The Design Business Show

Tiffany Tolliver is the founder and CEO of The EmmaRose Agency®, based in Washington, D.C.

Tiffany has a deep passion for helping women of color see their true value and not compromising the true vision they have for themselves while scaling their brands to 6 & 7 figures. She believes that revenue is just a resource to help others in need and that by putting your brand in a category of one, through strategic branding - you can serve your community WITH LESS stress knowing that your digital presence is working for (and not against) you!

Tiffany believes that the key to creating an eye-catching and intentional brand is recognizing that your company cannot flourish solely based on your logo; there must be an experience cultivated that organically taps into the pain points of your target audience - ushering them into a digital home created solely with them top of mind.

Through her dynamic designs and out of the box messaging and sales strategies, Tiffany is creating her own lane in graphic and web design. With her mission rooted in income-generating service offerings, she has worked with brands in creating unique and innovative websites that have allowed her clients to see $350k+ launches.

Showing up is serving and Tiffany commits herself to being present and future minded in order to help her client realize their true greatness and build brands that stand the test of time and create bigger profit.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

How Tiffany Used Her Talents to Create a Business

• Tiffany used to work as a communication director at a hair salon, and after yielding 10 - 15k from a Black Friday sale based on their email list and in salon sales, she realized she was doing something right and had a gift given by God

• Everything in Tiffany's life aligned to where she was able to quit the salon but, at the time, had no clients or income

• In the beginning, Tiffany was only offering logos and got her first client through her then mentor, whose husband was a chef and needed a logo and media kit

• The Emma Rose Agency, Tiffany's company name, is a combination of middle names Tiffany and her daughter both got from their great grandmothers

• Tiffany shares that in the beginning, she started saying she could do things, like creating websites, before she even knew how and would teach herself - she still does this today but with more confidence

• How Tiffany grew very quickly because she realized the gap she wanted to fill, which is helping women of color stand out online so they can fulfill their passions and help the people they want to

• We talk about being overlooked in the design industry based on experience, and Tiffany shares that she is thoughtfully transparent with clients if it is her first time doing something but works her hardest to get the client what they want

• One of Tiffany's goals was to be sought out for her aesthetic while creating a unique design that fits each unique client's style

• At the end of 2022, Tiffany had a mental breakdown due to doing too much in her business and realized she needed to pay more attention to her greater vision

• Now she revisits her greater vision every week to keep it top of mind so she can focus on the things in her business that truly align with it and says that defining her core values has also helped a lot when she's questioning anything in her business

• Tiffany is thankful for her breakdown because she realized her business wasn't working for her, it was working against her, and it led her to her vision

Using the Marketing Ecosystem for Branding + Marketing Tips

• The clients Tiffany serves are established business owners who have a professional service-based brand - they are tired of how they look online and how they are running their business and want to build a personal brand

• Even in the beginning, Tiffany understood that strategy needed to come before the design

• Tiffany prefers to work with her clients long-term in their rebranding process because one thing she's tired of in the industry is people having to hand their brand off to multiple people and having it be inconsistent

• The way Tiffany is situating her agency to grow is by not only helping with strategy but also developing and executing the vision for the brand through marketing and branding

• Tiffany explains how she looks at the bigger picture for clients because when you look at their marketing ecosystem, it's not just the website, so in her proposal process, she outlines what a partnership service (retainer) would look like

• How having a mindset of collaboration is important to Tiffany because her clients have teams that she will be working with

• Tiffany shares some marketing trends such as developing a community, looking at the marketing ecosystem as a whole, and making sure you have consistent evergreen content and not relying solely on social media

• When developing a personal brand from a professional brand, Tiffany says it's important to establish a clear and authentic perspective first, then decide if you want the two brands to complement each other or be different

• For strategy and design, Tiffany likes to identify what unique story her clients are telling and then create a focus plan, 6 months at a time, looking at what she can do and what the client needs to do to make the partnership and brand work

• Tiffany realized during her breakdown that she was putting the profit of her business over her purpose and was carrying herself differently because of it, which was not aligned with who she truly is

• The people you surround yourself with are important because they can distract you from your passion and purpose if you aren't careful

• There is no shame in taking a break to recover from burnout, but you don't want to repeat those same patterns

• Connect with Tiffany on Instagram

Links mentioned:

The Emma Rose Agency

Connect with Tiffany on Instagram

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Shannon Mattern is the founder of the Web Designer Academy, where she helps web designers work less and make more money.

