Cut The Tie Podcast with Candyce Edelen
What happens when a driven founder realizes the hustle is costing more than it's giving back? In this candid episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Candyce Edelen, founder of PropelGrowth, to unpack her journey from relentless workaholism to a life of intention, delegation, and healthier ambition.
Candyce shares the early lessons from her entrepreneurial upbringing, the realities of scaling (and breaking) a company, and how a burnout-induced pivot helped her rediscover both energy and purpose. If you’ve ever felt like you’re sprinting on a treadmill that never stops, Candyce’s story is the reset you didn’t know you needed.
About Candyce Edelen
Candyce Edelen is the founder and CEO of PropelGrowth, a revenue enablement consultancy that helps complex B2B companies align sales and marketing for long-term growth. With a background in capital markets, marketing, and entrepreneurship, Candyce blends deep industry expertise with a passion for building systems that support—not sabotage—growth. She's also a speaker, writer, and champion for sustainable success.
In this episode, Thomas and Candyce discuss:
- Cutting ties with hustle culture
Candyce shares how her high-achiever mindset led to exhaustion—and how learning to delegate gave her business (and life) new energy. - From founder to builder of systems
She breaks down the shift from being the “do-it-all” leader to architecting a company that runs without her doing everything. - The cost of ignoring burnout
Candyce gets honest about the health and relationship toll of overwork, and the wake-up moment that forced a better path. - Why personal growth drives business growth
Through therapy, self-awareness, and constant iteration, Candyce shows how inner work leads to outer transformation. - Redefining success around rest and results
Today, Candyce runs a company where she works fewer hours, serves higher-value clients, and never misses her morning walk.
Key Takeaways:
- You don’t have to do it all yourself
Delegating isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom. Build the team. Build the system. - Burnout is a signal, not a badge
When your body and relationships are suffering, it’s time to listen and change. - Systems give you freedom
If your business can’t operate without you, you don’t have a business—you have a job. - Success is about energy, not hours
Working smarter—and less—can lead to better outcomes and better health. - Personal growth scales your company
Mindset work, boundaries, and self-awareness are just as important as strategy.
Connect with Candyce Edelen
💼 LinkedIn: Candyce Edelen
🌐 Website: www.propelgrowth.com
Connect with Thomas Helfrich
🐦 Twitter: @thelfrich
📘 Facebook: Cut the Tie Group
💼 LinkedIn: Thomas Hel
Dive into real, unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders, minus the BS.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
I'm your host, Thomas Helfrich.
I'm on a mission to help youcut the tie to whatever the hell
it is holding you back fromsuccess, the success that you
define for yourself.
And today I'm joined by CandiceEdelin.
Candice, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good, I'm glad to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I always am very grateful for the time anybody
gives us to come on the show andtalk about what you're doing.
So just take a moment,introduce yourself and what it
is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
All right.
Well, I am Candice Edelin and Ido a lot of work with helping
companies build visibility.
Mostly that leans towardLinkedIn, and we do a lot of
training in terms of helpingcompanies build their visibility
and go prospect effectively onLinkedIn using human-to-human
strategies, notebox.
(00:44):
I don't believe that you canautomate a relationship with
another human being, and so weshow people how to actually
build relationships withcommenting strategies, posting
strategies and outreachstrategies.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I just did a post that said most of the
influencers on LinkedIn are fake.
They're engagement pawns, and Italked about share panels, our
social media panels and AIcommenting, and it's not that
and the reason.
I know this because we've doneall this ourselves.
Try it see if it works, andwhat I see is a lot of people
(01:17):
who sell stuff on that piece,and it's LinkedIn is not built
for that.
It is built for realconnections, real human in their
interactions, and they're doingeverything they can to stop it,
but it makes you pull backsometimes from LinkedIn because
your content gets drowned out byall this other shit.
So we'll get into that.
I just love what you're doingHuman to human people.
If you're not doing it that way, you are thinking about
(01:37):
LinkedIn incorrectly.
It's an investment, not ainstant gratification AI
platform.
Exactly, we will go on fromthere.
Cool Series on that.
There are, though, a lot ofLinkedIn agencies, like listen.
I have an agency that's aroundLinkedIn and there's lots, and I
think there's plenty of roomfor it, but I always ask people
(01:58):
kind of what's yourdifferentiator on what you do
for your audience or for yourcustomers?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well and it's interesting, I mean even us
we're starting to do some donefor you from a content creation
point of view, using interviewswith our clients and also
recordings of their calls withcustomers to start to extract
what are the customers askingand then how can we turn the
(02:25):
question and the answer intoreally, really customer-centric
content.
I'll give you an example.
I mean just today we run aLinkedIn posting challenge and
one of our members of theposting challenge today it's
like the first post that she'sput up since the challenge
started on Tuesday and she putup the post and somebody reached
(02:46):
out to her.
You would think it was a poorlyperforming post because she got
one comment, but that onecomment was I really want to
learn more about your services.
They booked a call.
They've already opened up anopportunity.
It was like a perfect prospect.
So to me that's like a reallyhighly performing post.
Even though it had one commentand like four likes on it, it's
(03:07):
got it, got the job done.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So this is a big piece that I.
I mean, I'm so glad to hearthat because I'll get.
We'll meet new people who wantto kind of learn our system or
do stuff, and they'll say butyour content doesn't do well,
and I go it's, it's not intendedto, it's intended to talk to
you and no one else.
Yeah, you know, we'll get 20likes on a post, but I'll get
two meetings from it.
Exactly, Exactly.
We have to do 10,000 likes ornot likes, views, let's say per
(03:33):
post or 50 or whatever it wouldbe, maybe 100,000 on a couple.
It's zero business.
And the thing with youralgorithm you should be very
aware of one you and I candebate this but is if you start
getting viral shares, so tospeak, to the wrong audience
(03:54):
that wrong audience sees thestuff in the future and they
don't exactly the, the algorithmgets trained to feed the your
content to the wrong audience.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
When that happens, I don't't want a viral post.
I want to post like whatJennifer's post did.
You know, and you still need tobuild audience.
So you still need to do poststhat are getting comments and
are getting engagement, but aregetting engagement from the
right people.
Because, like you said, youknow you start building this
(04:23):
almost like a rule for thealgorithm that you're interested
in these people over here whenthat's not true.
You want these people, but thealgorithm only feeds your stuff
to these people if you keeptrying to do these viral posts.
So, yeah, plus, I believe humanto human.
You should comment on every,you should reply to every
comment because you should treatpeople with respect and honor
(04:45):
the fact that they took the timeto comment.
If you get a hundred, 300comments on a post, that is such
a time sink.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, Well, but it's also I mean, that's a big post
right there at that point, theuh, what do you do with?
I will ask you this question Uh, so what happens if you're kind
of going down the wrong path?
You know like you're gettingthe wrong, do you take a break
or you just start posting theway you need to post to get the
people that you like.
So what do you do with that?
Do you clean up your linkedin?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I shift.
I definitely make that shift,but one of the best ways to
start drawing the right audienceis a commenting strategy.
So, um, I in fact, I literallyjust created a prompt template
for our posting challengemembers today.
So it's like super relevant forme about how to find the
LinkedIn influencers, the peopleon LinkedIn that are
(05:34):
influencing your target audience.
So we're not looking for AdamGrant or Kim Kardashian, the
people that your specific targetaudience follows and engages
with, where they are posting notfluff posts, not, you know,
selfies and and broetry, butthey're posting real content
that's meaningful for yourtarget audience.
(05:56):
And then you start followingthose people and hunting
intentionally for their postsand dropping comments on those
meaningful comments, and thatcauses people to start seeing
you and you'll start growing theright followers.
It's a super effective strategyfor building.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
We've been using it for that for years.
It's been ruined by AI a bitand it's funny because I'll see
comments in my posts the sameones or same four in the same
row and I'm like stop commenting.
Ai, it's killing your personalbrand, smear.
You're doing it and I was likedon't have to do every one of my
posts, but you never reply.
So it's like why are you payingfor that service Anyway?
(06:36):
So don't do that, people, allright?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You can't automate a relationship with a human being.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right.
It's like what do you do?
So, like when we would docommenting, people reply I
personally I'd get it on a listof in sales, navigate and reach
out.
