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22- Can Alaina Interest You In...Grassroots Marketing?
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Brand strategist, podcast host, and former Congressional candidate, Alaina Shearer joins us to talk about her interests - grassroots marketing/branding and messaging with a purpose. She tells us about her passion for helping small and medium sized businesses grow, with the goal of freeing people from their corporate jobs.
She teaches us about DIY branding (which you can do even as an individual to figure out your personal brand), including how to create organic content and choosing a platform. We learn about her early claim to fame, the Miss Single Mama Blog (RIP).
We talk about Alaina’s podcast, Citizen Rebel, which focuses on how and why we should speak up as business owners or executives, and how to signal that you or your business is a safe space. How and why should we be making everything political? (Including Murder She Wrote!)
We also cover:
What could big brands be taking a stand on that could make a difference?
What brands does Alaina think are taking a stand and telling their story really well?
What are the benefits of speaking out authentically, and the perils of staying quiet?
Can we make weaponizing privilege for democracy (rather than personal gain) a thing?
And of course, our homework!
Citizen Rebel Podcast: https://citizenrebel.transistor.fm/episodes
Find Your Voice 6-Week Group Cohort:https://www.goodisnow.com/classes
No Kings Protest Info:https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/
Logo design: Marielle MartinSong: Upbeat Drums with Stomps and Claps by music_for_videoBlueSky: @canweinterestyouin.bsky.socialEmail us your interests! CanWeInterestYouIn@gmail.comWebsite: CanWeInterestYouIn.com
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
You know that thing you love that your friends and family don't want to hear about anymore? Tell it to us, Patty and Charlotte. We want to learn all about your weird and wild obsessions or your perfectly normal hobbies that you've taken just a little too far.
00:00:15
Speaker
We want to dabble in your curious interests. Can we interest you in today's episode?
00:00:35
Speaker
On today's episode, we have a fun guest. We have Elena Scheer from Citizen Rebel, the podcast. Elena's super interesting. She actually pitched herself to us via email, which was really exciting for us.
00:00:50
Speaker
And um she has such an impressive bio. She is a former seven-figure ad agency owner. She founded Women in Digital, which is a national women's network, and that led her to run for U.S. Congress. um She was a candidate in Ohio in 2020.
00:01:09
Speaker
What a time. And she currently leads Find Your Voice peer cohorts, which we will provide you guys with a link to how you can sign up, and does one-on-one coaching for executive leaders.
00:01:21
Speaker
As I mentioned, she is the co-host of the podcast, Distan Rebel, And she's big time on LinkedIn as well as Instagram.
Elena's Background and Achievements
00:01:30
Speaker
Enjoy the show. Hey, Charlotte.
00:01:34
Speaker
Hey, Patty. And I'm so excited. Today we have with us from the Citizen Rebel podcast, Elena Scheer. Hi. Hello. Thanks for having me.
00:01:46
Speaker
thank you so much for coming on. We were really excited to um get to know more about you once you reached out and listened to your podcast and also just so impressed with your bio and all the amazing things that you've done in your life already. Thank you. i I hear that and I'm like, oh, I'm glad somebody's impressed with it because I look at it and I'm like, oh, that's exhausting. But it all happens for a reason.
00:02:11
Speaker
I was listening to one of your episodes and you were like, ah If I were to go back, I would do it in a different life. I would not go back and do that again in this life, you know, like of different places that you've been and and challenges that you've taken on. And it's like, oh, what a good place to be. Not like, let's not do it again.
00:02:29
Speaker
right like But don't
Passion for Marketing and Branding
00:02:30
Speaker
regret it. Wow, that was fun. And I'm glad that that happened, but I don't want to do it again.
00:02:36
Speaker
So you were nice enough to reach out and provide us a couple of different options. I mean, you are a very interesting person, so it makes sense that you have a lot of interests as well. um And one of those was to kind of talk to us about grassroots marketing of small businesses and and kind of also focusing on um messaging with a purpose.
00:02:58
Speaker
yeah So, yeah. Yeah, i I have been very interested and marketing and branding now for 20 years. And before that, I was in journalism. I was in radio and loved it, thought that that was my destiny, and then didn't love it and realized that I needed to make a whole career shift. So I was 26, shifting from journalism and ah switching all the way over into marketing and advertising. And i fell in love with nonprofit marketing, but also, and those were some of my first projects at the agency I worked at as an intern.
00:03:36
Speaker
And i was also really fascinated later when I started my own agency, many years later, on how to transform small businesses. And all I want to do is help small, medium-sized businesses grow, especially ah individuals, you know, who come to me and they're like, hey, I'm ready to start my own thing. How do I do it?
00:03:59
Speaker
There's nothing that brings me more joy than to help free someone from ah day job. or a corporate job, you know, and help them find their voice and figure out who they're, who they are who their personal brand is.
00:04:10
Speaker
But for your listeners and everyone listening now, I would imagine, you know, whether you're at a small company or you own your own business or you're thinking about owning your own business, marketing and the story that you tell and your brand is vital. It is critical.
00:04:28
Speaker
And so I get to bring to the table the experience of working on big, massive clients. Like one of my clients was Victoria's Secret. We were in the feminist death star, as I like to say. It was epic.
00:04:43
Speaker
It's great. And we did so much there. That was when I owned my own agency. But now these days, I wouldn't work for corporate if someone, i don't, there would be no amount of money that somebody could give me because it would compromise my values in the state of our world right now.