She's also the host of the Profitable Web Designer Podcast and the Simply Profitable Designer Summit, where she shares strategies and advice to help web designers create freedom, flexibility, and financial independence.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Shannon's Background + The Web Designer Academy

• Shannon got her start by solving business problems for the nonprofit she worked at, where she did marketing and tech work – she was self-taught when it came to building and running their website

• How a vendor of the nonprofit hired Shannon to do some website work for him on the side, which is how she got her first client and then kept getting clients through word of mouth and says she felt bad charging people even $25/hour because she didn't understand the value of what she was doing

• After listening to a podcast episode, Shannon learned she could earn a commission through affiliate marketing by helping people set up their blogs through WordPress

• Even though Shannon was teaching people WordPress for free, people were still asking Shannon to do the work for them, so she got her pricing, systems, mindset, and boundaries in place so she could work with these clients and quit her day job

• How Shannon created the Web Designer Academy in 2016, where she teaches new web designers everything she knows

• Shannon explains how she got people to sign up for her free DIY WordPress Training with their email, which grew her email list, and shares that she used affiliate links to keep the training free

• To go all in on the Web Designer Academy, Shannon retired her free DIY WordPress Training last year

• How Shannon got the opportunity to do a speaking engagement where she offered to teach others what she was doing, which is how the Web Designer Academy was born

• Shannon shares how rewarding and fun it was to help others through the Web Designer Academy, which is why she decided to go all in on it in 2020 to empower women web designers and teach them how to run their business

The Simply Profitable Designer Summit + Intellectual Property

• If you've been around for a while on Episode 26 and Episode 132 of The Design Business Show, I interviewed Krista Miller, a web developer who started the Simply Profitable Designer Summit, but now Shannon is the host of it

• The Simply Profitable Designer Summit is coming up on March 21st – 23rd, 2023

• Shannon explains how she and Krista met through Shannon's 5-Day Website Challenge and how Krista invited Shannon to speak at the Simply Profitable Designer Summit

• Krista created her Summit in a Box offer, which was doing well, so she wanted to step away from one-on-one client work, and the summit

• Because The Simply Profitable Designer Summit was so pivotal for Shannon to get in front of her ideal clients and build relationships, she told Krista she would run the summit for her, and they eventually worked out a deal for Shannon to take over the summit

• If you want to hear the details of Shannon and Krista's deal, listen to episode 182 of Krista's Summit Host Hangout Podcast

• When it comes to your value and pricing, Shannon says to take yourself out of the equation and look at your client, what is going to be possible for them, what they are going to create in their business, and the long-term value of your offer

• Some people want to do it themselves and will never hire you, but some people don't want to do it themselves, and they can't wait to find you, and those are your people.

• Shannon explains that in the Web Designer Academy, they talk about investment-minded clients and expense-minded clients, and they teach having package-based pricing based on those clients

• You get to pick your price and then go out and sell the value of it instead of letting someone else tell you the value of it

• Shannon's Profitable Pricing Framework Training for designers that talks about her pricing philosophy

• How the value of your entire system and process that you do for clients is your intellectual property and can also be packaged up and sold separately

• If you have a process or something that feels easy to you and you love, go all in on it because that's what makes business easy

• Here is my affiliate link to The Simply Profitable Designer Summit – get your free ticket for full access to the presentations through the end of the day on March 23rd and upgrade to an all-access pass for lifetime access to presentations or the power pack to get speaker bonuses and courses

• Check out the Web Designer Academy website and connect with Shannon on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Web Designer Academy

Profitable Web Designer Podcast

Simply Profitable Designer Summit

Episode 26 of The Design Business Show with Krista Miller

Episode 132 of The Design Business Show with Krista Miller

Episode 182 - Summit Host Hangout Podcast with Shannon Mattern

Profitable Pricing Framework Training

Connect with Shannon on Instagram

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Hunter Lowder is co-owner of Tortoise & The Bear, a business strategy, operations, and mindset coaching company that supports visionaries in bringing their wild and crazy dreams to life. Coupling her past business experience as CEO of a multi-million dollar company with mindful coaching approaches, Hunter helps service-based business owners create and prioritize a strategic plan to grow their impact and move their business forward in a sustainable way.

After suffering severe burnout as a CEO, Hunter is passionate about building a business in alignment with her values. When she's not helping clients fine tune their operations, she's likely dancing and singing karaoke with her husband, feeding her son's football team, or hanging out at the beach with her fur babies.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Experiencing Burnout + How to Cope

• Hunter shares that she ran a luxury wedding venue in southern California, but towards the end of her career, she was having a lot of physical problems and realized she wasn't taking care of herself because of her mindset

• There were two options for Hunter, she could leave her career to heal or have a heart attack at age 35, so she decided to leave

• When Hunter left her career, she didn't know who she was anymore because her career became her identity, so she started working with a career life coach and dove into personality assessments

• It took Hunter 6 months to a year to realize that she needed to be kinder to her body and try her hardest every single day, but also forgive herself if she didn't hit her goals, unlike her overachiever, type A old self would have

• For the first couple of years after Hunter's burnout, it took a lot of practice to figure out what intuition was: what was her body saying yes or no to versus what was just fear

• We talk about reverse engineering your business, where you look at the big picture of where you want to go and break it down into smaller chunks that feel doable

• Hunter helps her clients close the gap between today and their goal by creating SMART(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based) goals and breaking them down into each year, quarter, month, week, and day

• You need to permit yourself to work in the way that works best for you, and as women, Hunter says we need to consider our cycles when figuring out what works best for us and not plan anything stressful during that week if it affects you in a certain way

Tortoise & The Bear + VIP Days

• After Hunter's burnout, she knew she wanted to help women like herself: Type A overachievers and those recovering from burnout, so she got a ton of coaching certificates but realized she wasn't meant to be a coach

