Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Leadership isn't about titles. It's about vision, resilience and growth. I'm Erica Butler and on the Go Hire show, we talk about the tools and strategies that help you lead with impact, grow your business and build teams that thrive.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: From real estate to cultural agility, from
[00:00:17] Speaker A: managing diverse teams to creating work life harmony, Go Higher helps you rise above challenges and step into your next level. Catch Go Higher every week on Now Media Television, we're streaming on Roku, Apple TV, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio and all other major platforms. Let's go Higher together.
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So happy to have you on the Go Hire Show, Lisa. We have spent, we've worked together for years now and you have really impacted me. You've inspired me. You are a woman business owner mom.
You make things happen and I trust you. So it's an honor to have you. And I can't wait to dig in further to the AI piece because I think there's a lot of fear and confusion and you really have it down pat and you really have a good what I see is you're very healthy about how you navigate all that. So welcome back. Can't wait to dive into AI with you.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Thank you. And I feel the same way about you. I'm so glad to be here.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Well, it's pretty cool. With the HR function and marketing function, there are two powerhouse functions that can and I love how we collaborate.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: So great. Let's dive in further here. This first question is the it's a million dollar question or the billion dollar question.
Every, every business owner says, where do I get more leads? How do I get more leads?
Just like it's a question I hear most. So what is a root cause that companies struggle with this and what can they do to uncover some gaps in their process or what advice do you have for that?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think in terms of AI and usage in general to solve the lead problem is there's such this great opportunity to leverage AI as a listening and research tool.
So if you're struggling to get in front of your target audience to convert them, it's a really good opportunity to learn as much as you can about them. And before this might be countless hours of Research or hiring an expensive firm, whatever it may be. But now the, one of the most powerful things I think is true about AI is you can have it or train it to act as your Personas and research them, know them, understand them, and QA your messaging. Testing it against that before you take anything live, I think is an amazing opportunity to get feedback and see, where am I missing the mark.
Is there a way that I can hone this messaging in? And then once you launch it, I think there's also this incredible opportunity to tailor it much more quickly to different verticals and your target audience and also to iterate way faster. You know, prior a couple years ago, launching a campaign, it would take forever to get it done. And then if you wanted to change it, it would also require iterations.
Now, if you want to build out a landing page or an offer, whatever it may be, and times that by 10 for every single Persona in your audience, it can take literally 10 minutes. It's unbelievable.
I, I guess to bluntly answer your question, there's really no excuse for not trying to figure that out anymore. Know your audience, that's probably the best place to start.
You're right.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: If your company is performing well and your clients are happy, that there, there should be no reason you don't have leads. You know, if you're using AI as the tool that it can be. And, and I mean, you're right. I, I, I'm feeling accountable to that too. I'm like, okay, this is a point I will take with me.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Um, yeah, you can use it to research, Research target accounts you want to get in front of. Research your happiest customers. Like, how can I find five more exactly like this and get in front of them? So there's just this whole loop that you can go through of, okay, we're already winning here. How do I replicate that?
[00:04:36] Speaker A: So if you're not doing reiterations, you're really missing out. It sounds like too, because if you just send one campaign and then it's, it's so it was a lot slower. So really, all of us who are business owners should be having different, like, ways when we get our stuff out. We need to leverage AI and get it out to as many Personas as we know work and as are fit for our organization. That's what I hear you saying.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Yeah. One of the ways that I love to frame up marketing campaigns for our team and our clients is we pick one umbrella message, the most important thing we want to convey for the quarter, and then we figure out all the Millions of ways to break that down for different parts of our audience, even, you know, our clients versus our, our prospects. Just really thinking this is the consistent and persistent thing that we need to say and then just do it on loop. Like one of our core values at Smart Smart Acre is smarter, not harder. Let's think about this smarter. We don't need to do something new every single month. We should be doing one thing and making it better every single week until we make sure that we've, like, kind of exhausted it or it can run in the background and we can go do something else.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Well, it's such a good point you make because you think about even LinkedIn poster. It's like, oh, we said that a month ago, we should. But. But, like, no one is going to keep track of that. If the content's good and it's helping it, it's good. So that's a really good tip. I think we're really hard on ourself, on creating. Well, I don't. I want to say it differently or, you know, but you don't have to. No.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: One of my favorite thought leaders on LinkedIn, and I know this because he said it at some point, maybe at that, when we were talking in person, he just takes his best posts and he shares them again and he gets like a bajillion likes and engagement because it worked before. So guess what? It works again.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: I would never think to do that ever.
