Episode Transcript
Monica Pitts 1:18
This episode is sponsored by mayecreate design. Yeah, that's right. We sponsor ourselves and brought to you with love by our Marketing on a Shoestring mini course. Now our free beginners mini course is all about marketing on a budget. And contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to spend a million dollars or do something that you hate to market your business, get ready to challenge traditional marketing assumptions, because this 101, mini course is designed to give you a rock solid foundation so you can make the right decisions for you with total confidence. You can check it out at you mayecreate.com that's Y, o, u, M, a, y, E, C, R, E, A, T, e.com, and the link, of course, will be in the show notes. Okay, now back to business. Hello again, and welcome back to marketing with purpose. I'm Monica Pitts. I'm your host today, and I have a special guest. My guest's name is Andrea Johnson, and she is a transformational leadership coach and owner of the intentional optimist now, just the fact that her business name is the intentional optimist made me so incredibly drawn to this. Because you guys know how I'm always saying that you can do this. We just have to think positive. You know. Just focus on doing the best that you can from where you are right now, and I know that Andrea is coming from the exact same place, and the other thing that's really cool is that she's also a Maxwell certified disc consultant, speaker, trainer and coach. And disc is a really cool tool. We've talked about it a couple of times on this podcast, and the me create team uses it to intentionally talk back and forth within our team, and also to communicate with our clients effectively in a way that they can really resonate. So today, Andrea is going to talk with us about how to use our core values to market from our own magnetism, because Andrea, is it what you do or who you are that makes you a valuable and impactful leader or a fabulous marketer. Which one is it?
Andrea Johnson 3:23
Oh, it's totally 100% who you are. It's not what you do. Because otherwise we wouldn't need to be here. Everybody could just be doing all their own little thing, and they would put the system in place, and they would be just gold, right?
Monica Pitts 3:36
Yeah. And then everybody would be the same, right? How would you we could just all have the same name, all have the same hair. How would you tell any of us apart?
Andrea Johnson 3:47
Oh my gosh, it's like the stepford wives or the Barbie movie or
Monica Pitts 3:51
and I hope that you guys all just felt a sigh of relief hearing that, because I know that for the longest time, I tried to market my business just like every other web design company did. And one day I read my website and I thought, yuck, just yuck. That's not me. This isn't who I am. I sound like everyone else. And so then I started thinking about the things that we say inside of our office and all the funny jokes that we crack, and I said, we're gonna put these on the website. And everybody was like, Oh my gosh, I don't know how I feel about that. And I said, No, we're gonna do it, because this is who we are, and I feel like that we should just put it on our sleeve, wear it, love it, own it. This is who we are. And it just so happens that we also build incredible websites, right? So it's not what you do, but who you are that makes you a fabulous marketer. Okay, so before we dig in and talk about all these core values to guide our marketing journey, I really want to hear about your journey, Andrea, because I've been listening to your podcast and I'm getting little pieces of it. So how did you wander to where you are today? A transformational leadership coach and business owner that sounds very. Big
Andrea Johnson 5:01
I know, for a short woman, it's a big title. I I started out in business, like most people do, but I started out at universities, and all, almost my entire career of working for someone else has been in higher education in some form or another, in administration, research, administration. You talk about some of your business is with grant funded. You know, I was the person that got the grant, and I also managed people and did operations in schools of medicine. I worked for some great ones here in the on the East Coast, I worked for Johns Hopkins, I worked for the University of Virginia, and I learned a lot about what I don't want from a life, but I no longer work. These are amazing institutions, and they do incredible work in the world. But I realized that I am somebody who is and this is going to cut flip back to the core values. I'm an autonomous thinker, which doesn't work well in a big organization, and I value it's a non negotiable for me, authenticity and and belonging and those things are kind of hard to do when you're in a big organization, but it took me a long time to get there, and part of that was because I did what everybody else did, just like you said. It's like, you look at your website, you're like, who is this for? You know, people like, I read your website. I'm like, please don't do that. But I grew up internationally. I grew up overseas. I My parents were missionaries. My mother was a really strong lady, but we lost her to breast cancer in 2017 and one of the things I realized in that moment was that while she lived well and she was an inspiration to many of us, she also died well and was also an inspiration to many of us, but I knew that I wasn't doing that, and I said, I have to make a change. And a friend of mine, who I'd known since I was 17 or 16, introduced me to Maxwell, and I started learning, and I started. I had started a really long time ago. I had started a journey of personal growth. And because I'm just curious about myself, I say I'm terminally curious. And my dad kept saying, You're gonna, you're gonna get the Curiosity killed the cat. I'm like, that's a problem. I'm a dog person. That's no big deal. But back in I guess, 93 I had a Franklin planner. Did you ever have one of those? I was okay, I think I'm much older than you, but I
Monica Pitts 7:25
I've heard of them, though I remember, wait for the thing, but I just have, like, my, you know,
Andrea Johnson 7:31
