Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Digital is a demanding and competitive field. And women are still grossly underpaid & underrepresented. But we are not powerless; we have each other. Together Digital Power Lounge is your place to hear authentic conversations from women in digital who have power to share. Listen and learn from our amazing guests along with host Amy Vaughan, Owner and Chief Empowerment Officer of Together Digital. Together Digital is a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital who choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. To learn more, visit www.togetherindigital.com.
Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Building an Empire with Heart
Welcome to The Power Lounge, a space for genuine discussions with leaders driving impactful change. In this episode, we explore Adrienne Garland's transition from a Fortune 500 executive to the founder of She Leads Media, a key player in women's entrepreneurship. Hosted by Amy Vaughan, the conversation highlights Adrienne's decade-long effort in building a purpose-driven business, promoting women's entrepreneurship through education, and transforming the business landscape. Whether you're starting your own venture, leaving the corporate world, or seeking to amplify your impact, this episode offers practical insights and motivation for your journey ahead.
Connect with the host Amy Vaughan:
LinkedIn
Power Lounge Podcast
Learn more about Together Digital and consider joining the movement by visiting togetherindigital.com.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:49 - Anger as Motivation for Change
07:45 - From Economics to Marketing: Lessons
12:02 - Challenging Toxic Tolerance
19:13 - Structure Enables Creativity
23:53 - Mini MBA: Building Lasting Connections
29:51 - Teaching Entrepreneurship and Self-Discovery
35:30 - Learning Business Profitability Mistakes
38:20 - Power Imbalance Challenges Women's Worth
45:45 - Empowerment Boosts Girls' Confidence
49:45 - "Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Success"
55:07 - Finding Support as an Entrepreneur
01:01:58 - "Encouraging Conversations with Adrienne"
01:02:29 - Outro
Book Mentioned:
Consider reading the book "Originals" by Adam Grant for more insights into creativity and challenging the status quo.
Quotes:
"Let go of relationships that don't support your vision; a single meaningful connection can change your life."- Amy Vaughan
"Bring your dreams to life by fostering meaningful relationships and leading with purpose."- Adrienne Garland
Connect with Adrienne Garland:
LinkedIn
She Leads Media
She Leads Podcast Network
Instagram
Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly Power Lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. Learn more about us and join the movement at togetherindigitalcom. I am thrilled today to welcome all of you to meet our newest best friend, adrienne Garland, the founder of she Leads Media and a true pioneer in women's entrepreneurship. As we were just talking already, like in full conversation before we went live, entrepreneurship it's the answer. We're going to make the t-shirts. We're going to make it happen.
Speaker 1:From a Fortune 500 executive to creating one of New York's premier women's business conferences, adrienne has spent over a decade building an empire that puts heart at its center. She'll share her journey from corporate leadership to founding and leading she Leads Media and how she is helping to reshape entrepreneurship through education. Yay, great place to start at NYU and Rice University. Whether you're thinking about starting your own business, you know as entrepreneurs, you entrepreneurs out there. We're talking to you, transitioning from corporate or looking to scale your impact and, hopefully this conversation. You're going to get a lot out of it, so let's dive in. Adrienne welcome.
Speaker 2:Amy, thank you so much. I am very, very excited to be here and have this conversation with you and hopefully get some questions from the audience as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes. We love our live listening audience, so don't be shy, say hi, use the chat, let us know if you have questions. Yeah, I'm just so excited to get started because we already gotten pretty warmed up in the 10, 15 minutes prior to this. I would love for you to share with our listeners a little bit more about your corporate journey into from corporate to entrepreneurship and maybe the moment or moments you began to realize that you needed to start something like. She Leads Media Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the journey never ends. I'll start there. I think that I grew up during a time where we were sort of told that there was a path right, and the path was that you went to college, you got a job, you worked really hard and put your head down and did what you were told, and if you did a really good job, you would be promoted and you would succeed. Well, I think that I found out and a lot of people that are in my age bracket found out that that's not necessarily the case. Uh, I did learn an awful lot being in corporate and I made some incredible friends and established wonderful relationships along the way.
Speaker 2:But there were tons and tons of lessons in that journey that I guess I needed to learn, and I think that for the past 10 years or so, I'd been very angry at corporate, you know, for being what it is, and I maybe just because I'm getting a little bit older and I don't care as much about what other people's agendas are that I realized that I don't. You know, taking the energy to be angry is taking away energy from doing something new and innovative. So that's where I'm putting my energy now, into sort of looking in the future versus trying to right the wrong. That I feel like you know, maybe corporate is right. It's all an evolution.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I'm often saying like whenever, because I think, as women too, we're conditioned not to express our anger and that is something we need to suppress or hold back on or not deal with, gosh, especially if you're a woman of color, you know, especially like there's so many stigma. It's like so much stigma around anger and women, right, but for me, I've always taken my anger as a cue for action. If it's pissing me off, it means that I feel a sense of injustice and I need to do something about it. I need to look at it a little harder and not just sort of let it float by.
Speaker 1:So I can relate and I think a lot of our listeners can relate so hard to this whole idea of you know getting angry at corporate because it is a large behemoth of a system that we've all been a part of. That has conditioned us to show up and be a certain way. And I think you know, you know you started this all before COVID too, so you're like well ahead of the curve, adrienne, right? Because I think even the COVID has really opened a lot of people's eyes. Right? Because I'm kind of curious as to I want to dig deeper Like what were the things that you were feeling even before all of this mess of COVID and remote, flexible work that was starting to get under your skin and make you angry about corporate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I first got into corporate, I was wide-eyed and I felt like everybody was the same and I actually worked at a wonderful place. And there was somebody from my college that worked at that place as well and this is in the world of finance and he worked on the trading desk and I was like, oh, that's super cool and I'd like to sit in on that. And so I went to the head of the trading desk, as I do, because why not?