But that makes sense. Simple.
That's so good. You know, I do want to, for a moment pause on this topic because one of the ways you really helped me is you were the one that told me you have a voice to share and you need to. You need to share it. You.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: You have.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: You have ways you can help. You can help people. I think a lot of business owners, especially in the first few years, they're. They're scared to really put themselves out there. And like, here we are on camera, sharing freely, being ourselves, and guess what? It went pretty darn well. Lisa, what you told me to do. And we still are doing the newsletters, all the stuff you told me years ago, we're doing, and we're getting positive results from that. So I guess, is there anything you want to say about that to help those out there that kind of hold themselves back and they're missing out on a lot and their clients are missing out on help. Anything you want to say about that? Because that was, for me, like, life changing.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, everyone is different. And not every CEO might not feel comfortable putting themselves in the spotlight. If that's the case, then you have to find someone that's willing to do that for your organization. Because going back to what I said, people buy from people. And now that we can use AI to do all of this research for us, it is going to get to the point where there has to be some form of connection. And I just, I think it's so important. It's also really important to establish that unique human point of view. Because without that, it's really hard to nail down your differentiators. It's really hard to find those things that make your business uniquely your business.
So I would love to tell everyone just to get over the fear and suck it up Buttercup and put yourself out there. But. But at the same time, you know, if. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, it won't come across as authentic. And that's the most important part. You have to have an authentic voice. So if you're not the person that can do that for your business, find someone that can be that authentic voice.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: And you know, in hr, we talk all about unique abilities and skill sets. And you know what? Not every owner is gonna have that as a strength. Cause they have a lot of other strengths that they should be doing other things with their time. Exactly. So you're right. You do need to find someone who's the right fit to do that. You know one thing I love that you do in your posts, they're always full of really good content and tips. But there's a human aspect. You. One you shared about a snow day. And like, what are all the working parents doing? Here's what we set up for our boys and we're. And you gave really tangible. I love that, like, it engages you and makes me want to follow and learn more. So I think the more that businesses can share the human side. You know, every business is different, but especially for consulting, I think there's a lot of wins that can be gathered in doing that.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because, I mean, I don't personally work with every single one of our clients at smartacre, but I do lead my team from the sense of your families come first. So if someone sees that on LinkedIn and they get an ick from it, then ultimately they're not the kind of clients that we want to attract. Like, we want clients that understand that our team has a. Has a life outside of work. They are. They have passions outside of work. There's a lot that we have going on. We're not just order takers. So Whether someone works with me personally or not, that that's how our organization operates. It's part of our core value.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: What do you think about this? I read and I. I see it to be true. If you're not marketing in a way that maybe ticks a few people off, not on purpose, but you're being bold about something and you're finding your people and sharing your values. Do you think that's true? Like, what's your take on that?
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there's this other quote. It's like, you're not pizza. You're not gonna be for everyone.
But I, I truly agree with that.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: You can't make everyone happy. I can't make everyone happy. I'm not a taco. I thought that was.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. But it, it's completely true. You should have a bald point of view. You should say the things that maybe are a little bit uncomfortable. And guess what? It's part of working with me too. I don't. My clients ask me for things. I give them my opinion. And sometimes it's uncomfortable, but it's the way it is.
That's what they're paying me for.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: And you said people buy from people. People trust people. It's. People know when it's authentic or not. I mean, you just don't. I don't know about you, but I did get a couple emails, AI emails back from people, people that I work with. And I could tell it was an email and I was like, I don't mind, like you can write an AI email, but like, I just could tell. And it was so. It just. I got a bit of an ick and I'm not that judgy about it, but it didn't feel like, where's that personal connection I had with that person? And I can't. I don't mind if you use AI, but then the next to be so AI that you didn't have time to put any thought into the response.
Okay, don't respond then. You know, I feel that.
Yeah, so, yeah, there's like a.
