June 12, 2025 • 34 mins
Julie's brand new Big Gorgeous Goals: Official Workbook can be ordered now! Grab your copy.
Denise Bedell shares her journey pivoting from media to entrepreneurship as the founder of Content Innovo, helping businesses share their content and tell stories worldwide.
Denise is an EPPY-nominated journalist and editor, who has been telling the stories of global companies and public institutions for 20+ years. She is a regular speaker at industry events and a global consultant on content marketing strategy and intentional content development. She was previously the executive editor of Global Finance magazine and is the author of Successful Exit Strategies For The Insurance Industry—a seminal guide for insurers and reinsurers.
You can find out more about Content Innovo on their website.
You can also connect with Denise on LinkedIn.
You can connect with Julie on LinkedIn or Instagram.
Find Julie's writing at her blog or by ordering her book Big Gorgeous Goals and the brand new official companion workbook!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie (00:04):
Welcome to Figure 8, where we feature inspiring
stories of women entrepreneurswho have grown their businesses
to seven and eight figuresrevenue.
If you're in the mix of growinga bigger business, these
stories are for you.
Join us as we explore where thetough spots are, how to
overcome them and how to prepareyourself for the next portion
(00:27):
of the climb.
I'm your host, Julie Ellis.
I'm an author, entrepreneur anda growth and leadership coach
who co-founded, grew and exitedan eight-figure business.
This led me to exploring whysome women achieve great things,
and that led to my book BigGorgeous Goals.
(00:47):
Let's explore the systems,processes and people that help
us grow our businesses to newheights.
If you're interested in growingyour business, this podcast
will help.
Now let's get going.
Hello and welcome to thisepisode of Figure 8.
Today, I'm joined by DeniseBedell.
(01:08):
Denise is an EPPY-nominatedjournalist and editor who has
been telling the stories ofglobal companies and public
institutions for over 20 years.
She's a regular speaker atindustry events and her business
Content Innovo is helpingbusinesses share their content
and tell stories around theworld, and I'm so keen to talk
(01:31):
to her today and hear about herjourney and how we got here.
So welcome, Denise.
Denise (01:36):
Thanks for having me, Julie.
I'm really excited to speaktoday.
Julie (01:39):
Thanks, so much Tell me what it was like making a pivot
out of sort of media andjournalism into entrepreneurship
.
Well, it was quite a big one tostart with, right.
Denise (01:54):
Yeah, absolutely so.
So luckily, I had actually runa business before, a very small
business, a bakery window in acafe.
So I had some background inrunning a business.
But going from being, you know,a journalist and talking about
(02:15):
companies to having my owncompany was a huge pivot for me.
You know, when you go into theentrepreneurial experience you
don't necessarily have that fullskill set.
You know, like I had never donesales really aside from at the
bakery, which is a verydifferent thing than service
sales.
I had never, you know, handleda large scale operation.
I had never, you know, thereare so many different hats that
(02:38):
you have to wear as anentrepreneur and I really just
kind of had to learn on the job,you know, which I think most
entrepreneurs really do.
Luckily, I was able to kind oftake advantage of some of the
entrepreneurial ecosystem inCanada, which is wonderful, it's
so supportive.
That's how you and I met, ofcourse, going through the Beyond
(03:00):
Boundaries program, and youwere one of our mentors, which
we absolutely appreciated, anddefinitely experiences like that
going through having thoseresources, going through
accelerators and things likethat were very critical to
helping me understand the kindof bigger picture of making that
leap and moving from you know,writing to running a company.
Julie (03:24):
Yeah, because it is a big leap right and I think that you
know when you look at so I'mkind of fascinated because not
only did you take advantage ofyou know programming and
opportunities that wereavailable to you as a startup
entrepreneur, but you also saw amarket opportunity in helping
other women startupentrepreneurs with the things
(03:47):
they were struggling with.
Denise (03:48):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
You know, when we startedContent Innovo, we were really
focused on the enterprise space.
So my background had beenworking with large companies,
telling their stories, you know,writing about corporate finance
and corporate.
You know the life cycle of acorporate.
So that was where my networkwas.
(04:11):
So when I started, when Ilaunched, I was really focused
on the enterprise space.
But going through some of theaccelerators in here in Ontario
and then building that network,I recognized that there was
something, there was anopportunity there, that there
was a gap that needed to befilled and that, you know, we
had an opportunity to fill it.
(04:33):
So we decided, you know, a fewyears ago, to talking to
entrepreneurs, talking toeveryone in our network about
what the challenges were, youknow, coming through the
innovation ecosystem, and wherethat gap was and how we could
(04:54):
help fill it.
And what we really saw was thatthere was a challenge for
accelerators themselves, fortheir clients and for their
mentors, because every companycame into it at a different
stage.
They had different, different,different setup.
They they may have understoodtheir go to market strategy.
They may not have.
(05:14):
They might have come from abusiness background, they may
have had no background in sales,marketing or content strategy,
and so when mentors were workingwith clients, every client was
different and every client wasat a different phase in their
evolution.
So we saw an opportunity toreally kind of level that
playing field and create a verystructured approach to building
(05:36):
go-to-market strategy and havingall of those companies come to
their, to their mentorship andadvisory process with that level
playing field, with all thoseassets and all those, all those
pieces in place in order to moreeffectively work with their
mentors and move through theprogram.
Julie (05:55):
Right and that's so interesting because obviously I
mean selling to like a largemultinational and and how
customized and, quite frankly,expensive a program and very
bespoke right.
It's a bespoke kind of a thingcompared to entrepreneurs who
(06:16):
need.
You have to find a way to sortof package it up and systemize
it so that it can be affordablefor a startup yeah, no,
absolutely.
Denise (06:25):
Um.
So what we did is we justcreated a very structured,
streamlined approach.
So we would, you know, have eachof the entrepreneurs, each of
the companies, fill out aquestionnaire which would tell
us about what they had, theirunderstanding of their market,
their understanding of theiraudiences and so on.
By making it a questionnaire,it allowed us to streamline it
(06:46):
and keep that budget very low,which you know, as you said, and
as we all know, is verycritical for this market
landscape.
And then we could, you know,work with our strategists to
create a very, you know,structured package where we
would take all that informationand they would come out with,
(07:06):
you know, audience personas anda competitive market landscape
analysis and, you know,understanding their value prop,
understanding their points ofdifference, understanding their
content strategy, having achannel plan in place and really
having that short editorialcalendar so that they were ready
to go when they were ready tostart sales, that they were
ready to go when they were readyto start sales, when they were
ready to start marketing.
They had all those pieces inplace and they could use that as
(07:29):
a jumping off point.
Julie (07:33):
Very, very helpful.
I mean, I can't you know,getting organized on all of
those different fronts is is abig task.
Denise (07:42):
Yeah, no, absolutely yeah.
