From Architecture to Advertising: Lisa's Wild Career Pivot
Today, we're diving into the fascinating journey of Lisa Colantuano, a powerhouse in the agency search consultancy scene. Right off the bat, Lisa shares her unexpected career path, which took her from aspiring architect to launching her own businesses, including the innovative Access Confidential. She’s got some golden nuggets to share about entrepreneurship—like how often it’s about solving problems rather than just chasing profits. As we swap stories, we explore the ups and downs of running a business, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people, and how to maintain your sanity amidst the chaos of entrepreneurship. So, grab your favorite drink, kick back, and get ready for a lively conversation that’s sure to inspire anyone who’s ever thought about taking the plunge into their own venture!
Lisa Colantuano shares her whirlwind journey from architecture to advertising in this engaging episode. The conversation kicks off with Lisa recounting her college days, where her struggles with math led her down a creative path into media planning. She humorously reflects on how her initial career plans went wildly off course, ultimately leading her to a fulfilling role at AAR Partners. What stands out is her ability to pivot and adapt, qualities she attributes to the unpredictable nature of life and career. Her venture into launching Classical Cradle, a lullaby CD for infants, showcases her entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to embrace new challenges, even when they veer off from her original plan.
Throughout the episode, Lisa delves into the intricacies of agency searches and the vital role that personal connections play in this often impersonal industry. She emphasizes the necessity of understanding the individuals behind business titles and crafting approaches that resonate on a personal level, rather than relying on generic outreach. This insight is particularly valuable for anyone in the creative or advertising fields. Lisa’s journey highlights the importance of empathy and connection in business, illustrating how her innovative solutions emerged from recognizing industry gaps and her desire to create something meaningful.
Beyond her professional insights, Lisa opens up about the realities of entrepreneurship—the constant juggling act of responsibilities and the often romanticized notion of being your own boss. She candidly discusses the challenges of work-life balance and the commitment it takes to nurture a business. Her reflections are peppered with humor and a touch of vulnerability, making her journey relatable and inspiring. As Lisa emphasizes the significance of finding joy in your work, she reminds listeners that passion and purpose are what truly drive success. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone looking to carve out their own path in the business world.
Takeaways:
- Navigating a career can be a winding road, often leading us to unexpected destinations and opportunities.
- It's crucial to solve real problems when starting a business; that's where true innovation happens.
- Understanding your target audience is key; personalized communication trumps generic outreach every time.
- Entrepreneurship requires more than just passion; financial planning and risk assessment are essential for success.
- Embracing the journey means recognizing that it's not just about the destination, but also about the lessons learned along the way.
- In business, helping others can fuel your own passion and provide a sense of purpose in what you do.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- AAR Partners
- Access Confidential
- Young Arubicam
- Philip Morris
- Classical Cradle
- DDB
- Y and R
- Stallone's
- Bell Atlantic
- 9x
- Verizon
- Kaplan Phela Group
- Jesus Calling
- The Elements of Us
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Hi, everybody.
Speaker B:Parnell Woodard with another episode of the Pivot Point.
Speaker B:Today, I'm very excited to bring to you a guest and a colleague of mine from a number of years ago, Lisa Colantuano.
Speaker B:I hope I got that right.
Speaker A:Very well.
Speaker B:And Lisa is with aa AAR Partners.
Speaker B:And we'll talk a little bit about her background in a minute.
Speaker B: rted her own business back in: Speaker B:A business called Access Confidential.
Speaker B:But we'll talk about that in a little bit.
Speaker B:So, Lisa, give me, take a, take a minute.
Speaker B:Give me kind of a little backdrop on, on yourself and how you got into the, the agency search side of things.
Speaker A:Gosh, that's more than a minute.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:All right, let me see if I can sum this up.
Speaker A:So believe it or not.
Speaker A:Oh, gosh, I went, I went years ago, went to college for architecture and somehow wound up in advertising.
Speaker A:I'm not really sure how that happened other than that I couldn't do the math for architecture and I was going to go into the creative side of things.
Speaker A:So I really wanted to be a writer.
Speaker A:Believe it or not.
Speaker A:Somehow I wound up in media planning.
Speaker A:I'm telling you, my whole like, career path.
Speaker A:I, I had something planned and totally something else went on.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Can get a little crazy.
Speaker A:Yes, exactly.
Speaker A:So everything I planned went completely 1 180.
Speaker A:So it is what it is.
Speaker A:You know, you make plans and God laughs.
Speaker A:So there you go.
