Wayfinding Growth (video)

The Journey to Personalized Perks

Sarah Bedrick is cofounder and VP of marketing at Compt, an HR software that helps companies create perk stipends so employees can get the perks they want and need most.

Prior to Compt, Sarah worked for HubSpot for more than six years. That's where she crossed paths with both Dan and Remington. Her most recent role was to lead the certifications program, leading the HubSpot Academy website strategy and co-PMed the Learning Center application they developed.

Sarah has seen startup to scale-up growth, true startup growth and the disruption of an industry.

At Compt, Sarah and her co-founder Amy Spurling, businesses get help creating a 1-to-1 (as opposed to 1-to-many) experience with perks.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

HR is Ripe for Disruption

When Sarah was with HubSpot early on, she saw the rise of the marketer and the power of the customer. The internet gave consumers the power to find what they want when they want it, while giving marketers access they hadn't previously enjoyed. She says the profession of human resources and employee retention is at a similar inflection point.

"Where companies have been screaming 'customer success,' a lot of companies are now saying 'Wait a minute! What about employee success?" - Sarah Bedrick

Businesses have operated in the space that perks mean things like 401k and break rooms with food. Sometimes the more innovative companies have given employees on-site gyms or free beer and bean bags.

But today, as the landscape evolves and talent becomes more difficult to attract and retain, the leading-edge brands are using more personalized perks like stipends for health and wellness. Employees can use this for gym memberships of their own so they aren't working out with colleagues. They're using them for 5k or marathon training and race fees. Or they're using a stipend for massage therapy. It's personalized.

Compt helps those businesses plan, implement and manage custom solutions for these modern team members. It's growth through custom, personalized perks.

Personal Growth Through Coaching

Sarah attributes much of her growth both professionally and personally to coaching. Her biggest shipwreck came when she was six years into her stellar career at one of the biggest up and coming SaaS companies, HubSpot. Many friends and family members kept telling her that she had it perfect - a great career, a good salary, great perks, a team she co-founded - but she was no longer feeling fulfilled.

Christine Hassler calls this an expectation hangover. Despite building a charmed life, Sarah felt like she was stuck. Through coaching and a lot of self-reflection, she realized that she needed a new challenge, and it was okay that she was ready to move on from this "perfect life" she'd built.

The growth she experienced, in her words, came through coaching. She's become a major proponent of personal and professional coaching, and says if you want to take a growth journey, that's the ticket.

"When you feel like you belong, you can do unimaginable things." - Sarah Bedrick

Get to Know Sarah Bedrick

Sarah's website

Compt

Sarah on Twitter

Sarah on LinkedIn

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

What is The Chrysalis Effect?

Over this season, Remington and Dan have talked about an event in the history of Impulse Creative referred to as The Chrysalis Effect.

Let's start with what a chrysalis is:

A quiescent insect pupa, especially of a butterfly or moth.

the hard outer case enclosing a chrysalis

a transitional state

Remington uses the transitional state as his North Star in this story. Impulse went through a severely transitional state in 2014. A team of 9 (including the co-founders Rachel and Remington) was whittled down to 3.

That fall, Remington had put a person into leadership, who promptly went on vacation and never came back. This person went to a competing agency. Soon after another member of the team "was poached, then incentivized to bring others with them."

At the time, Rachel was expecting their first child, so both leaders at Impulse were beginning to wear parental hats and priorities began to shift. New leadership was meant to ease that transition for the co-founders, while keeping the business moving forward for its clients and incoming clients.

"We put people in roles just to fit them somewhere," Remington said of the time. "We had people who weren't clear in their communication. We were focused on output, not on how people felt."

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Triggered: Learn Lessons Through History

It's important to learn from history. It's why history classes are critical in school. But it's also why self-reflection is critical to business owners and leaders.

For Remington, this self-awareness and situational awareness has helped keep the triggers away. The pieces are currently in place just as they were before The Chrysalis Effect.

We're growing - new clients and more revenue

We just hired a leadership position - Director of Inbound Juli Durante

The Begg family is expanding

It's the same time of year

Without keeping their eyes on the past while moving forward in knowledge, Rachel and Remington could easily feel the familiar anxiety or negativity of the situation, caving into triggers and shutting down.

