, this is yours, just do what you do. And I mean, the Snoopy dance was going on with Kat and I, and it was a long process. I think we worked on it since April and she starts next week. And it was great to have that relationship and to have the trust of the head of it. This one does have an HR department. And to know that this is the right person for the job and they are going to take them to another level.

Nancy Gamble: We just saw a LinkedIn post the other day on a candidate who has absolutely grown her company. She has become now a client of ours, and we placed in a chief growth officer type of role. And her company is recognizing her and creating posts about her success and what she’s done for the company, leading marketing summits. You know, I just couldn’t be prouder, and we rejoice in their success. That is how we feel good about ourselves.

Rachel Simon: Are most of your candidates and jobs here local in Atlanta?

Rachel Simon: We’re probably 90 percent metro Atlanta or the surrounding suburbs. We’ve done some work in Bentonville, Arkansas, and we’ve done some Birmingham, and we’ve done a little Florida. But I would say there’s so much going on right here.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, definitely.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we wrap, we always like to share some LinkedIn tip. Is there a LinkedIn tip for a person trying to find the right candidate? Is there anything they should be doing or not doing in order to attract the right folks to their organization?

Nancy Gamble: Well, they need to call me, but, yes, I mean they have to have obviously a very clear objective of what they’re looking for. They have to post it. They have to create posts about it. They have to welcome conversations and put a name and a face with the opening instead of having it just be anonymous. And they should probably be thought leaders, too, and be out there and be reachable. Being reachable and approachable is really important.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the best way to connect with you?

Nancy Gamble: Well, you can connect with me on LinkedIn, and also you can call or you can email me. You can call 404-806-2285, that’s our main number. My email is nancy@hire-profile.com. And I’m happy to hear from you.

Lee Kantor: And that’s H-I-R-E.

Nancy Gamble: Yes, yes, H-I-R-E.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Rachel, great chatting with you.

Rachel Simon: Great show. Good stuff.

Nancy Gamble: Thanks, guys. I appreciate the time.

Rachel Simon: Loved having you on.

Nancy Gamble: All right.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you all next time on Greater Perimeter Business Radio.

 

About Your Host

Rachel-SimonRachel 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.

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Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

Tagged With: Hire Profile, Nancy Gamble

BRX Pro Tip: Getting Ready

June 16, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Getting Ready

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, from time to time you will share some of your pet peeves when we do these Pro Tips. Well, one of mine is the person who’s getting ready to get ready. It just drives me nuts.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, the fact is no one’s ever ready. You’re never completely ready. There’s always something else you could be thinking about or expecting or fearing. But if you’re going to wait until you feel 100 percent ready, you’ll be waiting forever.

Stone Payton: And this is the thing, like you said this is one of my pet peeves also, is that so many people, they just have meetings, they have meetings to just play out every possible scenario, the best case scenario, the worst case scenario, and just time keeps on ticking.

Lee Kantor: The truth is no one’s ever ready. It doesn’t matter what the thing you’re trying to get ready for, whether it’s a new job, a big launch, the next move you should make in your business. Growth happens when you just go for it and you take a step forward. Even if you have questions or if you have doubts, just take some action.

Lee Kantor: I’m not saying not to prepare. You have to prepare somewhat, but don’t let the pursuit of perfection stop you. You have to trust your experience. You have to trust your gut. You have to lean on your team. But you have to take action.

Lee Kantor: You’re going to learn no matter what you think. Once you put something out to the public, you’re going to learn something. And at that point, you better adapt. And if you do those things, you’re going to get stronger. And the thing that you were trying to achieve has a better chance of success because you’re learning as you go. It’s not going to be perfect on the whiteboard. It’s going to be perfect when people get a hold of it and they tell you what they want to need, not what you think they want to need.

Lee Kantor: So remember, progress beats perfection. The best opportunities come to those who are willing to start before they feel totally ready.

Your Morning Drive Host Logan Lewis

June 13, 2025 by angishields

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Logan-Lewis-hsLogan Lewis, a marketing and podcasting professional, interviewing a diverse range of individuals, including creators, business owners, musicians, professionals & anyone in between on his podcast, “Your Morning Drive”.

Connect with Logan on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. And I have a very special guest in the studio today. First of all, I have not done a show in like a month and I’ve been very busy and I’ve missed it, so it’s nice to be back in the studio. But to Logan Lewis, who is sort of like the male version of me, this is the way I look at Logan. Logan has his own show called Your Morning Drive. I’ve been on it and it is. It is just so fun to be on. Well, sort of fun. Uncomfortable and fun to be on the other side of an interview process. Um, Um, but I really appreciate having some time here with Logan, because whenever we are together, it’s very busy. There are a lot of people around usually, so now we get to do the thing we like best, which is just chit chat and ask some deep existential, esoteric questions and hope that they translate to some meaning out there in the world. Welcome, Logan Lewis.

Logan Lewis: Thank you. Thank you for having me back. It’s a pleasure. I love doing this with you, like you said. I mean, every time since we met initially, it feels like we never have the one on one time unless we’re in each other’s studio spaces, which stinks. And we we maybe, you know, I could do better at maybe reaching out and trying to, you know, get people together one on one because I feel like I thrive more on one on one.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. We have also a friend of ours, Zach Goodfellow, who is just an amazing human being.

Logan Lewis: Great.

Sharon Cline: Guy. And we always talk like we have the three of us in a chat and we’re like, let’s get together, okay? And then it just can’t do this date, can’t do that date. It is the tragedy of life right now. But it would be nice if we could all agree.

Logan Lewis: We we should. In fact, I’m going to text that chat as soon as we’re done, because you’ve reactivated my want for the three of us to get together and the need because I think, you know, all three of us. You know, maybe I’m biased because I’m one of the three, but I think we’re a pretty good group, a pretty creative group. And I think if we get together, something magic could happen.

Sharon Cline: So I agree, and we’re all in the same sort of field, just in different segments of that field. So yeah, it takes a village sometimes to get things going and together. And I really love working with people that I not only respect, but really admire their talent. So anytime I get an opportunity like that, I always feel like I’m really lucky. It’s like lightning in a bottle. Don’t not do it.

Logan Lewis: Sure, yeah, I agree. So what’s up? I mean, we’ve we wanted to catch up, but then we decided that, uh, you know, we were going to do.

Sharon Cline: The show.

Logan Lewis: The show.

Sharon Cline: And we’ve had to reschedule. I’ve had to reschedule it. My life is very interesting.

Logan Lewis: Well, mine too, Sharon.

Sharon Cline: Well, let’s talk about first of all, your studio is different.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, we just remodeled it. Um, you know, we had a similar look to kind of what you guys have got going on here. A big table, a couple mics, but, uh, luckily, the space similar to the innovation spot that you guys have here, um, came to me because I’m pretty much the only one that uses their studio at my space. It’s called fireworks, if anyone’s wondering. It’s in Marietta. It’s in Marietta? Yes, down the street from the square. And, um, they came to me and they said, hey, we’re going into 2025. We’re looking to make changes. We want to improve the space because we just kind of threw it together because we knew podcasting was a big thing, and we just wanted to have it so that people could use it. But we really want to invest in it and invest in you talking to me. And I gave them a list of things that are either in right now, like the big comfy chair look or, you know, having like the microphone stands off the ground and.

Sharon Cline: The cool lighting.

Logan Lewis: The cool lighting in the back. So they came to me and they texted me like two weeks later and they’re like, hey, by the way, it’s done. And I was like, whoa, whoa whoa whoa, what? And they’re like, yeah, we did it all. We we bought everything you sent us links for, and we just did it. And I was like.

Sharon Cline: Oh my goodness.

Logan Lewis: So yeah, now we have that whole set up.

Sharon Cline: But how do you like it?

Logan Lewis: I love it. It just feels more I don’t know it feels more. There are some challenges with it though, because I’m a big like I like to have the laptop, I have the RODECaster. And with there being chairs, there’s not really a comfortable way to have a laptop with you. Um, so I’ve been exploring the idea of getting an iPad or something like that, but, um, it’s not very convenient to have a lot of technology with you, especially if you’re a one man show and you’re producing and you’re monitoring the video and the audio and you’re talking to the guests, it’s a lot to manage. So I’m still working through it, but that’s part of it, right?

Sharon Cline: It is, it is. And if you feel like the vibe is different and it lends to a different kind of conversation that would be really interesting to explore as opposed to, you know, like what I have here, which is wonderful. It’s just, you know, the basic setup of tables and whatever. But if I had to if I got super cozy and chill, had a little blanket over my lap, you know, cool lighting it might be, I could see it being a little bit more challenging to feel like I’m really producing something. It would feel more like, um, you know, at a coffee shop.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, it would kind of it would almost warrant you to have somebody in here as a producer all the time. And I know a lot of spaces offer that where they, you know, they offer, you know, they quote you an hourly rate and they include the an engineer or whatever. But, um, you know, with a lot of us that are just doing this on the side, we, we can’t necessarily afford the engineer. But also, you know, I, I’m a control freak a little bit. So I like to know that everything that’s going on that I have control over that I’ve got because like, if someone else screws it up, then I’m just going to be mad that someone screwed it up. But if at least if I did it, I can be mad at myself. I don’t know. Rambling. You know how it goes. You just start talking and eventually you’re like, where’s this going again? Either way. Yeah. The new studio is great. Um, I gotta have you back. We got. We got to jump back in there.