Speaker A:Then I wound up in media planning at Young Arubicam when it was Rest in Peace Y and R.
Speaker A:But I did media planning.
Speaker A:In fact, I did Prince planning for Philip Morris.
Speaker A:I'm really starting to date myself now.
Speaker A:And then from there I left there to start, believe it or not, I started a little lullaby cd, a business in terms of recording a lullaby CD for infants which still exists today called Classical Cradle.
Speaker A:I play the piano and I decided I wanted to create a lullaby CD for infants and sell the cd.
Speaker A:And so I did.
Speaker A:I left Y and R to finish a master's degree program and at the same time get this CD off the ground.
Speaker A:And it was a lot of fun, a lot more work than I anticipated as you never really think about everything when you go into business or start a business.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:That's for sure.
Speaker A:And then I.
Speaker A:Oh, gosh, I don't know.
Speaker A:One.
Speaker A:I think it was.
Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it was: Speaker A:Long story short, a student in one of my classes that I teaching, I stock College for 16 years, gave me, gave my resume to the head of HR at DDB at the time.
Speaker A:And Vicki, who was wonderful, met with me and said, I'd love to hire you right now, but we're just not hiring.
Speaker A:Everything's frozen.
Speaker A:And everything was frozen.
Speaker A:You have to remember, this was.
Speaker A:We were in a terrible downturn.
Speaker A:And I just kept getting that same thing.
Speaker A:Even Y and R.
Speaker A:I said, we.
Speaker A:We'd take you back in a second, but I just can't right now.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So I kept hitting that, hitting that, hitting that.
Speaker A:And then finally, Vicki had said, look, I know a woman that has an agency search consultancy.
Speaker A:She knows all the agencies and all the players and what's going on.
Speaker A:And if there's anybody that knows when somebody might be hiring, it would be Leslie.
Speaker A:I shrugged my shoulders and said, okay, fine, I'll meet with Leslie.
Speaker A:I met with Leslie.
Speaker A:I can't even express the polarizing personality that Leslie has within 20 minutes of me saying five words and her 500 words, I got a job.
Speaker A:And so she had said, come and work here, and the only reason why I'm hiring you is because.
Speaker A:And she circled the classical cradle CD and said, it's not about your experience at Y and R.
Speaker A:I don't need that.
Speaker A:I need somebody who's innovative and can think and can solve problems and business challenges.
Speaker A:And that's exactly what I did when I created a CD and started that little side business, if you will.
Speaker A:And that's how it started, quite frankly.
Speaker A:Not a clue what the hell she did.
Speaker A:Not a clue.
Speaker A:Okay, I got a job.
Speaker A:I don't know what she does.
Speaker A:I have no idea what I'm doing.
Speaker A:But okay, that was as of this June 4th, I think it is.
Speaker A:It will be 24 years.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:So that was.
Speaker A:That was at AAR, and that was AAR Partners, which is an agency search consultancy.
Speaker A:AAR Partners was, believe it or not, the long.
Speaker A: unded by a woman in London in: Speaker A:And it was actually called Advertising Agency Registry.
Speaker A:And it was a very clever idea, which was go back in time, no Internet, no real computers.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:How do you get information other than red books or the trades?
Speaker A:So she had a great idea, which was, you know what?
Speaker A:I'll collect all information from agencies.
Speaker A:I'll store everything, and I will be a shortcut to the shortlist so marketers can come to me as a, you know, a qualified resource where they can come in the door.
Speaker A:They know what they're looking for, have a sense of what they're looking for.
Speaker A:And I will be the library center and then I will be the, the knowledge base that I can help them get to that shortlist in a quick confidential manner.
Speaker A:That's how it started.
Speaker A:That's how AAR started.
Speaker A:And then she brought the idea here to the United States.
Speaker A: In: Speaker A: uite frankly, I Forgot it was: Speaker A:So thank you for, remember, for reminding me how fast time goes.
Speaker A:But that's, yeah, that, that's, that's sort of the background and how I got to where I am and a long, long, long far cry from architecture.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And being a copywriter.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: mpany, Emerge, it was June of: Speaker B:It was, you know, three months before 9, 11, but.
Speaker B:And you have a different path into that kind of that entrepreneurial space because you, you weren't working at the time, you were looking for something.
Speaker B:And you know, when I work with people and help them understand and learn about business ownership and entrepreneurialism, everybody's at different places.
Speaker B:Some people are out of work and looking, some people are in corporate America and they're just frustrated.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:They're done.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:What's next for me?