Yeah,
[00:11:24] Speaker B: it's just like, you know, when everyone started using iPhones and Blackberries, they would put in their signature, like sent from my BlackBerry. There might be typos. I think that that's totally okay if you're going to use AI to automate your inbox. But transparent about it. Like, this is an AI generated message. If, if you want a human response, reply back and I'll get back to you. You know, like, I think that that's totally okay. There's a time and a place for it. But it goes back to.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: There's times for that. And I am okay with it. I really am. But it's like, it's the times where it's like a more personal thing and I just. They didn't want to hear from me. I want to hear from you.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:11:56] Speaker A: It's like the personal ones. Keep it personal. That's my opinion. And I'm not saying I'm right. Well, I think I am. For my company, I am.
But it's not everyone's truth. Anyway, so let's go back to lead.
There is. We could go on and on about all this. There's a lot of debate out there. But leads. So there is.
There's like a saying, it's a qualified lead. It's a, you know, qualified lead. So what would you say?
What does that look like? And how do you get to that point, from all the leads to getting a qualified lead? How do you go about that in your organization? Yeah, or.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: This is a great question because I think it's.
I think it's changing so much. We always used to look at what we call life cycle stages and it would be very traditional. In fact, HubSpot used to just make it out of the box. You couldn't even change them. Now you can change them and call them whatever you want.
So we've actually been encouraging a lot of our clients to let go of this idea of a marketing qualified lead at all or a sales qualified lead and instead starting to look at things like signals like intent.
So you might have someone cold that you haven't even engaged with. And then you might have someone that's showing some form of intent signal like they are researching an important topic or they're engaging with your content.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Great.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Let's. Let's like spice up the marketing a little bit. Let's get in front of them more frequently. Let's give them a more bottom of the funnel offer and then get them to the point where they just want to book a meeting, they want to talk to their sales team, then they are. They're qualified. Like someone is actually qualifying them and moving them to an opportun.
So I would just encourage businesses to really think about their process and you don't have to have MQLs and SQLs or whatever that traditional model looked like. Think about how you want to work your leads. Call it whatever you want. Just be able to clearly define that across your organization. Know what the entry criterias are and exit criterias are. And know what those important indicators are where you can start to get a sense of, okay, this person is probably ready to talk to us. Let's make sure that we're getting in front of them and giving them a really good hook and offer so that ultimately they have a conversation with us and we can help them solve their problem.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Well, thank you. That's probably the best way I ever heard that point, Lisa. And I'm learning a lot even in this conversation. So with that, that ends our segment and we're going to go even further into AI next segment and we're going to talk about your AI playbook work and just hear from some examples in your everyday life how you're using it and how you're not using it. Thank you. We'll be right back with more stories, lessons and practical tools to help you rise in leadership, business and life. This is Go Higher on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Erica Butler and you're watching Go Higher on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the conversation that helps you lead live and love with purpose. I'm back with Lisa Zwickel, who is one of the leaders of Smart Acre. She is our chief strategy officer. She's also an AI expert, marketing expert. So we're going to get further into this AI conversation.
AI isn't just a strategy by itself, but it can absolutely upgrade a strategy when it's used with guardrails. So she, she's going to tell us today what those guardrails should be and how she is how is she effectively using AI day to day? So Lisa, the first question is, in your AI playbook work that you do, what's the first thing you tell a leadership team that wants to do AI but hasn't stabilize their fundamentals with with
[00:15:34] Speaker B: how to use it? A couple things. First, I always say, do you have a policy?
Do you have an AI policy?
Because if you're about to roll out excitement, curiosity, getting your team to adopt new tools, you definitely need those guardrails. The do's and do nots, the important questions and conversations to have internally.
So if you're trying to figure this out and navigate it this, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I have a template that's at least a good starting point that I'm more than happy to share.
I think that's important. The second thing is I think a lot of leaders ask me this question often of just where do I start?
And the answer is simple, just start like don't even worry about that. Pick a tool, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude. You might even have some built into your organization already.
If you're a Google workspace user, you have. You have Gemini at your fingertips. Use it, try it. If you don't know what to do, just start talking to it. As you're starting a project, just start having a conversation and ask questions. It's one of the best ways that you can use AI as not as a taker of your tasks to start, but as a thought partner. So that's a great opportunity.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. So first step is thought partner. Then eventually you can get into this Agents take care of your tasks eventually. Because I think that's what a lot of people are also excited about and want to make happen, but don't know how to make that jump.
So cool. So how would you say what's the best.
What's the best use of AI right now for a scaling company? Is it content Velocity Research?
