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BRX Pro Tip: Bad News Fast

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BRX Pro Tip: Bad News Fast

Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, after 21 years, we have quite a few operating disciplines that have really served us well. One of the most prominent, and it is a hard and fast rule around our shop, bad news fast.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, like you said, this is one of our core values, and I think it’s so important for other people to at least consider this being one of their core values. Here are four reasons why you should implement it today. Number one, addressing issues openly can boost motivation and satisfaction. I think people don’t – that they underestimate when you let something fester, how it kind of depletes the morale of your team. So I think it’s important to just be known for, look, if something happens, we’re going to deal with it right away. It’s not going to linger. It’s not going to fester.

Lee Kantor: Number two, avoiding difficult conversations can create a toxic work environment and destroy your company’s culture. If you allow a person to be toxic in your environment and you’re not addressing an issue, it’s going to permeate through your whole organization. They’re going to – other people are going to think that’s okay, and they’re going to, you know, not be willing to do extra because they know that somebody else is getting away with not, you know, misbehaving. So I think it’s so important to, again, to deal with bad news fast.

Lee Kantor: Number three, resolving conflicts and clarifying expectations will improve individual and organizational performance. So resolve these issues fast. Let everybody know; if something happens, let’s deal with it right away. Let’s not let this stuff hang around.

Lee Kantor: And ultimately, bad news fast actually builds trust and stronger relationships. Open communication fosters respect and understanding between the leaders and the employees and all the team members. And if you can overcome some of this fear of conflict or conflict avoidance and engage in these kinds of difficult conversations, everyone is going to benefit because it’s going to foster a more positive, productive, and growth-oriented environment.

Crafting Community: The Power of Women Supporting Women in Brewing

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor talks with Karen Hertz, the Chief Brewista and Founder of Holidaily Brewing Company, the largest gluten-free brewery in the U.S. Karen shares her journey from working at Coors to founding her own brewery after surviving cancer twice and developing a high gluten intolerance. The discussion covers the unique brewing process using gluten-free grains, the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and the growing demand for gluten-free products. Karen also talks about her future goals, including expanding distribution and raising awareness through a crowdfunding campaign.

Holidaily-Brewing-Co-logo

Karen-HertzKaren W. Hertz is the founder of Holidaily Brewing Company. In her early 30’s, Karen survived both melanoma and thyroid cancers, leading to a treatment regimen including a gluten-free diet. After adopting a gluten-free diet, Karen struggled to find a great tasting, 100% gluten-free beer.

With an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies from the University of Colorado at Denver and 15 years of beer industry experience under her belt, Hertz researched gluten-free ingredients, tested alternatives, and gained an understanding of brewing processes in order to create a better solution. Thus, the idea for Holidaily Brewing Company was born.

Since opening the brewery in 2016, Holidaily has grown over 1500%. After years of exponential growth in Colorado, Holidaily Brewing opened the doors to a new production brewery in May of 2019, making them the largest dedicated gluten-free brewery in the U.S. In addition to their taproom locations in Colorado, Holidaily has expanded distribution to nine states in the western US including Arizona, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, California, Oregon and Washington.

Holidaily’s success has garnered recognition from Bon Appetit Magazine, Gluten-free Living Magazine, Food & Wine Magazine, Today, Popsugar and more. The brewery has won hardware at Great American Beer Festivals and The World Beer Cup. The brewery was recognized as a US Chamber of Commerce Top 100 Small Business as well as Colorado’s Craft Brewery of the Year.

Outside of her role as Chief Brewista, Karen enjoys living in Golden, Colorado with her husband and twin daughters and taking advantage of all that the Colorado outdoors have to offer.

Follow Holidaily Brewing Company on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

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 Karen Hertz, who is the Chief Brewista and Founder of Holidaily Brewing Company. Welcome.

Karen Hertz: Thank you so much for having me.

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

Karen Hertz: Holidaily is the largest gluten-free brewery in the U.S., so we make all entirely certified gluten-free beer.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s the backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Karen Hertz: Really, it was a combination of my education and my work life, and then some things that happened in my personal life. I have an MBA in entrepreneurship and worked for another brewery a lot of people have heard of called Coors here in Colorado, and so I had beer industry experience. And then, I ran into my own health issues. I’m a two-time cancer survivor. I first was diagnosed with melanoma and then second was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and I had surgery and radiation for both, and then was told that I had a high gluten intolerance and I needed to cut gluten out of my diet as part of my treatment for that.

Karen Hertz: And I worked in the beer industry, and Colorado is really a huge craft beer state, so it’s a part of our social life and social fabric around here. And there were no great gluten-free beers to enjoy, and so, ultimately, came up with my own and launched Holidaily in February of 2016.

Lee Kantor: So, how did you go about kind of creating the recipe?

Karen Hertz: Part of figuring out how to make good gluten-free beer was exactly that, it was the ingredients that go into beer. So, every beer is made with grain, water, yeast, and hops. There’s just those four ingredients, and water is gluten-free and hops are gluten-free, and I can get yeast gluten-free, but grain is the real issue. So, most beers are made with barley or wheat, and we couldn’t use those grains.

Karen Hertz: And I started looking for what gluten-free grains could I use to brew with and essentially did a Google search of gluten-free grains to brew with. And in a serendipitous moment, the only company in the world that was producing gluten-free grains for brewers was about 40 miles from my front door in Colorado, another woman-owned company, and, really, they malt and roast gluten-free grains so that brewers like me can produce beer. And we source all of our grain from this company. It’s called Grouse Malt House. And what we utilize in our beer rather than barley and wheat is millet and buckwheat, which are just naturally gluten-free grains from the beginning. And then, it was just a matter of experimentation and figuring out how to make them work in beer.

Lee Kantor: So, what was that process like? Was it just kind of, you know, coming up with a recipe, trying it, and having a bunch of your friends taste it, and kind of rinse and repeat until you got something you liked?

Karen Hertz: Kind of, yeah. Exactly. I mean, first I started, I knew there were going to be some challenges with this grain. The process is very similar to traditional brewing, but the grain is unique and there were challenges. So, Colorado State University has a fermentation and science school. I went up there and did a couple practice brews with them and we tested some things out.

Karen Hertz: And then, I started brewing, really exactly to your point, in my kitchen. I hired a brewer pretty early on because I knew that I was not going to be the head brewer. My specialty, I like to say, is in selling beer and drinking beer, not brewing beer. So, I knew we needed a professional because we needed the quality of the liquid just to be the absolute best it could be. And he would brew every day in my kitchen while I was getting the brewery built.

Karen Hertz: And then, we had what we called Beer Sample Fridays, which you’ll love this. I had little kids, at the time they were, I think, around eight years old. And every Friday morning we’d come walking up the street with pictures of the different beer he had brewed in the weeks before and all the parents could try out beer and it was like 8:00 a.m. on Friday mornings. And so, it became a neighborhood tradition and that was my test panel. So, we started having Beer Sample Fridays every Friday morning and then dialed in the recipes as we liked and didn’t liked things.

Lee Kantor: But those grains are kind of at the heart of all of the beer that you brew?

Karen Hertz: Yeah. So, every beer is a combination of millet and buckwheat. Really, the difference is maybe different percentages or different roasts. So, the millet comes very, very dark coffee, you know, chocolate roasty all the way to a very, very pale, light roast and everything in between. So, we can really make any style of beer.

Lee Kantor: But the first objective was to get a quality product, but while you were building that, you had confidence you’d be able to do that, and then the equipment needed to have the company that you have is similar to all kind of microbreweries? Like you didn’t require a special equipment because of that?

Karen Hertz: We had to customize one piece of equipment. And, really, when you brew, you put water in grain, essentially, in a big pot, and then you drain it at the bottom of that pot. And what we did to customize our system is that the size of the grains are physically different than barley or wheat. And so, when you went to drain it out of the bottom, it would either go all the way through or kind of all clumped together and you were getting no liquid out. And so, I customized a screen to fit the size of grain that we were using rather than the traditional brewing screen, but otherwise it really is the same equipment.

Lee Kantor: Now, are there a lot of women that run breweries like you?

Karen Hertz: There are not. So, about 3 percent of breweries are women-owned, however we’re the only certified women-owned brewery in the country.

Lee Kantor: And did you know that going in or was this something that you discovered while you were in your journey?

Karen Hertz: I mean, I knew there were very few women-owned breweries. Fifteen percent a woman is involved, meaning it’s husband and wife or brother or sister, or whatever that might be. Three percent are majority owned by women. And I’ve been in the industry a long time, so I knew that this was very much a male dominated industry. It did not bother me or frighten me or anything. I didn’t even really think about it, to be honest. And then, I found out about the WBENC certification and that program, and I think we were probably in a year or two before I realized there was no other brewery that was women-owned certified, and that’s still the case.

Lee Kantor: Have you been able to form some sort of community with the other women-owned breweries?

Karen Hertz: Absolutely. I mean, especially here locally. But as I go places and we distribute our beer now, so we have our original taproom and then we have a production brewery here in Golden, Colorado. But we distribute now to nine states in the Western United States, so I do a lot of traveling, and when I’m there, I go find those breweries a lot. We sit down, lots of networking, great support group, and it’s some of my favorite conversations, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: It seems that just people in general that run breweries are collaborative. You know, they want to help each other, kind of collaboration at least what I’ve run into. Is that the case?

Karen Hertz: I think it’s what draws people to this industry is it is very collaborative. And people help with everything from creativity to problem solving. And it’s just such a great way to build community.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding that more and more brewers are kind of at least having some gluten-free product?

Karen Hertz: Yeah. So, really, what’s happening is, to your point, they have one product, it’s usually a seltzer because they can brew that on their own equipment, which there’s risk in that, too, because there can be cross-contamination. Sort of like when you see snacks produced in a facility that has peanuts, there’s always a risk of cross-contamination in a facility that has gluten in it.

Karen Hertz: What we do here in Colorado is something that’s really unique is we actually distribute to about 82 craft breweries in Colorado. And that’s because, to your point, they want to carry a gluten-free option, but they don’t know how to brew it, or they don’t want to deal with brewing it, and they are worried about the cross-contamination piece. So, rather than dealing with any of that, they carry Holidaily and we’re the gluten-free option for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, what percentage of beer drinkers are gluten-free? Is this a large group of the population?

Karen Hertz: Yeah. You know, a lot of people think, “Oh, it’s just celiac,” which is really 1 percent of the population. But over and over, research is showing about 30 percent of the population is reducing or eliminating gluten from their diet. And so, those are numbers that get people’s attention, for sure, and it seems to be growing.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you started, were people coming out of curiosity for the gluten-free angle, and then, oh wow, this tastes good too. Like that’s a bonus because, you know, not every gluten-free product is the best tasting.

Karen Hertz: Exactly. And that’s why I said, you know, the challenge for us was it had to be good because we get one chance. The expectation is that it’s going to be bad. So, it had to be good or they’re never coming back. So, high demand on very high quality was part of, really, what I came out with. But I’ll be honest, when we opened in February 2016, we were open three days a week with three beers on tap because I was like, I don’t know if people will come to an all gluten-free brewery. And by the end of the first year, we were open every day of the week. We had ten beers on tap, and I was distributing two beers out of the back of my car.

Karen Hertz: So, it turned out people did want to come and check it out and try it. And we’re the only gluten-free brewery in Colorado. So, we get people that travel from different states, all over this state. We’ve had a customer fly in with an empty suitcase, sit at the bar, load up their suitcase, fly home, because there’s just not a lot of really world-class beer options that are gluten-free.

Lee Kantor: So, what was it like kind of building out the culture of the business and your employees and your neighbors? Did you do that in a mindful way? To me, culture is one of those things you can do it proactively or not, and either way, you’re going to have a culture, so you might as well be a little proactive to build the business you want.

Karen Hertz: Yeah. I mean, I would say for me, the rewarding piece of doing this is pleasing these customers that haven’t had a beer in a long time and they are so happy. And we get full tears, hugs, everything, because they just want to have a beer and feel normal with their friends.

Karen Hertz: But in terms of the work culture, the other piece I love is actually building the work culture and making it a place where, if we’re all going to be away from our family and our friends and our pets, or whatever it may be, for 40 plus hours a week, it better be for something that we enjoy and we believe in. So, I am very intentional about our work culture and the team that we’ve built. We have core values that we really determine hiring, firing, promoting, everything on. We award people for presenting those. And so, it’s absolutely intentional and one of my favorite parts of going on this crazy adventure.

Lee Kantor: Now, how well did that MBA and entrepreneurial studies from University of Colorado prepare you for this? Did they do a good job of giving you the foundational skills you needed to execute?

Karen Hertz: The beauty of entrepreneurship is you are the master of nothing. I know a little of finance, and a little of marketing, and a little of operations, and I felt like it gave me a really great foundation in just a couple of years of each of those pieces of the business. It also informed me about just how you write a business plan and setting goals and and that piece of it. So, all of that was very, very valuable.

