Latest / Not All Business / Stop Pitch Slapping and Start Connecting

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Stop Pitch Slapping and Start Connecting · Not All Business

0:00
All right, be honest, when did you last reach out to someone
0:03
with 0 agenda? Today's guest, Sam Yarborough
0:06
has built a career on exactly that.
0:09
In fact, Sam has a name for what most salespeople do at
0:13
networking events. She calls it pitch slapping.
0:17
We're calling it the word of the year.
0:20
Sam's a go to market and partnerships leader in the
0:23
Salesforce ecosystem. She's Co founder of Arcadia and
0:26
Co host of the podcast Friends with Benefits.
0:30
And she's here to tell you why the transactional approach is
0:33
costing you more than you think. We also get a knee update from
0:37
my household. The surgery count is now at 14.
0:40
We see you career moms. We really do.
0:42
Welcome to Not All Business, a podcast by two former CEO's who
0:47
went from competitors to friends.
0:50
I'm Blakely Graham and I'm joined by my Co host Heather
0:53
Cooper and also joined by our producer Clay Cornell.
0:58
Now let's get down to business. Blakely.
1:08
Wait, are we starting? Yeah, we're starting. 321 go.
1:12
OK. I have lots to tell you on this
1:16
section. It's not going to be about
1:18
business. This is going to be the not in
1:20
the not all business. First of all, we picked up the
1:22
dogs this morning. How'd that go?
1:24
So I told you last week that we walked in and I was in shock
1:29
because of all the roles. Remember I had the 90 day plan
1:31
where I like no beds. No, I can't give them any
1:34
affection for 5 minutes. I have to completely ignore
1:36
them. They have to sit in their place.
1:38
We basically said, oh, you're definitely not going to do any
1:41
of that, and that's where it left off.
1:43
Yeah, and all my friends that have used her said like, you're
1:46
going to cry. Like, like she's going to make
1:49
you cry, cry. Like because you're like a bad
1:51
dog mom cry. Because I'm, I'm well, remember
1:54
she kind of alluded that I'm an anxious dog owner and that my
1:58
dog is anxious because of it, right?
2:00
So I. Don't think that's fair, but OK.
2:03
I agree but I got there and like two things.
2:06
Why can? You give a dog Xanax.
2:09
Yeah, like can you can. OK, sorry, go.
2:11
Ahead And can we also just say that that's pretty much every
2:14
dog owner, you're just finding out through another person.
2:18
Yeah, but it's not the first time I've heard that I need to
2:21
show up a little more confident, a little more like I'm the pack
2:24
leader and whatever. All to say that this woman is
2:33
phenomenal. It was the most our dogs can
2:37
walk so well now, no pulling. They're like perfectly behaved,
2:42
like 5 stars. I want every single human in
2:45
Colorado to send their dog to black paw training.
2:49
Like I I did not cry. I did cry, actually, but it was
2:52
a joy. Happy.
2:53
Tears. Yes.
2:55
Like we have the best dog the world.
2:58
Gone for 90 days. What was the timeline on?
3:01
This shoot, the dogs wouldn't have been gone for two weeks.
3:04
We have. Already fixed.
3:05
They're fixed. Well, now we have to institute
3:08
snip fixed, but like no behaviorally fixed, yes, but we
3:12
have to institute the 90 day policy and then like post test
3:18
and so. That must be that woman, Woman,
3:22
man, who's this teacher? So woman, she's great.
3:24
She must get so freaking frustrated when she's like,
3:30
here's Jovi and Stevie, you're welcome.
3:34
Like perfectly. They come back in 90 days and
3:36
it's just like chaos and. She's like, I, what did you do?
3:39
I will say though, when Jovi and Stevie came in, Jovi came up and
3:45
she couldn't control her. Like she was attacking me, like
3:48
pushing me back, tagging. Like she, it was so intense and
3:51
she just looked at me. She kind of smiled.
3:53
She's like, oh, like you are Jovi's person.
3:57
And then Stevie's just like off to the corner going, I don't
4:00
really know these people that well.
4:03
Who are they? Oh yeah.
4:04
Five stars. Yeah.
4:07
So great. Moving on.
4:09
Now, I have not to make this the Blakely show today, but we did
4:13
start out Blakely. Blakely.
4:14
Why? Change it now, yeah.
4:17
A lot has happened to us in the last 48 hours.
4:20
And I know Clay and Heather, I have not given you a heads up to
4:23
what's happening, but I need to tell you what's happening.
4:25
Yeah, you. Haven't said anything.
4:27
Because I think it's going to impact the show a little bit.
4:29
Okay, so here, but I came on today so that's.
4:32
Good. You made a commitment.
4:34
I may remember at the beginning of the year I said are you in
4:36
for another year? You said I'm in for another
4:38
year. Clay, do you remember that we
4:39
locked? Eyes we locked.
4:41
Eyes and you said it so I'm anxious to hear what you think
4:44
is going to happen. But.
4:46
I'm going to try to make it comical and funny as we go
4:49
along, but here's the situation. So on Friday, so we, we came
4:54
back from van life trip on Friday, we went up to Vail to
4:59
the Steadman clinic because my husband is getting a total knee
5:02
replacement. So that happens on March 16th.
5:06
I have never been in a pre op situation like this where they
5:09
literally sit there for an hour and tell you how horribly
5:12
painful it's going to be and you're like, that's so strange.
5:15
Usually surgeons are like, oh, whatever, I'll let the recovery
5:17
people take care of that. Pain meds.
5:19
Yeah, they were like clear, like he can't drive, he can't do
5:24
this. He needs a lot of help.
5:26
He needs 24 hour whatever so much.
5:31
I'm feeling OK because between my daughter, my 16 year old
5:35
daughter, myself and Scott, we have 12 knee surgeries between
5:38
the three of us. So we are a very.
5:43
Too many knees. I'm sorry.
5:44
That doesn't even that math doesn't hang a hand.
5:47
Yeah. Yeah.
5:48
Forget the math. Three people.
5:50
You you've already had. 6. 11. Well, no. 12:12 I've had two,
5:57
Lula has had three and Scott has had seven knee surgeries.
6:04
So he's like #8's the trick like. #8 we're hacking it off
6:08
and we're putting a new one on like that.
6:10
So that will be the lucky number 13.
6:13
That's three of the four of us. And so we have this joke in my
6:17
family. Not a joke.
6:18
It's like a superstition where every time someone in my family
6:22
goes off to snowboard, to mountain bike, to rock climb, I,
6:26
I have to physically see you and say, come back with all your
6:30
parts. Like, that's the deal in my
6:32
house. It's like a long, in fact, I
6:34
think I'm going to like, get that on a silver bracelet
6:37
engraved for Eldon for his graduation gift.
6:39
He doesn't listen to the show, so he won't know.
6:41
Oh, shoot, you might need to strike that.
6:43
Do you think he listens? It's a surprise.
6:44
Definitely doesn't. You keep thinking he does.
6:46
He doesn't. All right, so we go up to Vail,
6:48
we do the pre op. We're like, Scott is so scared,
6:51
you guys. Like he just is.
6:53
He's terrified. Well, yeah, he was just told
6:56
you're going to be in extreme pain and this is the 8th 1.
6:59
Yeah, but he's looking, he's looking for any reason to
7:02
cancel, like he's just looking for it, right?
7:06
So we're driving home from the mountains and we get a phone
7:12
call and it's Eldon luckily. Luckily it's Eldon talking to me
7:19
and he's like hey mom, I'm at Eldora, which is our local ski
7:24
mountain. I'm on a toboggan.
7:28
Oh no. I hate those calls.
7:30
I know, I know you know, I know you know.
7:34
Heather's son is like a semi pro pro snowboarder and.
7:40
They do some things, yeah. Sometimes it just happens.
7:44
So what was it an E? Oh my God, it's so bad.
7:50
He like took a jump which was like supposed to be like 8 foot
7:53
and then you come down on the angle on the land, but he like
7:57
got 12 feet. He was like, so proud of his 12
7:59
feet, but then he overshot the jump and he landed flat on the
8:04
lip and he stuck the landing flat.
