Network with authenticity: it’s a social media platform after all. The platform is getting really popular amongst small business owners and consumers are getting savvier. Hiring a social media manager to engage is great to manage your workload. But be sure to pop in with a voice note every now and then so your audience will feel connected to you rather than feeling wary of talking to strangers. It’s also important to strike a balance between selling and inspiring — nobody likes being sold to every minute of every day!
Xindi Soh is the founder and CEO of By Xindi, a studio offering a complete brand identity and messaging transformation. She prides herself on balancing creativity and data in creating a brand and messaging strategy that helps her clients build their brand authority and increase their profit through organic marketing. She’s taken her clients to multiple 5-figures months by helping them create brands that their target audience trusts and resonates with.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Absolutely! Growing up in a tiny town, I was surrounded by entrepreneurs who broke generational poverty and built a business purely out of their own wit. Despite their successful businesses, the majority of the population were not formally educated so going to a reputable university and joining corporate was always seen as ‘the way out’ or a symbol of success in our society. That was exactly the path I took. I was part of the first generation in my family to experience life across the world. I was also fortunate enough to not only attend one of the top universities in the world but also start employment in one of the top financial services companies in the world. I was living the dream life.
Although I learned major lessons in corporate and had great experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life, I can’t help but feel a certain itch for more. I started learning about copywriting and thought it would be a cool side hustle. From there, my curiosity led me to learn all about brand strategy and digital marketing. Before I know it, I’m deep in this business thing and I’ve not looked back since!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
I would say the most interesting story is seeing the shift in my mindset from letting external influences dictate my choices to taking responsibility for my own decisions. Being a digital entrepreneur can mean that we’re easily swayed by what is happening in the market — What’s the market price? Who’s my competitor? What is the latest trend? I was consuming as much as I could and forcing myself to mold into what the market ‘wants’. I burnt out in the process because the truth is, no one really knows what the market wants. Sure, we have data and research to guide our decisions. But the consumer spectrum and market complexity is too intricate to nail down. Changes happen so quickly that it’s impossible to take action on everything in a sustainable manner.
Having burnt myself out trying to react to every opinion out there definitely prompted me to change the way I approach my business. I changed my philosophy from being on top of every trend to fully understanding what works for me and my strengths and filtering information with that knowledge in mind. One example would be shifting from pricing and designing my services in accordance with my peers in the market to identifying who I’d love to work with and designing my services in accordance to their needs while pricing my services in a way that reflects my effort and knowledge.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My mistake — which turned out to be funny in hindsight — is my dancing reels. I’m itching to delete everything! When I first started my business, I did not think about my brand strategy and was blindly following all the trends out there promising me more growth and follower. So, I was projecting an image of me that did not feel like me at all, nor was it an image I envisioned for my brand. I was dancing and acting all sassy and goofy because that was what everyone was doing. It’s funny in hindsight and I gained two big lessons from that mistake — going viral is not a strategy and instead of jumping on what everyone is doing, my focus should be on evergreen messaging instead.
Ok. Let’s now move to the main focus of our discussion. For the benefit of our readers, can you explain why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?
Having built a business from scratch offering a service that I have no formal experience in, I know a thing or two about leveraging Instagram to dramatically grow your business. I have helped my clients quadrupled their revenue into 5-fig months and generate stable income that allows them to quit their corporate jobs. All by harnessing the power of Instagram.
Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?
I firmly believe that the most profitable social media platform is the platform that your target audience is active on. If you’re targeting corporate employees, LinkedIn is where you should be. If you’re targeting Gen Zs, you should start thinking about TikTok.
One thing I’ve been guilty of in the past and so many of my clients do as well is the ‘shiny object syndrome’. That is, being distracted by the newest and latest craze that claims to be most profitable, most efficient, most exciting. For me, that was TikTok. I was told that TikTok was the place to be, and that I will be able to expand my reach if I film with trending sounds (more on ‘going viral’ later!). However, the people I love working with are business owners who are passionate about personal development, business and creativity. My dream client are people who are more likely to spend their spare time reading a book or watching snippets of mindset videos on Instagram to further their learning. They might be on TikTok but trending sounds are likely not where they spend a lot of their time on.
Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share five ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.
Network with authenticity: it’s a social media platform after all. The platform is getting really popular amongst small business owners and consumers are getting savvier. Hiring a social media manager to engage is great to manage your workload. But be sure to pop in with a voice note every now and then so your audience will feel connected to you rather than feeling wary of talking to strangers. It’s also important to strike a balance between selling and inspiring — nobody likes being sold to every minute of every day!
Engaging post: the goal with Instagram is to share your message and your business. What better way to do that than to have an audience full of engaged people? But building an engaged audience is easier said than done. It requires consistent value-led posts that not only showcase your knowledge, but communicate what you stand for as a brand. Consumers have choices now and they want to buy from people they resonate with. As a result, a successful Instagram account should have two types of message — one to attract their dream audience by empathizing with their struggles and dreams, and another to nurture them into a paying client by being clear on the purpose of your brand beyond making profit.
Consistency is key: As the old marketing wisdom goes, humans need to be prompted 7 times before they decide to take actions. I’ve seen lots of people getting discouraged because they’re not getting responses after promoting their business twice or thrice. They would blame their lack of business on their tiny following but the truth is, they have just not repeated their message enough times. It truly is a game of quality over quantity. Speaking from experience, a tiny following of 200 engaged followers is enough to land me consistent high ticket sales. As frustrating as it sounds, constant repetition of the right message really is key!
Build a brand strategy: Brand strategy is often dismissed as a secondary requirement when it comes to building a business because it’s often associated with having a nice logo. But a brand is more than just a logo, it’s about getting clear on what your brand stands for, who you’re service as a brand and how do you differentiate yourself from the competitors. Instagram is undeniably saturated so having a solid brand strategy is now a key requirement to grow your business.
Going viral is not a strategy: this is my favourite tip to tell my clients. We’re increasingly seeing Instagram creators and coaches pushing for reels because they believe it is the format favoured by Instagram. That may be true but unless you’re an influencer, this may not be the best strategy. After all, Instagram does not push your content to your target audience. By going viral and ‘increasing your reach’, you are more likely to spend more time blocking bots and spammers than you do engaging with like-minded people. Instead, channel that energy into ensuring you have a solid messaging strategy that speaks directly to your target audience.
Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would create a movement that normalises entrepreneurship as a ‘career’ choice. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not for everybody. But I’ve seen way too many people being miserable in different career paths when they’re born to be entrepreneurs. Just because they think being an entrepreneur means you have to have a ground-breaking business idea and loads of capital to back it up. I think the world would be a better place when more people embark on a path that fits their natural strength, and entrepreneurship is one that many people overlooks.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I can never say no to Gary Vee. I love how genuine he is and how he’s seriously trying to help others achieve their dreams. He does a great job striking the balance between tough love advice and empathy in the struggles of people he interact with. I truly believe he’s inspiring big changes in the way people think about life and how they actually want to live it. I feel blessed to live in a world where technology gives us access to the wisdom of people like Gary Vee that change the way we approach happiness and fulfillment, and break generational beliefs that might be holding us back.
Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!
Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Isabella Rosal of 7th Sky Ventures On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Read up and keep learning. The knowledge will help you confidently lead the conversation, especially when you are the only female in the room.
In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Isabella Rosal.
Isabella Rosal is an entrepreneur and rum educator and the first female to obtain a Master Rummelier™ status, the highest accolade in the rum industry. She is the CEO of 7th Sky Ventures, a family of projects that brings innovative products to Tampa Bay and promotes unique Florida products overseas. She is also the founder of Tampa Bay Rum Society, an independent organization that brings together rum aficionados and professionals working in the rum industry to elevate the rum culture in Tampa Bay and beyond.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
Entrepreneurship is in my DNA. I have always been surrounded by business people: my family, friends, and classmates. I started my first business venture when I was only ten years old, selling chips to my neighbors off the back of my skateboard. Later, when I was a college student, I helped my friends, who were business majors, sell the product they had developed as part of their final project. It was an ID and wallet carrier with a matching lanyard called “slinky .”I sold them to so many students that the entire floor at my university building was wearing them!
Upon moving to the United States and after a short stint at a consulting firm, I co-founded TBD, a tea cafe that offered unique drinks made using sustainably-sourced loose tea — in a new country, where I knew no one, right after having my first child. So, I was beyond excited when my business won the 2018 Shining Star of the Year Award by my local, the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce. Two years later, right after having my second child, the opportunity to shift to a different industry came in. So, I sold my tea business and founded 7thSky Ventures.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
Born and raised at a rum estate and sugarcane farm in Northern Luzon in the Philippines, I was surrounded by all things rum from an early age. My mother, Chuchi Honrado who is a chemist, spent most of her professional life working as a technical advisor at that rum estate and later as a consultant to large rum producers and distilleries in the Philippines. Today, I am a certified Master Rummelier (and the first female Master Rummelier on the planet). In this capacity, I collaborate with distilleries and rum experts around the world to ultimately elevate the rum industry either through products or awareness pieces.
Also, I have just launched the Tampa chapter of the Royal Rum Society, a professional community dedicated to sharing and advancing the knowledge of rum making. We hold rum tasting events to elevate the rum culture in Tampa Bay and advance the knowledge of rum among industry professionals and enthusiasts alike.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
When I was a child and later a teenager, I loved observing successful business people, both in my immediate environment and in the media. One of my role models was industrialist Martin Ignacio Lorenzo. Coming from a humble family, he built a business empire, created jobs and business opportunities for many people in the community and, among other things, he owned the rum estate where my mother, Chuchi Honrado, worked as a chemist. When he ran into my mom last summer, she proudly (like only mothers can) shared the news of my becoming the world’s first female Master Rummelier. The following week, I got an email from the man himself, inviting me to partner with his hospitality business, which operates six brands and 50 restaurants across Manila! I flew to the Philippines, held a series of rum education events at his restaurants, helped optimize cocktail menus and trained his staff on all things rum. This felt like a dream come true.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Grit. When I started my first business, the tea cafe, I was challenged at every stage: from licensing to build-out. Once, a visiting inspector asked where my parents were (assuming it was them, and not me, who owned the place). I was fortunate enough to quickly build a network of friends in the community who helped me through the process. Now, as an established entrepreneur, I make sure to pay back the favor and support other local business owners.
Integrity. Growing up in the Philippines in a politically exposed family, I have learned the value of honesty in everything you say and how you do business. Honesty goes a long way in a world where so many people operate with ulterior motives. Your vibe attracts your tribe, they say. Good people love supporting other good souls. No matter what you sell: a USB stick, loose tea, consulting services or a bottle of rum, do your business with integrity, and you will build a network of genuine supporters.
Setting Boundaries. As new business owners or every time we embark on a new project, we are full of enthusiasm. We want to say Yes to everything and everybody, often neglecting other areas of our lives. I taught myself to have boundaries for my business, team and myself. Like many fellow entrepreneurs, I have days when I am so burnt out that I start questioning: is this even worth it? And that’s when I know I need to refocus and think. What is more important: a new contract or my sanity? Healthy boundaries help me achieve that optimal state where I can balance my business interests, family wellbeing, and mental health.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?