Speaker B:So, you know, as you think about Access Confidential a little bit, was there, was there something that maybe kind of triggered you to say, we need to build this tool or this resource or this asset because the industry didn't have it.
Speaker B:What was the driver behind the creation of.
Speaker A:Well, listen, I think that's the driver.
Speaker A:Solving a problem.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Solving some kind of problem or if it's something that pisses you off so much, Right.
Speaker A:And you have a better solution, that's the impetus for starting anything, starting a business, creating a product.
Speaker A:I mean, why did I start the cd?
Speaker A:Why did I record the cd?
Speaker A:I should say, because there was really nothing out there that had classical acoustic piano music in the form of lullaby medleys.
Speaker A:And that solved a problem because there's a profound impact on child development when they listen to acoustical classical music.
Speaker A:So that's what that was about in terms of Access Confidential.
Speaker A:Yeah, there was a problem.
Speaker A:The problem was there was nothing.
Speaker A:I mean, we competed with red Books and we competed with the list at the time, but there was nothing that really had more, in other words, going into a database to get client contact.
Speaker A:So agencies are always looking to prospect and pitch.
Speaker A:That's new business.
Speaker A:But it's tough to get these names and titles and email addresses and phone numbers and what have you.
Speaker A:It's just not that simple.
Speaker A:And there are some, there were some ways about it.
Speaker A:Remember, there was no LinkedIn.
Speaker A:Yeah, there was, there was no.
Speaker A:All of these databases, right.
Speaker B:And Yahoo and all that.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, there was.
Speaker A:Internet existed for, I don't know, 10 years already, give or take, but, but there was nothing that of the sort of what we have today, nothing.
Speaker A:So the list was there and the list was doing something very similar, but it was missing or we felt that what was missing was a much more comprehensive view.
Speaker A:In other words, you don't just email somebody.
Speaker A:You have to have a sense of who they are in order to hopefully grab their attention.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:This notion of these mass emails and dear Joe Blow, or you know, dear cmo, no, it's just you're not going to get anywhere.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:They know, they know they're a number and they feel uncomfortable with that or they just feel that you don't care about them, put it that way.
Speaker A:They're just a number.
Speaker A:So we decided, all right, we want a comprehensive data center.
Speaker A:We want not just the titles and names and email addresses, but we want to give you a dossier on that person.
Speaker A:Who is that person?
Speaker A:What's their.
Speaker A:A little bit of their background, a couple of lines about them.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh, I can't even remember all the details anymore.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:That's 20 years ago.
Speaker A:But it got into a much more broad, comprehensive offering rather than just contact information and that, and that's, that's how it started.
Speaker A:And of course, like any good idea, it blossoms from there.
Speaker A:Then we got into all these reports to help agencies when to reach out.
Speaker A:It was all about timing, right?
Speaker A:And so we ended up building out, gosh, eight, nine, ten, a dozen different types of reports within the data center to help agencies figure out what's the best time to reach out or when, when might there be something brewing for them.
Speaker A:It's not just about, okay, we hired a new cmo.
Speaker A:Everybody runs after the new cmo.
Speaker A:And that's not the best way to prospect.
Speaker A:I mean, we all know that.
Speaker A:We all fall into the trap, but we all know that.
Speaker A:So we started building out reports that was based on certain variables that led to more opportunities at the right time.
Speaker A:Okay, so it Just blew up into a lot more than what we had planned on.
Speaker A:Which is another interesting thing that happens when you start a business.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You sort of have this one vision of, okay, I'm going to solve this problem.
Speaker A:Then it just keeps exploding.
Speaker A:You almost have to learn when to.
Speaker B:Say when and also when to say no.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Where.
Speaker B:Because you can extend yourself too far in certain circumstances.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, you know, so you moved.
Speaker B:Out of the agency world a little bit of that kind of corporate security blanket.
Speaker B:Did you miss that at any point in time, did you miss the security of the, you know and I know nowadays the agency world.
Speaker B:And even 20 years ago or 30 years ago in the agency world, there wasn't a whole lot of security per se, but there was some.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You felt like if you were in or Y and R or any of the big agencies, you had a certain level of security.
Speaker B:Now you're out kind of on your own.
Speaker B:Did you miss that security?
Speaker B:Did it scare you?
Speaker A:I remember seeing this question and thinking, I am such a risk averse person.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker A:I really, truly am.
Speaker A:Like, I can't stand being in the market.
Speaker A:It makes me nauseous.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So in fact, my financial advisor argues with me, we have argument.
Speaker A:I'm like, no, just take me out, take me out, take me out.