yeah, okay. So they were, like, a big six ring binder, and this then Stephen Covey bought them out and we started doing now, it's called Franklin Cubby. And there, if you need a really intense planner like that, it's great. One of the things that taught me, though, was how to be intentional about my growth, how to be how to do the things I wanted to do, and how to lay out for myself what he called the governing values. And this is from 1993 it is laminated with packing tape, as we used to do back then and and the very top one was freedom for me, and that has I have learned about myself and dug deep to see how it's really more autonomy of thought or freedom of thought. But that was the start for me. And then when I was reintroduced to Maxwell, because, like did all kinds of when you're working for a big institution. They give you all kinds of opportunities to learn and grow, and some of them require it. Some of them are just like, this would be great go do this. But none of them really were a lot of personal growth. They were a lot of, how do you build your skills and how do you know? Some of them are emotional intelligence, but not much on leadership, until I got into management roles, and then I realized I can't really implement a lot of this here. I am a manager. I'm keeping the status quo. I'm making sure the trains run on time. I can't do this. And so when I was introduced to Maxwell, I realized this is something I want to do on a full time basis. And the more I dug in, and the more I learned about myself, the more I realized, oh, it's deeper than just leadership principles. I have to know me. And that's when, when, when I lost my mother, all of that started. It was a bit like a crucible. And put myself in there and said, All right, we're gonna we're gonna get down to this. And that's when it really started. And about two years ago, I Well, August of 21 so I left the University of Virginia to do this full time, and now I work inside organizations and teams, helping them understand how to communicate better and function better. And when I work with individual clients, I work not exclusively, but very the big bulk of that is core values work, helping them understand it, both through digital course and through hybrid coaching.
Monica Pitts 9:38
I love the core values work because I feel like they're the thing that can guide you through your marketing messaging. They can guide you through any type of like visual element you want to put out into your marketing. But then it also helps you make decisions within your business, right, like when you're thinking about, do I hire another person? What? What type of person should they be? Are they going to fit in? With the team, they all have to have, like we found, like overlapping core values in the mayecreate team. And we're like, if you don't have a value of problem solving, you're not going to fit in with us, because we we build websites and they break because the universe is ever changing, and web design changes faster than anyone ever thought it would. And it's incredible, right? But we like to solve problems, so it doesn't bother us that they're ever changing like that's kind of what makes us happy. And I really love your top core value of freedom, because for us, it's actually creativity, which we like, kind of equate to freedom, like the ability to solve a problem however you want, the ability to have whatever thought you want, and just the ability to like attack it from any angle, with like, outside the box, inside the box, whichever one is going to work right now. And so I feel like, you call it freedom, we call it creativity, but I feel like it's the same thing, right? And so that's really cool, that we have that in common. So clearly we understand what core values are, because we're Dorking out about it right now. So let's take a step back. Can you define for our audience, like, what core values are for those who don't know?
Andrea Johnson 11:21
Sure I, I am one of those people who makes the distinction between core values and business values, and sometimes they overlap, but sometimes they don't. I am going to tell you that core values are not outside yourself those. They are the they are the principles and priorities that guide your actions. They are the foundational non negotiables and convictions that you have that helps you navigate all the stuff outside of you. It helps you decide whether or not I can align with my company's values. It helps you know whether or not it's going to be a good fit for you all while maintaining your own identity and authority and keeping that right at the forefront. When we do that, we present the best of ourselves to others and to the situation. So from for my work, and the definition that I do is I start with people's internal core values, and then if they're an entrepreneur or a small business owner, we then take those and say, Well, how does that translate into my business? Because a lot of people and when I do workshops, I just tell people straight up, if you tell me that family, faith and freedom are your top three core values? I'm going to say, well, one of them might be because everything else is kind of outside of you and there, or it's a belief system that you might change because the we don't like to think about that, but we change our beliefs. So core values are not family. My core values of belonging and authenticity and freedom of thought show up in my family in the sense that they they understand that mom is going to think different. They understand that mom is going to think through whatever's going on there. And my husband knows not to say to me things like, wouldn't you agree that he knows? Don't say that he knows. And it took me when I figured that out, it's like, that's a boundary that I was able to set very simply and say, let's do it differently. So now he says, What do you think about this? And then we have a conversation. But then I feel like I can be my authentic self, and I belong, and they belong. So that's a basic definition that I how I work with core values. Because a lot of people want to say, well, it's just my business values. I'm like, well, kind of that's your mission and vision, you know, so hearing the way you talk about them, I think there's plenty of overlap in the way we talk about them.