• Hunter got a job as an executive operations assistant to help dip her toes back into the workforce, and got promoted to operations manager after 3 months and is still with them today

• While working with this company, Hunter decided she would still take on clients and ended up working 50-hour weeks, which isn't what she wanted to be doing

• How Hunter was able to pivot into strategy instead of being the implementor and got her director of operations certification to help translate brick-and-mortar business strategy to online business strategy

• Now, Hunter offers VIP Days for small business owners who are looking to have a sales and visibility strategy based on their personality

• Hunter learned that she was a manifesting generator which made so much sense to her because she loves being interviewed, answering questions, and talking to people, but where she struggles is creating the content when no one is interacting with her, like on a blog or social media post

• One of Hunter's main forms of content is podcasting, and she shares that she's creating her own podcast

• Something Hunter recommends to all her clients is content repurposing – find what you love to do and repurpose it on all platforms

• A goal of Hunter's after her son graduates is to have a nomadic life where she can live from anywhere and work from anywhere

• Hunter typically works with creative solopreneurs who are struggling with consistency, usually a lot of women who are on their 2nd career

• How Hunter's VIP Days help set clients up for the next steps in their business, which usually includes hiring a virtual assistant, scaling the business, doing group programs, etc.

• One of the biggest lessons in business and in life that Hunter has learned is that the only thing she has control over is how she reacts to things

• Hunter feels that TikTok and reels on Instagram are refreshing because they are raw and real

• At tortoiseandthebear.com/podcast, you can find a free customer journey audit from Hunter, where she will give you suggestions and ideas to implement to help make your leads, sales, and marketing efforts easier and more consistent

• Connect with Hunter on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Tortoise & The Bear Website

Customer Journey Audit

Connect with Hunter on Instagram

Connect with Hunter on TikTok

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Sherwanna Livingston is a brand strategist, digital entrepreneur, mother, speaker and influential leader who brings a fresh approach to bringing brand visions to life. Known as "The Vision Catcher", Sherwanna provides innovative branding and business consulting solutions through her enterprise Live Love Your Passion LLC . Over the course of five years, Sherwanna has been blessed to consult over 100 small businesses nationwide and serve thousands of entrepreneurs in her online community. She's been featured in Digital Journal, FOX, Shoutout DFW, Voyage Dallas, and has also been the guest on several podcasts and live radio shows.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

How Sherwanna Get Started + Elevating Self-Image

• Sherwanna shares that she worked in corporate America as a corporate trainer and was laid off while 5 months pregnant

• The story behind when Sherwanna launched her YouTube Channel in 2018 called, Live Love Your Passion about mindset, personal development, and helping others go after their passion

• Sherwanna did everything from the graphics to editing for her channel, and soon people began to ask her to help with their brands

• 2018/2019 was a time when people wanted their Instagram feed to be aesthetically pleasing, so Sherwanna started by doing Instagram makeovers - there wasn't much strategy behind it because people just wanted it to look good

• Soon, Sherwanna realized her picture-perfect feed and the feeds she was creating for clients didn't reflect their true selves, which is why she doesn't fully believe in doing that anymore

• Sherwanna likes to dig deep with all clients but especially ones who only care about something looking good - she usually finds that there's a self-image issue

• Why Sherwanna is going to launch a self-image program that will help people elevate their internal image, show up 100% confidently in themselves, and help bridge the gap between whom they envision themselves being and who they are now

• Your business and personal brands need to tie together because the vision you have for your business came from you – it starts as a personal vision

• Sherwanna shares why it's so important for people to know who they are in relation to the thing they are creating

• We are in a time where you can't just have a logo and a company and no one showing up, interacting as a person for your company

What Sherwanna's Business Looks Like + Following Your Visions

• Sherwanna explains that now her business looks like helping nonprofits/socially responsible organizations and shares how she was able to help Urban Specialists, a local Dallas, TX nonprofit, and UTOPIA Washington, an international nonprofit

• On the personal side, Sherwanna helps coach small businesses to secure corporate contracts, and she helps coach people on personal branding, which will be her main focus this year

• How Sherwanna realized there's a big branding gap for most nonprofits because for-profit companies normally have the branding together or even have an internal team to handle it, but nonprofits usually don't, which is why she wants to help them

• Sherwanna is S/WMBE certified (small business, women-owned business, and minority business enterprise certified) and explains what advantages it has for her business and how it creates stability

• Government entities and corporations have contracts put aside to work with small businesses, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, etc.

• Sherwanna's Road to Certified Program helps you certify your business to qualify for grants, corporate, and government contracts

• One thing Sherwanna wants to step into is UGC (user-generated content) - she shares how she would do that and that she's stepped into the TikTok space

• With Sherwanna's personal brand, she wants to become more of who she really is – she loves beauty and cooking and wants to show more of that

• Sherwanna's advice is to not be afraid to do that one thing that you feel called to do – go after your visions and ideas

• Check out the LLYP Studios Website and connect with her on Instagram or Facebook

Links mentioned:

LLYP Studios Website

LLYP Academy - Road To Certified

Connect with Sherwanna on Instagram

Connect with Sherwanna on Facebook

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Hi. My name is Melissa. If you're new here - hey!! I'm so glad you're here today. If you're not new, heeey! I'm grateful that I get the privilege of being in your ears and eyes. I say ears for those who listen and eyes for those who prefer to read the show notes on our website at https://thedesignbusinessshow.com. Sometimes I prefer to skim show notes instead of listening to a podcast.

