The Business of You with Rachel Gogos

When it comes to modernizing a family business, Carla Ejaz is an expert. Masterfully, she took everything wonderful and enduring about her father’s company – and successfully streamlined it for today’s customers.

Carla Ejaz is the Co-owner, Director of Business Development, and Vice President of Sales at Lasting Impressions Inc, a promotional products company that has placed in the top 8% of promotional distributors nationally. Carla specializes in seasonal trends and corporate incentive programs, working with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, mid-sized manufacturers, and even their neighborhood bar and grill.

Lasting Impressions, Inc was founded in 1976 by Carla’s father Mark Dabiero. Currently, the company resides in a 50,000 square feet facility located in Canton, Michigan equipped with screen printing and embroidery machines. Printing of textiles is done in-house which enables them to control the print quality. They offer a wide variety of options which keep up with the latest in the retail market including: jumbo print, simulated processes, liquid metal, glitter & transparent inks, rhinestone transfers, laser printing on wearables and distressed appliqués! 

Lessons in modernization

In any family business, there is a pivotal point where you must either stick to what you know – or take the risky, extraordinary leap into the unknown. When faced with respecting tradition or modernizing, Carla Ejaz chose…both. 

Carla Ejaz is enthusiastic about keeping up with the latest trends in the corporate and retail world. While consistently honoring her father’s legacy, Carla took drastic steps to make Lasting Impressions products more accessible online, and it paid off big time. Even before the pandemic, Carla spent years working closely with sales and marketing to ensure that online ordering was easy, seamless, and exceptional. 

Noticing early on that other companies were not offering easy ordering, Carla saw an opportunity for growth. She encouraged her Co-founders to invest in online marketing, and enjoyed the success that it brought when customers loved it!

Business partners make your business better

When her father announced his retirement, Carla decided she wanted in. So did her siblings – but that’s a great thing. Rather than the common stories of family feuds and power struggles, the Dabiero family makes big decisions together. 

Carla shares that they’re so successful because they trust one another, focus on their strengths, and stay in their lane. She insists that they would not have been so successful at working together if they tried to overpower one another. 

Enjoy this episode of The Business of You – if you have a family business, this will hit close to home!

Quotes

“I am a people person. I find it easy to talk to people, and I love networking. I am always learning more about other people, companies, and cultures.”

“We grew up working around the shop, since we could walk. All of us have done every job in that business – from filing to production to catalogs to customer service. I couldn’t give you my start date, because I’ve always worked here.”

“He always knew he wanted to retire at some point. He had communicated with all of us that we would have the first option to buy the company. We all wanted to have our hand in the business in some way!”

“You want to grow and change with the times, you don’t want to become stagnant. We want to keep up with trends and follow changes that are happening with the world.”

“It wasn’t common for distributors to have this robust online website. That’s something we really wanted to do!”

“We were able to implement that on-demand option that was really lacking in our industry.”

“I absolutely love having business partners. There’s 5 of us, and we all have our roles within the company. We all stay in our lane. I think that’s why we’ve been able to grow like we have.”

“I think a challenge if someone is a sole owner of a company is trying to work on your business instead of in your business, that’s a challenge.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Check out the official website for Lasting Impressions at https://www.liteam.com 

Connect with Carla on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-l-dabiero-ejaz-20baa936 

In Part 2 of our conversation with Jeff Walker, we discuss what it means to be a brand with longevity in a competitive online market…and the best and worst business advice he has ever received. 

Jeff Walker is the original online marketing business Coach, a podcaster, and the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller LAUNCH. He has been coaching people how to launch online courses, products, services, and brands online for over 30 years. Jeff started his first online business in 1996 from his child’s nursery. His "Product Launch Formula” transformed the online marketing world from the day it was released in 2005 and Jeff–and PLF–have never slowed down. Now, years later, the Product Launch Formula brand is the gold standard in the online entrepreneurial training market. Jeff’s students and clients have done over a billion dollars in launches in hundreds of niches and markets and dozens of countries around the world! Whether you are a new entrepreneur or you’ve been in business for years, it’s time to launch (or re-launch) your business. 

A flexible mindset leads the industry

Jeff has been creating online courses for decades. But he’ll tell you himself – flexibility is even more important than experience. 

While Jeff and his team thought they had perfected the art of selling courses and launching programs, they noticed a significant decrease in sales and attendance at live broadcast events in the past few years. The online market is competitive, it’s saturated, and it almost seems impossible sometimes. But instead of giving up or getting frustrated, they remained flexible. They asked themselves an important question – what would make it easier for consumers to get what they need, and how should the content be delivered?

They decided to experiment. Instead of requiring participants to attend a live broadcast, they released the content in “seasons” or “limited releases,” just like Netflix. They batched the content and sent it out with hype each time new “episodes” were released, and saw an immediate uptick in watches. 

This experimentation was essential to the success of their company, and it was a reminder that innovation never stops. Sustaining a flexible and curious mindset leads the industry, no matter how much experience you have.

The best (and worst) business advice

In his three decades in online business, Jeff has heard great advice, and terrible advice. In this episode, he shares what he’s learned and why it’s important. 

Laughing, Jeff confesses that his business reached a million dollars in sales before he hired a single employee, and four million dollars in sales before he had a team of four. He had taken some bad business advice: Someone had told him that hiring was too complicated, and it made life too hard. Looking back, Jeff wishes that he had hired sooner because despite the complication, hiring made his life–and his business–function more smoothly than ever. 

