Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Building an Inclusive, Authentic Brand with Robyn Streisand

Transcript

Building an Inclusive, Authentic Brand with Robyn Streisand · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  The people that work for me are like my family.
• 0:02
  They're like my kids or my brothers and sisters.
• 0:06
  And we have such a profound sense of immunity and respect for each other that it allowed us
• 0:14
  to have double digit growth throughout the whole time during COVID, and our clients, like,
• 0:22
  saw us in a whole new light.
• 0:27
  10,
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  10, ignition, liftoff, Ending small business failure.
• 0:37
  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with the number 1 small business spurt, Melinda Emerson.
• 0:43
  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 0:48
  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small Biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Hey there.
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  Are you thinking about starting your dream business?
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  Well, if you are, I have the path for you to go down so that not only do you start your
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  business, but you start a profitable and sustainable small business.
• 1:13
  This fall, I'm gonna be teaching my become your own boss class live.
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  It's a 10 week online class that is a hybrid.
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  You get a little bit online, but you have a 2 hour live class with me every week.
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  For 10 weeks.
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  And I am gonna be teaching it this fall.
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  It is starting October 10th, and I really want you to come and get a real road map.
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  Not only are you gonna have your business plan completed, but you're also gonna end my course
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  with a pitch deck and a launch plan.
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  I'm gonna help you start your dream business with a plan, and I'm gonna help you launch it.
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  No other business plan course is doing that, and they're certainly not doing it with
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  America's number one small business expert.
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  So I wanna invite you to head over smallbizladyuniversity.com and check out become
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  your own boss.
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  We're gonna be teaching it this fall starting October 10th, and I want you to sign up today.
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  Alright.
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  Take care.
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  Welcome back to the small biz chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady, your host, and now it is my pleasure to introduce my
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  next guest, my good friend, Robin Strysand, and she's gonna be talking to us about how to build
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  an authentic brand.
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  Now Robert is the founder of the mix in Titanium, and she founded those companies with
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  diversity in mind.
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  She's a trailblazer in the lgbtq community, and she has made it her mission to make marketing
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  and advertising more inclusive as the recipient of Ad Age's women to watch and the out 100,
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  Robin is recognized as a gifted connector strategic problem solver, and a champion of
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  marginalized communities having led the mix for 25 years, Robin has built her creative agency
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  into a formidable offering for Fortune 500 brands.
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  And with the her 2014 launch of titanium worldwide, is the 1st collective of cert
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  decertified diverse marketing media and communications agencies.
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  She continues her request to prove innovative solutions to corporate provide innovative
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  solutions to corporate America.
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  Ramna's living proof that when you lead with love, The ROI is remarkable.
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  For more information, go to the mix.
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  That's with 2 X's and YC dotcom.
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  Robin, welcome to the small business chat podcast.
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  Oh my god.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  It's so good to see you, and I'm thrilled to be here.
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  Oh my gosh.
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  I kiss I can't wait to jump in.
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  So quickly give us your backstory.
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  Right?
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  How did you get into business?
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  Yes.
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  So I started my career on the client side working for a major fortune 500 brand in
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  marketing.
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  I did that for 10 years.
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  And what I I saw was the consistent theme is how companies have a tendency to just keep
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  doing what's not working.
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  And as a young person, like, out of college, I'm like, why do we keep doing this?
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  Why do we keep doing this?
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  It's not working.
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  We're not getting the ROI.
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  And I found myself just always being, like, in the, you know, one side of the boxing ring
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  until there was a time where I could literally jump ship and do something else.
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  I never had it in my plan or in my on my road map that I was gonna owe in a business, but
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  When the time is right and the door is open, here I go.
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  I'm leaving my very cure fortune 500 job, and I'm opening up my own agency in my apartment by
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  myself because it was very cool back then.
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  To open up and, you know, have your company be in your home.
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  And I launched the meds in 1996, and I have not looked back since Alright.
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  So let's get into branding because you are a branding guru.
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  So how can a person align their personal passions and interests with their business
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  brand to really build an authentic brand in the marketplace.
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  Yes.
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  So I would say our approach is We get in inside and under the hood of who people really are.
