April 16, 2025 • 30 mins
On The Move with Michelle LeBlanc
In this episode of TMSA’s On the Move, we welcome Michelle LeBlanc, CEO of Drop & Hook, to talk about her ongoing support of TMSA and the ever-growing role of video in marketing and sales. Michelle shares expert insights on how companies can harness the power of video to engage audiences, build trust, and drive business results in the logistics industry.
Beyond marketing strategy, we also dive into the current landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and its impact on employer branding and recruitment marketing.
Check out the Transportation Sales and Marketing Association (TMSA) website or engage with us on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello everyone, welcome to On the Move, a show
where we share transportation,sales and marketing success
stories.
I am Jennifer Karpus, remainExecutive Director of TMSA, a
trade nonprofit educating andconnecting marketing and sales
professionals in transportationand logistics, and today I have
on the show Michelle LeBlanc,who is CEO at Drop and Hook, and
(00:42):
we are here at the TIA CapitalIdeas Conference, so we thought
we would take the opportunity todo this recording live together
.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Michelle, I'm doing well enjoying the sunshine here
in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yes, it is.
Oh my God, there's a bee thatkeeps flying around us.
So bear with me if you see thatDon't love bees.
But so we are in San Antoniofor TIA, and we're in the swing
of trade show season and,besides always being easy to
spot on the trade show floorwhich I love, that you're
(01:16):
wearing your pink outfit today,because, it's very true, but she
normally wears bright coloredoutfits Great to find her.
But what are some of your otherkind of go-to must-haves for
trade shows when you travel?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I always say this islike inbound marketing in an
outfit, because people will comeup and talk to you.
It's an easy opener to be like.
I love the pink, yes, um, butyou know, I would say one of my
other like favorite trends thathas happened in the world is
everybody's wearing theirsneakers to a trade show now,
(01:46):
and I so appreciate people whohave their brand colored
sneakers.
That is definitely one of my goto's.
I also like to have chapstickreusable water bottle.
I know you might think you'regoing to get one at the expo
from the 17 brands that aregiving them away, but I will
tell you.
If you're here at an event likeTIA, they're not necessarily
(02:07):
going to open the expo until daytwo, so it's always important
to hydrate.
And then something I alwaystravel with also is my little
wireless mini mics, in casethere's a good opportunity to
get some content, like we'redoing right now.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think that's great.
Your reusable water bottle isgood.
I normally travel with gatoradezero packets as well, um,
because I always need extrahydration and I have like a
little first aid kit that haslike band-aids and stuff advil
band-aids.
Uh, the um shout wipes oh, yes,that I don, but we've needed it
(02:44):
.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, always be prepared.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And so we're in San Antonio for TIA, but TMSA is
headed to Austin, texas, june8th through 10th for TMSA
Elevate, and you're actuallyspeaking about video content.
So I'm curious.
We are here.
What element of videoproductions do you do at trade
shows?
So, obviously, when you cangrab those clips, do, but what
does that look like when you goto shows?
(03:09):
Yeah, yeah, content I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So I?
I personally love coming totrade shows because it's just a
great opportunity to get toconnect with kind of my industry
friends.
I work from home every singleday of my life, so it's like
this is my ideal world scenarionever have to commute into the
office.
But then I come to things likethis and I see a whole lot of my
favorite people all in oneplace and have those
relationships and thoseconnections.
(03:32):
So as a marketer, I also lookat trade shows as an opportunity
to take those relationships andconnections, take advantage of
the fact that we've paid to behere in this place and use it to
produce some content that we'regoing to get extra mileage out
of by putting it out, say, onone of the company's LinkedIn
pages.
So content production,specifically at a conference, is
(03:54):
tricky because you're notnecessarily going to have
beautiful backdrops like this,everywhere you go.
You're not necessarily going tohave good sound and if you're
not paying for a full-on videoproduction company, that's going
to be a little bit of achallenge, but that doesn't mean
you can't take the opportunityto do a little something that is
off the cuff for social media.
(04:15):
Um, so you know, something thatis a really easy thing to do is
, if you have customers that areat an event, maybe it's an
opportunity to grab just a quicktestimonial where you ask them
a simple question, whether it'sto share their experience
working with you as a customer,or maybe it's something as
simple as talking about atrending topic in the industry.
(04:37):
You know, last night the truckstop drone show was talking
about fraud, right?
So everyone here is talking alot about fraud.
That's an ongoing topic, youknow.
It's an opportunity to get thatauthentic little soundbite piece
of content talking aboutsomething like that.
That can turn into a quick turnthing to put out on social
media, which oftentimes we finda drop in hook.
(05:02):
One of the biggest challengesfor our clients is just
remembering to stay on top ofthat, the content production.
It doesn't go away and you haveto keep showing up consistently
over time with the rightmessaging.
So conferences are definitely agood opportunity to get a
little bit of that, bundle abunch of stuff into one or two
days.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think that's really great advice.
I love the testimonial piece ofthat.
I think that's really greatadvice.
I love the testimonial piece ofthat.
I think that's really important.
But even, yeah, like there'strends going on in the market
right now.
People want to talk about it,but you know, so let's kind of
compile that, have a few peoplesay their thoughts on it and
then you have this great pieceof content that you can break
down into the individual peopleor bring it into like a full
video with a differentperspective is really great.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, yeah, and some of your prospects are here at
the event, but not everyone canafford to get out of the office,
right?
So it's an opportunity to takethat conversation.
Bring it back online,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So video continues to grow as a critical tool in
marketing and sales.
Why do you think it's soeffective, especially for the
logistics industry?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
it's so effective, especially for the logistics
industry.
So I mean something I havenoticed over the course of my
career.
I I started doing marketing.
I was a copywriter originallyand so you know we had email
marketing and print materials,um, and then one of my first
bosses was like you're a younguh, tell me about this twitter
thing.
And so that was how I startedgetting into social media and
what I have noticed over thecourse of that, as each of the
(06:29):
platforms has, you know, startedto adopt things like video, is,
whenever you are at the earlystages of that new tool has been
launched, there is a little bitof juicing of the algorithm to
get that type of content outthere more if you are an early
adopter of those things.
So over the last year, year anda half, linkedin has been
(06:52):
pushing video content a lot more.
You might have noticed, if youopen up LinkedIn, there's kind
of that video feed section now.
