Social Capital Lori Highby

Meet JaimeJaime is a coach's coach.  She sees individuals’ God-given talents, helps them connect to their true calling and courageously step into the vision of their future self. After 20+ years of developing employees in multiple family business leadership roles, Jaime has created an innovative, holistic approach that evokes rapid, transformative growth. When Jaime isn’t hosting her podcast "The Business is You!" or leading her coaching firm Believe Crew, she loves to kayak and hang out with her husband and 6 sons.
So what's your vision? What's your why?So when I first started coaching, I was actually in a family business in a leadership position, but it was more like a position of leadership. And yet, I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know a lot about myself, I just, you know, again, I was in the family business. And so, you know, you just help wherever you can. And eventually, you know, you start to get into positions where you know, more than someone else about that. And so, you know, maybe it's the right position, maybe it's not, but I wanted more, I wanted to be better at management at leading more, how could I be a better person. And so I started hiring a coach as well as getting trained on how to be a coach. And yet, I mean, in the family businesses that I was in, my dad was a serial entrepreneur. And so there was constantly a new business that we were starting. And so when I looked into the coaching industry, I was like, What is this? How do you start a coaching business like this just doesn't even make sense. There are no guidelines or rails, it felt like to me, and so I wanted and I could see this vision of like, how could we make coaching? How can we make it more possible for entrepreneurs to get coaching and to get it from a variety of coaches from one source? And how do we make it easier for coaches, to have a business without needing to do all the things themselves find all the people you know, all the VAs all the social media, posting, and so believe, whose vision is just this hub of coaches working together, and then ultimately, towards that bigger vision of empowering individuals to recognize, you know, their gifts and talents and be able to work in those gifts and talents. Like we're all called to something different. So we want to help, you know, create a community that can empower individuals through the power of coaching does that explain it in a short couple of sentences? 

So what are some resources for business owners?Well, I love to think about who can help, you know, who are we called to work with? And not just like, How can I do this myself? I feel like business owners when they're first starting in business, it's like, like you said, the hat closet is really deep. And sometimes we don't even permit ourselves to spend the money because we're like, well, I need to be making money first. And it's sort of a chicken in the egg concept like how do you know? Do I need this person? Or do I need a client first? And what I found is that it comes down to being true to our values, like what you value, what is so important to you that it's worth investing in because that's what your business needs. And that's what you need. And really, resources can be as simple as software, it can be as simple as a business bestie a power partner, you know, someone that you have on the calendar once a month that you connect with because they're, you know, maybe a referral partner, maybe there's someone that works with your clients. Before After you do, like resources can come in, in the form of people software. I'm just sorry, every industry has its own, like associations. You know, sometimes there are connections there. But I love to think about what can we create. That's so amazing because we've partnered with other people on our journey.

If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of...

Meet KateWith over twenty years of experience in marketing, Kate is passionate about helping businesses cut through complexity and ‘busy work’ to create intentional growth strategies that actually make an impact on what matters most. 
In addition to running her agency, Kate also teaches students the fundamentals of marketing at Husson University and Eastern Maine Community College, is an avid adventurer, and occasionally dusts off her journalism skills as a business and travel freelance contributor.
So what exactly is happening with Google Analytics, and what does that timeline look like?So if you own a business, or do marketing, you've probably heard about the transition from Universal Analytics to GA4. It's not anything new. Google actually released GA4 Back in 2020, they told us this was going to be happening last year, and they kind of started really poking and reminding us every time you logged in, it would say, Hey, we're transitioning to GA4. And now it is officially happening in July. So as of July, you're no longer going to have access to your Universal Analytics property. And so it's very important that businesses set up their GA4 property. So where we are in the timeline now, right around March, Google started kind of doing it for people. So you may have logged in and seen that Google has created your property for you. Some accounts may not have had it created for them yet. But it's really important that everybody kind of logs in and sees where they're at because there are some critical action steps that you want to be able to take. So come July, you're not left without the data that you need to make key decisions for your business.