Monica Pitts 13:32
Yeah. And I actually had an employee ask me the other day, but what if I don't have all the core values of the company? And I was like, Well, you don't have to have all the core values of the company. That's that's not how it works. But there are certain places where I feel like you're going to want to overlap with the core values of the company and the other people that you work with, or it will make the working situation it's itchy, like it's not going to be super comfortable there. And
Andrea Johnson 14:01
I went back. I went back to my former University and did like a kickoff for a training program for research administrators. And one of the people putting it together said, if you could tell them how to align their core values with ours, that'd be great.
Monica Pitts 14:17
Yeah. No,
Andrea Johnson 14:19
know your bias in this particular situation, however, what I can do is help them see how they can still honor their core values. And I think that's a word I prefer using, because a lot of people think, well, if I don't line up and you know exactly, and get on this, you know, trajectory, then I'm not aligned. I don't think that's really what any of us are asking for we're asking that our our core values, can be honored in a situation for me as a free thinker, always thinking outside the box, always looking for a new solution, always looking for something bigger and better, and telling my new staff members that this is a launch pad for you, not a landing pad, only to have the chief get real upset when they leave after two years, after I've grown them. To leave. That's a conflict, right? That's they need steady. They need something that's more reliable. They need dedication and commitment. And that's that's where they kind of can't be honored at the same time. And you might call that a misalignment, but I can say I want all those things, and I can say I align with that, but I think it's really more whether or not we can honor our core values. If a staff member can't honor a core value of the business of being creative, well, why are they wanting to do this anyway? Yeah, well,
Monica Pitts 15:32
and that's the thing like when we interview folks, and we were actually just talking with our business coach about it the other day, and we were looking at the humans that we have that are that just filled in so incredibly, that we all just kind of knit together and we are like a family. And so we were looking and we're like, what, what are these people like? What are, what is their background? What is, what are their core values? How does that work? And then we were like, Okay, so when we're interviewing now, we need to ask questions or role play and go through situations that will help us see whether or not we overlap in the right places. We don't all have to overlap everywhere, okay, like that doesn't that's not no, my husband and I don't even overlap everywhere. That's not what it is. But there's, like, these root things about us that are not changing about us that allow us to, like, navigate through being married, then being parents of young children, then being parents of teenagers, you know, together and not like, be so far away. Our interests have changed, like all the stories have changed. But these, these core things, they say the same. And so we were trying to think of interview questions, which is good i And that's good to like Mark, uncover super smart uncover those things, because they don't all have to match. But like you said, if, if, if you don't value creativity, then as a designer or as a developer, and working in our team of problem solvers, you are going to hate your life like it's going to suck, because we're going to look at you and be like, so figure it out, and you've got to like that problem
Andrea Johnson 17:03
solving, if problem solving, you're not willing to get on board with that, you know, then, and it may be that you have a curiosity as a as a core value, or you have, you know, something like that, that actually enables you to align or to still honor that core value of problem solving, then you're in it. That's in a great place. Yeah, they don't have to be the same. The same words. They can be a different word with a different definition, but as long as you say, Oh, well, that's how this puzzle piece fits in, you're in great shape,
Monica Pitts 17:29
yeah. And this is how we did our goals this year. Actually. We started with our core core values, and then we, like found. So then we would set our goals, and then we had to match our goals back to our core values and like, draw lines between them to make sure that, like, the goal that we had set actually made sense based on the core values that we had set earlier in the day. And it was really cool. And a lot of people, like I said, had over overlapping core values, but we just called them different words. And it was really incredible to hear everybody's words, because I was like, Oh my gosh, maybe I like that word. I like that word better than my word. But luckily, it mean. It meant the same thing.
Andrea Johnson 18:08
Awesome. I love this makes my heart very happy.
Monica Pitts 18:12
I made a picture. It's now the background on my monitor. Like, smart I'm trying to gad myself. Yeah. Yes. So I now, you know, I'm telling the story of how may create uses our core values to set our goals and work together as a team. But core values also are understanding them are also the key to having the impact that you desire in your life and your business and your community, and that's one thing that you work with people on. So how does knowing your core values help you, like, move in the right direction to get the results that you want out of the activities that you're doing in your life?
