Latest / The Ric and Dan Show / "If we don't do it now, when will we?": Elizabeth Sutherland of Sutherland Weston

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"If we don't do it now, when will we?": Elizabeth Sutherland of Sutherland Weston · The Ric and Dan Show

0:01
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) He's Rick Tyler and he's Dan Cashman.
0:04
And I'm Elizabeth Sutherland, president and CEO of Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications.
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And I'm on my very own Rick and Dan show.
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In Maine, we often hear you can't get there from here.
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These are the stories of the risk takers, the trailblazers,
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those who turn obstacles into opportunities every day and found their way to get there from here.
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And today they're on the Rick and Dan show.
0:28
So she's like six minutes late now.
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Do we start without her?
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I mean, we could.
0:34
Is she going to be upset if we start a podcast interviewing our boss
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when the boss isn't here because she's now seven minutes late?
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You're the one that's married to her.
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You can probably answer the question better than anybody.
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She signs your paycheck too.
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Oh, here she comes.
0:49
Welcome to our podcast studio.
0:51
How's it going so far?
0:52
Yeah.
0:55
So great.
0:57
So right now Elizabeth is moving a microphone out of the way so she can see me.
1:00
I think I am better off with it in the way.
1:03
I don't think I need to be making eye contact right now.
1:06
I honestly don't think the microphone would stop the daggers coming from her eyes right now.
1:10
You guys are so funny.
1:12
We are a hoot.
1:13
I presume that all of you have reviewed the Excel spreadsheet I sent about the topics that I will not discuss
1:19
because I'm married to the boss.
1:22
No.
1:23
What inspired you to break away from the cozy job you had working at the Big Ten House of Healing?
1:29
Oh, I did love it.
1:30
And then starting what was at the time, do you know the name of the company that she started when she left?
1:36
I do.
1:37
It was Blue Paper Communications, but I wonder if you should explain what the Big Ten House of Healing is
1:41
for people who don't live in your brain.
1:43
The Big Ten House of Healing is Eastern Maine Medical Center, now Northern Light.
1:48
There was a difference between the system and the hospital itself.
1:50
Right.
1:51
I worked for Eastern Maine Health.
1:52
Were you married then?
1:53
Yeah.
1:53
Because that's something you probably should have known where she worked.
1:55
For a while.
1:55
We've been married.
1:56
He's been calling it the Big Ten House of Healing so long he didn't actually know where you worked.
2:00
This was on page two of the spreadsheet.
2:04
What gave you the confidence to leave Eastern Maine Health Care and start Blue Paper Communications?
2:12
So actually, more than confidence, what gave me...
2:16
So honestly, it was maternity leave.
2:19
I was out for a few weeks on maternity leave with our oldest son, Ian.
2:24
And it was during that time that I actually had time to think about what I wanted out of life.
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I loved my job and I spent a lot of time working and believing in the initiatives and programs we had
2:40
to move the communications of Eastern Maine Health Care forward.
2:43
And while I was on maternity leave, I was removed from that enough
2:47
to really sort of do some soul searching for myself about what I wanted out of life.
2:53
And it was that moment that gave me the grain of an idea that, you know,
2:59
slowly developed over the next six months into Blue Paper Communications.
3:03
What did Blue Paper Communications look like at the time?
3:06
So it was me, a computer from Sam's Club, a desk from Sam's Club,
3:15
and an electric pencil sharpener that was a going away gift from the team of communications professionals
3:23
at Eastern Maine Health Care.
3:24
An electric pencil sharpener.
3:26
I was really sad.
3:27
They spared no expense.
3:28
No, listen, the thing that I was most concerned about was that I was a serious pencil user
3:35
than still am in a large respect.
3:37
And I loved that electric pencil sharpener.
3:40
And so as a going away gift, they got me my very own.
3:43
It's amazing.
3:44
I remember when I went off on my own and I started my little PR agency,
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I walked in with the laptop.
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That's all I had.
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And I realized, oh, my gosh, there's nothing here.
3:54
Did you have that same sort of, oh, crap moment when you kind of set up your office?
3:59
Like, oh, I'm starting from scratch.
4:01
Big time.
4:01
You know, Rick and I had had lots of conversations.
4:04
We'd done some planning.
4:05
I knew that I had a few weeks to sort of ramp it up.
4:09
I didn't have the kind of runway that I would tell a young person to have now.
4:14
Right.
4:15
But we started with lots of hope and a fair amount of optimism.
