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Episode 77: How to Craft a Mission Statement
161 Plays5 years ago
Today's guest is Emily Sexton, the founder and CEO of The Flourish Market, a shop where every product has a bigger purpose, just like you. And purpose is much of what we chat about today. Emily shares with us how we can craft the mission and message of our own businesses. I think this is critical in communicating effectively about the value of what we do.
If you are not familiar with The Flourish Market, go and check it out as soon as you are done listening to this episode. As you find out in the episode, it is a very interesting story.
For the show notes, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-em-sexton-episode-77/
Recommended
Transcript
Emily Sexton's Career Shift
00:00:05
Speaker
I wonder if women in my community would be interested in using their purchasing power for good. And so at my 30th birthday, a few days later, I told all my best friends around the table that I was quitting my job. I found this truck on Craigslist in Western North Carolina that I was gonna buy. It was an old Sintas uniform delivery truck. And that I was gonna buy that and convert that to a little boutique on wheels that I would call the Flourish Market where every product had a bigger purpose. And I did in October of 2015.
00:00:38
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative, service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
00:00:50
Speaker
Today's guest is Emily Sexton, the founder and CEO of The Flourish Market, a shop where every product has a bigger purpose just like you. And purpose is much of what we chat about today. Emily shares with us how we can craft the mission and message of our own businesses. And I think this is critical in communicating effectively about the value in what we do. If you're not familiar with The Flourish Market, go and check it out. As soon as you're done listening to this episode, I think as you'll find out in the episode, it is a very interesting story.
00:01:18
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at daveyandchrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode. And I want to hear from you. Let me know what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brands That Book podcast as we move forward. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davey and Christa Facebook page and send us a message. Or you can DM us on Instagram at daveyandchrista. Now onto the episode.
From Dreams to Swiss Banking
00:01:42
Speaker
I've got Emily Sexton here with me today on the Brand State Book Podcast. Emily, welcome to the podcast. Davey, thanks for having me and thank you for not judging my Christmas tree that's in the background of our video stream here. And we just went through this. I'm actually all in, I just walked in from the gym, so I'm in sweats too, so I feel like a mess on both ends. Hey, people like the real Davey, people like the real. You guys, it's not January 1st when we're recording this and my tree is still up and you know what? I'm okay with that.
00:02:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's why we record just the audio, you know? So I can sit here and sweatpants. I have professional hair makeup done right now from a photo shoot this morning. So this is the best I've ever looked when I've actually been recording podcasts. Well, I'm excited to chat. We actually met years ago at a wedding. So small world, right? We did. You and Krista photographed my very best friends.
00:02:38
Speaker
wedding quick updates her daughter just turned three and she is due Monday with her second so all is well even though we had ripped bridesmaids dresses and there were a couple of sniffoos in the day there was an ice storm so that is an update the sheep is doing well I forgot about that
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, glad to hear that. And Emily, I was just chatting with you about how I should introduce you because you have so many different things going on. But for those of you listening, Emily is the founder and CEO of the flourish market. So I'm going to kick it over to you. Tell us a little bit about the flourish market and your other brands because I know you have
00:03:19
Speaker
so much going on even beyond that. And today we're going to be talking about nailing down your mission and your messaging around that mission, which I think is a super important topic for business owners, especially small business owners. It feels like one of those big business tasks to do, but I think everybody should go through a process like this. So Emily, I'm going to kick it over to you. We make time at the beginning of every episode to hear a little bit about our guest entrepreneurial journey. So we'd love to hear about how you got started.
00:03:47
Speaker
All right, let's do this thing. So I am sitting here in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I live. And I actually grew up in North Carolina, in Eastern North Carolina. And I had dreams of just busting out of that small town. So I originally, and I'm not even kidding, I originally went to college on a full dance scholarship with the one and only dream to be Britney Spears' backup dancer.
00:04:11
Speaker
That was what I was going to do with my life. I was really good in dance. I was smart in school, but dance was like where I felt like I could just like let loose and be free. Unfortunately, or very fortunately, my freshman year of college at Elon University, I actually got hurt and I couldn't dance anymore. I mean, thank God. I literally like thank God for that all the time. Literally thank him. And I was put up with this like
00:04:37
Speaker
existential crisis of who am I and what am I going to do with my life now? Because I was feeling like a rebel, right? I'm going to be bringing spirits back up Dan's room. Just going to go on tour and see the world. And I really just didn't know what to do. And what's interesting is that wouldn't be the last time I had an existential crisis. So I end up majoring in business just because that was the biggest major at my school. And I fell into a job right out of college working for a Swiss investment bank.
00:05:03
Speaker
Now that was 2007 and then the crash happened in 2008. But what's crazy is I somehow didn't get laid off as this young little whippersnapper. I ended up getting moved to London and for the next eight years, I would live and work all over the world. So based in London, I got to work in Switzerland across Asia, India, New York City.
00:05:23
Speaker
And my job, when I left the bank, spoiler alert, I did leave after eight years, I was the vice president of communications and change management. So what this meant was I was tasked with winning people over. I needed to help them get from point A to point B. And normally, so it was a 55,000 person bank, normally point B was viewed by senior management as a crappy change.
00:05:49
Speaker
So I was just in charge of leading them through this change, trying not to get them to quit and not only keeping them happy, but teaching them how to lead change and lead their whole teams through it. And so what's cool is in corporate is that I got to master this skill set of helping people like create change in their lives.