Sharon Cline: It’s been a year.

Logan Lewis: It has been.

Sharon Cline: A full year. I was thinking about it. It was last year at this time. Wow. And I really appreciate the different style that you have of asking questions, because as much as we have a very similar mind and goal in mind, um, and the way we think about it, the, the ending questions that you have for everybody, I really love the idea of that, the sort of the theme questions, you know, which kind of, um, all allow people to, um, relate to each other. It’s, it’s like a very fair comparison. And, um, it’s a very interesting way to get to know someone just almost on a on the superlative level, like what’s your favorite? This? What’s your least favorite? That. You know, all all of that I think is very interesting. So I never thought to do it. And I appreciate that you do. Um, and it’s exciting to see how much, how much work you’re putting into your show because, well, of course, you had your one year anniversary party, which was very fun to attend. And I met some really amazing people, have had some people on the show since then.

Logan Lewis: Amazing.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I mean, it’s just the networking aspect of it’s great. But so many people came and I was just like, Holy cow, how many shows have you done? Logan? How many shows have you done to date?

Logan Lewis: I’m uploading an episode tomorrow. We’re recording this on, uh, on the 10th of June. When? When will this drop?

Sharon Cline: Um, well, let’s see, what’s today? Tuesday. Usually I do a Friday, so it’ll be before the end of the week.

Logan Lewis: Okay, so.

Sharon Cline: My show is going to drop. I just wanted to use that term drop. It’s going to drop the lingo. Go. I’m so. I’m so lame.

Logan Lewis: I’m pretty sure I could tell you because, you know, whenever you. Yeah, you see the apps, they always do the things where they’re, like, not doing what they’re supposed to do, but. Okay, here we go. Um, episode that comes out tomorrow is episode 432 432.

Sharon Cline: You’ve done 432 episodes, I have. Wait, so when did you start your show?

Logan Lewis: Seven years ago. Uh, at the end of May. It was seven years, my seven year anniversary a few weeks ago of starting podcasting. Now, I say that you know your morning drive with the format that I have with talking to guests similar to you, that has only been the format for the past about 150 episodes or so. Okay, before that, I talked about movies and music and TV, like either by myself or with co-hosts, but I didn’t want to ditch that podcast feed when I rebranded because I had, you know, I don’t want to say a large amount of following, but I didn’t want to just lose everything that I had done for those first few years, so I just kept it, rebranded it. So yeah, I mean, it shows that I have 400 and some episodes, but I mean, here I am being bad on myself. I’m my biggest critic.

Sharon Cline: Me too. But I was just looking. I can’t see how many shows I’ve done, but I’ve done.

Logan Lewis: I’m sure you’ve done a lot.

Sharon Cline: I have, but it’s been. It’ll be three years this month. Actually. The end of the month, I believe, is the three year anniversary. And I’ve never done a party, by the way, which would be really fun to do. Never entered my mind, which was I was like, look at all these people that came to support you and really believe in your mission. So it was really inspiring for me.

Logan Lewis: Thanks.

Sharon Cline: It was it was sponsors. By the way, you have sponsors. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Go ahead. I mean, see, here I am my own biggest critic. I always try to. I’m working on this. Sharon. Are you. I’m working on it in therapy. I can’t take a compliment. Um, and I. Yeah. I don’t know why.

Sharon Cline: Good on you today, by the way. Green.

Logan Lewis: Thank you.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Nice. See, you did it. Thank you. A compliment, thank you.

Logan Lewis: Just dropped this merch, by the way. That’s what I. If you’re if you’re seeing this. I do have shirts now. They are available in green and green only because that was the logo of the show for the first year was your morning drive with a green backdrop. More colors to come, but.

Sharon Cline: Do you feel like you can’t? You never have that feeling of having been really satisfied with the work that you’ve done. Do you ever do? Do you ever have a moment? And this is a big thing for me. Do you ever have a moment where you can almost like high five yourself or say, you know what, that was a good one. You know where you can be like, yeah, yeah, I did, I did okay then.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, the party was really one of those moments where I, I kind of, you know, from the outside looking in, especially to someone like my parents who were there at the event, um, that know that I have this podcast, but they know I have a full time job and they, you know, I was doing this podcast when I still lived with them. So they’ve always seen it as like a oh, Logan’s. I don’t know if this is what they think, but dumb little hobby or whatever, but for them to see that was something that was, I think, really important to me that like, they could realize that I’m not just doing it because it’s a dumb little hobby. Of course I love doing it, and even if two people listened to every episode, I’d still do it. Um.

Sharon Cline: Your dad was so sweet and so proud of you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that was really important for me to see. Um, because, you know, sometimes, you know, when you’re doing this, especially when you’re, you know, you’re doing the audio, you’re doing the video, you’re doing it all by yourself. It can be a really lonely thing. So to see people come through and participate and want to be guests on the show and comment and say, oh my God, that was great. You know, all the all the things. It’s just really I think that party. I took a step back at one point and just like, looked around and just kind of took it all in and I was like, wow, this is freaking badass.

Sharon Cline: And you are the.

Logan Lewis: Sorry, can I curse on here?

Sharon Cline: Yes you can. Okay. This is not FCC controlled in any way. It’s all.

Logan Lewis: The.

Sharon Cline: Internet.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, so I look. Holy shit. This is this is something right here, like. And I’m going to be doing it every year. I mean.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: That’s all I’m going to do it every March. Um, I don’t know why March, but I did it March last year, so I’m doing it March this year, um, or this coming year. So, uh, and of course, all of my I’m calling them legacy guests are invited as well. The ones that were on the first go round party. So maybe I might need to get a bigger space, actually, because I’m going to have 100 more guests than to invite.

Sharon Cline: So your goal is to have 100 guests a year at least.

Logan Lewis: Ish, I mean, because. It’s it’s tough because I’ve gotten to the point where I release one a week and. There was a time that I was releasing two a week because I was so backlogged. But like, I could do that now because I have recorded so many advance that they’re not coming out until like, August. So I felt bad about recording these episodes with these guests, and it’ll be like, they’ll be like all excited and they’re like, oh my God, when’s it come out? And I’m like, oh, October! And they’re like, oh! And I’m like, yeah, I know. So I try to hold myself back. So back then I was doing 100 episodes probably a year. This year it’ll probably be way more scaled back, maybe like 60, because there’s been a few weeks at the beginning of the year that I did 2 or 2 episodes a week, but now I just said, you know what? Screw it. Most, most people don’t care when the episode comes out. They don’t mind if it’s a months wait or so. So I just said, you know what? I got to I got to work on me beating myself up about that because there’s nothing I can do. And that’s a good position to be in, to have so many episodes. I episodes. I posted on LinkedIn today that people are. People reached out to me today to get them on the podcast, and I said, I’m looking at dates in October, and it’s like, and they’re always like, dang. And I’m like, yeah, sorry. But also like, I don’t want to like toot a horn or anything, but I guess people want to do your morning drive. I guess.

Sharon Cline: They do. What do you think? They don’t. What do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to do your show the way you’re doing it?

Logan Lewis: You mean from the guest perspective or mine?

Sharon Cline: Both.

Logan Lewis: That’s a good question.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Thank you.

Logan Lewis: Which, you know, I’ve been sitting here and before I even answer it as you’re talking, you know, you don’t have a notebook or a sticky note or anything in front of you. It’s BS, because I feel like I always have, like my phone pulled up with like, bullet points because, like, you know, my show is similar to yours where it’s very conversational. But if I ever get veered off track or go on a tangent, I have these bullet points that can bring me back. You. You’re asking these great questions just on the fly. No notes. It’s. I’m insanely jealous. I can’t wait to get to your point.

Sharon Cline: Oh, nice. Um, well. I’m lazy. It’s the truth. I’m lazy. If I have to work really hard and, like, prepare really hard, I get very resentful. I research people, I research people, so. And, you know, I call it cyber stalking, but, like, with permission, because I do want to be able to speak intelligently about what they’re doing or at least be able to lead some questions. Oh, you went to the University of Florida. Interesting. Tell me about that. How’d you get to Georgia from there like that? That’s how I will do. But otherwise, if I do too much, I get I get frustrated because then it’s not fun for me. But someday when I have my own big show, I will hire someone and pay them very well to do whatever research for me so that I can just do all the fun things. I would hope.

Logan Lewis: Right? And that person will also write down your time stamps and do all of those little things.

Sharon Cline: Because I know.

Logan Lewis: You don’t want to have to do.

Sharon Cline: Because you do that.

Logan Lewis: I do it all.

Sharon Cline: And so tell me what that’s like.