Speaker A:I don't want to be in it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I'm that risk averse.
Speaker A:Yet somebody said to me, so let me understand something.
Speaker A:You're this risk averse but at the same time you ran a business, you own your own company.
Speaker A:It doesn't quite melt.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It doesn't get over that hump.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:My answer was I'm more in control owning my own business.
Speaker A:I can't control the market, but I can control my own business.
Speaker B:And you can control how you respond.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And I think that's what I love about owning a business.
Speaker A:Now remember, I didn't just come in and start a business all on my own.
Speaker A:I walked into a preexisting business.
Speaker A: doing so hot at that time in: Speaker A:In fact, things were changing rapidly.
Speaker A:And go back to what I said.
Speaker A:Leslie circled that.
Speaker A:Well, you started this, you know, CV thing and you're innovative.
Speaker A:Tells me you're innovative.
Speaker A:Well, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker A:Now I'm not going to take full credit for anything but the two of us, you know, me bringing some new life into it and new thinking and not knowing what a search consultancy was.
Speaker A:I really had no not clue.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I like joke about it, but I had not a clue.
Speaker A:And as I started to put the pieces together and learn, and then we're all of a sudden, four years later, building out this massive data center for agencies to help with new business.
Speaker A:You just start coming at things from as fresh of a perspective as possible.
Speaker A:But you're in control, and you're not in control.
Speaker A:I mean, it's both.
Speaker A:You're in control of being as creative as you can be.
Speaker A:You're in control of speaking to as many people as you can and listening to them carefully.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Understanding what keeps them up at night, keeping your ear to the ground, to the.
Speaker A:To the environment, the market itself.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It just keeps changing and keeps changing and changing.
Speaker A:Then nothing stays the same forever.
Speaker A:We all know that.
Speaker A:And you're in control of those things.
Speaker A:You're in control of how much sacrifice.
Speaker A:Look, people say it to me all the time.
Speaker A:So you own a business.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's it like?
Speaker A:This is 24 7.
Speaker A:24 7.
Speaker A:I don't care what you own.
Speaker A:It's 24 7.
Speaker A:If you really want that business to succeed, that business is your child that never grows up.
Speaker A:That's what it is.
Speaker B:When you made that leap and you.
Speaker B:And so you join aar, they're in a little bit of a precarious position.
Speaker B:Did you get any pushback from family, friends, colleagues?
Speaker B:Did they say, lisa, what are you doing?
Speaker B:Is.
Speaker B:Did you feel like there was any pressure from the people around you to do that?
Speaker B:Not to do that?
Speaker A:I should not at all.
Speaker A:In fact, again, I did step into a job.
Speaker A:Job, so to speak.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I was getting a paycheck.
Speaker A:But then it got into.
Speaker A:Because we.
Speaker A:Because we started this other company.
Speaker A:Then it got into, we can't pay ourselves.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So that.
Speaker A:And yeah, I got questioning from friends, close friends or some family, I guess, at one point, like, what are you doing?
Speaker A:What are you doing?
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:You could go to Y and R.
Speaker A:You could go back to Y and R and make triple the amount of money, you know?
Speaker A:And like, I know, but there was something.
Speaker A:There was a fire in me.
Speaker A:And I honestly think you either have the entrepreneurial spirit or you don't.
Speaker A:I mean that, like, I've grew up with family members, many, many family members that own businesses.
Speaker A:My uncles owned a restaurant called Stallone's.
Speaker A:That's my mother's maiden name.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I'm related to Sylvester Stallone.
Speaker A:That's for another day.
Speaker A:And I've watched, you know, them run a.
Speaker A:Run restaurants as I was a kid, and then another uncle was an attorney and Had a law practice, another cousin owned a court sonography business.
Speaker A:So I guess I kind of grew up in that mindset.
Speaker B:You know, I, I find that when people are surrounded by it, it is, it's a, it's an easier comprehension for them as they, as they grow up.
Speaker B:And, and that transition from, you know, I don't want to say corporate America or even out of school is a little bit easier because they've been surrounded by it.
Speaker B:So they have an understanding and a set expectations in terms of what to, you know, what they're going to get with.
Speaker A:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:And, and I, I tiptoed into it.
Speaker A:See, that's the difference.
Speaker A:I will not say I don't know if I'm not as entrepreneurial, but, you know, I give a lot more credit to the guy that quits cold, has zero income coming in and starts from scratch.
Speaker A:I mean, that, that's a hard thing to do.
Speaker A:It is like when I left corporate America to finish school, I was, I was distracted by finishing a master's degree.