4:21
And then I was really lucky was that I had some strong contacts in the region
4:27
and I had a few business owners, business people,
4:30
business leaders in the greater Bangor area that called me up, gave me a job.
4:36
I had a little project here, a little project there,
4:38
and it allowed us to sort of get the ball rolling.
4:41
I say us, but at the time it was me, myself, and I.
4:44
Can I tell a story about the day when you actually confessed to me
4:46
that you wanted to make the move?
4:48
I don't remember this story, so maybe.
4:52
I'm not really sure what day it was, but we had both arrived home
4:56
and Ian was in the backseat in the child seat.
5:01
And I put the car in park and you didn't move.
5:04
You, however, let out a sigh.
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And I don't claim to know a lot about understanding you as my wife and soulmate,
5:16
but I got that moment and I turned to you and I still remember what I said.
5:20
Are we going to do it or are we going to wake up 20 years from now
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and wish we'd done it?
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And look at us 20 plus years later.
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Still asking ourselves the same questions.
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No.
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No, I'm really glad that I took that move.
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I'm really thankful for the leadership and mentor that I had from,
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at the time, my current boss, from leaders inside the system who encouraged me.
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And, you know, Myles Thieman was a huge mentor of mine,
5:52
especially in those early days.
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He saw me through two or three really significant decision-making processes
5:58
that were really helpful.
6:01
And for people that don't know who Myles is.
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Myles, at the time, was the CEO of Affiliated Healthcare,
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which was the sort of for-profit arm of Eastern Maine Healthcare.
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He has since retired, but he spent many years as a business leader in this area
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and really focused on, you know, he really understood not only the community
6:22
and the people, but he was also wise about how you make money.
6:26
And I learned a lot from him.
6:27
Now, one of the businesses I think he had ties to was commercial delivery systems.
6:32
CDS, yes.
6:33
CDS.
6:34
And still tooling around the roads today, you see the CDS vehicles.
6:39
And you see the logo.
6:41
Yeah.
6:41
You want to tell the story about the logo?
6:43
Not really, no.
6:44
Come on, Elizabeth.
6:45
Tell them the story about the logo.
6:48
Oh, I'm sorry.
6:49
Was that on the spreadsheet?
6:50
Oh, that was page three, wasn't it?
6:52
Don't talk about the CDS logo.
6:54
No, no, no, it's not that.
6:56
So at the time, CDS was owned by Affiliated
6:59
or it was a joint venture that Affiliated was involved in,
7:04
and they did hire us to create a brand standard and a branding package for CDS.
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And the logo that was on their trucks was on it for many years,
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was something that we created, I created, in our sun porch.
7:18
So a lot of people talk about how they had a back bedroom office, right?
7:23
We didn't have an extra back bedroom.
7:25
We had a sun porch, and the sun porch became our office.
7:30
Was it at least a four-season sun porch, or were you out there with no heat?
7:33
Well, it got really cold in the winter, let me tell you.
7:35
It was insulated.
7:37
It did have heat.
7:38
It was a little drafty.
7:40
It was definitely an add-on to the building at some point, but it worked just fine.
7:44
And then came the day that you told me that you were meeting.
7:47
I thought you were meeting at the Wigan Courier,
7:50
but apparently you were meeting at Applebee's.
7:52
No, not Applebee's.
7:54
We were meeting at Pizzeria Uno.
7:56
Yeah.
7:56
See, Dan knew this story better than you did.
7:58
Because I wasn't privy to it.
8:00
We should have reviewed it.
8:01
Oh, you think I was?
8:02
You probably knew more than I did.
8:05
No.
8:06
Yeah, so we were coming up on our second anniversary as Blue Paper Communications,
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and Kerry Weston had his agency, which was called CM Weston at the time.
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We were up for the same job with the same client.
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It was a competitive process,
8:24
and the business owner decided that he really liked both of our approaches
8:28
and wanted us to work together.
8:31
He thought he'd get a better result by bringing us together.
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And so, honestly, he was the inspiration for what became Sutherland Weston.
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We worked on that initial project together,
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and then we worked on a couple of other projects with one another
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where our mutual slightly different expertises dovetailed well
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and decided that while we had different processes,
8:53
we had different levels of expertise
8:55
and different pieces of communication and advertising, marketing,
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one of the things that we did have was a mutual agreement
9:04
on how a business should be run
9:06
and a desire to see an agency grow and thrive in this part of the state of Maine.
