August 7, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode, Janet Carlson—CEO and Creative Director of 1.11 Group—takes us on a journey through three decades of fearless entrepreneurship. From learning negotiation skills at just 9 years old to building the first pharmaceutical website without any prior experience, Janet’s story is a testament to grit, innovation, and the power of reinvention.
She opens up about losing 98% of her business after 9/11 and rebuilding with the help of an SBA loan, creating groundbreaking programs for healthcare professionals, and transforming pharma brand planning with AI. Along the way, Janet shares how she’s balanced business and family, including the decision to adopt a third child during COVID, and how running, reading, and boxing fuel her creativity and strength. With unwavering support from her father and husband, and the guidance of the Entrepreneurs Organization, Janet reminds us that when things get tough, there’s always a way forward—if you’re willing to pivot, ask for help, and keep going.
Please visit www.internationalfacilitatorsorganization.com to learn more about Mo Fathelbab and International Facilitators Organization (IFO), a leading provider of facilitators and related group facilitation services, providing training, certification, marketing services, education, and community for peer group facilitators at all stages of their career.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Heart of Business podcast sponsored by
International FacilitatorsOrganization.
I'm your host, mo Fatalba,founder and president of
International FacilitatorsOrganization, and today our
guest is a longtime friend and along long time member of the
entrepreneurs organization,janet Carlson, ceo and creative
director of 111 Group.
(00:32):
Janet, welcome to the podcast,great to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm delighted to be here and I'm so happy to see you
, Mo.
You're one of my favoritepeople.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well, you too, I'll never forget how long ago did we
meet?
Was it 20 years?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
ago At least.
Yeah, it's been a while it'sbeen a while.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, I know that I heard tidbits of your story
along the way and certainly youmade an impression on me, so I
want to take this opportunity toshare the great Janet Carlson
with our audience.
So, oh boy, yeah.
So I want to just start at thebeginning.
What was your firstentrepreneurial gig?
(01:08):
What was your first kind of waythat you went out and said I'm
going to do this on my own andmake some money?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Got it.
So there was a kid across thestreet from my family.
So you may or may not rememberthat I'm an Air Force brat.
I've lived everywhere.
Throw a dart at the map.
I've been there.
This particular place was whenwe were in Oklahoma.
My dad was stationed at TinkerAir Force Base and we usually
lived on the base when we firstmoved and then we would usually
(01:35):
move to a house.
Somewhere Across the streetfrom us lived these beautiful
architects.
Like they were the mostbeautiful people you've ever
seen and they had the nastiestlittle boy that I've ever met in
my life.
He was just a brat.
I don't know if he was spoiled.
his name was craig he had brightred hair and freckles and he
was horrible.
Oh no, so nobody in theneighborhood babysit him because
(01:55):
he was just awful.
So she called me up.
They had to go to somearchitectural dinner or
something, and so she said I'mdesperate, I need you to babysit
.
And I said that's fine, I'd behappy to, and she goes.
Okay, pay is $5 an hour.
And I said not happening.
Not happening.
I said no, you will pay double.
Why is that?
And I said because your kid isawful and you know it.
(02:16):
And I said no one else willbabysit them.
I'm your last hope.
So it's cash, it's upfront andit's double.
And if you are late, if you'relike over I think it was like 10
o'clock you pay extra 10 bucks.
They paid it happily.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And where did you learn these impeccable
negotiation skills at such ayoung age?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So my dad was at this time he was probably a major or
maybe he was even a lieutenantcolonel by then but negotiating.
So he negotiated contracts.
It was part of his job and heactually ended up doing stuff
like that with the Department ofDefense.
I mean to the tune of likebillion dollar contracts.
But when I was probably nine or10, maybe nine, he took my
parents, collected modern art.
They were really into art anddad said said we're going to go
(03:06):
to a gallery, you're going tolearn how to negotiate.
I was like, okay, what do I do?
And he goes, walk around, pickout a piece that you love.
You're going to negotiate thesale of it.
I was like all right.
So of course I picked out thebiggest ass piece in the place.
It was a carol summer piecethat was the size of a wall.
It was big and I have no ideawhat it was like.
(03:28):
I can't remember how much Inegotiated for exactly, but my
dad kept his mouth shut thewhole time and I I negotiated
the deal.
That piece is still in myparents living room.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well done, what a great story, lovely, lovely.
So let's fast forward a bit.
So when did you start yourfirst business?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Let's see that would be 1994.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
1994.
And how did you do that?
So a lot of people out there,you know, dream about starting a
business and maybe don't know,like literally how to get
started.
So walk us through.
What did you do?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, well so.
So let we need to go back ateeny bit.
I got offered a job, so Iworked at Pfizer after I opted
out of med school.
The first time I went to workfor Pfizer as a sales rep and I
was very good at it, but my goalwas to get in house.
So I went.
After two years I was in-house,which was not done.
They gave me a job as a liaisonbetween sales and marketing.
I was there for five yearstotal.
What I realized was that I wasan ideator that's what I do best
(04:35):
so I would come up with newideas, I would get all excited
about it and I drove my bossinsane with this.
She was a lifer at Pfizer andthis is how things are done, and
we don't do things new way.
We do things our way.
So I drove her crazy.
So they started a committee forme.
It was called the Bright IdeasCommittee.
This was so.
I would go there, spit my ideasup and then go back to work and
(04:58):
shut up and do it.
That's basically what it was.
So when I realized that's whatit was, I went to work for an
advertising agency where Inegotiated a bonus, by the way I
didn't have one day'sadvertising experience and I
talked to fred kellogg, who'sthe ceo, and I said I want a
sign-on bonus of fifteenthousand dollars.
He said you do not have oneday's experience in advertising.
(05:22):
I said but I have four otherinterviews, so it could be you
that hires me or them you pick.
He gave me a check.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Nice, I know right.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So I worked for him.
I loved him.
I would have stayed as now partof Publicis.
I would have stayed with himforever, except Christopher
Whittle who started the MedicalNews Network.
So he started a superwell-funded company.
He offered me a Jaguar as acompany car and a ridiculous
salary and bonuses and I waslike, yeah, where do I sign?
(05:52):
I didn't know I could be anentrepreneur until I worked for
Chris.
When I worked for Chris I waslike, dang, I can do this.
I can take my ideas and I cansell them.
I mean, I know how to sell.
I knew how to do all the pieces, but I didn't put it together
until I saw Chris do it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And what about Chris?
So he, you saw him do it, andthat gave you the path and gave
you the example.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he , he was fascinated because we'd
be in the limo.
We took limos everywhere and hewould be drawing out ideas and
said what do you think?
Janet?
And I was like holy shit, thisguy draws stuff up and then gets
it funded and does it Amazing.
Why can't I do that?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Why can't I do that yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Why can't I do that?
So I worked for Chris, I think,for three years I headed up the
J&J business, so I was dealingwith the five presidents of the
J&J companies at 27, 26,.
I guess why the hell were theylistening to me, you know?
Except Chris said listen to her.
But I remember practicingsaying my name in the bathroom
before I went into a meetingwith these guys.
(06:55):
And I was like what are youdoing?
They're waiting to hear you.
So put on your big girl pantsand go.
So I did.
Once that phase was kind ofcoming to a close and I could
see it you know, the Titanic waswas sinking slowly, it just had
run its course I decided I wasgoing to do my own thing and I
(07:18):
said to my dad what do you thinkI should call the company?
He said call it JCA andassociates.
He goes, or JCA, yeah andassociates, that's what it was.
He said, so that way you can doanything.
I was like okay, tony figuredit out.
So that's what I did.
And I was focused on the web,because my dad said you know
what?
Everything you did with Chriswas satellite based.
The web is where it's going tobe.
This is what the web is.
He worked on ARPANET, by theway.
(07:39):
So I started making shit up andI went to Bristol Myers Squibb
and I said we're going to createa website for you, and doctors
are going to be able to come onit and read what Bristol-Myers
Squibb is up to and what youhave to offer and all that kind
of stuff.
And they're like okay, what'sthe web?
What does that mean and Iexplained it and they wrote me a
(07:59):
big fat check on bullshit.
