Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640 Hey, this is James, the founder of sweet fish media. If you've 2 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:04.759 listened to me to be growth for a while, you probably have an idea 3 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:08.750 of what we're passionate about. Loving people really well, a constant pursuit of 4 00:00:08.869 --> 00:00:13.669 learning and inspiring people to own their careers. With all the craziness happening with 5 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:17.550 this virus, we are incredibly fortunate to be in the business of podcasting. 6 00:00:18.109 --> 00:00:22.219 So many BB brands are looking for alternatives to their inperson events that are being 7 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:26.780 canceled, and our business is growing as a result. Please don't miss hear 8 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:30.379 me on this, because I'm not saying this to Brag. It is heartbreaking 9 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:34.579 the economic impact this is having on so many businesses. But being in the 10 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:39.130 business of podcasting, the demand for what we do has increased and because of 11 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:43.130 that we're looking to hire really talented people to help us serve that demand. 12 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:46.450 So if you like what we're all about it sweet fish and you're looking for 13 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.689 a great career opportunity, hit us up. There's a link in the show 14 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:52.679 notes where you can apply today. I'm really looking forward to meeting you. 15 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:58.000 Welcome back to be to be growth. I'm looking lyles with sweet fish media. 16 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.119 Today is another episode in our behind the curtain series. We've been having 17 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:07.189 more contributors, more folks here on the sweet fish team joining these today it's 18 00:01:07.269 --> 00:01:10.829 me and our founder and CEO, my good Buddy James carberry. James has 19 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:14.069 it going to day, man, I'm doing well. Madam. I'm excited 20 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:17.230 to talk about this topic. This is something that actually just I was walking 21 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:21.019 around the neighborhood last night and was listening to the at the table podcast with 22 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:23.500 Patrick Sione and they started talking about this idea and I was like, oh 23 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:27.140 my gosh, this is brilliant. So I instantly put a couple of these 24 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:32.340 time blocks on my calendar because I think we're going to start, not I 25 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:34.489 think we're going to start doing this with sweetish. I'm going to start doing 26 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:38.010 this with sweetish starting next week. So I don't know when this is going 27 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:41.370 to go live. It may have already happened by the time people are listening 28 00:01:41.409 --> 00:01:45.450 to this, but I'm really excited at about this openoffice concept. Yeah, 29 00:01:45.489 --> 00:01:49.079 man, so we're going to be talking about how you can recreate kind of 30 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.280 the feeling and some of the advantages of an in person open office even while 31 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.840 you're working remotely, and Leverage Zoom or whatever sort of conference call tool that 32 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.189 you're using on a daytoday basis. So tell us a little bit about what 33 00:02:02.349 --> 00:02:05.629 you heard, kind of what it sparked for you when you heard this on 34 00:02:05.790 --> 00:02:08.949 Patrick's podcast. Man. Yeah, so Patrick was talking about the need for 35 00:02:09.229 --> 00:02:15.419 us to use zoom as not restricting the use of zoom just for meetings. 36 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:19.979 So he said, if it was himmors cohost. That said, if you're 37 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:24.580 just using zoom and at the top of every one of your zoom calls it's 38 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:30.169 the heading is a specific agenda item or a, you know, measurable result 39 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:36.050 that you're trying to achieve, then you're probably not getting the most out of 40 00:02:36.169 --> 00:02:40.770 zoom. And then they started talking about this concept of opening up the floor 41 00:02:42.009 --> 00:02:45.199 and, you know, just saying hey, I'm going to be working this 42 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:49.280 afternoon on a couple projects. Here's my zoom link if anybody wants to hop 43 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.120 on and, you know, and work with me. And I thought, 44 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.919 oh my gosh, this is so brilliant. It's fantastic, I think for 45 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.629 you know, the entire world is working remote right now, but for us, 46 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:04.270 obviously, we work remote all the time and I love this idea because 47 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:08.389 there's all of this negative talk around the open office and I, and I 48 00:03:08.669 --> 00:03:13.139 totally get it, like it. It makes perfect sense why in an open 49 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:21.620 office format productivity plummets because it's just a constant barrage of distractions. But in 50 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:27.210 a virtual environment we literally have no distractions to the point where we can feel 51 00:03:27.289 --> 00:03:31.009 