So what exactly does this mean, for businesses like what should a business do?So what it means for businesses just to kind of take a step back really quick. So Universal Analytics and GA4 are essentially different data models. So while Google does give you the option to let it migrate your Analytics account into GA4, it is advised that if you're using it for anything that's not super simple, like just tracking pageviews or sessions, kind of some of the more simple metrics, it really you should go in and make sure that you're creating your data and your reports yourself. Because Universal Analytics is mostly focused on pageviews sessions, and user interactions with individual pages on your website, whereas GA4 is a little bit more focused on events. So everything in GA4 is an event. And it's important to know how to create those events so that you have the right kind of data and know what is happening with your website.

How important is google analytics as a tool and what are some pros and cons of leveraging it as a tool?So analytics, to me, is really the hub of how you get information if you're in digital marketing, right? It's really how you get the information and know what's happening. It allows you to see how many people are coming to your website, where they're coming from, what pages they're landing on what pages they're going to next. If you're tracking something like a lead or a purchase, you can look through behavior flow and see exactly you know what path that person is taking. And through that information that you gather, you can then make decisions not only about what you do on your website and the user experience on your website, but where to invest marketing dollars in terms of you know, are you doing PPC campaigns, are you running social media is most of your sales or most of your activity coming from your email list? It really can give you perspective on where to focus, what areas to kind of try to improve, and give you a bigger picture of How all of your marketing is working by having that all kind of plugged in together.

If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of or differently with regard to your...

Meet EricHe's the CEO and founder of Myaderm, a manufacturer of skincare and pain relief products that use CBD as a key ingredient. Modern products are sold nationwide and retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods GNC and Rite Aid. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and food manufacturing industries with companies that included; Teva, Edwards, Lifesciences, and Dean Foods. From 2009 to 2010 Eric owned a professional us continental cycling team that received international recognition. He has been featured on network and cable television podcasts and has written articles for national publications. He's earned a BA from the Citadel and Charleston, South Carolina, and an MBA from the University of California.
How do we innovate?Well, I would expand on that to say most businesses do not innovate. It's more of a rarity than it is a rake regularity. And that's not surprising, because it's difficult. So and just understanding what innovation is largely misunderstood. It's not just a novel thing. So people conflate innovation with novelty, certainly, innovation has novelty in it. But what it is, is there's either an invention of something new with utility, or there's a new combination of things that create way more value than the independent parts. And that's a difficult thing to do. But it's a great thing to strive for. And certainly, if you want to have a great company, a great organization, if you want to do great things, you're going to have to be innovative. There's just no choice around that. The other option is to find a monopoly, that's a great way to do it too. Or, yeah, just have more money than anybody else. Those are your only other options.


What should entrepreneurs not do?My favorite topic, because I've, I've made all the mistakes. So I feel people's pain out there. Well, I mean, the first one is right in line with innovation. So do not do more of the same. I'm sure you as a marketer, the last thing you want to do is go out and spend all your time and energy promoting and building brands that are just copies of something else. That fair? Oh, yeah, 100% of yours. That sucks. That's no fun, and interesting. So and low probability of success. So if you're doing the same thing, you're just a different color or a different something, but is the same thing. Don't do that, do not do that. So what you want to strive for is innovating to create something that has new utility, or is significantly different than what's in the market that customers will want. So that's the first thing you don't do is more of the same. And the second thing is just as important, maybe the most important in all of the business. Don't be the very first and don't be the very last Don't be either the early adobe the very first I'll be very low. So timing, and the academic literature. unlimited amount of experience across the business world for the past 200 years will tell you, nothing's more important than timing, because you have the best ideas and even be able to execute but the timings are not right. It ain't gonna win.

Can you share your most successful or favorite networking experience that you’ve had?Well, I do have networking stories. And I want to start by saying, like, I don't like networking, introvert. I like making things I enjoy the process of building things. But I'll tell you this much, you're not gonna get anywhere in life. If you don't know, folks, if you don't spend time networking. So this is my recommendation for folks who are like me who don't naturally want to do that. Take what you're doing. So especially if you're doing something innovative, especially if you've got a lot of energy about it, and realize that that's the mechanism for energizing your ability to go out and meet people because naturally, you don't want to talk about that. And in business, if you have something interesting to share what you're doing what your work is, and you're...