Oh my God, yeah check onbullshit.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, and then I coded it myself and God, was it
ugly.
It was just it was ugly.
But you know what?
It was the first website in thepharmaceutical industry.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh my God.
So then I started realizing.
You know, you remember AOL.
For God's sake, the dial-uptone and everything, of course,
dudley Ansis founding board.
Member of EO.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Oh my goodness, yes, I realized that a way to get to
doctors.
So our focus of my agency waswith healthcare professionals.
The only way you saw healthcareprofessionals before was you
had to walk in and talk to them.
I realized you could send theman email.
So we created the first emailprogram called Mighty Mail.
In pharma I sold a crap ton ofthose things.
(08:43):
Again, I made it up and I wentout and sold it.
You know, then we did asampling program because what I
remembered as a rep was that Ihated carrying the samples in.
I thought those I didn't wantto wear a brown delivery uniform
and get signed samples.
It was stupid.
I needed my brain, becausethat's what that's really.
What I was selling was theinformation I had on the drugs
(09:04):
about you know, to share withthe doctors, not samples let
somebody else bring those.
So we created the firstsampling program that was done
on the web and on a mobile andyou could sign with your finger.
We worked with 48 pharmacompanies and this is in 1990
this was.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
That was probably late late 90s, early 2000s well,
you are ahead of your time, soyou got your business started.
What was it like in thebeginning of the takeoff, right
away?
Do you have any, any, anystumbles along the way?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh sure, I mean, you know I was making it up as I
went along, but but you know,and then I had to deliver, so
what?
The smartest thing I did washire my first employee and
office manager, antone Darby.
She was a model that was oversix feet tall.
She was stunningly beautifuland brilliant and she got my
business in order, because I'man ideator, but I need someone
(09:57):
to control the chaos.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
And that was her.
You're preaching to the choir.
Got it Right?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
No, she was brilliant , and so I quadrupled my income
in the first year because Antonebilled them on time.
If anybody was late, she'd reada Mariah Act.
She was amazing.
I'm still in touch with her.
She lives in France now, butshe was my employee for 10 years
.
My first one has stuck with meadored her and then I started
hiring more people.
(10:22):
I went and got one of thecreative directors out of
Bristol-Myers Squibb.
She was my business partner for12 years.
Brilliant woman, a woman namedKim Wilson Couldn't have done it
without her.
She was smarter than me andsuper, super creative.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And along the way, you joined EO, the Entrepreneurs
Organization, which is where wemet, and you were in a forum.
I'd love to hear the effect ofthat forum on you personally and
on your business.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Sure.
So, personally, you know, thevery first thing we did was we
wrote kind of a timeline of ourlife and I'll never forget that,
because there was some uglystuff that happened.
You know, my parents gotdivorced when I was three.
You know, my father, or my youknow, I really didn't see my
father until I was 18.
My parents it was kind of ugly.
(11:11):
Then we moved every two years,I mean, just various and sundry
things happened along the wayand it was really just going oh
huh, that could have had animpact on me.
So it was just really outlining,you know, where I'd come from,
some of the struggles that I'dfaced and that my, that my
family dealt with but that we,you know, really came out of it.
(11:33):
I mean, when I think about thegifts that my stepfather which I
never called my stepfather, bythe way, I designate, he's my
dad, my birth father is fatherGot it and I'm very close to
both of them, but that I meanthat was a process, but it made
me realize that I had to fixthat relationship with my father
, and I did.
(11:54):
I reached out to him and he wasopen to it and he said you can
ask me any question you want.
I did.
I asked really hard questions.
He gave very honest answers.
It was very healing.
So it was just going back toface that stuff.
You don't know you havesomething to heal unless you
face it, and that's what I did.
So and it was just everybodyout laying out their shit, man,
(12:15):
it was just allowing yourself tobe vulnerable as an Air Force
brat, I never cried.
I got fights all the timebecause the pack of wolves would
show up and you had to punchkids in the face to leave you
alone, and you had to do that.
So I learned to have kind ofthis exterior shell of steel so
(12:36):
that I didn't get my ass kickedon the base.
But that's not really agrown-up way to do things.
You can't punch people.
There's a few people I stillwanted to punch, by the way, but
I don't throw punches anymore.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Not anymore.
Okay, well, thank goodness.
And then what about on thebusiness side?
How did it help you?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
On the business side.
So I realized my strengths andweaknesses.
So it was really I knew mysuperpowers and I knew my
kryptonite and what I did was Igot help with the stuff that I
struggled with.
So there was one guy in ourgroup, dave.
I don't know if you rememberhim.
He was probably the smartestguy in the bunch, just really
insightful, just a smart cookie.
And if I had a thing where Iwas trying to figure out how to
(13:22):
monetarily put somethingtogether, I would ride the
subway home with Dave and askhim questions and that poor man
would listen and then counsel me.
He was brilliant.
I'm still in touch with him too.
Henry was the one who HenryKassendorf was the first one to
sell his company and he talkedus through the process of doing
that.
I mean, he sold this company toHP, for heaven's sakes, and
(13:45):
made a crap ton of money.
Christine Dimmick same thingthe lessons learned.
You know what worked, whatdidn't work, what you should do,
how you need to be set up, justunderstanding their path.
And then you know if I couldfollow in their steps or if I
could get advice from them.
But each one had differentthings to offer.
Some people I was close to,more close to than others, but I
(14:07):
had respect for everyone in thegroup and I appreciated the
very different viewpoints we hadand man people served it up.
I can share one specific thingthat happened.
I got sued for an agediscrimination case.
I hired this guy.
I fired him just short of threemonths because he was a liar.
(14:28):
He was basically he kind offabricated what he'd done.
He wasn't doing the work he wascontracted to do and he was a
big fat liar.
So I said you are a liar,you're not doing the work.
I said, first of all, you neverdid do this work.
You can't do this work andyou're not doing it now and I
have proof.
So you're fired.
You are actually so fired andhe sued me.
(14:49):
So I was so mad.
I thought he was a real dirtbagfor doing that and I went to
the forum and I said I need todiscuss this because I need some
advice.
I'm really mad and it wastaking a lot of energy.
And I went around the table andI said tell me what you think.
Every single person said payhim.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I was like last thing you want to do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
No, and they said shut up and pay him.
You know why?
No, and they said shut up andpay him.
You know why?
Look how much energy you'reexpending on someone who's a big
fat liar.
So you pick you want to suethis guy or you want to.
You can pay him.
Is it going to bug you?
Sure, Don't sign the check,then.
If you don't want to, you don'thave to.
You can have your financial guysign the check, don't worry
about it, and then walk away andscrew that guy.
(15:37):
You don't give him another, hedoesn't get to live, as they say
, rent free in your head.
And I did pay him and I let itgo and it was the smartest thing
I did.
And then I counseled otherfriends of mine who were
entrepreneurs one who got suedfor a huge amount of money and I
said, instead of going courtagainst this guy, have lunch
with him, ask him to lunch andhave a conversation.
(15:59):
They did.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It saved them a huge lawsuit.
They actually offered me a jobrunning their company after that
Amazing, amazing.
So tell us a bit about thetrajectory of this business that
you started that quadrupledyour income in the first year oh
my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I mean the.
So the business I was really inthe first part of it was, it
was one 11 interactive.
At that time we were doingwebsites for pharmaceutical
companies.
I don't even remember how muchwe were charging.
It was a lot.
I mean we got one check fromPfizer for a million dollars for
a website.
We were doing a lot ofconvention work and I had a
(16:34):
traveling team of 13 people whowould travel and just go to
conventions.
We'd build the booth and thenwe'd man the booth or person the
booth and you know, all weekendlong we'd be meeting with
doctors and such and it was ablast.
And then 9-11 happened.
After 9-11, I lost 98% of mybusiness in one, literally one
(16:55):
day.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
God.
Every single company called andcanceled our contract.
And I said you know, like youcan't do that, I have a contract
right here.
It's a signed contract.
And they said tough shit, youwant to fight Johnson and
Johnson.
Let's see how that works out.
