September 24, 2020 • 33 mins
Today’s guest is Amelia Wilcox, founder, and CEO at Zenovate, a high-growth B2B company whose platform provides employee stress management tools that arm businesses with actionable data and employee experiences to improve well-being, morale, and engagement anytime, anywhere.
Recently listed as a “40 Under 40”, “Fast 50”, “Inc. 5000”, and twice-awarded “National Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year”, Amelia has exponentially grown her company from a solo living room service business to an international technology brand. She operates Zenovate with a virtual team and provides flexible work for over 1,200 practitioners across North America while balancing the demands of motherhood of her three daughters.
Listen in as Amelia shares how to optimize a work-from-home team setup, making yourself visible among your teammates in a virtual world, the importance of overcommunicating with your virtual team, and moving ahead in your career even during COVID-19.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast.
The only podcast focused on howyou can get a raise at work.
Every week we're dishing tipsand tricks straight from the
industry experts, CEOs, and HRdirectors.
So, you can finally get paidwhat you're worth.
So, buckle up buttercup, let'sbreak it down.
She's a little sassy, but a lotof fun.
(00:22):
Here's your host, AmandaLeFever.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, hey everyone.
Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast.
My name is Amanda LeFever hereto help you make more money at
your job.
I'm so excited to introduce youto my new friend, Amelia Wilcox.
She's the founder and CEO ofZenovate, a high growth B to B
company whose platform providesemployee stress management tools
that arm businesses withactionable data and employee
(00:51):
experiences to improvewellbeing, morale, and
engagement, anytime, anywhere.
Recently listed as a 40 under40, fast 50, Inc.
5,000, and twice awardednational woman owned small
business of the year.
Amelia has exponentially grownher company from a solo living
room service business to aninternational technology brand.
(01:14):
She operates Zenovate with avirtual team and provides
flexible work for over 1200practitioners across North
America while balancing thedemands of motherhood of her
three daughters.
Hey Amelia, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
Thanks Amanda.
Happy to be here.
(01:32):
I'm so excited.
So, tell us a little bit aboutZenovate before we get started,
if you don't mind.
Yeah.
So, we have a platform where wehave prerecorded and live
services that we provideemployees, their companies pay
for it, and we, we have like abig library of content.
It's like yoga and meditation,fitness classes, life coaching,
(01:54):
counseling, massage instructionclasses, where you can learn
self massage and learn how tomassage people in your
household.
And those, you can either workwith a practitioner live over
zoom, or you can access any ofour content library pieces at
any time through our app.
That's amazing.
So, it's really like a robustemployee assistance program.
(02:15):
Is that a lot of where it fallsinto?
Yeah.
So, that's a good question.
It kind of depends on what piecepeople are interested in doing.
So, some companies work with usjust for the wellness piece.
They just want the physicalwellness, the mindfulness, and
then other companies hire us foraccess to counseling and mental
health services for theiremployees.
(02:37):
And so, that's kind of where wefall into the EAP side of things
is because EAPs aretraditionally access to mental
health services for employeesthat are in crisis.
Interesting.
So, I have to ask, like, whathas this journey been like for
you?
It seems like it's been a longjourney, but also you've built
it.
You're the founder and it's justgrown exponentially.
(03:00):
So, can you tell us a little bitabout what this journey has been
like?
Yeah.
Just from the beginning or sinceCOVID?
They're two different journeys.
I would say.
So, let's talk about COVID, yea,let's talk about COVID.
How's COVID been?.
Cause it says your, you have avirtual team, right?
(03:20):
Yeah.
So, for us, it's like, I mean,people are really excited about
working remotely or, or reallystressed about it.
Like it's just funny to seeeverybody's posts on LinkedIn
and they're like, Oh, there's ababy.
And I was doing meeting onlyamazing.
Like, we've always been likethat.
Like if you look at our socialmedia posts, even when we meet
(03:40):
in real life, there's just likesomeone always has a baby with
them.
It's just like part of ourculture and who we are and who
we've always been for the last11 years.
Cause I'm a mom with young kids.
And so, it's just, I built it ina way that it would fit with my
life.
And so, if it's for all of ouremployees, so we have a lot of
like really amazing women whohave education and experience
(04:01):
and have left the workforcebecause they had babies and
wanted to be home with theirbabies.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And so, working for us remotely is like the perfect
fit for them.
Some of them were part time.
Some of them work full time, butyeah, we've always been remote.
So, the whole COVID work fromhome thing.
We're kind of just lookingaround like, okay, we've been
doing this for a decade.
People are trying to figure itout.
And we're like, yeah, we figuredthis stuff out a long time ago.
(04:26):
So, it's not anything new to ourteam to be working remotely at
all.
But it's definitely new to thecompany to like, not be allowed
to do massage in person at anyof the corporations.
Cause we've got a lot ofcompanies are working from home.
So, there's not like theopportunity for us to service
them in person anyway.
And even if we could, some ofthe companies that want it, the
(04:47):
States are shut down.
So, we can't even offer any kindof services even if the client
wants it.
Cause it's just not allowedright now.
Yeah.
That's tough.
I'm glad that you guys have likethe virtual infrastructure
though.
It seems like in place to kindof balance all of that out.
I know a lot of people havetried to pivot and it hasn't
worked and some people havefigured it out.
(05:09):
It's just been like a learningexperience.
We would say the meaning ofpivot and then COVID hit.
And I was like, Oh, I like,that's what a pivot really is.
I thought, you know, like us.
So, when I first started thecompany, it was like me and my
computer and my phone.
And I was manually like textmessaging, massage therapists
(05:31):
and being like, can you go workat this place on this day?
And I was doing that myself,like no technology at all.
And then we started building ourown technology and it's just
like evolved to where we kind ofpivoted from like a service
company to like an on demand,like technology enabled services
business, like a, like an Uberpeople could just hop onto our
website or get on our app andthey could just order massages
(05:54):
to the office.
And so, I felt like that was apivot three weeks after we
furloughed the entire team, welaunched a brand new brand.
So, we were incorporate massagebefore COVID and all we did was
corporate massage.
And the first thing we had todo, cause we knew we wanted to
offer all these other services.
(06:15):
We had to have a name thatreflected who we were.
So, we have so many names and somany logos and brands before we
got to innovate.
And yeah, it was, it was a lotof a hundred hour work weeks,
which I didn't even know werepossible to be awake for a
hundred hours in a week, letalone working.
(06:35):
But yeah, we launched the newbrand in three weeks and then we
built that platform.
We built it out in about 10weeks, where we could provide
the virtual services.
People can schedule online themobile app.
I mean we're five months in themobile apps for Android just
released in beta.
And we're almost done with iOSas well.
(06:56):
So, I feel like we've movedreally, really hard.
(07:02):
So, that's impressive though.
Like that is a serious pivot too, to be honest, all of the
things that you guys have done,but everything that you're doing
is so timely, I feel like, andcan really benefit people where
they are in their current workstatus.
Right.
Like working from home, theyhave access to all of the things
(07:22):
that you offer.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, totally.
So, we have some companies thatlet their employees book
anything they want.
And so, employees will book likenutrition classes with the
nutritionist where they'll likework with them on a meal plan.
And even we've even had likegroup classes where like the HR
department wants to do cookingclasses and they learn how to
make like 30 minute meals withone of our dieticians.
(07:46):
And you know, they can work outeither with a video or with a
person live and in person justin their home or wherever they
are, which is what's nice aboutthe app.