isolated. Right. So I'm on calls all day, I'm talking to people 52 00:03:31.050 --> 00:03:36.530 all day long, so I don't necessarily feel it as much, but for 53 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.770 our writers, for our producers, for other people on our team, I 54 00:03:39.849 --> 00:03:46.520 mean they're heads down doing heads down focused work for pretty much the entire week 55 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:52.000 and now that we're all quarantine, we can't get out at all. Opening 56 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:53.759 something like this up and starting to do this to where, you know, 57 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:58.789 I've next Thursday. I'm just going to put my zoom link. I'm going 58 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:00.789 to tell the team on Monday like Hey, Thursday, from one to five 59 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:06.669 PM Eastern, I'm going to be working and I've got a couple projects that 60 00:04:06.870 --> 00:04:10.580 that aren't necessarily phone calls. I think I've got one phone call in there. 61 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:13.900 So obviously, like I'll mute myself on zoom and go and take my 62 00:04:14.020 --> 00:04:16.540 phone call during that time. But I'm just going to I'm putting it as 63 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:21.699 an open so it's in my google calendar, the calendar and by it's just 64 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:26.970 a four hour time block, but I've left it open so if people who 65 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:30.370 are using my calendari link, they can still block time during that block. 66 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:34.170 Other you know, other people are operations assistant can still put time on there 67 00:04:34.529 --> 00:04:39.240 if things need to get put on there. But it's essentially just kind of 68 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:42.759 creating this feeling of Hey, I'm going to go to the conference room and 69 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.360 work on some stuff if anybody wants to join me in there, and I'm 70 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.680 really excited about that. We've this is something we can we can implement along 71 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:54.350 after this virus is done, because we don't have any intention of having a 72 00:04:54.470 --> 00:05:00.269 physical office ever. But I think controlling the open office is a powerful idea 73 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:04.310 because the cross but, like you had mentioned, something that Ethan View from 74 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:09.420 Bomb Im talks about a lot is the cross pollen nation of ideas. So 75 00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:14.139 when you're in the same room and you're having this is something linconi talked about 76 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:17.660 in the podcast to there's a difference between having like happy hour conversation where you're 77 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:23.209 intentionally not talking about work, but we're you're with colleagues, but he said, 78 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:28.009 I think we should have more conversation around the business. It's not necessarily 79 00:05:28.129 --> 00:05:32.610 focused on a specific topic, but we're talking about work with our coworkers and 80 00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:36.439 so we're maybe we're talking about that client that we're having a hard time with 81 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:41.680 or we're talking about a win that we that we got. And I think 82 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:46.199 by opening up an environment like with an open zoom room where everybody is just 83 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:50.990 working, I could imagine a setting where maybe our creative director or customer to 84 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:56.870 Director of customer experience, myself and maybe two of our riders are all in 85 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:00.149 this room and we've got a writer that's that on your self and she's like, 86 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:02.670 Hey, I'm writing for this, you know, I'm running for this 87 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.740 client. What are your thoughts on this, this and this? Well, 88 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:11.899 that could open up a whole slew of like Oh, I never even realize 89 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:15.379 that that was something that you had to think about in the writing process of 90 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:19.089 our articles. We need to create a process that alleviates you having to make 91 00:06:19.170 --> 00:06:24.490 that decision or something else, you know, whatever the whatever the issue is. 92 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:28.370 But by not being around each other, we just we don't we're not 93 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:34.000 privy to to seeing those kind of things because we're so isolated in the work 94 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:38.360 that we do outside of meeting things that have a very specific purpose. So 95 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:41.040 what are your thoughts on this? This is a new idea. Obviously, 96 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.360 I had just heard about it last night. Yeah, you just told me 97 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.000 about it like ten minutes before we hit record and I was like, man, 98 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.149 this is really cool and something that kind of clicked for me as you 99 00:06:48.269 --> 00:06:51.110 were just talking there. And James, you know you and I have a 100 00:06:51.189 --> 00:06:56.189 weekly oneonone right, and I think we've gotten better at structuring those. Hey, 101 00:06:56.389 --> 00:06:59.310 let's add stuff to the list. I've got a list of things that 102 00:06:59.389 --> 00:07:01.699 I need to talk to you that I didn't necessarily need to ping you about 103 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:05.500 and distract you in the middle of a Tuesday or whatever, but timely. 