Growing up with three brothers, I thought I knew how to hold my ground. How to be assertive and not come across as “pushy”. How to find the right words and adjust my tone of voice. Yet, it still feels intimidating sometimes to be in a room full of men, and when it happens, I rely on my competence and industry knowledge as my biggest allies. While there are so many talented women who work in the industry, as traders or distillery owners or technical advisers like my mother — we never talk about them. Rum making has had a reputation as a male-dominated field since the 1400s. I am the first female on the planet to earn a Master Rummelier status; this is saying something. Being a female rummelier is empowering and challenging at the same time. As the founder of the Tampa Bay Rum Society, one of my missions is to break the bias and shed light on women in rum culture.
Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?
I became the first female Master Rummelier on the planet, and by doing so, I challenged the century-long notion that rum making is a man’s job. A few years ago, my mother was called to come out of retirement by the rum distillery where she had worked for over a decade. They just could not do without her. If that’s not a testament to women being indispensable to this industry, then I don’t know what is!
What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?
Provide optics. Visual representation matters. As a woman and a proud Asian American, I want to work for a company that truly values diversity and not just the idea of it. And cultural diversity is just as important as gender diversity. It is not enough to appoint a Chief Diversity Officer and hold some DEI training. A company must look and act welcoming to people of all backgrounds, starting from the Team section on its website to the CEO to the customer-facing staff in its retail locations.
Ok thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
Read up and keep learning. The knowledge will help you confidently lead the conversation, especially when you are the only female in the room.
Get out there and learn from others. We remain visible in the industry by getting together and constantly learning from each other. I attend monthly events organized by my local chambers of commerce, trade associations and informal interest groups to grow my network and expertise. Last week, I was a panelist at a luncheon organized by Working Women of Tampa Bay. I was the youngest among the three panelists, both in age and the stage of my company. Sitting there, next to these two amazing entrepreneurs I admire and respect, I thought to myself: would I have been invited to speak at this panel if I had not been out there, attending roundtables and business breakfasts, contributing to community initiatives, and mentoring younger members? How would anyone even know who I was?
Spread kindness. I receive a lot of support from my network and try to give back. If a fellow entrepreneur reaches out to me for advice, I will find the time. If a supplier asks me to give a referral, I will recommend them to everyone I know. One woman’s success fuels everyone’s success.
Tell your story. Not your product pitch, not your company’s mission, but your story and how it has inspired you. Would you look at me differently if you knew that I failed five courses in college, retook them, graduated with distinction and put that determination to launch my first company? And my company’s name, 7th Sky Ventures, comes from my kids’ shared birthday months, July which is number 7, and my son’s twin brother Sky, who is now watching us from above. The real stories behind our brands have transformative power. All we have to do is find the courage to unleash them.
Keep at it. Last summer, I spoke to the students at my alma mater, the University of Santo Thomas in the Philippines. And I told them: I was never an A student, not even close. But I wanted to graduate on time, together with my classmates. So I never gave up. If I failed a class, I would retake it in the summer. You do not have to be the best or the brightest to succeed. You just have to want something bad enough and be willing to work towards it.
If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?
Choose your team wisely. Be sure to have an accountant and a lawyer. Be insured. Identify what you can delegate and what you cannot and revisit the plan as your business grows. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Most importantly, learn how to say and when to say “NO.” My advice would be to ask herself if she is willing and ready to do the work because it will not be an easy road.
Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?
When it comes to the alcohol industry, women have been transforming the market for quite a while. Organizations like Women Leading Rum (where I am a proud member!) have made this trend public, and the big players followed. For example, Bacardi runs a women-only S.H.E Summit to celebrate women in the world of alcohol. We are no longer simply participating; women are leading the industry, especially its innovative aspects like sustainable production.
However, there is still room to grow. According to a report by Deloitte, women are less likely to enter the alcohol industry because of the lack of diversity in leadership positions, the perception of industry bias toward men and the lack of mentorship opportunities. I cannot agree more. We need to see more role models in leadership positions across the industry: from distilling to distribution to supply chain. Women are the creative and innovative force, and supporting us is the only way for this industry to move forward.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I would love to meet Oprah Winfrey. She is a force to be reckoned with. I admire the boldness of her stories (starting from her own) and the universal trust that she has earned. The most powerful people on the planet put their trust in her when sharing stories they would not have shared with other media.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Be flexible because the rules are always changing and they vary by city and state. For example, an ad that is acceptable in Los Angeles may be completely illegal in Fresno, so cannabis professionals need to be able to constantly adapt.
As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Fontein.
Lauren Fontein, Co-Founder of The Artist Tree and cannabis attorney, began her professional career as a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles. She transitioned to the medical cannabis industry in 2009 when she founded a cannabis edible manufacturing company. From 2009 to 2017, she headed operations and supplied edibles to over 100 medical dispensaries in the Los Angeles area. Lauren concurrently worked as legal counsel for medical dispensaries owned by brothers Avi Kahan and Mitchell Kahan. In 2018, Lauren partnered with Avi, Mitch, and Aviv Halimi to create The Artist Tree brand for the purpose of obtaining a consumption lounge and retail licenses in the city of West Hollywood. She is intricately involved in the day-to-day operations of all Artist Tree locations. She serves as the company’s general counsel, handles community outreach, and works on marketing campaigns. She also oversees The Artist Tree’s art program, using art as a voice for positive change and as a way to bring people together. In addition, she works on The Artist Tree’s expansion team, preparing license applications and working with local cities and counties to successfully obtain cannabis retail licenses in Riverside County, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Oxnard, El Sobrante, and Fresno. Lauren graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Dartmouth College (2002) and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law (2007).
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?
I began my career as a corporate attorney in Los Angeles and transitioned to cannabis in 2009. At that time, I was planning to shift careers and become a pastry chef and my friend, Mitch Kahan, asked me to make edibles for his medical dispensary in Los Angeles. My products took off and I started an edible manufacturing company. I ran that company until 2018 while also helping dispensaries in LA with legal work and licensing. In 2018, I formally partnered with Mitch and the other Artist Tree founders to start The Artist Tree brand.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The most shocking moment of my cannabis career was when The Artist Tree was selected as the first place scoring applicant in the West Hollywood licensing process out of over 120 applicants. My partners and I had been in the industry for a while, but we were competing against MSOs and other large scale operators and assumed we had little to no chance of obtaining WeHo’s highly coveted consumption lounge and retail licenses. I put my blood, sweat and tears into our application. We created an innovative concept that really resonated with the city and were chosen over other applicants because of our unique and artistic vision. The day the results were released, I didn’t even feel joy — just this overwhelming sense of confusion and shock. Of course, I ultimately was thrilled. From that, I learned to dream big and not be intimidated by the big guys, because this is such an evolving and nebulous industry, and creative ideas can go a long way.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake happened when I operated a medical cannabis edible company, Baked. We were testing out dosages for a new product and made a mistake in calculating the THC content per serving and accidentally made a batch that was 3 times stronger than we planned. Before realizing the mistake, I tested out the product along with 2 friends. It was quite an interesting evening, between my friend “conducting a symphony” in our living room while talking gibberish and me being unable to communicate or move from the couch. Luckily, we were the guinea pigs and corrected the error and got the dosing right before releasing the product to the public.
Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?
The funniest thing that I experienced time and time again was that older family members would be initially shocked and seemingly disapprove when with other family members, but then come to me separately asking if I could get them products.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’d have to say Mitch Kahan, one of The Artist Tree co-founders. He saw the potential of the cannabis industry back in its early medical days and decided to acquire a medical license in LA in 2006. A couple years later, I was dating his brother Avi (also an Artist Tree co-founder) and Mitch asked for my help creating edibles for his first dispensary. I was a cannabis consumer at the time, but it’s very unlikely I would have started a career in cannabis if it hadn’t been for Mitch.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are continuing to expand our retail presence into different cities in California. We recently opened our consumption lounge in West Hollywood, which was tremendously exciting because it’s the only lounge of its type anywhere in the US. It’s much more than a place to smoke, and is a true community gathering space with nightly entertainment, art education, wellness classes, open mic nights, and many other community focused events. It has been an amazing way to reinforce cannabis culture and celebrate the inclusivity and open-mindedness of the cannabis community. We also have a second consumption lounge license in the city of West Hollywood and are working on developing a different concept for that project.
Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry. According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?
Hire more women in management and executive roles. This seems obvious, but isn’t actually being done. As the industry has become more professional and MSO operators take the place of mom & pop style shops, it feels like gender disparity has gotten worse, not better.
Celebrate the valuable contributions of women by giving them a seat at the table — create workplace panels or focus groups to gain insight into the specific needs of women, both with regards to products and to work-related issues.
Provide grants, mentoring or other startup resources to female entrepreneurs interested in starting a cannabis business.
You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.
Be flexible because the rules are always changing and they vary by city and state. For example, an ad that is acceptable in Los Angeles may be completely illegal in Fresno, so cannabis professionals need to be able to constantly adapt.
Be patient & optimistic — Cannabis has been legalized medicinally & recreationally in many areas, but there is still a long road ahead toward achieving widespread legalization. Rather than giving up because of current hurdles, lay the groundwork for future reforms.
Be self sufficient & creative with solutions — Because this is a young industry, and rules are often vague or non-existent, cannabis professionals need to be able to think outside the box and come up with their own ways to solve problems.
Be adaptable to different personalities — Cannabis is a very colorful community of interesting and eccentric individuals. Don’t expect the same level of formality or professionalism as in another industry, and embrace the quirkiness of it all.
Navigate work & play — Unfortunately it’s not all fun and games. Be conscientious about striking a balance between social stoner and effective cannabis professional.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?
The culture of creativity and inclusivity
The ongoing evolution of consumption spaces
The development of new and innovative products to address specific customer needs
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
Continued proliferation of the black market, including organizations operating consumption lounges or events by circumventing CA law — Local and state law enforcement organizations need to devote more resources to shutting down illegal businesses. It’s insane how much scrutiny legal cannabis businesses face with financial reporting requirements, DCC inspections, METRC reporting, etc., yet Los Angeles is filled with unlicensed dispensaries and delivery services operating behind the scenes.
Extreme regulatory hurdles to opening a new legal business — Municipalities need to examine their licensing processes from a practical and pro-business perspective and have realistic expectations about what a startup business can handle financially and administratively. For example, many cities require applicants to secure a property prior to applying for a license, which means applicants end up paying rent for months to years before they even find out if they will be chosen for a license. Then, even after a municipality picks its “winners,” the winners typically have to go through 9–24 months of permitting and approvals and are required to spend $1 million + in property renovations and permitting fees (in addition to rent costs!) before they can begin construction and ultimately open. These requirements are even more onerous for social equity applicants who likely lack the financial resources to pay rent on a property that isn’t generating any cash flow.
Ongoing expenses and compliance burdens that cannabis businesses must deal with that make it extremely hard to operate at a profit — Annual licensing fees, taxes and the continued application of 280E, which penalizes cannabis businesses by disallowing the deduction of “ordinary and necessary” business expenses, greatly hinder the ability of a legal cannabis business to operate profitably and should all be changed.