So, like there's a strategy,and I agree that's the way to do
it, I will tell you, I think,and I'll share this back, what I
call is a positive, polarizingcomment.
So let's say you're like afranchise, instead of work for
(07:01):
somebody, go to the 100influencers that are like get a
better resume, here's how youget a job, here's how you
advance your corporate careerand go comment on their content.
That I respectfully disagree.
I think you should become yourown boss and pick up, and that's
a positive, it's respectful,but it's positively polarizing.
The other way, that's a greatstrategy.
Yeah, it works really well, butyou got to do a long form
(07:25):
comment.
That's not GPT and that's wherethe time suck comes in, or you
need to.
You know how to do it correctly.
It's really good way to do it,but also establishes your brand
and it's okay.
You have to take a.
In my opinion, I think you haveto take a polarizing side on
something.
Yes, really good attention.
I'll give you an example beforewe kind of move on here and
this comes down to somethingI've never done.
(07:45):
I'm usually like straightmiddle of the road.
My content, I think, is boringat times, but it is on point to
what I believe in, which is, youknow, let's just be good humans
or whatever else right?
I saw this Instagram post fromGrant Cardone that he reshared
here recently, four years later,on Easter, where he's literally
grabbing his wife's breastwhile his daughter's on the
(08:05):
picture and he's smiling.
He thinks and I and I, I'm sureI'm happy.
If that's their world, I'mhappy with it.
But the fact that you put thatout on the world, objectifying
your wife and women and withyour daughters there even if
that's your thing, you're aninfluencer what do you message?
Are you sending to men andwomen that that's okay and it go
(08:30):
, and if that's you people?
And so I posted like I reallycircle.
I was like no class.
What I even replied intocurrently to one of his things
about you should be doing greatthings to the world.
I wrote, I posted that in hisfeed.
I'm like like grabbing boobs.
Anyway, I've got a lot oftraction and I didn't care
because I even defriended, orwhatever, a few people who were
like there's no problem here.
What's the?
I was like do you want your sonor daughter to be with that or
be like that?
I go, what the like?
(08:50):
I don't fucking want to hangout with anybody who's like that
.
Like that guy is like classes.
I don't care how much money youmake or whatever else that is,
just don't do that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Like do that privately?
Yeah, not great us and I thinkthat's true on LinkedIn to the
people you're following, thepeople that you're engaging with
have a reflection on you, andso if you were engaging in that
kind of content all the time,that's going to reflect on your
own personal brand and peopleneed to be thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I agree.
Uh, it's so I.
I put it out there cause I waslike you know what?
Let's see, I rarely dopolarizing.
You know that one, wow, thatone, wow, yeah, that one.
I'm kind of like I will tellyou what.
I had a strong increase infemale followers that that day.
Oh, interesting, and it wasn'tthe intent.
I was just like I just this islike, I don't even care.
If you're a guy and believe inthis, I'm not gonna probably do
(09:58):
business with you anyway,because I'm not, I'm not that
bro-ish anyway.
Uh, I'm full man and like isyou know, poor pro guys, but
that, come on, don't be a backanyway.
Um, I rest my case once again.
I could do a full show on thatone, probably just pictures with
me, and that's rude.
Okay, let's get into yourjourney a little bit.
Before we do, though, how doyou define success?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
not the way I think most people do.
I think I just find success asbeing able to kind of carve my
own course.
It's not about money for me.
It's about being able to makedecisions for my life that
aren't driven by having to be ayes person.
(10:47):
I'm not.
I would make a terribleemployee.
I haven't been employed for along time.
I'm pretty much unemployable atthis point, so I think it's
really that.
And then having enough money tohave, you know, a comfortable
retirement.
I'm not looking to be rich, butI also don't want to eat cat
food.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, I mean, cat food is expensive.
Let's not set your sights toohigh here.
Come on, though, it's prettyhighbrow of you to want cat food
.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I know, I know I actually have decided that I
want a cat food-free retirement.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
There you go.
That's better In all ways.
Like you want to be less than Ijust want to eat tuna.
It's cheaper, exactly.
Um, yeah, sorry I digress inyour own journey, though.
Um, you know it's not astraight path.
Right, there's, there's,there's things.
You know you how to do.
What was kind of the biggesttie, so to speak?
You needed to cut to find thatsuccess you just defined.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's a good point, I think, assuming that I had to
follow the SaaS bros model ofyou have to have this hockey
stick growth and you're notsuccessful unless you have that
hockey stick growth.
I certainly pursued that.
(12:04):
I started a couple of softwarecompanies, went out and got
funding for those.
Have gone through that processand found that to be not very
fulfilling and I failed.
And one of the things that Iwas most afraid of was that
failure was defining for me andI had a major business failure
(12:25):
in 2006 and 2007.
And what I learned is thatfailure one isn't final.
It ended up being the launchingpad for me and allowed me to
establish credibility that Inever would have realized.
So I guess there's kind of likecutting that tie and finding a
new way to be as a professionalwas a pretty big aha moment for
(12:47):
me.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, it sounds and this happens a lot right.
Someone else defined whatsuccess looked like chase to go
with it, and I always say it'sdone in love, typically as
parents or somebody else, andlater in life maybe it's done to
meet someone else's agenda inVC world or whatever else.
But until you own your own pathwith that you feel out of you
know it's not your suit, you'retold to wear it and it's not you
(13:11):
.
And once you start definingyour own success, it does change
.
I think when you're on someoneelse's success path of what
matters, you won't findfulfillment in it until you've
defined it yourself.
So I love that.
I mean, I hate the fact thatyou had to go through that,
but'd share.
I don't know if this is truefor most people, but I've been
of the mindset that if it's not,hard, it's not worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And there are things that come easily for me around
go-to-market strategy thinkingabout customers, thinking about
how customers think and how toalign content with them.
That just is just natural forme, and I had a terrible time
(13:54):
figuring out how to build abusiness model around doing
what's easy for me, and I had aterrible time figuring out how
to build a business model arounddoing what's easy for me,
because it didn't feel like itwas valuable if it was easy.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, some of the best businesses I hear about,
they seem so simple.
The other is, as I'm learning,and you go through this, when
you first start as anentrepreneur, you kind of build
a job for yourself because youjust based on what you know or
do, and I'm in that throes whereI'm like pivoting to that's not
what I intended to do, which Idon't mind it.
It's like not bad, I just don'twant to.
I'm 49.
(14:26):
I don't want to do it at 59.
I don't want to.
I want to.
But you evolve and you findyour journey and you kind of
define success.
You realize, hey, I can't letthese things define me.
I need to set up the way I needto.
So it's easier A lot of hardwork, but easier later, easier
to exit, easier to live, easierto let someone else take it over
.
Otherwise, you're kind ofbuying a job and, as soon as you
(14:48):
know, you're going to screwyourself at some point.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So do you remember the moment, though, when you
realized it's an ongoingevolution for me because I keep
going back to oh well, that'seasy.
Why would somebody want to payme money to do that?
So I've been going through thisevolution since 2007, and I've
(15:13):
had people tell me this is whatyou're really good at, and no
other people aren't good at that, and it's just this continual
evolution for me of how to turnthat into a business.
Now I will tell you that that'snot sellable.
I mean, it's sellable as aservice, but it's not sellable
as now.
I can create a business basedon this and then I can have an
(15:34):
exit strategy.
So that's another thing that Iam having to really rethink is
do I want to build a businessthat has an exit strategy, or do
I want to build a business thatallows me to build a
comfortable lifestyle where Idon't have to work all the time,
where I can work four or fivehours a week and make enough
money with that, or maybe 10hours a week and live
(15:57):
comfortably on that, so that Idon't need to have a business I
can sell?
Maybe that's okay.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It is and it like, and I listen.
We can, like I said, probablydo another third show on that
because it is a real struggle of, but it's also finding comfort
too, right Of.
Like you know, you got to paypeople and in in in in the
agency world.
I just did a post on this andit did okay for me, but I will
tell you that I said basically,in two years, small marketing
(16:25):
agencies 80% are done because AIis getting better.
The value prop in labor costsfor my Philippines and other
places are going up and so thevalue proposition, what what a
smaller agency can can provideis going down, because a lot of
their strategy is going to becovered by ai.
A lot of the execution is goingto be done by ai and then
people can just hire a littlelower talent or do it themselves
(16:47):
, and so there's a real problem.