Instead, they're charging forward with wisdom and compassion, and working to keep communication open among the crew.

"The people you hire shouldn't have to earn your trust. You hire them because you trust them. But they need to keep your trust. You're hiring people to do a job. You need to trust that they will." - Remington

You're Going to Skin Your Knees Along the Entrepreneurial Journey

Be Careful What You Wish For

Growth. It's the goal of any business. But sometimes the growth we hope for isn't the growth we plan for. Remington reflected on aggressive growth tracks for businesses, including the track Impulse Creative was on just prior to The Chrysalis Effect.

HubSpot's case study on Impulse Creative lays out the history well. 3X increase in revenue in 2 years. 6X increase in retainer client revenue in 2 years. 5.3X increase in monthly leads year over year.

"This sounds exciting for anyone who doesn't do it," Remington said. "Six-X growth is really uncontrollable in a lot of cases."

The growth Impulse experienced push the team and the leadership to its limits. Remington believes a large part of The Chrysalis Effect came directly from this growth chapter in Impulse's story.

The lesson: Be careful what you wish for. Controlled growth is better than chaos.

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Growth in the Financial Industry

Meet Mark Ritter. Mark is CEO of Member Business Financial Services. That’s a Credit Union Service Organization, serving multiple credit unions. He’s an expert on credit unions and the business loan world. On this episode, he takes us on his growth journey and what it was like to be the fifth CEO in 5 years at MBFS, an organization that had never made money prior to his leadership.

Mark was the founder of Members 1st FCU's credit union business lending program that grew to be one of the top ten in the nation in number of loans and balances outstanding for federal credit unions. He also developed a participation program that grew to one of the top buyers and sellers of credit union business loans in the eastern United States. He's done extensive work with branch retail staff, business lending operational and sales staff, and credit unions throughout the Mid-Atlantic States to educate and train them on the merits of member business lending. His primary role at MBFS is leading the day-to-day operations of the organization and consulting with credit unions on planning the delivery of business services to their membership.Today's Episode is Brought to You By:This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!Taking the Helm of a Troubled ShipAfter building Members 1st Federal Credit Union’s business lending program’s into the top ten in the nation in the number of loans and balances outstanding for federal credit unions,Marktook on the challenge of being the CEO of MBFS.Markwas the fifth CEO in five years for the organization, which lost money every month of its existence. In the past six years at MBFS,Markincreased the number of credit unions the CUSO services by over 500%, grew the revenue by 800%, and ensured positive cash flow every full year he’s been at the CUSO.What's it like taking over a business that's stumbling, to put it nicely? What challenges did Mark face?Mark says taking over involved a lot of listening and investigating. His intention was to find out what was working and what wasn't, no matter the area.

"Part of the problem wasn't just figuring out what was wrong. It was figuring out why things were wrong, and keep going back a couple steps." - Mark RitterThe Decision to Go RemoteWhen Mark took over as CEO for MBFS, they were an in-house organization. Today they're completely remote.MBFS began the remote journey with its IT team. Seeing the value in hiring for culture and talent rather than those who happen to be close to the company has proven to be a great move.

In fact, clients didn't realize the move had been made until MBFS announced it months later, proving that the move was seamless.

Mark says hiring for a home-based employee is much different. He says they look for people where the job is a good fit for them, and they're a good cultural fit for MBFS.Subscribe for New Episodes Every WeekBe sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Meet Audrey

In the creative circus of our day-to-day work, Audrey DeMartinis is the ringmaster that keeps the show rolling on schedule. She’s depended upon by clients and the team alike, to keeps our projects on course from start to launch. There’s also no one in the office that appreciates a color-coded project timeline more than this Florida Gulf Coast U grad and native Ohioan.

When she’s not wrangling the team, Audrey relaxes with wine, friends, wine, family, wine, all-things-Disney, wine and fancy food.

Audrey is also one of the co-hosts of Maiden Voyage, a podcast by the women of Impulse Creative. With "Women Making Waves" as their tagline, you know she's a feisty mermaid.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

How Processes Fuel Growth

Without repeatable, scalable processes, a business grows by accident. This is not a solid business strategy.