Speaker 2:I'm driven and smart, I work there and I said can I sit in and shadow whoever? And he said it will be a cold day in hell before I let a woman sit on my trading desk. Wow, and.
Speaker 2:I was shocked, came right out and said it right, came right out and said, yeah, listen, more power to you for at least expressing what you feel. So that opened my eyes, or at least took off the filter that I had on, and I started at that moment to say why does this person who I graduated from the same college with, why does he get to sit there and I don't? So I left that job, even though I really did love that company, and I thought that I could make a difference if I had more education. So I said, well, I'm going to differentiate myself by getting an MBA in finance and I'm going to show all you mother effers. Right, can we curse Because I do? Yep, and so that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I went back to school to get my MBA in finance from NYU, and this was in the 1990s and there was a lot of crap that happened in the finance world in the 1990s and at that time I had moved over to working at an investment bank and I saw a lot of very unethical stuff that was going on and I just you know, I sort of operate from this place of, like you know, ethics and morality, operate from this place of, like you know, ethics and morality and I saw that there were things that were happening in the world of work that weren't so ethical and I didn't like it and I was like I don't, even though I love numbers.
Speaker 2:I was an economics major and you know I love this idea of you know trading and value and all that. I was like this isn't for me, because I can't handle people being deceptive and doing things that line their pockets and benefit only them. So I got out of that and I switched my major to marketing and I sort of went in a little different direction with, like, media and entertainment, because I was looking to lighten, lighten up, I guess, right, um, and you quickly realized that whatever was happening in the financial world is happening everywhere else too.
Speaker 1:Same shit different place, that's right to Same shit, different place.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, so you know, I think you sort of come to realize that it is what it is and you choose to put yourself in places and act in a way that you feel good about. And I had some really incredible experiences and jobs and I learned a lot. But the last company that I was at was PricewaterhouseCoopers and there's a certain culture there and Adrian Garland don't fit in and it really sucks, because I was elevated quickly at PwC and I think that everything that had made me successful in corporate was also part of my demise, because I operate in a way that is highly independent and that got me far, but it also got me in trouble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, professional troublemaker I got in professional trouble, which felt awful because it was very much my identity.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that people that are your audience and your listeners. We, whether we want to or not, we do tie our identity and our value to our jobs, especially in the United States.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I left PwC and started my own business. That's when it happened, and I did not get fired. I did not get fired, but I did not get fired. I did not get fired, but I did leave and I was going to get fired.
Speaker 1:You just beat them to the punch. I love it. Yes, we are such soul sisters. I so feel everything that you're saying, and I'm talking to our members. Within our community we try to create that safe space for women to talk about those things, but it is, it's all so true and it's all still happening. You're talking about stuff that happened. You know, sometimes I'd like to think the nineties was just 10 years ago. It wasn't, it was more like 30. So you know that that that should be eyeopening in itself, that that this stuff is still perpetuating and continuing. And I'm actually it's interesting, it just keeps coming up. And I'm actually, it's interesting, it just keeps coming up. So I'm going to finish my article.
Speaker 1:Today I'm writing an article called and in training, to coin a phrase called toxic tolerance, and it's that idea of that. It's like we are so forced, especially again a lot of us, to be like nice and accepting and inclusive. And I'm not knocking inclusivity at all. But I'm saying there is a point in which we allow for bad behavior because we're trying to be tolerant, because we're trying to play nice, because we're shoving kindness down people's throats, sometimes that it's to the detriment of us all, you know. And so it actually didn't even stem from like workplace stuff. It has stemmed from a situation of my 11-year-old daughter and her school, and so it just it's funny, it just it keeps popping into my head. So look for that, folks, the articles come in, it's, it's going to be a phrase we're going to have to start to say and use of, like toxic tolerance.
Speaker 1:This is how bad behavior perpetuates and continues and is allowed to stay within these companies, to much to the detriment of really smart, talented people. And if you think you have a retention problem or a culture problem, it's all of those things. But I think sometimes it does boil down to that toxic tolerance. Well, that's just the industry, that's just the way it goes, that's just how he is Right, boys will be boys. All of that stuff is toxic tolerance and it's like, no, like, why should that be allowed? And then, honestly, at the end of the day, in my daughter's instance, because she's not a bully, because she lashed back out at a bully, she got made an example in front of the whole class, in publicly shamed and told that they expected more of her. And I'm like, can you not please just expect more from all of us, you know.
Speaker 1:So anyways, not to get onto that rabbit hole too far but everything you were saying again, adrienne, just really stacks up against just that pitfall that we've kind of come into of toxic tolerance. And it's like if we're not changing the systems, creating our own organizations and businesses or finding a way to go up against it and change it, it's like it's just going to perpetuate and it's going to be to the detriment of all of us. But yeah, hallelujah. Right, you're like pay your chance.
Speaker 2:Yes, the toxic tolerance reminds me very much of the phrase what you permit persists.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%, yeah, exactly that.
Speaker 2:And it's so funny when you talk about the situation with your daughter, those types of things. Now, from a very young age she is traumatized for speaking up, and so it's Salem, witch trials, right. It's like there's a very real fear that when we speak up, that we are going to get into trouble and it's going to hurt us. And it does hurt us and I think that that's why so many women and people that are other than the people that are other right than the people that are in power, that's why it's so difficult to stand up, because we know we're going to get hurt and as human beings we don't want to hurt ourselves. We avoid the pain. Yeah, like it's almost. You know, if you stand up and then you get hurt, you're not going to be able to continue forward.
