November 27, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, host Kendra Corman sits down with Dr. Christiane Schroeter — marketing professor, wellness advocate, and TEDx speaker — to explore how intentional, bite-sized actions can help entrepreneurs and professionals create lasting change without burnout.
Dr. Schroeter shares her journey from a fascination with advertising in Germany to teaching marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the U.S., blending her academic expertise with her passion for wellness. Together, she and Kendra dive into how mindful, structured habits — what Dr. Schroeter calls petite practices — can transform not only your business but your life.
🌱 The Power of Petite Practices
- Why sustainable change comes from small, intentional steps — not all-nighters and burnout
- How 15-minute bursts of focus can create real momentum
- Practical tools to manage time and avoid distraction (including Dr. Schroeter’s favorite timer hack!)
- How to infuse joy and balance into your workday to stay aligned and productive
🎙️ The 3P System: A Framework for Visibility
- Dr. Schroeter’s 3P System — Podcasting, Publishing, and Presenting — as a roadmap to greater visibility
- How to turn your ideas into impact, starting with simple writing
- Why sharing your story authentically (not perfectly) helps you connect and grow
- Building confidence from writing → guest podcasting → public speaking
🔥 The TEDx Experience: Turning Your Story Into a Message
- What it really takes to prepare for a TEDx talk — and why it’s more intense than you think
- How to craft a story that resonates with an audience and inspires change
- The key mindset shift every aspiring speaker needs: it’s not about you, it’s about who you help
💡 Marketing Lessons You’ll Want to Steal
- The importance of a runway before and after every launch
- Why behind-the-scenes storytelling matters just as much as the final reveal
- How visibility, vulnerability, and consistency build trust and connection
- The reminder every marketer needs: people don’t buy products — they buy stories
Connect with Christiane Schroeter:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeschroeter/
Whether you’re building your brand, preparing to share your message, or simply trying to balance business and wellness, this episode is full of actionable insight and inspiration to help you grow with purpose — one petite practice at a time.
🎧 Tune in to learn how small, intentional steps can lead to powerful, sustainable change in both your business and your life.
Looking to leverage AI? Want better results? Want to think about what you want to leverage?
Check and see how I am using it for FREE on YouTube.
From "Holy cow, it can do that?" to "Wait, how does this work again?" – I've got all your AI curiosities covered. It's the perfect after-podcast snack for your tech-hungry brain.
Watch here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Hi, I'm Kendra Corman.
If you're a coach, consultant,or marketer, you know marketing
is far from a perfect science.
And that's why this show iscalled Imperfect Marketing.
Join me and my guests as weexplore how to grow your
business with marketing tipsand, of course, lessons learned
along the way.
(00:52):
Hello and welcome back toanother episode of Imperfect
Marketing.
I'm your host, Kendra Corman,and I am super excited today
because I'm going to be talkingwith Dr.
Christiana, and we're going tobe talking about intentional
practices and building asustainable business.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
I really appreciate you comingon the show to share all of your
(01:15):
wonderful knowledge.
Now, I do have a questionthough.
How did you get into this?
I mean, we're talking aboutintentional practices and change
management and visibility andjust so many different things.
How did you get started with allthis?
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
I think my passion was always in marketing and in
advertising.
I remember I'm from Germany.
I remember actually watching alot of TV shows just because of
the advertising.
It was just anxiously waitingfor the advertising.
And of course, here we are inthe United States, uh 2026 Super
Bowl coming up.
(01:49):
That's like the advertisingfeast of the nation.
And I do really adore marketing.
And when it's done well, it'sjust also entertaining.
It's my absolute passion.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Oh, that's fantastic.
So you're doing some businessand wellness coaching.
Is that what you're doing now?
How long have you been doingthat?
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I am a full-time marketingprofessor, teach marketing,
innovation entrepreneurship.
Really at the college level, inthe summer, even teach high
school students from all overthe world that come and take my
intensive innovationentrepreneurship class.
I also teach a lot of graduates.
So I basically see thesolopreneur, the small business,
(02:29):
and mid-sized business, then asthey scale after they graduate
and I help them out withcoaching.
And because we can't just run abusiness while we don't take
care of ourselves, I am alsodeep down really passionate
about wellness.
And to make this like, you know,super knowledgeable, so to
speak, in my dissertation, Ihave a PhD in applied economics.
(02:53):
I actually focused on obesityand how we can improve our
wellness and our health withprice and income strategies.
And I will also tie in with whatwe'll probably talk about in a
little while with my PTpractices.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
Very cool.
So I'm like totally geeking outon all of this stuff because I
also teach at the college leveland I teach marketing.
I also teach strategy.
So um I haven't taught anyinnovation classes, but I've
taken quite a few.
So very, very cool.
I love that you're doing this.
And I love the field ofeducation because there's so
much information that we canshare.
(03:29):
And a lot of our students, atleast mine, you know, they're
leaving to start businesses.
At worst case scenario, they'vegot a side hustle ready to go,
off the shelf from what they'relearning in college, which I
think is amazing and just itblows my mind because I never
even would have thought aboutthat back when I was in college.
So it's really, really cool.
(03:50):
So let's go ahead and jump inand let's talk about these
petite practices.
Let's talk about the smallintentional practices that can
help you create lasting change.
Because I think, you know, withAI, a lot of people being unsure
about different things, there'sjust so much there, right?
Um, so how do we create thatlasting change?
(04:12):
Oh, beautiful question.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
And I also like that you already put in some trends
and maybe, you know, challenges,even there, if you want to call
AI a challenge in a certain way.
So maybe deep down, just likethinking about how change really
happens.
We sometimes feel it needs to belike this big push where we're
(04:33):
hustling, we're staying up allnight, and we're working and
we're aiming for the deadline.