8:09
OK. So it was kind of like that
8:10
Lindsey Vonn, like, car crash. Like, what they were worried
8:13
about was like, compartment syndrome because it just
8:16
reverberated up his whole body. So he landed tall, but it came
8:20
up and shocked his body. And so, I mean, he's a mess.
8:25
He's got like, really bad bone bruising.
8:28
He tore his meniscus. He's got a full ACL.
8:33
His knee is like the size of a watermelon.
8:38
And all I saw was Scott, like, OK, well, I'm canceling my
8:41
surgery. And all I saw was me.
8:44
Like I don't have enough orthopedic beds for everyone in
8:48
the house, but they're both going to end up having surgery
8:50
at the same time. So we don't know the surgical
8:54
date yet, but we'll find out tomorrow.
8:57
But it's devastating because it's a senior year.
9:00
He's a musician. He's got a lot of shows booked
9:05
that he's so proud of. We're supposed to go to Shamani
9:08
and we're not like there's no way we're going to do that next
9:11
winter. There's just like he has a
9:13
senior trip. He wanted to go backpack Europe
9:15
and he's already just like, it's just, it's just sad to like see
9:19
kids have to go through that and their identity is starting to
9:22
like, I don't know, it's just it bums me out.
9:26
And Scott is not cancelling a surgery because I've heard this
9:28
knee whining thing for 10 years and it's getting done.
9:31
So I'm waiting for the funny part.
9:33
Like when you first started, you're like, no, no, it's funny,
9:35
it's funny. And no, there's nothing funny.
9:37
There's nothing funny about this.
9:38
This is horrible story. I mean, it's a good.
9:41
Story, but what I mean? Is sad for you.
9:44
I know you need a. Nanny is what you need.
9:47
That can drive. Oh yeah, I did it with me.
9:51
You need some help. OK, so there is nothing funny
9:54
about it. I'm sorry, Heather.
9:56
I, I, it's not, I think for the next 4 weeks I'm going to try to
10:01
like make light and funny because it is all stress.
10:04
I have like hives, I've got dermatitis, I got styes, I have
10:07
cysts. Like I'm a dermatological
10:09
autoimmune response to all that's going on right now in the
10:13
Graham household. It's real.
10:15
But like, here's the thing, this is kind of what I thought
10:17
through. Like this is my burden, but
10:22
everyone has a burden. Some people have like burdens
10:25
that are way heavier than this or even lighter.
10:28
But even your lightest burden is your biggest burden and no one
10:31
is immune to it, right? And I like think about those
10:35
career moms. I just want to like, say I see
10:37
you that I am one. I think you're incredible.
10:41
And I don't know. Ultimately we're about bringing
10:45
whole human to work and I guess I need a little woe is me time,
10:49
but it's not about that. Like I'm over it.
10:52
I just wanted to be. Real.
10:54
I'm going to try to make it funny.
10:56
Well, no, I think. But it sucks.
10:58
It could be. Well, they'll be in pain and
11:00
that part sucks. And it's this like it's almost
11:04
like your own little mini COVID where you get to, you get to say
11:07
no to all social things, all invites.
11:10
It's just like a hard pass for however many weeks.
11:13
And then so that's good. So you're just like, you're
11:15
declining everything. You're having like a little bit
11:18
of a schedule, but you're maybe incorporating some fun movie
11:21
nights when they're on their pain meds or so that like,
11:23
there's ways for you to sneak out to the bathroom and have a
11:29
glass of wine. Yeah.
11:30
The difference is that you don't have COVID.
11:32
You're not contagious. Other people can come help you.
11:35
So that's. That's the benefit.
11:38
The door is open. That's true.
11:40
You can accept help. Do not, do not put me on a meal
11:44
tree. Like if you're one of those
11:46
people that does the hey, let's everybody bring sign up for a
11:51
meal. I hate the meal tree.
11:54
But now they have a meal tree where you can just buy.
11:57
Out. Yes.
11:58
And you know what, Clay? That's what I do because
11:59
everyone knows I can't cook. I'm the worst cook ever.
12:01
Ever. Ever.
12:02
Not to mention managing people's like fucking gluten intolerance
12:06
and dairy and all of that. What am I making you?
12:08
What am I making you that's going to taste good?
12:10
Nothing. It's horrible.
12:11
So I'm. Ask me like then we're divorced
12:14
because I if you ask me what's for dinner, like you're out.
12:16
I don't want your help, you know.
12:17
I'm talking about as your friend, like I don't want to
12:19
bring you a meal because you're struggling.
12:22
I will give you a gift card to like.
12:25
Pizza or something you know, we're not hungry.
12:28
We could all we are fine. I'm a little worried about the
12:31
90 day dog plan that's out the window.
12:34
Like dogs are going to be back. Like post test is gone you.
12:38
Know how much was that? Was that expensive?
12:41
So you you're going to have that over your head like, oh, I'm
12:45
wasting all of this money because the dogs and then you're
12:47
going to have to put them back in.
12:49
But you know how much money I just saved on the senior trip,
12:53
the ski trip? That's true.
12:55
We're making money on this. That's true, but then your dogs
12:58
are going to have to be like sent back to like repeat a
13:00
grade, which is not a great experience for any anybody so.
13:04
I just want to round this off by saying he got hurt because I did
13:10
not know he went skiing and I didn't get to say come back with
13:13
all your parts. I like this.
13:17
Let's blame you. That seems like something else
13:19
you need right now. It's like because you didn't.
13:22
Say it. Superstition is real.
13:25
I'm just saying it's real. It's real dumb is what it is.
13:28
OK. I only have one question, one
13:31
last question. OK, so recovery very important,
13:35
I'm sure that we can all acknowledge that, but does
13:39
Nicole acknowledge that the. Trainer, the CrossFit.
13:43
CrossFit, Nicole. No, she's like, can we sign him
13:47
up for a plan now? Can we?
13:51
Is this an opportunity to get Alvin back to the gym?
13:54
Yeah. So she no excuses.
13:56
There are so many people that are in some stage of surgical
14:01
recovery or injury recover at the gym.
14:04
There is a what do you call it a a what do you call it when you
14:08
an accommodation for everyone? No accommodate.
14:11
I mean, we have we have two two men in wheelchairs in our
14:15
classes regularly. Like there is there you they can
14:19
do pull ups. They just have a different way
14:21
they do them like it's just different.
14:23
So there's no excuses. Look, play.
14:25
Let me just sum it up. When we're talking about Nicole
14:28
Christian, where are you getting?
14:29
Worked up. I just asked a very simple yes
14:31
or no question. It's going to be a tough one
14:33
today, I guess. Gosh, poor Sam.
14:37
She's like what she's like. Can I come back on another day?
14:40
I think we should be Sam because.
14:42
Can we bring salmon please? No.
14:44
Yes, she's queen of human connection.
14:46
Let's bring. Sam, she is OK.
14:48
Hi, Sam. Hi, Sam.
14:55
You know how every industry has that one relationship where both
14:59
sides need each other, but the communication is just broken?
15:03
In construction, that's general contractors and subcontractors.
15:06
The invoices get lost, the budgets blow up, and nobody's on
15:10
the same page. Well, Trade Agent fixes that.
15:14
It's the AI layer that sits between GCS and Subs and keeps
15:18
the whole thing from falling apart.
15:21
Invoices, budgets, payment handled like magic.
15:25
No more fights, no more finger pointing and everyone can get
15:29
back to actual building. Check it out at the Trade
15:33
agent.com. Hello, I'm so happy to be here.
15:42
We are so happy to have you here.
15:45
And are you? It's like, are you, you can be
15:47
honest. Do you want to reschedule?
15:49
We're kind of a little weird, no?
15:51
Actually, it was really hard for me to not like I had a lot that
15:55
I could have said. Oh, say.
15:56
Now. Say it, say it, say.
15:59
My mom had a double knee replacement earlier this year at
16:02
the same time. What?
16:04
I don't think that's a term. Recover.
16:07
Ohh my. There's a dog trainer in Bozeman
16:09
that charges $175,000 per dog. We didn't do that.
16:15
What else? There was a lot.