Cause then it's just on yourphone.
So, for me like me and my eightyear old daughter just started
meditating two weeks ago.
And so, we just used our contentlibrary and she gets to out of
(08:07):
meditation and every night andshe's got, she's got severe ADHD
and an anxiety disorder.
So, she has a really hard timegoing to sleep.
So we just started doing likethese little 10 minute
meditations before we go to bedand she just like goes to sleep
so easy.
So, that's good.
Our, our team is also likeparticipants in our own program
and use our own platform.
(08:27):
So, that's been pretty fun to beable to share our experiences
with our clients too.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, we talked a little bit aboutlike the show being about
practical advice for advancingyour career and kind of getting
paid, what you're worth.
And in this virtual world, a lotof people are wondering how do
they stand out to, you know,presidents, managers, everybody,
(08:53):
and, you know, get a raiseeventually, not now.
Like we keep talking abouttiring a lot, but it's not the
time to get a raise now, but howdo you continue to stand out
when you're working from homeand you're not in the office and
you're not able to network likeyou used to, how does that
happen in translate for yourteam?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So, I think there's a few things.
One thing I've noticed is a lotof people are like upping their
LinkedIn game, where they'rebeing a lot more active.
They're posting things that arehelpful to other people who are
dealing with things.
So, I just seen a lot morepeople, a lot more active on
LinkedIn.
So, they're building like theirpersonal brand, which is a, I
(09:33):
mean, it's a great time to dothat, right?
Like I think a lot of us, youknow, are in the workforce right
now.
There's just a lot of uneaseabout jobs and layoffs and
multiple waves of layoffs andstuff.
So, I think there's no bettertime than right now to really
focus on building your LinkedInpresence.
And yeah.
(09:53):
So, on LinkedIn, I've justnoticed a lot more activity.
There are people that I know whoI'm connected to that are
unemployed, who are postingthings, you know, about relative
to like what they do.
Just kind of putting their voiceout there and being seen by
other people so that otheremployers can reach out.
And we've actually interviewedquite a few people that I've
just noticed on LinkedIn whohave awesome skills and
(10:15):
experience and are just likefloating around looking for
their next job.
So, yeah, I think LinkedIn is agreat tool for us on a virtual
team.
I think it's like, how do youget in front of your teammates
and show, you know, your valueto the company, especially right
now where I think a lot ofpeople want to feel when
(10:36):
everyone else to see howvaluable they are, right.
Especially if you're workingfrom home and people are getting
laid off, like how do you makesure your employer sees the
value that you're bringing tothe company and that like,
you're not on that list, whichkind of morbid, but, I mean we
use Slack and I think being ableto, so we have like a fun
(10:57):
channel.
We have a channel called theCOVID-19 survival room.
Cause we still have someteammates who are on for low.
And so, it's a place where eventhe furloughed employees can
like interact with us and feelconnected and we can like share
pictures of our kids and makejokes and put up funny names and
gifts.
So, yeah, I think just beingable to be visible digitally to
(11:20):
your teammates, and then we havea town hall every Monday.
So, speaking of asking goodquestions, when the, you know,
when your team is likepresenting problems, you guys
are trying to solve and opens itup to the floor, like sharing
your ideas.
Cause I think it's moreimportant now than ever.
It's be like visible and be ableto kind of show off what you're
(11:44):
doing.
Cause we're not all together inmost cases right now.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah.
And like you had said active, Ithink it's really easy right
now.
I don't know whenever I'm athome, I turn a little bit into
an introvert and I'm just kindof like here and I've got stuff
to do and laundry, and there'sjust, it's just a different
feeling almost when you'reworking from home.
And so, sometimes I feel like Ihave to make a concerted effort
(12:11):
to be more active and make surethat I am always responding.
Right.
And just continue to beconnected.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah.
I, for sure as an employer, ifI'm like reaching out to people
and they like, don't get back tome for hours, I'm like, are you
even working today from theemployer standpoint?
I think it's important thateveryone sees and it, I mean, it
, it sounds dumb, but you know,you have to like be there.
I want to see your green.next toyour name on Slack and know that
like you're on in your Slack isopen and I want to see you
(12:43):
responding to emails and stuff.
So, I think it's just importantbecause as employers, it's
harder to see people'sproductivity and things like
that.
So, you just looking out foryourself, like you gotta just
find ways to raise your hand andbe seen.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, for sure.
Do you feel like over the yearsyou've had to really develop and
put yourself out there and, andcreate like a personal brand for
yourself?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yes.
Yes.
So, there's like me, who's likethe real meat, but then there's
like CEO of, cause like, likegoes up and gets awards and like
writes blogs and you know, doesinterviews and things like that.
And for me they're like twoseparate personas.
I mean, it's all me, but thenormal me is not like, Oh, I
(13:30):
just want to be like on stage.
And in front of all thesethings, like I understand for
me, it's like a means to an end.
It's like people need someone toconnect with at the company and
somebody to be like the face ofthe company and that person is
me.
And so, I don't know, I'm finegoing out and doing publicity
stuff and being on stage andgoing to events and speaking and
things like that.
(13:51):
So, but it's not like if it wasjust up to me, I would just like
hang out in my hole and do mywork quietly with my head down.
But I understand how importantit is for brand recognition and
visibility for the company thatsomebody is out there being the
face of the company, being inthe public eye.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What have you learned in this digital age of running a
virtual team?
What has stood out the most toyou?
You think?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, the hardest thing with a virtual team is
communication and that, and thatfeeling of connectedness, I
guess those are the two hardestthings.
Cause they're actually separate.
So, for us, like our local teamhere in Utah, we've like gone
hiking, our operations team,they do a virtual lunch every
week with our operationsmanager, even though our
(14:39):
director, even though most ofher team is still on furlough.
They still get together and it'slike not company sanctioned, but
they have like their own zoom,lunch that they do and get
together.
So, i t's kind of like thefeeling of c onnected.
Y eah.
We've also done quite a few, uh, live meditation a nd yoga
classes as a t eam, like in themiddle of the day with our
(15:01):
practitioners where we're like,okay, everybody's going to
break.
And I think when the leaders sayI'm doing this yoga class, like
you guys all need to come, itkind of gives everyone else
permission to take a minute forthemselves.
So, we've been trying hard to dothings like that for connecting
goodness.
But as far as the virtual teams,so one of the things that's
(15:22):
really hard for people, which Ithink a lot of people in the US
or maybe across the world arestruggling with right now is
like figuring out how to balanceworking from home and kids and
home and responsibility.
So, what I am seeing happen ispeople work like three times
harder than they've ever workedbefore right now.
And they go from like familywork family can help family
(15:45):
sleep, wake up family work.
So, there's like no break, youknow, before it was like people
would go to the office, theywould have their commute on the
way home to like disconnect fromwork and like be ready to
interact with their family.
And right now it's like, youjust go from one thing to
another and I do too, but I'mjust used to it.
It's the only difference.
Like I'm used to like wake up,take care of the kids, get them
to school, come back, do apodcast, like four meetings, go
(16:08):
pick up the kids from school,have more meetings work after
they're asleep.
Like it's something I'm veryused to, but a lot of people
have a really hard time creatingthat balance, not just working
themselves to death.
Even my dad was talking about,he works for college in
Missouri.
And, he was saying, he's justlike having his computer there
(16:30):
and knowing like, if someone hasa question he could just hop on
and answer it.
