Talk Triggers | Convince and Convert | Jay Baer | Jay on Twitter | Jay on LinkedIn | Jay on Instagram | Buy Talk Triggers on Amazon

Impulse Creative 

Links: 

• Grow Weeders into Leaders
• Jeff at Ole Miss
• Jeff's TED Talk
• Jeff on Twitter

MK's Links:
MK’s Website 

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn 

Resources MK Mentioned:

Alyce

6 Sense 

Outreach

Gong

BirdEye

Links: What We Love About the HubSpot CMS Hub [Professional and Enterprise] | HubSpot Marketing Services

Julie Hogan builds Drift's Customer Experience function, focused on continuously improving the journey of a Drift customer in partnership with Marketing, Sales, Customer Success & Product.

Links:
Drift
Julie on LinkedIn
Julie on Twitter
Julie's Medium article days off
Feature on Julie

"The customer's perception is our reality." - Remington Begg

Customer experience can include a lot of elements, but it really boils down to the perception the customer has of your brand. Even if you think your brand and customer experience is one thing, if the customer perceives it as something different, that is what the actual customer experience is. 

On today’s episode Remington and Dan share personal stories on customer experience.

Resources:
Experience This! Podcast
What is Customer Experience (Forbes article)

Links: Lola.com | Jeanne on LinkedIn | Jeanne on Twitter

Links:
Maiden Voyage Podcast
International Women's Day
The Crysalis Effect 

LINKS: 

Jason’s TEDx Talk

Jason’s website

Facebook

Cards Against Mundanity

Executive Breakthroughs Podcast 

Links:
Ivan Misner on The Storytellers Network
BNI
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Givers Gain by Ivan Misner

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Links:
Social Media Examiner
Social Media Marketing World
Michael Stelzner Twitter
Social Media Marketing Podcast

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Resources:
Strategic Marketing Roadmap
David Meerman Scott conversation
Get help with your marketing

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

David says fanocracy means an organization that puts the needs and wishes of fans ahead of every other priority. Applying the strategies in Fanocracy will make your company more likely to dominate your category and win business. And beyond the financial benefits, a Fanocracy spreads more joy and inspiration to the world at large.

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

For those who don't know, Remington Begg grew up on a boat. When he was 7, his parents decided to set sail from their home in Bermuda and live independently with their three young children and a dog. All on a boat about the size of two minivans. 

For the next seven years or so, the family sailed through the Caribbean and beyond. 

Remington says the lessons learned and life experiences he had in his childhood impacted his way of thinking and his business sense. You can see it today in several ways.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

An Entrepreneurial Spirit

When you’re on a boat sailing from harbor to harbor through international waters, Remington says, you learn a lot about being an entrepreneur. You don’t have the usual “get up and go to work” life so many of us have in America. 

Instead, you live in the moment, and when you have needs for your family you pull into a port and trade. 

As a young boy, Remington discovered that he could watch the dingeys in port for sailors so they’d be secure. These people were willing to pay him, so he’d make money sitting and watching the small transport boats so no one would steal them. 

As he earned the money, he figured out quickly that he could buy supplies like leather in one port, work on making crafts like belts with it, then sell them in the next port. This is where Remington learned how to invest in the next step.

In addition to the economics, he learned how to look at a problem and reverse-engineer the solution. It wasn’t always about following a well-written plan. It was about finding the best solution. 

While this has served him well, Remington did admit to it hindering his initial math lessons in middle school when his family returned to the U.S.

Why Communication is Key (in Business and Sailing)

When you’re on a boat in open water and the only thing between you and the sea is a railing, listening is critical. 

“Most parents tell their kids not to cross the street without looking and panic if the child walks toward the road. For my mom, it was falling overboard and drowning.” 

So from safety to learning how to navigate with traditional tools—this was before we carried supercomputers with access to the world’s GPS—Remington learned the importance of communication. 

He now carries that into business. Whether you’re working with clients or team members, it’s important to actively listen, ensure communication has happened and move forward with the task at hand. 

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Jaime Jay is the Founder and Managing Director of the virtual company Bottleneck Virtual Assistants. Bottleneck offers professional growth opportunities for ambitious business owners and executives through remote teams of assistants. 

But before his success with Bottleneck, Jaime was an amateur hockey player and starter geek who founded Slapshot Studio in 2013. He wanted a business that combined his life of hockey with building websites. The Slapshot Studio brand was born. Then came a pivot. 

At his core, Jaime is a connector of personalities and brands who constantly challenges himself to be a better human being. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

A Long Journey to Overnight Success

In 2006 Jaime Jay started an advertising and marketing agency in the real estate niche in Stockton, California. The business was a partnership with a friend who owned a real estate agency and saw the need for ads and marketing for agents. As a marketer and website developer, Jaime was a great fit.

Jaime's partner Mariano had moved to the U.S. from the Philippines. "He had the relationships and knew the work culture," Jaime says.

The business was built with remote workers long before international virtual assistants were popular.

For a couple years, the partners found great success together helping real estate agents with their branding, marketing and advertising. 

Then when the 2008 recession hit and real estate took a turn, Jaime found himself shuttering the business. "We lost 70 clients in the span of three months."

At 38 years old, Jaime had to move back in with his parents. While owning that first business, he says he spent instead of saved, lived paycheck to paycheck and just enjoyed himself. 

Fast forward nearly ten years and Jaime now has his own virtual, remote-work based business with clients around the world.

The Podcast Pivot

Stop Riding the Pine (SRTP) Podcast is Jaime's podcast designed for business leaders who want to overcome workplace barriers, transcend changes, and perform at their best.

The name of the podcast is based on a sports analogy for 'get off the bench.' As an amateur hockey player who has created several successful businesses with his DIY attitude and a drive to accomplish an education-based dialog, the term fit.

In the beginning, Stop Riding the Pine (SRTP), was created to interview leaders in the industry to share their marketing tips and strategies.

When Jaime started Bottleneck, his world was less about marketing and changed to focus more on culture. So after about four years, he decided to pivot and start a new show, Culture Eats Strategy.

The journey of encouraging a purposeful culture at a virtual company helped Jaime create the conversations that would become his new podcast. It's a great reason to make a pivot.

Get to Know Jaime Jay

• Bottleneck Virtual Assistants
• Culture Eats Strategy Podcast
• Jaime Jay on LinkedIn
• Jaime Jay on Facebook
• Jaime Jay on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Remington, the CEO and daily leader the team interacts with, took parental leave when Rachel, COO and co-founder of Impulse Creative gave birth to their second child. This was the longest time away Remington was able to take.

Upon his return, almost the entire team also descended upon headquarters for Southbound, our yearly gathering. 

It's been a busy few weeks. In this episode, Remington and Dan unpack what it meant to the owners of the agency to be able to take the needed family time, look at what it's like to grow as a company and as a family and also take a behind the scenes look at where Remington's mindset is as 2019 comes to a close.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

What Happens When Your Team Doesn't "Need You"

On one hand, being able to take a few weeks off for his family was great. Remington says it was terrific knowing that the clients wouldn't feel his absence and the agency would move forward.

On the other hand, there's an internal struggle this CEO and co-founder faced of feeling like, "The team doesn't need me... oh shit!"

Remington's choice to focus on the positive side of not being needed.

Let's Blow It All Up

One downside to Remington's time away, in his own words, is that it gave him time to think. 

When our captain has time to think, we blow up processes and change things. For the better.

So now that he's back in the office and we're all together, it's time to look at what we do well, where we can improve, and make decisions.

Taking care of your team, even in the midst of change, is critical. Remington's advice is to take care of your people and you'll see the rewards in business.

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Jessica Rhodes is an author, podcaster, and the founder of Interview Connections.

She scaled her business to six figures quickly and with very little direct marketing. She and her team work with brands and personalities around the world, and helps them grow.

As a business owner and founder, who happens to be a woman, Jessica faces challenges men don't. And in the world of podcasting, which has been typically male-dominated, Jessica has had to blaze her own path. 

Her unique perspective helps brands differentiate themselves in a noisy world of content. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Lifestyle Business Versus Growing a Company

Jessica has worked to make Interview Connections a real, growing company and not "just" a lifestyle business. She says it's simply a choice with no judgement, and both have pros and cons. 

A lifestyle business, Jessica says, is a business you start that supports your personal lifestyle. For instance, you might have a 6-figure revenue stream and you're taking home $80,000 a year for a salary and you're good with that. No problem. That's a lifestyle business.

On the flipside, a company supports your life and the life of employees. A "real company" means building something bigger than the founders and their life. 

For Jessica, building a business that will support others was a critical decision.

Growing a Business: Contractors Versus Employees

Early on, Jessica built Interview Connections through contract employees. These are the 1099 contractors who freelance with your business, but aren't technically your employees. It's a common practice in small businesses, especially completely virtual companies, or online businesses. 

By building a team quickly with contractors, you can deal with just invoices and avoid all of the tax, benefits and other paperwork regular employees come with. It's a great way to build quickly.

In 2017, Jessica realized that growing Interview Connections in a sustainable, responsible way meant transitioning to a more traditional workforce. She and her partner decided to go against what most of their contemporaries were doing and hire in-house, on-site employees. 

The shipwreck of the transition taught Jessica a valuable lesson. With a team, you have to set clear expectations and goals (or KPIs) and communicate clearly. Then you have to hold them accountable to it all. Most people will thrive and exceed your expectations. When someone isn't performing well, it's often that their leader hasn't shared the expected KPIs, Jessica learned.

Why Personal Growth Work is Vital

When asked what her first piece of advice would be to others as a Wayfinder, Jessica talked about personal growth work. 

Jessica and many on her team have gone through Landmark, what she calls a "transformational personal growth program." 

She says that the program, or any good personal growth work, will help you clear the way to be an unstoppable leader in your business.