And and a lot of them did youknow they might've had some
pieces in place, like theymight've had a description of
their audiences but not reallyunderstood.
You know, if you have thisbigger picture, this acts not
just for your marketing, but youcan also use it as the
foundation for your ICP, foryour ideal customer profile, and
so it helps with sales.
It also gives you that singleapproach to sales and marketing
(08:06):
so that your messaging is thesame, so that you're approaching
the market and building yourbrand and your brand equity in a
consistent way, which is reallycritical as well to market
growth.
Julie (08:19):
Yep, and so what are the kinds of varieties of companies
that you've helped with thisprogram?
Denise (08:26):
Yeah, so we've actually run about 60 different country
companies through our programnow which has been great through
various accelerators and we'veworked with all kinds of
companies.
You know our sweet spot is isreally around B2B tech,
professional services, financialservices.
In the tech space we focus onFinTech, health tech,
(08:50):
sustainable tech and ed tech andthat's been kind of really well
aligned with the acceleratorsthat we've worked with On the on
the tech side.
You know it's often they'reoften specialized, you know.
So it might be a fintechaccelerator, it might be all
different kinds of tech, buttheir basic needs are somewhat
(09:12):
the same.
And then, when you look at theother entrepreneurial ecosystems
, you know women entrepreneursand you know LGBTQ plus
entrepreneurs, for example.
It's much broader.
So so we've ended up workingwith direct to consumer
companies, you know, with B2B,b2c, a lot of digital companies,
(09:33):
but also some bricks and mortar.
You know we've worked withclothing brands, we've worked
with food companies, just alldifferent kinds of companies.
Julie (09:41):
It really goes with the, as you were saying that all I
could think of was you know theytell you to niche down, but
when you niche down it lets youscale up, and that's kind of
what I see here is like you canactually serve a lot of people,
but you have to, you have tobring it in to really like put
the value prop out there in thebeginning.
Denise (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, and that's, I think,
one of the key things that wetry to focus on is that,
although you may have a numberof different audiences or
different markets, your valueprop is where you start, you
know.
So if your value prop iswell-defined, then that tells
you how to reach those differentmarkets.
And it may be that you have tobreak down your audiences in two
(10:23):
or three different types, butyou don't need to have 12
different audiences.
You can look at who is thedecision maker, what are their
characteristics, what are theirdrivers, and often it's quite
consistent across differentaudiences, and so you can use
that to build those biggerpersonas.
And then it helps not only inreducing the resources that you
(10:45):
have to spend on marketing tothose different audiences, but
it also helps you when it comesto sales.
It helps your sales team to youknow to think higher level and
understand, you know, thoseneeds and pain points, rather
than saying, okay, here's ourproduct, let me tell you about
it.
This is why you should buy it,you know, you know, taking that
more product first approach, itreally helps you to to go from
(11:08):
that needs first approach, whichis resonates so much more with
with your audiences.
Julie (11:13):
Yeah, and I mean, let's face it for everybody like
finding your.
You know, the little crack inthe armor of people.
Get in is harder and harder.
Right, it's noisier and noisierout there in the world.
Denise (11:26):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, you definitely have to bemore strategic and more
intentional in terms of yourapproach.
Julie (11:32):
So when you think of, I mean what you imagined when you
started Content De Novo and whatyou're doing today.
Obviously, we all pivot ourbusinesses along the way.
That's part of you know,finding the fit and finding the
market.
But what did you imagine andyou know, compared to where
you're at now?
Denise (11:50):
Yeah, it's been quite a journey.
We're definitely not, you know,focused on, you know, the
markets or the spaces that Iexpected to when I first
launched.
We've had great traction in theenterprise space, but we have
seen a contraction in that space.
You know, when we started,companies didn't really have a
(12:13):
content marketing team and sothey were looking a lot
externally for that kind ofsupport.
But now a lot of the bigenterprises are really building
those teams and they havespecialized needs, you know, in
terms of, you know, specificwriters, you know, or niche
content creators, which isdefinitely still, you know, kind
of one of our key value props.
(12:34):
But they're not looking forsomeone to come in and really
run the program for them andbuild, you know, as much as they
used to.
So, as we've seen a contractionin that space, we've really
really grown on the innovationecosystem space also, with
agencies who are supporting SMBsor larger clients, you know,
(12:57):
and other markets that makesense as well, and so with our
kind of innovation ecosystemprogram, we've been able to roll
that out to other markets.
So we're looking at tradeagencies, for example, who are
supporting their companies tomove to global markets.
We're looking at the investorecosystem because they have a
(13:17):
portfolio of companies that allneed to have those key pieces in
place, and we're looking atagencies so like marketing
agencies, pr, research anddevelopment firms and so on that
just don't have the kind ofcontent, marketing and marketing
support that their clients areasking for.
So we can come in and partnerwith them and provide that as
(13:39):
well.
Julie (13:40):
And so what's it like for you as the kind of leader, as
the leader of all these sort ofpillars that you're working on
developing, because they'redifferent from each other?
Denise (13:52):
They are indeed.
Yeah, and you know, we'vereally split our organization
into two pieces.
So we have the enterprise, butwe also have the SMB.
And that was that waschallenging for me, and it's
still challenging for me,because we have different.
We have different marketing andsales needs.
You know we have differentoperational needs.
(14:12):
One of my key jobs is makingsure that we have that network
that can help, you know, on aproject by project basis or a
program by program basis.
So so I spend a lot more of mytime making sure that we have
the supports that we need forthose two different audiences.
You know, the way that I managemy team is different for those
(14:33):
two different groups.
Our sales process is completelydifferent.
Our pricing is very different,you know.
So definitely, it's beenchallenging for me to figure to,
to figure that out, but wewe've tried to take a really
strategic and intentionalapproach to that evolution and
(14:53):
we try to just documenteverything.
You know we're very processoriented, so so we we definitely
will, you know, create aroadmap and then document the
different pieces and thenimplement rollout on a, you know
, on a kind of considered basisand, you know, start with a kind
of our key core team and thenroll out to, you know, to our
(15:15):
larger team and to our networkand just be really intentional
about that, because otherwiseit's just chaos.
Julie (15:23):
Yeah, and what's it been like for you in terms of, like,
the evolution of your role?
Because obviously when we allstart businesses, we kind of do
everything and then you knowtoday you're obviously trying to
umbrella over a bunch ofdifferent things that are
happening what has thatevolution been like for you?
Denise (15:42):
Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned that,
actually, because I recentlywent through a leadership
training program that reallyhelped me with exactly that
identifying the kind of thethings that I needed to focus on
that I wanted to focus on andworking towards passing on some
of those responsibilities thatin the past I might have taken
(16:03):
on and making sure that we havethe infrastructure in some of
those responsibilities that inthe past I might have taken on,
and making sure that we have theinfrastructure in place for
those responsibilities to moveto the appropriate people.