Karen Hertz: That being said, you only really learn how to do this by doing it. It’s just one of those things that the lessons you learn and the experiences you go through, you are not going to get in a book. But I definitely felt like I had a little bit of a leg up just in some of those foundational skills and that foundational national knowledge.

Lee Kantor: Did it help you with a network that could help you at least answer questions or give you some tips about how to handle maybe tricky situations?

Karen Hertz: A thousand percent. And I still am engaged in that network. I speak at classes. I just hired somebody from a CSU program because of it. It’s everything from other consumer packaged goods entrepreneurs to maybe, like, a connection to a buyer at a chain to investors. So, yeah, it’s been a ton of help just in terms of the network that it provided to me and that I utilized. I mean, you got to take advantage of it if you have the opportunity as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Karen Hertz: So, I learned about WBEC-West, and, really, it was for a couple of reasons. You know, one was I knew that we were going to be packaging our products and distributing them out, and I wanted buyers to know they were investing in a women-owned brand. And getting the actual certification, I think, that logo on my packaging, it makes people feel confident that they’re doing exactly that.

Karen Hertz: Again, the network piece, WBENC has been absolutely pivotal in my networking. People I’ve met, whether it’s similar entrepreneurs to introductions to the buyer at Kroger or the buyer at Disney, so that avenue was really, really important for me. And then, the other piece about WBENC and WBEC-West, in particular, are the programs they put on. So, I did a traction program, I did a platinum supplier program, and they were some of the best courses I’ve done in my career.

Lee Kantor: So, what is next for Holidaily? Is this something that you’re looking to get distribution through retail at grocery stores, or are you partnering with more brewers around the country to get the gluten-free product on their shelves? What’s on your roadmap?

Karen Hertz: So, we’re in the nine states really here in the Western U.S., including lots of chains, grocery chains, grocery stores. And the ultimate goal is we want to be the obvious choice for gluten-free beer. You think stout, you think Guinness. You think gluten-free beer, I want you to think Holidaily. And so, that’s our ultimate goal, I like to say world domination is the goal. But getting this distributed and out to people that just want to have a beer at a sporting event or with their family is really my ultimate goal.

Lee Kantor: So, it’s possible to distribute it all over the country, you just haven’t gotten there yet? You’re just going to organically grow and expand from the states that you’re in?

Karen Hertz: Liquor distribution is very tricky and complicated. And liquor licensing is also tricky and complicated. We can ship beer to about 32 states that allow it, and then sometimes a state will allow it, but a county won’t. But on our website, people can go out and see if they can get it shipped to them. Shipping is not cheap, as we all know these days. Otherwise, it’s just in stores.

Karen Hertz: And as we want to add territories, then there’s a whole process around that where we have to get the licensing in every state individually. We have to get a distributor to carry us. A lot of time a distributor also wants a chain commitment already. So, there’s a lot of moving pieces and parts, and it’s very hard to just, you know, turn on the whole country. It really takes time and strategy in terms of doing it well.

Lee Kantor: And that’s why people show up at your taproom with suitcases.

Karen Hertz: That’s very true. Yes. That’s why Coors bootlegged across the country forever because it’s always been complicated, and it’s just not as easy as – I don’t know – bread or chips or something that’s not alcoholic. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of then? How can we help you? Are you looking for more contacts in the states that you’re in to carry you? Are you looking for funding, you know, maybe other people want to invest and help you grow? What do you need?

Karen Hertz: We have a couple of things going on. For us, one of our biggest challenges is just getting the word out that there’s an awesome gluten-free beer out there, and Holidaily is there to fill that gap. We just won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest, so the quality of the beer speaks for itself. So, really getting the word out is very important.

Karen Hertz: We’re also in the middle of a crowdfund right now. So, we just launched a crowdfund exactly three weeks ago and have raised about $700,000 in three weeks, which is it’s through StartEngine and we’re one of the top two companies on their platform right now, which is awesome and very exciting. So, if anybody’s interested in that or wants to share that with people, that would be great.

Karen Hertz: And then, I would say, yeah, I mean, the more people we know in the industry, whether it’s buyers, and it can be restaurants, it can be bars, it can be chains, liquor stores, we want to be available to people.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to connect with you, is there a website or socials? What’s the best way to connect?

Karen Hertz: So, we’re on all the socials, @holidailybrew. And then, our website is www.holidailybrewing.com. And a way to remember the name is Holidaily stands for make every day a holiday or every day is a holiday. So, make the most of every single day, and that’s how you spell Holidaily, so H-O-L-I-D-A-I-L-Y.

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

Karen Hertz: Thanks so much. You, too. Thank you for promoting all these awesome women.

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

 

From Homebound to Health: Moneisha White’s Bold Vision for Mobile Lab Services

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In this episode of GWBC’s Open for Business, Lee Kantor interviews Moneisha White, the Laboratory Director, Founder, and Operations Manager of White Labs Concierge Lab Services. Moneisha shares her journey from a lab phlebotomist to an entrepreneur, driven by the need for accessible lab services for homebound patients. She discusses the rapid growth of her business during the COVID-19 pandemic, her commitment to community engagement, and the challenges of managing a team. Moneisha emphasizes the importance of partnerships and her dedication to serving underserved areas, aiming for greater visibility and impact across Georgia.

Moneisha-WhiteWith a robust 28-year career in healthcare starting at 18, Moneisha White began as a Patient Care Technician at a nursing home, providing compassionate care for five years. Her journey evolved as a phlebotomist over the next 27 years, where she embraced various impactful roles.

Her experiences spanned from being an Emergency Room Tech and inpatient hospital phlebotomist to serving as a Supervisor, outpatient labs tech, mobile phlebotomist, Dialysis Tech, Specimen Processor, and Specimen Procurement Supervisor.

During the COVID pandemic, Moneisha served as a Covid Compliance Officer on set for TV shows, movies, and music videos, ensuring safety and compliance.

As a passionate Phlebotomy Instructor, she shares her love and in-depth knowledge of the skill with aspiring students. She’s also the proud founder and operator of White Labs Concierge Lab Services, located in Atlanta, GA, where she provides at-home lab collections, catering to patients who prefer or need this personalized service. White-Labs-Services-logo

Beyond Moneisha’s professional work, she strives to serve her community. She leads back-to-school events, providing book bags and school supplies, volunteers at local food banks, and offers free HIV tests.

Additionally, she focuses on education and awareness by conducting breast and prostate health fairs. Moneisha’s career is not just about collecting lab specimens each day; it’s about deeply embedding service and care into the fabric of community wellbeing.

Connect with Moneisha on LinkedIn and follow White Labs Concierge Services on Facebook.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of GWBC’s Open for Business. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Moneisha White. And she is the Laboratory Director, Founder, Operations Manager with White Labs Concierge Lab Services. Welcome.

Moneisha White: Thank you. Nice to be here, Lee.

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

Moneisha White: White Labs. Um, what we do is we are a mobile lab collection service. We go to people who are homebound. We service, um, home health agencies. We work with private doctors and we work with the government services as well. I’m drawing their labs and doing drug screens.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Moneisha White: I got into this line of work because I had did over 22 years at the time as a lab phlebotomist, patient care technician, and customer service. So loving lab and seeing that there was a need for accessibility and convenience for certain people. I had a lot of patients reach out to me before they got discharged from the hospital. Could I come to their home and draw their labs? And therefore, in 2017, White Labs Concierge Lab Services was born.

Lee Kantor: Was that kind of a big decision? Were you nervous about kind of doing your own thing?

Moneisha White: Oh, gosh. Yes. I was very nervous because I was like, what if no one likes me? What if no one wants to buy my services? Or what if I don’t do it. But that fear all went behind me when I had patients that kept calling me weekly or monthly, and doctors who wanted me to take care of their patients that were very hard sticks, but they couldn’t be done inside of a lab because they were fearful of coming out of their homes.

Lee Kantor: So did that require you? So you’re in the car driving to individuals houses kind of all throughout the day?

Moneisha White: Yes. Some days I drive all day and some days I don’t drive that much. It just depends on how they’re scheduled and where they’re located.

Lee Kantor: So when you kind of drew up this business in your head, is it how you imagined?

Moneisha White: No. It has become way more than what I imagined. I just thought it would be something like a little side hustle that I would do for fun. But when the pandemic hit, um, it was a need and a grow a growth for Covid testing and more. They put to the side with drug screening. So I had to adapt. And in doing that, that made me more popular. So I ended up working on TV shows and that made it all the exclusive. Then.

Lee Kantor: Because you were just going to one location, then doing the labs for everybody?

Moneisha White: Yes. So multiple times a week with different production companies and TV shows I work with doing their Covid testing three times to four times a week. And then after that, I ended up doing some IV therapy for different people that needed private services.

Lee Kantor: So this the business took on a life of its own, right. You couldn’t have imagined that that was going to happen. That just happened, right?

Moneisha White: Yes, it did, and I’m thankful for that. And then after the pandemic, we had to adjust because now no one’s doing Covid testing as much. So now we’re doing other testing, but we’re still back to the basics of blood drug screening and wellness screenings, but we’re also making sure that we’re doing community events like heart awareness, um, prostate screenings, breast cancer screenings, and education as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, has the business expanded beyond you? Do you have a team now?

Moneisha White: I do, I have nine independent contractors. I have two full time workers now, so. And I had to hire me a CPA now.

Lee Kantor: Um, was that kind of a big change? Because now the business is managing people, not just doing the work. So that adds another layer of complexity.

Moneisha White: Yes it does. So at first I really didn’t know what I was doing, but thank goodness for, um, GWB Webank who actually assisted with Invest Atlanta, um, to mentor me and make sure that I had my bookkeeping, CPA and my licensure correctly done. And I’m following all the major rules and state guidelines.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And your business, there’s a lot of rules. So that takes a lot of you got to pay attention, a lot of details in that part of the business.

Moneisha White: Oh gosh. Yes. I was like, I worked so hard for these certifications and these licenses. I definitely don’t want to lose them. So I want to make sure that I’m actually doing everything by the book and doing everything accordingly so that I can continue to grow and not just Georgia, but be the source that everyone looks for in the southeast.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs when it comes to maybe measuring success and then not not just measuring success by financial metrics, maybe other metrics as well?

Moneisha White: Yes. Um, knowing that you’re building partnerships, um, and working, you’re collaborating with healthcare providers, um, senior living communities and corporate wellness programs and making sure that it not only serves you, but it serves your purpose and what your mission is and what you’re trying to acquire. Because not all the time is money going to be involved. Your image will be involved. Um, your name, your integrity, and also just you. Um, and people will know you because that’s your brand.

Lee Kantor: And the impact in the community is real. Right. I’m sure you’re making a difference in the community every day.

Moneisha White: Yes. The community is very real. The contributions that I’ve done, because I see, um, some people do the school back to school things for the parents. I go in a community where they do the back to school community thing every year, and I do it for the grandparents. So there was a lot of grandparents that were complaining, and that came to me and let me know, hey, I take care of my grandkids and but we can’t make it over to the Georgia Dome to get book bags and school supplies. So I went on Martin Luther King. Um, in my neighborhood. And I set up shop at the Dollar General, and the manager was very nice letting me set up there, and I was able to service 350 families. Um, the grandparents that had children that they were taking care of, of their adult kids. So I know that White Labs is making an impact because we’re helping people that most people leave out of being helped.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And that’s an important lesson, I think, for everybody is just because something’s done a certain way. If you listen to your community members and see what they need, you know, from their their mouth, not somebody else who has an idea of what they think they need or how they want to deliver the services. You you might be able to be creative and solve the problem differently like you did.

Moneisha White: Yes, yes, and I did. And a lot of people are very thankful. Now, when people see me on the street, they’re like, oh, that’s the lab lady. They might not know my name, but they know who I am because they’ve seen what I’ve done and they’re seeing what I’m doing. So it’s not something that I did just for the publicity stunt. I did it because I knew my community needed it.

Lee Kantor: Now, how has that kind of changed? Maybe your perception of what entrepreneurship was, because that’s an important element of it. And I don’t think people realize how rewarding it is to be an entrepreneur when you are making that big of a difference, because when you start a business, you don’t think about some of these things until you’re kind of in the business.

Moneisha White: Correct? I was also thinking about, well, how am I going to eat? How am I going to pay my bills? So there was a lot of personal growth for me. Um, the challenges and responsibilities of my entrepreneurship, um, brought on self improvement for me as far as a woman, a mom, and now I’m a grandmother. So my skills and my confidence grew, so I had a lot of personal growth. I seen that with my entrepreneurship, I had impact on my community, just not just through my marketing, but through making a job creation. I’m actually able to hire other people and help them feed their families. They might not be full time, but I know they’re independent contractors and they’re making a livable wage. Then I had the flexibility and management, you know, um, well, I can work mornings, I can work evenings, I can work weekends, or I don’t have to work at all during the day. It’s a it’s about the flexibility for me as an entrepreneurship.

Lee Kantor: And your role modeling how to be an entrepreneur to your family and to your community. I mean, that’s so important as well.

Moneisha White: It is, it is. I didn’t know that other people were watching me and my family. I have three cousins now that are in college that really are, um, going for the entrepreneurship. Now they’re doing their, um, college degrees in financial management or something with healthcare management, and now they’re thinking about doing their own thing.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Isn’t that that must make you feel proud.