What's the best way to use it if you want to scale?
[00:17:23] Speaker B: It's doing what you do and doing it better.
I would say it's less of. I like to use email as an example often. It's one of those things that it's a task that we do often for our clients. We write B2B marketing emails. So I always tell my team, if you previously had an hour to write an email, come up with a copy the subject line, all of those important things. Yeah, you could do it now in five minutes, but instead take that hour and make it the best email that you could possibly create. Because you've researched it way more. You've litmus tested against all of your Personas and tailored it. You've come up with five different subject lines that you can talk about as a team. Yeah, it still might not even take you a full hour, but doing what you do and using it to do it better I think is one of the. The most important places to start.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: That is such good advice. And that's where I'm at with AI. I was probably a later adopter, but I'm shocked by how much better it is, the quality of work. I feel like I'm overlooking it all, but it's like, oh my gosh, I can't believe how fast and how productive it is. And it's just been so exciting and I'm really proud to send the work over because it's better and deeper and it's also prettier.
It's prettier than when I'm designing it, you know, so y.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: It is.
And it should replace Some of the tasks that you've been doing, it absolutely should. The paid models of ChatGPT and Claude, right now they're being tested and they are almost as good as humans. I think. Like the model is testing at about 80, 83% as good as human work.
And that's as of, you know, the last time that, that I saw that report, which was weeks ago. Like it's going to keep getting better.
So you should be outsour work to AI and if you're not and if you're scared of it, then you have to start to change your mindset. And I think the biggest thing that you have to remember is when we go to work, it's just like with COVID like it changed how we all work. We don't didn't work in an office and you know, dangly earrings became my form of dress up as opposed to, you know, like fully.
It's like zoom calls. I'm dressed up today.
But you really have to change your mindset of how you go to work now. Your entire workflow should change. The way that you start your day should be different. The way that you approach a task should be different.
Instead of, you know, starting something by just opening up a blank document and like waiting to type words, no way. Like your workflow should change.
And I think that that's really important because if you think about how can I do this differently or how can AI do this for me and you approach everything that you're doing like that you'll start to recognize, okay, this is where I can layer this in. And in AI, you hear a lot about workflows, like your AI workflows and how they all work together. That's the most important way to think about it is the biggest, most repeatable problems that you have.
Tell me, like, what's one of the biggest challenges that you're having right now? What's a big problem that you're trying to solve?
[00:20:39] Speaker A: It's an exciting one.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: We're growing so fast for real.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Woohoo. That we really need to hire quickly and we need to figure out part time versus full time and doing. Catching all the numbers. Yeah.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: So I would, if, if it were me and I were feeling like, oh my gosh, I have this big problem to solve, I would, instead of, you know, going through my usual process or even, you know, meeting with my team, I would probably talk to my AI of choice first and say, this is the challenge that I'm having. Ask me a whole bunch of questions just so I can start to think about this differently. Act as this Persona or act as this Persona and don't sugarcoat it. Be hard on me. Challenge me as a business owner and just help me think through this. And I guarantee you, you will change how your mind is working and how you approach solving problems. And you're way more prepared for the next conversation that you're going to have on that. Or when you're ready to review your budget, you can pop it into that same chat thread and get analysis on it and just get a whole bunch of different points of views.
It's still you, you making the decisions, you answering the questions, but you get this.
You get all these different minds basically that can challenge you in a different way. So your organization, it just like expands with all these experts that can now really help you think about things differently.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: I think at this point. So we switched from unpaid to paid. And I noticed a huge difference on Claude, a huge difference. What's available.
You know, I. It's to the point that it is irresponsible. I really believe that in the consulting world, if you're not leveraging this as much as you as you can because you know, people are paying for time and project grades and you, you're going to give a better quality, quality results, you know, so it's to that point. So from what you're saying, if just if you haven't started in the AI world yet, you just got to go. If, especially in the consulting space, you just got to see just day by day get better, hire someone like Lisa, work with Smart Acre so you can speed that learning curve up and it's not so scary after all. It actually isn't so awesome. So if I. What I hear most. I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: I was gonna say, I think that's so well said because I do hear from other agency owners that they actually encourage their team not to use AI or I'll be talking to content writers and they're like, I'm absolutely not using AI. I feel like it will take away my job. And, and that responsibility, I think is so critical. We talk to our clients about that often. If they ask us to do something and it doesn't align to our hourly rate, we're just like, sorry, no, that doesn't make sense. We're not going to use your money in that way. Here's a way we can do it faster or better differently.