So from a you know,effectiveness standpoint, just
(07:15):
having the format of contentthat the platforms are looking
for, that's going to keep peopleon that platform for longer,
more consecutive minutes thatthey are spending on LinkedIn,
like that's what LinkedIn wantsout of you.
So if you're willing to kind ofplay that game.
You're going to get a littlebit more reach, more impressions
out of that, you know, assumingyou are wanting to get brand
awareness, because why moreimpressions out of that?
You know, assuming you arewanting to get brand awareness?
Because why else are we doingall?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
of this right.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So if your goal is, then lead generation, okay,
video contents maybe not goingto do that, but it might be an
opportunity to get that initialbrand awareness.
And then, oh, now, we can run aremarketing ad, using paid ads,
to people that have watchedthat video and are part of your
ideal audience, in order tobring them further down and, you
(07:52):
know, be able to talk to themmore directly.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How do you kind of decipher which platform likes
different types of videos, likelength of video?
Does that matter?
Or do you kind of start withone video, put it on the of
video?
Does that matter?
Or do you kind of start withone video, put it on the
different things, see whatresonates?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I mean so you know.
I think I would love to saythere's just like a magic, easy
answer that you can say, but theone thing I have found is like
what really matters is themessage of the content is going
to resonate with who yourspecific audience is.
So, that said, you know if youare creating video content for
(08:30):
TikTok sort of speaking in thenative language of TikTok
creating video content that isfor that platform, that is the
type of content that youraudience is used to seeing and
likes engaging with on thatplatform, will do better.
So the most important thing youcan do is know who your
audience is and what theyspecifically like, because while
(08:51):
you can say, okay, here's anoverall best practice for tick
tock, you know 30 seconds to aminute long a video um, maybe
your audience is actually reallyinterested in those longer like
how to videos that are reallygoing to walk you through doing
something specific and puttingout content that's going to
resonate with you.
(09:12):
Know, the 100 people you reallywant to talk to is, in my mind,
always better than putting outcontent that's going to resonate
with 100,000 people.
But they might not be yourright people, Sure, sure.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And that's probably a common mistake that companies
do is really focusing on themasses instead of you know your
target audience.
So what other types of mistakesdo you see from companies that
are incorporating video intotheir marketing strategy?
And then also, do you thinkthat the sales teams could be
doing a better job incorporatingvideo into their marketing
strategy?
And then also, do you thinkthat the sales teams could be
(09:43):
doing a better job incorporatingvideo?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, I mean so absolutely.
You know, I think I'm kind ofsitting here talking about
chasing the algorithm right andlike doing the things that the
platforms want you to do.
I think sometimes marketersfall a little too heavily into
that and you know they startseeing like okay, when brands
are doing kind of really funnycontent, that's like more
(10:07):
comedic.
You know, like that it feelsgood, you get that dopamine hit
of.
We put this thing out and itmakes me laugh and there's
certainly something to be saidfor that.
Like I hope we're all doingthings that we love, that bring
us joy to our lives.
(10:28):
But kind of getting that likecheap and easy win is not
necessarily the thing youactually need to be doing.
So you always have to make sure, like, does this actually make
sense for our brand and what itis that we're trying to say, or
are we kind of unintentionallymaking ourselves seem unserious?
Or you know, know, like as themarketing team, sometimes you
have to be talking to internalaudiences in your company as
much as you have to be talkingto the external audience.
(10:49):
So are you seen as less of aserious business professional by
your bosses because you arefocused really heavily on kind
of getting that laugh, gettingthat engagement and not
translating that into this iswhat this means for business
results.
For you know, on kind ofgetting that laugh, getting that
engagement and not translatingthat into this, is what this
means for business results.
For you know our bottom linebecause ultimately, over the
last couple of years themarket's been tough and
(11:10):
marketers don't necessarily havean easy time of that.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I think with video, especially because of the
time it takes, but really withany marketing initiative,
initiative making sure you havethe purpose of it that was
always when I was a director ofmarketing was always my question
when, like teams have come uplike what, what is the purpose
of that?
How does it fit into our brand,how does it fit into our
business objectives?
Because sometimes, yeah, likeyou're, you're catching that fun
(11:37):
new thing.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, you might want to hop on that trending audio,
right, but like, yeah, does thatactually make sense for you to
do?
I think the second half of yourquestion was, like sales folks
should they or can they be usingvideo more?
And my answer would beabsolutely.
I think, like salespeople,sometimes they are so focused on
(11:58):
that sale.
How do we get into that one onone sales conversation?
And that is great.
But something I think theysometimes sell themselves short
on is how much knowledge oftheir specific niche that they
have picked up over the years.
And you know they're hearingdirectly from their prospects
firsthand, like what are thethings that that person is
dealing with right now?
(12:18):
What are their struggles?
Ideally, if they're a goodsalesperson, they're probably
asking a lot of questions, right?
So taking the time in your dayto think about, like okay,
that's stuff that I have learned, can I turn that into a really
quick video?
And I think for salespeople itdoesn't necessarily have to be
something that is really highlyproduced.
You know your prospects, likeknowing who you are as a person.
(12:42):
We all always say like thisindustry is about relationships.
So you know, be your authenticself.
Create a quick little video.
Share something that's of value.
Don't be afraid to put it outthere.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Absolutely.
And I think even earlier youwere talking about getting those
soundbites, those clienttestimonials here.
Well, share those, you know,like that's one of the ways that
your marketing team can equipyour sales team.
Like, here are some videotestimonials or things that are
going on, or just I rememberlast year at TMSA we did like 30
second videos of the sponsorsand yours was my favorite
(13:14):
because you were like hello, I'mMichelle, and it was, yeah, it
was an introduction to who youare, what you like to talk about
, both in like marketing as thesponsor, but just like who you
are as a person, because peoplegot to know you.
And that was, to me, the mostsuccessful of those videos
because it wasn't super pitchy,it wasn't something completely
irrelevant, it was just like hi,I'm here, let's connect while
(13:35):
we're at the show.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's something I loveabout TMSA is like it's a really
tight knit community and Igenuinely feel like I've made
like really good friendships outof that community and so that,
if nothing else, is kind of thevalue that I get out of going.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I love that.