In his early years as an entrepreneur, he observed a lot of marketers using formal and corporate speech when addressing their clients. People told him that he needed to craft a persona for his online business - but his intuition told him that it was a bad call. Even in his early emails in 1996, Jeff talked to his clients in his own voice as if he was their best friend. Now, it has paid off. His clients rave about his casual, friendly, and warm way of interacting with them. It is the reason Product Launch Formula has remained so successful. 

Jeff’s lessons are a vital reminder to us that entrepreneurship is about trusting yourself, staying flexible, and taking measured risks. Enjoy Part 2 of this conversation with Jeff Walker…

Quotes

“I started this business from the baby’s changing room. For the first eight years, there wasn’t even a picture of me online. I never imagined that I’d be on camera, or doing live broadcasts.”

“One of the things that is somewhat unique about our affiliate partners is that nearly all of them came up through our program first. They used Product Launch Formula to launch and grow their businesses and brands, and then they were excited to tell the world about it.”

“Getting caught up in the process stuff…it literally made my stomach hurt. Mary took over that stuff. We were at a million dollars in sales before we hired anyone.”

“One of the bad pieces of advice I heard from a ‘business guru’ back in the day was to not hire anyone, and that it makes your life a living hell. It might make your life more complicated, but it does make your life better.”

“I think I am an extraordinary leader for our clients, and in the industry…but leading the team has been a learning experience for me. It didn’t come naturally and I wasn’t good at it. But I’ve gotten a lot better!”

“It was very clear even with the first few emails that I sent in 1996 that I needed to use my own voice. People were using a lot of corporate speak and it was so clear to me that that was a mistake. I think people like my warm, friendly conversational tone. I see that as a big piece of my personal brand.”

“People know what to expect from me. I’ve been very consistent over time. We kept getting results for our clients, and people talk about you when you get results.”

“Everything is changing, all the time. We just rolled out two new programs. For us, it’s about getting better at serving the people we already have, and exploring small mastermind events.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Check out Jeff Walker’s website at https://jeffwalker.com/ 

Enter your best email address to get Launch Quickstart – Jeff Walker’s FREE training for building a business you love: https://productlaunchformula.com/ 

Buy Jeff’s #1 New York Times bestselling book, LAUNCH: https://jeffwalker.com/programs/book-launch/ 

“Is it possible to launch a ___?” Check out this page for amazing marketing case studies. Learn about the power of launching: https://jeffwalker.com/blog/launch/launching-a/ 

To celebrate our very special 100th episode of The Business of You, we’ve brought on the ultimate VIP of online marketing: Jeff Walker! 

After a renowned 30-year career in internet sales, Jeff is here to share his insights with us. The truth is, whether you’re developing your brand or you’ve been in business, you need to launch. It’s time for you to reach the next level of success…and Jeff is exactly the entrepreneur to get you there!

Jeff Walker is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller LAUNCH. He coaches people how to launch online courses, products, services, and brands online. Jeff started his first online business in 1996, and he pioneered the very idea of the online launch. His "Product Launch Formula” transformed the online marketing world from the day it was released in 2005 and Jeff–and PLF–have never slowed down! Now, all these years later, the Product Launch Formula brand is the gold standard in the online entrepreneurial training market. Jeff’s students and clients have done over a BILLION dollars in launches in hundreds of niches and markets and dozens of countries around the world!

If you want to start or grow a successful online business, you need to launch. Are you ready for takeoff?! 

Set goals, start small

Before Jeff was an entrepreneur, he was a stay-at-home dad in the 1990’s. Struggling to support his wife and feeling uninspired by his previous corporate resume, Jeff sought out to contribute financially by learning about the stock market.

Spending nights researching stocks and trading, Jeff realized that he wanted to teach others how to make money doing it too. He began writing a modest email newsletter and sending it to his list…of 19 people. Regardless of the size of his email list, he invested his time and energy into making his newsletter the best it could be. Eventually, he realized he could charge for his knowledge, but he was nervous – what if people hated him for asking for money? In his desperation, Jeff showered his readers with more and more free resources and knowledge until he finally asked them to subscribe to a higher-value newsletter. It was his first launch, and he brought in $1,650. He was floored. 

The success of this first launch was enough to get him inspired, motivated, and fueled by the desire to do more. Every single launch he did after that grew exponentially – from $6k to $8k, then $5k and $34k – and ultimately to a $100k launch that helped him buy a home and prompted his wife to quit her job. 

Jeff’s first launch may sound simple, but it is truly a success story. He never let a small email list or the lack of industry experience  bring him down. He literally invented the product launch – simply by setting goals, and starting small!

Believe in what is possible for you

After he made $1,650 at his initial product launch, Jeff made an important discovery: An idea can become an income. We can see evidence of his discovery in everything we do as entrepreneurs, even decades later. 

While he had been building up his email list and making a small income, he had a backup plan to return to graduate school. But during his first class, he got up and walked out. Laughing, he reflects that it was out of character. “I’m not a dramatic type person,” he insists – but he realized that his path was clear. After leaving school for good, he intensely pursued online marketing with the goal to improve and learn from every launch.

Even now, Jeff talks about his first launch with the fervor or someone who has landed on the moon. Despite 17 consecutive multi-million dollar launches, it was that $1,650 that changed the course of internet sales forever. 

Enjoy Part 1 of this conversation with Jeff Walker, and be sure to tune in next week for Part 2! 

Quotes

“How do you sell something? I had no sales experience! I started researching it, and no one was teaching online marketing or online business at the time. I started studying the old masters of direct marketing going back to the 1920’s.”

