WEBVTT
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I think the biggest thing is just get started.
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If you are really excited about whatever you're thinking about doing, if there's a product or an idea that you're excited about, just move forward.
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Don't get analysis, paralysis right.
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You can think about it, think about it, think about it, but what are you doing?
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Just do, even if it's a baby step, even if it's just one thing a week.
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Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back.
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This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast and I'm your host, john Gallagher man.
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I've got a special guest for you today.
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Not only is she a friend of a lot of years, actually our best friend, she was the maid of honor in our wedding.
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Her husband was the best man.
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So, folks, I have a chance to really entertain you with some college shenanigans that we may have had before and some of our stories over the year, but we're here to talk with Susan Campbell, the founder and CEO of South 23rd.
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Now I'm going to give her a chance to talk a lot about her company, but I'll tell you this the approach that she's taken on her journey and quote just getting started.
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We'll talk a little bit about that in terms of how we get started later, maybe a little later in life, but her story is very inspiring and encouraging and I look forward to talking with her.
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So, susan, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast.
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How are you today?
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Thank you.
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I'm excited to be here.
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John, Thank you for having me.
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Well, it's good and I know I shared a couple of questions with you and we probably could have hit record even earlier on some of the conversation that we got going, so hopefully we didn't lose any of that.
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But let's just say this I'm not letting you off the hook just because you're our best friends.
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I'm going to start you off with the same first question.
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I start all first time guests and that's to tell me a story from your childhood that still impacts who you are today, as a person or as a leader.
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Um.
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So I think, uh, I, when I look back on these last few years, I can see how an experience that I went through with my family and my dad when I was young I was probably in middle school and my father had come up with an invention it was a can crusher and he he figured it out, he designed it, and I wasn't always watching to see what he did, but I do remember some of the pieces and processes.
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And then finally they got to a point where he decided that he wanted to get a patent for it and they went to DC and I remember hearing the stories of going through the patent library and library, excuse me and going through the library and talking to a lawyer and trying to figure out all that he didn't end up getting the patent and it was so crazy because just a year or two afterwards someone else had introduced another can crusher and it was on commercials.
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He was like that was my idea and it was just kind of interesting to see it all take, um, kind of how it all took place and, um, I felt very that felt very familiar when I was working on my own.
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So that's something that really touched me, watching someone take their idea and just move forward with it.
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Love that and I think about that from an idea standpoint and obviously that is really what brought us to this conversation today.
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With regards to your company, south 23rd, and your product that we'll get a chance to talk to the Porch Pop I just love the name of it more than anything else.
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I think I just like to say Porch Pop more than anything else.
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It more than anything else, I think I just like to say porch pot more than anything else.
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So, linking that back right as having a family member, father, who had that entrepreneurial spirit, that innovative spirit that was going on, and certainly over the years, susan has always been positive and inspiring in all of our relationships.
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Great mom, great wife, raised two phenomenal kids that I still love to connect with today as well.
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Was there a moment for you in your founder's journey, if you will, that you created the idea and decided, yeah, now's the time I'm going to make this happen.
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Yes, you know, it was kind of interesting.
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Our children are both married and living away, and it was about two weeks before our daughter was getting married and this idea hit me and I completely attribute it to God just blessing me with this idea.
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But when I came up with it, it was one of those things where I was in a transition.
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So I had just left my position as an optician I had been doing that for seven years and realized that it wasn't my forever job and I was just kind of in a space where I could to, I was able to explore this opportunity, and so that's when I decided and it was just a little nibble, a little nibble.
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A little nibble, you know, because I really didn't have any experience in any of this starting a company, yeah, I would have ideas, but then once it really noodled on it, if you will, for a very long time, over the next few months after Morgan got married and then as we plan for Will's marriage, I was always working little by little on it.
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Did that answer your question?
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Right Spot on, absolutely.
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I mean in terms of understanding and you, one of the things you talk about, the nibbles, like the little nibbles, I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking about it, thinking about it.
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And again, there was probably some point where you said, no, I'm going, and I'm going all in, and I know that you're all in.
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I've heard you mention before not letting what you don't know.
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You talked about that from maybe a business acumen standpoint, but not letting what you don't know stop you.
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How did you overcome that initial fear of what you?
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didn't know to get started.