Logan Lewis: Um, you know, again, with the whole control freak thing I like, I like to a level of doing it because I’m a very, like, completionist kind of person. So when I finish an episode, I’m thinking, okay, when I get home, I’m going to export it, and then I’m going to upload it into my software, and then I’m going to do the editing, and then I’m going to make the clips, and then I’m going to post it on whatever. And you know, I’m very like operational like that. So I like doing it. However, I, you know, you see now with the rise of AI, all of these tools that are like, we’ll do it for you. And I see these ads and I’m like, that would be nice to either, have I? I still don’t think AI is there yet to do exactly what we want it to do. Like it’s pretty good at answering questions, but I feel like if I was like, I want this machine to do all of my work flow, I don’t think we’re there yet, but the idea of having a person to do it with me. For me, whatever, um, is really attractive because I feel like I spend a lot of time doing very small, menial tasks. Um, but again, you know, I like it to an extent. But tomorrow, if I won the lottery, I’m hiring somebody.

Sharon Cline: I’m the same. I mean, it’s there’s a lot in terms of control. I really understand the notion of that. Um, I appreciate people who do this for a living. They are editors, and they work very hard at the at the minutia, the little things, the tiny, um, breaths that you want to take out that can take, you know, several minutes to get exactly right. So something flows exactly right. It it is really a labor of love for, for myself at this point. But it is a labor nonetheless. So I can imagine it would be really great to have someone doing that for you, especially because we just do audio here. You do video too, which is a whole different animal in my mind. I’m so glad I don’t do video.

Logan Lewis: Which I’m jealous because I, I wish I didn’t do video if I’m honest. I tell everybody this because video just adds a level of work that wouldn’t be required if it weren’t for the rise of social media and the rise of TikTok. And video clips and reels and YouTube shorts are a big thing now. And it’s like you have people say you have to do it to to survive.

Sharon Cline: You kind of.

Logan Lewis: Do.

Sharon Cline: Which you kind of do.

Logan Lewis: But it’s not necessarily true because you don’t do video and you’re doing all right.

Sharon Cline: I mean, I think we could do better if I did. I think, um, I think most people like video clips now. I think, um, I am certainly, uh, a consumer and appreciate having a quick video come up onto my feed and I’ll watch it. If it’s just audio, I have to be in the right mindset for that are either cleaning my house or driving. You know, I’m not always inclined to just listen, so I don’t actually know where we would be if we had jumped on that bandwagon. I have not pushed it. I like that there isn’t. But I see the benefit of what you’re doing. You get to put these little clips that are intriguing enough to get people to come back to watch a whole show, as opposed to my even. I haven’t put out any little soundbites or anything of of the show. So I’ve done the same thing for three years. They still let me in the building. It’s amazing.

Logan Lewis: That’s okay, you know? Hey, you know, if Business RadioX wants to wants to have video clips, they could, uh, hire someone to do it for them.

Sharon Cline: We have cameras.

Logan Lewis: You do? I actually use that exact camera? Oh, really? Because I got in here and I did an episode with Stone, and I was like, oh, dude, what camera is that? And he sent me the link, and I bought it that day, and I’ve used it ever since.

Sharon Cline: Which it’s great, because the way you have it set up is that there’s you, there’s a both of you, and then there’s there’s ISOs, what they call, you know, isolation one person, isolation another person, and then both of you. So you can choose which person you want to focus on.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: You don’t have to do like two different cameras, two different feeds, two different switches. Yeah. Which a lot it is.

Logan Lewis: But you know, funny enough that you mentioned that I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the two camera setup because a lot of, you know, a lot of clips feature, you know, because, you know, the host talking back and forth. My software doesn’t allow me to like, cut and like pivot to another speaker and then cut and then pivot back. So I have to pick my clip strategically where it’s basically just my guest monologuing. Um, which there’s no.

Sharon Cline: Response shot of you, like nodding or whatever.

Logan Lewis: Exactly. And you know, I don’t again, the podcast is is me. It’s all me. It’s all my brand. But the show is for for the guest, so I don’t need to be in the clips because I’m all over social media. Everywhere else it seems. Um.

Sharon Cline: But I know the feeling. This is the thing about this show is I love that my focus is the guest. It’s. To me, that’s the most fun. I’m sick of me. I have a lot of enough of me. So to focus on somebody else is really fun. But I had a conversation recently with someone who was talking about the fact that I am the common denominator of the show, so there are people that would come to listen to whatever questions I have, because I’m the common denominator, and that’s not the way I think about it at all. I think about it as, do you want to hear about someone’s story? This guy is the coolest guy, has his own like seven years he’s been doing this podcast. Like, you should listen, you know, because I’m interested in you. It’s not about me. So it’s a very interesting place to be where I feel the exact same way as you. It’s not about me at all.

Logan Lewis: I feel both ways about it because, you know, I listen to a few podcasts, especially that are like, like celebrity interviewers and you have like comedians that do it and you have like, Conan O’Brien does it, Theo Von Does it? Joe Rogan does it. I mean, I don’t listen for Joe Rogan, though. It’s like I tune in because Joe Rogan had Jelly roll. Oh, I want to hear about Jelly Roll or, you know, Theo Von had. I was just listening on the way over here. Theo Von had JD Vance, the vice president on there. I was like, I want to listen to what JD Vance has to say. Very weird pairing so far, by the way. Um, but, you know, there’s I tune in for the guest, not necessarily the host. Although I like Conan, I like Joe, and I like Theo. I would prefer to listen based on the guest, because I don’t care what Theo’s got to say. I want to hear what Robert Downey Jr has to say, you know?

Sharon Cline: Okay, so I’m not off track then, because I was like, I gaslight myself. I make it seem like I’m doing this show for other people, but it’s really about me. I like the idea of it not being about me because I don’t. I don’t think that, I mean, I’m not I, I found other people’s lives way more interesting than mine. So I’m like, tell me what it’s like to be in your shoes for an hour.

Logan Lewis: You give me the vibe of someone who takes criticism really well. Do you? I’m sometimes like, if you like, went on Apple Podcasts and looked at the reviews for your show and you saw a negative review, would you just like be like, oh, that’s funny, or would you like, really think about it?

Sharon Cline: Um.

Logan Lewis: Depending on what it is, I.

Sharon Cline: Would say depend on depending on what it is, I’m, I would say I am a very strong pleaser. So if someone were to say, yeah, you know, I don’t like that she intros her show the exact same way every time, says the same words blah blah blah. I’d be like, oh man, I got to mix that up. Then, you know, it would it would bother me. I would want to I want to make a product in some way that is as relatable and positive and consumable as possible. So if I were doing something that were opposite of that, then it would bother me. But but I, I have yet to read any reviews about this show.

Logan Lewis: Well, I the only reason I ask is because I got a similar to this conversation point about, you know, the show not being about us. So there was a review I got recently that said the host talks too much. The host says the host asks the guest for their insight, and then he turns around and gives his insight. We don’t care about your insight. We care about the guests.

Sharon Cline: Okay, wait, I have to think about this.

Logan Lewis: And so I thought about it for a second and I was like, okay, well, I get it because. Yeah, but it’s it’s it’s like a double edged sword because I feel like while it is my show, but like I said, it is the guest show, so of course I prefer the guests is the highlight. I’m not. If I have something to add or an experience to share or perspective to give, I’m not going to just not give it because they say, oh, you shouldn’t be talking. It’s my podcast. Of course I’m going to talk.

Sharon Cline: Not only that, but I think if someone were to say that about me, my first thought is that the goal is to be relating to each other. The goal is to not be about me. Oh yeah, that was your experience. Here’s mine every time, right? But if there’s something important that sort of feels like it would lend to the story in a way that would be, in my mind, interesting for everyone to listen to, then I would want to do that. I also would have the feeling of, maybe this is not the right podcast for you to be listening to, because there are podcasts that have our very question driven, and one of my favorite people to do interviews to listen to is Terry Gross. She used to be on NPR. Fresh air was her show, and I just marvel at the way she interviews because it is not really an relating kind of interview. It’s more she’s got some very, very good leading questions, and the interviewee can speak as long as they as they want, you know about it. So I love the idea of of that because she is sort of my idol. But I’m not, I think at the level where, um, I am trying to please the whole United States. I think it’s like where I am now is kind of fine, right? I don’t know, maybe if I got to be big enough in that way, I would be very strategic about the way I interview. But right now it’s, I don’t know, my goal. You don’t have to wear your headphones.

Logan Lewis: I’m taking them.

Sharon Cline: Off. Are you. Oh, my God, I’m doing the same thing. Okay.

Logan Lewis: I don’t love wearing headphones.

Sharon Cline: I don’t either. It messes up my hair. It’s all about how I look. Logan. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, on the show that’s not on video.