Andrea Johnson 18:52
Well, I think we touched on it a little bit already with this whole that's not me, right? I spent all this time realizing, you know, in in a career, and moving up and doing the right thing, and realizing that's, that's not the life I want to live, that's not, these are not the principles that are important to me. I actually took a job once and promised that I would start a master's an MBA program within six months of doing it, because we all have these lies that we tell ourselves. We work harder if we work more hours, and I'll get the recognition I need, and I'll find the fulfillment I'm looking for. No, you'll just get better and and you'll have a bad attitude. I nearly got fired to my first job for that man. So it was like, You need to come in at eight and leave five. But the other one is, we need, you know, we think we need to get all these, these degrees or certifications. And if you look at my resume, I got plenty of them certifications, and I even did the one for research administration where you have to know all the NIH guidelines, and it's just terrible, these federal things. But because for somebody who details are not my thing, it was really a challenge. But we tell ourselves that, and then we realized this is not a path I wanted to be on. Why did. Promise that, because we're constantly thinking that some kind of success is for us out there, but it's outside of us, and it's you know, so we're doing all these other things. So what we want to do is move from putting other people's principles and priorities to define our own leadership style, because we do that too. We say, what are the leadership principles I need to lead with? And, you know, I'm a Maxwell person. He's got some great leadership principles, but if you don't know you, you can't implement them. Principles are for implementation of what you already have, right? So when you know who you really are, then it becomes sustainable. Then you can actually say, Oh, well, I can implement that principle here and here and here. It gives us you. It gives you the authority to act within your own convictions. When you know who you are, you don't have to apologize anymore. I just got finished talking with another podcaster about how we apologize for our boundaries. Why? If? If, no, I don't apologize to anybody for the footprint of my house, right? It's like, this is, that's where the front door is. You knock on it. The doorbell is broken, so you have to knock. I mean, it's like, I don't apologize. I mean, other than that, but I don't usually apologize for that. Why would I apologize for who I am as a person? Now, granted, if I'm not aware and I'm doing things, you know, but it gives us that authority, which then means that we can show up in a way that's really effective. It means that I get to enjoy and be empowered by my work, even talking about your staff, knowing that they're not just doing things that they like to do, but they're doing things that are in line with what the company wants, and will help the company flourish and grow. But it also, like I said, it gives us the confidence to honor our boundaries, but it also gives us the ability to facilitate change, both in ourselves and in others. All that gives us the ability to feel understood and seen, and it just to me, that's the kind of life that I'm looking for, and I can't imagine why we wouldn't want it.
Monica Pitts 21:57
I 100% agree. It took me a long time to understand. And I like when I so when I got pregnant with my first kid, I was like, I'm gonna be a mom. And I thought, mom is mom? Well, no, that's not actually true, because there's no actual definition for mom. Mom is whatever mom you are with, whatever family you have and whatever decisions you make. And man, it took me a while to like, understand that I was not going to be a different person because I was a mom. I was just gonna figure out how to do this role as a mom, and I can be whatever kind of mom that I am, and it doesn't have to look like everybody else. And it was tricky, because there were all these conceptions coming from the outside in. Here's what a business owner is supposed to be like, Here's what a mom is supposed to be like, well, a mom in my extended family doesn't work mine either, and I'm a business owner, so how did that work? Right? I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm feeling because I'm working. But then I thought, no, that's not it. I can just like, adjust and and find it. And I think as a business too, it was really tricky, because we thought we felt like, if we put making money as a goal of ours as a business, then we were going to be forsaking our core values as people, because as people, like property and money are not things that we cared a lot about, we care much more about, like, you know, creativity, right? And so, so then one of the one day, we were just like, we became business grown ups, and we were like, we are going to make money.