Come for agencies that arethere and I see that and and I'm
like man, unless I pivot to abigger agency, I'm not sure I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Or I need to go maybe more strategy of, like I create
digital videos and courses onthis stuff, which I'm not sure I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Well, AI is going to displace some of that too.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I agree, anything, it's knowledge, worker based, um
, is there even a podcastpotential?
But I think people will stillwant to hear real people, uh,
but it the truth is, the contentbehind it might be better.
So there's a lot of changecoming, yeah, and I don't
disagree, so uh, do you.
So there's one thing, that toknow your success.
There's another thing to uh,you know, know what tie you need
(17:32):
to cut, so to speak, and yourealize the moment.
But then there's the how.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
How are you doing this?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And that's so bloody hard.
It's like how I was doing it.
I thought that I had it allfigured out in 20, because
between 2020, 21, 22, 23, wewere seeing 100% growth year
over year over year and I'm like, oh my gosh, we've nailed it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, you and I were tracking on the same on that
because I'm like, oh, this isgreat, we're crushing it.
We went from 100K to 300K to600.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yes, and I'm like holy crap, what just happened?
Yeah, and so what was workingisn't working now.
And so now we're re reinventingagain, and I mean, I've learned
that over the however manyyears it is since 2007.
When I started this, we'vereinvented this business a few
(18:27):
times, and now I'm like I haveto do this again.
But yeah, I got to do it againand it sucks and I'm pissed.
And yeah, I got to do it again,um, but yeah, I got to do it
again and it sucks and I'mpissed, and yeah, I got to do it
again.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's funny.
We uh and you also, like youknow we had raised our prices
cause we added value and stuff.
But now with technology, I'mgoing back to listen.
I don't need to charge a fewthousand a month.
I can charge 500 a monthbecause I can do it with about a
hundred dollars of labor andthe rest you know, with
technology and it's, it's moreprofitable.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
And have that yeah exactly, and so you.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So you relook at the flip side of that that people
don't talk about.
There are spouses, uh, andother people in your life that
go.
You're pivoting again.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh gosh, this happens , this conversation happens all
the time.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I know I mean I live it and I'm like I have to
explain that.
But they just think you'redoing what you're doing and
you're in and it's the hardright, something like.
But I just know I need to andit's.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, yeah, the fact is no, I don't know what I'm
doing, I'm just trying to figureit out.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You are correct.
But I know I have to figure itout or go to cat food, and your
point is cat food's tooexpensive.
So well crap, that's not evenmy solution.
Oh yeah, I mean, cat food isthe wrong answer here.
(19:54):
We don't want to, and it's aquestion I actually when I used
to drink years ago you know, Ibought a knee in tuna.
It was right.
No, it just just don't drink it.
Don't drink any cap.
Um, you know, I, I, I, I lovethat.
You have this, you have it.
So tell me kind of what, uh,the impact is on your life right
now as you're cutting this tieand you're working through it.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, it's been interesting.
Um, I was like super bummedbecause I like the business we
have right now.
I've been having fun with it.
It was a pivot in itself.
We moved from consulting andstrategy work with clients to
training and coaching, and thatwas a big pivot and it was
(20:33):
really fun and it was a blastand I'm like gosh.
Now I feel like I'm kind ofgoing back to what I was doing
before, but then I get someclients and I'm like holy cow,
this is really fun.
I'm really really enjoying thisnew thing too.
So we're just figuring it out.
What I'm doing more now ishelping clients to tap into
(20:54):
what's going on in theirbusinesses, the conversations
they're having internally, andturning that into super
meaningful content and thenexpanding it beyond LinkedIn,
because, yes, linkedin is superimportant, but so is email
nurturing, so is your blog, sois third-party content, and
proving that you're human isgoing to be huge, continue to be
important.
But, yes, we're using AI tohelp that, and so I can help
(21:18):
clients get faster results bygetting in there in a little bit
more of a done with yousolution.
So we will never be a done foryou again, because I don't
believe you can outsource arelationship with another human
being, um, but we can actuallystep next to the client and help
them with it.
So that's where we're kind ofadding we're not completely
(21:40):
pivoting away from the trainingstuff we're doing, but we're
adding that on for the ones thatare just having trouble getting
everything done because they'reso freaking busy.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, I hear your song.
We are actually as we looked atit and we looked at services.
I went back to our.
That was actually this weekwith my teams.
We went back to the originalmodel that, hey, we're paying
because out of necessity, we'repaying per post.
We used to just do flat, likeI'd pay them a salary.
I was like we have to go tothat model because the
volatility in the market of whenpeople are going to try the
(22:09):
next 90 days of AI is real, isreal and and and it just people
listen.
If you're, if you're looking atthings in 90 days, take it with
the idea that you're trying todo something for a full year
mentality.
The reason is 90 days is reallytough to prove anything because
the first 30 or so you'reguessing on what the hell you're
doing, and so you're, you'remeasuring like you're an
(22:29):
incomplete data and I tellpeople this all the time.
Like you have to look any ofthese Meta, any of them is an
investment of time, because longterm, what's going to matter is
that people know you're real,because I believe that's
actually going to be the biggestfactor.
More people are going back tocoffees and things like that to
meet, and that means more localor more industry focused.
We'll keep moving forward.
(22:51):
You and I are too close.
This is have.
This is like two like peopleare like.
What the hell are these twotalking about?
I know?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I want to just go grab coffee with you and sit and
talk for the next five hours,because this would be Listen.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I mean you're in the group.
We can have a mastermindbreakout on LinkedIn all day.
I would love that.
It'd be great.
That'd be fun.
The thing I'd like to know,maybe in your life, what are you
most grateful for?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Wow, that's a common answer.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Believe it or not.
I don't know if I'm trackingthis, but I'm on a faith journey
.
I always tell people I'm notgoing to be selling Bibles
anytime soon on your doorstep,but the idea is I would have
been like roll my eyes, likeseriously, like three years ago.
Now I'm like I totally get itLike that's fine state you find.
And if you don't get thatpeople out there listen your
thing like don't be, like.
(23:46):
It's one of those things.
It meets you where you are whenyou need it and I hope if you
ever do need it it does becauseit will.
But it's, it's one of thosethings where, uh, it's a
beautiful thing.
So I love that answer.
That's really beautiful and Iunderstand it.
No expression, the explanationneeded uh, anybody else.
We're not going to go down thefaith journey.
You can listen to 50 othershows we have.
We talk about that all right uh, some rapid fire questions.
(24:09):
um, you know I usually startwith a different one, but I'm
gonna ask you this onedifferently what's your favorite
book?
What's the must-read book foryou?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh gosh, I read a lot of books and I do a lot of
fiction we're going to pick one,but the one book that has
influenced me, other than theBible, the most in my life is
how to Win Friends and InfluencePeople, by Dale Carnegie.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I read that or listened to it, I should say,
and it seemed antiquated, someof the stuff you're like duh,
but you should listen to it,just so you can realize that
that's a principle that's beenaround forever and people
haven't changed that much.
So I think it's all right, duh,so go do it.
I like that one as well.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I don't overlook the misogynistic kind of tone in
there.
It was written in like what the20s.
It's an old book, so forgivethat and just look for the
principles.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I thought about it as like a narration of a movie set
in the time.
Oh yeah, that's how I thoughtabout it.
I was like my word this is oh,um, but the the the principles.
I think what I took from it isthe principles remain in human
today.
Yes, and so it.
That's, that's the beauty.
That's why books are classic.
Who gives you, though,inspiration day to day?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
oh, you know I.
I guess, in terms of people I'mfollowing on linkedin, um gal
aga is somebody that I find justamazing.
I love the stuff that he'sputting in.
Nate Nasrallah are two peoplethat have a big influence on me
Richard Vanderblom on theLinkedIn algorithm and then, in
terms of other things, I stilllisten to Tim Keller all the
(25:53):
time.
For those who don't know, hepassed away, but he is a
phenomenal preacher andapologist that I just love his
content.
So I guess those people yeah,no, I like it.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
That's a good list of people you could check out In
your kind of journey.
What's been the best businessadvice you've received?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Ooh, Hmm, I guess for me it's been around.
Just because it's easy for medoesn't mean it's easy for other
(26:36):
people.