But then also, you know,creating an environment that
allowed people to grow in theways that they wanted to.
And whereas a few years ago,you know, although I tried to, I
(16:24):
always tried to create, youknow, the environment that I
wanted and make sure that it wasa good environment for people
to feel supported in, it's beenmuch more intentional in the
last couple of years.
Julie (16:36):
And that's good, because I see a lot in the work I do
with with scaling upentrepreneurs, that you know we
don't start businesses becausewe think we're going to have 50
people reporting to us.
We started because we see aneed, have an idea, those kinds
of things, and you know it's ajourney to figure out how to and
(16:56):
and a journey to figure out howto not be the roadblock, how to
manage a team and manage itreally well and how to level
yourself up.
So I think it's great that youknow you've used programs and
people to help you with that.
Denise (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Julie (17:13):
You also get to that place where you need the
sounding boards outside of yourown table.
Your own boardroom table is nolonger your sounding board
boardroom table is no longeryour sounding board.
Denise (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, and luckily, I've
had some great mentors and, youknow, great network to fall back
on and to reach out to.
You know, I mean, I amconstantly amazed by how
wonderful the entrepreneurialecosystem is in Ontario, in
Southern Ontario and even morelocally.
It's just, you know, if youneed those resources, they are
there for you.
You know, and so much isavailable free of charge or at
(17:50):
low cost.
You know, and as soon as you'repart of that network, everyone
is always happy, you know, totalk or to.
You know, to help, to provideyou with other resources to
connect you.
You know, and it's just reallyamazing.
Julie (18:07):
I'm really I feel really lucky to be a part of this
ecosystem, well, and I mean,let's talk about building
networks, right, I mean you hadthe opportunity to enter into a
startup ecosystem that hasreally helped you build yourself
, your business, your team, allthe different pieces.
But I think that you knowbuilding networks and the
different pieces.
But I think that you knowbuilding networks and finding
(18:27):
the right people to put aroundyou is such a key and important
part to being able to achievethe things that you set out on
your goals.
Denise (18:33):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I 100% agree, and I don't know
that all entrepreneurs kind ofare aware of what's available
and necessarily understand theimportance of that, and I think
that that's really, reallycritical you know to be
successful and to understand howto go from one step to the next
, because it is a process andyou know, sometimes it's a
(18:58):
process like this and sometimesit's a process like this, and
you really need to have thatnetwork in place in order to
understand, understand thosesteps and to be able to kind of
bridge the gaps.
And you have to have, as yousaid, those people around you
that can really help you to, toto follow that path, whatever,
whatever it might take.
Julie (19:20):
Yeah, because I think you know, as an entrepreneur,
you're pretty much in a constantlike growth mindset, learning
place.
You know whether your businessis struggling a little bit,
whether it's growing, whetherit's going constant, there's
always something that you'relearning as the leader of it.
If you're ever not learning,you're like waiting for it, you
know you're sitting there um,because it is a hard curve to
(19:44):
get on.
Denise (19:44):
Yeah, absolutely, and and it you know you're sitting
there because it is a hard curveto get on?
Yeah, absolutely.
And it brings to mind risktolerance for me.
You know, as an entrepreneur,you have to have a higher level
of risk tolerance than theaverage person, I would say.
And despite no matter what yourrisk tolerance is, there's
always going to be moments whereit's tested.
(20:04):
And that brings us back to youknow, the network and supports
and, you know, having thatstructure and infrastructure
around you to work through thosemoments, because they are
coming, no matter who you are orwhat your company is.
You're going to hit thosemoments.
Julie (20:25):
Well, would you have said .
Like when you started thisbusiness, what would you have
said?
Your risk tolerance was.
Has that changed it?
Denise (20:32):
has absolutely changed.
So when I started, it was justme, you know, and I had hopes
that it would grow, but I didn'treally have a vision of how I
would go from just me to havinga team.
So definitely making that firststep to bring in a head of
(20:53):
sales, that was a huge, hugejump in my risk tolerance.
And as a leader especially as awoman leader I think that we
take on a big sense ofresponsibility for our teams and
we have to find that balance aswell, because we have to
understand our risk tolerance,we have to understand how we
(21:13):
manage our own kind of sense ofresponsibility and our own kind
of empathy within our businessto not just lead well but also
to lead our companies well,because that's not always the
same and I think that's a bigpart of, you know, understanding
(21:34):
our risk tolerance as a femaleentrepreneur, as well as finding
that balance.
Julie (21:40):
Yeah, and tell me how you differentiate between sort of
leading well and leading yourcompany well.
Denise (21:45):
So I would say, leading well is leading your team well,
or, for me, it's being a goodleader.
It's, you know, creating theenvironment that allows your
team to flourish and allows youto flourish, that aligns your
(22:06):
needs with your team's needs,aligns your team's needs with
your company's needs, and thenleading the company well.
It's not necessarily the samething, you know, because the
needs of the company are oftendifferent I don't want to say
often are sometimes differentthan the needs of your team, and
(22:26):
you have to be able to balancethat.
You know, you have to be theperson who can say okay, this,
you're, this person is just notworking.
I'm going to do my best to, totry and help them to, you know,
to succeed.
But if they can't succeed, youknow I have to do something
about that.
And as a leader leader of acompany I have to be able to do
that.
And and sometimes that, uh,that role is quite different
(22:49):
than the role of being justpurely a good leader.
Julie (22:53):
Yeah, and of you know, bringing your own team, because
one of the hard things too inthat sort of scale up process is
that those early people can'talways make it all the way with
you.
Right Some of the people yourelied upon the most in the
early days, which is alwaysincredibly difficult.
Denise (23:10):
Absolutely.
Julie (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and just thinking, yeah, how do you
want to send that back out intothe world and what can you do
for them?
Right, because that is hard.
The team, yeah, and how do youthink you went about as you grew
like, building a culture thatpeople wanted to be a part of
and it was something that Ithought about.
Denise (23:31):
You know a lot, and I always wanted to have an
inclusive culture.
I always wanted to have adiverse culture.
I always wanted to, you know,lead in a way that people would
want to you know, stay with melong term.
(23:53):
Long-term, you know, I I wantedto have a company culture that
encouraged people to to uh togrow and flourish, um, because I
I've always believed that, youknow, that is the best way to
success.
You know that your team iscritical Uh, and if you support
them uh and and help them to toum to grow, then it helps you
(24:15):
and it helps your company.
So so I've always kind of hadthat in mind and tried to lead
from that perspective.
But we also went through a veryintentional process last year
where we we implemented aninclusivity and accessibility
program.
We revamped a lot of ourprocesses.
We revamped our sales processes, we revamped a lot of our
(24:38):
documentation.