So, typically the podcast format we follow over here is an interview style, but as I mentioned in episode 210 sometimes, I'm going to do solo episodes, when I'm into it. And that's record and publish a few solo episodes in addition to our weekly interviews where I talk about things I'm obsessed with related to business, design, product launches, branding and life. Think current brand + design trends meets my real (business) life.

On episode 210 I shared 3 things I love about the brand, OUAI. And in this episode, I'm going to share Legendary lessons we can learn from Rihanna's SuperBowl performance (inspired by her song lyrics).

Some people watch the SuperBowl for the football. Or the commercials.

I only watched Rihanna's concert. :)

I've been a fan of her brand and her music for years. So of course, like the rest of the world, I've been obsessed with the buzz around her SuperBowl performance and all the glass ceilings she's breaking with her brand.

And I wasn't gonna talk about it in this week's email, but then she dropped this legendary British Vogue cover about her being Reborn, while ASAP Rocky holds their baby and she's leading them on a walk on the beach, and my brain has so many things to say.

So here we are. I love lists, so I'm calling it Legendary Lessons We Can Learn from Rihanna's SuperBowl performance, inspired by her song lyrics, and the results it landed her.

1. She told us she was a savage in her song, Needed Me.

Here's why that's true:

:: More people watched her performance (118.7 million) than the game (113.05 million).

:: The streams of her songs went from 12.4 million on 2/11 (the day before), to 20.4 million on 2/12 (the day of), and 38.5 million on 2/13 the day after).

2. She can do things her own way darling, in her song, Consideration featuring SZA.

Here's what she did:

:: All her dancers wore custom Savage x Fenty (Rihanna's lingerie line) sports bras and boxers in white.

:: She touched up her make up using one of Fenty Beauty's Invisimatte, in the middle of a song. Google Searches increased by 833 percent when she did that.

:: Her make up artist told us exactly what products RiRi wore during the performance.

:: Custom NFL x Fenty Beauty products launched and her team did several brand activations in honor of this.

3. She shined bright like a diamond, like in her song, Diamond.

Here's why:

:: In the finale to her performance, she sang her hit song, Diamond, while the audience held up the flash lights on their cell phones for a super cool visual effect.

:: She showed up as herself, performing some of her best hits, with 80+ dancers and no other artists because she knew she was enough. And she knew it.

:: She nonchalantly announced her second pregnancy during the performance, and when you look at the physicality of doing everything she did - like sitting down when she needed to and dancing up on a stage in the middle of the sky, on a stage, it's nothing but enough.

:: There's a viral video of ASAP Rocky, her boyfriend, cheering her on.

4. Chasing the American Dream, as she sings in American Oxygen.

In case you didn't see the adorable video that was created with Apple Music, the NFL, and RocNation that features her song Run This Town with footage of a little girl walking down the street in Barbados to fly kites at the cemetery, where she dreamed her big dreams. You must watch it. The story telling brings literal tears to my eyes.

I loved this work of art especially, because it hits kinda close to home. She's from Barbados, and her mom is Guyanese. My dad was born in Guyana, and was a big believer in the American Dream.

I joke with my family that we could be cousins. I have no proof of that, but a girl can dream, right?

Okay, I'm going to reapply my Fenty Glow lip gloss and make a Reel about this. Maybe. :)

Talk soon!

Melissa

Sandy Vukovic is best known for spearheading development for Marc Jacobs Beauty, Kat Von D, bareMinerals and Buxom Cosmetics, Sandy Vukovic has created and grown some of the most recognizable and eponymous beauty brands for women today. Realizing that femtech products, including personal lubricants, still lacked the innovation and superior ingredient utilization that can greatly improve a woman's sexual health, Sandy is excited to parlay her deep product development expertise into game-changing products for modern day woman. Her ultimate passion is to develop Playground into the leading female sexual wellness brand—because every woman deserves to feel great in their body.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

Sandy's Experience in Product Development

• From a young age, Sandy was obsessed with beauty and personal care products for their transformative properties and how they made women feel

• How Sandy started her career at Estée Lauder and then moved to one of their hair care product brands called Aveda

• In the mid-2000s, Sandy received an opportunity to move to San Francisco and work for the brand bareMinerals

• After working for bareMinerals for 7 years, Sandy moved to Sephora, where she got to work on their beauty brand incubator, KENDO

• At KENDO, Sandy got to help create brands that had never existed, create formulas that had never been done, and utilize ingredients that were new and cutting edge

• As a product developer, Sandy was in charge of formulations, which involved identifying the trends, ingredients, and safety testing

• Sandy talks about helping to create the Buxom brand when she was at bareMinerals and how they were able to address a younger demographic and create one of the first lip polish formulas

• Two and a half years ago, Sandy left KENDO due to burnout and started consulting for small, independent brands

