Christmas Archives - Business RadioX ®

Behind the Magic of The Elf on the Shelf, with Christa Pitts, The Lumistella Company

October 29, 2024 by John Ray

Executive Perspective

Behind the Magic of The Elf on the Shelf, with Christa Pitts, The Lumistella Company

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Behind the Magic of The Elf on the Shelf, with Christa Pitts, The Lumistella Company (Executive Perspective, Episode 16)

In this episode of Executive Perspective, host Danny Vander Maten interviews Christa Pitts, co-founder and CEO of The Lumistella Company, the brand behind the beloved The Elf on the Shelf, Elf Pets, and Elf Mates. Christa recounts her journey from childhood experiences with the elf tradition to her early career in sales and as a QVC program host. The conversation delves into the company’s family roots, the rigorous challenges faced, and the unwavering belief in their product that transformed a family tradition into a global phenomenon. Key insights cover the importance of hiring for growth, fostering a strong company culture, the role of family support, and thoughtful leadership. The episode also highlights the cultural impact of The Elf on the Shelf, crucial moments that propelled its popularity, and its global expansion. Further discussion includes Christa’s Madam Founder podcast, which features inspiring stories of female business leaders.

Executive Perspective is sponsored and presented by Cresa Atlanta. The show is produced by John Ray and the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.

Christa Pitts, Co-CEO and Founder, The Lumistella Company

Imagine being applauded for “revolutionizing the essence of Christmas.” That is precisely what American businesswoman and entrepreneur Christa Pitts is celebrated for.

Christa serves as the co-CEO and founder of The Lumistella Company, a dynamic enterprise behind the enchanting brand, The Elf on the Shelf®. Under her strategic leadership, more than 25 million The Elf on the Shelf brand Scout Elves, Elf Pets, and Elf Mates have been adopted in 24 countries across five continents, solidifying a massive global reach.

Considered a scion in branding, Christa’s journey began as a QVC Program Host, amassing 2,000 hours of live, unscripted television experience. During this time, she honed her expertise in understanding the mechanics of sales, the intricacies of advertising, and the significance of brand authenticity.

This wealth of knowledge proved invaluable when she joined forces with her mother and twin sister to share their cherished family Christmas tradition with the world. Highly regarded for her business acumen, Christa is a sought-after keynote speaker and tv media personality. She is frequently requested to share her perspective on diverse subjects, from being a woman in business to supply chain-related issues on mediums including MSNBC and CBS.

Over the years, she was featured hundreds of times on prominent platforms and stages, including The Today Show, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. Recognizing the power of her work, Entrepreneur Magazine has named The Lumistella Company “A Christmastime IP Giant.”

A symbol of empowerment for women in business, Christa’s voice resonates with many. Most recently, she was named the 2023 Southeast Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®. Christa embodies the spirit of breaking barriers and redefining what it means to lead with passion, resilience, and unwavering dedication.

Christa is the host of Madame Founder, a podcast series devoted to successful women entrepreneurs and the stories they tell on business, leadership, and empowerment.

Website | LinkedIn | Madame Founder podcast

The Lumistella Company

The Lumistella Company is a dynamic, fast-paced organization where the magic of Christmas thrives all year long. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, it is a family-owned global intellectual property company. Founded in 2005 with the launch of The Elf on the Shelf® Christmas phenomenon, the company rebranded as The Lumistella Company in 2020 to reflect its growth into a global corporation focused on consumer products, brand experiences, and entertainment-based content.

The Lumistella Company’s core consumer brands include The Elf on the Shelf®, Elf Pets®, and Elf Mates®, along with a variety of related brand extensions that bring the characters from Santa’s North Pole to life. Through brand experiences like pop-up shops, photo opportunities, virtual gaming, and destination activities, the company creates magical, immersive connections to Santa’s universe.

The Lumistella Company fosters strategic partnerships with best-in-class studios, publishers, music firms, product companies, agencies, and live entertainment production companies. Its subsidiary, Scout Elf Productions, LLC, is dedicated to the art of storytelling through animation. The company’s mission is to inspire the magic of belief and a love of tradition at Christmastime by creating characters, stories, and lore that bring Santa’s North Pole to life for children worldwide.