9:12
And then after you and Kerry at a table somewhere at Pizzeria Uno decided to do this,
9:17
and then tell people when you finally decided to come and talk to me.
9:21
A couple days ago.
9:22
I didn't realize this had to be a marriage therapy session.
9:25
I didn't either. I feel very awkward being here right now.
9:28
No, Kerry and I met a couple of times for lunch
9:32
and talked about what a merger would look like if we came together.
9:36
So, you know, it started, I think, probably fairly classically.
9:41
We had a synergy in our work styles.
9:44
We had a conversation about what it would look like if it got tighter.
9:47
We got comfortable with one another in sort of envisioning that future.
9:51
We shared financials.
9:53
We decided it was time to get serious about some due diligence.
9:56
And we reached a point where we felt comfortable taking it one step further.
10:00
And so Rick is being a little facetious because he kind of knew this was happening.
10:05
He just didn't necessarily know how far we were getting.
10:08
And he was letting me manage that process.
10:11
We did at one point share with both Kerry's team and our team
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the idea that we were going to come together and become one.
10:20
How big were those teams?
10:22
They were both about five individuals at that point.
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It was Rick and I and a few other people.
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And Kerry had himself and a few other people.
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And so when we came together, we had a little bit of duplication.
10:35
So we ended up losing a couple of employees.
10:38
But for the most part, we just merged.
10:41
You mentioned and I mentioned that first moment of walking in
10:43
and having that oh crap moment that you're starting from scratch.
10:45
Do you remember the first day that two of you and your two teams
10:48
walked into a shared office for the first time?
10:51
So we had at that point moved out of our sun porch
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and into-
10:57
Five people in that sun porch seems crowded.
10:59
It would have been very- three people in that-
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two people at times in that sun porch was really crowded.
11:05
We had moved into a space owned by Dick Cattell.
11:08
257 Harlow actually, the little strip of brick building
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underneath one Cumberland place.
11:15
And that was a fantastic space for us in those early days.
11:20
And Dick was an excellent landlord.
11:22
He was very kind to us.
11:23
And we were there and we had-
11:25
there was a lot of open and extra space.
11:27
So Carrie's team moved in to our space.
11:30
And, you know, they got a moving van
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and we sort of moved all their stuff in.
11:36
And it was- both agencies were pretty bootleg at that point.
11:39
It was, you know, whatever leftover desk your mom had
11:42
and filing cabinets that were a little beat up
11:44
that had stickers from three other businesses on them.
11:47
What that office didn't have was open space for collaboration.
11:51
No, it really didn't.
11:51
And that was a challenge.
11:52
Someone could have a great idea at one end of the hallway
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and you'd have to get up.
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And by the time you got to the other end of the hallway
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to talk to the person, you'd forgotten what your great idea was.
12:01
It had been originally built out to be like an investment firm.
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So there were a lot of little offices
12:06
so that advisors could have private conversations with their clients.
12:10
So we were working around those kind of space challenges
12:13
for the first few years.
12:15
And then came the time that we decided
12:16
we needed a more collaborative space.
12:18
And you took the trip to 6th State Street.
12:22
Yeah.
12:22
And what was, at one point, a museum of some sort for the city?
12:26
Right. It was the Bangor Historical Society's Bangor History Museum.
12:30
That was a scary looking place.
12:31
Well, it wasn't its most charming when we looked at it the first time.
12:35
But we were very lucky to, again, have another excellent landlord
12:40
in Carol Epstein.
12:41
And she was very gracious and very helpful
12:44
and really saw the vision that we wanted to create in that space
12:49
and was willing to work with us.
12:50
So we did a pretty major overhaul, cosmetically,
12:54
of that space when we first moved in.
12:56
What was the conversation like when you described to them
12:58
that we want this wall taken out, and this needs to be this color,
13:01
and this needs to be that color, and we need this level of open space?
13:05
So, look, I will tell you, honestly,
13:07
there was a little bit of fear behind the eyes
13:09
of the folks that we were talking with
13:10
as we were describing our sort of color-coordinated vision
13:13
of green, orange, and cream, right?
13:17
But when it was all said and done,
13:20
Carol actually would bring people in to show them the space
13:23
because it had become something where you could see modernity
13:28
in an older building in a way that was fairly seamless.
13:32
And eventually we had to knock that brick wall out
13:34
in order to create what became
13:36
and what is part of Southerland West End's...