00:04:59
Speaker
Right. So all I want to do is help small businesses grow. And I'm really happy to be here to talk about it. So what was it about marketing that you said you you fell in love? Like what what about that? Like, especially as an intern, like when you're first dipping your toe, what did you love about it It's a great question. I i loved, to me, it's like a puzzle. So at my core, as a young, young person, i would I've always been into writing. So i've the my baseline is copywriter.
00:05:26
Speaker
And my first projects were only copy. But they would say, here's the thing. Here's the challenge. write a brochure, you know, or write a PowerPoint deck or write the website. And at the time, the websites were the most fun.
00:05:40
Speaker
But the riddle, trying to take five paragraphs and turn them into one headline that resonates was just really fun for me and very challenging. And then the reward of watching your work go live and move people to action to a point where they help a nonprofit or invest in a small business and go buy a cup of coffee from them, you know, or whatever.
00:06:06
Speaker
That was so fulfilling to me. It was so cool to be able to come out of the box of where you are as a journalist and put some flair on it. And then I noticed I love design.
00:06:18
Speaker
And I would work so well with the designers. It was a ton of fun for me to take something that started in black and white on a piece of eight and a half by 11 and turn it into a whole campaign h that changes people's lives.
00:06:33
Speaker
It changes people's lives, and I think it changes our culture too. And it just, yeah, it's very powerful. And it's something that we don't really think about very much. Like I haven't thought about it practically at all, so I'm really excited that you're talking to us about it.
00:06:49
Speaker
Literally anything you say is going to be like new to me. That's so fun. i love that. No, and most people, it's not. Sometimes, okay, my dad was a doctor. My brother's a surgeon, so I say this knowing that that I know how hard that is.
00:07:02
Speaker
But I feel like ah yeah we all do, whatever we're a specialist in. I love being able to go in and I feel like a doctor sometimes.
Marketing Advice and Strategies
00:07:12
Speaker
I'm like, okay, I have to diagnose the problem and then give give this brand some love and give it a huge makeover.
00:07:19
Speaker
And yeah, I'm happy to go through like the basics. If you were to do it on your own, I can impart the like basic wisdom that everyone should follow if that's where you want me to go. Sure. I just want to say quickly though, like the thing that's even trickier though about what what this is versus being a doctor, again, both very difficult and levels of importance. that' Totally different levels of hard though. The body's way Way easier. but but that you have to bring to it something different every time
00:07:51
Speaker
you know so so while it's like yes once you get into the brain it might be a little like oh shoot we weren't expecting this you know with a surgery ah i'm not going to go down this law i know maybe there don't worry first analogy of like just name daughters yeah you guys really that hard ok um did you do all right But really like that there is so much you're going to share with us kind of what those steps are that everyone can follow. You have to bring so much creativity and and something new to each time that you do it.
00:08:26
Speaker
And then also the fact that everyone is now a marketer of themselves, of their brand, of everything. It's like there can just be this overload. So how you break through tricky as well. And especially since we're just so fast at being like,
00:08:43
Speaker
oh, that's really cool. Okay, next. Versus, oh my God, that's an amazing you know ad that you saw during the Super Bowl and you would talk about it for weeks and weeks and weeks. Yeah.
00:08:53
Speaker
and and And what breaks my heart has always been the same story since I started my own agency and I was on the front of sales calls a meeting new clients is when they hire the wrong agency, there's a lot of There are so many people who don't know how to do this who are outselling it.
00:09:11
Speaker
And i when you come across that, not to be a doctor analogy again. i need a never one i need to find a different one. I'll pretend to be an accountant. Okay. You come across it It's as if no one was taking care of their books for like 10 years and they were just, but these, you know, you've invested money.
00:09:29
Speaker
So here's, let me give you like a base baseline if you're doing this yourself. So we're going to go the DIY. We're not going to go the hire an agency route. And in this, let's put our hats on for your business, but also your personal brand.
00:09:43
Speaker
They're okay. the That's the same method. The first thing that you need to do, the first, first thing is to really understand where you want to go. Of course, that seems obvious, but still you need to say it.
00:09:55
Speaker
You need to know what your goal is and your vision and what kind of an effect do you want to have on the world. And that can be considered your legacy or it can be considered what kind of effect you want to have on the world for the next five years.
00:10:10
Speaker
But it's interesting how sometimes we get caught up in a business and we forget that. too It's really important to reset on your vision and your goals. And the next thing is to really understand your audience.
00:10:23
Speaker
Who are you selling to for this podcast? Who would you want to listen to it? And you have to get really empathetic. And a lot of times, you know, if it's a full-on, full-scale branding project, we do interviews and we interview customers. We interview potential customers.
00:10:40
Speaker
What we're looking for is their pain points. And this is the simplest version of it all that I can give you. But we're looking for a pain point that they're experiencing and that the pain points that you can solve and that only you can solve.
00:10:56
Speaker
And from there, you are in a place where you can write a value proposition, which is your unique positioning statement. Okay.
00:11:07
Speaker
Now the real simple version of that is know your audience and know what you offer them that nobody else does. And what will often happen is there's a misalignment somewhere in there.
00:11:18
Speaker
Or like you're trying to be too much for too many people. Yes. Yes. That is the most common one. So we are all in these days as business owners or for our personal brand, very reluctant to take a stand.