The Best Navigational Tool: Relationships

Relationships. they're the glue that holds a business together and the fuel that helps it grow. 

For Jessica, she saw this early on when she connected with podcasting legends John Lee Dumas and Kate Erickson of the show Entrepreneur On Fire. With their early support and taking the guests Jessica worked with, she had immediate reputation points in the booking and podcasting worlds. 

Putting the professional relationship to work beyond offering a service and asking for referrals helped Jessica connect with a bigger network and build the business. Her advice? "Connect with an influencer in your industry, provide value and nurture that relationship."

Get to Know Jessica Rhodes

• Interview Connections
• Rock the Podcast
• Jessica on Twitter
• Jessica on LinkedIn
• Jessica's YouTube Channel

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

It's always helpful to start at the beginning. Dan and George break down what a personal brand is and what it means to businesses and employees both.

According to Wikipedia, personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.

Dan and George talk about how a personal brand is the packaged reputation you put forth through your actions. 

It's a managed reputation. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. 

George also says that personal branding has zero to do with what you do or where you do it. For instance, it's not necessarily your job and the company you work for. Those things matter, but it matters more who you are.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Why Personal Branding Matters for Businesses

In this digital age, relationships matter more than ever. People do business with people they get to know, like and trust. Now more than ever, they have the opportunity to find their tribe wherever they want and trust whom they want to trust. "Birds of a feather flock together," George says. If a business promotes personal brands within the company, it's more likely to find its tribe. 

A rising tide lifts all vessels. As the personal brands within a business gain momentum, that business reaps the rewards through better relationships. 

Conversely, as the business builds and grows, personal brands improve. 

Personal branding within businesses matter because people matter. 

Are Personal Brands Risky for Businesses?

Sure, a powerful personal brand could put your business at risk for losing great employees. The more attention a person gets, the more people know them and the more offers they may receive. 

But here's the question to ask yourself: Would you rather help your employees improve at the risk of losing them? Or would you rather keep your people mediocre so they stay?

The reward outweighs the risk. Create a culture where your people don't want to leave, and let them build the personal brand to help your brand grow. 

Let the stallions run free. With fencing.

George talks about letting your people grow and get creative, and more than just loosening the reins. Let them run free and when they hit that fence, let them know. 

For those of you building your personal brand, know that when you hit that fence and you're kept in check, it's not personal. Just find new ways to keep building your brand. 

Your Personal Brand Compass

Speaking of building your personal brand, George offers up the idea of a Personal Brand Compass.

Happy, Humble, Helpful, Human. That is George's compass. 

Everyday he strives to live in happiness and humility. He works hard to be helpful. And he tries to be more human (compassionate and empathetic and real). 

They act like core values against which George measures each day. When you start your day with your compass, you set the stage. Then as you end your day and see if your choices and actions align with your compass, you can rest knowing you tried and you can get better every day.

Get to Know George B. Thomas

• George at Impulse Creative
• George B. Thomas Speaker
• George on Twitter
• George on Facebook
• George on LinkedIn

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

When relationships are critical to your business, your reputation is probably one of the most important assets you manage. Unfortunately, many companies don't think about their reputation management until they're in crisis mode. At that point, it could seriously affect your growth. 

This is why thinking about reputation management and growth is vital.

Bill Coletti, Founder and CEO of Kith, is a reputation management, crisis communications and professional development expert, keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance panelist, and best-selling author of Critical Moments: The New Mindset of Reputation Management.

Bill has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management, and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Crisis Communication

Bill got his start in reputation management and crisis communication in politics. He learned that a lot of messaging in politics is really all about managing crisis communications.

Don't Wait Until a Crisis

If you're managing your brand and your reputation, you may feel like they're the same. Bill positions the two as related but different. 

A business can lay out a plan for its brand and can "control" that message. That then feeds the public's opinion of that business, along with their personal experience. That's the business's reputation.

The beauty of reputation management, especially in relation to your growth journey, is that if you're working on it all along—and not just in a crisis when the ship hits the fan. When you're proactive and build trust, you have "mistake equity." 

When something goes wrong, and you've managed your reputation well, you'll have believers in your brand come to your defense. 

In a crisis, you get the benefit of the doubt or a reservoir of goodwill. Your supporters will say something like, "Well, that's not the company I know."

Managing your reputation proactively helps you build brand affinity and a solid reputation. 

Get to Know Bill

• Bill's Website
• Kith
• Bill on LinkedIn
• Kith on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Does anyone care why you started your company? 

At some point in the business relationship, your origin story matters to some of your audience. It could be early on when they're deciding whether your story fits into theirs. It could be further down the journey when they're deciding between you and a competitor. 

Whenever it matters to them, they should be able to find it. 

That's why it's time to dive into the origin story of Impulse Creative.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

The Beginning

January 2020 marks 13 years for Impulse Creative. 

In January 2007 Remington came home from a vacation and decided that it was time to own his career and "do this marketing thing." 

At the time, Remington was pursuing a management career in hospitality and the restaurant business. He'd gone to school for graphic design but didn't graduate.

Because he likes working with people and was already in the restaurant business, he was on the management track. However, Remington realized that he couldn't have the impact he wanted. So he decided to turn his side business Remington Graphics into a full-fledged small business.

The transition was slow to start, with Remington as a solopreneur. Add into the mix the fact that 2007 and 2008 was a terrible time to start a business in South Florida—remember The Recession?—and you have a recipe for an overnight success story!

Want to know another reason why Remington started his own agency rather than joining an existing company? Listen to the "you're overqualified = you're a threat" portion of the episode at 6:44.

Early on and then throughout the life of Impulse Creative, Remington found that being nimble and innovative (early on it was because he had no budget and had to compete with bigger competitors) has helped differentiate the agency.

Because he had to know a plethora of skills, he was able to help clients early on with more than one thing. This would lead to long term relationships that could grow and evolve. 

We still do that today. Some companies call it upselling. We call it serving our clients better with more integrated services. 

The Middle

In the first year, Rachel joined the company back when Remington would have to create vinyl signs by hand and print business cards, and website were just an add-on to services. 

The evolution of brand went from Remington Graphics to Impulse Creative Studios to build the business beyond a one-person show. But it wasn't yet a marketing agency.

What's Our Why?

Remington says his why, which becomes the company's why, is that "There has to be a smarter way to help businesses grow." 

Before starting the company, Remington would have regular conversations with one of his customers. Phil was in management for a company and would often complain that the launch for a trade show was coming up and he'd have to have the same conversation each week with different people on the marketing, the launch, the promotion and the branding. 

This conversation Phil would have, feeling like it was Groundhog Day all over again, would happen with the trade show team, then the web designer, then the sales team and beyond. 

Remington saw an opportunity to help Phil's company grow with one partner handling all of the branding, marketing and communications. 

This all led to one of our original ideas in our mission being, "Helping companies create a consistent marketing message." That threads continues to this day, 13 years later.

What's Next

Growth. Over the years Impulse Creative has evolved and grown with the needs of its clients. Sometimes that growth goes off the rails (see episode 2.17 The Chrysalis Effect below). 

More than a decade into our existence and we continue to grow and serve clients around the world. 

Resources:

• Episode 2.17: The Chrysalis Effect
• About Impulse Creative 
• Impulse Creative on Instagram
• Impulse Creative on Facebook
• Impulse Creative on LinkedIn
• Impulse Creative on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

On today’s episode we’re talking with Angie Morgan. Angie founded Lead Star, a leadership development consulting firm. She’s also the bestselling author of the business book, Leading from the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women and her second book, Spark: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success.

To honor veterans this week, as Veterans Day was yesterday, we’re talking with Angie about leadership lessons from the military. Her leadership expertise formed after she graduated from the University of Michigan and served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Angie founded Lead Star to help professionals understand how they can achieve greater success by implementing leadership practices into their work routines. Her remedy: designing leadership programs that are culturally relevant for her clients and focused on results. As a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, Angie inspires individuals to take action to ensure their performance is high and their goals are achieved.

She has written numerous articles on leadership and organizational excellence appearing in a wide variety of publications including Forbes, Fast Company, and SUCCESS. She’s been a dynamic guest on CNBC, FOX News, and CNN.

Prior to creating Lead Star, Angie worked for Pfizer and Merck as a sales professional where she had firsthand experience working in business operations. This results-oriented mindset is brought to every project she is engaged in.

Angie’s leadership expertise formed after she graduated from the University of Michigan and served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. She also holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Anyone Can be a Leader

Even if you're not "in leadership," you can lead. That's a big premise of the book Spark. Sparks are people who make things happen, who help turn the tide. Leader shouldn't be tied to your title or position, but to you doing.

Angie sees leadership as a verb, not a noun. You don't "achieve leadership" at a certain level. She says you make leadership happen by being the leader and taking action, rather than waiting for someone to give you permission by calling you a leader.

Verb versus noun.

Angie says everyone needs to develop leadership skills at every level. We all have leadership roles, even if it's 'just leading ourselves.'

An Early Shipwreck for Lead Star

Angie shared the story of a shipwreck Lead Star survived - and learned from in the process. 

In the early days, they wanted to play with idea of leadership. The emphasis on ship led them to set up an event, a leadership cruise. 

the idea was a week on a cruise ship, immersed in leadership training and experiences. 

Unfortunately, it bombed. "Many leaders in the world are working moms. They can't be away from their families on a cruise ship for a whole week," Angie remarked. So they learned, got to know their audience, and moved forward. 

No more cruises. 

What is Seeding Your Inspiration?

Angie's biggest piece of advice as a Wayfinder to leaders and entrepreneurs is to consider what's seeding your inspiration.

What are you listening to? What are you reading? 

Whether you're an intrapreneur or an entrepreneur or somewhere in between, people are often stuck in the mindset of their role and their responsibilities. We don't often get to bring in outside influences to sharpen us. 