So, with all that in mind, whattrends are you seeing shaping
the future of video marketing inlogistics?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Well, I mean so you know, as I just got done saying
that like we don't always needto hop on the trending audio and
the comedic thing, you know, Ithink, something that I am
seeing in other industries,because I do like to keep an eye
on.
You know, what are consumerbrands doing?
Where are they going?
Right, we are right now in avery strange era for consumer
(14:23):
marketing where brands are kindof embracing this idea of being
unhinged right, having mascotseverybody knows, duo the owl,
Right.
And so you know, I don't thinkthat logistics, sales and
marketing professionals need tonecessarily do that, but there
is an opportunity there to maybethink about, like, should our
(14:45):
brand have some sort of avatarthat can be a figure that can
talk about these things?
Right, I think as a marketer,you always kind of want the
thought leaders in the company.
Maybe it is your leadershipthat is out there, but is there
an opportunity to have, you know, a stand in for your brand that
(15:05):
can talk on behalf of the brand?
I don't think that's going tobe a fit for every single
company, but I know there's alot of freight tech companies
here today.
It's interesting to me I don'tthink any of them have a mascot,
and you know why is that?
Because this is a tried andtrue thing that has worked for
companies throughout the years.
So, you know, I think, likeit's just always in my mind
(15:25):
really good to see, like, notjust what are your direct
competitors doing, but what aresome aspirational brands that
you're like I like what they'redoing and think about if there's
something you can take fromthat.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, what your goals are?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I want to kind of switchgears a little bit and talk
about something that you'repassionate about and that's
something that people are kindof afraid to talk about right
now in this space, and that isDEI, and it's constantly
evolving and there's people whoreally support it, there's
(15:57):
people who are afraid to supportit, there's people who don't
support it.
But what are steps thatcompanies can take to ensure
that they are authenticallyincorporating DI into their
brand identity in the currentcondition, with all those things
in mind, even when that monikerright now is kind of triggering
to people?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, I mean.
So you know, I would say, forme this is something.
As long as I've been workingwith transportation brands, it
has been a really important partof my career and one of the
reasons that I fell in love withthe industry.
I got my start actually doinglike driver recruitment
marketing, my start intransportation at any rate, and
(16:38):
you know, I think when it comesdown to it, we are an industry
that is about kind of movingthings from point A to point B
and you know, truck drivers andpeople working in the ports and
train conductors, you know, arethe sorts of people that are at
the front lines.
People working in thewarehouses are at the front
lines of actually doing thisreal world work, and so telling
(17:01):
those authentic stories of youknow who these people are is
something that I kind of fell inlove with early on in my career
.
And ultimately, you know, Ithink that the fact that that
sort of stuff resonates has notchanged at all in any political
environment.
That's going to resonateBecause, like, when you decide
to work with another company,ultimately you need the
(17:24):
individuals in that company todeliver on the service that you
have purchased, right, Likewe're generally not out here
doing e-commerce, so it issomething that is about the
humans that are executing on it,and I would love to say that
companies embraced DEI becausethey knew it was the right thing
to do.
I think certainly some of themdid, but I think in our space, a
(17:47):
lot of companies embraced usingDEI and those authentic stories
in their marketing because itwas something that was really
commercially successful for themand certainly that's something
we've seen with customers we'veworked with.
I had a brand where we worked toreally establish them as a
great company for women to workfor in trucking, and they, you
(18:11):
know, we had an insight that thewomen that worked for them
stayed with the company forlonger, generally had better
safety records, you know, andwere really good employees
better safety records, you know,and we're really good employees
and so we took that insight andsaid, ok, well, we have like 8%
of her workforce is women rightnow.
Can we grow that?
And two years after we wrappedup that initial campaign, we
(18:35):
weren't putting money behind itanymore.
People were still coming to thewebsite and downloading the
lead generation materials thatwe had made two years later,
because the women that wereinitially exposed to that
campaign were now referring thiscompany to their other friends
who were thinking about gettinginto the industry.
So in my mind, there's somethingreally powerful about that that
(18:55):
like that's how, as a brand,you actually establish brand
awareness.
I think marketers like to talkabout that term a lot, but it's
like you're literally taking upspace in somebody's head, that
they know what it is that youstand for and what you're going
to get out of that company.
So I think telling thoseauthentic stories really is how
you do that and you know, Idon't think that's going away
(19:19):
and I think it is like it isjust at a baseline level, a
really commercially successfulthing to do because, chances are
, your workforce is very diverseand having that representation
in your materials is therealistic real world picture of
what it's like.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense and, to me,
dei is a piece of beingsocially responsible.
And what do you provide foryour company, your company
culture, all of those things areall of a piece of it, and it's
a little sad that, like, thosewords can just be so triggering
to people and they don't knowexactly how to navigate it and I
(20:02):
think a lot of things getlumped into that that really
aren't a part of it.
When we're just saying, hey,like you have a diverse
workforce, this is authenticallywho your company is.
Just share that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I think it's like there
are a lot of companies that talkabout this idea of like
corporate social responsibility,right, and like.
That terminology always makesme cringe a little bit because
it feels very like, okay, likewe're doing this as a very
specific, like PR play to getthese end results out of it, but
the reality, when it comes downto it, is like most companies
(20:32):
in our space.
Part of what I love about thisindustry is most of these
companies are giving back totheir communities, are really
contributing at that level, andI don't think it's wrong to take
those stories of what they'redoing and share them, because I
think, if anything, it's greatfor companies to see that other
companies are also doing thisand that this is an important
(20:53):
part.
Right, you want your communityto be strong, because those are
your consumers as well.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yep, yep.
All about being part of thecommunity, which is something
that I think a lot of people canresonate with.
So I love just having thatdialogue and not forgetting.
You know that it is about ourpeople.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, ultimately it's not B2B right,
it's like human to human, and Ithink that's, at the end of the
day, like how you do really wellin sales oftentimes is having
those human to human connections.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Absolutely, and do you think that DEI can then
influence a company's employeebrand or recruitment marketing
efforts?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely so, you know.
I think that that sense ofinclusion is really powerful for
companies, especially, you know, carriers that do have that
driver recruitment need, orfulfillment companies that need
people to work in theirwarehouses.