104 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:10.660 And so we've created some more structure and rhythm on our team, on the 105 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:14.699 leadership team and throughout the team for one on ones. But at the same 106 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:17.329 time, as you were talking about, like the conversations that can come up 107 00:07:17.370 --> 00:07:21.290 naturally. You know, I've mentioned my dog that co offices with me a 108 00:07:21.410 --> 00:07:26.930 lot Mac here on the show as I'm walking him, usually at night after 109 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.769 the kids have gone to bed. You and I have had some of our 110 00:07:29.889 --> 00:07:33.639 most productive conversations where I just called you and it was like hey, let's 111 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:36.519 just talk about the day a little bit, and we end up talking for 112 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:41.879 forty five minutes or an hour about how we could shift our service or different 113 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.709 things that we need to address or those sorts of things. And usually those 114 00:07:45.829 --> 00:07:48.550 calls don't start out with a specific agenda of James, let's go through this 115 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:51.829 checklist. I I'm going to call you at thirty when I'm walking the dog 116 00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:55.589 and we're going to go boom, boom boom through this bullet pointed list. 117 00:07:55.829 --> 00:07:59.939 But it has meandered along with my walk with the dog, me entering along 118 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:03.339 the Sidebog as me entered into some really great stuff. The other thing that 119 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:09.220 I think for folks you do a really good job of communicating. You know 120 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:13.569 where we're going, things that are that need to be the whole team needs 121 00:08:13.610 --> 00:08:16.490 to know about right now. But I imagine there are a lot of teams 122 00:08:16.529 --> 00:08:22.050 right now where leadership and the entire organization is not used to working remotely and 123 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:26.449 so doing something like this, as well some other things, to proactively communicate 124 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:31.360 with the entire organization, can help people feel more connected to what's going on, 125 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.120 more informed on what's going on with leadership and therefore feel more safe and 126 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:39.399 secure, and the more secure you can make your team feel right now probably 127 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:41.320 the better. Do you want to speak to that? You know, kind 128 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:46.149 of from CEO Perspective Right now? Yeah, so being available is something that 129 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:52.549 I think I am learning in the last couple months even there's a difference between 130 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:56.980 saying that you're available. So that's a passive approach for me as a CEO 131 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:01.580 to say, Oh, I've got an open door, you can come to 132 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:05.299 me any time. But I was talking with Ryan from our team about this 133 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:07.500 maybe about a month ago and he was like, James, it's it's really 134 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:11.169 easy for you to say that. It's easy for you to tell the entire 135 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:13.610 team. And we don't have a big time. I mean we've got twenty 136 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:18.409 people, so it's not huge, but it's real easy for you to to 137 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:22.009 tell these twenty people, Hey, you can reach out to me anytime, 138 00:09:22.090 --> 00:09:22.929 you can call me, you can slack me, you can text me, 139 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:28.159 you can whatever. But what you've got to understand is the mental work that 140 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.960 it takes for someone to, you know, the equivalent of get up out 141 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:37.759 of their desk, walk down the Hallway, walk into your office, because 142 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:41.230 they're probably not coming to talk to you about something that they think you're doing. 143 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:45.350 Well, I mean they're they're probably got an issue, whether either with 144 00:09:45.429 --> 00:09:50.029 you or with a CO worker or with, you know, something they fundamentally 145 00:09:50.070 --> 00:09:54.059 disagree on with you know, are pricing or a product that we're bringing to 146 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:58.940 market or whatever. So it's not a comfortable situation for them and there's a 147 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:03.299 lot of friction for them. So it's easy for me as a CEO to 148 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:07.570 think, Oh, I'm checking the box, I'm open, you know, 149 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:09.649 I'm available. I tell our people all the time you know they can, 150 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:13.809 they can come and talk to me. But we're doing something like this, 151 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:18.769 actually says, Hey, I'm going to be in this zoom room and if 152 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:22.879 anybody wants to work with