Volunteer Work Sparks Change
00:06:10
Speaker
And I loved it and got to, you know, hold my communication skills. What's interesting is when I was in college, several professors told me I just wasn't a great writer. I wasn't a good communicator. And so I was like, well, I'm just going to study this and learn this and get really good at it. And I did. I worked really hard. I was in a big company that just put me through really incredible trainings for sure. But what here is where existential crisis number two of my life came. And I know some listeners might be sitting in this and might be
00:06:37
Speaker
not full-time in their entrepreneurial journey right now. And so they might still be full-time at Incorporate like I was, and here's what was happening. So when I lived in London, over there you get six to eight weeks vacation. Amazing. I chopped America, let's go. But I spent a lot of that time volunteering in the developing world, using the skill set I was honing in corporate to help nonprofits and social enterprises
00:07:02
Speaker
when people over to their fundraising efforts and when people over to buy their fairly made products. So I fell in love with it. And it all started by a friend of a friend asking me if I could help her friend that had just moved to Africa and was supporting local leaders there and basically being a fundraising arm to get them the need and money they need to keep driving change in their community.
00:07:24
Speaker
And she was like, she's supposed to be tasked with doing an email campaign. And I don't know what you do, Emily, but at the bottom of your title, it says VP of communications and change management. So maybe you know how to write an email. Can you help her? And that, yes, changed everything. It opened me up to how I could use my skillset for a bigger impact and a bigger mission. And, uh, it helped me to see the power in the gifts that I had been given while here on earth.
00:07:54
Speaker
Shortly before my 30th birthday, I moved home to Raleigh, North Carolina. At this point, I was obsessed with the tiny house shows at the time. Davey, have you ever seen these shows? I have, and I love a tiny house, but you could never do it. That is my thing. I would watch these shows and be like, infatuated with like, how do these people like give up all their things and move into this tiny house? So I was watching the show and I was feeling this like, okay, I feel called away from my corporate job.
00:08:22
Speaker
Even though i love that i love the people i worked with i feel very lucky but i'll call away from that but new where i was called to what is something where i could not figure out how to make money from it and so i'm like okay maybe i just need to go off grid for a year and build a tiny house and then to heck with the internet and just like go off grid and if you know me like this is my worst nightmare my friends last to the state of me sorry.
Fashion Truck Inspiration
00:08:44
Speaker
I was on Pinterest one night late very late after watching a tiny house show I'm pinning just a ton I was like pinning my board about my tiny house would look like you know this is like the height of Pinterest several years ago five years ago and all of a sudden as I search for tiny houses this photo of something I'd never seen before came up and It was a photo of what was called a fashion truck and I Davey I'd never seen a fashion truck and I was like what the heck is this and
00:09:10
Speaker
I don't think I've ever seen a fashion truck. Okay, well let me explain for you. It looks like a food truck, but there's no window in the side. You actually open the back doors, you pull the steps down, and people walk on and shop a mini boutique.
00:09:23
Speaker
This was July 2015 and I was about to turn 30. And Davey, that's when it hit me. Oh my gosh, when I go and travel, my friends are always placing orders. They're like, can you bring me back a necklace? Can you bring me back a pair of shoes or a dress or a leather bag like you bought for yourself last time? I mean, Davey, to be honest, offline, off the record.
00:09:43
Speaker
I was an illegal importer, I'm pretty sure. Taking all these orders and bringing people back and back things and I thought, oh my gosh, this is how it could all come together. What if I bought a truck, converted it to a fashion truck and carried the items of these social enterprises I've been working with? What would that look like? I wonder if women in my community would be interested in using their purchasing power for good.
00:10:08
Speaker
And so my 30th birthday,
Launching The Flourish Market
00:10:10
Speaker
a few days later, I told all my best friends around the table that I was quitting my job. I had found this truck on Craigslist in Western North Carolina that I was going to buy. It was an old Sintas uniform delivery truck. And that I was going to buy that and convert that to a little boutique on wheels. I will call the flourish market where every product had a bigger purpose. And I did in October of 2015.
00:10:31
Speaker
I launched the Flourish market as a fashion truck. I carried 10 brands at the time. You'd walk in little mini boutique on wheels and gradually you'd start to read the cards attached to the products and realize like
00:10:43
Speaker
Wow, a real person made this that's overcome something absolutely extraordinary, maybe domestic violence, maybe sex trafficking, maybe extreme poverty because of the cards they were handed in life. And it took off. And in November of 2016, we opened our first brick and mortar store. And on Black Friday, we had no deals. Who does that? I do. I didn't really think that through.
00:11:07
Speaker
but i was like will people come in people came and they never stop coming i think that boils down to something we'll talk about today that is having a really really strong mission statement if you're sitting there thinking my products don't have a bigger purpose my service doesn't have a bigger purpose do not worry friend we're going to talk that through because yes.
00:11:27
Speaker
It does, and you have a bigger purpose. But yeah, we've just grown since then. I would probably only always have one store. We just moved it last year, last summer, to a bigger space where we tripled the size of our footprint. So now we carry 62 brands, the Women's and Gifts Boutique. So you walk in and it looks like any other boutique, but you start to look at the tags, just like people did in our fashion trek. And you're like, oh my gosh, this top was made by a woman.
00:11:53
Speaker
who was rescued from sex trafficking in Nepal. And she's now this incredible leader in her community. And oh my gosh, this bag was made by a woman who's actively fighting the HIV stigma in Ethiopia. Oh my gosh, this cute toy that I'm going to give to my friend for her baby shower was made by a refugee mama restarting her life.
00:12:13
Speaker
Everything every product has a bigger purpose with that move. This is where it gets into your like you do several things with that move the back third of our space. It was too big of a space to just do a shop in and so I now use the back third of that space. I have a co-working space for 60 female entrepreneurs.
00:12:35
Speaker
in my city, so super fun, it's called the locality. And I rolled that out just in because I looked at what worked for women in the developing world I had worked with over the years and just looking at how they model life and business so well, and they do it in community. And so I'm like, excuse me, all of you entrepreneurs sitting in your homes and coffee shops, not talking to anyone but your cat, like, let's pull you out of your home, let's put you all together and let's see what happens. And it's
00:13:05
Speaker
It's been amazing. We've been up and running for seven months now. It's not just a co-working space. It's also an incubator. They get lots of training for legal and accounting support. It's just truly been my life's work.