13:38
Our identity, really.
13:40
The Idea Studio.
13:41
The Idea Studio.
13:42
And that place was more than just a big TV
13:44
and a place to take a nap when no one was watching.
13:46
It had all of these big, comfy chairs,
13:48
and you could sit down in there and really collaborate.
13:51
The furniture was really oversized in many respects,
13:54
but in part that was intentional
13:56
because we wanted people to feel like they could put their feet up
13:59
or slouch back or really sink in
14:02
in a way that changed the conversations.
14:05
And so for many years, we had a conference room
14:08
that allowed us to sort of sit around a table if we needed that,
14:12
but then we also had this more collaborative space
14:15
that forced you to sit differently with others
14:18
and therefore often talk differently and think differently.
14:21
One of the things that stuck out at me about that space
14:24
was the appreciation for the history of that building
14:27
and the appreciation for the history of downtown Bangor.
14:30
That building was the Eastern...
14:33
Bank and Trust.
14:34
Downtown Bangor branch, ironically.
14:37
I ran into somebody at Hannaford years after starting to work there
14:40
who used to work at Eastern Bank.
14:41
We just struck up a conversation online,
14:43
and she worked there 40 years, 50 years earlier.
14:46
It was crazy.
14:46
But how much of that appreciation for history
14:49
kind of led into you deciding that space was right for you?
14:54
I've always had an appreciation for the architecture
14:58
and the look and feel of a space
15:02
that has weathered time.
15:04
And it was really interesting to me
15:06
how that building itself became...
15:10
You know, it was one of the first buildings
15:11
rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1911,
15:14
and it was an excellent place for us to be,
15:17
both from a location,
15:18
but also from the sense of historical perspective.
15:21
You know, I'm a firm believer that Maine is a fabulous place,
15:24
and we have so much to offer,
15:26
both the communities and the individuals
15:29
who live in our communities,
15:30
but also the world in general.
15:32
And part of that is just really welcoming
15:35
and respecting the history that we have.
15:38
Remember we found somewhere up in what we called the Hobbit hole
15:41
a deposit slip for Eastern.
15:45
Deposit book.
15:45
And one of the deposit slips was dated 19... I think 1912.
15:50
Was it from George Hale?
15:52
No, but it was something we did end up giving
15:55
to the Historical Society
15:57
because we felt it was important for them
15:59
to have that little piece of history.
16:01
What was great about that building was that
16:03
there were lots of stories that could be told
16:05
about the bank and the other businesses
16:07
that had been there over the years.
16:10
And I remember in early days,
16:12
Arthur Comstock came to visit,
16:14
and he had worked there as a young teller
16:16
when he was first getting started in banking.
16:19
And he wanted to tell lots of tales.
16:21
He had lots of stories to share.
16:22
I remember the Bengal Region Chamber of Commerce
16:24
after hours that we hosted.
16:26
When we opened.
16:27
When we opened in that space.
16:30
And it was sardines.
16:32
Yeah, it was pretty full. It was pretty full.
16:33
We thought we had a big enough space to accommodate
16:35
everyone that was going to come by.
16:37
Early days, that was before you expanded then.
16:39
Yeah, it was. We weren't through the brick wall yet.
16:42
But everything was fresh and shiny and new.
16:44
We actually expanded twice in that space.
16:48
Was it three times?
16:49
Because you expanded into the Idea Studio
16:50
and then expanded further down the hall
16:52
to take what used to be the...
16:54
Bangor Room.
16:54
It became the Bangor Room,
16:56
but the vault that belonged to the other company.
16:57
And then you expanded into what used to be
16:59
the Congressman's office for the AV team.
17:02
Yeah, you're actually right.
17:03
There were three times.
17:04
Look, Dan, you know our history better than I do.
17:06
I know my history of Southerland West fantastic.
17:07
If this were a trivia night, I would be...
17:09
Yeah, and each one of those expansions
17:11
was something that, you know,
17:14
was a moment of growth for us.
17:17
It was an opportunity to think big again.
17:23
And again, you know,
17:24
we had just a really great relationship
17:27
with Carol and her team,
17:28
and they were very accommodating
17:30
when we wanted to grow.
17:32
I can think of some of the major campaigns
17:34
and the ideas that were kicked around
17:37
in that building and in that Idea Studio.
17:39
RH Foster's Hot on the Spot campaign.
17:42
Yeah, the Cheap Milk campaign.