This needs to be a priority if we want to spark creativity & ideas for growth. 

Find podcasts, music, interviews, books, videos and other inspiration seeds to develop your spark.

Want Success? Build a Diverse Crew

Angie talks about the navigational tools that helped her to grow to the level she enjoys currently. One of the biggest assets, she said, is a diverse crew around her.

From gender to socioeconomic backgrounds to race to just life experience, different perspectives help sharpen your skills, your knowledge and your leadership. 

Get to Know Angie Morgan

• Angie on LinkedIn
• LeadStar
• Book - Spark
• Book - Leading from the Front

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

From personal goals to revenue goals to SMART goals, the term "goals" is quickly becoming a buzzword. 

But don't let it lose its power. Goals can be critical to a brand's growth. 

A fan of Gino Wickman's Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Remington has taken the teachings and turned them into an Objective-Key-Results (OKR) system for Impulse Creative and out clients. 

By using clear communication, Remington says it helps cast the vision for the entire team.

 By slicing the goal into manageable pieces, growth can happen strategically and purposefully.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Goals Help with Clear Communication and Feedback

Feedback and clear communication are critical in a healthy business. Whether that's with a partner like a marketing agency or between employees and management, it vital that communication happens. 

Setting goals— and setting them together— helps set up a business for successful communication. 

Then it's on the humans to create the feedback loop that takes that communication to a new level. 

And it's all centered on those goals. It's like a big happy cycle!

Avoid Paralysis: Make it Manageable

When the goals are too big to grasp, we're easily paralyzed by fear. It's also called paralysis by analysis. 

Or just procrastination.

Setting clear goals, then breaking them down into manageable key objectives can help.

It's the difference between, "OMG I need to bring in $1,000,000 in new business this year!" and looking at that huge number as $250,000 per quarter. If your average product size is $10,000 then that's 25 customers per quarter, about 8 per month, or basically 2 per week.

Take a 3-year plan and break down yearly goals. Then look at quarterly rocks you have to hit to make that happen. Once there, look at monthly goals, then weekly and even daily tasks. 

A marathon is finished one step at a time.

Resources:

• Impulse Creative 2020 Strategic Roadmap
• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Sarah Bedrick is cofounder and VP of marketing at Compt, an HR software that helps companies create perk stipends so employees can get the perks they want and need most. 

Prior to Compt, Sarah worked for HubSpot for more than six years. That's where she crossed paths with both Dan and Remington. Her most recent role was to lead the certifications program, leading the HubSpot Academy website strategy and co-PMed the Learning Center application they developed.

Sarah has seen startup to scale-up growth, true startup growth and the disruption of an industry. 

At Compt, Sarah and her co-founder Amy Spurling, businesses get help creating a 1-to-1 (as opposed to 1-to-many) experience with perks. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

HR is Ripe for Disruption

When Sarah was with HubSpot early on, she saw the rise of the marketer and the power of the customer. The internet gave consumers the power to find what they want when they want it, while giving marketers access they hadn't previously enjoyed. She says the profession of human resources and employee retention is at a similar inflection point.

Businesses have operated in the space that perks mean things like 401k and break rooms with food. Sometimes the more innovative companies have given employees on-site gyms or free beer and bean bags. 

But today, as the landscape evolves and talent becomes more difficult to attract and retain, the leading-edge brands are using more personalized perks like stipends for health and wellness. Employees can use this for gym memberships of their own so they aren't working out with colleagues. They're using them for 5k or marathon training and race fees. Or they're using a stipend for massage therapy. It's personalized. 

Compt helps those businesses plan, implement and manage custom solutions for these modern team members. It's growth through custom, personalized perks.

Personal Growth Through Coaching

Sarah attributes much of her growth both professionally and personally to coaching. Her biggest shipwreck came when she was six years into her stellar career at one of the biggest up and coming SaaS companies, HubSpot. Many friends and family members kept telling her that she had it perfect - a great career, a good salary, great perks, a team she co-founded - but she was no longer feeling fulfilled.

Christine Hassler calls this an expectation hangover. Despite building a charmed life, Sarah felt like she was stuck. Through coaching and a lot of self-reflection, she realized that she needed a new challenge, and it was okay that she was ready to move on from this "perfect life" she'd built.

The growth she experienced, in her words, came through coaching. She's become a major proponent of personal and professional coaching, and says if you want to take a growth journey, that's the ticket.

Get to Know Sarah Bedrick

• Sarah's website
• Compt
• Sarah on Twitter
• Sarah on LinkedIn 

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Over this season, Remington and Dan have talked about an event in the history of Impulse Creative referred to as The Chrysalis Effect. 

Let's start with what a chrysalis is:

A quiescent insect pupa, especially of a butterfly or moth.

• the hard outer case enclosing a chrysalis
• a transitional state

Remington uses the transitional state as his North Star in this story. Impulse went through a severely transitional state in 2014. A team of 9 (including the co-founders Rachel and Remington) was whittled down to 3. 

That fall, Remington had put a person into leadership, who promptly went on vacation and never came back. This person went to a competing agency. Soon after another member of the team "was poached, then incentivized to bring others with them."

At the time, Rachel was expecting their first child, so both leaders at Impulse were beginning to wear parental hats and priorities began to shift. New leadership was meant to ease that transition for the co-founders, while keeping the business moving forward for its clients and incoming clients. 

"We put people in roles just to fit them somewhere," Remington said of the time. "We had people who weren't clear in their communication. We were focused on output, not on how people felt."

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Triggered: Learn Lessons Through History

It's important to learn from history. It's why history classes are critical in school. But it's also why self-reflection is critical to business owners and leaders. 

For Remington, this self-awareness and situational awareness has helped keep the triggers away. The pieces are currently in place just as they were before The Chrysalis Effect. 

• We're growing - new clients and more revenue
• We just hired a leadership position - Director of Inbound Juli Durante
• The Begg family is expanding
• It's the same time of year

Without keeping their eyes on the past while moving forward in knowledge, Rachel and Remington could easily feel the familiar anxiety or negativity of the situation, caving into triggers and shutting down. 

Instead, they're charging forward with wisdom and compassion, and working to keep communication open among the crew. 

You're Going to Skin Your Knees Along the Entrepreneurial Journey

Be Careful What You Wish For

Growth. It's the goal of any business. But sometimes the growth we hope for isn't the growth we plan for. Remington reflected on aggressive growth tracks for businesses, including the track Impulse Creative was on just prior to The Chrysalis Effect. 

HubSpot's case study on Impulse Creative lays out the history well. 3X increase in revenue in 2 years. 6X increase in retainer client revenue in 2 years. 5.3X increase in monthly leads year over year. 

"This sounds exciting for anyone who doesn't do it," Remington said. "Six-X growth is really uncontrollable in a lot of cases." 

The growth Impulse experienced push the team and the leadership to its limits. Remington believes a large part of The Chrysalis Effect came directly from this growth chapter in Impulse's story.

The lesson: Be careful what you wish for. Controlled growth is better than chaos.

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Meet Mark Ritter. Mark is CEO of Member Business Financial Services. That’s a Credit Union Service Organization, serving multiple credit unions. He’s an expert on credit unions and the business loan world. On this episode, he takes us on his growth journey and what it was like to be the fifth CEO in 5 years at MBFS, an organization that had never made money prior to his leadership. 

Mark was the founder of Members 1st FCU's credit union business lending program that grew to be one of the top ten in the nation in number of loans and balances outstanding for federal credit unions. He also developed a participation program that grew to one of the top buyers and sellers of credit union business loans in the eastern United States. He's done extensive work with branch retail staff, business lending operational and sales staff, and credit unions throughout the Mid-Atlantic States to educate and train them on the merits of member business lending. His primary role at MBFS is leading the day-to-day operations of the organization and consulting with credit unions on planning the delivery of business services to their membership.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Taking the Helm of a Troubled Ship

After building Members 1st Federal Credit Union’s business lending program’s into the top ten in the nation in the number of loans and balances outstanding for federal credit unions, Mark took on the challenge of being the CEO of MBFS. Mark was the fifth CEO in five years for the organization, which lost money every month of its existence. In the past six years at MBFS, Mark increased the number of credit unions the CUSO services by over 500%, grew the revenue by 800%, and ensured positive cash flow every full year he’s been at the CUSO. 

What's it like taking over a business that's stumbling, to put it nicely? What challenges did Mark face? 

Mark says taking over involved a lot of listening and investigating. His intention was to find out what was working and what wasn't, no matter the area. 

The Decision to Go Remote

When Mark took over as CEO for MBFS, they were an in-house organization. Today they're completely remote.

MBFS began the remote journey with its IT team. Seeing the value in hiring for culture and talent rather than those who happen to be close to the company has proven to be a great move. 

In fact, clients didn't realize the move had been made until MBFS announced it months later, proving that the move was seamless. 

Mark says hiring for a home-based employee is much different. He says they look for people where the job is a good fit for them, and they're a good cultural fit for MBFS. 

Get to Know Mark Ritter

• MBFS
• Mark on LinkedIn

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

In the creative circus of our day-to-day work, Audrey DeMartinis is the ringmaster that keeps the show rolling on schedule. She’s depended upon by clients and the team alike, to keeps our projects on course from start to launch. There’s also no one in the office that appreciates a color-coded project timeline more than this Florida Gulf Coast U grad and native Ohioan.

When she’s not wrangling the team, Audrey relaxes with wine, friends, wine, family, wine, all-things-Disney, wine and fancy food.

Audrey is also one of the co-hosts of Maiden Voyage, a podcast by the women of Impulse Creative. With "Women Making Waves" as their tagline, you know she's a feisty mermaid.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

How Processes Fuel Growth

Without repeatable, scalable processes, a business grows by accident. This is not a solid business strategy. 