With a strong culture built around creativity, fun, learning, and respect, The Lumistella Company continues to build on timeless traditions and enhance family Christmas celebrations. At its core are the values of Family Focus, Integrity, Respect, and Excellence (F.I.R.E.), which create an exceptional work environment. The company is always seeking talented individuals who thrive in a fun, innovative, and fast-paced environment to join Santa’s team and help deliver new expressions of Christmas traditions.

Website | LinkedIn

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction to Executive Perspective
00:58 Meet Christa Pitts: CEO of The Lumistella Company
03:12 The Elf on the Shelf Tradition
05:25 Christa’s Career Journey
11:57 Founding the Elf on the Shelf Business
19:36 Challenges and Successes
24:32 Recognizing the Need to Delegate
25:08 Hiring for Cultural Fit
25:24 The Importance of Culture
29:43 Challenges and Growth Phases
34:37 Global Expansion and Traditions
40:26 The Madam Founder Podcast
43:19 Conclusion and Contact Information

About Executive Perspective

Executive Perspective features executives and business leaders from a wide variety of sectors. Host Danny Vander Maten and his guests cover industry trends, insights, challenges, success strategies and lessons learned. Executive Perspective is underwritten and presented by Cresa. The show series is produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. A complete show archive can be found here.

Executive Perspective

Danny joined Cresa in the Spring of 2016 and brought a diverse background with nearly 10 years of experience in finance, business operations, and strategy to his client’s real estate transactions.

At Cresa, Danny’s primary responsibilities include strategic planning, lease analysis, negotiations, and cost mitigation. As a registered Certified Public Accountant with an active license in the state of Georgia, Danny provides unique financial insight into every critical aspect of the transaction.

Cresa is the world’s most trusted occupier-centric commercial real estate firm. They strategize for the best possible results for occupiers everywhere. Cresa thinks beyond space. Partner without conflict. And apply their integrated expertise to make your business better.

Connect with Danny: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with Cresa: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter)

Whoville Wisdom Leads to Grinch 2.0

December 14, 2023 by Mike

Gwinnett Studio

Whoville Wisdom Leads to Grinch 2.0

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Grinches are not born grinches. A little loving kindness can go a long way.

Stephanie Wolfe is a business owner and board-certified Health and Wellness Coach. Her life motto is “Live Long and Strong with Passion and Purpose. Help others to do the same!”

Join Stephanie each week for education, inspiration, and a weekly challenge to achieve personal and business wellness. Develop your own personal Wellness Vision. Discover Stephanie’s proprietary CLEAN Concepts and how they have been vastly improving personal and professional business wellness.

Episodes of “Work Well with Stephanie Wolfe” will be devoted to Stephanie’s Wellness Wheel and will include topics of Fitness, Nutrition, Work-Life Balance, Faith, Core Values, Marriage, Family, Friendships, Career, Goal Setting, Wellness Vision Casting, Endorphin Boosting and Stress Busting, and so much more. You may think you know what you need to know, but what if you don’t?

Subscribe now to “Work Well with Stephanie Wolfe” to start your wellness journey with your board-certified health and wellness coach.

About Stephanie Wolfe

Stephanie Wolfe received her Health Coach Certification in 2014 and went on to receive her Master Certification in 2016, both from the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, founded by world-renowned physician and author, Dr. William Sears. The Institute is a leader in science-based health and wellness education that focuses on a whole health experience including a strong nutritional foundation.

Stephanie continued her education and training to become a National Board Certified Health and Wellness coach in 2017. This training allows Stephanie to work with clients individually through a step-by-step process using advanced coaching methods, offering them full access to resources and tools to support them throughout the entire coaching process. Board Certification is the foundation of her success using coaching methods such as motivational interviewing and appreciative inquiry to assess the stages of change and provide each client with individual attention as they gain momentum towards their health and wellness goals.