What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?
Cannabis or cannabis products do not belong on the Schedule 1 list of drugs. By definition, a Schedule I drug, substance, or chemical are those with no currently accepted medical use or a high potential for abuse. These include heroin, LSD, Ecstasy and methaqualone to name a few. Plenty of research has been conducted (and continues to be conducted) on the medicinal benefits of cannabis. We would also argue that each of the drugs listed as Schedule 1 can and have resulted in an overdose. There have been no reported cases of overdosing on marijuana.
Today, cigarettes are legal, but they are heavily regulated, highly taxed, and they are somewhat socially marginalized. Would you like cannabis to have a similar status to cigarettes or different? Can you explain?
No way! Cigarettes are socially marginalized due to the known adverse health effects of smoking cigarettes, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and the highly addictive nature of nicotine. Much to the contrary, cannabis has long been used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes and does not have many of the adverse effects of smoking cigarettes. As cannabis industry professionals, we dream of the day when cannabis is widely viewed as a safe and viable alternative to other forms of medicine. Regarding recreational use, we believe cannabis should be viewed as a legitimate and, in many ways, safer alternative to alcohol or cigarettes that is legally available to adults in all communities.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes is “I’m not interested in competing with anyone. I hope we all make it.” (made popular by many memes and tweets and, I believe, originally said by Erica Cook.) This really resonates with me for life in general and in cannabis. Cannabis is a community and a lifestyle, not an “industry.” As someone who has been in the business since its infancy, it has always been a collaborative community of kind, diverse and open minded individuals, and that is why I’m so fortunate to have fallen into this profession. Cannabis culture celebrates creativity, inclusivity, healing, and not taking life too seriously.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I obviously did not inspire this movement, but I am extremely passionate about achieving widespread legalization and social acceptance of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use. I have seen first hand the powerful benefits it has for family members that have gone through cancer treatment, suffer from sleep issues or struggle with anxiety. In areas where cannabis is legalized, prescription painkiller use and overdoses have decreased. Cannabis is also a much better alternative to alcohol in my mind, and I’ve seen an overall trend of adults transitioning away from alcohol and toward cannabis to avoid hangovers, control their dosing and avoid the other negative effects of alcohol consumption. My dream is that The Artist Tree’s innovative retail spaces, which are bright, warm and welcoming, together with our community-driven consumption lounge, help normalize cannabis and give skeptics a new perspective on the positive power of cannabis.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Women In Wellness: Olivia F Scott of Freedom At The Mat On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Pause & evaluate when your life feels off. Often daily life gets us caught up as if on a hamster wheel. Time flies. Yet, our souls are not fulfilled by the lives we lead. So, I invite everyone to pause at least once a year to truly explore if the life you are leading is one which brings you joy and fulfills you. If it does not, use the pause to make specific steps towards creating the life you want and which you deserve.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Olivia F. Scott.
Olivia F. Scott, M.A. & RYT-200, is Founder & Creator of Freedom At The Mat (FATM). Formally established in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, FATM is a Benefit corporation intentional in offering free short-form meditations, yoga flows and expert interviews on the brand’s YouTube channel, complimented by art yoga mats, guided journals and aromatherapy candles on FreedomAtTheMat.com. FATM donates fifteen percept of its profits to select nonprofits serving the health & wellness of underserved women & girls. Scott, also a Professor & Marketing Practioner, has developed & led the ESSENCE Festival’s Wellness House and Health Hub platforms since 2019, and is committed to devoting her combined marketing expertise, passion and academic research efforts to making wellness accessible for all.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I was born in Memphis, TN. Educated in Journalism at University of Missouri-Columbia, and trained in marketing and advertising in Chicago and NYC from 1995–2020 at advertising agency, brand & media companies. After a storied 20+ year marketing career as a practitioner, I experienced burn out, while also going through my divorce around 2014. My standard Saturday 10 a.m. spinning classes were not available to me at my new gym, so I reluctantly walked into a vinyasa yoga class because it was the only class offered during that time slot. I’d tried hatha and bikram yoga classes before to no great interest. But upon trying this vinyasa class led by my teacher Meriany, I began to love yoga as a wellness modality suitable for me. As I continued practicing with Meriany, I learned that yoga was more than just fitness, that if you truly connected to the present moment, it could also be a mental wellness and spiritually grounding practice as well. I earned my 200-Hour Teaching Certification in Vinyasa Yoga in 2018 at Sonic Yoga, and began teaching free classes through the Dream Center Harlem, and at First Corinthian Baptist Church, both in NYC. After teaching for about two years, I relocated for a lifestyle change to New Orleans in January 2020. The pandemic hit six weeks later, and now I’m finally emerging a bit to see what NOLA has in store for me as a business owner, Professor and wellness educator.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
VIBE Magazine folded over night in 2009. I was Associate Publisher, Head of Marketing, with a 10+ person team. On a Monday evening around 6 PM at a pub a few blocks from our Wall Street office, our CEO informed the executive team of which I was a part that we were closing our doors at 1 PM the next day, potentially without severance. I loved this job, this company, and my staff. But just like that, it was all over. Kinda like Biggie said, “It was all a dream.”
The biggest lessons I learned were that a) it is imperative for all career women living away from home to have an emergency fund of a minimum of six months of all mandatory living expenses, and b) to never overidentify with professional titles, because they are temporary and can evaporate in mere moments. After the CEO shared that it was game over, that night on my couch I took a hard look at my expenses, and also at myself. Was I “doing” or “being?” Because life requires money, many of us focus on doing, and associate our value with our professions and incomes. But if this is taken away from you, you must have a core understanding of your “being,” not your “doing.”
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I started the Freedom At The Mat YouTube channel during the pandemic. What a joy! Well, my first filming session was socially distanced and with a production company who a) insisted on recording my yoga flow sequence voiceover immediately after the sequence taping which I knew would result in an exorbitant amount of editing (which it did), and b) lost some of my footage.
The aforementioned PLUS limited funding set me on a journey of self-production. There was only one problem. I had no experience filming content, AND was tech challenged. So, my rookie mistake was evident in my first self-filming session. To prep for this amazing big day of self-production in my second bedroom (oh the joys of entrepreneurship, and being in a pandemic), I composed eight sequences, and selected eight wardrobe selections. I was hydrated, feeling strong and ready to go. But, I did not realize that to complete one yoga sequence, I would have to potentially re-do the postures 2–3 times. So, my estimate of a three-hour shoot was not realized. Rather, my first self-production took 10 hours. Afterwards, my body was sore and in post-production, I realized some of my re-dos had the wrong outfits on intros and outros, and the sound was crappy.
Luckily, I’d viewed a popular video game YouTuber’s “How To Start A YouTube Channel,” and was relieved when I saw his progression from his first videos to current-day ones. This encouraged me to believe that everyone has to start somewhere and that those mistakes were ones from which I could learn. Today, I film one-to-two yoga sessions at a time usually, and use multiple pieces from that session over a couple of week’s span.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
We are a wellness social venture intentional about making wellness accessible to all. A portion (15% of profits) from sales of our in-person classes and products goes directly to select nonprofits serving the health & wellness of underserved women & girls. So, the more we earn, the more we are able to undergird the good work done by local community 501c3s, including The Grace House of Memphis, A21, Dream Center Harlem, Taller Salud and New Orleans Family Justice Center. We think of ourselves as vessels. Women already on the wellness track purchase our products and in so doing, support the vitality of those underserved in health & wellness through 501c3 contributions.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Honor your uniqueness. Human nature drives us to look to others for indications on what to do and how to be. The popularity and influence of social media has intensified this tendency to justify and substantiate your existence by looking to others. So, we invite everyone to honor their personal beauty, spirit and beings. My lived experience uniquely equips me to authentically speak about physical and mental health, so this is what I from the heart.
Take the time to know yourself. My move from New York City was an emotional one. I lived there for 20 years. Many close to me questioned why I was moving, but I knew myself enough to know that my spirit was off. I could no longer create and grow in this city which took so much to navigate through daily.
Stand in your truth. Every individual is entitled to their own life experience, and with that comes personal truths. There was an occasion in which I experienced an offense by a dear friend. I examined the actions of my friend from multiple angles to justify it, yet my spirit never settled on being ok with it. I found the courage to share my feelings with my friend. Afterwards, there were repercussions reflected in the shift within our relationship. While the relationship has not recovered, I feel more self confident having spoken my truth and feeling the freedom & power in standing in and owning my truth, even if it hurts. You grow when you stand in and speak your truth.
Join a community, listen to a podcast or read a book. Expand your mind by learning new things and connecting with new people. This helps you feel less alone, and less stuck. While these feelings are natural at different points in our lives, when you expand your experience and knowledge base, there is comfort in knowing that countless others (no matter where they are from or what they look like) are experiencing life just like you, and you feel more seen, heard and inspired to continued your respective journey.
Pause & evaluate when your life feels off. Often daily life gets us caught up as if on a hamster wheel. Time flies. Yet, our souls are not fulfilled by the lives we lead. So, I invite everyone to pause at least once a year to truly explore if the life you are leading is one which brings you joy and fulfills you. If it does not, use the pause to make specific steps towards creating the life you want and which you deserve.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I would like to see a movement in which it is mandatory for every human being on earth to begin and end their respective days by pausing for mandatory, intentional breathing and self-acknowledgement every day. Essentially, when each person wakes up they have to pause for a minimum of two uninterrupted minutes of no TV or device use (light music is ok), and end their day the same way. I would like to see this become a federal mandate for each citizen akin to financial taxes, like a “life tax.” I think this would help us all live less anxious, and more enlightened lives.
The pandemic was a global pause in which every global citizen was forced to be more mindful. And from speaking with many people, I think people enjoyed the international slowdown. I believe wholeheartedly that the the way to lead our respective lives is within us, but we don’t tune inwards enough in favor of external feedback. Listening to your soul can be powerful and transformative.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
It is ok to get going on your entrepreneurial path even when you have NO idea what you’re doing, or where you’re going. Once you are in motion, all you need will be added to you. Often we procrastinate starting because we don’t know what to do, where to start, or because we don’t want to appear as if we don’t know what we’re doing. But the truth is you may not, but you will, and that you only learn by doing, so the only way to find out the how is “to do.”
Conduct research beyond your friends & family about your business proposition.The world is much larger than those in your immediate circle, so you and your business can benefit from expanded world views. Also, your loved ones love and know you in a certain light, however the opportunities for you to contribute to the world may extend far beyond or differently from their views.
Appealing to everyone from the onset is not realistic or healthy due to budget and bandwidth limitations. If I had been told this, to start, I would have developed a minimal viable product (yoga mats) or service offering (meditations) for a specific audience as a test, and executed further from there.
It will all be done, just not all at once. A dear friend told me recently that she was happy to see me pacing my workload and spreading out my to-do dates over more time. I realized then that for whatever reason (likely the pressures of the world), I had been setting extremely unhealthy and unrealistic deadlines on my work productivity which was creating my time scarcity and anxiety. I now aim to complete things and refill my cup before moving on to the next initiative or task.