• How Sandy's co-founder, Catherine Magee, approached her about an amazing business idea involving a category for women that needed desperate transformation and innovation – sexual wellness

• Despite the sexual wellness industry growing, the products being offered were boring, so Sandy and Catherine were able to enter the category with more modern formulations, better-for-you formulations, and better-for-you ingredients

Creating Playground + Formulating Products

• How Sandy and Catherine were able to find a female chemist who came from the female lubricant industry to help them create the best personal lubricant possible

• Sandy explains the lengthy process they went through to create the lubricant formula to make sure others loved it just as much as they did

• During the research process, they discovered that women didn't feel comfortable purchasing lubricant because it made them feel gross or like something was wrong with them

• In addition to creating a formula that felt great, it was important to Sandy and Catherine to brand their products properly – to speak to women in a way that made them excited about using the products

• Sandy shares the different scents they offer and the science behind them and explains that they aren't strong, just enough to give you a little scent

• As women, we spend so much time, effort, and money into what we put on our face, hair, or body, but we aren't giving the same love or attention to our vaginal care routine, which is one of the most important parts of the female body

• There are so many different things that can disrupt your pH balance, which is why it was important to Sandy and Catherine to use ingredients that are safe and help with vaginal health

• Sandy explains the different ingredients they use in their products and all the benefits they have

• It was important to Sandy and Catherine that their products looked like anything else that you would find on a nightstand or bathroom shelf - it wasn't something you had to hide, and they were able to find a design agency that understood their mission

• Sandy's job right now in the business is to formulate the next generation of sexual wellness products – she shares that they have many new products in development that they will be launching over the next 2 - 3 years

• Because the FDA regulates personal lubricants, brands have to conduct a series of very intensive tests that prove the formula is safe, which is also a big part of Sandy's job

• How they were able to bring on Dr. Emily Morse, who has the #1 sexual wellness podcast as an authority figure, which has been a great asset for digital marketing

• If you want to develop a product, Sandy says to immerse yourself into the industry you want to create a product in and look at what's missing

• Check out and reach out to Sandy and Catherine directly through the Playground Website and connect with them on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Playground Website

Connect with Sandy on Instagram

Like what you heard?

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Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Rich Watson is a strong force in Augmented Reality Marketing. He has spoken all over the world about the future of eCommerce and how it will be brought into Web 3.0. Rich has over 8 years of Facebook ad media buying experience, and he is an avid believer in the potential of Non-Fungible Tokens and the metaverse.

When he's not working or speaking, Rich enjoys spending time with his wife in the coastal city of Da Nang in the center of Vietnam.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

What is Augmented Reality?

• Before stepping into the Web 3.0 world, Rich worked in paid marketing for Facebook, Instagram where he worked with primarily eCommerce clients
• Augmented Hype is Rich's business that helps online business leverage augmented reality for their marketing
• One of the biggest things people need to start doing when it comes to Web 3.0 is building a community
• Rich shares that the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality is that with virtual reality, you're stepping into a virtual environment, but with augmented reality, you're augmenting your immediate surroundings, yourself, your room, etc., with something digital
• To Rich, the Metaverse is this world with no boundaries, a chance to be anything you want and be able to connect with anyone you want at any time you want – it's a digitally rendered amplified version of the world
• An example of augmented reality is when sites let you see what something would look like in your actual home before you buy it, like what a specific rug or wall color would look like, so you can make a more informed purchase decision
• Rich explains how you can use augmented reality for all parts of your sales funnel
• When it comes to using new technology, look at what's already working within your industry and think about how it can become a more immersive experience
• A simple example Rich gives is with beauty products; augmented reality allows you to try different products on to see how they'd look on you before purchasing, something you can't necessarily do at a store – this also means consumers might try something they wouldn't have in the store

How to Use Augmented Reality in Your Business

• One case study of Rich's shows how they were able to help a client increase their average order value by 50% because they gave people a chance to try the top 6 – 8 selling lipsticks through augmented reality
• By allowing people to have the most realistic experience with your products, you can lower your return rate and customer service inquiries
• Rich explains that the barrier to entry for augmented reality is the lowest it's ever been because there are many ways to do it without having an app - there's social and web augmented reality, for example
• Web 3.0 is the new internet infrastructure that's coming – the idea is for you to own the data through your communities
• Augmented reality can set you apart from your competition, and it can help lower the returns that your competitors might have
• Rich shares a Squid Game example; a creator from Singapore created a Squid Game augmented reality that reached 500 million people organically
• You can go into different galleries (Lens for Snapchat and Spark for Meta) and scroll around to see different creators and what they've made
• Augmented Hype started working with agencies where they were their augmented reality specialist and helped achieve specific objectives for different campaigns
• Shopify did a study that showed using augmented reality to visualize products increased conversion rates by up to 200%
• How Rich created a Slack Community called Augmented Marketers to help people add this service to their agencies
• Rich helps people implement augmented reality into their business and works with them for 2 months so they can continuously optimize and change things when needed, which is not something a lot of augmented reality services do
• Go to the Augmented Hype website to see examples, download freebies, and join their community
• The biggest thing with augmented reality, Rich says, is making it as clear as possible – keep it simple, especially when starting out
• Rich says that even implementing the most complex augmented reality into your campaign strategy wouldn't take longer than 2 working weeks
• When it comes to what's next for Rich's business, he says they'll be focusing on educating and showing people how you can use augmented reality
• Rich gives an example where Disney+ used augmented reality for a short film called, Remembering where you downloaded the app, and during the movie, your phone would ring, and when you opened it, the movie spilled out into your room
• Augmented Reality glasses are the future, Rich believes, and within the next 3 – 5 years, he believes they'll replace phones
• Check out the Augmented Hype Website to learn more, and connect with Rich on Instagram and LinkedIn

