Business RadioX ®

Unlocking Opportunities: How Nevada Business Advisors Supports Small Business Growth

by

WIM-Nevada-Business-Advisors-Feature
Women in Motion
Unlocking Opportunities: How Nevada Business Advisors Supports Small Business Growth
Loading
/

In this episode of Women in Motion, Monica Coburn, founder of Nevada Business Advisors, joins Lee Kantor to share her journey from a banking career to launching her advisory firm, which supports small businesses with certification, financing, and consulting services. She highlights the importance of certifications, networking, and building genuine relationships. Monica also discusses the challenges small businesses face in securing financing and the role of alternative funding options. The episode underscores the significance of empowering women-owned businesses and offers insights into effective business strategies and community engagement.

Monica-CoburnWith over 20 years of experience working in corporate, in the banking and finance industry, Monica Coburn saw a need to assist businesses with services that went beyond banking. As a result, she left her corporate career behind and Nevada Business Advisors was launched in 2019.

Receiving numerous awards throughout her career and as an entrepreneur including awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration, a recipient of the Woman of Distinction Award by the National Association of Women Business Owners Southern Nevada and received an award from the Urban Chamber of Commerce for Women In Politics and Community Service.

Monica has participated as a speaker and panelist speaking on access to capital, creating a business pitch and other various business workshops and recently participated as a panelist at the Women & Money Summit held in Las Vegas.

In 2023, Monica was awarded the Woman Owned Small Business of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration for the state of Nevada and also selected as the Business Coach for the SBA T.H.R.I.V.E. program for 2023 and 2024 for the Las Vegas cohort, a national professional development and leadership program for entrepreneurs. Nevada-Business-Advisors

Monica serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including Women of Global Change and the Advisory Board for Enterprise Bank & Trust and previously served on the boards of BE A S.H.E.R.O. Foundation and Dress for Success Southern Nevada and is a co-founder of POWHer of WE, a Nevada based women entrepreneur group with chapters in Las Vegas and Reno.

Connect with Monica on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Monica Coburn with Nevada Business Advisors. Welcome.

Monica Coburn: Thank you, Lee. Appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Nevada Business Advisors. How are you serving folks?

Monica Coburn: Well, we assist small businesses who have a need for their business, and so our core services are everything from businesses who are seeking to get certified. We help them with the certification process, so women-owned, minority-owned, et cetera. If they have a financing need, we will help them get their financing package together and actually help them source a financing partner that can help with their financing need. And then, we are business advisors at the end of the day, and so we advise and consult businesses with a need, with a challenge, with an opportunity that they may be facing.

Lee Kantor: So, it could be anything. It could be getting started to exiting.

Monica Coburn: That is correct. All the way up until the point that they are ready to exit, yes.

Lee Kantor: So, how’d you get into this line of work? It seems fascinating.

Monica Coburn: You know, my career started in banking, and I had been in banking for over 20 years, and most of my career was spent working with small businesses. I was their banker and so I was fascinated. I had a number of clients that were in different industries, construction, retail, food and beverage. And every client was different. Although their needs were similar, they ran different businesses. And so, I was really involved and enjoyed working with these different business owners.

Monica Coburn: And there came a point in my banking career where I felt there was time for a change. And I’ve always had the need and the desire, I should say, to start my own business. I had clients that would tell me that I need to go out on my own. And five years ago, I jumped off the cliff, so to speak, resigned from my corporate banking position to launch Nevada Business Advisors. And so, that’s really how I started and started working with businesses.

Lee Kantor: So, can you talk about that moment, like you’re in banking, and banking is a very numbers-based business, how did you go kind of through that risk assessment of should I do this on my own? What are the pros and cons? Can you walk through going from a job like yours that’s very enterprise level, secured in a lot of ways to, like you said, jumping off this cliff into the world of entrepreneurship?

Monica Coburn: Yes. It was a scary and exciting decision all at the same time. The world of banking was changing. There were compliance things. There were regulatory things that were happening. And I always told myself, “The day you wake up, Monica, and you’re not loving what you’re doing is a time to make a change.” And so, I was a senior VP at the time, and I got a new boss, Lee.

Monica Coburn: And, really, that was, I believe, one of those moments in time that I look back at it now, that really was the kick in the pants that I needed because I had gone back and forth about going and wanting to start my own business. But when the new boss came into the picture, I almost felt that that was a sign. And so, it was at that moment that I decided I need to start creating my business plan, because if I’m going to do this, this is when I need to start really getting serious about it.

Monica Coburn: And so, I started creating a business plan, had my vision of what I wanted the business to look like, and it really was developed with my experience working with a lot of different businesses. They had similar needs, similar challenges, and that’s how it was crafted, really creating a business model that would be this one-stop business solutions provider for small businesses, because as a small business owner, and I can say this now, there are a lot of resources. There’s a lot of help out there, but many times you don’t know who to go to, who to talk to, who’s legitimate, who’s not.

Monica Coburn: And I really wanted to create this business where we would not only be guidance, but also be a resource. And what I mean by that is if we could not help a business owner, we wanted to make sure that we connected them and put them down the path where they could get the help that they needed. So, that was part of the journey is really creating a plan, what that would look like.

Monica Coburn: And I didn’t know what day it would happen, but it was the day that the boss came into town and the boss lived out of state. And as I drove to work that day, I had a feeling that this is the day that it’s going to happen. And that is the truth. You know, called me in for a meeting, and at that moment I knew this is the day I’m resigning from my six figure salary, all the benefits that come with it, to really pursue what has been a big dream of mine, and that was five years ago.

Lee Kantor: So, now you have this advisory firm, how do you go about kind of launching this? Did you already have a network of people who would be open to the services you provide or did you have to build that from the ground up?

Monica Coburn: I feel I was very fortunate that way because I had been active in the business community. You know, my clients in banking were business owners. I was attending chamber events, networking events, and so I was out there. I was out there in the community. I also had clients who told me and were were really supporting me, like you need to go out on your own, and a couple of them even said if you do, I’m going to be your first client. And you talk about a vote of support and that’s really how it happened.

Monica Coburn: When I resigned, one of the first people that I called was a bank client and I told him I resigned, and his next comment was “Can you meet me tomorrow?” and we were off and running. So, it was using the network. It was using the connections. It was using the relationships that I had built throughout my banking career. And that is really what helped set the foundation to get the business off and running. And so, unlike other business owners where they may start a business and may not have that type of network. For me, that was a huge benefit.

Lee Kantor: Now, what is kind of the split of your business? Is it primarily about starting a business? Is it growing a business? Is it selling a business? What is kind of the portfolio of your work? What’s the split?

Monica Coburn: Yeah. I would say a small percentage is startups. We do provide initial consultations at no cost. So, we do consult with a number of people that are looking to start a business. But most of our clients are in either growth mode, so they’re looking to grow their business, scale their business, expand their business in some capacity, or they are stagnant that nothing’s happening. So, they feel like they’re doing all the right things, but it’s not equating to more revenues, more sales, profitability. And so, a large percentage of our portfolio are established businesses and they would usually fall into those categories.

Lee Kantor: And then, when their business owner has plateaued, what is the work you’re doing for them? Is that like consultation and brainstorming ideas to help them grow? Or what are you kind of doing to help them, you know, get out of that plateau?

Monica Coburn: Yeah. So, one of the first things that we do is we do a discovery session, and that is where we start unpeeling the onion, as I’d like to say, of tell us about your business. Who’s on your team? What do you do? What do you do well? So, we’re having a conversation and doing what I call a mini-SWOT analysis. SWOT, what’s your strengths as a business, what’s your weaknesses, opportunities, threats. And that’s your starting point. I’m a strong believer we cannot help a business unless we can understand who that business owner is, what their business is, what they do.

Monica Coburn: And many times a business owner will tell us, here’s our challenge. But when we get in there and we start unpeeling that onion, we identify that’s not really the issue. And so, we really get into the weeds and that’s really our starting point. Once we get a sense of the business, who’s on their team, now we get into who’s your avatar, who’s your target client, how do you market to them. And many times what we find is they’re either marketing to the wrong client or they’re using the wrong marketing channels to get to that client. It’s kind of let’s throw mud on the wall and let’s see what sticks.

Monica Coburn: And we know that there’s a lot of money that can be involved with that. And if they’re not getting their return on investment, they’re spinning their wheels. That’s never a good thing. So, we go in there and we help them identify who is their client and where they should be spending their marketing dollars. We’re not a marketing firm, but I say we know enough to be dangerous to help them navigate those channels and where they should look at being very targeted in getting those clients.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share? Don’t name the name of the organization, but maybe share the problem that they were having when they came to you and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Monica Coburn: Yes. So, we had a manufacturing client and they had a great product, but they just weren’t generating the sales that they needed. And so, there was definitely something awry in that business. So, we went in, we did a discovery session, we met with key members of the team. And during that meeting, what we uncovered is the issue was with one of their C suites, and that was a very difficult conversation to have.

Monica Coburn: And so, we presented it to the owner of the company and we basically said we believe this is the problem. Is this person sitting in your president’s role who is not an owner creating a very toxic work environment? And this is the feedback that we were getting from a lot of the team members. That was difficult to present. At the end of the day, the president ended being let go. They worked it with their legal and internal. And once that happened, a lot of things started falling in place.

Monica Coburn: So, we recommended that someone on their team get promoted. Very loyal to the company, very good with people, and so that person got promoted. And the sales started happening as a result. Part of that is they were marketing in the wrong channels, but it was based on what that president was saying they should market to, and it was not the right channels to promote their product.

Monica Coburn: And so, that one sticks out very clearly, not something that happens all the time where we’re recommending to a client it’s your company president that’s causing the issue. But at the end of the day, that business was able to turn around and their sales started coming in because that toxicity in that work environment was no longer there.

Lee Kantor: Well, that’s a great story to share about your firm’s integrity. That’s a hard truth to give to somebody. And they’re hiring you for those hard truths. And a lot of times you’re telling the person, maybe not directly who hired you, but kind of who hired you, that you’re the problem. And a lot of consultants, they’d be more kind of self-serving and not want to tell that truth. So, kudos to you for that.

Monica Coburn: Thank you. That was a tough one. So, it’s why that particular client sticks out because that’s not something you come across every day. But we believe in being honest, transparent, authentic. It really is part of our core values that we live and breathe by, and so that translates to our client relationships that we have.

Lee Kantor: Now, how much of your work is still kind of in the banking realm in terms of helping people get financing in the capital they need to grow?

Monica Coburn: That’s the core service that we offer. So, it’s still an important part of what we do, especially now capital is becoming more challenging for businesses to obtain, credit card use is high and there’s so many factors that are contributing to that. And so, we use our lender network, as I like to call it, to help businesses identify where they may be able to get that financing done. A lot of times it’s not in their backyard. And so, we do work with banks and lenders outside of Nevada to help these clients. So, it’s still an important part of our business model.

Lee Kantor: Now, when it comes to financing and capital, do you help in kind of nontraditional ways, like crowdfunding or grants or government grants or things like that, that are maybe not the first thing that people think of when they think of financing?

Monica Coburn: Yeah. You know, we do get involved in alternative financing or helping clients in that channel. We don’t provide assistance with crowdfunding. We certainly give them ideas of platforms that they can look at and research to do crowdfunding. But there are other channels like CDFIs, which are Community Development Financial Institutions. So, these are not your traditional lenders, but they do provide alternative lending options. There are grants.

Monica Coburn: So, there are services to a certain degree that we offer as it comes to grants. And we know most of grants are available for nonprofits. There’s a pool of funds for for-profit businesses, but they are far in between. And it’s just finding the right grant opportunity where that business may be eligible for. So, yes, in some regards, we do get involved in alternative funding solutions for the businesses that we work with if it makes sense for them.

Lee Kantor: And when you’re working with a new client, what does that usual kind of initial way they get engaged with you, is it typically on a project or is it more substantial, like you mentioned, that discovery conversation? Is there a typical entry point that you have?

Monica Coburn: Yeah. So, we do both project-based work. And so, take certification assistance, for example, that is a project-based work. But we also have clients that we are on retainer with for our advisory services. So, it really depends on the client. We do the initial consultation. We get a little bit information about why they contacted us, what the need is. I would say 90 percent of the time during that consultation, they want to go to the next step. And usually our next step is we are preparing a proposal for services based on what that business has shared with us. And so, that’s why that discovery or that consultation initially is so important, and so it really depends on their need, but we do a split, it could be project-based or retainer-based.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned you help with some certifications, why was it important for your firm to become a certified organization and work with the WBEC-West community?

Monica Coburn: Well, we needed to walk the walk and talk the talk. So, if we were providing that as a service, then it was very important that we become certified as well, and so we are certified. And WBEC-West, which is where we fall into that region, I’m an advocate for certification if it makes sense for that business. There’s a lot of benefits to certification. But the truth is, it’s not going to be for every business.

Monica Coburn: And so, we offer that as a service, but we also want to be transparent that this is what you can expect, this is what the process looks like. And certification and getting your certification is just the first step in the process. Now you need to leverage that certification. And so, WBEC-West provides a lot of resources, everything from webinars to workshops to educational opportunities. Their regional conference is going to be in Las Vegas this year, so that’s exciting. And so, there’s a lot of tools and resources available out there for women-owned firms. And so, we felt it was important to be a part of that.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share some advice for our listeners that are entrepreneurs when it comes to relationship building and networking? I know that’s an important component of your work.

Monica Coburn: I cannot stress that enough. I feel sometimes with business owners, they may look at it as a transaction, whether they’re a product-based business or a service-based business. But it really is about building relationships. And I know people hear that all the time. I cannot stress that enough. We’re an example of that. A lot of our business is referral-driven, so we are being referred by other businesses, clients, government agencies locally. And it’s because of those relationships we’ve been able to build our business.

Monica Coburn: And so, the advice I would have is when you connect and when you meet someone and when you network with someone, look beyond getting a business card. It really should be a two way street. How can you as a business help that business and vice versa? And so, you want to look at it long term versus short term.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more about your organization and get on your calendar to have that discovery call or just connect with you, what’s the website? What’s the best way to get a hold of you?

Monica Coburn: Yeah. So, our website is nevadabusinessadvisors.com. That’s all spelled out. And email is info@nevadabusinessadvisors.com. We’re also on LinkedIn, so you can find me on LinkedIn, Monica Coburn. We also have a Nevada Business Advisors LinkedIn page. So, there’s a lot of different channels. If they want to schedule that initial consultation, they can do that directly through our website, nevadabusinessadvisors.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Monica, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Monica Coburn: Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

BRX Pro Tip: What Sales Funnel Do You Have?

by

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: What Sales Funnel Do You Have?
Loading
/

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: What Sales Funnel Do You Have?

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about the sales funnel.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I’ve been kind of paying attention to a lot of professional services, especially business coaches, sales funnels. And I’m seeing a lot of sales funnels that encourage you to post constantly on social media. They’re really producing a ton of social media content. They’re creating a lot of thought leadership, and they’re trying to show up everywhere. And I guess they’re doing this in the hopes that those kinds of prize prospects they have will start filling up that top of the funnel. And doing that is just really time-consuming. And the payoff, I think, is extremely low. It just requires so much of you because you have to relentlessly market to these potential golden-ticket type people, and you hope that they make their way down this funnel so that you eventually have some sort of a meaningful conversation with them. And then ultimately, they buy something from you.

Lee Kantor: We’ve been really working hard on the Business RadioX funnel, and we have gotten it to the point where our people build a Business RadioX funnel that delivers a pipeline full of sales prospects who are excited to talk to you. And we’ve gotten it down now, especially with all the technology and all the time we’ve invested in kind of mastering this. But we show our people how to focus their funnel to include only the people that matter most to them, the buyers and the referral partners, and, you know, when people out there are frustrated and tired of endlessly filling the top of the funnel with people who aren’t really buying but, you know, they’re doing all this work to fill that top of the funnel and they’re just not getting the results.

Lee Kantor: But when they’re tired of that, they should give us a call. They should contact us, you know, check out our website, businessradiox.com, and contact us because we specialize in showing servant leaders how they can fill their sales funnel with the people who can move the needle in their business in an elegant non-salesy manner.