00:13:17
Speaker
The third piece to my business is my personal
Evolution to Brick-and-Mortar
00:13:20
Speaker
brand. I know many people listening have a personal brand. I know Davie, you and Krista do as well. I'm so passionate about helping women create change and come alive. And that informs everything that I do. My corporate roots, you guys helping people create change. So I speak a lot, fly around the US and the world to speak. I'm in the middle of writing my book. I lead retreats. I coach entrepreneurs.
00:13:45
Speaker
My life's work is my life's calling and it's cool because I feel like the way it all fits together is I've watched women behind our products at the flourish market create incredible change in their life and come alive in their purpose.
00:13:59
Speaker
And so I get so excited to help women in my community and women, you know, here in America do the same in their life as well. Awesome. And I think one thing that's super apparent just as you go through each of those different brands. And, you know, again, I feel like for those of you wondering, Davey, why wasn't it easy to introduce them? I mean, I think that's, I think that is that kind of sums it up right there. But with that said, there is so much clarity around each of the things that you talk about.
00:14:26
Speaker
You know, so I'm excited to dive in and talk about that a little bit, because everything that you just mentioned, I mean, from the flourish market, where every product has a purpose to your personal brand creating change. I mean, everything just very, Davey, good job. And you guys did not tee up Davey for that.
00:14:43
Speaker
everything because there's a lot of entrepreneurs, I think that have a lot going on. But there's often this disconnect in how they you know, hey, so what do you do? And then you and then you hear they kind of stumble and fumble through all this stuff, right? And you're everything that you've described is just described so particularly. So I'm excited to dive into that. Before we do just out of curiosity, I want to know how do you source
00:15:05
Speaker
each of the lines of products that you get for the flourish market. So, you know, how do you get connected with this mom who's restarting her life in a refugee camp? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for this question. Thanks for caring. I always get excited when people ask questions. So lucky for me, the work that I did those eight years in volunteering my time, even while I was in corporate, built really strong relationships. So I was on the ground with these people. I saw the work that they were doing and a lot of people ask me like, how do you know you can trust them?
00:15:35
Speaker
And I'm like, you have the question wrong. They have been burned by so many people that come from America or wherever it is who say they're gonna help or act interested and maybe they truly are interested and then they get ghosted or worse, totally burned. So the question is how and why should they trust me?
00:15:55
Speaker
So over those eight years, I was able to establish those trusted relationships without asking anything in return. It was just like, wow, you're doing this incredible work. Like, can I just like sit at your feet and learn and support you the best I can. And then now like I have a way to support even in even further by buying their goods. And so.
00:16:15
Speaker
what that looks like is the essence of fair trade and I don't use those words and lead with those words with my business because a lot of times it can make people like feel bad about other things in their closet that aren't fair trade and aren't ethical whereas when I lead with every product has a bigger purpose that's inviting them into a positive story but basically that how the exchange works is that our artists and partner groups they come to
00:16:41
Speaker
with lime sheets, photos of their products and they say, you can buy it at this and you can sell it at this price. So we have a lot lower margins than other boutiques would because they're telling us what we're going to pay for and what we're going to sell it at. And so that's what the relationship looks like. And we have grown from 10 brands to 62 because I've traveled more, I've met more people, but also people vouching for me and saying, you can trust Emily, you can trust the flourish market. And that goes a long way. And to answer people's first question,
00:17:08
Speaker
They normally ask which is how can you trust them and I get the question how can you trust the work that they're doing is good. Well I've either been on the ground in person or a very close person in my network has been on the ground in person and
00:17:21
Speaker
acknowledge that dignity is the thread that weaves through everything. And there's not some weird like power structure that's in place on purpose. So yeah, I hope that is a helpful answer to your question. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's probably crafting your message is so important on so many different levels. But even from a business perspective, having lower margins because of what you're doing, you know, people can't walk in on a Black Friday sale and expect things to be half off or 75% off, right?
00:17:48
Speaker
70% off? Yeah, no. We would go under. We would totally go under. Davey, I wanted to pick up something you said earlier. You said, for a lot of us, when people ask us what we do, we might fumble through it. And then you mentioned, like, I've nailed it. And I want to say, before we dive into any tips or tricks in me walking you through this, let me be very clear. The girl who nailed this in corporate, VP of communications and change management, when I opened the flourish market, let me tell you what my pitch was, okay? It was horrible.
00:18:16
Speaker
I couldn't figure it out you guys so just to be like very transparent I want you to know like I've learned this in real time in my business so people would walk in our fashion truck and They would say like oh my gosh. They start notice the cars yes, so everything's like fair trade ethically made We pay a good wage, or you know we work through these artists and partners, and they're in Ethiopia. They're also in Nepal I mean that's an exaggeration of like how I would say it But I too was at a loss for words with how to properly position
00:18:46
Speaker
what we were doing without like a white savior complex. And so it's been very hard. It's not been easy. I didn't have this nailed down right when I started. And I'm going to tell you if you're listening to this podcast, you may not hang up from this podcast. Oh my gosh, what is this? The 1990s when we use phone phones on the wall. You may not in this podcast and
00:19:07
Speaker
I say that's it. Those are my five words and I've nailed it. But what I've found as we keep in mind kind of our greater purpose, our greater mission, we can tease that out as we go and like have that in mind. So that's kind of my preface of like, I haven't always lived this and I feel like in the last couple of years.
00:19:26
Speaker
really nailed it. So if you're struggling to do that, I will definitely give you some helpful tips today. But know that if you leave this podcast episode and you're like, I'm still stuck, I'll give you some tips if you're still stuck as well. Yeah, awesome. And I think something that I tried to communicate through the podcast and so many of my guests have is a similar sentiment that, you know, you're going to get there by practicing, you know, and just by getting out there and doing it and saying it over and over and over again until you get to something that works. But fortunately, we also have amazing guests like yourself on who can help us maybe get there a little bit more quickly.