You know our terms, you knowwith clients, you know we we
tried to to look at all of ouroperations, you know, across the
board and build inclusivity andaccessibility into everything
that we did, and and we broughttogether a team, you know, that
included people that you knowhad accessibility needs.
We included you know thatincluded people that you know
(24:58):
had accessibility needs.
We included, you know peoplefrom different backgrounds in
order to ensure that how we weremoving forward was really going
to align with that idea thatI've always had around corporate
culture and just make itdocumented and make it intrinsic
(25:19):
, you know, make it a you know.
Julie (25:22):
And was it that you felt like it was something you were
sort of espousing but not fullydoing in the way?
Or was it that the company hadgotten larger and you needed a
way to more formally kind ofentrench it Like?
What was it that kind ofprompted you to decide upon
taking that action last year?
Denise (25:41):
I would say it was twofold.
Number one I wanted to to setup a company.
I mean, my goal is to bring ina major investor or to sell the
company, you know, in a fewyears.
So I wanted to make sure thatthe company was already set up,
with that in place, you know,and that that was part of the
(26:05):
building blocks of the company,so that it could continue, you
know, once someone else comes inand might have a different kind
of, you know, background or soon.
So that was one piece of it,and the other, I would say, is
just, you know, the team wasgetting larger and I wanted to
(26:26):
make sure that not only actually, I would say there are three
things.
So the team was getting larger,I wanted to make sure that
everyone was aligned, that wewere only bringing in people
that were aligned with thatcorporate culture, that we were
thinking intentionally about ourcorporate culture and bringing
in people that were aligned withthat.
And then also, I wanted to makesure that, externally, with
(26:48):
clients, that we were settingthe standards, that we were
setting the backdrop in order tohave engagements that were, you
know, successful and alignedwith our corporate culture.
Julie (27:02):
Well, and it kind of feels like it's this place you
know you talked about earlierjust how our leadership needs to
evolve and change as thecompany grows and there's this
place where culture has to passfrom being the founder or the
CEO's responsibility to spillinginto the organization where it
(27:22):
lives, breathes and, you know,is constantly upheld.
Yes, absolutely yeah.
You can't, you know, force itdown, kind of thing, and not
that you're trying to, but butit does.
There's this noticeable kind ofshift, I think.
Denise (27:40):
Yeah, yeah.
And and the other thing is thatyou know we're seeing in the
world that there's pushback.
I mean I don't want to notaddress that, you know.
Julie (27:50):
No, and for what you really believe in, exactly yeah.
And so what do you?
Also?
The other thing that comes tomy mind about it is just this
idea of so, if you do want tobring in the big investor or
exit the company or step awayfrom your CEO role at some point
I mean, the most sellablecompanies are where you're
expendable Not that you are but,you know what I mean.
(28:12):
Right, you have to be able to bereplaceable in order for you to
eventually, at the right time,take your leave, and so is that
something that you think about.
Denise (28:24):
Absolutely yeah, and that's really why we've been so
process driven and whydocumentation and creating a
structure, than foundationthat's that's clearly demarcated
, is so important to me.
Because for that very reason,you know, because my job as the
(28:47):
CEO is to create, you know, ateam and a structure and a and a
company that can live on itsown, that doesn't require just
being or someone else in orderto continue its life.
Julie (29:02):
mean it makes a lot of sense, but it's in practice
sometimes very difficult to do.
Yes, letting go can be hard.
Yeah, yeah no, absolutely.
Good, and what's next?
What's next for Denise?
What's next for Content Innovo?
Denise (29:21):
Yeah, so we're actually still evolving, of course, and
our work in the innovationecosystem is really informing
our next evolution within theSMB space and the smaller
company space and even the youknow medium-sized company space
for operationalization ofgo-to-market strategy and
(29:44):
operationalization of the sales,marketing and operations, and
we've really seen that comingfrom that.
You know, getting that strategyin place, companies are really
struggling with that next step.
You know, getting that strategyin place.
Companies are really strugglingwith that next step.
You know they.
You know they have the strategy.
You know they need a roadmap,they need to know where they're
(30:05):
at and they need to know how toget to where they need to go.
And they don't just need thatroadmap, they need someone to
put it in place.
You know we talked about theinnovation ecosystem and mentors
and so on, and that learning iswonderful.
All the education and all thehelp and all the guidance that
(30:26):
companies receive is great, butoften they just don't have the
resources, they don't have thetime and they don't need that
knowledge.
An entrepreneur, a leader, aCEO doesn't need to know how to
set up a CRM and make sure thatit's.
You know, giving you themetrics that you want and that
it's reflecting what they needis someone to set it up, someone
(30:46):
to teach their people how to doit right, and then you know
that dashboard, so they knowwhat they need to know in order
to make those big decisions.
Julie (30:55):
And who to call when it all breaks.
Denise (30:57):
Exactly, yes, yeah, yeah .
So so we're we're focused onkind of building that next phase
.
So we've started rolling out anaudit for sales, for marketing
and for content marketing, tounderstand what companies have,
what they need, and then tobuild them a roadmap.
And then we're also bringingtogether fractional teams, not
(31:23):
just a CMO or a CSO or a COO,but also the next level down,
those implementers, you know, inorder to kind of come in say,
okay, we've done this audit,we've looked at what you have
and what you need, we've builtthat roadmap.
Now, whichever piece of thatyou need us to put together, we
can do it because we have thatexpertise.
(31:44):
So, really, to help them fromthat first step to the next step
of getting it all in place andimplementing it, to training,
and then here we are and we canhelp with, you know, the rollout
as well.
Julie (31:57):
So you know, I really love, though, this feeling of
like you are formalizing astructure and a process and, at
the same time, remaining nimbleand following what the market is
demanding and needs, because Ithink that often people think
those things are exclusive ofeach other.
Right, yeah, yeah, and I thinkthat often people think those
(32:17):
things are exclusive of eachother Right, yeah, yeah.
Denise (32:20):
And I think actually coming from the enterprise space
has helped us to be quitenimble Because, as you said,
it's often very bespoke and theneeds are so different.
You know from company tocompany and you know even
business unit to business unitwithin an organization.
So it gave us that mindset.
And then we work on a networkmodel, so we just bring in the
(32:42):
resources as we need them, whichgives us really that kind of
flexibility as well to adjust tothe needs of individual
companies.
Julie (32:51):
So good.
Well, I can't wait to see whereyour journey takes you next and
how content to Novo grows andhow your hand helps lead it into
the future.
Thank you so much for joiningme today and thank you for
talking to you again soonAbsolutely.
Denise (33:09):
Thanks for having me Take care.
Julie (33:11):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Please remember to hitsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform so you won'tmiss any episodes.
Figure 8 isn't just a podcast.
It's a way of seeing the big,gorgeous goals of women
entrepreneurs coming to life.