In reality, that's probably theunhealthiest way of really
accomplishing change.
Because if you think about yourlife, you can't do this on a
daily basis, right?
You will completely get burnedout.
And why I personally don't likethat word burnout, to really
(04:56):
lead a life where you're seeingchange and you're seeing
momentum and you're feelingpassionate about going back to
your desk and opening up yourlaptop and get started and
working, is when you takesmaller time frames.
And I love Kendra that you usethe word intentional, when
you're really sitting down 15minutes, maybe three times per
(05:17):
day, if you're working afull-time job or you're a
student and you're spending sometime towards your goal.
And now keep in mind, becausethese are small bursts of
energy, those are frequently theones where you're kind of like
excited about, like, oh my gosh,I really want to do this right
now, I really want to do that.
And you will see the needlemoving much faster, much more
(05:39):
sustainable.
And of course, you're also goingto be much more passionate
because you're feeling yourbrain and your body is actually
aligned instead of just likethrowing stuff together at the
last minute and feeling this isnot quite your best work, but
that's just the best you can doin that time.
And with AI, I also feel thatespecially that more human
(06:01):
approach of taking a slow stepwith it, is just so much better
than just throwing somethingtogether that is, you know, you
know, maybe perfectly written,but it doesn't have your own
voice in it.
So rather take a little timebrainstorm with AI, but then
come back and really rewrite itin a way that you would connect
(06:23):
with your consumer, that youwould talk to your client that
really feels like you'readdressing their struggles in a
way that you're getting thosekeywords across.
And that's really what petitepractice is.
So it's a small practice thatleads to progression.
SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
So I love that.
I'm a huge fan of Pomodoros.
So, you know, work for 20, 25minutes and take a five-minute
break.
That really keeps me frushed,especially when I have to focus
on things that I don't alwaysnecessarily want to do.
So, my question for you is these15 minute, these three times a
day, whatever that happens to befor people, is that like, do you
(07:01):
set a timer to try and move thatforward?
Or do you just go and try and doit?
And if you get lost in the task,you get lost in the task, and
good for you.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
I'm looking for my timer.
I have one on my desk here.
And maybe my kids took that guy.
Yes, I have that exact same onein the time timer, yes.
It's a visual, you can see it.
SPEAKER_00 (07:22):
I have it on all of my desks, my desk here at my
office, my desk at theuniversity, and one at home
because I said it all the time.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
I haven't even better one.
And it's like I say, I think mykids took it because they just
played some games.
Uh-huh.
And they might have taken that.
So the one that I have is like alittle timer cube, and maybe you
can pop it in the show notes.
And it has five, 10, uh, 15, 30,45, 60 minutes on there.
So depending on the time thatyou want, you just flip the side
(07:51):
up, and then you can choosewhether you want it flashing or
beeping or whatever, right?
It's totally up to you whetheryou want the stimulation or you
just want to keep it quiet.
But then after that time, itwill signal to you that the time
is up.
Um, why does that work so well?
Because it's in a certain way,uh, you know, we don't work in a
(08:12):
vacuum.
It's in a certain way your timeis the most important resource,
and you want to feel that you'reactually filling a void with
productivity and not just liketinkering around and getting
sidetracked here and lookingthere, and then going down that
rabbit hole over here.
So that the timing works reallywell.
(08:33):
At the same time, it's alsosomething to where you can even
set yourself a reward system.
So it's not always just 15minutes for productivity.
You could also say 15 minutesand I'm going to go on a walk
and I call my friend, or 15minutes, and I step away from my
desk and I make myself a lunchand I sit on the couch.
(08:54):
Well, that could be 30 minutesor whatever.
So you could structure yourwhole day in these little pieces
of joy.
And that will actually createmuch more momentum than like, oh
my gosh, here it is, twoo'clock.
I haven't even not eaten lunchyet.
And where does the time go?
And all of a sudden, there isyour system right there.
Where does the time go?
(09:15):
It's because you're becomingmore intentional of how you
actually use it.
SPEAKER_00 (09:19):
I find if I don't do pomodoros or if, you know, and
I've got a block of time, I willleave the office and my husband
will say, Oh, so what'd you dotoday?
I I don't know.
Again, not a not a clue what Idid today, right?
But when I'm intentional aboutthose 20-minute sprints and I
and I do them and I get it donewithout distractions, I actually
know what I did too.
(09:40):
So I think that that's hugelyimportant.
Now, with each 15-minute timebreak or time set, is it they're
all working towards the samegoal?
Do you identify the goal andidentify tasks that need to be
done to help you achieve it?
Like what's next?
Or what do you recommend there?
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
Oh, that's a great question.
So my calendar looks a littlebit like a fruit salad.
I am believing in color codingfunctions.
Mine's all color-coded.
SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
It's a rainbow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
Right.
So I'm a firm believer thatwhatever you want to dedicate
your 15 minutes to, pick a colorthat you associate with that
particular function, right?
So it could very well be yourwellness 15 minutes, or you step
away from social media 15minutes, or your I'm going to
(10:34):
answer email 15 minutes.
That is really totally up toyou.
But in reality, I would reallystrive for a variety in your
day.
So don't put more than three bigthings on your to-do list, and
then you can break them up overthe day and how you tackle them.
Because in between, we have likethe random other things that
(10:57):
come up, right?
The text messages, the emails,maybe the people that show up at
the door, people that arecalling you.
So that will pull you away fromaccomplishing three things as
much as you can.
Try to avoid in looking at yournotifications.
I mean, if there's somebody inthe door, go there, of course.
But in general, I would reallyencourage you three big tasks.
(11:19):
And if you feel you can'taccomplish them within an hour,
then go ahead and break them upa little bit.
But you want to feel at the endof the day, you actually can
tick them off from your to-dolist.
SPEAKER_00 (11:29):
I love that.