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  I think one of the and as we've all been talking today, we always wanna find that white
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  space and have that differentiating reason why us versus the plethora of other agencies or
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  partners out there And our process is very much sitting down and and really digging into what
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  at the heart of the matter, not just the service or the typical, like, reasons for being
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  or why this or why that We're looking for those gems, those nuggets, those real special
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  highlights that we could start to frame and build something very unique and different that
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  has the same value prop and the reason for being, but has, like, the ingredients of really
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  being something unique and special, kind of like a one of a kind, and there'll never be
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  another like yours.
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  And we've had success with small business, corporate America, medium sized companies,
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  companies that are either looking to refresh what they're already doing, or maybe it's there
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  adding a new offering or a new division, and it's always coming from the inside out and
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  making sure that the brand is always in alignment with the people that are in the
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  building as well as then getting their their current customers or new prospects aligned with
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  why the pivot why now and why you have to be a part
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  of it.
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  So one of the things that a lot of people talk about in terms of branding right now is is
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  story brand, right, storytelling to to get your sort of, like, brand message across.
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  Can you talk a little bit about you know, how to do that in a way that accurately represents
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  what you stand for versus what's like cliche right now, what everybody's doing, because I I
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  hear this story brand, everywhere.
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  Yes.
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  I mean, the storytelling is, like, the most it's at the really at the heart of everything
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  that we do.
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  And, you know, with so many channels now that are available and accessible to everyone to
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  find what they're looking for or who they're looking for or if diversity, equity, and
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  inclusion matters to you.
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  So, you know, we we really pride ourselves on, like, a very simple script about, you know, who
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  we are, how how we work and why it matters.
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  And we also use this Brick, not only from an onboarding perspective, our of our talent, but
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  we use it as we onboard clients.
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  It is a two way transaction We are just not in it to get new customers.
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  They have to be aligned with us in a way that make the the time, the investment, and the
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  energy that we're putting into these solving the complexity of the problems that we're we
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  are all facing today.
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  Like, we have to be on the same page.
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  And oftentimes, like, what we see a lot, especially in senior level roles of in
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  marketing, is that You know, they think they know it all, and they're really just looking
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  for somebody to be an execution arm, and we're not the right partner for that.
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  Can we execute I don't really think that that's how you wanna spend your money with us.
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  And, you know, we're okay about walking away or just saying, no.
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  Thank you.
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  This doesn't feel like the right fit for us.
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  So the client and the people inside and the all really operate from we're all beating to the
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  same drum.
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  And, you know, the mix has been a small business for a very long time for a very
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  specific reason.
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  It's easy to be big.
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  It's hard to be small.
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  And when when you look at us, we are all coming from the same place.
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  We have the same lines that we didn't have to mold or shape people in order to be a member of
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  this company.
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  We look for those people with those shared values They we all care about the same thing,
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  and we all wanna give back and serve community.
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  And It was and has been very challenging finding a level talent with those kinds of
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  values to almost like the needle in the haystack.
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  And we've had great success, especially over, like these past couple of years of COVID, I
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  really never Who knew then going into it that a company would be able to not only make it, but
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  achieve double digit growth inside of the most unpredictable moment when you're a creative
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  company that works that's grounded in collaboration and partnership and, like,
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  putting things up on the wall and looking at it and, like, you know, bringing the diverse lens
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  of who we are as a company to assess and evaluate all the work who knew that we were
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  gonna be able to do this in a remote world.
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  And I have to tell you, I think, you know, Because we actually care about each other.
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  I mean, the my the people that work for me are like my family.
• 10:47
  They're like my kids or my brothers and sisters.
• 10:51
  And we have such a profound sense of immunity and respect for each other that It allowed us
• 10:59
  to have double digit growth throughout the whole time during COVID, and our clients, like,
• 11:07
  saw us in a whole new light.
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  Right?
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  Cause they didn't know where to go or how to do it, and they all had to figure it out And we
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  became kind of like the go to company because people didn't know how to react or respond to
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  the world of which we're living in today.
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  And It's been an incredible run and journey I have to say, but I would never be able to be me
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  without the people underneath me making it all happen.
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  I'm sure that is true.