If you're interested inlearning more, you can find my
(33:32):
book Big Gorgeous Goals onAmazon, anywhere you might live.
For more about my growth andleadership training programs,
visit www.
julieellis.
ca to see how we might worktogether.
Read my blog or sign up to getyour free diagnostic.
Are you ready for growth?
(33:53):
Once again, that's www.
julieellis.
ca.
When we work together, we allwin.
See you again soon for anotherepisode of Figure 8.
Welcome to Figure 8, where we feature inspiring
stories of women entrepreneurswho have grown their businesses
to seven and eight figuresrevenue.
If you're in the mix of growinga bigger business, these
stories are for you.
Join us as we explore where thetough spots are, how to
overcome them and how to prepareyourself for the next portion
(00:27):
of the climb.
I'm your host, Julie Ellis.
I'm an author, entrepreneur anda growth and leadership coach
who co-founded, grew and exitedan eight-figure business.
This led me to exploring whysome women achieve great things,
and that led to my book BigGorgeous Goals.
(00:47):
Let's explore the systems,processes and people that help
us grow our businesses to newheights.
If you're interested in growingyour business, this podcast
will help.
Now let's get going.
Hello and welcome to thisepisode of Figure 8.
Today, I'm joined by DeniseBedell.
(01:08):
Denise is an EPPY-nominatedjournalist and editor who has
been telling the stories ofglobal companies and public
institutions for over 20 years.
She's a regular speaker atindustry events and her business
Content Innovo is helpingbusinesses share their content
and tell stories around theworld, and I'm so keen to talk
(01:31):
to her today and hear about herjourney and how we got here.
So welcome, Denise.
Denise (01:36):
Thanks for having me, Julie.
I'm really excited to speaktoday.
Julie (01:39):
Thanks, so much Tell me what it was like making a pivot
out of sort of media andjournalism into entrepreneurship
.
Well, it was quite a big one tostart with, right.
Denise (01:54):
Yeah, absolutely so.
So luckily, I had actually runa business before, a very small
business, a bakery window in acafe.
So I had some background inrunning a business.
But going from being, you know,a journalist and talking about
(02:15):
companies to having my owncompany was a huge pivot for me.
You know, when you go into theentrepreneurial experience you
don't necessarily have that fullskill set.
You know, like I had never donesales really aside from at the
bakery, which is a verydifferent thing than service
sales.
I had never, you know, handleda large scale operation.
I had never, you know, thereare so many different hats that
(02:38):
you have to wear as anentrepreneur and I really just
kind of had to learn on the job,you know, which I think most
entrepreneurs really do.
Luckily, I was able to kind oftake advantage of some of the
entrepreneurial ecosystem inCanada, which is wonderful, it's
so supportive.
That's how you and I met, ofcourse, going through the Beyond
(03:00):
Boundaries program, and youwere one of our mentors, which
we absolutely appreciated, anddefinitely experiences like that
going through having thoseresources, going through
accelerators and things likethat were very critical to
helping me understand the kindof bigger picture of making that
leap and moving from you know,writing to running a company.
Julie (03:24):
Yeah, because it is a big leap right and I think that you
know when you look at so I'mkind of fascinated because not
only did you take advantage ofyou know programming and
opportunities that wereavailable to you as a startup
entrepreneur, but you also saw amarket opportunity in helping
other women startupentrepreneurs with the things
(03:47):
they were struggling with.
Denise (03:48):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
You know, when we startedContent Innovo, we were really
focused on the enterprise space.
So my background had beenworking with large companies,
telling their stories, you know,writing about corporate finance
and corporate.
You know the life cycle of acorporate.
So that was where my networkwas.
(04:11):
So when I started, when Ilaunched, I was really focused
on the enterprise space.
But going through some of theaccelerators in here in Ontario
and then building that network,I recognized that there was
something, there was anopportunity there, that there
was a gap that needed to befilled and that, you know, we
had an opportunity to fill it.
(04:33):
So we decided, you know, a fewyears ago, to talking to
entrepreneurs, talking toeveryone in our network about
what the challenges were, youknow, coming through the
innovation ecosystem, and wherethat gap was and how we could
(04:54):
help fill it.
And what we really saw was thatthere was a challenge for
accelerators themselves, fortheir clients and for their
mentors, because every companycame into it at a different
stage.
They had different, different,different setup.
They they may have understoodtheir go to market strategy.
They may not have.
(05:14):
They might have come from abusiness background, they may
have had no background in sales,marketing or content strategy,
and so when mentors were workingwith clients, every client was
different and every client wasat a different phase in their
evolution.
So we saw an opportunity toreally kind of level that
playing field and create a verystructured approach to building
(05:36):
go-to-market strategy and havingall of those companies come to
their, to their mentorship andadvisory process with that level
playing field, with all thoseassets and all those, all those
pieces in place in order to moreeffectively work with their
mentors and move through theprogram.
Julie (05:55):
Right and that's so interesting because obviously I
mean selling to like a largemultinational and and how
customized and, quite frankly,expensive a program and very
bespoke right.
It's a bespoke kind of a thingcompared to entrepreneurs who
(06:16):
need.
You have to find a way to sortof package it up and systemize
it so that it can be affordablefor a startup yeah, no,
absolutely.
Denise (06:25):
Um.
So what we did is we justcreated a very structured,
streamlined approach.
So we would, you know, have eachof the entrepreneurs, each of
the companies, fill out aquestionnaire which would tell
us about what they had, theirunderstanding of their market,
their understanding of theiraudiences and so on.
By making it a questionnaire,it allowed us to streamline it
(06:46):
and keep that budget very low,which you know, as you said, and
as we all know, is verycritical for this market
landscape.
And then we could, you know,work with our strategists to
create a very, you know,structured package where we
would take all that informationand they would come out with,
(07:06):
you know, audience personas anda competitive market landscape
analysis and, you know,understanding their value prop,
understanding their points ofdifference, understanding their
content strategy, having achannel plan in place and really
having that short editorialcalendar so that they were ready
to go when they were ready tostart sales, that they were
ready to go when they were readyto start sales, when they were
ready to start marketing.
They had all those pieces inplace and they could use that as
(07:29):
a jumping off point.
Julie (07:33):
Very, very helpful.
I mean, I can't you know,getting organized on all of
those different fronts is is abig task.
Denise (07:42):
Yeah, no, absolutely yeah.
And and a lot of them did youknow they might've had some
pieces in place, like theymight've had a description of
their audiences but not reallyunderstood.
You know, if you have thisbigger picture, this acts not
just for your marketing, but youcan also use it as the
foundation for your ICP, foryour ideal customer profile, and
so it helps with sales.
It also gives you that singleapproach to sales and marketing
(08:06):
so that your messaging is thesame, so that you're approaching
the market and building yourbrand and your brand equity in a
consistent way, which is reallycritical as well to market
growth.