Speaker 2:So in a way, it's better to and I'm not suggesting this- at all right, but like the logic is well, I'll be quiet, yeah, so that I can at least continue on it's self-preservation.
Speaker 1:But it's so harmful.
Speaker 2:Self-preservation it's harmful.
Speaker 1:It is I sit within a group and a cohort of women that are entrepreneurs and corporate and I say this lovingly, but it's like sometimes we get into certain conversations and you can feel or see in their body language the women in corporate that are like got got to stay out of this I can't go into that and it's like.
Speaker 1:Or I just like, jokingly, lovingly say they're a little dead in the eyes, or they go dead in the eyes because they're like can't have an opinion, can't go into that, and it's like. Or I just like, jokingly and lovingly say they're a little dead in the eyes, or they go dead in the eyes Cause they're like can't have an opinion, can't change my facial expression. Well, we, I can't fix my face to save my life.
Speaker 2:So whatever I'm not saying out loud, it's already on my face, so it's like I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, but yeah, it is, it's a it's, it's it's. I'm coaching women now too, and in my coaching I'm realizing that it's just something that they don't even realize they're doing.
Speaker 1:You know it's that ingrained in them that they don't realize how much they're holding back and having gone to from like agency, like big conglomerate owned agencies, to running and owning my own business, that sense of not just freedom for like what freedom brings in entrepreneurship but just the ability to lean into myself and be my most authentic self in the way that I lead, that I do my business, Game changing, my filter is gone.
Speaker 1:I jokingly say I don't know how to act in polite society anymore because I just go and be me Wherever I'm going. I am not changing who I am for, whatever room I'm in. And to tell you all, even if you remain in corporate, if you can get to that point and live in such a way, it's such a wonderful existence and I really do want that for everybody. But I am curious, Adrienne, you know, with your years of experience in corporate, what sorts of things did you kind of carry through in how you approached and shaped building your own business? Because obviously all of that wasn't, you know, like you said, you had some great relationships, you worked in some amazing environments, you had awesome opportunities. What kind of carried through and helped you get your business started?
Speaker 2:There were a couple of things that I have carried over which I didn't mention, but I worked at PR Newswire for a couple of years and PR Newswire at that time it was in 2006, 7, 8, 9, they were very committed to building relationships with people and just offering up a lot of learning opportunities and it was just like a real, genuine place, because you never know when someone was going to need some of the hundreds of services that PR Newswire offered, and so they were super committed to relationship building and I have taken that forward. They also highly encouraged all employees to go out and speak or be on a panel or whatever, just kind of get out there, because at the end of the day they were in media right. So that I have taken with me all along the way. You never know where the opportunities are and it's not just for transactional things, it could literally be for like what we were talking about.
Speaker 2:Like I now have a long list of book recommendations, like that's valuable to me. You know that is of value and there are probably ideas within those books that are game changing and that you can't put a price on. So if you can almost commit to being a lifelong relationship builder. That skill will serve you everywhere. Some of the I don't know paranoia because there was a lot of paranoia I'm thinking of, like all my different jobs, some of the paranoia with having to sort of have the answers at the ready at any time and have all of your information was awful and toxic but prepared me to always be ready. So it's like there was a little bit of negativity in there. But it also there was a benefit to that in doing your research, making sure you're prepared. Having your ducks in a row, planning like the rigidity of it was, was, for me at least, a good thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree, I feel you.
Speaker 1:I think there's like even though my background's creative, I was always big on like process and structure, because I always felt that process and structure and structure allowed for more freedom and creativity and people would look at me like I was crazy but I was like, no, I want and need that rigor because I want to spend more time having ideas and then figuring out how to go from that to execution and then I want to make sure, if I have a damn good idea, that it actually happens and it's not going to happen without a plan, you know. So I agree with you in that sense of like some rigidity being prepared, being researched is all really important, of like some rigidity being prepared, being researched is all really important. And I have to pause to give a note on relationships. Of course, 100,000% agree with you. As my kids would say, I'm like there's no such thing 100,000%, but it works, but it works.
Speaker 1:Kathy Spicer I don't know if she's listening right now in our live audience, but she saw you were coming on. She's like yay. So PR Newswire shout out to them, shout out to.
Speaker 1:Kathy Spicer. We love you. She's amazing. She's been a member for gosh probably as long as I've been around and a member, but now it's so funny.
Speaker 1:And you're right, and I've said it before too like relationships and connections, one connection can absolutely change your life, and even if you are the most introverted introvert of a person, the potential and possibility of that should be somewhat exciting. It doesn't mean you have to go out and befriend everyone, but if you start to open yourself up to what relationships can bring to your life, outside of the sense of connection and belonging which we all know thanks, brene Brown that we need you just end up in the most amazing places. I mean, I wouldn't be sitting here owning and running my own business if it wasn't for one connection. One random ass LinkedIn message, literally five years later, changed my life, and so that's like that to me is like exciting, and so I hope you all take the time to continue to build and foster your relationships. I love that advice, adrienne. It's.
Speaker 1:It's an important thing that I think you know we don't, as women particularly I'll harp on us a little bit we don't prioritize it and we need it. We live longer from these friendships. We get more we grow, more that collective rise that happens. We need to be doing that. We need to be connecting more, making each other more wealthy, making each other more successful, lifting one another up. It's like gosh. We need more of that.