Whether you're documenting the process of onboarding a new team member or you're laying out how to post an update to your blog, creating a road map (a process) is critical.

In addition to the process itself, empowering a point person to help manage all of the moving parts can take your growth journey to new levels. This is where a project manager like Audrey comes in, along with her tools for growth.

The Tools to Strategic Growth

Growing strategically needs to include the right tools. You wouldn't set off to circumnavigate the globe without the right navigational tools, and backups for when things go wrong. 

In the same way, having the right tools to grow your business needs to include ways to document processes, plan out projects and communicate effectively.

Audrey uses a slew of "navigational tools" to keep the team and our clients aligned and moving in the same direction. Here's a list of many of her tools.

• Asana for project organization
• Tettra for documenting processes and collaborating (Listen to Tettra's co-founder Nelson Joyce)
• Slack for continuous, real-time communication (internal and external)
• Harvest for time tracking
• Harvest Forecast for time planning across teams

Bonus tip from Audrey: Be willing to learn new tools based on your clients. If they don't use Slack, don't force it. Use email, phone calls, texting... be where they are. Audrey uses regular meetings to keep in alignment, along with software like Basecamp and others depending on their needs.

How Hospitality Led to Project Management

If you want someone who can handle many spinning plates, unexpected obstacles, new challenges everyday and quick communication, Audrey says someone from the hospitality field might be perfect. Audrey worked in restaurants before Impulse Creative. She says experience that includes waiting tables, working with the public (clients!), a fast-paced environment and then managing all of that helped shape her into the kick-ass project manager she is today.

So if you're willing to hire for culture and passion, then let that someone grow into the position, hiring from hospitality could set you up for an interesting growth journey.

Get to Know Audrey

• Audrey's Crew Page
• Audrey on LinkedIn
• Audrey on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Doug Davidoff founded the agency Imagine Business Development. As the CEO, he’s directly advised more than a dozen companies who have successfully sold for a combined value of more than $1 billion. Imagine is also a HubSpot partner.

For more than 20 years, Doug has advised small and mid-market companies that are committed to serious growth who want to hear the truth about achieving it. Doug’s worked, firsthand, with more than 1,500 companies (and seen their financial statements), so he knows the difference between what works, and what sounds good and doesn’t work.

What we love about Doug is that he takes a "no-holds-barred, no bullshit approach" to business growth. He's a true wayfinder and natural explorer.

Doug’s both quick to adopt new ideas, methods and technologies; and remarkably cynical of products and strategies dubbed “the next thing.” As you'll here in this Wayfinding Growth episode, he combines an in-depth knowledge of sales and marketing theory and strategy, with front-line execution expertise to know what works, what doesn’t and why it is so.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

What is BFSC?

BFSC is something Remington discovered this year. The letters stand for Better, Faster, Stronger, Cheaper.

How does BFSC apply to business growth?

Remington describes this BFSC idea as a bit of an alternative to a SWOT analysis. It's a different way to think about your business, about projects and about the growth journey. 

Part of Doug's culture at Imagine is that every employee is encouraged to look around and anything they see that could be done better, faster, stronger or cheaper (less expensively, but cheaper works for brevity) to speak up. Regardless of whether it's directly related to their job, they're all given permission to speak up.

Making it a team culture helps everyone buy into the business's growth.

Listen to the full discussion starting at about 22:00 into the episode.

The Flawed "Only Bring Me a Solution" Mentality

Don't bring me a problem unless you have a solution. It's a common idea in business. But it's flawed. 

Sometimes we have a problem we can see, but may not have the right solution, which means we can't approach leadership or management. 

Too often a manager will say "Here's the problem," and the employee will say, "Yes I knew that." 

When the manager asks why nothing was said, the natural response is because the employee was told only bring solutions, and they had none. 

We need to foster solutions while staying open to team members bringing us problems without a solution so we can collaborate.

It's a Trap!

The phrase "This is the way to do it" is a trap in sales.

Doug says there's always more than one way to do something in sales. 

You have to be curious and open to suggestion. 

This is especially obvious when a leader hires someone from a company who had success in a specific project or tactic. Because this person was at that company and involved in it, we often think they figured out how to do it. 

The fact is they learned one way to do it in that particular situation, but may not understand all of the nuances that went into the entire situation. 

"You do have to be an observer," Doug says. "You have to be able to ask a lot of questions. If you ever say 'The way to do that [in sales] is...' then you don't know enough about sales and you're going to run into problems. There is no one way to do it." 

The right path in sales for you is determined by many factors. 

Chill Out About The Path and Obsess Over the Destination

In a business's growth journey, leaders often focus on how to get somewhere, The Path. This means they're often afraid to make mistakes because they get hyper-focused on how each decision impacts the micro-moments, the how. Instead, David offers, focusing on The Destination, the where, and getting there through mistakes and learning opportunities, is a better strategy. 

We've heard it said "Fail fast, fail often." Another cliche is that it's only a failure if you don't learn from it. Doug adds his own spin, because he's confident in where he's going and knows the how will work itself out as he works.

David says it's not perfect of course. Some years "we kicked you know what, and other years we were kicked." But when you fix the issues and you're on the right trajectory, growth happens purposefully.

Get to Know Doug:

• Imagine Business Development (Doug's agency)
• Doug on LinkedIn
• Doug unfiltered - on Twitter
• Doug's writing on HubSpot

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

What's it like being married to an entrepreneur? You could ask either of the Impulse Creative co-founders this question. What started as "Rachel, what's it like being married to an entrepreneur?" turned into a lesson on what an entrepreneurial marriage looks like. 

On this episode, we "open the pantry and peek inside Impulse Creative" to dig into what it's like working and living together as a couple. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

In a Good Relationship, We Sharpen Each Other

"I think we guide each other," Rachel offered. "I look at alternative routes to find the most efficient way from A to B. Remington is the creative."

For co-founders Rachel and Remington, they aren't exactly opposites. But they do come at the business from different perspectives. And they aren't afraid to challenge each other, sharpen one another and grow together. 

While it can be difficult to separate work and personal, the Beggs have worked intentionally to separate the two when needed, but also understand the work is life. Both sides are closely tied together and aligned well.

One tip from the conversation to consider if you're working with your significant other is to clearly define your roles. "We knew early on who was responsible for what," Remington said. 

Intentional Communication is Critical

As partners in business and family, Remington and Rachel work hard at intentional communication. They may not always get it right, but it's always on their minds. Whether it's how one spouse annoyed the other, or why a day isn't going well, being able to live the Impulse Creative core value of candor in a safe space has been critical to their success.

Plus, sometimes you have to simply make time for each other. "Sometimes we set meetings," Rachel said. "We make sure we can focus on what we need. But we also set that time so it doesn't run over. Maybe Remington has had a tough day, and I've been with our son and working all day and we're both frustrated. We can talk about it within boundaries without bringing all the negativity 'home.'"

Married to an Entrepreneur? Rachel's Advice: Patience

When asked to give her biggest piece of advice to anyone in a relationship with an entrepreneur it was this: Patience. 

"Have the understanding and patience that you are going to put in a lot of hours [as the spouse]. You're going to have to put up with your spouse or significant other putting in a lot of hours, even if you aren't. And sometimes it's hard to turn off your work." 

Remington added to Rachel's thought with the idea that it can sometimes look like, as the spouse, you're competing with the business. You're not. But if you're feeling that way, go back to the idea that open, honest communication is best. Set time for the discussion, live out candor, and work together. 

Get to Know Rachel

• Rachel on LinkedIn
• Maiden Voyage Podcast
• Rachel on Impulse Creative
• Rachel on Instagram

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Chris Savage is Co-Founder and CEO of Wistia, as well as the host of the Wistia Original Series Brandwagon. 

Chris started Wistia in 2006 with his best friend Brendan Schwartz. The pair got involved in film-making at Brown and wanted to create a portfolio website for film-makers.

They eventually pivoted and Wistia is now a video sharing and analytics program that allows business owners to get insight on the performance of their video content.

Wistia also creates the great video series Brandwagon. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Know Your Brand Voice

"This doesn't feel Wistia to us." That was a watershed moment for Chris and the Wistia team. 

When the company needed to increase pricing like so many businesses need to do in growth mode, they knew they needed to communicate to their current customers. Even with transparency, the message missed the mark. Their own customers let them know that the voice just didn't feel natural and authentic.

The team adjusted the message, tested it again, and found success. Even a difficult discussion with customers can be done in your brand voice in order to communicate well. Knowing your brand voice helps endear your community to you.

It Takes Time and Effort to Build a Business

Wistia's journey began in 2006. For what's considered a startup by many, that's a long time. It's taken time, intention and hard work to grow. 

Chris shares some of the rough seas he and Brendan had to navigate through, some of the great days and many of the lessons learned. The biggest takeaways for us included:

• Be intentional
• Don't be afraid of failure
• Listen to your customers
• Love what you do

Creating an Original Series to Build Your Brand

Wistia has created original content to build a brand and community. One, Ten, One Hundred is a documentary series on the process to create three ads. One ad cost $1,000, one cost $10,000 and one cost $100,000. They wanted to see how each budget performed. During the meta project, the Wistia team documented it all, creating an original series they released, full of lessons and insight. 

Now Wistia has a second orignal series, called Brandwagon. This series is more talk show with a guest interview and other segments, showing off the personality if Wistia while bringing value to an audience. 

Chris says any brand can consider this route, and explains in the full conversation. 