00:19:55
Speaker
I'm going to start with really just why a mission statement is important. I think some people might be thinking, okay, well, with the flourish market, the reason a mission or the mission statement may be even what makes it so special to a certain extent. There's a philanthropy aspect to it.
00:20:14
Speaker
Geez. Maybe it makes sense, but for somebody running, let's say, a photography studio who's a planner or a designer, what makes a mission statement important?
Crafting a Mission Statement
00:20:26
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, for those of us with a background in corporate or maybe that at any point just worked a job, even at a coffee house, wherever it was that was not what we currently do as an entrepreneur,
00:20:37
Speaker
And in training, like on that first day, you're like showing the mission statement. Can we just all agree that might be why we are not wanting to do one for our own business? They're clunky. I couldn't tell you what the mission statement was for my old corporate job. I remember like very formal language, three to four sentences. And it just didn't like, it didn't really hit a chord with me. You know, it didn't feel attached to an emotion, right? And so I think many of us steer away because
00:21:06
Speaker
They seem too formal for something that's so personal for those of us in the service industry. Okay, so here's my sales pitch for a mission statement. And I had like just a couple of points here in hoping to win people over that they keep listening. But my first question that I always, you know, ask people is, wouldn't it feel so dang good to wake up and while you're working, know what your guiding light is. To know what your guiding light is.
00:21:35
Speaker
So so many of us, you know, we're running on this hamster wheel each day, we're doing the thing, we're putting ourselves out there, we're taking the risk, we're making the goals, we're hitting the goals. But for what? Yeah. And so for you have a mission statement for each of the brands that you've created, did you sit down and work on this intentionally? Or is this something that came after sort of years of doing it? What did that look like?
00:22:01
Speaker
So this came for me for the Flourish Market. Mine came more easily for my personal brand. For the Flourish Market though, it came from this conundrum that I realized three to four months in that I thought I had started the Flourish Market to be very pro-artisan and to send jobs to the developing world.
00:22:19
Speaker
So actually our first kind of statement we tell people was your purchases help create dignity across the globe. However, that's bigger words. People are like, what does that mean? And I found and another point thing in having a mission statement is that if you want to create walking billboards for your business and get referrals, you have to be able to easily articulate what your business is about so that your clients
00:22:45
Speaker
can then go out and easily say it. So it came from this conundrum of I'd overhear people, telling people, it's really cool. And I'd be standing there and they're like, it's this and then this and then this. And they'd be like, Emily, could you explain a little more? And I realized I couldn't. And so it was really hard since that wrestling. But then it was also the wrestling of, hey, yo, I'm thinking like all these women in the developing world need my help. Hello, that's like totally like white saviorism. And I'm looking in my own community
00:23:14
Speaker
And it seems like the women in my own community, they are struggling, like maybe they need purpose in their lives. And it came after launching a two-question survey to our tribe and saying, what was lacking most in your life last year? And then the second question was, how can we like help serve that, serve you?
00:23:35
Speaker
You know, shocker, no one put an olive bomber jacket was the biggest thing missing from my life. No, they said lack of purpose. And so that's when it hit me. Okay. Our new mission, like the statement we're going to tell people is every product has a bigger purpose, just like you. And so our mission actually has nothing to do with the women behind our products. It is to help women in our community who shop with us lean into and own their purpose in the world.
00:24:05
Speaker
Okay? So anytime they interact with us, so say they buy a product, okay? Yeah. We hope that they can see that provided three hours of work, that necklace they're gifting to their friend, that provided three hours of work for a woman in Uganda. And what's cool is it's
00:24:21
Speaker
We've seen like that snowball into other areas of their life where they're like, yes, I'm going to own my time and my money and where I spend it and all of that. And then that goes into all the programming that we do at the shop. So we, we talk about people's purposes. We interview people. It's like a podcast, but in person.
00:24:39
Speaker
we do know your purpose yoga so it's like you come and do yoga class and you journal some things are disguised under different words of like you know worth and fulfillment and meaning and all of that but all the program we do around our shop it's aimed at helping like own the freaking purpose because the woman we serve who we find favor with is a woman who
00:25:02
Speaker
feels like if she died, if she left the world, like maybe no one would even notice that much after a month or so. And that's sad. And I want her to lean in and see like when you shop with us, you've made an impact. And even more so, you are called to create an impact in this world and you already are. Let's just define how you're already doing that and help you do more of it, just like you.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah, and what I really appreciate about that mission statement is that, you know, final part of the sentence there, just like you, I think that's such a key component. I mean, I liked it before, you know, but still, you know, that just like you, I think really drives it home and then also just invites people in, in a way that maybe just every product having a bigger purpose doesn't, you know, so I really, really like that. And the women who shop with us, they
00:25:50
Speaker
will not do anything for themselves. They have small children and some of them like their children have gone to school and now they're feeling like, okay, what's my purpose in life? Like how do I spend my days? And they don't believe the just like you part. They don't, but they'll come and shop with us because they're like, well, I'm going to do it for another woman. I'm going to help support another woman. And in time we can intercede in that thought pattern and really serve them in a way that's in line with our mission that helps them lean into it on their purpose.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, and I hope people can listening. I certainly see it just in the ways in which it influences everything else that you do, even if it's not directly related to selling your products. So, so powerful there. And I think, again, just speaks to the value of working this out for your own business. What should a mission statement consist of? And how do people go about defining that? Sure. Okay. So I'm going to simplify this and demystify it. There's one thing I'm known for. It's like,
00:26:46
Speaker
Emily is like a no crap person and so I'm going to give you a few questions to think about and I want you to know at the end I'm going to give you a landing page on my website where you can go and look at these questions so most likely you're driving or maybe you're editing photos as you listen don't feel like you have to write these down but you'll have a place where you can find these.