He doesn't have that.
Cause before it was like, Oh, ifI'm at home, like I gotta wait
till I get into work and on mycomputer.
And now he's like, it's so hardto just disconnect from that
because there's always somethere's always work that needs
to be done.
It never stops, you know?
So, I think that's really hardfor people.
(16:51):
So, we've tried to, you know,give people permission to be
flexible.
A lot of our employees areparents who work from home.
So, being able to say, you know,let them take off in the middle
of the day to have lunch withtheir kid at school or take
somebody to doctor'sappointments.
We try to be like reallyflexible, but I know that
balance is really hard.
And then the last thing wascommunication, which you just
(17:14):
have to keep people talking.
And so, we have a culture teamthat like they every week have
some sort of like fun questionthat they put on Slack.
In fact, the other day, one ofour team members was like, was
like a gift UNO or something.
And you had to like post a gift.
And then when somebody'sresponse has to be related to
the one above it.
And anyway, just funnel, thingslike that so that people are
(17:36):
getting that interaction.
And then communicating clearly Ihave, I have a problem with this
because I make so many changesand do so many things.
It's all in my head.
So, I have to like writeeverything down and then make
sure that gets communicated outto the, in email and in our town
hall and on Slack and justmaking sure you have to over
communicate.
It's the thing, especially ifpeople aren't seeing each other
(17:57):
in person.
So, so I just have tocommunicate and I usually send a
video to it's like they get anemail with a video and
everything in the video writtenin the email, they also get it
on Slack.
And then we go over it in ourtown hall meetings.
So it seems kind of likeoverkill, but otherwise people
are off doing their jobs andthey don't know, like there was
a change to the system and theyhave to do it differently.
(18:17):
And it results in a lot offrustration.
So you just have to overcommunicate.
Sorry.
That was a really long answer.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
No.
So, I heard flexibility andbalance out of a lot of that
too.
So, you said communication iskey with the flexibility and
stuff.
How have you, I know a lot ofpeople are new to this
situation.
How do you balance, how do you,how do you do all of the things
that you do during this time ofvirtual life?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So, for me, balance is not a daily thing, right?
So, a lot of people think ofbalance and they're like, okay,
I have to balance like everyday, this much work and this
much family and whatever for meabout, that's not what balance
means.
Balance is like maybe weekly orevery couple of weeks, but it's
like just speak.
Maybe I'm going to work reallyhard next week.
(19:09):
I'm maybe going to pull back alittle bit and I'm going to
focus on my family cause we havestuff going on.
Or so for me there's like an ebband flow that really rotates
more on a weekly basis than on adaily basis.
So, that's just how, that's howmy brain works.
And that's what makes sense tome.
Cause sometimes it's like wehave a deadline like this week
is our last week of developmentbefore we have to like furlough
(19:32):
our development team and likethey have til Friday, right?
So, we're working super focusedon the development side.
So, I'll work in the evening tomake sure everything's ready and
everybody has what they need.
And the next week it's going tobe just a lot quieter around
here.
And we're just all we're doing asales.
So the focus is sales to get ourrevenue up so we can bring
everybody back to work.
So, I mean, it just depends onwhat you've got going on that
(19:54):
week, but that's kind of how Ibalance.
I'm just like, what does myfamily need this week?
And is it a week I need to focuson my family or my kids.
So, my husband's a firefighterand he will work 48 hours and
then he's home for four days.
So, on the weeks, like he justworked three days in a row.
So, on like over the weekend andon Sunday or Monday, I had to be
(20:15):
very like, my kids are thehighest priority.
They just started school.
It was the first week of schoollast week.
It was like, I had to make sureI was taking care of them as the
highest priority.
Now everybody's kind of in theswing of things, my husband's
home for the next four days.
So, now I can focus on workagain.
So, that's kinda what I meanwhere it's like, it's not like
every single day, like I don'tnecessarily get in a workout
every day.
I don't always get eight hoursof sleep every night, but it's
(20:38):
just kind of this evidence flowthat kind of goes maybe every
five or six days, how it flows.
So that kind of takes thepressure
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Off though.
I've never really thought aboutit as like a weekly thing.
I've always thought about it asa daily thing.
And so, if there's more familyand there's less work now, all
of a sudden I'm stressed becauseI'm like, I didn't get enough
work done or I was workingconstantly and I feel like I
neglected my child, then I'mlike, I am just terrible mom.
Right?
Like it just says like balancedby each day's performance.
(21:11):
And so, I kind of, I like theidea of the, the weekly thing.
How do you think people canapproach their employers about
flexibility and things likethat?
Is that a conversation that can,that can happen right now or
should happen?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yeah, that is a tricky question.
And it's really gonna depend onmaybe lawyer, but for us, for
instance.
So, when we had to furlougheveryone, I wanted to keep two
of our sales reps.
And so, I just had aconversation with both of our
sales reps who were both fulltime all summer and then our
(21:52):
school just started.
Right.
And so, one of them, she's got adaughter who has some challenges
and her going to schools.
Like it just takes a lot of themom's time.
She needs to be able to go toschool a few times a day, for
her daughter.
And then the other one, she'sgot a bunch of young kids and
she's in Arizona and Arizona isopening up their schools.
(22:12):
So, she's got to do homeschoolwith them or online school.
It's not really homeschool.
Right.
It's, there's a curriculumsomeone else made.
Uh, but you're doing it at home.
So, she's, she's like, I, I lovethis job.
I don't want to have to resign,but I just don't think I can do
it because I need to be with mykids from nine to one.
Right.
So, and I just thought, let's gohalf time.
Let's just have you work fromone to five every day.
(22:35):
Totally fine.
So, and that worked out great.
She's super happy, super loyal.
But I think employers have to bea little bit flexible right now
because people have their kidsin a lot of States there they're
a lot of States schools aren'topen and that is really hard
having school aged kids andhaving to teach them from home.
I mean, spring was rough.
(22:56):
Not only, not only on thebusiness, but like having the
kids try to do school at home.
It's crazy.
So, unlucky because right now mykids are in actual school and
we'll ride that train as long aswe can shut it down.
We expect they'll be back, but Ithink, I think employers have to
be flexible right now.
I don't think there's anythingwrong with saying like, this is
my family situation.
(23:17):
Are there any creativealternatives?
You know, and I love part timeemployees.
I think it's awesome.
I think it's awesome.
It's, it's less expensive andyou still get amazing quality
work out of people.
And they're very dedicatedworking these last 11 years with
like mostly stay at home moms.
They can multitask like nothingelse, man.
(23:38):
And they are dedicated, they areloyal.
They work harder than anybody.
I know.
Like I am like a huge fan of thestay at home moms.
Cause that's essentially, Imean, that's what I am.
Right.
So, people that can work like Ican and still balance it all.
And I think it's, I think it'samazing.
So, I don't think there's anyharm in having those
(23:58):
conversations.
I think if you can approach youremployer in such a way that, you
know, you're look, you're notsaying I can't do this.
You're saying like, here is mychallenge.
How can we come up with acreative solution to that?
Does that answer your question?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Absolutely.
And I love that question.
How is there a creative solutionor a creative option for
whatever's going on?
Because sometimes you're like,Oh my gosh, they're going to
freak out.
Or I don't know, it can be nervewracking to ask those types of
questions because you don't wantto appear as if you're not up
for the task, because I thinkthat you usually are in your
(24:37):
experience and you want to dothe work, but there's stuff
right now that's happening.