Connect with Chris and Wistia

• Chris on LinkedIn
• Wistia
• Wistia on Instagram
• Brandwagon

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Five Impulse Creative team members traveled to Boston for #INBOUND19. We're also all hosts on podcasts. So we decided to host a debrief that could serve as a fancy crossover episode for all of our show... you're in for a treat! 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Biggest #INBOUND19 Takeaways

With five people of diverse backgrounds, you're bound to find different takeaways. Here's a list for you:

• Anese Cavanaugh's lesson on presence and showing up how you want to show up (with purpose), not how you think you're expected to show up.
• "Anese radiates an aura of awesome." - Jackie
• Doug Davidoff in the Westin lobby - and all the conversations we had.
• When you're at INBOUND, lean in during conversations.
• The only way we'll get better in life or business is by leaning into "the market."
• Elizabeth Gilbert's challenge to people: Stop making excuses for not doing the things you want to do in life.
• What are you willing to give up to have the life you're pretending to want? 
• This "sales and marketing conference" ends up with so many great life lessons if you're open to it.
• The hard work that the entire Impulse Creative team and our supporters is paying off. We heard a LOT of "Yo Impulse!" in the hallways. It's good to look up from our work and take in the impact we're having.
• Dharmesh Shah's vulnerability in his keynote was inspiring. (Watch the INBOUND19 Dharmesh keynote)
• We have a responsibility to take care of each other, online and offline. Geraldine DeRuiter spoke on surviving harassment that starts online. Women face a huge portion of it, and we need to stop it. 

Favorite #INBOUND19 Moments

INBOUND is like a family reunion combined with the biggest education and inspiration event each year. It's so hard to pick just one favorite moment. 

For us, moments of connection topped the list. Inspiration was next. Education followed inspiration. Those are the general moments that bring us joy from #INBOUND19. What else? 

• Brian Halligan joining us on the couch in the Westin lobby for an impromptu chat among friends.

• The cafe room set up for some presentations and how it forces us to have courageous conversations with strangers.

• Soup dumplings in Chinatown! Sneak away for a minute and share a moment with people over a good meal. 

• Holding court in the Westin lobby, meeting with clients in-person and engaging in great conversations.
• Maiden Voyage podcast recording.
• Live Sprocket Talk Unpacked podcast recording.
• Having Impulse team members speak at the event.
• Connecting with fans of Impulse Creative.

Who Should Speak at #INBOUND20?

Every year the INBOUND event team brings together incredible speakers for all different reasons. So we asked who each of us wants to see speak at INBOUND20. Some of our suggestions would be new, while others are returning. Hey HubSpot and INBOUND team, check out this list!

• Brené Brown @BreneBrown
• Rachel Hollis @msrachelhollis
• Impulse Creative team members (Jackie Pfriender, Dan Moyle, other team members with valuable teaching)
• Gary Vaynerchuck @garyvee
• Billy Gene @askbillygene
• Joey Coleman 
• The band Tool or Maynard James Keenan @tool @mjkeenan

Plug Your Podcast

Be sure to check out the other shows joining us on this episode.

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage is a video podcast series by the ladies of Impulse Creative. Our mission is to relate, inspire, laugh, and learn all while empowering women in the workplace.

Sprocket Talk

Where HubSpot Users Unite!

On this episode, Remington and Dan unpack the growth journey at Impulse Creative, and how Remington can actually call in sick! Yes entrepreneurs and owners and executives ... it CAN happen!

Sure, you're a critical component. But if you've navigated the growth journey well, you have a team that can handle it when you're gone. Especially when your health is at risk. Let's set a course for growth!

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

It's Scary

Remington begins by unpacking why it's scary to have to walk away from your business. Even when you trust your team, it's a big deal to be able to let go of the reins and let the people you've hired for their skills actually exercise them! 

When a business owner or high level executive is burning their candle at "too many ends," it's time to implement self-care. While he usually bounces back pretty quickly, this time around Remington was down for the count. So this wasn't just a one-day reprieve from work. This was a few days, plus extra days where he was out of commission for extended periods of days. 

Getting to the point where as a leader you can rely on the team to keep moving forward, knowing your clients won't even miss you, is a proud but scary moment. 

Don't worry. Your team still needs you. 

One Step at a Time

When it comes to being a Wayfinder CEO, Remington suggests taking it one step at a time. It's like if your business was your baby. You don't enroll her in a marathon. You teach her to walk first, with a few stumbles and well-timed catches.

If you think your team is ready for a little time without you, maybe take an afternoon off. Or if you take a day, be available by phone if needed. Then work your way up to completely unplugging. 

From there, it's a matter of measuring your team's confidence and aptitude - again you've hired them for a reason, so let them soar - and increasing the time away and the level of disconnection.

Unplugging = Self Care

Whether it's a vacation or calling out sick, taking time away and truly unplugging is critical to not only a CEO's mental and physical health, but it's great for the team.

When your team can run the business without your hand in every decision, magical things happen like scaling up and wins beyond what you thought possible. It may feel like you know the answers, but being the last to talk in a meeting, and being able to empower your employees to make decisions, means you're leading well.  

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Kevin Barber is the founder of Lean Labs, a marketing agency and HubSpot partner that describes itself as "an outsourced growth team for SaaS and Tech Brands that want to grow lean." Not long after launching a marketing consultancy, Kevin moved to Costa Rica and grew the company, through trial and error, to what it is today.

Over the years, Kevin has launched two iterations of a marketing agency with different focuses and levels of success. His journey to Costa Rica plays a huge part in his growth journey, which we get into in the conversation. 

We learn how changing your perspective is critical, how empathy plays a major role in growth, and what a CEO's job should be in a growth-oriented company. Plus more. Sit back and set a course for growth.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Communication and Empathy

Even a factor as simple as time zones taught Kevin that leading and growing a team, and business, should rely on empathy and communication. 

In Costa Rica, Kevin's time zone was Central for part of the year. But that country doesn't recognize Daylight Saving Time, so for part of the year it was Mountain Time. 

With clients and team members in several countries, a dozen different time zones, and different cultures, timing and communication paired with digital-first communication meant a lot of effective, efficient communication, a dash of empathy and a generous portion of grace. 

Without great communication and lots of empathy, it's much more difficult to grow your business and your team.

Tracking Assets as a Growth-Minded CEO

As the CEO, Kevin says, it's your job to grow your employees, not your customers. It took him a little time to discover this philosophy and truly implement it, but Kevin says he's so glad he did. 

Kevin used to think that the "stream of income" he had to focus on were the clients. Over the years he's realized that his focus should center on the team, since they're the ones producing for those clients. If he focuses on the team, the team can focus on the clients. 🤯

This mindset shift means Kevin focuses on developing the assets of Lean Labs - the employees. As the development moves forward, the team is then responsible for developing and implementing for clients. 

It seems like a small shift, and a common-sense approach, but Kevin said it was life changing to the growth in his business over the last 18 months.

Running Your Business by Getting Out of Your Bubble

Running an American company from a different country can help you get out of your bubble. For Kevin, that meant going from his market in Kansas City, where his local work brought him to a level of known and trusted, to a different world where remote work led to a new network where Kevin and the brand were not as known. 

Kevin ran a small agency - himself and two other people - for about 10 years. He knew how market, he owned about 75% of it, and he was comfortable. "With my customers, my network, my circle of friends, my sphere of influence, my neighborhood... we were doing well," Kevin says. "It was a dream life where we worked and I was able to go to the lake on Fridays and spend time with my family. I liked it so much, I wanted more freedom." 

That's when Kevin moved his family to Costa Rica. In about six months, his circle had grown to the point where he realized his success in Kansas City was a much smaller pie than he had thought.

Kevin found himself surrounded by other business owners and entrepreneurs with larger businesses, which drove him to see a new perspective. So he launched Lean Labs with a new mindset for a marketing agency, and found even greater success - even though at times he felt like a small fish in a large ocean. 

Kevin's lesson - Get out of your bubble for a new perspective. Maybe it's not moving to a foreign country. But you can step outside of your sphere and learn how the rest of the world works. It's a big, big world out there. 

Helpful Links

Connect with Kevin.

• Lean Labs
• Get to Know Kevin
• Lean Labs on Twitter
• Kevin Barber on LinkedIn
• Kevin Barber on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

On this episode, Remington and Dan unpack the growth journey at Impulse Creative. This idea came from a conversation they'd had, where Remington mentioned casually that "Owning a business is a lot like being a parent." 

Dan wondered what that meant - are employees children? - so you get to hear how one business owner views the parallel between parenting and running an agency with other humans. 

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

It's all About Relationships

Why is owning a business like parenting? Remington thinks of employees as family, and knows that it's all about relationships and influence. 

Have you ever tried to "make your kids" do something? You can influence, but sometimes it's more art than science. You want to lead by example. It's difficult to run a healthy business with an iron fist. 

"I have 14 'children.' I have to work through different personalities and I have to try and design the outcomes. My job is make sure the ball rolls. But now we're at the point where I have to get out of the way of the ball rolling." 

Leading, like parenting, can sometimes include corrections: "Hey, you're not in trouble but let's not do that again."

It also includes celebrating: "Someone made a goal - that's awesome!"

Remington believes that if you have employees or direct reports and you treat them like family, you'll see success. Part of this philosophy includes realizing that when you hire someone, you shouldn't try to change them. Ask yourself if this will work long term, sort of like a marriage. 

And while it can be risky to see employees as family, Remington says it's worth the risk. When a team gets to know, like, and trust each other like a healthy family unit, they'll fire on all cylinders. 

Guide Versus Force

In any leadership role, you have a choice to make. Will you try and force people to do what you want, or will you guide them in the direction of mutual goals. 

While there isn't necessarily an easy-button-answer to how to make this happen, Remington offers a few thoughts on how he navigates this role.

Leading from the front is an important goal of this CEO. Rather than pointing and saying, 'Go here,' Remington tries to ask things like 'What if we tried this,' or 'Have you thought about this.' 

He's also willing to do the work his team does, and has been in the same shoes as each of them. It's not an ivory tower he sits in and shouts commands from; it's a shoulder-to-shoulder culture of navigating the same course together.