Lee Kantor: So when you’re tired of your leaky sales funnel, give us a call.

Voice Actor and Singer / Songwriter Erikka J

by

FF-Erikka-J-Feature
Cherokee Business Radio
Voice Actor and Singer / Songwriter Erikka J
Loading
/

Fearless-Formula-Erikka-J

Erikka J is an award winning voice actor, singer and writer working in most genres of voiceover, and is also a certified project and product professional with over 15 years of experience in tech.

She’s voiced commercials for Carter’s, T-Mobile, Vicks, Toyota, West Jet, McDonald’s, the Georgia Lottery, Chevy, Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, and political spots for Black Lives Matter, GA’s State Senate campaign, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens as well as characters in games like Starfield and Fallout 76.

If you’ve shopped in Burlington or Marshalls recently, she may have asked you to open a credit card or sign up for a rewards program.

Connect with Erikka on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: And welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I am your host, Sharon Cline, and I am so lucky to be speaking with an Atlanta based voice actor. She’s also a singer songwriter. She’s an entertainer. She’s an artist vocal production person. She wears many hats, very, very talented. Very lucky to speak to Erikka J today. Welcome to the show.

Erikka J: Hey, thanks for having me, Sharon. Glad to be here.

Sharon Cline: I’m so excited to chat with you because we were lucky enough to meet completely outside of Georgia, which is kind of, kind of crazy.

Erikka J: Crazy.

Sharon Cline: We met in a voiceover. Uh, intensive. It was for animation and video games and things. And, uh, Kari Wahlgren, who is a very well-known, uh, voiceover artist and actor, um, she was leading this intensive. And so I just getting to know some of the people around me, I was like, Holy cow, you’re in Atlanta. Would you be on my show? Because this is actually like one of the very few times I’ve gotten to speak to someone who does similar things to me. So thanks.

Erikka J: Yeah. Of course. Yeah. It’s crazy. We’re we’re right down the road and excuse me, met in Kansas City so I know. Yeah, it was cool.

Sharon Cline: And I just got a glimpse of your booth for a second, and it’s nice to see someone else with a booth. So I’m just happy to have, you know, voiceover work can be very lonely because you’re just doing your own thing and your own little booth. And so it’s nice to talk to someone who can kind of commiserate with me.

Erikka J: Yeah, absolutely. About staying in padded rooms all day and trying not to choke on mic. Oh my goodness. I’m sorry.

Sharon Cline: It’s funny because I was looking at your, um, your bio and my goodness, you have had some really amazing success, and I. It’s funny. You were born in D.C.. I’m going to D.C. next week for a. Oh, cool. The podcast movement convention that they do every year that moves around the country. Um, yeah. And so I was looking through your bio and wow, you you have been able to perform in some of the coolest places, like the Blues Alley Jazz Club and Dumfries Summer Concert Series. You are, um, like, super successful in lots of different ways. Not just voice over work and not just animation.

Erikka J: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. That was yeah, that was probably more music focused. And it’s it’s been a little while, but yeah, I had some, some great success there. I was kind of, you know, singing, write my own songs and also was in a corporate band for a long time. And then now my, my focus has really moved more so to voiceover. Um, so doing more of that, I just had this, uh fun campaign with Carters that that just released like a week ago. I need to post that. Oh my goodness. Congratulations. Oh, it’s. I have a one year old, so it’s almost like a refund. Like to be paid to do a commercial for them. Heck yeah. Um, store credit, I don’t know. Um, I’ve got Vicks running. T-mobile. Um, I did a I don’t know, I do a lot of voicing, so. Yeah. Georgia lottery. Um, Northside hospital here in Atlanta. Um, yeah. So. So it’s fun. I like to I like doing this work.

Sharon Cline: Heck, yeah. And I see that you also have some clients. Google and Amazon. Apple News+. Oh my goodness.

Erikka J: Microsoft. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Kind of everywhere. Okay. So let’s go back and start kind of where where did you get started in voiceover for those of of the listeners who are interested in this kind of work, it always seems intimidating to get started. So how did you get started?

Erikka J: Yeah. Um, I was fortunate in that because I was an independent singer songwriter. Um, I already had like a home studio and knew how to record myself, and it had already had been through my audacity phase, and I was I was actually working in Pro Tools, which is much harder than Adobe Audition, which is primarily what I use now. Um, you know, because I was writing my own songs and arranging them and doing the harmonies. So using the multitrack and. Yeah, so I knew how to do all that already, and I was in the studio world. So I had a friend who was also a singer, and another one who was a, uh, a comedian in the area when I was living in Richmond, Virginia at the time, and they had mentioned that they were going to a studio to do a voiceover. And I was like, well, what’s that? You know, like I had no clue. And I was just like, huh. Um, my two oldest kids were were younger at the time, like elementary school age. And I was gone every weekend doing gigs and whatnot. So that was interesting to me that I could do something recording at home and make money for it. So I just started. I always say I do the Google Hustle and went online and started learning and went to a local studio and cut a demo and got on their list, booked a couple gigs like DC lottery with them. Um, and then it just kind of grew from there and I continued to meet people in the community and eventually got representation and better training. And yeah, now here we are eight years later and it’s it’s going okay.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh, so exciting. I mean, just think about the fact that you didn’t even have kind of that basic like I went to school, you, you just already knew kind of having had an instinct on how to do the voiceover work. I would say, yeah.

Erikka J: I mean, I guess and I did have to I did work a little backwards. So what helped me, though, was that because I had the music background, I sort of, you know, understood channeling emotion into the way that you manipulate words and sounds. Right. Um, so that was what I think gave me that initial sort of boost by eventually, you know, I started taking some, some voiceover courses that were more focused on the acting. And that’s what I was like, oh, this is acting. You know what I mean? So I can’t really like, brag, like, hey, it was innate and I’m just natural, like, you know, no, like I had to train to and I’m still training to this day, so I.

Sharon Cline: Still do to and I’ve only been doing voiceover work for about four years, but I’ve been recording audiobooks for I think eight years now. But it’s interesting.

Erikka J: Bless your heart.

Sharon Cline: You are. Yeah, that’s hard work. I can’t.

Erikka J: Do it. I can’t do it.

Sharon Cline: It requires a lot of, uh, attention to detail, and my brain has to slow down in order to do it when it wants to.

Erikka J: Like the Iron Man of voiceover is audiobooks. I just I don’t know how y’all do it.

Sharon Cline: Well, I will say that. I mean, it is acting in the same sense, although you’re producing, you know, recording and producing and editing all the files. So it’s it’s labor intensive for sure. But the reason I got into voiceover is the same reason, you know, you did kind of where it’s like a shorter version of, of, of doing books, but being able to get paid from home, you know, at least you hope. And, um, I think when I think about the acting side of it, it’s shocking how different something can sound when you really are believing what you’re saying, as opposed to just phoning it in and thinking, I probably sound like I’m in a minivan right now talking about how great it is. But when you really, you know, make your mind believe it, you know, it’s it’s amazing how you can hear a difference.

Erikka J: It is, it is. And, um, you know, you hear people like, oh, well, I have a great voice and I’m just like, you know, you learn as you do this more and more, it has nothing to do with your voice. Like, everybody has a great voice, you know what I mean? Um, sure. There are some people that have, you know, maybe more resonance in their voice or whatever that gets people’s attention, or they just like your voice. But yeah, it’s it’s all about the authentic acting, especially these days, because in advertising, like, you know, the trends have changed because people don’t want to be sold to anymore. You know, they just just tell me about it. Just be a person. And, you know, that’s that’s that’s what we’re doing now. And being in voiceover is trying not to sound professional. Yeah. That is the profession.

Sharon Cline: That is a great tagline. It’s true because I used to like when I was kind of interested in voiceover. I used to go as I was driving, I would read the billboards and stuff and just kind of pretend I was different. Voice. I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but yeah, I used to pretend I was different voices and being all like. Announcer. And the minute you know, I got into school and realized that it’s really more just. We want it to sound very conversational, like you are just sitting, you know, in a little cafe, and you’re talking about how great the coffee is, you know? Oh my God. And it’s crazy because when I audition, I can tell when I’m. You feel it. It’s wild.

Erikka J: Yeah. Yeah.

Erikka J: Or, like, if you’re in a session and you do, like, three in a row, like, you’ll know which one. And it’s so tempting to be like, oh, it’s that one. But, you know, you let the buyer decide, but it’s like usually the one that you feel is the one, for me at least, is the one that they pick. They’d be like, oh yeah, I liked B. And I’d be like, yeah, that was the one that felt right to me.

Sharon Cline: And it’s funny too. I can hear it when I listen to voiceovers. I can tell when something has that feel to it as well. And just listening to one. And there was one recently that I heard over and over. I think it was on one of our local news stations, and it just was, and it played on YouTube all the time. And I was just like, you are not like, I was so jealous like, or envious because it was like, this is not a great voiceover at all because I feel nothing. You know, it’s not conversational at all. And I was like, wow, how how interesting to me that my ear has gotten trained to hear it that way.

Erikka J: Absolutely.

Erikka J: Yeah. It’s crazy.

Sharon Cline: So you had just done an audition, uh, just before we got on today, and I think, wow, look at you making room for me in this whole world. Oh, thanks. So, do you have some favorite clients that you’ve worked with? I mean, is there something that stands out as your absolute favorite voiceover? You did.

Erikka J: Oh, God. Um, well, we were just talking about the Carter’s campaign, and that was fun because it was like, I like to do kind of like that dry, wry, you know, like. And it’s funny because it doesn’t have a lot of emotion in it. And it’s like, it’s like the antithesis of cute is the whole campaign. It’s like, you know, um, you know, like you’re too much, you’re too good for cute type thing, talking about babies. Oh, yeah.

Speaker3:

Erikka J: Oh, so that was fun. Um, and we really played around in that session with different ways. And it’s, you know, it’s so nuanced, the little tiny changes that you can make and they’ll make a difference. So that was fun. And just most recently on my mind, um, what else is another good one? Peterbilt back maybe. Oh, God, maybe three years ago now, they were announcing a new, like, medium duty truck that they were announcing or whatever. So, um, and it went like live on YouTube. That was fun because, you know, for them to pick a woman and then a woman of color to voice it as opposed to, you know, your typical trucker you think of, like, you know, white guy, to be honest. And it’s like, oh, you guys kind of went, you know, left on that one. And it was a cool video with like big drums. And I was just like, yeah, this is, this is cool. So that was fun.

Sharon Cline: Oh, amazing.

Erikka J: Yeah, there are plenty others, but those are the two that come to mind.

Sharon Cline: So it’s interesting because it’s like that the the change of energy and sound and feel of a voiceover when it’s a different gender is kind of fascinating to me.

Erikka J: Yeah. Yeah.

Erikka J: Or or the ambiguous, you know, where it’s kind of like that androgynous sound, you know, where it’s like, has that masculine and feminine energy. That’s cool. You know what?

Sharon Cline: I have never been asked to do one. I’ve always been asked to do just, you know, like the mom next door or the girlfriend or something like that. But what would it sound like if it were sort of more androgynous? I’ve never been asked to do that. Yeah.

Erikka J: I mean, I don’t know that I’ve necessarily been asked, but I think it’s just like a vibe that they’re looking for and it’s like, you know, where it’s it’s not hyper feminine, but it’s it. You can tell that, you know, it’s like, you know, it’s it’s maybe a woman doing it or that there’s a feminine energy. I think it’s just that they’re trying to, you know, appeal to both audiences because that’s what it’s all about in voiceover is in the music that they pick, the creative that they do. They’re targeting all this to a certain demographic, right, that they’re trying to speak to. Um, so I think that, you know, kind of going for that, it’s that balance of male and female energy, maybe not really hard one way or the other. Um, I’ve seen some calls for that. Or sometimes they actually want like a non-binary talent, which is great for authentic casting, um, or trans talent or, you know, any LGBTQ, just like looking for, um, LGBTQ plus, right?

Sharon Cline: With all the other letters.

Erikka J: Honor everybody. Or, you know, or, like, if you’re looking for a person of color, if you are, you know, targeting a demographic demographic of color. I talk for money. Okay.

Erikka J: You know, all those things are great. So, um. Yeah, it’s just a way to create, um. And I love being a part of it, so. Yeah. Oh.

Sharon Cline: That’s awesome. It’s it’s interesting because now my ear is going to be tuned to see if I can, you know, kind of hear a difference between someone being some kind of non-binary and, and I can I have a lower register that I can speak in because when I do voices for books, if it’s a male, you know, I kind of lower things down a little bit. If it’s a woman, I’m a little higher pitched. So I’ve never thought about that. So I’m actually glad that you mentioned that. To me, it’s a whole other side that maybe it’s something I can work with a little bit. Who knows?

Erikka J: Who knows, who knows?

Sharon Cline: How do you market yourself? I know that you’ve got your website, and you’ve got all of the classic things that, you know, most people do with the Facebook and Instagram, YouTube, um, is it something that you do specifically or do you have representation kind of markets you.

Erikka J: Yeah. So both I’m actually working on redoing my website now. I’m working with a couple people to sort of help to craft what that messaging will be like. Um, so yeah, definitely having a web presence, um, getting the keywords in there for SEO so that I’m easily found my digital storefront, if you will. Um, and being present on some of the platforms, um, like there’s a marketplace for voiceover called voice one, two, three that I’m a part of and another one called Hidalgo. There are a couple others that I don’t participate in. Um, but additionally, yes, definitely social media, you know, LinkedIn, posting things on Facebook and Instagram, all that. Just telling everybody I know, word of mouth. Um, I’m not as active as I’d like to be, but I’m members of my local chambers of commerce. Um, and then I do have representation as well. So I have agents that kind of, you know, they they find the big the big swings, the big, the big league stuff. Yeah. Um, and send me auditions. And that’s what I had to do right before our call was, um, flip something over to my agent pretty quick that they were looking for like within a couple of hours.

Sharon Cline: So, it was so nice to be able to do this from home. I mean, initially when I started, I was I had started school in January of 2020 and the pandemic really hit in March. And, um, I was so surprised at how difficult it was actually to get equipment to be able to use at home because everything got sold out really quickly for people.

Erikka J: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: And it was a shock. Yeah. Um, but it is so great to be able to just kind of hop, hop in somewhere, you know, downstairs real quick because I have a booth in my garage. It’s kind of like under the ground a little bit with, like, heavy doors, and it’s got all the soundproofing and yeah, I can just go in there quick, do what I need to do and and get out. So it’s been, as a matter of fact, recording my demos was a challenge because I did that at an actual studio, and I had to wait and wait and wait until they let me. And then I had to have all kinds of protocol to make sure I was safe to go in there. But yeah, I mean it. It’s fascinating. The whole the whole industry is fascinating to me. Apparently it’s changed a lot since the pandemic.

Erikka J: Oh, yeah. I mean, that was the thing that, um, you know, a lot of people were saying that they were able to really, you know, as rough as a time. It was at the beginning of pandemic. People were actually doing better in terms of like, their businesses, their numbers, because people that were already had studios and were prepared and were just kind of like, you know, ready to hit the ground running, you know, really got a lot of work. Um, because, like you said, you know, a lot of other people were like, oh, I want something to do from home. What’s this voiceover thing? Yeah, a lot of people bought, you know, bought up like the big beginner equipment. And it was just it was crazy. And there was like this influx in the industry of new talent. Um, and, you know, some were just, you know, kind of trying it out and ended up selling their gear, you know, on Facebook Marketplace or whatever. Um, but some people, you know, kind of got into it, or maybe they came from the theater world or the on camera world where, you know, they weren’t doing things in person right then because of the pandemic. Um, so some of those people actually stayed with voiceover, um, which was which was cool. You know, you got to hear different voices, but um, I do enjoy doing it from home. It can be a challenge to make sure that you still get out and not, you know, not be like becoming a recluse all the way, you know? Um, like, oh, the sun was out today. I didn’t know because.

Erikka J: I’ve been in a dark, paded room all day.

Erikka J: But yeah. So it’s it’s great work, but you do have to kind of make sure that you are really proactive and intentional about finding balance and getting some time outside and away from the booth and with other people.