00:27:05
Speaker
But I wanna simplify this and ask you a few questions that'll get you thinking about your mission, okay? So I do not care what you're selling. To Davey's point, yes, we have a philanthropic effort to our business, but in my personal brand, I don't. I could say I'm a speaker, I'm a coach, and I lead retreats. So do a billion other women around the world, okay? So I still have a bigger purpose. I help women create, change, and come alive. That is my specific mission. So I don't care what you're selling, but I want you to think about
00:27:34
Speaker
How are you showing up and serving your customers in a bigger way? How are you showing up and serving your customers in a bigger way? Next question. What is your story of positive impact? What is your story of positive impact? Now, these breadcrumbs and clues can link into client reviews. It can lead into the Instagram. You can see them in the Instagram posts that they post about you.
00:28:03
Speaker
But basically, your story of positive impact is how you build goodwill. For some of you, you have no idea you're going to do this, but it's how you build goodwill with your customers and serve their deeper needs.
00:28:15
Speaker
You serve their deeper needs, okay? So here's the truth, you guys. People want to be a part of something positive. I mean, have you watched the news lately, you guys? It's crazy. It's a dumpster fire out there. Sometimes they're all the time and it's tough, okay? There's a lot of things going on and so many people deeply desire to be like not paralyzed in the toughness of the world and they want to know where to start and doing good. And so as business owners, we have this awesome
00:28:40
Speaker
opportunity to invite them to have the easy ability to be a part of something that's good and bigger as a bigger mission in the world. And so your customers, they want to be a part of something that's fulfilling and meaningful for you. They want to help you with that. We just have to make it attainable and communicate that well. And before you start thinking, you know, again, like I'm having a hard time finding my positive impact in my business, you definitely have one. So a tip I want to give there is
00:29:09
Speaker
how we're showing up and serving our customers' needs in a bigger way and more times than not is how we're already showing up and serving our friends and our loved ones around us in a bigger way. So if you are stuck, one of the best tips I can give you is to ask your five best friends or maybe that's your mom and then your sister and then your best friend from growing up and then your business bestie today, like pull from people from different walks of your life and ask them
00:29:35
Speaker
How do you see me showing up in the world and serving people? How do you see me loving people well? And I promise you, there will be themes. There will be themes. And I did this when I was looking at launching my personal brand. And the theme of the five, four out of the five said, Emily, you help people make great changes in their lives.
00:29:57
Speaker
And another theme was when we're around you, like we just feel like really alive. Like we feel like those were the themes and I'm like, oh my gosh, that is me. So if you're feeling stuck and you feel like I can't even journal anything in response to those questions, Emily, reach out to your friends and see what they've been bearing witness to this whole time that you've missed.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, and I imagine that it's just the active journaling. I think something that maybe and maybe I'm just projecting a struggle that I have on to others, but it's writing those first initial sentences, you know, and just eventually after, you know, what you might write might be a jumbled mess of 10 pages or whatever, but just getting it out and then going from there and refining a little bit.
00:30:37
Speaker
I think is super helpful.
Faith and Business Mission
00:30:38
Speaker
And I think sometimes like when I'm trying to sort something out like this, which again, a mission statement is powerful. And so I think when you hear a really good one, you can think to yourself, okay, like how am I going to come up with something that's like, as powerful as that? I think what people have to realize is that oftentimes we get there by doing the hard work of going through pages of journaling or having these
00:31:00
Speaker
tough conversations with friends where we really try to get out. Okay, what positive change am I impacting in the world? So if you do just feel overwhelmed by any of this, just give it a shot. Absolutely. Because we don't start with like, I'm not never going to give you and I'm sure there's other researchers out there that will but like a fill in the blank. Yeah. For a statement. Absolutely. That like gives me the heebie jeebies because it's not a one size fits all. I'll give you some other questions you can journal about because the thing is,
00:31:30
Speaker
you don't start with a mission statement. And I want you to journal with pen and paper because it uses a different part of your brain that brings out creativity and truth. So when you think about it, like, what do I bring to the world? Okay, what do I bring to the world? What is my legacy here on earth? What am I here for? What is my legacy here on earth? And I'm a believer, I'm a Christian. And so one of those questions for me is like, what is my calling?
00:31:57
Speaker
What is God calling me uniquely to do and show up? How is He calling me uniquely to show up in people's lives? Another thing I love thinking about is who do I find favor with? Who do I find favor with? And so when I initially answered that for myself, it was women who are paralyzed and stuck. They absolutely need a change in their life and they're too fearful. That helped me get to, I help women create change.
00:32:27
Speaker
for those listening, if you're wondering why I'm not asking maybe as many questions as I typically do is because I have a page full of notes. So I'm frantically writing down as Emily speaking. But I do have sort of a follow-up question from that. You mentioned you're a Christian. I think people who listen to the podcast probably know that I am as well. You know, I think that's probably going to be, or I would assume that it's a driving
00:32:46
Speaker
force behind the mission statements that you've created for your different brands. For Chris and I, it is as well. For other people who are also Christians, turning the corner between some internal language, like when Chris and I and our team speak about our mission and why we do what we do, we'll use language that we won't necessarily use on Instagram or Facebook.
00:33:08
Speaker
not because we're ashamed of the gospel, but because we do want to connect with people. And sometimes if you lead with that kind of stuff, and again, it's not like, oh, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings by talking about this. That's not necessarily what I'm trying to say. But I do think that there's, you know, for instance, every product has a bigger purpose just like you, there's a very Christian sentiment in there, right? So how do you get to
00:33:33
Speaker
turning the corner, being able to articulate your mission statement with a sentence or a few sentences like that, that don't necessarily cause people to shut their doors right away because they're like, oh, that's religious. And it's not for me. Absolutely. I love this question. I told David at the beginning before he pressed her card, like, ask me anything, David. There's no question. That's good. And if you hadn't said that, I probably wouldn't have asked, but I'm glad we're having this conversation.
00:33:57
Speaker
Hey, look, my friend Jess Connolly recently released a book called You Were the Girl for the Job. Grab it, read it. Hashtag not sponsored. I just love Jess and she opens. I think this is the opening of her book.