Speaker 2:We need to do business with one another. We have to be so mindful of that because otherwise we walk around in a daze. And it's so funny. I went to the gym and then, because it's Friday, I went to this health food store that I always go to on Friday because they have amazing blueberry muffins. So I got my blueberry muffin. It was hot too and I was like, oh, I just, I want a little protein. So I went to go get a yogurt and I saw this yogurt and it's one of the I don't know how to pronounce it Sker or Skyer, it's the Icelandic yogurt and it was such a beautiful package and I, so I I grabbed it. I came home and I looked at it and it's from these two sisters from Pennsylvania, woman owned company, all organic, all this stuff. And I was so happy that I even though I wasn't mindful of it, but it reminded me to be mindful I was so happy that I chose to buy something that was woman owned, and it was. This yogurt is off the charts delicious.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, and we have to look at what we're doing before we do it, Because if we don't, then all of this other stuff just gets in our way. And I'm not saying that we want to diminish the contributions or the innovations or products or whatever of men, but for way too long that's the only choice. For way too long that's the only choice, it's the default. So we have to make conscious choices. And when we're doing business as business owners, or even if you're in corporate and you're wanting to bring in a vendor, I'm not saying choose a woman, but I'm saying don't default to a man and then justify it. Well, he has more experience, Well hell yeah, he has more experience.
Speaker 2:Right, because he's been given more.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and mindful consumption, I think is such an important thing and I do. I love and I've hyped the group before. I was a part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program Yay, high five alumni. What I loved about that was, I mean, outside of it's like your mini intensive MBA and like 14 weeks, the relationships, the people that I get to learn and know from, like we have in our group. We literally just came back from a weekend retreat with some of us, our graduate group like we're like keeping it tight. One of them is a roofer. A woman roofer owns a roofing company.
Speaker 1:Another one owns a barbecue business that is going to be aired on the Superbowl. She's got commercial happening. Google picked her business out of all the businesses in Ohio, small businesses, they're doing one in each state, so you'll see one in New York, we'll see one in Ohio. My kids are in it, by the way. So Ohio friends, if you're watching, take a look, you'll. You'll see my mini me in there. Um, but yeah, I love, love, love supporting them and I have learned so much from them. The other one's a catering business. The one does um, who am I forgetting? Oh my gosh, it was like a women.
Speaker 1:Like handmade, all things women made, like from, like second chance women third world countries and it's like all beyond living wage and they all have a story which is like half my jewelry on my hand and on my body is from debbie's shop. So, says sisters, I love them. Um, you guys can check out the shop. Maybe we'll include, so, says sisters, on the show notes for her. So she'd get a little love, but there.
Speaker 1:But there's just I have to say there's just you're right, adrienne, there's something to when you're being intentional about what you're consuming and how you're consuming and who you're supporting. I have to say it's as much as you're giving, you're going to receive, you know, like it's this full circle thing that I just I highly recommend. So, yeah, surround yourself with small business owners especially shout out to all of our small business owners.
Speaker 1:The economy. Do, yeah, do it, yeah, seriously. They create more than half the jobs in our country and somehow we just forget that. But yes, it's so important to support them and be intentional about, you know, uplifting those groups Because, you know, in in the research I'm doing for my networking gap book, it talks a lot about why women don't rise through the ranks.
Speaker 1:And it's not because we need more time with leaders. It doesn't actually get us anywhere. It's not because we're not the ones leading projects. We get dinged because we're being too dominating and authoritative when we're leading things. It's more about that third party validation. We need people speaking our names in the rooms we're not in. We need people recommending our services and our businesses. Because of that shortcuts and gives us the opportunity and the chances that maybe we didn't have before. And I will just go ahead and say it in this age where everybody's backpedaling on DEI and diversity, hiring and diverse vendors like that, that it's on us now, like we have to be conscious consumers and champion those because they're going to take they're already taking a hit for it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Gosh. There's so much change afoot which, as an entrepreneurial-oriented person, feels heavy. And there's opportunity yes, Agreed. And there's opportunity yes, Agreed. So we have to look for that opportunity and not necessarily fight against and we were talking about this before we went live not necessarily use our energy to fight against what was, but to create something brand new. That is for us Agreed.
Speaker 1:Agreed, agreed, and I love that you're teaching, so let's like talk about that for a minute. My husband's a former university professor, so I have a big heart for my educators out there, which I'll do is not easy, especially, like you said, in these times and these days. I'm kind of curious. You know, in your teaching at both universities NYU and Rice you get kind of like a front row seat to emerging business leaders. So, speaking of the future and painting maybe a more exciting picture for us, what excites you the most about that next generation of women entrepreneurs that you're seeing in the classroom?
Speaker 2:in the classroom. Yeah, and it's all entrepreneurs, right, and I do feel like some, and I teach both undergraduate and graduate students At Rice. They're exclusively the graduate students that are in the online MBA program, the Jones School of Business, which happens to be the number one online MBA program for entrepreneurship in the country, which is super cool, so I feel so honored to be able to, you know, be an instructor there, but I one of the things that is definitely.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll talk about three things. One of the things that everybody is focused on is some type of either social good or environmental good or just good for humanity. So everybody's very conscious about that, and the textbook that I use at NYU actually moved up the chapter on social entrepreneurship to chapter two or three, which I thought, yep, this is the trend, right, Not just focus on profit exclusively, but on the SROI, which is the social ROI, which is so great, because I don't think that businesses in the past were necessarily focused on that. They might have added it after, but if you can bake it in from the beginning, then that's a really, really good thing. So I do see that shift. At the same time, there's a lot of focus on technology. There's a lot of focus on some of this sports betting. It's just interesting. There's different ends of the spectrum and that's not a bad thing but, it's just like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's entertainment, which is fine, let's see, I'm just so excited I don't even know what to say. So I love teaching so very much. Um, I love all of the ideas, and entrepreneurship is what I teach exclusively. And we talk so much about how entrepreneurship is driven from within, and oftentimes people do not understand themselves, what they want from their lives, what impact they want to make, and they're often not asked from anybody what do you want? So I let them tell me what they want from their lives, and I don't know if it.