Sharon Cline: But I think, interestingly, I think I understand the idea of someone not wanting to hear everything I say, but I also think, um, this is the type of show where that really is the format. And so far, every person that has left the studio has. My goal is for them to feel listened to, heard, understood all of that and felt valued for an hour. You know, if they feel that, then that’s who I’m trying to please most. And if they’re happy, then I’m happy. That’s the way I look at it. Well, yeah, that’s the way I look at it.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I agree with that. I, I try not to read too much into reviews because, you know, some people just want to give their opinion and, you know, they have every right to their opinion. But I don’t need to hear everything. Um, it’s not like I get like a ton of bad reviews or anything, but I don’t know, I just I do think about it, like if I read a bad review, like that guy who said that I sat there and was just like, shut up. Like, you don’t get it. But then like, later that night, I found myself like, is he right? Do I talk too much?

Sharon Cline: Well, you know what? It takes a lot of maturity to be able to self examine. And so even the fact that it kind of struck you because your goal, I think is similar to mine, is, is knowing that someone said something that really kind of made you question yourself. I think there’s nothing wrong with self-examination, but I’m sure if you were to percentage out your reviews, it’d be like many more positive than negative maybe. Okay, you have had positive reviews.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, mostly by me going to the Apple Store and reviewing.

Sharon Cline: It with anonymous.

Logan Lewis: Anonymous I actually think they block that because people have tried that in the past.

Sharon Cline: Oh no.

Logan Lewis: Kidding. Because I absolutely have gone to an Apple store and tried to review like leave a bunch of reviews and, uh, it doesn’t work.

Sharon Cline: Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.

Logan Lewis: Because.

Sharon Cline: I think I’ve heard of that.

Logan Lewis: When an iPhone or an iPad or a mac or whatever is in an Apple Store, it’s in like a demo mode. So anything that’s done isn’t really permanent, even though, you know, you used to go into like old cell phone stores, like you go to a Verizon store and you would play on like the phones in there, and they were working and you would go to the text and you see all these texts of people texting themselves. None of it works. I mean, they’re all disconnected and deactivated, so.

Sharon Cline: Oh, funny.

Logan Lewis: I feel like everything that you do, like on an Apple Store computer isn’t being tracked. It’s not being recorded. It’s it’s it’s not real. It’s just. It’s. Yeah, it’s just being it’s just a demo mode. So. So if you’re a podcaster out there, don’t waste your time and go to an Apple Store, especially if you live in metro Atlanta. The closest one is probably the Cumberland Mall, and I doubt you want to drive over there to go to, uh, leave yourself a review.

Sharon Cline: All right. I have some questions for you now.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. Hit me.

Sharon Cline: Okay, so what would you say your main goal is for your show? Like when you’re having a guest on what is the what is the most satisfying part of it? What makes you feel like this was a good show?

Logan Lewis: I feel like there’s a few questions in there with.

Sharon Cline: I think I asked like ten questions.

Logan Lewis: A few in there, but so I’ll address each one. I remember because, you know, ADHD brain, you know, it goes away. But how do I know if it’s a good episode is if, you know, during the recording, like me and the guest are exchanging just if we’re just if we’re just hitting, if the chemistry is there because, you know, some people you get in here and they’re good on paper, but the second they get in there they’re like, oh, well, I run this paint shop and it’s really cool and everything. It’s been in my family for 80 years.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, they’re just not, um, uh, radio conversation ready. But they do have a story to tell. It’s just more challenging to get.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You gotta you gotta do a little bit more digging to get it out of him. But eventually, of course, everyone opens up like 20 minutes in. But if me and the guests are exchanging just electric conversation points or if, like, they’re vibing, if we do like some episodes, we’ll do like a fist bump mid episode because they’re like, yeah, I agree with you, man. Like I love that. Like, I did an episode recently with a guy named, uh, Miles Rubin. Ruben, um, if you haven’t had him, you should. Okay. I will make a connection because he makes. He does stuff, and it’s cool. Um, and we just had the dope conversation the other day when we were doing the podcast, and it ended, and I told him I was like, dude, this is why I do it, like episodes like this.

Sharon Cline: I mean, that’s what it felt like.

Logan Lewis: Like it felt like even if again, if two people hear this, I don’t care because I had the best time recording it. Um, another thing that you asked was, um, well, I lied.

Sharon Cline: What makes this, like, a satisfying show? Basically, that’s like, what you were saying is having that moment where at the end of it, you were just like, this is exactly why I love doing this.

Logan Lewis: And then. Oh, yeah. So the first thing you said was like, what’s your main goal with it? Like, what do people want to, you know, when when a guest is in there. What what’s my like goal? I’d say like small picture. Like if a guest is in there with me, of course I want people to listen to it and then go to that guest’s guests company for their products or services. That’s that’s definitely like I definitely want to hear a testimonial six months later when they’re just like, yo, after our episode came out, like I had a bunch of new customers come in and like, that’s awesome. I’d love to hear that. But, um, or, you know, if if you were on there and you said, hey, our show had a spike in views because you because I was on your episode and you were on mine. So it was a nice little trade off. I would have been like, hell yeah, that’s awesome, I love that, um, of course I want people to interact with the show and subscribe to it and follow it past the guest that they tuned in for, but, um, yeah, just to to to give the guests the value for the, the two hours sometimes that it ends up being when, when they’re with me. Um, funny enough, uh, kind of on the same topic is I reached out to an influencer last night to have them on the podcast, and they told me it was going to be a $6,000 to have them. And I was flabbergasted because I was like, no one’s ever told me that there was going to be a fee.

Sharon Cline: So when you’re saying influencer, what level of influencing?

Logan Lewis: She was on a popular dating show that’s been on cable for a long time? Okay, you’re probably aware of it. I don’t know why I’m disguising it. It’s the bachelor. She was on The Bachelor. I didn’t want to want to out her. She won’t hear this. Um. Hopefully not.

Sharon Cline: Not only that, but there were a lot of people that have been on the.

Logan Lewis: This is true. A lot of women that have been on The Bachelor. Um, so she was a contestant, I DM’d her, I actually share a mutual friend with her. And so I emailed and said, hey, you know, so and so told me to contact you. I’d love to have you on Tell Your Story from The Bachelor and beyond. And she was like, sounds great. It’ll be $6,000 for two hours of my time. And I.

Sharon Cline: What did you say back?

Logan Lewis: I said.

Sharon Cline: How do you handle a conversation like that?

Logan Lewis: I was impressed with myself because I did not use ChatGPT to help me form a response. Normally I do. There’s no fist bump.

Sharon Cline: There it is. Yeah.

Logan Lewis: Fist bump. I can tell you exactly what I said. I said back to her, something along the lines of here we go. Um. I said, hey. Thank you for sharing that. That was a little bit more than I expected. I won’t be able to make that work at this time, as I’m a one man show and just starting out, which I mean, seven years, but, you know, still still a small show. And so she emails back, because I think, in my opinion, that was the end of the conversation. Yeah. You know, thank.

Sharon Cline: You for I would think.

Logan Lewis: You.

Sharon Cline: Know, I would love to pay you 6000 at some.

Logan Lewis: Point even then, like, uh, so she emails me back and says, hey, no problem. What kind of budget are you working with? We’d love to, uh, try and make something work for you.

Sharon Cline: Oh, that was actually generous.

Logan Lewis: It was generous, but I didn’t like that response because I thought I ended the conversation last night. So this is what I said back. I appreciate that, but to be honest, I’ve never been asked to pay a guest of mine for appearing on the show. My show gives folks the place to tell their true and unapologetic story. So I never have been charged or I’ve never charged to be on the show. I don’t really have a budget for this, so I’ll have to pass for the time being until the podcast is lucrative enough that I could afford to pay her.

Sharon Cline: I think that was a very diplomatic way to answer.

Logan Lewis: Thank you very much. Did not use.

Sharon Cline: Uh ChatGPT.

Logan Lewis: Chatgpt.

Sharon Cline: So was there a response since then? No. Okay.

Logan Lewis: That was about noon today.

Sharon Cline: I think you handled it very well.

Logan Lewis: I think so, I think she got the message.

Sharon Cline: Well, you know, at some point I could see this being a, a standard for, for you to, you know, when, when it is lucrative enough. I could imagine. But at this point, um, right now, the energy I have for my show, as well as I’m sure yours is more like, we’re just enjoying this opportunity and enjoying the exchange of getting to know, you know each other in a in a forum that hopefully will be inspiring to other people. And that’s about it. There’s the payment. Right.

Logan Lewis: And you know, I’m not like mad at it. I’m I’m still just kind of taken aback because, you know, like ultimately I don’t really have much to gain from this other than being able to sit with you and talk to you. And yeah, sure, your followers and your fans or whoever are going to listen to the episode, but. You know why? Why would I pay you? I’m highlighting you. You should pay me if with that logic, I’m not. I don’t ever want to be paid. I don’t want to charge people. Ever. That’s not what I’m for.

Sharon Cline: But the. So what I’m imagining is that there is power with her name. And so she knows, I believe that she could bring viewers or listeners to you. And so that’s what you’d be paying for, which is interesting. I just haven’t had to deal with that, not deal with it. I haven’t faced that yet.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. And you know, I don’t hate her for it because, you know, if she’s an influencer, I assume she’s doing that full time and she needs to make money.