Andrea Johnson 23:37
Do your core values. You can't live them out in a way that benefits you or anybody else. If you don't have any money, there's a certain amount of we don't. We're not throwing logic out the window here, folks, I mean, but isn't it amazing, Monica, how we all get stuck in these traps? Yeah, we just never we. We don't even realize that this is part of our I call them our ABCs, our assumptions, beliefs and conditioning. And we just don't realize how deep they go. Yeah, and, you know, I mean, my son is adopted, and I was constantly looking my husband's a pastor of small churches, so it's like, there's not a lot, there's not a lot of money in that particular and so we tried for a while, and finally, was like, You know what? I actually really like, I really like being a professional woman. This is how I'm designed to be. This is I show up. Well, I'm an I'm a good I'm a good role model for people. I'm a good mentor for people. And I really love teaching. Why would I not? My husband is really good. He did the dad thing like at home for two years, and we're actually three and almost three years I didn't do the toddler days. Well, I just don't. Now that he's 15, I'm getting to where it's like, we're having logical Conversations. I'm all in, yeah, you know, it's like, oh, let me. And he's also into Formula and racing. Yes, it works, you know, it all works really well that way. But being able to embrace. Who You Are means that you get to show up for your family in a way that they get because mine's adopted, so he's not genetically like me, but even so, the nurturing that happens in there, that's your family unit, you know? I mean, those are the things that are important and you want to be able to live your life in a way that that doesn't, that doesn't create people that need therapy later. That doesn't create people who need you. I mean, and, you know, we joke about that, but it's real. I mean, I think every mother goes to that. I was like, am I setting them up for lots of bills and therapy sessions, you know? But I don't want to do that right. I want to be aware, and I want to be authentic, and I want to be able to teach my son how to do that too. And
Monica Pitts 25:41
I think we can do the same thing as businesses. I really do. I find a lot of businesses we are afraid of going outside the normal marketing, like guardrails, and actually showing up as ourselves in our businesses. And especially if you run a small business, you are the reason that people do business with you so you don't need to look like everyone else or be like everyone else. You should be yourself like why else would they be working with you? Right? Unless you know, no, that's it. So I feel sad whenever I see the same stuff over and over again, down to even the same stinking color scheme, and it's like, the same way that we as people can embrace our core values and, you know, live authentically. I feel like, as businesses, we can operate authentically, like, when a business who I we don't that doesn't overlap our core values, asks us if they can't, if we can build a website for them. We're like, No, we're sorry we don't build and it's not that I am looking down on you for running that business. It's that that's not the we're not going to do that website because, because we get to pick who we work with, and it's okay, right?
Andrea Johnson 26:54
Yeah. Are you sure? Are you sure? I'm
Monica Pitts 26:57
sure. I'm sure, the more that I pick, the happier we are, really, because then we get to work with people who respect us and what we do, and then we respect them and what they do, and then it's like this great synergy that that happens. So as a company, is the process for uncovering your core values a lot. Is it different than than individuals like, how do you facilitate that journey for a company to help them find their core values?
Andrea Johnson 27:27
Well, I've never actually done that particular process, but I have done it inside of teams. Okay, where? Um, where? I started with the manager of the team, and they did their core values, and we got them pretty set and pretty solid, and it just started out of the blue. It's really, you know, you got something good when your customer or your client actually takes it and, like, says, Can we do this with it and multiplies it? Yeah, then you're like, I mean, I get called chills thinking about it, this young woman, she's just amazing. And so she said, can I take this to my team? I'm like, oh yes, please do. Right. So she then kind of took a more simplified version, and the team kind of did their own core values, and then they came together as a team and did exactly what you said. They looked at where they overlapped, and they looked at how there might be words and values that they could set up as a team, that they could that they could all agree on. And now whenever, and this is in a veterinary hospital. Okay, yeah, so this is pecs. And, I mean, these are people who have high emotion because they're dealing with animals all the time. And so now she says that whenever something happens, or when there's conflict, she says to the team where, what are our core values? They're up on the wall. You know, this is who we've said we're, we are going to be, and she said it has made all the difference in the world for them. But the other example would be for a solopreneur like me, right? It's like, when I talk to marketing people, they're like, Well, what is your marketing strategy? I kind of don't have one, but I actually do. My marketing strategy is to be on 200 podcasts this year, because I know that when I can talk with you and I can share my passion, I do a really good job of telling you and getting my visibility done and telling you, because I am cliftonstrengths, I'm number one relator, number 34 consistency. So I have tried all the social media strategies. We do have a podcast, stuff that goes out on a regular basis, and I might go for two months before I post something else, right? But even though there's a podcast stuff out there, but I know myself, and it is more important for me to be authentic than to be consistent social media wise. Yeah, now, when I get to a place where I feel like I can hire somebody to handle all that, I see the value in it. It's just, this is where I am right now, and I know that this is as a business, this is what I can do. And I was just telling my husband at in the break between interviews today, I feel like I woke up this morning I thought, I think this might be sustainable for me, which means going back to what I said in the definition, it's sustainable practices, right? It's it. Is implementing those things in a sustainable way. But I did have one client who took her core values, and though she's a solopreneur, she took them and she redefined them and put them into statements that became her mission and vision. And that's another way that companies can use them, especially if you're a small company, maybe you have a part time, maybe you're like me, and you have like a couple of friends that help you out, or you have a couple of part timers that work with you, or a VA or something. You can roll them out that way in a mission and vision statement that makes it very clear this is what you stand for as a company.