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  Now one of the things that a lot of people talk about in terms of personal branding is is
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  transparency, right, and how your personal brand really is your business brand.
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  And can you talk about that?
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  Because I think that That is true, but I also think that there is a line.
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  Right?
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  I do see a lot of people out here oversharing or sharing things that I don't think I should
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  know.
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  And so how do you how do you balance that with wanting to be transparent but not being, you
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  know, TMI?
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  You know, not not doing too much.
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  Well, I'll tell you, we've we've had our fair share of dealing with the mind field, if you
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  will, like Should we go this way?
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  Should we go this way?
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  How much do we tell?
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  What do you not tell?
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  And, you know, I think when you come from what I would call a heart first approach.
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  People have already signed up for an open door.
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  Transparency is, like, at the foundation of our company and and our reason for being in and the
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  transparency that we are, we're human.
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  Right?
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  We're human first.
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  And although the marketing space probably is of the most complex in this world that we live in,
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  I think when you start to just realize who's across the table from you or who's in the next
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  box next to you on zoom, and you could actually see and feel where people are and not be afraid
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  to say, hey.
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  You know what?
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  I'm checking in on you.
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  Are you okay over there?
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  And you know, as the leader, I think there's a level of, well, is she talking to me, like, the
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  CEO of my company's actually asking me how I am.
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  And our entire approach is about accessibility, and we're here for each other first.
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  And you have to create safe space for people so that they could, you know, have somebody to go
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  to in good times and bad.
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  And yet at the same time, you wanna establish what those boundaries and guardrails are.
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  I will say one of the accomplishments that we've had in the past couple of years is the
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  mix went for its what's called their B Corp certification.
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  And B Corp is really about 4 different areas.
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  1, it's about the company culture and how you talk about your onboarding process, your
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  handbook, how you incentivize, how you communicate your quarterly meetings, etcetera.
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  Then too, it's how you give back to community and what are those areas where you're not just
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  saying that you sit on 3 nonprofit boards, but how do we actually Take that from how we do our
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  business to how we give back to community and then how we pull it through in our day to day
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  lives.
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  And I think that's really super important in this world that we live in, crazy as it may be.
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  And then the third thing is how do we interact with clients?
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  And there's an entire it took us 18 months to achieve this B Corp certification.
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  And, you know, the foundation of all of it is really about the ESG meets CSR meets DEI, and
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  we sit at the intersection of all of that.
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  And it's because of that that more and more companies are actually going for this kind of
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  certification because it really speaks to the authenticity of who a company is, what the
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  leadership stands for and represents, and what are the kind of people that work inside that
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  agency.
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  So I suggest everybody check that out for sure.
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  Alright, Robin.
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  Tell me, what is the best business advice that you have ever been given?
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  Beer is good.
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  It keeps you focused.
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  So throughout my entire career, there's so much uncertainty and not knowing.
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  And every time I'm, oh my god, like, not sure.
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  I just break through the wall and go for it in spite of it.
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  And I don't let it stop me from realizing my dream and my true potential.
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  I love it.
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  I love it.
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  Thank you so much, Robin, for being here.
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  I'm Melody Emerson Small Bus lady.
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  America's number one small business expert, and I will leave you with this last thought.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you weren't.
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  God bless everybody.
• 16:17
  Hey there.
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  Have you always wanted to start your dream business, well, now is the time.
• 16:21
  My become your own boss class is back online this fall starting October 10th.
• 16:27
  Sign up for our 10 week online course, and you're gonna have 2 hour live weekly session.
• 16:33
  We're gonna give you everything you need to build your business plan your pitch deck and
• 16:37
  your launch plan.
• 16:39
  If you're ready to start your dream business in 2023, do not delay sign up for this course so
• 16:45
  that you can start off the new year as an entrepreneur.
• 16:49
  Head over to smallbizlettinguniversity.com, and you'll get all the details to sign up for
• 16:54
  become your own boss.
• 16:55
  The live course starting again, October 10, 2023.
• 17:06
  Thanks for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 17:11
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday for more
• 17:16
  fantastic information and interviews.
• 17:19
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 17:23
  website succeed as your own boss dot com.
• 17:27
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.