Moneisha White: Oh, my gosh, that does make me feel proud because I didn’t go to college myself. But knowing that I have the educational and the resources and the women behind me that are helping me, I really do want to continue to make sure that I’m a great, um, perspective. And someone can look at me and say, hey, yeah, I think I can do that too.

Lee Kantor: Now, you’ve mentioned several times the word community and how it’s important. Can you share a little bit about the GWB community? How has that helped you take your business to new levels?

Moneisha White: The brand reputation, just having that name attached to my business, it gave my business brand, um, a better perception. And more people know that I am a quality business. The diversity and inclusion with it, um, with the women. Because women are so left out sometimes on different things, they’re able to help you and help you negotiate and also help you be confident in what you say when you’re trying to negotiate your value. And also that helps me with my network growth. Um, because I’ve met some amazing other businesses that I’ve able to talk with, um, get some pointers from and soon to be collaborating with some of these women. So gwdc oh my God, if it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to even have this interview.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Moneisha White: What I need more of is more Visibility. Um. Get it out there that this small business is here for the community, not just for the Adamsville area. We’re here for the entire state of Georgia. We just need to know, let them know that we are here to help service whatever community needs services, because a lot of the rural communities don’t have as much access to lab services as well as the Atlanta city region does. And that’s where I come in. I’m here to go to those areas that those small doctors practicing in a lab or in a doctor’s office. I’m here to service your patients. You have a business that might need drug screening or wellness screenings. I’m here to come to your business. We come to you for a one stop, one shop. We’re there for you.

Lee Kantor: So that, like, if a business needs that service, they can say, okay, every Monday, um, Maneesha and her team will show up, and then they’ll be able to service whoever needs that service on Monday, right?

Moneisha White: Yes, sir. We are. We can make it. And we detail that service just for that business. It’s not a one fit all category because every business deserves to be fit to what they need. So I try to make sure that it’s service based on that business, however many people they need there and how they service their teams, because there are some businesses that just don’t have morning stuff that they can get done. They might need some night people or midnight people, and we try to cater that to them as well.

Lee Kantor: Wow. Super service.

Moneisha White: Yes.

Lee Kantor: Now if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, is there a website? Is there a best way to connect?

Moneisha White: Yes. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. My website is w WW dot White Labs services.com. Um, you can also reach me at our phone number and it’s (470) 445-8772. And you can email me if you need to email me anything at White Labs 2017 at gmail.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, congratulations on all the success. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Moneisha White: Thank you. Thank you for having me. And I appreciate that.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on GWBC Open for Business.

 

Wes Day with REVELxp

by

Wes-DayWes Day is CEO of REVELxp.

REVELxp is a premier sports hospitality company. REVELxp works with hundreds of college and professional teams and major sporting events to deliver exceptional fan experiences, including full-service tailgates, premium hospitality events and exclusive ticket packages.

For team and events, REVELxp also provides comprehensive hospitality solutions with ticket sales, event staffing, event management, premium hospitality management and venue installations.

Connect with Wes on LinkedIn.

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, and you guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast CEO of REVELxp, Mr. Wes Day. How are you, man?

Wes Day: Doing well. Stone. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: I’ve got a ton of questions about upcoming events, but before we go there, maybe it would be helpful if you could share with me and our listeners mission. Purpose. What is it that you and this organization are really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Wes Day: Well, I’m glad you started there. Um, So to take a step back, um, revel was really founded in 2020 all around this idea of the the power of sports. And, um, we’re in the sports hospitality business. Which middle of 2020, middle of Covid is in some ways an odd time to, to start a business like that. Um, but in our view, uh, we take a much longer term view, decades long around the power of sports and in communities and in our world and in a in a world that seems to be more and more divisive by the day, sports tends to be that one uniting and combining force, win or lose, love or hate the other team. It brings people together. And at revel, we sit at the center of that, um, and really try to just amplify that in two ways. One for our partners who are teams, tournament runners, um, events, trying to entertain and host their fans on game day to try to create the most memorable and great experiences that we can and through that, we think just make a positive difference on on the world. And so our whole mission is around serving our partners and their fans, and it’s something that we take very, very seriously, take a lot of pride in, work really hard at. But also we’re in the entertainment business, so we we like to have a lot of fun with what we’re doing as well and, and kind of be an extension of that. Um, uh, for our sports partners, just as we interact with their, their fans and, and try to make as, as positive experience just just one at a time each and every time.

Speaker4: Well, it sounds.

Stone Payton: Like great work if you can get it. What is your backstory and your role in all of this man?

Wes Day: Well, I have a very crooked line to getting in the sports business, you know. This is an industry, um, that tends to attract people that kind of know this is their passion to sports. Business is their passion. Um, whether they’re a fan or, you know, um, grew up, you know, playing sports, which I did all of that. Um, but I originally was in a, in a finance role, was in the banking business, had a business of my own that I started and in the biotech space, um, and through that, um, met one of our, our now main investors of of exp when, when we started, um, a predecessor business and the parent company to revel back in in 2016 to 2017. Um, I officially became the CEO of revel in, uh, 2023, but have been a part of the business, um, kind of supporting it. Um, and getting it going since its, since its founding. So its, um, a strange path, I guess, all things considered for me to get from banking to biotech to the sports business and a little bit of a strange way to getting into the the CEO role of, of the company. But, um, I’m very fortunate, very blessed to be be where I am. And, um, also had a great fortune before I got into the business full time to get to know the team and work with these folks. Um, prior to that. And so my role really is I view it just back to our mission of serving our partners and our fans. My role is to serve all the people in our company and just make sure that they’re set up to be as successful as possible, because we’ve got we’ve got some incredible talent. My job is just to to get them pointed in the right direction and let them do their thing.

Speaker4: So what are.

Stone Payton: You finding the most rewarding about the work these days? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Wes Day: You know? Honestly, for me now, um, I would say twofold. One, um, you know, we we do a lot of surveys, particularly this time of year, uh, football season, particularly in college, I guess now getting to postseason, but at least regular season, wrapping up, just reading some of the testimonials, um, and some of the reviews we get, whether it is from one of our, our team partners or from a fan who we’ve hosted and and usually that feedback certainly has to do with, with having a great experience or a cool thing that happened. But oftentimes the best ones have to do with an interaction that one of our clients had with one of our people. And, um, that just makes me extremely proud and just it’s really fun to read those back to, um, the original thing and the original reason for us being in business is for us to make an impact. We’re fortunate now to be at the scale that we we have a lot of individual interactions that add up to a lot of, you know, a big mass. Once you add them all together. So reading those is fun. And then the other thing, um, you know, we’re in the people business at the end of the day. And so I make it my purpose to, to to see people in person. So I’m on site pretty much every game day, weekend visiting with our staff, visiting with our partners, visiting with with fans. Um, and that is a whole, whole, whole lot of fun. And in this business world that seems to get a little bit more virtual every day. Um, having those just really great interactions, um, in person, on site, around some of the coolest sporting events that that happen in the world. Um, doesn’t get much better than that, I’ll bet.

Stone Payton: So let’s talk about game day. What is happening with respect to Rev XP and a client or a partner? What’s happening on a on any given Saturday. Talk about the services.

Wes Day: Yeah. So, um, what we’re most known for traditionally is what we call full service tailgating. And so that is a service that we provide in partnership with a team or college athletic department, where we get a designated piece of land or multiple pieces of land near a football, baseball, basketball stadium. And we provide a completely turnkey tailgating experience, which means the Stone Payton tailgate. You show up, everything is set up for you from a primo spot. Um, food, beverages, coolers with ice television and then what we call our bellhop service where we will shuttle anything that you brought yourself you to and from your tailgate. Just making it as efficient and easy as as possible. Um, and making sure that you’re, you’re hosted and have a great experience all, all game long. Um, that’s probably what we’re most known for and, and do on a given football Saturday. Saturday in particular. Um, you know, we’ll do it 50, 65 different campuses across the country and a handful of pro events. Um, and teams as well. And then increasingly so we have, um, brought that experience inside the stadium as well. And so that can look like a couple of different things. One, bringing that party that’s happening outside in the tailgate park.

Wes Day: Um, whether that’s a field level suite or a party deck or a cool experiential or social area inside the stadium, um, or um, providing some operational services for our team partners just to make their lives easier as, as well as things get more demanding on their plate. How can we make things easier or more effective in some of the services that that we provide? All that is around this, this central theme for us, uh, whether you’re one of our partners or one of their fans, we sweat all the details so that they don’t have to and they can just show up and have a have a great time. So on our side, uh, a football weekend is pretty darn hectic. You know, we we’re hosting tens of thousands of fans across 60 something different sites depending on how many games are going on. But for our partners and their fans, we want we want that. We want them to see the calm and see just, just and have fun. And so as much as possible, we do that kind of behind the scenes. Um, and then let them, let them enjoy themselves kind of stress free.

Stone Payton: So as a customer, I can do this as the as the Payton family or as Business RadioX. It can be individual families and groups, that kind of thing. And corporate groups.

Wes Day: Yeah. So we. So one of one of the things that we found, um, is there is clearly a trend in sports and entertainment. Um, people want things turnkey like we talked about just like any other part of your life. You know, you you, you go shopping online, uh, people increasingly, you know, buy groceries and get them delivered to their house. You know, Uber, whatever it is, a convenience factor is kind of hardwired into the way that we do our lives. So that’s an important part. Um, we’ve also found that that people are willing to pay for a great experience. Gone are the days in sports you know that that you want to show up and just sit in the bleacher seat and leave and just. Just watch the game. You could do that on your couch. You want to come for a great experience. You want to come for the energy, you want to come for the social aspect, come for the memories that you that you’re going to make and just be a part of it. Um, so people are looking for a more elevated experience all the way up to the, to the ultra premium side. And so we as revel Exp have various different levels of offering to provide all those turnkey and social things, but up and down the scale from your entry level premium all the way up to the super high end stuff, which, to answer your question, caters to all different sorts of of customers of ours, which could be West Day or the Payton family buying a tailgate package from us. Um, all the way up to a corporation buying a super high end, all inclusive weekend long package that includes, uh, a box suite, pre-game hospitality, dinners, transportation, lodging, etc. um, and really everything else in between. So that’s really our our customer segment. And one of the things we pride ourselves is, again, having that range of offerings to fit the different levels of what people might be be looking for.

Stone Payton: Well, you’re absolutely right about the value of experience. There’s no question about that. And I certainly I have no challenge at all, uh, identifying and recognizing what a marvelous value, an experience or a set of experiences like that could be for my family, my company. Uh, talk to me a little bit about the the value proposition, if you will, for the universities, the the organizations you’re partnering with.

Wes Day: Yeah, So I would say say threefold. Um, yeah. The first part is they, they, they’re in the business of of entertainment now. Yes. The, the football game or the basketball game is, is the main dish and the, the, the main dish, the main product on the field has got to be great. But the modern fan is looking for more. And so they want a more, I guess, holistic experience on on game day like you said. And so we, we let them focus on that while we do all the, the, the other things to make sure that one they, their fans or maybe even traveling fans, the away team have a fantastic experience. Um, and leave their saying, man, that was awesome, I want to come back. Two is the part I mentioned earlier to make it as easy as possible if you’re the president of a major league team or you’re an athletic director. The demands on you are higher than ever. Those are some of the hardest jobs, just with all the pressure and and expectations and things they have to manage. And so we’re trying to take those things off their plate and off their worries, and having a dependable partner that they can count on to execute at a really high level. And then the third part, which is these days, especially true with our collegiate partners, is we help them drive additional monies, additional revenues back to them. So part of our revenues, in exchange for getting the access and promotion that we get through our team partners, we give a cut of that back to the school or the team. And so it aligns interests and allows them to to share in that which they with today’s demands and competitive environment they need more and more of. So I would say those are the three core, just the experiential side, kind of the efficient turnkey nature. And then, um, helping them be a solution instead of a part of the problem with the with the growing money pressures that are out there on sports organizations.

Speaker4: Well, you touched.

Stone Payton: On it earlier, but I think it’s really true in this equation. Everybody wins, don’t they?

Wes Day: And that that’s definitely my view. I think it’s a no brainer to use us. So, um, but all jokes aside, I, we we’re very fortunate. Um, as I said earlier, we started the business seemingly at a very, you know, a time which you when you wouldn’t start a sports hospitality company. But we had enough experience in the space, you know, myself and my leadership team has years and years and years of of sports, business and sports hospitality experience. Some of the just the best of the best. We saw this trend of the need to elevate the game day experience across the board, felt pressure on our team, partners and relationships there that they were getting increased expectations from their fans and fans and needed a solution to help them execute that. And then just, you know, the opportunity on the fans side, you know, you read this data around how people spend their their extra dollars. And increasingly, some of this is generational, but some of it is just across the board. People want to spend their extra hard earned money on experiences over things, and sports is a perfect way to to do that. But you see it in the music space, um, attraction space. Um, but with that, they want it needs to be great. And so their expectations are higher. They’re willing to spend, Um, and want to do things, but it needs to be easy and it needs to be just a killer. Fantastic experience. And so, yeah, couldn’t be prouder of our team. We a biased but obviously I think we do a fantastic job. And that goes back to our mission and all the pride that we take in our work. Um, but we’re also fortunate to be at this intersection of where sports is headed and, um, where just the general consumer is, is considering and spending their, their, their time and dollars tends to line up well with the things that we do.