00:11:34
Speaker
and in fear of offending somebody. And there's nothing wrong with that. We don't want to walk around offending people. But taking a stand in what your business believes in brings you customers.
00:11:46
Speaker
If you stand for nothing, you don't stand for anything. I have clients who want who say, i i speak to every single human, every person, ah you know, going through change. And I'm like, oh my God, that's not even Oprah Winfrey has an audience that big.
00:12:07
Speaker
Okay. No, you got to get really narrow at first. When you have your early adopters, your early fans, listeners, customers, then they tell others about it.
00:12:20
Speaker
But there is this very, genuine law of attraction. And when you are a brand and you take a stand or make a statement, you see this all the time in big brands and they, it it works, you know, you don't see it as often in small and medium sized businesses and you really don't see it in business to business B2B service industries.
00:12:42
Speaker
But what I try to do is really push people into that place where it's like, no, tell me what makes you different what do you stand for? For example, a pet groomer could stand for helping rescue puppies.
00:12:56
Speaker
And 10% of every sale 5% goes to the local shelter. That's a great example. Also, you can take a stand for, you know, excellent local, local like ah there's a shop in my town where everything's Colorado sourced, just about everything comes from Colorado.
00:13:17
Speaker
So that's an example of just a little, you know, nod to whatever it is that you value. So from there, you would want to put out your message.
00:13:29
Speaker
And you can imagine how much easier it is to say, hi I am a pet groomer, or hi, I'm a pet groomer, and I'm, you know, donating proceeds to the local shelter. There are nuances and differences. And another, when you get into messaging, and we all can create messaging these days, but you really want to ask yourself, what am I giving my audience?
00:13:51
Speaker
You know, what are you giving them in that content? And is this something that I would want to share? You mean um something that... is valuable to me like that I would be interested in if it was somebody else offering it?
00:14:05
Speaker
Like if you, if you, as a brand, if you don't love your content, just don't even bother publishing it. Like you, if you, and I've done this, I mean, I've done it for, for brands and for clients where we have to publish something and we publish something and it doesn't go anywhere. And ah my litmus test is always like, would I find this interesting?
00:14:28
Speaker
I think that's just a base barometer for as consumers. and it's is your Would your audience find this interesting? If you are very, very different from your audience and you're targeting people who are completely different from you, that's tough because you have to do a lot of research, right? Yeah.
00:14:45
Speaker
Most of the times we're just just the basic, like as a social media consumer, am I going to click this and like it is a good place to start. So there's so many choices out there with advertising and marketing.
00:14:56
Speaker
You could do Google ads, you can do Facebook, you can do social. The best place invariably to spend your time is working on your story and why it matters and to your audience and working on content.
00:15:13
Speaker
organic content that resonates and tells a story and growing your audience. What's really cool about the world we live in right now, one good thing, is you can connect with strangers on the internet and you can leave comments on other people's posts and you can build a following for your small business that way.
Social Media Preferences and Podcast Identity
00:15:31
Speaker
if you If you have something that resonates, you're going to publish it and see lots of comments come in and you know you've struck a chord. yeah I noticed that for on your podcast, you often talk about posting and creating content.
00:15:45
Speaker
and your co-host as well on LinkedIn. And so is that largely because do you choose LinkedIn in in that instance because you are a business owner and you're promoting your business or what is it about LinkedIn that you find that you like or you're That's a great question. I probably do that because it's the place I live right now. It's online. okay So in my career, I've started out, um,
00:16:11
Speaker
know my first soiree into, into this world on my own was blogging. I had a very popular blog 2007, eight, nine, and it was about being a single mom.
00:16:25
Speaker
And I grew it from, you know, my first singular reader to a million page views a month. What was it called? That was WordPress. It was Miss Single Mama and is no longer live, unfortunately. attacked by a spam virus. oh Oh, what a bummer. I know. And at the time I was like, no, I don't ever need this again.
00:16:46
Speaker
oh let it You know, now I'm like, but that was the place I lived and I spent all my time and I became an expert in WordPress. Right. But so the the channel... For me today, it's LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn.
00:17:00
Speaker
i don't, okay, love is a strong word. If I could wake up tomorrow and someone someone said, you never have to be on LinkedIn again, I'd be like, thank God. Or you never have to be on social again, but I do for my business. And so I love it because not only does it do I find friends and friendships, true personal friendships, but business connections that are extremely valuable on LinkedIn.
00:17:20
Speaker
It's also not just a mess like Facebook and Instagram are so overwhelming to me right now. So we talk about it on the podcast because we can draw from that. It's a great question. um i don't feel like I'm an expert in Instagram anymore at all. But having switched platforms so many times in my life, your story, nothing your content is the one thing that never changes.
00:17:42
Speaker
Your story never changes. So you can go from one platform to the other. For people starting out, My recommendation is to focus on one and get really excellent at it.
00:17:53
Speaker
It's TikTok. Go to where your audience is. My audience is on LinkedIn right now for my business. If yours is on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, whatever, Reddit, choose that platform and become a master of the nuances.
00:18:08
Speaker
But you'll always be able to take that story if it's a good one and move it to a different platform. I do think that's hard because there's so many choices. And then I did like in in one of your episodes where you were talking about if you don't like that platform, like don't get yeah go get into it. Don't become an expert in it. And there are ways to create content entirely separately and then you bring it into whatever platform is right for you.