16:16
But I was like, wait, I have. Something $175,000 per dog.
16:22
Actually, it's really interesting.
16:23
You should look it up. Fallen is the name SEALLAN.
16:28
They are, what does she call them?
16:31
Protection assets. They're not dogs, they're
16:33
protection assets. So it's like a guard dog
16:36
situation. Yes, but this is.
16:38
Crazy, terrifying they. They the dogs will attack based
16:45
on intent. It's freaking wild.
16:47
So if you are having they can. Smell.
16:50
They can smell, they can sense, like if you are having I'll, if
16:53
you have I'll intentions towards the owner, the dog will attack.
16:56
Oh. OK mine are cuddle assets.
17:03
That's crazy. You could like keep all those
17:06
pickled Ballers out of your neighborhood if you wanted to
17:10
with this. They were like the and he just
17:13
goes back. Yeah, that might be worth 175 K.
17:18
So Sam, you're, you guys are in Bozeman, which is a really cool
17:22
town. It is a really cool town.
17:24
We are here. How'd you end up there?
17:26
I'm born here, was born here. You were born there.
17:29
I didn't the only one. Really.
17:32
In Bozeman, the only person in Bozeman.
17:36
That was born, the only one that was born here.
17:38
In your family, there's no in your family.
17:40
There's no others. She's signing autographs.
17:44
She goes to the City Hall. There's like that.
17:48
There's no one from Boulder there.
17:50
You like our kids are from Boulder, but no one my age is
17:53
from Boulder. Like we're all transplants.
17:56
Yeah. That's how Bozeman is.
17:57
So yeah, when people meet me and they're like, wait, you from
17:59
here? From here?
18:00
It's kind of a unique thing, yeah.
18:02
What was it like? What was high school like in
18:04
Bozeman? Well, Bozeman didn't used to be
18:07
what it is like. When I would say I'm from
18:09
Bozeman, people didn't know what that was like.
18:11
Even the state of Montana was elusive to people.
18:15
They're like, I know it's somewhere.
18:17
It's like up north. Yeah, North.
18:18
Somewhere is it? Like by Canada, which yes, it is
18:24
high school. Actually we had a huge high
18:26
school. My graduating class was like 650
18:28
kids because there was only one high school.
18:33
Ours is 2400, so your definition of huge is the little off scale.
18:38
Dwight No, she's talking about the graduating class itself, not
18:42
just senior school. And I stand corrected and I'm
18:45
embarrassed. I'm so sorry.
18:46
It's OK, don't. Move on.
18:47
You're fine. Math is hard math.
18:48
Math is hard. OK.
18:50
Sam. But that almost equals 2400 so.
18:53
Exactly, it's the same. So I'm same size, huge school.
18:57
The biggest. But yeah, I love growing up
19:00
here. I think I left after college.
19:04
I went to four colleges. My last one was here.
19:07
You went to four colleges in four years.
19:09
I sure did. Did you really?
19:11
That is so interesting. I think you're the only person
19:13
I've ever met that did that. I wouldn't.
19:15
Recommend. I mean I did it and it was fine
19:19
but I had to like every time I had to transfer credits and
19:23
whatnot and sometimes start over.
19:25
Do you? Share like about that
19:27
experience. I'm curious, do you share your
19:29
why you don't have? To share your.
19:32
Yeah, there's nothing that happened.
19:33
I when I graduated from high school here, Bozeman still felt
19:38
like a cow town and I was like, I can't grow up here or I can't
19:41
live here when I grow up. That would be a total failure.
19:43
And like, you know, yeah. Now you're chilling out bringing
19:47
people, too. Yeah.
19:50
Just got to ride the wave. So I my first year was at
19:53
Arizona State in Tempe, which Speaking of big schools that at
19:58
the time it was 90,000 kids. That's.
20:01
Insane. It was wild and I just really
20:05
hated it. So I transferred from there to
20:08
Portland State and I was getting a double degree.
20:14
So I graphic design and then vocal performance.
20:17
I was a singer. Singer.
20:21
It's been a long. Time.
20:22
All right, I won't make you sing on the show.
20:24
Clay gets mad when I ask guests to sing.
20:26
So OK, then what? I can do it.
20:29
Well then I got mono and it literally almost killed me.
20:33
Like I had to go to the emergency room many times and
20:37
couldn't sing because I had mono so.
20:41
Talk about a hardship as a kid at a tender.
20:43
Age. My goodness.
20:46
And then I transferred home to Montana State, and then I
20:49
finished in Italy, did my last. There you go.
20:53
Well, that sounded like a nice finish.
20:55
Yeah. Good.
20:56
Good on you. What school, Leon?
20:59
I want to say Leonardo da Vinci, but that's not correct.
21:01
I don't know. It was some like transfer
21:03
program. Yeah, it was in Florence.
21:06
I lived in Florence. That's amazing.
21:09
The biggest disappointment about this was I was getting an art
21:11
history credit and we never went to a museum.
21:14
We sat in a room and looked at PowerPoints in was it COVID?
21:18
No, you're no, it was 2011. You're in Florence and they
21:23
never took you out to a. Isn't that insane?
21:26
That makes me angry. That doesn't even make sense.
21:29
Yeah, maybe they just take it for granted.
21:31
Did they have a lot of international students?
21:33
Was it international student program or was it a local?
21:36
No international all of us were from abroad so.
21:39
That sounds like a lazy professor to me.
21:40
That's too bad. I agree.
21:42
OK well that honestly your background and we had not talked
21:47
about this before so we were shocked and thank you for
21:49
sharing it. But it kind of makes sense to me
21:53
how your passion is about bringing humans and the humanity
21:59
of being human into the workforce and building those
22:02
relationships going a deeper level than just like your basic
22:05
networking. What can I get from you?
22:06
What do you need from me? Situation is to diving deeper
22:09
and I, I think I can see that, but I don't want to speak for
22:12
you, but did your background and how you kind of came up have
22:16
anything to do with your passion for this?
22:18
You are maybe the first person to ask me that question or make
22:22
that parallel, but I'm sure that it does.
22:26
I mean, the reason that I said I do not recommend going to four
22:28
colleges in four years is exactly that a lot of people
22:32
have like a pretty like a through line for their college
22:36
experience and walk away with like great lifelong friends.
22:39
And I didn't have that because, right, I transferred every year.
22:44
So maybe there is some of that. But I'm also because of that,
22:48
very good at like walking into a new room, a new circumstance and
22:53
just like making the best of it, finding a good connection and,
22:57
you know, putting myself out there as a result because I had
23:01
to do that always. So yeah, I'm sure there is
23:03
definitely some parallels there. Absolutely.
23:05
And I think that is a skill that is not something that anybody
23:08
can just go walk in and do. And we've had some other guests
23:11
on the show talking about helping us in these awkward
23:13
networking situations that we've walked into and like kind of
23:17
tips to survive those. I think most people do hate that
23:20
and is uncomfortable. And it does take a special skill
23:22
to be able to walk in and look at the deeper meaning besides
23:25
what's going on at the human level than just, you know, kind
23:29
of that networking thing. So I know you've said before,
23:31
like you do see a difference between, quote, networking and
23:35
building a relationship. Can you walk us through that a
23:37
little bit more about your thoughts on that and practical
23:40
steps to achieve that, even if in a first meeting potentially?
23:45
Sure. Well, just like you both, I
23:49
spent a lot of years on the conference circuit.
23:54
You can walk and do like any networking, happy hour, any
23:58
business dinner, you know, you name the venue.
24:01
And it's so transactional. And, you know, people are, like
24:05
passing business cards and what can you do for me and how can
24:07
you drive pipeline? And I can play that game.
24:11
I absolutely can play that game. I have played that game, but I
24:13
hate that game. Yeah.
24:16
Because I feel like those relationships stop right then
24:19
and there. Like if there's not a very clear
24:21
need of like you can do this for me, otherwise I have no reason
24:27
to talk to you. And I think that that's a pretty
24:29
shallow way of looking at things.
24:31
Like it's gross, it is gross and people see right through it.
24:35
Whereas if you actually like get to know the person that you're
24:39
talking to, aside from their title, aside from the pain point
24:43
they solve in your customer journey, there's.