It's not just recruitment,actually, it's retention as well
(21:52):
, because turnover is soenormously expensive to these
companies Like not only do youhave to pay money now to meta to
run ads to bring more people in, or indeed, or whatever that is
, you've got, you know, a trucksitting empty because you don't
have a driver to be behind thewheel, um, you've also sort of
lost all of the effort and valuethat you put into training this
(22:14):
initial person and and in thefree brokerage space as well,
it's the same there's somethinglike the first six months
there's a huge amount ofturnover that happens, and I
think a lot of that is trainingand misplaced expectations.
But I also think having a senseof inclusion in your company is
the sort of stuff that makes youstay and makes you really go
(22:35):
the extra mile to contribute tothis sense of a shared purpose
and vision.
This sense of a shared purposeand vision but, yes, at a
commercial level as well.
It's just a really great,effective strategy for standing
out and attracting people and,you know, I think it does really
create more engaging contentoftentimes, at the end of the
(22:57):
day, to have those authenticemployee stories.
So you know, that kind ofbrings it to life.
We can all kind of say we havethe best company with the best
services, but you kind of needto go a level deeper than that
and actually put some real worldstuff out there, and that's
what's going to make it work.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Are there any other shifts thatyou're seeing really affecting
the logistics industry right now?
Oh, big question.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, right now in this particular moment in time,
it feels like there's a shiftevery single day.
So, to a certain degree, Ithink like the thing we're all
going to have to learn isflexibility and being able to
think on our feet a little bit.
But I think things like beingreally rooted in your core
values, who you are, what youstand for and making sure that
(23:46):
you're aligned on those is veryhelpful in those moments where
things are changing reallysuddenly.
I think, from a salesperspective, customers are going
to be turning to their vendorsthat they have relationships
with and looking for advice.
What are you hearing from otherpeople in the market?
How are they dealing with thisand how can we work together to?
(24:07):
You know, beat us against theproblem.
So you know, I hate to say thatit's an opportunity when we're
in times of, you know, suddenchange and uncertainty, but
sometimes it actually is,because I think it's an
opportunity to be like we're allin this together.
How are we going to solve thisthing?
So, you know, I think the thingthat is really tricky, though,
(24:29):
from a marketing perspective, issometimes things take time, and
that means kind of committingbudget for a certain amount of
time and staying the course,having a little bit of faith in
what you're doing and what youbelieve in and working towards
that end goal.
And that's a little hard to dofor companies where they're
feeling like things are reallyuncertain.
(24:50):
So, you know, the best I cansay is, if you look back at
other times where marketsfluctuated, the companies who
kind of stayed the course andcontinued advertising in those
times generally came out betterat the end.
And you know there's been allmanner of studies.
If anybody wants to hit me upon LinkedIn I can share some
links that speak to that.
(25:11):
But you know, I think that isthe thing.
That is really tricky is thatlike not committing kind of
being in that wait and seeplaces is a hard thing for
companies to do.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
They, especially when you're doing that, doing some
of that chasing of what's cooland popular right now.
That stuff might be cool andpopular today, but it's not
tomorrow.
So, depending on how muchbudget you're putting into that
kind of stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Should we be investing on TikTok right now,
when, 75 days from now, tiktokmight go away?
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
That is a hard thing, you know.
Generally speaking, I'm tellingany brand that's asking me
about TikTok right now.
If you're already there, great,absolutely.
If you're not there, okay, youshould still probably be doing
short video, because that'simportant and your audience
wants it.
But maybe don't start a newchannel on a new platform until
(26:03):
we know that it's going to behere for the long haul.
Monitor it, see what people aresaying.
You know, use it as anopportunity to kind of get
content inspiration.
But yeah, it's tricky.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
For sure.
Well, if anyone wants to hearmore about video and the status
of things and how to make thebest of it, you should join us
in Austin, texas, june 8ththrough 10th at TMSA Elevate.
You can get more informationabout that event at
eventstmsatodayorg.
And that will take us to ourlast question of the day, and so
(26:37):
this is your second interviewon the move, so I can't ask you
the same question that I askedyou last time.
So ask a different question,and that's if you could go back
in time to one day of your lifeand relive it.
What day would you go back toand why?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So I, um, I struggled with this one a little bit, I
think, when you sent thequestions over ahead of time,
because I was like, do I do apersonal one or do I do like a
business one, cause this is abusiness podcast.
Um, so can I give you twoanswers?
All right, I'm always like, whynot both?
Yes, um, you know.
So I think I would say um, froma personal level.
(27:14):
Uh, the first date that I hadwith my husband, um, was
definitely like I wouldn'tchange a thing, but we had a
moment we were meeting, havingcoffee, and then, randomly, a
bus passed by that said it wasgoing to a part of Brooklyn that
is where the Ikea was and wewere like you want to go to Ikea
, I love that.
(27:34):
And we got on the bus, right,and I think, like those moments
in time where you take that leapand you're like, yeah, yeah,
let's go to Ikea.
We didn't end up going into theIKEA.
We just walked around.
It's in a cute neighborhood,didn't really want to test the
waters quite to that level yet.
That's a challenging one forany relationship.
But so that's my personal oneis, I think you know, that
(27:58):
moment in time of kind, oftaking the leap and being like
let's see where this goes.
And I would say, from a businessperspective, it's probably the
same thing, I would say, the daythat I initially stepped out on
my own and started what now isDrop and Hook.
But at the time it was just myLLC and I was going to freelance
.
And my husband again plays arole in this one because I got
(28:22):
my first invoice for my firstclient that it was one of the
two that we went live with atthe time, which is my friends at
Reads Across America.
So anybody that went to TMSA acouple of years ago probably got
to see that presentation withthem.
But you know it was a check.
But my husband, being thelovely person that he is like,
(28:42):
took a one dollar bill out ofhis wallet and he taped it up on
our wall and he saidcongratulations, you are now
doing this thing.
So it's all been upwards fromthere.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's amazing.
I love hearing both thepersonal and the professional
side of things.
We're all people at the end ofthe day, at the end of the day,
so it's cool to hear, hear whopeople are and you know those
days, because it's hard to thinkof just one day.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So, yeah, yeah, I mean I truly, I struggled to pin
something down for that one,because I feel like I've got.
I've been lucky to have a lotof good ones.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Awesome.
Well, thank you for coming onthe show today and for hanging
out with me in this beautifulsun that is now getting pretty
hot for me.
So we're going to wrap up thisinterview, but thank you for
everyone for watching.