Speaker 2:I talk about this actually because of the Goldman Sachs program. Yeah, one of the first things that they did with us in New York is they said to us what type of a business do you want to build? Oh, I love that. Yeah, they were like do you want to build a business where you are sitting on the beach three months out of the year drinking Mai Tais? And they gave us permission that if that's the business that we wanted to create, then we better make sure to create a business that supports that. Yes, that's mind-blowing.
Speaker 1:I love it. It is smart yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, that's mind blowing. I love it. It is smart. Yeah, right, because otherwise you might end up creating a business where you're working 24 seven and your dream of lowering your cortisol and living, you know, like a healthier, maybe longer life goes out the door, because you've just created something that you are now tied to.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm giving people, I think, permission to dream and to be who they are, versus what society or parents or whoever tells them that they need to be.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, absolutely. I try to tell this to people so many times. It's kind of like trying to explain parenting to myself before I had kids. I'm like I just don't know if I can, but it's like gosh, wouldn't it be so good if we could save 20, 30 years off of people's lives by just having them listen and understand what it means to have that autonomy and freedom and ability to build that the world in which you want to live in?
Speaker 1:And I think yeah, I can't remember if it's like a true saying or if I'm just making it up, but it's that whole idea is like if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're building and making a business to make money, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Like money is important, money is what keeps it going, but you have to have purpose beyond that, otherwise you are, you're just you're, you're working for the wrong thing. Again, you might as well be back in corporate, because that is driven by the bottom line and the money and not the people and not the planet. You know it's all about the profit. So, yes, yes, I agree. I love that.
Speaker 1:That makes me really excited to know that that chapter in the book got moved up because I think it is like the unique opportunity we have as entrepreneurs is to say, okay, this is broken and I'm angry about it. I want to take action, I want to fix this. So I'm going to build and create a business or something that's going to help to change that. And again, when it's not coming from just a pure profit mindset, gosh, you've got the chance to leave a legacy, which who doesn't want that? I can't tell you how many people I sit in one-on-ones or peer groups with that are just like. I just don't feel like I have a purpose. It's like because one, like you said, you're trying to align your purpose to your job, your title, your job status, and it's like, no, but definitely finding your purpose, and if you can make it a business dude, all the better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can like. I think the good news is that there are so many tools that are available that are either low cost or free, and so many people that can help you. Whatever you can think of, as long as you do the work to validate that there's a product, market fit there, a need, and that people value it, you can literally do anything that you want. It's like kind of mind-blowing and what the two other things that I wanted to mention which are so like funny? Um, I think they're funny. Every single class, whether it's rice or NYU grad, undergrad, whatever, everybody wants to solve a pet problem Pets. People love their pets, we do, and they're now more family members than owning a dog or owning a cat. So that is something that comes up for the last four years pets. And then the other one which is mind-boggling because there's so many options out there is food delivery, food delivery and food prep, and that comes up time after time. It's like we have not solved this yet nope, still working on it that's so interesting it's good to know.
Speaker 1:So those of you who are listening got some problems out there. We could use your help solving. I need the food to get here because, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't want to think about dinner or cooking it.
Speaker 1:I just want it to come to me please. Oh my gosh, I love it. Awesome, all right. Now the theme and the topic of today is building a business with heart. So I feel like we're already kind of tiptoeing in and around that conversation a lot with what we've just talked about in the last few minutes. But I'm curious again. You know cause. I said money, it doesn't need to be the end on the BL, but at the end of the day, if you don't have it, it's really hard to continue.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious how do the mistakes that I've made, my business 100% is built with heart and what it is not organized to do, effectively?
Speaker 2:or in an optimized way is earn profit. So that is something where the equation is totally off and that I am not sure that the way that things are organized right now, that that could be corrected. So I do think, as people are either starting businesses or side gigs or whatever, it is important to focus on profit, because if you don't, then your business can't go forward, and that is exactly what I have been struggling with over the past couple of years and so everything. They say that when you teach something, you are not that you're necessarily the expert, but as you teach it, you actually educate yourself better.
Speaker 2:So I feel like in my teaching I've learned so much. I learned so much from the students and I and I love them Shout out to everybody. But, um, I've learned so much about the students and I love them, shout out to everybody, but I've learned so much about what not to do. And I have said to myself more than once, and I've said it out loud I almost want to start a totally separate business that is based on the principles that we teach. That's all about how do you start a business while reducing risk, so that you know that the business that you launch is actually going to satisfy everything that we've talked about so far, and so I almost want to do that as an experiment, because when I started my business back in 2010, I didn't have the tools and the knowledge that I have now.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I almost feel like it's turning around the Titanic, but I will not give up what I'm doing because I love it and I love. I literally love the people that come to the conferences, that listen to the podcast. I love everybody and I want to help them. So my challenge is how do I either change things around, create something new, whatever it is, so that I can do both because it doesn't need to be either or Right, yeah, I agree, I always joke and say, gosh, if purpose was a paycheck, I'd be so rich.
Speaker 1:Or if I had all the money I would be going out and doing all kinds of really awesome good things with it.