But I think you're absolutely right. If you're delivering especially like billing hourly or billing for services, it is irresponsible if you're not using these tools and if you don't use them, I feel like that is when you will be replaced because there's someone else that's going to be doing it way faster and way better.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: But to your point, you can't lose that human touch and that's always going to matter to people, you know. So, yeah, I love. Thank you. I'm very aligned with you on this.
So in that comment of fear, what holds people back or telling their teams don't use it?
I think leaders get worried about the brand trust or, you know, how they're being represented. So what, what would you say to someone who is saying I'm scared about our brand trust and eroding credibility if we're using this in our content?
[00:24:23] Speaker B: I would say, do you have brand guidelines? Do you have clear messaging? Do you have a strong point of view? Because if you have all of those things, you can train AI models to speak to your brand and be more consistent than if you have five people in your company writing for something.
And I one of my favorite tools, and I feel like this is a tool that every single person should be using, business owner or just human is Notebook lm. It's an incredible tool. You can use it to upload your own files, you can use it.
I mean, think about even like the applications for parenting. If your kiddo wants to learn something or if you need to keep track of a ton of information, check it out. It's an amazing tool, but one of my favorite ways to use it is for messaging and positioning and refining style guides. So for smartacre, for example, we record all of our sales calls. We record a lot of our client onboarding. Well, we basically record everything.
But it's a great way for me to every so often chat into Notebook and say based on what we're hearing in sales conversations or how we're speaking about ourselves, what are some of the key messaging ideas or what are some ways that I can make sure that we have a strong point of view on this? And it's an amazing way for me to take the words, the authentic things that are coming out of our mouths or how we're addressing concerns or questions when we're talking to actual prospects and use that to refine our messaging and it becomes this amazing loop because then we can produce content that is more on tone, more on brand and I can have whatever my AI is review against the most up to date brand guidelines that I have.
That is a hard thing to scale with humans. It's a much Easier thing to scale with AI, but it comes back to having that strong message. Good branding, good differentiation. If you don't have that, then yeah, AI is going to produce crappy work like it will.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: What a good example. Like just the time it takes to train somebody to learn your company. It can take years to really understand all the pieces. But now in our project, project on cloud, we just have a master plan of everything. Our goals, our vision, every little thing about us, every little thing that would take a long time and it takes it for every advice. I mean it's just mind blowing how much speeds up. Yeah, people in my, I have people in my network. I'm using the LMS notebook. I'm saying that right, right. I should know better because I, it's amazing on ghost writing and they are working to get books out and they, they speak to it and they download and then it helps them write their book because then, you know, it's, it just saves so much time and it produces quality and what an amazing way to use that tool. So there's just so many pieces of
[00:27:12] Speaker B: value going back, going back to LinkedIn content. You can export all of your LinkedIn posts, you can put them in notebook and that's a great way to even if you wanted someone to ghostwrite for you to say, okay, define my tone, my message, all of that. Give me three unique ways of reframing this top performing topic. Like there's so much that you can do because it takes countless amounts of information. Even on the free version. Even on the free version you can have like, I don't know, like 50 sources and you can distill that down into just, I need an answer to this. And it's all of your own data.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: So cool. Well, you shared so many real life practical ways we should be using these tools and can be using them. So I really hope those in the audience, if you are holding your back to this, if you have fear, just go and do it. Never settle, keep going. So next we're going to dive into a little more about life, balance, business owner and mom. Because I think that is a hot topic that people want to hear. How are others doing this? Well, and you're one person I know that is truly. So we'll end with that and we'll dive into the next segment in a moment.
We'll be right back with more stories, lessons and practical tools to help you rise in leadership, business and life. This is go higher on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Erica Butler and you're Watching go higher on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the conversation that helps you lead live and love with purpose.
Welcome back to our final segment. Unfortunately, we could do many more segments with Lisa Wickle. She just gave us tons of meaty, great tips and ways to use AI.
And now we're going to talk a little bit more about how in her personal life and also as a business owner, she makes this all happen and what it really means. Scaling results without sacrificing people. Lisa and I share that in common. It's something that we really bond over, family first, and we do that for our teams as well. So I can't wait to hear her expertise on this.