me, cut like, come on in like that's 153 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:28.480 me taking a step toward them so that they can then take a step toward 154 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.639 me, as opposed to what I've been doing, which is, Hey, 155 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.710 I'm available, and I do you know I do. We do a weekly 156 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:39.870 video where our entire leadership team. Most weeks our entire leadership team puts up 157 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:43.190 a video on slack and just updates the team on their department. So I've 158 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:48.909 been doing a lot of updates throughout this pandemic about how the business is doing, 159 00:10:48.029 --> 00:10:52.740 getting very granular and specific. These are the customers we lost this week. 160 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:54.980 These are the customers we gained this week. We're still on an upward 161 00:10:54.980 --> 00:10:58.740 trajectory. We're very fortunate, being in the business that we're in, that 162 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:03.820 the business is still growing. But keeping the team updated and letting them know, 163 00:11:03.940 --> 00:11:05.529 hey, we lost three customers last week, we picked up for new 164 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:11.809 ones and a big renewal. So we're still on an upward trajectory. Letting 165 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:15.090 everybody know that as of right now, we are not having to look at 166 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:18.120 any sort of layoffs or anything like that. Just keeping them at ease. 167 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:22.440 So I can push that kind of communication to them and try to be as 168 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.519 open as I can. But by doing this kind of open office thing, 169 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:31.679 it's just that one additional level where I'm now meeting them halfway. Another thing 170 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:37.629 I'm trying to do more of is just proactively reaching out to individuals on our 171 00:11:37.629 --> 00:11:39.830 team. Like I said, we have twenty people, not two hundred. 172 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:43.590 So right now I can make notes to myself to say hey, I just 173 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:46.110 need to be checking in with people via text message. Hey, how you 174 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:48.539 doing? Like, how is it, you know, being cooped up? 175 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:50.379 I know you've got two kids. How are your kids doing with all this? 176 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:54.779 And so I'm taking a motion toward them, as opposed to what I 177 00:11:56.059 --> 00:12:00.220 think a lot of CEOS, and this was me a month ago, you 178 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:03.529 can check the box of thinking you're being a good leader just by communicating to 179 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:07.570 the team that you're available, when you're not actually taking action toward them. 180 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:13.570 It's a pretty passive to say hey, I'm available and it's not empathetic to 181 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:16.759 how difficult it is for the person on the other end of that to go 182 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.600 have a conversation with the CEO. Because to me I'm just me, I'm 183 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.159 just a dude. I'm just a guy that decided to start a business half 184 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:30.110 a decade ago and fortunately have brought a lot of really smart people along the 185 00:12:30.190 --> 00:12:33.269 way with me and it's grown. But to other people, to people that 186 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:35.950 have, you know, just joined the business in the last six months, 187 00:12:35.950 --> 00:12:41.350 a year, like it's intimidating because we are fully remote. They don't interact 188 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.230 with me a lot. They don't know that if I ever see them in 189 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:48.419 person, my first instinct is going to be to hug him. I'm glad 190 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:50.100 you went there because that's exactly what I was going to say it. They 191 00:12:50.139 --> 00:12:54.500 haven't gotten at James Carberry hug yet. Yeah, so that's just a part 192 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:56.820 of my personality. Like I'm very open and very inviting. I mean we 193 00:12:56.899 --> 00:13:00.370 have a guest room at our house and before this virus, like, we 194 00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:05.090 basically had somebody in that guest room every weekend since we've had the house for 195 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:07.730 the last year and a half. But that's me assuming that they know things 196 00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:11.850 about me that they just can't know because in the nature of how we work. 197 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:16.279 so by doing things like texting them, by doing things like this open 198 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.480 office idea, putting up as Zoom Lincoln, saying Hey, I'm going to 199 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.000 be working from from this, you know, on from this link, on 200 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.789 some different projects, from one to five on Thursday. Anybody's welcome to join 201 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:31.029 me. Would love to jam. And then the conversations that are going to 202 00:13:31.110 --> 00:13:33.590 come out of that, I'm going to learn things about how our people are 203 00:13:33.789 --> 00:13:37.870 working, like what are people are working on, what different projects are doing. 