And so I was like what do I do?
Well, I got a notice from theSBA and it said if you need help
(17:16):
getting some assistance, comeon down, bring your paperwork
and we'll talk to you.
I went through one line.
I talked to three people.
I had my paperwork in place andI walked away with $180,000.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Amazing.
I didn't have to lay off oneperson.
I had enough runway forprobably a couple.
It was a number of months,probably eight months or so.
Um, I went and got drunk in thebar.
Not going to lie, um took myentire crew with me.
We were drunk as skunks and Isaid we're going to figure this
out, guys, cause we just can'tsit here drinking.
So and they said, what shouldwe do?
(17:53):
And I said I got an idea and Idrew a picture of how we were
going to do sampling.
It was a sloppy picture becauseI'd had like six Cosmos, by the
way, but I drew out how we weregoing to do a sampling program.
And when I went to work onMonday, I said we're going to
meet and we're going to figureout how to do this.
And we did it.
And we partnered withHippocrates and, like I said, we
(18:16):
sold it to 48 companies.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Like I said, we sold it to 48 companies.
Oh my God, Amazing, amazing,amazing Janet.
So, janet, what quality ofyours you think has helped you
the most in finding the successall throughout your life?
Stubbornness.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Honestly.
I mean, ideation is one thing,yeah, so I put this up not that
long ago never, never, nevergive up.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I love that give up.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You can't give up.
I think people give up tooeasily.
Um, when it gets, when it getstough, um, you know there's,
there's always oil on the roadto entrepreneurialism.
It is not for pansies, it's.
You have to have grit.
And um, it's one of the thingsthat I saw with my son's rugby
team.
My son plays rugby in college.
(19:06):
He's also on another team.
They were losing to BostonCollege badly.
I think it was 35 to 0.
They were being trounced andthe captain of the rugby team
for UConn said lads, this is nothow we do things.
We're going to have to go outthere and we have to leave it
(19:27):
all on the field.
So if you don't want to do that, take a walk.
If you want to join me andleave it on the field, let's go.
We can't give up.
Who's got the grit?
And I was like dang.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
That spoke to my soul , because I was like that.
My friend is entrepreneurialismwhen it gets tough, you better
find your grit and there'salways a path out.
It may not be the easy path,but what I've also learned is
you have to ask for help.
I think entrepreneurs say, ohyou know I'll fail if I don't do
(19:59):
this myself.
That's a bunch of BS, so getover yourself.
Yes, have your grit, make aplan.
If you don't have a plan, youain't going nowhere either.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
And then you ask for help and I've done that.
I've reached out to colleaguesof mine that I worked with in
the past.
I've reached out to mentors.
I reached out to you and it'sjust have a conversation and get
the help you need and be bluntabout it.
Let yourself be vulnerable.
If they think that you're, youknow, weak, that's on them.
You don't control what otherpeople think about.
(20:29):
You can control only theactions that you do.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, janet, exciting, as
always.
I knew this would be an amazingconversation, so I'm not done
with you yet, though.
What are you doing these days?
What are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
AI, baby AI baby.
I love it, my, okay.
So again it comes back to mydad.
My dad, new year's, 2023.
We were drinking Prosecco,eating oysters, celebrating new
year's and my dad said, honey,if you don Prosecco, eating
oysters, celebrating new years?
And my dad said, honey, if youdon't do something with AI, you
(21:04):
won't be doing anything.
I said, well, what does thatmean?
He goes you need to figure outAI for healthcare and for
pharmaceuticals or you won'thave a business.
And I was like Jesus, okay, um,and so I started messing around
with a little bit.
I got team members on it.
I said we got to figure thisout.
We got to figure out what we'regoing to do and we were doing
(21:24):
at the time for healthcarecompanies, we do brand maps.
Brand maps is basically it was astructured interview.
It would take two hours to dothe interview just to find out
where they are, where they wantto go, and we craft a map to get
them where they want to be withhigh level strategy and tactics
.
It took, you know.
So the interview.
Writing up the interview tookfive or six days.
(21:45):
Then you do a review with them.
I mean the whole process took acouple weeks.
I had a colleague of mine callup and he goes I love your brand
map.
I did one with him and he saidyou need to automate it.
And I was like how the hell doI do that?
And he goes I'll show you.
So we talked about it.
Now we do it using prompts andthe people answer the questions
with their voice.
First of all, they love itbecause they can do it at
(22:07):
midnight if they want.
I don't care.
I had to schedule the meetingsbefore and be on the call and
that took a tremendous chunk oftime.
I don't do that anymore.
If they want to do it at one inthe morning or at Bora Bora, I
could care less.
It also allows people on theirteam to participate, even if
they aren't together or ondifferent time zones or whatever
(22:27):
allows them to participate.
And now we can turn thosearound in a day, a day.
Yeah, I mean, I usually take alittle longer.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh, it was two weeks, two weeks, amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And they're fantastic .
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
And then we built.
So then we built a tool becausewe were doing a lot of content
creation across different teammembers.
The problem was the voices weredifferent.
My voice was very unique Icurse, I say all kinds of stuff.
I mean, you've probably seensome of my posts.
They're a little spicysometimes, but my voice is the
(23:02):
voice, the brand, for 111 Group.
So if someone else was writing,it wasn't the same.
So we built a tool with myvoice baked in with our
vernacular, baked in with ourphr phrasing, baked in with all
that kind of stuff, so that nomatter who writes, it sounds
like the brand.
And we're building those toolsfor our clients.
(23:23):
So now, instead of having tolike come up with social media
or write an email program oreven write, I read proposals
with it too.
It's a blast and you know what?
I can knock out that paperwork?
I had nine things to write.
I did it in half an hour, yeah,and they're beautiful and I
just tweak them.
You know it's still, but I'mstill doing the work.
(23:43):
The thing is it's a tool like apen or a computer or anything
else.
It's.
It's no different, but thestuff comes from here.
Nothing can duplicate that.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So how much do you think AI is going to displace
jobs Like in your field.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I think AI is going to take out the monkey work.
I think so.
I don't think it's going to be.
I mean, will it replace jobs?
I just don't think so.
I think it'll.
Just it's like another tool,you know.
I mean we had to write shit outbefore we had computers.
I think for people like me whoideate, it just allows me to do
(24:24):
more stuff faster.
But I think for companies it'sgoing to require somebody who
uses the tool.
Somebody's got to hold the tool.
The AI is not doing it itself.
You have to write prompts.
Well, you have to have tools todo the prompts, because not
everybody's good at writingprompts.
So we've created that.
That's another job.
You know, creating those toolsis something.
Teaching the clients how to useit is something.
(24:46):
Working with clients as theyuse the tools.
I mean I think some of the verylow level stuff might get
knocked out.
I mean I see now at the grocerystore, you know like there
aren't as many people checkingpeople out.
By the way, you know there'smore of that is done.
But now you can do a differentjob.
That isn't monkey work.
You know what I mean.
(25:07):
So I just feel in the agencyworld it's just allowing us to
do things better that allow themore higher functioning things
to be done with more brainpowerto do it.
That's how I look at it.
I spend less time doing stupidcrap, which I hate writing
proposals.
I mean you need to do it, but Ihate writing them and I usually
(25:28):
do the proposals, or at leastthe last piece of it.
And here it's like proposalscan be put in front of me and I
can review it and make sometweaks Out the door.
It goes in a much more timelyfashion because I don't dread
doing it anymore.
You know it takes me.
I mean I can bust out aproposal in four minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Amazing.
You know, I have done the samething.
I got to tell you it'sincredible.
It's absolutely incrediblebecause, wow, what a tool.
What a tool.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Well.
So one of the things I was on arun, so a lot of times I'll
think of ideas on a run and Istarted thinking about brand
planning.
So in the pharmaceuticalindustry, every single brand
there is writes a plan.
There are 20,000 brands in theUnited States, by the way.
Right now, every single one ofthem writes a plan every single
year, and every year everyonebitches because everybody well,
(26:21):
okay, I'll preface this 94% ofpeople in pharma hate brand
planning because it's monkeywork.