00:18:35
Speaker
Yeah. And that was an episode where Chris, my cohost is very reluctant to post. So we we spend a lot of time on unpacking his introversion ah and aversion to posting and publishing.
00:18:49
Speaker
And he's actually crossed that bridge. Now it's really exciting. he publishes her barrel yeah He published a viral post. You guys have been listening. That's great. That's amazing. um But yeah, i told him like, Hey,
00:19:00
Speaker
He feels overwhelmed very easily by it all, as I do too. But just go to the platform that you're most comfortable in. ah Don't force it. Now, if you're real serious need for sales, yeah, you've got to go to the place for your audiences. If you're Chris and you're I'm doing sales for you, you're fine. You can choose whichever platform you want to go to.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah, we we we have some time and, you know, space to just gradually get people interested in us. And as we work out all the kinks and, you know, things that we're still learning, even practically a year in.
00:19:38
Speaker
So ah yeah, this is just the next step, I think, for us after figuring out how to do the podcast. Now, what what what have we created it as our brand so far without even realizing we're doing it and then do it on purpose? Yes.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yes. Okay. So that's a great point. Number one, podcasting is a channel. So you can go all in on podcasting. We should say that. Right. Because there are nuances like connecting with other podcasters who you have them on your show and vice versa. And there's the whole universe out there where you could literally just live in the podcast world and probably thrive.
00:20:14
Speaker
um If you you also mentioned, Charlotte, like being there for a year and seeing sometimes the brand has to create itself and it becomes what it becomes after you jump into it.
00:20:27
Speaker
who And yeah that's why a lot of times it's really, really important to take stock a year in, five years in, six, seven, eight. I mean, also there's macro changes to the way we live and where we are and what we buy. And so checking in on your brand to see what it means to your listeners is always really important.
00:20:50
Speaker
And customers, yeah. Yeah, and I think realizing kind of what we have focused on or gravitated towards, like another thing that I like about podcast,
00:21:01
Speaker
podcast and your, you know, different content is that you're talking about having, like you were saying, having a message, having a values that you make clear.
00:21:13
Speaker
And I do think like I've noticed that with our podcast is that we'll, we'll kind of find a way to make it political or somehow related to something, no matter what the content. Even when talking about Murder, She Wrote, right? Oh my yes. we got, we got real deep with that.
00:21:32
Speaker
I guess it is right under the surface. so Yeah, it is. You just dug it out. It's so important, though. And one thing I talk a lot about on the podcast, and I'm sure you guys just alluded to it, but, you know, after you publish those episodes, so how do you feel?
00:21:50
Speaker
pretty good yeah like to be able to speak your truth and be yourself yeah it it feels good and I feel ah little bit like let's do it while we know we can right right and hopefully prevent a time when we know we can't Yes, I know. i And that is, there is a sense of urgency. And so for the listeners who don't know, I think our po my podcast, Citizen Rebel, is dedicated to educating people on how to speak up in any context, you know, whether it's even quiet in a quiet way or more, you know, out there.
00:22:27
Speaker
But We are running out of time to speak up. It's really scary. We're not being overly dramatic about this. This is happening. And the more of us who can say something and feel comfortable saying something in our and our own way and directly, it's just it frees you when you do.
00:22:45
Speaker
You feel this huge weight lifted off your shoulder. Yeah. And even looking at, you know, the companies that you support financially and seeking out those companies that do
Community and Business Values
00:23:00
Speaker
take a stand. I was even just at a like a neighborhood town hall last night that was.
00:23:06
Speaker
and I live in St. Louis, and so um ice presence has been bad in different varying, you know, like peaks and everywhere. Not nearly as bad as Chicago, but it's been bad. And so last night we were talking about how to kind of mobilize. And one of the things that was awesome is everybody went around and said a business in our areas So we were like, you know, different neighborhoods.
00:23:32
Speaker
So it was like name a business that is either a safe space or a a place that you frequent that you'd like to ensure that encourage that they are a safe space.
00:23:43
Speaker
And so not anything like official, you know, like they don't have to be like, yes, you can drop off your abandoned baby here. kind of saves space. But like, you know, like um fire houses are.
00:23:56
Speaker
But that it's somewhere that, you know, would be safe for you, for your neighbors and that they are looking out for the community versus assisting much like the police are. Where did this happen? what Was this a town hall or something?
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah, but it was put on by a couple of different organizations um that work with migrant and immigrant communities in the city. And so it was just looking at how can neighbors get involved.
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah. And and letting us know what our rights are, what the resources are. And the whole program was completely bilingual, which was great. And it was some kind of symbol on a business, like some kind of a sign Right. right did Did anything, did a symbol, what happened with that conversation? I'm so curious.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah. So it didn't go too deep, but we were saying, you know how everyone now has the whistles and it's almost like that's a sign of, hey, I'm a safe person and I'm going to blow this whistle to let you know that there's Some kind of ice activity around or something like that.
00:25:03
Speaker
That could there be something similar where if this is in the window, if you're in the know, you know what it means. Wow. um And that that could just let you know that like, okay, this is a place where you can be waiting with your child for the bus in the morning so that you're not out on the street or something like that.
00:25:19
Speaker
ah A really cool idea and also just a good way to kind of think about, again, the businesses that yeah you're going to support with your money and your voice and all of Ironically, like in this phase of late stage capitalism, we need...