Ask for references, complete solid reference checks and examine reviews for each vendor you work with. Once you’re in business for yourself, the number of people pitching you on their services is overwhelming. At some point due to your need for expanded bandwidth and/or expertise, you ultimately end up caving and saying yes to a vendor. This in and of itself is understandable, but to protect your business and preserve your cash, we highly recommend that you take your time when choosing vendors and if possible try to hire people when you don’t desperately need them, this way you can be more level headed when you examine their agreements and evaluate if they are best suited to continue your business.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health is the topic of most interest to me at this time. Much emphasis for years has been placed on physical health, but by the increased school shootings, crime and suicide rates, it is obvious that mental health is of grave concern. Personally, I believe the life curation and altered image projections which occurs on some social media channels creates the idea for many that the lives they are leading are subpar (which is why the authenticity of the creators on TikTok is resonating so loudly as a counterculture). Yet, I think there is still more attention to be paid to protect the sanctity of people’s minds to creative a more sane world.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Visit YouTube.com/FreedomAtTheMat to hear our conversations with wellness experts, and experience our meditations, affirmations & yoga flows. We also post content about leading present lives on Facebook and Instagram using the Freedom At The Mat handle..
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Women In Wellness: Author Parijat Deshpande On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Don’t let anyone discourage or sway you from your vision. We have the visions that we have for a reason and we have the availability to turn them into reality. Not everyone can see our visions, but that’s okay.
As part of our series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Parijat Deshpande.
Parijat Deshpande is an author, speaker and the CEO of a global, boutique company dedicated to reducing pregnancy complications and ending preterm birth. On a mission to end the high-risk pregnancy crisis, she has served and supported hundreds of women through her programs, one-on-one work and bestselling book, Pregnancy Brain: A Mind-Body Approach to Stress Management During a High-Risk Pregnancy.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I always knew I wanted to work in women’s health. As early as 8 years old, I have memories of wanting to grow up and be an OBGYN. I knew what that was because my friend’s dad is an OBGYN, and every single time I had an opportunity to learn about his work and listen to his stories, I did. In junior high and high school when we had various career or science reports, anytime I had an opportunity to interview someone, I would choose him because I was so fascinated with the work and the world of pregnancy health.
When I got to college and was introduced to chemistry, I soon realized chemistry and I didn’t get along. Naturally, my career path changed directions and I pursued my undergraduate degree in psychology. This then led me to my undergraduate thesis, where I focused on research in developmental psychology. Ultimately, my career switched again, and I completed my graduate degree in clinical psychology, Yet, I still felt like there was something missing. It wasn’t until I had a real-life experience when I became the patient, that my eyes opened to a different way of working in women’s health that didn’t require me to be an OBGYN. After my experience with infertility, loss, and a very high-risk pregnancy, I realized I could be very closely involved on the pregnancy journey of people and work closely with OBGYNs in a capacity that actually suits my skillset even better!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
One of the first private clients I worked with came to me in her second pregnancy after having survived a previous high-risk pregnancy where she developed particular pregnancy complications and delivered preterm. She was hoping it wouldn’t happen again, but the same pregnancy complications resurfaced, except this time, even earlier in the current pregnancy. Her medical team tried to prepare her to deliver earlier in her pregnancy and encouraged her to be ready to have her baby in the NICU, too. That’s when she contacted me. She felt very strongly against being a NICU parent again and wanted help to figure out how to help herself manage the complications and stay pregnant.
I remember it all so clearly. Her doctors had given her a specific gestational age by which they were certain she was going to deliver. With the combination of continued prenatal medical care as well as our work together, she flew past that gestational age. I even remember her telling me she went to one of her medical appointments and her doctor was in complete shock she was still pregnant. It’s hard to forget the look on her face when she told me how fascinated her doctor was by the neurobiological work she and I were doing together to effectively help her stop her preterm contractions. She also got to show her medical care team during that very appointment how she could actually modulate those contractions. It was amazing to see her doctors truly start understanding how important trauma-informed, neurobiological support is in conjunction with prenatal medical care. She flew past her due date and ended up delivering her baby a few days after.
I think the biggest lesson for me from that experience was to remember the incredible power of this work and the incredible power of the human body. That has helped me whenever I’m doing something out of my comfort zone to build my business: to always think of her and clients like her who remind me that the work, works. It’s really powerful and helpful not to just my client but for the next generation of people we are trying to raise, too.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I first started my work, I was really shy and nervous to talk about what I do. I didn’t want to offend people, I didn’t want to ostracize people or make them feel like they were doing something wrong in their pregnancy — I just didn’t want to talk about it. My hopes were that people would figure out that they needed my services on their own and then come reaching out. I think this was a mistake, a rookie mistake maybe, because it undercut the value and the power of the work and it prevented people who needed my services from knowing that they existed. The more often I heard, “I wish I had known about you or your services when I was going through this”, the more I am reminded about the importance of sharing why I changed my career to be a trauma-informed, high-risk pregnancy specialist, how I work with clients, client success stories, and inviting people to work together. The more people can find me when they need this support, and we can help them have a healthy high-risk pregnancy, the more we are setting up the next generation for improved health!
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Two words–generational health. I help people have healthy pregnancies by teaching them neurobiological trauma-informed approaches to improving their nervous system, endocrine system, and their immune system. This all works together to help them have healthy pregnancies, reduce their risk of pregnancy complications, help them stay pregnant as long as possible, and give their baby a strong start to life. That is the ultimate, core foundational concept of generational health.
My clients not only benefit from our work through improved preconception and pregnancy health, but they are also setting themselves up for a healthy parenting experience, which sets the baby up to benefit long-term, too. There is tremendous research that shows how fetal development is deeply impacted by the environment they are growing in and one of the ways they are impacted is through the pregnant person’s physiological stress response. Stress physiology affects the functionality of the placenta, umbilical blood flow, fetal neurological development, and the overall health of the pregnancy. This is why when we address stress physiology from a somatic, neurobiological perspective (which is not the same as calming down) we can deeply support the neuro-endo-immune triad in the pregnant person, which can positively impact placental function and fetal growth and development, and reducing the risk of complications. This is how we can set the baby up for a healthy future long-term including supporting gross and fine motor development, cognitive development, intellectual, and emotional development. The impact of the work I do with my clients doesn’t just stop with them. It affects their baby’s long-term health and the way they parent, which also affects their child’s development. The work we do is deeply focused on passing on generational health.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
I find there are no tweaks, tips or hacks that actually help us get to deeper well-being. I want people to understand every time they’re looking for tweaks, tips, or hacks, what they’re looking for is another quick-fix solution that’s not going to get them to well-being — we have to do the deeper work. However, I do believe there are things that people can start doing now that can help them on the path to better well-being. So here are my five suggestions on where to begin:
When we’re feeling stressed. This is a sign that something about your situation, environment, tasks at hand, or relationship, is being encoded in your body as threatening. Instead of trying to breathe your way out of it, try to figure out what specifically about the situation, the task, the job, or the relationship is actually being experienced as threatening by your body. Once you’ve identified that, you’ll be able to create a solution and/or have an idea as to how to experience the situation, relationship, or job as safe. One of my clients would experience her blood pressure rising every time she went to the doctor. But her blood pressure was completely fine everywhere else–she would check it at home, the pharmacy, at work, etc. and it was completely fine. But every time she was in the doctor’s office, it would skyrocket and they would tell her she had hypertension and that she needed to begin medication. She would say no and would share with her medical team how the readings were fine at home. When we worked together, we had to identify what exactly was specifically threatening for her in that environment. There are a lot of people who have medical anxiety especially if they’ve experienced medical trauma and medical gaslighting. For her, it was actually the smell of the exam room that was triggering her somatic memories of her previous loss. Once we figured that out, we were able to work out how to change the smell of the exam room while supporting her body to come out of that triggered state, we were able to help her bring her blood pressure down at her doctor’s appointments.
When we have trouble sleeping. If you’re having trouble sleeping, and you’ve done everything in your power to improve your sleep hygiene, the next thing you want to do is to see what happened the day before. At what point in the day prior, did you experience a threatening moment–which is what we often call feeling stressed–that you couldn’t resolve completely physiologically? While you might feel calm emotionally, your body is still holding onto the impact of that threat response being activated. If you can figure out those patterns, you’ll have a better chance of being able to resolve that stress cycle before you go to sleep. I had a client who had terrible insomnia since the preterm delivery of her previous child. Her insomnia started as soon as she delivered and the baby was in the NICU. It lasted for years and nothing she tried helped alleviate it effectively. She was doing everything perfectly–when she started working with me we looked through the usual sleep hygiene checklist and all of the boxes were checked. Then, we looked back at the day before to see what was happening that kept her from being able to resolve and complete that stress cycle. Her reality was such that she had to be really vigilant about her preemie’s health and the health concerns they were dealing with since their NICU discharge. But she didn’t have any buffer between offering some of the treatments, doing her child’s bedtime routine and her getting ready to go to sleep. It was go, go, go for her all day long, and then she would crash from exhaustion only to wake up multiple times through the night. Her body was holding onto all of the activation required to be vigilant as a caretaker of her medically complex child, but she wasn’t actually able to complete that stress cycle to release that activation to go to sleep. That is what we worked on, and even then when her sleep hygiene wasn’t perfect, she was able to sleep and her insomnia actually disappeared.
Movement over exercise. I always tell my clients to prioritize movement over “exercise”. Sometimes the term exercise can mean something triggering and feel daunting to do. Some may associate it with sticking to a particular routine or a specific kind of exercise type. Some may associate it with feeling a certain way in their body that they don’t like or doesn’t feel good to them. These associations will prevent us from sticking to an exercise routine, even if we know we need to. This is why I recommend starting with movement of any kind. It does not matter what you do, it’s about can you get yourself to move, and that often helps to get over that hump to figure out what kind of exercise or movement helps you. I often tell my clients, especially those who have a history of a lot of trauma around exercise, not to use the word exercise and call it movement (or something else creative!) instead. I had a client who had a history of trauma around exercise. This client identified as a woman and I think for women, there’s a lot of shame or trauma around diet culture, weight, and exercising and this was the environment she grew up in. As an adult, when she gained weight, it was a scary experience in her home. When she was trying to conceive, she knew she wanted to lose weight, but the idea of exercising was so triggering that she wouldn’t do it, and then beat herself up for being “lazy” As we started working together, she told me, “Clearly I know I need to exercise, but I’m not doing it and I don’t know how to get myself to work out more.” We started our work together by completely stopping using the word exercise. We just focused on getting her moving. It didn’t matter what that movement looked like; it could’ve been cartwheels, walking or pacing in her office, dancing in the kitchen with her partner as dinner was in the oven, as long as she could get herself to move a certain number of times per day. If the goal was weight loss, it was too big of a leap from where she was. What we needed her to do was get used to the idea that movement could feel good and didn’t have to feel triggering in any way. Once we were able to do that, we were able to find some kind of movement practice that not only felt pleasurable to her but also helped her achieve her health goal of losing weight in order to be ready for the next pregnancy.