Speaker A:And then I started this hustle on the side.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Or this side thing on whatever it was, this, the CD thing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So it wasn't my main focus, it was a secondary focus.
Speaker A:Then when I got into aar, I really, I had a job.
Speaker A:A job job.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:For the first few years.
Speaker A:And then it got into, well, the business is changing.
Speaker A:It wasn't doing so great.
Speaker A:We had to start thinking innovatively, start changing things.
Speaker A:And we were, as I was learning, I was also trying to figure out how to add some.
Speaker A:Breathe new life into the business.
Speaker A:And then this whole idea about access confidential hits and now we start this business and now I'm tiptoeing into truly owning a business.
Speaker A:I didn't even know what was happening because it was just happening.
Speaker A:So in one way, I, I didn't dive into the pool at first.
Speaker A:I, you know, I.
Speaker A:Everybody gradually went in those that get into it.
Speaker B:Everybody kind of gets into it in every different ways.
Speaker B:Were there resources or mentors or people that had a big impact on your ability to be successful?
Speaker A:I have to give credit to my father.
Speaker A:I have watched my whole life.
Speaker A:Is he a workaholic?
Speaker A:Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker A:But work ethics, very, very, very strong.
Speaker A:Now he was a poll guy for Bell Atlantic.
Speaker A:That turned into 9x, that turned into Verizon, that turned into whatever.
Speaker A:But he worked hard and he worked a lot of hours.
Speaker A:And I saw that, you know, and I saw that.
Speaker A:And I certainly saw my uncles, cousins, whatever, you know, who own businesses, and they were almost like these influences without realizing they were influences in terms of you work, you have great work, you have to have great work ethics, period.
Speaker A:End.
Speaker A:And if you really are going to be successful at anything, well, you have to be focused.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So I guess my surrounding the people that you listen, the people that you surround yourself are the people that you eventually become.
Speaker B:That is very true.
Speaker B:You know, there's Alex, I think his last name is Hormuzi, has a great quote and he said, don't listen to the people around you.
Speaker B:Listen to the people where you want to go.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And I think it's really profound, Right.
Speaker B:If you surround yourself with people who are just want to stay in, you know, their nice corporate little bubble, well, that's the support and that's the counsel you're going to get from those people.
Speaker B:You surround yourself with people who are successful business owners, entrepreneurs, what have you, then that's where you want to go, right?
Speaker B:Those are the people you want to surround yourself with.
Speaker A:You know, you, you become who you.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:You are who you tell me your friends and I'll tell you who you are.
Speaker A:You know, and it's, it's that.
Speaker B:Do you think that, you know, in terms of having a business and being in business for yourself, do you think there's any misconceptions people have, you know, when they start out that they, they feel like, well, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my own thing.
Speaker B:And you know, they have these certain ideas in their head about how it's going to be.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:How liberating it's be.
Speaker B:What do you think some of those misperceptions.
Speaker A:I think as you just said it, it's going to be liberating and it's going to be freedom and I can do what I want.
Speaker A:And no, you know what?
Speaker A:You're always owned by something.
Speaker A:I mean, there's no such thing that you could do whatever you want.
Speaker A:You can go on vacation whenever you want.
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker A:In fact, I probably shouldn't say this, but I don't think I've taken a real vacation in 25 years.
Speaker A:Ouch.
Speaker A:A take time off about work, life.
Speaker B:Balance in a little bit.
Speaker A:Forget about it.
Speaker A:You know the intent.
Speaker A:Forget about it.
Speaker A:And it's not that I don't take time off and it's not that I don't, you know, decompress or unplug or whatever, but as I said before, you have a child that never grows up and you have to take care of that child almost 24, 7.
Speaker A:Is it liberating I guess it depends on your definition.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Look, there were moments, honestly, Parnell, I could tell you a story when I really thought we were going to fold up.
Speaker A:I thought, this is it.
Speaker A:It's over.
Speaker A:No joke.
Speaker A:I laid down on the floor in the office.
Speaker A:I stared at the ceiling and basically said, what the f am I doing?
Speaker A:I had two choices.
Speaker A:You either give up and throw in the towel and say, that's it.
Speaker A:Not doing it anymore, or you pick yourself up off the dusty floor and you say, I'm Come hell or high water, I'm going to do this.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, I used to.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:That's all there is to it.
Speaker A:I mean, you asked me if there was anything else that influenced me other than people.
Speaker A:There.
Speaker A:There's a poem that I have in my room.
Speaker A:I actually should hang it over my desk.