If you want to join us at TMSAElevate, that's June 8th through
10th and you can go toeventstmsatodayorg.
(29:36):
So thanks, michelle, for comingon the show and thank you
everyone.
Ooh, the computer is hot.
We'll see you guys next time.
Bye.
Hello everyone, welcome to On the Move, a show
where we share transportation,sales and marketing success
stories.
I am Jennifer Karpus, remainExecutive Director of TMSA, a
trade nonprofit educating andconnecting marketing and sales
professionals in transportationand logistics, and today I have
on the show Michelle LeBlanc,who is CEO at Drop and Hook, and
(00:42):
we are here at the TIA CapitalIdeas Conference, so we thought
we would take the opportunity todo this recording live together
.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Michelle, I'm doing well enjoying the sunshine here
in San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yes, it is.
Oh my God, there's a bee thatkeeps flying around us.
So bear with me if you see thatDon't love bees.
But so we are in San Antoniofor TIA, and we're in the swing
of trade show season and,besides always being easy to
spot on the trade show floorwhich I love, that you're
(01:16):
wearing your pink outfit today,because, it's very true, but she
normally wears bright coloredoutfits Great to find her.
But what are some of your otherkind of go-to must-haves for
trade shows when you travel?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I always say this islike inbound marketing in an
outfit, because people will comeup and talk to you.
It's an easy opener to be like.
I love the pink, yes, um, butyou know, I would say one of my
other like favorite trends thathas happened in the world is
everybody's wearing theirsneakers to a trade show now,
(01:46):
and I so appreciate people whohave their brand colored
sneakers.
That is definitely one of my goto's.
I also like to have chapstickreusable water bottle.
I know you might think you'regoing to get one at the expo
from the 17 brands that aregiving them away, but I will
tell you.
If you're here at an event likeTIA, they're not necessarily
(02:07):
going to open the expo until daytwo, so it's always important
to hydrate.
And then something I alwaystravel with also is my little
wireless mini mics, in casethere's a good opportunity to
get some content, like we'redoing right now.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I think that's great.
Your reusable water bottle isgood.
I normally travel with gatoradezero packets as well, um,
because I always need extrahydration and I have like a
little first aid kit that haslike band-aids and stuff advil
band-aids.
Uh, the um shout wipes oh, yes,that I don, but we've needed it
(02:44):
.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yes, always be prepared.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
And so we're in San Antonio for TIA, but TMSA is
headed to Austin, texas, june8th through 10th for TMSA
Elevate, and you're actuallyspeaking about video content.
So I'm curious.
We are here.
What element of videoproductions do you do at trade
shows?
So, obviously, when you cangrab those clips, do, but what
does that look like when you goto shows?
(03:09):
Yeah, yeah, content I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So I?
I personally love coming totrade shows because it's just a
great opportunity to get toconnect with kind of my industry
friends.
I work from home every singleday of my life, so it's like
this is my ideal world scenarionever have to commute into the
office.
But then I come to things likethis and I see a whole lot of my
favorite people all in oneplace and have those
relationships and thoseconnections.
(03:32):
So as a marketer, I also lookat trade shows as an opportunity
to take those relationships andconnections, take advantage of
the fact that we've paid to behere in this place and use it to
produce some content that we'regoing to get extra mileage out
of by putting it out, say, onone of the company's LinkedIn
pages.
So content production,specifically at a conference, is
(03:54):
tricky because you're notnecessarily going to have
beautiful backdrops like this,everywhere you go.
You're not necessarily going tohave good sound and if you're
not paying for a full-on videoproduction company, that's going
to be a little bit of achallenge, but that doesn't mean
you can't take the opportunityto do a little something that is
off the cuff for social media.
(04:15):
Um, so you know, something thatis a really easy thing to do is
, if you have customers that areat an event, maybe it's an
opportunity to grab just a quicktestimonial where you ask them
a simple question, whether it'sto share their experience
working with you as a customer,or maybe it's something as
simple as talking about atrending topic in the industry.
(04:37):
You know, last night the truckstop drone show was talking
about fraud, right?
So everyone here is talking alot about fraud.
That's an ongoing topic, youknow.
It's an opportunity to get thatauthentic little soundbite piece
of content talking aboutsomething like that.
That can turn into a quick turnthing to put out on social
media, which oftentimes we finda drop in hook.
(05:02):
One of the biggest challengesfor our clients is just
remembering to stay on top ofthat, the content production.
It doesn't go away and you haveto keep showing up consistently
over time with the rightmessaging.
So conferences are definitely agood opportunity to get a
little bit of that, bundle abunch of stuff into one or two
days.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think that's really great advice.
I love the testimonial piece ofthat.
I think that's really greatadvice.
I love the testimonial piece ofthat.
I think that's really important.
But even, yeah, like there'strends going on in the market
right now.
People want to talk about it,but you know, so let's kind of
compile that, have a few peoplesay their thoughts on it and
then you have this great pieceof content that you can break
down into the individual peopleor bring it into like a full
video with a differentperspective is really great.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, yeah, and some of your prospects are here at
the event, but not everyone canafford to get out of the office,
right?
So it's an opportunity to takethat conversation.
Bring it back online,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So video continues to grow as a critical tool in
marketing and sales.
Why do you think it's soeffective, especially for the
logistics industry?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
it's so effective, especially for the logistics
industry.
So I mean something I havenoticed over the course of my
career.
I I started doing marketing.
I was a copywriter originallyand so you know we had email
marketing and print materials,um, and then one of my first
bosses was like you're a younguh, tell me about this twitter
thing.
And so that was how I startedgetting into social media and
what I have noticed over thecourse of that, as each of the
(06:29):
platforms has, you know, startedto adopt things like video, is,
whenever you are at the earlystages of that new tool has been
launched, there is a little bitof juicing of the algorithm to
get that type of content outthere more if you are an early
adopter of those things.
So over the last year, year anda half, linkedin has been
(06:52):
pushing video content a lot more.
You might have noticed, if youopen up LinkedIn, there's kind
of that video feed section now.
So from a you know,effectiveness standpoint, just
(07:15):
having the format of contentthat the platforms are looking
for, that's going to keep peopleon that platform for longer,
more consecutive minutes thatthey are spending on LinkedIn,
like that's what LinkedIn wantsout of you.