When I first started PropelGrowth, we had a client who I
was trying to sell him one thingand he was trying to buy
something completely different.
I wanted to sell him, likeongoing content creation
services.
He wanted to just buy my timeto sit there and talk through
(26:58):
strategy with him and it was sobloody easy to do that because
it just came so naturally to me.
It's like, well, no, you don'twant to do that, Like, go focus
on these things.
And I got the opportunity tohave a huge impact on Equinix,
which is a multi-billion dollardata center.
When they were pre they werestill in the hundreds of
(27:19):
millions and I was working withthe largest sector of their
business and and it just tookoff and I I actually got to have
a pretty significant role inthat because John, the guy that
was leading that that businessunit, just wanted to sit down
and talk to me about thefinancial sector and how to how
to build it there, and it waseasy for me it was.
(27:41):
It seemed so obvious and yetthat was what he wanted to pay
me for and I can't tell you howlong it took me to like wrap my
head around that it wasridiculous.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's funny.
So in life, right, right, yeah,a lot of times people realize
skill they have which comes easyto them not, like not, you see
this in kids.
One thing they don't realizehow well they do it and then so
they think they have to to makeit.
They got to go developsomething they don't do.
Well, right, and like you know,like, if you're a singer or
(28:12):
something else, right, there'slots of people like, listen, you
have a talent in.
Why are you trying to do actingor something Like sing.
Get the attention from the giftyou've been given from God.
Exactly, you're a legendaryPokemon card from the start.
Now go get your stage one andtwo.
Now, if you got on a nerd likeme and you evolve Pokemons, I'm
learning this.
The point being is I'm a basic.
I can't go up to the next levelever on that Like.
(28:34):
I can't train to where youstart and so like.
And when you have that like,I'm very good at consulting
strategy and bringing that like.
I just couldn't stand thetravel and that kind of work
anymore.
That comes super easy.
I'm sure I'll probably returnto it at some point.
But the point is I realizedthat.
But that's easy.
Coding was not Me deliveringmarketing.
No, that that's easy.
(28:56):
Coding was not me deliveringmarketing.
No, that's why I have a teamlike I.
I've been very clear what I do.
Well, you're spot on and youstruggle with that because
somehow, maybe back in childhood, someone said, hey, you need to
, you need to work on yourskills.
And you're like I I got thesegifts, why can't work on those?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
so well a culture teaches us if the way to success
is working hard, which istotally not true, but I've
bought into that my whole lifeand so yeah it's.
I don't know why this is soridiculously hard for me to wrap
my head around.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
When you're younger.
I like the Alex Ramosiprinciple here, where you got
time generally on your hands oron your favor.
So do work hard and smart.
Both Work the weekends.
Take the time now to make thatinvestment yourself.
That is actually good advice.
Like, stop going out, stopwatching Netflix, work on
yourself.
Do you have 300 bucks?
Instead of going out for themonth by a course, do something
(29:45):
because it's a better use ofyour time.
Older, you want to have moretime with family and things that
you've done or collected.
It's different.
So I think hard is the rightanswer, Smart with it is the
better.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
And thinking carefully, thinking critically
about what you're doing and whatyou're working on, what you're
hearing, what you're reading.
I don't think enough people,it's like we're not.
Our culture has lost criticalthinking capability.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh, that's what we've got podcast number four coming.
Yeah, how to debate in thecountry again without killing
each other.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, there's a novel idea, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
That's part of what my men's group's about.
How can you talk about stuffwithout fisticuffs?
Well, actually we go fisticuffs.
We can all walk out of there,friends, all you can.
Just don't pull a gun, allright.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
If you could go back to any part in your life anytime
, when would you and what wouldyou do differently?
You know that's a hard thing toanswer, because if I did that,
it would change the trajectoryto where I am right now, and I'm
10 years ahead of you.
I'm 59.
And I love my life.
I love my husband.
I would not want to do anythingthat would alter that
(31:04):
trajectory.
I didn't get married till I was46.
So if I went back I could screwthat up.
So I don't know that I would.
I I like where I am.
I am I satisfied?
No, Am I content?
Yes, Am I joyful?
Yes, Do I have everything?
Yes, what's that?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Are you insatiable?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Yes, yeah, exactly, but that's the try to cut like,
stop me, I don't want to screwthat up.
I.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I like where things are right now.
I mean, it's one of thosequestions I ask just to see
where people take it and thenwhat are they applying in their
life today to do differently?
It's the mindset I got toversus I have to.
Yeah, and things happen for youinstead of to you.
And if you look at it like allthat happened for me to be here
today, then that's the rightmindset.
I think one of the best answersI ever got the guy was like I
wish I would have ordered ablack coffee instead of a latte
(32:00):
a minute ago.
I'm going to fix that after theshow, but right now I wish I
had a black coffee.
I love that.
That's an fantastic answer.
I mean, nothing really changesif I just do that, and now I'm
sitting with a coffee on one,but I guess I'll just get
another one after that.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That's an awesome answer.
That's a great answer I guess Iwould go back and tell myself
not to be so afraid of failure,because what I've learned is if
you're going to fall, fallforward.
Fall on your face.
We made some forward progress.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
that way Don't collapse like in a faint, like
we just don't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, yeah, but but I think we're we fear failure
more than we should.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I'm somebody who fears sucking, like being bad at
something or being perceived atsomething.
Uh, here's a crazy thing.
How many videos do I have onYouTube?
I don't know a lot.
I am afraid to put a course outthere.
Really, I did it.
I put a YouTube course it'sbeing produced 40 minutes of how
(33:04):
to build a 10K a month business.
I'm doing a bunch of shorts.
I just lay to it.
I'm like who cares?
Let's just go do this and learnfrom it and see if anybody
cares about it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
It's amazing, though.
I'm not afraid to be on camera,but I'm afraid of what I'm
saying doesn't make sense andit's boring.
I was like I'm underproducingit.
I'm an overproducer ofconfidence.
Just forget it, let's go.
Final question If there was aquestion I should have asked you
though I didn't what would thatquestion have been and how
would you have answered it?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
oh, um, hmm, I guess, um, you could have asked um,
like if you were going back toyour you know whatever self, 30
(33:54):
year old self, what would I tellthem?
Or 20-year-old self, I wouldtell myself to take seriously
finding a mentor.
Think that I grasped theadvantage a mentor who would
(34:26):
really want to see me grow couldhave made in my life.
And I've looked at people whodid have those mentors and it's
pretty remarkable the impactthat has had.
So if I'm talking to anybodywho's 20, 30, 40 years old, go
find a mentor, even 50 and60-year-olds, we can all use
mentors.
I have mentors now and it'sreally made a difference.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I struggled.
There's two things I've come torealize and that's fantastic
advice of which I would haveignored myself years ago,
because lots of people say, hey,you should get a mentor, and
even I knew.
Have ignored myself years agobecause lots of people say, hey,
should you get a mentor?
and even I knew I was like Ineed a mentor ego, yeah and adhd
yeah, and thinking you're thesmartest person in the room is
plaguing me for 47, maybe the 49years, and um, there's no way I
(35:08):
would have been accepting ofthat and I think I realized
that's why I never picked anyone, because I just didn't trust
anyone to be smarter or figureout what I'm doing.
But there's so like cause Ididn't.
I just you know so.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I had this giant chip on my shoulder during my
twenties and I was, and it wasmostly because I felt so
unqualified and if I, if I gotexposed, everything I would lose
everything.
You know, not that I hadanything, I don't know what I
(35:40):
thought I was going to lose butI was so terrified of being
exposed as a fraud because Ifelt like a fraud.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I look back, I look at myself as pretty much a Will
Farrell character in any moviewhere he thinks he's smart and
he's actually dumb.
Yeah, it's embarrassing tothink about that.
If I watch myself, I'd be like,oh, I cannot believe I'm doing
that right now.
I'd be like, yeah, how did Inot die there?
Or whatever else.
Um, thank you, by the way, somuch for taking the 15 minute
(36:03):
podcast that we're at 36 minutesand that's how I don't even
time.
You know, I time does exist.
The teams in the Philippines,they're in the future.
But, yeah, we exist at the sametime, not true?
No, time doesn't exist.
All right, uh, we're just now.
Who should get a hold of you?