Change one habit at a time. Whenever we’re trying to make lifestyle changes, we often think we need to overhaul our entire life. What we really need is to change one habit at a time. The way you pick the first habit, as I recommend to my clients, is to pick the one that is going to give you the best result the fastest. What is going to make you feel better as quickly as possible–start with that first. Sometimes that’s changing your diet, your sleep routine, or something as simple as waking up in the morning and standing in the sun for 10–15 minutes to stop the melatonin production and feel more awake. It could even be drinking half a cup more water per day. These things seem really small but they have an enormous impact on setting up new habits. More important than the actual habit changes, is the experience that you can actually change your habit and benefit from the results of it on the other side. One of my clients was wanting to make a tremendous number of changes in her health before she was ready to try to conceive again. She had a lot of health problems that popped up, especially after her stillbirth from before, and she also had chronic health issues prior to that previous pregnancy and wanted to address all of them. She had tried multiple doctors, diet regimens, supplements, and medications, but nothing was getting better or as quickly as she had hoped. Then one of her physicians, a referral partner of mine, suggested that we work together because they thought that stress physiology was underlying some of the “lack of progress” as my client called it As we began our work together, she had a long list of things she wanted to work on and I asked her how it felt to look at this list. She told me it felt very overwhelming. I said to her, “If it’s overwhelming, you’re not going to do it. We don’t do things that overwhelm us.” We then worked through her list by removing the ones that felt the hardest and slowly pared the list down to the top three that she felt were easiest to start with. I asked her which one felt the absolute easiest to do. She ended up choosing drinking water. So we worked out a plan and the only goal for her at first was to drink more water. This can be hard when we have big goals and we know we can ultimately achieve those goals with some time and effort. Sometimes these smaller steps feel like they’re not enough but that’s not actually the point–what she had to experience was that she could actually change a habit, change it successfully, and sustain that successful change to benefit from it sustainably and that gave her the motivation to continue on to add one more habit one at a time.
Compassion and understanding. To understand your body, know that nothing in your body is happening by a fluke. The pain, the discomfort, the pleasure, the days when you feel really good and the days that you feel really bad, all of that is telling you something about your body, and everything you’re experiencing makes perfect sense. Yes, even the anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitations, and weight gain, there’s a reason for all of it. With my clients, I never accept a pathologizing answer of “this is what’s wrong” or a “we don’t know” answer over trying to figure out how it makes sense that your body is doing what it’s doing. This is one of the foundational elements of trauma-informed support: looking beyond what’s wrong to incorporate the bigger picture, and the context, to figure out how your “symptoms” make perfect sense and how they are telling you exactly what your body needs. I had a client with multiple health complications she wasn’t getting enough support with. One she was especially concerned about was vertigo-like symptoms. No medical provider was able to figure out what was going on. They ran multiple tests, and nothing came up and everything was fine, yet she felt so dizzy all the time. Turns out, it wasn’t actually vertigo. One of the first things we talked about when we began working together was the idea that this dizziness is actually a very common experience for people who are living with traumatic stress for an extended period of time. There’s an explanation inside of our sensory system that helps highlight why this happens. It’s not a fluke; it happened for her whenever a particular stress threshold was crossed and there was so much activation in her body that this is how her sensory system responded. When I explained it like this to her, I remember her in tears because it was such a relief to her that she wasn’t broken, and there was an explanation for what she was experiencing. When we can have that kind of understanding and compassion for ourselves about why our bodies are doing what it’s doing, we no longer feel like we have to fight our bodies. We can understand and hold that understanding in a way to get curious about what the next steps should be to support our bodies to manage, reduce or even eradicate entirely, the symptoms that are concerning us.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
My movement would be for every single person who is about to try to conceive, actively trying to conceive or is currently pregnant to have access to neurobiological trauma-informed support. This would give them the information they need so they know how they can support their bodies to have healthy pregnancies. When a pregnant person is healthy and the pregnancy is healthy, we reduce the risk of complications and reduce the preterm delivery rate. We’re essentially setting up the entire next generation for better health. I genuinely could not think of a more impactful movement than helping people create a healthy next generation.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Don’t let anyone discourage or sway you from your vision. We have the visions that we have for a reason and we have the availability to turn them into reality. Not everyone can see our visions, but that’s okay.
If you’re in a business that is challenging the status quo, it can be difficult. Surround yourself with other visionaries who believe in your vision and who are also doing similar disrupting type work. This helps tremendously to keep you going, even on the hard days.
The entrepreneur journey has lots of ups and downs. This is very normal. It doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong or that you shouldn’t be doing this work. It is just inherent to the experience and normalizing that as early as possible is helpful.
Whenever you feel lost, like you don’t know what you’re doing or where your life is going, go back to your younger self. What did that version of you dream for yourself? Reconnect with that dream, because that version of you had wisdom you still have access to.
Your health determines how many other people you can help on their health and wellness journey. An essential part of doing this work is taking really good care of yourself.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
The most impactful cause that is closely tied to me would have to be environmental change. Climate change not only impacts my family personally but also the work I do. For example, the increase in wildfires impacts pregnancy health and pregnancy outcomes. I am actively working, both personally and professionally, to see how I can contribute to reversing climate change.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Visit me at my website parijatdeshpande.com to see all the resources I have available. You can read my book, Pregnancy Brain, which is also linked on my website. If you’d like to dive a little deeper into what a trauma-informed neurobiological approach to whole health sounds like, join The Inner Circle. Lastly, you can follow me on Instagram @healthy.highriskpregnancyfor inspiration and motivation.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!
Women In Wellness: Katie Gallagher of Candor Health Education On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Set goals. These may be goals to improve your work life, home life, spiritual life, emotional, mental or physical health. Whatever you are looking to achieve, remember that even small changes toward that goal can make a big difference. If you have ever read about someone’s weight loss success story, it probably included a series of small changes that a person made and sustained over time to achieve a larger weight loss goal.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Katie Gallagher.
Katie is a veteran educator and school administrator. In her current role as Director of Education at Candor Health Education, she is able to join her experience as an educator with her passion for improving the physical and emotional health and wellness of young people.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Sure! I spent over twenty years as a teacher and administrator at the elementary and middle school levels before joining Candor Health Education. At Candor, we provide substance abuse prevention and sex education programs to students in 4th-8th grade. Candor has provided the perfect opportunity for me to utilize my expertise in education to support young people in making informed decisions about their health and well-being. Nothing is more important than the mental and physical health of the young people in our schools.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
As I began my career as an administrator, I thought I had things pretty figured out. I had taught for a while and had been involved in strategic planning initiatives at a schoolwide level. However, I had a Head of School who was constantly checking in with me and offering advice. At the time, I saw this as being overbearing and micromanaging, but now realize how much I learned from her and how generous it was of her to take so much time to help me learn and grow. Never underestimate the importance of good mentorship! Take it where you can get it!
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
As a teacher, I made the mistake of thinking more was better, more reading, more facts, more homework. Now looking back, it is so clear that less is more. Cramming more facts into young people, is not the way to help them learn. They need opportunities to connect to the information they are learning to the world around them, opportunities to apply new ideas and test them out. As we design new health curriculum at Candor, I keep this in mind. Students may only remember a few key facts from a health program, but they will remember stories, real-life examples and how they can apply the information they learn.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Our work at Candor Health Education is to provide primary prevention to young people in the areas of substance abuse and sex education. We know that prevention is critical to supporting health and wellness. Young people need to have the knowledge about how to protect themselves, so that they are able to make informed decisions when situations present themselves. There is plenty of research to support the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
For me, wellbeing is all about balance. It is something I am always striving for, but here are a few things that have helped me along the way:
Practice gratitude. It is a scientific fact that our brains naturally tend to focus on the negative. Train your brain by explicitly practicing gratitude. Try keeping a gratitude journal, or reaching out to others to say “thank you.”
Block out time for the things that are important to you. That may be exercise, a hobby, spending time with family, or any of a number of things. Guard and protect that time. If you don’t take time to fill up your tank, you will not be able to go the distance in other areas of your life.
Make time for friends. Friends are there through ups and downs and often know you better than anyone. Keep in touch, find time for coffee, a walk, a lunch or a dinner. Sometimes you need to be with someone who just “gets it.”
Get rest. This may be in the form of a regular daily break, a beach vacation or simply getting to bed “on time.” When I am not rested, I find myself short-tempered, more anxious and easily frustrated. It is amazing what some rest and relaxation will do.
Set goals. These may be goals to improve your work life, home life, spiritual life, emotional, mental or physical health. Whatever you are looking to achieve, remember that even small changes toward that goal can make a big difference. If you have ever read about someone’s weight loss success story, it probably included a series of small changes that a person made and sustained over time to achieve a larger weight loss goal.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I would start a wellness movement in schools around connection: faculty and staff building real connections with students so that students feel engaged and heard in their school communities, students participating in more programs and activities and having more opportunities to contribute and lead in their school communities. In our busy, on-line lives, we are not building enough real-world, real-time connections with one another. By investing in this, we will have young people who grow up with the social skills, confidence and self-esteem needed to navigate the ups and downs of adulthood.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Here is a short list of things that I have learned that I wish I had known at the start:
It is okay if you don’t know what your “passion” is at the start of your career journey, sometimes you don’t know until you dive in and give something a try. One experience will lead to another and you will gain a clearer sense of your interests, strengths and passions.
No matter what you do, keep people first. By this I mean, the key to success in any field is building connections with others, putting the needs of others at the forefront of what you do and how you do it. It is through these connections that you will feel fulfilled and you will grow the most.
Sometimes while in the trenches, you can get bogged down in the day to day. It can be hard to see the good you are doing but stay the course. Keep the end goal in mind and revisit it frequently to help you push forward.
Expect to have setbacks. Life is unpredictable and does not happen along a linear path. When something does not go as expected, regroup, set a plan, lean on others and move forward.
There will be great days and not-so-great days. Don’t let yourself focus too long on the negative. You will find that the great days outnumber the not-so-great.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health is the cause dearest to me. Often when someone is struggling with mental health it is invisible to those around them, yet it pervades every aspect of that person’s life, often becoming very debilitating. Since mental health is often “hidden” from view, too often people struggle alone. Mental health must be something that we need to talk about more and that we get more resources behind. Resources include everything from increased social emotional learning in our schools to therapeutic and clinical support.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Please find more information at www.candorhealthed.org. I encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on issues impacting young people today.
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Female Founders: Dianna Smith of Hadobody On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Get into the grind as soon as possible. — As a founder, getting your hands on the product or service and engaging with the end user as quickly as possible is paramount for success. In the beginning phase, this can’t be delegated to employees or paid advertising. Being involved in all areas of the product, service and business while it is getting off of the ground is critical to understand your customer and their needs.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dianna Smith.