Speaker4: Well, I’ll tell.

Stone Payton: You in a five minute visit to your website or a brief conversation with you. Yes, today it is absolutely a no brainer, at least to me. But what was it like in 2020? Trying to have this conversation with potential partners, trying to market to, you know, folks like like me? Was it initially just embraced really well, or was it a little bit of a an uphill battle to get it going and get it scaled like you have now.

Wes Day: Yeah, so we did have the good fortune. There are four predecessor businesses that we were involved with that that made up Revell, NXP. So we had some track record and name recognition prior to that, at least in the sports world. Um, but Covid was a scary time. If, um, you know, if you were a cruise liner, you might had it a little worse off. But the sports business, particularly as it pertained to the live event, um, you know, it was was non-existent, largely couple pockets here and here, here and there, but but largely nonexistent. Um, it was also, however, what I will say, that was a time for us to be able to to kind of pivot and provide some other operational support type services to our sports partners. But then outside of the the sports world where there was a need in the medical community. Et cetera. So that’s kind of what got us through. But largely, it was also a reminder of back to our mission, how important not just sports were, because you could watch it on TV. The games were being played. But if you recall, even the sitting on your couch experience was a fraction of what the normal experience was. And you had a fully packed stadium. And for people missing that outlet, um, you know, there, like you said, family traditions and a lot of personal identity tied up in these sports fandoms and what you do on a given Saturday or Sunday that was gone.

Wes Day: And I think it was a stark reminder of how important it is to have that community. How important it is to the just human ethos to interact with each other and be able to celebrate or console each other in victory or defeat, respectively. And so that coming out of Covid created a great tailwind for us to really remind people of that and be there to to amplify that when it when it came back. It also gave us the opportunity to provide, to piece together the capabilities that we needed to go to either a sports team or to a fan or corporate customer and say, we can do everything for you. We are now a bona fide, full service, end to end sports hospitality company that can do one piece if that’s what you’re interested in, or can do it all under one roof. And somebody that again, you can you can count on. So um, difficult times for sure. But um, at the same time, the other side of the coin was it created a ton of opportunity for us. Once things started to rebound, um, to hit the ground running. And in some ways, I think we are still feeling some of that tailwind of, um, just people wanting to be out and social and, and being at live events. Um, still seeing that in, in the economy today.

Stone Payton: Yeah. And now here we are. We’re about to have our first 12 team College Football Playoff. Uh, how are you guys going to be involved in that? Because I gotta believe you are.

Wes Day: Yeah, we are definitely involved. So it’s it’s a busy time. Certainly right now for us. Uh, this weekend will mark the start officially of the College Football Playoff, um, with the first round of games which are played at a home team site. Um, uh, is kind of the first, first round of games. From there, they will switch to neutral site games which will be played at their traditional New Year, what they call the New Year’s Six Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Peach Bowl, sugar, cotton, etcetera. Um, there’s a lot of change in college sports right now. That’s a conversation for for another day between Nil and, um, legislation and rulings that are happening. But I would say one thing that we’ve definitely gotten right. Um, is this expansion of, of the playoff, and there probably is some tweaking of rules and things that will happen from here. But by and large, it’s it’s created, um, some parity and opportunity for teams that might not otherwise be in. So there’s a ton of excitement. Um, we will be hosting fans at all four games this weekend. Wow. We’ll be hosting fans at four of the six quarterfinals and semifinals of games. And then the pinnacle for us and something that we’re very proud of is our partnership with the College Football National Championship, which will happen here in Atlanta, which really to me showcases really the the peak of what college football is all about the pageantry, the traditions, the passion, and for our all our small part in it. Um, this premium experience that we put on, um, not just for corporate clients, but for, uh, die hard fans and groups, um, certainly throughout the journey, but really peaking at that, that seminal final event.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m not even a little bit surprised, but I am absolutely delighted to learn that you’re going to be involved in the national championship in Atlanta. That’s fantastic news. And of course, that’s where I’m speaking to you from right now.

Wes Day: Yeah, what a great college sports town. And, you know, we’re fortunate to work with with Georgia Tech here in town and the Bulldogs right up the street. Um, it just a lot of college football tends to, you know, point to Atlanta, Georgia. So what a great place to to host this game. So we’re very excited about that. A market that we’re very familiar with. You know we participate in Mercedes-Benz and um some kickoff games. Um, we’ll do some things at the SEC championship that’s hosted there as well. So a city and an area we’re familiar with. Our headquarters is in Atlanta. It’s the office that that I’m talking to you from right now as well. Um, so yeah, we’re excited. We’re very humbled and appreciative for our partnership with the CFP, the College Football Playoff and, um, yeah, to get to do our thing and showcase the best of the best of what we do on the biggest stage.

Speaker4: So what’s on the.

Stone Payton: Horizon for you guys 2025 and beyond? Will you go explore other markets, other verticals? Will you just dive deeper into into this work? What have you got in mind? What’s what’s coming?

Wes Day: Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. A little bit of both, to be honest with you. Our bread and butter is certainly college sports. Twofold one. Um, the legacy of a lot of our team comes from the college sports world. But two, there is a lot of change in in college, as we just talked about and therefore, um, a lot of opportunity for us and really just an ability for us to, to help serve and be a part of the solution and again, try to make the lives of our, our partners easier and help them make a little money along the way as well, so that that will continue to be a very core focus of our business. That said, um, as we’ve been out at this for several years now, we have a lot of repeat customers who have asked us, hey, can you host me at this other event we love? Being with you at this football game. Do you guys do these other things? Because, um, fans of college football, while they’re about as passionate as they get, as you know, um, are oftentimes not just fans of college football. There’s other sports teams or events, um, that they are they are fans of. So we are increasingly getting into a little bit of horse racing, racing into golf, into some other major events in addition to the, the major professional sports, um leagues, as we expand out and really more of a byproduct, not necessarily of, hey, we want to go after this specific market, but more really a byproduct of our fans asking us or our clients asking us, hey, can you do this for us? And us going out and finding a solution for them?

Speaker4: Okay. What’s the best.

Stone Payton: Way for our listeners to learn more, tap into these opportunities for this turnkey experience, but I want to make sure that they can tap into this man.

Wes Day: Yeah, check out rebel Xpcom. That’s r e v e l x p.com. And on there you can search for your maybe team of choice or market location and see our various different offerings, whether that’s tailgates or other hospitality experiences. Most of that is on there. Or give us a follow on social media on on Twitter or excuse me X or on Instagram. Um, rebel XP is the is the handle, I believe. And um, usually we’re posting some of our cool experiences that we’re doing on a, on a given weekend, which can give folks a little bit of a visual taste of of what we do. It’s easier to see it than than describe it. And if anybody’s listening and interested, we we would we would be thrilled and honored to host anybody at one of our events.

Stone Payton: Well, Wes, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Congratulations on the momentum. Thank you for sharing your insight and your perspective. And don’t be surprised at all if some patens or some Business RadioX folks don’t show up January the 20th in one of these prime locations.

Wes Day: We would love to have you. That’d be great. We would love to host you and have you experience it firsthand. It’d be our honor.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s been my pleasure to visit with you this afternoon. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Wes Day, CEO of Exp. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Arias WebsterBerry with WebsterBerry Marketing

by

Websterberry-Marketing-Logo

Arias-WebsterBerryArias WebsterBerry is the founder and CEO of WebsterBerry Marketing, a leading digital marketing agency dedicated to helping businesses grow and thrive.

With a proven track record, Arias has played a pivotal role in helping organizations generate over $112 million in revenue. As the creator of Launch Ignition and the author of Content Cannon, he offers entrepreneurs and businesses actionable strategies to foster authentic connections with their audiences, boost engagement, and drive long-term success.

Arias is passionate about empowering business owners to scale their ventures through innovative content and marketing frameworks.

Follow WebsterBerry Marketing on Facebook.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

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

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Joining me today is Arias WebsterBerry, the dynamic founder and CEO of WebsterBerry Marketing, a leading digital marketing agency dedicated to helping businesses grow and thrive in a competitive marketplace. Arias and I happen to meet each other through a really cool podcasting match system, which is awesome and I am so excited to talk to him today. He is the creator of Launch Ignition and the author of Content Cannon. He equips entrepreneurs with actionable tools and innovative frameworks. His mission is clear to empower business owners to scale their ventures by harnessing the full potential of content and strategic marketing areas. Welcome to the show.

Arias WebsterBerry: Tricia. Thank you for having me. I’m glad that we actually got to do this.

Trisha Stetzel: I know it’s been a few weeks coming, I think trying to get our schedules together right. Uh, busy, busy guy. So, Arias, tell me more about you and where this WebsterBerry marketing inspiration came from.

Arias WebsterBerry: Yeah. Um, I am an Aquarius. I like long walks on the beach. Uh, no. Uh, I’m Aries Webster berry. I originally, I’m from Dallas. I grew up in San Diego, so I actually do like long walks on the beach, funny enough. Um, and, uh, probably about ten years ago, I moved back to Dallas, which is probably one of the greatest ideas that I had. I love Texas. Uh, the opportunities that are in this city are absolutely amazing. And when I got back here, I was really kind of putting my life back together and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I was already kind of in the marketing space I was in, in entertainment, doing large scale festivals and concerts. Uh, at that time, the largest concert that I had done was at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. We had Janelle Monae and Common and Ludacris and mix master Mike from the Beastie Boys was thousands, tens of thousands of people. Um, so I had tasted some marketing, and when I got back here, I went to work for a really large digital marketing firm, and that’s where I got my formal training in digital marketing. And that was, um, it was kind of the the final domino, you know, that that final piece in the puzzle that really solidified what I wanted to do. And I was there a couple of years, and then I went and started my own firm, which eventually became Webster Barry marketing.

Trisha Stetzel: Very cool. That’s so exciting. And as you’re talking, I’m like, oh, so many solopreneurs or small business owners don’t understand when they get into business that they have to either be a marketer or find a marketer like you that can help them with their marketing. It’s a tough place to be. Right. So what do you, from your perspective, what are the key challenges that these entrepreneurs or small business owners face with digital marketing, and how might they overcome those?

Arias WebsterBerry: I think that most people it’s just either a lack of consistency or, um, just intimidation. You know, many people do not show up often enough because they see all of these huge brands and influencers that are dancing on TikTok or they’ve got, you know, all this amazing transitions in their disappearing in mid-air and then they, you know, they’re flying through the air and then they show up and they’re funny. And it’s just, you know, there’s this production value that a lot of people feel that they have to live up to in order to post, or they just don’t know what to post about. And, you know, a lot of it is just figuring it out. And, you know, if you do decide to get into business, marketing is absolutely essential. You know, if if sales is the lifeblood, well, marketing is oxygen. So you need to find you either need to figure it out yourself, or you need to find someone like me who absolutely loves marketing. Is willing to take that off your plate.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that you said if sales is the lifeblood of your business, then marketing is the oxygen. Like, that’s so meaningful. I might just steal it. I’m kidding, but I might reuse it and I’ll give you credit. And then after I say it a few times and I don’t have to give you credit anymore.

Arias WebsterBerry: As long as you do it once, I’m good.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, talk to me more about launch ignition. What is that?

Arias WebsterBerry: Yeah. Um, so launch ignition is a program for entrepreneurs that helps them plan, build, and scale their business to six figures and beyond. Uh, it basically came out of really what I went through in this, like, 15 year journey of being an entrepreneur. I’ve made an enormous amount of mistakes. I’ve made money. I’ve lost money. I’ve, you know, crashed businesses, I’ve sold businesses. And in the midst of all that, I’ve kind of like Neo in The Matrix. I’ve figured out the process to building businesses. You know, no matter what kind of business you’re in, the process is always the same. And I took all those things that I’ve used to build my various businesses, and I turned it into essentially, well, initially a coaching program. That’s what it started out as. And then we built a software around it, and then I came around. So we put AI into the software. So now it’s a coaching program. It’s a software. It’s an accountability, um, component to it as well. But at its core, it is designed to help entrepreneurs get their idea out of their head on paper and out into the market.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, I love that. So for those people who are interested that are listening right now, how can people find you before we move on with our conversation?

Arias WebsterBerry: Uh, I am not hard to find. Uh, if you just Google Arius Webster, there’s tons of stuff that will come up, but you can go to Arius webster.com. Uh, all of my businesses are there. My books, courses, softwares, all that stuff is on there. So that’s probably the best place to go.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Fantastic. All that stuff. All that stuff. There’s so much of it, right? Um, let’s talk a little more about if. So I’m in business. I’m terrible at marketing and not me personally, but, you know, just making up a scenario, so I’m terrible at it. Where would I start? Areas to even just begin to understand how marketing is really the oxygen in your business?