So our first question.
When you say you act as an extension of your client's team, what does that actually look like?
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I tell them it should feel like I'm sitting in the office with you. If you have a question, call me. If.
If there's something I need to know, tell me. If there's something going on in your day, let me know. We really try to make sure that we fully understand our clients as humans and also their business.
I think it's just super helpful because as marketers, if we're working with a CMO or a director or. Or even someone that's a little bit more in the weeds, it helps us frame how we help them when we know what their world is like in their space. So it just goes back to something I've said a few times during this conversation that we relate to is just getting to know them on a human level. It's something we always ask during onboarding. It's like, are there things in your user manual that we should be aware of? How do you like to receive information? How do you like to QA things? Who are you reporting into?
It's just important to have that full context.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Well, you use that terminology, and I think it is related to that human side and even families. And, you know, we also talk about being an extension to the team, to that team. We want to be ingrained if there's a. We want to be called if there's a problem. But it also helps us manage our schedules better and manage, you know, our lives better. When we have that commitment to be that ongoing team, it just works.
So thank you. And I want to talk a little more about what you share, even publicly, about being a mom while leading at the executive level. So what is one boundary you set that really protects your energy?
[00:31:01] Speaker B: That's a great question. I really thought about this one because I am Terrible at boundaries. I. I really am. I'm so bad at it.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: I'm actually shocked. I don't know. I really am shocked because I don't. Yeah. But I can't keep going because I feel like when I see you doing great, I don't see everything.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: I think one of the things that I've had to learn is flexibility goes both ways. And that's how I try to give myself grace with boundaries. Because, you know, I can set a boundary of signing off at 3:45 when my kids come home so I don't have to feel like I'm being pulled in so many directions when they need something or they're stealing snacks from the cabinet. And I'm trying to get one last thing done. But I've also recognized that that might mean I have to work a little bit later. And it's something that I've communicated to my amazing husband. He's like, oh, you're working late again. I'm like, well, flexibility goes both ways. So it's just, it just happens. And sometimes I can't do that. Sometimes I just need to go to bed early. But boundaries are hard because my days are never the same. So even if I try to plan something, sometimes it just doesn't go according to plan. So I think instead of boundaries, I'm just. That's a good example to give myself way more groove.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Okay. Well, you know, we talk a lot about work, harm work, life harmonization.
I think when you are running a business and raising a family, like, you really do have to have this. It's just a way of life really, because I know you're very passionate about the work you do, as am I. And listen, I. I wouldn't always advise us to recommend it, but sometimes it means on a Saturday at 6am But I do that. And I don't feel like I'm working. I, I know that's because I was with my kids at that other time and I. You know what I mean? It's like, so you have to, I guess, be okay with it. But if you. I like that you gave that example because it doesn't. This doesn't mean you're not working hard, but you are building something really special with an amazing team. So that takes. You're willing to do it and you're getting a lot of personal satisfaction from it as well, you know.
Doesn't mean not working hard.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: So that was a really real life example. Thank you.
You know, part of all of this is living team first and helping your team Also, like, choose their families and be there for those important moments as much as possible. So what are ways you lead to make that a reality at Smart Acre? What are some things you've done?
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Our policies and our handbook, that was one of the key things that we worked together on. It was so incredible to work with you and your team on that. But even just documenting a lot of that flexibility is great, but if you don't have, probably this is where I practice boundaries more. If we don't have boundaries for our team, then some of those things can feel a little bit uncomfortable or unclear. We used to have an unlimited PTO policy, and a lot of people were not taking time off, or it was always the same people taking time off. And it just felt like, okay, we need. We need some boundaries around this. So actually, after shifting to a more clear time off policy, everyone's been taken, like, every hour that they get, because I think it's seen more as a benefit.
So our policies in our handbook, that has been one key thing that we continue to evolve to support our team. And then I try to lead by example as much as possible with caveats. You know, like I remind my team the working late example, Flexibility goes both ways. This is why I'm doing this. I don't expect you to work late. Your life is different. My life is T ball and bus stops and karate. Like, this is. That's important to me. Like, I have to be there for those moments.