Whether you're documenting the process of onboarding a new team member or you're laying out how to post an update to your blog, creating a road map (a process) is critical.

In addition to the process itself, empowering a point person to help manage all of the moving parts can take your growth journey to new levels. This is where a project manager like Audrey comes in, along with her tools for growth.

The Tools to Strategic Growth

Growing strategically needs to include the right tools. You wouldn't set off to circumnavigate the globe without the right navigational tools, and backups for when things go wrong.

In the same way, having the right tools to grow your business needs to include ways to document processes, plan out projects and communicate effectively.

"I don't know how you'd grow as a business without tools like we use at Impulse Creative." - Audrey on growth tools

Audrey uses a slew of "navigational tools" to keep the team and our clients aligned and moving in the same direction. Here's a list of many of her tools.

Asana for project organization

Tettra for documenting processes and collaborating (Listen to Tettra's co-founder Nelson Joyce)

Slack for continuous, real-time communication (internal and external)

Harvest for time tracking

Harvest Forecast for time planning across teams

Bonus tip from Audrey: Be willing to learn new tools based on your clients. If they don't use Slack, don't force it. Use email, phone calls, texting... be where they are. Audrey uses regular meetings to keep in alignment, along with software like Basecamp and others depending on their needs.

How Hospitality Led to Project Management

If you want someone who can handle many spinning plates, unexpected obstacles, new challenges everyday and quick communication, Audrey says someone from the hospitality field might be perfect. Audrey worked in restaurants before Impulse Creative. She says experience that includes waiting tables, working with the public (clients!), a fast-paced environment and then managing all of that helped shape her into the kick-ass project manager she is today.

So if you're willing to hire for culture and passion, then let that someone grow into the position, hiring from hospitality could set you up for an interesting growth journey.

Get to Know Audrey

Audrey's Crew Page

Audrey on LinkedIn

Audrey on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Time to Pull Back the Curtain on Impulse Creative

On this episode, Remington and Dan unpack the growth journey at Impulse Creative. This idea came from a conversation they'd had, where Remington mentioned casually that "Owning a business is a lot like being a parent."

Dan wondered what that meant - are employees children? - so you get to hear how one business owner views the parallel between parenting and running an agency with other humans.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

It's all About Relationships

Why is owning a business like parenting? Remington thinks of employees as family, and knows that it's all about relationships and influence.

Have you ever tried to "make your kids" do something? You can influence, but sometimes it's more art than science. You want to lead by example. It's difficult to run a healthy business with an iron fist.

"I have 14 'children.' I have to work through different personalities and I have to try and design the outcomes. My job is make sure the ball rolls. But now we're at the point where I have to get out of the way of the ball rolling."

"I think of Team Impulse as my family." - Remington Begg

Leading, like parenting, can sometimes include corrections: "Hey, you're not in trouble but let's not do that again."

It also includes celebrating: "Someone made a goal - that's awesome!"

Remington believes that if you have employees or direct reports and you treat them like family, you'll see success. Part of this philosophy includes realizing that when you hire someone, you shouldn't try to change them. Ask yourself if this will work long term, sort of like a marriage.

And while it can be risky to see employees as family, Remington says it's worth the risk. When a team gets to know, like, and trust each other like a healthy family unit, they'll fire on all cylinders.

Guide Versus Force

In any leadership role, you have a choice to make. Will you try and force people to do what you want, or will you guide them in the direction of mutual goals.

While there isn't necessarily an easy-button-answer to how to make this happen, Remington offers a few thoughts on how he navigates this role.

Leading from the front is an important goal of this CEO. Rather than pointing and saying, 'Go here,' Remington tries to ask things like 'What if we tried this,' or 'Have you thought about this.'

He's also willing to do the work his team does, and has been in the same shoes as each of them. It's not an ivory tower he sits in and shouts commands from; it's a shoulder-to-shoulder culture of navigating the same course together.

The downside? Influence is difficult.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you'll drown them trying to make them drink."

Remington asks the question, "How do you get them to the water, and get them to drink when we know as leaders they need to drink to survive?"