24:47
Gave me like don't put me back there.
24:49
Ever say I'm? Don't put me there.
24:51
It's so true. That's the world.
24:53
Though. I.
24:54
Mean is it is. And I just, I mean, I have done
24:58
business with individuals like 3 * 4 times, even five times going
25:02
through different companies. And that's the power of building
25:06
real relationships with people. And that does come like I've
25:11
gotten Flack from this from bosses of like relationships
25:14
don't equal results. And maybe that's true, but I've
25:18
seen the opposite. Maybe they don't equal like
25:21
immediate results, but the long term effect of actually asking
25:26
curious questions, getting to know the people behind the
25:30
title, I can't say enough good things about it.
25:32
I mean. Yeah, you talk about that a lot,
25:36
about the importance of building the relationship before the
25:41
result. And I think that's so
25:42
interesting because I've actually never heard anybody say
25:45
it quite that way. And it does feel a little risky.
25:48
I mean, a lot of times, you know, we'll be in a sales cycle
25:49
and you get to know people through the meetings and at the
25:51
end you have a relationship and maybe you do another deal.
25:54
But what you're saying is let's back that up and start earlier.
25:57
Maybe we start building relationships before we need
26:00
something from that person, before that's going to turn into
26:03
revenue or even we see the path to revenue.
26:05
So tell me more about that and the value of that.
26:09
Yeah, I think it's both to be clear.
26:11
Like if you're in a revenue producing role, then like, yeah,
26:15
you got to hit your number and you got to drive pipeline, full
26:17
stop. Otherwise you're going to lose
26:19
your job. However, I do think that there
26:24
are relationships that you could look at and be like they have
26:29
nothing to offer me at this point in the game and you write
26:34
them off and you never hear or see about that person again and
26:39
I think that is short sighted. Understanding who people are,
26:42
what makes them tick and staying in contact with them is going to
26:47
produce ROI throughout your career unlike anything else.
26:51
And again, that's not going to be like a short term plate.
26:54
That's not going to be a sales cycle that closes in three
26:56
months. But for instance, for our first
26:59
Arcadia experience, we had people who cancelled or you
27:05
know, signed up and then couldn't come or whatever.
27:07
I still. Just real quick say what Arcadia
27:09
is. I think it's the first time that
27:10
we were getting to that. So tell us a little bit about
27:12
Arcadia. Totally.
27:15
Arcadia is the company my husband and I run together.
27:18
So it started as a leadership experience and in person event
27:22
that we wanted to attend those that didn't work.
27:27
Somewhere else, so yeah. It sounds so cool I'm.
27:31
So excited. You both need to come.
27:34
But it's outside, it's in Montana, it's a glamping event.
27:38
There's no PowerPoints. We do things like go fly
27:41
fishing, go hiking. The whole goal there is to get
27:44
people out of their normal environment so that they can
27:48
have authentic conversations, walk away with real
27:53
relationships that are going to drive ROI, and take a little
27:57
space to unplug from like the noise so that they can really
28:01
understand the strategy behind who they want to be, what they
28:04
want to do, and how they can show up better in the world.
28:07
Got it. Awesome.
28:09
That's what you were saying before then?
28:11
OK. Yeah.
28:11
So we've had people who sign up for that and then, like, don't
28:13
come. And on a monthly basis, I still
28:16
check in with these people. And, you know, sometimes some
28:21
people, like one woman, her husband got diagnosed with
28:24
cancer. That's a fine reason to not come
28:26
to a conference. But I check in with her on a
28:29
monthly basis, and she's referred three people to us.
28:32
Wow and like that's the kind of it activates the network effect
28:36
too like if you just show up in the world and be a good human,
28:39
people are going to tell her the people about you.
28:41
That's How I Met you 2 from Daryl.
28:43
That's. True, that's true.
28:44
Garcia shout out Yes. I followed up with Daryl after a
28:49
job change and he was like, my gosh, I want to come to Arcadia.
28:53
And we've just stayed in touch ever since.
28:55
So I think that there's a short sightedness of if there's not
28:58
immediate ROI or there's not an immediate deal on the table,
29:01
then this person has nothing to offer me because I have built a
29:04
career on the network. Effect of following up, being
29:09
genuinely curious and, you know, being a good human.
29:14
So being a good human, that piece of it, like what if you're
29:17
leaving somewhere and doesn't even have to be a traumatic
29:20
leaving, it's just what's your advice when you're leaving a
29:24
relationship? Because you know, we always hear
29:27
don't burn bridges. You never know what's going to
29:29
happen. Do you think that applies across
29:32
the board? Are there certain people, toxic
29:34
people or somewhere? You're just being like, you know
29:36
what? I don't really care what this
29:37
person thinks of me and. It's questioned how.
29:41
Do you know? I mean, I definitely have people
29:44
like that in my life, but I am a believer that you never know
29:48
what's going to come around. And so I'm not saying let people
29:52
walk all over you. I'm saying stand up for what's
29:54
important to you. But don't write them off.
29:58
Yeah, because you never know, like they may come in contact
30:02
with another close contact that could become a deal, could
30:04
become a job for you. Like whatever B2B SAS is a small
30:09
world, like will run into the same people again.
30:15
And you, you talk about the stuff all the time here.
30:17
But like, yeah, business can get tricky sometimes for sure.
30:21
You have to be, you have to be proud of how you showed up with
30:24
your integrity and your respect. And if that's kind of how you
30:27
leave a relationship, then I think you did a good job.
30:30
But I also like to think that that people grow and they mature
30:34
and they get new experiences and new perspectives.
30:36
And I always believe in, I guess not that people can change
30:42
necessarily, but they can become more aware of their impact.
30:46
Maybe they've never had the feedback, maybe they've had a
30:48
bad day. But I agree, like keep your
30:51
integrity intact. But I don't know, have hope in
30:55
people where they don't want to be toxic, right?
30:58
Maybe they do. You would hope so.
31:00
I don't think so. I just think they're like
31:02
trained one way, right? And then maybe they just haven't
31:07
seen a different way, right? Yeah.
31:10
I also think people's, you know, where they're at in that moment
31:13
can change drastically. Yeah.
31:15
You know, maybe they're in a thing where they feel like they
31:17
don't really need you and they're on top of the world.
31:19
And then, you know, three months later, they lose their job.
31:22
It's very different now. Maybe they're calling you and
31:25
saying, hey, I know we didn't end in the best terms, but now
31:27
they need something. And so I think it's the
31:29
perspective shift is very interesting.
31:32
And I've always tried to be as forgiving as possible and like,
31:36
Yep, let's like kind of that no bad blood thing because we just
31:39
never know what's inside people's heads or circumstances
31:43
when they're going through stuff.
31:45
And there is a piece about, and I'd be curious what you think
31:48
about this, Sam, the whole like, it's just business thing.
31:50
Like how, how does that hit you when you're having sitting
31:52
around the campfire at Arcadia? And is there room for that?
31:56
The hey, look, sorry, it's just, it's just business.
31:59
I mean, I think there's a time and a place for that.
32:00
Like we just talked about like, yeah, you have to drive results.
32:03
You have if we're driving, if we're building businesses, and
32:05
yeah, that's part of the deal. But I don't think that gives you
32:07
a license to be an asshole and write people off.
32:11
And it's just business. But humans are the ones that are
32:14
driving business. And if you can't, if you can't
32:17
lean into that and be a good leader for those humans, then
32:20
you're not doing your job. I want to ask a little bit about
32:24
the experience at Arcadia, if we can jump into that.
32:27
I know you are very big proponent of the small intimate
32:31
kind of in person experience and in a world where we are just
32:36
driven by the number of likes we get in the growth in the
32:39
followers and it just seems to be so focused on big, big, big
32:42
in order to be considered valuable.
32:46
But you guys are taking a different approach.
32:48
So tell us about the power of the intimate group.
32:52
Yes, this has been, we are sticking with it and this is the
32:56
way it's going to be. But coming from like SAS
32:59
backgrounds of like scale 3X10X, right, right.
33:04
Feels really difficult to wrap my head around.