00:34:10
Speaker
talking about a soul cycle class that she went to in LA when she was in a dark, dark place, okay? Lots of stuff had just happened. She talks about it in her book. Go grab it, read it. It's amazing. Also, if you're not a woman, if you're not a female, also read it. I've given it to a couple of men in my life as recommendations to understand women a little bit more, but she talks about how like
00:34:34
Speaker
Jess, if you're listening, I hope I phrased this correctly as your spokesperson is your non-appointed spokesperson. But it was so good for me to read because she was basically making the point of like, God was in that room.
00:34:45
Speaker
Maybe that spin cycle instructor was not a Christian in preaching the gospel, but she felt the gospel. She received it in that spin class, and she could not think of the last time she had been that amped up. And she talks about, as churches, are we doing that? Are we doing that? As people who are doing kingdom work, are we doing that? And here's the thing, Davey, for us, and I don't think that you should remove all Christian wording from your websites and anything. Here's why it's not on mine.
00:35:15
Speaker
Two reasons. One, 80% of the people I would say that shop with us or follow me online or come to my retreats are not believers. And two, I have been extremely burned by the church and Christians, like big T trauma. So because of that, for me personally, I am like, if I truly am here to show God's love to people and invite them into the ultimate invite, I can tell you what's not going to do that for my people.
00:35:40
Speaker
is an Instagram byline or something on my website, not even a video, like intentional relationships of showing up and loving on people is going to do that. Now, all my staff are Christians. We view like internally, like as same as you and Christo, we talk about our kingdom work. You know, many of the things that are our goals internally, you know, we make meaningful connection. We show up in love and kindness. We listen and listen well. And these are
00:36:06
Speaker
things Jesus did I just look back and think like okay you know because people will call me out it's so funny I never get really salty messages except from Christian women and I'm like okay come at me bro but I'm like alright well maybe you're right and maybe at the end of the day when I walk those pearly gates I'm gonna get a slap on the wrist but honest to goodness I feel so fully called to communicate in the way that I do because I know that is actually for me a
00:36:32
Speaker
and who i find favor with working to win people over to healing and hope and use that and so that's for me like yes to answer question like we do have internal language and external question your specific question baby was like okay well how do we edit that and my best thing i could tell you is to sit with so if you.
00:36:51
Speaker
find favor with and are marketing to want to work with people who aren't believers or maybe they once were but have been burned by the church or whatever it is. I want you to sit down with them and say, here is my, people call it like Christianese language, like here's this language. You are my ideal customer though and I want to articulate this in a way that's not this weird bait and switch and inauthentic. Can you help me come up with wording that translates to you? I think the ability to listen and listen well
00:37:21
Speaker
So your ideal customer is so important and people will love that you're asking them that because when is the last time a Christian asked them for their opinion and acknowledged that there has been hurt in their experiences in the past. Hope that was helpful. Just realized I'm using my soapbox voice.
00:37:41
Speaker
No, no, totally fine. And, you know, it's so interesting. I mean, I do think there is that there's that line that is being balanced between I certainly don't want to come off as being ashamed of the gospel. But at the same time, you know, I think that the model that somebody like Paul lays out where, you know, he's speaking to the Greek people, and he notices this structure to an unknown God. And he uses that as a connection point, and he meets them on their level in order to share the gospel, but he had been living among them.
00:38:07
Speaker
And he had sort of, to a certain extent, earned the right to speak to them. That's why I see like, that it's not necessarily or prudent, maybe to lead with just more, like, I guess lead with language that is super like religious vocabulary, I guess is what I'm trying to say, as I stumble here over my words. Thank you. I appreciate that. And what's interesting is like, as I build relationships,
00:38:34
Speaker
It just seems to happen. People come to me when they are sitting in trauma and they are sitting in the fire. And I'll even like, if I had that type of relationship with them that we've had conversations before, I'll say, all right, two things that help for me, Jesus and therapy. And I laugh because a lot of times people we've already sat and cried and sat in the morning bench with them. And then it's like, okay, well, I just want to be very like transparent with what helped me and share my experience. And that normally helps. And a caveat here is like,
00:39:04
Speaker
I am just so thankful that people, and I think at the end of the day, everyone knows I'm a Christian. I mean, it's not like I veer away from that. I've openly invited people to come hear me preach before. And what was crazy, and it'll be a career highlight for sure that made me cry, is that hundreds of people showed up across three different services at my old church, and most of them had been burned or hurt by Christians or definitely
00:39:30
Speaker
Don't share the same beliefs as I do and I think that if you that is because For lots of things, but the reason it made me cry so much is like they shouldn't even give me the time there's been so much hurt from Christians in their lives and
00:39:45
Speaker
I just like for anyone who's listening that might follow me. That is not a believer. I just want to say thank you so much for even opening up your heart to receive anything I say or any of my love as a Christian because you don't owe me that you don't owe me that at all. And I just here's the thing the last thing I'll say when I look around at the fruit the fruit in this world and who is living most like Jesus and how we are called to live.
00:40:14
Speaker
Sadly, sadly, it is normally not the Christians that I see who's definitely producing a lot of fruit and love and living out fruits of the spirit are people who wouldn't claim the gospel right now. So yeah, don't be afraid to lean into that customer base and those clients to ask them to help you with language.
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And I just think being able to, I think having a vicious statement, you know, like the ones that you've created for your brand, invite people in, you know, to truth, you are sharing truth with people, but you're sharing it in a way that doesn't cause people to put up walls right away, you know?
00:40:51
Speaker
And I think that there's so much value in doing that. I know for us, Dorothy Sayers, who was a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, I don't think she was part of the inklings, maybe she was, but she wrote an essay called Why Work, which is, you know, it's too long to go into right now, but I have it in front of me. And I like to read it every once in a while because I just think it's such a powerful take on work. But, you know, stuff like that I think has informed our mission statement.