We don't have all the answers, but we're always working on learning.

Be a Lifelong Learner

If you're leading a company or a team, the best tool in your navigational tool set is your penchant for learning.

Books, leadership videos, podcast, parallel industries, and other sources of information will help keep you learning and improving. Remington also points to self-awareness as a major part of the journey.

Own Tings Personally, Don't Take Them Personally

This may be the best advice you'll hear on this episode. Whether it's personal or professional relationships, this advice can help you navigate all kinds of choppy waters.

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Meet Doug Davidoff

Doug Davidoff founded the agency Imagine Business Development. As the CEO, he’s directly advised more than a dozen companies who have successfully sold for a combined value of more than $1 billion. Imagine is also a HubSpot partner.

For more than 20 years, Doug has advised small and mid-market companies that are committed to serious growth who want to hear the truth about achieving it. Doug’s worked, firsthand, with more than 1,500 companies (and seen their financial statements), so he knows the difference between what works, and what sounds good and doesn’t work.

What we love about Doug is that he takes a "no-holds-barred, no bullshit approach" to business growth. He's a true wayfinder and natural explorer.

Doug’s both quick to adopt new ideas, methods and technologies; and remarkably cynical of products and strategies dubbed “the next thing.” As you'll here in this Wayfinding Growth episode, he combines an in-depth knowledge of sales and marketing theory and strategy, with front-line execution expertise to know what works, what doesn’t and why it is so.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out atimpulsecreative.com/vfmand preview 2 modules for Free.

What is BFSC?

BFSC is something Remington has rattled off over the years. The letters stand for Better, Faster, Stronger, Cheaper.

How does BFSC apply to business growth?

Remington describes this BFSC idea as a bit of an alternative to a SWOT analysis. It's a different way to think about your business, about projects and about the growth journey.

Pat of Doug's culture at Imagine is that every employee is encouraged to look around and anything they see that could be done better, faster, stronger or cheaper (less expensively, but cheaper works for brevity) to speak up. Regardless of whether it's directly related to their job, they're all given permission to speak up.

Making it a team culture helps everyone buy into the business's growth.

Listen to the full discussion starting at about 22:00 into the episode.

The Flawed "Only Bring Me Solution" Mentality

Don't bring me a problem unless you have a solution. It's a common idea in business. But it's flawed.

Sometimes we have a problem we can see, but may not have the right solution, which means we can't approach leadership or management.

Too often a manager will say "Here's the problem," and the employee will say, "Yes I knew that."

When the manager asks why nothing was said, the natural response is because the employee was told only bring solutions, and they had none.

We need to foster solutions while staying open to team members bringing us problems without a solution so we can collaborate.

"No one know how to do a job better than the person doing it. But that doesn't mean they know how to do their job." Doug Davidoff

It's a Trap!

The phrase "This is the way to do it" is a trap in sales.

Doug says there's always more than one way to do something in sales.

You have to be curious and open to suggestion.

This is especially obvious when a leader hires someone from a company who had success in a specific project or tactic. Because this person was at that company and involved in it, we often think they figured out how to do it.

The fact is they learned one way to do it in that particular situation, but may not understand all of the nuances that went into the entire situation.

"You do have to be an observer," Doug says. "You have to be able to ask a lot of questions. If you ever say 'The way to do that [in sales] is...' then you don't know enough about sales and you're going to run into problems. There is no one way to do it."

The right path in sales for you is determined by many factors.

Chill Out About The Path and Obsess Over the Destination

In a business's growth journey, leaders often focus on how to get somewhere, The Path. This means they're often afraid to make mistakes because they get hyper-focused on how each decision impacts the micro-moments, the how. Instead, David offers, focusing on The Destination, the where, and getting there through mistakes and learning opportunities, is a better strategy.

We've heard it said "Fail fast, fail often." Another cliche is that it's only a failure if you don't learn from it. Doug adds his own spin, because he's confident in where he's going and knows the how will work itself out as he works.

"I may be wrong often, but I'm rarely in doubt." Doug Davidoff

David says it's not perfect of course. Some years "we kicked you know what, and other years we were kicked." But when you fix the issues and you're on the right trajectory, growth happens purposefully.