Links mentioned:

Augmented Hype Website

Connect with Rich on Instagram

Connect with Rich on LinkedIn

7 AR ad strategies for Facebook ads

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Liz Nead is an adventure speaker, traveling the world and taking on challenges to find lessons of leadership, communication diversity, and inclusion. A diversity speaker and researcher for over a decade, she specializes in common language and daily communication around race and cultural differences in the workplace. Liz uses a direct, humorous, and vivid style from the stage to create opportunities for communication around differences. Liz has also served as an executive coach and consultant for DEI challenges for companies like Paypal, News Corp, National Guard, and YWCA.

Liz is a television host and author, writing several Amazon best sellers, most recently "The 1440 Principle." She also won a regional Emmy for her television show, "Life Dare." Liz balances her passionate work with a thriving family of seven and husband of 20 years, a retired army major.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

How Liz Became a Speaker + Created Her Own TV Show

• How Liz and I met, why I was drawn to her, and how we've stayed in contact for around 15 years
• Liz is putting a podcast together that I've been helping her with a little bit
• Check out Liz's website to see all the different topics she speaks about
• Because Liz believes in inspiring and helping people in the different ways they need, she has many different mediums for people – if you like to read, she has a book; if you watch TV, she filmed a show; she did radio, and does coaching
• The story of how Liz was speaking to her stuffed animals as a child and thanking them for coming to her events and feels that she had speaking inside her from a very young age
• Being laid off pushed Liz into entrepreneurship and into speaking
• How Oprah helped shape how Liz views the world and how It was always a goal of hers to have a TV show
• Liz shares how she was able to start her TV show, Life Dare, with the help of someone in her Rotary Club and how she bought a 30-minute slot on FOX to do it
• If you see yourself doing something, you build a structure to make yourself believe it – then you can do anything
• Liz gets most of her speaking engagements through word of mouth but also spends a lot of time cold calling
• At the end of 2021, Liz was put in the hospital due to a heart condition, which hurt her business because she went 7 months without promoting herself
• Liz went to the hospital expecting to be checked in and out the same day but did not end up checking out for another 7 weeks and had to have open heart surgery right away
• Liz was in a coma for a week, and her amazing kids helped while she was in that condition, moving her schedule around for clients, posting to her social media, staying by her side, etc.
• Being superwoman is tiring, Liz shares, but at the same time, it fuels her fire – which is relatable for many people
• Part of why Liz is so transparent is because she needs support, though most people's instinct is to act like everything is fine and they don't need support

The Importance of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• In 2020, Liz says that DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) blew up, which was good for her because she had been speaking about it for years
• How Liz created 10 training videos on DEI for Prositions, a company that sells training videos to companies – creating those videos helped her nail down her messaging
• Many racially charged events over the last couple of years have shown us how much work we need to do when it comes to DEI and how conscious we need to become
• Liz explains that many people were not taught anything about diversity growing up, which has contributed to the lack of knowledge when it comes to DEI
• The reason why Liz talks about DEI in a very non-confrontational way
• We discuss how different times are now compared to when we were growing up or when our parents were growing up – our kids know so much more about mental health and sexual identity, for example
• As creators in 2023 and beyond, we have to learn to educate employers on why it's important to be conscious of DEI, and Liz gives an example of how to do this when giving a proposal
• Liz says it's not enough to put brown people into pictures; you have to truly understand why representation is important and be sensitive about it
• How Liz couldn't find brown hands on Canva even though they have hundreds of thousands of images
• It's hard to notice when others aren't being included when you are always included – we need to make room for everyone, and to do that, it may feel like you're being disregarded, but you aren't
• Liz explains that we will always have to be conscious of DEI – it is a constant self-evaluation
• Human resources and connections are the money – if you get the chance to talk to someone and they share what they think, and they're giving their thoughts and opinions on what you are passionate about, that's really important
• Check out Liz's website, and if you put your name in the dropdown box at the top of the website, she'll reach out to you
• Liz is creating a diversity workbook that ties in the concepts she speaks about, which will be available hopefully within the next month on her website

Links mentioned:

The 1440 Principle

Liz Nead's Website

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Laurie Rosenwald is an author, designer, painter, and educator whose impressive body of work encapsulates her vivacious, outspoken, and colorful personality. Her most recent book, How to Make Mistakes on Purpose, which was the subject of her TEDx Talk and is accompanied by a touring workshop of the same name, gives readers and audiences insight into the beautiful world of creating through intentional acts of randomness - a way of working that helps individuals get unstuck and discover new skill sets. The workshop has been conducted for major businesses and brands like Google, Starbucks, Scholastic, Buzzfeed, and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