17:43
The Cheap Milk campaign came out of that.
17:45
When we had the privilege of working for Versant Power.
17:48
It was when Bangor Hydro became Amera.
17:50
Amera, and Power to the People of Maine.
17:52
Yep, yeah.
17:53
And the first pitch to someone outside our company
17:56
for We Are Bangor took place in that room.
17:58
Yes.
17:59
Well, and we did things there,
18:00
like our Just Desserts for the, you know,
18:03
United Way of Eastern Maine at the time,
18:04
Heart of Maine United Way now,
18:06
where we were throwing pies at people.
18:09
Okay, okay, we were throwing pies at people.
18:12
At whom were you throwing pies?
18:13
Well, you and Dan and Carrie.
18:17
You got to comment, but also the celebrities.
18:19
Yeah, we had celebrities every day.
18:21
You didn't take a pie in the face.
18:22
Not one.
18:23
You gave a few.
18:24
I did, I did take a pie in the face
18:25
and there is video recording of me getting pied.
18:29
Oh, the last day.
18:31
Yeah.
18:31
The last day was kind of a free for all.
18:33
Yeah.
18:33
I don't think we talked about it,
18:35
but deciding to pull up stakes from 6th State Street
18:38
and come to the marketing mansion,
18:40
which we don't really call it the marketing mansion,
18:42
by the way.
18:42
But it is a big house on the hill.
18:44
It is at 150 State.
18:45
Yeah.
18:45
We liked State Street, apparently.
18:47
We just kind of moved up.
18:47
It's a beautiful street.
18:48
Beautiful street.
18:48
Moving on up like George and Wheezy.
18:50
Yeah.
18:50
But that was a big decision.
18:51
It was a big decision.
18:52
It went from renting to owning, right?
18:54
And it's like, it was a big move.
18:56
And similar to 6th State Street,
18:58
I feel like there's another location
19:00
for Sutherland Weston with a great appreciation
19:02
for the history of the space that we occupy,
19:05
but also a place that everybody has pride
19:08
to bring clients in and show it off.
19:11
It's a great space, don't you think?
19:13
It's very different than 6th State Street.
19:15
It has a different feel, a different vibe.
19:17
It's taken us a little bit to figure out
19:19
how to use it to its fullest advantage.
19:21
But what I love about this house on the hill
19:23
is that it really allows us to marry
19:26
that old grandness of Bangor
19:30
into sort of the modern technology of today.
19:34
So we've touched on the physical changes
19:37
to the company that you own,
19:38
and we've talked about some of the intellectual changes,
19:42
the growth with campaigns and everything,
19:44
but a privilege to serve a whole lot of people
19:45
in the state of Maine, business-wise.
19:47
Yeah, one of the things that we've done
19:50
as we've evolved over the last 20 years
19:52
is really developed a deep level of expertise
19:55
in the main consumer, the main resident.
19:58
And we have worked really hard
20:01
to continue to grow that level of expertise
20:04
by digging deeper and understanding better.
20:07
We've done some research.
20:08
We do lots of talking, reading, and analyzing data points
20:12
in order to really make sure we understand
20:14
how Mainers think and feel
20:16
and what affects their purchasing decisions.
20:19
From that, one of the newer things that we've created
20:22
that I'm really excited about is the Maine Insights Lab.
20:25
It's a collaborative opportunity for businesses
20:28
to come in and work with us on sort of a sprint basis
20:31
where we can take that expertise about the main consumer
20:35
and help a company level up their messaging
20:39
and their approach to Mainers
20:41
so that they can get even more of the market share
20:43
that they're looking for.
20:45
What led you to it?
20:46
I wish I could say that it was this stroke of brilliance
20:49
that I had, but honestly, it was a long, slow drip
20:53
of years of digging deeper and deeper and deeper.
20:57
And then there was just this moment when I was like,
20:59
what if we just offered this up to businesses in Maine
21:03
or outside of Maine who were looking to come into Maine, right?
21:06
What would this look like?
21:08
And in the true marketing fashion, as the marketer that I am,
21:12
I was like, well, if we're going to offer it up as a package,
21:14
we should give it a name.
21:15
So hence it became the Maine Insights Lab.
21:18
I think there are a lot of businesses in Maine
21:20
that will find value from joining us in this lab.
21:24
Yeah, I do too.
21:25
Now, what exactly will they experience?
21:27
The Maine Insights Lab is meant to be sort of a think tank
21:30
on how Mainers make their purchasing decisions in the state of Maine.