So if you're willing to kind ofplay that game.
You're going to get a littlebit more reach, more impressions
out of that, you know, assumingyou are wanting to get brand
awareness, because why moreimpressions out of that?
You know, assuming you arewanting to get brand awareness?
Because why else are we doingall?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
of this right.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So if your goal is, then lead generation, okay,
video contents maybe not goingto do that, but it might be an
opportunity to get that initialbrand awareness.
And then, oh, now, we can run aremarketing ad, using paid ads,
to people that have watchedthat video and are part of your
ideal audience, in order tobring them further down and, you
(07:52):
know, be able to talk to themmore directly.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
How do you kind of decipher which platform likes
different types of videos, likelength of video?
Does that matter?
Or do you kind of start withone video, put it on the of
video?
Does that matter?
Or do you kind of start withone video, put it on the
different things, see whatresonates?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I mean so you know.
I think I would love to saythere's just like a magic, easy
answer that you can say, but theone thing I have found is like
what really matters is themessage of the content is going
to resonate with who yourspecific audience is.
So, that said, you know if youare creating video content for
(08:30):
TikTok sort of speaking in thenative language of TikTok
creating video content that isfor that platform, that is the
type of content that youraudience is used to seeing and
likes engaging with on thatplatform, will do better.
So the most important thing youcan do is know who your
audience is and what theyspecifically like, because while
(08:51):
you can say, okay, here's anoverall best practice for tick
tock, you know 30 seconds to aminute long a video um, maybe
your audience is actually reallyinterested in those longer like
how to videos that are reallygoing to walk you through doing
something specific and puttingout content that's going to
resonate with you.
(09:12):
Know, the 100 people you reallywant to talk to is, in my mind,
always better than putting outcontent that's going to resonate
with 100,000 people.
But they might not be yourright people, Sure, sure.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And that's probably a common mistake that companies
do is really focusing on themasses instead of you know your
target audience.
So what other types of mistakesdo you see from companies that
are incorporating video intotheir marketing strategy?
And then also, do you thinkthat the sales teams could be
doing a better job incorporatingvideo into their marketing
strategy?
And then also, do you thinkthat the sales teams could be
(09:43):
doing a better job incorporatingvideo?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, I mean so absolutely.
You know, I think I'm kind ofsitting here talking about
chasing the algorithm right andlike doing the things that the
platforms want you to do.
I think sometimes marketersfall a little too heavily into
that and you know they startseeing like okay, when brands
are doing kind of really funnycontent, that's like more
(10:07):
comedic.
You know, like that it feelsgood, you get that dopamine hit
of.
We put this thing out and itmakes me laugh and there's
certainly something to be saidfor that.
Like I hope we're all doingthings that we love, that bring
us joy to our lives.
(10:28):
But kind of getting that likecheap and easy win is not
necessarily the thing youactually need to be doing.
So you always have to make sure, like, does this actually make
sense for our brand and what itis that we're trying to say, or
are we kind of unintentionallymaking ourselves seem unserious?
Or you know, know, like as themarketing team, sometimes you
have to be talking to internalaudiences in your company as
much as you have to be talkingto the external audience.
(10:49):
So are you seen as less of aserious business professional by
your bosses because you arefocused really heavily on kind
of getting that laugh, gettingthat engagement and not
translating that into this iswhat this means for business
results.
For you know, on kind ofgetting that laugh, getting that
engagement and not translatingthat into this, is what this
means for business results.
For you know our bottom linebecause ultimately, over the
last couple of years themarket's been tough and
(11:10):
marketers don't necessarily havean easy time of that.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I think with video, especially because of the
time it takes, but really withany marketing initiative,
initiative making sure you havethe purpose of it that was
always when I was a director ofmarketing was always my question
when, like teams have come uplike what, what is the purpose
of that?
How does it fit into our brand,how does it fit into our
business objectives?
Because sometimes, yeah, likeyou're, you're catching that fun
(11:37):
new thing.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, you might want to hop on that trending audio,
right, but like, yeah, does thatactually make sense for you to
do?
I think the second half of yourquestion was, like sales folks
should they or can they be usingvideo more?
And my answer would beabsolutely.
I think, like salespeople,sometimes they are so focused on
(11:58):
that sale.
How do we get into that one onone sales conversation?
And that is great.
But something I think theysometimes sell themselves short
on is how much knowledge oftheir specific niche that they
have picked up over the years.
And you know they're hearingdirectly from their prospects
firsthand, like what are thethings that that person is
dealing with right now?
(12:18):
What are their struggles?
Ideally, if they're a goodsalesperson, they're probably
asking a lot of questions, right?
So taking the time in your dayto think about, like okay,
that's stuff that I have learned, can I turn that into a really
quick video?
And I think for salespeople itdoesn't necessarily have to be
something that is really highlyproduced.
You know your prospects, likeknowing who you are as a person.
(12:42):
We all always say like thisindustry is about relationships.
So you know, be your authenticself.
Create a quick little video.
Share something that's of value.
Don't be afraid to put it outthere.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Absolutely.
And I think even earlier youwere talking about getting those
soundbites, those clienttestimonials here.
Well, share those, you know,like that's one of the ways that
your marketing team can equipyour sales team.
Like, here are some videotestimonials or things that are
going on, or just I rememberlast year at TMSA we did like 30
second videos of the sponsorsand yours was my favorite
(13:14):
because you were like hello, I'mMichelle, and it was, yeah, it
was an introduction to who youare, what you like to talk about
, both in like marketing as thesponsor, but just like who you
are as a person, because peoplegot to know you.
And that was, to me, the mostsuccessful of those videos
because it wasn't super pitchy,it wasn't something completely
irrelevant, it was just like hi,I'm here, let's connect while
(13:35):
we're at the show.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's something I loveabout TMSA is like it's a really
tight knit community and Igenuinely feel like I've made
like really good friendships outof that community and so that,
if nothing else, is kind of thevalue that I get out of going.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I love that.
So, with all that in mind, whattrends are you seeing shaping
the future of video marketing inlogistics?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Well, I mean so you know, as I just got done saying
that like we don't always needto hop on the trending audio and
the comedic thing, you know, Ithink, something that I am
seeing in other industries,because I do like to keep an eye
on.
You know, what are consumerbrands doing?
Where are they going?