“I had discomfort with sales. I thought…these people love me. But they’re going to hate me if I try to sell them something. But we were desperate as a family for an income. So I thought, I am going to really romance these people! I am going to give them even more free stuff, and make it even cooler, and it will naturally lead into an upgraded paid newsletter that had more and was more frequent. It was the free-to-fee model, and it was 1996.”

“I set goals in every area of my life – my parenting, my marriage, my adventure goals, my physical goals, and my income goals! The absolute biggest number I could imagine making was $100k. Three years later, I did it in a week. It was insane.”

“I went to a marketing conference. I didn’t know it was unusual, but I started talking about the launch. People were asking me how I did it. I started informally helping and coaching, not even charging. I didn’t even know if it would work in any other businesses.”

“I was still sitting in my office, writing newsletters about the stock market. But the floodgates were open. People were calling me, and my phone was ringing off the hook – they wanted help, and they wanted coaching.”

“The internet was growing. It was crystal clear. The idea of selling stuff online was growing. I did not see multi-million dollar launches! But I saw a legitimate path of being able to help people and build a business slowly.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Check out Jeff Walker’s website at https://jeffwalker.com/ 

Enter your best email address to get Launch Quickstart – Jeff Walker’s FREE training for building a business you love: https://productlaunchformula.com/ 

Buy Jeff’s #1 New York Times bestselling book, LAUNCH: https://jeffwalker.com/programs/book-launch/ 

“Is it possible to launch a ___?” Check out this page for amazing marketing case studies. Learn about the power of launching: https://jeffwalker.com/blog/launch/launching-a

It’s getting more popular than ever for service-based entrepreneurs to leave their businesses behind in favor of selling online courses. But the question is: which one is more sustainable?

Abagail Pumphrey has unique insight into this question. As a former service provider turned online educator, she sees the best (and worst) of both worlds. In this episode of The Business of You, Abagail will share the wild and wonderful ride behind launching her brands and help us make more informed decisions about pricing, marketing, and booking clients. 

Abagail is the Founder of Boss Project and a Co-host of the chart-topping podcast, The Strategy Hour. She is internet-famous for the program she created with her Co-founder Emylee, Trello for Business, which breaks down tedious and complicated systems into bite-size chunks for entrepreneurs. 

To date, Abagail has helped over 15,000 creative small business owners create simplicity and ease in reaching their goals. Abagail allows other service-based business owners to reignite their offer, develop systems for client experience, and get more of their time back inside their program, The Incubator. The team at Boss Project is truly revitalizing the service-based industry through strategies that don't require flashy marketing, a huge audience, or full-time hours.

Life and business comes full circle

As a child, Abagail was encouraged to work towards a career in STEM. Instead, she whimsically told her mother that she'd like to design cereal boxes someday. 

From the beginning, Abagail had a creative eye and a passion for design. While her parents instilled practical knowledge and strategic thinking, she also longed for a business beyond working 9-5. She pursued work in marketing. After a long road building her resume, a surprise layoff forced her to get serious. She accepted the challenge. Determined, Abagail launched her business and spent every waking moment in launch mode. She replaced her corporate income in a matter of months. She was popular on social media and carved out a niche in the food space – finally venturing into the packaging design field!

Making the switch from services to sales

Abagail was thriving in her career. But despite her passion and hard work, she had yet to realize she was neglecting a key opportunity.

Her Co-founder pointed to their marketing plan and suggested that many of their followers were not their clients and would never book them for their services. They were other business owners…and were missing out on significant opportunities to sell them what they needed the most! They decided to make the switch to educational programs to help entrepreneurs thrive.

Should you pivot to programs?

The switch from services to courses took a lot longer than their initial business launch. Creating infrastructure to sell online courses was a lot of work, but it paid off when it began to pay their salaries. 

Abagail says yes when asked if it was worth it – but only because she enjoys both businesses! She shares the pros and cons, emphasizing that while selling courses seems like passive income, most service providers make more money with less effort. 

This educational episode will help you decide what's right for you on your entrepreneurial journey. When it comes to business, one size does not fit all – especially when it comes to strategy, systems, and scaling!

Quotes

“On a whim, I told my mom that I wanted to design cereal boxes. She was like, what are you talking about! But someone has to design the boxes that things go in.”

“I jumped headfirst into building my business. It was a time of my life in which I had the most time and needed the least amount of money to maintain the lifestyle I had. In 30 days, I had replaced my corporate salary.”   “It is a hard switch.  Especially when you’re not marketing to the same group of people. Making the switch into education meant I was unsure when I was going to have that income again.”

“We switched gears. We put all our time and energy into the education part of the business. We stopped taking client work. It meant slowness and took time to pick up momentum…we were launching all the time!”

“We were doing live workshops every two weeks, presenting on webinars, speaking at summits and conferences. We eventually started our own podcast. It was a lot of getting in front of people to start to make a reasonable living. It took us a long time to get to where the education part paid us the same as what the service side did.”

“Our initial course was called Pricing for Profit, designed to help photographers with in-person selling and how to utilize those strategies to create an actual career and money. We took that program and extrapolated that out to be for all services, using the psychology of selling.”

“We have worked with over 15,000 businesses all over the globe over the last eight years.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit the Boss Project website at https://bossproject.com/ 

Check out the Boss Project ultimate template shop on their website at https://creativetemplateshop.com/ 

Follow Abagail Pumphrey on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/abagailsays/ 

Connect directly with Abagail on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbiep/ 

Today’s podcast guest is proof that one great idea can change everything.