204 00:13:37.389 --> 00:13:41.580 It's going to give me insight as a as a CEO, that I 205 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:46.259 otherwise would not get apart from doing something like this. So that's what I'm 206 00:13:46.259 --> 00:13:48.539 really excited about to do. You said it so well and I love the 207 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:54.139 advice that you're given for other CEOS, founders and just anyone who's leading a 208 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:58.210 team. Like you said, you can think that hey, just tactically, 209 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:01.169 logistically, I'm available. They have they have me on slack, they have 210 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:03.850 my phone number, they have this, this, this, but it's not 211 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:09.730 just about the logistics, it's about the emotions and and the motion. I 212 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:13.360 like the way you said it, taking emotion toward them so they don't have 213 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.440 to go as far to get to you. So you know, kind of 214 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:22.080 the way I summarize that this idea of tactically using a zoom or Uber Conference 215 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:26.029 or whatever conference and call system you use, creating a block on your calendar, 216 00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:28.470 having a zoom link, sharing that with your team and saying Hey, 217 00:14:28.509 --> 00:14:31.909 I'm going to be working here, kind of like like you said, like 218 00:14:31.990 --> 00:14:33.990 Hey, I'm taking my laptop into the conference room. Anybody that wants to 219 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:39.179 work in there so we can hang out together and maybe talk about what we're 220 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:41.379 working on. There's really kind of three key benefits, as we've been talking 221 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:46.179 about it, especially right now. You reduce isolation, but I love the 222 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:50.500 way that it it does it in just in general for fully remote teams like 223 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.250 ourselves, because I have noticed, if as we've gotten together more with out 224 00:14:54.490 --> 00:14:58.769 at work agenda, that you've got, you know, happy hours. We 225 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:01.529 did a baby shower remotely here recently. That's kind of on one end of 226 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:05.289 the spectrum. And then you have your typical hey let's show up for a 227 00:15:05.370 --> 00:15:09.519 thirty minute call, we have an agenda, something in between there to reduce 228 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:13.960 the isolation and have that feeling of community. So that's one. Two, 229 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.639 as you said, it can be a tool for leadership to get more connected 230 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.990 and therefore get more feedback and help the team feel more secure. And then 231 00:15:22.029 --> 00:15:26.549 the great conversation, as we quoted Ethan. I'm sure he's okay with US 232 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:31.429 quoting his offline comment there, the cross pollination of ideas. He was sharing 233 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:35.820 that with us, I think, when they were talking about kind of their 234 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:41.299 semi remote but mostly in office culture at bomb, you know, obviously prepandemic. 235 00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:46.659 So reducing isolation, getting leadership more connected and people more connected to leadership, 236 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:50.850 and then the great conversations that can improve the business. Those are my 237 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:52.049 three. Do you have anything else to add to that? Yes, so 238 00:15:52.250 --> 00:15:58.610 rap around the connectedness piece. I think what that connectedness does is it builds 239 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:03.250 trust, and I'm a big proponent because of all that I've learned from Patrick 240 00:16:03.289 --> 00:16:07.559 Lyncione and all of his books, is that if you can have trust amongst 241 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.559 your team, you're going to grow. Like trust is the foundation for everything, 242 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.799 and so I think by you taking motion as a leader or toward your 243 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:19.509 people, proactively texting them, doing, you know, an open office zoom 244 00:16:19.549 --> 00:16:22.830 call like this, you know, one or two times a week, I 245 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:27.190 think that that's going to be what leads to their being trust and when people 246 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:30.789 trust you they can feel like they can come to you with hard things, 247 00:16:32.590 --> 00:16:37.059 that you, as a leader, can take that and make the decision that 248 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.100 you need to make. But the fact that you have more data points now. 249 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:44.700 So the more the more people that trust you on your team, the 250 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:48.850 more available data you're going to have for how you're moving the business for forward. 