I'm definitely a check off theto-do list type of person.
Um, I'll even write things downso I can check it off just
because I love checking thingsoff lists.
Um, and that means getting, youknow, getting it done.
And three, I think, is the rightnumber.
I use my full, I have a fullfocus planner and I love it
because it tells me what are thethree things I need to get done
(11:51):
today before I leave the office,right?
There's a lot of other things,other distractions that come in,
but I know I have to get thosethree things done to help me
move me forward towards mygoals.
And that's just super important.
I love that.
All right.
So since you're a marketingexpert and um teach marketing at
the collegiate level, I thinkthat's important because I I
(12:12):
love that.
Let's talk about visibilitybecause you've got a system,
right?
The three P system ofpodcasting, publishing, and
presenting, which I thinkactually sounds like what I
actually do in my business sideof my life that has really
helped my business grow.
So tell me more about thatsystem and and how that helps
(12:32):
with visibility.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:34):
Um, and of course, you mentioned it's three Ps.
I also think that you got togive things fun names, right?
And and frequently the besttaglines or the best little
bridges to remember something iswhen you have things that start
with the same letter or anythinglike that.
That's where I always tell mystudents make it easy, make it
(12:57):
fun, make it memorable.
So, why am I thinking about thethree P system as like your
bridge to visibility?
Well, if if you think aboutyourself, you have some type of
superpower.
And actually, it's the name ofone of my books is Discover Your
Superpower.
So, what's the best way of beinga good marketer is sharing that
(13:19):
superpower and tapping into thesuperpower and really utilizing
that in your business.
And the best way you can do itis you can start writing or
voice recording or anything likethat.
And then, based on that, you canstart extracting like little
nuggets that you can use tobuild your business or expand
your business or really form newproduct ideas if you already
(13:44):
have something going from that.
So the writing for me alwayscomes first.
And it doesn't even have to bethat you share that with the
world, but it's just gettingyour idea out of your head.
And then comes the really nextimportant step, which is you
actually have to share yourwriting.
And whether that just means thatyou're telling your friends,
family, neighbors, colleagues,whoever you see at Starbucks in
(14:08):
line, you have to tell themabout it, right?
Because then all of a sudden,your idea is not living in your
brain or on paper or on yourcomputer, but it's actually
becoming a much bigger vehiclein the world to maybe help some
others as well.
Again, you were struggling withsomething, you overcame it,
other people as well.
And the best entrepreneurs arethe ones that actually share
(14:31):
their struggles with the goal tohelp others.
Now, that could be when youpresent.
And if you are maybeuncomfortable with that thought,
you could start with podcasting,right?
You don't have to immediatelystart a podcast on your own, but
you could be a guest on apodcast.
So publish something, a podcast.
And then lastly, once you gainmore confidence with that
(14:53):
podcast, then that's maybe whenyou're ready for the big stage,
so to speak.
Doesn't have to be immediately aTEDx.
I just presented my TEDx talklast month, and I can definitely
tell you that it's um acompletely different animal.
But if you're more like intolike, oh, I just want to get
started with like a littleanimal, like you know, like
think hamster, not horse, youknow, then start with a little
(15:18):
animal, you know, like maybethere is a little uh group
locally, a writer's group, maybeum a group of real estate
agents, somebody you can sharewhat you actually accomplished
in your writing or in yourpodcasting, and they might be
really excited to hear from you.
And it's not immediately athousand people when you're
presenting your TEDx, but it'smaybe 20.
(15:41):
And then keep that wheel goingbecause you have to get the
pipeline going.
So keep back your writing, goback to your podcasting, go back
to your presenting.
And it works really well becauseit keeps visibility fresh, but
at the same time, you don'talways just want to present or
be a podcast guest.
You also want to take some timeand write and really figure out
(16:03):
what's important to you.
And those three elements allowyou to be an extrovert, an
introvert, an embivert, whereveryou are, and you can be on all
sides and just be the bestyourself.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
Discovering your superpower, right?
Well, and I think it's soimportant because you started
with publishing, right?
You started with writing,getting your ideas out of your
head and onto paper.
And I think that that's reallyimportant because as we do
things, as more AI comes intoplace, I think there's a lot
less of people's ideas comingout into the marketplace, right?
(16:38):
People are creating podcastswith notebook LM.
And so everything is scriptedand created by AI and it's done
by AI.
And it's no, we want to hearfrom you.
Your ideas, your experiences,those put together can't be
matched by AI.
And don't get me wrong, I loveAI, saves me 30 to 40 hours a
week on average.
(16:58):
I show people how to use AI thewhat I consider the right way,
which involves a human in theloop, right?
Um, very important stuff.
But I think starting with thatpublishing, starting with your
ideas is key.
And then leveraging podcasting,guesting on podcasts, and
presenting is just so important.
(17:19):
Um, locally here in MetroDetroit, we have a group called,
well, it's it's bigger thanthat.
It's international members andstuff like that.
But we've got a local group thatI go to that's called Inforum.
And it's um for women executivesum and women in in their
careers.
And yeah, there's a ton oflittle affinity groups that, you
know, 10, 20, 30, 40 people goto.
(17:42):
You can, as a member, you cansign up to speak to those small
groups, right?
You can get your feet wet in asupportive environment where
they'll help you, right?
They'll help you get yourcomfortable with speaking and
help you refine your message andall of those fun things, which
is great.
(18:02):
And then as you can see, I havea podcast and I love podcasting.
I think it's one of the bestways to to reach new audiences
and to create great content umwithout a ton of work, which
everybody's always looking tosave some time.
So I love that, love that.
Um, let's talk a little bit moreabout that TEDx thing that you
(18:23):
mentioned.
Um, you talked about that, yourecently did it.
What's different about it?