Jimmy Gould is an entrepreneur and inventor who left behind a lucrative career in finance to develop a simple solution with a profound impact. His patented product, SoapStandle, is a tool that attaches to bar soap and elevates it to allow better airflow and extends its life by up to 30%  – all while preventing slippery messes in the shower. 

Since founding his company in 2018, Jimmy has now sold nearly one million SoapStandles. In this episode, he shares his experience with product development and the ins and outs of running a successful product-based business.

Landing on a great product idea

Jimmy was enjoying a successful career in finance when he stumbled – literally – onto the idea for SoapStandle. After dropping his soap in the shower one too many times, he decided to invent a solution himself.

The first SoapStandle prototype was built from modeling clay. Jimmy was amazed to discover that his invention not only prevented the soap from becoming slippery but also extended the lifetime of each bar by 20-30%. Soon he was 3D printing duplicate products for his friends.

The first batch of products got great feedback, and when Jimmy couldn’t find any companies doing something similar, he decided to patent his idea.

What began as a side business – with Jimmy 3D printing products out of his garage and sanding each SoapStandle by hand – soon became a legitimate company. With over 100K SoapStandles purchased to date, the brand has had great success marketing directly to consumers on Amazon and their website. They’re now looking to expand into retail and partner with more businesses that have bars to sell.

Traits of a successful entrepreneur

Although Jimmy’s prior experience in commission-based sales prepared him for the risks of starting a company, there was still a fair amount of learning on the job. As any founder knows, you need to wear many different hats – from marketing to manufacturing, legal, operations, and more. 

Now that the business has grown to the multi-six-figure mark in annual revenue, Jimmy is refocusing his attention on what he does best: sales. At this stage, that’s what will keep the company growing, and Jimmy intends to devote more of his time to selling while he considers the possibility of hiring a full-time salesperson. He reminds us that without an effective sales engine, the rest of your business will fall apart. 

While sales is an essential skill for all entrepreneurs, there are also several personality traits that Jimmy credits for his success. Optimism is essential – especially when you get tired of hearing “no” over and over again. Jimmy is quick to point out that every no gets you one step closer to a yes. Curiosity is equally as important, especially for anyone in product development. 

Choosing your growth channel

When starting a product-based business (or any business), you need to consider which channels will be most effective for reaching customers. SoapStandle has been very successful selling direct-to-consumer – other products may do better in wholesale or retail. One method that’s worked well for SoapStandle is partnering with other soap bar providers like Dr. Squatch Soaps. If you’re looking for new avenues to sell your product, consider partnering with businesses that serve a similar market.

As the business continues to grow, SoapStandle is now looking to expand into new markets – at home in the US and around the world. Tune into this conversation with Jimmy Gould to hear the full story…

Quotes

“Even as a little kid, I tried to figure stuff out. If I was supposed to cut the grass every week, I thought there must be an easier way to do this. I would look for patterns to save myself 10 minutes.”

“Because it’s a patented product, I can exercise on pricing a bit more. That’s worked over the past few years as far as scaling into producing more and selling more. If those margins weren’t as good, it would have been much more difficult to do.”

“If we don’t manage the sales process correctly, then all this other stuff doesn’t matter.”

“Soap is used all over the world. There’s nothing national or regional about using our product. People in South America will find it just as useful as people here do.”

“We’re trying to be flexible. I don’t want to spread myself too thin, but I think it can succeed on each of those levels. There’s no reason why we can’t sell direct-to-consumer and also be in Target and also have partnerships.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit the website for SoapStandle: https://www.soapstandle.com/ 

Check out SoapStandle on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/SoapStandle/page/0704B651-94C8-41F8-BF6B-A281DB006935?ref_=ast_bln 

Connect with Jimmy Gould on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/soapstandle/about/ 

More industry articles and facts about bar soap: barsoapinfo.com

What if you could step outside your life for a moment, tap into hidden sources of inspiration, and completely reimagine your life’s possibilities? It turns out, you can. 

In today’s episode of The Business of You, we’re hosting creativity coach Susie deVille to teach us how to do exactly that. Susie is a longtime brandiD client, and this is her second time on the podcast  – because our listeners requested that we invite her back for more!

Susie is the founder and CEO of the Innovation & Creativity Institute. An author, coach, and business owner who built and sold a highly profitable real estate firm, she has been researching innovation and creativity since 2005. Her first book, Buoyant: The Entrepreneurs Guide to Becoming Wildly Successful, Creative, and Free, has been called The Artist's Way for entrepreneurs. Susie teaches us how to be more creative, not just for fun, but in how we approach every aspect of our lives, from relationships to work. 

Are you ready to bet on yourself?

When the recession of 2008 hit, Susie lost it all. She calls it her “nuclear winter period,” a time of deep loss and seemingly endless change. But even when times were dark, Susie could bet on one thing: Herself.

Despite a business and marriage in shambles, Susie knew she had what it takes to get through difficult times. Instead of succumbing to despair, she renovated a building and started a real estate business. 

On the outside looking in, it made no sense. Her friends and family questioned her sanity when she went into real estate during a housing crash, effectively placing her life savings in the hands of an uncertain economic market. But everything paid off when she succeeded. Her business took off, and everything came into alignment for her. 

Innovative thinking requires practice.

When asked why she can weather such extreme periods of change without a hitch, Susie’s answer might surprise you…she practices being uncertain, all the time. 