Right, we are right now in avery strange era for consumer
(14:23):
marketing where brands are kindof embracing this idea of being
unhinged right, having mascotseverybody knows, duo the owl,
Right.
And so you know, I don't thinkthat logistics, sales and
marketing professionals need tonecessarily do that, but there
is an opportunity there to maybethink about, like, should our
(14:45):
brand have some sort of avatarthat can be a figure that can
talk about these things?
Right, I think as a marketer,you always kind of want the
thought leaders in the company.
Maybe it is your leadershipthat is out there, but is there
an opportunity to have, you know, a stand in for your brand that
(15:05):
can talk on behalf of the brand?
I don't think that's going tobe a fit for every single
company, but I know there's alot of freight tech companies
here today.
It's interesting to me I don'tthink any of them have a mascot,
and you know why is that?
Because this is a tried andtrue thing that has worked for
companies throughout the years.
So, you know, I think, likeit's just always in my mind
(15:25):
really good to see, like, notjust what are your direct
competitors doing, but what aresome aspirational brands that
you're like I like what they'redoing and think about if there's
something you can take fromthat.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, what your goals are?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I want to kind of switchgears a little bit and talk
about something that you'repassionate about and that's
something that people are kindof afraid to talk about right
now in this space, and that isDEI, and it's constantly
evolving and there's people whoreally support it, there's
(15:57):
people who are afraid to supportit, there's people who don't
support it.
But what are steps thatcompanies can take to ensure
that they are authenticallyincorporating DI into their
brand identity in the currentcondition, with all those things
in mind, even when that monikerright now is kind of triggering
to people?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, I mean.
So you know, I would say, forme this is something.
As long as I've been workingwith transportation brands, it
has been a really important partof my career and one of the
reasons that I fell in love withthe industry.
I got my start actually doinglike driver recruitment
marketing, my start intransportation at any rate, and
(16:38):
you know, I think when it comesdown to it, we are an industry
that is about kind of movingthings from point A to point B
and you know, truck drivers andpeople working in the ports and
train conductors, you know, arethe sorts of people that are at
the front lines.
People working in thewarehouses are at the front
lines of actually doing thisreal world work, and so telling
(17:01):
those authentic stories of youknow who these people are is
something that I kind of fell inlove with early on in my career
.
And ultimately, you know, Ithink that the fact that that
sort of stuff resonates has notchanged at all in any political
environment.
That's going to resonateBecause, like, when you decide
to work with another company,ultimately you need the
(17:24):
individuals in that company todeliver on the service that you
have purchased, right, Likewe're generally not out here
doing e-commerce, so it issomething that is about the
humans that are executing on it,and I would love to say that
companies embraced DEI becausethey knew it was the right thing
to do.
I think certainly some of themdid, but I think in our space, a
(17:47):
lot of companies embraced usingDEI and those authentic stories
in their marketing because itwas something that was really
commercially successful for themand certainly that's something
we've seen with customers we'veworked with.
I had a brand where we worked toreally establish them as a
great company for women to workfor in trucking, and they, you
(18:11):
know, we had an insight that thewomen that worked for them
stayed with the company forlonger, generally had better
safety records, you know, andwere really good employees
better safety records, you know,and we're really good employees
and so we took that insight andsaid, ok, well, we have like 8%
of her workforce is women rightnow.
Can we grow that?
And two years after we wrappedup that initial campaign, we
(18:35):
weren't putting money behind itanymore.
People were still coming to thewebsite and downloading the
lead generation materials thatwe had made two years later,
because the women that wereinitially exposed to that
campaign were now referring thiscompany to their other friends
who were thinking about gettinginto the industry.
So in my mind, there's somethingreally powerful about that that
(18:55):
like that's how, as a brand,you actually establish brand
awareness.
I think marketers like to talkabout that term a lot, but it's
like you're literally taking upspace in somebody's head, that
they know what it is that youstand for and what you're going
to get out of that company.
So I think telling thoseauthentic stories really is how
you do that and you know, Idon't think that's going away
(19:19):
and I think it is like it isjust at a baseline level, a
really commercially successfulthing to do because, chances are
, your workforce is very diverseand having that representation
in your materials is therealistic real world picture of
what it's like.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense and, to me,
dei is a piece of beingsocially responsible.
And what do you provide foryour company, your company
culture, all of those things areall of a piece of it, and it's
a little sad that, like, thosewords can just be so triggering
to people and they don't knowexactly how to navigate it and I
(20:02):
think a lot of things getlumped into that that really
aren't a part of it.
When we're just saying, hey,like you have a diverse
workforce, this is authenticallywho your company is.
Just share that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I think it's like there
are a lot of companies that talkabout this idea of like
corporate social responsibility,right, and like.
That terminology always makesme cringe a little bit because
it feels very like, okay, likewe're doing this as a very
specific, like PR play to getthese end results out of it, but
the reality, when it comes downto it, is like most companies
(20:32):
in our space.
Part of what I love about thisindustry is most of these
companies are giving back totheir communities, are really
contributing at that level, andI don't think it's wrong to take
those stories of what they'redoing and share them, because I
think, if anything, it's greatfor companies to see that other
companies are also doing thisand that this is an important
(20:53):
part.
Right, you want your communityto be strong, because those are
your consumers as well.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yep, yep.
All about being part of thecommunity, which is something
that I think a lot of people canresonate with.
So I love just having thatdialogue and not forgetting.
You know that it is about ourpeople.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, ultimately it's not B2B right,
it's like human to human, and Ithink that's, at the end of the
day, like how you do really wellin sales oftentimes is having
those human to human connections.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Absolutely, and do you think that DEI can then
influence a company's employeebrand or recruitment marketing
efforts?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely so, you know.
I think that that sense ofinclusion is really powerful for
companies, especially, you know, carriers that do have that
driver recruitment need, orfulfillment companies that need
people to work in theirwarehouses.
It's not just recruitment,actually, it's retention as well
(21:52):
, because turnover is soenormously expensive to these
companies Like not only do youhave to pay money now to meta to
run ads to bring more people in, or indeed, or whatever that is
, you've got, you know, a trucksitting empty because you don't
have a driver to be behind thewheel, um, you've also sort of
lost all of the effort and valuethat you put into training this
(22:14):
initial person and and in thefree brokerage space as well,
it's the same there's somethinglike the first six months
there's a huge amount ofturnover that happens, and I
think a lot of that is trainingand misplaced expectations.