Dianna Smith is the founder of Hadobody, a wellness and sustainable lifestyle brand featuring men’s and women’s apparel, accessories and home goods! Dianna began her holistic wellness journey with a breast cancer diagnosis in 2010. With this experience she dove deep into holistic wellness and personal healing which has led her to want to share her experience and understanding of holistic wellbeing with the world through beautifully constructed and ethically sourced personal lifestyle and home goods.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
My story begins about 25 years ago as I embarked on a career path in a very competitive and male dominated industry. As a single mother, building a highly successful business, I often sacrificed my personal wellbeing taking care of my family, my clients and my business before looking after my own personal needs. In hindsight, I realized that I lived in a chronic state of fight or flight. Over time, this took its toll on my health and in 2010, 12 years into my career, I was given a health diagnosis that stopped me in my tracks at the age of 47. I had breast cancer.
I allowed this diagnosis to serve as a wakeup call for the deep need to come back and embrace my Femininity and learn how to lead and create in an integrated way. I had become very good at “getting things done” and “driving results’ ‘. I had my boxing gloves on every day, ready for the good fight! I learned that it would be supportive to remember how to lean into my feminine energy and strengths in order to embrace, both my masculine and feminine energies, in order to create a well-rounded approach to my life. This was the continuation of my journey into holistic wellness and spirituality. At the time of the diagnosis I began my spiritual work with an energy healer from Germany. Her name is Ursula and I study and practice with her still today.
As my journey continued, I fell in love with the work of Nikola Tesla, the study of energy and vibration. I devoured everything I could from Dr. Emoto’s work on the qualities of water, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Lynne McTaggart, The HeartMath Institute and everything I could find on energy, vibration and intention. I always knew there was a mind, body, spirit connection and now it was all coming together. I learned (remembered) of the many tools that are available to me, and everyone, which can be used to affect change in my mind, my spirit and therefore I could actively participate in the healing of my body.
What I continue to observe is that technology is allowing science to catch up with spirituality. We now have tools which can measure our energetic bodies, our energetics fields, our brain waves, even our heart auras. I am able to incorporate this information into my daily life. We all have access to these tools. I want everyone to know about them.
As I think of the origins of Hadobody, I knew I wanted to educate and inspire people to understand the subtle nuances of energy and how that can affect our lives but I didn’t know how to deliver it… yet.
In 2012, while thriving in my intense corporate career, I had the overwhelming feeling that I had to create something bigger than myself and help to spread the word about subtle energy, in a fun and gentle way, along with all of the tools and concepts that are available to each of us today.
It was during this time, the name of the business came to me, Hadobody. Hado means the first vibration in nature. Hadobody came immediately to mind. Wouldn’t it be great if we could infuse our body with positive self-affirmation through our most intimate clothing, using eco-friendly and body friendly fibers. I immediately trademarked the name Hadobody, hence the concept of Hadobody was born in 2012.
I wanted to find a personal way for people to literally wear their daily affirmation and what a more perfect way than to design intimate wear for men and women with personal self-affirmations adorning the garments. Of course, the fabrics must be sustainable, and in 2019 the first designs of Hadobody were produced. You can link to our website here www.hadobody.com.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
As a founder, you have a general plan, you put the elements of the plan into place, you measure results, then make adjustments. There have been many times, and there will be more, where I ask, what am I missing, what is my next step? I have learned that this is the point where I stop, get quiet and ask, often out loud, what do I need to know? What else do we need to do or have? What resources am I not thinking of? What is my next step? The interesting part of this, as I go about my business, within the next few days or weeks the answer sits next to me on a plane, or on the beach, comes through a random introduction, or even a text message!
Recently, I sat next to a stranger on the plane, we struck up a conversation and he had a solution to the question I was asking the universe just a few days prior to this serendipitous meeting! That conversation led to an introduction to a team that could help take our reach to the next level. Just yesterday we were in a zoom meeting as he was kind enough to introduce me to a trusted colleague for just the service I have been seeking. Another example, while on the beach talking with my girlfriend, we discovered that her daughter knew a woman who had expertise in the area we needed expert advice in. The introductions were made and we were able to consult with an experienced expert in the industry. These are two examples and I can go on! The more we trust the universe and ask the questions, the more we get quiet in prayer or meditation and allow the answers to come to us, the more we will get the answers we are seeking. This is my belief.
It is my experience that the answers appear when you ask the question and then allow yourself to receive the answer. The moral of the story, trust that when we ask the questions, the answers will come. Be still, be open and receptive.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In the initial product development phase of Hadobody, we were creating patterns and samples, which required fabric selections. I knew that we had to work with sustainable fabrics. For Hadobody, this means it cannot be made of polyester or rayon, which are typically the base of many “performance” stretchy fabrics. I selected a very silky soft fabric with a little bit of stretch in it. The sample was made and part of the process is wearing it to see how it holds up and feels. By the end of the day, the fabric had stretched out so much that the undies just fell completely off, to the floor! Not a good outcome for an undie, for sure, needless to say, we did not use that particular fabric blend!
This is important to me, in terms of sustainability, many performance fabrics and many fabrics that our society has worn for decades are plastic and petroleum based, you may be familiar with polyester, rayon, and even spandex. We are literally wearing clothing made of petroleum next to our largest organ, our skin, and intimate parts of our bodies. This is not healthy for the human body and often not thought of as a health concern. It’s very challenging to source fabrics that have performance qualities and are still sustainable and affordable. For the health of our bodies and Planet Earth, we need to continue to create fibers and fabrics that take less resources to process and that are made with natural fibers. At Hadobody, it is one of our missions to continue to develop fibers and fabrics that are healthy on our bodies and gentle on the planet.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people that I am so very grateful for! May I indulge and give you a few more than one person? Thank you! My mom, first and foremost, she told me that I could do anything that I set my mind to and I believed her. She is a beautiful seamstress and I learned so much about clothing construction and design watching her make all my clothes when I was a little girl growing up. My daughter grounded me into love, success and the drive to make things happen. My energy healers and coaches, Ursula and Ana who both continue to support my journey and that I hold council with daily. And of course, my husband who supports me, believes in me and is my life partner and my business partner.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
We are making progress, yet still the process is too slow. The pandemic brought on many challenges for everyone, especially women. With every challenge, opportunity is also presented. In 2021, 49% of all new business start-ups were women owned, which is up from 28% in 2019, according to weforum.org. I believe that women are finding their voices and their power. We are ready to take the risk of putting our ideas into the world in a faster fashion than we have ever seen before, this movement is gaining momentum and it needs to continue to grow.
There are still many challenges that women face as founders. Access to capital and resources is the biggest obstacle, in my opinion. The traditional banks are difficult to navigate through for a start up business and venture capital and private equity are still male dominated. We need more successful women to put together their own venture capital funds and resources that are able to seed the great ideas that women consistently bring to the table. Today, non-bank financing options are available, at higher than market interest rates. Depending on the conviction and overall situation of the founder, this may be an option.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
As individuals, let’s remember that every dollar makes a difference. We can support women owned businesses by making intentional shopping decisions based on the woman owned business and business ethos. More women are getting into venture capital due to their own personal success and reinvesting in other women owned businesses helping them to succeed. This is huge and we are seeing it a bit more now in private equity, as well. Studies show, women with money tend to think about helping their families, others and their communities. Women with money tend to give back and help others. Studies, like The Power of the Purse, also show that women and young people are looking for brands they can trust, brands that provide quality goods and services, brands that are inclusive, sustainable and hold similar values they themselves stand for.
I believe that individuals are the best stewards of their own capital. We need to get more capital into the hands of women. We need a boost up on this, I think this comes from successful women and men, investing in women founders.
As a society, one decision at a time eventually creates a collective and there becomes a tipping point where we begin to value and focus on what is good for our bodies, our society, and our planet over a focus on cheaper things faster. This is happening now and it will give direction to decisions being made as we move forward into a more regenerative future for ourselves and our planet. I believe that individuals and free markets are more resourceful than government mandates, which can often have unintended consequences.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Women in decision making capacities tend to focus on helping their family and their community. We are naturally very strong leaders. We are wonderful collaborators. We are intuitive. We are incredibly innovative. We are patient enough to see things through and allow things to grow and we are nimble enough to make those gentle shifts and pivots that are needed when founding a new concept or company.
We are strong beyond compare and we can bring in feminine energies of collaboration, love, empathy while also utilizing masculine energy used for creating structure, drive and action. We can create balance and synergies in the business world, just like we have done for our families and societies for centuries. And yes, we are good at math and science, too!
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Myth 1:
Everything goes according to plan as long as you have a plan.
You can have the best plan and there are going to be curve balls thrown at you, just know you can solve all issues. There is a solution.
Myth 2:
Everything has to be perfectly lined up before you get started.
Sometimes you just have to start, just do it, and make adjustments as you go!
Myth 3:
Everything takes 2x longer and is 2x more expensive.
Everything takes 3x to 5x longer and is also that much more expensive, plan ahead for that. Keep grinding it out and set your sights on your intentions and goals. Check in with your plan, make shifts as needed, and keep moving forward — even when it seems impossible.
Myth 4:
You’ll have more flexibility in your schedule.
Your time is not your own in the beginning. It will take long hours, weekends, to get your business up and running. In the beginning you will need to work both hard and smart! As the infrastructure is built, you can find great people to delegate to, but in the beginning, it’s likely all you! You will need to work both smart and hard.
Myth 5:
You will be your own boss.
You will have many types of people to answer to! Your team as you develop that part of your business, your customers or clients, as well as your shareholders and investors!
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
There are certain qualities that are helpful and even required to be a successful founder such as: Passion, Drive, Irreverence, Ambition, High Energy, a High Pain Tolerance (lol!), and more!
I believe that when someone has the passion for their idea or business, these traits can be learned, when you have a vision big enough. We all have capabilities beyond our current understanding of ourselves. I believe that when we stretch ourselves, we find more of what we are seeking. We all have brilliance within us.
Someone that may seem better suited for a 9 to 5 type of work may have an idea for a new gadget or business and that can spark their passion that unleashes their full potential, allowing them to be a successful founder. Another person may use their passion or spark towards their family, their community or some other outlet besides founding a company — and we very much benefit from all of this, just in different ways.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Get into the grind as soon as possible.
As a founder, getting your hands on the product or service and engaging with the end user as quickly as possible is paramount for success. In the beginning phase, this can’t be delegated to employees or paid advertising. Being involved in all areas of the product, service and business while it is getting off of the ground is critical to understand your customer and their needs.
2. It is likely going to cost 3–5x more than you are planning on.
Create your business plan and projections, then estimate the plan to cost 3 to 5 times more than your projections in both time and money. When you do this and execute ahead of plan, you can enjoy that success. Be prepared for the worst, celebrate when you have better than expected outcomes.
3. You will have self-doubt.
It’s OK, just don’t let it get the best of you. Launching a new company is a critical time that a founder needs to learn how to lean into the feeling of success. How does it feel to achieve the goals that you have established for your start up company? Take the time to be quiet with yourself, go into meditation, then once your brain waves are fully receptive, imagine through visualization what your business success looks like, what it feels like, what it even smells like — visualize every single detail. Do this at least once a day, twice a day is ideal. I love the ZIVA meditation process created by Emily Fletcher, which uses Mindfulness, Meditation and Manifesting for a total of 15 minutes, 2x per day.