Monica Pitts 30:32
I think you can also use them to edit. I know that's going to sound strange, but like if you go out, if you know what your core values are? You like, write them down on a piece of paper so you can see it there. Like, really understand what they are. And then you go out and you read the content on your website, and then ask yourself, Does that say this? Like, because that's what it should say. It should say, you know, honesty or dependability or flexibility or freedom or creativity, whatever it is like it should embody that, and if it doesn't, then you should edit it so that way you don't have to actually use that specific word, although you totally can. And I have a lot of clients too that use it, especially on their careers page, because they're trying to recruit team members and they want to bring in people that understand that they really value their employees and their staff, and that that that staff is actually one of the most important assets that these people have as a company, that they see that. But also you can use, like the pictures on your website to show that too, because if it's your staff is your number one asset, and that is your number one core value is like, some word that relates to that, right? And you don't have any pictures of any people anywhere on your site. How are you saying that? Like, what are you saying, right? I don't know. You know what I mean. Or if you say that, you're super positive and uplifting, and that's one of the things that you're trying to convey all the time, but you have pictures that make people feel sad, or colors that make people feel sad, it doesn't make sense. And people do this stuff all the time.
Andrea Johnson 32:09
I know, I tried putting yellow is about my favorite yellow and orange are my favorite colors. I just it's very happy, you know? And it's like, yellow does not work on a website. Like I even tried doing a couple of social media posts. I'm like, This is terrible. Why would I do this? It doesn't even remotely Look sunny. It just looks and it looks like caution tape, yeah. So, you know, I mean, just even thinking about, no, I want people to feel like they belong, right? I want you to feel like you belong with me. Therefore, mine is very My website is probably not perfect, and, you know, don't go do an audit, but it's white and it has very simple stuff on it. I want it to feel like open and available to everybody, but it's still, you know, the pictures of me are very vibrant and colorful, because that's who I am. There's no toning it down,
Monica Pitts 32:54
yeah, and I love that too, because that is being authentic to you. Because sometimes our brand is not super colorful, because all the photos are really, really colorful. And you'll notice that, especially on like, e commerce sites and stuff like that, because they'll have really bright colors of their products, and everything else is just black and white. But it's okay. They still showed up colorful. It just they didn't have to have colored letters, you know, they could have colored pictures, and that's good, yeah.
Andrea Johnson 33:18
And I, you know, I thought that I wanted to do some, a lot of like, because Flamingo is my thing and pineapple is my thing, because pineapple is the welcome symbol internationally, okay? And as as I look at that, I'm like, You know what? No, I I'm the color, I'm the color here. And so it's like, that's how I wanted to do it. And so it turned out to be pretty simple. It's like, okay, well, that works, you know? But I mean, it always needs tweaking. And I, you know, the more I the more I talk to people like this, the more I learn about how I want to reflect it in my stuff, too. So I may have to go take a look at it.
Monica Pitts 33:50
It's okay. Everybody should read the stuff on their website, at least every so often. Yeah. Okay, so any tips before we wrap up on other ways to use your core values in your marketing. You've touched on so many already. I don't know if you have any more floating around in your head right now, but I just want to make sure we get them all aired. So
Andrea Johnson 34:13
yeah, I mean, I kind of shared how I show up, the way I do, and why I do, and I think that understanding who you are is the very best way to show up as you and you know when you are the most comfortable. I used to get nervous in front of the camera. I used to get nervous in an interview. If you have to do any client work or customer work, you need to be really comfortable in who you are. So you need to know exactly what that is and and that, I think when you do that, then you can show up in a way that allows you to shine through exactly what how you need to so and it doesn't happen overnight. Some people can, I always share this. There are a few unicorns out there that have honored their core values from day one. I don't know if it's just because they have a steel constitution or what, but they're just good at it. Uh, me, I allowed mine to get buried under a lot of shoulds and woods and coulds and autos and all that kind of stuff. And so I it took a long time for me to do that work, to pull them out and to understand them. And the deeper I go, the more refined they become. But other people, you know, there's everybody in the spectrum, you know, they fall somewhere on that spectrum, so give yourself the grace and the time to figure them out, and whatever it takes for you to know you is always worth it, always every single time.
Monica Pitts 35:30
I always envied Abilene, who is my youngest child, because she just is very authentically herself, and she would come out of her bedroom wearing all of her favorite clothes at one time. And I was like, Oh my gosh. I just like, I want to do that. You look incredible. Like, look at all you, and everything that you're wearing is is your favorite, and you must just feel awesome. And my husband looks at me and he's like, you're gonna let her out of the house like that. I'm like, Heck, yeah, I am.