That is out of a lot of ourcontrol.
So, there's a lot of parentsthat have had to leave the
workforce with their kids, doingschool at home.
I have talked to a lot of otherentrepreneurs who have lost good
employees because they needed tobe at home.
But for us it's like, well thenlet's just, we'll find a way to
(24:57):
make it part time and make itwork because it's not permanent.
Eventually coconut will end andI don't want to lose my awesome
people.
So, I'd rather give them someflexibility, but maybe not all
employers to be at the same way.
So, I say that with the copy of,Yeah.
Right.
That's true.
I've learned that a little bitfrom some of the listeners, but
just not every employer is madeequal.
(25:21):
So, in the other ones, but, so Idid want to ask if there is
anything else that you want tokind of add to this national
conversation about kind ofraising up and advancing your
career, creating your personalbrand in this COVID era that
we're dealing with right now?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah.
So, one of the things that'ssuper important to me is
people's desire to continue tolearn and grow on their own.
I'm the kind of person like I'mself taught.
I didn't graduate from college.
I learned how to do, you know,some computer programming, some
basic, you know, C plus plus Iactually studied COBOL in high
(26:04):
school.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Copel I have to ask what is that?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, their calculation program.
So, it's mainly use like inbanking and stuff like that,
math calculation.
So, most people who do anyprogramming will just laugh in
my face.
If I tell them that I studiedthat, cause it's like this
archaic language, but I believethe banking industry still uses
it.
But I mean, most programminglanguages are pretty similar.
(26:30):
But anyway, yeah, I've just, Imean, I've learned how to do
business.
I've taken lots of classes.
I read gazillion books, I havementors and advisors that I work
with.
I think everyone should alwayshave an advisor.
I actually set up my leadershipteam to, to all have mentors.
So, you know, like, our chiefrevenue officer works with
(26:51):
somebody on our board.
He's like background is in salesand he like started the sales
team at HubSpot back when theywere a startup.
And then, you know, connecting,like my HR director with one of
the VPs of HR.
You know, that I'm friends withto just, I think everybody
should have a mentor.
Everybody should have somebodythat's where they want to go.
(27:14):
Um, so that's one thing.
And then just being able tolearn all the time.
So, we hired a graphic designerwho is amazing and we needed a
product manager.
We needed somebody to likedesign our platform and our app
and everything and she wastotally up to the task.
She was like, I've never done itbefore, but I'm like super
(27:35):
interested in it.
I want to learn.
And she's just gone off on herown and she's like read all this
stuff and she's taken theseclasses and she's just been
figuring out.
And I also connected her with amentor.
So, one of the guys who builtthe UI for HubSpot and he now
works for Google, with theirGoogle Chrome UI.
And so you just kinda basicallygave her all the tools that she
needed.
But the advice then how thattranslates is like when, when
(27:58):
your employer needs something orthe company you work for has a
need like raise your hand and belike, if it's something you're
interested in, like, like I upfor learning it, right.
And the more you can learn andthe more you're willing to like
learn and growth, the more thecompany is going to be dependent
on you and not willing to letyou go because they're gonna
need you because you're, andespecially in my company too,
(28:21):
like we have our top sales rep,she had worked in finance.
She had worked in customersupport and now she works in
sales.
My very first employee stillworks for me and she's worked in
customer support and staffingand she ended up in finance and
that's where she wanted to stay.
So, you know, COVID cut us downand we had to rebuild.
It's basically like we'rebuilding a brand new startup and
(28:42):
those are the people I want inmy corner, in my like second
version of the company, that'sbasically a startup it's like,
who are those people that can dolike 10 different things?
And we're all these differentand are super flexible.
And we'll just go and learn itif they, if they don't know how
to do it.
And I think that's how youbecome really valuable to a
company.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
And that builds your personalbrand as well.
Like you can wear all those hatsand you're willing to be that
person that says yes and I'llfigure it out type thing.
So, I know that you had saidthat you guys are working on an
app, right.
So, it's coming out on Androidand then you have one that's
going to come out for the Apple.
(29:21):
Is that right?
The iOS.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yeah.
So, iOS should be available theend of September Android.
We just completed beta.
We're making a few changes inthat should actually go live
later this week.
So, nice probably by September1st, the Android one will be
live.
So, but it's only, we only sellto employers.
So, like anybody can actually goto renovate.app and they can
(29:42):
create an account and log in andit can get access to like our
free content library.
But in order to get paid, wedon't sell direct to consumer.
I don't know if we ever will.
I like working with businessesand sit and make one big sale
instead of like a million smallsales.
But yeah, people like anybodycan get access to our free or
complimentary library.
(30:02):
And then they can, they'll beable to download it from the app
store and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Nice.
And they can tell their leaderstoo about the option if they
want to.
Is there anything else that youfeel like you guys are going to
be doing that makes a big impacton the industry coming up here?
Soon?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
The biggest thing we're just working on right now
is focusing on mental health.
And there's a few reasons forthat.
One of the reasons is when wefirst launched our original six
services, it included lifecoaching.
And almost immediately our lifecoaches were overwhelmed with
problems that were way biggerthan they could help with.
Right.
So people like addiction,depression, anxiety, PTSD, and
(30:42):
so I went, huh, they really needsomeone that can escalate to.
And we actually started lookingat people and clinics and stuff
we could partner with and othercompanies, and it just sucked
like what was out there, justthat it was like, I mean, the
system we built for massage isalready equipped to be able to
(31:02):
do the same thing with anyservice stuff.
I mean, licensed counselors, thelicensing is managed on a state
level.
So, we have to have likedifferent licensing requirements
for each state, which is howmassage was.
So, I was just like, you know,instead of working with all
these other companies that, youknow, just use independent
contractors and there's noguarantee on quality of service
or, or even like, if they'regoing to be available, are they
(31:24):
going to have any availability?
Cause right now the wait timesto get into counseling centers
are like three weeks.
So, I was just like, you knowwhat?
I think we can just hire our ownand I think we can do it.
So, we are in 12 States rightnow and we'll be nationwide by
the end of September.
So in fact, we'll be in the UKand Armenia as well.
(31:45):
Some of the companies we workwith are global.
And so, we have to have peoplein some of those other
countries, but it was just like,kind of like, there's a huge
need for mental health servicesright now.
There's a huge weight.
The EAPs people have are stillbroken.
You usually have to like call ahotline, talk to someone,
they'll give you a referral.
Like some other places you cancall and you have to call those
(32:05):
places, talk to herreceptionist, tell them your
problem.
They'll send you, set you upwith somebody and there's a
three week wait.
So, with us, people are bookingcounseling and they're getting
in within 24 hours.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That's amazing.
And that is like, I don't know.
I feel like industry rattlingalmost that just doesn't happen.
It doesn't happen.
And it's so needed right now.
So, I'm excited for you guys.
How can people connect with you?
What's the best way for peopleto connect LinkedIn all over
(32:39):
LinkedIn?
So yeah, people can find me onLinkedIn and DME.
I'm pretty good at responding topeople's messages.
So, that's awesome.
Thank you so much, Amelia, forbeing on the show, this has been
really amazing and I know thatour listeners are gonna get a,
get a lot out of it.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I loved being on the show.
Amanda was awesome.
(32:59):
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, I will talk to you guyslater.
Bye
Speaker 1 (33:07):
[inaudible].
Thanks for listening to theRaise Up Podcast.