You got to go around, geteverybody to the table,
everybody's got to say theirpiece.
So what we've done is we'vecreated a version where you use
your voice to give the input,based on last year's brand plan.
So it takes last year's brandplan, puts it in the system, we
(26:43):
create the questions.
You see the prompts, your teamanswers the questions with your
voice.
Guess what?
No one's writing.
No one's writing.
And then I take all thetranscripts from all the teams
from all over the world and Iput them into a document and I
hand them back a brief and Iflag the misalignment.
So anywhere they're not on thesame page, they see it in bright
(27:03):
yellow and then they cancorrect those misalignments like
that and then I hand them backa finished brief.
It goes to their agency to dotheir sparkly magic and add
their input.
Goes to their agency to dotheir sparkling magic and add
their input.
But it's not using up all thosebillable hours or people's time
doing shit everybody hatesanyway.
Now it's actually fun to do so.
(27:26):
23,000 brands give me 1% ofthat, you know and I'm off to
the races.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So you've reinvented yourself at least a couple of
times now.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Or is it more than?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
that At least three times.
At least three times, at leastthree times you have to do.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean, if you're not willing to pivot, you're
probably screwed too.
Um, you know, you gotta see thewriting on the wall.
If something is not working,then you need to say okay, I
need either.
You know, and you can't give uptoo quickly, though, because
sometimes it's going to takesome perseverance, but you got
to make sure you got the runwayto do that, and I was fortunate
that I had the runway to makethis big pivot, because we had
(28:02):
gone out of pharma for abouteight years and it takes some
doing to get back in, and so Ibanked the runway time and I
said we're going to stick itbecause this is the right thing
to do, and I think within a week, we're going to have our first
deals in pharma.
There'll be about four of them.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
All right, all right, I have no doubt.
I have no doubt.
So last thing is we haven'ttalked too much about your
personal life, some of yourpassions that really get you out
of bed in the morning otherthan work, because I know you're
passionate about your work.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
But you know like I actually take time to read and
drink coffee in the morning.
When I get up, the first thingI do is I got to take.
You know, john, and I take thedogs out, but I take time to
read.
I read probably three books aweek.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
On a slow week Probably three books a week.
Amazing On a slow week.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
What's one of your favorites right now?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I am reading.
What is it?
The Four Winds.
It's a book about the GreatDepression, which I may tell you
, if you're ever having a toughtime in your entrepreneurial day
, go read this book, becausethen you know, hey, we ain't
breathing dust in.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
What's the perspective?
Huh.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Oh God, yeah, no, it's like get over yourself.
You didn't live through thedepression and let me tell you
that was a cluster.
You know what?
Um, I mean I've uh, so one ofthe challenges from New York
times was reading differentkinds of books.
So they had a challenge.
I think there were 10 differenttypes of books that they wanted
you to try, and so I've beenchecking things off, which is
kind of fun, reading from adifferent genre.
(29:33):
I'm reading a book about summer, reading a book from a
different time.
Uh, it's been really fun.
So my kids made fun of me whenI put it on the refrigerator,
but I've been reading books andchecking them off and feeling
very superior.
Uh, I love running.
I'm running Keeps me sane.
I do it for my physical health,yes, but I do it for my mental
health, and I run three times aweek, typically in the woods
(29:58):
next to a river, no headphones,no, nothing.
Just listening to wind andbirds and other creatures that I
don't want to think aboutwalking around, but I just go
into my own head.
It's where I come up with a lotof thoughts going forward and
stuff we can try.
Um, things I want to talk aboutwith clients, a lot of social
(30:18):
media posts get written herewhile I'm running.
Um, I loved boxing.
Um, I actually got invited tofight in the golden gloves.
Um, when we lived in New York.
I'm a very good boxer.
I can throw a punch baby.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Oh my God, I'm going to stay away.
I got it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
It's, um, you know like, it's just instinctual.
I threw my first punch innursery school.
Apparently, some kid wasbeating up one of my brothers.
I told him to knock it off.
He didn't.
I punched him in the face.
You are tough.
I know I am tough.
I love boxing, but after I hadbabies my doctor was like I
think your boxing days are over.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
It's a.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
It's, it is hard on your brain.
I realized after a fight.
I didn't feel quite right.
It's, it is very hard on you.
And my one of my businesspartners said I need you to have
your brain, because your brainis what leads this company.
So knock it off.
And so I did.
I did stop boxing but, but Igot grabbed in a garage in New
(31:16):
York City and some guy tried tograb me and I had my hands up
and he goes oh my God, don't hitme.
I said then maybe you want totake your hands off me, pal Ooh.
Yeah it does serve a purpose too.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
God, yeah, so reading , running, boxing, watching
rugby or any sport my kids areplaying.
My kids played soccer, lacrosseand then rugby.
So I've got three 20-year-olds.
We have twins, a boy and a girl, Harry and Ellie.
And then Shania is our thirdkid that we got during COVID.
Her family went through areally rough time Parents died,
(31:55):
and so we took her in and she'snow our kid.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Amazing, amazing.
What's that been like to bringin another kid into the family?
How has that impacted thefamily?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
You know, it was during COVID, so it was a very
difficult time.
But when we realized thatthings were not good at her
house, um, she just reallycouldn't go back there.
Then we just we had to step upand it wasn't um, it really
wasn't an option, um, it was oneof those things that if we sent
her back that she would nothave made it.
I don't think Um and it wasjust, it was just a decision
(32:32):
that was so obvious to me that Ithought, if we don't do this, I
think we'd kind of go to hell.
I, I mean, I'm Catholic light,but you know, I just thought,
you know, I can solve this kid'sproblem, and it's not that big
a lift, it's one more kid, likeyou know whatever.
It.
It wasn't without bumps, but weworked through them and she,
(32:55):
she, I mean she's a, she's awonderful child and, uh, she's
just, she's a whole differentperson.
I mean, when she came to us shewould eat tiny and try to make
herself small and not speak, andnow she's, like, you know,
curses as much as me and youknow, eats with a healthy
appetite and she's and sheexercises and she's exploring,
(33:15):
you know, lake Ontario thissummer with an internship that's
paid, by the way, amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
All three kids are working.
I mean it's just, it's, youknow, all three kids are in
college.
So yeah, I mean I work to keepmy kids in college.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
There you go.
So last question, janet what isor who is one person?
And I have a feeling I knowthis answer, but who's one
person who's had the biggestimpact on you, maybe the person
for whom you're most grateful?
Well, tough question.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
It is, but I think it's actually Ollie Carlson.
So he gave me his name.
When I was seven years old, headopted me and, uh, you know his
passion for art, um, hisknowledge about so many things,
(34:09):
but, but his forward thinkingability, um, the web, ai, you
know all that kind of stuffwhere he said, hey, you know you
might want to think about.
And when he says, you know youmight want to think about, I
think about it.
I think I'm grateful that hetook me in and his daughter, my
little brother, and I became hischildren the day he adopted us.
(34:30):
You know, he just gave methings that I would have never
had.
I mean, we traveled all overthe place.
He gave me a love for travelingthe world.
He gave me a joy for speakingother languages and the bravery
to do so.
But the appreciation for art, Imean.
I met Alexander Calder.
You know, because of my dad.
(34:51):
They were there.
His family had a long, deeprelationship with the Calders.
I mean, I would have never donethese things without Ali
Carlson.
So the fact that he became mydad and now I have the benefit
of two dads is even better.
He's certainly one of thepeople.
The other one is my husband,john Sanders, who really did
(35:16):
believe in me and never tried toI mean, the word control isn't
the right word he saw who I wasand he was comfortable enough in
his own skin and confidentenough in his own being that he
could let me be me and be okaywith that.
I'm not sure many like I don'twant to say this about many men,
because I don't know if that'strue or false he just accepted
(35:37):
me for the spirit I was and justlet it rip.
And he's had the belief in me,um, from the very beginning.
Um and just has always had myback, no matter what, even when
I was coming up with some crazyshit, and I'm sure he was saying
himself what in the holy crapis this woman getting us into
now?