Speaker 1:But you know, that always seems to be that economy right Is that the power doesn't seem to be in the hands of those who don't want to do good with it. And I do think you know there's a couple of things that you're just so spot on about. It is a constant balance. It is a real struggle and I think sometimes it is because again, just speaking from the point of view of a woman we are conditioned to work harder, ask for less, get paid less, like undervalue ourselves and our services. And I mean that goes perfectly right into my next question, because we have a lot of women within our organization that are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, freelancer contractors and they struggle with their pricing because they feel like they're asking for too much, but then, knowing they're not asking for enough, I know, and then it's like but they're completely, they're experts, they're smart, they're wise, they have the knowledge. Maybe they're not given the same opportunities. You know, because their gender, because you know how they identify.
Speaker 1:But I'm curious if you have any advice for those who are listening on how to stop undervaluing our services so much, because it is like you're providing something, you're, you're fulfilling a need. Yeah, how do we stop it? I know it's a big question. It is a big question and world peace, adrian, what about it?
Speaker 2:world peace, world hunger. Like yeah, right, uh, the wicked problems. So I read something once and I was like hell, yeah, but it's not practical. But step one to raising your prices, raise your prices. Yeah, I think that the energy behind it is very much like these are my prices. If you're going to try to talk me down or whatever, you're not for me, I'm moving on.
Speaker 2:We spend too much time then being like, oh well, what do you need? How can I help? And I think that the good girl syndrome is holding us so far back and we need to say screw this, I am not wasting my time, I need to move on to the next. And if you get feedback that people are like, I really don't think that you're worth it. If you get feedback that people are like, I really don't think that you're worth it. Take that in and either change what you're doing or go find someone who's going to pay you and stop worrying about all of these people that are like well, what can you really provide? Do you really know? And as much as we don't want to admit it and people will say, oh, it's not about gender, it's that you don't have as much experience or you don't talk in an authoritative enough of a way. You know just. I think we need to just move on.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:Yep, thank you, create our own shit, create our own stuff, yeah, and this is where I think, collaborating, sharing what we charge, I mean within our Together Digital Community Slack, we talk about pricing, we talk about our contracts, like openly, because it helps you to see like, oh wow, she got paid that much for that. Why am I not asking for that, like I'm not really qualified, and I do think you know when we're referring one another, getting that third party validation, like we need to start lining the pockets of the well-intended, you know, so that they can do more good things.
Speaker 2:That's a t-shirt Lines of pockets of the well-intended.
Speaker 1:I love that, and one of our members once, gosh Beth. I love her so much I probably mentioned her like every five podcast episodes. She's a member of ours in Columbus and you know she. We were talking about sales and like how we just kind of bristle at the idea of sales and networking. These aren't things that you know we're good at as women. Well, stop believing that. It's a ton of bs. But also her mindset shift was stop trying to qualify everyone and start looking at I'm. I need to disqualify people.
Speaker 1:I need people off of my list I need to narrow in on the people that are truly the right fit for me and the kind of business I want to do, getting paid, what I need to get paid, I was like, oh shoot, friend, that's so true?
Speaker 2:Right, because we are. I have a draft of a book and it will be coming out We'll see when but one of the things that I talk about in it is how, as women, we're always asking please give me what you have, instead of I'm creating this. So we do need to shift our mindset and our energy. That's where it starts from. That's where it starts from we have to say you need to come on board with me, not, you have what I want, and so I'm going to beg and make myself small and make you like me, so that you can give me a little bit of what you have. It's what we're taught. We're really good at it, but we don't get enough of what we deserve. And so many people get mad at me and they say you don't deserve anything. Well, I think that I do, and I think that women, yeah, and because I have worked so hard and I know so many women that are just like me, I do think that we deserve it we do.
Speaker 1:You have to go in believing that, as another friend of mine I'll quote, and together, digital Lucretia is always saying have all of the confidence of a mediocre white man named Chad. Just go in there and assume I'm going to close this deal because I'm amazing, they need me and they're going to pay me the money and I'm not even going to question it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it, that's it, and it's funny. I do think that in corporate, to a certain extent, that is an attitude that I certainly had. I said I am capable, I work fast, I know what I'm doing, I'm accurate, it is what it is. I don't need anybody giving me anything. I'm going to go for whatever I want and it worked until it didn't. Yeah, because the it's. It's almost like what you're talking about with, with moving up in the ranks. That's almost like permitted to a certain extent.
Speaker 1:Once you hit a certain level and you start, you know, tapping at people's, people's egos, yep, that's when the, the big guns come down and say shut up, girl right like shut your mouth, we let you talk, but now it's time to shut up yeah, adrian, you just gave me another good thought of this whole idea of, like the glass ceiling. All it is is fragile feelings. Yeah, that's all the glass ceiling is made of is just a bunch of people's fragile feelings and egos. That's like holding you down and holding you back, which is something else I tell my daughter a lot too, and things are happening. It's like, a lot of times, when people act out a certain way and it feels like almost like oppression, it says more about them than you. It doesn't mean you're less than, just means that at that moment they feel less than and they need to feel bigger.
Speaker 1:And so that's why they lash out, act out.
Speaker 2:I wish we knew that. I wish that you and I knew that when we were 11. Oh my gosh right.
Speaker 1:I say it to her all the time and I mean it's really helped her, I think, to be a more empathetic person, but I have watched it definitely amazingly increase her confidence. They say, like research says, that girls start losing their confidence at 12 13. I disagree. I saw it from the age of five when she was getting called bossy in the classroom or when she told me she couldn't be an astronaut because she wasn't a boy and I'm like what the? And we're reading a book on all the astronauts and the moon landing and they're all boys. I'm like, okay, new literature. It's just all these messages are constantly coming at us all, telling us all that we're less than, less than less than. And yeah, sometimes you just have to realize it's not me, it's not always me.