Sharon Cline: I think that’s my big challenge, is anytime I find someone that does anything similar to me, I’m like, oh my God, can we just talk? Because it’s it’s fascinating and that you can be on your own and do your own thing and work. You get as much work as you want by as much as many auditions as you’re doing or whatever, whichever way you’re getting out there. But to be able to have a bit of a network or a community, I’m finding myself almost, um, like, not desperate, but appreciative of when I find someone else that I can say, what do you use to do this or that? Because I’ve had to figure it out, kind of on my own as well.

Erikka J: Right, right, right. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: So do you have are you associated with any voice over, um, associations here in Atlanta? I saw that you were, uh, had been to a, I think you were on a panel for a video conference that we have here in Atlanta.

Erikka J: Yeah.

Erikka J: So there’s veo Atlanta is the biggest and I think actually longest running sort of voice over, um, conference I think, God, what are we in a year 11 or this might be the 12th one coming up in 2025, right. Um, so I might be wrong in my numbers. Sorry, guys. Um, but yeah. So I was, uh, on a couple panels there and taught some classes. I just actually came back just this past weekend from one voice in Dallas. Wow. Um, and I think they’ve been doing that. God, this might be the fourth year. Um, I think that. Yeah. Um. And then let me see. What else is there? There’s a service that’s by the Society of, uh. Oh, my goodness, I’m drawing a blank today. Our Friday brain.

Erikka J: Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, I believe. Um, so. Yeah, I went out to there. That’s voice over conference, and I’ve been to their awards show before, and one there and one voice, actually. Um, yeah. Yeah. So there’s some great conferences. There’s mavo that’s a little bit smaller, more intimate. That’s in like Northern Virginia DC area. Um, there’s one in New England. I can’t remember the name of it offhand. I’ve never been. Um, and then there’s one for Wovo, I think this fall in Chicago, um, the World Voices organization. Um, yeah. So there’s a lot of great little conferences around, and I’ve been to most of them. I haven’t been to Wovo yet, the one in New England or and I’ve been to Maysville once last year.

Sharon Cline: What do you find, what is it like when you’re at these conferences? What do you get out of being there?

Erikka J: You know, so it’s like, um, you know, from my corporate life, you know, and even when I was with the government, like, I’ve been to professional conferences, I’ve spoken at those conferences when I used to work for the state in the procurement division. Um and, you know, it’s a very different audience when you get a bunch of actors together.

Sharon Cline: I can’t imagine the energy.

Erikka J: Even though it’s plenty, you know, there’s plenty of business and it’s very educational, you know? It’s also just really fun and loose, like, you know, you don’t have people like, I think I saw somebody asking about, you know, what to wear. And I’m like, you don’t have to wear suit jackets to these things. Like, there’s people that show up with purple hair and, you know, like stars on their face or whatever, I don’t know. You know, so it’s it’s it’s like a family reunion, especially at One Voice in Atlanta. Um, you know, people go out to dinner and have drinks or they hug everywhere, and it’s it’s a big love fest. Um, so it’s just it’s a good time. Um, but take your vitamin C and all that before, because, you know, it’s a lot of people. So all the crud comes around, and usually somebody posts a positive Covid test at the end.

Sharon Cline: So it’s funny you say that because last week’s guest, um, came down with Covid for the show. And I was like, you’re kidding. Like, it’s not in my mind still like it used to be, but it’s still around. So there, there it is.

Erikka J: Oh, it’s hanging around. I’ve seen quite a few, you know, double line tests and I’m like, pregnant. No. Okay. Covid. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Never even thought of that.

Sharon Cline: That’s funny. Well, I’m also thinking how cool it is that the energy of what you’re talking about. They’re all so supportive of each other. Because I find that nobody’s voice sounds just like mine or yours. And there’s room for everyone. There’s a voice and a sound for everybody. And a client that is looking for the way someone sounds. And it’s so subjective. You cannot really contrive yourself to be any different than what you really are because, you know, it just won’t work.

Erikka J: So, it really is. It’s like it’s like people don’t think so, but it’s like your fingerprint, you know, like your your voice print is, is is different from from everybody. And you bring a different point of view and a different story that you’re bringing to the perspective, a different point of view to that, to that script. Um, so it’s really just about who’s the who’s, you know, fits who fits the bill. What’s the puzzle piece that makes this piece of art come together? Um, when you factor in, you know, the music and the visuals and the script and, you know, the what they’re trying to convey all those things. And then the voice is sort of the last little icing on top. Um, and yeah, I love that it’s not really a cut throat industry because there’s plenty of work and we’re all just kind of like, oh, you know, you were a better fit for that. People refer each other all the time. Um, it’s not quite like, you know, music or other art areas of art where it’s a little more competitive and cutthroat and sort of, you know, yeah, a lot of nasty envy and all that going on. That doesn’t really happen in voiceover. It’s it’s a much more friendly place.

Sharon Cline: So, what I love about that, just even comparing the music industry is, you know, there’s there’s, there’s radio, you know, and yeah, yeah, ways that people can hear music. But with voiceover there’s just a bunch of different ways that you can be out there in the world. Um, what did I hear recently? I was like, on an elevator. And this woman, this woman was like, uh, you know, saying the different floors that you’re on and what was on the floor. And I was like, what the heck? This is someone’s voice right now. And, um, I went to the movies recently, and they have all these, you know, voice over commercials happening. And I’m like, what? You could be in a movie theater. You know, it’s amazing. I don’t know, I love that about voiceover because it’s not like you are only limited to being able to play music or sing. You can be in all kinds of different areas. Yeah. Have you been able to use your musical talents, your singing ability, in voiceover at all?

Erikka J: Oh, I’ve done a few auditions with it, I haven’t. Well, way back, actually, I did do a singing thing and with like a two other people, we harmonized and all that. I think it was for like a paint company or something. Um, that was a long time ago. But yeah, I’ve done a few auditions and then particularly with, like, animation, um, you know, there’s some singing roles and stuff like that. So that’s been cool, but, um, directly not as much. Um, like I said, it just kind of helps me having that background and understanding, especially if I get the background music for the commercial or whatever that’s being used, that helps me to kind of like find the the right shade of tone, the right shade of emotion, um, to use. So that that’s been helpful there.

Sharon Cline: I think it’s because I sing as well. And so it’s it’s funny because when, um, in having just an ear for music, it does inform a little bit with voiceover. It does. Um, yeah. And I actually didn’t even put that together until just till just you mentioned it. I was like, you know what? She’s right.

Erikka J: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: What kind of things are you working on right now?

Erikka J: Oh, God. Um, what am I working on right now that I can talk about.

Sharon Cline: Oh, I know, right?

Erikka J: Un, that’s always the thing. It’s like once it’s out, you can say it, but there’s a lot of NDAing in this industry. Um. Oh my God. Well, uh, I’ll say that I did the, um. So I haven’t even been to listen to it yet, but there’s, like, these big bus tours in different cities. Um, that’s actually the name of the company is Big Bus Tours, I believe. And they, um, I did the one for Miami, and that’s actually been out for a little while, but I just did another city, and I don’t know if I can say, but.

Sharon Cline: Oh, that’s so cool.

Erikka J: That was something reasonable that I did. Yeah. So it’s like when you ride the bus like I’m one of the characters, so that’s cool.

Sharon Cline: Um, like, who would have ever thought that’s just another avenue? Okay. Sorry. Sorry to interrupt you.

Erikka J: No, no no, no, you interrupt at all.

Erikka J: You’re fine, you’re fine. And like you said, like I said, the Carter’s one was really cool. That recently came out. Um, recently, I had one that’s on the radio for Chevy. And I think before that there was one for Toyota. So that was cool to do some cars.

Sharon Cline: Amazing.

Erikka J: Um, a lot of I’m doing some political work too, because, you know, it’s a crazy year for that. So it’s a lot of that going around. Um, and a lot of people hear me in Marshall’s that’s been ongoing for a few years, but.

Sharon Cline: No kidding.

Erikka J: Yeah. Like they’re in store. Voice. So, like, it’s like, hey, Marshall. Shoppers. Like, that’s me.

Sharon Cline: Oh, my God. Amazing.

Erikka J: I’m trying to sell you a credit card. So I’m sorry, but.

Sharon Cline: I did one for Hobby Lobby. It was just an audition but and it was like in the fall, but it was for their Christmas sale, like after Christmas. And I remember thinking, what would it be like to be walking around in Hobby Lobby and actually hear myself say something like that? That must be the most wild thing.

Erikka J: It happened to me. We were in LA, but me and my friend of mine and other voiceover person and another actor, and she was like, is that you? And I was like, Oh.

Erikka J: And she started recording. We were in the Marshalls in LA picking out jackets for like this party we were going to for our agency. And it was like, that’s me trying to get you to sign up for the rewards program. So it’s fun to see your voice in the wild. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s cool.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. All right.

Erikka J: Well, when you hear your friends, you’re watching a commercial and I’ll be like, oh, that’s, you know, such and such.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh, you know what? I love that because it is, it is such an energy of go, everybody go, go and get what you need out there. Go and have fun. And I think that’s something that I can tend to forget is how much fun this is. It is a lot of work, of course, but to pretend to be a different character for a little bit, or to pretend to be, you know, a concerned mom whose child is in this hospital and how great the hospital is, or all of these different characters in my mind that I kind of pulled down from the sky, you know, in order to access to try to, you know, book this job. It is fun to kind of forget who I am a little bit. I know it’s work, of course, but I love that part.

Erikka J: Yeah, we get to be like multiple personalities and not get called crazy. So I mean, that’s nice, you know, like.

Sharon Cline: You think people who don’t know much about voiceover in the world, what do you think that they need to kind of have an understanding of?

Erikka J: Um, it’s just the acting. I mean, it’s real. Well, I always say the voiceover is like this three pronged industry, this three legged stool. Right. So there’s the acting is first and foremost, not the voice, but the actual acting, like being able to, um, authentically portray something that isn’t really real and make it real for yourself. So it’s believable. Um, then there is the business aspect because you have to understand, like, like I said, I sign NDAs almost daily. You have to understand contracts so you don’t sign away your voice in perpetuity, which are the four letter words of our industry. Um, because our voice. Our voices, you know, are really like sonic branding. So there are, um, you know, conflicts that can come into play. Um, you can’t have an ad running at the same time for someone in the in the same industry. You can’t voice for Coke one week, and then while it’s running, you do another one for Pepsi, and they’re running at the same time, because then they sound the same, you know, and it’s that’s their branding. So understanding the business aspect so that you don’t end your career prematurely or, you know, not get compensated appropriately. Um, that’s really important. And then the technical aspect, because now we’re mostly recording from home, you’ve got to understand, you know, how to get your sound right, what to do when you run into problems, you know, having that, uh, redundancy and knowing how to troubleshoot and all that kind of stuff, having your, your acoustic room or booth or whatever you have, um, you got to have an understanding of all three of those things and be, um, like, really proficient at working in all three of those areas to, to really be successful.

Sharon Cline: I would say the frustrating thing that happens to me is somehow my sound will have changed from nothing that I’ve done. You know, there’ll be some latency or something where I cannot figure out what’s wrong, and I have to restart everything and just kind of cross my fingers and pray. But thankfully, there’s some really wonderful people out there who have made some great videos to help people. And that’s how I learned a lot of things is troubleshooting that way is I don’t know why audacity is not letting me do this. You know.

Erikka J: I gotta go through the fire sometimes, and then and then you still will run, you know, have a few heart attacks in the middle. I’ve definitely had a few.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I would agree with that. I had a deadline that I was like, panicked because I couldn’t get anything to work correctly, and that’s just not how I am as a professional, you know? And this is this is who I am, you know, in the world. I want to make sure that I’m reflecting as best I can. So it’s good to know that you have the same thought process about that as I do, because so many things can go wrong. And I’m kind of, I know how to do what I know how to do, but outside of that, if there’s something I can get, um, panicked for sure.

Erikka J: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Um, would you say that the industry is different now than when you first started.

Erikka J: Oh, that’s a great question.

Erikka J: Um, a little hard for me to answer because honestly, in the beginning I wasn’t even really part of quote unquote, the industry. Like, I was just really kind of operating in a vacuum for like the first three and a half years, um, started to get introduced to the, to the industry, maybe a three and a half in and then really understood what I was doing about four years after I’d started. So I will say it’s changed in that there’s more of a focus in authentic casting and in diverse casting, which is always great. Um, obviously more of it being now open to people working out of their homes as opposed to. I did get called into the studio a couple times and glad that now it’s really the norm to do that at home. Um, other changes? Man, I don’t know. Um, because more people are recording at home, there’s more, um, ability to break into other areas like games and animation without being in LA. Um, still heavily LA based, and even some commercials, like, they’re like, we want you to be in LA, or we want you to be in New York. But it’s few and far in between now as opposed to being the norm. Um, definitely the style of reads as styles in marketing change pretty frequently. Uh, it’s much more conversational and loose and even thrown away a lot of times now. Um, just really kind of subdued and, you know, kind of just, I’m just talking right now, like a person, like I’m talking to you, but I’m telling you about this really cool drink I just had, you know, like, that’s how advertising is now. Yeah. Um, and that’s it. I think it was like that probably when I started, but way more so now. Um, yeah, that’s what I got off the top of my head.

Sharon Cline: And they add, um, I get asked to add vocal fry, which is so interesting to me.

Erikka J: That is coming back, right? Like, and it’s funny because I’ll see this summer very, very much against it. Like no vocal fry and that and in summer very much so like yeah, give us the vocal fry, you know.

Sharon Cline: Or they’ll or they’ll have a, um, like a particular actress that they’ll want you to sound like Scarlett Johansson or yeah, I don’t, I can’t even think of somebody else. But anyway, yeah, it’s interesting to me that there’s that style and it does really change the sound. Um, yeah. Tremendously.

Erikka J: Yeah.

Erikka J: And I saw a TikTok that somebody actually sent as a reference, um, talking about vocal fry. And they were saying that, you know, and I realized why I tend to kind of use it sometimes, especially, um, and I also kind of just have a raspy voice a little bit anyway. But, um, it actually is something that’s helpful in music. And sometimes we slide into notes using fry. And I was like, oh yeah, that’s where I get that from.

Erikka J: Yeah it is. It’s, you know, when you come into it and like, ah, you know, so it’s like, oh yeah, we do that. You know.

Sharon Cline: I don’t even realize that I use vocal fry until I’ll be going back and listening to the audition that I did, just to kind of master it over and make sure it sounded okay. And I’ll be like. Interesting. I think there’s like a naturalness to it or even just any of the auditions that I do. I kind of download the energy of what they’re looking for, and then I guess I kind of get my mind in there and then hope that it comes out the way I want it to, or that the client likes. I will say that any time I’ve ever been booked for a job, it’s just the best feeling in the world because I, I know that they actually like the way that I was made, if that makes any sense. Like someone is going to hire me for the way that I was put together, that I did not change at all. Like it’s the best. I still get emotional about it. It’s kind of ridiculous, but I do, yeah, I do. It’s a great feeling. And it’s wonderful also to see that you have won awards for the work that you’ve done. That must have been the most exciting moment. I mean, I would have I would have been thrilled.

Erikka J: Oh my God, it was it was really cool. Um, it was, I guess 2021 when I won my first award, which was the service award. I won two that night. And that was like, whoa, I just won my first award. And now you gave me another one. What? Like that was crazy. Um, that was fun. And then the next year at One Voice was when I won three other awards and I was pregnant. So now I had like like my baby was on stage with me, you know, like, um, my one voice, actually, I won voice of the year that year, so that was cool. Um, and then I haven’t really submitted any for 23 and 24 because I was just kind of like, well, um, I take that back. I didn’t submit any in 23 because I just had a baby, and I was just kind of low key. Um, and then this year, I hadn’t even really said anything. You’re the first person I’m telling, um, that I submitted to the Tellys, and I won three. Oh my.

Sharon Cline: Gosh.

Erikka J: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I won a few tellys.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh.

Erikka J: Bronze telly. So I was just kind of like, you know, that’s cool. Um, so that was exciting.

Sharon Cline: Congratulations. That’s amazing.

Erikka J: Thank you, thank you.