But he stands by me and hebelieves in me and he I mean to
(35:57):
say he's a wind beneath my wingsis an understatement but we are
true partners in parenthood.
I guess I should say but blessthat man's heart.
I mean, he's always had my backand I love him to death.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Amazing, amazing.
Janet Carlson, what a pleasureto see you and to share your
incredible energy and spiritwith our audience.
Thank you again.
Thank you to our audience and,as a reminder, podcast reviews
have an impact on a podcastvisibility, so please leave a
review to help others find ashow.
Thank you for tuning in andhave a lovely rest of your day.
Welcome to the Heart of Business podcast sponsored by
International FacilitatorsOrganization.
I'm your host, mo Fatalba,founder and president of
International FacilitatorsOrganization, and today our
guest is a longtime friend and along long time member of the
entrepreneurs organization,janet Carlson, ceo and creative
director of 111 Group.
(00:32):
Janet, welcome to the podcast,great to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm delighted to be here and I'm so happy to see you
, Mo.
You're one of my favoritepeople.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well, you too, I'll never forget how long ago did we
meet?
Was it 20 years?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
ago At least.
Yeah, it's been a while it'sbeen a while.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, I know that I heard tidbits of your story
along the way and certainly youmade an impression on me, so I
want to take this opportunity toshare the great Janet Carlson
with our audience.
So, oh boy, yeah.
So I want to just start at thebeginning.
What was your firstentrepreneurial gig?
(01:08):
What was your first kind of waythat you went out and said I'm
going to do this on my own andmake some money?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Got it.
So there was a kid across thestreet from my family.
So you may or may not rememberthat I'm an Air Force brat.
I've lived everywhere.
Throw a dart at the map.
I've been there.
This particular place was whenwe were in Oklahoma.
My dad was stationed at TinkerAir Force Base and we usually
lived on the base when we firstmoved and then we would usually
(01:35):
move to a house.
Somewhere Across the streetfrom us lived these beautiful
architects.
Like they were the mostbeautiful people you've ever
seen and they had the nastiestlittle boy that I've ever met in
my life.
He was just a brat.
I don't know if he was spoiled.
his name was craig he had brightred hair and freckles and he
was horrible.
Oh no, so nobody in theneighborhood babysit him because
(01:55):
he was just awful.
So she called me up.
They had to go to somearchitectural dinner or
something, and so she said I'mdesperate, I need you to babysit
.
And I said that's fine, I'd behappy to, and she goes.
Okay, pay is $5 an hour.
And I said not happening.
Not happening.
I said no, you will pay double.
Why is that?
And I said because your kid isawful and you know it.
(02:16):
And I said no one else willbabysit them.
I'm your last hope.
So it's cash, it's upfront andit's double.
And if you are late, if you'relike over I think it was like 10
o'clock you pay extra 10 bucks.
They paid it happily.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And where did you learn these impeccable
negotiation skills at such ayoung age?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So my dad was at this time he was probably a major or
maybe he was even a lieutenantcolonel by then but negotiating.
So he negotiated contracts.
It was part of his job and heactually ended up doing stuff
like that with the Department ofDefense.
I mean to the tune of likebillion dollar contracts.
But when I was probably nine or10, maybe nine, he took my
parents, collected modern art.
They were really into art anddad said said we're going to go
(03:06):
to a gallery, you're going tolearn how to negotiate.
I was like, okay, what do I do?
And he goes, walk around, pickout a piece that you love.
You're going to negotiate thesale of it.
I was like all right.
So of course I picked out thebiggest ass piece in the place.
It was a carol summer piecethat was the size of a wall.
It was big and I have no ideawhat it was like.
(03:28):
I can't remember how much Inegotiated for exactly, but my
dad kept his mouth shut thewhole time and I I negotiated
the deal.
That piece is still in myparents living room.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well done, what a great story, lovely, lovely.
So let's fast forward a bit.
So when did you start yourfirst business?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Let's see that would be 1994.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
1994.
And how did you do that?
So a lot of people out there,you know, dream about starting a
business and maybe don't know,like literally how to get
started.
So walk us through.
What did you do?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, well so.
So let we need to go back ateeny bit.
I got offered a job, so Iworked at Pfizer after I opted
out of med school.
The first time I went to workfor Pfizer as a sales rep and I
was very good at it, but my goalwas to get in house.
So I went.
After two years I was in-house,which was not done.
They gave me a job as a liaisonbetween sales and marketing.
I was there for five yearstotal.
What I realized was that I wasan ideator that's what I do best
(04:35):
so I would come up with newideas, I would get all excited
about it and I drove my bossinsane with this.
She was a lifer at Pfizer andthis is how things are done, and
we don't do things new way.
We do things our way.
So I drove her crazy.
So they started a committee forme.
It was called the Bright IdeasCommittee.
This was so.
I would go there, spit my ideasup and then go back to work and
(04:58):
shut up and do it.
That's basically what it was.
So when I realized that's whatit was, I went to work for an
advertising agency where Inegotiated a bonus, by the way I
didn't have one day'sadvertising experience and I
talked to fred kellogg, who'sthe ceo, and I said I want a
sign-on bonus of fifteenthousand dollars.
He said you do not have oneday's experience in advertising.
(05:22):
I said but I have four otherinterviews, so it could be you
that hires me or them you pick.
He gave me a check.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Nice, I know right.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So I worked for him.
I loved him.
I would have stayed as now partof Publicis.
I would have stayed with himforever, except Christopher
Whittle who started the MedicalNews Network.
So he started a superwell-funded company.
He offered me a Jaguar as acompany car and a ridiculous
salary and bonuses and I waslike, yeah, where do I sign?
(05:52):
I didn't know I could be anentrepreneur until I worked for
Chris.
When I worked for Chris I waslike, dang, I can do this.
I can take my ideas and I cansell them.
I mean, I know how to sell.
I knew how to do all the pieces, but I didn't put it together
until I saw Chris do it.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And what about Chris?
So he, you saw him do it, andthat gave you the path and gave
you the example.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he , he was fascinated because we'd
be in the limo.
We took limos everywhere and hewould be drawing out ideas and
said what do you think?
Janet?
And I was like holy shit, thisguy draws stuff up and then gets
it funded and does it Amazing.
Why can't I do that?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Why can't I do that yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Why can't I do that?
So I worked for Chris, I think,for three years I headed up the
J&J business, so I was dealingwith the five presidents of the
J&J companies at 27, 26,.
I guess why the hell were theylistening to me, you know?
Except Chris said listen to her.
But I remember practicingsaying my name in the bathroom
before I went into a meetingwith these guys.
(06:55):
And I was like what are youdoing?
They're waiting to hear you.
So put on your big girl pantsand go.
So I did.
Once that phase was kind ofcoming to a close and I could
see it you know, the Titanic waswas sinking slowly, it just had
run its course I decided I wasgoing to do my own thing and I
(07:18):
said to my dad what do you thinkI should call the company?
He said call it JCA andassociates.
He goes, or JCA, yeah andassociates, that's what it was.
He said, so that way you can doanything.
I was like okay, tony figuredit out.
So that's what I did.
And I was focused on the web,because my dad said you know
what?
Everything you did with Chriswas satellite based.
The web is where it's going tobe.
This is what the web is.
He worked on ARPANET, by theway.
(07:39):
So I started making shit up andI went to Bristol Myers Squibb
and I said we're going to createa website for you, and doctors
are going to be able to come onit and read what Bristol-Myers
Squibb is up to and what youhave to offer and all that kind
of stuff.
And they're like okay, what'sthe web?
What does that mean and Iexplained it and they wrote me a
(07:59):
big fat check on bullshit.
Oh my God, yeah check onbullshit.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, and then I coded it myself and God, was it
ugly.
It was just it was ugly.
But you know what?
It was the first website in thepharmaceutical industry.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh my God.
So then I started realizing.
You know, you remember AOL.
For God's sake, the dial-uptone and everything, of course,
dudley Ansis founding board.
Member of EO.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Oh my goodness, yes, I realized that a way to get to
doctors.
So our focus of my agency waswith healthcare professionals.
The only way you saw healthcareprofessionals before was you
had to walk in and talk to them.