How does you how do you turn apersonal story or experience
into a marketing tool?
SPEAKER_01 (18:35):
That's a beautiful question.
So when if you think, oh mygosh, I want to stand on a big
stage, I want to apply to anorganization that's really going
to um allow me to speak on thatstage, and it's very structured
in the way that they run theirorganization, then TEDx might be
(18:55):
something you ultimately want togo for because of course they
have the credibility and theauthentic feel that will really
allow you to feel like, okay,now I think I passed the test.
I am a speaker.
So with your story, what'salways really, really important
is that you feel you canactually help somebody.
So the right motivation tobecome a TEDx speaker is that
(19:19):
you immediately know no onecares about you.
It's just not the reason tobecome a TEDx speaker.
As amazing as your family thinkyou are, and that's the right
reason for sitting in theaudience.
At the end of the day, the talkreally needs to be about how can
my message help others and whatcan I share with the world that
(19:43):
I feel they can actually look atthis as of value to change their
lives.
And those are, you know, seven,10, 15-minute talks max as and
on the text stage.
So it needs to be very succinctand short.
And it needs to be, of course,presented in a way that it's
engages, engaging that theconsumer actually feels like, oh
(20:04):
my gosh, I really listened tothis now, and I didn't even
notice that those 15 minuteswent by.
And I think that's a goodpractice in general to condense
things down and also build agood talk, have a hook, have the
middle section, and then at theend, kind of tell them what they
just learned, because it makesyou in general a better thinker
(20:27):
when you present ideas.
So the TEDx preparation initself, it's the one word I
would use is intense.
There is no way around there.
There is no like pretty paintingI can do for you right now.
It's intense.
But even the whole runway isprobably, and we're going to
talk about this in a littlewhile, is one of my biggest
(20:49):
learning lessons in marketingbecause there's so much you
learn about yourself when youprepare to do about it for your
work ethic, for who you are,what matters for getting up when
you feel those are some duffdays to prepare for this.
And of course, again, it doesn'thave to be a TEDx talk, but of
(21:09):
course, what I'm telling you isalways the exact same thing.
The best keynote speakers, theyget on that stage in thinking I
can want to change one person'slife in the audience.
And if it's multiple people'slives, I did the best thing I
could and I did why I came here.
That's really what you have tothink about.
(21:29):
It's it's not about like makingyou look good there, it's about
making the audience feelsomething.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
I like that.
I I really like that because youshould always be thinking about
your audience, right?
And how you can help them andhow you can make a difference
for them.
Because whether you've got aproduct or a service or a
presentation, people aren'tgoing to buy it or sign you up
for it or whatever it happens tobe, right?
If it doesn't solve a problemfor them, right.
(21:56):
And so helping people is justso, so key on that.
Well, I have to say thank youso, so much for joining me today
on this.
I love talking about the petitepractices, finding and
identifying those 15-minuteintervals on your calendar,
scheduling that joy that's goingto move you closer to your goals
(22:18):
is just, I think, brilliant.
And I I love that you sharedthat because as we're in the
holiday season here, uh I thinkit's very important for people
to make sure that they'rescheduling time for that joy and
not just getting overwhelmedwith their schedule, right?
Whether it looks like a rainbowor fruit salad or a game of
Tetris gone wrong, um, you know,that's they have to find room in
(22:39):
their calendar for that.
And then I love the startingwith publishing, moving to
podcasting, and then presenting.
And thank you so much for alsosharing your experience with
TEDx, because I think there's alot of people that want to get
on that TEDx stage and give it atry.
So hopefully maybe somebody willwant to do that.
So before I let you go though, Ido need to ask you the question
(23:01):
that I ask all my guests.
And that is that this show iscalled Imperfect Marketing
because marketing is anythingbut a perfect science.
What has been your biggestmarketing lesson learned?
SPEAKER_01 (23:10):
My biggest marketing lesson learned, and I hinted at
it earlier, is really that youneed to create a runway before
and after launching a productand service.
You can't just come out of thewoods and say, Ta, here it is,
and expect that people are goingto run to you and push money in
your hands and grab the productout of your hands.
(23:32):
Um, because as amazing as thisthing might be, all the best
brands, all the best services,they will have a long runway
letting us know that it'scoming.
And whether you're writing abook, whether you are launching
a service, or whether you'regiving a TED Text talk, you need
(23:53):
to let the audience in that thisis going to happen.
So when I did my whole TEDxpresentation, I every other day,
maybe not even every day, I wason Instagram and I shared with
them what I'm doing on that day.
I said, today, yeah, today I'mmemorizing, today I'm trying on
clothing, today I'm preparingand I'm maybe like checking out
(24:16):
what earrings I'm going to wear.
So now interacting with amicrophone.
And you know what?
So many people love that behindthe scenes because they know
that it's not just like steppingout on the red dot and giving a
talk, but they don't know what'sinvolved because they haven't
done it themselves.
I mean, of course, some of themmight have, but maybe they
prepare differently than I did.
(24:38):
And I've I always tried to makeit fun.
Of course, there were a coupleof videos when I was actually
crying, one of them because Iwas, you know, exceptionally
stressed out, and the other onebecause I was very happy.
So tears of joy and tears ofstress.
And that's important too.
So if you launch, write,produce, create, you cannot shut
(25:00):
the world out.
You need to let them into yourprocess because it makes you the
story that the consumerultimately wants to buy.
Because that's so important inmarketing.
Nobody buys a product andservice, they buy a story, and
you need to let them in on thatstory.
And you really need to tease itahead of time.
And then after launching, evenlike tease the after.
(25:23):
So after my TEDx talk, I startedhustling like crazy and sharing
that link and said it's here.
Um, watch it, and and you seehow my hair turned out on stage.
And I went for the Greek goddessvibe and check out those shoes
and everything.