How Laurie Got Her Creative Start

• Laurie describes her childhood and shares that she has been drawing since 3 years old and has never stopped
• The mindset Laurie has always had of what mattered was art and creativity - she has never focused on business or making money which has allowed her to be freer than others
• The first paid project Laurie had was an illustration for a small editorial in the back of the New York Times
• Most people choose to do one thing and stick with it, but Laurie shares that she's always done graphic design, illustration, painting, and writing because she gets bored easily when she sticks to just one thing
• Laurie always did freelance illustration but also worked with many different magazines and newspapers doing layout design, graphic design, and editorial design
• The story of how Laurie got the job at the New York Times Magazine by lying about her skills, but because they liked her, they taught her how to do her job
• After working for the New York Times Magazine, Laurie worked for Condé Nast, where she worked on the first issues of Self Magazine and Vanity Fair Magazine, plus so many other projects
• One of Laurie's favorite projects was working on a Bloomingdale's shopping bag in 1981, which they, unfortunately took her name off of because she wasn't famous
• Laurie has lived off and on in Sweden for many years and shares that she worked on products for the Swedish post office
• In the late 80s, Laurie worked on an album cover for Joe Jackson
• More recently, the most exciting things for Laurie to do are her own books because she gets to express herself and have the freedom to do whatever she wants
• The story of how Laurie created her own typeface called, Loupot, which is based on a logo she has always loved
• Laurie started dabbling in animation while working with Nickelodeon and ended up doing an animated app with David Sedaris called David's Diary
• When it comes to awards, Laurie believes they don't really matter because there are so many awards, and no one ever asks to see them – she believes it shouldn't be what you focus on

Making Mistakes on Purpose

• How, in the digital world, we've lost a bit of personalization, which Laurie believes is super important
• Laurie explains that her workshop, How to Make Mistakes on Purpose, is more about helping people do things they normally wouldn't and discover new things by sabotage because if you do the same thing over and over again because you've mastered a skill, you never discover anything new
• The point of Laurie's workshop is also to take the focus off doing one good thing and instead focus on creating as much as possible
• Laurie wants to combine what digital programs are good at and what human beings are good at and combine them
• Laurie shares a personal story about her life and how looking back, sometimes you think things are mistakes, but they aren't
• Because Laurie has done so many different things, her clients and projects are very diverse
• The most important thing to Laurie is to keep creating, and if people find her, that's great, but she's not making it a priority for her work to be known
• All of Laurie's books are a combination of humor and design because she wants to entertain people
• How Laurie feels that her books, How to Make Mistakes on Purpose and All the Wrong People Have Self-esteem are misunderstood as self-help books
• Laurie is excited about a memoir she's working on called, Memwah and is currently looking for the right agent, editor, and publisher and explains why she doesn't want to self-publish
• One thing Laurie wants to continue to do is bigger and better workshops – she shares that she's done them for brands like Google and Starbucks
• A goal of Laurie's is to find great companies and venues to experience How to Make Mistakes on Purpose
• The more digital the world gets, the more perfect the world gets, but Laurie says there's a problem with that, and we need to bring back the random and chaos to get somewhere new
• Reach out and connect with Laurie on Instagram, Twitter and check out her website to learn more about her

Links mentioned:

Links mentioned:

How to Make Mistakes on Purpose Book

How to Make Mistakes on Purpose Workshop

Laurie's 2019 Invisible Talk: How to Make Mistakes on Purpose

Connect with Laurie on Instagram

Connect with Laurie on Twitter

Visit Laurie's Website

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Hi. My name is Melissa. If you're new here - hey!! I'm so glad you're here today. If you're not new, heeey! I'm grateful that I get the privilege of being in your ears and eyes. I say ears for those who listen and eyes for those who prefer to read the show notes on our website at https://thedesignbusinessshow.com. Sometimes I prefer to skim show notes instead of listening to a podcast. I'm a fast reader and easily distracted.

I'm going to do something a little bit different on the show this year, for a moment, while I'm into it. And that's record and publish a few solo episodes in addition to our weekly interviews where I talk about things I'm obsessed with related to business, design, product launches, branding and life. Think current brand + design trends meets my real (business) life.

And today, I'm doing something I've wanted to do for a long time, talk to you about all the things I love about Jen Atkin's brand, OUAI. From both the lens of a consumer and a designer. Quick disclaimer: I'm not an affiliate for this brand. I'm not a hair influencer. I just love it and I think there's a lot we can learn from it.

About Jen Atkin and her brand, OUAI

I first heard about her when I saw her traveling with Chrissy Tiegen and quickly learned she was her hairstylist. And if you've seen an episode on Keeping up with the Kardashians, you might've seen her doing Khloe or Kendall's hair.

Long story short, she's someone I aspire to be like when I grow up. She's a talented hairstylist who's worked with celebrities. She has an educational site for hair stylists she founded called Mane Addicts, which is the authoritative and educational destination with a "cool modern voice" for all things hair, according to their website.