00:41:15
Speaker
even though our mission statement, I would say that ours is that we help people build a brand that books through brand and website design. So, you know, and again, there's probably a little bit of a distinction between a value proposition statement and a mission statement. But even that, you know, we got to that through different influences like this. So it is interesting, I think, and something that you have to struggle through in terms of trying to take some of that internal language and get it into a few sentences that clearly articulates what you do.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah. And go for it guys. Start to dig in. Think of it like a paddle board. If you guys have ever paddle board, the first time I got on a paddle board, I like spent two hours almost drowning entirely. And finally they were like, you got to come in and you're going to drown. But I was trying to stand up on the paddle board and then stick the paddle in the water and move. And my friend later explained to me, no, you've got to like sit on the paddle board.
00:42:03
Speaker
put your feet down and then like gradually get sticker paddle on the water like gradually get moving right and then you can gradually stand up and be sure footed and be like sailing off into the wind and I find like you just got to stick your paddle in the water and start somewhere and I'm a big believer like
00:42:18
Speaker
your mission statement, your mission in general, your calling life will become more clear as we work every day on, you know, building momentum and multiplying that. Yeah, yeah. And I think just by just by working in general, to a certain extent, I think that's why we're here, you know, to love others and work. So but anyways, I feel like I'm getting up on my soapbox. So I'll take a step back from there. So we've gone through the work of coming up with our mission statement and thinking through the messaging of it. At the end of the day, where should we be sharing this?
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, I love this question. Everywhere. Okay. So I'll tell you, I think it'd be helpful to tell you where we put it as a brand and you can still these ideas, your Instagram byline. So most of you'll miss this. Okay.
00:43:00
Speaker
But just go ahead. Once you have something, put it in. I will say mine's changed a couple of times for the Flourish Market. I already noted that. Outside of our shop, we have our clapboard. So I know most of you are service providers. So think about what that looks like for you. Is it the back of your t-shirt? Is it the patch on your backpack? That's your logo. Like what can that look like for you on something physical when people interact with you?
00:43:23
Speaker
We have it up on our website on our header at the top. So when people go to the Flourishmark.com, they see it there in one of the header sliders. When they click on our about page, guess what? It's there. And then twice a month, we post on Instagram every day in the squares twice a month, minimum. It's mentioned in a post. And then once a week in InstaStories, it's mentioned there. Either I'm saying it, someone on my team is saying it, or it's written over an image.
00:43:51
Speaker
So we brand this so hard and it took probably at least a year to build traction on that.
00:43:59
Speaker
to actually start hearing our customers say every product has a bigger purpose. So those of you with teams, your team's gotta be on the same page. So when people walk into our store, you can envision this as like your client interaction. When people walk into our store, we say welcome in, they pause, won't get into the details of what we do next. But basically people have never been in before. We say every product has a bigger purpose, enjoy browsing around. So it's there. It's also in our email signatures. It's everywhere and you might think,
00:44:28
Speaker
Emily, I can't talk about this twice on the squares each month and once a week in InstaStories. I'm here to tell you, challenge yourself to keep saying it because no one's sitting around refreshing or waiting for you to say anything different. You know what I mean? You guys, it's such a noisy world. You've got to put it everywhere. It's in my bio that you heard Davey introduce me from. Yeah, when I speak on stage, it's everywhere. It's on our business cards as well. Hope those were some helpful examples.
00:44:55
Speaker
Oh, 100%. And a big believer in sharing things over and over and over again, because we think, oh, you know, I think we're annoying people by saying the same stuff over again. It's just such a limited amount of your audience is going to hear it in any given place that you share it. And then on top of that, it's going to take them a number of times to hear it before, you know, like you said, you start hearing it repeated back to you.
00:45:15
Speaker
along those lines to read an interesting book recently called the three minute rule. And it's about pitching. But one of the things that this guy goes through in terms of making sure that he has a pitch that's going to be effective is basically a game of telephone. So what he'll do is round people up. And he'll say, Hey, listen, I want you to call five people. And I want you to give them this pitch I'm about to give you and tell the last person to call me. And if it's anything, if it's if it doesn't sound anything like, you know, what, where it started, he's like, the pitch is too complicated.
00:45:44
Speaker
So, if you have a couple friends that'd be willing to do that for you, as you test out your own mission statement, that could be a helpful activity to determine whether you've nailed it or whether it still requires a little bit of work. Oh, that's good, Davey. That's good stuff. Well, as we end here, one thing that I wanted to ask towards the beginning of the episode, but I know we were here to talk about mission statements and messaging, but I feel like I'd be remiss not to ask.
Impact Story from Ethiopia
00:46:08
Speaker
which is, you know, you've worked with so many extraordinary women through the flourish market. Is there anything that you just learned through your work that you'd be willing to share with us? Absolutely. I mean, I learned it's ridiculous, like how much I've learned. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. I'm going to pull from the story of my girl in a bet. Okay. So in addition to having products that are made by women who've just overcome really extraordinary things,
00:46:37
Speaker
We also have a collection of made in the USA clothes to support USA jobs that we on behalf of that give a percentage of the sale to a very cool nonprofit program that
00:46:50
Speaker
it equips women to start their own businesses. So we exclusively work in Ethiopia right now. So for example, I love this because we are helping women launch coffee shops and restaurants and whatever it is in their local communities. We'd never buy anything from them, right? But they change their whole community's lives. So last September I went to Ethiopia. I got to take some customers.
00:47:11
Speaker
along with me which was awesome and we got to go and visit the work of this nonprofit that we fund. And no one has any idea who anyone from America is there because it's just a fundraising arm to equip local leaders with the resources they need to keep like diving into their programs and the good work they're doing. So no one even knew who we were when we were there. I love it that way because local leaders know what's up. I do not know how to inform like
00:47:36
Speaker
any change over there because I don't know what's actually going on in the ground. We just give money towards it. So we were there to see some of the women. Our customers had helped fund through this program and there was this woman named Emma Bette and she had gone through the program and basically the program exists to identify women who are on the edge of life. Meaning they live in rural areas and without any intervention they would be dead and their kids would be dead within six months. So legitimately on the edge of life.