And you have to do that inmarketing.
People love you and they careabout you, but you have to be
(25:45):
fair.
There's a lot of noise outthere, and you just have to make
it just a little easier for themto understand what you're
actually doing.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
Oh my gosh, I love that.
I love the runway before andafter.
Because I think some peoplethink about the before one, some
people think about the after,but people don't think about
bookending that launch with bothpieces.
And that's so important.
I was working with a client on abook launch recently, and it was
the same thing.
It was like, all right, how arewe gonna lead up to this?
How are we gonna start talkingabout it?
(26:13):
Where do we want to startshowing, you know, what you're
doing?
And yeah, it's important to takethose photos and to document and
to share because people do wantto understand your journey,
right?
They're very curious and want tolearn more.
And I think that that'sfantastic.
Thank you so, so much again forsharing all of these wonderful
(26:34):
tips and information with ustoday.
I really appreciate it.
We'll have definitely a lot ofinformation in the show notes to
connect and engage with all ofthe different things that we
were sharing today.
If you learned something today,and I know you did because I
did, it would really help me outif you would rate and subscribe
wherever you're listening orwatching.
Until next time, have a greatrest of your day.
Hi, I'm Kendra Corman.
If you're a coach, consultant,or marketer, you know marketing
is far from a perfect science.
And that's why this show iscalled Imperfect Marketing.
Join me and my guests as weexplore how to grow your
business with marketing tipsand, of course, lessons learned
along the way.
(00:52):
Hello and welcome back toanother episode of Imperfect
Marketing.
I'm your host, Kendra Corman,and I am super excited today
because I'm going to be talkingwith Dr.
Christiana, and we're going tobe talking about intentional
practices and building asustainable business.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
I really appreciate you comingon the show to share all of your
(01:15):
wonderful knowledge.
Now, I do have a questionthough.
How did you get into this?
I mean, we're talking aboutintentional practices and change
management and visibility andjust so many different things.
How did you get started with allthis?
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
I think my passion was always in marketing and in
advertising.
I remember I'm from Germany.
I remember actually watching alot of TV shows just because of
the advertising.
It was just anxiously waitingfor the advertising.
And of course, here we are inthe United States, uh 2026 Super
Bowl coming up.
(01:49):
That's like the advertisingfeast of the nation.
And I do really adore marketing.
And when it's done well, it'sjust also entertaining.
It's my absolute passion.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Oh, that's fantastic.
So you're doing some businessand wellness coaching.
Is that what you're doing now?
How long have you been doingthat?
SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I am a full-time marketingprofessor, teach marketing,
innovation entrepreneurship.
Really at the college level, inthe summer, even teach high
school students from all overthe world that come and take my
intensive innovationentrepreneurship class.
I also teach a lot of graduates.
So I basically see thesolopreneur, the small business,
(02:29):
and mid-sized business, then asthey scale after they graduate
and I help them out withcoaching.
And because we can't just run abusiness while we don't take
care of ourselves, I am alsodeep down really passionate
about wellness.
And to make this like, you know,super knowledgeable, so to
speak, in my dissertation, Ihave a PhD in applied economics.
(02:53):
I actually focused on obesityand how we can improve our
wellness and our health withprice and income strategies.
And I will also tie in with whatwe'll probably talk about in a
little while with my PTpractices.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
Very cool.
So I'm like totally geeking outon all of this stuff because I
also teach at the college leveland I teach marketing.
I also teach strategy.
So um I haven't taught anyinnovation classes, but I've
taken quite a few.
So very, very cool.
I love that you're doing this.
And I love the field ofeducation because there's so
much information that we canshare.
(03:29):
And a lot of our students, atleast mine, you know, they're
leaving to start businesses.
At worst case scenario, they'vegot a side hustle ready to go,
off the shelf from what they'relearning in college, which I
think is amazing and just itblows my mind because I never
even would have thought aboutthat back when I was in college.
So it's really, really cool.
(03:50):
So let's go ahead and jump inand let's talk about these
petite practices.
Let's talk about the smallintentional practices that can
help you create lasting change.
Because I think, you know, withAI, a lot of people being unsure
about different things, there'sjust so much there, right?
Um, so how do we create thatlasting change?
(04:12):
Oh, beautiful question.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
And I also like that you already put in some trends
and maybe, you know, challenges,even there, if you want to call
AI a challenge in a certain way.
So maybe deep down, just likethinking about how change really
happens.
We sometimes feel it needs to belike this big push where we're
(04:33):
hustling, we're staying up allnight, and we're working and
we're aiming for the deadline.
In reality, that's probably theunhealthiest way of really
accomplishing change.
Because if you think about yourlife, you can't do this on a
daily basis, right?
You will completely get burnedout.
And why I personally don't likethat word burnout, to really
(04:56):
lead a life where you're seeingchange and you're seeing
momentum and you're feelingpassionate about going back to
your desk and opening up yourlaptop and get started and
working, is when you takesmaller time frames.
And I love Kendra that you usethe word intentional, when
you're really sitting down 15minutes, maybe three times per
(05:17):
day, if you're working afull-time job or you're a
student and you're spending sometime towards your goal.
And now keep in mind, becausethese are small bursts of
energy, those are frequently theones where you're kind of like
excited about, like, oh my gosh,I really want to do this right
now, I really want to do that.
And you will see the needlemoving much faster, much more
(05:39):
sustainable.
And of course, you're also goingto be much more passionate
because you're feeling yourbrain and your body is actually
aligned instead of just likethrowing stuff together at the
last minute and feeling this isnot quite your best work, but
that's just the best you can doin that time.
And with AI, I also feel thatespecially that more human
(06:01):
approach of taking a slow stepwith it, is just so much better
than just throwing somethingtogether that is, you know, you
know, maybe perfectly written,but it doesn't have your own
voice in it.