But I also think having a senseof inclusion in your company is
the sort of stuff that makes youstay and makes you really go
(22:35):
the extra mile to contribute tothis sense of a shared purpose
and vision.
This sense of a shared purposeand vision but, yes, at a
commercial level as well.
It's just a really great,effective strategy for standing
out and attracting people and,you know, I think it does really
create more engaging contentoftentimes, at the end of the
(22:57):
day, to have those authenticemployee stories.
So you know, that kind ofbrings it to life.
We can all kind of say we havethe best company with the best
services, but you kind of needto go a level deeper than that
and actually put some real worldstuff out there, and that's
what's going to make it work.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Are there any other shifts thatyou're seeing really affecting
the logistics industry right now?
Oh, big question.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, right now in this particular moment in time,
it feels like there's a shiftevery single day.
So, to a certain degree, Ithink like the thing we're all
going to have to learn isflexibility and being able to
think on our feet a little bit.
But I think things like beingreally rooted in your core
values, who you are, what youstand for and making sure that
(23:46):
you're aligned on those is veryhelpful in those moments where
things are changing reallysuddenly.
I think, from a salesperspective, customers are going
to be turning to their vendorsthat they have relationships
with and looking for advice.
What are you hearing from otherpeople in the market?
How are they dealing with thisand how can we work together to?
(24:07):
You know, beat us against theproblem.
So you know, I hate to say thatit's an opportunity when we're
in times of, you know, suddenchange and uncertainty, but
sometimes it actually is,because I think it's an
opportunity to be like we're allin this together.
How are we going to solve thisthing?
So, you know, I think the thingthat is really tricky, though,
(24:29):
from a marketing perspective, issometimes things take time, and
that means kind of committingbudget for a certain amount of
time and staying the course,having a little bit of faith in
what you're doing and what youbelieve in and working towards
that end goal.
And that's a little hard to dofor companies where they're
feeling like things are reallyuncertain.
(24:50):
So, you know, the best I cansay is, if you look back at
other times where marketsfluctuated, the companies who
kind of stayed the course andcontinued advertising in those
times generally came out betterat the end.
And you know there's been allmanner of studies.
If anybody wants to hit me upon LinkedIn I can share some
links that speak to that.
(25:11):
But you know, I think that isthe thing.
That is really tricky is thatlike not committing kind of
being in that wait and seeplaces is a hard thing for
companies to do.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
They, especially when you're doing that, doing some
of that chasing of what's cooland popular right now.
That stuff might be cool andpopular today, but it's not
tomorrow.
So, depending on how muchbudget you're putting into that
kind of stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Should we be investing on TikTok right now,
when, 75 days from now, tiktokmight go away?
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
That is a hard thing, you know.
Generally speaking, I'm tellingany brand that's asking me
about TikTok right now.
If you're already there, great,absolutely.
If you're not there, okay, youshould still probably be doing
short video, because that'simportant and your audience
wants it.
But maybe don't start a newchannel on a new platform until
(26:03):
we know that it's going to behere for the long haul.
Monitor it, see what people aresaying.
You know, use it as anopportunity to kind of get
content inspiration.
But yeah, it's tricky.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
For sure.
Well, if anyone wants to hearmore about video and the status
of things and how to make thebest of it, you should join us
in Austin, texas, june 8ththrough 10th at TMSA Elevate.
You can get more informationabout that event at
eventstmsatodayorg.
And that will take us to ourlast question of the day, and so
(26:37):
this is your second interviewon the move, so I can't ask you
the same question that I askedyou last time.
So ask a different question,and that's if you could go back
in time to one day of your lifeand relive it.
What day would you go back toand why?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So I, um, I struggled with this one a little bit, I
think, when you sent thequestions over ahead of time,
because I was like, do I do apersonal one or do I do like a
business one, cause this is abusiness podcast.
Um, so can I give you twoanswers?
All right, I'm always like, whynot both?
Yes, um, you know.
So I think I would say um, froma personal level.
(27:14):
Uh, the first date that I hadwith my husband, um, was
definitely like I wouldn'tchange a thing, but we had a
moment we were meeting, havingcoffee, and then, randomly, a
bus passed by that said it wasgoing to a part of Brooklyn that
is where the Ikea was and wewere like you want to go to Ikea
, I love that.
(27:34):
And we got on the bus, right,and I think, like those moments
in time where you take that leapand you're like, yeah, yeah,
let's go to Ikea.
We didn't end up going into theIKEA.
We just walked around.
It's in a cute neighborhood,didn't really want to test the
waters quite to that level yet.
That's a challenging one forany relationship.
But so that's my personal oneis, I think you know, that
(27:58):
moment in time of kind, oftaking the leap and being like
let's see where this goes.
And I would say, from a businessperspective, it's probably the
same thing, I would say, the daythat I initially stepped out on
my own and started what now isDrop and Hook.
But at the time it was just myLLC and I was going to freelance
.
And my husband again plays arole in this one because I got
(28:22):
my first invoice for my firstclient that it was one of the
two that we went live with atthe time, which is my friends at
Reads Across America.
So anybody that went to TMSA acouple of years ago probably got
to see that presentation withthem.
But you know it was a check.
But my husband, being thelovely person that he is like,
(28:42):
took a one dollar bill out ofhis wallet and he taped it up on
our wall and he saidcongratulations, you are now
doing this thing.
So it's all been upwards fromthere.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That's amazing.
I love hearing both thepersonal and the professional
side of things.
We're all people at the end ofthe day, at the end of the day,
so it's cool to hear, hear whopeople are and you know those
days, because it's hard to thinkof just one day.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So, yeah, yeah, I mean I truly, I struggled to pin
something down for that one,because I feel like I've got.
I've been lucky to have a lotof good ones.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Awesome.
Well, thank you for coming onthe show today and for hanging
out with me in this beautifulsun that is now getting pretty
hot for me.
So we're going to wrap up thisinterview, but thank you for
everyone for watching.
If you want to join us at TMSAElevate, that's June 8th through
10th and you can go toeventstmsatodayorg.
(29:36):
So thanks, michelle, for comingon the show and thank you
everyone.
Ooh, the computer is hot.
We'll see you guys next time.
Bye.
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