Before the recession hit, Susie was no stranger to taking calculated risks. She practices creative and innovative thinking every single day using the methods she lays out in her book: walking, meditating, making art, singing, and moving her body. By allowing her brain to become comfortable with uncertainty and creativity, she effectively trains herself to become a more innovative thinker. In her own words, “There is a physiological thing that happens in our brain when we are creating something.”

You can do this too. If you find yourself becoming more inflexible and doubting your abilities, it’s time to read her book – and become more creative yourself!

It’s time to design your life…

Your life is not meant to be lived in a cubicle, doing the same things every single day, with no room for creativity. You are so much more than that, whether you know it or not. 

You create possibilities you would never have discovered by training your brain to think creatively. In her book and her coaching programs, she teaches her clients how to tap into this part of themselves. 

The first thing she asks them to do is design their ideal day. What is your ideal day, and what would you be doing if nothing was holding you back? The answers might surprise you and might be closer than you think. Despite the limitations we assume are there – money, time, and connections – allowing ourselves to dream creates space for our brain to do the work for us, identifying resources to get us closer to what we really want. That is the power of the buoyant way and Susie deVille’s incredible teaching. Tune in to this episode and prepare to discover what you’re really capable of!

Quotes

“It’s about designing and mapping out the life we want to have…and then having the courage to live it.”

“I was faced with quite a dilemma because everything in my life imploded at that point - my finances, my marriage, everything. I needed a plan to get out of this. By the end of 2010, I did it! I launched my own company and renovated a building for my office. People thought I was insane, during a recession.”

“I bet everything on myself. In three years, I was financially free. Because I was forced to make this huge leap and not just stick my toe into uncertainty but dive into the deep end, I was going to find a way!”

“I have a practice that I do every single day - meditating, walking, and creating art. I fill the well of my self-trust that is required to move with agility and speed in uncertain times.”

“Stay in your existing job and start stocking your escape capsule with money, supplies, resources, teams of people and connections to be successful. Do this first. Then you’ll be in a position of not being panicky about your resources. You’ll be able to build in a very thoughtful intentional way, and leverage your resources to make bigger and bigger deals.”

“Write down your ideal day, in detail. Don’t censor yourself, or limit yourself. Then look at it for things that are surprising to you. Suddenly, the things that you typically think will be important to you, don’t seem as important. It might surprise you how little it requires.”

“It’s important to remember things you used to do and enjoy, that you stopped doing when you got busy. Make a list of those things.”

“Don’t wait until you have five million in the bank. Beginning gives momentum. Starting opens you up to new possibilities, new people, new resources and ideas - and it’s all a lot closer to you than you might think.”

“There is a physiological thing that happens in our brain when we are creating something.”

Work With Susie:

If you would like to work with Susie, check out her latest workshop details below.

The Art of Designing Your Big Life Workshop

 (The Rosetta Stone that unlocks ALL human potential!)

Saturday, October 14 from 9 am - 1:30 pm EST (via Zoom)

Ready to achieve more while doing less and map it all out so that you are crystal clear?

There are mindsets, habits, and old limiting beliefs that must go. And there are new, more empowering ways of thinking, being, and creating that must come to the fore.

This requires a strategic plan powered by unfettered access to your inspired action, intuition, and imagination. 

Susie deVille has pulled together and distilled the wisdom of some of the best minds in the fields of neuroscience, quantum physics, creativity, design, and peak performance. She has poured everything she has learned into this transformational workshop.

If you want to map out your most successful, adventurous, and creative 2024 in a supportive and FUN community of fellow seekers, Susie invites you to join in!

Here's How to Register

Venmo your $197 payment to Susie (@Susie-deVille) OR send it via PayPal ([email protected]).

Purchase 2 paperback copies of BUOYANT from Amazon and email your receipt to:  [email protected].

Don’t put off what has been pulling at you to create, live, or launch.

PS. If you are not able to attend LIVE, you still will be able to access the entire workshop. Everyone who registers will receive the Replay via email.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Check out the website for the Innovation and Creativity Institute: https://innovationandcreativityinstitute.com/

Purchase Susie deVille’s book and hone your own creativity and inspiration: https://innovationandcreativityinstitute.com/book/ 

Become a coaching client of Susie deVille or purchase a course on her website: https://innovationandcreativityinstitute.com/work-with-susie/ 

Follow the Creativity and Innovation Institute on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/innovationandcreativityinstitute  

Connect with Susie deVille on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susiedeville/ 

 Susie recommends the work of Lynda Barry in uncovering your own creativity. You can find her beloved book What it is here: https://www.amazon.com/What-Lynda-Barry/dp/1897299354

With decades of experience in entertainment and reality TV, Brady Connell’s career might seem incredibly different than your own. But today on The Business of You, Brady shares just how similar his life lessons have been to those of any entrepreneur and freelancer!

Brady Connell is an Emmy-award-winning Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Director with vast television producing experience. Connell’s work has propelled the success of popular reality programs such as Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. 

Brady is a two-time Emmy recipient for The Amazing Race, an NAACP Image Award recipient for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a DGA Award nominee for The Great Christmas Light Fight, and a Humanitas Prize winner for writing in children’s programming. While Executive Producer/showrunner of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at ABC, the United Nations recognized Brady and his team with the prestigious Peace Award: “The Most Positive Television Show in the World.”

A graduate of UCLA, Brady Connell is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Currently, Brady is working on two primary projects: The Great Christmas Light Fight and Secret Celebrity Renovation. 

Pursue your interests and the path will become clear

When Brady Connell started working in television, he took a variety of short jobs in order to jumpstart his career. He wasn’t passionate about it and even considered leaving production altogether. 