So rather take a little timebrainstorm with AI, but then
come back and really rewrite itin a way that you would connect
(06:23):
with your consumer, that youwould talk to your client that
really feels like you'readdressing their struggles in a
way that you're getting thosekeywords across.
And that's really what petitepractice is.
So it's a small practice thatleads to progression.
SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
So I love that.
I'm a huge fan of Pomodoros.
So, you know, work for 20, 25minutes and take a five-minute
break.
That really keeps me frushed,especially when I have to focus
on things that I don't alwaysnecessarily want to do.
So, my question for you is these15 minute, these three times a
day, whatever that happens to befor people, is that like, do you
(07:01):
set a timer to try and move thatforward?
Or do you just go and try and doit?
And if you get lost in the task,you get lost in the task, and
good for you.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
I'm looking for my timer.
I have one on my desk here.
And maybe my kids took that guy.
Yes, I have that exact same onein the time timer, yes.
It's a visual, you can see it.
SPEAKER_00 (07:22):
I have it on all of my desks, my desk here at my
office, my desk at theuniversity, and one at home
because I said it all the time.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
I haven't even better one.
And it's like I say, I think mykids took it because they just
played some games.
Uh-huh.
And they might have taken that.
So the one that I have is like alittle timer cube, and maybe you
can pop it in the show notes.
And it has five, 10, uh, 15, 30,45, 60 minutes on there.
So depending on the time thatyou want, you just flip the side
(07:51):
up, and then you can choosewhether you want it flashing or
beeping or whatever, right?
It's totally up to you whetheryou want the stimulation or you
just want to keep it quiet.
But then after that time, itwill signal to you that the time
is up.
Um, why does that work so well?
Because it's in a certain way,uh, you know, we don't work in a
(08:12):
vacuum.
It's in a certain way your timeis the most important resource,
and you want to feel that you'reactually filling a void with
productivity and not just liketinkering around and getting
sidetracked here and lookingthere, and then going down that
rabbit hole over here.
So that the timing works reallywell.
(08:33):
At the same time, it's alsosomething to where you can even
set yourself a reward system.
So it's not always just 15minutes for productivity.
You could also say 15 minutesand I'm going to go on a walk
and I call my friend, or 15minutes, and I step away from my
desk and I make myself a lunchand I sit on the couch.
(08:54):
Well, that could be 30 minutesor whatever.
So you could structure yourwhole day in these little pieces
of joy.
And that will actually createmuch more momentum than like, oh
my gosh, here it is, twoo'clock.
I haven't even not eaten lunchyet.
And where does the time go?
And all of a sudden, there isyour system right there.
Where does the time go?
(09:15):
It's because you're becomingmore intentional of how you
actually use it.
SPEAKER_00 (09:19):
I find if I don't do pomodoros or if, you know, and
I've got a block of time, I willleave the office and my husband
will say, Oh, so what'd you dotoday?
I I don't know.
Again, not a not a clue what Idid today, right?
But when I'm intentional aboutthose 20-minute sprints and I
and I do them and I get it donewithout distractions, I actually
know what I did too.
(09:40):
So I think that that's hugelyimportant.
Now, with each 15-minute timebreak or time set, is it they're
all working towards the samegoal?
Do you identify the goal andidentify tasks that need to be
done to help you achieve it?
Like what's next?
Or what do you recommend there?
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
Oh, that's a great question.
So my calendar looks a littlebit like a fruit salad.
I am believing in color codingfunctions.
Mine's all color-coded.
SPEAKER_00 (10:11):
It's a rainbow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
Right.
So I'm a firm believer thatwhatever you want to dedicate
your 15 minutes to, pick a colorthat you associate with that
particular function, right?
So it could very well be yourwellness 15 minutes, or you step
away from social media 15minutes, or your I'm going to
(10:34):
answer email 15 minutes.
That is really totally up toyou.
But in reality, I would reallystrive for a variety in your
day.
So don't put more than three bigthings on your to-do list, and
then you can break them up overthe day and how you tackle them.
Because in between, we have likethe random other things that
(10:57):
come up, right?
The text messages, the emails,maybe the people that show up at
the door, people that arecalling you.
So that will pull you away fromaccomplishing three things as
much as you can.
Try to avoid in looking at yournotifications.
I mean, if there's somebody inthe door, go there, of course.
But in general, I would reallyencourage you three big tasks.
(11:19):
And if you feel you can'taccomplish them within an hour,
then go ahead and break them upa little bit.
But you want to feel at the endof the day, you actually can
tick them off from your to-dolist.
SPEAKER_00 (11:29):
I love that.
I'm definitely a check off theto-do list type of person.
Um, I'll even write things downso I can check it off just
because I love checking thingsoff lists.
Um, and that means getting, youknow, getting it done.
And three, I think, is the rightnumber.
I use my full, I have a fullfocus planner and I love it
because it tells me what are thethree things I need to get done
(11:51):
today before I leave the office,right?
There's a lot of other things,other distractions that come in,
but I know I have to get thosethree things done to help me
move me forward towards mygoals.
And that's just super important.
I love that.
All right.
So since you're a marketingexpert and um teach marketing at
the collegiate level, I thinkthat's important because I I
(12:12):
love that.
Let's talk about visibilitybecause you've got a system,
right?
The three P system ofpodcasting, publishing, and
presenting, which I thinkactually sounds like what I
actually do in my business sideof my life that has really
helped my business grow.
So tell me more about thatsystem and and how that helps
(12:32):
with visibility.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:34):
Um, and of course, you mentioned it's three Ps.
I also think that you got togive things fun names, right?
And and frequently the besttaglines or the best little
bridges to remember something iswhen you have things that start
with the same letter or anythinglike that.