Arias WebsterBerry: Um, I would say really boiling it down. You know, entrepreneurs come to me and they’re like, okay, so I have a website. Um, should I be dancing on TikTok? Do I need to start a blog? Should I be posting 12 times a day on Instagram? Like, what is it? What’s the magic bullet? And I always tell people there is all of those things work in. None of those things work. Um, all of those things are just what we call traffic sources. So first thing you should do is make sure that you have a solid presence. If you don’t have a website, you need one, right? You need something to legitimize the fact that you are in business and clearly explains what it is that you do. I personally will not do business with anybody who does not have a website. That’s just that’s just kind of baseline for me. If you haven’t taken the time. I don’t even care if it’s a crappy website. If you don’t have a website, well, that means that you’re not really in this thing. Um, so a digital presence. Get a website, maybe 1 or 2 social media platforms that have a reasonable amount of people that may be interested in your service.

Arias WebsterBerry: So, you know, if you’re targeting teens, well, you know, maybe Snapchat or Twitch or TikTok is probably for you. If you’re targeting executives, well, you should probably be looking at Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn, right? So, you know, get a couple of those and then you just need to figure out what is it that you can commit to when it comes to publicizing what it is that you do? You don’t have to publish five, six, seven, ten times a day, but you do need to commit to, say, posting twice a week, right? Hey, I’m going to do one flier that says, we do this, this is how much it is. And then I’m going to create maybe a video that explains one minute part of my product or service. And when you stretch that over, say, a year, if you’re posting twice a week, that’s 104 pieces of content. That’s a lot of stuff out there for people to latch on to and realize that you really know your stuff.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. How important is it for these entrepreneurs that are trying to do their own marketing, or even hire an agency to help them with that? How important is it for them to know who their ideal client is and what product they’re actually going to serve to that ideal client.

Arias WebsterBerry: It is of paramount importance. Uh, that’s actually so in launch ignition, that is the first step of nine that we go through. We focus on helping you build out your avatar. Right. There’s no point in you building an offer or trying to find a solution to a problem if you don’t know who you’re servicing. Uh, that is the critical part. So we really dig in. We spend a good amount of time trying to figure out who is your target. Who’s your ideal, uh, customer? Like, if you could wave a magic wand and, you know, get a thousand people that would service your business, what would they look like? What’s their name? Where do they live? What kind of car do they drive? Are they college educated? Did they go to a trade school? Do they like Toyotas? Do they like chocolate? You know, like you really have to dig into who that person is because it’s very hard for you to create things for someone that you cannot see in your head or you can’t see on a piece of paper. So that’s the first thing that you have to do. You have to get crystal clear on who your audience is and who you’re talking to.

Trisha Stetzel: I knew we were going to be friends.

Trisha Stetzel: I knew it. I knew.

Trisha Stetzel: It. Uh, and I think a lot of people are very afraid of the people that I work with. Areas are very afraid of boxing themselves in to only working with for, next to or serving a particular market or a very small niche. So can you talk about the importance? I know you talked about how we get there, but what is the actual importance of being really laser focused on who you want to serve from a marketing perspective?

Arias WebsterBerry: I mean, every I won’t say every, but the vast majority of entrepreneurs that are not seeing success, that haven’t hit that first 6 or 7 figures, it’s typically that’s one of the big components. And they all I always ask, so you know, who’s your target market. Who’s your ideal customer? And man, if I had a nickel for every time someone says, oh, well, you know, my it’s my product, my service, it’s really basically for everyone. Everyone. And I always say, well, if it’s for everyone, that means it’s for no one. No one wants a one size, fit all solution. Like, I mean, even something as simple as a baseball cap. Most people don’t like one size fits all baseball caps. They want one that’s fitted, one that’s made for your head. Uh, there’s a reason why people don’t walk around with NFL hats, right? Or NFL jerseys. They wear a Dallas Cowboys jersey or a Packers jersey. Right. They want the thing that is for them. They want to know that they are part of a tribe, that you created something that identifies and resonates with them. So if you’re running around trying to make sure that your business is open for everyone, well, that’s the reason why they’re walking past it, because you’re not saying anything. You’re not doing anything that makes them stop and say, yeah, that that’s for me. I have that problem. I’m a woman who loves pink and, you know, wants to decorate my house like it’s Pepto-Bismol. Yeah, you are the pink store. Great. That’s for me. Uh, you know, if you’re the rainbow store. Well, I mean, it’s it’s it’s for everybody. And who wants that.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Yeah. Oh my goodness again you’re my best friend today and probably for a long time from now. Um, you mentioned when we first met a few weeks back that you had a mission to serve a certain number of people. Can you talk about that?

Arias WebsterBerry: Um, I have all of these crazy ideas. Um, my team always. They’ve actually asked me. They’re like, where do you come up with this stuff? Um, I just, I like numbers, I love numbers, and I like audacious goals. I work best when there’s pressure and I have a target to hit. So with launch ignition, I, you know, we’ve had a little over 100 people go through the program. And I said, we need to go bigger, we need to go better. And I said, okay, we’re going to help 100 people. No, no, no, we’re going to help 1000. Yeah, yeah, we’re going to help a thousand people make six figures in a year. And my team said, wait, what.

Arias WebsterBerry: It’s taking us like two years to get to 100 people? How are we going to do a thousand in that same period of time? Um, but I’m, I’m very much a believer that, you know, if you set a goal, you’ll figure it out. So that was the goal. Um, helping a thousand entrepreneurs make six figures a year by 2026. And then the second part of that goal is helping 100 entrepreneurs generate seven figures in a year. Together. We call that our 100 X impact. If you do the math on that, that’s over $200 million in revenue that we will have generated or helped to generate in these businesses inside of one year, do that five years in a row. That’s $1 billion. That’s a micro economy. Um, and it’s that’s a huge impact, right? That that is cold, hard cash that is going to help put food on the table, that is going to pay people’s salaries, that is going to put products and services in homes all over the world, and it’s going to build viable businesses for these people, hard working, normal people that, you know, had a dream and had a vision. And by doing this, we’re going to bring it to life.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, I love that. Just thinking about the pebble on the pond. Right. And how that ripple effect with one person can affect so many after. So I’m going to call yours the Boulder effect. Because you drop a boulder in the lake, you’re going to see a much bigger ripple. Uh, I’m going. To steal that. Yeah, I love that.

Trisha Stetzel: I think that’s fantastic. Um, okay. So how do you find your how do you find your clients? How can I help drive people to your launch ignition program?

Arias WebsterBerry: Um, you know, typically we we see that they’re in their first 3 to 5 years, um, you know, they’re under $1 million, typically in, in sales, typically under 100,000. Um, that first 100,000 is typically the a really, really hard hurdle for a lot of entrepreneurs. And once you hit it, once it becomes easy. Um, so yeah, anyone who, let’s say is a coach or consultant, um, someone that’s been in their industry for a really long time but are not seeing the results they know they should have. Maybe they’re seeing, uh, other people that are younger and less experienced and haven’t been doing it as long as them, but they’re seeing more success and they’re just like all they do is post stuff on social media. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, you know, um, type of people that we love servicing, right? People that have put their blood, sweat and tears into their craft, they’ve honed it. They’ve, they’ve they’ve got it down, but they just haven’t figured out how to turn it into something that’s duplicatable to see success long term.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, and and it takes work. I know people want to go out and just have it done for you and, you know, put puts the magic out on the I’ll just call it the world Wide web. Because I’m old, right? Put it out on the internet and they will come. And that’s just not the way this works. And I heard you talk about the, you know, the beginning steps of this program. You got to go do some work so that what the product that comes out the back end is people want to come find you, right?

Arias WebsterBerry: Absolutely. You know, there was a time where just posting on social media regularly was enough to get you attention. Everyone does it now, and most of them don’t have businesses. And you have to do something. Um, you know, kind of above and beyond to get people’s attention and to earn their trust, earn their respect, earn their interest. Um, and going through something like Launch Ignition gives you very concise framework to be able to get that trust, to get their attention, to build your product or service into something that is attractive to your target demo.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Uh so now if you’re compelled and you haven’t already gone to find areas, I’m going to tell you where to find him. Uh, he and I are connected on LinkedIn. So if you can’t find him, come find me. And you can find how we’re connected. And check out all of the amazing things that he’s done and his areas. Web on LinkedIn. A r I a s w e b on LinkedIn. Or you can go to WebsterBerry marketing.com and find everything else that you might not have found already. Um, areas. Can I ask you about your favorite client story? Would that be okay?

Arias WebsterBerry: I love talking about this. Um, so, coach, doctor Jay, uh, she is such a sweetheart. She is, um, altruistic at her core. She’s a college professor. She’s a social worker. Uh, and she’s just a lover of of people, and she’s a good human. And she is set out to help college students deal with the nonacademic barriers to finishing college. You know, a lot of college students, they move away from home. Uh, they’re around in an environment that they don’t know. They a lot of people that they don’t know. They may not have the best, um, time management skills. They may be a little anxious. All of these different things, you know, trying to find, um, money to pay for school and all that different stuff. And she’s created a program that helps students with that. She had been at this for about ten years in academia, you know, working a full time job, rigorous schedule, but trying to turn this passion that she has for students into a real business. And, you know, she is that person, like, hey, I should start a YouTube. And I got a website and I’m on blogger.com, you know, back in the day And, you know, she’s just doing all these things, but she really didn’t know what process, what sequence to do it in. Like, what should I really be focusing my attention on? And like I said, she was at that for ten years. And within a year she came into the launch ignition program. And she has, I want to say, three different offers out. So two courses and she’s got two books that she’s written. She has multiple sales funnels, she’s got a new website. She has been um, we’ve got her into, I think, the San Francisco Post, we’ve got her into a couple different trade journals in education, and now she’s actually in the middle of negotiating two, six figure contracts that are about to absolutely change not only her life, right, but but all of the students that she’s going to touch with her stuff. Uh, she is a testament to you.

Arias WebsterBerry: Just not giving up? You know, just deciding that this is what you want to do and just sticking to it until you figure it out. She is just awesome. And you know, if you get a chance to look her up, if you have a college student, please go look her up. She is just a ball of energy. She’s always smiling. She’s always got a kind word to say.

Trisha Stetzel: Nice. And we got a plug in for her.

Arias WebsterBerry: Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes, I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that story. So we really want everyone who’s listening who needs a better marketing plan. Most of us do, especially when it comes to digital marketing. To go check out your launch ignition program if they’re not ready yet. What is your best advice for those who may not have a website yet? They don’t have a YouTube channel yet. They’re not quite ready for a program that you have out there. What could they be doing right now to build their business, their brand and growth inside of just being an entrepreneur?

Arias WebsterBerry: I would probably say. Probably. I mean, you need to get a technological base, right? There are a lot of great platforms out there. Um, I would pick one and stick to it. Um, obviously in our agency and with all of our launch ignition customers, we use ignite Funnels. Um, because it provides everything that you need from the ability to use maybe a templated website. You know, you don’t have to be a tech genius, but it comes kind of templated. Swap out your colors in a logo and boom, you’ve got a site. Uh, it allows you to do kind of your payment processing and, you know, send out some emails and some text messages and stuff like that. But I would say just find a tech base and then focus on one project at a time. Right. So if you don’t have a website, great. Say, hey, this next month or this next two months, I’m going to focus on getting my website up and out, right. I’m going to I’m going to take every Saturday and Sunday, and I’m going to dedicate a couple hours in the next two months, I’m going to somehow figure out this website thing and get that published, and then take the next month or two and go to the next thing, and on and on and on.

Arias WebsterBerry: And again over the course of a year, you’d be surprised what you can get done. I heard a quote that said, um, people overestimate what they can get done in a day, and they underestimate what they can get done in a year. And this is the perfect time because it’s the end of the year. We’ve got 2025 coming up. And if you are trying to make next December look different than this December, well, this is the time to start, right? Put together a plan for the year, and then just slowly knock those things out and make sure that, you know, you put in enough work. And I’ll say this, um, you, Tricia, you know this. You’ve been in business for a long time. Uh, things typically take longer than you think they are just the way it works. But if you commit to just doing the thing, and and no matter how long it takes, eventually you will see the finish line.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. It’s all about that action, right? We can plan and plan and plan and talk about the plan and pretend like we’re going to do the plan. But until we actually put one foot in front of the other and do the right next step, we’re not going to make any progress. Which means if we keep doing the the things that we’ve always done, we’re going to get the same result. We’ve got to go do something better, right? Uh oh my goodness. I am so excited that you came on the show with me today. I can’t wait to hear how many people are going to reach out based on a show that we did today to just query, tell me what this program is all about. I want to understand more. I’m excited about your program. I know that you’re going to go and, um, effect a thousand people in 2026. I am so excited about that. Arias. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Arias WebsterBerry: Tricia. Thank you for having me. It has been more than a pleasure.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, you’re such a giver. I can’t wait to hear the rest of this story. That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Weekly Planner Playbook

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BRX Pro Tip: Weekly Planner Playbook

Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I know that you have a real talent for planning out your day, your week, your month. How do you handle your weekly and monthly planning in terms of running a Business RadioX studio?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s important to understand that Business RadioX has been doing this for a long time. We’ve kind of figured out some best practices, and I thought it would be important to share some of, the kind of, some of the things that successful studio partners are doing.