33:06
I'm like, if we would just have 100 more people, we could make a
33:08
lot more money, right? Yeah.
33:13
But the reality of that is, you know, kind of coming full
33:16
circle. We just talked about it's not a
33:18
skill that everybody has to walk into a room and start a
33:21
conversation. And so when we're with Arcadia,
33:25
we're really, we're really intentional about making that
33:29
space easy for people. And so we capped the experience
33:33
at 65 liters. We have an online community that
33:36
we're capping at 200. And the reason for that is that
33:40
you, in order to like actually step into a meaningful
33:45
relationship with somebody, you have to know them.
33:47
And you can't know 1000 people well, you just can't.
33:53
And that's not creating the space for people to, like, feel
33:56
really safe about talking this about the struggles of
34:00
leadership or, you know, we've had people talk about marriage
34:03
in our community. We've had people talk about
34:05
leaving friendships, parenting, like all the things that show up
34:09
in our day-to-day life. And so, yeah, we could scale.
34:12
We could make this like bigger than it is.
34:16
But I think that that would completely ruin the foundation
34:20
of creating a safe space for people to have meaningful
34:22
connections and relationships. I mean, there's a proven
34:26
business model where you could charge $175,000.
34:30
You just. You just.
34:32
Sell dogs. Yeah, no, you're just making
34:36
Arcadia, like the hottest thing in town.
34:39
You're going to make money. Don't worry, Sam.
34:40
I I trust in it. Not that you're doing it for the
34:43
money, but I think what you're saying like like you and your
34:47
college experience where you jumped from college to college,
34:49
you didn't really have like the through line hours, the
34:51
relationships. I lived 30 places before I was
34:54
30. So I got really good at like
34:59
meeting people right away, getting my bestie like you're
35:02
trying to establish and then gone.
35:06
My mom's like Newtown and we would go and I would have to do
35:08
it all again, but I was really good at it.
35:11
I feel like during that time because I had to be and then he
35:15
kind of got into business world and then you have to do it at
35:18
Dreamforce, which is what, 100,000 people?
35:21
And it was like really overwhelming.
35:23
And I found myself kind of starting to shrink.
35:25
And then I left the Salesforce ecosystem for the most part.
35:30
And then I feel like I became this like huge introvert and I
35:33
the 1st event I saw that felt approachable was Arcadia.
35:39
Just because you are capping it and you keep it small and it
35:42
does, it immediately feels safer.
35:45
And so I I just applaud you for that.
35:46
And you don't need to charge $175,000, especially before I
35:50
come, that's too much money, but.
35:52
No, you just got to get sponsors and then have them do it.
35:54
We can figure out a whole go to market plan around this for
35:57
sure. Yeah.
35:57
Well, and we do have sponsors which shout out partner Stack
36:01
because there are title sponsored for the third year in
36:03
a row, but they continually show up.
36:06
Partner stack, Partner stack. Okay.
36:10
They show up because they say they every conversation they
36:13
have is an important one because this is a really curated room.
36:16
It's the same level of people, the same type of work.
36:20
So that also levels the playing field for people.
36:22
But instead of, like, getting booth scans and, you know, badge
36:28
scans, they're actually having, like, really intimate
36:31
conversations with people who have buying decisions and they
36:35
get to have 65 of them. Yeah, I would say any day, any
36:40
day, 120 badge scans, you know, like so the ROI is definitely
36:45
there. And I bet you have to be very
36:47
careful. Nicole Christensen talks about,
36:50
you know, protecting her people and that.
36:52
And I would think for your sponsors, you have you're very
36:55
choosy about like trusting them with access to this group
36:59
because they have to show up and have authentic conversations.
37:02
Not, you know, just pretending, but they have to actually be
37:06
really good people who also align on those values.
37:09
So do. You see yourself.
37:12
Yeah, it's like, how are you vetting your sponsors and.
37:16
Yeah, I mean, we have turned sponsors down for sure, which
37:20
again feels bad. Well, but it's part of the deal,
37:25
right? And an intentional choice stay
37:27
true. To your mission.
37:29
Yep, Yep. And we also are really
37:30
intentional about like, we will not have competing sponsors.
37:33
So like if we have one sponsor in the space, they own it.
37:36
And that's, you know, really part of the deal.
37:39
We have no PowerPoints. We don't give sponsors spaces on
37:42
stage. Like it's their job to go in,
37:44
build great relationships and have a plan of like how you're
37:47
going to follow up with these people intentionally.
37:49
You can read the room. If you walk in and you're you're
37:52
pitch slapping everybody, you're going to get like the cold
37:55
shoulder. It just.
37:55
Is wait, did you just say pitch slapping?
37:57
Because that might be my new favorite word.
37:59
That I sure did. OK, we're trying to build a
38:04
merch, Yeah. Pitch slap slapping right on it.
38:09
This is really good. Yeah, so I got all.
38:11
Right. Well, I'll take 5% of all, all
38:13
revenue on that brand. Done.
38:16
Done. You can't you can't take the go
38:17
to market executive out of the woman.
38:19
I mean, it's there to stay. Just remind of it too.
38:22
She might be dealing in partnerships and human stuff,
38:25
but at the end of the day, OK, pitch slap.
38:28
Don't come pitch slap me. What are you going to pitch slap
38:30
me? All right, I like this.
38:32
This is in my vocabulary. Now, I heard that you are also
38:38
bringing networking events into your community, so like outside
38:41
of Arcadia, like you are doing some stuff in Bozeman.
38:45
Can you tell us more about what you're doing there and why?
38:48
Like why are you taking more on? Blakely I don't know the answer
38:53
to that last question, but here we are.
38:58
So we're actually doing 2 events.
39:00
One is called. So when you live in Bozeman,
39:03
you're called a Bozeman Night. So one event is called Bozeman
39:06
Nights and this is a monthly speaker series.
39:10
But mostly it's a gathering of like all the people in Bozeman
39:14
that are creators, building businesses, you know,
39:18
tastemakers in the community, whatever.
39:20
So that's a month. It's so fun.
39:23
So the first one we had the Co founder of Element LM and TI
39:29
don't know if you're. Familiar.
39:30
Know him? Are you talking about Rob Wolf?
39:33
Not Rob Wolf, his Co founder James Murphy.
39:37
Like the actual business guy. Yes, but Rob Wolf was mentioned
39:41
many times in said speech and then.
39:45
I don't want tennis. State but you do not know
39:48
element tea. I don't OK.
39:50
Element I call element. Drink I am this is element you
39:54
just. Can't I drink one every morning?
39:56
Clay and I were talking about. Has your little fortune on it or
39:59
like your little message for the day?
40:01
Yeah, it's a tea bag. No, this is a salt drink.
40:04
Element, as in salt. It's like an electrolyte.
40:06
Drink element. Tea.
40:08
So if you look at element tea, try to visualize it, it actually
40:13
if like you say the letters it's element, right?
40:17
So is it like AM and M thing? Is it like M&M spell M&M?
40:23
Except they're not from Detroit. Eminem OK, so just spell it for
40:28
me L Thank you Sam Element. T so.
40:35
Sam, you talked to the founder. Do they call it LMNT or do they
40:39
call it Element? Element.
40:41
OK, element. All I'll say on this is, OK, so
40:44
I have that one, and then I started Made in Good Company,
40:47
which is the craft one that Blake keeps talking about, I
40:50
love. Made in good company.
40:52
That's such a great name. You're good at this.
40:54
She's branding, branding. That.
40:57
Yes, when you're done with those jobs, you need to come over
41:00
here. I know how to do leather work.
41:02
Do you ever do leather work? Oh my gosh, me too.
41:04
What do you do? I do bracelets and I do like
41:08
coasters and just everything that's not too hard.
41:11
Key chain earrings. I do earrings.
41:14
Wow, leashes. Dog leashes.
41:15
That would be good. I do dog.
41:16
I do dog collars. I could do a leash, but oh, it's
41:20
so good. Have you ever done it where you
41:22
pound out the leather and you stamp it and it's just like, and
41:26
you just beat the hell out of the leather?
41:28
It feels so much bigger inside you.