21:34
One of the things that we'll be doing through the Maine Insights Lab
21:37
is delivering quarterly insight briefs that are a little bit deeper,
21:42
a little bit more robust than just 400 words in a newsletter.
21:46
And those are meant to provide Maine business leaders
21:49
with enough information and data so that they can make tangible changes
21:53
to the marketing that they have for their business.
21:56
It's business growing value.
21:58
Exactly.
21:59
We've done some research.
22:00
We developed a sort of adnatunal study and have used that research
22:04
that we called Mindsets of Maine
22:06
to really talk about three primary groups of Mainers
22:09
and how they think and feel about Maine,
22:11
what their opinions are of living and working in Maine.
22:14
Very different than sort of traditional opinion-based research
22:18
in that it's about their attitude,
22:20
not necessarily the position that they hold today.
22:23
And those Maine mindsets are things that we're using
22:27
to create a series of mini reports about specific topics
22:33
and how those mindsets react to them.
22:36
One of the things that businesses can do with this information
22:39
is use it to really think about,
22:41
okay, so if someone is thinking this way
22:43
and this is what challenges their core beliefs,
22:47
then what can my messaging be to sort of counteract that
22:51
or support that in the right direction in order to make a difference for me.
22:54
The other thing I think that's really cool
22:57
about what we're offering inside the Maine Insights Lab is insight sprints.
23:01
So we can do a half day with a business
23:03
where there's some homework ahead of time,
23:05
but then you come in either virtually or into our office,
23:09
into the Idea Studio 2.0 that we have here.
23:12
You can spend time with us and really get some expert advice and opinion
23:17
based on your actual individual needs and challenges,
23:21
and we'll work through those with that organization.
23:23
And we should talk about the snacks that are available.
23:26
Well, there are always snacks because it's Sutherland Westin.
23:28
Honest to goodness.
23:29
For some reason.
23:29
Sometimes I see the budget line for snacks for Sutherland Westin
23:33
and I think this has got to go.
23:34
That was on page four of the spreadsheet.
23:35
We're not supposed to talk about the amount of money
23:37
we spend on beverages and snacks.
23:39
Yeah.
23:40
It is kind of nice when we have some of our regulars,
23:43
organizations, and some of the businesses that have worked with us for years
23:45
and they come in and...
23:47
They know what color seltzer they want.
23:48
Yeah, exactly.
23:49
Or what flavor of seltzer they want.
23:49
And they know that the 207 coffee is...
23:51
Brewing.
23:52
Yeah, brewing.
23:53
They also know where the larger candy bars are stored
23:55
and they just go help themselves.
23:57
Yeah, yeah.
23:58
We're fine with that, Miles.
24:02
You know, if we maybe made more of a point
24:05
of pointing out the snacks that we have available
24:07
for people coming to join us and talk with us...
24:10
No, no, no.
24:11
We could double our business in 2026.
24:14
You think?
24:14
If you could go back in time...
24:17
Yeah.
24:17
And tell yourself...
24:18
Oh, my goodness.
24:18
A couple of things that maybe you were afraid of
24:22
that you shouldn't have been
24:23
or things that you maybe wish you knew then that you know now.
24:27
For the aspiring person in your shoes today,
24:30
what sorts of things would you say?
24:32
I think one of the things that is important to know
24:35
is that you can do everything.
24:37
You just can't do everything all at once.
24:40
And so learning how to prioritize your growth goals
24:44
is really important.
24:45
And then figuring out how to focus on that first priority
24:50
and delivering on that is equally important
24:53
as knowing what it is.
24:55
Do you think that back then
24:57
you legitimately thought you could do everything?
25:00
No, I didn't.
25:01
No, of course not.
25:02
And, you know, I totally get
25:04
when people talk about imposter syndrome, right?
25:07
I faked it till I made it a lot
25:09
as we were growing this business.
25:11
But looking back, what I have realized
25:14
is that the confidence that I have today
25:16
comes from the hard work I put in then.
25:19
And I am a huge advocate
25:22
of anybody who has a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit
25:25
giving it a try.
25:26
And, you know, Rick and I have had this conversation many times,
25:29
whether it was about starting a business or starting a family
25:32
or painting the house, you know, whatever it was,
25:36
it was like, well, if we don't do it now,
25:38
when are we going to do it?
25:40
And the other thing that we have said to ourselves
25:42
time and time again is, well, at least we're doing it, right?