The downside? Influence is difficult. 

"You can lead a horse to water, but you'll drown them trying to make them drink."

Remington asks the question, "How do you get them to the water, and get them to drink when we know as leaders they need to drink to survive?" 

We don't have all the answers, but we're always working on learning.

Be a Lifelong Learner

If you're leading a company or a team, the best tool in your navigational tool set is your penchant for learning. 

Books, leadership videos, podcast, parallel industries, and other sources of information will help keep you learning and improving. Remington also points to self-awareness as a major part of the journey. 

Own Things Personally, Don't Take Them Personally

This may be the best advice you'll hear on this episode. Whether it's personal or professional relationships, this advice can help you navigate all kinds of choppy waters. 

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Christopher Lochhead hosts the top podcast Follow Your Different, wrote two life changing books Play Bigger and Niche Down, and he's a 3-time Silicon Valley CMO. The dude is legendary. He's also animated and authentic. Don't let the kids hear him... 

Christopher has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups, is a venture capital limited partner and a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO, entrepreneur, and co-author of two bestsellers: Niche Down and Play Bigger.

He has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “Off-putting to some” by The Economist.

We dive deep into growth, marketing, category design, and more in this episode.

Today's Episode is Brought to You By:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal! 

Category - Brand - Product

A great example of how we think of businesses that Christopher offered was this: If your tooth hurts, what do you think of first? You go category (I need a dentist) then brand (my dentist Dr. Smith is great) and then product (I need to get a cleaning and filling). 

If you can own your category, you win. 

Design Your Legendary Life

When thinking about designing your market so you can own it, Christopher says look to Google as inspiration. They own search because they thought about the category, then the product. 

At the time, we surfed the web through portals. When Google started, they said "We're not a portal. We're a search engine. Find what you want through us." 

They changed the category and created a new one, then designed a product that fit that category and do one thing well, then changed our behavior. Google distinguished themselves from companies like Yahoo, Excite, Alta Vista and others instead of saying they were "a little better."

Google purposefully positioned a new paradigm called search.

Now they've become that portal (Google, News, Music, Play store, email...) that they unseated early on.

Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Product

If you want to truly grow as a business, Christopher talked about a new mindset. Instead falling in love with your product, you need to fall in love with the problem you're solving for your customers.

This helps you see the solution beyond just your product. You could have an entire category in front of you, but not even realize it because you've created a product just incrementally better than the last business who solved the problem. 

See the problem, and figure out what solves it, then create the category around that. The product should follow that.

"Big E Entrepreneur" Versus "Little e entrepreneur"

We're not all "Big E Entrepreneurs." Those are companies like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. 

Christopher describes it: "I have some technology, I go to Silicon Valley or another tech mecca, find startup funding, and create a mutlibillion dollar category."

This world is where Christopher spent the majority of his professional career. He's learned lessons and shared them in Play Bigger.

Then there's the businesses Christopher calls the "Small e entrepreneur." It's like if three friends get together and start a bar in their hometown with craft beer and vintage arcade games, and call it Barcade. This idea might grow into a chain of bars from the one legendary location. 

This example is similar in getting the holy triangle of category-product-brand dialed in, just on a different scale. Either way, you're navigating your growth journey by designing your category and your business.

Entrepreneurial Reports:

Here are the links Christopher mentioned on entrepreneurship in America.

• Venture Capital in the Midwest
• The state of competition

Connect with Christopher:

• Follow Your Different with Christopher Lochhead
• The Lochhead on Marketing podcast
• Lochhead on the Web
• Lochhead on Facebook
• Lochhead on Twitter

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

A quick Google search for "What is company culture" will net you this result: Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations, and goals.

Remington and Dan define it:

Remington - Culture and brand are intertwined. Brand is the image that people (the public) have of your company. Culture is the image your team has, and can unite behind. It's like a mirror. Everything in front of the mirror is brand, and everything behind the mirror is culture. 

Culture is defined by choices, not by definition.

Dan - The interaction between employees, between teams, and between employees and leaders. It's what people say behind your back. Culture comes from both the top down, and the inside out. If your company's actions don't align with its core values, culture sucks. 

For instance, if a core value is "People First" but management focuses solely on sales numbers and rewards sales people who trample on people, culture is toxic.

So... how does a company, especially with a hybrid team of in-house and remote employees, maintain a culture in the modern world?

This episode's sponsor:

This episode of Wayfinding Growth is brought to you by Sprocket Talk. If you’re ready to take your HubSpot experience to a whole new level, you need to join Sprocket Talk as a Free VIP member. Tutorials, courses, training, HubSpot updates and more. Head to SprocketTalk.com/WG to join the movement and get an exclusive Wayfinding Growth deal!

Leaders: You Can't Force Culture (But You Do Inspire It)

Remington says there's a difference between building a culture (you can't control it) and inspiring a culture (you can guide it and influence it). 

Remington says at the beginning of their hiring days, he and his co-founder Rachel used to obsess about culture. Around this time, Google and other tech darlings were in the news for their culture. Things like free beer, open office spaces, and other perks were the focus of many news stories. When Impulse Creative grew from a 2-person operation with an occasional freelancer into a legitimate agency that could afford a payroll, the Beggs focused hiring efforts on trying to woo people who wanted that kind culture. 

A few years later, Remington says he learned how culture grew from employees, how different personalities interacted, and how the company needed different personalities to grow well. 

He also learned that as much as he had a vision for how he wanted Impulse Creative's culture to develop, he had to understand that he only cast the vision, he didn't have total control. 

"I want to inspire ownership," Remington says. "Ownership of the problem, ownership of the solution. That's the area where I try to inspire the most." 

Employees with ownership of their culture can be powerful (and scary for an owner). As the team grew, Remington's piece of the influence diminished and the team's influence grew.

Have you found that as a leader? Do you see your job as an influencer of culture, or the one in control of culture?

Hiring is Like Marriage

When Remington hires someone, he thinks of it as a permanent solution. It's not temporary. He asks if he and the team can work with this person for the long term future. 

Another way hiring is like marrying, is understanding that you can't change people. Don't expect to marry a person and change them. You can grow together, but as many marriage experts say, you can't fix your partner. 

This mindset means that if an employee was brought on for temporary reasons, they should instead be a temp or a contractor, not a full employee. 

Modern Culture Navigational Tools

How does Impulse Creative navigate the culture journey? A few tools we covered in the conversation help us, and may help you.

Candor: It's one of our core values. It's the quality of being open and honest in expression. But with respect. We don't propose "brutal honesty." It's delivered with empathy. And it's hopefully received without pre-tense as well. This helps us live a culture of feedback and growth.

Empathy: Getting to know, like, and trust each other is critical. Remington and Rachel help foster this on a hybrid team with efforts to bring us all together throughout the year. We also use technology to connect, like video calls and scheduling random social times (we call them donuts - like having coffee and a donut with a coworker) help connect us. 

Flexible Benefits: Understanding that a hybrid team with varying stages in life (singles, families, different states, etc.) helps influence a culture where we all feel known and valued. 

Communications Tools: From feedback tools like 15Five to video communications like Zoom to messaging platforms like Slack, we use as many communications tools as we can. We have Slack channel like #gifgab, #random, #music and others where we can be social. Then we use others like #revenueteam, #inboundteam, #sprockettalk and others to manage conversations related to the company.

Does culture need to be a budget line item?

"It needs to be on your expense report. It's not going to be something you can go out and buy, but it's going to cost you money for camaraderie."

While culture isn't something you can directly put a profit line next to on a budget, but it should help overall. 

One example of this for Impulse Creative is flying the entire team in for a Christmas party. The effort does nothing for profits, but it helps the team align and develop personal relationships with team members. When people know, like, and trust each other more, that team performs better and delivers greater work. 

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for n...

Steve Woodruff helps business owners, leaders and others discover their fit if they’re in charge of a business or brand, and are asking these kinds of questions:

1. With all this stuff that we could be doing, where should our strategic focus be?
2. How can we differentiate in the marketplace?
3. Do we have a core message that our customers are grasping and remembering?

Steve does this through something he calls Clarity Consulting. He says it's like a combination of personalized strengths-discovery, strategic brainstorming, and targeted branding. The goal is simple: Discover Your Fit. Then, he  helps you craft the words that become your verbal business card. Words that lead to the ultimate business advantage – referrals.

Sound like a plan for growth?

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Clarity is: Identity, Focus, Message

Every company needs to be crystal-clear on their identity. What's your mission? You vision? Who are you really? #identity

Where do you fit in the marketplace? Who do you reach? #focus

How do you tell people about what you do and who you are? #message

Steve has found that many companies that come to him are lacking in at least one of these areas, more commonly two or three. 

When you don't know who you are, you don't know who to go after, and you don't know how to say what you do. 

This work, Steve says, really has to be done by the people running the company. Founders, C-level executives... the leaders of the brand who set the vision. If you don't have the captain of the ship using a compass, you're sunk!

Clarity Leads to a Simple, Memorable Message

Steve describes his original consulting gig in the pharma world as the "eHarmony of Pharmaceutical Training." It's a great way to give people a quick picture on who he was. This is the goal of your clarity exercise: get your message to people in a simple-to-understand way. 

This symbol, or metaphor, is the pinnacle to clarity. It's the most powerful way to portray who you and what you do in a matter of seconds. Take everything you've uncovered, your who, your what, your why... and distill it down into symbolic language. A word picture, an analogy. That's the goal.

Navigational Tool to Growth: Your Network of People

One of the most powerful tools for navigating your growth you have, and may not even realize, is your network. Steve learned that as his happy clients became his ambassadors, having a clear message helps tremendously in empowering them to help you grow. 

This network should be full of people you can help, who can help you, and where you can be mutually beneficial when it comes to things you need like input and mental support.