Erikka J: So. Yeah.

Erikka J: Well, it’s nice to have your work recognized.

Sharon Cline: Well, it’s very validating.

Sharon Cline: I mean, you’re in the right industry. You are doing a great job. Obviously you’re successful. And just to have people in the industry to recognize you, um, and it does feel so competitive in so many ways. So to stand out in any way, I’m sure is something I’d be throwing out there all over the place. Look, you know because you have to stand out in some ways, you know.

Erikka J: Yeah, yeah. And there’s nothing wrong. Like, I know some people, you know, have different views on awards. It’s like, you know, just do the work. But we’re human and everybody loves a little validation, and there’s nothing wrong with it. And it’s, you know, great to sort of, you know, for your website and for when you’re marketing to clients that don’t know you to have, you know, that authority to be able to say, you know, hey, I do know what I’m doing. Um, you know, I didn’t like, just start in the pandemic and have no idea, like, you know, I’ve done training and I’ve worked with people, and and I got an award for it. And, you know, this is like your social proof, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Sharon Cline: No, not at all.

Sharon Cline: Anything to stand out just a little bit. Well, if someone were in the industry looking for an agent and having representation, what would you recommend for them?

Erikka J: So, um, I always sort of and I just said this on somebody else’s podcast a week ago. Um, I’m always very careful so that it doesn’t come off the wrong way in like that. I’m devaluing their work at all, but I compare. It’s very easy for Creatives, you know, actors, voice over actors to just sort of see the agent as like the end goal because it’s like, oh, I’ve accomplished this. You know, I have an agent, you know, and like that’s like, wow. But whenever somebody has somebody else outside of the creative arts has a business, they they don’t outsource their sales until they’re at the point that they have a product that they need help selling. Yes. Right. And the way I see it, for actors, we really should be treating our businesses the same way in that if you are striving for an agent, you need to make sure that you first have a product that is, you know, ready to sell. And that is so good that you need help selling it. And then you outsource your sales team. And that’s what I see agents as because we’re partners, you know, it’s not like they’re above us, you know, like, oh, you know, my agent is my boss or anything like that. But you are part you’re in a partnership, so you have a great product. They have a network of people that are looking for a product like yours, and now you partner up so that they can market your product to the marketplace too.

Erikka J: And, you know, and then you see if you can get a sale together. Um, so anybody that’s looking for an agent, I would make sure that your product is ready for that first so that you don’t waste your agent’s time and you don’t waste your time. Um, and then you put it out there. So, um, if you’re at that point that you feel like you’re ready, you’ve been through coaching, you’ve got great demos and all that kind of stuff, just get to know people, go to the conferences, go to workshops where they’re at, um, you know, get to know them on a human level. Let them know that you’re looking for representation you’d love if they take and listen to your stuff and if they’re interested. And you also like look at their rosters on their website and see, you know, if you fit, like if they already have ten people that sound like you, maybe check another roster, you know, to make sure that you are actually serving a need. Um, that they, that they, you know, maybe don’t have on their roster. Um, yeah. So just approaching it from more from a business and logical perspective than from the emotion of I got to get an agent to be successful. Would be my recommendation.

Sharon Cline: I think that’s excellent advice. I also love that. What you’re talking about is not just anyone can just put together their own little demos. You know, at home and then be like, I need an agent now. But there is something to be said about experience and professionalism. And like you said, that product being, um, marketable, really marketable. Um, and I think I’m at, I’m at the point of where I’m like, I don’t know that that’s the next step for me. I don’t know if I’ve had enough work or not, but I do know that it’s more challenging to, like you were saying, get into the big leagues of the different auditions that are only associated with agencies. Um, yeah. The only outside work that I’ve been able to get out is like through the different voice, like voices one, two, three. And I’ve and local like the Chamber of Commerce and local people that I know But.

Sharon Cline: How else would someone have access to any of these large auditions that are for major companies, like. I mean, let’s just go for the big dream like Disney. Do they only go through agents, would you say?

Erikka J: Primarily, yeah. But however, um, I’ve heard, you know, of people saying, you know, that they went and connected with, you know, casting directors on like, LinkedIn, you know, let them know what they’re doing, um, you know, looking at their posts and commenting and making sure that they’re engaged with, you know, in complimenting them on their work. It never hurts to build your own network. Um, I do think that a lot of them, they go through agents because, you know, that’s how they can, you know, kind of whittle down their list. So they’re not having to go through thousands of submissions themselves. But, um, so yeah, agents are definitely the first step. And finding agents that work in the areas that you want to work in. And even starting local with looking for agents is always a great idea. But it doesn’t hurt to, um, you know, branch out and try to meet the people that the actual buyers. Um, I do know people that have said they’ve gotten promos, for example.

Erikka J: Which are very typically going through agents just because they had a relationship with somebody and had continued to build that through LinkedIn. They initially reached out on LinkedIn. So, um, so yeah, not impossible.

Sharon Cline: Not impossible. Well, what I love too is that your local here to Atlanta, but you are all over. You know, your nationwide, but it makes me feel like you don’t have to be, like you said, in LA or New York in order to be successful. I like that I’m kind of sitting where I am at the moment.

Erikka J: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Erikka J: And I mean, you know, a lot of film is coming to Atlanta. So I mean, it’s it’s still not a small city. It’s still top ten DMA. And, you know, um, a major city, a major hub. So it’s not a bad place to be. Um, but yeah, with the work that we do, it’s pretty, uh, remote friendly and global. So. Yeah, it’s it’s great.

Sharon Cline: Well, I just wanted to see if there’s any way that people were wanting to get in touch with you. What do you think the best way is?

Erikka J: Yeah. Um, my website is Erica j.com, which is e r I k a j.com. Um, my mom knew I was going to be double trouble, is what I always say. So I have double K’s.

Erikka J: Two K’s in my name. Um, yeah. If you go to my website, you can hear my demos and all that kind of stuff. All my socials and my contact form will go to my email there. So that’s, that’s, uh, probably the easiest way to get Ahold of me.

Sharon Cline: Well, Erikka, I can’t thank you enough for spending some time with me and just giving me even some inspiration for myself in order to kind of progress in this, in this career. And it does feel lonely. And so I think I have underestimated how important it is to connect and to go to these different conventions and network a little bit and not and not feel so isolated, which is it’s a very surprising part of voiceover. I never would have even thought about it, but being able to talk to you actually makes me feel like I’m not quite so alone. So thank you. I really appreciate the time that you spent with me.

Erikka J: Group workshops are great for that too. Like there’s Atlanta VoiceOver Studios local here. They do in-person and online stuff. Um, and then I have to plug, um, if anybody knows Jennifer Hale, she holds the Guinness Guinness Book of World Records record for like most prolific female voice actor in video games, I believe.

Sharon Cline: Holy cow.

Erikka J: Um, yeah. Like nuts. Like, I think like 600 credits or something like that. Right up there with Carrie. Um, but yeah, Skills Hub is her. I think it’s skills hub after. Skills hub life, I think is her site, and it’s like a subscription thing. And you have access to all these coaches. Like, that’s a great way to build community for new people to. I got to mention that because because she’s really built something nice there.

Sharon Cline: Oh my goodness. Well, thank you so much. Anyone out there that’s listening I hope they all take this advice. This is like gold.

Erikka J: So awesome. Thanks for having me Sharon. This is really great. I’m glad I could be helpful and you’re a delight to speak with.

Sharon Cline: Oh, thank you and you as well. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you with knowledge and understanding we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day. Bye.

 

Pro Tip: Two Things That are Not Empathy

by

Andrew Hartman with Time Boss

by

HVR-Time-Boss-Feature
High Velocity Radio
Andrew Hartman with Time Boss
Loading
/

Time-Boss-logo

Andrew-HartmanAndrew Hartman is Founder of Time Boss.

Time Boss helps busy teams and leaders take control of their time to get the results they want, via small group cohorts, 1:1 coaching, and corporate workshops.

Time Boss is a time operating system designed to multiply your time. Trade stress, overwhelm and anxiety for peace, freedom and clarity in your team’s professional and personal lives.

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • What makes Time Boss Different than other productivity frameworks
  • How to find your highest sustainable pace
  • Why we’re addicted to anxiety and what to do about it

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Time Boss, Mr. Andrew Hartman. How are you, man?

Andrew Hartman: Hey, Stone, I’m doing great. I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: Well, it is an absolute delight to have you on the broadcast, Andrew. I got a thousand questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but a great place to start, in my experience, would be if you could share with me and for the benefit of our listeners, mission. Purpose what what are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. You know, my heart is for people that are up to something, that have a contribution that they want to make, and they are precluded from getting that because of their relationship with time. Either they are overwhelmed. Too many things going on, always stuck putting out fires, or they are making their contribution happen, but they are burning too bright and they are going to burn out. They’re going to get checked out of the game because they just can’t sustain that pace. So I am for those people. I want them to take control of their time to get the results they want without anxiety or burnout being a part of that equation.

Stone Payton: So I got to know, man, what’s the backstory? How in the world did you find yourself in this line of work trying to serve this constituency?

Andrew Hartman: Yeah, I wish I could say that. I woke up and had a great idea, Stone. But, uh, you know, I was late 20s, uh, gotten a job where I had more to do than I had time to do it. Uh, almost instantly overwhelmed. Didn’t have the mental models to to handle it. Found out very quickly that I had been handed a to do list and a calendar, but no one ever taught me how to track, how to manage my time. Great parents went to a great school, great education, all the things. But what I realized is time management is tribal knowledge. If you don’t have parents that are good at it, or you’ve never had a boss that taught you how to do it, you just kind of have to figure it out on your own. And no one ever showed me. So overwhelmed. Wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats. You know, grab a notepad near me and just try to write down whatever was stressing me out or in my head. Wake up in the morning. Look at that notepad and it was just chicken scratch. Anyways, I didn’t get anything down. Meaningful. Um repeated that day after day, week, week after week for quite a while. Ultimately, ultimately led me to actually losing my sense of smell. Like I could feel it coming on well, well before Covid. And stress is wild. Stress has has really weird impacts on the body. You know, it’s hypertension, stomach issues. Uh headaches. Uh, and for me, it was lost. My sense of smell. So that was a real. That was a real red lights flashing on the dashboard moment of.

Andrew Hartman: Okay, it’s it’s got to change. Um, wish I could say I made a flip turn right there, but it took me quite a while. Um, you know, I joke often, I really started to run this weekly process of trying to fix it, and it it took me it took me a couple of years to really figure it out. And my conviction was this stone. I was I was an early stage software companies that, you know, short runways, high expectations. And a lot of us are in environments like that. You know, it’s not just early stage software companies. And I was feeling myself burning out. I was watching people on my team burn out, and I just came to the point where I thought, this is so silly, this is illogical. We need we need to be in the game as long as we can and go as fast as we can in as sustainable fashion as possible. So that led me to build out what ultimately became the Time Boss framework. And I started going fast without anxiety and burnout, making big impact. My team started making big impact. Individuals would leave my teams or end up at other companies and be like, hey, can you come and show us whatever we were doing back there? Because that was really working. And I, I just kind of backed into this framework that was really universal and made sense in any environment. And very candidly, I’ve just ridden the horse in the direction it’s going since then, and that’s where we are today.

Stone Payton: So this is a full time pursuit. This is what you do. You and your team are out there serving. Whoo!

Andrew Hartman: Uh, so we primarily serve, uh, companies that are in growth mode or growth mode, or they’ve had some type of compression on their time. So think knowledge workers where they are 100%, 100% responsible for their calendar. Their calendar is a wide open space every week where there are outcomes they’re responsible for and the decisions they make, literally the things they get on their calendar are the way that they drive value Incredibly stressful place to be. If you don’t know what to do with that. You’ll have more ideas, more things to do than you have time to do it, and you’ll find yourself overwhelmed pretty quickly. Or you’ll just start grinding and you’ll work crazy hours and it’ll start impacting your health. It’ll start impacting your relationships. Those are the people that we serve tend to be earlier stage companies. You know, larger corporates, unless they’re in growth mode, do they have some compelling event they’re driving. They’re just in a lower gear and can kind of get by without it. But for those companies that need it, it’s a life saver. Yeah.

Stone Payton: So let’s dive into the work a little bit if we could. And I’d like to explore it. Working with individuals, as I understand that that is an option, a path, but also with teams. I’m particularly interested in what happens early on in. I’ll call it an engagement cycle. That might not be the right phrase, but kind of early on in the relationship.

Andrew Hartman: Yeah. Yep. Early on it’s all about assessment. So we all have lived into a certain set of habits related to time, and we’ve done it for really, uh, rational reasons. Right? The people that are overwhelmed are doing their best, like they’re not choosing overwhelm. It’s just this is the best they have. This is what is in their hand right now. So what I’m really trying to understand is where are the individuals at or where are the teams at in their relationship with time. And that becomes our baseline. That really becomes our pivot point to say, okay, let’s get really clear on how our current habits are sending us sideways, either as an individual or as a team. And then let’s chart a path. Let’s let’s install the time based framework, and then let’s just start dealing with the friction that comes from that and helping people find that next gear. And the language we use is their highest sustainable pace. What is the what is the most impact you can have, the most outcomes you can drive in a way that’s ultimately sustainable for you. Where you are in the game the longest, you’re not. You’re not checking out because of stress or anxiety or burnout. You’re not getting diminished results because you’re burning too bright. You’re really finding that right pace for you and for your team to drive to drive the most impact possible.

Stone Payton: So what are you finding the most rewarding. What’s the most fun about it for you at this stage?

Andrew Hartman: I love that question. So thank you. Uh, you know, I was just telling a buddy, I, I feel like the work I do is I’m helping people realize that they have a bear trap on their foot, and they don’t even realize they have a bear trap on their foot. And when you open that bear trap and people are like, oh my gosh, this is what it’s like to run with two feet. They don’t even realize what’s possible when people get their relationship with time, right? The entire world opens up. It’s not just their professional world, it’s their personal world. You begin to be able to name a preferred future, and then you have the tools in your toolbox to actually make it happen, to represent those items on your calendar in a way that they’re actually going to get done. That’s that’s the greatest gift for me. I, I’ve always said I want to be a shortcut or a cheat code for anyone in their life. I just want to help them get what they can’t get on their own. And helping people solve their relationship with time is truly exponential, because it’s not just next week where they get that win. It’s every week for the rest of their life. And then, you know, a lot of people that go through time will say, I’m going to show my kids this. Like, this is just the way that time works. I want them to get this too. And that’s when I get into generational impact and legacy. I mean, I’m truly stunned as I’m talking about it. I’m getting goosebumps. Like, I just this is my love. This is my this is my lane. This is my assignment. Everyone involved with time, boss. This is what we’re up to.

Stone Payton: Well, that frame, that lens is very helpful for me personally. The way you characterize it as your relationship with time right out of the box, that helps you just look at it completely differently, doesn’t it?

Andrew Hartman: 100%. Yeah. We most people will say they’re fighting time. There’s not enough time. You know, we have these really negative self-talk tracks that we get stuck in. And what I try to help people understand is time is the opportunity. Time is your currency. It’s the way you make things happen. You know, it would be like an investment manager, uh, not wanting to deal with money. It doesn’t make any sense. You know, it’s a categorical mismatch. We are the stewards of this time that has been given to us. And I’m simply just trying to empower people where they look at every week as opportunity, not as man, how am I going to get through this? You know, last week was hard enough. How am I going to get through this week? And truly, that’s the average. That is, the average knowledge worker in at least in Western culture, is is running on overwhelm, experiencing some level of burnout, seeing waning, waning results. And it’s it’s self-inflicted wounds. It doesn’t have to be that way. And people just need to be shown that there’s a different way.

Stone Payton: I gotta believe that you run into observe some similar some patterns, like you get into a situation and you’re like, yep. And you may not. You’re probably more socially skilled than me. You might not let the person know that you’ve been there before, but you’re thinking to yourself, yep, seen this one before, and I bet we need to talk about this this and and and this is that is that accurate? Do you see some of the same pathology? Maybe a little strong but some of the same challenges across different clients? Hundred percent.