Presented by

All I Want for Christmas Is You

December 21, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

All I Want for Christmas Is You

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All I Want for Christmas Is You

What Mariah Carey’s song, “All I Want for Christmas is You,” has to do with delivering value as a professional services provider.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

John Ray: [00:00:02] Hello, I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Mariah Carey wrote All I Want for Christmas Is You when she was 24 years old. Released in 1994, this song quickly became a holiday standard. And by 2017, it had become the 11th best selling single of all time. According to The Economist, Carey made $60 Million in royalties on the song between 1994 and 2016, averaging 2.6 million per year.

John Ray: [00:00:40] Why did this song become so popular and remain so? Maybe one reason is how the word “you” is used. Two marketing professors recently conducted a study of what makes songs popular using natural language processing to study lyrics and the commonalities in successful songs. They analyzed some 2,000 songs and looked at the Billboard Charts. What they found was that songs which featured the objective use of the word “you” were more likely to be hits. The objective use of “you” is where you is the subject. One example is Whitney Houston’s mega-hit I Will Always Love You, a song written, by the way, by Dolly Parton.

John Ray: [00:01:26] There are important nuances to the findings, but what this study affirms is the idea that, as humans, we are hardwired to gravitate toward messaging that is about us. We like to hear others talk about us and our problems. We like to talk about ourselves. If we have an ounce of self-awareness, we know this about ourselves and others.

John Ray: [00:01:49] So, when it comes to professional services, clients and prospects glaze over when we talk about our process or certifications or any other language which is couched in us instead of them. Instead, if our focus is on the outcomes that clients receive from our work, clients lean in. When we talk about them, their problems, concerns, fears, and dreams, the hard wiring they have which craves attention lights up. When we talk about value, it’s not the value we deliver. It’s the value which clients feel they will receive.

John Ray: [00:02:28] Imagine if Mariah Carey had written a song entitled What I Want for Christmas, do you think it would have done as well? Make it about the client. When you make it about other people, it never goes wrong.

John Ray: [00:02:46] Hope you have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever holy days you’re celebrating. And everyone have a Happy New Year.

John Ray: [00:02:55] I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found at pricevaluejourney.com or on your favorite podcast app. And I’d love it if you would subscribe to the show, if you’re not already. And if you have, thank you for doing that. If you’d like to connect with me directly, you can email john@johnray.co, and I’ll reply. And also big news for 2023, I have a book coming out. So, if you’d want more information on that, please feel free to send me a note. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.

If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.

The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray The Price and Value Journey — **John Ray, Host of “The Price and Value Journey”**

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.

John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,700 podcast episodes.

Coming in 2023: A New Book!

John’s working on a book that will be released in 2023. The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. For more information, contact John below.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Quick Tips for Time Well Spent: Planning Ahead

September 12, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Quick Tips for Time Well Spent: Planning Ahead

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Quick Tips for Time Well Spent: Planning Ahead

In this Quick Tips for Time Well Spent, host Julie Hullett advises planning ahead for travel and family time during the fast-approaching holiday season.

Julie’s commentary was taken from this episode of Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett.

Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett is presented by Julie Hullett Concierge, LLC and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

About Time Well Spent

Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett features stories from busy professionals who have created more time to do what they love. Every other week, your host and personal concierge Julie Hullett speaks with entrepreneurs, community leaders, and influencers to answer the question: What would you do if you had more time?

The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Julie Hullett, Host of Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett

Julie Hullet, Host of *Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett*

Julie Hullett is the host of Time Well Spent with Julie Hullett.

Julie Hullett is a personal concierge and entrepreneur in Nashville, TN. She founded Julie Hullett Concierge, LLC in 2011 to give people their time back so they can do more of what they love. No stranger to big ideas and pursuing passions, Julie left corporate America to create her business. She capitalized on her skills—multi-tasking, attention to detail, and time management, to name a few—to build a successful business that gives back. Her clients enjoy ample free time. They’ve traveled more, spent more time with those they love, and have even created their own businesses.