41:30
I do. It's because I don't take
41:31
supplements, but you can make designs and it's it's really
41:35
fun. So do you do leather work at
41:37
these nights too? Ever.
41:38
We haven't yet, so we've only had one of those.
41:40
The first one was we made paper flowers out of crepe paper.
41:43
But much similar to like the Arcadia leadership experience,
41:48
adults sock at making friends. They just do.
41:50
It's just kind of part of the deal.
41:52
So I'm a firm believer that if you kind of distract them by
41:56
doing some sort of experience and then put them in a room
41:59
together and then help facilitate great conversation,
42:04
it naturally starts to happen for people.
42:06
So. Sam, we call that parallel play,
42:09
right? Like.
42:12
Cosplay. What is that?
42:13
No, it's like. You know when you have sometimes
42:16
boys don't like interact well together and so.
42:20
You're doing your own thing. Together you're building Legos
42:22
and you're parallel playing and all this Then like, yeah, oh,
42:25
you're there. Oh, we'll be friends.
42:27
You know, that's, that's I feel like what you're doing, right.
42:31
Well, it's so true, but it's, I mean, it's for adults because so
42:35
Bozeman Nights, they sell out there, it's a free event, but
42:39
they sell out at like 120 and they sell out in like 3 days.
42:45
Like it's crazy. And then people come to these
42:47
things and Jason and I kind of stand there and we look around
42:50
and it's like, OK, you made the effort to register for this, get
42:54
in your car, get out of your car, come in the building.
42:58
And then you just stand there and you don't know how to go
43:02
talk to people and make good connections.
43:04
And so I'm obsessed with this idea now of like breaking down
43:07
those walls, not only for like business relationships, but also
43:11
just adults. Because I feel we we've all
43:14
heard the stats. The loneliness epidemic is a
43:16
very real thing. And yet walking up to somebody
43:20
and saying, can we be friends is like the most terrifying thing
43:26
we can do as adults, even though we all want it.
43:29
So in all of these instances, we do our best to like facilitate
43:34
conversations. Of course, we'll make intros if
43:36
we know somebody, but asking really like open-ended
43:39
questions. So like for made in good
43:40
company, I'd walk around and be like, OK, question for the
43:43
table. What are you most proud of right
43:45
now? And just like prompts to get
43:48
people like, oh, congratulations.
43:50
I also do leather working like whatever it is just to kind of
43:54
like create those what I love about.
43:56
This is that it just takes away the awkwardness of not knowing
44:01
what to do because you're saying here, come here, sit at this
44:03
table and do this. So then you're, you feel like
44:05
there's some kind of purpose. I walked into a thing last night
44:07
and it was wonderful and the women were all wonderful, But I
44:09
did have that moment of walking in.
44:11
There were three circles. They were all talking.
44:14
I kind of tried to do the trick that Bailey taught us of like
44:17
making eye contact, but they were just in deep conversation.
44:19
They meant no harm. They just literally didn't even
44:22
notice. I walked in the door.
44:24
And so I'm like standing there and I like walked back out.
44:27
So I was like, OK, I'm going to try this again.
44:28
Like because I was like it was. Did you like Ring ring ring from
44:32
here? It was a.
44:34
Small room. I'm going to go to the bathroom.
44:36
Riding back dining room. So I was like, OK, take 2, I did
44:40
it's a thing. I did a lamp and then I tried
44:42
again and that time was much better.
44:44
I saw a table with like name tags.
44:46
I filled that out, but it was just the having something to do
44:49
and having like a purpose that and you remove that barrier is
44:52
huge. Yeah.
44:54
And I think it's something that I think corporations should
44:56
think about this. I think conference planners
44:59
should think about this. Yeah.
45:01
I mean, I really any point ways that you can break down those
45:05
barriers and make your event feel safe and welcome to people
45:10
because. Yeah.
45:12
You know, that's how people are going to remember you.
45:14
That's where they're going to show up.
45:16
If your brand can do that for a happy hour at Dreamforce,
45:19
imagine the impact that's going to have on people like, Oh my
45:22
God. I walked in and I was
45:24
immediately greeted. I was asked great questions.
45:27
I felt really safe and connected.
45:29
Yeah, I want to do business with you.
45:30
Yeah, Yep. OK question for you asking for a
45:34
friend. But when I go into a room like,
45:38
how can it be less awkward? I mean, Heather was just talking
45:42
about that's how she went into the event she went to.
45:46
And it can be really hard to like find your place.
45:49
So there is that initial step of like, you got to find a person
45:51
to talk to 1st and that can be really awkward.
45:54
So if you find somebody alone, there's a first one.
45:58
But you know, you mentioned making eye contact with
46:00
somebody. That's another good one.
46:02
And then once you get there, don't talk about the weather,
46:05
don't talk about shoes, although shoes are great.
46:07
You can still do that. But ask really curious
46:10
questions. And one thing that we really
46:12
like to think about is how and what questions, because they're
46:15
often open-ended and they're going to lead to something on
46:19
the other end. So what is it about that that
46:23
interests you or how could I get involved with that?
46:28
Like just more how? What?
46:30
So if you can think about starting a question with that,
46:32
it's going to be more open-ended and the conversation is going to
46:36
get more interesting much quicker.
46:38
So people are going to feel more engaged and it's going to lead
46:42
to connection faster than why do you do that?
46:47
Oh, I like that because that's kind of accusatory too.
46:49
So you're saying and you're talking about follow up
46:51
questions. So they've told you.
46:52
Yeah. I'm here with my company, you
46:55
know, looking for investment. Then the question, the next
46:59
question out of my mouth needs to be a how or a what, correct
47:04
in response to that. Got it.
47:05
Interesting. OK.
47:07
Would it be like how long? Have you been there?
47:10
Or like give me an example of a good how or what after that
47:13
question or answer. What interests you in this
47:17
company about potentially investing in them?
47:21
How did you get involved with this in the 1st place?
47:24
OK, got it. Yeah.
47:27
Oh, you make it. Seem so easy First I've been
47:30
practicing because at first it was a little awkward, but run it
47:34
through in your head and I promise you it's going to make
47:37
it easier. That's awesome.
47:39
Thank you, Sam. Good take away.
47:41
Thank you so much. Just another.
47:44
Piece of the puzzle. My quest not to be so awkward.
47:47
Well, the OK, so you you've written about this to Sam where
47:52
you talk about wanting to create a space within the business
47:56
world that makes room and encourages people to talk about
48:00
the unspoken things. So as we kind of close out, I
48:03
know we're running up against time.
48:04
I'd love to hear you explain that a little bit more, and the
48:08
power of giving people room to speak about the unspoken things.
48:13
Well, you 2 do this beautifully. Well, I think this that's why I
48:16
asked you the question Layup. Set up or layup?
48:20
Sorry. We we planned this, Clay.
48:23
Yeah. Talk to me.
48:27
Yeah. But man, even like listening to
48:31
your show, I feel like, Oh my God.
48:33
Same. And I think that's just not a
48:36
thing that happens in the business world.
48:38
Like, leadership is really hard. LinkedIn connections are worth
48:43
Jack shit, you know, like. People need.
48:49
To play, I'm sorry. Clay keeps trying to get off of,
48:53
like, having to come on LinkedIn.
48:55
So he likes that last statement, Yeah.
48:57
Well, I think you should do it because it has driven a ton of
48:59
business, but. But as far as relationships,
49:02
like true meaningful relationships, it's hard just
49:04
because you're connected on LinkedIn.
49:06
Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I'm saying that like
49:09
having 10,000 connections on LinkedIn doesn't mean that you
49:13
have great relationships in your life.
49:15
Those two things are not the same, right?
49:19
But I think by going first, by leading by example, these types
49:26
of conversations need to happen in the business world.
49:30
I think we all put on like this title of successful go to market
49:34
leader. And I have no flaws and I know
49:37
what to do at all moments and everything else is fine.
49:41
And that is not the reality of the world that we live in.
49:45
And I think that often times leaders step into these
49:48
positions and they feel like they can't ask for help or
49:51
they're not allowed to be a human and say, I'm really
49:55
struggling with this or like, I love my job and I'm giving my
49:59
all to it, but the rest of my life is falling apart.