That's where I always tell mystudents make it easy, make it
(12:57):
fun, make it memorable.
So, why am I thinking about thethree P system as like your
bridge to visibility?
Well, if if you think aboutyourself, you have some type of
superpower.
And actually, it's the name ofone of my books is Discover Your
Superpower.
So, what's the best way of beinga good marketer is sharing that
(13:19):
superpower and tapping into thesuperpower and really utilizing
that in your business.
And the best way you can do itis you can start writing or
voice recording or anything likethat.
And then, based on that, you canstart extracting like little
nuggets that you can use tobuild your business or expand
your business or really form newproduct ideas if you already
(13:44):
have something going from that.
So the writing for me alwayscomes first.
And it doesn't even have to bethat you share that with the
world, but it's just gettingyour idea out of your head.
And then comes the really nextimportant step, which is you
actually have to share yourwriting.
And whether that just means thatyou're telling your friends,
family, neighbors, colleagues,whoever you see at Starbucks in
(14:08):
line, you have to tell themabout it, right?
Because then all of a sudden,your idea is not living in your
brain or on paper or on yourcomputer, but it's actually
becoming a much bigger vehiclein the world to maybe help some
others as well.
Again, you were struggling withsomething, you overcame it,
other people as well.
And the best entrepreneurs arethe ones that actually share
(14:31):
their struggles with the goal tohelp others.
Now, that could be when youpresent.
And if you are maybeuncomfortable with that thought,
you could start with podcasting,right?
You don't have to immediatelystart a podcast on your own, but
you could be a guest on apodcast.
So publish something, a podcast.
And then lastly, once you gainmore confidence with that
(14:53):
podcast, then that's maybe whenyou're ready for the big stage,
so to speak.
Doesn't have to be immediately aTEDx.
I just presented my TEDx talklast month, and I can definitely
tell you that it's um acompletely different animal.
But if you're more like intolike, oh, I just want to get
started with like a littleanimal, like you know, like
think hamster, not horse, youknow, then start with a little
(15:18):
animal, you know, like maybethere is a little uh group
locally, a writer's group, maybeum a group of real estate
agents, somebody you can sharewhat you actually accomplished
in your writing or in yourpodcasting, and they might be
really excited to hear from you.
And it's not immediately athousand people when you're
presenting your TEDx, but it'smaybe 20.
(15:41):
And then keep that wheel goingbecause you have to get the
pipeline going.
So keep back your writing, goback to your podcasting, go back
to your presenting.
And it works really well becauseit keeps visibility fresh, but
at the same time, you don'talways just want to present or
be a podcast guest.
You also want to take some timeand write and really figure out
(16:03):
what's important to you.
And those three elements allowyou to be an extrovert, an
introvert, an embivert, whereveryou are, and you can be on all
sides and just be the bestyourself.
SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
Discovering your superpower, right?
Well, and I think it's soimportant because you started
with publishing, right?
You started with writing,getting your ideas out of your
head and onto paper.
And I think that that's reallyimportant because as we do
things, as more AI comes intoplace, I think there's a lot
less of people's ideas comingout into the marketplace, right?
(16:38):
People are creating podcastswith notebook LM.
And so everything is scriptedand created by AI and it's done
by AI.
And it's no, we want to hearfrom you.
Your ideas, your experiences,those put together can't be
matched by AI.
And don't get me wrong, I loveAI, saves me 30 to 40 hours a
week on average.
(16:58):
I show people how to use AI thewhat I consider the right way,
which involves a human in theloop, right?
Um, very important stuff.
But I think starting with thatpublishing, starting with your
ideas is key.
And then leveraging podcasting,guesting on podcasts, and
presenting is just so important.
(17:19):
Um, locally here in MetroDetroit, we have a group called,
well, it's it's bigger thanthat.
It's international members andstuff like that.
But we've got a local group thatI go to that's called Inforum.
And it's um for women executivesum and women in in their
careers.
And yeah, there's a ton oflittle affinity groups that, you
know, 10, 20, 30, 40 people goto.
(17:42):
You can, as a member, you cansign up to speak to those small
groups, right?
You can get your feet wet in asupportive environment where
they'll help you, right?
They'll help you get yourcomfortable with speaking and
help you refine your message andall of those fun things, which
is great.
(18:02):
And then as you can see, I havea podcast and I love podcasting.
I think it's one of the bestways to to reach new audiences
and to create great content umwithout a ton of work, which
everybody's always looking tosave some time.
So I love that, love that.
Um, let's talk a little bit moreabout that TEDx thing that you
(18:23):
mentioned.
Um, you talked about that, yourecently did it.
What's different about it?
How does you how do you turn apersonal story or experience
into a marketing tool?
SPEAKER_01 (18:35):
That's a beautiful question.
So when if you think, oh mygosh, I want to stand on a big
stage, I want to apply to anorganization that's really going
to um allow me to speak on thatstage, and it's very structured
in the way that they run theirorganization, then TEDx might be
(18:55):
something you ultimately want togo for because of course they
have the credibility and theauthentic feel that will really
allow you to feel like, okay,now I think I passed the test.
I am a speaker.
So with your story, what'salways really, really important
is that you feel you canactually help somebody.
So the right motivation tobecome a TEDx speaker is that
(19:19):
you immediately know no onecares about you.
It's just not the reason tobecome a TEDx speaker.
As amazing as your family thinkyou are, and that's the right
reason for sitting in theaudience.
At the end of the day, the talkreally needs to be about how can
my message help others and whatcan I share with the world that
(19:43):
I feel they can actually look atthis as of value to change their
lives.
And those are, you know, seven,10, 15-minute talks max as and
on the text stage.
So it needs to be very succinctand short.
And it needs to be, of course,presented in a way that it's
engages, engaging that theconsumer actually feels like, oh
(20:04):
my gosh, I really listened tothis now, and I didn't even
notice that those 15 minuteswent by.