Andrea Johnson 36:04
We joke. We're in Virginia, and we've had like, 80 degree weather two days ago, and then this morning, it was 36 and I think it's done that for you guys there too, a little bit. But my son is a freshman in high school, and he's like, taken to wearing the beanie with the earbuds in it, and he wears, like, the loungey style pants and the hoodie, the Under Armor hoodie. And my husband said he's going out in his uniform. And I'm like, what are we talking about? He says, Where's the same thing? If it's 80 or 36 that's just his uniform, and he is comfortable in who he is. And it's like, do you care? And I'm like, Why would I care? I played that game for too long. I I literally wore the same clothes, or the the uniform of the job. It's like the heels, and, you know, they tried to tell us to wear hose. And I'm like, I'm not doing that. And, I mean, I did for a while, you know, with lots of control top in it, you know, to make everything fit perfectly. And I had suits. And finally, I just said, you know, that's not, I mean, I'm much more of a like, almost preppy meets bohemian. I just got to do my own thing. Yeah? So when we're willing to do that, we're more comfortable in our own skin. We don't come across as salesy, if you're talking about marketing, right? Yeah, when you are uncomfortable with what you're doing, you are going to come across as smart as sleazy and salesy, and everybody's gonna pick up on that energy. And so the more I do just me, the better it gets.
Monica Pitts 37:27
I agree we actually but it's weird, because I love that you're talking about the baby steps. Because I don't know how many years ago it was six, seven, where we were like, We're not gonna dress up anymore to come to work, because it doesn't make sense. All of our clients show up in hoodies and, you know, T shirts the end. That's what they were at work. And that's great, because that that that's them, right? And we love it. We never think anything of it. I don't think anything of it until you're like, armpit hair is sticking out. And then I'm like, Well, that was that maybe went a little too far. That guy went a little too far, like he had his like he was in one of those gym tank tops, and like his pecs are starting to stick out. And I was like, Oh, we have the same rules as for girls and boys in this office. We don't have we all cover up our boobs in here. It makes everyone uncomfortable when they're hanging out. But then it was just last year that Stacy and I got rid of our dress clothes. We had them, we kept them, and we I could not let go of them. And then finally, I just packed them all up and took them to Goodwill, and I had it. I felt like I had to get permission from my husband. I was like, Mike I, and it wasn't like permission, but it was like emotionally, right? I was like, Mike I, yeah. And getting rid of all my dress clothes, but what happens if I need a suit? And he looked at me and he goes, baby, if you need a suit, we need to buy you a new one, because you don't even need to wear that thing that's hanging in that closet for all those years that was from, like, when you did the fair Queen pageant at age 18, you're 44 like, this is ridiculous. He's like, Let's get your new suit. You deserve it. If you if you need one, you deserve a new one. And I was like, thank you. And oh, that's up to Goodwill. They went
Andrea Johnson 39:22
home well, and I was thinking that I had to have certain types of professional looking clothes to speak at chambers. And I do not just podcasts, but I do networking, and I do local, free workshops, because I just do better that way, and I don't need to have like, an ad campaign running if I'm doing that, because that's authentic to me, yeah. But I also realized I can show up in like I did this last week, in a bright orange Palazzo capris and a bohemian shirt, and joke about being an eye on the disc and being able to, like, kick my foot up and go see we were. Orange pants, and it made it so much more real. It made it and everybody loved it. And people showed up and, like, you know, their little labeled, whatever. I call them, golf shirts, you know, and the branded stuff or something. And nobody's wearing stuff like that anymore. Yeah, you know that, you know, unless you're in New York on suits, you know, I mean, or a banker and that kind of thing. Or is my husband a pastor? Yeah, he gets to wear a suit every so often. But it just doesn't. It's not worth it to not be you. It's just not, I mean, it kills your authenticity, it kills your impact. It's just don't do it. I
Monica Pitts 40:38
were to stop it. I wore a bright purple shirt and knee high cowboy boots to my to my talk last Friday, I was like, if you don't like my knee high cowboy boots or my bright purple shirt, don't invite me back. But everybody in the audience was not my customer leggings and sweatshirts. And I'm like, it doesn't matter. Like it everybody's so laid back. If I showed up in a suit, would you even trust me? You might not even trust me. I wouldn't trust myself, because that's not who I am. Okay? So I know that you have an activity in your marketing that works really, really well for you, and you will never stop doing it. You actually alluded to it earlier, and it aligns with your core values. So if there's one thing that you would never give up doing in your marketing, what would it be?