If you want to raise towww.raiseuppodcast.com and
download our step by steproadmap where we've taken all
the expert advice we'vecollected and put it into a
simple PDF ebook called how toask for a raise.
Before you join us again, makesure to subscribe, share it with
(33:28):
your friends.
You can click the share button,take a screenshot and share it
on your social stories and tag.
Add Amanda, love fever.
See you again soon.
Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast.
The only podcast focused on howyou can get a raise at work.
Every week we're dishing tipsand tricks straight from the
industry experts, CEOs, and HRdirectors.
So, you can finally get paidwhat you're worth.
So, buckle up buttercup, let'sbreak it down.
She's a little sassy, but a lotof fun.
(00:22):
Here's your host, AmandaLeFever.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, hey everyone.
Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast.
My name is Amanda LeFever hereto help you make more money at
your job.
I'm so excited to introduce youto my new friend, Amelia Wilcox.
She's the founder and CEO ofZenovate, a high growth B to B
company whose platform providesemployee stress management tools
that arm businesses withactionable data and employee
(00:51):
experiences to improvewellbeing, morale, and
engagement, anytime, anywhere.
Recently listed as a 40 under40, fast 50, Inc.
5,000, and twice awardednational woman owned small
business of the year.
Amelia has exponentially grownher company from a solo living
room service business to aninternational technology brand.
(01:14):
She operates Zenovate with avirtual team and provides
flexible work for over 1200practitioners across North
America while balancing thedemands of motherhood of her
three daughters.
Hey Amelia, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
Thanks Amanda.
Happy to be here.
(01:32):
I'm so excited.
So, tell us a little bit aboutZenovate before we get started,
if you don't mind.
Yeah.
So, we have a platform where wehave prerecorded and live
services that we provideemployees, their companies pay
for it, and we, we have like abig library of content.
It's like yoga and meditation,fitness classes, life coaching,
(01:54):
counseling, massage instructionclasses, where you can learn
self massage and learn how tomassage people in your
household.
And those, you can either workwith a practitioner live over
zoom, or you can access any ofour content library pieces at
any time through our app.
That's amazing.
So, it's really like a robustemployee assistance program.
(02:15):
Is that a lot of where it fallsinto?
Yeah.
So, that's a good question.
It kind of depends on what piecepeople are interested in doing.
So, some companies work with usjust for the wellness piece.
They just want the physicalwellness, the mindfulness, and
then other companies hire us foraccess to counseling and mental
health services for theiremployees.
(02:37):
And so, that's kind of where wefall into the EAP side of things
is because EAPs aretraditionally access to mental
health services for employeesthat are in crisis.
Interesting.
So, I have to ask, like, whathas this journey been like for
you?
It seems like it's been a longjourney, but also you've built
it.
You're the founder and it's justgrown exponentially.
(03:00):
So, can you tell us a little bitabout what this journey has been
like?
Yeah.
Just from the beginning or sinceCOVID?
They're two different journeys.
I would say.
So, let's talk about COVID, yea,let's talk about COVID.
How's COVID been?.
Cause it says your, you have avirtual team, right?
(03:20):
Yeah.
So, for us, it's like, I mean,people are really excited about
working remotely or, or reallystressed about it.
Like it's just funny to seeeverybody's posts on LinkedIn
and they're like, Oh, there's ababy.
And I was doing meeting onlyamazing.
Like, we've always been likethat.
Like if you look at our socialmedia posts, even when we meet
(03:40):
in real life, there's just likesomeone always has a baby with
them.
It's just like part of ourculture and who we are and who
we've always been for the last11 years.
Cause I'm a mom with young kids.
And so, it's just, I built it ina way that it would fit with my
life.
And so, if it's for all of ouremployees, so we have a lot of
like really amazing women whohave education and experience
(04:01):
and have left the workforcebecause they had babies and
wanted to be home with theirbabies.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
And so, working for us remotely is like the perfect
fit for them.
Some of them were part time.
Some of them work full time, butyeah, we've always been remote.
So, the whole COVID work fromhome thing.
We're kind of just lookingaround like, okay, we've been
doing this for a decade.
People are trying to figure itout.
And we're like, yeah, we figuredthis stuff out a long time ago.
(04:26):
So, it's not anything new to ourteam to be working remotely at
all.
But it's definitely new to thecompany to like, not be allowed
to do massage in person at anyof the corporations.
Cause we've got a lot ofcompanies are working from home.
So, there's not like theopportunity for us to service
them in person anyway.
And even if we could, some ofthe companies that want it, the
(04:47):
States are shut down.
So, we can't even offer any kindof services even if the client
wants it.
Cause it's just not allowedright now.
Yeah.
That's tough.
I'm glad that you guys have likethe virtual infrastructure
though.
It seems like in place to kindof balance all of that out.
I know a lot of people havetried to pivot and it hasn't
worked and some people havefigured it out.
(05:09):
It's just been like a learningexperience.
We would say the meaning ofpivot and then COVID hit.
And I was like, Oh, I like,that's what a pivot really is.
I thought, you know, like us.
So, when I first started thecompany, it was like me and my
computer and my phone.
And I was manually like textmessaging, massage therapists
(05:31):
and being like, can you go workat this place on this day?
And I was doing that myself,like no technology at all.
And then we started building ourown technology and it's just
like evolved to where we kind ofpivoted from like a service
company to like an on demand,like technology enabled services
business, like a, like an Uberpeople could just hop onto our
website or get on our app andthey could just order massages
(05:54):
to the office.
And so, I felt like that was apivot three weeks after we
furloughed the entire team, welaunched a brand new brand.
So, we were incorporate massagebefore COVID and all we did was
corporate massage.
And the first thing we had todo, cause we knew we wanted to
offer all these other services.
(06:15):
We had to have a name thatreflected who we were.
So, we have so many names and somany logos and brands before we
got to innovate.
And yeah, it was, it was a lotof a hundred hour work weeks,
which I didn't even know werepossible to be awake for a
hundred hours in a week, letalone working.
(06:35):
But yeah, we launched the newbrand in three weeks and then we
built that platform.
We built it out in about 10weeks, where we could provide
the virtual services.
People can schedule online themobile app.
I mean we're five months in themobile apps for Android just
released in beta.
And we're almost done with iOSas well.
(06:56):
So, I feel like we've movedreally, really hard.
(07:02):
So, that's impressive though.
Like that is a serious pivot too, to be honest, all of the
things that you guys have done,but everything that you're doing
is so timely, I feel like, andcan really benefit people where
they are in their current workstatus.
Right.
Like working from home, theyhave access to all of the things
(07:22):
that you offer.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, totally.
So, we have some companies thatlet their employees book
anything they want.
And so, employees will book likenutrition classes with the
nutritionist where they'll likework with them on a meal plan.
And even we've even had likegroup classes where like the HR
department wants to do cookingclasses and they learn how to
make like 30 minute meals withone of our dieticians.
(07:46):
And you know, they can work outeither with a video or with a
person live and in person justin their home or wherever they
are, which is what's nice aboutthe app.
Cause then it's just on yourphone.
So, for me like me and my eightyear old daughter just started
meditating two weeks ago.
And so, we just used our contentlibrary and she gets to out of
(08:07):
meditation and every night andshe's got, she's got severe ADHD
and an anxiety disorder.
So, she has a really hard timegoing to sleep.
So we just started doing likethese little 10 minute
meditations before we go to bedand she just like goes to sleep
so easy.