Sharon Cline: Probably doing well if that’s what.

Logan Lewis: Correct. So I would assume that that’s a fair rate for someone of her size and get that bag queen. But like you’re not getting it from me Queen. Yes I did. I like to hype up my girlbosses. You’re a girlboss, Shannon.

Sharon Cline: Oh well, thank you. Sharon, do you want to fix your microphone?

Logan Lewis: Like, is something wrong with it?

Sharon Cline: No, I was just going to ask you if you wanted to, like, make it taller. You can, because you’re a pretty tall guy.

Logan Lewis: Oh, wow. Look at that.

Sharon Cline: Look at that.

Logan Lewis: Wow.

Sharon Cline: So handy.

Logan Lewis: Look at you.

Sharon Cline: I know.

Logan Lewis: So multi-purpose mics. Look at that, I like that.

Sharon Cline: So for your studio in the future, if you want. There you go. So is there a favorite show you have?

Logan Lewis: I’ve done a lot of really great episodes. It’s so tough and I’m sure you relate to that. Um, I have a couple that I just got out of and was like similar to the Miles one where I was. Maybe that’s recency bias, but I really enjoyed Miles. Um, he’s on the board for the, uh, Marietta Business Association. So he’s a he’s in a couple good, good spots actually, tomorrow the episode that comes out tomorrow is the president of the Marietta Business Association. Um, but all in all, I. I have to give shout outs to. I had a great time. Of course, with you have to lead with that. Okay. I had a great time with Stone when I was able to record with him.

Sharon Cline: Just a co-owner of Business RadioX, correct? Yeah.

Logan Lewis: Co-owner of Business RadioX. He. You and I wouldn’t be here probably, if it weren’t for him. Absolutely. And his co-founder? Um, so I had a great time with him just being able to. And you probably relate to this when you get to talk to him about when you’re talking shop, but just to hear the wisdom and knowledge from someone who’s done it so much longer than you have. It was just so valuable for me. And that was a year and a half ago. So, I mean, I was at a completely different point then that I am now. And there’s a ton of stuff I do today that Stone taught me. In fact, Stone is the sole reason I hope he hears this stone is the sole reason that your morning drive is the brand of the podcast, because before the podcast, name had my name in it and he said, no one cares right now who Logan Lewis is, he said, you’re not Conan O’Brien, you’re not Joe Rogan. No one cares who you are yet.

Sharon Cline: That was that kind of tough love moment.

Logan Lewis: It was. And at first I was like, that’s kind of rude. But I thought about it and I was like, that’s true. So that night I brainstormed names and came up with your morning drive. So shout out to Stone. Stone was the one that made that happen.

Sharon Cline: Stone has made this happen for me. So what a good guy.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I got a I should I should text him yearly and thank him for for pushing me in the right direction. But, um, I loved my conversation with Stone. I, uh, I did a podcast with Kelly Nagle. She runs a bagel place out in Cartersville, Nagel’s bagels.

Sharon Cline: She was a had come to your, uh, party and brought bagels, and they were so good. I’d never had them before.

Logan Lewis: Yep. It’s a great, great little shop.

Sharon Cline: Um, I passed it on my motorcycle the other day, and I was like, ah, I can’t stop. But I would say, what’s cool about it is that these relationships that you have, they are all supporting you too, which is really interesting sort of turn of events, you know, because it’s not really about what can you do for me in the future at my party? It’s more just having the an organic, honest moment conversation.

Logan Lewis: Well, funny enough, the relationship that I’ve grown with the Nagel family is one that I really, really value. And again, like I live five minutes from their shop in Cartersville. So I mean, I’m, I’m there a couple times a week either getting coffee or breakfast or, or they do live music on Thursday nights, which is a lot of fun. So I usually head up there with Catherine and we and we enjoy some music for an hour or two. But, um, their relationship was like, as soon as I did the episode with Kelly, she was like, I see how you do your marketing and I really like it. You want to do our marketing. So I run the social media for the Bagel Shop as well. And she said, and hey, just as a little bonus, on top of the payment that they give me for for providing that service, they said, we’ll sponsor your podcast party every year that you throw it and we’ll provide the food. Oh my gosh. And I was like, hell yeah.

Sharon Cline: Look at how that happened.

Logan Lewis: Exactly. And that’s kind of the goal is that and you know, again, with the with the party with like having the sponsors of the party, that whole goal was like, listen, you’re going to be there anyway. You know, throw in what you can for the event And all of the money that was raised on that event went to Must Ministries, so I donated it straight to Must Ministries. Um, thanks. It was it was 200 bucks, but hey, it was $200 donation that I’d never done before. Um, and I had Ike Reichard on the show from Must Ministries. So that was just a cool, full circle moment. But, you know, I just said you’re going to have all these guests that I’ve had and family and friends in this space all together at the same time. Have your business on display. And the Nagels loved that idea. The fireworks team had that idea. Uh, all the other people that I worked with on that event, good days. They were. They provided the alcohol for the event. You should get him in here, too. That’d be a great, great podcast. He’s one of my favorites, too, mainly because he let me try the newest flavor on the air, and we drank like four each on the air. It was kind of bad. I almost debated sleeping in the parking lot.

Sharon Cline: I don’t know if I can have him on this. It was.

Logan Lewis: He. He’ll bring you alcohol and he’ll have a lot of fun doing it.

Sharon Cline: I have his business card. I just looked at it this morning.

Logan Lewis: Did you really?

Sharon Cline: Yes I did.

Logan Lewis: Oh, wow.

Sharon Cline: I know it’s kind.

Logan Lewis: Of shouts to Jason.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, it’s funny that you were mentioning that, but I think one of the things that’s cool about what it is that we’re doing is having, um, these relationships that develop, and it really is from a place of tell me what it’s like to be you for a little while. There’s really nothing I expect out of it. And I, I know it’s the same for you. So when something does happen, like getting business the way that you did, um, it just feels like such a gift.

Logan Lewis: It is. It’s it’s. And again, you know, you probably relate to this, but when people come in here and they are vulnerable and they give you their time and they’re telling their story, it’s a huge compliment. Especially because I don’t know about you. Maybe, maybe your process is a little different than mine, but I don’t typically meet my guests before I do the show with them.

Sharon Cline: I usually I do, but oftentimes I don’t.

Logan Lewis: I usually meet them for the first time here, so they’re really unloading their life to a complete stranger. And it’s really it’s a huge compliment to be able to do that. But then also afterwards, it’s like they enjoyed me in just two hours so much that they were like, I want to work with this guy.

Sharon Cline: It’s crazy because everybody that has left the studio, not one person has said any different that they they feel like we’re friends. It’s just.

Logan Lewis: It’s a bond.

Sharon Cline: Energy. It’s an energy exchange. I always say it’s so magical because there’s no, like, distracting of things I need to be doing. It’s just this moment chit chatting and really asking someone from a genuine place of curiosity what your life is like and what words of wisdom you have for other people that you know may be facing similar things you faced. And so I think when it comes from a genuine place, you can tell I really do. I really believe that.

Logan Lewis: And I just love having those relationships because I’m a I’m a very social person. I love people. So being able to be buddy buddy with, you know, Main Street Warriors or in Woodstock or Diesel. David like being friends with all these people is so much fun for me. I don’t know why. Like, I was just at a ribbon cutting before I came to you for, um, uh, bomb babes for Katy Cruise. If you’ve met her, she has a. She just opened up a spot in the outlets for her little cake bomb. Things that are freaking to die for. I hadn’t had them until today. Good God. Um, and there was, like, six people there that have done your morning drive, and it was so cool. It was like Jen Gray. And then it was like, oh, Rebecca Strobel in the back. And then it was Lee Mayer in the front. Like it was all these people. I was like, oh my God, look at the little your morning drive family. That’s all. At this ribbon cutting.

Sharon Cline: At your party, though, like, look how many people have come to support you. And it’s all this from a place of just, let’s support each other. And I think that energy is very similar that you have that I’d like to think about is, you know, helping each other through life in general. I think it’s just difficult to be a human on the planet, and if we can help each other to get through it, it feels like that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. Like, if I have a way that can ease some kind of suffering for you, well, then I would want to do that. Um, you know, of course, with limits not to make myself suffer in the same way. But if I know that I could help you in some way, I would want to.

Logan Lewis: And absolutely.

Sharon Cline: I think having that, uh, energy behind this show and your show, um, people can tell that there’s like a, a, a a positive end result that you’re looking for, and that’s why you get so much support.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I at the end of the day, I just want to have fun and make a cool friendship along the way. And again, like, I didn’t expect anything to come out of the relationship with the Nagles, but the fact that it did and it just happened naturally and it just nothing was forced. It was all organic and it just happened. Um, it’s just such a cool honor to to be able to do that.

Sharon Cline: What would you say your long term goal is? Like if you could craft your dream life regarding your morning drive, what would it look like? I’m going to eat a piece of chocolate while we talk. Okay.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that’s totally cool with me. Actually, you you you have my permission. Thank you. Um.