How should they do that?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
um, anybody who's trying to figure out how to
crack the code on building yourpresence on linkedin and you
believe that you want to treatpeople as human beings and with
respect and you agree with methat you can't automate a
relationship or outsource arelationship, contact me.
I'll help you figure it out.
We work a lot with coaches andconsultants and marketing
(36:44):
agencies and a lot of Microsoftpartners to help build presence
on LinkedIn and attract leads.
I mean, to me it's about theend goal, it's not just about
being an influencer.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I find it funny that Microsoft people and I've worked
with a few myself thatapparently the internal
resources for LinkedIn, forMicrosoft isn't there because a
lot of them have no clue how touse it.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
People at LinkedIn don't know how to use LinkedIn.
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
There's a lot of strings and hamster wheels and
people turning cranks back there.
Yeah, if you don't know, justlet someone flag your account
for something and watch howhorribly it is to try to get it.
So we won't go down podcastfive.
Candice, thank you, Iappreciate you.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been a blast.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
I enjoy it very much and listen everybody who made it
to this point.
You rock for listening watching.
If this was your first time, Ido hope you come back.
I hope it's the first of many.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething holding you back and
just unleash that best versionof yourself on the terms you've
defined as success.
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
I'm your host, Thomas Helfrich.
I'm on a mission to help youcut the tie to whatever the hell
it is holding you back fromsuccess, the success that you
define for yourself.
And today I'm joined by CandiceEdelin.
Candice, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good, I'm glad to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I always am very grateful for the time anybody
gives us to come on the show andtalk about what you're doing.
So just take a moment,introduce yourself and what it
is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
All right.
Well, I am Candice Edelin and Ido a lot of work with helping
companies build visibility.
Mostly that leans towardLinkedIn, and we do a lot of
training in terms of helpingcompanies build their visibility
and go prospect effectively onLinkedIn using human-to-human
strategies, notebox.
(00:44):
I don't believe that you canautomate a relationship with
another human being, and so weshow people how to actually
build relationships withcommenting strategies, posting
strategies and outreachstrategies.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I just did a post that said most of the
influencers on LinkedIn are fake.
They're engagement pawns, and Italked about share panels, our
social media panels and AIcommenting, and it's not that
and the reason.
I know this because we've doneall this ourselves.
Try it see if it works, andwhat I see is a lot of people
(01:17):
who sell stuff on that piece,and it's LinkedIn is not built
for that.
It is built for realconnections, real human in their
interactions, and they're doingeverything they can to stop it,
but it makes you pull backsometimes from LinkedIn because
your content gets drowned out byall this other shit.
So we'll get into that.
I just love what you're doingHuman to human people.
If you're not doing it that way, you are thinking about
(01:37):
LinkedIn incorrectly.
It's an investment, not ainstant gratification AI
platform.
Exactly, we will go on fromthere.
Cool Series on that.
There are, though, a lot ofLinkedIn agencies, like listen.
I have an agency that's aroundLinkedIn and there's lots, and I
think there's plenty of roomfor it, but I always ask people
(01:58):
kind of what's yourdifferentiator on what you do
for your audience or for yourcustomers?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well and it's interesting, I mean even us
we're starting to do some donefor you from a content creation
point of view, using interviewswith our clients and also
recordings of their calls withcustomers to start to extract
what are the customers askingand then how can we turn the
(02:25):
question and the answer intoreally, really customer-centric
content.
I'll give you an example.
I mean just today we run aLinkedIn posting challenge and
one of our members of theposting challenge today it's
like the first post that she'sput up since the challenge
started on Tuesday and she putup the post and somebody reached
(02:46):
out to her.
You would think it was a poorlyperforming post because she got
one comment, but that onecomment was I really want to
learn more about your services.
They booked a call.
They've already opened up anopportunity.
It was like a perfect prospect.
So to me that's like a reallyhighly performing post.
Even though it had one commentand like four likes on it, it's
(03:07):
got it, got the job done.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So this is a big piece that I.
I mean, I'm so glad to hearthat because I'll get.
We'll meet new people who wantto kind of learn our system or
do stuff, and they'll say butyour content doesn't do well,
and I go it's, it's not intendedto, it's intended to talk to
you and no one else.
Yeah, you know, we'll get 20likes on a post, but I'll get
two meetings from it.
Exactly, Exactly.
We have to do 10,000 likes ornot likes, views, let's say per
(03:33):
post or 50 or whatever it wouldbe, maybe 100,000 on a couple.
It's zero business.
And the thing with youralgorithm you should be very
aware of one you and I candebate this but is if you start
getting viral shares, so tospeak, to the wrong audience
(03:54):
that wrong audience sees thestuff in the future and they
don't exactly the, the algorithmgets trained to feed the your
content to the wrong audience.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
When that happens, I don't't want a viral post.
I want to post like whatJennifer's post did.
You know, and you still need tobuild audience.
So you still need to do poststhat are getting comments and
are getting engagement, but aregetting engagement from the
right people.
Because, like you said, youknow you start building this
(04:23):
almost like a rule for thealgorithm that you're interested
in these people over here whenthat's not true.
You want these people, but thealgorithm only feeds your stuff
to these people if you keeptrying to do these viral posts.
So, yeah, plus, I believe humanto human.
You should comment on every,you should reply to every
comment because you should treatpeople with respect and honor
(04:45):
the fact that they took the timeto comment.
If you get a hundred, 300comments on a post, that is such
a time sink.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, Well, but it's also I mean, that's a big post
right there at that point, theuh, what do you do with?
I will ask you this question Uh, so what happens if you're kind
of going down the wrong path?
You know like you're gettingthe wrong, do you take a break
or you just start posting theway you need to post to get the
people that you like.
So what do you do with that?
Do you clean up your linkedin?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I shift.
I definitely make that shift,but one of the best ways to
start drawing the right audienceis a commenting strategy.
So, um, I in fact, I literallyjust created a prompt template
for our posting challengemembers today.
So it's like super relevant forme about how to find the
LinkedIn influencers, the peopleon LinkedIn that are
(05:34):
influencing your target audience.
So we're not looking for AdamGrant or Kim Kardashian, the
people that your specific targetaudience follows and engages
with, where they are posting notfluff posts, not, you know,
selfies and and broetry, butthey're posting real content
that's meaningful for yourtarget audience.
(05:56):
And then you start followingthose people and hunting
intentionally for their postsand dropping comments on those
meaningful comments, and thatcauses people to start seeing
you and you'll start growing theright followers.
It's a super effective strategyfor building.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
We've been using it for that for years.
It's been ruined by AI a bitand it's funny because I'll see
comments in my posts the sameones or same four in the same
row and I'm like stop commenting.
Ai, it's killing your personalbrand, smear.
You're doing it and I was likedon't have to do every one of my
posts, but you never reply.
So it's like why are you payingfor that service Anyway?
(06:36):
So don't do that, people, allright?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You can't automate a relationship with a human being.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right.
It's like what do you do?
So, like when we would docommenting, people reply I
personally I'd get it on a listof in sales, navigate and reach
out.
So, like there's a strategy,and I agree that's the way to do
it, I will tell you, I think,and I'll share this back, what I
call is a positive, polarizingcomment.
So let's say you're like afranchise, instead of work for
(07:01):
somebody, go to the 100influencers that are like get a
better resume, here's how youget a job, here's how you
advance your corporate careerand go comment on their content.
That I respectfully disagree.
I think you should become yourown boss and pick up, and that's
a positive, it's respectful,but it's positively polarizing.
The other way, that's a greatstrategy.
Yeah, it works really well, butyou got to do a long form
(07:25):
comment.
That's not GPT and that's wherethe time suck comes in, or you
need to.
You know how to do it correctly.
It's really good way to do it,but also establishes your brand
and it's okay.
You have to take a.
In my opinion, I think you haveto take a polarizing side on
something.
Yes, really good attention.
I'll give you an example beforewe kind of move on here and
this comes down to somethingI've never done.
(07:45):
I'm usually like straightmiddle of the road.
My content, I think, is boringat times, but it is on point to
what I believe in, which is, youknow, let's just be good humans
or whatever else right?
I saw this Instagram post fromGrant Cardone that he reshared
here recently, four years later,on Easter, where he's literally
grabbing his wife's breastwhile his daughter's on the
(08:05):
picture and he's smiling.