That’s when the makers of Survivor noticed his resume and connected the dots! Although Brady’s resume looked like “a mess” to him, it was an amalgamation of experiences in game challenge creation and social experiments. The creators of Survivor realized early on that Brady’s unique resume made him perfect for the role, and he went on to be one of the first producers of reality television in history. 

The beginning of his career serves as inspiration that no matter how unusual your experience is, there is a perfect role waiting for you - you just have to work hard, develop your skills, and network. 

Be customer service-centric

While the entertainment industry is saturated with people trying to “make it in Hollywood,” Brady shares one thing that makes you stand out: Work ethic.

It’s a common belief that if you are a great performer, writer, or producer - or entrepreneur - that people will want to work with you, even if you’re challenging. However, he points out that in a saturated market, your interpersonal skills are what set you apart from the crowd. Whether you’re on set of a show and displaying a positive attitude, or an entrepreneur going out of your way to make your clients happy, your energy and attitude will define your career success. 

Stick to your values

In the world of reality television, Brady stands out: He has a firm commitment to working on life-affirming content (in a genre that doesn’t always make it easy), with principled teams and reputable partners. He chooses his projects wisely, which he learned early in his career. 

In the early years of his work in television, Brady got work wherever he could find it. Despite laughing when he refers to certain projects, he knows that his early work led him further toward success. Doing what he had to do early on led him down an illustrious path - and now, he gets to create television that has a major effect on the audience it serves. 

Inspire to standards

When managing others, Brady Connell has a technique we all can use: It’s called inspire to standards. 

When he begins work on a new project, he makes  a speech and sets expectations for the staff and crew. He shares the mission and vision of the show, what is expected of their time and energy, and how they will work together in collaboration. This is ultimately the source of his success - motivating people to be self-driven so that he doesn’t have to manage them; he only inspires and encourages. 

Inspire to standards works when we’re creating a team, and even when we’re managing ourselves. Brady uses this mantra for himself when he chooses projects - asking himself, what will drive my mission forward? What will be the most fun? What is the expectation, and is it a good use of my time? As entrepreneurs, we should be asking ourselves the same questions. 

Enjoy these life lessons from a reality TV entrepreneur - and apply them to your own career, no matter what industry you’re in.  

Quotes

“The decision to be a freelancer is a major, major career and life decision. If you’re a freelancer-type person, you have to be okay with not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from and you have to be looking for work on a regular basis. That takes your career in one direction. On the other side of things, if you want stability and consistency, that takes your career in another direction. Nobody told me that when I was starting out.”

“I was trying to get out of tv…until Survivor came along. They were putting resources into this really interesting social experiment. I happened to meet the right person at the right time. My resume, which looked like a total mess, actually made a lot of sense for this game show adventure experience. I had experience coming up with challenges for games.”

“The Amazing Race - I felt like it was pure. It was like, go here and get there as fast as you can. And we’ll give you a clue. Win the race around the world and we’ll give you a prize. We just documented their story. Historically speaking, it was impressive. It is all real.”

“You follow your gut along the way. In the freelance world, you’re making choices all the time, daily. I love that, that I’m faced with that choice. I consider the impact and whether it will be fun; it makes me think about my day-to-day work!”

“If you just want to crank out a product, it might as well be nuts and bolts. But telling stories is another thing. You’re touching peoples’ hearts. People in charge of projects have to have certain standards, personal standards, a commitment to the content, and elevating those standards so that everyone involved is self-motivated.”

“Hire the right people, then set the standards - what are these expectations and what is the commitment. Everybody becomes really self-motivated. That’s my operating procedure.”

“There is a certain collaboration in business; it is the key to everything. Everybody has different jobs and skill levels. You don’t want a bunch of egos just running around trying to prove themselves. I try to lay it out, this is how I want this production to run.”

“A lot of people come from around the world to work in this industry, But you’ll get called back if you have strong interpersonal skills. That’ll stand out. If you have a good attitude and you’re a hard worker, you will stand out.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit Brady Connell’s website at https://www.bradyconnell.com/ 

Connect with Brady on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradyconnell/

Read Brady's case study at https://thebrandid.com/portfolio/brady-connell/

When asked about the greatest challenges of scaling his business, David Charles echoes what we frequently hear from successful entrepreneurs: The biggest lesson is their own personal growth. 

In Part II of this conversation with David, we get to hear about how he launched his brand and what it took to get started. Currently, he serves as the Co-Founder, CEO, and COO of MOOD, a surging e-commerce dispensary that produces legal, high-quality THC products tailored to set your mood. Mood only sources their plants from small family-owned cannabis farms. Their product is a cannabinoid that still provides mood altering properties without giving its user a feeling of being overwhelmed. It’s cannabis and technically not marijuana. And customers are raving.

Today’s episode centers around David’s journey since he founded Mood, and we have so much to learn from him. 

The biggest journey of entrepreneurship is a personal one

It’s no secret that Mood is a massive success. In their 1+ year in business, they have already upgraded their 5,000 square foot warehouse to a 30,000 square foot warehouse to accommodate their needs. 

Mood hit a million dollars in just their second year in business, shocking David and Jake and exciting them about their prospects for the future. 

But the biggest growth journey of all? It’s personal. David admits that while he had launched many businesses, none have been as successful as Mood - leaving him feeling green and excited to learn as a leader. He grows each day into the role of CEO,  COO, and Co-founder, with an understanding that entrepreneurship is never perfect. For David, it’s about evolution.