Julie (08:19):
Yep, and so what are the kinds of varieties of companies
that you've helped with thisprogram?
Denise (08:26):
Yeah, so we've actually run about 60 different country
companies through our programnow which has been great through
various accelerators and we'veworked with all kinds of
companies.
You know our sweet spot is isreally around B2B tech,
professional services, financialservices.
In the tech space we focus onFinTech, health tech,
(08:50):
sustainable tech and ed tech andthat's been kind of really well
aligned with the acceleratorsthat we've worked with On the on
the tech side.
You know it's often they'reoften specialized, you know.
So it might be a fintechaccelerator, it might be all
different kinds of tech, buttheir basic needs are somewhat
(09:12):
the same.
And then, when you look at theother entrepreneurial ecosystems
, you know women entrepreneursand you know LGBTQ plus
entrepreneurs, for example.
It's much broader.
So so we've ended up workingwith direct to consumer
companies, you know, with B2B,b2c, a lot of digital companies,
(09:33):
but also some bricks and mortar.
You know we've worked withclothing brands, we've worked
with food companies, just alldifferent kinds of companies.
Julie (09:41):
It really goes with the, as you were saying that all I
could think of was you know theytell you to niche down, but
when you niche down it lets youscale up, and that's kind of
what I see here is like you canactually serve a lot of people,
but you have to, you have tobring it in to really like put
the value prop out there in thebeginning.
Denise (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, and that's, I think,
one of the key things that wetry to focus on is that,
although you may have a numberof different audiences or
different markets, your valueprop is where you start, you
know.
So if your value prop iswell-defined, then that tells
you how to reach those differentmarkets.
And it may be that you have tobreak down your audiences in two
(10:23):
or three different types, butyou don't need to have 12
different audiences.
You can look at who is thedecision maker, what are their
characteristics, what are theirdrivers, and often it's quite
consistent across differentaudiences, and so you can use
that to build those biggerpersonas.
And then it helps not only inreducing the resources that you
(10:45):
have to spend on marketing tothose different audiences, but
it also helps you when it comesto sales.
It helps your sales team to youknow to think higher level and
understand, you know, thoseneeds and pain points, rather
than saying, okay, here's ourproduct, let me tell you about
it.
This is why you should buy it,you know, you know, taking that
more product first approach, itreally helps you to to go from
(11:08):
that needs first approach, whichis resonates so much more with
with your audiences.
Julie (11:13):
Yeah, and I mean, let's face it for everybody like
finding your.
You know, the little crack inthe armor of people.
Get in is harder and harder.
Right, it's noisier and noisierout there in the world.
Denise (11:26):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, you definitely have to bemore strategic and more
intentional in terms of yourapproach.
Julie (11:32):
So when you think of, I mean what you imagined when you
started Content De Novo and whatyou're doing today.
Obviously, we all pivot ourbusinesses along the way.
That's part of you know,finding the fit and finding the
market.
But what did you imagine andyou know, compared to where
you're at now?
Denise (11:50):
Yeah, it's been quite a journey.
We're definitely not, you know,focused on, you know, the
markets or the spaces that Iexpected to when I first
launched.
We've had great traction in theenterprise space, but we have
seen a contraction in that space.
You know, when we started,companies didn't really have a
(12:13):
content marketing team and sothey were looking a lot
externally for that kind ofsupport.
But now a lot of the bigenterprises are really building
those teams and they havespecialized needs, you know, in
terms of, you know, specificwriters, you know, or niche
content creators, which isdefinitely still, you know, kind
of one of our key value props.
(12:34):
But they're not looking forsomeone to come in and really
run the program for them andbuild, you know, as much as they
used to.
So, as we've seen a contractionin that space, we've really
really grown on the innovationecosystem space also, with
agencies who are supporting SMBsor larger clients, you know,
(12:57):
and other markets that makesense as well, and so with our
kind of innovation ecosystemprogram, we've been able to roll
that out to other markets.
So we're looking at tradeagencies, for example, who are
supporting their companies tomove to global markets.
We're looking at the investorecosystem because they have a
(13:17):
portfolio of companies that allneed to have those key pieces in
place, and we're looking atagencies so like marketing
agencies, pr, research anddevelopment firms and so on that
just don't have the kind ofcontent, marketing and marketing
support that their clients areasking for.
So we can come in and partnerwith them and provide that as
(13:39):
well.
Julie (13:40):
And so what's it like for you as the kind of leader, as
the leader of all these sort ofpillars that you're working on
developing, because they'redifferent from each other?
Denise (13:52):
They are indeed.
Yeah, and you know, we'vereally split our organization
into two pieces.
So we have the enterprise, butwe also have the SMB.
And that was that waschallenging for me, and it's
still challenging for me,because we have different.
We have different marketing andsales needs.
You know we have differentoperational needs.
(14:12):
One of my key jobs is makingsure that we have that network
that can help, you know, on aproject by project basis or a
program by program basis.
So so I spend a lot more of mytime making sure that we have
the supports that we need forthose two different audiences.
You know, the way that I managemy team is different for those
(14:33):
two different groups.
Our sales process is completelydifferent.
Our pricing is very different,you know.
So definitely, it's beenchallenging for me to figure to,
to figure that out, but wewe've tried to take a really
strategic and intentionalapproach to that evolution and
(14:53):
we try to just documenteverything.
You know we're very processoriented, so so we we definitely
will, you know, create aroadmap and then document the
different pieces and thenimplement rollout on a, you know
, on a kind of considered basisand, you know, start with a kind
of our key core team and thenroll out to, you know, to our
(15:15):
larger team and to our networkand just be really intentional
about that, because otherwiseit's just chaos.
Julie (15:23):
Yeah, and what's it been like for you in terms of, like,
the evolution of your role?
Because obviously when we allstart businesses, we kind of do
everything and then you knowtoday you're obviously trying to
umbrella over a bunch ofdifferent things that are
happening what has thatevolution been like for you?
Denise (15:42):
Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned that,
actually, because I recentlywent through a leadership
training program that reallyhelped me with exactly that
identifying the kind of thethings that I needed to focus on
that I wanted to focus on andworking towards passing on some
of those responsibilities thatin the past I might have taken
(16:03):
on and making sure that we havethe infrastructure in some of
those responsibilities that inthe past I might have taken on,
and making sure that we have theinfrastructure in place for
those responsibilities to moveto the appropriate people.
But then also, you know,creating an environment that
allowed people to grow in theways that they wanted to.
And whereas a few years ago,you know, although I tried to, I
(16:24):
always tried to create, youknow, the environment that I
wanted and make sure that it wasa good environment for people
to feel supported in, it's beenmuch more intentional in the
last couple of years.