Andrew Hartman: Yeah. There’s three three personas. To your point, it really most people fall into one of these buckets, sometimes multiple, but often they’ll have one that’s dominant. There’s the firefighter where they are addicted to anxiety. Um, they let things catch on fire. Because what’s what’s nice about being a firefighter is, you know, your job. If the house is on fire, I’m supposed to put it out. And so you’ll have people that just live for the firefight, and they will tend to work extended hours or overwhelm themselves because they can’t get anything done on their priority list until it’s quiet, you know? And that often means early mornings, late nights, weekends off hours where they’re giving more of their life to work than they want to. And that’s really beginning to impact them. Uh, second persona would be a, uh, excuse me, a grinder. And these are people they are very clear on how to create value, but they have no governor on their speed. And so they will work more than they want to work because they constantly feel behind. They don’t have mental models that help them understand that they’re making good progress, so they just grind. Those people tend to burn too bright.

Andrew Hartman: This is I was actually in both of those personas at different points, but I tend to be more on the grinder side where that person really needs a good understanding of progress. They need to understand what enough is on a day by day and week by week basis, where again, they can really find that pace. Third one is an ideator. These are people that just are constantly coming up with new ideas. Those new ideas are constantly interrupting the old ideas. They tend to violate their own boundaries related to how much time they want to give to work or whatever area of their life, because they’re just so distracted. I joke, I joke, they tend to work extra hours because of squirrel, like something comes into their field of view and it sends them in another direction. And so those are I mean, truly, when I sit down with anyone, it’s it’s one of those three personas. And then each of those has a bit of a prescriptive path that you ask the right questions, you help them get the right mental models. They can make progress really rapidly, provided they have strong accountability to help them make that change.

Stone Payton: Because I don’t have my video on you didn’t see me grinning ear to ear when you talked about the squirrel.

Andrew Hartman: Are you. Are you an ideator stone? Is that your lane?

Stone Payton: I resemble that remark. I just I get so much, I guess, emotional compensation for for thinking I see something in a different light and then and then going down that path and and it has worked out just enough, right, that I want to keep doing it. Yeah.

Andrew Hartman: Right. Well and that’s, you know that what I was Sharon Stone, is it like you do that for a very rational reason. And people are firefighters for very rational reasons, and they’re grinders for very rational reasons. They have lived their way. We have all lived our way into our current experience of life for good reasons, for survival reasons, for the wins that it’s given us. And what I, what I really am helping people see is there’s there’s another mountain, there’s another lane, there’s another way to operate to get you what you want without the anxiety or the burnout or the stress, you know. But we replace that with peace and freedom and clarity, where you can just attack the things that matter to you without having those anchors on you that are also going to wear you down or pull you out of the game.

Stone Payton: So I’m around small business entrepreneur people a lot here in this community where we have a physical studio. It’s one of our business, radio X Studios, and I’m kind of like the social mayor here in little old Woodstock, Georgia, because I’m a radio guy that invites people to come talk about their business. And I don’t know if this is confined to small business people, but I observe a lot. What I would say some of these folks, in my opinion, and maybe it’s a little unfair because I’ve kind of reached a different level in my life and career, but it’s almost like they where busy as a badge, you know, is that you see, you’ve seen that. Yeah.

Andrew Hartman: Oh, absolutely. It’s an identity thing. And it’s, you know, the metaphor given to me by a mentor is we get excited about light bulbs when we need to get excited about lasers. You know, we walk in these rooms where it’s really bright and there’s so much going on, and we wear that in identity. But if we really care about our contribution, we got to get really clear of what is the outcome that we’re trying to drive. And then the next question is, how much of your life do you want to give to this thing? For it to actually get accomplished and busy is not busy is immaterial to that. Um, that equation. There are people that put that have decided to give 20 hours of their week to whatever they’re trying to make happen in the world, and they’re utterly overwhelmed, burning out. And there’s people that have decided to give 80 hours of their week or more, and their heart is on fire and they’re making amazing things happen. So time is not at all an indicator of success. And busy is not an indicator of success. It’s about what do you do with the currency of time you’re willing to give to that area of your life? And so yeah, I really I actually encourage those people, you know, they and I’ll hear, you know, we’ll hear it all the time. I can’t make that change. I’m just too busy. Well, we are all 100% responsible for our lives all the time.

Andrew Hartman: We whether we whether we like it or not. This is where the language time box came from. We are the time box of our future self. We are making decisions that will constrain our future self into having to carry out those plans. And so I’m simply encouraging people look at next week like a blank slate. How much of your life are you willing to give to this area? You know, most people will say most business owners will say 40 to 60 hours. They’re mostly they’re typically in that range. And then I simply say, what are we going to fill that with? What are the outcomes that you’re trying to drive, and what are the highest leverage things we can fill that week with with reasonable buffer to make those outcomes happen? And then whatever else doesn’t fit, we’re either going to say no to. We’re going to defer it. We’re going to delegate it. We’re going to figure out a way to digitize it. But we our first move is not busyness. Our first move is what are the highest leverage things that can drive the outcomes that I want. Again, under that big idea that we are 100% responsible for our life, our life is not happening to us. Our calendar is not happening to us. We are always choosing it. And I’m simply encouraging people to assume their role as their time boss and do something about it in a way that’s going to get the outcomes they want.

Stone Payton: You mentioned the term burnout and as an individual contributor, father, husband, friend. I don’t want to burn out for me. But as a leader in this organization, I absolutely don’t want my people to burn out. And I, I don’t have any hard data to prove it, but it’s probably out there. I mean, that can be a real dollars and cents impact. The people burning out, quitting on you, being unhappy, retention, the whole bit. Right.

Andrew Hartman: Absolutely. Yeah. If you look at an employee level, you’re looking at one and a half to two times the cost of that individual’s annual salary to replace them and to get them productive to the level of the person that left. So it’s I mean, it’s dollars and cents to not have people burn out. And the challenge is it’s not a, you know, no, burnout is not a gear that we shift into. It is a it is a week to week, month to month evaluation of where are we at. And that’s the that’s the power of of really looking at our time like habits. If we build in this weekly planning meeting and the time boss framework really runs around this idea of a weekly planning meeting. One of the key activities within that weekly planning meeting is asking myself the question, do I need more progress this week or do I need more peace? And that’s really a pendulum. There’s going to be there’s going to be weeks where you’re in too low of gear and you’re like, you know what? I need more progress. I need to I need to go a bit harder this week because I am responsible for these outcomes. I want to drive harder. And there’s going to be weeks where, you know, man, I have been burning too bright.

Andrew Hartman: If I don’t slow down, this is going to go bad. This is going to lead to burnout. This is going to impact my results, or this is going to impact my people. And you need to course correct back towards peace. But it requires an honest person evaluating that on a week to week basis. And that’s how you find your highest sustainable pace, where week over week over week, you’re making those tiny little course corrections to really find your lane. I know for me, I can do 50 hours, 50 hours of what I call income generating activities. If I press beyond that for multiple weeks at a time, I’ll feel it. My family will feel it. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. If I do less than that, I think I’m leaving meat on the bone. I think I can do more and I care about my contribution. I want to impact as many people as I possibly can with time, boss. But if I’m not careful, that means I could just work every waking hour, which I have in past areas and areas of my life. That kind of led me to this framework. So I’m really mindful of what is that highest sustainable pace to maximize my contribution over the long haul, over the long haul.

Stone Payton: So when you get on the other side of those 50 hours and it sounds like you more than most would be very tuned into that and self-aware. Do you choose to pursue other interests, passions, hobbies, and if so, speak to that a little bit, because the reason I’m asking is I’m operating under the distinct impression that the things I like to do, which most of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish, and travel, that I really feel like a it gives me some space, but I feel like I come back refreshed, recharged, and that much better prepared to genuinely serve.

Andrew Hartman: Absolutely. I mean, think of it. If you think of it, if you just max the RPMs on your car all day long, you would get to everywhere you want to go the fastest. But over the long haul, that’s going to wear down your car. Like there’s a it’s just not rational. And so what you’re what you’re describing, stone, is you’ve found your highest sustainable pace or you’re in pursuit of it. Right. That travel and fishing and hunting, those restore you to bring you back with the energy you need to be as successful as you can in this area where you really want to contribute and have massive impact. And so that’s the same for me. So I you know, what’s outside of my those 50 hours. So I, you know, I think of them like buckets of currency. So 50 hours is a bucket of currency that I’m trying to be as judicious as I can. And the rest of my life is another bucket. So then in that other bucket, it’s I’ve got teenagers, so it’s time with my kids. These are such critical years for me to be present in their life. And I am not successful if I if time boss is successful and continues to scale the way I want it to scale, and I lose relationships with my kids or with my wife, I’m not a success.

Andrew Hartman: My my definition of success is broader than simply that this this area where I professionally want to contribute. And so relationship with my kids, in my community, volunteering in my church. We love travel. My son and I love to fish. My daughter and I love to surf. My my wife and I love to go to great restaurants. Those are also priorities. I can’t look at those as like be priorities and I have to protect them. Just like I protect my professional hours, my work hours. Both of them have outcomes that I’m trying to drive. And truly, you know, Time Boss is primarily focused around people’s relationship with time at work. Most people take the same habits and frameworks and mental models into their personal life, because it works the exact same way. If whatever you want, whatever preferred future you want, you must represent that on your calendar. Because your calendar is your currency. It is the time you have, the time that you are stewarding, whether that’s hunting or fishing or surfing or going to great restaurants or relationship with your kids or your church or whatever you decide. We’re all 100% responsible. And so we have to prioritize it, and we have to map it to our calendar, and we have to be committed to our calendar or it’s just not going to happen.

Stone Payton: So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours, a firm like yours? How do you get the new business or you get to have conversations like this?

Andrew Hartman: Yeah. It’s great. I appreciate that question. You know, we are still in testing and learning phase to date. What’s really worked well is referral, which is great. I you know, I come from I mentioned I was an early stage software companies. I was primarily on the product side. And a really good product is all about solving a real problem. Um, and so we time boss has gotten really good at solving people’s relationship with time. That’s a that’s a spear in their chest. They feel overwhelmed. They feel like it’s precluding them from the life they want. And then those individuals refer their friends. They, you know, one individual comes from a company. They go back to their company and they refer coworkers or, you know, one business owner or team leader goes through. They refer, um, colleagues at other companies. The other thing that we are doing is quite a bit of speaking. So we we’ve just gotten into the vistage, um, speaking circuit. So we’re doing more speaking within Vistage, which has been great. And really, it’s just, you know, I’m at this stage, I’m, you know, we’re developing the name of Time Box, but we’re very early, so we have to go via venues that transfer authority. A referral is a powerful authority transfer. Speaking authentically and very practically in front of business leaders is a is a really powerful authority transfer where Vistage is saying we trust in this individual and then I can create real value in that environment. And then those those business owners are very open to, uh, having a next step conversation with me or referring me to to people that they know that where it might be a good fit. So those are the those are the primary ways right now. But like I said, we’re you know, we’re still young. We’re about a year and a half into this adventure. So we’re continuing to test and learn how we might grow it.

Stone Payton: Sure. Well, doing good work is turns out that’s a fantastic sales tool, isn’t it?

Andrew Hartman: Absolutely, yes. I keep telling our team if we one of our core values is solve real problems, that there’s nothing fluff in time. Boss, we are so committed to removing that spear from someone’s chest that is, you know, a sideways relationship with time. And I truly believe if we are, we stay committed to that. We will innovate the right ways. We will. We will be in the game long enough to discover the right paths for for there really to be great opportunity for everyone, because it’s at the end of the day, it’s creating value. This isn’t a this isn’t a shell game. This isn’t a smokescreen to get someone to sign a contract. This is a heartfelt connection to these individuals that I know what it’s like to get your relationship with time right. And I want everyone that we support to have that same experience because their whole world will open up to them. And I live for that. And anyone that joins the Time Boss team has to live for that. That’s the heartbeat. We have to have to be successful.

Stone Payton: Before we wrap up, I’d love to leave our listeners with a couple. I call them pro tips. Just a couple. I don’t know if it’s a do’s and don’ts, something to read, something to be thinking about. And look gang. The number one pro tip here is reach out to Andrew and his team and just have a conversation with them. But uh, prior to that, maybe there’s a couple of things we could leave them with an actionable pro tip or two.

Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. Number one pro tip, I’d say is get everything out of your head into a list. So if you’ve ever read Getting Things Done, this is a maxim within getting things done as well. But most of our stress and overwhelm comes from the fact that we can only hold 5 to 7 things in our head at a time, and anything else that’s out there just creates stress. So pro tip would be get it out of your head, get it onto a list, a single list that you’re going to be committed to. And then, you know, certainly there’s so many strategies beyond that of what to do with that list, but I think that’s a great place to start. Other thing I would highly recommend for people is, uh, put on their calendar right now 2 to 3 hours a day. I call it whirlwind and just have it be buffer in your calendar where you’re not overscheduling yourself, and that’s where you handle emails, client calls, water heater breaking, kid get sick, all the things that are going to happen in life. Just add some realistic buffer to your calendar. And here’s the thing that happens when you do that. If you have buffer and you have time where you know you can deal with the realities of life in the other part of your schedule, you will be so much more likely to be committed to your highest priorities. And certainly there’s ways in the time boss framework to maximize that time to really get the outcomes that you want. But just separating out some whirlwind time and some priority time will make you much more committed to your priority time. Instead of constantly feeling interrupted, constantly feeling like things are crashing into your world and adding and stress to your day to day. So those are. Those are two quick pro tips I would absolutely recommend.

Stone Payton: I am so glad that I asked. All right, man, what is the best way for our listeners to tap into your work? Maybe have that conversation with you or someone on your team, whatever you feel like is appropriate. Website, LinkedIn, email, whatever. But let’s make it easy to get to you.

Andrew Hartman: Yeah, absolutely. So you can check us out at Time Boston, US. You can reach out. We’ll do a free consultation with anyone. Oftentimes we end up solving a pretty hard problem even within that consultation. So no matter what, I think you’ll get a win from it. And we can definitely discover if there’s ongoing conversations to have. The other is on our website at Time Boston, US. If you hit resources, we have a 90 minute masterclass, which is a high level overview of the time boss framework. Incredibly actionable. You can put in whatever you learn in that masterclass into effect today and start getting wins on your calendar. Um, you know the the dirty little secret of any habit change is accountability is so critical. So my encouragement to anyone is watch the masterclass, find accountability, whether that’s with a friend or a coworker or with us with time boss. But that is how you will change. And so the masterclass is a great, great place to start. It’s absolutely free. It’s my way to serve the community. I think information is free if you need additional support to implement, we’d love to help.

Stone Payton: Well, Andrew, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. I can’t think of a more marvelous way to invest a Thursday afternoon. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, your heart. Keep up the good work, man. What you’re doing is so important and we sure appreciate you.

Andrew Hartman: Well, thank you so much, Stone. That’s really encouraging and a pleasure to be with you as well. I love, love your energy and your approach to life.

Stone Payton: My pleasure man. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Andrew Hartmann with time boss and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Always Be Curating

by

BRXmic99
BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Always Be Curating
Loading
/

BRX-Banner

BRX Pro Tip: Always Be Curating

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I can remember one of the most entertaining movies that dealt with the topic of sales. It was this Glengarry Glen Ross and Alec Baldwin talked about ABC, Always Be Closing. You have an ABC, but it’s a little different.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:21] Yeah. I think that in today’s world, the ABC for most, especially, mature businesses is Always Be Curating. You’re always curating your clients. You’re choosing your clients. You’re not waiting to be chosen. And when you have that mindset shift, you’re going to see that you’re going to get better clients. You’re going to get clients that are the right fit for you. And that you’re going to be able to deliver better service to them because they’re going to win, you’re going to win, you’re going to be aligned.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:53] A lot of times when you’re starting out, you’re taking any client. And you’ll learn that when you pick a poor fit client, then you might win in the short term and your client might think they’ve won. But it’s going to be difficult for both of you to keep winning over time. So, when you really can define who your ideal fit client is, and be very selective, and only work with the people that you know you can help, then you’re going to get better results for yourself, you’re going to be able to charge higher price, and you’re going to be able to deliver better results for your client. So, it’ll be a better situation for you in the long term.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:30] So, to me, in today’s world, ABC means Always Be Curating. Make sure you’re the one who’s in the driver’s seat when it comes to selecting the client rather than just hoping that they pick you.