50:03
Does anybody else feel that? Yes, and those.
50:07
That was hypothetical, and that was, yeah, that she wasn't
50:10
asking you, but feeling it right now.
50:12
Sam Blake was crying already. There's no like my.
50:15
Campfire and you're crying. Do you guys ever sing around the
50:19
campfire? I was wondering that.
50:21
She's got a voice major. She sings around the.
50:23
Campfire, I listen. No, I do not.
50:26
What do you mean? It should be.
50:28
Did your voice come back after mono?
50:31
It will just two be determined. OK, I we're going, we're going
50:36
to the next Arcadia thing and we're going to, we're going.
50:38
To sing, Actually, I was thinking, because you can sing
50:40
one of those talent shows. Wait, Heather can sing her?
50:45
Daughter. My daughter is going to be
50:47
famous someday. She's so good.
50:50
She's probably the most beautiful voice I've ever heard.
50:53
It's unbelievable. Wow, that is so.
50:54
Sweet. Well, it's true she didn't.
50:57
Get it from me, She got it from her grandma.
50:59
So, Heather, let's go be backup singers for Sam.
51:03
Let's do it. OK, we'll bring I I can play the
51:05
guitar a little bit, so I'll bring the guitar here.
51:07
We. Go OK, so you heard it first
51:09
here. Heather is hosting a leather
51:11
workshop and we're going to do Campfire.
51:15
Songs. Like night karaoke.
51:16
Peanut, Peanut butter and Jelly. Right now I'll see you can sing.
51:22
I can tell already. No, it's sardines and pork and.
51:30
Sardines never heard pork and beans it's.
51:33
From Girl Scouts Girl Scouts. It was like sardines.
51:36
I was a Girl Scout. I've.
51:38
Never heard this. It was outlawed for your
51:41
generation. They said it was too vulgar.
51:45
There were some crazy ass campfire songs when we were
51:47
growing up. Poor Sam is like oh man, Heather
51:50
and Blake. I don't understand the camp.
51:51
Yet they think it's summer camp. I.
51:54
Can. Sing.
51:57
I've got them all. I've got a Star Wars one.
52:00
I bet you do so many. That's good.
52:03
I'm going to teach that section. You're going to get us
52:09
uninvited. Blakely, do you know how hard it
52:10
was to connect with Sam and get, you know, this this guest spot.
52:14
OK, it was hard. You are you are a woman that
52:18
people want a little a piece of your time and your brilliant.
52:23
And now I understand why. Like this is really good stuff.
52:26
And I love how so many people just talk about this, but you
52:30
guys are living it like you're actually living it.
52:32
And you're making choices for your family and your business
52:36
that are so incredibly obviously aligned with who you are as
52:39
people. And then you're allowing us to
52:42
be part of that, not just us, us, but the the community, the
52:47
greater business community. And that's beautiful and it
52:49
takes a lot of guts and courage. And I thank you very much for
52:53
leaning into that. That's beautiful.
52:55
Thank you for being here with us today.
52:57
Well, thank you both. Thank you for those kind words.
53:01
I love love love what you guys are doing here.
53:03
Seriously. Big time fan, long time
53:06
listener, first time. Yeah, first time guest.
53:09
Yeah, I've been listening to your first time guest.
53:12
That's so good. Oh yeah.
53:13
And before we let you go, you know as a long time listener, we
53:16
have a question that we ask all of our guests at the end of the
53:18
show and we do answer to ourselves, which is what brought
53:21
a smile to your face this week. I do love this question.
53:25
I started running again this week, which maybe it brought me
53:28
a smile at the end of the run. Yeah, running.
53:32
I thought you said writing running.
53:33
You started running, running, running.
53:36
Yeah. OK, so why did you stop and then
53:39
why did you start? So I picked up running this
53:43
summer and did some big races and then I signed up for even
53:46
bigger races this coming summer and I was really on track and
53:50
then I got sick and so I had to take a month off and so back at
53:58
it. You're back.
53:59
What's a what's a big race? What kind of race?
54:03
So here in well it's in Big Sky which is 45 minutes from us, but
54:08
Lone Peak, it's called the right of fun.
54:11
So I am doing the 21 K which is up Lone Peak and around and all.
54:17
That so elevation plus plus. Distance.
54:23
Wow, good for you. That's incredible.
54:27
Well, I haven't done it yet, so. Hey, it's going to be gorgeous,
54:31
yeah. Yeah, it'll be great.
54:33
I did the 11K last year. Jason, my husband signed up for
54:36
the 50K this year so. That's a little money.
54:39
Insane. But yes, back back on my feet
54:43
and that feels good. So.
54:45
Awesome. OK, good.
54:46
Well, now that I know that you're running, you need to eat
54:48
more breakfast. I do.
54:50
You're so right. We were doing testing mics and
54:52
Clay said. Sam, what did you have for
54:54
breakfast? She's like a scoop of peanut
54:57
butter. I.
54:58
Don't know what you said pretty much.
55:00
It OK, so eat more, all right? Blakely, What brought a smile to
55:05
your face? Well, I think I just had this
55:08
aha moment. So my like internal smile was my
55:11
husband is wanting to be doing has wanted to do something
55:15
inside the community for so long and he doesn't quite know how to
55:20
do it or what to do and like run for office, not run for like
55:23
things like that, which does not feel good for.
55:26
Heather, is that what he's going to do?
55:29
OK. Oh, juggle.
55:30
Oh, I thought you were doing the whole 6-7.
55:32
I'm like, that's so done. OK Juggle.
55:34
Yeah, juggle is like more like this, I think.
55:37
Yeah, maybe he'll juggle, But I'm like, well, maybe we could
55:42
be Sam's first franchise and we could do some kind of bolder
55:45
nights. Like, it would be so cool.
55:47
Like, that's what we want. We want to go see speakers.
55:50
We want to learn, like, go to art history thing.
55:53
So anyway, that was like an internal smile.
55:55
It was just a little inspiration to think, you know, what are our
55:58
family values, what is our mission, what is our legacy in
56:01
this town? Like that is great.
56:03
My external smile was seeing Jovi, like, doing like bouncing
56:10
toward me. And she got like zapped 5000.
56:15
I'm stirring it. So she was like, OK, through the
56:17
pay, OK, zapped. This is the magic technique
56:23
that's not anybody can ZAP a dog to.
56:25
Get just a little vibration, little vibration.
56:28
It's fine anyway, just seeing so she basically.
56:31
Pushed through electrocution to get a case.
56:33
From you because I'm her person and I just.
56:38
She's like, yes. Sam, it was.
56:41
It was so good. They're so good because we have
56:46
flapper assets or whatever they're called.
56:49
I am. Killer assets.
56:50
Killer protection. Assets protection.
56:56
OK. Also though, it is going to be a
56:57
200K franchise fee, just so you know.
57:01
Yes, totally. I'll, I'll put the paperwork
57:03
together for Sam. I got you on this, you know.
57:06
So just for all right, Clay. OK, my smile this week was I was
57:10
watching the Pistons on TV and they were playing a game.
57:14
And. Are they from Detroit?
57:15
Yep, the Detroit. Pistons baseball, I mean
57:18
basketball, baseball. You can't leave that in there
57:21
because I just spoke wrong. They're the basketball team.
57:23
The Tigers play the baseball. OK, Yeah.
57:26
So I was watching a Pistons game and, you know, basically when,
57:32
when like there's a shot shot. Excuse me A.
57:36
Shot caller. And then the players like would
57:40
go up for a layup and they'd just be like.
57:42
This is in the corner pressing a button.
57:45
I would love it whenever there's like a shot clock violation, you
57:49
know, that buzzer that happens that, well, all of a sudden I'm
57:54
watching a game and then the buzzer happens and then it keeps
57:58
going and it doesn't stop. They got stuck.
58:02
And then it keeps going and it doesn't turn off.
58:05
And then all of a sudden they're trying to do an interview with
58:07
somebody like side court and they're like the announcers are
58:11
like, do you know what's going on with the the buzzer?
58:15
It keeps going. So.