00:25:40
Speaker
People, businesses have influence over these. Yes. You know, I'm not going to swear say mean, super mean things, but businesses have influence right now. They have a huge advertising spend.
00:25:53
Speaker
They could be saying something and most of them aren't. Now I'm thinking of corporations right now, but back to the small business, a little symbol, a nod to what whatever our movement or resistance is, which we don't have yet. We don't have a universal symbol.
00:26:09
Speaker
And the upside down American flag does not count. That's way too, way too controversial. Come on, guys. If you're my mom, though, you wear a um safety pin. So she, you know, she saw some of her.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yeah. And so I guess back in like World War two that was something that people would wear to show like I'm a safe person. And so someone that she follows, it wasn't Heather Cox Richards this time, but um someone else had suggested that they people do that. And so she's been doing it. And it's hilarious because she's got like some that are humongous. I love that. She's a former teacher. So she's like, oh, I've got a big yellow one. mom it took me But something like that, right? Where it's just kind of like, how can we just communicate? Like we are safe.
00:26:59
Speaker
yeah you Yeah. I will help you if you need help. Yeah. Yeah. And the whistle, I hadn't heard that. Oh, yeah. yeah Have you, Charlotte?
00:27:10
Speaker
No, no. Okay. So different um neighbors had put this thing together. And I can't remember which city it was that started it, but they basically put in little those little library community libraries packets with whistles that said like, you know, hey, this is to alert somebody of ICE activity, but then also to alert if you need help.
00:27:31
Speaker
And it was just kind of spread across their community. And so someone was saying in Rogers Park, which is the north um neighborhood north side neighborhood of Chicago, um this guy was just saying that he was driving to work and I saw on every street corner somebody with a whistle.
00:27:47
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So is this ah this stuff doesn't get down to everybody. Yeah. Right. Right. Well, and that goes back to like, how do you, when there's so much going on, how do you get all of the messaging? And then I also always worry that I'm not seeing enough of other sides, other, you know, I don't want to be only finding information that supports my thesis already, you know, um But I'm also not willing to, you know, listen to Fox News. Right.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah. I think we could get, you know, get that started here if it's not already going in Colorado. Just that type of thing. um Whistles, safety pins.
00:28:33
Speaker
I love that. and But it it's how do we. the So you were just at a town hall with. interpretation. And I wonder if that's happening. I mean, being in a blue state, it is fabulous. And there might be something going on that we may not know about because our news feeds, our feeds are inundated with information that is popular versus what is necessary.
00:28:55
Speaker
And local news has been dying for a long time, but they're showing us, you know, and I think you all probably noticed in Instagram, like you see the most popular content now. You don't see your friends. I don't even see my friends.
00:29:06
Speaker
I know. o And they're disconnecting us. We're so disconnected from one another. And I wish all they would have to do is put up a button, show me my friends only block advertising.
00:29:19
Speaker
I guess I just thought they weren't posting. No, they are. ah Oh, no. No, it's really bad. So if you open up
Community Engagement and Corporate Responsibility
00:29:28
Speaker
your Instagram right now and you scroll through, you're going to see people you don't even follow.
00:29:32
Speaker
They're just showing you the most popular content, a lot like the TikTok model. and you have to go seek your friends out. But i've I've been in those situations where I go seek a friend out and I'm like, oh, I didn't know. you know, like your kid graduated high school cool and I didn't send you a text. Like it's no longer a place where we, I think we can connect with each other or even find out about local events.
00:29:54
Speaker
Like the one lesson from our podcast, and it's so eerie because this feels, it's so, it's like we're going back in time and that's what they want to happen. they They're taking away Okay, it's not a they. It's just a collective thing that's just happening at once. But what we need to do is connect with our communities and be with our neighbors and go to events like you did, you know, Patty, like that's what we need to be doing.
00:30:19
Speaker
And hear the voices of people in our own backyard. And that that's the part of it that makes me feel like I'm living in 1933 in Germany. Like, oh my gosh, I gotta like, react to we're wearing secret symbols. Like this is happening.
00:30:34
Speaker
Right. And imagine like, a brand, a big one, like let's say Disney decided to say, if you will protect children, no matter what, wear a safety pin with their advertising dollars.
00:30:49
Speaker
You know what i mean? And they don't, and they're not. and it's Or let's go with a more realistic thing. I'm Disney and I, we do not support school shootings and we never want another school shooting to happen. So we're going to start a pledge to, you know, whatever.
00:31:08
Speaker
they have that that lines up with their brand. right And that's the part that's the most frustrating to me as someone in this profession. And I feel for all my colleagues who are stuck in corporations, but the power that they have and the ad dollars that they have and to continue to see ads and media without any word of what's going on.
00:31:30
Speaker
It's surreal to watch commercials and TV ads. It allows people to completely tune tune everything out as well. I mean, you can... you can tune out depending on where you live.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah. Like I even get upset when I'm like, why are you still feeding me up target ads? I have told you am not supporting them. Like, I don't know who I told, but I told you, you know, like, so wish there were a way to say like, you know, they'll be like, oh, you want to watch this ad. Why is that? You know? And I'm like, I want to say the reason is because I don't support target Target. I don't agree with that. Yeah, they don't have that option. No, that's not one of the options. It's, I don't buy cleaning supplies. And it's like, no, I do. I do.
00:32:17
Speaker
You've made it harder that I have to search out where to get those. It's not Target, but yeah it's it's It's interesting. I think the local businesses too, there there's fear for sure with local businesses.