00:48:05
Speaker
They go through this business training program for a couple of months and they're going to seed money, normally like $500 in US money to a thousand to launch their own businesses. And they don't have to pay it back. And I think there's great ways of doing it across the board, not favoring one or the other, but that's the precipice of this program. And every couple of months they check in, but really after two years, the women are like up and running and make multiple, do multiple businesses and truly transform not only their lives, but the lives of their community. And so in a debt, when we met her, we're sitting in her restaurant.
00:48:35
Speaker
And through a translator, she's telling me her story. So she went through the business training program. First of all, it saved her husband's life. He had appendicitis. They couldn't even drive to a doctor. They didn't have any way to pay to get into a doctor, but literally like saved his life when she started working. But all of her kids, all five of them were working in the fields with her before the business training program, barely making like enough money to get food to scrape by. And so at this point,
00:49:00
Speaker
She had gone through the business training program the year before. In less than a year, here's what she had done. She had all five of her kids in school. She was afraid to launch her coffee shop. We talk about fear in America. When I speak about women entrepreneurs, I'm like, yes, fear is real. It's everywhere. She was afraid, had all the fears that a lot of us do and more specific to her situation.
00:49:21
Speaker
But she launched this coffee shop, you know, as a little coffee stand in her rural area of Ethiopia. It did really well. She was able to hire two women from her community to start working there with her. She like already had her five kids. She put all five of her kids in school and seven kids kept frequenting her business and street kids. She realized they were all orphans. Long story short, she all basically adopted them.
00:49:44
Speaker
got them a house, a safe place to live, put all seven of them in school. Now she's paying for 12 kids to be in school and mothering them. Then those businesses were doing so well that she launched her restaurant a few weeks before we were there. That's where we were sitting and it was bustling and they make popcorn and have hot tea for folks. She kept having to get up from the interview to help serve more people because they were packed and she was apologizing. I was like, no girl, I'm loving this for you. Live your best life.
00:50:10
Speaker
So she had hired a couple of women to work there as well and then she starts telling the story and the translator is like, are you kidding me? And I could tell he and the social worker were hearing new information because they only go every couple months to check up and I was like, what in the world? They keep listening and their eyes are lighting up and I was finally like, what is she saying? And they were like, this is crazy. And I'm like, what? You're like in a bet a couple months ago.
00:50:32
Speaker
walked to the red dirt roads in her town and their surrounding towns, and she self-identified 12 women that were on the edge of life, just like she was a year ago. And she's put them through Emmett's business school. And she's given them money to start their own businesses. And she held up some, like, she knew I was hearing what she had told them, and so she held some spices. And I knew she was, like, basically asking me to buy this woman spices and point it to the woman across the room. And I was like, this is women supporting women. Like, that is amazing.
00:51:02
Speaker
That is amazing. And so I always do this thing where I ask women when I go, like one piece of advice, what do you want me to take back to my friends at home? Like what you've done is incredible. And the way you do life in business is the way that everyone in the world should do life in business. So like, what piece of advice do you have? And she held out her hand and said something and I could tell the translator was just like, yes. And the translator turned around to me and he said, Emily, she said to go and tell them that they can multiply what's in their hands.
00:51:30
Speaker
that they can multiply what's in their hand. And I looked and I'm like, so convicted because I'm like, how often do I look at her hand? What's in his hand? What's in her hand? I was so convicted because I'm always like, well, if I only had the amount of followers she had, then I could have an impact. If I only had the background that he had, then I could have an impact. If I only had the family money that she had, then I could have an impact.
00:51:56
Speaker
And I all had forgotten to look at what was in my hands and the skills that God had given me and the relationships I developed in my business and all the abilities that I had, funny and serious and good and hard. And I thought, man, that's it. And so I share that story because as you're thinking about your mission statement, it's more a bigger conversation of what's your mission in life. And so I invite you to look in your hand and know what you uniquely have, your experiences, your abilities,
00:52:26
Speaker
in the way you've already been showing up as you look and examine what that statement can look like for you. Well, I think that's the perfect way to wrap that up a super powerful story. And you know, it's incredible to again, I think just a reminder of, you know, how much we're capable of doing with what we're given.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, especially looking at a situation where somebody who probably lives in an area that has been given far less, you know, so thank you Emily so much for joining us on the podcast. Where can people learn more about you? Where can people learn more about the flourish market? Sure. Absolutely. I'm going to give you guys one landing page. I know super annoying. You're probably driving but it'll be in the show notes. I'm sure absolutely as you can look me up on Instagram at m gray Sexton, but
00:53:09
Speaker
The page I want you to visit is msexon.com backslash brands that book what you'll find there is the list of questions that I asked in this podcast interview so you can like get to journaling is gonna be a little PDF download free if you like to print out pretty things and then I'm gonna have one of our videos from the flourish market
00:53:29
Speaker
That you can see delivers on our bigger mission and talks zero about our products so it's a one minute video we rolled it out last about a year and a half ago and so i want you to see an example of how you just don't put it in an instagram bio or on your website but how this mission statement can really influence other things that you put out into the world so you'll find that there.
00:53:48
Speaker
And all the links to the Flourish Market, our Instagram account, mine, whatever you'd like to creep, I invite you to creep away. And thank you for listening in. I'd love to have you a part of our journey in any way that we can help. Also, you probably could tell I'm pretty real and funny. And I think there's a lack of that on the internets these days. And so I like to share the fails of our business. So if that interests you, follow along. We're all in this together.
00:54:14
Speaker
Awesome. Well, all that information will be in the show notes. And Emily, thank you again for your time today. Thank you, Davey, so much. Thanks for tuning in to the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to DaveyandChrista.com.
00:54:41
Speaker
you