Sharon Cline: That’s fine.

Logan Lewis: You have all of my permission. Yeah, yeah. You’re right, you’re right. This isn’t. This isn’t mine. Um, you know, I forgot your question.

Sharon Cline: What is your. I’m eating. What is.

Logan Lewis: What is my dream? Um, you know, I. I flip flop on this answer a lot because it changes over time. Um, if I were to, like, you know, rapid fire gun to my head, what’s your what’s your dream? It’s like I want to be like Joe Rogan and do it full time. I want to have I want to be able to have enough support that I can invite new guests in and have, like, Joe Rogan has these episodes where he invites like four comedians and they just bullshit for two hours and like, that sounds fun. And like these catch up episodes that people have been asking me recently, like, you want to do one, Brittany Hyde wants to do one. A few people from last year that I did, they all want to come back and talk about what’s changed in the last year.

Sharon Cline: Which I’m sure a lot with Brittany Hyde. She did the Little Silver bar, but now it’s like a non-sober bar. Yeah, but I’m sure there’s still Soberness. Yeah, but no, she has exploded.

Logan Lewis: She’s blown up. She’s full time. When I interviewed her last year, she wasn’t full time yet. She was. And now, I mean, she’s doing these music festivals now. I mean, it’s just insane how much she’s done. Um, but, like, so people have been wanting to reconnect and it’s like, well, some people say, well, people won’t. People might not tune in for the second time around. And I’m like, you know, I don’t know. But I want to be able to get to the point where I can record really whatever I want. And I still get enough income from either the listenership or ads or sponsorships or relationships or what have you. Um, to to be able to, to do it full time. I mean, that probably means if I’m doing the podcast full time, I’ll probably have to do other things, like maybe it’s public speaking, or maybe it’s a book that I might, may or may not be writing right now.

Sharon Cline: Um, are you nervous about any of that, like public speaking?

Logan Lewis: Public speaking for sure. Really? Which is ironic because I’m public speaking right now. Kind of. Except I can’t. Except I can’t see anybody except for you.

Sharon Cline: A large group of people. Like if you were on a stage and needing to speak, it would be daunting.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, I definitely think that, like, if, if I, you know, if I was to speak in front of, I mean, even at my event, I, I knew I had to say something at one point to thank everyone for coming and even that a room of people that I’m very comfortable with, I was nervous and I had to have 3 or 4 good days before I did it, because I wasn’t going to have the courage to do it. But I’ve been approached here and there recently about public speaking, and I am a yes man. So I just say yes and I’ll figure it out later. So I need to learn how to public speak and to conquer those fears. Um, because it’ll happen at some point, I think.

Sharon Cline: So I have a question for you about it.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. Hit me.

Sharon Cline: Because I think you and I are very similar people, and I’m wondering why it is that I’m not afraid of public speaking. And you are, because, you know, we have shows that we do, and we know all the same people pretty much. And, you know, have our own careers outside of our little shows. Um, and the only thing I can think of that makes me feel brave enough to speak in front of people is when I know that I believe in what I’m saying 100%. So tell me how that does that affect anything when you think of it that way? Or do you already know that you do believe, but it still makes you nervous?

Logan Lewis: That’s a great question. I mean, thank you. You’re so welcome. Uh, I. I think that it’s just. I mean, even the thought of answering this question makes me nervous.

Sharon Cline: Um, the thought of answering this question about public speaking. Yeah. Oh.

Logan Lewis: I just I don’t know. Like, I.

Speaker3: I.

Logan Lewis: I feel like if I got up on stage, my worst fear would be, like to be heckled. Okay. Or like, if I saw someone get up and leave because they were bored. Like, that is what I’m more afraid. I think of what the what ifs than the actual reality of the situation. Like if I went into a room and taught a class of like, somebody wants me like fireworks, they want me to do like a lunch and learn on like what? Podcasting 101.

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. So excuse me. So I started outlining that last night, and I was like, I’d be so nervous to talk in front of like 30 people about this, even though I know this, like I know it, but I’d still be super nervous for some reason.

Sharon Cline: Would you be thinking, what are they thinking?

Logan Lewis: I think I’d be thinking like, what do they think about me? Like, what do they. What if they think I’m. This is. This is gonna sound so dumb, but just let me say it. What if they think I’m ugly?

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. That comes from. I think that we don’t need to get therapeutic or anything, but I think that comes from a place of childhood. I struggled a lot with how I looked as a kid. Um, I had really, really, really bad acne. I was always super duper skinny. I looked like your textbook nerd. And I heard about it because, you know, middle school is a tough place to be as a kid. Um, I can’t even imagine what it’s like now.

Sharon Cline: But 24 seven, access to everything all the time.

Logan Lewis: I can’t even imagine. So I think that is a piece of it. I’ve never said that out loud, actually. The ugly thing, I just. What if people are thinking about the way I look or something like that? Like that’s something I really, truly fear a lot.

Sharon Cline: All I know from, from is my perspective. I have never once thought, I do not want to speak to this man because of how I don’t think I’ve ever thought that generally about anybody.

Logan Lewis: Well, you’re a better person than most, Sharon.

Sharon Cline: No, you must not think that way. You interview everybody depending on not depending on what they look like. You interview everybody, so you’re the same. So I’m thinking that, you know, you don’t look like a teenage kid anymore.

Logan Lewis: I don’t I definitely don’t look how I looked before.

Sharon Cline: So um, but that’s just like a like, uh, echoes there just echoes. Echo thoughts. But they can be controlling.

Logan Lewis: They can be.

Sharon Cline: Ah. I hope somehow you’re able to find a happy place with it.

Logan Lewis: I think I will.

Sharon Cline: Have a lot to offer, um, in terms of wisdom and energy. And, um, maybe someone out there has a dream of doing their own podcast, and, uh, you could give them just a little bit of inspiration. And the next thing you know, there’s your evening drive or something like that out there because of you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that’s nice of you to say. I, I would love to be able to, you know, inspire people and to teach them and have them walk away thinking, oh, that was pretty good. Or, you know.

Sharon Cline: That they learned.

Logan Lewis: Something or that they learned something. Um, again, I just have to kind of I just got to man up and figure it out.

Sharon Cline: And when was the last time you did public speaking?

Logan Lewis: My event. Probably when I before then.

Sharon Cline: Do you remember the last time you did public speaking?

Logan Lewis: Oh, God. Maybe a couple times when I worked at, um. When I worked at LG. I might have done it a couple times, but.

Sharon Cline: I’m thinking that maybe if you were to have an experience that was a positive one, which most likely it will be, then you’ll you’ll see it in real time that it’s gonna going to be all right.

Logan Lewis: I think the luncheon learn opportunity will be a good one because it would be a lot smaller of an environment. It’ll be probably like 2025 people depending on who shows up to it. Um, but I think that it’ll teach me a thing or two about pacing, about, you know, when to lock eyes with the audience, when not to hand gesture. I overthink all of those things. So it’s like, if I learn that, then I think I’ll be fine because I could get past the are you ugly thing, or like, they’re all staring at me thing. Like, well, of course they’re staring because they’re learning. They’re literally here to listen to you. Um, but I get imposter syndrome. You know, I, I feel like people always like they. After an episode ends, people will get home and they’ll send me a text and thank me for doing it. And they’re like, oh, my God, you’re just so cool to be with. So cool to talk to. And I’m just like, ah, nah, I’m, I’m a, I’m a horrible person.

Sharon Cline: But, um.

Logan Lewis: But yeah, I mean, we’ll see. I mean, that might be the next step is public speaking and author and comedian. I’ve been practicing some stand up comedy lately.

Sharon Cline: So you are friends with big, big Rich? Yeah. Who is? Has been in the studio before. Really? I did not interview him directly, but I was the producer for his show. Wow. Um. And he is such a nice man and very, very humble and very funny. And I like that he has clean comedy. Not everybody does, which is totally fine. But I personally like when I can go and I could bring people that are maybe. Yeah. Um, you know, don’t, don’t really appreciate a lot of.

Logan Lewis: The crude and which.

Sharon Cline: Is fine. It’s got its place. I like it too, sometimes. But in this case, I really appreciate that. He’s, um, he’s got such an energy of of happiness, too, you know? So it’s like, all a positive experience all around.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. He’s a great guy. I mean, he’s he’s another relationship that I’ve formed over the last six months or so. Like he was on my show. He I sponsored one of his shows, and I, he, I help him do some video clips for his social media because he’s like, hey, I’m a comedian and I need to have clips on the internet. But he always says, I’m not. I’m not calling him old, but he always says, Like Logan, I’m an old man. I don’t have time for that stuff, and I don’t even want to learn that stuff. He’s like, I’m old. I’m set in my ways. And I’m like, well, then I’ll help you. Um, so I really.

Sharon Cline: Comedy.