Lee Kantor: And a key part about this is they’re doing this relentlessly. They’re not doing this once in a while. They’re not doing this when they think of it. They’re not doing this when they have a lull in their business. They’re doing this kind of work relentlessly.

Lee Kantor: And the way I think we should start is with some sort of a focus of the week, a theme for each week. And in our business, there are some key themes that you have to do relentlessly, and those are prospecting, retention, reactivation, follow-up, planning, auditing, connecting, inviting, meeting, selling, and sharing. Those are the activities that successful Business RadioX studio partners do relentlessly.

Lee Kantor: And the way that I would recommend doing this is you just kind of plug them into your calendar, create specific activities and tasks throughout the week that touch on all these important themes. And if you’re doing this kind of work relentlessly, you’ll always have a flow of prospects coming into your pipeline. You’ll have happy customers because they’re going to be successful, and they’re going to refer you to new customers.

Lee Kantor: Some of the kind of needle-moving activities in our business are booking guests who fit sponsor profiles. I mean, you have to relentlessly be booking guests to your house show that is going to move the needle in your business. That’s a must-have. That’s non-negotiable.

Lee Kantor: You have to relentlessly make connections between people in your network, with your clients, and with their best prospects. You have to be a connector. You have to constantly be looking at your guest list and saying who should know who, and you make those connections. That makes you invaluable, that makes you indispensable.

Lee Kantor: You have to relentlessly schedule meetings with prospective sponsors and referral partners. You have to ask a person to buy something relentlessly. This is not sometimes. You have to be asking people to buy something. If you’re not regularly asking for a sale, you will never sell anything.

Lee Kantor: And it’s important to follow up with past guests. Rekindle those relationships. Everybody in our network, if they’ve gone through a show they had a good experience, they’ll take your call. They’ll meet with you again. So follow up with past guests.

Lee Kantor: It’s important to meet new power partners and influencers. Get them on shows. Have follow-up conversations with them, that you have an unlimited supply. If you’re in the Business RadioX business, you can get to pretty much anybody you want to get to.

Lee Kantor: It’s important to have a system in place that allows you to share your content. Tag the guests on LinkedIn. Connect with the guests on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile – you should be building LinkedIn connections just on steroids if you’re with Business RadioX. There’s no excuse not to have thousands, if not tens of thousands of LinkedIn connections if you’re a part of Business RadioX. You can build those connections so easily just by inviting them on shows, just by sharing their content, and tagging them.

Lee Kantor: And then also, it’s important to sprinkle in some surprise and delight. What can you be doing to, you know, with somebody you’ve met to make their day a little better? And then also you want to be capturing testimonials. So many people had good experiences by coming on a show. Capture some of that goodwill. They’re happy to do this. And go through all your guests and ask each one of them to nominate another guest. That’s going to keep your pipeline full forever.

Lee Kantor: And then another thing that our good studio partners do is they hold their existing clients accountable for guests. They’re constantly asking their sponsors of shows. Is that guest going to move the needle in your business? Holding our sponsors accountable for guests is an important part of our job, and the successful studio partners don’t shirk that responsibility because that’s part of the value they add, is by holding their clients accountable for the quality of guests that they’re bringing on.

Lee Kantor: So if you do these kinds of activities relentlessly, you’re going to have a successful Business RadioX studio in your community.

The Ripple Effect: How Strong Leadership Cultivates a Thriving Workplace

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On today’s Women in Motion,” Lee Kantor is joined by Jahnavi Brenner, founder of The Vivid Leader, a coaching and leadership development consultancy. Jahnavi shares her extensive background and emphasizes the importance of investing in leadership development within organizations. She discusses how leadership skills can be cultivated through intentional development and the transformative role of coaching. Jahnavi highlights the positive outcomes of such investments, including improved employee engagement, retention, and organizational culture. The episode also touches on aligning leadership development with business strategy and the benefits of community connections through organizations like WBEC-West.

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Jahnavi-BrennerJahnavi Brenner, founder of The Vivid Life, brings 25 years of corporate experience in R&D, Sales, and Human Resources. She has developed leaders at Procter & Gamble, Rally Software, DigitalGlobe, Medtronic, as well as scaling SaaS, pharmaceutical companies and startups.

Jahnavi holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MS in Management and Organization from the University of Colorado, Denver. Jahnavi is a Certified Professional Coach by iPEC, holds the ACC designation from the International Coaching Federation and is also a Master Practitioner of the Energy Leadership Index. She is certified in the EQ-i 2.0, an emotional intelligence assessment tool and Emergenetics, a psychometric profile, used to enhance performance in teams and organizations.

Jahnavi is an active learner and continues to develop herself in leadership, organizational effectiveness, and human behavior. Jahnavi is a member of several local and national professional organizations, serves on the Board of Rocky Mountain HR People & Strategy and leads a strategic partnership between University of Denver and the Colorado ICF chapter. Jahnavi also serves on the Boards of the Emergency Family Assistance Association and Out Boulder County, local non-profit associations.

Connect with Jahnavi 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 Jahnavi Brenner with The Vivid Leader. Welcome.

Jahnavi Brenner: Thanks, Lee. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about The Vivid Leader. How are you serving folks?

Jahnavi Brenner: We support organizations that want to create resilient, follow anywhere leaders and award winning workplace cultures. So, we are basically a coaching and leadership development, talent development consultancy firm.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Jahnavi Brenner: Oh, gosh. Lee, I have spent about 20 some years in corporate organizations as an individual contributor, and then a people manager in research and development, and then I moved into sales, and then I moved into HR. So, I made all of these moves because I got interested in aligning people’s interests as well as their passion with what the company was trying to accomplish.

Jahnavi Brenner: And, you know, I found when we were able to do that really well, we’re able to unlock their excitement to be at work, and they’re able to deliver the work they want to deliver, they’re able to contribute at their highest level. And then, the company, the organization can benefit because they’re creating their work product for their consumer, their ultimate consumer, to the best of their capabilities.

Jahnavi Brenner: So, to me, that’s really exciting. And sometimes you see challenges where people don’t get along at work or they feel like we have differences that can’t be resolved. But yet, you know, we’re all in the same company, we are an organization, we should find a way to be able to work together better so that we can do the work that the organization is here to do.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you believe after working with so many people that leaders are born? Or can they be made? Is everybody kind of a prospective leader if they are in the right ecosystem?

Jahnavi Brenner: I firmly believe that leaders can be built. So, leadership skills are things that we’re not born with. They are learned, and they’re learned just by swimming in the water. And it’s what someone did to you when they were your leader, they behaved a certain way, or they shared certain information with you, or explained things in a certain way to you. And you watched and learned and listened, and now when you step into a leadership role, you kind of mimic that.

Jahnavi Brenner: However, I believe that organizations need to be really deliberate in their development of their leaders, and not simply rely on what they might have learned at other organizations, and make a conscious effort to define what they want to develop their leaders in, what skills are important to lead at this company, and then put in leadership development programing or supports or structures to make sure that that happens.

Jahnavi Brenner: Leaders are definitely built, not born. And it is the responsibility of HR leaders and business leaders, organizational leaders, to invest and build and grow them.

Lee Kantor: I remember something somebody told me a long time ago and it’s really stayed with me. They said, “Why should I invest money and resources into developing these people and then they leave?” And then, the person said, “Well, what if you don’t invest money and resources into their leadership skills and they stay?”

Jahnavi Brenner: Right. Right. And then, you have a leader in your organization who’s relying on old skills or old methodologies, and they’re not working. I think that’s totally true, Lee. A lot of organizations don’t invest because they’re worried about the leader or their learner leaving.

Jahnavi Brenner: But what we find is that when you do invest, that person is watching and listening and absorbing everything they can about this company and really feel valued, and they feel seen, and they want to do a better job at that company. So, I think it actually builds loyalty. I’m sure there’s data to support that. I can’t quote it right this second here – well, actually, I think we know.

Jahnavi Brenner: We do know that investing in our employees drives loyalty of them because they feel like they’re part of this company and an irreplaceable part of this company, and not just a cog in a wheel or some unknown number on an org chart. They are actually a real human that can give to this organization in a really powerful way.

Lee Kantor: Now, it seems like you’re very passionate about this, and it feels like you have learned some lessons along the way that maybe left a mark. Can you talk about some of your past experiences where you saw maybe organizations get it right and benefit from this type of investment, and then maybe share some examples of them getting it wrong when they didn’t develop their leaders?

Jahnavi Brenner: You know, I was really fortunate to spend the first 17 years of my career at Procter and Gamble. And they’re a company, it’s a big CPG, Consumer Packaged Goods company, global company, and has been around for over 100 years. You can’t stick around for over 100 years if you’re not developing your future leaders to take your place, and take the company in a new direction and respond to new competitive challenges and new market forces, et cetera.

Jahnavi Brenner: Procter and Gamble invests a lot in their leadership development. When I was a new hire, this was back in 1995, I probably went to a three-day class every month that was about developing my skills to be an employee, not even a leader in the company, but an employee. Time management, presentation skills, critical thinking, all sorts of things were trainings that I went to, along with 25 other new hires in research and development. Then, when I became a people manager, and even before then, there were other training and offerings that were available to me to build my leadership skills.

Jahnavi Brenner: I learned how to lead people. I learned how to give feedback. I learned how to coach someone, so that’s a different skill than directing them and telling them what to do. They invested so much in developing their employees, and it really pays off in terms of giving people the skills and the experience they need to do more when they advance to those higher levels.

Jahnavi Brenner: On the flip side, I’ve been in other organizations that have been a little bit cash-strapped and not invested in leadership development. You know, unfortunately – I’d have to say this like coming clean here – I’ve been the HR leader at organizations where we put people into leadership roles, but we don’t equip them with the skills. And what ends up happening is they don’t have the skills, so they don’t do a great job. They come upon a situation where they have to give some difficult feedback to their direct report, and they might avoid it for a while. And then the problem, the issue grows and gets bigger and bigger and is left unattended causing even more ripple effects, or they do it but they do it poorly, and it doesn’t support the organization in making the change that they’re looking for in the employee or in retaining either the leader or the direct report.

Jahnavi Brenner: And then, the leader actually starts to feel less competent at their job. And it’s not any fault of their own. We shouldn’t expect these skills to just come from the heavens into them when they’re bestowed upon, you know, when they get the title of becoming a manager. Nobody just learns these skills or they don’t just come from the heavens. They need to be taught and they need to be practiced, and that’s where the company plays a really important role.

Lee Kantor: Now, what are kind of the symptoms that a company might be feeling that is really at the heart of a leadership development problem? Like, are there some clues that the organization C-suite could see and say, hey, maybe this signal is really about we’re not doing a great job developing our leaders, then that’s the problem we have to fix?

Jahnavi Brenner: Yeah, there are. This is when people call us, and so a few times come to mind. One is when they’re charging their next level leaders. So, maybe they’re in the C-suite and they look at their directors or their VPs, and they’re asking them to go do something together and they are not getting it done. What’s happening is there’s infighting, there’s finger pointing, there’s lack of understanding of the real goal. And they’re not finding they’re getting the results that they want from these people, and it’s because they haven’t developed them to be able to deliver those results.

Jahnavi Brenner: Another situation is when they’re not seeing the outcomes, the results. Like we want to meet the sales forecast, or we want to meet the product forecast, or we want to make sure our service levels are at a certain level and we’re winning awards, or we’re getting XYZ score on our NPS, and they’re not achieving that. They’re losing customers. Their product is number two or number three in the market.

Jahnavi Brenner: They’re not maintaining or able to get to that number one status in the marketplace for whatever they’re providing often is a leadership development issue. We might fall into the trap that it’s an innovation issue, but it’s usually a leadership development issue. The leaders aren’t developed well enough to unlock the brilliance and potential of all the people in the company, and that needs to be addressed.

Lee Kantor: Is also a situation where maybe this one role has high turnover and they’re blaming the individual, and maybe at the heart of it is a leadership issue or a lack of clarity?

Jahnavi Brenner: Yeah, absolutely. Turnover, lack of engagement and employee surveys, these are all things that need to be addressed with leadership development. Now, I feel like I’m saying everything’s a leadership development problem, not totally true. But in many situations, when we look at how employees think about staying in a company and why they stay in a company, it’s because of their relationship with their manager. And if managers are well-equipped to connect with employees and then set goals with them, give clear expectations, give good feedback, they often are finding that experience to be really rewarding. Both the employee and the manager are finding that experience, that cycle to be really rewarding.

Jahnavi Brenner: In the absence of clear direction, employees do the best they can. They come with the best intent, but you can’t bank everything on intent. That’s not all there is. You have to have some expectations as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned coaching a little earlier, is coaching something that is more spread out throughout an organization? Because back in the day, coaching was only, you know, at the highest levels. Are you seeing coaching being delivered throughout the organizations more often nowadays?