Speaker 2:And I think that for everybody that's in corporate, starting their business side gigs, all of that stuff, if we at least know, like maybe it's going to take a little while to unprogram ourselves and unwind and build that muscle up, but if we at least know that that's what happened and that's what's going on and like, as you're saying, if someone's like reacting like that to you, you can almost laugh at it like oh my gosh, look at the power that I have to make that person act like that. That's almost funny.
Speaker 1:It is kind of funny, I don't disagree with you at all.
Speaker 1:I can think of so many instances where that was the case. I'm like oh, you're just tremendously insecure. That's why you're trying to constantly assert your authority and thwart every opportunity and divert it to somebody else rather than offering it up to me is because you're immensely insecure and you're intimidated by me. I mean, I literally went to a boss a female boss who's amazing and I told her this I was like I was on set doing a shoot and the DP. We were like out having dinner and drinks after and he was kind of like half joking. But he's like you're just so intimidating. I was like what? I'm like the most low-key creative director on a set you've ever seen. I ain't a diva. I don't like roll with everybody. It's like I want them to bring their ideas, their vision. I don't I'm not overly authoritative at all. I'm like like I feel like I'm really collaborative. And I went back to her afterwards and I was like that just felt really awful and awkward. She's like not a problem, not your problem. I was like yeah.
Speaker 1:She's like it's not your problem that you made it that he feels Not that I made him feel, but that he feels intimidated. That's more to do with him than you let it go. I was like. I mean, I was expecting her to give me all this empathy and she's like right, no.
Speaker 2:See, that's the and that's when we talk about women supporting other women. It's not like oh, I love you, that's nice, you know, but it's, it's what that boss did for you. That is women supporting other women.
Speaker 1:It's changing our mindset it is. I'll never forget it and I appreciate her so for it, Cause I was like, yeah, expecting that whole like put your arm around me and tell me it's okay, it happens to you all the time she was like no, get over it, that's a him problem, not a you problem. So good, I was like thank you. Oh, I love her.
Speaker 2:I know right.
Speaker 1:Danielle's amazing. All right, we've got a few more minutes left. We've got about 10 minutes left, actually. So live, listeners. You've been making some lovely comments in the chat, but don't be shy about asking questions. If you've got them as well, let's see. Which question do I want to pick next? Let's see this is a good one. Many of our members are considering transitioning into entrepreneurship. As I said, those wantrepreneurs and I do one-on-one member onboarding I will say about 50% of the people that come on that aren't currently working for themselves. I feel like I see it before they see it, like they'll say be saying things and I'm like you just need to join our entrepreneur channel. I know you're not an entrepreneur, but just join it. Listen, maybe go to some of the peer groups. It's like they don't even know that that's what they want yet, but it's like so crystal clear to me now that I'm on the other side. But I'm curious, for those who are aware, what is one thing that you wish someone had told you before making the leap into entrepreneurship?
Speaker 2:I would say do everything that you can to educate yourself on what entrepreneurship is, and what it? Means to start a profitable business from the beginning, right. So one resource. That is amazing. It's a textbook, but MIT churns out very successful businesses.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they follow a process called disciplined entrepreneurship, and that's like literally the name of the book and it's not that big. But there's certain things that you can do to stack the odds in your favor, and that is all about what we were talking about. What is a problem that people value? And what you must do is not say to yourself I have a great idea, right? Okay, you might have a great idea, but you need to get out into the world and talk to people that have that problem, and you have to understand them so deeply and women have the ability to be incredibly empathetic so we can put ourselves in their shoes, we can listen, for the solution it's there. So, if you want to start a business that is going to succeed, get out and start talking to people. Don't just plan, plan, think about things in your mind, toll away by yourself. Yeah, get out there and talk to people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And don't you know? The other thing is like this is going to be weird. I don't even know why I'm going to say this, but like, don't tell everybody. You know, that's something else. We start talking about what's in our heart and then people, because of their stuff, have a way of making us feel like what we're doing might not be the smartest thing. You have a stable job. What are you doing? Do you have time to do that? What about your kids? And then our dreams are dashed. So be careful with who you're sharing this with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah, no, 100%. I think that's such great advice. I love both of those. All right, I was going to add more, but I was like nope, that's good, that's great, I love it.
Speaker 2:And experiment like, experiment around. Like if you, if you are in corporate and you you know you have money coming in, so maybe before you're even ready.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, two things so important before you're ready, start putting some money aside that funds your entrepreneurial venture that you are going to start one day, miss Right.
Speaker 1:Yep, all you listeners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like ladies, you are going to start some shape or form of a business one day. I guarantee it. Yep. So start carving away money right now that you put into your entrepreneurial get started fund for yourself and don't tell anyone about it. Yes, I love that advice Okay.
Speaker 2:And secondly, this is something that I'm definitely going to be doing more and more of with she she leads media is get so smart about finance, money numbers. Make money work for you. Stop buying Louis Vuitton bags, right, all the other shit that we are programmed to to consume, consume, consumed. Take your money and make it work for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, that $300 handbag is not going to make you a better human. You ain't taking it to the grave with you, you know. Take that $300 and put it into something good. I love that. You know what, adrienne too.
Speaker 1:It reminds me and I'm sure you've probably checked it out, listened to or read the book, but it reminds me of the part in Originals by Adam Grant when he was at Wesley University and he was teaching and he had these entrepreneurial students that ended up finding Warby Parker and he refused to invest in them because they did not have, they were not, they didn't. This is the problem. I think the mindset of entrepreneurship is you have to go. You got to go right away. You got to go all in. It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That hustle mentality keeps you out Guys. It's a barrier. It's a deliberate barrier to keep especially women who have children, caretaking, other responsibilities, out of the system. But in Adam's example he was like I didn't want to bet on these guys because they were keeping their internships and then they were going and getting full-time jobs. Why would I invest in them when they're not going all in? Why am I going to go in at all? And then they became Warby Parker and he's kicking himself in the ass, going why didn't I invest in them?