Meet StuartStuart is the founder and CEO of Waymaker.io, an intelligent business management platform that helps leaders build a better business in 30 days. Stuart is a thought leader in strategy systems and leadership development. As the founder of waymaker.io, he has led the creation of the way makers' leadership curve, a relevant, revolutionary way of building clarity, alignments, and remarkable results in any organization. 
So what are the three keys to growth for any organization?Well, I would say this is very high-level and very simple. But number one, clarity, number two, alignment, and number three focus. The clarity in the fundamentals of what we're all about alignment in our team, whether it be 1 or 2, or 10, or 20, or 100, or 1000. And focus on the work that really matters, the priorities that matter. And so those three keys; clarity around what business we're really in, and then the alignment of our team around that and the growth of our team. And the focus, only doing the things that matter. We do an awful lot of things often in business that don't matter that much and chews up an awful lot of time. And so our ability to focus is one of them the third key to making a difference.

Why is strategy confusing to regular business owners? And how can they be more strategic leaders?That's such a good question. It's a big question. You know, I come from the school of thought that strategy is not a set of actions, but rather a position to hold in the market. And that's often confronting to a small business owner, if you Google the word strategy, you're going to get a definition from Google, that says, a set of activities. And in part, it's kind of mostly right, but it's also mostly wrong. And I love how I think it's Professor Michael Porter from Harvard puts it, strategy is not a set of plans that we do. But rather, it's a position that we create or hold inside a marketplace. And that marketplace could be as big as your local neighborhood, or as big as the world. And I think that's the first big distinction to make around strategy. Strategy is a position we seek to be or we are in the market, and clarity of that position is fundamental to establishing the activities, or the other improvements we would make around holding that position. And I think most business owners missed that fundamental first step of saying, this is the position we want to hold on to be or our and, therefore, focus on doing lots of things thinking that strategic, whereas, in reality, you only need to do the things that hold your position.

How can a leadership team use the waymaker leadership curve to scale?Sure, sure. The loser curve and you can jump onto our website when america.io hit the Learn tab, and you'll find a bunch of resources on there so you can read about it. That gets some get some free resources to help you in your business. The leadership curve works in this simple way. It says, if we want to build market leadership, then we're going to go through several different stages of growth. Think of our organization like a child, the first stage of growth is ideation. Who, what's the idea for this business, which is kind of like the moment a child is born? The as, as an organization goes through those stages of growth, it'll conquer certain skills and set systems. And those, the maturity in the competencies in those skills and systems will allow them to break through those maturity stages, which ultimately increases the value of that organization. So think of a curve from bottom left going to top to right, go to top right, the bottom axis is time. And left-hand axis values, the longer an organization continues to build those skills and systems into maturity, then the higher the value can be created. So long as those skills and systems are generating value toward your end destination. What do I mean by that, if you're a small business owner, maybe you're a one...

Meet SherrySherry is the founder of Goldman Communications Group an award-winning public relations agency. Sherry works with companies and nonprofit associations and their leadership, helping them tell their stories and effectively reach key stakeholders. The agency offers strategic counsel messaging, media relations, corporate communications, thought leadership programming, community and industry relations, and crisis communication. Sherry is also an adjunct professor at the City College of New York. 
What's the biggest challenge for companies today that want to be seen, be successful, and be known in today's business and media environment?I think the biggest challenge is being seen and being believed, there is so much stuff out there. Okay. And it's so hard to reach audiences because it's such a fragmented communications environment these days, I mean, you can get your news from whichever channel aligns better with your political views or not. So everyone's not watching the same T. Everyone's not watching the same newspaper on social media, which is fabulous. You choose to follow people who support your already known beliefs, interests, or commonalities, and it amplifies in your bubble. So you're not being exposed to everything that's out there. For companies or organizations, it's hard to crack into that bubble. It's hard to reach people who might be interested in what you're doing, or what you're offering, if they're not in your system, so to speak, if they're not following, and then I think the other big challenge and kind of running all over the place is being authentic. People put stuff out there because they want people to have it. But are they authentic? Do they know who their brand is? Is? Do they know who their target audience is? And how are you making that connection and maintaining that connection? I just think it's so challenging in this fragmented environment to build those relationships and keep those that you need as a company and an organization to succeed. And you know, this, Lori because you deal a lot in digital marketing. Companies put stuff out there. And that's important. But are they taking a step back and understanding who they're trying to reach? And I don't mean targeting them with your math. Because your people are very good at targeting but are they understanding the audience? And the audience cares? What's in it for me? And why should I care? So they understand the value proposition for who they're trying to reach. And then really looking to solve that pain point for that problem. And I think that's a challenge. It's a challenge in the environment we're in where everybody wants something immediately what everybody is, there is so much content out there. So you can say that a company necessarily won't be heard of. But if you and three of your other competitors are out there, how is your target? Customer, your target consumer, your target employee, differentiating you from the competition? And that's where public relations or other things have to factor in, you know, you know, what your brand is, but what's your reputation? How are you demonstrating? What you're telling people about your brand is? How are you showcasing it and being a resource? And that's where I think organizations are relying too much upon, at least that's what I've seen as well as just post it out there. And thinking it's out there, and people may know that they're gonna come and believe, and trust. And I think it takes a lot more to get people to believe and trust, we're a cynical society. There's a lot of competition out there. You know, a little plug from public relations which is what I do. And certainly digital and online is a very big piece of the puzzle and thought leadership. But how are you demonstrating that I mean, there's something to be said if someone's heard of three organizations, but one of them was written up about in the newspaper because the reporter thought had prevented...