He thinks and I and I, I'm sureI'm happy.
If that's their world, I'mhappy with it.
But the fact that you put thatout on the world, objectifying
your wife and women and withyour daughters there even if
that's your thing, you're aninfluencer what do you message?
Are you sending to men andwomen that that's okay and it go
(08:30):
, and if that's you people?
And so I posted like I reallycircle.
I was like no class.
What I even replied intocurrently to one of his things
about you should be doing greatthings to the world.
I wrote, I posted that in hisfeed.
I'm like like grabbing boobs.
Anyway, I've got a lot oftraction and I didn't care
because I even defriended, orwhatever, a few people who were
like there's no problem here.
What's the?
I was like do you want your sonor daughter to be with that or
be like that?
I go, what the like?
(08:50):
I don't fucking want to hangout with anybody who's like that
.
Like that guy is like classes.
I don't care how much money youmake or whatever else that is,
just don't do that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Like do that privately?
Yeah, not great us and I thinkthat's true on LinkedIn to the
people you're following, thepeople that you're engaging with
have a reflection on you, andso if you were engaging in that
kind of content all the time,that's going to reflect on your
own personal brand and peopleneed to be thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I agree.
Uh, it's so I.
I put it out there cause I waslike you know what?
Let's see, I rarely dopolarizing.
You know that one, wow, thatone, wow, yeah, that one.
I'm kind of like I will tellyou what.
I had a strong increase infemale followers that that day.
Oh, interesting, and it wasn'tthe intent.
I was just like I just this islike, I don't even care.
If you're a guy and believe inthis, I'm not gonna probably do
(09:58):
business with you anyway,because I'm not, I'm not that
bro-ish anyway.
Uh, I'm full man and like isyou know, poor pro guys, but
that, come on, don't be a backanyway.
Um, I rest my case once again.
I could do a full show on thatone, probably just pictures with
me, and that's rude.
Okay, let's get into yourjourney a little bit.
Before we do, though, how doyou define success?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
not the way I think most people do.
I think I just find success asbeing able to kind of carve my
own course.
It's not about money for me.
It's about being able to makedecisions for my life that
aren't driven by having to be ayes person.
(10:47):
I'm not.
I would make a terribleemployee.
I haven't been employed for along time.
I'm pretty much unemployable atthis point, so I think it's
really that.
And then having enough money tohave, you know, a comfortable
retirement.
I'm not looking to be rich, butI also don't want to eat cat
food.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, I mean, cat food is expensive.
Let's not set your sights toohigh here.
Come on, though, it's prettyhighbrow of you to want cat food
.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I know, I know I actually have decided that I
want a cat food-free retirement.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
There you go.
That's better In all ways.
Like you want to be less than Ijust want to eat tuna.
It's cheaper, exactly.
Um, yeah, sorry I digress inyour own journey, though.
Um, you know it's not astraight path.
Right, there's, there's,there's things.
You know you how to do.
What was kind of the biggesttie, so to speak?
You needed to cut to find thatsuccess you just defined.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's a good point, I think, assuming that I had to
follow the SaaS bros model ofyou have to have this hockey
stick growth and you're notsuccessful unless you have that
hockey stick growth.
I certainly pursued that.
(12:04):
I started a couple of softwarecompanies, went out and got
funding for those.
Have gone through that processand found that to be not very
fulfilling and I failed.
And one of the things that Iwas most afraid of was that
failure was defining for me andI had a major business failure
(12:25):
in 2006 and 2007.
And what I learned is thatfailure one isn't final.
It ended up being the launchingpad for me and allowed me to
establish credibility that Inever would have realized.
So I guess there's kind of likecutting that tie and finding a
new way to be as a professionalwas a pretty big aha moment for
(12:47):
me.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, it sounds and this happens a lot right.
Someone else defined whatsuccess looked like chase to go
with it, and I always say it'sdone in love, typically as
parents or somebody else, andlater in life maybe it's done to
meet someone else's agenda inVC world or whatever else.
But until you own your own pathwith that you feel out of you
know it's not your suit, you'retold to wear it and it's not you
(13:11):
.
And once you start definingyour own success, it does change
.
I think when you're on someoneelse's success path of what
matters, you won't findfulfillment in it until you've
defined it yourself.
So I love that.
I mean, I hate the fact thatyou had to go through that,
but'd share.
I don't know if this is truefor most people, but I've been
of the mindset that if it's not,hard, it's not worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And there are things that come easily for me around
go-to-market strategy thinkingabout customers, thinking about
how customers think and how toalign content with them.
That just is just natural forme, and I had a terrible time
(13:54):
figuring out how to build abusiness model around doing
what's easy for me, and I had aterrible time figuring out how
to build a business model arounddoing what's easy for me,
because it didn't feel like itwas valuable if it was easy.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, some of the best businesses I hear about,
they seem so simple.
The other is, as I'm learning,and you go through this, when
you first start as anentrepreneur, you kind of build
a job for yourself because youjust based on what you know or
do, and I'm in that throes whereI'm like pivoting to that's not
what I intended to do, which Idon't mind it.
It's like not bad, I just don'twant to.
I'm 49.
(14:26):
I don't want to do it at 59.
I don't want to.
I want to.
But you evolve and you findyour journey and you kind of
define success.
You realize, hey, I can't letthese things define me.
I need to set up the way I needto.
So it's easier A lot of hardwork, but easier later, easier
to exit, easier to live, easierto let someone else take it over
.
Otherwise, you're kind ofbuying a job and, as soon as you
(14:48):
know, you're going to screwyourself at some point.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So do you remember the moment, though, when you
realized it's an ongoingevolution for me because I keep
going back to oh well, that'seasy.
Why would somebody want to payme money to do that?
So I've been going through thisevolution since 2007, and I've
(15:13):
had people tell me this is whatyou're really good at, and no
other people aren't good at that, and it's just this continual
evolution for me of how to turnthat into a business.
Now I will tell you that that'snot sellable.
I mean, it's sellable as aservice, but it's not sellable
as now.
I can create a business basedon this and then I can have an
(15:34):
exit strategy.
So that's another thing that Iam having to really rethink is
do I want to build a businessthat has an exit strategy, or do
I want to build a business thatallows me to build a
comfortable lifestyle where Idon't have to work all the time,
where I can work four or fivehours a week and make enough
money with that, or maybe 10hours a week and live
(15:57):
comfortably on that, so that Idon't need to have a business I
can sell?
Maybe that's okay.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It is and it like, and I listen.
We can, like I said, probablydo another third show on that
because it is a real struggle of, but it's also finding comfort
too, right Of.
Like you know, you got to paypeople and in in in in the
agency world.
I just did a post on this andit did okay for me, but I will
tell you that I said basically,in two years, small marketing
(16:25):
agencies 80% are done because AIis getting better.
The value prop in labor costsfor my Philippines and other
places are going up and so thevalue proposition, what what a
smaller agency can can provideis going down, because a lot of
their strategy is going to becovered by ai.
A lot of the execution is goingto be done by ai and then
people can just hire a littlelower talent or do it themselves
(16:47):
, and so there's a real problem.
Come for agencies that arethere and I see that and and I'm
like man, unless I pivot to abigger agency, I'm not sure I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Or I need to go maybe more strategy of, like I create
digital videos and courses onthis stuff, which I'm not sure I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Well, AI is going to displace some of that too.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I agree, anything, it's knowledge, worker based, um
, is there even a podcastpotential?
But I think people will stillwant to hear real people, uh,
but it the truth is, the contentbehind it might be better.
So there's a lot of changecoming, yeah, and I don't
disagree, so uh, do you.
So there's one thing, that toknow your success.
There's another thing to uh,you know, know what tie you need
(17:32):
to cut, so to speak, and yourealize the moment.
But then there's the how.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
How are you doing this?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And that's so bloody hard.
It's like how I was doing it.
I thought that I had it allfigured out in 20, because
between 2020, 21, 22, 23, wewere seeing 100% growth year
over year over year and I'm like, oh my gosh, we've nailed it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, you and I were tracking on the same on that
because I'm like, oh, this isgreat, we're crushing it.
We went from 100K to 300K to600.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yes, and I'm like holy crap, what just happened?
Yeah, and so what was workingisn't working now.