4. Be very clear on your WHY for starting your business.
Keep it simple: a one word or one phrase WHY is the most powerful. Be vulnerable enough to share your WHY with the world. Take your time on this and you will thank yourself in the days ahead. When you can share your clear WHY with a client, customer, manufacturing partner, supplier, and advertising team your Voice, as the business, is more clearly defined. Clear is Kind. Clear is Powerful. Know Your WHY and be prepared to share it. I did this work and yet it felt very vulnerable to share my WHY in the beginning. It took practice to state my WHY in an elegant fashion. It was scary, and it takes alot to scare me! When I allowed myself to share my WHY with people, I was astounded at the beautiful responses that I received from people. I also found that people who loved the brand, and after learning my WHY, they LOVED the brand! Know Your WHY and Share it Often! My WHY: I want to remind people how magnificent they truly are.
5. Digital Marketing is still the Wild Wild West. You know your why, you know the voice of your brand, but unless you are a coder or an expert at SEO and Paid Advertising on the digital platforms, it is still difficult to find a team of professionals that can actually execute on achieving results with paid advertising alone. Three things on this:
Research and interview the top digital marketing agencies within your price point. Once you’re satisfied with your q&a process, ask them for references from clients they have in your industry and also with start up companies. If they cannot provide that to you, move on to the next agency. They must have experience within your industry as well as with start-up companies.
Read the data daily, weekly, monthly. What insights are you picking up from the trends you are seeing? No one will care more about your business than you, be your own advocate and don’t just assume that because you hired a great team for your digital marketing that they are executing as well as you deserve or could be. Stay on top of this and manage this.
People buy from People. Create relationships with influencers in your industry, collaborate with affinity brands and products, sponsor podcasts, get out there and be the voice of your brand and company. Have a holistic approach to your marketing. Digital marketing is table stakes, you have to have it, but also utilize other methods of building raving fans, through relationships and people. Get out there and mingle and let everyone experience how magnificent that you truly are!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Yes and we are just getting started. First of all, each one of our team members earn above market wages, even when they are part-time. Our primary manufacturer, which is LA, California based, also pays living wages, provides great benefits and takes care of their people. This is important to us. We use as many sustainable materials as we possibly can, which is a bit more difficult to source and the costs are still higher than most petroleum based fabrics and materials. We also give back with each purchase. We have hand selected 7 charities, as our Impact Partners, that align with each of the Seven Chakras in the Seven Chakra System. With every purchase a percent of the profits go to the Impact Partner that is aligned with that particular Chakra Collection. We believe that we need to hit on all areas in order to truly be a Conscious Company paving the way as to how all companies will be ran going forward. We see this trend happening now and we strive to lead the way in this category.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to see the movement where every single person looks at themselves in the mirror each morning and says out loud I AM Awesome. I AM Powerful, I AM Enough. I AM Brilliant. I AM Love. Whatever feels good to them. #IAM! When every single person on this planet remembers how magnificent they truly are, they can be the best version of themselves. When we do this easy practice consistently, our energy gently shifts and we send our positive vibrations out into the world, creating a ripple effect of positivity throughout the ocean of oneness that we all live in!
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Oh Wow! There are so many awesome people that I would love to connect with privately! I would have to say, Elon Musk. Elon is a visionary, he is bold, controversial, he knows how to shake things up. I would love to sit down with Elon and talk about his vision for a cleaner planet, the future of technology and how it relates to the human species, and how spirituality plays a role in our energetic fields. I would love to know more about how he may or may not study the works done by Nikola Tesla as he creates things that are changing the trajectory of our planet. As you know, I believe that technology is allowing science to catch up with spirituality, I would love to hear what Elon thinks on this topic, as well. And Oh, Aliens, we have to discuss space travel and our galactic friends!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Josiah: The number one thing you need to thrive as a power couple is to understand and support each other’s strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, you’ll not only succeed in business, but also strengthen your relationship with one another.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Josiah and Meg Mothershed of Mothershed Design Co. As a husband-wife team, Meg and Josiah are partners in love, life, and business. Having been together for nearly a decade and running a business for six of those years, this dynamic duo has expanded to an international client base and achieved recurring six-figure yearly sales, all while maintaining freedom over their time and a relentless passion for the design field. Josiah and Meg use their unique talents and skills to help small businesses succeed by building brands and websites that stand out, attract the right customers, and drive growth.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
Josiah: After years spent working as a graphic designer for agencies and in-house teams, I was feeling frustrated and unfulfilled. Having been involved in every step of the design process, I knew what it took to run a project from start to finish and felt I could do it better. So, in 2016 I struck out on my own and formed Mothershed Design Co. shortly after Meg and I got married.
Meg: At the time Josiah started the studio, I was working as an in-house graphic designer at a nonprofit. While it was a great job as a recent graduate, it left me craving more. Having always wanted to own my own business since I was six years old, joining Josiah at MDCo. was a no-brainer! I quit my job and joined him in the business full time in 2016 and we’ve never looked back.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?
Meg: One of the biggest and most exciting things to have happened to us since getting married is definitely having a baby! Our daughter was born in August 2022 and has already brought such joy into our lives.
Josiah: Now, not only do we share the titles of husband and wife and business partners, but “mom” and “dad” too! It’s been an incredible journey so far and we’re only just beginning the big adventure that is parenthood.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Josiah: When we first started working together, we were used to working pretty independently and didn’t always communicate about what we were working on, leading to us sometimes working on the same thing at the same time!
Meg: We quickly learned the importance of clear communication and began to define our roles within the business. I focus on running the operations of the business, managing projects, and handling strategy and copywriting for clients, while Josiah (our creative genius), does the heavy lifting on design and web development.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Meg: Mothershed Design Co. isn’t your typical design studio. We’re not a big agency and we’re not flaky freelancers. We’re the best of both worlds: we’ve got the multi-faceted skills of an agency and the flexibility of freelancers, without the expensive overhead or unreliability.
Josiah: We’re a tiny but mighty team that believes in the power of staying small. With too many cooks in the kitchen, your message can get lost in translation. We keep our operations small to ensure clear communication. That’s why we only take on projects that we can do using our own skills to provide the best service possible.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Josiah: We’re currently working on several rebranding projects for new clients! Rebrands are our bread and butter. We love taking an existing brand that feels outdated or poorly designed and transforming it into one that reflects the value the business provides and stands out from the competition!
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
Meg: When working with your team, remember to put yourself in their shoes. What will motivate them? What are they passionate about? It’s easy to fall into “the boss” role and forget what it’s like to be an employee. By understanding their perspective, you can better meet their needs and build a strong team.
How do you define “Leadership”?
Josiah: Leadership means always putting others first. Whether that be your children, spouse, close friends, or clients, a true leader puts others’ needs before their own and strives to serve as an excellent example of humanity.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Meg: We’re definitely each other’s biggest support system. One of the biggest strengths in our relationship is our ability to work as a united team in everything we do.
Josiah: Everything we take on is to benefit us as a family. Running a business isn’t always easy, but there’s no one else in the world I’d rather be doing it with.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Meg: While there’s plenty of big companies doing great things, we’re most passionate about helping small businesses succeed. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. It’s our goal to support them by building brands and websites that stand out, attract the right customers, and drive growth.
What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.
Josiah: The number one thing you need to thrive as a power couple is to understand and support each other’s strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, you’ll not only succeed in business, but also strengthen your relationship with one another.
Having defined roles and responsibilities is also incredibly important. Use what you each are passionate about (and not so passionate about), to determine who does what to find the most fulfillment in your work.
Meg: Don’t forget to ask for help. Josiah and I are both major “do-it-yourself-ers” who like to take on everything ourselves. That can sometimes translate to not wanting to ask for help when we need it. Over the years, we’ve learned that asking for help is not only necessary but also gives the other person the opportunity to show their support.
Josiah: On that note, don’t forget to take a break! As both partners in life and in business, it’s easy to allow work to take over. We often have to remind ourselves to take a step back and rest once in a while.
Meg: Lastly, remember that at the end of the day, it’s still just work. Projects come and go, but ultimately it’s the love you have for one another that matters most.
You are people of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Josiah: At Mothershed Design Co., we believe in small, sustainable growth. We have found that’s the key to our success, both professionally and personally. Constantly doing creative work can be both incredibly rewarding and challenging. It’s easy to quickly become burned out doing something you love.
Meg: Our goal as a business is to support other small businesses through branding and web design while maintaining the motivation that made us want to start a business in the first place — freedom over our time and spending that time doing something meaningful.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Meg: Something we constantly remind ourselves is to “be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Josiah: As both entrepreneurs and creatives, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is crucial to achieving your dreams. If you only pursued what you were familiar with, you’d never experience anything new. You would stay in the same place with the same people in the same situations.
Meg: It can be downright scary to go after what you truly want, but life is too short to be left wondering, “what if?”
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Meg: Hands down it would be Marcus Lemonis! I’ve been a huge fan of his for years. From watching every episode of The Profit (several times over), to following his journey online, I find him to be an amazing source of inspiration as a small business owner. He offers practical, realistic advice on running a business that anyone can learn from and I love his focus on “people, process, and product” to achieve success.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Josiah: You can learn more about our story at MothershedDesign.com or follow along with us on Instagram at @mothershed_design.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Women In Wellness: Clara Sage Sartor On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Pets can be therapeutic; consider adopting one. I’ve had dogs almost all my life and moving out to the West Coast away from my support system was a huge life change for me. The best thing I did for my health since I’ve been out here was adopt my pup, Hershey. This rescue has been the best thing for my mental health (especially when in the throes of medical school), my physical health with motivating me to exercise, and my emotional health with all the laughter she brings!
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Clara Sage Sartor, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine.