00:32:34
Speaker
But remember, you're not trying to reach 300 million Americans. Right. You know, you look at your audience, look at your customers. And when you put up a pride flag in the window or a peace sign. I don't know anything that's not fascist.
00:32:51
Speaker
It, it really indicates to people that you're a safe place and that you, you're articulating your values, which creates more loyal customers. So it's interesting. We, we unpack a lot on our podcast that, that, um,
00:33:08
Speaker
frustration from from business owners not knowing what to do right now and the fear of alienating 50% of their customers, which is what you see in national polls, but that's not the number.
00:33:20
Speaker
depends on where you live. And you might gain customers like yes Costco was gaining a lot of customers you know around the time that everybody was not going to Target. Yeah.
00:33:32
Speaker
And I'm wondering, are there any brands that you feel like are doing it really well right now? That's a great question. my the only Please tell me, email me or find me people if there's more. But Dr. Broners, you know, Dr. Broners, is they they come out and they say, hey, we are for employee rights. And they talk about their benefits for their workers. They talk about the climate.
00:33:58
Speaker
So those are those two major messages. Their CEOs don't get paid more than a certain percentage away from the lowest paid employee. like And they put all this out there and it's like, wow, all I want to do is buy Dr. Broner's.
00:34:10
Speaker
But that's been around forever, right? They have. Yeah. And they tell that story really well. Their CEOs like sit there with their socks off on a video on LinkedIn and their hippie and their tie dye shirts. And it's just, you know, that that's a great they are a great example of how being political doesn't mean you need to be negative.
00:34:30
Speaker
You're saying I believe and that people should be paid fairly. What's wrong with that? I and believe and that we're doing it. Like we're not just saying it. We're doing it. Yeah. Right. And so you have all the issues humanity is facing these days, like school shootings are one of them. Like that's a universal. Everyone hates that.
00:34:49
Speaker
Everyone. Yeah. And there are universal issues and we are we cannot succumb to this thought that if we say something, we're going to lose all our customers.
00:35:01
Speaker
That is not going to happen. There are ways to say it in a positive way. um if you If you guys, if you haven't already, go listen to the My Clock Hut episode. It's the first one we aired on our podcast, but Trevor, and the owner, Trevor Silva is in Nashville, Tennessee, and he owns a soap company.
00:35:19
Speaker
And he has come out hardcore against fascism. And his message is simply, this is a safe place. like And he came out with hats and everything that say revolt, but it says love in between. like He reversed the word love and he's like, I'm just a tall six foot four white guy and I want everyone to know that they are safe with me.
00:35:40
Speaker
And that's all. And it's like, come on, are you going to argue with that? And his sales just went through the roof when he first published his first. So he already had and account. He already had followers. He already had customers.
00:35:54
Speaker
But when they came out and said it, not only did he feel free, but he, his sales, it was an unbelievable number. I think like 80,000 in the first Saturday of soap. Like they had to turn the website off.
00:36:07
Speaker
They were sold out for a while. So it's changed its whole business. Yeah. Because if I knew, I need to get soap and I would love to support someone like that. And even if I don't need soap, I want to support someone like that. That's what happened.
00:36:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, oh, that's okay. I'll wait. Yeah, yeah. Tons of that is happening. We're also seeing artists like Zach Bryan come out and say, zachryan Zach Bryan's a big country music artist.
00:36:32
Speaker
um And he just published lyrics against ice. And it's Christy Noem's like, oh, I don't listen to his music anyway. I'm like no, of course you don't. You're a jerk. you to have no taste. There's no way you would listen to him. he I love Zach Bryan, but I've always wondered if he's part, you know, I don't know.
00:36:50
Speaker
Is he, yeah is he cool? You know, so he published this and now I'm like, oh my God. So I went to his site last night and bought a t-shirt, but that's starting to happen. We're going to see more and more of that celebrities who their whole career depends on this.
00:37:04
Speaker
They, yeah you know, people are threatening him and saying, we're going to, you're going to get Dixie chicked. Let's see what happens with him. Let's see. But right how do you want to go out? You know, what do you want your what do you want history to say that you did in this moment?
00:37:19
Speaker
You know, and again, pick an issue, pick pick the climate, pick the planet. You can't argue with these things. This is we need to fight for our planet as humans. And when we're not, we feel depraved.
00:37:33
Speaker
Like what you were saying about, you know, how did how do we feel after we publish episodes where we talk about, you know, our our beliefs and it feels good and not speaking out can feel stifling, terrible. And at the expense, like.
00:37:51
Speaker
for the purpose of making money, for the purpose of trying to retain customers. So it's out of fear. It's out of, you know, trying to to hold on to something right that you don't consider, like you don't consider your values as to as more important than the bottom line.
00:38:07
Speaker
Right. And and there are there is research that shows, and I've seen it. So I'm seeing, i have Find Your Voice cohorts where I have six students at a time going through this release and identifying their personal brand and working through that.
Personal Branding and Activism
00:38:20
Speaker
And And it's incredible to see the same thing happen for everyone. if If they get to that point where we really do push them into speaking their truth. And you do have to push a little bit. That's what I'm there for.
00:38:31
Speaker
And they're like, cheer everybody on and give you a push. But it's this freedom of feeling like flying. And they come into their own. but So I've looked into the research behind it. And it is you feel when you can't be yourself.