Speaker A:And it's by Edgar Guest, and it's basically.
Speaker A:It's called Don't Quit.
Speaker A:That's what it's called.
Speaker A:And it's nothing more than success is failure inside out.
Speaker A:And when you think you're so far and you think you're gonna just, you know, fall to pieces, it's only around the corner that what you work so hard for is ready to stare at you in the face.
Speaker B:I used to have a colleague of mine when I had my agency, he said he would just say, just don't die.
Speaker B:And it was.
Speaker B:You know, it was an analogy.
Speaker B:It was just.
Speaker B:It was the same thing, was don't quit.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because if you quit, then you lose.
Speaker B:Then.
Speaker B:Then you fail.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And sometimes it's hard, but, you know, like you said, you got up off the floor and you went ahead and you did it.
Speaker B:Was there anything in terms of running a business that turned out to be easier or harder than you thought it would be?
Speaker A:Keeping the money coming, that's always a hard part.
Speaker B:Okay, how about easier?
Speaker A:Didn't think it was that hard to hire and fire.
Speaker A:I know that sounds terrible, but I had a particular question that helped me to sort of wade through, which was, if you could write your own job description that would be perfect for you, what would it say?
Speaker A:I didn't ask all these other ridiculous questions.
Speaker A:Where do you want to be in 15 years?
Speaker A:And where do you want.
Speaker A:And why do you want to be?
Speaker A:Like, who cares?
Speaker A:Nobody knows anything anymore.
Speaker A:Everybody's all over the place, and nobody knows what's going to happen five years from now, let alone five minutes from now.
Speaker B:There's a reason why the rear view mirror is smaller than the windshield.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:So that question helped me to just loosen them up and have a conversation, and then I could figure out where they fit.
Speaker A:Now, there were times that they were talking about this particular job description that we were hiring for, and then all of a sudden it hit me like, you know what?
Speaker A:There's something coming, and I think you'd be better for that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I didn't find it that difficult to hire.
Speaker A:I also didn't find it that difficult to fire.
Speaker A:I know that sounds terrible, but in fact, well, we had an office in Florida at one point, got to it.
Speaker A:I don't know how this happened, but when Lisa was coming down, somebody was getting fired.
Speaker A:I was like, that's not the case at all.
Speaker B:I gotcha.
Speaker B:I gotcha.
Speaker B:So we talked a little bit about work life balance, or lack thereof.
Speaker B:Do you have any boundaries or strategies that you just are hard and fast by to allow yourself some time to decompress, to step away, to turn off, you know, to be able to.
Speaker B:Because it takes a lot of energy, right, to have a business and to run your own business.
Speaker B:And you gotta have a little bit of that time to decompress.
Speaker B:So what kind of things do you do on that front?
Speaker B:I don't walk, exercise, jog.
Speaker B:It sounds like you still play piano.
Speaker A:I do.
Speaker A:I do, yeah.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That is my therapist.
Speaker A:There's no doubt about it.
Speaker A:Piano is my therapist.
Speaker A:It always will be.
Speaker A:I taught for 25 years.
Speaker A:At one point, you know, when I was 15, I started teaching piano lessons, and I taught all the way through college and what have you.
Speaker A:But meanwhile, that is the piano turned into my therap.
Speaker A:I escape.
Speaker A:Everything around me disappears for a half hour or 20 minutes or whatever it might be.
Speaker A:And quite frankly, the other part, my faith, I pray every morning.
Speaker A:Every morning when I wake.
Speaker A:Well, maybe not.
Speaker A:I'm lying.
Speaker A:I shouldn't lie.
Speaker A:But most mornings, I'll say most mornings, right.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I wake up, and as my eyes start to open, I start going through this cycle of prayers.
Speaker A:And it's meditative, and it just prepares me, hopefully prepares me for the day.
Speaker A:Some days are worse than others.
Speaker A:Those are my two things.
Speaker A:It's God and my gift from God.
Speaker A:And I mean that way to look at that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So let's talk about a good day.
Speaker B:Because, you know, you've been in this business for a while.
Speaker B:You've struggled, you've had your highs, you've had your lows.
Speaker B:Is there a specific moment or a milestone that makes you stop and that you can think about?
Speaker B:And you say, this is why I do what I do.
Speaker B:This is why I love.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:When I love to teach, I absolutely love to teach.
Speaker A:That's what I figured out after all these years.
Speaker A:What is it that people say, what do you love to do?
Speaker A:I finally figured out I love to teach.
Speaker A:I was a piano teacher 25 years.