Jahnavi Brenner: Yeah, absolutely. Our firm coaches C-level executives all the way down to first line managers, and even some individual contributors that are promising. And what coaching is, is it’s an individualized development experience. So, in our coaching engagements, we start by getting feedback from the stakeholders of the coachee and doing some assessments, helping them become a bit more self-aware of how they show up at work, and what’s driving their success, and what some blind spots might be. And then, we have the coachee create a development plan that says here are the three things I’m going to work on during this coaching engagement. They’re usually about seven months long. And then, with their coach, they work on those three things.

Jahnavi Brenner: And so, we find that the structure of our engagements with the feedback and the development plan and each coaching session tied to something on the development plan, is really a powerful way to make sure the organization gets what they’re expecting from the coaching engagement and what the coachee needs to grow in, in the coaching engagement. And we’re seeing a lot of success. A lot of the companies that we do work with are providing coaching to director level employees or manager level employees, and they’re often doing it because they’re seeing that they haven’t spent the time or energy to invest in that person as much as they could have or should have.

Jahnavi Brenner: The manager of that person doesn’t have time to spend with them to help them understand how the new role is different than the old role. And the HR leader also doesn’t have time to give them that one-on-one individual support. And often, when they give that one-on-one individual support, they’re just telling them what to do. They tell the person what to do.

Jahnavi Brenner: And in coaching, we as coaches ask questions so that individual is figuring out what to do. They’re not being told. They’re coming up with the plan themselves. And it’s in that creation process that they then have more interest in executing on the plan, more buy-in into the options that are ideated, and really are excited and energized to take action and feel like they’re building their own confidence in being a leader as well, addressing the challenges that they need to address.

Jahnavi Brenner: We’ve seen clients get a 7 to 10X return on their financial investment in coaching with us, which is really exciting to see. And the return is showing up in retained employees, innovation to the marketplace, speed of collaboration, and also retention of critical customers. You know, that’s what we’ve seen with our clients when we’ve measured the ROI of coaching.

Lee Kantor: Can you share some tips for our listener when it comes to getting started or putting a program like this into place? Is there some do’s and don’ts?

Jahnavi Brenner: Yeah, absolutely. When you’re starting to think about leadership development, it’s always important to think about the organization’s strategy. What’s our business strategy and where is this organization going in the future? And that will and should inform the skills you want to build in your leaders. In the absence of that, you would likely build a program that’s simply going to get them a little bit better from where they are, and what you need to do is think about where is the future going to be and develop them to get to that point in the future.

Jahnavi Brenner: So, we usually start by talking with senior leaders in the organization about what’s going on currently and what are their visions and plans for the future, and kind of use that as our North Star to guide us in developing their leaders in terms of the content. And then, when we think about the methodology, we are often understanding the constraints of the organization. Do they have time for a week long in-person experience? Is this a half-day experience once a quarter that they go through with work that they do outside of the training class or group coaching sessions that they go to outside the training class to support them in the application of the new concepts?

Jahnavi Brenner: So, the first thing is aligning your development to the business strategy. And then, the second thing is making sure you understand the constraints and context of the learner so that you build the experience that it’s easy for them to engage in.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for your firm to become part of the WBEC- West community? What were you hoping to get out of that?

Jahnavi Brenner: What the WBEC-West community provides for us is connection to other women-owned businesses and the camaraderie that comes with being a small business enterprise. You know, we really like connecting with fellow owners to understand and kind of share best practices. We also have been able to meet large corporate companies through our connections with WBENC. We just recently went to the National Conference that was in Denver just earlier this year, in March of this year, and met many representatives from companies that we wouldn’t have been in touch with earlier. And so, it’s just kind of opening doors in terms of meeting peers and also in terms of meeting prospective clients.

Lee Kantor: Now, speaking of prospective clients, what does the ideal client profile look for you?

Jahnavi Brenner: Our ideal client is someone who cares about building resilient leaders in their company and wants to have an award winning culture. So, if you care about building leaders in your company and you really want them to be 100 percent equipped for their job, we’re probably a good partner for you. We work in the nonprofit and for-profit areas, and we work across the industry. I personally have deep experience in consumer packaged goods, in healthcare, and in tech and software and hardware companies. But our team has even broader experience across education, manufacturing, banking, multiple other industries, and so we are able to serve clients across a variety of industries.

Lee Kantor: What about sizes? Is there a sweet spot when it comes to a number of employees or size of the organization?

Jahnavi Brenner: When we’re doing a leadership development program, usually it’s a 300 person or more organization. Or even a program for career sponsorship or career mentorship, those types of things are usually done in larger organizations where you have at least 20 people managers that you think are in this target audience. We’ve done coaching for people in organizations that have been as small as 10 to 15 employees, where they needed a coach for their senior executive and wanted to get that support, that leadership development support in a highly individualized way. So, we work with anyone, really, but it depends on the situation, but obviously the offerings are a little bit different depending on the size of the organization.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Jahnavi Brenner: The best way to connect is to go to our website, which is www.vividleader.com. And on there, you can learn a lot about our services, our speaking that we do, and also book a consult. We can have an initial chat to talk about what’s going on in your organization and what might be a good solution and how we might be able to help.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we wrap, is there a story you can share about maybe a successful engagement where you helped a company get to a new level?

Jahnavi Brenner: Yeah, there is. We’re working with an organization, a nonprofit that was struggling actually to justify the funding they needed to support the development of the leader that we coached in the organization. And so, we started the coaching engagement, and I worked with the HR leader, and I assured her that they would get a really high ROI on this engagement. And they had a person in a role, and before that person was in the role, it was kind of a revolving door. There were people coming in, coming out, coming in, coming out, and they really were worried about the current person in the role.

Jahnavi Brenner: And so, we engaged with them and we provided a leadership coach for this employee. And she was new to level, new to role, and was kind of struggling with the responsibilities of the job. And struggling in the way of like not thinking big, not thinking as a function leader, but really kind of thinking as an individual contributor. And so, through our coaching, she focused on leading her team more directly, leading her team and stepping into that leadership role, and instead of thinking and responding to what’s happening in the organization, she started leading more proactively. She also learned how to communicate better with her manager.

Jahnavi Brenner: And one of the things that happened in this engagement is she had a new hire on her team who came to her with a new idea on how to run the warehouse. Warehouse is a key part of their operations and it’s a pretty big, important part of their operations. The new hire had an idea to change how they do something in the warehouse. And the manager came to a coaching session and was like, “Ah, I probably should tell my boss about this.” And, you know, wasn’t very excited about it.

Jahnavi Brenner: And so, in the coaching conversation, she worked with her coach to create a new way to pitch this idea to the manager. And it might sound simple, but the way she had pitched ideas in the past just didn’t land right with the manager. And so, what they did in this coaching conversation was come up with a completely different way to pitch the idea, and one that was really tailored to the things that the manager cared about.

Jahnavi Brenner: “What do you think the manager cares about?” “Well, cares about efficiency, cares about saving money, cares about saving time.” “Well, what do you know about this idea and how it might save time, money, or create efficiency?” “Well, I’m not sure.” “Well, how could you test that? How could you create some data, like come up with some data that you can give to her to make her a little more excited about that idea?”

Jahnavi Brenner: She revamped her pitch, got a little bit of data, and pitched it to her manager with a new sense of confidence. And the manager said,
“Yeah, let’s go do it.” They implemented that idea in the warehouse, and we estimate that they got an ROI of probably over $250,000 from just one idea being pitched to the manager in a different way based on what she experienced in just one coaching session.

Jahnavi Brenner: I think that comes to like 1000X on the return. It’s big because it’s about seeing a situation in a new light. It’s about building new skills. And it’s about building confidence as a leader. And that’s something that comes with practice. And we were able to give her that opportunity in the coaching session and help them get that result. And I’m really excited about that, because when we went back to the HR leader who was worried about how much they were going to spend on this, we were able to show them that ROI, they were just blown away. Just blown away by it.

Lee Kantor: The impact is real, and then not only do you have engaged people, you have savings for the organization that hits their bottom line directly. The ripple effects are real.

Jahnavi Brenner: Yes, absolutely. We have a retained new hire who is like, “Wow. I just walked into a really great organization because they hear my ideas and they implement them and they work.” We have a retained manager. We have a VP who thinks even more highly of her direct report and team. And then, like you said, the change in the warehouse improved the efficiency and the operations there pretty dramatically.

Lee Kantor: Well, one more time before we wrap, the website?

Jahnavi Brenner: The website is vividleader.com, and people are able to book an appointment, also see our services and what we offer, and learn a little bit more about our philosophy on coaching and leadership development there.

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

Jahnavi Brenner: Thank you, Lee. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you.

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

Building a Sustainable Future: Joy Seitz on Solar Energy and Leadership

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On this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor is joined by Joy Seitz, CEO of American Solar and Roofing. They discuss the solar industry, focusing on the services provided by Joy’s company, the benefits of solar energy, and common misconceptions. Joy shares her journey to becoming CEO, emphasizing the importance of resilience, leadership, and understanding the roles of a visionary and an integrator. The conversation also covers the financial aspects of solar energy, the impact of policy changes, and the importance of collaboration and self-belief in achieving success.

American-Solar-and-Rooting-logo

Joy-SeitzFrom the boardroom to the construction site, a hard hat and heels are not a contradiction for Joy Seitz, CEO of American Solar & Roofing. Just as solar and other technologies are reinventing the way energy is harnessed and put to use, Joy is reinventing and pushing against the “old way” of doing business in roofing and solar.

Joy is the Visionary of the company, holding the responsibility of what tomorrow should bring, what has been done in the past and what culture will link the two. Her experience with venture capital has made her understand the need to focus on other industries that can help drive the renewable energy industry. From artificial intelligence and zero-day viruses to the media and climate change, no subject is off the table when Joy contemplates the future of energy and business.

Bringing it back to the office, Joy is dedicated to creating a lasting culture in her company. She has committed time and resources to executive coaching for herself and leadership. She interviews her vendors to ensure they align with the company core values and she understands she votes with her dollar. Last, when given an opportunity she will always stop to talk to the craftspeople who are on rooftops every day.

Her love for craftspeople who build America, and solar electric systems or roofs, is seen when she talks with them. And her focus doesn’t stop, Joy is a dedicated advocate at the local and state levels for renewable choices that are cost-effective for the consumer. She is also a prominent voice within the industry advocating for the proper training, safety and treatment of tradespeople and her entire team.

She believes this not only ensures the company team finds value in their chosen career path, but takes pride into elevating the skills and craftsmanship they deliver toward superior installations of roofing and solar technologies, leading to delighted customers and partners.

As a native of Arizona, Joy is committed to building quality relationships with those who call the state home and seek to make it an enticing place to live and work. She brings her decades of experience in marketing, business and policy, supported by a degree in Global Business and Finance from Arizona State University.

Connect with Joy on LinkedIn and Facebook.

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 Joy Seitz and she is with American Solar and Roofing. Welcome.

Joy Seitz: Hi. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about American Solar and Roofing. How are you serving folks?

Joy Seitz: Great. Thank you so much. American Solar and Roofing is the original solar installer in Phoenix, Arizona. We started serving utility customers back in 2001 and continued that journey into commercial and residential projects. And so, we’re nearly 25 years old. We received our roofing license in 2008 so that we could install solar better and higher craftsmanship on the roof. And we’ve just been serving, again, residential and commercial clients since 2001.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any kind of misconception or maybe myth about solar that you’d like to dispel? Is there anything you can share with somebody who’s thinking about solar? Can you kind of talk us through this a little bit about the why is it important to consider solar as a choice?

Joy Seitz: Yeah. I mean, the first thing I always say when people say does solar really work is, well, I’m nearly 25 years old and majority of my business comes from return business. So, if it didn’t work, those two pieces of data, I would not be able to share them. And then the next thing, many people choose to do solar just because they want to control their expenses in their home, so it does lower the prices you’re paying to the utility. Another reason, obviously, is climate change. To be a part of the solution of climate change is very critical, so homeowners choosing to go solar is a vote towards pushing their local or federal government to do more to solve our climate change issues that we are experiencing throughout the globe.

Lee Kantor: Now, is it something that if I switch to solar, I’m going to see a change in a year, in five years, in ten years? Like, when am I going to kind of see a financial ROI on it?

Joy Seitz: So, depending upon the state in which you’re listening to us from, the ROI can be different just based upon the utility rates. But in Arizona, the typical ROI starts from day one, because as soon as we turn on your solar, you’re no longer buying that energy from the utility, you’re buying it from yourself. So, you’re already getting that investment from day one. But the full system is normally paid off between seven and nine years. And, again, being 25 years old, I can tell you that solar systems last a lot longer than even 25 years. You just have to make a couple investments to the product, so your ROI is seven to nine, but it can last on your home for 30 years.

Lee Kantor: Wow. So, it’s dramatic. If you’re going to be there for a while, it’s definitely something you should consider.