00:38:45
Speaker
When you can't, like, let's say you go into a corporate office every day. And you are not allowed to talk about the news. And you have to pretend like nothing is happening. You feel less and less like yourself in a place where you spend a majority of your waking hours.
00:39:00
Speaker
And you get depressed. You get, you have more anxiety, you're more depressed. And when you are able to just be your free spirit and be yourself, go figure and say what you want.
00:39:11
Speaker
And not in a way that hurts people, but just in a way that's like, this is who I am. Hello. And we all accept one another and meet each other where we are. we are all profoundly happier.
00:39:22
Speaker
And right now what we have going on is this, no, you are not allowed to say that. You're going be you know canceled and you're not allowed to do this or that. And we do living in fear makes people fear their neighbors.
00:39:34
Speaker
And I feel it. I'm a high empath. So if I go to a party or something with a mixed group of people from different backgrounds, I can feel that tension. There's always that point in the conversation where everyone's like, and say anything like come on, man, we live here.
00:39:47
Speaker
This is our country. Let's talk about it. Yeah, it doesn't have to be a fight. Yeah, it is interesting to thinking through like, companies and and organizations not only worrying about losing customers, but getting on blacklist You know what i mean? Like then you become that we have this huge bully.
00:40:06
Speaker
So then you also get um targeted. And so then there's this idea that that's even on a smaller scale with people where it's like, oh, this might not just result in us not being friends or something like that. It could result in.
00:40:20
Speaker
violence against each other, you know, like because there's this reaction. it is really scary. Yeah. And that is not that's a that is ah thing that could happen.
00:40:32
Speaker
um Trevor at my clock hut gets death threats every day on Instagram. But this is a choice that we need to make in this moment. Yeah. and And that is a risk that I know I'm willing to take.
00:40:43
Speaker
Like if I'm if this is something that causes harm to me and my family, then I'd leave or hopefully God forbid my family like the the judge whose house got bombed in South Carolina that happened.
00:40:57
Speaker
yeah So this is happening. When I ran for Congress and Ohio, there were people who would um take pictures of the front of my house. Like the flag on my door was waving. it got curled up and they were like, oh, you're not a patriot. You have your flag. is It's just so creepy that they were taking pictures of my house.
00:41:17
Speaker
Right. So this is. the fact that any of us feel scared should be even more motivation to fight. and the more of us who fight, the lower the odds that we're going to be singled out. We just have to collectively go for it because at the other side of it is what happens if this keeps going the way it's going, you know? Yeah.
00:41:36
Speaker
Right. oh Right. and And that's intolerable. Like I can't just sit by, but, but everybody's different and some people are quiet. There's quiet resistance happening. Right. Right.
00:41:50
Speaker
living in a place of fear really detrimental to your health right and as a white person i have that privilege that you know i'm not living in the day-to-day fear yet i know we're all under attack but my neighbors my community is under much more of a dangerous attack, direct attack right now. So to your point, it's like, okay, let's all get going now before, as Charlotte alluded to earlier at the beginning, before we can't, you know, before that's no longer an option or we're too hamstringed. Is that the word?
00:42:27
Speaker
Hamstring? Yeah. yeah Anyway. And its like if you don't say something, and you're complicit to it. Yeah. It's a thing too. Yeah. I think. That's crappy. Yeah. And is this a thing like weaponizing our privileges? Like what with the privilege we have right now, let's if we've got it, let's weaponize it.
00:42:45
Speaker
Yeah. being White. have Somebody said I can't remember which Instagram rabbit hole I was down, but um it was a black man. And he was like, dudes, if all the white women go out, this will be over tomorrow. And he's not wrong like they're not going if white when white women are out there, we do hold power.
00:43:03
Speaker
yeah We do. And that's why we fight for what we fight for, because it is totally out of balance and it's completely out of whack. But the fact that so many of us are just riding our privilege and not doing anything, it just drives me absolutely bonkers. Like have really hard time with it. If i've I've got like, I have to come to peace with this. Like I really work on not being judgmental all the time.
00:43:29
Speaker
toward people who aren't doing anything. I love you all, but I'm really trying to persuade you to do something. Like I love the safety pin. i love it again, just like we need to show.
00:43:42
Speaker
I feel that way all the time as a white person. i'm like, oh my God, how can I tell these people that I love them and I don't want them to be hauled away? Like me how, what can I, and Chris and I have a whole episode on symbolism and the American flag. Actually, we want something it says yeah so if if you guys figure that out the safety pin we will share it we will yeah no no yeah our homework charlotte yeah yeah figure it out like a let's get your mom to get out all our safety pins and all her school stuff yeah like something i think i love the idea of a safety pin with the letters love on them or something you know like those little charm letters
00:44:21
Speaker
yeah Yeah, because that's a universal word. Everybody can speak that word in English. i think love there. There's English words that are pretty common. Yeah, especially if you use the heart instead of the O. Everyone. Oh, oh great yeah. yeah duh and then people can accessorize and make it cute for their
Vision and Activism in the Political Climate
00:44:41
Speaker
outfit and yeah i love that maybe we just can start doing like yeah right we did just do it but and indivisible instead of like having just sign making nights they can also now do like uh decorate your safety pin night uh i love this idea
00:45:00
Speaker
Because I do think that there's like this ah effort to make it seem like like there's so many people who are supporting the kind the current administration or regime, if you want to call it.