So, that's good.
Our, our team is also likeparticipants in our own program
and use our own platform.
(08:27):
So, that's been pretty fun to beable to share our experiences
with our clients too.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, we talked a little bit aboutlike the show being about
practical advice for advancingyour career and kind of getting
paid, what you're worth.
And in this virtual world, a lotof people are wondering how do
they stand out to, you know,presidents, managers, everybody,
(08:53):
and, you know, get a raiseeventually, not now.
Like we keep talking abouttiring a lot, but it's not the
time to get a raise now, but howdo you continue to stand out
when you're working from homeand you're not in the office and
you're not able to network likeyou used to, how does that
happen in translate for yourteam?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So, I think there's a few things.
One thing I've noticed is a lotof people are like upping their
LinkedIn game, where they'rebeing a lot more active.
They're posting things that arehelpful to other people who are
dealing with things.
So, I just seen a lot morepeople, a lot more active on
LinkedIn.
So, they're building like theirpersonal brand, which is a, I
(09:33):
mean, it's a great time to dothat, right?
Like I think a lot of us, youknow, are in the workforce right
now.
There's just a lot of uneaseabout jobs and layoffs and
multiple waves of layoffs andstuff.
So, I think there's no bettertime than right now to really
focus on building your LinkedInpresence.
And yeah.
(09:53):
So, on LinkedIn, I've justnoticed a lot more activity.
There are people that I know whoI'm connected to that are
unemployed, who are postingthings, you know, about relative
to like what they do.
Just kind of putting their voiceout there and being seen by
other people so that otheremployers can reach out.
And we've actually interviewedquite a few people that I've
just noticed on LinkedIn whohave awesome skills and
(10:15):
experience and are just likefloating around looking for
their next job.
So, yeah, I think LinkedIn is agreat tool for us on a virtual
team.
I think it's like, how do youget in front of your teammates
and show, you know, your valueto the company, especially right
now where I think a lot ofpeople want to feel when
(10:36):
everyone else to see howvaluable they are, right.
Especially if you're workingfrom home and people are getting
laid off, like how do you makesure your employer sees the
value that you're bringing tothe company and that like,
you're not on that list, whichkind of morbid, but, I mean we
use Slack and I think being ableto, so we have like a fun
(10:57):
channel.
We have a channel called theCOVID-19 survival room.
Cause we still have someteammates who are on for low.
And so, it's a place where eventhe furloughed employees can
like interact with us and feelconnected and we can like share
pictures of our kids and makejokes and put up funny names and
gifts.
So, yeah, I think just beingable to be visible digitally to
(11:20):
your teammates, and then we havea town hall every Monday.
So, speaking of asking goodquestions, when the, you know,
when your team is likepresenting problems, you guys
are trying to solve and opens itup to the floor, like sharing
your ideas.
Cause I think it's moreimportant now than ever.
It's be like visible and be ableto kind of show off what you're
(11:44):
doing.
Cause we're not all together inmost cases right now.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah.
And like you had said active, Ithink it's really easy right
now.
I don't know whenever I'm athome, I turn a little bit into
an introvert and I'm just kindof like here and I've got stuff
to do and laundry, and there'sjust, it's just a different
feeling almost when you'reworking from home.
And so, sometimes I feel like Ihave to make a concerted effort
(12:11):
to be more active and make surethat I am always responding.
Right.
And just continue to beconnected.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yeah.
I, for sure as an employer, ifI'm like reaching out to people
and they like, don't get back tome for hours, I'm like, are you
even working today from theemployer standpoint?
I think it's important thateveryone sees and it, I mean, it
, it sounds dumb, but you know,you have to like be there.
I want to see your green.next toyour name on Slack and know that
like you're on in your Slack isopen and I want to see you
(12:43):
responding to emails and stuff.
So, I think it's just importantbecause as employers, it's
harder to see people'sproductivity and things like
that.
So, you just looking out foryourself, like you gotta just
find ways to raise your hand andbe seen.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, for sure.
Do you feel like over the yearsyou've had to really develop and
put yourself out there and, andcreate like a personal brand for
yourself?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yes.
Yes.
So, there's like me, who's likethe real meat, but then there's
like CEO of, cause like, likegoes up and gets awards and like
writes blogs and you know, doesinterviews and things like that.
And for me they're like twoseparate personas.
I mean, it's all me, but thenormal me is not like, Oh, I
(13:30):
just want to be like on stage.
And in front of all thesethings, like I understand for
me, it's like a means to an end.
It's like people need someone toconnect with at the company and
somebody to be like the face ofthe company and that person is
me.
And so, I don't know, I'm finegoing out and doing publicity
stuff and being on stage andgoing to events and speaking and
things like that.
(13:51):
So, but it's not like if it wasjust up to me, I would just like
hang out in my hole and do mywork quietly with my head down.
But I understand how importantit is for brand recognition and
visibility for the company thatsomebody is out there being the
face of the company, being inthe public eye.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
What have you learned in this digital age of running a
virtual team?
What has stood out the most toyou?
You think?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I mean, the hardest thing with a virtual team is
communication and that, and thatfeeling of connectedness, I
guess those are the two hardestthings.
Cause they're actually separate.
So, for us, like our local teamhere in Utah, we've like gone
hiking, our operations team,they do a virtual lunch every
week with our operationsmanager, even though our
(14:39):
director, even though most ofher team is still on furlough.
They still get together and it'slike not company sanctioned, but
they have like their own zoom,lunch that they do and get
together.
So, i t's kind of like thefeeling of c onnected.
Y eah.
We've also done quite a few, uh, live meditation a nd yoga
classes as a t eam, like in themiddle of the day with our
(15:01):
practitioners where we're like,okay, everybody's going to
break.
And I think when the leaders sayI'm doing this yoga class, like
you guys all need to come, itkind of gives everyone else
permission to take a minute forthemselves.
So, we've been trying hard to dothings like that for connecting
goodness.
But as far as the virtual teams,so one of the things that's
(15:22):
really hard for people, which Ithink a lot of people in the US
or maybe across the world arestruggling with right now is
like figuring out how to balanceworking from home and kids and
home and responsibility.
So, what I am seeing happen ispeople work like three times
harder than they've ever workedbefore right now.
And they go from like familywork family can help family
(15:45):
sleep, wake up family work.
So, there's like no break, youknow, before it was like people
would go to the office, theywould have their commute on the
way home to like disconnect fromwork and like be ready to
interact with their family.
And right now it's like, youjust go from one thing to
another and I do too, but I'mjust used to it.
It's the only difference.
Like I'm used to like wake up,take care of the kids, get them
to school, come back, do apodcast, like four meetings, go
(16:08):
pick up the kids from school,have more meetings work after
they're asleep.
Like it's something I'm veryused to, but a lot of people
have a really hard time creatingthat balance, not just working
themselves to death.
Even my dad was talking about,he works for college in
Missouri.
And, he was saying, he's justlike having his computer there
(16:30):
and knowing like, if someone hasa question he could just hop on
and answer it.
He doesn't have that.
Cause before it was like, Oh, ifI'm at home, like I gotta wait
till I get into work and on mycomputer.
And now he's like, it's so hardto just disconnect from that
because there's always somethere's always work that needs
to be done.
It never stops, you know?
So, I think that's really hardfor people.
(16:51):
So, we've tried to, you know,give people permission to be
flexible.