And then just reminding my team to. To give themselves grace or to take the time off. If I see someone that seems down, I'm the kind of leader that's gonna just like, try to have a conversation. Or if something happened in their life and they haven't taken time off or bereavement time, I'm gonna remind them we have this policy available to you. Like, please do what you need to do so you can show up stronger. Like, I got you. I'll cover you. We'll figure it out. Or the work just will take a pause for a little bit because you are more important than all of that. And if our clients don't see that, then quite frankly, like, I don't want them as clients.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: You said recently about your team, you guys are like unicorns, you know, because I think that is a different way than you see a lot of companies doing, but it works really well. It engages your team, it keeps them.
You know, I don't know about told you this because we did that handbook a few years back, your playbook, you actually called it a Playbook. But I want to share it quick because what was so amazing is actually we do a lot of handbooks and I actually use, I don't share your example, but I tell them you can do it this way. It is, it is like a living, breathing document that's user friendly. It's not like the scary handbook, 100 pages, but no one reads that. But yours is like workable, readable, engaging. It has voice, it has personality. And I think that's how you think about everything you do as a leader. And it's beautiful. And it's a really powerful culture you guys have built. And I know you're growing really fast as well, which is so cool. But I do want to share that as a great example of how to do it well.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, a couple other tangible things here. So if you, if you have a team that wants to grow but they're just tired, what's a reset you would do for them? Like, you gave some examples, but like, have you had this happen? Have you had burnout? What exactly did you do to, to turn that situation around for a team member or a team?
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Yeah. One of my favorite exercises that I use with clients we use in our leadership planning annually is just a simple start, stop, continue.
I think as leaders and how you and I represent in disc, there's always like, let's do this, let's go. And I love that. And I think it's important for visionaries and for companies and businesses to have that person that's going to like push things forward. But for something to start, it often means that other things have to stop and then there are the non negotiables that have to continue.
So annually we do like a simple start, stop, continue is what are the new things? What is really working well that we just need to continue and double down on and then what are the things that we have to stop that maybe are burning out our team and how can we hear from them on those things as well to make sure that, that we're looking at this holistically.
I think a reset is really important. Um, we're also a big fan, Natalie Kelly on our team. She is our very much people focused leader.
I mean all of us are people focused. But she, I mean, you've met her, she's amazing. Like the way that she works with people on our team is.
Yeah, yeah. And she, I mean she's talking to our team all the time. She's doing surveys, she's listening, she's observing. And that's really important, because sometimes someone might be hiding burnout. Sometimes they might be really clear in how they're burning out. Sometimes they might be asking for something that's not exactly the solution to the problem.
So we do try to make sure that we're addressing things holistically, because if we solve something for an individual, it doesn't always solve the bigger issue or help the organization as a whole.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Well said. And it just shows the leader you are that you would pull in another leader on your team to.
To give as an example.
You do have a great team, though. We love. We love working with you guys, and I just appreciate your time today. I can't believe we're at the end here.
So one more question, and then I want you to share where everyone can find you again.
So, you know, we talk a lot about going higher, going higher in. In our business, in life, but can you explain what that means? What would that mean to you? Like, how do you interpret that in this season of your life?
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Yeah, this is actually.
This is such a great question, because every year I always, instead of setting a bunch of resolutions or goals, I always just try to set an intention or a word of the year that I can come back to. And this year, for me, it has been rooted. And when I think of going higher, for me, especially this year, it means root to rise. You need to have that strong foundation. You need to have your roots, your human connection, all of that. And if you really focus on taking care of yourself, taking care of your foundation, taking care of everything around you, you're gonna rise. And sometimes it might not always feel that way because you're working on the really, really hard things.
But that hard work, that grounding, that intentional focus and those deep roots, that's what's gonna help you go higher.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: I love that. And it doesn't mean it's gonna be easy. And that's okay. We can do hard things, but those hard things lead to better, easier things. And that's not just more money, more business. That's not what it means. You gave such a.
You get it. You get it, and you live it.
Cool. Well, where can people find you, Lisa? Where can people work with Smart Acre if they're interested in more about lead gen AI marketing?
[00:40:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Any questions? Feel free to connect with me directly on LinkedIn. Lisa's wickle. I think there'll be links here, too, that you can find us. And then our website is getsmartacre.com so feel free to check us out there as well.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: It is such a privilege Every time. Every time we talk, I'm. I leave better off. So thank you for this, Lisa, and we'll definitely be in touch. And keep going higher. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Thank you.