Unlocking LinkedIn: Transform Your Profile into a Recruiter’s Dream

by

SSBRX-Talentfoot-Feature
Sandy Springs Business Radio
Unlocking LinkedIn: Transform Your Profile into a Recruiter's Dream
Loading
/

In this episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, Lee Kantor and Rachel Simon talk with Richard McNeal, Senior Partner at Talentfoot Executive Search, exploring the intersection of LinkedIn, job searching, and recruitment. Richard emphasizes the importance of optimizing LinkedIn profiles with quantifiable accomplishments to attract recruiters. He discusses the recruitment process, highlighting the significance of personalization and consistency in job searching. The conversation also touches on the role of AI in recruitment, the value of certifications, and strategies for effective LinkedIn engagement. Richard offers practical advice for candidates and companies looking to enhance their recruitment efforts.

Richard-McNealRichard McNeal is a Senior Partner at Talentfoot Executive Search specializing in digital marketing, eCommerce, and C-Suite search. He is well-versed in building and enriching client relationships.

Throughout his career, Rich has completed director to C-Suite searches from mid market to Fortune 500. Rich leads full cycle execution of executive searches, sourcing top talent, delivering white glove client service, and consulting with clients on position profiles and skill sets that make the most sense to drive their business growth.

Connect with Richard on LinkedIn.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon, another episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. This episode is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel. Excited to be here.

Rachel Simon: Hi Lee, how are you?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. This is another episode virtually instead of in the studio. But you know we’re making it happen.

Rachel Simon: We make it happen. I don’t know what we did in the presumed days, but, you know, it’s a good backup plan. So here we are, and I’m super excited about our guest today. Um, we met at, I believe, one of my LinkedIn local ATL events in the spring. And we just hit it off and I knew he’d be a great guest for our listeners. So I’m very happy to welcome Richard McNeal. He is a senior partner with Talentfoot Executive Search. So Richard, welcome to the show.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Rachel Simon: Absolutely. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

Richard McNeal: Sure. So, you know, as you mentioned, I’m a senior partner here at Talentfoot Executive Search. We’re a boutique search firm that’s been around roughly about 14 years, female owned and led, really known for primarily recruiting and marketing and all things digital. Our founder came from the advertising world, so that’s where we kind of have our niche Awareness. But from there, we’ve really expanded into a lot of other areas outside of that focus. So even though I’m personally involved in marketing and Ecom primarily, also a big focus in sales, technology and HR and finance. So those are our other practices. And then typically our clients are usually lower to mid market, maybe series B to C 30 to 300 million. But we’ve worked with larger clients as well. And they typically come to us when they’re looking to scale from a digital perspective. They maybe don’t have a marketing team. They don’t have a digital marketing team set up, they don’t have a CMO. And they look they come to us to really help scale their business from a digital perspective. And I’m personally involved in searches, primarily director to C-suite. So anything from a garden variety director of digital marketing, VP of E-comm, VP of demand Gen, chief digital officer or chief marketing. And I also do a lot of just general C-suite search like a CEO, GM or president. So that’s a little bit about us and what I focus on day to day.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. And it’s so I’m excited about this conversation because, you know, obviously I talk LinkedIn all day every day. But I think when we can look at it from, I don’t tend to, you know, focus on the job search side and how candidates can be using it. Candidates can be positioning themselves and what ultimately recruiters and those hiring managers and decision makers are looking for when they are looking to source those potential candidates for whatever roles are coming up. So I think that this is going to be a lot. We have a lot to talk about, a lot to talk about.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, there’s a lot out there.

Rachel Simon: Um, so let’s dive in. I mean, what what do you see? I mean, you’re very active on LinkedIn. You post, I think, every single day, which is very impressive, I will say. Um, so you’re on the platform a fair amount. Like, what do you see as those, uh, what helps candidates really stand out when it comes to being found by recruiters on the platform?

Richard McNeal: Yeah. And I think really the way it’s evolved, too is, you know, a lot of folks are now treating LinkedIn essentially as a resume, right. Your digital resume. So and that’s typically as recruiters one of the first places we’re going. So I think as if you’re a candidate or someone who’s on the market, what you really want to do, what we try to see as recruiters is underneath the hood from your titles. Right. Because especially in marketing, like a marketing manager can mean a bunch of different things depending on the category, how big the company is. Is it B2B is a B2C? So any way that you can list out very similar to a resume like what you’re doing day to day, and then also key accomplishments, because obviously what we’re looking for as recruiters, and particularly with companies that are in growth stages, they’re trying to scale their business. So we want to know how you’ve been, how you’ve done that, how you’ve helped scale other companies, how you’ve driven leads, acquired customers and some of the metrics and numbers around that. So I think that’s always helpful for sure. And then this is maybe like an interesting subtopic. But I do think, you know, LinkedIn has evolved into a place where you get to know people personally as well. And I think we could discuss on ways to to do that, not to do that. But I do think from a candidate perspective, getting a sense of like how someone is personally their disposition, their what values are important to them that can help us also vet fit from a culture, mission or values perspective and just get to know people personally before we even get on the phone with them, right? Or on video.

Richard McNeal: So those would be my tips, um, as it relates to the candidate perspective. And then if you even want to talk about the job search, it’s it’s it’s it’s the go to platform. But it’s tough out there. Um, and I always recommend to candidates that, you know, whether you’re internal talent acquisition or recruiter like myself are usually dealing with a lot of in the last two years, there’s been a ton of inbound candidate traffic, like a ton. Um, whereas, you know, during Covid in 2021, it was kind of flipped around. You know, it was more, um, the candidate inbound candidate leads weren’t in the same at the same volume. But if you’re on the job search, be mindful about the kind of roles you’re reaching out to be, right? I mean, and I’ve seen it right, like some candidates sending sending in their application or reaching out and it’s clear they haven’t done their homework on the role. So being targeted around the kind of roles you’re interested in, being personalized and sending those bullets out to talent acquisition or recruiter about why this role interests you being succinct but personalized. I think that segmentation and personalization to recruiters or internal to is important, and just being consistent, like it’s tough out there. There’s a lot of people on the job search and there’s there’s some churn on the market despite the economy, you know, being in a relatively good position. So just being consistent around it, I think is important. And luckily, you know, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to to break through at some point. So I know I kind of threw a lot out there, but yeah, I would I would describe you gave us a.

Rachel Simon: Lot a lot to unpack. Um, I want to kind of go back to what you were talking about when it comes to, um, the accomplishments piece, because this is something that I discuss with my clients as well when I’m helping them with their profiles, particularly like in the experience section and their about section. Um, often people are talking about all the responsibilities that they had in their past roles of, I did this, I managed this, I, you know, here’s 27 things that I was responsible for versus to your point. What are some key quantifiable accomplishments that I can list versus, um, that are going to be significantly more impactful and show the what I bring to the table and what I can actually make happen for an organization. So I’m so glad you brought that up, because I think that’s such an important clarification. And just like if you can make one change in your LinkedIn profile is to think about, can I can I think about those accomplishments in my past roles? Yep.

Richard McNeal: And I think if you know the kind of talent I work with, although they tend to be more digital or performance marketing focused, but even if you’re on the creative or content side, like some roles, have a creative or content piece. So ways you can talk about like this is the website I optimized and this was the impact. Like here’s a link to it Or no content, collateral, or other kind of ways to showcase how you put materials or your creative knowledge to use. I think that’s always important as well, particularly on the marketing side. So those are just a couple other ways you can also outside of quantifying it, you can also put something behind it because sometimes clients will want to see that down the road anyway.

Rachel Simon: Yeah using the adding the media. Yeah. Show some like portfolio pieces. Yeah I think that that’s a great point. Um, what is it that as the on the recruiter side like if you had to share like what are the what’s the first thing that you would go to when you’re looking at somebody’s um, profile? Because I know I’ve, I’ve had a, a tour of the back end of LinkedIn recruiter because I obviously don’t have it. Um, and it’s very different than what we’re seeing on our normal, you know, LinkedIn screen. So what is it that like you have to have this nailed down if you want to stand out?

Richard McNeal: Well, I would definitely go back to you have to be able to show under the hood behind titles, right underneath titles. That’s big. Um, I think I think some of the other pieces and I will maybe I answer this in a different way as a recruiter when I’m also typically and this is sort of outside the candidate control. A lot of times what I’m looking for is not just similar category or industry as a client, similar vertical, but revenue size, right? Like where is a company at in scale? Are you at did you come on board at 10 million or are they 30,000,050 100? Because that can help benchmark our recruitment. That can help kind of calibrate our recruitment efforts, because obviously we’re trying to look for talent has worked at a similar scale, not always in a in a plug and play regard, but that’s part of our strategy. So I guess I would even say if you can, if you’re thinking about how to tailor your profile even to talk about the revenue impact or even just how big the company was, because often as recruiters, right? Because then what we’ll have to do usually have a list of scale companies we’re looking for, but we don’t recognize one. We’ll have to go in and see, like how big it is, right? Or what the scale was or what kind of fundraising point is it? Was it at? So those are the things that I think are important, particularly in the work I do. So if you can frame your if you can frame it a little bit more data around that, I think that’s helpful as a candidate to kind of share the impact. And just as a recruiter, that’s another piece that that I’m looking for. Because if someone is at a $10 million company as a VP of marketing, that’s a lot different from someone who’s at a 200 or 300 million, right? So it just gives me a sense on how to find the right fit, and it can make you maybe stand out more for specific roles where that revenue scale or impact is important.

Rachel Simon: Interesting. Lee, before, I want to jump into the content piece that Rich was talking about, but I’m going to throw it to you and yeah.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit? I mean, you’re talking about kind of, um, behind the scenes of what it looks like, but can you walk through, uh, you know, when there’s a job listing, like what happens when you get like, a thousand people, you know, respond or 100 or whatever? The number is some big number. And can you walk through how it gets kind of narrowed down and you get to an actionable amount of people? Because I can’t imagine if there’s a thousand people that apply to something, or even in the hundreds that you’re going down and reading every single person’s thing manually. So can you explain how it gets kind of cut down to where you’re in a pile where you’re actually reaching out and having a human conversation with somebody. Do you mind sharing what that looks like? So a person who is applying can get some context of what they’re throwing themselves into?

Richard McNeal: Yeah, for sure. And I can make I think it would probably be helpful to, to make a couple distinctions. I mean, typically when you’re working with recruiters, particularly at a higher level, we’re not just throwing out app postings and hoping someone applies. Now, that can be often part of our tactic to either create more candidate flow if we need candidate flow or, um, to be able to create visibility for the role. Because what we’re typically doing is actively, actively recruiting, right. And that could be sourcing. And that’s typically sourcing from our own database and utilizing our research team and also doing original research in LinkedIn. Right. So a lot of that is going into LinkedIn sourcing based off the skill set, the candidate profiles and the revenue range, and sending targeted segmenting segmented messages. So there’s kind of like two different ways to look at that. Um, because from a sourcing and reaching out perspective, it takes a lot from a recruiter standpoint, it takes a lot of resources. And being very intentional around how we’re messaging the people. It’s a lot of marketing, right? How we’re messaging, how we’re reaching out, the kind of message that we’re sending to them to to get the right people to pay attention and lift their head up. So that’s more from the active, right? Recruitment. We’re we’re headhunting is the term I don’t love that term. But that’s what we’re doing is actually going after talent that we know is aligned. Now to the other part of the question as far as the postings. Right. Because it’s it’s wild out there. If you go on the LinkedIn, you can see like 300, 400 people apply. Now, internal HR is probably are probably the folks who are using that tactic more than I would be necessarily, since I’m an active, you know, search consultant and recruiter, but in the ways that I’ve utilized it before, if I do need candidate flow is we have ways of searching.

Richard McNeal: We’ll do keyword searching to look for the right applicants, to look for the right skill set, the right titling. So we try to kind of start at that top of funnel and then whittle down from there. And then, you know, ultimately if you know, I have found candidates, it doesn’t happen a ton, but I have found candidates who have applied to a role. If I put a posting up and just need some candidate flow who are all aligned and very quickly, what we’re doing is I usually reaching out with an email or even a text, depending on where I am with the client search, right very quickly. And I do think if I can say from a talent acquisition standpoint, we tend to be a bit more aggressive than internal talent acquisition because we’re just motivated in a different way, right? So we’re usually reaching out pretty aggressively, um, particularly if someone applies. But those are just some different ways to look at kind of distinction between active recruitment, which is the world I’m living in, which we do sometimes utilize and put up postings compared to, you know, those postings out there where you see 300 or 400 applications. And again, when you try to go through those applications, it can be cumbersome. And it takes it takes a lot of searching and filtering, but that’s not usually the first place we go to as a recruiter. So just a sense of kind of I hope that’s helpful. As far as how we approach a search project, I’m happy to answer any other.

Lee Kantor: Well, the reason I’m asking is that, um, obviously all I do is interview business people. And I know a lot of folks that are, you know, in between things and maybe they’re working as a consultant today, but they are looking for some sort of a, you know, a full time job somewhere. And they just I’m hearing a lot of I don’t want to say horror stories, but a lot of frustration in terms of, you know, they’re applying for lots of things. They’re not getting any response back. Um, and it’s just they just get frustrated by the, the process. So I was trying to get some insight into, um, the process from these people that, you know, are moving from maybe a large organization where they’ve been, you know, laid off, and then all of a sudden they’re trying to get back in and they’re not getting any traction whatsoever.

Richard McNeal: So I guess going back a bit to earlier point, then I do think it just takes it takes consistency, personalization and just making sure that message is sent. Because just sending an application in with all the noise that is out there and the number of applications is likely not going to get someone to pay attention. I had a colleague who actually was a recruiter, and he was looking for a job, and he was asking me for advice and I told him the same thing. And ultimately he, you know, put he put targeted applications in, uh, so I would that’s another thing I would recommend is don’t apply to just everything. Be targeted about your approach and then following up. Whether it’s a direct email, there’s tools out there to pull a recruiter or talent acquisition or HR email. Following up directly on LinkedIn and back to his example, he put those applications in and then ultimately after keep tapping them on the shoulder, got a response right. He maybe got like 1 or 2 interviews ultimately, or at least got a thumbs up or thumbs down, you know, some kind of update.

Richard McNeal: So and it is tough. Like I don’t think honestly, I don’t think there’s a magic bullet. Right. And I think what you have to look at from an internal talent acquisition, which is not the side I’m on, is often those folks are not just working on 10 or 12 requisitions. They’re doing internal HR things. They’ve got policy. They might just be even a 1 or 2 person shop. And it can be tough to keep up with it, because I know it’s tough for me. Sometimes I’m only doing recruiting like that’s all I do. So I just think it takes being Intentional about the rules you’re applying to and then doing the right personalized follow up, whether it’s direct email, whether it’s LinkedIn to talent acquisition to the recruiters. Because I do think that consistency does help punch through. And I will say I’ve had people that that do that tactic with me. And ultimately, I may not have the bandwidth every time they reach out to respond, but I usually do try to respond after a few times, right? So it does help get attention for sure.

Rachel Simon: So I was going to ask you because you again, I mentioned you’re very active on LinkedIn and you post very regularly there. Do you think it’s a good strategy to for people to like candidates who comment on your content? Are they breaking through the noise? Like, are those people that you would be paying attention to and be like, oh, Joe, is this guy? Joe’s been commenting on my content pretty regularly. I’m going to check out his profile, and then maybe he is potentially like in your target market for a role somewhere.