Sometimes Your Niche Has More to Grow

You can't be everything to everyone. Find your niche, and explore it deeply. Steve works in the world of pharma training, which one would think gets tapped out quickly with only a few big players in the industry. What he's found, even in his own work, is that he's "barely scratched the surface." 

Like many entrepreneurs, Steve faces the risk of shipwrecks due to lack of focus. Some call it shiny object syndrome. He found that over time he'd want to branch out and find clients in other industries. But diluting his message and chasing clients outside of the industry in which he's well known slowed down Steve's growth. Instead, focusing on his niche and digging deep gave him more ideal clients and more business.

Connect with Steve

• Steve's website
• Steve on LinkedIn
• Steve on Twitter
• Clarity Wins the book 

Other Helpful Links

• Forging an Ironclad Brand by Lindsay Pederson
• Whiskey Nate

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Impulse Creative hasn't always been a partially remote team. Before adding distributed team members, we were a completely in-house team totally headquartered and housed in Fort Myers, Florida. 

A few years ago, Impulse Creative faced a challenge. 70% of the team left the company all at once during what Remington called "a poaching by another agency." In that moment, Impulse needed to hire new talent and quickly. Co-founders Remington and Rachel considered remote workers to fill that need of "getting a butt in the seat, fast."

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Being able to have an employee, no matter where they are in the country, pivot to your business quickly, can make the difference between two weeks and four weeks (or longer) for a new team member. Sometimes a need drives change that benefits your business in the long run.

Remington and Dan dive deep into what it "feels like" for an owner/founder to realize that the traditional "if your business is healthy, you're increasing office space and building a team you can see" is changing. You may not be able to point to your team in person, but you can include worldwide talent as part of your team instead.

It's also a common concern that with remote workers, collaboration may go away. You have to combat that with technology, culture, and a focused effort.

Technology has made it so your business can grow beyond local talent. You no longer have to move someone (and potentially their family) if you hire someone from across the country. That may feel uncomfortable for some business owners or leaders, but it's something Remington says is freeing as well. 

Hiring That First Remote Employee

It's not an easy thing to make the transition and hire that first remote employee. For Impulse Creative, that person was Danielle. She's still with the company. But it wasn't a simple road for either side. 

Remington honestly lays out the early conversations, where he told Danielle that this was a new direction for the company, that it won't be easy, but if both sides are willing to learn, it could be exciting. He says open dialogue and candor are critical to the success of this transition.

In-House Team Benefits

Over the course of the conversation, Remington talks about benefits to having a team in-house. This may mean you'll want to have a mix of in-house and remote, or it may mean that you'll need to consider how to encourage some of this for your distributed team. Or you might end up finding a new way to encourage these benefits.

Passive Communication

When your team is all together, they get a feel for their coworkers and what's going on with them. Maybe one person hears two others talking about an issue they're trying to fix. That third person overhears it, and drops in to offer a quick thought that solves it. That passive communication doesn't naturally happen when miles separate the team.

This also means that when your team isn't in the same room, things like recognizing mood or making personal connections may not happen as easily. When people are together every day, they get to know each other through interpersonal, non-verbal communication. A distributed team has to find a different way of coming together.

Empathy and Awareness

"It's harder to identify when someone is struggling, when they're not right there," Remington says. As a leader, manager, or business owner, you're probably in tune with your team. You can tell when they're struggling with a task or a project. You may even be able to tell when they're having a bad day.

"You can hear their sighs. With the in-house team, when someone makes a sigh in a certain way, I know they need help even if they don't ask for it."

When you're with them in-person, empathy and awareness are more natural and easy. 

Distributed Team Benefits

With a distributed team, comes specific benefits. Here are a couple the guys cover in the conversation. 

Talent Pool

Relocation happens when you find talent outside of your geographical area. But that can add expense, it can increase risk for both the company and the employee, and it takes time. Remote workers can be up and running faster, they get to stay where there home already is, and you don't need to pay for relocation. With a distributed team, your talent pool expands.

Flexibility

When you have team members who can work from anywhere, they can work... from anywhere! At the time of this recording, our graphic designer Jeffrey (lives/works in northern Florida) was working while traveling. He was in southern California, where he's from, on a personal trip. He was able to take some time off during the trip, but also work to save some of the time off. 

If your team member has to travel but can still work, they're able to have more flexibility for themselves and your business. 

Some Tools to Help Your Distributed Team

From software to hardware to cultural focuses, the tools you put into play for your distributed team are critical. Here are a few we cover.

15Five

This helps with performance and engagement of employees by continuously asking questions and starting the right conversations.

Video First Culture

Video helps connect us. Instead of standard phones, we go right to video. It helps with non-verbal communication and face-to-face connection.

Slack

Instant communication. Also, random conversations. We have channels like #random, #gifgab, #music and others. 

Asana

Having a productivity tool is key to any team. It's even more critical for a remote team. It helps with communication, accountability, and more. 

Tettra

Documentation is key. Where can employees go to find past learnings, processes and more? We use Tettra. A ton.

Purposeful In-Person Gatherings

Whether it's an annual event or monthly visits from different team members, it's critical to include your distributed team in events at headquarters. 

Work from Home Test

Build empathy and test the system. Impulse Creative put a test in place for the in-house team - a work from home week. Hear about that experience at 20:30 into the conversation. Remington learned a lot about himself in this one...

"Donuts"

Tettra is an internal wiki tool, built to help companies of all sizes document their processes. It's an integrated SaaS, that helps growing teams grow strategically, methodically, and with wisdom. Rather than keep all of the knowledge in one person's head, Tettra helps teams build knowledge bases.

Nelson Joyce is co-founder and Chief Product Officer. Previous to founding Tettra with co-founder Andy Cook, Nelson was with HubSpot, as a UX designer and product entrepreneur. Growth is in Nelson's core values, and he opens up about his journey.

Early on in the conversation, in talking about starting Tettra, Nelson says "One of the biggest risks in starting a company is can you even work with the person or the people you're starting it with?" Figuring that out is a critical step in a growth journey for a startup.

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Tettra's Shipwreck

Tettra's leadership decided to be authentic and vulnerable from an early point. Nelson talked about how honest they've been along the way. 

The biggest shipwreck for Nelson and the team was almost running out of money and having to lay people off. In the startup world, most just starting out raise money through venture capitalists (VC money), but Nelson and Andy didn't like that model. 

While disrupting a well-known business model may seem brave and cool, it really came down to Nelson and Andy needing to go raise money to pay employees and keep the ship sailing, but they weren't good at it. So it wasn't working and they had to cut salaries and lay people off.

The experience taught them they weren't a "usual" hypergrowth, venture backed startup like so many around them in the Boston tech world. Instead, they decided to find a way to run the company in a more authentic, sustainable way for them.

Nelson explains that while so many founders see VC investment leads to less risk, but he sees it as more risk. Inside of HubSpot, Nelson and Andy saw the "good side" to VC investment. Unfortunately, that's not what most companies see. There's a risk to taking money from investors, and it wasn't something Tettra leadership wanted to do.

When a VC firm invests in multiple companies, they can work the numbers so if 80% of those businesses fail, they'll reap the rewards of the hypergrowth 20%. But for those businesses, failure is final; they have that one chance to beat the 80% stat. 

This decision essentially positions Tettra as an anti-startup, and gives the company freedom to find different measures of success.

"Growing slowly is a superpower. People can get used to the system and the system scales naturally without breaking. Going the VC route or hiring really fast is the equivalent of taking steroids to get ultra strong super fast. You're able to do it, but as soon as you stop taking the steroids, your body deteriorates."

It's the Swings That Kill You

A tool Neslon is grateful for in his wayfinding growth journey is resiliency. He says keeping your emotions in check, not getting too low when it's low and not to head-in-the-clouds when things go well is critical to sustainable growth. 

Sometimes you'll close a big deal with a profitable customer, which you'll want to celebrate, then you'll lose a client by surprise and you'll want to quit it all. 

Nelson says you want to keep an even keel and realize that growth has its ups and downs. You can't control that, but you can control your reaction and your emotions. 

Document Your Growth, No Matter Your Size

From its inception, Tettra team members have used their own system. Even as a very small startup, Nelson says they documented everything. The benefit is that every step is written down so you can go back, slow down, and think through why a decision was made. 

Putting systems in place and documenting them increases efficiency. Tettra is 7 people, but they get work done like their much bigger. And Nelson attributes a lot of that to using their own tool.

Connect with Nelson and Tettra

• Nelson on LinkedIn
• Tettra
• Tettra on Twitter
• Tettra on LinkedIn

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

When Impulse Creative made the move from Fort Myers to Babcock Ranch, we moved into a smaller office space. For most companies, that's a red flag that things aren't going well. In this episode of Wayfinding Growth, Remington and Dan discuss how they planned the messaging around the move to ensure everyone understood the reasons behind it. In essence, they wanted to "control the message" so people wouldn't think the worst. 

But the question is: In today's social media world and hyperspeed communication culture, can businesses still control a message? Or is it more influence? 

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Make a Proactive Plan

Communicate internally as much as possible, so no one fills in the story they're not hearing. When we don't hear the story, we tend to fill it in with negativity. 

Then make sure you're influencing the public communication. First, you have to simply let your customers know you've moved so they don't go to the wrong location. Remember, just because you're there every day doesn't mean they are!

Remington pointed out that in addition to that, we need to ensure people in the world aren't making assumptions. We want to have a plan to proactively inform people of a move so they're not caught off guard.

This is why we created an exciting, upbeat video announcing how excited we were about the move, the positives to it, and welcoming our network to our new home. You can check out the Welcome to the New Impulse Creative Headquarters here.

Spin vs. Authentic Influence

"I don't want people to think of it negatively," said Remington of the word spin. "Our job as marketers is to worry about the optics of a situation." 