I realized you could send theman email.
So we created the first emailprogram called Mighty Mail.
In pharma I sold a crap ton ofthose things.
(08:43):
Again, I made it up and I wentout and sold it.
You know, then we did asampling program because what I
remembered as a rep was that Ihated carrying the samples in.
I thought those I didn't wantto wear a brown delivery uniform
and get signed samples.
It was stupid.
I needed my brain, becausethat's what that's really.
What I was selling was theinformation I had on the drugs
(09:04):
about you know, to share withthe doctors, not samples let
somebody else bring those.
So we created the firstsampling program that was done
on the web and on a mobile andyou could sign with your finger.
We worked with 48 pharmacompanies and this is in 1990
this was.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
That was probably late late 90s, early 2000s well,
you are ahead of your time, soyou got your business started.
What was it like in thebeginning of the takeoff, right
away?
Do you have any, any, anystumbles along the way?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh sure, I mean, you know I was making it up as I
went along, but but you know,and then I had to deliver, so
what?
The smartest thing I did washire my first employee and
office manager, antone Darby.
She was a model that was oversix feet tall.
She was stunningly beautifuland brilliant and she got my
business in order, because I'man ideator, but I need someone
(09:57):
to control the chaos.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
And that was her.
You're preaching to the choir.
Got it Right?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
No, she was brilliant , and so I quadrupled my income
in the first year because Antonebilled them on time.
If anybody was late, she'd reada Mariah Act.
She was amazing.
I'm still in touch with her.
She lives in France now, butshe was my employee for 10 years
.
My first one has stuck with meadored her and then I started
hiring more people.
(10:22):
I went and got one of thecreative directors out of
Bristol-Myers Squibb.
She was my business partner for12 years.
Brilliant woman, a woman namedKim Wilson Couldn't have done it
without her.
She was smarter than me andsuper, super creative.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And along the way, you joined EO, the Entrepreneurs
Organization, which is where wemet, and you were in a forum.
I'd love to hear the effect ofthat forum on you personally and
on your business.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Sure.
So, personally, you know, thevery first thing we did was we
wrote kind of a timeline of ourlife and I'll never forget that,
because there was some uglystuff that happened.
You know, my parents gotdivorced when I was three.
You know, my father, or my youknow, I really didn't see my
father until I was 18.
My parents it was kind of ugly.
(11:11):
Then we moved every two years,I mean, just various and sundry
things happened along the wayand it was really just going oh
huh, that could have had animpact on me.
So it was just really outlining,you know, where I'd come from,
some of the struggles that I'dfaced and that my, that my
family dealt with but that we,you know, really came out of it.
(11:33):
I mean, when I think about thegifts that my stepfather which I
never called my stepfather, bythe way, I designate, he's my
dad, my birth father is fatherGot it and I'm very close to
both of them, but that I meanthat was a process, but it made
me realize that I had to fixthat relationship with my father
, and I did.
(11:54):
I reached out to him and he wasopen to it and he said you can
ask me any question you want.
I did.
I asked really hard questions.
He gave very honest answers.
It was very healing.
So it was just going back toface that stuff.
You don't know you havesomething to heal unless you
face it, and that's what I did.
So and it was just everybodyout laying out their shit, man,
(12:15):
it was just allowing yourself tobe vulnerable as an Air Force
brat, I never cried.
I got fights all the timebecause the pack of wolves would
show up and you had to punchkids in the face to leave you
alone, and you had to do that.
So I learned to have kind ofthis exterior shell of steel so
(12:36):
that I didn't get my ass kickedon the base.
But that's not really agrown-up way to do things.
You can't punch people.
There's a few people I stillwanted to punch, by the way, but
I don't throw punches anymore.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Not anymore.
Okay, well, thank goodness.
And then what about on thebusiness side?
How did it help you?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
On the business side.
So I realized my strengths andweaknesses.
So it was really I knew mysuperpowers and I knew my
kryptonite and what I did was Igot help with the stuff that I
struggled with.
So there was one guy in ourgroup, dave.
I don't know if you rememberhim.
He was probably the smartestguy in the bunch, just really
insightful, just a smart cookie.
And if I had a thing where Iwas trying to figure out how to
(13:22):
monetarily put somethingtogether, I would ride the
subway home with Dave and askhim questions and that poor man
would listen and then counsel me.
He was brilliant.
I'm still in touch with him too.
Henry was the one who HenryKassendorf was the first one to
sell his company and he talkedus through the process of doing
that.
I mean, he sold this company toHP, for heaven's sakes, and
(13:45):
made a crap ton of money.
Christine Dimmick same thingthe lessons learned.
You know what worked, whatdidn't work, what you should do,
how you need to be set up, justunderstanding their path.
And then you know if I couldfollow in their steps or if I
could get advice from them.
But each one had differentthings to offer.
Some people I was close to,more close to than others, but I
(14:07):
had respect for everyone in thegroup and I appreciated the
very different viewpoints we hadand man people served it up.
I can share one specific thingthat happened.
I got sued for an agediscrimination case.
I hired this guy.
I fired him just short of threemonths because he was a liar.
(14:28):
He was basically he kind offabricated what he'd done.
He wasn't doing the work he wascontracted to do and he was a
big fat liar.
So I said you are a liar,you're not doing the work.
I said, first of all, you neverdid do this work.
You can't do this work andyou're not doing it now and I
have proof.
So you're fired.
You are actually so fired andhe sued me.
(14:49):
So I was so mad.
I thought he was a real dirtbagfor doing that and I went to
the forum and I said I need todiscuss this because I need some
advice.
I'm really mad and it wastaking a lot of energy.
And I went around the table andI said tell me what you think.
Every single person said payhim.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I was like last thing you want to do.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
No, and they said shut up and pay him.
You know why?
No, and they said shut up andpay him.
You know why?
Look how much energy you'reexpending on someone who's a big
fat liar.
So you pick you want to suethis guy or you want to.
You can pay him.
Is it going to bug you?
Sure, Don't sign the check,then.
If you don't want to, you don'thave to.
You can have your financial guysign the check, don't worry
about it, and then walk away andscrew that guy.
(15:37):
You don't give him another, hedoesn't get to live, as they say
, rent free in your head.
And I did pay him and I let itgo and it was the smartest thing
I did.
And then I counseled otherfriends of mine who were
entrepreneurs one who got suedfor a huge amount of money and I
said, instead of going courtagainst this guy, have lunch
with him, ask him to lunch andhave a conversation.
(15:59):
They did.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It saved them a huge lawsuit.
They actually offered me a jobrunning their company after that
Amazing, amazing.
So tell us a bit about thetrajectory of this business that
you started that quadrupledyour income in the first year oh
my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I mean the.
So the business I was really inthe first part of it was, it
was one 11 interactive.
At that time we were doingwebsites for pharmaceutical
companies.
I don't even remember how muchwe were charging.
It was a lot.
I mean we got one check fromPfizer for a million dollars for
a website.
We were doing a lot ofconvention work and I had a
(16:34):
traveling team of 13 people whowould travel and just go to
conventions.
We'd build the booth and thenwe'd man the booth or person the
booth and you know, all weekendlong we'd be meeting with
doctors and such and it was ablast.
And then 9-11 happened.
After 9-11, I lost 98% of mybusiness in one, literally one
(16:55):
day.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
God.
Every single company called andcanceled our contract.
And I said you know, like youcan't do that, I have a contract
right here.
It's a signed contract.
And they said tough shit, youwant to fight Johnson and
Johnson.
Let's see how that works out.
And so I was like what do I do?
Well, I got a notice from theSBA and it said if you need help
(17:16):
getting some assistance, comeon down, bring your paperwork
and we'll talk to you.
I went through one line.
I talked to three people.
I had my paperwork in place andI walked away with $180,000.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Amazing.
I didn't have to lay off oneperson.
I had enough runway forprobably a couple.
It was a number of months,probably eight months or so.
Um, I went and got drunk in thebar.
Not going to lie, um took myentire crew with me.
We were drunk as skunks and Isaid we're going to figure this
out, guys, cause we just can'tsit here drinking.