Richard McNeal: Yeah. No, I definitely think it’s it’s helpful whether commenting or sending a direct message, because I wish I almost had an assistant to respond to all the LinkedIn messages I get. But I can guarantee you most recruiters and I myself, even if I can’t respond at first. But I see your commenting, posting, or sending me a message, I’ll at least take a look at your profile. And then if I’ve got an urgent need or a client need, then most likely you’ll get a response from me, from me, depending on where I am with that search. Now keep in mind too, as a as an active recruiter or search consultant, what I’m trying to do is is deliver for clients primarily. So if my desk is really slammed with projects, unless they’re someone’s profile is really closely aligned, I may not have time just to reach out to you just for networking, but that is part of why the consistency is helpful too. Because once my desk maybe I close some searches, things slowed down a bit. Then I can ramp up the candidate development side and I can reach out and make those connections where I can. I will go back to my messages, be like, okay, who messaged me a while back that I liked by just simply didn’t have time to connect with them because that’s where those networking connections and that consistency helps because then I can develop my network, understand more of your background, and then I might have a surge down the road that, um, that’s well aligned. Right? So a lot of my ability to interact with people on LinkedIn depends on just kind of what I’m trying to deliver on right now, if that makes sense.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, yeah. Good luck keeping track of your LinkedIn inbox. That place is a crazy hot mess sometimes.

Richard McNeal: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: I definitely I don’t know if you if you’re, um, your strategy involves using the starred messages, but that’s what I use to keep track of messages is like, if I want to make sure I don’t lose a message, I will star it, and then I can easily go back and find it because otherwise it is so easy to lose track of stuff in there.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, right. Like it’s those little things just to make sure that it’s kind of like in your email inbox. If you need to respond to something, you pin it or flag it. It’s like the same it’s the same thing. Yeah, that’s definitely one tactic that can that can work. Yeah, that.

Rachel Simon: That place is messy. Um, let’s talk a little bit about, uh, you know, on almost every single show that, uh, Lee and I do, we talk about AI. It comes up all the time. It’s kind of a hot topic these days. Uh, so how does AI and all of the different. I like tools, functions like development. What does how does that interact in your world?

Richard McNeal: Yeah. So I would say from a candidate or from just a maybe not a candidate perspective, but just kind of trends, I guess. Um. You’re right. I mean, it’s it’s top of mind in every form, one way or another. I think from a marketing perspective, there’s a lot of it happening around, like a lot of ways it’s getting utilized around ad tech content creation. Um, so is AI going to replace every job? I would say probably not. But the people who don’t know how to utilize it or leverage it are probably at a disadvantage. So just becoming more familiar with how to leverage AI or any technology really is, is an asset to someone’s career development. It’s kind of a no brainer. What I would say I’m seeing from a, um, client side is companies who are leveraging or utilizing AI, and some of those tools get enough traction where it’s freeing up maybe content development that can be done in different ways or more quickly. It can, um, maybe eliminate some of those administrative tasks is is the leaders I’m talking to, then maybe they’re a director to VP or CMO or then having to look at the underneath that org structure and trying to shift resources, or maybe roles that had a fairly AI focus and how to shift those roles, roles that maybe have focused on another area of the business, maybe be more strategic.

Richard McNeal: So that’s where it could. That’s where I think I see a lot of decision makers or leaders trying to figure out the the way that AI has had an impact, how to then shift their organization and teams. If some of the that time that’s dedicated in the past to generating content or other um, other areas is now being replaced, is just shifting those resources in an effective way? I’ve heard that directly. Um, and also keep in mind, too, that you’ve got talent you’ll likely want to retain. And just making sure a lot of crafting kind of the the skill set or re crafting the scope of someone’s role. Um, and then another thing I would say, too, that’s really interesting is just the funny thing about marketing. I’ve talked to so many CMO or marketing leaders who, of course, are already doing anything from comms, PR and demand gen to, you know, sales enablement or Ecom or the customer digital journey. The CMO is not an easy job to have. Is it? Often getting thrown on their plate now like, oh, you want to be part of this AI task force so we can enter, you know, figure out how to do AI. So a lot of digital marketing or just marketing leaders are now getting some kind of strategic leadership on AI thrown onto their plate as well. So I don’t know.

Rachel Simon: But it’s interesting that it’s interesting you say that because I was at a professional development talk in the spring and, um, somebody was doing this. Amazing. It was a session was about AI. It’s obviously a big topic. And talking about how organizations have to create an AI policy like it is. You know, ten years ago we were talking about you have to have a social media policy. And now it is we have to have an AI policy. And so I’m not surprised to hear you say that the CMO is getting pulled into how do we develop this AI task force or policies and procedures? Um, because ultimately the company has to protect itself, but protect their employees as well, and how they’re using these tools. And it’s like a brave new world out there. We don’t know what we’re doing.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of, um, there’s a lot of interesting, I think, interesting conversations I’ve had for sure, for how leaders are thinking through that. And then if I can just make another comment on trends out there in marketing and e-com, all my clients in some form are talking about social commerce, like TikTok shop how to you know how to reach Customers on those platforms. Not all, but a significant amount of my clients lately have been pretty consumer focused. So they’re all sort of feeling their way around tick tock shops, social commerce, how to manage that growing space as well. So not necessarily on the AI side, but just another trend that I’m that I’m seeing.

Rachel Simon: Um, yeah.

Richard McNeal: Common digital side.

Rachel Simon: I’d be curious, uh, also because, um, Edelman put out their annual thought leadership, uh, report about a month ago, maybe. Um, and it’s on my to do list to, like, write a post about it, but how more and more on the B2B side, like having thought leadership from a company from the, you know, the executives is such an important decision making factor when it comes to, um, who people are going to be doing work with. Um, and so I’m wondering if you are hearing anything on the thought leadership side as well.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, not as much on the B2C, B2B side as much from in the TikTok world, but more so on the consumer side. And just a lot of brands trying to figure out, like even is this platform right for us? Um, but to go back to a basic thing, I know we talked about this before on the B2B side is, you know, clients not always, which I’m sure you know about. We’ve discussed not fully utilizing LinkedIn to. To for employer branding, for differentiation, to make themselves more aware to potential talent. And I and I’ve had candidates to first couple more maybe earlier stage companies growth stage that where clients haven’t had their presence digital front door built out as much. Wondering why that’s the case and why new employees don’t have their new employer listed in their experience, those type of things. But that just to go back to that, to the B2B side, that that it hasn’t always been a major hurdle as I’ve worked on searches, but candidates ask questions about that. So and I know not all every company has a resources dedicated to, you know, go do a full branding on LinkedIn and employee engagement or prospective employee engagement. But it is something candidates obviously pay attention to and ask questions. Um.

Rachel Simon: Well, they can reach out to me and I will help them with that because it is super important. Uh, Lee, do you have any, uh, any thoughts questions on the AI, uh, topic? Because I know that’s a topic that we love to chat about.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Is it a value, you think, for candidates to be doing, getting some of those certifications, even if they’re free certifications from a lot of the different, um, platforms out there, like HubSpot or, or, um, some even the specific AI ones that allow you to kind of learn and get some sort of a certificate of learning or completion. Is that something that you would see as valuable, or it would check some box to at least get them to, you know, the level where they’re having conversations?

Richard McNeal: Yeah, I think it never hurts. Um, particularly if, you know, there’s a lot of people I’ve talked to who are maybe in between roles or impacted by some kind of layoff, and you can kind of keep your, keep your, um, you know, muscles in shape as it relates to AI and technology. And I have seen a lot of people who have put that on their profiles, and particularly with martech and the different ways they’re utilizing and implementing AI, I think it’s definitely never hurts. I don’t know if it always pushes someone over the goal line, but on a search, but at least helps show that they’re continuing to stay engaged, to stay, um, you know, within the trends. And there’s been a lot of people out there to maybe not always at the level I’m conducting searches on, but, you know, maybe fractional or freelance folks who are utilizing some of them. Maybe they’re in between roles or they’re fractional or freelance thing has really worked out on the marketing or digital side. So I think being able to demonstrate how you’ve done that and even on just on specific projects, going back to how you’ve used different tech tools, how you maybe implemented CRMs, leveraged AI ways to demonstrate that on LinkedIn or on your, um, is always helpful, for sure. So I think it never hurts just to keep those those tech muscles in shape.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think, you know, these days, I know in marketing I see this in different groups. I’m in like there’s a big marketing communications Facebook group that I’m a member of, and there’s been just lots of women in that. It’s it’s a women’s group in that group just, you know, who are talking about it being, you know, months taking months and months and months looking for their next role. And it’s very challenging out there. So, you know, I’m hoping that people listening just take to heart some of these really these really helpful tools and strategies that we’ve been talking about of like, again, really clearly positioning yourselves, focusing on those accomplishments, you know, quantifying things as much as you possibly can and then ultimately just doing a good job of building relationships with the right people that can potentially open the door. Yeah. And the next role for sure.

Richard McNeal: And if I can also just add to that too, is and I actually posted about this I think last week or something. But um, it can be really frustrating. Like as a candidate, like I’ve obviously talked to and engaged with people who have been on the market for a while, and it’s tough because as a recruiter, you’re, you know, clients are the one who’s who paid us. But we’re relationship builders. We want to help people like find their next role. So I definitely feel that. But, you know, I’ve also seen some bad actors out there who maybe haven’t maintained their professionalism and have let their frustrations spill over. And, you know, just definitely keep mindful that not just recruiters, maybe prospective employers will see some of that, those comments or that frustration. So and I get it, I feel it. But just to keep that in mind too, and just I think if you are consistent with some of the tactics, um, that I’ve tried to outline, I think it will work out. It will land you a role eventually, but I think just maintaining kind of the professional nature out there is important, because a lot of that stuff you can’t get back if you post it right. I mean, and I know you can’t. Yeah, I know it can be frustrating too. And that’s another thing. Like I’ve worked uh, part of what I’ve done is I worked a little bit in the due diligence space with, you know, there’s companies out there who will work and partner with search firms and other employers to scrape social media I for flag or reputational issues. So there’s a lot of people have such a big footprint out there now. Just got to be mindful about what you put out in the digital sphere and, you know, making sure it doesn’t impact where your next employer, um, where you, you know, become employed next.

Rachel Simon: Yeah. I’m so glad you brought that up because, um, I, uh, for any of anyone who spends a significant amount of time on LinkedIn like the two of us do, I have seen some very questionable things where I’m like, somebody’s going to see that. Um, so it’s sort of like, does it pass the grandma test? Right? Would you say, would you say it to your. Would you say it to your grandma? Um, and and I get it like it is a place for us to have our community and, and come for support. And I think there is a time and a place to share some, you know, to be going and saying, you know, I’m just I’m really struggling here. It’s my job search is taking a lot longer, but doing it in a way that is, is not, uh, overly negative. I think it’s the tremendous negativity comes in and that can become a liability. Um, you know, and I always, I like, I always like to say we want Lincoln to be an asset, not a liability for us. So let’s focus on how we can make it an asset. Right? Yeah.

Richard McNeal: That’s great. No, that’s a really good way of looking at it. And I always encourage I’ve had a lot of candidates say like, well, I’ve been impacted by, you know, layoffs or reduction or maybe they just left on their own. They’re like, oh, should I, should I make a post about that? I’m open to work. And I’m like, yes. Why? Like, you know, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Uh, there’s been some hesitancy around that. I think, you know, you have to be mindful about how you do it, and you always want to be respectful to your prior employer no matter what went down. Because, again, people are going to see how you kind of conduct yourself in that on that platform. Right? So I think, um, I think there’s a lot I always encourage people to put themselves out there. Right. If they are on the job search, like there’s no reason not to not to kind of broadcast that you’re on the search because, uh, it helps draw up awareness, no doubt. But you definitely have to be you have to be mindful about how you do it. And I’ve seen more just I haven’t seen the frustration come when people say they’re open to work and maybe they’ve been impacted. I’ve seen it just bubble up on comments or posts or, you know, maybe someone, a recruiter posts about a role and someone hasn’t followed up with them and they maybe say some stuff they shouldn’t have said, but definitely, um, you know, as just the number of platforms and channels out there to kind of evaluate someone’s digital footprint. You just have to you have to pay more attention to it as a candidate, I think.

Rachel Simon: Yeah, for sure. So my last question is green banner yes or no?

Richard McNeal: That’s that’s a tough one.

Richard McNeal: Yeah, I would say yes. I mean, I never as a recruiter, I have never seen I have never not reached out to somebody because they have a green band. I mean, okay, so I’m, I’m looking more at, you know, at least first glance, like scope, name, rank, title where they’ve been, how they’ve articulated accomplishments, maybe ten years to a certain degree, although ten years are becoming a lot shorter. But I’ve never not reached out to someone because it says they’re open. I mean, that’s just that’s silly. I mean, I think that’s a little bit of analysis paralysis, perhaps, but, um, yeah, I don’t I don’t know what your opinion is on it, but I don’t it hasn’t held me back from reaching out to someone, because if they look to be a good fit, I’m, I’m going to reach out.

Rachel Simon: So, um, I that’s very helpful. No, it’s definitely like a point of debate, I think, in the LinkedIn consulting space. Um, personally, where I am not a fan of it is when there are consultants who use it. That’s a really good point.

Richard McNeal: Yes.

Rachel Simon: I don’t like that. I don’t think is the right use for it. I think it should be safe for somebody who is looking for their next.

Richard McNeal: Well, they flipped it as a ploy.

Rachel Simon: Correct. Like, I’m open to work with new clients is a lot different than I’m looking for my next employer to hire me. So I think it should be generally on LinkedIn. It could be. My tip for today is that we should use the the tools and tactics that they give us for what they’re intended for. So use the pronoun space to add your pronouns if you want. As opposed to what? Sometimes I see people put quippy little things in that part of their profile, you know? So use the tools for what they’re intended for. And that is the best way to kind of like be on the platform. And so open to work is intended for people looking for their next employer to hire them.

Richard McNeal: Agreed.

Lee Kantor: Now, Rich, what could we be doing for you? What do you need more of? Do you need more candidates? You need more companies to partner with you to help them find candidates. Um, what can we be doing for you?

Richard McNeal: Well, yeah. I mean, we’re always looking for, uh, companies that are looking to scale or, of course, you know, talent out there. Um, I am actually working on on one Atlanta baseball right now, although that that search seems to get is seems to be in some later stages, probably going to close in the next 1 to 2 weeks. So I do have a bit of a Atlanta base as well. But um, yeah, I mean, if you’re a company out there that’s looking if you need that director of E-com, that digital leader who knows how to drive leads on the B2B or B2C side. And that’s where we really focus. Right, is that’s my focus is day in and day out digital marketing on either side. And that’s where we step in, because we often can add something to where internal talent acquisition just maybe doesn’t know what they’re looking for. But we can help partner with them in the search process to get the right talent in front of them. And, you know, in the pipeline for sure. So, yeah, I mean, been going out a little bit of a our firm is nationwide and I have worked with a couple Atlanta based clients. Don’t have to be in Atlanta. But it’s always great with the local footprint. So you know if you’re a company out there that’s that’s looking to scale your digital digital team or candidate who is in the marketing or e-com space, you know, that’s that’s the area I work in. So I always love to have a connection. And if I can’t reach out immediately, just tap me on the shoulder a couple more times.

Lee Kantor: So now what’s the website and what’s the coordinates that connect with you or somebody on the team?

Richard McNeal: Yeah for sure. Well, of course I’m always, um, I’m always available on LinkedIn. Um, you know, and then in Talent Foot, we can just go right to the website is just talent foot. Uh. Com. And that’s where you can find us. We’re a Chicago based firm, but have a nationwide, nationwide presence. But yeah, those are the ways you can reach out.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Rachel. Great guest.

Rachel Simon: Awesome. Yeah, this was great. Well, thank you so much for being here today. Again, I’m sorry we didn’t get to be in person, but next time for sure. Um, and just so many great tips for on the candidate side. Um, and I know you’re just doing great work helping your clients find their next awesome employees, so thanks for being here.

Richard McNeal: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.

 

About Your Host

Rachel-SimonRachel Simon is the CEO & Founder of Connect the Dots Digital. She helps B2B companies close more business by leveraging the power of LinkedIn.

Rachel works with professionals, both individuals and teams, to position their authentic brand on LinkedIn so they can connect organically with ideal clients, attract the best talent, and stand out as a leader in their industry.