A lot of our employees areparents who work from home.
So, being able to say, you know,let them take off in the middle
of the day to have lunch withtheir kid at school or take
somebody to doctor'sappointments.
We try to be like reallyflexible, but I know that
balance is really hard.
And then the last thing wascommunication, which you just
(17:14):
have to keep people talking.
And so, we have a culture teamthat like they every week have
some sort of like fun questionthat they put on Slack.
In fact, the other day, one ofour team members was like, was
like a gift UNO or something.
And you had to like post a gift.
And then when somebody'sresponse has to be related to
the one above it.
And anyway, just funnel, thingslike that so that people are
(17:36):
getting that interaction.
And then communicating clearly Ihave, I have a problem with this
because I make so many changesand do so many things.
It's all in my head.
So, I have to like writeeverything down and then make
sure that gets communicated outto the, in email and in our town
hall and on Slack and justmaking sure you have to over
communicate.
It's the thing, especially ifpeople aren't seeing each other
(17:57):
in person.
So, so I just have tocommunicate and I usually send a
video to it's like they get anemail with a video and
everything in the video writtenin the email, they also get it
on Slack.
And then we go over it in ourtown hall meetings.
So it seems kind of likeoverkill, but otherwise people
are off doing their jobs andthey don't know, like there was
a change to the system and theyhave to do it differently.
(18:17):
And it results in a lot offrustration.
So you just have to overcommunicate.
Sorry.
That was a really long answer.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
No.
So, I heard flexibility andbalance out of a lot of that
too.
So, you said communication iskey with the flexibility and
stuff.
How have you, I know a lot ofpeople are new to this
situation.
How do you balance, how do you,how do you do all of the things
that you do during this time ofvirtual life?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So, for me, balance is not a daily thing, right?
So, a lot of people think ofbalance and they're like, okay,
I have to balance like everyday, this much work and this
much family and whatever for meabout, that's not what balance
means.
Balance is like maybe weekly orevery couple of weeks, but it's
like just speak.
Maybe I'm going to work reallyhard next week.
(19:09):
I'm maybe going to pull back alittle bit and I'm going to
focus on my family cause we havestuff going on.
Or so for me there's like an ebband flow that really rotates
more on a weekly basis than on adaily basis.
So, that's just how, that's howmy brain works.
And that's what makes sense tome.
Cause sometimes it's like wehave a deadline like this week
is our last week of developmentbefore we have to like furlough
(19:32):
our development team and likethey have til Friday, right?
So, we're working super focusedon the development side.
So, I'll work in the evening tomake sure everything's ready and
everybody has what they need.
And the next week it's going tobe just a lot quieter around
here.
And we're just all we're doing asales.
So the focus is sales to get ourrevenue up so we can bring
everybody back to work.
So, I mean, it just depends onwhat you've got going on that
(19:54):
week, but that's kind of how Ibalance.
I'm just like, what does myfamily need this week?
And is it a week I need to focuson my family or my kids.
So, my husband's a firefighterand he will work 48 hours and
then he's home for four days.
So, on the weeks, like he justworked three days in a row.
So, on like over the weekend andon Sunday or Monday, I had to be
(20:15):
very like, my kids are thehighest priority.
They just started school.
It was the first week of schoollast week.
It was like, I had to make sureI was taking care of them as the
highest priority.
Now everybody's kind of in theswing of things, my husband's
home for the next four days.
So, now I can focus on workagain.
So, that's kinda what I meanwhere it's like, it's not like
every single day, like I don'tnecessarily get in a workout
every day.
I don't always get eight hoursof sleep every night, but it's
(20:38):
just kind of this evidence flowthat kind of goes maybe every
five or six days, how it flows.
So that kind of takes thepressure
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Off though.
I've never really thought aboutit as like a weekly thing.
I've always thought about it asa daily thing.
And so, if there's more familyand there's less work now, all
of a sudden I'm stressed becauseI'm like, I didn't get enough
work done or I was workingconstantly and I feel like I
neglected my child, then I'mlike, I am just terrible mom.
Right?
Like it just says like balancedby each day's performance.
(21:11):
And so, I kind of, I like theidea of the, the weekly thing.
How do you think people canapproach their employers about
flexibility and things likethat?
Is that a conversation that can,that can happen right now or
should happen?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yeah, that is a tricky question.
And it's really gonna depend onmaybe lawyer, but for us, for
instance.
So, when we had to furlougheveryone, I wanted to keep two
of our sales reps.
And so, I just had aconversation with both of our
sales reps who were both fulltime all summer and then our
(21:52):
school just started.
Right.
And so, one of them, she's got adaughter who has some challenges
and her going to schools.
Like it just takes a lot of themom's time.
She needs to be able to go toschool a few times a day, for
her daughter.
And then the other one, she'sgot a bunch of young kids and
she's in Arizona and Arizona isopening up their schools.
(22:12):
So, she's got to do homeschoolwith them or online school.
It's not really homeschool.
Right.
It's, there's a curriculumsomeone else made.
Uh, but you're doing it at home.
So, she's, she's like, I, I lovethis job.
I don't want to have to resign,but I just don't think I can do
it because I need to be with mykids from nine to one.
Right.
So, and I just thought, let's gohalf time.
Let's just have you work fromone to five every day.
(22:35):
Totally fine.
So, and that worked out great.
She's super happy, super loyal.
But I think employers have to bea little bit flexible right now
because people have their kidsin a lot of States there they're
a lot of States schools aren'topen and that is really hard
having school aged kids andhaving to teach them from home.
I mean, spring was rough.
(22:56):
Not only, not only on thebusiness, but like having the
kids try to do school at home.
It's crazy.
So, unlucky because right now mykids are in actual school and
we'll ride that train as long aswe can shut it down.
We expect they'll be back, but Ithink, I think employers have to
be flexible right now.
I don't think there's anythingwrong with saying like, this is
my family situation.
(23:17):
Are there any creativealternatives?
You know, and I love part timeemployees.
I think it's awesome.
I think it's awesome.
It's, it's less expensive andyou still get amazing quality
work out of people.
And they're very dedicatedworking these last 11 years with
like mostly stay at home moms.
They can multitask like nothingelse, man.
(23:38):
And they are dedicated, they areloyal.
They work harder than anybody.
I know.
Like I am like a huge fan of thestay at home moms.
Cause that's essentially, Imean, that's what I am.
Right.
So, people that can work like Ican and still balance it all.
And I think it's, I think it'samazing.
So, I don't think there's anyharm in having those
(23:58):
conversations.
I think if you can approach youremployer in such a way that, you
know, you're look, you're notsaying I can't do this.
You're saying like, here is mychallenge.
How can we come up with acreative solution to that?
Does that answer your question?
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Absolutely.
And I love that question.
How is there a creative solutionor a creative option for
whatever's going on?
Because sometimes you're like,Oh my gosh, they're going to
freak out.
Or I don't know, it can be nervewracking to ask those types of
questions because you don't wantto appear as if you're not up
for the task, because I thinkthat you usually are in your
(24:37):
experience and you want to dothe work, but there's stuff
right now that's happening.
That is out of a lot of ourcontrol.
So, there's a lot of parentsthat have had to leave the
workforce with their kids, doingschool at home.
I have talked to a lot of otherentrepreneurs who have lost good
employees because they needed tobe at home.
But for us it's like, well thenlet's just, we'll find a way to
(24:57):
make it part time and make itwork because it's not permanent.