Speaker A:I was a college professor for 16 years.
Speaker A:I obviously loved.
Speaker A:I tutored math when I was, you know, in high school.
Speaker A:And through college, I tutored math.
Speaker A:I obviously am a teacher at heart.
Speaker A:And what I do here at AR Partners as an agency search consultant, I'm teaching.
Speaker A:I'm still teaching.
Speaker A:I'm teaching agencies in terms of new business.
Speaker A:I'm teaching marketers in terms of how to search for the right agency.
Speaker A:I'm trying to put the two together.
Speaker A:When agents, both parties, you know, when either party basically says, that was the best hour or that was, you showed me, you taught me so much.
Speaker A:I didn't realize that, you know, you made an impact where I thought I was going to fall to pieces.
Speaker A:And you, you know, you changed my world around or whatever it might be.
Speaker A:That's what does it.
Speaker A:In fact, recently I met with an agency last week, I think it was, and they were in my office here, and we spent an hour or so together.
Speaker A:And then I met them later for dinner.
Speaker A:And we spent a good amount of time together, probably like three hours that day.
Speaker A:And they posted on LinkedIn.
Speaker A:Fantastic day in New York City with Lisa.
Speaker A:And what an impactful day.
Speaker A:We got so much out of it.
Speaker A:And I forwarded it and said, now this is what gets me energized.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's what it is.
Speaker A:What gets me energized is when I'm able to help another.
Speaker A:And that's really what it is.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It has nothing to do with a title or how many years you're doing something or your position.
Speaker A:It really is the heart of the mission.
Speaker A:And the heart of my mission is, I like to think, helping people on both sides of the table.
Speaker B:It's fascinating.
Speaker B:You know, I talk to people in all kinds of different spaces and categories and businesses.
Speaker B:There's always that current of helping people that kind of underlies so many of.
Speaker A:The things that we do.
Speaker B:It's just in so many different ways.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Is there, as you look back on your journey, is there one thing that you can think about that maybe you would have done differently early on as you look back at your kind of business building career?
Speaker A:Funny, you know, funny you should say, you gotta take more time off or I probably would have taken a little more time off or taken advantage of some of the experiences that were offered to me.
Speaker A:And it was always, oh, I gotta work.
Speaker A:Oh, I gotta work.
Speaker A:Oh, I gotta work.
Speaker A:You know, that's just who I am now, to be fair.
Speaker A:I love what I do.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So work, to me, doesn't feel like work.
Speaker A:And when I taught college, I used to say that all the time to my students.
Speaker A:Here's the key to life.
Speaker A:Do what you love and you won't work a day in your life, period.
Speaker A:End.
Speaker A:That's how it works.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You do that, you could easily work seven days a week and it won't bother you.
Speaker B:Is that the piece of advice you would give to younger Lisa if you could find more time?
Speaker B:Take more time?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:As much as I love working because I love what I do, I would say get out of your shell a little bit.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And go put yourself into some experiences that you just wouldn't have otherwise done.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:On your own.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's important to get outside.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And get outside the comfort zone.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It really does.
Speaker A:Exactly that.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's what I was looking for.
Speaker A:Get outside the comfort zone a little bit.
Speaker A:Because I.
Speaker A:Look, once you get over a certain age, and I hate to say it, I'm heading towards 53 now very soon.
Speaker A:You're a different person in your 50s than you were in your 20s.
Speaker A:And I was quieter.
Speaker A:I was more.
Speaker B:A little more reserved.
Speaker A:Reserved.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I wish I had a little bit more of me today then.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:In terms of, you know, if somebody's thinking about maybe trying to explore entrepreneurship, build their own business, get into business for themselves, whatever it is, are there any practical steps you might recommend for them in terms of, you know, before they do that?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Go and shadow entrepreneurs.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I think the best thing you can do is learn about entrepreneurship by getting into it, practically being practical about it.
Speaker A:In other words, reading it in a textbook and learning about it in some book or class or what?
Speaker A:And I'm not.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:Listen, I'm the first person that taught college.
Speaker A:I would never discount education, but that's theory.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Any advice or counsel for them on how they can prepare emotionally, financially, for the challenges ahead?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You have to make sure you have enough money in the bank for probably six months at least.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You have to have a cushion and.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:Then that's.
Speaker A:That's up to you.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's all subjective and you know, how.
Speaker A:How risk averse you are or not.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, you said Earlier.
Speaker B:How risk averse.
Speaker A:You were so right.
Speaker A:So you have to have some money in the bank because you know, nothing goes 100 as planned and you're going to have good months and you're going to have lousy months.