Connect-the-Dots-Digital-logov2

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

From Detroit to Hollywood: Anise Fuller’s Quest for Diversity Behind the Camera

by

WIM-Anise-Fuller-Feature
Women in Motion
From Detroit to Hollywood: Anise Fuller’s Quest for Diversity Behind the Camera
Loading
/

In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor is joined by Anise Fuller, founder of Walk By Faith Productions. Anise shares her journey from Detroit to Los Angeles, transitioning from acting to production. She discusses the importance of promoting diversity in the entertainment industry and her proactive approach to creating opportunities for underrepresented communities. Anise highlights her efforts to secure certifications, collaborate with major studios, and mentor foster youth. She emphasizes the significance of networking, mentorship, and taking initiative. The episode underscores Anise’s dedication to fostering inclusivity and her ongoing projects aimed at diversifying storytelling in media.

Anise-FullerAnise Fuller hails from Detroit, MI. A mother, entrepreneur, director, producer, writer, professional dancer and actress. Anise has appeared on shows such as Shameless, Call Me Kat, Lethal Weapon, CSI, House M.D., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and a host of commercials just to name a few.

Anise started her on own production service company in 2018 called Walk By Faith Productions dedicated to producing and developing stories that challenge the perceptions in the entertainment industry. Additionally, Anise was blessed to have held the position of managing director for one of the only Black-owned theaters in Hollywood, COLSAC Theater.

It was during this period in her career that she was afforded the opportunity to hone her skills as a producer, director, and writer, and to cast shows. She also donated her time as a Board of Director member of Diamond in the Raw Foundation which is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and expose at-risk teen girls to a multitude of careers in the entertainment industry, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Additionally, Anise has held positions at NBCUniversal and Warner Bros with their Employee Resource Groups specifically their DEI groups geared towards providing opportunities, learning tools and communication for people of color at the studios. Walk-by-Faith-Productions-logo

Recently Anise was accepted into the 50 Women Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship, a program that teaches women how to lead themselves, their careers, and their organizations and systems changes in a holistic way. It is the only program designed to meet the unique opportunities – and challenges – women experience in their industries.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Alliance of Women Directors and Chair of Events for the Black Directors Advancement Committee.

Follow Walk By Faith Productions on LinkedIn.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have a Anise Fuller with Walk By Faith Productions. Welcome.

Anise Fuller: Hi. Good afternoon. I am honored and blessed to be here on this platform. I appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Walk By Faith. How are you serving folks?

Anise Fuller: How am I serving folks? Well, the industry is getting a lot better now since the strike is over, but my company is focused on providing production services to studios, production companies, corporations with shooting corporate videos or filming commercials. Anything to do with film and television, that’s me, as well as servicing some government companies and trying to get government contracts in the process. So, anything to do with filming, developing, even advertising, digital ads, commercials, print, that will be my company, Walk By Faith, but telling diverse stories as well in the process.

Lee Kantor: So, can you share a little bit about your backstory? Were you always on the production end or did you start out in another place in the business?

Anise Fuller: Well, yes. I have a very, I would say, unorthodox, maybe, way in the business. I am originally from Detroit, Michigan, and there’s not a lot of entertainment in Detroit when I was growing up. It is now. I think, you know, they shoot more in Detroit. But growing up, I got a four year dance scholarship and I wanted to be a doctor, majored in nutrition and food science, really a big business mind, but I also wanted to work in hospitals. It was just all mixed up. And I was a dancer. So, very eclectic, kind of unorthodox background. And then, I did pageants. And just I loved everything about entertainment, but I also like the business side of things.

Anise Fuller: So, I moved out to Los Angeles and started interning and working in post-production first, and then got an internship with a big production company, then made my way to the studios. You know, I started working in home entertainment first at Warner Brothers and then at NBCUniversal, and started working in DEI, actually, at both of those studios and had prominent positions, and saw the lack of diversity behind the camera.

Anise Fuller: I really always have that in my spirit even growing up. When I was 15, I saw Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle and how you shouldn’t wait on people to give you anything. You can make things and produce things yourself if you see there’s a need.

Anise Fuller: So, while I was working at Warner Brothers, that’s where Walk By Faith was birthed, because I would walk around the lot and it’s a historic place to work, so I took advantage. On lunch hours, I would walk around and look in the stages, and I would go to some of the offices where VP’s were of development and talk to them, and got mentors at Warner Brothers. But, also, saw the lack, again, a lack of diversity every time I looked in the stages when they were filming things.

Anise Fuller: And I said instead of complaining about it, let me do something about it. And that’s when I started developing Walk by Faith, and it just eventually grew. Yeah, it grew and I said I’m going to be the person to help BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community get more work behind the scenes. If I have the work, they will have the work. So, that’s how I came about doing that.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re in Detroit and you are about to head towards California, did you have any contacts? Like do you just get in a car and just pack up and just start going, “You know, I have a cousin here, so I’m just going to stay here and knock on doors”? How do you make that move? I mean, that’s a brave move.

Anise Fuller: It is. I was only 21 at the time. I have a very big family, by the way, who’s very supportive of me. And my parents made us grow up to think like entrepreneurs, go to college and all that, but also do your own business. That’s how we grew up. You know, my parents flipped homes and all of that in Detroit, so we’ve always came from a business background as far as growing up with a business mindset.

Anise Fuller: But my parents thought I was crazy, like, “You don’t know anybody in Los Angeles.” I said, “I’m gonna do this thing. I’m getting pulled out there.” I feel like I could do something because I started off acting, actually. And I still act, of course, but most of my work is behind the camera. And I just say I’m going to go out there. I knew one person through someone else indirectly. Someone’s cousin lived out here. The cousin from Detroit hooked me up with her cousin here, and that’s how it got started. I didn’t know anything.

Anise Fuller: The cousin worked in the entertainment business, but I was green. And I started doing theater and things of that nature, but then I also started working behind the scenes, and I started doing AD work, and applying for the DGA trainee program and just learning everything I could. I was very strategic and focused when I came out here, even though it’s a huge struggle. L.A. is no joke. Only the strongest and bravest will survive that half stamina out here because it’s very oversaturated, but also it’s very difficult to break. It can be very difficult to break-in in front and behind the camera. But I worked my way up, pounded the pavement, started making connections and resources.

Anise Fuller: I started doing stand in work at first, and, again, I’m very focused and strategic in where I want to go and what goals I want to meet. So, while I was doing standing work and not acting, I would go to all the crew members, I would talk to the directors. Every set I was on, I would ask them what they did, how they did it. I would walk around. I was never scared to ask questions, and most people are scared. You know, when you’re on a set and you’re not the actor or the director, I would ask questions, “Hey. Can I sit behind the camera with you? Can I stand here? Can I shadow you?” When I didn’t know what shadowing was, but I put in my spirit to shadow people while I was on sets. Every set that I worked on, I would ask questions. I would go to the script supervisor. So, that’s how I actually got my entrance into the business behind the camera.

Anise Fuller: I did not go to film school. I learned everything being on a set. And then, once I would act on sets, I would get resources that way as well and just ask questions. And if I get hired for something, “Hey, is it okay if I also am the second AD?” So, my parents thought I was absolutely out of my mind and said, “Why would you leave your family to go to this expensive place?” But I did, and they supported me and they paid a lot of my rent a lot of times.

Lee Kantor: That helps, because that’s no joke either the rent over there.

Anise Fuller: Yes, it is. Oh, man. Now, I have a house here and it’s even worse.

Lee Kantor: I mean, from what I’m hearing, if you were going to give advice to a young person that is thinking about getting involved in show business, and obviously there’s a lot of places they can plug in. It doesn’t have to be in front of the camera. There’s lots of opportunities behind the camera. There’s lots of opportunities in editing. And lots of industries touch show business. It’s a very broad based industry.

Lee Kantor: But what I’m hearing is that wherever you land in there, just start being friendly and meeting people, and networking and connecting with people because you don’t know where the golden ticket is. You don’t know who the person is that’s going to hook you up and connect you with the right person. So, be nice to people, be curious, be respectful, and then just meet a lot of people and see what happens.

Anise Fuller: Yes. That is the biggest, biggest, most important, impactful advice I have given to children that I mentor. That’s exactly what I work in also, I spend my time mentoring foster youth also. I’ve been on boards. One organization is called Kids In The Spotlight and the other one is Diamond In The Raw, where we help kids who are interested in the entertainment industry and teach them and train them how to write, direct, do everything in their foster youth. So, it’s telling them they have the opportunity, but it’s also giving them exposure. If you don’t know what you want to do, see what you want to do. Expose them to it. So, that’s the biggest advice we always give them is resources.

Anise Fuller: Volunteering is a big thing. The reason why I’m in some of the spaces and had pitch meetings with some studios is because I volunteered at the studios that I worked at and were able to meet other people at other studios. And that’s how I built up my roster, because I didn’t have my hand out.

Anise Fuller: That’s a big thing, a lot of people in this industry, if they’re younger, they have their hand out or they expect something, or they have entitled – I want to use – mentality to a certain degree. But in this business, you can’t do that. You have to build and it’s slow. You have to build your relationships with people and volunteer.

Anise Fuller: For instance, MACRO is a big production company. If MACRO needs volunteers and you see that they’re shooting something, go ask the vice-president or the head of production, “Hey, if you ever need a PA, I’m here.” There’s nothing wrong with starting at the bottom, because that’s how you learn and that’s how you work your way up, depending on what age you are.

Anise Fuller: But, yes, volunteering is a big thing that I teach also. Don’t have your hand out. Be there to help because people honor that and they see that you work your butt off and they’ll help you in return. It may not be a year from now. It may be two years, three years. I’m a testament of that, like contacts I had at Warner Brothers are not helping me now in my production service business.

Lee Kantor: Right. It’s the people you know when you’re younger. As you progress and they progress, they’re getting higher up, you’re getting higher up. It just makes sense that they’re going to go to you when they need something because they already know, and like, and trust you.

Anise Fuller: Yes, that’s exactly right. That’s literally how this business works. They go to people that they know and trust and rely on, that know they’re going to get the job done and show up.

Lee Kantor: Right. Because this business is super risky as it is. There’s enough things that you got to watch out for, the unexpected things. You don’t want somebody to mess up a job. You can’t take those kind of risks, so you’re going to go with somebody that you know, like, and trust so at least you don’t have to worry about that element of things.

Anise Fuller: That is very true. Absolutely the truth.

Lee Kantor: Now, talk about kind of the progression. So, you started out acting yourself, but then slowly your production company started doing different elements of pre-production, post-production, production. Are you doing entire soup to nuts, you know, making movies, making shows?

Anise Fuller: Yes. All of that. Again, I started off, actually while I was acting, I became a managing director of one of the only Black theaters in Los Angeles. I fell into that role, which is crazy. I learned so much about behind the scenes, and it’s a great stomping grounds. You know, if anybody’s interested in acting or anything like that, I always recommend theater also. FYI, always start in theater because you can’t do a retake. I learned how to stage manage and do the lights. It was very important building ground for me in theater.

Anise Fuller: I started off doing that, but then a lot of stereotypical roles, so I got with groups of actors and we would write our own things. I don’t consider myself a writer, but then it became a necessity to do that. And it is a necessity in this business, you should know how to write your own content. So, that’s where it came out from me wanting to be in my own things and writing it.

Anise Fuller: And then, I got with another person, who’s also the copartner of my company, he started acquiring his own equipment. So then, we said, “Well, let’s just start shooting stuff.” And then, I got trained in how to do casting, so I started casting other actors that I knew also. You know, I just fell into the behind the scenes because it was a necessity.

Lee Kantor: Right, you weren’t waiting anymore. You were saying, “You know what? Look, I have cameras, I have a brain, I can write, I’m going to write roles for myself. And my buddy is going to help me film this stuff. And we’re not going to wait anymore. We’re going to just do and take action.” And that’s where the magic happens. Because once you do that, now the sky’s the limit. You’re in control now.

Anise Fuller: Yes. And every Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, I think even Julia Roberts, they have all said don’t sit on your hands. You know, with the technology we have now – when I did start, it was film – everybody’s doing it on iPhones. So, I mean, it’s easy to do your own thing and not wait. So, that’s how I started getting with other actors that I knew that were talented, and we just started writing our own thing, and then it just progressed.

Anise Fuller: When I was working at Warner Brothers, I saw the disparity and the the unbalance, and that’s when I said acting is great, but I really need to make more opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds. So, I already had the resources. I had enough experience. I have had films go into great film festivals, won awards. I have an award winning team. I know all of that distribution of things and I just said there’s a gap and diversity with production services in this industry so I’m going to be here to help fill that gap.

Lee Kantor: So, how did you get plugged into the WBEC-West community?

Anise Fuller: This is an interesting story. So, I have been pitching my production services to studios since I have the connections. So, you have to pitch and say this is why Disney should use my production services for your T.V. shows or for your films. So, when I met with one of the VP’s there, she told me here’s the portal for diversity suppliers for your production service. Fill this out and we’ll be able to use your company to film things. Disney will. I said awesome. I went on the site and I got cold stopped and it said, nope, you can’t go past green without having a certification. I was like, “A certification. What is this?”

Lee Kantor: Right. “I’m a woman. What are you talking about? I’m a woman-owned business. Isn’t that enough?”

Anise Fuller: That’s the great thing about Disney is that in order for you to do work with them or for them to use you as a vendor in this space, you have to have a certification. So, I went through that whole process of figuring out what is a certification. Because if you think about it, most entertainment companies don’t have certifications, not that I know of. So, I do stand out in that space of having multiple certifications. But that’s how I got into the space. I went down the rabbit hole at sam.gov, but then found out about WBENC, and then I also got accepted into a program called 50 Woman Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship, and it was in Arizona. And they further solidified you need to do WBENC.

Anise Fuller: And I had already started the process. And then, that’s how I got connected to WBENC and it’s been a blessing. It just opened my eyes and resources to things that, again, gaps in my skillset to a certain degree because I didn’t know anything about certifications. But I’ve been, you know, learning every step of the way with the organization.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s next for Walk By Faith? What are you working on?

Anise Fuller: Well, I am working on my solidification, solidifying business with Southern California Edison. That’s one big thing that I’m working with. I just had a big meeting with them to do any type of filming or corporate videos, corporate training videos, things of that nature with them. And then, I’m also going to be shooting a feature up in Vancouver in the third quarter, sometime in October, November, so that’s on the books. And then, I’ve been pitching some amazing shows to Hulu and other studios.

Anise Fuller: So, that’s what I’m constantly doing, developing really unscripted at this point, unscripted shows and pitching those, and getting option agreements and things like that. But the movie is coming up and then solidifying my relationship with Southern California Edison.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more talent, more actors, production people, opportunities? Who can we connect you with?

Anise Fuller: Well, the opportunities can never stop. As you are aware with WBENC, once we get a notification to submit to an RFP or RFQ, it’s very labor intensive and sometimes you don’t hear back, very competitive even though they’re set aside money, that’s what I’m working hard at. It’s not necessarily working with studios, but working in that government sector is really important to me and my company in solidifying consistent work. You know, having a five year contract would be amazing for my team. So, that’s hence why I’m trying to build my relationship with the utilities companies and things of that nature. That would be help me, the government contracts.

Lee Kantor: Right. So, if we have any listeners who are connected that way or looking for production help, contact Anise. And can you share the website? What’s the best way to learn more about the production company?

Anise Fuller: Yes. You can go to walkbyfaithproductions – that’s with an S on the end – .com, Walk By Faith Productions. And I’m also, of course, on Instagram, @walkbyfaithprod, P-R-O-D. That’s where you can find me. And you can find everything that I’ve done probably on IMDb. I don’t know if people are familiar with that database, but imdb.com also.

Lee Kantor: Well, congratulations on all the success thus far. You’re doing amazing things.

Anise Fuller: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I appreciate the exposure as well.

Lee Kantor: You got it.

Anise Fuller: And thank you, WBENC. Yes, WBENC has been a great help to me as well.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

Our Mission

We help local business leaders get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession.

We support and celebrate business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignores. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.

Sponsor a Show

Build Relationships and Grow Your Business. Click here for more details.

Partner With Us

Discover More Here

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy

Connect with us

Want to keep up with the latest in pro-business news across the network? Follow us on social media for the latest stories!

Business RadioX® Headquarters
1000 Abernathy Rd. NE
Building 400, Suite L-10
Sandy Springs, GA 30328