Get to Know Doug:

Imagine Business Development (Doug's agency)

Doug on LinkedIn

Doug unfiltered - on Twitter

Doug's writing on HubSpot

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Tuesday mornings at 7:00am new episodes of Wayfinding Growth drop. This week it's Doug Davidoff dropping knowledge bombs on BFSC... you'll want to tune in!www.wayfindinggrowth.com

An Entrepreneurial Marriage

What's it like being married to an entrepreneur? You could ask either of the Impulse Creative co-founders this question. What started as "Rachel, what's it like being married to an entrepreneur?" turned into a lesson on what an entrepreneurial marriage looks like.

On this episode, we "open the pantry and peek inside Impulse Creative" to dig into what it's like working and living together as a couple.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

In a Good Relationship, We Sharpen Each Other

"I think we guide each other," Rachel offered. "I look at alternative routes to find the most efficient way from A to B. Remington is the creative."

For co-founders Rachel and Remington, they aren't exactly opposites. But they do come at the business from different perspectives. And they aren't afraid to challenge each other, sharpen one another and grow together.

While it can be difficult to separate work and personal, the Beggs have worked intentionally to separate the two when needed, but also understand the work is life. Both sides are closely tied together and aligned well.

One tip from the conversation to consider if you're working with your significant other is to clearly define your roles. "We knew early on who was responsible for what," Remington said.

Intentional Communication is Critical

As partners in business and family, Remington and Rachel work hard at intentional communication. They may not always get it right, but it's always on their minds. Whether it's how one spouse annoyed the other, or why a day isn't going well, being able to live the Impulse Creative core value of candor in a safe space has been critical to their success.

Plus, sometimes you have to simply make time for each other. "Sometimes we set meetings," Rachel said. "We make sure we can focus on what we need. But we also set that time so it doesn't run over. Maybe Remington has had a tough day, and I've been with our son and working all day and we're both frustrated. We can talk about it within boundaries without bringing all the negativity 'home.'"

Married to an Entrepreneur? Rachel's Advice: Patience

When asked to give her biggest piece of advice to anyone in a relationship with an entrepreneur it was this: Patience.

"Have the understanding and patience that you are going to put in a lot of hours [as the spouse]. You're going to have to put up with your spouse or significant other putting in a lot of hours, even if you aren't. And sometimes it's hard to turn off your work."

Remington added to Rachel's thought with the idea that it can sometimes look like, as the spouse, you're competing with the business. You're not. But if you're feeling that way, go back to the idea that open, honest communication is best. Set time for the discussion, live out candor, and work together.

Get to Know Rachel

Rachel on LinkedIn

Maiden Voyage Podcast

Rachel on Impulse Creative

Rachel on Instagram

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Meet Chris Savage

Chris Savage is Co-Founder and CEO of Wistia, as well as the host of the Wistia Original Series Brandwagon.

Chris started Wistia in 2006 with his best friend Brendan Schwartz. The pair got involved in film-making at Brown and wanted to create a portfolio website for film-makers.

They eventually pivoted and Wistia is now a video sharing and analytics program that allows business owners to get insight on the performance of their video content.

Wistia also creates the great video series Brandwagon.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Know Your Brand Voice

"This doesn't feel Wistia to us." That was a watershed moment for Chris and the Wistia team.

When the company needed to increase pricing like so many businesses need to do in growth mode, they knew they needed to communicate to their current customers. Even with transparency, the message missed the mark. Their own customers let them know that the voice just didn't feel natural and authentic.

The team adjusted the message, tested it again, and found success. Even a difficult discussion with customers can be done in your brand voice in order to communicate well. Knowing your brand voice helps endear your community to you.

It Takes Time and Effort to Build a Business

Wistia's journey began in 2006. For what's considered a startup by many, that's a long time. It's taken time, intention and hard work to grow.