251 00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:52.250 So that was that was one piece. They're the other thing that I 252 00:16:52.330 --> 00:16:59.690 wanted to to note here was I want to acknowledge that open office, the 253 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:03.240 open office thing, can be a distraction. So what we're not prescribing is, 254 00:17:03.640 --> 00:17:07.839 hey, you should recreate an open office all the time and just have 255 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.279 a constant zoom room that everyone can access forty hours a week, all throughout 256 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:15.670 the week, and that way it just is all come by all and that 257 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:19.670 you guys are all in the same room. This is going to be these 258 00:17:19.869 --> 00:17:23.349 four hours or five hours or ten hours or whatever you decide to do. 259 00:17:25.150 --> 00:17:30.380 Expect less, quote unquote, productivity. Like I know that the projects. 260 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.700 I've got to carefully select the projects that I'm working on during that block of 261 00:17:33.819 --> 00:17:38.339 time because I've just got to expect that I'm not going to be as productive 262 00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:44.329 with that time in the way that I typically think about productivity. But having 263 00:17:44.369 --> 00:17:47.970 these kind of side conversations like what you and I have whenever you're walking your 264 00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:52.609 dog around the neighborhood at night, those are incredibly productive. We've made significant 265 00:17:52.609 --> 00:17:56.890 change just to the business. We've changed our pricing because of those calls. 266 00:17:56.930 --> 00:18:00.960 We've gone after you know, we've developed new products because of those calls. 267 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.519 We've done a lot of things because of the calls. They've been extremely effective 268 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:08.279 and productive, but it's been productive in a different type of it's a different 269 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.630 type of productive, one that's not expected, it's not necessarily planned, and 270 00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:17.390 so go into that knowing, Hey, you know, we're not jumping in 271 00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:19.750 head first and doing this all of the time. But we're going to do 272 00:18:19.829 --> 00:18:22.750 it. We're going to start doing it once a week. We might open 273 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:26.460 up a couple blocks, you know, throughout the week. We might start 274 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:30.819 doing it with teams. So we say hey, Friday afternoons, all of 275 00:18:30.900 --> 00:18:34.180 our producers work together. We might integrated into on boarding. So we might 276 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:38.339 say hey, we've so we just we just hired a new writer. We 277 00:18:38.380 --> 00:18:42.970 might say hey, for your first months, we want you to be working 278 00:18:44.049 --> 00:18:48.730 alongside another writer on our team. So you're going to be working with emily, 279 00:18:49.289 --> 00:18:52.289 you know, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you're going to work 280 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:56.039 with Tim on Tuesday and Thursday. And then the next week you're going to 281 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.279 flip it so your entire eighth hour day you and another writer are going to 282 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:02.559 be on the same zoom call. You're not going to be talking the entire 283 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:07.359 time, obviously you're writing, but any questions you have you're just one mute 284 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.390 button away from saying Hamilee. Sorry, you know I don't want to bug 285 00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:11.789 you, but I've got a quick question here. What how do you guys 286 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:15.950 typically do this? Now again, you've got to account for the fact that 287 00:19:15.190 --> 00:19:18.829 in that on boarding scenario, emily is going to be less productive. So 288 00:19:19.029 --> 00:19:23.150 we cannot expect emily to produce the same amount of work, work that she 289 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:29.539 produced, apart from, you know, working next to our new writer or 290 00:19:29.700 --> 00:19:32.900 producer, whatever the role is. So you have to account for that and 291 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:36.859 I want to make sure that I say that because my my instinct is to 292 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:38.690 be like, oh, yeah, everybody can work together and we expect the 293 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:42.329 same level level of productivity. That's not the case. But there are lots 294 00:19:42.369 --> 00:19:47.049 of different ways you can do this. Doing it amongst teams, doing it 295 00:19:47.210 --> 00:19:51.329 where leadership team invites everybody else on the team to work together, like you 296 00:19:51.410 --> 00:19:53.400 can sis and ice in a lot of ways. But I think just thinking 297 00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:00.200 about zoom just as a meeting tool and not a tool like this, where 298 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.839 you can have this type of collaboration and this kind of cross pollination of your 299 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.630 team, I think is a miss. I think we've got to be looking 300 00:20:07.109 --> 00:20:12.109 at zoom bigger and more of a human interaction platform and less of a meeting 301 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:15.509 platform. Dune, I love the way that you said that. They're a 302 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:18.589 couple of things that you said. Make sure that you limit the time. 303 00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:23.420 We're not saying flip it on for all forty hours. Think about productivity differently 304 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:26.539 and then kind of what you are alluding to their you know, if you 305 00:20:26.740 --> 00:20:30.380 are setting up one of these inviting people to come work with you, maybe 306 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:34.420 you've got some some heads down work that you're not on calls, but not 307 00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:40.569 necessarily super deep work where you've got to be really concentrated and you're going to 308 00:20:40.609 --> 00:20:45.289 get frustrated by kind of zooming in and out right like if I'm doing work, 309 00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:48.170 you know, at my kitchen island and I, you know, tell 310 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:49.319 my family and till the kids like, Hey, I'm going to do a 311 00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:52.519 little work. It might be some light email or something like that, but 312 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.279 I'm not like trying to focus on like solving a real deep problem, because 313 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.480 that's just not going to work in and same thing goes for this application. 