So and they said, what shouldwe do?
(17:53):
And I said I got an idea and Idrew a picture of how we were
going to do sampling.
It was a sloppy picture becauseI'd had like six Cosmos, by the
way, but I drew out how we weregoing to do a sampling program.
And when I went to work onMonday, I said we're going to
meet and we're going to figureout how to do this.
And we did it.
And we partnered withHippocrates and, like I said, we
(18:16):
sold it to 48 companies.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Like I said, we sold it to 48 companies.
Oh my God, Amazing, amazing,amazing Janet.
So, janet, what quality ofyours you think has helped you
the most in finding the successall throughout your life?
Stubbornness.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Honestly.
I mean, ideation is one thing,yeah, so I put this up not that
long ago never, never, nevergive up.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I love that give up.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You can't give up.
I think people give up tooeasily.
Um, when it gets, when it getstough, um, you know there's,
there's always oil on the roadto entrepreneurialism.
It is not for pansies, it's.
You have to have grit.
And um, it's one of the thingsthat I saw with my son's rugby
team.
My son plays rugby in college.
(19:06):
He's also on another team.
They were losing to BostonCollege badly.
I think it was 35 to 0.
They were being trounced andthe captain of the rugby team
for UConn said lads, this is nothow we do things.
We're going to have to go outthere and we have to leave it
(19:27):
all on the field.
So if you don't want to do that, take a walk.
If you want to join me andleave it on the field, let's go.
We can't give up.
Who's got the grit?
And I was like dang.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
That spoke to my soul , because I was like that.
My friend is entrepreneurialismwhen it gets tough, you better
find your grit and there'salways a path out.
It may not be the easy path,but what I've also learned is
you have to ask for help.
I think entrepreneurs say, ohyou know I'll fail if I don't do
(19:59):
this myself.
That's a bunch of BS, so getover yourself.
Yes, have your grit, make aplan.
If you don't have a plan, youain't going nowhere either.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
And then you ask for help and I've done that.
I've reached out to colleaguesof mine that I worked with in
the past.
I've reached out to mentors.
I reached out to you and it'sjust have a conversation and get
the help you need and be bluntabout it.
Let yourself be vulnerable.
If they think that you're, youknow, weak, that's on them.
You don't control what otherpeople think about.
(20:29):
You can control only theactions that you do.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, janet, exciting, as
always.
I knew this would be an amazingconversation, so I'm not done
with you yet, though.
What are you doing these days?
What are you doing now?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
AI, baby AI baby.
I love it, my, okay.
So again it comes back to mydad.
My dad, new year's, 2023.
We were drinking Prosecco,eating oysters, celebrating new
year's and my dad said, honey,if you don Prosecco, eating
oysters, celebrating new years?
And my dad said, honey, if youdon't do something with AI, you
(21:04):
won't be doing anything.
I said, well, what does thatmean?
He goes you need to figure outAI for healthcare and for
pharmaceuticals or you won'thave a business.
And I was like Jesus, okay, um,and so I started messing around
with a little bit.
I got team members on it.
I said we got to figure thisout.
We got to figure out what we'regoing to do and we were doing
(21:24):
at the time for healthcarecompanies, we do brand maps.
Brand maps is basically it was astructured interview.
It would take two hours to dothe interview just to find out
where they are, where they wantto go, and we craft a map to get
them where they want to be withhigh level strategy and tactics
.
It took, you know.
So the interview.
Writing up the interview tookfive or six days.
(21:45):
Then you do a review with them.
I mean the whole process took acouple weeks.
I had a colleague of mine callup and he goes I love your brand
map.
I did one with him and he saidyou need to automate it.
And I was like how the hell doI do that?
And he goes I'll show you.
So we talked about it.
Now we do it using prompts andthe people answer the questions
with their voice.
First of all, they love itbecause they can do it at
(22:07):
midnight if they want.
I don't care.
I had to schedule the meetingsbefore and be on the call and
that took a tremendous chunk oftime.
I don't do that anymore.
If they want to do it at one inthe morning or at Bora Bora, I
could care less.
It also allows people on theirteam to participate, even if
they aren't together or ondifferent time zones or whatever
(22:27):
allows them to participate.
And now we can turn thosearound in a day, a day.
Yeah, I mean, I usually take alittle longer.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Oh, it was two weeks, two weeks, amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
And they're fantastic .
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
And then we built.
So then we built a tool becausewe were doing a lot of content
creation across different teammembers.
The problem was the voices weredifferent.
My voice was very unique Icurse, I say all kinds of stuff.
I mean, you've probably seensome of my posts.
They're a little spicysometimes, but my voice is the
(23:02):
voice, the brand, for 111 Group.
So if someone else was writing,it wasn't the same.
So we built a tool with myvoice baked in with our
vernacular, baked in with ourphr phrasing, baked in with all
that kind of stuff, so that nomatter who writes, it sounds
like the brand.
And we're building those toolsfor our clients.
(23:23):
So now, instead of having tolike come up with social media
or write an email program oreven write, I read proposals
with it too.
It's a blast and you know what?
I can knock out that paperwork?
I had nine things to write.
I did it in half an hour, yeah,and they're beautiful and I
just tweak them.
You know it's still, but I'mstill doing the work.
(23:43):
The thing is it's a tool like apen or a computer or anything
else.
It's.
It's no different, but thestuff comes from here.
Nothing can duplicate that.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
So how much do you think AI is going to displace
jobs Like in your field.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I think AI is going to take out the monkey work.
I think so.
I don't think it's going to be.
I mean, will it replace jobs?
I just don't think so.
I think it'll.
Just it's like another tool,you know.
I mean we had to write shit outbefore we had computers.
I think for people like me whoideate, it just allows me to do
(24:24):
more stuff faster.
But I think for companies it'sgoing to require somebody who
uses the tool.
Somebody's got to hold the tool.
The AI is not doing it itself.
You have to write prompts.
Well, you have to have tools todo the prompts, because not
everybody's good at writingprompts.
So we've created that.
That's another job.
You know, creating those toolsis something.
Teaching the clients how to useit is something.
(24:46):
Working with clients as theyuse the tools.
I mean I think some of the verylow level stuff might get
knocked out.
I mean I see now at the grocerystore, you know like there
aren't as many people checkingpeople out.
By the way, you know there'smore of that is done.
But now you can do a differentjob.
That isn't monkey work.
You know what I mean.
(25:07):
So I just feel in the agencyworld it's just allowing us to
do things better that allow themore higher functioning things
to be done with more brainpowerto do it.
That's how I look at it.
I spend less time doing stupidcrap, which I hate writing
proposals.
I mean you need to do it, but Ihate writing them and I usually
(25:28):
do the proposals, or at leastthe last piece of it.
And here it's like proposalscan be put in front of me and I
can review it and make sometweaks Out the door.
It goes in a much more timelyfashion because I don't dread
doing it anymore.
You know it takes me.
I mean I can bust out aproposal in four minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Amazing.
You know, I have done the samething.
I got to tell you it'sincredible.
It's absolutely incrediblebecause, wow, what a tool.
What a tool.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Well.
So one of the things I was on arun, so a lot of times I'll
think of ideas on a run and Istarted thinking about brand
planning.
So in the pharmaceuticalindustry, every single brand
there is writes a plan.
There are 20,000 brands in theUnited States, by the way.
Right now, every single one ofthem writes a plan every single
year, and every year everyonebitches because everybody well,
(26:21):
okay, I'll preface this 94% ofpeople in pharma hate brand
planning because it's monkeywork.
You got to go around, geteverybody to the table,
everybody's got to say theirpiece.
So what we've done is we'vecreated a version where you use
your voice to give the input,based on last year's brand plan.
So it takes last year's brandplan, puts it in the system, we
(26:43):
create the questions.
You see the prompts, your teamanswers the questions with your
voice.
Guess what?
No one's writing.
No one's writing.
And then I take all thetranscripts from all the teams
from all over the world and Iput them into a document and I
hand them back a brief and Iflag the misalignment.