Chris shares some of the rough seas he and Brendan had to navigate through, some of the great days and many of the lessons learned. The biggest takeaways for us included:

Be intentional

Don't be afraid of failure

Listen to your customers

Love what you do

Creating an Original Series to Build Your Brand

Wistia has created original content to build a brand and community. One, Ten, One Hundred is a documentary series on the process to create three ads. One ad cost $1,000, one cost $10,000 and one cost $100,000. They wanted to see how each budget performed. During the meta project, the Wistia team documented it all, creating an original series they released, full of lessons and insight.

Now Wistia has a second orignal series, called Brandwagon. This series is more talk show with a guest interview and other segments, showing off the personality if Wistia while bringing value to an audience.

Chris says any brand can consider this route, and explains in the full conversation.

Connect with Chris and Wistia

Chris on LinkedIn

Wistia

Wistia on Instagram

Brandwagon

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

It's Time for an INBOUND Debrief

Five Impulse Creative team members traveled to Boston for #INBOUND19. We're also all hosts on podcasts. So we decided to host a debrief that could serve as a fancy crossover episode for all of our show... you're in for a treat!

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head toSprocketTalk.com/WGto join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Biggest #INBOUND19 Takeaways

With five people of diverse backgrounds, you're bound to find different takeaways. Here's a list for you:

Anese Cavanaugh's lesson on presence and showing up how you want to show up (with purpose), not how you think you're expected to show up.

"Anese radiates an aura of awesome." - Jackie

Doug Davidoff in the Westin lobby - and all the conversations we had.

When you're at INBOUND, lean in during conversations.

The only way we'll get better in life or business is by leaning into "the market."

Elizabeth Gilbert's challenge to people: Stop making excuses for not doing the things you want to do in life.

What are you willing to give up to have the life you're pretending to want?

This "sales and marketing conference" ends up with so many great life lessons if you're open to it.

The hard work that the entire Impulse Creative team and our supporters is paying off. We heard a LOT of "Yo Impulse!" in the hallways. It's good to look up from our work and take in the impact we're having.

Dharmesh Shah's vulnerability in his keynote was inspiring. (Watch the INBOUND19 Dharmesh keynote)

We have a responsibility to take care of each other, online and offline. Geraldine DeRuiter spoke on surviving harassment that starts online. Women face a huge portion of it, and we need to stop it.

Favorite #INBOUND19 Moments

INBOUND is like a family reunion combined with the biggest education and inspiration event each year. It's so hard to pick just one favorite moment.

For us, moments of connection topped the list. Inspiration was next. Education followed inspiration. Those are the general moments that bring us joy from #INBOUND19. What else?

Brian Halligan joining us on the couch in the Westin lobby for an impromptu chat among friends.

The cafe room set up for some presentations and how it forces us to have courageous conversations with strangers.

Soup dumplings in Chinatown! Sneak away for a minute and share a moment with people over a good meal.

Holding court in the Westin lobby, meeting with clients in-person and engaging in great conversations.

Maiden Voyage podcast recording.

Live Sprocket Talk Unpacked podcast recording.

Having Impulse team members speak at the event.

Connecting with fans of Impulse Creative.

Who Should Speak at #INBOUND20?

Every year the INBOUND event team brings together incredible speakers for all different reasons. So we asked who each of us wants to see speak at INBOUND20. Some of our suggestions would be new, while others are returning. Hey HubSpot and INBOUND team, check out this list!

Brené Brown @BreneBrown

Rachel Hollis @msrachelhollis

Impulse Creative team members (Jackie Pfriender, Dan Moyle, other team members with valuable teaching)

Gary Vaynerchuck @garyvee

Billy Gene @askbillygene

Joey Coleman

The band Tool or Maynard James Keenan @tool @mjkeenan

Plug Your Podcast

Be sure to check out the other shows joining us on this episode.

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage is a video podcast series by the ladies of Impulse Creative. Our mission is to relate, inspire, laugh, and learn all while empowering women in the workplace.

Sprocket Talk

Where HubSpot Users Unite!

Are you a HubSpot user? Then the Sprocket Talk podcast will be your one-stop shop for HubSpot education. Every week we bring you sales, marketing, and service interviews, Inbound strategies, HubSpot, HubSpot CRM, and HubSpot Service Hub updates. Sprocket Talk, where HubSpot users unite!

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