Logan Lewis: Well, I say that, but a few weeks ago he had an event. He did a show in downtown Cartersville, and I said, hey, I’ll come be your emcee, because at the show that I went to the first time, he was introducing himself, and I was like, I shouldn’t be introducing yourself. You’re the you’re the main act. You shouldn’t be. You shouldn’t be introducing yourself. Um.

Sharon Cline: So did you do it? You were the emcee.

Logan Lewis: I was the emcee. How was it? It was great. Um. That. Sorry. That was the last time I publicly spoke. Was being the emcee.

Sharon Cline: How did that go?

Logan Lewis: Yeah, that was the last time I publicly spoke. There’s about 50 people in the theater. Oh my goodness. Um, some of which were friends and family, but, I mean, probably 40 people I didn’t know. Um, and I got up on stage, I read from some lines I prepared, um, and I did. I did a couple jokes here and there. The first one did not land. Uh, the second one did land. Um, and afterwards Rich was like, hey, man, if you practice that a few times, maybe next time I’ll let you do 3 or 4 minutes of comedy. And I was like, how do.

Sharon Cline: You feel about that? I’m so proud of you. Because that is sort of the ultimate of public speaking in a different way, because you’re kind of memorizing, but you are up in front of a bunch of people and they are kind of all looking at you. It’s interesting to me that if you can do that as a, as a comedian, how how is that different for you to be a public speaker teaching someone something?

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I mean, that’d be I mean, it’d be a perfect segue because, I mean, even as a comedian, you’re you’re you could possibly face, like, heckling and distractions and stuff like that. So, I mean, that would be good practice for sure. And I told Rich I was like, hey, anytime you do that Cartersville show, you can count on me. I’ll be your emcee. You don’t have to pay me nothing. I’ll just I’ll just show up and I’ll just do it for practice for myself.

Sharon Cline: And you know, when the show is and I’ll come, I will.

Logan Lewis: There’s one. There’s one in June. At some point, I think it’s like June 17th. I think I’ll find out the date for you. Um, but either way, I mean, again, a great show, a great comedian, and he’s a local guy that’s just figured it out. And that’s what I’m jealous of, of him is he’s he’s figured it out. Yeah. He’s, you know, up there in his in his age, he’s in his like I don’t know, I don’t even know how old he is. Um, but, you know, he’s he figured it out later in life. And he’s the happiest man that you can be.

Sharon Cline: Good energy, great energy.

Logan Lewis: And whenever I’m around him, I, I, I love to laugh personally. So whenever I’m around him, I just laugh a lot. Um, but yeah, he’s a he’s a good friend and collaborator now. Love him.

Sharon Cline: So you would love to see yourself be able to do your show as often as you want, and be able to finish writing your book and be able to investigate some comedy, things like that. Those are your goals?

Logan Lewis: I think so. Again, like they change. Um, I’d love to. I’d love to act. I’d love to voice act.

Sharon Cline: Um, I know someone.

Logan Lewis: I do too. I’d love to do all those things. See, that’s that’s the thing about me is, you know, podcasting is my core. That’s what I truly like. Gun to my head, love. But, I mean, if those other opportunities opened up, opened up, I’d absolutely say us. Hey, Logan, we want you to be a voice for a side character in an animated show. Sounds. Sounds freaking great. And I’ve listened and I’ve got another character for you.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, and here’s what else I can do. But that’s the thing. It’s like I went to Momo Con recently. I volunteered at Momo Con in the signature autograph section so that I could meet voice actors who are doing this for their living. And it’s really fascinating, the fans that they have and the dedication that people I mean, there’s a whole world I have yet to tap into in that way, but I’m trying in my own way, I guess. Um, and I could see this for you as well. So it’s like knowing that you have these dreams and these goals and you’re willing to pivot to, to kind of match them. That’s evolution. You’re you’re evolving into what, you know, making your life the way it feels right to you. So I kind of like it. It’s like evolving. People get to witness it in real time.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. You know, if if, you know, if I did a show with Rich and I, I did some stand up and it hit, and if I did a show of my own and people bought tickets and consistently came to see me perform. Then I would pivot and I’d say, okay, we’ll do the podcast less, but but now I’m going to pursue stand up.

Sharon Cline: In real time. People get to kind of witness life unfolding.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I mean, Rich was a pastor for 32 years. I don’t think when he started being a pastor, he thought he was going to be a stand up comedian. So, uh, you know, people like you just said, people’s journeys evolve over time, and we’re all around. We just see it happen.

Sharon Cline: I like it, though, because it feels like life. It’s just life. This is what is interesting to my brain right now. And it may not be in a year. It may be something else that’s interesting.

Logan Lewis: You’ve got a lot of interesting things going on, though. You’ve got the the new thing.

Sharon Cline: The new thing.

Logan Lewis: Have you talked about that on here yet? Do you want to.

Sharon Cline: Sure.

Logan Lewis: You’ve got this. You’ve got this new show.

Sharon Cline: I do have a new show. Um, it’s called history, Highway History. And then, um, if I bought the entire domain name of history highway with the whole word highway spelled out, it was like $2,000.

Logan Lewis: Hell no.

Sharon Cline: If I did so, I did it. I did it that way. Plus ChatGPT. I was like, you’ve got to help me out here. What options do I have? So, uh, yeah. So I go around to interesting places that are in Georgia. I take my motorcycle ride to interesting places that have a lot of history, um, or know people that know history, or sometimes it’s just me walking around an interesting place and film that. And then I come home and do the exact same thing that you do. I write the voiceover, I record it, I edit it, I, you know, try to make it all a story. My goal is to make them about three minutes long, which is what a typical news package is, because I don’t want to overdo. But, um, that that’s been probably the most fun for me because I can do shorter shows, but I’m also making a longer form version of Euharlee Georgia, which is not too far from Cartersville.

Logan Lewis: No, not at all.

Sharon Cline: Um, the coolest town. And I got to meet with, uh, the museum manager, Dana Risky, and she took me around the museum and pretty much showed me the history of this town. And I had the best time. I was in heaven, and just being able to take my motorcycle, go up to make a cool ride out of it, go up to this really beautiful covered bridge that is one of the oldest in the country, and imagine what life was like back in the day. They’re making a very huge effort to preserve so much about their town that I. I just really enjoyed finding out all about the different ways they do that, and then highlighting some of the aspects that maybe people don’t know about so that when they’re riding, you know, through Cartersville and they see a sign for the oldest covered bridge or the the Black Pioneer Cemetery, they could stop by or some of the coolest churches you know. Just an interesting part of southern life, and I don’t plan to just stay in the South. I plan to go up north and just really explore as much as I can and find some interesting stories to talk about. It has been a joy, and I think I published my first episode like two and a half weeks ago, and now I have eight of them out there, so I’m really excited. That’s awesome. Think about it all the time.

Logan Lewis: That’s awesome. I love that for you. Congratulations on that.

Sharon Cline: It’s been really fun and grateful too, that there are people that come to visit you and they’re very open and willing to talk to you, who’s basically a stranger. I have the same experience like, can I please come interview you about this building, you know, and then people are like, yeah, you know, because it comes from such a place of curiosity and hoping to get people to understand, um, that there’s so much more to people and places and objects and buildings that maybe if they’ve never really stopped to think about it now, it. Now they can appreciate it. Um, yeah. And it’s it really is sort of self-serving because I get to ride my motorcycle and have fun.

Logan Lewis: There you go.

Sharon Cline: So that’s. It’s been a win win. It’s all the things I like. It’s riding motorcycles, history, interviewing people, making some good media, doing, you know, using voiceover, which I can do because I have all this stuff and the equipment. So it’s kind of an and and oh, I was supposed to have a videographer and, uh, he couldn’t he couldn’t come on my trip with me. So I wound up just using my $20 gimbal. I got off the TikTok shop, which I hadn’t really even used before. I’m like, well, I guess we’ll figure out how to make this thing work. And since then, I’ve just videoed it myself. I’m not great at videoing. I’m it’s good enough, but I like that I’m a one person person who’s kind of doing it from start to finish all myself. So I, I like the notion of the, I guess, the control. Like you were saying, it’s kind of nice in that way where if it does, well then I feel proud. If it doesn’t do well, then I know it was because I did something. It’s truly on me. Um, yeah. So that’s. That’s been really fun. Yeah, I and that’s actually why I haven’t done as many of these shows. I’ve just honestly been so busy. Yeah. In a in a good way. But it’s an evolution as well. Like what you’re going through.

Logan Lewis: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Or experiencing, I should say not like you’re going through an evolution problem. I just mean you’re experiencing life unfold for you.

Logan Lewis: Yeah, absolutely.

Sharon Cline: One last question.

Logan Lewis: Hit me.

Sharon Cline: What do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to be you in the space that you’re in right now? What would you like people to know about it?

Logan Lewis: Ooh. What is it like to be me in the space that I’m in?

Sharon Cline: What do you think? Uh, people may assume about you. That isn’t true.

Logan Lewis: I think people someone said to me a while ago as a joke, but, you know, with all jokes, there’s, like a little undertone of, like, was that a joke? Or were you just saying it in a funny tone to make it sound like a joke? Right? Um, and they said, man, you’re all over social media. You are all over the place. You you’ve got to be full of yourself.