Andrea Johnson 41:27
Interviews? Interviews. I just, I just will not. I just, and part of it is I just like talking to people, yeah, even if you didn't want to know any of my secrets, if you didn't want to know any of my tips or tricks or any of the wisdom that I feel like I've gained over the last 57 years. If you don't want to know any of that, you just wanted to have a conversation, I'm in Yes, right? And that is what makes it a good, a good thing that I will never, ever let go of. Well,
Monica Pitts 41:50
and it aligns that your strengths are aligning with your assets, and that is what you should build your plan around. Is the thing that you are good at. You shouldn't hate your marketing. And if you do? You should do something else. Yes,
Andrea Johnson 42:02
agreed. So now I have permission from you. Yeah,
Monica Pitts 42:05
I'm giving everyone permission today. Um, so how can people connect with you?
Andrea Johnson 42:12
I am the intentional optimist, and you can find me. If you put that in Google. There's not many that are going to show up. It's you, it's me, pretty much, and I will respond to Andrea at the intentional optimist.com I will respond on LinkedIn and Instagram to DMS and don't, don't spam me, but I will respond to those because that's where I spend most of my time. If you message me on Facebook, I may or may not see it for three weeks. I just that's Facebook is a whole different world, and it's mostly for my personal stuff, yeah, but you know that's you can find me on YouTube. You can find me a podcast and tall and own it, but I'm, I'm the intentional optimist. You can find me,
Monica Pitts 42:49
and I've really enjoyed your podcast. Recently. You've been talking about all kinds of different communication and like personality, like systems and tools, and it's been really fun. So friends, if you're interested in anything from Enneagram to disc, there was another one too that you talked about
Andrea Johnson 43:08
started with disc, and I did working genius, which is processes inside teams, and that's really, really good. Then I did cliftonstrengths, yes, Enneagram and come out just this week, human design.
Monica Pitts 43:22
I love it. I love it. So it's like a complete resource for figuring out this stuff.
Andrea Johnson 43:26
And it's really nice. These are my coaches and stuff. So because it's free
Monica Pitts 43:30
and you can listen to it, and I know Andrea gives books that you can read to supplement the information, so it's like a great place to start. It's like a launch pad for figuring out you're cute. You know how it all comes together? So, yeah, I'm liking it. I'm like writing down the books. I'm like, this one, my team's going to read this one.
Andrea Johnson 43:50
So, and none of these are my books. I didn't write any of them, but I love your resource. I love, you know, I love helping other people find what they need.
Monica Pitts 43:58
And it shows, it shines through in what you're doing. So thank you for for all of that. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with us Andrea and thank you everybody who has been listening today, subscribe, subscribe to the podcast. Why would you do such a thing? Because then you'll know all about next week's episode, and we are going from big picture to very detail oriented in the next episode, and then my next episode, we're going to talk about how to create a QR code for your business card in two easy ways. Yes, talk about actionable and you'll have videos that show you how to do it because, man, I went to a trade show the other day, and I have a pile of business cards, and I realized that half of them don't have the right information on them, and that, and people are really confused about how QR codes work. So I mean, you know how to use it with your phone, but setting it up and getting the getting it set up the right way so it'll last forever is important, because we don't want to reprint everything all the time. So. That's when we're talking about them
Andrea Johnson 45:01
on my business card. Yes, you did. Okay. Look at you. I even have them on my slide decks. When I do for people to get something for, like, a free download or something i That's where I use them pay on the mat. I should have
Monica Pitts 45:13
them on my slide deck just for people to download the slide deck, because they're always like, you know?
Andrea Johnson 45:21
Yeah, this thing I did last week with the orange pants, one of my downloads, is a disc cheat sheet that gives them, like, even how to do it with your kids under the age of 10. And as soon as I said that, four people, like, whipped out their phones, give me that just like, Okay, I won't change the slide, because I
Monica Pitts 45:36
am guessing my kids is disc right now. Yeah, but, man, I'm so glad that I know all that I know about communication, because it makes it much easier to manage expectations and clearly communicate with my children so that way they can grow up to be functional, well adjusted adults. That's all I want. Okay, so thank you once again for joining us. Subscribe to the podcast, and before I let you go, I want to give one more shout out to our mayecreate resource sponsor Marketing on a Shoestring. It is the free beginners mini course to marketing on a budget. It lays the foundation of creating the right messaging to connect with your potential customer and prime them to buy. It unlocks the four part framework for making confident, budget, conscious marketing decisions, so you can stop second guessing and get a clear path forward, and it outlines the highest converting tactics that I know of for new marketers, so you don't have to waste time on strategies that will never reach your goals. Hop on over to you. Mayecreate.com for instant access. That's y, o, u, M, a, y, E, C, R, E, A, T, e.com, you.