She also has a book I've read, twice, called Blowing My Way to the Top, (in reference to blow drying hair). I even bought the suitcase she helped create as a collab with CALPAK. And then there's her hair product line, OUAI.

Reason #1: The Products Are So Awesome I Spend OUAI too much money on them

I've tried 16 of the products. The ones I use the most frequently are the Medium Hair Shampoo and Conditioner, Leave-in Conditioner, Scalp Serum, Dry Shampoo and the Scalp and Body Scrub. And the Wave Spray.

They smell amazing. They helped me eliminate the eczema on my scalp, and my hair is the healthiest it's ever been. My Indian hair is one of my better features, but it's fine and thin; and now it's thicker, a little wavier and I repeat, it's the healthiest it's ever been. The products are a little on the pricier side, but I don't spend a lot of money on stuff, so I consider this one of my treats. And they're so good I don't even like to get my hair washed at a salon.

Takeaway: Create high quality products that solve your clients' problems and they'll try over 16 products and spend OUAI too much money with you.

Reason #2: The puns

If you read my headline; it says I'm "OUAI" obsessed with this brand, because OUAI pronounced "way" and means yes, in that casual, Parisian way. And in all of their marketing, there are puns.

Right now, for example, they recently launched their anti-dandruff shampoo and they use clever copy like "Stop Flaking On Your Plans" on their website and "Do More than Drugstore" on their display graphic at Sephora. The press box for this product had a glittery snowflake with a gift tag with the words "Let it Snow" with the word Snow crossed out. So fun.

And they even have a "Paw-some" product called Fur Bébé (spelled bebe but pronounce dBaybay) I bought for my dog. It smells amazing. After we wash my Benji with it he actually smells good instead of a wet dog. And Jen is a huge advocate for adopting shelter dogs, and her Insta bio used to read dog mom. We've adopted both of the dogs we had, and I refuse to do it any other way.

There are a ton more puns, you'll just have to follow them on social media and try some of their products to see their brilliant product descriptions + marketing copy in action.

Takeaway: Clever copy, genius puns and a clean brand and product design will make your nerdy customers who love puns create an entire podcast episode about them.

Reason #3: Their product landing pages are the BEST

As someone whose specialty is conversion design, I love Ouai's branding. It's simple. Clean.

And their product sales pages make me drool. Let's break down the formula they use for the Fur Bébé shampoo landing page.

1. They use tons of cute photos of dogs. Anyone who is a dog lover will be drawn in.

2. They use copy that reads WASH THIS OUAI, WASH THIS OUAI. In reference to the Aerosmith song, Walk this Way. Now every time I hear that song I'll think about the doggy shampoo.

3. The add-to-cart button is right at the top of the page, making it easy for me to purchase, with options for payment plans via Klarna. 4. If I'm not sure I want to purchase, I can read the product descriptions, check out the ingredients, read the instructions on how to use it, and/or read reviews. I really love how beauty brands are showing you how to use their products.

5. Then I can look at cute photos of dogs with the "before" and "after" shots. They go from cute and wet to cute and fluffy.

6. An entire section that highlights the scent of the shampoo; and I love most of their scents.

7. Then, they show me related products. One thing I'd love to see in each section or at least a couple times on the page is another buy button.

I'm not exactly sure who their full design team is, but I know they have an in-house team, and I believe they work with CASE Agency. Jen has shared Zoom meetings they've been on on her Insta Stories and tagged Tony Yumul, one of the agency founders. I think they're old friends, but don't quote me on that.

The takeaway: Use branding, imagery and clear copy on your landing page that's specific to your products and speaks to the user. They don't use a ton of copy. They show me how to use the product. They show me the ingredients, the details, the benefits I need to know.

And they show me cute dogs. As my kids have gotten older, I've become a dog person. I might just buy some more even though we haven't gone through it all yet!

Bonus reason: They don't use manipulative language

For my friends in the online space, I want to point out that OUAI's brand voice is pop-culture-y fun. There is no misleading language or language that says if the user doesn't invest in their dog shampoo that the dog will continue to stink and have bad fur.

The tactic of telling someone they will "fail" if they don't invest has been a trend in the online space for years, and now I know better.

Recap:

Takeaway #1: Create high quality products that solve your clients' problems and they'll try over 16 products and spend OUAI too much money with you.

Takeaway #2: Clever copy, genius puns and a clean brand and product design will make your nerdy customers who love puns create an entire podcast episode about them.

Takeaway #3: Use branding, imagery and clear copy on your landing page that's specific to your products and speaks to the user. They don't use a ton of copy. They show me how to use the product. They show me the ingredients, the details, the benefits I need to use.

And don't be manipulative or try to make people feel bad if they're not ready to invest.

That's it! And one thing I'd love to know from you (directly), is do you like these kinds of episodes?

Send me a message and tell me! If you go to Melissaburkheimer.com there's a red button that says "Send Melissa a DM" and you can message me on Instagram, LinkedIn or you can email me. No one will see your message but me! Talk to you soon and thanks for tuning in!

Links mentioned:

LIVE WORKSHOP: Be Nice to My Brand

OUAI

Mane Addicts

Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

Fur Bébé