Sharon Cline: That’s a criticism.

Logan Lewis: And I laughed because it’s a long time friend and I knew he was joking. But again, like a negative review, I thought about that later and was like, huh, interesting. I am all over the place. But no, I’m not full of myself. You know, I love doing the show and of course I, I, I talk about the show a lot and I push the advertising and I do, you know, I throw it in your faces. I do that for sure. I’m not doubting or I’m not, you know, dismissing that. But truly, the intent of the show is to highlight the cool people around me like that. Is that is it? I mean, I again, like, I’ve got a full time job that I’m happy at. And of course, if the podcast became my full time job, I’d be happier. But I’m content and I’m safe and secure with with that income. So I forgot where I was going with that.

Sharon Cline: But about being, like, full of yourself and like being all over there in the in the.

Logan Lewis: In the world. Oh well, I say all that to say, but, you know, the podcast isn’t my full time gig. And if it never becomes that, I’m okay with it. I say I can’t lie and say I’m not. I wouldn’t be sad if I the day I died, I looked back and said I could have given it a little harder push. Um, but really, my people, I think I think people would think that I’m full of myself or that I’m just in it for the money, which is ironic, which is funny because there’s not much money in podcasting unless you’re famous. Um, so I really, truly just enjoy being with the people that I’m with. And if I’m, you know, every once in a while I’ll, like, bug somebody that has a connection that I really want, and I’ll bug that person about that connection. But it’s solely so I get to talk to that person. It’s not even an example of like, oh, I want to get that. I want to get that lady so I can do business with her. It’s like, no, I just want to talk to them. I want to know them.

Sharon Cline: So it’s a natural curiosity.

Logan Lewis: Yeah. I’m so curious.

Sharon Cline: Me too. It’s annoying. I wish my brain would chill out sometimes, but it does not say.

Logan Lewis: My, my, your morning drive was almost called. I’m just curious because I say that a lot in the in the interviews of like, hey, I’m just just I’m just curious and I say it a lot. And so that was almost the name because I am always curious.

Sharon Cline: I actually have one final, final question.

Logan Lewis: Final, final.

Sharon Cline: This is the final. Final question.

Logan Lewis: All right.

Sharon Cline: Hit me. What happened to the Chris Pratt? Please come on my show. Please be on. I will not stop tweeting, texting, mentioning him until he’s on the show. What happened?

Logan Lewis: You know, for those of you who don’t know, I tagged Chris Pratt on social media every day for I could tell you, I think it was about, let’s see how many days it ended up being because I saved it. Uh, it was 170 days straight on Instagram. I tagged him, uh, I forgot.

Sharon Cline: What made you give.

Logan Lewis: Up. I think, uh.

Sharon Cline: Because that’s dedication. Every day.

Logan Lewis: I think I got to the point where I realized that Chris Pratt’s, like, the hottest actor on the planet right now, and I was like, the odds of him doing the podcast are probably a lot lower than someone who’s starting their career or a young actor or actress. Um, so I think I was like, oh, I’ll pivot. And so now I’m tagging Theo Von every day until he does the podcast, and I’m on day 85 of that. So, uh, you know, and, you know, I realized today that Theo is also pretty much on top of the comedy game right now. So maybe I need to pivot again and go for the mayor of Woodstock or something?

Sharon Cline: No. Me?

Logan Lewis: I would love to have him. Hey, I know that I don’t have to try with you. I know that.

Sharon Cline: You know, you got to start tagging me and I might consider.

Logan Lewis: It. I, I day tomorrow will be day one of tagging Sharon Cline until, uh, until she does your morning drive.

Sharon Cline: Tag history. Highway. That would be fun.

Speaker4: Okay, okay.

Sharon Cline: Wait. You don’t really have to do that. I’m just.

Speaker4: Kidding. Yeah, I know.

Sharon Cline: Oh. Thank God. Well, I just want to say, Logan, you have been here in the studio for an hour, and it didn’t feel like that.

Speaker4: I know it never does that.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I really do love when that happens. But thank you so much for coming by and being willing to be so flexible with your schedule and my schedule. And, uh, yeah, we did a shot before the show. I don’t even know what to say. This never happened before in three years. So thank you for that moment.

Speaker4: Sure.

Sharon Cline: Um, used to do shots with my previous podcast, people Chuck and Z show. I was producing their show, their motorcycle influencer people. They’re actually not even influencers. They’re really just amazing people. Um, but we used to do a pre-show shot. We would call it P.s.s.. So that’s pretty much what we did. We did a P.s.s..

Logan Lewis: We did a P.s.s..

Sharon Cline: At the Business RadioX studio for.

Logan Lewis: The very.

Sharon Cline: First time. Um, but thank you, Logan, come back any time. I’d like to see how your journey is evolving. And also, I’m proud of you for being willing to be so vulnerable about things that you haven’t spoken really before, but also things that, you know, other people out there in the world think. And maybe they haven’t been brave enough to say so. Maybe just your being able to say it normalizes them a little bit and makes them feel less like there’s something wrong. Other people feel that way too. I always think there’s power that way.

Logan Lewis: Well, thanks. I again, you know, I, I love doing this and thank you for having me. I mean, it’s such a pleasure always. I mean, we said it when we started and I’ll say it again, whenever we get together, it always seems like we never have time to actually do this. And it’s it’s great. It’s always great to see one another in the wild, but then it’s like, man, I crave that one on one time, so I’ll be sure to. We’ll have to put the brains together again later, later this summer, to try to get you back on your morning drive again, because I want to have you back for a catch up. And we can talk about October. Yes, we actually do November. Yeah, that’s gonna be tough, but, um. But yeah, I just appreciate you having me. It’s it’s been a it’s been a blast. And, uh. Yeah. Thank you.

Sharon Cline: Come back anytime.

Logan Lewis: I sure will.

Sharon Cline: And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline and Logan Lewis reminding you that with knowledge and understanding and chocolate and shots, you too. Wait, what was I saying? Oh, you two can have your own fearless formula. Have a great day.

 

Tagged With: Your Morning Drive

BRX Pro Tip: Mentorship vs Sponsorship

June 13, 2025 by angishields

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BRX Pro Tip: Mentorship vs Sponsorship
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Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, how would you characterize the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship?

Lee Kantor: I think that these are two important things, especially people that are in kind of larger organizations and enterprise level businesses. Having a mentor is super important when you’re starting your career, but having sponsorship is so much more important and more impactful, and that’s what’s really going to move the needle in your career trajectory.

Lee Kantor: So, both of them help you grow, but they do it in very different ways. A mentor is more like your advisor. They’re somebody who’s sharing knowledge, they’re offering feedback, and they’re kind of a guide to help you develop whatever skills you need in order to get the career. They’re going to let you know. They might open some doors for you. They might let you know of opportunities. They’re going to build your confidence because you’re going to have somebody that’s kind of watching your back and then guiding you through the terrain of whatever the politics of your situation. And they’re going to help you make better decisions because they’re going to let you know because they’re a little ahead of you.

Lee Kantor: A sponsor, though, on the other hand, is your advocate. So, sponsors are usually a senior leader who is going to put some political capital on the line and use their influence to actively promote you. They’re going to recommend you for a key opportunity. They’re going to put their reputation on the line to help you advance. That is where the difference is made. They’re going to open doors that might otherwise stay closed, especially when it comes to a promotion or a high visibility project.

Lee Kantor: So, you need both of them on your journey. Mentors are going to help you prepare for opportunities and sponsors are going to help you get them. So, you have to seek out each of those relationships intentionally. Mentors for guidance, sponsors for advocacy, and if you do that wisely, your career will accelerate dramatically.

BRX Pro Tip: Quietly Consistent

June 12, 2025 by angishields

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Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips, Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I can think of a ton of C words that are important to success, probably in any business, certainly in the professional services arena, character, communication, creativity, but I wonder if maybe the most important over the long haul is consistency.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think that being consistent is super important, and it’s something that most people are not doing a great job in. I call it quietly consistent or relentless persistence. I think that that’s so important because in today’s world, where everyone has such a short attention span and it’s easy to get obsessed with, you know, kind of big launches or these blasts of people shouting from the rooftops of some announcement, it’s easy to overlook kind of that power of that quiet consistency, showing up day after day, being there, being in the places that your clients are day after day, week after week. This builds trust, this builds credibility, and it’s going to do so in a more impactful manner than any single splashy moment ever could.

Lee Kantor: Quiet consistency just means delivering value even when no one is watching. It’s about meeting the deadlines. It’s about keeping your promises. It’s about doing all the small things well over and over, time and time again. Your audience, your clients, your team is going to notice when you’re reliable. It’s one of those things that they almost take it for granted.

Lee Kantor: But remember, success is rarely about one big win. It’s about the steady, dependable effort that adds up and compounds over time. So, try being quietly consistent and you’re going to stand out in all the right reasons.

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