314 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.920 Man. Well, this is really cool. I am excited to start implementing 315 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.710 this here with our Tam and I hope folks get some value out of this. 316 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:11.430 I think it's a different idea. I think it's obviously very timely with 317 00:21:11.670 --> 00:21:15.990 more folks who are not used to working remote right now. James, if 318 00:21:15.029 --> 00:21:18.339 anybody listening to this, if they're new to the show, they're not connected 319 00:21:18.380 --> 00:21:22.140 with you. What's the best way for them to stay connected with you or 320 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:25.380 reach out, talking about availability and all that sort of stuff. Man. 321 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:29.140 Yeah, so superactive on Linkedin, just James Carver and Linkedin. I'm on 322 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:32.299 Instagram to don't do as much there. We're doing a lot more as a 323 00:21:32.339 --> 00:21:34.769 company on instagram. So check us out sweet fish media there. And then 324 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:37.130 I don't know that we've talked about it yet. We probably need to do 325 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:41.210 an entire episode about it, but we just revamped our entire website, so 326 00:21:41.329 --> 00:21:45.609 we're out of the stone ages now. We had we had the same website 327 00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:49.319 for going on half a decade and we finally overhauled it. So I'm really 328 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.200 excited about that. So if you have not been to sweet fish mediacom in 329 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:56.559 a while, go go check it out there. They you'll see the direction 330 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:02.069 that the business is going and really becoming a meet a company as opposed to 331 00:22:02.150 --> 00:22:04.269 just to service provider. So really excited about that. But would love to 332 00:22:04.309 --> 00:22:07.109 connect with anybody and everybody, and if you haven't already read the book, 333 00:22:07.269 --> 00:22:11.150 make sure to check out the book. Content based networking on audible or Amazon 334 00:22:11.750 --> 00:22:15.630 of it. Man, for anybody listening to this, I'm not yet connected 335 00:22:15.670 --> 00:22:18.460 with. Just look me up on Linkedin, just like James, is where 336 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:22.420 I'm most active. My last name is L Y elies. Pretty easy, 337 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:26.500 easy to find if you just search linked in for Logan Lyles. As always, 338 00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:29.579 thank you so much for listening, everybody. James, this has been 339 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:32.609 a great conversation. Thanks for bringing this up. I'm glad we shared it 340 00:22:32.730 --> 00:22:36.970 with with everybody today and excited to dive in with our team with this new 341 00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:38.609 application, a zoom man. Yeah, and a lot of this, I 342 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:42.049 mean this is literally came straight from Patrick Glenconi and at the table. So 343 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:45.119 if you're not already listening to the at the table PODCAST, make sure to 344 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:49.440 subscribe to that. It's Patrick and he brings in different co workers, mostly 345 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:55.200 cody from his team, but just phenomenal conversations around work. We have very, 346 00:22:55.400 --> 00:23:00.789 very similar wise and like are both at the table, the table group, 347 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:03.589 Patrick's company, and our company has very similar mission. So if you 348 00:23:03.710 --> 00:23:07.789 like this content, you're going to love at the table absolutely. Man, 349 00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:11.789 will make sure to link to Patrick Glencyony's podcast in the show notes for folks, 350 00:23:11.269 --> 00:23:15.059 so definitely go check that out and, as always, everybody, thank 351 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:22.420 you so much for listening. I hate it when podcasts incessantly ask their listeners 352 00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:26.140 for reviews, but I get why they do it, because reviews are enormously 353 00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:29.650 helpful when you're trying to grow a podcast audience. So here's what we decided 354 00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:32.410 to do. If you leave a review for be to be growth in apple 355 00:23:32.490 --> 00:23:37.410 podcasts and email me a screenshot of the review to James At sweetfish Mediacom, 356 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:41.089 I'll send you a signed copy of my new book, content based networking, 357 00:23:41.369 --> 00:23:44.720 how to instantly connect with anyone you want to know. We get a review, 358 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:45.920 you get a free book. We both win.