And I think that's a goodpractice in general to condense
things down and also build agood talk, have a hook, have the
middle section, and then at theend, kind of tell them what they
just learned, because it makesyou in general a better thinker
(20:27):
when you present ideas.
So the TEDx preparation initself, it's the one word I
would use is intense.
There is no way around there.
There is no like pretty paintingI can do for you right now.
It's intense.
But even the whole runway isprobably, and we're going to
talk about this in a littlewhile, is one of my biggest
(20:49):
learning lessons in marketingbecause there's so much you
learn about yourself when youprepare to do about it for your
work ethic, for who you are,what matters for getting up when
you feel those are some duffdays to prepare for this.
And of course, again, it doesn'thave to be a TEDx talk, but of
(21:09):
course, what I'm telling you isalways the exact same thing.
The best keynote speakers, theyget on that stage in thinking I
can want to change one person'slife in the audience.
And if it's multiple people'slives, I did the best thing I
could and I did why I came here.
That's really what you have tothink about.
(21:29):
It's it's not about like makingyou look good there, it's about
making the audience feelsomething.
SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
I like that.
I I really like that because youshould always be thinking about
your audience, right?
And how you can help them andhow you can make a difference
for them.
Because whether you've got aproduct or a service or a
presentation, people aren'tgoing to buy it or sign you up
for it or whatever it happens tobe, right?
If it doesn't solve a problemfor them, right.
(21:56):
And so helping people is justso, so key on that.
Well, I have to say thank youso, so much for joining me today
on this.
I love talking about the petitepractices, finding and
identifying those 15-minuteintervals on your calendar,
scheduling that joy that's goingto move you closer to your goals
(22:18):
is just, I think, brilliant.
And I I love that you sharedthat because as we're in the
holiday season here, uh I thinkit's very important for people
to make sure that they'rescheduling time for that joy and
not just getting overwhelmedwith their schedule, right?
Whether it looks like a rainbowor fruit salad or a game of
Tetris gone wrong, um, you know,that's they have to find room in
(22:39):
their calendar for that.
And then I love the startingwith publishing, moving to
podcasting, and then presenting.
And thank you so much for alsosharing your experience with
TEDx, because I think there's alot of people that want to get
on that TEDx stage and give it atry.
So hopefully maybe somebody willwant to do that.
So before I let you go though, Ido need to ask you the question
(23:01):
that I ask all my guests.
And that is that this show iscalled Imperfect Marketing
because marketing is anythingbut a perfect science.
What has been your biggestmarketing lesson learned?
SPEAKER_01 (23:10):
My biggest marketing lesson learned, and I hinted at
it earlier, is really that youneed to create a runway before
and after launching a productand service.
You can't just come out of thewoods and say, Ta, here it is,
and expect that people are goingto run to you and push money in
your hands and grab the productout of your hands.
(23:32):
Um, because as amazing as thisthing might be, all the best
brands, all the best services,they will have a long runway
letting us know that it'scoming.
And whether you're writing abook, whether you are launching
a service, or whether you'regiving a TED Text talk, you need
(23:53):
to let the audience in that thisis going to happen.
So when I did my whole TEDxpresentation, I every other day,
maybe not even every day, I wason Instagram and I shared with
them what I'm doing on that day.
I said, today, yeah, today I'mmemorizing, today I'm trying on
clothing, today I'm preparingand I'm maybe like checking out
(24:16):
what earrings I'm going to wear.
So now interacting with amicrophone.
And you know what?
So many people love that behindthe scenes because they know
that it's not just like steppingout on the red dot and giving a
talk, but they don't know what'sinvolved because they haven't
done it themselves.
I mean, of course, some of themmight have, but maybe they
prepare differently than I did.
(24:38):
And I've I always tried to makeit fun.
Of course, there were a coupleof videos when I was actually
crying, one of them because Iwas, you know, exceptionally
stressed out, and the other onebecause I was very happy.
So tears of joy and tears ofstress.
And that's important too.
So if you launch, write,produce, create, you cannot shut
(25:00):
the world out.
You need to let them into yourprocess because it makes you the
story that the consumerultimately wants to buy.
Because that's so important inmarketing.
Nobody buys a product andservice, they buy a story, and
you need to let them in on thatstory.
And you really need to tease itahead of time.
And then after launching, evenlike tease the after.
(25:23):
So after my TEDx talk, I startedhustling like crazy and sharing
that link and said it's here.
Um, watch it, and and you seehow my hair turned out on stage.
And I went for the Greek goddessvibe and check out those shoes
and everything.
And you have to do that inmarketing.
People love you and they careabout you, but you have to be
(25:45):
fair.
There's a lot of noise outthere, and you just have to make
it just a little easier for themto understand what you're
actually doing.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
Oh my gosh, I love that.
I love the runway before andafter.
Because I think some peoplethink about the before one, some
people think about the after,but people don't think about
bookending that launch with bothpieces.
And that's so important.
I was working with a client on abook launch recently, and it was
the same thing.
It was like, all right, how arewe gonna lead up to this?
How are we gonna start talkingabout it?
(26:13):
Where do we want to startshowing, you know, what you're
doing?
And yeah, it's important to takethose photos and to document and
to share because people do wantto understand your journey,
right?
They're very curious and want tolearn more.
And I think that that'sfantastic.
Thank you so, so much again forsharing all of these wonderful
(26:34):
tips and information with ustoday.
I really appreciate it.
We'll have definitely a lot ofinformation in the show notes to
connect and engage with all ofthe different things that we
were sharing today.
If you learned something today,and I know you did because I
did, it would really help me outif you would rate and subscribe
wherever you're listening orwatching.
Until next time, have a greatrest of your day.
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