58:18
How long do you think it went for?
58:19
I'll just say it went for 12 1/2 minutes.
58:22
They couldn't get it shut off. So OK, so here's what happens.
58:28
I'm going to give you the the play by play.
58:30
So they can't get it to shut off.
58:31
So they can't keep playing the game.
58:32
The game has stopped. So then then all of a sudden
58:36
there's a guy who's like got these headphones on who's like
58:39
stressed out trying to push buttons.
58:41
And then there's like an ESPN reporter that comes in and he's
58:44
like, he's like, here you see a man frantically trying to figure
58:49
out how to shut off in his caused chaos here at Little
58:53
Caesars Arena so that the. Guy can hear him.
58:56
He's like doing great from this guy.
58:59
OK, so then all the players are like looking at each other, like
59:03
what do we do? So then 12 1/2 minutes ago, they
59:07
show the crowd. People are like covering their
59:10
ears, like looking around, like what is happening?
59:13
People are completely helpful. But those are expensive seats.
59:16
I know I. Want to leave?
59:17
Them and I just. Knock this up.
59:20
But it's a long story. But it gets better.
59:22
They shut it off after 12 1/2 minutes by turning off the
59:25
Jumbotron. So they turn off the Jumbotron,
59:28
they turn it off. It's a button that they have to
59:31
basically press any time they want that sound to come back on.
59:35
So then the players have to warm up.
59:37
They do their like 15 minute warm up to basically not get
59:39
injured, right? Because now they're, they've
59:40
been sitting around for a while. They get back up.
59:43
Then the the announcer says, I'm really worried what's going to
59:47
happen if they try to press that button again.
59:50
And so then what they did is someone came out to the actual
59:54
officiant, like, you know, scoreboard keeper and gave them
59:56
an air horn like one of those little ones that's like a pocket
1:00:00
1. So anytime that there was like a
1:00:02
stoppage or a plate, you heard of like A and then the Detroit
1:00:08
Pistons coach comes over and he's like, I don't like that.
1:00:10
Can you like, he's like press the button?
1:00:12
I don't want to hear that. So then they're like, do we
1:00:15
press the button? Do we do the air horn?
1:00:17
And it just threw the whole thing.
1:00:18
It was just like, Oh my gosh, we're just playing a game.
1:00:20
Like kids play this game. It was hilarious.
1:00:24
And I was smiling into your adult frenzy.
1:00:27
It was so much fun to watch because I can turn down the
1:00:29
volume on my TV. You know, I'm just watching some
1:00:32
TV, but. I love the little air horn, the
1:00:34
little one. It's yeah, yeah.
1:00:39
It was so great. It was the.
1:00:41
Most of the props to whoever had an air horn just as.
1:00:44
A spare one. Just in case.
1:00:46
Yeah, exactly. It's not a bad idea.
1:00:50
That was my smile. Long story.
1:00:52
But. That was worth it.
1:00:55
I'm not even going to try. Are you kidding me?
1:00:57
But it is so, so, so good. My smile of the week actually
1:01:03
just happened last night. Got in right under the wire.
1:01:06
Remember Haifa Who? Could forget Haifa.
1:01:10
How you say your last name? I think it's Abu Kir.
1:01:12
Abu Kir way sexier. She's a way sexy lady she's.
1:01:19
Freaking amazing. Anyway, she and Range Ventures
1:01:22
and a couple other funds or people investors in her fund
1:01:27
hosted this women in investing curiosity night and it was like
1:01:32
a 2025 women showed up private dinner and it was exactly what
1:01:38
we do here. No acronyms allowed.
1:01:40
You know what is an LP? It's a limited partner.
1:01:43
What is this? You know, it's like just
1:01:44
removing all barriers to entry to investing.
1:01:46
And it was. That's cool.
1:01:48
Awesome. I mean, what she's doing for
1:01:50
women and investing, it's really incredible and I appreciated it
1:01:55
so, so much and I'm sure she'll hopefully have more of them.
1:01:58
But it was, I really feel so empowered to do some private
1:02:02
investing now. And it's, it's like I didn't
1:02:04
realize that there's, it's not a huge high barrier to entry.
1:02:07
And I learned how you, even if there is a minimum buy in, you
1:02:11
can pay it over time only at capital calls throughout, like
1:02:14
you can make home commitment, but it happens over time.
1:02:16
And so I've never done any of that.
1:02:19
And then like the risks of Angel investing, how you have to
1:02:22
really be prepared to be involved a lot more than if
1:02:25
you're to doing it through a fund and just conversations that
1:02:28
women aren't just having on a regular basis.
1:02:30
And so it was. Awesome, have her on the show.
1:02:32
You should have a whole show on that.
1:02:34
We did we. Did it was early.
1:02:36
It was like we. Need a part. 2 early, we need a
1:02:39
Part 2 though, because we didn't even scratch the surface, Sam,
1:02:41
to your point, like we need, we need to get in there more.
1:02:44
So really huge thanks to Haifa and Range Ventures for doing
1:02:48
that and everybody else that was on the panel.
1:02:49
It was awesome. I'm going to have her at Boulder
1:02:53
Nights. She's coming soon.
1:02:55
I franchise. Love.
1:02:57
This What's Heather since the paperwork?
1:02:59
Going on ideas. Ideas.
1:03:01
I got. You so Sam, before we go, we
1:03:05
always ask our guests what are ways that people who are
1:03:09
listening can stay in contact with you follow up learn more
1:03:13
about Arcadia. I just want to say too, before
1:03:16
we actually close that this episode you have your presence.
1:03:20
The way you conduct yourself, the way that you showed up
1:03:23
today, has totally brought got out a new side of Blakely and
1:03:27
Heather Wick. They have never giggled and
1:03:29
laughed and like on this show, they are so relaxed around you.
1:03:36
And I have only the biggest feeling that that's exactly what
1:03:40
happens at Arcadia. Does that connections and things
1:03:43
like that come out from how you lead by example?
1:03:45
So how can people stay in contact with you and follow what
1:03:49
you're up to? Well, first of all, Clay, that's
1:03:52
so kind. But I hear them laugh all the
1:03:54
time, so. Not like this.
1:03:59
These are giggles. Not like this though.
1:04:00
I mean they do laugh on the show a lot, but they are in very rare
1:04:04
form today. They.
1:04:06
Are OK so I am on LinkedIn even though I told you it was dumb
1:04:14
earlier. I do spend was dumb.
1:04:18
I do spend a. Lot of time there but Arcadia
1:04:22
leadershipexperience.com is where you can learn more about
1:04:25
the in person event and then BBE arcadia.com is where we're
1:04:30
hosting our online community. We also have a podcast, it's
1:04:35
called the Friends with Benefits podcast which I Co host with my
1:04:38
husband. So do with that what you want.
1:04:40
More brilliant branding, More brilliant.
1:04:43
Branding. So good.
1:04:44
And yeah, would love to love to meet any and all of you.
1:04:47
But seriously, this was this was the highlight of my day.
1:04:51
So thank you for having me. It was very fun.
1:04:54
Thanks Sam. Can't wait for Arcadia unless
1:04:58
I'm nursing another knee. Nursing.
1:05:02
No. Are you pregnant on top of
1:05:04
everything? Could you?
1:05:06
Imagine kumbaya. Okay all.
1:05:11
Right. See this.
1:05:12
Is what I'm talking about talking?
1:05:15
About I do. Need to teach you some more camp
1:05:17
songs. I have a lot I really want to
1:05:19
teach them. Okay, I like the game where it's
1:05:22
like I'm going camping and I brought a bear and then
1:05:25
everybody has to. You would be so bad at that
1:05:27
game. Can you imagine how bad you
1:05:29
would be at that? Game What do you why?
1:05:31
Your short term memory loss? Oh, it would be a disaster.
1:05:36
She has to like, write it down. Yeah, she'd be cheating on the
1:05:39
side with her flashlight. Yeah, that's fine.
1:05:42
OK. I'd be worse than you.
1:05:43
I'll teach you my campfire songs later, OK all.
1:05:47
Right, can't wait. All right, Thanks everybody.
1:05:49
See you next time. See you next time.