And so now we're re reinventingagain, and I mean, I've learned
that over the however manyyears it is since 2007.
When I started this, we'vereinvented this business a few
(18:27):
times, and now I'm like I haveto do this again.
But yeah, I got to do it againand it sucks and I'm pissed.
And yeah, I got to do it again,um, but yeah, I got to do it
again and it sucks and I'mpissed, and yeah, I got to do it
again.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's funny.
We uh and you also, like youknow we had raised our prices
cause we added value and stuff.
But now with technology, I'mgoing back to listen.
I don't need to charge a fewthousand a month.
I can charge 500 a monthbecause I can do it with about a
hundred dollars of labor andthe rest you know, with
technology and it's, it's moreprofitable.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
And have that yeah exactly, and so you.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So you relook at the flip side of that that people
don't talk about.
There are spouses, uh, andother people in your life that
go.
You're pivoting again.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Oh gosh, this happens , this conversation happens all
the time.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I know I mean I live it and I'm like I have to
explain that.
But they just think you'redoing what you're doing and
you're in and it's the hardright, something like.
But I just know I need to andit's.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, yeah, the fact is no, I don't know what I'm
doing, I'm just trying to figureit out.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You are correct.
But I know I have to figure itout or go to cat food, and your
point is cat food's tooexpensive.
So well crap, that's not evenmy solution.
Oh yeah, I mean, cat food isthe wrong answer here.
(19:54):
We don't want to, and it's aquestion I actually when I used
to drink years ago you know, Ibought a knee in tuna.
It was right.
No, it just just don't drink it.
Don't drink any cap.
Um, you know, I, I, I, I lovethat.
You have this, you have it.
So tell me kind of what, uh,the impact is on your life right
now as you're cutting this tieand you're working through it.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, it's been interesting.
Um, I was like super bummedbecause I like the business we
have right now.
I've been having fun with it.
It was a pivot in itself.
We moved from consulting andstrategy work with clients to
training and coaching, and thatwas a big pivot and it was
(20:33):
really fun and it was a blastand I'm like gosh.
Now I feel like I'm kind ofgoing back to what I was doing
before, but then I get someclients and I'm like holy cow,
this is really fun.
I'm really really enjoying thisnew thing too.
So we're just figuring it out.
What I'm doing more now ishelping clients to tap into
(20:54):
what's going on in theirbusinesses, the conversations
they're having internally, andturning that into super
meaningful content and thenexpanding it beyond LinkedIn,
because, yes, linkedin is superimportant, but so is email
nurturing, so is your blog, sois third-party content, and
proving that you're human isgoing to be huge, continue to be
important.
But, yes, we're using AI tohelp that, and so I can help
(21:18):
clients get faster results bygetting in there in a little bit
more of a done with yousolution.
So we will never be a done foryou again, because I don't
believe you can outsource arelationship with another human
being, um, but we can actuallystep next to the client and help
them with it.
So that's where we're kind ofadding we're not completely
(21:40):
pivoting away from the trainingstuff we're doing, but we're
adding that on for the ones thatare just having trouble getting
everything done because they'reso freaking busy.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, I hear your song.
We are actually as we looked atit and we looked at services.
I went back to our.
That was actually this weekwith my teams.
We went back to the originalmodel that, hey, we're paying
because out of necessity, we'repaying per post.
We used to just do flat, likeI'd pay them a salary.
I was like we have to go tothat model because the
volatility in the market of whenpeople are going to try the
(22:09):
next 90 days of AI is real, isreal and and and it just people
listen.
If you're, if you're looking atthings in 90 days, take it with
the idea that you're trying todo something for a full year
mentality.
The reason is 90 days is reallytough to prove anything because
the first 30 or so you'reguessing on what the hell you're
doing, and so you're, you'remeasuring like you're an
(22:29):
incomplete data and I tellpeople this all the time.
Like you have to look any ofthese Meta, any of them is an
investment of time, because longterm, what's going to matter is
that people know you're real,because I believe that's
actually going to be the biggestfactor.
More people are going back tocoffees and things like that to
meet, and that means more localor more industry focused.
We'll keep moving forward.
(22:51):
You and I are too close.
This is have.
This is like two like peopleare like.
What the hell are these twotalking about?
I know?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I want to just go grab coffee with you and sit and
talk for the next five hours,because this would be Listen.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I mean you're in the group.
We can have a mastermindbreakout on LinkedIn all day.
I would love that.
It'd be great.
That'd be fun.
The thing I'd like to know,maybe in your life, what are you
most grateful for?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Wow, that's a common answer.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Believe it or not.
I don't know if I'm trackingthis, but I'm on a faith journey
.
I always tell people I'm notgoing to be selling Bibles
anytime soon on your doorstep,but the idea is I would have
been like roll my eyes, likeseriously, like three years ago.
Now I'm like I totally get itLike that's fine state you find.
And if you don't get thatpeople out there listen your
thing like don't be, like.
(23:46):
It's one of those things.
It meets you where you are whenyou need it and I hope if you
ever do need it it does becauseit will.
But it's, it's one of thosethings where, uh, it's a
beautiful thing.
So I love that answer.
That's really beautiful and Iunderstand it.
No expression, the explanationneeded uh, anybody else.
We're not going to go down thefaith journey.
You can listen to 50 othershows we have.
We talk about that all right uh, some rapid fire questions.
(24:09):
um, you know I usually startwith a different one, but I'm
gonna ask you this onedifferently what's your favorite
book?
What's the must-read book foryou?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh gosh, I read a lot of books and I do a lot of
fiction we're going to pick one,but the one book that has
influenced me, other than theBible, the most in my life is
how to Win Friends and InfluencePeople, by Dale Carnegie.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I read that or listened to it, I should say,
and it seemed antiquated, someof the stuff you're like duh,
but you should listen to it,just so you can realize that
that's a principle that's beenaround forever and people
haven't changed that much.
So I think it's all right, duh,so go do it.
I like that one as well.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I don't overlook the misogynistic kind of tone in
there.
It was written in like what the20s.
It's an old book, so forgivethat and just look for the
principles.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I thought about it as like a narration of a movie set
in the time.
Oh yeah, that's how I thoughtabout it.
I was like my word this is oh,um, but the the the principles.
I think what I took from it isthe principles remain in human
today.
Yes, and so it.
That's, that's the beauty.
That's why books are classic.
Who gives you, though,inspiration day to day?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
oh, you know I.
I guess, in terms of people I'mfollowing on linkedin, um gal
aga is somebody that I find justamazing.
I love the stuff that he'sputting in.
Nate Nasrallah are two peoplethat have a big influence on me
Richard Vanderblom on theLinkedIn algorithm and then, in
terms of other things, I stilllisten to Tim Keller all the
(25:53):
time.
For those who don't know, hepassed away, but he is a
phenomenal preacher andapologist that I just love his
content.
So I guess those people yeah,no, I like it.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
That's a good list of people you could check out In
your kind of journey.
What's been the best businessadvice you've received?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Ooh, Hmm, I guess for me it's been around.
Just because it's easy for medoesn't mean it's easy for other
(26:36):
people.
When I first started PropelGrowth, we had a client who I
was trying to sell him one thingand he was trying to buy
something completely different.
I wanted to sell him, likeongoing content creation
services.
He wanted to just buy my timeto sit there and talk through
(26:58):
strategy with him and it was sobloody easy to do that because
it just came so naturally to me.
It's like, well, no, you don'twant to do that, Like, go focus
on these things.
And I got the opportunity tohave a huge impact on Equinix,
which is a multi-billion dollardata center.
When they were pre they werestill in the hundreds of
(27:19):
millions and I was working withthe largest sector of their
business and and it just tookoff and I I actually got to have
a pretty significant role inthat because John, the guy that
was leading that that businessunit, just wanted to sit down
and talk to me about thefinancial sector and how to how
to build it there, and it waseasy for me it was.
(27:41):
It seemed so obvious and yetthat was what he wanted to pay
me for and I can't tell you howlong it took me to like wrap my
head around that it wasridiculous.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
It's funny.
So in life, right, right, yeah,a lot of times people realize
skill they have which comes easyto them not, like not, you see
this in kids.
One thing they don't realizehow well they do it and then so
they think they have to to makeit.
They got to go developsomething they don't do.