Speaker 1:He's like hedge your bets. It's smart to do smart business even before you've started your business. Like hedge your bets. Like you're saying, you don't got to just jump ship right away tomorrow. Make a plan, look ahead, start putting savings in, start doing your MVP. Like talking to people and saying is this something that we really want and need? And I agree, be smart with who you're talking to and understand you know who are the people that are going to support you in this. I think finding support is another big thing. Like support for you as an entrepreneur. As much as I love, love, love it, and I don't I think I could ever go back. It can be a lonely endeavor. So having connections, communities you know, like what we're doing, it's such an essential piece to it because it can feel very isolating compared to being in you know, in a more corporate or business environment.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's a good book and this is so good. And the other thing is that it's hard. Right, we know that it's hard, that's fine. But women especially have really innovative ideas and there are problems that need to be solved for us that don't come to market because we don't get financing and all of that kind of stuff. But we cannot stop putting those solutions out there. Women are so, I think, because we're so empathetic and we understand, like, everything that's going on around. Yeah, like, like, we can see it, like it's really weird, right, like, yeah, we can see 25 steps ahead. We know what happened, we know how things like interrelate. That is a super freaking power. Power. Use that, yeah, and bring new crazy ideas out, because someone's going to be like that's what I need.
Speaker 1:Yes, agreed, agreed. I love it. Yeah, that's so good. I hope you all are feeling all psyched and excited and inspired. I am.
Speaker 2:Michelle, I know right, let's go start another business.
Speaker 1:I love it. But Michelle, who's listening with us, also recommended invest in a team of experts early a CPA, financial planner, wealth manager. I agree it is so smart. We again, gosh, even in high school we're just not taught in general on how to manage our money, how to talk about money, got to heal some wounds from money. I just learned that like what is it? Poverty something? It was like oh my gosh, poverty, trauma is actually like a thing I'm like oh, so much to unpack and learn Right, but yeah, but we can do it, and that's the other thing too.
Speaker 2:We can know that we have trauma, but we can choose to not let that trauma hold us back, and we can say we're moving forward though. Right here today it's a brand new day, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stronger from it all. Honestly, I think the times I've gotten my ass kicked the hardest I've come out better, stronger, knowing myself, understanding others, making better decisions in the future. I've said it a couple of times, the Nelson Mandela quote, I think in the last few episodes, but it's just sticking with me. Really, for my son is like I never lose, I only win or learn something I love it, you know, because it's like can't just be about all success.
Speaker 1:It's not. You know that entrepreneurship is? Just fail fast. Get back up and keep on trying again.
Speaker 2:And it's fun.
Speaker 1:Make it fun. We're having a blast over here y'all, yeah, all right, we got a couple of minutes left. I'm going to go through some of our power round questions and see if we can get through a couple of those. So we talked about being pretty busy and systems and things like that are so important. I feel like entrepreneurs, you've got to have a handle on your productivity and understanding of it. So I'm curious what is your one go-to productivity?
Speaker 2:hack. I do a combination of literally writing things down on a piece of paper in a notebook the way that my mind works. That really helps me clear it out, because there's a lot of stuff going on over there and then you know, it's such a simple thing, but I just have to put everything on my calendar.
Speaker 1:Yes, live and die by that puppy. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:You know I put everything in the calendar and it keeps me prioritized, focused, I can look ahead. My calendar is my companion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that and I think since becoming an entrepreneur, and sometimes I totally acknowledge that it is a privilege now and I do believe that I own my time.
Speaker 2:My time does not own me and nobody else owns it. Love it, I think that's been huge.
Speaker 1:All right. Last question then. I love asking this one because you've had such an amazing career and background and you've kind of moved in and out of different industries and roles and you know corporate to owning your own company. What's the best career advice you've?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I'm stumped, I don't know, and maybe because I'm not really open to people giving me career advice, I would say you have to do what works for you and because our lives do go through so many changes, you have to just be aware. Like you have to be awake I was trying to think of the word Like you have to be awake to what's happening and you have to make a choice.
Speaker 2:Yes and you have to make a choice. So when my kids were young, I worked in corporate and so many women they had a baby and they left work and people would say to me, why are you still working when you have young kids? And I always thought it works for me. Right now, and until it doesn't, that's when I'm going to change and I changed. When my kids got to middle school and high school, I felt like they needed me emotionally more, and so that's when I it's sort of like everything happened at the same time, like the company that I was working for didn't work for me anymore. My kids needed me more. I could be at home and so always knowing that I have the power to change whatever it is that I'm doing, that's the best career advice.
Speaker 1:Like know thyself, that's the best career advice, that is good career advice, and I would piggyback off of that to say just be present and realize that everything you do is a choice, Whether you recognize that you're making the choice or you're leaving that choice up to somebody else. Just know you have the choice right.
Speaker 2:You just got to make it.
Speaker 1:You just got to make it, adrienne. This is so fun. It's gone so fast as always, I feel like with these conversations but I've loved, loved, loved talking with you, and I know our live listening audience is feeling very excited and inspired by and informed by all of what you've shared with us today. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing all of that with us, or just a few minutes over time. So we'll wrap it here and we'll hope to see you all next week. Until then, everyone keep asking, keep giving and keep growing.