Julie (16:36):
And that's good, because I see a lot in the work I do
with with scaling upentrepreneurs, that you know we
don't start businesses becausewe think we're going to have 50
people reporting to us.
We started because we see aneed, have an idea, those kinds
of things, and you know it's ajourney to figure out how to and
(16:56):
and a journey to figure out howto not be the roadblock, how to
manage a team and manage itreally well and how to level
yourself up.
So I think it's great that youknow you've used programs and
people to help you with that.
Denise (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Julie (17:13):
You also get to that place where you need the
sounding boards outside of yourown table.
Your own boardroom table is nolonger your sounding board
boardroom table is no longeryour sounding board.
Denise (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, and luckily, I've
had some great mentors and, youknow, great network to fall back
on and to reach out to.
You know, I mean, I amconstantly amazed by how
wonderful the entrepreneurialecosystem is in Ontario, in
Southern Ontario and even morelocally.
It's just, you know, if youneed those resources, they are
there for you.
You know, and so much isavailable free of charge or at
(17:50):
low cost.
You know, and as soon as you'repart of that network, everyone
is always happy, you know, totalk or to.
You know, to help, to provideyou with other resources to
connect you.
You know, and it's just reallyamazing.
Julie (18:07):
I'm really I feel really lucky to be a part of this
ecosystem, well, and I mean,let's talk about building
networks, right, I mean you hadthe opportunity to enter into a
startup ecosystem that hasreally helped you build yourself
, your business, your team, allthe different pieces.
But I think that you knowbuilding networks and the
different pieces.
But I think that you knowbuilding networks and finding
(18:27):
the right people to put aroundyou is such a key and important
part to being able to achievethe things that you set out on
your goals.
Denise (18:33):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I 100% agree, and I don't know
that all entrepreneurs kind ofare aware of what's available
and necessarily understand theimportance of that, and I think
that that's really, reallycritical you know to be
successful and to understand howto go from one step to the next
, because it is a process andyou know, sometimes it's a
(18:58):
process like this and sometimesit's a process like this, and
you really need to have thatnetwork in place in order to
understand, understand thosesteps and to be able to kind of
bridge the gaps.
And you have to have, as yousaid, those people around you
that can really help you to, toto follow that path, whatever,
whatever it might take.
Julie (19:20):
Yeah, because I think you know, as an entrepreneur,
you're pretty much in a constantlike growth mindset, learning
place.
You know whether your businessis struggling a little bit,
whether it's growing, whetherit's going constant, there's
always something that you'relearning as the leader of it.
If you're ever not learning,you're like waiting for it, you
know you're sitting there um,because it is a hard curve to
(19:44):
get on.
Denise (19:44):
Yeah, absolutely, and and it you know you're sitting
there because it is a hard curveto get on?
Yeah, absolutely.
And it brings to mind risktolerance for me.
You know, as an entrepreneur,you have to have a higher level
of risk tolerance than theaverage person, I would say.
And despite no matter what yourrisk tolerance is, there's
always going to be moments whereit's tested.
(20:04):
And that brings us back to youknow, the network and supports
and, you know, having thatstructure and infrastructure
around you to work through thosemoments, because they are
coming, no matter who you are orwhat your company is.
You're going to hit thosemoments.
Julie (20:25):
Well, would you have said .
Like when you started thisbusiness, what would you have
said?
Your risk tolerance was.
Has that changed it?
Denise (20:32):
has absolutely changed.
So when I started, it was justme, you know, and I had hopes
that it would grow, but I didn'treally have a vision of how I
would go from just me to havinga team.
So definitely making that firststep to bring in a head of
(20:53):
sales, that was a huge, hugejump in my risk tolerance.
And as a leader especially as awoman leader I think that we
take on a big sense ofresponsibility for our teams and
we have to find that balance aswell, because we have to
understand our risk tolerance,we have to understand how we
(21:13):
manage our own kind of sense ofresponsibility and our own kind
of empathy within our businessto not just lead well but also
to lead our companies well,because that's not always the
same and I think that's a bigpart of, you know, understanding
(21:34):
our risk tolerance as a femaleentrepreneur, as well as finding
that balance.
Julie (21:40):
Yeah, and tell me how you differentiate between sort of
leading well and leading yourcompany well.
Denise (21:45):
So I would say, leading well is leading your team well,
or, for me, it's being a goodleader.
It's, you know, creating theenvironment that allows your
team to flourish and allows youto flourish, that aligns your
(22:06):
needs with your team's needs,aligns your team's needs with
your company's needs, and thenleading the company well.
It's not necessarily the samething, you know, because the
needs of the company are oftendifferent I don't want to say
often are sometimes differentthan the needs of your team, and
(22:26):
you have to be able to balancethat.
You know, you have to be theperson who can say okay, this,
you're, this person is just notworking.
I'm going to do my best to, totry and help them to, you know,
to succeed.
But if they can't succeed, youknow I have to do something
about that.
And as a leader leader of acompany I have to be able to do
that.
And and sometimes that, uh,that role is quite different
(22:49):
than the role of being justpurely a good leader.
Julie (22:53):
Yeah, and of you know, bringing your own team, because
one of the hard things too inthat sort of scale up process is
that those early people can'talways make it all the way with
you.
Right Some of the people yourelied upon the most in the
early days, which is alwaysincredibly difficult.
Denise (23:10):
Absolutely.
Julie (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and just thinking, yeah, how do you
want to send that back out intothe world and what can you do
for them?
Right, because that is hard.
The team, yeah, and how do youthink you went about as you grew
like, building a culture thatpeople wanted to be a part of
and it was something that Ithought about.
Denise (23:31):
You know a lot, and I always wanted to have an
inclusive culture.
I always wanted to have adiverse culture.
I always wanted to, you know,lead in a way that people would
want to you know, stay with melong term.
(23:53):
Long-term, you know, I I wantedto have a company culture that
encouraged people to to uh togrow and flourish, um, because I
I've always believed that, youknow, that is the best way to
success.
You know that your team iscritical Uh, and if you support
them uh and and help them to toum to grow, then it helps you
(24:15):
and it helps your company.
So so I've always kind of hadthat in mind and tried to lead
from that perspective.
But we also went through a veryintentional process last year
where we we implemented aninclusivity and accessibility
program.
We revamped a lot of ourprocesses.
We revamped our sales processes, we revamped a lot of our
(24:38):
documentation.
You know our terms, you knowwith clients, you know we we
tried to to look at all of ouroperations, you know, across the
board and build inclusivity andaccessibility into everything
that we did, and and we broughttogether a team, you know, that
included people that you knowhad accessibility needs.
We included you know thatincluded people that you know
(24:58):
had accessibility needs.
We included, you know peoplefrom different backgrounds in
order to ensure that how we weremoving forward was really going
to align with that idea thatI've always had around corporate
culture and just make itdocumented and make it intrinsic
(25:19):
, you know, make it a you know.