Meet BruceBruce is the CEO and founder of BKM Marketing a Boston-based integrated marketing agency focused on helping clients grow their businesses. BKM marketing creates about 100 campaigns a year for clients, typically producing millions of direct mail pieces, online display ads, emails, social, social media posts, and more. But he's not here to talk about that today. Two years ago, Bruce became interested in understanding how his firm contributed to global warming. So he engaged a class of MBA students to measure his firm's carbon footprint and examine the marketing industry's carbon impact as a whole.
What prompted you to spend so much of your time and energy on climate change?Well, you know, it's really interesting. First and foremost, I live in the Washington area, and we have an ocean nearby. And everyone's concerned about how you know how high those oceans going to get. And, you know, when you start looking inwardly, it's, why is there so much concern about climate change right now, and it's because of human activity. So I own a small business, and we do a lot of stuff that might be part of the problem. So I wanted to take a good close look at what it is my company does, how what kind of impact that has, and also the industry. And it was enlightening to see how much damage we are doing as and not just our industry, lots of industries are like this. And so we wanted to measure it and see what we could do to offset what we're doing and reduce what we're doing. And believe it or not, that helps me make sleep a little bit better at night. And we were very lucky to find out that we can offset not only our impact but all the client work that we do. And so far, it's been very well received. And one of the things that we get asked some follow-up to is that all the time is okay, do business customers care about whether or not the companies that are doing business with actually really care if the company cares about the environment? And the answer is overwhelming. Lots of different studies on this. Probably the most interesting fact is that 92% of customers are more likely to trust a company that supports any kind of social or environmental issue. That's nine out of 10. When you look at millennials 68% of millennials buy a product with a social environmental benefit. More often than not, they seek it out It's whole, it's really good business, in addition to good for the environment.
 
So how can our listeners go about making their businesses net zero now?Well, there are several ways to go about it, the first thing you have to do is learn what is your carbon footprint, and it varies from business to business, of course, and industry to industry. So one of the things we ended up learning is how little knowledge there is about US-based businesses, and what the impact they make on the environment is to do a whole lot of research. And most of that research will point you to a bunch of resources coming out of Europe, Europe is certainly I don't know how many years but a half a decade, decade ahead of the United States in terms of really trying to combat sources of global warming. So I can, you know, walk you through an example of what we ended up doing, or how we went about it. Yeah. And, but I do want to make sure that this isn't about, you know, us looking great. Doing, this is something that we think every business can do. So we didn't know the first thing about it two years ago. And so we found an MBA class at Suffolk University in Boston, that was looking for a partner to become the topic for the course. And so we had about 29 Students take a look at, our business and our industry. And we asked them to figure out how can we actually calculate the carbon impact our business has on the environment, and not just us. But certainly, you know, all the work we do for the clients. And with Greek, we do a lot of direct mail work, as you mentioned in my bio, outside...