Eventually coconut will end andI don't want to lose my awesome
people.
So, I'd rather give them someflexibility, but maybe not all
employers to be at the same way.
So, I say that with the copy of,Yeah.
Right.
That's true.
I've learned that a little bitfrom some of the listeners, but
just not every employer is madeequal.
(25:21):
So, in the other ones, but, so Idid want to ask if there is
anything else that you want tokind of add to this national
conversation about kind ofraising up and advancing your
career, creating your personalbrand in this COVID era that
we're dealing with right now?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah.
So, one of the things that'ssuper important to me is
people's desire to continue tolearn and grow on their own.
I'm the kind of person like I'mself taught.
I didn't graduate from college.
I learned how to do, you know,some computer programming, some
basic, you know, C plus plus Iactually studied COBOL in high
(26:04):
school.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Copel I have to ask what is that?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, their calculation program.
So, it's mainly use like inbanking and stuff like that,
math calculation.
So, most people who do anyprogramming will just laugh in
my face.
If I tell them that I studiedthat, cause it's like this
archaic language, but I believethe banking industry still uses
it.
But I mean, most programminglanguages are pretty similar.
(26:30):
But anyway, yeah, I've just, Imean, I've learned how to do
business.
I've taken lots of classes.
I read gazillion books, I havementors and advisors that I work
with.
I think everyone should alwayshave an advisor.
I actually set up my leadershipteam to, to all have mentors.
So, you know, like, our chiefrevenue officer works with
(26:51):
somebody on our board.
He's like background is in salesand he like started the sales
team at HubSpot back when theywere a startup.
And then, you know, connecting,like my HR director with one of
the VPs of HR.
You know, that I'm friends withto just, I think everybody
should have a mentor.
Everybody should have somebodythat's where they want to go.
(27:14):
Um, so that's one thing.
And then just being able tolearn all the time.
So, we hired a graphic designerwho is amazing and we needed a
product manager.
We needed somebody to likedesign our platform and our app
and everything and she wastotally up to the task.
She was like, I've never done itbefore, but I'm like super
(27:35):
interested in it.
I want to learn.
And she's just gone off on herown and she's like read all this
stuff and she's taken theseclasses and she's just been
figuring out.
And I also connected her with amentor.
So, one of the guys who builtthe UI for HubSpot and he now
works for Google, with theirGoogle Chrome UI.
And so you just kinda basicallygave her all the tools that she
needed.
But the advice then how thattranslates is like when, when
(27:58):
your employer needs something orthe company you work for has a
need like raise your hand and belike, if it's something you're
interested in, like, like I upfor learning it, right.
And the more you can learn andthe more you're willing to like
learn and growth, the more thecompany is going to be dependent
on you and not willing to letyou go because they're gonna
need you because you're, andespecially in my company too,
(28:21):
like we have our top sales rep,she had worked in finance.
She had worked in customersupport and now she works in
sales.
My very first employee stillworks for me and she's worked in
customer support and staffingand she ended up in finance and
that's where she wanted to stay.
So, you know, COVID cut us downand we had to rebuild.
It's basically like we'rebuilding a brand new startup and
(28:42):
those are the people I want inmy corner, in my like second
version of the company, that'sbasically a startup it's like,
who are those people that can dolike 10 different things?
And we're all these differentand are super flexible.
And we'll just go and learn itif they, if they don't know how
to do it.
And I think that's how youbecome really valuable to a
company.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
And that builds your personalbrand as well.
Like you can wear all those hatsand you're willing to be that
person that says yes and I'llfigure it out type thing.
So, I know that you had saidthat you guys are working on an
app, right.
So, it's coming out on Androidand then you have one that's
going to come out for the Apple.
(29:21):
Is that right?
The iOS.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Yeah.
So, iOS should be available theend of September Android.
We just completed beta.
We're making a few changes inthat should actually go live
later this week.
So, nice probably by September1st, the Android one will be
live.
So, but it's only, we only sellto employers.
So, like anybody can actually goto renovate.app and they can
(29:42):
create an account and log in andit can get access to like our
free content library.
But in order to get paid, wedon't sell direct to consumer.
I don't know if we ever will.
I like working with businessesand sit and make one big sale
instead of like a million smallsales.
But yeah, people like anybodycan get access to our free or
complimentary library.
(30:02):
And then they can, they'll beable to download it from the app
store and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Nice.
And they can tell their leaderstoo about the option if they
want to.
Is there anything else that youfeel like you guys are going to
be doing that makes a big impacton the industry coming up here?
Soon?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
The biggest thing we're just working on right now
is focusing on mental health.
And there's a few reasons forthat.
One of the reasons is when wefirst launched our original six
services, it included lifecoaching.
And almost immediately our lifecoaches were overwhelmed with
problems that were way biggerthan they could help with.
Right.
So people like addiction,depression, anxiety, PTSD, and
(30:42):
so I went, huh, they really needsomeone that can escalate to.
And we actually started lookingat people and clinics and stuff
we could partner with and othercompanies, and it just sucked
like what was out there, justthat it was like, I mean, the
system we built for massage isalready equipped to be able to
(31:02):
do the same thing with anyservice stuff.
I mean, licensed counselors, thelicensing is managed on a state
level.
So, we have to have likedifferent licensing requirements
for each state, which is howmassage was.
So, I was just like, you know,instead of working with all
these other companies that, youknow, just use independent
contractors and there's noguarantee on quality of service
or, or even like, if they'regoing to be available, are they
(31:24):
going to have any availability?
Cause right now the wait timesto get into counseling centers
are like three weeks.
So, I was just like, you knowwhat?
I think we can just hire our ownand I think we can do it.
So, we are in 12 States rightnow and we'll be nationwide by
the end of September.
So in fact, we'll be in the UKand Armenia as well.
(31:45):
Some of the companies we workwith are global.
And so, we have to have peoplein some of those other
countries, but it was just like,kind of like, there's a huge
need for mental health servicesright now.
There's a huge weight.
The EAPs people have are stillbroken.
You usually have to like call ahotline, talk to someone,
they'll give you a referral.
Like some other places you cancall and you have to call those
(32:05):
places, talk to herreceptionist, tell them your
problem.
They'll send you, set you upwith somebody and there's a
three week wait.
So, with us, people are bookingcounseling and they're getting
in within 24 hours.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That's amazing.
And that is like, I don't know.
I feel like industry rattlingalmost that just doesn't happen.
It doesn't happen.
And it's so needed right now.
So, I'm excited for you guys.
How can people connect with you?
What's the best way for peopleto connect LinkedIn all over
(32:39):
LinkedIn?
So yeah, people can find me onLinkedIn and DME.
I'm pretty good at responding topeople's messages.
So, that's awesome.
Thank you so much, Amelia, forbeing on the show, this has been
really amazing and I know thatour listeners are gonna get a,
get a lot out of it.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I loved being on the show.
Amanda was awesome.
(32:59):
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, I will talk to you guyslater.
Bye
Speaker 1 (33:07):
[inaudible].
Thanks for listening to theRaise Up Podcast.
If you want to raise towww.raiseuppodcast.com and
download our step by steproadmap where we've taken all
the expert advice we'vecollected and put it into a
simple PDF ebook called how toask for a raise.
Before you join us again, makesure to subscribe, share it with
(33:28):
your friends.
You can click the share button,take a screenshot and share it
on your social stories and tag.
Add Amanda, love fever.
See you again soon.
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