Clara Sage Sartor is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and author for Fullscript currently finishing her doctorate in acupuncture. She was born and raised in Virginia where she completed her undergraduate degree with a major in mathematical biology and minor in French and Francophone studies. She hopes to return to the East Coast and open an integrative clinic that delivers individualized and community medicine.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I’m from northern Virginia, which we call NOVA or part of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area. I have one older sister who chose the allopathic medicine route and is now a medical doctor (MD) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our love of medicine started at an early age from solving mysteries as Nancy Drew. Fewer things are as interesting, complex, and yet to be discovered as the human body. Our parents worked tirelessly in government jobs, so the belief in helping others and service was instilled in us from the beginning. We had the fortune of being raised by our grandparents as well, and watching them age and struggle with difficulties and illness that can come with age really influenced me to want to be a part of that solution. As a child, I struggled with my own health, mainly with chronic back pain, joint pain, and insomnia. Often, I did not feel heard when I went to see doctors. I decided to become a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist because I wanted to be the kind of doctor who listens, can offer a variety of modalities to patients to fit their individual needs, and to be the doctor that I felt my family deserved and everyone deserves.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
The most interesting story that happened to me was working during an acupuncture shift at my naturopathic medical school. There was a patient who desired to get pregnant and had undergone several rounds of in-vitro fertilization and other Western methods to help with fertility, to no avail. She came to us as a last resort, based on hearing good things from other people we’ve treated. She had one final in-vitro attempt scheduled in two weeks, but we were determined to help in any way we could. I’ve never felt such an immense degree of both honor and pressure. Through the use of Western methods and our acupuncture protocol, she was able to conceive, and I had the fortune of seeing her come in as a pregnant patient! Knowing that I was a part of her fertility journey was incredibly rewarding. The main lesson I have taken from that is to never give up hope and to really utilize all modalities and options, both traditional or nontraditional, to help create the best outcome for your patients.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The biggest mistake I made when I first started was not knowing my boundaries. This is something honestly I still struggle with today, but I try to improve on this however I can. For example, I had a patient arrive 30 minutes after his appointment, and the front desk and other personnel, including myself, allowed it. I was new and needed the experience and didn’t want to say no, even though taking the client meant allowing the clinic to close far later than it should since he was the last appointment. As someone who tries hard to stay on track with appointments out of respect for my patients’ time, I remember feeling frustrated that the person didn’t respect my time and was even demanding an extra-long session that day! Nevertheless, we are still close and it’s something we actually laugh about now, but I learned that for people to respect my boundaries, I have to respect myself and stay true to the boundaries that I set.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
My naturopathic medical degree was part of the community health honors track program, so I got to spend a great deal of time working in community clinics. Fewer things I’ve experienced are more rewarding, and I hope to open up my own community clinic or help out in one already established when I move back to the East Coast. Looking bigger and into the future, I want to work with Naturopaths Without Borders and see if I can volunteer in Francophone Africa to utilize my language and medical skills to help anyone in need. I’m hoping that I’m part of a movement that is demonstrating that the future is individualized care, and that a painkiller for one person with a headache may not work for another with the same kind of headache. People are unique and their treatment plans should be, too, and that’s the focus we need to shift towards: working together integratively to heal people with individualized medicine.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Pets can be therapeutic; consider adopting one. I’ve had dogs almost all my life and moving out to the West Coast away from my support system was a huge life change for me. The best thing I did for my health since I’ve been out here was adopt my pup, Hershey. This rescue has been the best thing for my mental health (especially when in the throes of medical school), my physical health with motivating me to exercise, and my emotional health with all the laughter she brings!
Treat yo’ self! All my fellow Parks and Recreation fans already know about this one, but self-care is so important. Mine are candles, soap, and plants! Find out what self-care means to you and nourish yourself by cultivating that.
Discover new hobbies; try new things. Everyone has something they enjoy, and that’s wonderful, but don’t be afraid to try something new. Stepping out of our comfort zone can help us grow socially and mentally. I started Kung Fu mid-December of 2021 (because I’m horrible at keeping New Year’s resolutions so figured I’d start one before the year started), and I am a first degree gold belt and loving every minute of it.
Do your brain aerobics! Try to do something that stretches your brain, daily. This can be puzzles, reading, audio books, brain games like Lumosity, sudoku, or other brain games. This helps strengthen our neuronal network and make new connections, making our brain even stronger.
Stay movin’. Whether it’s swimming every evening, jogging Saturday mornings, or just getting up every hour from the cubicle to stretch, try to stay moving. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the worst things for our health, so even if it’s just a quick walk to the water fountain, try to stay moving whenever you can.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I think my movement would be community gardening. I imagine community gardens just everywhere and people are able to actually obtain healthy produce without spending an arm and a leg. Not only does being in nature help with our wellbeing (as we see with forest bathing and grounding), but it would help bring the community together which I think is vital, particularly today. Nutrition and diet is also one of the biggest barriers to health because food deserts pose problems to many communities, buying healthful foods can be inaccessible to many, and there is a large gap in knowledge between the level of knowledge of food health in some consumers as opposed to others. Working with Fullscript, I’ve been able to write articles on health and wellness including these important topics of nutrition and diet options with the hope of practicing Docere, one of our naturopathic principles and equipping others with more information to be able to make informed decisions on their food choices. Understanding is actually healthy and
what the foods we put into our body does to our health is essential in giving patients autonomy
on their own health. So, by having these community gardens, actually being able to show people how to self-sustain and grow these foods themselves, having a way where people get to take these healthful produce home, and to educate communities on food choices would be an absolute dream.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
“It’s ok to fail” and “Don’t let fear of failure control what you do.” I don’t know who needs to hear this, but I wish someone had told me it was ok to fail. When I moved cross country, I was so scared of failure and letting down my family and things not panning out well. All through naturopathic medical school, I was so scared of failure and falling behind my cohort. And then one day, the clinical coordinator told me to not let fear control what I do and that I’m far more prepared than I give myself credit. That day changed my life, and I only wish we’d had that conversation earlier!
“Find or create your community.” When I first moved out to Arizona for naturopathic medical school, I really didn’t feel I had any community at my school or anywhere nearby. So, I looked elsewhere. I joined Meetup where I made friends, online dating apps to meet new people, and I adopted my dog. I’m happy I created my community and wish I had only started that earlier.
“It’s ok to be weird; weird is good.” This is something I wish someone had told me back in grade school, but I’ve learned that being weird is a good thing. Experiences make you interesting and connect with others and have helped me so much in my ability to connect with people, from all walks of life.
“Nourish things that help you grow; reevaluate those that stunt your growth.” When I first came out for graduate school, I was supposed to come with a partner and ended up coming alone, through a break up. It was one of the most difficult experiences for me that undoubtedly turned into a time of enormous growth. I find that with job opportunities and hobbies, I am always looking for growth and to expand my skill set, but I had never thought about if my relationships were helping me grow. Now I really ponder if those I’m with add to my life or subtract from it, and vice versa.
“Make boundaries, and stick to them!” This is one I’m still working on but boundaries are so important in every sphere of life. I think knowing your limits and really respecting yourself to stick to that is incredibly important.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
All of those are incredibly important topics, but mental health is most dear to my heart. It’s something that affects everyone and is so important to every aspect of health. I’ve had anxiety for as long as I can remember. I know that growing up in NOVA with the intensity of the DMV and East Coast mentality has contributed to my anxiety, but I believe there is some beauty in it as well. Part of my anxiety has made me so driven to fight for injustice and take leadership roles that it helped me become president of my naturopathic medical school’s student government in the thick of COVID-19 and propelled me to keep fighting for better representation in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Part of that mentality has fueled my work ethic and conscientiousness and has pushed me to work multiple jobs while going to school full-time and going to acupuncture school part-time, which has helped me keep my loans lower. I think there is a fine line between anxiety and excitement and balancing that is key and not always easy, but seeing that and that it’s just a part of you that needs balancing has allowed me to look at all mental health in an embracing manner.
I think mental health still has such a stigma that needs to be broken and talking about these issues should be welcomed rather than shunned and avoided. I have valued my experiences with all the patients with some element of mental health with whom I’ve worked on improving. Mental health along with chronic pain, autoimmune disorders, and chronic diseases in general are areas in which I really want to focus my career.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
I write wellness articles on Fullscript, so feel free to check out https://fullscript.com/ for articles I post. I’m still working on finalizing my website, but you can always friend me on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Steve Nudelberg of On the Ball Ventures On How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Hands down it is LinkedIn. Most people do not view LinkedIn the way I do as I view it as the world’s biggest networking event that has 810 million people attend without geographical boundaries and the strategy that we apply is to meet like-minded people at scale which is very contrary to how other people use it which is the lazy approach to pitch and ditch.
As part of our series of interviews about “How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Nudelberg.
Steve Nudelberg is an author, expert sales trainer, business development expert, keynote speaker, and serial entrepreneur.
Starting out in the cellular phone industry in the 1980s provided the foundation for Steve’s future entrepreneurial success. After building and leading a winning national sales team for ABC Cellular, Steve found himself at a crossroads. In between jobs, he started receiving requests to match companies and personalities to sponsorship opportunities, primarily in the sports arena.
This gave birth to the idea of founding his own company On the Ball that offers the investment of time, talent, and teaching to help businesses grow. The primary focus of the company is on people, process, and priorities to improve pipeline development, modernize the sales process, help develop sales leadership, and build a culture that creates a memorable customer experience.
Today, the company’s exponential growth can be credited to an expertise in all things sales and a strategic commitment to helping individuals and organizations get 1% better every day.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
So, I was brought up in an entrepreneurial family and our dinner table was always a conversation about growth. Throughout my career, I’ve always been able to bet on myself because I believe that everyone is one introduction away from changing the trajectory of their life and business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
As a career connector, I’m always looking for unique ways to connect with people and social media has created an incredible opportunity to create awareness. When I chose to invest my time and energy to learn all that LinkedIn has to offer which is roughly about 8 years ago, I met so many people that I would not have met in any other walk of life — the platform allowed us to connect. Probably one of the best ones was when an executive at Midas reached out to connect with me after seeing a photo of me and one of his colleagues, which led to them seeing all my content and getting a feel for who I am and as a result, it has turned into a long-standing relationship.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My philosophy in business has always been to learn from my failures, so I agree that we learn from your mistakes. I’m not sure this one was so funny, but one that stands out to me is one that I wrote about my book Confessions of a Serial Salesman, and basically, it was a major deal that I thought was done as I was actually in Memphis sitting with the clients when I got a phone call that the property that we were going to do a naming rights deal for went in another direction. Instead of making it about me I made it about the clients which was a great lesson as they ultimately were hiring me to solve an awareness situation which I did with another resource.
Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?
As our company was growing in the early stages I had to make the most difficult decision and that was to go from a small company that employed friends of mine to a growing company with people who were the right fit for our incredible growth.
Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?
Hands down it is LinkedIn. Most people do not view LinkedIn the way I do as I view it as the world’s biggest networking event that has 810 million people attend without geographical boundaries and the strategy that we apply is to meet like-minded people at scale which is very contrary to how other people use it which is the lazy approach to pitch and ditch.
Currently, I can meet CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs at scale; some CEOs that I coach I have never been in the same room with which, prior to the pandemic, would have been unheard of.
Let’s talk about LinkedIn specifically, now. Can you share 5 ways to leverage LinkedIn to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.
Here are my LinkedIn Rules of Engagement:
Build an audience
The Daily’s
Feed the Feed
Read the Feed
Engage the Feed
Check your notifications
Do your research
Finding leads on LinkedIn
Through search
Through your network
Through the feed
Asking for recommendations
Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would say that to create the biggest amount of change I would ask the sales community at large to quit cold pitching. There are better ways to communicate with people rather than interrupting their day trying to discuss things that are important to yourself and not them.
Also, identify strong partners and industries that you are passionate about to fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Sean Flood and David Touwsma through a business interaction and today we work alongside one another as I again strive to lend my expertise to assist with the growth of EFO Ventures, an investment and incubation firm that backs founders and their innovative ideas not only with access to capital but also personal guidance and hands-on collaboration from the very first stages.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them
My network is vast, and I am fortunate to have access to many people but the opportunity to sit and have breakfast with Jocko Willink would be something. A place where I could really sink my teeth into his views on discipline and consistency as they align very well with mine.
Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!