So anywhere they're not on thesame page, they see it in bright
(27:03):
yellow and then they cancorrect those misalignments like
that and then I hand them backa finished brief.
It goes to their agency to dotheir sparkly magic and add
their input.
Goes to their agency to dotheir sparkling magic and add
their input.
But it's not using up all thosebillable hours or people's time
doing shit everybody hatesanyway.
Now it's actually fun to do so.
(27:26):
23,000 brands give me 1% ofthat, you know and I'm off to
the races.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So you've reinvented yourself at least a couple of
times now.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Or is it more than?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
that At least three times.
At least three times, at leastthree times you have to do.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean, if you're not willing to pivot, you're
probably screwed too.
Um, you know, you gotta see thewriting on the wall.
If something is not working,then you need to say okay, I
need either.
You know, and you can't give uptoo quickly, though, because
sometimes it's going to takesome perseverance, but you got
to make sure you got the runwayto do that, and I was fortunate
that I had the runway to makethis big pivot, because we had
(28:02):
gone out of pharma for abouteight years and it takes some
doing to get back in, and so Ibanked the runway time and I
said we're going to stick itbecause this is the right thing
to do, and I think within a week, we're going to have our first
deals in pharma.
There'll be about four of them.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
All right, all right, I have no doubt.
I have no doubt.
So last thing is we haven'ttalked too much about your
personal life, some of yourpassions that really get you out
of bed in the morning otherthan work, because I know you're
passionate about your work.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
But you know like I actually take time to read and
drink coffee in the morning.
When I get up, the first thingI do is I got to take.
You know, john, and I take thedogs out, but I take time to
read.
I read probably three books aweek.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
On a slow week Probably three books a week.
Amazing On a slow week.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
What's one of your favorites right now?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I am reading.
What is it?
The Four Winds.
It's a book about the GreatDepression, which I may tell you
, if you're ever having a toughtime in your entrepreneurial day
, go read this book, becausethen you know, hey, we ain't
breathing dust in.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
What's the perspective?
Huh.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Oh God, yeah, no, it's like get over yourself.
You didn't live through thedepression and let me tell you
that was a cluster.
You know what?
Um, I mean I've uh, so one ofthe challenges from New York
times was reading differentkinds of books.
So they had a challenge.
I think there were 10 differenttypes of books that they wanted
you to try, and so I've beenchecking things off, which is
kind of fun, reading from adifferent genre.
(29:33):
I'm reading a book about summer, reading a book from a
different time.
Uh, it's been really fun.
So my kids made fun of me whenI put it on the refrigerator,
but I've been reading books andchecking them off and feeling
very superior.
Uh, I love running.
I'm running Keeps me sane.
I do it for my physical health,yes, but I do it for my mental
health, and I run three times aweek, typically in the woods
(29:58):
next to a river, no headphones,no, nothing.
Just listening to wind andbirds and other creatures that I
don't want to think aboutwalking around, but I just go
into my own head.
It's where I come up with a lotof thoughts going forward and
stuff we can try.
Um, things I want to talk aboutwith clients, a lot of social
(30:18):
media posts get written herewhile I'm running.
Um, I loved boxing.
Um, I actually got invited tofight in the golden gloves.
Um, when we lived in New York.
I'm a very good boxer.
I can throw a punch baby.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Oh my God, I'm going to stay away.
I got it.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
It's, um, you know like, it's just instinctual.
I threw my first punch innursery school.
Apparently, some kid wasbeating up one of my brothers.
I told him to knock it off.
He didn't.
I punched him in the face.
You are tough.
I know I am tough.
I love boxing, but after I hadbabies my doctor was like I
think your boxing days are over.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
It's a.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
It's, it is hard on your brain.
I realized after a fight.
I didn't feel quite right.
It's, it is very hard on you.
And my one of my businesspartners said I need you to have
your brain, because your brainis what leads this company.
So knock it off.
And so I did.
I did stop boxing but, but Igot grabbed in a garage in New
(31:16):
York City and some guy tried tograb me and I had my hands up
and he goes oh my God, don't hitme.
I said then maybe you want totake your hands off me, pal Ooh.
Yeah it does serve a purpose too.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
God, yeah, so reading , running, boxing, watching
rugby or any sport my kids areplaying.
My kids played soccer, lacrosseand then rugby.
So I've got three 20-year-olds.
We have twins, a boy and a girl, Harry and Ellie.
And then Shania is our thirdkid that we got during COVID.
Her family went through areally rough time Parents died,
(31:55):
and so we took her in and she'snow our kid.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Amazing, amazing.
What's that been like to bringin another kid into the family?
How has that impacted thefamily?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
You know, it was during COVID, so it was a very
difficult time.
But when we realized thatthings were not good at her
house, um, she just reallycouldn't go back there.
Then we just we had to step upand it wasn't um, it really
wasn't an option, um, it was oneof those things that if we sent
her back that she would nothave made it.
I don't think Um and it wasjust, it was just a decision
(32:32):
that was so obvious to me that Ithought, if we don't do this, I
think we'd kind of go to hell.
I, I mean, I'm Catholic light,but you know, I just thought,
you know, I can solve this kid'sproblem, and it's not that big
a lift, it's one more kid, likeyou know whatever.
It.
It wasn't without bumps, but weworked through them and she,
(32:55):
she, I mean she's a, she's awonderful child and, uh, she's
just, she's a whole differentperson.
I mean, when she came to us shewould eat tiny and try to make
herself small and not speak, andnow she's, like, you know,
curses as much as me and youknow, eats with a healthy
appetite and she's and sheexercises and she's exploring,
(33:15):
you know, lake Ontario thissummer with an internship that's
paid, by the way, amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
All three kids are working.
I mean it's just, it's, youknow, all three kids are in
college.
So yeah, I mean I work to keepmy kids in college.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
There you go.
So last question, janet what isor who is one person?
And I have a feeling I knowthis answer, but who's one
person who's had the biggestimpact on you, maybe the person
for whom you're most grateful?
Well, tough question.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
It is, but I think it's actually Ollie Carlson.
So he gave me his name.
When I was seven years old, headopted me and, uh, you know his
passion for art, um, hisknowledge about so many things,
(34:09):
but, but his forward thinkingability, um, the web, ai, you
know all that kind of stuffwhere he said, hey, you know you
might want to think about.
And when he says, you know youmight want to think about, I
think about it.
I think I'm grateful that hetook me in and his daughter, my
little brother, and I became hischildren the day he adopted us.
(34:30):
You know, he just gave methings that I would have never
had.
I mean, we traveled all overthe place.
He gave me a love for travelingthe world.
He gave me a joy for speakingother languages and the bravery
to do so.
But the appreciation for art, Imean.
I met Alexander Calder.
You know, because of my dad.
(34:51):
They were there.
His family had a long, deeprelationship with the Calders.
I mean, I would have never donethese things without Ali
Carlson.
So the fact that he became mydad and now I have the benefit
of two dads is even better.
He's certainly one of thepeople.
The other one is my husband,john Sanders, who really did
(35:16):
believe in me and never tried toI mean, the word control isn't
the right word he saw who I wasand he was comfortable enough in
his own skin and confidentenough in his own being that he
could let me be me and be okaywith that.
I'm not sure many like I don'twant to say this about many men,
because I don't know if that'strue or false he just accepted
(35:37):
me for the spirit I was and justlet it rip.
And he's had the belief in me,um, from the very beginning.
Um and just has always had myback, no matter what, even when
I was coming up with some crazyshit, and I'm sure he was saying
himself what in the holy crapis this woman getting us into
now?
But he stands by me and hebelieves in me and he I mean to
(35:57):
say he's a wind beneath my wingsis an understatement but we are
true partners in parenthood.
I guess I should say but blessthat man's heart.
I mean, he's always had my backand I love him to death.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Amazing, amazing.
Janet Carlson, what a pleasureto see you and to share your
incredible energy and spiritwith our audience.
Thank you again.
Thank you to our audience and,as a reminder, podcast reviews
have an impact on a podcastvisibility, so please leave a
review to help others find ashow.
Thank you for tuning in andhave a lovely rest of your day.
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