Well, right, and like you know,like, if you're a singer or
(28:12):
something else, right, there'slots of people like, listen, you
have a talent in.
Why are you trying to do actingor something Like sing.
Get the attention from the giftyou've been given from God.
Exactly, you're a legendaryPokemon card from the start.
Now go get your stage one andtwo.
Now, if you got on a nerd likeme and you evolve Pokemons, I'm
learning this.
The point being is I'm a basic.
I can't go up to the next levelever on that Like.
(28:34):
I can't train to where youstart and so like.
And when you have that like,I'm very good at consulting
strategy and bringing that like.
I just couldn't stand thetravel and that kind of work
anymore.
That comes super easy.
I'm sure I'll probably returnto it at some point.
But the point is I realizedthat.
But that's easy.
Coding was not Me deliveringmarketing.
No, that that's easy.
(28:56):
Coding was not me deliveringmarketing.
No, that's why I have a teamlike I.
I've been very clear what I do.
Well, you're spot on and youstruggle with that because
somehow, maybe back in childhood, someone said, hey, you need to
, you need to work on yourskills.
And you're like I I got thesegifts, why can't work on those?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
so well a culture teaches us if the way to success
is working hard, which istotally not true, but I've
bought into that my whole lifeand so yeah it's.
I don't know why this is soridiculously hard for me to wrap
my head around.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
When you're younger.
I like the Alex Ramosiprinciple here, where you got
time generally on your hands oron your favor.
So do work hard and smart.
Both Work the weekends.
Take the time now to make thatinvestment yourself.
That is actually good advice.
Like, stop going out, stopwatching Netflix, work on
yourself.
Do you have 300 bucks?
Instead of going out for themonth by a course, do something
(29:45):
because it's a better use ofyour time.
Older, you want to have moretime with family and things that
you've done or collected.
It's different.
So I think hard is the rightanswer, Smart with it is the
better.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
And thinking carefully, thinking critically
about what you're doing and whatyou're working on, what you're
hearing, what you're reading.
I don't think enough people,it's like we're not.
Our culture has lost criticalthinking capability.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh, that's what we've got podcast number four coming.
Yeah, how to debate in thecountry again without killing
each other.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well, there's a novel idea, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
That's part of what my men's group's about.
How can you talk about stuffwithout fisticuffs?
Well, actually we go fisticuffs.
We can all walk out of there,friends, all you can.
Just don't pull a gun, allright.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
If you could go back to any part in your life anytime
, when would you and what wouldyou do differently?
You know that's a hard thing toanswer, because if I did that,
it would change the trajectoryto where I am right now, and I'm
10 years ahead of you.
I'm 59.
And I love my life.
I love my husband.
I would not want to do anythingthat would alter that
(31:04):
trajectory.
I didn't get married till I was46.
So if I went back I could screwthat up.
So I don't know that I would.
I I like where I am.
I am I satisfied?
No, Am I content?
Yes, Am I joyful?
Yes, Do I have everything?
Yes, what's that?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Are you insatiable?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Yes, yeah, exactly, but that's the try to cut like,
stop me, I don't want to screwthat up.
I.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I like where things are right now.
I mean, it's one of thosequestions I ask just to see
where people take it and thenwhat are they applying in their
life today to do differently?
It's the mindset I got toversus I have to.
Yeah, and things happen for youinstead of to you.
And if you look at it like allthat happened for me to be here
today, then that's the rightmindset.
I think one of the best answersI ever got the guy was like I
wish I would have ordered ablack coffee instead of a latte
(32:00):
a minute ago.
I'm going to fix that after theshow, but right now I wish I
had a black coffee.
I love that.
That's an fantastic answer.
I mean, nothing really changesif I just do that, and now I'm
sitting with a coffee on one,but I guess I'll just get
another one after that.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That's an awesome answer.
That's a great answer I guess Iwould go back and tell myself
not to be so afraid of failure,because what I've learned is if
you're going to fall, fallforward.
Fall on your face.
We made some forward progress.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
that way Don't collapse like in a faint, like
we just don't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, yeah, but but I think we're we fear failure
more than we should.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I'm somebody who fears sucking, like being bad at
something or being perceived atsomething.
Uh, here's a crazy thing.
How many videos do I have onYouTube?
I don't know a lot.
I am afraid to put a course outthere.
Really, I did it.
I put a YouTube course it'sbeing produced 40 minutes of how
(33:04):
to build a 10K a month business.
I'm doing a bunch of shorts.
I just lay to it.
I'm like who cares?
Let's just go do this and learnfrom it and see if anybody
cares about it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
It's amazing, though.
I'm not afraid to be on camera,but I'm afraid of what I'm
saying doesn't make sense andit's boring.
I was like I'm underproducingit.
I'm an overproducer ofconfidence.
Just forget it, let's go.
Final question If there was aquestion I should have asked you
though I didn't what would thatquestion have been and how
would you have answered it?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
oh, um, hmm, I guess, um, you could have asked um,
like if you were going back toyour you know whatever self, 30
(33:54):
year old self, what would I tellthem?
Or 20-year-old self, I wouldtell myself to take seriously
finding a mentor.
Think that I grasped theadvantage a mentor who would
(34:26):
really want to see me grow couldhave made in my life.
And I've looked at people whodid have those mentors and it's
pretty remarkable the impactthat has had.
So if I'm talking to anybodywho's 20, 30, 40 years old, go
find a mentor, even 50 and60-year-olds, we can all use
mentors.
I have mentors now and it'sreally made a difference.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I struggled.
There's two things I've come torealize and that's fantastic
advice of which I would haveignored myself years ago,
because lots of people say, hey,you should get a mentor, and
even I knew.
Have ignored myself years agobecause lots of people say, hey,
should you get a mentor?
and even I knew I was like Ineed a mentor ego, yeah and adhd
yeah, and thinking you're thesmartest person in the room is
plaguing me for 47, maybe the 49years, and um, there's no way I
(35:08):
would have been accepting ofthat and I think I realized
that's why I never picked anyone, because I just didn't trust
anyone to be smarter or figureout what I'm doing.
But there's so like cause Ididn't.
I just you know so.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I had this giant chip on my shoulder during my
twenties and I was, and it wasmostly because I felt so
unqualified and if I, if I gotexposed, everything I would lose
everything.
You know, not that I hadanything, I don't know what I
(35:40):
thought I was going to lose butI was so terrified of being
exposed as a fraud because Ifelt like a fraud.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I look back, I look at myself as pretty much a Will
Farrell character in any moviewhere he thinks he's smart and
he's actually dumb.
Yeah, it's embarrassing tothink about that.
If I watch myself, I'd be like,oh, I cannot believe I'm doing
that right now.
I'd be like, yeah, how did Inot die there?
Or whatever else.
Um, thank you, by the way, somuch for taking the 15 minute
(36:03):
podcast that we're at 36 minutesand that's how I don't even
time.
You know, I time does exist.
The teams in the Philippines,they're in the future.
But, yeah, we exist at the sametime, not true?
No, time doesn't exist.
All right, uh, we're just now.
Who should get a hold of you?
How should they do that?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
um, anybody who's trying to figure out how to
crack the code on building yourpresence on linkedin and you
believe that you want to treatpeople as human beings and with
respect and you agree with methat you can't automate a
relationship or outsource arelationship, contact me.
I'll help you figure it out.
We work a lot with coaches andconsultants and marketing
(36:44):
agencies and a lot of Microsoftpartners to help build presence
on LinkedIn and attract leads.
I mean, to me it's about theend goal, it's not just about
being an influencer.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I find it funny that Microsoft people and I've worked
with a few myself thatapparently the internal
resources for LinkedIn, forMicrosoft isn't there because a
lot of them have no clue how touse it.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
People at LinkedIn don't know how to use LinkedIn.
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
There's a lot of strings and hamster wheels and
people turning cranks back there.
Yeah, if you don't know, justlet someone flag your account
for something and watch howhorribly it is to try to get it.
So we won't go down podcastfive.
Candice, thank you, Iappreciate you.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been a blast.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
I enjoy it very much and listen everybody who made it
to this point.
You rock for listening watching.
If this was your first time, Ido hope you come back.
I hope it's the first of many.
Get out there, go cut a tie tosomething holding you back and
just unleash that best versionof yourself on the terms you've
defined as success.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.