Speaker A:I mean that's all there is to it.
Speaker A:So you have to, you always have to be prepared for the storm.
Speaker B:Good counsel, Couple rapid fire questions just to wrap up one book, podcast or resource that's had the biggest impact on your business mindset.
Speaker A:I looked at that over and over.
Speaker A:I don't know if there is one book.
Speaker A:There are lots of things that I picked up and read and quite frankly I don't read loads of books.
Speaker A:I don't have that kind of time.
Speaker A:I really don't.
Speaker A:Purpose Driven Life.
Speaker A:Great book.
Speaker A:Start with why from Simon Sinek.
Speaker A:I just like that concept of turning it inside out.
Speaker A:The other way around.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Why are we doing what we're doing?
Speaker A:The Power of Nice from just.
Speaker A:She just went blank on me, Robin and Linda, when they had their agency, Kaplan Phela Group.
Speaker A:I remember the power of Nice being really intriguing in terms of.
Speaker A:Yeah, kindness does go a long way.
Speaker A:You don't have to be a jerk to be successful.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And we can all use a little bit more of that.
Speaker A:We could use a little bit more of that.
Speaker B:Get a little aggressive.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And listen, I can get aggressive at time.
Speaker A:We all can.
Speaker A:And we could all lose our minds and especially now because we're like rapid fire.
Speaker A:The pace of the world is getting so out of control that we're all feeling it.
Speaker A:I mean you can see it.
Speaker A:You can see how people snap.
Speaker A:They snap at you like nobody even answers questions anymore.
Speaker A:They snap at the end.
Speaker A:And so like I just take it easy, you know, and, and everybody is in that high strung situation.
Speaker A:And I think it's just because the pace of the world is so, so fast and as human beings, we're not rope, we're not robots.
Speaker A:But you know, these, these are things that I try to keep in mind and try to take a breath and relax, you know.
Speaker A:Some of those books help me through and quite frankly I keep a book on my, my nightstand called Jesus Calling.
Speaker A:It's a, it's nothing more than a single page of devotions, little meditative kind of messages each day.
Speaker A:It's a daily message and sort of grounds you into.
Speaker A:Remember there's a lot more than what you're doing every day.
Speaker A:Don't get so wrapped up in this.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, and that was my last question for you really was the personal habit or ritual that kind of keeps you grounded as a business owner.
Speaker B:It sounds like Jesus calling is really that anchor that you have.
Speaker A:It is, you know, and I started reading it, gosh, I don't know, a few years ago, and then I put it down, and then I remembered it again.
Speaker A:I picked it back up again probably in the past six, seven, eight months again.
Speaker A:And it's like.
Speaker A:It's helpful.
Speaker A:It's just helpful to remind you of the bigger picture, right?
Speaker A:And I think we all need to be reminded of the bigger picture, because we're all under tremendous amount of stress.
Speaker A:And it's funny, I went through a friend of mine, Allison Arden, started something called the Elements of Us.
Speaker A:And it's all about knowing enough about yourself to have stronger personal connections.
Speaker A:That's really the gist of it.
Speaker A:And in this session, it was, when you feel stressed, what do you do?
Speaker A:And you had all these choices, right?
Speaker A:And you had, like, dozens and dozens of choices, and it was a little overwhelming.
Speaker A:But out of the three, I went and picked it up because of this question.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I reminded myself, when I feel stress, I lean into faith.
Speaker A:I lean into practice, meaning whether I practice the piano or I practice good behavior.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Or I reframe and I find the purpose in what I'm doing, like, it's.
Speaker A:It's a reminder of what's the bigger purpose here.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:It's not chasing dollars.
Speaker A:It's just not.
Speaker A:I mean, that's great, but it's more than money.
Speaker B:Well, even earlier when you talked about, you know, helping people, you could just see your.
Speaker B:Your.
Speaker B:Your entire body changed, right?
Speaker B:Your.
Speaker B:Your.
Speaker B:Your facial expressions, everything changed.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's just.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's so nice to see, you know, those are the things that really anchor us, and I think that motivate us as we go forward with, you know, in business.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I'll wrap up.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker B:I really appreciate you joining us.
Speaker A:My pleasure, folks.
Speaker B:Lisa.
Speaker B:I will try not to butcher the last name.
Speaker B:I'll just leave it at Lisa from AAR Partners.
Speaker A:That's good.
Speaker B:I'm partner Woodard from the Pivot Point.
Speaker B:We'll see you all next time.