Joy Seitz: Yeah. And also, again, depending upon your why. So, if your why is I want to invest in solar because I want to start indicating to my city council members, to my neighbors, again, to my federal government that solar is important to the movement of and acknowledging that climate change is real. So, there have been many studies by even ASU here in Arizona, Arizona State University, where if you own solar and you put it on your home, that it does increase the value of your home. So, it’s never a bad decision to make even if you only stay there for four years, and we experience that all the time with our customers.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you seeing more and more people adopting solar?

Joy Seitz: Yes. National SEIA is saying that more and more people are adopting solar. We did have a hiccup in the residential market about 18 months ago, just some policy changes really exposed some issues within the industry that needed to be corrected. So, policy changes put a spotlight on kind of some opportunities to make our industry better. And so, right now we are in a true up phase, I think, as an industry, and we believe that 2026 actually will be a comeback year for the residential market. If you look at commercial or you look at utility scale, those are not being impacted as much, and so you’re seeing extreme backlogs even to get those projects online.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in solar?

Joy Seitz: The job that I was carrying right before this position as CEO is I was involved in government relations, so I was working in in-house lobbying firm working on a number of different topics. And so, in 2009, I came into the company as a policy manager to do a lot of government relations work with all levels of government here. And then, as the company grew and then downsized, the requirements of the company and the needs of the company to be able to compete against utilities fighting us, and a lot more competition of the solar market coming in, the company really needed my superpowers, so then I took over as CEO in 2014.

Lee Kantor: So, what are your superpowers?

Joy Seitz: My superpowers is to be able to not be concerned of today’s issues. Today’s issues of the company from running payroll to maybe onboarding somebody or somebody quitting or even an accident, those issues as a leader can sometimes drown you and make it that you can’t see the forest or the trees. And so, my superpower is to not get emotionally tied up in today’s problems, but to always be looking eight to ten years in the future of where I believe the company can go, and really stay focused on that and stay committed and truly, mentally positive to what tomorrow can bring, and not allow today’s problems to drown me in fear and stagnate.

Lee Kantor: So, how do you, as a leader, communicate that vision and get buy-in from kind of the people who maybe lack that vision on your team? Is it something that you have to work on, like communication skills, or do you have to just choose the right people that kind of buy-in? How do you, as a leader, kind of you’re seeing farther than they are, and they’re the ones who are dealing with the problem that need to be triaged?

Joy Seitz: Right. So, everything you say, and I would say I was lucky enough to be connected to another female CEO who was in the roofing distribution side. So, I was buying my roofing products from her, and she introduced me to EOS, which is the Entrepreneurial Operating System. I am not here, I do not get paid by them. But that, honestly, saved my life and saved my sanity. And I shouldn’t say life, that’s crazy. But it saved my sanity and it really put me on the right path.

Joy Seitz: So, the key thing to EOS was really identifying that I am a visionary. I kept trying to live in the seat of an operations role, like a COO role. I am truly a visionary. I am able to come in and see the problems that we’re having and say to my very strong team you can solve it like this, this, this, or this, and then I have to let go of the vine and give them an opportunity to use their superpowers to solve those day-to-day problems.

Joy Seitz: So, as soon as I realized that there are two major functions to run, really, a company, which is that visionary role, which is not that day-to-day thinking, I was able to find an internal candidate who helps me as my chief of staff integrator to help me run the day-to-day. And those two roles are just drastic. And so, as soon as I figured that out, and I learned EOS, and I learned my superpowers and how I can leverage other people’s superpowers, I really got my life back and I really even got more positive. I saw the roadmap to how my vision could actually come into play.

Lee Kantor: I think that’s so important, and I think the EOS framework is really important for people to at least learn a little more about it. And like you mentioned, the visionary and – what is it? The integrator?

Joy Seitz: The integrator.

Lee Kantor: So, they work hand-in-hand. One is kind of seeing down the road and the other is making sure the trains run on time. And you got to work together and you got to let go. So, those are important components to it. And there’s books about it. There’s people that teach it around the country. So, I think it’s a great framework for a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of entrepreneurs have benefited from it.

Lee Kantor: When you were making this shift, this was kind of a mindset shift for you because you were probably doing both parts of this and you were probably frustrated by the operation side, and now here you have at least a roadmap of this is a different way of looking at what I’m doing. Was that difficult for you to buy-in or did you get it right away, and you’re like, “Look, I’m just going to find an operations person and it’ll be their problem to deal with all this stuff.”

Joy Seitz: Yes, and. So, I love to say that I read a lot of books, but I don’t. I listened to the book Rocket Fuel on audible, and it’s only a 2.5 hour book that describes the visionary and the integrator role. And after I got through the first, like, 34 minutes of it and explained the visionary, a layer of shame kind of fell off my body. I stopped shaming myself for not being able to get the traction that I wanted to get.

Joy Seitz: I fully embraced it and I fully accepted it, like, “Oh, my gosh. This is what I need to get done.” It has taken me, though years, to find the right team member, the right puzzle piece is what they would call it in EOS, to really latch on to me because every visionary is different and everybody has a different way that they do things. And it’s super critical for the visionary to find the right person that they can trust and really partner with that sees them and respects them and wants to do that work.

Joy Seitz: So, once I figured it out, I was like, “Okay, great. This makes sense,” and I just thought it was going to click. And like, no. I mean, the visionary integrator role is like a marriage. And I actually say that I interviewed integrator candidates more than I interviewed my husband before I got married. Especially if you have aggressive goals. I have very aggressive goals for my company. Like on a scale of 1 to 5 as a visionary, I’m a 5, which means that I need an integrator as a 5. I’m doing crazy things with crazy goals and objectives that are very high for myself and for my team. So, that requires me to have a level five team to support me.

Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for the listeners that maybe are visionaries and are trying to find the right fit for an integrator? Is there some do’s and don’ts that you learned? You know, because I would imagine you had to kiss some frogs before you found the right person.

Joy Seitz: Well, I’ll just say this is my experience, is that, again, I’ll just speak as this is WBEC and maybe there’s a lot of women listeners, I had to do a lot of soul searching on belief in myself. The narrative I had in my mind was I need to latch on to somebody who is smarter than me, to be frank. And going through the process of hiring people that were older white men who I have been told my whole life are smarter than me, and then I hired those people, and then I was like, “Oh, no. We’re exactly the same.” I know my stuff. You know your stuff.

Joy Seitz: I really had to come and accept the fact that I am very educated on what I do in my company, that I know how to run my company. Do I want to break down an Excel workbook? No, I don’t. But that does not make me stupid. That just makes me be like, I’m not doing that. And so, once I really accepted that, that was an important piece to the puzzle of just knowing I can, but I don’t want to and I don’t need to.

Joy Seitz: And then, the next thing I just did was I looked internal again. At the time, I didn’t have internal candidates, but somebody internally was really doing a lot of work on themselves and wanting to scale for themselves. And so, now I found an internal candidate to really help me scale that. And so, I also thought, I don’t know, I just had a movie version of how I thought it was going to go, that I was going to find this really smart person that I’ve seen on TV my whole life, and they were going to come in and solve all my problems.

Joy Seitz: And that’s just not the case, and so I just had to kind of come to that realization. And I would say that was kind of the negative thing about EOS is, is it made it feel like it was supposed to be like a prince was going to ride up on a horse and help me. And that ain’t it.

Lee Kantor: Right. Well, a lot of times those frameworks are just frameworks. It’s not a paint by numbers, you know.

Joy Seitz: Right. Right. But you want it to be when you’re so desperately exhausted by sitting in a seat or being in a role that you are tired, and then somebody tells you how to solve it, you want it to be paint by numbers because you just don’t want to be in that role anymore. And that’s where I was, and I had to come to a full grasp on that.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you get to that point just through your own frustration and your own kind of discipline, or was it did you have a mentor, or did you have a coach that helped you kind of get that aha moment of, “Look, you’re fine. Just find the right puzzle piece here.” You can find this person. You are smart enough to be doing this. You are kind of brave enough to be doing this. And you’re the right person for this. They’re not the right person. If they were the right person, they’d be in your seat.

Joy Seitz: No. I wish. It sounds like you, Lee, should have been my coach. No. I do have coaches. I do have an implementer for EOS. All of them are powerhouse women who very rarely give out compliments and attagirls to me. As Brené Brown will say, through the Theodore Roosevelt quote, they made me stay in that stadium. They made me rumble and tumble and get dirty and get beaten up. And they always stood by me, but they never gave me a roadmap. They gave me this support knowing that I could call them. But even if I called them, they would be like, “Oh. I don’t know, what are you going to do?” And I still had to get into the weeds. I still had to do the work.

Joy Seitz: So, I had the faith that they were there, but there was never a time they did what you’d want a mom to do, and just like give you a hug and tell you it’s going to be okay. There was never that moment. I had to do that all for myself. Which hindsight, I guess, that makes us all great people. But, dang, when you’re in it, it just isn’t fun.

Lee Kantor: And it’s hard. And that’s where a lot of people, they say, enough, I’m going to get a job. I’ve had enough. This is too hard.

Joy Seitz: Exactly. That’s when you’re like I’ll just do 9:00 to 5:00 and be an employee and clock out. No, it’s true.

Lee Kantor: So, now it sounds like you found the right person, is there any kind of clues that you have uncovered that looking back, you’re like, “Oh, I need them. When they’re doing things like this, that’s probably a signal that they could probably do this job.” Did you learn some things that you could share that maybe helped kind of make the next person’s path a little smoother?

Joy Seitz: Yeah. Again, I’ll take full responsibility around on a scale of 1 to 5, I’m a 5 on visionary, so I run at 80 miles an hour. It is important for me to find somebody who is okay with me running 80 miles an hour. But also at the same time, I really came to be okay with getting one percent better every week. Again, when I found out about EOS, I was like, Game on. Give me that person. Unclick this seat belt. Let’s go.

Joy Seitz: And I just realized that a lot of people don’t function like that, and that’s okay. I can still achieve my goals in a more thoughtful way. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have accepted my advice of be okay with small changes every week. Be patient with that and be appreciative of that and live in gratitude around that.

Joy Seitz: Again, when I read the book, I just thought it was going to be a knight in shining armor, the end. And it just wasn’t. So, now my advice is if you have an internal candidate – I mean, even then when I started this, I had an internal candidate that I could have worked with and partnered with and done coaching with, and I could have gotten them coaching. And I could have been further down the road now if I would have not believed that narrative of a knight in shining armor.

Joy Seitz: So, if you have an internal candidate, definitely partner with them. If there are things that maybe they don’t know, that’s okay. And you don’t have to train them, just go make that investment through a coach for them or through some education for them, because they will get further down the road if they’re committed to you and your vision than anybody you bring in externally.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Joy Seitz: Thank you. When I took over as CEO, my company and the solar industry were basically failure one and failure two. I mean, we were both on the deathbed of not coming back. So, the solar industry was being targeted by the utilities and fossil fuel, and they wanted to destroy our business model, so I was fighting that battle. At the same time, the leadership before me had all but made my company insolvent. And I had to armor up and use my superpowers and solve all of the problems.

Joy Seitz: Eight years ago, I had becoming a woman-owned business on my roadmap. And because I was in the arena and rumbling with the enemies, I didn’t have any teammates that could even be focused on going through the process. I think everybody who’s gone through the process can say there’s a lot there. You have to do a lot of the work, and you have to have all of your paperwork and ducks in a row to get it done. And so, while I had all the paperwork and I had all the ducks, it takes the time to submit it and answer all the questions and get it done.

Joy Seitz: And so, this was a hope that I wanted, and it’s something that I saw that I wanted for myself eight years ago. And so, to finally get it across the finish line and to know all of the work that I had done to become a woman-owned company and stand in my power of that, it’s like almost like a badge of honor to be a part of this group and to become a woman-owned company. You know, I joke, somebody said did you get it to get more business. And I’m like, no, I just wanted to raise the flag and be proud of it. And getting the business, it’s just sprinkles on top for me.

Joy Seitz: So, it was always on my roadmap. I’m proud that my team and I got it across the finish line. Again, I had a lot of teammates helping me. And now forever, you know, I will want to encourage any woman to get it done and feel proud of the work that they’re doing.

Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Joy Seitz: I think for me now, and I’ve partnered with some of the folks here in Phoenix, I think now I just need to be trained. It’s a new language, and now I have to go learn that language. I know the language of how to lobby for more solar, now I need to know the language of how do I leverage this. As I’m now finding out, there are businesses who are looking for me, how do I make it that they can find me? And so, I am now going to be reaching out and learning about how I can be seen more so that it’s a win-win.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more about American Solar and Roofing and maybe connect with you or somebody on the team, is there a website? Is there a best way to connect?

Joy Seitz: Yeah. I’m Joyce Seitz on LinkedIn. I still maintain my own LinkedIn and my own messaging, so anybody who wants to partner with me, give me a LinkedIn there. I love taking conversations with other women owners working to do what I’m doing. And then, just our company website is americansolarandroofing.com and you can get all our contact information there.

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

Joy Seitz: Thank you so much for your time.

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

 

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