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Well, I think that my experience in sales I have 15 plus years in sales and various industries and I think the fact that getting no's and overcoming that fear of getting that no helped me with pursuing and finding out the answers.
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It was really kind of a challenge because I had no manufacturing experience and so to continue and not stress about what I didn't know, and just, I think the hardest part with all of that was trying to figure out what the next step would be.
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What would I need?
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And that's a space that I had never put myself in.
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So when I'm sitting there thinking about what would be the thing that I would need for this product, what does it need?
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Does it need fabric?
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Does it need a cut and sew?
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Does it need a what?
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What kind of structure?
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Who would make that?
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So once you start peeling back those questions, you get further down and it didn't really scare me too much because I had nothing to lose.
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At that point.
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I felt like so that part of that was again eliminating that fear was what's the worst thing that can happen, and talking through that.
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That was again eliminating that fear was what's the worst thing that can happen, and talking through that.
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Diving into that though deeper in terms of the I'll call it the discipline or the habit how did you learn where you needed to manufacture, how we were going to cut it and how do we get the colors and things like that?
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What were the steps that you took to dive in and make that happen?
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Well, strangely, I think I probably started backwards.
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I started with a branding company.
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I had, um, I had been put in a.
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Well, I had created something on my own a prototype, if you will.
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That's exactly what it was.
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But I didn't know how to sew, and so I I purchased a sewing machine and kind of taught myself, just enough.
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And then I got in front of a branding company because I was like I need a name.
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I was jumping to the end and that is what helped me get to the back, and that was a group here in Greensboro and they started telling me well, this is great.
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However, you can't sew this yourself.
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You're going to need to have someone else sew this.
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You need a, someone like a cut and sew.
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And one thing led to another.
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They gave me a name.
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That person was I can't help you, but someone else can.
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And then they point me in this direction, in this direction, and I was finally, I finally landed in front of someone and they said you need to take this sewn goods class.
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And, of course, I thought I had it all figured out.
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So I was like I don't need to take that class, I'm already way ahead of all of that.
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I've got this, this and this and um long story short.
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Six months later I was in that class and I said to myself well, and I even told the instructor.
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I said this was something that I felt like I didn't really need because I had already gone around and made all those phone calls.
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And then she was laughing at me, but there were nuggets that I took from that class.
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Yes, I had found a cut and sew by then.
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It was just phone call after phone call.
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I can't help you, but this person try.
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This person try this.
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And it finally landed me in front of a cut and sew that worked.
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I love that.
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That again, it's like just go in and start asking questions and you are uh phenomenal at just asking questions, finding the right people to ask questions to, uh digging into that.
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I think that's really cool.
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If I if I bring that back up to your point about the brand, starting with the end, you know your website says your home is where you gather, make memories and spend time with the people you love.
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So the finishes and decor you carefully pick each season set the stage for moments that matter.
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So you and I have talked about this before.
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In terms of the porch pop, I want you to tell folks what a porch pop is and how you got that idea ultimately, but that's turning kind of the ordinary into an extraordinary, that you're able to see some of those things.
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So tell me about that quote in terms of what that means to you and the vision of South 23rd, and then sell me a porch pop.
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Well, so back to the beginning, when I had just left my position and it was a couple of weeks before, as I mentioned, our daughter's wedding and I found myself.
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I love to decorate, I love to just do little tricks, just like, just like Chris, and she inspires me.
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Honestly, she has such an amazing eye and I'm always striving to replicate what I see in these home decor magazines, and one day I just happened to come across a magazine article about a family, and I've.
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I in this article was a picture of a family that had just remodeled this home, and the home was gorgeous and the family was adorable.
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But what caught my eye was the what the photographer had staged on the front walk some shrubs that were in a pot, but the pot was wrapped in burlap fabric.
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And I've thought to myself that's not really new, that's something that we have done for years just to cover an ugly pot.
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But then, after seeing page after page of beautiful fabrics, it got me wondering what if we were to use some some of that look or those fabrics and take your indoor space to your outdoor space, because in the South, well, anytime in the summer, in the northern areas, we love to be outside, we love to be around nature, but we love the look that we get when we decorate and make our home space ours, and so my messaging is really about taking your outdoor space from ordinary to extraordinary, in addition to trusting yourself.
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If you like that piece, if you love the look, it's your look and you shouldn't you shouldn't run from that because you pick that pillow, you pick that print and you pick that fabric because you left it, and trust yourself so that was really important.
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I think about the value of that ordinary to extraordinary and I think again, you and Chris together and some of the ideas that come out in very common things in terms of family.
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The one I remember really well early on when Chris and I got married, is that she would transfer the ketchup from the ketchup bottle and it's like this little glass bowl, uh and then put the ketchup bowl on the table.
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I'm like that is so cool to take it from like the ketchup bottle that it's got the heinz label or whatever sitting on the table to a very special container.
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If, if you will and I just make that up about the porch pop is it takes that green plastic pot that you get it at the hardware store wherever you end up buying this flour and creating something very special out of that in terms of what it looks like To me, if I'm really true about it, I'm like I would have never done that myself, but I believe when you know it's almost like the peanut butter and jelly sandwich always tastes better when somebody else makes it for you.
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That's exactly right, right.
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And it's just like that flower pot.
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It's like that flower pot, the flower always smells better, I think, when you kind of have that surrounding and make it just a little bit more special.
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Or in terms of the word, the uncommon, I think we as leaders, if we think about that as an idea, again turning ordinary into extraordinary, even in the relationships that we have, okay, how do we turn it from ordinary into extraordinary?
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So I think that the porch pop, the can crusher which I love, the connection of the idea in terms of the innovation, the ketchup in a bowl versus just out of the ketchup bottle, are all things that are metaphors to me for how do we create that uncommon in our leadership as well, in terms of what those changes go for?
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And I again, I make up that you've been through so many things as you try to bring this idea, this extraordinary, uh, into others' hands.
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And so you've been recognized for this idea.
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You have, uh, the Vanity Fair, leanne Morgan, which I love, the fact that you had a chance to meet Leanne Morgan as well and talk with her, but won a grant there.
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Two questions on that, just on the grant.
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How did you have the confidence to apply for that Because I know Susan from the past.
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There's a little bit of limiting belief that keeps us from doing things we want to do.
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But when you actually won that, what did that do for your confidence and your drive?
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So I think what was really cool.
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So she was on a tour and she was on her just getting started tour and when they announced at the beginning of the tour they were trying to promote and encourage women that were not necessarily in their younger ages, in their 20s, maybe 20s, 30s, but it was really about to empower women.
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And but she was just getting started in her comedic career.
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She was that, hence the name of her tour Just Getting Started and Vanity Fair just partnered with her and they wanted to really encourage women that were a little bit older, had already done their family or not done their family, but just coming up with an idea to be an entrepreneur, start a business later in life.
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And as soon as I heard about that, that just resonated it was, it was so exciting and I said, well, I'm just going to apply.
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It was an essay.
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I told him about my business, told him how I came up with the idea and what I did.
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And so I, while I didn't win the monetary grant, I did win a product grant and I was so excited because I felt like it must have bubbled to the top, because there were many I'm sure there were thousands of people that applied.
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But that made me feel really good because I feel very, in a very similar lane as Leanne Morgan.
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She had raised her family and even though she'd had some times where she would have an opportunity to speak in front of groups and do some of her practice, of her, of her skits but I I didn't, I didn't think.
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Sometimes it slows me down to think I'm in my 50s and here, what am I doing?
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I'm starting this company.
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I'm actually looking to try to get this into retail and that seems very scary, but it just makes me feel.
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I've been assured by other entrepreneurs that are telling me they're saying it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how old you are.
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If you have a dream and you have an idea, just roll with it, just go, just do Right.
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So that's kind of where I landed with that whole Leanne Morgan grant.
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I was just excited to be even recognized and felt like it resonated.
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Hey listeners, I want to take a quick moment to share something special with you.
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Many of the topics and discussions we have on this podcast are areas where I provide coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations.
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If you've been inspired by our conversation and are seeking a catalyst for change in your own life or within your team, I invite you to visit coachjohngallaghercom forward slash free call to sign up for a free coaching call with me.
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It's an opportunity for us to connect, discuss your unique challenges and explore how coaching or consulting can benefit you and your team.
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Okay, let's get back to the show I part of the.
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Actually, the part that impacts me as I listen to it is finding someone to emulate as well in your style, someone who has a similar story to share.
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Frankly, that's really what the Uncommon Leader podcast is all about that your story is going to resonate with someone who's thinking about that idea.
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Who's a little?
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You said old, we're not old.
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You said old or older, I'm not sure Older, yeah, further further along in our wisdom than many others.
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Uh, in terms of getting started, and it's, yeah, you're exactly right, it's not that easy.
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I mean, I think, uh, whether it's a similar path and me starting out on my own five years ago as well.
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To your point, it's like I don't know about this and for you.
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What I know about you, what I appreciate about you, is positive energy.
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No doubt is a key element of your success, again as a friend, as a mom, as a wife, but also as an entrepreneur and a business owner.
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So how do you maintain that positivity, especially in the challenging times?
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That is early on in the launch of an entrepreneurial career.
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So we're both really big fans of John Maxwell and one of his trainings I believe he said something to the effect of when you have a win, give yourself a day to celebrate your win, but when you have your losses, give yourself a day, get through your losses.
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And there have been challenges.
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And back to my a little more knowledge, experience.
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What I lack in something I seem to compensate another.
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So where my technical challenges with some of the things on the computer or social media?
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That that was challenged.
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But I feel that when I have a setback, I let myself feel and process that setback and then the next day I pick up where I was.
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And I know that I am.
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If I focus, I get what I focus on.
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And I I have to keep the eye on the prize, what I really want to do.
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And if it still excites me, then I want to just keep on going and figure out okay, this didn't work, so let's try something else.
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And just having a positive attitude seems to make that flow a little, a little easier.
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Does that make sense?
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I'm following you absolutely.
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In fact, as you said that, it reminded me of a quote I shared with you prior to this interview, about a week ago, and I'm looking it up on my phone.
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I'm being rude, I'm looking at my phone as the time, but it was a quote that popped up five years ago as we were talking about the questions for this, and it was on my time hop.
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It said never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.
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From Winston Churchill.
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So I'll bet you thought about porch pop for a long time before you really kicked it off in terms of that idea and what that meant.
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Uh, but you never gave up on it.
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And how did you, you know, keep that keep spirit, keep that fire going to get it started?
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Again back to keeping an eye on the prize.
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It was something that I really loved.
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And then, when I started telling people about it, they validated my thought and my idea.
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They would look at me and go, oh my goodness, I've never heard of this, I've never seen it before, and I knew at that point there was something there, there was something to share, and if I was going through this problem, someone else was going through this problem.
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They were finding themselves wanting a certain look and then heading to the store and not finding exactly what they were looking for and ultimately putting it off.
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And then they found themselves in a situation which is exactly what happened to me.
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I I tell the story about how, um, I had bought I love these seasonal plants and I would buy them.
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And then, uh, one day we were expecting guests and I was inside cleaning, getting ready, and my husband came to me and he said what's the plan with these plants out front?
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And I'm like, well, what are you talking about?
00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:56.757
He said there's all these ugly plants.
00:21:56.757 --> 00:21:58.296
They're in all these ugly pots.
00:21:58.296 --> 00:22:00.477
And what do you want to do?
00:22:00.477 --> 00:22:02.036
And I said, well, I'm going to replant them.
00:22:02.036 --> 00:22:03.896
He's like they're coming in 10 minutes.
00:22:03.896 --> 00:22:07.810
No, we're not doing this, they're going in the garage and everyone lost.
00:22:07.810 --> 00:22:09.250
You know, I lost.
00:22:09.250 --> 00:22:16.595
I had taken the time to go to the nursery and buy all these beautiful flowers and then my friends couldn't see them because they were in the garage.
00:22:16.595 --> 00:22:21.076
And ultimately it was because I couldn't find what I was wanting.
00:22:21.076 --> 00:22:25.400
And if I'm having this problem, I'm not the only person having this problem.
00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:31.803
So let's fix it, let's not complain about it, let's stay positive and let's figure out a way to do something different.
00:22:33.824 --> 00:22:37.425
I love that story Filling a need and identifying that.
00:22:37.425 --> 00:22:40.067
Again, back to that ordinary to extraordinary.
00:22:40.067 --> 00:22:48.633
I mean you could have let it out there with the standard pots that they came in, but the solution you've created I think is really cool and fun.
00:22:48.633 --> 00:22:55.365
And again, I can understand, certainly, the differences in the home.
00:22:55.365 --> 00:22:59.641
You've talked about before and we know this Dave and I are both engineers.
00:22:59.641 --> 00:23:05.000
That's how we ended up meeting back in college Well, not in engineering school, but at Tailgaters.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:11.755
So that's probably a story we can leave for another podcast to have all four of us talking about that and how that worked out.
00:23:11.755 --> 00:23:15.583
But you know you've had to in your, in your business.
00:23:15.583 --> 00:23:22.990
You've had to balance what might be, uh, this creative and innovative spirit with business acumen.
00:23:22.990 --> 00:23:24.133
You're trying to run a business.
00:23:24.133 --> 00:23:31.085
How do you intentionally um reconcile those two things?
00:23:32.191 --> 00:23:39.334
It gets tricky, um I it's really easy to get down in the weeds and I have a true confession.
00:23:39.334 --> 00:23:49.934
I mean, I have friends like yourself and other people in my life that say you got to make a schedule, you got to stick to your schedule and what doesn't get scheduled doesn't get tracked.
00:23:49.934 --> 00:23:51.117
That's my daughter.
00:23:51.117 --> 00:23:54.566
She's, she's always trying to share with me that.
00:23:54.566 --> 00:23:57.413
You know, you've got to stay on top of some of these things.
00:23:57.413 --> 00:24:00.180
Then I have, you know, all of my family will.
00:24:00.580 --> 00:24:07.573
Our son is is always trying to figure out how many times I'm touching something, what's going on with your inventory.
00:24:07.573 --> 00:24:15.434
And then I have my husband who's looking at it and going this is this doesn't feel very lean, we've got to do something different with your process.
00:24:15.434 --> 00:24:24.616
And so I have all of these people touching all of these parts of my business and I love it and I appreciate it.
00:24:24.616 --> 00:24:31.592
The struggle comes when I get so excited I forget that I got to do all the parts.
00:24:31.592 --> 00:24:41.319
And but I'm a solo prereneur, right, so I have to do all the things, but sometimes some of the other things, the paperwork, that catches up with you.
00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:43.740
So then you have to come back and just reset.
00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:45.609
You know what I mean.
00:24:45.750 --> 00:24:47.496
Yeah, and you and I both read the 4-8 Principle, right?
00:24:47.496 --> 00:24:53.480
I mean, a book that sits over here is one of the most influential books and it talks about at times you got to schedule your misery and I can.
00:24:53.480 --> 00:25:03.028
I can hear like I hate to do the paperwork part, but I'm going to have to schedule this, not in my creative time, but I'm going to have to schedule this at some point so I can get it done.
00:25:03.028 --> 00:25:13.878
And the other thing you touched on that's very important for solopreneurs especially to learn is that there are other voices that you need to ask for.
00:25:13.878 --> 00:25:30.650
I don't know if we get hung up as no unsolicited advice and we as friends have talked about that a lot and like we're going to wait till you ask us and then we'll give you some feedback, versus just telling you like you got three voices, three engineers in your household, trying to tell you how to do things like.
00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:38.478
Look, uh, if I want your advice, I'll give it to you and then I'll ask you whether or not you want to uh, have some input.
00:25:38.478 --> 00:25:43.355
Uh, but I, you know, again, I can, I can imagine that's real.
00:25:43.355 --> 00:25:46.982
That, um, that challenge with three engineers.
00:25:48.191 --> 00:25:51.300
They all think a little differently than yeah, they're different.
00:25:52.290 --> 00:25:55.577
And and I love that that helps make the world go around Certainly a lot better.
00:25:55.577 --> 00:25:56.980
I just, I love that.
00:25:56.980 --> 00:26:07.288
So, um, yeah, what's if you were talking with someone else who just needs to get started?
00:26:07.288 --> 00:26:10.155
They've been thinking about this idea right For a while.
00:26:10.155 --> 00:26:20.223
Whatever that is, whether it's the porch pop, or it's the can crusher, or it's, um, starting a coaching business, or it's something like that what's?
00:26:20.223 --> 00:26:26.557
You know the the best piece of advice you have for someone who's thinking about that you're talking to on this podcast right now to say what.
00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:32.185
I think the biggest thing is just get started.
00:26:32.185 --> 00:26:45.298
If you are really excited about whatever you're thinking about doing, if there's a product or an idea that you're excited about, just move forward.