A business could be moving locations for all the right reasons - cost savings to make the business more profitable, finding a great location with modern amenities, reducing space due to a growing distributed team - and you could have one person speak out and say you're doing it for the wrong reason. Too often that single voice with the negativity is the one that gets the attention. 

So you have to understand that your goal is to influence and manage the communication in an authentic, honest manner so you're guiding the discussion. This helps you to mitigate the risk of negative perceptions. You can think of it less as spin, and more of an authentic influence.

Marble Floors vs. Talent

Dan asked Remington about the perception of moving into a bigger office space versus a smaller footprint, and what that means in the business world. The new HQ is smaller in part because a growing distributed team means people working from home, talent around the country, and less need for "marble floors and big offices." 

In considering the message, Remington wanted to offer the public the pros to our move including making the agency more profitable. That leads to hiring more talent, continuing to grow, and sticking around for years to serve our clients. 

Part of that positive message also included highlighting the fact that the new HQ is in a brand new town that's the first completely solar powered community in the US. We're working to ensure our footprint on our Earth diminishes while our business grows. 

Lessons Learned from Past Experience

Remington recounts a lesson learned from a past experience, where Impulse Creative decided to upgrade furniture. Standing desks have become a popular option for allowing team members to move during their work days. It's better for health, and a great move for any business that can do it. 

Of course, with new furniture comes the need to get rid of the old. In this particular case, Remington simply offered the old furniture to the public, which led to a ton of questions like "Is everything okay?" and "Are you going out of business?" This time Remington knew that we'd want to head off those kinds of questions with a proactive message.

So while you may not be able to control the message as a business, you can certainly work to influence perception through planned, authentic, proactive communications. 

Subscribe for New Episodes Every Week

Be sure to subscribe on your podcast player of choice (or the email notifications below) for new episodes every week, Tuesday mornings at 7:00am EST. Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for businesses. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.

Love what we're doing? Leave a review wherever you listen!

Parallel industries can teach us so much. In this episode of Wayfinding Growth, Remington walked away with several "aha moments" from a coffee franchise that sparked ideas for our agency. We hope you'll do the same.

Today’s Sponsor is Impulse Creative’s Video Marketing Masterclass - George B Thomas built out an 11 module On-Demand Course on how to leverage Video in your Business. He covers everything from how to choose the right equipment, to what you can do videos about in your business. Check it out at impulsecreative.com/vfm and preview 2 modules for Free.

Bob Fish, Biggby Coffee

Biggby Coffee (pronounced Big-Bee) is a privately owned coffee franchise business based in East Lansing, Michigan. There are close to 250 locations across 8 states, each locally owned and operated. Bob Fish and Michael McFall are the co-CEOs of Biggby Coffee. 

Bob, along with co-found Mary Roszel, launched the company in 1995 near Michigan State University. Franchising started in 1999.

"My Harbor is Littered with Shipwrecks"

Bob says you can't have success without shipwrecks. Growth takes risk. 

He recalled how his first store in East Lansing opened "with a resounding thud." It took grit and tenacity and a dream to make it happen through those shipwrecks. In fact his biggest shipwreck was about 5 years into the life of Biggby. Bob and his partner decided to buy a small coffee chain in Toledo, Ohio.

The plan was to buy and flip the brand. They went to a vendor for a loan, a bank for a loan, and put their own money into the venture. As life moved forward and they thought it was going well, they hit their first major obstacle. 

The bank came to the business and said they were shutting their loan down. Bob and the leadership team discovered they weren't keeping their balance sheet in the "right ratio" for the bank. 

Bob says the lesson was conquering hubris and arrogance, because he hadn't read the fine print in the contract and taken it seriously. On the precipice of bankruptcy, Bob and his partner had to then show up to the rest of the world with a positive attitude. 

Empathy and Branding

Biggby didn't start as Biggby. The brand actually started as Beaner's Coffee. In late 2007, they changed to Biggby Coffee. The idea behind the original name was a reference to coffee beans. The team wasn't aware of the other meaning of the word. “Beaner” is often used as an ethnic slur for people of Mexican heritage. So Bob and partner Mike McFall agreed that they wanted to voluntarily change their name.

Founded on the principal of being the friendly coffee community and loving everyone, the pair wanted people to know that the organization was open and accepting of all nationalities and people. The name “Biggby” was chosen as it was the vocalization of the black and orange “big B” logo that already existed. Biggby became a fun name, and the first store opened under the name Biggby Coffee on October 29, 2007, in Westand, Michigan. The name change was completed in all stores by January 31, 2008.

The successful name change is attributed to the Biggby corporate entity making the decision to shoulder the entire cost of the name change. From exterior building signs, PR, and a myriad of other expenses, Bob and Mike felt it was only right to cover the costs for franchise owners. Bob said the cost added up to about $1 million. And it was worth every penny.

In December 2007, Biggby Coffee was awarded MBC Global's 3rd Quarter Multicultural Achievement Award for completing the name change on a completely voluntary basis.

Get to Know Bob and Biggby

• Biggby Coffee website
• Biggby's B-Happy Lounge
• Biggby on Twitter
• Bob on Facebook
• Bob on LinkedIn

Be sure to subscribe to Wayfinding Growth for more insight into growing your business.

Listen every Tuesday morning at 6:00 on your podcast player of choice. If you learned something, please share with others. And if you love what we're doing, leave a review wherever you listen to Wayfinding Growth with Remington Begg and Dan Moyle.

It can be a pain - but it doesn't have to derail your business growth!

In this episode, Wayfinding Growth turns inward as co-hosts Remington Begg and Dan Moyle explore what it's like to move locations through the lens of Impulse Creative's move from Fort Myers, Florida to Babcock Ranch, Florida.

The Decision to Move

Impulse Creative held its last location in Fort Myers for 5 years. When Remington originally signed the lease, we had a 2-year extension option to stay at the current lease rate. That was the longest lease the company had in our history, with mostly 2 year leases prior. 

At the beginning of 2019, Remington was planning to take advantage of the extension, but realized looking through the contract that there was a hidden caveat to the option: The landlord required a "Notice to Stay" 180 days (6 months) prior to the end of the lease. 

Even as a leader who reads contracts, Remington missed this line. 

So, with rates about to climb dramatically, he decided it was time for him and his co-founder, our COO Rachel Begg, to start looking for other options.

One factor that went into the move was how many team members needed full time headquarters office space. Impulse Creative had grown from a 1,300 square foot office to 4,000 square feet in Fort Myers, with the vision for 15-20 people working in-house. Instead, we've grown to 15 people with about half working remotely.

The Wayfinding Growth Lesson: The speed of business continues to increase and you have to be able to pivot. 

Impulse Creative had to plan for flexibility and the ability to pivot. The 5-year plan 5 years ago has changed, including a 50% distributed team. So growth = fewer people in the office full time. 

How to Plan for a Move

A wise person once told Remington that when it comes to planning for your business, you should think, "What's the worst that can happen, and can you survive the worst?"

When it comes to any business decision and it's viable, and survivable, Remington says it's worth the risk. 

To plan for the move, Remington and Rachel looked for the best way to mitigate risk, select a place that can grow with our growth but flexible enough to allow for our plans to come to fruition however they look.

Modern business has changed and Impulse Creative continues to adjust as needed. Remington even remembers when Mairsa Smith joined Wayfinding Growth on Season 1 Episode 4 to talk about the book Traction and setting a vision and goals for your business.

Listen to that episode here.

Setting goals strategically in manageable time frames with a plan to pivot when needed is key to purposeful growth in any business, including deciding when and if to make a move.

Remington's Navigational Tools

From reading to mastermind meetings to what he calls Podcast Roulette, Remington is always working to grow personally so he can lead the company well. 

One focus for this CEO, which is part of how Wayfinding Growth will serve our listeners, is to look at parallel markets for inspiration. 

Whether it's because your industry hasn't innovated lately, or because it's new and you're setting your own course, Remington suggests finding connections in other industries that have similar themes as yours, so you can find new and innovative ideas for your growth. 

Be sure to subscribe to Wayfinding Growth for more insight into growing your business.

Listen every Tuesday morning at 6:00 on your podcast player of choice. If you learned something, please share with others. And if you love what we're doing, leave a review wherever you listen to Wayfinding Growth with Remington Begg and Dan Moyle.

Dan joined the Impulse Creative team on April 1, 2019 (no joke!). He's already a podcaster, and has been a podcast guest more than three dozen times.

On this episode, George and Remington reminisce about the start of Wayfinding Growth, the original vision, how it's gone, and what's next. What does that mean for season 2 and beyond? Well, it means Dan will join Remington as co-host!

But... What About George?! Don't worry. George is sticking around Impulse Creative. He isn't going anywhere! George now gets to focus on Sprocket Talk, HubSpot trainings, serving our clients, and other projects.

Dan joined the team and now he needs something to do!

What You Can Expect on Wayfinding Growth

Sure there will be some changes to the show with a new co-host. But isn't that what Wayfinding is all about? Guiding your ship and making adjustments as you see fit? You can expect the same with the show.

Our Mission: Wayfinding Growth is the go-to podcast to inspire Agency owners and leadership. “For better or worse, in richness and in want” may be for weddings, but it’s also for agencies. We will be your navigator in this journey, no matter your level.Vision: Wayfinding Growth brings listeners examples of tenacious, creative, inspirational business owners who have been through it all - and still walk through it. Listeners can see themselves in the guests and their stories, inspiring a desire to “make it” despite all odds. Mix in just enough authentic storytelling from leadership at Impulse Creative, and listeners will see what it takes to create a successful business.

So make sure you're subscribed to the show. Buckle up, we're in for an exciting journey!

Watch or listen to more episodes at https://wayfindinggrowth.com
Learn more about Impulse Creative at https://impulsecreative.com