Divide and conquer

One of the most major pieces of advice David dispenses to other  entrepreneurs is: divide and conquer. 

While people question him for dividing labor in his company, David stands by it. He hired a warehouse specialist and speaks highly of her work helping them scale the business. He also hired a client relationship specialist to interact with farmers across the United States who is experienced in the industry. Even the Co-founders enjoy a division of labor that makes sense for their respective skills. When others question his hands-off approach to leadership, David laughs. He’s here to encourage, foster growth, and give his staff the tools they need - not to control their every move. Much of their success can be attributed to this divide and conquer strategy of growth. 

Next steps: scale and sell

For some people, success means doing the same thing for their entire career. But not for David Charles. As an experiential entrepreneur, he knows that he doesn’t want to stay in one place for too long. He takes the lessons he learns and avoids stagnation by trying something new. 

Now, he dreams of scaling the company even further and selling it to a worthy successor. He strives to set goals that will ensure the company’s success - long after his nomadic lifestyle takes him in a new, exciting direction. 

Enjoy Part II of this conversation with the unstoppable David Charles…

Quotes

“Financially, I was in no place to fund an inventory-focused business with a warehouse and tons of equipment. His approach was, you do most of the work. He told me to do the marketing and he would be an investor. But then Jake went from being an investor to being in the trenches as voraciously as any Co-founder I’ve ever seen.”

“The industry is dominated by con artists and low quality operators. The industry as a whole is just not very professional. But it was really important to us that this time, we were going to deliver the best quality product for our customers.”

“We did a million our second month. Who wouldn’t get psyched about that?”

“We work with 30 to 35 small organic farms across the USA.”

“There are a lot of people who are aware of the immense benefits of THC, and they just don’t know where to get it. But now they can access this product legally and safely.”

“We’re shooting a documentary about each and every one of the farms we work with. We want to tell that seed to shelf story!”

“There are ways to be compliant and lawful, while giving people the kind of experience they desire.” “We’d like to fundamentally quadruple the size of the company. We’ve nailed it, now it’s time to scale. It. Then we’d like to exit the company when we’ve taken it as far as we can take it.”

“I’d like to get involved with charity. I’ll be able to make a difference in any way we want. I’d love to help animals, and I’d love to get a goat farm.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit the website for Mood at https://hellomood.co/ 

Connect with David on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-charles-b105911a5/ 

Read an interview with David on imensch at https://ideamensch.com/david-charles/#:~:text=David%20Charles%20is%20a%20growth,tailored%20to%20set%20your%20mood 

David Charles grew up in his father’s chocolate factory. Now, he makes a different kind of candy – infused with cannabis for the medicinal and energetic benefits of his consumers. 

David is a growth marketer, storyteller, and serial entrepreneur. Currently, he serves as the Co-Founder, CEO, and COO of MOOD, a surging e-commerce dispensary that produces legal, high-quality THC products tailored to set your mood. The team at Mood hand-selects cannabis strains for their degrees of varying cannabinoids and terpene profiles, enhancing naturally occurring profiles by adding additional cannabinoids and terpenes to further promote a given mood. The result is a cannabinoid that still provides mood altering properties without giving its user a feeling of being overwhelmed. And while it’s cannabis and technically not marijuana – it enhances the life and mood of the user, naturally. 

Mood has been in business for just over a year. Since then, they have experienced massive growth and they have already upgraded their 5,000 square foot warehouse to a 30,000 square foot warehouse to accommodate their production needs. 

Before David helped found Mood, he tried a lot of other business ventures. He was born with an entrepreneurial spirit, and never let setbacks, failures or mistakes discourage him from growing as an individual and leader. 

Today’s episode centers around David’s story before he founded Mood, and it’s a fascinating one. As business owners, we can learn so much from how David sees entrepreneurship: as a masterclass, an experience, a series of lessons, and ultimately a grand adventure. 

One size does not fit all

David Charles is a smart and successful entrepreneur. But he did not enjoy school, or prescriptive learning. 

Unlike students who simply did what they were told and memorized facts for tests, David struggled to engage. But when he found something interesting, he became obsessed to the point of losing sleep and staying up all night to read and learn. Like some rare students out there, David just was not an average student or an average person - he was an exceptional learner, despite his struggles to get good grades. 

This theme carried through into adulthood. Whereas many of his peers would get traditional jobs or follow traditional paths, David refused. Instead, he began setting out to make money in his favorite place: the internet. 

Throughout his life, David loved the internet. He loved that he could learn practically whatever he wanted, and whenever he found a gap in knowledge, he set out to find the answers. From his business researching pheromones to his consulting company, David forged his way through every lesson he could learn until he found what he was looking for.

Lessons were hard won

David started a business with a Co-founder, his friend Jake. While they admired and respected one another, they were young and inexperienced. Now, he laughs. After all, they had no background in launching and scaling companies - and they were on the road to some hard earned lessons. 

When their venture collapsed, David reflected on his mistakes as he got a job and picked up the pieces. He realized that he and Jake both avoided conflict to the point of sabotage, never discussing essential topics because they were too afraid to seem negative or difficult. It was a vital moment in both of their lives, and they parted amicably.

The right business at the right time

David  and Jake had not seen one another for years when David was living out his dreams of joining a telehealth company. He was on the brink of becoming part of their full-time marketing staff when Jake called him up. 

After a long time, he was calling him to tell him that he saw an opportunity, and he wanted to give their business relationship another shot. He told David about the edible cannabis industry, and David jumped on it. It was a serendipitous time to make the leap, and the rest is history. 