25:46
Like you never know if you're going to win or lose
25:49
until you try.
25:50
So you would go back and tell yourself,
25:52
go ahead and go for it because you can do anything,
25:55
you just can't do everything at the same time.
25:57
Yes.
25:59
Would your 2002 self believe you?
26:04
I think my 2002 self knew that innately
26:08
or else I would never have cracked open the box
26:12
on that PC from Sam's Club
26:15
and decided to start my own business.
26:17
I think it's at that age, though,
26:19
where people do feel like they can do anything
26:21
because they haven't necessarily always experienced that wall
26:26
to realize they can't do something.
26:28
They might have been knocked down, but maybe they got back up.
26:31
It's one of the reasons that I felt confident.
26:33
Are you going to start singing Chumbawumba?
26:35
No.
26:35
I was thinking about it, but Elizabeth cut me off.
26:38
You know everyone loves right that moment.
26:40
You know what, we had really good friends
26:42
who owned a small business at the time,
26:44
Josh and Beth Hayward,
26:45
and one of the things that I learned from Josh,
26:49
one of the things that he said to me
26:50
as we were kind of talking about me making this decision
26:53
to go out on my own was that now was the time.
26:56
I was in my early 30s.
26:58
We had a little bit of financial stability,
27:01
but we were still young enough that giving it a try,
27:05
even if it failed, didn't mean the end of the world.
27:08
There's a lot less risk to trying some things
27:11
when you're 30 than there are when you're 60,
27:13
and I can appreciate that,
27:15
and it was his encouragement that led to
27:18
sort of the visionary thinking that I had at the time.
27:21
Do you still have the electric pencil sharpener?
27:22
I do. I absolutely do.
27:24
It's on my desk in my office.
27:27
It's what anybody sharpens their pencils with
27:29
here in Sutherland Weston still.
27:31
How has the business changed overall?
27:35
Big picture.
27:36
Big picture.
27:37
So, you know, we went from one employee in the back porch.
27:41
Kerry had one employee in his back bedroom,
27:43
himself and myself, right?
27:44
And then it has grown to up to 17, 18 employees at one point.
27:50
We're a little bit less than that now
27:51
because one of the things that has really changed
27:54
about marketing in Maine
27:55
is that with technology and innovation,
27:58
we've been able to do more with less people.
28:01
But also the shape of the business,
28:03
the style of the business has changed.
28:05
What individuals are looking for from us now
28:08
is a lot more strategy and insight related.
28:12
While we still produce a lot of creative material,
28:17
collateral materials, deliverables,
28:19
like videos and commercials,
28:20
there's a whole lot more strategy that's involved.
28:22
Back in the day, 23 years ago,
28:25
there was a lot more doing,
28:27
and I don't think that there was less thinking,
28:29
but thinking wasn't as critical.
28:32
It wasn't as much of a core component, I think I would say.
28:35
Not that it wasn't critical,
28:36
because I think good strategies always mattered,
28:39
but I think when people were shopping
28:41
for an advertising agency,
28:43
that's what they were shopping for,
28:45
someone who could do their advertising,
28:47
not necessarily someone who had great business acumen
28:50
who would help them think strategically
28:52
about how to grow their business.
28:54
Do people still refer to this as an advertising agency
28:58
or has that sort of industry evolved as well?
29:01
I think that industry has evolved as well.
29:03
I think there are a few people who still use that term
29:05
because there are also still people
29:07
who shop at Doug's Shop and Save, right?
29:09
Guilty as charged.
29:10
But I think that many more people would say
29:13
that we're a marketing firm,
29:14
that we are helping folks with their marketing and sales
29:19
in a way that is a little bit more strategic.
29:22
To piggyback on what you just said, too,
29:23
I was being introduced to some team members
29:27
for a client of mine and they said,
29:29
Dan works with our business strategist
29:31
at Sutherland Weston.
29:32
Yeah, that's great.
29:33
And it seems to me that that evolution continues
29:36
to kind of move in a direction towards strategy, always.
29:39
Yeah, and oftentimes when people ask me
29:41
what I do for a living,
29:42
I don't ever use the word advertising, right?
29:44
I talk about business strategy, growth strategy,
29:47
the marketing that is needed in order for that to happen.
29:50
Well, I think the only thing you haven't mentioned so far
29:52
about running the business
29:53
is having a strong, confident spouse at home
29:56
that supports you.