If These Heels Could Talk

How do you measure success? In a super-driven environment, measurable results are often discussed as if every initiative needs to ‘pay off’ individually. Otherwise they’re not worth doing. But the totality of many efforts combines to deliver measurable results in the end. 

When we sub-divide a process so much, we can lose meaning and measurability along the way. In marketing, we talk about an omnichannel approach, where multiple brand touch points add up across platforms to create awareness, sales, and, ultimately, brand loyalty. But when we start to try to measure each brand touch point against each other, we can lose sight of the importance of each. 

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea talk about initiatives that are more than the sum of their parts. 

https://youtu.be/3WMJNpf3inQ

Ah, the dreaded holiday interaction with a long-distance, sometimes well-meaning, relation who doesn’t understand boundaries. Which aunt or uncle or great-grand-something will comment on your holiday sweater being a little tighter this year? Or ask if you’ve finally started dating again? Or how that embarrassing surgery went? Who will ask the most awkward and inappropriate question? 

Nice, Spice, and Ice could be your answer. You can’t control others asking odd questions or commenting on your food choices. But you can control your response. You can choose to be nice (We don’t use that word anymore, Aunt Sharon), be spice (Thanks for telling me my sweater’s too tight. Did you know that Frank isn’t your real father?), or be ice (Rude.)

Listen in as JoyGenea and Michelle talk about these options and a real sense of taking back the power at large social gatherings. 

https://youtu.be/FFuKNIh3Hn0

When we feel the pressure to say yes, where does it come from? Social pressures, business pressures, family pressures - how much are we adding the pressures for ourselves and how much is coming from external sources?

A complicated question but even more complicated answers from Michelle and JoyGenea. Listen in as they discuss the pressures they feel to say yes and the inevitable fallout from following the same social scripts over and over again.

https://youtu.be/1aLctI_XoO4

The sunk cost fallacy is a common belief that we should continue on the same course of action because it has already cost us so much. The faulty logic seems to make sense - we’ve already bet so much on this poker hand that we may as well see it through. 

But the fallacy is that we cannot win our way out of a mistake. Once it becomes obvious that it’s the wrong thing to do, whatever IT is, the only way to win is to stop playing. In business, this is especially true. There comes a point when your previous decisions or your current course of action is no longer the best way forward. Sometimes it’s early in a process. And sometimes it’s not. And it’s way better to recognize you’re on a losing course and step out early.

Sunk cost isn’t just about money. It’s about time, emotional energy, physical space - JoyGenea and Michelle discuss all the ways our decisions can continue to cost us over time.

https://youtu.be/lZQAkOuRWaU

“Congratulations!” “Thanks, it’s really not that big of a deal.”

If you have ever found yourself in this conversation, it can be a difficult one to navigate. Where’s the line between proud and bragging? Between humble and self-effacing? Does it really depend on who we’re talking to or more on who we are? When do we get to feel proud of ourselves without complication, regret, guilt, or shame?

JoyGenea and Michelle talk about standing in our accomplishments kindly, while also acknowledging the accomplishments of others proudly. We can support and celebrate each other and ourselves.

https://youtu.be/2oe-gIRE2rw

It’s late and you’re tired. You’re doom scrolling through social media, a newsfeed, or YouTube and see it: the clickbait to end all clickbait. Maybe it’s 16 tips to shrink your thighs or 42 reasons a celebrity sucks or 15 ways to save money on car insurance. But it’s bait. And you fall for it, hook, line and sinker. 

And then you wait for what feels like 15 minutes for all the ads to load and you know you’ve made a grave mistake. 

So much of the internet is what we make it now with our behavior. And it isn’t our thoughtful, frontal cortex behavior, it’s our lizard brain behavior. Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea talk about the challenges presented by clickbait and the self-fulfilling prophecy that is the internet.

https://youtu.be/dTGiLo5Z4xA

What is a Cat Nap day? It’s a day of concentration, a day of focus, and a planned day of rest for those who want or need one. 

To maintain high expectations but also help those who have high expectations of themselves, planned release valves are important. And it means that leadership is showing everyone the importance of rest. Once a month, for the last 4 months, a Cat Nap day is scheduled. As we get into 2023, we’re thinking about naming 2 a month, they’re that popular. 

Culture is what we make it. Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea talk about this very specific move that is helping to create the culture Michelle wants to work in every day.

https://youtu.be/13-_ETFStR4

Wouldn’t life be so much better if we could just say what we meant? Especially when a well-meaning, lovely person in our lives offers us ideas that would be solutions to them but create more issues for us. 

We get to say no thank you. We get to state preferences. AND we all get to have different preferences and experiences. JoyGenea finds inspiration and centeredness in her outdoor adventures and seeks time outside. Michelle finds mosquito bites and sunburn in her outdoor adventures and avoids time outside. Michelle enjoys coffee and the occasional adult beverage and JoyGenea avoids caffeine and alcohol of all kinds. 

And there’s nothing wrong with either. Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea talk about the scripts that keep us from getting closer, the reasons we feel like we can’t be honest with acquaintances, and how horrible camping can be (can you tell Michelle wrote this?).

https://youtu.be/k-eBeEWOP58

Business partnership is like any other partnership and can be betrayed. The human response to betrayal is hurt, anger, pain - so why do we pretend otherwise? Why do we pretend, ‘it’s just business?’ 

So what happens when company leadership lets their humanity show? Check out the Try Guys’ recent PR master class in brand apologies and how to respond to betrayal. There have been all kinds of reactions and opinions about the entire story of one of the original Try Guys being, in essence, fired for having a consensual relationship with an employee outside of his marriage. 

In contrast to more corporate, cold, non-apology ‘apologies,’ the way this incident has been handled was forthcoming, transparent, and authentic to the influencer brand. Instead of assuming that it wouldn’t be part of the brand moving forward, the Try Guys are openly acknowledging that their brand is changed by it. As are they as individuals. 

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss business betrayal and the aftermath.

Try Guy Video https://youtu.be/t6fIp7mMJ90

https://youtu.be/0iuIMVrSnqE

Nobody wants to think about the end of something at the beginning. That beginning excited feeling can be a little lessened by a single, fundamental truth: Everything that starts also ends. 

It’s rare for entrepreneurs to think about the end of their business at the beginning. We’re so consumed with growing and next steps that it is hard to remember what we’re growing toward. Maybe you want to pass your business to your kids. Maybe you want to sell after 10 years. Maybe you want to grow a successor from your team. But you might not have given any of those paths serious thoughts because they are all ‘someday.’

If you’re lucky enough to choose your business’s end (or your end in your business), there are a few elements to keep in mind along the way that can make your business significantly more valuable. And they’re not easy to create once you’ve decided to end the journey - they’re much more powerful along the way. 

Listen in as Michelle and JoyGenea discuss three key ways to make your business more valuable: Audited financials, Diversified revenue, and written standard operating procedures. 

https://youtu.be/QEcgO9uUkJU