Julie (25:22):
And was it that you felt like it was something you were
sort of espousing but not fullydoing in the way?
Or was it that the company hadgotten larger and you needed a
way to more formally kind ofentrench it Like?
What was it that kind ofprompted you to decide upon
taking that action last year?
Denise (25:41):
I would say it was twofold.
Number one I wanted to to setup a company.
I mean, my goal is to bring ina major investor or to sell the
company, you know, in a fewyears.
So I wanted to make sure thatthe company was already set up,
with that in place, you know,and that that was part of the
(26:05):
building blocks of the company,so that it could continue, you
know, once someone else comes inand might have a different kind
of, you know, background or soon.
So that was one piece of it,and the other, I would say, is
just, you know, the team wasgetting larger and I wanted to
(26:26):
make sure that not only actually, I would say there are three
things.
So the team was getting larger,I wanted to make sure that
everyone was aligned, that wewere only bringing in people
that were aligned with thatcorporate culture, that we were
thinking intentionally about ourcorporate culture and bringing
in people that were aligned withthat.
And then also, I wanted to makesure that, externally, with
(26:48):
clients, that we were settingthe standards, that we were
setting the backdrop in order tohave engagements that were, you
know, successful and alignedwith our corporate culture.
Julie (27:02):
Well, and it kind of feels like it's this place you
know you talked about earlierjust how our leadership needs to
evolve and change as thecompany grows and there's this
place where culture has to passfrom being the founder or the
CEO's responsibility to spillinginto the organization where it
(27:22):
lives, breathes and, you know,is constantly upheld.
Yes, absolutely yeah.
You can't, you know, force itdown, kind of thing, and not
that you're trying to, but butit does.
There's this noticeable kind ofshift, I think.
Denise (27:40):
Yeah, yeah.
And and the other thing is thatyou know we're seeing in the
world that there's pushback.
I mean I don't want to notaddress that, you know.
Julie (27:50):
No, and for what you really believe in, exactly yeah.
And so what do you?
Also?
The other thing that comes tomy mind about it is just this
idea of so, if you do want tobring in the big investor or
exit the company or step awayfrom your CEO role at some point
I mean, the most sellablecompanies are where you're
expendable Not that you are but,you know what I mean.
(28:12):
Right, you have to be able to bereplaceable in order for you to
eventually, at the right time,take your leave, and so is that
something that you think about.
Denise (28:24):
Absolutely yeah, and that's really why we've been so
process driven and whydocumentation and creating a
structure, than foundationthat's that's clearly demarcated
, is so important to me.
Because for that very reason,you know, because my job as the
(28:47):
CEO is to create, you know, ateam and a structure and a and a
company that can live on itsown, that doesn't require just
being or someone else in orderto continue its life.
Julie (29:02):
mean it makes a lot of sense, but it's in practice
sometimes very difficult to do.
Yes, letting go can be hard.
Yeah, yeah no, absolutely.
Good, and what's next?
What's next for Denise?
What's next for Content Innovo?
Denise (29:21):
Yeah, so we're actually still evolving, of course, and
our work in the innovationecosystem is really informing
our next evolution within theSMB space and the smaller
company space and even the youknow medium-sized company space
for operationalization ofgo-to-market strategy and
(29:44):
operationalization of the sales,marketing and operations, and
we've really seen that comingfrom that.
You know, getting that strategyin place, companies are really
struggling with that next step.
You know, getting that strategyin place.
Companies are really strugglingwith that next step.
You know they.
You know they have the strategy.
You know they need a roadmap,they need to know where they're
(30:05):
at and they need to know how toget to where they need to go.
And they don't just need thatroadmap, they need someone to
put it in place.
You know we talked about theinnovation ecosystem and mentors
and so on, and that learning iswonderful.
All the education and all thehelp and all the guidance that
(30:26):
companies receive is great, butoften they just don't have the
resources, they don't have thetime and they don't need that
knowledge.
An entrepreneur, a leader, aCEO doesn't need to know how to
set up a CRM and make sure thatit's.
You know, giving you themetrics that you want and that
it's reflecting what they needis someone to set it up, someone
(30:46):
to teach their people how to doit right, and then you know
that dashboard, so they knowwhat they need to know in order
to make those big decisions.
Julie (30:55):
And who to call when it all breaks.
Denise (30:57):
Exactly, yes, yeah, yeah .
So so we're we're focused onkind of building that next phase
.
So we've started rolling out anaudit for sales, for marketing
and for content marketing, tounderstand what companies have,
what they need, and then tobuild them a roadmap.
And then we're also bringingtogether fractional teams, not
(31:23):
just a CMO or a CSO or a COO,but also the next level down,
those implementers, you know, inorder to kind of come in say,
okay, we've done this audit,we've looked at what you have
and what you need, we've builtthat roadmap.
Now, whichever piece of thatyou need us to put together, we
can do it because we have thatexpertise.
(31:44):
So, really, to help them fromthat first step to the next step
of getting it all in place andimplementing it, to training,
and then here we are and we canhelp with, you know, the rollout
as well.
Julie (31:57):
So you know, I really love, though, this feeling of
like you are formalizing astructure and a process and, at
the same time, remaining nimbleand following what the market is
demanding and needs, because Ithink that often people think
those things are exclusive ofeach other.
Right, yeah, yeah, and I thinkthat often people think those
(32:17):
things are exclusive of eachother Right, yeah, yeah.
Denise (32:20):
And I think actually coming from the enterprise space
has helped us to be quitenimble Because, as you said,
it's often very bespoke and theneeds are so different.
You know from company tocompany and you know even
business unit to business unitwithin an organization.
So it gave us that mindset.
And then we work on a networkmodel, so we just bring in the
(32:42):
resources as we need them, whichgives us really that kind of
flexibility as well to adjust tothe needs of individual
companies.
Julie (32:51):
So good.
Well, I can't wait to see whereyour journey takes you next and
how content to Novo grows andhow your hand helps lead it into
the future.
Thank you so much for joiningme today and thank you for
talking to you again soonAbsolutely.
Denise (33:09):
Thanks for having me Take care.
Julie (33:11):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
Please remember to hitsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform so you won'tmiss any episodes.
Figure 8 isn't just a podcast.
It's a way of seeing the big,gorgeous goals of women
entrepreneurs coming to life.
If you're interested inlearning more, you can find my
(33:32):
book Big Gorgeous Goals onAmazon, anywhere you might live.
For more about my growth andleadership training programs,
visit www.
julieellis.
ca to see how we might worktogether.
Read my blog or sign up to getyour free diagnostic.
Are you ready for growth?
(33:53):
Once again, that's www.
julieellis.
ca.
When we work together, we allwin.
See you again soon for anotherepisode of Figure 8.
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