00:45:12
Speaker
um And it's just not true, but people are not speaking out enough for people to know who's, you know, how much support there is on the side against him. Perfect, perfect point. And ah we we have to remember that we don't all believe this and everybody has to, oh, and in 19, this is my point, sorry, 1933, Germany, and we didn't have the internet.
00:45:35
Speaker
We didn't have the ability to whip up a shop tomorrow and sell safety pins with hearts on them for like 10 minutes, which we could do. We can organize in a different way. We're also a much larger country. We're an older country.
00:45:49
Speaker
We've been around for 200 years. Germany at the time was around for what since 18, late 1880s. So for 50 years. So we have been around. and I don't think Americans are going to take much more of this. I am hopeful.
00:46:03
Speaker
i just don't know, you know, what is it going to come down to? What's going to happen? So in the meantime, we segue to the end of this beautiful podcast, guys like, yeah you know, everybody do what you can.
00:46:16
Speaker
Be outraged. Find a way to release that. Again, there's secret quiet ways and there's loud ways. But when it comes to your business, really examine how you can take a stand for something. And again, that could be the values that you give your clients and what you offer them.
00:46:33
Speaker
And it doesn't have to be political when it comes to your business at all. But there's nothing wrong with saying that you love love and that you love the planet and all these kinds of things. So think about it that way. Try to reframe it.
00:46:45
Speaker
And if you need any help, you can find me. But the homework, do you want to go into some homework for everybody? Yes, please. um Homework would be... To really work on your vision board and not in a collage way, but actually draw it out. There's a TED talk, Google vision board, drawing, illustrating TED talk.
00:47:05
Speaker
um But she gives this fab TED talk about actually drawing out your future, like draw your current state, draw your future state, and then write down three big, bold steps to take to get there to your vision.
00:47:17
Speaker
From there, the three bold steps are shockingly easy. They should be like achievable. It's nuts how you do this and you see where you want to be is more within reach than you think.
00:47:30
Speaker
And from that point, if you have a business and you're thinking about starting one, for example, you can go backwards and say, okay, the next part of the homework would be unpacking those bold steps. Okay, how many clients do I need? it What do I need to do to quit the job? What do I need to do to start the movement?
00:47:46
Speaker
What do I need to do? And then who do I need to show up as Who am I? who How can I become this person I want to be? And you become that person. You already are that person. You become it by just saying it out loud, dropping everything else. You just come into your own.
00:48:02
Speaker
So start with what you want. Label, list the things that you need to be true and then describe yourself like your brand and then live it and be it.
00:48:13
Speaker
I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, because Charlotte, you can apply it to this. You can also apply it to your pop-up shop. You can apply it to your novels. Like, yeah, I have a lot of things that I need some more vision.
00:48:28
Speaker
ah for That's amazing. it Just get started in them and then and then don't do the that part of it. But ah that, yeah, this is really helpful. Yes, and I bet you have a thread common between all three of those things.
00:48:43
Speaker
Yeah. And that's your your thread and your tie, and that's what resonates with your audience who would consume all three of those things. yeah So try not to be over try not to think of them as completely different things.
00:48:55
Speaker
They all center on you as the source of them. Right, and there's some sort of the values that run throughout Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Real quick, because I always get names wrong. And earlier I said Heather Cox Richards and I meant Heather Cox Richardson. So just wanted to correct that um because I do that all the time. Like I had a ah landlord whose last name was Thompson. And every month I would write the check to him as Thomas. Like and he was always like, it's still Thompson. i was like, Yeah.
00:49:29
Speaker
Um, so that was the first thing I wanted to correct. And then the second is, um, just to mention this will be coming out this week. And so ah Saturday the 18th, um, is no King's day. So everybody go find your location so you can rally with your fellow community members and show that we do not support what's going on.
00:49:52
Speaker
Yes. Yes. And we wear yellow, right? Is that the order? Oh, I hadn't heard that. i Okay. I thought I saw that, but yellow is my worst color. So don't give me your rule, man.
00:50:03
Speaker
I get it though. i um We'll be there. where we've And then we're going to go to a dog puppy parade with our dogs in Denver. Oh, so cute. Yes, you should go. There's an arts festival.
00:50:16
Speaker
You've got to balance your protests and your stress with positive things too, guys. You've got to have your balance. positive And I learned that running for Congress. Like you just really can burn out. And You need to be able to allow yourself to let go.
00:50:29
Speaker
So yes, no kings. And then if you are listening to this on Saturday, I might have spots left in my cohort that starts on October. I think it's 24th.
00:50:40
Speaker
So if you want to join a cohort, go to goodisnow.com. Oh, excellent. Yeah. And there's three seats left as of now. no Yeah, goodisnow.com slash classes.
00:50:51
Speaker
It's been so fun to chat with you too. i appreciate it so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, this was great. And we really need it at this point in our podcasting career. And of course, in this point, in our country's state of affairs.
00:51:08
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So thank you so much. And we will link you guys to all of Elena's wonderful things. Thank you. Stay interesting. And stay interested.
00:51:20
Speaker
i ah Bye. Bye. Bye.
00:51:28
Speaker
Thanks for listening to today's episode. Please subscribe, comment, and like the podcast. Follow us on Blue Sky Social at CanWeInterestYouIn. Send us an email at CanWeInterestYouIn at gmail.com.
00:51:39
Speaker
And join us next time.