Tune in next week for Part II of The Experiential Entrepreneur with David Charles…

Quotes

“I was a horrible student in high school. I just didn’t enjoy prescriptive learning. If a teacher assigned a book, I would either not read it at all, or I’d read a few pages, find it interesting, and stay up all night reading it. I didn’t do much of what I was supposed to do, but I was a voracious learner.”

“I went through a real dark night of the soul. I sold the nice trappings I had accumulated, just to pay my rent.”

“I wanted to do something real. I had to humble myself. I had to say okay, I have been involved in these businesses that have turned over many millions of dollars. I’m a smart and experienced guy. But I don’t have a next step. Right now, I have to get a job.”

“The people who were starting telehealth companies were not marketers. They were tech people or medical people. But they didn’t know how to market. I could win on marketing alone.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit the website for Mood at https://hellomood.co/

Connect with David on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-charles-b105911a5/ 

Read an interview with David on imensch at https://ideamensch.com/david-charles/#:~:text=David%20Charles%20is%20a%20growth,tailored%20to%20set%20your%20mood 

This is the story about how two women left a toxic workplace, launched a better publishing brand, and equipped people with the tools to tell their stories.

Today’s guest on The Business of You is Leslie “LAM” Miller, the Co-founder and CEO of Girl Friday Productions. GFP is a women-owned and led publishing company, offering indie and hybrid publishing focused on inclusivity and empowerment. In Girl Friday’s nearly twenty years, LAM has focused on disrupting business as usual for both publishing processes and organizational leadership with a focus on empathy and radical transparency.

The “Girl Friday experience” has kept clients coming back for almost two decades. It begins with a compassionate, curated team devoted to authors’ publishing goals and culminates in a book they are elated to call their own. From book coaching to editorial to cover design to marketing strategy, the GFP publishing program produces books of distinction.

LAM is passionate about excellent books–but she also emphasizes positive work culture. She and her Co-founder Ingrid Emerick launched GFP after leaving their previous publishing company, where time off was virtually nonexistent and work-life balance did not exist. As young moms, they fought to be able to do the work they loved, while spending time with their families. Now at GFP, they cultivate a culture that celebrates parenthood, individuality, hobbies and interests, and harmony with work.

Being an author means that you’re an entrepreneur

LAM sees the same thing happen again and again in her years in publishing: People who passionately write books and promote them do really well. 

However, she also sees individuals who write a book and spend no time promoting it–believing that a company can carry them towards the finish line. LAM reminds us that readers–much like clients–desire a strong connection with us and our brand in order to commit to our message. 

While you can publish anything at any time, she serves a lighthearted and humorous reminder that not everything needs to be a book, and not everything will be a bestseller. It’s okay to publish something just for your grandkids. And if you decide to tell a great big story to a large audience, make sure you promote it!

Clarity attracts the right people, places, and things

LAM is unapologetically herself, and she encourages you to be yourself too. She wears her emotions on her sleeve, and that’s part of her personal brand. 

In this episode, she encourages us to be who we are and live out our values. In our lives, and in our businesses, the right people will be attracted to us. The message at Girl Friday Productions is clear: They are a gender-inclusive, diverse, and anti-racist company. Because they are clear, loud and proud about their messaging, they attract clients that believe in the power of good.

Everyone’s story deserves to be told

At Girl Friday Productions, everyone’s story deserves to be told. LAM discusses troubling trends in publishing, and how essential it is that they disrupt the norm that primarily white women get a platform to tell their stories. Even in positions of power in publishing, the executive teams are mostly led by white men. Girl Friday Productions is a loud voice in opposition to the discrimination of the traditional publishing industry. 

Now, LAM and the other staff at GFP are working behind the scenes to create exciting new offerings, empowering more diverse voices to tell their stories and reach new audiences. Enjoy this wonderful conversation with Leslie “LAM” Miller on The Business of You!

Quotes

“Every author is an entrepreneur. Every contract we have, we are teaching entrepreneurship.”

“We were publishing all these books about feminism and motherhood. At the same time, I was having my first child and my business partner Ingrid was having her second. We had three weeks of maternity leave, typing over their heads and taking meetings. We asked to reduce our hours. The answer that came back was, we’ll pay you less…but we’ll reduce your hours and your workload. But it didn’t change at all! It was so frustrating.”

“You shouldn’t have to choose between being the human that you are most of the time, and the person you are at work. I think you can be happier and it should be more sustainable.”

“We scan the landscape and ask, how can we better allow people to share their stories? That’s what we’re really passionate about. We produce audiobooks for people now! We produce eBooks. We look for new marketing opportunities. We look at social media, and what it does for authors.”

“Indie publishing, or self-publishing, used to be such a dirty word. But we built this incredible program. We aren’t going to do the same work as a traditional publishing company - we do better work! We are so proud of these books. We take better care of you.”

“If you want to publish a book so that your grandchild can have it, don’t do any marketing. But if you want to sell copies, you absolutely need to have effective strategies.”

“We give people a report that says, this is your ideal reader, where they’re hanging out, and how to reach them.”

“We don’t work on content that doesn’t help the world.”

“We would love to pass on what we know, and equip more people to tell their stories.”

“Everyone’s stories deserve to be heard. And there are a lot of stories that are being kept out of the industry.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Visit the website for Girl Friday Productions at www.girlfridayproductions.com 

Follow Girl Friday Productions on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/girlfridayproductions/ 

Follow Girl Friday Productions on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/GirlFridayProductions

Connect with LAM on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslielammiller/