In this episode of Hello Chaos, host Jennifer Sutton is joined by Debbie Oster, the co-founder of Entrepreneur's Edge. They dive into Debbie's journey into entrepreneurship and discuss her experience in the entrepreneurial world. Tune in to hear the real, raw, and unbiased founder stories that will inspire and inform you. This episode is brought to you by Orange Whip, a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs through hyper-local media platforms. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation!
[00:02:09] Entrepreneurial journey and marketing.
[00:06:12] Personal brand and business strategy.
[00:08:25] Lack of business planning.
[00:12:10] The secret sauce of branding.
[00:17:28] Frustration with managing multiple accounts.
[00:20:54] The word "founder" controversy.
[00:26:07] Getting clients unstuck.
[00:30:00] Being the doer vs. the operator.
[00:35:23] Money and time management.
[00:37:26] Riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
[00:43:09] Starting a baking company.
[00:46:08] Bartending as a training ground.
[00:50:48] Bourbon distillery tours.
[00:54:12] Still Alice and Alzheimer's.
[01:01:23] Planning for growth importance.
Ep. 77 Debbie Oster
SPEAKER01: Welcome to Hello Chaos, a weekly podcast exploring the messy and chaotic minds of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. We talk to founders from all different industries, different company stages, at all shapes and sizes. We hear the real, the raw, the unbiased founder stories and it's why our mantra is where aha meets oh shit. We publish and push out new episodes every Sunday, so really just to get you ready for the week. HelloCast is one of the many resources brought to you by Orange WIP. That's Orange WIP, W-I-P, for work in progress. Orange WIP is a multimedia company that is dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs and affiliate cities through hyper-local media platforms that have been designed to inform, inspire, encourage, and create connections that help founders succeed. Orange WIP is an all-in-one content hub for founders with fresh and engaging stories, curated calendars, a local dynamic roadmap to help those founders navigate their local entrepreneurial ecosystem. We've done all the hard work for founders, so they only need to go to one trusted resource in their local market. So every city needs an Orange WIP. My name is Jennifer Sutton. My friends and family call me JJ. I'm the founder of Orange WIP and will be your host today. And we have Debbie Oster. Oster? Did I get it? Which one? Oster?
SPEAKER00: It's Oster.
SPEAKER_01: It's Oster. I was like, man, I had it right. Debbie Oster, you are the co-founder of Entrepreneur's Edge. So welcome, Debbie. Welcome to the chaos.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jennifer. I appreciate you having me on your show.
SPEAKER_01: Well, start us out, Debbie. Just tell us, like, how did you jump into the entrepreneurial fray? What was your journey like?
SPEAKER_00: Um, my journey started, um, you know, in marketing about 12 years ago, you know, I was an email marketing manager and over the years, I pretty quickly, um, worked my way up into management positions and then director roles. Um, and working with marketing agencies, I just kind of saw this need for, um, you know, uh, a firm or a consultant in the market that would help small business owners really to understand the ecosystem that is marketing. Um, and really kind of act as like an advocate on their behalf. Um, when it came to, you know, getting their marketing going, ramping it up and making sure that there was a strategy and a plan in place. Uh, so that's kind of where I, uh, decided to go out on my own and try to, you know, meet that need in the market, um, locally. And then it's kind of branched, uh, to nationally as well in the last year or so. Cause yeah, you're, you're out of Florida, right? Yeah. So I'm in Jupiter, Florida. Uh, so the East coast. about an hour and a half north of Miami.
SPEAKER_01: Okay. So, but now you're, I mean, especially with post pandemic, you're able to serve entrepreneurs everywhere. Um, and it's so funny. I mean, you know, I'm a marketing strategist and, and own a separate company called break co break marketing. And you're right. It is, uh, um, such a need for startups, entrepreneurs to really get that discipline, that outside perspective of, of. You know, I like how you said that to navigate the, what do you say, the ecosystem of marketing because a lot of people don't understand. Marketing is different from advertising and different from kind of communication and it is, it can be really complex and we talked to founders on the podcast here and that's one of the biggest challenges for them is just you know, if they're truly a startup, what's their pitch? Like, what's their story? And they're, like, building that brand value. And then if they're already kind of trying to scale up, how to differentiate between, like, what do they need to invest in marketing and operations? And what do they need to do for advertising to build? And it's confusing.
SPEAKER_00: It's so confusing. And you know, you're there's, you know, the marketing landscape is ever changing, ever evolving. And there's all these trends and you have everybody telling me you need to jump on this and jump on that. And if you're not doing this, you're doing it wrong. And it's overwhelming. And, you know, most business owners who don't have marketing experience, um, it, it just feels like extreme chaos for them when they, when it comes to their marketing. And so I try to take or remove that chaos, uh, from their marketing for them.
SPEAKER_01: bring that calm to chaos, right? So that, that's kind of what inspired you. How, how has the journey been? What's been your most challenging moments as you've been trying to build your own, like, build a brand, but also build your personal brand? Like, what has that been?
SPEAKER_00: I would say there's probably two or three things that stand out to me as having been the most challenging, all related to marketing, of course. Really just kind of deciding, am I going to go all in on my personal brand? Am I going to brand my company, have it separate from my personal brand? And that's just evolved over the last couple of years. And what I've come to find, and I'm sure you've heard this and you probably believe it, You know, people want to work with people. They don't necessarily want to work with brands or companies, especially when it comes to service-based industries or businesses. So I've really kind of leaned into my own personal brand, thought leadership, you know, just being an authoritative figure in the industry. And so far that's really benefited myself, my business, and my brand ultimately.
SPEAKER_01: So are you, have, have you moved from being more of a solopreneur? Are you now, do you have a team with you that helps you or how, how, what's your structure like now?
SPEAKER_00: So it's, it's primarily me. You know, I'm the daily operator. I'm the client facing one. I'm doing all of the marketing. But I do have a business partner in the background who, you know, helps with the business strategy side of things. And also I do have a small team of contractors that I've worked with for years. through other businesses and that's my team that helps with the execution side of things.
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha. So what has surprised you the most of, okay, so you jumped into the entrepreneurial fray to start your own business to then serve other entrepreneurs and founders. What has been the most surprising moment for your business, but also what do you see? What are you seeing that has surprised you?
SPEAKER_00: The first, I think what, I think what surprised me the most in the market was the lack of knowledge around the need for strategy. I mean, I just assumed that every smart entrepreneur business owner, you know, knew that, you know, somehow knew that you you had to have a strategy in place, right? What I found is that nine out of 10 times, they're not even sure what constitutes a strategy. And so they definitely don't have one. And Also, they feel like it's this kind of like intangible thing or concept where that's not the truth at all. You know, when it really comes down to it, if it's done well, I believe that a marketing strategy is very tangible and, you know, is composed of multiple components that you can see and that you can put into action.
SPEAKER_01: Right, so that I've experienced the same thing and it is surprising of how many people have started and some companies are like they're already like 10 mil, I mean they're generating revenue, and they don't even have a business plan. I mean, like they never sat down and really, they just had an idea or calm, like, I've got these products, I'm gonna, or I need to get manufacturing, but not a true, like, strategy. Yeah, it's, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And it is right. And especially to your point, the ones that are actually seeing growth, or, you know, generating you know, revenue, it's like, imagine if they did have an a concrete strategy with objectives and clearly defined goals, like imagine where they'd be if they had that.
SPEAKER_01: Right. And, and you wonder, you know, the stats are, you probably know these better than I do. But what is it 90% of startups fail within the first year or two. And I think the majority of it, it's because there was not a solid strategy in place. I mean, it's a high, it's like a high number. I think 90% might even be low.
SPEAKER_00: It's somewhere in the 90. I was thinking it was like 97%.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was like 90% slow. So what's been the most rewarding part of starting your own business and working with other founders and entrepreneurs?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think it's been just a learning process. You know, my my leadership skills, my, you know, just my professional and personal development has grown or seen so much growth in the last two years. Then I feel like I saw in all of the time before that, you know, my entire life. You just have to learn things quick. You got to figure things out really quickly. Because if you don't, you know, to your point, you're going to fail. And this is, you know, it's the lifeblood, you know, it's your livelihood. So it's like, and, and the, there's two options. I succeed or I fail and I have to go back to working for someone. And I told myself I will never do that again. So, uh, I don't really have an option. I have to continually learn and figure things out even when it's challenging or stressful. Um, and that's just, it's really been rewarding.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Do you think you could ever go and be an employee again?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't. I always kind of felt like I, you know, I was always a good employee and, you know, a people pleaser, but you know, in the last four to five years of my career, um, working for agencies and such, I just realized that I, I didn't want to do it their way anymore. I wanted to do it my way. And, uh, so that's why I set out to start my own business.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. And it's working. It's working so far.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah. I'm two years in so.
SPEAKER_01: So tell us like your biggest aha moments.
SPEAKER_00: Biggest aha moments. Uh, I would say when it comes to positioning, I had a really big aha moment about six months ago or so. You know, I've been in marketing for 12 years and you know, positioning and messaging has always been something I've had to think about and figure out. And, um, but I've always had to do it for other businesses and, and, or established businesses. And so I've learned that for both my own business and for my clients that are startups or newer, um, really nailing their positioning is like a make or break, because if you don't nail it, then you're going to, it's going to get, they're going to get lost in the noise, right? They're not going to be able to differentiate themselves clearly. or stand out in their market. So that's really been something that I've been honing in on and focusing on more with my clients as of the last six months or so.
SPEAKER_01: That's so smart. I always say that to me, positioning and positioning strategy is truly like the secret sauce of building a really great brand. And it's the most overlooked part of the strategy. What I see from other agencies or other marketers, it's like that skipped over. They focus on, let's look at audience, let's look at message, let's look at your personality, but they forget about the positioning. So I'm so glad to hear you say that. I could not agree more. So focusing on your own business, Was that easier or harder to develop your own brand than it is to work on others?
SPEAKER_00: So much harder. It's, um, I, you know, I'm sure, you know, this too, like just being so close to something, it's so much harder to lose the perspective. Yeah, do you really do? And I will say having a business partner has been really helpful with that. Um, you know, because they're able to kind of pull me out of my own head and have, you know, show it to me from different perspectives so that we could fine tune it and make it better. So, you know, when it comes to entrepreneurs, if they don't have marketing help, like I highly recommend having some kind of a business strategist or mentor or outside perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Some kind of coach just to, yeah. Cause that was when I started, it was funny when I started Breakco 13 years ago, the marketing firm, that was I guess that was so much easier I don't know because I just came from you know working with big agency and that just kind of fell into it but when I developed Orange WIP and Hello Chaos those brands I'm still I mean we're almost two years in a year and a half in I mean so we're we're really a newbie startup and I still have to I don't, I don't necessarily second guess myself, but I, I'm always going, I have to have other people look in because, um, I've kind of lost the ability to look at things objectively, but it was harder for, for this, for the, for this brand. Maybe it was because it's a, it's a product, not a, not a service. I don't know. And it was different. Um, but yeah. It, uh, the, but just it being yours, you know, that ownership. Yeah. Um, what do you think? Um, well, let me ask you, so if you could hit rewind, is there anything that you would do differently?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have to say no, because everything that I've done, And whether it's been well or not done well, I've learned something from it. And I, and the things that I learn in my own business are really helping me with my clients as well. And helping them get clear and kind of guide them and advise them when it comes, you know, when they start to question things or, you know, so I, I'm a true believer and you know, you're not failing, you're, you're learning a lesson. And it's just going to help you for, you know, the next iteration of it.
SPEAKER_01: That's right. Well, and I don't know if you, if you found this, it also, does it make you feel more empathetic? Are you really like, I feel like I know exactly what you're going through. Let's talk through the issue because you, you can resonate with them. And so your, is your counseling better because you feel it? Yeah, that's a family. I mean, like, especially when it comes to like budget and you're like, Dude, I get it. Like, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've got a small marketing budget that I'm working with. So it's got to be efficient and effective. And I don't have time to waste or money to waste or resources to waste. And so it does definitely make me empathize and with my clients and you know, the same things that are keeping them up at night are ultimately keeping me up at night for my own business. So I do think that that's really helped me connect with them on a different level than if, say, I were like a really large agency or they were working with account managers as opposed to me. I mean, it's really helped create strong client relationships for me.
SPEAKER_01: If you look back into, and I can tell from your personality, you are probably one of the shining stars in an agency, you know, that you got it, you kind of had that business sense, but do you look back and go, man, like, it is so different to have this perspective that you have now, that if people in the agency world had that same perspective, how much better they would be to serve brands and businesses?
SPEAKER_00: Yes. Yeah, I hear you hit it on the head. And that's how I felt when I was working for an agency. I had, you know, 22 plus accounts that I was managing all of their marketing and that's just not okay. You know, no one can manage 22 accounts on their own. You know, it's just, it's not reasonable. And it was so frustrating. And like, I, again, I empathize with all these business owners I was speaking to because they were just frustrated because it was like, unless there was a fire, their account wasn't getting the attention that it needed and deserve, especially for what they were paying. And I really believe that that was one of the determining factors in me starting my own business. And I shy away from the word agency, although it's used and it's kind of a necessity in the industry because that's what people know. But I'm really trying my best to build something that never makes someone feel that way that those business owners felt that I was working with.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's, it's to show one that you care. But also, I think there's a language that being founders, supporting other founders and other businesses, It's a shorthand that you don't see if somebody is working in house and marketing or in an agency environment because it's just disconnected. They will never feel and resonate the pain points that you feel and you know about and what that founder is going through.
SPEAKER_00: Yep. A hundred percent. You know, and yes, unless you've owned a business or you worked really closely with business owners and gotten to know them and their pain points and problems and the, you know, the chaos that is running a business at times. Yeah. Yeah. It's really hard, I think, for people to empathize with them and want to provide the level of service needed to meet their needs.
SPEAKER_01: So do you do you just work with with pure startups or are you working with like what what type of entrepreneurs you know and it's so funny I want to get your perspective too when when we talk to because hello cast is a is a podcast we talk to all you know founders every week and entrepreneurs But we also have, we're in three cities in South Carolina and have these digital platforms where we also feature local founders in those markets. And when we launched those digital publications last year, There were some founders that were like, that's why I'm saying founders, because some said, I'm not an entrepreneur. I don't see myself as an entrepreneur. Or they called themselves, I'm an accidental entrepreneur. Or I don't know, they had all these like strange, you know, and then some people are like, we're entrepreneur on like as a badge of honor. So, I want to get your, like, what type, when you think of entrepreneurs, that you want to start, like, what is, you know, who are you targeting? Who is your, that ideal customer? And do you get that same, I want to call it the bipolarism when it comes to that word? either love it or they hate it. It's so, that to me has been like a surprising aha moment in the journey of dedicating a media company for founders and entrepreneurs of, because we thought we would just go entrepreneur and have her, but we're like, Oh, we've got to add the word founder because some people don't like that word.
SPEAKER_00: Great. You know, it's funny you say that because that's something I've kind of wrestled with a few times and in the, you know, history of my firm is, you know, the name, and maybe you want to call it a oh shit moment. Or, you know, I well one, my email is ridiculously long because of the name of my business. So that was like, you know, when people are like, what's your email? I'm like, I'll just send you an email. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, I need I need to get like ee Yeah, because I love it. There's no there's no shorthand for entrepreneur. We were laughing about it It's like our team of like, how do you write the notes? Is it e and T P is it Ian? You know e dash P Everyone has this weird shorthand, but it's all personal so it wouldn't resonate with anybody else. But yeah Okay, so long email
SPEAKER_00: long email, and then the name is, could be not as attractive to your point to people who don't necessarily consider themselves business owners. And I'd say I probably have like a 50 50 blend of clients, some of them, you know, fell into their business, or it was kind of like a family hand me down. So their business, they consider themselves to be a business owner, right? And then there are the, you know, entrepreneurs are the founders with those entrepreneurial spirit spirits that, you know, this is their second or third endeavor. And or this is just kind of the stepping stone to the next big thing they're going to do. So it really is a split for me. And I get along with both. I think that I, you know, I can I I understand both perspectives. And because to me, being a business owner and being the owner and operator feels kind of like that. There are things that I have to do day to day that make me feel like a business owner. And then there are things that I have to do day to day that make me feel like an entrepreneur. And if I don't do those things, I'll never get my business to where I want it to be. And that's kind of like the difference between those two things for me.
SPEAKER_01: and to get business owners to also kind of get that, I don't know, that spirit, that culture, because that will help. Because a lot of times that's the difference of getting their business to scale and grow. It's really more of that, it's that growth mindset and having kind of that entrepreneurial grit. So what other oh shit moments have you had? Where you banged your head up against the wall?
SPEAKER_00: I've got a good one. Pretty early on, we decided, you know, we're going to launch this, this program, it's going to be kind of a mix of like, do it with you marketing. And it's going to be for, you know, the business owners that are, you know, in that you know, 100k to 300k range can't quite afford to hire an agency or a fractional CMO. Yes. And we're going to do this. And so we put it all together. We launched it. Cricket. And I'm racking my brain. I'm like, the marketing is good. I know the messaging is good. And then I was like, you know, really small audience right now. like 300 followers on Instagram and 200 followers on LinkedIn and you know whatever it was and like 25 people on our email list and I'm like the percentage of people that one are gonna see what we're putting out there and and two that it's gonna actually resonate with is so tiny like we did all this time and effort it was just it was just one of those things again where I was so too close to it I couldn't step back and and see like wait a second Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: How do we, how do we build this? Like build the audience? Is that what you did or, or did you say, let's, let's scrap this for a second? Or did you go, nope, everything, the packaging is all good. We just need to build the audience for it.
SPEAKER_00: That, that was the, that was the next step. It was, this is great, but we're not ready for it. We need a bigger audience. So step number one, you know, back it up. Step number one is let's build the audience. I've been doing that ever since and my audience is much larger now, a year and a half later, but at this point I don't even want to offer that anymore. That was kind of like a means to an end and it turns out it didn't work out well and I don't need it.
SPEAKER_01: Also, do you find, especially with who you're working with, if you give it to them to do it yourself, will they really? No. Because that's what we've like, I feel like they might say they want it. But they really need somebody that kind of walks with them.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they do. And not I don't like to use the word accountable so much because I'm not a coach. But you're right. It's unless they have somebody to like, keep things on track and strategize and plan and make sure it's actually executed consistently. it most likely will not get done or not for very long.
SPEAKER_01: Or just to make sure that one, the things are being done, but also when they have, like they get stuck. So how do you make them, how do you get them unstuck? And I think that they just, you know, it's not, and I don't want to say handholding, but it's just, it's, it's more of, you're there to help discipline. Be the, be the navigator.
SPEAKER_00: Yes. Yep. The navigator. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01: If you could change two things about your business today, whether looking back or looking forward, what would those two things be and why?
SPEAKER_00: Two things. Let's see. I think, like I already mentioned, probably the name. Just to make it easier.
SPEAKER_01: What would you have named it? Did you have other names in mind?
SPEAKER_00: No, that one stood out so clearly. But, you know, in full transparency, when I started the firm with my, you know, there were two partners at the time, we were planning to build a firm that was going to be sort of a comprehensive business consulting firm. So we were going to do business strategy, operations, you know, kind of like an EOS meets, you know, marketing strategy. Yeah. And then over time, it just evolved into, hey, you know, Debbie's thing is marketing. And let's just stick with that one thing. Okay, okay. That's where entrepreneurs edge was originally born. And so it made sense then. And it still does. Because without marketing, you know, you're not going to get the edge over your competitors. That's right. So it fits, but it's just long. And I know it's not super, point blank, like straightforward what I do until I get to talk to somebody and, or they see my website, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha. Okay. So what's the other thing?
SPEAKER_00: The second thing, the second thing I would change, um, probably, I would have started doing some of the marketing that I'm really active with now, two years ago, because if I had the, the compounding effects, I mean, I would be so much further along in my business when it comes to revenue revenue. Um, and I just, it took a while to figure out like, okay, you've got to do what you tell people to do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Well, like, like what, what would you be doing differently?
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm really active on LinkedIn. And I'm really active in my community with networking, you know, local community, but also online community with other fractional executives and marketing people. And that has created really great partnerships, strategic partnerships that have led to some of my best clients and in the form of referrals. And if I had started those conversations sooner, I would be seeing so many more, you know, because it takes a good, from my experience, it takes at least about a year of consistent conversations with people to start generating like those, or seeing those referrals, you know, from word of mouth and from other partners.
SPEAKER_01: That's right. It's, it's a beast of a sales path, isn't it? As a founder, where do you think you personally have struggled the most?
SPEAKER_00: I think I've struggled the most with being the person that's doing it all. The strategy, the plan. At one point, I was doing all of the execution side of things. I'm essentially the client relationship manager, account manager, project manager. That has been a struggle for me because from my agency experience, to me, my service, you know, client service comes first. First and foremost, I'm answering your emails within a couple hours. I'm, you know, making sure whatever I tell you is going to get done is getting done in a quick and efficient manner. And that has caused issues when it comes to me working on my business versus in it. And so that's been a really challenging, like trying to get that balance has been challenging for me.
SPEAKER_01: That's the, that's the biggest shift. It really, it really is of, uh, how do you, how do you start working on your business and not in your business? It's the biggest struggle that we hear.
SPEAKER_00: It is. And then you, you know, you try to tell a business owner that and they kind of get it, but they don't, really get it until they see what happens when you start doing it. Now that I do make time, dedicated time to work on my business, I'm seeing a world of difference in not only the clients that are coming to me, but just my working relationships. It's all been beneficial. It was just really hard to switch the way my mind was thinking about those things.
SPEAKER_01: Right. And that's what we, you know, we, we hear the most, it's a mind, it's a mindset shift. I mean, yes, there are some tangible, actionable things that you can set up, but, but it is a complete mindset of, of big, we call it the CEO mindset of, of shifting from being the doer to being the, I guess, the operator, the owner, the person that's running, overseeing things. So, just curious. So, what keeps you up at night? Because you had said that, you know, a lot of times you hear what founders stress and you feel that pain too. So, what does keep you up at night?
SPEAKER_00: I would say my client's problems keep me up at night. If I'm aware that someone's revenue is not where they need it to be or want it to be yet, or they don't have the budget for us to get something done in the way we want it done. I mean, those are the things that I'm thinking about when I can't sleep at night, which I'm a poor sleeper, so it's pretty often. I'm just laying there like, Well, maybe we can do it this way.
SPEAKER_01: The brain never shuts off in the problem solving.
SPEAKER_00: Right, right. I emailed a client at like 3 a.m. the other day and she texted me at like 8 and she was like, you were up early today. Yeah, I know. I can't help it.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, I had to get it off.
SPEAKER_00: I had to get it off my chest. I did. It had to go somewhere. It couldn't stay in my head.
SPEAKER_01: OK, so what gets you out of bed in the morning?
SPEAKER_00: The excitement of knowing that I get to dictate my day, my week, my life, basically. I feel like when I made the switch to be a business owner from an employee, it's just opened up so many things for me. I just look at life and business and finances and I look at everything differently now. I think if I had a the best way to describe it was like, high agency. So, you know, when I was an employee, I just kind of felt like things were just happening, like, you know, oh, my job sucks, because my boss is a jerk, or I don't make enough money, and it's not fair, I deserve to make this much money. And then I got to this point. And I'm like, if I want to do that, I need to go do it myself, because I can't expect anybody to hand it to me or give me what I think I deserve. Right. So that's been a really big thing for me.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, big change. And I, you know, we talked about it too. It's also the, you look at finance is different. You think of money and time differently. Like in the correlation of those two, those were, I would say, those were some of my bigger aha moments of, yeah, I had that sense, you know, working in the, but not because, you know, agencies, we're all about billable time. but not until it was like, oh, you know what? I can't afford to get a lawn maintenance person because if I do that, or if my husband does that, like our time is better spent somewhere else. We make more revenue if our time and our energy is spent here. We can't afford somebody at, you know, $15 an hour, 20 bucks an hour. Cause we, we got a bill out at 200. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So true. I, um, that's a really good point. Money and time, um, to, you start to look at them very differently when you own your own business.
SPEAKER_01: Um, are there any routines or disciplines that you do personally to help you stay focused or to help you achieve your goals?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And, um, you know, probably not much different from what you've already heard, but you know, I, I'm religious about, I get up and I work out. It's the first thing I do. It energizes me for the day. It gets my mind clear. It helps relieve stress and anxiety. And then I try to eat really healthy about 80% of the time. You've got to give yourself the freedom. You also have to know when you need time to rest or relax and not harp on yourself for not doing those things. I believe in that too. Um, I just know for myself personally, like I need to sweat it out 30 to 45 minutes a day if I want to like feel focused. Right.
SPEAKER_01: Do you go to a gym and go to like, okay. Versus do you just go into the room next door and have at it?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah. I'm not disciplined enough to do it on my own. I'll kind of like half-ass it if I do that. So, I go to a, you know, a gym in my community that I love. Um, you know, and if I can't get there for, for some reason one day, or I just feel like sleeping in a little, you know, I just go for a walk if I can and listen to an audio book or go for a bike ride, like just to move my body because it helps me with my mental clarity.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So what do you, what else do you do on your free time?
SPEAKER_00: Um, hobbies. I love to cook. I love it. Um, I actually dabbled in, my own little home baking business during COVID. Yeah, so there's that. I actually ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Oh my goodness. Yeah, so I do that a lot. My husband rides as well and, you know, that's usually what we're doing. That's definitely what we'll be doing this weekend with the nice weather we're having here.
SPEAKER_01: Are you involved in a, I mean, I know that Harley-Davidson, that is a community all in itself. Are you pretty tight with a group of riders? Yeah, I act like ride together in groups.
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm. I About a year and a half ago. I founded a women's motorcycle group in our community art Yeah, and met some really amazing Wonderful women that I would have never met otherwise and you'd be surprised at how many of us there are riding around here and you know, Florida's not the best for riding because of the traffic and the super flat, non-changing scenery. Yeah, you need to come up to South Carolina. Tour the hills. Yes, we go to Georgia and the Carolinas pretty regularly. I'd say at least once or twice a year to ride.
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful up there. Oh, that's wonderful. I'd love to hear that. What would you like, like if you had to go, what does your company look like a year from now? What would you like it to look like? Whether it's growing your team, number of clients, like what do you go, you know what, I would be just thrilled if my company looked like X. I would be thrilled if in one year I had three to four partners in the way of, you know, the,
SPEAKER_00: the service, offering the services that I feel necessary for, you know, a marketing ecosystem. 3 or 4 partners that could help with the execution side of things, and that I felt so confident in their services and, and abilities that I was able to kind of step back a little from the day-to-day client oversight. Correct, yep. And so I could focus more on the marketing of our brand and of EE, of Entrepreneur's Edge, and being a thought leader in our industry. That's the ideal for me in the next year.
SPEAKER_01: All right. See, we're going to manifest that.
SPEAKER_00: We put it out in the world. I'm talking to potential partners almost daily.
SPEAKER_01: Would you go back to the model that you get? Would you originally thought of like, I'm assuming that ecosystem of you needed an operations person or a sales person, maybe a IT, IO, or are you really looking at more of the marketing infrastructure of like communications, public relations, like when you say kind of those partners?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm looking for. I would, I want ideally to have you know, a partner for social media, partner for SEO, partner for advertising, paid advertising, um, so that I can focus on again, you know, bringing in, you know, new prospects and clients to our business, but also the strategy side of things. And then kind of like share that information with all of the various partners, um, you know, basically. Yeah, exactly. It may not have to like, feel like I'm handholding or micromanaging. You know, when I say partners, I think of, you know, like I said, very capable, expert, professional people in our industry that do what they do really well. Because I, I know, there's no one person that can do it all really well, from what I've experienced.
SPEAKER_01: No, there is not. No. I think so. And I tell business owners and founders, I'm like, well, I'll just, I'm going to hire this one like magic marketing person. I'm like, that person doesn't, like, if you expect somebody to be a PR person, photographer, videographer, digital marketer, and digital marketer is so like, do you want, they're going to manage your website. and be your email marketing, they're going to build lists and do your social. No, that person does not exist. Or they do one or two of those things, maybe three very, very well. But that's like, that's it. So yeah, I'm like, that doesn't exist out there. If so, we would be like, that would be what we would fill our, our companies with.
SPEAKER_00: Right. Right. And you'd probably have to pay that person 200 K a year. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: To have all those competencies. Minimum. I mean you look at like what a CMO, an average CMO is you know minimum of 150 for a small company. They're making 350, 500 for you know larger brands and they're just playing oversight. Right. They're not the doers. Right. Exactly. So okay, so this is the, this is my fun question. So what would our listeners be surprised to learn about you? Hmm. That's like not on your resume or anything. Like the Harley Davidson thing's pretty cool. Yeah. That was pretty cool. And the fact that you were a baker, I do want to explore that a little bit. Yeah. So what kind of, what kind of baking company did you try to start?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was actually called, uh, Debbie does delicious. So many years of, uh, you know, being asked the question about, you know, Debbie Does Dallas. I'm just gonna play on this.
SPEAKER_01: That's right. That's right. Own it.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah. But no, I mean, I've been baking since I was a child. I've always loved it. You know, and during COVID, I was at home because we were stuck here. And yeah, So I just started baking and I developed a recipe for cupcakes that I found people were like crazy for. Yeah. I mean, our, my friends, all of our friends in our community, they all have children and to this date, they all asked me to make cupcakes for their kids' birthdays. Their children don't even want other cupcakes. They only want DeeDee's cupcakes. So yeah, it's still a thing I do is like a side, you know, fun thing, but it, it actually was going well during COVID and then, I just got to a point where I realized that, you know, this is kind of fun now as a little hobby, but I don't want to bake dozens of cupcakes a day for the rest of your life. It's a lot of work and it's a lot of manual work. And, um, yeah, I just, I missed the marketing side of things.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Okay. So what kind of flavor cupcakes were they?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, every flavor. So my specialty is you tell me what your favorite dessert is, whatever it is in the world, and I can make you a cupcake version of it. Yeah, so like this time of year, you know, pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese. Gotta have the pumpkin. Yeah. And I also used to love to bake with with craft beer as well, because they always have fun flavors. So it's also
SPEAKER_01: Debbie does delicious you need to did you trademark that because you should have I did start a blog like little mini blog on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually still there. I just am not super active on it.
SPEAKER_01: You could be an influencer with those lovely cooking videos and that I get completely addicted watching People people bake it's so therapeutic. That's like and then I fall asleep to it So what else would what else would we anything else we'd be surprised to learn about you I
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I didn't think this was surprising, but people, when they find out, seem to think it is that, uh, I was actually a bartender for 10 years of my life. Nice. Yeah. Um, all throughout my, you know, uh, you know, 19 to whatever, 28, whatever it was that I started my marketing career. But, um, you know, people are surprised by that for some reason. And, and I, you know, that's why you're in service. Yeah. Well, that's, that's what I attribute my success to in my entire career is just being able to communicate really well with people and, um, yeah, and be able to provide the service or the level of service that they expect. Yeah. Yeah. That's just been just talking to people in general. It's just, it's just helped me, um, so much in my relationships professionally and personally.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. I have said that I told my children that I'm like, like, Because I worked in, not quick serve, but I did like, you know, family, I did fine dining, I was a bartender. I mean, you know, 10 years, like from 16 till I was, yeah, 26, 27. But it's, but to be able to, you know, wait tables, predict, kind of monitor, it does like a multitask your brain. And then, you know, just to keep eye on somebody, it is, it's a great training ground for anybody that, that wants to be in service. Yeah. When, whenever I would hire, you know, account people, if they had food service, you know, or waiting to, or bartender, anything I knew if they could last, you know, several years in that, then they probably had, they could do it. They, there's, there's an innate ability that you learn in that environment.
SPEAKER_00: Right. You brought it up earlier when you, you know, talking about being empathetic. I mean, serving people in that industry for 10 plus years really taught me to like, gauge, okay, how, where is this person in? Are they frustrated? Is their food taking too long? Do I need to get a manager and stay on top of it? Like, it really helped me to like, learn that kind of, you know, the nuances of working with people serving them, like you said. Yeah, so yeah, I agree with you 100%. I feel like Most people should have to do it at some point in their life.
SPEAKER_01: I know. People need, everyone needs to wait a table.
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what's your, okay. So do you have a favorite cocktail genre, like liquor that you, are you beer, wine, you know, cocktail person? What's, what's, what, where, where's your fave? Where do you go? It depends on my mood.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, it doesn't matter the setting or the the meal in front of me. But I'm really big on what I'm a wine connoisseur. I love wine. I, you know, I studied it, I thought I might want to be a some many years ago. So yeah, wine is my go to. But I also love craft beer. And I enjoy a good old fashioned, you know, or Manhattan on occasion as well.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my goodness. Debbie, we're like twinsies. Amazing. Yeah, because that's exactly how I would I would have answered it if somebody because old fashioned is my drink.
SPEAKER_00: It's my go to.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. OK, so what's your what's your bourbon go to?
SPEAKER_00: I always have a bottle of Woodford in my cabinet.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's my favorite distillery if you've never gone That's what you need to do on your you guys need to do the bourbon trail because they have one that's for bikers Oh, really go to the Kentucky tourism. Okay Yeah, you can they they have mapped out the the bourbon trail that's for like if you go by car Here's one if you there's you know tour buses if you're literally like bicycling they have like the tours but they have them for bikers of like where you know what's close by what are the best routes okay mapped out yep oh wow that's good to know but it's but it's beautiful like the the the woodford four roses they're really close to each other then you've got um Bullets not that far, you know, it's all there, but it's beautiful back country between Louisville, Lexington and, um, going down to like Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, like the most beautiful. Countryside to ride.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing. I'm going to have to check it out because you just mentioned.
SPEAKER_01: you know, I have four roses in my cabinet as well. Yeah. So, we've done the bourbon trails. I'm from Indiana, Kentucky area. My dad's side of the family grew up in Kentucky. So, my family is all tobacco farmers up and down that strip of Louisville, Lexington area. So, we've been on the tour several times. But Woodford Distillery is just beyond beautiful. It's one of the oldest distilleries. It's beautiful. The landscape is beautiful. And then you've got Willett and further up towards Louisville area, you've got Willett and three or four other, I can't remember, but they're all right there next to each other. It's all beautiful, but the Willett one has one of the best restaurants. Like, you know, they got all their plant slappers, you know, cocktail bartenders. Yep. All fancy like, but it's some of the best. I mean, it's one of the best restaurants within the distilleries. And then I'm gonna give a shout out like Bullet. Their distillery is more modern. It is. So from a marketing person and a branding person, you will, you would be, I loved it for the wall graphics that they did through the stairs, the floor graphics that they had that told the story as you walk through their building. So it was really more this immersive brand experience. And then their tasting is a three or four senses tasting. So they play music, they have lights, lighting that changes as you're doing like the four, and then you have a scent that when you drink, then they give you these like scent cubes, and then you smell it, and then you take another taste, and it completely transforms the taste. Um, so it's, but it's, but it's just so different from all the other distillers because it is, it is more modern. Um, but it's beautiful, beautiful tour. Uh, but I'd recommend it. You guys would have so much fun on, on Harley's going up and down that countryside.
SPEAKER_00: You guys would have a good time. Yeah, I'm sure we'll do it. It'll be on the list because we do, like I said, we go up there regularly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for the tips. You are welcome. Yeah, stay at some bed breakfast. They're good. All right. So because we're, you know, my last question where we were marketers, we love media. So what three things are you either watching? reading or listening to. Now you can say I'm watching three things or you can, you know, or listening to three things or reading three things or one of each. I don't care. What are you consuming right now?
SPEAKER_00: Consuming. Um, so the audio book that I'm listening to at the moment is a key person of influence. So that is, um, you know, basically just how to stand out in your industry. Um, And I think I would highly recommend it to anyone who's, you know, striving to be a thought leader or, you know, an authority in their industry because it's been really insightful so far.
SPEAKER_01: And it's called what?
SPEAKER_00: A key person of influence. Key person of influence. All right. Yep. They call them KPIs in the book. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Which I love. That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And then I am also reading a physical book. called Still Alice about a woman who, a professor of psychology who actually is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at about 50. So I'm into that right now. It's a good book. You've read it? I've read it. It's a good book. Yeah, a friend recommended it. So I'm really, my mother passed away of dementia about a year ago. So she just, my friend said that that was something I had to read and it would be really, you know, just a great book, she said.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a great read.
SPEAKER_00: Good, I'll keep up with that one.
SPEAKER_01: So any other, are you into any TV shows or anything?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we are gearing up for the second part of Yellowstone, season five, second part, So we're re-watching all of the previous seasons.
SPEAKER_01: That's such a glorious. It is so well done. It's awesome. It is. So I've only gotten into, I'm now into season two. So because I keep want to go back and watch because I just love the cinematography that, I mean, it is, and I, I mean, I'm like so bummed that Kevin Costner, whatever reason, you know, he had to, you know, bail out and stuff to, kind of bummed that they're going to end it, but I hope they re, it sounds like they're going to re, was it, do a new revival or whatever, a branch off of, with Matthew McConaughey? I know. But I'm curious of like, because I, I know enough about it. I know kind of where we are in the, the, where the story goes, but is it like, what, what's Matthew's character going to be? Do you think he's going to be the love interest of the daughter?
SPEAKER_00: Like, is this like a, like, I don't know, honestly, because of all the other spinoffs that they have, like 1923 and 1883. I just don't know what to expect. And I've read a couple of articles on it, but they're, they're teasers at best.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they've been really Quiet about and I haven't watched I've only seen trailers and stuff of the other spinoffs the one you know with it with Harrison Ford and Helen is it Helen Mirren? Yeah and that looks equally like whoever is this like the Cinematographer the lighting crew that though. I mean it is costume. I mean it is one of the best most beautiful franchise That's been out for you know I mean it's like Stranger Things is was wonderful and so immersive in the 80s like you they didn't leave any detail out. I feel like Yellowstone and they're like have have done that equally but made you like want to move to Montana.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean We went to Montana and we're filming for vacation like mid, you know, season two or something. We were just in awe of the landscape. We're like, we got to go visit this place. It's so beautiful. It is. So it's so vast and like grand, you know, as compared to anything else I've seen in our, in our country anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah. It's beautiful. Um, is that the only thing, is that like where, where, where you, uh, your TV junkie goes is the Yellowstone? I mean, I get…
SPEAKER_00: Like last night, for instance, I was watching Love Actually. So I'm, around this time of year, I'm really… It's the Christmas movies. Yeah, Vegas Vacation, Christmas Vacation, we've been watching all those. You know, yeah, really in the spirit this season.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's fantastic. So how do you want people to get a hold of you? Is there any other lasting advice or anything that you want to tell our listeners and our viewers out there?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, one, the one thing that I always been trying to tell my clients and my audience is, you know, marketing truly is a system and you have to have, you know, multiple factors in place. It's not like a one thing that's going to make you rich approach. It's, you know, you've got to put the system and the core elements in place. And over time they will start working together like an ecosystem, as I mentioned, and it will have a compounding effect. But in order to see that effect, you've got to start somewhere and just start layering in as you go and be consistent with it. And yeah, just keep at it. It's not always going to create super quick wins for you, but long term, it will help grow your business. That's, that's the, I think the best advice I can give you.
SPEAKER_01: You nailed it. So how do people get ahold of you, Debbie? How do you want people to reach out to you?
SPEAKER_00: I would love if you're on LinkedIn, um, you know, connect with me on there and follow. I'm really active on that platform. Um, and then, you know, I'm also on the other channels like Instagram and Facebook, but LinkedIn is my go to. And then, you know, my website is entrepreneursedge.biz. So feel free to visit that. And you can email me at debbie at entrepreneursedge.biz as well, if you're interested in connecting further.
SPEAKER_01: Perfect. Well, thank you for having, you know, coming on here and sharing your story and giving such great advice. And I love the conversation. I do feel like we are we're sisters from another. Yeah, absolutely. Too much in common. I say this every time that I cannot believe we're already out of time. These things go by so fast. But I did enjoy the conversation and I thank you for hanging out with us. And for everyone listening or watching, thank you for joining us. Again, this podcast will be published this coming Sunday and available on all podcast platforms. My favorite is Apple and Spotify. So go find us there. Subscribe to Hello Chaos, like, share, and grow. Like, share, and comment to help us grow a more connective entrepreneur community. Hello Chaos is one of the many resources brought to you by Orange WIP. That's Orange WIP, W-I-P. We are a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs in affiliate cities. We are 100% free. Just an email to join the community. One-stop content hub just for founders. And then we send a nice little weekly Sunday email that gives the people in our local markets the heads up of where they need to, events they need to go to, what resources they need to check out, and what podcasts they should listen to. We're in three areas of South Carolina, the upstate, which is Greenville area, Midlands, the Columbia area, and the low country, Charleston area. with our goal to expand to be in 30 markets in five years. Check out the new edition we just dropped this week. It is on planning for growth, the importance of strategy. And the photography that we've done for the three platforms is stunning, stunning, but the founder stories are equally as interesting and great advice. So go and subscribe, support us. Find your city and enjoy if you'd like to be a guest on our podcast or support us send us an email at hello at Orange WIP calm y'all. Thank you for tuning in to hello chaos It is where aha meet so shit, and I am your host Jennifer Sutton aka JJ. We'll see you again next week